If Colt had Felix destroy an actual plush toy — do you think his heart broke when Ladybug tore of the little frog’s arm? Do you think he breathed a sigh of relief when it got fixed?
If the rabbit plushie in Representation is meant to be a metaphor — do you think he picked it on purpose? Do you think he was intentionally calling back to this moment he and Ladybug shared, right before the heroes threw Strikeback into the sun, in an effort to make her understand the pain she caused?
Whichever interpretation you prefer — do you think Felix equates this akuma to his own abuse and/or perceived mostrousity? Do you think he wishes he could be saved and fixed as easily as Froggy was?
NINA TELL US ABOUT YOUR WIP THAT'S RELEVANT TO SPIDERS UNIONIZING!!! 💖💖💕💞🌺🌼🌸🌸🌼🌺
I LOVE YOU GRAY YOU PRECIOUS PRECIOUS CRICHER 💚💚💚💚
And I shall! It's one of my Sentitwink Week projects, specifically for the strikeback · red moon · once upon a time bonus prompt. It's based on one of my favourite poems, J'aime l'araignée et j'aime l'ortie (I love spiders and I love nettles) by Victor Hugo, because I've wanted to write something inspired by it for a long time!
As Chat Noir grows closer to Argos and sees how adamant he is about not using his powers, he starts to reflect on what happened to Strikeback... and remembers how much Felix has always cared about wretched creatures since they were little 🥺 The idea, of course, is to draw parallels between all of them: Adrien, Felix, Kagami, Strikeback, spiders, nettles and co — they're all one move away from being crushed, when all they want is a chance to live and love and be loved... so yes. SPIDERS UNIONISING 🕷️🕸️
Have a little extract under the cut! 💜💚
Later, he thinks of Felix.
Specifically, he thinks of an episode of their childhood, in that very same bedroom he's struggling to make his again: he'd left the window open at night, because it was so warm outside, and because he was too little to reach it on his own. The bed had been too big back then, and it's still too big now: Adrien tosses and turns, a frail little skiff on a sea of covers, and reaches for the empty spot next to him.
Felix isn't there.
Felix was never supposed to be there, not even when they were little; but not once did that stop him from slithering into his cousin's space. He's never been one for sleeping anyway, nor for standing still, nor for keeping quiet.
Thinking back to the time before — back when Uncle Colt was still alive — Adrien pictures his cousin as a rubber band bracelet: twisted, pulled taught, yet refusing to break. All it took was a moment of inattention (an opportunity, as Felix himself would call it) and he would snap back into himself — loud and furious like the crack of a whip.
Those bracelets, Adrien keeps them in one of his drawers: souvenirs from Disneyland, from a Jagged Stone concert, from a night out with his friends. When he started modelling, he was told to stop wearing them, but it doesn't mean he's ready to part with the memories yet.
Or ever.
Anyway, it all happened on a night quite like this one, windless and sticky; except not quite like this one, because Felix was there. Adrien can't remember what they'd been talking about, but he knows he was laughing, quietly, sincerely.
And then, all of a sudden, he wasn't.
“What's wrong?” Felix's face had grown serious — older, like it sometimes does. “Adrien? Are you still in command?”
He hadn't known how to respond to that, hadn't known what it meant; instead, he'd extended a finger, trembling, pointing at the creature lurking in the shadows.
A spider, crawling its way up his cousin's arm. It seems ridiculous now; but Adrien used to be tiny too.
“Oh, that?” Felix had done a double-take; then grinned, as he often did. “Don't tell me you're going to scream like a baby.”
“Don't move!” He'd whisper-shouted, biting his nails to muffle the fear. “It's going to bite you!”
“It's a house spider, not Count Dracula. Gods, you're even more of a coward than Chloé!”
Felix had shifted then, rolling his eyes; and, in an episode of insanity only rivalled by the Red Moon incident, he'd offered the eight-legged intruder his hand. Adrien had watched in horror as the thing climbed onto the little fingers, a splash of brown against the pale skin.
Felix had sat up, cupping it in his hands. Holding it as delicately as he would his bunny plushie.
“Aren't you going to kill it?”
“Why would I? It's not doing anything wrong.”
“But it can't stay here.”
“Why not? Just because it isn't pretty? That's not fair.”
“I don't want it here!” Adrien had insisted, pulling the covers up to his nose. “Take it away. Please?”
