Cw: Child Abuse - Tumblr Posts

inktober 11: cruelty

um... this is more vent art but... I kind of drew a bit of a traumatic event form my childhood... i don’t really wanna talk about it...

Y’all like TikTok ? Y’all like The Willoughbys ? Y’all want Willoughbys Angst On TikTok ? Follow @.voidtonowhere on TikTok for just that !! 👀🥂

When Sherry Johnson was eleven, she found one day that she’s gonna marry a 20-year-old member of her church who had raped her. She became pregnant and in order to avoid investigation and criminal case, her family and church officials decided to make the girl a legal wife of this monster.

“My mom asked me if I wanted to get married, and I said, ‘I don’t know, what is marriage, how do I act like a wife?’” Johnson remembers today, many years later. “She said, ‘Well, I guess you’re just going to get married.’” 

However, her case is one of thousand cases of child marriage. According to statistics, children 16 and under are still being married in Florida at a rate of one every few days.

Johnson and her family also attended a conservative Pentecostal church and that other girls of a similar age periodically also married. One girl said when she was 10 she was raped by both a minister and a parishioner and later gave birth to a daughter. There were all documents confirming her and her child’s age, but still, the judge approved the marriage to end the rape investigation, telling her, “What we want is for you to get married.”

And nevertheless, America prefers to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, like in Syria, calling it “defending freedom” rather than to change states’ laws and to protect American children from rape, coercion and molestation. 

Today, Johnson is campaigning for a state law to stop underage marriage that has already become a norm in some states.

Please, help me to raise awareness to this issue. No one can remain indifferent to the problem of child molestation. 

#StopChildMarriage  #StopChildAbuse

Continuing from my comment from my main blog @drake-atello

I'm just wondering how no one suspected anything. Even if they were to be told explicitly “don't tell xgaster about any of this” it feels like no one noticed. There's no signs of sympathy that I've noticed across the blog posts and comics (from what I've seen). You’d think they'd be a little more cautious around him, or at least treat him a little better. Mettaton is likely excused, he’s just built differently.

Frisk and Chara should have at least told the dremmurs about, yknow, everything. They already know he’s a bad person, they would have connected the dots already.

Did the memory overwrite in timeline X let them see how Xgaster treated his ‘children’ too? Or just what he did to Frisk and Chara? Because I feel there’d have been a different reaction to subduing him than “torment him further”. Talk him out of it, pin him down and keep him from interfering. Hell I'm pretty sure they just went to kill him because he didn't want to kill frisk.

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that they were either oblivious or just didn't give a single flying fuck. The more likely option is Xgaster overwrit their awareness every time the confronted him about it, but that seems really complicated.

Again, sorry about your childhood man, hope you’ve recovered well.

Not exactly hurt comfort but I am enjoying the idea that every time Cross reveals something about his past/childhood it slowly but surely makes the team angry. Like he happens to share a "funny story" or mention how he was treated and one by one the gang is horrified to the point where if xgaster actually showed up in the same au as them they would all be gunning for him immediately.

Also the stars showing up during this fight and like Dream: Nightmare stop this!! What are you doing to- Nightmare: (goops over and whispers something in Dream's ear) Dream: WHAT?? No fuck that (starts aiming his arrows at xgaster)

IVE SPOKEN ABOUT THIS SO MANY TIMES WITH FRIENDS/MUTUALS I AGREE SO MYCH HE HAS SO MANY TRAUMATIZING CHILDHOOD STORIES HE INTERNALLY NORMALIZED GOD. HE DOESNT REALIZE HOW BAD IT WAS AND THE REACTIONS HE GETS ARE UNNERVING. THANK YOU FOR THIS AND OTHER CROSS RELATED ASKS YOURE SO GOOD WITH THEM THEYRE MY FAVORITE

ok ya this is just plain whump warning for lotsa child abuse including physical. like beating the shit out of an 8 year old physical. also I’m so tired right now

chances are that’s not even the worst of it because you know his seven year old ass was told ‘don’t tell anyone about me beating you to near death’ and he still sticks to that. but he speaks about abuse he doesn’t even grasp counts as abuse.

withholding food. sleeping in the yard. eating food on the floor while the others sat at the dinner table as punishment (or to eat out of a dog bowl on the ground i had to do that once lol). as a kid still scared of the dark he was locked in dark rooms until he got over his fear (he’s still scared to this day but he won’t seek help because he doesn’t want to be punished again). cross touched something he wasn’t supposed to? put your hand on the burning hot stove for however many seconds that item was worth in G (maybe divided by 5/10), or until he cried.

cruel and unusual punishments were xgaster’s forte but he tells them like funny stories to the horror of literally everyone around him.

cross is not coping well with figuring out that no that’s not normal and no that’s fucked up. most of his scars are probably from xgaster (excluding the red one on his face obv). and when he delves into the traditional abuse it gets worse somehow?? anyway xgaster is on THE multiversal hitlist. star sanses and bad sanses all want his head on a wall. even ink because ink didn’t know about the abuse because xgaster never told him for obvious reasons and it’s not like cross was willing to share.

i think that once he starts talking about the abuse he can’t stop (same) and he’s just. slowly crying and eventually hyperventilating and oh he’s been holding onto that for SO long. and then he hates that he told people because he wasn’t supposed to and is scared that they’ll see him less or punish him for some reason or hate him now, but he isn’t expecting to be comforted after? wtf? he doesn’t grasp that saying ‘yeah i got in trouble at school so my dad beat me until i lost two of my baby teeth and got a temporary crack in my skull’ normally results in being hugged or something. like dude you were 8 wtf. and he’s so scared but he just wants to feel safe AUGH HE MAKES MY HEART HURT. like dude, he almost beat papyrus at a time he was so young he had to use a step-stool to reach the sink to brush his teeth :( dude…

anyway ya cross is me fr (the burning hand stove happened once/twice to me actually idk i was like 5 lol. my grandfather is not the best man) and he deserves to go through hell on earth and be tortured in his childhood i think. oh and experience comfort or whatever after idk. kross maybe because their dynamic is ‘my childhood was ruined’ x ‘my adulthood was ruined’ and i think that’s sweet. or mtt + cross poly with nightmare as the outlier wondering why they’re so affectionate all of a sudden (he’s aroace…)

BUT THATS SELF INDULGENT LMAO what really matters is how much we torture the poor lad that is cross 🥰

also make him trans because abuse isn’t enough he needs extreme dysphoria all of the time. xgaster isn’t transphobic btw this is independent from everything else

Of Shidou Ryusei ; And how his character connects towards sexual trauma

(Content warning: Major mentions of SA/CSA and abuse, minor mentions for NSFW behaviour. Most of them aren't in graphic detail, but please please be wary of it 🙏 There's also spoilers for CSM and A Clockwork Orange)

Shidou's character is one of those that sticks with you throughout the entire series. It feels like we know everything about him, yet there's something so mysterious about his behaviour that makes you wonder, what's with this guy? We know how he acts, his violence and vulgarity injected in his brain and blood, but yet we don't know why he acts the way he is. It is very heavily implied that he went through a sort of restriction, born in a bird cage which he freed himself from through going to Blue Lock, but what is that restriction? What was the bird cage which trapped him? What was it that was holding him back from searching for freedom and exploring the world?

