#when I was a toddler I really really liked animals and the movie Jumanji

[tj-crochets]

Octopus friend here!!

(The one who thought the Frogs were octopi, changed my user since then soo whoop)

And eheh!! A question for you as the distraction post requests,

How come objects sometimes look like they have faces?

Hello frogtopus friend!! Why objects sometimes look like they have faces, as explained to a four year old: Our brains are like really really complex machines. They are doing all kinds of things in the background as we walk around and [list one or two things the kid likes doing or is currently doing]. Without thinking about it, you're breathing in and out, and blinking, and your body is turning your food into energy. How cool is that! So many things you don't have to tell your body to do, it just does them automatically. One of those things that humans are really really good at doing automatically is recognizing patterns, and one of the patterns we are best at recognizing is faces. I think it's because if we were out in the forest (or in whatever fantasy setting of a show/book the kid likes), and there were lions or tigers or monsters out to get us*, noticing them before they could pounce would help keep us safe. And there are lots of different kinds of animals, that are different colors and sizes and everything, but you know what they all have? Faces! Every animal we might see on land has a face, and most of the animals in the sea have faces too! Do you know any animals that don't have faces? (maybe talk about jellyfish and starfish and animals** like that). Nowadays, we spend less time worrying about lions and tigers and monsters, but that automatic face recognition is still in our brains, so we still notice faces. We're just more likely to see them on trees or stains on the ground or in the clouds. Why do you think we see faces on things? (talk for a while about their ideas) Let's see who can find the most faces in the house/yard/room! Ready, set, go! Let's find some faces! *unless you live somewhere where large carnivores hunting children is a legitimate concern, maybe do not tell toddler that the hypothetical lions are trying to kill or eat them. Depending on the kid, that could be fine, or it could give them nightmares and make them scared to go outside (not as dramatic, but I accidentally had the toddler I babysat super afraid of snakes for a few days and he wouldn't go in the part of his yard with tall grass. We did live somewhere with a lot of rattlesnakes, though, so it was important that he knew that there were dangerous snakes and what to watch out for so he wouldn't *run towards a snake* again)

**idk where the line is between "animal" and "not animal" or where jellyfish fall but I do not think that's a line a four year old is likely to know a lot about or care about

#ask away! #tj explains things to toddlers #snake mention #local-hellcat #long post #explaining to toddlers why objects sometimes look like they have faces #I don't know if that's really the reason we see faces? #I think it's like vaguely in the right direction of the answer #so I made sure to couch it as 'this is what I think' #and ask 'what do you think?' #I try not to lie to children #that said. the tolerance for sentences like 'if lions are trying to eat you' varies WILDLY between little kids #when I was a toddler I really really liked animals and the movie Jumanji #the idea of large carnivores eating me wouldn't have bothered me a bit I'd just have started talking about the food chain #(yes I know now it's called the food web I did not know that at age four) #but I have met several toddlers that are terrified at the idea of any animal out to get them #I've also had a toddler chased by a dog and utterly unafraid (both toddler and dog were fine I intervened) #so...err on the side of not implying they could get eaten by lions if you don't know the kid well #if you do know the kid well use your best judgment #the toddler I babysat was completely unafraid of any kind of animal (except temporarily snakes) #but was TERRIFIED for weeks after learning about the SCP foundation through youtube videos of a game #that was like...based on it? a version of it? #he was having nightmares and his parents had no idea what SCP was and I had to explain it while also only vaguely knowing

[sapphicscholar]

Can hou write something (even a few words) about Sanvers or Director Sanvers not wanting to be touched? Not in a sexual way, I'm talking about a hand on a knee or something like that. You can choose between Alex, Lucy or Maggie. It's just... I'm feeling this way right now. I flinch. I definitely hate this year's holidays.

Hey, of course! I’m sending the best thoughts your way! 

