screenshotting this one bc I can acknowledge that I’ve got shipper goggles on and op isn’t about that life which is fair but

I feel like batfam fans misunderstand the term parentification a lot and conflate it with Dick filling a parental role for his siblings, which might be part of the “oldest daughter syndrome” that’s so often pinned on him but that isn’t what parentification actually means

If I say that Dick Grayson was parentified, then that isn’t referring to him taking care of his siblings, it refers to the way Bruce treated him. As someone capable of taking care of his emotional needs and not as the child in need of care in the relationship

Parentification is a term that’s been around for decades, and while having to care for younger siblings might be a part of the definition, it focuses mostly on the role reversal of the parent-child dynamic. I’m not going to get into the psychology of it but being parentified has very little to do with if he actually acted as a parent for his siblings and everything to do with if he acted as a parent for Bruce

This is honestly why I prefer the term spouseification, which is less ambiguous than the term parentification and I feel accurately describes their “equal” relationship and the type of emotional abuse that Dick went through

Also from what I’ve read, Dick doesn’t act as a parental figure for any of his siblings except for Damian. While he might have given extra emotional support to Tim due to Bruce being Bruce, Dick still fits solidly into an older brother role. I’m not even going to touch on Dick’s relationship with Jason which is too weak to even be considered fraternal never mind parental

jaime being insane in terms of skill as a swordsman is so key to his status as the #1 resident of idgafghanistan bc that is part of what enables his post-aerys experience faux nihilistic limbo state bc he effectively believes that he can solve any problem (“knots and tangles”) that he even allows to matter atp by cutting it apart with a longsword. the uncomplicated physical keeps protecting him from the complicated mental (kind of like how he frames the dissociative quality of the battle fever to tyrion: “you stop feeling, you stop thinking, you stop being you”). oh the kid wakes up and talks? ok well ill just kill ned and then robert and then. he is so far gone that he does the same with brienne when she embodies two major obstacles: the surface level problem of being his captor who judges, misunderstands, and dehumanizes him, and the deeper problem of being someone who cares and retains her values and humanity and continuously rejects and contradicts jaime’s cynical worldview that he uses to justify himself. her very existence is a condemnation of jaime on every level. this is also why her actually ending up dominating him and him being unsuccessful in cutting her down in that fight works so well. she is a knot he cannot cut through.

i haven't even finished this book

I went “I’m not into this but let’s hear them out” on one too many omegaverse fics and now I have thoughts and opinions and headcanons and shit. Horrifying. Please be careful it could happen to you

me about the abuse: ah it couldn't have been that bad

also me: flinches at any fast movement, is terrified of people, expects every scenario to end up in harm, torture or murder, can't stand up to people, can't get close to anyone, keeps everything secret, terrified and ashamed of people knowing me, unable to stifle inner rage but too scared to express it, scared to talk about my own experiences, feels othered, unrelatable and outcasted from society, constantly worries about death from lack of resources, can't see a positive future, can't think about the past without breaking down, loses memories, loses ability to do things, is exhausted at all times, unable to reach comfort or a place of emotional safety

me in retrospect: ok maybe it was bad

Okay random ramblings bout the aeons in the divinity au, the feelings/aura/sensations around them, their general vibes and their relation to sampo/aha:

Aha:

The Elation is. Obviously. About joy and happiness and revelry. But the Elation is more than that: its the extremes of emotion, absolute tragedy and bone chilling rage. Its being overwhelmed by feelings and sensations and stimulation. Its the chaos of thrills and suffering and all emotions spawned by consciousness.

As aha, they technically can experience emotions much more than most other aeons. But unlike mortals, they experience everything at once. Joy/elation is obviously the overwhelming majority, but everything else is muddled together that it becomes vague. They seek thrills and constantly fight boredom to keep joy as the reigning emotion.

(Thats why as sampo he gets. Confused by feelings and doesnt get it. Anything other than excitment or elation is something else entirely. grief or nostalgia or anger or love or jealousy, its strange. As a human, he experiences emotions individually and simply, which makes it more... precise. Its sharp and direct.)

Aha is laughter, drunken singing, tragic comedies and bells and drums and every instrument and orchestras and people preaching into crowds. They're frilly clothing and theatre masks and splatters of paint and childrens toys and buttons and whistles and confetti. (They also like birds a lot lately)

Would create puppets to see through so theyd go watch plays and movies and concerts. If they liked them a lot they'd keep the show to themself, stealing it from everyone's minds and making it so it no longer exists for anyone but them.

Aha is the most sociable with all other aeons. They send out 'messages' to other aeons constantly. Only Qlipoth responds.

Aha's 'messages' are usually limericks, poems, songs, highly emotional words that echo out in frequencies only Aeons can feel/hear

Aha particularly likes qlipoth because they can put up with a lot of aha's shit before getting pissed. They have a weird morbid interest in Nous and tries to make Nous talk in something other than questions. Aha also likes poking at Lan and then running from The Hunt

(No wonder Sampo delights in the chase, almost getting caught by gepard time and time again)

Qlipoth:

Ancient and so massive they makes Aha look like an ant. Theyrepowerful and so, so overwhelming. Their presence even affects other Aeons; theyre a constant feeling of pressure, like youre buried under mountains or at the bottom of the ocean. Aha is largely immune because they visits qlipoth a lot and they just powered through the pressure

Qlipoth likes? Aha. At least as much as qlipoth is capable of liking anyone. Aha doesn't know why, but its because exactly 3489 amber eras ago Aha started stacking cool rocks and meteors they found on the celestial wall and altho they meant it as a game to see how many rocks they could stack before qlipoth got annoyed qlipoth took it as Aha helping build the wall. And qlipoth Never Forgets

Qlipoth existed before emotions, before consciousness. They existed when the universe was dark matter and atoms pushing against one another and stars barely shining. When there was nothing but rock. Theyre not alive, not conscious. They just Are.

They harbours a strange sense of protectiveness for Aha. It might be because Aha is the only glimpse of emotion they get. They dont feel much beyond a need to build the wall when aha isnt around, and the messages aha sends are like little tastes of feeling they indulge in.

Qlipoths 'messages' are never in words or anything straight forward. Its entirely a sensation, a nudge, a pressure, a rumble across the cosmos. (Normally Aha can take qlipoth's messages no problem. But now that he's sampo, qlipoth's messages sometimes bring him to his knees.)

Qlipoth is substance, they are insurmoumtable, theyre physical form and matter itself. They are bigger than anything humans can imagine, made up of the first material from the creation of the universe, metals that no longer exist, planets and astroids and celestial bodies

Lan:

Lan was human once and rose up from the Xianzhou due to his absolute unwavering desire to destroy the Abundance; unlike aha, he very much remembers being human before his ascension

He is narrowed down to a specific, narrow focus on destroying the Abundance. He's the rage and anger and bloodlust of humanity condensed into that one goal. Unlike Aha his form is not nearly as vague, he's a large endlessly moving centaur and everything he does is deliberate and with precision.

Doesnt give a shit or even consider anything else or any of the other aeons. As long as they don't get in lan's way

Second to Aha and akivili, probably closest to humanity. Rage and revenge are all he is now, but its still very human of him.

The aeon of the hunt is focus, its bloodlust and rage and suffering sharpened onto a deadly point. The Hunt is wind and speed, the path of a predator.

Lan hates Aha but also long as they dont get in his way they dont bother with aha. Unfortunately aha loves pushing Lan's buttons, poking and prodding until Lan snaps and rains arrows at Aha.

Aha doesn't realize it, but they are capable of instilling emotions in other Aeons and especially aha just by being around the elation. Lan hates it, hates being shaken from his narrow desire to destroy Yaoshi by feelings of annoyance and frustration and even sometimes amusement that Aha causes him.

Lan doesnt send messages across the cosmos and he ignores any that Aha sends to him. But if he did it would be a direct shot, instantaneous, a sentence or even single world like a punch.

Frankly, Lan could probably strike Aha down in one shot or at least wound and scatter them. The few times Lan gives in to Aha's badgering and hunts them down he doesnt try nearly as hard as he could. If Lan actually gave in to Aha's presence and the emotions they reawaken, Lan would realize he actually enjoys their cat and mouse games.

