Map Of Europa With Drawings Of My Fellow Soldiers From Back During The Ice War

"The fire in his veins cooled under her rain, and stillness settled over him. Something soft fell into his lap. He held it up and breathed in its scent, sweet and flowery. Marinette.

"He buried his face in the fabric and held it close, imagining he was holding her instead. It hurt to be together. It hurt to be apart. But the hurt felt like a promise, and when she was in his arms he always felt that he was exactly where he was meant to be (the cosmic phenomenon, the whole that made sense). He couldn’t touch her, but she touched everything around him.

"(She was the rain, and she was everywhere.)

"The last chord rang though the room and then faded into silence. There was a rustling sound on the recording, and then he heard his own voice whisper into the microphone: 'I love you, Marinette.'

"The recording stopped. Adrien sat motionless, still hugging her hoodie."

-@carpisuns, "tell me something i don't know'

I don't know why this scene hit me so hard—the entire story is full of scenes that both make me want to sob and smile for the rest of my life, after all. But this one . . . I just had to draw it. It feels almost immoral to illustrate a scene from this story so imperfectly, but I can't do perfect art, so I tried to do emotional art instead. (No it's not raining in Adrien's room, I was just trying to illustrate the metaphor that Marinette is rain, I'm sorry this is so bad Mar, I love this story so much)

Steris, my queen

Aaaand I'm back to writing short fluffy pieces. Oh well. I have an eight-chapter fic full of pining planned, so um, give me some credit?

Here ya go.

Simon's even more sympathetic if you over analyze because he clearly has a mental illness making him afraid of abandonment, resistant to change, emotionally unstable and having immense difficulty relating to others. Like he gets worried about Hazel in the cabin when the Cat gets near her, its clearly foreshadowing the next episode.

Agreed! And actually, I pulled put the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) to research your suggestion that Simon has some mental disorder, and . . . you're right! He almost definitely has a mental disorder.

The criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder are: (not quoted, but paraphrased directly from the DSM-5)

Instability in personal relationships and self-image, impulsivity, indicated by five or more of the following:

Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. - check, this is kinda Simon's shtick.

A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships, fluctuating between extremes of idealization and devaluation. - there's not much potential for a "pattern" here, but his relationship with Grace definitely fits this.

Markedly and persistently unstable/fluctuating self-image or sense of self. - Simon does not qualify—if anything, his inability to paradigm shift indicates the exact opposite.

Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging. - violence, aggression, murder, all may or may not qualify. Simon ticks this box.

Recurrent suicidal or self-mutilating behavior or threats. - Simon does not qualify for this.

Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood. - In other words, subject responds intensely to swings in interpersonal relationships. Which sounds a heck of a lot like episodes eight through ten. Check.

Chronic feelings of emptiness. - We can't know whether or not this is true, because we can't really get inside a cartoon character's head. So . . . maybe?

Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger. - This is definitely present in him. He has a temper, he shouts, he gets angry, and it gets more extreme as the show progresses.

Transient, stress-related paranoia or severe dissociative symptoms. - Simon displays this too—lines like "everyone always lies to me" come to mind as evidence. (No dissociative tendencies, but the paranoia is present, so he meets this criterion.)

Now, the subject of a diagnosis needs to meet at least five of these criteria to qualify for BPD. Simon definitely meets five of these criteria (specifically, criteria one, four, six, eight, and nine), possibly even a few more (two, perhaps seven). In other words, Simon Laurent has Borderline Personality Disorder.

I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from this discovery that Simon is provably mentally ill. Does it mean calling him "evil" is deeply problematic? Does it mean he could've been saved? Does it mean he can't be blamed? Or is it just as toxic to argue that people with mental disorders are not responsible for their own actions as it is to argue that people with personality disorders are inherently irredeemable? (Not that anyone's argued either of those points—I'm mostly thinking in frantic hypotheticals at the moment.)

And of course these questions raise other questions (well, one other question) that has been on my mind since I first heard Simon called "irredeemable." What do people mean by "he's irredeemable"? Do they mean he couldn't improve and grow after the events of episode ten? Do they mean that his actions were unforgivable? Do they mean he was predestined to be a murderer from episode one, unlike the redeemable Grace? "Irredeemable" has become Simon's buzzword, but no one's ever really defined it. And until I get a concrete definition, I can't slap that label on him and throw him in the garbage with the rest of the characters I hate. (To be clear, I'm not saying anyone's wrong that he's irredeemable, I'm just asking what people mean when they say he's irredeemable.)

However, one thing is clear: as Anon pointed out, Simon is easy to relate to, easy to sympathize with, and easy to pity because of this. We may not all have personality disorders, but we all have flaws that make our brains work differently from how we'd like them to, whether those flaws are anger, laziness, or selfishness, or a mental illness, or something else. Yes, few of us are driven to be murderers because of this, but it still means that we can feel bad for Simon, even as we condemn his actions.

Every time I post something about Simon and it's not ten thousand words long, I'm showing enormous self-restraint and deserve a few claps. Also, sorry, Anon, for using your ask as an excuse to rant about Simon. You made a good point and I wanted to explore it!

Ladynoir Spiderman kiss

Headcanons

Look me in the eyes and tell me that Plance and "Princess and the Frog" don't have almost exactly the same character dynamic

That moment where you're halfway through an animatic and you suddenly decide you loathe everything about your art style.

You. Yes, you. The person reading this right now.

You need to go watch this Miraculous animatic by @izzyjdraws right now.

Your life will get better. The beautiful, clean art will heal you. The clever storytelling will improve your grades, the smooth animation will make you more graceful, the adorable art style will turn you into a supermodel.

All of her animatics are masterpieces. Please go watch them, her work is so amazing and she needs love!

I tried to draw Lake from Infinity Train, and uh . . .

I am not happy at all with how this turned out. So, obviously, I'll have to redraw her fifty times until I am happy with the result!