#like having an understandable motivation is really important

[ronearoundblindly]

Just thinking about how we as Alpine could dote on sweet Steve...

(part of Companion Animal, a steve x shapeshifter!reader series)

He's just so easy to read, like an emotional open book, and when Steve's worried about anything at all, you just have to sit with him and stare. He always cracks. He'll tell you everything, and as you continue to gaze with that caring he always recognizes in your eyes, he keeps going, every bit of honesty just flowing out of him.

Sometimes, however, Steve begs for you to change back. He wants to listen to you talk about your day. He wants to hear what you think, what you would do in his place, what you've been up to. Steve likes companionship in all its forms--you in all your forms--but loves the equanimity of human-to-human interaction.

There are so many reasons you shift to a cat, but the biggest is that life is simpler this way. It was the motivation for your first change: you wanted things to be simple. If you feel small, you can be small. If you don't feel like talking, you don't have to.

Steve envies your powers honestly. He knows what it was like to be small and overlooked. Steve actually misses that from time to time. He never thought he would.

Tonight, though he has no idea why you've felt the need to be small and quiet, Steve holds you in his lap, balancing your fluffy body in a soft curl at his hip. He talks, and once he's covered all the important bits of his day, he keeps talking about nothing at all. He mentions a new houseplant or two that he wants, but he's not sure whether to find some clippings to propagate or to go buy them.

Steve never noticed how much he talks about food until he started filling the empty air with you. He would apologize for that, but he has a lot of opinions about chicken (all the proteins, really) and serving sizes (you stop him with a chirp when he mentions 'pricing' though). There are also certain meals that go very well with certain types of weather, which he thinks should be obvious but still lays out a case for having soup and stew always at the ready for rainy days and--

"Are you asleep, babygirl?" he asks in astonishment. "Why didn't you stop me? You could have asked to go to bed if you were tired."

Steve tries very hard not to turn his frown upside down as you yawn, a big gesture for such a little thing. You're so cute. You know he can't resist the fierceness of your fangs coupled with your half-closed eyes.

You roll onto your back in his lap, a dopey, quirky look on your squished face, staring at him again.

"What?" Steve pokes gently at your belly. "You'd rather watch TV? Do--what's that stupid phrase--Netflix and chill?"

You pop upright, tail swatting between his knees, and slow-blink at him.

"You're very predictable, darling," he chides, grabbing the remote but kissing your head as he leans over. "Why'd you let me go on an' on?" Steve whispers an apology while you shove your skull into his cheek. "I don't mean to bore you. You could have--" he feels you shake your head "--no? Not boring you?" He leans back. "How is listening to me jabber not boring?"

You stand to put one paw on his chest, the other tucked to your own, holding his brilliant blue gaze.

You've told him you love his voice. You've told him you love to know what he's thinking, that everything he says is important to you, but...Steve hasn't considered how you being in Alpine-form forces him to use his voice.

Because you want to know what he's thinking.

Because you want to hear all of the things that take up important space in his thoughts.

Because you know that he won't if there's anyone else there, any other person, any other human.

Steve Rogers always puts other humans above himself. If anyone else is in the room, Steve's not the priority, so...

The second his face drops in understanding, you look smug as hell and cheekily bat your fuzzy paw at his lips.

"Ha ha, very funny," he drawls. "You think you're so smart, don't you!"

Steve scoops you up in his arms and peppers you with kisses, tightening his grip a smidge.

"What if I don't turn on your show, huh? What are you gonna do about it?" There's a familiar pressure against him, and your body becomes much heavier. He lets the shift happen as usual then looks down.

You, human-you, snuggle into his lap, the rest stretched across the couch, turned away from the television to focus only on him.

"Nothing."

Steve plays with your hair quietly because of course he stops filling the air already.

"Tell me about all these soups we're going to make."

You poke his side as Steve laughs. You know his tricks. He's so easy to read, but no matter what, he's your favorite open book.

[Main Masterlist; Light Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

Tags: @hisredheadedgoddess28 @irishhappiness @fallenxjas @ilovetaquitosmmmm @venunsgirl @fries11 @lovinglimerence @navs-bhat @creat0r-cat @bucky-fricking-barnes-reads @fallinallinmendes @stellar-solar-flare @deandreamernp @rogersbarber @blogbog710 @yenzys-lucky-charm @thiquefunlover63 @bitchy-bi-trash @supraveng @patzammit @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @yiiiikesmish @ashesofblackroses @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory @brandycranby @buckysprettybaby @ellethespaceunicorn @late-to-the-party-81 @bigtreefest @mistressmkay @astheskycries @veryprairieberry

[ladyloveandjustice]

I have finally read through the entirety of the Bruce Wayne Murderer/Fugitive storyline. I'd read parts of it but now I know all of it. But the fact David Cain's explanation for murdering Bruce's ex-gf and framing him for the murder to the point of doctoring the evidence so his family and closest allies would think he was losing it too.

"You're basically Cass's dad now I guess and sure I know it was her choice, you didn't "take" her from me and she's never coming back to me. I know all that. but I wanted to prove to her that YOU are just as big of an asshole as I am by showing you'd be a piece of shit to your family and push them away if you ever got in trouble and GUESS WHAT IT WORKED I WAS RIGHT"

is the funniest motive of all time.

"I may be a bad father who put my daughter through horrible abuse and trained her to be a living weapon, and I guess it's valid she doesn't want anything to do with me, but you suck too and I just need everyone to know that. Cass I just need you to know you did not upgrade all that much here!!!!" Just extremely petty.

And Bruce can't even refute him. He's just like "damn what a wakeup call I won't be like that anymore" but of course he'll inevitably be like that again as soon as DC decided Batman needs to be a loner. (War Games would be the next time. I think NML was the time before this one. It's really is fascinating how they never got tired of this plot).

(It is sweet that he protects Cain from getting assassinated entirely because he cares about Cass after this though.)

Anyway. This is the last time we'll see Cass be important in a crossover event and it's kind of wild. The batfam was genuinely all involved in this event (steph not too much, she's the exception because she nobody tells her anything as always, but she does at least show up a few times and not to get tortured) and given kind of equal weight and this was. the last time for a long time huh.

Anyway I absolutely love that Dick and Cass are firmly on "BRUCE WOULD NEVER KILL SOMEONE ESPECIALLY AN INNOCENT HOW DARE ANYONE IMPLY OTHERWISE" and Tim and Babs are like "well I mean it's very unlikely and I don't want it to be true but he could. He's an unstable man. Who knows. Gotta approach this objectively and objectively Bruce kind of sucks", it really says a lot about their respective personalities and relationships. Tim-Babs skeptic alliance. Dick-Cass that's My DAD you guys just don't get it I'm the one who understands him!!! alliance

[burrythebusy]

Hey bestie can you talk about how much damage the word "repulsed" has done 😔✌️

Man can I ever.

