#Catalyst for growth

[hsmagazine254]

The Awakened Path Part 4 - Positive Reflection Of The Week

Part 4: The Dark Side Of People Pleasing & Be Still THE DARK SIDE OF PEOPLE PLEASING Do you know a people pleaser? Are you one? Master manipulators are another name for people-pleasers. And at some point in our lives, we have all been guilty of this trait. People pleasers are often motivated by a fear of rejection or a desire for approval, and they may struggle to set boundaries or prioritize…

[fatedroses]

And some days, I just wish you wouldn't look at me at all.

[carpethedamndiemdejavu]

Uwe Henneken, A Teaching in Transfiguration

[selkiesongss]

listen. when it comes to which manifestation of magic would choose sam, i'll admit that seegenpelater is the obvious answer. i get it, i do! like lou mentioned in today's AP, it's literally persuasion magic, obviously that meshes well with sam's magical strengths

HOWEVER !!! i am a firm believer that at her core, sam is more aligned with miskoro (alteration) than seegenpelater

lengthy and incoherent rambling below the cut

as @/wanderingsoftly noted in an earlier post of theirs on this topic, sam's very first spell was transmuting lint into a sundae. i'd like to point out that when given the reality-warping powers of magic, she doesn't think to just poof a sundae into existence - her first thought is to use the lint from her pocket as some kind of equivalent(ish) exchange.

i see this mindset of 'work with what you've got' as a huge part of sam's character, since in her interactions with both the pilot program and the world, she always meets people where they're at. she consistently matches people's energies in a way that neither diminishes nor amplifies, but in a way that illuminates. i think the clearest manifestation of that is in her local charm effect- she doesn't try to be likeable, her presence is just so warm and kind that you can't help but be disarmed. you bare your soul to her, and she responds with a compassionate and tender understanding that opens up an entirely new world of possibilities.

sam sheds light on the ugly, harsh edges of a person and embraces them as they are- not to be romanticized but not to be neglected either. she's an amazing friend when life is good and a safe haven when life gets rough; she was there for jammer when he took on alexis the dragon's curse, for k after they accidentally killed evan, and for evan when he was still a shadow haunting a pair of shoes. there is no aspect of humanity that sam butler/black/britain is too afraid to hold, because no burden is too great to be shared.

with that being said, i'll try to get to my actual argument.

sam is undeniably magnetic, able to compel demons into releasing their grip on evan's soul, and i'm not going to dismiss that at all! sam's ability to influence the people around her is a fundamental part of her character, but i think it's important to draw a distinction between being magically persuasive and being naturally persuasive, as sam usually falls into the latter category.

as for why that distinction is important, it's a matter of intention.

the magic of seegenpelater is inherently subjective, taking perceived reality and molding it into illusory shapes at the whims of its user. on the other hand, the magic of miskoro is inherently objective; its alterations are exactly what they present themselves to be. as we've seen on weugan, sam is deeply opposed to projecting her desires onto others and seegenpelater is entirely antithetical to that. in contrast, miskoro represents the honest potential to change- which sam has always kindled in those around her- and i think that perfectly aligns with who she is at her core.

sam has been helping people out since day one. she provides the warmth and safety they need to grow past their fixed ideas about who they should be and into who they could be. she's been a sailor moon fangirl, a twitch streamer, a scuppers player, a television host, a celebrity, the world's greatest wizard, and only the qohlye knows who she'll be next!

sam butler/black/britain is a woman who treats surnames like haute couture, a wizard perpetually moving forward, unbridled by the threat of stagnation, and i am deeply obsessed with her. somebody please sedate me.

anyway save my girl from cannibal island PLEASE !!!! drop by purble place and get some dope ass alchemy powers instead :3

LET SAM COMMIT CRIMES AGAINST THE NATURAL SCIENCES '24

[daily-hanamura]

[cementcornfield]

I’d love to hear your joe’marr night of natty thoughts if you ever wanted to share! 🥰

augh this is so old i'm sorry!!! but god yes i have MANY thoughts on that night.

below the cut for some rambling nonsensical (very shippy!!) thoughts about it!

so ok. it's long been my headcanon that the night of the natty would be when they first hook up, after a longgggg season of tension and hidden glances and awkward not quite flirting. like basically it would have been building for a long time whether either of them are really aware of it or not (and i doubt they'd be all that aware of it! focus on the football ya know? not on these funny feelings that i'm sure are very normal! that constant elation and adrenaline they feel around each other is just all the winning and record-breaking plays! in fact! winning and their feelings for each other are kind of completely intertwined so how can they even /start/ unpacking all that??)