Since then, there's been a large speculation of theories on what his backstory could be. But one of them I want to talk about is about how his backstory is connected to SA, and how he could have experienced it at a young age. At first, I was extremelyyy hesitant to follow it due to how it made me a bit uncomfortable to discuss about, and how I saw a majority of people supporting the theory use it for shock value rather than a chance to devolve into darker topics. Of course, not the case for everyone who supports the theory, just from my own personal experience in the fandom.

But now, I can see the extremely, deeply discomforting vision on how this could be true in a way. From both his favourite manga and movie involving SA as an integral part in the story, to the concerning side of him being slightly revealed in the Egoist Bible. (Eg. crying at the end of the day, when he's feeling nothing or when he's empty, as well as his dislike of gifts)

Due to my heavy interests, I wanted to explore this theory into a more deeper matter. I decided to analyze more of his behaviour, as well as doing some of my own research. I must say, Shidou's behavioral manner can be one that is similar to those of SA survivors, especially male survivors.

Okay okay, enough yapping around. Let me get straight to the point.

Shidou and his instinct's responses

Generally after experiencing sexual abuse, one's entire personality will change. Every behaviour change is different for every sexual abuse survivor. Sometimes they'll isolate themselves more often, sometimes they turn into a much aggressive and violent person. Because the world has failed them, the world is putting them in a place where they are no longer safe and are more vulnerable. Because when your entire sense of self and personal power is taken away by your abuser, you are left with nothing but fear and new survival instincts. Why I bring this up is because Shidou's entire personality is built on instincts. His instant response to even the slightest hint of dislike or threat is to immediately beat them up, no matter who they are. A noteworthy thing to mention is that one of the main responses from males following sexual trauma is anger, because it is more socially acceptable for men to react that way. Attacking someone is the best way of defense, and Shidou follows this way of defense entirely. This also follows up with the stigma with the male ethic of self-reliance, in which help-seeking behaviours can be seen as cowardly or unmasculine.

It's most likely the reason why he also dislikes Kunigami's philosophy of heroes; Considering the fact his entire character is based on wanting to be free from restriction, he must have lived in an environment and/or went through a sort of restriction which influenced his ideals of "I can fend myself, I won't need anyone". The world he has grown up in was nothing but survival against the abuse he went through, so for what purpose should he believe in the principle of a savior, if he himself could have never been saved? It doesn't help either when in real time, there have been many cases where survivors of sexual abuse are either never believed when they speak out about it, or never speak out at all in fear of not being believed.

And besides the fact he uses violence as a defense method, one thing I noticed about Shidou is that during the time he was locked up by Ego for inducing violence onto Rin. We see him, perhaps for the first time, being calm and offering a promise that he'll make sure to stop fighting and hitting others, as long as he is let out of that prison he's trapped in. You see, a common reaction victims will use during the process of the SA is to freeze. To stay silent and still. It's like how animals freeze to avoid fights or further harm to themselves, or play dead in order to prevent getting eaten by predators. Although the outer self may seem to be in a calm state, the inside are on high alert, because they are afraid on what will be their abuser's next moves. The option to fight or run away may seem easy to those who haven't experienced SA, but to the victim it may seem harder than you think. Because freezing is a body's instinct response to abuse, and it'll stay frozen until the abuse is over, it's almost like a human's way of playing dead, so that the assault induced will end sooner. Among the instincts of 'fight, flight, freeze', Shidou seems to use fight the most out of the three. However, when necessary times come necessary measures, Shidou, perhaps for the first time, switches to 'freeze' instead of 'fight'. Not only because he basically, cannot physically fight anyone at that moment, but also because he is afraid. Afraid of being restricted yet again, afraid of not having the chance to live his life, which is to play football. The worst position to be in when you're being hurt or abused is limitation. You can't move, you can't fight, you can't run away from your abuse from happening. Nothing but hope that the abuse happening to you will end soon, that your abuser will stop hurting you. That's exactly what is so terrifying about the freeze responses.

Shidou and his sexual behaviour

If any fan knows anything about Shidou, it's that he's not afraid to speak out what's on his mind, especially lewd and inappropriate words. More or less, this can be connecting to something called hypersexuality. Accordingly, hypersexuality is defined as an intense focus on sexual fantasies, urges and behaviours that can't be controlled. Hypersexuality can not only cause distress, but also problems in school and workplace.

Survivors of sexual abuse cope in one of the two ways: Either by avoiding sexual or intimidate interactions entirely, or seeking said interactions on a large and unhealthy scale. According to this article, a majority of men who suffer from hypersexuality or sex addiction have been either physically or sexually abused in their childhood.

We see Shidou quite literally compare scoring a goal in football, to sexual intercourse. (And also the part where he says he's gonna blow his load, with Sae also dismissing it, but it's just partners supporting each other!)

By now, we know that two things that Shidou is unable to separate from each other is life and football. Both the act of life and the act of playing football is interconnected. Because football is something that allows him to leave a mark, allows him to be known by the world. Because football is a biological phenomenon to him, rather than just a sport.

And yes sure, this is supposed to be a connection to his philosophy of leaving a mark on others, so that you can be remembered. But also remember what he says in his monologue: "Those who create something, those who want to become something, and of course, those who make children." The way humans create life is through intimacy, through intercourse. The two people engaging leave a mark on each other through creating that life, that child.

And while speaking about his monologue of leaving a mark, Shidou also mentions that wounding others are a way of leaving behind a proof of existence. Inducing abuse whether it'd be physical, emotional or sexual, can also be one of the ways to make someone remember you.

The abuser leaves the mark on the victim, the mentioned mark left on them can be seen as PTSD or trauma symptoms.

Abuse is not something you can just simply turn away, forget or overlook. Whether the effects of trauma are short-term or long-term, they are there, they are a proof of existence that it happened. Shidou's inability to separate the physical act of football and the biological act of life's desires, especially sexual desires, can be seen as hypersexuality. Hypersexuality can also be seen as a mark left onto the victim. And it's extremely lengthy to recover and remove those marks left on you.

Of Freedom and Shidou Ryusei

I think Shidou Ryusei and his obsession with freedom is something so interesting about his character, yet so many people tend to ignore it as a significant part of him. Because imagine if one day out of the blue, your entire bodily autonomy gets taken away from you, you're trapped in a cycle of repetitive abuse onto you. When it's finally over and you have control over everything again, the world suddenly feels so utterly different. So what do you do? Of course, cling onto that freedom that is now yours.

Bite any other hand that may seem like it's trying to take it away, because if there is one thing you do not ever want to repeat, it is someone isolating you once more against the world. So hold on tightly to the freedom you now have, and make sure it stays with you for eternity.

All of Shidou's favourite things, his favourite film, manga and song, are also connected to this in a way.

It would take too long for me to get into detail about both Chainsaw Man and A Clockwork Orange, but I want to say that both media and their protagonists have approaches to freedom of life and choice.

