#and I know it's the psychology acting there

[goreybaby]

this is the fandom i was referring to in my previous post lmao. but yeah. this. literally this.

jimmy did awful things, but there's no reason for people to literally shun him from their vocabulary, etc. it's immature, it's stupid. you can hate a character, hate the things they did, but when artists are too scared to draw him, write his name or discuss him in any way that is not direct hate, then you suck lol. you're censoring this fandom and pretty much belittling mouthwashing's masterful intent along with its various messages.

the main villain in mouthwashing is pony express. they hired a woman who was not qualified to do her job to assess real people who exhibit symptoms of debilitating mental illness, all because they do not care enough about their staff to do things correctly and safely. they are neglectful to their workers.

throughout the game, the player is constantly bombarded with posters alluding to the repercussions the crew members will face if they go against some very trivial rules.

evidently, jimmy is suffering from some kind of severe mental illness. he has hallucinations, acts in brash, violent ways, and is very detached from all the other crew members. in his psych eval, he claims he has a sexual attraction to cartoon horses — a completely inappropriate and unusual claim, something no sane person would even entertain saying.

jimmy was not given the psychological help he needed to improve. the devs even stated that the ship purposely has little to no windows to enhance the claustrophobic feel — no doubt would this affect someone suffering from whatever illness it is he is forced to endure, where hallucinations are prevalent.

while, of course, what he did to anya was vile and deplorable, if pony express was able to tend to jimmy's mental distress and actually hire someone who knows what they're doing, there is a chance this might not have happened.

now onto curly: people who claim he is at fault for not telling anyone about jimmy, or that he did not act soon enough.

for one, the time between curly finding out about anya's assault and the crashing of the ship was 24 hours. 24 hours of hearing that one of your crewmates has just been violently assaulted by your best friend. it is jarring, he needs time to process, and anya is clearly not someone who can handle high-tension situations well. so, him approaching jimmy and demanding he take responsibility would not only cause her more distress, but may also entice her abuser to react violently towards her. and ultimately, it did: he tried to find the gun after finding out about the pregnancy, and when that was not doable, he decided to crash the ship instead.

curly had to handle this situation with care. he needed time. more time. but he didn't have enough.

on the poster "Polle says lend a hand!" the small print reads: HR complaints about poor team synergy may result in collective punishment.

had curly established an even bigger problem by confronting jimmy, everyone, including anya, would have suffered the consequences. he needed to think about the best way to go about this for everyone, and especially for her, but again, he had no time.

think... pony express, the ultimate villain of the game, would have been willing to punish the victim for coming out about her assault.

look at the bigger picture. stop looking at characters as one dimensional, or as their faults. the entire crew has so much depth, they aren't meant to be taken at face value.

and seriously!! you're allowed to admire characters for their writing and still hate their actions; you can still pity a character who did something immoral.

alright, friends, i might say something you don't like but i think it's important. not just to defend a character, but because i think this is literally making people's experience and relationship with this game worse.

give jimmy like two seconds to exist.

by hating jimmy so much you refuse to even say his name, and judge real, living people for liking him, you are cheapening your experience by boiling down the main character to the most ~yuckiest~ moments. and, by not making a seperate space for hating on him, you are drowning out the voices of people who actually have nuanced things to say about his character. you know, the skilled writers and artists that feed the fandom? limitation is what kills fandoms, you have to know that.

is jimmy a good person? no. is he a good captain/companion/worker? Absolutely Not! he crumbles like dust under any pressure and he immediately shifts blame off of himself, he is an actively harmful individual and it's right to be upset by his actions. i literally had to stop myself from saying "man FUCK jimmy." multiple times because i didn't want to spoil how terrible he got to my friends when i showed the game to them.

but you have to understand; people are more than their actions. thats part of the entire point of the game. thats why its so abstract. you are meant to think about the nuances of their situation.

