#I’m suppose to be socializing but I’m too autistic to not think about him

[sleepiilemonade]

Guys I’m literally at a birthday party with like 40 people and I can’t stop thinking about him I pinky promise I’m not insane

[imsosleepyofyourbull]

I firmly believe that Kabru is autistic but masks so hard that he’s convinced himself and (almost) everyone around him that he’s neurotypical.

That man’s special interest is people and how they work, but he just thinks it’s him Being So Good At Socializing — like he doesn’t spend 95% of his time people watching and adjusting his personality in response to the traits he witnesses and obsessing over the intricacies of human interaction while mapping an ever growing relationship chart in his head. For fun. He even admits it in the manga!

Like, look at him!!!

It’s such a shame that — because he’s the narrative foil to Laios and his interest is generally considered more “socially acceptable” in both their world and our own — more people don’t realize this about him. He’s constantly misinterpreted as a horribly manipulative person who only acts the way he does to use the people around him, when that’s explicitly shown to not be the case at all. Kabru is naturally empathetic and is almost always thinking about other people, regardless of whether or not they’re right there with him or a thousand miles away.

I mean, his most defining motivation is his desire to do everything he can to avoid another tragedy like the one at Utaya. Someone who doesn’t care wouldn’t have a goal like that, and they most certainly wouldn’t go about it the way he does. He’s constantly working to help people who can help everyone else and tries so hard to make sure that anyone who seems like a threat is actually someone he needs to worry about before doing anything about it. His supposed aversion to Laios is only because of the ridiculous trolley problem he’s set up in his own head.

Outside of that, he (rather justifiably) hates monsters but is desperate to understand Laios’ love for them and his apparently most selfish goal in getting close to the guy was literally just to become friends with him.

When he’s interacting with the canaries and they imply that they’re going to take him and all of his friends to the West, his first thought is of Rin and how much she’d hate to be stuck in the place that gave her so many bad memories.

He helps Kuro learn Common when Mickbell is asleep and firmly looks forward to the day that the half-foot and Kuro can communicate properly so that their relationship can get properly started without any miscommunication.

And he understands Mithrun with only a handful of weeks AT BEST interacting with him, getting enraged when the elf seems to give up and immediately trying to help him find a new motivation for life.

I’m excited just thinking about the day that Kabru starts unmasking more and more around his friends — both new and old — because if being with my current friend group has taught me anything, it’s that hanging out with anyone so unabashedly themselves is bound to make you more comfortable with yourself too. It’s part of the reason why I like Labru so much! There’s something nice about imagining them hanging out in the throne room or laying in the grass outside and talking for hours on end about their special interests. They might not strictly understand what the other finds so fascinating about monsters or people, but they can grasp that shared feeling of love.

They probably influence each other in really good ways too, with Kabru helping Laios figure out what people are thinking even when it doesn’t make sense or Laios helping Kabru understand that not everyone and everything needs to be analyzed a thousand times over. They both get to learn that there are people like them and people who will love them without them ever having to change a thing about themselves. They deserve to know that they’re fine the way they are.

[fearcutsdeeper]

Hi, I’ve really been enjoying your Temeraire posting! I saw in the tags of one of your posts recently (I think the one about the Laurence+Rankin friendship era in book one) that you read Laurence as autistic and the idea really tickled my brain! I’m a new fan of the series and I haven’t thought of him that way before, but now that you pointed it out it makes so much sense. I was wondering if you’d be willing to elaborate a bit on that reading of his character? It’s a super interesting idea and I’d love to hear more of your thoughts if you feel like sharing!

Absolutely!!! The first time I read the books I was really flying through them and too caught up in the character arc I could feel taking shape before my eyes to really dwell on the character as he is, if that makes sense. I'm reading more slowly this time and really considering his thoughts and actions in context, and they feel... like, very relatable to me in a specific way.

(Disclaimer: this is a personal reading, not trying to claim this is an objective truth about the character or anything, etc)

One thing about the way a lot of people discuss autistic or perceived-as-autistic characters is that they'll recognize them as autistic based on straightforward expression of symptoms/traits that you might read off a list. This isn't doing it wrong or anything, and the characters in question can easily be read as autistic! But those aren't usually the characters I see myself in.

I'll pretty often start seeing a character as autistic not because they're outwardly showing symptoms, but because their behavior strikes me as learned compensation for symptoms. Data from Star Trek is very frequently seen as autistic coded not just because of his frequently expressed lack of understanding for social conventions but also because he then explicitly writes himself new subroutines to account for what he learns. A lot of autistic people (including myself) go through their lives kind of accumulating "scripts" – like, oh, I seem to have missed that X was a signal, but the person's reaction tells me that the appropriate response would have been Y. Next time I encounter X, I will do Y.

Now, Will Laurence builds his ENTIRE LIFE around the elaborate rules of British propriety and honor and duty. He tells us that he enjoys Society – "conversation, dancing, and friendly whist were his favorite pursuits". All three things listed are, in Georgian wealthy society, things with a strict and learnable structure and rules – he likes when what he's supposed to do is clearly laid out for him! He's in I think his late thirties when the series starts. I'm basically reading him as an autistic man who realized that people didn't make sense to him the way they did to other children and then spent his entire life Learning The Rules so no one would notice.

Every time he's engaging with propriety and Proper Behavior, he's thinking very consciously about it. And when someone else violates his understanding of the rules, he's internally scrambling for the proper response, because his script has been disrupted. (My personal favorite it when he'll go "the only satisfactory response would be a challenge to duel but I'm not allowed anymore")

So, he's been doing this all his life, he's learned all the rules for the life track he's put himself on (which is a highly structured one!), and then, boom, the plot hits.

The Rules of aviator society are totally different. Laurence is affronted and scrambling. I find it notable that Berkley basically plows right through Laurence's attempts at propriety and immediately starts talking to him like he would any other aviator, and it WORKS. Laurence is kind of taken aback, because his rules would interpret the way he's being spoken to as an insult, but Berkley certainly isn't acting like he means to give insult, so Laurence doesn't respond like he's received one. There's also the bit where he notes that the woman serving him has violated protocol by greeting him instead of being silent – but he returns the greeting and isn't offended.

He's mirroring like hell! (This is a common autistic trait.) He's working out what the expected behavior is and returning it as much as he can manage. And when he's with Rankin, he reverts to his society scripts, with so much relief that he ignores some warning signs.

And this makes his whole arc of disillusionment with the British Government SO interesting, because Laurence, I think anyone would agree, takes the honor that the government pays lip service to dramatically more seriously than most members of the government and Admiralty. And, until he gets the truth shoved in his face, he has enormous trouble conceiving of that. It really reads as autistic to me – like, what do you MEAN the elaborate system of morals you told me to structure my personality around is only window dressing to you? It's sure as hell not window dressing to me!

In this reading, in addition to all the other incredible things that his story is about, it's also about an autistic guy becoming increasingly uncomfortably aware that the systems of rules and parameters which he painstakingly learned and have successfully guided him through most of his life are fundamentally in conflict with each other, and eventually being forced at gunpoint to decide which of those rules really truly matter, throw out the rest, and rebuild from scratch.

Which is to say: my man is in hell. At least he has a dragon?

