#((But he did it... he confided in her...))

[mentalmeles]

Was listening to Star Spangled Man With a Plan (as one does) and it got me thinking about Steve during his USO tours--mainly Steve and his relationship with the USO girls.

At first, the USO girls are all business and are only polite to Steve when they have to be. They're not cold to him, but they're not particularly friendly or warm either. They just stay in their lane and he stays in his. Maybe, after a bit of time, one or two of em decide to test their luck and flirt with Steve, but he declines their advances every time. (I know that the MCU says it's canon that Steve lost his virginity to one of em or something like that, but I'm actively choosing to ignore that he had sex with any of em at all lmao)

But then, after doing a handful of tours, one of the USO girls decides 'fuck it' and decides to throw Steve a bone;

"Can you help me zip up my outfit?" She asks.

Steve flounders a bit at first, but she assures him that she doesn't mean anything by it. She only wants his help. She's letting him help. So, he does. Suddenly, from that moment on, the majority of the USO girls begin to ask Steve for help too--whether it be for their outfits, their hair, or their makeup. Maybe it's because they've realized he's not going to try anything. Maybe they've realized just how lonely he really is. So, over time, they begin to let him in on their card games, their smoke breaks (even though Steve himself doesn't smoke, since it doesn't do anything for him now, anyway), and talks about home. They even teach him some dances and acrobatics. Eventually, Steve gets comfortable enough to tell them about Bucky. He tries not to say too much, lest he give away the true depth of their relationship. He's not the best at lying, so he speaks in half truths. He's always very careful. He has to be, after all.

But then, maybe, one of em figures it out anyway.

"You're sweet on him, aren't you? Your friend?" She asks. It's the girl who first asked for his help. The one who first let him in.

And Steve is so fucking scared all of a sudden. He doesn't know how she figured it out. He thought he'd been hiding it well. He had been so careful. So careful. Fuck, what will he do if she tells people? If she tells people what he is, it's all over. They'll send him home and he'll lose his one actual chance of potentially getting out on the field and helping Bucky. And Bucky... If word somehow gets to the army... What will they do to Bucky?

But then, suddenly, she drops another bombshell;

"I have a girl back home," she says quietly. "I had a feeling you were in the same boat as me, what with the way your eyes look every time you talk about him. Her eyes do the same thing when she talks about me. Everyone back home thinks she's just my best friend. But she's worth a helluva lot more than that."

Steve can only stare at her. For a moment he wonders if she's lying, but everything about her--all the way down to her voice, her expression, and posture--tells him that she's being honest. He gives a broken laugh, suddenly feeling very, very small.

"Yeah. Yeah, he is too. Worth a helluva lot more to me than just a friend, I mean..."

She nods. "Does anyone else know?"

"I think one of his sisters might. But, other than that, it's just you." He pauses. "What's her name?"

"Hilda. I call her Hildie."

"That's right. You've mentioned her a couple times... She sounds wonderful."

"She is." She pauses for a moment before speaking again. "You know, you can talk to me about him. Whenever you want or need. People like us...we gotta stick together, ya know?"

Suddenly, Steve doesn't feel like he's talking to a friendly coworker. He feels like he's talking to a friend.

So, he gives her one of his increasingly rare smiles, real and warm. "I think I'd like that," he says. "Thank you."

[huellitaa]

genuine confidence vs fake confidence ⊹˚. 👛💬🐧

there is an individual meaning to everything. confidence is one of those things that is so commonly misinterpreted as something painfully contrasting to its actual meaning, and so it is my job to enlighten you guys! and teach what the meaning of true, real confidence, truly, really, is, and how to embody it ♡ 💬🐧🩷

──★ ˙ ̟💭👛 confidence

the feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something.

