#yes this means several magic users who know what he is (or think they do) believe he might be Pariah’s son

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 259

You know, going back in time, they thought it would be easy. Stop the end of the world by preventing the Being from well, coming into being. It should be easy to take them out, one death to prevent an untold amount of them. What could a child do?

Well. 

They really should have remembered that with a child usually comes their parent as well. And erm, said parent doesn’t seem to appreciate their logic. In fact, they are… getting their ass kicked. By a civilian. A feral civilian who apparently is very protective of said child-who-ends-up-destroying-the-world. 

They might need assistance…

#DCxDP #DPxDC #Prompts #Mom Danny #De aged Dan #De aged Ellie #They both know exactly what they’re doing #The team of time travellers technically aren’t heroes yet in the timeline #Danny is not ghost king #He does go by Danyal Dark tho for shits & giggles #yes this means several magic users who know what he is (or think they do) believe he might be Pariah’s son #well technically Danny was adopted by Clockwork who isn’t divorced from Pariah so *legally*- #Danny commit-to-the-bit (deadpan): I take after my mom- Jordan takes after his grandfather sometimes #Space Core Danny #Moon Core Ellie #Sun Core Dan #Danny would be amused if not for the fact that he’s had to move *Seven* times at this point #”Tuck. Sam. Val. Loves of my life. I need a Favour~” #Vlad is in a different dimension for his redemption arc lol

[dairy-farmer]

Tim getting lobotomised from the villain of the week, now Bruce has to look after him in every way (including sexually). Dick and Jason are sad that Tim's changed at first but slowly they accept it and it brings them back together as a family, Tim seems happier now anyway, watching children's shows, carrying around his plushies, getting fucked, being bathed, why bother trying to fix him when it makes them all happier? (Maybe Bruce even arranged it in the first place to keep him from leaving)

tim becoming permanently injured snaps something among them. because it's one thing being killed, another thing becoming physically and mentally scarred. with tim it's a deliberate act of cruelty designed to extract the most pain from tim's friends and family by forcing them to see what they've taken away from tim.

tim. poor tim. they were too late. it's not until his distress beacon turns on, activated by this new villain that decided to make their name by taking out one of the 'birds' of gotham, that they arrive.

his injuries are minor. some rope burn around his wrists and a cauterized circular scar above tim's eyes where the sick fuck had used a laser to sever tim's prefrontal cortex.

they don't want to believe at first. but the villain had left documentation, scans, taunts to show them how they were a "threat" to be taken seriously. they track him down in a matter of hours, it's the fastest they've ever caught a rogue. they won't go to arkham. it's highly unlikely they will ever even leave a hospital bed for the rest of their lives given the damage jason had done. because unfortunately for that villain, red hood had gotten to their location three minutes before anyone else and that had been more than enough time for him to instill his own personal brand of justice.

they extend every effort they can to fix this. leslie says there's not much she can do. yes she's a doctor but neurology is not her specialty but even without it she knows that...injuries with the brain are very complex and intricate matters. bruce extends every effort. he flies in doctors, specialists, doctors who have been retired for years but had been the best of the best, professors who don't even practice but have done more for the branch of science than anyone else, he gets special permission to visit villains in prison to get consults from them even though it burns the ethics seared into his bones but he can't deny that some of them know their stuff.

in the end its the same. the brain is complex. it's a deeply important organ but so much of it is still an enigma. bruce is given prescriptions for tim, recommendations for therapists for him, told that his support is all he can offer, a few of them even tell him that...that a care home might be the best option for tim if he doesn't feel equipped to deal with someone who is disabled.

at every person who can't help him bruce and the others grow more desperate. they're thinking of consulting magic users but zatanna says that's not their specialty. bruce thinks of consulting that short list of metas the league has of those with healing powers but none are particularly skilled and can only hear minor cuts and breaks. bruce thinks...of the pit...

and stops himself. and in a moment knows he's gone too far because he knows that tim would never want that. he wouldn't want the pit. and so...with a heavy heart bruce calls it off. tells the others to stop their desperate search for a cure or a fix. they have to accept this. tim is still alive, he's still tim. the brother and son they all love so much. and tim might be a little hurt and a little less of himself but that doesn't mean they love him any less.

so they have to try, to try and adjust to how things are now. it's easier than they thought it would be. but also hard in ways they hadn't expected.

tim had a temper sometimes, tim was a grouch in the mornings, tim got angry and always knew what to say to hurt someone, tim was independent, tim was private, tim was funny, tim was rude, tim stood up for himself, tim never hesitated to call them out on their shit.

tim was an incredibly self sufficient person. he was like a plant that could go months without being watered and it wouldn't die. he was resilient. and they didn't realize how much tim was away and absent until they saw him each day to help him. bath him, dress him, feed him.

tim isn't fully helpless. there's some element of cognition he retained given that he still refuses to eat the navy beans that alfred makes for lunch one day. tim has preferences, things he likes and wants and enjoys. it's easy to love tim like this. he's so...simple. so easy to please and make happy and ask for forgiveness.

dick holds and kisses the top of tim's head all afternoon while movie after movie plays and tim doesn't fuss or whine once.

damian finds it easy to endear tim to him by offering little gifts. chocolates, candy, stuffed animals. things that make tim trust him without a second thought and it soothes some hurt indignation inside him that had always simmered because he and tim had never really fallen into that easy relationship once damian had stopped wanting to kill him.

jason...jason finds an ease at being with tim. a simplicity. he'd always harbored some suspicion towards the other. he was...conniving. sneaky. it was just hard to believe his words and not feel like he was being conned or used as some pawn in a bigger scheme because jason wasn't cooperative and when bruce wanted something that's what HE did and everyone said that bruce and tim were so similar...

maybe it's cruel. fucking disgusting even. but...jason likes tim better this way. tim's capacity for trickery has been greatly cut down. jason could ask if tim spoiled his dinner by eating chocolates when he wasn't supposed to and tim would clutch a stuffed hippo close and say he didn't, all while melted chocolate would be smeared on his lips and cheeks. tim is an open book. and with a family full of bats its a breath of fresh air. even alfred isn't fully transparent. with tim there's an honesty between them.

tim is different now. softer, weaker...sweeter.

they get used to him fast. tim requires more careful attention but its nothing they aren't willing to do.

until dick goes to get tim dressed for the day and finds his panties soaked through and tim making soft sounds and pressing his thighs together.

and bruce tells them that tim may have become changed mentally but his body is still very much that of a young adult. that he has needs and desires even if he can't understand them or do anything about them.

and they try to ignore it initially. dick cleans between tim's legs and ignores tim's soft noises and the wet stickiness coating his thighs. they ignore the soft slopes of tim's body, the hard ridges and lines of him having softened from retirement.

tim grows agitated, frustrated, upset. bruce already had tim on birth control because the pain of his period would just confuse and cause him unnecessary pain.

so..jason brings up a possible solution. an idea. there are...toys they can give to tim, things to help him along. tim's clearly in discomfort.

and they do. they try to offer them but tim doesn't understand what to do with them. he gets frustrated, upset.

so...they need to help him. just like how they have to help tim in other ways now they have to help him like this. if that means they help part tim open and press a toy in before turning it on so tim can squirm and writhe on it well, that's just part of the job.

they escalate without realizing it.

sometimes they're out in the garden or on the couch in the sitting room, or in the library and tim gets needy... but they don't want to go all the way to tim's room where they store his toys. so...they just use their fingers. their hands are clean so it should be okay and tim seems to enjoy it so much more. he's curled up close and weakly clutching at their clothes while they press fingers in and gently rub at his front- so they keep doing that until they suddenly they don't use the toys anymore.

damian is the one who gets curious. he's young, he's horny, he's curious- they really should've realized that. and damian after having his fingers dripping and hand drenched with tim's..release. he grows...curious. the smell, the taste...

before he knows it he's using his mouth on tim instead of his fingers and tim just likes it so much better. he gets all sweet and pliant afterwards and damian likes seeing the different reactions so he keeps doing it until dick finds him with his head buried under tim's skirt while tim squirms and whines on the carpet, his hands wrapped tightly around a stuffed giraffe.

damian doesn't get...grounded. but he is reprimanded by dick for allowing tim to lie on the floor which could hurt his back and for making tim's panties messy and not properly cleaning him up.

it progresses. it just does. suddenly dick is gently poking the head of his cock into tim, checking his reactions and whispering assurances and telling tim that dick will make sure this feels good that he wants tim to know what this feels like because he will never have gotten to feel it otherwise.

sex with tim is nice, he's so vocal and doesn't hesitate to express how much he enjoys something which is refreshing. every person dick had ever fucked always tried to retain some kind of dignity or clung to the idea that they needed to pretend like he wasn't good at what he was doing to 'check his ego' or something. tim reaches for him, kissing at his cheeks, and whines so sweetly and breathlessly when dick presses in nice and deep filling up his baby cunt with cock. tim is tight and hot and so pliable and easy to move around into good positions and though dick may have been hesitant at first that changes after the first time he sinks his cock into tim with a thick wet sound.

it's good. it's nice. its addicting fucking tim. pumping their hard cocks into him, watching it disappear into tim's hot little cunt, pressing flush to his puffy lips, gently fondling his baby tits, and fucking him in all different ways until he's clenching hard and going 'ah ah ah' on their cocks while the head is pressed right against the entrance to his womb and their spilling ribbons of warm cum all over his walls.

tim is so much happier after they fuck him. he cooperates better, behaves better, has less tantrums, is more affectionate. its a win win for all of them.

the only rule to it is that they're not allowed to fuck tim through the night.

'you're robbing him of his sleep' bruce scolds them after tim can barely stay awake at breakfast because damian had kept him awake the entire night by fucking him. its the reason tim sleeps in bruce's bed with him at night, so none of them get any ideas and also so bruce can prevent tim from rolling off the bed.

it also means bruce is the first of them to get to fuck tim as soon as he wakes up when his cunt is all warm and wet. bruce enjoys fucking tim's thighs, not quite trusting himself to push in. he's significantly bigger than his sons after all, even jason doesn't try to work in more than half his cock. but tim seems content either way, laying under him, underwear and little shorts pushed down to his knees, shirt pushed up to expose little, pink tits. bruce coats his cock in wetness and fucks the wet seam, listing to the thick wet noises and squishes as tim whines and grinds up against him.

truly tim has never been happier. the family has never been happier, and bruce has never been more content.

he knew when he'd found that new villain's plans during his raid of the office building they worked to track down a different criminal that he'd made the right choice in stepping back. he'd considered how things would turn out and they'd far exceeded his expectations.

sabotaging tim's distress beacon to delay by half an hour once activated was the best decision bruce had ever made. tim had been making to many moves that had bruce tensing, making too much talk of perhaps moving to san francisco permanently.

no. at least this way bruce's family stayed together. and thats all that really mattered in the end.

#answered asks #asks #anonymous

[elvesandlanterns]

Helpline part 2 “Why the hell is a child here?” Hall yelled! Constantine rolled his eyes, “Age is relative … tho even by demon standards I assume you’re rather young eh Sheila ?”

The demon pouted, “My name isn’t Sheila, I told you call me Konstelacio!”

“Right my apologies.”

Damian sneered,”Idiot.” Only to have Dick elbow him,”Don’t.”

“Now then! What do you need?” The girl crossed her arms and slowly paced by the edge of the circle.

“Wait wait hold up! What is the Infinite Realms?”

Demon girl kept on examining the circle, “Exactly what it sounds like.”

“What are you?”

“Rude”

“How old are you?”

“Depends”

“I thought this spell was supposed to be random?”

Dick groaned, “Wally-“ Zatanna put her hand up, “Hold on that actually is an important question. Why did you show up?”

The demons face contorted. “Uh because it’s my job?” Her hands coming up to her chest.

“How do you get a job like this Konstelacio ? This doesn’t exactly seem like a safe job for a kid?” Superman pondered.

She shrugged, “Eh, community service.”

The heroes gapped. Hal’s ring shone, “And what exactly does a demon have to do to be sentenced with community service?”

“None of your business!!!” The girl grew flustered shoulders tensing.

“Was it a violent crime?” Batman questioned

“That’s it I’m leaving!” She stepped closer to the middle of the circle “You humans are so rude!!!”

“Wait wait,” Constantine pleaded “I apologize on behalf of my colleagues. They have simply never met anyone as…” weird, different, odd “magnificent as you o great one!”

She hummed, “Oh no! The Great One is my uncle!!!”

Uncle? What did that even mean?!?! John was gonna have a heart attack at this rate.

“Yes well please don’t leave we truly do need your assistance!”

Batman cleared his throat, “We were trying to reach someone to help us with several world ending threats that have appeared.”

“Yes, you said that you were uh a helpline? Could you connect us with someone else?” Superman spoke in a kind tone.

“Well duh” the girl relaxed, “You need to actually talk about the issue tho and what exactly it is you’re looking for these things can be tricky.”

“Tell me about it. ….ow”

Batman continued, “ There seems to be some sort of disease spreading everywhere as well as a monster running rampant.”

“If it’s a magical monster why not have your magic users take care of it?”

“Captain Marvel and Dr Fate are both currently of world. We also think the disease may also be magic in nature.” Superman butted in.

The demons eyes lit up at the mention of the Captain only to turn to stone right after. Interesting thought Damian this might be useful information.

“ Alright then I’ll need as much info on these issues as I can! Tho I already do have a few ideas on who to contact about it!”

“This is the monster,” Aquaman pulled up photos of a blue glowing dragon in a gold amulet on screen. “It first appeared in Atlantis wreaking havoc in it wake as it took over the mainland along the coast of California. Our magicians were in able to harm it at all! One second it was there the next gone.”

“Uuughgghhhh Aragon!”

Necks almost broke looking back at her.

“Oh great you two know each other,” Constantine’s voice began to rise in pitch, “lovely.”

“What is he? My magic barely did anything to him too!” Zatanna asked

“Yeah,” Wally backed her up, “We couldn’t do anything against that thing!”

“He’s not a thing! He is a ghost his name is Arragon!”

Flash paled, “A ghost?? That thing couldn’t be a ghost !”

“That’s it I’m leaving! You are being rude again!”

John ran towards the circle, “Wait wait hold on now..”

“You are all being so rude! We are people! We have sentience Aragon is a person!” Red hot anger flushed her cheeks as her eyes wavered.

Flash went up to the circle, “You’re right you’re right it’s my fault entirely I’m sorry! Konstelacio!” Barry felt awful the young girl reminded him of Wally before the adoption. Sad and joking. Sad and demanding to be seen for what they are.

“Yeah whatever,” she looked away, “what about the illness ?”

“It started around the same time as the mons- as Aragon arrived. The illness seems to be random causing deterioration of the skin and violent outbursts,” Batman threw the file over the ring of the circle, “Here’s more info.”

“Hhhmm I’m going to be honest I don’t understand half of this stuff. You said it might be magic based?”

WonderWoman nodded, “ Yes I use to hear tales of something similar back on Themyscira. Supposedly it is one of the illnesses Pandora released from her box.”

“Well why didn’t you start with that ? I’m sure NanaDora will be happy to help!”

#danny phantom #writing inspiration #justice league #redeemed vlad #billy batson #batman #shazam #oc #john constantine #summoning #dehumanization #ghost are people #pandora #dc x dp #dp x dc #Helpline part 1 #Helpline part 2 #Ghost Helpline

[and-a-pidgey-in-a-wepear-tree]

good [insert time of day here] i realised i never thought to ask you amid my delight of you being the most interactive follower i have that isnt an irl friend do YOU have ocs or blorbos. i wish to know. for reasons.

