#and like i feel for them because its clear they've been manipulated into having a pretty severe emotional dependency on mhj

[vampiricgf]

what do you think will happen to newjeans?

im actually talking to a friend rn about them and they mentioned something really interesting in that the girls might be trying to get kicked from hybe on purpose esp with this video stunt but I still think that's such an unbelievably risky plan if that's the case

entertainment contracts usually have insubordination clauses and breaching your contract in any way can sometimes carry the risk of being blacklisted by the entire industry, and given how much of a headache this whole situation has been for hybe they may blacklist the girls and just basically wash their hands of everything to do with newjeans/mhj. and that means no one will work with them because they don't want heat for supporting someone in that position, it makes it nearly impossible to have any sort of massive success like what they've had under ador/hybe. so even if they do successfully get out of the hybe contract it's highly unlikely they'll have the same level of success if they try putting out music under someone else/mhj. I genuinely think it might be over for them either because of that or they'll get caught up in legal battles that'll get dragged out for potentially years depending on what's at stake, hybe is a billion dollar company and could afford to keep them locked in court limbo if they wanted to in order to completely eliminate the risk of newjeans trying to release anything under anyone else and compete with hybe groups. either way, I think the previous era of newjeans is definitely over

[blue-ink-pearls]

So, I know people are really desperate for Sandra Lynn to have hooked up with Pamela Dawn instead of Bobby Dawn, and I completely understand that!* Bobby Dawn is slimy and awful and we don't know much about Pamela, so maybe she's better? But it is 100% Bobby Dawn for two very clear reasons:

Sklonda literally said it was him

Bobby Dawn has always been a predator

The first thing we learn about Sandra Lynn's affair during Spring Break Sophomore Year was that she had just left Aguefort (she dropped out her senior year and got a diploma later on) and she was very young. She was asked to join an established adventuring party of people who were older than her and that had lost one of its members. She fell in love with another member of the party that was already in a relationship, they had an affair, and then when the affair was discovered, Sandra Lynn was blamed, kicked out of the party, and her name was smeared as far and wide as possible by the person who had taken advantage of her so that person could absolve themselves, likely in the eyes of their partner and the party.

So what we can immediately deduce from this is that Sandra Lynn was an outsider to her new adventuring party, likely looked down on as "just a kid", maybe disdained for being a dropout, and most definitely resented for taking the place of the (presumably) dead party member. She was in actively dangerous and stressful situations while questing with the party and she probably had little support from the group during that time.

Sandra Lynn was very very vulnerable.

When he met Sandra Lynn, Bobby Dawn would have been about 20 years younger than he is now, likely in his late 30s/early 40s.** Probably still handsome, still a "dashing" active adventurer. He was married to Pamela already (not just in an established relationship), since he had a child by then that was close to grown and I don't think the Church of Sol would be very happy about a child out of wedlock. He would have been a cleric of Sol and probably still preaching "the good word of Sol" but it likely wouldn't have been constant. You can't give sermons while fighting monsters. I'm sure he even saved Sandra Lynn's life a few times!

The thing about Bobby Dawn being a televangelist now, but not then, is that when he was young, he was probably just as good at persuasion, at finding vulnerable people and exploiting their weaknesses to get what he wanted, and yet he hadn't made a name for himself as a televangelist, so people wouldn't know to be wary of him trying to convert or manipulate them.

The scene between Bobby and Kristen, when Kristen is pretending that Cassandra died shows exactly what kind of terrible person Bobby really is. He is happy to find Kristen devastated, that she is having "a real dark night of the soul" and needs guidance. He refuses to help Kristen stay at Aguefort (something that's within his power), despite knowing how beneficial that would be to her well-being, because that goes against his own goals. He is smug and condescending and cruel. He is preying on Kristen's devastation and vulnerability (not knowing it's an act), to draw her back into the fold of the Church of Helio/Sol.

The person who did that to Kristen, is the exact same person who took advantage of Sandra Lynn when she was still basically a kid, just out of high school. He took advantage of her feelings for him, her inexperience and isolation. And then, when they were discovered, he threw her away and made her the villain so he could get away with it.

He ruined Sandra Lynn's life. Yes, she's happy now with her daughter, her partner, and the beautiful home they've made at Mordred Manor with Adaine, Kristen, Lydia, Ragh, Tracker, Zayn, Aelwyn, Boggy, and 15 cats. But Sandra Lynn ended up with self-esteem and relationship issues that she is still dealing with to this day. Those issues ruined her marriage, could have ruined her relationship with Jawbone, and likely played a hand in the difficulties between her and Fig in Freshman Year, as Sandra Lynn saw her daughter take her first steps into the world of adventuring.

Because Sandra Lynn first wanted to be an adventurer and Bobby Dawn took that away from her, just like he tried to do to Kristen.

Bobby Dawn has shaped his career as a high priest of Sol and as a televangelist by portraying himself as the epitome of righteousness. He is rotten to the core, a predator in a job where he is meant to help people, and I CANNOT WAIT to see the Bad Kids take him down.

*I don't really understand it. Pamela Dawn is likely just as bad as Bobby. She's the chief paladin of the church of Sol, her husband is a televangelist and a High Priest of Sol, and she would have been around the same age as Bobby and having an affair with a vulnerable young girl who she then kicked out of the group and slandered. It being Pamela would still be awful!

**Even with the assumption that both Bobby Dawn and his child had their kids at a young age, the math still has to take into account that Sandra Lynn's daughter is the same age as Bobby Dawn's GRANDSON.

[batboyblog]

https://www.tumblr.com/batboyblog/763351086798127104/httpswwwtumblrcombatboyblog76323465039942451

I frankly think it's a combination of the whole ordeal being so traumatizing that they've just downplayed or outright chosen to forget in order to preserve their own sanity, mixed with shifting all of the blame to "the liberals" to avoid acknowledging their own complicity in how bad things started to get in the first place, and a copious amount of accelerationist thinking that making things worse will somehow make people realize "that their way is the only way" (as if that isn't a horribly abusive mindset that has either never worked, or blew up in their faces since people don't like being manipulated into doing someone else's dirty work).

Like I said, I think its in part many people were literally too young, some one who's in their 20s today was a teen when Trump took office, how much attention were they paying? I mean I'm a weirdo so I have very clear memories of Bush V Gore and listening to NPR about it (and being outraged) at 10 years old, but I realize a lot of people at 14, 15, 16 even 17 and 18 aren't paying any attention to politics

and how much more when your own parents are Republicans so what impressions you do get are filtered through them.

