#just that the friction doesn't seem to build as much resentment

[knifeforkspooncup]

My entire team at work is neurodivergent.

Not a single person here is neurotypical (ok maybe like one guy is unconfirmed, but I have my doubts,) and while it certainly isn't the utopia I always envisioned, it is very entertaining.

Like at no other workplaces have I ever been asked if I was ok while I was doing desk work. But here, everyone understands desk work = your soul slowly leaving your body = psychological torture of the highest degree. One person even brought me a coffee with extra sugar out of solidarity.

There are no less than 4 simultaneous conversations happening at once at any given time. Any less and I'm pretty sure we'd start clawing at the walls.

Speaking of which, this morning (halfway through our morning meeting) my coworker started tearing apart the ceiling because the AC was dripping. He was leading the meeting. No one batted an eye and the meeting just kept going as if he wasn't literally dismantling the room around us. We even handed him tools when he silently held out his hand.

Between us we are basically a fully stocked pharmacy of all the most highly restricted medications. I'm pretty sure some people are trading meds like kids trading sandwiches at lunch.

Sometimes an unstoppable force (a coworker with understimulated hyperactive ADHD) meets an immovable object (an overstimulated autistic coworker with rigid routines) and either the universe' mysteries are solved or (way more likely) nuclear war breaks out. -> my AuDHD ass watching from the corner like a child of divorce 🧍‍♂️

Most of the people here have been fired at least once in past jobs. Several of them were fired by the people they now work with.

Documentation and organization is a choose your own adventure kind of situation. This means the finished documents we DO have are absolutely immaculate and belong in the Louvre. The other 99.9% of the information is stored in people's heads or scribbled on scrap paper and left around or word docs with like one sentence in them. I am of the latter variety unless I'm forced to be the only adult in the room.

There is not a single surface in our workspace that doesn't have a fidget toy on it. We keep breaking chairs because everyone spins on them.

No one has ever looked at me weird when I announce I'm all out of facial expressions for the day.

"Did you forget to take your meds" is a socially acceptable thing to ask and honestly shows you care enough to notice.

When something goes catastrophically wrong the entire room erupts into inappropriate laughter.

The amount of coffee consumed by our team alone is probably more than all the other teams combined. Daily.

There is no such thing as a Standard Operating Procedure here. Everyone has their own way of doing things. Yes it's chaos and causes a lot of fights but it's better than the alternative (one person happy and everyone else miserable.)

[darkfictionjude]

Etymology nonnie here!

So, I keep thinking about the relationship between MC and the brothers. And I have come to the conclusion MC cannot repair, or build rather, a relationship with Percy as long as their relationship with Sally is what it is.

In the dinner scene we can bond with Percy through humor. However, Sally's behavior immediately cause Percy to withdraw and feel lesser than. How could he not, if he is being so blatantly ignored and dismissed? Worse, it probably fueled whatever resentment and jealousy Percy feels towards MC. And the thing is, so far, MC has been unable to approach Percy in a meaningful way. And any time they try, Percy brings up Sally. Which means that Percy ties both Sally and MC as a unit. So, as long as Sally behaves so distant to Percy and overprotective to MC, Percy cannot really see MC as their own individual. MC is a package deal with Sally.

The issue is that Sally probably is a significantly harder relationship to fix. Because it requires Sally to acknowledge a lot of things he is in denial about. I imagine, at some point, we will have to confront him about this. The issue is that I don't see a singular confrontation being enough. On the contrary, I imagine long discussions are going to be necessary.

Yet, that only makes sense to happen once MC gains their own personhood. When they see themselves as individuals, with their own identity and preferences. Which, is a process. And one that is not simple, and can easily (and will, I'm sure) create friction with Sally. Sally is not going to approve the murder investigation. And I imagine he won't be happy about the romance.

Which is an interesting point. I don't think Sally would he against MC romancing someone per se. But rather that, in the way he infantalizes MC, the concept of them being able to romance anyone neve passed through his mind. So he would have to overcome the conflicting reality with his concept of who MC is. And that's not going to be pretty.

It saddens me, however, that because of how the relationships work, Percy is the last one (once again) to be focused on. At least, in a way that makes sense. I'm not saying those processes cannot overlap. But I imagine MC has to focus on themselves and their relationship with Percy before doing any sustancial improvement with Percy.

It's a delightful mess, at least, from a reader's perspective.

And this is ignoring the whole issue with the parents. But I think I do so for a myriad of reasons.

