#Not a smart move on Stam's part...

[kimmiessimmies]

Winter 08: Dateless - Pt. 2 (26/64)

He then got up and walked up to me. "I'm sorry," I said, "I feel like I may know you, but I'm not quite sure..." I got goosebumps all over, but not the good kind, when he said, "I'm Stam! We have a date tomorrow, but I saw you go in here and thought, maybe we can start our date a little earlier!"

I told him that made me feel uncomfortable and that I was actually here with someone else right now... He got very offensive when I said that, accusing me of playing the field. I thought that was unfair because I told all guys up front that I had several messages and wanted to meet everyone to give everyone a fair chance.

At this point, Nathanial got annoyed, too... And asked Stam what his deal was. I was so scared they were going to fight or something, I had to turn my back for a while. I honestly panicked a little...

Nathanial created by@flotheory, Stam created by @sircesimblr

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Just Fine and Dandelions

(Part 2/3)

(Previous part)

There is a reasonable explanation as to why witches are territorial.

It is not the main reason, perhaps, but it still is a reason:

People notice when the items needed for spells start going missing. Yes, many of them also have everyday uses, so it’s not a huge surprise when Marinette takes a basket of dandelions home with claims of having a hankering for a salad, nor is it all that interesting when she grabs a bundle of sage with talks of burning it to keep her house pure.

But some things are harder to hide. Precious gems are hard to come by. People guard those with their lives. Marinette got by by chipping tiny pieces off of the townsfolk’s findings, or by scooping up the tiny shavings they left behind when sanding down and polishing them. She would say that she had a love of jewelry, but then she would have to explain why she never wore any out, and why the gems she bought were drained of color within a week.

This was no longer an option. Now, two witches were scrambling for the village’s scraps. Now, more was going missing. Especially since, in their desperation to make sure that they never went without, they started taking more and more materials.

Which is how they got into this predicament in the first place.

The town noticed that there was a witch amongst them. Being scared of something did not necessarily mean that you did not understand it, sometimes it meant that you knew too much. So, when they started noticing that their thief was targeting specific items… well, they put two and two together far sooner than either witch would like.

Marinette stood with everyone else in the town center, her cloak drawn around herself, eyes flicking nervously from person to person. Admittedly, this behavior was not uncommon, everyone else was looking around with such intense focus, as if they were scared to so much as blink, or else a witch might get them... it was simply that she had a different motivation.

One wrong move, and she would be bound in chains and tossed into the nearest lake.

Duke Thomas stepped into view.

Her fingernails cut deep crescents into the skin of her palms.

From the way he gritted his teeth and averted his gaze immediately, he wasn’t faring much better. A twisted sense of glee poked at her at the thought.

It was short-lived.

Because the townsfolk’s plan was to implement a sort of ‘buddy system’ to figure out who among them was secretly a witch. It was smart, based on their limited knowledge of how witches worked – the witch would rot if they did not steal, and if they did then their ‘buddy’ would be able to report their absence. Unfortunately for them, more powerful witches absolutely could mess with the memories of humans, and even the less powerful witches like Marinette and Duke could often scare them into staying quiet. Their plan would not have done anything at all.

If she had gotten paired with anyone else.

“Why him of all people?!” she hissed.

They kept themselves calm by staying as far away from each other as was physically possible. His house was on the exact opposite side of town. It was irritating, but in the way a gnat flying around was. An annoying little thing that you only really notice when it's right in front of your face. But if he was staying in the same house as her? They were going to kill each other. They already almost had, that first day.

Plenty of witnesses had watched them walk into that backroom together, and a sudden disappearance would raise more suspicion than they would want to risk. So, they’d held back, but only just.

"Because you two hate each other," they explained, as if it were obvious. "You won't be inclined to cover for each other."

"He's just going to lie and say I'm a witch to get me killed!"

"He won't do that," the woman said.

Far too confidently, in her opinion. If she were to turn around and see the look Duke was shooting her over his shoulder, she would be just as concerned as Marinette was.

