#mentor prompts | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ikiprian · 3 months

Text

Mr. Fenton is a competent teacher. Almost too competent.

If Mr. Daniel Fenton had any more than a BS (with a minor in education), Tim would’ve flagged his profile as a potential Rogue. That’s the way of most charismatic academics, at least in Gotham. (Got a PhD? Instant watchlist.) Instead, he’s Gotham Academy’s newest celebrity, as a young, passionate, out-of-towner substitute while the chemistry teacher’s on maternity leave.

Tim gets the hype. Fenton seems to genuinely love teaching, and is invested in the welfare of the student body. He hands out bananas during exam week, hosts a “study habits seminar” each month to coach effective learning strategies, and the third time Tim falls asleep in his class, he even pulls Tim aside to ask if he’s doing okay. With all the late work he accepts and the protein bars he sneaks Tim, he’s every teen vigilante’s dream teacher. He could’ve been Tim’s favorite.

In fact, Mr. Fenton was Tim’s favorite. Up until Tim walks into Mr. Fenton’s chemistry classroom for a forgotten textbook, an hour after the final bell.

On the board where tallied scores for today’s review game had been kept, “THE CHEMISTRY BEHIND DR. CRANE’S FEAR GAS: ANXIOGENICS, NERI’S, & YOU,” is now scrawled. A detailed diagram of the human endocrine system projects in front of a small crowd of adoring and attentive students.

Fenton is wrist-deep in the skull cavity of an anatomical model. A short tug, and out pops the brain.

It’s plastic. It’s fake.

Tim identifies the nearest emergency exit.

Fenton turns to the door, and in the dark classroom with the projector illuminating half his face, his eyes almost seem to flash red. “What’s up, Tim?” he asks. His friendly grin is too big for his face. “I didn’t know you wanted to join the Just Science League!”

[OR: Danny’s a science teacher at Tim’s school. Gotham’s a pretty wild place, even for someone who grew up a superhero in a ghost-infested town, so he takes it upon himself to start a club teaching kids how to manage themselves in the event of a crisis. These Gothamites are pretty hardy, but a little extra training never hurt anybody! And he suspects one of his students might be a teen vigilante, like he’d been, back in the day. As a senior super, it's Danny’s duty look out for him! Surely, this is the subtlest and most appropriate way to give the kid pointers.]

[Tim immediately assumes supervillain.]

#Danny can’t help being creepy it’s just the way he’s built!!#I like to think Lancer did these things for Danny when he was in HS #and now Danny's emulating Lancer :)#Passing it on!#Tim is paranoid but also like he is SO CLOSE to graduating so like. Does he even want to report this shit to Batman. What if the next chem #teacher's a jerk and Tim fails the class and he never gets his stupid diploma. Bruce already is insisting he finish out HS and maybe get #an ABA before he's allowed back into the company #and Jesus Christ does Tim hate school. He'll worry about Mr. Fenton's burgeoning army of Science Honor Society Rogues on his own time #dcxdp #dpxdc #prompt #tim drake #danny fenton #in case I write more of this let’s tag it uhhhhh #misunderstood mentor au #kipwrite

6K notes · View notes

puppetmaster13u · 5 months

Text

Prompt 126

You know what would be hilarious?

Constantine comes into one of those meetings as he sometimes does every blue moon. Though the proper word would be storms into a meeting and practically slams a whole stack of papers down. “Can someone bloody explain to me why the American-fucking-government is trying to go to war with the fucking Infinite Realms?!”

The Justice League is of course alarmed and confused- and also John weren’t you in Hell?! Yeah, he was, where the fuck do you think he found out about this?

Now if you’ll excuse him he’s going back to the House of Mysteries with his now haunted trench coat. John, John Constantine what the fuck do you mean by that? No don’t just leave, don’t leave this mess just for them- JOHN!

