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bigskydreaming · 5 years ago

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Could Jason and Chris Kent have become friends? I know nothing about Chris or the comics from Jason's Robin era. I heard that Chris is the erased eldest son of Superman? I'm intrigued, but that means even the children of the biggest superheroes ever can be erased?

Ugh, I love Chris Kent and miss him (the pre-Flashpoint version of his character) a ton. And y’know, there are a couple ways you could manuever him and Jason into a friendship, though I don’t think they ever met in continuity. I don’t know how well they would have gotten along if you just went with the versions of the characters that both existed at approximately the same time, but they do actually have a decent amount in common, like with some tweaks it could work. Ironically, character wise they probably would have gotten along really well when Jason was Robin, but continuity wise, Chris didn’t even debut until after UTRH, though he rapidly aged from a young kid to a young adult after just a couple of years.

But lemme back up a bit because Chris is, umm, complicated.

SO. Christopher Kent was born Lor-Zod, the son of General Zod and Ursa, while they were held captive in the Phantom Zone. They were abusive asshats to him, and he’s not a fan. But for some reason which had to do with blah blah blah invasion plot blah blah, Zod made a spaceship from inside the Phantom Zone that he sent Chris to Earth in, because due to being born while in the Zone, Chris was actually able to take physical form, unlike the Kryptonians trapped there as a prison.

When Chris crashed on Earth, he was taken by a government agency aimed at monitoring extraterrestial ‘threats’ and treated as such. Cue Clark finding out that there was another Kryptonian on Earth, he was a kid, and he was being treated as a prisoner and it was like, See Clark Run. See Clark Mad. See Clark Raze The Department of Extraterrestial Affairs From The Earth With His Searing Hot Eyebeams Of Rage and Also Destruction.

And then Clark took Chris home to the Kent farm, and eventually he and Lois ended up adopting Chris and raising him as their own. Lois was the one who gave him his Earth name of Chris, which he’s always been shown to vastly prefer over his birth name just like he can’t stand his birth parents, as they are abusive asshats. He used to call Lois “Mama Lois.” It was adorable.

There’s a lot of back and forth about calling him Clark and Lois’ adopted son versus foster son, depending on various wikis and even issues, but its the same kinda thing that happens with all the Batkids at various points, and like, I remember issues that actually called Ma and Pa Kent Clark’s foster parents, so just do what I do and groan and sigh and accept that DC habitually employs writers and editors who just flat out don’t understand how fostering and adoption works. And its not that there’s anything wrong or lesser about fostering, and its absolutely the better way to go for some, its just foster son and adopted son are not remotely interchangeable, they are two different things, and DC has GOT to stop playing take-backsies with adoption, like just don’t do that, don’t make that a thing.

Anyway, for awhile it was Clark, Lois and Chris and they were quite happy together. Chris existed well before Jon Kent and they were never raised as Kents at the same time, unfortunately, and he did have some cute scenes with Conner, though this was mostly when Conner was characterized as seeing Clark more as an older brother and never really raised by him. (Similar to YJ-verse, but I have a lot of issues with that in YJ-verse because of HOW that played out, that I don’t have in pre-Flashpoint comics, where it felt a little more natural for Clark and Conner to have a brotherly relationship, mostly due to the fact that I don’t recall Conner ever expressing a want for the relationship to be otherwise in the comics, and having a strong bond with Ma and Pa Kent himself. I could be wrong here though as I skipped a lot of Conner’s writing when Geoff Johns is behind the wheel because I just....really miss 90s Kon-El who was practically a totally different character BUT I DIGRESS).

But then because comics gotta comics, eventually Zod escaped from the Phantom Zone to fuck all that up, and invaded Earth because he’s like I’m Zod and invading Earth is like, my entire personality, its the only move I’ve got in the deck, what do you want from me. And Luthor eventually cooperated with the heroes to stop the invasion by configuring some sort of cosmic vaccuum cleaner to suck all the Kryptonians with a connection to the Phantom Zone back into the Phantom Zone, but then this didn’t seal the Zone up again once all the invaders were back in and Chris realized its because even though he was just born there, he was technically connected to the Zone too and it wouldn’t close up again as long as he was outside it. So he sacrificed himself to save his father (Clark took quite a beating from Zod in this) and the world and dove into the Phantom Zone, which sealed up behind him.

BUT he was saved at the last second (and without anyone else knowing for awhile) by someone named Thara. She was the security chief of Kandor, and she took Chris to protect him from the revenge of the Phantom Zoners who would have blamed him for their re-imprisonment. And off-page, during the years between Chris getting sacrificing himself to seal the Phantom Zone before his reapparance, Chris had a comic-book style growth spurt uncannily like the one Jon Kent got when Bendis started writing him, resulting in an uncannily similar dynamic between Chris and Clark and Lois when they reunited as Bendis wrote Jon having with Clark and Lois when they reunited. Why do I emphasize this, is it because I think Bendis is overhyped and I’ll never stop complaining about how all his biggest story beats are blatantly just recycled story beats from less well-known writers and characters, no that can’t be it, must be something else.

Anyway, Chris eventually returns to Earth, now a teenager, and now going by Nightwing while Thara went by Flamebird. This was around the time Bruce was lost in time and Dick was Batman, and there was never like, any crossover. Which sucked because Dick would’ve been fine with it as Chris had more of a claim to the name than even him (it wasn’t like with the Nightwings in the Ric Grayson arc, who became Nightwing BECAUSE of Dick’s persona, but rather that Chris and Thara were basing their personas purely on their own Kryptonian myths and what they represented to the Kandorians who were now living on Earth at the time. Totally different situation). But really it was just missed opportunities, IMO, as I think Chris and Dick also would have gotten along really well and their paths just never really crossed.

Somewhere in there Chris got another random growth spurt and ended up in his early 20s, he and Thara ended up in a relationship which was not my fave cuz of all the aging shenanigans but whatevs, Chris kept having random aging growth spurts which had Lois really worried about him and she tried to get the hero version of Dr. Light (Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi) to help him thinking maybe it had something to do with light or radiation, but they never really got around to trying to fix it because Lois’ douchebag dad General Lane showed up and tried to capture Chris, and he and Thara fled. And then they ran into Supergirl, who at first tried to kill Thara because she hated her because Kandorian Backstory I honestly do not remember, but then Chris revealed himself and was like Kara, its me, we’re cousins, and then they had adventures with Kara for a time, then there was this whole thing where Thara and Chris were both briefly possessed by and then merged with the actual Kryptonian gods/entities of Nightwing and Flamebird and then the entities left them and were like okay, we’re all done with whatever that was, as you were.

Chris thwarted his evil birth parents again, blew up some stuff, there was more Phantom Zone shenanigans and then General Lane and Lex Luthor turned the sun red to try and kill all Kryptonians, Thara fixed it by sacrificing herself, Chris tried to join her but then the Nightwing entity hijacked him and was like nope, and then not long after, Chris sacrificed himself again to push Zod back into the Phantom Zone AGAIN (seriously, it was like they were on a loop at this point, ugh) and he ended up in the Zone himself, but for real this time....and for some reason that turned him back into the age he should’ve been if he’d been aging normally this whole time, and the last we saw of Chris, he was like ten years old and in the Phantom Zone and being helped by Mon-El, and then the New 52 happened and rebooted everything and wherever that was going no longer mattered.

And then New 52 Lor-Zod showed up at one point as like, Zod’s loyal little son-minion, and DC has never shown a hint of intending to pursue an actual Chris Kent storyline in the New 52, and I hate that lots and lots because its like lol, this character was an abuse survivor in his original incarnation and you guys were like, lol no big deal, we’ll just make Zod the exact same asshat he’s always been but now this version of his son is just like him and likes it, why would that be a problem. WHATEVER.

Basically, New 52 Chris Kent doesn’t exist, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Which is a fucking shame, because Chris and Jon Kent as brothers being raised together WITHOUT ANY WEIRD AGING SHENANIGANS with their cousin once removed, Kara, and their older sorta brother sorta uncle Conner could have been like. So great.

So anyway. There’s LOTS of directions you can take Chris, and he’s really a great character. If you’re aiming to make him friends with Jason specifically, my go-to there would be to just have the events that led Chris to Earth originally just....happen a lot earlier in the continuity of your story. So have Chris arrive on Earth and be adopted by Clark and Lois roughly around the same time Jason steals the tires off the Bat-mobile, and you’re pretty much in business.

(BUT if you do go this route, keep in mind that Jason died before the Death of Superman storyline, which is where Kon-El debuted, so even if Kon/Conner’s still older than Chris here, Chris would already be an established part of Clark and Lois’ family by the time Kon-El arrives on the scene, which would change dynamics there, not just between Chris and Kon/Conner, but potentially between Kon/Conner and Clark and Lois as well).

OR you can keep Chris’ arrival as happening roughly when it did in canon (2006 was the year he debuted), and just have him do a little aging up, like, as a treat, and so be his older self when Jason returns and starts interacting with the cape community again, with their first interactions being when they’re both young adults who for completely different reasons missed out on large chunks of childhood. There’s some potentially interesting angles to explore there too.

Just depends on which way you want to go with that.

(PS, I think aging up is an overused trope most of the time in comics anyway, but its not so much aging Chris rapidly to a teenager and then young adult that I had an issue with, so much as doing it largely to put him in a relationship with someone who first met him when they were already an adult and he was ten. Its the initial age gap being an established part of the overall dynamic with an eventual love interest thats the issue, not that an age gap existed before two characters ever met - if for all other intents and purposes - their dynamic treats them as if they both were effectively always around the same age).

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puttingfingerstokeys · 5 years ago

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your confession is mine

tangentially related to Lightning Rod, but a wAAAaaays down the road. I am lazy. No italics. Blah blah tumblr. I really am interested in exploring the dynamics of a mature relationship. I am so tired of love triangles and petty drama when the narrative of Mortal Kombat feels like it demands so much more--the drama is cosmic, era-affecting, HUGE.

Warring Exes (shang tsung/raiden)

Restored Timeline

The breeze coming in over the ocean was salty and gentle; it played with Raiden’s hair as he drifted in that half-asleep state of existence unique to mortals. There were many reasons to appreciate the limited time of a finite existence and this was one of them. In fact, it encompassed more than one. He shifted a little, carefully as he could so as not to disturb his companion, who had similarly fallen asleep, one bronzed arm tucked under the crook of Raiden’s neck as they dozed.

In millions of eras, multiple eons, thousands of lifetimes lived, Raiden had never once envisioned himself this way, naked, draped in only soft sheets, much and more flesh exposed to eyes and to elements—though only two eyes would see it this way—and feeling not a single iota of shame, regret, or horror. Only one thing did hover over his existence this way, a single piece of truth, which would, necessarily lead to all others and perhaps bring this carefully-cultivated new era unraveling around them. It ate at him as he considered it, fingers playing aimlessly about on the shapely chest of the man lying next to him, similarly naked and similarly not offering the world a single care for his exposure.

“Something troubles you,” came the voice from above Raiden’s head. He did not shift, but could feel the vibration of that sonorous baritone in the man’s chest under his fingers. He laid his palm down and ceased its movements.

“I have been… dishonest with you, Shang Tsung, and I… must set it right.”

“Your nature demands it of you, Lord Raiden,” came the languid response, a hand finding its way into the silvery-white mane of Raiden’s hair which was spread over the pillow and some expanse of the sheets around him. Raiden shifted to meet those dark, serpentine eyes.

“You…”

“I have known since Lord Liu Kang brought you to me for my… training. No god defers so obviously to someone who is not also a god.” He spoke as if it was a trifle, nothing of consequence. His smile was languid, but not entirely warm. It was the knowing smile of a predator with cornered prey who has yet time to toy with it and may not even be hungry. “You trained him, as surely as you trained me, and now, for some reason, he is the deity, and you are a mortal—though you are not human.”

Raiden regarded him carefully, not in the reserved way he used to, but with a mixture of awe and uncertainty. Shang Tsung was unpredictable in many ways, but in his interest and obsession with influence and power from the shadows, he never really wavered. His intent and intensity sometimes fluctuated, but the desire was ever present, ad infinitum.

The biggest difference was that this time there would be an end. There was no void from a soul, stolen by the gods, to utterly empty him beyond any mortal’s capacity to fill. There was, ostensibly, a finite amount he could want or desire. Raiden hoped this was the case, at least. He felt the beat of Shang Tsung’s heart under his hand, beneath that warm flesh, and prayed to no one that it was so; he had come to cherish that heart, openly adoring its owner, however flawed. He lay back down, sighing, unsure whence he should next go with this conversation—or at all, for that matter.

“You have a story to tell, Raiden,” said Shang Tsung, reaching down and tilting Raiden’s chin upward to once more gaze into his eyes, still bearing the soft glow of divinity, but also filled with guilt and something else. Fear? Shang Tsung both loved and hated that he could still elicit such a response from a man he was certain had once been a deity—of thunder no less! The power was intoxicating, but it wasn’t all he wanted. “So tell it. I am at your disposal. And yours alone.”

There was a bit of force—not much—in the motion that guided Raiden’s mouth to Shang Tsung’s and still a little more when the sorcerer’s other hand, which had until that point been occupied in Raiden’s hair, found its way to the back of his head and trapped him there. But what a dulcet trap. The grip on Shang Tsung’s chest tightened a little at first, but then loosened languidly as the kiss deepened and sweetened.

Did he ever give anything which did not feel wrested from him? And when, precisely, had Raiden stopped caring, delighting in the titillating dance which led to this give and take? The question of when he had fallen in love was an easy one to answer, so that, at least, was settled in his restless mind. But the remainder? That was the mystery to be unwrapped and if anyone could succeed at this monumental task—as insurmountable as unwrapping the vestments of the man himself—it would be Shang Tsung, without care or reservation and yet with the utmost delicacy, mindful always of the thunder god’s sensibilities. It was absolutely delicious and Raiden felt himself drowning in it.

“I crave your tale as much as I crave you,” whispered the sorcerer, lips parting—though only just—from those of his old, mysterious mentor. “I am breathless,” he purred, “with anticipation.”

“Let nothing be denied you, then—at least where this is concerned; I have… hidden it from you long enough, though not well, evidently.” There was some sheepishness in this remark, as a child admitting to a parent that they had, indeed, removed a sweet from its place, cooling on the countertop. Shang Tsung laid his head back on the luxurious pillow, a Cheshire smile upon his face. The hand which had been used to grasp and control was now weaving through the air, playing magic like strings, causing a low, melodic hum to enter and hover about the room; the colors reflected the strange sunsets in this place, unpredictable and ethereal. In the nexus between worlds, on this island, at its very fulcrum, time did as it desired. It was not bound by the laws of any world and sat apart from all, yet interconnected to all.

“Let nothing be denied me, ever,” warned Shang Tsung, a hint of that old predatory menace in his voice, though his hand did not stop moving. Raiden watched it, weaving this way and that, and felt himself mildly entranced by the sight, though that had not—he assumed—been the intention.

“I was,” said Raiden quietly, “as you have guessed, the god of thunder—I had, for many lifetimes, devoted myself in duty to my… chosen vocation, protector of Earthrealm.”

“A deity of destruction as protector,” Shang Tsung mused, “how like you, dear Raiden. How very like you.”

Raiden’s jaw tightened, but he kept silent, holding his tongue, knowing that the reaction was just what the sorcerer wanted. This was part of their game, this tug of war between them. When had he begun to relish in it? When I made peace with the side of me of which he so fondly speaks. And there was fondness in the man’s voice when the word “destruction” rolled off his forked tongue.

“Electricity facilitates life, as well, Shang Tsung—balance, in all things,” Raiden reminded the sorcerer, who waved this off as if to say ‘when was the last time a lightning bolt healed someone?’. Raiden knew very well that Shang Tsung could see right through him, that he clearly fought his nature, tooth and nail, every day of his long life. The struggle defined him and fascinated his sorcerous companion. “But my… father was the god of death and chaos…”

Pleased with the admission, Shang Tsung began running his fingers over Raiden’s scalp once more, almost as a reward, delighting in the way the miniscule arcs of electricity jumped to and fro as he did this. He came alive when they touched, when their flesh met, in passion or in training; there was such a field of power around Raiden that Shang Tsung could not very well help himself wanting to be near it. When did he take me? The sorcerer found himself wondering.

“So there are more… beyond you and the fire god, hm?”