Firstly, I'm gonna give some people the benefit of the doubt in saying that there were honest and lovely hrkg fans who were put off by chapter 28 due to the thought that, oh no, Hirano really is very uncomfortable with close physical contact, and Kagiura hugged him twice and pushed that boundary, and we know he values physical contact, how can they be in a relationship if this is the case blah blah blah. But it is unfortunately also very reductive to take that from chapter 20, or 28, and onward. And of course, there are the people who aren't reading it in good faith at all, but why they reacted the way they did is self-explanatory: they think Hirano is uncomfortable overall with Kagiura, that he's been being pushed and pulled unwillingly, that Kagiura is, for lack of better word, abusive, etc.

Now, my biggest issue with both of these scenarios boils down to the same thing, which is the lack of understanding context and subtext, or just generally not being understanding of the characters individually, their motivations, their biases, what leads them to think what, and then taking what they say or do at face value. Sensei has written her characters to say things that make no sense all the time, or that is obviously not how they truly feel, etc, so it baffles me when people pretend this isn't the case when it comes to hirakagi, i truly don't get it. I can name very few, if any, pieces of media where the author didn't deliberately show us things or imply things that weren't explicitly said. While the fandom can be wrong about their interpretations of these implications, I think it's important to at least think about what they could be regardless.

And what kills me is that, I can guarantee a good chunk of the people entirely put off from hirakagi from the past, what, two chapters, are people who do not care. These are people that read the dialogues and the monologues and look at what they're doing and don't think any deeper than that, or if they do, it's not to look into the characters at all, they skip over that and head straight for societal context, which would be fine if they, you know, put the character first??? And they also decide to put this character into said societal context dictated by how they view who they are, their identity, their inclinations, and they use their surface level interpretations to confirm or deny what they already decided to think.

This is why when people read that Hirano was "repulsed" by the hug, they take it to be so freaking literal. For some, this proves their Hirano ace hcs as they related to him. For others, it proves Hirano doesn't or "can't" love Kagiura back in the same way. And then the ones who scream "WAHHH KAGIURA DID SOMETHING HIRANO WAS UNCOMFY WITH WAHHH". I have never in my life seen people act so morally superior over a hug. GENUINELY. The word used being "repulsed" was like the water in the desert for people that needed something to confirm what they already think about hrkg, or hirano or kagiura individually, conclusions they came to by not giving a fuck about their actual characters. Characterization. Subtext. What is implied. etc.

Everyone in the world is biased to some degree about many things, so it's not like I'm saying you have to read without that. You just have to be deliberate enough to recognize it and look a little deeper, listen to other perspectives, and, you know, read and comprehend the story. Sensei's characters are all very complex, imo, even side characters. None of them are "simple", all are pretty damn dimensional and well-rounded, so to read 28 and come out of it with the world repulsed in your hands says more about you than anything else, honestly. I thought the same thing about 30; reading chapter 30 and coming out of it with just complaints about the kiss is just as annoying. It's how I know the people that yell the most about the unhealthy, one-sided, terrible dynamic between hrkg don't care to read anything beyond the things they can point to and go "See! There!"

Facts: Hirano is an unreliable narrator. I know, SHOCKING right. Like, Hirano, the guy that has BEEEN saying he wants to be with Kagiura more than anything (in more ways than one), saying his feelings for Kagiura aren't enough, or love. Saying he doesn't feel his heart race when touched so "I can't love him, duh." Nevermind the fact that he is so comfortable with Kagiura that he is willing to try things out just for his sake, even though he would straight up say no if he didn't want to, or if it were anyone else. Nevermind the fact that physical contact has always been normal between them, hence why it feels normal. Nevermind that fact that despite this, he feels happy to be close with Kagiura, he loses track of time, he extends the time they get to touch, but much of his gripes don't come from how he feels personally about the physical touch, it's what Kagiura is doing/showing him...

Facts: Kagiura is constantly contradicting himself. He has this hangup about how physical touching should be with someone you love, possibly brought about by heteronormativity and the standard he has set due to others (past relationship) and his parents (what he wants out of a marriage). It has to be like this and that and this and that. Except everyone had been clocking how weird he was with Hirano since... forever. Wow Hirano is really close to his roommate and gets defensive of him in the LIGHT NOVEL. Kagiura misses Hirano and thinks the dorm is empty without him in the LIGHT NOVEL. Hirano's memories of receiving those damn earrings is all bright and sparkly and beautiful in the LIGHT NOVEL. They have been loving on each other for a long ass time, and they have been touching normally, though more closely than they do with anyone else. Kagiura has clung to him and grabbed his wrist and his shirt and all that shit. So the only difference is that Kagiura is just overwhelmed by his own feelings and desires that he thinks, at this point, "I can't touch Hirano in any other way" because he thinks he'll be pushing a boundary (oh whats this? Kagiura is very aware of boundaries? DUMBASS OF COURSE HE IS).

"I feel one way that Hirano doesn't feel. If I touch him, someone that loves him and feels a certain kind of desire for him, he will be uncomfortable because he doesn't feel that way about me. So my solution is to start limiting how I touch him in a controlled environment with an agreement, in which he understands that the connotation is meant to be romantic, he'll understand how I feel without me being too much or overwhelming him!" Kagiura Akira, you are 16 fucking years old thinking that you can't touch your, forget crush, BEST FRIEND in a normal way because you think your feelings are too much. That's not normal man. And what makes it worse is that by limiting himself, Hirano doesn't fully understand how Kagiura's desire functions ("If me touching you makes you happy, look happy when I do it.")

For a little analogy, let's say you have a friend that makes you your favorite food when you're hungry. And not just hungry, but you're incredibly hungry, ravenous even. They make you your fav food and put it in front of you and is like "Dig in!" and you going "nah I'm good" and just stare at it. Then the friend that made it for you is confused because they know it's your favorite, they're letting you eat it, but you just won't. And one day they make it again for you and then you go, "How about I eat it in little bites" and they go yeah sure, so you take tiny bits off it. And they're confused again because it looks like you don't want it even if you keep saying you do. Now, similarly, if you did immediately eat it, you didn't have to go all in; you could've taken your time. You could've took a break for a drink, coulda had a conversation over the meal. But since you deprived yourself on purpose, time and time again, now you are literally starving and one day, you might take too big a piece, too big a bite, out of nowhere, out of desperation. It's like that.

Lowkey this analogy sucks but the point is that Kagiura deprived himself of even touching Hirano regularly in a normal way, and is forcing himself to only do it "like lovers" for ten seconds a day. Not only is it painful for him because he feelings are so full with no outlet, because he's holding himself back, Hirano sees him about to burst and sees this pain and is like wtf. I thought you liked this. For a while he was afraid Kagiura was forcing himself to do it, like he didn't actually like doing it because Kagiura is making himself go hungry on purpose, making himself take tiny bites on purpose like it hurts and it does, and then of course, one day, the flood gates will open. His hunger will get the best of him. And I can't believe that, after all this time, after thousands of years of literature, we got to a point where the overflow of his feelings leading to a hug pissed people off. People's reactions to chapter 20 actually killed me. I understand if you don't like hugs/they make you uncomfortable, I too am not big on hugs unless I'm close to the person. BUT, in the context of this story, you cannot sit here and tell me that was some cardinal sin committed by a guy i love with his best friend. Like, really. A hug? And then of course, 28, when he asks for it, and his hand got a little low and Hirano flinched, again, mfs go WAHHH OH MY GOD HE TOUCHED HIM WHERE HE WAS UNCOMFORTABLE WAHHH he didn't even do it on purpose. And of course, we arrive at the "repulsed" descriptor. Again, diction matters. Even if repulsed isn't an inaccurate translation, it indeed changes how people interpret the scene. Repulsed sounds and feels worse than discomfort or even dislike. "I am repulsed by strawberries" isn't the same connotation as "I dislike strawberries" or "strawberries make me uncomfortable".

Not to mention Kagiura quickly changed how he was hugging him because he recognized Hirano flinched. Not to mention Hirano did sink into the hug. Not to mention that I think there are many reasons Hirano reacted the way he did that wasn't "Hirano doesn't and will never like to be touched/hugged". I think it's somewhat to do with a vulnerability thing, and also a "No one has ever touched my lower back so it surprised me" thing (because the translator initially described his discomfort as something not necessarily "negative" idk how true that is though). Hirano was fine initiating touching because of control, but also because I think there's a certain level of vulnerability he is not used to. Being in someone's arms is one of them. And it was an awkward ass hug too like it wasn't even normal. Again with Kagiura and his weird "lovers do this like this" where do you get these ideas from man. Like I know your parents never hug each other like this. Or maybe they do idk. Anyway.

And then of course, people haven't let that go. Chaper 29 people were acting like Hirano had that whole convo with Ichinose and Kagiura after for no reason. Suddenly the sky imagery and "that's not the only way to express your love for someone" and "I want to be with you more than anyone else in the world, that's what love means to me" don't mean shit. Acting like Hirano hasn't been feeling that all this time. Acting like hirano hasn't been feeling his heart beat faster without any prompting from Kagiura because his heart is realizing Kagiura is expressing love for just being with him, around him, being cherished by yours truly. None of that means anything for some reason because last chapter Kagiura hugged him and Hirano felt off for a split second. Okay.

Now it's chapter 30 and there were like 40 pages prior to the last three in which we are seeing Hirano and Kagiura be in love, be youthful, be true to each other, we see just how much Kagiura pays attention to Hirano and how he is, how much he treasures that about him, how much he looks up to him and recognizes his hard work, and then we see Hirano be an unreliable narrator, downplaying his own feelings because he doesn't want to hurt Kagiura by giving him "expectations", not giving his feelings any credit at all because he, like Kagiura, doesn't want to hurt the person he loves. Kagiura gets overwhelmed by the hunger and kisses him WAHHH CALL THE FUCKING FBI HE'S A SEX OFFENDER holy shit yall. Is this your first BL? No no, is this your first story? Ever? Have you ever read words on a page? Are you three years old?? Like you cannot be fucking real. Do I even have to say anything else??

So yeah. Repulsed did a number on people's psyche. I think I went off on a tangent in the middle of that butttt you get the picture.

[clumsypuppy]

OWWWWWW

[whentherewerebicycles]

this sucks lol

[uminonagare]

i feel like narumi is really unnerved by people who he can't read and/or understand the intentions of. he's always been someone that actively tries to read people to better understand their intentions (probably for his own comfort and to be in control of the situation) so when he's unable to properly predict what someone could do, he's prone to overthinking and his emotions show more easily because he's unsure of how to act at times.

this really isnt a huge deal unless you're someone who's actively looking to go against him personally so thats when he starts getting really nervous bc there is a chance he could lose his composure solely because he doesn't know how to predict certain situations. this isn't a common scenario luckily.

[beneaththebloodylake]

i really cant buy the headcanon that phoenix and edgeworth were romantically interested in each other as kids or that they were in love for the 15 or so years they didnt see each other, like it just doesnt make any sense or work at all. but i dont think this actually contradicts the way i think some of those scenes in the anime felt a bit romance coded, or like viewing phoenixs becoming a lawyer for edgeworth as like a romantic gesture? like it wasnt actually motivated by romantic feelings at all but the actual motivations and everything that happens ends up contributing towards a romantic storyline? (from a shipping perpesctive that is obviously)

[theokusgallery]

I see it now! I was literally reading and listening about their relationship in your podcast! i really thought that Statice and Nick DESPISE eachother. This AU is interesting, I love it vry vry much. Im not fond of it at first because I can't really Imagine Basil. Basil doing all of that stuff. because he's my favorite character(and I can't really see him being like that). But I eventually learnt to separate them and sees Nick as his own character. Like an actual oc(Still sees him a little bit as Basil if you understand what I mean)( can't wait when Sunny's other friend gets revealed or maybe the parents. *Maybe* they're not that important to the story but the CURIOSITY IS TOO STRONG AND SORRY FOR YAPPING HSJSKAK IT MUST BE TIRING TO ANSWER ANY OF MY QUESTIONS I WON'T DO THAT AGAIN)(Also excuse my grammar also, english is not my first language 😣)

-Anon from the previous previous post.

(the aura I felt after asking that is unimaginable. I used to be so shy to ask anything on people's blog so Im a *bit* proud of my confidence!)

Oh I see !!

Yeah Nick is... more or less an OC, he's got very little to do with Basil now. I refuse to cut of all ties to OMORI/Basil because it's very important to his origins and taking that from him would be taking out a lot of how I personally see him, but, well... He wasn't exactly based off of normal in-game Basil, either, so it makes sense that he's very different. He looks different, acts different, has a different family, age, personality, story, nationality even, different interests... He's like, 70% OC and 30% OMORI AU. Basil is also my favorite character, and that's not how I see him at all either.

