#I'm aware that the solution is probably to just not care but. I don't think I'm built that way

[autisticchangeling]

I love that the disability Community exists, but sometimes when I see debates about what counts as disabled versus just an impairment versus whatever...

I wish there could just be a community I could join for people with -whatever- that wouldn't cause me to constantly have to question and prove that I'm really disabled and "I promise I'm not too happy to count as oppressed" and whatever. I don't know, I just sometimes want to be able to share community in the ways the disability community does without having to watch the debates about who really counts and always worrying I'm next.

If there was something for all the people who aren't "struggling enough" to belong in the disability community, I would join it just for the relief from the hypervigilance

[howtofightwrite]

For a character that virtually can’t die and regenerates in order to keep living, how do you make action interesting? Emphasize they still feel pain, why they’re doing it?

I'm actually going to step back a bit from this question first, and complement it. This is a very honest question, and something most writers who include violence in their work, should really think about. Even if you don't think you have characters like this, you do.

Now, I'm going to dunk on Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw for a moment. Ages ago (I think it was in one of his Resistance reviews), Yahtzee described, “threatening to blow up the world,” as the laziest form of raising the stakes. Because, “hey, I live on a world.” He's mostly correct. Threatening your protagonist's life is even lazier. In the vast majority of cases, your audience knows you won't go through with it. That you won't kill off your protagonists.

With that in mind, when you decide your protagonist is completely immortal, that changes less about how you write them than you might expect. The biggest difference is simply that they're directly aware of their plot armor, rather than them engaging in faux indecision based on their perceived mortality. Again, this is something that every writer who uses violence should think about, at least a bit. It is natural for a character to fear for their life, and have reservations about risking their life, but making the part where your character's lives are on the line isn't automatically suspenseful. In a lot of cases (consciously or not), your audience will call your bluff, when you threaten to kill off a major character.

If you think back to major character deaths where something drops them without warning, part of what makes those scenes work is the lack of (apparent) setup. The writer didn't spend pages teasing you with the idea, they just went for the throat and ended that character on the spot. This is more respectful of your audience, because you're not telling them, “well, I might kill this character, or I might not.”

To be clear, I'm not saying that there's no place for teasing your audience with a character's impending demise, just pointing out that in a lot of cases, this won't generate the kind of suspense you'd hope for.

So, to get back on topic, how do you make it interesting? Remember that while this character can't die, the same is not true for the characters around them. Depending on the tone you're going for, you could create an absolutely brutal crucible effect, where everyone around your immortal gets burned off, sooner or later. Whether that's literal, or figurative, is up to you. Even if your character can't die, watching people they care about suffer and die is going to have an effect on them.

You probably don't need to draw special attention to the physical pain they experience, but you do want to be aware of it. Especially in the context of how pain affects the victim's behavior. Beyond that, there is probably an element of pain being far more annoying to the immortal than it would be to a normal person. They know it's not telling them anything meaningful, but it is distracting.

Long-term, both of these can easily result in personality shifts. And, legitimately, this is a scenario where a character may be immortal, but they would still experience significant changes over time, and with the growing emotional pain, could have very adverse effects on your personality. This does have some very real, “live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” potential. How many friends can you lose before you stop caring? How many funerals can you attend before you start taking the phrase, “you're either part of the solution or part of the problem,” a little too far? How many times can you pick yourself up off the pavement a blood-covered alleyway, surrounded by corpses, before you start to forget what made you human in the first place?

And, that's not the only option. The simplest answer for maintaining tension when one of your characters is immortal is keeping your eye on what they're trying to accomplish. Keep track of their objectives, because I guarantee they can fail those. Even just keeping their own nature concealed from the mortal world is probably fairly important, because of the idea that men in hazmat suits will drag them away to some research lab and poke them until they figure out how to replicate their immortality, is a classic (and potentially plausible) threat. (Bonus points, if you're wanting to loop in something like the medieval inquisitions, or some other secret societies that could pose this kind of a threat.)

So, what do you do? To dig out an old cliché threat, “there are fates worse than death,” and it's probably worth exploring them. This also opens up new possibilities for threats. Finally, it's worth remembering that immortality does not guarantee success. If your character is hoping for that, it might be time to give them a very harsh lesson.

-Starke

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[bonny-kookoo]

I really really really love UNSTABLE 😍 can you please write a drabble where the ship enters a really cold place in the galaxy and OC goes to Jungkook for some body heat since her blankets aren't helping her and he cuddles her in the end? 👉👈 only if you want to, of course.

I'm so in love with your writing. ♥️♥️♥️

Thanks for accepting your veggies noni :( ♡

-> Masterlist

Cryon is a part of the galaxy that's known for its cold temperatures, due to the lack of intergalactic travel and planets.

And Jungkook is a member of an Alien species which tolerates the cold very well- body heat compensating for even the coldest climates, almost like a reptile. So you're jot even very surprised when he doesn't seem to have any kind of heating unit installed on the ship- temperatures so cold you can't find rest even under all of your blankets.

Fuck it. You don't care if he's gonna deny you or think you're stupid- maybe he'd at least arrange some space under his desk or something where the heat from the control unit's Servers would provide some comfort for you.

The door hisses open, and Jungkook does a double take, unable to mask his amusement as the corners of his lips twitch, brows furrowed in confusion while his eyes have a surprised hue to them. "Do you need something?" He asks, surprised to find you up at all considering you sleep quite a lot.

At least to him. He doesn't need eight full hours of rest like you do, after all.

"Its cold." You say, walking closer with your blankets wrapped around you. He nods, as if you've just said that the walls of his ship are made of metal.

"I'm aware." He answers, leaning back in his chair.

"Its too cold.!" You huff, your breath slightly fogging in the coldness of the ship.

Oh. Right.

"Ah, I see.." he mumbles to himself, checking the temperature of the ship, before he scratches the back of his neck, at a loss of solutions. The ship isn't really equipped with a full on temperature control system- it's too old for that. He could probably install one in the future- but right now, he's got nothing. "Hm, I didn't think about that. Do the blankets not work?" He asks, and you shake your head, having pulled the fabric up over your mouth.

He can't help but think that you look almost.. cute. All wrapped up in blankets he provided- you'd probably appreciate a good lair with pelts and-

Wait. No. What the hell is he thinking? It's not even mating season yet- so why are his thoughts so odd lately?

"Can I sleep on the server units, maybe?" You wonder, nodding towards the tall boxes. Jungkook cringes a bit. The chance of you getting hurt on those is too high- what if you turn in your sleep and fall off? Or what if the blankets slip and you burn yourself on the metal casing?

"Come here." He waves you closer, before he zips open his uniform jacket, a simple black sleeveless shirt underneath. You can even see some tattoos on his skin peeking out.

He pats his chest, and you're confused.

He rolls his eyes, clicks his tongue.

"My God, just get over here." He growls annoyed, unraveling your blankets before he manhandles you to somewhat sit on his lap, pushing your shoulder so you're resting against his chest. He then moves the blankets over you and him, both of them, before he pushes your thighs a little before adjusting his own legs. "There. Warm?" He asks, and you're caught off guard for a good second.

He is warm. He also.. smells really good, for some odd reason. And his heartbeat sounds kind of odd, one louder beat with another, softer sounding one like an echo. But it's almost comforting, the steady tact of his heart beating in his chest providing almost more comfort than his warmth.

So you nod, before you adjust yourself a but, finally settling in a somewhat hug-

And he can't deny the appeal of it. You're a nice weight against his body, making him a little sleepy now as well, as he yawns, turning on the autopilot.

Maybe he won't invest in a temperature control system.

Maybe this is a way better solution.