There had been a flash in Felix's eyes: something he'd never seen before, and has never seen since — at least, not directed towards him. Suddenly, his cousin had thrown the covers away, jumping bare-footed upon the too-hard floor.
“I'm going to the garden,” he'd said, back turned and shoulders tense. “And then back to my room.”
“Felix —”
“Don't,” Felix had warned, a bite on the edge of his teeth. “Good night, Adrien.”
He wonders now, as he drowns in his childhood house, if that was the night he lost him.
***
“That hurt you, didn't it?”
Felix's eyes have always felt like daggers, but the magenta makes them feel like branding irons: for the flicker of an instant, Chat Noir is convinced they will burn their way past the mask. He isn't sure what to think about that — whether he would like him to find out.
Anyway, Argos' default annoyance soon morphs into something that suits Felix better: curiosity. He tilts his head, a birdlike little gesture, and it makes Adrien's heart ache with fondness.
“When we threw Strikeback into the sun,” he precises, awkwardly. “That wasn't right. I'm sorry.”
“You didn't do anything.” This isn't an accusation, nor is it absolution: moreso Argos putting him back in his place. “Too busy choking on your own jealousy, no doubt.”
“How many times do I need to tell you? There's nothing between Ladybug and I!”
“She has a someone, you know.”
“So have I. What's your point? Boys and girls can be friends.”
“Boys and girls, yes. You and her, though? Not until Hell freezes over.”
Chat's tail flicks with annoyance — a 'perk' of his costume upgrade that truly damages his carefree exterior. He's not sure what's worse: that his cousin refuses to believe him, or that he can't seem to convince himself.
Luckily, Felix decides to return to the matter at hand.
“There's not going to be another one, you know. Not ever.”
“Sentimonster?” The fan unfolds; Chat raises his hands, placatingly. “That's fine! We're not counting on it.”
“Not yet. But it'll come, eventually.”
“Well, not from me.”
And then, muscle memory plays a trick on him: Adrien doesn't even realise what he's done until Argos, perplexed and severe, is looking down at it.
That stretched out pinky looks weird, with no one reaching for it.
“Ha… anyway.” He takes his hand back. He wants to die. “You won't have to use your power, I promise. And if the others try to ask that of you —”
“Which they will, being people.”
“— which they won't, being good people.” Felix snorts at that. “Whatever. The point is: I'd stand up for you.”
He doesn't get an answer to that. Doesn't think Felix believes him.
But neither of them leaves the rooftop, which is progress enough.
Oooh I love both! I used to live near the Alps and we would go hiking all the time. Although, my favourite part of hiking was resting in a nice cosy spot and admiring the scenery while picnicking, so…
Redcap: when did you get into your current biggest hobby/interest?
I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again:
Strikeback. Strikeback changed everything. First of all, it established Felix as a Clive-like character (aka smarter than everyone in the room at all times), so jot that down. But it also pretty much confirmed the Senti-theory before I even knew it was a thing, introduced consequences that the Miraculous Cure could not fix, and got me invested in Ladynoir. ALL HAIL STRIKEBACK ALL HAIL FLAIRMIDABLE ALL HAIL FELIX GRAHAM DE VANILY 🧡🤍🖤
I don't know if you've ever talked/reflected on this but… have you ever thought about the idea of "souls" in Miraculous? I don't know, I was tormented by that a few nights ago because the very pointed and never dealt with in depth situation with the senti.
Obviously Felix thinks that they are ALL sentient creatures that deserve to live and "undoing" is equivalent to living but even writing this I'm talking about "creatures" not people which also means that I myself have a bias that the more human, the more "real" I see them.
Of course GabNat don't see them as more than tools but they very obviously think differently from the particular case of *Adrien* so I have to wonder if for them "intention" is what makes Adrien different, endowed with a soul so to speak. And LB is the heroine, in theory the bastion of morality, but, if I'm not mistaken, there is only one case in which she treat a senti as if they were a person worthy of having their own free will and they are sentibug, after that we have others (I'm thinking of sentibubble) and (although I understand that they had no way of freeing them and they have to stop them) they also don't spend a moment reflecting that they could be just as dignified.
I don't know, just all these mixed up ideas of what makes them "real" beyond a construct and that Felix thinks the mere idea of creation is enough, while the villains seem to think there are "exceptions" and I don't have no idea what the parameter of the heroine or Kagami for that matter would be.
