#references to PTSD

[scullcrusher101xd]

clinically curled

[sexhaver]

i wholeheartedly and fundamentally reject the notion that we as leftists have to treat unrepentant US veterans' PTSD like any other disability. it is literally Being Reminded Of Your Own Crimes Against Humanity Disorder. jumping every time they hear a car backfire is like seven orders of magnitude below the punishment they deserve

[yet-another-heathen]

On the topic of realistic conditioning/deconditioning,

If the trigger is something whumpee wouldn't hear often when they're with caretaker but whumpee still wants to break it because they might hear it elsewhere (like kneel being taken as a command)

Would whumpee ask caretaker to casually trigger them so they have the opportunity to challenge it in their own head and in a safe place? Would this be a good idea for recovery?

And of course being there with the praise everytime whumpee makes just a little bit of progress, or comfort when they don't.

Heads up, anon: your ask was an EXCEPTIONALLY good one, and I ended up writing another mini TED talk (~3-4 min read) in response. Thank you so much for sending it in!

...on Conditioned Whumpees - Part 3

[ Part 1 - Part 2 ]

That is a very, very good idea! You're spot on with all of it, particularly operating in a safe environment where whumpee is ultimately calling the shots. Having that comfort/support readily available will make a huge difference in how well whumpee can tackle the matter. And while the process isn't fun, approaching desensitization with this much intent is much, much more likely to result in success.

I can offer a few pointers that can add another few layers of realism, as well as some other things to think about while tailoring it to your story:

if whumpee is actively working through their conditioning in this way, memories of their trauma will become closer to the surface. As a result, all of their other PTSD symptoms will be elevated during the course of their practice sessions, as well as for at least a few weeks after.

flashbacks are a very common experience during times like this. engaging with triggers like this is going to cause their flashbacks to become more frequent and intense.

during such flashbacks, it is almost a given that whumpee's mind and body will enter a similar state to the one it was in during the time when the flashback was taking place. By that I mean that the fear they felt in that moment, where it was physically located in their body, will echo into their body in the present moment. Same goes for other all other emotions, and sometimes even phantom aches surrounding any injuries they received at the time...

while the emotions tend to be identical to the ones felt during the trauma, in my experience, the pain comes out distorted in a similar way to the way it does in dreams: less intense, and more "blurry" and imprecise in location. When we say that someone having a flashback is "reliving the moment", we mean that their body literally feels as though they're in the same immediate danger that it was in back then.

this is true even though they'll be aware to at least some degree that they're presently with caretaker and safe.

the flashbacks don't always happen immediately after the conditioning trigger is used. Often they flare up hours or days later, sometimes without warning, sometimes as a result of encountering a different flashback trigger. The whumpee's thresholds for what counts as a trigger will drop, which is part of what causes the flashbacks to happen more often. Something they could normally ignore is going to affect them much more while they're like this.

your whumpee is more likely to experience severe mood swings while in this heightened state. Especially feelings like irritability, frustration, anger, loneliness, and grief. This stuff ain't pretty, folks. Even your sweet cinnamon bun is most likely going to lash out at someone as a result.

PTSD episodes are also exhausting. your whumpee is going to feel mentally, physically, and emotionally drained. And, to add insult to injury, being tired amplifies the emotions listed above.

Now all of this said, your whumpee may or may not know that this is to be expected. If they've worked on processing their trauma before this, they'll have figured out that one often leads to the other. They'll go into the deconditioning practice knowing this is coming, and will approach it carefully, but with a fairly level head. Knowing that it'll suck, but they'll come out the other side okay.

If not, they're in for a rather nasty surprise.

For the latter, they will feel at first that the deconditioning practice is making everything worse. They're suddenly struggling the way they did when the trauma was fresher, and it can be tempting to stop and refuse to touch it again because the mental/emotional pain gets so intense.

If they do give up at this stage, it will make trying again far more daunting in the future.

But the trauma being stirred up is actually a sign that it's helping. It means that the whumpee is starting to process what happened to them, which is a fundamental step in being able to heal.

Note: All throughout the process, crying is a very good thing. It lets them physically get rid of a lot of the brain chemicals associated with these surges of emotion. Letting themselves cry over things they couldn't cry about back then can actually help them let go of those feelings in a similar way to if they'd been able to process them in the moment. [Which is the basis for much of EMDR, a specialized tool used in trauma therapy.]

Okay. So now we know what other effects can cascade from the actual deconditioning practice, now we have some things to consider.

First off, what time parameters are whumpee and caretaker working within while deconditioning? There are three basic options:

they sit down together and practice repeatedly using the trigger for [X amount of time; usually <45m at once] back to back. Once that time is up, caretaker will no longer use the trigger at all, the excercise will end, and they'll get up to do something else.

whumpee sets a specific window of time [X number of hours] within which caretaker will use the trigger word at random points. Once that time has elapsed, the exercise is over.

over the course of days, caretaker uses the trigger word at random points without giving warning. the excercise only stops after being ended by whumpee.

Now why is that important? Because of something called hypervigilance. It is another symptom of PTSD which, to put it into the simplest words, is whumpee waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's a heightened state of tension and wariness in which whumpee is expecting that something bad is going to happen, and is constantly searching for any sign to indicate when it's coming.

It is beyond exhausting.

Imagine knowing that someone is about to slap you as hard as they can, and you have to sit there with your eyes closed, waiting for it. The breath-holding, the flinchiness, the rigid tension in your body as you strain to listen for when they're coming.

Only now, stretch that moment out into hours. Days. Weeks. That is hypervigilance.

A hypervigilant whumpee is not going to be able to relax. Or rest. Or decompress. Or readily trust much of anything around them. They're MUCH more likely to flinch at sudden movements/sounds. They might start biting their nails or showing other signs of nervousness and distress.

These methods above have a gradually increasing chance of setting off whumpee's hypervigilance. If they know exactly when the next trigger is coming, as in example 1, then their 'waiting for it' tension will be low. But the more uncertain they become of exactly when it's going to happen, as in examples 2 & 3, the worse the hypervigilance is going to get.

The trade off is that the later examples are more effective in desensitizing them toward the trigger. The more their practice mimics encountering an unexpected trigger in day-to-day life, the easier it will be to fall back on that desensitization when the time comes.

Therefore, it would be a very good idea for a whumpee who's new to this to start with number 1, then gradually progress to 2 & 3 as time goes on. They should be the one to decide when the next step is made, and if/when they need to dial it back.

Other questions to ask yourself while plotting:

how mentally prepared is whumpee for worsening symptoms? what about caretaker? did either of them know it was coming?

how much of this heightened PTSD stress can your whumpee take before it becomes too much? how do they react when they do hit that tipping point?

if caretaker feels that whumpee is getting too distressed during practice even though they're not tapping out, would they call it off themself? Or would they ultimately leave that decision to whumpee?

based on the answer, how would whumpee feel about caretaker's decision? Relieved? Belittled? Betrayed?

does whumpee have any grounding tools they can use while practicing?

how does caretaker handle the mood swings and instability that come with whumpee's heightened PTSD? You should consider both their internal and external reactions on the matter.

how does whumpee prefer to decompress after a practice session? what things would help them calm down and recover?

how long do they need (hours or days) before the next attempt?