“There were, yes.” Had it been anyone else to whom Raiden was speaking, he might have been alarmed at the acuity. Given that Shang Tsung had detected him the moment they met at least left Raiden with some relief, that he may have been thinking about this a while—they had, after all, known each other for over two decades… this time—and that he was not simply generating these theories spontaneously.

“Were…?” There was interest in the sorcerer’s voice, now, more than before. He knew a tangled tapestry of fate when he heard it and he was about to be handed the most beautiful of these. As with everything else he had taken from Raiden, it was being freely given. Taking by force had its merits, but not with this one, so cloaked in virtue and chastity. See, now, how far behind you have left that part of yourself, Raiden. See yourself the way I see you and that… will fulfill me.

“Eons before anything… at all,” Raiden began, pushing himself to tell the story of all creation, the true story, titans included. He wove that tapestry Shang Tsung so coveted with beautiful master strokes, no embellishments, and as much detail as he felt he could or should, at the moment. That he had a brother was now known to the sorcerer, that Kronika was, in human terms, his grandmother, that she was a titan, a being of pure passion and desire, having no vision but her own and that the offspring of titans were Elder Gods, the very opposite of that embodiment of uncontrollable, uncontainable power.

“All but Shinnok,” said Raiden, “who sought to overthrow the rule of the others while the realms were still young. Had I stepped aside and allowed him to do as he pleased, we would not be here.”

“But you,” filled in Shang Tsung, having followed the narrative closely, “dutiful son of the Elder Gods, stood between mortals and utter annihilation… and triumphed. My oh my, what a tale.”

“If it ended there,” interjected Raiden with some mischief in his tone, “I would not have enticed you to the story at all.”

“Then by all means…” Shang Tsung made a broad gesture, encompassing the whole of his chambers and they shifted utterly. Night fell outside, a thousand thousand stars from all the realms clashing above the palatial fortress of the sorcerer. Within, torches lit themselves, glowing softly, warmly, casting dancing, tantalizing shadows upon the walls. Raiden watched these things dancing and wondered if they danced at Shang Tsung’s bidding, or if he let them be, appreciating the unpredictability.

“Shao Kahn,” he said, “a name you recognize… has always been a threat… to all realms, but my primary concern has ever been Earthrealm. He, in his ambition and greed, had long ago set his sights on it. I interceded with the Elder Gods on behalf of the people of Earthrealm. I had no choice; they would have been defenseless in all-out war.”

“The tournament,” Shang Tsung guessed. “You tell me our tale, Raiden, but I know of no Elder Gods.”

“These things… they are past, forgotten, and erased, living only in the memories of the immortals who once served them—those who are left,” Raiden admitted quietly. “In that past, you came upon this island on your own and forged a partnership of servitude with Shao Kahn and a deadly alliance with the Netherrealm sorcerer-acolyte, Quan-Chi.”

“Abhorrent,” spat Shang Tsung, having long since decided anyone affiliated with the filth of Outworld was far beneath him. His feelings for Quan-Chi were similar—without the power of a whole Elder God on his side, Quan-Chi had been reduced to little more than a pretender to the Netherrealm throne. Raiden would never regret the stroke which had beheaded his hateful father, though he had not been the one to strike it, precisely. Imbalance, it may have wrought, but had there been another choice? “To serve Shao Kahn,” Shang Tsung hissed. “Nonsense—filthy nonsense.”

“I have opined, in one past or another, that, no matter your perceived station, you have always had a finger upon the pulse of fate, moving whichever way you thought best to put yourself in a place of distinct advantage,” amended Raiden, unsure why he had the urge to soothe Shang Tsung’s ego.

“So why, then, did you feel the need to show me this place of your own accord and to help me… acquire it from the hands of the Shaolin, if destiny was always to give it to me…?”

“Because the acquisition needed to be peaceful. The fact remains that this island is safest in your hands,” said Raiden quietly, not without some hesitance. He had come this far, however. To stop now would be suspicious and the height of cruelty, besides. “In all shifts of the sands of time, this space between realms is wrested from the hands of the ones who have sworn to protect it, by force and bloodshed and unnecessary loss of life. With you, it is never in danger of falling into the hands of Outworld, or the Netherrrealm… and when it is given, it is always with your express consent and for your own aims—never taken.”

“I do not share wealth.”

“Until you do.”

Their eyes met and passion once again ignited between them. The spark became a roaring flame generating its own heat and aching pleasure. Fingers found hair, pulling almost viciously. Hands roamed about grasping, groping and clawing. Tongues tasted, lips teased, teeth grazed. Even outside the arena of kombat, the two warriors, a god and a sorcerer, strove together to achieve the greatest heights of victory and of pleasure.

In the night sky over the fortress, a thunderhead formed and began raining its contents, both those of life and of death, down upon the island between realms.

#cc #cw #mk #mortal kombat #raiden #shang tsung #warring exes

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fthisshiiimout · 5 years ago

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" Hope is a dangeous thing" Michael Guerin's words of wisdom! He said it to Max and said it to Maria! But I really hope every single MALEX fan took it to heart cause it was really meant for US!

I dont care what people say in this fandom anymore. "I dont want to hear spoilers" " no spoilers" " you should tag your shit as a spoiler" NO IM NOT GOING TO! Ya know why?? Because Carina herself wouldnt have shown her shit if she didnt want SPOILERS OUT!! DUHH! And Im ranting because Im sick of the headgames with this show..it ridiculous..no wonder why people in this fandom are dropping like flies.

And Im sick and tired of the back and forth between M/M and M/A. Im sick of the headgames with the showrunner as well! One day its " Oh its Maria..shes his light" and whatever else is spewed. And the next its " Ohh Michael and Alex there journey is from darkness to light" and whatever other bullshit is spewed. Cause in reality its all Bullshit to keep Malex fans and Miluca fans to keep watching and fighting. If you ever cared to look at the ratings for season 1 they were abysmal. Only the first 2 episodes got over a million viewers. Which is horrible..but in full disclosure Theres only 1 CW show that has really any kind of following ( and hint hint its not Supernatural..That shows ratings are going down faster then a hooker on payday). Believe me I did the research. I dont understand why they are putting it after a tanking show if they want more viewers ( No disrespect to Supernatural, my daughter and husband love this show). But I digress..

The show runners know where there bread is buttered on this show and it is with MALEX fans. It even overshadows the Liz/Max shippers and Definitely over shadows Michael and Maria. Hell Vlamis and Tyler realized it pretty quickly..Vlamis made a sold out Merch line because of it. And they are the captains of this ship because they see the potential of how big it can be. Hell even the CW pr team figured it out! Thats why in the trailer we saw Malex and no Miluca?? Its not rocket science to figure this out!

So why now are the showrunners literally shitting on the LGBTQ+ community by taking away the only couple that represent that population on that show?? Then placating the community with "ooh Alex gets a new love interest" and the obscure and downright awkward " oh someone who Identified as straight in the beginning of the season will not be at the end". What a FUCKING FARCE! Like really?? As a community are we that desperate or obtuse?? Did nobody roll there eyes at this bullshit? Or am I the only one? We have a perfectly "cosmic" gay ship in front of us! Yes with baggage..no denying that..but thats the drama of TV I get it.

The reason is because the showrunners have no plans to make Malex anymore. There I said it and I SAW IT FIRSTHAND! In 2x01 Michael told Alex straight up they "were done" it was pretty cut and dry and lasted all of 2 mins...good to know Malex fans get two mins of heartbreak..that should tell you something. While Michael and Maria had 3 scenes..maybe more together. Granted they were not together at the end of 2x01 but According to Heather they will be trying to " ignite the spark between them" for the entire season. And that they're love is " exciting and blah blah blah".. No one gives a shit. Least of all me. But you can clearly see thats where its headed.

Also in season 1 there were some big hints too that I myself overlooked but they were glaring but subtle like the Max/Cam love scene intertwined with the Michael/Alex scene and the song playing in the background..that was telling... You dont see Max and Cam together. Or 1x12 prison scene " Cant love me" playing in the background and the words Michael spit at Alex..I dont think they were complete lies. Michael felt them on some lvl. And Alex's own words " Sometimes the world ends with a wimper, Guerin".. Those were all meant for Malex shippers as well.

And what about this "see if we can " be friends" or " we didn't even know each other" bullshit! I hate those lines..Like really?? Michael moved back to Roswell when he was 11..which meant that they went to school and living in a small town grew up together. At least for 7 or so yrs. They must have knew each other just for the simple fact of the Liz/Max dynamic..I grew up in many a small town i know this dynamic well. EVERYONE LITERALLY KNOWS EVERYONE! Maybe they didn't really hook up till the end of senior year. But they knew each other and I can almost bet that Alex admired Michael's protectiveness and Michael admired Alex's strength. And they also must have known about each others abusive pasts to a point..logic dictates that. And relationships have been built and survived on less.And if the showrunners wanted to make them " friends" for a time I could even tolerate it..tolerate being the operative word.

But no Michael's gonna "light the spark" with Maria..because in reality thats what the showrunners want. They dont give a shit about Malex working through their shit like logic adults would. And that's fine It just frustrates me that I was sold a lie..and every Malex shipper was too. Wake up fellow shippers and see it too. Or dont..Lies are comfortable like a warm blanket on a cold night. Everyone has some delusion they cling to..much like hope.

My last frustration with the ending of this ship will be that it is laid solely at Alex's feet. "He kept walking away", " He abandoned Michael for 10 yrs", "He left him behind", "I love him, I probably always will..but hes tied to all these horrible memories in my life. All the things his family did to mine. Coming back to him always feels like a crash landing" or the newest and deepest when Alex was giving him the file from Caulfield " Manes men did this to her".. Its always going to be Alex's fault. I wonder if Tyler knew the full extent of the way Alex was gonna be shit on. I dont think Tyler being openly queer himself would be ok with that kind of representation of the Gay community. Its pretty jarring... Honestly I can almost guarantee they probably " promised" him a more normal gay relationship with this new " character" Forrest. Whatever the case may be its still bullshit. Michael seems to hold no responsibility to it.

And Michael will still get the girl and be in his hetero relationship with Maria..because Im asking the question..is he really bi? Evidence in the show doesn't specifically back that up. The only man we see him with is Alex..I havent heard or seen him with other men. Even Michael himself said "Its just him..screws me up".. So maybe "Pan" is a better description?

So RIP Malex! It was good while it lasted.."cosmic" even..but the showrunners killed you off before you even got the opportunity to take flight! ( This is a rant about the showrunners and writers for the fake promise of Malex. I seriously have no issue with Maria or the actress per se...and if the showrunners wanted M/M they should have just started in Season 1 with them).

#roswell new mexico #roswell cw #roswellnm #malex #alex manes #michael guerin

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thezodiaczone · 7 years ago

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July Forecast for Aquarius

Mind: blown? July is one of those turning-point months for you, Aquarius: a time when things come together with a huge flourish—or go in a radically new direction. An energy that’s been percolating since February 2017 reaches its apex at the end of the month as a total lunar eclipse blasts into YOUR sign on July 27. Eclipses arrive four to six times a year, pushing us out of limbo and instigating bold changes. With two of summer’s three eclipses arriving this July, you’ll want to sit up straight, stay woke and be ready to greet whatever comes your way.

We almost want to write your horoscope backward this month, but in truth, there’s plenty of cosmic action all the way through July. And with fiery Mars, the planet of energy and drive, retrograde in Aquarius until August 12, you could be a bit of a dormant volcano until the lunar eclipse. Check yourself: Are you being overly intense and stressing out everyone around you? Mars has been in Aquarius since May 16, which gave you confidence and charisma by the boatload. But when the red planet reversed gears on June 26, all that fierce life-force energy got bottled up. Perhaps you’ve had to curb your enthusiasm or suppress other feelings, and the frustration of stuffing them down is palpable. Find an outlet (we recommend moving your body!) so that intensity has somewhere to go. Otherwise, you’re liable to just pick fights or rage internally—neither of which is a healthy option!

Four other planets will be retrograde throughout the month: Expansive Jupiter is backward in Scorpio and your career house until July 10; communicator Mercury goes retrograde July 26 in Leo and your partnership zone; and all month long there are slowdowns from structured Saturn and transformational Pluto in your healing twelfth house and foggy Neptune in your money and work sector. Translation: There’s some unfinished business related to your career or relationships, which is all the more reason to tie up loose ends in time for the July 27 lunar eclipse—your cosmic-coming out party!

A proposed solution, should the retrogrades keep you in a holding pattern: Clean up the clutter in your life. The Sun is in Cancer and your sixth house of health, fitness and organization until July 22. Ramp up the self-care by loading up on the bounty of summer produce and getting regular exercise. Go full-frontal Marie Kondo on your home and office, getting rid of stuff that “doesn’t spark joy.” Call in some helping hands to finish up those tasks and projects that have been hanging over your head, like building bookshelves, steam-cleaning the couches, painting. Don’t wait—delegate!

By mid-month, you’ll be one busy Water Bearer, because on July 10, abundant Jupiter ends a four-month retrograde in Scorpio and your tenth house of career and ambition. Take your summer vacation days before this if you can! Lucky Jupiter only visits Scorpio every 12 years, bringing massive growth to your professional life and loftiest goals. Jupiter is here from October 10, 2017, until November 8, 2018. Many Aquarians have already experienced a surge of ambition or new career opportunities. Jupiter’s evolution isn’t always comfortable—this planet pushes you OUT of your comfort zone, in fact—and since March, you may have scrambled to adapt to changes. Perhaps you left (or pondered leaving) a long-running role or parted ways with a steady client. With Jupiter powering forward now, it’s all systems go until November 8. Make those bold moves, leaps of faith, and big asks! A leadership role or a position with prestige and great responsibility awaits. While it might come with longer or more structured hours, travel or other demands, this cycle won’t occur again for more than a decade, so grab that brass ring while it’s there. The tenth house rules men and fathers—and an important guy in your life could play a pivotal role in the coming weeks.

Two days after Jupiter goes direct, the heavens serve up a partial solar (new moon) eclipse in Cancer and your orderly, wellness-minded sixth house. Solar eclipses mark bold beginnings and can set us on a whole new (and unexpected) path. This one is the inaugural eclipse in a series that will fall on the Cancer/Capricorn axis between now and July 2020, initiating a wave of changes around health and healing, spirituality and creativity, and work and service. Over the next two years, you’ll play with the balance between control and surrender, left and right brain, logic and magic. You could dramatically shift your lifestyle to adopt sustainable health-conscious habits.

This is the only eclipse from this group in 2018, and it’s just a preview of changes that will really take flight in 2019. Still, it will be an intense start! On July 12, the Sun and new moon are exactly opposite power-tripping Pluto in Capricorn and your twelfth house of illusions, closure and forgiveness. Pluto rules the unconscious, and in this hazy zone, an intense personality could show up, perhaps acting as a mirror or a messenger. Rather than rage at them, look at how they might be revealing some part of YOU that needs to shift. It’s also possible that you’ll have to stand up to a bully for once and for all. Stay alert for people who gaslight you or make you second-guess yourself. This eclipse could be the first indication of who no longer deserves a place on Team Aquarius.

Save your energy for folks who truly know what mutual give-and-take is all about. On July 22, the Sun starts a four-week visit to Leo and your partnership zone, putting the spotlight on your closest relationships. You might decide to make things official in a romantic or business relationship.

But take your time before locking in any binding commitments. From July 26 until August 19, communication planet Mercury will be retrograde in Leo and this dynamic-duo zone, scrambling signals with your closest crew. You could have second thoughts about moving ahead, so if you catch a case of cold feet, step back and see if it’s your own fear or a legit red flag. Because couples could misunderstand each other and have heated arguments during Mercury retrograde, make a conscious effort to practice patience. Instead of jumping down someone’s throat, make sure you’ve heard them correctly!

July’s crown jewel—or big shakeup—arrives the next day, when the July 27 Aquarius total lunar eclipse sweeps through your first house of self and solo endeavors. This is the final Aquarius eclipse in a series that’s been touching down on the Leo/Aquarius axis since February 2017, bringing radical transformation to your personal identity and your closest relationships. Look back to the prior two Aquarius eclipses on August 7, 2017, and February 15, 2018, for clues of what might fully come together now.

There will be one last Leo eclipse on January 21, 2019, and then this cycle will be complete. Over the next six months, start speaking up more instead of stuffing things down. You can’t expect people to read your mind, which is why you need to express and assert yourself. And with fiery Mars traveling close to the full moon eclipse, there might be a lot more brewing than you imagined. Let it out, Aquarius—then let it go. You’re ready for a major new chapter, and you don’t need any old baggage weighing you down. Keep your sights set on what’s ahead, and leave the past behind.