In Chainsaw Man, Denji is a child that has been depraved of even the basic of human needs; Just like Shidou, he wants to claim everything in his current life and not return to when he had nothing when he was a child. In A Clockwork Orange, Alexander who in the beginning of the movie has been committing heinous crimes with no one to stop him, is captured and put through inhumane experiments in order to rehabilitate him. His entire freedom is taken away from him and for the next hour, we see him go through immense suffering and torture by those who he had wronged to the point he attempts to commit suicide through jumping off a window. In the end, it doesn't seem like his mindset has changed at all. It makes us question whether or not letting someone be free to do anything they want is the better option even if it hurts others, rather than attempt to isolate them in order to transform them into a better human being.

I would like to talk a little about his favourite artist. For a bit of context, hide is popular for being an icon of rebellion against Japan's conformist society, and one of his songs PINK SPIDER, is listed as Shidou's favourite song according to the official Blue Lock Egoist Bible. I've seen a lot of interpretations of what the song truly means, but the main story is that it's about a spider trapped within and kills anything near it. Because it wishes to free itself away, it steals a butterfly's wings. It attempts to fly, and fails, and tries again. Whether or not the spider did actually succeeded in flying away is unknown to us. But, that's not all!

Around the chapter where Shidou scores a goal, the commenter calls it a 'rocket diving header'. This can lead to one of hide's other songs in the same album as PINK SPIDER, rocket dive; a song with the similar approach of freedom but with different tones. Compared to PINK SPIDER, rocket dive has a more cheerful approach. In the end of the song, the star mentioned in rocket dive successfully flies away and appears as a new shooting star in the sky.

Which brings me to point out something: Shidou Ryusei's birthday is on Tanabata, a type of Japanese celebration called the Star Festival which is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month.

His name, Ryusei, is also a homophone for shooting star in Japanese.

Shidou, born as a star on the day where two lover stars meet, yet when he was born, he was not allowed to fly and join the others in the sky.

But he overcame everything, achieved that dream of having the freedom to do whatever he wants. And even though he went through all that pain, all that abuse, and most likely had to learn how to escape by himself through football before Blue Lock, he made it come true, like a spell.

And eventually, he learnt how to fly, and let the world knew who he was.

Might I offer some dad!Vaatu in these troubling times?

Here is where I got the prompt from~

Note- Zuko and Vaatu are entirely separate entities, so no Avatar!Zuko here.