[tvklike]

i feel like toshiro gets too much hate like. ofc he clashes with a western autistic man with different social norms and no boundaries. of course shuro is going to be uncomfortable when his own boundaries are crossed, and being from the culture he is from, it’s difficult to outright express those boundaries in a polite way. he was always secretive and lowkey about a lot of things, his feelings of dislike towards some of laios’s traits is normal i think. he doesn’t dislike laios because he’s autistic. imo i don’t think he dislikes laios at all, he just doesn’t know how to stand up for himself until he hits a breaking point. i think people forget that when we see shuro for a second time and he’s “being mean to laios”, he’s literally at his all time lowest he could be. he doesn’t eat or take care of himself or even think of how much energy he has left. hes just doing the same thing laios’s party is doing (going to save falin) a little differently and with a different party.

all that to say don’t say shuro is a bastard and mean it, because he is a well written character with feelings that can be hurt and boundaries that can be crossed just like any other character. and that’s to say that laios has pretty much crossed everyone’s boundaries at some point, and they’ve lashed out at him about it too. it just so happens that their lashing out is seen as comical and lighthearted, whereas shuro’s lashing out happens at a very tense and serious part of the storyline, so people automatically paint shuro as the bad guy bc “laios is autistic how was he supposed to know” ok but that doesn’t mean laios is absolved of hurting the feelings of others, even the ones he cares for. do not infantilize an autistic adult by saying they’re not responsible for their actions, bc they “don’t know better”. autistic people are capable of growth and character development as well. if shuro came up to laios and was like “hey i didn’t like what you did/said earlier i would like to ask if you didn’t do that again/[insert other mutually beneficial solution here], laios would totally be all “oh shit dude i’m sorry i didn’t know you felt that way thanks for telling me i’ll do my best to work on that because i value our friendship (: “

LIKE DO YOU GET MY VISION. THEY ARE BESTIES. DONT LET THE FANDOM MAKE YOU THINK THEY HATE EACH OTHER

[evvyyypeters-fics]

I need to know I’m not fucking crazy for thinking that Anne Shirley from the modern live adaptive Netflix show ‘Anne with an E’ is supposed to be interpreted as neurodivergent. Specifically autistic.

Why am I having to explain to people on Tiktok that saying Anne is autistic/ implied to be is not a fucking slur? Because I’m having people attack me like even considering that her behavior is abnormal and implies neurodivergency is like the biggest offense in the world??

They’re arguing that it’s a ‘stereotype’ and normal people can act that way too, and it’s like yeah…but it’s a TV show based on a book series set in an age where autism wasn’t even really a diagnosis. It’s really hard to display the subtleties of neurodivergency on a TV show and get everything exactly accurate and politically correct. TV is meant to be dramatized, and yes, Anne with an E has it’s darker and more serious moments, but at it’s core it’s lighthearted, fun and whimsical. No duh Anne is going to be an exaggerated character, that’s literally her core trait. But that doesn’t make her any less autistic.

Do people think autistic people just suffer all the time or something? I don’t look at Anne and think “wow she’s so stereotypically autistic” I see Anne and I’m like “wow that’s the most accurate and fun depiction of an autistic girl ever”. I mean, at the very least she has to have AdHd. And don’t just take my word for it as someone undiagnosed, I’ve seen multiple posts and forums of diagnosed autistic people relating to Anne or theorizing that Anne is autistic as well.

This literally all started because I said that Anne isn’t a terrible person for trying to relate to Gilbert after his father’s death by talking to him about her experiences. That is LITERALLY A TEXTBOOK TRAIT of autism. Even if she isn’t autistic, it’s clearly shown that she constantly never understands social cues and therefore isn’t TRYING to be ignorant to Gilbert’s pain but is actively trying to show her empathy towards him in the only way she knows how and while I think Gilbert’s reaction is realistic and understandable, as an audience we have to understand that their conversation was not productive and Anne didn’t “deserve” to be yelled at for something she cannot control when she was trying to be a comfort to her friend. There are also real autistic people who talk about how this is a problem for them and ties in with social cues, autistic people tend to try and relate to people by empathizing with their own experiences, and to neurotypical people this can be seen as ‘selfish’ or ‘self centered’ when it isn’t. Anne literally does that multiple times and you’re telling me you DON’T think she’s autistic?????

Did we even watch the same show??? You’re telling me that the one character in the entire show who shows the most expressive range of emotion, relates to people with her own experiences, overshares to her teacher and basically everyone, who doesn’t understand a lot of social cues, constantly day dreams, is extremely creative, shows an abundance of empathy, and is quick to be overwhelmed or upset by the slightest thing or change let alone expectation she has that isn’t met, was othered and bullied by basically everyone in her life except for a few select people who decided to accept her as she is, as well as constantly struggling to fit into the societal norms around her and practically begging to be seen as ‘normal’ IS SOME HOW NOT AUTISTIC?????????? Yes, somehow the extreme behavior that basically goes down the list of the most common traits and visible signs of autism as well as struggles autistic people face actually is totally normal and atypical of her.

LETS BE SO FOR REAL. I had no idea media literacy was THIS dead.

I’m so tired of people tiptoeing around the concept that character’s can be blatantly autistic because they want to be politcally correct.

Yes, there are definitely terrible representations of autism out there. The Good Doctor is one, Big Bang Theory with Sheldon is iffy to me and I know that’s a whole debate. But I just don’t think that’s Anne with an E. Her autism isn’t what defines her as a person or a character, it’s just a part of who she is and you can see it. I think the reason Anne is only implied in the show to be autistic is because that would distract from her entire purpose as a character. I think the argument that ‘atypical people can act this way’ is valid because I think that’s the reason why it’s implied. Anne is just a girl, and her neurodivergency, no matter what it may be, doesn’t change that or who she is. She would still be that way, but I don’t think it would be as expressed. But you can’t deny the struggles it would bring her, which I think are stated clearly through SHOWING and not TELLING as a good show does.

[numberonetacostan]

Okay so first of all- I really really liked your post about Taco’s Friendship tier list since it was so so so in character for her omg-

Tho tho, as an autistic girlie myself, I can’t help but ask, what’s your hcs on Taco being autistic ???

Like omg- I can already imagine some like her getting sensory overload from touch & like you said, vocally stimming whenever she’s nervous- but yeah- like what I’m trying to basically say is that I’m really curious on your take on it XD

Hi Loopy!!!^^ Welcome, and thank you for sending in an ask!!!! :] AND THANK YOU FOR COMPLIMENTING MY TIERLIST. IT IS MY FAVOURITE POST HENCE WHY IT'S PINNED I WORKED SO HARD ON IT!!!!! :D

Well as yet another person who does quite a bit of autism, I'm happy to answer this one!!! Very happy!!!!! I think of Taco as rather good afab autism rep!!! X) Sorry if this one sucks btw. I feel like I kind of just exploded all over this one.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not only dumb but also probably projecting hard. This is a matter of my view on the character, you can view her however you'd like! Though, if I say something incorrect or offensive, please know it is unintentional and please correct me! I am not an expert, just some guy. I am some autistic guy, but still, just some guy.

Taco is constantly masking!! I feel like this one's obvious. Chameleon behaviors, yeah? She changes how she acts based on who she's with to her advantage as well as . It also shows in how she acts with Mic and Mepad. With Mic, she's unable to be very genuine with her, even once she's accepted Mic as a friend and equal. Not only does she have trouble recognizing and dealing with her emotions, but she's so used to masking constantly that it's really hard for her to unmask in front of someone!!! She likes Mic a lot, but it's still hard for her to be herself since even she doesn't really know how to act "like herself" with someone. She never does it!!! Even with Mepad, when he gets some more of her genuine thoughts/feelings out of her, she's doing in under the guise of her persona as well as quickly trying to change the topic the second she realizes.

With masking, I think a lot of her stims whether they be vocal or physical are more subtle. She does it much much much more openly in season 1 when she's flanderizing the parts of herself she sees as weak or childish (something that can often come esp. with afab autism!!!!!), but things like fiddling with her teacup or invisibow or tapping her hands together reading to me as stimming!!! Hooray for stimming.

