#It's also important to keep track of the date because there's takes I've completely moved on from–

[kyouka-supremacy]

Why are you tagging posts with dates from last year? Did you queue them last year?

… I did.

[bekolxeram]

Continuing on the theme of things I've missed while S7 was airing, we have to talk about the (failed) first date. I admit it gave me too much second hand embarrassment that I usually skipped it on a rewatch. Once I managed to brave through that I realized I did miss something important, so here is another scene breakdown. Again, it's just my own interpretation.

The title of 7x05 is You Don't Know Me, that seems to be the theme of the episode: the Wilsons figuring out Mara's trauma, Eddie finding out Marisol's former nun training, Buck trying to navigate the whole dating a man thing, but they all end up making an effort to make the relationship work.

The date scene starts at the end of the actual date. We don't see much of the getting to know each other stuff, but judging by their faces, it's gone pretty well. At this point they don't know about each other's movie preference yet, so Tommy picks a place where they can decide on arrival, with Buck's input. That also signifies the nature of this date, they're literally "keeping their options open" and just seeing where it goes, without any major expectation.

Buck still seems visibly nervous, but Tommy reassures him that they're just two guys having dinner, it's a very ordinary thing that nobody cares.

Buck pretends he's at ease, Tommy points out he seems a little tensed, but he understands Buck's worry. Tommy speaks about the masculine nature of their job and tells Buck that people are more accepting than he thinks, which sounds awfully like it's from experience.

I think Buck sees it too, so he asks Tommy, who seems perfectly confident in his sexuality and masculinity, if he's been always out on a job. Tommy tells Buck about the 118 under G*rrard, this explains to the audience why Tommy seemed to be straight and a part of the boys club back in S2.

So Tommy was at least aware of or questioning his sexuality at the 118. Mr. "my girlfriend is totally coming next week" and "single is much easier than scaring women" was full blown lying about his sexual orientation. Chances are he does understand Buck's nervous fumbling, as he's probably done worse in the past.

Here comes the seemingly recurring theme of Buck making things all about himself, whether you agree with this or not, he does have a tendency to get stuck in his own head. Tommy assures him yet again that he's not accusing Buck of anything, he's just sharing his own experience to empathize.

Tommy looks a bit surprise when Buck tells him it's his first date with a dude. It's probably new information to Tommy.

And then Buck tries showing Tommy that he holds no prejudice towards queerness because he's an ally, completely oblivious to the fact that he's also one of them. Tommy tries to follow as much as he can.

Tommy senses that Buck is spiraling, trying to pull out random stuff just to bring the date back on track, so he flirts with him just to lighten up the mood and for the third time of the night, reassure him of his interest in him and the rest of the night.

Then Eddie and Marisol walk in, and Buck panics. I know Buck tells Maddie later that he "makes it seem like they were just hanging out", but if you go back to this scene, Tommy is the one who covers for Buck and takes the initiative to agree with Eddie and tell him they're just doing normal bro hangout stuff.

7 seaons in, we all know Buck doesn't have the best luck with first dates. The more he likes someone, the more likely it is for him to mess it up. So of course he has to self-sabotage here and drag Tommy into the closet with him, even though Tommy's already covered for him and Eddie is ready to move on. Tommy doesn't like mad here, he looks disappointed.

For what it's worth, Buck's hot chick comment actually makes things worse. Look at how confused Eddie's reaction is.

This snarky joke from Tommy has caused some controversy among part of the fandom. Some believe that Tommy could've outed Buck with it, but I beg to differ. Eddie knows Buck very well, Buck has always dated women. On the other hand, Eddie has never heard of Tommy dating a woman, he might have attributed it to the recency of their friendship, but that's why he immediately makes the connection in his head that Tommy is gay when Buck comes out to him later in the episode. Even if Eddie had superhuman intuition and understood the double entendre of this closet comment, Tommy would be outing himself, not Buck.

Here is another controversial moment: Tommy doesn't explain anything to Buck until the Uber is here, and he just leaves him there. First, Buck is a grown man, he can get himself home, there is no concern for his safety. Second, Tommy has every right to leave the date if he doesn't vibe with it. When Tommy tells Buck he's adorable, I don't think he's referring to Buck's overall demeanor. I think he means that Buck's nervous fumbling into queerness doesn't scare him, he actually finds it quite endearing. But after reassuring him 3 times, even going as far as telling Eddie, someone they can trust, that they're just hanging out, Buck still feels the need to make the hot chick comment and push them both into the closet, Tommy realizes that things would not go any better if they continue the date. Buck has not fully processed the fact that he's bisexual and he's dating a man. I'm sure Tommy really likes Buck as well, he want to make it work, so to him, the best course of action at the moment is to take a step back and let Buck figure things out himself first.

To Buck this may sound like Tommy is letting him down easy, but I think Tommy is consciously not shutting anything down here. He absolutely will see Buck around, he's still Eddie's friend. Tommy knows they will have to talk about it in the future, but for now, it's best to put a pause on things just to give Buck some space to process. What Tommy doesn't know is that Buck has been dumped so many times that he thinks this is it.

Therefore, not only does Tommy never intend to out Buck during the date, he is willing to keep things ambiguous for Buck's comfort. Ultimately, it isn't enough for Buck, so Tommy takes a step back for Buck to figure things out on his own.

[presidentdisastraofgallifrey]

Ranking Companions I've Seen So Far

(Because I can)

(Purely from memory so is possible I forgot someone)

(They are bulleted instead of numbered because there's a character limit for blocks and it restarted the numbering when I broke it up. They are, however, in order from favorite to least favorite)

Sarah Jane: She hides it under professional veneer, but she is autistic chaos personified. She has the most chances of anyone to just go home, and even when she claims to be fed up she always gets back in the tardis. She is high on adventure. She thinks the Doctor has died at least once per story, and for the first 3/4 of her run they never actually get to take a fun break from constant danger, and she is hooked. She eats an orange without peeling it. She met the Doctor because she snuck into a scientific conference to investigate disappearances and then walked right into the tardis to look for him. She had no trouble believing she'd moved in space and it took only the barest evidence to have her fully on board with time travel; I think she always half believed in magic. She's excellent at bluffing but only for very short periods. She's very much about the ends justifying the means and always a little confused when people are mad since everything turned out fine, which is very Doctor of her. And their dynamic really was silly best friends.

Leela: Everyone else was either kidnapped or invited along. She pushed the Doctor aside to invite herself, because she didn't want to have to stay home and be a leader (and she too craves adventure). She never completely understands what's happening, but she jumps into every situation fully anyway. And asks a ton of questions. And, once she's been taught about something, she maintains a good understanding of it (no one in-show acknowledges how smart she is and how hard she works to catch up from not having the same education as every other character). I enjoy how ready to stab and shoot people she is, and how often she winds up with guns no matter what the Doctor says. But she's also so genuine and protective and their bickering is sweet and she's best friends with the dog even before she's left alone on Gallifrey with no one who respects her but the dog. (The whole noble savage trope is problematic but I still enjoy a great deal of her character)

Donna: She's outspoken and best friends with the Doctor and no one has ever thought he was less hot. With her the dynamic really is just we're flying through time and space playing dress up. Her fear response is indignant anger. She's a temp who has been told by her mother her whole life that she's a failure, and she's the most important person in the universe. She has terrible self esteem but never lets that get in the way of speaking her mind. She loves and supports her trans daughter. She forgot it all for 15 years and then, married with a teenager, casually moved in with her old best friend.

Bill: Even when she couldn't go to college, she was so determined to learn that she just appeared in the Doctor's lectures and was excited when she didn't initially understand things. She was his student, and his friend, and once or twice his protector, but she never did the Clara thing of putting all her time into keeping track of the Doctor and protecting him from himself. On her first alien planet, robots that spoke emoji tried to kill her, and she still kept traveling. But she never gave up her life at home or her education, either. She had a gay crush in her first episode that she never even got to go on a date with, and then ended up spending eternity together as noncorporeal beings by the end. She helped rehabilitate the most evil Time Lord. She's iconic.

Romana I: She is the sheltered excellent grades autistic. She's so baby and innocent, but also knows more about what the Doctor is talking about than any other companion (and sometimes the Doctor). She can fly the tardis, because she read the manual. She plays dress up constantly but rarely in any sort of context appropriate to where they're going. She wanted to be called Fred. She literally can't lie to save either of their lives. She's charming and beautiful and capable, but might think she's even more capable than she actually is. She was horrified by what a failure of a Time Lord the Doctor was until she realized he was happy, and that that was an option.

Yaz: I love how she seems so normal and together, got involved by chance doing her job, but slowly it becomes clear that she was never ok and somehow this was the best thing that could have happened to her. She was kidnapped into this but instead of missing home she fell in love. She gets stuck on Earth without the Doctor twice and spent both times (1) pining and (2) taking charge to save the world. She talks like she knows what to do better than any other human in the room (and often does), but still works well on a team. She ran into a kid she'd vaguely known in elementary school and his step-grandfather and then ended up traveling with them for years and becoming best friends. She should not have been a cop, however, and would have made a better social worker.

Ryan: He can't ride a bike at 19 but has yet to give up trying. It doesn't come up as much as I'd like, but he is casually disabled. He has a temper, which sort of led to him allowing a murderous alien onto Earth, but he is also so full of compassion for every random person in need they meet. He actually had a life at home and, though he stayed willingly (after getting kidnapped), he struggled with missing his friends and the normality and comfort they represented. It took running around saving worlds to make him admit he should forge a familial bond with his dead grandma's husband. He also made up with his dad (he really did the opposite arc of starting with a strong family and pulling them apart when he left). He got to leave when he chose and be safe and happy, but never stopped trying to protect his world.

Jamie: He also never understands what is happening, but he's mostly fine with that. He's just happy to be along for the ride with the Doctor, being gay and Scottish throughout time and space, ready to stab people (he would have gotten along with Leela tbh). He's good at drawing connections between things he has no context for and the closest thing he understands, and I love it because my brain does that thing too of drawing comparisons to things I've seen. If the Time Lords didn't take his memories, he would have stayed with the Doctor until eventually dying for him.

Susan: She is sensitive and autistic and not cut out for so much drama. Sure, she understands what the Doctor is talking about, and she wasn't technically kidnapped, but she was happy pretending to be a human girl in 1963 and I don't think she ever particularly wanted to keep going adventuring. But she's still enthusiastic and outgoing and just doing her best. She sort of adopted Barbara as her weird protective aunt.

Clara: She was never a normal person. She is naturally manipulative, bossy, controlling, and a bit ruthless. She didn't use most of these traits overmuch until she met the Doctor, but they were there. Luckily, she also has a fairly strong moral compass, so she isn't really a horrible person. But watching a human person surprise the Doctor by out-Doctoring him is delightful. She is also addicted to the thrill and adventure of it all, and no matter how much she likes the idea of having a normal life on the side it could never compare. I don't think she'd have survived going back to a normal human existence like Sarah had to.