[lolhex12]

we don't talk enough abt akutagawa's cough / lung disease (chronic&terminal) yet it has so much angst potential?? anywayy

after the current arc, atsushi knows akutagawa is actively dying and he's the only one who does bc akutagawa didn't tell anyone else abt it. (altho, in all honesty, the amount this man coughs should at least hint at it. i'm honestly amazed not more ppl in the story are concerned abt it)

so, the next mission they have together, akutagawa coughs and atsushi is now aware what it really means, so he wonders out loud with nonchalance masking his concern: "hey, so like, do you think yosano's ability would help with your cough and all? would it go away then?"

akutagawa, wiping his mouth, slightly annoyed: "how would i now? i'm not well-acquainted with your coworkers, weretiger, therefore it's none of my concern. and even then, i wouldn't trust any ada members with my issues, nor my life."

atsushi finds his words a bit sus bc 'u do trust me tho', but doesn't say it out loud and they leave it at that.

somehow, it becomes a regular thing. every time they have a mission together and atsushi hears his partner cough, he presents more ideas of how they could cure a terminal lung disease, and they vary in absurdity as he runs out of inspiration.

his ideas range from mere "have you tried going to a doctor?" (<- at which akutagawa stares in disbelief: "you either think i'm an idiot, or you are the idiot. which one is it?" and atsushi pouts bc 'ok yeah, fair... but also, rude') to insanities like "maybe witchcraft would help! i could look up witches in the area and see if black magic or something has any luck." (<- at which akutagawa is so done he doesn't even entertain the idea and just keeps walking)

they never follow through with any idea tho, bc akutagawa stubbornly refuses to waste time on trying to find a cure when his time on earth already is very limited.

it should also be noted that each time the cough gets worse; louder, rougher, more persistent and even bloody, which only makes atsushi more and more worried.

so one time, akutagawa's particularly annoyed by atsushi's insane and stupid ideas. he turns to him and point-blank asks: "why do even care so much whether i succumb to my illness or not? surely, my death should only leave you overjoyed to see the world be rid of one more evil."

that makes atsushi think bc 'why? why does he care whether akutagawa lives or dies? he's right, a bad person like a mafioso dying should be a good thing.'

after lengthy contemplation he comes to the conclusion that he simply cannot have his sworn enemy/rival/partner die from something as pathetic as a disease. someone as strong as akutagawa has to die in a more memorable way - not alone, in a bed, coughing, with nothing more to be remembered by. if anything he'd have to die fighting atsushi or something. yeah that's it. that's why. (<- it's not, but they're not quite there yet)

so atsushi tells him as much. akutagawa accepts it bc 'yeah, makes sense. what else could the reason be?'

the whole routine of coughing and brainstorming a solution in vain continues as the ideas get even more insane, the cough even worse and atsushi more concerned than ever.

the next time akutagawa is annoyed enough to pose the question again, atsushi is close to tears from anxiety as he holds up akutagawa who collapsed and can't seem to subdue his cough properly.

atsushi struggles to get out the water bottle and cough drops he'd started carrying around on their missions together. he's so scared bc he's never seen akutagawa look so sick and frail before (but not weak. never weak. akutagawa could never be weak in atsushi's eyes. it's impossible, bc akutagawa being strong is a simple, unchangeable fact, constant in any possible universe).

what would he do if akutagawa actually died there? in his arms? on a mission? which would probably get cancelled. would the pm think atsushi killed him? does he bring back the body or just bury it somewhere? pretend he got killed on the mission and not by his own body that had turned on him years ago and was in reality a long time coming? he couldn't even bear to think abt it.

"why tf do u care so much??" akutagawa yells with a scratchy voice before his cough continue despite his best efforts to stop.

atsushi can barely breathe anymore. "because i don't want you to die, you idiot! we're a team! you're my partner. who will i be left with if you go?" tears stream down his face, mainly from how overwhelming his anxiety feels. or maybe bc he really doesn't want his partner to die? nah, it's the anxiety. definitely the anxiety. (<- #denial)

akutagawa, at first embarrassed how his collapse derailed their mission bc goddammit he's supposed to be a professional and not let his issues interfere with his job, pauses when he sees atsushi crying... for him? because of him? ???

he's very confused bc he's pretty sure his rival/enemy/partner should not be so concerned abt his health and impending death, but something abt atsushi's expression and that whole situation makes him rethink his outlook on life.

that's when akutagawa starts taking his health more seriously and actively looks for possible, feasible ways to cure his disease, even if there's only a small chance it'll actually work. bc seeing atsushi like that made him realize there are a handful of people who care abt him and would mourn him if he died; more than just his sister and higuchi.

it made him realize his life had a bigger impact on others than he'd previously thought, not all of it bad.

[whumpshaped]

Concept: beck becoming anemic after being fed on for a while and helle being thrown because huh, that had never happened before? Saw it as a side effect in your guide and was like OOH

not terribly long after this

masterlist

tw vampire whumper, sickfic i guess, blood transfusion, hospital setting, needles

Tired, tired, tired, always so fucking tired. Beck thought he was going to go mad with this constant, mind-numbing exhaustion. At first, he really assumed it was just the monotonity of his dire situation. He'd heard of people getting used to bad situations, then eventually their bodies shutting down 'out of nowhere'. It was never out of nowhere, of course. Prolonged abuse like that would've taken a toll on anyone's body.

But he tried to push through it, given he had no solution or end in sight. More sleep, as much as he could get away with while working during the day and entertaining a vampire during the night. More coffee, as much as he could drink without his anxiety skyrocketing and sabotaging his work. More fresh air even, something he had been stubbornly disregarding for the first 25 years of his life.

It didn't work. His skin continued to get paler, if that was even possible, his heart continued to act up, which he'd chalked up to the coffee, and he kept getting winded from the three flights of stairs leading up to his apartment. Even Helle's mild annoyance was slowly turning into proper concern.

"You will go to the doctor tomorrow," they announced one night. Beck groaned, but didn't argue.

"Okay."

"And I am not feeding from you tonight."

Well... that was good news, at least. "Do I really look that bad?" Helle sighed, almost exasperated, as though Beck should've known how heavy this had been weighing on their unbeating heart or whatever. Maybe he did look that bad, from the outside. "S-sorry. Thank you for, um... caring," he finished quietly, unsure of the wording.

They scoffed. "I am not condemning myself to drinking from some sick human." They grabbed his phone from the table and shoved it into his hands. "You should actually look up your symptoms. Now."

"Helle, I don't know how to explain this... online medical stuff is not the best source of–"

"That is why you are going to the doctor tomorrow. But until then–" They nodded towards the phone, still looking at him expectantly. "I want to know, too. What I can potentially expect. Is it deadly? Do I need to be looking for a new human? These are important things, you know."

Beck unlocked his phone and started typing in the name of the most trustworthy page in this realm of the internet that he could think of. He wondered whether Helle had ever had to deal with a long-term bloodbag getting a little too sick. Or had they always been a one-off kinda vampire? Surely, they should've been aware that this sort of thing could have severe health complications.

"So?" God, they sounded so impatient.

"Whatever it is, I'm not gonna die from it tonight. I swear."

Helle rolled their eyes and continued pacing. Why were they anxious about this? He should've been the one pacing and fearing for his life! And if he had been able to muster up the energy for it, he would've been.

"Anaemia," he said after a few more minutes. "That's the most likely, and um... it... it would make sense, I suppose. I probably should've thought about that..."

"Anaemia," Helle repeated, lost in thought. They didn't say anything for a long moment, and Beck didn't know whether that was a good or a bad sign. "I am not waiting until tomorrow. Get dressed."

"Wh– what?"

"I said get dressed."

It wasn't often that Helle sounded so serious. Whenever they did, Beck always got this sense of impending doom, like something utterly terrible was going to happen. What else could make an immortal, aloof vampire act so... weird?

He silently got up from the sofa and went to his bedroom, putting on some random clothes and a mask as quickly as he could. Was this thing deadlier than he realised? Had Helle lost many bloodbags to severe anaemia before? He didn't know, he was too afraid to ask, and he chose to believe it was simply an out of touch vampire's buyer's remorse.

"Are we going to a hospital?" he asked timidly as he stepped out of the bedroom, and Helle nodded. "In the middle of the night?"

"Are there no emergency care facilities in the whole of the city?" they snapped, and Beck decided to just let them do whatever they wanted. The worst that could happen to him in an ER was a bit of a scolding for wasting time. The worst Helle could do? Well. He knew which one he was going to choose.

He just hoped Helle wasn't about to threaten any nurses in the name of his... health.

-

Severe anaemia. Blood transfusion.

Beck stared at the nurse as they brought out the needle to take a sample of his blood, still in a daze when it pierced his skin. If Helle hadn't trained him better, he might've jerked his arm away.

What was going on?

The charmed employees gave no reaction to Helle's little joke about his blood being 'A plus, I mean, positive', just as they gave none to their presence in general. They moved through protocol as though everything was normal, giving Beck a rundown on what was about to take place and how.

"It could take up to four hours, but we might help it along a little. It's a wonder you were walking around like this without... well, dropping dead."

Beck gave a nervous chuckle. "Um, yeah, I guess... I don't know, I thought I was just not getting enough sleep."

The nurse gave him a look. "Of course. I assume the vampire bite scars on your wrist have nothing to do with the anaemia."

Right. He forgot that she could just... see that. "Uh..."

"I'm not here to judge, you're neither the first nor the last victim I treat. But it's good to be honest with healthcare professionals, yeah? I know there's a bit of a stigma around it in certain places, but the emergency room is not one of them."

