#navigating friendship

[bitchesgetriches]

Ask the Bitches: How Do I Say “No” When a Loved One Asks for Money… Again?

In an ideal world, we’d have proper social safety nets preventing children from living in poverty and responsible environmental policies stemming the tide of climate change people would give “no” the respect it deserves. They wouldn’t press for further explanation. Yet we don’t live in an ideal world.

Instead, we live in a world where far too many assholes view “no” as an invitation to debate. Wheedling, cajoling, wearing down, convincing, negotiating, guilting, manipulating, or intimidating someone out of their perfectly valid “no” is a dick move. In some cases, it can even be abusive, violent, or illegal. At the very least, it causes unnecessary heartache and mental anguish.

Keep reading.

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[howdoesone]

How does one ask their new friend if they also feel like a science experiment gone right?

In today’s rapidly advancing world of reproductive technology, the concept of children conceived through sperm donation is no longer rare. Yet, despite the growing number of kids who share this unique origin story, the conversation surrounding it remains sensitive and often awkward. One particularly tricky scenario is asking a new friend, who might also be a sperm donor child, if they too feel…

[jenanigans1207]

What I wanted so badly was for Mary to learn about her boys from Cas. Like that night where Cas finds her when she can’t sleep and she expresses that she just doesn’t know anything about her sons since she missed so much?? All I wanted was for Cas to sit down with her at the table and just start telling her about them. Basic stuff at first: their favorite foods, their sleeping habits, the stuff he’s just observed by being their passenger for years.

And then I want him to say something totally Cas, like “Dean always wears more layers but that’s because his body naturally runs two degrees colder than Sam’s. But that’s normal for him and not indicative of any illness, so it’s nothing to worry about.”

And as they talk, it starts to get a little deeper, and Cas tells her more. He tells her about what she missed, about all the horrible things that happened to her sons and how they coped; how it changed them. And he tells her about Sam, he does, but really it ends up being all about Dean.

He’ll tell her about how Dean clenches his fists when he’s upset, even as he tries to keep his face impassive. About how Dean drums his fingers on the steering wheel when he’s anxious. He’ll tell her about Dean’s nightmares, about the ways he’s chosen to cope. He’ll tell her how to know when to approach Dean and when to give him space, how to gently acknowledge what he’s feeling without pushing him too far.

And with every word he says, Mary’s curious head tilt from when she’d seen them hug in reunion turns into a bone deep type of certainty. Because Cas is telling her things that only someone who paid special attention would notice. He’s telling her things that only someone very, very close to her son’s heart would know.

Cas will tell her the cliff notes of what they’ve been through; will tell her how the whole world looked to Dean and he rose to the occasion over and over again. He’ll tell her about Dean’s doubts in himself and then vehemently declare them as wrong and explain, at length, why. He will tell her about the people Dean has loved— the people who loved him like he was their own— and lost. He will tell her about Bobby, Ellen, Jody, Donna, and Charlie. He’ll tell her about Claire, too, and how Dean stepped up.

And the whole time, Mary will have this realization that oh, she may not have been around to guide and protect her sons, but there was always someone there to care for them and support them when they needed it. She will realize that she and John may have left them, but they were never alone.

But more than that, there was someone there for Dean. Someone picking Dean over and over again while Dean picked Sam, or the world, over himself. There was someone fighting for Dean when he wasn’t fighting for himself. There was someone who saw Dean, and loved him unconditionally.

Sitting across from her, at the asscrack of dawn, filling her in on all the things she missed was every mother’s dream: someone who loved her child with the kind of devotion that would break the world. And from the sounds of the stories she was being told, it did break the world. Someone whose love is entirely untainted and comes without any strings attached.

It’s so clear to her as she listens to Cas talk that Cas loves Dean with no expectations. That loving Dean is something he just does, like he doesn’t know how not to love Dean, like the possibility of not loving him never occurred to Cas. He loves Dean in a way that Mary knows can and will soothe Dean’s sharp edges and battered heart. He loves Dean in the kind of pure way that tells Mary that it will continue to endure and overcome everything without ever diminishing, even the littlest amount.

Mary, through tears, will tell Cas how she always told Dean that there were angels watching over him. And before Cas can make some comment about Dean being the Righteous Man and the interest of most of Heaven, she will place a hand over his and give him a motherly look that will convey all the things she’s not sure how to say— and the things she’s not sure Cas is ready to hear yet. And Cas will flush and look away, mumbling about how her son is very special to him.

And when she pulls him into a hug and murmurs thank yous into his shoulder, she will be comforted in the knowledge that her sons turned out to be wonderful men, and that they managed to stay together through everything. She will be comforted to know that no matter what happens, no matter her shortcomings as she tries to fill a role she never meant to leave, Sam will have Dean and Dean will have Cas.