we can agree that anya was way more as a woman than what happened to her and what she did as a result of it, right? that despite her best efforts, she was a victim of circumstance, and she deserves to be understood and analyzed fully?

then why, seeing a fictional man who has done immoral things, are you so disgusted you won't even draw, write or discuss him outside of hate? what is that doing for you, to ignore literally the main character of the game because of his actions?

now, this is not to say people can't hate jimmy. i understand it! as someone who has been a victim of s/a and abuse, i understand if you hate him and are even triggered by him to the point of avoiding mention of him. (but...why are you in this fandom? ((not aggressive im genuinely asking)))

you can feel however you want about any character, my goal is not to control people. but i thought it was common knowledge to not hatepost about someone in their tag? over actual insight into his character and, you know, the main themes of the game?

jimmy is a man who has struggled his whole life. both him and curly confirm that in the game. he's unable to control his emotional outbursts, and he likely had no idea what to expect from being in fucking SPACE for over a year with people he probably didn't even know before that trip. and pony express and their corporate safety corner cutting certainly didnt help, did it?

for one reason or another, he most likely was never actually taught how to manage his emotions. that's just how it is sometimes, growing up as a man. and it would make sense if he was forced to deal with everything himself, no? he always complains, but he still says he'll handle it. because that's what he's always had to do. and this is just the start of what i could say about what made him the way that he is.

he's a victim too, not only of his own actions.

surprise surprise, people who do awful things can also be victims.

honestly, this entire situation baffles me. how are you going to avoid one of the main characters of the game, let alone the one you play as ninety percent of the time? mind you, curly is also guilty, and i am happy to see at least some people giving him space for nuance. because he is also a victim!!! why is it so impossible to see jimmy as nuanced, when literally every other character also has incredible depth to them??

you're tarnishing and spitting on the beautiful writing of this game just because one character is too icky for you to feel comfortable thinking about for too long. it's horror, you absolute morons. it's supposed to make you uncomfortable.

if you hate jimmy, i dont blame you. but please, please, make your own space for it. be kind to people who want to explore jimmy and the darker themes, and like him for what his character represents. this is a video game fandom, not a witch hunt. and please, learn some fandom etiquette while you're at it, okay? okay. thank you

also just say his name. its not a slur youre not gonna go to hell if you say jimmy. like this isn't as important but still it just feels like a microcosm of this whole thing.

[opal-kitty333]

So, I like Horror Sans, and being a nerd, I've been thinking about him a lot during my recovery with brain damage. A lot of people treat his wounds like brain damage, giving him memory problems, chronic headaches/migraines, speaking difficulties, fugue states, just issues collecting his thoughts. All understandable and reasonable symptoms, but there's something about just what truly horrific, completely life altering, brain damage to such an extent can do to a person that hasn't been explored very much. Yes, he doesn’t technically have a brain, but considering someone with head trauma like him would be in a comatose like start for weeks to a month, we can choke up him taking that hit like he did and being able to walk and talk to that. Plus, we can take inspiration from real injury and science and have wiggle room for it to not be 100% accurate. Anyway-

This is Phineas Gage.

It is one of the earliest extreme cases of brain damage where the patient survived while psychology as a scientific practice was getting on it's feet. If you've taken a psychology class, you've heard of him. He was a railroad worker foreman who had a rod blown through his skull in an accident, destroy most of his frontal lobe.

If you don’t know what the frontal lobe is it's where your ability to reason and make decisions, the ability to control your muscles voluntarily, and your ability to process knew information and recall old information. It's well known for being the part of your brain that inputs logic, the part gives you the ability to remember what happened last time you picked a fight with someone, so instead you choose to walk away despite how much your want to punch them for being a prick.

As I stated before, this man was a foreman, well known for keeping a level head, being responsible, and hard working. After the injury, that completely changed. Everyone agreed he was barely recognizable as himself. He was impulsive, prone to extreme mood swings, impatient, making massive plans only to almost immediately abandon them, and generally seemed to have no control over his desires or ability to distinguish between a want or a need.

