eveningstar🍒☕️

🂱 [is eris here?] you know what? he just left ✯ any pronouns 🂱 entp ✯ dm's open !! 🂱

[eveningstarisaliar]

bullet train au where everyone joins maria's agency and, you'll never guess, hijinks ensue

Carver

-conflicts maria at every turn. barely explains why. she’ll be saying “it’d be best not to draw attention to yourself” and he’s hid behind a wall loading a gun going, “mary, mary--” “no that’s not my name” “i know what i’m doing” and then hangs up.

-gets her name wrong to fuck with her. They have known each other since they were like fifteen

-hours between check-ins. he doesn’t ever pick up so she just leaves her office and goes about her day until he calls her, at which point he’s in a totally different continent with the police and two criminal organisations out for his blood.

-he was given an agency-mandated phone and he takes up most (all) of the storage because he keeps fucking downloading mobile games. almost got shot delaying running away because tetris is a time-sensitive game. turns down maria's calls because he's too invested in getting those stupid beweled butterflies away from that stupid spider. once his battery ran out during a mission. randomly sends maria, ladybug, whoever sporadic "let's play 8 ball"s on messenger regardless of what time it is for either of them. no one has yet to turn them down.

-all of his missions totally derail. remember that time he assassinated the white death's wife? remember what happened after? yeah that but, like, almost every time.

-every scene is messier than humanely possible. the higher-ups hate him because he always ends up causing damage because a) he keeps crashing his vehicles. not even because he’s a bad driver. he never hits anything on accident, but he does drive super fast. but his favourite method of assassination is everything’s-on-fire-oh-fuck car crashes. b) more people than necessary die. and a few buildings crash. ok a lot of buildings.

-abhors waiting. maria’s like “ok sit still for like fifteen minutes. i’ll have a car come get you” and he’s like “no” and then she hangs up and then he’s getting ice cream. takes so many detours. so many. somehow is never late tho.

-actually very stealthy. phases in and out of the centre of attention. one second you’re like “this guy is definitely up to something i can’t have him disappear” you look away for one second and the building is on fire.

-he likes fire. did i mention that?

Tangerine

-obviously does most of his jobs with lemon.

-takes detours because he is easily distracted by books and shiny things. he pays for nothing despite being richer than god. kleptomaniac fuck.

-calls maria at every inconvenience to complain. most of the time their calls begin with him shouting. "mARIA, LOVE, YOU'LL NEVER FUCKING GUESS WHAT THIS FUCKING DICKHEAD JUST DID" "try to kill you?" "what no i'm talking about lemon. he ate the biscuits you packed for the both of us! like a fucking twat!"

-most reliable with jobs with more than one location. thrives on chaos and instability, despite his objections.

-very fast driver. goes zoom. never crashes and good at loosing tails. because he's a fucking car thief. however, he refuses to use cars he deems lame

-maria and lemon are the only people who can consistently tell when he's bullshitting. "oh, don't worry about that. everything going according to the half-baked absurdity your agency calls a plan." "hm, yeah?" "yes" "i don't think that's completely true" and then he looks around wildly because he's convinced she's watching him. she's not. but she knows.

-wakes up super early so he can spend an hour getting ready n shit. and then he gets upset at everyone for being behind schedule, as if the sun hasn't yet to fucking rise.

-high demand. everyone knows the twins. people keep asking for them. but tangerine's agonisingly pretentious, so if something's not "worth their time", he declines it. which shouldn't actually be a thing he's allowed to do, but people let him, because he's one of the twins.

-his dumbass boyfriend (🐞) calls to ask if he's okay. not tangerine, maria. he calls maria. unfortunately, he always calls when maria's guiding him though a very Not Okay situation. that or tang's been radio silent for a second and maria's filing her nails going, "yes, ladybug, your boyfriend is fine. he hasn't called about anything going wrong. he'll be back soon. what no i don't promise; i'm not tangerine. ok fine i promise. are you crying?--" and the camera pans to tangerine in a very Not Okay situation. the next time tang calls, maria connects the dots and is like "oh my god ladybug's a bad omen" next time ladybug calls and nothing's going on, she immediately calls tangerine, and what do ya know, he's in an active gunfight with the yakuza.