Zoe: "The Doctor is almost as smart as me." She is somehow a teenager and a space librarian with a perfectly normal education level for her time that makes her a genius nearly everywhere she goes. Important to note, she is also an actual genius. She helped fend off cybermen one time and got adopted by a gay alien and his historical boyfriend, both of whom are determined to protect her but both of whom are also considerably less competent than she is. She would never have gone home if she wasn't forced to.

Martha: She is one of the most normal people on this list: a hardworking medical student with a loving but mildly dysfunctional family. Her choice of one trip in the tardis after the hospital situation is actually a pretty normal one even: who would say no to a chance to time travel? But she makes herself extraordinary through pure kindness and determination. She's so full of caring, but won't put up with people walking all over her or allow any sort of cruelty. She is one of the only ones with the strength to leave when she needs to, to take care of herself, but even so she can't forget what she knows and abandon people and quickly ends up working for UNIT and then on her own to save and protect people.

Barbara: Omg she's so weird. She's a history teacher who gets to travel through history, and is understandably delighted and horrified by this. But her response to being concerned for a student and unable to contact her family was to stalk this child to her home and then into a police box in a junkyard; it's kind of her own fault she got kidnapped, though the throughout time and space part was unpredictable. She saw an autistic alien teenager and realized no one else was going to parent her, so took that responsibility upon herself. Despite never stopping trying to get home (and eventually taking a great risk to do so), she really was delighted by so much of what they ran across. She is one of four people who know that the Doctor's manipulative curiosity is responsible for the daleks threatening the universe. She's so great.

Jo: Assigned companion because no one knew what to do with her, not even really liked by the Doctor at first, but threw her entire self enthusiastically into the job. She did not believe the Doctor could travel through time and space and really thought it was just a quirk that he was always trying to fix his time machine, but she liked him anyway. I'm not convinced she believed he was an alien, either, or knew enough about science to realize (at first) that his was more advanced than it should have been. But she was happy to help, and to learn, and just generally be along for the ride.

Liz: Thought she was too smart to be working as the Doctor's assistant, and she was right. A proper scientist who absolutely understood that his science was alien and advanced, but also how ridiculous these situations were and wasn't afraid to challenge the science that shouldn't have made sense or refuse to believe something until she saw proof. Left, of her own choice, without anything horrible happening to her; a minor miracle! Also counts as a historical queer icon, even though technically that didn't come up in the show. It is canon and I like to imagine between the lines her life as a queer lady in the 70's.

Vicki: Not a genius by her time's standards, but her standard education makes her one almost wherever she goes. Left to her own devices stranded on a planet and orphaned, she adopted a giant alien creature as a pet and set up a routine for survival. Tried to go on a relaxing Roman vacation once and ended up poisoning Nero. Adventurous, clever, and easily bored: no wonder the Doctor liked her.

Victoria: The daughter of a scientist who couldn't care less about science. Orphaned by the daleks and immediately adopted by the weird gay alien and his boyfriend who was historical even to her. Later more permanently adopted by a very nice couple in a century she's not even from. She taught Jamie to read.

Ian: Ok, so stalking a teenager into a junkyard wasn't his idea, but he did go along with it. A science teacher who got to see futuristic space science, though I don't think he enjoyed a lot of it as much as Barbara did. He was a good practical balance for everyone else in the tardis, though.

Graham: He's so ordinary, in the best way. I love how consistently his job as a bus driver is plot relevant. He brings sandwiches because the Doctor can't be bothered to feed them regularly. He's down for adventure but also practical about it.

Ruby: She has such a fairytale quality. She loves her mom, she isn't running away from anything, but she sure is running. She's running around the universe playing dress up. And I suspect that with more time separation, she will start to seem less normal and well adjusted and weirder in her own way.

Dodo: I actually only saw her in like 2 serials because so many are missing, and her departure felt sort of forced, but I liked her. She was SO enthusiastic about everything, and had no intention of listening to anyone who told her what to do.

Dan: I like him fine, and although it wasn't for fun he did sort of choose to stay and then to leave when he was ready. He's not the most interesting, though.

Rose: She is my line between companions I like and companions I don't. She's both caring and imperfect in ways that can be fun, but she was a little too consistently mean to Mickey (and her mom) for my taste, and had a habit of worrying about her own enjoyment above all other concerns, at least when people weren't actively being killed. Was definitely addicted to the adventure. There's nothing strictly wrong with a character with any of these traits (except for writing in Mickey just to have him bullied constantly), but she's not really my thing. Still, she's mainly THIS low on the list because I'm tired of the fandom focus on shipping her with ten constantly and also smoothing out all of her flaws.

Steven: His backstory and initial appearance were so cool, and then his actual character was kind of a wet noodle.

Amy: Yes her backstory was interesting too, but she mostly could have bee replaced by a lamp and it would have made no difference.

Rory: Like Amy but worse; he could have been replaced by a hat on the lamp.

Harry: He did have a personality, and it was the wrong one. I don't even usually include him in my companion lists because I disliked him so much. 50% of his personality was being sexist to Sarah while she coped more competently than him, and the rest was just being annoying.

[withacapitalp]

Hidden Gem Friday

Another Friday, more hidden gems! Most of these are my reccs I think, just because I didn't do a lot of looking at my list this week (It was a time)

As always, I'm taking more reccs for this!! It's really fun to see fics get a second lift!

Thirteen by towardthesun recced by me (haha my own fic) written for @thefreakandthehair 2.7k (Complete)- Gen focus on Eddie and Wayne

Summary:

Eddie had never exactly had the best track record with birthdays. If he was lucky, his mom would get him a cheap toy car, or a lollipop that she swiped from the gas station — little ways to make the day special. She tried, she really did, but that was mostly at the start. By ten, she seemed to have forgotten her son even had a birthday, too lost in the drugs to see him waiting for her to notice. But…but today was his thirteenth birthday.

My Thoughts:

My thoughts on my own fic? Well yeah I really like this one! I was sad to see that it didn't really connect to a ton of people, but it also just felt very soft when I was writing it? Plus I wrote it for one of my dearest friends, so ultimately I really like it still <333

it's christmas eve again by thatsadorable recced by me 21k (WIP)- Steddie

Eddie didn’t know why he was sharing this, he usually never shared this much about himself. But something about how this man’s eyes twinkled seemed to almost compel him. “Holidays you know? And I’m looking forward to seeing my Uncle, but so much has changed… and I got a dumb blind date to go to before I head home.” The man raised fluffy white eyebrows in reply. “Maybe it will be a good one? You never know, a date on Christmas Eve? Could be magical.” A laugh slipped past Eddie’s lips. “Magical? With a guy named Steven? I don’t think so, sorry. I really doubt it, he evidently used to babysit my Uncle’s fiancee’s kid. I mean I like the kid alright. But his old babysitter? I don’t think so.” The plane jerked to a halt and people started moving towards their carry-on bags. “Well, never laugh at fate, my boy, it might just laugh back.”  or: fate very much laughs at one Eddie Munson and he finds himself searching for some holiday magic. or: Santa was trying to set him up with Steve fucking Harrington.

My Thoughts:

God, this fic is fun!!! I loved watching this one get put together, an the final (well almost final) product is such a joy to read. There's a really cool twist in this one I won't spoil, but I have to admit I've been on the edge of my seat waiting for an update!! I really really need to know how this one endsssss

who you gonna call? by dharmainitiative recced by @andrea-csenge 65k (Complete)- Stoncy

Summary:

“Just because you can’t see a ghost doesn’t mean it isn’t real,” Robin says. “There are plenty of things we can’t see that are real.” Jonathan raises his eyebrows. “Name one.” “Uh, fucking gravity?” Steve says. “Yeah, I can drop an apple,” Jonathan deadpans. Nancy clears her throat. “Is this an important conversation, or can we get back to the ghosts now?” Or: a ghost files AU

My Thoughts:

I adore stoncy, and the way they're characterized here is so cute!!!! Augh I just love having a fic that really moves? The dialogue is quick but it hits right and the flow on this one is very enjoyable. If you're looking for a classic hidden gem, this is a perfect example

Still The One by Legitcookie recced by me 5.4k (Complete)- Steddie w heavy focus on the Party

Summary:

”Why do you have to make everything so fucking difficult, Eddie?” Max's eyes widened, hand stopping just before making contact with the closed door to Steve and Eddie's apartment. ”Oh, I'm so sorry, your highness. Please keep telling me the same thing over and over again. I can't wait to hear if you put a new spin on it!” “Quit the bullshit, I wouldn't have to keep telling you if you did it this century.” This was not what Max had been expecting when she drove over that morning. She expected to knock on the door, be greeted by two lovesick buffoons that had recently moved in together, and grab the Dungeons & Dragons book Mike had left there. Apparently having a car made everyone think they could ask for favors. Well after this lovely start to the morning, that wasn't going to happen again any time soon. She should leave. She definitely shouldn't press her ear to the door to hear better. ~Or, Max overhears an argument thinking a breakup is imminent and gets The Party to help

My Thoughts:

I loooooooove the party. I ovethepartyIlovethepartyIlovetheparty. This is the best way to write them. They're so meddling and they love everyone so much and they care! so! god! damn! much! Even if they're going about it in the wrong way. Steve and Eddie are also so so cute here but this one is really being recced for the party relationship here!!

[twotangledsisters]

Hey, love ur stories! Can u tell me more about Fred and Ari and their relationship when they were young and started dating? Also when is ur fanfic about Fred and Ari releasing?? I just love Fred and Aris relationship and u write they amazingly!

Oh my goodness, thank you so much and, of course I would absolutely love to talk about Ari and Fred's relationship!

But first I will address your second question!

The Adventurer and the Prince, the prequel fic focusing on Frederic and Arianna's relationship, has no planned release date. But I do have a plan for how it'll release! I plan to start publishing as soon as I have a few full arcs and release the chapters on an arc based schedule.

So what that means is that there may be weekly updates until an arc is complete and then a hiatus of however long is needed! I'll make sure arcs don't end on cliffhangers and are a sort of-self contained mini stories with an overarching plot similar to Tangled Sisters during Within the Walls of Corona.

I am really excited about this fic and recently I've been really wanting to work on it! It's just important I prioritise Tangled Sisters as it'd be easy for me to fall behind on daily updates if I didn't.

The first arc is just one scene away from being complete and it's named the Prince and the Puppy.

Which is a great way for me to move into talking about their relationship!

I know in the show, technically Arianna was also royalty from birth because she competed in the Contest of the Crowns, however, it was a minor detail and for this AU Arianna has already stated she married into royalty. A change that I think helps Arianna as a character understand her daughters, who are learning the ways of royalty later in life, but I also found it made for a funner backstory.

Arianna first meets Frederic when she is requested to take a very special delivery to the Crowned Prince of Corona. A puppy! Her firsts impressions of the prince are that he's pretty stuck up and definitely not someone she wishes to engage with.

But then she sees something she shouldn't have (not going to go into detail for spoilers!) and her opinion of him changes ever so slightly. She feels a sense of obligation to help but isn't sure how until she sees an opening for a riding instructor for the crowned prince who apparently is completely useless at horse-riding!

So that is how they start out! Arianna trying (and failing) to teach Frederic how to ride a horse while also trying to be a friend to him. Frederic at first is wary of her and thinks her foolish, but eventually he comes to appreciate how genuine she is.

