#making decisions independently

[quiltedlovers]

semester wind down has brought the return of the evening beddy bye nighty night comfy cosy reading for Lesiure and i have this beautiful jade green lamp on my night stand that i got at a thrift store that i love dearly but the longer i leave it on the hotter it gets and i am afraid i will fall asleep reading and my apartment building will burn down

[zykamiliah]

i love it when fandom infantilizes characters to the point of denying them their own agency.

"if people in cang qiong had treated shen jiu differently-" do you have any evidence that they mistreated him? or is it too hard a pill to swallow that shen jiu was the one who decided to close himself off and be an asshole. that cang qiong treated him just fine, that his martial siblings tolerated him to the point that even when he was suspected of murder nothing was done to him?

who forced shen jiu to abuse luo binghe? to abuse other disciples? those were his decisions, that was him acting in a position of power.

the moral of the story is not "shen jiu was misunderstood :(" the moral is: the person who was abused can also become an abuser. the one who suffers violence can be violent towards others. you, despite what you've gone through, have the capacity for kindness and cruelty. so be wise on how you decide to act, because your pain doesn't justify hurting others, and your actions will have consequences.

you have agency, you have whatever amount of power you have over your own life and the things you do have and impact in the lives of those around you and yourself. so maybe try being at the very least neutral to the world and yourself, if you can't be kind.

but no, shen jiu's mentality was "since I suffered, they deserve to suffer too". and by taking that path he perpetuated the cycle of abuse.

bingge is the same, because he could have stopped at taking revenge on shen jiu, but he decided to involve the whole sect and the rest of the world, no matter who was innocent. he was unnecessarily cruel, but so was his master.

both shen jiu and bingge had the capacity for some form of "niceness" (in the way they treated women), so it wasn't as if they'd never known some form of love. at some point in their lives, they stopped being abused children and became abusive adults.

and that's an expression of human behaviour that we have to accept as possible. the svsss narrative invites us to examine ourselves in this light, to witness our capacity for both love and hate, to realize that even in the most adverse of circumstances, there's always a small sliver of agency over how we feel and how we act. that, despite the things that defines us from birth through childhood, our decisions also define what we'll become in the future.

[allastoredeer]

How independent do you think Alastor's shadow actually is?

It's seems pretty independent in the show. It's still attached to him, and is very much a part of him, obviously, but we've also seen it move around a lot on its own, of its own free will (unless Alastor is mentally directing it where to go, which seems like a lot of work), but overall, it looks like it's doing its own thing most of the time, so long as its in Alastor's proximity.

In my personal fanon, Alastor's shadow is also quite independent.

For me, Alastor's shadow is more honest about Alastor's feeling than he is. It slips up and reveals his true emotions if anyone is fast enough to catch it.

I didn't expect for his shadow to be so sassy when I was writing it, but now that's all I can think about it being LOL. If it could talk, I have a feeling it'd give a lot of sass, not just to Alastor, but everyone. It also just comes off as very goofy to me. Its a very silly little shadow.

But I also think its VERY much connected to Alastor. It's still a facet of himself. It's still HIM. Just a looser, more independent part of himself with a touch more sentience than you'd expect XD

[gideonisms]

THE number one most irritating thing about life is deciding when you're meant to speak or make eye contact and when you're not, and for how long and how many phrases you're meant to say at a time

[cleromancy]

"tim needs to get a new mantle he didnt steal from his siblings" wrong. Say hello to the new huntress

[purpleshadow-star]

I'll be honest, I'm moving out of my "mleven break up so El can be independent" phase. El already is independent. Her independence arc peaked last season. Reliving her repressed memories and finally letting go of Brenner proved that she's ready to 100% think and act for herself.

I'm moving into a "mleven break up because El uses her independent thinking to realize that her and Mike's relationship is hurting them both and making them both feel bad, so she takes initiative and breaks up with Mike for real, which starts Mike's journey to opening his eyes and realizing that their relationship wasn't good for either of them" phase.