Then I have to wonder, we live in an instant gratification universe, with the internet, our phones, are we living in a constant state of "now" where our brains are being trained in such a way its harder and harder to hold onto the feel, the vibe of the past what it was like 4-5 years ago? I mean I've noticed a lot of people complaining about "what do you mean that was X years ago? it feels like yesterday!" is all this new information tech messing with our minds and shortening our attention spans and our sense of the passage of time? idk maybe humans were always bad at holding onto what a past time felt like

and finally as I said there are LOTS of bad faith actors with a vested interest in warping how people remember and feel about the Trump Presidency and the Biden Presidency. Republicans need Trump's time in office to have been normal to have any hope of ever getting back into power, you see it with the downplaying of January 6th the worst moment of that whole shit show. You have left wing grifters who made more money when Trump was President because there were lots of scared upset Democrats looking for something to make them feel better. Those grifters are trying to hold onto their viewers by making them feel bad about the Biden Presidency so they keep toning in, and of course there's the foreign agents all over the internet who's goal is to break up American society.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What do you think about theory that Lila is Manon from future?

I am vaguely aware that this is a thing, but I'm also assuming that it's a joke and not a serious theory because that would be one of the most asinine things that I've ever seen. This fan theory is even worse than the pigeon feather thing in terms of absurdity. It should be reserved for crack fic and nothing else. However, this show never fails to impress me with its poor-quality writing choices, so let's take a quick moment to talk about why this wouldn't be a good twist.

The issue isn't the time travel thing. Lila being from the future is perfectly in line with the sort of crazy stuff that Miraculous does to the point where I wouldn't be shocked if Lila is from the future! Maybe Ladybug and Chat Noir "wronged" her and so she came back in time to try to stop them from being a thing or something like that? It fits her characters. Lila has been shown to be incredibly petty and, whatever is going on, it's clear that she came to Paris with an agenda otherwise why go the multiple identities and parents route?

However, if this from-the-future twist ends up being a thing, then Manon would be the worst choice for Lila's true identity because Manon is a well established character who shares no obvious traits with Lila. The only things that the two characters have in common are their hair and eye colors (or, at least, the hair and eye colors that Lila now has). Nothing else ties them together.

Yes, Manon does her baby-doll-eye manipulation thing, but that's not a sign that she's secretly a master manipulator or a compulsive liar! It's just a thing that little kids do. Boundary pushing is par for the course at that age.

For Manon to be a good baby Lila, we'd need to see Manon doing some actual quality manipulation tactics that trick people instead of just standard little kid pouting and boundary-pushing techniques. There's no point at which Manon is successfully lying to get what she wants. Her requests are always rather blatant and no one but Marinette falls for her "manipulations" because everyone else knows how to deal with little kids as we see in these two exchanges from Puppeteer:

Nadja: Alright, now give the doll back to Marinette. Manon: NO! I wanna keep it! Marinette: She can if she wants. I told her she could borrow it. Nadja: And that's sweet of you, Marinette, but Manon already has so many toys at home, I wouldn't even know where to put it.

Marinette: Manon! What are you- Manon: I left my bag here! Can I have Ladybug? Marinette: You heard what your mom said. Manon: She wouldn't know if I hide it!

Not exactly gold star manipulation tactics here. They'd fail if Marinette had a backbone.

Could you really picture Lila acting like this? I can't and that's the problem. Because Manon is an existing and well-established character, they have had time to make her into baby Lila. Time to set up the twist. But they haven't. They've just written your standard boundary-pushing little kid. Her behavior is really not all that different from Ella and Etta's (Alya's little sisters), so why would Manon be Lila and not one of them?

That's another problem. If you're going to have a big twist like this, then Manon needs to feel different from the other kid characters and she doesn't. Really think about this for a minute! As far as the kid characters' behavior goes, what's the difference between Puppeteer and Sapotis? I'd argue that there isn't one. In both episodes you see little kids pushing boundaries, leading to them being punished, leading to them getting akumatized.

In Puppeteer we get this:

Manon: But, Marinette wanted me to have it! Nadja: You disobeyed me. I told you the dolls were to stay at her house. You won't be needing these anymore. Manon: NO! Mommy, please don't! Nadja: I'm not happy about this. Wait for me here.

In Sapotis we get this:

Ella and Etta: It's not us! It's the—! Alya: That's it! (picks up the twins) Ella and Etta: Come on, Alya! We won't do it again! Alya: Yeah? Well, it's too late! (takes off both twins' propeller hats) We'll all go to the park when you can behave, some other day! Now go to sleep!

Extremely similar scenes with extremely similar outcomes.

Another similarity is Manon, Ella, and Etta's behavior in Simpleman. They're basically interchangeable in that episode, further killing this theory.

If this twist was going to be a thing, then I'd also expect us to see Lila and Manon interact at least once since we do let Lila talk to the kids on a few occasions. And if we didn't get that, then I'd definitely expect us to see a moment between Lila and Nadja or even a moment where Lila avoids Nadja. Anything to establish some sort of tie between Lila and this little family that she was once a part of. As-is, canon has done diddly squat to tie them together so I don't understand why the fandom is making this tie. Do people just really dislike Manon and want her to be evil?

In summary, Lila is - at most - a decade older than Manon, so we should see seeds of Lila already starting to form, but we don't. Lila holds grudges, Manon doesn't. Lila lies left and right, Manon doesn't. Lila plots, Manon doesn't. Lila hates Ladybug and Chat Noir, Manon adores them. In other words, nothing in the text backs up the idea that Manon would become Lila in a few short years, so where did this theory even come from?

[once-in-a-blue-moon-rising]

Okay okay okay, this might sound just a tiny bit unhinged but I am convinced that the LCDP writers have seen and been influenced by Hannibal, owing to the parallels between the Hannibal/Will and Sergio/Raquel relationships (focusing especially on a scene in the show that really mirrors one in Hannibal).

So, let's look at the text. First up, Hannibal, 3x11

Hannibal: The building of a new body and the othering of himself, the splitting of his personality, all seem active and deliberate. He craves change. Will: He didn't murder those families. He changed them. Hannibal: Don't you crave change, Will?

Second, LCDP, 2x8

El Profesor: Yo estoy haciendo una inyección de liquidez. Pero no a la banca. La estoy haciendo aquí, en la economía real, de este grupo de desgraciados, que es lo que somos, Raquel. Para escapar de todo esto. Tu no quieres escapar? ('I'm injecting liquidity. But not to the banks. I'm doing it here, in the real economy, for this group of wretches, Raquel, which is what we are. To escape from all of this. Don't you want to escape?')

And, ok, they're not the only two stories in existence where one character begs the other to see things from their point of view, you might say. You're clutching at straws here, Nay, because Hannibal is your current obsession, and LCDP was the one that came before.

But it's not just the dialogue. And it's not just this one scene.

If we're looking very literally at these two scenes, you'll notice that one half of our pair is imprisoned, but even that's not just surface level. Both imprisoned parties should not, by rights, be there, if they'd behaved in a remotely rational way leading up to that point. Hannibal allowed himself to be imprisoned for Will, even though he should have killed him long ago to protect himself. Raquel, likewise, could and should have handed Sergio over to the police many, many episodes ago, but she didn't, because like Hannibal, she couldn't bring herself to hurt him.

