#briefs siblings

[okiroash]

aaa

[fandomfoundmyart]

she's everything, he's just dream

[fruity-fruition]

Tenma siblings headcanons from the top of my head

--

I'm a FIRMM believer that Tenma siblings are very physically affectionate (i.e. hugs, forehead kisses, cheek kisses, high fives, shoulder bumping, cuddling, hair ruffling, etc)

This takes Toya fully by surprise when they do it to him outright, without any room for denial.

--

Tsukasa was eating breakfast with Saki and Toya before realizing he was going to be late for a meet-up with Wondershow.

He has this thing, where he instinctively kisses Saki on the forehead before he heads off, so he does. But, in his unfiltered older brother instinct and disarray, he kisses Toya on the forehead too. And just. Leaves.

Toya kinda blue screens before snapping back and being like "what."

Saki doesn't even bat an eye lmao she just kinda looks at him like he's a little weird.

Toya: (literally saw Tsukasa kiss Saki's forehead first before beelining to him without any hesitation) "I think... he mistook me for you"

Saki: "Toya you dumb fuck (/affectionate) you've been one of us since you stepped foot in our house"

--

Tenma siblings cuddle a lot, usually on the couch during movies. Tsukasa in the middle, Saki to his right, and Toya to his left. They aren't aware of the set position but whenever they switch, all of them all at once just think "something is not right rn"

While cuddling, Tsukasa often uses his right hand (which Saki is leaning on) to either scroll his phone, read, or so show work (costume designing, script writing, ideas, etc). He always leans his head on Saki's. He uses his left hand to run through Toya's hair.

--

Toya starts referring to Saki and Tsukasa as his siblings and family outside sometimes.

Saki and Tsukasa listens to pop music sometimes. Not their main music taste, but enough for it to be significant.

This culminates to a very confusing moment for VBS, who've met Toya's biological, douche, emotionally constipated classical music family, when they hear Toya say "Oh, yeah I know Taylor Swift. My family listens to her sometimes."

Which scared VBS to their core because why is Harumichi Aoyagi listening to western white girl music

--

Tsukasa loves baking and cooking. It's a stress reliever thing for him. This is a huge bonus for his siblings (mainly Saki. Toya's not a huge sweets person) because there's always sweets in the pantries.

Toya never sneaks into the kitchen alone, he wouldn't dare. Plus, again, not a huge sweets person. Saki, however, is a horrible influence. They often have 2am gossip, accompanied by brownies and vanilla ice cream.

--

Toya and Saki can't cook for their life. (I know canonically, they're okay-ish, but hear me out.)

Toya, raised as a rich kid for most his life, has never cut a single raw ingredient in his life until his late teen years.

Saki's been hospitalized for the majority of her life.

Tsukasa's the only Tenma sibling with cooking and baking skills (considering he had to fend for himself for a while)

While they were baking together, Toya and Saki managed to get the batter on the ceiling AND explode the microwave because the batter had too much eggshells in it when they put it in. Tsukasa had to call Rui over to fix it.

Tsukasa: "I can't pay you for now, Rui I'm so sorry-"

Rui: "Don't worry about it, Tsukasa"

Tsukasa: "I'll repay you in sweets when we're done?"

Rui: "...preferably not ceiling ones but yeah I'd like that"

--

Speaking of,

Ruikasa starts dating and Tsukasa swears that Rui had nothing to worry about when it comes to his family. They're welcoming! They're open! They'll love him.

Rui decided to not tell him about the glares coming from a certain pinkish blonde and split haired boy when they announced the news. (At least the parents were sweet)

Toya and Saki actually has no real gripes against Rui. They're protective, sure, they will eventually corner Rui and interrogate him, but Saki just thinks it's funny and Toya is just Toya. Rui's paranoid lmao

--

Akito punching Toya in the main story left a bruise (as seen in the official animation) which Tsukasa and Saki got really concerned about during their arcade hangout (Toya's first 3* side story).

Tsukasa figured out that Akito was the one who did it, and ranted to Saki about it. But he retracts it when the duo made up.

Saki isn't letting that shit go, oh no. This GINGER punched her brother?? Then, she started hearing about how Akito likes messing with Tsukasa, even insulting him to his face sometimes.

So she has a personal beef with Akito. Who didn't even know she existed.