CW for child abuse, panic attack and blood

~~~

“How much for a tomato, sir?” Zuko asked, counting the few coins in his palm. The jolly old man who sold the vegetables gave Zuko a warm smile, and handed him a full basket of various veggies.

“On the house, kiddo.” He said, smiling warmly. Zuko looked up at the man.

“Really? Thank you!” He beamed. The small boy bowed and quickly began making his way home.

As the sun began it’s descent, the small boy quickened his step. He didn’t need Vaatu coming out and looking for him, he only barely managed to get the spirit to let him out of his sight. Zuko contemplated trying to run away. He kept his face even as his pulse increased. He wasn’t sure running would do him any good, Vaatu would just track him down and carry him right back “home.” Really, all Zuko could do was bide his time. He saw the missing posters, he knew his family was looking for him and the Fire Sages were working on warding off Vaatu.

Though, Zuko wasn’t so sure how well one could ward off an all powerful spirit.

Suddenly Zuko became aware of footsteps trailing behind him. He whipped around.

“Who’s there?!” The boy demanded, trying smother the fear in his voice.

“Don’t be alarmed, child.” A man stepped forth from the shadows. “You are Prince Zuko, yes? I’ve come to take you home.” Zuko fell to his knees, his legs felt numb. Three years, it had been three years since Vaatu had interfered in his training lesson and ripped him away from his family.

And now, he could finally go home.

By the time Zuko had come back to his senses, the man was already pulling him to his feet and leading him away.

“Come on, we don’t have time to loose, that thing could appear at any moment.”

Zuko looked up, and back at the abandoned and spilled basket. He quickened his pace. Night was setting in and Vaatu would likely come looking for him soon.

As the darkness got heavier and the trees of the surrounding woods only got more unfamiliar, Zuko felt an awful feeling in his gut.

“Where are we going, exactly?” But the man didn’t answer Zuko’s question. Only tightened his grip on the boy’s wrist and starting moving faster. Zuko grit his teeth and dug in his heels. “Hey! Where are we going?!”

He suddenly found himself violently thrown to the ground. He tried to get up, only to get a kick to the face. The boy cringed and curled up as he received several stomps to the side.

“Heh, all I had to do was say I was taking you home and you just bought it. Hook, line, and sinker.” The man gave a vicious chuckle. “Yeah, I’m taking you home.” He ignited a pair of fireballs in his hands. “In an urn, that is.” Zuko looked up at the man.

Of course, his rescuer turned out to be an assassin. But Azula wouldn’t have needed a rescuer, she would have fought Vaatu off all on her own. Only someone weak, and pathetic like Zuko would need to be saved.

“Oh, don’t give me that face.” The man spat before punching Zuko. He wrapped his hands around Zuko’s throat, grinning. “Ya know, I was gonna just burn you to a crisp, but strangling just feels oh so good. And that way, I get to see the light fade from your eyes.”

Zuko feebly grabbed at the man’s wrists, darkness was edging into his vision. He couldn’t let it end like this, no he’d prove himself. He’d make it back home in one piece, prove his worth to his father. Consciousness fading, but determination burning ever hotter, Zuko summoned heat into his palms. The man released his throat and Zuko coughed as he forced air back into his lungs. As the man made another move for Zuko, he summoned a weak flame and threw it into the man’s face. He screamed as Zuko ran off.

Zuko dashed frantically into the dark night, he was completely lost and he knew it. Without the sun, his sense of direction was shot, and he knew the man would be looking for him. His heart throbbed as he spotted Vaatu’s cottage in the distance. Without thinking, he burst right in turning around and slamming the door shut behind him, before collapsing against it. He went stiff as he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

“Larva, what’s wrong? Where were-” He turned Zuko around and took a good look at his face. Vaatu’s expression flashed from shocked to stern. His ominous red eyes betraying his immeasurable rage. He gently tilted Zuko’s head up, getting a better look at his busted face. With a surprising gentleness, he thumbed away the tears gathering in Zuko’s eyes. His eyes narrowed. “Don’t move.” He hissed, making his way into another room. He returned with a small, dampened cloth and proceeded to gently wipe the blood from Zuko’s face. Wrath rolled off the spirit like mist rolling over a morning lake. Zuko’s heart thundered as Vaatu began to patch up his wounds. His heart nearly stopped as Vaatu looked him dead in the eyes. The burning gold of his own, meeting the blood and darkness of Vaatu’s dead on.

His gaze was absolutely soul piercing.

Then, after what felt like an eternity of silence, Vaatu spoke.

“Who did this?” His voice was tense, and only a step above a demonic growl.

Zuko’s mind desperately searched for some way to answer. Vaatu is obviously angry with him, not only did he come back much later than he promised, but he’d also gotten himself into trouble. And judging by his injuries, Vaatu could obviously tell that Zuko was weak and pathetic and couldn’t even defend himself. But what should he do? Lie? Vaatu would probably be able to see right through it, and punish him accordingly. No, he had to tell the truth, he had to be honest and tell Vaatu he tried to run off with someone he thought had come to rescue him. Only, he found himself unable to speak. He desperately tried to will the words out. Delaying will only make the punishment worse. He tried to steady his breathing, but it kept coming in shorter and shorter gasps, hot tears flowing down his face as he stumbled out incoherent phrase after incoherent phrase.

Don’t cry, Zuko told himself. Crying only makes the punishment worse.

And Vaatu is a spirit. He can punish Zuko in ways Ozai could only dream of.

Next thing Zuko knew, Vaatu had picked him up and was laying him on his bed. Zuko tried to reach out to him, desperately trying to tell him, but Vaatu was already leaving, shifting into his normal black, flatworm-esque form and retreating into the night.

Zuko curled in on himself, his mind raced.

He fucked up.

He fucked up.

He fucked up.

He should have just told Vaatu the truth, gave him the answer he was looking for. Now only Agni knows what that spirit is going to do to him. Welp, there was no point in sticking around now, whatever punishment he got for trying to escape couldn’t have been as worse than what he’s about to get. Zuko scrambled up and clawed uselessly at the windows. He couldn’t breath or focus, everything was f a l l i n g  a p a r t.

Of course, Vaatu came back much earlier than he was anticipating, as Zuko felt his arms wrapping around his small frame.

“There, there.” The dark spirit cooed, cradling Zuko. The boy struggled harder and screamed for help when he realized how utterly soaked in blood Vaatu was. The dark spirit held him tighter, shooshing him. “It’s alright, that man won’t be bothering you again.” He rubbed Zuko’s back until the boy eventually calmed down and fell asleep in his arms.

X~X

Vaatu knew right away that his larva had returned. He said he’d be back before dusk, that he was just grabbing some food from the market. Vaatu wanted to think that it was natural for him to feel worried when dusk came and went without his larva’s return. The black haired humanling had been so adamant that Vaatu trust him, that he decided to wait when he hadn’t shown up. He’ll be back soon. He told himself. Nonetheless, he worried.

Then he did return. Panting and looking rather scruffy. Vaatu tried to pry as to his larva’s distress, however, he hadn’t expected to see his larva beaten and bloodied. His rage burned, as he cleaned his larva’s wounds, he only became angrier.

He asked his larva what happened, but the small humanling panicked. Vaatu wasn’t sure what to do with this. Raava would have been able to sooth the poor larva, but Vaatu, her opposite, was incapable of such a thing.

His aura was unsettling, not soothing.

He laid his panicked larva down for a nap and went out to… do some business.

Vaatu returned to his larva frantically trying to escape from him. Had, had he given the poor humanling the wrong impression? Did Zuko think that Vaatu was angry with him? The dark spirit tried to think of what Raava might do in this situation.

…Probably chide him for letting his poor defenseless larva wander about on his own. And then soothe said larva.

(Spirit of Light and Peace? More like, Spirit of Chiding and Nagging.)

Mmm- Vaatu wasn’t very good at soothing, but he supposed he had to try. He grabbed the panicked humanling and held him close, rubbing his back and cooing at him. Eventually, he calmed down and fell asleep.

Three years, it had been three years since Vaatu rescued his larva from the wretched human. A man who was about to kill his own son for power.

Disgusting.

Vaatu would protect his new larva, no matter the cost.

Finally getting some writing done as I get to those memory asks! Feeling a bit of emotion when it comes to a particular response so I’m adding a snippet here as a teaser of what’s to come...