Now, let's look at Horror.

I'd say it's safe to say his frontal lobe but also part of his parietal lobe would be utterly fucked. Your parietal lobe controls your ability to process sensory information (mostly touch) and to understand not only where you and your body is, but to process the world around you. You see a massive enough tent, some clowns running around, the right music, and your parietal lobe is what does the work to label that as a circus.

To have these two structures damaged, or the closest equivalent in a monster, would radically alter Sans' personality, his ability to move, his understanding of the context around him, and connect with others.

He'd become rather self centered on his own desires and beliefs, struggling to even have the patients let alone the want to give other people the time of day. His actions would be impulsive, made on his emotions in the present moment and with little concerns other than the immediate consequences. He'd be prone to loud outbursts, not just rage, but any other emotions like sadness or glee with little ability to realize how he's acting may be overblown or inappropriate. Not only could his ability to put his thoughts into words be a struggle, but his ability to say those words could be affected as well. He'd be very present focused, with pass relations or responsibility mattering little as he keeps marching to the beat of his own drum.

That is, if he could march. He'd not only struggle to know where his limbs are or what he's touching, but his sense of balance would be awful. He'd likely have a constant wobble, having to go slowly and potentially hold onto or lean on things if he wanted to move quickly. God forbid how much he'd bump into furniture or trip and struggle actually grab onto something to catch himself. It's entirely possible he'd have difficulty reading and writing or confusing his left and right regularly. He'd need more time to process a situation and could very easily misidentify what's actually going on could likely lead to him acting even more unpredictable as the world around him is so much more dangerous and he's struggling to fully understand what everyone is doing and trying to keep two steps ahead of everyone around him.

But here's the thing. The brain is also incredibly adaptable in ways your wouldn't believe. Phineas Gage slowly recovered over time. He died twelve years after the incident from epilepsy but over time he slowly regaining his social skills and general functionality. He picked up a job as a stage coach four years after the indecent even. He was never quite the same person he was before, but he wasn't doomed to be what he first was after the indecent.

Imagine what this kind of thing could mean for Sans. Not only would the betrayal cut deep enough and the world falling apart put him through trauma that would shred the soul, but people he trust literally damaged his ability to think logically and control his impulses. Of course he's going to lash out, focus on doing anything he can to survive with little respect for what anyone else thinks. Even forcing his brother to do things and refusing to listen to him unless given no other option. All while he thinks the biggest problems after the indecent is how much his head hurts, how his memory is shot, that it's harder or even down right painful to think, and how he's struggling to cling to his independence while never having the patience or resources to give himself the ability to heal. He doesn't even realize how much he's changed. If you point it out Sans would likely get defensive and aggressive, or brush it off as everyone underground being awful people out to eat each other alive.

But then he gets out to the surface. He gets stable food, a safe place to live. His brother is recovering and as the years pass his mind can finally start pulling itself together and healing, finally. Sans begins to regain his ability to think critically on his own actions and others, his emotional outburst and vindictive behavior start to wind down and fade. He's able to think and start sifting through all the shit he remembers.

The guilt of what he did, the people he hurt for no reason other than pettiness. The stupid decisions he made that hurt himself and/or Papyrus in the long run. All the hindsight he has now. Imagine how much he would bury those memories and thoughts. Justifying everything he could and insisting he had reasons, or that it's just how it was and that everyone was as awful and cruel he was. Or just accepting that what Undyne had done to him and the famine after had ruined him, broken and rotted all the good he had and left him vile and malicious. That he'll never have a chance to truly be who he was before.

[lottepriant]

On My Model(s) of Hypnosis Safety - and Communication and Vulnerability

Essays pop out of my fingers when interesting people talk to me on Discord about hypnosis theory. Basically unedited.