When Akito first step foot into the Tenma household, he was dreading the presence of Tsukasa, but to his shock and horror, Tsukasa is actually more tame at home.

His biggest worry should've been the girl with pigtails, who, upon seeing him, got up from her chair and heads straight to her room. not breaking eye contact.

It takes a while, but Saki and Akito gains an unlikely alliance.

--

Names I gave to the Tenmas:

Tenma siblings: All three of them, at once

Tenma Twins: Saki and Toya

Tenma brothers: Tsukasa and Toya

Prototype Tenma: Tsukasa and Saki

(real original I know)

--

Kohane is Wondershow's number #1 fan, probably Tsukasa's number #6 fan (I love her but her competition is Saki, Toya, and Wondershow. Idk what to tell you. At least she got a number)

She absolutely loses it when Toya got them all free tickets to one of their shows.

Akito dreads going. An is slightly excited. Kohane is radiating pure joy.

Akito nearly cries when when Kohane admits that she actually likes Tsukasa as a person, not just a performer, when she properly meets him.

Akito: "An you're my only hope. Toya's biased, Kohane's insane"

An: "idk dude Tenma and Kamishiro are pretty cool when they're not actively trying to blow the school up"

Akito: "An please"

--

I have so much more idk maybe I'll post more later

[t4tadrienette]

They're so annoying little brother and older sister coded

+ Bulma making the plane go faster and making Goku fall:

[quecksilvereyes]

oh, sister, I am sorry. your eyes are sunken and your skin is bruised. your lips are chapped, your nailbeds bitten raw. your husband's hand on your waist is a ghost's touch held by the band on your left ring finger and I-

I am dead.

I got on the train, Su. Nevermind your tears, nevermind the plea you could not shape with words, nevermind your fingers on the pulse point of my wrist. "stay", you'd said, as you have always done, dictionary in hand and baby teeth yet lodged in your jaw. "don't go where i cannot."

I step through a wardrobe and you follow, damned be reason. I slay a wolf and you follow, I cling to the little ones and you follow, I am crowned and you follow, I am-

I go past a lamp post, and you follow, damned be dread. I go to a train station and you follow, trembling hands and tender heart. I go, and I go, and I go, and you follow. Sun of my skies. Light of my life.

I go. you stop.

are we too old for stories, now? ten-and-four and ten-and-three, budding bodies and steel bones, we are cast from our home. i hold the little ones until i drown in them. you grip your skirts until no iron can press the shape of your palms from them. and you have ever been, cruelly reasonable and logically callous.

say you, glass shard eyes and rouge-red lips: we are english. we are children. she thinks she has found a magical land in the upstairs wardrobe.

say I, trembling hands and coiling guts: we are narnian. we are monarchs. if she's not mad and she's not lying, then logically she must be telling the truth.

my sister Susan, beautiful as folk tales are and twice as sharp, did you intend every invitation you took for me to twist the knife a godly animal once thrust into my guts? perhaps it was the way your eyes turned blue, or the sound of your laughter losing its bells. perhaps it was just my trembling fingers at the back of your legs, drawing stocking lines where no stockings had ever lain.

the line came out shaking, and you rubbed it off until your skin cried red. the hem of your dress still dripped wet when you left that day, turning on heels too narrow for you to walk in.

do you remember? it took you days to come home, and mother wailed for all of them. you crawled into my bed that night, as you did when we were parents to our little ones, those terrible months. your head on my shoulder, your breath in my ear, I held you until morning.

your mouth in my throat, eyes heavy with sleep, tongue heavy with champagne: we are here now. we must make the best of it. he cannot have all our lives, and all our joys. i wish you would laugh again.

doesn't little lucy, shrieking mouth and tumbling legs, laugh enough for us all?

lucy's manic. if she didn't laugh she'd cry.

i think sometimes, in the parts of my guts that are still a schoolboy, and are mean and cruel to match, that the alcohol makes you softer than the daylight ever could. i do not tell you.

i press my lips to your forehead. i wrap my arms around you. the year between us rings heavy, and when I get up in the morning, you do not follow.

I tried, Su. I did. I applied for university, I saw that girl with that smile. with those eyes. I let you take sections from the paper before I ever touched it, I held the little ones in my arms, and I made coffee in the morning. I sat all my exams.

I smiled when the little ones came back smelling of home.

Aslan's wounds, did I try. but-

I have ever been a thing made for stories. brave the way knights are, bloody knuckles and buckling pride. a horse between my calves, a sword in my hands.

I think, sometimes, that I was born for my sword, for the hollow ringing of my heart when I first held it. a part of me, even then, ten-and-three and soaked to the bone.

such bravery is not made for real world boys and real world taunts. there is a map, I think, from the summits of my knuckles to the jaws of every boy who ever looked at me and bared his teeth.

I am sovereign. I am the skies for your sun to burn in.

I am made wrong, for this england, and I cannot take this life you want. I belong, I think, into myths and legend, the star-studded shards of our home.

so I went on the train, Susan. so I died, and I named what you have chosen. so I banned you from their scorning mouths. so you grip your husband's hand, realest of us all, and you cry. you do not follow.

Forgive me.

[sincerely-sofie]

Hi, I was the anon who had the idea of Skunktank running into Merit and Constance and idk if my ask made it through. I hope it didn’t, because I was not finished typing lmao-

But I imagine Skunktank doesn’t know much about Ruby’s past. She doesn’t want to talk about it. He does remember there was a period of time where Opal looked devastated, and that she wouldn’t explain what happened. Ruby showed up in Twig’s and Ark’s care not too long after. It’s only a little later he just happens to catch Ruby’s illusion waver a little, and he sees these . . . Scars. Scars that shouldn’t ever be on a child. He thinks that maybe, just maybe, that he saw it wrong, but he gnaws at the back of his head until he pulls Twig aside and tells her that maybe Ruby should be taken to the doctor, because he thinks he saw some scarring. Twig takes a deep inhale, pausing to find the words, and the longer she takes, the more dread Skunktank feels.

Eventually Twig tells him that they know about the scars, and that Ruby is recovering. She’s safe, so it’s best not to ask either of the girls about it. When Skunktank presses — out of concern, a rare sight from him — Twig tells him it’s not her story to tell. After another brief pause, she continues and says that she would appreciate it if he kept an eye out for two Hisuian Zoroarks — one normal, one shiny — always together with matching burn scars. She doesn’t want Skunktank to do anything other than tell her and Ark where they are and if they’re coming anywhere close to the village. That’s it. Do NOT do anything else. If he won’t listen for Twig, listen for Ruby and Opal.

Skunktank can’t get anymore information, so he lets it go for now. Ruby is safe and healthy, so that’s all that matters. If anyone can keep her safe, it’s legendary battler Twig and nightmare bringer Ark. It’s put in the back of his mind. Some time later, when he’s away from the village, he bumps into two Pokémon with burn scars all over their hands. When they fall, their illusions drop and reveal two Hisuian Zoroarks, their burn scars still remaining. Skunktank sees their claws, and his mind flashes back to the shape of Ruby’s scars and Twig’s warning. He knows who they are now. He looks at them, and he can’t help but feel sick. He’s nauseated. He wonders if he’s staring at another imagine of himself — a version that went too far. A version that would have just shrugged their shoulders at the thought of those little Azurill and Marill kids going into the Amp Plains to get their treasure back, uncaring if they got hurt. A version of themselves that got two kids in the form of a Mudkip and Charmander hurt.

These two are attempted murderers, free to go due to lack of evidence, leaving their baby sister with scars from a wound that it was a miracle that she survived from.

It’s no wonder Twig hates him. He’s looking into some distorted mirror — one that’s not entirely accurate, but still displays a general image — and he hates what he’s looking at too.

ANON I’M LOSING MY MIND

I did get the ask, actually! I’ve just been slowing down answering asks in general because I’m (yet again) sick as a dog, and I wanted to give that ask a more extensive, drawn response!

Here’s an incomplete teaser where Twig and Ark ask Skuntank to take Ruby out on a walk for her physical therapy while they’re stuck dealing with legal stuff. They encounter Merit and Constance while out and about.