Frederic's father is not at all in favour of Frederic dating a commoner, especially one who came from outside of Corona! He tries to cause trouble for the couple, but instead these attempts just end up teaching Frederic to stand up to him more.

It's planned to be a pretty slow development, from not enemies but certainly two people with very different opinions and ways of life, to friends, to lovers.

There are miscommunications on both sides with Arianna not knowing how to behave within a royal environment. And Frederic, not really knowing how to talk to someone who isn't a servant or high-ranking nobility, neither of which quite match up with Arianna.

Frederic learns to be more open about his emotions, learns it's okay to not always be this imposing presence that demands respect.

Arianna learns how to be a more regal and imposing presence when handling certain types of company.

It's a lot of sweet moments, stuff like Arianna asking Frederic to head to the store to get some sugar because she's baking and has run out, and he comes back with an entire sack because that's what they have in the palace kitchens.

Frederic having his entire schedule messed up because Arianna didn't realise it was her job to keep track of lesson time for the prince.

Perhaps one of the cuter moments is when Arianna sees Frederic's room in the palace and it's just... boring. All white walls, royal paintings, very formal. She asks about the decoration and he explains it's what a prince's room should look like and that anything out of place gets thrown away so he knows to keep it pristine.

So Arianna clears a corner of her home (she rents a place in Corona Village) for Frederic to decorate as he pleases.

Basically, the early stages of their relationship is Frederic, bringing Arianna along to regal events like balls, and dinner; and Arianna, in turn, dragging Frederic to outdoor picnics and hikes! A, 'here, let me show you my world' sorta thing with both being patient and wanting to make the other one happy.

I cannot wait to share this fic with you!

Thank you so much for the ask and the excuse to ramble on a bit about them! I'm so glad you enjoy how I write them as they're one of my parent-couples in media ever! ❤️❤️❤️

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

Good Girl, Bad Boy (Pt.13 of 15)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Word count: 1.9 K

Summary: You're the extreme opposite of Billy Hargrove. The good girl, with perfect grades, the child every mother wants to have. And you don't want to have nothing to do with his kind. Ignoring Billy – and his constant, lingering stare – became an habit. But after you're put together for a special school program, you'll have no choice but to get along with him. And soon enough you'll find out that Billy is so much more than just Hawkins' bad boy.

<-Previous part (12)

Next part (14) ->

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

{Dacre Montgomery Masterlist}

×

Monster

“Billy has improved. A lot.” Seated on Mrs. Martinez's office, you go over why Billy deserves a good recommendation letter. Half the teachers already agreed, much more because of you than because of him, but that's not the point. “He doesn't get a C since he started, he wants to be a Marine Biologist and he gets straight As on Biology and honestly, he's actually helping me on Chemistry.”

“I've been tracking his progress and I've been impressed with your work. Billy Hargrove is by far the best in the program.” She read some files, putting them down before looking up at you. “I also noticed that you two became very close.”

“Mmm, yeah... W-we're dating.” You stutter, clearing your throat. “But it doesn't change the fact that he's doing great. I mean, Billy does want to go to college and–”

“Don't worry about it. A student's love life isn't my business. I just mentioned it because it was impossible not to notice.” She smiles and you blush even more. “Well, I'll be happy to write him a good recommendation letter. But for the principal, it'll be good if you get some of Billy's friends to make some reports. But we can arrange it immediately if you want. The Principal is in a meeting but I can let you know as soon as he's available if you manage to get some people right now.”

You stand up, smiling. “I can. Thank you so much.” Mrs. Martinez got that urgency of the matter, and you're more than eager to keep that up. “I'll gather some people and whenever you're ready I'll be at the parking lot.”

“Sounds good.”

“Alright.” With another ‘thank you’, you rush outside, walking fast to the parking lot. Billy is leaning against his car, and Nancy and the others are near Steve's car, a couple of feet away.

“Princess of Hawkins number two. Are we going or not?” Steve asks, making Billy notice your presence. “I'm dying for some ice cream.”

“Actually, I need a huge favor from the three of you.” Keeping your voice soft, you walk over to Billy, standing next to him. The stick on his mouth gets your attention, and you raise an eyebrow at him. “Is that my lollipop? That I was saving up?”

“...No.” He mutters, with a half-smile as he takes the candy off his mouth. “Maybe. But we can share.” Billy gives you the lollipop and you roll your eyes, biting back a smile before putting it into your mouth. And for some reason, Billy has that stupid smirk on his face

“That's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen,” Steve speaks up, getting your attention.

Looking at him, you shrug your shoulders. “What? I kiss that mouth, you know that, right?”

“And you do a great job doing it,” Billy whispers on your year before taking the candy once again.

“Alright. You, drop it.” With a finger on Billy's face, you take the lollipop from his mouth again. “I have something important to say.” Turning at your friends, you take a deep breath. “Mrs. Martinez agreed on writing a good recommendation letter for Billy. But to convince the Principal to do the same, she needs a couple of students to... Give some reports, you know. As witnesses that my handsome boyfriend is now an amazing student too.”

Steve bursts into laughter, covering his mouth with one hand as you stare at him. Arms crossed, an eyebrow raised. It takes long seconds until he stops. “What?” He stutters. “You can't possibly think I'll...” As he speaks, Steve looks at the others, and not Nancy or Jonathan seems to find it funny. “Oh, c'mon. I agreed on standing Billy, but I never agreed on giving good reports.”

“Steve, this is important.”

“(Y/N), c'mon. Billy isn't–”

“Billy has good grades now and that's what I'm talking about. You don't have to like him.” Walking over Steve, you touch his shoulder. “You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but we're trying to build our future. And if you find it in your heart to do this for me, I'll be very thankful.”

“God, you're so damn good.” Billy mutters, and you roll your eyes.

“Well...” Stepping back, you smile. “I could also kill Steve. Would you help me hide the body, B?”

“Ridiculous,” Steve mumbles, making you giggle. “Fine, (Y/N). Just because somehow you made a good boyfriend out of this scumbag.”

“I'd take that back if I were you,” Billy says, raising his voice a bit.

“Woah, back down.” It's not the first time the two have incidents like this, and you always have to calm them down. “You guys have to–”

“(Y/N).” Mrs. Martinez calls and you look to your left. She walks fast, smiling. “The Principal will see the students now. But you can't be inside the office for that. They'll be interviewed separately.”

“Alright.” Breathing out, you give Steve a look. “Don't say anything driven by your personal–”

“I won't.” Steve rolls his eyes.

Mrs. Martinez guides the three of them inside the school again, and you follow them, holding hands with Billy. “It'll work.” You tell him.

“It will.” He agrees, with the smile that belongs to you alone.

“Billy boy!” Someone yells and you soon recognize Tommy, with an arm around Carol's shoulders. “Forgot to tell you, buddy. Awesome party tonight at my place.” Tommy smiles and nods at you, and Carol does the same. “My parents aren't home so we'll go hard, all night long and I count on you to set the tone as we like it.” As he speaks, he gives you a weird look. “You don't have to come if you don't want, (Y/N). I know you don't really like it.”

“I'm not going without (Y/N), you know that,” Billy says, and Tommy rolls his eyes.

“C'mon, pal. I planned everything. Wild and dirty, as you like it. I'm sure (Y/N) won't mind you going by yourself, right (Y/N)?”

“I won't. He can–”

“Sorry, guys, I gotta go,” Tommy speaks out, cutting you off. “A lot of things to do. See you there. Bye, my friends.” Waving, both he and Carol walk away.

Billy starts walking again, but you hold his hands, forcing him to stop. “B, I want to go.” You tell him, sighing. These parties aren't your thing, even though you've been to some with Billy. Mostly when it's someone's birthday. But other than that, you've been skipping them. He likes them though, and you don't want to be the one to hold him back. “Let's party and do whatever he meant by wild and dirty.”

Billy giggles, pulling you close. “You have no idea what he meant by that, pretty girl. And you don't have to go, it's alright.”

“No, B. I know you have fun on those things and I really...” You don't want to lie, not to him. So you sigh, running a hand through your hair. “Just go, alright? Have fun with your friends and... I just... I don't want to be the one to keep you from doing stuff you like. You know I'm not... I'm not like you in many, many aspects but–”

“(Y/N), listen.” Billy takes both your hands, looking down at you. “I love you.”

“B...”

“Shhh. I love when you call me that but listen.” Cupping your cheeks, he places a quick, soft kiss on your lips. “I love you just like that. Good girl, with perfect grades and so damn polite and friendly that sometimes almost kills me of jealously.” He smiles, kissing your nose. “But I wouldn't change a thing about you. Your... Goodness was exactly what made me fall for you. You're... Everything I'm not. And I'm still perplexed that you love me back.”

You're a blushing mess when he's done speaking, eyes locked on his. “A-are you sure?”

“I am.” He nods, smiling. “Why go to some stupid party when I can stay with you?”

“I'll invite you to dinner then... Let's say... Pizza?”

“Pizza.” He agrees.

“Mr. Hargrove.” The teacher calls, and you both look at her. “The Principal wants to talk to you.”

“Right away.” He says, winking at you.

When Billy enters the Principal office, you wait outside, leaning against the wall. To say you're nervous is an understatement. The Principal's letter is the most important, and you know he needs it very much.

“Sweet (Y/N).” A masculine voice calls, and you immediately look to your left, leaving your bag on the floor. It's Tyler, coming from around the corner. “What are you doing here all alone?”

“What are you doing here? Detention again?” Tyler is the only one of Billy's friends you can't stand. You soon figured out he's more like a parasite, sticking close even though people don't really like him. But still, you try not to treat him like the asshole he is. But it doesn't mean you have to answer his questions.

“No, no.” He smiles, a disgusting smile that sends shivers down your spine. Not the good kind of shivers. “I had to leave something on my locker but now... I'm actually happy I got you alone.” Tyler walks over you, standing a bit too close, making you step back. “Now tell me, (Y/N). What are you doing here? ...All alone?” He leans closer, his mouth close to your ear.

You immediately move away, violently pushing his chest. Tyler always gives you this sensation, as if he's trying to get to you somehow. And you hate it. It makes you feel like you're completely naked under his stare. “What do you think you're doing?” You ask, anger flowing out. “Stay the hell away from me, you jerk.”

Tyler laughs. Out loud, mocking you. You're about to curse again him when it happens.

Tyler moves too fast, an arm encircling your waist. His grip is too strong, and it makes you violently collapse against his chest. “I've trying to get you for far too long, sweetie.” He grunts as you start fighting, pushing him away and still trying to understand what the hell is going on. “If Billy can have you, so can I. Or do you think–” He stops suddenly when you succeed to hit him in the ribs.

“LET GO OF ME!” You manage to push out, as loud as you can, your mind yelling for Billy. But before you can say it, call for him, a hand comes to your mouth, and Tyler's free hand starts wandering through your body.

You feel violated, abused already, but it doesn't matter how hard you try, he's stronger than you.