Limited social interaction/close friendships. Y'all Taco has had 3 friends ever. And we see that after season 1, she doesn't really care about anyone else but Pickle!! She hung out with Paper and OJ during s1 too, and was technically in an alliance with Bomb as well, but none of them matter to her. She picked her person and stuck to them! Season 2? She and Mic go from partners to friends, and Taco doesn't care about anyone else. She loses Mic, and despite that rousing Mepad had no advantage for her, and was frankly more like to be disadvantageous, she wakes him up. She's lost her social outlet yet again, and coming off of such a loss is the only time we see her reaching out to someone she doesn't have an established relationship with!!! You'd think that when she's getting reintroduced to the group in episode 17, she'd be trying to make them feel less wary of her presence from the moment the doors open, especially with how nervous she was about seeing them all for the first time in so long, yeah? But no, she stands there with a big dumb grin <3 and lets Mic talk. She knows she's supposed to be acting genuine like Mic wants her to, but does not know how to do that. Her first line once is doors open is her clarifying that she's being genuine, but beyond that? Quick topic chance to get the attention off of her and the fact that she hadn't been genuine in the past. And also!!! Taco has been living in the woods alone for years. For a lot of people, having no interaction for that long would be really difficult!! But Taco's only really ever wanted one or maybe two friends at a time!! She doesn't need to be around a lot of people, at least to the degree that other people do, so she's able to get by on her own better!!!! Like I said, only missing her one actual close friend. This goes more into how I think she wouldn't enjoy larger groups/crowds, since not only autism headcanon, but she's been alone for years!!! It would be really overwhelming for her!!!

Intense/possessive tendencies in friendships. The many letters sent to Pickle after season 1, her self-destructive streak after losing Mic in which she wants to, and I quote "burn [the game] down in Mic's image." Her watching them from outside the hotel. Those are all intense and possessive tendencies towards her friends!!!

Pedantic speech. This one is pretty obvious. She speaks very formally, so much so that even Mic questions if that's how she really talks in episode 11!!

Difficulty speaking when upset/emotional- She is silently staring at Mic the entire time they're in the void. She could be defending herself, arguing, explaining herself, but she is silent. She's gone from happy and proud to hurt and devastated in a single moment!!! That's a lot of strong emotional whiplash, that results in her going quiet! Yes I am projecting thank you for asking.

Constant analysis + Planning things carefully + Distress when plans are disrupted. It's Taco. She's always planning! She has a plan for when Knife discovers them right away! But when she doesn't have a back-up plan, and something goes wrong? You get incidents like the season 1 finale's aftermath and her shooting Fan & Test Tube in episode 14! Impulsive outbursts of violence and/or anger because it's genuinely difficult for her to deal with plans going awry, and she lashes out!! Strategically, it would have been better for her to keep acting after the s1 finale, yeah? But she's too distressed by her plan being thwarted and not having a back up plan to help her to keep up her act, and she snaps!! She didn't promise Mic she wouldn't be violent, but what she said did imply that she wouldn't use violence! And by episode 14, Taco genuinely really likes Mic, she wasn't dancing around agreeing because she was wanting to be violent against her wishes, yeah? She was trying to reassure Mic, even if she didn't actually understand why Mic was upset!!

Takes criticism/judgement very personally. After Mic cuts things off, mentioning Pickle and that she'd gained nothing by working with Taco is when we finally see Taco snap and start spiraling, expressing that she finds herself to be monstrous and defective!! Now, that's not to say that Taco didn't feel this way before, but that Mic openly judging her to be such a way really opened the flood gates for that self-loathing to overwhelm Taco as we see it does in the show, to the point in which she's uncaring of the inevitability of her own death due to her injury!!!!

Difficulty understanding/expressing her own emotions. Taco adamantly refuses to taco 'bout her own feelings, even if it's to her own detriment and the detriment of her relationships. She keeps accidentally getting attached to people, and didn't even realize until it was too late with Pickle!!! She pushes her own emotions down so hard that she herself doesn't even recognize them!! In the end, having someone like Mepad who has learned to understand their own emotions is what really helps her understand her own, and what helps us see a lot of progression from her after they meet!! She wants to apologize and reconnect with Pickle and Mic, despite her having not done so before because she had trouble understanding her own feelings on the matter!! She writes letters to Pickle, yes, but from what little we know about them and the apology she gave Pickle in the finale, it's her trying to logically explain and/or justify her actions, rather than any understanding/expressing of her own feelings. And this gets into my next point!!!

Difficulty understanding others emotions/Low empathy. I think Taco is a great depiction of a low empathy person!!!!!!!!! At least according to myself!!!! She canonically has trouble understanding other people's perspectives!!!!!!!!! It never crossed her mind that Pickle would be upset about her betrayal!! She didn't think Mic would be so upset at her over her shooting Fan and Testy in episode 14, despite having noticed that Mic was uneasy before!! She knew relatively explicitly from Mic's diary that she wanted recognition, and keep going with the assumption that that's what mattered most to Mic! She hadn't known that Mic's priorities had changed and that her moral compass was more important to her than accomplishing her goal, because that's not how it is for Taco!! She has trouble seeing things from others' points of view, even those important to her!!! She's not intentionally hurting them, it just genuinely doesn't occur to her that what she's doing will upset them!!!! It can also be seen in how Taco initially acts towards Mic as well before she starts putting effort into their relationship rather than just their partnership. She's pretty critical towards Mic for listening to her heart/emotions when making a decision, like when giving back the taser! She responds with anger to Mic's emotional distress when being given the taser in the first place, yeah? And this lack of empathy leads to problems in her relationships!!!!! Aaaaaaah, sorry, I love her as low empathy rep so much. She feels remorse once she realizes she's hurt people she cares about!! She just doesn't think about how her actions will affect them, yeah?

I'm going to cut it here since I typed a lot but maybe I'll come back to this if I have more thoughts. I once again apologize if this is bad because I think I just word vomited for over an hour. Thank you for sending in this ask though!!! I like thinking about autistic Taco.

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Boys Prelims - Propaganda Division - Round 2

Propaganda:

Amuro -

"Being a Newtype is just space autism to me. But also he sucks at falling in line in a structured environment, would rather work with machines than talk to people, and is only allowed as a child soldier because he's the bestest at big robots."

Kyouya -

"what's there to say? you know him. you love him. vote kyoya."

Euini -

"I relate a lot to his social anxiety, especially his performance anxiety that occurs when he's being watched by people, particularly due to his stress at needing to follow the plan/do things the "proper" way in order to not feel like he's a failure. he also stands like a lil autistic kid and i appreciate him so much for that.

(LIGHT SPOILERS) basically, he has a test that he needs to take in order to advance as a witch, and he keeps failing it because he cant perform properly while being watched by other people, even though he knows the "right" spells to use and why he's supposed to use them. on his third attempt of the test, he's prepared a "script" to use so that he can follow it and not worry about failing in the moment (in this case, his script is a hand-written book of the proper spells to use and the order in which he's supposed to use them), but when a part of the exam changes, he's no longer able to follow his script. because he's been taught all his life that there's only one proper way of doing things, his way of thinking is very rigid and he's not able to deviate from his plan without panicking. luckily, one of his fellow examinees (richeh from the autistic anime girls poll 💕) is able to convince him to try and change the way that he does things to something that is more attuned to his personal needs- basically change the way that he casts his spells and which spells to use so that he doesn't need to struggle with doing things in the way that everyone says that he should; the way that he cant seem to manage. but, even before richeh helped him with that though, he was still finding way to modify the "proper" spells a little bit to better suit his weaknesses. he was trying so hard to fit in to the mold that witch society gave him, but it just wasnt right for him and he was making it work however he could."