”What have you been doing out there, you freak? We have guests in half an hour and here you are dripping blood all over the carpet!” Mrs. Sionis hissed, pushing him none too gently towards the direction of the stairs. Roman stumbled, earning yet another threatening growl from his mother as his fingers left a bloody smear on the wooden banister before he scrambled to his feet, more afraid of what she’d do to him if he didn’t get out of sight quickly than he ever was of the animal outside that had just attacked him. “Get upstairs and don’t come back down again until I tell you to!” Her voice followed as he went. Roman didn’t answer back, instead climbing as quickly as his shaking legs could carry him and thankful his mother was more concerned about the upcoming party when she was about punishing him for dirtying her home with his blood. Still, his hand really hurt, fingers throbbing as though liquid fire were pumping through his veins and travelling throughout his body until his eyes burned as badly as his bite.

Some of worship Isa being unhappy

Warning for child abuse and gaslighting

Isabela wasn't sure about anything anymore. She knew that her name wasn't Maria. That she didn't always like like this. Briefly, she could remember people. Her family. As well as Mirabel's. But her knowledge was hazed, damaged by the years away from them. What she could remember were mostly facts.

Madre kept saying that she was crazy and needed to pray. Isabela knew that she wasn't. She wasn't some evil being or a daughter of Satan. She wasn't crazy.

She hoped that they were real. She really did. It's just that after years in this hell, she had no idea of anything anymore.

Sometimes she wondered if she imagined this all. Maybe the Madrigals were never real. What if Rafaela was just Rafaela, a random girl six years younger than she was and not Mirabel? What if the other girl she remembered as her sister wasn't her sister? Maybe they all were part of her imagination. Maybe everyone was right.

Isabela hated it. Deep inside she knew she was right. But each time when somebody called her 'possessed' she was getting less sure.

And she didn't want to argue with Madre. Because in the best case she would get beaten up for this. Her wrist would bleed from smacks, it was hurt already. Or maybe she could even be locked inside the closet room for bad kids. And she would cry against the door, staying in this small place for days. Hungry, thirsty and exhausted.

It also would mean skipping church. Part of Isabela hated it,but it was the only time when she could see kids from the other houses. Good thing they all had constant places in a palace. Finding Mirabel was easy. Even if Isabela could never get close enough to her to say a single word.

She wondered if Mirabel had any idea of their family, their real family. Of the fact that they were even related. This single thought was enough for Isabela's guts to twitch. But if she ever tried to speak to anyone without being allowed to, she would be crying on her knees, while her body would bleed. And Madre would call her a cursed child again.

Her mama never hit her. Isabela wished to go back to Mama. Feel the warmth of her homemade food. Or laugh over Papa's clumsiness. Maybe play under Tía's rain. Or get into catching up with Luisa.

They were real, right?

You know how abusive parents love to tone police and how if you don’t say the right words or don’t speak soon enough it’s an offense to them

DONT READ ART IF NOT WELL

tw implied csa

this again makes me sad and feel so much better and the art style is cute too lol

Father // The Front Bottoms

This started as a vent comic but turned into a whole thing that really helped me work through some feelings of my own- this song applied to Hunter makes me go crazy and I hope it strikes a chord with someone else too.

For me it’s like. Struggling with feeling like you’re broken and you can’t/won’t ever be able to do things normally due to your trauma and having confusing feelings towards people who hurt you yk?

DONT READ IF NOT WELL

tw implied csa

awww poor babay :(

I know I’ve made comics about these situations before but since the show ended and I have a better grasp on the characters I felt like I had to draw out some feelings I was having re: Hunter postcanon dealing with trauma and healing and physical touch so ! Here’s this. Darius is such a good dad and I love him so much.

I’m going thru it guys you know what that means (blorbo projection time)

cws in tags

been rewatching s2 and it’s dug up a lot of sore feelings regarding my issues so. Well. Also you know how shadow weaver would brush her hand against catra’s tufts? And how the mom in the promised neverland would touch behind the children’s ears? And how it was an act of affection from the outside but it was actually something sinister? What if Belos did that w the Caleb cowlick. Anyway

Faith Meade

Backstory of the best worst Ventrue.

As promised I'm gonna do big posts about all of my OCs and hyperlink them in my big OC post, and the one I've got brainrot about right now is Faith, so here we fucking go:

In life, Faith was the only child of an incredibly, incredibly mentally ill single mother. Her mum was a devout Catholic, but some sort of schizoaffective disorder or straight up schizophrenia led her to frequent episodes of believing her daughter was possessed by the devil, a sinner, an angel, etc. She was often punished severely, being deprived of things or even, on rare occasions, beaten.

Faith has an eidetic memory. She's a character in a text-based chronicle, so it's nice and simple to roleplay this, as opposed to in a tabletop game. She was the "weird kid" at her school - not being allowed to see 'satanic' movies or play video games, or generally experience anything normal, as well as remembering everything perfectly and often explaining things in too much detail, she wound up often taking lessons aside from the rest of her class, which did not help her to make friends.

While I don't have an eidetic memory, this is borrowed from my real life. I was hyperlexic and very good at math as a kid, and distinctly remember reading Anne Frank's diary in P5 while the rest of the class read with the teacher, and studying maths with the special education teacher in a private room rather than staying in the classroom. Unlike Faith, though, I had some solid friends despite this.

She did a little better in high school, but not much. She wasn't allowed to hang out with her friends outside of school, so she missed out on partying and sleepovers and such, and her relationships with the girls in her friend group just weren't as deep as the ones the other girls shared with each other. She continued to study at an advanced level, and was able to apply for, and get into, university at just 16 years old.

Faith did her best at university. She lived in student accommodation, rather than with her mother, so she had a lot more freedom. She made a few friends and mastered her social skills, and while she still couldn't go drinking with them all at clubs, she managed to secure her first boyfriend, get into video games, and catch up on some media she missed. She prioritised her studies, though, determined to wind up in a high-paying job so she could get her mother into some sort of mental health facility, and enjoy an independent life away from her forever.

Faith maintained her Catholicism throughout her life. While her mother wasn't well, she had grown reliant on religion to get her through her experiences, and she just wasn't willing to give it up. She tried not to think too much about whether or not she actually believed in it all - her faith was a choice she was making. She ended up finding a church that she liked, rather than the one her mother attended - one with an evening mass, so she could juggle studying and part time work with her religion. The priest, a rather attractive man, considering your average priest, was someone she felt quite drawn to. She regularly went for confession, as someone who is quite self-pitying and self-deprecating, but she also ended up helping out with fundraisers and community projects, really finding something to live for between this community and purpose, her new friendships, and her career prospects.

She graduated and started working as a Sales Trader, the youngest in her company, and proved to have an incredible knack for it. Nobody can predict patterns quite like everyone who has seen and remembered every pattern, after all.

It is worth noting now, that Faith is a naturally very curious person - she often managed to find out things she shouldn't know. Occasionally, she would share this information with clients - and this bad behaviour came up in confession from time to time.

How was she to know that her beloved local priest was a kindred? And a Ventrue at that? Watching her develop over her teenage years from a strange, yet intelligent teenager, into a perfectly amiable young woman with a highly profitable set of skills?

The worst part, really, is that isn't even the real reason he killed her. Perhaps she could have understood, if it had been.

Venom (2011) #22

Having an abusive parent is kinda funny in retrospect like mommy why do you have beef with me im 4 i love you

Another Character sheet, this time for Wolf's alternate counterpart.

I guess I should make a content warning for some mild mentions of racism/discrimination, human experimentation, and child abuse/spousal abuse.

*Name: Kevin Rome was named by his mother because she refused to let his father have any say in anything after he was born.

*Nicknames: Called Bone in Wolf form, called Kev for short.

*Race/Species: So here's where it gets a bit odd...Kevin doesn't actually know he's Russian-American. On the post-apocalyptic Earth of the 5a universe, Slavic/former Soviet Union ethnicities are treated with racist hatred because of their association with the empire that essentially destroyed the world. Kevin's parents are still from Russia, but they hid this information upon arrival in the US and disguised themselves as German-Americans. Aside from that situation, his story of how he got the Wolf form is the same as Roman's--he was diagnosed with a genetic muscle wasting disease, and he overwrote his human DNA with wolf DNA, becoming what he is now.