Beck nodded mutely. He didn't dare look at Helle. Despite them causing the anaemia in the first place, he had to admit that he was grateful to them for forcing him to come in. Who knew how long he would've continued walking around like that? Maybe he would've dropped dead.

Once he was left alone in the room, Helle cleared their throat. "Well..."

"Thank you," he said without much prompting, knowing perfectly well that was what the vampire wanted to hear. It was easier to say now, when he actually felt grateful, as opposed to all the times when they wrung the words from him through sheer terror. "I wouldn't have come in without you. Definitely not to the emergency room, but... not even to my GP."

Helle leaned against the wall with a smile on their face. They seemed pleased. "Oh, do continue. I love praise like that."

"Will you stay? For the... the entirety of the four hours?" He nodded towards the needle, shifting uncomfortably. "I, um... I could use the distraction. Please."

"Are you afraid of needles?"

"Could you sound a little less excited about it?"

Helle shook their head, the amusement never leaving their face. "You do know you will get transfusions a lot, yes? I mean, most likely. Bloodbags and thralls get them a lot."

"Could you not remind me?" he asked, even whinier.

They laughed, then walked over and sat in the other comfortable chair next to his. "Would you still like me to stay?"

"If you're just gonna make it worse, then, then maybe not," he muttered. "No, wait– I changed my mind, I don't care. You can make it worse. I just don't– I don't wanna be alone."

"Oh, I have full permission?" They leaned over and poked the tube a little, and Beck almost yanked his arm away. Again.

"D-don't mess with the needle!" God, he was so trapped. He couldn't just run away with an IV in his arm. "I meant– I don't care what you say, but don't– don't do that! Please!"

"But it looks so tasty. I could rip it out and use it as a straw."

"Okay, maybe I do want you to leave."

Helle grinned, very satisfied with their own performance. "I am quite good at making others uncomfortable, am I not? It is a skill I have perfected over three hundred years."

Beck could only nod, miserable and exhausted. "Can you... not put all that experience to use for just two minutes? Respectfully."

"Two minutes? My darling, darling Beck. You want me to sit here and chat away for four hours." They sighed dramatically. "But yes, I suppose I could dial it back a little. Just for you."

~

taglist: @whumpsday @the-scrapegoat @hidden-dreamland @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @delicateprincepaper @whumppmuhw @florissimps @nicolepascaline @oliversrarebooks @the-cyrulik @pirefyrelight @there-will-always-be-blood @pigeonwhumps @echo-goes-mmm @whumpycries @morning-star-whump

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

every so often i see people complaining that the rules that govern the endless are unfair and shouldn't exist, and it's always just kinda funny, bc im here like oh you do NOT want to get rid of the rules, trust me

is it unfair that desire gets away with so much bc they're the only one willing to break the rules? yeah, probably. but the solution to that is more rules, not less, because we're dealing with 7 immortal siblings who've been around since the dawn of time and have the maturity levels of teenagers

and in that context all of the rules make so much sense

like there's probably more rules than we know about, but let's focus on the main three - no loving mortals, no interfering in each others' affairs, no spilling family blood

1) endless can't love mortals. the one rule we know was instated later than the rest, almost entirely because of dream. for two reasons. the more obvious is that dream and desire are never gonna stop fighting, and when you put a mortal in the way of that, they are almost definitely gonna get murdered or worse. but also, there's lifespans to consider. not every dead mortal can end up in the dreaming, and not all of them want to. dream dating someone mortal means at some point, he is going to outlive them, that's not in question. and dream... doesn't take loss well. he stood outside in the rain without moving for three weeks when thessaly left, and they'd only been dating a few months. and then we have lucien's word on what happened after nada...

if the dreaming entirely comes to a halt for weeks or years or centuries after a girlfriend leaves him, dream grieving an actual death of a partner is actively dangerous. you can't stop dream from dating, and from those relationships going poorly, but at least it has a much higher chance of being a mutual breakup if death has been taken out of the equation

(and, you know, might as well make it a universal rule, both just in case, and so dream isn't constantly aware that this one was made because of him)

2) no interfering in the affairs of other endless. think, for a second, about the sibling rivalries in this family. and that's just the ones that exist now, when several of them have had a chance to grow up - it's said they were all a lot more immature and prideful, even death, back in the day (she grew into the older sister position).

i saw someone say once that everything in the dcu makes sense when you consider that the universe is being run by seven warring siblings, and honestly i'm inclined to agree! they're all a mess

but at least they're messes that mostly leave each other alone. which means their domains are at least protected by the fact that they all individually care about what they were created to do - there's only one person making decisions and that person generally wants the best for those that enter their domain

death in the show talks about how when she was young, she had a hard time seeing her purpose, because everyone seemed to hate her and she didn't know what to do about it. what she says in the comics is that she did stop. once it really started to get to her, she refused to collect souls. no one and nothing died. and it was only through realising how much more that was hurting the world that she started to learn how to be okay with it

when any of them stop or get distracted or kept away from their jobs, it's the mortals who suffer. and even if they all meant well, which they often don't, have you ever tried running important projects with seven people leading? at best, it slows you down, at worst it can ruin the project entirely. given how much they try to tell each other how to live their lives already, if they were allowed to get up in each others' business, you might as well be jamming up the cogs of the universe

3) can't spill family blood. so, it's easy to look at that and see orpheus, and rose walker, and all the traps that dream almost or did fall into. but as far as i'm aware, other than orpheus and unity's descendants, we don't know of any other kids of the endless, and those were all pretty recent, on a universal scale. honestly, given how dream is the only hopeless romantic of the family, i'd be willing to bet orpheus was the first. so it's extremely unlikely when this rule was put into place that children were on anyone's mind. time and night are on such a cosmic scale of power i don't think even all of the endless combined could kill one of them. which means this rule is about each other

and given everything we just said about interfering with each other, can you imagine if they were allowed to kill each other? because endless reincarnate, death amongst their family would lose all meaning. you could kill one of your siblings for annoying you and get back a potentially less annoying version of them almost immediately. but every time you did that, you'd be disrupting the functions of the universe. and with siblings like dream and desire, who don't see the other's domain as important at all, they wouldn't care. if they'd been doing it since the start, it's possible none of them would see that as a bad thing

you'd have the universe falling apart before it could even really begin. and they might not even notice

[femmefatalevibe]

Femme Fatale Playbook: How To Deal With Insecure Friends/People

Make differentiation a top priority: Even after doing the necessary inner work to have a healthy sense of self, this reminder is sometimes needed. Do not internalize other people's problems like they're your own. They never become your problems just by listening to others' complaints. You can choose whether to allow these external emotions to dictate your mood or inner world. Think of their constant complaints like you're watching a TV show or reading an engrossing book: You're emotionally drawn to the characters, but always a voyeur – not an active character in the plot.

Establish, communicate, and uphold your boundaries: Be direct and remain calm when communicating the topics you're willing (or not willing) to discuss when you're available (or not) to speak/meet up, when you need to end a conversation, etc. You cannot maintain the capacity to support others without first prioritizing/taking care of yourself.

Remind them of their strengths and capabilities: Using this tactic is a great way to be a supportive friend without internalizing an insecure person's baggage. Insecurity is a byproduct of low self-esteem. While it will take some effort on their part, highlighting the person's strengths can be a motivator for them to start working on some of their goals independently or check in a little less frequently. Encourage them to take immediate action on a project, new hobby, conversation, new career or course opportunity, etc. they're discussing with you. Frame it with a script that includes sentiments like "you're so good at/talented with "x" skill or subject matter, you should consider enrolling/emailing a contact/updating your resume, right away to take advantage of this exciting opportunity."

Provide them a chance to self-reflect: If the previous strategy is unsuccessful, feel free to kindly help them self-reflect on their struggles. Calling out someone's bad behavior directly must be done with tact and compassion, so make sure to use a "compliment sandwich" (positive remark, constructive criticism, positive remark, or likely positive outcome that results from taking action on said criticism) and only call out the missteps in someone's actions. Never personalize the person's bad behavior as a flawed personality trait (e.g. Behavior callout: Your constant messaging is draining my energy while I'm studying/at work. I don't think I'm the right person to help you. Maybe try to research "x" matter to ideate some creative solutions first. vs. Personality callout: You're so clingy. It's so draining and unbearable. Why can't you learn to manage your dilemmas by yourself?). Encouraging someone to analyze their behavior can lead to a new level of self-awareness for a person. Criticizing someone's character is both antagonistic and unproductive – you're making their insecurity seem like an inherent, unfixable trait rather than an opportunity for growth, evolution, and acquiring a new skillset.

