maverickk

Along with final previews, it’s time to start highlighting our merch lineup! Spend the next ten days with us and find out what extras come alongside Fates: A Percy Jackson Compendium.

First are these three soft-touch prints featuring page spreads by @green446004 @jumpinthesubway @/erinmchugh.art 🗡️

And then we have Jason who obviously has had a traumatic childhood with the fact his alcohol mother gave him up to WOLVES at the age of two AND was separated from his sister who loved him dearly. Yet we dont see enough of this depth throughout HOO. I cant speak for TOA since I refuse to read it after I got a giant spoiler.

So, broadly speaking, there are two types of languages*: analytic and synthetic. An analytic language uses the order that words are written/spoken (which is called syntax) to form meaning. Synthetic languages instead focus on the form of the words (which is called conjugation). Spanish is a (primarily) synthetic language, for example - you determine who is speaking by how the verbs are conjugated. The Spanish word “ser,” which means “is,” is conjugated into Soy to say “I am,” Eres to say “You are,” Es to say “He/she is”, and so on. The order of words in the sentences doesn’t matter as much as how they’re formed.

(*like all dichotomies, it’s really more of a spectrum - some languages are more synthetic and some are more analytic, but all are really a mix of the two)

English is primarily an analytical language. Like, stripped down to bare essentials, an english sentence is Noun -> Verb the noun does. As a result, you can place a word that isn’t a verb into the verb slot and still have something that feels more or less coherent. “Alithnight velociraptors around the house” makes sense the order of the words conveys what they mean even without conjugating them. “Alithnight” is the noun, “velociraptors” is the verb, so we know that alithnight is doing something velociraptor-y, because english has trained us to think of the word in the verb’s place as a thing you do, and as such our brain fills in the gaps of figuring out what that verb should mean.

cancel culture, to me, is not the same as holding someone accountable for their wrongdoing.

as a god, and as a god with his specific upbringing, he wasnt really raised. there was no one to tell him how he was supposed to act or what he was supposed to be, aside from the sea herself and from the myths we can see that he embodies the ocean- obviously- and that shows with his anger, agression and rage

the first few scenes we get with percy is him trying to attack someone, and then going through with it. theres a line, a few words before he pushed nancy, where percy says something like: ‘i remembered what my guidance counsler told me, count to 10’ as a way to control his anger- and it doesnt work. percy has anger issues, and even though they arent shown much (which i think is lost potentional) they are still there, even in hoo there are times where people compare him to the ocean (im pretty sure its been a bit since ive done a full reread).

but through the entire series we see, even without being told, that percy matches the ocean! with the storm in the first book it clearly puts him on edge more than other students, he gets mad and lashes out similarly to poseidon in the myths, he generally acts as aggressive and violent as the seas and as his father-

but the difference is that he grew up in the mortal world. poseidon is a god, he is the god of the ocean- arguably the most powerful and dangerous thing on earth- and anyone with two braincells would be smart enough to avoid pissing him off as he knows for his wrath, and no ones gonna stop him. he faces (almost) no consequences for any violence he does, because hes a god. but percy doesnt have that. we know he gets expelled constantly, even for things that arent his fault, and we know and see that people- gods included- are scared of him. and we also know that he hates that.

YES

Okay, so one of the biggest problems that I have seen with a lot of neurotypical writers who have stories involving autistic characters is that they really misunderstand and simplify why and how they stim.

The most common reason you'll come across is that autistic people end up engaging in self-stimulatory behavior as a coping mechanism for when they're stressed or anxious, which is not untrue but it is often propped up as if it were the only reason why we do it.

Which is definitely not true, autistic people can and do stim for a number of reasons including but not limited to:

Excitement/happiness to express our joy and fascination with something.

A method of concentration to help ground us in the present moment or a way of focusing our thoughts.

To help process and sort through information.

To help regulate sensory processing and overload.

Unconsciously, because of how naturally it comes to us and we don't even realize we're doing it and not for any specific reason at all other than we like it and it's comforting.

It can also even help to reduce pain!

Also not every single kind of stim is an obvious or 'disruptive' one, they're are about six categories regarding stimming.

Visual (Staring at moving objects, bright colors, lights, fixating on lamps or screens, rapid blinking or eye fluttering, flipping switches and clicking buttons, lining up objects, counting things)

Auditory (Repetitive listening to any kind of music or song as white noise, humming or making vocal sounds, tapping on objects or ears)

Tactile (Rubbing skin or objects between fingers, hand movements, finger tapping)

Taste/Oral (Chewing or mouthing objects, licking, biting, comfort foods, seeking out specific flavors/tastes, playing with food and different textures like crunchy or squishy sensations)

Smell/Olfactory (Sniffing or smelling different things, scented candles, wax melts, perfume, even everyday smells like book pages and coffee)

Vestibular (Rocking back and forth, hand flapping, spinning or swinging, jumping, pacing or walking on tiptoes)

Also a few not so obvious stims: Rewatching media like movies or tv shows, playing with jewelry or hair, doodling, joint cracking, playing with clothing or fabrics, etc.

The problem with the common portrayal of stimming isn't that it's 'wrong' or even entirely inaccurate per se but it lacks diversity and nuance, and every autistic person is unique and won't have all of the same stims or comfort behaviors as another and when you portray one type or way of stimming as if it were the default you help to perpetuate the belief that all other forms of stimming is somehow unnatural and less valid in comparison, and the other issue is that when they do describe stimming they always portray it as a way of highlighting how disruptive and 'troubling' it can be for the people around them to witness while never bothering to show any way of how to simultaneously meet the needs of the autistic person without 'fixing' them somehow or demonizing them and their behavior.

You can't just hold the hand of an autistic person to stop their fidgeting and expect it to solve everything! It's unrealistic, Especially if you hold their hand without permission which would probably make them wanna stim more out of discomfort! I'm tired of seeing this disrespectful and ableistic kind of representation in the media and fanfic I consume, I don't know if others realize it or not but it's actually really harmful to the image we have of ourselves because it makes us out to believe that these unconscious behaviors we have are wrong and need to be discouraged cause it's harmful to the people around us.