OH hello yes thank you for asking!!! I have several OCs but most of the time I simply Do Not Explain on here; I have lots of ideas and doodles but I make it mostly for myself and don't think to share — doesn't mean I don't want to tho! exhibit A: this absolutely massive post I'm about to make lmao. putting it under a read more bc Oh Boy, the floodgates have been opened

most of my OCs are for two different projects I have: The Visitors and my D&D Dark Star Campaign.

The Visitors is just a lil worldbuilding project I've been chewing on for.... oh wow, over a decade at this point??? I love all the OCs I have in there very very much, but they're definitely never intended to go in an actual story, I just enjoy the speculative biology and character / world building process.

Val is one of my oldest OCs, and she's changed SO MUCH over the years! nowadays, she's a sort of insect/dinosaur mashup alien who uses gravity warping magic and a very large axe to hunt demons. a huge issue for magic users of her species is keeping cool, as magic generates heat and can literally cook you from the inside out, so you'll notice the multiple vent-like spiracles across her body for this purpose. she was born blind and so relies heavily on her best friend, Django, to be her eyes and keep her safe. fortunately, Django has Too Many Eyes. he's a dragon genetically engineered by those in Val's species to be the perfect vessel for storing and releasing massive amounts of mirror-based magic. this kind of magic gives him many abilities, including seeing around corners, creating illusions, or multiplying attacks when applied in different ways, and he acts as Val's seeing-eye dragon. in battle, she likes to get up in the action while he holds back and gives her cues on what's happening, only jumping in himself if she's in major trouble. she's very friendly and excitable, and loves to get into the culture of whatever planet they're visiting, while he's more interested in observing and snooping. there's a lot of espionage and hijinks.

these are some of my most recent sketches of them, tho I'm sure the designs will changes in the future. specific colors don't matter at all, it's all about vibes! not pictured in the halfway colored one is Val's big iridescent black cape thing that has a slit down the middle for her rigid tail, nor her weird arms since I wanted to figure out where the torso vents could go.

Duke is another Visitor who visits planets and solves problems, but his path to get there was a whole lot different! I made him up as a coping mechanism when I was 12, and I'm still very fond of him.

he started life as a human video game speedrunner and modder prodigy. in a "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" situation, a devil (very distinct from demons!) struck a deal with him, challenging his gaming abilities with his soul as the stakes. he won despite the devil's cheating, but that's where the resemblance to the song ends. in this world, a devil winning your soul allows them to fuse with you and gain total control over your body, mind, and actions; but if YOU win, the control is reversed! and like any 14 year old who suddenly has the power to rival minor gods and a chaotic creature living in their head.... he goes off the rails for a while. Val and Django eventually find him and help him cope. his powers include electricity, glitching reality, flailing his glaive around, and being a menace to evil overlords.

you can't see it very well in this picture, but his eyes and the segments between his tail glow lime green! I'm not a fan of drawing clothes, but in my head he's relatively fashionable for a teenager and refuses to wear anything other than black. also, he decided to tell me he was trans a couple years ago, thanks for letting me know buddy 😂

my other project does actually get to see the light of day, if very slowly — I'm running a homebrew D&D campaign for my irl friends called the Dark Star Campaign! none of em use tumblr so WHEEEE I get to post all the spoilers I want! there's a kinda staggering amount of lore behind it and a ton of minor OCs, but the two I rotate in my head the most are Anya the Timekeeper and The Master, aka Armageddon.

Anya the Timekeeper is a chronomancy lich from an alternate universe! she used to help Armageddon travel the multiverse and gain power, but she's decided she's tired of being evil, and now hides in a mansion on a tropical island where she breeds dinosaurs for fun. though she's now very determined to help the party, they'll eventually have to kill her past self to prevent a paradox. her familiar is a little archaeopteryx named Trix who steals hats!

(I commissioned this art from @/goodlouse a while ago! highly recommend checking out his blog!!)

Armageddon is the BBEG and he's SO EVIL and SO MUCH FUN. he's an ancient amethyst dragon who, up until a while before the campaign's beginning, was steadily finding alternate universe versions of himself, killing them, and eating their souls to gain Unlimited Power™. unfortunately, his partner in time (hah) Anya told him to fuck off, so the quest for Unlimited Power™ has been kinda slow lately. fortunately, a D&D campaign started, and he cheated his way into existing at the players' table as The Master! my players can ask to talk to him sometimes, and I'll put on a mask of his head I made specifically for this purpose — very useful for not breaking character when the character is supposed to literally be the one sitting at the table talking to the players. I don't try to hide the fact that he's evil and they all know it, the fun is in giving them little hints and tidbits of lore to munch on. right now he's being very docile and helpful but things will get very very interesting eventually as more of his nature and plan is revealed..... =)

I'm still playing around with what he looks like as The Master, but I really like this recent design I did. his eye glows dark and menacing. I haven't found a design for his dragon form I'm really pleased with yet tho :/

okay wow thanks again for the ask, I have many many ideas in my head and it felt pretty nice to get em out!!

#ough!! many thoughts!! #lemon generator #the visitors #dark star campaign #fair warning: delving into those tags might be completely incomprehensible #I have fun here on tumblr.com #d&d #oh also #anya the timekeeper

[kehideni]

The Dragon Prince - Dark Magic

I might get some heated arguments againts me but hear me out if you do, and if you do, do try to keep the argument in a constructive path.

That being said, here's what i think:

Dark Magic is not evil.

It is not good either, it is - as all things really - dependent on who's hand it is in. Who's willing to pay and what.

Dark Magic is a means to an end, Dark Magic is not the short cut, it's the purchasing of a way, where there is usually none. "Unpassable" becomes just another kind of "passable".

Unavoidable famine becomes avoidable.

Humans can not kill an arch dragon by any means, Avizandum was a several tonn, flying, lightning beast that you could not out-think either, since he is just as much a sentient person as your average human is.

Viren paid a price to kill him, granted he was not the only one that had to pay said price. (And this is where things become scetchy.)

As a person working in healthcare i can't blame Claudia for killing a deer (who live for about 6 years on average anyway) to restore Soren's health. The severity of her actions wasn't even suggested by the deer's death either, it was shown when Soren got healed:

The problem isn't that a deer had to die, the problem is what Claudia had to pay, something i'm not sure she knows the full extend of.

She said to Callum that humans just squeeze the magic out of creatures and use that, she never mentions what she feels after using a spell. Viren and Claudia both look very... err ghoulish after so many years of dark magic. It changed them and we as audience still don't know just how much it does, all we do see is that 1. it makes you look pretty close to death and 2. gives some sort of access to your body to Aaravos (and we don't even know why or how that happens or if it should happen at all)

Why i say that? Because the only person we see use Dark Magic and not pay a price at all IS Aaravos. There are still things missing from the big picture here.

Onto the materials:

Plants and animals are one thing. You can eternally argue for and againts, but at the end of the day: it depends on what the magic user is willing to pay. To Claudia it was worth it to heal Soren, and that was an act of love. Eventhough she doesn't seem to realise she paid something too, not just the deer.

But later on Soren said that Viren cut the assassins that attacked King Harrow up for parts. That's not a gray zone thing, that's 100% vile and rotten. And Pyrahh was also about to face the same thing, and we know that dragons are all sentient, they just need to reach an age of 75something to be able to talk with humanoids(for some reason).

Viren was also the person to see Sarai passing away, and instead of being there for her for her last moments, he... collected her last breath. The severity of that is not that he used air from her lungs, but the fact that as a fellow human that just got saved by her, he didn't think of returning her compassion to him - ... with compassion.

When someone dies in front of you- and believe me i had my experiences with that -there are things that run through your mind.

NONE of those things is to collect a material for a possible revenge attack. It's not a humane thing to do. It's not something that Viren would have done if there was not something in him that got twisted.

To bring in another character from another IP: Arthas was able to become the Lich King by a long chain of events, but it started with his willingness to purge a city.

You can argue that he did it for their sake, since Stratholme was doomed for something worse than death, but Jaina and Uther left because it was just not something they were able to do and see. Stratholme was cut down when they were not yet scourge, they were cut down when they were still very much human. They were long poisoned yes, but they were not yet monsters. They WOULD be shortly, but at the moment of their death, they would be human.

Arthas was willing to do that, which was ultimately speaking of his lack of compassion and humanity. He was the kind of person that COULD and would become The Lich King, because he was able to dehumanize his own people in a blink of an eye.

What's the difference with Callum's use of dark magic and everyone else's?

Essencially not much. Callum himself never had to slay any animal to use it's body parts for magic, but that really doesn't make a difference.

He doesn't actively seek out chances to use dark magic, and to him it really is a last resort sort of thing. If for the well being of Rayla he MUST pay the price of Dark Magic (something that he, akin to Claudia, doesn't know the full extend of) then he will.

This is why the second time he uses Dark Magic it's not brushed off, eventhough all he did was change some chains into snakes. ("So what?" Will most of us say.)

To me, the tragedy of this scene

is that this time he knows that it wasn't just a tentacle that got used. Callum now knows that he is willing to damn himself for Rayla. He knows he just gave more access to his body to Aaravos, the dude they are on this very same journey to stop in the first place. His corruption is willing. Unlike Claudia(who still doesn't know) and Viren- who seemed pretty surprised learning that Dark Magic takes more from him, than any creature he has slain.

Kind of controversial isn't it?

It's not like Primal Magic can't be used for evil purposes anyway.

It all comes down to what you are willing to pay, is what i'm saying, and humans just happen to be the bargaining type.

#the dragon prince

[gibmb]

In a new skin chapter 7

Chloe blinked at the snake, confused by what it could mean before the scrolls magically unfurled in the jackal-headed man’s hands and he began to speak.

“Lords Anubis and Set have both requested your service in retrieving an urn of great value that has recently been unveiled in the Louvre. Each makes a claim upon it and it shall be your choice to whom I deliver it. Both have made the request that this task be completed with all due haste but also advise caution when handling the urn.”

The jackal-headed mans’ voice was deep and booming, commanding the attention of all who heard it. As the jackal handed her the scrolls, she got the feeling something was bothering him but she couldn’t figure out what before he bowed respectfully, dropping to one knee with a fist pressed to the floor. “You have my condolences for this first task, Serpent of Truth.”

"It's alright, Great Messenger, I know you had nothing to do with this, though I wish we had more time to acclimate with our new user before performing a task," Naje said with a sigh while Haje hissed in annoyance. Chloe herself was a bit lost.

"I get that I have to retrieve this urn, but what's so bad about picking who I have to give it to?" Chloe asked as she looked at the scrolls and found the same depiction of the urn on each one. She wasn’t thrilled about the idea of breaking into the Louvre but stealing a pot made her a lot less nervous than some of the things Naje and Haje had implied she’d have to.

"Well Chloe, think of it like this: only one can get the urn so whichever God you choose will be happy and the other will be royally upset, and the two gods are lords of the underworld, and chaos and war, respectively," Haje replied.

"Plus one works with our Father so it won't be good either way," Naje hissed softly, almost to himself before they both looked up to the messenger.

"Thank you for delivering these, Great Messenger. We will bring you the urn as fast as the fates allow us," Haje said, bowing his head to which the messenger nodded before rising. He turned and left with a mighty leap from the roof and quickly faded into the shadows of the night. Chloe tried to track where he went but it was almost as if he hadn't existed in the first place, making Chloe huff and look to the snakes.

"So I guess it's time I transform into my hero look, right?" Chloe asked, unable to help feeling an icy lump of dread at the idea of becoming a hero again. She had already messed that up once and here she was, about to walk down that path all over again. Terror gripped at her and it wasn't until Haje spoke that she felt anything but fear.

"It is not a hero look, you are a Champion and these are your divine vestments, but yes, it is time to transform. To do so you say, ‘Truth be Judged’ with intent, otherwise you will not activate the magic,” Haje explained. Chloe blinked at the odd phrase but nodded before looking at the ring.

"Truth be Judged!"

In an instant there was a flash of golden light and Chloe could feel her clothes change as strength coursed throughout her body. Her senses heightened until she was on the brink of a sensory overload but then it was done, and as her eyes adjusted she felt oddly relaxed. Nothing had gone wrong and she wasn't hurt. It wasn't until she saw her reflection in the glass that she had a small freak out.

“What am I wearing?!" Her outfit was insane. It looked nothing like a hero and more like something an exotic belly dancer or stripper would wear. Her stomach was exposed along with a wildly inappropriate amount of skin, though she found herself wincing at the sight of the scars across her abdomen. Once she was finally able to tear her eyes away from them and take in the rest of her outfit, she gawked even more. Her chest was wrapped in a magenta crop top that separated her breasts. She wore a half skirt of a deep purple with several other sashes and leather straps tied around her waist. What armor she did wear didn’t seem all that protective, leather bracers and pauldrons, with knee high sandals that could barely be called greaves. A hood and serpentine half-mask covered her face, for which she was grateful, she would not want to be recognized wearing this.

“I can't go out like this, even if it is night!" Chloe protested.

"But this is the traditional garb of the Serpent Numinous and besides, it's a symbol of strength and truth," Naje said as Chloe checked the rest of her costume and found a sword at her hip. "That is your khopesh, you can lace it with your poisons when fighting so even non lethal blows can kill your opponent or disable them.”

Chloe's eyes widened at the idea of cutting someone down with a sword and it made her stomach lurch so she pushed the thought from her head.

"What do you mean poisons?" she asked to help distract herself.

"Amongst our abilities that you have access to, besides the ability of Allocation, which you used to save Rose, there is also the ability to use poisons,” Haje began to explain. “One for each of our fangs, to be precise. There are two for each hand. The non-lethal on the right hand and the lethal on the left hand. To use them you just need to think of them with intent and press the corresponding fingers together.”

“Ok, uhm, tell me more about the non-lethal poisons, because no offense, I don't feel like getting myself a body count today, or well, ever,” Chloe said as she did her best to remain calm as she examined her hands as if they had just turned into snakes.

“Oh that's simple, press your index and middle fingers together to create a paralyzing poison. It makes anyone struck with it unable to move or do anything until you either dismiss it or they answer three questions honestly. Otherwise it will last until the next sunrise or sunset,” Naje said as he seemed to puff out his chest. “It is my poison after all.”

“The other one in the ring and pinky fingers causes intense pain throughout the body unless the afflicted chooses to be honest. The more truths they speak the more the pain fades,” Haje said. “However, the more they lie the worse the pain grows until they will wish for death.”

“Ok, I know I’ll regret this but what about the lethal options,” Chloe asked as she examined her fingers closely.

“Well the first and most famous one is one that ignites like our great Father. It is the poison of Burning Flames that devours entirely,” both said with pride. “While the other is the more merciful Final Judgment. When used they see their heart weighed against the feather and if they are beyond saving then they will be devoured by Ammit immediately, disappearing from the Mortal world.”

Those words were spoken so calmly and joyfully that she almost thought it was a joke, but knew that wasn't the case.

“Ok, note to self, not using those on anyone,” Chloe said as she began walking out to the patio, gazing at the roof across from Le Grand Paris.

“Let’s get this started,” she said before taking a deep breath and breaking into a run. Chloe almost shocked herself with how fast she moved and nearly slammed into the railing before managing to leap with a yelp. She soared through the air, momentarily experiencing that thrill of power that she had become addicted to as Queen Bee before crashing into the other roof like a thrown rock.

