#the fact that an autistic person is working with them has rocked to world of MANY of my colleagues

[electroniccollectiondonut]

[mozzaicynth]

one thought everyday and its just the amazing world of gumball especially these three freaks (doodles + some headcanons below :3)

mr small -

my interpretation of small becoming more mellowed out in the future seasons as opposed to season 1 is him managing his anger in a more healthier way (meditation, etc) (plus i think all those herbal infusions are incredibly effective on the nerves) . that being said i think he still has underlying anger issues and lashes out if prompted too much . another reason hes nicer and more of a pushover in the later seasons is because i like to think hes guilty of his plethora of outbursts earlier on, especially towards students (unwarranted shouting which as a school counsellor he should know is pretty harmful on younger kids) . the fact that he tries to offer his help when its absolutely not needed so many times later on in the show further makes me like to think he’s making up for it all

hes also so autistic to me hes on the spectrum you cant tell me otherwise and i think hes pretty awkward and considered strange by the whole town (which is saying a lot for elmore standards) . still super friendly and approachable but he also cant take hints and he definitely stims (and has special interests, alternative medicine are you kidding)

his music taste i love to think is all over the place … i get the general consensus is he listens to mystic chants and sitar music but he definitely listens to more, ranging from pop to indie to rock to metal (this may or may not have become an idea when i was listening to ‘darts by soad and associated it with him,) . also what with his stupid little self funded album that is such a jarring listen ‘cause of all the ridiculous genre changes

i think he crochets/macrames as a hobby along with other diy stuff (most of the decorative items in his home crafted by him) making him, surprisingly considering how incompetent he is sometimes, super crafty/handy .

larry -

larry is a great person: incredibly intelligent, he’s very knowledgable on a plethora of subjects and he has a big heart, holding little to no virtriol against the people of elmore (except the wattersons but that is SO warranted) . thus i like to imagine he did great in school, moved on to do so wonderfully in uni whilst juggling jobs and his studies but after graduation was left stuck (alike so many people nowadays) . neither small or larry came from well off families but i think for larry he didn’t have much of a support system anyway so currently he overworks and works and works just to catch up on the student debt whilst simultaneously paying his taxes (i still think about that episode all the time fuck the police . big pink son of a bitch), loans and not to mention the bare minimum to keep himself alive

he’s a very sweet and kind person but anyone under the immense stress that he’s under would be irritable and temperate (he deserves to be more angry imo) and i whilst he has so many jobs he always aims to excel at all of them, having an incredibly particular way that tasks must be done and having them organised . because of this, he can be a lot more temperate when interacting with coworkers, especially those who don’t do their job as well, having to take matters into his own hands . as he and karen (his girlfriend throughout the series) share some jobs it puts a strain on their relationship (which was built off of the mutual ‘having several jobs’) and they break up .

even so, though larry consistently tries to propose to her in the show, in “the laziest” he doesn’t seem to be happy nor comfortable at all with the prospects of marrying her . in fact, even when he’s achieved the ‘american dream’ (properties like a house and car and a family (his girlfriend soon to be wife)) he’s unhappy . personally i don’t think he knows what he wants to do with himself ; he works all day and night and has little to no time for himself to even think in peace that the only purpose he knows is work .

i like to think he used to be an artist; self taught, it was a hobby and an enjoyment but his studies and his work took over so his one form of self expression was squeezed out of his life .. (i like making their lives as bleak as possible soz ! 🙏) he still admires the arts and i think that’s another reason he likes steve so much; his handcrafts and mini projects .

steve and larry are two opposites that are similar in ways .. but i love their dynamic so much . my interpretation of them is that steve will help larry balance out his life slightly better to leave room for himself instead of working 24/7 . steve has his head in the clouds and larry grounds him, and larry is so stuck in his ways with work that steve pulls him out of it slightly, lifting him up a little higher (AUGHHHGHH I HATE THEM I HATE THEM

as for their relationship with rob, im very much a stevelmeyer adoption truther !! both larry and steve coming from dysfunctional families, they aim to help rob and take care of him to the best of their abilities . further, larry taking on taking care of rob gives him direction in his life again . 😁😁😁😁😁😁

this isnt gonna be the last post headcanon/idea wise i still think of them 24/7 but heres jus SOME things .. (im such a yapper sprry not sorry !) :3c

[twsthc]

savanaclaw headcanons and projection 🦁

...this is what the poll from like last week was for. sorry heartslabyul and diasomnia fans teehee </3

⚠️ warnings: self harm, eating disorders

last updated: may 4, 2024

LEONA KINGSCHOLAR !! 🦁🥩

🇲🇱🇹🇿🇰🇪 UNLABLED + INTERSEX TRANSFEMNEU (she/him)

APPEARANCE HCS:

Leona is actually the twst character I've drawn the most

I hc all beastmen to have fur everywhere thats elastic and akin to mink skin

You know the texture of squishmallows? It's like that.

╰Doesn't include the thick hair in other places (head, facial, armpits, chest, pubes, etc)

Lots of scars in general + healed dermis self harm scars on thighs

Has a flat nose like a cat

RANDOM HCS:

Savanaclaw mom/big sister...

Overstimulating thunderstorm? Go whine to Leona. Diasomnia students bothering you? Get leona to deal with them. Your food is too hot? Cry to Leona.

During freshman year she was way more outgoing and extroverted but eventually She mellowed out (depression moment)

She used to change hairstyles a lot before settling on freeform dreads

Also got into way more fights back then (also how she became housewarden)

Now she is (kind of) calm. Tranquil. At peace. Has depressive episodes. Relaxed.

Mostly does her own thing, and if that "thing" isn't sleeping it's some other bullshit the underclassmen roped her into

SHE CAN SEW AND MAKE JEWLERY

╰While wandering the castle one day, Leona stumbled upon the servants quarters. They taught him life skills (mending clothes, cooking, etc :3)

Despite being a big sis figure if she doesn't want to do something she Will Not.

And if she does do it afterall it's because she gets something out of it.

NPD, GAD, PDD (persistent depressive disorder)

RUGGIE BUCCHI !! 🍩🌼

🇺🇸🇧🇷 UNLABLED + TRANS MAN (he/him)

APPEARANCE HCS:

Similarly to Leona he has a furry textured skin

Though his body hair is more coarse and longer due to him being a hyena

He has a lazy eye and tipped ear similar to Ed from The Lion King

Probably my second most drawn twst character :3

Healed epidermis self harm scars on inner wrists 🥶

RANDOM HCS:

He's like the cooler afrolatino Luke Blovad

He's either winning the idgaf wars or dying on the battlefield

Has an insane collection of weird shirts from thrift stores

And he makes it work every single time! his outfits go crazy!

More connected to his AADOS/Gullah side than his Brazilian side

Though he does speak Portugese!

In fact, he speaks multiple languages because polyglots are marketable

The type of person to take a half empty bottle of ketchup and rotting apple from an empty ass fridge and make dinner happen

Constantly going to Scarabia to snag their party leftovers

Used to be a scene kid!!!! This is canon and true!!!! Pls trust me

diabetes, GAD, MDD, undiagnosed ADHD

triggering content ahead !!

he has bulimia nervosa

╰fun fact! a lot of food insecure people have eating disorders

self harmed a lot from the ages from 10-12 before eventually stopping at 13

he stopped after his grandma found out and started checking his arms regularly (#projecting)

JACK HOWL !! 🐺🌵

🪶🇪🇬 PANROMANTIC ASEXUAL + GENDER CURIOUS (he/they)

APPEARANCE HCS:

WAY thicker fur than leona and ruggie

Trims his body hair a lot because he overheats in savanaclaw easily

RANDOM HCS:

The type of guy to be totally in love with the world and nature

They're just like. Wow. We were put on a spinning rock. With food to eat, and water drink, and air to breathe. I love being alive.

Had a little garden back at home and named every single plant

Remembers small things about people and brings them up in conversation

╰Hey dude I got you a Chipotle bowl. How did I remember your exact order? You told me. Yeah, I know it was a year ago, but--

Random but I think he dresses how Tupac did

Not even to be tough

But because he's a black suburban kid

(I'm a black city kid but this is probably how black suburban kids dress trust)

Loooves chewing on things. Has one of those chew necklaces

Autistic with botany and physical health special interest

[possum-quesadilla]

Chapter seven of Time is a Flat Circle is up and boy oh boy is it a doozy! Here are the extras for this chapter! <3

- This chapter’s title is from “Nobody” by Mitski. She was my rock throughout writing this chapter. If I had less self restraint, the entirety of both of the LoopJuice playlists would be all Mitski. I feel like this song, and the line I chose for the title in particular, really reflect what our sweet little demon wants deep down.

