it's actually so fascinating to me that Brennan has created a character that maintains a pretty relaxed and mild-mannered demeanor and has said multiple times that the absolute Core of her is "FEAR" and how often we see this Fear manifest specifically in Avoidance; it really nails a relationship to that mentality where your brain fully Stops recognizing the emotion properly out of like, sheer self-defense from the stress of having to carry it all the time
I think this is also perfectly showcased in the way we tend to see Tula swing so suddenly from 'level and steady' to 'snarling Panic' and then back again - Just because your brain has detached itself from the Conscious Recognition of the emotion doesn't mean it can Actually stop itself from experiencing it. So the Fear is always there and always acting as a stressor, but because of that inability to Identify it there's no way to recognize or address it before that final straw hits and your bodymind jumps Straight into Full Meltdown Mode; but then once again, once you drop even a Little bit below that Peak Terror your brain ceases to process the emotion; it's like the most exhausting form of Poor Object Permanence in the world
And even if Tula is aware of this happening to her, that doesn't really make it any easier to deal with / address. Even if you're able to spot the symptoms Around the emotion -- chest pain, irritation, nausea, whatever -- because the Emotion Itself is basically impossible to find, you can't really Successfully Pin Down what the problem is OR a way to cope with it. If you can't figure out That You Are Anxious, then figuring out What Is Making You Anxious is impossible, which makes Find A Way To Make Peace With That incomprehensible. That's where the Avoidance comes in: you can no longer identify what might be a Dangerous Situation, which means that Anything New has a big potential to be Really Bad in a variety of ways (ranging "I don't Feel Good" to "Fully Lashing Out bc you've entered Fight/Flight and can't get out of it" to "Actual Outside Danger This Time") and that means the Only Way you know how to be Safe is to just Avoid Doing Anything New and Only stick to Familiar Situations, because anything unfamiliar is a monster of a gamble you don't know how to prepare for or cope with
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im sorry i have to rant im so fucking pissed
my exams end on 19th and I have to get rid of some books and buy some books which are quite pricy online so I had planned on going to college street on 20th and selling my books and buying the new ones at a cheap price and i was frankly really excited about it because all I get is a one day break to relax bcz i have to start studying for entrances from 21st so all I have is 20th and i wanted to spend it at college street and then get some food and basically have like a solo date kind of thing.
and i was so so excited about it i told my boyfriend about it like 500 times bcz i kept forgetting i've already mentioned it and it was literally on my mind a lott so i kept bringing it up and ik it seems like not a big deal cz i can just sit at home and chill too but i literally do not get to go outside my house. like- the last time i went out was new years eve and after that the only time i've gone out is to school or to give my boards that is it. my mother has some weird like problem wiht me going out like even if i tell her that i just want to go to our terrace for 5 minutes just to get some fresh air she won't even allow that she'll be all suspicious and like sTaNd In ThE bAlCOnY aNd TaKe FrEsH aIr like she herself doesnt leave the house (and blames it on me and my brother ???? when have we ever stopped you bro, she said I HaVe To Be HeRe To KeEp An EyE like im 18 i dont need to be watched 24/7 stop blaming me for choices you put upon yourself) and i just feel so suffocated ALL THE TIME i feel so overstimulated and im so sick of rotting on my bed and i dont want to wait for some birthday party or friends meet up to be able to leave my goddamn house i just wanted to go and have a fun day and get me some books thats it.
anyway so initially the plan was that my mom would go along but something came up so she wanted to postpone it to 21st and i didn't want to bcz i'd already be missing 3 days bcz of my boyfriends birthday, holi and my brothers birthday (all of which are important and i dont want to miss which makes me the villain apparently bcz i should "adjust" and cancel my "parties" instead of trying to stick to my plan bcz that makes me too demanding and selfish apparently) so i suggested that ukw why dont u go do ur thing which came up and i'll go to college street by myself...which is when the solo date idea came which i had really wanted all along but didnt bring up bcz i knew she'd say no but now there's a valid reason for me to go alone so like, its a pretty easy fix i can just go alone but noooo. First of all,
I've been to college street multiple times before so its not like its an unknown area to me
im going by metro which is quite safe
im going when there is stark daylight and i will return home much much before it gets dark and im literally 18
she never lets me go anywhere alone, not even take ubers alone if i want to get back from somewhere my bf has to come drop me everytime and then go backwards to his house which is so so so stupid and i never get to go out alone unless accompanied by family or by a male friend, so obv when i said i'll go to college street alone she refused to let that happen and started screaming about how 'if its so important to go on 20th bcz u dont want to miss a day of studying then cancel ur 'parties' and study then' and i was like no its not about missing a day its just that there's a very easy and logical fix to this problem which is i go alone and its not inconveniencing anyone so why cant i just do that but she will not listen to that bcz im 'adamant' and 'everything has to be according to me' bcz i found a viable solution to the problem. so instead of letting me just go she was literally ready to pay much more money and buy the books online, like.....why cant i just go bro??? (and she keeps telling me im a waste of her money bcz i will amount to nothing in life and my education was a failed investment or wtv so like now why are u wasting more money??? im literally trying to save the money that u 'waste' on me so just let me ???)