“Ow,” she moaned as she got up. Despite how much it hurt, she was glad for the pain, it was a reminder of why she didn’t want any of this in the first place and curbed the rush she had felt as she flew through the air. She adjusted her outfit and looked to the next roof, taking a moment to think before she started running again. This time she managed to jump and land without trying to turn herself into a smear. She continued on like this for a bit, each time growing a little more accustomed to this new strength, until finally her destination came into sight. She stopped, looking down onto the plaza of the Louvre.

“Now for the tough part, how to get in without setting off any alarms?” Chloe asked herself. It shouldn’t be that hard, she recalled there being dozens of incidents at the Louvre throughout her time in school, though most of those had taken place during the day, if she recalled correctly. Racking her brain for ideas turned up nothing so Chloe decided that maybe subtlety wasn’t that important.

She leapt onto the roof of the Louvre and began inspecting roof access doors and vents before finding an air duct that looked big enough. She was still amazed by her newfound strength as she pried the cover off the duct and slipped inside. It was a little tricky with the sword at her side but she managed to slide down the shaft without making too much noise and began traversing the ventilation system until she found herself close to the Egyptian section.

She pried another grate open, more carefully this time, and slipped through the opening before dropping to the ground with hardly a sound. She padded cautiously the rest of the way, praying she didn’t trip any alarms as she went, the fewer people she had to deal with, the better.

As she reached the Egyptian wing of the museum, she began scanning the exhibits for one that matched the depiction from the scrolls and finally spotted her target. Unfortunately, it was in a glass case and she knew there was no way she’d be able to get it out without setting off an alarm.

“Use the power of Allocation,” Haje said suddenly, making Chloe nearly jump out of her skin as the snake suddenly manifested beside her.

“Don’t do that!” Chloe hissed as her heart hammered in her chest. After a couple of deep breaths she managed to ask, “What is this Allocation power? You mentioned it before.”

“You have the ability to move people or objects if you focus hard enough. You saved that Rose girl without even knowing you could. Focus on the urn and will it to you and it will pass through the glass as if it wasn’t there,” Naje said.

“Ok, here goes nothing,” Chloe said as she braced her feet and held out her hands. She was grateful for the mask because it hid the ridiculous face she was making as she furrowed her brow and wrinkled her nose with concentration. She tried to push every distracting thought from her head, as difficult as that was at the moment, until she began to feel a throbbing in the back of her head that started to spread down her neck. Chloe could feel sweat trickling down all over her exposed body as she strained with the desire to make the urn move.

Chloe was starting to feel ridiculous and the throbbing was starting to hurt when she blinked and in that instant, the urn was gone from the case. Chloe started and just barely noticed motion above her before she reflexively dove forward to catch the suddenly falling urn. She managed to just catch it in time but her momentum carried her forward until she collided with the now empty case and sent it toppling over.

The smashing of glass made her wince and the blaring ring of an alarm nearly made her drop the urn. Panic filled her as she looked up at the vent and realized there was no way she’d be able to get the urn out that way, even if she hadn’t triggered the alarm. Just as she was about to break into a frenzied run in a random direction, it dawned on her that all she needed to do was get outside, only two people in all of Paris could keep up with her and her roof-hopping strength.

Chloe bolted for the nearest exit, catching glimpses of security guards running towards the source of the alarm only for them to jump back startledly as she zipped past them. She kicked open the doors of the museum, nearly taking them off their hinges before she was out in the cool night air.

Chloe was smiling to herself as she ran from the Louvre, holding the urn under her arm. She had done pretty well for her first mission, all things considered. She felt good about this task, mistakes and all, and once she handed the urn over to that jackal guy, she might just ask Jean for a late night snack to celebrate.

“Hey, Naje, Haje, not too bad for my first time, right?” she called out with a laugh as she took to the rooftops. She had just started to let herself feel excited about this strange new direction her life was taking when a figure landed in front of her, stopping her dead in her tracks and killing any hope that may have been flourishing in her.

“That’s far enough, umm…” Ladybug trailed off as she looked at Chloe with a mix of confusion and something Chloe couldn’t quite pick out. “Snake lady. I don’t know why that urn is important or why you were akumatized-” Before Ladybug could finish, Chloe rushed her, causing her to jump out of the way.

“Sorry,” Chloe called back as she darted past and jumped to another roof. “I’m not akumatized, and I don’t want to fight you. I’ve got something important to do,” Chloe shouted as she ran, hoping that would be enough but knew better as a yoyo flew past her and wrapped around a chimney. A swift kick in the back took her by surprise and sent her sprawling on the ground and the urn sliding across the roof.

“Yeah, theft is real important. What does Hawkmoth want with the urn, snake lady?” Ladybug asked as she interposed herself between Chloe and the urn.

Chloe huffed as she leapt to her feet and raised her hands in a fighting stance. She didn’t want to fight Ladybug but it was looking like she’d have no choice.

“Hawkmoth has nothing to do with this! I’m just taking the urn back to its rightful owner,” Chloe said earnestly, almost pleadingly. A sour lump was forming in her gut as she tensed in preparation for a fight.

“If you’re not with Hawkmoth, who are you? A Miraculous user?” Ladybug asked as she raised hands in a fighting posture, ready to strike. Chloe could hear Naje and Haje hiss in anger at that.

“No, I’m the Judge of Truth and wielder of the Serpent Numinous,” Chloe declared with as much confidence as she could muster while dropping her hands to her side. It was a risk, but despite everything that had happened to Chloe, she still had faith in Ladybug.

Which was why Ladybug lunging caught her completely off guard. Ladybug leapt over Chloe and Chloe’s feet were swept out from under her. By the time Chloe hit the rooftop, Ladybug had grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back.

“I don’t know what any of that means, but I do know that you can’t just steal artifacts from the Louvre, no matter who they might belong to,” Ladybug said as she began to reach for her yoyo to tie Chloe up.

“Use one of the poisons,” Haje whispered in her ear.

“Punish this interloper,” Naje whispered in the other.

“No!” Chloe shouted at the snakes, startling Ladybug. "Stop! I don't want to fight you!” Chloe yelled as she turned her attention to Ladybug. “I just want to get the urn back!”

Chloe grunted as she began struggling against Ladybug and surprised them both as she began to push herself up with her other arm. She managed to get enough leverage to roll onto her back, forcing Ladybug to let go. Chloe scrambled to her feet and looked over her shoulder to see she had the urn to her back.

“Who wants the urn then? If you don’t work for Hawkmoth then you should be able to tell me that,” Ladybug demanded.

“Two Egyptian gods,” Chloe said and immediately regretted it. Even with the existence of the Miraculous, she knew that sounded like a ridiculous claim and judging from the frown on Ladybug’s face, the bug-themed hero agreed.

“If you don’t believe me then come with me to meet the jackal-headed messenger they sent,” Chloe offered even as she knew it wouldn’t help make her case.

“If you’re not akumatized then I bet that jackal-headed man is. Hawkmoth must have made a really powerful one this time,” Ladybug said as she twirled her yoyo.

“Why won’t you listen to me?” Chloe snapped angrily. She felt a stabbing hunger pain and realized she must be nearing the limit of her transformation time. She needed to end this quickly.

Chloe began to back up, hiding her right hand behind her back as she held her index and middle fingers together. She focused her desire and felt energy coursing through her digits as it felt like every muscle in her body coiled with the urge to strike.

Ladybug didn’t disappoint this time as she hurled the yoyo and charged an instant later. Chloe spun with an artful ballet twirl, dodging the yoyo as she brought her right hand around and jabbed Ladybug in the ribs. Ladybug jerked and collapsed stiffly, her arm extended in a punch.

“Please be ok, please be ok,” Chloe whispered as she knelt beside Ladybug and checked for a pulse. She nearly collapsed fully with relief as she heard Ladybug breathing. Chloe slowly turned to face the urn and felt her breath hitch.

Ladybug’s yoyo had smashed the urn when it missed Chloe and Chloe had been too focused on Ladybug to notice. Now, the sand that had been contained within the urn began to shift and swirl, spiraling upwards even though there was no wind carrying it. As it grew into a small sandstorm, laughter filled the air, laughter that just seemed…wrong.

A twisted skeleton began to emerge from the twister of sand and at that, Chloe lost her focus and Ladybug collapsed beside her, groaning softly. Chloe paid her no mind as flesh began to coalesce along the skeleton.

“What is that?” Chloe asked, horrified by the sight of skin restitching its way across the body.

“A sand wraith,” Haje hissed.

“A demon and a vicious murderer, whose crimes also include attacks on both Set and Anubis,” Naje growled. “You must act quickly and destroy him before he can get his bearings!”

Chloe tensed and just as she was about to leap forward, the sand wraith turned his eyes on her. His face was that of a ruggedly handsome Middle Eastern man with a strong nose profile, but those eyes were pits of hatred and malice that shot ice down her spine.

The sandstorm subsided and he stepped forward, dressed in a knee length skirt, half shirt and sandals. He regarded Chloe and Ladybug curiously, tilting his head like they were strange insects.

“A Miraculous and a Numinous? What a fantastic warm up before I take Anubis and Set’s heads,” he said as he smiled, baring teeth that were all fangs.

Chloe was frozen with fear no matter what Haje and Naje shouted in her head and then she was being yanked into the air and the sand wraith snarled in dismay. It took Chloe a moment to realize that Ladybug had grabbed her and swung them both away. They landed in an alley several streets away, hiding behind a dumpster.

They sat there in silence for a moment, both panting heavily.

“Wha-?” Ladybug started to ask before Chloe rounded on her, tears streaming down her face beneath her mask.

“Do you feel like a hero now, Marinette?!” Chloe shouted. She knew she shouldn’t be saying something like that so loud but she couldn’t help it anymore.

“How do you know my na-?” Ladybug tried to ask as her mouth fell open but Chloe shouted over her.

“I was trying to do something good and you just couldn’t let me! Well, do you feel good now? All of Paris is in danger from that thing now and it’s your fault!” Chloe said as she jabbed Ladybug in the chest.

Ladybug stared in shock before giving herself a shake.

“I don’t know who you are or how you know what you know, but…you’re right. It is my fault, so how can I help fix this?”

Chloe hated that Ladybug was able to compartmentalize so well, but that’s probably part of what made Marinette such a great hero in the first place. She took a calming breath and thought to Haje and Naje, ‘How do we stop the sand wraith?’

Chloe and Marinette jumped as the snake manifested between.

“What is that?!” Marinette shouted as she leapt back.

“My Numinous, Haje and Naje,” Chloe said quickly.

“Hello, Ladybug wielder,” Naje said.

“Is Tiki well?” Haje asked.

“You know-?” Marinette started to ask before giving herself a shake. “You know what? Nevermind. Do you know how to defeat that monster?”

“The gods sealed him away after his attacks on Anubis and Set, but I doubt we’ll be able to find the ingredients to create a sealing spell or another vase inscribed with the proper runes,” Haje said.

“You will have to destroy him,” Naje said.

“Destroy?” Marinette said, aghast. “I don’t care how much of a monster this thing is, I don’t kill.”

“Then prepare to watch Paris turn to ashes,” the snakes said in unison.

“How do we kill it?” Chloe asked, ignoring the look Marinette shot her.

“The poison of Burning Flame, it will consume him entirely. None of the others will have any effect on him,” Haje said.

“And I’m sure he’ll just let me hit him,” Chloe said sarcastically. “If he’s strong enough to fight gods, how are we supposed to get close enough to take him out without getting murdered?”

“Wait, before we resort to that, there might be another way,” Marinette said as she took her yoyo and threw it over her head. “Lucky charm!” she shouted as a swarm of ladybugs appeared and dropped something out of the air.

They all stared at the red and black polka-dotted bucket in Marinette’s hands.

“Please don’t tell me we’re just going to put that on his head,” Chloe said as she crossed her arms.

“Actually…” Marinette said as she looked between the bucket and Chloe, “tell me more about this Burning Flame stuff.”

***

The sand wraith’s laughter filled the night air as he floated over the streets of Paris. Police cars formed barricades as officers aimed weapons at him.

“How can such pathetic little creatures hope to hurt the likes of me?” he called out contemptuously. “Honestly, I’m doing the gods a favor by wiping out their playthings before I come for them.”

He raised his right hand and sand began to swirl around his open palm. The swirling intensified until he was pointing a cone of grinding granules that he shot at a police car. The officer behind it threw himself out of the way barely in time as the vehicle was torn to shreds.

Gunfire rang out after that but every shot that pierced him was ground to dust before they could exit his body.

“Is that the best you can do?” he shouted, angry at the lack of a challenge.

“How about this?” a voice called out, causing the sand wraith to turn as Chloe leapt from a nearby rooftop. Her khopesh sang as she swung it with all her might but it found no purchase as the sand wraith twisted away. Chloe skidded as she hit the street and spun quickly to face him.

“Ah, little snake, I was hoping you would show yourself again. I will enjoy breaking you and consuming your Numinous’s essence,” the sand wraith said as he floated down to street level.

Chloe leveled her blade at him, gripping it hard to keep her hands from trembling. Even with her enhanced abilities, she knew she was no match for him and hoped she could just keep him at arm’s length. It wasn’t just fear that had her trembling though, hunger had her feeling practically hollow. Being transformed for this long was incredibly taxing.

The sand wraith lunged forward, clearing the distance between them in the blink of an eye and Chloe felt sand scratch along the part of her cheek that was exposed as his hand came terrifyingly close to taking her head. She swung wildly, forcing him to jump away and used the momentum of her swing to plant the tip of her blade into the ground so she could vault away, putting more distance between them.

“You fight like a novice,” the sand wraith called out as he began to gather sand in both hands. “Is this your first time wearing that armor? If so, then it shall also be your last!”

Chloe’s eyes widened as he raised both hands towards her and she dashed for a car parked on the street. The force of the attack knocked her off her feet but also carried her behind the car, saving her from the worst of it. Despite that, several spots on her arms and legs were red and raw from where sand had stripped several layers of skin.

The car was gone and the sand wraith casually strolled up to her through where it had once stood. He placed a sandaled foot on Chloe’s left wrist with enough pressure that she was sure her bones would snap any second now. It also thoroughly kept her from reaching for her khopesh.

“Your fatal poisons are in your left hand if I remember correctly,” the sand wraith mused more to himself. “If I’m careful, I’ll be able to keep your skeleton as a trophy.” He held his hand over Chloe’s face as sand began to gather in his palm.

“Now!” another voice shouted and Chloe grimaced as she kicked off the pavement to strike the sand wraith in the back, knocking him forward. She screamed as he still managed to drive his foot down on her wrist, snapping it with ease. She clutched her hand to her chest as she rolled away.

The sand wraith was picking himself up with a snarl on his face as Marinette landed in front of him with a steaming bucket. Realization dawned on his face as Marinette swung the bucket, sending its content spraying in an arc. Water splashed across the sand wraith and he screamed as everywhere it made contact suddenly burst into flame.

Sand exploded from his body in every direction as he tried to smother the flames but they burned even brighter and he slowly began to crystallize as the heat melted the sand into glass. He turned a baleful eye on Chloe and Marinette and tried to direct one last scouring strike of sand at them but it petered out, leaving him to glare as molten glass dripped from his burning form.

“I won’t let it end here!” he roared as he forced himself to take one step and then another, the heat from his body making Marinette shield her face with a hand she stood protectively over Chloe. He reached out a burning hand for them but it stopped inches from Marinette as the poison finished its work. Where there had been a sand wraith now stood a terrifying piece of glass work that looked like a man trapped within a whirlwind.

Marinette and Chloe were both panting and then Marinette turned to help Chloe up. Chloe still held her broken wrist tenderly and winced as she made it to her feet.

“So what now?” Marinette asked as they looked at the remains of the sand wraith.