#dpxdc #dcxdp #prompts #John: Trenchcoats haunted #JL: What #John as a giggle comes out from beneath his coat: Trenchcoats haunted #John got a get out of hell free card via Clockwork seeing an Opportunity for good timeline #And hey his favorite ghostlings also get a mentor now #John: I did not ask for 5+ children #Clockwork: Too bad you’re now their human caretaker have fun #The GIW were getting Bad #Like bad enough Sam and Tucker are practically full ghost now #Team Phantom pointing at the skrunkly sad trenchcoat man: New Dad Acquired #Constantine in Hell: What #Clockwork: Hello new son here are papers with proof of everything and can you tell the speedsters to stop thanks #Constantine now out of Hell: W h a t

2K notes · View notes

im-totally-not-an-alien-2 · 8 months

Text

Danny never thought he would enjoy the sidekick/mentee lifestyle but Kori was really cool. She was a adult but she still listened to him and made intelligent, competent and compassionate choices that were genuinely in his best interest. Danny hadn't known adults like that existed.

Starfire was kinda wierd for a ghost though. Phantom couldn't seem to pin down what her obsession was but he guessed that was fine so long as "The Princess of Tamaran" didn't hurt anyone. Plus, not only was she a ghost, she was an alien ghost! Like from a whole other planet and everything!

Aka Starfire gets booted from the DC universe and wanders in to Dannys via Vlads ghost portal. Vlad attacks her and Starfire beats him up, destroying a lot of his visibly unethical stuff, ect. Danny has been her fan ever since.

She did clarify that she was an alien but Danny assumes she's an alien ghost due to her coming from the ghost zone and having some ghost like powers.

Misunderstandings ensue

#prompts #fanfiction prompts #starfire #kori anders #koriand'r #danny phantom #danny fenton #so many dc heros are worried sick about star #danny has a mentor that put the fear of god/alien princessses in Vlad #Tucker has to be dragged away repeatedly by Sam #who is also enamored with her #they are all being taught

2K notes · View notes

hypewinter · 10 months

Text

After winning a science fair, Danny's intellect gets noticed by a genius billionaire. That's how he ends up getting a scholarship to work personally under Lex Luthor at LexCorp. Cool! Who's Lex Luthor?

#dp x dc #dc x dp #dpxdc #hyper prompts #that iron curtain surrounding amity park unfortunately goes both ways #danny is just hyped to be working on the lastest innovations #and since he's lived with mad scientists all his life #he doesn't really question his mentor's more 'eccentric' behavior #all the heroes trying to interrogate him is weird though

2K notes · View notes

ghostbsuter · 7 months

Text

Damian was 10 when he was shipped off to his father.

He was 10 when he finally decided enough was enough, packed his stuff, called Mara, and the ball went rolling.

The moment Talia left the mansion, the DNA test confirmed, and Bruce emotionally compromised, did he finally move.

He'd stared his father down, felt nothing when he stood up and mild annoyance bloomed when his father asked– demanded– where he was going.

"You're a fool if you believe I will stay here." He spat, eyening the man in disdain.

It became very apparent that Damian wasn't what Bruce thought he'd be, what Talia thought he was.

"Your mother entrusted me with your safety–"

"I don't need protection. Mother wouldn't care if I stayed or not." He blinks. "Where is the cave? I wish to use the computer, I have people to contact."

Reluctantly, Bruce shows him the way, questions of who and why, and the plans he apparently had were asked.

Damian answers with vague wordings and enough open spaces for interpretation. Words greatest detective, he can figure it out himself without damian spelling it out for him.

When they do arrive in the batcave, Tim Drake— Robin— was sitting at the computer.

Huffing, Damian shoved the entire chair away from the table, taking its place and started typing.

"W— hey! What—? Who?" Tim looked between Bruce and Damian, despite being sleep deprived his eyes caught on the similarities, mouth dry and mind calculating.

"Does Dick know?" Is all he asks, leaning back and watching the younger boy work.

"Not yet."

A heavy sigh.

"Silence," the boy huffs, annoyed. "I'll have to make a call."

