#child and adolescent development class

[timdrake-yumm]

Give me a Bruce who got Dick and his autism brain went: “I need to know everything I can about raising a child” and enrolled in a college child and adolescent development class.

Look. I’m in one right now— not because I’m going to have a kid any time soon, but because I’m a psych major, it fulfills a core requirement, and FHD is just psych-adjacent enough that I don’t care that it’s not technically for my major. Anywhomst, in this class we learn all sorts of stuff, and as we’re learning it, we can apply it to how we interact with the virtual child we’re raising .

(it’s a program called MyVirtualChild™️ that pairs with the textbook we’re reading and it allows us to raise a fake child to 18yrs old on our computers. Usually also gives the child a sibling, but you can’t raise that one to 18. It’s pretty cool— before we started it asked all these questions about if the child was biological, adopted, whether or not we had a partner, and all sorts of stuff about our mental history in order to incorporate enough of it in if we chose for the kid to be biological. Mine was and I had a fake partner. My kid’s name was Simon, he has dyslexia, and I’m very proud of him for being so mathematically/scientifically smart and getting into a good STEM college. His brother is named Timothy and he has ADHD and I love him just as much even though I didn’t get to interact with him as much. Also, the simulation had my partner and I divorce and we both ended up getting new partners, which I had no control over since it technically didn’t have any direct relation to me parenting my children. Anyways I’m still the favorite parents so sucks to be my ex I guess)

Sorry for that rant. The POINT is, I think it would be funny if Bruce were in this class when he first got dick because it would be such a learning experience and also he would get so frustrated over the lack of control he had for the options they give in certain scenarios. Imagine him getting to one of these where he thinks none of the things are the right answer, so he turns to dick and is like “which one do you think we should do, Chum?” And dick chooses the option that no sane person would pick but he’s a kid so he thinks it sounds fun and Bruce is just like “alright, might as well make all the mistakes on the fake kid instead of the real one” and goes for it. Alfred is shaking his head in the background. When Jason comes around Dick claims he’s actually the 4th kid because he has 2 virtual siblings he whole heartedly claims as real ones

[motherlvr]

just friends?

she fell first, he fell harder

wc: 2.2k

pairing: Earth-42! Miles Morales x f! reader

Summary: In the early years of your adolescence, you made the grave mistake of asking Miles to ‘practice kissing’ for future suitors. That mistake would come back to bite you every following day.

Warnings: cursing, childhood friends to lovers, friends that kiss, jealousy, started off the fic with a bang cuz i dont believe in small talk, possessiveness

A/N: what happened to hello? what happened to how are you?

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Your current predicament was straddling Miles' lap as you both kissed like this would be the last time you ever did. His hands grabbed onto your thighs that encased his legs. Pulling away for a second, you watched as a small string of saliva binds both of your lips.

Looking down at him, you asked out of breath, "We're still just friends, right?" The question caught him off guard. But he responds with a teasing smirk, "Yeah, yeah ma. Just friends." You nervously bit your bottom lip, nodding at his response. Wrapping your hands onto his braids, you smashed your lips against his yet again to ignore your conflicted thoughts.

It's times like this when your past mistake comes back to haunt you. And he made sure you never lived it down. The mistake in question was made on the playground with Miles when you were both ten. Being the young and innocent child you were, you proposed to 'practice kissing' for potential lovers in the future. As all kids do. He accepted and it all sprouted from there. You were each other's first kiss.

That first kiss was only one of many to come. You both had urges, after all. Since your younger days, it turned into something a bit more than just practice. But you never gave it a second thought. Until of late. What used to be a silly playground crush on Miles only grew stronger as the years passed by.

In all honesty, you had no clue where you stood with Miles. What were you, friends that kiss periodically? That was how it was, you suppose. But what you did know was that you'd stay by his side no matter the circumstance. Even if it meant that your friendship would never develop into more. Although occasionally you wished you never initiated to 'practice kissing' with him in your naive and prepubescent years. That would solve your problem at its roots and prevent the rapidly growing feelings you had for him. It was no doubt a mistake in your mind.

Separating your lips for a second time, you pulled away again. He stared at you in confusion. You looked frantic, "Shit, what time is it?" Glancing at the time on your phone, you cursed. It was 3:30 pm. "Fuck, I have a date at four o'clock. I gotta go, Miles." You jumped off of Miles' lap on his bed and swiftly started packing up your things.

Miles felt jealousy start to boil within his stomach as his lap felt empty. He was right here, why would you need to go on a date with some other guy? Furrowing his brows, he irritably questioned, "Fuck you mean you gotta date? With who?" He tried to conceal his annoyance but failed miserably.

"Some guy from my physics class asked me out, sorry but I gotta go." Grabbing your bag, you pecked his cheek lightly as a goodbye. Glancing in his mirror one last time, you tamed any stray strands of hair.

Your response only fueled his jealousy, "Do you even know his name?" He started interrogating you.

"Of course I do, it's..." You paused for a second to think, and your conclusion was unclear. Your mind was foggy. "I think it's Javi? Or maybe Jake? Jacob? Shit, I think you kissed the thoughts right out of my brain." You rambled. Your words made him crack a slight smirk, and he said, "Nah, you ain't going on that date ma." pulling you back into his hold by your hips.

"I can't just stand him up, Miles." You told him, starting to regret agreeing on going on the date. "I could take you on a better date than he can, mami." He suggested.

He was full of surprises this afternoon. Usually, he didn't display such possessiveness. You didn't even like the supposed guy you were going on a date with. You just thought he could help you get your mind off of Miles for a few minutes.

Raising an eyebrow, you asked, "Is that an offer?" "It's a promise." He responded without an ounce of hesitation. The way he was staring at you almost made you take him up on it. "Tempting, but I'll have to take a rain check. See you tomorrow. Alright, Miles?" You waved goodbye and walked out his door.

"'Ight, ma. See you." He gave up. As he watched you walk out the door of his room, he groaned in frustration.

The unfortunate recipient of his frustrations was a punching bag in his Uncle Aaron's apartment. Striking the bag with all the force he could muster, the punching bag rumbled on the chain it was strung upon. His knuckles were slowly getting bloodier with each hit, but he couldn't feel it. He could only feel you. It was the only thing he wanted to feel, anyway.

His Uncle inevitably noticed his behavior. Cleaning off one last knife, he set it down and walked towards his nephew. He held the punching bag steady and questioned him, "What's up with you, man?"

Continuing to throw punches at the unsuspecting punching bag, he responded sharply. "It's nothin'. Just my girl going on a date with some other guy." His nostrils flared slightly.

With those two sentences, his Uncle understood his sour mood. "That doesn't sound like nothing. And you just let her? I don't think you're my nephew, man." Shrugging, Miles took a quick water break. Taking a long swig of water, he replied, "You know her, she's stubborn." He had introduced you to his Uncle a while back. His whole family knew you, in fact. Every time he went back home, his mother asked about you. How you are, and when he’s going to tell you how he feels. It seemed everyone knew. Except you.

"Hey. If you want this girl, you gotta show her before someone else does." His Uncle wisely told him. Miles stopped hitting the punching bag and started wrapping his bloodied knuckles in bandages.

Those words stuck with Miles for the rest of the night as he made his way back to his dorm.

Laying on the bed of his dorm, Miles stayed up thinking about what his Uncle told him. His dorm felt empty without you there, he realized.

The next afternoon in his dorm again, you laid on your stomach on his bed, kicking your feet in the air. You frequented his dorm so often that you were more of a roommate to him than his actual one. Glancing at Miles, you noticed the bandages on his knuckles. “Ay, Miles. What happened?” You asked him, taking his hand into yours to inspect it. He disregarded it, "Don’t worry 'bout it.” He continued, addressing the elephant in the room. “How was your date with Javi, Jake, or Jacob?"

You casually respond, "Actually, his name was Jason. And it was fine, I suppose. Although I called him by the wrong name a few times until he corrected me." You mumbled the last part, embarrassed. Not to mention, you almost called him by Miles' name. Not just once but multiple times.

"Just fine, huh?" He replied, intrigued. And slightly satisfied that you didn't have too good of a time.

"Yeah. I mean, he tried kissing me by the end. But his breath reeked of garlic, so I looked the other way and pretended I didn't notice." You said with a grimace, pretending to get flashbacks. In reality, Miles ruined kissing for you. You couldn't stop seeing Miles' face as your date was leaning into you. He wasn't him.

Stifling a laugh, he grinned at you. "So, that mean you wanna take me up on my offer?" You whipped your head to him in surprise as you said, "You were serious about that? I mean, I'm down." Friends go on dates, don't they? You thought to yourself.

Nodding his head, he said, "I made a promise, ma." He started to stand up, gently grabbing your hand to pull you up with him. Locking your hand onto his arm, he led you out of campus.

Miles brought you to an endearing cafe only a few blocks away from the campus. A diamond in the rough, you thought. As you both sat down across from each other, you felt your nerves spiking.

Truth be told, he still made you nervous at times. Although you've undoubtedly been friends with him for longer than either of you could remember. The both of you ordered food and you started to speak, "So, you take all your girls here, Miles?" Putting on a calm facade, you teased him. You were glad he couldn't see your leg bouncing with anxiousness underneath the table.

He let out a slight puff at you, "What girls? Solo eres tú, mami. You know that." Your heart fluttered slightly at his words. Widening your eyes, you murmured, "I didn't know that, actually." You cleared your throat and enunciated, "How'd you find out about this place then?" Your voice piqued with interest. You didn't believe he would frequent this cute cafe in his spare time. It wasn't exactly his scene, so to say.

"This is where my dad took my ma on their first date." He said with an unusually soft tone, staring into your eyes for your reaction. You would never guess it, but he saw a future with you. Ever since that day on the playground, he knew it was real. His affection for you never dimmed since then.

As you both locked eyes, you realized then that he took you to a place that was sentimental to him and his family. This cafe was where his parent’s story first started. All of a sudden, this date felt a bit more serious than he had originally let on.

Under his stare, you felt your face go warm, "That's beautiful, Miles." After a few moments, you continued, "I suddenly feel like I'm intruding, though." His response came quick, "Never, mami. What makes you say that?" You confessed the thoughts that swarmed your brain right when you walked into the cafe, "I mean, this place feels a bit intimate for people that are 'just friends'" You said with air quotations.

"I think we're past that stage. Don't you, princesa?" You nodded at him. He was right, you thought. After all, friends don't usually have an oral fixation for their friend's mouth.

Your orders came at the same time. You both comfortably conversed. It was a nice change of pace after your date from yesterday. After you both ate your orders and paid, Miles and you walked down the street with his fingers settling on your waist. You spoke up, "Thanks for bringing me here today, Miles. I had a good time with you." You wanted nothing more than to reach up and kiss him til he couldn't breathe, but resisted.

"Anytime. If it meant you'd stop going on dates with other guys." He said casually, but his grip firmed on your waist. Your head turned to him at his words. After your date with Miles, you were sure he ruined dates for you as well. Just like he ruined your ability to kiss anyone else. "Yeah, I'm not even sure I'll want to go on a date with anyone else after this." You said under your breath. He silently grinned.

As you both made your way back to Miles' dorm, the urge to brush your lips against his only became stronger. You could tell he felt it, too. You noticed how he walked a bit faster to go back to his dorm.

Once the door to his room opened, you gave in to your desires and pulled him in by his hoodie to connect your lips. He backed you against his door as his hands traveled all over your body like it was a new territory he was unfamiliar with. He couldn't get enough of you. Groaning into your mouth, he deepened the kiss impossibly more. You both parted for a moment to get a quick breath of air.

Staring into his eyes, you told him before you lost the courage, "I don't want to be just friends. Friends that kiss sometimes when they feel like it." He looked at you like you just told him he won the lottery. In his eyes, this scenario was better than winning the lottery. He grinned as he kissed you again. Full of heat, his kiss spoke louder than words. "Then why don't we be lovers that kiss?” He pulled away to whisper against your lips. “Yeah, I think I like that idea.” You smiled against his lips.