Love & Romance

Feeling hot, hot, hot…or not, not, not? With passionate Mars powered down in retrograde in your sign all month, your mojo could be muted. Like summer fireworks that don’t fully go off, there could be a few duds in the lineup, so don’t get impatient or angsty about it. This month, put the focus back on yourself instead of getting all worked up about someone else’s nonsense.

When Mars is powering forward in direct motion, the red planet blesses you with an extra blast of confidence and charisma, but when it’s in low-power mode, you might be feeling tired, off your game, or just “blah.” Luckily, you’ll get a do-over from September 10 to November 15, when Mars will return to Aquarius for a second retrograde-free trip—and your sex appeal will be off the charts once more. Not that your sexy lights are completely shut off, Aquarius; just on dimmers. Retrogrades can bring back the past, so don’t be surprised if exes reappear, especially those “bad boy/girl” types that are oh-so tempting for you—if not necessarily your smartest menu selection. You might be more argumentative, or, if you’ve been biting your tongue, unable to suppress that anger, which could lead you to lash out…and then wind up regretting your rashness.

Lean in to the action on the other side of your chart to keep the peace and work through any fights. Diplomatic Venus is traipsing through Leo and your partnership zone until July 9. This can help you resolve sticky issues and find a way to get BOTH of your needs met. (It can also shine a light on a worthy prospect if you’re single.) It’s worth the effort now, before communicator Mercury goes retrograde in Leo and your partnership house from July 26 to August 19 and heaps on more confusion and tension. Things could really come to a head on July 27 at the Aquarius total lunar eclipse, when you’re not likely to hold ANYTHING back!

When Venus enters Virgo and your super-intense eighth house on July 9, you could radar in on one special person or deepen your bonds all around. In spite of Mars acting up, this is a wonderful time for intimacy and sensuality—even to share some top-secret fantasies!

Throughout the month, Venus will form flowing trines to innovative Uranus (July 11), structured Saturn (July 14) and transformational Pluto (July 27), all in the most sensitive and emotional houses of your chart. These three golden angles strengthen your mind-body-soul connection with a partner and support being vulnerable enough to talk about your needs. The takeaways: You don’t always have to be tough and together, Water Bearer. All that’s required is being human.

Key Dates

July 14: Venus-Saturn Trine Has a relationship been running on autopilot so long that you haven’t checked in with yourself lately to make sure you feel emotionally safe? Today’s supportive alignment of loving Venus and structured Saturn can give you clarity about your needs and desires. Broaching this subject may feel awkward, but it can help you reach a new level of commitment, like moving in together, getting engaged or talking babies.

Money & Career

This is a giant month for your career, Aquarius! The Sun is making its fastidious trek through Cancer and your orderly sixth house until July 22, backed by a game-changing solar eclipse on July 12. This is a perfect time to hire helpful underlings, delegate and outsource, and get all your systems in smooth working order.

But the second week of the month really delivers! When expansive Jupiter powers forward (direct) in Scorpio and your career sector on July 10, big changes could be afoot on your professional path. Between now and November 8, you might leave one role, take on a whole new set of responsibilities or part ways with a client. Don’t cling to the familiar, Aquarius. Adventurous Jupiter can bring in people and projects that totally exceed your expectations. A long-distance job offer could arrive, or you might surprise yourself by considering a relocation. Work that involves management, an executive role or public appearances could take off. In transition? Consider working with a mentor or tapping a seasoned colleague to take you under their wing.

Although Jupiter pushes you to leap without looking, other cosmic forces might step on the brakes. While go-getter Mars is powered down in retrograde from June 26 until August 27, rushing can yield second-rate results. On top of that, Mars is retrograde in Aquarius until August 12, which could throw off your timing or ramp up the tension on a passion project. You might come across as overly pushy if you’re not careful—or you could second-guess your ideas and lose confidence (and steam). Making matters worse, communication planet Mercury is retrograde in Leo from July 26 to August 19 in your partnership and contracts house, which could muddle deals and negotiations. Argh!

If a successful resolution doesn’t feel imminent, use July and August to revise and tweak before presenting your plans or making a life-changing decision. A good target time frame is between September 10 and November 15, when Mars will make a second (retrograde-free) trip to Aquarius, blessing you with a bonus round of magnetism and appeal. Who knows? With some extra prep time, you can unleash something bigger and better. And you’ll feel confident enough to go forward with a big change without having a complete freak-out after committing.

The one exception to this might come at the July 27 Aquarius total lunar eclipse, a day that could put your name in lights. If you do have something to pitch, promote or perform this month, you’ll have some extra oomph, as this “momager” of an eclipse pushes you onto center stage, ready or not! You’ve been building up to this moment for almost two years, Aquarius. If you’ve dreamed of flying solo or putting your unique stamp on something, now’s your chance. Don’t hold back!

Key Dates

July 9: Mercury-Jupiter Square You can’t always be in sync with everyone. Under today’s starry face-off, you might butt heads with a colleague, or a client may have a totally different idea about the specifics of a project. If you can’t come to a meeting of the minds, take a step back and rethink your position.

Love Days: 10, 14 Money Days: 19, 30 Luck Days: 18, 27 Off Days: 12, 16, 25

#aquarius #monthly forecast #horoscope #horoscopes #astrology #aquarius monthly

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 7 years ago

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What would u say are the best and worst book narrated by each character ?

I sat down to come up with my least favorite book by each narrator and had a pretty easy time of it — there’s an unfortunate dip in quality in the series around #39 - #43 that I can point to as definitely not my faves — and then ended up totally baffled by how to choose JUST ONE favorite book by each narrator, because such a task is almost impossible. In conclusion, I really love Animorphs, as you probably never would have guessed from reading this blog. So, with a little cheating, here goes:

Tobias

Least favorite: #43, The Test

The plot of this book pretty much requires that all of the characters, but most notably Rachel and Jake, act in ways that really don’t fit with their behavior for the rest of the series. My cynical hypothesis about What Was The Ghost Even Thinking rhymes with schmender schtereotyping, but even if I more kindly assume that everyone was just acting strange to jerk Taylor around, I can’t really enjoy this book.

Favorite: #49, The Diversion

Tobias’s point of view works so well for this book, because its plot draws attention to his status as a partial outsider not only for human society as a whole but also for his team. He’s literally trapped in a liminal space that here actually gives him a lot of perspective on his friends’ families — and the importance of sticking close to his own. (And by that I mean 93% Ax, 7% Loren.)

Other favorite: #23, The Pretender

Speaking of Tobias being sort of stuck between roles, this book is so good because it shows the strength of his position as both able to access and able to escape being human. He moves flexibly between a ton of different roles in this book — a leader to the hork-bajir, a supporter to Jake, a parent to himself, a son to Elfangor, a quasi-hawk, a quasi-human, a quasi-andalite — and does so with astounding grace and aplomb. Resting bitchface has never seemed like a cooler accidental superpower.

Another favorite: #33, The Illusion

This book is the brutal shadow-self to #23, instead shutting Tobias out of a whole bunch of different roles over the course of the plot. It does however contain one of the series’s best villains (Taylor is terrifyingly sympathetic) and some of its best moments of heartwarming body horror in the final battle.

Least favorite: #8, The Alien

Honestly, there’s nothing really wrong with this book, but there’s nothing amazingly right about it either. It has a few great moments (Jake’s naïve optimism at the kandron’s destruction giving way to fear for Tom, Ax having dinner with Cassie’s family, Tobias definitely not tattling on Ax) but overall the plot is just kind of inane and doesn’t do much to move the series forward.

Favorite: #38, The Arrival

Estrid et al. act as such a cool check-in for not only how much Ax has grown as a person through spending too much time around humans, but also how much the team as a whole has grown until they are actually more effective warriors than a group of battle-trained andalite assassins. Every time I reread this book I end up making noises of triumph and fist-pumping the air, no matter how public my location is at the time.

Favorite favorite: #46, The Deception

This plot hinges on the stark contrast between Ax’s terrible and unavoidable awareness about the horror of open war and the Animorphs’ lack of standard of comparison beyond “hey, remember D-Day?” MM3 and #28 both do important work to condemn humanity from the outside, but this book actually uses Ax’s perspective primarily for celebrating the whole human species from an outsider’s point of view.

Marco

Least favorite: #40, The Other

As I’ve mentioned here, at this book’s core is an interesting concept that very emphatically does not age well. On top of the cringe-inducing attempt at an After School Special treatment of the idea that (*gasp*) queer men with AIDS are human too, it also has a largely nonsensical plot that strains both credulity and logic.

Favorite: #25, The Extreme

It’s a brilliant use of Marco’s perspective to comment on the constraints and terrifying outer reaches of Jake’s leadership, one that also contains a highly enjoyable mix of humor and horror. Because Marco. I could reread this one a thousand times and still find new aspects of the narration to delight in.

Also favorite: #15, The Escape

This book makes amazing use of Marco’s unreliable narration and lack of self-insight to contrast his willingness to imagine himself confronting sharks with his willingness to run from them upon a real encounter, along with his determination to kill his mom and his inability to stop himself from saving her. Marco is at his most human in this book, and also his most lovable.

Also also favorite: #51, The Absolute

The governor of probably-California is one of my favorite minor characters in the series, and I absolutely love the dynamic between Marco-Tobias-Ax any time it occurs (this book, #46, #30, #49), meaning that this surprisingly fun aside acts as a much-needed breath of fresh air and comic relief in between the Animorphs losing the morphing cube (#50) and blowing up the Yeerk Pool (#52). Plus, Marco + tank = OTP.

Cassie

Least favorite: #39, The Hidden

I’ve said most of this before, but this book is just… nonsensical. And it’s not delightfully nonsensical like parts of #26 or #14, it’s mostly cringe-inducingly nonsensical.

Favorite: #29, The Sickness

Arguably this is the best Animorphs book, both IMHO and by fan consensus. It’s got a simple but devlishly difficult plot, a ton of great characterization moments for all six kids, a handful of brilliant devices and settings that meld beautifully to Cassie’s overall character arc, and a wide-reaching perspective on the importance of overcoming difference that is a huge part of what makes these books so good. It’s also funny, horrifying, edge-of-your-seat engaging, and tear-inducingly beautiful at the very end.

Also my favorite: #4, The Message

Whereas #29 is probably just hands-down the best book ever written, #4 holds a special place in my heart because it’s the first Animorphs book I ever read and the one that convinced me to go find the rest of the series. This one is sweet and mystical, bleak with the dawning realization that these poor defenseless cinnamon rolls are in this war alone but also hopeful with the realization that these precious cinnamon rolls are in this war together.

Jake

Least favorite: #47, The Resistance

Although I’m of the opinion that #41 is more poorly-plotted, this book manages to be both poorly plotted and glaringly racist. Its plot doesn’t make sense on several different levels, not the least that Visser Three knows how to find the hork-bajir valley in this book and then apparently forgets how to get there for the entire rest of the series. And don’t get me started on Jake’s reprehensible behavior from the moment he casually declares Tom “as good as dead,” through to him trying to boss Toby about what’s best for Toby herself, all the way on to him being a jerk to Rachel and Marco. Blah.

Favorite: #31, The Conspiracy

Unlike #47, this book actually makes really good use of Jake’s character flaws to drive the plot forward — he’s bad at being vulnerable, and that ends up being a huge problem for his team. It also leans hard on the irony of Jake being the only one with a “textbook” family (i.e. upper-middle class, heteronormative and monogamous, European-American, traditionally gendered, outwardly happy) and also being the only one under constant threat for his life any time he’s at home, thereby accomplishing one of the series’s better comments on the fact that children’s lives aren’t as simple as we’d like to think.

Favoriter: #53, The Answer

There are definitely flaws with RL implications in this book, but the plot is so freaking brilliant that I can still regard it as a Problematic Fave. The final battle is so well-engineered and the Moral Event Horizon is so terrifying as it swings by that I assign this book to myself for rereading any time I’m struggling to write action or battle. It’s a scary, awful book, but also a very fitting capstone to the series.

Favoritest: #26, The Attack

This setting is so cool. This plot is so cosmic and yet so personal. This use of the chee is so bitingly brilliant in its commentary on pacifism as a luxury not everyone can afford. This story has so many moments that are either heartbreaking callbacks (the opening scene with Tom’s memories from #6) or bloodcurdling foreshadowing (Jake and Rachel’s casually absolute trust that each will be willing and able to kill the other if necessary). This narration feels like a middle-aged and yet middle-school protagonist struggling to figure out who he wants to be — and defeating a cosmic power at its own game with the power of love. I could gush forever.

Rachel

Least favorite: #48, The Return

Again, there’s nothing truly wrong with this book; it’s just a silly and inconsequential aside into the main character’s maybe-dreams at a time when the plot outside her head is heating up to the boiling point. It makes this whole thing come off kind of like Bilbo sleeping through the Battle of Five Armies.

Favorite: #27, The Exposed

I’m not normally a big one for romance, but this book makes me ship Rachel and Tobias so hard that my tiny bitter walnut of a heart grows two sizes every time I read it. Rachel has such great self-awareness that she doesn’t like any situation she cannot control or at least do violent battle against, and yet she dives into the bottom of the ocean with both eyes open and her chin up because that’s what she has to do to protect the rest of her team. Crayak has no idea what he’s talking about when it comes to asking her to turn on her loved ones.

Additional favorite: #32, The Separation

As I’ve said, I didn’t really get this book until I realized that it’s not so much about Rachel herself as it is about how the rest of her team views her, and how she defies their simple categorizations, both well-meaning (Cassie) and not (Jake), through simply being herself. Rachel is both masculine and feminine, both tough and vulnerable, and she makes no apologies for any of it.

And another favorite: #37, The Weakness

This book has an important role for the rest of the series in that it shows how the Animorphs’ guerilla tactics can easily be taken too far, and also how Jake’s discernment of his teammates’ strengths and weaknesses keeps them all alive. Rachel makes a fair number of logical-seeming decisions in this book that prove short-sighted, and of course it all leads to her and Jake’s brutal Checkovian epiphany at the end.

Added additional also favorite: #22, The Solution

A brutal but powerful read, this book focuses on the ugliest parts of Rachel’s personality (her sadism toward David) but also the most powerful ones (her compassion for Saddler and protectiveness toward both Jake and Jordan). It also shows that her reckless taste for violence and her boundless desire to protect her families both biological and found are actually two sides of the same part of her personality.

Okay I have a lot of favorite Rachel books: #17, The Underground

It’s oat-freaking-meal. Only it’s not just oat-freaking-meal, and I’m not talking about the extra-tasty maple and ginger flavoring. It’s a biological weapon. It’s a way to harm the enemy, but only through harming prisoners of war. It’s a social dilemma the like of which we rarely see in children’s books. It’s a lesson in decision making under uncertainty. It’s a moral imperative, but no one is quite sure what that imperative is saying. It’s a deconstruction of the implied assumption that it’s possible to write adventure stories in which no one gets hurt. It’s awesome. It’s hilarious. It’s disturbing as fuck. Welcome to Animorphs.

#animorphs #narration #animorphs meta #asks #answers #anonymous #rachel berenson #jake berenson #tobias fangor #aximili-esgarrouth-isthill #be really nice if cassie and marco had last names wouldn't it #k.a. applegate is a god #the rest of us just worship her

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elizabethrobertajones · 8 years ago

Text

13x01 Watching Notes

The common pronunciation around these parts for “Nougat” is "Nugget" FYI

There's a secondary mission here to find out WHY DID DABB TWEET "BUTT SHAKE"?

Expectations: I'd say a good 95% new plot action nonsense to 5% mourning and we've seen all of it in fragments because they're spoiling the good stuff to lure us in; we're doing well as a season if Asmodeus isn't horrifically hammy and looks like he'll be able to carry all the Buckleming episodes they'll surely shove him in, and Jack is either not a pillock or is clearly *supposed* to be a pillock and the writing reassures us of that, although I did start to warm up to him in those tiny glimpses of promo stuff so we might be good there.

