#my life is just a series of bounces from 1 infatuation to another but this is DIFFERENTTTT OK IT'S DIFFERENTTTTTTTTT

[timehascomeagain]

I keep thinking abt how we were on the train sitting diagonally across from each other n i looked at him and he was alr looking at me. Kills self

[multiverseoffandoms-blog]

Infatuation // G.W pt.1

A/N: This is part 1 of my George in love with his brothers girlfriend series. Let me know if you guys enjoy it. Warnings: Maybe angst, fluff? Poor writing, I dunno haha.  Paring: Fred x female!Reader, George x female!Reader

If George was certain of anything in his life, it was of his infatuation over you. From first year watching you stumble down the Great Hall steps to the Gryffindor table after being sorted into your house, all the way up to the present. He was undecided about a lot when it came to choices, but he had be certain about you since the moment he laid eyes on you. And his first glance was never his last. 

He tried to keep to himself, but he would be lying if he said that whenever you graced a room with your presence that it didn’t bring him an unbelievable amount of joy. If he noticed you in the court yard, laughing with some Hufflepuff friends, his steps would falter as his orbs fixated on you; your hair that seemed to dance against the evening breeze, the sun hitting your eyes at just the right angle to make them sparkle. You took his breath away almost every time he saw you.

Of course, his twin brother, Fred, would you be paying attention and would collide with his brother back, unknowing that he had stopped in his tracks. And Fred would follow his brothers gaze, grinning widely before dragging George over to you.

And why wouldn’t he? Why wouldn’t Fred be excited to spend every waking minute with you.. his girlfriend.  -

It was another excitement filled Friday evening at Hogwarts, with most students still riled up from the arrival of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students all here to try their luck at becoming a representative champion for each school during the Triwizard Tournament. As Dumbledore had announced at the assembly — much to everyone’s objections — because of the severity each task held, no student under the age of seventeen had been permitted to enter their name.

A small group gathered in the Gryffindor common room, “inner circle only” if you will, as everyone fussed and chattered about the upcoming tournament. Most of the people sat in the room consisted of under seventeens, including George who wasn’t impressed with the rule at all, so majority of the conversations were souly based off “what if!”

George was sat on the arm rest of the hideously red couch that was placed strategically in front of the fire place, a few other chairs being dragged around to fit everyone. His arms sat crossed against his chest as he listened to the chatter around him. From the place beside him, Fred spoke.

“Absolute rubbish if you ask me!” He shouted, earning a few cheers around him. The two brothers had agreed to enter their names into the goblet as soon as they heard about it, so it was safe to say that their plan was a bust.

“I guess it’s a good thing no ones asking you then is it, Weasley!” George nearly fell to the floor when he heard your voice carry through the room. Most of his peers seemed to laugh loudly at your comment, but all he noticed was the light that drew itself to you as you bounced down into the common room. Fred moved slightly, lifting a couch cushion before throwing it in your direction. George watched you dodge it with ease, before bringing yourself over and plopping yourself practically into his twins lap. “Serotonin gone,” He thought to himself as he got to his feet, deciding that the far wall would be much more welcoming.

“I’ve seen that look before,” Hermione spoke from beside George. She had unknowingly frightened him, causing him to jump from the sudden conversation.

“Merlins beard Granger, do you think you could make yourself known next time?”  “I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t moping around like a wounded animal!” She grumbled, snapping her book closed and turning her eyes onto him. They said nothing, George refusing to break first and speak what he was sure the young witch already knew..

He was in love with his brothers girlfriend.

“Boys,” she spat it out like she already knew everything there was to know about the male species. Being the smartest witch of her age, George didn’t doubt that she did — or was fairly close — to knowing everything.  George gave himself only moments to weigh the pros and cons of his situation and how it could go wrong if he were to speak the truth out loud. He thought about what would happen IF she were to tell anyone, but the voice in his head reminded him of why Harry and Ron trusted her so much; she could keep their most deepest truths to herself.  “Okay, fine,” George finally spoke, and when he did Hermione turned her whole body to him. She looked up to him, a sad smile setting itself on her lips.  “Harry looks the same way when he sees Ginny with Dean,” she added. George sighed, nodding his head as he crossed his arms over his chest again, kicking absentmindedly at the floor. He felt stupid, harbouring a crush on his twin brothers girlfriend. Hogwarts was filled with so many beautiful women that he couldn’t even explain it, and yet the only one he had ever wanted was with his brother. It was completely wrong on so many levels..

“I heard they’re not “together”” she was sure to put air quotations around the word ‘‘together.�� George huffed as a sort of half laugh, turning his attention back to you. He watched as you sat beside Ron, laughing loudly as you tried to convince him to take the sweets you had offered him. From where he stood, he could tell they were hiccough sweets, and he couldn’t fight the smile that crept onto his face.

He sighed again, turning back to Hermione. “Even if they’re not.. together. That doesn’t mean they’re still not.. involved.” He cringed at the thought.

“And how are you so sure that what they have just isn’t a comfortable friendship?” The two Gryffindor’s turned their attention back to where you and Fred danced around, the crowd laughing loudly as Ron exploded into a fit of hiccoughs.

-

“Have I upset you?” You asked out of curiosity when you found George. He was sat tucked away by the restricted section in the library, books sprawled over the desk in front of him. He pulled his attention from his parchment, before meeting your eyes with a confused frown.  “I don’t believe so, but if you know something I don’t know then please-” George gestured to the spare seat beside him. “-do take a seat and explain my dear,” he grinned up at you, giving you a wink as you challenged his stare. Finally, you caved and plonked yourself down in the seat beside him, pivoting your body so you faced him.

“I do know, that you’ve been lacking on your pranks, and have been less annoying that you usually are. So, what’s the deal Georgie? You sick?” You reached out and placed the back of your hand against his forehead, not missing the way he relaxed at your touch. You pretended to study his features for a bit, before pulling back and sitting upright. “Just as I suspected, you’re completely fine. Which leaves absolutely no reason as to why my best friend has been avoiding me!” Your voice had raised a level, and you were only just aware of how dramatic you were being.  George seemed to panic, and for a split second you thought you were actually right and that he had been avoiding you. It made no sense, George was your best friend and together yours wrecked havoc on the stud not body together, not to mention the professors. You two had a bond unlike most, it was actually George who you were friends with first. You loved him, just as you loved the rest of the Weasley family.  He pulled out his potions book, flicking it open to a random page before turning it to you, indicating that this is why he had been so distant. You frowned, sitting forward to take the book from him. A moments silence passed, before you brought your attention back to him.  “And what does an ageing potion have to do with anything?” You asked. For the second time that evening, his eyes widened as he searched his mind for an excuse.

“I’ve had a theory, and it’s probably so dimwitted that it’s absolutely brilliant!” You nodded for him to continue.

“Dumbledore cast an age line around the goblet. Well - and again this is just a theory - if I make this potion correctly, it’ll age Fred and I and we’ll be able to add our names into the tournament!”

He spoke so casually, like it wasn’t probably the most dumbest idea he had had. You eyed him, before bursting into laughter. Tears fell from your eyes as you tried to contain your laughs, but every time you looked at George you would lose your composure all over again. George smiled beside you, his eyes on you, watching every move.

“I’m sorry George, really. I didn’t mean to laugh.” You told him, wiping the stray tears from your cheeks. “In retrospect, an ageing potion does seem like the correct way to go - if your trying to make yourself older. But this time, there’s obstacles in the way of just a simple ageing potion, what once was a simple task, could now be rather dangerous George. This could have serious consequences.” 

George propped his arm up on the desk, before leaning his head onto his palm. He pouted his bottom lip out at you, and you tried to ignore how his sweet puppy dog face made the butterflies in your stomach stir.

“Are you worried about me, y/n?” He teased, reaching out to tuck your hair behind your ears so he could see all your face. You were vaguely aware of how inappropriate the situation was, knew that any bystander would definitely mistake the situation for something it’s not if they happened to pass by at this moment.

“Would they be able to tell that George isn’t Fred?” As soon as you thought it, you wanted to backhand yourself.

You watched as George dropped his hand from your hair, his knuckles brushing gently against the side of your face, as he let his hand fall to rest on your knee. The energy in the room seemed to shift almost instantly, the tension so thick it almost chocked you.

You swallowed against your drying throat, your eyes locking onto the boy in front of you. He was a mirror of his brother, and yet at the same time almost everything was different about him. To the small freckle on the side of his neck, all the way down to his face structure. George was a few mill shorter than Fred to. 

“George..” you warned, your voice barely above a soft whisper.

“I heard that you and Fred aren’t together-” he started.

“You’ve heard wrong, George.” Okay, it wasn’t a complete lie. Although you and Fred weren’t exactly official, the two of you were still respectively loyal to one another. You couldn’t tell people that though, especially not George. Imagine the rumours that would circulate if you jumped from one Weasley to another!  “If I’m so wrong, then why haven’t you moved?”

He was right.

This was wrong.

Everything about it was so completely messed up that you knew you had to stop it.

And yet you made no move to do so.

“Tell me to stop,” George almost pleaded, like he was fighting with himself to. He had to know that every aspect of this situation was wrong. You sat in silence as you watched his slender fingers dance along your thigh, the feather touch he had causing goosebumps to erupt across your skin. His hands were warm, his palm resting against the inside of your thigh while his fingers fiddled with the bottom of your skirt.  You could hear your heart pounding in your ears, and you were sure George could to. He had shifted closer to you, his long orange locks falling over his face as he watched you through his lashes. It would be a lie to say you weren’t attracted to him, that his movements didn’t cause a wetness to pool just behind your clothed core. You felt his breath fan across your face when you shifted in your seat to try and relieve some of the friction building between your legs. He was so close to you, nearly close enough to..

You sat back, reaching down to take his hand in yours. George’s lust blown eyes met yours, and he was reminded instantly just who you were and the severity of the matter. What was he thinking?

Better yet, what were YOU thinking?

“I’m flattered George,” your voice was harsh, probably due to the fact that every bit of saliva had dried from your mouth and made it nearly impossible for you to speak. “But we shouldn’t,” you stood, holding his hand a second longer before releasing his hold.  “I look forward to seeing how your ageing potion turns out.”

-

He wanted to throw himself off the astronomy tower, his face was nearly as red as his hair. He was so embarrassed. He hadn’t known what came over him, one moment he was looking at you, admiring how beautiful he thought you were, and the next he was trying to cop a feel right in the library. And the most absurd thing; you hadn’t acted instantly to stop him!

He pulled himself to his feet, hurriedly shoving his books into his bag before leaving the library to find Fred. The ageing potion had been an irrational thought souley conjured in that moment to impress you. If he was being honest, he had no idea the repercussions the plan could have. He just wanted to seem cool to you. Never would he think that you would actually want to see it. So he set off to search for his brother and fill him in on his idea - leaving out the part about you of course - and hoping that you hadn’t told him what his brother just tried to do.

He needed to sort out his priorities. 

[tvdversefanfiction]

Original Love

Warnings: I do not own nor claim to own the copyright or any of the characters within the TVDverse which consists of shows including “The Vampire Diaries”, “The Originals”, and “Legacies”. 18 Plus: Some chapters may contain graphic descriptions of sex, sexual smut, and fluff, that may be considered somewhat pornographic but only some chapters, think of it as a plot with some porn instead of porn with a plot. All chapters contain moderate to strong violence, language, and sexual innuendos. Strong displays of violence, gore, and torture, with supernatural horror elements and scenes of a sexual nature.

SMUT Warning: This chapter contains graphic description of sex, sexual smut, and fluff. F/F, M/M, F/M, GEN, OTHER +

Chapter 1 - To Love Him

The story of how the original family of vampires began is now known well, as are the events which followed, they became the first vampires however, the story being told now begins when the Mikaelsons were still human and not the monsters that we have learned to love to hate, this story is about Klaus’ first, original, love. His name was Lazarus, a seemingly normal orphan who was raised by the not so normal Bennet witch Ayanna, who had taken him in as a baby and raised the boy like one of her own while never once claiming to be his birth mother, even though the two loved each other like any mother and son. Lazarus grew up in Mystic Falls with the Mikaelson family as his neighbors, growing up alongside Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol, Rebekah, and the dearly departed Henrik, his adoptive mother Ayanna being Esher’s closest friend while he was Rebekah’s. Despite growing up alongside witches Lazarus knew truly little about their way of life due to Ayanna’s wishes for him not to get involved. Ayanna wanted nothing more than for Lazarus to seem like an ordinary child, desperately trying to hide his extraordinary gifts, gifts that one day he would find himself hunted for. Lazarus considered many of the Mikaelson siblings as his own siblings especially Rebekah and Kol but there was one he loved truly more than anyone else and this love was different from anything he had ever experienced before, that love being for Klaus, a love that seemed to only go unrecognized by the two parties involved. “Lazarus, I know that you are besotted with my brother Niklaus, it’s clear every time you are around him, you light up like nothing I have ever seen before and for whatever reason, you only light up like that for him,” Rebekah told Lazarus, as the two friends walked through a quiet field within the woods of Mystic Falls. “Niklaus and Elijah have been courting that widow Tatia who is too beautiful for her own good and the last thing I want is for you to wind up hurt because the one you love does not see you as you see him.” “What if he does feel for me the way I feel for him? What if this woman is nothing more than a distraction, an obstacle towards his realization that the one he loves is the one who has always loved him?” Lazarus questioned his dearest friend, hoping beyond hope for her to give him some hope of Klaus feeling the same way about him. “I know he cares for you deeply but I fear the kind of love he has for you may just be the same kind of love I have for you and not the kind you are looking for but who am I play the part of the expert in matters of the heart considering I have never actually been in love.” “Trust me, Rebekah, you are so lucky to not have these foolish notions invading your mind daily to the point of insanity,” Lazarus claimed, admitting the torment of loving someone whose love may not be returned. Rebekah knew her brother Klaus well but when it came to his heart, she was hesitant to tell her best friend Lazarus where she believed it belonged, not wanting to mislead him if Klaus genuinely wanted Tatia and not him, but deep down wanting nothing more than for her brother to finally be happy and who better than her best friend.

As Klaus found himself torn between the young widow Tatia and his undeniable bond with Lazarus, it was Elijah who began to take notice of everything from not only his brother’s affection for the young man but the fascination that many others seemed to have for this seemingly normal Lazarus. It was not Klaus’ infatuation with Lazarus nor Rebekah’s friendship with the innocent orphan which grabbed Elijah’s intrigue, instead, it was how his parents treated him that had Elijah speculation to the reasons why a seemingly normal person was treated like he was so special. Esther seemed to treat Lazarus like one of her own, something she had not done with Ayanna’s actual children, and even Mikael seemed to be less cold and abrupt towards the young orphan. At first, Elijah believed it was out of pity for his situation, but as he continued to monitor those around him it became abundantly clear that there was more to this tragic orphan than was being told to him as he became determined to unmask the secret of Lazarus, a secret he would not learn for many years yet…

And while Elijah was playing the role of a detective, Klaus continued to play the role of a man stuck between two vastly different people, Tatia, a brave, and bold woman, and Lazarus, a shy, and soft-spoken man, with the added complication of Elijah also eagerly pursuing Tatia which deep down Klaus believed was some of the reason he wanted Tatia, to prove himself better than his brother, hoping it would make his father proud of him. Klaus’ feelings for Tatia were centered around the need to get some affection or sense of pride from his father, however, his feelings for Lazarus were pure, feelings that started out as a friendship that grew into something more, someone he knew he could not live without no matter how hard he may try. All Klaus knew that day was he needed to see Lazarus and he needed to see him alone, so he arranged for the two to meet deep within the woods of Mystic Falls, in a location he was sure no-one would find either of them so they could be well and truly alone to discuss things they had kept from each other for far too long. “I know it has been a while since we last met here…” Klaus admitted, as he and Lazarus sat side by side, with their backs up against a tree deep within the woods of Mystic Falls. “and I know I’ve been busy of late, but I do not want you to think for a single moment that I do not value what you are to me.” “Has Rebekah been whispering into your ear? Because we both know her assumptions are rarely ever factual.” Lazarus began to deny before noticing Klaus looking deeply into his eyes with a sense of longing that paralyzed the young man. Klaus continued to look at Lazarus, admiring the beauty of the man he had known all his life and was only now truly starting to appreciate. Suddenly, Klaus found himself unable to hold back his feelings any longer as he leaned in closer towards Lazarus before planting a kiss on a shocked Lazarus’ lips. Lazarus sat there in complete shock with a silence that seemed painful to Klaus until after some hesitation Lazarus returned the favor by kissing Klaus back passionately, the two finally giving into feelings they had held back for far too long. The two males’ tongues quickly began crashing against the other’s as Klaus pulled Lazarus’ body in towards him, pulling Lazarus until he was sitting on Klaus’ lap as the two continued kissing passionately while allowing their hands to explore each other’s bodies, tugging at each other’s clothing, tearing at them, and unclothing each other until both were completely naked. Klaus lifted Lazarus off him before gently placing the man’s naked body onto the grass and dirt as he climbed on top of him, their two naked bodies rubbing against each other, the friction causing them both to grow more and more aroused by the sensation as Klaus slowly began spreading Lazarus’ legs apart. Klaus shoved his middle finger into his mouth, allowing the finger to soak up his saliva before taking it out of his mouth and slowly placing his finger into Lazarus’ tight virgin ass causing Lazarus to let out a loud groan before a series of small groans followed as Klaus began pushing his finger in and out of Lazarus’ hole, Klaus growing more and more aroused by looking at the satisfaction he was giving the man he loved. Klaus wasted little time picking up the pace as he began finger fucking Lazarus’ ass harder and faster while Lazarus let out groan after groan of pure pleasure, both of their members were now fully erect as Klaus got off on watching Lazarus’ dick bounce off his own stomach while Klaus continued to fuck his hole with his finger. “Niklaus…” Lazarus moaned while in pure ecstasy while Klaus continued to push his finger in and out of Lazarus' tight and excited hole, knowing he wanted more, knowing he wanted Klaus’ member inside of him. “I want all of you!” Klaus quickly pulled out his finger, as he pushed his fully erect dick inside of Lazarus without hesitation, the sensation of being inside of Lazarus’ eager hole was almost enough to make him come there and then. Lazarus began pushing his own body down against Klaus’s dick while Klaus pushed himself harder and faster into Lazarus, both now letting out moans, groans, and even pants of pleasure as Klaus continued pounding Lazarus relentlessly, the two feeling a sense of ecstasy that neither had experienced before. “You feel amazing!” Klaus declared, amazed by how good sex with Lazarus felt, amazed by how having sex for the first time felt, as he continued to slam his dick in and out of Lazarus’ ass, knowing he could not hold out much longer, knowing by the pre-cum coming out of Lazarus’ member that he too could not hold out much longer. Lazarus let out his loudest groan yet before he shot a load all over his own stomach, then another as Klaus continued to pound his hole, as the sight of Lazarus’ cum covering his stomach sent Klaus’ sensations into overdrive and soon followed suit by coming inside of Lazarus, unleashing his load into Lazarus ass before collapsing his body on top of Lazarus while remaining inside of him. The two lovers continued to lay there in the dirt, their naked bodies now covered in both sweat and mud from the ground, keeping in each other’s embrace as they attempted to recatch their breath, Klaus remaining inside of Lazarus, as neither of the two wanted to escape the moment any time soon.

Lazarus was very briefly in his element following his encounter with Klaus, knowing that the feelings he had for him was shared and not just one-sided, but his happiness was short-lived as Klaus began avoiding him after their passionate embrace, and mere days later the Mikaelson family were turned into the first family of vampires and suddenly the friends he had known all his lives turned into bloodthirsty monsters. Late one particularly bloody night in Mystic Falls, Ayanna decided it was time for her and Lazarus to leave, having witnessed too many deaths at the hands of the Mikaelson, fearing they two would suffer the same fate despite one being extremely close to both Esther and her children. Ayanna and Lazarus found themselves running deep within the woods of Mystic Falls, frantically running for their lives after hearing the news of Tatia Petrova’s death, rightfully fearing they would be the next victims of these newly turned monsters. Lazarus tripped over a rock within the ground causing him to fall to the ground, tripping over and injuring his ankle at the same time, causing Ayanna to stop running, as she held out her hand and helped the boy, she loved like a son back up to his feet before Lazarus let out a loud groan, clearly in pain as he tried to put weight on his right foot. Suddenly Rebekah vamp sped her way behind Ayanna, appearing from out of nowhere in full vampire face, before plunging her fangs into Ayanna’s neck, quickly draining the witch of her blood before snapping her neck and throwing her lifeless body to the ground. “No!” Lazarus screamed at the top of his lungs, devastated by the death of the woman he considered to be his mother. “Run, Lazarus, for bloody sake run!” Rebekah shouted at her friend, knowing she could not resist her bloodlust, the hunger being so strong and so new that she had not yet found a way to control herself. “No,” Lazarus replied defiantly, as tears fell down his cheeks, completely heartbroken by the death of his adoptive mother. “I’m done running, you just killed the only thing I was running for…get it over with, drink my blood, kill the only friend you ever had, and when you taste my blood, I hope you choke on it!” Rebekah tried so hard not to attack him, feeling the shame of killing the woman he loved like a mother, feeling the urge not to hurt her best friend, but the urge to feed on his blood was so overpowering that although she tried so hard to fight it, she soon found herself charging at Lazarus and sinking her fangs into his neck. Rebekah literally heard Lazarus’ last breaths, hearing him slowly pass because of what she was doing to him, and yet she still could not stop herself from draining the blood from his neck until there was no more blood left to drain. “Rebekah!” Klaus screamed with a look of pure devastation on his face, after vamp speeding over to watch Rebekah let go of Lazarus’ lifeless body, watching as the body of the man he loved fell to the ground, killed by his own sister. “I could not fight it Nik, I tried but I could not.” Rebekah cried as she turned to face her brother, the look of heartbreak in her eyes only serving to make her feel even more devastated by what she had just done. “He should have kept running, why did he not just keep running?”

[the-bounce-back]

4 WAYS TO HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP (AS TOLD BY A SINGLE CYNIC)

Oh hey there. I’m back at it again with the consistency, now that things are back to normal(ish). I feel like I’ve had enough of being sad and unproductive, so I’m ready to spend my free time actually writing again. You’re all welcome.

Now that I’ve actively made the decision to stop dwelling on stuff that I can’t change (after taking advice from my own posts - imagine that!), I’m pleased to say that post ideas are really just attacking me left right and centre: so I’ll be able to deliver my wisdom on a semi-regular basis at the very least. For example, next week I’m starting my self-confidence project, which will be a series of posts covering how to find confidence in different aspects of life based on my own self-confidence jOuRnEy. Cringe, I know, but definitely worth writing about and something that I feel a lot of people can take away something from.

Anyways - todays topic is going to be about relationships. Namely, how to set yourself up to have a happy, healthy, supportive, empowering, stress-free one that genuinely adds something valuable to your life (as opposed to headaches and nonsense that I feel like a lot of people are going through in their relationships right now).

I know what you’re thinking.

“But Liv! I swear all your relationships crashed and burned - how the hell does that make you qualified to talk about relationships that’ll last?”

First of all, step off my neck because I really don’t recall asking for your input.

Secondly, you do have a point - but not for the reason your smart ass thinks.

If you’ve followed my blog from the beginning, you might remember that I stated in my intro post that one of the main reasons I started this blog was for me to have an outlet for my thoughts and feelings during the healing process after a pretty bad breakup (read it here). I’ve been very open about how the breakup has affected me (and still does, to a certain degree), and spent a lot of time reflecting on the situation, what went wrong, where I went wrong and what I can take away from what happened to be able to bOuNcE bAcK from it.

All this time reflecting and critically analysing the situation leads me to believe that I genuinely have unique insight into how and why some relationships end up going to sh*t, and what not to do the next time my dumb ass decides to fall for somebody. I’ve also found comfort in realising that despite all the pain it caused me, it truly has taught me invaluable lessons about perceptions of self-worth, self-love and independence from validation from others.

Before I get to my gems of wisdom, I just want to get a few disclaimers out of the way. Firstly, I should say from the get-go that this post will be geared towards straight and bi women that have been involved with men, as that is all I can truly speak on. With that being said, I’ve tried to keep it as gender-neutral as possible, and I do believe that there are certain points that will be relevant to all genders and sexualities, so hopefully all that read this can find at least something they can see sense in.

Secondly, I would like to reiterate that all views and opinions here on The Bounce Back are 100% my own, based on my own research and own life experiences. If you’ve read my previous posts you probably already know that I’m really and truly just winging it in this life and writing about what I believe to be correct based on my own opinions. I am by no means a mental health professional or life-coach, so please apply sense before taking what I say literally. Because if you ruin your life by following advice that isn’t relevant to you…. I’m not involved. Sorry.

With that out of the way, please continue reading if you want advice on how to make your current or future relationship bang.

1. Understand that you do not need anybody.

Oh sweetheart. Did you really think I was going to do a post about how to tantalise your man/girl/wcw/mcm/fwb/love interest/potential/whatever you want to refer to them as into falling head over heels in luuuurve with you? You must be new here, or very, very delusional.

Regardless of if you’re in a relationship, situationship, happily single or have an icebox where your heart used to be (...so cold), I think it’s imperative to wrap your head around that while the thought of a significant other might be nice to some, it is absolutely not by any means a necessity for you to be happy and successful in this life. And if you haven’t figured out your own aspirations, goals and dreams, I’d even go as far as saying that relationships can be a source of severe distraction.

Don’t get me wrong here - despite how it may seem I really do love love, and I’m very romantic. It will take a lot more than a couple bad breakups for me to not believe in relationships. The point I’m trying to make is that without a strong sense of self, your own aspirations and being secure in your beliefs is a sure-fire way to risk getting into a relationship that ends up doing more harm to your mental health than good. The way I see it, the attitude to have towards relationships is being secure in the knowledge that you don’t need them, but that you want them in your life. The relationship should be a choice, and not a necessity or a psychological/emotional crutch.

Of course, it’s really easy for me to tell you to not get into a relationship until you have your mental and emotional sh*t together based on all this ~*experience*~ I now have - but trust me, I know this is so much easier said than done. Tantalising human beings really just pop up out of nowhere sometimes, and at the end of the day we can’t help who we’re attracted to (unfortunately). One thing leads to another, and boom - suddenly you’re 4 months deep into a situationship when you swore you were done with dAtInG. I hear you loud and clear.

The truth is, life really comes at us fast, and I’m not enough of a cynic to tell you to face front and disregard the opportunity to get to know someone that intrigues you. However - what I will tell you is that entering a situation when you’re still trying to find yourself (as cringe as it may sound) has the potential to be detrimental to your mental health. This, in the sense that you run the risk of placing a lot of your self-worth and self-identity in your relationship with this person, and end up having this desperate need for validation from someone other than yourself.

I can confidently say that I have been on both ends of the spectrum in this case, and I know that a lot of people in my age range can relate to this, too. Hear me out.

I think many of us have been in a situation where the person we like just seems so perfect and amazing in every thinkable way, that we end up - very unfairly - putting them on a pedestal and almost idolising them, for lack of a better word. I think this is especially common in teenage relationships, or first relationships in general. Becoming this addicted to somebody - regardless of how “good” or “bad” they are for you or how “good” or “bad” they treat you - will almost definitely end up hurting you if you haven’t established your sense of self-worth by yourself. The fear of them finally realising that they’re “better” than you and leaving, the fear of them meeting someone better than you and ending things (or worse, cheating), the way you start hating yourself because you don’t feel good enough for them. The list goes on. I feel like most relationships like these almost always end up in heartbreak, or at the very least are very dysfunctional, because why is the only thing you have going for yourself the fact that you are someone’s significant other (or less)?

I say this… but I get it. Being completely blindsided by someone isn’t abnormal - it gEtS LiKe ThAt sometimes. However, it is up to you to determine how far you are willing to let this infatuation consume you.

Then there’s the other end of the spectrum - the relationship where everything feels too good to be true. Those relationships that make you slowly but surely start visualising the life you could have with this person. They become the first person you tell good and bad news to. Assuming that they will always be there becomes second nature because they make you feel safe and secure, and whenever you’re faced with an important decision, your immediate thought is how this is going to affect them and your relationship.

If you’re into monogamy and “traditional” relationships, this would be the person you see yourself spending the rest of your life with and building a future with. In an ideal world, this person ends up moving past the significant other stage and takes on the role as your life partner - the person you settle down and have kids with, travel the world with, start a business with, grow old with… whatever floats your boat and constitutes your “happily ever after”, really.

But as we all know, this world is far from ideal. These seemingly perfect relationships that you’re convinced are going to last forever aren’t immune to f*ckeries either, unfortunately. There are infinite reasons as to why they end up falling apart that I’m not even going to get into - because it doesn’t even really matter. In my opinion, these kind of breakups are far more lethal than a simple case of breaking up over infidelity, incompatibility or outgrowing each other, simply because they’re the biggest mindf*ck.

One second you have your whole future planned out (or at the very least know that that person is going to be there), then suddenly that whole dream is gone. Aaaand cue the inevitable heartbreak.

I say inevitable, because coming out from a long term relationship and realising how much of your goals, aspirations and plans for the future were directly or indirectly intertwined with the assumption that you would last forever is genuinely soul crushing, and I’m not even being dramatic. I wouldn’t wish that sh*t on anyone. The feeling of going from having your life somewhat figured out to suddenly being alone and directionless is extremely hard to put into words: it’s just something I don’t think you can fully grasp until you’ve been through it, healed from it and learned from it. If you haven’t been through it, count yourself lucky and pray you’ll never have to.

So, to bring this back to the main point - there is no chance in hell that I will ever allow myself to be in a situation where my whole life, happiness and mental health is in any way dependent on someone else ever again, and I’d recommend you doing the same. Making sure that you have your own life, plans, goals, mental health, confidence and issues sorted out before entering a relationship puts you in a position of power and gives you something to fall back on, because you’ll know in the back of your head that regardless of how things work out - you’ll be alright.

2. Ensure you’re actually in love with yourself.

As you probably know by now, I’m a sucker for clichés, and especially this one:

You can’t love anyone else until you love yourself.

It genuinely sickens me when I think back to times when I didn’t understand this, because I now see how unhealthy the situation was. I’ve been in a position where I literally felt that I loved someone more than myself, because I put them on that previously discussed pedestal and made my entire life about them. At the time, I obviously didn’t realise how damaging this was to me because I never even clocked that all the mental health issues I was going through at the time were all linked to this very unstable and unhealthy basis for a relationship. This, in the sense that all my insecurities became amplified by the fear of losing him.

Whenever we argued about something minor, my immediate fear was that he’d think I’m tOo MuCh, and leave me for someone that’s less of a headache.

Every time his phone lit up, my immediate fear was that he was talking to some other b*tch.

Whenever we went out and saw some other girl he used to be involved with (which is pretty much inevitable when you’re in uni), my immediate fear was that he was thinking that he’d made a mistake by choosing me over hEr.

Let me stop there before I die of first hand embarrassment. Of course, now it’s painfully clear to me that I had no business being involved with someone when I was too insecure to function and my perception of self-worth was so obviously lacking. In my defence I was young and still thought that validation, affection and attention from men was necessary to survive in this life. Let’s all laugh together, please.

Bringing this back to the cliché at the beginning of this section, I can’t stress how disgustingly true this is. The way I see it, you really do have to love and appreciate every aspect of yourself - even the “bad” stuff - before even thinking about being in a relationship with someone else. If you’ve read my other posts, you’ll know that I’m a firm believer in being simultaneously kind and brutally honest with yourself about what you need to do to get your sh*t together so you can strengthen your self-love.

Of course, there are millions of ways to build yourself up to a point of f*cking with yourself 100%, and different methods work for different people and blah blah blah. You know this already. However, since you’re here reading my blog, I can only assume that you’re dying to know how I’ve built up my confidence and love for myself, so listen/read carefully.

The pedestal I’ve put countless undeserving mcm‘s on in the past is now fully reserved for myself, and myself alone.

I’ve forced myself to put myself on that pedestal, because I’ve realised that I need to fully understand that I am the prize. I am the one that people should count themselves lucky to have in their lives. I am the sh*t, and I’m way too f*cking amazing to have to deal with someone that makes me feel even a smidgen less than that.

Now, I touched on this topic in my post about giving yourself accolades (if you haven’t read it yet read it here, it’s one of the best posts I’ve ever written), and knowing the difference between confidence and arrogance - so I won’t go into too much detail here. Yes, me talking myself up and flexing on all of you might come across as arrogant, but this is untrue - arrogance would mean that I see myself superior to others, which is hardly the case. My genuine wish is that everyone reading this begins to think about their achievements and realise that they, too, are deserving of being the highest regarded person in their own lives. Celebrating successes with my equally hardworking and driven friends is definitely my favourite pastime, as well as stunting and shining. F*ck being humble, we can all win.

But seriously - I highly recommend bigging up yourself every day and forcing yourself out of the shackles of humility. It might feel weird at first, but I definitely started to notice that the more I forced myself to speak highly of myself, the more I began to realise that I am the only person I’ll literally be with for the rest of my life, so I might as well love the sh*t out of myself. I’ve come so far on this, and I can’t wait to write about it in detail during my confidence project. I definitely love and regard myself as the most important person in my life now, but I still have a long way to go in terms of being my own biggest fan. It’s definitely a challenge, but the rewards...whew chile.

Obviously, everyone has off days. There will always be the occasional moment where you feel like sh*t and doubt yourself and your abilities - however, it’s up to you to not allow these moments to cripple you and get in the way of winning. Of course, after the breakup I let myself feel like this for an embarrassingly long amount of time, and my self-worth was almost entirely based in the fear that I’d never find someone that would put up with all my “sh*t” again. It took a long time for me to realise that the “sh*t” I put people involved with me through isn’t actually sh*t at all - they’re standards.

Deep it, though. I used to feel bad about having standards, and an idea of how I would like to be treated in a relationship. Do you realise how sad that is?

Anyways - that’s definitely in the past now. I’ve gotten to love myself so much that as soon as I notice that I’m not getting the energy I deserve from someone I like, it’s curtains because I can’t come and kill myself for attention. I can proudly say that I no longer give a f*ck about who enters and exits my life, because I have myself and that is all I need.

To bring all this back to relationships in general, I’d like to bring the cliché “you attract the energy you put out” into the mix. If you’re single and are very insecure about yourself for whatever reason, I can almost guarantee you that you’ll either attract parasitic trash that will take advantage of your insecurities, or the equally bad self proclaimed “Nice Guy™” that will be all sweet to you, but secretly finds joy in drip feeding validation to women with low self-esteem. All because they can’t handle strong women. I have to laugh.

However, if you carry yourself like you know you’re That B*tch - which you are - I promise that you’ll see a difference in the type of people you attract. When I made up my mind that I’m the only person in my life that deserves unconditional love - thus changing the energy that I put out - I definitely noticed a shift in the people I associate myself with, and this is both in terms of platonic friends and otherwise.

I could definitely write a whole post about this, but I’ll keep it short. I realised that some people were only really interested in being in my life due to how insecure I was, and how easy it was to walk all over me. It’s actually quite comical, because as soon as I became more assertive, they either slowly but surely peaced out from my life or started talking sh*t about how I’ve cHaNgEd.

All because they couldn’t handle me now that I’m stronger. Again, I have to laugh.

On the upside, though, my real friends and new people I meet genuinely love how secure and confident I’ve become, and they motivate me to grind even harder and elevate even more than I already have. The bottom line is that it is this type of person you want to attract, f*ck the rest. And then when you decide you’re ready to share your awesomeness with someone else, you’ll be able to easily determine who is deserving of it.

This advice can also be applied to those of you who are already in a relationship, too. Of course, ideally you’re already with someone that motivates and elevates you, you already carry yourself like you’re all that, and you don’t even have problems with insecurities. However, let’s say for argument's sake that you do have insecurities about yourself and the relationship, and you sometimes doubt that this person is right for you.

Shift your worries and attention away from your s/o, and work on combating your own insecurities and demons - because at the end of the day, you can’t force someone else to change. When you’ve gotten to a point of higher self-esteem, I think that the relationship can go one of two ways:

1. Your s/o loves that you’ve become more secure in yourself, applauds you for becoming a stronger person without their validation, and the connection between you becomes even deeper. They love the fact that you have set yourself straight, that you have a life and aspirations outside of them, and might even find motivation to improve themselves after seeing you thrive.

2. Your s/o finds great discomfort in the fact that you’re now more assertive and secure, and subtly tries to drag you back down to a state of submissiveness and insecurity. This, because they knowingly or unknowingly need to feel that they are superior to their partner, or because they have a need to feel needed by somebody else.

Of course, this is overly simplified for the purpose of me making a point - it’s not going to be as black and white as this. All I can really say is that you need to pay close to attention to how your s/o reacts and how your relationship shifts once you become more assertive. If you notice that the relationship takes a shift towards the latter point, then I suggest you seriously evaluate whether the relationship is worth fighting for or not.

Spoiler alert: it isn’t. Relationships aren’t meant to be psychological torture, and your s/o is trash for trying to hinder your emotional wellbeing. Dump them and find someone that’s actually worthy of you.

3. Understand  that you shouldn’t have to change for anybody.

I find this one rather funny, because I feel like this is definitely advice that mums in coming-of-age rom coms give their sullen teenage daughters who are crying their eyes out over some wasteman that treats them like crap. Then the next scene cuts to the girl rolling up to school wearing something ridiculous and not at all what she’d usually wear and acting different - all because she she’s in lOvE. I’m looking at you, Sandy from Grease.

I’m getting carried away, but you know what I mean. What’s even funnier is that I don’t know a single girl that hasn’t gone through something like this in real life - myself included. The amount of us that would try to dress different, act different, look different, listen to music that we hated and watch movies/tv-shows we found dumb just for some useless boy to notice us and like us back is actually astounding and extremely tragic (in my defence… he had a nose ring). If you didn’t succumb to this kind of embarrassing behaviour when you were younger, I genuinely hope you are enjoying the view from your high horse, and I’m also really sorry that your teenage years were sh*t and boring.

All jokes aside - I can’t stress enough how important it is to realise that unless you are an actual axe murderer or clinically insane, you shouldn’t have to change a single thing about yourself for anybody. I’m a firm believer of a notion that a healthy relationship should put you in a place where you wouldn’t mind making changes for your s/o, but at the same time being secure in the knowledge that they would never want you to change. Of course, if somebody you’re interested in gives you genuinely great and constructive advice on how to change something about yourself that you know needs changing, this a completely different story and not at all what I’m referring to in this case.

I’m referring to the cases in which you fall for someone who seems amazing in every way when you get to know them, to the point that you become afraid of losing them. So afraid, that when they start spewing rubbish about how you laugh too loud/dress too provocatively/talk too much/whatever other nonsense they can come up with, you allow it and actively try to suppress certain aspects of yourself to make sure they won’t leave.

First of all, this is extremely manipulative and bordering on emotional abuse. Secondly - although I fully understand the whole being so tantalised by someone that you become Ray Charles to their bullsh*t thing - you need to take a step back from the situation and ask yourself whether they really and truly like you if they’re trying to change everything about you that makes you, you. Best case scenario is that you deep that you’re obviously not compatible, and worst case scenario is that you’ve become involved with an emotionally abusive and controlling bastard that can - in the literal sense - ruin your life.

Thinking about all this makes me think about the first time I heard the poetry in the beginning of Lemonade, and how triggering it was to be able to relate to it to a certain extent:

I tried to change.

Closed my mouth more.

Tried to be softer,

Prettier,

Less awake.

Fasted for 60 days,

Wore white.

Abstained from mirrors.

Abstained from sex.

Slowly did not speak another word.

All that for a man you know, f*cking hell. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I fasted for 60 days or abstained from anything, but it’s the general notion of subduing certain personality traits that I want to focus on here. In my case, I’m very aware that my energy, vibe and sense of humour (amongst other aspects of my personality) isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Now that I’m older and more secure in myself I have learned to accept to not take it personally when new people I meet aren’t on the same wavelength as me, but when I was younger I really used to take that sh*t to heart. I remember being convinced that I was an annoying little sh*t, and I was constantly watching what I said, not speaking my mind and holding back my hilarity - simply because I didn’t want people I was interested in to think I was too much.

Imagine I used to literally cry myself to sleep because I was convinced that nobody would want me if I didn’t hold back my full madness. Not really sure if I want to die of embarrassment or laugh. Probably both.

Of course, now I know for a fact that I’m an annoying little sh*t, and I’m actually very pleased that I’ve gotten to a place where I can fully accept that. I’ve noticed that ever since I’ve been unapologetically myself, I’ve attracted people that genuinely enjoy and appreciate the full extent of my wisdom and hilarity - platonic friends or otherwise. I actually dare someone to even imply that there’s something about the way I am that they don’t like, and think I should change. I really, really, really wish someone would, because I haven’t had a good laugh in a while.

Anyways, I’ve definitely gone off topic. To round up this section, the point I’m trying to make is that I believe that you should never settle for someone that doesn’t love every single part of your mind and personality before you pursue a relationship with them. Yes, I’m aware that it takes time to get to know someone to that extent, and that’s exactly my point. I feel that many people (myself in the past included) often make the mistake of forcing and/or rushing a connection with someone simply due to the initial attraction that made them want to get to know the person in the first place.

This is problematic in the sense that if you rush into something with someone based on physical attraction alone, more likely than not you’ll soon realise with time that there are certain aspects of that person that you find… unappealing, to put it lightly - and vice versa. Now you’re in a situation where you either pray that the person will cHaNgE fOr YoU, or you go out of your way to force the person to change their ways to be someone that you like better - i.e. not them.

Yes - this works both ways. Just like you have the right to shut anyone who tries to make you change something about yourself down, other people are allowed to not want to pursue something with you if they realise that you’re not compatible. Shocking and upsetting news, I know. I don’t make the rules.

For this exact reason, I am personally not inclined to force or rush anything with anyone, regardless of how tantalising and sweet they may seem. My next relationship will be based on a mutual and in depth understanding of both mine and my s/o’s compatibility and personalities, as well as emotional intelligence and intellectual stimulation. That is by force, because I refuse to put myself through another extended headache, or by feeling like I’m having to hold myself back for them to accept me. Life is way too short for sh*t relationships, and this exactly why I believe that the “talking stage” should not be rushed. No one wants to be surprised by deal-breaking opinions, behaviours or mannerisms six months deep into a relationship - so where is the rush?

Anyways. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t have to change for anyone, and no one should have to change for you. There’s sOmEoNe OuT tHeRe FoR eVeRyOnE - don’t let your fear of being alone force you into something that you later on realise you don’t even want.

4. Know that if all else fails - you will be fine.

I’ve put this point at the end because I think it ties together all the takeaways from the previous point real nice-like. Of course, there are infinite reasons as to why relationships end up fizzling out, but this is even irrelevant to the point I’m trying to make.

The reason why I’ve written so extensively about how important it is to understand that you don’t need anyone else’s attention and validation to be happy, how important it is to f*ck with yourself 100% and understanding that you are amazing just the way you are is because I didn’t have anything like this to read when I was at my lowest. I really had to figure all of this out for myself, and although I’ve definitely learned a lot and changed for the better - it still took a massive and painful toll on me emotionally and mentally, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

For me, learning how to be comfortable with being alone, learning how to love myself inside out, realising my immense worth and putting myself first in all aspects of my life really has given me the ability to say that regardless of what life throws at me - relationship-wise or otherwise - I will be okay. I am strong. I am smart. I am f*cking amazing, and everyone that has or has had anything to do with me is truly blessed.

My genuine wish is that my openness and honesty about how I got through a really (for me) emotionally devastating time will help others that might be able to relate to certain aspects of it, or that need empowering to believe that they are capable of building their self-love, resilience and self-confidence.

