#also why are we talking about ourselves in third person

[garlic-and-cloves]

I think I might have OCD.

I really have no other explanation for any of this. But I'm also already diagnosed with plenty of other things and I can't possibly have everything in the DSM so I feel like I'm making it up. But every time I research anything about it I just feel like it matches and I have no reason against it.

I have been told by at this point 6 unrelated people that I should consider it and I feel like that's a little ridiculous for something I've been denying any possibility of having. And I'm able to function much better than my aunt so I must be fine right? (Except I know I'm not functioning and it's genetic)

And I know in the end it doesn't really matter and I'm definitely overthinking this and have no reason for the panic attack but if it is OCD I think I need to change the way I'm engaging with this (maybe I do anyway). Maybe some of these things I'm doing are actually harmful to me (I know they are). Now I'm not sure what to do about that but it definitely can't be blamed on not liking changes in routine when how did it get this way in the first place

[copperbadge]

Let's Talk About Missing Persons

So, I've seen this post circulating last week, and a few others like it in the past year. I think this probably needs to be discussed every few years, and it feels like time.

First, a few caveats: there are reports on the post that Abby has been located and is fine, so no need to reblog and also that's great news, I'm very happy she is safe. Second, I did not especially doubt the veracity of the post, so I'm not impugning the people who made and posted it, but I also declined to reblog it for reasons I'll get into. Third, I know that especially in marginalized communities it can be dangerous to involve the police, and that Missing White Woman Syndrome means it can be difficult to get media coverage. I understand why Abby's community may have chosen to search for her in the way they did.

However, for everyone's safety, I do not link any missing persons post that requires you to contact an individual to report the missing person's whereabouts. If the poster doesn't ask you to contact the police or a known missing persons organization, I won't do it.

This is for the safety of the missing person.

When you see a post with someone's photo, name, and last known whereabouts, and you are asked to contact an individual -- a family member, partner, friend, etc -- what you are being asked to do is report on the whereabouts of one person you don't know to another person you don't know. You don't know that the person you're talking to isn't an abusive partner or parent, a stalker, or a person who means them material harm. One of the Insta accounts in the missing image doesn't appear to exist, and another has no bio and very little captioning on their images. I couldn't verify that Abby even knew these people.

Again: when I looked at the image, it looked sincere to me. I didn't doubt those people were earnestly searching for a friend they were worried about. But also, an abuser doesn't look like an abuser until they do. So I don't make exceptions, because a missing person is missing but a victim outed to their abuser has strong odds of being murdered. The most dangerous time in the life of an abused person is when they are leaving their abuser. Even if a victim simply logs on to say "Hey, I'm fine, these people mean me harm" the abuser has now flushed them out of hiding, and manipulated them into making a public statement.

If you can't verify positively that the person searching does not mean the missing person harm, you should not be circulating a post, full stop. At the very least, if the community doesn't wish for the help of the police (understandable) or can't get the help of an organization or community (frequent), the missing persons poster should advise you to speak to the missing person, not the searcher, and notify them they're being sought, as long as it's safe for both you and them to do so.

This isn't intuitive. We want to help, and search posters like that tug on the heartstrings. We know that when the police get involved even in something this innocuous, it can be perilous for everyone. But in situations where someone is so vulnerable, we have to concern ourselves first with harm reduction, which in this case means not spreading someone's photo with a stranger's contact information on it.

I'm glad Abby was found and is fine and that her searchers were in earnest. But that will not always be the case, and it's important to remember that.

[imagitory]

I've never been more heartbroken in my life.

I was gobsmacked in 2016, don't get me wrong. I was devastated and frightened and shaken beyond words. I even had to go behind a wall and collect myself at one point that horrible November 9th, 2016, after colliding with a man wearing a red MAGA hat at work. A good chunk of us at work talked amongst ourselves about it, offering each other comfort.

But this? This is different. I could imagine dumb people making excuses for voting for Trump in 2016 -- saying that they thought a businessman would be good for the economy, saying that they wanted someone who wasn't a "Washington insider" like Hilary Clinton. Sure, it was stupid, but people can be stupid. Quite frankly, a lot of people are stupid, in this country and otherwise.

But now? Anyone who voted for Trump now has voted for a man who not only rounded up immigrants and put them in concentration camps separated from their families; bungled the response to COVID-19 so badly that the American death toll easily surpassed every other country on Earth; has poisoned the Supreme Court to the extent that they overturned years of precedence with Roe V. Wade and has basically given Trump cart-blanche to do whatever he wants while he's president; was the first president in history to refuse to concede on election day; was impeached for crimes in office not once but TWICE; was instrumental to and passionately supportive of the full-on attempted coup at the U.S. capitol on January 6, 2021 that could've very easily resulted in the deaths of his own Vice President and multiple members of Congress; has spoken glowingly of despots like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un and even said he will be "a dictator on day one" if elected again; has both used slogans originally used by modern American Neo-Nazis ("America First") and purportedly told one of his ex-subordinates that he wanted generals like Adolf Hitler's...but also has by the day proven more and more just how mentally inept, vindictive, and mean-spirited he truly is.

And unlike in his previous races, Trump is ahead in the popular vote too. We can't just blame this on the electoral college being antiquated and gerrymandered AF like in the Trump-Clinton or Bush-Gore elections. Even if all of the third-party voters in this country had grown a bloody brain cell and voted for Harris so as to show solidarity against Trump and his form of American fascism, it still somehow wouldn't be enough. We could potentially blame this on lower voter turn-out -- according to what I'm seeing so far, even with all the votes not counted in this race yet, it looks like there were far less votes cast this election than in the last one, though likely still more than the 2016 race. But even so, I don't think that's the only problem. I truly think there were just a lot of people who turned out en-masse to vote for Trump. And all I can think in regards to those people is...

This is beyond stupidity or even selfishness. This is cruelty. This is large swaths of people deciding that they want fellow American citizens to suffer -- because in their minds, if those people suffer, that'll somehow make them happy. This is a large chunk of America saying, "yeah, you know all that crap about 'liberty and justice for all'? Screw that, I want a 'strong man' to bully people different from me for my own amusement." And -- perhaps -- there's also an element of feeling like their vote doesn't really have any consequences for them, so why should they care if the man they voted for is a god-awful person? It's not like that man will hurt them.

I had hoped. I had hoped, seeing the outpouring of support from liberals, independents, and conservatives for Harris/Walz. I'd hoped, seeing how many ex-Trump appointees were standing up against him, how much people were shouting their disdain for Project 2025 from the rooftops, and how many women were protesting in the face of Roe V. Wade being overturned. I truly had started to hope that America would prove we'd grown beyond our country's own original sin -- how our United States preached freedom for all while still being built on the backs of slaves and refusing to grant a vote to over half their population -- by electing a smart, successful, charismatic woman of color who sees our country as great in potential and wants us to pursue that potential as our first female president, rather than backtracking all the slow progress we've made over the last 200+ years.

But now...my hope has faded. My heart is in pieces and the world is so dark. I hardly know how I'll function at work tomorrow, even if I know somehow, I have to try. We'll all have to stand somehow. Somehow, someway...we'll have to find the strength. We'll have to stand, and we'll have to keep moving forward, even when it feels like we're a Little Mermaid walking on knives.

We'll have to stand.

[sophibutt]

🎂 Birthday Yapp Post 🎂

today is our bday!! and we promised to yapp about Velvet and how her fursona and demon forms work! 💜

so the TL;DR is that Velvet as a fursona is a representation of our plurality and her forms represent our alters, and our OC Mist/Stella is a representation of another one of our alters. they all share the same crescent moon tattoos on their left shoulder, and the same piercings!

below we'll go into detail about the process behind Velvet and Mist/Stella as OCs, and show a little bit of our old art and talk about our upcoming plans :3

so Velvet as an OC started back in late october after i had started art after a 5 month art break, and i wanted to explore my identity as a furry and a therian.

i've always resonated with demons and cats, and thought of myself as both of those things! so those were the first things i experimented with c:

with the initial design i based velvet's design off my own appearance and clothing.

after designing velvet as a cat though, it didn't really feel right. there was something about it that both equally felt right and wrong, so i wanted to explore her as a red panda next since i've always felt a kinship with them c:

the red panda felt right, but it also had that same "wrong" feeling as before and i didn't really know why!

in november, we discovered we were plural and we immediately began to incorporate it into our art (or perhaps, we had always incorporated into our art, we just didn't know it)

in terms of alters, Velvet represents Sophia (the host) and Velvet (the co-host) with the demon form, and the red panda form respectively!

we wanted a few commonalities in velvet's designs, which started as the same hair, eyes and similar body type! we continue to explore velvet's two forms as the two hosts of our system, and we further refined their designs over the next few months.

we really like foxes, so we designed a lover for velvet - an OC named Auri (they/she) who isn't based on an alter in our system (to our knowledge)

at this point in velvet's design, the only commonalities between the two designs was the hair style, hair colour and the eye colour!

it was intentional, because when we first became self aware as plural we were similar in terms of personality and identity but as time went on we've become more and more different from each other but have maintained that sort of interconnected bond between us.

some more art of Velvet and Auri from december, and also our OC Ashe (they/them) who we haven't really explored since but we want to absorb her design into some future plans we have for Velvet c:

at the end of december we were drawing more and more of Velvet in her red panda form, and we were experimenting a lot with her design and incorporating some older elements from older designs.

we started drawing her with more and more piercings, and this is one of the common design elements between my alters' fursonas.

in january, we added another common design element between our alters; a crescent moon tattoo on the left shoulder. velvet still has the same eye and hair colour in both designs, but that's something that might change in the future. we also changed their body type, because both of us have different ideas for what we want our body to look like.

we've been experimenting with both of their designs with each art piece and trying to represent ourselves more accurately.

you might be wondering about the cat fursona, that is actually something we've been thinking about, we would like to represent Sophia's identity as a cat furry in the future through Velvet but it's something we're unsure how to approach!

maybe it'll be a third form? who knows! 💜

this is our alter Mist/Stella, and it's fursona. as was mentioned earlier in the post we really like bunnies, and we wanted to make a bunny fursona at one point but it didn't feel quite right.

however, Mist/Stella feels a lot of kinship with bunnies and also sees herself as one and we've been working on her design behind the scenes and we're happy to finally show off some glimpses.

she's an angelic bunny with big floppy ears and big wings. the wings can be hidden, and we wanted to sort of have this "slightly fallen" angel aesthetic to her. she's also non-verbal and we chose to represent this by drawing her without a mouth.

some of the elements of it's design are personal, but she shares the same piercings and crescent moon tattoo as both of Velvet's forms, but it's important to recognize as an individual it isn't Velvet.

