#a dysfunctional parent to him

[fear-no-mort]

can we talk about how we’ve gone full circle with these two pulling eachother literally kicking and screaming to spend time together

#maybe this is incorrect but as someone who is pretty much the same the way i see it is mortys life was peaceful before rick but it also lik #Actually Sucked. like. his parents were constantly fighting and he was getting bullied every day and he couldn’t focus in class he very- #obviously is nd but nobody is trying to help him in having SOME sort of future and understand stuff in school.. like.. #the way i see it is rick pulled him OUT of that. his life was a lot scarier and darker for a while afterward but i feel like after a bit- #he definitely would rather rick did come into his life the way he did. because otherwise morty would just be this shy kid with no friends- #and dysfunctional home life and probably no future forever #and now we’ve gone full circle and he’s doing that for rick now. but that’s just how i see it #rick and morty #odiespeak

[knickynoo]

At what point in time do you think the original timeline McFly family started being dysfunctional? I’m sure George and Lorraine were fully in love at first, and Lorraine even still in the 80s seems to look back fondly when recalling how they fell in love. But I do wonder when exactly it started to go downhill, when they started having kids? Just with age? Or maybe it was never really great to begin with before Marty got involved

This is a really interesting ask, and it's something that I've thought about a handful of times. The Twin Pines McFlys fascinate me.

As for my own headcanons about when the dysfunction started, I think it was always there. Dysfunction within families is complex, though, so it likely ebbed and flowed and morphed over the years. Some thoughts! (hehehe, analysis and theories incoming)

I 100% believe George and Lorraine were fully in love at first and are even still in love when we meet them in 1985. It's just that life has beaten them both down in various ways, and they've lost touch with each other and fallen into a pattern of being resigned to (and maybe even comfortable with) all the disconnect within their family. But there's no mistaking the fondness with which Lorraine begins her story of how she and George met and the way it shifts to such sadness within just a few seconds. Her question of, "It was the night of that terrible thunderstorm, remember, George?" is such a clear bid for connection with him. A hope that he'll smile and recall that night and join in on her story. That's what Lorraine wants! But George doesn't even acknowledge her (not on purpose, I'm sure; he's just so wrapped up in watching The Honeymooners), and you see Lorraine gradually deflate from there.

It's so sad because you can see the emotions shift so suddenly in her! That first gif still holds such affection as she recalls their first kiss. It's like she's a girl again, feeling that overwhelming sense of love and all the possibilities for their life together. But then it changes. She's brought back to reality and all the unhappiness, the disappointments, the realization that life isn't what she imagined for herself.

By the last gif, she's a woman who clearly feels trapped. Now stuck with this guy for the rest of her life. And what makes it so awful is that you can TELL Lorraine still loves him. She longs for that happiness they once had, but it takes two people putting in effort to make a marriage work. She can try to reach George all she wants, but if he can't be emotionally present, it isn't going to work.

Also, I'm sure that George loves Lorraine as well, but he's got a whole plethora of issues that just. Haven't been addressed. George has no self-worth. He's meek and lets people walk all over him and is so completely anxious about everything in life that he's mostly shut down. He's trapped too, with no way (that he can see) to change things. So he does what he can to survive, which consists of doing Biff's bidding and retreating to an inner world at the expense of shutting his family out.

I don't think things were always to this extreme, though. For a while I'm sure things were okay, maybe even good. They were young and in love, and while George was still George, I don't think life had defeated him yet. They got married, really established their little life together, and I can see them as both having hope. And even if there were moments that seemed shaky or hinted that things might be difficult down the road, it was easy to brush it aside. They were still finding their footing, and they were young and had their whole future together to make things better. In all honesty, Dave probably got to experience the "best" versions of his parents for the first several years of his life.

However, each year and every hardship (big and small) likely chipped away at the McFlys and brought about additional dysfunction. I don't know if Biff and George started working with each other right out of high school or if they came to work those jobs later on, but I'm sure that was a huge factor. It offered no escape from Biff for either George or Lorraine. Just a predictable cycle of George having to do whatever Biff told him, Biff invading their home whenever he pleased, and everyone having to watch George immediately tuck his tail between his legs.

As I said, I think things gradually kind of unraveled in their house. As the state of their family became more solidified, Lorraine likely began drinking more and withdrawing. I do think they still had their good days, though! Moments that brought them together and where they felt that happiness they once shared (I mean, they had three children together, and it's clear Dave, Linda, and Marty ARE loved and were raised well.) But the state of the McFly household is probably all Marty has known for the majority of his life. I can see situations arising where maybe Dave has told him, "They weren't always like this, you know."