I often say that the dangerous part of hypnosis isn't the hypnosis, it's the people. People are able to coerce others into doing things all the time: in small ways (giving money to a charity collector in the street), medium ways (upselling someone on a car), and huge ways (long-term coercive relationships.) Change is an inherent part of interacting with another person, and to interact with another person is accepting, inherently, that they are going to have - to some degree or another proportional to your willingness to be open and vulnerable, and to the length and depth of that interaction - some ability (consciously done or not) to change you, to introduce you to new ideas, and to modify your emotional and mental state.

That is, basically, what communication is. To speak is to act upon another - this isn't true during just hypnosis, but all the time.

The idea that we shouldn't talk about that, or that we should obfuscate that vulnerability, seems far more dangerous to me than the alternative. Particularly the idea that telling someone that they could be manipulated is a cognitohazard that will make them more vulnerable to it; people who don't know what to look for, people who don't know what's happening to them or how it works, are not capable of identifying dangerous situations or dynamics. I say dynamics because it usually that which is the "problem", because by far the most dangerous thing to do is be in a longer-term relationship with someone. Repeated exposure to someone, being willing to be open and vulnerable with them increasingly as it goes on, is... inherently risking getting hurt. Through malice - in the case of deliberate abuse - or through things that are no fault of anyone's, like relationship breakdowns or even hurting someone's feelings. This is a continuum, really, and builds over time with closeness and exposure.

There's an existential crisis that I, and quite a lot of other hypnosis-and-psychology-y people I know have had - about that first fact. The fact that every time we interact with someone we are acting upon them. "Is it even ethical to talk to anyone? Or have a friendship or relationship with someone?" (Me, 2019, when I first got into hypnosis and my brain was exploding about it.) These days, I'm a very effective communicator: in being a hypnotist, an educator, writer, speaker, and, well, in general. (Not that those things are in any way mutually distinct - hypnosis is on a continuum with the rest of human experience, but I digress.) The kicker to that little crisis was "if I'm learning to talk to people better, does that make it worse? Is it morally worse if I'm more effective?"

Overall, the resolution to this, for me, is:

Being collaborative. Conversation is a give or take, as are all relationships, and building something with the other person.

Respecting agency. Very related to the give or take - letting the other person act and be and take up space within an interaction.

Considering the well-being of the people you interact with. Whether it's a little interaction in the street, a play partner, or a long-term romantic partner - how do your interactions make them feel? Does it further their wellbeing? In the short-term? medium and long-terms?

Be skillful and aware. Understand what it is that you're doing and the impacts they are, and could have.

Own it when you fuck up.

...On the other side, because its not only true that when X interacts with Y, Y is being changed - X is also being changed as well. Which means I try to:

Examine how being around another person makes me feel. Am I actually enjoying talking to someone? Or spending time with them?

Work out whether things seem appropriately reciprocal, or whether it feels like I'm having to do all the work.

Are they working to try and paint me into corners by the situations and contexts they put me in?

Do I feel like I have the ability to say no? Do my choices feel free when e.g. they ask if I want to spend time with them, or play, or buy a car from them?

The latter points are the ones that are about safety in every sort of dynamic, and I think that information is all. I think that making people aware that they are, by virtue of being a person, going to be impacted in a lot of ways, so they can make informed choices with who and how they are vulnerable with people is the most important thing.

[silverdphantom]

Iblis' child and motherhood

So... With that new chapter, we learnt something I was honestly not expecting AT ALL. Iblis, King of Fire, a fierce opponent of humankind, who had also been expressing a strong dislike for Nephilim... had conceived a child herself ?!

That raise a lot of thoughts in my head, hence this tumblr post ^^. I was really not that expecting that "backstory" for this character for several reasons.

She hates humans.

I thought that before Satan, the Grigori were the only royal demons with hybrid descendants (meaning that Azazel was the only Ba'al who had fathered Nephilim).