Lemon

-hates waking up early. his phone is on dnd at night. he gets notifications by morning, he just chooses to ignore them, even if it's his handler (🪲) or his brother (🍊). except for carver's "let's play __" on messenger because he thinks it's funny that 🍊 is so pissed off that he replies to fucking carver and not him.

-refuses to function without coffee. he goes to a bunch of cafes and has signature orders with so many specifications.

-downloaded thomas the tank engine on his agency-issued gadget to play random clips or episodes to prove his point about life and humanity or something.

-keeps misplacing said gadget. but it always shows up when he needs it.

-buys little souvenirs for people. except they're never just random tourist shit. they're specifically for that person. books, shiny things and lighters if it's tangerine. stationary, perfume and bug-themed shit if it's maria. pocket knives, postcards and memorabilia for yuichi. wacky/themed mugs, keychains and watches for ladybug. toys and stickers for wataru. the list goes on. and yes he fucking pays (side eye at 🍊)

-sneaks snacks into the bag/pocket of whoever his partner/s are. except it's not really sneaking because they always notice, even if they don't tell him. except for wolf, who somehow never notices and assumes he packed it himself even if he has no memory of doing so.

-calls whenever something happens or they're moving locations (the normal way and time youre supposed to call your handler). BUT sometimes he just calls when he's bored or pissed at his partner but wants to talk to someone.

-most if not all of his jobs go well, at least in the end (ignore the bullet train he survived that one). relatively easy to handle because he doesn't do anything outrageously outside of the script. it's always a close call, though. he'll lose something important and only find it the moment he actually needs it. he always get a little way too close to getting stabbed or shot.

-most of his conversations with maria derail (get it) because he never stops talking about thomas the tank engine, which is a much more interesting topic than the kidnapping the currently most prominent yakuza faction that formed in the power vacuum the white death left is plotting.

Yuichi

-he gets most of his jobs by maria calling him going "there's a political official who just wrapped up a speech two blocks away from you. do you have a gun?" "i always have a gun."

-actually relatively easy to handle. doesn't get into shit. barely takes detours. just wants to get paid.

-most of his jobs go by really quick and easy, but every now and again maria will pick up the phone and the first thing he says is "what the fuck" before launching into a rant about how none of this was his fault but now the street is on fire and the house is on fire and everything is on fire and he doesn't even know how.

-he likes doing stakeouts because they're low stakes low effort barely-even-have-to-care type jobs. he just watches movies for like four hours and then leaves for a few minutes to shoot someone or take a photo. and then he goes home.

-sometimes turns down jobs because there's no one to hang out with wataru. percy happened to be in the room once and offered to watch wataru but was immediately shut down because yuichi is not trusting him with his son. ladybug was also there and was like "hey wait you don't let me turn down jobs--" and then maria left.

-also maria, lemon, etsuko (cart girl), shigeru and the nurse assassin (i'm certain y'all have given her a name by now what is it) are the only people he trusts to watch wataru. lemon isn't actually trustworthy and always calls someone else to help him.

-always brings back toys or snacks for wataru after his missions because he doesn't have the time/energy to go out often

-checks in at normal intervals but forgets to mention integral information. "yes, i have the case." "have you run into anyone?" "no. is that all?" "you can hang up now." five minutes later maria gets a call saying "Also the case is empty. Is it supposed to be empty?" "...No, Yuichi. The case is not fucking supposed to be empty." maria has to waste all of their time asking extremely detailed questions.