Even with all I've just written, there's far more to the resulting hightened state of PTSD than flashbacks and hypervigilance. PTSD symptoms that they're most likely to encounter in the background while doing deconditioning practice include:

Flinchiness, anxiety, panic attacks, nightmares, exhaustion, emotional mood swings, outbursts, crying spells, depression, executive dysfunction, dissociation, numbness, racing thoughts, freeze responses, tremors, inappetence, muscle tension, and heart palpitations.

Yes, usually many of them at once, even those that contradict. Your whumpee is going to have a LOT going on at once, and it is not going to be a fun time. I recommend looking up any of the above symptoms you don't recognize, and looking for whump inspiration in what you learn.

(Because everyone experiences PTSD episodes differently, there's a lot of wiggle room in which ones whumpee will encounter. Don't feel pressured to use all of them, find what you want to write and have fun with it!)

Thanks again for the incredible ask, anon. And again, I want to congratulate you on how spot-on your original ask was. You nailed it. I know this was a lot more than you asked for, but I hope this provides helpful context for your whump! My inbox will always be open if you think of anything more <3

[tinfoil-jones]

Jerk Ford AU: "Quality" Time

Jerk Ford returns home slightly earlier than in canon, sometime between the episodes "The Love God" and "Northwest Mansion Mystery".

Compared to Canon Ford, despite being rude and unpleasant to everybody, Jerk Ford spends much more time with the family! And also his former lab assistant; Retired Tech Billionaire, Old Man McGucket. This is because he and Stan are not fighting, so Stan doesn't try to keep Ford away from everybody. He encourages it, actually.

Results may vary.

Jerk Ford with Stanley:

*exactly 10 minutes after Jerk Ford dispatches the gov't agents*

"Stanley, I'm so glad to finally be home. You wouldn't believe how much I missed you. I knew I'd come back eventually, but I'm sorry it took so long and you had to save me from my mistakes again. I can't wait for us to move on with the rest of our lives."

"Me too, bro. Now-" *hands him a pamphlet*

"What's this?"

"A catalogue of therapists. Pick one."

"...Wha-."

"If you don't pick a therapist in the next five minutes I am going to drag you by the hair to the nearest shrinks office you emotionally constipated, underfed f**k."

Jerk Ford with his Niblings:

Wendy: I've been having these nightmares about Northwest Manor...

Soos: No sweat, dude. We can go there, and see that whatever you're scared of is just a part of your imagination.

Jerk Ford: You're going to need my help. I'm going with you.

Soos: Hold your horses, dawg. No one asked for more help. This whole trip might just prove the girl-dude shouldn't be sleeping with her nightlight off.

Jerk Ford: Lava lamp.

Wendy: How did you...? What, did you break into my house?

Jerk Ford: *scoffs* Please.

Jerk Ford:

Jerk Ford: I break into everyones house.

Jerk Ford with his Grand-Niblings:

Dipper: I will send you STRAIGHT TO HADES, where you belong!

Jerk Ford: I'll see you there, pipsqueak. Well, I'll try to; I'd need a magifiying glass.

Dipper: Why you-

Mabel: Why can't we ever play a normal game of Go Fish?

Jerk Ford with Retired Tech Billionaire Old Man McGucket:

Fiddleford: It's an entire dimension of sentient robots?

Jerk Ford: Mhmm.

Fiddleford: And they have the ability to take the form of normal Earth vehicles should they choose?

Jerk Ford: Yes.

Fiddleford: And there's been a civil war raging between two factions of them for a thousand years?

Jerk Ford: What about it?

Fiddleford:

Fiddleford: Ford, you're talking about The Transformers.

Jerk Ford: The what?

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Your blog is super helpful with advice and research.

Do you have any resources on writing a character with PTSD, specifically from the Vietnam War era? I want to be accurate and respectful.

Thank you so much!

Writing Notes: PTSD

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

in DSM–IV–TR, a disorder that may result when an individual lives through or witnesses an event in which they believe that there is a threat to life or physical integrity and safety and experiences fear, terror, or helplessness.

The symptoms are characterized by:

reexperiencing the trauma in painful recollections, flashbacks, or recurrent dreams or nightmares;

avoidance of activities or places that recall the traumatic event, as well as diminished responsiveness (emotional anesthesia or numbing), with disinterest in significant activities and with feelings of detachment and estrangement from others; and

chronic physiological arousal, leading to such symptoms as an exaggerated startle response, disturbed sleep, difficulty in concentrating or remembering, and guilt about surviving the trauma when others did not.

Subtypes are chronic posttraumatic stress disorder and delayed posttraumatic stress disorder.

When the symptoms do not last longer than 4 weeks, a diagnosis of acute stress disorder is given instead.

Changes in PTSD criteria from DSM–IV–TR to DSM–5 and DSM-5-TR include the following:

Exposure to the traumatic event may be secondhand if the event happens to a loved one or if there is repeated exposure to aversive details (e.g., as with first responders cleaning up after a disaster);

the subjective criterion requiring that the person feel fear, terror, or helplessness has been eliminated;

symptom clusters have been recategorized, with additional symptoms; and

separate criteria have been developed for children age 6 years or younger.

Who Develops PTSD?

Anyone can develop PTSD at any age.

Some factors can increase the chance that someone will have PTSD, many of which are not under that person's control.

For example, having a very intense or long-lasting traumatic event or getting injured during the event can make it more likely that a person will develop PTSD.

PTSD is also more common after certain types of trauma, like combat and sexual assault.

Personal factors—like previous traumatic exposure, age and gender—can affect whether a person will develop PTSD.

What happens after the traumatic event is also important.

Stress can make PTSD more likely, while social support can make it less likely.

What Are the Symptoms of PTSD?

PTSD symptoms usually start soon after the traumatic event, but they may not appear until months or years later.

They also may come and go over many years.

If the symptoms last longer than 4 weeks, cause you great distress, or interfere with your work or home life, you might have PTSD.

There are 4 types of PTSD symptoms.

To be diagnosed with PTSD, you need to have each type.

That said, everyone experiences symptoms in their own way.

Reliving the event (also called re-experiencing symptoms). 

Memories of the traumatic event can come back at any time.

They can feel very real and scary. For example:

You may have nightmares.

You may feel like you are going through the event again. This is called a flashback.

You may see, hear or smell something that causes you to relive the event. This is called a trauma reminder, cue or trigger. News reports, seeing an accident, or hearing fireworks are examples of trauma reminders.

Avoiding things that remind you of the event. 

You may try to avoid situations or people remind you of the trauma event.

You may even avoid talking or thinking about the event. For example:

You may avoid crowds because they feel dangerous.

You may avoid driving if you were in a car accident or if your military convoy was bombed.

If you were in an earthquake, you may avoid watching movies about earthquakes.

You may keep very busy or avoid getting help so you don't have to think or talk about the event.

Having more negative thoughts and feelings than before the event. 

The way you think about yourself and others may become more negative because of the trauma.