However, the real parallel isn't between Hannibal and Raquel - Sergio/Hannibal and Raquel/Will are the parallel characters leading up to these scenes, and besides looking at who is currently imprisoned, the clearest parallels within the scenes too.

Both of these relationships are deeply manipulative and physically violent, but the person who is initially causing harm gets tripped up by their own feelings, opening a window for their intended victim to exercise power over them instead. And, although in each relationship there is a clear manipulator at first, even in their beginnings, they are equals, and natural enemies (even though they might not realise it at first).

That's not to say the characters are the same - Hannibal's manipulation is driven by curiosity, and Sergio's is driven by ideals. But the outcomes are surprisingly similar nonetheless - they realise their goals, and then they regret them. They both lose the trust of the person they have unwittingly fallen in love with, and as Will and Raquel see Hannibal and Sergio, respectively, for the people they really are, they want (or think they want) to exact revenge on them. Raquel ties Sergio up and interrogates him, threatens him, hurts him, and Will tries to have Hannibal killed, and works to prove that it's Hannibal who's the serial killer, not him. But both Will and Raquel, of course, are not quite able to bring their righteous violence to its logical conclusion. Raquel fails to turn Sergio into the police, despite the fact that she's in charge of catching him, and Will gets tangled in his own line as he tries to reel Hannibal in, finding Hannibal himself far more magnetic than the justice of catching him. Both of them want to hurt their manipulative counterpart, but they've fallen for them too (and for both of them, I think this adds to their fury at Hannibal/Sergio).

And then we reach these two scenes I referenced at the top of the post. In both shows, they appear towards the end (at least, the assumed end at the time - LCDP, of course, got three more seasons later on, and Hannibal was [is?!] supposed to have more too). In both shows, Will and Raquel have experienced a loss of some kind, a really significant loss, tied to their identity, that is the fault of Hannibal/Sergio - Raquel has lost her job and integrity as an inspector; Will's family has nearly been killed and are emotionally lost to him - and yet they are both running towards the cause of that loss. Raquel, of course, is ostensibly trying to catch Sergio by herself, and Will has come to yell at Hannibal. But there's a calm in both scenes that wouldn't be there if all the wronged party felt was anger - after a fight Raquel lets Sergio talk to her without interruption, just as Will allows Hannibal to talk back to him, to ask him questions. And then our two manipulators - both of whom, I might add, have almost thrown everything away for the people who were supposed to be collateral damage - make this final plea in the dialogue above.

They're very different people, Sergio and Hannibal, but the plea is, at it's core, the same. The world, they say, The world doesn't look the way you were taught to see it, and you don't fit into it the way you thought either.

It's a plea for acceptance, because if Will and Raquel can accept the world and themselves the way Hannibal and Sergio see them, then they are, by extension, accepting them. It's a please, god, just say you want to run away with me.

And, in both instances, it works.

[mariacallous]

I frankly feel like a lot of the far left/online pundit backlash is also driven by the fact that as much as a chunk of the problem is driven by bad liberal/centrist decisions and the blatant ratfucking of the GOP and fascists, it's also driven by a far more agonizing and painful reality that they don't want to admit:

That as horrific, self-destructive, and incredibly idiotic as their ultimate goals are, the GOP is much smarter and more cunning than they want to admit, and has been playing the online types for fools.

They've been selling themselves for YEARS as the superior option to the establishment, the future leaders who will be bowed to by the worthless liberals and moderates and drive out the evil fascists with sweeping ease where the establishment faile.

And yet given the recent events and their track record, they've been proven to be just as gullible, easily swayed and susceptible to GOP propaganda and manipulation as any of the people they believe lesser than them. It's clear that many people online just can't fathom or accept the notion that just because the liberals and offline types can be easily taken advantage of with propaganda, doesn't mean that THEY are immune themselves, that the enemy has propaganda that can target THEM too. We've seen it happen with Russia/Ukraine. With Israel/Palestine. With Bernie Sanders. Hilary Clinton. The list goes on and on.

And I think they just can't tolerate that notion; it's a psychological wound for people who've built so much of their identity around the notion that they were better than everyone else to face their own fallibility, especially when that fallibility means having to admit that rather than being society's saviors, they might have contributed to its destruction instead. To the destruction of THEIR OWN agenda because they never considered the possibility that there were ratfuckers in their own midst.

[my-mt-heart]

I didn't like Norman's comment about how Daryl is losing some of the connection he has with Carol (and Melissa's face when he said it). It becomes more and more clear that Daryl is very attached to them. I honestly think they'll kill Isabelle. Cue sad and mopey Daryl that Carol has to comfort for the remainder of S2. That's what I think the final scene in the trailer is about, not a reunion. He looks so sad. His sadness for Isabelle's loss overshadows Carol's arrival which is ridiculous to me.

I'm not caught up on all the media coverage, so I'm not sure when/where Norman said that. I know Greg Nicotero said something to that effect to Variety, which hurt a lot. And that might be the point, to keep us engaged by playing on our biggest fears, but even if that's all it is, it's really gross and unethical. Caryl fans should be able to look forward to "the show they've been waiting for," not have salt poured on the wound after two years of gaslighting and misery. Tactics like that are fun to asshole EPs and execs because it gives them power over their audience. It makes them feel like they can control and manipulate fans who they think are beneath them. Obviously don't expect a studio to give a shit about anybody's mental health, but you'd think they'd pay more attention to how it affects their numbers. This will fragment their audience further.

At the same time, Zabel's intentions to create a romantic connection between Isabelle and Daryl were very clear in the 201 sides, so as ridiculous as the beats you described might sound (Isabelle's death overshadowing Carol's arrival), its also very much in their wheelhouse to take it in that direction. And at this point, I just don't have the emotional capacity to find out which way its going to go.

[cthulhubert]

I'm not an AI doomer but I am AI cautious, and I think the future holds something more general purpose than the generators we have now.

But I also think people are off base about the danger. Both in aims (a "rogue" AI seems unlikely; one told to do evil by its owners, however?) but more importantly, in methods.

I'm not concerned about ultra-tech or super manipulators; I think the issue is in a capability that humans already naturally dismiss: cooperation, coordination, administration; and how those scale.

An AI won't be dangerous because it invents fusion powered lasers and gray goo, it'll be dangerous because it can do the work of a nation state, but directed by a single will.

(below the cut, some elaboration)

To be clear, I don't actually dismiss, out of hand, the potential of an AI to develop physical tools and processes faster than humans could, and implement them better.

Nor the idea that it could be as much better than a human salesman or spinmeister as AlphaZero is at chess than any human chess master. (I think some people underestimate this because the danger of a good manipulator is that they don't make you feel manipulated. People don't want to acknowledge their own psychosocial limitations. I've seen people say about mass targeted harassment campaigns, "Well, I would just ignore it," because they've never actually been tested that way.)

Both of these are easily memeable and more easily dismissed: "Maybe it can be smart but it can't be magic!"