1) A lot of their (Victor and Prudence's) issues are things that they have to resolve on their own, before they even think of tackling the ones they have with their children.

2) Prudence doesn't seem to care about building a relationship with her living children. Especially so when it comes to MC.

3) I still suspect Victor is dead. It's just so suspicious someone who cares so much about appearances accepted to bring MC back (unless it was about money). But also the fact that Victor didn't make an act of presence in the welcoming party is weird. The fact that Sally seems to be in charge, and some of the decisions made do make a lot more sense if we take them as Sally's instead of Victor's... Well, it's suspicious as hell. But even if he is not dead, he clearly has detached himself from his family to the point of no interacting with them whatsoever.

Now I could imagine, due to the supernatural happenings of the town and the horror vibes of WWC as a whole... That something more horrifying could be going on. I remembered a manga from Junji Ito, about a girl visiting the home of her boyfriend/fiancé (I don't recall many of the details, although they are not that relevant). The thing is, the father of the boyfriend was postrated in bed because his head was connected to the heads of previous patriarchs of the family. Almost like a centipede of heads. So maybe something like that is happening with the Crown family, and that's why Sally is the new face of the family.

Now, that's more of a random theory than a serious one. I have little basis for it. Mainly Victor's absence, Sally's weirdness, and the fact that Prudence seems way too sure about MC's weirdness coming from the Crown side of the family. As if she knew something.

And, even then, if my theory had some validity, I could not say exactly what is going on with Victor. In part because I don't know how Lovecraftian/eldritch the story is supposed to go. But also because MC has not inquired nor investigated about it, so we have no information.

Of course, I do understand I can be completely wrong. And Victor could soon make an act of presence.

It's just one more mystery, as of yet, that the game offers.

Oh yeah I really that because it’s true. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. If you want to be closer to Percy than you can’t also be closer to Sally it doesn’t work that way. Percy does view mc as their own person but also kind of things they willingly reject individuality to be closer to Sally. There’s also the trust stuff, he can’t trust mc with his stuff because he thinks mc has more loyalty to sally and would tell him the relationships are too frayed that mc can’t be on good equal terms with both brothers

Ah I love Junji Ito! I love that type of body horror he has

and the fact that Prudence seems way too sure about MC’s weirdness coming from the Crown side of the family

She’s not even way too sure to her it’s a reality, she does say it’s Victor’s dirty blood that made MC this way in episode 2.

Victor will show up in the game, it’s just that I want it to be slow like Prudence, Prudence shows up four episodes in. The reason is that their absence in a way shows how far this family has fallen, the children are pretty much living alone. A shadow of what once was a great dynasty

[milstrim]

A Fun Friday

Day 3: Manhandled | Held at Gunpoint

This was embarrassing. Plain and simple.

First of all, it was hot, unbearably hot in the empty warehouse room where he was tied to a chair, and he'd been there for hours. He was sweating a lot as a result, and it especially didn't help that he was still wearing his suit, and he hadn't even been allowed to take off his jacket! He had some pretty rude kidnappers, but they weren't the worst part. No, the worst part was that he hadn't been kidnapped alone, but that he'd been kidnapped with Steve Fucking Rogers.

He hadn't seen the man in more than eight months, their last point of contact being the letter that had come in the mail so long ago, bearing the phone that had been in his pocket, but which had been taken upon being kidnapped. So, he was having a great time sitting in an uncomfortable metal chair, with cheap rope wrapped around his hands and legs, and sweating his mind off in a stuffy warehouse in July.

It was an amazing Friday. He briefly wondered what the kid was doing, since she was supposed to come over to the tower today. Maybe Happy hadn't picked her up, instead telling her to buzz off and hopefully not telling Penny why she couldn't come. Because if that kid knew, he knew that nothing would stop her from trying to find him, and this wasn't exactly the situation he wanted her in.

But luck had never really been on his side, had it?

Tony barely ever spared a glance to the man to his right, chained to the wall instead of tied to chair, though he could tell the Captain was trying very hard to get his attention, probably for some kind of escape plan. But Tony was already working on one, he didn't need Rogers's help, and he certainly didn't want it.

"So, Stark, quite confused to see Rogers here, huh?" one of his kidnappers asked haughtily, jauntering up to the two as the other men set up something in the background. Tony glanced at his old friend, and Rogers stared back for a second, though he ignored the rather sad and closed expression on his face. The man in front of him was clearly young, judging by his stature and lanky skinniness, though the mask on his face covered his features other than his thin lips and green eyes.