I just posted it on AO3 - http://archiveofourown.org/works/11602002/chapters/30095982

TW for moments of internalized homophobia

Chapter Text:

“I still can’t believe you never saw the original Jumanji,” Maggie gasped, looking over at Alex as though she had been the alien child who crash landed on earth all those years ago.

Alex looked to Lucy for support, but she just shrugged. “I’m just as shocked. My baby bi heart pined after a young Kristen Dunst in that flannel shirt/overall combo for a very long time.”

“Loser,” Maggie teased.

“Please, you had it just as bad.”

“Maybe.” Fixed with the weight of Alex and Lucy’s combined looks of disbeliefs, Maggie finally gave in. “Alright, alright, yes! But she wasn’t particularly high on my list of formative childhood crushes, so…”

“And who might have landed on that list?” Alex asked, a teasing glint in her eye.

“Well obviously there’s Miss Honey. Duh.” Lucy and Alex both nodded in agreement. “Um…oh! Harriet the spy.”

“That why you became a detective, Sawyer?”

“Hush. You two are the ones that demanded answers. Um…I had some confusing crushes on one or two of the Sandlot boys, though looking back on it…I had a wonderful partner while I was in the academy who looked and dressed an awful lot like Yeah-Yeah in their childhood pictures.”

“Oh yes!” Lucy squealed. “Some of those boys were adorable. I think all of my friends and I crushed on the older one…”

Eventually they lapsed into a contented silence, passing around the nearly empty bowl of popcorn until Maggie began the process of cleaning up the pile of blankets and pillows they’d accumulated while watching the movie.

The next day, they piled out of Maggie’s car at the National City mall, willing to brave the crowds to go see the new Jumanji film, though Maggie maintained it would “never be as good as the original.” As they traipsed through the parking lot, Alex shivered and grabbed for Lucy’s hands for warmth, only to find them rebuffed.

“Too cold out,” Lucy muttered, stuffing her hands in her pockets and ducking her head in the wind. She saw the hurt expression in Alex’s eyes, but tried her best to ignore it, unable to deal with whatever conversation it would lead to at the moment.

Once they made it into the mall, they were immediately besieged by crowds—families with crying children, teenagers out of school and hanging out with their friends, young couples still in the thrall of new love and oblivious to the world around them—and jostled closer together. Lucy nearly jumped a foot in the air when Maggie’s arm snaked around her waist, giving her what she supposed was likely meant to be a comforting squeeze. But immediately it felt suffocating, felt ticklish, felt itchy, like her body was rejecting the touch itself.

“Stop,” Lucy hissed, arching her back to get further away from Maggie’s arm, the loose hug feeling like a vice grip around her.

“Okay…” Maggie trailed off. “Sorry.” Shaking her head, she tangled her other hand with Alex’s, figuring it probably had to do with the crowds more than anything else. After all, there were plenty of days Lucy’s heart still raced when they were out and couldn’t see a clear path to an exit, when people brushed up against her with no warning or reason, and Maggie had come to expect it. She and Alex had learned to stand on either side of her when they were out, helping to form a kind of buffer when crowds were bad and her anxiety was acting up. They’d learned that sometimes it helped to walk closer to the perimeter of buildings, rather than cutting straight through the heart of it where the crowds were denser.

Lucy walked a few feet ahead of her girlfriends, taking a moment to breathe deeply, trying to slow her heart rate a little before going into the theater. She was grateful to see that the cinema was crowded, but in an orderly way, the families and couples culled into neat-ish lines and cordoned off with stanchions.

Eying the length of the lines, Maggie volunteered to go get their snacks, while Alex got in line for their tickets and Lucy ran to the bathroom to let cool water run over her wrists—an old trick she had learned for cooling herself down. She wasn’t sure that it actually did anything physically, but the important part was that she believed it worked, so it helped.

By the time she got out of the bathroom, Alex had their tickets, and Maggie was at the counter, picking out an assortment of treats to complement the drinks they’d already shoved into their bags, figuring they would save on half the expenses.