But I don't think that's the most likely weapon to be wielded by a machine intelligence (or "general purpose goal satisfying applied statistics system" if "intelligence" is too loaded for you).

People dismiss conspiracy theorists because they (correctly) realize the goal and methods those theorists describe are, uh, fucking stupid. But more rarely people point at the fact that the level of coordination and cooperation to hide the moon landing or the shape of the Earth is just impossible.

I think that people may intellectually understand that every single one of the 8 billion human beings on this planet is a real whole actual person with a life and interiority; but they don't grok it on an intuitive level. I think this is true even of people that don't believe in the Illuminati.

So they might intellectually know that a vast machine intelligence could have the equivalent intellectual goal-satisfying power of a nation, and that every iota of that power is moving in perfectly coordinated lockstep, directed by one purpose. But it doesn't scare them because on one emotional level, they already think of nations as working like that. And so even if pointed out, they imagine that vastness being just as ineffectual and inefficient as large corporations and countries.

Just think about the "personal FBI agent" memes. Of course those are tongue in cheek, but I think there's something real underlying that. People imagine themselves as already heavily surveilled and manipulated, but it just doesn't do enough to them. We can't truly imagine what it'd be like to have an entire human's amount of awareness tracking our every step for the sole purpose of using us for some goal.

I'm just always thinking about somebody who has seen a tea kettle moving a pinwheel and goes, "I don't see what's so scary, powerful, or useful about steam. This 'industrial revolution' idea is a pipe dream."

[amethystina]

42, 49

42. Have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for whatever reason?

Yes, many. Too many to mention, to be honest. I've been writing fanfics for over ten years now and I'm continuously amazed by how kind and loving my readers are.

Though I would like to highlight a certain type of comment that I've been getting more and more lately, more specifically since I started writing Who Holds the Devil. Because that fic, more than any of my others, seems to evoke a lot of emotions, reflection, and self-discovery in my readers. Never have I gotten so many comments telling me that reading a fic has fundamentally changed something within them.

It's been everything from realising how abusive their relationships have been to when to stand up for themselves to finally having a name for the panic attacks they've been experiencing.

Who Holds the Devil has made it completely impossible for me to ever doubt the impact my writing can have on people. Because, not going to lie, sometimes I do. Sometimes I feel like an introverted little weirdo, just sitting here, writing about people I want to see kiss. But it's so, so much more than that and nothing has made that more clear to me than the comments I get on Who Holds the Devil.

I'm both humbled and grateful every time I'm told that my writing has made someone realise something about themselves, especially when it involves their mental health, trauma, or just overall well-being. I'm not a therapist and I obviously can't offer any concrete help as such, but to help someone realise or admit to themselves that Something Is Wrong? That's still a very, very big thing. And the fact that I can? It will never not blow my mind.

So that's definitely a kind of comment that stands out to me and probably always will. The fact that I'm able to change people's lives with my fics is beyond astounding to me (and also a little bit intimidating, not going to lie, but not necessarily in a bad way?). And I'm truly grateful to every single one of you who has sent me comments like these. Not only is your bravery and willingness to share inspiring, but it gives me so much joy to know I've been able to help or make a difference. Thank you 💜

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

Here's an excerpt from chapter 34 of Who Holds the Devil (though I might edit it slightly before it's posted xD):

Ga On looked down at the tumbler cradled between his hands, his thumb sliding along the smooth, curved edge. He could see his reflection, slightly distorted, in the surface of its content.

"Don't ever do that to me again."

A beat passed, tense and loaded, before Ga On looked up at Yo Han. The silence within the study was deafening — unwieldy — and Ga On could see the slight hint of hesitation on Yo Han's face. It was subtle, barely there, mingled with something that could be regret.

Ga On realized why Yo Han didn't answer right away.

"Intentionally," he added. "Don't intentionally do something like that to me again."

It would be just like Yo Han to make a difference between the two which, in all honesty, was beyond tragic. Yo Han didn't trust himself to not accidentally manipulate the people around him, to the point where an agreement had to be formulated with that in mind. He didn't want to give anyone false hope or make promises he couldn't keep.

It was moments like these that made it obvious that, somewhere deep down, Yo Han still saw himself as a monster. Someone who couldn't be trusted to be around people. Someone who might end up hurting those he cared about, without even meaning to.

Someone dangerous, vicious, and hurtful.

And for the first time in a long while, as much as he hated himself for it, Ga On almost agreed.

Yo Han didn't hesitate this time.

"I promise."

Questions for fic writers

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I can't stop thinking of this one Buffy comic "Bad Blood" for two reasons...

So, Buffy is essentially cloned (to some less than stellar affects, in some ways) by the Big Bad in it. And the clone knocks her out in a sewer and takes her place for a little bit. And at first, her friends don't realize the clone isn't her. Anyway, Snyder is forcing the Scoobies to put together a float for a Sunnydale parade and they haven't come up with an idea for a theme for it yet. They ask the Buffy clone if she has any ideas. And looking at the shirt that Willow's wearing that has a clown on it, she comes up with a clown theme. Not having any better ideas, the Scoobies decide to go ahead with that--much to Xander and Cordelia's horror.

Some time has passed--and at this point, everyone has realized that the clone isn't Buffy, but Buffy is still missing--and the Scoobies are at the parade on their float, all dressed up as clowns because they have to be via Snyder's orders, of course. But they've sort of roped Angel into being a replacement clown for Buffy until they can find her? And he's not dressed up or anything (as if he would ever do that). And I doubt he's acting for them at all, either... But now a part of me is trying to wonder what that might look like, if he remotely tried to be clown-like at all. Pfft.

The second thing I can't stop thinking about with this comic: the clones (there are actually two of them: one of them being more successful than the other. Though the more successful one is Buffy's enemy, and wants to take over her life, while the unsuccessful one was thrown away by her creators like yesterday's garbage--they tried to kill her--and she's actually the one who saved Buffy from the clone and wants to help her see her creators burn). This is, perhaps, a silly thought since is just a tie-in-comic, so of course none of this could really go anywhere... But I kind of wish more had been done with them. Like, this might be my inner-Kingdom Hearts fan talking (who believes because of that series that any clone of a character who experiences anything different from the person they once were becomes their own person, and thus then deserves to live), but I wonder if Buffy later might have wished that things could have gone differently with them. Like, that they could have lived as their own people. Perhaps they could have been introduced to the world as her long-lost triplets or something, as a cover story. I feel like a Buffy who later accepted Dawn, I mean, who was also created from her, could have felt this way.

And that whole thing makes me think of something that happened in season 9, too: For some dumb reason (that I do kind of get and could explain, but I feel it might make this even longer than it needs to be if I do. Though if anyone does want me to explain why this happened, just let me know), to try and protect Buffy, Andrew puts her consciousness into a robot. And at first, Buffy isn't even aware that she's been put into a robot. But the body she's left behind actually begins to grow its own awareness. And when it becomes clear that Buffy's going to take her body back, the two of them fight (Buffy in the robot and her body, that is)--because Buffy's body doesn't think this it's fair (she's somewhat being manipulated by an outside force to do that, though). Eventually, the two of them make amends and Buffy's body thinks it's only right that Buffy's consciousness/the real her comes back to her.