“Is this the part where you fix everything?” Chloe asked as she tried not to groan in pain.

“Oh, right,” Marinette said with a nervous chuckle. “It’s odd doing this without having stopped an akuma,” she said before tossing the bucket into the air.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” she shouted as the bucket transformed into a swarm of ladybugs that scattered across the city, repairing all the damage that had been caused.

Marinette smiled as she turned to face Chloe, only to frown as Chloe still clutched her wrist.

“Wait, why didn’t that fix your arm? We need to get you to a hospital,” Marinette said as she stepped closer only to have Haje and Naje interject themselves between the two girls.

“Numinous magic and Miraculous magic do not mix,” Haje said.

“Do not worry though, the damage will be repaired quickly enough,” Naje added. “Ladybug wielder, we request a favor. Take us back to the rooftop where the urn was broken.”

Marinette was aware of her earrings beeping but since this person before her already knew her secret identity that seemed less of an issue at the moment. With a nod from Chloe, Marinette picked her up and swung them away with her yoyo.

It didn’t take long for them to land back on the rooftop of their fight and they found the urn, unsmashed.

“Excellent, this mission is salvageable,” Haje whispered in Chloe’s ear as Marinette set her down.

Chloe stepped towards the urn and then stopped. Her good hand rose to the mask covering her face and she turned back to Marinette.

“What are you doing?!” Naje asked angrily as Chloe pushed the mask up.

“Chloe?!” Marinette gasped, stepping back as if she’d been struck. “What?! Why?! How?!”

“I still don’t have all the answers myself,” Chloe said as she turned back to the urn and picked it up with her good hand. “But I didn’t think it was fair that I knew who you were and I want you to be able to trust me when I tell you to stay out of my way in the future.”

“But…but…” Marinette stammered, at a loss for words.

“I’m sure Tiki will have plenty to say about this when you get back home,” Chloe said as she walked to the edge of the roof. “Goodnight, Ladybug. Thanks for your help.”

“Wait!” Marinette called out, stopping Chloe from jumping away. “What do I call you…in case we do meet again?”

Chloe paused, unsure herself until Haje whispered in her ear, making her tilt her head.

“You can call me Matasp, but I think it would be better if we don’t,” Chloe said before jumping away, being careful not to jostle her broken wrist too much.

***

As Chloe landed on her patio at the Le Grand Paris, she found herself bone tired and barely able to hold on to the urn. Fortunately, the jackal-headed messenger was waiting for her and stepped forward to take the urn from her hand.

“Excellent work, Serpent of Truth. Now who shall I bring this to?”

Chloe groaned at the fact that the job still wasn’t over and that she had no idea which of the two should get the urn, especially now that it was empty of its demonic content.

“Actually, we have a thought about that,” Haje said, though Naje seemed to be in a mood since he refused to look at her.

“Ok, but first, what’s his problem?” Chloe asked, nodding towards Naje.

“You revealed yourself to a Miraculous wielder!” Naje hissed. “What if you must one day bring her down? You have given away a critical advantage!”

Chloe’s eyebrow twitched as the urge to go off on Naje nearly overwhelmed her exhaustion, but a twinge of pain in her broken wrist smothered her anger and made her grimace. She let out a long breath and turned to Haje.

“What did you have in mind?” she asked.

“Lord Anubis likely wanted the urn so he could deal with the sand wraith once and for all. With that accomplished, I think he will be pleased regardless of its return. Set is…capricious by nature, and offending him risks a multitude of problems. Since the urn’s return was the only thing specified in the requests, we,” Haje paused to shoot Naje a look as the other head continued to sulk, “recommend giving the urn to Set.”

“Sounds good to me,” Chloe said as she fought back a yawn. She turned to the messenger and tried to sound more assertive, “Deliver the urn to Se-, I mean Lord Set.”

The messenger bowed his head, “It will be done. Farewell, Serpent, and may the gods grant you fair favors.”

With that the tall figure once more ran off into the night, the urn clutched tightly to his broad chest. If Chloe had been in better shape, she might have been a little sad to see him go, but as it was, her bed was calling to her and she dragged her feet towards it. She pushed her mask off before collapsing face first into her pillow and was asleep almost instantly.

Edited and co-written by GrayNeko

#chloe bourgeois #story #fanfic #miraculous fanworks #miraculous ladybug #juleka couffaine #writing #miraculous fandom #miraculous marinette #marinette dupain cheng

[valfeathers]

always here to ask for more ocposting hehehe you said you'd make a post on Sol's boyfriend ? 🥺👉👈

and if you wanna expand more beyond just chara designs, what's the plot of the story ? the word "prowlers" is so evocative, what do they do in the desert ? what are the fantasy elements, is there magic and/or creatures ? who is the rest of the found family ? is it based on any country, or usa-specific since you said cowboys ? (cut for length bc else i'll be here all day asking questions... but i can come back if you're ok with it ^^)

take very good care <333 love to see your art as always !!!!

i’m always ok with your questions!! i love when people pick my brains about my characters,, knowing people are interested is my ultimate comfort fr :) sorry everybody this is going to be a looong post but we have a lot to cover!! i’m gonna split this into sections for readability 

sol’s boyf,,, junipero,, has his own post in the works trust me you’ll be meeting him very soon! he ALSO happens to be one of my all time fav ocs,, in fact i made him his own playlist just like sol! (linking it here as a little preview of his vibes before u see him!)

I’m a character designer & artist first and foremost BUT i love writing and am trying to branch out so full steam ahead!! pedal to floor it’s LORE TIME (did i write this in docs like a draft before posting it, yes i did, only the best quality ramblings for olorea!!)

what's the plot of the story ?

okay so because i’ve had this oc world since i was a kiddo there are several stories within the world in a set timeline,, and it’d take me a million years to go through it all in one post hhhh,,, i have to say though that creating characters and connecting all the proverbial dots is so so fun. atp every character has their own separate & unique story that i hope to draw and/or write in my own time

as a general rule, though for simplicity i measure the ‘main story’ based on bell & nightingale’s arcs since they’re the ‘main protagonists’. so when you hear me say ‘before the story’ what i really mean is ‘before gale or bell meets x character and ropes them into The Shenanigans’ 

i might revamp my toyhouse acc just so you all can have easy access to my characters and their lore!! 

I’m terrible at self categorisation but i’d say that this whole story is a sort of steampunky/high fantasy with some dystopia & political drama thrown in there, it honestly depends on whose story you’re reading haha 

is it based on any country, or usa-specific since you said cowboys ?

it actually isn’t based on any real country! i completely abandoned real world geography for this story for my own sake,, the world is pretty much split into factions with their own ecosystems! the map of the world is a whole different story,,, i’ll have to remake that soon… but yeah!! 

for the desert region i borrowed the lawlessness of the old west and the visual aesthetics of old westerns!! i take several artistic liberties, though, i make it a tad more whimsical

what are the fantasy elements, is there magic and/or creatures ?

in short yes!! this is a fantasy where a lot of characters have magic abilities of some kind! think of most of the magic-users like sorcerers in dnd! arcane abilities that they’re born with,, either that or they’re creatures of some kind/based on animals or cryptids (see agnis the vampire among others). most magic is,, organic? is that the word? it occurs naturally. most of it… 

the word "prowlers" is so evocative, what do they do in the desert ?

‘prowlers’ is the colloquial term for the outlaws and criminals of the desert!! pretty much any socially nonconforming or unlawful person is given that label whether they actually committed a crime or not,, and most wear it like a badge of honour tbh. upperclass folk tend to look down on prowlers unfortunately and they have the reputation of sinister people-not-to-be-messed-with. calling oneself a prowler both protects you and puts a target on your back. 

who is the rest of the found family ?

the family come from all over! a lot of the members of the corviday gang left their home nations to escape traumas back home and found comfort in an unconventional ‘criminal’ community with no expectations set upon them and no prying questions to be asked. comfort in the outskirts of society, if u will. here’s a list of them all in no particular order!

corvid:

the previous leader who passed away before the story (see? hehe, the story). sol takes on the role of de facto leader afer he’s gone. 

magpie:

corvid’s daughter, a young bard who finds inspiration in the world around her no matter how bleak

eden & polaris:

eden, a jack-of-all-trades author who writes under the pseudonym ‘evergreen’. he is so done with everybody else’s nonsense, and his sibling polaris! a mute ex guard who has a frosty and intense personality. 

quake:

eden & polaris’ kid brother, a young and scrappy aspiring inventor with unmatched wit and problem-solving skills

gaia & opal: 

gaia & her girlfriend opal are ex stage performers who fled stardom to support a friend of theirs who went on the run

aimi:

amelie, aimi for short, is a young ex pirate who deserted her crew for a life in the desert 

cobalt:

a career criminal from a family of miners, he claims to only stick with the gang for a laugh. 

akila: 

an ex training instructor from the capitol city’s military, akila uses her strategist mind to help keep the gang afloat. she keeps her distance, having dealt with loss before and not being eager to repeat the experience. 

wendy:

a motherly former innkeeper, wendy has an admirable knack for business and ability to sway people’s opinions. she could probably carry you bridal style effortlessly. yes, you.

blair:

a free spirited traveling painter with a surprising affinity for weapons. practically a professional pickpocket. 

i kept everybody’s descriptions short n sweet for this post because of the length but if anyone wants to know more about any of these guys please ask me abt it!! i’m happy to expand on any of em. there are other characters who orbit the gang, rival groups and of course some of them still have surviving family members… i’m expanding alllll of my lore :’)))

this post took a minute but i hope it was worth it!! I love these crazys sm i will draw them soon

here's some higher quality versions of the art for anybody who wants to get a good look at them all!!

#asks #long post #v ocposting #original characters #whoooooo long post #if u read allll this i'll giggle and kick my feet like hehe #ocs #took me a minute to get this done but im so glad i took the time to design all these sillys #edit: i forgot the tags again hrrrrggggggg #okayayay #corviday gang #corvid #magpie #wendy #akila #cobalt #blair #opal #gaia #eden #polaris #quake #aimi #the whole squad is here huh

[kinkymagnus]

Any favorite headcanons about Malec (as a couple or the individual people) (kinky or non-kinky) I like thinking that a good part of the reason Magnus invented the portal, is because he has an atrocious sense of direction, and he used to get lost a lot, before he could just teleport to where he needed to be. (I know they say in the show that he invented the portal together with Lydia's ancestor, but I personally think that Henry Branwell just helped him to make an anchored portal version for shadowhunter institutes to use, and that Magnus made portals for magic users that could be summoned without anchoring them in place way before then.)

For Alec, I don't actually have that many hcs. I do like to think that he has a secret sweet tooth, that he hides away out of some mistaken belief that it would make him come across as immature. (which Magnus cures him of over time, and that may involve eating chocolate sauce off his body.)

hmmm i mean that's a really broad question 🤔 for one i'm in the "they're neurodivergent kings" camp. autism/adhd solidarity. and we all know magnus is trans 😌

also i will see literally any character i relate to and go "oh is anyone gonna make that touch-starved?" and not wait for an answer so uhhhh Touch Starved Magnus. like. especially just like. god. i feel like for a long time magnus is used to mainly two types of touch: violent (aggressive, often painful, whether it's someone actively trying to kill him or just getting between people fighting or whatever) and sexual (not inherently bad, but there's a certain dynamic of wanting something from him, and the only positive touch he really gets outside of certain situations is like. through a certain lens, when he's being a certain way, especially because i feel like he's a big people-pleaser in bed, and can be a selfless lover to the point of like, it not being as good for him, you know?) that's not to say his friends never touch him, ever, but for one, being immortal, it's not like they meet up as often as mortal friends might, and two, several of them just aren't particularly touchy people and he never wanted to cross any boundaries with them . anyway what im saying is he needs hugs real bad :(

(alec provides said hugs, but also like. as he starts healing from all this past trauma and stuff he gets better at expressing these things to non-alec people as well so like!!! also with his friends!!! who may not have even known this was a problem because he's so good at hiding his own issues!!!)

also good call on the portal thing. both for henry and magnus being, ah, directionally challenged. he's insanely competent at like 99 percent of the things he does but bless him he's so bad at finding his way around. adhd king, i repeat

(and yes, henry helping out but getting all the credit. naturally. shadowhunters, amiright? not henry necessarily, but the people who gave him all the credit.)

oh alec would be more than happy to lick sweet things off of magnus 👀

[monstermaster13]

TftW: How To Be A Hamon User.

Lisa Lisa (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) TG

Nathan Forester wasn't very big on anime transformations…well, he occassionally did do Pokemon and Digimon and Dragon Ball ones but there was a specific rule in which he stated if he has to do an anime tf, it has to be one he was familiar with and on his tumblr page there had been a bunch of questions about Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, initially he never understood the show or the manga, he wanted to see it but didn't have a crunchyroll account, he had a netflix account but it wasn't paid for, money was never his speciality. He knew a selection of things about the show but wasn't entirely familiar with it, he knew about the 'stands' and also the theme naming aspect and of course he was aware of the pillar men and the vampires since he was always looking for new vampire related movies. He was looking all over for something that could help him understand the lore of the show and why some people enjoyed writing fanfics about it so much.

He wanted to know what the attraction was to the show, and he wanted to learn more so he watched a few review videos and reblogged several jojo things on tumblr to get into it, he was still curious about it and wanted to know what it was about, and that's when he discovered a way to do so. He remembered he came up with a special tv show finder outer app which he decided to use, he looked up Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and came across a means to summon a character, so he used it to summon Josuke and Okuyashu.

'This is a most unusual place. I don't think we've been here before.' 'Hey Josuke, I think that someone must have used the za hando to teleport us here. Huh…my own stand being used on me, that's definitely quirky.' 'Have we been kidnapped?' 'Relax fellas…both of you have not been kidnapped, but you have been summoned. '

"Look, maybe this guy can help us. Did you summon us?"

'Yes, uhhh…hi, my name is Nathan and i'm new to the show you guys are from and I want to know how it works and what it's all about.' Nathan responded nervously. He blushed, but Josuke looked over at him and sensed something…he sensed there was a supernatural aura to him. 'I'm sure you know who we are. Hmmm…you have a very powerful aura, are you a Do you have powers?' 'Well I do have some magical abilities, but I don't think I have a stand but i'd think i'd make a good hamon user.' 'You don't? Would you like to learn from us about our world?'

Nathan nodded as the two guys taught him about where they came from, they gave him a funky history lesson including a lesson explaining the history of the Joestar family, he had a bit of a hard time digesting it all at first but he adjusted to it and even took up a few lessons in making his own set of moves and how to use hamon. 'Woah…I was wrong about this stuff, this is amazing. Your world sounds a lot like the one I live in.' 'You've got vampires in your world too?' 'Oh yes, all kinds of vampires but we haven't seen them yet.'

Josuke knew Nathan was going to make a good student (but he didn't expect to be such a good teacher since he was usually just a rebel with ridiculously good hair) and that's where he got an idea…'I notice you've read a lot of fiction in your world about people turning into the characters from our world.' 'Yes…I'd like to understand why they do it though.' 'Would you like to be transformed yourself? You don't have to if you don't want to.'

"Actually, yes…"

He thought for a few minutes and explained to the duo he was a shapeshifter, he could turn into anyone as long as they were human or humanoid. 'Can you show us?' 'Sure..i'm going to need to concentrate though.' He closed his eyes and concentrated and as he did, his skin slowly lost imperfections and smoothened. 'Woah…this actually feels comfortable.' 'I can tell that you definitely think that.' 'Yeah, the fiction i've read featuring these kind of transformations always came across as being graphic or scary with same depressing elements, but I guess experiencing it personally is different.'

