#It's just a fellow with excess emotion. All of the time. That it does not know where to direct. No body taught it emotional regulation Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[selfcontainedunivcrse]

silly my little guy hc. Vwoop doesn't have your [redacted]era fanwork endermen tears, but it does cry some sort of solution with little flecks of ender particles in it. if crying on its own was not embarassing enough, having sparkly tears is a surefire way to get taken seriously in a fight

[blvvdk3ep]

Fellow Travelers was brilliantly written, don't get me wrong, but I have this one nagging grievance I just can't get over. I really wish Tim was allowed to be a more angry with Hawk in episode eight.

He tells Hawk that he has no more forgiveness left in the bathroom scene, but interrupts Hawk in the middle of his apology to absolve him and tell him that at least Hawk was his great, consuming love, and the only thing that matters is that he loved him. This feels like such an unfair thing to do to his character.

The times when Tim was angry with Hawk in the show were usually more tense, high emotional moments, where he was drinking, or seeming unreasonable/unrealistic or naive in his desires due to their situation (especially his desires for more affection amidst the Lavender scare dont strike as sympathetic as they could because Hawk's vigilance is more suitable to the situation).

So after everything, with Hawk playing push and pull with Tim, continuously calling for him knowing that Tim wants something he's never planning to give him, and then completely screwing him over, I would've loved to see a slow, raw scene at the end wherein Hawk apologizes for everything he did to Tim, and Tim is at least allowed to acknowledge and respond with seriousness lacking in hysterics, naivety, frenzy, or excessive sentimentality that yes, Hawk did hurt him, Hawk didn't have the right to do to him the things he did, and yes, he was furious at him for the hurt.

Tim deserves voice and agency, and I felt like it was plowed over to make room for this sweet ending where Hawk's guilt is vanquished because he was Tim's great love, and Tim is just glad for that. Tim deserves more than to be grateful that he loved a, frankly, shitty person. I wish he had been allowed to vocalize the damage it did to him and then choose to forgive. Because forgiveness, especially of the magnitude needed for what Hawk had done, does not come easily. It's a choice, and Tim's entire brilliant character and story is about him constantly making the difficult choice. He makes the difficult choice to turn over the photograph, leave McCarthy, go to jail, forgive himself and keep loving God, to leave the church, to come out to his family, to live as an openly gay man. He made the choice to forgive Hawk and feel gratitude for his life experiences and emotions regardless of what he got out of them. But like every choice it takes work to get there. I wish Tim's inner/emotional life, turmoil, and work regarding their relationship was something we were given privy to in that scene, and I feel that this was curtailed because the only way we really could've seen this is if he calmly pointed a finger at Hawk and called him out.

And honestly, something like that is more authentic to real, consuming love than just saying "all that matters is that I love you!" Real, consuming love can exist and exists most fervently where we can look at the other person and say yes, you nearly destroyed me, yes I forgave you, I forgive you, I still hold you in my heart.

[sincerely-sofie]

We've seen Necrozma, but what are Lunala and Solgaleo up to? Surely they would have Opinions about this.

Unlike Necrozma, Solgaleo and Lunala would be relatively unaffected by a world shrouded in darkness, and don’t care very much as a result. According to the Moon and Shield Pokédex entries for Lunala and Solgaleo respectively, Lunala does require light sources to metabolize into energy, but Solgaleo radiates energy as light at all times, so he is basically constantly providing a source of light that can sustain his wife— and Lunala is able to take in that light and disperse it so he isn’t overwhelmed by excess energy. They’ve got a nice little self-sustaining dynamic going on, and would be happy to return to Ultra Space to avoid having to deal with some obnoxious upstart Legend who’s bringing the property value down in town.

Necrozma, meanwhile, is terrified of the possibility of being reduced to his darkened form and trapped like that again— plus, he’s unwilling to flee into Ultra Space when his adopted son is finally all happily settled into their new surroundings after they moved into a village that had a large enough cave nearby to house Necrozma himself— so he’s got a lot of motivation to ensure that the world has a steady light source at all times.

In general, Legends that don’t interact with mortals often are very disconnected from anything outside of their domains. Unless it directly impacts them or their territory, they don’t care. Funnily enough, I received another ask around the time I got this one that summed up a perspective I had on a Legend who kinda shirks this concept of distance from mortals meaning a callousness and lack of care for others— Giratina!

Giratina is a strange case. She spends all her time in the Distortion World, rarely exiting the realm entrusted to her by Arceus, and actively avoids interacting with her fellow Legends and the mortals who dare to seek her out. She’s seen as a temperamental hermit amongst the Legends and a being of unspeakable power and unfathomable anger amongst mortals, but it’s not for the reasons you might think.

Giratina’s duty isn’t just to oversee the Distortion World— she’s also meant to watch over the normal world and to guard both of these realms. Arceus spends most of her time asleep, and it’s Giratina’s job to keep watch over everything in her stead and wake her up if things get too bad for Giratina threatening to send people to the Distortion World for time-out doesn’t stop the conflict in its tracks. So Giratina has a very intensive, very stressful job, and she’s a teeny bit bitter about being thrust into her mother’s role so that the Mighty Thousand-Armed One can take a nap. Her job is to care a lot about everything. She was made to care a lot about everything. She’s extremely empathetic and feels emotions— both her own and those of others— very deeply. This leads to her being frazzled and prickly all the time from some gnarly burnout that’s been building for all of millennia.

Fun fact: She isn’t banished to the Distortion World by Arceus in my PMD worldbuilding— Giratina essentially got upset about people being noisy and complaining to her all the time, so she stormed off and locked herself in the cosmic linen closet after screaming at her brothers to stop fighting or she’ll call Mom.

[liketwoswansinbalance]

we could see that rafal can sing in rise, (the song about vulcan) but how would he sound like?

He strikes me as someone who would sing with a "Whatever. There's nothing to lose. Hell is empty and all the devils are here. So I'm performing for all these people who have poor taste anyway" mentality.

I don't think he would be head-turningly exceptional as a singer because I don't see the arts as his domain and I can't think of a reason as to why he would be professionally trained, so he's probably either an average singer or can sing better than most fellow amateurs.

The reason why I wouldn't automatically assume he's a bad singer is that he at least seemed attuned to sound? Though, I'm not sure if his having acute hearing/perception is canon in the prequels, even if it is canon in TLEA, so I could be wrong. And, he was able to maintain Fala's accent over a long period of time, so he can modulate his voice decently, I would think.

I don't think he singing would feature many or any random vocalizations either. He'd probably make sure he'd have substance to his lyrics and would keep strictly to the lyrics, even if he were improvising them. I also do not think he'd ever show any loose soulfulness like Hozier's style. He'd probably control his voice for emotional excess.

A note on accents: accents are often "neutralized" (Americanized) when people sing, meaning, Rafal would most likely lose his accent if he had a non-American one.

For potential representations of his voice, I've found some songs (some of these I've mentioned before):

"No Love in LA" by Palaye Royale - Like a anthem about there being no such thing as love in these Woods? Conveys his superior attitude well, especially at some points if he's in a cynical mood. Abrupt, combative, rarely melodious and continuous. I think there's also a kind of dryness or disparaging, spat-out tone to it, like a half-vicious/vitriolic, half-resigned, "[sigh] I'm done with all this" quality to it.

"Careful What You Wish For (the doctor said to)" by Jack Harris - Devoid of emotion or sung numbly at times. Abrupt. But it sounds too much on the verge of tears for him. Ominous.

