kia

The people I’d blame for not taking care of the VKs are

A) Their parents. This cannot be stated enough.

B) Adam and Ben. They are the FUCKING KINGS. It is ENTIRELY their fault for letting this bullshit stand.

I gotta say I have adhd so if some the sentences make little sense I’m sorry I did not notice that

Ok ok so... This is almost exactly the opposite of what I was trying to say. I didn’t expect this post to blow up, or I would be more precise with my words. (My followers already know that I love Mal and I will not tolerate people calling her the real villain of the series or anything like that)

Ok, first off, what I meant to say. What I actually wanted to say is that I dislike the way people criticise Mal/Evie/Uma for stuff like letting Dizzy get robbed or something along those lines. NOT talking about VK day (I only take like 2 things from d3 and the rest is garbage imo) Their parents are to blame for making them antagonistic towards each other and for making school geared to make kids as “properly evil” as they wanted. And Auradon’s system is to blame for making them live in a prison with limited resources, where only the strongest get what they need. Both of those factors make people want to group together approximately according to their threat level or whatever and ignore everyone else. (I also saw a post saying smth about Mal ruling through fear which ew but also motivated me.)

Now, for this discussion I accidentally started. I need all of you to understand that 1) this is a DCOM they did NOT put a lot of thought into world building so putting in your dark and grim headcanons or even canon from the books into the movie will skew the reality presented there; 2) everything that happens in the movies is for the plot, it’s not real, characters do not have autonomy or a stone set moral code, some of their actions are for the plot, some are for comedic effect and only what is left are our actual characters.

Ben is NOT to be blamed, he was sixteen in the first instalment and just about to be crowned king. His FIRST decision was to help the VKs.

Why did most of people think that VK day is 4 kids a YEAR? Right after Good to be Bad Mal and Evie home about being on the Isle so much people will get sick of them. I always read that as VK day being a monthly event, which is logical. It’s obviously a culture shock to go from one to another, so they take a small number of kids so that everyone has personal attention when they first transfer.

It should NOT be the VKs responsibility to bring over the others. Full stop. They might FEEL responsible to them but they don’t have to. It was Auradon’s responsibility to never let them grow up there.

If it was useful to the writers, they would have had all the VKs in Auradon by the second movie. Everything that happened in was for the plot. I don’t know what issues were there that stopped that from happening but I’m guessing budgeting and not having a franchise bible (because they didn’t expect for it to take off).

chanting ot4 ot4 ot4

• You know that meme about who’s the thermodynamic sink and who’s the source in a relationship? Mal is the sink in 100% of the cases. She’s the daughter of the god of Underworld, not much warmth to begin with. But her hands are straight up icy. She thinks it’s very funny to sneak up on her partners and wrap her hands around their necks. (Jay and Evie are never not startled.)

• Jay, however is always the source of heat. He is made of fire, he’s a djinn. When they came to Auradon and learned to be affectionate with each order (like how you can hold hands just because and a fight is NOT the only reason to touch), he had to stop wearing so many rings because they would heat up too much. Yes, he absolutely does heat up random shit for C’s projects.

• Evie absolutely adores it when Mal plays with her hair. Cold fingers cool her head down. Mal know exactly where to scratch and where to stroke. E’s on cloud nine when Mal starts rubbing little circles.

• There’s a rule that Carlos MUST remove his gloves and wash his hands before he can get into the cuddle pile. There were way too many incidents involving motors oil, grease, and Dude’s drool on girls’ sheets.

carlos is afraid of two things, and two things only. dogs, and his mother. everything else fails to impress him.

carlos’ fear is not debilitating. he does not shake or cry and vomit like the people in the books. when he is afraid, the whole world turns to static, like there’s cotton in his ears and fog in his brain. he does not feel his gut churn or his stomach turn or his heart rabbit in his chest. he feels absolutely nothing at all. 

he is not, like his peers think, afraid of violence or death or pain. carlos is not afraid of the villains bigger and older than him. he is perfectly willing to fight for his food- and he does, scratching and biting and pulling out his switchblade and stabbing for his food because he had a whole family to feed, not just himself. he cooks for cruella, for henry and jace, and for horace and jasper, who spend the meal whining and whining that if cruella hadn’t gotten them caught, they wouldn’t be stuck on the “shit streets of this cesspit of a jail.”, and carlos always thinks to himself, viciously, that he wished those dogs had ripped out their throats, bitten their tongues off, because then he wouldn’t have to listen to them whine.

(he does not voice this thought.)

Honestly, if looks could kill lmao.

Anyway, in this case, I don’t think she’s trying to intimidate Maleficent (her face shows too much wariness, though not without accompanying disdain). There’s also the fact that her head is turned slightly so she’s not looking Maleficent dead in the eye. She’s standing her ground, but very carefully.

(Notice that in the seconds just before OP’s screenshot, Evie glances at Jay. This is another tell of wariness, maybe even an attempt at self-soothing insofar as it’s an opportunity for Jay to catch her eye and smile at her, assuring her they’re fine. But note that he doesn’t do that. Neither his nor Carlos’ eyes ever leave Maleficent, so Evie is quick to look back at her, as well.)

Meanwhile, Carlos’ open body language and seemingly nervous stare suggest a certain level of naivete compared to the others, but I feel like that’s a purposeful projection. He wants to appear non-threatening. If you actually look at his eyes, there’s a hardness there. He’s likely emboldened by the fact that he’s with the gang, plus Jay’s hand on his arm is a firm reminder that he’s under guard.