“But – but –,” she stammered, trying to come up with something, anything that would convince them. “All the theft started when he came into town, right? What if it’s him? I don’t – I don’t want to live with a witch!”

“We don’t know that for sure,” the human tried to soothe. “It might just be trying to frame him, you know, in order to alleviate suspicion.”

Why hadn’t she thought of that?

Marinette opened her mouth, about to press further, only to immediately snap it closed, only just in time to stifle a scream.

Duke slung an arm around her shoulders. She swore it burned.

“It’s just until the witch is caught, Marinette,” he said. He was smiling, it wasn’t reaching his eyes in the slightest. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re perfectly safe.”

“How sweet,” she gritted out.

He led her away, towards her house. She knew that it was because her own house was in the middle of the town center, and they would need to be close by to even have a chance at stealing when the townsfolk were so on guard, but all she could think about was her Item. A pair of black earrings, sitting on her bedside table so innocently, as if they weren’t in danger at this very moment, as if Duke touching them wouldn’t immediately force her to bend a knee to him.

He couldn’t stay with her.

“Why didn’t you argue?” she hissed. “If we both said no they might have found someone else.”

He rolled his eyes. “We need to work together to frame someone, otherwise our chosen victims may conflict with each other.”

“That’s a temporary solution at best and you know it. They’ll realize they have the wrong person eventually. They’re going to figure us out one day.”

“A temporary solution is better than none at all! Besides, if we’re together, we can cover for each other.”

“Maybe I want you to get caught.”

“Tough luck, because if I get caught then so do you.”

She didn’t have a retort for that. He must have known this, because he felt smug enough to squeeze her with the arm around her shoulders.

She hooked her foot around his ankle and tugged. He fell, and so did she by extension, but she couldn’t help but feel pleased despite the scrapes on her forearms and knees, because he hadn’t been able to react in time, either.

She smirked in the face of his bloody nose. “You should be covered in blood more often. The look suits you.”

He slowly removed his hand from where he had been trying to stem the blood flow so he could glare at her.

And then he shoved his blood-covered hand towards her.

She shrieked.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Marinette watched as Duke set yet another box of papers down. He had yet to find a ‘proper’ job, instead choosing to make a living telling stories. He wove together stories in the town square, telling an enthralled crowd about grand adventures and heroes and kingdoms that had long since fallen. Tales of gods and their hubris, of men outsmarting demons, of people banding together to defeat a monster in their midst.

The stories must have been plenty entertaining, because he wasn’t in want for cash.

She had never gone to see any of this for herself, of course. Not simply out of spite, but because she had always assumed that the tales he spun were either things he had experienced himself or stories he had been told during his travels. Witches can live for quite a long while, after all, they had plenty of time to gather a myriad of fun stories.

But, as she looked at the boxes upon boxes of papers, she supposed that she had been incorrect. Perhaps he really was coming up with the stories that the kids in town loved so much that they would happily make runs to the market for their families just in hopes that they might pass him on the way there.

She’d heard that he was teaching the kids to read and write, too.

She tried to fit that ideal with the person who had drained the color – the life – from her skin, that had made it so her shoulder was an ashy gray to this day. To the person that she had watched cough up flowers and roots and dirt and...

Marinette sunk back into her pillows. “You’re doing it so they’ll hesitate to kill you, aren’t you? So they think you’re safe?”

Duke jolted in surprise, almost dropping a box on his foot.

And then he smiled.

“Of course.”

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

It was the third day of lockdown, and their reserves were already running low.

Witches don’t need sleep. They don’t even need to breathe or eat or force their hearts to beat in their chests at all.

So it was… painful. Staying awake, horribly aware of the gnawing at the back of their minds. Like an itch that they just couldn’t scratch, but worse, because they were starving.

They were rotting.

Marinette ran careful fingers through her hair. Normally, she would use a brush, but that was too risky now – she might just end up pulling all her hair out, as fragile as it was at the moment. Even when she was simply combing her fingers through it, a worrying amount of strands fluttered to the floor.