Glaring daggers, he pulls out a old burner phone, pressing the single number saved inside and waits.

"Damian."

"Hello, brother."

('Oh. Did he have another?' Tim wonders, watching Batman's face, blank like a paper sheet. Nothing. It feels like all his efforts of bringing the man back were just flushed.)

—

Or in simpler words:

Danyal al Ghul, the first successor of the demons head, born with his twin Athanasia al Ghul, to be the future of the league.

They were reborn with their former memories, stuck in place, constantly watched and trained. Manipulated. Weaponized.

All for a man playing immortal.

They'd only started planning when two more children came into the picture, Damian and Mara Al Ghul.

Danyal now Daniel "Danny" and Athanasia now Eleanor "Ellie" Nightingale took matters into their own hands and separated to take the kids in and end this.

End the league. End the cycle of whatever this, this cult is, and take over.

In many universes, Ra's al Ghul does not die, always returns, wielding his people like mere weapons.

In this universe, Danyal al Ghul is acknowledged as a traitor, killer of the Demons head and Older Brother, borderline father even, to his tiny brother Damian al Ghul.

In this universe, he raises Damian instead of Talia, shows him the cracks of this careful manipulated picture and listens when Ellie tells of her travels to this tiny child with a sad sad fate.

In this universe, Ellie takes in their tiny cousin, shielding her from the cruel eyes of a man not worthy. She trains her, shows her the ropes and takes her along when she leaves.

In this universe, Damian al Ghul and Mara al Ghul live a good live, protected by the twins of old souls and have a somewhat normal if not very complicated childhood.

#dcxdp #dpxdc #dp x dc crossover #fic prompt #writing prompt #dc x dp prompt #Danny is Damians older brother/father #Danny aka Danyal al Ghul #Ellie aka Athanasia al Ghul #Dani is Maras mentor/parental figurine #Danny and Dani got reincarnated as twins in the league #the reason Damian and Mara suffered so much under Ras was because he alr had a granddaughter and son #why a pair more if they cant even surpass the first ones? he blatantly ignores the huge age gap #danny killed ras #Bad parent Tali #bad parent bruce #bruce wayne tries #damian just doesnt care bcs he alr got a father figure #why one more?#to dami talia is more a of a teacher #and what does he do with teachers he doesnt like? get rid of them #sorry talia love #anyway clockwork is having a field day with his fav drama show #for funnsies #adding Dan as Jasons mentor for the rage issues #Mara al ghul my beloved #Damian is NOT interested in the Robin title!!!!#he is much more serious about the phantom family name

920 notes · View notes

nelkcats · 1 year

Text

The 7th

When the Wizard explained to Billy about his powers he forgot to mention that the Champion of Magic had a seventh patron who would manifest in his greatest moments of need. Although this one did not count as "official" since he was not exactly sharing his powers like the others.

So it's understandable that Billy would freak out at the new voice in his head telling him to steal a sandwich from one of the rude people on the subway.

Billy tried to argue with the voice about it since his parents had taught him all about good and evil but it had been a few days since his conversation with the Wizard Shazam and it had been weeks since his last decent meal other than leftovers. The Sandwich was packed and its owner wasn't paying attention, one little slip and he would have something in his stomach.

Solomon was very upset with the new voice, he was fully aware of who was talking and thought that he had left after the disaster with Adam but apparently the Ghost King had taken an interest in "The New Champion", Solomon had suspicions that it was because Billy was a kid.

The new voice introduced himself as "Phantom", he argued a lot with Solomon, didn't seem to have any moral and Zeus always muttered about his older brother's annoying best friend whenever he manifested. The boy did not know who the new God was but at least he gave good life advice. Or he liked to think so.

Phantom had many arguments with the other immortals, Hercules complained about his friendship with Kronos (which the boy found worrying but decided not to comment), Salomon about his recklessness, Atlas and Achilles bothered him constantly and Mercury kept challenging him to races. But it seemed that thanks to him everyone had become interested not only in helping Captain Marvel but also Billy!