- “Christ on a fuckin’ bike” is taken straight from a coworker’s vernacular.

- “When did I teach him how to summon new clothes?” He did! It was mentioned in passing in a previous chapter that he showed both Adam and Barbara how to conjure new clothes. This is to show how shoddy his memory has gotten.

- “‘Beebleboose’” is, of course, a reference to everyone’s favorite sad puppet show. Also, he can’t even type out his own name due to the curse.

- “.. that erotic Colonel Sanders romance novel..” this is a real thing, unfortunately.

- “The idea of eating brought the bitter taste of bile to the back of his mouth.” One unfortunate possible side affect of burnout is an aversion to food. Everything suddenly seems disgusting, and just the idea of eating sickens you.

- “His lips remained still. It felt as if his whole mouth was coated in cotton.” This is sign of overstimulation I personally experience quite regularly. Your mouth just refuses to work!

- On that same note - a side effect of persistent autistic burnout is significant memory loss and/or brain fog. Hence why Beej forgot (and still continues to sometimes) that the humans can now remember everything.

- “Can I touch you, Bug?” Always ask permission before touching someone who you believe to be having some sort of panic attack or meltdown. Barbara knows to do this due to her experience with Adam!

- “Look at those chompers!” Indeed! Beetlejuice’s teeth are based on that of a spotted hyena, like Adam theorizes later. They have a specialized premolar that can break bone. Here is a pic for reference!

- “How come your tears are black?” It’s actually because they’re mixed with soot from the hellfire in his chest! Beetlejuice’s tears smell like a campfire.

- “Sometimes he still felt like roadkill again.” He has yet to be hit by a car, but he has been trampled by horses.

- “He was a bit taken aback at how curly and.. fluffy his hair had gotten.” They have hair that naturally curls, it’s just been so long since it was clean enough for them to see it. After this point, Beetlejuice’s hair is curly and voluminous! That’s why the other characters find it hard to resist playing with.

- “.. odd rumbling sensation..” Beetlejuice doesn’t know what purring is, or that they do it. They just find the noise embarrassing.

- Adam had a hyperfixation on animals at large when he was young, and spent his free time as a wee tot rereading books of animal facts. This is why he is so knowledgeable and enthused about BJ’s animalistic traits.

- “I met a real foxy witch in a swamp who had an alligator familiar once.” This is a reference to the webcomic Muted, which is about queer witches in New Orleans. Give it a read!

- “C’mon Beej, don’t be like that! You’re, like, the Mike to their Debbie and Dave!” “… what?” “You’re the Gonzo to their Kermit and Miss Piggy!” These are references to my (and Lydia’s) favorite throuple ships in media, besides Beetlands. Mike, Debbie, and Dave are from “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”, and Gonzo, Kermit, and Miss Piggy are, of course, from The Muppets.

- Beetlejuice’s frantic shrimp pocketing is based on another character I deeply relate to, Eleanor Shellstrop from “The Good Place”.

- “‘who in this wide world does not know the great B-” This line is a reference to the musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, specifically the song “Pretty Women”. I cannot stop the musical references unfortunately

- Ms. Keaton is supposed to be the old woman who tries to bring a pie to the Deetz family in the musical, but her name is, of course, a reference to Michael Keaton, the original actor for Beetlejuice in the Tim Burton film.

- On the surgeries Beetlejuice mentioned - he has gotten top surgery! He is very proud of his top surgery scars. They are not the scars he mentioned being ashamed of in a previous chapter.

- As stated, Lydia is a demigirl! She uses she/they pronouns, and Beetlejuice is nonbinary and uses he/they/it pronouns.

- On the head bumping - Lydia picked it up shortly after Beetlejuice first did it to her. It’s how cats and Beetlejuice show affection. Barbara and Adam are slowly starting to adopt it over time as well.

- Beetlejuice’s horns are, like Adam theorizes, based on a sheep’s. Here is a little sketch of how they used to look, and how they look now! (Also, a peek at his ears. I’m not entirely happy how they came out in the drawing, so this may change.)

- The tail!! Here is a rough drawing of how it looks.

- It is not scaled like a snake, but rather like a possum’s tail. It is prehensile, meaning it can grip things and even support his weight if he used it to hang upside down. It reaches down to about his ankles. The tip shakes like a rattlesnake’s (no noise, though) when he’s nervous or deep in thought, or just as a self-soothing thing. This is based on what my own cat’s tail does when he’s nervous!

- The ear-piercing scene is meant to evoke a similar one in “The Parent Trap”, since it is a sibling bonding scene I really enjoy and find very affective.

- On the demons of their past - each demon’s name is based on a star, like Beetlejuice’s own. They are unafraid to envoke Rigel’s name because he is dead. Deb and Cyrus are nicknames based on their true names, like Beetlejuice and Betelgeuse. I am excited to have Deb and Cyrus to show up in Part 2!

- Beetlejuice’s first marriage was by choice to someone he knew. Their second marriage was an arranged political union.

- Deb is a trans woman!

- “I’ll talk more, just cut it out with the weird… teary eyes!” Not even demons are immune to puppy-dog eyes.

- Beetlejuice’s favorite meal was a bone broth made from meal scraps and various herbs.

- “Chari-sard” Adam was comparing Beetlejuice to a Charizard. Both the demon and the Pokémon have flames that are connected to their life force, and they will die if it ever goes out.

- The whole scene describing Beetlejuice’s favorite meal is based on a similar scene in “Isle of Dogs”, where a stray dog describes the only time he was ever adopted before. He bit a member of his new family so hard he had to be hospitalized, and he doesn’t know why he did it. He says he thinks maybe he was scared. The grandmother of the family brought him a bowl of chili while he was locked in the garden shed, which he says he likes to imagine was for him. He escaped after that and went back to being a stray. This scene strikes a chord with me, and reminds me very deeply of Beetlejuice. He doesn’t understand why he lashes out. He doesn’t want to. He’s not a violent demon. He’s just… scared. (Highly recommend “Isle of Dogs” if you enjoy this fic! It, along with Wes Anderson’s other films, really resonate with me and my experience as an autistic/neurodivergent person. There will be references to “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Asteroid City”, as they also greatly influenced how I think and write.)

- Barbara enjoys cooking, as she has a very perceptive palette and likes to experiment. Adam is more adept at baking, because he likes to follow instructions.

- The “shrimps is bugs” hoodie is a real one that one of my good friends has. He is studying etymology.

- “Don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious-” this is based off of a popular gag in “Parks and Rec”, one of my favorite shows. (And Adam and Barbara’s! The millennials in my life love a good workplace comedy.)

- “Why couldn’t he just he just grip the spoon the same way he had with his left hand?” Beetlejuice is unaware that dominant and nondominant hands are a thing.

- Like my beloved millennial dad figure, Adam has a deep love for a random movie from the 80’s. I feel like every dad’s got one. His is, of course, “The Terminator”. Arnold Schwarzenegger was his bisexual awakening. All of the factoids he shares about the film are true!

- Finally, the legs! Like his horns, Beetlejuice’s legs resemble that of a sheep’s own back legs. His hooves are cloven, like stated, and his fur is black with brown undertones, like a black cat, or this sheep below! The fur doesn’t grow out much due to stress, but he used to have to shear it often by himself as a child. He probably will have to start doing so again the healthier and happier he gets!

- Nurse Ratched is a villainous nurse from pop culture. Research her with caution, as she does some rather heinous things. Barbara likes true crime!

- A “Texas Switch” is a technique used in filming, and is used in “The Terminator”. My favorite example is in “A Quiet Place Part Two”!

- “Odd, reattached limbs had never healed that quickly before.” That is because they are getting proper care!

- “To distract from the odd little sound they involuntarily made, (seriously, what was that? A chirp?)” It was a trill! Or as I call it, a ‘mrrp’. Some people call it the “cat activation noise”.

- “Some strange show about people working for the government” this is, of course, “Parks and Rec”!

- And that’s it, nothing else happened in this chapter and it ended happily :) (The flashbacks BJ had while having a panic attack are from his mother, Rigel, and Lydia stabbing him, obviously. Yes, all of them stabbing him in some way.)

[thelensart]

Hello, Aceweek!!

Basically all of my characters could be read as ace in some kind of way, but let’s focus on one of them.

This big, tall pine tree right here is Uxue. She’s a solitary shepherdess who, in her story, fights against a curse laid upon her by her own mother, an overprotective and stubborn sorceress who, with the best intentions, cripples her ability to make a name for herself.