"Who's In Control" by Set It Off - Very matter of fact and stative. Some kind of loftiness is present. Nearly everything in this song fits him, including the pitch I'd attribute to him. Neither too emotional nor too saccharine. Trying to get a grip on his situation. Starts out blasé, turns desperate.

"Innocently Annoying at 3am" by Elysewood - I've mentioned this one before. It's very close to how I think I'd imagine his voice.

"No Friends" by CADMIUM and Rosendale - About the right pitch. Even some of the lyrics, not all, fit him.

"Rule #27 - Drunk on Pride" by Fish in a Birdcage - I don't think he'd seem too mournful/sentimental with his voice. But the pitch seems about right to my mind, even if it's sometimes too high pitched to fit him?

"Rule #24 - Man-O-War" by Fish in a Birdcage - Emphasis on the flatness or speech-like quality. Probably, an example of a shanty (like the Vulcan song!). I just don't picture his voice as this deep or as accented like this.

"Rule #34" by Fish in a Birdcage - Sultry. Feels uptempo. If he's doing his villainous equivalent of playing with prey, I feel like this would be it. At the same time, I don't think he is that type of villain. He really does hop to it, and doesn't emphasize bark over bite. He bites without warning a lot of the time (e.g., killing Rufius). He conceals his motives and acts without anyone else being able to anticipate what he'll do. So, I guess this could also be singing for a theatrical and pragmatic purpose, like he did for his Vulcan song, to both serve as a distraction and to taunt. I feel like this song couldn't be entirely sincere since we've never technically seen him in love though.

"I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie - A love song if he's actually sincere? Seems unlikely, but if he wanted to seduce someone, I suppose this would make sense. Right out of the gate, there's death. I'm not sure if the pitch is quite right.

"Villainous Thing" by Shayfer James - Focus on not the voice itself but the (potentially) mocking tone: "Oh dear"—the drawn out sounds. We'd probably have to interpret this with a dose of sarcasm. Actually, this one reminds me of Sophie in TLEA as if he's addressing her. Eventually, I think it gets too ahem... lascivious for even him because his whole act (or actual nature) is that he's gentlemanly when he wants to be and can afford to be, and acts honorably in his typically skewed, perverse way.

[mostly-him]

I love your stuff! The TFP meets G1 is great.

Just out of curiosity, as a fellow Screamer fan…what do you think would make Starscream cry? Any version is fine.

(My personal input: I think G1 cries about Skyfire when no one is looking. I also think he cries alone in his room when Megatron really knocks him around and hurts him badly. He tries to hide the pain from the abuse because he can’t escape and he has to put on a good face as second in command, but deep inside it’s so painful and he can only tolerate so much.

I haven’t watched Prime yet but I think TFP Screamer also cries about the abuse. He cries in bed at night, tears running down his long face, because he doesn’t know when the day will come when Megatron kills him. Also he cried when Breakdown died because he’d gotten close to Knockout and knew how bad KO must have felt-ooops that’s my Knockscream coming out lol)

Be prepare for a long answer (and maybe bad english 🤗)

Well, I think that in the case of G1 universe, Starscream is in a very fair situation. Despite Megatron being the strongest (physically speaking) of the two of them, it is usually Starscream who tends to start the conflict between the two. He is the one who is always plotting against Megatron and who tries to kill him at least once a week (sometimes it just seems like a necessity so as not to lose the habit) even when they seem to be having a good understandment. Starscream is always searching new ways to bully him, and when he finds them, obviously Megatron reacts (you can expect otherwise). But even then, scared and beggin for his life, Starscream still pushes his luck until he has to fly away from the nemesis to avoid being punished or "killed" 😆

So no, I personally don't see G1 Starscream as a victim (maybe a self-victim 🤷🏽‍♀️) but as a piece of a very complex and toxic relationship he obviously likes to feed and maintain (as much as Megatron likes it too), considering all the chances to kill Megatron he purposely missed over the millenia. To me, he is as insane as Megatron is, and they deserve each other as they are their own punishment.

Starscream is cynical and conniving, and a very intelligent character who can manipulate even the toughest of his enemies, besides being the best flier of Cybertron. But he is also very impulsive and emotional at times, and his excessive ambition and selfishness tend to blind him. That is why the decepticons haven't won the war 😆

.

Tf prime is a totally different story 😕 I think the writers took it out of Starscream without a valid argument behind Megatron being so wild with him.

Megatron brutalizes him, most of the time for no valid reasons, and that makes him a sadist who prefers to break his own soldiers than to focus his ire on his true enemies. You can't expect that a character who is always being hurt, insulted and beaten, remain sassy, proud of himself and cynical like G1 Starski does. I cring everytime I see tfp Starscream cower to not only before Megatron, but before every character that approaches him with brusque body language. He is always afraid. He is paranoid. He is terrified of everything! 😐 So I sincerely don't like his portray in the show very much despite I LOVE tfp.

I think tf prime Starscream would be the one who could cry in the solitude of his room 😬

... and G1 would totally bully him for that 😆

.

(Ohhhh, my fav tfp characters are Breakdown and Predaking. I love them so soooo much 😁)

Also, thank you so much!! 😊

[alex-wolfdragon]

So I read over a chapter I felt like I hated after writing from a couple nights ago. It wasn't done, and I hadn't read over what I'd written, but I still hated it. I'm not sure if it was the stress of expectation on my part or if I felt like my writing style had drastically changed or what, but I truly hated it. I do remember I felt like I had included too much detail, and that the way I wrote it didn't feel as humorous as the mini scene that inspired the chapter. The point is, I hated it.

However, today, I decided to take a deep breath and just read it over instead of jumping into starting over like I had initially planned. I realized, yes, it was different to what I usually wrote, but that's because I was including the actions of over ten people rather than focusing on the actions of three to four. When you write about the reactions of a large group then one of two things will happen. You'll either go into enough detail to paint a picture but not to the point of highlighting every action, or you'll highlight every action and jump from perspective to perspective until eventually you have several chapters worth of detail.

I know this because I've done the latter, on accident, in one of my other fics. A meal, breakfast, lasted 6 chapters and I was both proud and ashamed. I didn't want the scene to last that long, but at the same time the detail was necessary. Writing this chapter, for a different fic, I think I accidentally entered the same mindspace, but almost in reverse. I wanted the scene to be relatively long to get the emotion in there, but I didn't think the detail I was providing was necessary. I felt like I was giving too much detail on a moment that I didn't think needed it when, in reality, I wasn't. I was providing detail, but not on the scale of that other fic. Even so, I had put myself in the mindset that I was and got too stressed.

After reading over it though, I realize that the detail I gave is necessary and I didn't need to add more to it unless I wanted to. So, I continued the chapter and eventually finished it. I'm currently proud of myself, and I'm happy with the result even if there's a little voice in my head that's saying it needs more. For now, I'm going to ignore it. But tomorrow, I'll read it over once more, edit as I go, and finally post.

So to all my fellow writers out there, try not to stress yourself over every little detail. Some scenes need excessive detail, some need moderate amounts, and some need hardly any. Try not to stress about the length or the amount. Instead, focus on whether the scene, the chapter, makes sense. If it fulfills all other requirements such as "does everything make sense?" "Did everyone that needed to be mentioned get mentioned?" "Did we get from A to B." And so on.