Aside from that I'm so superbly chill about this season (not worried about Cas, assuming Mary needs to get back as well, I'm just going on trust that Michael is well cast based on the actor's fanbase after scrolling his twitter the other day and the fact he seems cool in the promo stuff in a way that does not make me nervous unlike the other 2 new characters, and like no preconceptions about what I need this season to be) that I've actually achieved what scientists may have thought was unpossible... I made it through an entire hiatus embedded in the heart of a wanky fandom and I don't really have strong opinions or needs for about what's to come :P

FUCK ME UP, DABB.

OH THE TITLE CARD IS GOING TO BE GOOD THIS YEAR

I say after just seeing "the road so far" because that looks classic. I can't remember which other season it most looks like because I'm way too hype but it looks good.

Gah I have the Worst Song Comprehension in the entire world WHAT IS THIS? There's just a montage of TFW hugs of various types going on and

"I never opened myself this way" and Dean in 12x22 opening up Mary and then the FREAKING GRENADE LAUNCHER MOMENT okay so the recap definitely is telling us the meta theme of season 12 in case we missed is so we're all on the same footing for season 13. This family loves each other a lot and we're busting down walls.

I watched the rest of the "road so far" then said out loud, "No. NO." as it wound up nursery first, because "no" are they not even going to show - OH SHIT IT'S THE SAME VIDEO AS THE ONE IN THE SUMMER. NO. We're ending this thing on dead Cas and Dean.

If this is how they mean to play it, I think I wanna take back that "fuck me up Dabb" from the previous point.

OH NO I got tagged in a post like this last week about the bit in 8x19 where Sam goes into Hell and there's the woman there in one of the cages who is like "we've been waiting so long! You finally came!" and like... did I think she meant she was mistaking Sam for Lucifer, and I always think YES that is a GREAT reading for that scene and fuuuuuuck me I should have reblogged that post and gone looking for links to some of the other cool posts about that because that's like one of the small redeeming things about 8x19 to me, because that is just such a good creepy amazing Sam thing and also I am still so freakin bitter that Lucifer was Nick in the cage because he should have looked like Sam and 11x09 and 11x10 should have been Sam v Lucifer!Sam moments because where the FUCK did Nick come from...

Anyway you can probably guess exactly how far I've got into this episode aka 1 entire one word line but it's already completely fucked me up.

If you all don't remember my season 12 experience, yes I am the biggest Destiel shipper on the planet but I actually get super hype for good Sam plot stuff and I dug every moment of the season 12 Sam stuff about his powers and everything and this is a confrontation that *I* personally think was built up and due because of the evolving way it's going - they confronted his past, the parts he had no control over happening to him in season 12, and I surmised that season 13 ought to be about the parts that WERE in his control, and Sam coming to terms with some other old mytharc stuff that happened to him, the way he managed to fuck up the world on a cosmic scale that Jack will have to come to relate to and he can use to guide Jack...

So yeah, this is not the first time this has happened to Sam, but this is definitely the much much better, more potent way it's happened and I am DELIGHTED and we're 1 word into the season :D

*Dean stares at Cas* *stares at Cas* *stares at Cas* Yep I need to go shoot something.

YEAH GIANT FLOATING EYEBALL TITLE CARD I KNEW IT.

Sauron is the big bad, but where is the one ring.

More seriously fuck yeah that gives complete continuity between my watching notes from 12x23 to this one because I am pretty sure I stopped them (aside from final whimpering notes to wrap up) thinking about Sam and Jack with yellow eyes and how this all looped back to the start. And how that was the key visual imagery, the way that Jack had yellow eyes and Sam's whole legacy of that stuff - things I've been screaming about since 12x12 and how it all came back into the story. I mean the scream I made in 12x12 when Ramiel flashed his eyes is a noise I've sort of low-key been making right until this point and I'm just so delighted about this imagery being given such a central place because it's not JUST Jack's eyes, even though he obviously has the most terrifying yellow fire floating around in his eyeballs, the colour is a motif that takes us right back to the beginning in terms of the story...

HECK YEAH MARY -

wait

this isn't a recap going to a Mary scene

LOL SUBTLE DABB

This nursery, as we were saying after season 12 ended, is just *soaked* in the vibes of the original nursery from the show... I kinda think the bad energy in that place would probably have given Dean that nightmare ANYWAY but it's symbolically super relatable to everything that's going on, especially as he's got to deal with re-losing Mary, and Sam's dealing with the massive heap of themes about trauma from the Pilot onwards...

I'm sort of vibing with 6x01 re-doing the burning on the ceiling thing to re-start from the start (8x01 also re-started from the start but borrowed different imagery and also addressed Sam's arc through the Trials stuff hence the 8x19 thing and also him talking about how pure he was in 8x21) - obviously we have been saying this all seems like a season 1 re-do in a weird way, especially taking the Winchesters back to basics (but in an awful way), and I think for Sam, just meeting Jack under those circumstances we ended the season on were enough to loop him back to the start, because baby in nursery and yellow eyes blah blah, but for Dean his trauma in the Pilot was Mary specifically (and 1x01 separated out him and Sam that his trauma was Mary, Sam's was Jess - which 8x01 borrowed for Kevin and his girlfriend, because Kevin was always a Sam mirror and had glowing golden god power eyes when he was activated in 7x21)...

So yeah Dean just got a top up of Mary trauma because the fucking WEATHER around here is pilot mirrors.

I would assume also probably maybe that was a semi-magical nightmare but I would not fucking put it past them to just show us Dean having a bunch of nightmares and like 7x05 maybe where he woke up from a dead Cas dream, we get stuff like that to show his absolutely wrecked mental state so I'll hold out hope it was kind of just Dean's imagination tormenting him, because we've only seen his nightmares extremely rarely in the absolute worst situations.

Just as a "the show is about more than sam and dean" stance, fuck the shipping, it needs to be so obvious on screen that Dean is suffering from losing Mary AND Cas in a way where it's obvious the dynamic can not just be Sam and Dean any more.

OH NO SEAGULLS

(Uh, I mean, they are by a big lake, but yeah they are a bad bad omen. I think there was meta about them circa 10x14, to give an idea of how bad hearing seagulls is.)

Wow Sam and Dean are having a lot of bad sleeps now.

"Wait, was that -" "Lucifer's son." look, Sam knows how Jack started his life. That he has the concept of "father". That it's about all he's said and all he's motivated by right now apparently. Sam sounds pretty freaked out and putting a LOT of weight on that concept - not "Kelly's son" or "the nephilim" - the fact Jack was born, and asked about Lucifer, and then walked buck naked out of the room and now we ain't got jack on Jack, like... This is a Lucifer related PROBLEM.

I just say, because I am pretty sure Sam's gonna be defending the kid in a couple of minutes so I need to lay out all the thoughts on what Sam knows and his headspace I possibly can as I go.

Oh nooo Cas's truck.

And I tell you what, I wrote a meta after 12x23 about how it was impossible to work out where Cas's truck was parked in the entire final conflict, and there was no fucking WAY the Impala and the truck were within shot of each other. Well guess fucking what. They are easily contained within frame now. I know you could just say minor continuity error but that's not why I'm yelling :P

I'm yelling because I was writing about how the placement of their vehicles shows their closeness to each other or other metaphorical things (such as the no personal space parking job from 9x10 where Dean then pulled away and left the pimpmobile behind) and aside from the super dusty car, I am pretty sure I am saying that Cas's truck has appeared in visible shot because now it's not getting in the way of the action they can use it to symbolically show that Dean and Cas's vehicles are basically flanking the shot - but also they're so far apart and the house, representing Jack, and Kelly, and how Cas died, is between them.

(This meta business is like riding a bike :D)

Nakey Jack getting the same walk shot as Amara did.

Amara got it because creepy feet.

He's getting it because penis.

Hey there's the pirate place Dean's going to punch.

Holy shit I have never laughed so hard at the show in my entire life. I had a coughing fit that's scared the neighbour's dog.

(wait, good laugh - 10x15 still owes me a drink)

Salty Butt Combo sounds good anyway.

(this must be why Dabb said "butt shake", the fucker. The absolute fucker. I am going to kill him.)

I'm laughing on a meta level too (I mean, hysterically, out loud, but also meta) because especially in season 8 burgers were connected to humanity and Dean's return from Purgatory, and Dean has a history on the show of eating cheesebutts all the time for various reasons... I mean... This is liiiitterally turning Dean's favourite, metaphorically significant, food into butts.

I mean... do I just... run with it? I mean like... is this the new meta thing? We now have to associate Dean digging into a burger with eating ass? I mean what are you doing Dabb?

I actually have a headache now because I laughed too hard and too loud.

Please please tell me Jack comes into this place, accidentally kills these dudes, and leaves a trail of destruction that when their supervisor gets to the store to deal with it, the police are like... trying to deal with the bodies but also cracking up a little and finally she looks up and it's like... HIGH SEAS BUTT COMBO

I mean that's going to make it into the newspapers

Oh wait, the inventor of the Buttshake is the guy from the police station that was talking to Jack so he's going to at least make it out of this scene.

See, that picture of Jack with pants on was in the PR photos and I was like "naaah" and defended that Jack did not have pants on and people didn't believe - no one understood. I knew this was gonna happen and because I don't lay down too much spec and what good would "Jack wanders around buck naked for like the entire first quarter of the episode" have done anyway so I was just making fun of him for being fully grown and naked in the hope that the fact he was naked was a major character trait because it was one of like 2 we knew about him... Yeah I'm feeling vindicated on a crack spec I can't really prove, especially as I was joking that Sam shames him into manifesting pants but I mean... I knew. Guys, I knew.

This has gone from horror to stoner movie classic in about 2 minutes flat.

I fucking love this show.

ALL THE CREATIVE WAYS THEY HIDE JACK'S NAKEDNESS THOUGH.

I am gonna make a gifset if I can stop cry-laughing for long enough

"Hi baby! .... *How naked*?"

Yep.

I mean I think it's adorable that Jack wandered down to the nearest place with more people to make enquiries but this is also wigging me out a bit because I thought that the smart thing to do would be to give him like all the functioning knowledge for this world (I do remember a post going around Tumblr that babies learn like 6x Les Mis amounts of words in the womb) BUT start him from scratch but that it would be super hard to pull off, and essentially they've decided to do exactly what I thought was going to be the most intelligent handling of the situation but not exactly the easiest, and he seems to really have been born with a single motivation and the most basic understanding of the world that his little baby cosmic supercomputer brain is going to have to piece together the entire world from context cues and natural intellect to deal with the rest...

I'm all for it as long as they handle his progression well. And don't use him as the ... butt ... of the joke.

I assume we all know the butt thing was because Jack is naked and it was joking about the fact he's wandering about butt out but they can't show it so they're just like butt butt butt on the menu board instead.

Promo scene! Oh no! We're not thinking about it. Not over it from last night. Dean is piiiissed.

Sam saying he had it under control is interesting now we have seen the actual scene in question. Sam did not really have it under control. He was babbling uncertainly like, no I'm not your father and also btw that freaks me out because he HAS possessed me before and being mistaken for him is SUUUPER uncomfortable and he's the reason for like 100% of my trauma past and present, and you're freaking me out... And yeah, between scenes he's decided they can't hunt Jack, that even if he seems to be laser focused on finding his father there has to be hope for him. This context is important: That Sam knows Jack's motivation and what it MEANS on a deeply horribly personal level and is defending him anyway. (I mean that "anyway" in the context of what Sam might think or feel rather than from my perspective where I can see it all from space and obviously Jack is not just any of this and anyway he'll be hunting with them sooner or later and there's presumably hope for Jack in this world...) But yeah, Sam knows how it is, searching for your father, for one thing. Which, interestingly, costuming aside, I don't think there's been MAJOR John and Lucifer parallels (hilarious that Lucifer changed his clothes just in time) in the same way that like, God and John were paralleled at a major narrative level. But now Jack wants to find his dad, which is the season 1 motivation for Sam and Dean, and that makes Lucifer and John narratively paralleled.

I don't think Sam is necessarily defending that Jack came out the womb with a one track mind to find Lucifer (maybe he wants to kill him, we haven't asked the guy his opinion yet) but that of course he thinks Jack can be reasoned with, saved from himself, and Sam relates heavily to being given powers beyond your control, and that there's hope for Jack to have a normal-ish life etc. None of which can be accomplished by just killing him outright.

Dean's just mad because Cas is dead and none of this would have happened if not for Jack

There's literally NOTHING TO META over on the Destiel side of things

I am feeling the void that they just left Cas there while rushing out to deal with Jack but I guess he's such an urgent problem Cas can wait and the house is remote enough that the milkman isn't likely to come round and see Cas lying dead in the back garden.

"Before he hurts anyone else" - he barely hurt you guys, it's more like he banged you up a bit and it was obviously a terrifying display of power and you don't want him to do *even that* again but - I mean - Dean, honey.

those words are going to be my approach to him for a while I think :P

That sheriff car really pushing the Twin Peaks vibe just because of the mountains on it... Was comparing it last season... Watched Twin Peaks for the first time shortly before the finale and caught Dabb just outright stealing an entire line from one of its episodes.

Either the police station is super close or Jack has been unintentionally terrorising the guys in the pirate restaurant for like an hour while just staring at the sign. He's thinking really hard about ordering the salty butt combo.

So we're really pushing how creepy Jack is. I mean, duh, it's the first episode and the first like 5 minutes of his screen time so he'll smile scarily for us.

They definitely cast him well for looking like Kelly but also having a really evil looking smirk.

Oh no. Cas.

They said Dean put the sheet over him and he's indoors so I guess that scene just happened in between things although right now we have no context for that so unless the angels say they didn't move Cas inside and put a sheet over him we don't have anything but actor confirmation this was a thing that happened, which is, of course, meaningless currency but makes for good headcanons...

I mean I paused it on his dead face and went "waaaah" so I need to watch the rest of the scene but this is where I'm at going into it anywho.

Nope, one angel had to ask which means they are investigating the house which meeeeans that this was how Dean left Cas and it's implied by the subtext that this is what happened in one of those "the subtext isn't an ineffable cloud of possible happenstance, they just didn't show it on screen so this fills in the blank for us" ways and I am not okaaaaaaaaay

Also we have them as our straw man angels - one saying he deserved better (LOL I HOPE ALL THE CAS STANS ARE HAPPY THAT'S BEEN SAID IN THE STORY) and one who is saying he didn't. Representing that Heaven is conflicted about Cas's actions and that some still revered him and some still loathed him.

Also the one who hated Cas called Kelly a "Brood Mare" so he's a dick and I hope he gets stabbed pretty soon because we know there's angel stabbings in this episode, and I just was not paying any attention whatsoever to them in the spoilers.

So the clothes Jack ended up in were spares from the police station. The kid who worked at the pirate place has come along with them because fuck responsibility (he is so the bad influence cool guy and I hope Jack kinda gets a little puppy love crush on him although he's calling Jack weird still...)

That statement that no one is weird but normal in their own way was really nice though. Positive influences around Jack! Yeah!

Hahaha they literally said "Lost and Found" for where the clothes came from. Subtle. Jack's lost and found - he's a spare thing left behind, to be collected by the original owner or taken by someone who needs them more.

I used that phrase for a fic title back in season 12 about Mary about how she had been lost and found - died and came back - but also how she felt lost in the world now and then was found again when someone who related to her situation bonded with her and - okay it just turned into Charlie taking Mary back to her place and them making out but the point is that's the emotional tone I was using the title for. I assume it also applies to Jack's emotional state, but he hasn't been "found" yet and I'm assuming Sam will do that for him, but I don't think they'll go back to their place to play video games, drink a few beers and learn the ways of luuurve.

(I know some people were (crack?) shipping them but even though Jack's an adult now and technically only like... well, the actor would be within the window to have a thing with Sam and for it not to be weird age wise, but the whole framing of it... Jack acting like a grown up baby... yeah. We'll see how it goes but the dynamic wider fandom has built for them has been with Jack as a child. The way I see it is more the intern dynamic if he joins up with TFW, but the way they relate to him will have to be as a child by necessity at least until he's demonstrated emotional and intellectual maturity to them, and even then I think the impression will linger for a while...)

that was a weird side note... these notes are a disaster. Look it's been MONTHS and I didn't do rewatch notes for season 10 over hiatus like I meant so I am out of practice at this.