so anyway! as we all know, joe gives ja'marr the game ball that night. we still don't know the EXACT circumstances (did he plan to, was it a spur of the moment thing, did ja'marr ask for it?? etc etc). we do know ja'marr joked later about not giving it back to joe lol, but i do think that WAS a joke actually. so like, obviously the whole team went out and partied/celebrated and didn't get back to the hotel until probably early in the morning, all drunk on booze and victory and each other! joe and ja'marr would have gone back to their separate rooms and ja'marr would see the game ball just sitting there where he left it on his bed before they all went out. and he can't stop thinking about the soft look on joe's face as he gave it to him. how amazing they were together that night. how it (for all he knows!) is the last time they would ever play together. and suddenly he decides that he needs to go see joe right then and there (to give the game ball back, of course, no other reason 🙂)

so he'd go knock on joe's door (who is still too pumped up on the events of the night to have fallen asleep, but he'd definitely still answer to door shirtless 🙂) and they'd just stare at each other for a moment, then joe would invite ja'marr in (because he's a gentleman) and ja'marr would try to give the ball back (because as much as he was bragging and being goofy about it before, he can't believe that joe would really be serious about ja'marr wanting to keep it. i mean. it's the GAME BALL. joe earned it, joe wanted it!)

and joe would get this serious look on his face and refuse and say that he gave it to ja'marr, that ja'marr deserves it for that game and for everything that season. everything he did for and meant to joe. (and of course what he would REALLY mean is that the ball is 10000% a symbol of his heart and his love and it all belongs to ja'marr, and it has for some time now! but obviously he can't say that because he is a Strong Stoic Football guy and probably still doesn't even realize what he means as he says it)

but i think ja'marr would understand anyway (because he has slightly higher EQ) he would get what joe meant. what everything has been building up to all season long, what joe means to him, what it's going to be like to be without him next year. and they're just looking at each other and they're drunk and vulnerable and neither one knows who makes the first move but they're suddenly making out and ja'marr drops the game ball and they don't even think about finding it until the next morning (because they are otherwise occupied 🙂)

but then the next morning! angst! because they're two dumb college kids who grew up in toxic masculine sports culture and they can NOT deal with what happened (no matter how much they 100% both enjoyed it). ja'marr would rush out of the room the next morning (NOT taking the game ball) and joe would see him trying to sneak out. they'd lock eyes for a moment and not say a word, ja'marr would leave and that would be that. but later that day, ja'marr would find the game ball back in his room. (i dont know HOW but listen joe was a god to the city of nola that day, he could probably convince the hotel staff or something. don't worry about it.) and ja'marr would see it sitting on his bed again and he'd be hungover and tired and freaking out and he would absolutely cry about it a little bit. because he's a huge cry baby and going through a lot 💔

but yeah, things would be awkward for joe and ja'marr during all the celebratory ceremonies, and then joe would graduate and go on to the draft, and ja'marr would stay in nola. and they wouldn't keep in touch at all besides a few texts in various group chats. maybe check in with each other once or twice to see how each other is dealing with like, the pandemic (hey 2020!), ja'marr might text joe congrats on being drafted number 1....and that's it!

UNTIL joe gets hurt his first season, ja'marr's sitting out his season at home in nola, and he reaches out to check on him. it's been long enough that they can both pretend they forgot about it, and they catch up a little bit. they're both lonely as joe recovers and ja'marr isn't playing, so they'd get to talking more and more. ESPECIALLY when it becomes obvious how well positioned cincy is going to be in the draft, and how high ja'marr is going to be drafted. which is when they start making plans that sound like fantasy at first but become more and more realistic, of actually playing together again! (which is how we get to joe texting ja'marr the morning of the draft telling him to have his bags packed 🥲)

of course it's awkward when they first see each other in person again. they barely think of that natty night anymore (except that they do all the time, but they're good at repressing and compartmentalizing! they're athletes!) but when they see each other in person it's hard not to remember everything that happened that night. but hey! they push past it, assume the other one isn't thinking the same things, and try to get that chemistry back (which does actually take awhile, as we all know! probably because of all the emotional baggage!) and then fast forward to their first game together in the pros (against the vikings!! with justin there!! fate fate fate!!!) and it goes so well and ja'marr gets that amazing TD that's just like all the ones they got together at LSU....and uhhh yeah. let's just say they celebrate that night too 🥲

[commsroom]

do you ever think about how fucked up it is that Hera is the one constantly under threat of memory wipe obliviation, and yet, in the end, it's Eiffel who loses everything.

Memory loss still haunts Hera's life, even as she herself escaped it. She keeps the memories but loses the relationship she built in them.

i do... i think about it... honestly, this is one of the reasons why i feel like eiffel's sacrifice is still ultimately... kind of selfish? i don't say that to disparage him. it is a sacrifice, and it's brave, and i don't know if anything else could've reasonably been done. he made a choice. but hera is the one who had to pull the trigger, who had to inflict her own worst fear on the person closest to her - who has to live with that, and wonder what he was going to say to her, and wonder "what if?"

when the dust settles a little, i think she's going to be angry at him for that. and she's going to feel guilty, because he did what he had to do, and it's not like he can even remember making the call. but i think it will be something they'll have to work through.

i've said this before, but i think the wolf 359 finale has a powerful statement about identity: eiffel is form without memory, hera is memory without form, lovelace has both but without continuity of experience, and minkowski has all of that - but she's still not the same person she was at the start. all of them both are and aren't the same people, because that's what it means to be a person.