What's Next?

well, as you've seen we explore our furry identity and plurality through our art and that's something we're going to keep doing. we want to refine our style, continue experimenting and keep improving!

as for actual plans, we want to eventually design that cat fursona for Sophia, and also we have other alters.. such as an angry shark with major attitude issues.

i'm open to any and all questions!! i'm more than happy to talk about my OCs :3

thank you for reading this far!! ☕💜💜

[lightofraye]

I had this as an ask--I think the person was going around a bit to get some folks' input, which doesn't bother me. But I decided to grab the full screenshots and point to the part that had sparked a conversation among some folks. I even had a couple of followers ask for my thoughts.

Now... this did come up in a little group chat amongst me and a few others. We all have thoughts on it.

Oh I should probably go to the part I'm talking about. My bad.

The tweeter--HanmeiCui--tried to capture all that was said during Radio Company's little BBQ dinner during AustinCon. And folks were intrigued by Number 8.

"Fans asked him what he misses most about Texas and he said, I don't? I am still here all the time. I am here now, I was here a few weeks ago and then a few weeks before that. My whole family's still here my mom and dad are in Dallas I often visit them."

HanmeiCui also added: "So I kind of… I didn't catch what he said after that but I got the idea that he thinks of himself more like commuting, instead of permanently moved out."

Given he doesn't have any property (none that we have to officially verify ourselves with public records anyway) in Austin or Texas as a whole... FBBC is... something. Sold, not sold, either way, the brewery won't be back. Maybe a small taproom to keep incompetent brother-in-law Gino busy after he ran FBBC into the ground. Ahem. Yes, there is a house on the FBBC property but... near as we can tell, no one lives there.

The Ackles sold the rest of their properties--the condo, the lake house, etc. Also sold the Colorado condo.

Near as any of us could tell... no properties in Texas.

It had been largely assumed that if Jensen did visit his parents, it was likely without Danneel in tow. So if Jensen does visit often as he indicated, he may just be staying at a hotel, a friend's guest room (Steve does have a place in Austin), or the like.

I mean, Papa Ackles is 75 now. (Oh dang, his father is just a couple of years older than mine.) I imagine Jensen would want to see his parents a bit more. And for a while, he had the free time to do so.

A lot of folks have interpreted the statements in a few ways. One was a kind of professional "He's trying to keep the ol' boy Texan persona" going. Another was "Maybe he's trying to get re-established back in Texas without the wife." A third was "Maybe he has a place in secret in Texas"!

My thoughts?

I want to believe it's number two--getting re-established in Texas without the wife. (Come on, you know I'm an anti-Danneel. Why are you reading my stuff?) He's certainly made a few decisions this past year and a half that have me poking at the game board of life and going "Hmm...."

Such as his Social Media changing from a mix of family and business to strictly work posts (and frustrating his stans in the process, heh); such as Danneel going completely radio silent on her IG (but still commenting on others, hmm); such as selling all of FBBC without a new location in place; buying a mansion across the darn country and so far away from most of his friends and family; to seemingly abandoning CMP to Danneel to destroy.

There's still a few things we're not seeing. A few things we're not aware of. I could speculate until my face turned blue. For now, I'm content to sit and wait and observe the chess board.

[tightjeansjavi]

his eyes still glisten

A/N: so, this is based off a real life experience that I and others have probably been on both the receiving end, and the giving end whether it was intentional or not. Healthy communication in all types of relationships is important, as are boundaries. We all make mistakes and hurt people sometimes, but the important part to remember is that as human beings, we feel. We innately want to do good, and sometimes these hard conversations need to be had. Remember to also hold compassion for yourself during a painful/stressful time. We always can do better, and be better. 🤍

~word count: 2.9k~

Pairing | Joel Miller x f!reader

summary: Joel is feeling neglected in his current relationship with you. He breaks finally when you are no show to a planned dinner date. You and Joel talk through your feelings and set healthy boundaries in your relationship .

warnings: angst, hurt, some fluff, miss communication,minor whump, comfort, arguments, light mention of alcohol consumption, uncomfortable conversations, boundaries being set, vulnerability, just two people trying to navigate in a relationship, resolution, no age gap, reader has no physical descriptions, +18 minors dni!

main masterlist masterlist

As human beings we often find ourselves being engrossed in our lives. It’s never often intentional, but it’s easy as sliced butter to inadvertently make everything about ourselves. Our jobs, our relationships, our opinions, our thoughts. When we find ourselves too focused on our own lives, we forget the important people. Our friends, our families, our partners. You’ve forgotten your Joel, and he’s not quite sure how much longer he can keep his voice silent.

It’s not that you’re a bad person, a bad partner, a bad listener, you’ve just fallen off the rails a bit. Joel knows that he too needs to work on communicating his feelings better. His problem is that he often finds himself bottling everything up for so long that it begins to chip away at his exterior, piece by piece. He’s hurting; but you don’t realize it. After being together for so long, the honeymoon stage eventually wears off. He’s always been there to listen, be the shoulder used to soak your tears in. You’ve been good to him, so good to him, but lately he’s been feeling neglected. He feels the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. The trepidation that maybe you just don’t love him anymore.

He doesn’t want to jump to conclusions, but there’s only so much he can take before he breaks.

“Sir, are you ready to order?” The waitress at yours and Joel’s favorite restaurant asks with a gentle smile. She’s stopped by the table a few times now.

Joel checks his phone with a heavy sigh. You're running twenty-minutes late, but he wants to give you the benefit of the doubt. He gives the waitress a small, polite smile as he shakes his head. “No, Just a few more minutes. My girlfriend is running late.”

“Of course sir, no problem. Would you like another beer while you wait?”

He nods tightly before she even has the chance to finish.

The minutes begin to tick by as he nurses his crisp bottle Miller Lite. He feels pathetic each time he glances at the entrance to the restaurant. His mind plays a cruel trick on him as he searches for your face in the other diners.

Where the fuck are you?

He scrolls through his messages between you and him. Searching for any context clues as to why you were late. He calls you once, twice, a third time. He can’t help the dread that begins to seep deep into his bones. His palms are clammy to the touch as he imagines the worst possible outcomes; you’re breaking up with him, you’re seeing someone else.

No. No. He chants silently to his callous thoughts.

You’re just running late.

He finishes off his second beer as he begins to feel the tears sting the corner of his eyes. He refuses to show his emotions in a public setting. He won’t break down here, like this. He fishes his wallet from his back pocket as he slaps down enough bills to cover both the two beers, and a hefty tip for his waitress.

Once he’s safely behind the wheel of his truck, he finally breaks.

You were in back to back meetings all day. You were exhausted, burnt out, frustrated to the max limit, and your dinner date with Joel was forced to the back of your mind. Subconsciously, work was beginning to become your top priority, while your relationship was pushed to the backburner. It was becoming hard to juggle it all. Your sense of work-life balance was depleting faster than you could keep up. At the end of an extinguished flame that was barely holding on by a thread, was your boyfriend. Your Joel.

It’s a moment too late when you’re smacked head on with the realization that you fucked up. Shit, what day is today? Thursday. Oh–fuck, Joel. Your own sense of dread forces its way into your system as you frantically dial his number. You barely hear your co-worker telling you to have a good evening as you rush out to your car.

He doesn’t pick up. You try again, and again, and again.

He’s purposely ignoring your calls and you can’t seem to grasp the reason as to why.

A sense of relief washes over you when you find his truck parked in the driveway of your shared home. The lights in every room are turned off. He usually keeps a few on when he knows you’re working late in the office.

He hears your keys jingle at the front door from where he’s sat at the kitchen table. He doesn’t budge. He sits there with a stoic look on his face, and his hands clasped in his lap. Remnants of his tears laid streaked across his cheekbones like two cavernous streams.

“Joel, baby? Hey, I’m so sorry about tonight. I was in back to back meetings all day, Eric was being a fucking cranky pants, again. I had to stay late to work on this project that is due at the end of day Friday.” It felt like you were talking strictly to yourself as you softly closed the front door behind you, and plopped your keys in the bowl on the hall table right next to his. “Joel?”

Your ears perked at the sound of the kitchen chair scraping across the tile as you rounded the corner. “There you are. I’m so sorry, baby. I–”

“Why couldn’t you jus’ call me, or send me a text message. I sat in the fucking restaurant waitin’ for you. I could have changed the time of the reservation had I known you would be workin’ late.” He answers flatly as his forefinger nervously begins to pick away at the skin along his cuticles. A nasty habit he can’t seem to break.