I think the main point I want to bring focus on in this section is the changes I made to my life to make myself independent of anyone else’s validation and life. When I was forced to reevaluate my life goals and aspirations (since they were very much dependent on the assumption that my ex would be in my future), I took extra care to ensure that they benefited me and me alone. Once I had realigned them and began to grind for my own damn self, I quickly realised that I’ll never be able to go back to a state of dependency or submissiveness ever again.

And that, beloved, is exactly how I know that my next relationship - whenever it comes along - will be A1. I say this with vim, because now I know exactly how I deserve to be treated and loved. I am physically, mentally and emotionally unable to accept anything less than what I know I deserve. Furthermore, all this newfound self-love has empowered me to be a better partner to whoever is lucky to end up with me. You see the motivation, support, intellectual stimulation, peace of mind and non-stop laughter they will get? Whew chile. My babes will enjoy.

So - regardless of if you’re in a (hopefully) happy relationship, happily single, still healing or looking for your Johnny/Caro - I hope that there is at least something you can take away from this post and apply to your life to be able to contribute to your happiness, confidence and mental wellbeing.

Or maybe this whole post was a waste of time and energy, because then again - what do I know firsthand about successful relationships? Zilch. I really could just be chatting sh*t - it wouldn’t be the first time.

Anyways, I can’t come and kill myself. I’ll let you be the judge of if I’m talking sense or not.

Love,

Liv

[doomsteady]

Look Again - ch1

WIP! bi!John/ace!Sherlock, Friends to Lovers. Explicit. Will be posted on AO3 when it’s done.

This is what I’ve been writing to get over my writer’s block. Sort of a different take on my old Spotlights series. Less blatantly smutty (but still: there is smut). A more mature, developed look at the sexual/asexual relationship dynamic.

I am enjoying this one SO much right now! :D Not sure how long it’ll be in the end, but I’m at about 5k words currently and I think I’ve got about another 5k left to go.

Enjoy!

<ch1> --> <ch2> --> <ch3>

Ch 1

A heavy boot smeared a muddy print on the back of John’s shirt as the brute jerked the rope back. The coils tightened at once, his and Sherlock’s bodies squeezing even closer and forcing a rough grunt out of John’s lungs.

Typical, John thought, his nose squashed against the front of Sherlock’s pristine shirt. Bloody typical, this.

The boot on his back shoved them away, sending their bound feet scuffing a clumsy tango against the tarmac. Grit scattering underfoot. Dark suited goons jeered at them from all sides, drunk on power and victory.

They’d been caught out. An unexpected patrol had stumbled upon their hiding spot out of blind, dumb luck. On all other counts, they had been meticulously careful; John’s army training being just as useful in situations like these as Sherlock’s route-finding and planning often was, but the result of their discovery was the same either way: They’d been captured. Their plan to eavesdrop on the clandestine money exchange was scuppered. Sherlock had been so furious with himself as to curse aloud.

The ringleader of the group stepped forward, an older man in a bespoke suit. Bald, gruff in both voice and appearance, his expensive attire did little to pretty up his image; John couldn’t help but think he looked like a dressed-up boar, for all the good it did him.

The man — Salvatore, because of course he’d be Italian — leaned in close to Sherlock’s ear. His breath stank of cigar ash, bitter and rotten. He was so close to John’s face that John had to fight the urge to headbutt the smarmy wanker, but one warning glance from Sherlock’s sharp, oceanic eyes put paid to the idea. They would get him eventually, but not now. Right now, survival and escape were paramount.

“Nearly had us all figured out, didn’t you?” The man’s thin lips pulled into a mocking grin. “So close,” he crooned. “The great Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Pain-in-the-Arse. Got cocky, eh? It’s just as well. We can’t have you ballsing our whole operation up, now can we?”

Sherlock’s face, mere inches from John’s own, remained passive and unimpressed by the man’s taunts. To look at him, one might assume the whole affair was a minor inconvenience. He looked bored, only mildly irritated to have been stripped of his coat, his hands bound behind his back and the rest of him tied to his friend, ankles to sternum.

His was a look that gave no applause to their captors, no acknowledgement of their having outwitted their opponent. It was an air of arrogant confidence, as if their eventual escape was a foregone conclusion. Child’s play.

Knowing him as well as John did, that was very likely the truth of it.

But pressed together as they were, chest-to-chest, John could clearly feel the thrum of Sherlock’s elevated heartbeat against his own. The man wasn’t impervious to the effects of adrenaline. It matched John’s own heavy pulse, the noise of which hissed in his ears and throbbed in his wrists where the thin rope dug painfully into his skin.

“I had rather hoped to put a damper on your day, yes. Nevermind, though. You’re a slippery fish, Salvatore, but even you can’t hope to slip the net every time.”

Salvatore’s grin widened until he broke into a rattling, sickly laugh. His goons joined in, right on cue. “Oh, Mr Holmes! You forget your current predicament. What nets should I need to slip, now that the fisherman himself has been hooked?”

The clunk of a car boot unlocking echoed through the underground level. Two things kept circling in John’s mind: One, that these thugs probably intended to kill them and dump their bodies somewhere they were unlikely to be discovered. And two, how much he wished it didn’t require the excuse of a hostage situation to be this physically close to his flatmate.

Because God, he’d been an idiot, hadn’t he? How many months had it been since that night at Angelo’s? Their first case together; chasing a serial killer through the streets of London. And John, already so infatuated by Sherlock’s strange charms, unable to contain himself any longer.

He just had to ask. Could they? Was he…?

He’d surprised even himself with his forwardness, but poor Sherlock had looked downright panicked by the advance. It was so sudden, so unexpected, that Sherlock had been forced to let him down in no uncertain terms.

While I’m flattered by your interest…

John Watson: Blogger, Flatmate, Monumental Idiot. And now this was it: This was the last time he would experience the two of them sharing each other’s body heat, and not once had it ever been under more pleasant circumstances. Was it possible to mourn the loss of something he’d never had? Because he was pretty sure this is how it feels.

In hindsight, it was even more of a shock that Sherlock had managed to reject him in a manner that was surprisingly gentle for the ‘high-functioning sociopath’. But, well, they both knew that label didn’t entirely apply. Though Sherlock preferred to maintain the myth for his public image, given their living arrangements, it was impossible to hide his true nature from John for long.

Everyone they knew now considered John the foremost expert on Sherlock Holmes, and not without good reason: They had grown thick as thieves in no time at all. And one thing he knew for sure about his strange, brilliant flatmate? He was no sociopath. His major problem seemed to be his difficulty to connect with and express his emotions. But hell, even John himself struggled with that, and most people considered him a perfectly normal bloke.

After Angelo’s, John hadn’t asked again. He respected his friend’s feelings and didn’t question their status in each other’s lives. But part of him always wondered if things might have developed differently, if only he hadn’t jumped the gun like a giddy teenager.

Trying to get into the man’s pants after only a day of knowing him? God, he must have seemed a right prat.

Breaking through John’s thoughts, two goons stepped forward, grabbing their arms and shoving them towards the car. John felt Sherlock’s body stiffen the moment his calves touched the bumper, and a moment later they were toppling awkwardly over and down into the cramped space.

“Shall we go for a swim, Mr Holmes?” he heard behind them, amidst the heckling of the thugs. Someone picked up their bound legs and swung them inside, hauling their dead-weight bodies into a position that could allow the boot to close over their heads. With a slam, the light was shut out. External sounds dulled to a muffled whisper of voices and the soft tread of boots. Inside, only their breaths were loud and clear.

“You alright?” John asked against Sherlock’s head, tasting for a moment the thick curls brushing the corner of his mouth. He winced at how the combined weight of himself and Sherlock lying over him was crushing his hands against the upholstery. “Felt you knock your head a bit on the way in. Does it hurt?”

John felt Sherlock’s low reply rumble like nightclub bass through both of their chests. “Mm,” he said. “It’ll bruise. It’s fine. What about you, can you breathe well enough? I’d get off if I could, but…”

“I’m fine,” John said, his eyes blindly seeking detail in the pitch black of the boot. He thanked his lucky stars neither of them were claustrophobic.

Outside, he could hear people approaching the car. A door opened, then another, and the suspension bounced and sank as their captors boarded. He dropped his voice to a strained whisper. “So, what’s the plan?”

Sherlock’s words were a tickling heat against John’s neck. “We have to loosen the ropes first. Can’t do anything with my hands tied like this.”

The engine roared to life, sending its vibrations through the chassis. It sunk into John’s bones and rattled his teeth. It was louder here than in the cabin, and a moment later, Sherlock began shifting his shoulders and hips in a serpentine movement. It forced John’s body to rock right along with him.

His breath caught in his throat as his brain momentarily whited-out.

“Move, John,” Sherlock ordered. “It’ll loosen quicker if we’re both working at it. They won’t hear over the engine.”

In the dark, John nodded and started mimicking Sherlock’s movements. Stopped a moment later. Actually, that wasn’t such a good idea.

“Um, Sherlock…” he began. Sherlock, still moving, didn’t reply. His whole weight was on top of John as he rhythmically worked his limbs against the ropes. He shifted them up and down, up and down, flexing and relaxing his muscles. His breath started coming in shallow pants that made John’s skin raise in goosebumps. Worse still, the motion was causing their hips to rub together in a way that simply couldn’t be ignored.

“Sherlock,” John hissed, barely able to prevent his body from twitching at every bolt of pleasure that was skittering up his spine. “Could you… Stop. Sherlock, stop, please.”

“Why?” Sherlock paused over him, their chests constricting with every laboured breath. The air had turned humid, a little stifling. John could feel the sweat beading on his forehead.

“Because it’s killing my wrists,” John said, because that was true, technically. He wasn’t about to admit that what was really concerning him was the reaction happening between his legs. Mercifully, it seemed Sherlock hadn’t yet caught on.

“A lot more than your wrists will end up dead if we don’t get out of here, John.” He strained his arms outward, tested the limits of the rope again. “I think it’s working, but it needs more. Look, just hold still, alright? I’ll try to make this quick.”

“Alright…”

As Sherlock began shifting again, John tried to think of anything other than the myriad fantasies he’d had over the years about the man currently writhing like a lover on top of him.

He thought of cold showers.

Of mutilated corpses.

Of Mycroft in women’s lingerie.

That last one, unexpected but horrifically detailed in his mind, caused him to break into a giggle.

“Glad you’re in such a giddy mood,” Sherlock’s voice came out rough from the exertion, his breath hitching between the words. “You could help, you know.”

“Sorry,” John shook his head, still grinning at the mental image. At this entire situation. This was ridiculous; here they were, trapped in a car boot, tied together with Sherlock frotting against him as if his life depended on it, because it actually did. John’s mind stuck picturing Mycroft in a brassier and lacy panties. Ripples of laughter ran through him, made unsteady by Sherlock’s movements.

This couldn’t really be happening, could it? John felt a little hysterical. “It’s nothing, just— Ohhh.”

A bump in the road shifted their position by a degree, causing Sherlock’s hips to grind directly along John’s half-hard cock, and a helpless moan escaped John’s throat before he could prevent it.

Sherlock went still at that. John’s erection throbbed between them, as obvious as the nose on his face.

Oh, indeed.

“S-Sorry,” John stammered. “Fuck. I’m sorry.”

“It’s um. It’s fine.” Sherlock cleared his throat. “Perfectly natural response.”

“Yeah, it’s just… The friction, it’s…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Right.”

“But I have to…”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Just… Ignore.”

Sherlock hesitated for a moment before he started tentatively moving again. John could tell he was trying to avoid it, but there was no room to manoeuvre. Plus, if anything, it was having an even greater effect on him now that they had acknowledged it. That he knew Sherlock was aware that his shimmying was arousing him only made John’s cock twitch in perverted glee.

God, what the hell was wrong with him?!

And Sherlock kept going, because he had to, delivering an inexorable rhythm of frottage against John’s crotch that soon had him breathing hard through his nose. Every brush sent heavy drags of pleasure up his spine and down into his bollocks, bringing him rock-solid and building into a serious threat of something more, something with a very definite climax.

“Sherlock, for real…” John bit his lip. This had to stop soon, or else he was going to lose it entirely, but he couldn’t think of a way to say ‘I’m about to come in my pants’ that wouldn’t leave him mortally humiliated for the rest of his life. He eventually settled on a breathless, “Surely they’re loose enough by now?”

“Not quite. Just a few more minutes.”

“Sherlock—” His voice rasped, more a rush of air than sound. This couldn’t be happening to him. This wasn’t fair.

“Grit your teeth, man!”

John clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut, but nothing could block out the sensation of Sherlock rubbing against him, dragging over his cock, increasing in speed and pressure as the binds around them gradually loosened. John was losing himself to the pleasure, the world narrowing down to the tightening of his muscles and the bubbling fire preparing to erupt in his groin. The urge to rut up and finish it was becoming an almost unbearable temptation.

The sounds Sherlock was making in his ear— grunting, panting with effort, certainly weren’t helping. His lips were brushing against him occasionally, accidentally, just beneath his earlobe. It was all so painfully intimate. Almost indistinguishable from the real thing. And combined with the see-saw swaying of his slender hips as they ground against John in just the right way…

John was fast approaching his limit.

“Sherlock,” he tried again, desperation keening in his voice even as he tried to stay quiet, lest their captors overhear. “Sherlock, please…”

“Hold on, John.”

“Fuck… I don’t… Don’t think I…” John’s mind clouded over. The smell of Sherlock’s skin, the press of his body, the heat of it. The hammering rhythm of his heart. The sound of his voice in his ear, deep, thick as dark chocolate and smooth as velvet. Luxurious. John’s every sense: Sherlock. Sherlock. Everywhere, inside his mind and out of it. Every thrust dragging him ever closer, closer, closer. Behind closed eyelids, John gazed into Sherlock’s eyes and saw those pupils blown wide with pleasure, and it was enough. It all was too much.

“Please, please… Oh, please… Sher… Please, please, please—!”

Once it began, he couldn’t stop it. The air was forced out of his lungs as he came, groaning helplessly into Sherlock’s shirt collar. His hips jerked up, hard, meeting the solid resistance of Sherlock’s thigh as his whole body tried to curl against Sherlock’s pinning weight. His fists clenched tight behind his back and his toes curled in the confines of their shoes. A litany of ‘pleases’ and ‘Sherlocks’ spilled from his lips as his cock pulsed between them, thick and hot.

It seemed to go on for an embarrassingly long time.

The waves gradually abated, and his muscles unwound themselves, relaxing enough to allow him to lay down flat again, mortified and gasping for air. For a moment, neither of them moved or spoke. The moment was frozen between them, undefined and fuzzy at the edges. But there was no need to spell it out. If his moaning hadn’t given it away, his frenzied rutting certainly had.

John’s heart was still pounding in his chest when Sherlock pulled at the ropes again. John could feel the difference in the tension, but it still amazed him when Sherlock’s right arm slipped up and out of the coils, followed by his left. Then, having created enough extra slack in the rope by freeing his limbs, Sherlock slid his torso down through the coils around their chests. Honestly, the man was like a god damned contortionist.

Panic momentarily gripped him when Sherlock was forced to rub his face along John’s crotch, because God knows what it smelled like down there. He froze, not daring to move an inch, until at last Sherlock’s upper-half was freed of its binds. John shuffled over to allow Sherlock to settle on the floor of the boot beside him, and together they made short work of the rope tying their legs.

“What now?” John asked, shoving aside his shame and anxiety and focusing on the problem at hand. There would be time to examine the fallout from this later. Pale light flooded the cramped space when Sherlock switched on his phone, and both of them squinted while their eyes got used to the glare.

Sherlock was already reaching for something hidden in his sock when the car rolled to a halt.

“Shit. Are we too late?” John whispered, his body tensing despite the post-orgasmic lethargy weighing heavy in his limbs.

“Traffic light,” Sherlock replied, leaning forward to mess with the boot lid. He had something slim in his hand; its smooth edge reflected the icy blue of the phone screen as he swivelled it into the lock’s mechanism. A few quick jiggles and the lid popped open, allowing a rush of cold London air into the space and revealing a sliver of damp road beyond.

John moved to clamber his way out, but Sherlock gripped his arm. “Not yet,” he said. “Wait until the car starts moving. They’ll notice the weight let up if we get out now.” They sat poised like stone statues, waiting for the moment. Then, the lurch of the engine. “Now!”

John rolled out of the boot first, gripping the lid to stop it raising too far. Sherlock slipped out behind him almost immediately. The car was away from them before he had a chance to shut the lid and hide the evidence of their escape. It would only be seconds before someone would notice it.

“Forget it, John. Run!”

<ch1> --> <ch2> --> <ch3>

[allofthisnonsenseplease]

Nightrunner fic: The Light Prince

A/N: This is hugely self-indulgent and Seregi is ooc all the way through. To be fair, there’s a reason for that last, but still.

Fusion with The Light Princess by George MacDonald.

It got to be too weird having a finished fic unposted, but I can’t really say this is any good, so I’m going to compromise and not put it in the tags.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are from Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunner series and do not belong to me.

1. An Inauspicious Christening

Once upon a time, in a land so cluttered with kingdoms and queendoms that it was nearly impossible to throw a rock without hitting a palace, there lived a King and Queen in the country of Bôkthersa. They were as happy a couple as could be found, save for one thing. Although his dear wife, Queen Illia, had given him four daughters, King Korit yearned for a son. After years of trying, his wish was finally granted, but the cost was far higher than he had expected. His beloved wife died in childbirth, leaving him behind with their four daughters and a squalling infant son.

Stricken with grief and remorse, the King nevertheless meant to honor the customs of his people. In the midst of the month of mourning, he arranged for the christening of his son, whereupon the boy would be given his name. Invitations were sent out to kings and queens, princes and princesses in all corners of the land. In his sorrow, however, there was one person who he forgot to invite. In the normal course of events, such an oversight would be a minor embarrassment, but nothing terribly troubling. Unfortunately, in this case, the person the King had forgotten to invite was none other than Princess Phoria of Skala, a proud and cunning woman with little love for his people and a long memory for grudges.

When Phoria realized that she had been excluded, though her mother and both sisters and even her twin brother had been invited, she was incensed. No practitioner of the magical arts herself, she found a wizard willing to brew up a curse which she would then be able to activate with the simple application of a few herbs and a short incantation. Thus armed, she contrived to attend the christening, pretending that she had not noticed the slight, while the King remained unaware that he had even forgotten her.

In the milling confusion before the guests took their places for the ceremony, Phoria emptied into the font a packet of fine powder that had been mixed up for her by her wizard. Then, she had only to wait until the infant was sprinkled with the water and christened with his name. When she heard the King pronounce the name of his son—Seregil—she knew the moment was ripe and spoke the spell under her breath.

"Light of spirit, by my charms, Light of body, every part, Never weary human arms— Only crush thy father's heart!"

In an instant, the reverent silence was broken by a squeal of laughter from the infant Prince. The sound of it masked the gasp of Princess Adzriel, his oldest sister, who happened to be holding him. Although no one saw that anything was amiss as she clutched her brother tightly, in an instant, she had felt all the weight go out of his tiny body.

Prince Seregil's laughter continued unabated in shrills and gurgles of joy. Thinking that the magic she had purchased had failed, Phoria spent the remainder of the ceremony in an even worse temper than she had been in when she had initially been slighted. It was only toward the end of the evening that she noticed the first sign that all was not well. Adzriel was drawing the King away, speaking low and urgently to him and holding out his son to him.

When King Korit took the boy, his face betrayed his shock. He hefted the baby, but his grip must not have been sure. At the height of his lift, Seregil floated free, cooing happily, and came to rest against the ceiling. He hovered there quite contentedly and with no apparent inclination to drift back down, while gasps and cries of alarm came from the crowd below.

By all accounts a difficult woman to please, Phoria's lips pressed thin in a dissatisfied line as she watched and wondered if her revenge had truly been served.

2. The Gravity of the Situation

The curse—which must never have been properly explained to Phoria, as she would merely have scoffed at the idea and found a different wizard—robbed Prince Seregil of his gravity. Never again did the baby cry or wail. Instead, squeals and shrieks of laughter issued from him in response to any stimulus. And although such a cheerful baby was almost universally loved despite the unfortunate circumstances of his birth, his condition did give rise to certain unusual and awkward situations.

A nurse, bouncing the infant one day, let her grip relax too much and, before she knew it, Seregil was laughing his baby laugh while looking down at her from the ceiling. The same mistake was made by the King and two of the Prince's sisters. One evening as they sat at table, Seregil was accidentally let go up into the lofty ceiling of the dining hall. A ladder had to be sent for and placed carefully on the long table over the platter of venison. Even then, the servant sent to fetch the Prince down could not reach him. In the end, the baby had to be handed down after being snagged by a pair of tongs.

Special care had to be taken even when the Prince was laid in his cradle. A mishap one afternoon involving open windows and a mischievous breeze left the castle all in an uproar when it was discovered that Seregil had been whisked away out of the palace. He was eventually found in the garden, having been blown into a hedge of roses. His skin was scratched from the thorns, but no lasting harm was done, and from then on, it was always made certain that a dozen silk cords secured his clothing to the sides of his crib.

King Korit was devastated. His wish for a son had cost his queen her life, and had left him besides with a child that was in no way the boy he had wanted. Seregil was not a child he could teach to ride and hunt and fight as he had long dreamed of.

“Don't despair, Father,” Princess Adzriel said to him. “Perhaps he needs only to grow out of it.”

“Perhaps a cure will be found,” suggested Princess Mydri.

The Princesses Shala and Illina were of the mind that their brother ought to be sent away to someplace where he could be forgotten, so as not to bring further shame upon their family.

The King refused to send his son away, but the loss of his wife had stolen his ability to hope. His heart remained heavy as stone, as if it had taken on all the gravity that Seregil so sorely lacked.