And this time, when Cas tells her that she belongs here, she will believe him. And she will tell him that he belongs here, too.

And when Dean wakes up a few hours later and wanders in to find Mary and Cas still chatting over the table, he’ll be surprised— but pleased— to find Mary looking more at ease. He’ll be pleased when she gives him a warm hug and pats him on the cheek and tell him with all the sincerity that only a mother can muster that she’s glad that he met Castiel. And when Dean agrees, a little confused, Mary will just smile at him.

“I always said I’d like a third son.” She says, “so give him a reason to take our last name, won’t you?”

And Dean will splutter and turn fifteen shades of red as he steadfastly doesn’t look at Cas but mumbles something that suggests he’s not against the idea at all.

And Mary will laugh again and wink at an equally red Cas before heading towards the kitchen like “Cas said waffles are your favorite, so I hope you’re hungry!”

[ottosbigtop]

Newsflash, asshole!

[veinsfullofstars]

Two babies lost in the wilderness lookin’ at pretty flowers. More at 11.

(ID: Kirby series fanart of @post-it-notes7’s Mir Galacta Knight sitting in a patch of flowery grass, his mask off and set just behind one of his wings, sparkles and highlights touching the edges of M!GK’s armor and horns. Shadow Kirby lays perched on top of his head between his horns, the both of them staring down in wide-eyed wonder at a glowing, sparkling cluster of Pop Flowers, tiny and pink and four-petaled in a firework-like burst of stems. END ID.)

I cannot express how much I adore the way you draw the Orbs, Post. Reading through your Mirrorverse stuff has been a treat so far, and I’m so curious about what’ll happen next in the story! I hope I managed to do your mirror warrior justice here. ⭐

Started and finished 05/14/24, updated for color correction 11/02/24.

[way2gosuperrstarr]

"oh wow! what a nice community of shared interest! i sure hope i can form good, solid friendships with my mutuals/other people and interact regularly, and form a true friendship that will last even when we begin to enter different fandoms. oh, joyous ! ☺️"

<- doesnt interact with anyone out of some sort of fear, the most silent mutual on earth, waits for people to talk first (npc behavior), takes 500 years to respond to a single ask, kind of afraid to share my own ideas, has some of the most stunted/stilted/stiff conversation skills on the planet, doesnt want to intrude on anyone/make someone feel obligated to talk to me because oh my god thats horrible, and when someone DOES actually talk to me in messages on their own will i take like 2000 years to respond to a single message out of fear or general exhaustion

[cinnamontoastcrunch-15]

Today’s @wolfstarmicrofic prompt is father!

(112 words.)

“Remus, lovely, you’re panicking.” Lily said gently, an amused smile playing on her face as she folded herself onto Remus’ bed.

“Of course I’m bloody panicking! A letter? Who tells someone that they love them in a letter?!”

“Sirius, apparently.” She answered, watching Remus cover his face with his hands and groan. “You have to write something back, you-“

“Hey, you two.” Remus’ father’s voice rang out from the doorway, forcing Remus to sit up, Lily turning to face him. “Door open, please.” He watched them carefully, before moving away. Remus glanced at Lily, before promptly breaking down in laughter, dropping his head onto her shoulder as she laughed along with him.

[calware]

"i happened to not find this character very interesting or likeable" doesn't automatically mean they're an objectively bland and boring character it just means you have a personal opinion

[mintypsii]

watched usopp's little arc with defeating sugar and wow it took A LOT for him to turn back after running away to fight them again. but then later he finds out that she's awake and thinks about how he'll lose his memories of Luffy if he doesn't take care of her again, and IMMEDIATELY makes up his mind to shoot her from SO FAR AWAY?

[teatitty]

Iruka is nearsighted but nobody would ever guess it because he simply navigates through life using echolocation/chakralocation sensor skills to make up for it. Every student he's ever taught is convinced he for real has eyes in the back of his head because it's damn near impossible to sneak up on him as a result [the only people who have ever succeeded are Kakashi and Kurenai, both able to completely mask their presence]

[b-lessings]

To have someone so patient with you, so low-maintenance, someone whose existence feels like a light warm blanket or a feather caressing your heart, with no expectations no restraints no temper no gaslighting no guilt-tripping whatsoever no stressing you out, someone who is just there for you, always, standing in the corner of your chaotic life waiting for you patiently to sort out whatever you have on your hands and check in with them whenever you are ready, or free, or in the right headspace to do so, and never blaming you for the late replies or the unavailability.. just them being there, understanding as ever, empathetic, open, kind, is the most precious possession in your adult life.

Life is hard enough, please try to make it easier for your friends and loved ones, we're all doing our best 🤍.