anyway i called my dad last night and told him and he was super ok with the idea he said its a good idea that i go alone and that he would speak to her but then today when i asked her if dad spoke to her she said yes, we'll go on 20th and i was like .....we? so apparently she CANCELLED her previously immovable thing for which she wanted me to cancel my 'parties', she cancelled that and agreed to go with me on 20th just so that i dont get to go alone- like ???????????????? what is ur problemmmm
so obv i was super annoyed and i went on a whole ass rant about how i literally struggle to even cross roads bcz i dont know shit about basic travelling bcz all my life ive been in a car and its a running joke with all my guy friends that i 'cannot navigate' and 'dont know any places' and obv??? if im never allowed to go anywhere then how tf will i know the places- the only places i know is bcz recently i've been paying a lot of attention and asking my dad stuff about what roads to take to reach certain places and when i go out with my friends i kind of try and learn a bit but thats it i've only ever gone alone completely alone to two places which is my beauty parlour thats 5 minutes away from my house and one bazaar one time that was 2 bus stops away, thats it. thats my extent of public travelling alone. and now im supposed to go to a whole new STATE for college and i cant even call myself an auto without struggling. and like- is this not a basic life skill??? like ok yeah its not rocket science and i will probably figure it out even if i start later in life but why not now? most of my guy friends literally go everywhere alone, why not me? and my dad agreed with all of this but my mom was just like "you'll be in the hostel only, no need to go out of the campus" like ARE YOU FOR REAL????????? and she's like "if u want to learn skills learn how to cook" like ok yes i will also learn how to cook for sure but i wont have a fucking kitchen in the hostel but somehow cooking is an urgent skill i should learn but going places by myself is unimportant bcz i should just never? leave? the? hostel?
anyway after much screaming and shouting my dad gave up and just cut the call bcz he doesnt want to get into an argument with my mother and my mother was being all suspicious like why do u hAvE tO gO aLoNe AlL oF a SuDdEn even though i literally explained why i want to do this alone but she doesnt think thats valid. so she refuses to let me go and i asked her for one reason why i shouldnt cz usuallt its always "no u have exam what if smthn happens" but now i literally dont even have exam so whats ur excuse now? streets will always be unsafe forever so "what if smthn happens" is not a reason to never let me go out without a man so just gimme one reason and she couldnt give me a single reason she just said "i said no, thats it".
and now she's gone off about how im useless and blah blah and "high maintainance" bcz i want books and "everyone else (some pishi's son) just studies online" and so the whole option of college street is apparently now cancelled and she's trying to set up a whole ass kindle account (half the books i need arent even available as ebooks) just because i wanted to go by myself.
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Tell me Dimitri lore. Now.
Who is he. What is he. What's his deal. What's his story. What is his place in the story you're telling yourself in your head. What's his stance on old hairy men.
HE-HE’S JUST- *grabs you by the shoulders, white-knuckled* he’s my everything. he’s my skrunkly. he’s my little punching bag. I love him so much.
putting this under a cut because I just made this very long but I am absolutely not ashamed, I hope you like reading 👍👍
Dimitri Kazriel is my first (and almost only, I have one other new character) dnd character, created for a campaign that I loved but was sadly cut short a while ago due to the DM being an absolute jackass that I could no longer respect. He’s a stereotypical little edgy tiefling who is officially a warlock but is essentially a rogue in every other aspect. He’s charming (or at least he thinks he is), snarky, a bit asshole-ish, untrusting, sneaky, and an absolute disaster. He look like dis :)
He lives in a Norse mythology-based world, and his warlock patron is none other than the god Loki, who he has happily served for like 10 years now.