Aoi -

"He has a very devoted special interest in the idol Takada-chan, which he frequently imagines in fights and other situations… the moment someone (Itadori) expresses equal interest in something he is passionate about, he immediately declares them besties and brothers and creates a whole elaborate shared history for them that doesn’t actually exist. He’s not really interested in connecting with people who don’t share his interests. He’s seen as somewhat strange and eccentric. Though in the present he is respected because of his strength as a sorcerer, as a child he was very isolated."

Floyd -

"Has no emotional regulation skills and will make it everyone's problem. Prone to mood swings and can get angry at the drop of a hat, but can also be so goofy, silly, and lovely. Sways side to side for that good good stim, and loves to squeeze others (with violent intent and affectionate intent). Who doesn't love a good pressure stim? His interest in things can be fleeting, and his motivation to do things can change as quickly as his mood. Spontaneous and feral extraordinaire."

Apollo -

"Not canonically autistic but he has ZERO volume control plus he scripts/repeats stuff (“I’M FINE!!!”), sometimes mimics other people’s speech patterns (like replying “ja” to Klavier), sensitive to loud noises (stayed backstage at a concert cuz it was too loud) and bright lights (complained about the stage lights being too bright at the same concert + screamed when opening the hatch to the bright stage at magic show), and has been really into space since he was a kid, which could definitely be a hyperfixation (not to mention how he read every single one of Phoenix’s old case files back when he admired him). Plus he’s a little TOO normal, to the point where it circles back around to making him the odd one out, which is absolutely what masking feels like for me. Even when he tries to be fun and weird he gets strange looks/made fun of for not being weird in the right way. The list of autism symptoms is just a checklist for him at this point."

Ash -

"he just has those vibes ya know?"

Shou -

"His special interest is math. He uses math terms in regular conversations and calls people yoctograms/zeptograms which earned him monikers such as "math man" and "pi-face". Speaking of Pi, he once shouted 155 consecutive digits of it through a megaphone just because he could. He's so normal."

Sunny -

"Sunny has been told that his face is not expressive. He doesn't talk a lot and he often gets lost into his imagination. He is a great listener and recalls a lot of information being told he has a great memory (he is able to remember a whole speech about flower symbolism that his friend told him) He is compared to a cat."

Yuu -

"He’s like if an emo programmer boy was also completely unhinged and also had a tragic backstory."

[beemoon17]

I’m a little late to the game but I’m finally reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because I bought my copy of Sunrise on the Reaping. For a long time I read posts and watched videos on different social media platforms saying that you needed to read the book if you had only watched the movie because it showed the truth of Snow’s horrible and evil thought patterns, it showed how much of a psychopath he truly was.

However, now that I’ve read it I don’t find this to be the case. Snow does many evil things throughout his life, I would say he is a bad person. But I don’t think him incapable of love, I don’t think his thoughts and ways of thinking are as insane and innately evil as people suggest. I didn’t see him as any worse of a person than I did before after reading his thoughts. He doesn’t think kindly of most people, but I think the majority of people think more meanly of others than they’d like to admit. He’s self serving in his motivations for most of the good things he does, but he still does good things and follows the social rules expected of him. He values himself over everyone else, but if more people were honest we’d know most so at the end of the day. And he certainly seems to me to genuinely care about and even love others, even if that care and love is sometimes distorted past the average person’s understanding due to his narcissistic personality.

Thinking about Snow personality, character traits, and experiences separate from his eventual evil actions later in the book and in the series actually brings up a point I’ve wanted to discuss with others for a while. Please keep in mind before I get into this, I 100% hate the man Snow becomes, I condemn his actions, there is no excuse for any of his choices or actions, that is not what I’m trying to talk about.

What I want to talk about is morality I suppose. Does it matter why someone does something good as long as they do the good thing? If someone with homicidal ideations doesn’t kill because they don’t want to go to prison, does it make it less good that they don’t kill? Are they morally compromised or wrong because they don’t kill for “selfish” reasons? In the context of Snow, is it any less good that he fed Lucy Gray after seeing Sejanus with his bag of sandwiches when he didn’t do it for the reason Sejanus did?

Let’s talk about love too. Who gets to define love? Just because love isn’t the way it’s portrayed in the mainstream, or shown to be felt my the majority, why does that mean it isn’t love? I think about this especially in terms of those who are neurodivergent or have personality disorders. Many people claim that depending on your diagnoses certain people either have a wrong or incorrect way of loving, or simply do not feel love, although some with those disorders deny that, saying they can feel love even if it isn’t how people say it should be or isn’t as strong or is more selective. Who is to say that a certain sort of love is wrong, or that something someone feels is love within themself isn’t love but something else instead?

Let me know your thoughts on this, your experiences, your opinions. I’d especially love to hear from people who are also neurodivergent like me, or who have personality disorders, or simply feel they think or feel differently than most. But it’d also be interesting to hear from people who feel they experience thought and feeling relatively normally, to see how it compares.

I also want to be clear that I don’t think it’s wrong if someone actually doesn’t care about people or actually doesn’t feel love. I’m just exploring the idea of love not having to be or look like or feel like what neurotypical people think it does. I also am autistic myself, so this may cloud my perceptions of Snow’s way of thinking I guess.

[lovepersevering13]

Now could you elaborate on Michael's autism

Alright it’s Michael’s turn!

I want to preface this part the same as before: I’m not a psychiatrist, this isn’t how autism is experienced by everyone and let me know if anything is incorrect :) oh also I’m a little bit more educated on how Autism is shown in girls so this one is a bit of a mess.

Ok so for Michael I kinda had to think for a bit about some like concrete evidence because I didn’t have anything annotated for him like Tori but I think I’ve come up with a pretty compelling argument (also I thought I’d let you know that as I was doing this I started to realise Michael may have ADHD but I don’t really go into that too much).

Firstly:

Alice Oseman herself supports this headcanon so…. Anhahahahajaja omg I can’t explain how happy this makes me! Anyway, let’s get into what I found in Solitaire!

1. Masking

- “Do you get angry a lot?” I say.

“I’m always angry,” he says.” Solitaire, Page 213

Ok we know Michael generally is a very upbeat, positive person on the outside but as we get to know him we learn he’s only barely happier than Tori. When I think about this covering up of his anger with overly positive emotions it is clear to that he is masking (Suppressing Autistic traits). Pessimism is a common m trait of Autism and the way I see it, Michael is overcompensating for this by acting super happy all the time to cover it up.

2. Deficit in social understanding

- “Do you remember when he tried to get everyone to do a flash mob for the Year 11 prank?” says Nick. “And in the end he just did it by himself on the lunch tables?” Nick Nelson, Solitaire, Page 39.

This quote when Nick and Charlie are talking about Michael shows and extreme lack of care about social consequences.

- “Michael Holden has swooped into the restaurant.” Solitaire, page 46

Ok so this quote and the entire scene on pages 46/47 where Michael shows up unannounced because he wants to ask Tori something displays extreme impulsivity and impulsivity is a common Autistic trait. He also didn’t care about the lack of social etiquette displayed by crashing a hangout he wasn’t invited to.

- “Michael is helping himself to our leftover starters” Solitaire, Page 48

Again, lack of social awareness because you aren’t really supposed to crash someone else’s dinner and just start eating their food.