Phantom even had a lot of good advices on being a young hero or keeping his secret from the League and for the first time since he got his powers Billy didn't feel so lost.

2K notes · View notes

emeraldwarriors · 4 months

Text

releases these into the wild like freeing caged birds

#hal jordan #john stewart #guy gardner #kyle rayner #barry allen #the flash #green lantern #绿灯小丑 #not halbarry but it can be if youre delusional enough #the prompt i got for those was 'blue lantern barry mentoring rookie lantern hal' so dont put my head on a pike for ooc hal ok . smiles #save me homophobic dog barry homophobic dog barry save me #OK SORRY FOR SPAMMING THE TAG GOODNIGHT!!!!!!

208 notes · View notes

the-three-whumpeteers · 4 months

Text

The whumpee needed to be trained if they wanted to be the whumper’s sidekick- so they did. The whumper’s training was brutal, leaving them exhausted and injured every time- the whumpee sometimes thought that it wasn’t worth it, but the hero was a legend, and they didn’t want to give up their opportunity because of the pain they went through.

#whump #whump prompt #whump scenario #whumpee #aramis stabs someone #whump prompts #whumper #today was so painfully busy but AT LEAST I GOT ALL MOUNTS IN MINECRAFT WOOOO #mentor whumper #hero whumper

174 notes · View notes

kagilagilalas · 7 months

Text

'cause you'll never grow old to me.

Mobtober 2023: Song lyrics

(Plain version under the cut, cause I like it :)

#You're the pink in my cheeks and I love that it means I'm a little bit soft #Doubles as part of the 'favourite pair' prompt :3 #I've always been a big fan of their dynamic #Begrudging co-mentors to best friends who bicker a lot #That's like right up my alley lol #Monster by Olivia Olson & Half Shy #Cause I think it fits them perfectly #mp100 #mobtober2023 #ekurei #reigen arataka #ekubo #myart #art #fanart #user.txt

216 notes · View notes

mango-sp1ce · 6 months

Text

HEY DC X DP FANS

REMEMBER CALCULATOR??? THE CALCULATOR? Whatever the fuck his nerdy ass name was???

He like, was the villain equivalent of oracle in dc-online. And he’s like a character that I don’t think dc really uses often… (Yes I still play that- shut up)

Yeah, anyways-

Boom, make him Tucker. Or make Tucker him??

Tucker = The Calculator

Get it? Got it? Good.

then do whatever the fuck with that. Like- Danny could be a villain in training (dc-online story arc???)

Or maybe no one else knows, and then the bats find out and Tucker freaks the hell out

Or I dunno- Danny is a “villain” (but in the fun way, not so murderous) and ends up being recruited as one of the villain mentors (yknow; Lex, Joker, Circe)

(Since each is a counter to a hero; Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman. What if Danny’s the counter to another hero? Or even the counter to the entire Justice League Dark. I think it’d be pretty funny if he’s the counter to Flash or something)

And now he’s gotta mentor a bunch of villains-in-training who literally busted out of test tubes and have no memories from before… and god hes just adopting kids isn’t he?

maybe somehow Klarions here, too.

I rambled in the tags a lil bit btw…

#danny phantom #dp x dc #dc x dp #batpham #danny phantom crossover #dpxdc #dp x dc prompt #dpxdc prompt #I could also ramble about the power system in dc online #Because the actual options are magic combat | hand to hand combat | and powered combat #so I think metas fall under Lex | Superman #and Wonder Woman and Circe are magic #And then Joker and Batman are hand to hand combat #so then it’s like #Constantine falls under magic too #So introducing Danny as a big villain would be interesting #you have the option of making an ectoplasm section of the power dynamics #or maybe you could fit him under something else?#maybe we could specifically separate alien from meta and give meta to Danny?#And superman won’t run out of kids to mentor because all of the player characters in the game just wake up on brainiacs ship #so they could be from literally anywhere #which would also make the hero equivalent of him Flash #so like #literally perfect #i’m rambling

136 notes · View notes

tanglepelt · 1 year

Text

Dc x dp idea 16

The observant are done watching. They want to command the infinite realm. With the king sealed away they decide the time is now.