Although the King lamented both his loss and his son's fate, Princess Adzriel doted on the child, and Prince Seregil was the darling of the servants. There was nothing they could do that didn't please the infant, and he was coddled and bounced and played with all the hours of the day. One of the games they loved best to play with him was ball, and Seregil enjoyed it no less for actually being the ball himself. Peals of laughter rang out as he was tossed from one pair of hands to another and, although they had to be careful not to toss him into a hearth or allow him to get tangled in a chandelier, at least there was no danger in dropping him.

As the years passed, Prince Seregil grew into as fine, handsome, and healthy a young man as anyone could have asked for. The only flaw in his constitution was his continuing lack of gravity. He had learned to make his way by taking up large rocks in either hand, and these had the effect of weighing him back down to earth between his bounding steps, but nothing worn on his person would do. Indeed, anything from his heavy winter cloaks to his fine golden crown would lose its own gravity as soon as he put it on. After one too many close calls where Seregil had accidentally dropped his ballast, King Korit finally decreed that he was not to be allowed out without an escort of half a dozen men holding lengths of silken cord tied to his clothes, along with as many mounted riders—just in case he should slip his leashes. Adzriel also insisted that he always carry on his person a small grappling hook on a length of rope in case of emergencies.

Outings with Seregil were always merry, as the Prince laughed at everything, and took no offense when his strange gait encouraged laughter in others. One step would send him up into the air, feet moving as if he could still propel himself forward, while his direction was at the mercy of any breeze that chose to blow past. His ballast would see him brought back down to earth until another step kicked him off again and then up he would go.

Inspired by these foreshortened flights, Seregil had on more than one occasion confided in fits of giggles that he should like nothing more than to be tied to a very, very long cord and flown like a kite. If his father's heart had not long since been broken, that particular bit of silliness might have been the final blow to it.

Given his unusual method of locomotion, it was hardly uncommon for him to be blown off course and into one of the courtiers or servants that surrounded him constantly. In fact, Seregil had claimed his first kiss in just such a manner. Rushing to greet his sister Adzriel one day, an ill-timed puff of air had caught him mid-stride—that is, a few feet off the ground as he began his descent—and sent him directly into the path of a young man not much older than he named Ilar. Lips already puckered to kiss his sister's cheek, Seregil collided head on with Ilar, who was only too happy about the misplaced affection. His happiness did not last overlong, however. Although Ilar fancied the Prince, Seregil could not take him seriously at all, and the laughter that remained the constant response to Ilar's overtures in all their future exchanges eventually changed his infatuation to bitterness. Seregil didn't even notice when Ilar left the court to return to his own home.

Seregil's treatment of Ilar was but one example of how his comportment remained as unaltered by time as his exemption to the natural law of gravity. Nothing could be said to him that he would not laugh at, and nothing could happen that he did not find humorous. There was, however, a strange quality to the Prince's laughter, a sort of lack or hollowness at the center. At times, his laugh could sound quite brittle, but it went on all the same. It was his sister, Adzriel, who loved him best of all, who noticed that although her brother might be easily set off into fits of laughter, it did not reach his eyes. He rarely smiled.

He never cried, not even a single tear of mirth.

3. Try Everything—Something's Got To Work

Adzriel never gave up hope that the curse on her brother could be broken. She wrote to wizards, magicians, fortune tellers, oracles, physicians, and philosophers. She invited them all to Bôkthersa to examine Seregil, and visited those who could not or would not come. She was inundated with suggestions, both solicited and freely offered, and found that she discarded more of these potential cures than she tried, as many of them were ridiculous at best and dangerous at worst.

Thero í Procepios, a wizard of Orëska House, believed that something had gone wrong with the soul inhabiting her brother's body.

“Two souls, seeking out their appropriate habitations, must have somehow met, rebounded off each other, and lodged in the wrong bodies. It is no wonder the Prince is not subject to any natural influence—his soul belongs to another sphere. He must therefore be grounded in this world. Fill him with its history of every variety: animal, vegetable, mineral, social, moral, political, scientific, literary, artistic, musical, magical, and metaphysical. Fill him with the weight of the world he must dwell in.”

Adzriel had her doubts about the efficacy of this cure, but reasoned that knowledge never hurt anyone and saw to it that her beloved brother had the finest tutors.

Charis Yhakobin, an alchemist from Plenimar, paid a visit and proposed a more physical solution.

“It is his heart that's the problem. I believe that somehow the motion of it has been entirely reversed, drawing the blood in where it should be forced out, and forcing the blood out where it should be drawn in. In this manner, blood suffuses the body through his veins and returns through the arteries. With such an extraordinary reversal at work, it's really no wonder that other natural forces do not affect him as they would a normal person.”

It was at that point that he outlined his plan to correct the problem, a plan that involved draining the Prince's blood until he was at death's door, then re-setting the flow of new blood through his body through the use of ligatures around the left ankle and right wrist, and air-pumps over the right ankle and left wrist.

The alchemist was thanked politely for his time and expertise, and sent away without his experiment being carried out.

Another Plenimaran, a necromancer by the name of Vargûl Ashnazai, hypothesized that the Prince needed to be properly grounded, and should be buried alive for three years. Adzriel shuddered and burned his letter.

One of the ideas put forth time and again from various sources was that the Prince's gravity would be restored if he could be made to cry. To this end, Seregil was told that his favorite uncle had died (though in fact, he had not), was presented with the sorriest tale of woe from the kingdom's most unfortunate beggar, was made to listen to the most heart-rending ballads ever composed, and was even whipped quite soundly. Nothing had the desired effect, although his laughter during that last measure sounded unsettlingly close to screams.

It was even suggested at one point that perhaps the best thing for the Prince would be for him to fall in love...though how that would occur in a heart so strangely untouched by the larger spectrum of human emotion was a mystery.

Adzriel continued her efforts on her brother's behalf, refusing to lose hope despite the growing number of failed, nonsensical, and impossible cures she was presented with.

4. A Refreshing Dip in the Lake

As it turned out, there was one thing, discovered quite by accident, that mitigated the effects of the curse. The palace was located on the shore of a beautiful, deep, blue lake. One lovely summer day, as the court enjoyed itself on a fleet of small pleasure boats, Seregil took it into his head that he wished to visit with his friend, Kheeta, who was in one of the other boats. Given Seregil's unique nature, it would be easy enough to arrange the transfer. As the boats passed each other, Adzriel lifted up her weightless brother, laughing along with him, and went to toss him into Kheeta's arms. However, it so happened that a mischievous wave upset the motion of the boat just as the Princess stepped forward, causing her to trip. She let go of her brother as she went down, but her momentum had carried over to him, and down he went as well, past the railing and directly into the water where he promptly sank out of sight.

There was a general outcry. Accustomed as they were to their Prince's wayward habits of movement, none of them had ever seen him propelled downward in such a way. He had never sunk. Kheeta was into the lake in a flash, followed by several other members of the boating party. They searched frantically for Seregil, until a whoop and a splash drew their attention clear across the lake to where the Prince had surfaced. The entire party set out to retrieve him, but no entreaty would draw him out of the water. He stayed in until darkness fell, and returned at first light the next day.

Seregil dove and swam as if born to the water, quick and lively as an otter, and from then on, there was nothing and no one in the world that he loved so much as the lake. He spent most of his days swimming, even into winter, although he could not stay in quite so long once the water grew cold enough for ice to form on its surface. The water of the lake was the very same that had filled the font at his christening, been dosed with the magical powder, and sprinkled upon him. Whether through some flaw in the curse or by some other mechanism, it was within that water that Seregil regained something of what had been lost to him ever since that day.

So it was that Seregil grew to be a young man of seventeen, flighty and lighthearted, beloved by those who surrounded him at all times on land, but happiest when he could slip away alone into the lake.

5. Falling In

It happened one late spring day that a young woodsman named Alec made his way into the thick woods that skirted the mountains north of Bôkthersa and shaded one side of the lake. Unaware that he had stumbled into the royal forest, Alec explored the woods, captivated by the serenity and emerald beauty, by the lushness of the forest and the ready game it provided.

Eventually, on a warm evening when the moon was rising full and bright, he came to the shore of the lake. It captured the moon's brilliance in a million silvered wavelets, making it seems as if the stars had fallen to dance upon the earth. The scene was drenched in evening blue, and every branch, every leaf, every blade of grass was limned in silver. The air was cool and sweet, and fireflies winked on and off in the shadows. To his right, the land rose sharply into a small cliff crowned by trees and overhanging the deepest part of the lake. To his left, a sandy bank curved around the wide edge of the water toward the palace which was now just visible by its twinkling lights far in the distance. Realizing for the first time that his presence might be considered trespassing, he was about to turn around and leave the way he'd come when a sudden sound halted him in his tracks.

He thought he'd heard a shriek, though there was something odd about the sound. After a moment, he most certainly heard a splash. Looking out over the water, he spotted a pale form floundering not too far from where he stood. Thinking that it must be someone in need of aid, he waded in and swam to the rescue. There was some struggling, some panic, some considerable effort put into keeping both their heads above water, but Alec made it back to shore with the man he'd ostensibly saved, only to be treated to an enormous shock as the weight in his arms vanished as soon as he was lifted from the water.

Not knowing any better, Alec hefted his spluttering burden without making sure to hold on. The result was that Seregil found himself not only dragged out of his beloved lake, but heaved unceremoniously up into the air.

“You little scoundrel!” He shouted. “You villain! How dare you pull me down out of the water and throw me to the bottom of the air!” Never before had anything succeeded in putting Seregil into a passion, but then, no one had ever dragged him without warning out of the water.

“I beg your pardon?”

Heedless of the squelching of his waterlogged boots, Alec hurried after him as he drifted toward the trees. So amazed was he by the sight of the young man floating up into the air, that he only belatedly noticed the rather complete lack of clothing upon his airborne person. Blushing hotly, but finding it hard to look away, he watched in bewilderment as the floating man snatched desperately at a branch as he passed, pulling himself close enough to grab the one below it, then the one below that, hauling himself toward the ground as if climbing a ladder upside down.

“Well?” Seregil demanded once he was more or less righted. With no stones to hand, he relied on his grip on the lowest tree branch to be sure the wind didn't carry him off again. “What's your excuse for pulling me from my lake, boy?”

“I pulled you out because I thought you were drowning.” Being somewhat more concerned with modesty than the man whose life he had just tried to save, Alec very carefully kept his eyes averted.

“Drowning?” Seregil fell over laughing at the idea, rolling around in midair. “How could I possibly drown, you silly boy? If I could have my way I would become a merman and live in that lake!”

“You seem more bird than fish to me. How is it that you can fly?”

“I can't.” He laughed again at the suggestion, realized that he was drifting off like a bit of dandelion fluff, and caught at another tree. “Everyone says that I lack gravity. But do you know what? Sometimes I feel as if I am the only one in the whole world with any sense!” Delighted by his own revelation, Seregil was off again in a fit of laughter.

Alec followed along after him as he floated deeper into the trees, borne up by the wind. “Aren't you afraid that you'll float away?”

“All the time!” Seregil called back, and though he laughed as if this was the funniest thing of all, still it was true. Deep down, he had a fear of the air much like many people had a fear of heights. But while most people could avoid heights, it was impossible, without remaining always cooped up indoors, to avoid any sudden breeze that might whip up and carry him off.

The wind changed direction in the woods, driving up against the hill and pushing Seregil along before it as he was too weak with laughter to keep hold of any branch for long. Alec followed after him, amazed and curious and more than a little embarrassed by the unavoidable glimpses of certain bits of personal anatomy, until they neared the top of the cliff.

“You're running out of trees,” he warned. Then, remembering the scolding he'd gotten earlier, he asked: “Do you need any help?”

“What's your name?”

“Alec. And yours?”

“Seregil.” He reached out a hand, and Alec clasped it, reeling him in away from the empty air that threatened over the very top of the cliff. Seregil wrapped his arms around Alec's neck, pleased by the way the boy's deep blue eyes widened in surprise at his weightlessness, as well as by the charming blush dark enough to be apparent in the moonlight.

“Alec. As it so happens, I do need help. As you were the one who took me out of my lake, I want you to put me back in.”

“Easy enough.” Seregil was no burden at all, and the walk back down was a short one. As he turned however, he was interrupted by a laughing protest.

“Where are you going, silly boy? The lake is that way.” Seregil pointed to the top of the cliff, and Alec frowned at him.

“I'm sixteen. I've been on my own for almost a year now. I'm not a boy.”

“But you are silly, going the wrong way like that.”

Hesitantly, Alec walked them up to the top of the cliff, stopping a few steps back from the edge. “Look, I can't put you in the lake from up here. What if the wind catches you and blows you away again?”

Alec's hands were shaking, though not from holding Seregil up, as his weightlessness prevented strain. The cause was emotional, rather than physical. Just that very moment, he had discovered a rather powerful fear of heights. As he started to take a step back, Seregil jerked suddenly forward for a better look. Weightless he might be, but his grip around Alec's shoulders was sure, and suddenly Alec found himself off balance and stumbling forward. His foot came down on the very edge of the cliff, and for one heart-stopping moment, he thought he was safe. Then, the ground crumbled out from beneath him. His own wholly natural relationship with gravity took over and he found himself falling.

It was lucky for them both that the cliff face was concave so that there was nothing solid between them and the water. Still, the fall was terrifying for Alec, and he screamed and clutched at Seregil. Having never experienced anything quite like it before, Seregil gave one great shout of exhilaration before they plunged beneath the surface.

Alec shot back up in a moment, gasping and feeling as if his heart was about to beat right out of his chest. He spun, looking for Seregil, but it was several long seconds before he surfaced some yards distant. They swam toward each other, Seregil wide-eyed with wonder and Alec just as mad as the Prince had been when he'd pulled him from the lake.

“You idiot!” Alec shouted, whipping his hand through the water to splash Seregil. “You made us fall in!”

“That was falling in?” He ignored the angry splashing aside from raising one arm in halfhearted self-defense. “How wonderful! I've never fallen in before! Let's do it again!”

“Not on your life!”

“Everyone else obliges me.”

“Well, let everyone else dunk you in your damned lake, then.” Alec struck out toward shore, but Seregil followed him.

“No! This is my place! They follow me everywhere else, but not here. I want to fall in with you.”

“Absolutely not,” muttered Alec, whose heartbeat had still not returned to normal.

Seregil easily outpaced him in the water, swimming around to block his way and catch his hands. “At least come swim with me for a while.” He was amused by Alec, who treated him so differently from everyone else.

“No. I need to get out and dry off. I've got to get moving tomorrow.”

“Why?” Seregil played with him, letting Alec slip around to the side in order to get past, then diving so that he could surface in front of him once more. Slowly, slowly, he herded him away from the near shore.

“Because I don't think I'm supposed to be here. I wandered in by mistake.”

“Do you like our forest?”

For the first time, Alec paused, simply treading water to remain afloat. “I do. These woods are beautiful.”

“I can grant you permission to stay a while. If you'll agree to fall in with me each evening.”

Alec stared at him. “To do that, you'd have to be....” His eyes widened. Hadn't he overheard some talk a few weeks back? He'd gone into a village to trade for a few supplies, and heard the most ridiculous story about a prince who had to be tethered to his retainers lest he float away.

Seregil grinned at him. “Do we have a deal?”

The shock faded quickly, and Alec turned himself around in the water, scanning the shoreline of the lake. “Only if we can find someplace a bit less high up to jump from.”

6. What a Silly Thing to Be!

From the tail end of spring and on into the maw of a fiercely hot summer, Alec remained living in the woods near the lake. By day, he hunted and set his snares, skinned his catches and stretched out hides to dry, trimmed and fletched arrows, and occasionally ventured into the market to trade for bread or cheese or supplies he couldn't make himself. By night, he swam with Seregil: holding the Prince in his arms and jumping off rocks that stood the height of a man above the lake's surface, diving and splashing, racing through the water, or floating serenely upon the surface to count the stars and talk.

One of Alec's favorite things was when they swam down, down into the depths until they could look up and see the moon shining huge upon the surface, broken only by the occasional blue ripple, then they would shoot up through the water, bursting through that bright reflection, and stare up, gasping for air as the moon shone in the blue night as if from the bottom of the vast pool of the heavens. The breathtaking sight sometimes left Alec feeling dizzy, and he always knew when he looked particularly dazed because Seregil never failed to tease him about it.

Seregil teased him about a great many things.

On the second night that they met, Alec sat upon the bank, waiting for the last of the boating party that had accompanied the Prince in the waters near the castle to row back to shore. As the stars came out and the courtiers returned to the palace, he began to sing softly to himself. It was a simple hymn to Dalna the Maker, one of the few songs he knew, but presently, he heard a soft splashing and saw that Seregil had come into the shallows to sit only half-submerged, listening.

“You have a passable voice,” the Prince said when Alec fell silent. Pent up laughter made his voice thick, and in the next moment, he was doubled over with it, shoulders shaking, as he forced out: “I should have guessed you were a Dalnan! What a silly thing to be!”

“Why is that silly?”

“Why did you blush so prettily yesterday?”

Remembering Seregil's state of undress and supposing it would certainly be the same tonight, Alec felt heat rise to color his cheeks. “I'm not used to seeing others naked,” he muttered.

“Not used to seeing your own skin, either, if the way you smelled last night was anything to go by. Does Dalnan modesty prohibit disrobing for bathing, as well?”

Face burning, Alec stood up to leave. He paused only to scowl as Seregil started laughing again.

“Oh, come now, don't be like that! Why must everyone always be so serious?”

“I would suppose it's in our nature,” Alec said stiffly, wondering what had caused such an odd lack in Seregil's.

“If you're just going to be as tiresome as the rest, then I won't bother speaking with you.”

He turned away and swam off without a look back, leaving Alec, who had spent the entire day roaming the royal forest with Seregil's conditional permission, feeling increasingly guilty over not holding up his end of the bargain. It didn't seem as if that had been Seregil's intention, or that the Prince was playing coy. As far as Alec could tell, Seregil truly no longer had any interest in him. He sat back down on the bank, watching the play of silver light on the surface of the lake and tracking Seregil's movements, though he lost him for long moments whenever the Prince would dive beneath the surface.

Presently, Alec began to sing again. When that failed to get Seregil's attention, he got up and stripped down to his tunic, then walked the edge of the lake until he came to the cluster of rocks he had found that would do for jumping into the water. He climbed up onto them, then waited for Seregil to swim past.

“Would you like to jump in with me?” Alec called to him. “Or do I still stink?”

“A good swim will fix that!” Seregil called back, now hurrying eagerly toward him.

If he'd had any hard feelings over their earlier exchange, Alec couldn't tell. It would be a while longer yet before he would start to wonder if Seregil was even capable of such feelings.

That evening set the pattern for their meetings. Seregil would search him out once all the others had gone in, and Alec would spend time lifting his new friend out of the water and holding Seregil in his arms to jump back in, over and over again. It was always Alec who tired of falling in first, but Seregil never complained too strenuously about remaining in the water. They spent hours every night swimming together, talking, racing, competing to see who could dive deepest.

Seregil seemed to know at least a little bit about every subject in the world. His knowledge astonished Alec, who hadn't taken him for an attentive pupil. Alec's mistake was in supposing that the inability to take anything seriously meant that Seregil had no interest. On the contrary, everything was of interest to him, if only for how absurd it appeared from his point of view. Seregil had an excellent memory for details, and Alec found himself soaking up knowledge secondhand with a powerful thirst as Seregil's endless chatter covered all possible topics, from politics and history to fashion and gossip.

Aside from being intelligent, Seregil easily won all of their contests. Rather than being put off by the fact that he was slower in the water, Alec pushed himself to keep up until he was just as quick and could dive just as far and hold his breath just as long. Seregil barely seemed to notice. Win, lose, or draw, he only ever laughed at the end of their contests.

He did tease, however, quite mercilessly, although there was no malice in him. Once Alec had grown more accustomed to his friend's ways, he took no more offense than he would over a spot of inclement weather. And, despite the fact that Seregil laughed about everything—which was not, as Alec soon realized, the same as being happy about everything—he felt that maybe Seregil was just a little extra fond of him. He couldn't help but hope so, at any rate. Sometimes his friend would even say something that would nearly be enough for Alec to believe that.

“Perhaps I like you so much because your eyes look almost as blue as the depths of my lake,” Seregil told him one warm night in early summer.

He'd been very close, enough that their legs brushed beneath the surface while treading water. Alec hadn't known what to make of the words, not when Seregil looked almost serious as he said them, and not when he was comparing Alec to the one thing he could truly be said to love. Alec felt his face heat up under the scrutiny of those unusually serene gray eyes, and the awareness of the blush creeping up his neck and over his cheeks only made him all the more embarrassed. The moment was shattered quite suddenly as Seregil laughed. Before Alec could think up a response, the Prince had spun and disappeared beneath the surface, off to enjoy himself alone. Left treading water by himself, the words suddenly felt like a joke, and Alec's heart sank.

He wasn't entirely sure what the warm, anxious feeling was that filled him up whenever he saw Seregil, but he worried quietly that he might be falling in love.

7. A Leak in the Lake

Summer drew slowly to a close, hot days lingering into autumn even as the evenings pulled chilling winds across the lake and made Alec all the more reluctant to leave the water each night. He and Seregil were playing around, tussling near the shore: tackling each other into the water, squirming free, and swimming back around to counterattack. Alec had by this time grown accustomed to Seregil's preference for swimming au naturale. Seregil had yanked Alec down under the water, then darted away grinning. Intent on revenge, Alec had come up behind him where he'd surfaced, treading water near the boulders they so often used as a jumping off point. Something about the set of Seregil's shoulders gave him pause, however. Rather than dunking his friend, Alec moved to get a better look at his face. Lit only by pale moonlight, Seregil looked pensive, an expression so enormously unlike him that a shiver of dread coursed through Alec's body.

“Seregil?”

The Prince didn't respond, only stared a moment longer at the rock beneath his hand. Then, without a word, without even a glance at Alec, he shot off through the water. Alec trailed him, watching Seregil flit from point to point along the shores of the lake, looking at something only he could see, and growing visibly more troubled as he went. No matter how many times Alec called his name, his concentration never wavered. Finally, as Seregil swam back around to the shadowed pool beneath the balcony to his bedroom, Alec caught his arm.

