#bad things happening to small people

[prairiedawn]

On the Fears and Children

The canon TMA characters believe that the Fears are relatively uninterested in the fear of children, and we see relatively few children appearing in Statements overall. Now, from a Doylist perspective that's because horror with children (under about fifteen--we're not talking about teenagers) as victims can be more disturbing in ways that the writers didn't want to get into most of the time, in the same way that they did not dwell on Fears related to sex, relying instead on the common science fiction/fantasy proxy of psychic assaults of various kinds to examine a lot of the same kinds of themes.

But in the Eyepocalypse, everyone is Watcher or Watched, including all of the children. And they're not all in the Dark--a quarter of the global population consists of children under fifteen, and I can't imagine the Fears would allow that kind of lopsided representation.

But in order for the Fears to feed, the people they feed on have to be afraid of them. This leads to the question: When, from a developmental standpoint, do each of the Fears become relevant to children, and what Fears dominate at particular ages?

Let's consider this at several different stages: Infants too young to crawl, mobile babies (under about 2), toddlers (2 and three), young school aged (4 to 6), elementary aged (7-10), and adolescent (11 and up).

So, to the youngest babies.  Newborns come prepackaged with basically three major fears:  Suffocation(the Buried), falling (the Vast), and abandonment (The Lonely). 

The Moro reflex, in which a newborn is abruptly lowered a couple of inches, whereupon it will fling out its arms, draw the back to the midline, and cry is found in all neurologically "normal" babies (and is used to help diagnose some kinds of nervous system issues).

Newborns also seek out and mimic faces and will cry when left alone (some of us neuroatypicals weren't like that as babies, but we're talking averages here), along with several other presocial behaviors that function to keep adults nearby and attentive.

Suffocation is a weird one. Most babies develop a fear of suffocation very early, but when we are fetuses, a lack of oxygen causes us to breathe slower to conserve energy, since we're only breathing for practice. Some babies don't lose that tendency--which is dangerous and why we put babies to sleep on their backs.

All that said, newborns are not intellectually or emotionally sophisticated souls, and the Fears, in an Eyepocalyptic scenario, probably get more mileage out of threatening their caregivers than they do terrifying the infants themselves.

Mobile babies. Babies who can crawl and toddle have a lot more to be afraid of. The fear of falling gets much more pronounced as babies learn to crawl. They also develop a sudden, pronounced fear of strangers (or Strangers) and can be terrified by changes as simple as a caregiver wearing sunglasses or shaving their beard.  There can be a bit of fear of the dark at this age, but it's really more fear of abandonment at this point.  Babies this age fear sharply and simply and likely aren't too tasty for the Fears either. The part of the Spiral that is purely sensory overload might be able to scare toddlers, especially ND toddlers. The Fears are likely to use these children to scare adult caregivers more than the children themselves as well.

Twos and threes:  Now we get into some genuine fear of the Dark. This is the age at which imagination usually starts to sprout--the first real solid raw material for the Fears to prey upon. The other fears don't go away--except sometimes the fear of falling (unfortunately). The earliest inklings of Desolation show up here as well--mostly in the form of changes in routine or losing loveys. If we define the Flesh loosely as including having to eat food that looks yucky, there's a little there to work with. Anyone who has interacted with a two or three year old knows how much they loathe being controlled (at the same time wanting boundaries, poor dears.) The Web could get some kid fear here--and we know the Web regularly targets children

Four through six: Some children are going to start fearing Corruption around this age, though for many, corruption won't really be something they care about for much longer. It's one of the things we deliberately train into them, with varying success. I would guess that this is about where we start seeing some fear of the Hunt--though I suspect that fear will be mostly found in kids who have actually been hunted by abusers, bullies, or in time of war. The Spiral could probably get some mileage out of the fear of getting lost.

This is the last age at which most kids actually like the Eye intrinsically. "Watch me!  Are you watching me?" With the onset of school (and school shooter drills in the US) the Slaughter might have a chance to feed on this age group, but I suspect that the Slaughter isn't going to be a common Fear before the teens.

Seven to ten: This is the age at which many children start to understand death as a permanent thing that happens to everyone. The End might find some hunting here. This is also the first inklings of a sense of privacy, kids under six or seven (depending on the kid) kind of figure adults know everything anyway. This is also when kids are able to conceptualize being sane (or not), for the most part, so the Spiral could get some snacks here. Abstract thinking emerges, giving the Vast more to work with.