For example:

You may feel numb—unable to have positive or loving feelings toward other people—and lose interest in things you used to enjoy.

You may forget about parts of the traumatic event or not be able to talk about them.

You may think the world is completely dangerous, and no one can be trusted.

You may feel guilt or shame about the event, wishing you had done more to keep it from happening.

Feeling on edge or keyed up (also called hyperarousal). 

You may be jittery, or always alert and on the lookout for danger.

You might suddenly become angry or irritable. For example:

You may have a hard time sleeping.

You may find it hard to concentrate.

You may be startled by a loud noise or surprise.

You might act in unhealthy ways, like smoking, abusing drugs or alcohol, or driving aggressively.

What Are the Symptoms of PTSD in Children?

Children may have symptoms like those above or other symptoms.

As children get older, their symptoms are more like those of adults.

Here are some examples of PTSD symptoms in children and teens:

Children under 6 may get upset if their parents are not close by, have trouble sleeping, or act out the trauma in their play.

Children ages 7 to 11 may also act out the trauma through play, drawings or stories. Some have nightmares or become more irritable or aggressive. They may also want to avoid school or have trouble with schoolwork or friends.

Children ages 12 to 18 have symptoms more similar to adults: depression, anxiety, withdrawal, or reckless behavior like substance abuse or running away.

Vietnam War Veterans

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has a long and complicated history.

During the Civil War it was call DaCostas Syndrome, named for the doctor who published about the troubling symptoms he was seeing in soldiers from both sides of battle. They suffered:

shortness of breath,

rapid pulse, and

fatigue during times of stress, and especially when recalling certain aspects of battle.

Shell shock,

Battle Fatigue, and

Post Vietnam Syndrome were all names given to symptoms of PTSD before it was officially added to the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) as an anxiety disorder in 1980. It has since been changed to a trauma and stressor related disorder.

Military service and PTSD are often linked because of the danger men and women in the armed forces face.

Their ability to show grace and present calm after traumatic experiences in life threatening situations can often be misinterpreted by those around them as being “fine”.  

The reality of war zones often forces them to march forward without the opportunity to process the trauma as other civilians might be able to.

A flash of light, a noise, or unexpected movement can trigger a jarring memory for service members thus causing them to experience PTSD. 

Symptoms can be distressing to daily life and create daily traumatic experiences. 

In the past, the image of the brave soldier made acknowledging, discussing and getting help for PTSD nearly impossible for many veterans. 

Alcohol abuse, addiction, depression, muscoskeleton pain and other illnesses are frequently linked with PTSD and can cause problems in family and work life creating distress for veterans and the people who care most about them.

A major difference during the Vietnam War and previous wars was the homecoming experience.

While their fathers had come home from World War II to ticker-tape parades and national adulation, Vietnam veterans were often told to hide their military service or encouraged to not share it with others.

Many were maligned and mistreated.

This compounded the trauma that they experienced in Southeast Asia. 

Vietnam veterans worked to change the narrative around PTSD. Men like Max Cleland, Lewis Puller Jr., and Hal Moore openly spoke about their struggles adjusting to civilian life.

Do People With PTSD Get Better?

After a traumatic event, it's normal to think, act, and feel differently than usual--but most people start to feel better after a few weeks.

Talk to a doctor or mental health care provider (like a psychiatrist, psychologist, counselor or social worker) if your symptoms:

Last longer than a month

Are very upsetting

Disrupt your daily life

"Getting better" means different things for different people.

There are treatment options for PTSD. For many people, these treatments can get rid of symptoms altogether. Others find they have fewer symptoms or feel that their symptoms are less intense.

Your symptoms don't have to interfere with your everyday activities and relationships.

What Treatments are Available?

Both trauma-focused psychotherapy (sometimes called counseling or talk therapy) and medication are proven to treat PTSD.

Sometimes people combine psychotherapy and medication.

Trauma-focused psychotherapy

A few trauma-focused psychotherapies are the most highly recommended treatments for PTSD.

"Trauma-focused" means that the therapy focuses on the memory of the traumatic event or its meaning.

The 3 most effective types of trauma-focused psychotherapy are:

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) where you learn skills to understand how trauma changed your thoughts and feelings. Changing how you think about the trauma can change how you feel.

Prolonged Exposure (PE) where you talk about your trauma repeatedly until memories are no longer upsetting. This will help you get more control over your thoughts and feelings about the trauma. You also go to places or do things that are safe, but that you have been staying away from because they remind you of the trauma.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which involves focusing on sounds or hand movements while you talk about the trauma. This helps your brain work through the traumatic memories.

Sources: 1 2 3 ⚜ More: Notes ⚜ Character Development (Tips & Notes) ⚜ PDFs

Consider the above notes, and then the following tips & advice to further develop your character:

Writing about Mental Health Conditions

Character Development

Thanks for telling me, I'm glad to hear that! You can find more information in the links. If you can, speaking with a person/s with PTSD would provide valuable insight into your story, as well as doing further research on media portrayals of and by people with PTSD. All the best with your writing!

[vilochkaaa]

i finally make almost full reference for my most favorite stormy farmer boy - Willow :3

i luv him soo so much <33

[netwatchsucks]

Johnny Silverhand born 1988, Second Central American Conflict (where he lost his arm etc) 2003-2010, Samurai founded 2003... you're telling me that man

Enlisted in the (i'm assuming) military for the independent republic of texas (born College Station, Texas - Texas goes independent in 1999 and is recognised as such in 2000) at 15 years old (possibly lying about his age)

Lost his arm and a good friend and deserted the army, running away towards Night City at... still 15 years old?

Said fuck it and with absolutely nothing to his name formed a band with (i'm assuming) a handful of other TEENAGERS

Disbanded Samurai in 2008 at the ripe age of 20 years old

Yeah no wonder he Acts Like That

[bumblingbabooshka]

Voyager should have done a whole episode that was just a series of horror vignettes of the entire crew in increasingly malicious/difficult/terrifying situations that start off seeming like normal Voyager antics (Every main character gets their turn to 'star' in one scenario somehow tailored to them sans Harry who's conspicuously absent and the Doctor) and end with like, Janeway once again heroically sacrificing herself for the crew after finally figuring out what's wrong only for the episode to end exactly how it began. Only the first scenario plays out until the very end, every subsequent scenario ends faster and more brutally than the last and as the episode progresses we see the crew retaining scars or pains from previous deaths we witnessed though to them these wounds are mysterious or they give a narratively coherent reason for having them. Though there are some clues as to what's happening this largely remains unexplained and unresolved until the NEXT episode which is 'The Killing Game'. Everyone would have loved this! They would have cheered and clapped!

[whetstonefires]

You know what else gets neglected? Wen Xu made Lan Wangji set the library on fire.

Like. Realistically he knew it was going to burn whatever he did, so making a point of defiance that would just get more people killed would have been stupid. (I assume a major reason cql swapped this out for the Headband Cave, besides building up Su She's craven villainy, was that this would have been very expensive to film.) Giving way on this point after getting his leg broken, with his Sect overcome around him and his father mortally wounded, was perfectly reasonable.