I really want to hear your thoughts
OK, so I clicked publish before I even got a chance to write anything. Because I’m a genius. Anon I’m so sorry.
ANYWAYS you raise an excellent question, so I’m going to try my best to put my thoughts in order! 🦚
First of all, it seems Thomas Astruc himself differentiates between “human” Sentibeings and others:
Which seems to imply different levels of sentience: for instance, Adrien is no different from any regular child, while Feast exhibits behaviours that are closer to an animal’s. Not that it makes abusing or destroying him acceptable in any way, but I don’t think we’re supposed to feel as much towards him as towards the Sentikids.
(I do. I feel all the feels for Feast. Feast is my baby boy and I will never stop mourning him.)
If intent is truly what determines a Senti’s level of sentience, then this raises many questions as to which ones were created with that objective in mind. And interestingly, it doesn’t actually seem to be tied to whether they look “human” or not.
Sentibug is the first Sentibeing that is explicitly shown to have a soul of her own. Mayura wanted her to be a perfect copy of Ladybug, and that backfired the second she got a hold of her own amok; she shares the heroine’s strong sense of justice, and immediately sided with her at the cost of her life.
What does it mean for humanoid Sentis that were created after S3? Specifically, Senti-Gabriel and Senti-Bubbler? As far as I recall, they don’t get a chance to speak for themselves and express their own identity. If they were to be freed, would they act of their own volition or model their behaviour after their human counterpart? What would that mean for Felix, who was created out of jealousy over Adrien? Would Shadowmoth be able to create Sentibeings who simply look human, but are only granted a “lower” level of sentience to avoid a repeat of the Sentibug debacle?
The more I’m writing, the more I hate the idea of nitpicking sentience levels. It feels like the exact same logic Gabriel, Tomoe or Colt would use to justify the way they (mis)treat their children.
Felix also rejects the idea of a sentience hierarchy — especially based on the Sentibeings’ appearance and ability to speak for themselves.
Strikeback looks absolutely terrifying — monstruous, even. There’s nothing remotely human about them; and yet, Felix feels heartbroken and guilty as he lets Ladybug yeet them into the Sun.
Red Moon is also scary — in a stranger, more ominous, beautiful kind of way. An important feature about her is that she is unable to speak for herself; yet Argos still calls her his sister, and it is pretty clear from the way he interacts with her that she can understand him and experience emotions just as complex as his.
From a purely doylist explanation — I think Sentis are whatever the writing team needs them to be in the moment. This was made extra clear with the creation and (probable) destruction of Once Upon A Time, so they could try something new in terms of storytelling:
The play was very fun (read: tragic), don’t get me wrong, but I feel like the writers kind of got in their own way here.
The thing is — while the delivery isn’t the most consistent or satisfactory, you can tell that there is an intent to say something through the existence and treatment of Sentibeings.
Adrien, Felix and Kagami are, or course, child abuse survivors:
But they are also extremely queer-coded:
And very likely neurodivergent:
I’m sure there’s a lot of other communities who can see themselves represented in these kids — the common thread between these demographics being that we know what it feels like to be othered.
How many queer people are being mistreated for being “too overtly gay, why can’t you just be normal about it”? Or rejected by their own community, based on arbitrary standards?
How many neurodivergent people are being treated as subhuman, simply because they do not have the capability to advocate for themselves? Or because they are disabled “in the wrong way”?
As for abuse survivors? The hard truth is that they aren’t always perfect victims, who automatically know how to behave healthily once they’re out of a bad situation — especially not when they are literal children, who have never experienced anything else in their lives. There are after-effects, wounds that might get infected if you don’t tend to them, behaviours to unlearn. And yes, the healing process can look ugly, but they deserve some grace — a chance to grow and make it right.
Oftentimes, these biases come from figures of authority who are typically seen as “progressive”, or people who have the best intentions in the world — like Ladybug, who originally failed to see Sentis as human or even just sentient, unless they looked exactly like her.
All that to say — the approach that I take when thinking or writing about Sentibeings is the same as Felix’s not taking the Once incident into consideration: that all Sentis are sentient, to the same level, until proven otherwise. Is it necessarily coherent with what has been shown on screen? Not really, but I think it’s truer to the intended message!
And because I’m not one to pass up an opportunity, have some Transmasc Felix Propaganda:
