#but it's what they're getting

[sp-growingpains]

Heyy 👋👋 its me again teehee

Im absolutely exhausted from these assignments and reading about Jean lore always cheers me up 🫶 (but no pressure to answer)

1. We've seen a lot about Jean's relationship with Kyle and Stan, but what about Kenny, Butters, and Eric? What are their interactions like?

2. Is she more extroverted or introverted? What are people's first impressions of her?

3. What are her feelings towards school and how well does she do? Does she hate it? Is she a straight A student?

4. What clique is Jean in? I think you've mentioned she has a soft spot for the goth kids, so is she a part of their group? And if not them, then who?

5. Weird one, but if someone were to break into Jean's house (considering how crazy South Park can get sometimes this isnt that farfetched), what's the first thing she's grabbing? If she fight or flight?

When I tell you that you actually made me tear up from asking this alone. The thought that my little blorbo makes you happy fills me with so much joy. I hope you understand that I plan on giving that love back! 🫶

OH IT'S RAMBLIN' TIME

Her Relationship With Others!

Starting with the most difficult going to the easiest to think about

Cartman: Real talk, I've spent hours thinking about her relationship with Eric. And like most people's ocs with him, it's complicated. On a normal day, she's a perfect victim for his schemes. Jean is a himbo down to her core. That means she's very gullible, to the point where it takes her a long time to learn not to keep falling for it.

If the Cartman Schemes are harmless and just fall back on her, it's fine. Most of the time, she'll laugh it off and think it's just Cartman's way of playing.

When it bleeds over to the others, that's when she gets frustrated with him. She truly believes that people are good at their core and that belief extends to him. So it frustrates her when she sees him fall into those ignorant habits or that extreme behavior.

Now, when it comes to his attitude towards Kyle, she takes a bit of a back seat. I have thoughts about her stepping in if it ever got physical or if either one took it too far. Because we've seen that Kyle's attitude towards Cartman is antagonistic at times. That's not to say he's as bad as Cartman (because NO ONE is as bad as Cartman), but Kyle does come off as very "Holier than thou art"! Jean's doesn't know a lot, but she knows when something is a losing battle.

Outside of that, she thinks most of the things he says is just some attempt at crude, edgy, 4chan humor. Because no one could really think those things. Right?

The only time Jean gets legitimately beyond angry with him was that whole thing with Kyle and Nichole. At the end of the day, she wants all of her friends to be happy. Nichole brought Kyle legitimate happiness, and he ruined that.

Butters: Oh sweet Butters. Baby boy Butters. Most of the fandom has reduced Leo to a sweet sunshine boy who could do no wrong.

Personally, as me, I know he's not like that. He's a sweetheart, sure, but he's also a little stinker. He falls into the same stupid habits of being tricked like Jean would. "Fool me once shame on you," kind of thing. Says some pretty dumb shit and does dumb shit just like the rest of them.

However, that mentality the Fandom pushes onto Butters is almost how Jean sees him. It's unfortunate, but Butters could get away with so much because of it. To her, Butters will always be that little brother that she has to protect. When he starts coming around more, she makes a silent vow to keep him safe.

But honestly, because of that view, she probably will never be super close to him. Almost to the point where she doesn't take him very seriously. And I can see that frustrating Butters later on in life. It would take him either blowing up on her or someone pointing it out that Jean treats him kinda like a joke. Of course, she'll feel horrible about it because that's never her intention.

But she goes out of her way to make sure he's included in things like late night diner runs. Out of hand parties. Goofy arcade outings. Birthday parties!

Kenny: The final dude on the main four, but certainly not forgotten. He's another one I've spent a very long time thinking about.

When I think about their relationship, I truly believe Kenny is the only one who really sees how self-destructive Jean is to herself. I've talked about how Stan and Jean understand each other in a way you can only get with someone who's like you, but that in itself isn't healthy. It becomes an echo chamber.

Kenny is the person who really pulls Jean out of her shit. He calls her out when she's on her fourth energy drink. When she's sweating vodka or when she stays up too late. What makes him so perfect for this is that Kenny is so casual about it. He does it in a way that doesn't make her feel bad about being fussed over.

Besides his laid-back attitude, there's an agreement between the two of them. Kenny and Jean look out for each other. I have always preached Kenny McCormick is a man who would give the world everything. He's so very kind, he loves so very much and Jean loves that about him. Loves that so much that she will give him the world back.

When they're old enough to understand, she offers her home to him and his sister. Making sure they have a warm meal and a place away from it all. What's the point of that big old empty house if you've got no one to share it with. Even then, when Jean's trying to give him something, he's taking care of her. Giving her that purpose she so desperately craves.

Jean's incredibly jealous of Kenny, and that drives her to be better. To do more. I guess in a roundabout way, Kenny is a friendly rival that keeps her going.

I also headcanon that Kenny is the one that did her industrial bar! They DIY their piercings together like idiots.

Extroverted and Burnt Out!

My buddies and I have talked a lot about how much of yourself you put in your oc. I try very hard to make all of my ocs their own person, but I don't hide the small amount I put of myself in my ocs. For Jean, I gave her my horrible habit of doing too much!

Jean is an extrovert! She loves going out, meeting new people, and constantly being on the go. It stems from that fear of being alone, being trapped with your thoughts, and needing to be needed so badly. She puts too much of herself out there until she crashes and burns. That typically comes from doing something reckless.

On the outside, Jean puts up a friendly front. She's goofy, loud, warm, and the personification of a golden retriever! The way she dresses and how big of a woman she is might give her a bit of a scary vibe, but she's honestly a big teddy bear. The last thing she wants is to scare people, so she tries to keep a smile on her face!

Smooth-Brain Hours!

Jean absolutely hates school. She hates having to sit still for hours in a desk that's too uncomfortable, listening to some teacher who probably doesn't give a shit about the thing they're teaching about. High-school Jean is a menace. She doesn't go out of her way to disrupt class because she won't even show up if she can help it. Especially if it's science and math. She doesn't get it and it frustrates her.

I've made jokes about her being stupid and a himbo, and jokes aside, she's just not book smart. If it's something that interests her, she's all over it! If we're comparing her to the other students, she's about Clyde's level of intelligence. The only difference is that she tries very hard to listen to the people who are smart.

It's only through the grace of her friends and those who care about her that she even passed to begin with. This kind of leads into her 'blind loyalty'. If Kyle, Tolkien, Nichole, or Wendy tell her something, she believes them almost to the point where she won't question it!

The things that keep her coming back are those people and the after-school activities. Playing basketball and getting to jam out in the music room! Going to watch football games and support her friends! Never a dull day in South Park, and she loves the chaos that comes with it.

The Squad

It's really hard to clock Jean into one clique. My first thoughts are those group of gym bros that will hype you up! Then I remembered all of my friends who are a part of the metal/punk community are like that.

So that's her little community outside of her normal squad. Her jacket has different patches on them that remind her of her friends and her favorite bands. She's got a Dio patch across her right chest pocket, that one is closest to her heart! Her favorite thing to do is to get into the pits and mosh! Loud music drumming in her ears and flowing through her veins. Surrounded by other people who just get it.

Punk is about community and standing up again injustice. Jean's got a problem with authority, especially when it comes to stupid adults. She's grown up surrounded by her friends' horrible parents, teachers who don't give a shit, and stupid hicks. She's gonna be a part of a group that's a little...defiant?

I can see the goths, at least tolerating her. Mostly because their insults slide off her smooth brain. That and she enjoys listening to their poetry when she skips class for a smoke break!

Them's Fighting Words

I talk a lot about how Jean is this big teddy bear. This gentle giant with a heart of dumb. But the reason she's like this is because she tries very hard to be like this. In actuality, under all of that sunshine, she loves a good fight. The rush, the adrenaline behind it all, down to the pretty purple bruises that come with it. It all feels so very deserved.

And that's not right. It's not normal to think like that.

So if a fight presents itself. Someone breaks into her house, hearing about how some stupid woman lives alone in this fancy house, and that makes for easy pickings; she's gonna take it eagerly. Any excuse to let go of that pent-up rage she keeps bottled up.

The fun answer as to what she's grabbing would be her guitar, but she'd rather bleed out on the floor than break her darling instrument. So she grabs her bass instead. Besides, everyone knows the bass swings harder. Makes a nicer sound when it comes into contact with someone's head too.

If she wins the fight and she knows the fight is done, she'll take responsibility for the damage she's caused. If something is broken, she goes out of her way to make sure the person can get to the hospital. For as much as she loves fighting, and the pain feels deserved for her, she's a bleeding heart. In the back of her head, whoever broke into her house had to do it out of desperation. Had to have a reason for why they needed to do this. Maybe she can help them. Put them on the right path! Sometimes, that path starts with a few fists being thrown!

Hey, thanks for being patient with me, and I hope this was a fun read! I truly appreciate and adore this community and the friends I've made through it! I want to continue to get better with my art and word smithing so I can make the content you all deserve! You really made me think about some things I wouldn't have considered! Your brain is beautiful and I love it!

[demaparbat-hp]

That infamous prison escape.

[inkskinned]

she's singing in another room and my dog is asleep at my feet. my grandma asked me why i haven't found a man yet and i laughed. oh, you know. i like my house clean.

my girlfriend is also my man is also "my partner" if i'm in a professional setting. yesterday we went to a ren faire and a man mimed at me - you're together? and at my delighted nod, his baffled, you're gay? made me laugh. a woman with rainbow hair said i love the two of you together. you're both so beautiful it's absurd.

my dad introduced my partner as my "..... friend. or whatever" the other day. he knows we're dating. in the same way, i was never able to get my sister's husband to stop saying that's gay like it's 2008. he still uses the word fa***t, and my sister's defense of him has always been well, he's just kidding.

my lover and i dance to old music in a tiny kitchen. we judge new music together and take food critique very seriously. we watch love is blind before we fall asleep and agree that if they had a queer season, it would be bloody but also make for excellent tv. of fucking course queer people would know someone for only 2 weeks and agree to get married. what are you saying.

at a bar with friends, a man puts his hand on my wrist. got a boyfriend? and yes, i do have a boyfriend, she's amazing. i am texting her while i wander around a gas station named after geese. i am visiting a swing state for a wedding. in the candy aisle i overhear: she's actually like a lesbian it's disgusting. two teenage girls with packaged sandwiches in their hands, giggling. no literally, like. i'm not, like. okay with her being there while we're all, like, naked and changing.

my girlfriend and i tailgate, drink gin and cider out of cups. from the frat group beside us, a man corrects himself with one of his friends: bro, i mean, nonbinary entity, and it makes everyone around him laugh, myself included. he razzes his friend the same way i would have killed for at 19 years old - like nothing happened, he continues: you apply sunscreen like an alien. he does a little sassy (and fairly accurate) dance interpretation of the motion. his friend is laughing so hard they're crying.

i am lucky, i live in a safe neighborhood in a safe state. my masc passenger princess comes up from DC. i drive her for an hour to where all the leaves are a violent arrangement of color. we walk along the trails, letting autumn into our blood. in this part of the state, there's a lot of pickup trucks and trump signs. when we chastely kiss before getting into the car, i accidentally make eye contact with a woman holding her child's wrist. she looks disgusted. she looks fucking pissed.

two hours later my girl and i are eating dinner on a patio, soaking in the last warmth of new england sun before the chill of winter sets in. we are giggling and trying to talk through plastic vampire teeth. at another table, i see a young woman sit up straighter. i watch her watch us. she blushes and takes her partner's hand from across the table. shy, like the taste of evening has just become something deeper.

it's worth it for this moment, i think. my lover is still humming the same song she's been singing for four days straight and i don't want to kill her for it. her guitar is beside my bed. her toothbrush is in my bathroom. in a few moments i will make us lunch. we are lucky enough to have found each other. it is lucky enough to be in love.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

historical drama/sitcom where two gay best friends (woman and man) get lavender married--and proceed to spend the Fancy European Honeymoon their parents paid for acting as each other's wingman

[symphonyofsilence]

Let the poor man rest.

[qiinamii]

we'll do fine.

[hattersarts]

im already at the south downs cottage guys, catch up

[pokimoko]

Asexual bird? Please

How about two asexual birds?

[coddda]

I wish we could have met in some other way.

Lawlight Week Day 2: Soulmates

If you saw me repost and re-edit this several times uh No you didn't </3

Still frames/Individual gifs:

If you know what every frame is from you get a free cookie. by the way

[oldwitchsleep]

bet daniel's biggest complaint about being turned into a vampire is suddenly louis has him on therapy speed dial AND HE CAN'T DECLINE THE CALL!!

[akanemnon]

How to be an annoying little jerk 101

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference

[sixth-light]

I have had these thoughts bubbling away in my head for like...eighteen months or so now (it will become very obvious why shortly) but the discussion in this post has pushed me to write them down: I think societally we HUGELY underestimate how motherhood for primary caregivers, particularly first-time motherhood, can be a source of vulnerability to radicalisation.