[buckymorelikefuckme]

i have so many conflicting emotions rn and it’s honestly making it hard for me to want to stay on here anymore. i know i’ve left and come back before, like that’s not new for me, but i feel like i’m losing myself.

there’s so much pressure (mostly self-inflicted) to post as often as possible and to make these giant powerhouse fics like other writers do, and i just can’t do either of those things. that’s not where my “talent” lies. i don’t have fics where the characters are fully fleshed out people with personalities and lives and shit. i’m a one-and-done writer and i never used to think that was a bad thing until recently.

and on top of that, there are certain fics i’m not sure i’m comfortable reading anymore and that makes me feel like absolute shit bc i want to show support to my fellow writers, but there are some fics with particular content within them that can be slightly (or fully) triggering for me. i’ve tried to just soldier through them in the name of support, but it’s really taking a toll on me, mentally and emotionally.

all of this along with real life (as in, outside of this app) stresses and anxieties i’m having to deal with and coddle until things get back to normal for me.

it feels like nothing is going well in every aspect of my life right now and i’m really fighting the impulse to disappear off of social media for the umpteenth time. i’ve made too many amazing friends for me to just dip like that again. literally, y’all (friends and followers) are the one reason i haven’t already left this time.

idk what the purpose of this post was tbh. an update??? i guess? and also maybe a little bit of insight or something. i don’t fuckin know. but i do wanna say that i love each and every one of you so much and i wish i was better at being a person.

[roesolo]

YA LGBTQ+ romance: Navigating with You

Navigating with You, by Jeremy Whitley/Illustrated by Cassio Ribeiro, (Aug 2024, Mad Cave Studios), $14.99, ISBN: 9781952303609 Ages 12+ Neesha Sparks is a queer, black, disabled community activist who loves costume design and manga. She’s moved from Queens, NY to North Carolina, and is not having a great first day of school. Gabby Graciana is a surfer girl from Florida, also new to North…

[limey-self-inserts]

For the writing thing, 18 with Alucard?

18.) Sharing a Hobby ☆

-

"So you've never hunted for yourself before."

"Mmm. Not in this way, no. I would ask my crows to find something suitable to scavenge, or I would go down to Dracula's kitchens. Since he had his human generals, there was usually something I could eat there."

"And when you couldn't find anything, you started raiding my kitchens."

Crow twitched, like they wanted to fold their arms and pout all grouchy in Alucard's direction. But they remained still instead, crouched beside the river. Alucard hid a small smile of amusement - they could truly be very childish, in the moments where they were most human.

"You never needed to hunt in the Sidhe. The fish would leap out of the water into your hands, or the deer would kneel politely for your blade," Crow murmured. "And even then, hunger wasn't really a....sensation. It was more of a hobby."

"...That must have thrown you off when you first took a mortal form," Alucard mused, shifting his weight slightly, raising the slim wooden spear in one hand.

"I felt like I was dying, that someone had poisoned me." Crow snorted out a laugh, before turning bittersweet silent. "I think that was the one time I saw your father laugh."

Silence. The river ran with eddies and bubbles between Alucard's feet. The pair scanned the waters, watching for the flash of scales to appear amongst the reeds.

"Now!" Alucard moved as immediately as he spoke, the spear striking the water. Crow mimicked the blow, grimacing as they pulled back their spear with a clump of algae. Alucard stood back, pulling the trout off his spear and deftly tossing it into a nearby basket. Despite the fae's disappointment, they cleaned the spear off and readied themselves, meeting his glancing gaze with a nod.

"Let's try that again, shall we?" Alucard said, his eyes returning to the river.

Tag-list: @lavenoon @mikealys-ael @rexscanonwife @bugsband @avenships @faerie-circle-ships @textreasures-rbs

[bleue-flora]

idk if this is the correct place but i wanted to talk a bit about this and wanted to see you opinion bc I like you analisys on canon a lot.

A big question people have with the lore about cstagedduo it's that if cpunz actually cared for cdream or not- The same with crivals after prison break but that's for another day- and if cpunz would have helped cdream out the prison if he took too long.

I personally think it's a more grey anwser. We know cpunz cares, yeah they are small moments but he does care for cdream. He wouldnt be defensive over the fact they are friends in the ending and let cdream speak to ctommy without protesting to him and still be worried he and cdream both escape the nuke together if he didnt care for him. But it is true he left cdream make his crazy plan of making everyone hate him and insolating himself for god knows how much time they expected the imprisionment to last. And that he left cdream alone a lot in the prison after the prison break while everyone on the server wanted him death. But i think this is more of a fucked up vision cpunz has than signs of lack of care. He cares about cdream but he also trusts his plan is working and he can handle himself just fine and that he's totally not in a bad mental state. He's also on board with the plan so of course if he wants to recolect knowledge and power and trust his friend to know what he is doing, he will in favor of this even if we know as viewers this is a bad idea in all aspects.