I also took a short break to chat with Mittens to confirm I wasn't going crazy, that WAS the same song as the other video they released in the hiatus, and yep we got the Nothing Else Matters destiel music video as the season opener. No I haven't processed it yet :D

Oh gosh Jack remembers his mom (HI KELLY, RIP) and he says she's in Heaven (can't recall his surname), and that memory was basically the footage from the USB stick, so he's internalised that somewhere without watching it. It's 2 influences, good and bad - a pure perfect dead mom (booo tropes the show was supposed to have ditched dramatically via Mary) and a literal satan father who "should have been there" but wasn't - ironically removed from the narrative by the reformed pure dead mom from last season, Mary. These are the two biological influences on him, anyway. The 2 sides of his nature he may struggle with and the way the conflict may be framed for him.

Buuut and here's a thing that might be contentious. So he knew Lucifer was supposed to be there when he was born and that he has to find him? He seems to have had that low level awareness of the world around him even in the womb, or at least was born with messages or some sort of communication from Lucifer lingering in his subconscious. Lucifer seemed linked to him while he was in the womb and I suppose this confirms it may have run both ways. Bleh.

The Jack As A Blank Slate characterisation is good because it excuses his actions from season 12 as done without knowing intent as he's still figuring it all out now, but these lines do implicate him in the actions, by giving him a sense of at least semi-awareness, of having a missive from before he was even born, knowing that he was supposed to find his father.

I think that also goes with Kelly leaving him the USB stick with the message on it - he has a missive from both his parents. Kelly's of course being so positive and hopeful for him, and Lucifer just kinda... being threatening to his goodness by wanting to be anywhere near him.

OH GOSH and he remembers burning Dagon. He did have an awareness of what was going on towards the end of the pregnancy!

"I remember the universe screamed" well that would be opening the AU I guess

yeah the thumbprinting thing isn't going to do much good :P Blank slate imagery again - he's not on the system, he's new!

Oh boy the stoner movie kid is going to have a wild ride explaining this.

Jack's getting better at full sentences though.

*blink blink*

And that was the Invention of Sarcasm.

Or he was telling the guy how stupid he was like... I have a superior intellect. I know this is a chair and this is a floor and this is the planet earth. Thank you, moronic human who keeps asking me the most obvious questions ever, it's really helping me collect my thoughts and begin to understand my environment. Are all humans as stupid as you?

Uhoh, the "I'm hungry" did not bode well with Amara. But is this going to be a fake out? He didn't seem about to attack the guy for his soul, so is he just going to have a whole ton of junk food when we get back and the guy is like yeah I knew he had the munchies so I raided my stash of M&Ms I keep here and it's all good.

I really can't tell how much of Jack's story is Ominous Nephilim Shit and how much is Stoner Bro Movie Lols

Here's the context about the curly butt fries line and destroying the world. People took it literally and it always seemed like this would be the context that Dean was putting fake words in Jack's mouth because he does it ALL the time. Like the line about getting bored of croquet so you know what's really fun? MURDER. I love it when he does this. I need to make him do it more when I write him.

Anyway Sam understands Jack, he can guess his location. Dean is doubtful and *specifically* mentions torching Chicago I think because of the 5x21 reference to his pizza date with Death. I think that is actually a good comparison because cosmic being but one who was a good ally in his own massive cosmic way. It's a nice omen. Dean is being wrong/right with his sarcasm. It's complicated :P

The fact he is letting Sam go in there also means he doesn't think that Jack is in there probably because the shack is still standing. Sam is going to go find clues! But while they're sitting in the car and Dean's sending Sam into a shack alone I can't help but remember 2x21 which was of course where Sam got snatched in a fast food shack and Dean asked for pie and it aaaaall began. I also wonder why Dean punches the sign and that makes me think that something might happen to Sam somehow although I can't guess how.

I have never related to anyone more than Drunk Fries Girl except I've done it in reverse, just missing the deadline on hashbrowns in McD's and stomping out of the store instead of just ordering fries :P

Sam deals with the awkwardness of asking for a tall naked guy with a level of composure Dean wouldn't manage in a million fucking years.

That's the entire meta.

You were right, Sam!

Sam's asking after Jack as the FBI and it's a way to not have him act as his father on the phone. But the thought occurred to me and I wonder if it passed Sam's mind or if he's judged Jack's age that they're not terribly far apart - less than 10 years.

I don't think they're really playing into this comparison right now anyway - like it was just for the opening scene, or the sheriff would have asked, "are you his father" and put Sam into the awkward position and THEN have him say that he's an agent.

This is literally the best exchange in the entire show because Sam is having to pretend to be FBI while talking about Jack, with Fries Girl and Over Enthusiastic Pirate Guy watching, and his eyes just went to the cheesebutt menu and he saw it and he did not laugh on the phone.

I think Sam is strong and brave and of pure heart and fuck the "trials" or whatever the fuck shows the measure of a man, he just passed through the fucking abyss and came out the other side because he didn't laugh at Cheesebutt.

And, look, I laughed at the cheesebutt thing and the way it reflects hiiiilariously on Dean and the burgers thing. We all laughed at it. But Sam just blinked off in short succession a gay accusation and the urge to laugh at cheesebutt like it didn't even fucking affect him and I am just

Dabb

what

At the end of 12x23 my only conclusion was "i have been mindfucked"

and I thought

maybe season 13 will be you know... normal

Dabb it has been 15 minutes and I am so fucked up about everything :P

And now we cut to Dean with his messed up knuckles. Did he just go punch something off-screen?

(You know, the pirate sign that he punched in the promo for a totally random out of nowhere example of punchable things in the vicinity)

I hope he's not coping so badly that we're getting it in angsty flashbacks because that blood was not there before. And angsty flashbacks basically mean Destiel is canon.

OH NO FRIES GIRL IS HERE.

The drunk are an open and friendly people... Is she going to get Dean to open up? She's literally infodumping her life story on him because she's been up all night and her feet hurt and no one will give her fries, and I think she's about to fucking put the moral of the season in Dean's head somehow I don't know yet because I have literally paused because I was contemplating removing the dash between me bitching at Dabb for the wonderful fucked up episode and this commentary on it :P

Yep she told him that she punched Becky's stupid Elsa poster (what is Dabb's deal with Elsa from Frozen? Does he have a small daughter we don't know about that inflicted Let It Go on him in a loop? :P) and lit all her stuff on fire and started rambling about just burning the world down in her rage.

And then called Dean sensitive to Sam and this is amazing because her drunk wisdom sees right through his shit. I love fries girl.

I LOVE Fries Girl, she wrote "bitch" on the car :D :D :D

was THIS why Baby is all dusty? People are writing rude words all over everything this episode. I mean it's like a theme. A theme of desecration and burning the world down around you and who gives a flying fuck about consequences - you can change all the menu items to Butt because your mom's the sheriff and banging the guy who owns the restaurant or whatever, and if your roommate is a bitch, burn down all her things.

I mean then she writes it on the car which is sort of ominous about all their stuff being burned up.

I mean Dean did have that dream about Mary

He's lost Cas, that's his world burning down around him.

It's... Look, it's weird they have put off whatever Dean did in the intervening time Sam was eyeing up the cheesebutt menu to show later because we know we see it later because there's a hanging "what happened to your knuckles" question and we saw the clip in the promo. It's a storytelling decision to delay this, and we just see Dean dealing with it by drinking, splashing some alcohol on the cuts, and that's that for now.

What a fucking mess. Dean. Honey.

I suppose to keep the action flowing we deal with Jack but Dean's emotional story is running alongside it and it's being put off, held back... but it's not being held back forever. It's going to be opened up to us. But for NOW we just see kinda what Sam and outsiders see - the same thing I was meta-ing about the promo scene, about how they kept us outside the car for that conversation, about how we're not being allowed into Dean's grief and not being able to name Cas is another thing, another delay, another inability to confront it, just... we're outside, we're watching Dean struggle from afar. From Drunk Fries Girl POV.

This episode is fucking magnificent.

Maybe Jack is eating Clark, which is the name apparently of the kid.

Or are they laughing?? I think I heard laughter?

LAUGHTER and the munchies fake out.

I love you Dabb.

This literally says EVERYTHING about Jack and I now trust him completely.

Jack's first part of the story has gone from ominous to what a fucking cutie. He might not actually be a stoner but he's adorably sort of mascot-y to this guy and it's just hilarious that he can be like fuck the system I want candy, let's misuse my powers to get more candy because I love nougat. I mean I was wrong that the world would be saved in 13x23 because of trousers because that was a joke but I am legit thinking that this Human Things redux arc for Jack is going to save us all because fucking nougat. And that's a serious spec you can hold me accountable for at the end of the season.

The fact they're sitting on the floor giggling together is just sweet. Jack is learning about friendship so I doubt he would hurt Clark intentionally now, so if Clark does get hurt by Jack it's going to be a tragedy. Maybe something to show Jack how dangerous his powers are and make him want to be more careful and respectful to human life. I think Clark maaay be in the firing line as an adorable toy that gets mangled because Jack doesn't know how rough he's playing >.>

Also Jack you should probably not eat so much candy, because you'll get sick.

OH NO JACK. Is angel radio messing with your head?

OH NO he hurt the sheriff!

OH NO this is how he does the lights blowing walk? IT's AWFUL. PROTECT MY CANDY LOVING GIANT MAN BABY.

SAM TASED HIM

I am so upset. I apparently am extremely protective of my Nougat and angel radio hurts him and they're yelling about him and want to kill him and he's sensitive too :<

(whatever wizardry Dabb wove with the stoner movie subplot worked.)

Sam and Dean are not hailed as heroes for stopping Nougat, they're arrested to and given the first ever proper search to confiscate all their guns and knives by a cop who knows what the fuck she is doing. Now Dean has to answer for themselves, using his real name and actual job. He's not got a fuck to give.

She asks him if he's a superhero and some part of Dean just crumbles away inside and he says no. In 9x07 especially there was a strong theme of Dean being a superhero and Thinman also had superhero comparisons to them and it was part of the shine of the job wearing off - one of the more subtly horrible Dean moments in season 9 is that superhero action figure melting on the hob yelling "I clobber evil!" into a horrifying mangled sound. I think I just saw his face convey the exact same symbolic awfulness just in his eyes. Fuck you Jensen.

Note to self: gif that if somehow or other someone else hasn't yet.

I mean it's all shattered because the illusion is gone, Dean has nothing left to live for, he's just a guy doing a job. There's no meaning, no personal glory, no one to do it FOR. He's just the tool that gets it done because it has to be done, because what fucking benefit does he get from any of it if the job is also just watching everyone he loves die. That doesn't make him feel like a superhero that makes him feel like total bleak nihilism where you might as well just be upfront and dead inside and tell the truth because what's even the point of lying.

This episode has a lot of nihilism but some of it is fun buttburger style and some is killing me inside :P

Also Dean had to confirm angels are real, and the look on his face when he does THAT is ALSO AWFUL. Because everything is awful.

All that baggage where confirming angels are real he knows what people think. He knows what HE thought. He knows how what he thought was different from what other people thought about angels (see: the entire conflict between him and Sam in 2x13) and what angels eventually became to him. That one angel WAS watching over him. That there was one who broke the pattern and was ... Cas.

Help.

I tell you what I thought while I was getting dinner... This is the first time I've felt like we're in a show run by the guy who helped create Plucky's.

This is the tone. This is the exact right mouthfeel for Dabb era. This is what it SHOULD be.

FINALLY the Sam and Jack confrontation we deserve!

Sam is getting through and chatting! Jack is talking about why he was scared which is nice and symbolic about sharing and caring feelings for better communication and understanding!

Sam's still scared of being in the same room as Jack, flinching when he moves, much like when he's around Lucifer. He's legit scared of a thing and Sam is the biggest badass hunter in the world (like, no offence Dean, you have an impressive and showy history but in terms of brute strength and raw badass mofo power it's Sam :P He's Sam Fucking Winchester and you have a much more personal, over-dramatic flair to the big kills and such)

Jack moves forward intently because he doesn't know that this much eagerness is a trait stamped out of adults, and sits cross-legged, childish, but still imposing. He's learned cross-legged is a fun way to sit and I'm really liking the choices here to make him both naive and powerful.

He's fucking sitting with the Mr Burns hands i knew it i knew this was going to be a trait of his, I called it from like 2 promo pics. God damn I'm good at reading body language from just a few stills :P He's exactly what I was expecting but in full 3D animation.

It's just... a cute weird trait. He doesn't know what to do with his hands so he just rests them where they are and lets them hang, because he doesn't have any tics or mannerisms. He's mannerismless. He's so new he hasn't got the faintest trace of social anxiety. This is a raw, undamaged soul.

I am going to weep when Nougat gets hurt in the bits that make him so sweet.

See now he's apologising for hurting people. He sounds so confused when he says "I'm sorry" like he's sounding out the concept but the great thing is he's learning 1000 miles an hour. Anna told Cas he doesn't know what it is to be sorry and Cas still struggled with it in season 7 in the "playing sorry" game and only in 9x11 expressed that he truly understood empathy and human emotion now. Jack tries on an emotion for size, discovers it, and now seems to be fairly earnest about it.

Sam: *blink blink*

Sam was RIGHT. <3

Hahahah he says Kelly is a part of him. Another point for me! That was one of my specs for how he got to learn English and concepts so fast - that the reason it's fatal to birth him is because he's going to not just absorb the basic baby stuff like nutrients and stuff but he's going to suck her dry of facts and concepts and that's what destroys her. It's like what Amara did but far more complex.

Damn, I'm sorry you had to die for this Kelly, this is a pretty terrible idea in some ways. I better not overthink it.

He just said that his powers are him but not him - he sees them as something other from himself. The whole deal that he needed to be born powers and all, that taking the grace was taking a part of him - yeah. The Cas argument about his grace too, that it can be removed from him and he'll still be Cas, the grace is just power... If Jack sees it as a separate part of himself, a "Not Me" part of himself... That's a huge thing.

Oh my fucking GOD He thinks Cas is his FATHER OH NO OH NO OH NO OOOH NOOO.

(Also thanks a LOT people reading along with me for not telling me. Look, the analysis about Sam thinking it was Lucifer and Dabb's BIG Nougat Fake Out build up were all like... how it was meant to be read :P I guess that's why they backed off the father thing for Sam immediately after using it in the one place it would hurt the most.)

I mean Cas did basically act as the co-parent with Kelly and I am pretty sure our Nougat has some lines crossed here and OH MY GOSH DABB YOU MAGNIFICENT FUCKER

See when I said they were making Jack look SUPER FUCKING CREEPY when he was naked at the drive in obviously that was a fake out because I knew he was gonna be hunting with them later but oh my fucking fuck de fuck I want to go back and watch Jack's bits all over again where he's wandering around naked (as Cas is wont to do) asking for his father because FUCK.

He's born as Cas and Kelly die and now he's wandering around asking for Cas and that whole opening, that whole build up where he seems sinister... He remembered Cas all along... Oh gosh I said some things about him back there... I should go back to that scene immediately.

...

I nearly cracked a fucking joke that Jack doesn't have a last name just like Cas and it turns out that scene was a joke about Jack not having a last name because Cas is his father and HE doesn't have a fucking last name.

I hate everything.

"I'm trying to find him. I have to find him" YEAH SO JACK IS ON THE "WHERE IS CAS" TEAM AND THERE'S ANGELS SAYING CAS DESERVED BETTER, I THINK DABB HAS BEEN READING THE BLOGS AGAIN.

Jack picked Cas to be there to be his parent and guide when Cas said that thing about being his guardian to show him the righteous path and Jack heard it from the womb and was like YES I CHOOSE YOU PIKACHU and that was that, Cas was his father now. Found family in the extreme. Who is the best family, the good family? I'll have that one please.

Oh gosh and now it's sadder that the sheriff was asking for a phone number or address because Cas HAS those. He has a HOME.

...

Anyway back to the Sam and Jack scene, which I already watched through but I want to watch AGAIN DAMMIT.

Gosh this is magnificent though because it puts Cas so squarely in the middle of everything - even though he's dead he's Jack's focus and he's Jack's moral centre and everything that is good about Cas is what Jack wants to beeeeeee and oh my gosh is he going to choose the Winchesters to be his new guardians because they were Cas's family? HELP ME.

I'm still kinda not over Jack completely becoming Kelly in the womb and being born by sucking her goodness out from the inside.

What a godawful parenting metaphor/commentary on the mother's sacrifice.

Oh and the door to the other world thing as the lead in to talking about his father? I was so sure it was going to be about Lucifer and then -

oh god I am in pain.

Because he diverts from talking about the portal to talking about needing to find his father to protect him and I was like A: well you need the portal for that and B: nooo, Nougat, you don't need that fucker in your life! and then -

oh.