That kiss from yesterday would be the last kiss you shared. As friends, that is. And this would be your first kiss as lovers. From the very first chapter of your life, he was there. And to the present-day chapter of your life, he's still here with you. In the end, It'll always be him and you.

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solo eres tú - it’s only you

princesa - princess

[gardenpatchbaby]

I am so sick of fic writers making 10-year-olds talk like babies.

I work with children and have taken numerous classes on adolescent development. Here's some of what I learned because I might actually kill someone if I read another fic where an older child is essentially a four-year-old. (No hate to anyone in particular. Children are confusing.)

(Slight trigger warning for 13 & 14 year-olds. Puberty/sex mentioned)

(Most info is from Chip Wood's Yardsticks: Child and Adolescent Development Ages 4-14)

[mapoeggplant]

skip to loafer and the "i love you as a person" message

skip to loafer general spoilers

one thing that i'll always be very grateful of skip to loafer is really how they highlight so much the "i love you as a person" mindset — and how that is present in all the narrative, not only on shima and mitsumi's relationship.

this is not only important for the story's target audience, but it also opens the door to a discussion about the value of platonic relationships, which are often "denied" because they are not as "important" as romantic love. and this happens not only when mistumi tells shima that she will like him no matter what happens or who he is — the message spreads to other characters as well.

one of the examples i love most is the moment mika confesses to shima. throughout the chapter, all of her insecurities are exposed and she tirelessly hurt herself saying things like how she doesn't deserve to have someone who likes her in any way (a reflection of the way she was treated throughout her adolescence). this dissolves when shima refuses to throw away the valentine's gift she made especially for him and thanks her for all the care she took with it — an affirmation that her hard work has been recognized and appreciated. this shows mika that she is a person who deserves love and to be valued. for the first time, mika understands that she is being seen as a person, as someone who deserves to be treated well and be recognized.

i know that many people must be thinking that there was an intention for a romantic development in this scene and yes, i agree. after all, mika went to him to confess her feelings. but the way in which the scene was handled makes me think that being seen as a valid person to have feelings was worth much more to her than having her romantic feelings reciprocated — and this, in my opinion, comes back to prominence in chapter 54, when nao, once again, recognizes her pain and connects with it (the appreciation of the "self" when you find someone who understands where you’re hurt).

(...)

(this part wasn't included on the original analysis, but later on I decided to add:

oh my god i was so focused on some very specific scenes for mika that this one slipped my mind and i feel so bad for that! this moment is one of the most important for mika’s development and it also highlight the first time she was seen as a person (by no other than nao). since that day, mika holds nao to a very important place in her heart. i feel that she, at that time, said exactly what mika needed to hear to feel validated and to feel comfortable enough to just go back and spend the night with the girls. if it wasn’t for nao at that time, mika would probably go home and regret ever making this decision — and this ties directly to chapter 54.)

(...)

the second character i want to talk about is yuzuki and all the times he had his identity erased thanks to other people's selfishness.

since the opening of chapter 38, yuzuki talks about how she was always seen as someone whose time was numbered: there was a countdown until the day she achieved "true beauty" and began to be an object of desire, no longer a person. this not only happens thanks to the disgusting adult men that surround you, but also thanks to the friends she tried to make in middle school, one of the most important times of a child’s life, phase where they are beginning to recognize themselves as a person.

yuzuki is simply seen as a object of status to the boys in her class, while to the girls, she’s someone who was only interested in "diminishing others with her beauty" — something she never did, but never even had the chance to defend herself. 

Thanks to that, yuzu is forced to grow up without having an identity of her own, but one forced on her, causing her to rebel and refuse to open up to new people. she had her feelings denied, being defended only when there was a sexual/romantic interest in the mix and forced to believe that she was being selfish for denying such a privilege of being "spoiled" and "admired" by everyone, all the time.

yuzu gets her chance to be valued as a person when she enters high school and meets mitsumi and the other girls. she is, for the first time, seen as a person, seen as a yuzuki, seen as someone who has the right to impose herself and be selfish, something she has never been able to be before. her feelings are not diminished or seen as "not valid enough” but most importantly: she’s finally heard. 

and then, i think we have one of the most important “i love you like a person” moment: the breakup chapter. chapter 46 is a huge twist to skip to loafer’s romantic narrative, which i myself appreciate a lot. kind of a personal twist here, but it’s a breath of fresh air for someone like me, a demi girl, who always had a little trouble with understanding love when i was their age — and now, basically ten years later, mitsumi’s words not only reached shima, but it also reached me and other thousands of readers who needed to hear something like that.

but well, let’s get back on track. chapter 46 is one of the first times we see shima talking about his past relationship with other people and going a little more in-depth with his relationship with his mom. the core message of it all and the core line that guides all of his personal connections is very simple and highlight why shima have so many trust issues: no one ever saw him as a person, but only as a status object, as someone who was there to be used for their own benefit. shima was used by his mother when she forced him to keep on acting, was used by his peers in a situation a little similar with yuzuki (ofc not completely equal, because we need to remember that gender roles also have a huge influence on how both stories developed (see ririka, for exemple. i have a whole thread on her as well, but this is another topic), when both felt like they were nothing but puppets to the ones around him. 

when shima is sitting by mitsumi’s side, he starts to wonder if he really deserves all of that, if he really deserves someone like mitsumi near him. he doesn’t understand his feelings as a whole, because he was never given the opportunity to really explore them and try to dissect it all — this is brought up once again on chapter 53, when he starts to discuss with mukai what it means to love someone in a romantic way (and why loving them as a person isn’t enough on society’s eyes). 

he’s not, at any point, using mitsumi or making fun of her feelings. imagine if you were never allowed to think for yourself and then, suddenly, you have the freedom to do so. how does one express something they never had? how does one understand what it means to have a feeling, any feeling, if all they ever felt was guilt?

and that’s when the bigger bomb hits the scene: mitsumi, seeing how troubled he is, shows how important he is and how she values him as a person. it might seem silly to a lot of people, but just hearing someone saying “i will always like you as a person, no matter who you end up being” when all you ever heard in your life was how useless you were, makes you whole world crumble on the spot. he was seen, he was heard, he was understood. mitsumi valued him to the point of assuring him that a romantic relationship wasn’t more important than the platonic one they had. isn’t that beautiful?

to finish it off, i think the conversation the girls have on chapter 57 is also extremely important to the narrative and to the overall message. by not wanting the girls to see shima in a terrible light, mitsumi is, once again, putting their relationship as friends above any other romantic relationship they could have. she shows how much she values him and how much he is important to her — she sees shima as a person, not as an object. 

and then, makoto comes to picture with a beautiful speech about how loving someone (any kind of love, not one or another) is to hope that they are happy, content, being taking care of and being comfortable with their own feelings. by forcing someone to feel anything you selfish want, you’re not valuing them as a person with their own feelings and insecurities, but only seeing them as a way to satisfy yourself.

of course, i’m not here to defend everyone and say that they never hurt anyone. yes, shima did hurt mitsumi and she still not completely over it, but she’s way worried with losing him as a friend than forcing something out of a relationship that both don’t feel very comfortable with. mitsumi herself is also someone who is slowly understanding her feelings and understanding what it means to love romantically — but never putting the platonic side aside, since there is no right way to love someone.

thank you so much for reading!! i hope i was clear about the points i was trying to bring up, but i'm always open to discussion!!! 💛

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Editor’s note: This hypothetically open letter was originally posted by its anonymous author on Medium and was rapidly removed as “hate speech.” We found it to be a refreshing dose of honesty, a charming and relatable open letter from one parent to other parents (not to the child, obviously!) about dealing with a challenging and dangerous moment in raising children, especially “weird” adolescents who search for their identities harder than others and risk making life-damaging mistakes in a way never before possible. We are reposting it here on New Discourses with the permission of the author.

--

By: Donna M.

Published: Mar 5, 2021

My dear, sweet, son,

I’ve got to break it to you: you’re not trans, you’re just weird.

This seems like a cruel thing to point out right now. Clearly, you are struggling and feeling pretty awful about things. I can see that you are in a rough patch, and one of the first rules of parenting is to not pile on. The world is pretty heavy on your shoulders. You’re fifteen. There’s a pandemic going on. But here I come anyway. I’m about to throw more on you.

When you were two ­– a happy, chubby, little tyke in pull-ups, you watched the world with wary eyes behind the thumb in your mouth. You leapt with joy in the rhythm of the toddle music classes. You chattered and shared stories about your stuffed animals. You loved your little sister. Enjoyed cookies and finger painting. That was all pretty normal.

But you also started to count to one thousand on our walks. And you started to call out the store names as we drove around. And you preferred reading books rather than playing with the other two-year-olds at preschool. And you hated sitting in the circle when instructed. And you hated the feel of blue jeans. And you threw big tantrums when you lost any kind of game. In other words, you started to show signs that you were… weird.

The grandparents were the first to notice. They said gentle things like “You oughta keep an eye on that one,” and sent us links to Wall Street Journal articles about child prodigies. And then the other parents in the play groups started to comment; “He’s pretty intense, huh?” And the teachers were on to it pretty quickly. They started to use fancy terms like “asynchronous development.”

By third grade, we realized you were different, but we still didn’t realize you were weird. Truthfully, we’re used to people like you. Our family is full of engineers, artists, musicians, computer programmers, and a lot of “free-thinkers.” Family gatherings always have chess, political debates, and quartets around the piano. That’s just us.

And besides, you had a small but solid group of friends. There was Pokémon, then Minecraft, then Magic, then Dungeons and Dragons, then Catan. You were never in the center of things, but you weren’t alone.

But then, in middle school, things started to change. By 7th grade, school finally started to require some effort, and it turned out you were pretty disorganized. People kept calling you smart, but the teachers were annoyed at your humor, and frustrated that you wouldn’t or couldn’t follow the guidelines for assignments. Classmates didn’t appreciate your frank (if accurate) descriptions of their efforts. I’ll admit, we got pretty frustrated with you, too.

And then puberty arrived, with its triple curse of acne, braces, and bizarre growth. The girls appeared to have it all together (I know they don’t, but they do appear that way). And the popular boys seemed to know exactly what to do. They can talk sports to each other, they brag about their romantic exploits. They never get in trouble for stupid reasons like forgetting an assignment three times in a row. Your anxiety started to kick in, and it seemed like you got smaller. And some of your guy friends moved on.

So you drifted over to the weird-o crowd. Well — I’m not sure what you call yourselves, but that’s what we would have called you back when I was in school. At different schools these are the geeks, or the theater kids, the math team kids, or the artsy-fartsy kids. This used to be where the gay kids ended up, but I think they’re more dispersed now. You get some kids whose parents are going through some rough times. Some girls with anorexia. A few boys who are edgy and angry. Kids with a great sense of humor and big hearts.

And some of these kids are really passionate. Just full of righteous anger about the injustices of the world. And some of them are dramatic. And truthfully, that looks pretty attractive to you. Because you share some of that confusion and anger about the world. And though you may not be sure what you think or what you feel, you are certain you don’t want to be on the bad side. You certainly aren’t like those popular boys with their suave charm and dominating manners. You’re not like them at all.

You’re actually more like those vibrant girls who can speak for hours about their ideas. Well, you would be if you could find the words to speak. And there is something so fascinating about those girls, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. You’d never think about talking to those girls anyway, because that’d be weird. Because you are weird. You’ve never been good at chit-chat, or eye contact. Or girls. And besides, you wouldn’t want them to get the wrong impression. You understand that your peers are starting to date, but you really don’t see the point. Sex is still gross and weird to you. It’s better to just call yourself “asexual” or “pansexual.” It’s like a get-out-of-jail-free card that helps you avoid the whole mess. And your group of friends tell you that you are super cool and brave for being able to say that about yourself.

But you’ve fallen into a funk. Anyone can see that. But computer games help. And there’s always trying to beat the speed record for that one game you’re kinda good at. And that one guy on reddit always has good tricks. And the people on that message board seem to get your humor.