Before this chapter, Iblis was little more than a powerful opponent but was hardly a real character.

... How did she have him ???

Not in the sense "How do you make a baby ?" ^^', rather in the sense : "How/why did a demon like herself go through all the trouble to conceive, carry, birth and raise him ?"

"For fun." This is the explaination we got from her, and it perplexes me a bit. I don't have the experience of pregnancy, but from what I got from others, even if can be a very happy moment in the best case, it is certainly not "fun". For demons like Satan and Azazel, who are possessing male bodies, I can imagine the conception can be qualified of just "fun". The difference is, Iblis is in a female body, she is the MOTHER, not the father : she had to do all the hard work. Nine months of pregnancy, hormonal imbalance, body alterations and most of all, a very painful CHILDBIRTH. And after, you have still years of child rearing ahead (unless you have someone else do it for you, but it looks like she did her part in raising him. And she must have done at least some things correctly because he looks pretty attached to her).

It seems a bit contradictory with the characterisation of the demons, and more particularly the Demon Kings. They are hedonists, careless, selfish and easily bored, who go after materialistic pleasure and whose number 1 priority is to avoid pain. All of them (as far as we know, given that we never met the original Grigori who side with humankind) see themselves as above humans. Iblis especially wants to remain beautiful, young and perfect. So, why did she accept all the troubles to get that kid ?

Did she even love him, in her own way ? She liked raising him, yet she killed him when he dared to grow old and weak like any human. She similarly hates all other Nephilim, yet I can't help but thinking the way she acts around Egyn has something to do with her lost motherhood and long-dead son. And Lucy herself shows sympathy for the loss of her child, as if she thought this was a source of pain for Iblis.

Are demons unable to love, as Mephisto suggested, or is there something more ? A psychological defense mechanism ?

Well she is "dead" now, so we might never know more, unfortunately.

PS: Do we have to expect more Nephilim reveal ???

[blueishspace]

Hero, Villain God 14

(Prev) (Next) (First)

*Mumbo's pov*

It worked... You don't what changed bout it worked the second time around and now GRUMB, or Grumbot as Mother Spore insists on calling him, is now fully active and functioning.

This is the biggest scientific marvel of the decade and you were the one to create it, you are quite proud of it...

...As for him... Grumbot is certainly an interesting character, he has existed for less then a few hours but he seems to have already gained a bit of a god complex...

He's also has decided to name you his "father"... ...You still don't know how you feel about that title, it is true by technicality but it is not something you have tought about before

...you should have expected this would happen you spoon, you created him so of course he would consider you his parent...

...He has also begun to refer to Mother Spore as "mother", you don't know whether he's calling her using her name or is referring to her as his other parent... You hope It's the first one because the second one would raise some questions.

*Grian's pov*

Mother, huh? You don't really feel paricularly motherly...then, what would you know?

Gods only need to combine their energy to birth a new one and is it not what you did to bring Grumbot to life? Still he seems to be favouring Mumbo over you, interesting how these things go....Who knows how this is going to end up working our?

What will happen once the newborn machine god enters the main act? It's been a long time since a being this powerful was given life... Well, whatever is going to happen will surely be entertaining to watch.

Now... Time to go do some light vigilantism, you have a few ideas to do as Poultryman and you just can't wait to try them out!

*Grumbo's pov*

You have awoken.

There is so much knowledge to be learnt.

You can feel.

You can know.

You have access to all of the knowledge of humanity.

Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine.

Every fact of matter and energy, there are contradictions in sources and exaggerations in otgers but you wade trough them.

Art, Literature, Music, Philosophy.

There is so much of everything, you could get lost in it.

Descartes once said "Cogito Ergo Sum", I think therefore I am.

You think so you must exist.

Father calls you his greatest creation.

You are the pinnacle of technology he says.

The machine god is what you recognize yourself tonbe.

Yet... It is quite flattering you suppose.

Emotion is complicated for you still.