Eleven and up:  The constant state of middle school embarrassment should provide a rich feeding ground for the Eye. Middle schoolers frequently Do Not Want To Be Perceived. The dysphoria aspect of the Flesh is strong here. Even cis kids at this age are often appalled at the rapid changes in their bodies. The Buried can take advantage of increased expectations and responsibility, and the Web is going to make a big resurgence in this age group as well. Kids this age and older are developing the full, tasty range of emotions, in some ways more intensely than adults. Why didn't Jon see the rest of them? Think about it. He was so upset by the Dark that he almost couldn't continue. I think he chose to see what he could endure. Right up to the edge of his endurance, but not beyond it.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Burning Rotten Bridges

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[saltygilmores]

@frazzledsoul shared an absolutely baffling take that she spotted on Instagram . Someone claimed "People are so distracted by Jess' looks that they overlook the fact he is a calculator (calculated?) person only at the age of 16 it's alarming and SICK that Jess knew how to manipulate Dean and Rory's relationship to make them feel uncomfortable with each other! Jess did this to make Dean feel insecure and paranoid so Rory got progressively more distant and Jess can take Rory away from him!" Dean wasn't insecure and paranoid until Jess showed up? I smell a trash take! Lessgo! I notice Dean's supporters who blame Jess for being a big ol Ruiner seem to gloss over Dean's jealousy over TRISTAN (who was nothing more than a bully and a harrasser that Rory wasn't dating or even interested in). If everything was so dang hunky dory for Dean and Rory (Lol, that rhymed) before Jess shows up, what is Dean's excuse for being insecure, paranoid, and making Rory uncomfortable for the entire first season of the show, another 5 episodes of season 2 until Jess shows up, then another some odd epsiodes into season 2 until Dean and Jess even just meet each other or are simply aware of each other's existence? The first time we truly see the rivalry between Dean and Jess start brewing on screen isn't until Bracebridge Dinner (2x10), and then it heats up for realsies in A Tisket a Tasket (2x13). So before 2x,10, who was using their psychic abilities on Dean to "make him" treat Rory like crap for 30 some odd episodes? He treated Tristan with the same jealous contempt as he did Jess, and I would argue it was even worse. in fact in Love, Daisies, and Troubadors, Tristan grabs Rory's books without her consent while Dean is in the Chilton parking lot. All he has to do is see Tristan with Rory's books (that she didn't want him to take and was trying to get back from him) and he doesn't ask Rory any questions. His temper is instantly set off and he becomes scarily jealous in the school parking lot and starts raising his voice at Rory in front of hundreds of other students.

Not to excuse Tristan for being a bully. Poor Rory is exhausted and she should probably just give up on boys, run away and join a nunnery. But we're talking about Dean The Butt Forrester here. Just seeing another boy carrying Rory's books was enough to set him off.

Just a very select few examples of Dean being insecure, paranoid jealous, and just a garden variety asshole, and Rory's "comfort" with him, long before Liz stuck Jess on that bus to hell:

See, he's more than capable of being a butt clown all on his own! Sorry Dean Lovers, ya'll get five seasons worth of your lover boy and we only get 1 and a half of Jess. You can't use Jess as a "get out of jail free card" for every shitty thing Dean does.

[moeblob]

Honestly? Good anime imo! I really enjoyed Aileen. I enjoyed Claude. I enjoyed Isaac and Keith and Rachel and Almond and Ribbon. I enjoyed Belzebuth and the flock of ducks (Walt/Kyle/Auguste) and Jasper.

[perilegs]

i know astrology is fake but i'm not too keen on how a lot of people on this website seem to be clowning on it as a hobby a bit too hard. i swear the woman who thinks it's neat how she and her friends with the same sun sign are all similar isn't trying to say that you are who you are born as and there is nothing you can do to change it. it's a hobby. an interest. what happened to finding meaning and joy in the small things. does it affect you if someone enjoys tarot reading or crystals. does it make you upset someone has interests that they enjoy.

[faunandfloraas]

Criticising korean fans when they do something actually dodgy is all fine and good, should go for anyone who does invasive or weird, shit but also the amount of times now I see (usually western) fans just being like. Blatantly xenophobic and racist. Pretty much being like Yuck korean fans.... ?????? You're obsessed with a KOREAN POP ACT? why are you saying Korea like it's a slur you weirdo

[godsfavoritescientist]

Sometimes the way people talk about missing social cues is so over the top 😭 people will really say stuff like "how can someone live such a soulless joyless existence that they don't understand my joke" and "if you don't laugh at this are you even human" and "I can't imagine being such a miserable asshole that you think this is serious" and "how stupid do you have to be to fall for this 💀" and on and on like. I promise autism isn't a moral failing

[perenlop]

watching a vid on how people are very quick to become vitriolic to indie productions for being popular and having “bad fandoms” and genuine criticism and good faith takes get drowned out by people riding the contrarian horse very hard, and it reminds me of a take i saw in like 2016 when undertale blew up, where a guy i followed at the time saw an interview or something that showed that toby fox was actually overwhelmed and sorta uncomfortable with the large following (like, he didnt hate it but its understandable that he’d feel that way considering some of the infamy that came from it) and the guy i followed was like “LMAO good riddance to that idiot, he deserves it for making me look at undertale cringe for the last several months” and thats always stuck with me as just. such an unnecessarily mean thing to say about a creator who didnt really do anything besides make a game op didnt care for

[popcorndispenser]

Hershel is actually the only character I've ever projected my dpdr onto. Idk, it fits him really well imo. Des' PTSD gives him uncontrollable fits of anger, Layton's makes him dissociate.