So when one of them posts a meme about trans rights, it makes sense that you’d check it out. You’re curious! You’re a free thinker! You’re not like the normies. And the web quiz hits home. You do feel discomfort with your body. You don’t like sports. You do wonder what it would be like to be a girl. You’ve always felt like something was different about you.

You’re right. There is something different about you.

But you’re not trans, you’re just weird.

So we’re right here for you. We’ll always be here for you. But those online folks who urge you to “crack your trans egg” and rush to hormones and surgeries don’t know you at all. They don’t know that gifted kids and ADHD kids and Autism kids and Asperger’s kids are slower to develop emotionally and sexually. They don’t know that sexuality takes time and experience to figure out, and that the majority of trans teens seeking medical treatment haven’t even masturbated or kissed someone yet. They don’t know that 80% of trans children end up becoming comfortable with their birth sex if you just give them time. They don’t know that there are increasing numbers of desisting and de-transitioning people in their twenties. They don’t realize that hormones permanently stunt your growth, decrease your IQ, and can cause sterility. They don’t know that these hormones are prescribed off-label and there’s no research on the long-term outcomes. They don’t even know that the most recent research shows that short-term outcomes are clearly worse.

They don’t realize that you’re weird. But I do. You’re weird, kiddo. You’ll figure that out in a year or two. But that’s okay. We are all weird. And I love you anyway. You’re going to be just fine.

==

You always hear stories and justifications like, "she never liked wearing a dress," or "he always hated having his hair cut." This is post-hoc confirmation bias. Not only does this confirm everything critics say about this being a movement based on gross stereotypes, but they always leave out things like, "she refused to eat anything yellow," and "he was obsessed with elevator and crossing buttons and would cry if he wasn't the one to light it up."

It's okay to be weird.

[tetsunabouquet]

Ruby Gillman and what its reception showcases what's wrong with children's media today

Here is the link to the specific reblog that contains both a production fantheory about Chelsea and my initial review for anyone interested in that: https://www.tumblr.com/tetsunabouquet/722833498719879168/alright-considering-the-massive-heat-of-the-past?source=share Alright, as an aspiring children's author and as someone studying writing classes with children's literature as the particular focus, I have made a couple of posts about my issues with children's media already, or rather, the problems with the people making and critqueing it. Ruby Gillman's reception, like the reviews from critics and people who dislike the movie alike, actually showcases multiple examples of what makes so many movies/shows aimed at children or the family, poor nowadays: Ruby has been critiqued for being 'too cute', and that they should just 'embrace the monster'. Only this doesn't work when young children are also part of the target demographic. There's a reason to why bad guys are written to be ugly, and why good guys are written to be good looking: It's that the brain of the average child isn't developped enough to understand nuance. The younger the child, the more you have to REMOVE nuance. That's also why, when Queen Nerissa/Chelsea becomes all-powerful, she becomes ugly. It's because she's the bad guy in that moment. It's why she lacks a sympathetic backstory, as we see with a lot of villains nowadays. It's because, again, the more nuance there is to the character, the less a child will actually understand the character. It's why the Gillmans claim they're from Canada: because I've seen enough of American media to know Canadians are practically treated like another species. To a child, this explanation would actually somewhat work, especially to a 6 year old or younger The adults screaming about that and how anyone can see Ruby isn't human are thinking too much like adults. They don't try to see it from a child's perspective, and that's the main core to all the problems behind children's media nowadays: They don't 'dumb' themselves down enough to the perspective of a young child. When watching the movie, I definitely felt like the Gillman family was also close to its ideal target demographic: families with daughters ranged between 10-13 and younger siblings of about 5+ years old. And it did well for a movie aimed at such a group. It lacked enough nuance for young kids to understand, and the theme of womanhood would speak to pre-adolescent girls. Also, the way the media keeps comparing this to Turning Red because they were both magical metaphors for womanhood and female puberty and speaks of the generations of womanhood is annoying. Are you telling me that with the shitload of movies that America produce per year alone, they never produced 2 animated movies dealing with coming of age and manhood in the span of 16 months? This speaks once again, of how men have difficulty relating to female struggles and will hate on a movie centering girls growing up, opposed to how women have little to no difficulty symphatizing and relating to movies of boys growing up. Boys only want male protagonists, whilst we women can care less. The moment we get even more then one animated movie dealing with the idea of female puberty in the span of two years, the press immediately descends to pit one movie against another. Oh my god, imagine being that pathetic. That wouldn't be me.

[shitsolkat-theblog]

ME TALKING ABOUT SOLKAT

I can talk about these bitches for HOURS! This is an analysis of Karkat and Sollux (also as individual characters) and their relationship.

Finally I translated and edited this shit!! Let me know if you find any grammar/spelling/etc errors, google translate is my only beta reader and it’s sad.

Before continuing, some notes:

This is around 6,4k long, I told you I can talk about them A LOT.

English is not my first language, be patient :( 

This is a PERSONAL analysis of the characters and the ship, you’re allowed to call me stupid dumbass (only if you then explain why logically after).

The text will be often “interrupted” by extra (important) notes! Read them pls.

Some of the things here written have been already “spoilered/discussed” by me in my other blogs as well (sollux’s nicknames), (solkat horniness), (solkat quadrants)

I will talk/mention other ships that aren’t Solkat!

Johndave

Johnrose (mention)

Johnvris (mention)

Johnkat

Arasol (an entire section dedicated)

Solfef

Gamkar (in the notes)

Other briefly mentioned ships

Please, note that this is a SOLKAT analysis, done by someone who will suck their dicks all day long, so if you see your ship (mostly with Sollux and Karkat) being “be littled” by me, I’m not doing it on purpose and I’m really trying to be nice while explaining why I prefer them over other ships (I like most of this ships too lol).

WARNING! This is mostly a sexuality analysis at first! It’s inevitable to talk about sexuality when talking about them.

Sollux and Karkat have supposedly been friends since forever. It's implied that they've known each other for a long time, but whether that's the case or not, it doesn't take away from the fact that they're definitely close friends — in every sense of the word. But to understand this better, we first need to understand the characters individually and how they manage to be best friends while fighting every five seconds — and then I'll delve into their relationship itself.

Starting from Karkat: he is an insecure, short-tempered boy who loves romantic stories and who often fantasizes about having a relationship. However, the most important thing to keep in mind about Karkat is that he is practically a teenager (puberty can develop from 10-11 to 14 years old, and he is 13) and as such he has the so-called HORMONE SHOOT in his body.

Karkat is proposed as the complete opposite of John — already just the example of their Aspects: Blood and Breath, which are opposite in the wheel of Aspects — and therefore the way in which they both approach adolescence or, even more specifically, sexuality.

John is almost the stereotype of the innocent child: practically always unaware of what is around him, or somewhat careless, remaining as a pillar of purity and lightness — highlighted by his Class Aspect: Heir of the Breath, which makes him the most childish, light and free of all others. All this also applies to sexuality. His first approach is his non-flirts with Dave(1), which are clearly not serious and very superficial; making more jokes about how much "they're gay and they love each other", but in a very clearly platonic and casual way. On top of that, before meeting Karkat, John never really seems to think about things more impure than just pure romance which he also demonstrates to Rose and, to a small extent, Jade, similar to how a child would bring home a girlfriend than how a pre/adolescent thinks of a person to whom they are sexually/romantically attracted. One might comment that he behaves this way because he is not really romantically attracted to his friends, but one sees him behaving the same way with Vriska, with whom he is explicitly in love — the only difference is that he becomes a simp for her.

In the end John is practically "forced" to think about his sexuality — in a less innocent way, I mean — after his constant texts with Karkat, who is not innocent by any means.

1: John and Dave’s relationships contrasts with Karkat and Sollux’s one - important for later

Finally, after talking about John, let's talk about his opposite, Karkat. What makes him recognizable to kids/teenagers who read Homestuck is also his approach to puberty, which isn't as innocent and carefree as John's, but more chaotic and horny, like that of normal people (ironic that he's not even human).

It's not that it's immediately clear that Karkat speaks more with his dick than with his mouth, but he certainly mentions dicks very often in his monologues, always in a way that doesn't appear Horny™ but actually is quite Horny.

Speaking of John, Karkat shamelessly flirts with him AND his sister. John doesn't understand it at first for the simple fact that Karkat was attempting to pitch flirt with him, a concept that isn't really present in human society, but once he recognized the patterns, he immediately told Karkat that he isn’t gay and Karkat panicked, trying to erase everything he said before.

It's not that he flirts on purpose, his sexuality is intrinsic to everything he does and says — like a normal teenager — and so it's reflected in his dialogue whether he does it on purpose or not — and it doesn't help that he's so devoid of shame.

Now, Karkat is HORNY even on a fetish level, in fact he is one of the characters who shows his sexuality the most (along with Damara, Cronus, all those horny-bitches), to the point that it is literally no longer a secret. It is therefore not strange that he has a kink for exhibitionism, perhaps another factor that contributes to his openly, even unconsciously, flirting. Perhaps his is not even a real fetish, but rather an absence of social education, given by his physical isolation from the rest of the world — to protect himself and not let others discover the color of his blood. In the sense: it is possible that Karkat, famous for reading "romantic comedies" without shame, is not really aware of social norms and therefore has never been taught to Keep It in His Pants™, living his sexuality like hell, even at the expense of important situations — like warning John about the future AND NOT FLIRTING WITH HIM. Those who don't help are the people he talks to the most, first of all his best friend: Sollux Captor.

But before talking about Sollux, a small mention about Karkat: it's true that Karkat always seems to hit on different people, a bit at random, but in reality there is a very specific pattern. He doesn't hit on everyone, much more with those who piss him off at a level higher than simple "annoyance"(2),(3). He is always irritated and takes it out on everyone, yes, but there are those who insist and persevere with him specifically — directly (Terezi, Sollux, partly Jade) or indirectly (John and Gamzee) —, which leads him to the end, until you give him a blow and make him fall in love. Contradictory, I realize, but Karkat's entire fucked up sexuality must be taken into account; which we discussed earlier.

2: This is why ships like Kanaya x Karkat, Nepeta x Karkat or Meenah x Karkat cannot work in my opinions. There is no anger, therefore there is no passion. Except for Nepeta's case, there isn't even any trouble between Karkat, Kanaya and Meenah. They are not couples destined to last (in my opinion!!!)

3: His anger could be a true transposition of his passion. Not in the sense that he gets angry because he loves, but he loves because he gets angry.

And in any case NONE OF THIS necessarily has to do with the pitch quadrant.

Now we can move on to Sollux!

As with Karkat and John, Sollux also has a "human counterpart". Not all trolls have this counterpart, obviously, but since John has a best friend, a best bro, then Karkat has it too. For John, Dave is his best friend with whom he talks all the time, for Karkat it is Sollux, only that Sollux IS NOT "the opposite of Dave", but rather "an alternative Dave".

As highlighted by the introduction of the two (Dave) (Sollux 1) (Sollux 2), both have many parallels between them. Both are the "cool guys" of their group, but Sollux is more of a "cool-wanna-be" at the very beginning of the story — then immediately taking the role just a few pages later, because Hussie and Coherence Of The Characters never married. In fact, the only opposite they demonstrate is the management of emotions: Dave is monotone, almost cold, but he talks a lot, almost too much; Sollux is emotional, extremely sensitive (to quote Karkat and Terezi), but of few words. And these are the only substantial differences that lead the two characters into two completely opposite paths; starting first of all from the relationship with "their leader" — because both are their "right-hand men".

I have already spoken extensively about John and Dave, and their very pure and saccharine homoromantic messages and comments, albeit platonic ironically disguised as "romantic"; what's missing is the homoerotic flirtation poorly disguised as "platonic jokes" between Sollux and Karkat, but first I should explain Sollux in general a little.

Sollux, unlike Karkat and what it might seem, is not particularly horny, nor does he openly display his sexuality except when talking to Karkat; rather showing his weak and sensitive side, less grumpy and volatile, with those few with whom he interacts with more than a few messages - as with Aradia, for whom he has an absolute weakness, and Feferi, who caught him in a vulnerable state after the death of Aradia (I specify that he also shows it to Karkat, except that there is also the dick involved with him). Rather, it's The Hoes™ who rally around Sollux — giving him the title of "guy who fucked literally every character in the comic."