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 I. WHAT IS GENUINE CONFIDENCE?

a genuinely confident person...

does not feel the need to broadcast their winnings and achievements. they know that they mean something and they don't need the approval of another to prove that.

does not need the approval of another, full stop. whether its to do something, say something, whatever. sure, maybe they'll ask for it here and there, but they dont need it. they can just as easily do it themselves. its an addition, not a necessity.

can take constructive criticism, because they know themselves and their self image and ego isnt so fragile that they cant handle the slightest bit of prodding and poking at it here and there to mold it into something better. they know its for the best.

can accept their flaws, because they trust and rely on themselves enough to know that it doesn't define them and that they can accept and work on those flaws and mistakes.

knowing change is for the better, no matter what. if you genuinely can rely on yourself, then you will know that no matter what, you will always come out okay, because you have faith in yourself. any change that undergoes your life is always for the best because you have faith in yourself and your life.

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 II. WHAT IS FAKE CONFIDENCE?

incessant bragging. as someone with a good amount of confidence in themselves, i LOVE to brag every so often, but constantly talking about it? no.

exaggerating your wins. a truly confident person knows that they win enough to not need exaggeration.

lying about your achievements. if you're confident in yourself, you are confident in your life and your pride and your achievements, so you'd have no reason to lie.

being overly defensive when challenged. cuz why are you so desperate to defend yourself if you're confident that you're right?

inability to admit your own mistakes. this is soo widespread and it bothers me so badly because confident people understand their own mind and know how to control it, which means they also know that mistakes are vital in life, no matter how big or how small.

putting others down to lift yourself up. ew ew ew ew ew all over. a genuinely confident person knows their own worth isn't more than another's.

⊹˚. 🧸 "fake it till you make it" – true or false?

i see many conflicting opinions on whether or not faking confidence can be detrimental to you and / or others or not. honestly, i believe things like this always depend on the person, but i do overall believe in the "fake it till you make it" to an extent. too much of anything is bad for you, and this is just one of those things that you need to be careful with if you tend to get carried away easily.

— not overtly bad, but should not be your only solution! 💬🐈‍⬛️

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 III. HOW TO OBTAIN GENUINE CONFIDENCE?

⊹˚. 💬🧁 1. "faith"

to have faith in something is to have complete trust in that thing. and how is trust built? through experience. think about it. you dont trust something unless you have reason to. why would you have faith in yourself if you have no reason to?

make a sort of portfolio of all the things you can remember that you've done in your life that are worthy of your trust and respect. think of how you'd react if someone else that you love did it. would you trust them for it? apply that to yourself.

🎀🗒 note: this is a method used in many of tam kaur's videos on youtube! i rly recommend her if ur looking 4 confidence.

⊹˚. 🐈‍⬛️💭 2. "rely"

linking back to my former point, to rely on something takes trust and faith. with your newfound knowledge and experience of trust in yourself, you're gonna have to take a leap of faith and trust in your own ability to adapt and survive through ANYTHING. you can withstand everything that is thrown at you. you just need to begin believing that.

⊹˚. 🎀🐧 3. "belief"

your brain does not know reality from what you tell it. this is the very base of so many different mindset shifting techniques and self improvement tactics and such. you literally have to indoctrinate yourself with the belief that you are confident and secure in yourself in a variety of different ways. this can be done through... ♡

♡ make it clear what you want to be confident in, whether its all encompassing or specific

♡ affirmations if thats what ur into

♡ constant saturation & repetition (every day, until you believe it)

♡ create reasons for your belief in your own confidence

♡ go out and create reasons to be confident in yourself

♡ seek out information that aligns with your confidence building (this could be articles, therapy, courses, videos, blog posts like mine; anything that helps YOU)

⊹˚. 💭🎼 4. effect vs goal

confidence is an effect, not a goal.

it is not a sole ideal or ambition you work towards, it is a byproduct of the process of healing as a whole.

what i mean is that you will never obtain genuine confidence if you do not begin to go through the process of healing yourself to begin with, because confidence is a byproduct of this. the security you find in yourself then produces confidence on its own. DO THE WORK.

⊹˚. 👛🧁 5. acting on it

i have been shy and quiet ever since i got into NURSERY (kindergarten for u american folk). i am now one of the most confident people i know. and despite having done all of the previous steps, none of them would have mattered IF I DIDNT PUT IT INTO ACTION.

the most important step you can possibly take to obtain genuine confidence is actually doing the thing. DO THE THING. wear the thing you're scared to wear, do the thing you have no one to go with, go outside alone on spontaneous adventures despite your fear of other peoples opinions and whatever else might be hindering you. DO THE THING. life is nothing if not a risk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ♡

wishing you all the love and light in the world... ♡

all my love! 🎀💬🐈‍⬛️🫶🏻🩷

[forzathunder]

"I have many fears, most of them about Lucrezia." — Cesare Borgia (The Borgias, 2011-2013) + hints of insecurity

that she adores someone that much / if she will reject his dark nature and act of love and violence as Ursula did / if he truly is not part of her desires / that she easily forgets him

[ghostbsuter]

He's hiding, the half collapsed pillar in an abandoned office building, halfway ruined and completely left to collapse in metropolis.

His core is pulsing, air freezing and eyes not focused.

Metropolis is big and bright.

There is no way they could get him here, not with kryptonian heroes at its beck and call. Danny saw Supergirl save the day, the big blue at her tail, saving civilians.

Danny followed the official daily planet channel and reads along every line Lois Lane and her husband, Clark Kent, write each time, making people aware of problems, and most importantly exposing people.

The rich and corrupted.

So yes, is it frightening? Anxiety filling? Putting trust into complete strangers in hopes they'd uncover the Guys in White if they appear in the city?

Yes, yes it is.

He hopes Jon, the boy he has been helping with homework in a cafe, won't miss him too much in case it does happen.

[mabelmidnight-takeover]

the thing that doesn't make sense to me regarding the "he was putting her career on the line" POV is that there's no previous behavior from abbot that makes that believable to me. abbot faked a teenager's exams (w/o her knowledge) so she could get an abortion, told another doctor said teenager was getting back for the pills and didn't seem to care that robby could very easily find out what he did, reprimanded but immediately praised santos for doing a risky procedure she wasn't allowed to and took every opportunity he got to do procedures the hospital board wouldn't allow on the daily. nothing from his behavior told me he would put someone else's career on the line with something we were shown he's very capable of doing. add that to mohan's arc this season and the possibility of that POV being the case becomes nonexistent to me. it never even crossed my mind before checking what people were saying about the episode. i read it as a joke bc nothing else shown would tell me it wasn't.

comparing it to robby and david's situation: it was Not a surprise how robby reacted after david was proven innocent from the shooting. he was a bit more asshole-ish to how he'd probably react in a normal day, especially after a breakdown, but where he stood on the whole situation was not new. we were shown and told robby could react like that; we were shown and told abbot didn't care about what could happen to him or his career if a patient's health was on the way

[ptieuca]

[m4rs-ex3]

callum feeling small and insignificant just being in the throneroom

vs callum practically kicking down the doors and waltzing in guns blazing

[abirddogmoment]

insulting and offensive how regularly mindfully training your dog actually leads to visible progress towards good dog manners

[aloeverified]

au where emilie doesn't "go missing." gabriel fully believes in his plan to bring her back with the black cat and ladybug miraculous, so he doesn't want to fill out a police report and label her as missing as it would both put more attention on him as well as make it more difficult to explain her disappearance when he brought her back.

instead, he stages a tour for her. she's taking a break from her acting career to focus on the gabriel brand, traveling the world to learn about different cultures and their clothing for a new line they'll be releasing.

the press is excited, conspiring and making predictions about which countries will be included. many people wonder why emilie decided to make such a stark career change so suddenly, but no one really questions it as suspicious.

except for adrien.

adrien, who has seen his mother less and less over the past few months. adrien, who has been nervous to speak to his father ever since his irritation has spiked. adrien, who can't remember the last time he had a meal with both of his parents. adrien, whose only friend is chloe.

he begins to think. all the times his mother left for months to film a new movie, his father burying himself in his work for days on end, adrien being left in the care of his parent's assistants while they filled their schedules as much as possible — keeping busy and far away from one another.

he wonders if he's just be oblivious this entire time, if his family has been drifting apart and he's been forced into photo shoots and advertisements as a way to keep him distracted from it all. he notices the way his father looks longingly each time they pass a portrait of his mother, as though he's lost something, and the way natalie's eyes soften when she notices as well.

he stops asking his father why he didn't tell him about the new line. he stops asking his father why he can't call his mother, why she won't call him either. when he comes across his father sitting at his desk, holding his wedding ring is hand and looking at a framed photo of their family, he stops asking questions all together.

adrien doesn't know much, but he has a strong feeling his mother isn't coming back.

[aadmelioraa]

When your oldest brother dies on a religious crusade just as you feared he would and your father refuses to deal with his grief just as he refused to deal with it when your mother died (you were a baby btw) and then again when your other brother left home (because your dad was impossible to live with) and in spite of feeling entirely abandoned by your dad you use your newfound higher status to put yourself out on a limb in order to downgrade his punishment and that of your close friend despite grieving their involvement with the queen who led your brother to his death but instead of your father acknowledging your pain and your attempts to do what you believe will bring justice he lashes out at you by comparing your current position to the horrific way your mother died…just Eärien things

[hermajestythesun]

Paul falls in love with people more their hearts more than what they seemingly offer. Paul falls into romanticism that is often dreamy, heavily idealized, or impossible to be met because he cannot fathom it deep down. I do think that Paul truly came to fall in love with Linda, but the fact that he rapidly left Jane (who he deep down knew he did not want to marry) and quickly “tried” relationships/sex with different women he was already familiar with until ultimately choosing Linda. She had that gentle firmness and empathy that Paul got from John, and he tried to recreate that magic with her, but the domestic security she provided was only second best compared to John’s freedom. But Paul never acknowledges this. He just masks and masks and masks and immerses himself into creative escapism as much as possible

[hazelkjt]

Glamtober 24- "Dress To Impress"

"And you're sure this'll help?" "If that simpleton doesn't take notice of you after this, then he is by far the most dense man I have ever had the displeasure to know."

Lady Laniaitte de Haillenarte assisting Hazel in getting ready for an outing with one Emmanellain de Fortemps, mostly for the sake of her own sanity watching the "Will They/Won't They" unfold right before her eyes.

Hazel Glam-

Boulevardier's Hat (Jet Black & Dalamud Red)

Valentione Emissary's Ruffled Dress (Jet Black)

Dirndl's Wrist Torque (Dalamud Red)

Woodland Warden's Skirt (Jet Black & Dalamud Red)

Loyal Housemaid's Pumps (Dalamud Red & Jet Black)

Rakshasa Earring of Slaying

Archeo Kingdom Choker of Slaying

[bluespiritshonour]

Mai does figure into Zuko's redemption in a very subtle way by being neutral.

If she were actively prowar he wouldn't have felt comfortable voicing his turmoil in front of her and working it out loud. The fact that he still did it despite her being Azula’s bestfriend says he knows her views.

If she were antiwar... The effect would have been the same as what Iroh had on Zuko. Only he could change himself, no one else was gonna do it for him: hence it was important that he was separated from Iroh so he could forge his own path.

And without Mai being the only person he sought comfort from when his bad choices were catching up with him—he’d never really have processed it in a safe space.

I always like to think that in Ba Sing Se he was too much in survival mode—being given a chance to return home and then leaving it all behind was important because he needed to get down from survival mode and actually evaluate everything.

In The Beach he says that he should be happy that Ozai supposedly talks to him and thinks him a hero—except, his sour mood throughout the episode has to do with Ozai having gotten them out of the way. It wasn't that he had everything and realised it was hollow: it was more like he went back and realised what he was longing for didn't exist.

That explains him telling Sokka that his only regret was breaking up with Mai. He had to give up something to show that the right choice was the difficult choice and it sure wasn't Ozai’s love (which wasn't there. He comes to terms with the fact that it wasn't there). It was Mai’s.