*Age: 30, as he was born in 1993 in the US and it's 2024.

*Gender: Male, identifies as such.

*Alignment: Neutral Evil, as he has extremely loose morals and believes that nothing should impede the path of science. He developed a horrible habit of experimenting on fellow bunker dwellers without their knowledge, by adding things to their food or drink, or pricking them with a needle when they aren't paying attention.

*Class/Job: He was eventually busted by the Bunker's security and was exiled, technically making him an illegal scientist. He continued his shady work in the nearby Anarchy City, a bombed-out Pittsburgh home to Rejects, people rejected from the bunkers for various (and sometimes idiotic) reasons. I should've added that he's also a dual Mayor with Fang of Anarchy City, after they worked together to clear it out of rival gangs.

*Perception: Being a paranoid being, he's constantly on the lookout for trouble.

*Communication: A nervous wreck who stumbles over his words in most situations.

*Persuasion: Same issue as above, hard to buy what he's saying when he's sweating bullets talking to you.

*Mediation:...Yet decent at getting people to not argue and reach an agreement with each other.

*Literacy: Growing up in an abusive household where his shrew of a mother prevented him from talking to other children and considered his high intelligence to be a curse, and his father unable to put a stop to it, Kevin relied on books growing up...well, what little of books survived the raging fires of the nuclear exchange. When he ran away from home to work in the nearby bunker at the age of 16, he gained access to a significant amount of information that survived the destruction, becoming the well read man he is now.

*Creativity: And his creativity bloomed as a result, coming up with unique ways to deal with almost any situation.

*Cooking: His mother taught him to cook so she didn't have to anymore. So he's knowledgeable of a few recipes, and prefers to cook his meat rather than eat it raw like Roman.

*Tech Savvy: His father did teach him how to repair machines and salvage for scraps in the nearby ruins of towns, so he's knowledgeable in getting even the most broken of machines working again.

*Combat: Kevin never received the martial arts training that Roman did, and was simply given a gun to protect himself from the mutant animals and roving bandits. In Wolf fork, he's a lot stronger though.

*Survival: He knows the same basic survival skills as the others in his world.

*Stealth: Same issues with Roman, very tall both in human and in wolf form, very clunky.

*Street Smarts: He's familiar with wasteland lingo and has developed a fear of anything unusual or new, making him decently adapted in the chaotic nuke world.

*Seduction: LMAO no.

*Luck: Has no better or worse luck than most people, but he does fall on his face a lot when attempting something risky.

*Handling animals: Animals hate his wolf form. They're otherwise neutral to his human side.

*Pacifying children: He's learned from the failed parenting of his mother and can empathize with children really well.

*Strength: Weak as a human, strong as a wolf, but rarely gets exercise so he's not as strong as Roman.

*Dexterity: Clunky paws make it hard to manipulate things like he can in his human form. I probably should've put it at 3 instead of 2.

*Health: Weak as human, better as wolf.

*Energy: He finds himself having to sleep more after doing anything strenuous.

*Beauty: With his bad hygiene and lack of good self care, he's not considered as handsome as Roman, regardless of his current form.

*Style: Always wearing the dirty lab coat.

*Hygiene: Suffers from the same issue as Roman, with having human lymph nodes under his wolf fur, so he can develop a furious smell. Sadly, he doesn't have good self-care habits, so he's sometimes gnarly to be around.

*Intelligence: As with Roman, his brain mutated exponentially after birth, which his parents regarded as a strange and scary curse. Not wanting to get attention lest it expose the family as being from the Soviet Union, they forced him to withhold his talents from the world. His father was a bit more understanding however, and secretly loaned him books that he could get a hold of.

*Happiness: Living in a deathworld is bad enough, but growing up with a horrible mother who diminished his self-worth and contributed to his anxiety disorder really did numbers on his overall happiness. Like Fang, his role in helping clean up Anarchy City and control it has also led to him developing paranoia.

*Spirituality: Raised Christian by mostly his father, Kevin has relied on his belief in God to pull him through the tough times growing up. However, that hasn't stopped him from developing a twisted set of morals that allow him to see himself as a good Christian while doing very un-Christ-like behavior like experimenting on his fellow man.

*Confidence: Crippling anxiety, childhood abuse, and a pessimistic outlook has knocked his confidence into the toilet.

*Humor: Relies on either self-deprecating humor or insulting someone else.

*Anxiety: As stated before, has an anxiety disorder that is relatively untreated and exacerbated by the volatile world around him.

*Patience: Decently patient in most situations, but will get easily annoyed in others.

*Passion: His drive for knowledge and science have driven him to a dark path. But as time goes on, he's starting to doubt his life choices.

*Charisma: Lol.

*Empathy: While he can cruelly look down on people he feels superior to for whatever reason, there are times when he does have a sudden stroke of empathy towards a particularly sad situation.

*Generosity: Believes that communities can be stronger when they are generous, but doesn't practice this often.

*Wealth: Controlling Anarchy City has led to them being de facto wealthy.

*Aggression: Rarely aggressive himself, Kevin is more of a coward at heart.

*Libido: Aro-ace and having a very weak libido doesn't mix.

I'll add more later, and I'll repost this when I do.

Yes. The Weasleys had too many kids. An analysis. (Part 2 of 2)

So, where were we? Right. The Weasleys have so many kids that it fucks with their family dynamic and with the mental health of everyone involved. Last time, we looked at Molly and Arthur during the war. We ended in 1981, which means that all kids are born, now. Molly is still nursing. (It’s common to nurse kids up to two or three years, while slowly weaning them, so I assume that this is what Molly does.) She’s finally done with becoming pregnant every other year, however. And it’s about time, because her workload is bigger, than any single person can handle. And while it will decrease over time, it will stay enormous for the next couple of years.

1982 – Bill (who will be 12 at the end of the year) starts Hogwarts. It’s his first lick of freedom. There is no babysitting-duty at Hogwarts. All he has to do is stay out of trouble and earn good grades. Other than that, he is free to do what he wants. He will be the only Weasley-sibling in Hogwarts for two years. Because of this, his parents probably have enough money in reserve to buy him a full Hogwarts-kit without resorting to second-hand-stuff too much. (He might get second-hand books, but his robes and wand are probably new.)

At home, life is still hard for Molly. She has one less kid to take care of, but the kids who are still in her care are a handful. She still needs to teach Charlie. Percy got 6 over the summer and is a little nerd, so she is likely teaching him, too. Fred and George are still chaos incarnate. (And they are just getting started, really.)

Bill’s duties (chores around the home and watching his younger brothers) get passed down to Charlie. Percy might try his hand on this, too, because he is still in direct competition with the twins and Mum gives him attention when he helps her.

The war is over and the Weasleys start to feel the effects of this. As Death Eaters are captured and sentenced, the Wizarding World starts to feel safe, again. The stress eases off (but Molly is probably still grieving.) 

Arthur’s work schedule slowly goes back to more normal levels, allowing him to spend more time at home. However, he missed out on a big chunk of his children’s childhood. It’s also hard to return to his role as a parent, because at this point, the roles of the family are pretty much established: Molly is in charge and does most of the work. Some of the easier chores are passed down to her kids (first Bill, now Charlie, later Percy). This includes watching over his younger brothers while Molly takes care of her toddlers. It’s kind of hard for him to integrate himself into this dynamic. (Just imagine him doing the laundry or the dishes – it’s very likely that he has a different way for doing this, which could easily disrupt Molly’s workflow or simply just annoy her.) 

I think he will mostly stick to the stuff he did when Bill and Charlie were little. So he’s taking his kids out for trips on the weekends. But this is difficult, too, because it’s not Bill and Charlie anymore, but Charlie, Percy, Fred and George. Their dynamic is entirely different, and it’s hard to keep an eye on all of them, while also satisfying their needs equally. (Especially because Percy, Fred and George start to clash.) As a result, the trips are probably not as frequent as they once were.

It’s also possible that Arthur picks up his Muggle-hobby at this point. (Picking up this hobby causes him to spend at least some evenings in his shed, tinkering with Muggle-stuff instead of helping his wife. I imagine him to fade into the background a little bit, while he leaves the household and child-rearing to his wife.)

