#but if I get no responses then it’s just gonna be my thoughts which I dare say are mediocre 💀

[aquaglow]

confidence guide for awkward girls 💫

LEARN TO SHUT UP. this is the first advice because it is probably the most important one, but the one that took me the longest to comprehend and master. girl, literally just shutting the fuck up does wonders. most of the times I was embarrassed out of my mind was coz I said something completely avoidable, only because I believed that being quiet was either rude or more awkward than whatever I rambled at that moment. bzzt, WRONG! being quiet means first of all being non-reactive, which gives you time to really reflect on what's being said and whether or not it even requires a response, and guess what; like 80% of the time, it does not. you are allowed to not respond, nod along, go "hmm" or "oh!" and leave it at that.

LEARN TO "FAKE" SMILE. this may seem controversial but it helps me so much. I've always been accused of looking mean, bitchy or just too serious, especially since I started to shut the fuck up (see previous item). and I am guilty as charged: I do have a RBF and when I am focused my eyebrow goes ò_o and I look judgemental and almost evil, and when I tried to balance it out by being funny or witty, it just came off even more awkward. the solution? I've started practicing a fake smile in front of the mirror when I was about 13 years old until I got the muscle memory of it so perfectly that now it's my response to nearly everything that I don't want/can't respond to. throwing an easy smile into a conversation will make you seem relaxed and in control even if you're bubbling anxious inside, and people will feel more at ease with you. also: learn to be generous with compliments, and try to make them your auto-response as well!

STOP COMPARING YOURSELF. comparison is the mark of insecurity and envy, and it's one of the ugliest and most useless habits you can have. yes, useless: what benefit do you get from comparing your face and body and circumstances to somebody else's? and please don't pretend you're getting "inspiration" from them. listen, you are your own lane. you are your entire universe. there is no other life to be lived, no other body to embody. this is it. these are the cards you were dealt with. the longer you try to peak into somebody else's cards, the longer you'll be ignoring yourself and neglecting your game. abandon ideas such as comparison, imitation or judgement towards others. confidence starts and ends with focusing on yourself.

LEARN TO CUT PEOPLE OFF. accumulating people in your life like they're pokémon is gonna be your downfall, because it's obvious not everyone can stay. imagine if a growing tree held onto all its leaves and branches, even the ones in obvious decay, how ugly and weak that tree would be, how much energy those dying parts would steal from the new ones in need of flourishing. it's the same with relationships. when someone disrespects you, hurts you, or simply doesn't align with you anymore, and you find excuses to keep this person around, what you're doing is betraying yourself, and how are you gonna have confidence in someone who betrays you? learn to cut people off or to simply let them go, and watch yourself become lighter and brighter.

QUIT BEING A BITCH. something people don't seem to understand is that the rude, conceited, mean girl persona is always revealed to be a small, petty and insecure rat on the inside. I've wasted years of potential connections trying to emulate the Blair Waldorf-y, Regina George-y vibes, trying to balance out my awkwardness with what I thought was their fierceness, because I was missing the whole point that their confident selves were lies. no girl or woman who is confident in herself spends any amount of time being a bitch, scheming to take people down, minding everyone else's business to make sure she stays on top. true confident people are kind even in the face of rudeness, they glow in shadows; their strength lies in tenderness. the sooner you give this mean girl show up, the better.

ABANDON YOUR NEED FOR APPROVAL AND COMPREHENSION FROM OTHERS. seeking approval is a very obvious trap but seeking comprehension is also dangerous, because the second people start doubting or questioning you – which is always going to happen when you decide to make a change of habits, traits, lifestyle etc – and you decide to explain yourself, you're accepting the premise that what you're doing is incomprehensible. if you're truly sure of yourself, there will be no need to assure others of yourself. if your peers or strangers don't understand it, so what? that's their enigma to sort out. respond to yourself and yourself only. if you understand and approve yourself, that's all you need, period. live for your damn self.