But it's also something that was guaranteed to be very traumatic for him. Putting the flame to that building with his own hands.

And then, not knowing the fates of his family and with a broken leg, he got dumped into the Wen indoctrination and wound up in the turtle cave alone with Wei Wuxian, and definitely took his trauma out on him a little bit, though all things considered he handles himself with great restraint.

And then there's the war, and he takes time out of the campaign to try to find a presumed-dead guy whom he almost definitely regrets only being kind to when he wasn't really coherent, and then even though that guy is no longer trying to befriend him gets himself assigned to his theater of war to watch his back.

Lan Xichen is shown in that one tent flashback in the Nie Mingjue empathy section to know full well his brother is in Jiangling because Wei Wuxian is in Jiangling.

During the unclear-but-plural number of years the war went on, Lan Wangji was away from Cloud Recesses more or less all the time. Repairs were, we may assume, made in his absence. The collection was rebuilt as much as was possible, and housed in a replacement building, that may or may not have been complete by the time he went home to stay.

(Presumably one of the irreplaceable texts Xichen smuggled away was a list or index of the more replaceable ones, that got burnt, so they can go around to their contacts in an organized way asking to make copies. They seem to have done so very well at replacing such a large library so quickly that I can only assume they had had a very generous copying policy, and reaped the reward of this after the war.)

So after the war, when Lan Wangji is spending most of his time closed up in his room working on music, his being fixated on saving Wei Wuxian from the spiral of his own cultivation method is the least worrying explanation.

Because the alternate reasons Lan Xichen has to hand for this behavior are 1) Lan Wangji's ptsd is totally crippling and he's potentially going to become a shut-in for life or 2) the trauma he suffered at the start of the war, in the Cloud Recesses, being made to act against the Cloud Recesses, against his own safe place, means that he no longer feels secure or comfortable there, and is shut away obsessively cultivating to avoid their family and home.

And ngl I tend to suspect based on the timing of some beats that Lan Wangji did wind up funneling a lot of the energy from his war trauma into his romantic attachment. Because during that crucial window from 'Wei Wuxian has gone missing' to 'Wei Wuxian is dead' he believed that Wei Wuxian was someone he could help, if he could just figure out how.

And a huge predictor of PTSD, much larger than how 'objectively bad' something was, is how helpless you felt in the face of harm to yourself or others. So channeling his intensity and control issues into the contained and should-still-be-possible issue of Wei Wuxian's well-being would have been....

Not actually the worst coping mechanism, although it sure would have been a better one if Wei Wuxian had in fact been possible to help in some more substantive way than 'watching his back in battle' lmao.

[redd956]

Writing Reference: Trauma Aging the Appearance

For my fellow angsty and whumpy writers who are writing characters that have been through a lot.

Does trauma actually speed up one's aging?

Yes, and no. Studies show mixed evidence, that requires more looking into as it's more complex than initially thought.

We mostly know that some people do seem to age faster during trauma like violence or some abuse, but not as much so for poverty or neglect. Genetic factors might play a role. People who seemed to age faster would have puberty earlier than others and even show signs of accelerated aging at a cellular level.

We're still doing ongoing research about what this means and what decides this.

The general theory behavioral scientists and biologists are leaning on is that aging faster during in dangerous traumatic times serves an evolutionary advantage.

As for adults, significant results show that depression can be a damper of lifespan, especially for elders, but there's a lot outside of trauma that influences this.

Graying Hair

Stress, not even just trauma, but stress alone can gray your hair. Genetics can play a role of course, but you've ever seen a single mom you know that they have to buy lots of hair dye.

Many hormones and chemicals activate when stressed, and double so when entering a form of shock, adrenaline rush, or total despair. One of those chemicals is norepinephrine.

Norepinephrine actually affects your melanocyte stem cells, the exact cells that stand at the base of each string of hair, and if these melanocytes die off they can't be replaced and the hair happens to lose pigment.

People typically start to gray around their forehead, sides of their faces, and central scalp. It takes a long time for someone's whole head of hair to completely gray, and usually someone will rock half-grayed hair for a long while before aging catches up if their gray is caused from stress. Facial hair can also gray.

Wrinkles and Tear Troughs

Dark eye circles, stress wrinkles, deep tear troughs, heavy eye bags... We've all heard it. Do these actually happen though?

Yes, absolutely. I can even vouch anecdotal evidence, as a severe abuse survivor myself, if you pull up old pictures of me I look like I was just pulled out of someone's back shed that had a magical portal to a world war.

Stress Wrinkles

Stress causes tenseness, and that includes in the face. This tenseness for long periods of time can cause wrinkles, especially in individuals past their late twenties. Some common stress wrinkles we see is between the eye brows known as frown lines, forehead lines, bunny lines that are between the nose and cheeks often near the nostril area, and smile lines that around the mouth.

Tear Troughs

Those lines you typically see right at the top of the nose and underneath the eyes are actually deep tear trough lines, I have these myself.

They can sometimes give the appearance of sunken eyes, dark circles, and heavier eye bags due to lighting on your face. Deep ones are referred to in the cosmetic industry as tear trough deformities. They can be caused by genetics of course, but also heavy sleep deprivation, dehydration, stress, and significant weight loss.

Many would describe their appearance as making a person always look extremely tired. They can also have a sort of darker hue to them as they leave the skin thin against your sockets. They can help eye bags form as well.

Eye Bags & Dark Circles

When you're always tired or experiencing a lack of sleep the muscles around the eyes can become strained, leading to puffiness and color tinting. Fatigue, depression, and lack of sleep messed with your blood flow. We can the see the results of so in places with thin skin such as the eye area.

Inflammation, dehydration, malnourishment, and weight loss cause these areas to discolor as well.

Sunken Eyes

One day I found an old picture of my brother and I. We looked mostly like normal kids besides our eerily sunken eyes.

Sunken eyes look different from eyebags and dark circles, and you typically know when you see them because they leave you feeling chilled or spooked. Something just looks so very very wrong in them. They are dramatic, really really dramatic, and can even be frightening depending on their severity.

Dehydration is a major player in causing sunken eyes, as well as damage to the facial structure from physical trauma. Sleep deprivation can cause it. Pair this with all the other above stress agers, and one can walk out into the world with a sunken appearance.

Sunken eyes can appear very dark, red, purple, or black even, and leave deep grooves underneath the eye. They can cause the eyelids to appear droopy, and the eyes intense and bulging. The eyes are literally deeper into the socket and they truly are best described as sunken.

Sunken eyes can also cause eye dryness, give the face a sense of asymmetry in eye positioning, cause double vision, difficulty focusing, and a sagging look to the skin around the eyes and eyelids.

Thousand Yard Stare & PTSD Eyes

I'm sure you've seen the famous artwork by Thomas Lea going about capturing an American soldier looking to the perspective with these horrific eyes.

PTSD eyes and the thousand yard stare are two completely different things.

Thousand Yard Stare

The thousand yard stare is a biological response people can have due to extreme violence and danger such as war. Wikipedia describes the stare as blank and unfocused. It is a reaction to shellshock or CSR which are both really terms for active PTSD while still under extreme duress such as in war combat.

