#literary agere

[buttercupagere]

henry winter as a caregiver <3

requested by anon!

[aew-kun-age-regression]

Moodboard!!! Edgar Allan Poe - The Raven!!! (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

I gonna do a Tell Tale Heart version cause it's my favourite of Poe's!!! (This 1 is my 2nd favourite)

My mum read it to me!!!

[outlandish-dreamer]

Regressor! R.M Renfield (From both the 2023 movie and "Dracula" 1931) Headcanons :D Mostly vent/angsty stuff, but there's some happier ones at the end

while he hasn't really aged both physically or mentally since that night, but he knows that sometimes he feels younger, though unsure of why. It's only in the rare instances where he's alone however, because god knows what would happen if Dracula found out.

at first, he doesn't even recognize it's happening. Perhaps it's his mind playing tricks on him, or Dracula putting visions in his head, but he finds himself slipping away. To a time when he was a young boy hopelessly in love with the woman who'd be his wife. the bittersweet joy cuts him harder now than it ever had.

his mind works quickly to shut these feelings, this wanting to be rid of his mortal troubles; away. He just can't, if for not the obvious reason, then for his sanity. And in pure despair and confusion, the younger, childike boy that takes over feels like a distant memory.

he tries to remember the stiff, yet warm feeling that was his childhood home. Not much is clear as he watches families pass on through time. and as a result, he knows that there is neither a place where he belongs in that dichotomy, nor a time where he'll get it again.

but he wants it. so badly. he wants so badly to feel the warmth of another human being, the gentle yet firm praise of a father that isn't shrouded in cruelty or manipulation. the stolen books he buries himself in fill that gap somewhat because at least the characters can experience that, even if he can't.

the years of delivering undying servitude towards his master have him wondering if he's really deserving of this. After all the lives he'd taken out of survival, should he really be feeling this way? But, the brain doesn't always respond in the way we want it to. The child doesn't understand, and Renfield can't force him to. Not in this state. Yet, he still struggles to let himself feel it.

he doesn't sleep at night. too haunted by nightmares and his mind thinking racing with every little thought. Instead, he lets his hands take over, focusing on something other than his past. he draws, plays the few piano pieces he remembers from his childhood, really, just anything where he can create something. Something that's real.

if he wasn't already a sensitive soul, then he most certainly is now. Anger, sadness, regret, fear all overcome him at a sudden moment. one would think he was losing his mind, but in reality, the boy's finally letting himself feel. Even if that results in hoarse, gut-wrenching "tantrums" or crying at the kindness he's finally given by another person after almost a century.

[creature-wizard]

Looks like it's time to talk about starseeds and the New Age movement again.

Since I'm seeing more starseed content being posted, I'm gonna make another post on why the whole starseed thing and the surrounding New Age belief system are... not good.

So for those who don't know, New Age mythology is essentially a hodgepodge of cherrypicked and distorted myths from various cultures, racist pseudohistory, and far right conspiracy theories. To put it very briefly, starseeds are supposedly here to help Earth resist the reptilians, a race of politics-manipulating, war-starting, media-controlling blood-drinking aliens. For those who don't recognize the tropes here, these are basically all antisemitic canards. The reptilian alien myth as most know it today comes from David Icke, who ultimately cribbed a bunch of his material from The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a Russian hoax created to justify violence against Jews. He was also influenced by the work of people like Fritz Springmeier, a hateful crank who based much of his work on other hateful cranks.

(David Icke, by the way, also claims that transgender is an evil reptilian conspiracy. You'll never find just one form of bigotry with these people.)

There are supposedly numerous alien races out there, and one of the most prominent among them are the Pleiadians, AKA Nordics. While modern depictions of the Pleiadians give them more variety in skintone, there's no denying that older Pleiadian mythology basically pictured them as Aryans In Space, even associating them with the swastika.

You see what's going on here? "Good" swastika-loving Aryan aliens versus "evil" Jewish aliens? Sound familiar?

Racism isn't just a tangential part of the starseed myth, either. It lies at its very core. It's inextricably tied in with the ancient astronaut hypothesis, which has a history of racist motivation behind it. The TL;DR is that a bunch of white people couldn't believe that non-white people had built a bunch of things they couldn't figure out how to build themselves (EG, the Great Pyramids), so they proposed that the real builders were anyone from Atlanteans to aliens. (Atlantis, by the way, never existed; it was a literary device created by Plato.)