I always thought of Uxue is canonically autistic, and most of her personality traits, body movements, mood, and way of directing herself regarding the world, is based off my own experience as a very socially retracted autistic trans woman, reason why I gave her such an unusual look, although I never thought of her as a transgender. She’s not very talkative, certainly isn’t social at all, instead preferring to work her days away in the hills with her sheep, from place to place, but always in the familiarity of the wilderness. Her best skill, or “special interest”, one might say, is gunslinging. She’s quite a good shot and revolver-trickster, although the curse laid on her doesn’t quite let her reach her full potential. This in particular is a parallelism, through fantasy magic, to the way many of us in the spectrum feel about our special interests, unavailable to develop them under the crushing weight of a system that demands productivity out of us.

As for her asexuality, the bread and butter of this post, from the moment I began to sketch her first drafts, I wrote her as asexual on a gray area, which correlates with her autism, just like in my very own experience. Her general reclusiveness, the harshness she feels on interaction with another people, does cause her a certain yearning to be loved by someone quite close, and that someone is a shepherdess from a land afar, called Marcela. She visits her from time to time, to spend some lovely days out shepherding together. I never thought of them as girlfriends, nor as close friends, because I never felt like labeling these two would be half interesting. While I never actually made it canonical, both of them can be read as aromantic. My own experience with aromanticism, discovering I was on that spectrum, that romantic love was a world I didn’t quite understand but I was capable of loving someone back very dearly, influenced that ambiguous subtlety between the two quite a lot. Regarding explicit sex, while Marcela certainly isn’t asexual, and in fact, is quite promiscuous, she understands Uxue’s needs due to her good socialization skills, and such needs are to stay away from conventional sex. Uxue, much like me, doesn’t generally like being touched, yet she loves physical contact with someone she trusts a lot, and feels comfortable engaging in soft displays of affection and vulnerability. Much like a lot of us autistic folks around, Uxue has a hard time displaying affection in standard ways, but I intentionally wanted to write her as a woman of many faces. She might be solitary and sometimes uncaring, but she is terminally, tragically sweet, even though one might have to peel off a lot of layers before seeing that side of her. This is something I wrote for her after yours truly met the person who did tear down my own barriers. Here are these two on my sketchbook:

But what’s these strange names and strange clothes Uxue is rocking around? As an end note, if I may, I’ll nerd out about the place she’s from. In this universe, a vague post-apocalyptic fantasy, the factions’ culture, dressing customs, and bestiary, are based off very loose interpretations of Iberian pre-roman folklore and more recent, regional folklores. Uxue belongs to a tribe which is vaguely based off the valley of Roncal, in Navarra. Here are some very loose sketches of her general Basque-inspired vibes.

Her name, in Basque, means “dove”. One must point out that Navarra and the Basque country, while sharing a language, have different cultural customs and identities. Although, in the story, Uxue’s faction, especially regarding the bestiary, is an amalgamation of both. Uxue is a good gunslinger because her tribe has a tradition of solving the problem of menacing creatures, all pulled from Basque-Navarrese folktales, by prioritizing speed and aim. This was an idea that came to me after investigating the area to make the factions. Near Roncal, there’s the royal arms factory of Orbaizeta, one of the most important weapon manufactories of Spain during the late 18th to late 19th centuries. Today, it’s abandoned and overgrown. That and a general knowledge among the Spanish that Basques have a tradition of steelworking, gave me the idea of a post-apocalyptic culture famous for the quality of their guns and the skill of the wielders.

And that's all, folks!

Don't get spooked!~

[gravitypictureshow]

Why these DHMIS characters have ✨Autism✨

(As explained by someone with autism)

Red Guy📞🎥🔵: I remember when I first watched DHMIS I was pretty terrified of it until I was introduced to the media theory and the idea that in universe DHMIS was a show, and Red was the original creator. A lot of things with Red began to click with me at that point. He spoke a monotone voice, even when he wasn't upset or disinterested. He had difficultly interacting with his peers (Specifically, I'm think of the scene in the office where he's making the file sing and dance around and all the other mops are staring at him :)) He couldn't stand the idea of working a normal office job, where he would never get to show other the incredibly colorful and vibrant world inside his mind. Despite the fact he appeared stoic on the outside, he had so many big feelings inside, happiness and anger and love and fear, that were all invisible upon a first glace at him. As a creative autistic, I related to him a lot. He became very important to me, and it honestly surprises me how much people don't talk about him being autistic compared to other members of the cast.

I think it may partially be due to the new Channel 4 show, as in it he mostly is portrayed as an uncaring person, rather than someone who has difficulty expressing themselves, which really upsets me :(

Roy Gribbleston💵🎬😑: When I first watched DHMIS I used to joke that Roy was the only neurotypical character, but it wasn't long before I realized that wasn't true. One of the first things one notices about Roy during the series is that he never speaks, which could be interpreted as going nonverbal. He has a very blank expression and shows no outside emotion. We also see him hiding away in dark or dimly lit places rather than standing out in the open for the majority of the series. Another prominent trait Roy possesses is looking very scrappy, "greasy" as one of my friends described. This reminded me of the troubles I have with hygiene such as hair brushing and face washing because of sensory issues. I personally headcannon that Roy will show up to business meetings in his overalls looking all scrappy thinking it's socially acceptable because he is a respected businessman and owner of the company (It's not too bad a problem, everyone is too scared of him to actually point it out).

I personally enjoy this nasty, lanky little autistic puppet >:)

Yellow🟢🍝🎈 and Duck🦆💼🥫: I personally haven't paid attention to these two as much, but I have noticed that Duck uses a rocking chair, which could be a stim, and also has an issue with volume control, as he often speaks very loudly. Yellow seems to have difficulty verbally communicating his thoughts, feelings, and ideas in a way others can understand them throughout the original series.

Colin the Computer🖥️⌨️‼️: I have a friend who is into computer science and also neurodivergent who liked Colin a lot when I showed him the Technology episode! Things I've noticed about Colin are that he dislikes physical touch. He also seems to really enjoy talking about the internet, computers, and their functions, almost like a special interest (but going by this logic, many of the teachers would be autistic too, but that probably isn't far off).

That's all for now, but I might think of more later!

[starry-skies-116]

Miko Nakadai Facts (Reboot AU:)

Sixteen years old, Japanese American, heir to multibillion dollar weapons and energy company Nakadai Industries and the illegitimate child of CEO Yoshiro Nakadai and his secretary Sonya Wang. Her defining traits are straightened tresses of jet black hair and bright, piercing copper eyes. At the start of the show, she dresses in more formal clothing- a blazer, a pencil skirt and an insufferably high ponytail- and she doesn't have her iconic pink hair streaks yet.

***

She comes across as cold and arrogant, but hides a softer side to her personality beneath. She serves as a little bit of a foil to Jack in some areas- academic, diligent, determined and resourceful- but due to them both being rather emotional, impulsive and dramatic, they often enable each other's antics and get into trouble more often than not. They're practically the definition of "sharing a braincell."

***

She's also a part-time reporter that works for a tabloid newspaper called "The Daily Blaze." It's mentioned a few times that a mild-mannered and timid man named Craig is her editor, who freaks out every time he learns that she risked her life to get front-page material for her article.

***

Unlike the original version of Miko Nakadai, this version of Miko didn't have a loving family- her upbringing actually stunted her development and her empathy. A childhood of constant emotional and even sometimes physical abuse at the hands of her controlling parents has left her bitter and cynical. She was forced to suppress her interests and her autistic traits, rendering her lonely but also heavily distrustful of others.

***

At first, she's harsh- bitter and angry at the world. She responds to any attempts at socializing with quick and blunt responses. She sometimes does and says things that are outright evil, in the sense that they wouldn't be too far from what a bully would do. She doesn't understand how the consequences of her actions would affect other people because she constantly acts on the anger that poisoned her at such a young age.

***

She's also very vindictive and quick to snap, responding to anyone wronging her with retribution- even if it hurts her. She even lets a coworker get robbed because of how they insensitively mocked her for her rich background- and when they tearfully confront her about it, she coldly throws their own words back at them, saying: “I missed the part where that’s my problem.”

***

This is why her dyeing her hair and changing her clothes to a more 'punk rock' style holds a much more personal meaning to her- those pink streaks and space buns are symbolic of her letting go of her anger and reclaiming her freedom back from her oppressors as she turns her life around for the better. It represents a new beginning for her- one that the kindness of those around her had given her.

***

Her dynamic with Bulkhead, as a consequence, is reversed- instead of her being the one to encourage him to let loose and get into trouble, it's basically the other way around. She's done with the Wreckers' shit at first, but really, she's never felt more free than when she's around them.