I understand why you thought Statice and Nick hated each other — to be fair, there aren't a lot of people who don't hate Nick, lol. Being around him and knowing why he is the way he is makes it easier to love him, though.

[afloweroutofstone]

what i’ve failed to understand since i was a kid is why these ghouls want war with iran so badly. is it resources? do they have money in defense contracting? is it just that iran is too strong an opponent to us hegemony? why specifically do they want to see iran destroyed?

There is not one singular motivation behind the drive to send the US to war with Iran. There are multiple motivations which often overlap, but which are held in different orders of prioritization by different advocates of war. Most of these motivations are irrational and/or immoral, while others are legitimate complaints that could be addressed through diplomacy far more easily than they could through militarism.

Here's ten common motivations and arguments for a US war with Iran which you might encounter:

Independence from the US: The Iranian government is among the world's least-willing governments to obey US demands and subjugate themselves to the US-led order. For certain US primacists, this independence means that their very existence poses an existential threat to US dominance (similar to North Korea, Cuba, etc.) To a particular type of US militarist, it is necessary for the Iranian government to fall in order for the US to remain the unquestioned leader of the world.

Real Fear of their Nukes: There is a substantial contingent who really does believe that Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon and that they could well use it if they were to develop it. Logically, the best way to address this concern would be through a diplomatic deal similar to the 2015 JCPOA, which Iran complied with! But the intensity of anti-Iranian sentiment among US hawks tends to convince them that direct military confrontation is somehow a better option, thus explaining why Trump decided to break this deal.

Desire for Revenge: Many older foreign policy hawks in the US have never forgiven Iran for 1) the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis, and 2) the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Lebanon, which was orchestrated by a terror organization with ties to the Iranian government. In their minds, both of these incidents were embarrassments to the US' military prestige which we have never properly gotten revenge for. (These people tend to ignore the massive wrongdoings which the US has carried out against Iran during this same time period, like the US destruction of Iran Air Flight 655). There are people in and around the Pentagon who have wanted to bomb Iran over a grudge for more than 40 years now.

Iran's Regional Proxies: Over the last several decades, Iran has engaged in an aggressive campaign to expand their influence throughout the region by supporting proxy paramilitary forces in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, etc. Many of these proxies have undeniably engaged in acts of terrorism. This strategy is both opportunistic (taking advantage of the power vacuum caused by the US overthrow of Saddam Hussein) and defensive (countering the regional influence campaigns of Saudi Arabia and Turkey). This is probably the most legitimate cause of US anger towards the Iranian government, but it is a grievance which will only be worsened by backing Iran into a corner militarily.

Israel (and Saudi Arabia) Hates Them: Iran is unfriendly with two of the US' closest partners in the region: Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Israeli government, in particular, has long been laser-focused on the overthrow of the Iranian government, and they are fully committed to dragging the US into such a regime change operation. For the most fervent defenders of Israel in the US, overthrowing the Iranian government is near the top of their wishlist.

They Got Oil: Oil is a factor which is often overstated in these discussions, but it definitely is one of the factors. Iran currently produces 5% of the world's oil and has the potential to produce far more were the current sanction regime against it to be removed. They also have the ability to shut down the Straight of Hormuz, an important chokepoint through which 25% of the world's oil flows. Regime change in Iran would significantly increase the leverage that the US and its allies hold over global oil markets and further weaken the strength of OPEC.

And Other Commodities Too!: Though the separation between the US and Iranian economies hurts the US economy as a whole, there are certain sectors of US industry that benefit enormously from having Iran so heavily sanctioned. Some of the big names in the US pistachio industry have lobbied heavily to keep US-Iranian relations unfriendly, because the elimination of US sanctions on Iran would allow the massive Iranian pistachio industry to compete with the US industry. As long as these two governments hate each other, a few politically-connected US businessmen make way more money.

Diaspora Pressure Campaigns: Most Iranian-Americans hold the following two opinions at the same time: 1) they hate the current Iranian government and want to see it replaced, but 2) they strongly oppose US efforts at regime change in Iran. However, there is a vocal minority of Iranian-Americans that do support regime change efforts, and they tend to cluster into two well-organized groups that wage pressure campaigns against the Iranian government. The first are the monarchists, who want to see the son of the former US-backed Iranian dictator restored to power. The others are those who are loyal to the MEK, a cult and former terrorist organization which has been extremely effective at building relationships with US politicians. Both of these groups work full-time to push the US towards overthrowing the Iranian government so that they can step in and take over; it's fairly easy to find both of these groups in online social media threads about US-Iranian relations.

Who Cares, We Want War: As I have written about many times before, the US military-industrial complex encourages the US government to engage in militarist behavior in order to boost their profits. Iran is one of their favorite boogeymen to justify increased levels of US military spending, second only to China. These companies fund think tanks and other policy initiatives to argue that Iran is an immediate threat to us, and then they fund political candidates who want to spend more money preparing for this "threat."

They're Crazy! You Can't Trust Them!: We are led to believe that the Iranian government cannot be negotiated with because they are irrational, they're anti-Western religious zealots incapable of reasoned decision-making. This is a convenient excuse for war, but it's entirely incompatible with the restraint that the Iranian government shows in responding to Israeli attacks, their continued willingness to sit down for diplomatic talks with their aggressors, the way that they helped the US government deal with al Qaeda and the Taliban after 9/11, and a million other indications that the Iranian government is just as rational as any other government in its geopolitical decision-marking.

Add all of that together, and you get a deranged political ecosystem obsessed with inflating the scale of foreign threats, finding excuses for maintaining the trajectory of our militarist status quo, increasing regional tensions, and rejecting obvious opportunities for diplomacy and a peaceful resolution of our differences.