(When Aha causes some weird shit, like infinitely duplicating bodies or worms that stretch infinitely, they always Always call to Lan and pin the blame on Yaoshi. Lam isnt stupid, he knows its not the abundance and Aha just getting Lan to clean up his messes, but Lan does it anyways)

Simon's joke of "soup of theseus" is so damn good & way more layered than most people think.

Okay so first- what is the ship of Theseus?

So amongst his many misadventures and legends the ship of theseus was a ship the Athenians believed connected them to the divine living person that was Theseus. The thing is, he was maybe Poseidon's adopted kid/the King if Athen's son and probably not real (or at least if he did his misadventures were super exaggerated as royals = divity stories are) but the fate the Athenians had for him & Apollo (the 6 labors is a fun legend that explains their connection and what the original ship may have been) was so intense, they would constantly give maintence as a form of religious worship to said ship on the island of Delos (where Apollo's most sacred sancutary is) every year it would dock to pay respects.

Btw we don't need to know the specifics of Theseus but he did infamously slay a minotar and Finn did have a good exchange with the Mannish Man to get the enchiridion aka the book that sets Betty & Simon on the paths they are on now so that's neat af

So if you've ever heard about the ship of Theseus being paradox- it comes from the critique that's always existed about that ship's maintenance & religious practices tldr if you are constantly replacing each rotted and borken part of a ship, is it still the same ship?

The soup is a paradox like the ship

That paradox exists in many many scifi and adventure stories like the Nier series & Ghost in the Shell but in this instance we got to first look at the joke literally. Farm world's Finn's wife's soup is the same as the ship. The original soup farm world HW made no longer exists on a technicality, but the way Finn and his kids continue to add on and consume the soup is exactly like the Athenians. It's about the intent of carrying on the memory and keeping the soup around to honor the dead rather than the soup's original recipe {which also is incredibly sad & imples that farmworld Finn is both coping and never learned the original soup recipe}. It's a beautiful way to honor their dead mom/wife and it makes you wonder if that Finn did die if his kids will continue the practice.

But the paradox goes beyond the soup & into our reality

A lot of people have noticed that Fionna's last name is Campbell and Campbells is a real soup brand that would've been around before the great mushroom war. When Marceline gets sick as a kid, Simon goes great lenghts to get her chicken soup- that only worked out because the primordial version of the Mother Gum assisting {which is extreme Bubbeline foreshadowing}. And in that scene the can low key is a campbell design. But what if I told you there's more?

In Cheers, the tv show Simon is seen constantly watching and referencing throughout the original run of Adventure Time & in the recent Fionna and Cake had Carla Tortelli work at a Canpbell's Factory.

Neat references aside the soup ends the moment the main trio hit the remote button and I have a BA in psychology & interest in childrens media and entertainment that I want to milk for once. Metaphorical intention is beyond relevant episode specifics but actually the foundation of Fionna and Cake when it comes to the paradox.

Simon making the soup of Theseus joke is the main problem Fionna and Cake has to address

If Simon can summon his & Prismo's au from his head without proper MMS (Magic, Madness, and Sadness) where does Simon the human start and Ice King end?

As viewers who grew up alongside the series, the majority of 25+ watchers are finding Simon, older Finn, and Fionna painfully relatable because good fucking god we are all traumatized because of the ongoing pandemic.