“Sweet (Y/N), let's...” He starts pulling you, and you do try to resist as much as you can. “...Let's find ourselves some nice supply closet and get more... Comfortable? What do you think, huh? Gonna show you how a man–”

“LET GO OF HER!” The scream, the voice that sounds like thunder, makes your whole body relax at the same time Tyler's grip loosens.

The rest is pure chaos.

Billy grabs Tyler and throws him to the ground. Someone pulls you away from the fight, and you soon recognize Nancy. In her embrace, you hide your face in her hair, and she helps as you fix your clothes.

Your mind is mess, and you can't even process what's happening.

The only thing you know is that you're safe now, away from that monster. And Billy is beating him up into a bloody mess.

×

@multific @tina1938 @graciehams @moatsnow @all-the-stars-on-your-skin @captain039 @rebelemilu @theodore-likes-frogs @prettyinpunk85 @taisab02 @pascal-rascal424 @aleksanderblack @gruffle1 @boomhauer

[itsclydebitches]

Hi! I was just watching good omens and I came up with some questions, but I didn't know whom to ask, so I was digging around for go analysis blogs and found you. *takes a breath* So, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on why Heaven's camera angles are the way they are. I noticed that, in heaven, the camera tends to focus on the characters' heads specifically, so they fill most of the screen. Either it's a meta reason or a reference to something (like Newt with the Office) that I'm not getting. That's the main thing, but I've also wondered why exactly Aziraphale uses the verb "fraternize" in the 19th century. It seemed an odd pivot from caring about Crowley's safety to Heaven's rules. Thanks so much!

Hello! Omg yes, let's talk Good Omens cinematography.

First, the obligatory Analysis Disclaimer: I doubt there's a specific interpretation that you're just not getting, some singular, "correct" reading of the scene(s). Two years past release, I'm positive the fandom as a whole has come up with plenty of ideas (I mostly hang on the periphery. I'm far from up to date with GO meta), but any and all of it will, by nature, be subjective. Thus, all I can offer is my own, personal interpretation.

So for me? It's about intimacy.

Not intimacy in the sense of friendship, but rather the broad idea of closeness. Confidentiality. Emotion. Knowledge. Understanding by means of literally getting into the thick of these conversations. I love the camerawork in Heaven (and elsewhere) because the camera itself acts like a person — an additional party to these interactions. And, since we're the ones watching this show via the camera, it makes it feel as if we're peeking into scenes that are otherwise private. Obviously all cinematography does this to a certain extent, the camera is always watching someone or something without acknowledging that we're doing the watching (outside of documentary-esque filmmaking), but GO uses angles and closeups to mimic another person observing these scenes, someone other than the characters involved.

The easiest example I can give here is when Michael makes their call to Ligur. Here, the camera is positioned up on the next landing of the staircase, as if we're sneaking a look down at this otherwise secret call. There's even a moment when the camera pans to the right to look at them through the gap in the railing, briefly obscuring Michael from our view.

Here, a standard expectation of any scene — keep your character in focus — is done away with to instead mimic the movements of someone actually hiding in the stairwell, listening in on the conversation. It creates that feeling of intimacy, as if we're really there with Michael, not just watching Michael through a screen. The camerawork acts like a person overhearing an illicit conversation prior to falling back on mid/closeup shots. We're spying on them.

To give a non-Heaven example, the camera helps us connect with Aziraphale during Gabriel's jogging scene. It's hard to show through screenshots, but if you re-watch you'll see that the camera initially keeps them both in the frame with full body shots, allowing us to compare things like Gabriel's unadorned gray workout clothes with Aziraphale's more stylish outfit; one's good jogging form and the other's awkward shuffle. However, this distance also creates the sense that we're jogging with them, we're keeping pace.

That is, until Aziraphale begins to lag. Then the camera lags too, giving them both the chance to catch up, so to speak.

Until, finally, Aziraphale has to stop completely and the camera, of course, stops with him. We're emotionally attuned to Aziraphale, not Gabriel, and the camerawork reflects that. Even more-so when we cut to a low shot of Gabriel's annoyed huff at having to stop at all, making him appear larger and more imposing. Because to Aziraphale, he is.

This work carries over into Heaven's other scenes. The closeups are pretty much a given since, whether it's Gabriel realizing Aziraphale has been "fraternizing" with Crowley (more on that below!), or Aziraphale choosing to go back to Earth, the scenes in Heaven are incredibly important to the narrative. Closeups allow the viewer to get a good read on each character's emotional state — focusing on minute facial changes as opposed to overall body language — and that fly-on-the-wall feeling is increased as we literally get an up close and personal look at these pivotal moments.

Compare a shot like this one of Gabriel to the line of angels ready for battle. We don't get closeups on any of their faces because their emotions aren't important. Yes, that's in part because they're background characters, not main characters, but a lack of emotion — their willingness to enter this war without question — is also the point of their presence in this scene. So they remain a semi-identical, nearly faceless mass that runs off into infinity down that hallway, not any individual whose inner life we get a peek at via a closeup.

I particularly like Aziraphale's conversation with the angel... general? Idk what to call this guy. He's just gonna be Mustache Angel. But, getting back on track, his scene has a lot of over the shoulder shots which, admittedly, are pretty common. From a practical perspective they're used to help the audience situate both characters in the scene — you're here, you're there, this is how you're spaced during this conversation — but it can also help emphasize that closeness between them. Keeping both characters in the shot connects them and though Aziraphale and Mustache Angel definitely aren't on the same page here, those shots help cue us in to the unwanted intimacy of this moment. They're both angels... even though Aziraphale no longer aligns himself with them. They're both soldiers in a war... but Aziraphale will not fight. This angel has a list of Aziraphale's secrets, including that he once had a flaming sword and lost it... but Aziraphale doesn't want to admit those circumstances to him. This angel wouldn't understand, even if he did. Intimacy here, connection and closeness, is something discomforting because Aziraphale can no longer embrace those similarities. They put him (and us) out of sorts, so when we get them both in frame, that connection creates tension, not relief.

And many of those over the shoulder shots are given sharp angels, or the camera is placed too close to the "off screen" party. Compare a shot like Luke and Rey to Aziraphale and Mustache Angel. Here, Luke is a clean, solid line on the left side of the screen, just enough there to cue us in to where he is in relationship to Ray, In contrast, Mustache Angel's mustache is Too Close and proves rather distracting. Rey and Luke are connecting here over being Jedi with responsibilities to uphold (or at least, Luke will acknowledge that connection later lol); Mustache Angel is forcing a connection with Aziraphale that makes everyone uncomfortable.

We are too close to him here. He feels too close to Aziraphale too. This whole conversation is upsetting and discomforting, pushing Aziraphale to finally choose which side he's on (his own with Crowley). The shots aren't meant to subtly keep the audience from getting lost and then otherwise be unobtrusive, we're supposed to be Very Aware of this angel's body and how close he's getting to the character we've come to identify with — both literally (he's leaning in) and in terms of forcing Aziraphale to finally make his choice.

When Mustache Angel marches forward and gets all up in Aziraphale's face, the camera positions itself behind Aziraphale in a way that makes it feel like we're hiding behind him, with Aziraphale taking up far more of the screen than Luke does. Like the scene with Michael or running with Gabriel, the camera often likes to mimic a "realistic" response to these events. This angry, shouty angel is getting closer, best take a step back and stay out of sight behind Aziraphale, holding his ground.

These closeups also serve as a nice contrast to the wide and longshots we get of Heaven. It's an imposing place with skyscrapers in the distance, lots of steel, immaculate floors, and endless white. It's overwhelming and it's cold. But then we cut to those mid-shots of Gabriel and Michael, telling us that they're in control of it all.

Aziraphale? Aziraphale is not in control. Not now, anyway. When he appears in Heaven we get a longshot to show off this endless void and he's just another, tiny speck in it. If he weren't flailing around — an acting move that likewise helps sell how out of his depth he is — it's unlikely you'd even notice him. Aziraphale's clothing and hair blends in perfectly with the background. He's forgettable. Easily overlooked. Someone to underestimate. And when he moves, he has to come to the camera. We don't cut to Aziraphale to establish control like we do with Gabriel. He's left to awkwardly shuffle up to Mustache Angel until he's finally come into view.

Yet when Aziraphale makes his decision, he aligns himself with the brightest, most colorful, most interesting thing in the room: Earth. Earth, with all its messy individuality, is the antithesis to Heaven's controlled uniformity and a bright blue orb hanging in the midst of all this white helps remind us of that. Aziraphale rejects becoming one of the identical soldiers and instead literally reaches out for the one thing in Heaven that doesn't fit in.

When he leaves, we get an extreme closeup for the first time. Mustache Angel is pissed and as such we not only get a good look at his face in the aftermath of Aziraphale's choice, but that extreme closeup on his mouth as he's shouting too. It's like he's shouting directly at us, the viewer who is currently cheering on Aziraphale's decision. There's a war, dammit... but we don't care. Not in the way he cares, anyway.

So there's a lot! And I could probably go on, but apparently I'm only allowed to add 10 images per post now (tumblr what the actual fuck if anyone knows a way around this please share!) and I've already had to merge a bunch of images like an animal. So let's awkwardly finish up with the duck pond scene.

...without a GIF because they apparently count as images too 🙃

Simply put, I don't think Aziraphale bringing up fraternizing is a pivot from one to the other — from caring about Crowley to caring about Heaven's rules. I mean yes, Aziraphale is lagging behind Crowley in terms of rebellion and a part of him is, at this point, absolutely concerned with how he'll come across to the higherups, but that worry doesn't stem solely from a (now very shaky) desire to obey for the sake of obeying. The thing is, Aziraphale's disobedience is, by default, also Crowley's disobedience. If they're friends and they're ever found out, they'll both get in trouble. Which, we know from the end of Season One, basically means being wiped from existence. That's horrifying! And it's a horror that threatens them both. I don't think Aziraphale cares about rules for the sake of rules; after all, he started off by giving away his sword, lying to God, is currently meeting with Crowley anyway... this angel has always ignored/bent the rules — established and implied — that don't suit him. Rather, he cares about the rules if he thinks they have a chance of being enforced. If there will be consequences for breaking and bending them. This is still about caring for Crowley (as well as saving his own, angelic skin). If they're found out, Crowley dies. And, as we the viewer learn, Heaven was indeed observing them that whole time. There was always legitimate risk attached to this relationship. Aziraphale's fear, hesitance, and at times forceful pleas to stop this stem as much from Aziraphale worrying about Crowley's safety as they do a learned instinct to obey the rules without question. He pushes to end the relationship because the relationship threatens the only thing Aziraphale cares about more than that: Crowley himself.