Across the room, Duke didn’t seem to be doing much better. He glowered at his hands, as if it would make his fingers stop lengthening and fix the many oddly-placed joints.

Marinette was sure that, by this time tomorrow, their faces would start to split with wrinkles. Given another day after that their other eyes would start to poke through the folds in their skin.

She knelt to start sweeping up the mess she had made of the floor.

“We have to make a supply run tonight.”

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Marinette and Duke stood outside a shop filled to the brim with crystals, hoods pulled low over their heads, their faces practically pressed against the window. Even just being near magical items, even through a layer of glass, was enough to send relief flooding through their veins like a drug.

“How are we going to get i –?” Duke started to ask.

Marinette didn’t even let him finish. She smashed her hand through the glass, blood smearing its way over her arm. She didn’t have to pretend to care, not when her only company was Duke. She grabbed ahold of a crystal and her eyes lit up – quite literally, dancing with a dim glow – when she finally got her most recent dose of magic.

The glass started to melt away, the red eating away at the material like acid, allowing her to lean through and scoop handful after handful after handful into her bag.

Some of the haze over her mind finally dispersed. She hadn’t even really noticed it was there, not until the fog holding her brain hostage finally let go of its hold.

It was only then that she realized Duke was staring at her, his mouth agape.

“What?” she asked.

“I… I thought we were going to hide it a little more.”

Her eyes gleamed coldly. She tossed a crystal to him. The moment it touched the tips of his fingers, he gave a tiny sigh of relief. The grass at his feet blackened and burned.

“It’s better if they know that someone has managed to break in despite their new system. Let’s make them paranoid.”

He looked at her for a few moments more.

“Didn’t you say that you think that they’re going to catch onto us eventually?”

“Oh, sure, of course. But until then? I want to watch them tear each other apart.”

He tipped his head back in a laugh.

And then he held a hand out for her to shake, his lips curled into a wicked grin.

“Let’s make those humans miserable for daring to try and go after us.”

She clasped his hand in her own, and found that it wasn’t quite as uncomfortable to touch him anymore.

“Let’s.”

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Whispers and suspicion hung in the air the next day.

People stood close to their ‘buddy’s, sure that they were the only person that could be trusted in this horrible place, since they had been with them at the time of the break-in.

No one was safe. Even people you had known your entire lives could have become a witch. All it took was a deal, after all, and they would be stripped of all of their humanity, left to be naught but a shell – a powerful shell.

Hadn’t the scholar mentioned that he was struggling with a particular question? Had the baker changed her recipe? Wasn’t the blacksmith running low on funds?

No one was a guarantee.

No one… except for your buddy.

Right?

Marinette and Duke’s fingers remained tightly woven together as they made their way through the crowd. It was necessary for their act, that they looked just as scared as everyone else in the town. It was getting easier, too, to be around each other, the longer they kept in contact. It still didn’t feel good, quite the opposite, actually, but they were getting used to it.

The slightly pained, cautious expressions on their faces only helped them, though. Even in a situation as stressful as this one, people don’t forget their hatred for each other overnight. It only falls by the wayside.

Their cover was perfect. It was far too easy for Duke to slip something into the pocket of the town scholar’s pocket when they brushed past to get closer to the stage.

It was only discovered when the guard patted him down.

The amethyst shard had been drained of all color, to the point where it could have been mistaken for a piece of the very glass that had drawn all of their attention, if it were not for the slightly foggy sheen that could only be found in a used crystal.

His buddy started backing away immediately, their eyes wide and terrified. “How did you – ?! I didn’t even notice you leave last night!”

“Because I didn’t!”

“Clearly you did!”

The scholar’s eyes widened. “Holy –! Did you plant that on me?! Is it you?!”

“Don’t try and pin this on me!”

Two bodies sunk to the bottom of the lake that night, with nothing to show for their lives other than a couple of air bubbles that popped the moment they reached the surface.

If anyone noticed Duke and Marinette squeeze each other’s hands tighter, almost to the point where they could draw blood, then they would interpret it as fear.