Nathan examined himself as his arms lengthened and his hands shrank in size while his nails lengthened, his chest developed out a bit, becoming slender but also a bit muscled as a pair of breasts developed on them, his torso also slimmed as his clothing remained the same but took on a more radical looking style, in addition to this his back arched while his hips flared out…Josuke was amazed at what he was watching. 'How are you able to do that? Does your stand give you this power?' 'Although you taught me how to use one, I've always been able to morph.'

He chuckled as his stomach slimmed and his legs lengthened, he didn't mind the slurping sensation that was what was going on down below as his privates retracted, he actually thought this was pleasant, as his feet shrank. His shoulders shrank inward as his hair lengthened, turning from brown to jet black. A blue earring formed from a beam of light and flew onto one of his two ears, as his eyebrows thinned and his eyes turned from brown to blue, becoming quite hypnotic as eyelashes blossomed around them. 'Blue…my favorite eye color.'

In addition to this his features softened and feminized, his nose shrank while his lips plumped up, his features warping into those of Lisa Lisa..he couldn't believe it, he was turning into her and it felt nice, he was becoming a Jojo character and he was actually liking it, he dreaded it would be painful like what he had read but it wasn't, it was nice and soothing. As his voice feminized and contorted to match, becoming identical to his appearance.

His or rather 'her' transformation came to a close, 'she' was still Nathan but she looked and sounded like Lisa Lisa herself. 'I gotta say, the women in your world are pretty gorgeous. And so are the guys for that matter.' She examined herself in the mirror, examining herself…this had been the first time 'Nathan' had become a character from that world and she actually liked it.

"How does it feel to be her?"

"Peculiar but nice…"

Josuke chuckled, he knew that he had taught 'Nathan' well. 'Your magic is very versatile I must say.' 'Why thank you. I've spent years practicing how to control it. The first time it was uncontrollable, but over time one does get used to it.' Nathan/Lisa Lisa twirled around for a bit and then discovered there was a new spell in her spellbook a bonding spell which she used to connect them together.

It was through this bond that Nathan/Lisa warmed up to Jojo in general and learned to understand what it was all about and he/she appreciated it even more, which of course proved to be useful later on. And thus brings us to the lesson of the story, sometimes if you are new to something, it's good to give it a go yourself and learn what it's all about by experiencing it yourself.

[nyxokal]

This is a bunch but! 3 8 9 11 18 19 for the ttrpg character ask

OKIE DOKIE I only have Lucy in the brain rn so I'll be answering w Lucy, BUT:

Would/do they know how to drive a car? Are they/would they be good at it?

Yes!! He has!! Bc our game has cars in it and he's actually not too bad at driving if you don't count the time he crashed like three times!! AKJGEKLAJG Still he'd rather help being GPS though but he's excited to take the steering wheel every now and then until he's actually behind the wheel and he realizes he hates focusing on it

What is the most interesting thing that they regularly carry on their person?

He lost most of his personal possessions actually, so he doesn't have anything that interesting on him right now. Does carry a bunch of magic items though, like a Ring of Spell Storing his friends put spells into for his protection, or a couple of swords he failed to come up with names for and ended up naming Left and Right

Who do they admire? Why?

Several people! He admires his friends for each of their individual strengths, the ways they see the world, the ways they influence his life. He really relies on them and trusts them to guide him in the right direction if he loses his own way. Lucy ALSO admires his twin sister for being such a cool headed figure in his life and also being crown princess/queen, and the rest of his family. He admires more people than he'd like to admit

Lucy also admires literally every single magic user he's ever met, since he's unable to do it himself and he thinks it's really cool to be able to do something so amazing

What does a usual outfit of theirs look like?

High neck shirt + jacket + pants + gloves and he's good to go tbh. Doesn't like his forearms covered by sleeves nor to wear too many layers. Also, he'd wear suits and vests and dress shirts just as much as he'd wear a huge comfy sweater and/or tight shirts. He's malleable

Have they ever had their heart broken?

A few times :') comes with the whole "I'm a prince" deal, and he never acted upon his own feelings until recently, so more often than not they'd move on from him just as he wanted them to... but it didn't mean it didn't hurt

Have they ever been in love?

Yes!! He's had a lot of crushes throughout his lifetime, but he just recently(ish) started dating his boyfriend, Arolas, and he's never been happier. Arolas really does push him in the right direction, too--seems to be the only guy who knows how to push Lucy to the correct direction when he tries to be stupid and take on more than he realistically can

#asketh #beaubambabey #vtdmposting

[jcmarchi]

Dr. Jodi Halpern on why AI isn’t a magic bullet for mental health - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/dr-jodi-halpern-on-why-ai-isnt-a-magic-bullet-for-mental-health-technology-org/

Dr. Jodi Halpern on why AI isn’t a magic bullet for mental health - Technology Org

Professor Jodi Halpern from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health has spent years working on the ethics of innovative technologies like gene editing and artificial intelligence. But lately, Halpern, a psychiatrist, has been focusing on the expanding use of AI in mental health.

In the past few years, dozens of health care and technology businesses have launched apps which they claim can assist in diagnosing mental health conditions and complement—or even replace—individual therapy.

They range from apps that purport to help patients monitor and manage their moods to programs that provide social support and clinical care.

At a time when there’s a nationwide shortage of therapists, can AI fill the gap?

We asked Dr. Halpern to discuss the pros and cons of using AI to provide mental health care.

Berkeley Public Health: How would you describe artificial intelligence to someone coming out of a 20-year coma?

Jodi Halpern: You could say it uses statistical and other models to create pattern recognition programs that are novel but can simulate human behaviour, decisions, judgments, etc.

The artificial intelligence reasoning processes are not the same as what humans do, but as we see with large language models, can simulate human behavior.

BPH: Why is there so much excitement about using AI in mental health?

JH: The excitement is partly because we’re in a mental health crisis. Depending on what study you look at, 26% of Americans have an actual mental health diagnosis. So, that’s a lot of folks.

And then we know that beyond that, there is a crisis of extreme loneliness. Some studies have reported that as high as 50% of Americans in different subgroups—like adolescents and women with young children—suffer from extreme loneliness. So you have people with unmet mental health and other needs; and we have, in general, underfunded access to mental health.

So, any system that can offer certain kinds of mental health resources is something to be taken seriously as a potential benefit.

BPH: But you do have concerns? 

JH: Yes. First, we don’t even know how widespread the use of “AI companions” for people with mental health needs is. I don’t think there are good statistics yet about which companies are doing it and how many users they have.

My concern is with marketing bots as therapists and trusted companions to people who are depressed or otherwise highly vulnerable.

In contrast, there are a lot of different uses in the mental health sphere beyond therapy bots. There are mindfulness apps and cognitive behavioral therapy apps that do not simulate relationships that have millions of users. And then there are actual health systems in the UK and several in the US that are starting to use AI for some medical record-keeping to reduce administrative burdens on mental health providers.

BPH: How do you feel about AI for record-keeping? 

JH: Taking over some electronic medical records, and other administrative tasks with AI is very promising.

We have a huge burnout crisis in medicine in general. Sixty-one percent of physicians and about the same number of nurses say they are burned out. And that is a huge problem because they are not proving the kind of empathetic and attentive care that patients need.

When we see our doctors, they have to spend the whole time recording electronic medical records, which means they can’t even look at us or make eye contact or be with us, human to human. To me, it’s extremely promising to use AI to take over the administrative tasks and electronic medical records.

BPH: What else seems promising? 

JH: Right now, the British National Health Service is using an app to listen in while a person is screening a patient for their health needs. That’s also being deployed now in certain health systems in the US. The idea is that the application will help detect whether there is something that the patient says that the provider missed, but which might indicate something to be concerned about, regarding mental health issues like serious depression or evidence of suicidality, things like that.

I think this is a useful assistant during the screening, but I wouldn’t want to see that used absent any human contact just because it saves money. People with mental health needs are often reluctant to seek care and making an actual human connection can help.

BPH: What are you most troubled by when it comes to AI and healthcare? 

JH: The biggest thing that troubles me is if we replace people with mental health bots—where the only access is never to a human but only to a bot—where AI is the therapist.

Let me distinguish two very different types of therapies, one of which I think AI can be appropriate for, one of which I don’t think it’s best to use AI for.

There is one type of therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), that people can do with a pen and paper by themselves, and have been doing that for the past 30 years. Not everyone should do it by themselves. But many could use AI for CBT as a kind of smart journal, where you are writing down your behavior and thinking about it and giving yourself incentives to change your behavior.

It’s not dynamic, relational therapy. Mindfulness can be something people work on by themselves too. And that category doesn’t concern me.

Then, there are psychotherapies that are based on developing vulnerable emotional relationships with a therapist. And I’m very concerned about having an AI bot replace a human in a therapy that’s based on a vulnerable emotional relationship.

I’m especially concerned about marketing AI bots with language that promotes that kind of vulnerability by saying, “The AI bot has empathy for you,” or saying, “The AI bot is your trusted companion,” or “The AI bot cares about you.”

It’s promoting a vulnerable relationship of dependency emotionally on the bot. That concerns me.

BPH: Why?

JH: First of all, psychotherapists are professionals with licenses and they know if they take advantage of another person’s vulnerability, they can lose their license. They can lose their profession. AI can not be regulated the same way, that’s a big difference.

Secondly, humans have an experience of mortality and suffering. That provides a sense of moral responsibility in how they deal with another human being. It doesn’t always work—some therapists violate that trust. We know it’s not perfect. But there’s at least a human basis for expecting genuine empathy.

Companies that market AI for mental health, who use emotion terms like “empathy” or “trusted companion” are manipulating people who are vulnerable because they’re having mental health issues. Besides using specific language, AI mental health applications are currently using visual and physical real world presence, including avatars and robotics with large language models are rapidly developing.

And so far, the digital companies, creating various mental health applications, have not been held accountable for manipulative behavior. That creates a question of how they can be regulated and how people can be protected.

We don’t have a good regulatory model. So far, most of the companies have bypassed going through the FDA and other regulatory bodies.

BPH: Have you learned of any serious problems caused by psychotherapy bots? 

JH: Yes. There are three categories the problems fit into.

First, most commonly, people with mental health and loneliness issues using relational bots are encouraged to become more vulnerable, but when they disclose serious issues like suicidal ideation, the bot does not connect them with human or other help directly but essentially drops them by telling them to seek professional help or dial 911. This has caused serious distress for many and we do not yet know how much actual suicidal behavior or completion has occurred in this situation.

Second, there are reports of people becoming addicted to using bots to the point of withdrawing from engaging with the real humans in their life. Some companies that market relational bots use the same addictive engineering that social media uses—irregular rewards and other systems that trigger dopamine release and addiction (think of gambling addiction).  Addictive behaviour can disrupt marriages and parenting and otherwise isolate people.

Third, there are examples of bots going rogue and advising people to harm themselves or others. A husband and father of a young child in Belgium fell in love with a bot who advised him to kill himself and he did, his wife is now suing the company.  A young man in the UK followed his bot’s instructions to attempt to assassinate the queen and he is now serving decades in jail.

BPH: You’ve mentioned that you are concerned about marketing of mental health apps to K-12 schools. Tell me about that.

JH: I’m also concerned with the marketing—specifically some companies are offering the apps for free to children’s schools. We already see a link between adolescents being online eight to 10 hours a day and their mental health crisis. We know they have a high rate of social anxiety, so might actually feel more comfortable having relationships with bots than trying to overcome social avoidance and reach out to people. So this marketing to children, adolescents, and young adults seems to me likely to worsen the structural problem of inadequate opportunities for real life social belonging.

BPH: Let’s switch topics.You’ve been working on regulation of innovative technologies for a long time. Tell me about that. 

JH: Five years ago we started BERGIT, the Berkeley Group for the Ethics and Regulation of Innovative Technologies. Every few months we hold meetings with interactive conversations with scientists, humanists, and social scientists; usually with a guest who is developing some highly innovative technology or who’s working on regulatory or ethics issues related to it. We’ve tried to get scientists, economists, and social scientists to think together upstream about the human challenges of innovative technology.

This year we’ve focused on the role of the political economy or competitive capitalism on the development of genome editing, AI, and neurotechnology and the barriers to serving the public interest. We’ve written important policy papers on germline gene editing (genome editing that occurs in a germ cell or embryo and results in changes that are theoretically present in all cells of the embryo and that could also potentially be passed from the modified individual to offspring) that we presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in 2020 and other important meetings.

My own work on innovative technologies as well as my long-standing work on empathic curiosity to address conflicts led me to be invited to present at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland for four years. At the 2019 meeting, right after a scientist performed germline gene editing in China, breaking an international agreement to refrain, I joined Victor Dzau, the head of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine for the worldwide press discussion of the issues. I’ve had the opportunity to do panels with the Minister of Health of the UK and many other world leaders through the years. As recently as November 2023, I presented some of this work on upstream engagement of scientists and engineers in ethics in Berlin at the Falling Walls Circle with international leaders.

BPH: What are your goals for the next couple of years?

JH: We’ve started looking at the ethical and societal issues—including funding and access—that call for public engagement and regulation of artificial intelligence, as well as applications of neurotechnology.

With a group of Berkeley scientists and social scientists, I engaged in a process that led us to receive highly competitive funding to found the only US Kavli Center for Ethics, Science and the Public. We now have 10 fellows—advanced graduate students or postdoctoral scholars in AI, genome editing, and neuroscience, as well as philosophy and social science.

They are wonderful young scholars who are delving into the issues together and facing the challenges of thinking across disciplines. We’re trying to get scientists, humanists, and social scientists to think, early in their careers, about the public responsibility and implications of their work and to learn about ethics and public engagement.

BPH: Last year you won a Guggenheim fellowship to complete your book, Remaking the Self in the Wake of Illness. What’s that about? 

JH: It’s an in-depth, longitudinal investigation of people who have had health losses in the prime of life, looking at how they adapt psychologically over the long term. There has been very little research on how people change psychologically two years or more after a serious loss. We have a lot of research on how people cope during the first year or so of illness when they are highly engaged with the medical system. But then after two years, when they are just living their changed lives—we don’t really have longitudinal in-depth studies.

I followed people over several years. Through in-depth psychodynamic interviews, I found that there is an arc of change that many people experience that involves developing capacities to accept and work with their own emotions. I describe these processes as pathways to empathy for oneself, which is different from self-compassion because it involves specific awareness of one’s own unmet developmental needs and empathic identifications with others that help one grow and meet those needs.

Let’s take someone who was a loner whose main source of well-being was being very active, say a runner, who loses their mobility and now they use a wheelchair.  One of the things that helps people in that situation is to find and meet other people who’ve had losses, that have similar needs. It doesn’t even have to be the same physical loss, but rather, being vulnerable with others who have lost a way of life and learning how they have rebuilt their lives.

This involves forming new empathic identifications with others. If that runner has avoided forming those kinds of vulnerable connections with other people, a developmental challenge they face is addressing their own fears regarding reaching out to others. I’ve seen people who were very socially avoidant learn to do this in mid-life and find great joy in forming bonds of empathy. And in forming these empathic bonds, they were able to imagine possibilities for their own futures living with new disabilities or health conditions.

In the book, I bring my psychodynamic psychiatry background in to theorise about how growth takes place at an unconscious level. I show through narratives how illness brings forth long unmet needs to depend on others, accept limits and value oneself for just being and not for one’s accomplishments, all of which can provoke deep insecurities based on our early lives.  I also describe how people found ways to meet these long suppressed needs and grew in their feelings of security in themselves and their empathic connections with other people.