- “He races inside and, without bothering to let me leave or shut the door, he lifts the toilet seat and starts to pee.” Solitaire, (I forgot the page)

LACK OF SOCIAL ETTIQUITE. DUDE.

- “He’s the strangest person I’ve ever met.” Solitaire, Page 62

- “I know Nick and I said he’s weird - and he is weird -“ Charlie Spring, Solitaire, Page 177

- “He looks sort of out of place everywhere.” Solitaire, (I lost the page)

People with Autism are often described as being “strange,” “weird,” or “peculiar,” because they are different from their peers which can make them stand out and struggle to fit in.

- “I, er, didn’t get on too well with the people there. Not the teachers, not the students…” Michael Holden, Solitaire, Page 148

Because of the fact that people with Autism struggle with social understanding it can be very difficult to make friends and get along with other people.

- “I’ve never been good enough,” he says. “I get so stressed out, I don’t make friends - God, I can’t make friends.” His eyes glaze over. “Sometimes I just wish I were a normal human being. But I can’t. I’m not. No matter how hard I try.” Michael Holden, Solitiare, Page 376

Yeah, this quote hurts my heart. So many people with Autism feel as though they don’t fit in and that they aren’t normal. When you don’t have a diagnosis it can be especially difficult because you don’t know why. You know there’s something different about you, you know other people are doing and feeling things you aren’t and you know you’re doing and feeling things other people aren’t, but you don’t know why. It can be super isolating.

3. Challenging Authority Figures

- “…having that argument with Mr Yates during his mock exams!” Either Nick or Charlie, Solitaire, Page 40

- “I swore at Kent.” Michael Holden, Solitaire, Page 269

It’s very common for people with Autism to challenge authority figures. Generally this is because they often naturally assume equanimity and don’t understand why some people should get more respect then others if they aren’t seemingly deserving of it. This stems from having a heightened sense of justice and empathy.

4. Autism and Sexualtiy

- “I guess you could say I’m not too fussy about gender.” Michael Holden, Solitaire, (I forgot the page)

We know Michael’s canonically Pan and as we’ve previously discussed (read Tori’s part for more info) Autism and the LGBTQ+ community are heavily intertwined. I tried to look into Autism’s correlation to Pansexuality but couldn’t find anything specific.

I also wanted to add in a little fact about how Neurodivergent people tend to gravitate towards eachother and queer people tend to do the same so Michael and Tori makes a lot of sense.

5. Special Interests/HyperFixations

Ok so, Michael gets pretty into Solitiare. Right from the start he’s obsessed. Taking photos of the posts, insisting they go to the meet up. I’d probably say it’s a hyperfixation.

And DISNEY. Holy heck Michael loves Disney… and if you haven’t caught on already, yeah imma say it’s a special interest.

- “He gasps and grabs a third DVD, leaps across the room to the flat-screen and switches it on. “We’re watching beauty and the beast,” he says.” Michael Holden, Solitaire, Page 115

I mean look at how excited he gets over ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

6. School

- “Seriously. I haven’t gotten above a C grade in any subject since Year 8.”

“It seems almost impossible for someone like Michael to be unintelligent. People like Michael - people who get stuff done - they’re always smart. Always.” Solitaire, Page 188

- “When it comes to exams… I generally don’t write what they want me to write. I’m not very good at, well, sorting out all the stuff in my head.“

“I just don’t know what the examiners want to hear. I don’t know whether I just forget things, or maybe I don’t know how I’m supposed to explain it. I just don’t know.” Michael Holden, Solitaire, Page 118

- “Because I hate school!” This is quite loud. He starts to shake his head.” Michael Holden, Solitaire, (I forgot the page)

A lot of people with Autism struggle with school and like Tori points out, it’s not because they’re not smart, Michael is smart. It’s just that the education system isn’t fitted to benefit Neurodivergent children. So many things affect Autism in schools. The dreadful sensory environment, lack of control over what they can and can’t do and the difficult social pressures.

7. Emotional dysregulation

- “He clenches his fist and he snarls. He actually snarls at me.

“Maybe you are a manically depressed psychopath.” Michael Holden, Solitaire, Page 163

Emotional Dysregulation is the inability to control the intensity and expression of emotions. This is common in people with Autism and can result in overly intense emotions and lashing out. I think this is something that heavily impacts both Tori and Michael and results in a lot of their arguments. The aforementioned quote is just one example of how quickly and dramatically their arguments blow up due to this.

- “His face contorts into a kind of scrunched-up snarl, his fists curl, his skin drains of colour, and he storms past the man and tramps over to the benches. He reaches a row of lockers and looks into them, blankly, chest visibly expanding and contracting. With an almost terrifying malice, he throws a crazed punch at the lockers, wailing a subdued howl of rage. Turning, he hurls a kick at a pile of racing helmets, scattering them about the floor. He clutches his hair, as if trying to pull it out.” Solitaire, Page 211

Oh there is just so much to cover here. So this is a prime example of an Autistic meltdown. Autistic meltdowns can be caused by overwhelming emotions (In this situation that is Michael loosing his race) and result in an outburst which can include crying, screaming (“howl of rage”), aggression (punching the lockers and kicking the helmets) and self injurious behaviours (Pulling his hair). It’s probably worth mentioning that a few of the outbursts he has towards teachers that I mentioned earlier are probably also meltdowns.

8. Stimming

- “Michael starts whistling.” Solitaire, page 198

Whistling is a form of stimming, this particular quote is from when they are in Truham looking for Charlie, considering Michael’s disdain for Truham I can imagine it was a slightly stressful environment to be back in which would validly result in a need for stimming. I actually couldn’t find any other examples of stimming except possibly the hair pulling that was mentioned in the last quote.

9. Pattern Recognition

So pattern recognition is the autistic brains increased ability to recognise patterns and in Solitaire Michael is the first person to put together the fact that all of Solitaire’s pranks were related to Tori. I really can’t be bothered to find the quote where they talk about those

10. Safe foods

I think that Tea is probably a safe food for Michael because he is often mentioned to have a mug of Tea in his hands. (But I’m not British so maybe this is like normal? How much tea do British people actually drink?)

1. Miscellaneous Quotes

- Since when did you acquire a body temperature” Solitaire, page 112

I know it’s probably supposed to be related to figure skating but struggling with temperature regulation is very common amongst people with Autism.

- “Most of the time at school I can’t even decide what pen to use.” Michael Holden, Solitaire, page 149

Indecisiveness is very common amoungst people with Autism

Alright that’s a wrap on Michael Holden. I’m thinking of doing a conjoined part for Charlie and Oliver if anyone would be interested in reading that :)

Some of the resources I used:

https://livingautism.com/decision-making-problems-adults-asd/

Thermal Perceptual Thresholds are typical in Autism Spectrum Disorder but ...

https://sparkforautism.org/discover_article/managing-emotions/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7430467/

https://neuroclastic.com/autism-and-responding-to-authority/?amp

[listlessnessss]

do my fellow autohomoerotics experience anything similar?

alloandrophilic life cycle:

1.alloandrophilia predictably hits, target is typically a cis man, sometimes a deeply repressed proto-trans woman (it’s easier when it’s parasocial but unfortunately it’s IRL sometimes—sometimes like a lesbian, i choose an unavailable one). the feeling is good, typically, and i have auto-androphilia for him, too. the kind of man i’m attracted to is usually one i’d want to emulate. also the fantasies are super predictably auto-homoerotic as fuck (the idea is i’d also be a guy)

2.I learn that i’m objectively inferior to him because i am (and sometimes it’s because he’s normie in addition to male) i used to approach, but have given that up in recent years after repeated rejections. i get angry, internally, but don’t let it go anywhere. violent thoughts towards myself and others, inc. target. he would also never accommodate my delusions, my sexuality is estrogenic so i think about the future and realize that obviously anyone who is attracted to me is attracted to women and not to autohomoerotic ftms. my blackpills tell me that even well adjusted bi men wouldn’t.(this is due to my horrible personality, so it’s specific to me) i absolutely cannot approach my latest target, it would be inviable due to other unrelated incompatibilities but i won’t get too into that—doesn’t stop the cycle from proceeding.