Jay’s expression is quite intriguing. I don’t know if I detect any fear there? His lip is curled and he’s turned sideways to show the bulk of his arm, so although he’s not facing Maleficent head-on (which would be a more aggressive stance), he’s very much giving off warning vibes. His hand on Carlos’ arm reads as both an assurance of protection and a silent warning that Carlos should stay back if things escalate.

It’s also interesting how they’re all huddled together, but Jay’s just slightly apart and angled a step ahead. He’s ready to jump in front of them if he needs to.

What really speaks to the power Maleficent commands, though, is the fact that none of them are particularly concerned with what’s going on behind them, even when it becomes obvious that Maleficent’s henchmen are encroaching…

They do break apart (likely to avoid being corralled as easily), and Jay spares a glance over his shoulder as one of the henchmen moves behind them. But look where his eyes go even with several enemies now behind and the others. Right back to Maleficent. He’s watching her for cues. He knows she’s the real danger.

Final fun fact that honestly just kind of amuses me about this scene:

It’s easier to see if you watch it, but I think you can tell from this screenshot. Evie and Carlos are immediately seized by the henchmen behind them; for some reason, though, Jay’s assigned “guard” doesn’t lift a finger until Jay throws himself at him? Literally, Jay’s just standing there for a second while the others are flailing.

I interpret this one of two ways: 1) Henchman #3 is slow on the uptake (so hard to get good help these days and all). 2) These guys have watched Mal grow up. She’s been allied with Jay the longest. It could be that Maleficent has told them she suspects the other two are a flight risk, but not Jay. He’s been at Mal’s side too long. She might think Mal has him better “trained” than the others.

aurora: thank you miss grimhilde. and you.

evie: ahaha thank you. but there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you?

aurora: of course. what is it?

lonnie: yes, of course, you know i love you. did something happen?

evie: what? no, it’s not that.

lonnie: then what is it?

evie: friends are supposed to be honest with each other, aren’t they? i have something i’ve been meaning to tell you.

lonnie: i’m listening...

Evie doesn’t know her father. Mommy doesn’t like to talk about him so even if Evie wanted to find him, she has precious little to go on. He must have been tall and handsome enough, and that’s about it. But Evie doesn’t really want to know him, because like Mommy told her, men don’t have parental instincts and are only useful for status. She’s already a princess, though.

Carlos has some theories on who his father is. Obviously, it wasn’t Ella who told him, but there are only so many stylish white men who’d come near Cruella on the Isle. In his head, he just calls them options, 1 through 4, ranked by probability. He never approaches them, because why would he? To give some stranger power over him?

Evie calls the Evil Queen ‘Mommy’, as if it’s a plea. She says it and hopes Grimhilde hears the message ‘Please look after me. Please stop yelling and stroke my hair. Please let me relax around you’. She pleads and hopes and pleads and hopes.

Carlos calls Cruella by her name, ‘Ella’, as if it’s a reminder. He calls her that and wishes it could prompt her to remember that she is human (and he is, too), that she was a person before all this. He knocks on the walls of her memory, and wishes she would answer. He wishes but doesn’t hope.

@hersilentlanguage marry me

ok but fr i wanted each word to have a meaning and to explore their relationship dynamics in a short text, i’m so glad it came through!!

It DEFINITELY came through. I started reading this and then I had to start reading it again because I was like “OH…. oh…. I am not emotionally prepared for this” but then I wasn’t prepared for it anyway but that’s okay because I love being destroyed by text. It’s actually favourite thing. Writers who can make me feel the Emotions may have my heart, soul, AND hand in marriage any day.

Mal says mother like a title because thats what she sees it as, shes not a daughter she’s a pawn in a very large plan, shes not her mother, shes the ruler of the isle, of which she is only a citizen, being half human makes her lesser than her mother and therwfore she is her superior so she addresses her that way

Evie says mommy because she is so sheltered that rwally despite her bad parenting her mother was all she had, her inclosed enviroment never allowed her to grow so she didn'tz at least not fully

Carlos calls her cruella because while being a human she is the farthest thing you could get from a mother, calling her it seems foreign and dangerous

so Mal technically can lie but she’s better with manipulating. that is a type of lying, after all, though it relies on subtlety and gently moving someone in the direction you want them to go in. it’s not really useful when you’re caught breaking the rules red handed. but if she is in that situation, i think she’d pull a “oh gods, i didn’t know about this rule. it’s, ah, it’s just that there are so many here, and and we never had to worry about them on the Isle... your rules and customs and everything is so complicated here but i’m really trying so hard and it’s so much all at once and- and-” just push on being unused to it and maybe make the adult feel a little guilty. but she’s just really doesn’t want a detention.

Jay really dislikes the concept of rules and so he absolutely doesn’t care for being caught breaking them. he doesn’t mind detention, even. but coach warned him about the possibility of getting removed from the team, put on academic probation, something like that. Jay’s weapon of choice is his charm. he starts talking with the teacher and they start chatting away so much so they forget that the convo started with them reprimanding Jay.

Evie... she can lie and she can play a scripted role exceptionally well. however, she’s terrible on the spot. usually, she can analyse the situation before she has to do anything and prepare herself. Evie hates not doing something right and she hates the shame of being caught even more. it makes her panic and that can go two ways. she’ll either start spiralling and crying or she will get aggressive. no matter the outcome, the entire time her rational brain is regretting it. the teacher would probably end up sending her to the counsellor instead of detention.

• Aziz carries a bottle of hot sauce with him because the hot sauce at the cafeteria is barely mild by his standards

• He sees Jay drown his rice in the cafeteria one though, so he talks Jay into trying his one day and Jay is hooked