“Baby, I know. I didn’t have a ton of access to my phone, and I just got caught up in a lot of shit today. You know it wasn’t intentional, right?”

He swallows down the urge to scoff at your dismissive response as his eyes slowly focus on you. “Can you..not call me baby right now? I’m trying to have a fuckin’ conversation with you, and you’re completely dismissing what I just said.” He bites back out of pure frustration.

“Dismissing you? Joel, I just said I was fucking sorry. I told you that I was busy–”

“Yeah, I heard you. You think I'm not busy too? Yet, I still take the time out of my schedule to communicate with you, because it’s the considerate and bare minimum thing to do! You couldn’t just take five fuckin’ seconds to send me a text?!”

“Joel, I never said that you weren’t busy too? Can you please not put words in my mouth? I was in back-to-back meetings. I barely had any access to my phone! What are you insinuating here? That I'm just making up excuses?!”

“You’re tellin’ me that you had zero time to communicate to your boyfriend?! I’m not insinuating that you’re makin’ up excuses, because that’s exactly what you are doing right now. All I'm asking for is some communication. Do you know how fucking pathetic I felt waiting around for you? I just wanted to have a relaxing evening with my girlfriend. I’ve been looking forward to it all day, all week, and it’s like you don’t care.” His voice cracked at the end. He felt utterly defeated as he scrubbed a hand across his face with an exasperated sigh. He hated confrontation. He hated fighting with you. It ripped his heart to shreds to see the way your face immediately fell from his words.

When you couldn’t muster up a response, he took this as his opportunity to get everything off of his chest.

“Look, I don’t want to hurt you, darlin.’ That is quite literally the last thing I want to do, but i’m at my fuckin’ breakin’ point here. You’re the most important person in my life outside of my brother, and lately I've been feeling neglected in our relationship. I don’t think you mean it intentionally, but these past few weeks I have been hurting. I know I should have communicated this to you sooner, but lately it’s been all about you. I know you’re busy at work. I know you’re stressed and frustrated with some of your co-workers, but what about my day? What about the projects that I have been working on? What about my stress? What about..me?” His eyes glistened like two shiny marbles under the warm glow of the overhanging kitchen light.

You were taken aback. It felt as if a freight train had collided with you and smashed your body down into smithereens. You hesitantly pulled out the kitchen chair across from where he was sitting before you slowly sank down. “Joel, I had no idea that you had been feeling this way at all. I truly thought that things were okay between us. I’m sorry I didn’t read between the lines and picked up on your change of mood. I’ve just been so caught up in myself lately, that I haven’t created the time for us to just sit down and communicate like this.” You softly spoke as you clasped your hands along the smooth finish of the wooden table.

“It’s not just about reading between the lines, I have some responsibility in this as well because I can’t just expect you to know exactly how i’m feeling if i’m not taking the time to communicate it to you. I don’t want you to feel like you need to internalize everything I'm sayin’, okay? I jus’ have done a disservice to us both for keeping this shit bottled up for as long as I have.” He murmured as he moved his hands from his lap and rested them along the table.

“How..else have I been making you feel lately, Joel?���

You watched as he took a deep inhale through his nose, before exhaling shakily through his mouth. You saw his lower lip wobble with uncertainty as his still glistening eyes met yours.

“Truthfully? I jus’ feel like I ain’t as important to you anymore. Like I could just get up and leave one day and you wouldn’t even notice that I wasn’t there. I feel like I'm always there to listen, and comfort you, but you don’t do the same for me. I feel like I constantly am seeking reassurance that you actually still want to be in a relationship with me. I feel like it’s a one way street, and my car is about to spin out because i’ve lost all capability of steering. I feel obligated to tell you the things that you want to hear, in fear of hurting your feelings unintentionally. I feel like i’m constantly putting my best foot forward in the relationship, and in the same breath, I’m trying to hold it together with some expired fuckin’ glue. I feel like I've been putting my everything into us, and I'm just becoming an afterthought to you.” Admittedly, it felt good to get everything he was keeping pent up off his chest finally.

“Joel, you are so important to me. I absolutely would notice if you just weren’t here one day. I’m sorry that I have been making everything about myself lately. I promise you it’s not in an intentional, or malicious way, I've just been getting sidetracked, and I haven’t been taking the time to focus on us and our relationship. I completely understand why you are feeling this way lately, and your present feelings towards me are completely valid. I haven’t been the best partner to you, and you shouldn’t feel like our relationship is a one way street. It should be a two way street, and I regrettably have lost sight of that.”

He had half expected you to blow up in his face over his vulnerable admittance. He had his own baggage from past failed relationships, so that unhealed side of him wanted to believe that you were just complying out of spite. The healed side of him was a gentle reminder that you were human too, and that mistakes are made, and people are hurt, but the most important fact was that you were listening to him. You were validating his feelings and holding yourself accountable.

“Darlin’ it’s okay. We’ve both been shit communicators lately. I think it's something that we both need to work on, don’t you think? Earlier this evening when I saw that you called, I was purposely ignoring you because I was feeling angry, hurt, and I was feeling bitter. I know I should have just taken the call, but I also didn’t want to explode on you either. I was at that point, and before anything could be said, I needed to calm down and collect my thoughts. I let my emotions get the best of me sometimes, and that’s also somethin’ i’d like to personally work on within myself.”

“Yeah, we can definitely use some touching up in that department. I need to start taking your feelings into consideration more. I’m glad that you didn’t pick up your phone, because honestly? It probably would have gotten ugly. I also think that lately I have turned you into my personal punching bag, because I'm constantly throwing my work drama onto your shoulders without even thinking about asking if you’re in the headspace to take on my emotions. I just open my mouth and spew, and I need to be more considerate on how you're feeling at that moment. I know we can always vent to each other about our frustrations, but maybe a boundary should be set?”

He slowly reached for your hands across the middle of the table as his fingers slotted through yours. He gave your hands a reassuring squeeze, followed by a soft smile.

“Yeah.” He rasped warmly, “I think it would be good for us to set some healthy boundaries. Sometimes I just don’t have the emotional capacity to take on your frustrations, especially if I am feeling particularly down on myself, or just in a general mood. With that, I really think it would be good for us to think about the positives as well y’know? Maybe we should try to not let our frustrations completely take over the vibe all the time? Cause honestly, I do find myself seeking your comfort and support when I find myself needing it most, but with that, I also need to remember that you might not have the emotional capacity to drop everything for me, and that is okay. We both have lives existing outside of the relationship, I jus’ think we gotta find that balance that works for both of us.”

You gently squeezed his hands back as you attentively listened to everything he was saying. “Yes, I agree that sometimes we both don’t have that emotional capacity for one another. Perhaps a level of consent can be established? Just a simple, ‘hey, i’m really frustrated right now, can I please tell you how i’m feeling?’ That way, it doesn’t just feel like we’re venting without checking in with one another first?”

“I think that is a great idea, darlin,’ why should consent and boundaries only be applied in the bedroom? I think it’s beneficial to have it present in all aspects of our relationship. I also would appreciate it if maybe we start having these conversations more? Maybe they can be like weekly check in’s to see how we're feeling? This might be considered to be a little lame, but it’s almost like we’re scrapbookin’ our feelings? Maybe that ain’t the right word for it, but I jus’ want our line of communication to be open, y’know?” He could feel his once tensed up nerves begin to gradually settle. His heart no longer felt like a twisted coil now that you both were communicating.

“Yes, we should make a point to sit down and make the time to have these conversations. It might be a bit tough at first, but I think we can manage it. I get what you mean with the scrapbooking comment. It almost brings a lighter element to it? Plus, we don’t have to just talk about the frustrating stuff. We can talk about all the fun and exciting aspects as well. Joel, I just want you to know that you don’t have to bottle everything up before it becomes too much for you to handle. You can always talk to me, and I can’t promise that I will always be readily available, but I will actively put in the effort to be there for you, just like you have been for me. You and I aren’t perfect. No one is. No relationship is flawless, but I think with a bit of nurturing, we’ll be alright.”

Your own eyes began to glisten as you listened to the familiar scrape of the kitchen chair along the tile as he padded over to you. Your arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, as his own looped tenderly around your waist. He nearly crushed you to his chest from how tightly he was hugging you. He really loved you that much. You were his girl after all.

“I love you, honey. Thank you for taking the time to listen and acknowledge my feelings. I appreciate it so much, and we’re gonna be alright. We’re jus’ hittin’ a little speed bump right now, but we haven’t lost control of steering entirely.” He nuzzled his face into your cheek. You could feel the bristles in his beard gently scratch your skin as he squeezed you tightly.

“I love you so much, Joel. Thank you for being honest with me, and I promise I'll do better.”

“I know you will, baby. S’okay. We’re all just human at the end of the day.”

banners made by the lovely @saradika 🩵

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[thislovintime]

Tork & Farwell in Greenwich Village, early 1960s.