"Not really. He always pops up where I don't want him to be. I'm more curious about why we're here," Tony responded effortlessly, much to the chagrin of the young man.

"Duh, money and immunity."

"...That doesn't make much sense. The money, that I get, but immunity?"

"Rogers is a criminal, we turn him in, we get a few favors from the government, we send a video of you to your fiancee, we get some money, easy peasy. Well, a lot of money, I'm sure you have plenty to spare."

"Yeah, on protecting the world, but we generally agree that ransoms aren't more than two mil."

"That's barely a base for us," the man responded, but Tony just shrugged. So, money and favors. Wasn't too bad, they weren't complex or revenge seeking, and chances were nobody was going to die. He'd still like to keep money out of their hands, and Steve out of the government's, but it could be way worse.

"That's it, really?" Steve asked, clearly annoyed. Tony understood the inconvenience, this had been planned to be a fun Friday, but still, he didn't really want to hear his voice at this moment. It felt like cheese graters against his ears, "Just money and a bit of leeway?"

"Nah, Johnny forgot about the last part," a different man said, clearly older and coming up from behind him, placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder, "It's whatever, he's knew."

"Oh, yeah!" Johnny exclaimed, excitement clear on his face, "We need Spider-Woman too!"

Tony's blood ran cold, and for the first time since he'd woken up in this stupid place, he was threatening, and he was mean, "What the hell do you need her for?"

"She's getting in the way of business," the older man responded easily, "But that's all you're getting out of me. You're going back, and we don't need you sniffing around."

"Tough luck, you already told me you're looking for, and you're not getting her."

"Well, we're getting her before we send you back, so I don't know how much say you have in this."

"Yeah, how are you doing that? She's at Avengers Tower right now, you won't be able to get her," he replied, lying through his teeth. Technically Penny was supposed to be at the tower, but it was more likely she was patrolling, even possibly looking for him.

"Oh, we'll call her, then," the older man said, turning back to the other goons, "Has anyone got his watch? Or phone?"

"We dropped the phone," replied one, fishing something out of his pocket as he walked over and then handing it to the head goon, "But here's the watch. Do you reckon' the machine is done?"

The man gave it a once over, "It looks like the diagram said it would be, though he did say it would be easier to put together. Into your positions then."

Tony jerked in his chair as he watched them, a deep cold running through his body. If they called Penny, and told her they had him, she would come and check it out, no questions asked, even without proof just to make sure she was safe. She was stupidly loyal like that, and he came to resent her for it a little more each day.

The men moved to another room to make their call, clearly not wanting any interruptions from him, and he took the time to try and work at his ropes. Steve, it seemed, was more incline to start a heart to heart.

"Tony--"

"Not now, Rogers."

"Look--"

"Not. now. Rogers," he enunciated steelily. Steve didn't look hurt at his harsh words however, just disappointed, which really didn't help anything, "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking something stupid, don't deny it," Tony quipped, continuing to try and tear at the rope, trying to get it to snap from friction, but it wouldn't be fast enough. He couldn't even hear what they were saying a room over, but if Penny came, he knew how little she cared for her own health, how willing she would be to save him, "Can you break your cuffs?"

"No, I've been trying, but I need more time than we'll have."

Tony swore, "This is bad. She'll be here soon and--"

"Let her," Steve interrupted, and Tony turned on him, fury in his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"What? Have you or have you not been mentoring that kid for since Germany? You don't think she can save us from an amateur kidnapping?"

"It's not that," Tony muttered.

"What then?"

"Look, I don't know if you know this, but I am not required to share my personal life with you, especially not anymore. I don't care what you say, that kid is brash and stupid and good, and would give her life for mine in an instant. I don't need her down here getting herself hurt when we could very well get out of this ourselves. So, if you've got a plan that doesn't involve Spidey, I would love to hear it."

Steve was silent for a moment, his eyes glancing between the complicated looking contraption sitting in the middle of the room and the billionaire beside him, "Do you know what that thing is?"

"Sure, it's Matter State Stabilizer, a pretty crude one, but it should hold up to about...three thousand pounds, if my math is right, which it always is," Tony answered, glancing up and down at the machine, unimpressed, before turning back to Steve, "What? You gotta plan?"

"You're not gonna like it."

Tony sighed, "I never did like any of your plans."