For some bonus context, despite Ruby’s strong preference to hide her bandages (and later her scars) using illusions, she’s been instructed to avoid using illusions whatsoever. However, she’s still keeping her form of a unovan zorua secret, so she’s still using that illusion:

[tarucore]

I think that Bruce never really wanted a large family, like he loves them now, sure, but in the beginning he thought that it would be him and Dick against the world forever

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Steve smiled as he watched Eddie move around his kitchen. He wore his usual dark clothing. He wore an aged Led Zepplin shirt that turned into a crop top and a pair of cut-off shorts that showed off his skinny but long legs that Steve couldn't help but admire. He wore the apron that the kids bought Steve as a joke for Mother's Day, but the joke was on them when Steve wore it proudly whenever they came over. Then he went full mom mode to get back at them. He kissed their injuries and wiped dirt off their face with his thumb. He also got their homework from their parents and stuck them proudly on his fridge. The final kick in the bucket was when he tucked them all in when they spent the night. They swore to never get him another Mother's Day gift for him again. Steve smirked at the flowery apron. It contrasted so much against Eddie's dark clothing, but somehow, Eddie pulled it off.

"The pearls represent your mother's oppression in her marriage, how she gave up everything to chase after a man who doesn't love her. She even gave up her own son, and I'm telling you now that I'm not going to be like her. As your friend, I'm here, and I'm grateful for everything that you've done for me," Eddie said as he made him breakfast. "You pulled me out of hell, and then you nursed me back to health. Now, you're housing both me and my uncle until we get our new place. As your friend, I will not abandon you. You've got another person who cares for you, and I promise, I swear to the Metal Gods that I will not leave you alone unless you want me to."

Eddie had a string of pearls around his neck, his hair pulled into a messy bun so they wouldn't catch. Weirdly enough, they looked good on him. Eddie was getting angry on his behalf after overhearing a phone call from his mother, a mother who could care less that her son had gotten injured again. He had been trying to ask if he could keep the pearls that had been bought for Steve’s mother after his father cheated the first time. She had never worn them and probably never would.

Steve let him keep them, and now here he was, cooking him breakfast before he had to work. They had actually argued on it, and so, Steve finally caved into letting him breakfast for him. He watched as he ranted, a smirk on his lips. No, Eddie would not make a good housewife. He would make a good househusband. They both would, and Steve could see it now. The both of them taking turns taking care of each other, treating each other like equals as they broke away from the hierarchy that was high school. It would be a true partnership.

Eddie placed their plates and cups of coffee down on the breakfast table before sitting down in front of him. Steve watched him, taking a sip from his World's Greatest Brother mug. Eddie shoveled food into his mouth, his cheeks filling up like he was storing food away for winter. Steve smiled at him, and Eddie swallowed his food, glaring at him.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Eddie asked.

"No, you're perfect," Steve said with a fond smile.

What he meant to say was 'no, you're good', but it seems his mouth ran away from him. Eddie blushed and went back to eating, glancing at Steve every so often. Steve blushed and focused on eating. He was so focused on eating and thinking about Eddie that he lost track of time.

"Shit! I'm going to be late for work!" Steve cursed and began looking for his keys.

Eddie held them up with a smirk on his face. Steve took them gratefully before looking around the room.

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it," Eddie said. "Go."

Steve turned to leave but then stopped and looked at Eddie.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something," Steve said.

"Can't leave for work without your kiss, dear," Eddie said, batting his eyelashes, puckering his lips, and closing his eyes.

Steve furrowed his brows and put his hands on his hips for a minute. Did he really think he wouldn't do it? Steve grasped the back of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Eddie froze for a minute before responding eagerly. He wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck and pulled him closer. He nibbled on Steve’s bottom lip before breaking the kiss. Steve grinned.

"I wish I could take you and your pretty lips with me," Steve said. "It would make work so much more bearable."

"Maybe you can. What's a little rule breaking?" Eddie asked as he inflated his eyes.

"Fuck it. Yeah, you're coming with me," Steve said.

"Wait, what about - ?" Eddie asked, pointing at the dirty dishware.

"Go. I'll take care of it," Wayne's floated into the room as he walked in. "And I didn't hear or see anything that you didn't want me to."

"Thanks, Uncle Wayne!" Eddie exclaimed as he took off the apron. "I left some food for you too!"

Eddie allowed Steve to take his hand and pull him eagerly out the door. Wayne smiled fondly at his boys as he watched them leave. Meanwhile, Eddie was sprawled out in the front seat when Steve went to pick up Robin. She scowled at Eddie when she had to crawl into the backseat.