Dysfunctional as they are, George and Lorraine really are trying. I think they can absolutely see the cracks and the flaws—perhaps even the potential damage being caused to their children—but they just have too much brokeness inside themselves to do better. So, they do what they can, which for George involves trying to protect his children's feelings by discouraging them from taking risks. He doesn't want them hurt or sad or disappointed, and his solution is to have them form shells around themselves. Better to save yourself from all the headaches life brings.

Lorraine does her best to protect and guide her kids by way of warning them away from the very things that brought her to where she is in life. We see this manifest in the form of criticism mostly when she's talking to Marty.

Lastly even with Lorraine seeming as downtrodden as she is, I can see her clinging to the possibility of change. Hoping and praying that eventually, George would say enough was enough and stand up for himself. He'd put his foot down, step up as a husband and father, and things would become what she always wanted. She was the one always telling herself, "Someday. Someday..." until the point we see her at during the dinner scene, where she knows that "someday" isn't going to ever happen. Things are just the way they are, and she has to deal with it.

This was a lot, but I have a lot of feelings about the McFly family and how they operated in their day to day life. Especially the implications of the McFly sibs (Marty in particular!) being raised in such an emotionally disjointed environment. Ugh, those gifs of Lorraine make me so sad. The whole thing is sad.

Thanks for the ask, though! I want to write another Twin Pines McFly fic now.

#asks #back to the future #bttf #no but i could write a whole series of posts on Twin Pines McFlys #and how just that one short scene displays such a sad‚ tense home life #no cohesion. no true connection #checked out dad and depressed mom #& their oldest son who doesn't seem to have his footing in life‚ daughter who feels isolated & frustrated with a lack of social life #& youngest child who's anxious & so incredibly sensitive to rejection & feels directionless & has exactly one (1) stable adult in his life #growing up in that environment does things to you!! #and then Marty is thrown into a Better Timeline with very stable and well adjusted parents but he still was raised with the dysfunction!! #that's still part of him!!! how does he cope!!!!?? #losing my mind eric stoltz was right about the ending!!!

[shuriken696]

Idk why and how this scenario came up in my head but hey, parents talking with parents. *shrugging*

Jiang Cheng with Zidian in hand: What did you do to A-Ling?!

Wei Wuxian *looking up from his book*: What did I do?

Jiang Cheng: A-Ling came home crying from the night hunt that you were watching over yesterday!

Wei Wuxian: Oh!

Jiang Cheng: Yeah oh! What did you do?! Did you yell at him?!

Wei Wuxian: What? Of course not!

Jiang Cheng *rolling his eyes*: Well he wouldn’t start crying for no reason now would he?

Wei Wuxian: He disobeyed my orders to stand back and nearly got himself killed! I saved him in time it could have gotten much worse if I was too late.

Jiang Cheng: Then he started crying because he nearly died?

Wei Wuxian: Nah. Instead of scolding him I just said ‘I’m not mad, just disappointed.’ That was probably what got him like that.

Jiang Cheng realizing he could have just done that in the years that he’s raised Jin Ling. Why didn’t he think of that?

Wei Wuxian *laughing*: You should have seen the other juniors! They went all like, ‘oooohhhh!’ It reminded me of when we were kids!

#mdzs #wei wuxain #jiang cheng #jin ling #cql #the untamed #just JC having the realization of his life #Jin Ling hearing the worse phrase in history #WWX learned that from lwj but u didn’t hear it from me #Lan Jingyi was having the time of his life seeing Jin Ling like that and Sizhui had to calm him down #meanwhile Zhizhen imagining what if that was him in that scenario #he was crying too #parenting advice from one dysfunctional parent to another #mdzs fandom #mdzs fanfiction #the juniors #junior quartet

[matchandelure]

i fear that the undercover top secret government assassins are growing on me (cp9)