GOOD LUCK, LITTLE STARS 💫

[caitlynsbiggestfan]

𝑉𝐼 𝑀𝐼𝑁𝐼－𝑅𝐴𝑁𝑇

I hate when we’re discussing Vi and we pivot to her loyalty to Zaun just because I know done bullshit is about to come out. There are two very popular opinions in the subject that are just so stupid

she didn’t care for Zaun in the first place

she intentionally betrayed her city in favor of her lover

In question of one it’s just overall stupidity. Vi evidently in season one does care for her city, even as a child. She openly displays her wants to fight against Piltover aka their oppressors, she immediately is revolted by the fact that Vander is cutting deals with them, and overall has no sympathy for top side(which could be seen as a good or bad thing). However, we also see her face the reality of a good chunk of the people Vander once held trust for, betray him in favor of Silco’s less than peaceful plans. She also spends the next eight years in Stillwater, which easily could’ve been filled with Silco’s goons who have no problem to his bidding from a prison. Then when she gets out the fandom expects her first thought to be her “city”. The same city who at the end of the day turned their backs on Vander which to her is turning their backs on her and led to the deaths of her father and two brothers. So now all she has is her little sister who she still thinks is waiting for her. We know that Vi is a very family-centered character—she loves her family and will do anything to hold onto them so if her little sister is all she has left to hang onto. Vi’s gonna do that instead of caring for a city that doesn’t care for her and ravaged by shimmer to the point where the community her family had built was destroyed

Now when it comes to opinion two it’s a little trickier because for some of reason season two Vi is too complicated to get for some of this fandom, but I understand why. A lot of people see the show as something that revolves around solely Jinx when it doesn’t. this kind of feeds off my point from before, but Vi is very family oriented. After she’s faced with the reality that the Powder she knew is dead, she clings onto Caitlyn because she’s the last person she has. She feels guilty to a certain degree for the grief that Caitlyn has to go through for a monster of her creation or at least in her head. This stems from Vi’s responsibility to play mother and big sister to not only her little sister but tattoo other children. She sees herself responsible for the creation of Jinx because that’s all she ever known. A permanent sense of motherly responsibility for the people around her

[neganessie]

Nina was so excited for today. Everyone had agreed to come to her game night.

Yes it was in her little cell. And yes she couldn't exactly get snacks or drinks or anything, but she had gotten monopoly, and she thought they would enjoy playing.

Weasel was already in a corner of the room, chewing on whatever it was he brought with him. Nina had brought him with her after lunch, thinking that it would be easier then trying to find him later.

Phosphorus surprised her by arriving a little early. His arms full of plastic water bottles full of liquids of various colors.

She greeted him warmly. "Come in!What's that you got there? Is it science?"

Dr. Phosphorus genuinely laughed. "It is science but the delinquent kind."

He handed her a bottle. "Rum? Or are you a vodka girl?"

"Vodka? Rum? Wha... where did you get this?"

She was very surprised.

"Its not what you know, its who you know. And I know how to get elicit goods anywhere. Even prison." He set the other bottles down on the little table she had.

"Its not a party without the drinks." He looked back at her. "I'm smiling."

Her face lit up with a huge grin. "Thank you. I wasn't planning on anything but games. Maybe talking."

"Can you help me set it up?" She pressed her hands together excitedly.

She could never tell with Phosphorus what he was thinking, but his soft response let her know he wanted to be here.

"Sure. I'll help." He sat down and grabbed the box.

Nina had just sat down next to him when there was a knock at her door.

It was still a little early so she was surprised to see Bride standing there, holding several bags of chips and cookies.

She handed them to Nina. "Here. I thought you may have trouble getting snacks."

Nina smiled at her and she smiled back. "Are you gonna invite me in?"

"What? Oh yes." She stepped aside so the Bride could enter.

"Please come in."

As she entered and looked around at the other two occupants, Phosphorus waved at her.

"Hey." He went back to setting up the board.

"Hey." Bride sat down and grabbed the car piece. "Dibs."

"Hey, I wanted the car." Phosphorus protested.

"Should have grabbed it then." They both chuckled.

Nina placed the bags down by the bottles and ignored what looked like a tiny bit of dried blood on the bottom corner of one of the bags.

She sat down with the other two and together they set up the board. Nina agreed to be the banker since Bride and Phosphorus were arguing over which one of them wanted to do it. The compromise was Nina.

The bags of chips and bottles of various alcohols where gathered around there semi circle. Occasionally weasel, who plopped down next to Nina, would grab a bag and eat part of the contents before going back to his toy.

Nina couldn't really drink the alcohol but Bride and Phosphorus had downed several bottles apiece. They seemed to be in a unofficial drinking contest.

But neither of them seemed very drunk. Nina was jealous, she never could handle alcohol. Not that she didn't have vices. She just didn't like physically feeling bad.

"I brought something else to add to the party." Phosphorus reached into his shoe and pulled out a joint.

The Bride laughed. "You expect me to smoke your shoe joint?"