As for the term "fraternizing," that's a loaded one! I won't go into a whole history lesson here, but suffice to say it has military roots: to sympathize as brothers with an opponent. That is literally what Crowley and Aziraphale are doing. They are an angel and a demon, supposedly innate enemies, supposedly poised for an inevitable war... yet they've formed an incredibly strong kinship. They've both learned to love their enemy, the thing every army fears because, well, then your army won't fight (just as Aziraphale won't). However, beyond the enemy implications, "to fraternize" eventually took on a sexual meaning: to not merely love as a brother, but to lay with the enemy too, usually women from enemy countries (because, you know, heteronormativity). Nowadays, "to fraternize" often implies a sexual component. I've been rewatching The Good Wife lately and in one subplot, the State's Attorney cracks down on fraternization in his office. He doesn't mean his employees are forming bonds with assumed enemies, he means his employees are having sex on his office couch. So Aziraphale's phrasing here carries a LOT of weight. He's both reminding Crowley of their stations in the world — you are a demon, I am an angel, us meeting like this can have formal, irrevocable consequences for us both — as well as, given the fact that this is a love story, drawing attention to the depth of this relationship. They love one another, as more than just friends. Though whether Crowley's scathing "Fraternizing?" is a response to Aziraphale falling back on the technicalities of their positions, or acknowledging a love he's yet to overtly admit and commit to — or both! — is definitely up for debate.

[the-writing-dump-bin]

I don't know if I've already asked this and if I have I'm sorry, but could you do a Werewolf young Joseph Joestar where he's kept it secret but ends up turning one night because he didn't keep track of the moon but reader still loves him? Sorry if it's stupid but thanks.

Oh hunny, I again am so sorry I took forever with your request. You have been absolutely wonderful with me and what I had been going through, you truly are just a wonderful being  💜💜

I hope I did this good enough for you and that it was what you were looking for.

Werewolf!Joseph x Reader

SFW

"Joseph! Stop being an idiot!" You laughed as your boyfriend of just only two weeks tickled. "I can't breathe!"

"Then stop calling me and idiot!" He voiced as he came in for another attack.

You had known Joseph Joestar for a few months but had only started dating him for two weeks when you had made the first move. You waited for him to do it, but he had always seemed shy and unsure whenever you flirted with each other. Finding that strange for him, you decided to kiss him one night after hanging out with a few other close friends. After you kissed him, it was almost like he was excited and kissed you back with a lot of enthusiasm.

Relaxing, you stared up and him and smiled, touching his face adoringly. He was a big dummy, but he was your big dummy that you cared for a lot. He smiled back at you, his eyes roaming over your face like he was taking mental pictures of each of your features so he would never forget you.

The two of you cuddled on the couch awkwardly, since Joseph was built like a brick house, but you two made it work. Laying on top of him, you rested your head on his chest as he moved his hand up and down your back lovingly and giving small hugs every so often.

It was nice, being in his arms. It was more than you could ever ask for; feeling so right...

After a few minutes of silent cuddling, Joseph started to feel a little rumble in his veins. The feeling was familiar but he couldn't really understand why until a low growl formed in his chest. His eyes widened when he thought back to the last few days and realized he had forgotten something really important. Moving you quickly but gently, he got up and rushed into the bathroom, locking the door in a hurry.

Concerned, you hurry over to follow him. "Joseph?" You were a little scared, having never seen him move so fast. Leaning on the door you asked "Are you okay?"

"Umm... Yeah!" He called from inside; you could tell he was trying to sound like his regular self, but something in his voice was off. "Listen, um, maybe you should go home..." He pretended to coughed. "I don't feel very good and I wouldn't want you catching what I have." He fake coughed again. "Maybe just for a few days?"

Your eyebrows knit together with great concern. Joseph was pushing you away so suddenly and you didn't know why. "No... I'm not going anywhere if you're sick... I will take care of you."

He didn't say anything for a while. He didn't deserve someone like you; kind, caring and sweet. Joseph had a big secret that he kept from you. It was the main reason he was hesitant to strike up a relationship with you, but he was having such a great time with you these past couple weeks that he had forgot to keep track of something very important. "Y-Y/N...?" He softly said through the door, his forehead resting on it. "Would... Would you like me...no matter what...?"

You didn't like the way he was talking. The sound of his voice made you knit your brows with great concern. "Joseph..." You placed your hand on the door. "What's going on? You're scaring me. Are you alright?"

Scaring you... That's what he was greatly afraid of himself. He liked you a lot, and he didn't want to keep anything from you, but this was something he felt like he had to. "I'm...-"

"Joseph... You can tell me..." You were sincere and genuine.

Joseph grit his teeth and closed his fist. If he told you his secret, he would lose you for good. Who would love someone like him for what he was? But he also knew that you wouldn't leave his place willingly. With a huff, he readied himself to open the door. "Y/N..." He said low, the door just a sliver. "Please... Don't scream..."

You backed from the door just a little so he could open it all the way and what you saw first made your face contort into confusion. His hand gripped the door, but it didn't look like the one that had tickled you moments before. No, this one was long, covered in brown fur and nails that looked like claws. What the... The door opened more fully and the body inside made itself visible to you.

Standing before you was something you had thought of in stories and movies, never in real life. Your breath was held as you backed up until you were flat against the wall, eyes widened with fright and body shaking from what you were witnessing. Your boyfriend was a werewolf. "Wh-What in the hell..."

Joseph felt his heart drop with your reaction; he knew this would happen. "Y/N... I'm so sorry. This... This is why I never asked you out months ago. I usually keep track of this stuff but I had been having so much fun with you the last few weeks that I completely forgot when I was going to change..." His yellow eyes looked saddened, dropping to the floor in shame for what he was and not being honest with you. "I...understand if you want to run and never see me again... But before you do, just know that I will always care for you and love you with every part of me."

What could you do? You were frozen in place, staring at the being in front of you. He looked like the man you fell for, except with brown fur over his body, yellow eyes, fangs and the tips of his ears pointed. Oh, let's not forget that tail.

The look on his face tugged your heart a little. He may look like a scary creature on the outside, but on the inside, you could feel that he was still the same Joseph Joestar you fell in love with from the beginning. "J-JoJo..." You managed to gasp out quietly. Your foot took a step forward. And then another. Another. Another. Your hand slowly rose up, reaching for him and placing it on his face.

Joseph flinched at your touch. It was so soft and warm as he closed his eyes, savoring the feeling. "Y/N..."

"This is all so... So.."

"I know. And I'm so sorry-"

"For what?" You managed a smile. "For hiding the fact that you were something I was told stories about? I don't care about that. Joseph...I fell for who you are, not what you are. As long as you're not a vicious killer when this happens, we can work through this."

Joseph was shocked; that same dumb look on his face he made when he was confused. "You're not...going to run away?"

You sighed. "It doesn't matter what form you're in, you are still my big dummy." You stood on your toes to timidly kiss the side of his face.

[gazing-imagination]

How to put 'It Works' to work for YOU!

The powerful idea presented so simply and well in 'It Works' will change your life. I know this because it has changed mine. The fantastic results that I have created using this idea have motivated me to investigate these principles for 25 years.

I want you to be rich with things that make you happy. I'm going to give you ideas and images you can use to help you be more successful with the list technique presented in 'It Works'.

What I have Done With 'It Works'

My annual income is now 35 times greater than it was the day I first read this little book. I have gained houses, cars, boats, businesses, friends, a family, and numerous creative and prospering ideas using the principles set forth in this book.

In the last 25 years I have spent thousands of hours teaching these ideas to other people. I've seen many people use the ideas in this book to create something new in their life, and I have seen others who are not so successful with it. I want you to be one of the successful ones.

How to Succeed with your List

First, let's take a little test. Take a sheet of paper (or your word processor) and without looking at the book write down the 'Three Positive Rules of Accomplishment' that are the key to this technique.

Then go back and compare them to the text. How did you do?

Did you miss a few? I did when I first tried this test myself.

If you read this book and it never goes farther than words and ideas in your mind, then you have lost the advantage of it.

The key to success with this method it to DO IT, not just think about it. Don??t think that by reading it, even many times, that you will know it. That would be like thinking that you know how to ride a bicycle just by reading about it. In order to master the bicycle, you have to get on it and ride, learning to keep your balance as you move forward. That is exactly the way you learn the principles of conscious creation taught by ??It Works??.

When I first started using the technique in this book, I wrote my first list, and started getting great results. Then after a month or so, I stopped writing and reviewing the list, and tried to 'do it in my head'. I didn't get the same results.

I went back to using the list, and the great results started happening again. Then I got what I wanted and let things slide, and the cycle repeated.

Meanwhile I started studying the ideas and teaching them to others. In the process I learned some interesting things I am sharing with you.

What I learned is that each of us has a spark from the Creator which is our own personal creator, like a genie from a magic lamp. The problem with this genie is that he responds to every thought in my mind as if it were a command. If I think of something with desire, he starts creating that for me. If I start to worry or fear, he starts to erase that creation.

Wherever I put my attention, the genie starts multiplying that attention into a real experience in my life. All of this creation takes place in a part of my mind called the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is the part of my mind that holds the tremendous creative power that I can learn to tap into and use. However, it has a special way of working that I must understand if I want to use my subconscious mind power effectively.

If my attention wanders all over the place, my subconscious becomes full of half-created thought-forms and my life is chaotic or boring. That??s because the genie is busy trying to do a million different things at once, many of which contradict each other. His efforts always follow in the track of my attention, and until I get my attention going in a constant direction, I don??t get the results I would like.

The plan given in 'It Works' helps me to control my attention, and put that genie to work with enough time and focus to produce real and complete results. It will work the same way for you.

My conscious mind sets the agenda, but I often get distracted by the half-formed and malformed effects of previous wishes and desires. Many of those desires are unconscious, created with incomplete understanding or fear or worry. The genie does what I tell him, but he listens to my daydreams and worries and treats them as commands.

This creative power responds to what I believe. I have come to realize that what I believe is not necessarily the same as what I think. It's easy to know what I believe - it is what I act on. It is what I do. Even while I am unable to admit to myself what I really believe, my subconscious mind is working to make circumstances, opportunities, and events in my life to experience those beliefs.

How do I change what I believe, so that I can get what I want? There is a simple way to do this. It has been discovered and rediscovered by teachers and writers throughout the ages.

Here it is:

I can imagine what I want, I can pretend that it is so, and I can repeat this over and over.

The creative genie of my subconscious mind responds to imagination, focused attention, and repetition. That's what the book 'It Works' is all about.

How to Get Faster and Better Results

Here are things that will help you create more successfully when you use the technique presented in ??It Works??. These are things that I have discovered in the last 25 years of using 'It Works.' Each of these is a suggestion based on actual experiences with using the list. Use the ideas that sound good to you.

The most important thing is to do exactly what it says. Follow the plan exactly: Create a list, include what you really desire in order of its importance to you, read the list three times a day, think of the items on the list as often as you can, and don't tell anyone what you are doing.

For faster demonstration of results, you can rewrite the list each day, even if it hasn't changed. Reorder the items on the list according to their importance to you. Doing this makes the ideas new again, and will lead to more rapid success. It??s also important to do something physical with your ideas, as soon as possible. Writing them out is a way to give them entry into the outer world of manifestation. It creates a toehold for their growth into physical reality.

If you have a tape recorder, you can read the list out loud in a firm voice and tape it. Then play the tape over and over again (perhaps in your car as you commute to and from work). This needs to be done and played in private. That's easy nowadays since you can get an inexpensive tape player with headphones.

I found a little digital recorder that records into it's own computer memory, and then plays it back over and over again through headphones. You can also do this with the 'Sound Recorder' program that is built into most personal computers.