3.i have thoughts of suicide every day. i rarely can cry, but then i do. (i’m not on testosterone or anything i’m just repressing) for how long these thoughts last depends on how far it got with my delusions. i’m really good at making the cycle go by quickly—classic comphet, i guess i have this in common w the type 1’s. but when i actually have gotten the opportunity to be one of his orbiters, it lasts longer—i’m usually so inferior to his other orbiters. i feel guilty for implicating him.

4.i retreat into a ground state of asexuality, hyper-romantic fanfic-tropey bihet female sexuality. this is my equilibriated comfort zone. of course, i still repress and carry in me intense cross-sex desires. i realize that i am too highly feminine in my thinking- i catch feelings, i’m emotional as fuck, i’m fembrained as all hell, not built for what i perceive from across the cultural and physiological aisle as the casual, animalistic, cult of physical beauty which everything about my socialization and my nerdy femcel predilections has told me i would never in a million years fit into (and on this point i’m right). I have a horrible body and personality, so i find myself falling back on the tropes of cis womanhood when realistically thinking of enticing targets, where almost zero for (gay ftms? they/them perhaps?) exist. I start recovering from my fixation on my alloandrophilic target, and make a return to woman with a private daydream.

written just now in a moment of self-awareness i think… like genuinely what the fuck is wrong.

is this just suicidal or am i a lesbian all along. do others… like me… experience something similar… is this what it feels like to supposed to have been a man yet have a sex drive dominated by estrogen or is this a secret 3rd worse thing? or AUTISM probably? this should be included in a write-up on autistic girls and how we think. i’m throwing things at the wall in the hopes something sticks wrt my guesses here.

is is just me?

[scielson]

Hello hello, I hope it’s ok if I share my thoughts on Luke with you. If not you can just ignore this lol

Since KCD2 released I started very sporadically watching his streams because I hoped for some behind the scenes talk, maybe some funny moments or bloopers etc. I‘m also generally very interested in the art of Mocap.

Anyway, from the very beginning I felt like his energy/aura and the „bubblyness“ of him were very fake or seemed fake. I instantly had a weird gut feeling about him. Every time the „I‘m a complete fucking narcissist“ clip pops up, I cringe and in general get an uneasy feeling when he calls himself narcissistic. If it’s true that he is, well good for him but I feel like he uses it more like „omg I’m so ocd/bipolar/autistic/etc“ to seem relatable or smth.

The second thing, I feel the lord/peasant act is overused af and I personally feel incredibly uncomfortable being called a peasant every five minutes (also a reason why I hardly watch the streams, if ever). It’s one thing to slip into character from time to time, like Neil Newbon does it, when he does his Astarion Live Signings or when peeps ask him to quote something and stuff, but he still very much keeps a good amount of distance to the characters he has played and has said multiple times that he is not Astarion, Heisenberg or anyone else but Neil.

I thankfully (?) have never interacted with Luke so I can’t say anything about that. I also don’t follow him on any social media so idk about the OnlyFans thing. I just wanted to share what „vibe“ I’m getting from him and it’s unfortunate to say it’s not positive.

I hope Tom doesn’t turn out to be like him as well.

Sorry for dumping this into your inbox 🥲 and also sorry for any mistakes and errors, English isn’t my first language

oh, shoot, just saw this. hope you don’t mind me replying just now. i totally get what you mean. i don’t like that he calls himself a narcissist either. i know he probably doesn’t mean it seriously and just says it so people can relate, but meh. actual narcissists are really not fun to be around. i have a diagnosed narcissist in my life, and the trauma they caused my sister and me… so yeah, i know he means it in a funny way, but it still threw me off a bit, ngl.

i can’t really watch his streams either. i tried, but the whole ‘peasant’ thing and the way he plays the game annoys me. i know it’s all an act to be like hans, and people eat it up, but bro, it’s getting a bit out of hand. overall, i feel the same way about him as you do – he’s just too much for me, and i don’t vibe with his energy and humor. which is fine, i’m not supposed to.

i genuinely think tom mckay is super chill. he doesn’t really care about fame or being active on social media. i honestly think he’s trying to live a very lowkey life. he also said that family is the most important thing in his life, which is something he has in common with henry. but yeah, who knows what he’s really like tho.

[burningvelvet]

okay more thoughts on pride and prejudice as i begin chapter 39

1 i want to see lady catherine, mrs. bennet, and miss bingley in the same room together on a podcast panel debating things like marriage and childrearing etc but i dont think the world would be able to handle it

2 i’m interpreting mr. darcy as either being neurodivergent (possibly autistic) and/or having severe social anxiety — and this is really informing my entire perspective of his character (as a core theme to his character is being socially understood/misunderstood). however, i know its still very controversial to “diagnose” fictional characters and i don’t want to come off that way — but historical complications aside (the field of psychology didn’t exist back then how it does now) it’s really obvious to see that he’s not neurotypical, although i don’t know if this is an accepted thing in the austen world though!

3 i’m not buying that mr. darcy’s letter was only 2 pages long. 3 pages minimum with tiny handwriting maybe.

4 this entire novel really highlights the importance of social communication more than anything imo

5 mr. collins is fucking hilarious and his interactions with elizabeth are so accurate/relatable of what it’s like to deal with oblivious men as a female, esp. men who dont know how to take a hint — i was actually laughing out loud through his entire proposal sequence, especially at the line where it says elizabeth is trying hard not to laugh too. so familiar.

6 i wish we could see more of charles i actually like him — i also like colonel fitzwilliam and kind of wanted him to marry elizabeth - its kind of hilarious how casual the topic of marriage is with people you’ve just met & i really want to read more about regency history on marriage specifically now to figure out how much is embellished for satire purposes & how much is true to life

7 i have many thoughts on wickham but thats for a separate post

8 from what little i’ve read about p&p analysis/consensus so far, it seems mrs bennet and some other characters have already been torn to shreds over lit history to the point that its become more common to defend them & mrs bennet in particular, which i understand bc she’s supposed to be a satire on women of the time period but of course her concerns are valid and there are real economic reasons for her actions and societal norms that pertain to them. i’ve also read that it’s common for people to prefer mr bennet over his wife and to pit them against each other which can lead into misogyny & i can see this. however (im sure the bennet family ends up happy at the end, but at this point in the story) i think there are valid reasons for these interpretations which lead people to like mr bennet more than mrs bennet. after the ordeal with collins i really lost respect for mrs bennet for threatening to disown eliza & treating her so harshly, and i gained respect for mr bennet for sticking by eliza. i continuously defended mrs bennet and her behavior up until the collins proposal. i understand she’s desperate for eliza to marry so that she doesn’t become destitute etc. but mr collins simply isnt an ideal husband

9 eliza’s feelings on her friend marrying collins are so sad and relatable of how all of us feel when we watch a friend or loved one enter a shitty relationship and/or betray themselves or lose a part of their personality + the idea of having to mourn your friend especially upon growing up etc. but particularly as it relates to the lonely woman’s experience of finding one’s friends starting to center males & prioritize romance over friendship the older you get.

hope some of this is semi-intelligible - i save the grammar for my real essays - but felt like rambling

i think in my last post i was spelling “bennet” as “bennett” so i apologize for that lol - pls dont kill me janeites, i’m new here!!!