-falls asleep during waiting/transit like the fucking dead. if someone calls, the ringing and the vibrating will not fuckin wake this man up. His partners on the mission have to shake him awake and that takes damn well minutes. twice he's gotten water splashed on his face. (once by tangerine who is notoriously impatient, once by ladybug who fucking panicked okay he's so sorry)

-yuichi gets thirsty. yuichi steps outside for two minutes to get something to drink. he returns to the mission site. three organisations have infiltrated the assignment and are at each other's throats. everything he needs is nowhere to be found. everything is on fire. life is TERRIBLE

[professionallydeadinside]

@eveningstarisaliar MAGDALENEEEEE MY DEAR >:]]

His main thing is that he’s big into old books/book binding! Supposedly some of the books in the Monarye library are magical tomes but no one confirms or denies that 👀 if he’s not dealing with his siblings then he’s finding out in the library (where he knows all the secret passages)

And Virgil (I’m changing his name from Dante because I think I use that name too much XD) fits in as a more skeptic character! He’s been told by people of the surrounding town that the Monarye’s are a cursed family and not to trust them (in general the people are varying degrees of mistrustful of the family) but he doesn’t believe in any of that and they’re offering a pretty penny to watch over Mina so he takes it!

(He’s getting his degree in childcare so he thinks it’ll be good practice to deal with a “problem” family)

[scashu]

“Goodbye, Derek Hutchins, we hardly knew you.”

[professionallydeadinside]

Love rediscovering characters I made a while ago because yeah,,,,, my tastes have stayed the same wsdfggfd,,,,

Feel free to ask more about them but the basic story (I didn't draw the main character sorry asdfghgf but his name is Dante and he's a college student working for the Monarye family to save up some money! It's him dealing with their shenanigans basically asggfd)

[eveningstarisaliar]

ok but. what makes the twins such a great team and devastating tragedy is that they're fundamental opposites and basically cancel each other's shortcomings out. they *need* each other. lemon has a (quote from lemon's actor) "slow, chill kind of vibe" that's reflected in his speech as opposed to tangerine's spitfire, constantly aggressive way of talking.

BUT ALSO (more so obviously in the book, since we can see through his point of view) tangerine clearly thinks he's smarter than everyone and isn't afraid to say or prove it. he gets pissed at lemon for trying to correct him on how many people they killed and launches the narrative into this montage that proves him right. when tangerine finds ladybug, he takes the precious time to show him the tracker app from the phone ladybug stole from lemon to emphasise ladybug's oversight and tangerine's solution.

lemon is the one who doesn't notice little details. it's tangerine who remembers that guy they accidentally killed. it's tangerine that notices the bloodstain on lemon's shirt. and who's the one who falls for prince's white girl tears bullshit? it's fucking tangerine.

while tangerine is more organised and observant, his emotions are all over the fucking place and it gets the best of him. he falls for the prince's act multiple times. ladybug takes advantage of his anxieties during the "are you gonna get that? might be important" scene. the white death shocks him into silence by saying he'll look him in the eyes as he kills him and his brother.

but lemon, he reads people. he can see people objectively. it's lemon who notices that prince assumes briefcase instead of everyone else who assumes suitcase becuase it's an overnight train. it's lemon who considers ladybug's (albeit scruffed) attempts at betterment and insists he didn't kill percy.

and tangerine, who's petty and aggressive and exudes this aura of self-proclaimed superiority in everything he does and presents himself to be, knows lemon well enough to genuinely trust him at each turn and judgment. he trusts lemon's judgement of ladybug and prince in their most crucial moments. tangerine knows lemon wouldn't fall for the prince's bullshit like he would (and does) and the moment he sees the diesel sicker as an indicator of lemon's judgement, any sympathy he had for prince vanishes. lemon even manages to talk him down from his speech about how they fucked up and the white death is Going to kill them and convince him that things can still be fixed.

and, like, the instance they have to operate alone, distant and individually, they literally can't and die in both instances.

[freecures]

I'm back with more therapist perspectives of Maruki, might be my last formal post on it but I'm always game to shoot the shit if anyone is curious about something. I love, love, love his character because it is such an authentic exposure to the negatives of the profession and the ethics we have to consider.

Under the cut will be talk of countertransference and ethical practice in therapy. I did another therapist musing post about Maruki here if you'd like to look at that. That one explores a bit more about his background as a therapist based on game implications and what he does "right" or "wrong" in sessions from a basic skill standpoint.

It's pretty damning throughout the entirety of the confidant that Maruki is utilizing his power dynamic to benefit him.