However, we must ask ourselves, who is Sollux talking to? Because despite his being a "Double Dreamer" — therefore finding himself on both Prospit and Derse —, in fact he speaks openly and exposes himself only to a very small group of people(4): only two, in reality: Aradia and Karkat, and Feferi if you really want to be generous.

4: It is no coincidence that he is reincarnated in his Dream Self of DERSE, while his Dream Self of PROSPIT is left to die; both after the destruction of the planet (he becomes a ghost), and with Lord English (in which he finally dies).

The peculiarity of Sollux is that he gives a nickname to everyone, and this nickname is made up of two letters of the person's name. However, this actually seems to be more of a fanonical rather than canonical conception, as the only nicknames that Sollux uses are (and are for):

AA, Aradia

KK, Karkat

TZ, Terezi

Priince, Eridan (to make fun of him) 

FF, Feferi

For the rest of the people, either repeat the abbreviation of their chathandles (i.e. Nepeta, AC) or use their full names. Therefore, canonically speaking, Sollux only uses specific nicknames with those he is emotionally close to; with the rest either use their real names or use a nickname that these people have given themselves; and he does it with Terezi too. Yes, Sollux calls her “TZ”, but he also calls her “GC”, the chathandle abbreviation of Terezi, who he is friends with casually, without speaking much to each other on the basis. You might think that this “no nicknames - chathandle as 'nickname' - personal nickname” thing is not very significant because of Aradia, whose abbreviated chathandle is “AA”, exactly as Sollux calls her; therefore the “nickname hierarchy” simply does not exist.

And that is COMPLETELY wrong. Her name is Aradia, she already has a double A in her original name; the fact that her chathandle is also AA, making her nickname a quadruple — or double double — A.

Basically, what I mean is that Sollux has a sort of “hierarchy of importance” based solely on the amount of doubles in people's names. Demonstration:

Aradia, AA (nickname), AA (chathandle) - double double A - Sollux choose her and not Karkat (I will talk better about it later);

Karkat, KK (nickname), CG (chathandle) - doppia K - flirts a lot with each others, are close friends in general;

Feferi, FF (soprannome), CC (chathandle) - double F and double C, but separated(5).

Terezi, TZ (soprannome), GC (chathandle) - no doubles, she’s a friend;

Everyone else.

5: I'm not sure why he’s more attached to Karkat and not Feferi, rationally speaking, but it could be for a simple reason of time. That is, if he had had more time with Feferi, maybe she would have been “more important” than Karkat. Which I don't really believe much in, since 1. they were already friends, they could have been "be close" from the start, 2. I think that Sollux only used Feferi as comfort after Aradia's death/radical change; so just calling her "important in her life" is a bit of an exaggeration, but she's certainly more important than most of Sollux’s friends.

So why, in my very humble opinion, are Sollux and Karkat better than Sollux and Aradia? Simple: because the other person is also important; a relationship has at least two people, not one.

Aradia, at least in death, seems to care a lot about Sollux.

AA: s0llux i actually w0uld like it if you were happy

TA: ok. thank you for 2ayiing 2o.

AA: y0u seem sad and angry all the time

AA: what d0es anger feel like

AA: i f0rg0t

TA: have you ever been angry?

TA: ii dont remember you gettiing angry about anythiing.

AA: maybe i never was

AA: i feel like i was th0ugh

AA: 0nce

TA: why dont you a2k karkat, he2 way angriier than me.

TA: for that matter why dont you get on HII2 ca2e about iit iin2tead of MIINE.

[extract page 2085]

(Notice how Sollux cites (unnecessarily) Karkat even in this conversation with Aradia :3) 

SOLLUX: aradia, s0rry, i can't be a part 0f this anym0re, it's just making me feel dirty.

ARADIA: i understand sollux

SOLLUX: let's catch up again later, h0pefully when this is all 0ver.

ARADIA: yeah :D

[extract page 6045]

This might seem like nothing, and I’m really going to start talking at a personal level here: I hate how cold and distant Aradia feels when interacting with Sollux on later acts.

It might seem like a cute/good thing: Aradia just letting Sollux go to do what he wishes to and all, but I personally didn't interpret it as such.

Sollux openly hates fucking SGURB/SBURB, he wants nothing to do with this game, like at all; that’s one of the reasons he leaves with Aradia in the first place (again, I’ll talk about it better later on). Though, after leaving the meteor, the next time we see Sollux he is, in some way, again involved with the game; all because Aradia is curious and wants to see how it will all end. I think it’s egotistical to put it at least. I’m not saying Aradia should have putted her wantings away for Fucking Sollux (no offense Sol), though she knows that Sollux doesn’t want anything to do with the game and that, now that he is blind, he is very dependent on other people — in fact, if it wasn’t for Feferi and Nepeta, Sollux would have never be able to leave Vriska’s ship.

Although it is implied that Sollux never complained about his involvement with all of that until the very end, when he decides to leave.

I think arasol can still work very well as friends, or, if I really want to stretch it, matesprits; but with all those communication problems, it’s very much impossible for me to see them as moirails, like other people most likely prefer — unless it’s a toxic moirallegiance, that would suit them good.  

Also, I won’t talk about Homestuck: Beyond Canon, because…

ARADIA: he is probably ok

DAVEBOT: so youre telling me you dont even feel a little bad that you ditched him to be a weird death acolyte

ARADIA: no i think he found my wiles both charming and irresistible

[extract HS:BC, page 283]

But, to be fair, HS:BC ruined everything, a lot, most characters and ships. It surely didn’t help to make me like Arasol more (like I liked it at the beginning), but whatever.

Basically, what I’m saying is that, personally, I prefer solkat over arasol because Karkat has emotional involvement in it:

SOLLUX: yeah, i think i'll hang behind here t0o, if that's 0k with you guys.

KARKAT: WAIT, WHAT?

KARKAT: NO COME ON, DON'T BE LIKE THAT

SOLLUX: be like what? a ghost??

SOLLUX: i d0n't think i belong with the living anym0re.

KARKAT: YOU'RE A *HALF* GHOST, ASSHOLE.

KARKAT: WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? HOW ARE YOU EVEN TAKING THIS IDIOTIC "HALF DEATH" SERIOUSLY IF YOU JUST GO HOG WILD AS A FUCKING WHOLE-GHOST, AND SAY STUPID SHIT LIKE, BLAH BLAH, I BELONG IN THE AFTERLIFE NOW LIKE A DUMBASS.

SOLLUX: kk, SORRY.

SOLLUX: i'm just d0ne with this crap, this insane adventure bullshit, it's nothing pers0nal.

SOLLUX: i just want to spend time with aa and chill 0ut and catch up with some 0f our dead buddies, is that 0k?

KARKAT: WHATEVER, FINE.

[extract page 4356]

I’m not sure how Aradia pre-SGURB/pre-death behaved with Sollux, most likely she was very close (emotionally speaking) to Sollux, so much that their relationship is later on described as “ambiguous”, and Ghost Aradia, as I said, shows it! Though I can’t get over the present, which is not great for them… Also (this is VERY personal) I find them more boring than solkat, too fluffy for me, sorry not sorry.

Anyhow, what's different with Karkat, then? Since I'm talking about him so much.

First of all: the "hatred" they throw at each other is non-serious and mutual. This means that if Karkat offends Sollux, Sollux offends Karkat and they don't take it personally, it's simply how they communicate (and flirt).

[extract page 3318 (not working lol)]

It’s simply nothing personal.

Also, if for whatever reason, they are not in the mood for that shit:

SOLLUX: what diid you want me two do get down on the floor and kii22 your faiinted corp2e on the lii2p two wake you up on a nonexii2tent pro2piit?

KARKAT: LET'S NOT DO THIS, OK MAN? JUST THIS ONCE. I DON'T HAVE THE ENERGY.

SOLLUX: yeah ok fiine.

[extract page 2792]

(after this dialogue Sollux simply answers Karkat's questions, without annoying him)

In this case Sollux is the one who respects Karkat's boundaries, but it would be stupid to say that it wouldn't be the same if the roles were reversed.

Okay, so that explains why Karkat is a better choice than Aradia (MY OPINION) and I've talked a little — a lot — about the two of them together, but more specifically, why should Sollux and Karkat be together? After all, Sollux abandoned Karkat (page link again).

This bullshit remark blows my mind every single time it's brought up, so I'm going to analyze Sollux even more before moving on to the two of them together, so as to explain why Sollux chose to leave at the end of Act5Act2.

Imagine that one day — perhaps since birth — you’ve been “gifted” with the ability to tell who is going to die, by hearing their begging, suffering voices screaming in your brain, filled with horrific images. Not only that, you even hear the voices of all the people that are going to die altogether because of one game(6); a game that, you know, will also kill you twice, but not after blinding you, and will also make all your friends kill each other for no apparent reason.

6: “But the end of Alternia would have arrived regardless of the game, the game was ‘a hope’ to save the planet”; not actually. It’s very explicit that, despite the event that led to Alternia’s end, the game was the number 1 influence for that event to happen. So it’s still SGURB’s fault, basically.

So, after dealing with the death of all your kind, yourself included, after dealing with all your friends being killed brutally by other of your friends, after becoming blind and dying right after; when you’re reunited with your now alive close friend/girlfriend(?), not hearing any voices screaming in pain, with the choice of staying in the game that caused all of this or leaving for the better. What would you do?

Maybe it’s a little stretch to say it, but I don’t actually think Sollux’s choice was between “Aradia or Karkat”, but rather between “staying in the game that ruined you and all you knew or escaping it”. Of course Sollux did it for Aradia too, but she was secondary, like leaving Karkat was simply a consequence of his choice and not the choice itself.

Now I can talk about the two of them in more detail (finally).

As I said before, Karkat and Sollux are "the negative" of John and Dave, and of their relationship: where John and Dave's affection is platonic, ironic and cute, that of Karkat and Sollux is romantic/sexual, absolutely serious and they suck at pretending that it isn't, and "violent" in a certain sense.

But having said all this, which quadrant would they end up in if they got engaged? The answer might seem obvious: they flirt pitch, they are kismesis; many chatlogues suggest this:

[extract page 2027 - this page is all gay btw]

[extract page 2086]

Why aren't they kismesis then? referring to each other exclusively as “best friends” and nothing more?

Here the issue of an unshown past comes into play, a bit like for Aradia and Sollux.

It's likely/implied that they've been best friends for a long time, maybe since birth (kind of), but definitely since they were little — as I also mentioned at the beginning. In fact, one of the main tropes they seem to follow is the “friends to lovers” trope, where in their friendship they tease each other, they “argue” but without repercussions, nor without really meaning it — again, things I explained before. I assume that what changed in their relationship after puberty hit is the intentions they have when they "argue" like this. They don't necessarily want to fuck every time they talk to each other, that's not what I'm saying, I'm saying that their closeness, Karkat's being Horny™, teenage hormones have contributed to making their interactions more awkward — to put it simplistically — over time, which then became a habit rather than an intention every single time.

[extract page 2027]

SOLLUX: what diid you want me two do get down on the floor and kii22 your faiinted corp2e on the lii2p two wake you up on a nonexii2tent pro2piit?

KARKAT: LET'S NOT DO THIS, OK MAN? JUST THIS ONCE. I DON'T HAVE THE ENERGY.

SOLLUX: yeah ok fiine.

[extract 2792 (again)]

(Yes, I’ve already used this, but it explains well how it’s a habit for them).

The attraction is there, the desire is there, but what blocks them is embarrassment. I don't think I need to explain why they might feel reluctant to openly confess their feelings and abandon their long friendship for a pitch relationship; especially because like kismesis, these two suck… like, a lot.

:O but why do they suck like kismesis? Don't they have pitch feelings for each other?

Complicated to explain (I’ll try anyway).