They discovered a way to twist the ancients. Doing so hitting both pandora and clockwork. Pandora now seeks to help free evil and wreak havoc. Clockwork is now actively trying to find the worst timelines to force to happen.

The observants didn’t get frostbite as Danny was figuring out his ice core. Which means now he had to deal with those two ancients as well as overgrowth. Maybe even vortex makes an appearance.

The observants game plan is to make all the powerful ghost look bad so they get locked away. The only one who can fix the personalities of the ancients is the king. Take out those powerful and no one can free pariah to defeat him.

Danny returns to amity to find time frozen. Danny the little thief he is stole three time medallions (clockwork let him). Pandora is preventing him from getting to sam and tucker releasing evil from her box.

Danny gets out of amity. Leaving Sam as overgrowths “daughter” his friends and family frozen then guarded by evil beings. He heads out human so they can’t track his ecto signature.

With two extra time medallions he sets out. He finds the justice league. Wonder Woman immediately wants to help. She wants to help free pandora. Superman also heads to amity to help out. Both have rigged up Spector deflectors so they can’t get overshadowed.

John is the one who figures out what caused the personality switches. Bad news the only person who can fix it is evil. Danny was ease-dropping (they had him making anti ghost weapons, Danny only made non lethal ones)

Danny being Danny leaves his time medallion and takes off to free pariah.

John and Batman follow the child. They try and stop him from summoning and freeing pariah. Danny is just like chill i sealed him up like 3 months ago I’m sure i can handle this.

No explanation he just transforms and frees pariah. John and Batman can’t do anything to the ghost king as Danny traps him and the king in an ice dome. No point risking others getting hurt.

Danny wins. Frees pandora and clockwork. Wonder Woman had managed to trap pandora (pandora was definitely fighting the spell and resisting as much as she could). Clockwork just knew it was gonna happen. The observants were silly to think he wouldn’t.

The justice league now monitor amity park for when the next earth destructive ghost escapes. Danny has been forced to take lessons. The first one is risk management and the importance of disclosing powers. It’s just a lecture made by Batman.

#danny fenton #danny phantom #dc x dp #dp x dc #dp dc crossover #dp x dc prompt #dp x dc crossover #justice league #ghost king danny #Danny honestly didn’t explain much #he showed up #and went so #my town is being controlled by plants the master of time and pandora #like pandora is freeing the evil from her box #any chance you guys could help #no I’m half ghost #or that clockwork is essentially his mentor #no mentioning sam #wonderwan and Superman just show up #now they have to deal with mind controlled humans and a plant monster #Danny heard the answer and is like bet #just goes off #he only bugged them cause he didn’t know what to do #it was all impulse #John and Batman noticed he left cause there was a lack of explosions #John thought maybe he had been under the mind control #Batman cause blue eyes black hair #neither were expected him to be half dead #Bruce was salty he couldn’t melt ghost ice #his utility belt now has a mini flamethrower specifically for ghost ice

487 notes · View notes

miraculouslbcnreactions · 15 days

Note

It's weird to expect lb to be able to read cn mind and called her a bad partner for it. But it's even weirder for lb to ignore cn WHEN HES OBVIOUSLY IN DISTRESS and not called her a bad partner for it because I think called her a bad partner for ignoring it is understandable and justified especially since she consider herself as his boss.

Every time I bring up this conflict, I try to make it clear that I don't think Ladybug was blameless, I just think Chat Noir's writing was worse. Let's walk through the problem to show what I mean.