There's something (at times less than) subtlety sinister about a student who is going through trauma becoming their therapists' support beam. Even Morgana recognizes you are not receiving counseling— you are going to him to help with his research.

Throughout the next rank of the confidant Maruki talks about how he saves a cat from a tree despite it clawing the everloving fuck out of him: it's a direct metaphor for how he sees people (and animals, I guess) as things that need saving even if they refuse to accept the help.

It's with those two ideas combined that I really wanted to talk about transference/countertransference in his relationships.

Maruki has two intrinsic facts about him:

He sees people as in need of a savior

He has no boundaries in his own life

Dr. Karen Maroda has a fantastic textbook on this interesting commonality in therapeutic practice. (The Analyst's Vulnerability, if you're in practice settings it's a great read. I wouldn't suggest this to non-therapists, though, it's kind of obscure media that is intended for advanced practice.)

Most therapists go into practice because they have significant empathy, are natural caregivers, and have significant personal trauma. Our motivations for being within our profession must be dissected, analyzed and worked through so that we don't impact our clients with our problems. This is a blind spot in a therapist's work: We have a need to care for others, and if we let that care for others matter more than our client's independence, autonomy and self-made goals… Well… We end up pretty similar to Maruki.

Diverting a bit to the impact of visuals here:

Maruki intentionally looks really similar to Joker. It only makes it more clear how much he projects onto him. Maruki sees Joker as a younger version of himself. Smart, gone through difficult times, deserving of love and support… Because he sees himself so much in Joker and has zero ability to introspect on the subject, he ends up coming off as someone who is not only looking to parent him but also looking to be parented by him. This is the countertransference. His feelings about his client overpower the purpose of the relationship, and he instead removes all boundaries so he can feel like the relationship fulfills his own needs.

Imagine seeing a young child that reminds you of yourself. Most of us immediately get the gut feeling to take care of them, to support their interests and to give them a lot of yourself. However, that kid doesn't ask for that. If you are in a position where that is holding power over them, your sadness over their rejection will prevent them from rejecting you. Joker is a good guy, and he receives some benefit from this relationship. But, honestly, Maruki is just using him to feel good about himself. (I'm also going to point out how ironic it is that he teaches about the halo effect when he is doing something very similar, himself.)

Side note: It's so depressing to me how he views counseling as a profession. He sees it as lacking and something to do because we don't have something "better". Therapy works because human connection works. Regardless of modality, intervention, skills taught… Therapy only works when a true (professional) human relationship is built. This has been the case since the birth of humankind: we have always sought out the care and support of each other. Therapists just have education and research backing up their skill sets. Therapists have existed in informal contexts in all cultures throughout existence, because we need guidance and empathy. Nothing will ever replace that, no medication, no treatment.

Anyway. This is honestly where it gets interesting for me, personally. He also projects his image of Rumi onto Sumire. Rumi and Sumire are also visually similar, intentionally.

However, instead of pushing Sumire and Joker together like he's playing dolls… He does that to Joker and Akechi.

We aren't really told how he found out about what happened in the engine room, or, how much he knows about Akechi. Though, it's likely through his "actualization".

We do know the vow he made to Joker…

That occurred on the same day he gave this description of Rumi, his high school sweetheart...

Which, taken out of context, couldn't you imagine this being pretty similar (very far from exact, he's projecting, after all.) to a description that Joker may give or imagine about Akechi? Just food for thought.

There's a couple of implications here, I think the first is that if Maruki is being authentic in his statement of bringing Akechi back to this reality… Well. Then he sees them as Adam and Steve. Which is honestly fucking nuts. If he actually used his skill to bring Akechi back, it is because he does not want Joker to feel the same, (to him) identical pain that he felt when losing Rumi's love in his life.

The other implication lies in the cookie study he mentions a few times. Is it so wrong to change someone's perceptions in order for them to be happy? Is it so wrong to lie about being the one to bring Akechi back so that Joker is happy? If providing someone a single cookie so they enjoy the cookie more is ethically fine… Then how far can we push until we lie, manipulate and skew reality so that someone sees something as good? Perhaps so far that you lie about how someone's cherished person is, in fact, not dead.