"Uh, I didn't realize it was take your metalhead to work day. If I had known, I wouldn't have left mine in Indie out by the dumpsters, you know, where they put the trash," Robin glared mockingly at Eddie, who flipped her off and reached behind him to pinch her leg causing her to shriek.

They didn't actually hate each other, but they did squabble like siblings, and in another life, Steve was pretty sure that they had been siblings.

"Behave," Steve scolded lightly.

"He stole my seat, Steven, but I'll let it go just this once since you managed to pull your head out your asses. . .the both of you," Robin said.

"How did you - ?" Steve asked.

"Your auras are screaming at me, my lovesick friends," Robin said and slipped on her sunglasses. "I'm going to get a few more shut eyes in. Wake me when it's time to actually do some work. You guys can just drag my unconscious body in, right?"

Steve laughed with Eddie as Eddie slipped his hand into his. Holy shit, he had never been happier.

[everysongineverykey]

i love how unfatherly crowley and aziraphale both are when it comes down to it. sure aziraphale is more than willing to give the young people in his life help and advice and be their friend but he and crowley spent six years (eleven in the book) practically raising a kid (you just know his parents weren't around that often) and by the end they didn't even like him. crowley even suggested they just fucking kill him. he turned three kids into lizards for annoying him right after he destroyed their house. like it was that or kill them obviously but he did NOT hesitate with the newts. that's so funny to me. they're just inherently disinclined to parenthood. we need more characters like them actually

[xpeterstarkx]

hotch, walking into the room and seeing the whole team is gone except prentiss: where's reid?

prentiss: doing stuff.

hotch: i don't like the sound of that. where's morgan?

prentiss: trying to stop reid from doing the stuff.

hotch: …and garcia?

prentiss: trying to stop morgan from stopping reid from doing the stuff! :)

hotch: …i see …and what are you doing here, prentiss?

prentiss: i’m supposed to stop you from stopping garcia from stopping morgan from stopping reid from doing the stuff. :)

hotch, going back to his office: i hate this family.

[screechingkroh]

I told you guys there'd be a reboot.

[aiodenhunt]

Where is Morgie??

I was trying to write something hook sibling’s related and my mind came to a stop thanks to the question lmao T_T

Is he in the isle? Did he manage to like, not be considered bad enough for the isle? Is bro even alive? We might never know. (As he is never mentioned in canon pre-D4, maybe I should just wait for the novelization to come out)

[darkened-sunlight]

Hey Dawn, do you have any activities you particularly enjoy?

Really I can't do much- I'm... Pretty sickly for a young god- I also like drawing, reading... All that boring sheltered kid stuff!

One day, I'm gonna be able to explore the world, but that's for when I'm older... If mama lets me anyways... Eh. I'll be an adult! She won't have a say in it!

[camellia-thea]

one thing the show didn't really touch on is why armand is so against claudia in the books. this is definitely linked to casting and backstory changes, especially related to age, but i think it's really important and still rings through in the show.

armand in the books was turned at seventeen. his ambivalence to claudia's death, his dislike of her, are both completely intertwined with his perception of himself. in the books claudia was turned at five years old. he saw his inability to age, his permanent youth in her, and saw his sire within louis. a benevolent savior turned captor, lover, father. he resents her because she was turned too young, like he was turned too young, but displaces the blame onto lestat and claudia, rather than louis.

louis, who dragged a dying claudia to lestat for her to be turned. compared to amadeo, dying of sickness (or poison) and being turned so a father does not lose a child, a lover does not lose his beloved.

i think it makes his jump to maître with louis even more complicated, especially when you consider that armand was bought by marius from a brothel, and was frequently "donated" to marius' venetian contemporaries, and louis' status as a former pimp.

this comparison between marius and louis becomes more complex when you look at claudia's desire to leave and how armand was taken away from marius by the roman coven. i think armand in some sense overlays his own traumatic separation onto claudia and louis. this could make bruce's presence a comparison to the children of darkness(/satan) and the torture armand received at the hands of the roman coven. if you leave, you get hurt. i think he resents claudia wanting to leave louis, wanting to join the coven, wanting, wanting, wanting. armand is so stuck in himself and his history, his need to have purpose that the idea that claudia wants to and is trying to create herself a space away from louis is practically unthinkable.