(Next part)

[gia-l-mar-blog]

Exploring childhood trauma and its effect on adulthood.

Currently, I am required to take an English 115 course where I thought I’d just be doing basic English learning things such as grammar, writing essays about whatnot, and taking a bunch of quizzes. I already assumed the negative and prepared myself for a long boring semester of English class. However, during some point in the semester, the topic turned to a book called “We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves” by Karen Joy Fowler, where the book follows the chaotic but intriguing life of UC Davis college student named Rosemary, who grew up with a chimp as a sibling, has a runaway brother that is wanted, and two semi deranged parents. To follow up with the book, my English 115 class also watched a documentary titled Project Nim, which is quite similar to the book but documents a different experience that is under the same criteria and theme. Scientists wanted to create and discover verbal communication between chimps and humans, so when Nim the chimp was just a baby, he was given to a human family to see if he can be conformed to society and communicate verbally. Overall, the experiment did not go well and caused many issues within the family and most prominently to Nim. The book and documentary opened a discussion about many issues such as trauma, memory, communication, and childhood. This part of the class became really intriguing to me, and although I had and still have a really hard time keeping up with English 115, the topics discussed are of great interest to me and I loved discussing it. I decided to narrow down my topic and do further research into childhood trauma affecting one’s adulthood, which was a recurring theme in both the book and documentary and that I actually found relevant to myself as well. I’ve come to the conclusion through my research and in-class activities that one’s childhood is a great influence in the way a person develops in present time and in their future, and if not raised correctly and/or unfortunate events have occurred in one’s life, then certain behaviors and psychological disorders are developed as a result of those events or experiences, and can negatively impact the development of the brain. For the rest of my mini-essay/blog, I want to explore the research I did and elaborate more on the documentary and book to further prove my conclusion of the impact of childhood trauma on adulthood.

Throughout the book, it is quite evident that Rosemary has many issues that stemmed from her childhood, with the chimp being the greatest factor of them all. The most saddening moment in Rosemary’s life was when her “sister” Fern, also known as the chimpanzee, randomly “disappeared” one day. It is quite obvious that being raised with a chimp is a whole different experience than being raised with a human sibling. With that being said, because Rosemary considered Fern as a sibling, she developed different perspectives, expectations, and social interactions as a result of conforming to Fern and her ways of interacting. As a result, this caused Rosemary to be an awkward child, and even an awkward adult in her social interactions. She felt as if she had no friends and had a hard time communicating with others. However, Rosemary did, in fact, make one friend. In the opening introduction of the book, Rosemary witnesses a chaotic argument between a woman and who it seemed to be her boyfriend. Out of impulse, Rosemary becomes dramatic as well and joins in. They both disrupted the peace of the environment and both got arrested. While under custody, the woman introduces herself as Harlow Fielding, who is also a UC Davis student studying drama (how ironic). Rosemary stated specifically that she was intrigued by Harlow and decided to interact with her because she exhibited the same characteristics of a chimpanzee (A.K.A Fern); being impulsive and reckless. With the information about some scenes and about the characters I have provided, it is evident that there is a deeper psychological meaning to the actions taken and the effects of certain outcomes as well, and how it plays into how someone may act or perceive the world due to the way they were raised or through past experiences.

Through my research, I found that people who have experienced childhood maltreatment or trauma may reflect those same experiences through their behavior or how they react to people and situations. It was also found that they may be drawn to people who exhibit the same characteristics as the people who they interacted with during their trauma and childhood experiences (Mulder, Tim, Kimberly C Kuiper, Claudia E Van Der Put, Geert-Jan J.M Stams, and Mark Assink, 2018). For example, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, Rosemary found herself intrigued by Harlow due to the fact that she showed many similarities to Fern, who is someone that was dear to Rosemary and was suddenly taken away from her. Although Fern may have a special place in Rosemary’s heart, it does not mean that Fern was a positive influence in Rosemary’s life. Fern was reckless, impulsive, sometimes violent, and caused problems, and because of this it became normal to Rosemary; therefore, it became a behavior that Rosemary exhibited and behavior that Rosemary was attracted to, hence the curiosity she had with Harlow. Harlow was not exactly a good influence on Rosemary and trapped Rosemary into many different issues. Wrapping and connecting all of this information up, it is evident that someone who was greatly influenced by someone in their life, positive or negative, and experienced some sort of trauma or great event in their life, will be drawn to the same negative behavior and experiences that ultimately will affect their behavior, way of life, and social interactions.