[bredforloyalty]

i had a good day i like having things to do but unfortunately i have just remembered i am insane</3

[dollfacefantasy]

clark kent x fem!reader cw: nsfw (18+), smut, p in v, car sex, mating press a/n: ummm yeah i need him so bad it makes me ill <3

for as long as you'd known clark, you'd never known him to lose his temper. he was forever-patient, your boyfriend. understanding to almost a frustrating degree. especially with you, his little love.

he was already pretty easy to get along with, but on the rare occasion you did have issues, clark seemed to have a natural instinct for deescalating you. he never raised his voice, never spoke an unkind word about you, never gave you a look harsher than what could be described as stern.

all it took to calm you down was a glimpse of his natural puppy-dog eyes and pretty plush lips. his thick arms would circle around you and hold you to his chest. he'd sway back and forth with you a little, a small smile on his face as you melted into the embrace. whatever semblance of tension or irritation that had been bubbling up easily dissolved into a puddle between the two of your bodies.

so, all that to say, you didn't really believe clark possessed any kind of rough edge or combative instinct. despite his large stature, you couldn't really picture him ever being rough.

that was until tonight.

you and clark had planned to drop by some event at the talon, but your sweet boyfriend had warned you earlier that he found out there'd probably be some trouble there later. some potentially dangerous situation that he wanted you avoiding at all costs. it was for your safety. he just wanted you to stay home where he wouldn't be worried while him and chloe investigated.

but did you listen to him? of course not. you went anyways, not in the mood to listen to his vague explanations as to how he even discovered this information in the first place. you put on a cute little dress with some new shoes you bought specifically for the night and took off.

unfortunately for you, clark had turned out to be right. not even thirty minutes after you arrived, chaos broke out. people flew through walls and glass shattered everywhere, all because of some guy who looked like his body could stretch and bend like a rubberband. it totally sucked. but none of that was even the worst part. you survived the craziness of whatever that person's problem was. the real danger came when the dust settled and you saw clark across the room staring at you.

he looked pissed.

he was at your side in an instant, but closing the distance didn't soften him any. it kind of did the opposite since up close he could see a bloody scrape stretching across your cheekbone.

you could see he was worried first and foremost, but behind that concerned top coat a fire burned. as soon as your small wound had been tended to, his long fingers clasped around your bicep. he pulled you to your feet and all but dragged you out of the coffee shop.

"clark i-" you started in an attempt to explain yourself.

"save it," he said, voice as cold as you'd ever heard it, "i asked you for one thing. that's it. stay home for your own good. don't come out here and pointlessly risk your life."

"it wasn't that bad," you defend weakly.

"but why even take the chance?" he asked with true exasperation, "i shouldn't need to convince you that your safety is more important than whatever they had going on tonight."

he didn't continue the lecture beyond that. just walked with a clenched jaw and motivated stare in the direction of his truck. like always, he opened the door for you when you got there. though this time, he practically scooped you up and dumped you into the car.

he was silent as he drove, fingers tight around the steering wheel. you could practically feel the frustration rolling off of him. the urge to lash out for once was near spilling over. he pulled the car over, and you figured you were really in for it. in a way you were right, just not how you thought.

clark didn't bother yelling, didn't try to start a fight. he glared at you for a few silent seconds before leaning across the seats and crashing his lips against yours. he kissed you like he wanted to steal the breath from your lungs.

after a blur of clothing being shifted around and positioning body parts awkwardly in the confined space, you found yourself in the meanest mating press of your life.

you were folded in half beneath all of clark's weight. the points of your new heels scraped up the truck's ceiling while your knees squished against your chest. little squeaks and whines slipped their way out of you as his tip battered against your cervix. he was so deep you swore you could feel your insides rearranging to make room for him.

"clarkkkk," you mewled before biting your lip, desperately searching for some way to ground yourself. one set of your fingers gripped strands of his dark hair while the other held a fist of his flannel.

"what, baby?" he panted. for once, clark wasn't fawning over you between thrusts. he wasn't cooing or praising you for taking him so well. instead, he had his face against your neck and his hands wrapped around your waist, bucking into your dripping heat with enough force to rock the car.

you tried to force out words to convey what you were thinking. too big. too much. so deep. harder. faster. none of those made it though. only choked moans and then a sharp squeal when he rolled his hips and struck that extra-sensitive sweet spot inside you.

"someone's gonna see if they drive by," you whimpered, squirming underneath him.

"maybe you should hold still then and let me finish, huh?" he grunted, "no one's gonna see. everyone's in town dealing with the mess from tonight. the one i told you was gonna happen."

"i didn't think-"

"i know you didn't," he interrupted, "didn't use that pretty little head at all, did you?"

words of defense eluded you right now, his nonstop thrusts keeping your mind cloudy. instead you chose to whine, your lip quivering he rolled his hips deeper yet again.

"oh yeah?" he asked, as if you'd said something coherent.

you opened your mouth again to speak, to really argue back this time, but you were cut off by your own desperate cry when his hands tugged you closer and speared you even further on his cock. you could feel him grinning against your neck at the noise.

"i know, baby. i know you're sorry. you don't have to explain. thinking's too hard for you right now, yeah?" he cooed, his tone bordering on mocking.

your pout got more severe but so did the needy sounds escaping your mouth. you felt those long fangs of his scrape against your throat. his tongue then glided across the area, making you shudder.

"clark-" you tried to say something else, but he cut you off. he raised his head up and kissed you deep again, swallowing the words right from your mouth. when he pulled back for air, he rested his sweaty forehead against yours.

"you can be such a brat," he breathed, "so much whining even though i know you love this."

the truck creaked as his movements continued to jostle it. you felt his breath fanning across your face and watched as his eyes fluttered shut. you knew he was getting close, but so were you. your cunt squeezed around him rhythmically, coaxing him too the edge along with you.

"you gonna cum, baby?" he finally muttered against your lips.

you nodded eagerly, more than ready to release. it only took a few more hard thrusts to get you there, and clark followed along no problem. in the afterglow, he laid on top of you for a minute or so, trapping you in a cage of searing body heat.

when he finally did sit up, the two of you fixed your clothes and stretched your limbs. he looked over at you with more tenderness. your boyfriend's gentle temperament had seemingly returned with the relief his peak brought.

he cupped your jaw with his fingers, looking over that cut on your face. leaning in, he gave it a small kiss before starting up the car again.

"i'm just trying to look out for you, you know? just... please listen next time. i don't know what i'd do if you got hurt. you had me worried sick."

"i will. i'm sorry i scared you," you replied softly. your eyes studied the loving look in his eyes and the way his features seemed so at peace now that all his adrenaline was out of his system.

you grabbed his hand across the seats and traced little patterns on his knuckles for the drive home. he let you play with his fingers but shot you a glance.

"i'm serious. next time you get involved with something like that i won't let you off so easy," he teased.

you smiled and nodded, wanting to put his mind at ease. though in the back of your mind, a small part of you considered trying again some time, just to see what "not so easy" looked like to him.