"without the burden of her" weighs a lot heavier, i think, when you also consider that marius lived through the fire, immediately made a new fledgling, and did not follow armand. and it's unclear of how much armand knows about marius post-fire in the show, but armand has been left behind so many times, by marius, by the roman coven, by lestat.

i think he is caught up in both his idea that a maker and fledgling will, no matter what, hate and ruin one another, and his longing for someone to step into that role for him again. but he also so desperately wants control over his situation in a way that claudia mirrors. both lacking agency for reasons outside their control, with dependence on external figures who are a significant part of their lack of agency. he hates her, i think, because she has the courage to do what he does not.

another thing to note about armand is his certainty that claudia will cast herself into the fire. his conversation with madeleine was as much a conversation about himself as it was about claudia. armand has spent almost the entirety of his vampire life at the very least passively suicidal. he cannot commit the act himself because he desperately wants to live and connect with the world, but if something were to harm him, it is unclear whether he would try to stop it. madeleine's certainty that she would be enough to stop claudia from feeling the same way was, i think, extremely confronting to armand, as his desperate attempts to attach himself to people have all been attempts to live again. except; they've all left him in the end.

it's easier for her to die, in the end. to assure himself that louis will want him forever without the barrier, to assure himself that he can live where she doesn't, to prove to himself that he is right about everything, than it is to consider that her circumstances -- the want to leave and love and live -- could've been his.

[autumnmobile12]

Status: I have made a minor adjustment to Touya and Fuyumi's conversation in Chapter 6 of Ambush Simulation because sibling shenanigans are my jam.

I know it's been a week, but if you still need a laugh after that last episode, here you go:

...

The Original:

Fuyumi leaned her head against his leg and snaked her arm around his calf in an unconventional hug.  “Who did end up playing Snow White in the end?”

“Fuck, I don’t remember.  I just know you were the Evil Stepmother.”

“Magic Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”  She giggled.  “You were just part of the stage crew, right?  Lighting and all that?”

“Yeah.”  Dress or no dress, raising his voice till it was loud enough to project throughout an auditorium for any length of time would have strained his damaged vocal chords.  If it didn’t temporarily put them out of commission entirely.  He took a deep breath.  “Hey.  You should know,”  he began.  “The thing we’re doing at the camp, it does involve a lot of fire.”

...

The Re-Write:

Dress or no dress, raising his voice till it was loud enough to project throughout an auditorium for any length of time would have strained his damaged vocal chords.  If it didn’t temporarily put them out of commission.  However…  “No.  I was the ass-end of the Prince’s horse.”

Yumi burst out laughing,  “Oh, that’s right!  You were zipped into that thing!”

“With my head uncomfortably close to Yamasaki’s ass.  He threatened me with flatulence if I made snarky comments, which fair, I was making a lot.  I was being a butt about being a horse’s butt, sue me.  Then he told me to ‘know my place,’ and I said, ‘yes, Daddy,’ which is how we wasted fifteen minutes of rehearsal time because nobody had their shit together after that.”

His sister was laughing harder, her whole body shaking as she wiped tears from her eyes.  “I forgot!  Holy shit, how could I forget that?”

Touya grinned up at the ceiling.  “I should give Yamasaki a call.  See how he’s doing.  Although I don’t think we ever called each other by our names after that.  I think we were Top and Bottom from that day forward.”

“No!”

“I mean, prophetic words given my preferences, but——”

“Gross!  I don’t need to hear that!”  Her head was in her hands now.  “Oh hell, you’ve made my headache worse.”

“Need to throw up again?”

“No,”  she groaned.

They fell into a comfortable silence, barring occasional snorts and giggling.  Touya’s ribs ached as he took a deep breath and softly brushed a hand over Fuyumi’s hair.  “Hey.  You should know,”  he began.  “The thing we’re doing at the camp, it does involve a lot of fire.”

[hadesoftheladies]

hate going for christian weddings sometimes because i always see the prettiest women with the ugliest men, the sermon is always some shit about wives being slaves (but not like bad slavery, mutual slavery except the husband is a benevolent master which makes it okay) and making babies for their husband, the music is always lame, the mc is always weird and obnoxious, and older women keep fucking asking me when it's gonna be my turn and never take no for an answer.