“[Peter] was a funny kind of a guy. He ran around in an old sweat shirt with ‘TORK’ lettered on the back of it and always carried his five-string banjo á la Pete Seeger. He also had what was considered ‘lots of hair’ in those days. […] Peter had a way about him. I mean, he could soften up the toughest audience. If people didn’t like his serious songs, he would play his funny ones. If they didn’t like his funny ones, he would play romantic ones. If they didn’t like his romantic songs, he would sing his ‘provocative’ ones. Usually, the audience was pretty warmed up by then — but just in case it wasn’t, Peter would throw in a spate of funny gags, followed by a series of the most comic faces one could ever see. […] In spite of all his clowning, Peter was a rather serious chap. […] Peter was a loud, powerful singer (I used to call him a romp’em, stomp’em type of singer), while I was a soft ballad singer. He had enormous stage presence and I had very little. He played the banjo, I played the guitar. […] He was restless and intense, while I was calm. He loved to be with a lot of people all of the time, whereas I liked to be completely alone some of the time. And last, but not least, Peter Tork had quite a way with the girls, while I was the shy one. […] [W]e became the unfamous, unknown duo — Tork & Farwell. Where did we work? Where didn’t we work would be more like it. We worked at the Why Not?, The Basement, The Cyclops, The Third Side, The Four Winds, The Samurai, The Dragon’s Den, The Raven, The Id — and all the time we kept adding to our repertoire. […] At that time, most people who hung around the Village were pretty phony. Peter never was. He talked hip, but basically he was a real person with a lot to offer, and he never changed. He was true to his music and he was not going to stay in the Village like a lot of the guys had. One night, when we were working at The Basement, Carol Hunter, a girl I knew, was there. She was an excellent guitarist and a groovy soloist, and kind of a wild, groovy girl. We both liked her as a friend and respected her as an artist. Peter had already sung with her once or twice. ‘Hey,’ he said to me after we did couple of numbers, ‘let’s let Carol sing with us tonight.’ ‘Good idea,’ I agreed. She knew all of our tunes, so we just got up there and wailed them out together. We felt so good about Carol that we asked her to join the group, and we rechristened ourselves Tork & Farwell Plus One. During the time that we worked as a trio, we were still passing the basket, and people wouldn’t donate any more money to Tork & Farwell Plus One than they would to just plain Tork or Farwell alone. So there we were, three people getting the ‘wages’ of one performer. Needless to say, it wasn’t enough to live off of, as none of us had any other income. I was the first one to suggest that we break up. Peter was all against it, but there really wasn’t much he could do. […] He is a great guy and he was like a brother to me. I will never forget him — intense, friendly, frank, very funny and clever with an intelligence that goes beyond book learning, and an understanding that goes beyond the surface. And as for the girls — it’s a cinch that Peter still has a way with them. He’s just doing the same thing he used to do — standing up there, making faces, grinning, jumping up and down, singing and laughing and running all about — only now he is doing it for 20 million people all over America, instead of just for a handful of tourists in Greenwich Village.” - Bruce Farwell, 16’s The Monkees: Here We Are (1967)

Requested: more about Farwell and Hunter. Did some digging and found this:

Carol Hunter — went to Julliard; worked as a session musician with Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Janis Ian and more; recorded a solo album in 1973 (The Next Voice You Hear); passed away in 2018. In an interview for the website Neil Diamond Homepage (2001), Hunter noted, “From the time I was a teenager playing the little clubs in Greenwich Village in New York, I wanted to be part of a musical ensemble rather than a solo artist, and I suppose I was something of a bargain to the artists I worked with, since they got something of a two-for-one with me; guitar player plus background singer. Sometimes it was a little awkward being the only girl in the group, and sometimes the locals mistook this overly dressed-up girl with a lot of makeup hanging around backstage for something other than one of the musicians, which was occasionally hilarious.”

Bruce Farwell — Farwell mentioned in the …Here We Are! article that he “still talk[s] to Peter on the phone and see[s] him when he flies into New York.”

In 2011, Berkshire Fine Arts shared a review for an album (Heart, Heart & Soul): “A s a student at Brown, Bruce Farwell fled campus on the weekends during the early, early, ‘60s to come up to Boston and work the coffeehouse circuit. His nimble fingers and picking style earned him many fans. Dropping out of school he abandoned Boston for Greenwich Village, teamed up for awhile with Peter Tork, sometimes with Carol Hunter, and eventually became a member of The Bitter End Singers. After a hitch with the armed forces, a return to college and decades of work as a psychologist he met and married Renata Decher, with whom he now performs as Gemini.”

[halloween4life]

The Orange Side is going to represent Impulsiveness and the rest of y'all are wrong: a thread

For obvious reasons the title of this post is a joke. But anyway, hi hello. I wanted to talk about my theory of what I think the Orange Side is gonna be! Now this post is going to be looong so for the sake of everyone it's going to be put under the cut.

Disclaimers that I want to get out of the way now: I have just recently re-entered the fandom and I haven't been into Sanders Sides in years. I'm not a Patreon supporter nor do I have Twitter so I lack any information that may have been revealed there. Also I am still in the process of rewatching the series. So as of now, I don't really have a complete understanding of the series. I apologize if I get anything wrong, and if any of this puts you off, totally valid.

Oh also, general spoilers for like, anything Sanders Sides related but specifically Working Through Intrusive Thoughts (if you still somehow have not watched it). Honestly I recommend watching it before reading this as a refresher, because most of this theory is based around/supported by that video. It's like, really the only foundation for this theory as I don't really delve much into the other episodes.

First things first, I am going to lay down some rules on what the Orange Side could represent:

1) The concept needs to in some way be the "opposite" of logic. Realistically this doesn't have to be the case in the series, but based on how the other Dark Sides function, it makes the most sense for now.

2) The concept needs to be generally considered negative for them to be considered a Dark Side.

3) Whatever they represent needs to REALISTICALLY make sense as an aspect of C! Thomas' identity. I think a lot of people forget that the Sides are that, Sides of a whole person. So I tried my best to make that work.

Now, with that out of the way,,,I'm going to "debunk" some theories first. Yes sorry there is a lot of set up to this theory, but I feel like it's important. Also, reminder, if you believe in either of the theories I am going to debunk, that is TOTALLY 100% VALID! I'm just going to discuss why I don't think they work, so this is all just my opinion!

Theory 1: The Orange Side represents Rage

I'm pretty sure this is the most popular theory right now, and I know a lot of people also disagree with it. I think this one mostly came about because our only real evidence of the Orange Side is through Logan's anger fueled outbursts in WTIT and Learning New Things About Ourselves. While I definitely understand this line of thinking, I don't think it's right.

First and foremost, it breaks the third rule set up earlier. Again, all these characters are facets of Thomas' personality. And from what we've seen of him, it just doesn't make sense with his personality. Now, again, this could obviously be different in the series, we could learn that this is actually his rage and he's just been repressing it, but I doubt that'll be the case. (Also I feel like this could break the first rule but I don't know how to explain why).

Secondly, and I just think that rage in and of itself is just, way too specific of a concept to be represented by a side. This kinda works in tandem with the first point, since again, it just doesn't seem that large of an aspect of Thomas that it would be represented by its own side. As well, all the other sides represent either much larger concepts or multiple at a time. For instance, Logan, Patton, and Roman represent logic, morality, and (good) creativity respectively. While Virgil and Janus do represent anxiety and deceit, those titles are rather reductive, as they also represent vigilance and self-preservation respectively. (Really I think we need to talk more about the fact that Janus is canonically Thomas' self-preservation but is really only viewed as "deceit"). Remus is a fun case as although he is viewed as "intrusive thoughts", he as a whole represents the bad side of creativity. TLDR: Rage is too specific a concept to be its own side.

Theory 2: The Orange Side Represents Emotion

Okay I'm going to be honest, I've only seen one person on here with this theory (and for the life of me I can't remember their name). But I just want to say that if you are reading this, this isn't me calling you out or anything (honestly I really agreed with your theory until I came up with this one). If I remember correctly, this theory is more built on the Orange Side being an opposite to logic, and how emotions tend to cloud logic, similar to the reasoning for rage.

I think this theory most obviously breaks rule 2. Now emotions as a whole do have the capacity to be bad, I think the concept of just emotion is not generally considered bad. Definitely not enough for it to be considered along with the Dark Sides. It's simply too big of a concept to be either "good" or "bad".

On that subject, I think this theory has a similar issue to the rage theory, but in the opposite direction. While rage was too specific, emotions are waaay too broad to just be one singular side. Especially given that all of the current sides have some sway over Thomas' emotions. And it's also possible that this side would be considered too close to Patton. While yes, it is not explicitly stated that he is in charge of Thomas' emotions, he definitely has the most sway over them. Ultimately, I think this theory is just too vague to work.

Okay, now with that all out of the way, let's get into my actual theory. So,

Why do I think the Orange Side will represent Impulsiveness?

I'm going to start this off by comparing my claims to the rules I made up. Because tbh, that's how I came to the conclusion in the first place before I started finding evidence to support it (but isn't that how all good hypotheses work?)

1) Does impulsiveness act as a counter to logic?

According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, Impulsive is defined as "prone to sudden illogical changes of mind, ideas, or actions". Now I was gonna go on a big explanation of how they are opposites but it literally says illogical in the definition. So uh, yayy 🎉🎉🎉

2) Is impulsiveness seen as a negative thing?

Now, truthfully there is no way for me to prove that impulsiveness is either "good" or "bad". That being said, I feel like a lot of people generally view impulsiveness as a bad thing. While in small amounts it can be seen as good and fun, the more frequently you engage in impulsive behaviors, the more destructive it can become. Often leading to bad decision making, i.e. avoiding work, making big financial decisions without much thought, and generally just doing what you want over what may be important.

3) Does this fit within Thomas' personality?

Yes. It has been shown time and time again that Thomas has an issue with his impulsive behaviors. Oftentimes manifesting in him avoiding chores and general self-care in favor of doing something easy or entertaining. The most clear example of this being the video "Growing Up." While yes, most of these decisions are made due to Patton, it's not entirely uncommon for the sides to be affected or swayed by the others. (Also if I'm being honest, I don't think it entirely fair to analyze the earlier episodes with the same critical lens as the later ones, it's definitely not fair to Thomas (the real Thomas) to criticize the early episodes for not perfectly aligning with later lore).