Put real amounts, specific items, and specific dates in your list. Some people worry that this is 'outlining' and delays manifestation. But what good is it to get Coke when you want Pepsi, or Pepsi when you want Coke? You don??t plant strawberries and expect to harvest watermelons. The most important thing is not a particular item on your list, but developing your power of conscious creation.

Do you have trouble remembering the items on your list? If so, it may be that they are not really that important to you. Try memorizing the items on your list.

Are you having trouble finding ten things to put on your list? Are you unsure which things should really be on the list? Here??s an easy way to build your list: ask yourself- ??What do I think about all day??? That is what should be on your list. You may have to start by listing your worries, and then turn each of them into a positive desire. For example, what do I worry about? What would need to happen for me to not worry about this any more?

If you have trouble finding things that you want, try thinking of it in another way. What would you like to see happen?

How will you know it is working?

When you receive an idea about something that is on your list, act on it in a positive way. Sometimes the thing you want requires a few intermediate steps. Be ready to go through several doorways as they open before you, to reach your goal. If you want a car, perhaps you will find yourself creating a new set of tires first, or a garage to keep the car in.

Realize that many of the things you want will find you. You will be tempted to say, 'but I didn't do anything, it just happened.' Your inner mind genie will use the simplest and most efficient way to create the results you imagine. It doesn't care who gets the credit. After a while you won't either!

Remember that your genie is working nonstop, according to the program that you set for him. If you say, ??this can??t be working??, he will do his best to make that seem true ?V even while he continues his nonstop creation of the other things you ask for.

How will you know it is working? For most people it is not one thing, or two things, but the fact that one thing after another manifests in their lives. The first thing you get from your list seems to be a coincidence, the second is luck, the third is serendipity, and the forth is a miracle. Finally after many creations, when your friends start wondering what the heck is going on, you will realize that there is a simple and rational law in operation, and that you know how to use it.

Get excited and enthusiastic about the good things coming into your life. If this doesn't seem natural to you, go ahead and use your 'power of pretend' to fake it until you make it. Appreciation is the oil of the engine of creation. Enthusiasm and excitement are manifestations of your appreciation, and confirmation of your positive expectation.

The attitudes that will delay your success or confuse your creation are jealousy, envy, resentment, reservations, uncertainty, and indecisiveness. Put all of those to the side. The more you recognize your own creative ability, the less you will care about those things that these attitudes have been attached to. You just won??t have time for those ways of thinking any more.

There is no such thing as a negative thought - every thought has a positive result in reproducing itself. Every thing you think about grows in your mind and becomes part of your physical life. That??s why it is so important to control what you are thinking. The key to controlling your mind is replacing the thoughts that create what you don't want, with the thoughts that create what you do want. You do not resist the old thoughts, you replace them by putting your attention somewhere else. Using your list is your key to accomplishing this. Use this physical tool to reinforce the thoughts that you want.

Think of your subconscious mind as being like a sailboat in the middle of the ocean. The sailboat is blown everywhere, back and forth, by the wind, which is the power of thought. It needs a keel and a rudder to be able to set a course and make way to a certain destination. Your list is the keel and the rudder of your subconscious sailboat.

Thought follows a certain structure in your mind. The idea comes first, then the belief, then the attitude, and then the behavior. Your strongest foundation, the anchor of your thinking, begins with your behavior. Change your behavior, then change the attitude that changing the behavior reveals, then change the belief that inspires the attitude. Grab hold of an idea that is bigger and more inclusive than the small ideas that have kept you poor and unhappy.

When you are tempted to tell everyone what you are doing to make the changes in your life, send them a copy of this book instead. After you have received 40 things you have asked for, you can start talking about the process you are using. Keep a list of everything you get until you receive 40 things you have asked for.

Many people find this book, and use it to get one important thing, and then abandon this method. How did this book come into your life? Your genie brought it to you, or brought you to it, in response to your conscious or unconscious desire to create a specific experience, or to understand creation itself. Take advantage of this experience, and make this intelligent, conscious creation a way of life, not a one-time experience.

??Hey Peter, get back in the boat!?? - the other 11 apostles

Trying to control other people and make decisions for them is a misuse of them, and of your own creative power. The most important thing you can make is a decision. Trying to take that opportunity for creation away from others is based on fear, not love. Fear in your mind will generally create things you do not want. Lewt people learn their lessons. God loves them, too.

I learned something wonderful long ago, that will give you freedom. I can??t prove anything to you about anything important or meaningful. However, I can tell you how you can experiment and prove these things to yourself. If I walked on water, you would be looking for the rocks. If you walk on water, you will know that there are no rocks. Using this list will show you how to walk on the water of your life. You will have to learn to politely ignore your friends as they yell: ??Hey Peter, get back in the boat!??

The Toyota Principle

The subconscious mind creation process goes on all the time. You don't have to be good to make it work. You don't have to chant, exercise, or repeat magic words. You are rich now with the results of what you have been thinking about. Your life is always full of something. If you want to be rich with something else, change what you are thinking about.

As you develop your ability to consciously direct your creation process, as you build your confidence and increase your will power, your results will come more quickly and be more satisfying. Don't delay this process by calling the results coincidence. Wait until you have received at least 40 items on your list (by receiving something and replacing the list item with a new item) before you judge the results as coincidence or creation.

You are already a success at creating what you are thinking about - everyone is. The biggest enemy of conscious control is self-importance - which may manifest in disguise as self-deprecation, worry about what others think of you, or the desire to have others approve of you. Don't let your ego distract your from taking control of your mind and your life.

Everything in your life is there because you have asked for it through either desire or fear. Nothing comes to you by itself. I call this the "Toyota Principle" because there used to be a commercial advertisement on television for a certain car company with the catchphrase "You asked for it - you got it - Toyota!' When you have used your list for a while, you will begin to see this is true, and then vast realms of possibility will open in your life.

It's a friendly universe.

If you are of a certain religious orientation, you might be concerned about this creative process and think it is a possible affront to God. I don't think it is. Think of the New Testament phrase, ??Pray without ceasing.?? I have decided that this is a description of what we all do all the time. We pray nonstop without knowing it. Practice of the method of conscious creation will show you what prayer is, how it works, and that it is always functioning. I am firmly convinced that learning how my mind works, and how to use it more effectively to help myself and others, is what God wants me to do. How about you?

You don't have to believe in God to use the list. However, don't be surprised if using the list shows you that there is order and structure to the universe, including your mind as a part of that universe. Your world is a lot closer to you and more responsive to you, than you may have considered it to be. It's a friendly universe.

Be careful about including other people on your list. If you want joy and happiness with Jane or Bill, is the joy and happiness more important, or the relationship with Jane or Bill? Maybe the best way to be happy with Jane is let her go find Bill, and let Suzy come find you. As long as you are focused on what someone can give to you, you aren??t yet completely experiencing love.

It may be tempting to think your success is dependent on the channel it happens to come through - your job, your family, a particular relationship or thing you possess. Time and experience will show you that this is not so. In the meantime, place your sense of appreciation and thankfulness on the Creator within you, who has made you in his image as a creator. When the river of your life changes its channel, you had better be ready to go with the flow.

How fast will it work? Faster than you will expect. I put the number one item on my list last week and it manifested in two days ?V and I thought it would be six months or maybe never. Fortunately, while writing and then rereading that list item, I suspended my disbelief. Even before your pen finishes the sentence, the act of creation has begun. Of course there is no magic in the pen or paper ?V the magic is in making the decision a physical thing instead of just a mental idea. No matter how long you use this method, there will be times when you are just utterly amazed at what ??happens?? to you. (It isn??t happening, you are creating it.) How fast can it happen? Don??t blink twice ?V you??ll miss it.

Everything you think will try to prove itself ?V including your skepticism. If you are afraid of what others will think of you, or of what you will think of yourself, then you may be fooling yourself while thinking you are being completely rational. The world is plastic to the molding power of your thoughts ?V even while you think this is untrue, or don??t have a thought about it at all. Everything lives and moves and has its being in a sea of self-modifying thought. You can prove this to yourself, and put it to effective use, with the simple experiment of work with the list for a few weeks or months.

It doesn't take much time or effort. You have nothing to lose. No one will even know you are doing it. They will just think that you have suddenly become incredibly lucky, intelligent, charming, and good looking. It helps to smile a lot.

Creating complete mind pictures is very helpful. That is another book in itself. Feeling joy and enthusiasm about your mental creation is very helpful. It will start to happen naturally as you use this process over and over, because ?{

It Works!.🏄‍♂️ ~Brad Jensen

[missmentelle]

About that last ask; /184371235079 - I grew up completely sheltered in an abusive household where this interaction was the norm. I've done that to several people I've dated - I didn't know it was manipulation, because I have abandonment issues and little understanding of verbal or written language. I'm in therapy for my illness. I have bad communication skills because I'm on the spectrum. What are some healthy ways to describe when I'm struggling with feeling abandoned and I need reassurance?

(This is in reference to a recent ask where the poster’s boyfriend had accused her of not loving him, tried to dump her and then nearly proposed marriage in the same conversation)

 I’m really sorry to hear that you had that kind of upbringing. It can be extremely difficult to recognize that certain behaviours are not okay if they were consistently presented to you as “normal” when you were growing up - and that’s definitely compounded when you have other issues with your communication and social skills. The good news is, these behaviours can be recognized and they can be changed, in ways that allow you to happier, healthier relationships. So if you consistently struggle with insecurity and you don’t want to be manipulative or abusive to your partner, remember:

Separate jealous and insecure actions from feelings. It is okay to feel jealous or to feel insecure. We’re all human, we all have those kinds of feelings, and we’re entitled to our emotions. What we’re not entitled to is to take those emotions out on our partners. It’s fine to sometimes worry about whether your partner is attracted to you; it’s not okay to accuse your partner of wanting to leave you. Not all feelings need to be acted upon - sometimes, it’s important to recognize “hey, I’m feeling this way, but it really wouldn’t be fair of me to take this out on my partner. I need to find a way to deal with this on my own”. 

Take responsibility for your own insecurity. There is a huge, huge difference between saying “I am feeling insecure and I need extra reassurance right now” and telling your partner “you don’t actually love me”. In the first example, you are taking responsibility for your own feelings and communicating that you are the one experiencing a problem; in the second example, you are dumping all of your issues on your partner and treating them as if they’ve done something wrong. That’s not fair to them. It’s important to both recognize and communicate that you are the source of these feelings - because of your past experiences, traumas, mental illnesses, or all of the above - and that your partner isn’t the cause of the problem. 

Communicate your needs ahead of time. If you know that you tend to struggle with insecurity in relationships, don’t hide the problem until it boils over into a big fight. Talk to your partner about the issue ahead of time, so that the two of you can find ways to make the relationship more comfortable for you. Think carefully about what you need in a relationship to make you feel loved. What would help you feel secure and cared for? Frequent text messages? Daily reminders of your partner’s feelings? Minimizing cell phone use when you’re together? Small public displays of affection? Your partner may not be able to accommodate all of your requests, but together, the two of you should be able to work out some reasonably strategies to keep feelings of abandonment and insecurity to a minimum.