His deal you ask? Well, teehee *twirls hair* well his deal is that he’s a widdle puppet of the gods who has no concept of how tiny he really is in their plans and how little his patron actually cares about him 🥰😍😍 he exists solely to be manipulated and used as a microscopic chess piece on a board of grander scale than he will ever comprehend!!! 😍😍😍
Not only is he Loki’s little puppet (which like, he’s kind of starting to become aware of but not fully) but in the timeline of the campaign, Odin himself has also taken an interest in him! And essentially gave him an offer to help Odin overthrow Loki and as a reward, Dimitri could literally ascend to godhood in Loki’s place! Sounds great right! Except ummm Loki sees and knows all and Dimitri knows that if Loki catches him plotting with Odin he’ll probably be horribly punished 🥰
So basically his whole deal (as of the time that the campaign ended) is that he’s a little puppet chess piece that two gods are fighting over, and he has no idea what they really want, has no concept of how insignificant he really is to them, and has literally no sense of independent identity outside of servitude! 😍
But the manipulation theme goes wayyy beyond just that because before he served Loki, he spent the majority of his teens as part of this sort of gang-like organization called the Weavers. (There’s like this whole city lore thing but yada yada basically they’re a sneaky force that controls a lot of shit). Specifically, he serves the leader of the Weavers, a man called the Broodfather. (Literally all of this city and Weavers lore was all made up by my DM btw, I’m not gonna claim ownership of that even if he is a shitbag. Most of Dimitri’s story and backstory was very much an ongoing collaborative project between us.)
And ohhh I could go on about what that was like but basically all you need to know is that the Broodfather is Not Nice and was extremely manipulative and made Dimitri sort of look up to him as a father-like figure for years, someone that Dimitri strove to make proud. (Also the Weavers basically “rescued” him from poverty on the streets so he feels like he owes the Broodfather a debt.) Eventually this all culminates in him tricking Dimitri into killing his best friend! 😍 Which finally makes Dimitri realize “oh shit I need to get the Hell Out Of Dodge” but long story short that plan fails, the Broodfather catches him in the act, punished him and completely breaks his spirit!!!!
Now THIS. This is where Loki swoops in. When Dimitri is at his absolute lowest point, Loki comes in and offers him freedom and power, and Dimitri takes it. He serves Loki for years - (he doesn’t like thinking of himself as a servant of course, he considers Loki more of a generous benefactor who he happens to share a lot of mischievous traits with) - and even when he does finally start to question his allegiance, Loki keeps him in his grasp by reminding him of who saved him, who it was who so kindly freed him from enslavement to the Weavers.
But. But. 🥰Teehee. My favorite part. My absolute favorite part of the lore. Is what Dimitri doesn’t know. Which is that Loki and the Broodfather are the same person. Loki killed the original Broodfather and, being a shapeshifter, took on his form to lead the Weavers for a few years for his own personal plans. Dimitri just happened to wander in to his web, a naive little boy waiting to be manipulated. So Loki molded him, shaped him into the perfect puppet, purposefully engineered his trauma to make him as weak and easily manipulated as possible, just in time for him to finish his plans with the Weavers (leaving the Broodfather’s dead body behind to explain his disappearance) and appear to Dimitri as his real godly self.
Dimitri only stays with Loki willingly because he believes him to be a savior, because he thinks he’s free. He thinks he escaped. But he never did.
anyways here’s a text exchange between me and my old DM that really fits here I think 🥰💖💖
(oh, also I think his stance on hairy old men would be somewhere between apathetic to positive. he has a little bit trauma-related unease around old men I would imagine, but there was also a really hot 60-70 something year old dilf NPC in game that I personally had a massive fucking crush on, so I had Dimitri flirt with him a lot lmao)
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Whumpers, what are your earliest memories?
Mine is from when I was about two or three. I was in a stroller, at my cousin’s Irish dancing recital. After the recital, my aunts were talking down to me in the stroller, and to each other. I was experiencing extreme anxiety because I couldn’t understand what they were saying, when I felt I should have been able to communicate with them like they were communicating with each other. I was also very tired and dazed. I did not cry though… I probably looked normal on the outside.
I also remember when I was about four or five, I went to the beach with my dad and one of his friends. I somehow found my way onto the dock, planted my little rear end on a jet ski, untethered it from the dock, and started floating into the sunset. There was an old lady lounging in a donut inflatable out some way; she said something to me, but I couldn’t understand what she said, despite trying really hard. I’m assuming it was something along the lines of “Oh my god get off that jet ski you’re going to fucking DIE, kid,” but again… couldn’t understand a word of what she said, and got frustrated because she was speaking English (without an accent) and I should know how to understand adults speaking English to me.
At this point, my dad is yelling at me from across the water, and a young lifeguard drags the jet ski back. On land, my dad lectured at me very harshly as he led me back to the car. I didn’t know I had done anything wrong, and was very confused. At some point this guy starts quoting the Bible at me, and the only thing I could pick out were the words (spoken very emphatically), “Your days are numbered.”
“My days are numbered?” cue a vivid mental image of a calendar, with dates listed for every day of the week, “What does that mean?” Later on I figured out this was the Bible’s way of referencing death at God’s hand which just made me even more confused as to what I did, until at age thirteen, I figured out, “Oh a baby who can’t swim floating on a jet ski is terrifying, actually.”
Tagging: @kaleidoscopr @redd956 @hereissomething @astudyinpanda @c0ldbrains @straight-to-the-pain
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