Moving on to Project Nim, I just want to say it was an extremely saddening documentary. What those people put the poor chimp through just for a psychology experiment was hard to watch, that ultimately left Nim with what it seemed like an identity crisis, trauma, violence, and non-conformed behavior that was uncontrollable, which was all due to the fact that he was given to a human family to be raised in. The first caretaker he was given to was an American family whose task was to raise Nim as a human child to conform him to society. Nim learned some English Sign Language (ESL), but he still acted like a chimp and would act out in violence where he would destroy their house or hurt the family members. This eventually became too much for the family to handle and for the next several years Nim was passed down to different caretakers because he was simply too much to handle for humans. Eventually, Nim was moved to a notorious research facility that kept chimps in small cages with other chimps. Nim had an extremely hard time socializing with other chimps as he was raised by humans and was constantly picked on by the other chimps. It was evident through Nim’s behavior and facial expressions that he was full of fear and sadness, almost as if he was in a depressive state.

'Keeping Chimpanzees In Cages Is Torture', Bob Ingersoll. 

Fortunately, Nim was moved to a ranch for abused animals where he was able to spend the last of his years in harmony and peace. The life of Nim was one that was especially important because his saddening experience as a science experiment and documentary brought awareness to the fact that one, chimps and animals are not for our amusement to use as our experiments, and two, chimps should not be confined in cages in research facilities that causes many mental issues and trauma to the chimps, who have scientifically been proven countless of times that they are just as smart and aware as humans, and their brains are no different than ours.

Going into the research I did about trauma, since the brains of chimpanzees are extremely similar to that of a human, we can draw the same conclusions to get an estimate as to how they develop certain behaviors throughout their life, and a lot of the conclusions drawn is just simple cause and effect as well. As mentioned previously, the chimp’s trauma began when they took him from his mother and in the arms of complete strangers. You may think it was extremely hard for the family to raise Nim as he’s just an animal, but imagine being disciplined for who you are and the nature of your being, which would ultimately create an identity crisis for Nim. Studies have shown that children who are in abusive households tend to exhibit the same behavior while interacting with other people and especially in schools, where reinforcement is needed by special staff and more caretaking (Shen, April Chiung-Tao, 2009). This information can be compared to Nim’s experience where he was put into a cage with other chimps of his own kind for the very first time. Because Nim was raised by a human, his behavior was more similar to the way they raised him rather than how an actual chimp would act. As a result, the other chimps would bully him and Nim became lonely, this caused him to go into a deep depressive state. Nim also had violent behaviors with most humans and would not want to interact with them at all. With research, I found that this behavior is a result of childhood betrayment that causes negative behavior towards people who have similar characteristics to the person that originally caused their trauma (Hocking, Elise C, Raluca M Simons, and Renata J Surette, 2016). With this research, it can be concluded that Nim felt betrayed by his original family and by humans in general while he was being passed down to different caretakers and put into a research facility, that caused him to be violent or negative with humans in general.

Concluding all of the research I have done, and the in-class assignments of reading the book and watching the documentary, it is quite evident that childhood trauma and certain experiences through one’s life can negatively affect the way that someone may see the world, how the world perceives them, and their overall behavior and social interactions. The book and documentary is a good way to see the trauma and its outcomes come into play, and how it affects one's life. It creates more personal experience as you can see the struggles of Rosemary and Nim and how they adapt to their later life with what they know from their experiences and how they conformed to society. The research was an add on and helped further prove and conclude my statement, creating a deeper understanding of the book and documentary, and even for one’s self. I hope that this mini-essay/blog helped you better understand yourself, a loved one, or someone you may know if they act in a particularly negative way. If you notice someone or something is off in their behavior and social interactions, remember to be the bigger person and maybe ask if they’re okay, they may be going through something. To further wrap up my text, if you may think that you are going through something similar do not hesitate to reach out for professional help, to do research, or talk to someone you can trust. Everything has a fix, it just takes time.