One supposed purpose of starseeds is to help the world "wake up to the truth," which basically just means "convert people to New Age spirituality." New Age believes that world peace is contingent on a majority of the world being converted to New Age belief, and that resistance against their belief system is ultimately the work of the aforementioned reptilian aliens.

To put it another way, New Agers think they understand other cultures' spiritual traditions better than the actual members of said cultures, and think that anyone who disagrees with them is being manipulated by the conspiracy, or is an agent of the conspiracy. This includes Indigenous cultures which are already endangered from white Christian colonialism.

Essentially, endangered cultures cannot speak up for themselves and resist New Agers' efforts at cultural assimilation without being labeled a problem and an enemy. It's basically white Christian colonialism repackaged as "spiritual, not religious."

Again - if you heard from these people that some ancient text or myth describes extraterrestrial beings visiting our planet for one reason or another, you heard misinformation. They twist and misrepresent literally every myth and text they get their hands on. For example, you may have heard that the vimanas from Hindu traditions were actually alien spacecraft. They were no such thing. Or maybe you heard that the Book of Enoch describes aliens performing genetic experimentation on humans. It literally does not. At best, all of the stories they cite just kind of sound like aliens if you ignore most of their content and pay no attention to their cultural contexts.

The starseed movement preys on alienated people, especially autistic people and people with ADHD. You can look up nearly any list of signs that you're supposedly a starseed, and many of them will align perfectly with characteristics associated with autism and/or ADHD, or that people with these conditions commonly report. Some people within the movement even go so far as to claim that ADHD and autism don't even exist, but were actually made up by the conspiracy as a cover to suppress and control starseeds, which is some yikes-as-hell ableism.

So basically, people are being told that if they have these certain characteristics or symptoms, that means it's their job to spread New Age spirituality to defeat the conspiracy and help others ascend to the fifth density.

And what's the fifth density, you might ask? It's supposedly humanity's next evolutionary level, because New Age is also based on biological misconceptions. Supposedly once everyone's DNA "upgrades," they'll essentially morph into an aetheric form. Supposedly, this is preceded by a number of "ascension symptoms," including depression, headache, gastrointestinal issues, and any number of other symptoms that could indicate almost anything, including stress.

What many of these people don't realize is, this prediction has already failed. Back in the 2000s and 2010s, experiencing "ascension symptoms" was supposed to precede ascension to 5D beginning December 21, 2012. One lady, Denise Le Fay, was convinced that the hair loss she was experiencing in 2008 was an ascension symptom. As we can see by looking her up, she's very much still with us on the 3D plane these days, repeating the same tired old scripts New Agers recycle endlessly.

By the way, everything you near New Agers saying today about old systems being dismantled, dark forces being arrested or kicked off the planet, and new economic systems on the horizon? They've been recycling these scripts for years now. Take a look at this page written back in 2012. You got stuff about the complete dismantling of an enormous network of sinister forces," "the arrest and removal of a world-wide cabal," and a "new economic system."

("Cabal," by the way, is a dogwhistle term for "Jews.")

Furthermore, people in this movement are often encouraged to try and access past life memories through dreams or hypnosis, which makes the whole thing feel even more real to them. But the thing is, you can have incredibly vivid experiences about literally anything you put your mind to - the people in the reality shifting having vivid experiences of living another life in the Harry Potter universe are a great example of this. Just because you have vivid experiences, doesn't mean they have any bearing on anything happening in this reality.

So yeah, the starseed movement and the larger New Age movement are both extremely harmful. They promote racist pseudohistory, medically-irresponsible pseudoscience, conspiracy theories that target numerous marginalized groups, and functionally target aliened people with ADHD and autism to convince them that spreading its beliefs is their job.