***

She likes punk rock and shoujo anime, and is a huge cat person. She used to run a podcast before it was taken down by her parents- which is why she begged them for a job opportunity anyways. They did do a nice thing for her- the collaborative broadcast- but they only did it just so she could shut up. A similar incident happened in the past with her electric guitar, with them throwing it out.

***

She has two older half-siblings- Himeko and Sora, both of whom are twins that are in college. They were both born from Yoshiro's first and only marriage that spiraled and ended in a divorce, and pretty much raised her way better than her parents ever did.

*** She wears full sleeves because she has to hide the bruises on her arms that she gets from her parents sometimes- when the Autobots first discover how she's being abused via the bruise on her wrist, Bulkhead's immediately ready to commit ten felonies for his human and then some.

[littlexredxhoneyxbadger]

How about 14 for the ask game for all of your MCs. ☺️

In reference to this post.

14. "What are your MC's hobbies?" Thank you so, so much for submitting an ask! I've been waiting for an excuse to talk about my brainrot children, and I really appreciate the opportunity to flesh them out. I did my main four, since I haven't really fleshed out or decided everything for Cassie or Chana yet, but I hope you'll enjoy these regardless.

Mary Frances Garratt Collecting rocks. Frances loves her rocks and has been known to skive off and wander off the path to collect them; plants, potions ingredients, and everything in between aren’t far behind. She’s small – barely 5’0 – and can’t swim, but she’ll go waist deep into the nearest body of water at even the slightest chance of finding the specific ingredient she’s looking for.

Beyond that, Frances can also be quite domestic. Her interest in plants, herbs, and potion ingredients transfers over (and primarily comes from) her time in the muggle world. She grew up very Catholic in a household with very traditional gender roles, and after her parents passed, the family she lived with used her primarily for “women’s work” – i.e. being a maid to them, and a nanny to their three children. Frances has a lot of built up anger for ways she was treated by the parents, but loved the children and teaching them things that she was never taught (and had to figure out herself).

Frances isn’t exactly a foodie, though (though she is the anti-thesis of the phrase “never trust a skinny chef”). She likes pastries, and she’s a fiend for most mixtures of sugar and flour, but a lifetime of sensory processing issues (and as a fellow autistic girlie, I sympathize) has left her with more of an enjoyment of the cooking process than eating it. Baking, though? Oh, this girl is definitely the kind of person who would make homemade cookie dough at 2am and eat half of it raw while baking the rest of it.

Fun fact: Mary Frances was named after my paternal great-grandmother, may she rest in peace. She had a 3rd grade education, married at 13, had 7 children, and never learned to read. My grandfather, her youngest child, describes her as the smartest and kindest woman he ever knew.

Esther Han-Ostberg Esther’s the creative one of the bunch. Born deaf, she still enjoys music from the vibrations, but enjoys visual medias far more. She grew up fairly isolated, one might even say a fair bit sheltered, but always found solace in painting, specifically with acrylics because she has exactly zero patience for oils. Poetry is a big one too, since she can’t hear the lyrics of someone singing; for Esther, it was a way to express her thoughts and stories in a slightly unconventional way, as opposed to strictly writing them down.

Stars are an interest of hers as well. Her father, a Swedish muggle, was a geologist who dabbled in some other forms of science, notably astronomy, which was a big part of the way that Esther got her name (which is both Persian and Hebrew for “star”), and though she didn’t have the greatest interest in stars or astronomy as a child, stargazing became a bonding experience for Esther and her father – a way for them to engage in something that didn’t require Esther to hear in order to enjoy, and didn’t require her father to be magical to understand (and especially given astronomy may or may not have been how Esther’s muggle father and witch mother met).

Daniel Harper If ever there was someone to call a horse girl (or boy, in this case), it would be Daniel. Like all of my MCs seem to be, Daniel grew up isolated and was the youngest of six sons born to two magical parents. His father split early on, when Daniel was a toddler, embarrassed at the possibility of having a squib for a son; Daniel’s mother, who wasn’t much better, remarried a wizard named Eric (who again, wasn’t much better), who bred and trained thoroughbred horses for racing and steeplechasing.

There, Daniel found his passion. He was isolated and bullied, in both worlds and by his entire family, but he had the horses, and when he was a pre-teen, he met a palomino filly not expected to survive the night following her birth, and it was there that he found his first love. The palomino, who’s coat color did not make her a particularly sought after item, was allowed to stay on the farm, and from there, Daniel found his best friend.

He named her Naomi, meaning “gentle” and “beauty”, though he chose it less for the meaning or more to make a pun: “NEIGH-oh-mee”.

Daniel trained Naomi all on his own after years of teaching himself how ride, and how to hunt on horseback. He slept in the barn with her and the other horses, was up all hours of the night and day to care for her and the others, and dedicated himself to caring for the creatures that – in his opinion – were nothing more to his family than a means of making money. No respect for the creatures, no love of the breed or sport, only love of the next sale on their mind.

But even years later, as he rides Highwing, he thinks back to his horseback riding and remembers fondly.

Tzipora Strausser Tzipora is a music lover, through and through, specifically piano. Growing up with a deceased mother and a father who toiled away all day as a miner, Tzipora could never have afforded the privilege of hearing music on a daily basis – much less ever learning to play an instrument or owning one.

But one of her earliest memories after her father’s death was at the orphanage that she grew up in. She was only six years old, unable to speak English or Welsh, only German, having immigrated to Swansea from Dusseldorf with her father less than a year prior, and most of the caretakers at the orphanage were at a loss of how to communicate with her. Though Yiddish, which many of them knew snatches of (being an Ashkenazi Jewish orphanage), shared some similarities with Tzipora’s native German, it still wasn’t enough to bridge the gap. The orphanage, run by a rabbi and his wife, was attached to a shul (synagogue), and one of Tzipora’s most vivid memories is of the first time she heard a cantor playing the piano during a Shabbos service. She couldn’t understand the words of the song, but with the notes, she didn’t have to.

After the service, she wandered away from her age group’s caretaker, climbed up onto the bench of the piano, and just started tapping each key to make a sound. When her rabbi approached her and asked her about the piano (in a language she couldn’t understand at the time, Welsh), Tzipora began to cry and thought she was in trouble for touching the piano without permission. However, the rabbi sat next to her on the piano’s bench and wiped her tears away, took her hands, and without a word exchanged between the two, taught her every chord he knew.

Tzipora always wanted to be a cantor or some kind of musician as a child, though cantors were rare in Orthodox Judaism at the time, and female cantors even more so. But even then, everything could change, and she could be sent from foster home to foster home, and then back to the orphanage and onto another foster home, but despite the fluidity and technique of how someone could play a piano, the songs always remained the same, and she knew that she could always find solace in tickling the ivories.

[mylordshesacactus]

Not sure if there was a maximum to the BG3 questions so feel free to leave out any: 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 22 and 44

4) Do you remember in which order you recruited your companions? Which companion introduction would have felt the most familiar / like home to your Tav/Character?

VIVIDLY.

Despite her 'official' recruitment being the birdcage, I definitely count Lae'zel as Lorne's first recruitment--they, of course, met each other first, and frankly Lorne will like anyone who immediately course-corrects upon receiving new information and talks to her like an equal. Grabbed Shadowheart on the beach, actively went looking for Lae'zel, grabbed her after stumbling across Astarion being a trembling little vampiric lamb in the woods. Yoinked Gale out of a rock. Completely missed Wyll after his dramatic introduction and thus didn't talk to him and thus went off to fight goblins instead of helping him, so I got Karlach super late--like, "significantly post-tiefling party" late, didn't fully recruit Wyll until I'd already gotten her somehow, and Halsin very early.

As for which felt most familiar and most like home, those are actually two very different questions.

I think....Lae'zel felt most like home, which is part of why Lorne bonded so tight to her so quickly (that and the battlefield synergy, and the fact that Lae'zel, who is from space, doesn't know which plant facts are impressive and thus listens attentively to all of her plant facts just in case.) She's brusque and irritable and has no social graces--but Lorne is what I like to call the World's Most Autistic Dragonborn anyway, and she treats Lorne like an equal. From the very beginning, she treats this arrangement as the two of them as a unit and the misfits they're picking up, and they fall into a very fast mutual respect.

But the introduction that felt the most familiar? To Lorne Cooper, the daughter of a barrel-maker who is a grad student in an extremely devalued unmagical field at an extremely prestigious university?