1984 – Charlie starts Hogwarts.

There are now two Weasley-Siblings at Hogwarts, but things are still pretty chill for them. It’s still just Bill and Charlie, after all. Bill is probably considered trustworthy enough by his teachers to receive a time-turner, so he can take all electives Hogwarts has to offer. (I do wonder how much Molly’s expectations are playing into this. She clearly expects her children to do well at Hogwarts, both in terms of grades and behavior. At this point, he is either a massive nerd like Hermione, trying to perform well to fulfill his mother’s expectations, or both. He is also setting a standard for his siblings here, whether this is on his own accord or because of pressure he receives from Molly.)

At home, Percy (now 8) takes over Charlie’s duties. He tries to control Fred and George. It’s likely that he fails miserably. They are just too close age-wise for this to work. 

Fred and George are 6 now and start to play rough. Last year, Fred turned Ron’s teddy bear into a giant spider (which probably caused Ron to develop arachnophobia). Next year, they will try to talk Ron into making an Unbreakable Vow with them. So keeping an eye on them is getting harder, not easier.

At this point in time, Scabbers exceeds the life span of his species. Rats can get up to two or three years old. (And Rowling knows this. This information is included in book 3, when Ron takes Scabbers to the pet store to have the witch there check on him.) This is Scabbers third year with the Weasleys, so his time is up. No one seems to notice, though. I don’t blame Percy (or the other kids) for this, but Molly and Arthur should notice that they don’t have to replace a rat or have a talk about how Scabbers is happier in the great rat heaven. They don’t and I wonder why. My suggestions are: a) They are either not paying any attention to Percy and his pet (which would suck) or b) Scabbers is turning into Peter and uses a wand (his own or Molly’s) to confund them as needed (which would suck even more).

1987 – Percy starts Hogwarts.

At the end of the 1986/87 school year, Bill (who is a prefect now) takes his OWL in all 12 courses Hogwarts has to offer. It’s possible he returns his time turner after this or keeps it until his graduation to deal with his NEWT-workload. He now starts his sixth year. Charlie is in his fourth year and is already on the Quidditch team. Molly is very, very proud of both of them.

Percy is a wee first year and doesn’t have to watch out for any younger siblings for once. He can focus on learning instead. He is probably the first boy in the family to end up with hand-me-down robes, as he has a similar build as Bill and Bill has probably outgrown his first set.

Scabbers is six, now. So he has lived twice as long as a normal rat would. Still, no one has caught up to the fact that he is awfully old for a rat. It’s very likely that he accompanies Percy to Hogwarts. (It should be noted that Hogwarts only allows cats, owls and toads as pets, so Percy probably got a permission to bring a rat instead. However, no one at the school notices Scabber’s age either.)

Life at home is still chaotic. Fred and George are 10, Ron is 8 and Ginny is 7. Molly is probably teaching all of them. Her workload is slowly going down to a more manageable level, but keeping the twins in check is still a challenge.

She probably doesn’t expect Fred and George to do chores and watch over their siblings. (At least not in the same way she expected from her older kids.) Mostly, because she can’t trust them to do it. (Remember the Unbreakable Vow? Yeah, that.) Additionally, Ron simply has no authority over them, so that’s not an option either.

1989 – Fred and George start Hogwarts.

In his seventh year, Bill was made Head Boy. By now, he took his NEWTs and left school. He probably returns home for a little while, before he takes the first chance he gets to fuck off to Egypt and play with cursed tombs. (We should probably talk about English wizards, Egyptian treasures and colonialism here, but that’s a completely different can of worms.)

Charlie took his OWL and is now in his sixth year. He’s still on the Quidditch team and should be Quidditch Captain by now. He’s also a prefect. So between them, they got all the big achievements Hogwarts has to offer: Prefect (both of them), Head Boy (Bill) and Quidditch Captain (Charlie). Bill also got 12 OWL, which is an achievement on its own. Molly will measure her other children against this later.

Speaking of Molly: While her home life is going to relax a lot this year, her expectations are still around. She is still expecting her kids to do well in school. Considering that Fred and George are now at Hogwarts, the old demand “Watch over your younger siblings!” is back and in full swing. I can’t see Charlie doing it – he has his head full of dragons and Quidditch and lived five blissful years in Hogwarts without the need to look after anyone all that much. Sure, Percy was at school, but he has already learned to look after himself. I don’t think Charlie will start with this now. Not unless the twins interfere with his prefect- or Quidditch-duties or are completely out of line.

Percy is a different story, however. He is in his third year and still taking after Bill. Just like Bill he takes all electives, so it is likely that he also gets a time turner for this. At this point, Percy has ingrained the idea that he needs to perform exceptionally well at school and Bill set an incredible high bar to reach, but he is willing to do just that. He also spent a lot more time at home dealing with the twins. Molly’s expectations for him to be a good boy and to look after his younger brothers will now put pressure on him again. He will probably try to control their chaotic behavior, but they are 11 now, and they will listen to him even less than before.

For Fred and George, this is heaven. They finally escaped the watchful eyes of their mother and have a whole new world to explore. So many secret passageways and even more victims to play pranks on. Percy is annoying, but they can play pranks on him, too. They will soon steal the Marauder’s Map from Filch’s office, which will open up even more possibilities. It’s great. 10/10, no notes.

Life at home is finally manageable. It’s just Molly, Ron and Ginny (and also Arthur and his Muggle-stuff). This is probably a nice time for Ron, because there are no older siblings around to steal his limelight. However, at this point he has the family dynamic internalized and his self-esteem is pretty low overall.

1991 – Ron starts Hogwarts.

By now, Charlie has left Hogwarts. It is unlikely that he actually finished his education, however. When Harry becomes a member of the Gryffindor team in Philosopher’s Stone, Fred says: “We haven’t won since Charlie left, but this year’s team is going to be brilliant.” Had Charlie finished his education, he would have left in summer 1991. The quote is from autumn 1991. In this case, the quote would make no sense, because there were no matches for Gryffindor to lose between Charlie leaving and Harry becoming Gryffindor’s new seeker. So he must have left before then, probably sometime in his sixth or seventh year, after his seventeenth birthday.

It’s important to note that we don’t read about any fights over this. I can’t imagine Molly being happy with this, but he must have had her permission. (Otherwise we would know about it. Molly can’t shut up about the failures of the twins, she would not shut up about Charlie’s failures either.)

Percy is in his fifth year and a prefect. By now he is the career-driven rules lawyer we meet in canon. He will end this school year by taking all 12 OWL – just like Bill. (When Ron is made prefect in OotP, Molly makes sure to tell everyone that he is now a prefect, just like his older brothers, and she seems very comfortable doing so. I assume, Percy heard his fair share of this, when he was made prefect.)

The twins are in their third year and members of Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. By now, they have earned themselves a reputation as pranksters.

Ron is the sixth Weasley-kid to enter Hogwarts. While his older siblings might have gotten some second-hand stuff, everything he owns was basically handed down to him: Bill’s old robes, Charlie’s old wand and Percy’s old pet rat. To be clear: none of those things make much sense to hand down (or at least not to Ron).

Bill’s old robes should have gone to Percy after Bill left Hogwarts. They should be of a similar height, while Ron (as an eleven-year-old) should be somewhat smaller. Instead of handling it that way, Percy got new robes as a reward and Bill’s robes were handed down to Ron. This is clear favoritism on Molly’s part. It’s no surprise that Ron (who already feels overlooked by his parents) feels upset about it.

Giving him Charlie’s old wand makes even less sense. We know, that the wand chooses its wizard. Charlie’s wand did not choose Ron, so it would not perform as well for him. In addition, in book 1 the wand is described as follows: “He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.”

That thing is basically falling apart. That was either a lot of wear and tear during Charlie’s time at Hogwarts (considering the fact that we have not heard anything about this with other wands, this is unlikely) or the wand was already a hand-me-down when Charlie got it. In either case, giving Ron a wand that has its core more or less poking out, doesn’t sound very safe. I wonder why Arthur and Molly decided to do this. Did they expect Ron to have a great learning experience with a damaged wand? Did they want Ron to use the wand until it eventually did break, saving them another year or two before they had to buy a new one? (And yes, they would indeed need to buy him a new one in his third year, but they had no way of knowing that. Unless there are prophecies for that kind of shit. And even then. The fuck?)