[natsuki-bakery]

⁎˚ ఎ Bungo Stray Dog Agere ໒ ˚⁎

Hiya!! If requested are open can you make cg!Poe headcanons from bsd? (Bungou stray dogs) /nf

•Poe is deeply empathetic and always ready to listen to others’ troubles. He often finds solace in comforting others, drawing from his own experiences to provide genuine support and understanding

•Poe’s approach to caregiving can be unconventional. He might use his knowledge of literature and poetry to craft personalized advice, blending his caregiving with elements of his literary passions

•Despite his often melancholic demeanor, Poe is highly protective of those he cares for. He’s known to go to great lengths to ensure their well-being, even if it means putting himself in danger

•Rituals and Routines : Edgar has developed certain rituals and routines that help him manage his caregiving responsibilities. These might include daily reading sessions or quiet walks to reflect and center himself before tackling the challenges of helping others

•Healing Through Art : Poe believes in the healing power of art and literature. He often encourages those he cares for to engage with creative outlets, whether through writing, painting, or other forms of artistic expression, as a means of processing their feelings

•Poe’s caregiving style is marked by a quiet strength and resilience. He may not always be overtly assertive, but his unwavering support and calm demeanor provide a steadying presence for those around him

•Poe's own personal struggles and vulnerabilities play a significant role in his caregiving. He channels his own experiences of grief and loss into a deep well of empathy, using his past to connect with and help others navigate their own difficulties

•When caring for a sick age regressor, Poe’s approach is both tender and meticulous. He creates a calming environment with soft lighting and soothing literature. He might read comforting stories aloud or offer gentle, reassuring words to make the regressor feel safe and cared for

•Poe is attentive to their needs, making sure they are physically comfortable while also providing emotional support through his compassionate presence

•With a non-verbal age regressor, Allan relies heavily on non-verbal cues and body language to understand their needs. He uses gentle gestures and expressive facial expressions to communicate, and he is very patient in his interactions.

•Poe also incorporates visual aids, like picture cards or simple sign language, to help bridge the communication gap, ensuring that the regressor feels understood and supported

•On rainy days, Poe creates a cozy atmosphere by drawing the curtains and lighting soft candles. The sound of rain becomes a soothing background, and Poe might use it as an opportunity to engage in quiet, comforting activities like reading or storytelling

•The rain's gentle patter serves as a calming influence, helping to ease any anxiety or discomfort the regressor might be feeling

•He finds the rain’s melancholy ambiance aligns perfectly with his poetic nature. He might use the soothing sound of rain as inspiration for writing or storytelling, creating a calm and reflective atmosphere that helps both him and the little one feel more at ease

•If the age regressor is throwing a tantrum, Poe remains calm and composed, understanding that the behavior often stems from frustration or distress. He approaches the situation with patience, giving the age regressor space to express their emotions while offering a comforting presence

•Poe might gently guide them to a quieter space and use soft, reassuring words or comforting gestures to help them calm down. He avoids any forceful or confrontational tactics, focusing instead on soothing and de-escalating the situation with empathy and care

•When the regressor is feeling overwhelmed, Poe’s approach is to guide them to calmer activities without pressure. He might suggest coloring, flipping through picture books, or quietly watching Karl explore the room

•He uses subtle cues to steer them towards more soothing tasks, avoiding direct confrontation or forceful intervention

•Poe’s intelligence often leads him to overthink every aspect of caregiving. He meticulously prepares, researching what activities might soothe the regressor or which books are appropriate for their current mood. This over-preparation is his way of showing care, even if he doubts himself along the way

If you're in the basic criteria , are DSMP fans, vivziep0p fans , h0tel/h3lluva b0ss fans, Owl h0use fans, St4r butterfly fans, Ghibli fans, ddlg/abdl blogs, nsfw/k!nk blogs, anti-agere blogs, or anti Christians/Christianity blogs : just dont interact !

[proshipunk]

Luci ✿ 21yo (agere to 6-11yo) ✿ any pronouns ✿ freak transmasc girl ✿ scary pink haired college educated anti-zionist commie ✿ oc roleplay enthusiast ✿ engaged!!

I’m autistic, I have PTSD and OCD and complex memory issues related to that, currently unsure if I’m a system or not. Profic/proship helps me with intrusive thoughts and trauma. (꒪ᗜ꒪ ‧̣̥̇) crazy how acknowledging the difference between fiction and reality is really helpful with that amirite?

Not welcome: “irl l0li” or “irl sh0t4” I will report your asses, transid, terfs/swerfs, racists, zionists, ANTI-LEFTIST OF ANY SORT, pro-contact, radqueers, xenosatanists, pedos/zoos, feral x human oriented blogs, weirdos who use proship/anti-censorship label as a cover for being bigoted, antis obv, ppl who get a kick out of animal abuse

I use the block button liberally and I filter tags, I would rather not be friends/mutuals with people who fall into the above categories, even if my filtered tags hide the posts from them that I don’t want to see.