#I HAD ZERO THOUGHTS ABOUT THEM AT FIRST #IN FACT I WAS DEVASTATED THAT THE WATER 7 QUARTET WERE ACTUALLY CP9 #BUT THEN??????? I READ CP9'S INDEPENDENT REPORT AND. I!?!??!?@?!? #the thoughts are endless ive been having one piece dreams every night for the past few days and they have all been cp9 related the brainrot #is so bad. i am sodgjkadhg #i love one piece there are so many characters with each new arc i get to i get some new characters to obsess over i love it i feel so alive #ive been fighting tooth and nail avoiding spoilers for the latest episode BUT GOD IM SO SO TEMPTED TO. TAKE A PEEK #anyways last night i was once again doing a wiki deep dive and i found some silly things on cp9's pages #JABRA AND LUCCI ARE THE SAME HEIGHT!!!!! THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNY #CAN YOU IMAGINE?!?!?! the kid you've had beef with since he was 13 (maybe even earlier since lucci alreayd knew him when he was 6) who you #used to have a whole head over is now at eye level with you i would actually be so embarrased #KAKU IS FROM EAST BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS OS IMPORTANT ACTUALLY!! THE MOST IMPORATNT FACT EVER!!!!!!!!!!! #so he knows the strawhats are...also from the east blue right?!? right??????! and ik the wg steals these kids early on to train them so i #doubt he has lingering attachments to his home sea but i still think this so both so so sad and so important :'(( #also not getting over how oda's depiction of tiny kaku has him holding a toy boat BC ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?! ARE YOU K IDDING ME #kalifa and jabra's favourite dishes are both lamb based!!!!!!!!! silly because her animal motif is a sheep haha #BUT ALSO considering how her father was also cp9 and she's probably been conditioned since birth to also follow his footsteps and how jabra #holds seniority in the current lineup id like to think that these two have known each other a very long time and there were influences #the most dysfunctional fcked up family ever. cp9 #blueno and jabra are both from the north blue!!!!!!!!!!!!! and that one falshbakc we see that the two of them plus 6year old lucci trained #together but also it would be so fcked up if the two actually knew of each other before being roped into the governemnt #idk how the wg works do they just??? routinely scout around and pick up a bunch of kids ata time???? were jabra and blueno taken together?? #also wondering if ... kalifa jabra and kumadori knew each other the longest as fellow agents or soemthing #i feel like im entertaining a gazillion thoughts all at once its so hard ot balance but we know both kalifa nad kumadori have #parents in the governemnt/assassin profession that also influenced them right #idk maybe one thing they can bond over #cp9 to me is just a fucked up family of some sort. they are not found family they are like some weird forged family where they were all #forced together and somehow made it work and they all love lucci and care for his wellbeing enough to raise all that money to get him to a #doctor and they cared about each other enough to get off enies lobby together without leaving anyone behind and they went cafe hopping and #shopping and bowling together and they all care for each other in their own way

[teecupangel]

au idea:

So what happens is: we take Daniel, as he is dying, and send him back in time, when he's about 24 years old, before being found by the Assassins.

He wakes up from this terrible nightmare he barely even remembers, but the few things he can recall fill him with a sense of dread, especially the face of his murderer, which he starts seeing everywhere.

Skip forwards to the events of "The Fall", and as he's living through Nikolai's memories of the Tunguska event, his great-grandfather's visions of the future unlock his own memories as well.

He has a full-blown panic attack as he remembers his own death in vivid detail and, as Hannah and Bellamy try to hold him still, he decides that he can't, just can't, go through this again.

He has to kill Desmond long before the bastard gets the chance to kill him.

So he tries to do everything as he had done before, even though his memories of the time spent with the Assassins are vague at best, all the while looking for Desmond.

Finally, he gets his chance when he meets William Miles at the Farm.

Sneaking into his house at night is easy, and so is gutting both him and his wife.

As for Desmond... how hard could it be, to kill an eleven years old child?

An hour has passed and he's still there, holding a bloodied knife in his hand, asking himself that same damned question as he looms over this sleeping child who is one day going to become his murderer, and... he can't.

He can't.

Change of plans: he's taking the kid to Abstergo with him, so that he can keep him under surveillance and make sure he doesn't wind up joining the Assassins.

And since he's already stealing children, he figured he might as well take one he gets along with, and not only does he know which hideout Lucy lives in, it also happens to be very conveniently on his way to Philadelphia.

He doen't need to kill the Mentor this time around, as he still remembers his address from his first time killing him, and the same goes for all the other Assassin hideouts.

Basically what I'm trying to get at is this:

Oh, and Desmond? He also had a nightmare, the same day as Daniel in fact, and has this vague feeling of impending doom, and also this name, "Clay"... he doesn't know who that is, only that he is somehow to blame for this whole situation.

Daniel will definitely not want to return to the Animus even if Dr Sung told him it would help with the… twitching. Daniel can’t really explain that the twitching is because he can still see him… he can still see Nikolai and he’s not saying anything, that’s the most annoying thing in this entire bullshit called ‘second chance’. The moment he decided not to kill Desmond and took him with him, Nikolai had been a silent ghost, always following Daniel around.

That damn hood made it hard to see his expression but it’s annoying Daniel and…

Returning to the Animus might just aggravate this entire thing.