Offer them a resource for support: Send them a quick link to a website or social media page to redirect their attention and provide them a chance to help themselves. Guide them towards becoming more competent – it's the key to self-confidence, as you probably know through your healing journey.

Don't reach out: Plain and simple. Out of sight, out of mind (unless for some reason you have reason to believe they're a danger to themselves, of course).

As a last resort, make it a "it's me, not you" situation and part ways: Once you've established boundaries and attempted to redirect their attention or promote self-reflection, you've done everything you can as a supportive friend. If they overstep your stated boundaries and expectations more than once or refuse to stop asking you to overextend yourself, let them know that their demands are past your personal limits, and you cannot take the weight of their frustrations. A nicer way to frame this is to communicate that you need to take some space from the relationship as you're heavily focusing on certain goals in your life at the moment.

[andsomemaniacgotridofthewheel]

Oh oh oh oh oh oh something just hit me like a ton of bricks so that I just sat straight up in bed. (I'm not usually up at the time I started writing this.) Bear with me please:

Ed's & Stede's relationship in episodes 2x06 and 2x07 is now at THE SAME kind of crossroads that Ed's & Izzy's relationship was in 1x03 and 1x04.

Let me explain.

Last year I read a wonderful tumblr post that detailed how Ed & Izzy's relationship in the first two episodes we see them in is like that of an old married couple. In the sense that they suffer a break down in communication, that is apparently typical for people who have known each other very well for a very long time. The gist of it was that they basically think they know what the other person is going on about, don't really listen, and thus always talk at cross-purposes.

Now let's have a look at where they were in episodes 1x02 and 1x03: we know that they have pirated together for more than 20 years. We don't know how much of that time was as Captain and First Mate, but even before that they must have lived on the same small ship and worked together. They really do know each other well, and most likely intimately (again, sailing ships are not that big, chances are that Izzy had a front row seat to Ed's "sexual dalliances" with Calico Jack or any other, and vice versa, not to mention any other stuff that might have been going on in their lives.) But some time ago, we don't know how long - could be a couple of months, could be a few years - Ed started to get bored and frustrated, while Izzy stayed content. And here is where the communication started to deteriorate. Because Izzy doesn't get Ed anymore, for him it looks as if he has become erratic and unpredictable, which in turn frustrates him. And while Ed tries to convey to Izzy what he feels, we know from 1x03 that he does not do that in the clearest of terms. Probably because he had to figure it out for himself first, it's not that easy identifying vague feelings of discontent in yourself and locating their source, especially 150 years before psychology was even invented.

Now the two most important conversations between Ed and Izzy, that basically spell out for us, the audience, what is going on between them, are the one about the clouds (to which we only get the cypher key toward the end of the episode) and the one where Ed finds Stede's model ship of the Revenge.

Izzy: "Now we really should discuss a plan of action--" (to avoid being captured by the Spanish.)

Ed: "Izzy Izzy Izzy come look. Those clouds. Do they look like Frankfurters to you?" (I don't think you have to worry, a fog seems to be coming on.)

Izzy: "They look like clouds, boss. Can we just focus on--" (What the fuck are you on about? I'm trying to talk to you about the impeding doom of the ship! This is important and you are going on about one of your weird fancies!)

Ed: "Yes, they look like clouds, because they are indeed clouds. But if you just put some fucking imagination into it, man!" (For fucks sake Izzy, I'm trying to get you to think! The solution for our problem is right there!)

Izzy: "I suppose they look like sausages." (Fine, I'll play along. Maybe then we can finally talk about the important stuff?)

Ed: "Frankfurters. Yes, exactly. It's like pulling teeth with you sometimes, man." (ARE YOU GETTING IT NOW, MAN?!? I am already working on the solution to your problem, and if you just fucking listen to me and think about what I am telling you, you would see it, too! Why do you always have to make it so difficult?)

This is not a conversation about their own relationship and general situation in life, but it demonstrates clearly what goes wrong in their communication. Izzy thinks Ed is just being weird again and doesn't care about what Izzy thinks is a big problem for all of them. Ed is perfectly aware of the problem, but tries to get Izzy to see the solution he is working on for himself, rather than telling him outright, and is frustrated when Izzy makes no effort to do so. And it is implied that for a while now, all of their conversations are going down that way. They don't understand each other (anymore).

The next one really goes down to the bones of the problem, though.

Ed is excited by the display cabinet he finds and tries to show Izzy. Izzy is still frustrated because Ed doesn't seem to care that they've got a problem. So Izzy keeps talking at him about a plan while Ed already has one in the works and would rather focus on this fascinating new kind of pirate they have discovered; finally, something that isn't boring! And then Ed actually becomes pretty clear for once: "We always need a fucking plan, alright! And then what, then we fucking execute the plan, and then we get another plan, then what do we do? We execute that, and so on, and so on, and so on, and again, and again, and again, IT'S ALL SO FUCKING BORING! I'm bored out of my skull man, is this all there is? I shouldn't be bored, I'm fucking Blackbeard!" Now Ed could hardly have been more honest about his feelings, but Izzy is still stuck in their rut, Ed is being weird again, so yeah, great, he's bored, but why does that mean all the work has come down to him? He only thinks about their current situation, he believes Ed's feelings are temporary, he doesn't realise Ed is talking about their whole lives. That he has been feeling this way for a long time, that that is what makes him "weird" or "erratic". Because Izzy doesn't feel that way. Izzy is fine with their way of life. And he can't imagine why Ed would feel any different. But they still have this problem that Ed is refusing to discuss with him. And then Ed starts talking about dying to end the boredom, and that is when Izzy gets completely lost. ("Yeah, cause that makes sense"). Again, he is frustrated, because he doesn't understand what is going on with Ed. He didn't used to be like that™.

Now it is unclear if Ed at this point has just started formulating the next plan in his head, the one where he fakes his death to escape the boring life of invincible Blackbeard, or if his affinity for suicidal ideation that we see in season 2 is already at play here, too. Maybe a mix of both. But either way, Izzy doesn't get it (yet), and he doesn't understand why Ed doesn't seem to get him, as well. Izzy wasn't the one who changed!

We, the audience, later receive a lot more information by way of Ed's first conversation with Stede, where Ed expresses himself clearer and freer than he ever could with Izzy. He's bored, because nothing is a challenge anymore; he's frustrated, because he's stuck in this line of work that bores him; and on top of that he finds the whole cult around the persona of Blackbeard rather ridiculous. ("Nine guns???")

In a later episode, when Izzy is so frustrated with Ed's "erratic" behavior that he wants to leave, we experience a moment of how clear communication could look between them. Ed finally tells Izzy about his plan to fake his death, kill Stede and take his identity. But he only does that because he wants to appease Izzy and stop him from leaving, and the fact that he already has genuine feelings of affection for Stede is not mentioned. (Maybe because Ed himself isn't even sure about it yet?) And Izzy is too blinded by the opportunity of becoming Captain himself to think more deeply about Ed's wish to retire. He most likely thinks Ed does this because he was presented with the unlikely opportunity to bow out of the job on a high without having to die or being hunted for the rest of his life, so why wouldn't he take it? He doesn't connect it with Ed's boredom, still doesn't realise that Ed's decision also comes from a longing that he has already harbored for a long time.

Which is why, when Ed realises his feelings for Stede and starts looking for other ways to change his life, Izzy is again at a loss and just defaults to the easiest explanation: he blames Stede. Stede must have changed Ed, Stede must be responsible that Ed suddenly doesn't want to continue their old, familiar life as The Dread Pyrate Blackbeard and his first mate, or at least change it to the retired pirate Blackbeard and his successor, Captain Hands. And then he makes his first really big mistake: he forces Ed to choose, thinking their shared history together makes him safe.

This is how their story escalates, and we all know where they ended up. Betrayals, threats, mutilation, shooting at each other. The fact they are able to stay on the same ship together is a minor miracle. They have history, they have love, but they are done with each other.*

Now, Ed & Stede.

When Stede and Ed meet, Stede dreams of being a successful and famous pirate, but isn't really good at becoming one, to put it mildly. Ed, at the same time, is a very successful and famous pirate, but doesn't want to do that anymore. That's them at the very beginning of their relationship, so anyone who didn't see the current blow-up between them coming, hadn't been paying attention.

Now at first that doesn't really matter. Ed teaches Stede about pirating, Stede teaches Ed about life as an aristocrat, where he can have beautiful things and enjoy life without having to rob and kill. Their differences at that stage actually give the other the very thing they so desperately need. And they start to change, but at first that change just moves them even closer together - Stede becomes a better pirate without having to give up his fancies and the luxuries on his ship, and Ed gets to enjoy said luxuries and the rather peaceful and comfortable life Stede and his crew live on the revenge, while still being basically the great pirate Blackbeard.