But I don't know... I wonder if it's possible Buffy could end up regretting that action eventually, too, and wondering if the body/new consciousness apart from her could have become her own person, as well. -shrugs-

[incesthemes]

final thoughts: supernatural season 3

GREAT SEASON. i was surprised that it only had 16 episodes, but apparently it was because of the writers strike in 2007-2008? so that makes more sense. also i kinda like the vague poetry of the season being cut short, it very much parallels dean's life getting cut short lmao

i am a BIG fan of the winchesters dying, so between mystery spot and the finale, this season was a delight for me. death in supernatural is such a unique experience, so it's fun to pick apart the emotional weight and the significance of each death. this isn't particularly a new thought for me, but i like that death isn't exactly an "end" in spn; it is just another stage of existence, one from which anyone has the potential to return. obviously this "anyone" only really extends to the winchesters, but their plot armor is something i actually find gives this show a lot of its charm. it's similar to how i feel about death in homestuck, and the in-universe culture surrounding death in both shows is distorted appropriately to ignore its finality and treat it much differently from other stories.

actually on the topic of mystery spot though, i found those 6 retconned months to be peculiar. it ignored the existence of ruby and lilith and everything else going on around hurricane winchester, and while i'm sure it was for time slot reasons, it really has stuck in my mind. if ruby is so hellbent on training up sam to defeat lilith, then why wouldn't she contact him when he's at his lowest to manipulate him accordingly, just like she tried in the finale? the fact that sam is effectively left alone during those 6 months is very weird to me. this is definitely one of those things that make me dislike episodic storytelling, since the story has to be "reset" by the end of the episode in order to start a new A plot come the next one. it would have been nice to see the more realistic ramifications of dean's death in mystery spot a la ruby and her plans, especially knowing that this is exactly what she does with sam during dean's vacation in hell.

i do wish henricksen hadn't died at the end of jus in bello. not that i think it was a bad decision, but something i find nice in charmed is that the sisters always have someone within law enforcement to help cover their tracks. i think henricksen would have fit into that spot really nicely, since he seems to think very much like dean and i think they could have gotten along. with as many run-ins with the cops as they've had up to now, they could use a little help on the inside. because lord, this show makes me hate cops more than i did before with how aggressive and idiotic they are. shoot first ask questions never—yeah, seriously. anyway i don't dislike the direction they took with henricksen, but it could have been an interesting avenue to explore, since there's a template with charmed already. also i just started liking henricksen. i wasn't done with him yet okay. what if he lived and became a hunter. what if he worked alongside them. literally so much potential for this man and now he's dead.

but speaking of jus in bello: the end of the episode proved that ruby had the better plan, and still dean refused to even hear her out when she appeared in the finale. it's in character for him, but that kind of thing is a little grating, especially when that wasn't actually brought up as a counter in the episode. it felt a little disjointed, and so i guess it made me pull a face since we are 0 for 1 in the winchesters vs lilith battle up to this point. it's been made clear that "the way dad taught us" isn't exactly working out for them, so you would think that would at least be thrown back in dean's face. dean's insistence on clinging to john's style has a body count, yet he won't even entertain anything else.

the sudden about-face dean makes halfway through the episode doesn't exactly make much sense either, tbh. at least this is addressed, but i still find it odd. i guess it's another example of dean's toxic machismo and refusal to listen to anyone around him coming out to play? the finale is absolutely a shining display of dean making horrible decisions and paying dearly for them. if that was the intention, then they did that well. it's a pretty strong core of his character though, so i don't really take issue with it.

anyway i don't have too much else to say. i guess i was a little disappointed that there weren't actually all that many demon enemies in the episodes? i do love the variety, and they had great monsters this season honestly, but i was expecting demons to play a much stronger antagonistic role than they actually did this season. also it's a crying shame that dean never really learned much in the end from his time with casey in sin city; he's a little thick-headed lmao.

but yeah overall i thought it was a great season. i have much fewer criticisms with s3 than i did with s2, and i'm happy that most of their weird kinks got sorted out this season. i'm SUPER excited to finally get to castiel too :D i really liked his character! and it means i'm just one season away from crowley, too. i am pumped up :)

[free--therapy]

It's anon again!

I'm usually quick to judge myself and expect the worst but I do know I make many mistakes too especially growing up. However it's like I think that I'm the only one who does or has ever done bad things. As if no one does things as worse as I do or as I've done.

That leads to many many what ifs like if I should apologise now years later. Then my mind is like "but that's such an old thing. Most probably they wouldn't even care or don't bother." But then my mind is like "but what if they do? What if despite being a small thing, it affected them a lot?" "What should you do then?" "Shouldn't you come clear or apologize?" But the thing is, if I make a habit of doing that it'll be bad and it's not even healthy for me. Plus rationally seeing, there's a much higher chance that me telling them about it would weird them out or affect them when they were completely doing fine before that. In other words, it'll only lead to the worst for both of us involved.

Also, I tend to have this fear like "if I don't tell them then what if this thought/incident keeps popping up in my mind?" But you know, its just another what if too. Because more than the incident itself, it's all the what ifs related to it and that specific "what if it never goes away?" thought that actually bothers me. I know this because even for certain things that I did apologise for, those incidents still pop up in my mind where my mind nitpicks stuff like "you told them all that but you didn't mention this one detail. Shouldn't you mention this too now?" Something like that. So clearly it's just an anxiety triggered thing.

Especially when it comes to events from the past like mistakes or even neutral events where I did or said something, as I tend to see myself in a negative light (or at least, I see myself as someone who can be manipulative without meaning to) so I assume that when I did/said that particular thing, I must've meant it in a bad/negative way. Even if I did something as a child, and if I remember it now, I'll be like "oh I definitely must've meant it in a weird or bad way" idk why I'm like this though

I mean, I know that I tend to have this thing where I can influence or manipulate other people's opinions and my loved ones tell me they've noticed it too but they see it as a strength. But I see it as a negative point because I feel like I use it to influence others....many times I don't even mean it. But because of this I have a negative view of myself. So I assume that I mean the worst and that I seldom have good intentions.

But I know that's not true because I know I'm an overly empathetic person (which i hate- I'm an infp personality type and very similar to my mom) and I know I do good things too but I feel like I do it for selfish intentions.

For example, my parents and elder sister have been on really bad terms in recent months and don't really talk much but sometimes when they do bring up their arguments, it really really spikes my anxiety through the roof. I mean, nothing makes me more anxious than that......even my overthinking rarely gives me any physical sensations but when they start arguing, my temperature increases and breathing gets faster and just..I get very anxious.