I think that they are seriously convinced that they have pitched feelings (I think), but this is actually the result of a natural evolution of their previous relationship — in which they were already pushing and making fun of each other — combined with sexual desires, rather what a real pitch feelings. But I'll get back to this shortly; for now: why would Sollux and Karkat suck as kismesis?

In the comic we had some examples of kismessitude.

[extracts pages 2459, 2381, 6797]

(These are the first ones that came to mind, I don't remember if there are others lol)

Leaving aside Eridan and Vriska — since their past together is only hinted at and not shown — the major examples are Vriska and Tavros and Terezi and Gamzee. What these two couples have in common is brutality: Vriska traumatizes Tavros again and again, first by making him paraplegic, then by dragging him around like a slave, then by showing him her bloody, nearly dead corpse and ordering him to kill her, etc. Gamzee beats Terezi to death until she dies. I'd say it's pretty clear.

In reality, even without giving examples one can still reach this conclusion: Alternia is a violent and cruel place, so much so that not only is one of their quadrants based on hatred and cruelty, but there is also a need for a another quadrant to get between the two to prevent them from killing each other.

ROSE: Think, Lalonde. Think!

ROSE: What did Kanaya tell you about this quadrant?

ROSE: Does it really involve such gruesome fisticuffs?

ROSE: I...

ROSE: I can't remember!

ROSE: I was probably drunk during that particular lesson.

ROSE: What am I saying.

ROSE: I was drunk for all the lessons!

ROSE: Ugh, what a disgrace.

ROSE: I am the actual worst auspistice who ever lived.

ROSE: THE ACTUAL WORST!!!

[Extract page 6811]

Normal kismesis are extremely violent; if they don't kill themselves, they are always on the verge of doing so. There is no understanding, there is no goodness, there is certainly no THIS:

You are relieved to find Sollux is not DEAD. He is merely KO'D.

You don't think you could handle it if this was ROUND TWO of watching your good bro get killed.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

CG: BRO ARE YOU OK.

CG: HEY

CG: OH GOD

CG: WHAT HAVE I DONE.

CG: SOLLUX?

CG: PLEASE TELL ME THAT'S JUST HONEY.

CG: PLEASE JUST BE HONEY PLEASE JUST BE HONEY PLEASE JUST BE HONEY

CG: HAHA, OK, MAKE-BELIEVE TIME IS OVER!

CG: OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD

[extracts pages 3424, 3351, 2471-2, 2470]

And, if you want to add Pesterquest:

[Horrible screen I stole on google images of Karkat’s Game Over route - yes, I’ve played Pesterquest lol]

NOTE: I’ll use this stuff later too.

Basically: just because they are prickly at each other and insult each other and flirt pitch, doesn't mean they would be good kismesis. Indeed, recontextualizing everything, between the two of them there is practically nothing of pitch apart from the insults and flirting. I'm not saying that an "abnormal kismessitudine" with them couldn't work, on the contrary, but, in my humble opinion, reaching this conclusion would simply be too reductive.

Since I showed them, let's talk about the pages above now!

It's undeniable — whether you want to see them as friends or lovers — that Karkat and Sollux care about each other.

And I know everyone's talking about Karkat carrying Sollux to safety, despite him being a burden while he runs for his life; and how Karkat doesn't want Sollux to abandon him at the end of Act5Act2, but I'd like to take a moment to analyze something I've never seen anyone mention, for some reason.

First, there's one assumption to have in mind before moving forward: characters — in general, any series — can lie. They don't always have to be honest and they don't always have to tell us when they're not; it's up to us to connect the dots. Having said that, HERE ARE THE POINTS I HAVE CONNECTED, you’re welcome :)

PCG: OK SO YOU'RE SAYING THIS FROM LIKE 5 HOURS IN THE FUTURE JUST TO GIVE ME A HARD TIME, NICE.

PCG: WELL THANKS FOR THE HELP, SO WHEN DO I BAN YOU, FUTURE BOY?

PTA: a few liine2 down, after ii pretend liike iim goiing two diie.

PTA: iim 2ure for a laugh on account of my iimmiinent banniing, FUCK how could you even do that two me.

PTA: 2o cold man.

PCG: ARE YOU REALLY STILL SORE AT ME FIVE HOURS LATER FOR RUNNING THAT VIRUS, GOD DAMN GET OVER IT.

PCG: IT WAS YOUR FUCKING VIRUS ANYWAY, YOU'RE TO BLAME.

PTA: eheh no bro we're cool about that, now future you ii2 connectiing wiith me 2o ii can enter the game.

PCG: OH YEAH?

PTA: yeah 2o thank2 for that fiive hour2 iin advance.

[extract page 2543]

Sollux will die immediately after.

No, I won't touch this dialogue for now; let's think first about Sollux, in general. Sollux knows when he will die and how, in a very generic and vague way, at least from what transpires from his dialogues:

TA: ii am goiing two diie.

TA: ii mean we all are.

TA: but e2peciially me.

TA: ii am goiing two get my a22 2erved two me twofold.

TA: double the 2erviice.

TA: liike two dude2 on doublebutler ii2land.

TA: gettiing worked over by a 2iiame2e twiin ma22eu2e.

TA: but before ii diie, iim goiing two go bliind liike you.

TA: iit ha2 two happen liike that.

TA: iim not 2ure why, but ii thiink iit2 liike...

TA: fulfiilliing 2ome requiirement for a true prophet of doom.

TA: iin order for the vii2iion2 two be riight, that ha2 two happen, and the uniiver2e wiill make 2ure iit wiill.

TA: iit2 kiind of liike how a prophet earn2 hii2 2triipe2, by beiing bliind, liike how an angel earn2 iit2 wiing2.

[extract page 2082]

Now, we can be idiotic children and believe that SOLLUX, who told Terezi precisely that he will die twice, that he will become blind before dying in one of these, and that becoming blind and dying is the key to returning to life as a sighted person. according to a strange prophecy he mentions, he doesn't know when the fuck he'll die. It could be, although it is extremely unlikely. It's true that he doesn't say anything about the circumstances in which he will die, but the omission does not imply unawareness, BUT LET'S PRETEND TO BELIEVE HIM WHILE HE SAYS IT!

In any case (later in the comic), the words Sollux uses in his last dialogue with Karkat before his death #1 are strange, too confident and stupidly false.

PTA: yeah 2o thank2 for that fiive hour2 iin advance.

PCG: THIS IS BS ISN'T IT.

PCG: TROLLING ME FROM THE FUTURE, HOW JUVENILE CAN YOU GET.

PTA: no man iit2 true, we are bulge bumpiing pupa pal2 agaiin.

PCG: OH FUCK THIS CONDESCENDING FUTURE KNOWITALL ACT, WE AREN'T BUMPING SHIT, YOU ARE SO BANNED.

PTA: nooooooo, not the ban, it buuuuuuurn2, oh god hahahaha.

In short, even Karkat doesn't believe they are sincere. I don't think the tone Sollux uses is condescending, but I'll talk more about it shortly later.

Why didn't Sollux tell Karkat right away that he was going to die? Simple answer: the prophecy had to be fulfilled. Sollux, who is a Doom player, accepts this and lets himself die because he knows that this will make the game progress.

And it's a good explanation, but it doesn't explain why he chose to say those things to Karkat, when there was absolutely no need to. You could justify it with "Sollux knows he's going to die because of Karkat so he's mad at him", and that might make sense initially, but then it becomes meaningless when you think about it again. Why act so genuinely, like he's having fun, instead of being pissed, being sarcastic, spiteful, or something like that?

THEORY, really, don't take my word for it, BUT I BELIEVE Sollux was trying to calm Karkat down. WEIRD THING I KNOW, but Sollux obviously knows Karkat better than anyone else, so Sollux knows he's going to die, he knows how Karkat will react to his death — because he knows Karkat is sensitive and, in general, cares about people — and he decides to make it funny; pretending to fake his death, so as to get himself blocked and at least delay the moment in which Karkat sees his corpse.

But maybe I'm just traveling in my mind. The other possible reason that comes to mind is that Sollux didn't really think about it; he knew he was going to die and contacted Karkat before doing so, making light of it. Here we could open a whole discussion on why Sollux chose Karkat, but I think the reason is "ironic" (just to see him get pissed off before dying, because it's funny).

Now we can go back to the previous scenes. Whether Sollux, in the dialogue discussed above, acted for ironic reasons or to reassure Karkat, it is equally undeniable that these two do give a damn about each other, but mainly it is Karkat who shows it:

Karkat crying (twice) over Sollux's deaths;

Karkat who feels guilty for his death;

Karkat, who is relieved that Sollux isn't dead, drags him to safety—despite the fact that a killer clown is following them and that Sollux greatly slows their escape.

These are some examples, the most famous - which is why I didn't dwell on them too much.

[PS: Another, very minor example of Sollux “proving to give a damn about Karkat” is this scene here:

TA: KK DO NOT RUN THAT CODE.

TA: hello??????????????

carcinoGeneticist's [CG'S] computer exploded.

TA: oh my god.

[extract page 2086], but I’ll talk better about it NOW:]

The point is (GOD this is getting too long) that they are too “soft” with each other to be kismesis, despite the pitch flirting and insults.

Sending a virus < a kismesis might do it == warning that person right after and trying to “save” them from it after a change of heart < NOT kismesis.

Checking that the other is still alive after he faints following a battle < the comic suggests that this is not normal behavior between kismesis, but it may still be within the norm == carrying his body with you despite risking getting yourself kill yourself < NOT kismesis.

Insulting < normal for two kismesis == stop immediately when the other tells you he's not in the mood < NOT kismesis.

It might be bad for a fan to see that, in the end, kismesis do not have a “moral code and mutual respect” in the original comic, contrary to what has been around in the fandom for ages. It may still be that all the examples of kismessitude we have had are wrong and do not reflect the true troll concept of "pitch relationship", but, ultimately, we have never had any examples other than the ultra-violent ones. And I don't see it as unlikely that, in a society like that of Alternia, the Empire would try to normalize so much violence by labeling it as "romantic".

And Karkat and Sollux are not violent with each other. They’re not kismesis, the end.

But it must be said that they are not even moirails. They are much more likely to become moirails than kismesis, but they are not. The reason is very simple: they suck at talking about their emotions. The problem lies precisely in them as people (/trolls), which does not allow them to form any pale relationship, even with other trolls.

Karkat was in a pale relationship with Gamzee. It lasted two pages(7). Sollux was in an ambiguous relationship with Aradia, which could be either just friendship, or matespritism or moirallegiance — although I’ve already explained why I think they would suck as moirails. 

7: In this specific case -- gamkar shippers please don’t kill me -- I believe that Karkat had never had any LASTING "pale feelings" for Gamzee. Karkat cares about everyone's well-being, and when Gamzee -- an out of control highblood -- started killing everyone, obviously BIOLOGY TROLL and Karkat gave his ass away to calm him down. It wasn't something that was meant to last regardless, unlike other pale relationships like that between Equius and Nepeta, who actively nurse their moirallegiance. (it was a One Night thing, in short).

They could, eventually, find other forms of communication and establish a healthy relationship, actually, but the immutable fact would remain that they feel sexual attraction to each other. The first rule of a pale relationship is DO NOT BE SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO YOUR MOIRAIL — which many translate as “don't fuck your moirail,” but I have a lot to say about that(8). They could be "atypical moirails", but at this point they could also be "atypical kismesis", one is as good as the other and why should I choose one and not the other?

8: OK I'LL SAY IT! Comfort sex is a thing. Moirallegiance is based above all on comforting, helping and protecting the other; so in certain situations, needs, etc., I don't think two moirails would have too much trouble fucking.

Moving forward, the last quadrant is missing — I won’t analyze the ash one for the simple reason that I have already said that they cannot be kismesis, and if they are, they would be too little dangerous to "earn" an auspice — the flushed quadrant.

It might seem like a good compromise: they care about each other and feel sexual attraction. But you only need to see their relationship for five seconds to understand… it doesn't make sense. Too many insults, too many threats, too much teasing, even in this case we would fall into an "atypical matespritism".

Their relationship, in conclusion, hangs on too many sides to give a precise definition:

Too serious flirt to be friends;

Too soft to be kismesis;

Too much physical attraction to be moirails;

Too mean to be matesprits.