Ow.

Anyway Sam's face while talking about Cas is just... ARGH. And Jack's so earnest and happy about Cas protecting him and how he had to grow up

And then poor Nougat's face when Sam tells him Cas is dead and he's SO ANGRY. And THAT, my dear Nougat, is how you get to the lovely position of being furiously vengeful against your birth father in order to avenge your chosen father and I am delighted.

Cas is Jack's Bobby.

OH NO Clark has gone out to smoke with headphones. He's so gonna get angel murdered if Jack's not gonna kill him (because he is a soft squishy nougat person) and then Jack's going to be even more hurt.

STOP HURTING JACK.

FRIES GIRL IS AN ANGEL.

THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING.

SAM, TELL DEAN ABOUT THE CAS'S SON THING.

HE SAID LUCIFER'S SON, THAT'S NOT HELPFUL.

I suppose Sam doesn't want to convey that to Dean because he knows how Dean is with concepts he hates because he's currently flippantly talking about killing "Damien" out back rather than engage with the subject matter, but tbh I think bringing up Cas would be such a knock to the feels that Sam might be able to get in the line that "this kid seems to have a Cas-guided morality" while Dean is still emotionally picking himself up.

AHAHAHA Dean said "that won't do jack against her" - he's still using "jack" as a phrase

Dean's Becky... what a surprise :P Maybe Fries Angel writing "Bitch" on the car wasn't subtle enough.

The angels find Dean an annoying roommate whose drama they're always having to deal with.

Mittens just reminded me I wept about 9x07 to her and the poor melting action figure and how the angels want to burn Dean down. I am not okaaaay.

OOOH we're getting angel radio now because Jack's our in!

I don't think their eyes normally light up to communicate with it but new season new rules and this must be a mechanic we're dealing with more than just this one example.

Poor Clark - Jack briefly had a friend, learned to sit cross legged and eat nougat from him, and now his friend who made him laugh is dead. It's a HARD LIFE being a Winchester.

Also the main Winchesters are getting smashed up

Wait Dean just got back up with STYLE. Nice fight

Hey Clark is still alive-ish... Maybe Jack can heal him.

OH NO BANISHING HURTS NOUGAT TOO.

That was some great quick thinking by Sam.

Guess walls affect it or Fries Angel was too far away.

Fries Angel needed to stick around to deliver some Destiel exposition that she knows Dean's first thought to "Jack can do anything" was not "I will use him to reopen that portal and get mom back" but "I will get him to resurrect my dead angel" and just immediately goes from that to crushing Dean about Cas's death

"Castiel, he's dead. All the way dead. Because of you."

That is.. the worst line

"Or what, Other One?" Jeeeze the angels really do have more of a beef with Dean about the whole Winchesters thing for some reason. That really means in a couple of lines of exposition that every time heaven has mocked Cas about The Winchesters they really have meant Dean... Just, you know.. remember who wrote the eeny meeny miney mo scene for a sec, back when he had to be subtle about Dean calling Cas but that just being a random happenstance to what the angels were talking about, essentially :P

Oh no she stabbed Nougat!

I assume he doesn't die because... you know.. spoilers.

He's got his own Cas-like pull the blade out moment, but... Wow.

HOLY SHIT SOMEONE SAID THE LINE "I'M FINE" ON THIS SHOW AND MEANT IT

IT IS A NEW ERA

NOUGAT IS THE HERALD OF BETTER TIMES

Poor guy is stunned and confused and a little hurt though.

Oh no Clark is fine but going to hospital. I mean I assume this means doctors will help him. His mom is telling him he'll be brave and so on.

Poor Nougat is so sad about how horrible this world is. Cas isn't here to protect him and Sam and Dean just did a moderately adequate job at fending off the angels while getting the shit kicked out of them because angels are scary and powerful again.

Sam tries to bring up the keeping Jack thing again and Dean's like yeah we can keep him but he's evil so I guess that means you clean up the mess a la taking a puppy home?

Dean's still convinced Jack is evil and brainwashed Kelly and Cas - it's kinda more terrifying that he BECAME Kelly and absorbed her, and I do think he chose Cas to be his father and none of it was malicious, and they gave him the love and promise of protection he needs to be good and all and it's a billion times more nuanced than Dean thinks... He's being protective of Cas, depressed about their life and their chances... I think he's going to be pretty wrong about Nougat because from 12x19 it was obvious he had chosen Cas BECAUSE Cas was good and would protect him. Even when he didn't think he could do it himself. So I think Jack, uh... motivated Cas... because he wanted him... Like, I still think Jack did shit to Cas because he did creepy shit to Kelly which we're apparently going to move on from because he is an adorable squishy guy who I want to follow with a blanket and a stick to beat off people who will wear him down. But yeah, 12x19 is super weird and I don't *like* the method Jack acquired his mom and dad, even if I do think that he's not evil and the end result seems extremely positive if he popped out the womb determined to find Cas, and has a Cas-centric morality. Loving Cas is obviously the good and best thing you can do on this show and it's vindicating in spades he's a nice guy because he loves Cas and considers him a father for the protection he offered.

(Still think if he was pure good to start with he'd have SAID "hey I plan to be born a full grown adult, you don't need these diapers" but that WAS what caused him to open the rift so maybe his attempt to warn Cas went astray... :P)

But yeah I still find Jack "choosing" Cas to be his father and to create that bond out of nothing, almost instantaneously, to be a little suspect in the happenstance of it, even if as I've been saying all along I have been completely open to him turning out to be, well... Nougat.

But Dean doesn't care, he wants to kill Jack. "At least the only people he can hurt there are you and me" WOW DEAN.

WWWWOOOOOOW.

OH NO OH NO OOOOH NOOOOOOOOO O OoOOOOooooOOOooo o Sam is saying "are you sure about this Dean? It's Cas" - I assume in reference to burning him rather than burying him and Dean's gonna be like, Fries Angel said he was dead as dead.

I don't wanna see it.

"You don't think I've tried that" OH NO

Here's the flashback! Told you it was coming! (You have all seen this episode no one is mad enough to wait 18 hours just to watch for the first time with my notes) But yeah as I was saying, sidelining Dean's emo stuff to focus on the action, to set it aside, to put us away from it, to keep it back for when it would hit most. To do some god damn STORYTELLING around here. Some fucking ardfgjhlsksdfhjklslhfdjqp storytelling. That when all the action is done, when Dean has been ground down into a fucking paste by this day, the day of having to come to terms with the loss of Cas, when we know he went off to have some private punching things time and Sam was being the least gay to possibly gay in the comic stoner movie side of the story, Dean was having a moment SO POWERFUL that it could ONLY be conveyed to us by not showing it happening until we were deeply, truly, in the context of Dean mourning Cas and where we could focus on that with nothing left to distract us that this is the Worst.

.... I have been sitting here not pressing play for over 10 minutes

OH NO

I have paused it immediately

because they used the camera angle from Baby

the Roadhouse one

and the one from the fight where Cas was on the phone

so uh

Add hysterical weeping to the things this show makes me do because I was one stoic snarky hahaha isn't this ridiculous Jack planned to adult all along so the diapers thing was a massive prank kinda person and then bam Dean went out back to pray and I was scream-crying and then he said Cas was his everything and I am never going to be chill again

Okay, Chuck… or god, or whatever. I need your help. See, you– you left us. You LEFT us. You went off. You said… You said the earth would be fine because it had me… and Sam, but it’s NOT, and we’re NOT.

We’ve lost everything. And now you’re gonna bring him back. Okay? You’re gonna bring back Cas, you’re gonna bring back Mom, you’re gonna bring ‘em all back. All of ‘em. Even Crowley.

’Cause after everything that you’ve done, you OWE us, you son of a bitch. So you get your ass down here and you make this right, right here and right now.

Please. Please help us.

Thanks Mittens.

So.

Uh.

First name basis with the guy upstairs: this is a personal appeal in case he ever actually cared. (Spoiler alert: I don't think Dean is going to come out of this with a better opinion of God)

*I* need your help. Not we, *I*. This is on Dean's behalf for Cas.

He brings up the line which we went into Dabb era on and I ripped to shreds critically at the time that Chuck ever put that burden onto Dean because he has some broad ass shoulders but they are not big enough for the world and his whole problem is he's always been carrying it in the first place so Chuck didn't do SHIT to make him feel better AND NOW DEAN IS CRITIQUING THE CARETAKERS OF THE EARTH IDEA. THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE HIS BURDEN. MAYBE NOT BECAUSE HE CAN'T DO IT BUT BECAUSE HE SHOULD NOT BE EXPECTED TO DO IT. He was singled out as the firewall between light and dark but he doesn't feel like a superhero. He doesn't clobber evil. He's being STRIPPED DOWN AS A PERSON. WHO EVEN IS HE. WILL DEAN QUIT HUNTING? JESUS CHRIST, I SAID THAT LINE IN 11x23 WAS AWFUL FOR DEAN BUT I DIDN'T THINK DABB WAS GONNA GO *THERE*

And he says the world isn't fine - and they're not. Their emotional state reflects the world. The centre of the universe thing, in the storytelling, makes the world reflect Dean. His misery or happiness is on a cosmic scale. This tangledupness of him in the middle of it all is killing him because the world will be in danger and that can't all land on him. He can't be the Atlas of this world. But he is. OH how he is. But this isn't a world with superheroes. Just HUMAN GUYS DOING THEIR JOB.

And then the transition. The terms and conditions. The "you have given me a fucked up burden so pls unfuck it and here's how" swinging around from "everything" to "him". The implicitness of it all. The... The fact everyone knows it's about Cas. It's not about Mom. It's not about Crowley. He can say their names. He couldn't say that Cas was dead. Fries Angel immediately identified it. Cas is the answer to all the questions, where all roads lead. And they've come back to the house where he died, FOR Cas, and Sam asks about praying and Dean has already asked and got no answer, already been told Cas is permadead, and THIS is where we deliver the bombshell. Everything flows into "him".

Cas is Dean's everything.

And yeah he wants Mary back and fuck it fuck you God fuck everything just fucking include Crowley to because why the fuck not, you owe me. All that pointless stupid death and loss, it's enough to make me feel bad that Crowley is gone.

And oh the wank over the summer he would ask for Crowley back too (and I smacked the desk and hooted with laughter, with tears still in my eyes, reeling from the "everything" line because I called the way Dean would ask for him back. I knew it!), it just... Even Mary doesn't compare because she's tacked on in the repetition, the clarification that everything is him is Cas. And it's totally fine for Dean to ask for these others he's lost back, for them to be in the same sentence as Cas, because yes he lost them and it hurts and it's awful, but there is a very special awful reserved for Cas. The kind of awful where Sam has to pause and ask Dean if he's sure, if he doesn't want to find a way to bring him back. And we ALL know we're not supposed to bring people back because there's consequences. We're all adults in the room, they both have done it, seen and FELT the consequences for having it done TO them. But Sam knows. He just knows what happens when it's someone like Cas. And maybe we don't have any more bullshit, we just ask politely and carefully if this is going to be a "bring them back at any cost" situation, and how can I help?

And then at the end of the prayer Dean cracks out the exact look and angle of expression for his Plea To God face that he has used... once. In 5x14. When utterly at the end of his rope. This is what losing Cas has brought him to - the lowest point, the one back in season 5 that was a danger to the guardianship of the world lumped on Dean's shoulders, because it was where he was when he nearly said yes to Michael, the despair cycle he couldn't deny any more at the time... Yeah, this has kind of seen and waved at season 7 on the way to hurtling all the way back to the Worst Dean Has Ever Felt To Date.

Nice.

And Dean has given up all faith in God ever helping them or caring about them.

OH NO

NOUGAT

Sam has taken him to see his dead mom. :(

Time to grapple with the concept of loss.

*beeps her big toe*

Oh Nougat I truly feel bad for you now. Look at his big soft face. He consumed her to gain his life and powers and his intelligence and his GOODNESS and oh no that means he's gonna feel baaad about it.

But Dean is downstairs with Cas, alone. Can this episode get any fucking worse.

THOSE SERIES OF ACTIONS QUALIFY AS WORSE I AM WEEPING AGAIN.

Oh god Dean.

You should have told him.

You should have fucking told him.

Oh Nougat you... sweetie. He has no clue what to say. :(

Sam tells him to say thank you, because he devoured Kelly, and to say sorry.

Oh Sam, he's crying for Cas as well.

OH NO Dean's so defeated about Mary it's just... UGH.

I assume these are the first things he says today where he gets immediately proven wrong - I assume the last scene will be a hop across the universe lines.

"They're all gone"

This is simultaneously the best Sam stuff in 1000 miles of canon and the worst Dean episode ever and I am in agony.

Yep that billisecond of footage was completely right. Sam is sad, Jack, who we didn't see, is struggling sweetly with the concept of death and what it means and how to act and feel right now, and Dean... has checked the fuck out.

RUN, MARY

I LOVE HER.

FUCK YOU LUCIFER BTW

Ugh her face is like mine when he says he needs her. The shot looks like the fucking Titanic poster. I'm assuming they do not get very far before Michael gets involved, though.

I'm gonna go back to ugly-crying about the rest of this.

This is Dabb's best solo episode hands down. I laughed, I cried, I struggled with the complex philosophy of being human and if you should consume your mother from the inside out in order to be born as a full-grown man.

I think I'm keeping Nougat.

#13x01 #season 13 spoilers #I say fuck every 3 words #also fuck you dabb and your fucking nihilistic stoner comi-tragedy nightmare of a show #Dabb vs cars #my stuff

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spacematriarchy · 8 years ago

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belated SPN thoughts:

It wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was good. It was SO good. I loved it. The B plot felt just a little contrived, sure, but it works and the A plot was ‘pretty good’ and the scenes themselves were fantastic.

And of course the real point: The Cas interactions were great. You feel a lot of love. We didn’t get a “hello, Dean” but we got just a really genuine hug and that’s just as good, to me.

There’s a flashing light in the bg of that first scene and it was really distracting hmmmmm but who cares I love the self-awareness of “i annoyed a cosmic being into sending me back”

Cas and Jack have a dynamic I really like. The reunion scene gave us the emotional understanding, and it’s clear from the motel scenes that they’re both living this really weird, quasi human life, and they can connect on that level. It’s good for Jack to have somebody who believes in him who is actually capable of understanding him, too.

“Team Free Will 2.0″ hey Davy Perez I’m feeling too many things right now you d i d n t H A V E T o G O T H E R E

blah blah blah Dean is Adorkable and Cas is Long Suffering of his husband’s fetish. Also, called it on Dean’s 300$ Stetson being one he already owned.

“He’s a very angry sleeper. Like a Bear.” How am I supposed to take off the slash goggles when they’re welded to my face? How am I supposed to not imagine grumpy cuddles?

All the stuff with the coffee is cute, too.

please give me the canon scene where Dean forced Cas to watch Tombstone

I’m a Space.... Cowboy.....♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪✧ (bet you weren’t ready for that)

the second hand embarrassment is physically painful these two fucking losers oh my god

(but imagine Dean making Cas do that awful fucking accent in bed tho)

The sergeant is pretty cool. Idk what it is but I like his style.

I like Athena, too, but god..... the Quirkiness is strong with this one.

I could get into all the things but at the end of the day I’m tired, the action beats are the action beats, and all I have to add is that this is an interesting turn in Jack’s story and I love the way the others are reacting to it. I like that Cas has stepped instantly into a caretaker role with him. I like that Dean changed his mind like an adult for once.

It’s interesting to see it confirmed that Jack’s got wings and also as an aside I hope my boy is safe :(

#supernatural #spn spoilers #destiel

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zodiacspot · 8 years ago

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Horoscope - March 5 2017

Aries Horoscope

(Mar 21 – Apr 19)

Your assertive nature lends itself to advancing with speed and force, but the addition of tactical prowess can put you at an even greater advantage. Your key planet Mars partners with calculating Saturn, giving you the gift of strategy when brute force isn't enough. Although the path is not without obstacles, you're able to keep your eye on your destination and adjust your course accordingly without losing too much momentum. A concrete goal and faith in yourself are the key ingredients in your formula for success.

Taurus Horoscope

(Apr 20 – May 20)

You may not realize how hard you've been working until someone points out all your accomplishments. You naturally gravitate towards flying solo on a project today because too much input from others dilutes the facts. Even if people mean well by adding their opinions to the mix, it's perfectly acceptable to thank them and move on so you aren't distracted for too long. Just don't stay in your own bubble from dawn to dusk lest you exhaust yourself before you reach your goals. Lewis Carroll wrote, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."