I'm usually the mediator. So I try to explain to my parents what my elder sister thinks because usually when she starts talking she ends up fighting and yelling (she's prone to anger a lot and gets mad easily) so in her stead, I try to explain her views to my mom. I know she might understand if I explain in a calm way because I tend to influence or get others to agree or at least consider my views- that's what I mean by manipulating. And mom sometimes does understand a little bit and I usually try to ask my sister to think from their perspective as well. Of course I don't try to change her mind much but just to calm down. She always says that parents agree to let her choose her decisions only because I do half the work of getting them to understand and agree.

However, when she says that, I feel internally guilty. Because while I do want them to have a good relationship with each other but I also have other reasons like I don't like when they fight, having conflict in our home stresses me a lot and more than anything, my fear of things getting too bad and then separating for good or something. I'd hate that because I want us all to have a good relationship with each other so I try to best to explain my parents her situation and just acting as the mediator. But aren't I doing it for my own reasons? Doesn't that make me selfish? It's like all I ever do is try to get my own way with everything.

Similarly, this view I have of myself leads me to overthink a lot of my past events. Sometimes they're genuine mistakes but sometimes they're neutral events that I overthink about from all the negative angles until they start looking like a mistake or a crime or something lol

I'm thinking of trying to still love myself and accept myself more as I am though. And to not always expect the worse from me. I know I'm a nice person too and I'm very empathetic. I know I can be kind too but many times I do end up being too accommodating since I'm a people pleaser and my infp self is too idealist. Like I try to be a perfectionist or something. But I know the lengths I would go to for my loved ones and how I do small things here and there to make others feel better (though sometimes I do it even if I don't want to) so I do know I can be nice. But since I'm too emotional of a person and I notice others a lot so I unconsciously study their personalities (not in a weird way 😭) but just I tend to observe people which makes me notice when they talk or act differently to me which makes me insecure or worry about something/anything I did. I can be weird at times I guess.....like I can be teasing in a funny way (usually to cope with awkwardness lol or just for fun with people I'm comfortable with though I never take it far at all) but I don't know- I just want to re-learn to think of myself positively instead of second guessing each of my own actions or something.

I need to have my own boundaries though and uphold them and work on my self esteem. Because my self esteem usually cycles between feeling superior (I know this sounds weird and I know but right from childhood I've grown up hearing people tell me or my parents about how smart I am and stuff which did a number on my self esteem, my sister keeps saying she thinks I have a high IQ which would be nice to hear but these days it just makes me feel worse tbh) or feeling inferior or like I'm a loser. The latter is because my dad keeps saying "you had so much potential but in recent years, you've just been lazy and procrastinating and wasted all that potential" or he says "you're just lazy and don't do anything" frankly, I hate hearing that and it's one of the reasons why I became this way. Why I ended up becoming someone who stopped bothering about grades much.

I just used to get enough grades to pass and never fail in college and I did that because no matter what I did, my parents wouldn't say good things to me. Oh though in my last semester, to get back at my parents, I scored a almost perfect score just to rub it in their faces lol I can be petty like that 😭 but still my dad was like "are you lying?" And when I showed him the results he just said, "I can't believe how you managed that seeing how lazy you are" idk I wasn't even that lazy at all when I was busy with college. But then he said "he knew I always had a potential" but I hated it because he said it in a kinda mocking way so I couldn't be happy about it. I still love my parents though! It's just the way they talk to me that rubs me the wrong way and makes me feel smaller sometimes but my elder sister sometimes stands up for me!

But being a middle child (I have a younger sister too) has really got me to become the kind of child that suppresses her thoughts and feelings the most since most times, I'm the one who has to compromise. Because if my elder sister says something, I had to listen since she's older and if my younger one does something, I have to understand because I'm older and she's young. So I have to be the most understanding and be the ones who resolves their fights and does all the explaining to my parents too. And still get the most insults from both. But the up side to it is that my parents don't care as much about what I'm up to so I have the least restrictions out of us three daughters lol

Anyway, sorry for sharing all that unnecessary info 😭 I just want to say I want to learn to be kinder and more accepting of myself and my opinions or interests no matter how different/weird they may seem to the majority and just be proud of myself. Sometimes I feel like I should just become a bad bitch or something lol and be unapologetically myself but I know that's not as possible for me lol

I'm reading a book on overthinking called "Stop Overthinking: 23 Techniques to Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Spirals, Declutter Your Mind, and Focus on the Present" by Nick Trenton and it's been helpful so far!

I do still have many issues in thinking though like focusing on the worst case scenario and obsessing/worrying about it, over generalization, all or nothing thinking and many others but I'm trying to work on it again.

Though I do wanna ask, is it always the case that if something you thought you had pretty much gotten over comes back again and you end up getting stuck in overthinking about it again, does that always mean you never got over it to begin with? Or can old stuff still sometimes come up again even after you getting over it once? Because I do notice that it feels comparatively a little milder than first time.

Sorry for this mess of an ask though, I was trying to organise my thoughts in the best way possible.

Thank you for reading this, a lot! 🫶

Hey Anon

You will have to learn how to let go of these things and allowing yourself to be okay with them not knowing how you feel about the situation. No amount of guilt or shame can change what happened and like you said, they've probably forgotten or forgiven you for the situation anyways. You'll just have to keep reminding yourself of these things as the thoughts come up again. Usually when I have moments like that, I have to tell myself things like, "we already went over this, it's fine! I accept that I've done wrong, but now that I know better and I can do better."

Another thing too is that people perceive certain events a lot differently than we do. Even though we can feel like we've done something wrong, the other person probably didn't see it that same way, so there's no need to apologize.

I don't think your mediation is manipulative, that's definitely a strength, but I know it's also because it was likely a trauma response of yours from the past that you just learned to play that role because you could see how helpful it was in those tense situations. It's a good role to play though because oftentimes arguments happen because of either lack of communication and/or understanding and you happen to be the one who can look at things from both sides and find ways to show each side each perspective. But I can understand also how anxiety-inducing that can be too and why you'd feel like it's a bad thing. I don't think it's a selfish or bad thing. To me it seems like you are the peacekeeper and you love your family and don't want there to be any conflict. Unless you're expecting something in return (something that would only benefit you) when you do it, maybe that can be a little selfish. And don't get my words twisted with that either because it benefits everyone involved to have someone brave enough like you to do those things out of the goodness of your heart.

You have a good heart, anon, and I know from my personal experience how draining that can be because your love for others is so strong and so beautiful, but yet you don't believe you deserve to give it to yourself. I know how hard it is to turn it inwards, but trust me, you already know what to do, you just have to accept that you're allowed to have it too. I

It sounds like we have a lot in common anon. You definitely remind me of my younger self, even with being praised for my intelligence and good grades, and having parents that were never supportive or encouraging. Also the lazy thing/wasted potential thing too omg 😭 I've heard those words too and it breaks my heart to know others having to go through the same things I did and knowing exactly what that does to you and your mind. My mom would say such mean things to me because she believed it would "light a fire under my ass" to persevere and try harder, but literally nothing was good enough or it just discouraged me altogether. Ugh, I wish I could give you a hug

Though I do wanna ask, is it always the case that if something you thought you had pretty much gotten over comes back again and you end up getting stuck in overthinking about it again, does that always mean you never got over it to begin with? Or can old stuff still sometimes come up again even after you getting over it once?