[artpoint420]

Alright, so if you’re a fan of the Animaniacs here on Tumblr, you probably understand that all three of the Warner’s are most likely neurodivergent, and Dr. Scratchansniff trying to “cure” them of their “zanyness” is an example of abelism (as well as the rest of the humans who want to lock them up.)

BUT WHAT IF I TOLD YOU

I think Dr. Scratchansniff himself may be autistic, and here’s why:

First of all, he is a psychiatrist who has been with the Warner’s for sometime and doesn’t seem to realize the Warner’s are neurodivergent (most likely ADHD and autism in all three of them.)

He gets overwhelmed by the Warners when they throw off his plans and his schedule.

Those on the autism spectrum tend to prefer following a set schedule and doing this according to a plan. When this plan is interrupted we get upset. For Scratchy this may be when the Warners are being to hyperactive and hyperimaginative for them to even want to answer his questions. I get that the joke is supposed to be that he’s a psychiatrist driven insane by the Warners but for me the best way to describe feeling overstimulated is “being driven insane by everything around me”

He also tends to get overstimulated, particularly in “I’M MAD!” when the Warners are bickering in the car while he’s trying to drive. Of course most people struggle to drive with tons of background noise. This just sticks out to me, even though it isn’t the first time.

Also, special interests. Scratchy definitely has special interests that he seems to get lost in. Psychiatry is a special interest of his, obviously. Once he starts having appointments with the Warners everyday, we get to see that the Warners are consistently on his mind (just like how they are always on my mind because special interest yes). Part of this may be because he gradually took on a more parental role towards them, but this could also be because he began to develop a special interest in caring for them. Perhaps his own neurodivergence is the reason he was able to eventually sympathize and care for the Warners.

If you read the Animanicas comics, there is an issue, were we see Scratchy reading a comic in his spare time. This is particularly interesting because not only are those on the spectrum more prone to develop and interest in comics, but when he begins to talk about comics to the Warner’s he knows the entire history of comics down to a tee. He begins to infodump onto the Warners and doesn’t realize when they are annoyed or bored because for some reason they find the history of comics boring. Scratch that, HE BECOMES SO ABSORBED IN IT, HE DOESN’T REALIZE WHEN THE WARNERS LEAVE.

Wrestling is probably a special interest of his too, as well as psychology of course.

Also, like I mentioned earlier, he obvious struggles with anxiety, a mental disorder those on the autism spectrum are more likely to develop due to social and communciation issues and the after effects of overstimulation. This can be observed in his body language and how he reacts to Plotz as well, causing him to become a pushover to his boss.

He also age regresses when he is overly stressed out and even has a comfort object (something that I’ve personally observed in others on the autism spectrum and have experienced myself to a certain degree, I’m still not sure if it’s always autism related though)

In the reboot it’s revealed he waited 20 years just to prank the Warners. The prank seems to have become a special interest and they should have done more with Reboot Scratchy.

Going back and watching episodes with Scratchy with this in mind, his behaviors and general attitude towards the Warners makes a TON of sense. He’s annoyed by them but ultimately wants to get along with them.

To me it makes Dad! Scatchansniff even more wholesome. It’ll never happen but one day I’d love to see an episode where he just accepts the Warners for who they are and perhaps, in the process, accepting himself a little more.

[dilutedapplejuice]

Tw: descriptions of (fictional) abuse, neglect, and complex trauma

I’m rewatching soul eater (finally) and I’m at crona, the traumatized non-binary icon!!! And WOW are they autistic. So I’m making a list about it!

All my examples will be transcriptions (from episode 8) bc Hulu won’t let me screenshot it lol

*spoilers for Crona’s entire character arc*

1) Responding to abuse using very obvious logic

*Ragnarok starts hitting Crona and pulling on their skin*

Crona: That hurts me. It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! Stop moving around like that you’re squeezing me! Don’t poke me! Ow! Stop already. Don’t push my nose! You’re bruising me. Stop it now! I’ve had enough already!

Ragnarok: Now, now, calm down Crona. You’re so scary when you’re stressed out like this.

Ragnarok: If you don’t get it in gear we’re going back to the sleep deprivation again.

Crona: No! Don’t start waking me up every hour again! I don’t like it. The dark circles under my eyes will come back and I don’t know how to deal with the dark circles!

Ragnarok: If you let him hit you with that technique again, I’m gonna stick thumb tacks in your shoes. Got it?

Crona: No! Thumbtacks in my shoes would stick into my feet whenever I tried to walk. It would hurt. I don’t think I could deal with that, really.

*Crona gets hit so hard that cartoony stars and planets start circling their head*

Crona: There are stars and planets floating around me. I don’t think I can handle astronomy right now.

This is a bit hard to explain. Crona is describing things that are somewhat obvious to intuit (of course walking in shoes with thumb tacks on the bottom would hurt). Maybe this is a coping mechanism, to help them feel more grounded and in control. Maybe doing this repetitively is soothing, or compulsive (notice how it’s all the same format? “I don’t know how to deal with this!”).

Maybe they are trying to get Ragnarok to see their perspective so that they stop hurting them. But in that case, it seems somewhat clear that these pleads are not working. It’s almost certain that Crona has been doing this type of appeal consistently, even before they are seen in episode 7. Yet we see at least 3 incidents within 30 minutes of the show where Ragnarok not only chooses to bully Crona, but ignores anything they say (or paints them as overreacting). A different person might use their social cognition skills to intuit that Ragnarok will not listen to any kind of emotional appeal and make some other kind of attempt. Crona doesn’t seem to understand this however. They just keep hitting the same wall.

So not only does Crona not have a natural way of understanding social subtext, but they never had the chance to develop it because they were isolated and abused since childhood! It’s a double whammy.

2) Having specific rules with interacting with other things

Medusa: Crona, why are you taking it so easy? Do something.

Crona: It’s not like the ones before. Those were boys. She’s a girl. I’m no good with girls. What am I supposed to do with her?

Medusa: *laughs* How silly… Kill her of course.

Ragnarok: Wouls you hurry up and attack already you idiot?!

*Crona begins attacking*

Crona: But I’ve never seen a man with a screw sticking out of his head before! I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with a guy like that.

Ragnarok: You eat him! Swallow his soul!

They are struggling with knowing how to interact with new things- a girl, a man with a screw in his head. Considering how extreme their isolation was, it’s likely that they are nervous and uncertain in the way an abled person might feel around a visibly disabled person, or a white person might feel around someone who is BIPOC. They don’t know what’s appropriate. But with how they’ve been encouraged to kill everyone they interact with, I would say this ain’t a typical response. Many people in their situation would follow the pattern and think “I’ve been told to kill x, x, and x. There’s another person who’s not my master or weapon. I should kill them too.” That’s not too much of a stretch, I’d say.

But the fact that they have a specific rule set to follow and struggle to apply it to new things strikes me as uniquely autistic thought process.

3) Struggling to understand other perspectives

*Maka hits Crona because they run up and attack*

Crona: You’re going to start poking at me also?

Maka: You should know that the hunting of human souls is strictly forbidden!

Crona: She [Medusa] said that it was okay to eat the human souls. I don’t see what’s wrong with it if she said that it was okay.

They just… kind of assume other people already fit into the context of their own world. Crona thinks that they are following the rules perfectly and is confused when other people challenge those rules. If Maka defends herself and hits Crona, she is the strange one because wasn’t Crona doing exactly what Medusa wanted? Why is Maka poking at them too? And why is Maka saying that Medusa is wrong? Medusa said it was okay, so it must be okay!