In fact there are plenty other reactions that can happen alongside the thousand yard stare or in its stead, including...

Catatonia

Hypervigilance

Dissociative Amnesia

Uncontrollable Laughter

Tremors

Headaches/Migraines

Tinnitus

Neurasthenia (Sudden Muscle Weakness)

Mutism

Fugue

Sensory Overload

Screaming

Paralysis

Fear Response

Dissociation

And many many more

This is shellshock/combat stress reaction, and these things actually aren't limited to those in war. Anyone experiencing any kind of extreme shock in traumatic situation such as sexual assaults, murder, sudden death of a loved one, torture, kidnapping, and more.

These things very much often develop into PTSD, and although a rare reaction to returning extreme stress, those with PTSD can sometimes mimic these reactions during a flashback episode.

PTSD Eyes

Then what is PTSD eyes?

PTSD Eyes is a term coined to describe that sort of unique look in the eyes that those with PTSD can exhibit. This is caused by a lack of pupil reaction to threatening or upsetting imagery compared to the average person, and meanwhile an exaggerated reaction to nonthreatening imagery.

People with PTSD eyes can actually have a harder time focusing on things with their sight. This can also give people with PTSD a general unfocused sort of look.

In a series of pictures showing soldiers before, during, and after war we can see this very often in the after image.

Weight Loss

Malnutrition and starvation is extremely hard on the body, and very dangerous. It will show in every facet on your appearance. Your face can grow sunken and sharp, your arms and chest boney and gangly, and the muscles and bone structure underneath starts to show.

Often times trauma and weight loss can go hand in hand, not even through relation, but just due to circumstance.

Pale Complexion

Pallor, or medical paleness, can be a result of fatigue and stress, giving the skin a paler or grayer appearance.

Other causes can be shock, malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies, anemia, recent blood loss, and even low blood sugar. After some time and care to the body people will eventually brighten back up.

Extra Sources & Farewell

Here's some awesome sources if you want to look into things even more!

[ruegarding]

anyway here's my rant:

despite her comment in son, hazel doesn't have much adhd/dyslexia coding. her treatment at st agnes has more to do w being a black girl in the 1930's and her powers/curse than her possible adhd/dyslexia, considering she never mentions any symptoms specific to adhd or dyslexia in her backstory. the closest things are her interest in horses, which could be considered a hyper-fixation, and her flashbacks, which could be argued as daydreaming associated w inattentive adhd. furthermore, her powers could easily be used as a commentary on masking similar to the general attitude towards her vs other dead ppl (she looks alive, so she deserves to be alive, unlike all these other ppl who went thru the doors of death). overall, interesting set up, not expanded upon in canon.

similarly, the only time piper is ever implied to have adhd is in that boo scene, which doesn't hold much weight bc it's a general statement in an impersonal pov (as opposed to "piper was only able to keep track bc of her adhd/demigod abilities," still in third person pov, but a more personalized statement). this post began as a quest to answer the question "how does piper's adhd manifest," and the answer is "uhhhhhhhhhhh."

continuing w the trend, jason is never implied to have adhd or dyslexia at all. would have been interesting to see, considering jason has the whole gifted-kid-burn-out thing going on, but alas.

i'm not including the statement annabeth makes abt demigods typically having one or both and hazel's statement abt "just being a demigod," bc it's also established that it's not a requirement. the fandom wiki claims frank is the only demigod to not have adhd: if "just being a demigod" means that every demigod has adhd/dyslexia, then frank, inarguably, has adhd/dyslexia, as well.

more importantly, in a story where adhd and dyslexia are explicitly addressed and considered the cornerstone of the world building, i need it to be explicitly said that a character has adhd/dyslexia in order to give credit to canon (my personal hcs are a different story).

so, it seems like leo is the only one out of the lost trio w adhd or dyslexia, and it's only adhd. he frequently references things he's reading and shows no issue doing so, given that it's in a language he understands.

interestingly, leo claims "he couldn’t read ancient greek" in hoh, so it could be that the ease w learning ancient greek (and potentially latin) is exclusive to those w dyslexia. however, this has been as inconsistent as the actual dedication to giving demigods adhd and/or dyslexia. for example, chiron says the ability is "in their blood" in tlh w no mention of dyslexia, but in tlt annabeth says percy has dyslexia bc "[his] mind is hardwired for ancient greek."

the only character to bring up how dyslexia affects them in hoo is percy, making it seem like his dyslexia is much worse than annabeth's, the only other character who we know is dyslexic (from pjo, it's never mentioned in hoo). if leo is "seriously adhd," then percy is seriously dyslexic. something to be said how they're both treated as comic relief in fandom, considering.

frank not being diagnosed despite his dyspraxia coding could be used as a commentary on medical racism and the model minority stereotype. since frank is exclusively listed as the only demigod to not have either diagnosis and his dyspraxia coding eventually disappears, it doesn't appear that that was the intention.

moving to a more theoretical discussion, it's hard to say what is/is not definitively adhd/dyslexia symptoms, specifically using canon, considering we rarely see any of the demigods acting "normal." the majority of the time, they're on a quest/in an extreme situation. contrast w pjo, where we learn things abt percy's adhd and dyslexia while he's at school, a relatively normal situation, and then can apply it to the rest of the series. w hoo, it's almost all guesswork.

leo mentions that his adhd affects his memory, so we know that similar moments can be attributed to his adhd. but is hazel forgetting part of sciron's story a symptom of adhd or just a normal thing that happens bc forgetting things in stressful situations is normal? is jason's seemingly permanent amnesia a symptom of the memory wipe or is it exacerbated by adhd? is piper's aversion to feminine clothing and make up caused by sensory issues? we'll never know, bc they're never said to have adhd.

[idontknowreallywhy]

Estera Ch 37 - Warmup

Oh hi! We’re back 🤪

Story so far

Previous chapter - 36 - Lost

(and if you’re new to this, might be worth starting from a couple earlier to figure out what on earth is going on 34 - Anniversary 35 - Ten)

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The mid-May sun radiated its cheerful warmth at the trio as they contained their journey towards the shore. Estera was oblivious, noticing only the bite of salt in the light breeze that could make your eyes water if you weren’t careful.

She led them away from the main road and its friendly ice cream coloured houses and took a winding route through a series of more generic residential streets. Less direct but space to breathe. Space to run… she’d have suggested it by now but Scott was moving unusually slowly, seemingly lost in thought and it seemed best not to interrupt for the moment.

How had everything gone so wrong, so quickly?

She’d intended a fun, stress free day - a lighthearted day to distract the both of them from darker memories and yet in the short time since he’d arrived she’d somehow led him from one disaster to another.

The prickle of cold sweat at her hairline intensified as her mind replayed the image of him leaning back so heavily over the bannister and focussed in on the magnitude of the drop behind him should it have broken or he’d overbalanced… it sent another little shockwave of horror roiling through her gut. Did she even get that right? In the moment she’d felt she’d known exactly what he needed… but… what if? What if she shouldn’t have left him. No, she shouldn’t have. Even for a second. What if? Should she have grabbed him? Pulled him away from there? No… no, shocking him would probably have made it worse. He was far stronger than she was.