Yes and no. Like I said in one of your previous asks, sometimes the mind likes to test us to see if something still affects us or to bring up something new we haven't considered about the situation to try and bother us, or yes, something can still be unresolved. It's not always black and white though. I've had thoughts come back up and I'd be like "lol girl, we already discussed this. nice try though!" our brains are weird 😅

[cogentranting]

Okay Full Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning thoughts:

What I Didn't Like:

Kind of random and overly specific, but the scene early on in the movie with a bunch of government guys giving the infodump about what the AI thing is and everything the audience needed to know. Hate that scene. Hate how it was filmed and edited. NOT that it was an infodump-- I think that was just a necessary evil. I hate that You couldn't tell who anyone was, four people were trading off dialogue in an incredibly unnatural way, everything was closeups, I don't know where they were or what that meeting was (or why Ethan gassed it?). Also it had flashbacks interspersed in it to something that happened literally just one scene before. Hate this scene so much you have no idea.

The AI thing does not work for me. I think it's too all-knowing and that strained credulity. It was also very abstract and vague as a threat and that made it not very compelling. It also means you sacrifice having an ACTUAL villain.

Speaking of, I think Gabriel is an issue. I know they're going for a cold brutal killing machine kind of vibe but he just kind of ends up boring. If there was a more immediate villain to latch onto while teasing Gabriel's motivations it might work better. I also found the mystery surrounding Ethan's past connection to Gabriel more frustrating than intriguing. I think if they had just told us what that history was, it would have given me something to care about in regards to Ethan and I think that's sorely lacking.

I think Ethan is consistently the least interesting character in these movies and is easily the least interesting of the major super spy franchise characters.

The plot moved past complicated into convoluted territory and dragged on a little too long. And I don't know if they've justified to me why THIS mission Impossible movie should be two parts.

I talked about it elsewhere but this franchise really does have an issue with how it handles its female characters.

It doesn't totally work for me to try to sell Grace as BOTH the wide-eyed innocent, and an internationally renowned thief.

What I Did Like:

Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are all killing it. All three characters I enjoy. Vanessa Kirby- also quite fun.

The car chase with Grace and Ethan hand-cuffed together was probably my favorite action sequence. Most of the other action sequences are also a good time (except that climbing the train I think went on too long and became more stressful than enjoyable) and that's the main reason to watch these MI movies.

The whole thing looks good.

Grace's character is an interesting look at this world

Mixed Feelings and Random Observations:

I don't know what having Ethan "go rogue" for this mission did for the story. I think the story could have been simplified down and just have that and the two CIA (?) guys completely removed from the plot.

There are multiple things that I just don't understand. And I'm putting it here because I don't know if that's me or if it didn't make sense, but regardless I do think it's the result of the plot getting convoluted. -The bomb in the airport?? I think the idea was that Gabriel put it there to manipulate Ethan and his team to get them where he wanted them (the meeting with Vaness Kirby), but I don't quite know A. why it had that effect B. why he wanted that C. why the bomb was a weird puzzle box or D. How Benji solved the last clue -Is Kittridge evil? -Why was Cary Elwes' character even in this movie? What did he add? -Are those two guys following Ethan around (IMDB says their names are Briggs and Degas) CIA or IMF? -How did "the Entity" get out in the first place?

Pom Klementieff's character probably didn't need to be there but actually the movie would have benefitted from having MORE of her (cut Degas and Briggs, and give us more Paris) but also her inclusion was odd and it wasn't clear who she was or why she was there.

The scene where everyone's running around Venice trying to kill each other-- why did no one bring a gun? But Ilsa had a sword???

I thought for sure that when Grace told Ethan her name she was lying (because she's an international thief hired by a crime lord to tail him and steal from him and he's some kind of super spy. Why wouldn't she lie about her name? ) but then they never said anything about it, and didn't give another name and when she was trying to get immunity from Kittridge she said 'Grace' again so I guess she's just an international jewel thief who goes around handing out her real name?

Were Ilsa and Ethan together? Are Grace and Ethan romantically interested in each other? Does he still have a wife somewhere?

Also the thing is while I object to the movie's handling of Ilsa's death on a theoretical level (because it treats her as disposable and no one seems that upset, and it's like they think they can't have more than one woman on the team) I also think she's boring and didn't really care that she died.

Luther just left in the middle of things and I think that's hilarious.

Overall, I still enjoyed watching it but it's the kind of movie that sort of invites me to dig deeper into all the little things I don't like about it. So I'd give it a C, but a mid to low C.

[minerwarfare-suzuya]

Y'know when something should remain dead and moved on from. It should be said and done with good intentions.

I said with "good intentions". This isn't one of them, so it finds its way to be relevant again.

Nicole recently hit me up my inbox. I assume scoffing on her opinions caught her attention to my blog but hey welcome to the blog. (:

She's previously reached out to Cagney and Kevonica on topics about the Mobox87 drama which resulted in altercations. Nicole's been called out and shown to start these arguments or disagreements by being one sided on the drama when trying to interview Cagney and Kevonica. You can check that all out by pressing this underline sentence.

So yeah, keep note that most of Nicole's statements are like what this image says.

Anyways, here is the translation of Nicole's message.

"Hey, isn't it a bit gossipy or intrusive of you to talk about me"

"I don't know, I say *this* because well, for you to talk about it without being someone who has to do with it is something rude and gossipy on your part"

Yeah, I shouldn't really have to explain why this message is dumb but it's here for y'all to see.

Apparently you can't have an opinion or provided info to criticize someone without it being labeled as harrassment or rude.

Y'know same could be applied to you Nicole. I don't understand why you're feeling entitled to be untouched by others criticism when you came around feeling like this when you got into the drama.

Don't go off talking about how you don't wanna have me or anyone put your name out of their mouth because you claim they are someone who has nothing to do with whatever bullshit that you spat out.

You're so quick to say something about this drama that you have nothing to do with it by inviting Mobox87 in a discord call to do an interview for you to stream, get into a dm conversation with Cagney and Kevonica for you to have a feud.

Then what? Come to me as a victim cause Oh Hey What I Say is Gossip? As if your shit show doesn't imply as well cause you're a supporter of an artist's public image when they've done messed up shit behind everyone's backs and have a literal gallery of art they wanna excuse was manipulation to make child porn, snuff, glorify domestic violence?