Cpunz has flaws as a friend and characther but I do think he cares about cdream. It would have sense if he didnt for me. At the end there's lots of friendships that are pretty grey and imperfect on the dsmp, Like c!clingyduo exist

As far as the prison goes, it is hard to say. How long would have been too long? And how did he not know about Quackity’s torture when it was’t like he was trying to hide it or anything. I think it comes down to trust. Specifically, Punz’s trust and faith in Dream. I’ve talked about it before, but in the stream we get of the two by themselves, Dream is filling Punz in on his plans, but not all of it. Just enough for Punz to understand what his part to play in it is. So, I don’t think Punz really knew what Dream was subjecting himself to, not to mention that things did not go as planned. Sure, while Dream considered all the possible things that could go wrong, like losing two lives and someone coming to torture him, that doesn’t mean Punz knew that and allowed Dream to go through with it. I feel like the perception a lot of times with Punz is that he is like a viking helping an older person up a mountain only to have him jump off. I think we give Punz too much credit to say he saw the big picture just because Dream did. I more so get the impression that he’s by Dream’s side and helping him climb or go wherever he needs to go not necessarily focused on where they are going, because he believes in what Dream believes, he wants what Dream wants, and be trusts Dream as his friend, who is clever and has never given him reason to question him before. 

Because of this trust, there is also an element of betrayal. If he pulls the plug and makes plans to rescue him from prison, he is going against Dream, he is doubting him. If he makes a move to end things without Dream’s support, he is expressing that he doesn’t believe in Dream and not only does that seem like something Punz would not want to risk, but also the reason he looks so bad is because of the conditions of the prison. But see, I don’t think he got to see it before Dream’s incarceration, so he isn’t aware of how inhumane it is. Sure, he likely heard from Bad, but Punz is probably also aware that Dream could be just manipulating Bad so how trust worthy is he. 

We as an outsider perspective can see Dream breaking at the seams, but the other characters certainly aren’t aware of it, so it’s a little unfair to say Punz would either. Dream has been formidable, always prepared, planned out, 10 steps ahead, why would Punz have any reason to doubt Dream in prison? Punz is also one to follow orders, he’s a mercenary after all. You pay him $10 bucks to log off and he will, why would he defy orders, especially if he didn’t know how bad it was. Hell, maybe Dream was supposed to use Ranboo to send a message to Punz if things went wrong, but after Ranboo stopped visiting that was no longer an option, but that Punz necessarily knew about that. So maybe Punz was just sitting on his hands waiting for the go ahead to do something. 

Now after prison, when Dream is such a wreck, is when we see Punz more so go off script. We see him give a passionate, detailed proposition to Purpled (that there’s no way Dream signed off of as it makes him look bad) and we see him reveal he has the revive book to clingy duo and bring Dream back in front of them. Because after prison, when it is revealed just how “south” Dream’s plan went, Punz more takes things into his own hands, especially when it comes to Dream’s well being as Dream can clearly not be trusted to look after that. 

A lot of people seem to get the impression that they did not spend a lot of time together, but see I don’t think that’s true. For starters, there is the "we" in this [clip] where it seems to me that Punz is helping to lead them to the saw trap room almost like he helped make it. Secondly, according to the map [post], placing Vik and Lazar’s experiments after prison this leads us to figure they at least spend a lot of time working together on that. If Dream is to be believed in the finale, months even. And Punz’s protective behavior seen no clearly than this moment [post] makes me more so inclined to believe Punz doesn’t leave him alone for long, especially with everyone out to kill him. I mean he can’t stay at the prison full time, he still has a cover to maintain, but just because he’s in his house in the finale, I don’t think means he kept his distance from Dream, especially after everything with Las Nevadas.

Then as far as the plan goes, we really don’t know even what it is, nonetheless if Punz fought against it. I think Punz stayed by his side and he had the same goals as Dream and they did things together, but that doesn’t mean that he trusted Dream fully after prison or didn’t push back on Dream’s self destruction or that if they survived the nuke that he would continue the plan without Dream. Like I mean this in the nicest way possible, but Punz to me seems to be more so a follower, akin to Tubbo, loyal even if maybe they should hold their friend back from doing something stupid (except Dream is a liar and good at making his stupid seem smart lol making the situation worse). Punz isn’t like Techno, who will call out Dream’s bs, he isn’t the mastermind or thinking 10 steps ahead or seeing the big picture, he’s following Dream who does. He and Dream have been friends from the start, he and Dream want the same things, and he trusts and believes in Dream...

And yes, I think this is apart of what makes their friendship flawed, unbalanced, and tragic, but as you said, so are the other friendships on the dsmp and honestly, so are friendships in real life...

(anyways... I've talked a lot about staged duo, so if I didn't say or explain it here I may have said it somewhere else like in one these other posts: [<> <> <> <> <>] though their dynamic has been shifting in my brain a bit since noticing the map so...)