[ambrosiagourmet]

I want to talk about why I think this is the one of the most important Falin panels:

So, Falin is really nice, right? It's one of the first things we really learn about her. She's kind even to the monsters of the dungeon - choosing to ward the party rather than fight spirits and cause them needless harm.

In the above early flashback in chapter 11, we see Marcille fawning over Falin's kindness, calling her an angel. Namari calls her soft-hearted. We see Falin choose not to fight even when a zombie attacks - instead she resolves the confrontation with a hug. After the flashback, the first thing Senshi says is that Falin "sounds like quite the person," which Marcille strongly affirms.

At this point in the story, all we have seen of Falin are these impressions; she is a healer, an angel, a caretaker with an infinite well of kindness towards everyone she meets - both friend and foe.

And honestly, that remains most of what we have to go by to understand her. The only times we get to see Falin on the page, alive and just herself, are in the opening and closing pages of the story and in the brief period of time after she is resurrected.

Nonetheless, we do have some more details to work with. For one, there is the scene that The Panel is from - a short memory in chapter 75, when Marcille flashes back to while she's dying. In that scene, Falin prepares to teleport them all out, and says that she's sorry "if there is a person at [their] destination." And that's when we get The Panel.

If you teleport someone or something into another person, the person teleported into is likely to be, at minimum, severely injured. They could die.

We can see a lovely little horrifying example of exactly why in one of the Daydream Hour doodles:

So, hmm. That's not... that's not SUPER nice. Certainly not displaying the same "kindness to all, friend and foe included" we saw represented earlier. On a basic level, this adds some nuance to Falin's kindness. We see it break a little, when pushed to the limit. We see her chose to protect the people she loves above all else.

Which makes sense! As Laios says when the Winged Lion accuses him of similarly being motivated more by his friends' safety than everyone else in the dungeon, "...most people, aside from virtuous do-gooders, would feel the same way."

So, we can take The Panel as simply showing a moment of weakness for Falin. A time when she was pushed to her limits, and that "most people" selfish side of her shone through.

However... I think there's a little more going on with Falin than just her being an angel 99% of the time, except just that once. I love The Panel because I think it helps us understand that Falin isn't just motivated by kindness - she also has a desire to avoid seeing people in pain.

Isn't that the same thing?

No, no it very much is not.

Let's look at a short comic from the Falin section of the Adventurer's Bible, because I think it illustrates this point perfectly. The group is complaining about how much Marcille's healing hurts, and comparing it to Falin's, which "doesn't hurt a bit." Marcille retorts with the following:

Now, the punchline of this comic is that, despite Marcille's sentimental assertion that she's "thinking of [them]" by letting her healing magic hurt, they all still prefer to be healed by Falin.

But hey, this wouldn't be the first time that Dungeon Meshi hides a very real character beat or insight in a gag, so let's think about this somewhat seriously.

If Marcille is right (and she knows a fair bit about magic, so we can assume that she has at least somewhat of a point), then what Falin is doing isn't kind. I suppose if someone specifically requested to not feel the pain, it could be kind, but that's not really what happened here. She is the one who felt badly about the others being in pain, and she is the one who decided, without telling them or giving them a choice in the matter, to take away that pain.

Both Marcille and Falin are healing the party, but Marcille is doing it in a way that accomplishes the task in the most straight forward way, without any additional interference. Falin is going out of her way to perform the healing in a way she is more comfortable with. A way that avoids pain.

Going back the The Panel, I don't think its a coincidence that the only time we see Falin (well, non-chimera Falin) willing to do something that could hurt someone is when any potential pain will be far away from her. If she got someone hurt or killed by teleporting the party to the surface? Not only would it be far out of her sight, but she'd be dead before she had to deal with any consequences of that action.

Falin is not a confrontational person. She doesn't push when Marcille won't tell her the truth about the resurrection, and she comforts Laios about her own death - both of those things happening in the only full chapter she is alive and conscious in the whole story.

We also know that she considered accepting Shuro's proposal, despite not having any special feelings towards him, and that Falin never explained to Marcille that she wanted them to share a meal together. When she brought Marcille various foods at the academy, she just accepted Marcille's confused rejection and gave up.

And lastly, we know that she is still in contact with her parents, despite the neglect and abuse she suffered at their hands. Although the way someone chooses to handle contact with abusive or bad family is a complicated topic, which I don't want to overly simplify, I do I think this fact gets at the heart of how she handles conflict.

So many people that Falin loves have hurt her. There are understandable hurts, like Laios leaving the village, or Marcille not understanding the food. And there are bigger, far less justifiable hurts - like her parents neglecting her throughout her childhood, and sending her away to be alone at the magic academy.

It doesn't seem like Falin has ever confronted any of it directly.

And the unhealthy aspects of this kind of avoidance of pain and confrontation is one of the things that the story of Dungeon Meshi is all about. We see Laios grapple with it before he goes to kill Falin, and we see Marcille acknowledge it at the end of the story, when she tells Laios that she has come to terms with Falin's death:

Eating is a part of life. Consuming other living things is a part of life. It isn't really possible to avoid that pain - you can only hide from the truth of it. You have to be selfish everyday. You have to eat - to choose to live. To choose to take up space.

And this is something Falin embraces, too. She comes back to life, after all.

We see her choose to come back to life.

And how does she make that choice? She eats. She consumes, and then she is asked a question by the manifestation of hunger itself:

Do you want to eat more?

There is a double meaning in the Winged Lion's final words on the next page.

When I first read this, I took it as him saying: life is cruel. You will suffer. You will feel more pain.

But perhaps, especially for Falin, this also means: you are choosing a path where you must cause pain. Where you must consume. Where you must take, and must be selfish. Because eating is the special privilege of the living, and it is their burden, too. In order to stay alive, she will need to keep eating.

And she chooses that. Chooses to be selfish. It's why her resurrection scene is so important, and it's why The Panel is so important. Because Falin coming back isn't the ultimate reward for all of the party's hard work.

It's her choice. Just like it was her choice that started everything in the first place. But this time, she doesn't choose to accept causing pain for the sake of Marcille and Laios. She does it for her own sake.

[lyricthecat-12]

I urgently needed to talk about the last scene between Sonic and Shadow in the third movie, because I think what they did is simply beautiful. 🥹💙❤️🖤

Before Sonic 3 came out, there was debate over who would be the one to change Shadow's mind since at that point, there was no solid indication that Amy or Rouge would appear. I was a fan of the idea that maybe they'd have Jojo be the one to remind Shadow of Maria's wish, since she was an established character from the start and fits the profile like a cheerful, caring, and optimistic girl.