Now, finally, we can get into some evidence to support all these claims I'm making. First things first, as of right now Logan and the Orange Side are one in the same. We haven't been given any proof that they are at least physically different beings (unless you want to count the orange eyes in the Sanders Sides anime intro parody). So all of our evidence is just Logan acting really out of character. So, where does Logan act impulsively?

Our first major incident of this (I'm pretty sure) is in the episode "Learning New Things About Ourselves", specifically the scene where Roman essentially pisses him off so much that he throw's a crumpled up note card at him. Most important is his reaction afterwards, being shocked at himself.

He was basically pushed so far that he reacted without thinking (impulsively some may say? ok I'll stop, I'm sorry). Which, obviously, is EXTREMELY out of character for him. He is logic, he is supposed to think first before he acts, go through possible scenarios and decide the most favorable outcome. Yet, here he loses all control.

Our next example is less of Logan acting impulsive and more so how I believe his actions are affecting Thomas. In the episode "Working Through Intrusive Thoughts", Thomas basically spends the whole time being tormented by Remus because he can't keep his mind off of the risky text he sent Nico (I'm aroace but I'm gonna assume valid? So real?). While Logan is simultaneously trying to keep Thomas on schedule, accommodate his struggles, and accommodate Remus' actions as part of Thomas' identity. Basically, it's a lot, and when he's finally at his limit, well

Yeahhhh, a certain something makes itself known. And while Logan doesn't act particularly irrationally or impulsively in this moment (literally all he does is yell at Remus), it is what Thomas does after this outbreak that I find interesting. As immediately afterward he gets a call from Nico, inviting him out. And given the choice between what he has planned to do and needs to get done for the day, vs spending the day with Nico?

He decides suddenly to just drop everything he is doing for Nico. A rather impulsive decision if you ask me. And while yes, technically none of what Thomas was doing needed to get done that day (it was mostly chores), it was part of a plan and he promised himself to stick to it. Logan doesn't react well to any of this, both his own outburst and Thomas deciding to just leave him behind like it's nothing. And I don't think it's gonna spell anything good in the future for Logan and the rest of the gang.

So, where does that leave us now?

Well, moving a bit on to what I think is going to happen next. Obviously things are going to get worse before they get better. Logan will fall more and more into impulsive behaviors, which will only become more destructive for Thomas. As well, I think (hope, pray) that there will be some sort of team up between Logan and Remus. They're the only sides who I think could "properly" get along (I know that Janus and Remus have some sort of friendship, but it can only work so well as Janus being self-preservation can only really run counter to Remus' intrusive thoughts). Most likely they will feed into each other in a horrible cycle of "I can make him worse." I don't think that would be either of their genuine intentions, as I don't like labeling the Dark Sides and "bad", but I definitely don't think they would be good for each other. I do also think this will come about because Remus either knows or understands something about Logan that the others don't, not even Janus. As well I do hope that Logan and the Orange Side are one in the same somehow, and not just Logan being influenced.

Anyway, sorry for the insanely long post and sorry if it started to devolve towards the end. I am quite literally writing this on no hours of sleep, so give me a bit of grace. Also, another sorry if I have gotten anything wrong or if I have missed something. It has been very long since I've engaged with Sanders Sides, but I'm trying my best. Anyway, thank you for coming to my ted-talk, I hope Logan gets to commit murder in the next episode.

[jkftkth]

Sabotaging taekook is not only to elevate their fav member but also to undersell them to negotiate contracts. These people think they are so smart. If bangpd wants to keep taekook under his thumb the best way would be to sabotage them differently. Hybe undersell Taehyung deliberately to make it look like he is nothing without group. And only promotes Jungkook on their conditions (AYS!). I think everyone remembers how weird it was that company didn't contact Jungkook for anything. I don't know much of that is a fact but looking at history of whatever Jungkook has achieved is either distributed with the group or attached with fanship narrative. They also elevated the third member with heavy promo to show they are not dependent on taekook and oversell to investors. On the surface it looks like one is getting everything and the other nothing. Result: constant fight wars between both of their solos. Fandom will believe they are not close and group who supports both of them (tkk) will be mocked and labeled deranged.

If taekook were any less of people or had no United front, company would have done much worse. I don't claim to know what goes inside their heads or how they negotiate but BANG PD is greedy first. While his ego is huge and he will do anything to sabotage anyone who he can't control (Tae), money matters a lot. This way even after sabotaging Tae, his pockets are filled because fans want to outdo each other.

This is a classic but cheap strategy many conglomerate adopts.

it’s a very cheap strategy i agree.

if there’s one thing any of us should take from the current report drama, is that hybe doesn’t respect their artists. they talk about them, and also other idols who are under different companies apparently, as mere products and experiments. i said this to @charjube on here, but the contents of their report reminded me of how army act in fandom wars because the wording was very similar. that in itself should tell you that the writer of this report is chronically online, and deep in our spaces, and his analysis, if we can even call it that, has no real basis.

the contents are only narratives they need to push. we should be asking ourselves why are these narratives important, and what role are we playing in spreading/accepting/challenging these narratives.

when you keep that in mind, it makes you cautious of what to believe, and i think that’s very important right now. i personally know that from this point onwards, i’m taking a step back away from army and solos’ opinions whenever something new happens, because they are biased and based around intense emotions, and those emotions are so often a product of hybe’s manipulative tactics. and i don’t want to fall for that. people who are falling for that are throwing either of t/k under the bus.

i’m seeing so much drama especially today, so i thought i’d answer your ask now, but when we want to have a conversation about mistreatment and sabotage, we need to understand that things have to be separated for us to get somewhere that’s not a fandom war. jk can have been given tools for his album that tae never got and still have been denied basic protection of his well-being and his reputation.

the tools were more about needing to portray bang pd and scooter as “success makers” (bang pd literally tried to make it out that if scooter hadn’t been involved, jk’s album would’ve been in trouble) than it was about the person’s “privilege” or himself. because if the company really cared for the person himself, jk’s schedule would have been a healthy one that didn’t prioritize promoting another member, and his rumors circulating on DC would’ve been shut down immediately regardless of whether that would bring “hate” to the member who’s fans were being malicious, and he wouldn’t have been stalked and harassed, and he wouldn’t have been stripped of his autonomy for his own success and he wouldn’t have been trash talked on blind by staff. where’s the respect here to be found?

unfortunately, a lot of tae solos think that good promotion = the company has your back. if the company had jk’s back, they wouldn’t have a vip membership to sojang.

the company has bang pd’s back. they’re out here embarrassing themselves at the national assembly just so bang pd can carry on pretending he hasn’t been summoned for questioning. bang pd is after his own career. he’s moved towards focusing on his branding in the US and so jk was used conveniently to promote hybe america, because mediaplay is all bang pd has going for himself.

moving on to tae, if there is any tkkr, jk biased or tae biased, who still believes that what he’s being put through is similar to anyone else, or even remotely on a similar level to the rest, we have a problem. he is being beaten down. his career is being toyed with. he is seen by the company as a convenient shield/experiment for later group situations. his achievements are being erased, manipulated, distorted. staff are being told to make up hate to undermine his success. smear campaign after smear campaign. no protection. but apparently heavy monitoring. sneakily swaying fandom opinion and apparently staff opinion of him to make him seem like an outsider. the list goes on.

there is no artist protection when it comes to taekook. there is no respect. there are just narratives and bang pd’s ego. because if you think, that all the discourse and reactions since solo chapter weren’t all instigated by the company, go back to putting your head in the sand.

at least k-kths and k-jjks understand.

[babydollmarauders]

MEDIA MANAGEMENT — JACK HUGHES (PART SIX)

one — two — three — four — five — 5.5 — six

notes: first photo was taken and sent to me by @/bellaxward on twitter, so creds to her! also, i’m sorry, i feel like this update isn’t the best but i’m running on like 3 hours of sleep and i was writing this bit by bit while super busy!

y/ndevils00

liked by tmeier96, ehaula, and 37,519 others

y/ndevils00 heyo! welcome back to my postgame boyfriend show! tonight the njdevils played against the spawns of satan (not trevor)! or.. i mean.. the new york rangers.

we start tonight’s recap off with a very cute picture i got of my boyfriend and his best friend (again; not trevor) talking about how much they love me during warmups!

we also have da sun showing me that the tooth fairy came to visit him awhile ago! i bet he got lots of money for his toofer, however i wouldn’t know because he’s stopped letting me steal his wallet.

our first goal of the night was a tip in by mr. haula at ya! followed up in the same period by a goal from timo time! notice how he made the post this time? that’s because unlike most of these idiots (i’m looking at you, marino 👀), timo takes me seriously!

however, immediately after timo’s goal, haulaback girl was placed in the sin bin for tripping. i was very disappointed and he got a very strict talking to during first intermission and assured me he wouldn’t get another penalty. he lied.

he got a penalty in second period for the exact same reason that he did in the first. i cannot promise i was as nice to him in the second intermission.

we got a few scrums in this game, but my personal favorite one was in third period and ended much too quickly for my liking. BOO, REFS!

and finally, we have some pictures of my gorgeous, talented, sometimes annoying babygirl… my boyfriend!