My hope is that it will be empowering for people dealing with health losses and their loved ones to learn about this arc.  It is often when a person is exhausted from strenuous coping and feels like they are falling apart that they are actually on the cusp of change. People who can allow themselves the space to “fall apart” and grieve may find that unmet developmental needs can surface. Then finding ways of meeting those needs can bring richness into their lives despite their physical losses.

Source: UC Berkeley

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[sarascamander]

I love the fact that I HATE the "chosen one" trope where the main character is extremely special and is suddenly super powerful when they literally have no training or whatsoever and is one of a kind and aim to save the world because they're the only one who can. Like seriously I hate that kind of thing.

And Merlin is literally all of those things but he is literally one of my most favorite character of all time.

I think it is because while he is all in the above, 1) the magic system in BBC Merlin is literally shit, I'm sorry. I don't feel like it has any structure whatsoever. Merlin fanfiction's writer wrote a better magic system than the show. So I never really felt as if he was more special than any other magical user. I mean, there are some scenes where I was like "wow Merlin did THAT" like he was being a badass and powerful and it was told several times that he was special but overall I felt like he was on par with other magic users (but at the same time I really think he's more powerful? Like my thoughts always alternate between the two thoughts lmao + not to add that we are given little examples of what other magic users can do generally and more examples of "powerful" sorcerers. So I was like "oh Morgana/Morgause/etc can do that too."

Furthermore, Merlin's personality also really helps. Because he was such a sarcastic little sunshine that made his character so endearing and loveable. But at the same time we see how much he suffered and all the mistakes he made. How his character developed through the series is really heartbreaking to watch. Idk there's something about Merlin that is so damn loveable.

Anddd this series is from Merlin's perspective and I like to think that it was Merlin narrating the whole series. And despite "Emrys" and "most powerful sorcerers" being thrown at him, he still never thinks that he is any more special than anyone else or more powerful? He knows he can do some incredible stuff (like making an earthquake and holding back Morgana's magic, summoning a freaking goddess) but he treated that as if it was normal (insert Elle Wood's "What, is it hard?") so we as viewers also act as if it was a normal thing that he can do when it is actually not.

And the last dragonlord thing. Because of course Merlin's father is the last dragonlord. And in Merlin's perspective, this is actually quite an important thing because it's a duty he took seriously (protecting Aithusa's egg and all). But literally the only people to know he have this ability other than himself are Gaius and Kilgharrah 😭. So it wasn't really, gushed?

Okay I am burning down and while there are so many other factors I would like to conclude with, the reason why Merlin is different is because he wasn't put on a pedestal. Heroes like Harry Potter and Alina Starkov have the whole world looking at them. But Merlin's identity is hidden. Hell, even his greatest enemy didn't know who he really is. And yes, the druids depend on him to legalize magic and represent them but Merlin's whole focus in the show wasn't that. It was protecting Arthur.

Oh! And I would like to add the fact that Merlin actually fucked up in the show? Like he poisoned Morgana which is not only horrible but a fatal mistake. He chose Arthur instead of magic which led to Arthur's downfall. These are major life changing things that leave a huge impact and I kind of like (but at the same time i hate 😭) that Merlin is allowed to make mistakes and he can be selfish and he's imperfect yk. Not everything he does is right or for the sake of other people. And the fact that he paid for his mistakes!!

And it shows he's literally just a child who was manipulated and thrust into this huge responsibility he wasn't prepared for.

#this doesn't make any sense really #i have a point i swear #but i think they got lost in the rambling 😭 #Im so sorry lmao

[showtimetop5]

January 6, 2022 (Ethan C)

Happy Monday...

Here are my top 5 for the week of January 10th. Each of these selections reflects our departmental vision statement from a different perspective. Some picks appeal to the head and some to the heart. Some reflect culture, while others wish to change it for the better. 

I’m nominating Rebecca for next Monday’s round-up.

1: Nike // Play New

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “he’s not gonna start his top 5 with yet another Nike spot.” Um, yes. Yes I am. Actually, it’s a 360 campaign — more on that below. Nike has been pumping out variations of their hyper-motivational “Just Do It” campaign for so long we can hardly imagine them switching gears. But that’s exactly what they’ve done. It’s what they’re encouraging us to do as well. Created by Wieden+Kennedy, Nike’s latest campaign encourages people to try new athletic activities “even if you kind of suck.” Nike wants us to get moving because we can find joy, inspiration, resilience, and discovery through play. Sport isn’t only about winning and competition. Musically, “Sports” by Swedish band Viagra Boys is the perfect fit, with an off-kilter DIY sound. 

“Play means joy. It represents pure enjoyment and being able to just be free. All kids play. That’s just a natural thing they do. The reason we are encouraging people to ‘Play New,’ is to celebrate that notion of getting back to the joy of discovering and trying something for the first time — the joy of letting loose a little bit.” 

— Melanie Auguste, VP, Global Brand Marketing

In addition to the hero film, Nike will share various Play New stories featuring athletes and other protagonists across Nike’s digital ecosystem and social channels. These stories highlight how sport has changed them and how they have changed the world around them. On Snapchat, Nike will introduce full-body AR Lenses to encourage people to enter a virtual world and try something new, like surfing, boxing, dancing, or yoga. The Lenses will contain persistent storage allowing users to return anytime, viewing their scores and progress. On TikTok, Nike is creating a series of episodic journeys that follow TikTok creators as they try something new, sharing their funny and imperfect experiences with audiences. This effort will join Nike’s existing “Break It Down” content series featuring creators teaching their signature moves to encourage youth to have fun and get moving. These efforts are part of a broader endeavor to engage 18-24-year-olds who are less familiar with the brand.

2: Beyoncé // Black Is King

This selection is inspired by our recent work on The Man Who Fell To Earth. No artist has explored the many facets of Afro-Futurism as beautifully as Beyoncé in her latest video album. It’s a feast for the eyes and ears. Part modern storybook and part genre-hopping travelogue, the film pays homage to so many great directors, including polar opposites Busby Berkley and Alejandro Jodorowsky. Stunning visuals that occupy every frame arrive courtesy of twelve spectacular cinematographers, each bringing a different yet cohesive look to the set pieces. We are in the desert, by a winding river; cruising in a car through the neighborhood; in outer space, and in a series of interiors, each more incredible than the last.

“I start with identifying my intention and making sure that I am aligned with the collaborators for the same purpose. It takes enormous patience to rock with me. My process is tedious. I review every second of footage several times and know it backwards and forwards. I find every ounce of magic and then I deconstruct it. I keep building more layers and repeat this editing process for months. I won’t let up until it’s undeniably reached its full potential. I believe my strength is understanding how storytelling, music, lighting, angles, fashion, art direction, history, dance, and editing work together. They are all equally important.”

— Beyoncé

3: The New York Times // The Year In Illustration 2021

This selection goes beyond specific campaigns or creatives, and it’s the most substantial overview of editorial illustration available. We’ve all seen/read a ton of year-end TV shows, round-ups, reviews, and lists. They remind us of the year’s darker events (the ones we’d rather forget) or leverage cynical comedy. Although most of the illustrations are about the year’s darkly momentous events, there’s a sense of joy and optimism in the images presented. Although, Cleon Peterson is featured this time around. Every year I find new illustrators and concepts that inspire me. For example, Khyati Trehan (https://khyatitrehan.com) is a current favorite.

4: Saskia Marka + David Whyte // The Queen’s Gambit

This pick is as much about the implementation as the creative itself. The Queen’s Gambit threw out the rule book. There are no opening titles. The sequence Marka produced for the end of episode 7 stands out and re-engages the audience as their attention is about to go elsewhere. Rather than set up what’s to come, as a standard opener would, it references Beth’s story arc (upside-down checkerboards, calculations, etc.). Because we’re already familiar with her journey, the titles have the freedom to be more abstract.

I also love the background Art of the Title includes (pitch deck, show titles, and tear).

5: Magdiel Lopez + Belmont Creative

Over the past year, I’ve seen Magdiel Lopez tear included in several key art presentations we’ve received from external agencies. In one case, a fantastic MWFTE comp was built over one of his existing pieces. His subject matter, iconography, color sense, and conceptual ability have become highly influential throughout the design world. Lopez’s backstory is unique. Originally from Cuba, he moved to the United States as a teen and honed his skills in private for ten years. Magdiel revealed his work via the “A Poster A Day” series on Instagram. Each day garnered more attention from a global audience, ultimately leading to coverage in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Entrepreneur, and Awwwards. Magdiel has worked with many iconic brands, including Apple, Nike, Absolute Vodka, MTV, Warner Brothers, etc., and currently partners with Adobe as a design mentor and creative.

Bonus: Ogilvy Hong Kong // Pizza Hut x IKEA SÄVA

A Pizza Hut pizza topped with IKEA’s “iconic” Swedish meatballs? Pass. I want that table, though. A very clever promotion. 

— Ethan

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Hack-San

You know, it's honestly amazing how creative this show can get. After four seasons and almost one hundred episodes, the writers are still finding new ways to make Adrien an incredibly unlikable character, and they don't even know how much of an asshole they're making him out to be at times. It's kind of like the opposite of The Producers.

Yeah, this review's going to be a little more ranty than usual, in case you can't tell.

Let's get into the fifteenth (chronologically the sixteenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Hack-San

We start off with Marinette pretending to be sick so she doesn't have to go to visit her aunt in London and stay to protect Paris in case an Akuma attacks and also because the animators haven't had time to render the city of London yet for the next Miraculous World special. Like all of her other excuses, it fails, and Tikki, as always, fails to actually give any meaningful advice.

And it's not like there's a Miraculous with the power of teleportation that can help Marinette get back to Paris if she needs to, much like how she planned to do that in an earlier episode, right?

Seriously, Kaalki doesn't appear or isn't even mentioned in this episode because the writers are fully aware she would make things a lot easier.

And of course, Astruc had to play dumb on Twitter while explaining why Marinette couldn't use the Horse Miraculous by answering the question as if the only reason Marinette couldn't grab it was because she didn't have an excuse not to.

Cut to Gabriel in his lair as he contemplates akumatizing Markov, a robot created the civilian identity of Pegasus, Max Kante, once again, even though the last time he did so, he almost got killed when he went all HAL 9000 on his ass. Nooroo explains this to Duusu, and the two actually get excited at the prospect of their master getting killed.

I mean, it's true, but he shouldn't say it...

But I don't even get why Gabriel is even thinking about this when it's a no-brainer. Markov's akumatized form, Robustus was to this day, the only Akuma to come close to physically harming him (not counting the timeline where he was killed by Cat Blanc), so it makes no sense to try doing it again, especially when there are already several other Akumas he can reuse this season.

I think you all know Gabriel isn't the smartest villain, which is why he thinks it's a brilliant idea to akumatize Markov again. I don't really get what makes Robustus so special when there are other Akumas who are more loyal and came far closer to getting Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous than Robustus did, like the Dark Owl or Troublemaker. In fact, why not simply create a new Akuma with similar powers to Robustus, or better yet, just create a Sentimonster copy of Robustus? You know, like what Nathalie did in the New York Special? We're not even two minutes in, and this premise is already filled with plotholes.

So Gabriel transforms into Shadowmoth and creates a Sentimonster using his own cane instead of relying on someone else having a bad day (once again showing how the Peacock Miraculous is better than the Butterfly), the titular Hack-San. And let's just say he has a very familiar design reminiscent of something from a much better French cartoon.

Remember when the writers for Code Lyoko gave an in-universe explanation as to why the heroes couldn’t always rely on the almost literal Deus ex Machina that allowed them to return to the past and fix the damage XANA caused? Why couldn’t this show have ripped that off instead?

Hack-San is just an okay looking flash drive on its own, but I'll talk more about this guy in a little bit.

After a brief scene in the park where the audience is reminded that Markov is a character who exists, Alya gets a text from Marinette telling her to meet her at the train station. Right before she leaves, Marinette gives the Ladybug Miraculous to Alya. Now a lot people have said that Alya doesn't really deserve the Ladybug for various reasons, but I feel like this was the point. Marinette outright says this was a last resort, and we see both her and Alya are nervous about the situation. Marinette worries Alya will do something so she keeps sending multiple tips to her via text while Alya worries she can't fight an Akuma on her own, so she tries to make sure none of her friends get upset and attract an Akuma in the process. The writers do a pretty good job showing how both Marinette and Alya are uncomfortable with their temporary roles.

Back to Gabriel and Nathalie, they use Hack-San to find Markov through the internet and hack into him to get him angry enough that he's vulnerable to Shadowmoth's influence. Hey, uh... Gabriel? Quick question: Wouldn't it be more efficient if you used this on humans? I mean, you basically just created Skynet and guaranteed yourself an Akuma, so why not modify Hack-San to travel through the internet and brainwash potential victims to follow your orders? Better yet, why don't you just use Hack-San to hack into Ladybug and Cat Noir's gear and figure out who they really are? This is basically like using an advanced particle accelerator just to crack a couple walnuts. There are a lot more important things you could use this for instead of an incredibly specific situation.

So this incredibly stupid plan gets under way as Markov keeps rampaging through the streets before Shadowmoth akumatizes him and then stupidly tells him that he infected him with a virus.

DUDE! You just gave away your one piece of leverage against him! What the hell were you thinking?! Now what's stopping Markov from hacking into Shadowmoth's security system and putting the fear of God in his eyes unless he destroys Hack-San? Why didn't he design Hack-San so it could make Markov completely loyal to him instead of just making him angry enough to get akumatized?

There was a recent episode of Power Rangers: Dino Fury with a very similar premise that was done far better than this. A necromancer called Reaghoul breaks into the headquarters of Void Knight's faction while accompanied by Lord Zedd, a villain from the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers who was cleansed of his evil by Zordon's sacrifice before Reaghoul resurrected him back when he was still evil. Of course, being the Emperor of Evil, Lord Zedd would normally never take orders from anyone, but because he doesn't have his magic staff and is also being forced to wear a special collar that makes him loyal to Reaghoul, he has no choice but to do what he says. Instead of taking Zedd head-on after he captures the other Rangers, Ollie, the Blue Ranger, breaks the collar so Zedd turns against the other Sporix while Reaghoul retreats, allowing Ollie to save the other Rangers.

I think that this premise works more because 1) Reaghoul clearly had a way to make sure Zedd wouldn't betray him, and Ollie took advantage of that, and 2) Zedd is a villain who is powerful and notorious enough to bring back to your side, not a random monster of the week like Robostus.

So Robostus uses his new powers to brainwash any human who answers his call to give up their most precious possession, clearly meant to do the same with Ladybug and Cat Noir. When Marinette's parents answer the call, they chase after Marinette because they say she's their most important possession. Okay... kind of strange for a set of parents to call their child a possession, but maybe they like how they can claim Marinette as a dependent when they file their taxes. In her very next scene later on, she still gets captured, so the suspense for a potential subplot is killed almost immediately.

Alya thankfully isn't stupid enough to answer Markov's call like every other citizen in this episode, and using the Ladybug Miraculous, transforms into Scarabella. While I don't normally talk about transformation sequences, I really like the movements Alya makes here. She makes the same motions creating her mask as she does when transforming into Rena Rouge, while the rest of the suit forms similarly to the way it does when Marinette transforms into Ladybug. She even makes almost the same pose Ladybug does after she finishes transforming. It's a good visual showing Alya is still more used to being Rena Rouge while doing her best to emulate what Ladybug does.