"I think we've both smoked worse." They both laughed.

Nina looked between them. She'd never been high before and wasn't sure she wanted to try it.

The Bride took the roll and placed in between her lips. "You know you could get solitary for providing this."

Phosphorus lit it with the end of his finger.

"I get solitary for just walking past a guard. At least with this it'll be for something fun."

She took a long pull and exhaled. She nearly coughed but played it off. "That's terrible. Lowest quality I've ever had."

Phosphorus took it and tried a drag. He did cough and waved the smoke away with his hand. "Yeah that's pretty bad. I didn't think anything could burn my lungs anymore."

Nina held her hand out. They both looked at her.

The Bride smiled. "This isn't the best for a first try."

"How do you know I haven't tried Marijuana before? I could smoke all the time." She sounded a little indignant.

The Bride and Phosphorus both looked at each other and nodded. The Bride pointed at her helmet.

"Alright Nina, but you gotta lose that." She reached out to help her take the helmet off.

Nina took the joint and after a moment of figuring out how to both hold her breath, and take a pull she had inhaled a tiny bit.

And hated it.

She started coughing and gasping. Bride put her helmet back on quickly and the water eased the burning in her throat and lungs.

She found one shoulder was being supported by Bride and one by Phosphorus. They were rubbing gentle circles into her shoulder blades.

Phosphorus spoke first. "That's some pretty nasty stuff."

Bride looked at her. "Are you glad you tried it?"

She sounded curious and supportive.

Nina finished clearing her lungs. "Yeah. That's terrible though. Why do people do that?"

Phosphorus answered. "It takes the edge off life."

They were interrupted by the loud sound of weasel snoring and they all looked over at him.

Nina looked back at the rest of the group. "Should we continue the game? Or do you want to leave? It is getting late."

Bride scoffed. "They'll have to drag me out of here before I concede my victory."

Phosphorus laughed. "You're in last place. I don't see a come back from that."

"You will soon." She laughed and Nina found herself smiling.

[thevoidstaredback]

Danny couldn’t tell you when he joined the team. The first time he’d met Zatanna, she’d invited him to join the Justice League Dark. He’d denied, but had decided to stick around anyway. Then, somewhere along the line, Constantine had given him a JL communicator and that had been that. There was no initiation, no paperwork, and no official title given. One day, Phantom just showed up.

The Justice League, according to Raven who heard from Red Robin who was told by Nightwing who’d been in the room when Batman had found out, had had a bit to say about not going through the official process.

Phantom still wasn’t an actual member of either team, but he wasn’t upset about that. Sure, he didn’t get any of the perks that everyone else did, but he wasn’t the slightest bit upset about that.

As far as legalities and technicalities were concerned, Phantom wasn’t a part of the Justice League Dark. So why, pray tell, was he in a meeting between the JL and the JLD? Again?

The threat was an unknown being of supernatural origin. At least, that’s what he’d been told. Deadman had contacted him half way through the meeting to tell him that they’d probably need his expertise on this matter. Which, Danny would like to point out, was a very niche area. But, Deadman is one of his team - whenever that had happened - as well as one of his people. He was inclined to believe him.

Turns out that showing up to that meeting when called was a good idea. It was a larger scale than when he’d first dealt with something like it, but he knew this particular pattern anywhere.

As King, the Infinite Realms fed him information about where his people were and what they were doing. If they were in one of the infinite realms, if they were in the in between they all called home. She even let him know when someone joined or rejoined their chosen afterlife, seeing as the Realm Between was first and foremost an Afterlife. What She told him most, though, is where Concepts and Gods were and what they were going. The Observants were supposed to keep track of everything, especially because he was dealing with Living business, but they were doing a horrible job.

“Comas.” Superman was explaining, “We don’t know the cause, and none of the people have anything obvious in common.”

“So we need to find the source and take care of it, yeah?” Constantine said. Superman nodded. The Brit turned to Phantom. “So, Phantom, you recognise this?”

Phantom sighed tiredly. He so needs a pay raise for this. “Yeah, I do.”

The heroes in the room straightened up. Deadman smiled, “See? I told you we’d need ya here!”

“Shut up, man, I was having a good break,” he whined. “Besides, I’m not even a part of either team.”

“No,” Zatanna nodded, “But you agreed to be a consultant for the JLD. Now do your job; consult.”

Groaning again, Phantom let his head fall to the table. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll go take care of it.” He stood, “C’mon, Deadman.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because I want ice cream after I’m done and I’m gonna make you buy it.”