“Hey!” Alex waved, making sure Lucy saw her. “I’m so excited,” Alex gushed. “We haven’t all been together at the movies since our date back around Halloween.” But when her hand settled on Lucy’s hip, Lucy shoved it away.

“Seriously, knock it off,” Lucy snapped. “We’re in public.”

“And?”

“Just—there are kids around,” Lucy huffed.

“It’s not like I’m trying to fuck.” Alex crossed her arms across her chest.

“I just—just stop it, okay?” Lucy felt like the eyes of everyone in the theater were trained on them, could feel her skin still prickling uncomfortably from the heat of Alex’s touch, felt like she needed to wash and scratch at her skin until the feeling disappeared.

“How are my girls doing?” Maggie asked, popping in with a huge tub of popcorn in her arms and a wide grin on her face.

“Not now,” Alex mouthed, sensing that Maggie was in one of her giddy moods, which often led to excessive touching—something she normally enjoyed but knew wouldn’t be welcomed today, at least not by Lucy. She might not get what exactly was happening, but she knew better than to force Lucy into anything.

“Let’s just go see the movie, okay?”

Maggie watched the way Lucy seemed to fold in on herself, glancing between Maggie and Alex’s tangled fingers and the families—heterosexual families, Maggie corrected herself—that surrounded them. She thought back to how she had felt visiting one of her first girlfriends’ families in a conservative town in upstate New York, remembered the way they’d let everyone call them sisters, knowing it was the safer bet, remembered how they hadn’t corrected family members who knew and still introduced them as friends, assuming the introductions were keeping them safe. And she remembered still being struck with that same feeling years later even in liberal towns—places as generally open-minded as National City. And it didn’t matter that she was out and older and far removed from the homophobia of Blue Springs, that she went to Pride and nearly bathed in glitter and painted rainbows on her face, that she proudly asked women out on dates and held them and knew deep in her heart that their love was just as good as anyone else’s. None of it seemed to matter when her heart raced with remembered panic that was no less real for its being past. With a little nod at Alex, she dropped their hands, knowing that their relationship was still secure and sound, even if they weren’t public about it for an afternoon.

“So, Luce, Alex and I were thinking, maybe it’d be nice to do dinner at home today, instead of going out to eat.”

“Yeah, I’m a little tired,” Alex offered. “Plus, it’s so crowded, I don’t know if we’d be able to get a table.”

“Or we’d get stuck surrounded by crying kids,” Maggie added, wrinkling her nose, remembering the last time she’d ended up with a bawling toddler’s fistful of spaghetti on her leather jacket.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Alex and Maggie quickly agreed.

And even though they had offered perfectly legitimate reasons for their choice, Lucy suspected it had a lot more to do with her than they were letting on, and she was beyond grateful, even if she wished it wasn’t the case, wished she knew exactly why there were stretches of time when something as simple as a brush of a hand against her would send her reeling.

And in the dark of the theater, seated in the aisle seat with Alex to her left, Lucy dropped her hand to Alex’s, finding that she was okay when she controlled it, grateful when Alex dropped her hand back when Lucy froze as fingers tried to actively tangle back into her own. But she still smiled at Lucy just the same, still grinned when Lucy’s hand dropped back on top of hers, when Lucy’s fingers traced distracted patterns across her palm.

And on the way back through the mall, her girls flanked her, keeping the crowds at bay without once trying to force their way into her space, their animated chatting helping to keep away the conviction that she had messed up somehow, that she was pushing them back into the closet and keeping them from being happy. Because they were still smiling and laughing, still including her in their conversation and making plans for dinner that night and dates later that week. They were still hers, and they were still happy.

#ask me #geofender #director sanvers #fanfic #supergirl #lucy lane #alex danvers #maggie sawyer #alex x maggie x lucy #prompt fill #tw internalized homophobia #holidays can be rough #and that's okay #self-care is important #ao3feed

[surveysonfleek]

776.

Do you always carry breath mints? no. when i’m bothered i’ll buy them. What is the point of scented pens / pencils / erasers? just a gimmick i suppose. i loved them as a kid.