Finally, if you ever get too stressed, step back. Take a break to clear your mind. Go outside, color, watch TV, read, crotchet, play video games, hang out with friends, do anything that will make you forget the chapter for a day and clear your head. Then, when you are sure your stress is no longer speaking for you, jump back in.

[opal-owl-flight]

alright i know it a bit off topic to what you are doing right now. but is angst really necessary for a character. all it does it make me feel so horrible for them. just saying

This is tumblr, the rule for this is to block me/the angst arc tags and move on. If you are who I think you are, Im going to take the step myself for both our sakes.

This is my story. Youre not obligated to read it, youre not obligated to keep up. If the content upsets you, you dont force the writer to change the story they want to write. You leave for the sake of your emotional state. I wont take offense to that as we all have our tolerance for upsetting topics/stories. (God knows I have my own.)

As for angst being necessary?

Have you seen the shit these characters go through in canon?

You can make the argument for everything being cartoon violence but DO REMEMBER that Hal Labs themself has made final bosses scream in pain while youre in the process of giving them a soul-smashing beatdown. And in the case of True Arena for Mags -- you can hear him begging for help in the bg as you fight. (Epilogue also has a lot of angst. Fucks sake one of Mags' "taunt" animations has him crying.)

Im not exactly adding angst where there isnt. It is simply an extension of canon.

Or do you speak of my more painful arcs, like False Paradise or Back to Zero?

Again, they are simply extensions (in my interp) of whats given in canon. I take the canon stuff seriously in my writing, thats just how I do. Those events have lasting effects on the characters. You cant say someone gets possessed and theyre all hunky dory the next time you see em. Wasnt Dedede implied -- no. Straight up SAID by Hal --- to have had trauma from Fecto Forgo? So for my way of writing things, Whos to say the others didnt as well?

In terms of the relationships for those two arcs. (+Nova Incident too what the hell.) Magolor wasnt the best person. He still isnt, sometimes. Healing from what hes done while he was lashing out, for all parties involved, is not going to be smooth sailing. Sometimes things start to look up but and then go nasty in the middle. Thats just the way things are.

BtZ's basis is touching on how puppy love/crushes tend to die the longer you know a person. You find things you dont like about the fellow you admired. And that breaks them apart. Its very fortunate in rhe end of this arc though that both parties see their mistakes/flaws and learn to accept and grow with them, and thats why they got back together.

Angst makes good payoff.

And about excessive angst? Thats subjective. And I always resolve them in the end. (Hell, even Legacy has a good ending now...mostly bc I nuked it after the rewrites). Im not really good with ending things badly, so my stuff always wraps up on a happy note. (I should probably post more of the fluff stuff tbh, but its impact is heavily reduced without the angstier context.)

Tldr, in my interp/writing style, angst is indeed necessary for the character. One, a lot of it is already canon anyway. Two, this is my way of exploring/extending the character and their themes (Mags leans heavy on trust and forgiveness). Three, all of this makes for more satisfying closure/payoff.

[necr0-mantix]

8. what does your muse fear losing the most? 12. does your muse tend to push themselves too hard? 13. how does your muse outwardly express their anger?

8 -- Sanctuary's loss is the one potential that haunts him more than anything. After seeing events that proved his own armageddon prophecy to be set in motion, he became more reclusive than legend stated he was simply out of fear. Any shift to his visions due to meddling could mean anything could change the outcome he saw, and while it is terribly difficult to change fate, it can be done, even by accident.

Trag'oul - before his silence - noted that this could happen, and implored to Rathma that he should have faith, but years of solitary silence only made his dread grow worse, and he became apathetic. While he was never paralyzed by fear - and rarely showed it tangibly towards the end - he barely stepped food back onto Sanctuary towards his death to ensure he would greet it as foretold.

Nothing else mattered to him but maintaining the balance, and securing the future of his children.

12 -- As far back as his nights as Linarian, Rathma was known for being both stubborn and far too invested in whatever it was he had taken interest in. Upon his discovery of death magics, he would remain awake until the bright hours of morning, exhausting himself in a manner that concerned even Lilith.

His fellow Firstborn used to mock him for his strange vigor, and after they discovered death, would mock that he would meet it simply because he just never seemed to take time for himself. His appearance at forums and parties was always a welcomed surprise... after intervention to convince him to relax. (And they would ensure that his time was enjoyable, if only to pull him back above ground more often.)

Even the guardian took note of his excessive obsession with research, and needed to mend his student's ways. One cannot study the balance if they themselves are not.

Despite the snake's best intentions, however, even to this day Rathma slaves tirelessly over his research, using it to distract himself from the future. He is, after-all, only "human" and could not escape slipping back into old habits.

13 -- Rathma is of the blood of hatred, and yet, it is rare to see him truly angry. And even when his rage manifests, years of meditation and numbing has allowed him to harness it for focus, rather than lose himself to it. He would rather simply leave, and then deal with the hassle in a clearer state of mind should it be needed, than actually confront or harm. Curses from the darkness between realms, however? A little balance. As a treat. He isn't entire above being petty and seeking revenge when it makes sense to him.

However... his past is a different story. During the time of the ancients, Linarian was known for his quiet and reclusive nature, so when his voice did raise upon his loss of patience, it shook the others. The commanding presence of Inarius was absolutely within him, and there was a venom from Lilith as well that forced most to listen. He would rarely fight with his kin, but should it come and his emotions were fire, his ferocity was unmatched. It usually took little more than fang and word to cause another nephalem to back down, but should it come to fists or weapon, Linarian would. His lithe stature, however, meant that physical altercations didn't always go in his favour, and he learned quickly that such fighting, no matter how much his blood boiled, wouldn't end well for him always.

Blood has been spilled by him in rage before, but only blood for blood. A partner, a child (even not his own directly) - if any harm came to them, he would retaliate in kind, and it is said these were the only times one could see the sadistic side of demons in his being. 

[jechristine]

I agree with mikkeneko’s paragraph here—

there have always been, in past times as today, a range of people in every society, some of whom were even then fighting for a more just and compassionate accord with their fellow man and some of whom let their greeds and hatreds rule them to the worst allowable excesses. the goal of classics and history education is to teach you enough context to discern between the two, not only in the past but in the present

But in my experience, while this may be true in graduate classes and some good undergrad classes, it’s not the case that most high school teachers have lots of time or even the know-how to teach context in the ELA classroom.

The challenges to Huck Finn that take issue with the fact that it includes racism are not particularly persuasive to me. In fiction, you usually have to show the problem in order to show it as a problem and question it or subvert it. And I do agree that Huck Finn the novel does not endorse racism at the end of the day, at least according to the mores of its era.

The better critique of Huck Finn is that it presents the white boy as the subject of the story, who undergoes his redemption arc because of the existence of Jim (a former slave) as object. We sympathize with the white person’s growth and learning. He is the character who gets to go on an emotional and intellectual journey. Jim doesn’t get that treatment. How much do we need to read about white experience of white racism in 2023? How much do Black and Brown students need to grapple with that perspective? At all?

If I were forced to teach Huck Finn myself, I would at least want to pair it with a text or multiple texts written by a Black person that explores 19c American racism from a Black protagonist’s pov with all its subjectivity. It’s always good to reassess what we should be teaching and whose subjectivities we are affording representation.