If I follow you and you fall into any of the categories above, please just block me! Do not message me! Thanks!

fav media

❥ fnaf

❥ tma 𖦹

❥ fallout 4

❥ jurassic park/world

❥ resident alien

❥ bobs burgers

❥ always sunny

misc

❥ MY OCS!!!!

❥ MY LOVER’S OCS!!!!!

❥ MY FRIEND’S OCS!!!!!!!!!!

❥ ROLEPLAYING!!! (Literary & private! 21+ only)

❥ cultural anthropology & history

❥ paleontology

❥ biology

❥ severe weather

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ pinterest ⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹

[alittleplaytime]

Caregiver Gilbert Blythe Stimboard!!

🩹 💼 🌱 | 🩹 💼 🌱 | 🩹 💼 🌱

🌼 media: anne with an e

🐝 age appropriate? depends. in most places this show is rated 13+ due to themes of abuse, violence and sexual harrassment but it also has heavy themes of feminism and uplifting messages. i recommend checking any warnings before watching and remember, it's always okay to turn anything off if it isn't for you!!

🍯 rqd by: no one <3

🌻 note: this is specifically of the anne with an e gilbert as i have yet to read my copies of the books nor have i watched any of the older film/show renditions. i think he'd be the sweetest caregiver ever and it coincides with my anne agere headcanon so well!!

he'd be the sweetest caregiver ever but he'd also be such a pushover!! despite teasing and competing with anne while she's big, he has a hard time saying no to her once she's regressed. he has plenty of rules and ideas for punishments but half the time he ends up just scolding her and then consoling her when it upsets her

he reads books to anne but they have to be big kid books without any gore or anything because despite being small she is still too advanced literary wise for kids books but hateeeess anything overly sad or violent when regressed. sometimes she even insist on being the one to read and he adores it

he's obsessed with getting anything that reminds him of anne. fox plush in one of the shops in town? bought. one of the nice ladies had an extra roll of a deep orange wool? he's politely asking for it.

even when regressed anne insists on helping him out in the fields but the tasks he gives her are vastly different to when she's big.

[whileiamdying]

Great Books Don’t Make Great Films, but “Nickel Boys” Is a Glorious Exception

RaMell Ross’s first dramatic feature, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel, gives the bearing of witness an arresting cinematic form.

By Richard Brody December 6, 2024

It’s harder to adapt a great book than an average one. Literary greatness often inhibits directors, who end up paying prudent homage to the source rather than engaging in the bold revisions that successful adaptations require. And even uninhibited directors may lack the stylistic originality of their literary heroes. It’s all the more remarkable, then, that the director RaMell Ross, in his first dramatic feature, “Nickel Boys”—adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winning 2019 novel, “The Nickel Boys”—avoids both obstacles with a rare blend of daring and ingenuity. Few films have ever rendered a major work of fiction so innovatively yet so faithfully. In a year of audaciously accomplished movies, “Nickel Boys” stands out as different in kind. Ross, who co-wrote the script with Joslyn Barnes, achieves an advance in narrative form, one that singularly befits the movie’s subject—not just dramatically but historically and morally, too.

The movie’s title refers to Black youths (teens and younger) who are inmates of the Nickel Academy, a segregated and abusive “reform school” in rural northern Florida—particularly to two teen-agers, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), who become friends while incarcerated there, in the mid-nineteen-sixties. (The institution in Whitehead’s novel is inspired by the notorious Dozier School for Boys, but his characters are fictional.) Elwood, who is sixteen years old when he enters the facility, is being raised by his grandmother Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), who works on the cleaning staff of a hotel. He’s a star student, literary and politically passionate, in a segregated school. One of his teachers, Mr. Hill (Jimmie Fails), is a civil-rights activist, and he plays a Martin Luther King, Jr., speech on a record for his students. Elwood gets his picture in a local newspaper for participating in a civil-rights demonstration, but he’s only holding a sign; he longs to join in civil disobedience, but Hattie seems skeptical about the idea. Hitchhiking to a nearby college for advanced classes, he gets a ride from a flashily dressed, fast-talking Black man (Taraja Ramsess) whose car, unbeknownst to Elwood, is stolen. When the police pull the driver over, the innocent Elwood, too, is punished, resulting in his internment in Nickel.