Gale and Astarion. Upper-class twits who can't find their ass with both hands and a map but still manage to be condescending about it. Gale is the kind who lets it spoil him sweet--he's warm, friendly, jovial, but she actually trusted him less because of it. Kindness from that kind of privilege, she's learned the hard way, can vanish instantly.

She actually trusted Astarion, despite clocking him as a vampire instantly due to not being stupid, much more. His condescension, while partially a defense mechanism, is honest. Gale is more confident--the kind of person who, flip a coin, could be the type to remember even the working-class dragonborn who pulled him out of a rock that one time....or the type to, happily and with no malice, completely forget that she ever existed and reduce her to a footnote in his own story. (He's the first--but she didn't KNOW that at the time.) Astarion is dramatic, but.......the kind of pretentious asshole that is much, much less of a threat to her.

22) How did your Character resolve the situation with Sovereign Glut, if you met them?

Well, the duergar slavers had ambushed me WAY before I ever met Glut, so that was already taken care of. Then he went full megalomaniacal bullshit on us so we slice-n-diced him. Not really much of a choice either way.

[frostcorpsclub]

What’s Santa’s dynamic with Suzy, and Virginias with Jack? Seeing as to how there normal pairings pretty different

With the gang the close relationships each woman has with the man who's not her husband and vice versa is a bit like candy or junk food, there's a romantic element there in addition to the main platonic component but it's made up partially of things that are fun and probably wouldn't make for a relationship that would make each individual happy on it's own. As their marriages do. They also get to indulge in the toxic things that they usually keep at bay for their partners sake. Basically what I'm attempting to show here is why they're all drawn to each other but why they're still with their husband/wife at the end of the day. Obviously it’s mostly from the wives end because they’re my OCs.

Santa and Suzy

It's kind of funny because with the way they both carry themselves and the fact they're both (technically) curly haired redheads some could probably confuse these two for siblings, don't tell them that though, gross. That is all to say that if you compare the two you can tell Jack has a type. Santa doesn't mind that Virginia isn't as in to these things, as he usually indulges in this side of himself in his freetime, but Suzy is someone he can share some of his more wordly and cultured pleasures with. She, of course, believes Jack to be perfect but that's because he is who he is; when she imagines romantic stroll in paris or attending the opera, Santa is the one she's picturing it with. Her knack for making a person seem like the most intelligent in the world highly pleases Santa. Plus, she does it without the constant vies for reassurance that comes with Virginia. He can just be totally honest that he think's she's dumber than a box of rocks. It is a nice break but it's moreso about the fact that there's no sort of reverence for Suzy's position as a matriarch in the Claus home, Santa will be as mean as he pleases without the "bouquet after the black eye" so to speak. It's a break for Suzy too in a way, a bit of fun without concern for her responsibilities. But this isn't something she wants every day or even most of the time. The hierarchy where Jack is the head and she is the neck is where she thrives. Not to mention, she gets greedy and regresses. Santa still enjoys the privileges of having her around but she knows the madder she makes him the meaner he’ll get. At times she'll push back against him in ways she would never dare do with Jack. Only in private of course, but the thrill from her childhood of acting one way with Santa and then acting like she has no idea wtf he's talking about when Jack is around is thrilling. Santa obviously thinks this shit is annoying and childish. Speaking of, last thing I promise, they have their mutual hatred of children. Those crotch vomits are the worst part of Santa's eternal servitude so he can get incredibly heated about it. Normally Virginia distracts him and he can see the way his raging overstimulates her so he will try to control himself, but Suzy actively eggs him on until he gives himself a headache. Get this little red child out of his house. Oh my gd I kept thinking of things to say 😭 I'm so sorry these people are nasty freaks

Jack and Virginia

These two are actually super cute. He's pretty good with his autistic daughters, Virginia has to do less work in terms of communicating her needs. Jack also has no issue with her "cute little questions" and will just straight up lie to her if it'll make her feel better about herself. Which, sounds nice, but then she gets sent back home and drives Santa insane because she's taken steps back on some of the things he's put effort in to helping her improve on. She's usually back to normal soon but he finds himself caring more than he thinks he should about the two of them hanging out, what an irritating thing to have to spend brain power on. Virginia is also incredibly clingy. Jack loves holding a tall sexy blonde but sometimes he would really like her to get off her ass and do some womanly things. You know, like the dishes. She’s a wonderful cook miles better than Suzy. But Suzy’s cooking is the one he’s been eating for 20 years now and she always cleans up after herself. You may have noticed that Jack's treatment of her seems infantilizing and you'd be right. He does kind of treat her like a child but in all the wrong ways as, when it comes to drinking and partying, he acts like she's just one of the guys and doesn't need any keeping an eye on. Which, in turn is part of the reason she doesn’t really clean up after herself at his house. Whenever he’s like “aren’t you a custodian??? FUCKING CUSTODE!” she thinks he’s doing guy to guy banter with her. The biggest point of contention here is the kids since Suzy will usually go to Santa’s house for one on one time but Virginia will come to the Frost’s. Virginia has the capability of being a cool auntie unlike Santa, but of course this only lasts up to a certain point. I won’t lie hanging out with her makes Jack a little bit neglectful. He pushes the boundaries of “it’s fend for yourself” night a little far. He isn’t fully unself aware about this and after a certain point Suzy’s voice in the back of his head starts making him feel like a bad trashy father (which he is being) and he Misses His Wife.

These issues really aren’t present when all four of them are together because Virginia and Suzy know how to act around their husbands lol, so as you can see the foursome option is the second best to them just being with who they are now

[thefandomboysblog]

the autistic and adhd traits i've noticed in tibby devin as an autistic person with adhd, aka proof that tibby devin is unintentionally autistic with adhd, or at least heavily coded as such -aka proof for my headcanon-:

tldr, aka conclusion; tibby devin is heavily coded as neurdivergent, especifically as someone autistic and with adhd, or is straight up autistic with adhd, and therefore i claim him (/hj /lh) as an autistic and adhd headcanon of mine. (and yes i copied and pasted this from the billy post, it still works so idgaf)

autistic traits;

1. black and white mentality, as showed with his belief that he has to use his powers in a certain way, but also telling his friends how they should do so with theirs, specially to billy. he’s the moral compass of the radar throughout the first two seasons and has a clear anxiety aspect to it, becuase he also shows extreme worry and doubt of his own identity if he isn’t being morally good as shown in the second season after he accidentally killed mike and how he tried to “make up for it” going to heal random people at the hospital.

2. stimming, its the repetitive performance of certain physical movements or vocalizations, which serves a variety of functions, such as calming and expression of feelings. tibby is seen in at least two instances, one involving stress and the other to express joy. i have an example of both but the happy one is literally my favorite ever, because it's the best stim; the flappy hands.

3. has no filter, shows excessive sincerity, and often can't lie well, just like billy he often says “inappropiate” things and things he’s too blunt or sincere about through the seasons, and he also explicitly says can't lie well and or can only lie to his friends, and that didn't work out well, either, in season 2 ep 4.

4. special interests, seen in multiple instances, and explicitly said. the way he talks about dnd, and the way he talks about especially comics books and how he uses them to relate to the world.

5. difficulty socializing, as seen with the fact that before everything started in season one his only friend was billy, and how at first he had issues interacting with the other members of the radar.

adhd traits;

1. impulsivity, as in seen in several instances in which he does something without thinking, specially during most of the second season and also while he's losing his mind due to sleep deprivation when he's trying not to be caught inside the black rock again.

2. talks excessively, again for this i don't really need any proof. he talks non stop during most of the second season and often rambles in times of stress and or when he feels he needs to provide context to others of the situation (and i think this is a sign of the fact that he is clearly a bit of a people pleaser, which is very common all around the neurodivergent community because of the stigma and the internalized ableism imo)

3. rejection sensitive dysphoria, he shows this very little, maybe a sign of the fact that he seems more in the inatentive type (while imo billy would be the combined type and skye the hyperactive type), but this doesn’t mean he doesn’t has it. i think a good example of it is when he thinks mickey is cheating on him in the second season and how irational and impulsive he becomes; rambling, shaving and going completely bald, etc.

4. easily frustrated, this is a big part of his personality too, like the impulsivity and the rsd, but it seems to shine especially like rsd from the second season and forward, he gets heated easily and sometimes explodes in conversations with agressivity.

[fatherfigurefusion]

As a follow-up to the post in which I claimed Claude, Felix, and Annette loved HHW, here is my tier list of the Garreg Mach Student's (apart from Flayn and the Ashen Wolves, for I have no idea where to put any of them) favorite Bandori bands, with my reasoning beneath the cut.

Poppin' Party:

Mercedes: 100% a Saaya kin!