Season four stars with Marinette extremely stressed by her new Guardian status. In Truth and Lies, the first episodes of the season, we get this:

Ladybug: Will you cut it out with the practical jokes? I could have really hurt you! Cat Noir:(answering while hanging by the yo-yo) M'lady, the only thing that really hurts me is when you make me go on patrol by myself. (sighs, relaxing his posture) I even missed your little angry pout. Ladybug: Sorry, Kitty Cat, I'm a bit over my head at the moment. (pulling him up) Cat Noir: I bet! "Guardian of the Miraculous", big name, big responsibility!

This is also the start to Chat Noir communicating poorly. In this episode, he's straight up told that Ladybug is in over her head and he never once asks how he can help. In fact, we even get him saying this when asked how he feels about the change:

Truth: Cat Noir, tell me what- (interupted by Ladybug throwing a present at Truth) Ladybug: (covering her parasol with foil) ...do you think about my new role as guardian! Cat Noir: If it doesn't change things between us, then I'm good with it!

So not a great start to the season. I know people focused on Adrien's terrible treatment of Kagami in these episodes, but this Ladynoir dynamic was actually what rang alarm bells for me. I kept waiting for Chat Noir to offer his support since it was really, really obvious that Ladybug was in over her head since she was late to patrols, the last season literally ended with her losing her mentor figure, and, you know, she straight up told him that was what was going on?

The next episode is Gang of Secrets in which we see Marinette out her identity to Alya. I get why she did this, she needed support and her partner doesn't seem interested in giving it, but she can't say that for certain because she never asked him directly and she should have. Trusting Chat Noir over Alya would have allowed Ladynette to maintain the security of her secret identity - a thing she claimed was more important than ever - and to honor their partnership. At the very least, she should have told Chat Noir that Rena Rouge was now a full time holder so that he could account for that in battle and to minimize the fallout by owning up to her mistake asap. The longer a lie goes on, the worse the truth will hurt.

To Ladybug's credit, she does eventually acknowledge her mistake after the Scarabella incident:

Ladybug: You... must've been pretty surprised to discover there was another holder! (Silence. She sits beside Cat Noir.) Ladybug: I'm really sorry, Cat Noir. I should've told you. I mean, if I found out that you told someone about your secret identity, I'd... probably be upset, too. I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings.

This is a decent apology. She doesn't try to absolve herself of wrong doing. Instead, she acknowledges that what she did would hurt her, too, if the shoe were on the other foot. The only thing she loses points on is the fact that she doesn't tell him about Rena Furtive.

However, instead of agreeing with her and telling her that she has hurt him, Chat Noir says that she did nothing wrong and never once brings up how their weakened partnership is bothering him:

Cat Noir: You didn't hurt my feelings. You did everything right. Paris will always need a Ladybug superhero to watch over her. It's just... I realized that if one day that hero wasn't you, m'lady, since we don't know each other's identities, that means... I'd never see you again. Ever. And now, I just don't know if I can bear it.

This is the thing that I hate about this arc. The reason why I say Ladybug is blamed for not reading his mind. Especially because, three episodes later, we get Rocketear, which gives us this:

Cat Noir: Everyone has doubts now and then, (looks down) even me... Ladybug: Is everything okay, Cat Noir? Cat Noir: Yeah, yeah. (prepare his fist) Pound it! Ladybug: (fistbumps) Pound it!

Rocketear is the episode where Nino outs that he and Alya know each other's identities while acting like Ladybug said identities weren't a big deal even though that is very much not what happened. You'd think that Chat Noir would want to know the full story, but instead he just lies and says that everything is fine.

So we have two situations where the show allowed Ladybug to give Chat Noir a chance for clear and open communication and both times he turns her down.

What's worse is that he clearly starts making up stories in his head, leading to Kuro Neko, which starts with Adrien avoiding a fight on purpose as some sort of shit test. He then gets upset when Ladybug... doesn't lament his absence on national TV?