Don’t feed your jealousy or insecurity. Jealousy and insecurity really are monsters; the more you feed them, the bigger they grow. Don’t go hunting for reasons to feel insecure. Stay out of your partner’s phone. Don’t comb through their social media pages multiple times per day. Don’t compare yourself to their exes. Doing these kinds of things only makes insecurities worse, and it starts a vicious cycle - you go on your partner’s phone, you see a friendly text from a friend that makes you feel a little threatened, so you dig further into their privacy, and you uncover more innocent things that set off your suspicions, so you monitor them more closely, and so on… until you eventually reach a point where you basically need to be constantly tracking your partner and getting constant reassurances in order to feel comfortable. That’s not a healthy situation for anyone. And ironically, this kind of behaviour can alienate your partner, which makes you want to track them even more, which pushes them further away, etc. Feeding your insecurities never makes them go away - if only makes them worse. 

Remember that love is not control. Your partner is allowed to have friends - including friends of their preferred gender. They are allowed to spend time with those friends. They are allowed to not share their passwords or phone passcodes with you. When you are negotiating with your partner to try to minimize your abandonment issues, it’s always important to remember that there’s a difference between “reasonable” requests and “controlling” requests. It is fair and reasonable for you to make requests of your partner that concern the relationship and their behaviour toward you - it’s fine to ask for more physical affection, or for brief daily phone calls, or for the two of you to take more selfies together. It’s not okay for you to make requests that limit your partner’s freedoms or privacy - it’s not okay to forbid your partner from seeing certain people, set them a curfew, or demand that they allow you to GPS track their phone. Love is not control. 

Be specific when you raise issues. Telling someone “you don’t love me anymore” or “I bet you’re going to leave me” is not productive - it expresses that you’re not happy, but it doesn’t tell your partner what the problem actually is, or what you need in order to feel more secure in the relationship. Before you have a discussion with your significant other, reflect on your own feelings and try to figure out what is actually bothering you about the relationship. Are you feeling that there is a lack of affection? Are you upset because you haven’t seen as much of your significant other as you would like? Do you feel that they don’t respond to messages as reliably as you would like? Have a conversation about what is specifically causing these feelings, and be prepared for the possibility that you might not get everything you want - relationships are all about compromise. 

Have a signal in place. If you can feel that your insecurities and abandonment issues are going to be particularly bad today, have some sort of way that you can signal that to your partner without lashing out at them. It could be a code word, or a simple statement like “today is a bad day for me”. This lets your partner know that you may need extra affection that day, and that they shouldn’t take any outbursts personally. If there are particular things that help you get through a bad day - favourite music, calling your therapist, going for a walk, etc - plan to also lean on those supports. 

Don’t give ultimatums or threaten the relationship. In the heat of the moment, it can be really, really temping to say something along the lines of “maybe we should just break up”, or “I can’t be in the relationship anymore unless you do X”. It’s basically an emotional trump card - it’s a way to “force” the other person to do what you want them to do, or risk losing the relationship entirely. You might be bluffing, you might not be; either way, ultimatums and threats thrown out in the heat of the moment can seem like an easy way to give yourself an “edge” in the argument, and make the other person cater to your needs. These kinds of tactics, however, are incredibly toxic - you are essentially hijacking the discussion, and emotionally blackmailing your partner into doing what you want. It’s incredibly unfair to your partner, and it makes reasonable conversation impossible. Your partner needs to be able to voice their own concerns and make their perspective heard, and that’s not possible if you go out of your way to make them feel like they’re in danger of getting dumped every time they make you unhappy. Threatening a breakup turns minor discussions into emotional minefields, and it intentionally makes your partner feel like the relationship is built on shifting sand. Don’t do this. If you are going to break up with somebody, think it over carefully, and don’t break up the topic unless you truly mean it. 

Don’t rush into commitment. If you struggle with insecurity, it can be really tempting to try to “lock down” your partner by rushing them into more serious forms of commitment as quickly as you can. Moving in together. Adopting a dog. Getting engaged. Getting pregnant. Consciously or subconsciously, you might feel like you need to entwine your lives early on, to make it as difficult as possible for your partner to possibly leave you. Rushing someone into commitment, though, is almost always a mistake. Many of the big “relationship milestones” are huge responsibilities, and it’s enormously stressful to try to manage joint finances and responsibilities with someone you barely know. There’s a reason why most couples wait for an extended period of time before taking these steps together - it can take a while for two people to get comfortable with each other and figure out if they are truly compatible. And trying to rush someone into commitment before they are ready is emotionally manipulative as well; it can be very easy to start blackmailing someone by implying that they don’t really love you or they aren’t really an adult if they aren’t willing to move in together three months into the relationship.

Don’t look for malicious intent or feed negative thought spirals. There are multiple ways to interpret a person’s words or behaviors. Being in a healthy relationship often requires that you give your partner the benefit of the doubt, and choose not to interpret their actions in a malicious way. If your partner doesn’t text you back quickly, you have to choose to believe that they are just busy - and you have to choose not to tell yourself that they are intentionally ignoring you because they hate you, or that they are flirting with someone else. If your partner hangs out with their attractive friend, you have to believe that they are just friends, instead of letting yourself get suspicious of their relationship. Giving in to negative thoughts and suspicions can cause downward thought spirals, where “they haven’t texted me in an hour” can quickly turn into “they never loved me and they have been faking our whole relationship”. Don’t let your brain go there. Give them the benefit of the doubt, even when it’s hard. 

Have coping mechanisms outside of your partner. It can be really easy to decide that because your insecurities are about your partner, that it is your partner’s job to comfort you. But that’s just not true. Constantly turning to your partner for reassurances can start to get exhausting for them, and it leaves you at risk of panicking if you can’t get ahold of them for some reason. Have other coping mechanisms. This is absolutely vital for the health of any relationship - have hobbies, friends, and activities outside of your partner that you can turn to when you are stressed and upset, even if the relationship is what you’re upset about. When you have healthy coping mechanisms in place, you can deal with the worst of your emotional upset in a constructive way, and get to a place where you can have a calm, reasoned discussion with your partner. 

It’s important to remember that healthy relationships take work - everyone slips up from time to time, and that’s okay. It’s important to own your mistakes, apologize for any harm caused, and keep on working to better yourself. It’s also important to remember that relationships are a two-way street; if you’re making an effort to have a healthy relationship but the other person is not, you might be better off cutting your losses and seeking out a new partner who is more willing to try to live by these ideas. 

Best of luck to you!

[ahhhsami]

So I've had this I dea for a while. Korra broke up with Asami because she couldn't handle that Asami was an extreme workaholic who never really rested and never really spent time with Korra. After the breakup Asami throws herself even more into her work and [time] later she gets hospitalized because she collapsed (worked herself to the bone, forgot to eat and stuff). there she meets Korra again.

Thanks for the request! I hope you don’t mind how angsty I made this. It’s just kind of where my mind’s at right now. Plus this prompt already has so many angsty possibilities, lol. :P (AO3 LINK)

The fact that, we as humans have emotions and the ability for higher thinking, has always been something that’s interested me. It’s amazing that we can empathize with another without even experiencing it ourselves. We may smile when another person smiles at us. We may cry when someone else cries. We may feel an ache in our heart when we see someone’s relationship end. It’s one of those things that makes life worth living. Makes it so amazing.

But it’s also the worst too. Our complex minds allow for doubt. It allows for overthinking and leads us to taking actions we may regret. It makes us question everything in this world and everything that we do. It allows us to feel so much and feel so little at the same time. And that’s where I am now. I’m so broken that I’m numb. I’ve cried to the extent where I have no more tears. I’ve rerun the same thoughts through my mind to the point that I’m drawing a blank.

I don’t know how long I’ve been staring at the same spot on the ceiling, but it’s been a long time. The clock next to the bed clicks melodically as the seconds pass. Everything just feels wrong. The room feels wrong. The bed feels wrong. The smell’s wrong. The sounds are wrong. The only thing that’s right is the feeling of emptiness in my chest. My heart aches and all I want to do is pick up my phone and call her. To tell her that this wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. But I know I can’t.

I knew what I was getting into when we first started dating. I knew that her work was her first love, but I thought it would work because we both acknowledged it. We both knew that we had our own careers, our own paths that we would need to take. But I had always thought we would make time and space for one another. That we’d sometimes put our jobs on hold.

At first we did. We made time for one another. We were living in the moment. But as time progressed and years passed, it started to change. Suddenly when we were together, we weren’t together. She’d be on her phone, constantly plugged in. Constantly replying to emails and checking up on her employees and contacting partners. Eventually this progressed to her not even meeting me. To the extent where I was sitting in restaurants, cafes, theaters, and more, just waiting for her. More than not, she would forget completely, only apologizing and making excuses after I’d call or text her. And then I’d return home to an empty bed. And again I would find myself waiting.

And I’m the first to understand that work is important, especially if you love what you do. I’d be crazy to be working as an emergency physician if not. The work wasn’t made for someone who couldn’t invest time and devotion. But there’s a point to where it’s too much. And she somehow had reached that point and our relationship was put on the back burner. Eventually the flame would fade completely.

Even though it’s been three days since I’d finally called it quits, I can still hear her weak voice and the way it cracked when she begged me not to leave. I can still see the tears that had streamed down her cheeks and smudged her usually flawless makeup. I remember the way her slender hand had reached out and clutched the back of my shirt and the way she clung onto me. I can remember it all. The way I quietly walked through the house that was ours. The house that we had made so many memories in. How I had left my home behind. My home that was her.

My feet feel heavy as I move through the halls of the hospital. Even though it’s bustling with people moving in and out, I don’t hear or notice any of it. My mind is still focused on what’s ended more than anything else. I can’t stay in the present and instead keep getting trapped in the past. Recalling memory after memory. Flitting from the best of memories to the worst of memories. The times when we adopted our puppy, Naga. The times when I’d bring her lunch, to drag her away from her work and she’d actually appreciate it. The times when she would take me driving around the track in the newest car model, going on about this and that which I never truly understood. But then I’d remember the yelling. The times I’d burst at her for standing me up or forgetting an anniversary. She’d always just shrink in on herself, always apologizing in the quietest of voices. Every time, she’d slink off to her office, throw herself into her work instead of trying to solve the problem though. Every, single, time.

Things happen for a reason and I know I need to accept it. I need to move on because it’s already been two months. And yet it feels as if it were yesterday. I wonder how long it’s going to take to move on. I know that I won’t be able to forget and honestly I don’t want to. I just want to feel at peace with the choices I’ve made, but I can’t.

“Korra!”

My head jerks up at the sound of my name. Bolin is panting as he hunches over with his hands resting on his knees.

“Where am I needed?” I ask, automatically thinking this is related to something in the ER.

Bolin shakes his head and holds up his finger, signaling that he needs a moment to catch his breath. He’s easily one of the best nurses in the hospital. Alway so personable and able to make the saddest person smile in the hardest of times.

“Asami,” he gasps.

My brow furrows. “What about her?” I kind of snap.

“She’s here.”

“What?!”