Vidic has taken a shine on little Lucy and Desmond. They were born and raised by the Assassins but Vidic’s kind grandfatherly act was working wonders. The two brats were also getting along quite well, all things considered. They were already whispering to each other and saying “nothing” whenever someone asked what they were talking about.

Daniel knew they were going to be giving him a lot of headaches in the future.

Then he learned that Vidic had checked their DNA and froze when he heard the triumph in Vidic’s tone as he said, “Desmond is a descendant of not just Ezio Auditore but Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. Daniel, my boy! You saved such a wonderful boy!”

And Daniel knew…

He just knew…

If Desmond gets into an Animus… if he relived even just one memory of any of his ancestors…

The man who killed him will wake up.

Fuck!

.

.

.

Wanna make this more complicated?

Clay has a nightmare on the same day and, unlike Daniel who needed a ‘spark’ to open that can of worms, or Desmond who still needs his own trigger, Clay remembers everything vividly.

So Clay tries to get into contact with the Assassins, even going as far as calling the number Bill made him remember before he went undercover and the one who answers wants to know why he would know William Miles’ personal phone number.

Clay just tells the Assassin to get Bill on the phone, it’s important.

He can't say the truth though because he knows he fucked up.

He had only been trying to take both his and Desmond’s consciousness (the ghosts remaining in the Gray) back into the past but he knows someone hitched a ride. He doesn’t know who but he sure as hell knows it was another Animus Subject.

Then the Assassin tells him Bill is dead, killed in his own home.

And Clay goes, “And Desmond? Is Desmond okay?”

“… The boy’s missing. Now, may I know who this is?”

“Fuck.” Clay hissed because his greatest fear has just come true.

There were only two Animus Subjects that he didn’t want to be the hitchhiker.

Warren Vidic (Subject 2) and Daniel Cross (Subject 4).

If Bill is dead and Desmond is missing, most probably captured, then it only meant that it was one of the two.

“Come get me. We need to talk.” Clay said before giving the Assassin his current location.

A few hours later, a different Assassin came and got him and drove him to a place he didn’t recognize in Massachusetts.

There, he recognized the voice of the one who picked up the phone.

And recognized him as the current mentor of the entire Brotherhood. The one that Daniel Cross was meant to assassinate.

Learning that only Bill and his wife had been killed, by a bladed weapon of all things…

Clay knew…

It was Daniel Cross.

Warren Vidic would have gotten Abstergo’s spec ops team to burn the entire Farm to the ground.

That only meant…

“You need to tell every Assassin to run…” Clay said solemnly, hoping against hope that he still had time, “The Templars will start their purge soon.”

.

.

And now, we have a race between Daniel and Clay on who can find the other quicker. The purge will still take out some of the Assassins, Clay might have been able to warn them but trying to order everyone to escape took time, but more Assassins escaped this time around.

#this could end up #with desmond and lucy becoming indoctrinated into the templar order #or daniel going ‘fuck all of this’ and running away with lucy and desmond #from vidic and his plans to use desmond as an animus subject #maybe he’d even take dr sung with him XD #be the most dysfunctional fake family in ac ever #daniel is trying to find a way to survive #clay is trying to find desmond because #he also wants to live but #desmond is the one who would want to save the world and all that jazz #clay forming a team with shaun and rebecca #maybe even a cal whose parents are still alive? #rip william miles you will not be missed #ask and answer #assassin's creed #daniel cross #clay kaczmarek #desmond miles #lucy stillman #warren vidic #dr sung #doctor sung #the poor doc has no full name XD #teecup writes/has a plot #fic idea: assassin's creed

[eff-plays]

Not exactly a dadstarion truther either (mostly bc it took me a while to actually warm up to the idea and also hes NEVER having kids with my durge, only my tav (can you imagine this man parenting a Bhaalspawn? A dhampir Bhaalspawn?? Nonono.)) But I do find something a little compelling about the thought of this man who a) has had absolutely nothing of his own for as long as he can remember and b) sees himself as worthless and irreparably fucked up creating this tiny new person? Like, they're part of him, he made this precious little creature (with the person he already loves most)? This soft and innocent thing? (Which he would waffle awfully between wanting to keep innocent for as long as possible but also making sure they know about life's horrors so they can avoid them) Like sure the baby version is annoyingly loud and can't do anything and also gross and smells but he can teach the toddler to bite people. He is the absolute worst enabler, spoils the kid rotten. Teaches them to steal and pick locks and just lets them get away with murder. Parent #2 has to do all the actual parenting part cuz damn he's not doing the discipline thing at all.

Also the vain part of him likes looking at his kid and sort of seeing some of his face in them, since he can't use an actual mirror.