[enobariasdistrict2]

HI OMG I JUST FOUND UR ACC AND I JUST WANT TO KNOW UR CLATO HCS BC I LUVVVV THEM

I'M SO SORRY I LITERALLY FORGOT TO ANSWER THIS!! I'M OBSESSED WITH YOUR URL AND LOVE MEETING A FELLOW CLATO SHIPPER <33

the way these two consume my thoughts..... i actually started writing a fic about it (for the first time in like three years i think) so i could explore that dynamic, because it's so fascinating to me how these brutal soulless murderers (as katniss saw them) immediately became scared children the moment one of them was hurt - AND THEY CARED!! ABOUT EACH OTHER!! or at least that was true on cato's side haha (which brings me to my first head canon:)

I've seen a lot of takes where cato is completely whipped while clove is colder than he is emotionally but still soft around him, and then the other takes where he's like just as mean as she is, and i love that happy balance between the two <33 how i interpret his character is that he's a really overzealous teenage boy that's excited and wants to contribute in a positive way/give his existence worth, and that's why d2's propaganda system so easily took advantage of him, but he also is ironically soft where it counts, and clove eventually gets to see that side of him!! but it doesn't completely undo the way he was raised and clove was slowly growing on him/becoming someone he wanted to have around in that arena but he won't let that show in an excessively obvious way, at least not purposefully. but clove obviously has more control over her emotions than he does and when he felt threatened or hurt or in pain, and he felt all of those things as he watched clove died, he lost that control completely. clove grew equally as attached to him but she values her composure more than he does, which to me explains the discrepancy between their personalities.

my personal interpretation that's actually so important to me (it doesn't prevent me from enjoying the clato fics that go with the traditional They Knew Each Other Before The Games/Were Childhood Best Friends route but there's something so soft to me about this:) is that they did not know each other beforehand. they were just two random kids in d2 that chose to volunteer that year because they both saw their chance. they had no reason to care and were honestly completely indifferent to one another, both only focused on wanting to win. but it's a combination of all these little things: having been raised with the same ideas, sticking together as a team both before and during the Games, reminding each other of home, strategizing together and bonding as a team, secretly admiring the other's skills, late night conversations in the arena about their personal lives, and most importantly: the rule change bringing them closer... neither expected to care but unwillingly they grew to become amazing friends!!!! and they became invested in going home together, slowly becoming something like best friends, having someone to understand them, until obviously all of that came crashing down.

sorry for my mini rant lol, i get excited when talking about things i'm passionate about. as for small general headcanons: he's the only one she'll let touch her hair, and obviously this wouldn't happen in the Arena because they're on TV but she contemplated that idea for a little bit while she was trying to fall asleep, him braiding her hair. they look after each other's weapons and take turns keeping watch over the other at night, it's a kind of intimate vulnerability for them. and there is a LOT of friendly as well as unfriendly teasing/banter.

[bookalooza]

Simple Ways to Make Boring Scenes Exciting by Bookalooza!

Bookalooza's Simple Methods for Lively Scenes 

We've all been there. You're writing a scene, but the words feel flat. The dialogue drags, the descriptions are dull, and you can practically hear crickets chirping in the reader's mind. Fear not, fellow writer! Here are some simple ways to turn your boring scenes into captivating page-turners.

Is it Really Boring?

Before we dive in, let's take a step back. Sometimes, what feels boring to you might be perfectly fine for the story. Ask yourself:

Does this scene move the plot forward? Every scene should contribute to the overall story arc, even seemingly mundane ones. Maybe it reveals a character trait, foreshadows a future event, or gives your characters a chance to breathe.

Can it be tightened? Is there excessive detail? Unnecessary dialogue? Sometimes, a quick trim is all a scene needs to feel more engaging. Look for adverbs and adjectives that don't add much meaning and consider removing them. Condense repetitive dialogue and focus on the emotional core of the conversation.

Spice Up Your Scenes!

Now, let's get to the good stuff! Here are some tactics to add excitement and keep your readers hooked:

1. Raise the Stakes:

Conflict is King: A scene without conflict can feel static. Is there a disagreement brewing? Is there a deadline looming? Give your characters something to fight for, even if it's just a difference of opinion.

Ticking Clock: Nothing adds tension like a time limit. Throw your characters into a situation where they must act fast – a ticking bomb, a storm approaching, a deadline they can't miss.

2. Sensory Overload:

Engage the Five Senses: Don't just tell us what's happening, paint a picture with vivid descriptions. Let us hear the creak of floorboards, smell the stale coffee, feel the prickle of sweat on the protagonist's brow.

Show, Don't Tell: Instead of saying a character is angry, describe their clenched fists and sharp tone. Instead of saying a place is sad, describe the drooping flowers and dusty furniture.

3. The Power of Point of View:

Shift Perspectives: Don't be afraid to jump between character viewpoints. This can add a sense of mystery and keep the reader guessing. For instance, a scene might start from the protagonist's perspective as they nervously wait for a meeting. Then, the scene could shift to the antagonist's perspective, revealing their secret plan to sabotage the meeting. This creates a sense of anticipation and leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next.

Unreliable Narrator: For a truly surprising twist, consider an unreliable narrator, someone whose perspective might be biased or even deceiving. This can be a powerful tool for building suspense and keeping the reader engaged in trying to discern the truth. Imagine a scene where a character recounts a seemingly ordinary event, but later details from another character reveal inconsistencies, making the reader question the entire narrative.

CREATE YOUR DREAM BOOK NOW

4. Surprise and Suspense:

The Unexpected: Throw your characters (and readers) a curveball! Introduce a sudden twist, a shocking revelation, or a character's unexpected behavior. Don't be afraid to break the mold and subvert reader expectations. Imagine a scene where the protagonist is cornered by a villain, only to be saved by their childhood nemesis, now a powerful ally. This unexpected turn of events keeps the reader guessing and eager to see how the situation unfolds.

Foreshadowing: Plant the seeds of future events in seemingly innocuous details. This creates a sense of anticipation and keeps readers engaged in unraveling the bigger picture. For instance, a seemingly ordinary conversation between characters might contain a subtle hint about a hidden danger lurking ahead. This foreshadowing creates a sense of unease and compels the reader to pay close attention to seemingly unimportant details, as they might hold the key to a future plot point.

5. Amp Up the Dialogue:

Sharp and Snappy: Avoid long,winded dialogue. Aim for natural, back-and-forth conversation with clear goals for each character.

Subtext is King: What's not being said can be just as important as what is. Use dialogue to reveal underlying tensions, unspoken desires, and hidden motivations.

Bonus Tip: Inject Some Humor!

Even in serious stories, a touch of humor can go a long way. A well-placed joke can break tension, endear characters to the reader, and keep the story from feeling too heavy. Think of it like throwing a life preserver to a reader drowning in exposition – a chuckle can bring them back up for air, ready to dive back into the plot. Plus, humor can be incredibly revealing. A witty remark can showcase a character's intelligence or a sarcastic quip can hint at hidden insecurities. Just remember, the key is finding the humor that fits your story's tone. A dark comedy might call for gallows humor, while a heartwarming coming-of-age tale might benefit from some gentle slapstick.

Remember:

Get Feedback!

Share your work with trusted readers and ask for their honest feedback on which scenes drag and need some spicing up. This doesn't have to be your critique group leader with a red pen – sometimes the best feedback comes from your best friend who isn't afraid to tell you if a joke falls flat (or worse, makes them groan). Think of them as your personal squad of laugh (or cry, if the scene is particularly emotional) trackers. They can help you identify areas where you might be unintentionally bringing the mood down, or conversely, where a dash of humor could elevate a scene from good to great.