tagged jackhughes, dawson1417, ehaula, tmeier96, ryangraves27 and vitacz15

dawson1417 y/n, i never LET you steal my wallet. you would take it from my pocket and count my money and then give it back, like a thief that’s really bad at their job

y/ndevils00 i’m just a very curious person! i like to know everyone’s business, all the time. and you never told me to stop 🤷‍♀️

jackhughes if i remember correctly, dawson and i were actually discussing our plans for the off-season

y/ndevils00 you remember incorrectly

jackhughes did you just call me babygirl

y/ndevils00 you’re so babygirl

jackhughes thank you?

john.marino97 why does everyone else get normal penalty reactions but me?

user52 wait, did y/n ACTUALLY just talk to Haula?!

john.marino97 @/user52 yes!

user52 OH MY GOD JOHN ILY

y/ndevils00 because you’re my bff and i only want the best for you

john.marino97 every day i rethink why i decided to become one of your best friends

y/ndevils00 you love me

trevorzegras did you seriously just specify that you weren’t talking about me when you said spawn of satan?

y/ndevils00 i didn’t want anyone to get confused!

trevorzegras i don’t like you

y/ndevils00 wait really???

trevorzegras wait no y/n i’m sorry. i was just joking

y/ndevils00 📸 caught in 4k

trevorzegras i hope both sides of your pillow are hot tonight

tmeier96 i made the post!!

y/ndevils00 you did a good job with my demands 🫡 i love my blankie

ehaula second intermission… you’re scary

y/ndevils00 remember that.

ryangraves27 why did you have to do me like this?

y/ndevils00 idk what you mean 🤭

user6 y/n is a menace and i’m here for it

lhughes_06 do i get to be in these posts when i join?

y/ndevils00 moosey, you’ll replace jack as the star of the show

jackhughes now hold on! let’s not get ahead of ourselves here!

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes i said what i said.

lhughes_06 @/jackhughes can we keep her?

jackhughes i intend to

nicohischier no feature for me tonight? i feel betrayed

y/ndevils00 i only have 9 picture slots bud, idk what to tell ya 🤷‍♀️

y/ndevils00 make a goal next time or something

nicohischier i’m gonna steal your cat

y/ndevils00 you wouldn’t!

nicohischier i probably wouldn’t even need to steal her. i bet jack would just give her to me.

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes TELL HIM HE’S WRONG!

jackhughes …. no comment

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes you’re sleeping on the couch

jackhughes @/y/ndevils00 that only hurts you babe. every time you say that, you end up dragging me in to the bed at like 2am because you can’t fall asleep without me

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes you can’t cook broccoli.

jackhughes @/y/ndevils00 yes i can! i can now!

[jozor-johai]

So do you think Dany and Jon are just two Heads of the Dragon? and if so, who do you think is the third? my money's on Bran as like, the Ice Representative to balance out Dany's fire and Jon's Ice/Fire dealies.

Thank you for this ask, sorry it took ages to respond.

Say that we know (or we think we know) that two "heads" of "the dragon" are Jon and Dany—insofar as we even think we understand what that phrase is supposed to mean (an assumption that I think is worth questioning as well, but that's not a task for now).

Here's what I love about this question—the issue of "who/what is the 'third head'" comes up as a literal question in a religious sense when Arya is talking to the Sailor's Wife in Braavos. There's a statue to the god Trios, and the Sailor's Wife can't tell us the purpose of one of the heads:

Three-headed Trios has that tower with three turrets. The first head devours the dying, and the reborn emerge from the third. I don't know what the middle head's supposed to do.

GRRM is definitely referencing the concept of the "three headed (dragon)" when he invented Trios; the imagery is too central and too specific for that not to be the case. What's fun, of course, is that we're all asking ourselves the same thing—what (or who) is that middle head?

I like your suggestion about Bran. It's a pretty unorthodox idea, because most people assume/expect that the three heads of the "dragon" must be Targaryen or at least Valyrian... but I don't think one needs Valyrian blood to ride a dragon, so as far as I'm concerned Bran is an option. He's a cool idea, too, because of his attachment to the North, the far North, and maybe even the "Ice" concept, like you say. Bran's also a powerful skinchanger—or, in training to be one—and there's not a doubt in my mind we're going to see some dragons get skinchanged. GRRM has been asked about that idea before and he's gleefully dodged answering it.

That would also be interesting because it's worth remembering that Jon is technically not canonically a Targaryen (yet), or even a contender to be a "head of the dragon" (yet). We think we've figured it out (and we probably have) but it's still technically a mystery. In that sense, then, if I was going to lean on the comparison with Trios, I would say: perhaps by now we should have met the first "head" —the "death" head—and we should have met the last head— "rebirth" head—so we should be missing this middle head whose purpose we don't know. However, we think we've figured out that Jon is the marriage of Ice and Fire, so maybe he's the "unknown" middle head—and then Dany is, on one side, the "rebirth" head (of fire?), and we should have met the "death" head (of ice?) already, but we don't know who it might be. Perhaps it's Bran!

If I'm being honest, I personally haven't thought too much about solving the third head of the dragon issue. It's clear to me that some key piece of the puzzle is being intentionally obscured from our view, so it feels like a fool's errand to be confident in solving it at this point. I realize that's a lame answer, but it's the truth—I try to approach these things beginning with how they work in the story and how they work with the symbolism at play, so without being sure how the "three heads" are even supposed to work I haven't tried to solve this mystery.

If there are truly three people who are going to be the "three heads of the dragon," I think the rules of good storytelling limit our options to characters that were introduced in AGOT. If we limit that to POVs—which is not necessarily a valid assumption, but I think is likely—then that's only Tyrion, Bran, Arya, or Sansa. I'm torn on the common "Tyrion Targaryen" theory... I don't really like it, but it would explain why he's included as a POV in AGOT and why he makes the shortlist for possibilities here (among other things). Bran would be a much more interesting option, though.

The thing is, I'm ultimately not convinced the "three heads" are going to work like we expect. Yes, it's said that Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya were the "three heads," but who knows if the common understanding of that is true? Plus, the person who presents the idea to Dany of the need for "three heads" to ride the three dragons is Jorah... who I don't think knows shit about dragons. So my mind is wide open when it comes to possible interpretations of the "three heads of the dragon."

[mysteriouslytransparentwitch]

choose your picture (tarot reading)

you chose the number 1 it's archangel uriel 7th chakra

Greek mythology: we are talking about a victory over yourself, you have managed to cross a tunnel. There is a notion of light and shadow, transformation, mutation, better health, well-being, gaining height. Be careful, we are talking about the Trojan horse, there is a lie from a third person or an illusion that sets in, in the future but also a stroke of fate, it is for you to complete your transformation and free yourself from something or someone like Persephone.

with the tarot: we are talking about a desire to regain power over your emotions, to grow emotionally, we are talking about maturity and a new energy, a transformation, a carefree attitude, to believe again that things are possible. There is work to be done on the notion of lack, feeling poor (financial, in love, success) for everything we ask you to focus on your victories, your natural abundance to develop and welcome it. It is a character trait that can come back

-------------------------------------------

you chose the number 7 archangel raphael 4th chakra

we talk about the generosity of the heart, your heart is capable of offering a lot. You are capable of making a lot of effort for the other but there was cheating, abuse, lying in your relationships (love, work, friendship) we are very hurt, mocked here.

We ask ourselves a lot of questions about these events and why?!

it is a lesson, it is learning you are the popess not yet pope. there is work to be done on your past to be able to heal and have this tarot card the sun = renewal. For that you have to leave the past and venture on another path and create new links elsewhere. Beware of withdrawal!! taking the behavior of a hermit that is to say staying in the shadows will not fully grant your wish. That is why like the ace of swords = make the decision to see your past and to confront it and tame it to become a queen of cups.

-------------------------

you chose the number 11 archangel michel 1st chakra

we are talking about selfishness here but in a couple or in a relational bond here we are talking about solitude, learning to be alone and knowing how to do things alone and seeing our decisions take shape (success or failure) to build things ourselves, to gain wisdom over time. It is a transition from one state to another here. Indeed, I hear the word ego see our doubts, our fears but stand up.

this past or this failure or this regret is an opportunity for you to embody strength. There is a very rapid evolution here that can lead you to ask yourself a lot of questions, to feel out of step, it is an opportunity to grow and see more clearly in your life and to build something new

------------------

you chose the number 27 archangel ariel 2nd chakra

be careful we can quickly fall into a euphoric or dreamy emotion by forgetting why you are doing this, do not forget your goals, the why! do not forget your link between your inner fire and your link with the universe, do not be stingy, it is by giving that you receive!!! in the near future, we will guide you on a new path of transformation, are you ready? be "mature" and cut off all forms of non-constructive emotion and put yourself in an energy of solution, step back and observe, move away from certain people if necessary. Enter a new era of balance between your poles advance on your path even if it is not yet illuminated. You are the queen of swords

[football-and-fanfics]

What Happened Next - Dominik Szoboszlai

Who: Dominik Szoboszlai Request: I’d like an imagine where a girl has had a one night stand with with a guy she meets in a club then a couple of days later starts her new job at the Liverpool training centre just to discover her ONS was Dominik and just how shy, cute and embarrassed they both are. Requested by: @moondancer146 Word count: 710 Warnings: none

It had been a drunken night, a very drunken night, a few weeks ago. After a night out partying you had ended up in bed with some guy you had met at the night club. You barely remembered what he looked like, let alone you still knew his name or had his telephone number. All you you did remember was that it had been a good night, with plenty of fun and pleasure in bed, and that it was all over before you had even fully sobered up.

A few times you still wondered who this handsome stranger was, because you still remembered he had been handsome, and somehow you couldn't shake the feeling that you knew him from somewhere.