Ingrid: Give her a song about food (chocolate cornets), and she is INSTANTLY sold!

Raphael: Same reason as Mercedes.

Ignatz: Has the same taste as Raphael, due to being his childhood friend (admittedly, I had no clue where to place him).

Afterglow: Dimitri: Same attachment to childhood friends as Ran, and as a good contrast against Roselia-loving Edelgard.

Caspar: Loves the high-energy rock music, and has a whole workout playlist consisting solely of Afterglow songs and covers. Probably likes Tomoe (loud himbo energy) or Tsugumi (similar hard-working and determined natures).

Sylvain: Similar reasoning to Dimitri, and would likely kin Moca.

Leonie: Same reasoning as Caspar. Is sick and tired of Claude constantly comparing her to Hagumi

Pastel*Palettes:

Dorothea: She finds their band story to be much like her experiences as a member of the Mittelfrank opera. Is probably a Chisato kin.

Petra: Definitely relates to Eve, as the hardworking foreigner of the group.

Dedue: I just know he does!

Marianne: Two words: seiyuu joke.

Hilda: Originally played the game to kill time and learn more about the girl that looks exactly like her, only to gain a genuine interest in collecting the gacha outfits.

Roselia:

Edelgard: LITERALLY looks like Yukina, and is rivals with Afterglow stan Dimitri.

Hubert: Is quick to support and assist Lady Edelgard in her stanning.

Bernadetta: Is a MASSIVE whale in private, kins Rinko all the way, and would if anybody knew that.

Hello Happy World! was already mentioned in the original post, so I'll just skip that.

Morfonica:

Linhardt: He finds Rui's violin to put him straight to sleep. He probably likes Nanami (shared autistic swag) and Tsukushi (reminds him of Caspar).

Ashe: The outfits remind him of the knights in his books, and he was told that he looked kind of like the lead singer.

Lorenz: Loves the fact that all of them (apart from Mashiro) are "royals", and kins them solely because of that.

Raise A Suilen

Ferdinand: His rivalry with Edelgard just gives off CHU2/Yukina vibes.

Lysithea: Likes the mature-sounding techno music, but is just taken aback by CHU2's personality (hypocritical much?)

[whump-town]

It’s A Wonderful Life

Inspired by the only Christmas movie that I like and last night’s episode of Prodigal Son

A dangerous car wreck puts Hotch in tricky situation-- to stay or to go?

Part One of Three (and don’t worry, I already wrote part two and am editing part three so it’s done I’m just not posting it all in one go-- so you’ll actually get the whole fic)

Feat: autistic Reid and Jack  (because I always thought that was what made the doctor’s appointment Hotch missed so important)

Aaron Hotchner wakes to the sound of his bedroom door slowly groaning, the old hinge creaking as it’s opened. If he hadn’t heard the faint, pattering footsteps beforehand, he might be fearful of what kind of intruders were trying to make their way into his home. However, before he can even roll to the edge of the mattress and offer his little burglar a hand up he’s being whacked in the face by a stuffed bear. Only able to grunt a complaint as a little fist grip tightly onto his pajama bottoms and-- “Hey, buddy.”

Jack looks nearly surprised to find his father staring back at him.

“You’re up early.”

Jack smiles, shyly leaning forward until he’s half laid across Hotch’s chest and half-buried down in the comforter. Placing one hand on Jack’s back, he leans up to see his alarm-clock. They’ve still got thirty minutes before the alarm goes off and the day must go on. Regardless, he sinks back into the pillows under him. Even if there’s no way he can go back to sleep, he can enjoy some pre-school-sized cuddles.

Thirty minutes is up too fast.

Carrying a squirming, unhappy five-year-old against his side he yawns and makes his way to the kitchen. “Oatmeal?” he asks, even though he knows the answer. Oatmeal is the only thing that Jack will eat. It’s a… comfort food. The therapist, not the family one they go to but the one that specializes in autism, said that oatmeal was one of Jack’s comfort foods.

There was a bit of a debate about if Hotch should try to introduce additional foods with the oatmeal and now they’re working by trial. Oatmeal doesn’t meet too many dietary needs and having Jack fall underweight and little for his age was just another blow to Hotch. He understands that he can’t take these things personally-- Jack being nonverbal isn’t anyone’s fault. Jack being autistic is not some cosmic payback. It’s just a thing. Something that the two of them are working with.

It was just so much easier with Haley here too.

He’s a little cranky now but today is a good morning and Hotch isn’t going to ruin it by trying to encourage Jack into eating apples. He’ll cut up a few pieces of banana for Jack to either eat or ignore and be content when Jack eats his oatmeal and finishes his orange juice and that’s plenty. That’s good.

“Ugh.” This is the part Hotch struggles with. Speaking. For the language center of Jack’s brain to develop properly, Hotch has to speak more than he does. Silence is far more natural for him and he’d like to think the same for Jack. Speaking all the time, saying everything is tiring and he hates it. The thing is, he and Jack work exceptionally well sans spoken words. Jack’s ability to communicate is exceptional, Hotch has to work for it, but he’s five and Hotch doesn’t know any five-year-olds that are flawless at communication.

“Ah, thank you,” he signs the words too. His sign language isn’t actually that good but, again, they make it work. “Can you go to the chart and--” Hotch smiles, Jack already running over to the poster on his wall. Smiling as he pulls the velcro pieces off and puts the little drawing of a toothbrush and hairbrush over to the done side. “Thank you, Jack. You’re doing so good this morning. How about socks and shoes now?”

Jack gets to pick his socks out.

Reid’s idea.

Hotch had been very hesitant to ask Reid for any help. To acknowledge the one thing that they never talk about. In the face of everything that happened with Foyet and then with Haley he’d been left with no other choices. Strangely enough, Reid is the only person that has never made Hotch feel like an awful father for not knowing what to do.

Jack… kind of hates Reid, though.

“Oh, nice!” Reid says that Hotch should encourage the things that Jack likes. So, every morning he works a little harder to be happy when Jack picks out two completely different socks and turns around to search for his approval. “Do you know what color this one is?” Hotch asks.

Jack sits down on the floor, wiggling contently as he waits for Hotch to slip his socks on.

“Jack,” Hotch encourages, jostling Jack’s thigh to get his attention. “What color is it?” He holds the sock patently in his palm watching Jack get momentarily agitated. He raises his hand, ready to sign the word himself but Jack beats him to it. Clicking his tongue as he smiles and pats his lip with his middle finger.

The sign calls for the signer to form the letter “p” and then to tap or flick their middle finger against their lip but who cares about that?

“Good job!” Hotch praises and it’s so easy to be happy. Jack’s so fucking smart and he’s already so excited to tell someone. Jessica or Dave or whoever he sees first. “Pink! Your sock is pink!” The other has dinosaurs on it, it’s a favorite and Hotch finds himself washing it and its pair at least twice a week. He thinks it might have more to do with the soft yellow coloring of the sock.

Jack’s favorite color is yellow.

“You wanna go play with your rocks?” Hotch asks, slipping his hands under Jack’s arms and righting him on his feet. “I’m going to go get dressed, okay?” He waits, making sure Jack is going to go drag his tubs of rocks out before going off on his way.  He can worry about limiting the number of rocks Jack takes with them later.

It’s Wednesday which means that he has to take Jack to the office for two hours until his program opens for the day. Technically, he should be in Kindergarten but Garcia found this program for him. He and Reid had gone to scope the place out. Hotch was way in over his head back then (and still is but then he’d been trying to cope with Haley’s death and getting Jack into school).

Though most of the things that the program had to offer were things he couldn’t understand Reid has taken it in. Explaining every little detail until Hotch understood not only the style of learning they were enforcing but why Jack had loved their foam furniture so much.

Hotch doesn’t know how he would have gotten through the last few years without the team.

With everything that happened with Foyet, he’s surprised that they can stand him at all. Maybe they shouldn’t. Their ability and drive to stay no matter what he did is commendable and he’s lucky to have a group of people that care about him but he has to consider why.

Why did they stay?

Morgan got a promotion, recently. With a short, strongly worded letter Morgan could have control of the whole department and he should have it. No one would think twice about snatching it up out of his hands.

He watched Reid struggle with addiction. Has hidden and protected Reid’s autism diagnoses from being filed on his record. His right hand, the woman he trusts more than any other agent, is a chronic insubordinate mess. For whom he has stepped on many toes. Despite his retirement and the push to fill the position in other ways, Hotch asked Rossi to come out of retirement. No one liked that idea but he did it anyway. There’s his decision to bring Garcia on despite her record, which had caused a lot of trouble.