Well he'd be cured by the time he has the kid or soon after in my canon, so that last part wouldn't apply for me.

And yeah, when I say that I'm not a dadstarion truther I don't mean that I don't see it happening ever, but more that to me, that first step in itself is the one that I see as least likely.

Because I can accept that he would learn to love the kid, that he would care about it and spoil it. I can also accept (and would gladly explore) him having a complicated relationship with the kid, either early on in a postpartum depression sort of way, or further down the line in a "I can't find common ground with my teen/young adult" sort of way (or both lbr).

The problem, to me, is that I don't see Astarion going "let's have a kid!" I don't see him genuinely wanting one, and I don't see him finding any reason to lie about wanting one, and I don't see Hira believing any of those lies even if he does try. It's really the initial hurdle. The rest I'm happy to make as dysfunctional and weird as it would realistically be when a guy who shouldn't be a dad becomes a dad. One of the reasons I came up with Critter is because I find it compelling how much Astarion is not a dad guy, and how that would fuck up a person like Critter. That's juicy stuff. And also a way for me to work out my own daddy issues I guess lmao.

But getting that started? Actually inventing a reason for how Astarion would even agree to it? That's where I struggle. And that's why I'm torn. Cuz I do want to stay true to my own interpretation of a character, while also wanting to create a new character and put them both (and also Hira) in situations.

Like I'm happy for all the dadstarion peeps who have cool dhampir girlies running around on adventures and I'd love to join them, but I also think that if I were true to Astarion's characterization, that kid would have issues. Like maybe a lot of them.

#bg3 #i'm not in it for the squee of omg cute baby!! #i do not care about babies or kids in general it's not why i'm here #i have no parental instincts and do not personally plan to ever reproduce #nor am i in it for the nuclear faerûnian family fantasy #i'm in it for the 'my traumatized parents love me but couldn't help but traumatize me in small ways just by being themselves' #'cuz parents are also people and maybe they regret having me and maybe i made their lives worse' #'but they also can't imagine it without me because i'm part of them and they're part of me' #ya feel me??? #like yeah i imagine most of the kid's life is excellent and both parents love them v much #but having astarion as a parent would defo do things to your brain that maybe shouldn't be done #hira would be passable if paired with a normal person but they wouldn't tolerate anything but complete devotion to their child #(which astarion fundamentally can't provide imo) #which is also bad cuz bby ur shutting down all communication and compromise and making asty feel like shit #like it would be very dysfunctional for a long while until the kid was like older toddler-age maybe #until the point where astarion would realize there's a person in there and not just a weird crying shitting bag of meat that his partner #inexplicably values over him #once that realization hits him i think he'd do way better #but until then he's fucked

[scarecrowdrugs]

I easily could have decided to go with Clarice being Jonathan's biological daughter, but having her be based on his little half-sister from Year One is something that's just so utterly juicy in regards to the potential dynamics I get to play around with.

For one, I think the only possible way for a Crane so heavily based on Year One to not immediately attempt violent murder is his canonical tendency to show some level of sympathy for victim of bullying/abuse. Karen Keeny's husband is shown to be physically abusive in the original comic and Clarice being older meant that I was going to explicitly make her a victim of family violence, as well.

That being said, the Year One focus also means that I have to closely examine the darker aspects of Crane. As much as i love Year One, that version of Jon is still a monster. Shivers Jonathan was meant to show a version of Year One Crane that actually managed to pull off his goals in the comic, in that this is a man who had every intention of slaughtering his entire family in cold blood. Jon didn't intend on taking that long drive out of Georgia with someone coming with him. Now, I don't think Jonathan would normally go out of his way to murder a child, but he's still nonetheless a man who was fully capable and very willing to murder a small child in front of his own mother. Or rather, in the case of Shivers Jon, murder a child next to the still warm corpse of her strangled mother.

So, I think that the only possible thing that could prevent Jonathan from finishing the job is the fact that he looked into the eyes of a scared little kid and he saw himself. And he flinched.

Jonathan Crane was not meant to be a father. He isn't kind, he isn't patient, and he is a person that has truly never known any sort of love or affection.

Jonathan Crane is a man who's known from birth exactly how it feels to be utterly hated.

He only kept Clarice because he wanted to show his mother exactly how much he hated her. That's what he tells himself, at least.

But every time he sees this frail little girl flinch the exact moment he raises his voice, it feels like being stabbed in the chest.