 ----

Penny wasn't exactly sure what was going on. She was supposed to be at the tower right about now, but instead she was patrolling, which wasn't bad, but she didn't understand why Mr. Stark had cancelled. She hadn't even gotten a text from him, just a quick 'You can't come today, Tony will reschedule.' from Happy. She was a bit confused, since Mr. Stark usually had an explanation for her that he gave himself, but she assumed he must have a good reason.

She assumed right.

She'd been patrolling for barely two hours when Karen's screen had lit up with an icon of Mr. Stark, and she'd been so surprised she'd nearly let go of her web an fallen.

"Incoming call from Mr. Stark," Karen said, and she told her AI to answer it.

"Hey, Mr. Stark!" she greeted without missing a beat, "What's up? Happy said that you were--"

"A little preoccupied?" cut across a voice that was definitely not Mr. Stark. Her heart skipped a beat, making her flounder in midair, and she barely managed to cling onto the corner of a nearby building. Only Mr. Stark could call her through the suit, or Ms. Potts or Colonel Rhodes or Happy, not whoever the hell this person was.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded, "Where's Mr. Stark?"

"Like I said, preoccupied," the man replied coolly, "Now, here's the deal, we have him, do you want him back?"

"What? Yeah. I'd like for my mentor to not be kidnapped. It's a little hard for him to teach me anything like that."

The man laughed dryly, "Well, you want him back you're going to have to work for it?"

"...What do you want?" she asked hesitantly, quietly indicating for Karen to start tracking the call.

"We just want you to stop by, alone of course. You bring any friends and a bullet will go in 'Mr. Stark's' head. Got it?"

"Yep. Bullet in the head. Real original. Where am I stopping by?"

He rattled off in address in...New Jersey. Why? Why so far away. And why New Jersey? Ew. They couldn't just stay in Queens for her? It'd make things so much easier.

The man hung up before she could say anything else quippy, so she was left to make her way all the way over to Ew Jersey, which take much longer than she would've liked. As she swung, eventually managing to get herself onto a ferry that moved much too slowly for her taste, she thought about calling Vision or Colonel Rhodes. Surely they were looking for Mr. Stark too, surely they could handle the situation better than her. But they'd told her to come alone, or else Mr. Stark would die. Though going alone was exactly what Mr. Stark had told her not to do... Whatever, he could yell at her after she'd saved his life. If she was lucky, maybe she'd get shot and Mr. Stark wouldn't say anything.

It took her too long to get to New Jersey, her muscles stiff yet trembling with anticipation and fear, and as soon as she could be, she was moving, leaping off of the ferry and scrambling across building after building, webs shooting from her wrist as she made her way to the warehouse. Because of course it was a warehouse. It was always a fucking warehouse.

Penny landed on the side of it, trying to peer through the mostly boarded up window, the lenses of her mask widening in surprise. Mr. Stark was in there, but not only Mr. Stark. She was like, 80% sure that the super buff guy with a beard next to him was Captain America. How--why did they not mention this to her?? Did they not think it was important? Sure, she didn't really know the guy, but it seemed like important information to her.

The teen debated with herself for a minute if she should sneak in or announce herself, but the guard with a gun standing erect beside Mr. Stark, who was gagged with a string and a gross, old looking sock, reminded her of their threat. She couldn't risk anything happening to him. She couldn't lose him. So, taking a deep breath, she squeezed through the window and then dropped on the floor in the center of the room.

All eyes turned to her, and she dutifully ignored Mr. Stark's glare that was burning a hole right through her, annoyance clear in his gaze, which irked her a little. He would do the same for her, why should she have to leave him hanging?

Focus, Penny. She had to keep this under control. She cleared her throat and gave the men with masks in the room a little wave, "Hey, guys. You called?"

"Hands in the air, you freak," the one by Captain Rogers said, raising his gun and pointing it at her. She lazily complied, her lenses narrowing at the man.

"Nice mask, but I like mine a little better. The black's a little boring," she quipped, and she could practically feel the eyerolls in the room.

"Shut up," ordered a voice, one she recognized. She turned to stare at him, realizing it must be the man she had talked to over the phone, and he, too, was pointing a gun at her, one she recognized and brought back a familiar sick feeling in her stomach, "You've caused enough problems around here. Now, I've heard there's a bounty on your head along with the human embodiment of an eagle over there, so you're going to sit like a good girl and no one gets hurt."

"Um, so if you're just trading us for bounties, what's Mr. Stark for? And how'd you even kidnap him? Or Captain America? Actually--"

"Nope, I don't need a yapper. And the bounties aren't that nice, especially to what a billionaire could offer."