There is only one solution, in my mind, that makes sense for these two.

The only solution I personally find is a quadrant vacillation, or even a mix.

In moments of flirtation and insults they are kismesis; in vulnerable moments they are moirails. I find it difficult to see them “mixing the two together” to vacillate red, but it could happen (a lot). Among other things, if they filled two quadrants at the same time, it would further satisfy Sollux's fetish for number two, and we're all happy.

The other idea, that of mixing pitch and pale, makes sense in the context of “atypical moirallegiance/kismessitude” that I have talked about so far, but I find it a little less likely as a path.

[Or they could just be Friends with Benefits, idk, that's likely too].

AND ANYWAY I FINISHED TALKING ABOUT THEM THANK GOD!

(I can still go if yall want to tho xoxo).

[dallasstarsdyke]

ok i realized i would have been derailing a post with this but the brain does not fucking stop developing at 25. the study this figure comes from is bunk.

from a contemporary nbc news article that agrees with this figure, despite knowing that the researchers never fucking bothered to study anyone over 26 (and then rounded it because 25 was a more satisfying number)

[ID: text that says "The study, which is ongoing, involves scanning the brains of 2,000 people ages 4 through 26 using magnetic resonance imaging, a radiation-free tool that permits researchers to view the organs of healthy people in minute detail." end ID.]

even if this glorified piece of trivia was actually true, using it in policy does real-world harm.

from my favorite nih article, linked below the cut

[ID: text that says "Although such research is currently underway, many neuroscientists argue that empirical support for a causal relationship between neuromaturational processes and real-world behavior is currently lacking [4]. Despite the lack of empirical evidence, there has been increasing pressure to bring adolescent brain research to bear on adolescent health-and-welfare policy. For example, in the policy process, adolescent brain immaturity has been used to make the case that teens should be considered less culpable for crimes they commit; however, parallel logic has been used to argue that teens are insufficiently mature to make autonomous choices about their reproductive health [5]." end ID.]

that article is from 2009, but for a current example, look at usamerican republican presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy

[ID: text that says "There needs to be some civic experience you need to have gone through in order to actually vote,' Ramaswamy said. 'That experience could be living seven years as an adult and voting at age 25. That experience could be direct service to the country or some first responder service,'" end ID.]

it isnt a radical position to parrot the same shit that this man wants for his country. child labor is still evil because the ruling class is expanding its cache of people to exploit, not because the wage slaves' prefrontal cortexes haven't finished cooking. if you think people with 'underdeveloped' brains aren't fit for the privileges of being a legal adult, you should stop talking before you get to your position on disabled people.

[kiindr]

even after attending close to 8 hours worth of lectures yesterday- psych lectures never feel tiring or boring to me. we're studying child and adolescent development and my professor is the coolest <3

(the notes are from my english class!)

gentle reminders:

bodily dissatisfaction is highly common when you're an adolescent and may carry over into adulthood as well. you're not alone in battling this.

even if you have unstable moods and have been that way ever since you could remember, you are still worthy of love.

someday you will figure out the things that scare you today.

[haggishlyhagging]

Because of our social circumstances, male and female are really two cultures and their life experiences are utterly different—and this is crucial. Implicit in all the gender identity development which takes place through childhood is the sum total of the parents', the peers, and the culture's notions of what is appropriate to each gender by way of temperament, character, interests, status, worth, gesture, and expression. Every moment of the child's life is a clue to how he or she must think and behave to attain of satisfy the demands which gender places upon one. In adolescence, the merciless task of conformity grows to crisis proportions, generally cooling and settling in maturity.

Since patriarchy's biological foundations appear to be so very insecure, one has some cause to admire the strength of a "socialization" which can continue a universal condition "on faith alone," as it were, or through an acquired value system exclusively. What does seem decisive in assuring the maintenance of the temperamental differences between the sexes is the conditioning of early childhood. Conditioning runs in a circle of self-perpetuation and self-fulfilling prophecy. To take a simple example: expectations the culture cherishes about his gender identity encourage the young male to develop aggressive impulses, and the female to thwart her own or turn them inward. The result is that the male tends to have aggression reinforced in his behavior, often with significant anti-social possibilities. Thereupon the culture consents to believe the possession of the male indicator, the testes, penis, and scrotum, in itself characterizes the aggressive impulse, and even vulgarly celebrates it in such encomiums as "that guy has balls." The same process of reinforcement is evident in producing the chief "feminine" virtue of passivity.

In contemporary terminology, the basic division of temperamental trait is marshaled along the line of "aggression is male" and "passivity is female." All other temperamental traits are somehow—often with the most dexterous ingenuity—aligned to correspond. If aggressiveness is the trait of the master class, docility must be the corresponding trait of a subject group. The usual hope of such line of reasoning is that "nature," by some impossible outside chance, might still be depended upon to rationalize the patriarchal system. An important consideration to be remembered here is that in patriarchy, the function of norm is unthinkingly delegated to the male—were it not, one might as plausibly speak of "feminine" behavior as active, and "masculine" behavior as hyperactive or hyperaggressive.

. . .

The arbitrary character of patriarchal ascriptions of temperament and role has little effect upon their power over us. Nor do the mutually exclusive, contradictory, and polar qualities of the categories "masculine" and "feminine" imposed upon human personality give rise to sufficiently serious question among us. Under their aegis each personality becomes little more, and often less than half, of its human potential. Politically, the fact that each group exhibits a circumscribed but complementary personality and range of activity is of secondary importance to the fact that each represents a status or power division. In the matter of conformity patriarchy is a governing ideology without peer; it is probable that no other system has ever exercised such a complete control over its subjects.

-Kate Millett, Sexual Politics

[mayfast]

Does this Happen to Anyone Else?

Long story short, got stuck with a psychology class I didn’t want to be in, Child and Adolescent Development. I fucking hate that class. But like… it’s improved my writing?

Seriously, when writing through the eyes or about anyone with a traumatic childhood, or even mildly neglectful parents, little things matter. For example, my favorite traumatized noodle, Spider Socorro, should be by many definitions VERY FUCKED UP. However the JC hasn’t shown those parts yet.

At a first glance, yeah, he’s a cool character and kind of a stereotypical stray cat close friend. Whatever, however when you take a deep diver into the psychology end of it. He was basically raised in a daycare, has a insecure resistant attachment style, son of a villain, no actively-engaging family (blood related), isolated from peers until who knows how long, and probably very behind on various socioemotional markers. In perfect theory, that screws someone up, for life.

Now, I’m not saying psychology defines everyone and is always right (cough cough Freud cough). But this class has given me tools to more accurately assess a character’s mind, reactions and decisions. Holy shit do I love that.

But again, just curious if it’s normal for that to happen to writers or if they end up getting personality contradictions.

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

The Tavistock has treated 19,000 children with gender dysphoria since 1989 - now 1,000 families are expected to join a class action suit.

1/19.

The Tavistock gender clinic is facing mass legal action from youngsters who claim they were rushed into taking life-altering puberty blockers.

Lawyers expect about 1,000 families to join a medical negligence lawsuit alleging vulnerable children have been misdiagnosed and placed on a damaging medical pathway.

They are accusing the gender identity development service [GIDS] at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust of multiple failures in its duty of care.

This includes allegations it recklessly prescribed puberty blockers with harmful side effects and adopted an “unquestioning, affirmative approach” to children identifying as transgender.

Last month NHS England announced it was shutting the Tavistock clinic over safety concerns following a damning external review. Care will be handed to regional children’s hospitals.

The law firm Pogust Goodhead has since announced it is pursuing a group litigation order against the trust, which has treated 19,000 children with gender dysphoria (the feeling that one’s emotional and psychological identity differs from one’s birth sex) since 1989.

Former patients given puberty blockers are joining the “class action” lawsuit and papers are due to be lodged at the High Court within six months.

Tom Goodhead, chief executive of Pogust Goodhead, told The Times: “Children and young adolescents were rushed into treatment without the appropriate therapy and involvement of the right clinicians, meaning that they were misdiagnosed and started on a treatment pathway that was not right for them.

“These children have suffered life-changing and, in some cases, irreversible effects of the treatment they received . . . We anticipate that at least 1,000 clients will join this action.”

The allegations of medical negligence are based on the findings of an interim report by Dr Hilary Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, who is leading a review of the service.

Cass found the clinic overlooked other mental health issues in children distressed about their gender, and failed to collect data on the use or side effects of puberty blockers, which she said may “temporarily or permanently” disrupt the development of children’s brains.

A GIDS spokesperson said: “GIDS has not heard from Pogust Goodhead about this matter, but it would be inappropriate to comment on any current or potential legal proceeding.

“The service is committed to patient safety. It works with every young person on a case-by-case basis, with no expectation of what might be the right pathway for them, and only the minority of young people who are seen in our service access any physical treatments while with us.”

[joan-of-feminism]

lol. I just remembered that in my sociology of gender class I took in sophomore year, the first unit was about how sex is a spectrum. It was also the first psych/Soc class I took where the definitions of sex and gender started to change. It was the first class where gender was now gender identity. I also just took a psychology of adolescent sexuality class and the way we had to be so so careful with wording things to make sure we were being inclusive in our discussions was ridiculous. I literally just stopped contributing to class discussions. And also how that professor was a non-binary identified male who was also a gender therapist for trans children. Like he was the one who sighed off on everything, agreeing to let a child transition. He spent the entire semester teaching us about adolescent sexuality and how teenage-hood is a whirlwind of emotions, and how their brains are not developed enough yet to make life-altering decisions, and how they have pretty bad impulse control, and yet…. He was the guy that sighed off on kids getting irreversible hormones and surgery…. I’m screaming.

[random-thought-depository]

Thinking about how there's layers to why I hate that "it's a war crime that I have to see a 13 year old's opinion when I log on" sentiment.

First, do teenagers actually have unusually many dumb opinions, or do you just assume they do because you've been taught to assume they're inferior?

Second, even if lots of teenagers have dumb opinions, the internet is part of the public sphere, and annoying people still have the right to participate in the public sphere. Teenagers, and for that matter younger children, have the right to participate in society, and that means sometimes you're going to have to tolerate them being annoying in your physical or virtual vicinity. Sometimes you're going to have to put up with a toddler having a screaming tantrum in an ice cream shop, because toddlers have the right to eat in public and screaming tantrums are a thing toddlers do sometimes. Sometimes you're going to have to put up with a baby crying three seats up the aisle from you on an airplane, because babies and their caretakers have the right to travel, and crying is a thing babies do sometimes. And sometimes you're going to have to read an irritatingly dumb internet post written by a 14 year old, because teenagers have the right to talk to people, and having dumb opinions is a thing humans do sometimes. The public is going to contain people who annoy you because annoying each other is a thing humans do sometimes. The desire to purchase or mandate a public that contains no annoying people does immense harm.

Third, did I have some bad takes when I was 13-17? I sure did! You want to know how I grew out of them? It was by exposure to the opinions of other people, mostly older than me, on the internet, including in contexts of conversation and argument. Much of human learning is social! If you socially isolate people until they're twenty because you don't want to interact with teenagers with dumb opinions, a lot of those socially isolated twenty year olds are going to still have the same dumb opinions they had at 14, because you've isolated them from the very thing that would cause them to develop better opinions! I smell the influence of the bio-essentialist model of maturity, where it's assumed that adults are simply biologically superior to teenagers (see: that fucking "your brain doesn't mature until 25" meme), so people think you can just kind of quarantine the young in a bubbleworld of home, school, and playground until those annoying childhood and adolescence phases are over and they just spontaneously turn into "mature adults" (by which is meant: "people who don't annoy me" and "people who share and identify with the class interests of the 'adult' class and have class solidarity with other members of that class"). Human learning doesn't work that way! You learn how to be part of your community by participating in your community! Children and teenagers are supposed to participate in wider society, that's how human acculturation is supposed to work! It takes a village to raise a child, and sometimes that process includes trying to talk a 14 year old out of a passionately held dumb opinion online (note: the good ending of that probably looks like them changing their mind years later and maybe crediting their conversation with you as one of the reasons in retrospect; don't expect a good outcome to look like a victory script in which you get to extract a public display of concession/submission from your opponent at the end of the angry typing match).