If you want to focus on the main topic you can skip this part. But if you want to get very serious for a minute, please stay. The majority of people wont to accept what I just said about the pandemic being ongoing because global governments pretending the pandemic is over, the rise of depression and escapism in real time at a social level at a global level but especially in the US where the series is being made, and the daily interactions we have with most people refusing to mask up {with a violent reaction} when there still isn't a cure for COVID has created the perfect enviroment for most people to not accept change or crave extreme change. Fionna and Cake tackles these 2 very common forms of how depression tends to manifest when it's not fully manic to be displayed through Simon (self isolation from poor coping due to loss, detachment from society, dwelling on the past to the point it effects social interactions, extreme forms of religious practice, etc.) and Fionna/Finn (pretending everything is fine, avoidance, going through the bare minimum motions to survive, escapsim and dream of grandure, not caring about sel preservation, no/lack of self control with sweets/coffee, etc.). And I've noted there's a subset of AT viewers who don't relate or find the depections too real to the point they're upset the show's tone isn't as light hearted as AT. The thing is when a global disabling event happens, unless you were under 10 when it happened and even then it's a 50/50 because you probably did lose or know somebody who did die these last several years, you will have some kind of trauma response to it whether you like it or not. Hell, some of you unknowlingly have a gap in your memory about 2020 specifically due to inconsistent sleep schedules that have nothing to do with the shrinking of the brain mass COVID causes that we all call "brain fog" and now that I pointed it out you're probably going to go stare at a wall for 5 mins {sorry btw, doubly if you have long COVID and this is how you found out what brain fog partially is}. As someone who's been dealing with depression since I was a child, it's okay to be not okay given the last several years and doubly if you've been conscious long enough to see the US freefall into fascism too {which I hope encourages those who weren't aware that's been happening to go look into that because we can't get into it right now}. Because I unfortunately know what manic depression can look like - if you find yourself relating to Simon a little too much during ep 3, please talk to somebody who is licensed and trained to do so {not me, I haven't done suicide prevention work since 2017 and am not licensed- I genuienly won't be enough of a resource} okay? Don't throw away yourself nor change yourself for others only. You need to work to accept the past, move on to live in the present, and change yourself for yourself. It won't be easy and resources are out there to not do it alone, alright?

Becuase of how paradoxial and fluid mental health (espeically undiagnosed depression) can be and how AT has it's own version with MMS, could Simon have unconscious MMS still because of Betty's with without a battery but can't tap into it because of his mental state? And could Ice King as we once knew him even be considered a proper person Simon could return too?

The original wish of why Ice King's appearance & abilities is the way it is IS because of Evergreen's impression on Gunter {Evergreen was one of the ice elementals of the past btw- go watch the original Adventure Time for that context}. So Ice King isn't even an original character, just the crown building off the wishes and manifestations of each bearer by emulating a warped version of Evergreen. And that's the main reason why I speculate Ice Thing aka Gunter the Penguin is chill af to the point he got married and can exist with less gems. His wish didn't build off of power to protect Marceline (Simon) nor the power to copy Evergreen (Original Gunter).

As the main trio jump from connected universe to connected universe, more Simons and crowns will appear that are even more removed from our Ooo's crown and it's version of Ice King or Ice Prince or Winter King will only manifest because of the prior and current wishes made. So if Simon does get a crown that isn't the Ooo crown, will the Ice King that once existed even be THE Ice King he wants to be? And will Simon want to be Ice King or an Ice King when the trio do return to his Ooo?

The crown and it's many versions is a paradox that can only be resolved if Simon and Fionna can work together but also set aside their depression to address what they both really want and what that wish's intention will do to themselves and those around them. In short, shit's deep

I applaud the team for Fionna and Cake for tackling such a layered problem and I'm excited to see how Simon's soup of emotions, Fionna's growth, & magic crown of Theseus is addressed.

Does anyone have a link or book titles for an actual, trusted source on up to date psychology stuff? I’m curious about how The Autism™️ has presented itself in different members in my family vs/in addition to some of the other mental health stuff and I legit cannot find a source of info that isn’t seriously outdated, weirdly blanket statemented, or just… obviously written by someone who hates us.

We as a society need to stop using the term "psychopath" in discussions of media. Ableism aside it is just not useful.

i was thinkin like.. hmmm.. ianthe testin out all her weird necromancy stuff on roni... and then i included some additional warm up sillies that i did

As you wish, Lord Dialga

It's 100% true that the Roy siblings did not choose to be Logan's children and Tom and Greg and the old guard did choose to work for him so their relationships to Logan are fundamentally different, and the degree of culpability they bear for their own moral degradation is also wildly different. But workplace emotional abuse is also very real and omnipresent in the way Logan treats the people who work for him. And one of the impacts of workplace emotional abuse is creating an extreme attachment to the abuser and becoming less cognizant and even defensive of their abuse towards yourself and others, and in cases where the emotional abuse is institutionalized and systemic it can also create a strong aversion to leaving because your whole sense of personal identity becomes wrapped up in the organization and so being forced to leave can cause an intense psychological crisis. I don't think the situation of working for Logan is at all equivalent to being his child but I also think that it's a bit misguided to imply that Tom and Gerri and Frank and Karl are operating from a place of pure rationality without any undue psychological influences when they make the choice to stay with and support Logan

i need to know everything about your pjo voltron au

okay so basic plot premise: Thalia, Luke, Jason, Percy, Maria di Angelo, and Bianca all work at the Garrison and get sent on 3 separate missions (Thalia & Luke, Jason & ??? or maybe he's just by himself, then Percy & Maria & Bianca) which are all "lost" and they're declared dead by the Garrison.