But the first time this causes friction in their relationship is also in season 1. After Izzy's betrayal and the Act of Grace, we see Ed contentedly giving in to their new situation, shaving off the beard that was quite literally his trademark, folding stuff; and, after Stede reciprocated his love, looking forward to run away with him to lead a peaceful, private life in China. But Stede is disturbed by all these changes, because Ed is giving up what he himself so desperately wants. Just like Izzy, Stede doesn't really understand it. Why would Ed do that? Just for him? He might have understood that Blackbeard was bored and frustrated before, with the monotony his life had become, but they'd changed that, right? They were pirates together, that's not boring or frustrating, right?

Which is why it is so easy for Chauncey - about who, we have to assume, Stede still hasn't told Ed - to use it to feed Stede's own insecurities - Stede will never be a great pirate, and now he has even ruined someone who was a great pirate.

Again, we all know where that ended - Stede going back to his family out of a feeling of guilt, and Ed going back to pirating - how could he run off to China without Stede now - because that is the only option he has. And boy, does he turn it up to 11. Talk about putting your feelings into your work.

But then they reunite, they talk, they come back together and even finally spend what I think we all imagine as a very emotional, romantic night together, albeit with some other messy stuff in the mix.

Only the elephant in the room is still there.

And in 2x06 it starts to get interesting, because Ed tries to tell Stede.

Telling the kids that they are not pirates but own an inn together, that is Ed trying to let Stede know that that is what he wants. I want to own an inn with you, lead a peaceful life, not being pirates anymore. But Stede doesn't pick up on that. He just assumes Ed came up with that on the spot to be a better example for the kids, no more, and he "plays along".

Then Ed tries again at the beginning of 2x07.

Ed: "How about we just avoid all near death situations?" ("I don't want us to be pirates who are in danger all the time!")

Stede: "Nice idea. Not bloody likely in our line of work." ("Aw, it would be a great world if you could be a pirate and not be in danger all the time. But we both know that's not the case, we both know we are pirates, and pirates are in danger. So alas, we are going to be in danger all the time.")

Stede is happy. He is finally where he wanted to be. He's become a great pirate (or is at least well on his way), and he is with his love. And in his bliss he doesn't really listen to Ed when he tries to let him know that he wants something different. Why would anyone want to change something that is so perfect?

Just like Izzy, back then.

So, as I said, the blow-up had been coming a long time; and it actually went tamer than I feared. Ed not feeling understood (because he isn't) and running off to become a fisherman, Stede probably feeling like he had a bucket of ice water dumped over his head, unable to assemble the puzzle pieces of what he had missed due to pure shock, and both being upset and angry with each other. Ed's "why don't we stop now, before we say anything we can't take back" is surprisingly healthy, while Stede having to shout "you're a coward" after him anyway makes me want to shake him like a rattle. But we know where Ed is, he hasn't dropped off the face of the earth, they can come back together and continue their conversation after some thought and introspection, having realised that there was something they should have talked about a lot sooner and maybe trying to see where the other man is coming from.

I think part of the solution will arise from what happens in the last minutes of 2x07, when Stede's pirate fantasy starts crashing down around him - similar to how Ed's fantasy of aristocratic society in 1x05 first gave him a high and then crashed as well. Stede needs to get it out of his system, but ultimately, being a pirate is not who he is. He was able to grow and change, to become a better pirate, a better Captain, but he has to realise that he doesn't have to become more manly, less sensitive, or give up the beautiful things he loves, and that Ed loves him exactly as he is. That piracy is a fantasy, one that Ed lived and knows the worst parts of its reality, that he doesn't want anymore and that Stede wouldn't want either, once he fully experienced it. And he needs to understand what Olu told him in 1x01 - that piracy is something different when you never had another choice. Because Ed never had another choice. But Stede could give him one. After all, they have always been happiest together when they met in the middle, and they can have that - away from Stede's aristocratic life, away from Ed's piracy.

At least, that's what I am hoping for them (and, well, I trust David Jenkins, so yeah**).

So Ed's & Izzy's long term relationship broke apart because Ed wanted to retire and Izzy, who couldn't imagine being anything other than a pirate, didn't understand or support him.

And Ed's & Stede's new love is in danger because Ed still wants to retire, and Stede, who loves being a pirate and can't imagine why anyone wouldn't, didn't understand him... But maybe he will?

"He is a complicated man."

Yes. And hopefully one of you succeeds in figuring him out and give him what he needs, where the other one failed.

*= oddly enough, the violent destruction of Izzy's mental image of "Blackbeard", that we witnessed partly during the first 3 episodes of season 2, could be the very thing he needed to finally see the person "his" Blackbeard turned into while he wasn't looking. He might finally come to be able to understand Ed.

**= honestly? I think that is what Izzy's journey about learning to care for the crew and being accepted by them is all about. And he is not only training Stede to be a Captain, he is also learning from him. How to be more sensitive, more supportive, Stede's "people-positive management style". Because once Ed & Stede fake their deaths and retire to the countryside to open an inn, Izzy will have another go at being a Captain - this time one that his crew will not be trying to throw overboard after what accumulated to basically 5 minutes of his reign.

[ikamigami]

I've read a couple of your posts about todays LAES episode, and I'm genuinely curious, what lead you to believe that Sun is suicidal? I'm not asking because I disagree, I'm asking because I'm frankly just a casual viewer, and want to know what I missed.

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

It's okay. It's not a stupid question. You can ask about anything. ^^

So Sun said in episode "Original Moon returns": "sometimes I wish I was dead".. and later added that he should stop thinking about it and he went to clean the Daycare to distract himself from these thoughts.. which heavily implies that Sun seriously thinks about dying - in the way that he thinks that would be better solution for his issues.. cause he added "Moon got reset and I have to deal with everything".. which again implies that this is serious and Sun thinks that death is a solution.. which heavily implies that he's suicidal...

Another thing is Sun's behaviour after that.. He decided to be conduit for star's power when he found out that there's a risk that person who will use star's power will most probably die.. which shows us Sun being suicidal more in action.. But Sun here is passively suicidal because he doesn't harm himself directly but he tries to find ways to be harmed/killed by outside circumstances like sacrificing himself for example...

Another time when Sun showed more visible signs that he's suicidal is when he told computer without hesitation to shoot him.. It was in "Sun and Moon vs Mimic" episode.. In this episode Mimic was pretending to be Sun and Moon didn't know who the real Sun is.. He came up with idea of threatening both of Sun's with computer shooting deathly laser at them.. to which real Sun told to computer to shoot him... Moon said then that he should check up on Sun because he was concerned by Sun's comment.. but then nothing happened... Moon never asked Sun about that...

Then there were a few hints in both lore and gaming episodes that Sun is suicidal like some odd comments in games: "it's good to be dead", "I'm trying to see if I'll crush when I jump off this", "there's nothing wrong with saying 'death'" (and he said that after he said this "if we don't do trendy things we'll die" which concerned Earth.. but not to the point that she would ask him more about it).. and also odd behaviour: he tried to drown himself in Minecraft game, he tried to crush his car in Fears to fathom game.. In lore episodes: he tried to crush his car twice, he jumped off the roof of high building without hesitation, he was eating food even though it hurts him when he eats human food, in "Ruin Monty Gator visits Daycare Attendant" episode Sun didn't care that Ruin Monty was choking him and that he could get killed by them.. In "Save Pollux or Castor in Minecraft" episode Sun went through a lava knowing very well that it'll kill him.. Also many times it seemed that Sun just let others beat him to death in games - he wasn't protecting himself and blocking any attacks (he also let Earth kill him in "Sun and Earth trapped in 2D Minecraft" episode)...

Another thing is that Sun seems more distant from his family.. he was absent in both episodes "Earth is tiny" and "Lunar is giant" despite the rest of the family being shown in both of these episodes.. In "Day in a life of Solar" episode and "Earth is trapped as a toy" episode no one knew where Sun is and what he's doing.. He wasn't picking up the phone calls..

In "Day in the life of Monty Gator" Sun's voice sounded like if his throat was hurt.. He told Monty it's because of screaming.. But it never happened before despite Sun screaming almost daily.. Most probably he harmed his throat.. we don't know how though.. Monty seemed concerned about Sun in that episode but nothing came out of that...