“I’m dead!”

“And? So am I.”

“I-”

“Just go with him, Deadman. Unless you’d rather be stuck in the House?”

It was Deadman’s turn to sigh. “Yeah, fine, alright.”

“I told you I’m a younger sibling, right?”

“Gasp! No. My own King? The betrayal!”

***

Phantom thought he and Nocturn were on pretty good terms. The king of Dreams had been pretty chill since they’d first fought, never really stepping on any toes, but he just had to go pull shit like this!

Well, Phantom wanted to be mad at Nocturn. However, this wasn’t the king of Dreams’ fault. In fact, this wasn’t even the fault of any of his people! It looked like the work of a Realms Being, but closer inspection proved it to be a really good fake out.

“This isn’t Nocturn.” he said to Deadman, “This isn’t anything I’ve seen before.”

“So, it’s just a really good fake?” the ghost asked.

Phantom nodded. “Yeah. Sorry for doubting you, Nocturn.” There was no response, but he didn’t expect one. He knew the ghost heard, however.

“So, what do we do now?”

“We should probably report back and get a bigger team on this.”

“You’re going to willingly work with the teams?”

“I do anyway.”

“Fair.”

“C’mon, let’s go get ice cream and call Mister Battison.”

“I still can’t believe you don’t call him ‘Batman’. Have you called him that to his face yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Are you ever going to?”

“Maybe.”

As it turns out, being dead does, in fact, prevent you from buying ice cream. So, Phantom had to go as Danny to get ice cream for himself while Deadman contacted the Justice League. Can he call discrimination? Too much paperwork.

Someone has a huge pair of balls to copy Nocturn and blame him. How, was the question. How did they know how Nocturn operated? Was the copy on purpose, or was it a complete accident? How were they knocking these people out? How were they doing it on such a large scale? Was it one person? Was it an organization? Was it actually supernatural? He knew for a fact that it wasn’t the Realms or Her people, but that’s all he knew.

Half the job is detective work, which is why the Justice League operates as a team. The Justice League Dark keeps their information close to their chest, working with what they know because they already know everything they need to about the cases they work on. And if they don’t know something, the JL has someone find out for them while the JLD figures it out as they go along.

Danny’s never been good at investigative work. When he was a kid, all his heroing was punching the problem until it went away. And if that didn’t work, he got back up and punched harder. Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and Valerie had always been so much better at the whole ‘gathering information’ aspect.

He worked well with a team, but he liked to work alone.

“Constainte,” he said as soon as the man answered his phone, “It’s not sourced from the Realms.”

“Hello to you, too, mate,” the magic user grumbled, “Deadman just finished telling the League. You enjoy your ice cream?”

“Would’ve been better if I didn’t have to buy it,” he muttered. “Are we sure this is a supernatural problem? It looks like Nocturne's work, but it’s got ‘human made’ written all over it.”

“Batman’s been looking into it with his team, minus Red Robin. He assures that it’s magical.”

“Well that limits exactly nothing. I can head to the Realms and see if She can tell me anything, but I doubt it. Maybe try asking the City Spirits?”

“Not every city has a spirit, Phantom.”

“No, but they all have graveyards. Try the protection spirits in the cities of the victims. Maybe even try seeing if the hospitals they’re staying at are haunted.”

“And talk to Hospital Ghosts? No thanks.”

“They’re not that bad.”

“You only say that because you’ve never had to deal with a pissed off Hospital Spirit.”

“Don’t piss off the Hospital Spirits and you’ll be fine!”

“Easier said than done, kid.”

“Send Z if you’re really that nervous about it.”

“She’s even less likely to.”

“Then go with Nightwing.”

“You’d trust a Bat to talk to a Hospital Spirit?”

“I trust Nightwing to talk to a Hospital Spirit. And a Graveyard Spirit. Besides, isn’t one of the victims from Bludhaven?”

A sigh. “What’d he do to get your trust so easily?”

“He’s just a little guy, Connie!”

“He’s a grown ass man. And don’t call me Connie!”

“Exactly!” Phantom’s grin was audible. “He’s just a guy!” His energy dropped a bit. “Seriously, though, take Nightwing and talk to some Graveyard and Hospital Spirits. Also see if Lady Gotham can help out. I’ll go see what the Infinite Realms can tell me.”

“Alright. You’ll be back for dinner?”

“If you’re buying.”