But your attention shifted when you were about to start your new job at Liverpool FC. You wanted to make a good impression at this new job, so you made sure you looked well, dressed well, and were well rested. This also meant: no going out to parties and no alcohol for a while. And amidst all that you found that the memories of your one night stand got pushed to the back of your mind.

That was, until the third day of you working at LFC, when everything came crashing back.

As part of the media team, you would be working in close relation to the first team players, and a colleague introduced you to them one by one. You were shown around the cafeteria where the team sat for lunch, shaking hands and introducing yourself. Suddenly you found yourself face to face with an attractive, dark-haired man, and you instantly knew: he was your mystery one night stand from a few weeks back. And from the startled look on his face, he definitely knew who you were, too.

"Hi." He held out his hand to you. "I'm Dominik." You stammered your own name, blushing as you shook his hand. "Nice to meet you," Dominik said politely, even though he was fully aware that the both of you had already thoroughly met. Underneath the stubble of his beard, you saw the redness of his cheeks, too.

Dominik chuckled nervously, not knowing how to hold himself in this current situation. "I believe we have an appointment for an interview this afternoon?" He finally spoke. "Yes." You confirmed, glad he had found a topic you could safely talk about. "I'll see you then."

---

Dominik showed up right on time for your appointment with him that afternoon. You were glad you were allowed to do this interview by yourself, which meant you could also have a private chat with Dominik about this situation you suddenly both found yourselves in.

Dominik closed the door behind him and turned around to face you almost as if in slow-motion, clearly putting off the moment he would have to face you for as long as he possibly could.

"This is quite a predicament we find ourselves in." Dominik smiled shyly as he finally faced you. He looked ill at ease, slightly embarrassed even, and found it hard to meet your eye. "Quite so," you mumbled, equally embarrassed by this whole situation.

An uncomfortable silence fell. Several times you wanted to speak, but didn't, but in the end Dominik was the one to voice his thoughts first.

"Why don't we start over?" He sounded hopeful. You shrugged, confused. "What do you mean?" "Well." Dominik smiled with more confidence now. "As it looks like we are going to have to work together, why don't we get to know each other a little better?" "We slept together." You scoffed. "How much better would you like to get to know me?"

Dominik chuckled. "That was a drunken night, but, if you ask me, not a mistake. You seem like a wonderful person, and.... even though I've seen a lot of you already, I know very little about you. And I would like to change that." "Oh..." You hadn't expected him to say something like this, and you were lost for words. "Please, we'll take it slow. Maybe join me for lunch tomorrow." Dominik's eyes twinkled with the hope for a positive answer from you. You hesitated for maybe a second before you smiled shyly, but confidently. "I would love that."

Writing masterlist

[flwrcrxwnlyon]

Des probably shows Pirandellian character traits: fun analysis (SPOILER AZRAN LEGACY)

First of all, I'm just a student who studied Italian literature as a subject at school, so please take all of this with a grain of salt and feel free to add your considerations. (And I hope that my teacher doesn't have Tumblr because it would be very embarrassing.) Also, maybe there are some regional differences, for reference I'll use the italian version of the game.

We all know that Descole is a broken husk of a man; Desmond Sycamore is dead; stuff like that. But I want to share with you guys a personal point of view about his character while using what I studied and STILL STUDYING for final exams ("maturità")

In order to understand what I am going to say, I need to explain a bit of his theories, which are also used in his novels, especially what we call "la teoria delle maschere."

Before talking about it, we need to essentially explain the concepts of life and form:

Life is a continuous change, a stream, and form is the structure where people try to contain life in order to make it more understandable by putting or letting people put a mask on ourselves (for example, a name, a role, etc.) that covers our true selves, our identity, which, just like life, changes and isn't coherent.

But since life is a continuous change, people are destined to face the fact that their identity isn't something stable. Usually it's a peculiar event or some random stuff, and they have different reactions to it. One of them is trying to escape from the form.

An example of this in Pirandello's books is Mattia Pascal, a man with a miserable life who decided to change his identity in order to escape from it, taking advantage of the fact that everyone he knows believes that he died, but in the end he realised that in his new form he couldn't be free, and he couldn't even go back to the old one since everything changed.

Now you may be wondering: What does that have to do with Descole?

His character is mainly centred on the theme of identity, just like Hershel Layton (but he accepts it) and the whole Azran Legacy game, but I wanted to focus on how he was written and especially how his life revolves around this, personally more than Hersh, and how his reaction is different.

Okay, basically the point is that his life is characterised by huge changes, and escapes from the form as a reaction to the event, which lead him to be stuck in an another form.

FIRST FORM: Hershel Bronev

For Pirandello, our first form is the name that our parents gave us. In the case of the Bronev Brothers, they broke pretty easily, and in Des' case, he gave up his name and his form in order to let his baby brother be adopted by the Laytons. This led Theo with a new form that wasn't his and Hershel "not being him" anymore.

SECOND FORM: Desmond Sycamore.

We don't know much about the period after the adoption of his brother. The only information that we have is that he was probably adopted by a family (the Sycamores), and he presumedly met Raymond at this point in the timeline. 

Desmond Sycamore is the name of his new form, perhaps even given to him by his adoptive parents. He acknowledges his past but presumebly tries to move on, in fact by getting married and creating his own family. But the event of the death of his family is going to change him even more. Killing off this form.

THIRD FORM: Jean Descole.

Now we start with the interesting stuff.

After the death of his wife and his daughter, Descole claimed that Desmond had died, and he, a broken husk of a man, substituted him.

On a more superficial perspective, the reason behind this change of personality could be grief, but to be honest, it doesn't explain why he thinks badly of his past self.

Sure, survivor guilt exists, but I don't think that it's the reason behind it.

I tried to reflect on it a bit more, and one of the explanations that I could give was that, actually, he could feel responsible for anything that happened to his family.

Maybe he wasn't present at the time that the tragedy had happened, maybe he found them already dead. Because of his incapability of defending them, he developed hatred and rage, so as a reaction, he created a new form. One that wasn't a fool and was the exact contrary of who he was and also with the objective to escape from the sense of guilt by separating his present self by the past one.

AZRAN LEGACY: Trying to go back.

Since Des needed help in order to solve the mystery of the azrans and what their legacy was, he presented himself as his past form: Desmond sycamore.

But the truth is that he can't really come back to be him. Just like Mattia Pascal, he changed mentally. He's a different man from before.

We can see that especially during his interactions with Bronev in the Nest, when his rage almost explodes just like Descole's.

But at the same time, it is clear that this whole travel with the layton crew changed him.

Maybe there isn't much evidence, but I personally think that he started to get emotionally close to them, and we can see that with the fact that he saved Luke from the laser.

At the end of Azran Legacy, he can't go back to be Descole anymore because of this and it's unfortunate how Level-5 didn't focus on this thing (just like the other relationships between the characters.)

EXTRAS: Aurora and Des confrontation.

[Image translation: "Now my wife and daughter are gone, and with them, that fool Sycamore."]

In the extras, we have this interesting interaction between Des and Aurora, where basically they talk about Descole.

After Des said that he isn't Desmond anymore, Aurora rebuts him, explaining how he was still capable of loving and hoping for the future, and that he can't really escape from his past, from his memories.

She calls Descole a character, a mask that he used to cope with his pain, and after Des tried to say that "Desmond is gone," Aurora remarks how technically still exists through his actions.

This is evidence of how Des identity changed again and how, as I explained before, even Descole isn't the same as before.

The extras concluded with Descole with a hidden desire to follow Aurora's reflection about resisting and basically moving on. Not forgetting his past.

Conclusion: Who is the true des?

Now there's a discussion in the fandom about who des really is, mainly divided in Desmond or Descole.

While descole is CLEARLY formed after a huge trauma, we also need to consider that Desmond isn't a "true form" either. This is also evidenced in the game.

At least in the italian dialogue, des talks how when he was still in Desmond form, he hoped that he could have lived a normal life with his family (and in the next lines said that he hoped that he would forget about revenge).

But neither Hershel Bronev is his true identity either now. That belongs to his brother now.

So? Who's the true form?

The scared child that hoped for a better life for his brother?

The man that couldn't save his family?

Or the husk blinded by revenge?

Maybe it's all of them, maybe it's no one. After all, we learned that the people's identities aren't stuck. They evolve, and they are complex and contradictory sometimes.

Personally, I don't think there's a true truth. We can just analyse and express our personal thoughts about it, we aren't this character, and there are a lot of points of view on this story, so there's anything concrete, just his events and his narrative of it.

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

A Little Farewell

With about a week left to go we had our final OT4 weverse live today and it's safe to say, we were not prepared. But I'm very grateful that they did a live all together giving us a last dose of chaos, cuteness and giggles before we'll be left to fend for ourselves for 6 months before Jin returns to us in June 2024.

The live truly was a beautiful gift that kept on giving starting with Tae's new short haircut and JK hiding his now shaved head from us, Namjoon even claiming that JKs hair is shorter than his own (JK supposedly felt inspired to shave his head a little early after he met Usher, who has pretty short hair himself, and went for it), and Jimin practically getting offended by a comment saying they wanted to see him with a buzzcut. To be honest Tae's cute little haircut looks a little like he did it himself in the dead of the night but it also makes him look like we traveled back in time to 2013 or earlier. Adorable. After so long it was really nice to see them together again, and to generally have more than one Tannie in a live together.