[bonefall]

Maybe I'll make a post on this at some point but like, something deeply fucked up about TNP and Po3 that people have totally forgotten about is how badly they try to whine that "Tigerstar Had Good Traits :("

Firestar does it, Brambleclaw does it, and they keep doing this after it becomes this GRAND irony that Firestar almost gets Tiger'd to death in a fox trap because he was too trusting. Bramble gets his pity award of keeping deputyship and then cries to his son about how No One Saw The Good In Tigerstar :(

And it's wiiiiild that no one else in this fandom has done anything with the fact that Leopardstar broke the Warrior Code to appoint Hawkfrost, who had no apprentice, an extremely aggressive and warmongering Tigerclone who says things like "Tigerstar wasn't the worst cat to look up to." ONLY qualifying trait was being kinda like Tigerstar.

And she practically did that the SECOND Mistyfoot went missing. And then Leopardstar continued to be one of the most violent and xenophobic leaders through Po3, joining with WindClan to attack ThunderClan.

What I'm getting at is that like, a few years ago, with books like "Blackfoot's Reckoning" and "Shadow in RiverClan" it's like they suddenly decided to retcon in a bunch of "redemption arcs" in hindsight. They just pretended like there was this grand high reckoning with TigerClan, when there literally wasn't, and if anything that caused SERIOUS problems for the cast that the authors didn't fully acknowledge as such.

And now ppl haven't actually read the main series and are just working with their recent memory of all these retcon books.

But TNP and PO3 are still there, and you can go and see the ACTUAL timeline where Leopardstar is really not apologetic at all, and Blackstar is a useful stooge for the very next wannabe dictator that strolls in, in spite of the new side content that COMPLETELY mischaracterized them for their plots to work.

[kanerallels]

*starts to make a post about my latest crisis like three times*

[mountpyro]

So...Okarun definitely has Thoughts about the Ayase family dynamic, right?

Every time I see Momo and Seiko interacting in the show, I can't help but wonder what's going on inside Okarun's head. Like, he heard Momo gassing her up when they first met and talking about how much she regrets her past actions while they were ghost/alien hunting--but then the first time he sees them together they constantly fight and call each other stupid/hag.

Whatever you think his home situation is, he has to find the dissonance between Momo's words to him and actions to her grandmother strange, and maybe even concerning. He probably hasn't said anything because:

He's an awkward fellow, after all.

He does see the moments where they stop pretending to hate each other.

But he definitely notices that things are strange; probably has already come to the conclusion that their current behavior stems from Momo's temper tantrum and years-long silent treatment. And the fact that both Ayase women seem to be allergic to talking about their feelings or apologizing.

So what if one day...he decides to meddle?

He definitely thinks it's not his place to do so, but at the same time he is falling madly in love with this girl. And her grandmother has accepted him into her home, feeds him, helped them both with their paranormal problems, and given him the first place that he feels he belongs in. He feels like he owes it to them to at least facilitate a better understanding between them. They both saved him--keep saving him--and he wants to at least save them from feeling like the only way they can communicate is with insults and bringing up the past.

However, doing something about a rocky relationship without making it worse is even harder than it sounds, and Okarun isn't exactly swimming in interpersonal relationship experience. He hasn't figured out what to do, and the only thing he has decided for sure is that he can't rely on their other friends for this task. They mean well, and most of them have more experience with making up with people than he does, but he thinks that they are a bit clumsy for something so delicate. So for now, he just tries to keep them closer together and distract Ayase-san when she gets a bit too vitriolic.

Meanwhile: Seiko and Momo are extremely grateful for the craziness of the last few months bringing them closer together than they've been in literal years, and have no interest in rocking the boat and upending all the progress they've made--even if they think things could improve more quickly.

Also they are a bit confused why four-eyes recently prefers to quietly hang out with Momo in the living room while Seiko watches her shows instead of letting her drag him up to her room like usual.