#crane's mommy issues hitting him right where it hurts #this man deserves to have more children traumatize him back #also i <3 dysfunctional parental bonds #shiversverse #jonathan crane #scarecrow #oc: clarice keeny #batman oc #domestic abuse tw #child abuse tw

[nmolesofadrenaline]

I switch from posting about heartbreak to posting about love in seconds and that is what is fundamentally wrong with me as a person😂

#love love love #on love #i love him #on him #i need him #look at him #i miss him #him #love #abuse survivor #emotional abuse #toxic family #dysfunctional family #toxic parents #toxic mom #dark academia

[fluffypotatey]

OK changing it slightly. How dysfunctional would shadowpeach be if they never broke up and became enemies, staying as best friends/lovers, and still never communicated their issues

so dysfunctional that i wouldn’t want to touch it even with a 39 1/2 foot pole

#again their dysfunctional levels cannot get lower #only higher #they are far from ok #MK should be glad his first impression of a relationship was freeboodles bc boy would shadowpeach have fucked him up worse if so #he is lucky enough to clock out of witnessing the MESS that is shadowpeach and come home #to his healthy (tho very awkward) parents (who may/may not know that they’re basically a married couple <-I’ll leave that to you) #lmk #shadowpeach #asks

[twoheadedfather]

having a parent who is obviously better than the other one but is still bad sucks SO MUCH. i have this super bad parent to compare all the bad things the other bad parent does so it doesn't seem THAT bad in comparison even if it is still bad. like, my dad OFFERS to make me dinner????!!?!?! well my mom doesn't even like to acknowledge i'm her child so that must mean my dad is the best parent ever! (he is emotionally neglectful among other things)

#vent #tw csa mention in tags #toxic parents #childhood abuse #childhood neglect #childhood trauma #trauma #dysfunctional family #emotional neglect #my dad : has such bad boundaries that he has literally unintentionally(?) sa'd me multiple times #me : ok but he bought me gum from the store so... #i hate him!! SO MUCH. #but then i feel bad for hating him because he's better than my mom so it's “not fair”

[blackjack-15]

end of ep 2

the only ship with better chemistry than sydcarmy is carmy x repression

the way he goes to sugar -- not directly but to sugar regardless -- seeking comfort even though he'd never in a million years acknowledge that that's what he's doing is just heartbreaking

she's a sister that wants to comfort her brother who wants to be comforted but neither of them have the language or tools to do so, and they're both aware that neither of them knows how to ask for that closeness

carmy seems to be a good amount younger than Mikey/Richie and it shows in how Richie's not sure how to engage with him as Chef Carmen rather than Baby Carmy. he even goes by carmy -- a rather childish nickname -- which reinforces this to everyone in-world and to the viewer on the other side of the fourth wall

the lightness in carmy's posture when he's going through the kitchen and everything is working well and he hires syd? absolutely beautiful. she breathes life into him, makes him smile when very little else does. carmy smiles at good food, at people enjoying his food, and at syd. carmy's too self-punishing to react to a carrot as motivation, he's gotten too used to the stick. someone says something is impossible, he tries to do it anyway -- is it any wonder that someone like that who can't afford a sous chef hires her anyway? they need each other, whether you want to take that platonically, Doylistically, or romantically (it's romantic listen to the audio cues)

last thought before ep 3 -- the expression too many cooks spoil the soup is in full effect here, and they telegraph it at the start of ep 2 with carmy introducing himself as the owner and richie saying that he's the owner's brother, and the owner is dead. there's too many cooks not because of the staff, but because Mikey is haunting (figuratively) The Beef. No one's grieved, no one's moved on, no one's even thought about getting closure because Mikey's still there -- his procedures, his kitchen, his debt, and his ghost

#liveblogging #the bear #syd x carmy #also i love how paul is the most normal of normal characters like of course the Dysfunctional Carmy doesn't like him #i think it's great that Sugar married someone who 1) loves her and 2) is far away from her family's chaos #that being said and while it's on carmy as well sugar needs to step up and kinda mom carmy #i very much doubt that family had any healthy parental presence and mikey was prolly it by default #carmy needs a break not like a break from work but a mental vacation with someone caring for him

[helianthus21]

there's sth about "You should've never been born" vs "Were you born just to torture me?" that just,,,,, hgggg

#hang on until i get enough of my sanity back to put this into words #it's about a parent who legit hates you/is scared of you #vs a dysfunctional sibling relationship that is just.... unbreakable #yeah they drive each other insane but you GIVE him the power to drive you insane #bc you'll take the torture and you'll take the pain #bc that's just part of the deal huh #yeon GETS it #yeah your lil sibling was put on this earth to torture you<3 #and the fact that despite the history of rang literally tormenting him for 600 years #the torture yeon was speaking of there #was making him worry. making him scared of losing him #like..... tell me not to be insane about them #heli rambles #lee rang #lee yeon #totnt