Do you buy / wear band-aids with cartoon characters on them? no. Are you amused by celebrity fashion flubs? is that like a fashion faux pas? maybe like 10 years ago lol. What do you think your reaction would be upon entering the White House? i think it’d be cool.

Do you buy and wear crazy looking socks? nope. Would you run down the street wearing a tutu, fishnets, & flippers? haha no. only for money. Have you ever grown your own sea monkeys or dinosaurs? yeah i have when i was a kid. i forgot to feed them and they sorta just disappeared. Would you want to travel into deep space? hell no. Have you ever thrown a game controller (or the game) and broke it? no lol. Did you ever own an Etch-a-Sketch? nope. What are your thoughts on *gasp* Speedos? to each their own. Do / did you ever have glow-in-the-dark stars on your ceiling? nope. Does your house have an attic that had stuff in it when you moved in? we don’t have an attic. What movie were you really worked up for that ended up disappointing you? none? Does / did your school have special dress-up days? i went to a private school with uniforms so we’d have a couple days a year where we were allowed to dress however we wanted. they were the best, it was like ~american~ school. What cartoons did you watch when you were little? doug, recess, hey arnold, arthur. Do you eat peanut shells along with the peanuts? lol no. Would you eat a meal cooked by Hannibal Lecter? no. Have you ever gone white-water rafting? nope. What part of a paper is hardest for you to write? the conclusion. i just get so excited to be nearly done that i rush it. Does your grandma wear an apron when she cooks? both my grandmas have passed :( This is your chance to get it out! Place random rant here: i’m sick of work. How often do you need “me” time? at least one day a week. if not definitely a couple hours before i go to sleep. Was Jim Morrison truly “an American Poet”, in your opinion? i haven’t heard his stuff. Does it bother you that almost everything is done on computers now? it’s convenient in a way. it doesn’t really bother me. Have you ever gotten stuck in a revolving door? no, but my sister has when she was a toddler hahaha. scarred her for life. Who is your favorite superhero? wonderwoman. KFC Chicken: original or extra crispy? original. Pop-Tarts vs. Toaster Strudels. Discuss: pop tarts. never tried toaster strudels.

Do you believe there are subliminal messages in songs? probably. Think about your first kiss. Did you have any idea what you were doing? nope lol. Do you “fake bake”? If so, WHY?!?! D: no. Would you play Jumanji, if given the chance? hell no. Name a song lyric you heard wrong the 1st time and what it really said: the weeknd’s reminder. i thought it was ‘too busy tryna find that blue asshole’ but it was blue eyed soul or something. Does it bother / offend you when someone calls something (not someONE) gay? it annoys me a little. no one my age should be saying that anyway. Do you always make sure your cell phone is charged before going somewhere? yes. Did you get Happy Meals just for the toys as a kid? yes! Have you ever seen your parents cry? If so, how did it make you feel? yes. it made me feel terrible. What are your thoughts on Chuck Norris? nothing. Did you answer that last question with a random Chuck Norris fact? no lol. What is the most annoying sound in the world? screeching noises. nails on a chalkbaord kinda thing. What would you do if Neil Patrick Harris stole your car? ask him why. he’s probably a millionaire and he’s stealing my piece of shit car. Do you honestly care about calories and fat content? to an extent. i honestly just try to eat as clean as possible. How do you feel about animal testing? it��s honestly sad seeing them caged up in labs. Do you often shift blame towards others? not usually. i have no problem taking the blame if i feel like i was at fault. Your very first best friend: Is he / she STILL your best friend? nope. What would you do if a rabid animal was chasing you? depends how big it was. i’d either keep running or try fight it. Do you add condiments to your ice cream, or just eat it plain? syrup usually. Have you ever witnessed a crime? like speeding and stuff, yeah lol. What’s the coolest personalized license plate you’ve ever seen? none that i can think of right now.

#survey #surveys #quiz #bored #questions