There is obviously huge cultural variance here, but for a lot of cis women becoming primary caregiver to an infant in a capitalist Western society represents a time of immense vulnerability because in general you are:

Incredibly sleep-deprived (which has well-documented knock-on effects for your judgement, mental health, etc)

If you gave birth, recovering from a significant challenge to your physical health (even in the best-case scenario)

Isolated from your previous networks and communities of people in full-time work

Completely separated from the context of your prior career goals and achievements

Under huge amounts of stress to learn how to care for an infant (don't get me started on breastfeeding)

And on top of this, you are also be experiencing a huge amount of messaging about how all this is natural, wonderful, something you're meant to do, something you should love doing, and something that you must do for the welfare of their child. It's a huge amount of pressure and life change even when everything goes right and there's very little cultural space to express negative feelings about it.

Any group of people who offer community, support, and affirmation to cis women in this situation are going to have a really good shot at radicalising them into some very weird and dangerous headspaces and in fact we see this happen all the time - think antivaxxers and TERFs. It flies under the radar because of the hazy positive glow that associates with motherhood and babies and also because we don't take the radicalisation of women seriously I guess because they rarely shoot anybody, but...yeah. It is such a vulnerable time!

[juney-blues]

when you're part of a group with structural power over another goup, you really do gotta just learn to say "i am not exempt from 'fuck 'em' when relevant" whenever someone expresses frustration with you or people like you.

[egophiliac]

queen of diamonds, upright + reversed 💎

I've redone this like eighty times, I have to just be done with it now and stop staring at all my mistakes oh no 🫠

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

Production houses: but if the writers stay on strike we can't guarantee the future safety of your favorite shows 🥺🥺😭😭

Viewers who 1, have already lost their favorite shows because they were cancelled in spite of good ratings and good reviews or 2, have stopped watching new content entirely until the entire series has aired and concluded as a result of so many good shows getting cancelled on cliffhangers and thus leaving said viewers unable to gain closure with those characters and with a hollow viewing experience, so they've begun a, watching older shows they know came to a planned conclusion or b, revisiting their old favorites and enjoying the nostalgia or c, reading new books or fanfic instead: YOU ALREADY CAN'T GUARANTEE THE FUTURE OF OUR SHOWS SO GET FUCKING WRECKED AND PAY WRITERS WHAT THEY DESERVE!

[loriache]

"I've been waiting for ages for somebody to unmask them."

This moment tends to elicit negative reactions in a first read through, and I've got some opinions about why where Kabru is coming from here actually makes a lot of logical sense. So I thought I'd elaborate on that.

I think people hear this and go, "He thinks they must be hiding something because they gave money to someone? What a cynic." Or "he dislikes them because they did charity?? What's wrong with this guy!". And obviously, a lot, a lot is wrong with him. But I think this makes more sense than it seems at first glance! What people evaluating this judgement miss is why Kabru is paying attention to Laios and co to begin with.

Kabru knows of the Touden siblings because (he's a little bit of a stalker-) he is keeping an eye on all the relevant parties in events developing on the island, in order to be able to guide them to his preferred outcome. This includes adventurers because they are the ones actually exploring the dungeon! He's well aware that something as minor as internal tensions between party members could be key to the historical events that are developing. (He would love the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.)

His desired outcome is that whatever the rewards are of breaking the dungeon's curse, whether that's kingship or the ancient elven secrets of dungeons, are claimed by:

A) a short lived person

B) Someone who will be a good, effective leader and/or use those secrets and the power they carry wisely, with foresight, and to establish a political bloc for short lived people.

The person he can best trust to do this is, of course, himself. But due to his PTSD regarding dungeons and monsters, he's not able to develop the necessary skills to conquer the dungeon. Once he realises this, he starts looking for someone else who he can support to that end.

But most of the adventurers don't have any intentions of conquering the dungeon, don't have the skills, or are unsuitable in other ways. In fact, it seems like some potentially suitable people are the Toudens. There are a lot of good rumours about them going around - they actually seem to have a very positive reputation! That's what Kabru means when he says "unmask".

So when Kabru is observing something like them giving money to an old comrade from their gold-peeling days, he doesn't consider it a problem because "they're giving money to this person who doesn't actually need it" or because they must have some dark secret if they act superficially nice. I think he actually understands this situation and what it implies about Laios (in particular) perfectly well.