[cdc1345711]

The Weirdos Facts

So I wanted to add more character development to my OCs the Weirdos so here are some facts you should know-might do a part 2 maybe though

STAM

1.Works at a fast food restaurant called ‘Food Barn’

2.Has a masters in Math

3.He and Cy are Roommates at their college

4.Is the only son in a family of 3 girls

5.Lost his Mother and is not always open with his father

6.Does have feelings for Mai-Li though wishes she could ease it down a little

7.Favorite Horror Franchise is ‘Nightmare On Elm Street’

MAI-LI

1.Alien Nudist

2.Has 1 little sister and 2 brothers

3.Turns blood crazy if any villain hurts her friends-especially Stam her ‘mate’

4.Works as a 1st grade teacher teaching them her people’s culture

5.Actually owns a big green sweater but hardly uses it unless it’s extremely cold

6.Loves Cuddling with Stam causing her to give a kinda purring noise

7.Has very soft tiny white fur

CY

1.Is still a college student

2.He and Stam are Roommate at their college

3.Lost his Mother and Father in car crash and lives with his Uncle Tex and Aunt June-a walrus-and his dozen of half Cyclops half Walrus cousins

4.Has a country accent 

5.Has a huge crush on Mona the Mothgirl

6.Only one in his family to go to college

7.A very nice and naive guy

MONA THE MOTHGIRL

1.Has a Protective older Hornet Brother named Harold and an Ant older brother named Anton

2.Has been friends with Cy since kindergarten

3.Is not really a fighter but will stand up for herself

4.Studying to be come a doctor to help people

5.Only joined the Weirdos to protect Cy(who she loves so much haha)

6.Does go awestruck when she sees a bright light(like most Moths)

7.Actually was so smart she graduated High School as a Junior

SALAMI-HEAD

1.Is actually half meat(Ham Mother) and half pickle(Pickle Dad)

2.Has a brother in the CIA named Pickle-Face

3.Has no job and does get bored when he goes on day patrols due to everyone either in college or work

4.Is Canadian(Mom’s side) American(Dad’s side)

5.Served during Desert Storm and some during the war on Terror before retiring

6.Is now dating Samantha

7.Is kinda the De-Facto leader of The Weirdos

NED THE HAND TURKEY

1.Is a Hand Drawn Turkey Person

2.Has a War Vet brother who served alongside Salami-Head but ended up disabled and messed up because of it

3.Works as a mascot for a kid’s pizza place

4.Has a black cat witch girlfriend/fiance

5.Has a Cactus roommate named Carlos

6.Doesn’t remember why he wears galoshes and a sombrero 

7.Both parents are fried Turkeys that he and his brother stuffed and put in a glass-who telekinetically give them advice

SAMANTHA

1.Has a son named Colby

2.Father is a Husky and Mother is a Calico Cat and an adopted humanoid brother named Chip

3.Divorced from her rich rat jerk of an ex-husband

4.An old friend of Salami-Head,even dated before they left over a mutual breakup

5.Started dating again after they met again after 15 years

6.Gotten gun training before joining her boyfriend’s team

7.Was the one to make the first move when she and Salami-Head started dated,as in she kissed him first

COLBY

1.Samantha’s son

2.Is 7 years old but WAY smarter

3.Knew Samantha and Salami-Head still had feelings for one another 

4.Hates his biological father

5.Once called Salami-Head ‘Dad’ making it the ‘proudest God damn moment’ in Sal’s life

6.Made a ‘Junior Weirdos’ team with his friends at school

7.Looks up to his Mother and Salami-Head who he thinks are super cool