[xgummibearx]

Sir Nighteye x reader

Hit by a quirk! Only two left after this. 

Ya’ll know the drill, heroes have been turned into children! Tamaki Amajiki has been turned into a child and placed in the care of Sir Nighteye, Mirio, and class 1A. Since you as the reader are an expert in adolescent quirk development, you are checking in on them and getting thrown into the chaos.

(I do apologize, I will not be writing a Tamaki X reader. I am 22 so I am only really interested in making content for the pro heroes I admit.)

TW: reader has some trauma in regards to her quirk, hurt/comfort. I have been dying to write this fic ohmygosh, Nighteye as a freaking babysitter would be so damn funny tho?!

____

Midnight stood in front of the whole class, carrying a bundle of blankets. The students of 1A stared up at her with curiosity. Denki’s mouth dropped when he saw a chubby hand reach out of the folds. “Good morning, I’m afraid Aizawa isn’t able to come in today.” Midoriya raised his hand, confused.

  “Allmight wasn’t in today either...what’s going on?” Midnight smiled gently, nodding to the door. Sir NightEye and Mirio filed in.

  “We’re going to be having a very interesting, but very educational experience for you today!” She pulled away the blankets to reveal a tiny boy. It was easy to tell that it was Tamaki Amajiki with the tufts of thick purple hair and pointy ears but...he was much younger. He was now a three year old boy, still half asleep and clinging onto Midnight. He opened his eyes, the sight of all the students made him hide his face. He was terrified. “Last night there was a villain attack, and while on patrol several heroes were attacked including Suneater here.” She grinned, “I have other classes to attend so Nighteye! You have been brought here to monitor 1A and take care of little Amajiki until the quirk effects wear off!” He suddenly froze, confused as Midnight thrust a now whimpering Tamaki into his arms “With your predictive quirk and rather...stoic personality, I thought you would be the best to handle the situation.” He held Amajiki out at arms length, as if he would explode; his chubby little legs dangled under him as he stared up at Nighteye.

  “I beg your pardon!?” Nighteye cried, he had been told the plan so he hadn’t thought to look into it himself. It was quite amusing for Deku, seeing him so surprised. He was staring at Midnight in disbelief. “Hey!” She waved from the doorframe before quickly disappearing. Nighteye sighed, looking down at Suneater’s little face that suddenly screwed up, his cheeks going red. “No, no no no!” He winced as Amajiki burst into tears, kicking his legs in a complete fit. “I thought she brought me here to explain the situaiton...” He grimaced. Mirio laughed.

“I’ll take him from here Sir, just need a little mother’s intuition!” He grinned, holding him in his arms and gently patting his back as little Suneater continued to sob. One by one the students came to take a closer look. Hagakure squealed quietly, hopping on her feet.

“Oh my gosh he’s so cute! Look at his little pointy ears!” She whispered, trying to keep her voice down.

  Mina snickered a little, whispering to Tsu. “Okay but, why is does Mirio look like he was born to be a dad? This is so sweet.” She had a point there, his glowing face, how cozy they both looked. Kirishima had immediately ran over, looking at his patrol partner with concern.

  “What happend to Fatgum!?” He asked, looking up at Mirio. He shrugged. “Apparently he was hit too, he’s staying with another staff member I believe...apparently she’s had to ask the school make two grocery deliveries already.” Midoriya was staring at the child with curiosity in his eyes and his hands shakily holding a notebook.

  “Lemillion! Does he have his quirk yet? Wait wait! Did all the heroes lose their quirks or do they still have them? Were they at full strength or-” Nighteye sighed exasperated.

  “Deku! This is not the time for such questions...and yes before you ask, Allmight was hit too, and no before you ask that, he’s fine... he was brought back here along with the other heroes before the media could make it to the scene.” Deku and Nighteye were both thinking the same thing, if anyone saw Allmight...what if they saw him before he got One for All? Nighteye turned his attention to Tamaki. “We need to focus on Amajiki, his parents are unable to take care of him today so we I guess are taking care of him here. Bakugo suddenly roared, slamming his hands on the table.

  “IF WE’RE TAKING CARE OF THAT THING CAN SOMEONE AT LEAST MAKE HIM SHUT UP!?” He grunted, rubbing his head. “I can’t even hear myself think dammit!” Kirishima who was now holding Suneater turned over to Bakugo with a frustrated pout of sorts.

  “Dude, that’s not the way to talk to a kid!” Denki snickered, leaning on Bakugo with a grin.

  “Yeah Kachan! I bet that a big brute like you could really learn a thing or two from this!” Iida sighed.

“Katsuki, this is the assignment appointed to us so we have no choice but to obey direct orders! In that case, everyone suit up! This is more than just babysitting, this is a mission so act like it!” Deku couldn,t help but laugh. He wouldn’t expect anything less of their president. Todoroki was looking at Tamaki who was leaning over Kirishima’s shoulder and still sniveling.

“Well he is one of our classmates..” He gently lifted his hand making a perfectly round ice ball and giving it to amajiki who softly gasped, lifting it to his mouth. ‘It’s the least we can do…”

“He seems to enjoy that.” Shoji mused, looking over Todoroki and Kirishima at the little guy with fascination. 

“Pretty…” He whispered; happily gnawing on the ice. Mirio looked over, his face lighting up. 

“Oh my gosh, how could I forget!” He grinned, coming over to take a look. “His mom told me once that when he was a toddler his teeth were really sensitive, they were abnormally big for a child his size to adapt to his quirk so they would cause him a lot of discomfort.” Mirio laughed, “apparently she could keep him quiet for hours doing this.” Midorya gasped his eyes practically bulging out of his head. 

“That’s amazing, his body was adapting along with his quirk at such a young age…oh wow!” He turned to Todoroki. “This is perfect! You can keep the ice coming, that should help him stay calm.”  Then he turned to Mirio and Kirishima. “You two know him the best out of us, Mirio make sure you let us know if you remember anything else that may help.” Bakugo came storming forward.

“The hell is this Deku, we’re heroes not babysitters!” Iida karate chopped him on the top of the head. 

“Midnight has assigned us to this task so we must go beyond expectation! So if, she has asked us to babysit then we will babysit!” He scoffed. 

“I just don’t see why she wants the whole class to do this!” He crossed his arms. “It isn’t like the kid’s in any danger, we have better things to do!” Mirio looked over at his mentor, a glint in his eyes that made him feel uneasy. 

“Very well Katsuki if you want to make this more exciting then allow me.” He took up Amajiki then turned towards the door. “You heard your president! Suit up.” 

Koda leaned over to Tokoyami and Sato, whispering nervously. “Where do you think Sir Nighteye is taking us? Does UA have some kind of children’s facilities on campus?” Sato shrugged. 

“I have no idea, but I have a couple younger brothers so I think I can handle this.” Momo looked over her shoulder, listening in.

“They actually do have a small children’s classroom of sorts, the campus does have an afterschool daycare program for children that have already manifested their quirks! The adolescent quirk development specialist for UA runs it.” She explained. Sato raised his brows. 

“Wow, I wonder why she wasn’t given Amajiki then” Hagakure piped up, her gloves waving excitedly. 

“It’s a good opportunity to learn, I like to volunteer with the daycare from time to time with Tsu.” Froppy nodded in agreement. 

“The early quirk development specialist is really nice, she and Present Mic apparently were the ones that started the program at UA, it focuses on kids that have trouble handling their quirks.” Deku nodded, listening carefully. It made sense, Present Mic had a long record of quirk slips that even stretched well into his teens. 

They found themselves lead to one of the simulators on campus, the familiar ruined streets of Allmight’s feigned “villain attack” as well as their simulated jewelry store robbery. Nighteye stood before the students with Mirio, still holding Amajiki. “As heroes you will be expected to handle more than just rescues and patrols. Some of you may end up working along with the police like Fatgum, or even…as bodyguards.” He lifted up Tamaki, who was still sleepily gnawing on the now mostly melted ice ball. His little shirt was soaked but he looked content. “Little Tamaki here will be your assignment!” He then had Mirio hold up three clothes pins before he started gently pinning them on Tamaki’s clothes. “You need to protect Tamaki, if he loses all three clothes pins then he is dead, or if he is taken from you, he is dead-“ Mirio stepped in, his face serious.

“And if any of you manage to actually injure him during this exercise, then you’re dead.” The class was all thinking the same thing. 

“Is he for real?” Nighteye then gestured to his right, a woman that most of them didn’t recognize was sitting in a chair. “ Miss.(X)!!” Hagakure and Tsu and the other girls shouted, breaking ranks to run over and say hello. 

(x) laughed, already walking over to join them all, chatting with the girls with a soft smile that Nighteye caught himself staring at for a little too long. He cleared his throat, “girls back in line please..” me insisted, little Amajiki in the meantime had finished his iceball and was already getting kind of fussy. (x) sighed, taking him from Nighteye.

“You have him under your arm like a binder, here.” She set him down. “He needs to stretch his legs.” She was so graceful in how she picked him up, her touch looked so soft. He cleared his throat again, still trying not to look at her as (x) watched him waddle over towards the students. to their surprise he wandered directly over to Mineta. He squeaked as he reached up towards him. 

“What’s he doing!? What does he want with me!?” He screeched, making Tamaki start to whimper a little. Sero smirked. 

“I think he wants one of your little bump things.” Mineta glared at him. 

“They’re not bumps it’s my quirk, they’re balls!” Sero shrugged. 

“Bumps balls just give him one man.” Mineta cringed as Amajiki pulled at his boots, trying to reach. 

“Oh for fuck’s sake you got air for brains!? Here!” Bakugo came storming over, ripping one off his head with a spray that made Mineta screech. “Just give him one before he starts crying again!” He tore it off his glove and handed the ball to Amajiki, seeing how it stuck to his hand seemed to pique his curiosity. He giggled, waving his hand up and down. Nighteye rubbed his face. 

“If you don’t mind, I was going to have (x) say a few words before we get started.” (X) smiled once more, stepping forward. 

“You are the future of mankind, heroes that shall serve and protect.” She lifted a finger, “however the young children coming along behind you are also the future and you need to remember that it is their future that you are protecting now in the present! So, with that being said Midnight and Nighteye have asked me to monitor this exercise, and if you do well you will be receiving extra credits that will go towards your marks for your intro to social ergonomics that you will be taking with me next year.” She grinned from ear to ear. “Good luck!” Deku watched her go back to her seat, he leaned over to Uraraka. 

“So, she studies quirks? I wonder what her quirk is…” Uraraka looked over at her then back to Izuku. 

“None of us know actually, she apparently was in an accident and quit hero work…at least, that’s what I heard from Tsu and Hagakure.” Nighteye went forward with dividing the teams. The first team up was Bakugo, Shoji, and Jirou as bodyguards against Izuku, Denki, and Iida as assassins.  Shoji was immediately given Amajiki. He looked nervous, staring at the little thing. Deku narrowed his eyes, they had spread themselves among the rooftops.

 “How on earth do you act like an assassin?” He wondered, staring down at Bakugo and the others. Shoji was using his quirk to protect Tamaki very similarly to what he had done at the festival as the other two walked alongside, eyes sharp. Iida grinned.

“Leave that part to me!” He leaped down from the building, cackling madly. “You shall give us that child or face the consequences!” Iida fell to more fits of manic laughter as he sped forward, scattering the three. Nighteye sighed, watching along with the rest of the class from the cameras. 

“That is not how an assassin acts but I suppose it works.” (x) stood beside him, laughing uncontrollably. Uraraka was in stitches alongside her. 