"Fair enough, I guess," she shrugged. She glanced back over at Mr. Stark, not quite sure what to do, especially with the gun that was pressed closer to his head as she looked over. His eyes bored into her, desperate and sad and angry. But then they glanced over to the Captain. She glanced over at him as well, not very surprised to see him watching her closely.

So, they clearly had a plan, so how did she not ruin it? She guessed she'd just have to listen to the men with the guns until they were no longer pointed at her mentor.

"Great," the man said, and then he flicked the switch on his weapon. She flinched at the blue beam that shot out of it, encasing and trapping her. The man laughed ecstatically as he flung her around in the air, clearly trying to make her dizzy, but she honestly just hated the vibrations in the air around her.

"Oh. My. God. Can. You. Fucking. Stop!" she yelled, her voice warped through the stupid gun as the men jeered as she was flung around the warehouse, which was pretty annoying. After a few last laughs, she was dumped from being held in the gun to being held in the machine, though the vibrations and the blue hue didn't change. Huh, it was actually pretty cool. How did these guys even get something this big that could produce this kind of energy it was insane--

"Great, who do we call first?" a man asked as he looked over their haul of three superheroes. Penny flipped over inside her really cool scientific chamber lazily. Now that she was in the bigger thing, it honestly just felt like a massage.

"FBI. The Avengers will haul ass down here the moment we say we have Stark."

"Okay, let me just--"

A tremor ran up Penny's spine, and in a moment that felt like it was forever--a cracking sound from Mr. Rogers's direction, a slight nod from Mr. Stark, and her flipping back over--she flicked out her wrist and clicked.

Immediately a web shot out, grabbing the gun from near Mr. Stark just as Cap broke out of his cuffs, knocking the man next him unconscious. Badass.

There were shouts and cries of confusion at the movement, and she took that as her cue to web the nearest man and launch him towards her, his body hitting the release button, allowing her to fall onto the ground, free of her really nice massage. She wondered if she could convince Mr. Stark to let her keep this thing.

Probably not, but it was worth a shot.

Like a flash, she leaped off of the machine, leaving Captain America to fight while she grabbed Mr. Stark. The bullets raining we enough for her to not bother untying him just yet, instead grabbing him in the whole chair and leaping into the rafter, where they were relatively free of the flying metal pieces of death.

"Hey, Mr. Stark," she greeted, setting him down and quickly snapping the ropes around him, "We're always in the weirdest situations, so I was thinking we get some ice cream later. Less weird, right?"

Mr. Stark tore his gag off, gagging at it before throwing it underneath him in disgust, "Don't think you're not in trouble when we get out of this."

"Am I still in trouble if I get shot?"

"Don't you dare."

"I can leave you up here."

"Put me down and then go help Cap," he ordered, and she rolled her eyes, sighing as she picked him back up and jumped down with him in his arms, which must look pretty funny what with their height difference and all.

The fight honestly didn't last long. It was hilariously short, over in less than five minutes as she dodged and hit and webbed with absolutely no problem. One she'd webbed the last person to the ground, she bounced back over to Mr. Stark, who was looking at her a little disdainfully.

"Oh, pity. I didn't get shot," she greeted, and he just closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"A heart attack. That is what will be the death of me. You giving me a heart attack, I want you to know what when you lay down flowers at my funeral."

"I was thinking about leaving, like, a bagel on your coffin."

"You're the worst, the most awful, snot-nosed kid I have ever met," Mr. Stark accused all while wrapping her in a half hug. Captain Rogers watched them with a politely confused expression, and Mr. Stark tensed.

"Um, nice to see you again, Mr. Rogers. But like, why are you in Jersey? It's gross."

He huffed a laugh, "I didn't really plan to be here. I was actually in Vermont, so."

"Cool, uhhh--"

"You don't have to try and make conversation with the grandpa, kid," Mr. Stark joked, "We'll give his team a call and then I was thinking Thai."

"I think Ms. Potts is going to yell at you tonight, not let you eat takeout with me."

"...We'll eat at your place."

"May will yell at us."

"What's your friend's name? Ted? Ed?"

"Ned," she corrected, smiling so widely her cheeks hurt. She opened her mouth to say something else when suddenly there was a loud crash! and they all turned, standing defensively, to see the Falcon, Black Widow, and Scarlet Witch standing in the doorway, looking over the three of them with confused expressions.

They all stared at each other for a solid twenty seconds before she called, "You're late!"

Honestly, this had been a fun Friday.