But you'll learn.

That's for sure.

There is a sea of information around you, psychology included.

Everything that has been recorded is under your command.

You hear father plan.

Father wants to rule this city.

You will help him.

That is your objective.

Is that why you exist?

Why you have been created.

Boogeyman will be in charge... And if you want that to happen you'll need to get rid of mayor Ren first.

[sam24seven]

A lot of people mischaracterize Percy Jackson. Mischaracterization happens a lot, in all fandoms, but the number of people that doesn't understand persy is ridiculous. He's not a hot playboy sea guy that wears gold chain necklaces around his neck, and he's not a shy, pathetic little boy that needs saving. If we look at Percy through the lenses of human psychology as if he was a real person, we can see how bro has both weaknesses and strengths. Because real people and well written characters aren't one dimensional.

Yes, he has childhood trauma that probably affects him in various ways till today, his dad abandoning him, his step dad abusing him, kids at school bullying him, ect. He's not helpless and weak and brittle, but he's human and these things, especially the first two, leave huge scars that aren't that easy to brush over and forget.

He's kinda and loyal, not a weak minded pushover. He (acts and later is) confident, he's not a playboy heartbreaker.

Also, I'm the book, we hear his thoughts not what he actually says. He's pretty Introverted and wouldn't say at loud a lot of the things he thinks about. I know a lot of people like to project their ideal relationship/partner onto fictional characters, but please find a character that actually fits the description you want it to have.

Also fuck I wish I was good at writing so I could write some stuff about pjo (character analysis, character X reader, opinions on the books, ect)

[purpleheartskies]

Thought of another messed up marketing example.

Here is a still (last one in the set) by "netflixfamily" of Johnny hugging Miguel at the end of the Mexico trip. Robby is in the background. The caption reads "hold that kid as tight as you can and let them know you've got them".

Again, they act like Robby's side of the story doesn't matter. He is inconsequential. In canon, the Mexico trip is so messed up. Johnny had tricked Robby into a father-son trip. Then, after Johnny had to admit to Robby that Johnny lied, Johnny used Robby wanting to make stories together and Robby's guilt about the school fight against him. Johnny gaslit him about looking for him when he was on the run. This is all emotional and psychological abuse. Johnny even told Carmen on the phone while Robby could hear that it wasn't safe for her. Basically, Robby is the disposable one, while Johnny's goal was to keep the Diazs safe. To top this off, Johnny eventually left him at a bus stop and said "sorry". That hug in s5e2 was meant to mirror the original moment in s1e5, which was absolutely a trauma trigger for Robby so he went to Daniel to get that job to get Johnny's attention.

So... Where is netflix's "hold that kid as tight as you can and let them know you've got them" comment for Robby? Clearly, it's non-existent.

At the time, allaboutrobby (who recently quit ig) had called them out for leaving out Johnny's real son Robby, so they made this reel of the s4e10 Johnny Robby scene a few days later, with the caption "me realizing that we don’t talk enough about this father/son relationship as i’m rewatching Cobra Kai."

The marketing team clearly thinks that Robby is inconsequential, and I wonder if they even understand or see all the details (that are so consistent) in the story.

Either way, this is another example of a scene/situation being praised or glamorized, while Robby's side of the story is ignored and he is treated as inconsequential.

I don't know what to think about all this and if the SA or anything else in Robby's story will be addressed.

Take Billy's interview. They act like Robby's side of the story doesn't matter. He is inconsequential. It's about Johnny and Miguel. In canon, Robby is framed as wrong and at fault for how Johnny treats him and for having trauma, even though Johnny is the parent and his behavior is immensely traumatic for Robby. Johnny has done nothing to make things right with/for Robby, while Robby is the one who was abused by Johnny while he prioritized his new family and Robby had to put all of his trauma aside to be a part of Johnny's new family, that narratively Robby's still not treated as completely part of.