[throttlegainwell]

Mostly I'm very adept at avoiding or just ignoring bad fandom takes because of how aggressively I curate my fandom experience, but every once in a while I'm reminded of a particular take I've seen claiming that the problem with Joyce and Jonathan's relationship is that Jonathan is controlling, gaslighting, and manipulative toward Joyce, in which Jonathan is positioned as an abusive partner rather than, you know, her son. Her son who is in fact responding very reasonably to what he has legitimate reason to believe is a serious mental health crisis in his parent, who has a history of mental health struggles, is experiencing a major trauma, and whom he has almost certainly had to care for at times in the past. But even if the rest of that weren't true, he's still her son, not her partner.

So. You know. Still scratching my head over that one.

#jonathan byers #like there's no question that it's a deeply dysfunctional relationship #but guys come on he's a kid #he didn't create the dysfunction #there sure is an inherent power imbalance to parent-child relationships #but you are looking at it in entirely the wrong direction #if you conclude that the problem is jonathan being controlling #guys joyce is the adult here #jonathan is a very responsible teenager for the most part! #but seriously #that is not a fair standard to hold him to #and a very creepy take on their relationship

[soldier-poet-king]

Woke up >:( and it's like. Oh I need to LEAVE. I need to ESCAPE. Not even just The Parents now but bro1 is making this house actively hostile to life with the way everyone has to tiptoe around his maybe breakup and moodiness and like sure he's not actively aggressive but why are all my routines and habits having to be altered so he can mope and be angry and moody and sad and become an alcoholic and possibly give himself an ED because we can't just sit him down and have a normal human conversation nooo bc he's the favourite child and therefore we just have to wait and deal until he's *ready* on his own. Which has not happened in his entire 23 yrs of life. But y'know. I can keep waiting ig.

Like yes yes pot and kettle when it comes to moodiness. But I See Doctors. I take Meds. I take Responsibility for My Actions and develop Coping Skills and Apologize and Don't Take It Out on other people. I actually CARE abt people other than myself and how my actions impact them, even if they're ppl I don't like or who have hurt me before.

#also when My morning routines are altered. brain scream #but no i can just cope with active mental distress from diagnoses brain disease #so the bitchy little baby can mope and stay out all night drinking vome home and puke and then be a bitch #when he has to go to work at 6am #like ues i feel bad i liked his gf hes sad #but also. like. not to be like well hes apathetic and selfish and callous but ... #he also made a joke abt abortion at dinner yesterday bc our 16yr old cousin is expecting #and it was so awful??? she WANTS this kid??? #ugh ugh ugh ugh #i have a horrible strained relationship with each of my brothers #but each one is a different flavour of bad or dysfunctional #and this one. this one. i cant even get into it. #i love my brother. i need a shovel to love my brother #my parents both complain abt their adult child younger siblings #and then like. trear bro 1 like this which will make him become an adult manchild #ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh #truly. i need to fuckin move out. i need it #ill lose free food and rent monies and free laundry and utilities and ooen backyard garden space #but oh my god the emotional toll this is taking on constantly tiptoeing peacekeeping #IM FORCED INTO LYING BY OMISSION. I HATE LYING. IT MAKES ME WANT TO DIE. #franposting #we're supposed to share a car all summer and commute together sans our father #i might just take the bus. even tho i have to leave almost an hour earlier #i don't trust him. or his moods. esp when mildly hungover at 6am. and without our father there to moderate? #this sounds horrible but im a little afraid. (plus i cant be late everyday all summer bc of him) #like. once again. fuck me. i am the ONLY responsible child and i get so much shit

[glitter50000]

Fic inspiration

Ulla ducks her head and gives a humorless chuckle. “It was never the mother, was it?” 

Her father regards her with a pained smile. “No, it wasn’t.” 

———————————————————————

He loved Ulla, truly, grey skin and all, she was still his child. Her laughs and giggles would fill the air with a joyous melody. He knew Ulla showed more promise as a baby than most sildroher ever have during that age. 

On dark days a small, ugly part of him thinks of taking her back to shore, finding her birth mother, and thrusting the baby in her hands without a word as she did him, never visiting again. 

During the times when Ulla’s wails would bounce across the walls and make the flowers shrivel and rot. He didn’t have a problem with it, she had a strong voice after all, but when the others complained it was a different story. How they glared at the two of them or sneered at the baby for the tone of her cries. 

The times when his wife would look at Ulla with an odd look, something akin to fear, repulsion, or pity. When that specific look would be on him instead. He remembers squashing down the hurt at the time she recoiled at Ulla reaching her little hands out to her or having just stood there as the baby cried. 