Another thing is that Sun seems to be not aware of what is happening around him.. He doesn't know what day it is (he forgot about Christmas and didn't buy anything for his family), he has poor sleep schedule - in "Moon is threatened by Gemini" episode it seemed that Sun dozed off.. Also Sun seems to sleep for short amount of time at random moments..

Another thing is that the only way of coping for Sun is either excessive cleaning or watching YT or playing games.. which is only good for awhile but it's not a solution to Sun's problems.. You can't deal with your issues by trying to escape them..

Another thing is that Sun is constantly lying that he's fine.. He tries to immediately redirect any conversation regarding his mental issues to other topics i.e. today's laes episode in which Sun only focus on external problems like Eclipse and Bloodmoon even though during therapy he should focus more on what's happening in his mind and on his own feelings...

Also the fact that Sun was very adamant about learning Earth and Moon how to drive - the only thing he feels that he's good at beside cleaning - seems like a way for Sun to pass his own knowledge which may imply that someone is ready to end their own life..

These are things that I remembered.. I hope that this answer satisfy you, anon 🙇‍♀️

And I'm sorry if there are any spelling errors cause English isn't my native language...

Ofc you can ask more questions if you want to ^^

[ineffablyruined]

In Defense of an Angel

I know this has probably been done before, but I'm working on a fic at the moment and found myself needing to puzzle out where I think Aziraphale is coming from in that last 15 minutes. He's catching a lot of heat in the fandom right now, even from me initially I admit, but I think I understand more after trying to put myself in his head. It got a bit long, so I've put most of it under a Read More.

We all generally agree that there was zero chance that the Crowley we all know and love was going to be allowed back into Heaven, right? At the very least, he would have been memory wiped and reset as the innocent angel we saw Before the Beginning, and at the very worst, Metatron would have permanently destroyed him before actually welcoming him back. I mean, this face isn't the face of someone who is going to just let Crowley come back to the fold, no matter what lies he's about to tell Aziraphale.

But, sweet summer's child Aziraphale, religious trauma and all, has no idea that the Metatron has exactly zero intention of letting Crowley accompany him to Heaven.

So when he says, "The Metatron said I could appoint you to be an angel," he means it. You. Not the angel you were. Not some innocent carbon copy from millennia ago.

He fully, completely believes Crowley will just be Crowley, but as an angel. He doesn't believe Crowley will have to change at all. And why should he?

Because Aziraphale is keenly aware that you don't have to be good to be an angel. Look at him. (Thanks to @saryasy for all the perfect gifs)

He's spent most of his existence being a terrible angel, just like Crowley has been an absolute disaster of a demon. They are cut from the same cloth.

And if the Metatron is going to make the angel who lies over and over again to God, to archangels, to himself, into the Supreme Archangel, then surely there's room for a demon who regularly engages in truly good acts as well, right?

And it's the solution to all of their problems. They will be on the same side, not just in their eyes, but in Heaven's eyes, and in God's eyes. They won't have to hide anymore, won't have to be so careful about admitting they are even friends, can be something more. Because now it won't be Romeo & Juliet.

They can be together. Properly together. Doing good the way they've always done, together. Importantly, without the risks! Crowley won't have to worry about retribution from Hell. There won't be any from Heaven because Aziraphale will be the Supreme Archangel and no one can tell him no.

And that's why he's so confused that Crowley's saying no. And he tries.

Because Crowley can't possibly understand or he wouldn't be saying no.

But then he does. He says he understands, that he understands better than Aziraphale does, and the answer is still no. He says no. And what can Aziraphale do with that?

He's been rejected. And there's nothing else to say.

Then it gets worse. Crowley points out, "No nightingales." And we can see that they both know exactly what that means. For Crowley to point that out and to kiss him after rejecting him feels, at best, manipulative and, at worst, downright cruel. Aziraphale just offered a safe way for them to be together, and Crowley wants no part of it if it isn't the way he wants it - just the two of them going off together - even when he knows and has been explicitly told over and over again that Aziraphale doesn't do running away.

And if Crowley is going to be cruel with his words and actions, then so can Aziraphale.

And he knows - HE KNOWS - what those words are. How they call back to the other times they've gone their separate ways. And he says them anyway. Because Crowley hurt him and he's going to hurt him back.

He's spent lifetimes reading books, collecting them, coveting them. Of course he can wield words as deftly as any weapon.

(Sorry for the emphasis there, but I'm particularly proud of that turn of phrase. I wrote it for a fic I'm working on and it's what made me do this whole thought exercise in the first place.)

FWIW, he then immediately regrets it when Crowley leaves. See this post highlighting all the times Aziraphale just keeps looking for him in the fallout.

[lovelyrainydays-blog]

Hello there I hope everyone's having a good day and let's get on to it to say that I just had an idea of mind so we all know the self-aware hsr but it's a yandere au but here comes the plot twist what if you somehow wake up in that world you don't know what's going on but you do know that you are in another world this is how it's going to work but there is a guide AKA your protector and who is going to be guiding and protecting you you also need a couple of friends got that now let's get on to it and I'm going to teach you how to survive and I forgot to mention there are something called fragments which means collect all of them over 12 now here are the outfits for you to travel in

Be extremely careful because there are monsters or whatever they're called but my best solution is to try to not find help I mean try to get help from the citizens but don't get help from the yandere you're asking to get captured

Be prepared for the worst and bad and good at the same time pack a bag though but make sure they don't see it if you're part of the astral Express or any type of organization but they basically are like a yandere pack water and food got that make sure to have a bag though for the fragments of course

Once you found a fragment two or three or one make sure to hide it so no one would know because they would try to break it I mean if they did it probably won't break so yeah

Now what I mean NEVER ever trust any of the citizens let me say this to you if you're in the lofu you are done okay done because the citizens can just straight up I don't know don't believe it because hey why would their general do this I mean he is the hot shot though so don't even think about it

Train everyday got that you are going to need the skills intelligence everything or not intelligence to escape these cuckoo people you got that you can wheel whatever weapon you want but always train and prepare for the bad and worse okay

And that should be all now I'm going to say this do you need to be aware of the fact that you can't exactly trust everybody you know okay in that world if you're in the xianzhou luofu I feel sorry because not only you got the attention of the general but his freaking assistance or whatever they're called or the resistance like no my best solution here is that you better pray that you end up in a forest cuz I rather be in a forest then be in the xianzhou luofu you got me messed up I ain't going to either of those no no anyways have a good day everyone

[redpenship]

I was wondering from in your Buzzsaw Dilemma fanfic, if Sonic may have developed lasting insecurities specifically over steadily becoming more powerless to stop Eggman. Sure the Empire became a lot less bad, but it seemed from Sonics pov that just kinda happened. Meanwhile the consequences became too dangerous for him to destroy most of Eggmans structure and badniks. Even if he'd hide it I think that powerlessness could greatly bother him.

Though i've just realized that you'll probably have more to show about how Sonic handled everything in the sequel fic you're planning. So I'm not sure how much you'd wanna reveal about your ideas here.

This is definitely going to be part of Sonic's story in the sequel, but none of it will be surprising to the reader anyways so I don't mind talking about it. If anything, I would literally spoil the entire sequel if you asked me to, I don't actually care very much haha.

[long post ahead]

I've always kind of believed that Sonic has a somewhat worse time than Tails during the events of the fic, particularly in the sense that although Tails' situation sucks absolute ass, he's at least in the loop about what's really going on. Sonic's perspective is rather bleak: a kid he's growing fond of suddenly dies, and then a couple of weeks later he loses any ability to fight back against Eggman. He has a small victory on Angel Island, but this is ultimately short-lived.

Chapters 4-6 are important for his character, since he really just experiences loss after loss with no ability to stop it. His attempt to hide the Chaos Emeralds results in Amy losing her home, and any guilt he feels over this is only made worse by Eggman winning the fight for the emeralds in the end anyways. Sonic isn't stupid--at this point, he's well aware that he was tricked into collecting the emeralds for Eggman. However, he definitely feels kind of stupid, and especially frustrated with himself for basically ruining Amy's life (even if it wasn't really his fault).

Shortly after, he tags along with Amy and Knuckles on their base raids, but the exploding Badniks make him effectively useless and all he can really do it support the others during their fights. This makes Sonic feel really bad for a few reasons: 1) He can't do anything. 2) The way he sees it, Amy and Knuckles were both kind of dragged into this because of him and it isn't fair that they have to do all the heavy-hitting for him. 3) He is now aware that Eggman is a bit "smarter" so to speak, but doesn't know what he's planning and isn't confident enough in himself to start guessing. The base raids are a band-aid solution to what he knows will be a much bigger problem down the line.