Laios and Falin gave money to an old comrade who got injured and couldn't work. That person then healed up but kept taking their money. Then he used the money to start smuggling illicit goods to the island.

The key is that for Kabru, the problem here is the same as with the corpse retrievers - people using the dungeon's resources to fuel dangerous, selfish, or violent pursuits cause problems for the island, attract more criminals and people with motives other than breaking the curse, and increase the chances of the whole situation ending in tragedy.

Kabru is willing to work with the Shadow Lord of the island if it gets him to his goal - he isn't scrupulous - but the criminal element of the island increasing is something he sees as a major issue.

Also, when you're evaluating someone as a candidate for power, riches, secrets, potentially kingship - then being curious about how the money you give to people is going to be used is kind of a relevant trait!

Interpersonally, Kabru's actually very easygoing - I mean, Mickbell isn't exactly an upstanding guy, is he! But Kabru likes him and they get along well. These traits wouldn't be a problem at all in a friend, or a comrade, or someone Kabru was confident he could use. But he can't get a handle on Laios, and Laios is someone who has the potential to be a major player!

On Laios' end, this is the same as with the marriage seeker who joined their party. She kept asking for things and he gave them to her, because he tries to be nice to others. He even gives her money! It's the exact same thing.

That's fine, but it became a problem because he basically wasn't interested in her motives, didn't notice she was trying to manipulate him, and it also didn't occur to him that the other party members would notice or be affected. We can assume the situation with the gold peeler is the same. When Kabru says that "It's not that they're bad people, they just aren't interested in humans," he isn't wrong.

The extent to which this is true of Laios is linked to his autism imo, (because it isn't just disinterest - he genuinely isn't able to notice nonverbal cues that people are lying to him or have ulterior motives) but to a greater or lesser extent I think it's a very common trait. Most people aren't actually that interested in other people who aren't close to them. Kabru is the weird one here. It isn't an issue except as a leader - which is why we see an immediate comparison to the Island's Lord, because that's how Kabru is evaluating them.

And disinterest in/lack of ability with people to the extent Laios exhibits it, it does, actually, make him a worse leader... it's just that as we see in the story, people can help him out. The rest of the party tell him the marriage seeker is taking advantage of him so he tells her he can't give her special treatment anymore. They're pissed and it's a crisis point - he couldn't have recovered their trust without Marcille and Falin - but that's exactly the point. With Marcille and Falin, he was able to recover their trust.

And he has other good traits that make up for it, such as his intelligence, strategic knowledge, open-mindedness and sense of fairplay.

Kabru doesn't disqualify Laios as a candidate based on what he sees about him from afar, though - he still tries very hard to get close to him, obviously hoping that if he manages he can steer Laios to defeat the dungeon and make up for his lack of people-skills in the aftermath. (Which... he does eventually achieve that goal!) He completely fails until the events of the story, so... definitely I think "They just aren't interested in humans" could also partially be a stung reaction to Laios' complete disinterest in him.

Anyway, that's my read on what exactly Kabru's "issue" with Laios is. Obviously, once he does find out what Laios' true nature is like - about his love for monsters - he develops an entirely new set of fears about Laios' priorities. But since Laios kept that a secret until the start of the story, he has no idea of that yet.

Given all that, I think it's interesting that he says that he doesn't think that the Toudens are suitable to defeat the dungeon, and that he's hoping they'll turn out to be the thieves. As some of his few potential candidates, people who he thinks may play a big role in the island's future, you'd think he'd hope they would be good people!

I suppose it's better, in his eyes, because it means that he's involved in something "interesting". They haven't just had their stuff stolen by regular criminals (boring, puts them further away from his goal) - they've been caught up in the beginning stages of "a historic event". The desperate and dwindling group forgetting morals in their quest to retrieve their lost comrade probably appeals to his sense of melodrama. Because he also just... loves drama.

Despite it being "uglier than anything he was expecting", he still pursues Laios as the person he wants to conquer the dungeon pretty much as soon as it becomes clear that he won't be able to do it himself and they are out of time. That's because... well, to be fair, there aren't any other options. And he fits standard A: he's short-lived!

and Kabru still hopes he can fit standard B, too, and be persuaded to use the power he wins for good. No matter how many nightmares he has about Laios, or whether he thinks about killing him. He doubts him, but ultimately he puts his faith in him and seems happy after the manga's ending that he made the right decision.