She’d been foolish to let Bez go ahead though. Foolish to think that after one brief meeting she’d magically fixed that issue for him. She knew full well that wasn’t how it went and should have been far more careful.

It had taken several long moments for him to recognise her. His pupils so dilated his eyes were more black holes than blue pools. Not like the very first moment she’d looked into them, when the blue burned so brightly, more like the second when his face was strained with terror and he’d screamed at her to…

No. She had to stop this train of thought before it made her even more useless to him than she’d been already.

At least she’d got him out of range before the little voice of her pupil piped a cheery “byeee Mr Scott”. Hopefully it was unlikely they’d run after him even if the connection was belatedly made, but it was another reason to steer clear of the main road.

She hadn’t known what the younger sister’s name was. Would never have guessed his mother was one of those fans. Though the knowledge did throw a couple of the stranger remarks little Jeff had come out with into a new light.

Scott didn’t seem to be struggling with a flashback or anything now, thankfully, just walking quietly, a slight frown on his face, his gazed fixed a little above the rooftops. The only clue he was even aware of her presence was the way her elbow, looped through his own was clamped lightly but firmly to his side. Bez trotted at his other side, glancing up at his new two-legged friend almost as often as his mistress was.

“I’m so sorry, Scott.”

He seemed to shake himself. “Don’t be silly, not your fault.”

“I didn’t know…”

“Even if you had, Estera, we couldn’t have done anything different. Tracy needed help, so we helped. And it’s ok! Really. It is.”

He looked down at her and… well she wanted to believe him but… a little groan escaped her and she found herself gripping his arm slightly tighter. He patted her hand.

“It was just a little… strange! I’m glad she didn’t realise that I… well. It would have been a shame to disappoint her, you know?”

“I hardly think you’d prove a disappointment.”

Yes, there it was - the slight twitch of his jaw that somehow she knew was coming as soon as the words left her mouth. Estera felt rather the same way she did when she saw one of the children berated by a stressed-out parent for breaking or losing something again…

“I meant she’d want to know if she was right about… about Dad, wouldn’t she? I mean it’s kinda amusing to imagine him going all vigilante… but if he is… well he’s taking his sweet time about bringing the World Government down and getting home.”

“Mmm… maybe they are more robust than people think.”

He snorted derisively. Interesting, maybe she’d probe that one some other time.

“Well if he does manage it and then makes a grand reappearance, I’ll give him a hug first, then congratulate him…” the corner of his mouth quirked and his eyes glinted a little “… and then I’d kick his ass for leaving me with all the paperwork.”

She burst out laughing, partly out of surprise, partly relief. He grinned and gave her arm a squeeze. They followed a path through the last row of houses and emerged into an open field, to be greeted at last by the vast sweep of the sea in front of them. Scott took a deep breath:

“Thanks for the rescue though, you think you’ve heard them all, think you’ve got all the lines ready but…” he waved a hand in lieu of finishing the sentence.

“She was really quite keen wasn’t she? I mean do you think her husband deliberately…” Estera caught herself just in time. The distinct downside of how easy Scott was to talk to was that she sometimes really REALLY needed to stop talking.

“Deliberately what?”

“Nothing. Inappropriate thought.”

He smirked “Well now I really want to know!”

“No! Not…” Estera blushed and whacked him on the arm “… not like that!”

“Then…?”

Their pace had increased without her realising and she was needing to take three steps for every two of his. She huffed, realising that if she held out he’d be assuming even worse. “I just meant… well…” she dropped her voice in case anyone was listening out of a window “did you notice the husband’s hair? Just like… your Dad always wore his in the old documentaries.”

He looked at her for a moment before letting out a single explosive “Ha!” and shaking his head.

“The sweep and flick! I’d forgotten that. He used to say it was the most dashing style you could maintain in a space suit… kind of controlled helmet hair I guess. He wore it a lot simpler, more formal once Mom… once he started all the TI stuff, you know?”

She rather thought she did know but before she could think of how to respond he continued:

“I reckon it must be deliberate, he seemed like a smart man and whatever works… Anyway, before I think any more about people finding my dad sexy…” he pulled a revolted face “How did it go?”

“What?”

“The lunch! How did it go?”

Scott Tracy could change topic as fast as his beloved rocket could U-turn. Estera felt slightly as though she had whiplash but hastily endeavoured to catch up. She’d spent most of the previous day looking forward to sharing the details with him but given everything so far this morning they had all slithered out of her mind.

“Oh! Of course. Ok, I think?”

“Only think?”

“Well, if I don’t think about any of the awkward things I said or the names I immediately forgot after Lady Penelope introduced people… I’m usually good with names but apparently as soon as you add titles as well it seems I get scrambled. I mean I didn’t even know there WAS an Earl of Devonshire? He was alright, if a little old fashioned but some of them were so strange and rude. Others were pleasant though. I hope I didn’t show Penelope up too badly, she was very kind to invite me. And I enjoyed it! I did. Except the more I think about it in retrospect then more I am sure they all knew I didn’t belong there… and… ah, I probably got carried away going on and on when I should have just smiled and nodded, you know?”

She tailed off and cleared her throat, embarrassed at the sudden flood of badly ordered thoughts. She tried to summarise but it came out like a generic answer to an interview question:

“It was a good learning experience.”

Scott was smiling in an irritatingly knowing fashion as he slipped his arm out of hers and started fiddling with his wrist comm. Bez, apparently content that he was no longer required to prop anyone up, bounded away in hot pursuit of something small and fluffy.

“What are you looking so smug about?”

“I had a message from Penny last night.”

The sun was suddenly far too hot. “Oh. Oh no. What did I do? I upset people by ranting about controversial things didn’t I? Ah. Aaaah I knew it! I really SHOULD have smiled and nodded and just been normal I’ve always been awful at that. I just… I sometimes forget to slow down and how I’m supposed to act! I’m so sorry Scott, I messed it up! Don’t look like that! It’s not funny!”

“Shall I read it to you?”

“I don’t know that you should.”

“I do.” He cleared his throat importantly and tapped his comm before reading aloud as they walked.

“Scott darling I’m afraid you will have to spend less time with your new friend…”

Estera suddenly felt incredibly nauseous and slowed her pace. She couldn’t work out why he found this so amusing. She knew he valued Lady Penelope’s opinion and, well, in honesty Estera had begun to do so too. It was disappointing to think she had managed to lose favour so quickly.

Scott paused and waited for her to catch up. “There’s more!”

“You will have to spend less time with your new friend because I would very much like to claim a little more of hers myself. Lady Smythe-Gibbons was entirely charmed by the manner in which she set Sir Fancypants in his place on the new immigration bill. As you know, the two of them have never seen eye to eye and once she saw how put out he was about it I believe I can now count on the good Lady as an ally in that particular campaign. I do hope Estera enjoyed herself and wasn’t too put out by my commandeering her Saturday afternoon.”