(and all of that's part of why i think eiffel regaining his memory would be a narratively consistent choice: it's all part of the same pattern of him trying to escape himself & learning to live with himself.)

i also think the way eiffel's mind & memory is treated very... mechanically in the finale, at the same time that hera is represented at her most natural / physical, is a really compelling equalizer as a way to present those questions of humanity / memory / autonomy.

and we know that theology / spirituality / the self are topics that hera gravitates towards; i imagine that post-canon she will be thinking a lot about the nature of the soul, especially if eiffel is (as i believe he is) still fundamentally "eiffel" even without his memories. if the self isn't stored in memory, if memory is the part where "you" come in, the result of the interaction between "you" and the external world, then what part is "you"? she's going to think about it.

[fluffs-n-stuffs]

Amethio sweetie you're not beating the 'related to Gibeon' allegations anytime soon fr

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Have we talked about the fact that there is an episode of Buffy called bewitched bothered and bewildered that has an underlying themes that may potetially be similar to buck bothered and bewildered??

Especially considering Xander does something dumb and stupid when he gets dumped (getting a spell cast so that Cordelia will get back together with him so he can be the one to dump her)

Xander had up until that episode been somewhat stuck in a loop - the kind of character that hadn’t really had much development up to this point beyond having what I would term as an outdated concept of women and how he should treat them and especially attractive women. The whole thing is the start of the massive character growth arc we see xander go on for the rest of the show - which is kind of similar to Bucks in many ways - belonging, maturity, the search for respect, and his continued search for love.

[haven-of-dusk]

More EJ stuff incoming (with a surprisingly related image)

It's a very concerning phenomenon that the show doesn't treat EJ's privacy the way it demands he treat Nini's privacy. And this isn't a post saying "actually, EJ was 100% justified in snooping in Nini's phone because of insecurity," because no, he wasn't. Breaking your partner's trust like that isn't okay, and it isn't surprising that it was a major contributor to his and Nini's break-up.

So...why is it okay when Gina does it? She saw something sticking out of his binder, opened said binder, saw it was a letter, and took it out and read it. She went into his personal stuff, saw something private, and then got upset at him about it...why is that so radically different from EJ going into Nini's phone, seeing something private, and then getting upset with her (and Ricky) about it? Is he somehow entitled to less privacy because it's a physical letter and not something digital?

And it would already be weird if the show never had Gina apologize or acknowledge that she shouldn't have done that (which to my knowledge she never does). But that weirdness is compounded because then HE needs to apologize to HER for "hiding things" (aka not running to immediately tell her information within 24 hours of getting it).

Why does the show present EJ as in the wrong when he's both victimizer and victim of the same type of action? It'd be one thing if the show had her acknowledge that her method of getting the information was wrong, but she still needed to talk about why he didn't tell her right away, but instead her dubious actions are presented uncritically and all the blame goes to EJ. Again.

It's a perfect encapsulation of the gaping flaw with S3 that only EJ's faults can be discussed, not anyone else's, which creates a false perception that he's a lot worse than he is. The dark side of Gina 1.0 DID come to camp, but the show never wants to talk about it, which hurts EJ, but it also hurts Gina! When a character's flaws aren't explored, acknowledged, or made up for within the narrative, it makes them seem WORSE. Neither character wins here.

Gods, S3 was a mess.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

idk if lilly exists in the er au (i've also been toying with the idea of roderika filling a similar role) but if she does i think she should be a follower of st. trina

[hsmagazine254]

The Awakened Path Part 3 - Positive Reflection Of The Week

Part 3: Removing Barriers On A Personal And Global Level & Allow The Inner Fire To Rise REMOVING BARRIERS ON A PERSONAL AND GLOBAL LEVEL Knowing what you don’t want and what you want to avoid will help you decide who you want to interact with. It is important to identify and remove any personal barriers that may be hindering your interactions with others. Additionally, on a global level, breaking…

[krak-house]

god I'm actually fucking angry like yes I know his character peaked and there wasn't anywhere else to go with him fine sure narratively it makes the most sense but also. That was my emotional support bitchy first mate and im mad abt it 😡

[brucenorris007]

Re: The lack of consequences Kim faces for the henchmen and villains she hurts.

Probably Global Justice covering all that up; might also then use that fact as leverage to pressure her into working for them or else hang up the hero action when she turns 18 as an ultimatum.

She wouldn’t like that, obviously; might’ve been considering working with them at some point later in life, but not for them as an organization. GJ might not retroactively dump responsibility for her actions as a minor on her, but they would take away whatever legal protection they’d been affording her, and that’d cause her and Ron immediate problems in their next mission. The Possible family is smart, but none of them are lawyers; I don’t think Ron’s Dad would find the risks of continuing to hero unchecked as a favorable option either.

Probably stall Team Possible out into a quasi-retirement until they figured something out; in the meantime, Ron and Kim figure out who they are in the more mundane parts of their lives.

Hmmm.

[loveandthepsyche]

Brokenness is a catalyst. Pain is a catalyst. Obstacles are a catalyst. Challenge is a catalyst.

~ Lalah Delia