“Let them have a little fun with it at least.” She shrugged, smiling. “They are still children after all Nighteye.” He stared at the screen, lost in thought. His eyes scanned over the students one by one, they were talking together. Sato was discussing a new pastry place he wanted to visit, Hagakure was asking Mina about the most recent hero idol album; they were kids. (x) was watching him carefully, leaning close to him. “They are the future, they have the safety of the world on their shoulders…but they’re not soldiers, they’re children…and that includes Mirio.” Nighteye could hardly keep his eyes off her. She had always been so amazing, he could have sworn she could read minds. 

The final final team was getting ready to go through, but Tamaki was getting very tired and cranky. Denki chuckled, gently letting him down for a short break. “I wonder how long until he goes back to normal, do you know Sir Nighteye?” Nighteye closed his eyes for a moment. 

“He should be back to normal tomorrow morning if we-“ He suddenly froze, he could see…rubble, falling from a buildng, and Tamaki… “WHERE IS TAMAKI?!” He looked around, hearing a crumbling. Nighteye could see part of a building shuddering and directly below was Tamaki with (x) followed close behind. “(X)! Look out!” He screamed, running at full speed.

(x) giggled, crouching to help Amajiki as he stumble forward when she heard someone shouting her name. The sound of cracking overhead made her gasp. It was almost slow motion, a yellow barrier forming at her fingertips to make the rubble roll away. Her heart was racing, more parts of building howering donw on them and bringing her to her knees. Her eyes were staring atraight ahead. It was like she was somewhere else entirely. Nighteye roared as he leaped forward, grabbing her and Tamaki, pulling them close to him before rolling out of the way as the debris fell and the dust settled. She was shaking, her eyes still wide. Nighteye gave her a knowing look, picking up Tamaki and leading her out of the training grounds. “It’s getting late, we’re going to continue to monitor Amajiki in the dorms…” Momo raised her hand.

“But we haven’t gone through yet, is that okay?” Nighteye seemed agitated, his hold on (x)’s shoulder tightening a little. 

“It’s not an issue, we are done here Creati…” He muttered. The students were sat in the dorm lounge with (x) and Nighteye on the couch when Tamaki started to wail inconsolably. Todoroki quickly whipped up a snowball for him but he threw it defiantly as he screeched. 

Mirio suddenly slapped his forehead. “He hasn’t eaten yet today! Aw man, Fatgum would kill me if he heard that…come on! Let���s figure out what we can feed him guys.” The students, all of them still intrigued by little Amajiki filed into the kitchen, along with Bakugo threatening to slap Todoroki if he so much as touched a kitchen knife.

(x) was sitting with her head laying back, her eyes closed. In her head she could see it, cracked pavement and the sounds of someone begging. Begging for death, the scent of their blood, the feeling of their body going limp. “It’s been what…two years?” She heard a voice snap her out of it. Nighteye was still beside her, concerned. “You saw them again didn’t you?...(x), we can’t save everyone you know that…” 

(x) leaned forward, her head in her hands. “Yes but you never forget…every time I use my quirk, it’s all I can see…that was the first time I’ve used my quirk like that since…” Nighteye shifted closer, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“I know…and it was the right thing to do, I’m proud of you.” He stood, offering his hand. “Now as responsible teachers, we shouldn’t leave those kids unsupervised in the kitchen.” She took a deep breath, nodding. He took her hand for a moment, looking into her eyes. “If you find yourself going back there, just take my hand…I’ll pull you out.” He promised, “we need to be there for Amajiki right now but uhm well…later, if you need it I’ll be right here.” She gave him a shaky smile. 

“Thank you…” Without another word they joined the students, she smiled and laughed along with them, but Nighteye would feel his face get ever so slightly warm whenever she took a hold of his hand to give him a small squeeze. The evening went by so fast from there, students filing back to their rooms. The majority fell asleep in piles around Tamaki. (x) stood, heading to one of the spare guest rooms down the hall. She and Nighteye had been given orders to stay in the dorms with the students until Tamaki recovered . Nighteye was in the room beside hers, he looked hesitant as she opened the door. 

“Are you sure that you’ll be alright?” She nodded softly. 

“Yes, I just need some sleep…thank you.” He watched her turn away and disappear behind the door. 

He lay on his back, his fists clenched. He was very apprehensive about using his quirk on her, he never could bring himself to look into her future and he never could pin point why. Nighteye suddenly froze, sitting up and leaning his ear to the wall. He could hear something, they were quiet but there was no mistake. He threw off the blankets and immediately went into the hallway. He could hear her crying. Nighteye stood at the door, slowly raising a hand to knock. Inside his quiet knock made her jump, he could hear a small startled gasp. He winced, not wanting her to feel any more scared than she already was. (x) wrapped a small throw blanket around her shoulders, walking sleepily to the door. “I wonder if Tamaki needed something…” She mumbled, but when she opened the door to see Nighteye without his suit in nothing but sweatpants and a shirt she was very surprised. “Nighteye?...what are you doing out here, is everything okay?” He stood very stiffly, looking her directly in the eye. 

“Frankly something isn’t okay…you were crying, and don’t try to lie to me…” There was no convicnging him, they stood in the kitchen holding warm mugs of tea as she leaned on the counter. 

“I know that we can’t save everyone…but I can’t afford to lose anyone else like that again, not on my watch…I couldn’t take it.” Nighteye listened, choosing his words carefully.

“No one is expecting you to, you are doing amazing things for these kids…you are no less of a hero, and you are not a coward for choosing to step down.” She scoffed. He raised a brow, “I don’t need to look into the future to know that’s how you feel.” (x) took a deep breath. “(x), you need to do what’s best for your needs…but living in the past, and fearing the future are not what you need.” He let his words sink in as she polished off the tea.

“I’ve been doing better…it was just a bit of a shock today.” She couldn’t even remember the last time she had used her quirk, she had tried to once after the accident. Yes, this time had definitely been better. “I…need to push myself, and get comfortable with my quirk again…”She looked at her hands. “I need to stop pretending like it isn’t a part of me.” Nighteye gently took her empty cup, he was so close she could smell the comforting scent of his shirt. He seemed fond of fancy aftershaves. 

“And…I want to be there with you every step of the way…” He couldn’t look away from her eyes, there was a deep worry hidden in his own. She smiled, tilting her head as she looked at him, 

“You knew this would happen?” She asked jokingly, and to her surprise he laughed. 

“No…you are an enigma to me, I have never looked into your future…but maybe if I had things could have gone differently that day..” She shook her head. 

“No, don’t do that…that’s no going to help either of us.” He nodded, shaking a little. Why was he so nervous? “Why haven’t you looked into my future before? I’m curious…” She added, still looking at him with that smile that made him feel so weak. 

“I…” He took a deep breath, leaning closer. “I feared a future, without me in it…”This time he took her hand. Squeezing it tightly. “A future where I couldn’t talk to you like this…” (X) placed her hand to his cheek, turning his face up to look into her own once more. “(X)…” He murmured. 

“I wouldn’t want that future either…” She whispered, her heart racing in her chest. Nighteye rested his hands to her hips. He gently lifted her onto the counter, standing between her legs as his forehead pressed against hers. Their noses brushed softly, he was pulling her closer. 

“Then let time stand still for us…just for a moment.” He leaned forward, tilting her chin up as he kissed her. His lips were soft, savouring her taste as his hands roamed up her back. Her heart stopped racing, every inch of her warm as he held her close. She was safe, she was here. His lips trailed down her face as he tucked his head in her neck. “Forgive me if I have overstepped…” He sounded nervous, which was entirely unexpected but nevertheless adorable. (x) returned the embrace, kissing his cheek before whispering in his ear. 

“I only wish you had done it sooner.” He smirked into her shirt, not wanting to let go when there was a sudden thud out in the living room followed by a quiet, “ow.” The lights all were turned on as (x) and Nighteye burst into the living room to find that Tamaki was back to normal and had fallen off the couch directly onto Mirio. Midorriya sleepily sat up, unable to open his eyes in the bright lights as Uraraka sat up from the other couch surrounded by Mina, Tsu, and a very disshevelled Momo who in her half asleep state said something about missing her bed before retiring to her room. Mirio laughed ruffling Tamaki’s hair.

“Welcome back Suneater!” He was turning to as his mentor a question when he gave him a look of…impressed surprise. Nighteye suddenly realised he was still holding (x)’s hand. Never had Mirio seen his face redder, with embarrassment or rage he did not know. “Lemillion…100 pushups then straight to sleep.” Mirio looked confused, opening his mouth to protest only to have Nighteye repeat himself with his face even redder before he turned out the lights once more and lead (x) back to the guest rooms in complete silence.

[faintingheroine]

About the fact that in "Wuthering Heights," Cathy II and Linton seem more like overgrown children (in Cathy's case, at least until her father and Linton's deaths) than like teenagers. Do you think the explanation is probably more Doylist or Watsonian? Did Emily Brontë write them as more childlike than they would "realistically" be, or do their upbringings explain their immaturity? Or do you think it's a little bit of both?

I think in Linton’s case it is definitely intentionally absurd. Him liking milk, him being called a baby etc. at 16, the age when his father ran away from home and made his way in the world, is definitely meant to be ridiculous and grotesque.

With Cathy Linton I really am not sure… The characters of the first generation grew up much sooner so Brontë definitely doesn’t think that this is how all 15-16-17 year-olds behave. Her mother was petulant, tempestuous, a nightmare to be around and even somewhat naive about some things, but I wouldn’t say that she was childish.

Compare Cathy and Heathcliff at the Christmas party to Cathy 2’s first excursion to the Heights, they were all around 12-13. Cathy and Heathcliff pretty much did behave like how I would expect 12-13 year-olds to behave, Cathy 2 was more like a playful 9-year-old.

Considering the difference between two generations this is probably intentional. Nelly even remarks at the end that Cathy 2 and Hareton were like children despite one being 18 and the other being 23. Heathcliff was marrying and swindling and gambling and becoming rich at 20. Cathy died at 19. The difference is so stark that it is clearly intentional. The second generation grew up much slower.

I would say that Cathy 2 does come off as a bit too immature for her age before her father’s death. I would doubt thinking that since now that I am in my twenties I view 16-year-olds as babies, but as a 16-year-old reading Wuthering Heights I did think that Cathy 2 acted younger than her age, and I myself was a fairly immature teen. But it is important to consider that Cathy 2 led a very sheltered life, she knew no one of her age, she probably had no access to larger press and her father coddled her, so it might be realistic.

I would say that Cathy and Heathcliff in their teens are fairly realistic teenagers (look at their fight in Chapter 8) so I think Emily Brontë did kind of tap into the general teen voice and behavior. But maybe she wavered when it comes to Cathy 2 because we spend more time with her as a teen. And also while Cathy and Heathcliff do act like passionate adolescents, they still have very grown-up concerns, so they are not exactly modern teenagers.

In general teens in older fiction do not act especially like modern teenagers in my view. As I have said they are either overgrown children or naive passionate adults depending on their families and how privileged they are. Most of the time I feel like they are 10-year-olds or college students. They don’t really feel 14-15.

In Nihal’s case her struggles, emotions and the way she expresses them are very teenage. She is immature for her age but not in a way that is unbelievable. Her development from 12 to 15 is very realistic too. She is pretty much a child at 12 who easily gets enamored with womanly things, gets more aggressive and troubled at 13, is far more mature (but still very much a teenager) at 15. It is surprising, because in the society Nihal lives in girls married at 14-15-16 and in Halit Ziya’s other stories 15-year-old girls are more like excessively naive adults, their concerns are adult concerns and the way they express them are like adults. So the difference really seems to be one of class. Nihal is rich, sheltered. She hasn’t been exposed to the realities of life and was educated by a French governess who objected to her wearing “çarşaf” (essentially hijab) before the age of 14, because girls in France of Nihal’s age are doing hoola hoop. So in the historical context Nihal was a special case, meant to be atypical, but since now there is a category called the “teenager” she is very intelligible to us in her prolonged childhood and unease.

In the narrative voice there is still that indecision caused by the inadequacy of terminology. Nihal is still described as the “mini mini (itty bitty) Nihal” but on the other hand she is still considered a viable romantic rival to Bihter at the end of the book. But when you focus on her inner thoughts and actions she very much acts like a kid of her age in a way that is genuinely surprising.