“Oh.” Estera took a moment to process. “I’m fairly sure it wasn’t Smythe-Gibbons…”

“I may have taken poetic licence with some of the names she mentions here.”

“I really should remember the names…”

“You’re missing the point a little here, E. You did good! Y’are officially PCW-approved!”

Ordinarily she’d have been delighted to point out how his accent slipped when he was excited, but the satisfaction of it was tainted by the thought that this seemed to have been some kind of test and she’d only passed it on a fluke.

“Well it’s a relief but it’s also entirely by chance! I could have as easily upset the wrong dignitary and ruined all Lady Penelope’s plans.”

Scott shook his head vigorously.

“Naw, I’ve found that one of Penny’s greatest tricks is unleashing the right person on the right person at the right time.”

“How do you mean?”

“If you upset Lord Fluffington-McDoodieface it’s because she intended you to do so. She wouldn’t have let you loose anywhere you could have done any real damage. Well, any damage she doesn’t want to occur anyway.”

Once again Estera found herself not knowing quite how to feel about Lady Penelope.

“But… what if I’d…”

“The best thing is to go with it and enjoy the ride. At least you got an interesting political debate and a decent lunch. Usually I just end up distracting some oblivious executive’s wife with mindless chitchat while she extracts information from the husband and I starve to death on tiny food.”

“Don’t you feel a bit… used?”

“Nah. She does so much for us and for International Rescue. If my buying a drink for a pretty girl or… well… if I’m being entirely honest it’s more usually a septuagenerian millionaire with a terrifying glint in her eye…” Scott clutched a fist to his chest, all virtuous melodrama. “If that helps her uncover a nefarious plot or raise a ton of cash for charity, I’ll do it. Occasionally.” He chuckled and then added with a grin “When I can’t find an excuse to be elsewhere.”

“A terrifying glint, huh?” Estera couldn’t quite hide the smirk.

Scott turned to her with wide, mock horrified eyes.

“So terrifying. Honestly. Occasionally if they are standing between me and the door, leaping out the window seems the safest option. But I stand my ground for the greater good.”

“You are sooo brave.”

“I really am.”

She shoved him lightly into the hedge.

“Tell me though, which is the more terrifying - the predatory pensioners or the tiny food?”

“I think we both know the answer to that.”

“Well luckily my plans for later involve very decent portion sizes. But first, you have to earn it.”

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Next chapter

[dootznbootz]

I went on tiktok to just watch some silly Odysseus videos but then I mostly saw people going like "Yeah, maybe Odysseus cried on Calypso' island every day but honestly he had that coming after what he did Achilles and Patroclous/Circe!!!" and "Everything that happens in Odyssey is deserved cuz he took Patrochilles to war!!!" and "I feel so bad for Circe and Calypso and Penelope, they deserved better!!!"

For fucks sake I beg you, read anything different from Millers bs and like educate yourself- And please stop goddamn saying that rape victim. deserved it.

Circe probably didn't give a flying fuck, Calypso is a rapist and abuser and Penelope deserved everything she wanted and SHE WANTED ODYSSEUS

I think I've had enough internet for today, imma go wash my eyes with bleach. Anyways sorry for ranting here, i hope you don't mind it lmao

It's alright. I absolutely understand the vents about the whole thing. :'D No one deserves to be a victim of such a thing no matter WHAT they've done. I hope your eyes are okay after the bleach

Like Odysseus does so many fucked up things but Calypso and Circe? He is the victim. Period. It's very clear that Odysseus is in extreme distress on Ogygia. And Circe wasn't some sort of FwB situation. There's fear and numbness in the language he uses when talking about it. There's so much victim blaming and it SUCKS.

Even then, Odysseus' journey was kind of about "temptation" or just straight up "Die or get out of my sea." From Poseidon. "I don't want you in my waters so I'm gonna try and give you things that will keep you on land or just kill you."

Immortal goddesses wanting you would be many people's dream come true but not for Odysseus. And I think that's the point. His determination, how he clawed his way back into the arms he never wanted to leave in the first place, is incredible. Many people would've given up and just started a new life but he never would because no life he could ever create would compare to the life he had before. Even if it's different, it's what he's always wanted.

He literally tells Calypso "I'm not stopping until I'm home. I don't care if I suffer more until I do. I'm going home."

“Mighty goddess, do not be angry with me over this. I myself know very well Penelope, although intelligent, is not your match                                          to look at, not in stature or in beauty. But she’s a human being and you’re a god. You’ll never die or age. But still I wish, every moment to get back to my home,                                                       to see the day of my return. And so, even if out there on the wine-dark sea some god breaks me apart, I will go on— the heart here in my chest is quite prepared to bear affliction. I’ve already had so many troubles, and I’ve worked so hard                                  through waves and warfare. Let what’s yet to come be added in with those.”

(Book 5, Johnston)

Circe's a goddess and what happened is nothing like Dionysus and Ariadne and Apollo and Hyacinthus for example. Circe never gave Odysseus a crown of stars and he would never go out of his way to kill 120 people for bothering her. They did not love each other and he can't refuse as she's a goddess.

If you interpret them sleeping together the entire year,(It's only explicitly said that they had sex once so that's what I go with personally.) that doesn't mean he was happy with it! Even then, the whole situation is not what a healthy FwB should look like! I'm asexual and even I know that no one in a FwB situation should have to BEG in any way that basically says "Please let me go or kill me" with supplication!!! The fact that he leaves so quickly he forgets one of his men? The fact that during Elpenor's funeral, he doesn't greet Circe himself? He was avoiding her. Wouldn't he want to get "one last night together" during Book 12 if they were fwb? 🙄

It's bonkers to me that people hate him for being a "cheater" when A.) having multiple lovers wasn't uncommon in Ancient Greece, and B.) the two people he is explicitly said to have "cheated" with, weren't his choice. He wasn't actively searching for pretty women either!!!

As mentioned, while it was common for men to have many lovers, Odysseus never had any listed unlike some of the other men. (not bashing any of them. I'm just making a point in comparison.) He also has no other children besides Telemachus in Homer's works. There's no evidence of him having other lovers other than speculation. (funny enough, I once read somewhere that the reason why Odysseus is so mean is because he doesn't "bond" enough with the other soldiers. 😂)

Does that mean he didn't have other lovers? Technically, Nope! It's just never explicitly stated either way. He has slaves but none were ever said to be concubines or that he sleeps with them. He has deep bonds with his fellow soldiers but that doesn't mean he sleeps with them. That doesn't mean people can't write or talk about him doing so even though it's not mentioned! Just like it also means that someone can write him not doing so as there's nothing that says it either way in Homer's Works! :D

It's fucked up when people say "He didn't try to leave Calypso enough" or something of the like. It just tells you how A.) they didn't read the Odyssey or have piss on the poor reading comprehension or B.) ...you should probably stay away from that person...

With Circe though??? I can understand the confusion but digging deeper and looking at the text, he wasn't having a good time. Or at the very least was walking on Eggshells the whole time. I hate bringing up that essay over and over again but like...I literally wrote everything there.