Gemini Horoscope

(May 21 – Jun 20)

Picking one direction is the hardest choice of the day; you wish you could be two places at once to dip your toes in more experiences. Fortunately, your friends are likely to have more concrete plans and getting on board with them gives you a positive outlet for your energy. In the same way others help you focus your enthusiasm, you lend their rigid agenda the flexibility it needs to thrive. As Helen Keller wrote, "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

Cancer Horoscope

(Jun 21 – Jul 22)

You're bound by your will to achieve today, and you can already hear the accolades you'll receive once you prove yourself successful. However, a hidden fear of failure may tickle the back of your mind as the fickle Gemini Moon sneaks through your 12th House of Secrets. Nonetheless, you can endure momentary swerves that uncertainty places in your path thanks to your increasing stamina. Maintaining a list of objectives to serve as a map will keep you on course if your doubt threatens to make you flounder. Paulo Coelho wrote, "You are what you believe yourself to be."

Leo Horoscope

(Jul 23 – Aug 22)

You're content to luxuriate in a sea of knowledge and drink it all in one sitting. Your insatiable craving for learning and experience drives you to throw yourself into an area of study while energetic Mars in your 9th House of Higher Education connects to industrious Saturn. You're envisioning just how far you can reach if everything goes your way, and every step toward your goal adds to your optimism. The great Michelangelo said at the age of eighty-seven, "I am still learning."

Virgo Horoscope

(Aug 23 – Sep 22)

You are a pro at getting to the bottom of a mystery, willing to dig after everyone else gives up. Your loved ones may not understand why you won't let something go today, but you don't want to let it slide when you think there's more to the story. Unclear relationship dynamics recently make finding the truth even more important to you now. Nevertheless, steamrolling someone isn't the way to uncover their true feelings; practicing compassion and kindness is key. Your determination could turn to obsession if you put on blinders. A little less pressure creates space for everyone to breathe.

Libra Horoscope

(Sep 23 – Oct 22)

You're not quite sure how to bring up an important topic to someone you know well. Fortunately, you can start anywhere and solidify your position as you go; the most important step is the first one. Working together allows you to sort out issues that you might otherwise ignore. You possess the endurance now to commit to the discussion until both parties state their cases. It's up to you whether you make yourself a partner or opponent. Cooperative enterprises build a better world.

Scorpio Horoscope

(Oct 23 – Nov 21)

Teeth gritted and focus fixed, you're in it for the long haul. You're quite the utilitarian today, whether it's wrapping up loose ends or fitting a challenging workout into your schedule. However, mixed ideas about what to attack first may cause you to falter needlessly. The way forward is found through paring down possibilities and pursuing just one objective at a time. There are days when you're a jack of all trades, but right now you're the master of one.

Sagittarius Horoscope

(Nov 22 – Dec 21)

A feeling of purpose impels you to stay off the couch and use your physical energy for the collective good. Action-hero Mars warms up in your 5th House of Fun while being coached by stern Saturn, adding a slightly serious tone to recreational activities. Fortunately, even when you play to win, it's all in good fun at the end of the day. Keeping competition friendly is more uplifting for all involved. In life there are no winners or losers, just different ways of playing the game.

Capricorn Horoscope

(Dec 22 – Jan 19)

You're happy to finally have a chance to tackle chores around the house, even though lingering brain fog is trying to pull you off course. Thankfully, your fierce drive to get things done easily overcomes the fuzziness, and you may even want to add some extra things to the lineup since you're on a roll. Paradoxically, the less you have on your list the more you'll get done; maintaining a single-minded focus rather than juggling multiple things at once is a smoother path to success. Concentration is your friend.

Aquarius Horoscope

(Jan 20 – Feb 18)

You're ready to shake off the blahs from the past few days and do something that feels productive again. What begins as a reflection on how your short-term efforts support your long-term goals could turn into a marathon of planning when organizational Saturn helps brazen Mars manage your 3rd House of Information. Proactively making the most of your available resources while keeping your highest goals in mind is a wonderful way to utilize your enthusiasm today. People with great passion can make the impossible happen.

Pisces Horoscope

(Feb 19 – Mar 20)

Getting out of your own way is always your choice. It may seem like you need to stay in the contemplation phase a bit longer before shedding your insecurities and stepping up to the plate. However, once you commit to believing in yourself, it's like boarding a cosmic elevator that lifts your confidence steadily higher. The first move is the hardest, but you won't regret making it in hindsight. Mark Twain wrote, "Courage is not the absence of fear; it is acting in spite of it."

Source : Rick Levine

Read more about your horoscope here

#ZodiacSpot #Horoscope #Horoscopes #Astrology #Daily

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tetristar-interactive · 8 years ago

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Influenced by H.P. Lovecraft

My absolute favorite reading material is that written by H.P. Lovecraft. While I completely agree with all the criticism raised against his work I am able to look past this and focus on what I enjoy in it; Cosmic horror the likes of which would cause humans to go mad due to it being incomprehensible. It’s because of my great love for his work that I model so many of the projects I work on after them. I’d like to discuss the newest video games I’m releasing and how they are based on Lovecraft’s work.

I gained inspiration to start A Most Shadowed Descent while playing the Playstation 4 game Bloodborne. It was while reading the descriptions for the runes that you find that I wanted to make some sort of card game using ancient runic symbols. The initial project was going to involve summoning an evil monster and having to use the same runes to destroy it. The constant quote of “Do not call up that which you cannot put down” from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward ringing in my ears.

After a little bit of playtesting I realized I wasn’t going to be able to play towards those Lovecraftian themes if I didn’t change the dynamic of the gameplay. Because of thisthe game was changed to you having to gather the aforementioned runes while avoiding certain things. In figuring out the manner in which I wanted to gather these runes I could not decide between an ancient tomb in a manner similar to The Statement of Randolph Carter or a museum or library inspired by both The Horror in the Museum as well as the cooperative card game Elder Sign created by Fantasy Flight Games.

I eventually decided exploring a library as I felt that would be a very approachable scenario. My favorite thing to do with Lovecraft’s writing is to share it with people in some way that could introduce them to his entire catalogue. With a library it’s a basic location that can have mild weird fiction sprinkled in without creating an unapproachable scenario.

...and for the longest time that’s how the game functioned. I had to add in some fail states and decided you would have to find clues on how to cast the runes because if cast the wrong way it could unleash this unknowable evil who blah blah blah. I know, not extremely original but I figure if someone can get past one of the biggest critical aspects of Lovecraft’s work they will be able to enjoy it even more.

It wasn’t until I decided to create a prequel story in The Order of Chains, in which the story of the player’s friend is told, that the influences began to coalesce. I decided he had to have made a deal with some cult who worships the primary Lovecraftian being known as The Tethered. With these cultists think more standard robes and mantras rather than the primitive ones seen in The Call of Cthulhu. By following this train of thought and recognizing all the different cultish aspects that could be followed gave the entire situation a far darker air.

The culmination of this, however, was recognizing the fact that the main subject of his stories end up in their predicaments either due to an ill conceived curiosity or, in the most horrific cases, tricked by someone trusted. In my case I wanted the player’s friend to have aspects of both. So I looked at my favorites stories and immediately thought of Edward Derby in The Thing on the Doorstep.

It was surprisingly easy to implement that aspect without it hurting any other part of the story. As though it were written into the initial pitch having the player’s friend be betrayed by a former lover worked phenomenally well. I thought about having the body swapping aspect but felt that would take things a little too far with who my target audience was.

The ultimate question I ask myself whenever I finish any project is am I happy with it. Am I pleased with where it ended and did it match or improve on my original vision. I have had a lot of instances where I am quite far off but, in the case of A Most Shadowed Descent and The Order of Chains I would change very little and I feel it’s far better than what I originally thought of. A Lovecraft story that continually pays homage to multiple stories and experiences as it offers a glimpse into what is so great about H.P. Lovecraft.

Follow me on Twitter for more updates!!

#h.p. lovecraft #video #games #horror #gamemaker #gamedev #indie

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brentrogers · 5 years ago

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Podcast: Hugging Strangers to Improve Mental Health

Touch is a powerful thing. From the time we’re born, and throughout our lives, humans need touch to thrive and develop properly. Sadly, many people in our culture experience a profound lack of caring and respectful platonic touch. Today’s guest, Rev. Edie Weinstein, has a remedy for this. She is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events for the public.

Tune in to discover how Edie got started in the hugging “business,” the ins and outs of giving free hugs in public, and how she manages to gently navigate our culture’s understandable wariness of inappropriate touch.

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

Guest information for ‘Edie Weinstein – Hugging’ Podcast Episode

REV. EDIE WEINSTEIN, MSW, LSW, Love Ambassador, Opti-Mystic & Bliss Mistress

Edie delights in inviting people to live rich, full, juicy lives. She is an internationally recognized, sought after, colorfully creative journalist, interviewer, author and editor, a dynamic and inspiring speaker, licensed social worker and interfaith minister, BLISS coach, event producer, certified Laughter Yoga Leader, certified Cuddle Party facilitator, and Cosmic Concierge.

Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events world- wide on a planned and spontaneous basis. She speaks on the subjects of wellness, relationships, trauma recovery, addiction, mental health, spirituality, sexuality, loss and grief. Edie is the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming the Ordinary Into the Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman’s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose.

About The Psych Central Podcast Host

Gabe Howard is an award-winning writer and speaker who lives with bipolar disorder. He is the author of the popular book, Mental Illness is an Asshole and other Observations, available from Amazon; signed copies are also available directly from the author. To learn more about Gabe, please visit his website, gabehoward.com.

Computer Generated Transcript for ‘Edie Weinstein – Hugging’ Episode

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript has been computer generated and therefore may contain inaccuracies and grammar errors. Thank you.

Announcer: You’re listening to the Psych Central Podcast, where guest experts in the field of psychology and mental health share thought-provoking information using plain, everyday language. Here’s your host, Gabe Howard.

Gabe Howard: Welcome to this week’s episode of the Psych Central Podcast. Calling into the show today we have Edie Weinstein, who is a licensed social worker and a PsychCentral.com blogger. She’s also the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed with Love and the author of the book Bliss Mistress. Edie, welcome to the show.

Edie Weinstein: Thank you, Gabe. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.

Gabe Howard: Well, we really appreciate having you. And the biggest question that I want to ask you and I’ve really been looking forward to this interview. How did you land on a hugs? I mean, of all the things in the world, hugging just seems both so obvious and so far away. Can you talk about this for a moment?

Edie Weinstein: Oh, for more than a moment, actually, we could do the whole interview on that.

Gabe Howard: Yeah.

Edie Weinstein: I grew up in a very nurturing family. Nobody left the house without hugs. And I love you. Nobody came back in without hugs and I love you. Unlike a lot of people, sadly, a lot of people’s home’s touch was either violent, coercive, non-existent, limited sexual or not by consent. In my home, it was purely by consent and abundant. So I told my parents they raised me to do this kind of work. And I came upon the free hugs movement. There is a gentleman named Juan Mann. People want to Google it, it’s J U A N M A N N. And one day he went into his town square with a sign that said free hugs. He had moved there, I believe, from England and was lonely. And something like 20 minutes went by. Nobody came up to him. People walked by, looked at him like, what the heck is this weird guy doing? And then this older woman came up to him and they embraced. And then people started gathering around and a movement was born. In 2014, Valentine’s Day weekend, I brought a group of friends to 30th Street Station, which is the big train station in Philadelphia. We let ourselves loose there, about a dozen of us who walked around the train station with our free hug signs offering people love. And we did a free hugs flashmob and it’s only by consent.

Edie Weinstein: We didn’t kamikaze hug anybody. We didn’t go grab people. We asked, would you like a hug? And if they said yes, we’d hug them. And if they’d say no, we say, okay, thank you. Hug somebody. Well, one of the people that approached us was a gentleman who was an Iraq war vet. He was the only survivor of his platoon. And he had survivor’s guilt. And he said, I thought about ending my life until I met you people. Can I join you? So, of course, we gave him a sign and he was off to the races himself. And I thought, wow, we’ve really got something here. Hugs, save lives. And I hadn’t realized how much until a few months later, on the way home from the gym, I had a heart attack at age 55. And as part of my cardiac rehab, I walked around Doylestown, Pennsylvania, which is closer to home than Philly, doing free hugs strolls because hugs are heart friendly, not just cardiac friendly, but emotionally heart friendly. And they connect us heart to heart. So friends started calling us “hug mobsters,” and I said, oh, mobsters, Mafia, guns, drugs. Nah, I don’t think so. And I said, what about Hug Mobsters Armed with Love? And thus a movement was, well, it wasn’t born, but it was extended beyond what one man did. So I do it any and every where I can.

Gabe Howard: That is incredible and I love everything about it. And my favorite phrase in there might be, “We aren’t hug kamikazes.” I come from a loving family as well. We’re huggers, I always tell people that I am a hugger and

Edie Weinstein: Yeah.

Gabe Howard: Kamikaze hugs. Again, my new favorite phrase. That’s how we hug. I mean, people just charge you and hug you in my family. But of course, that’s my family. I’m on a first name basis with all of these people. How does this work in the real world? You know, at first, I was like, man, if you just like grab people, that that seems like a really bad idea. But if you just walk up to a stranger and say, can I give you a hug? I’m not going to lie, that also seems like a really bad idea. How are you bridging those gaps?

Edie Weinstein: Well, a couple of things, particularly in the era of #MeToo, we want to be really careful about how we touch people because anything can be misinterpreted. And on the flip side, we want to be sure that we don’t buy into the touch deprivation that so much a part of American culture. So the kamikaze hugs even people in my life, if I’m not sure if they want to hug, I’ll say, can I give you a hug, would you like a hug? And when I’m out on the street having a Hug Mobster sign helps. People look at it like, OK, what is that? Or if I carry a sign that says free hugs or if I wear a t shirt that indicates that I’m doing free hugs. When I do it out on the street somewhere, like I was in Washington, D.C., hugging in front of the White House, and there were people from all over the world, all different cultures, some of them huggier cultures than others. And even that, you know, I would approach people and say, may I give you a hug or would you like to share a hug? Some people are hungry for it. Some say, no, thank you, nah, I’m good. When they say, no, I don’t want it, they’ll say, nah, I’m good. And I say, I know you’re good, but hug somebody. So, yeah, it does feel kind of weird and culturally, sadly, because I’m a woman, it’s less threatening. Because I’ve had male friends go on hug strolls with me and some of them are a little leery about reaching out to hug people. So this is changing the culture, okay. Changing touch culture, changing relationship culture.

Gabe Howard: I remember early on in my career, for those who don’t know I’m six foot three, I’m two hundred and seventy five pounds, I’m broad shoulders, I’m just a giant of a man. And as I mentioned, my family are all huggers. And when I first got started, people would just come up and hug me. And I loved that. That was amazing to me. And as I got more comfortable in my role as a speaker and a presenter and a public figure, for lack of a better word, I just started randomly hugging people back. I work in mental health, so there’s more women than men. But one time I went in for a hug and somebody put up their hand and said, no, no, no, I’m not a hugger. And you should be careful, Gabe, because if people have a history of trauma, people don’t like that. I mean, you know, you’re a man coming in. And I thought about that for a moment. And now I have the phrase, are you a hugger?

Edie Weinstein: Yep, yep.

Gabe Howard: And that’s what I say. You know, people come up and they talk to me and they’re like, you know, gay, blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, oh, are you a hugger? And I open up my arms. And if they say, no, I’m not. I say, well, I’m giving you a mental hug or I’m

Edie Weinstein: Yes.

Gabe Howard: I’m hugging you in our mind. And I reach out my hand or I shake their hands or I just do whatever they want. But you’re right. This idea that hugging is natural has sort of. It’s just weird for me. I’m not going to lie because I think that a hug is just something that you do for everybody. Whereas in other cultures, kissing hello is perfectly normal. And I think that’s very weird. So are the majority of people receptive or are the majority of people not receptive? Like, what’s your ratio there? How many people accept the hugs?

Edie Weinstein: Ok. Well, most are receptive.

Gabe Howard: Nice.