Since the first leaks about their military service appeared a few days ago we've seen vminies talk among themselves, and not to mention the near constant fighting that's been going on between the two xkook camps, but seeing vmin being so cute together in this live, it felt reassuring. Whatever questions or worries we might've had, they were washed away. In a way it makes sense that Tae and Jimin didn't go together, even if we all would've loved to see them go together and make use of the buddy system, but that isn't the choice they made for themselves and that's okay. It's easy to see what vmin are doing more than just fine and that's all that matters. Admin 2 really hoped we'd get a vmin handshake or hand holding, and we got two! I mean, look at all this cuteness:

And then also Tae going home in five minutes flat and doing a small solo live which was basically just him being adorable and talking to Jimin, who was immediately in the comments, before leaving again. Love when we get to third wheel them, wow, I truly will miss that a lot.

At one point in the live JK mentioned that he'd wanted to go to the special forces as well, implying that for some reason he couldn't, which makes me wonder why. Was it because of his tattoos? Either way, it's nice that he'll instead get to go with Jimin and supposedly they'll be in the training camp where Seokjin is one of the trainers so that's cute.

Speaking of Seokjin, after so long it was adorable how often Namjoon brought up Seokjin in this live. Just Jin hyung this and Jin hyung that, very cute. And they also mentioned Hobi a bunch, how he's gotten cooler and more manly, which comes as a great reminder to basically all of us that the cute boys we've known until now, well, they'll probably fade away and get replaced by more mature versions of our beloved members in the next months and they'll return to us as a different set of Tannies. And that's okay. They're grown up men so it makes sense that eventually some of that aegyo cuteness will fade away and personally I'm very curious to see how things will turn out and what they'll be like in 2025.

And I'm very curious to see if idiots will respect Namjoon's and Tae's pleas for people not to show up for their entrance ceremonies. Especially since Namjoon asked for it in three languages to make sure everyone understood it. Unfortunately I have my doubts, since we know the maknae line have some of the most unhinged solos but here's hoping.

Now, what does this mean for us now? Well, it'll be quite a while until we'll see the members slowly returning one after the other so we'd like to take this time for a 'official' hiatus as well. Admin 2 is considering a temporary "rebrand" into a BL blog since they've gotten into Thai BLs in the last year, so that's something that might happen. Would any of you be interested in something like that?

But we'll still be ARMY, still love vmin and namjin, and once the guys will return, so will we, so don't worry, we're not leaving BTS any time soon.

Lastly, here's a blurry screenshot of a coconut headed JK running across the screen screaming THIS WAS BTS. A beautifully chaotic ending to this solo era. Let's see what the next months will bring us and what 2025 will be like when chapter 2 will come to a close and a new chapter of BTS and ARMY will open, eventually.

Thank you so much for reading!

[heartsaturn]

Haii! I was wondering if you can do a Steve Randle x M!Reader? :3

“love grows where my rosemary goes and nobody knows like me”

steve randle x m!reader

warnings: so much fluff that its actually sickening (and darry being everyones father figure, queue disappointed darry)

summary: the four times reader wanted to kiss steve and the one time he did.

a/n: still trying to figure out the personality of the outsiders characters so i apologize in advance. also sorry for taking literally forever to get this out, i was so busy with school work and honestly was in a writing slump. ik you said male reader but its not very specific tbh. ps i loved writing this request with my whole heart <33

———————————————————————

one

“No it’s not!”

“Yes it is!”

Steve and I were about twenty minutes deep into an argument about wether chocolate cake or vanilla cake is better.

“Tell me one reason why vanilla is better than chocolate!”

Clearly, Steve was very sensitive about this topic. The only reason I wasn’t giving him this argument was because it was honestly kind of funny seeing how angry he got over something so unimportant like flavour of cake.

“It’s just my personal preference! Why can’t you accept that!”

Steve’s face finally seemed to have contorted to a more calm expression. He probably had realized how silly of an argument this was and wanted to stop. Although, instead of him stopping he just simply… walked away.

“Steve! Where are you going?”

“I am going to get both vanilla and chocolate cake and we are going to test them together. If I like the vanilla better than you win, if you like chocolate better than I win. Deal?”

“Fine, just because I want this argument to be over.”

He slightly chuckled at that statement and I swear my heart stopped then and there.

His laugh.

His laugh.

Every time I heard his laugh it was like the first time I had ever heard it before and I fell in love with him all over again.

I just want to be more than friends.

two

The whole gang was currently having a sleepover at the Curtis house, it was a bit small for all of us but we make it work

Right now though, Two-bit, Steve, and Sodapop were having an argument about which movie we were going to watch.

what is it with Steve and arguing with people?

I had no clue what they were even talking about anymore as I just sat back and listened. Darry had gone out to get the snacks for the movie, which was a big mistake leaving everyone unsupervised. Johnny and Ponyboy were both on the floor leaning against the couch, about to drift to sleep. Finally, Dally was out on the porch smoking, probably sick and tired of hearing the the boys argue.

Even though I didn’t know what they were talking about, I was on Steve’s side. No matter what. He just looks so passionate about what he is talking about and he is the perfect volume between yelling and talking, to where its not annoying but he is still getting his point across.

He is literally perfect.

And then Darry comes back with the snacks and most definitely sees me looking at Steve with love in my eyes and I am now regretting the fact that I cannot hide my emotions.

God, I am so far gone.

three

It seemed that I couldn’t hang out with Steve alone anymore because it was the third time this week that one or more of the gang member interrupted us.

Steve and I were just as the diner by ourselves because we hadn’t had a one-on-one conversation in a while and we wanted to catch up. That is when the whole rest of the gang comes in and decides to plop themselves right at our booth, which could barely fit all of us.

Steve and I were still across from each other though, and we both gave look that said “I want to kill them for interrupting us”. We didn’t even engage in conversation with the rest of the gang, we just talked to each other.

Steve had just made a joke and I was now dying laughing. It wasn’t even that funny but it was to me and to him. After I was done with my laughing fit, I looked at Steve and we made eye contact.

Since when were his eyes so pretty?

We held eye contact for about three second, smiling like idiots, before both getting flustered and looking away.

Before either of us could say anything, Sodapop engaged Steve in a conversation.

four

I had been having an absolute shit day. First, I had woken up late, missed the school bus and inevitably had to walk to school. Second, none of the gang was at school today. None of them. Johnny and Ponyboy where on a class field trip to God knows where and Two-bit was sick with the flu. I felt more like an outsider than I usually do. Third, I got an F on an exam that is worth 30% of our semester grade. That was going to do damage.

Honestly, the only thing that I could look forward to was going to the DX after school. I wanted to see my bestfriend.

So, finally, the school day was over and I walked over to the DX, which is luckily only about a 5 minute walk from my school.

I walked through the door and immediately spotted Sodapop.

“Hey Soda! Where’s Steve?” I asked him, anxious to find my bestfriend.

“Gee, thanks for asking me how I’m doing Y/N. He’s in the back.” Soda replies sarcastically.

I just roll my eyes at him and head to the back where Steve is.

“Hey Steve!” I say, excited to finally be able to be with him after my long day.

“Oh, hey Y/N. How was your day?” Steve replies, turning around when he heard my voice. I always loved how considerate he was of my feeling and making sure that I’m okay.

“Honestly? Pretty shit.” I say nonchalantly, as if that was the normal response.

“Oh, why is that?” Steve asks, his face scrunches a little in confusion and worry.

“Just a lot. It was pretty stressful today.” I say exasperated.

“Well, how about this, we go to the drive in, just you and me, and we get dinner afterwards too. It’s all on me. Deal?” Steve offers.

“Steve you don’t need to do all of that for me.” I sigh at him. Sometimes he too considerate.

“Hey. Yes I do, it is my job as your bestest friend to take care you.” He says, grabbing my chin in the process. I genuinely thought I was going to faint. I mean like actually. Steve was grabbing my chin. And it sounded like he wanted to take me on a date? What a world I am living in.

five

The gang had just gotten out of a rumble with the socs and Steve was hurt. Bad. We had gotten to the Curtis house after the rumble and he just locked himself in the bathroom. This is very unlike Steve.

“Steve, come on, please let me in. I just want to see you.” I plead outside of the door of the bathroom, not caring that the others can see and hear me.

Quickly, the door opens and I get pulled into the bathroom and then the door shuts again.

Steve is shirtless with his wound on full display. Some fucking idiot soc had brought a blade to the rumble and had been able to get a clean cut right across Steve’s upper chest. Steve was looking to the ground, as if he was ashamed.

“Oh Steve.” I say softly, instinctively getting the first aid kit out.

“Can I please help clean your cut and bandage it?” I ask Steve lowering my head so I can look him in the eyes. He nods softly, still not looking directly at me.

I disinfect his wound, trying to be as quick and careful as possible because if I heard one more sad whimper from him, I was going to cry.

“Hey, look at me Steve. I know it hurts but you will be okay.” I say trying to comfort him because seeing him so sad and hurt, pains me.

“I’m just, I feel like I disappointed everyone tonight, you know? Like, I should have been able to protect myself, protect you but I couldn’t do it right.” He says, tears now rolling down his cheeks.

I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand the fact that he was here, in front of me, talking bad about himself. He was as perfect as human can be and he is worried about protecting, me? I’m not even injured.

In fact, I couldn’t stand it so much, that I did the only thing I could think of to comfort him.

I kissed him.

I captured his lips in a very light and soft kiss that was barely even there, yet it lasted for a while and was so electric. At first, he was just frozen with shock and I was worried I did something wrong. Then, he melted into the kiss just as I was and it was a beautiful moment.

We eventually broke apart and looked into each other’s eyes and I finally saw his dopey and joyful smile that I loved so much.

“Boy, do we have some explaining to do to the gang.”

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word count: 1474