“Seregil, what's wrong?” He had never seen his friend like this, and was nearly in a panic himself.

Though Seregil's eyes met his, his gaze was troubled and unfocused. “I need to go,” he murmured. “Give me a boost.”

“Tell me what's going on,” Alec demanded.

Seregil only shook his head. With a sigh, Alec lifted him free of the water and heaved him gently upward. He watched his friend rise through the air until he could catch hold of the railing of his balcony and pull himself inside. Immediately, Seregil drew the curtains.

With a heavy heart, Alec started on his way back across the lake. From the onset of his confusing feelings for Seregil, he had tried to remind himself that anything more than friendly affection wouldn't be returned. Seregil's curse made it impossible. Hope was not so easy to kill, however, and it had insinuated itself a little deeper into the nooks and crannies of Alec's heart with every evening they had spent together. Now, suspecting that Seregil had noticed something wrong with the lake, Alec was left deflated by the painful reminder that his friend harbored no special feelings for him. Far from it.

Before leaving the water that evening, he examined all the same places that Seregil had looked at earlier, trying to fix their appearance in his mind's eye. Maybe whatever his friend had noticed would turn out to be nothing after all. If not, Alec wanted to be able to offer whatever help he could.

The very next morning, Seregil was out at the lake at first light. He swam completely around it, studying the water level in certain places and ordering that marks be painted at each one. His unheard of seriousness had stunned the servants that followed him, and it didn't help anyone's state of mind when he voluntarily left the lake as soon as he was done and shut himself up in his room.

Alec had slept through the entire spectacle, but he was awake when Seregil returned just before sunset to make another inspection of the lake. With a retinue trailing his friend, Alec stayed out of sight in the woods, but even from a distance, he saw Seregil's distress. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest as he watched Seregil abandon the lake after one swim around its edge, and he waited impatiently for everyone to leave before shedding his boots and breeches and wading in.

It took Alec no time at all to spot the marks painted that morning. Seeing them two handspans above the surface, the same dread certainly that affected Seregil now occurred to him.

The lake was sinking.

For the next several nights, Alec checked the marks regularly, but there was no denying the fact that the water level was dropping inexplicably quickly. The grasses and reeds growing along its shore began to dry up, and rock formations formerly hidden by depth were becoming visible just beneath the surface. After a few days, there was no longer any need to actually swim the circumference of the lake to tell that it was shrinking—the difference was plain to see from any vantage point.

To make matters worse, Seregil was more than simply upset by the discovery. Whatever power the water held over him was tied more strongly than anyone could have guessed. As the lake shrank, dying by inches, Seregil's strength began to fade. He kept to his room with the curtains drawn against the sight of the dwindling lake. He spoke less and less. His laughter died away to silence.

Even so, he still never cried.

Fearing for her brother's life, Adzriel redoubled her efforts to find someone who might be of use in restoring the lake. No one had any solution to offer, and no one could account for the sudden change. Day by day, the water continued to disappear, and Seregil's condition continued to worsen.

Forgotten, and terribly afraid for his friend, Alec felt alone and helpless, and grew increasingly more frustrated.

The only person to rejoice at the news was Princess Phoria. Having heard what joy Seregil took in his lake and how it eased the hearts of those who loved him, she had summoned the wizard who had first created the curse, and demanded that something be done to assure her revenge was not subverted. This time, the wizard went himself to see to the casting, the spell not being something that he could prepare in advance and leave to an ordinary person to cast.

Hidden on the steepest slope of the tallest mountain that cradled the palace of Bôkthersa was a narrow opening only just barely big enough for a slender man to squeeze through. The wizard made his way to that crevice and crept along it in darkness until he came to the very heart of the mountain. Here, the walls fell back to create a small cave with an ancient, iron-banded oak door locked fast opposite the entrance.

The wizard called up light, then a wooden tub, then water to fill the tub. He pulled a bit of dried snakeskin from his robes, and tossed it into the water. Adding a magical powder, he stirred the water with his arm until a snake as white as new-fallen snow lifted its head from the tub to regard him with its milky eyes. The wizard allowed the snake to drape its coils along his arm and around his shoulders, then pulled out an iron ring that held a hundred iron keys. Taking the first key in hand, he opened the wooden door, stepped through, and locked it behind him. A few stone steps led him down, then he encountered a second door. He unlocked this with the second key, stepped through, locked it back behind himself, and went a few more steps down to the third door. So he continued, unlocking and locking, progressing a few steps, and pausing at another door until he had gotten through all one hundred doors leading down into the bowels of the earth.

A vast chamber lay beyond the hundredth door, with stone pillars as big as trees holding up the ceiling. The wizard lifted his hand, and the snake uncoiled, stretching up toward the ceiling of the cavern, head swaying from side to side as if seeking a scent on the rock. Muttering spells, the wizard walked a circuit around the cavern, gradually spiraling inwards as he went around and around until he reached the very center. There, the snake suddenly lunged, sinking its fangs into the stone.

For three days and three nights, the wizard sat and spoke the words of his spell. After the third night, the snake shriveled away once more. All was still for a long moment, then a drop of water condensed where the serpent had worked at the stone, grew fat and heavy, and fell to the floor of the chamber with an echoing splash.

With all haste, the wizard fled the cavern, unlocking each of the hundred stout doors and locking them back behind himself as he fled. As he went, the sound of rushing water gradually rose to fill the passageway.

The very last thing the wizard did before leaving Bôkthersa to report back to Princess Phoria was to walk the land surrounding the lake. At every river and waterfall he encountered, he threw in a pinch of his magic powder. Every source of water dried up. Not a spring, creek, or rill remained to replenish the lake. In time, it would go completely dry, and the task set him by the Princess would be complete.

8. There is Always a Price to be Paid

The dwindling lake left the residents of the palace beside themselves with worry. Adzriel continued to follow every path of inquiry opened to her. Mydri spent much of her time at Seregil's bedside, nursing him and trying to coax him to eat, though he would take no nourishment but lake water. His condition continued to deteriorate so that there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he wouldn't survive the death of his beloved lake. King Korit took the news gravely, retreating into the heartache that had never quite left him after his wife's death.

The palace fell into a mourning quiet, made all the more apparent by the fact that for the first time in seventeen years, Seregil's laughter did not ring through the halls. Outside, the lake steadily drained away, leaving bare, glistening banks strewn with all manner of refuse and dead creatures. The muck baked in the sun and stank of rot, and still the waters receded. Alec retreated further into the forest during the day to escape the stench, but he still returned to the lake shore every evening with the dwindling hope of seeing his friend. He sang his Dalnan hymns and racked his brain for anything he could do that might be of use.

The lake was almost completely dry before a solution presented itself.

One day, a group of children scavenging along the lakebed came upon a golden shield. Inscribed upon it was a simple verse that no one could make heads or tails of.

"Death alone from death can save. Love is death, and so is brave— Love can fill the deepest grave. Love loves on beneath the wave."

The shield was brought to the temple of the Ruhi'auros in the hopes that one of them could make sense of it. Soon enough, the mystics came back with an answer.

There was but one way to restore the lake and save the life of the dying Prince Seregil. The hole through which the water was draining away must be found and plugged, but it could not simply be stopped up by normal means. A willing sacrifice must agree to block the hole, giving up their life as the lake filled in over their head. This was the price for restoring the lake and the rivers that nourished the valley, and for saving the Prince in the process.

Shaken by such a revelation, Adzriel still wasted no time in issuing a proclamation. Word of the curse and the cure was spread throughout the city and the surrounding villages, but no one stepped forward to volunteer. Days passed as the lake grew dangerously dry. Adzriel was considering taking on the burden herself, and leaving one of her sisters to become their father's heir in her stead, when Alec, having finally left the woods long enough to hear the proclamation, announced himself at the palace gates.

One mention of needing to speak with Princess Adzriel about volunteering to plug the hole in the lake was enough to grant Alec an audience with the royal family. Having only ever met Seregil, and never when the Prince was clothed, Alec felt small and grubby standing before the finely dressed King and his four daughters. He had asked only for Princess Adzriel, having gathered from listening to Seregil that she loved him best out of all his family, and had therefore not been prepared for such an audience. Reminding himself that he was doing this to save his friend, Alec stood straight and spoke with more confidence than he felt.

“I'm here to restore the lake.”

King Korit looked him over with tired, old eyes, then gestured toward the door. “Put him in,” he said, and guards started forward.

“Wait!” The guards paid him no attention, and Alec shouted desperately as they took hold of him. “I have a request!”

It was Adzriel who stayed the guards. She stood and stepped away from her throne, coming forward to speak with Alec on equal footing, affording him that respect as a show of thanks on her brother's behalf.

“What is your request?” she asked him kindly.

“I want....” He licked his lips, nervous and afraid, but committed. “I believe that it might take a long time for the lake to fill up. Sere— Prince Seregil and I are.... We've swum together in the lake. And talked. I'd like for him to stay with me. If I get hungry, or need someone to talk to, then I'd like for him to be there to keep me company.”

Adzriel smiled sadly, having no trouble seeing the love that Alec felt for her brother. She touched his cheek, brushing back a thick lock of his blond hair.

“That is not an unreasonable request.” Looking back over her shoulder, she addressed the King. “Father?”

“So be it.” King Korit seemed to care no more about this than he had when Alec had first volunteered. “Adzriel, have everything arranged.”

9. Love Loves On

Within the hour, Alec had been brought to the hole in the lakebed. There was only a small puddle around it now, the last of the water in the lake. Seregil was borne to his side aboard a small boat. He lay as if dead among cushions beneath a silk awning, but Alec saw with relief that his chest still rose and fell with shallow breaths.

“It's been a while,” Alec said quietly, once the others had left them alone. “You look awful.”

Seregil's eyes fluttered open just long enough to catch a glimpse of him. “They told me someone had volunteered to save my lake.”

“Yes. Everything will be back to normal soon.”

“It's very kind of you,” Seregil murmured.

“I'd have hated to watch you die.”

Seregil said nothing in response, and Alec soon realized that he had fallen asleep. There was nothing else for it but to go ahead and get it all over with.

The hole in the lake was a small, triangular opening. It took Alec a few minutes to work out that the only way to cover it completely was to sit down with his legs through the opening, then lean forward to cover the rest with his hands. It was an uncomfortable position, and the sun beat down mercilessly upon him. With Seregil asleep and nothing much else he could do, he sang quietly, beginning with the first hymn Seregil had ever heard from him.

Presently, a small wave flowed over the stone, lapping against Alec's knees. Encouraged, he continued singing, praying that the water would rise quickly before his fear could undo his resolve. Perhaps an hour passed before he heard Seregil stir, and his heart lifted. Craning his neck to peer into the boat, he thought he could see a bit more color in his friend's cheeks. He sang one more song, but his throat was growing painfully dry, and a numbing cold was creeping up his limbs, leeching away his strength. He fell silent when the hymn came to an end, and did not begin another.

“Keep singing, if you would,” Seregil murmured. “It's so very boring just lying here.”

“My throat is too dry. Give me a sip of water.”

Seregil sat up, his movements sluggish and hesitant. “They left me with chilled wine, rather than water,” he said.

“Some of that, then. Please.”

Looking as if he would rather have lain back down, Seregil shrugged and poured some wine into a goblet. He offered it over the side to Alec.

“You'll have to hold the goblet.” He nodded toward the muddy pool around them. “I can't move my hands.”

“Oh.” Seregil stretched forward, carefully tipping the goblet to allow Alec to drink. A few sips were all he could manage.

As Seregil sat back, Alec fancied that there was a hint of concern in his expression. He comforted himself with the thought that his friend's heart wasn't entirely closed to him, despite the curse, and settled into the silence that wrapped around them. Alec was no stranger to silence, and often welcomed it. He held his peace as Seregil dozed. An hour passed. Two, then three. It was only when he realized that he was in danger of nodding off that Alec thought to call out. Even as he spoke Seregil's name, however, his friend was coming awake, sitting up to look over the side of his small boat.

“I'm afloat!” the Prince cried.

Sure enough, the water had risen high enough to lift the small boat out of the muck. Beaming, Seregil looked up to meet Alec's eyes.

“Look, Alec! Soon we'll be able to go swimming together again! You must fall in with me just as soon as the water is deep enough.”

Alec managed a smile for him, although he was beginning to feel quite lightheaded. The water had risen over his stomach.

“I'm sorry, but you'll have to find someone else to fall in with.”

“Oh. Yes, of course. I'd forgotten.”

Seregil stared at the water once more, but the joy was gone from his expression, leaving only a small, troubled frown behind. He met Alec's eyes again quickly.

“Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

“Just a bit.”

Although he wasn't actually hungry, he was feeling faint. It wouldn't do to pass out before he had completed his task. Seregil pulled a honeyed oatcake from the basket packed in beside him. He broke off bits and fed them slowly to Alec.

“Your lips are chapped.” He drew a thumb across Alec's lower lip, then pulled his hand away. A moment later, and he was offering a goblet of wine. As before, a few sips were all Alec could manage before he turned his head away.

“Talk to me,” Alec said.

“What would you have me talk about?”

“Anything. Just make sure I stay awake.”

“All right, then.”

Seregil settled back amongst the pillows, but he made sure this time to prop himself up so that he could see Alec. He talked haltingly at first, flitting from subject to subject, but soon was sounding more like his old self. Alec listened as the sun disappeared below the horizon and the water rose and the numbness turned to a painfully icy chill that crept in toward his heart. He didn't notice at first when Seregil stopped talking, and jumped as fingers brushed his cheek.

“You don't look very well at all,” Seregil said. His gray eyes were inches away from Alec's own.

“You didn't look so well either, this morning.”

“Alec...are you sure you don't mind this?” The warmth of his palm and the tenderness in his voice were Alec's undoing.

“I don't mind except for one thing. I'd hate to die without....” He was sure he must be blushing, although he could barely feel it. “Seregil, will you kiss me?”

“Certainly.”

He leaned just a bit further over the side of the boat, setting it rocking upon the water that had risen up to Alec's neck. His lips were soft and warm. Alec's eyes had slid shut reflexively, and he hesitated to open them after Seregil pulled away.

“Thank you.”

Tears pricked the corners of his eyes. He tried to blink them away, and looked around at the surface of the rising lake, silvered by the low-hanging moon. It truly was a beautiful place. He was glad to think that Seregil would be happy in it once again, even if Alec wouldn't be around to enjoy it with him.

Seregil offered him more of the oatcakes, but Alec couldn't stand the thought of food. He could barely manage the smallest sip of wine. The lake rose to his chin, but Seregil, instead of regaining his old levity, seemed only to become more agitated.

“Alec, surely there's someone else who could do this.”

“No one else volunteered, and it was made clear that no one could be forced.”

“But...I want to fall in with you again.”

“Someone else—”

“I don't want to fall in with someone else!”

Words were becoming a struggle. Alec smiled, and reached for what little strength he had left.

“You'll be all right. Your lake—”

“Yes, but...!”

“It's okay, Seregil.” I love you, so it's okay.

Neither spoke for some time. Alec let his eyes fall shut. It was only Seregil who watched the water as it rose to wet his bottom lip, as wavelets splashed at the seam of his mouth, as Alec tilted his head back, breathing raggedly, shallowly through his nose. Seregil's heart was racing in his chest as he watched Alec die by inches. The lake was his life, his love, the only place he was whole. He watched as it rose high enough to close over Alec's face. Bubbles drifted to the surface: his friend's last breath. They dispersed and popped and were gone, and something in Seregil broke. With a shout, he leapt over the side of the boat into the water.

Frantically, he tugged at Alec's legs where they were wedged into the hole. Although he had gained back some of his strength as the lake slowly filled, he was still weak. His breath ran out before he succeeded in pulling Alec free, and he surfaced, gasping for breath and wild with panic for his friend. He dove again, yanking and pulling, until at last one of Alec's legs came free, and then the other. Seregil heaved him out of the water and into the small boat and crawled in after him. He set off rowing toward the shore, hauling on the oars and hollering for help.

A crowd was waiting for him on the dock, helping hands reaching to to lift him from the boat and pull up Alec's limp form after him.

“A doctor! Get him a doctor!” Seregil shouted.

“But Your Highness! What about the lake?”

“Go drown yourself in it!” Seregil snapped, and it was good for the speaker that Seregil hadn't identified him in the crowd, for he certainly would have punched the man.

Adzriel stepped to the fore and swiftly imposed order. Alec and Seregil both were brought up to the Prince's room where Alec was laid out on the bed. Mydri took charge of him, and Seregil collapsed by the bedside with one of Alec's hands held tight in his. The Princess worked through the night to pump the water from Alec's lungs and draw the chill of death from his body. She feared that it would be too late after all, but just as she was preparing to give up, the sun crested the horizon, and Alec sucked in a shuddering breath and opened his eyes.

Still kneeling next to him, Seregil grabbed Alec's face, kissed him roughly, then burst into tears.

10. A Fine And Proper Happy Ending

Seregil wept for hours, loosing all the pent up tears of his life in one torrential flood. He refused to be separated from Alec, and climbed into bed to sit against the bolster and hold him close as he cried. For his part, having died for his love and been returned to life, Alec wasn't interested in being parted from Seregil, either. Shivering beneath the blanket Adzriel had wrapped around their shoulders, he stroked Seregil's hair and helped him drink the water Mydri ordered for him to replace that of the tears he was shedding.

Outside, an unseasonably heavy rain was falling, restoring the dried up rivers and streams, refilling the lake, and even flooding the underground cavern. The rain kept up long after Seregil's tears had finally dried, and the sound of it outside was as comforting as the crackling of the fire in the hearth and the overjoyed smiles of his sisters and the warmth of Alec held snugly in his arms.

“I feel so heavy,” Seregil marveled.

“You've got your gravity back,” Adzriel said, blinking back tears of joy. She had needed to help Seregil stand up and climb into bed, for he hadn't been able to manage it by himself, not having ever had weight before. A thought occurred to her and she laughed. “You'll have to learn to walk all over again!”

“Alec can teach me,” Seregil declared. He kissed the top of Alec's hair, and chuckled to see him blush. “I promise to learn quickly. The sooner I come to terms with this gravity I've been missing, the sooner we can be married.”

Alec gaped at him, and Seregil lost himself for a moment in his eyes. He wondered how he could ever have compared their blue to that of the lake and found Alec wanting.

“You mean it?” Alec asked.

Seregil watched the shock on his face change to delight, and found that he couldn't resist the urge to kiss him once more. New sensations flooded him head to toe as he melted into the kiss. Oh, yes. He had a great deal to learn, all of it with Alec at his side. Joy too pure for laughter swelled within his heart as fresh tears welled in his eyes. Wondering if Alec felt the same, he broke the kiss to meet his eyes and saw love shining there, clear for all the world to see. For the first time in his life, Seregil felt that he was truly happy.