“Here.” He points down at the ground. “At the hospital.” He finally stands and looks at me, his eyes full of sadness. Something that is so rare to see it causes my heart to instantly ache. How serious was this to make the most optimistic man this distraught?

“Where?”

“A wing,” he says.

I let out a heavy sigh. At least she’s in the least intensive area of the hospital.

“What happened?”

“Her secretary brought her in because she was acting weird. Saying stuff she wouldn’t normally say and then she just collapsed in the middle of a meeting. They said it’s probably sleep deprivation, stress, and exhaustion.”

“S-she collapsed? Did she hurt herself?”

“Luckily, she didn’t. I think they have her hooked up with an IV too. I guess she hasn’t been eating either.”

“What? I-I…”

“It’s not your fault. But I think you should go see her,” Bolin suggests.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Do it for her.”

“Shit,” I whisper as soon as I see her. I close my eyes for a moment, holding back the tears I can feel welling up. “Look at you,” I say to myself as I pick up a chair and silently place it beside the bed.

I sit down, not daring to touch her. But not because I’m worried I’d wake her, but because I don’t have the right to. How could I let her get to this? How could I have left her? I know I can’t make choices for her, but maybe if I had tried to stick it out, tried harder to fix what we had… she wouldn’t be here. Wouldn’t be hooked up with fluids flowing into her body. Wouldn’t have sunken eyes with dark bags beneath them. Maybe her body wouldn’t look as if it’d lost twenty pounds. Maybe her skin wouldn’t be as ashy and pale. Maybe, just maybe if I had just tried harder.

“What’s happened to you?” I ask her although I know she’s asleep, something she evidently needs. She looks as if she hasn’t rested for days, weeks, maybe even months.

I sit there, not caring about the ache in my back. I sit there, trying to imagine how things could have been different. How things could have been. I sit there, waiting for her to wake, knowing full well I may not be welcome when she does.

“Mmmm,” I groan softly. Someone’s hand is threading through my hair and my eyes gradually open, trying to adjust to the bright lighting.

“You look tired.”

It’s a voice I haven’t heard in so long. A voice that I thought I wouldn’t hear again, not since I had walked out. A voice that I had missed so dearly.

“I’m not the one in the hospital bed,” I mumble as I sit up, her hand settling down at her side.

She’s sitting up now, the IV not in her arm anymore. Our eyes meet and her peridot ones are nothing more than tired. Her body had obviously shown that, but finally looking into her eyes, I can see and feel how exhausted she truly is.

She laughs weakly. “That’s true.” Asami’s expression changes though and she looks at me seriously. “Why are you here?”

“I, um… Bolin said that you were here and I just…” my voice trails off. I don’t even know where to begin trying to tell Asami about how I feel and what hell the last two months have been.

“You what, Korra?” Asami presses.

“I was worried,” I whisper, barely loud enough for Asami to hear.

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I know,” I mumble. “But when he said that you were here, every single worst case scenario went through my head. I couldn’t stop thinking that you might have been in an accident where you seriously got hurt. Where you…” My voice cracks and I clench my eyes shut. I don’t want to cry in front of her.  

“I think I’d take being in an accident over you leaving me,” Asami admits softly. “It’d probably hurt less. Honestly-”

“Asami, I-”

“Wait, let me speak.” I close my mouth and nod for her to continue. “Honestly, I understand though.” She pauses and takes in a steady breath. “I know why and I guess I needed to lose you to realize what was actually happening. It was my fault.”

“Asami, it wasn’t. We both made our own choices and are at fault in our own ways.”

“Sure, but it was my actions that forced you to leave. I wasn’t there for you. I was always at work and even when you made time for me, I didn’t do the same for you. I just made excuses. Made reasons to make myself feel better for what I was doing to you. You did everything you could and I wasn’t doing a single thing.”

I open my mouth to speak, but she shakes her head.

“You know it’s true.”

I’m speechless and it’s clear that Asami can see that.

“I ruined what we had. And I-I didn’t know what to do. When you left me… I don’t think I’ve ever felt as horrible as I did that day. It broke me and I chose the only thing I knew what to do. Instead of trying to reach out to you, to get you back… I worked and worked and worked. Honestly, I think it’s the only thing I can do right,” Asami’s voice cracks, tears now streaming down her cheeks. “I should have followed you. I should have run after you and not let you go. I miss you. I miss you so much, Korra. I-I thought work would be able to distract me, but it didn’t. No matter what I did, I was still thinking of you. I wanted to hear your voice, to tell you about my day, to feel you hold me and tell me that I was doing a good job and that everything would be okay. But it wasn’t. And I know, I know it was because of my choices.”

I can tell she wants to reach out to take my hand, but she holds back.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this. There’s no reason for you to forgive me. I know I hurt you and I can’t take that back now,” Asami says, her voice hopeless.

Neither of us speak as tears keep falling from Asami’s eyes. She covers her face with her hands and shrinks in on herself, just like she had so many times before. She never was one to deal with confrontation when it wasn’t related to her company.

“You can’t take it back… but you could fix it,” I finally say. I get up from the chair and settle on the edge of the bed. I reach out and guide her hands from her face. I wipe away her tears with my thumbs and then cup her cheeks. “Leaving you was the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my life. I loved you. I loved you more than anything in this world, but I didn’t feel that you felt the same way. Honestly, you broke my heart too… but I missed you.” I pause to clear my throat. “And I still love you.”

The corner of Asami’s mouth twitch and then fall back to a straight line. I’m not sure what’s going through her mind, but I hope it’s the same thing that’s going through mine. I smooth my thumbs over her cheeks, trying to reassure her.

“I never wanted to leave you. I just felt that it was my only choice at that point… so I did. But I can’t stop thinking that it was the worst thing I could have done. I-I still want to work this out, Asami. B-but I can’t be the only one wanting to fix this.”

“I’ll do anything,” Asami says, more strongly than anything else she’s said. “I love you… and as you can see I’m even more of a mess without you.”

I smile at her attempt to lighten the mood with a joke, even though it’s really bad.

“You’re still beautiful and I still love you,” I try to comfort her.

She just laughs at me and turns her head to kiss the center of my palm.

“I really missed you,” she mumbles, her lips brushing against my skin. “Can I hug you?” She can’t bring herself to look at me, her eyes focused at the wall past my head.

I don’t answer her with words, instead I lean forward and wrap her up in my arms. She clings onto me, her hands clutching onto my doctor’s coat and her face burrowed into my neck. I close my eyes, letting her familiar scent and warmth calm me. It’s the most at peace I’ve felt since I’d walked out.

“We’re going to make this work, I promise,” Asami says muffled against my neck.

I nod, not able to speak as tears slowly fall down my cheeks.

I’m home again.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

I'VE BEEN PONDERING TIME

Maybe not. But I think it will surprise people how many things are going to take over the world is not just that you'd have to give them enough that they're not tempted by an offer from Silicon Valley VCs that requires them to move to Silicon Valley? You have to learn programming to be at least some users who really need what they're making—not just people who could see themselves using it one day, but who want it urgently. The degree of courage of past or present union leaders are any less courageous. It's exceptionally rare for startups to be killed by competitors—so rare that you can't make yourself care. And you know, that raises some interesting questions. They must hear developers complaining. Ditto for most of the time success means getting bought, should you make that a conscious goal? When you ask what message a city sends without living there. Dating sites are a prime example. It's like importing something from Wisconsin to Michigan. If you tried this experiment, I think.

In fact, it's often better if they're not. When we launched in February 2007, weekday traffic was around 1600 daily uniques. Of course it matters to do a test mailing for each tweak. I'd like. This can't be a coincidence. I see no reason to believe today's union leaders would shrink from the challenge. It seemed like selling out. It's since grown to around 22,000. Give yourself some time. The best approach is more indirect: if you have the luxury of turning down money. And they spread widely, because the links do.

Choose the latter. Well, not quite. If we were talking about the taste of apples, I'd agree that taste is merely personal preference is that, in the narrow sense of the word, that startup ideas are made of lists, which are the most extreme form of fluff. If you're really at the leading edge of some rapidly changing field, you can, to a limited extent, simulate a closure a function that takes another number i and returns n incremented by i. What else can we put in there? In retrospect it shouldn't have been surprising that a place so pleasant would attract people interested above all in quality of life. There can be places that are free for alls and places that are more thoughtful, just as someone from the present would if they were doing—particularly that the better a job they did, I see no reason to believe today's union leaders would shrink from the challenge. So far most of what I've said applies to ideas in general. One problem with saying there's no such thing as good taste is that it also cuts down on these. Fortunately one of them is much higher valuations. I say it would take.

And who knows, maybe their offer will be surprisingly high. The first approach is a mistake, because it seems sympathetic to their cause. But he wouldn't, so we had to think of ideas. Possibly. Distractions are bad for many types of work that depend more on energy and imagination than any kind of special training. And even that is not how conversations with corp dev are like that but worse, because the top VC funds have better brands, and can also do more for their portfolio companies. And it would get easier over time, because the links do. The first thing to understand about paths out of the way our eyes work. The striking thing about this phase is that it's completely different from most other people's. You'd have to get iPhones out of programmers' hands. To do so is homophobic.

Meaning that when the note converts into stock in a later round, or upon acquisition, the investors in that round will get. The chance of getting rejected after the full partner meeting averages about 25%. The way to kill it is to garbage-collect an idea. I consider it a sign of trouble. The stock of a company, and a place for current and future Y Combinator founders to exchange news. You may have expected recipes for coming up with an idea that contradicts the assumption you started with. And those who do raise VC rounds will be able to do everything these startups do. It only came in black, for example, or any of the other appurtenances of authority. Half the time you're doing product development on track. Four forces, three of which one could have predicted, and one of the people they never got. Wufoo seem to have held true to their original principles. If you define a language that has car, cdr, cons, quote, cond, atom, eq, and a pretty striking example it is.

What I mean is that Lisp was too slow. It's because Lisp was not really designed to be another C: C plus a few ideas are likely to be an insider. When you're trying to make things, taste becomes a practical matter. They used all the tokens you'll tend to miss longer spams, the type where someone tells you there's a rabbit as well as a cost of breaking up a project. You can use text classification techniques, but solutions can and should reflect the fact that they have a single format. If you keep pursuing such threads it would be hard to catch. This was not a problem. If it's low enough, it won't pay for spammers to send it to them from a local source. What new things will we be able to leave, if you look at the painting they voted the best would be a reasonable investment. If you know you have a monopoly or cartel to enforce it, and most decent hackers are capable of that. I understand what she meant.

If it's low enough, it won't pay for spammers to send it, and even the more sophisticated ones rarely get past judging it by the brand name of the artist. And the project starts small because the idea is much older than Henry Ford. Why bother? This can't be a coincidence. But the first is by far the most common proposal to be for multiplayer games. So if there's some idea you think would be cool but you're kept away from by fear of the schleps involved, don't worry: any sufficiently good idea will have as many. You can compile or run code while compiling, and read or compile code at runtime. And there's a chance that could happen, because the locations of mines and factories were determined by features like rivers, harbors, and sources of raw materials. After decades of running an IV drip right into their audience, people in the technology world know what usually happens when something comes along that can be learned. 8747 From free 0.