Don't Be Afraid to Experiment!

Try different techniques and see what works best for your story and your writing style. Maybe you're a master of puns, or perhaps your comedic wheelhouse leans more towards witty dialogue and situational irony. There's no right or wrong way to be funny, so don't be afraid to experiment! Read funny authors you admire, watch stand-up comedians, or even try attending a comedy improv class. The more you expose yourself to different types of humor, the more you'll develop your own unique comedic voice – and that's the secret sauce that will make your readers laugh out loud.

The Takeaway:

Every scene has the potential to be exciting. By raising the stakes, engaging the senses, and using a variety of storytelling techniques, you can turn those boring scenes into captivating parts of your narrative. So, grab your pen (or keyboard) and get ready to transform your story from snooze-fest to page-turner!

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[us-cj]

When reason and logic don’t work use direct action

Violence is the gold standard. A lot of people like to think they are “non-violent.” Generally, people claim to “abhor” the use of violence, and violence is viewed negatively by most folks. Many fail to differentiate between just and unjust violence. Some especially vain, self-righteous types like to think they have risen above the nasty, violent cultures of their ancestors. They say that “violence isn’t the answer.” They say that “violence doesn’t solve anything.”

They’re wrong. Every one of them relies on violence, every single day.

On election day, people from all walks of life line up to cast their ballots, and by doing so, they hope to influence who gets to wield the axe of authority. Those who want to end violence — as if that were possible or even desirable — often seek to disarm their fellow citizens. This does not actually end violence. It merely gives the state mob a monopoly on violence. This makes you “safer,” so long as you don’t piss off the boss.

All governments — left, right or other — are by their very nature coercive. They have to be.

Order demands violence.

A rule not ultimately backed by the threat of violence is merely a suggestion. States rely on laws enforced by men ready to do violence against lawbreakers. Every tax, every code and every licensing requirement demands an escalating progression of penalties that, in the end, must result in the forcible seizure of property or imprisonment by armed men prepared to do violence in the event of resistance or non–compliance. Every time a soccer mom stands up and demands harsher penalties for drunk driving, or selling cigarettes to minors, or owning a pit bull, or not recycling, she is petitioning the state to use force to impose her will. She is no longer asking nicely. The viability of every family law, gun law, zoning law, traffic law, immigration law, import law, export law and financial regulation depends on both the willingness and wherewithal of the group to exact order by force.

When an environmentalist demands that we “save the whales,” he or she is in effect making the argument that saving the whales is so important that it is worth doing harm to humans who harm whales. The peaceful environmentalist is petitioning the leviathan to authorize the use of violence in the interest of protecting leviathans. If state leaders were to agree and express that it was, indeed, important to “save the whales,” but then decline to penalize those who bring harm to whales, or decline to enforce those penalties under threat of violent police or military action, the expressed sentiment would be a meaningless gesture. Those who wanted to bring harm to whales would feel free to do so, as it is said, with impunity — without punishment.

Without action, words are just words. Without violence, laws are just words.

Violence isn’t the only answer, but it is the final answer.

One can make moral arguments and ethical arguments and appeals to reason, emotion, aesthetics, and compassion. People are certainly moved by these arguments, and when sufficiently persuaded –providing of course that they are not excessively inconvenienced — people often choose to moderate or change their behaviors.

However, the willful submission of many inevitably creates a vulnerability waiting to be exploited by any one person who shrugs off social and ethical norms. If every man lays down his arms and refuses to pick them up, the first man to pick them up can do whatever he wants. Peace can only be maintained without violence so long as everyone sticks to the bargain, and to maintain peace every single person in every successive generation — even after war is long forgotten — must continue to agree to remain peaceful. Forever and ever. No delinquent or upstart may ever ask, “Or Else What?,” because in a truly non-violent society, the best available answer is “Or else we won’t think you’re a very nice person and we’re not going to share with you.” Our troublemaker is free to reply, “I don’t care. I’ll take what I want.”

Violence is the final answer to the question, “Or else what?”

Violence is the gold standard, the reserve that guarantees order. In actuality, it is better than a gold standard, because violence has universal value. Violence transcends the quirks of philosophy, religion, technology and culture. People say that music is a universal language, but a punch in the face hurts the same no matter what language you speak or what kind of music you prefer. If you are trapped in a room with me and I grab a pipe and gesture to strike you with it, no matter who you are, your monkey brain will immediately understand “or else what.” And thereby, a certain order is achieved.

The practical understanding of violence is as basic to human life and human order as is the idea that fire is hot. You can use it, but you must respect it. You can act against it, and you can sometimes control it, but you can’t just wish it away. Like wildfire, sometimes it is overwhelming and you won’t know it is coming until it is too late. Sometimes it is bigger than you. Ask the Cherokee, the Inca, the Romanovs, the Jews, the Confederates, the barbarians and the Romans. They all know “Or else what.”

The basic acknowledgement that order demands violence is not a revelation, but to some it may seem like one. The very notion may make some people apoplectic, and some will furiously attempt to dispute it with all sorts of convoluted and hypothetical arguments, because it doesn’t sound very “nice.” But something doesn’t need to be “nice” in order for it to be true. Reality doesn’t bend over to accommodate fantasy or sentimentality.

Our complex society relies on proxy violence to the extent that many average people in the private sector can wander through life without really having to understand or think deeply about violence, because we are removed from it. We can afford to perceive it as a distant, abstract problem to be solved through high-minded strategy and social programming. When violence comes knocking, we simply make a call, and the police come to “stop” the violence. Few civilians really take the time to think that what we are essentially doing is paying an armed band protection money to come and do orderly violence on our behalf. When those who would do violence to us are taken peacefully, most of us don’t really make the connection, we don’t even assert to ourselves that the reason a perpetrator allows himself to be arrested is because of the gun the officer’s hip or the implicit understanding that he will eventually be hunted down by more officers who have the authority to kill him if his is deemed a threat. That is, if he is deemed a threat to order.

There are something like two and a half million people incarcerated in the United States. Over ninety percent of them are men. Most of them did not turn themselves in. Most of them don’t try to escape at night because there is someone in a guard tower ready to shoot them. Many are “non-violent” offenders. Soccer moms, accountants, celebrity activists and free range vegans all send in their tax dollars, and by proxy spend billions and billions to feed an armed government that maintains order through violence.

It is when our ordered violence gives way to disordered violence, as in the aftermath of a natural disaster, that we are forced to see how much we rely on those who maintain order through violence. People loot because they can, and kill because they think they’ll get away with it. Dealing with violence and finding violent men who will protect you from other violent men suddenly becomes a real and pressing concern.

A pal once told me a story about an incident recounted by a family friend who was a cop, and I think it gets the point across. A few teenagers were at the mall hanging out, outside a bookstore. They were goofing around and talking with some cops who were hanging around. The cop was a relatively big guy, not someone who you would want to mess around with. One of the kids told the cop that he didn’t see why society needed police.

The cop leaned over and said to the spindly kid, “do you have any doubt in your mind about whether or not I could break your arms and take that book away from you if I felt like it?”

The teenager, obviously shaken by the brutality of the statement, said, “No.”

“That’s why you need cops, kid.”