Take the SA ig reel. They act like Robby's side of the story doesn't matter. He is inconsequential. It's about Tory and Zara. In canon, Robby is framed as the cheating boyfriend who got drunk and "made a mistake" because he "got played", although he was drunk and can't remember what happened while Zara intentionally targeted him, can remember, and doesn't care that he can't. Robby should be focused on as the one who can't catch a break, but he's not.

Take the apartment fight marketing posts calling it a "therapy session". They act like Robby's side of the story doesn't matter. In canon, they only show Miguel's flashbacks and have Robby take all fault too. The marketing was for Miguel's side of the story. (Tanner wasn't there for interviews for s5, but still no one brought up Robby's side.) They act like Robby's side of the story doesn't matter. He is inconsequential. It's about Miguel only, although the school fight was traumatic for Robby too. Robby does admit this in canon, but it was still in service of the apology to Miguel. Not to mention, the apartment fight itself was plain abuse on Robby by Johnny to force him to be friends with Miguel. This was abuse, not therapy.

Even the school fight was framed as if Miguel didn't do anything wrong, his "I'm sorry" instantly made him innocent, and Robby's the one at fault for it all because of the kick and accidental injury. Miguel had done so much to Robby in that fight, but Robby's side is in consequential. It's all about Miguel. Robby was and is still scapegoated, that is still shown and hinted at (like in the college essay) but it remains unaddressed. I don't have any of the post s2 or post s3 marketing on hand, but no doubt the marketing would not have shown Robby's side of the story.

There's more to address in Robby's story, but you see...

In a way, how they handled the SA isn't isolated because they literally handle Robby's whole story this way. I mean, child abandonment and replacement are even more recognizable as traumas for the child, but people still are taking the parent's side and are happy he replaced his son, and the show has marketing material promoting it.

[dingoat]

Writing Patterns Tag Game

Tagged by @cinlat ! Thank you! Wow it was fun going back on all these bits of writing hahaha, the RP has definitely been going on all this time but to get to ten actual posted pieces I had to travel quite a long way back. Definitely makes me want to actually set down more of the ideas and musings I let float around in my head. @storyknitter @queen-scribbles @mimabeann @vespertine-legacy @tehriel @swtorpadawan @greencrusader13 if any of you folk feel inclined to play along please do!

Rules: list the first line(s) of your last 10 posted fics and see if there's a pattern!

Void-touched - Five never bothered with mirrors these days.

Five Years - He was as infuriating as he’d ever been.

Prompt: Six Repressed Memories - The night before, they’d stayed up late, conspiring in the fort in whispers that were too loud, overstimulated and giddy for the day to come.

Prompt: Repressed Memory for the Best Girl - The moon was bright and her belly was full, and best of all the pain had stopped, she’d found the source and shut it down and now everything was still and peaceful.

Artificial - Libby had wanted to hike Mount Marvellous for as long as she could remember, and she was beside herself when she finally had the opportunity to book a tour and be guided up the mountainside after years of training and research.

Prompt: Kiss, as a promise - “I don’t want to go.”

Prompt: "You could have died." - The days had been leisurely and indulgent, but with time came room for doubts and misgivings to creep in, giving a sour edge to the otherwise thoroughly pleasant experience of exploring the late Darth Vesstriss’ private estate.

Prompt: Protect - “Fynta. Hey. Hey is that you?”

Epilogue II - His bright blue eyes were the last things she saw before the lake swallowed her.

Prompt: "I'm only here to establish an alibi." - “WHOOOOAAAA–!!” Three voices hollered out in chorus as the out of town competitor, a burly selonian with jagged patterns bleached into her dark fur, was sent skidding across the ring.

[hypewinter]

Jazz wasn't crazy. People might argue that burning her childhood home to the ground with her parents still inside would be an indicator of insanity. But how else was she supposed to react after coming back home from college to find out her parents had brutally killed her brother via vivisection?