Part 14 Part 16

[greatgoddyke]

all you ever need is to be nice and friendly

[xjumbled-up-brainx]

Hey Guys 👁️👁️

I really need y’all’s help, I’m summoning the combined strength of ALL octofans 🐙🐙🐙🌊🌊🌊

I require your headcannons your theories you’re EVERYTHING about what you think other anthropomorphic civilizations are like in the Octonauts universe 👁️👁️

I mean like are there cities, what are they like, how do anthropomorphic and not-anthropomorphic animals interact, which species are anthropomorphic, where the octoagents came from, what technology what architecture, how similar is it to our real world, I WILL LISTEN TO EVERYTHING

Give me evidence backed ideas, give me wild ideas with no proof whatsoever, I need to hear the voice of the people cause I want this new story to be as accurate and agreed upon by the fandom as possible and my jumbled up brain doesn’t have everything JSJSJ

This is a formal request, I call upon the powers of Brendon, lend me your mind dear Octofam, please share with me :3

[demigodofhoolemere]

Me through most of Boom: Wow, this is a really solid dramatic episode.

Me when Moffat needlessly sprinkles in anti-faith sentiments without specifying that it’s blind faith in bad things that the Doctor doesn’t like, which makes it come off like the Doctor is just against religion generally:

[watery-melon-baller]

im never quite good at dealing with people venting to me because my automatic response is to offer them a solution, and i get frustrated if they continue to vent without taking the solution, especially if it's a simple solution. i am aware that everyone has issues and that things are difficult but sometimes i see my friends and i just get so. envious and annoyed because they can just sit there and whine without even doing anything. which is a cruel thing to think because they do have legitimate issues but every time they're talking im just always thinking in the back of my head just do the fucking thing. Just do it. It doesn't Matter if X and Y are affecting you just fucking do it you have to do it you can't just sit on your ass and not do it. and i don't want to say that to my friends because it is mean and not nice and they have real legitimate issues and i completely understand where they're coming from and why they're struggling but my internal dialogue is a constant manta of "didnt ask didn't care stop being a little bitch and get over yourself and do it" because that's what i have to tell myself to get anything done

[javierduffy]

ohh javieran … javieran post kieran’s death .., javier is a poor lonesome cowboy in america a long way from home with no more sweetheart to sit and talk with him ooohhh can anyone hear me ….

[moe-broey]

My therapist hasn't killed me yet 👍

[the-brainrot-central]

Hot tip for teens: maybe don’t go to college straight out of high school, especially if you don’t know what you want to study, have zero work ethic, motivation, or desire to succeed, and no goals correlated to obtaining your degree to motivate you. Cus if you do, you’re gonna be pretty fucked.

[mars-ipan]

kinda funny when ur brain’s gut instinct is repression so you just kinda watch while your stress and emotions get bottled and corked and the whole time ur just like “that is going to bite me in the ass so bad later but i can’t seem to open the damn bottles without getting glass everywhere so! guess we’ll wait”

[leapinarmadillo]

ohhhh. i forgot that people used to say michael was getting surgeries in order to look like diana ross. ugh. i don't think there's anything to that but............ugh.

[todayisafridaynight]

Hey so Snap this is going to be so fucking weird, but honestly don’t care. So I was watching a clip of Drag Race Philippines and it was the make over episode and I think they were making over family members and this father was all about getting into drag. So, I just wanted to tell you never forget how much of a lovely loving kind and caring father you have, who loves you and protects you and makes you feel heard. That’s all.

i'd have to die before i forget how great my dad is thank you for the opportunity to brag about him again anon

[loumauve]

I snapped today at work, and by snapped I mean I politely commented on a help desk ticket by summing up an mess of an (type of) issue that's come up for at least the fourth time in the 2+ months I've been managing user accounts, and asked the person responsible to fix it (himself for once) because last time I fixed his mess-up it took me two whole days to work out the details with at least four other colleagues from different departments and I really don't want to do it again. there's other shit that needs doing, I've been working 10+ hour days for most of this week already, so I need to cut down not add on more.

(good thing tho - at least we managed to fix the issue where the dataset of a newer employee got mixed up with another one of the same name and therefore wasn't able to apply for any of the access/accounts she needed. technically not entirely my area but it does impact us not being allowed to create an account for her so I figured I might as well track that issue down. took three days and at least three other people, but hey - it should all work out now. yay for that)

[kittlyns]

I had yet another long, strenuous day yesterday and didn't finish work until super late and then I couldn't fall asleep until well past 2am cuz I was in so much pain from standing literally all day