These three points kind of compound into more guilt and frustration when Eggman traps Knuckles on Angel Island. Sonic is pretty certain that Eggman is lying about the bombs, but remains unable to convince Knuckles, who can very easily point to the exploding badniks as proof that Eggman isn't above making this kind of play. Sonic continues to largely blame himself here, as he believes that if he could still defeat badniks, Eggman never would have become successful enough to control someone as he did Knuckles.

Chapter six onwards is when the broader world dynamics come into play. Sonic is very aware of the planet's recent history--the flashback in chapter 2 isn't Sonic giving Tails a nickname, but rather a real "Mobian" name since Miles is English--and knows what it would mean to have Eggman take over the east pacific islands. It's worth noting that Vanilla's story about the fire only happened around seven years before Sonic was born, so you are free to consider the implications of what it means for Sonic to have grown up as parentless kid on South (or Christmas) Island.

After Eggman takes over the islands, and especially after the human states take over the other Mobian territories, is the point where I think he would feel the most powerless. His inability to stop Eggman caused a domino effect leading to the complete domination of his planet. Both Sonic and Tails feel responsible for letting this happen, as though they were both mutually enabling the empire and other states.

The reveal of Alhazen's identity, while a relief to Sonic, also only serves to reaffirm all his insecurity about being the cause of the empire's success. Not only was he powerless to stop everything going on, but he now knows that Tails had been caught in the chemical factory because Sonic hadn't been keeping a close enough eye on him. Tails might think "oh, I was the gasoline, I enabled Eggman and served as the key to the empire's success", but Sonic blames himself for Tails being in that position in the first place. The creation of Alhazen is a direct result of a single mistake: running ahead and forgetting to let the little kid behind him catch up.

Although Mobians in general kinda end up in a better place thanks to Tails' deterrence, the fact that he was incapable of doing anything to help during such a critical moment (well, "moment" meaning basically anything from chapter 4 onward) is going to stick with him probably for the rest of his life. Poor Sonic </3

(very long post haha. ty for your question!!!)

[elsfairy]

Sevika accidentally exploding at you after a hard day at work, then later realising her mistake and doing literally anything to make it up to you

a/n: lol, I apologize if this is too sad or half-assed, it's a shitty day. this was only supposed to be short... shit.

just wanna put it out there that I don't think it's something that happens all of the time. she loves you and truly cares about you & your feelings so if she were to ever get mad, she would walk it off until she cooled down. That being said, it probably does happen when she's been working for so long and all she wants to do is sit the fuck down and forget about her day.

It wasn't that she intended for it to happen. You were just simply asking her if she wanted something to eat, or drink, and yet that small question made her snap. Sure you've seen her angry before, but never towards you. She got annoyed, or moody but other than that, she never shouted at you.

"Can you just, shut up for five fucking minutes? I'm tired"

Not the fuckin way she wanted to go about that conversation. She knew damn well you were sensitive. Sevika knew that shouting at you wouldn't fix her problem of being angry at work. Yet those words were instantly regretted when she noticed your smile falter as quickly as it appeared. Yeah, she fucked up.

The only thing she looked forward to after working was coming home to you, her Sweetheart. It wasn't that she meant to shout at you, everything was just getting on top of her and instead of getting up and walking away like she is used to doing when she was mad, she didn't. And yet? she knew to give you space. Because just because you loved her, you needed that moment to yourself while she sorted herself out.

Sevika always knew her mistakes the minute they happened. It didn't take her long to realize she was angry at the wrong person. You had done nothing but care for her, and look after her. You're the only person who she'd let this close to her, and knowing she had upset you? made her more upset than angry.

Was a weird setup but she would leave you be for a solid 30 minutes just to fix herself. She would take a short walk around the living room, pacing back & forth, having inner battles with her head, telling her she needed to just calm the fuck down because you didn't do anything wrong.

Rushing around your small apartment trying to find a solution. Flowers? or would you just throw them back at her? Chocolate? or would you throw them in the trash? Could even find your favorite food in the streets, but again, would you refuse to eat it because she shouted at you? would buying.. no, she can't just bribe you. no.

Yes, you were sensitive to many things, but you could never stop yourself when it came to curling up on her side of the bed, because it was hers and it smelt like her. As much as you'd like to be angry at her for the outburst, you did understand that she's been working harder & longer and it wasn't her fault. You understood she was exhausted, but still she didn't need to shout.

No doubt she finds you, curled up with her pillow to your chest after the 30 minutes are up and she feels god awful that she can hear you sniffling because of her. Doesn't get nervous, but when it involves you? god she's terrified you're gonna be angry this time.

"Babe?"

Tries not to chuckle when you cover your face with her fuckin pillow.

"I shouldn't have done that. It's not your fault. I shouldn't have shouted at you over something that's not your fault, never your fault. I'm just really tired, and I know that's not an excuse and it won't make up for telling you to shut the fuck up.. I am sorry.. if you want me to leave you alone for a while, I can do that.. just know that I didn't mean it.. i love you"

You know she had trouble voicing her feelings but you couldn't help the small smile that appeared on your face. of course she was looking around nervously and not even aware you were on the verge of giggling.

"I knew i should have gone with buying you flowers"

"Flowers? if you buy me flowers.. i will forgive you.."

Now you're bribing her?? the nerve on you.

"Fine, I will go and buy you every flower I can find it means you forgive me"

"I love you"

It's really fuckin hard to be angry at each other.

[electronicbreadpatrol]

People don't understand psychoanalysis and they are worse off for it . Le jbp meme. He is right to make the way ssri lobster comment, but it is irresponsible of him to make it a sort of wide spread solution to depression. And prescribing 'adhd' patients ssris is also quite stupid. And I am probably more qualified than most, as I was in training for psychoanalysis, and lacans whole point is that you can't overcome the symptom you can only accept it. And modern medicine quite literally is marketed as "over coming the symptom." Until the patient stops taking anti depressants and kills themself. Which in a round about way does overcome the symptom, but only because you're dead. And medication in terms of the mind doesn't cure things, but modern medicine is based off the faulty premise that most people are better taking meds.

Its like when that guy from Jay & silent Bob lost weight, he thought he would be happy but he wasn't. "Oh if I just get this one thing then everything will be okay." But then your grandma gets cancer, or your mother gets ill and you have to be here care taker. Its like wanting to be rid of someone, all that you get out of that is finding another person to dislike.

People think they're qualified when they're not, science, politics, psychoanalysis, these are effectively impossible professions. Ultimately you can only make someone aware you can't rid them of things that make them human.

Its like saying "give me an objective definition of love." You could say "well love is giving something you don't have, to a person that doesn't want it." Or asking "why do you love me ?" Is what you're feeling love if you have reasons? You can't even transcribe your thoughts in their entirety to another person, and you're convinced you can describe the most complicated of feelings.

It doesn't really mean anything for me to say medicine is good or bad either. Life is not so simple, and it evades almost every attempt to paint it as simple. It is precisely the opposite of that. Or "i don't know if I'm right, I just know that you're wrong."

[shallowseeker]

SAM, if I were your brother, I'd have hit you in this episode. Or at the very least put hair-dye in your shampoo!

Ok, so I finally finished re-watching Don't Go Into the Woods, and I noticed that Sam is doing the same thing he did with Claire Novak a little bit!

///

So, at the start of the episode, he doesn't even seem all that aware of the stress Jack, Dean, Cas are under. In the previous episode, Peace of Mind, Sam is wrapped up in his own grief and failings, and Cas steps in to mentor him (note Cas also wanted to let Dean get some much-needed sleep).

Here, in Don't Go Into the Woods, Sam starts out gung-ho about the hunt, but by the end of the episode, he's clamped onto his moral-fixation-of-the-moment, inspired by the case-of-the-week, where a Dean-and-Cas coded sheriff has lied to a son to protect him.

///

And here's the thing. I's a little bit true, right? Dean is tiptoeing around Jack, chipperly telling him that "his mission is SHOPPING!"

BUT.

Sam's being sanctimonious-Sam here.

Dean's been the one trying to take care of Sam AND Jack when Sam was running everyone ragged by diving into case after case...when Sam was trying to forget about losing the AU hunters.

Now, weeks later, Sam checks back in to trying to be apart of the co-parenting village.

I'm impressed Dean is keeping patience enough to listen to him. I'd have laid on Baby's horn and screamed, probably. Or turned on heavy-metal and let it rattle the windows.

DEAN: So telling the kid--you think that's the best idea? SAM: What? You don't? DEAN: It doesn't make his life any better, you know?

Oof. Ow.

Dean is so sad.

He knows something is wrong with his kid, but he doesn't know how to fix it. BECAUSE it's not simple.