However, seeing that in the end they made it so that Sonic was the one who talked to Shadow and convinced him to fight to save the world, surprised me and at the same time fascinated me infinitely more. Because they managed to make the change organic by connecting it with narrative elements that were also raised and developed from the beginning; Sonic's grief over losing Longclaw and his paternal relationship with Tom, making this moment something special and significant for both of them:

It is a moment of connection and understanding between two people who have lost the person who was once the most important in their lives, who loved them when no one else did and gave them a home,

That for a long time they had to deal alone with the pain and guilt of having been the trigger for their deaths but, as they emphasize in the film, While Sonic was able to find a family that would love him and help him get better and cope with that pain, Shadow was alone and the only person he interacted with after awakening, only manipulated him in order to fulfill his revenge.

Until this moment, where Shadow finally meets someone who not only knows his pain perfectly but has also learned to move forward and not let it corrupt him even in the most difficult moments, and who in turn motivates him to do the same.

All of this contributes fantastically to their connection, as it is no longer just that their personalities and ways of acting are opposite, but also the way in which their stories correlate and at the same time distinguish each other, creating a new and emotional parallelism between them: They are two sides of the same coin, two extremes that ultimately come together to bring out the best in each other.

Which is beautifully reflected throughout the final battle. Sonic and Shadow display effortless synergy, supporting each other, backing each other up, and even casually joking around.

A good reminder of the great chemistry and dynamism they used to have years ago. Unlike now that they make it seem like Shadow barely tolerates Sonic, before they both had a friendly rivalry where they respected each other, valued each other and helped each other without problem. And I'm really glad the movie brought back some of that dynamic and reflected it in such a natural and fun way, and I hope that continues for future SCU projects instead of sticking to the current direction.

And I'm not just saying this because I'm a fan of Sonadow, but because I genuinely believe that this is the most natural direction for their relationship after all this time.

[cryptotheism]

I do find it a little fascinating how many of these people go insane. Not metaphorically, but literally just become shadows of their former selves. Every grifter who’s from 5-8 years ago I’ve seen is now in some phase of either borderline delirium that people watch to see them burn or just straight up vanish.

Why do you think that is?

Grifting in the internet age is an act of performance with a profit motive. The goal of that performance, the way you make money, is the art of Baiting.

Making good bait is difficult. Grifting was a different game in the early days of the internet. You had to be provocative enough to bait people into paying attention (positive or negative!), but not so provocative that you folded over into self parody. But I think the algorithmization of social media has changed how this game has played somewhat.

Every seen this guy?

He goes by DateRightStuff on tiktok. He is a master of producing bait. Every video is some shit like "when homeless people ask for money, I like to give them fake Hollywood money. That way when they go to try and use the money, they get arrested."

Clearly made-up nonsense. He doesnt actually do that in real life. But it is a story that gestures towards a conservative base, while leaving himself wiiiiiiide open to dunks from the left. Because you gotta remember, he makes money from every comment, every stitch, every reaction.

Every half-baked snarky dunk is another triggered lib for his audience to laugh at. Dunks keep him relevant in the algorithm! This is important, because the way DateRightStuff makes money is by hawking his "conservative dating app." His entire tiktok account is essentially one giant marketing campaign for this app. It is bait-based advertising, and every day literally thousands of people fall for it.

But DateRightStuff is especially good at this. Mainting this level of performance is exhausting, no matter how profitable it may be. It requires an in-depth understanding of the social space and no small amount of creativity. It is a careful balancing act, constantly making small adjustments to an internet persona to keep the money flowing in.

Many grifters fail because they are strange. They have strange ideas about the world, and have trouble maintaining the level of objectivity that makes guys like DateRightStuff so effective.

I dont think grifters really "go insane" per se. (I'm sure some do.) I think they lose control of the balancing act. They press too hard in the wrong direction, get into the wrong beef, or fail to capitalize on some new social trend, and lose the attention they need. There can be a period of attempting to claw back that attention with increasingly ridiculous stunts. From the outside, this looks like they are going nuts.

[keferon]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE EXPLAIN EARTHSPARK MEGS I BEG

OKAY SO BASICALLY. I WENT TO SEE THE LEAKED MATERIALS AND FOUND THE PRODUCTION BIBLE

I’ll hide everything under the cut just in case. But like. They have such juicy stuff in there~

————————————

First of all - everything below is kind of my personal theory based on the stuff I found. And also based on things I was talking about there

SECOND. THE LINK TO THE BIBLE So you can see it for yourself

It has a lot of interesting stuff in it. But mostly. It shows what was the original plan for the show. Of course plans change, they change all the time. But just. LOOK. LOOK WHAT WAS THEIR ORIGINAL PLAN FOR MEGATRON.

THIS PART⬇️

THAT. Bro pulled Knockout. He saw that he is about to lose the war and??fucking??just joined the winning side???

That doesn’t mean he didn’t have any revelations like “oh no I think I was wrong”. I believe he did. But the main motivation never was about realising how evil he was. He just didn’t want to lose.

Remember how all the Decepticons react to him? Remember how they ALL see him as a traitor? Remember how Soundwave told him that “it’s personal” in season 1? Remember how Starscream said that Megatron left them all behind and now plays great good noble hero?? THIS IS IT! THIS MUST BE IT!

Megatron was the captain and he fucking ran away when he saw that his ship was sinking.

And this?⬇️

Playing a long game HUH. Always have plans in motion H UH.

AND THIS

He was supposed to betray Autobots. That would explain perfectly why there was so little explanation about his evil past in the show. They intended to make him a TWIST VILLAIN! THAT is why he is so cutesy nice and fluffy. That is why he still has those little evil hints here and there that all characters just ignore.

Everything I was talking about earlier. Every moment of him insisting that he is a good guy now but then acting very villainous the moment someone makes him look bad. Him being all good and reformed but then trying to kill Starscream without hesitation? Yeah very good very reformed good job.

My personal conclusion - it was never about morals. At least it was never entirely about morals. It was definitely never about doing the right thing. For Megatron it was always about gaining power. He gained power over Decepticons using fear and intimidation. And then when the whole thing didn’t work out in his favour? He turned to Autobots. And those are mushy fluffy good guys so in order to have power over them you need to be their friend. Someone they respect. Someone who they trust or look up for.

I think THIS is why he has this suspiciously good level of friendship with literally everyone. He made conscious effort to fit in. He made himself pleasing to everyone. So now he can walk around and give orders and despite the fact that he is their former enemy they all listen to him.