Clara: (from TV) By the way, where's Cat Noir? You've saved Paris without him quite a few times recently. Are you two at odds with each other? Carapace, Pegasus, Vesperia and Pigella: (from TV) Pound it! Ladybug: (from TV) Of course not, it's just that... umm, he's a partner like any other! The most important is to pick the best superheroes for each mission, with or without Cat Noir. No matter what, we've got a great team and we'll always be here to save Paris. (Adrien is shocked.) Adrien: (turns off the TV and sighs) "A partner like any other..."

Dude, what did you want her to do here? Complain that you flaked on her? Make Paris feel less safe by saying she doesn't know where you are? Imply that the fight was barely won without you? What are you doing? Plagg, you are completely failing as a mentor right now.

The shit test continues as Chat Noir goes to meet up with Ladybug now that the battle is over, arriving just as Ladybug has finished instructing the team on what to do:

Ladybug: Come on, guys! Hurry up before you all detransform. I'll meet you at rendezvous points. (The heroes jump away in different directions, and Ladybug starts typing something on her Yo-yo.) Cat Noir: Hey! Meow are you, m'lady? Ladybug: Great, thanks, but I gotta go retrieve all these Miraculous. Cat Noir: I could lend you a paw to help save time. Ladybug: Thanks, kitty cat, but it's a guardian's job to do it. Cat Noir: I know who some of them are, remember? I was there when you first gave them their Miraculous! Ladybug: You don't even know where their rendezvous points are, I don't have time to— Cat Noir: Playing cat and mouse is my forte, you know— Ladybug: (yelling) If you wanna save me time, stop wasting it in the first place! (Cat Noir gasps. As Ladybug swings away, Cat Noir clenches his fist.) Cat Noir: And take my Miraculous back when you're done!

So Ladybug doesn't publicly chastise Chat Noir for missing the battle and rejects an offer to help because of very legitimate timing concerns, leading to Chat Noir quitting because she failed his stupid, petty, childish tests. Realistic writing? Yes. Writing that paints Ladybug as the one in the wrong? No.

Going into this episode, Ladybug has no idea that things are messed up between them even though she has actually kept communication lines open. She asks him if things are okay, but he lies. And when he's ready to quit? He plays stupid games and wins a stupid prize. It's really not shocking that the next scene sees Ladybug totally baffled by what just happened:

Plagg: For a while now, you've been neglecting this camembert— I mean Cat Noir, and going on adventures with the all other cheeses! Ladybug: But he should be happy about it, it gives him more time off. Plagg: Cat Noir doesn't wanna have time off, Ladybug! He is in love with you! And your persistent calling on all the other heroes has broken his heart.

And how is she supposed to know that, Plagg? Was she supposed to assume that her partner was lying when he said he was fine? Because she did ask and he said that nothing was wrong. But something was wrong and it lead him to build up a story in his head, reading nonexistent intent into her actions, all of which is toxic and unhealthy communication.

I cannot stress how common this shit is. I've seen it so many times and I will own that I've done it in the past and wound up getting no support when I needed it because I'd directly told people I didn't and they committed the heinous crime of... believing me.

Here's the other thing, there are times when I'm in distress and legitimately don't want or need help. Times when I just need to be alone for a bit. So if someone asks me if I'm okay during those times, I'm probably just going to say, "Yeah, I just need a people break" or something like that. That's why the Scarabella scene is so bad. Ladybug can see that Chat Noir is in distress and he gives her a fully plausible answer: I'm not upset with you, I'm just saddened by the idea of losing you. And she believes him because why wouldn't she?

Same goes for Rocketear. It's reasonable for Ladybug to assume that Chat Noir is just shaken by the fight. She has no idea about the bombshell that Nino dropped right before the fight. She doesn't even know that Nino and Chat Noir are actually close friends, making this fight a lot more devastating than it looks at face value. Her actions here are not objectively wrong. They're only wrong if you know the whole story, including Adrien's needs. Things that she cannot know unless Chat Noir uses his words to tell her things.