George Orwell wrote in his “Notes on Nationalism” that, for the pacifist, the truth that, “Those who ‘abjure’ violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf,” is obvious but impossible to accept. Much unreason flows from the inability to accept our passive reliance on violence for protection. Escapist fantasies of the John Lennon “Imagine” variety corrupt our ability to see the world as it is, and be honest with ourselves about the naturalness of violence to the human animal. There is no evidence to support the idea that man is an inherently peaceful creature. There is substantial evidence to support the notion that violence has always been a part of human life. Every day, archeologists unearth another primitive skull with damage from weapons or blunt force trauma. The very first legal codes were shockingly grisly. If we feel less threatened today, if we feel as though we live in a non–violent society, it is only because we have ceded so much power over our daily lives to the state. Some call this reason, but we might just as well call it laziness. A dangerous laziness, it would seem, given how little most people say they trust politicians.

Violence doesn’t come from movies or video games or music. Violence comes from people. It’s about time people woke up from their 1960s haze and started being honest about violence again. People are violent, and that’s OK. You can’t legislate it away or talk your way around it. Based on the available evidence, there’s no reason to believe that world peace will ever be achieved, or that violence can ever be “stopped.”

It’s time to quit worrying and learn to love the battle axe. History teaches us that if we don’t, someone else will."

________________

by Jack Donovan, published on Arthur’s Hall of Viking Manliness (now offline), Nov 11, 2010.

#quote

[fictionkinfessions]

We've seen a few people talking about Obey Me: Nightbringer, so I figured this might as well be a good place to give a few little confessions of our own. It get's a bit ranty at some points, so be aware of that.

For reference, I'm a Satan fictroject, and on top of that we also have Beel and Lucifer as well. So, it's definitely been a bit of a ride for us. While Alaric(Lucifer) doesn't have many feelings on the subject, Bee and I on the other hand definitely have a few opinions. Our system overall, despite being extremely hyperfixated on Obey Me at this point, don't think of/see Obey Me as an amazing game with wonderful plot on its own and depend a lot on our own/the fandoms headcanons and our maladaptive daydreaming to make it better and more interesting for us. This however, is mostly mine and Bee's opinions on the newer subjects and storylines being brought into Obey Me. Spoilers ahead for anyone who cares about those.

Personally, I have a mix of emotions when it comes to everything going on. It's interesting to see, sure, but it's still frustrating to once again see the devs ignore the stated idea that Satan and Lucifer really are seperate people and are distinct. They haven't gone too terribly into it as they still haven't truly gotten to Satan's arc yet, but just seeing them giving the same poses to them both during the Ruri-tunes and drawing other simularities between them is. Upsetting, I guess you could say? It's understandable at this point in the storyline as it's right after the fall, but it was also just a continuous problem in the original game where that was practically the only kind of major story arc and plot they ever gave to Satan. I don't know, it's just sort of frustrating to have to see even MORE of this, even though it makes sense based on the timing of the story.

Also, the fact that the brothers literally chain him up and even shoved him into a locker at some point??? What the fuck????? No wonder he's pissed at them, like. Sure, wrath, it's not good, he's destructive and angry and very hard to stop. Chaining him up is understandable, I guess. However. The locker feels a little excessive. And the force feeding scene with Lucifer???????? What the Hell??????????????

I guess I do like the fact that the Main Character is the one who introduced Satan to cats though. It's just kind of a sweet moment in midst of everything else.

Overall, its fine I guess, a lot of the other stuff is interesting to see, like some previous plot holes being talked about and fixed, and some really interesting points with the development of the characters and how the MC being there effected their development, but just. Yeah. That's my two cents on the subject. - 📚 Sawyer(Satan)

Hey, I'm Bee or Lexia, I go by either one. I'm our Beelzebub fictroject, and like Sawyer said, I wanted to talk a bit about Nightbringer as well.

I've actually liked it for the most part. Obviously it hurts a little bit, with mentions of Lilith and seeing all of my siblings hurting so much after the fall, but it's also nice to see all of them and the small happy parts between them. I really like seeing how MC helps everyone and makes things better.

It's also really nice to see more of Belphie, I really do miss them. I miss everyone, a lot, especially with them all hurting, but Belphie is especially bad. Obviously, I understand none of it was/is real, but the emotions and the memories are still there.

I will say, the one thing that gets me is that it does feel a little awkward when reading some things about myself. It's not any actual fault of the game or fans itself, it's just because I'm actually trans femme in our system and have psuedomemories of such. So it just feels a little weird whenever I'm referred to with masculine terms. Otherwise, I have enjoyed it so far! - 🪰 Lexia(Beelzebub)

That's our opinions and our rant on the subject. We apologize for how lengthy it was, we just wanted to get some thoughts off our chest. To any fellow Obey Me fictrojects and others, we hope you're all safe and doing well during these times. Take care of yourselves! - Sawyer, Bee, Alaric, and the rest of the 🧃 system

[skyetears]

This year marks the 14th year since beginning my relationship with alcohol and cigarettes. The only relationships that transcend this timeframe in my life are those with my family and 3 friends who have remained in my life all this time. Reflecting on this relationship I remember that a younger me never saw cigarettes as sticking around long term, and yet they have stood the test of time and been an ally through the hardest times as well as the best times. The relationship cemented when I identified as a smoker, previous to that I smoked but did not consider myself a smoker; this reflects social relationships in that those closest to us become a part of our identity (we are best friends, I am their bf/gf ect.). When we choose to leave a relationship, as hard as it may be, we do so because we want to shed that part of our identity for whatever reason- perhaps the relationship is detrimental to us, perhaps it stops us from growing in the way we want, perhaps the other half of the relationship crossed a line. No matter the reason, when it is our choice, the ending of the relationship is easier to come to terms with than when we are not the ones who choose to end things. When a relationship ends outside of our control the sense of loss can be overwhelming and all consuming, a part us is removed, a part we didn't want to lose. Coping with this loss is regularly a seeming exercise in futility because replacing it means trusting again and risking having the rug pulled put from under us, a risk of being hurt again. Replacing lost relationships is easier for some than others, in the sense that some people have more opportunities around them to create relationships; those of us who are more isolated, or more selective in choosing who to connect with and open up to, can regularly feel rejected, not valued, or frustration at why our attempts to build something new aren't valued by the other party. We know, that if someone doesn't value us in the same way, that we can't feasibly hold it against them, we know that at some stage we will build new and meaningful relationships. However, having to come to terms with the idea that it will be "some day" is what causes such emotional turmoil; is it next week, next month, next year, in 15 years? Why do we have to potentially wait so long for what others have in excess? The feeling of injustice spurs bitterness and cynicism. We know we don't want to feel like this and we know that there are healthy steps to take in the mean time, though to the dejected and isolated this feels like a platitude as it does nothing to help stem the immediate feeling of distress nor fulfill the desire to be accepted for who we are. People feeling this way are widely told to male peace with it, suck it up and keep moving forward. This lack of empathy only serves to further isolate those that want to feel connected to something other than themselves. Stoicism is not for for every one, some of us are sensitive and that is OK and should be respected in an ideal world. But the world we love in is far from ideal. So in the meantime, know that there are millions in your situation, and they are desperately wanting connection as bad as you. We are not alone. You are not alone. Until the day comes that someone meets your love equally, take a moment to love yourself and appreciate the relationships you do have, social or not, and focus on the fulfilment they provide you. This afternoon, I will be having a few more beers, and many more cigarettes. I'm not some beacon of health, just a human trying to be a little better today than I was yesterday by any means as long as that means doesn't harm a fellow human.