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Hormones Quotes

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• A pure heart and mind only takes you so far – sooner or later the hormones have their say, too. – Jim Butcher • A wheat belly represents the accumulation of fat that results from years of consuming foods that trigger insulin, the hormone of fat storage. – William Davis • Ampoules containing cortisone, testosterone gel residues, syringes and needles, a centrifuge for measuring my blood values.But, contrary to the erroneous reports in the press, they didn’t find any EPO or growth hormone. – Patrik Sinkewitz • As a bio major, I figured “free will” meant chemicals in your brain telling you what to do, the molecules bouncing around in a way that felt like choosing but was actually the dance of little gears–neurons and hormones bubbling up into decisions like clockwork. You don’t use your body; it uses you. – Scott Westerfeld • As a teenager, you have so much energy and hormones and you feel powerless in your life. – Patricia Arquette

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[clickbank-storefront-bestselling] • Can we please focus? We are supposed to be professionals.” Holly said. “Not me!” said Orion cheerily, “I’m just a Teenager with hormones running wild and may I say, young fairy lady, they’re running wild in your direction. – Eoin Colfer • Chocolate is an extraordinary source of key stress-fighting minerals including: magnesium, iron, chromium, vanadium, copper, zinc, manganese, and phosphorus. These minerals favorably influence a woman’s hormone system, which explains why chocolate has always been considered important for a woman’s monthly cycle. – David Wolfe • Complex carbohydrates are always best, except, again, after a workout where you could take simple (sugar) carbohydrates to get an insulin spike. But at other times doing this is not very beneficial because insulin is a storage hormone and it’s going to shunt everything into the muscle. – Dorian Yates • Cows given genetically modified growth hormones make more milk, but have painful swollen udders, have ulcers, joint pain, miscarriages, deformed calves, infertility, and much shorter life spans. Their milk contains blood, pus, tranquilizers, antibiotics, and an insulin growth factor that can cause a fourfold increase in prostate cancer and sevenfold rise in breast cancer. This is the milk used in our school lunch programs and served to our children. This is the milk that you buy every day. This is the milk used in all cheeses, yogurts, butter, and cream. – Kevin Trudeau • Do you know how many men that are out of work that just stand around on the corner just watching your daughters coming home from school? Today, with the hormonal things that they are putting in foods, these hormones, when you eat the meat, you’ll find a nine-year-old daughter with breasts bigger than her mother’s, hips wider than her mother’s – and men haven’t got anything to do but sit and watch you go and come from school. – Louis Farrakhan • Does Grandpa love to baby-sit his grandchildren? Are you kidding? By day he is too busy taking hormone shots at the doctor’s or chip shots on the golf course. At night he and Grandma are too busy doing the cha-cha. – Hal Boyle • During meditation, our breathing slows, our blood pressure and heart rate decrease, and stress hormone levels fall. – Deepak Chopra • Each of our cells is a living entity, and the main thing that influences them is our blood. If I open my eyes in the morning and my beautiful partner is in front of me, my perception causes a release of oxytocin, dopamine, growth hormones – all of which encourage the growth and health of my cells. But if I see a saber tooth tiger, I’m going to release stress hormones which change the cells to a protection mode. People need to realize that their thoughts are more primary than their genes, because the environment, which is influenced by our thoughts, controls the genes. – Bruce H. Lipton • Estrogen is a powerful if vengeful hormone affecting a woman’s fertility, moods, sleep patterns, appetite. Estrogen is the household heating oil of womanhood. – Marilyn Suzanne Miller • Even while it’s true that we are tied to our molecules and proteins and neurons – as strokes and hormones and drugs and microorganisms indisputably tell us – it does not logically follow that humans are best described only as pieces and parts. – David Eagleman • Exposure to some pesticides during infancy, even at very low levels, can lead to serious life-long consequences if the pesticides disrupt hormone-driven developmental processes. – Charles Benbrook • Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream, it takes over as the number one hormone; it bosses the enzymes; directs the pineal gland; plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to film is more film.- Frank Capra • For me I’m natural not because somebody else believes I’m natural, I’m natural because I don’t use steroids, I don’t use growth hormone, I don’t use any of those enhancers. I’m natural in my own right because I don’t do that and not because other people accept the fact that I’m natural or not. – Kai Greene • For me, food is all about balance. If you eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and an appropriate amount of poultry, fish, and red meat that are sourced from good places, you’re doing well. It’s important to make sure that the meat you’re consuming is hormone-free. – Curtis Stone • Fortified plant-based milks are delicious and contain all the calcium, protein, and vitamin D of dairy products but with none of the cholesterol, lactose, hormones, or cruelty found in cow’s milk. – Ingrid Newkirk • Gotta love alcohol and sex hormones. – Tucker Max • Hormones are nature’s three bottles of beer. – Mary Roach • Hormones are very powerful things. We are helpless in their wake. – Meg Cabot • Hormones influencing the sensitivity of the person to environmental stimuli. – Robert M. Sapolsky • Hormones were as potent as whiskey, and twice as sneaky. – Linda Howard • How much needless despair has been caused by a series of biological mismatches, a misalignment of the hormones and pheromones? Resulting in the fact that the one you love so passionately won’t or can’t love you. As a species we’re pathetic that way: imperfectly monogamous. – Margaret Atwood • However, when given the chance, many people choose cocaine over love. I wouldn’t say that’s a bad choice. The endorphins released during infatuation are similar to heroin. OxyContin, “the cuddling hormone,” most often found in new mothers and newlyweds, is like ecstasy; every touch tingles. I think I read that somewhere. Love exists in powder. Love exists in pills. We are all addicts.- Pete Wentz • Human sexuality includes more than hormones, organs, and orgasms; it runs through the psychic and spiritual ranges of our lives. We experience our sexuality on the spiritual level as a yearning for another person. We want to reach out and stretch ourselves into the depths of another. We want to bring the other person into the orbit of our deepest selves. We want to probe into the mystery of the other. – Lewis B. Smedes • I always have really fresh, hormone-free, additive-free chicken, healthy veggies, and brown rice in the fridge to grab because I’m always on the go. – Laura Prepon • I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. – Chelsea Manning • I can be a bit grumpy. Im full of angst, and hormones. – Nicholas Hoult • I cry all the time. It’s more like when didn’t you cry. My friends are like, ‘Oh God, she’s sobbing again.’ I cry if I’m happy, sad, normal… What really gets me is when I read a sad story about a child in the paper, especially at the moment with my hormones raging. – Sara Cox • I didn’t really get the chance to talk to girls. I was a straight boy with hormones kicking in, and I wanted to talk to girls, but they weren’t interested in talking back to me, so there was a real sense of loneliness. – Andy Biersack • I don’t believe in bodybuilders using steroids. If a man doesn’t have enough male hormones in his system to create, a nice hard, muscular body, he should take up ping pong. – Steve Reeves • I don’t believe, for instance, that evolutionary biology or any scientific endeavor has much to say about love. I’m sure a lot can be learned about the importance of hormones and their effects on our feelings. But do the bleak implications of evolution have any impact on the love I feel for my family? Do they make me more likely to break the law of flaunt society’s expectations of me? No. I simply does not follow that human relationships are meaningless just because we live in a godless universe subject to the natural laws of biology. – Greg Graffin • I don’t have emotions about a lot of things. I rarely get angry, I rarely cry. I guess I do get excited a lot, but I don’t get sad and enormously happy. I think a lot of people who talk about all that crap are lying. Right now I’m just trying to maintain happiness — that’s all I really care about. Anyway, when you’re my age and your hormones are kicking in, there’s not much besides sex that’s on your mind. – Leonardo DiCaprio • I don’t prefer to fill my body with antibiotics, pesticides, steroids, and growth hormones – my body is my temple, and I treat it as such. – Suzanne Whang • I don’t recommend steroids for everyone, and I don’t recommend growth hormones for everyone, but for certain individuals, I truly believe, because I’ve experimented with it for so many years, that it can make an average athlete a super athlete. It can make a super athlete-incredible. Just legendary. – Jose Canseco • I have a 14 year old daughter now. You know, it was that time in these kids lives when these girls are becoming women and the hormones are raging. They didn’t know if The Beatles were any good, they just went for it ’cause The Beatles were attractive. – Jack Jones • I have a neuroscience background – that’s what my doctorate is in – and I was trained to study hormones of attachment, so I definitely feel my parenting is informed by that. – Mayim Bialik • I have my hormones balanced. Most doctors are giving women synthetic hormones, which just eliminate the symptoms, but it’s doing nothing to actually replace the hormones you have lost. Without our hormones we die. – Suzanne Somers • I just feel like estrogen is bad hormones, and seen as shameful. – Jen Kirkman • I think all presidents should have teenage girls before they become presidents. If you can handle those hormones, you can handle anything.- Mila Kunis • I think there’s something your hormones do that makes a chemical change in the way you think. – Boots Riley • I think when you start messing with your own hormones, it’s crazy-making. – Rebecca Romijn • I told the truth about steroids and human growth hormone. I injected those drugs into the body of Roger Clemens at his direction. Unfortunately, Roger has denied this and has led a full-court attack on my credibility – Jim Lehrer • I will try to hold on to the intense feeling. I will both be glad that that’s no longer happening and kind of miss it. When you’re 14, you’re basically on drugs all the time – the hormones in your body are so crazy. But I really loved and appreciated the intensity of that. And you’re experiencing everything for the first time, so everything feels like an epiphany. And, like, I really liked the experience of having a crush, because I was like, this is my thing and it doesn’t have to do with you and you’re just some dummy boy for me to project on. – Tavi Gevinson • I’d sacrificed true love and a popped cherry to the god of deception and hormones.” – Zoey Redbird – P. C. Cast • If I had ever, in any medium, seen any researcher or popularizer refer even once to any supposedly ay-producing circumstance as the proper hormone balance, or the conducive endocrine environment, for gay generation, I would be less chilled by the breezes of all this technological confidence. – Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick • If I have to draw attention away from some hormone-induced acne on my chin, I put on a lot of mascara. – Olivia Wilde • If men went through menopause, we’d know everything about it, but we still don’t even know if we should be taking hormones. – Joycelyn Elders • If pornographers can hook adolescents when their hormones are raging, they know they’ll have an ongoing consumer base for life. – Donna Rice Hughes • If technology and medicine are used by women to have children or not to have children or to have healthier children – that’s one thing. But if it’s used to say, ‘You’re not a real woman unless you have a child, therefore take all these dangerous hormones and have one at 54,” then it’s another story. – Gloria Steinem • If women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn’t it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long? – Gloria Steinem • If you want a cow to be not just a cow but a milk machine, you can do a very good job at that by creating new hormones like the Bovine Growth Hormone. It might make the cow very ill, it might turn it into a drug addict, and it might even create consumer scares about the health and safety aspects of the milk. But we’ve gotten so used to manipulating objects and organisms and ecosystems for a single objective that we ignore the costs involved. I call this the “monoculture of the mind.” – Vandana Shiva • I’m a bit of a slag… Some people don’t think it’s very nice, but I don’t care… I’ve got hormones, and sex is there, so why not? Sex is good. Everybody does it, and everybody should! – Robbie Williams • I’m beginning to think that women should be denied the vote. Their hormones rage; they are too emotional. – Michael Savage • I’m really big on hormones. – Jen Kirkman

• In 1974 I nearly got into a fistfight with some early academic feminists in a restaurant when I casually alluded to a hormonal element in sex differences. It was utterly unacceptable at that time to think or say such a thing… If you have any doubts about the effect of hormones on emotion, libido and aggression, have a chat with a transexual, who must take hormones medically. He or she will set you straight. – Camille Paglia • In general, I try to eat food without added hormones and pesticides, but I’m not so strict that I won’t have a Big Mac once in a while. – Missy Peregrym • In Russia, show the least athletic aptitude and they’ve got you dangling off the parallel bars with a leotard full of hormones. – Victoria Wood • In the 21st century our tastes buds, our brain chemistry, our biochemistry, our hormones and our kitchens have been hijacked by the food industry. – Mark Hyman, M.D. • Industrial agriculture now accounts for over half of America’s water pollution. Two years ago, Pfiesteria outbreaks connected with wastes from industrial chicken factories forced the closure of two major tributaries of the Chesapeake and threatened Maryland’s vital shellfish industry. Tyson Foods has polluted half of all streams in northwestern Arkansas with so much fecal bacteria that swimming is prohibited. Drugs and hormones needed to keep confined animals alive and growing are mainly excreted with the wastes and saturate local waterways. – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. • Isn’t it strange how upset people get about a few dozen baseball players taking growth hormones, when we’re doing what we’re doing to our food animals and feeding them to our children? – Jonathan Safran Foer • It is important to understand that while oxytocin may be the hub of the evolution of the social brain in mammals, it is part of a very complex system. Part of what it does is act in opposition to stress hormones, and in that sense release of oxytocin feels good – as stress hormones and anxiety do not feel good. – Patricia Churchland • It seems that one moment I was this little kid only caring about animals and flowers and stuff, and then the next minute I was this raging stew of hormones. I don’t know if you’ve ever been a raging stew of anything, but I wouldn’t particularly recommend it. – Julie Burchill • It turns out that we literally don’t empathize unless we’re physically present – that the oxytocin, the famous “tend and befriend” hormone is not produced unless we’re present with all five senses. – Gloria Steinem • Laughter is very infectious, and why it should be so is a most interesting neurological problem. But it also has other, more physiological, benefits. Apparently it boosts the immune system, reduces stress hormones, massages the heart and diaphragm and engenders a ‘feel good’ factor. – Semir Zeki • Learning as we go… Why didn’t they tell us this before? We, the consumers, are supposed to be docile guinea pigs in a vast but uncontrolled experiment with powerful hormones (HRT). That’s quite a commentary on “scientific medicine”. – Ralph W. Moss • Love is indeed at root the product of the firings of neurons and release of hormones. – Julian Baggini • Lower your cortisol level. The happiest people have the lowest level of cortisol, a stress hormone that raises blood pressure and weakens the immune system. Cut the stress-more yoga, less road rage-and you’ll cut your cortisol production. – Daniel Gilbert • Male love circuits get an extra kick when stress levels are high. After an intense physical challenge, for instance, males will bond quickly and sexually with the first willing female they lay eyes on. Women, by contrast, will rebuff advances or expressions of affection and desire when under stress. The reason may be that the stress hormone cortisol blocks oxytocin’s action in the female brain, abruptly shutting off a woman’s desire for sex and physical touch. – Louann Brizendine • Managing our emotions increases intuition and clarity. It helps us self-regulate our brain chemicals and internal hormones. It gives us natural highs, the real fountain of youth we’ve been searching for. It enables us to drink from elixirs locked within our cells, just waiting for us to discover them. – Doc Childre • Maybe love was a myth anyhow, a brew of hormones and fantasy, evolution’s way of getting men and women together long enough for them to procreate,back in the day when girls got pregnant at twelve, were pregnant or nursing for the next twenty years, and were dead of the plague by forty. – Jennifer Weiner • Medications can lower a woman’s sex drive and interfere with a woman’s ability to climax. These medications include antidepressants, birth control pills and hormone medications. I only know of three antidepressants that do not interfere with a woman’s sexual function. – Drew Pinsky • Money is like hormones. It’s just how you feel on any given day. – Janice Dickinson • Much violence against women originates in emotional territory that they already command. By midlife and early old age, as the hormones of both genders change, women are in total, despotic control of their marriages. – Camille Paglia • My heart and prayers go out to all single moms because it’s tough, and I can’t imagine any teenager dealing with a baby and all those hormones raging. – Jill Scott • My tumour is a benign pituitary tumour, in the pituitary gland – which is the main hormone centre of the body. It’s in the centre of the brain. (Fun fact, [Rene] Descartes thought our consciousness was to be found in the pituitary gland.) And the thing is, there aren’t really many symptoms that show until it’s too late. – John Newman • Natural childbirth allows the hormones that have been working for women for thousands of years to fulfill their functions. This is more important than just helping a woman through labor and delivery. Birth-related hormones also affect well-being much later in life. – Janet Schwegel • Nobody in the scientific or medical world thinks that homosexuality is something that people choose. It’s something we are. Now, I didn’t choose to be heterosexual. I just woke up when I was about twelve years old and girls didn’t look obnoxious to me any longer, but I didn’t make a choice about the matter. I just responded to my own hormones. – John Shelby Spong • Not me,” said Orion cheerily. “I’m just a teenager with hormones running wild. And may I say ,young fairy lady, they’re running wild in your direction.” Holly lifted her visor and looked the hormonal teenager in the eye. “This had better not be a game, Artemis. If you do not have some serious psychosis, you will be sorry.” “Oh, I’m crazy, alright. I do have plenty of psychoses,” said Orion Cheerily. “Multiple personality, delusional dementia, OCD. I’ve got them all, but most of all, I’m crazy about you. – Eoin Colfer • Nothing better for the hormones and worse for the heart than the right boy at the right time. – Jacquelyn Mitchard • Oh I believe in loving cats and dogs and children and parents – sometimes – but I don’t believe in romantic love. Of course, there’s the momentary rush of hormones and chemicals that encourages us to mate, but it’s biology – it’s no more inherently mystical than the nicotine in that cigarette you’re smoking – Amy Jenkins • Oh, love is very much a physical thing…. I realize that it’s very complicated, and I’m sure it can’t be traced to individual neurons and hormones, but I think it’s very much a physiological sensation that takes place in the brain. – Alan Lightman • One reason milk consumption may lead to cancer risk is insulin-like growth factor, IGF-1 (not to be confused with bovine growth hormone, rBGH). Milk contains IGF-1 for good reason: milk is designed for babies, and IGF-1 helps us grow. IGF-1 affects growth, as well as other functions, and is normally found in our blood. Higher levels of IGF-1, however, appear to stimulate cancer cells. – Alison Stewart • Oxytocin is a Teflon hormone – bad news rolls off it. – Robert M. Sapolsky • Oxytocin is the hormone of love. We share it when we have a good conversation, we share it when we make love, and when we hug, and BIRTH is the biggest brightest time of rich oxytocin-sharing. – Robin Lim • Pierce Brosnan is a very sweet man. Oh, we had our issues, but a lot of it was hormones. – Stephanie Zimbalist • Q: What’s the difference between an enzyme and a hormone? A: You can’t hear an enzyme. – Dorothy Parker • Science is now the craft of the manipulation, substitution and deflection of the forces of nature. What I see coming is a gigantic slaughterhouse, an Auschwitz, in which valuable enzymes, hormones, and so on will be extracted instead of gold teeth. – Erwin Chargaff • She should have remembered her past experiences in the relationship wars and not let herself get so excited. Evidently her hormones had overruled her common sense and she had become drunk on ovarian wine, the most potent, sanity- destroying substance in the universe. – Linda Howard • She’s easy to lead around, a shiny present here, a pretty compliment there, and you have true love and a popped cherry sacrificed to the god of deception and hormones. Young girls are so ridiculous–so predictably easy. – P. C. Cast • Sleep and meditation are key. Natural sleep for 8 hours will help remove toxins from the body, help consolidate memory, create order from chaos. Sleep activates good hormones that are associated with rejuvenation and slowing down the ageing process. – Deepak Chopra • So what name would you rather I call you? she asked as she headed out of the parking lot. Ias or Alexion. He gave her a devilish grin that set fire to her hormones. I would rather you call me lover. He wagged his eyebrows playfully at her. Danger rolled her eyes. Like all men with a onetrack mind, he was incorrigible. Don’t blame me, Alexion said in an almost offended tone. I can’t help it. You should see the way you fight. It really turned me on. Could you tell me how to turn you off? -Danger and Alexion – Sherrilyn Kenyon • So you love me,” said Petra softly when the kiss ended. I’m a raging mass of hormones thet I’m too young to understand,” said Bean. “You’re a female of a closely related species. According to all the best primatologists, I really have no choice.” That’s nice,” she said. – Orson Scott Card • Tall, completely jacked, steroids, like multiple growth hormones. That’s, like, the type that I’m attracted to. – JWoww • Teenage boys, goaded by their surging hormones run in packs like the primal horde. They have only a brief season of exhilarating liberty between control by their mothers and control by their wives. – Camille Paglia • Tell me why the stars do shine, Tell me why the ivy twines, Tell me what makes skies so blue, And I’ll tell you why I love you. Nuclear fusion makes stars to shine, Tropisms make the ivy twine, Raleigh scattering make skies so blue, Testicular hormones are why I love you. – Isaac Asimov • Testosterone is a sex hormone, and I think it is the most social of hormones. The major social effect of testosterone is to orient us toward issues of sex and power. By the end of puberty testosterone levels in males are 8 to 10 times higher than in females, but decrease with age. – James McBride • That connection between hormones and mood is so important to get a handle on, and it’s also really important when you’re considering taking medication. – Ayelet Waldman • The chicken that we eat is chock-full of feminine hormones. So, when men eat these chickens, they deviate from themselves as men. – Evo Morales • The critical part with meal spacing is that you stabilize your hormones so that you do not have those spikes in insulin that occur when you eat large meals. – Ian K. Smith • The curse of modern times is the preponderance of male hormones in places where they can do long-term damage. Even if were not talking about wars between nations or assaults on nature, there’s still that aggressiveness that keeps us apart from each other and the problems we need to be working on. – Robert James Waller • The curse of modern times is the propensity of male hormones in places where they can do the most damage – Robert James Waller • The genetic theory of homosexuality has been generally discarded today. . . . Despite the interest in possible hormone mechanisms in the origin of homosexuality, no serious scientist today suggests that a simple cause-effect relationship applies. – William H. Masters • The journey to a different future must begin by defining the problem differently than we have done until now. . The task is not to find substitutes for chemicals that disrupt hormones, attack the ozone layer, or cause still undiscovered problems, though it may be necessary to use replacements as a temporary measure. The task that confronts us over the next half century is one of redesign. – Theo Colborn • The medication, the hormones and the relentless frustrations of our lives make us bitchy and you’re not allowed to be bitchy in public or people won’t like you. – Liane Moriarty • The more you worry, the more you throw off the delicate balance of hormones required for health. – Andrew Bernstein • The Most Secret Quintessence of Life is an original work filled with rich, new research, relying on important primary literature which has not, until now, been plumbed and digested. In this book, Chandak Sengoopta offers both a history of hormone discovery and a chronicle of how this discovery transformed our concepts of the body and how our existing concepts of sex and sexuality, in turn, informed our concepts for understanding hormones. – Anne Fausto-Sterling • The older your teenagers are, the more they will have their own ideas and opinions. If you take them seriously, rather than assuming your ideas are always best and the only ones, you will begin to grow a relationship that will extend beyond the hormone-group years. – Kevin Leman • The only and absolute perfect union of two is when a baby hangs suspended in its mother’s womb, like a tiny madman in a padded cell, attached to her, feeling her blood and hormones, and moods play through its body, feeling her feelings. – Diane Ackerman • The real problem devolves around class lines once again: it’s the street hormones that folks without insurance, or folks who are too young for prescriptions without parental okay, use. Sometimes those hormones can be pretty rough. – Kate Bornstein • The romance of circumvention is one of the most destructive forces at work in our society. The American Idol freeway to greatness, Instagramming one’s way into popular consciousness with selfies of our ass folds beneath short shorts, human growth hormone and performance-enhancing drugs for athletes, Adderall for the idle mind, reality television that sacrifices our dignity for fifteen lousy minutes. – Daniel Gillies • The secret truth of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ is that it isn’t very hard… ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ is easy like junior high is easy. All the arithmetic, the creative writing and the history are super simple, but like junior high, you do that easy work surrounded by people who are full-tilt, hormone-raging bug nutty. – Penn Jillette • The survey of more than 100 waterways downstream from treatment plants and animal feedlots in 30 states found minute amounts of dozens of antibiotics, hormones, pain relievers, cough suppressants, disinfectants and other products. It is not known whether they are harmful to plants, animals or people. The findings were released yesterday on the Web site of the United States Geological Survey, which conducted the research, and in an online journal, Environmental Science and Technology. – Andrew Revkin • The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23. Gee whiz, the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur. So we’ve got to be very careful how we address it on our side. – Saxby Chambliss • There are many other (besides testosterone) behaviour-eliciting hormones fundamental for humen well-being, including estrogen and progesterone in females. The fact that complex behavioural patterns can be triggered by a tiny concentration of moleculas coursing through the bloodstream, and that different animals of the same species generate different amounts of these hormones, is something worth thinking about when it’s time to judge such matters as free will, individual responsibility, and law and order. – Carl Sagan • There he is, a woman’s living, breathing fantasy, doing his slow, cocky turn, spiky black hair, darkly tanned chest, dimpled smile-killer smile-all in the package of Remington Tate. He’s perfection itself, and a new surge of hormones sweeps through me as I do what the rest of the crowd does and take in his visual, so blatantly on display in those low riding boxing shorts and so strikingly sexy, he becomes the center of my attention. The center. Of my. World. – Katy Evans • There was something about Ash that made every hormone in her body stand up and pant for more – Sherrilyn Kenyon • There’s really no such thing as the agony of dying. I’m quite sure that pain is shut off at the moment of death. You see, something happens when the body knows it’s about to go. Peptide hormones are released by cells in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. Endorphins. They attach themselves to the cells responsible for feeling pain. – Lewis Thomas • These growth hormones, where can I get a bunch of them? Is there some way that, with electricity, you could stimulate your own growth hormones? Plug yourself in for five minutes, there’d be a little jolt, but you’d get used to it. It wouldn’t be bad at all; in fact, you’d get to enjoy it, probably. Then away you’d go, and youth wouldn’t be wasted on the young anymore. You’d be 25, with a 95-year-old mind. Granddad would start breaking into liquor stores and staying out late. Hope we have it soon! – David Lynch • These hormones still belong to the physiologist and to the clinical investigator as much as, if not more than, to the practicing physician. But as Professor Starling said many years ago, ‘The physiology of today is the medicine of tomorrow’. – Philip Showalter Hench • They were angry, I thought. Horrified. These teenagers, with their hormones, making out beneath a video broadcasting the shattered voice of a former father. – John Green • This is the burgeoning days of feminism. This is when the militant feminists are the feminism hormones are raging. They are excited. They are happy. This is a new day! They are through being plugged into these formulas where men run everything and you’re in servitude to them. – Rush Limbaugh • Thyroid Panel (blood test)-Abnormal thyroid hormone levels are a common cause of anxiety, depression, forgetfulness, confusion, and lethargy. Having low thyroid levels decreases overall brain activity, which can impair your thinking, judgment, and self-control and make it very hard for you to feel good. Low thyroid functioning can make it nearly impossible to manage weight effectively. To know your thyroid levels, you need to know these figures: thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) Free T3 Free T4 Thyroid antibodies (thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin antibodies) – Daniel Amen • To control your hormones is to control your life. – Barry Sears • To out-group-members, oxytocin makes you crappier – less cooperative and more preemptively aggressive. It’s not the luv hormone. It’s the in-group parochialism/xenophobia hormone. – Robert M. Sapolsky • Try and stay away from dairy – especially if you’re a woman! It’s really hard on your hormones. – Megan Fox • We are eating hybridized and genetically modified (GMO) foods full of antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, and additives that were unknown to our immune systems just a generation or two ago. The result? Our immune system becomes unable to recognize friend or foe – to distinguish between foreign molecular invaders we truly need to protect against and the foods we eat or, in some cases, our own cells. In Third World countries where hygiene is poor and infections are common, allergy and autoimmunity are rare. – Mark Hyman, M.D. • We find ourselves facing a rising tide of biologically active, synthetic organic chemicals. Some tinker with our hormones. Some attach themselves to our chromosomes and trigger mutations. Some cripple the immune system. Some light up our genes and so enhance the production of certain enzymes. If we could metabolize these chemicals into completely benign breakdown products and excrete them, they would pose less of a hazard. Instead, a good many of them accumulate. – Sandra Steingraber • We found if you took the dog out for 45 minutes a day and worked with it that the solitary stress hormone, cortisol, went down. But then it went right back up again because they didn’t keep doing it. – Temple Grandin • We’re all just bags of bones and muscle and hormones; I’ll never understand what makes our minds do the things we do. It’s like that statue of the monkey holding a skull. We’re trying to use a thing we don’t understand to understand ourselves. – Meshell Ndegeocello • We’re doing a great disservice to our young people because the only protection is abstinence, as condoms have been proven fallible. The federal government should not be telling young people to use condoms. It’s also an insult to teenagers, reducing them to the level of a dog that can’t control its hormones. – Christine O’Donnell • What basically happens is your hormones get out of whack. Because of the stress in your life your body says, ‘I need more hormones.’ So, your hormones are trying to produce and produce and produce, and it’s even more stressful and it is this wicked cycle. – Marie Osmond • What good men most biologists are, the tenors of the scientific world – temperamental, moody, lecherous, loud-laughing, and healthy. Your true biologist will sing you a song as loud and off-key as will a blacksmith, for he knows that morals are too often diagnostic of prostatitis and stomach ulcers. Sometimes he may proliferate a little too much in all directions, but he is as easy to kill as any other organism, and meanwhile he is very good company, and at least he does not confuse a low hormone productivity with moral ethics. – John Steinbeck • What I learned was there are hormones, and most people are sexual. They may go through stages where they might do things where they go above and beyond, but this is something else. – Stuart Blumberg • What we like about women is sensuality, wildness, hormones. Women who make a song and dance about their intuition. – Yasmina Reza • Wheatgrass juice is the nectar of rejuvenation, the plasma of youth, the blood of all life. The elements that are missing in your body’s cells-especially enzymes, vitamins, hormones, and nucleic acids can be obtained through this daily green sunlight transfusion. – Viktoras Kulvinskas • When a male vole repeatedly mates with a female, a hormone called vasopressin is released in his brain. The vasopressin binds to receptors in a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, and the binding mediates a pleasurable feeling that becomes associated with that female. This locks in the monogamy, which is known as pair-bonding. If you block this hormone, the pair-bonding goes away. – David Eagleman • When birth control pills were available in Europe but not in the United States, American women created an uproar about how the unwillingness to make the pill available showed a contempt for the lives of women. When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released birth control pills with high dosages of hormones that were later found to be unnecessarily high, they were attacked for not caring about women enough to do the necessary tests. – Warren Farrell • When dogs and humans make eye contact, that actually releases what’s known as the love hormone, oxytocin, in both the dog and the human. – Brian Hare • When others kid me about being bald, I simply tell them that the way I figure it, the good Lord only gave men so many hormones, and if others want to waste theirs on growing hair, that’s up to them. – John Glenn • When physiologists revealed the existence and functions of hormones they not only gave increased opportunities for the activities of biochemists but in particular gave a new charter to biochemical thought, and with the discovery of vitamins that charter was extended. – Frederick Gowland Hopkins • When the subtle physical body is damaged you will begin to notice changes in your skin, you skin starts to get gnarly or dry. I’m not speaking of acne. Acne means you have a lot of kundalini, which stimulates hormones. – Frederick Lenz • When you’re sixteen and struggling to forge an identity out of a morass of hormones and daydreams, remarks like that cut a deep groove in the brain. I trace the ongoing, victorious-feeling semi-starvation of my twenties directly back to adolescence – as a way of showing those assholes that I could control my appetites… Which is so sad, in retrospect, because of course no one cared. – Kate Christensen • When you’re teenager, your hormones and your emotions are so tumultuous and so unpredictable. You’re just trying to understand yourself. – Penelope Mitchell • Whenever we feel stressed out, that’s a signal that our brain is pumping out stress hormones. If sustained over months and years, those hormones can ruin our health and make us a nervous wreck. – Daniel Goleman • Without compromise repression would be defeated. Just as some cancers feed on hormones, compromise becomes the hormone of oppression. – Harry Belafonte • Woman is determined not by her hormones or by mysterious instincts, but by the manner in which her body and her relation to the world are modified through the action of others than herself. – Simone de Beauvoir • Women are affected by lunar tides only once a month; men have raging hormones every day. – Maureen Dowd • Women are better at reading body language everywhere in the world. As a matter of fact, it’s associated with the female hormone estrogen. Women are better at figuring out of tone of voice, reading your face and posture and gesture. – Helen Fisher • Years ago I was diagnosed with a condition and my doctors prescribed human growth hormone and testosterone for its treatment. Under medical supervision I have continued to use both medications. – Sylvester Stallone • Yet friendship, I believe, is essential to intellectuals. It is probably the growth hormone the mind requires as it begins its activity of producing and exchanging ideas. You can date the evolving life of a mind, like the age of a tree, by the rings of friendship formed by the expanding central trunk. In the course of my history, not love or marriage so much as friendship has promoted growth. – Mary McCarthy • You know, the girls, they are more unstable emotionally than us. I’m sure everybody will say it’s true even the girls (laughter). No? No, you don’t think? I mean, it’s just about hormones and all this stuff. We don’t have all these bad things, so we are physically in a good shape every time, and you are not. That’s it. – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga • You know, these conservative women, somebody really needs to go repossess their ovaries. Really, truly, they have no right to them. They are fabulous, little organs and they have absolutely no right to be estrogen-bearing beings. Okay? Just cut ’em off, let ’em go through the hot flashes, let ’em just sit there and complain about hormone therapy, okay? Just take the ovaries and get it over with. Because they don’t deserve to have estrogen. They really don’t. It’s a privilege. – Randi Rhodes • You suffer when you give birth, it doesn’t matter, it’s nature. They tell you, oh, those hormone pills, they’re terrible, you’ll get cancer. But when it comes to Viagra for men, they don’t speak about cancer. – Jeanne Moreau • You’re seventeen. You’re supposed to be dealing with school and hormones and dim-witted parents. You’re supposed to be finding out who you are as a person.” “But I already know who I am,” Valkyrie said. “I’m a world-breaker. – Derek Landy • Your emotions are your inner guidance system. They alone will let you know whether you are living in an environment of biochemical health or in an environment of biochemical distress. Understanding how your thoughts and your emotions affect every single hormone and cell in your body, and knowing how to change them in a way that is health-enhancing, gives you access to the most powerful and empowering health-creating secret on earth. – Christiane Northrup