He would never want to give Ulla away though, for he never regrets her in the first place. 

———————————————————————

“You can hold her if you want.” 

She’s broken out of some trance by his voice as he comes over to the crib. He chuckles a little at that, recalling the occasions when she would hold Ulla with a smile on her face, entertaining her with a song almost as if she forgets about the baby’s heritage. Though now it seems she remembers the other half. 

“She won’t bite,” he says amusedly. 

“I know that,” she mumbles, glancing at Ulla’s tail and his. He sighs and moves to pick Ulla up instead, scooping her up in his arms. 

“You must think I’m a whore.” He tells her bluntly. Sometimes he sees her looking at him with what could be a trace of disgust. Remembers how uncomfortable she seemed when they were courting each other and she first met Ulla and he confided in her about Ulla’s true parentage. Still, she wanted to marry him and look after her like she was her own, despite it all. 

“What,” she’s taken aback, “no, no I don’t think that's all, it’s just…” she trails off, gripping the edges of the crib tightly. It’s silent for a moment before his wife speaks again. 

“I wish she had been mine.” She whispers.

———————————————————————

He still thinks about her at times, the shadow summoner, either with anger or nostalgia. Looking back to when she made him sing symphonies during their lovemaking.

Sometimes he wonders if he ever would’ve met Ulla had she not been born with a tail. Or would she have taken her away wherever she went and he would still be waiting for the bell to ring? 

———————————————————————

Brave little Ulla. Coming home on the bad days when there’s too much teasing with tears in her eyes, yet still acting strong and holding her head high. 

#You know if someone gets inspired to make this an actual fic or something I wouldn’t mind #Cause I’ve had scenes like these stuck in my head and I would make the fic myself but for the love of god I cannot figure out a way #To stitch these together and also I’m stuck on how to end it like I know someone could write this better then me #Me looking at Ulla’s parents: oh they could be sooo dysfunctional #Rereading wwsf and seeing how the sildroher say it’s the mom who went up and slept with a human when it was actually her dad who did that #Is kinda humorous but also I’m like “how could I make this angsty” #Cause the sildrohers saw humans as beneath them so he’s probably over here like “they don’t know I literally slept with a human” #I was gonna have a line talking about how Ulla’s cries could be so desperate and loud the song filled people with grief and they hated it #And that when sildroher babies cried the songs were melancholy and made ppl’s heart ache and Ulla’s wasn’t always like that #but I was having trouble wording it to fit #Also I like the idea of the mother meeting him after he’s taking care of Ulla cause I think that could give for some fun potential #just thinking about how her mom treats Ulla makes me feral #This all started when I reread wwsf and saw how the her parents especially her dad reacted to Ulla wanting to go ashore #Got the cogs turning you know #grishaverse #the language of thorns #when water sang fire #ulla morozova #my wriitng

[padfootastic]

Probably unpopular opinion but… James would have been a better parent than Lily, and probably would have been the one to adjust to parenthood the easiest.

oooooh, controversial, anon

i feel like my answer to this would be equally unpopular but i agree with you

and the thing is, there's no specific reason for it, either. absolutely no basis in canon (where we see examples of lily's parenthood, not james) but i just--am really biased towards my boy ykno?

in addition to viewing james as nurturing/like a caretaker, i also feel like lily was the more selfish of the two. and more independent as well. so she would take time to adjust to this entire human depending on her whereas james is a fkn sponge--he'll love having harry attached to him at all times. he was also a lonely child who adored his parents and wanted something similar to that whereas lily's family situation was, well. ykno.

so yeah, i dont know if i'd call it a better parent, exactly (james was almost def the more indulgent of the two, and would always put harry's happiness over everything, even if it could be detrimental so he had his faults) but i do think he was a natural parent and it came harder to lily.

#hi yes im back to the unpopular opinions #wdym they're a month old huh #women are demonised in media yada yada yada i know #but let me live w my silly little headcanons #major disclaimer that these r all opinions #(the fact that i have to caveat my posts lol) #its all precautionary bc ive always had the best anons but still. just in case. #i also think there was a moment of like--parental jealousy? on lily's end #where she's sad and envious at how quickly j&h got close and how easy it is for him but she has to work hard #and then she has a convo ab it with sirius #whos like 'listen its the pitfalls of being around james potter--u always feel inadequate' #(reminds me of the line from FoD where lily tells harry that being with overachievers can be tough) #and he tells her james has always been a natural carer #that doesnt mean shes bad at it. she just needs time #also he relates to her fears and anxieties more #coming from a dysfunctional family himself #so yeah #pen’s asks