But Sam? After weeks of being "out of it," Sam has hyper-focused on The Thing (TM) he thinks is gonna fix it.

For Sam, it's simple. Don't lie, and everything else solves itself! :D Talk, and all your problems just melt away.

DEAN: I took care of it, okay? We took care of it. SAM: No, no Dean. We did not take care of it.

(BRB, hitting Sam with a newspaper.)

Sam is framing this as a "Dean is so controlling" issue, when in fact, it's a part of the larger "Sam is checking out," one.

And hey--we are absolutely sympathetic to Sam checking out, to using hunting to ease his turbulence.

He's not the only character to do so!

However, Sam is a character that tends to check out, come back, and immediately go into sanctimonious LECTURE mode:

SAM (judgily): No, no Dean. We did not take care of it. You did.

Yeah, Sam. That's kind of the whole friggin' point here!!!

For weeks now, Dean and Cas having been taking trying their darnedest to care of YOU, of Jack, of everything! Dean is even the one who checked in on the phone with your friend ROWENA.

Cas is going the other direction, taking on too much. He's out trying to take care of things ON HIS OWN AS YOU SPEAK. Dean's on the -hold-down-the-fort-homefront, and Cas is on the big-solution-oriented-battlefront.

All Dean does is exhale a little. "Ha..."

SAM: And do you think you really took care of it the right way?

....

......................................

Sam. Sammy.

....

Anyway, so Dean. He's hit with this...blunt, hamfisted unkindness rom Sam after his Michael-possession and superhuman efforts to take care of everyone, so he scrambles.

DEAN: "Jack said he was fine."

And obviously, Dean knows Jack isn't fine.

HE'S the one that was wanting to give Jack more space and time before hunting, after all. And in the beginning of this ep, Sam wasn't even thinking about Jack's wellbeing at all. It just...hasn't been on his radar. He was the one berating Dean for not wanting to bring Jack along and sassily reminding him that Jack was (via Donatello) "is in the clear."

And so, Sam pushes the lying issue:

SAM: "He's a kid. And when we were kids, how many times did we tell dad we say were fine just to make him happy?"

...

Oh.

Like you did earlier this very episode, Sam?

*coughs*

Sigh.

///

In the context of the last few weeks and his cluelessness in the beginning of this episode, wanna know why Sam is using this issues to throw such a bitch-fit?

Because now that Sam's checked into the village parenting club again, he's latching onto something that's easier to control than everything else: words.

Cause Sam's simplifying the whole sitch.

(It's why Sam's boundaries with Jack tend to be "easy-mode" parenting, like his berating Jack's sugary sweets/diet. These are tasks that allow Sam to remain "the good guy in Jack's corner" without doing the "hard-mode" parenting that turns the parent into a Bad Guy.)

And Sam he thinks talking out "the truth" will magically fix Jack's complex issues...ones Sam's been conveniently ignoring for weeks.

///

And Dean is being so beautifully understanding about it. Acquiescing and trying things Sam's way.

///

Sam slinks in the background at first, letting Dean do the greeting and the talking at first, waiting for his moment to swoop in and provide "sage, Sammy-time advice" That he has no doubt been rehearsing silently in the car.

And Dean...despite shielding Jack from the truth, is being honest in other emotional ways. He emphasizes how he didn't particularly like the gross parts of the hunt.

[[Remember, in the very beginning of the episode, Sam judgmentally raked Dean over the FUCKIN' COALS for jumping at the sight of the dead body. "How many years you been doing this job, Dean? You're embarrassing me here.")]]

///

Enter Sam. Parent mode activated!

God help us.

DEAN, comically annoyed that Jack didn't get the beer...

....and MAYBE wondering if Sam's bull-in-the-China-shop parenting is going to work right here at this ill-timed moment or not.

The thing is, Sam is right about some aspects of this! It's a good thing to talk to Jack about his powers! Like how Cas needs to talk to Jack about the snake! How Dean needs to stop being so afraid of the truth that he goes into denial mode.

BUT!

At its base, the Sam method tends to chafe.

Jack's been INCREDIBLY defensive lately, something Cas and Dean know well and have clearly talked about with each other freely. In Peace of Mind, they both used the snake to talk to Jack soas not to trigger Jack's defensiveness.

But Sam? Sam's been way outta the loop. And it shows.

SAM: Jack LISTEN. Dean and I wanted to talk to you about your powers.

And again, I'm not saying Sam's wrong. He's just...unfortunately very Sam about things even when he's right. He's able to occasionally give good advice, like to Mary about AU Bobby!

There's no real...100% wrong stance here.

After all, maybe it would've been better for Jack to come along with them (or maybe it would've gone terribly)?

And Dean may have good intention in wanting to lie to protect his son Jack, but Dean definitely doesn't want his partner to lie to him to spare him pain.

(Or, actually, via the script, that's not quite true. He SIMULTANEOUSLY wants Cas to tell him about the snake, and he DOESN'T want Cas to tell him about the snake. Lol, oh the humanity.)

///

ANYHOO. Dean gracefully enters the conversation, trying to be frank but IMHO clearly having misgivings about this approach and timing:

DEAN: It was crappy of us not to tell you. You know, we were trying to be nice. 'Cause we care about you. But because we care about you, you deserve the truth.

And Jack has a moment of indecision here, clearly thinking about his own lie. Ordinarily, Jack might come clean about how his powers injured someone (and then healed them). But not now. Not with how things have been lately.

But here...psychologically wounded from consuming Michael's grace, feeling flat inside, feeling guilty and disconnected from everything...he remains quiet.

Not to mention, Sam's up in his face like this:

///

Jeebus. No wonder Jack didn't say anything.

Make no mistake, Jack is annoyed by the constant hovering. He says as much in Game Night, but something about this cerebral-scripted-Sam-method IMHO works the least with Jack.

(We see that in Tombstone, too.)

I think Dean realizes that Jack's withdrawing here, that this method, despite it's moral clarity, wasn't entirely effective or successful for getting through to Jack:

At least with Cas, Jack allowed himself to get mad, to speak freely. (Same with Mary in Game Night. He lets his real emotions show.)

But this? Sam's pushing?

He shuts down:

Dean tips his head back, like "Oh crap." Perhaps thinking to himself, HOLY MOLEY THAT DID NOT WORK AT ALL.

He even makes a Cas face about it:

And the fun part is: Jack knows that Dean knows.

You can see it in the flash of eyes he gives him here. But when Jack looks back to Sam, he does this little "I'm so innocent" act.

And Sam? Sam looks overjoyed because he's a dumbass who missed...everything.

Dean on the other hand...is...more understanding of the fuck-all progress that actually made here. Which is basically none. He swings his arms like, "Whelp. That was useless."

Sam is like YISSS I HAVE DONE IT I HAVE CONQUERED PARENTING IN ALL MY WISDOM

DEAN (sarcastically): Great. And I guess I'll go get some beer.

[somebodytolove31]

Oh god are people actually saying that being against the two headed calf being kept alive is ableist. Are you serious.

Look man, I'm all for keeping animals alive if possible, I don't think all animals with any single deformity should be put down immediately, a lot of animals in captivity can survive even with the "worst" deformities or illnesses. I myself have taken care of animals that would have not survived without my help, and sure they didn't live as long as they should, but they lived well in their final moments and that's all that matters to me.

But that's the issue. The two headed calf is not going to live well.

I'm not a licensed vet, but there is just so many things wrong, the poor thing cannot even stand, they can barely eat, and it's just going to get worse as they age.

"But what does that mean for disabled people?"

Look, I am not physically disabled, but I am well aware of eugenics bullshit about how it would be better to "put down" disabled people. It's a terrible thing, I have seen people say awful stuff about physically disabled people, how it would be better for them to be put down so they are "out of their misery", etc. I don't think that's right, it's actually incredibly disgusting.

Here is the thing: ableism and eugenics is a human concept.

An non human animal doesn't care and will never care about the politics of its existence, their main goal is to live in good conditions (this is what is called animal welfare) and that's it.

So if you have an animal with a condition which has been proven to worsen their quality of life in a way that will make it so they're never in good welfare, even with every single veterinarian in your side, even with human aid, then the most "humane" solution is for the animal to be put down.

I am aware that the owners probably already have a connection to this calf, and so they'll try to do everything in their power to keep them alive, that's their deal and I won't judge them for it. But please, for the love of whatever deity you believe it, don't antrophormize animals, stop equating their conditions to the human condition, this is how we get stuff like the idea that having animals in captivity is slavery. It feels disrespectful to the human issue that you're comparing it to and also the animal doesn't care.