This is all clearly because Crona was brainwashed. Medusa seems like the only source of truth in Crona’s world because that was how they were raised. That’s literally the only thing they know. They just haven’t grown those skills of empathy to understand how other people might think. This just seems like such a specifically autistic way to be traumatized because of their adherence to the given rules/authority.

4) The way they talk

They just have that autistic accent. Idk if they’ve hit puberty yet, but they sound like a little kid. Slightly whiny, breathy. And that’s trademark autistic.

5) Eye contact

They are almost never looking at people’s faces. This could be trauma, this could be autism. Likely both.

6) Gender

This is kind of a “duh” point, but autistic people are more likely to be trans or gnc, either because they don’t understand intangible concepts or social concepts, struggle to present in a way that conforms with their AGAB, or don’t feel as obligated to follow arbitrary rules just to fit in. Regardless of if Crona is canonically a “boy” or not, they clearly don’t conform- our first intro to then was when they were mistaken for a girl and verbally assaulted. It’s likely a mix of their pink androgynous hair, childish voice, and clothes that makes them seem like this. They also don’t seem too bothered by different pronouns, if they even notice a difference at all.

7) Daydreaming

In the end, we learn that Crona constantly escapes into their own mind where they are on a tiny desert/beach planet, where they are happy and have an imaginary friend (if I remember correctly- I haven’t made it to this part in the show yet). This is also a very autistic trauma response. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some kind of dissociative disorder like DID or OSDD and their friend just never fronted. And the specific fantasy of having someone who understands and loves you, in a small, controlled environment where you can do repetitive things for however long you want to…. It’s autism baby.

And… that’s a wrap! Thanks for reading!

And yes. This is a silly Tumblr post by an autistic person who doesn’t have any major trauma. I have no hope of understanding the complexities of childhood abuse and brainwashing. There’s no way for me to actually discern whether a fictional character is suffering from being programmed as a living weapon, or if they’re autistic (I mean, many things listed could be a result of Crona completely losing their free thinking ability and being dependent of their master to do all the thinking. Of course, and that’s exactly how Medusa intended it. Trauma does imitate autism in some manners. I just like to make lists). I just like to think that Crona’s psychology is a result of both.

Anyway. Drink some water!

[luuvmarii]

theyre gonna put jack in the autism steamroller next red dead they really are gonna do that rockstar told me....

Thats… gore.. thats gore of my comfort character💔

Does Jack Marston have autism? This is one of the first times I’ve actually been unsure about it. Usually it is so easy for me to be like “yeah, these are the signs” but with Jack I’m just not too sure. Of course he has a pretty straightforward hyperfixation— reading— but otherwise I find his mannerisms rooted only from his introverted nature and lack of social interaction with those his age (at basically every point of his life).

His self confidence is quite low despite him being smart, though I believe maybe another thing that could allude to him being autistic is the idea of him not fitting in with John and Abigail. We can see he’s a bit uptight around them and doesn’t seem to open up much, which Abigail even calls him out on by calling him pathetic, and he replies that he “doesn’t know what he’s doing wrong”. Jack is constantly putting in his best effort even when he doesn’t want to (ex: reading outside opposed to indoors during the day so he seems more “available” to talk to), and seeing as most of his efforts go unnoticed, there are many times he’s shown to just not like any interaction with his parents. He gets along much better with Charles and Uncle, which I think is due to both of their laid-back attitudes. They still care about him of course, but they’re much more lighthearted and Jack is seen to enjoy talking to them because he isn’t judged for anything and actually listened to.

Jack’s inferiority essentially summarizes into “why can’t i be more like my dad?” because all he wants to do is feel like a “real man” and participate the same activities John does (hunting, fishing, ect.), but is blissfully unaware that John mainly suggests these things because it’s all he knows. The only thing we see Jack passionate about is reading, and if asked, he’ll go on rambles about what’s happening— his tone is more engaged, despite it usually being shut down a couple moments later. He also doesn’t seem to understand social cues sometimes or maybe he just doesn’t care for them, though most of the time he apologizes for sounding rude or not providing the “correct” reaction.

(ex: “show me and you’ll just… run off again. it’s better i teach myself.” “don’t be like that.” “sorry.”)

(ex: “you don’t seem too excited about this.” “what am i supposed to say, pa? yippee?”)

I personally think he may have ADHD but Autism is also completely plausible. I hadn’t considered it or put much thought yet, though I definitely will get back to this soon and update my stance ;3

[irafuwas]

Malleus or Rook for the ask meme, your pick! :>

For this character ask meme!

I’ll do Mallepon for this one!

one aspect about them i love

Honestly, I love that he’s so silly 😭 He’s this big, scary guy - one of the most powerful mages in the world, and yet he loves his Tamagotchi, and he pouts when he’s upset, and he’s so cute and happy when he infodumps about dragons and gargoyles, and he’ll gladly eat ice cream three meals a day. I just love my son so much 😭

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

Ahh, prior to Ch 5 dropping, I’d seen a few posts going around twitter and whatnot that wondered if Mal maybe doesn’t like Silver all that much (like, that maybe he was really jealous of Silver because of how Lilia treats them differently, and he doesn’t like him that much in general). And while I do agree there’s likely a very deeply underlying sense of jealousy in his heart, I never doubted that Malleus loves Silver fiercely. I was very glad that that became much clearer with Ch 5, and I’m seeing a lot more people now realizing just how much Mal loves Silver. So the one aspect I wished more people would understand about him has kind of been resolved now lol.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

Autistic king (literally).

2. Judging by how he talks to Gao Gao and how he talked to the gargoyle in GloMas, I like to think he normally just talks to inanimate objects and animals like they’re people. I’m also a firm believer in the HC that he would just talk to baby Silver as though he were a whole adult, and he’d have one-sided convos with him while he played chess with the baby and read really advanced books to him fkjdfhg

3. He doesn’t like having his tail out in his two-legged form at NRC ‘cause he found it scares humans too much. But he leaves it out when he’s in BV since the people there are used to seeing it. He probably mostly wears robes and flowy garments back home since it’d be easier to walk around in with his tail out.

one character i love seeing them interact with

I adore all his interactions with the first years! He’s so cute with them and you can tell he does enjoy talking to them, it’s just that people are usually so afraid of him he doesn’t often get the chance to do so. He was so cute with Epeppy in GloMas, with Ace in his bloom bday vignette, and with Deuce on various occasions. My very favorite is whenever he interacts with Ortho! They’re super cute together in Mal’s Scary Dress vignette, and they mention each other in Ortho’s Union B-day vignette and in Mal’s Bloom broom b-day voice lines. (In the former, Ortho picks Mal to bring to a deserted island so that mal can protect him from lightning, and in the latter mal says ortho gave him some goggles that can “transport him to other worlds” but he wonders if little shroud tricked him ‘cause he doesn’t see anything when he puts them on (so ortho bought him like vr glasses but mal probably didn’t turn them on 😭😭)).

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

I’m the number one supporter of Malletouille (platonic malleus draconia x remy ratatouille)!! I know they would be friends, I just know it!!

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

I imagine when Silver was teeny tiny, he obviously wouldn’t have understood the concept of social stratification, so he probably just looked to Malleus as his older brother or an uncle type of figure. And Mal loved that, because there are so few people in his life who just love him for him and who don’t treat him differently due to his great power and his position as crown prince. And so it hurt him deeply when Silver got older and started distancing himself from Mal once Silver realized that he was supposed to be subservient to Mal. But Mal never talks about it though, he just keeps his sadness to himself.