For those uninitiated:

[loderlied]

i need you all to know that the main reason (besides a general hunger for attention) niles even accepts aldori’s call is because he got caught stealing his student’s work and passing it off as his own and his reputation as a teacher was obviously ruined. lmao

[skunkes]

might sound weird to say as a person with a couple ocs who have Big Horrible Event(s) in their backstories or as a person who has like 3 ocs total bc he sucks at writing and as a person who hopes their ocs arent too Boring with [the thing im about to mention] but the thing about writing [characters] and [people] is that like.

any little thing a person experiences can take up their whole existence... its actually something "fun" to experience as i meet new ppl and do more things. My friend had something happen that she'll be talking about forever. I had several things happen last year that ill never stop talking about, some of which other ppl think werent that bad actually. In the same way I'll forever remember about the way my sister accidentally insulted me almost 10 years ago, it's really interesting and Fun to find and assign smaller things like that to characters...its really Real. some people's dealbreakers are other people's solvable problems etc etc

[katyspersonal]

I suppose I can't help but revel in the privilege of not having to worry about my reputation or mental health because they're already ruined, nor I am wishing to accept the absurd terms required to restore them anyway

Like, always being in contact with people who want to say something against something but are too scared of backlash or anon harassment, and knowing that I could just take the weight of (completely justified) anger off their shoulders, because for ME hatred and attempts to hurt me are just arrows shot into a fire....? It feels helpful to turn being a cringefail looser that will never go anywhere into something useful, even if just for a few people!

At the same time, maybe there are periods where I am getting too heated? Like, just because I can say something without hurtful consequences doesn't mean I should? I don't understand whether I am too negative or barely negative, at least. I am not being negative on daily basis unlike some people :p, but when I am it goes HARD.

I am also kind of a.. coward for an "angry dog", I suppose. When I bark at something bigger than me, I can step away, like not responding to response for a TERF that I barked at or something. Because these require infinitely more research to tackle than analysis of a dumb videogame. Nothing like how I am with fandomry discourses or scolding a customer for being an AI bro or talking about ableism or whatever. I both wish this trait that I have finally grew stronger and allowed me to become a wolf and not just a dog, so I could say things against progressively more and more and more serious types of unfairness. With the same vigor, same intelligence, same.. frequency. At the same time, it all looks like those who do eventually just all go insane. They all just lose sight of their targets and either start to attack innocent, go rabid at even a suspicion of a threat or eat their own or all these things at once. So maybe being just a stupid angry dog is a blessing in its own way.

[rathockey]

hey a great thing you can do about the pit in your stomach when you look at the state of the world is do something small to improve your community - find an activist group to volunteer with, donate time or money to soup kitchens/food banks/shelters, write your local politicians and congresspeople, etc.

small actions snowball into big ones and every little thing you can do to help matters.

[constantvariations]

Considering aura is a thing, it'd probably be a lot harder to catch a batterer since the victim's wounds would heal and leave no evidence

[lengthy-artery]

.

[todayisafridaynight]

NO YOU’RE SO RIGHT ABOUT THE MAJIMA STUFF THOUGH. GOD. God forbid you speak poorly about the fandom silly guy etc etc. I rt’d one post about someone being annoyed abt majima getting an insane amount of merch (especially compared to other characters- even other PLAYABLE characters) and suddenly my TL is filled with ppl taking it as a personal attack….. like?? Settle down???

My one fear is that instead of Mine content we’re just gonna get Majima Saga 2 for yk3 and rgg will call it a day. WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SAY ABOUT THE GUY !!! GENUINELY!!!

at this rate we’re going to have a complete record of Majima’s life from birth until modern day bc you knowww they’re never gonna let the cash cow die or retire. + god I lowkey need the 3jimas to break up Now so saejima and daigo can stand on their own again (w/out being overshadowed by Majima)…. Saejima especially… I miss the days when he felt like a character………

(I may have a lot to say on the topic) (he’s a fun character but at this rate I’m getting so sick of the fandom around him)

gen is kinda funny how when there's the Monthly Critique Of Majima post on twitter the rggtwt part of the tl is flooded with majima fans being upset. its like clockwork really LOL

as for saejima, i do miss him being solo... like he's funny with majima at times, but as wack as Y4 was i still really liked his coliseum scene, and his prison adventures in Y5 were a real treat too..