I cannot over stress how much season four is a textbook example of denying yourself support because you cannot communicate your own needs. Is it an understandable character flaw for a character with Adrien's background to have? Yes. Absolutely. 100%. But it's still a character flaw. This season desperately needed an arc about Adrien learning to tell people what's wrong. Not because he's the only one in the wrong here, but because things cannot get better when Ladybug has no idea that she's hurting him. (Nino has no idea either, but let's keep our focus on Ladybug.)

One of the most important things you can do for your own mental well being is to dismiss the idea that your needs are the same as everyone else's. Everyone needs different amounts of attention and values different behavior based on things like their upbringing and life events.

I get the feeling that I'm wired pretty similar to Marinette. At least, it influences how I write her because I can go months without talking to my best friends and still call them my best friends, a trait we all share because two of use are artsy introverts and two of us are moms to young kids, which allows for very little free time. Meanwhile, my SO and his best friend spend hours on the phone almost every week. I swear that those two go into withdrawal if they don't talk at least once every seven days. If months went by without them talking? Something would be very wrong, but the exact same time gap isn't even remotely concerning when it comes to my friends. It's something my SO and I had to figure out when we got together because I need a lot less attention than he does. But we communicated and found a balance that we continue to work to communicate about so that he doesn't feel neglected and I don't feel overwhelmed by too little me time.

What I'm trying to say is Marinette wasn't horribly wrong for assuming that Chat Noir was telling her the truth or that he liked having a larger team so he had less responsibility. Those are reasonable assumptions. Especially since he never actually indicated that he wanted more responsibility until he was ready to quit and decided to shit test her by pushing for more to do when she was stressed and on a timer.

I do think that she should have offered it to him before that or - at the very least - the show should have clearly stated why she didn't do that since it apparently had nothing to do with Chat Blanc trauma like we all thought it did. I'm not saying that she's blameless or perfect or that there weren't things she could have done better. It's just really hard for me to look at Chat Noir's behavior in season four and go, "Oh yeah, he's the injured party here. Ladybug holds all the blame and did everything wrong." She did many things wrong, but generally speaking, she owned her faults and tried to keep communication channels open. Chat Noir chose to ignore those chances to talk or otherwise try to express his needs in a clear and understandable manner.

We'll end with one final point to drive this home: You said that she's his boss. Well, if my boss asked me, "is everything okay with the project?" and I said, "yes" while freaking out about the upcoming deadline that I'm probably going to miss because he's given me too much work, the issue is not all on my boss. It's on both of us. Him for overloading me and me for not telling him I'm overloaded. You could even argue that it's mostly on me because I'm the only one who can properly gauge my own ability to do a given workload. As soon as it was too much, I should have said something. And if I don't feel like my boss is approachable? Then I should quit. But that isn't the situation I'm in and it doesn't appear to be the one that Chat Noir was in, either. He wanted to stay part of the team, he just totally failed to tell Ladybug how being on the team was making him feel.

People magically knowing what you need and how you feel is a myth. I promise you, most people in this world do not want to cause you pain, but if you cannot clearly express when someone is causing you pain, then you will continue to get hurt by people who would be very happy to not hurt you if they actually knew that their actions were causing you pain.

#ml writing critical #ml writing salt #adrien deserves better #marinette deserves better #I do give Luka a bit of a side eye for not getting involved after Wishmaker though #Dude's supposed to be some sort of empath and he's at his best when he's in a mentor role #He should have been allowed to be Adrien's Alya since Nino is clearly not suited for the role #Season four my belothed #kuro Neko salt #ml season 4 salt #you cannot expect someone to correct their behavior when no one is telling them that they're behaving badly #And no one calls Marinette out so of course she doesn't change her behavior!#She is shown to be willing to change when prompted too #She only knew that something was wrong post Scarabella because Alya told her #Do you really think Marinette was aware that she was hurting Chat Noir and just willfully kept doing it?#Or is it more likely that she just didn't know because no one told her?#Feel free to give Tikki some blame too because she's been a real shitty mentor for a while now #which breaks my heart because I love Tikki and Plagg and want them to be good mentors

61 notes · View notes