Money is tight, of course. But is it really that tight? They could afford to get Percy an owl, after all. And buying a wand for their son is an expense they've had 11 years to plan. I understand getting second-hand robes and cauldrons, as they see a lot of wear and tear. But this should not apply to a wand in the same way. This is just really, really odd.

And then there is the elephant – and with elephant I mean rat – in the room: Scabbers. Firstly, that rat should be dead for at least seven years by now. No one seems to notice. No one cares. What the fuck.

Secondly, why is Percy giving his pet to Ron? There just isn’t a great explanation for this. Scabbers has been his pet for ten years. TEN. Percy should be attached to his pet like glue. After all, he has Scabbers since he can remember. Why is he willing to part with his rat? The only reasons I can think of:

1) He does it because Molly asks him to. She is clearly playing favorites, here. Not only does he get new robes when he becomes prefect, but he also receives his very own owl as a gift. It’s possible that this owl comes with strings attached, and Percy is required to give Scabbers to Ron to get the owl. Which would be a pretty fucked up situation for every child involved and should’ve been handled differently.

2) Percy wants to get rid of Scabbers. He doesn’t know about Scabbers’ Peter-shaped secret, of course (otherwise he would’ve reported this). But it is possible that he feels, on a subconscious level, that something about Scabbers is off. Not in a dangerous way (again, he would’ve reported this), just in an unpleasant way. (This would still be odd. Especially when we consider that no one noticed Scabbers age.)

3) Scabbers has decided that it’s time to jump ship. Percy just turned fifteen this year. He is old enough to grow suspicious of his seemingly immortal rat. It’s possible that he cozied up to Ron to manipulate both boys into making the switch. Or he turned into Peter and confunded some Weasleys. Who knows. He’s still a Death Eater and mass murderer on the run, after all.

1992 – Ginny starts Hogwarts.

The flock has left the nest. Molly’s work is mostly over. It’s just her and Arthur who stay at the burrow. She still takes care of the household, but the responsibility for her kids rest on other people’s shoulders, now. There is nothing left to do, except knitting, sending care packages, worrying about her kids careers and hexing the occasional howler. Molly could get a job now or pick up a hobby or two. I mean, she does read Gilderoy Lockhart’s shitty books. She is a fan of his, after all. But she doesn’t seem to enter any community over this (no fan club, no reading circle, no nothing. It’s just her). And there are no other hobbies outside of that. 

Apropos community: We don’t really see her having a community. She is a pretty important side character, but the books never mention that she has friends or other contacts outside her family. It seems like she is focusing on her kids and only on her kids.

Which would explain her meddling. Because Molly meddles a lot, when it comes to her kids and their futures. She keeps putting pressure on Percy to look after his younger siblings – this will expand to Harry after she gets to know him. Percy (still a good boy) does as she wishes. It’s not healthy, neither for him nor for his relationship with his siblings (who are mostly annoyed by him), but Molly either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. In the future, she will be very cross with Hermione after reading Rita Skeeters articles about her. She will also be upset about the twins' career choice and Bill's choice of girlfriend…

And yeah, that’s basically it. At this point, the family dynamic is firmly established and ingrained in her children’s heads. Percy is already set up to explode in the near future. Being Molly’s Golden Child is neither good nor healthy, especially considering all the pressure that comes along with it. His relationship with his siblings isn’t all that great, either.

Fun fact: We don’t know if anyone ever told him about Scabbers’ Peter-shaped secret. If it did happen, it was probably pretty traumatic. That shit-show was his pet for ten fucking years and he handed it down to his younger brother. That’s nightmare fuel, even if Peter never hurt any of them.

The twins have firmly established themselves as troublemakers. At least some of their “jokes” really aren’t funny and border on cruel, neglectful and/or harmful. (Remember the Unbreakable Vow? Yeah, still not funny. In 1993, they also tried to lock Percy in a pyramid. Yes, I don’t think they wanted to hurt him, not really, but that thing was still a cursed tomb. Things could have gone wrong, and at that point they were old enough to know better. In their last year they tested their joke-sweets on younger students who were neither adequately informed nor old enough to consent for something like this. Yes, they tested the sweets on themselves first, but something could still have gone wrong because of allergies and all that stuff. And after they left Hogwarts and started their joke shop, they do sell love potions to students, complete with options to smuggle that shit into school. Additionally, instead of going bad/losing their potency, those love potions get stronger with age. This alone is a horror story waiting to happen.)

Ron is affected, too. His self-esteem is pretty low when he starts Hogwarts and it will stay that way throughout the series. This will inform a lot of his decisions (especially the bad ones) in the future. 

We don’t know much about how all of this affected Bill, Charlie and Ginny. Bill and Charlie just aren’t as involved in the narrative, and Ginny stays kind of… bland and love interest-ish… throughout the story.

So… yeah?

Am I saying that the Weasleys did not love their kids? No, of course not. Especially Molly shows her love regularly. (Her love is more like a water hose than a watering can, however. Very intense and focussed on a single spot at a time, instead of reaching all her kids equally.)

What I am saying is that the Weasleys, as a family, are pretty dysfunctional. Many factors are playing into this – Molly’s and Arthur’s dynamic as a couple and as parents, the number of their kids, the war, etc. It’s impacting all of them negatively. Molly is stressed out, Arthur is out of touch and some of their kids lose their trust (either in their parents, in their siblings or in themselves.) It also makes their love feel conditional. The twins feel this whenever Molly is comparing them with their older (more well-behaved) brothers. Percy feels this when he comes home with that promotion and is demoted from Golden Child to family-traitor within a heartbeat. Ron has internalized it and desperately seeks attention and affection elsewhere.

They still love each other, but it’s a difficult position to be in for most of them.

And the worst thing: I don’t think Rowling notices any of this. She did not intend the family to be as dysfunctional as it is. She keeps portraying the Weasleys as this great, loving family who took Harry in when he needed it the most. And of course they did – but that’s not all there is to it. There are so many issues that go unresolved in the books. Molly never learns to back off. The responsibility for the conflict between Arthur and Percy is placed entirely on Percy, despite Arthur being at fault, too. The twins never really learn that a prank can go too far. Ron doesn’t really solve his self-esteem-issues. Rowling does start to give him some character development regarding his self-esteem-issues multiple times, but he always seems to revert back over the course of the summer holidays. 

The family really deserved more effort to go into the writing.

Note: This analysis is not meant to say that stay-at-home parents are bad or that Molly should have gotten a job while having seven little kids at home. What I am criticizing is the way we treat care work. Because it is work, and a lot of work. A stay-at-home parent is often on call 24/7. A stay-at-home parent never really gets to take a break, never can take a day off, and never just can leave their work for another day. But they do deserve breaks and days off, just like any person with a day job. And that is where their partners and the rest of their families come in.

And this is the other thing I wanted to criticize here: The way we glorify living as a nuclear family. It’s said that you need a village to raise a kid and I do think this is true. Having more people involved in child-rearing (be it relatives, neighbors or professionals like teachers) is a boon. Families had access to this for millennia. Raising your kids with the help of your family and your village was normal, up until very recently. And it’s a shame that the Weasleys seemingly had no help like this. And yes, I do see the fault with Rowling, who wrote them that way. She basically took the concept of the nuclear families of the 1980s and 1990s and slapped it onto the family, without any world building at all.

(Please also note, that I consider stay-at-home parents to be different from tradwives. When I use the term “tradwife”, I am specifically referring to stay-at-home mothers who do not just take care of their household and their kids, but who also commit themselves to having as many kids as possible and who tend to take on other duties (like homeschooling) as well. The most common examples of this are probably families who belong to fundamentalist Christian churches or cults.)