JJ-- Well, she’s perfect so she’s probably the one they can’t use against him.

But how many times had Haley called JJ? Before the divorce and after. Even if they can’t use JJ against him, she probably hates him.

His life is a good and proper mess.

And now he has to go convince his son not to bring two pockets full of rocks with them.

He has to hike his dress pants up to squat down. If he brings himself down to Jack’s level it’s supposed to be more efficient for communication. That’s understandable. He’s certainly not going to stand over Jack. Jack’s hardly three feet tall, it can be a little overwhelming. Not to mention that’s over three feet of distance between them.

“Buddy,” he holds Jack’s hands in his own. “Buddy, you can take two.”

Two. Jack can count. Two just doesn’t sound like a bargain.

“Four,” Hotch caves. “Two for each pocket.”

Okay, he can live with that.

Jack hates his car seat but holding two rocks in each hand seems to soothe him enough to allow Hotch the chance to strap him into his seat. That and his sketchers hitting the seat’s bottom lights the whole car up in flashing blues and yellows.

Hotch glances back at him a few times. Sometimes Jack tries to put the rocks in his mouth. He’s never swallowed one, he just likes the cold way the rock feels in his mouth but if he does that while Hotch is driving it’s easy to understand how that might not end well.

He gets to an intersection in town, frustrated when he catches the redlight. “There’s no way this stoplight hasn’t ruined someone’s day before,” Hotch mumbles to himself. The thing gets stuck on red for an absurd amount of time. The lights are regulated, a fact Reid reminds him of all the time, but this one will stay on red for longer than two minutes. By the fourth minute, all patience is thrown out the window.

When the light turns green he glances back at Jack through the mirror, smirking. He looks back to the road still smiling. Jack is content, clicking his tongue, and watching the world pass by through his window. It’s like he can breathe-- he can stop for just this moment and know he’s doing something right.

He doesn’t see the other car racing across the intersection, blind with rage. There’s the horrible ripping of metal and the hiss of smoke and then nothing.

Turns out he was right.

That stoplight is going to ruin someone’s day.

[bae-science]

it’s t-t-t-t-time for another newt bae-science fic rec extravabonanza! same rules, same boys, same bullshit! let’s get into it:

a beginning; a second chance by @dykesword

other newt and i have a long and intricate ritualistic battle to become the alpha newt, but i gotta give credit where it’s due. if you like to annotate your books for fun, this fic will give you a looooong comment you’ll want to write, and for good reason! there’s a lot of really well done metaphor and character detail in here, while still keeping a very soft, melancholy but with a hopeful edge tone. and also, like, the care and detail in which newt’s mental state in the aftermath of the precursors’ abuse is depicted is so so good, and delightful to read

husbandly duties by @kingeiszler

i am soooo biased with this one bc technically it was made for me but GODDAMN it’s good. this shit has everything: gottlieb trio sibling dynamics, vanessa in giant femme earrings, hermann yearning, newt and karla infodumping together, newt’s terrible and accurate gaydar, gay crime, the newmann dynamic and why it works boiled down to its bare essentials, pride and prejudice glasses touch, and neon green acrylics. required reading for the vanessaverse

Say That Again by @robertfrobisherslover

WOOF. if you like mutual pining and lack of communication from men with rocks for their emotional processing centers, and guncle (gay uncle) newt and hermann and KILLER artsy sex scenes, and themes of words unsaid in a story about LANGUAGE..... oogoogogoogouhufug. the writing style is clear and well paced, i LOVE little mako’s scene she’s such a cutie, and there’s like. a line. that’s a play on the whole “it’s always been you” trope. that lives in my mind rent free forever.

speak right to my heart without saying a word by @thekaidonovskys

i’m just gonna paste the comment i left on it here, because that sums up what is so absolutely incredible about this fic the best:

so sometimes you stumble on a piece of fiction that you add to your little collection of stuff you would show a person if you wanted them to understand a part of you that you can't quite explain eloquently, or it would take too long, etc etc, and i've never really found something like that for my autism until now, which, like, poggers. and i'll be as straight up as i can while still being the biggest lesbian in the great state of ohio (not a hard feat but alan invented computers so i love continuing on the autistic tradition of being a living miracle), the chameleon effect hit me like a mack truck. catholic school in the deep south is the most potent and effective form of ABA therapy imaginable :/. so sometimes i wonder what i would be like if i didn't have such a strong ability to pass, and here's where we finally get to the part of this comment where i just vomit compliments at you: you nailed it. you got it. i don't know if you're on the spectrum, but either way, well fucking done. trauma therapy research talks a lot about healing fantasies, which are fantasies, usually in the form of daydreams, that abused/neglected/traumatized/etc people create that directly address a struggle they have and take the form of a scenario in which that struggle is helped in some way. it could be an abusive parent repenting and showering them with the love they never had, or someone finding them during a panic attack and somehow knowing how best to comfort them without having to ask, or being intimate with someone and having a scar or physical deformity they've been shamed for be given attention and care. and i think you have created the ultimate perfect healing fantasy for autistic people, or at least those with """"high functioning"""" autism. it has a character who is visibly and undeniably on the spectrum having the pain and trauma going through life like that causes being acknowledged and validated, they are purposefully paid attention to because person b genuinely likes them and wants to understand and respect who they are and how they function in the world, and thus get The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known as well as the eventual rewards of being loved, person b makes a genuine effort to help teach them social skills in a way they can understand and learn through and is there for them when these skills are being practiced, their space and boundaries are respected but they aren't infantilized or thought of as an emotionless robot, and they receive love and comfort on their own terms not despite of but because of who they are, even specifically being asked not to change the way they are because that way is lovable. they are openly desired. writing is my fucking JOB and it's still difficult to put into words how much you got 100000% right about the dream with this fic. i have been in the EXACT and i mean EXACT same situation as hermann when he asked newt if it was his personality itself that made people not like him, because i deadass made a spreadsheet of all my personality attributes i thought could be preventing me from making friends in college, and then asked my fellow nd friend to see if there was anything i was missing. so i guess what i'm trying to say is that this amazing, and i'm bookmarking it and putting it on my next fic rec post, and maybe one day way way in the future if i ever get a partner i want to explain the whole autism thing to, i'm gonna have them read this.

The Facts With Newton Geiszler, PhD by what_alchemy (NSFW)

storytime: i read this fic a few years ago, completely forgot the title and author, and ended up thinking about the part where hermann admits to having fucked a trailer hitch when he was a teenager, at least once a week. last november, i say to my friend samara on twitter, head of the BSHCU (buttslut hermann cinematic universe), hey this seems like something you’d have read, do you remember a fic where... and samara says FUCK i do know what you’re talking about lemme find it. so if the fact that i have been looking for this fic for like, two years, and that it contains a moment so iconic all i had to say is, “hermann says he fucked a trailer hitch” and she IMMEDIATELY knew what i was talking about, does not convince you to read this... go back to catholic school i guess.

Feeling Blue by TempusPetrichor

fics where newt goes back to work as a biologist, especially a xenobiologist, post pru are really interesting, and usually have something neat to say about recovery, how it isn’t linear, how it often involves us returning to things we love for comfort, etc. this one sure does! some good emotional and physical h/c, LOVE the use of the ghost drift, and it’s always fun to see post pru fics use dialogue very obviously taken from dbt, trauma-specific therapeutical texts, and anything that shows the author has experience with, or did their research on, ptsd therapies.

You’re Everyone That Ever Cared by KlavierWrites

you know a fic is good when it’s an only 9k slowburn and still manages to reach infinite regress levels of are you fucking KIDDING GO TO THERAPY. newt “acts of service” geiszler may have a little misplaced misogyny due to his broken woman-centric gaydar. as a treat. the fucking. post-drift scene where hermann subtextually screams “LOOK IN OUR BRAINS YOU FUCK I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU I JUST HAVE AUTISM AND CAREER IN STEM DISORDER” is soooooo. god just hermann in general in that scene is great. if you like classic mid 2010s era newmann, ghost drift romance, and good ole mutual pining, this is a treat.