When working with people we tread ethical grey areas. If we don't have a sense of ethics, a therapist can easily push the boundary until the tin of cookies is no different than a life-altering lie to achieve your own goals.

Regardless of either implication: He uses Akechi as leverage. If he can convince Joker to accept his reality by keeping Akechi in Joker's reality— then in his own way he is keeping a love alive that is (in his eyes) like the love he had once had. He would fulfill his own deepest wish through someone he sees as a proxy for himself. Much like a stage mom may push their child to pursue activities and careers that their child may never want, he pushes Joker to make the "right choices" so he can be happy through Joker's happiness, and never his own.

Akechi leaves it off pretty well on the subject.

Ultimately, the messaging here is that Maruki is a fascinating case study of the importance of self study, introspection, and ethical responsibility for therapists (and psychology scientists). He's not alone in his spiral, this is an experience we have to actively challenge in our field in order to not produce harm. I do not joke when I say this— We all feel pain for our clients. That's human. The ability to recognize when we are being self important, biased, and influenced by our own emotions is one of the first hurdles we all have to overcome. It's the major difference between a therapist who is good on a surface level, and one that will truly advance and not do more harm than good.

[choccy--milk]

[orpheuslament]

now say it with me: authors/artists dont owe you moral purity. an author/artist job is not to hold you by the hand & tell you exactly what is Good™ & what is Bad™. you should be able to think for yourself

[orpheuslament]

"yes but depictions of (morally questionable thing) are only okay if its punished in the story" thats the hays code. you just reinvented the hays code

[forestshadow-wolf]

I say this over and over again, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record I'll say it again:

Sometimes media is supposed to make you uncomfortable. Sometimes you need to feel a little uncomfortable by the media that you consume or choose to witness.

It's how you learn and grow. Not just educationally— while important— respectfully most people spend a dozen or more years in a setting to learn in a strictly educational and social setting.

But there's few other places in which to learn about morality or mortality. There are few pther places to learn about real world tragedy.

Sometimes the media you consume or interact with is the only direct or indirect contact you have with violent or immortal or gross subjects, and you need that connection to grow respect for any and all of it.

Sometimes it's okay for you to become uncomfortable with the media that you witness. The world will still turn. And the brain is as much a muscle as any other. It needs to be worked and stretched, just like any other. Yet it is so often the most neglected.

[professionallydeadinside]

My growing collection of cute money packets,,,,

[nonbinarymissingno]

this is the dynamic right

[eveningstarisaliar]

book!maria is both a girlboss and a girlfailure. like Yes she rushed to intervene with the Bullet Train but she got on the wrong fucking train entirely. yeah she once took down three guys on her own but also she has admitted kindergarteners can know more things than her. But she's doing her best (probably)

[babygirltangerine]

"why'd i do that? it's like i've got a compulsion or something" tangerine x "would you describe me as someone who lives in perpetual anxiety?" ladybug. they are analyzing symptoms and contemplating mental illness <3

and then there's also "need to talk to someone. serious." lemon and "no, no. and if it wasn't clear, i meant 'yes.'" maria. their foils and their stabilizers

[babygirltangerine]

[babygirltangerine]

"i'm really good with faces" ladybug says after spending five minutes in close combat with a man spewing extremely personal threats and mentioning the targeted cartel boss by name while ladybug questions every single thing he said and doesnt remember a goddamn thing

"really? you don't remember me?" ladybug says (twice), hurt by lemon forgetting the less than 2 seconds they looked at each other in johannesburg

[eveningstarisaliar]

do you guys think tangerine started stealing shit for survival or do you think he just woke up one day and started doing that

[babygirltangerine]

everyone making their bullet train ocs the third fruit meanwhile if i had a bullet train oc it'd be someone that's unhinged their jaw and swallowed tangerine's foot, slowly eating him alive from the bottom up

[frostytherobot]

[eveningstarisaliar]

bullet train au where everything is exactly the same Except the train they're on is the hello kitty shinkansen