Oh hey but let's not forget-

Anyways, quit clowning cause I already went off once and you made me had to do it twice. Just when I stated we have moved on from you, Nicole. You just had to come around and talk to me when you've made it clear that you're non-negotiable from what has been shown by the screenshots revealing your conversation in full context.

Nicole if you really want out of this drama and not be brought up again then shut up and leave it alone.

Now to address the people who actually been harassing Nicole and by spamming her on Instagram, YouTube and her Tumblr blog which she's posted previously.

For this user who's attacking Nicole. I'm going to be generally honest, kill yourself.

No seriously like wtf is your actual problem, we're at least being professionals while you got some asshole giving the critics a bad rep with this harrassment so quit it.

[hylianengineer]

Alright, I have been poked, here you go. These are kinda... part ficlet, part incomplete story idea, mostly brainstorming about unconventional powers demigods could have and how they might use them. If anyone wants to take one and turn it into a bigger story, feel free, just @ me so I can read it

A child of Poseidon who uses their powers to manipulate water-based paint and create beautiful art. They've always been drawn to painting, especially nature, with all its raw power, and people, who humanize a work and add anything from a regal air to a gentle softness. In a gallery, a painting of a shipwreck calls to them. Waves crash against the rocks and they can hear it, hear the screams of terrified sailors, hear strong wooden beams crunch and snap like toothpicks. Then someone calls their name and the spell is broken. The painting is still. They shake their head and rush to rejoin their class. It must've been their imagination, they think. They need more sleep. 

A child of Hephaestus who scorches patterns across a “canvas”, often a piece of wood but also concrete, brick, cloth, anything that the flames won’t entirely destroy as they leave their mark. Their story is harnessing a power often feared, and using it not to destroy but to create beauty and express humanity. Flames lick across a slab of wood, hot, yet controlled, moving like trickling water. The demigod stands over their canvas, hands outstretched, face scrunched up in concentration with their tongue peeking out of the corner of their mouth. They want this to be perfect. 

A child of Hesphestaus who works as a firefighter: none of their colleagues understand why they’re always so lucky. They can’t control flames like Leo can, but they do have a certain affinity- they’re resistant, but not immune, and they can’t summon them, nor extinguish them by will alone, but they might push them a little in one direction or another. Most children of Hephaestus are at least slightly heat-resistant and possess these abilities to varying degrees, Leo was special because he had so much of this power, most people don’t even notice they have it. 

A child of Hephaestus uses their pyrokinesis to fire pottery to the perfect temperature and make the glaze come out just right (raku especially interesting) or to solder, anneal, and oxidize metal into beautiful colors and patterns. Fire as creation as well as destruction.  

A child of Hephaestus who knows the cultural uses of fire and prescribed burning and wildfires as caretaking for the ecosystem, allowing certain trees to release seeds, clearing brush so later fires won't get dangerously large. 

A child of Athena with incredible emotional intelligence and no academic skills at all. Their journey is about fitting in- or standing out- as someone so different from their siblings, so defiant of expectations. They can’t calculate trajectories in their head, but they’re observant and intuitive. They instinctively know when someone is having a bad day, they pick up on patterns like who tenses up around crowds, they notice things most people don’t and they put the pieces together. They know that some of the Ares kids are aggressive to keep people at a distance because they’re scared of getting hurt, they know when people are pining for each other but too dense to realize, they know exactly what to say to cheer anyone up, or to tear them down. They’re also highly empathetic, which means they can be easily overwhelmed- their siblings try to keep them away from the news as much as possible, because it leads to hysterical sobbing and overwhelming guilt. 

A child of Demeter with an instinctive sense for the uses and dangers of any plant they come across. Mint and ginger for nausea, don’t touch that it’s poison oak, that’s a stinging nettle it’ll hurt if you touch it, that one’s good for basket weaving, hey that’s an edible mushroom, etc. 

The committed platonic relationships of the Hunters of Artemis. Cuddles. Sleeping together literally. Patching up each other's scrapes and bruises, tending to each other when they're sick. A hunter with horrible period cramps, curled up in her sleeping bag and afraid of appearing weak. Her friends bringing heat pads and ice cream and soft fuzzy blankets, settling in to keep her company. Thalia being empathetic and giving them all the day off to rest.  

A support group for the parents of demigods- they worry about their kids and deal with the issues of being single parents and living between two worlds, unable to tell their friends and families what’s going on. And it makes dating a whole new layer of crazy- do I tell them about my kid’s godly parent and weird powers? If so, when? How? What do I do if they react badly? This group also pools resources to support each other and the demigod kids who don’t have available parents- lawyers donate their time to get kids away from unsafe living situations, and anyone has an open couch, a hot meal, and some emotional support whenever it’s needed. Sally is the unofficial leader of the group; she adopts all Percy's friends and has gotten used to questing demigods dropping by the apartment at all hours. She always makes them a hot meal and a fresh batch of blue cookies and lets them sleep on the couch for as long as they need to.  

Hey, I have a bunch of Percy Jackson and the Olympians prompt... ficlet... things. They have been in my drafts for literal years and I can't imagine I'll ever have the motivation to expand on them. Does anyone want to poke me to post some of them?

[breakfast-n-backrolls]

My parents are fucking insane

They've convinced me to visit them together with my soulmate/best friend (they think we're a couple, can't tell them we're aromantic lol) just to try and manipulate him into making me lose weight.

I literally left for 5 minutes to use the toilet and I instinctually felt something was off, even though I didn't hear them talking. After he left for the bus (I stayed overnight) we were texting and he told me about the situation, how pissed he got and how much he was straining not to talk back.

Yes, he's my feeder and he's totally endorsing my gain, he's feeding into my food addiction and wants me way bigger. But even if he wasn't, using him to try and sneakily make me change is just appalling. If they wanted to try and change my mind, they should have confronted me personally and in private. Trying to pull my apparent life partner into their games took it too far.

I've already told them a thousand times that I don't want to lose weight, that I'm aware of the consequences and that it's my private and personal decision that I don't want them to interfere with. The more they push, the stronger I am in my rebellion and reclaiming pleasure in my life. It's none of their business I'm fat, since I'm a consenting adult that can make its own choices, I love being fat and I'm making a conscious choice to stay as such. It's my life. I want hedonism, I want to give in and lead an unhealthy lifestyle. It makes me happy. Fuck anyone who thinks they can control me. If I die young, at least I'll die happy and not miserable like I used to be for so many years while battling self image issues and constant fear of enjoying food and clothes in an even slightly chubby body. I feel emancipated by making my own choice to embrace fatness.

Just to be clear, this isn't the only nor the worst instance of their mind games. My parents have been severely emotionally abusive to me up until the point I moved out. I'm currently seeking treatment for my psychological trauma. I don't feel much emotional connection with them, because they never made any effort to establish it. They're not evil, they're cool as friends, but they are shitty, manipulative and abusive parents. I don't hate them, I'm just many a time disgusted by their behaviour.

Stay safe, bacon babes, and don't let people dictate how you should live your life.