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[equitiesstocks]

Hormones Quotes

Official Website: Hormones Quotes

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• A pure heart and mind only takes you so far – sooner or later the hormones have their say, too. – Jim Butcher • A wheat belly represents the accumulation of fat that results from years of consuming foods that trigger insulin, the hormone of fat storage. – William Davis • Ampoules containing cortisone, testosterone gel residues, syringes and needles, a centrifuge for measuring my blood values.But, contrary to the erroneous reports in the press, they didn’t find any EPO or growth hormone. – Patrik Sinkewitz • As a bio major, I figured “free will” meant chemicals in your brain telling you what to do, the molecules bouncing around in a way that felt like choosing but was actually the dance of little gears–neurons and hormones bubbling up into decisions like clockwork. You don’t use your body; it uses you. – Scott Westerfeld • As a teenager, you have so much energy and hormones and you feel powerless in your life. – Patricia Arquette

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Hormone', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_hormone').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_hormone img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Because of his hormones, he only has three emotions: crabby, hungry, horny. – Sherry Argov • Blondes have the hottest kisses. Red-heads are fair-to-middling torrid, and brunettes are the frigidest of all. It’s something to do with hormones, no doubt. – Ronald Reagan • Brain wave tests prove that when we use positive words, our “feel good” hormones flow. Positive self-talk releases endorphins and serotonin in our brain, which then flow throughout our body, making us feel good. These neurotransmitters stop flowing when we use negative words. – Ruth Fishel

[clickbank-storefront-bestselling] • Can we please focus? We are supposed to be professionals.” Holly said. “Not me!” said Orion cheerily, “I’m just a Teenager with hormones running wild and may I say, young fairy lady, they’re running wild in your direction. – Eoin Colfer • Chocolate is an extraordinary source of key stress-fighting minerals including: magnesium, iron, chromium, vanadium, copper, zinc, manganese, and phosphorus. These minerals favorably influence a woman’s hormone system, which explains why chocolate has always been considered important for a woman’s monthly cycle. – David Wolfe • Complex carbohydrates are always best, except, again, after a workout where you could take simple (sugar) carbohydrates to get an insulin spike. But at other times doing this is not very beneficial because insulin is a storage hormone and it’s going to shunt everything into the muscle. – Dorian Yates • Cows given genetically modified growth hormones make more milk, but have painful swollen udders, have ulcers, joint pain, miscarriages, deformed calves, infertility, and much shorter life spans. Their milk contains blood, pus, tranquilizers, antibiotics, and an insulin growth factor that can cause a fourfold increase in prostate cancer and sevenfold rise in breast cancer. This is the milk used in our school lunch programs and served to our children. This is the milk that you buy every day. This is the milk used in all cheeses, yogurts, butter, and cream. – Kevin Trudeau • Do you know how many men that are out of work that just stand around on the corner just watching your daughters coming home from school? Today, with the hormonal things that they are putting in foods, these hormones, when you eat the meat, you’ll find a nine-year-old daughter with breasts bigger than her mother’s, hips wider than her mother’s – and men haven’t got anything to do but sit and watch you go and come from school. – Louis Farrakhan • Does Grandpa love to baby-sit his grandchildren? Are you kidding? By day he is too busy taking hormone shots at the doctor’s or chip shots on the golf course. At night he and Grandma are too busy doing the cha-cha. – Hal Boyle • During meditation, our breathing slows, our blood pressure and heart rate decrease, and stress hormone levels fall. – Deepak Chopra • Each of our cells is a living entity, and the main thing that influences them is our blood. If I open my eyes in the morning and my beautiful partner is in front of me, my perception causes a release of oxytocin, dopamine, growth hormones – all of which encourage the growth and health of my cells. But if I see a saber tooth tiger, I’m going to release stress hormones which change the cells to a protection mode. People need to realize that their thoughts are more primary than their genes, because the environment, which is influenced by our thoughts, controls the genes. – Bruce H. Lipton • Estrogen is a powerful if vengeful hormone affecting a woman’s fertility, moods, sleep patterns, appetite. Estrogen is the household heating oil of womanhood. – Marilyn Suzanne Miller • Even while it’s true that we are tied to our molecules and proteins and neurons – as strokes and hormones and drugs and microorganisms indisputably tell us – it does not logically follow that humans are best described only as pieces and parts. – David Eagleman • Exposure to some pesticides during infancy, even at very low levels, can lead to serious life-long consequences if the pesticides disrupt hormone-driven developmental processes. – Charles Benbrook • Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream, it takes over as the number one hormone; it bosses the enzymes; directs the pineal gland; plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to film is more film.- Frank Capra • For me I’m natural not because somebody else believes I’m natural, I’m natural because I don’t use steroids, I don’t use growth hormone, I don’t use any of those enhancers. I’m natural in my own right because I don’t do that and not because other people accept the fact that I’m natural or not. – Kai Greene • For me, food is all about balance. If you eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and an appropriate amount of poultry, fish, and red meat that are sourced from good places, you’re doing well. It’s important to make sure that the meat you’re consuming is hormone-free. – Curtis Stone • Fortified plant-based milks are delicious and contain all the calcium, protein, and vitamin D of dairy products but with none of the cholesterol, lactose, hormones, or cruelty found in cow’s milk. – Ingrid Newkirk • Gotta love alcohol and sex hormones. – Tucker Max • Hormones are nature’s three bottles of beer. – Mary Roach • Hormones are very powerful things. We are helpless in their wake. – Meg Cabot • Hormones influencing the sensitivity of the person to environmental stimuli. – Robert M. Sapolsky • Hormones were as potent as whiskey, and twice as sneaky. – Linda Howard • How much needless despair has been caused by a series of biological mismatches, a misalignment of the hormones and pheromones? Resulting in the fact that the one you love so passionately won’t or can’t love you. As a species we’re pathetic that way: imperfectly monogamous. – Margaret Atwood • However, when given the chance, many people choose cocaine over love. I wouldn’t say that’s a bad choice. The endorphins released during infatuation are similar to heroin. OxyContin, “the cuddling hormone,” most often found in new mothers and newlyweds, is like ecstasy; every touch tingles. I think I read that somewhere. Love exists in powder. Love exists in pills. We are all addicts.- Pete Wentz • Human sexuality includes more than hormones, organs, and orgasms; it runs through the psychic and spiritual ranges of our lives. We experience our sexuality on the spiritual level as a yearning for another person. We want to reach out and stretch ourselves into the depths of another. We want to bring the other person into the orbit of our deepest selves. We want to probe into the mystery of the other. – Lewis B. Smedes • I always have really fresh, hormone-free, additive-free chicken, healthy veggies, and brown rice in the fridge to grab because I’m always on the go. – Laura Prepon • I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. – Chelsea Manning • I can be a bit grumpy. Im full of angst, and hormones. – Nicholas Hoult • I cry all the time. It’s more like when didn’t you cry. My friends are like, ‘Oh God, she’s sobbing again.’ I cry if I’m happy, sad, normal… What really gets me is when I read a sad story about a child in the paper, especially at the moment with my hormones raging. – Sara Cox • I didn’t really get the chance to talk to girls. I was a straight boy with hormones kicking in, and I wanted to talk to girls, but they weren’t interested in talking back to me, so there was a real sense of loneliness. – Andy Biersack • I don’t believe in bodybuilders using steroids. If a man doesn’t have enough male hormones in his system to create, a nice hard, muscular body, he should take up ping pong. – Steve Reeves • I don’t believe, for instance, that evolutionary biology or any scientific endeavor has much to say about love. I’m sure a lot can be learned about the importance of hormones and their effects on our feelings. But do the bleak implications of evolution have any impact on the love I feel for my family? Do they make me more likely to break the law of flaunt society’s expectations of me? No. I simply does not follow that human relationships are meaningless just because we live in a godless universe subject to the natural laws of biology. – Greg Graffin • I don’t have emotions about a lot of things. I rarely get angry, I rarely cry. I guess I do get excited a lot, but I don’t get sad and enormously happy. I think a lot of people who talk about all that crap are lying. Right now I’m just trying to maintain happiness — that’s all I really care about. Anyway, when you’re my age and your hormones are kicking in, there’s not much besides sex that’s on your mind. – Leonardo DiCaprio • I don’t prefer to fill my body with antibiotics, pesticides, steroids, and growth hormones – my body is my temple, and I treat it as such. – Suzanne Whang • I don’t recommend steroids for everyone, and I don’t recommend growth hormones for everyone, but for certain individuals, I truly believe, because I’ve experimented with it for so many years, that it can make an average athlete a super athlete. It can make a super athlete-incredible. Just legendary. – Jose Canseco • I have a 14 year old daughter now. You know, it was that time in these kids lives when these girls are becoming women and the hormones are raging. They didn’t know if The Beatles were any good, they just went for it ’cause The Beatles were attractive. – Jack Jones • I have a neuroscience background – that’s what my doctorate is in – and I was trained to study hormones of attachment, so I definitely feel my parenting is informed by that. – Mayim Bialik • I have my hormones balanced. Most doctors are giving women synthetic hormones, which just eliminate the symptoms, but it’s doing nothing to actually replace the hormones you have lost. Without our hormones we die. – Suzanne Somers • I just feel like estrogen is bad hormones, and seen as shameful. – Jen Kirkman • I think all presidents should have teenage girls before they become presidents. If you can handle those hormones, you can handle anything.- Mila Kunis • I think there’s something your hormones do that makes a chemical change in the way you think. – Boots Riley • I think when you start messing with your own hormones, it’s crazy-making. – Rebecca Romijn • I told the truth about steroids and human growth hormone. I injected those drugs into the body of Roger Clemens at his direction. Unfortunately, Roger has denied this and has led a full-court attack on my credibility – Jim Lehrer • I will try to hold on to the intense feeling. I will both be glad that that’s no longer happening and kind of miss it. When you’re 14, you’re basically on drugs all the time – the hormones in your body are so crazy. But I really loved and appreciated the intensity of that. And you’re experiencing everything for the first time, so everything feels like an epiphany. And, like, I really liked the experience of having a crush, because I was like, this is my thing and it doesn’t have to do with you and you’re just some dummy boy for me to project on. – Tavi Gevinson • I’d sacrificed true love and a popped cherry to the god of deception and hormones.” – Zoey Redbird – P. C. Cast • If I had ever, in any medium, seen any researcher or popularizer refer even once to any supposedly ay-producing circumstance as the proper hormone balance, or the conducive endocrine environment, for gay generation, I would be less chilled by the breezes of all this technological confidence. – Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick • If I have to draw attention away from some hormone-induced acne on my chin, I put on a lot of mascara. – Olivia Wilde • If men went through menopause, we’d know everything about it, but we still don’t even know if we should be taking hormones. – Joycelyn Elders • If pornographers can hook adolescents when their hormones are raging, they know they’ll have an ongoing consumer base for life. – Donna Rice Hughes • If technology and medicine are used by women to have children or not to have children or to have healthier children – that’s one thing. But if it’s used to say, ‘You’re not a real woman unless you have a child, therefore take all these dangerous hormones and have one at 54,” then it’s another story. – Gloria Steinem • If women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn’t it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long? – Gloria Steinem • If you want a cow to be not just a cow but a milk machine, you can do a very good job at that by creating new hormones like the Bovine Growth Hormone. It might make the cow very ill, it might turn it into a drug addict, and it might even create consumer scares about the health and safety aspects of the milk. But we’ve gotten so used to manipulating objects and organisms and ecosystems for a single objective that we ignore the costs involved. I call this the “monoculture of the mind.” – Vandana Shiva • I’m a bit of a slag… Some people don’t think it’s very nice, but I don’t care… I’ve got hormones, and sex is there, so why not? Sex is good. Everybody does it, and everybody should! – Robbie Williams • I’m beginning to think that women should be denied the vote. Their hormones rage; they are too emotional. – Michael Savage • I’m really big on hormones. – Jen Kirkman