[misteria247]

*Pats the table like bongo cat*

I've actually been thinking about this very thing cuz Leopril too has been rotting my brain excessively-

So April was the first one to fall in love. Leo on the other hand.....it took longer for him to develop feelings. It was a slow and tedious process for him, starting with him wanting to spend time with her and coming to enjoy their little Space Heroes sprees. He'd begin to looking forward to them and found himself enjoying them and April's presence. However it wasn't exactly love, love till much, much later.

Leo had started falling in love with her by obversing her and getting to know her.

Leo's entire life has been a fight for survival of sorts, from assassination attempts on his and Karai's lives to fellow Foot soldiers wanting to screw him over due to jealousy of his skills and status, to being treated as nothing more than a disposable tool by the Shredder. It's drilled into him to obverse his surroundings and the people he interacts with because one slip up could quite literally cause the death of either him or his sister. And it's by this very thing that Leo begins to notice and see April.

He notices her kindness and compassion. Notices her genuine love and respect to her second family, notices how she treats his older sister with a bit more patience and understanding than before. He notices how April's fierce and loyal and fearless, how she's willing to throw herself into the line of fire in order to protect those she deems worth it, him and Karai included. But Leo also notices how she treats him. Instead of the usual treatment of being either ignored or ridiculed or punished, she instead treats him as a person. April asks him for his opinion, asks him what he's feeling and thinking, includes him in things instead of leaving him on the sidelines to only serve as a shadow. It's surreal to him, because the only other people who have done this have been Karai and Shinigami. And now there's April treating him as his own person who has his own feelings and thoughts and desires and it makes him interested in her.

There's also the moments whenever they're in battle and Leo sees her fight, flying and slashing her bladed fan like it's an extension of herself. Moments where her intelligence shows when they're in a jam and her stubbornness that could rival even his on a good day. It's somewhere along one of these moments that Leo begins to fall in love with April O'Neil. And the twist?

He doesn't even realize he's in love with her.

But his brothers and Casey know, his sister and later reunited childhood friend know, hell even Splinter his actual father know that Leo's gone for the kind hearted yet fierce red haired psychic. It's just incredibly obvious that he feels something for her, save for him and April who are both oblivious to each other's affections. And when Leo does figure it out? It's an emotional and psychological battlefield for him. Because his entire life Leo's been told that he's nothing more than a weapon, a shield to protect the Princess of the Foot clan. He's not meant to feel or desire things, he's not meant to think. He's only meant to act and defend. That he's not worthy of praise or affection or respect, that as soon as his usefulness was used up, Leo would be disposed of in some way. And despite Karai and Shinigami's best efforts to try and tell him differently, to tell him that he's not a weapon and that he's important, those teachings and lessons stuck with him. And it leaves him so conflicted and full of confusion cuz isn't he not supposed to not want things??? So why is he wanting to be near April?? Why does he want to hold her hand and protect her and have her by his side nearly all the time???? It's an experience that leaves him reeling and reveals just how broken he really is. And it's a fact that frustrates him as well as make him loathe himself cuz what could he ever offer April if he's such a broken and brittle man????

This also goes for his own family too. Leo would feel as if he was completely unworthy of not only April's affections but of his father and brothers as well. Cuz how could a bodyguard, a cold blooded assassin be worthy of anything good that comes his way???

Some Oroku siblings time but Leopril addition:

When April had first met the elusive Shadow of the Foot clan, she'd hadn't liked him very much. Anyone who was apart of the Foot clan was bad news in April's book, they were a threat to her second family and that alone made her uneasy with them. It didn't help that she couldn't get a good read on him. The ninja clothed in black was an enigma, completely unreadable and incredibly skilled with his twin blades. He rarely spoke, only quietly struck whenever Karai needed him to. And for awhile her dislike towards the ninja stuck with her.

Until the day Mikey had came to her looking unsure for the first time that she'd known him.

It was then that a bomb had been dropped on April.

That Mikey, Raph and Donnie had an older brother who had gone missing when they were incredibly young due to the Kraang. That Splinter not only had a daughter that he grieved over, but a son as well. A son and brother that they all believed to be dead.

A brother and son who was actually alive, and who was none other than the Shadow of the Foot clan. Karai's partner in crime, and one of Shredder's most skilled warriors. A brother and son who had been raised by none other than the Shredder himself, making him an Oroku.

Afterwards April's view on the other ninja had changed quite a bit after that knowledge was given to her. And it was then she'd began to notice little things about the other teenager without his knowledge. April learned that despite his supposed loyalty to the Shredder, his true loyalties were with his older sister, Karai. She had learned his name, Leonardo Oroku, had learned that beneath his icy, deadly exterior, laid a surprisingly kind yet sad boy who shielded himself from the world in order to protect himself and Karai. And then the incident happened.

Leo and Karai's treason against Shredder and Leo's near death experience that forced the two siblings to seek shelter and safety with the Hamato clan instead. For five months April watched over the comatose turtle, had spoken to the oldest Oroku sibling, and began to have the picture of why they were the way they were be much more clearer than it was. And once Leo woke up, April made it her mission to get to know the youngest Oroku. Or rather the eldest Hamato of the turtles. At first it was difficult. Leo was always on edge, always seemed to be waiting for something to go wrong and forcing him to act. He could barely relax unless Karai was nearby, and even then he barely interacted with anyone other than her. It also didn't help that Raph, Donnie, Mikey, Splinter and Casey were also trying to get to know Leo better which just seemed to overwhelm him in the long run. Before long April began to believe that she'd never get a chance to really talk to him, until one day it'd happened.

The lair had been surprisingly calm and pleasant that day. Raph was with Mikey playing on the pinball machine while Donnie and Casey were in the lab doing who knows what. Karai was with Splinter surprisingly enough, seeming to want to get to know the rat master somewhat. April on the other hand was in the living room, going through the VHS tapes to try and find something to watch. She'd ended up coming across Space Heroes, a show she hadn't seen in years and popped it in, settling herself down on the sofa to watch it. It had been during one of the major story arcs that April had realized that she wasn't alone in the room anymore. Leo had at some point came into the room, silent as a shadow and had seemed to pause in his walking, his gaze landing on the television screen. April glanced over at him, noting the spark of curiosity in his expression. The red head couldn't help speak up at that moment:

"Do you like Space Heroes, Leo?"

The question seemed to startle the black clad turtle, his dark blue eyes snapping towards her as he registered April's presence. Leo seemed to stiffen a bit, an unreadable look in his eyes as he silently looked at her. April began to feel like she'd made a mistake in putting him in the spotlight somewhat when a voice, cracking and raspy answered her:

"I.......I've never heard of Space Heroes."

April seemed to short circuit for a moment, shock filling her at his answer, before she felt a bit of sorrow hit her as it really hit her just how fast Leo had to grow up underneath Shredder's reign. Just how much was Leo deprived of growing up in the Oroku household? Just how much time did Leo have to just be a child instead of a fierce warrior? Had he even been allowed to have those kinds of moments when he had been with Shredder? Had his only close relation to being a normal person been with Karai? April didn't know but at that moment she had made a firm decision. Patting the cushion next to in an inviting way she spoke:

"Well that won't do. Come sit with me, and I'll show you what Space Heroes is."

After a bit of hesitation on Leo's part, April and Leo spent quite some time together. Watching the old cartoon show and enjoying what it displayed. Whenever Leo had a question, April would answer it to the best of her ability, and before they realized it a few hours had passed. They were on one of the more comedic type of episodes, and one of the characters had said a cheesy line, a pun like joke that made April groan internally. However that mental groan was pulled to a screeching halt when she heard the sounds of soft, gruff chuckling coming from the teen next to her. Steel blue hues snapped towards the turtle and what they saw made April's breath catch.