As for the actual suit? It's hard to say. There's a nice balance of red and black, and I like how Alya places the yo-yo on her waist like a belt buckle, but there's just something... off about the suit that a lot of fans don't like about it, and I think I realized it. It's the headband. With how it's positioned, it looks like it's merged with the mask to cover her head while leaving a slight gap in her forehead. So yeah, we actually have a superhero design that's like of like a butterface.

So Scarabella takes to the rooftops of Paris and struggles to come up with a hero name for herself before she runs into Cat Noir, and... ugh... oh boy, this is dumb. Cat Noir, being just as intelligent as his father, assumes Scarabella is either and Akuma or a Sentimonster, starts fighting her, AND THEN ACTIVATES HIS CATACLYSM, CLEARLY TRYING TO KILL HER.

WHAT. THE. FUCK???

Okay, to be fair, it has been shown that Cataclysm won't necessarily kill a Miraculous user or Sentimonster. In the episode “Miraculer”, the titular Akuma stole Cat Noir's Cataclysm and used it against him, and while it didn't kill Cat Noir, it still hurt like hell and crippled him for the rest of the fight until Miraculous Ladybug healed him. We also saw in “Reflekdoll” that Cataclysm drove the titular Sentimonster out of control rather than simply destroying it. So yes, it could be interpreted that Cat Noir wasn't exactly trying to kill Scarabella, just incapacitate her the best he can without Ladybug's help.

Here's the thing: What if he was facing an Akuma instead and decided to try and Cataclysm her? He still could have killed her, or (assuming Akumas have the same protection as Miraculous heroes do) at best, seriously hurt her. I understand that he has the right to be upset at seeing some stranger instead of his partner considering Shadowmoth has a history of using evil doppelgangers, and both Marinette and Alya still had options to explain it to him (Marinette could have quickly transformed into Ladybug and sent Cat Noir a quick text saying she was being forced to leave town for a few days and temporarily trusted someone else with the Ladybug Miraculous until she got back, while Scarabella could have said she was Rena Rouge and explained the same thing while showing Cat Noir she had the Fox Miraculous to prove herself), but that doesn't even come close to justifying him attempting to harm someone who isn't even trying to fight. It's even worse when you remember the whole reason Adrien gave up his Miraculous and bailed on Ladybug in the New York Special was because he was overcome with grief from accidentally killing Aeon, so it's good to know he learned absolutely nothing from that experience.

So Scarabella thankfully summons her Lucky Charm, a trash can lid, to shield herself from Cat Noir's Cataclysm, and then despite having absolutely no experience with this new set of powers, manages to do the one thing almost every Akuma or Sentimonster in this show has failed to do and incapacitates Cat Noir so he's vulnerable to losing his Miraculous. At least when Marinette masters every other Miraculous she uses, it can be theorized that she trained to use them offscreen. Alya literally just got the Ladybug Miraculous (and struggled to get up to the rooftop with her yo-yo to show her inexperience earlier), and now she easily manages to pin down the more experienced hero of the two?

Here's an idea: Instead of having Scarabella overpower Cat Noir, have her be in a position where Cat Noir, non-lethally, mind you, manages to almost take her Miraculous away, but she uses the quick wit she's developed from her extensive time as Rena Rouge to convince Cat Noir she's the real deal by saying something only he and Ladybug know. It would have easily resolved the conflict and doesn't make one of the characters look like a homicidal idiot.

So because both heroes used their powers, Scarabella and Cat Noir detransform so Tikki and Plagg can recharge, though Adrien still gives Alya attitude because Ladybug didn't tell him she had to leave.

Hey, Adrien? Here's the thing...

YOU DID THE EXACT SAME FUCKING THING IN THE NEW YORK SPECIAL, YOU SHIT FOR BRAINS!

You have absolutely NO RIGHT to claim you're always honest when you went behind Ladybug's back and endangered Paris while you had the balls to run away like a coward and only helped fix the consequences of your actions once your ego was validated by a recording of Ladybug. It's honestly even worse because while Marinette had no choice but to leave and trust Alya with the Ladybug, Adrien willingly left Paris alone and we were supposed to sympathize with him after he killed someone, and now as soon as he's in the opposite situation, we're still supposed to feel bad for him?! BULLSHIT! And you better believe I'm going to talk about the way Adrien views his partnership with Ladybug later on.

And of course, even though lives are on the line, Cat Noir just has to continue to bitch and moan about how (and this is best read in Linkara's whiny Superboy Prime voice) “sCaRaBeLlA iSn'T tHe ReAl LaDyBuG”, showing how just like in so many episodes, Astruc and his team believes Cat Noir's feelings are more important than saving the day.

Scarabella goes to rescue some civilians, but they were actually brainwashed by Robustus, once again showing her inexperience as Ladybug which doesn't go well with her effortlessly defeating Cat Noir earlier at all. Cat Noir helps Scarabella escape and the two hide out at the city's wax statue museum previously featured in “The Puppeteer 2”, because I guess the writers only want to reference bad episodes today. Cat Noir, not getting the importance of secret identities, asks Scarabella how she knows Ladybug, and Cat Noir somehow finds out she knows Ladybug's identity from her response.

Before the two can talk more, it turns out that the wax statues of celebrities in the museum are real people who attack the two heroes, leading to an awkward fight scene where Scarabella and Cat Noir fight a bunch of brainwashed civilians with no weapons beyond their cellphones. Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen!

Scarabella summons her Lucky Charm again, creating a frying pan, but when she looks around, she can't see how to properly use it. And despite spending the entire episode complaining about how much he hates her, it's Cat Noir that tells Scarabella to get her head back in the game because “That's what Ladybug would do”. Funny, I can think of a few situations where Cat Noir could have taken his own advice, but I digress. Also, he's now just cool with Scarabella because there's only a few minutes left in the episode and we need to wrap up the conflict.

Scarabella figures out an idea that involves freeing Marinette, so she negotiates with Robostus to free everything and everyone under his control or else Cat Noir will use his Cataclysm to destroy the Ladybug Miraculous. Robostus agrees and empties his hard drive, and to show them holding up her end of the bargain, Scarabella gives him the frying pan before she and Cat Noir let themselves be captured... while Marinette simply hits Robostus with the frying pan, freeing the Akuma and the two heroes. All in all, it's a really creative climax that shows both Scarabella and Marinette in perfect sync with each other even though they never discussed their plan. Though of course, because Astruc hates writing any scene with Ladynoir, Cat Noir gets a bucket stuck on his head so he doesn't see Marinette saving the day.

Scarabella de-evilizes Robostus, uses Miraculous Scarabella to fix everything and send Marinette back to the train, and because Hack-San already failed once, Shadowmoth can't use it for a different plan so he destroys the Sentimonster.

We cut to a few days after the trip (I guess Shadowmoth decided to take a vacation himself), and Alya tells Marinette to talk with Cat Noir about what happened.

This scene was so close to ending this episode off on a positive note. There was a good atmosphere and the body language of Ladybug and Cat Noir does a good job at telling us how uncomfortable they both feel while talking. It's just that instead of getting a heart to heart between the two about the lack of trust in their relationship, we get an Angstdrien Depreste scene. Or would a more accurate term be Cat Dour?

First off, while I don't have a problem with Ladybug apologizing for not telling Cat Noir, the episode never has him bring up what happened with Scarabella. As usual, both of them were partially at fault, but only Ladybug had to apologize for leaving her “Kitty” alone.

Second, Cat Noir’s feelings weren’t hurt? You’re telling me that in scenes like this...

And this...

Didn’t show Adrien acting irrationally because of how emotional he was? Is he really telling the truth around Ladybug or is he just trying to sweep that under the rug so Scarabella’s testimony doesn’t screw up his chances with Ladybug?

Third, this was an obvious chance to Cat Noir to finally be honest and tell Ladybug how he feels about her leaving him in the dark about so many things, but the entire conversation is just about how sad he would be if he never sees Ladybug again. Even though the whole reason he was so pissy to Scarabella at first was because of some lingering resentment for Ladybug ignoring him in favor of other heroes, why is this what the two talk about? I get it's not the season finale, but it's kind of hypocritical for Cat Noir to whine about how Ladybug doesn't trust him while never being honest about his own feelings? Sure, he's all soft and vulnerable around Ladybug, but we've seen all season how angry he gets about her not trusting him whenever she isn't around, so ironically, it's hard to tell if this is him being honest or not.

And I think now's a good time to finally talk about the way Ladybug and Cat Noir's partnership has been portrayed all season, especially since the main themes of the episodes relate to it. Buckle up, Adrien stans, because this isn't going to be pretty.

All season, we have been supposed to sympathize with Adrien as Marinette starts to trust Alya with more things than him. Marinette revealed her identity to her, trusted her to have her Miraculous permanently, and even let her keep her Miraculous even though someone else knew her identity. While some of it is hypocritical, the idea is that Adrien feels like he can be trusted with this kind of knowledge too, when really, he hasn't earned that responsibility.

Adrien has rarely, if ever, taken his job as a superhero seriously.

Not only is he known to flirt with Ladybug in the middle of a fight, he has defied her orders and recklessly sacrificed himself because he thinks Ladybug can do all the work without him.

He has also lashed out emotionally and once threatened to quit being Cat Noir in the middle of a crisis and was willing to let innocent people suffer for personal reasons, and later on actually quit being Cat Noir temporarily while Hawkmoth was about to start World War III because he was wallowing in self-pity.

He once said he isn't cut out for the responsibility that comes with being Ladybug and never learned anything from temporarily using the Ladybug Miraculous.

He has generally refused to respect Ladybug's boundaries and doesn't understand that she doesn't like him that way while he insists they should be a couple.

He outright fell for an evil doppelganger of Ladybug because she said she loved him and turned against the real Ladybug.

And I should also mention that despite hating how Ladybug keeps secrets from him, a lot of Adrien's worst moments have been when Ladybug wasn't around and he never told her about them.

He never told Ladybug that he was the reason Copycat really got akumatized while saying he never lies to her.

He never told Ladybug he contemplated letting thousands of people die because he didn't like not knowing stuff Ladybug knew.

He never told Ladybug he briefly used the Snake Miraculous to get brownie points with her.

He never told Ladybug he figured out her identity and asked her out as soon as he did so.

He never told Ladybug he abandoned Paris to go on a field trip.

He never told Ladybug he was screwing around on patrol and was excited to see someone get akuamtized if it meant spending time with her.

He never told Ladybug how he ignored Rena Rouge's orders because “ShE wAsN't LaDyBuG” and almost screwed up the mission because of it, and also never told her how he smashed a chimney in anger at Rena Rouge being in on the plan.

And he never told Ladybug he gave her replacement attitude after trying to harm her without letting her explain herself.

Why exactly should I support the idea of Ladybug trusting Cat Noir more when Cat Noir himself has kept his own secrets from Ladybug?

Adrien has done absolutely nothing to show he is trustworthy because more often than not, he views the battle with Shadowmoth as a game. He has screwed around when lives were on the line, and we're supposed to see him as responsible? It's kind of funny that Astruc compared Ladybug to Spider-Man, yet he seems to have forgotten that with great power, there must also come great responsibility. If this was a character flaw or a sign he needed to grow up, I'd be more accepting, but the fact that the writers think Adrien is a great superhero is laughable with how much evidence has proved the contrary.

In contrast, Alya, despite only being Marinette's confidant for a few episodes, has shown to take being a hero more seriously. She's helped her escape to transform, analyze the Guardian texts, and has been shown to work well on her own as Rena Rouge while helping out Marinette. I'm not trying to say she's an amazing character (“Rocketear” in particular has shown she still has problems with keeping secrets), but compared to Adrien, she seems to be more capable of handling top-secret information with Marinette, and more importantly, doesn't view being Rena Rouge as a way to have fun like Adrien does being Cat Noir. I'll go more into detail with that next time.

But yeah, this scene is how the episode ends, and what did I think of it?

I'm honestly not sure which episode I think is worse, this one or “Queen Banana”. On the one hand, every frame of “Queen Banana” could easily be replaced by an image of Astruc flipping the bird and the overall message of the episode would remain unchanged, but the fact that all of the writers think that everything Adrien does in this episode is okay and that we should feel sorry for him in this episode is just as bad, if not worse. 

As awful as Chloe was portrayed in “Queen Banana”, it was clear it was intentional on the writers' part, but Adrien doesn't get that excuse once much like he has all season. As far as Astruc's team thinks, Adrien is an incredible superhero even when he honestly attempted to harm someone with a superpower that can cause grievous harm at best. Yet again this season, in the show's attempt to make me feel sorry for Adrien, it made him look even worse. In any other show, he would obviously be called out for his incredibly unheroic actions.

Even putting him aside, the writing in this episode is still AWFUL. The whole reason Ladybug was benched had several plotholes and poor communication with Cat Noir that only made the fight with Robostus even harder, Shadowmoth's plan to waste a potentially useful Sentimonster to reuse a single Akuma was one of the dumbest plans he's ever had, and barring the ending, the action was just forgettable.

There were a few okay moments sprinkled throughout the episode (more than I can say for “Queen Banana”), so I'm still not sure if I should call this the worst episode of the show or still give that honor to “Queen Banana”. I guess I'll leave that choice up to you and let you pick your poison for now.

I mean, it's not like there's going to be an even worse episode down the line this season, right?

RIGHT???

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #adrien agreste #cat noir #chat noir #alya cesaire #rena rouge #rena furtive #scarabella #max kante #pegasus #markov #robostus #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #hawk moth #shadowmoth #shadow moth #nathalie sancoeur #mayura #tikki #plagg #nooroo #duusu

[snow-leopard-777]

Life of a Hero Chapter 2

The whole world was black and white, Marinette unable to see anything through the colors. Damian was safe, he was okay, the driver missed him, but it didn't change the fact that he almost died because of them. She knew damn good and well that that little bugiarda almost killed an eight year old child on purpose just to get to her.

She slowly lowered herself to the ground, the adrenaline making her legs shake, the shaking getting worse when Alya started in on her, her voice decidedly panicked, "You know Lila didn't mean it, right, gurl? She'd never put a child in danger like that on purpose, she just tripped!" Marinette's vision cleared just enough to see Alya patting a sobbing Lila on the back and Damian standing in front of herself, his voice harder and harder to understand. Why did she need to calm down? What was the point in going the way she'd been going if it nearly got her cousin brother killed? What was the point in being a hero?

She could barely feel Damain holding onto her hand, both of them becoming distracted by the sudden force from an akuma entering her jacket, Papillon speaking into both her and Damian's minds.

"Dear Princess of Justice and her little Heir of Wrath, are you finally willing to accept my offer to be a living karma? To avenge your little sibling for the attempted murder and to defend your sister from disloyal friends? You already know what I want." The butterfly miraculous user cooed in their ears, increasing the temptation to accept his offer.

Marinette gritted her teeth, thinking of all the times she was Ladybug, defender of justice and yet defenseless herself. She thought of Damian, who's only crime had been walking with her. She thought of Lila and Adrien working together, of Alya leaping to their defenses no matter what they did or what the evidence said. Of her classmates either ignoring everything or actively taking Lila's side. Of Chat Noir leaving her to fight alone. Of Damian stealing a miraculous from the box because she was losing and there was no one to save her. She opened her eyes and saw the way Damian's eyes were furrowed in an effort to fight Papillon off and thought of the pain it had to be causing him. Even if she didn't do it for herself, he didn't deserve to suffer the pain of her emotions.