From the start, Ross throws down a stylistic gauntlet: up until Elwood’s imprisonment, the action is seen entirely from his point of view—literally so, as if the camera were in the place occupied by his head, pivoting and tilting to show his shifting gaze, while his voice is heard offscreen. This device was famously used by Robert Montgomery in his 1947 adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s “The Lady in the Lake,” but it was no more than a gimmick. In Ross’s hands, the device becomes something overwhelmingly expressive: the images, rather than merely recording Elwood’s emotions, register the cause of those emotions and allow the viewer to partake in his inner world.

The results can be puckish, as when Elwood’s reflection appears in the chrome side of the iron that Hattie is sliding across an ironing board. But Ross’s technique is exquisitely responsive to the story’s depth and range of experience. The viewer shares Elwood’s naïve bewilderment when the driver of the stolen car, hearing a police siren, tells him not to turn around; similarly, one feels the anguished anticipation when Elwood awaits transport to Nickel. At this point, an extraordinary scene tears a hole in time, bringing the history of Black American life rushing in to overtake Elwood’s own: Hattie, with an air of unusual formality and seething indignation, recalls in excruciating detail her father’s death in police custody and her husband’s death at the hands of white assailants. But she expects better for Elwood.

Once the police have deposited Elwood in Nickel’s run-down barracks for Black inmates, Ross extends the dramatic force of his method while expanding its intellectual scope. At breakfast, Elwood meets Turner, who’s from Houston and much more streetwise. The impact of this moment is heralded in a coup de cinéma that is a vast amplification of the story: a repetition of the breakfast-table encounter, seen, the second time around, from Turner’s point of view. Once the pair become friends, both of their perspectives share the film, to mighty effect.

Elwood’s wrongful detention is only the first of the Job-like litany of injustices heaped upon him. In Nickel, sucker-punched and knocked out by a bigger kid, Elwood receives the same standard and brutal punishment as his assailant. Nickel’s sadistic supervisor, Mr. Spencer (Hamish Linklater), who is white, administers beatings with a strap in the so-called white house, far from the barracks. An industrial fan is used to drown out the victims’ screams, but it doesn’t quite do so, and Elwood, with his view of the horrors obstructed, hears them in terror while awaiting his turn.

Hospitalized as a result of the beating, Elwood gets a surprise visit from Turner, who’s also a patient (having skillfully feigned illness). Turner warns him that there are still worse punishments menacing the Nickel inmates, ranging from the sweat box—a brutally hot crawl space under a tar roof—to actual murder. (Such deaths were covered up by burial in unmarked graves and an official lie that the child ran away without a trace.) Elwood, inspired by the civil-rights movement and knowing that his grandmother has hired a lawyer, is confident that justice will prevail. He even keeps a notebook in which he records unpaid labor and which he thinks will help get Nickel shut down. Turner has no such confidence, insisting that no one gets out of Nickel alive except by getting himself out. The two teens’ visual perspectives, alternating through the hospital scene, embody their diametrically opposed views of American society, of their prospects, and of the destinies that await them.

Through Elwood’s and Turner’s eyes, in scenes that unfold in long and complex takes, the movie offers a formidable fullness of incident, intimately physical detail, and finely nuanced observations. The corruption of Nickel’s administrators and the legitimized absurdities of their cruel regime come to light as they’re experienced by the two teens, as do Hattie’s struggles to stay connected with Elwood and to seek legal relief. Lyrical snatches of daily life—passing moments of grace on a job outside Nickel’s grounds or during free moments in a rec room—are haunted by traces of past brutality and flickers of menace. Ross stages the action with a choreographic virtuosity that’s all the more astonishing given that this is his first dramatic film. (His previous feature, from 2018, is the documentary “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”) His teeming visual imagination is matched by the agile physicality of Jomo Fray’s cinematography. As a first dramatic feature, “Nickel Boys” is in the exalted company of such films as Terrence Malick’s “Badlands” and Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust.” Like them, it comprehensively creates a new way of capturing immediate experience cinematically, a new aesthetic for dramatizing history and memory.

Early on, the action is set in historical perspective by means of flash-forwards. Eventually, there are revelations about the atrocities at Nickel; the grounds are excavated, and human remains discovered. One of the friends (played as an adult by Daveed Diggs) gets wind of these investigations, having in the intervening years made his way to New York, found employment as a mover, and started his own business. In this later time frame, Ross continues to rely on point-of-view images, but with a piercing difference. The camera now floats just behind the character’s head, depicting work and home, love stories and painful reunions, fleeting observations and a reckoning with the past, as if from two points of view simultaneously—one visual and one spectral, bringing absence to life along with presence.