Leo was laughing.

A small smile was on his usually serious face, his dark blue hues filled with mirth and twinkling slightly as he tried to suppress his amusement at the silly, corny joke. Leo at that moment was a completely different person, instead of the silent, deadly weapon that was Shredder's son, was now a normal teenager who was smiling one of the most beautiful smiles April had ever seen, looking completely relaxed at that moment. Leo smiling and looking at ease, the red head noted looked so much better on him than his usual expression and aura. The older teen couldn't help but smile along with him, her cheeks slightly warm and her chest fuzzy and light at seeing and hearing Leo being happy. A single thought ran through her head at that moment:

'This is how it should be. Leo should always be smiling, I want to keep him like this for as long as I can.'

When April had looked back at this moment sometime in the future, when everything seemed to start going to hell with the invasion and so many other things. It would be then that April realized that, that moment was the moment she'd began to fall in love with Leo. Seeing his smile and hearing his laughter, seeing that glimpse of who he was, had at the time unbeknownst to April had caused her to lose her heart to him. It had been the beginning of her journey in falling in love with Leonardo Oroku.

[owlmylove]

I saw in the notes of one of your posts that you have dermatillomania. I was recently diagnosed with that but it's been a problem for a long time. I've never met anyone else irl with dermatillomania, and I was just wondering if you could share any coping mechanisms you use? I've been getting acrylic mail manicures so I physically can't break skin but that only prevents damage. It's not helping me actually break the habit at all

lmfao oh darling. i love you for thinking i have any answers here

of course, since it's me, i do anyways

congrats on finally getting your diagnosis!! for those who don't know, Dermatillomania is a skin-picking disorder believed to affect as many as 1 out of 20 people, whether they're picking/biting at cuticles and nails, plucking hairs, popping pores or picking at scabs etc. etc. The skin-picking can be compulsive, often serving as a self-soothing behavior against extreme emotions, stress, anxiety, excess energy or simply boredom

first, check out the wonderful folks at the Picking Me Foundation, the largest nonprofit & digital resource for those with dermatillomania. Their website has an online support group, self-logging downloadables, and their "fiddle pack project," for strategically selected (and tailored for dermatillomaniacs [not sure if that's a word but i decided it is now]) $30 multipacks of stim toys!

they're 100% nonprofit, and every pack they sell is matched with the international donation of a pack to a therapist, pediatrician or fellow dermatillomaniac in need!

plus, check out #pickingme on social media for both their advice & solidarity among fellow picking enthusiasts

Picking Me has A++ strategic advice for their stim toys, and thinking strategically about your own behaviors and habits is my biggest advice. what does your picking look like? when do you find yourself doing it?

if a pattern doesn't immediately appear, try logging when & where you find yourself picking, what happened beforehand, and how you feel while doing so.

part of dermatillomania I don't always see discussed is the satisfaction of seeing your body's landscape change; picking as a control tactic, a means of self-soothing and reaffirming your autonomy and power. or it may be an expression of perfectionism, or anxiety, or beyond. pay close attention to yourself. look for the overlap. what is picking doing for you?

once you recognize the mechanisms of picking, what needs it's fulfilling, and when, and how; then you can provide new pathways for your habits to flow down; I realized I tended to pluck my brows (and beyond...) in the bathroom, so boom: stim toy in the bathroom. figure out your unique physical locations and cues and give yourself new options

also, hide or obstruct the ease of access to former habits. acrylic nails are a great personal block; I put my sharp tweezers in a wildly inconvenient place, not out in the open, so it's harder for me to casually grab them. if you bite your nails or cuticles, buy the nail polish that makes it taste gross. if you pick at inflamed pores, use zit stickers (I prefer the cheap and plentiful OG brand, COSRX, which are barely-visible circles, but you can make it fun with any of the 10 zillion novelty shape brands now available at Sephora, Target, Marshalls/T.J. Maxx & most drugstores) make picking difficult, and give yourself other options

similarly, you can challenge yourself to lovingly make growth your focus. smooth cuticle oil into your skin; use growth serums & your favorite-colored polish on your nails; for facial picking, give yourself spa days of clay masks (fun to pick off as they dry!), pore strips (SO satisfying), and scar-reducing facial oils like rosehip; for bodily picking, moisturize with lovely non-comedogenic oils and smooth Mederma or natural scar-reducing remedies to help your skin heal. put all that time and focused attention + love and gratitude into increasing, not reducing, your body (+ self)

re: gratitude, I swear to god Jessica Defino had a post about gratitude as a skincare routine; thanking your skin everyday for its work as a barrier, for it's countless built-in systems that self-exfoliate, self-moisturize, self-heal and grow, all while keeping a harmful world at bay. the skin is our largest living organ, and it is here to keep you warm and safe. your skin is built to touch and hold, to hug and be hugged. you can learn to love it the way it loves you. you can touch yourself as gently, as kindly as you deserve to be touched. this, too, is a kind of growing.

(Also to my facial & pore-picking beauties: just read any and all of Defino's articles about simplifying [like, soap water and moisturizer simplifying] your skincare, skin-fasting, the joys of touching your face gently, and more<333)

figure out what actions and textures you've become accustomed to, and, whether you have the benefit of a pack of stim toys like Pick Me's or just certain blankets, jackets, fidget jewelry, or one Really Good Rock, try to find stims that mimic, replace or even subvert the textures you've been drawn to. you want something satisfying and engaging to play with while still feeling meditative to you.

or if stim toys aren't your thing, (and even if they are!) try tactile pastimes that lead to obvious visual progress: painting, drawing, knitting, woodworking, cooking/baking!, cleaning [dishes, sheets, etc.] gardening, so on & so forth. things that prove your control & show the mark of your will wrought upon the world

the next time you find yourself wanting to pick (hopefully waylaid by an alternate hand function and/or strategic obstructions) take a mental step back. carve out that space between impulse & action. pool the feeling into your palms and examine it, tilt it around to see it catch a different light. how are you feeling right now? what's causing you to feel this way? what else could help you alleviate or accept that feeling?

if it's stress, anxiety, anger or other strong negative emotions, rest one hand over your heart, one over your lovely stomach, and take several deep yoga breaths. Long inhale through the nose, hold for a few seconds, longer exhale out. Let your throat make noise. After a few minutes, make a list of what’s worrying you and help yourself rationalize what tiny steps will help lessen their effects on you.

(Deep breaths, longer exhales and putting a hand over your heart have each individually been shown to alleviate your body's stress response, an immediate way to gift yourself some calm and a sense of safety)

if it's boredom; again, new textures and pasttimes are your friend. try going for a walk or other physical action of your choice (does not need to be long or challenging to be good for you!), listen to a podcast or new music, challenge yourself to try something new you've been wanting to explore, but can never find the time. a desire to pick can indicate you are suffering from a lack of enrichment: so yes, now is the time to try to learn the kalimba.

so, yes, it turns out i do indeed have many answers, but my initial scorn comes from any suggestion i might be above my bad habits; I've picked at my skin several times today. and that's okay. try to recognize and subvert your impulses when they happen, but also acknowledge and accept that they will happen. that's just how it goes babey. progress, not perfection.

love, luck and godspeed<33