Edie Weinstein: When I first started doing this, more people said no because I was uncertain. Anytime you approach someone with a new idea, the more confident you are, the more people are gonna be receptive. Because they sense that energy. Now it’s a few people they know. They say thank you. Thanks for taking care of yourself. Not everybody is into this. And I will do that like if I’m meeting somebody and they’ll hold out their hand. I think that’s what you said. Are you a hugger? They say, oh, yes. And I’ll hug them and they say no, and I will shake a hand. And when people say no to a physical embrace, I’ll say, are you cool with a handshake? High five? Fist bump, virtual hug? Where I’ll wrap my arms around myself and imagine hugging them and usually they will say yes. There are times when I’ve hugged hundreds of people in a day. I go to different events like this summer, there were four Pride Fests, and I probably hugged a few hundred people throughout, you know, a full day. And I don’t keep track. Somebody said, oh, you should have a clicker. I don’t want to do that because it takes away from the quality of what I’m doing. Quantity to me doesn’t much matter. What’s the impact? It’s a ripple effect. I’m not totally altruistic. I do it for myself, too, because it helps me feel connected to the world. You know, when I hug people, I don’t know what their politics are, who they voted for. I don’t know what their religion is unless they tell me. I don’t know what their gender orientation or sexual orientation is. And it doesn’t matter. I just want the world to be a kinder, more loving place. And if hugs can help with that, I’m all on board with it.

Gabe Howard: The next question that I want to ask is surrounding like the worst case scenario. You said that the majority of people are accepting the hugs. You’ve talked about the people who don’t want hugs are just like, oh, no, thank you. And you say, hey, you should hug somebody today. And they say, OK. And they wander off. Have you gotten any truly bad reactions? Has anybody just flipped out?

Edie Weinstein: Never. Nope. The most is somebody says no, I’m not really into hugs or no, thank you. You know, I’ve never had that. But again, I think it’s because I’m a 5 foot, 4 inch woman. I have purple hair sometimes and I wear colorful clothing. So I’m not particularly threatening. But the coolest things that come out of this are the types of people that have said yes. I celebrate the anniversary of my heart attack as a brand new life experience, and I always do free hug strolls. On my third cardio-versary, a friend of mine who’s a filmmaker followed me around South Street in Philadelphia, and there was this beautiful Muslim woman dressed, I wouldn’t say in full hijab. Her face was uncovered, her head, and she comes up to me and she offers me a hug and she says, Who wouldn’t want a hug? And she was kind of gesturing and moving her body around. Who wouldn’t want to hug. And some people don’t. They say that they don’t want them. And she lifted up her finger and pointed at me. And she says even when they say they don’t they don’t want them, they need them. And I thought if the people who espouse hatred see this beautiful woman who is probably in her 40s, I’m guessing, talking about the power of hugs to connect people and that the needs that they meet, they couldn’t possibly hate.

Edie Weinstein: So I think that’s part of it. The other thing that’s important, too, is children. When there are children around that I offer a hug to, I say to the parent, if it’s okay with you and okay with your child, may I hug your child? If the parent says yes, a child says no, I won’t touch them. And I’ll say to the child, nobody touches you without your permission. So it’s OK that you’re saying no. When I was in D.C., there was a family from the Dominican Republic and it was a mom and dad, and like a 7 or 8 year old boy. And he didn’t want hugs at first. And I said, OK, will you do fist bumps or high fives? And he did both of those. So a few minutes later, before I left, he approaches me and opens his arms. So he was asking me for a hug. So I’m a consent educator and this is about consent as well.

Gabe Howard: We’ll be right back after these messages.

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Gabe Howard: We’ll be right back after these messages.

Gabe Howard: We’re back speaking with Edie Weinstein, a licensed social worker, about the power of hugging. So let’s talk about consent for a moment. As you pointed out, you’re a consent educator. And early on when I was a young boy, I was always told that no means no. Later on, I was told, listen, we have to get rid of no means no because it’s not thorough. And we wanted to hear. Yes, means yes. This opened up a world of understanding for me, because when you hear a yes, you know that you have permission. Can you talk about that a little bit? Because I really do think that people are fuzzy on what consent is. And that’s so unfortunate.

Edie Weinstein: Absolutely. Well, it’s perfect timing because I’ve just started teaching a class with a friend who’s also in the same field that I am called, “Yes, No, Maybe So: The Conscious Consent and Boundaries Workshop.” And we just did our first one together on Sunday. And the way that we define it, define consent is that it’s saying yes, just to touch, but a wholehearted yes to whatever it is that’s being offered to us or asked of us. And if I’m not a full blown heck yes, then I’m a heck no. Okay? I don’t have to say yes. Those of us who are co-dependent and I count myself among them, people pleasers. My husband used to say I was an emotional contortionist who’d bend over backwards to please people. I would often say yes when I really wanted to say no. I didn’t want anybody to feel rejected and I didn’t want to be rejected. So, consent is all bound up in that as well. That when we give our full, wholehearted consent to something, we are on board with it. I consented to this interview. I may have been wishy washy about it, and if I’m wishy washy about something. I won’t do it until I’m sure that this is what I want to do.

Edie Weinstein: And I’ve been that way all my life that I’ve had to think things through before I jump into it. And once I’m there, I’m all in. So, consent for me is about, okay, can I be all in to whatever is being offered to me or asked of me? And that could be touch. It could be sex. It could be a gift. It could be a commitment to do something with someone. So that’s why it’s important. When my son, who’s now 32, was a boy, we talked a lot about not only no means no, but only yes means yes. And not just from him, but to him. I said, if somebody wants to touch you in a way that you don’t want to be touched, no matter who it is, it’s no. And you’re allowed and you’re encouraged, and you’re expected to say no if you’re not comfortable. And to the best of my knowledge, he you know, he’s been appropriate with anybody he’s ever been in relationship with. I’ve never worried about him crossing boundaries and touching somebody inappropriately. And I wanted him to know that he had the freedom and the self body sovereignty to say no to anybody touching him if he didn’t want it.

Gabe Howard: And I think that some of this goes back to what you were saying about getting consent from children. I do not have children, but the majority of my friends and family do. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard. Oh, don’t be that way. Give your uncle a hug or stop that. You say hello and give them a hug. I understand the say hello. I understand the make eye contact. I understand being socially appropriate, but it does shift a little when you demand that somebody occupy your physical space. Right? My question specifically in this isn’t so much about consent, but it’s about how do you teach somebody, especially a child, the benefits and the value of hugging without forcing them to hug a bunch of people?

Edie Weinstein: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Gabe Howard: It’s difficult, right, it’s difficult for a parent because like you said, touch is so valuable and so important, but you don’t want to force somebody to do it.

Edie Weinstein: Right. In the 1960s and 70s, I’m 61, the common thing was, oh, go hug aunt so and so. You don’t want her to feel bad.

Gabe Howard: Right.

Edie Weinstein: One of the things that I encourage children to do, if I was a parent dealing with this and what I would tell the child if the person wanted a hug. They don’t owe anybody a hug. If I was going to a family gathering with a child, even as old as an adolescent, I would say there’s gonna be people here that you don’t know. How do you want to greet them? Now, what would be a good way for you to feel comfortable to greet them? And if they’re people that you do know, know, how would you like to greet this person? Well, I would like to shake their hand or I would like to do a high five or fist bump. And so it’s preparing them in advance. So listen to somebodies words and watch their body language, their non-verbal cues. If you’re an adult witnessing, and it doesn’t have to be anything horrible, it’s not like somebody who’s molesting the child. But if you see a child being uncomfortable with physical behavior from an adult, you can step in and say, OK, enough, enough, stop. And take that firm stand, because that way that child will feel like they have an ally, that they have a voice, and that you’re encouraging their voice.

Gabe Howard: And I think it’s important for anybody listening to understand that obviously the best hugs. Just like anything else in life are ones freely given. We have to consider whether it’s a child, whether it’s your mom, whether it’s whom ever a co-worker or a stranger on the street. If they’re hugging you out of obligation, it’s diminishing the return significantly. I don’t want to hug somebody that doesn’t want to hug me because somebody who is bigger than them and had power over them told them to.

Edie Weinstein: Absolutely.

Gabe Howard: It kind of ruins it a bit.

Edie Weinstein: Absolutely. And if you’re on the receiving end, wouldn’t you want somebody to hug you willingly?

Gabe Howard: Yes.

Edie Weinstein: Doesn’t that feel so much better? And there are times like, for example, if you’re in a relationship and your partner is not feeling so hot and you say, would you like a hug? And they say, no, really, I just want to be by myself. Forcing a hug on them isn’t listening to what they’re saying. And there are some people that when they don’t feel well, whether it’s a physical condition or an emotional condition, that they just want their space. It’s not a rejection of you or the love that you want to offer them. That’s hard too. If somebody is saying, well, I have all this love to give and I know that by hugging them, I’m going to make them feel better. It’s not about them. You’re making it about you.

Gabe Howard: Exactly.

Edie Weinstein: Yeah, I mean, my primary love language is touch, but there are people in my life that are not. That’s not their primary love language. I have wonderful nurturing friends, who would never do a free hugs event with me. They’d never go out and do that. I also teach a workshop called Cuddle Party, which is about nurturing non-sexual platonic touch for adults. And there are people that in my life that would never go to one. My son included. He says, Mom, the day I go to a cuddle party is the day you get in a wrestling ring or go to a shooting range. It so happens. So but he’s very. However, he’s very affectionate with me, with his wife, with his friends. But his style is very different. I’m his weird hippie mom who does all this bizarre stuff. It’s slightly embarrassing for my 32 year old.

Gabe Howard: You know, Edie, along the lines of that weird hippie mom statement that you just made, when I first became aware of you and to be clear, we’re co-workers over at Psych Central. So you’re not just some random person I found on the Internet. We have an actual working relationship. And even then, I thought, what is this? And

Edie Weinstein: Everybody, bizarre woman here.

Gabe Howard: You know, I’m kind of on guard for this. As the host of the podcast, I talk to a lot of people. I get a lot of guest pitches. As an associate editor over at Psych Central, I read a lot of the submissions and there’s a lot of what I like to call misinformation out in the world, especially surrounding mental illness and psychiatry and the treatment for mental health conditions, mental illness, etc. And just to disclose, when it, when I first saw this, I thought, well, this doesn’t make any sense. I mean, just randomly hugging people, that’s not going to do anything. But I’ve also learned to keep an open mind and I read your articles, I read the information that you provided. And of course, again, we’re coworkers. I know you. It makes it a little easier. And I realized that, yeah, because you’re not saying that hugging it cures mental illness. You’re not saying that hugging prevents depression. All you’re saying is that hugging has intrinsic value and that kindness has intrinsic value. And that value reverberates out into your life and into the lives of others in a very positive and meaningful ways.

Edie Weinstein: Right.

Gabe Howard: And I wish more people would understand that when, you know, they roll their eyes at this, because, you know, some people do. And I think if

Edie Weinstein: Yeah.

Gabe Howard: They really thought about it, they would realize that, oh, my God, we’re sitting on the simple solution to feeling disconnected. And here we are.

Edie Weinstein: Yeah, I totally agree, and as I said, hugs save lives. I don’t know what happened with the gentleman that hugged us initially, five years ago. I don’t even know if I’d recognize him if I saw him again. But I also know that for the people who experienced this, the feedback that I get from them, they don’t feel so alone. There’s another form of hugging that I do. It’s called free mom hugs. Have you ever heard of that?

Gabe Howard: I have not.

Edie Weinstein: Ok. Free mom hugs got started probably around the same time as Hug Mobsters did. There’s a woman named Sarah Cunningham and she was a devout, she’s still a devout, Christian whose son came out to her as a gay man and she went into a tailspin. She thought, oh my goodness, how can I love God and love my son and not have to choose between them? So she had a dark night of the soul, like a lot of people do, if their kids come out to them and she realized she didn’t have to make a choice. So Parker invited her to go to a pride fest in Oklahoma City, and she made up a sign that said free mom hugs with the idea that those who come out to their parents don’t often get hugs, though she said by the end of the day, she was covered with tears and glitter because a lot of the people that she hugged sobbed because they didn’t have the kind of parents that she was for her son. And she thought, just like I did, I’ve got something here. So she took it on the road. So I’m part of free mom hugs. You can actually look that Web site up too, free mom hugs. There’re chapters probably in all 50 states. And when I went to the Pride Fest, I hugged a lot of young people whose parents rejected them when they came out and they said our parents would never do that. There’s also free dad hugs. So that healed. I can’t tell you how many lives that kind of hugging changes when they feel accepted by a maternal or paternal figure, even if it’s not their own. And yes, I’m sure there are articles out there that talk about the mental health healing, power of safe, nurturing, platonic touch by consent. And that’s how I would categorize what I do.

Gabe Howard: Well, that is incredible. Edie, we are about at the end of our time. Can you tell folks how to find you and how to find your book, Bliss Mistress?

Edie Weinstein: They could find it on Amazon, The Bliss Mistress Guide to Transforming the Ordinary into the Extraordinary. They can find me on my Web site www.opti-mystical.com. So that’s my Web site. I’m also on Facebook. My son calls me a Facebook addict. But it’s Edie Weinstein, W E I N S T E I N, and I encourage you to be in touch with me and hug somebody today starting with yourself. So I invite whoever is listening to wrap their arms around themselves and then take it out to the street.

Gabe Howard: Well, thank you so much for being here, and I could not agree more. Hug as many people as possible and I really like the idea of hugging yourself. Thank you again for being here.

Edie Weinstein: My pleasure, Gabe.

Gabe Howard: And remember, everyone, you can get one week of free, convenient, affordable, private online counselling anytime, anywhere, simply by visiting BetterHelp.com/PsychCentral. Also, wherever you downloaded this podcast, give us as many stars, hearts or bullet points as you feel appropriate and use your words. Tell people why you liked the show. And finally, share us on social media. Email us to everybody you know and we will see everyone next week.

Announcer: You’ve been listening to The Psych Central Podcast. Want your audience to be wowed at your next event? Feature an appearance and LIVE RECORDING of the Psych Central Podcast right from your stage! Email us at [email protected] for details. Previous episodes can be found at PsychCentral.com/Show or on your favorite podcast player. Psych Central is the internet’s oldest and largest independent mental health website run by mental health professionals. Overseen by Dr. John Grohol, Psych Central offers trusted resources and quizzes to help answer your questions about mental health, personality, psychotherapy, and more. Please visit us today at PsychCentral.com. To learn more about our host, Gabe Howard, please visit his website at gabehoward.com. Thank you for listening and please share widely.

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Podcast: Hugging Strangers to Improve Mental Health

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Computer Generated Transcript for ‘Edie Weinstein – Hugging’ Episode

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript has been computer generated and therefore may contain inaccuracies and grammar errors. Thank you.

Edie Weinstein: Thank you, Gabe. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.

Edie Weinstein: Oh, for more than a moment, actually, we could do the whole interview on that.

Gabe Howard: Yeah.

Edie Weinstein: Yeah.

Edie Weinstein: Yep, yep.

Edie Weinstein: Yes.

Edie Weinstein: Ok. Well, most are receptive.

Gabe Howard: Nice.

Gabe Howard: We’ll be right back after these messages.

Edie Weinstein: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Gabe Howard: It’s difficult, right, it’s difficult for a parent because like you said, touch is so valuable and so important, but you don’t want to force somebody to do it.

Edie Weinstein: Right. In the 1960s and 70s, I’m 61, the common thing was, oh, go hug aunt so and so. You don’t want her to feel bad.

Gabe Howard: Right.

Edie Weinstein: Absolutely.

Gabe Howard: It kind of ruins it a bit.

Edie Weinstein: Absolutely. And if you’re on the receiving end, wouldn’t you want somebody to hug you willingly?

Gabe Howard: Yes.

Gabe Howard: Exactly.

Edie Weinstein: Everybody, bizarre woman here.

Edie Weinstein: Right.

Gabe Howard: And I wish more people would understand that when, you know, they roll their eyes at this, because, you know, some people do. And I think if

Edie Weinstein: Yeah.

Gabe Howard: They really thought about it, they would realize that, oh, my God, we’re sitting on the simple solution to feeling disconnected. And here we are.

Gabe Howard: I have not.

Gabe Howard: Well, that is incredible. Edie, we are about at the end of our time. Can you tell folks how to find you and how to find your book, Bliss Mistress?

Gabe Howard: Well, thank you so much for being here, and I could not agree more. Hug as many people as possible and I really like the idea of hugging yourself. Thank you again for being here.

Edie Weinstein: My pleasure, Gabe.

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