Of course they were actually all abducted by aliens. Maria probably dies pretty early on in that whole situation. Thalia gets separated from Luke and ends up escaping and becoming a rebel. Luke, Jason, and Percy & Bianca all separately (except for Percy & Bianca) end up gladiators. Luke becomes The Champion and basically ends up a Kuron/Sendak-type character situation. Is he being mind-controlled? Unclear. He has a giant alien scythe-sword though. Bianca probably dies buying Percy time in the arena. At some point Percy and Jason find each other and decide to try and stick together.

Hazel is a human raised by her galra dad in space with the Blade of Marmora. She knows she has a half-brother through her dad out there somewhere but not anything else about him. She ends up running into Jason and Percy on a mission and helps them escape cause they're humans too.

Back on Earth, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth are all Garrison students. Or Annabeth is possibly in a Keith-type situation where she used to be a student but got Kinda Pissed Off about all her loved ones disappearing into space and ended up getting kicked out. Nico is in a Pidge-type situation where he snuck in as a student under a false name to figure out what happened to his family's mission. Percy and Jason crash on earth, the gang finds them, they find the Blue Lion, and Percy pilots it to the Altean castleship where they meet Reyna and Frank. Reyna is the Altean Princess, because her sister Hylla was queen. Frank is the son of a high-ranking general or something and he and Reyna are a duo.

Rest going under a cut cause this got long -

Lion adventures happen - Annabeth pilots the Green Lion, Jason pilots the Black Lion. Nico finds the Red Lion and meets Hazel when he does and brings her back to the castle. Hazel pilots the Yellow Lion. Nico very quickly realizes he's half-Galra and Hazel's brother and joins the Blade of Marmora. Percy swaps from Blue to the Red Lion. Piper starts piloting the Blue Lion. Leo, Frank, Reyna, and Nico end up the home-base support team. Percy probably keeps the blue paladin armor and Piper gets the spare pink armor for color association reasons and also cause that's usually the format for every iteration of Voltron anyways. It works out nicely. Everybody has extra lion compatibilities too/every Lion has a back-up basically cause I'm still mad vld canon dropped the lion lore/sentience plotlines and we never got cool dynamic lion swapping instead of just the usual single switch. We're having fun here.

Then everything else I don't have much for other than Annabeth and Nico basically swap Keith and Pidge roles once they join Voltron so Nico goes and has his galra identity crisis adventures and Annabeth reunites with Thalia at some point, who is basically in a Matt-type role. And Luke functions as the Sendak-level antagonist who Annabeth probably gets to fight with a swap back to Keith's role in a whole Keith & Kuron emotional situation. Kronos and Gaea are probably analogous to Zarkon and Haggar/Honerva here but not necessarily in that order, and obviously it's more of an either "Emperor and his advisor mom" or "Empress and her prince son" but in either one somebody's doing magic and people are probably getting possessed. Hades, Persephone, Iaepatus/Bob, and Damasen are all with the BoM. The Titans/Giants are probably all Empire generals. Who's Lotor? Octavian? Calypso? I don't know. Who are all the gods? I dunno. We'll workshop it.

Constantly thinking about this quote and how not wrong it is like..

theres like. something sinister about the 10th stormlight book that makes normal young healthy people who have no reason to think theyll be dead in 25 years start second guessing themselves and get weird and contemplate-y about their own mortality. like ive seen posts from multiple mutuals who are like. in their early 20s. that are like I Have This Irrational Feeling That I'll Die Before The Tenth Stormlight Book Comes Out. cursed book for real

best part about being good at literature and psychology is that I can literally interpret my own dreams lmao