The onscreen incarnation of Elwood’s and Turner’s perceptions isn’t only intellectual or theoretical. The moral essence of Ross’s technique is to give cinematic form to the bearing of witness. Where Whitehead’s novel describes his characters’ physical torments in the third person, with psychological discernment and declarative precision, Ross’s movie fuses observation and sensation with its audiovisual style. It suggests a form of testimony beyond language, outside the reach of law and outside the historical record. It is a revelation of inner experience that starts with the body and all too often remains sealed off there and lost to time—except to the extent that the piece of art can conjure it into existence.

The movie’s twin aspects of witness and of point of view have a significance that extends beyond the drama and into cinematic history. There were no Black directors in Hollywood until the late sixties, and no Hollywood films that conveyed then what “Nickel Boys” shows in retrospect: the monstrous abuses of the Jim Crow era and its vestiges. In bringing the historical reckonings of Whitehead’s novel to the screen, Ross hints at an entire history of cinema that doesn’t exist—a bearing of witness that didn’t happen and the lives that were lost in that invisible silence. ♦

Published in the print edition of the December 16, 2024, issue, with the headline “Each Other’s Back.”

Directed by: RaMell Ross Screenplay by RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Based onThe Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead Produced by Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine, Joslyn Barnes Starring: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Cinematography: Jomo Fray Edited by Nicholas Monsour Music by Alex Somers and Scott Alario Production: Orion Pictures, Plan B Entertainment, Louverture Films, Anonymous Content Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios Release Dates: August 30, 2024 (Telluride) December 13, 2024 (United States) Running time140 minutes Country: United States Language: English

[8-rae-rae-8]

If I may,,Kiwi and peach for the writer ask game! 🫶

"🥝 What’s your favorite trope/AO3 tag to write?"

Some may say torture

Actually. No that's. That's accurate. I like writing torture most. Agere/Petre comes in a close second

"🍑 If you could make a connection between your favorite character and another work you care about (whether a crossover/fusion or a wonderfully “pretentious” literary reference) what would it be? How would it work?"

It hasn't been done before... CoD x TEW.

I don't know how it would work yet, there's a few theories on it in my au section. I want to put Ghost through More Horrors™

[paper--moons]

Hi Moon!

You really got me with that Giran post (I reread it regularly!) and I was gonna ask for headcanons for him again, but I just saw your notes about Gentle Criminal, so I’m gonna give you the choice between the two!

Have fun with it!

Hello hello!

I'm quite tickled to know that you reread my Giran post regularly—that is honestly such a huge compliment to know you have enjoyed it more than once—but it's dangerous to validate my old man posting haha. But really, I just think he's neat and it makes me happy to hear that you liked my silly little post. So how could I possibly say no to doing another for him? Especially given the lack of content (agere or otherwise) out there for our dearest broker. He is very fun to write for imo, and so I tried to pull a few of my favorite ideas I have had for him to incorporate into this post.

For that reason this one may be a little bit messy, but I think he's a little bit messy too, so. It works out, I suppose. He is just such a little creature to me. The amount of pointless headcanons I have for him would perhaps be troubling if my penchant for adopting minor characters wasn't taken into consideration. Oh how I love to read between the lines and play literary analysis haha. (Also, this one is somewhat of a follow-up to the first one for those that may have missed it, in that it references a few things from that post, but since this one is mostly just sillies it should be fine.)

Also also! You are so nice to peek at my ramblings in the tags of my other post! So I think perhaps a two for one special is in order. You did say to have fun with it, after all! Now, his post had me flip-flopping on the direction a bit, but overall I tried to keep it lighthearted. Gentle feels like the type to overcompensate for that underlying sadness he has even when he's small by burying it underneath high energy silliness, and while I felt I could have explored that more I decided to only touch on it a little bit.

Really, there were about three different iterations of his post and I started over a few times and revised my notes. Though I did pull elements from each of the different iterations to whip up what I am presenting here. One was more of a reflective character piece, another was looking at his and La Brava's relationship, and then the third was just a lot of him arguing with his teddy bears. Hopefully I reached a happy blend that makes for a satisfying read.

So! Two posts for our dearest friend Clump. The Giran post can be found over here, and the Gentle Criminal post can be found here. Thanks so much for sending in your request! 🌙

[pinkrangerv]

Hi, fellow migraine sufferer! Okay, now that I'm a bit more awake (I got 4 hours of sleep today), let me try and explain this a bit more.