Now. It’s important to understand that this Bible isn’t 100% confirmed canon. Studios make changes aaaall the time and there’s a good chance they just decided to get rid of that plotline. It might be that they cut the betrayal part out so now Megsy just stuck forever in his state of being kinda good but suspicious. It is also very much possible that the studio decided to just move his betrayal to later seasons. It would be really cool to see I think.

If you ask me? The twist villain role fits almost too perfectly. It slides in place like a precise puzzle piece. Megatron is shady as fuck and was written to eventually betray Autobots.

Anyway. The Bible also has the early concepts for Terrans and I just wanted to add them here as well. Because HOLY SHIT LOOK AT NIGHTSHADE AND HASHTAG I FEEL ROBBED

[cherrystaineddoll]

𝓙ournaling tips 🧁☆

don't let social media be your only archive

first off, why should you start a journal?

not only is journaling a fun hobby that will keep you away from your phone for a while, it also helps you with getting to know yourself more, understanding your feelings and working on them. it is a way to keep your thoughts and memories written on paper forever for you to reread once you're older, and maybe you'll laugh at what seemed so important back then. personally, i have kept journals and diaries ever since i knew how to write, and trust me, it's worth it.

there isn't a specific way in which you should or shouldn't journal: after all, it is your space, and you get to choose how to organize it. but if you're feeling lost and don't know how to start, i can give you some ideas.

first off, pick out a journal and decorate it. you can paint it, cover it with stickers or fun colored paper, mark it with lip stains, or whatever you want. just have fun with it, and make it cute, that way you'll be even more inspired to write in it.

and now.. what do you write?

✩ the basics.

❥︎ " about me" page. who are you? what are your favourite traits in yourself, and what do you want to change? what do you like doing? what are your favourite things? your fav movies, books, shows, songs, etc. what makes you you?

❥︎ bucket lists. places you want to visit, things you want to do this summer, things you want to accomplish in a specific time, a to do list for each month and year, things you want to do with your friends, books to read, movies/ tv shows to watch, experiences you want to have, etc.

❥︎ wishlists. whether it's products, clothes, or non material things.

❥︎ quotes. things that speak to you, that motivate you or that you think resonate with you, who you are and who you want to be. scraps of some of your favourite books, poetry, a movie, or maybe just something you found on pinterest.

❥︎ goals and dreams. write down everything you want to achieve, even your wildest dreams that you think are unrealistic. plan out your dream life, you dream house, the person you want to be, and start to think of it as something that is not so impossible after all.

❥︎ affirmations. little daily reminders to keep you positive and motivated.

❥︎ letters. a letter to your future self, to your younger self, to your future kids, or to people in your life (friends, family, or even people you despise) to whom you can't say these things directly. maybe one day you'll send them.

❥︎ your playlists. your favourite artists, favourite songs of the moment, favourite lyrics, or your receiptify.

❥︎ movie & book ratings. after you watch or read anything, try to write a very detailed and in depth review of why you liked or disliked that specific thing, give it stars, etc.

❥︎ people you care about. a little intro to all your favourite people: friends, family, or even your pet. why you like them, how you met, your favourite traits about them.

❥︎ dreams. as in the dreams you have when you're sleeping. writing them down helps remembering more dreams in the long run, and you can also try to analyze them to find out your fears and ambitions through your subconscious.

❥︎ compliments. things that people said to you that warmed your heart, positive things you think about some people that you haven't said to them yet and compliments you wish to receive more.

❥︎ things that make you happy. every day, or week, try to find some things that made your day a bit better, even if it's small or "meaningless" things, try to practice gratitude and appreciate more the little joys in life.

❥︎ the people you look up to. whether it's someone you know in real life or a celebrity, write down what you admire about them, what aspects of their life or personality you want to include more in yours, and why they inspire you. or if you're jealous of someone, try to understand what is it that they have and you don't, to know what you really want.

❥︎ questions to your future self. it can be a couple months from now, or 10 years. just imagine how fun it will be to answer them once it's time, and look back on what the past version of yourself wanted to achieve and how they imagined you.

❥︎ habits. things that you wanna let go of, and others that you want to implement more into your life.

other than doing all the fun little pages, another thing that you should try doing is just writing down all your feelings. it doesn't necessary need to be a daily thing, i mean sure, you can do daily reports of things that happened, drama etc., but mostly just write when you need it, even if it's repetitive. especially when you're upset, writing down what made you sad and how you feel in that moment really helps you to feel better. whenever i'm anxious, or sad, i take out my little bedazzled journal and i start writing until my hand hurts about everything that's going wrong in that moment, and once i'm done i usually feel much more relieved. things that are left unsaid or unwritten only create a burden on yourself that becomes really hard to get rid of after a while, so it's important to let it all out when you need it. it helps you to organize all the messy thoughts in your head and remember how you felt in the past, so you can find patterns and connections that lead to the same feelings, to understand better their roots and meaning and start a healing journey.

other than just writing down everything you're feeling whenever you need it, to do a deeper analysis on yourself, especially those parts that you keep hidden and refuse to acknowledge, you can try doing shadow work. by answering some questions, you can bring out the truths that maybe you've ignored all this time because it felt easier to do so than facing them, and once you do, you can begin to understand yourself to a deeper level

some prompts☆

❥︎ who are you when no one is watching?

❥︎ what parts of yourself are you afraid to show others, and afraid that they will discover them? why?

❥︎ what are your biggest fears?

❥︎ what is the biggest lie you have told yourself? and the biggest lie you've told someone else?

❥︎ what are you ashamed of in yourself?

❥︎ what are you avoiding?

❥︎ how do you deal with your emotions?

❥︎ what do you need to let go of?

❥︎ what makes you feel jealous?

❥︎ what are your best and worst qualities?

❥︎ what are your core values?

❥︎ what makes you feel good?

❥︎ what is your definition of success? and failure?

❥︎ how do you define love?

❥︎ what would you do and who would you be if you weren't afraid or anxious? if there wasn't anything holding you back?

❥︎ what traits do you judge in others? why? do you think some of those traits reflect something within yourself?

❥︎ what patterns and behaviours from your parents/caregivers do you replicate in your own life?

❥︎ how do you respond when you make a mistake or fail at something?

a reminder: write for yourself, and not as if someone else was going to read. i promise that your journal won't think you're a loser if you talk about you emotions freely. i struggle with that too sometimes, but it's important that you remain honest with yourself, or the whole thing loses its purpose.

i hope that this helped with starting out your healing journey through journaling, but remember that ultimately it is up to you to decide how to organize it and go through with it!! after all, it is your personal journey