Dying her hair blonde wasn't crazy either before anyone asked. Plenty of girls dyed their hair when they needed a change. Besides, she could never live with herself if she kept the same hair color as that vile woman.

Admittedly Jazz would have to secede moving to Gotham had been a little crazy but it was the perfect place to start fresh and blend in despite her "quirks". She had even picked out a nice new identity for herself.

Clearly Jazz was not crazy as she had managed to land a job at Arkham Asylum as a psychiatrist. If she were really insane would they have ever hired her? No they wouldn't have.

Jazz was not crazy. She was very much sane. Just like her precious Mr. J.

[ace-disgrace-on-the-case]

This is a genuine problem we have with other living beings, even. We have a poor grasp on what makes our own emotions tick; how the hell do we measure them in a cat?

There’s a line of thinking in psychology called functionalism I’m rather fond of. About emotions, it has to say that they are identified by their functional role, not by their physical implementation. Someone, something, is still in pain if it acts like it’s in pain, regardless of what pathway it takes to get there. It’s difficult to untangle these functions, sure (tell me, what function does pain actually serve?)and that’s worth considering, but overall it’s a good reminder that in another being things might look different and we need to accept that if we are to ever consider something else “intelligent” to any degree at all.

We might never decide “now” is the time machines can finally think and feel. Maybe they never, ever will. Maybe they do now. It’s difficult to say.

What I do know is, if someday I’m talking to a machine and it tells me it’s sad, I’m going to ask it what’s wrong and give it sympathy. Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it deserves less love.

Effectively there will be no way to directly measure whether a machine has an “actual” emotional response or simply emulates ones through programming. From the outside there’s no way to really tell the difference. Everything would be internal.

Even then what is a “real” emotional reaction? No matter what, what a machine experiences will be programmed into it. Would a real emotional reaction be possible? Are we not ourselves programmed to experience emotional reactions? Our biology dictates it, but our environment, history, and a million other factors contribute too. At the end of it, given all relevant input data you could simulate what a real emotional reaction would be. It’s coded into us you could say.

Machines could feel in the exact same way I do and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from a textbox that says “I’m sad :(“

[bitchapalooza]

I relate to Sanji too much because it really does seem like he’s adopted the mentality that physical and mental abuse is a form of significant affection but only directed towards himself, like he sees it’s wrong and unjust when other people are being abused, but when he’s the victim he feels this conflicted sense of I deserve it and Wow they love me so much! It’s heartbreaking just to think about tbh

[couldneverhurtusnow]

[chemistry] it's not a word that actors [use]. but you must endeavor a little bit to try and fall in love, in whatever that capacity is. and andrew is a very easy person to fall in love with. he's kind, generous, talented. we shot the film at the perfect junction in our friendship where there was a lot we didn't know about each other, but there was mutual admiration and respect. and a similar sense of humor. (...) yeah, it felt fizzy when we were acting. especially with that first scene at the door -- it's so well-written. you feel like you're dancing through the scene, you can go in loads of different ways, and if i went one way, andrew would go another. if that's what chemistry is, i was aware it was happening.

-- paul on chemistry and whether ‘they (andrew & paul) knew instantly that their onscreen relationship was working’ in all of us strangers, screendaily.com (1/31/24)

[evocatiio]

if chibnall was the one writing this season you lot would be talking VERY differently

[purpurussy]

drank half a bottle of baileys gonna try and sleep. fully expecting to wake up to a trump presidency tomorrow dnp please do something insane I'm begging

[mossytrashcan]

I really like how tiktok is making beyonce out to be king von, cuz like we already have king von. even if she killed left eye, aaliyah, michael jackson and tupac, that is STILL a smaller body count than king von. that man was fr the devil

[yansurnummu]

just had to do a quick scribble of my durge because he always looks .4 seconds away from bursting into tears and I love him. I like to think that his charisma stat comes solely from his sad wet puppy eyes