Baby, You're Hotter than my Bunsen Burner by SkySongMA

moronosexual hermann representation is something that can actually be so personal

Times of Stress by RadioMoth

the boys are processinggggggg. man what a good, quick and powerful punch to the gut. if you like post-pr1 catharsis and physical h/c, AND are the one friend that likes to comment at the end of the movie that hey newt got beat the fuck UP, check this one out.

black tea by @faggotcas

okay first of all, god fucking tier url, lee. second of all, food as a love language is my SHIT. i love the very slow relationship development here, where you see them making a genuine effort to get along and that in turn leading to feelings reigniting. it’s such a sweet little moment of a fic, with a nice atmosphere and tone to fit it

now here’s the part where i usually drop my latest fic, but i haven’t written one this month because i’ve been busy launching an audio drama! you can find it here, it’ll be right up your alley if you like cryptids and gay scientists and enemies to lovers and good ole americana, but since this is a newmann post, i’m gonna recommend the pacific rim audio drama duology i did a while back! part one is called conversations from the brink, and it’s a little slice of the pr3 we better fucking get from streaming that godawful looking anime. love and lesbians to everyone ❤️

[adultingautistic]

What does an autistic meltdown look/feel like? I’ve been diagnosed as being on the spectrum, and mostly I identify with it, but I also feel like I lack certain symptoms, like having meltdowns. But maybe my idea of meltdowns are just skewed by things I’ve seen in media? Where it’s always v dramatic. Is hating an environment, feeling that it drains you to the core, trying to get home or be in an isolated space as quickly as possible so the world can go quiet, crying maybe, a mild meltdown?

This is an excellent question!  First, let me start by saying: Not every autistic person has every autistic symptom.  There’s a reason they call it a spectrum; that means we all have differing levels of intensity with each symptom, and we all have some symptoms for which the level is just “none”.  For example, I have very little trouble with eye contact.  Now and then I’ll suddenly notice that eye contact is happening and it weirds me out and I’ll look away, but for the most part I can eye contact like an allistic.  That doesn’t make me any “less autistic”.  So even if you’ve never had a meltdown, that doesn’t “invalidate” your autism.

Having said that, let’s look at meltdowns.

First, let’s read a good definition of a meltdown that I found from autism.org:

“A meltdown is ‘an intense response to overwhelming situations’. It happens when someone becomes completely overwhelmed by their current situation and temporarily loses behavioural control.  This loss of control can be expressed verbally (eg shouting, screaming, crying), physically (eg kicking, lashing out, biting) or in both ways.”

So, in other words, a meltdown is when you have reached Sensory Overload, and your brain can no longer process any new sensory input.  Basically, your brain is so stressed out that it goes into survival mode.

How this manifests is different for every person. I repeat; a meltdown is different for everyone, and can be different each time for the same person, as well.  The reason is that during a meltdown, your brain is basically screaming MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP.  You’ve gone beyond “This is a Bad Input and I am hurting.” to “I am in such complete overload that I cannot function.”

And while you’re brain’s doing that, it’s not thinking critically, it’s not using logic, it’s not able to follow complex thoughts, because it’s busy screaming.  And your body is going to try to do anything it can to get whatever it is to STOP.

So your body goes into survival instinct.  The survival instinct when we are in danger is fight, flight, or freeze.  Now you’ve descended into instinct, where there is no brain, because your brain is nonfunctional.  So your body will do it’s damnedest to get you out of danger however it can.  If it chooses fight, you will kick, scream, hit, fight, to try to get out of danger.  This works if the danger is a tiger.  Not so much if the danger is a Bad Smell.  

Or you might run, as you mentioned, run to an isolated space, try to get home- anything, anything to get away from the Bad Thing(s).  

Or you might freeze, and become totally non-responsive (this is called a shut down).  

When I first started learning about autism, I didn’t think I had meltdowns, either.  But that was because I learned of my autism as an adult, where I have the power to change my environment.  I have already learned how to avoid the extremely overwhelming things that might send me into a meltdown, and I have the power to leave them.  

For example, at my previous job there was some outdoor summer party thing, which the bosses had put together during work hours in the parking lot at work, to thank the employees.  I already knew that the stench of burnt hot dogs and melting asphalt would be horrifically overwhelming for me, combined with the noise and heat of a crowd all around me, and I told my bosses that I would not be attending.  They were upset with me and tried to force me to attend- but being in that situation was More Horrible than anything they could ever threaten me with, including being fired, that they lost that argument, and I did not go.  They eventually realized I wasn’t going to give in, and then they let me stay inside and work (phew).

Had I been a child, and been forced to go, I would have ended up sobbing lying in the dirt and puking my brains out- because that’s what did happen when I was a child.

That’s not to say I’ve completely avoided meltdowns in adulthood.  Most of the time, for me, they involve uncontrollable crying, rocking back and forth, and clinging to some cloth (if a blanket is not available then I’ll cling to my jacket, my shirt, whatever I can find).

One time, I became so overwhelmed in my therapist’s office that I could no longer tolerate being constrained by clothes, and wound up ripping off my shoes and socks and shirt.  Thank God she understands me well enough to not have been freaked out by that.

So I’ve had a few meltdowns as an adult, but for the most part, not really.  Because children are forced to suffer far, far more than adults ever will, because they have no agency and no say about what happens to them.  

So, if you have had meltdowns, they were more likely to have occurred in childhood, because as an adult, you are more likely to take care of the problem before it gets to meltdown levels.  In fact the things you described are precursors to a meltdown:

Is hating an environment, feeling that it drains you to the core, trying to get home or be in an isolated space as quickly as possible so the world can go quiet, crying maybe, a mild meltdown

So, before you reached the disaster of meltdown, you took care of yourself, and got out of the situation, because you are an adult and you can. 

Lastly, I invite anyone else to share your meltdown experiences, because they are different for every person, and there’s no rule that says any of mine need to be anything like yours.

[tiptapricot]

miss thea theadora preston headcanons!!!!!

Ofc queen, let’s gooooo

She’s autistic n has ADHD

Happy flaps and arm waving out the wazoo, and she bounces in place a lot :-D

She fixated on foreign languages for a good chunk of middle school and ended up learning German

Trans, ace, and a lesbian, and came out at the same time as Billie

She had really curly hair as a kid but it straightened as she got older

Minor drug mentions under cut

She loves whipped cream

She has trouble with school work sometimes and it can get her really frustrated but BnT or Liz n Jo are always there to help her work through assignments, and they’re very clear that they don’t care about grades

She watches a lot of cartoons and movies and can talk abt them for hours. She always seems to know a random fact related to stuff she’s seen and will bring them up in conversations

She hates heel socks and cannot wear them. Socks have to reach her mid shin at minimum

She always helps coordinate family movie nights

Dresses like it’s summer year round, even when it’s colder

Her wardrobe is 90% tacky tourist shirts

Likes putting her hand or foot against the car door when they play music while driving because she likes to feel the beat and hum of the song

Loves LEGOs and Playmobile

Has to have her hair out of her face to focus and usually has it pulled up in some way

Squeezes her skin absentmindedly and has gotten distracted straightening and bending her knees to see the change

Gets bruises on her legs a lot, probably from bumping into stuff, but she can never remember how she got them

Really likes sparkling cider and fizzy drinks in general (the day she discovered pop rocks was a day to celebrate)

Used to color on little bits of paper and eat them in elementary school. Her favorite “flavor” was ballpoint pen ink

Broke her arm when she was first learning how to ride a bike and thought wearing a cast was the coolest thing in the world (Billie drew dinosaurs on it)

Her favorite colors are pink, red, and orange

She really likes cheap weird jewelry, like those rlly chunky plastic rings and silly bands and stuff

She likes animal crackers and shaped chicken/fish nuggets

Doesn’t smoke weed but does take edibles (usually with Billie)

She gets really incoherent and giggly when she’s sleepy or high, but also brings up some really interesting conversation topics. Some highlights include the time she started a debate on which rock is the tastiest, and the time she started crying because “If you look up at the sky there could be someone lightyears away looking back at you and neither of you would ever know”

Her favorite cookies are burnt sugar cookies

She can’t stand the texture of tapioca or rice pudding, but she likes bubble tea and bursting boba

She had a pet snail for most of high school names Lola

She and Billie can talk almost exclusively in inside jokes and she calls them her cousib

She really likes sleepovers and always brings all the classic “girly” stuff, like nail kits and face masks and dumb board games. She lives for that shit

She chews on her hair

Her smile always makes other people smile

She doodles on her thighs a lot and writes reminders on her arms and hands

Is absolutely the type of person to go out to pick up something specific and end up coming back with at least three totally unrelated things that caught her eye

She has multiple key rings and wallets and somehow always knows which ones have what she needs when she goes out, even though no one else can figure out her organization process

She’s trying to learn how to surf

She has a drawer full of scrunchies

She can’t keep her room clean for the life of her but she doesn’t mind. It’s an organized mess

Absolutely unashamed about singing along to whatever she’s listening to in public, and gets really into it sometimes

Accompanied Billie to the Gec tree on their 18th birthday, even though she had gone for hers just the week prior

Headcanons masterpost