[theseyellowdays]

Yall tsc seems to have percolated in everyone's minds and the hcs coming out rn??? DELICIOUS

So let me add to the pile. What if Jeremy, in a fit of teenage angst and anger, acted rashly and inadvertently caused the death of his brother. Like it wasn't his fault but he was responsible for causing the situation that led to his brothers death and his family blames him for ruining everything bc the alternative is moving on... and then his step father had to use his power to sweep everything under the rug and next thing you know jeremy has crippling guilt and a family that blames him and a last name he hates and therapist his mom found who's only job is to keep him sane enough that he can uphold the perfect family veneer and a fear of police bc what if they realize it's all my fault and could I be charged with third degree murder and

Just something about the pressure to be perfect and the crippling guilt that comes with a good person reckoning with their bad decisions

[e-adlirez]

Just looked on the older books for refs of Thea and

Boi Curse of the Cheese Pyramid is insane

It literally starts with G heading to work on time at 9, but William comes in like "BOI YOU'RE SPENDING TOO MUCH MONEY ON THE GAZETTE YOU HAVE TO CUT DOWN THE BUDGET" (Imagine this screamed directly into Geronimo's ear)

Obviously William's definition of "cut down the budget" is this

TW: Spoilers for Curse of the Cheese Pyramid, William behavior, do not click on if you don't want a spike in blood pressure

If you choose to turn away now, the following fume was just an intermission for finding this picture lmao

He pawned over everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in Geronimo's office, from his desk to his armchair to his carpet to his book collection to his art collection, and replaced it all with a single plastic chair and desk ("All you need in an office is a desk and chair!")

He fired ALL THE STAFF and decided that only family members will be working for the paper (because family members don't need to be paid as much probably (if at all) when working for a family business-- they all share their finances with each other, anyway maybe (it's not clear what their salaries are gonna be (wanna bet G is paid minimum wage while Thea is paid 50% of the Gazette's monthly expenses after this clean sweep))). The only person spared from the firing spree was Shif T. Paws, the Gazette's sales manager, who apparently offered to work there for free.

He delegates all the work of the Gazette to four people-- G does all the office work (taking calls, building maintenance, writing, editing, printing, clientele stuff), Thea does all the interviews and field work stuff, Trap does all the cooking, and Benjamin is "William's personal assistant". Lord knows what that last position means for little Benji. (Okay reading ahead Benjamin seems fine, but he does say that William is "a bit pushy".)

He sends G out on a work holiday thing and he overworks the crap out of everyone, to the point where even Thea is sick of William's senile old-fashioned ass, and it seems that the Gazette was also going downhill because of this mouse furry ripoff Daniel Dancer. (To give a preview of what he did in the working perspective, he basically had Trap work seven days a week)

He was planning to have staff give use old newspaper instead of toilet paper (T&B expenses), make a 30-second time mechanism for the restrooms (to maximize manpower efficiency and possible humiliation for anyone going number 2), and was considering cutting all electricity to the building and just have staff work on typewriters "just like the old days".

This man's senile ass--

[watzuu-lmk]

Silly lil headcanon

In my head, Wukong is the best when it comes to dealing with children. He like, engages with them more than he does with adults.

Whereas Macaque who i think would be really awkward around children, but he is great when it comes to dealing with like,, adolescents and young adults. People who are mature is easier for him to deal with.

[distortedmoondisc]

I love this exchange SO much.

I love that rinne wants to make sure hiiro is being independent and making his own decisions and not caring about what he thinks, because what matters the most is what hiiro feels.

This means so much because it shows that hiiro finally sees rinne as just a person, as a brother, and not as the monarch he has to blindly follow and listen to.

[jennycalendar]

can tenmartha be an option.

[glamfellens]

accidentally making one of harriets core themes into You Can Never Go Home and like. how many ocs can i get away with doing this to lmao 👍

[l0v3c0r3e]

sorry but i dont think kali was the first person to let el be independent

[devilsskettle]

i feel like i’ve been WAITING for the other shoe to drop wrt people’s opinions about watcher for this very reason. not that i think the reaction is completely not understandable but the greater the parasocial relationship, the greater the fallout as soon as public opinion shifts. you don’t have a relationship with these people they’re just content creators, chill

[seawitchkaraoke]

I do really love people who have no idea what dropout is going "well why don't the watcher guys just join dropout then" that's not how dropout works, you're thinking of Nebula