Literary and religious anthropology often run into a very specific function of religion: When something happens that can't be explained with current methods--anything from hailstones killing people to glowy rocks before we knew what radioactive material was--people will generally come up with a symbolic and cultural context. This is usually lumped in the 'religious' category, because religion can definitely be about morality and gods and whatnot, but it often also served as a gathering point for science before anyone formalized the scientific method. There's a reason Hindu priests pioneered vaccines and Gregor Mendel was a monk; organized religion allowed for scientific advancement.

The example I used was very specific. When I say migraine auras, I am only referring to the visual symptom of seeing colorful lights around a person or object. (None of this, ever, will help anyone diagnose or treat a migraine.) There was a point where New Age religions had shown up, but no one knew that this was a migraine symptom.

New Agers in general tend to be folks who have Weird Shit happen to us. It's part of why New Age religions focus so much on comparative religion. Can't explain this? Maybe someone else talks about it--you won't get hard data, but you might be able to find tips like 'when that colorful stuff happens, go sit down and don't expect to function for a while' or 'when the knocking sounds in the mine, you're about to get the roof caving on your head' or 'if you hear spirits all the time and they're being nice, they might have some good advice occasionally, but try and remember they're also assholes sometimes too'.

Therefore, New Agers found various stuff and figured, well, maybe it's some kind of symbolism. Sometimes your brain does really weird stuff, but it turns out useful or helpful, and we're STILL mapping out how a lot of it works. Unsurprisingly, migraines affect people very differently, but sometimes your brain continues to spit out information. If you're NT\socially gifted, it may be useful information, and you end up conflating that with the colors.

And thus, people thought it was a spiritual phenomenon. In reality, it was a conflation of a couple things: The medical symptoms, the complex interactions of some parts of the brain going into overdrive while others shit the bed, and the symbolic and cultural nature of just trying to figure out what the weird shit is when you don't have data.

Parapsychology is, aside from scammers, usually people with various science degrees and people who have Weird Shit happening coming together to try and figure out what's happening, in as scientific a manner as possible. This is obviously hampered by the fact that the only terms anyone has for these events are religious, which don't always play well with numbers-based sciences, and even soft sciences are kind of addicted to numbers and equations where they really don't work.

But what that means in practice is that this is where science--weird, often wrong, and wholeheartedly attempted science--really does live. It's not very formal, it's a mess, and most people involved are trying to wrangle scientific principles with a day job and possibly not a lot of formal training, but people are trying to do it because they genuinely want to make everyone's life better.

This is science. And this is where scammers hang out. And this is where people are wrong. And the CIA didn't find Gandalf, but they found things that will probably be useful. And all of those things are part of what I can't formally study, but watch because this is important; this is where discovery is, not just of medicine or physics, but anthropology and sociology and psychology and history.

Thank you for discussing this politely, by the way. Screamy McScream up there was weird as hell. I know I don't always make a lot of sense, so if there's something that sounds weird, it usually helps everyone reading to ask about it, and it sounds like I didn't make much sense today.

"You say that psychic powers aren't real. But then why did the CIA invest millions of dollars in parapsychological research during the Cold War?" I don't know how to tell you this, but the CIA are dumb.

[buttercupagere]

we need more classic lit agere!! tell me which austen characters deserve regression days. show me moodboards that combine poe’s works with inner child healing. list headcanons of what dickens characters would be like as caregivers. >> and use the hashtag #classic lit agere or #literary agere!! hehe

[m-iarvivisectio-n]

“To Whom I Pray When My Own Hands Seem Misshapen?”

Haiiiiii, It’s Me — The Only Nurse of the Entire Equanimity, Miar Vivisection Gourd ! =3

Hugest Fan About : Angels , Anatomy , Body // Extraterrestrial Horror , Decor , Mogai , and Other Things I’d Love to Learn More About That I Can’t Recall This Moment !!

Talk to Me Talk to Me Talk to Me !! About Anything !! IHNMaIMS’s Hate Speech Despite Me Not Having Read It Yet ! Literary Criticisms or Studies On Poetry , I’m So Into That ! Old Web Stuff ! Ascension to a Higher Plane ! Meat ! I’d Love To Learn More About Vocaloid Or Funger ! I Prommy I’m Fun to Talk to ~ ^^

With Boundaries , of Course , but Still, You’re So So So Interesting and I Am Too !! Wow !!