I also don't like how people take Circe's morally gray-ness away from her. Let her do something fucked up to be fucked up!!! Let her traumatize Odysseus!

Idk, I kind of hate that I'm "known" for this but I relate to this idiot asshole a lot and it means a lot to me that his story, despite what happens to him, has a happy ending :'D

[sailorsenshishitposter]

Broly gets a job at the Krusty Krab

Paragus entered the bedroom and began to shake his son.

"What is it, old man?"

"We're out of money Broly. You need to get a job."

The younger sayian groaned. "Can't the slaves just do it?"

"And who do you suppose will build the Castle if the Shamoians are busy?"

"It's not like they're doing that good of a job anyway. I would beat them for it but they would just enjoy that."

"We can kinkshame them later son, you must acquire some money! Do you have any idea just how difficult it is to inject lorazepam into your tiara!?"

"Wait, what-?"

Before he could continue, Paragus used the ring to subdue his son. Unfortunately the medicine worked a little too well, as Broly was now unconscious and foaming at the mouth. His father then placed him on his side.

"It's times like these that make me wish for Freeza to just finish the job and put me out of my misery..."

----------

Eventually Broly woke up.

"What time is it? Oh yeah, I forgot that dad's too cheap to buy a clock."

He then saw a note on the night stand.

"Dear son, yadda, yadda, we need money, blah, blah, blah, if you don't comply then I'm going to burn your anime collection-"

Broly crumpled up the note, screamed and then threw it, causing it to break part of the wall.

"FINE DAD, YOU WIN!" and then he flew off into the sky while the narrator screamed "GO BROLY, GO, GO!"

----------

"What do I do? Every place I visit seems to reject me. Even Wall Mart won't hire me, because of my "mEnTaL hEaLtH" issues! There's always the male stripper option but I can't do it! Father knows I'm waiting for my marriage to the Princess and I can't betray her like that. Maybe if I prove that I can hold down a job then she'll remove the restraining order."

His stomach then began to growl. "Oh, it's a restaurant. I guess I could get something to eat."

Broly then waltzed inside to the Krusty Krab. How can he breathe underwater you ask? He doesn't. This is the same guy who slept in a slab of ice. If anything, he's only losing more brain cells when not inhaling oxygen.

Squidward was reading a magazine when a shadow started looming over him. He looked up to see a human that was over 6 ft tall. Oh, so it was going to be one of "those" days. "May I help you?" The squid said as unenthusiastically as possible.

Unfortunately for the Broccoli boy, his anxiety started kicking in. He panicked and became the legendary super sayian. He shoved his fist out, pulling Squidward up by the neck. "I ... need... job..."

"Look, I'll talk to my boss Mr. Caveman, just let me down!"

Broly then released his grip, causing the squid to fall face first. Squidward started muttering something about "not being payed enough for this job" while he scurried away.

"Mr. Squidward told me there was a fella lookin' for a job but I didn't expect him to be such a joker, argh, argh, argh!"

"What are you talking about Mr. Krabs?"

"Don't take me for a fool, you even put poor ol' Spongebob in yer prank."

"... Are you trying to tell me that you believe this man is Spongebob?..."

"Aye me boy. Is there a problem?"

"How do I put this Mr. Krabs. Are you completely INSANE!?"

"If that ain't Spongebob, why his hair be yellow?"

"Does Spongebob even have hair? What am I saying, this doesn't matter right now! Alright, Mr. Krabs, if this is Spongebob, then who's behind the grill?"

Squidward smug face only turned into horrified disbelief once he turned around and realized that no one was making patties.

"How could this have happened! He never leaves work-"

Loud chewing sounds could then be heard.

"OH MY GOD, HE ATE SPONGEBOB!"

Broly then began to wipe the blood off his face. "That creature could have used some salt."

Squidward motioned to the sayian but his plea fell on deaf ears. "Alright boys, you've had yer fun, now it's time to get back to work and get me some more of that sweet money!"

Their boss then went back to bathe in coins Scrouge McDuck style. "Well, I guess you got the job. Now if you don't mind me, I'll be mentally checking out."

Broly then went to his workstation. "I've never cooked before. How do they expect me to do this?"

Just then a television came out from the wall. "The Krusty Krab Training video?"

----------

30 minutes later

"But why did they choose P.O.O.P. as the acronym?"

Suddenly there was a ding. "Okay, "Spongebob". I need you to make a batch of krabby patties pronto!"

Broly nodded and then went over the ingredients. Buns, meat, ketchup, sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions and pickles. He sighed in relief when he knew he wouldn't need to use any carrots. "Such a weak vegetable!"

He then placed all the meat on the grill and fried it with his ki. When all that did was turn the food into ash, he started pounding his fists on the surface, oblivious to the third degree burns his skin was now getting.

Squidward peeked back for a second. "I'll be right back..."

Yelling could now be heard. Squidward then returned. "Your food will be here momentarily!"

Back in the kitchen, Broly began to fiddle with the nobs. "How was I supposed to know that the grill wasn't turned on!?"

He then placed a slice of meat down and began watching it start to sizzle. "Its been twenty minutes, so why does it still look pink?"

A groan could be heard from the window. "You're supposed to flip it over!"

Flip it over? What could that mean? Maybe it was time to finally use his spatula. Broly then lifted the meat up and turned it over.

"Why is it black?"

A bright green explosion could then be seen in the sky. Patrick scratched his head. He knew what fireworks were but are they supposed to happen during the daytime?

----------

2 hours later

After ruining over half of the produce, Broly had finally started to get the hang of things. It was actually a great thing for Squidward because all the customers kept being driven away. That is until the final order for the day came up.

"Alright newbie, this guy is the only one who hasn't left yet and we can't go home until he leaves. He wants you to make him one of everything!"

It took another three hours but he somehow did it. Broly was so proud of himself that he was going to personally hand deliver the food. As he carried the tray, he tripped on a left over carrot (how did that get there?) and all of the food was sent flying.

The food hit the floor and poor Mr "my power is maximum" was about to cry harder than that time when he was a baby (being stabbed as an infant was a close second to his current situation). Just then the customer spoke up.

"Hey, it's okay. That's why there's a five second rule. The stranger held his hand out and just as Broly was about to take it, he noticed something.

"... Kakarot...!"

"Just call me Goku!" and then the smaller sayian got down on the ground and vored all the burgers.

"Cell taught me that one. By the way, do I know you from somewhere?"

It was too late now. His PTSD had been triggered. "KAKAROT!'

The Krusty Krab then exploded.

----------

"Welcome home son. I know how difficult it was for you to land a job so I've decide to celebrate!"

Broly was drained but managed to give a small smile. "That sounds nice actually. What do you have in mind?"

"Well I went out and bought you a cake. I know how every young boy needs his vegetables so I got you some carrot cake-"

Broly immediately shoved the dish into his father's face.

His son went to bed and Paragus thought "Oh well, more for me anyway!"

[arttsuka]

Native English people, when you went to school how was the 'English language' class called?

[velvetvexations]

an alt-right Transformers fan referring to the IDW comics as "divisive" is the most filtered through an niche echo chamber take I've seen in a really long time