• In 1974 I nearly got into a fistfight with some early academic feminists in a restaurant when I casually alluded to a hormonal element in sex differences. It was utterly unacceptable at that time to think or say such a thing… If you have any doubts about the effect of hormones on emotion, libido and aggression, have a chat with a transexual, who must take hormones medically. He or she will set you straight. – Camille Paglia • In general, I try to eat food without added hormones and pesticides, but I’m not so strict that I won’t have a Big Mac once in a while. – Missy Peregrym • In Russia, show the least athletic aptitude and they’ve got you dangling off the parallel bars with a leotard full of hormones. – Victoria Wood • In the 21st century our tastes buds, our brain chemistry, our biochemistry, our hormones and our kitchens have been hijacked by the food industry. – Mark Hyman, M.D. • Industrial agriculture now accounts for over half of America’s water pollution. Two years ago, Pfiesteria outbreaks connected with wastes from industrial chicken factories forced the closure of two major tributaries of the Chesapeake and threatened Maryland’s vital shellfish industry. Tyson Foods has polluted half of all streams in northwestern Arkansas with so much fecal bacteria that swimming is prohibited. Drugs and hormones needed to keep confined animals alive and growing are mainly excreted with the wastes and saturate local waterways. – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. • Isn’t it strange how upset people get about a few dozen baseball players taking growth hormones, when we’re doing what we’re doing to our food animals and feeding them to our children? – Jonathan Safran Foer • It is important to understand that while oxytocin may be the hub of the evolution of the social brain in mammals, it is part of a very complex system. Part of what it does is act in opposition to stress hormones, and in that sense release of oxytocin feels good – as stress hormones and anxiety do not feel good. – Patricia Churchland • It seems that one moment I was this little kid only caring about animals and flowers and stuff, and then the next minute I was this raging stew of hormones. I don’t know if you’ve ever been a raging stew of anything, but I wouldn’t particularly recommend it. – Julie Burchill • It turns out that we literally don’t empathize unless we’re physically present – that the oxytocin, the famous “tend and befriend” hormone is not produced unless we’re present with all five senses. – Gloria Steinem • Laughter is very infectious, and why it should be so is a most interesting neurological problem. But it also has other, more physiological, benefits. Apparently it boosts the immune system, reduces stress hormones, massages the heart and diaphragm and engenders a ‘feel good’ factor. – Semir Zeki • Learning as we go… Why didn’t they tell us this before? We, the consumers, are supposed to be docile guinea pigs in a vast but uncontrolled experiment with powerful hormones (HRT). That’s quite a commentary on “scientific medicine”. – Ralph W. Moss • Love is indeed at root the product of the firings of neurons and release of hormones. – Julian Baggini • Lower your cortisol level. The happiest people have the lowest level of cortisol, a stress hormone that raises blood pressure and weakens the immune system. Cut the stress-more yoga, less road rage-and you’ll cut your cortisol production. – Daniel Gilbert • Male love circuits get an extra kick when stress levels are high. After an intense physical challenge, for instance, males will bond quickly and sexually with the first willing female they lay eyes on. Women, by contrast, will rebuff advances or expressions of affection and desire when under stress. The reason may be that the stress hormone cortisol blocks oxytocin’s action in the female brain, abruptly shutting off a woman’s desire for sex and physical touch. – Louann Brizendine • Managing our emotions increases intuition and clarity. It helps us self-regulate our brain chemicals and internal hormones. It gives us natural highs, the real fountain of youth we’ve been searching for. It enables us to drink from elixirs locked within our cells, just waiting for us to discover them. – Doc Childre • Maybe love was a myth anyhow, a brew of hormones and fantasy, evolution’s way of getting men and women together long enough for them to procreate,back in the day when girls got pregnant at twelve, were pregnant or nursing for the next twenty years, and were dead of the plague by forty. – Jennifer Weiner • Medications can lower a woman’s sex drive and interfere with a woman’s ability to climax. These medications include antidepressants, birth control pills and hormone medications. I only know of three antidepressants that do not interfere with a woman’s sexual function. – Drew Pinsky • Money is like hormones. It’s just how you feel on any given day. – Janice Dickinson • Much violence against women originates in emotional territory that they already command. By midlife and early old age, as the hormones of both genders change, women are in total, despotic control of their marriages. – Camille Paglia • My heart and prayers go out to all single moms because it’s tough, and I can’t imagine any teenager dealing with a baby and all those hormones raging. – Jill Scott • My tumour is a benign pituitary tumour, in the pituitary gland – which is the main hormone centre of the body. It’s in the centre of the brain. (Fun fact, [Rene] Descartes thought our consciousness was to be found in the pituitary gland.) And the thing is, there aren’t really many symptoms that show until it’s too late. – John Newman • Natural childbirth allows the hormones that have been working for women for thousands of years to fulfill their functions. This is more important than just helping a woman through labor and delivery. Birth-related hormones also affect well-being much later in life. – Janet Schwegel • Nobody in the scientific or medical world thinks that homosexuality is something that people choose. It’s something we are. Now, I didn’t choose to be heterosexual. I just woke up when I was about twelve years old and girls didn’t look obnoxious to me any longer, but I didn’t make a choice about the matter. I just responded to my own hormones. – John Shelby Spong • Not me,” said Orion cheerily. “I’m just a teenager with hormones running wild. And may I say ,young fairy lady, they’re running wild in your direction.” Holly lifted her visor and looked the hormonal teenager in the eye. “This had better not be a game, Artemis. If you do not have some serious psychosis, you will be sorry.” “Oh, I’m crazy, alright. I do have plenty of psychoses,” said Orion Cheerily. “Multiple personality, delusional dementia, OCD. I’ve got them all, but most of all, I’m crazy about you. – Eoin Colfer • Nothing better for the hormones and worse for the heart than the right boy at the right time. – Jacquelyn Mitchard • Oh I believe in loving cats and dogs and children and parents – sometimes – but I don’t believe in romantic love. Of course, there’s the momentary rush of hormones and chemicals that encourages us to mate, but it’s biology – it’s no more inherently mystical than the nicotine in that cigarette you’re smoking – Amy Jenkins • Oh, love is very much a physical thing…. I realize that it’s very complicated, and I’m sure it can’t be traced to individual neurons and hormones, but I think it’s very much a physiological sensation that takes place in the brain. – Alan Lightman • One reason milk consumption may lead to cancer risk is insulin-like growth factor, IGF-1 (not to be confused with bovine growth hormone, rBGH). Milk contains IGF-1 for good reason: milk is designed for babies, and IGF-1 helps us grow. IGF-1 affects growth, as well as other functions, and is normally found in our blood. Higher levels of IGF-1, however, appear to stimulate cancer cells. – Alison Stewart • Oxytocin is a Teflon hormone – bad news rolls off it. – Robert M. Sapolsky • Oxytocin is the hormone of love. We share it when we have a good conversation, we share it when we make love, and when we hug, and BIRTH is the biggest brightest time of rich oxytocin-sharing. – Robin Lim • Pierce Brosnan is a very sweet man. Oh, we had our issues, but a lot of it was hormones. – Stephanie Zimbalist • Q: What’s the difference between an enzyme and a hormone? A: You can’t hear an enzyme. – Dorothy Parker • Science is now the craft of the manipulation, substitution and deflection of the forces of nature. What I see coming is a gigantic slaughterhouse, an Auschwitz, in which valuable enzymes, hormones, and so on will be extracted instead of gold teeth. – Erwin Chargaff • She should have remembered her past experiences in the relationship wars and not let herself get so excited. Evidently her hormones had overruled her common sense and she had become drunk on ovarian wine, the most potent, sanity- destroying substance in the universe. – Linda Howard • She’s easy to lead around, a shiny present here, a pretty compliment there, and you have true love and a popped cherry sacrificed to the god of deception and hormones. Young girls are so ridiculous–so predictably easy. – P. C. Cast • Sleep and meditation are key. Natural sleep for 8 hours will help remove toxins from the body, help consolidate memory, create order from chaos. Sleep activates good hormones that are associated with rejuvenation and slowing down the ageing process. – Deepak Chopra • So what name would you rather I call you? she asked as she headed out of the parking lot. Ias or Alexion. He gave her a devilish grin that set fire to her hormones. I would rather you call me lover. He wagged his eyebrows playfully at her. Danger rolled her eyes. Like all men with a onetrack mind, he was incorrigible. Don’t blame me, Alexion said in an almost offended tone. I can’t help it. You should see the way you fight. It really turned me on. Could you tell me how to turn you off? -Danger and Alexion – Sherrilyn Kenyon • So you love me,” said Petra softly when the kiss ended. I’m a raging mass of hormones thet I’m too young to understand,” said Bean. “You’re a female of a closely related species. According to all the best primatologists, I really have no choice.” That’s nice,” she said. – Orson Scott Card • Tall, completely jacked, steroids, like multiple growth hormones. That’s, like, the type that I’m attracted to. – JWoww • Teenage boys, goaded by their surging hormones run in packs like the primal horde. They have only a brief season of exhilarating liberty between control by their mothers and control by their wives. – Camille Paglia • Tell me why the stars do shine, Tell me why the ivy twines, Tell me what makes skies so blue, And I’ll tell you why I love you. Nuclear fusion makes stars to shine, Tropisms make the ivy twine, Raleigh scattering make skies so blue, Testicular hormones are why I love you. – Isaac Asimov • Testosterone is a sex hormone, and I think it is the most social of hormones. The major social effect of testosterone is to orient us toward issues of sex and power. By the end of puberty testosterone levels in males are 8 to 10 times higher than in females, but decrease with age. – James McBride • That connection between hormones and mood is so important to get a handle on, and it’s also really important when you’re considering taking medication. – Ayelet Waldman • The chicken that we eat is chock-full of feminine hormones. So, when men eat these chickens, they deviate from themselves as men. – Evo Morales • The critical part with meal spacing is that you stabilize your hormones so that you do not have those spikes in insulin that occur when you eat large meals. – Ian K. Smith • The curse of modern times is the preponderance of male hormones in places where they can do long-term damage. Even if were not talking about wars between nations or assaults on nature, there’s still that aggressiveness that keeps us apart from each other and the problems we need to be working on. – Robert James Waller • The curse of modern times is the propensity of male hormones in places where they can do the most damage – Robert James Waller • The genetic theory of homosexuality has been generally discarded today. . . . Despite the interest in possible hormone mechanisms in the origin of homosexuality, no serious scientist today suggests that a simple cause-effect relationship applies. – William H. Masters • The journey to a different future must begin by defining the problem differently than we have done until now. . The task is not to find substitutes for chemicals that disrupt hormones, attack the ozone layer, or cause still undiscovered problems, though it may be necessary to use replacements as a temporary measure. The task that confronts us over the next half century is one of redesign. – Theo Colborn • The medication, the hormones and the relentless frustrations of our lives make us bitchy and you’re not allowed to be bitchy in public or people won’t like you. – Liane Moriarty • The more you worry, the more you throw off the delicate balance of hormones required for health. – Andrew Bernstein • The Most Secret Quintessence of Life is an original work filled with rich, new research, relying on important primary literature which has not, until now, been plumbed and digested. In this book, Chandak Sengoopta offers both a history of hormone discovery and a chronicle of how this discovery transformed our concepts of the body and how our existing concepts of sex and sexuality, in turn, informed our concepts for understanding hormones. – Anne Fausto-Sterling • The older your teenagers are, the more they will have their own ideas and opinions. If you take them seriously, rather than assuming your ideas are always best and the only ones, you will begin to grow a relationship that will extend beyond the hormone-group years. – Kevin Leman • The only and absolute perfect union of two is when a baby hangs suspended in its mother’s womb, like a tiny madman in a padded cell, attached to her, feeling her blood and hormones, and moods play through its body, feeling her feelings. – Diane Ackerman • The real problem devolves around class lines once again: it’s the street hormones that folks without insurance, or folks who are too young for prescriptions without parental okay, use. Sometimes those hormones can be pretty rough. – Kate Bornstein • The romance of circumvention is one of the most destructive forces at work in our society. The American Idol freeway to greatness, Instagramming one’s way into popular consciousness with selfies of our ass folds beneath short shorts, human growth hormone and performance-enhancing drugs for athletes, Adderall for the idle mind, reality television that sacrifices our dignity for fifteen lousy minutes. – Daniel Gillies • The secret truth of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ is that it isn’t very hard… ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ is easy like junior high is easy. All the arithmetic, the creative writing and the history are super simple, but like junior high, you do that easy work surrounded by people who are full-tilt, hormone-raging bug nutty. – Penn Jillette • The survey of more than 100 waterways downstream from treatment plants and animal feedlots in 30 states found minute amounts of dozens of antibiotics, hormones, pain relievers, cough suppressants, disinfectants and other products. It is not known whether they are harmful to plants, animals or people. The findings were released yesterday on the Web site of the United States Geological Survey, which conducted the research, and in an online journal, Environmental Science and Technology. – Andrew Revkin • The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23. Gee whiz, the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur. So we’ve got to be very careful how we address it on our side. – Saxby Chambliss • There are many other (besides testosterone) behaviour-eliciting hormones fundamental for humen well-being, including estrogen and progesterone in females. The fact that complex behavioural patterns can be triggered by a tiny concentration of moleculas coursing through the bloodstream, and that different animals of the same species generate different amounts of these hormones, is something worth thinking about when it’s time to judge such matters as free will, individual responsibility, and law and order. – Carl Sagan • There he is, a woman’s living, breathing fantasy, doing his slow, cocky turn, spiky black hair, darkly tanned chest, dimpled smile-killer smile-all in the package of Remington Tate. He’s perfection itself, and a new surge of hormones sweeps through me as I do what the rest of the crowd does and take in his visual, so blatantly on display in those low riding boxing shorts and so strikingly sexy, he becomes the center of my attention. The center. Of my. World. – Katy Evans • There was something about Ash that made every hormone in her body stand up and pant for more – Sherrilyn Kenyon • There’s really no such thing as the agony of dying. I’m quite sure that pain is shut off at the moment of death. You see, something happens when the body knows it’s about to go. Peptide hormones are released by cells in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. Endorphins. They attach themselves to the cells responsible for feeling pain. – Lewis Thomas • These growth hormones, where can I get a bunch of them? Is there some way that, with electricity, you could stimulate your own growth hormones? Plug yourself in for five minutes, there’d be a little jolt, but you’d get used to it. It wouldn’t be bad at all; in fact, you’d get to enjoy it, probably. Then away you’d go, and youth wouldn’t be wasted on the young anymore. You’d be 25, with a 95-year-old mind. Granddad would start breaking into liquor stores and staying out late. Hope we have it soon! – David Lynch • These hormones still belong to the physiologist and to the clinical investigator as much as, if not more than, to the practicing physician. But as Professor Starling said many years ago, ‘The physiology of today is the medicine of tomorrow’. – Philip Showalter Hench • They were angry, I thought. Horrified. These teenagers, with their hormones, making out beneath a video broadcasting the shattered voice of a former father. – John Green • This is the burgeoning days of feminism. This is when the militant feminists are the feminism hormones are raging. They are excited. They are happy. This is a new day! They are through being plugged into these formulas where men run everything and you’re in servitude to them. – Rush Limbaugh • Thyroid Panel (blood test)-Abnormal thyroid hormone levels are a common cause of anxiety, depression, forgetfulness, confusion, and lethargy. Having low thyroid levels decreases overall brain activity, which can impair your thinking, judgment, and self-control and make it very hard for you to feel good. Low thyroid functioning can make it nearly impossible to manage weight effectively. To know your thyroid levels, you need to know these figures: thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) Free T3 Free T4 Thyroid antibodies (thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin antibodies) – Daniel Amen • To control your hormones is to control your life. – Barry Sears • To out-group-members, oxytocin makes you crappier – less cooperative and more preemptively aggressive. It’s not the luv hormone. It’s the in-group parochialism/xenophobia hormone. – Robert M. Sapolsky • Try and stay away from dairy – especially if you’re a woman! It’s really hard on your hormones. – Megan Fox • We are eating hybridized and genetically modified (GMO) foods full of antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, and additives that were unknown to our immune systems just a generation or two ago. The result? Our immune system becomes unable to recognize friend or foe – to distinguish between foreign molecular invaders we truly need to protect against and the foods we eat or, in some cases, our own cells. In Third World countries where hygiene is poor and infections are common, allergy and autoimmunity are rare. – Mark Hyman, M.D. • We find ourselves facing a rising tide of biologically active, synthetic organic chemicals. Some tinker with our hormones. Some attach themselves to our chromosomes and trigger mutations. Some cripple the immune system. Some light up our genes and so enhance the production of certain enzymes. If we could metabolize these chemicals into completely benign breakdown products and excrete them, they would pose less of a hazard. Instead, a good many of them accumulate. – Sandra Steingraber • We found if you took the dog out for 45 minutes a day and worked with it that the solitary stress hormone, cortisol, went down. But then it went right back up again because they didn’t keep doing it. – Temple Grandin • We’re all just bags of bones and muscle and hormones; I’ll never understand what makes our minds do the things we do. It’s like that statue of the monkey holding a skull. We’re trying to use a thing we don’t understand to understand ourselves. – Meshell Ndegeocello • We’re doing a great disservice to our young people because the only protection is abstinence, as condoms have been proven fallible. The federal government should not be telling young people to use condoms. It’s also an insult to teenagers, reducing them to the level of a dog that can’t control its hormones. – Christine O’Donnell • What basically happens is your hormones get out of whack. Because of the stress in your life your body says, ‘I need more hormones.’ So, your hormones are trying to produce and produce and produce, and it’s even more stressful and it is this wicked cycle. – Marie Osmond • What good men most biologists are, the tenors of the scientific world – temperamental, moody, lecherous, loud-laughing, and healthy. Your true biologist will sing you a song as loud and off-key as will a blacksmith, for he knows that morals are too often diagnostic of prostatitis and stomach ulcers. Sometimes he may proliferate a little too much in all directions, but he is as easy to kill as any other organism, and meanwhile he is very good company, and at least he does not confuse a low hormone productivity with moral ethics. – John Steinbeck • What I learned was there are hormones, and most people are sexual. They may go through stages where they might do things where they go above and beyond, but this is something else. – Stuart Blumberg • What we like about women is sensuality, wildness, hormones. Women who make a song and dance about their intuition. – Yasmina Reza • Wheatgrass juice is the nectar of rejuvenation, the plasma of youth, the blood of all life. The elements that are missing in your body’s cells-especially enzymes, vitamins, hormones, and nucleic acids can be obtained through this daily green sunlight transfusion. – Viktoras Kulvinskas • When a male vole repeatedly mates with a female, a hormone called vasopressin is released in his brain. The vasopressin binds to receptors in a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, and the binding mediates a pleasurable feeling that becomes associated with that female. This locks in the monogamy, which is known as pair-bonding. If you block this hormone, the pair-bonding goes away. – David Eagleman • When birth control pills were available in Europe but not in the United States, American women created an uproar about how the unwillingness to make the pill available showed a contempt for the lives of women. When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released birth control pills with high dosages of hormones that were later found to be unnecessarily high, they were attacked for not caring about women enough to do the necessary tests. – Warren Farrell • When dogs and humans make eye contact, that actually releases what’s known as the love hormone, oxytocin, in both the dog and the human. – Brian Hare • When others kid me about being bald, I simply tell them that the way I figure it, the good Lord only gave men so many hormones, and if others want to waste theirs on growing hair, that’s up to them. – John Glenn • When physiologists revealed the existence and functions of hormones they not only gave increased opportunities for the activities of biochemists but in particular gave a new charter to biochemical thought, and with the discovery of vitamins that charter was extended. – Frederick Gowland Hopkins • When the subtle physical body is damaged you will begin to notice changes in your skin, you skin starts to get gnarly or dry. I’m not speaking of acne. Acne means you have a lot of kundalini, which stimulates hormones. – Frederick Lenz • When you’re sixteen and struggling to forge an identity out of a morass of hormones and daydreams, remarks like that cut a deep groove in the brain. I trace the ongoing, victorious-feeling semi-starvation of my twenties directly back to adolescence – as a way of showing those assholes that I could control my appetites… Which is so sad, in retrospect, because of course no one cared. – Kate Christensen • When you’re teenager, your hormones and your emotions are so tumultuous and so unpredictable. You’re just trying to understand yourself. – Penelope Mitchell • Whenever we feel stressed out, that’s a signal that our brain is pumping out stress hormones. If sustained over months and years, those hormones can ruin our health and make us a nervous wreck. – Daniel Goleman • Without compromise repression would be defeated. Just as some cancers feed on hormones, compromise becomes the hormone of oppression. – Harry Belafonte • Woman is determined not by her hormones or by mysterious instincts, but by the manner in which her body and her relation to the world are modified through the action of others than herself. – Simone de Beauvoir • Women are affected by lunar tides only once a month; men have raging hormones every day. – Maureen Dowd • Women are better at reading body language everywhere in the world. As a matter of fact, it’s associated with the female hormone estrogen. Women are better at figuring out of tone of voice, reading your face and posture and gesture. – Helen Fisher • Years ago I was diagnosed with a condition and my doctors prescribed human growth hormone and testosterone for its treatment. Under medical supervision I have continued to use both medications. – Sylvester Stallone • Yet friendship, I believe, is essential to intellectuals. It is probably the growth hormone the mind requires as it begins its activity of producing and exchanging ideas. You can date the evolving life of a mind, like the age of a tree, by the rings of friendship formed by the expanding central trunk. In the course of my history, not love or marriage so much as friendship has promoted growth. – Mary McCarthy • You know, the girls, they are more unstable emotionally than us. I’m sure everybody will say it’s true even the girls (laughter). No? No, you don’t think? I mean, it’s just about hormones and all this stuff. We don’t have all these bad things, so we are physically in a good shape every time, and you are not. That’s it. – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga • You know, these conservative women, somebody really needs to go repossess their ovaries. Really, truly, they have no right to them. They are fabulous, little organs and they have absolutely no right to be estrogen-bearing beings. Okay? Just cut ’em off, let ’em go through the hot flashes, let ’em just sit there and complain about hormone therapy, okay? Just take the ovaries and get it over with. Because they don’t deserve to have estrogen. They really don’t. It’s a privilege. – Randi Rhodes • You suffer when you give birth, it doesn’t matter, it’s nature. They tell you, oh, those hormone pills, they’re terrible, you’ll get cancer. But when it comes to Viagra for men, they don’t speak about cancer. – Jeanne Moreau • You’re seventeen. You’re supposed to be dealing with school and hormones and dim-witted parents. You’re supposed to be finding out who you are as a person.” “But I already know who I am,” Valkyrie said. “I’m a world-breaker. – Derek Landy • Your emotions are your inner guidance system. They alone will let you know whether you are living in an environment of biochemical health or in an environment of biochemical distress. Understanding how your thoughts and your emotions affect every single hormone and cell in your body, and knowing how to change them in a way that is health-enhancing, gives you access to the most powerful and empowering health-creating secret on earth. – Christiane Northrup

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