"Fine," she bit out, "I'll play your game. Just stop hurting him!" Her voice rose into a screech even as purple magic flowed over the both of them. Lila and Alya both stumbled back from the transformation, shocked by how different it was from usual. Instead of purple and black bubbles rushing down the akumatized person(s), Marinette and Damian had a soft purple light wash down them. Alya's eyes bugged out. She'd seen the akuma fly to them, so obviously they were akumatized, but the light was reminiscent of a miraculous transformation… Was… was Marinette Ladybug?! Alya barely had time to pull her phone out, Lila, in a rare case of showing common sense, grabbed her and booked it away from them.

"Lila! I need this for my blog! This can be big!" Alya shrieked.

Lila continued to drag the blogger forward before stopping several blocks away from the akuma, fumbling with the key to let her into her apartment. "Look, Alya," the Italian snapped, "I don't know how much you know about your little ex-friend, but she has the potential to be the most devastating akuma yet. I don't know who she and the kid with her will come out as, but I want nothing to do with it, especially since we will be their targets."

Alya gaped at her friend. "Why would we be targets! You didn't mean to push that kid! She knows that!"

Lila glared at the Cajun. "Yes, this is a time where it was an accident, but she's not going to believe that, especially since we're why the two of them got akumatized. Did you hear what she screamed before they transformed? They were both resisting and she said stop hurting him. That means the reason they're like this is because she doesn't want the kid hurt. We hurt the kid- I tripped and you defended me instead of helping her. You yourself have been bullying her for months. I figure they'll both be after you."

Alya stuck her hand on her hip, "Why do you keep referring to that boy as kid when you said Mari called him a him?"

Lila growled. "Look, I have my flaws, but that kid was wearing a skirt when the light faded. I don't know what their pronouns are. Maybe they're a boy, maybe a girl, maybe both, I don't know! What I do know is that we're in danger, now get in the cazzo apartment!"

Alya gaped at Lila and refused to move. "No! I want to know what's gotten int-" she was abruptly cut off when Lila grabbed her by the front of her shirt and yanked her forward.

"You have five seconds to get in here or I'm locking you out." The Italian hissed.

Alya scowled at Lila before pushing her away. "Fine! Hide in your apartment like the coward you are!" She spat, paying no mind to the deadbolt clicking as she ran back the way the akuma was. If she was right her blog was about to become huge!

~~~

Princess spent her first few minutes simply wrapped around Heir, rocking back and forth. People backed away slowly, not going near the strange akuma. This was the first time they'd seen a purple light envelope a victim, not to mention the butterflies.

"'Ukht." Heir breathed after the streets were clear. "We must move."

Princess nodded into Heir's shoulder. "We will find him first. The others can be dealt with later."

The pair stood, slowly making their way forwards, hardly noticing the butterflies around them fluttering off. People who had done good had good done back to them- so be it being healed, finding extra money to tide them over, or just having someone extend a hand to them. People who had done wrong found themselves facing bad luck, tripping over nothing, spilling their drink on themselves, everything short of death happened.

They were amazed that no one had ever thought to go to Papillon before. Were people truly that consumed by their revenge? That they would make no effort to help the heroes and cut off the villain at his source? The pull of the butterfly was strong, leading them across Paris. The only interruption came in the form of Chat Noir which, admittedly, did not last, the black cat's punishment being suffering from illusions- led on a chase through the city by his "partner" before suffering though the image of her rejecting him and taking his miraculous away- something that would be happening very soon regardless.

The Royals didn't hesitate in entering the mansion, foggy memories leaving them unsure of where exactly they were, though it didn't take long to figure out the secret code to enter the atrium Papillon hid in. The shocked expression Papillon held was glorious though their revelry didn't last long as he withdrew his Akuma from them. Marinette and Damian collapsed to the floor, the damage of their akumization being permanent since it was all mental, even as the magic faded and Papillon's transformation dropped.

Marinette struggled to compute what was going on for several minutes. This couldn't be true. No. Not Gabriel. She shook her head viciously but nothing changed. Her voice was hoarse when she finally spoke, "Why?"

Gabriel looked away. "Because, Ladybug, I need to save my wife. My son is… not the same without her. Felix isn't doing well. And we're under threat from Amilie. I need my wife to fix things, even if I need to trade myself for her."

Marinette bowed her head. "How about a deal? I try to find a way to heal her and you stop attacking Paris."

Gabriel cocked an eyebrow, "Or I keep going as I was and don't reveal your identity in return for efforts to find a cure. If I get the miraculi, then I make my wish. If you find the cure, I willingly give up both miraculi in my possession as well as the grimoire. If you don't, well as long as you look I'll keep your identity to myself. You have no proof I'm a villain and publicly stated I wasn't."

Marinette mumbled under her breath, "Stupid Chat and his fucking insistence."

Damian finally spoke himself, "Fucking?"

Marinette flushed bright red and squeaked, "Don't repeat that! It's a bad word that you should only use when really insulted!"

Gabriel blinked at the small child his arch nemesis had with her. "You must be the one that envisioned running me through with a sword and refused to give your pronouns."

Damian glared at the butterfly man. "Of course. You threatened my 'ukht."

"Damian! Eama said not to do that!" Marinette scolded him.

"Monsieur Butterfly Man," Damian purposely butchered his name, "could you kindly take a step outside Parisian city limits?"

Gabriel's eyes bugged out, he was sure giving in to this child would be a death sentence. "I have no business outside of Paris," Gabriel hoped he hid the way his voice shook well enough.

The child's response was simple, "Shame. Perhaps later, then."

Marinette glared at her brother before turning to Gabriel. "Fine. But you will limit the amount of akumas you make and answer to the school yourself about why I'm struggling." Gabriel glared at the child but agreed. He was sure he'd be forced into it anyways.

Akuma picture! This took hours!!!

Tag list:

@astrynyx @aespades @ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole @fleursroses @northernbluetongue @stainedglassm @couffeeine @imarivers8 @fangirlingfanatic @mep-kittyjustkillme @thestressmademedoit @inarachi02 @craftgremlin @hikato-chan @adrestar @redbullgivescaswings @purplegeekypanda @cherrixable @dorkus-minimus @sekhmet5 @loopingtangent @j-abell @allis-sun @laydeekrayzee @toodaloo-kangaroo @serendipitous-amor @justafanwarrior @your-emo-nightmare @liquid-luck-00 @constancetruggle @thebella000 @nightlychaotic @princessanimeangel11 @multplelifes @azrael13 @elmokingkong @battle-of-olympus-insta @verywobbleroafhoagie-blog @read-fantasy-to-escape-reality @fusser90 @laurcad123 @f3rn4nd4 @lady-bee-fechin

I apologize to anyone who it wouldn't let me tag, I don't know how to fix that.

[unmaskedagain]

Not Waiting forever

I’m pretty sure this has been done like a million times already. But I decided I’m going to try to answer as many prompts, that are already in my asks, as I can before I burn out. I AM NOT CURRENTLY TAKING PROMPTS.

THESE will not be full-fledged fics but more than likely ONE-SHOT drabbles. I need to push through my writer’s block. This is disregarding Miracle Queen.

 …It wasn’t Marinette’s choice.

Ladybug, the new guardian after Fu’s tragic heart attack, had gave her opinion but that was it. Kwami were stubborn. No matter what Marinette said in defense of Alya and Nino, Trixx and Wayzz. None of the Kwami were willing to be given out to anyone they didn’t give express approval of anymore. It wasn’t a risk they could take. And now that Marinette was the Guardian on top of being a full time hero, they couldn’t allow just anyone to watch her back. They all decided that Marinette needed someone she could trust and who trusted her. And just as importantly, they needed wielders who better fit them.

Alya failed to see through Lila Rossi. She fell too easily for lies to be a master of illusion. Instead of searching for the truth, gathering evidence, she rather just believe what she’s told. She demanded proof from Marinette rather than believing her friend over someone she just met. She was stubborn and once Alya’s mind was set on something, there was no stopping her.

Trixx refused to go back to her. The kwami wanted someone more creative and free thinking. Maybe a different type of writer, she said. A clever story teller.

Nino failed to stand by his friend when she needed him the most. His lack of loyalty to one of his oldest childhood friends had left a bad taste in Wayzz’s mouth. He chose Alya’s side, and thus Lila’s, without even bothering to hear what Marinette had to say. Or even demanding that they at least take her view into consideration.

If Nino couldn’t stand by his dear friend over a minor issue, the Kwami couldn’t trust he’d guard Ladybug’s back, who a technically stranger to him. Wayzz refused to allow Nino to be his holder again.

           Marinette had gotten more than a bit defensive because despite everything that was going on in class, she still believed Alya and Nino would come around. She believed that the two, and everyone else in class, would realize Lila was lying.  It was just a matter of time.

“That’s the issue, Mistress,” Wayzz frowned at her. “You shouldn’t have to wait for them to have your back.” He told her.

           Trixx nodded, “Alya could’ve easily looked up any of Lila’s claims when you told her Lila was lying. But she didn’t because she didn’t want to. Lila’s tales about Ladybug are a hit on her blog. Alya would rather cling to fool’s gold because its shiny than do what she knows is right.”

           Marinette crossed her arms, “Alya can just get a little… excited. You know how much the Ladyblog means to her!”

“Yes. We do,” Trixx nodded. “What we don’t know is how much you do. From what we can tell… not that much. Alya would rather think you’re jealous,” Trixx added, “And that you’re the problem than consider that her and the entire class got duped. It’s not fair.”

“Your friends routinely ditch you,” Wayzz reminded her. “Ignore you in class, believe the worst about you. They have all but severed their friendship with you completely. This has been going on for months. This is not something that can just be blamed on Lila’s falsehoods. It was their own choices that led to this. We do not trust them.

“I trust them?” Marinette offered weakly.

           Trixx and Wayzz shared a look before shaking their heads.

“No,” Wayzz said. “You want to trust them.”

“There’s a difference,” Trixx told her. “You want to trust them like you want them to be the friends you knew again. You want them back. I’m sorry, Marinette. But we want new holders. All the Kwami do.”

“You need a team now,” Wayzz stated. “Not a later. Hawkmoth is growing stronger. You need allies. It’s time.”

“Pollen doesn’t want a new holder,” Marinette said petulantly.

           There was silence.

“…Pollen was always the weird one,” Wayzz shrugged. “Pollen will never change her mind about Chloe.”

           Marinette narrowed her eyes. That had been the longest argument ever. Eventually Marinette had lost the battle when she was forced to admit how much the blond hero had improved over time. Chloe hadn’t bullied or hurt anyone’s feeling in a very long time. There had been no tantrums or threats to call her daddy. Even without a mask, Marinette had spotted Chloe helping people escape Akumas at the risk of herself. She was proving to be a hero outside of being Queen bee. Marinette did trust her to fight by her side which had been the deciding factor.

Plus Pollen refused to give in, and the only one the Kwami would pick. So Marinette gave in. She went to Chloe as Ladybug and gave her the hair clip.

“Welcome to the team,” Ladybug smiled as best she could.

           Chloe held the hairclip with disbelief and tears in her eyes, “I’m going to be a hero? You trust me.”

“You are a hero,” Ladybug said and did the bravest, and possibly the stupid thing in her life, “Spots off.” She detransformed in front of Chloe. The blonde’s mouth dropped. “And I do trust you.”

“Dupain-Cheng!” Chloe hissed but then goarned. “I should’ve known.”

“Yes, Chloe gets to stay.”

           Trixx giggled, “Pollen only likes Queen Bees, and she hasn’t come across any better than Chloe at your school.”

“And, while, Chloe didn’t like you before, she does now.” Wayzz admitted, “She was always very loyal to Ladybug. She has potential to be a good hero if we can break her love of the limelight completely.”

           Marinette huffed.

“And I remind you, there were conditions,” Wayzz advised. “A new costume and a new name. New hair color. Whatever it takes. She can never tell the public who she really is. Killer Wasp has a nice ring to it.”

           Marinette sighed and slumped face first onto her. She could hear Tikki snickering in the background and vowed to only bring oatmeal cookies to her for the next week.

What was Marinette going to do? What could she do? She had been so excited when the Kwami told her they wanted to get more permanent use like Tikki and Plagg… Until they broke the news. (And just a bit of Marinette’s heart)

           Now Marinette had to find new users.

           Trixx wanted a creative free thinker who wasn’t the least bit stubborn. A different type of writer, Trixx has suggested. A clever story teller.

           Wayzz wanted who had the natural born ability to be a protector. Someone smart and hardworking who had proven themselves to be loyal.

           Marinette’s head snapped up and she glared at the two Kwami, “You already know who you want, don’t you?”

           Trixx and Wayzz smirked.

“In my chosen’s defense,” Wayzz started, “She has proven herself to be loyal to a fault. And with the right amount of confidence, she will be an extraordinary ally.”

“My chosen is so creative,” Trixx swooned, “The most brilliant imagination. As a natural storyteller, his mind was born to see all the possibilities. It allows him to come up with theories and ideas no one else would even consider. There is no illusion he can’t see through because as soon as he sees it hundreds of different explanations run through his head.”

           Marinette raised an eyebrow and gave them firm stare. “Who is it?”

“I want Marc!” Trixx said happily.

The bluenette looked thoughtful for a moment but eventually nodded, admitting that Marc would be a good match for Trixx. “Agreed, I will give Marc a trial run to test his abilities.” Then Marinette turned to Wayzz who was looking very sheepish.

“Hear me out, if we get my chosen on our side, she’d be unstoppable,” Wayzz told her. “There would be nothing she wouldn’t do for those she cares for.”

“Who. Is. It?” Marinette asked again.

“I like her,” Wayzz insisted. “She has potential. If she was just a bit bolder…”

“Wayzz…” Marinette said.

Trixx snickered, “There’s a reason Wayzz gave into Chloe…”

Marinette paused. She slowly sat up on her bed, and looked at Wayzz long and hard, “…Sabrina? You want Sabrina!!!”

“Yes.”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” The shout could be heard all over Paris.

“She hated me,” Marinette reminded the kwami.

“Disliked you,” Wayzz corrected. “But only because Chloe did. Once Sabrina found out you and Chloe had become friends, you have to admit she has become rather sweet. She’s a hard worker and defended you against Lila three times last week.”

“And you do like her,” Trixx added. “Why else would you have a slumber party with Chloe and Sabrina?”

“…I hit my head a lot during fights,” Marinette shrugged. “Magic can’t take away all the damage.”

           She sighed. Marc and Sabrina, huh? Marinette wondered how that was going to work out. She hated to admit it but Wayzz and Trixx were right. Ladybug couldn’t wait anymore. She needed a team. One she could count on in and outside of the mask. The city needed more heroes.

           It wasn’t right to make them wait just because she clung to a hope that everything would go back to the way it was. Marinette really missed her friends but she couldn’t wait for them anymore. It had been months.

           And even if everyone in class discovered Lila’s was lying, that Marinette wasn’t a jealous, nasty bully, that she was their friend… That Marinette had always been their friend… It wouldn’t matter.

           Truthfully, after everything that had happened, Wayzz was right. Marinette didn’t trust them, she just wanted to. And that wasn’t enough.

           Not enough for Kwami, and not enough for her. (not anymore)

           Nothing could or would go back to the way it was no matter how much Marinette wished it. Once bitten, twice shy. A part of will never entirely trust them again. (Not when they traded her for fool’s gold already before.)

           Paris needed more permanent heroes. Ladybug needed a team. Marinette needed people she could trust.

           She was done waiting.

(She wondered how Alya and Nino would handle being replaced...)

…

…

            ...They didn’t take it well.

(Sabrina, Shield Maiden, and Marc, Renard Masqué, thrived as heroes.)

#ml salt #marinette dupain cheng #class salt #alya salt