I Think About This Video A lot ! (Link)

I Follow From Ike’s Blog :: @lousylemonseminar

Iven’s In Construction Agere Blog =3 :: @ivenchirpivoru-agere

Guppy’s Blog ^^ :: @guppy3

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ Directory ꒱ ꒰ ꩜ Request Info ꒱ ꒰ ♡ Inbox ꒱ ꒰ ꩜ Warnings + ꒱ ꒰ ♡ My Bits and Doodads ꒱ ˎˊ˗

[outlandish-dreamer]

Agere "Loser's Club" Moodboard! I'm reading the book rn and as disturbing as it is, it reminded me of how much I feel bad for these kids. they've been through so much, oh my lord 😭

[creature-wizard]

LOL, you shitheads again? You must really love getting your asses kicked if you're coming to me, of all people.

For anybody unaware, the Satanists behind the website mentioned in this ask are a bunch of openly antisemitic conspiracy theorists appropriating Eastern traditions, and they've been trying to advertise themselves and increase their SEO by sending asks like these. Each ask is tailored to appeal to whatever they think your beliefs might be, but they all follow a similar template that goes something like:

What do you think of [URL redacted]? They claim to follow [insert gods here], they [something about supporting abortion], and they're the largest [insert group here] group in the world."

The spirituality promoted on this website is rooted in deeply antisemitic conspiracy theories and pseudohistory. If I addressed every single claim they made, I'd be here all day, so I'm going to stick to a few examples:

They claim that Satanism isn't a reaction to Christianity, but is in fact older than Christianity. This is straight-up pseudohistorical bullshit.

They claim that Jews have perpetrated a grand conspiracy to conceal true spiritual knowledge from the masses. They outright cite The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a Czarist hoax created to justify violence against Russian Jews in the late 19th century. They claim that Christianity is a Jewish tool of world domination and mind control.

They claim that "Jewish ritual murder" is a thing. This is blood libel, an old conspiracy theory used to demonize Jews.

They claim that Jesus was a fictional creation made out of tropes "stolen" from various pagan gods. There is no actual evidence for this; it's another conspiracy theory. For a scholarly look at what most probably happened, I recommend How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee by Bart D. Erhman. Or if you can't get your hands on the books, just look into Dr. Ehrman's videos/lectures on the topic on YouTube.

They push the extremely racist ancient aliens bullshit, claiming that the pagan gods were actually aliens.

They claim that the serpent actually represents human DNA, life force, and kundalini. This is a conspiracy theory that disregards the diversity of lore about serpents in various belief systems and traditions around the world, and culturally appropriates from Eastern traditions.

Their idea of what constitutes genuine Satanic practices is basically New Agers' bastardized versions of Eastern concepts and practices.

They claim that the "Tree of Life" is actually a stolen pagan symbol that maps the human soul. Again, an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that disregards the actual significance of trees within the various traditions that involve them.

They claim that the Pentateuch was ripped off from the five suits of the tarot, and that tarot has ancient origins with alchemical significance. Tarot was actually invented in the 15th century for playing games. Mystical symbolism was applied by occultists in the 18th century.

The creators of the site apparently believe that the Simon Necronomicon is a genuine translation of older documents. It's not. The Necronomicon was a literary device created by HP Lovecraft; every text purporting to be a translation of the Necronomicon is a modern creation.

If you get an anon message like this in your inbox, do not post it. These people want you to share their URL to get more publicity and spread their antisemitic conspirituality. Don't give them what they want.

[goatmilksoda]

Just so everyone's aware of what I would like to be sent in random, unsolicited asks and DMs, here's a list of my special interests (closer to top) and hyperfixations (further down):

Carousels and Carousel Animals/ Theme Park History

Nudibranchs

Systems (mechanical, social, and societal. Not the DID kind, even though that's cool, too) With emphasis on educational systems and businesses/economics.

Agere

Muppets

Media History (fashion, internet, tv, technological, literary. The lives of the everyday person in the past)

Making/Finding childish clothing in adult sizes (kidcore fashion)

Sympathetic monsters (The supernatural/occult kind)

Loki

Urban Planning

1980's/1990's Cookbook photography

Communal/Public events and services (community radio, free classes, libraries, public access tv)

Parks and Recreation (tv show)