#they are not good at arguing

[wonda-ch]

For the one-word writing prompts: 31. — lies. 👀

Part three of the One Word Prompts . The collection of conversations from a cozy evening in chronological order.

Part 3 (31. - lies)

Lying comfortably in Jax's arms, Midnight tried to summarize the events that had happened at Heaven's Edge over the past few weeks. "Aside from the escaped flock, not much has really happened around here in the last three weeks. I guess that's why it seems like you've been gone for an endless amount of time."

"You forgot to mention that we need new gardeners, Darling. After all, this drama has kept us a little busy."

"That's right, we don't have a gardener anymore," Milvirvilan chuckled.

Incredulous, Daeran objected, "We had three. How did you manage to lose three gardeners in three weeks?"

"They almost did it themselves," Jax began to report. "Did you know Jennis had a fling with the other two gardeners? They didn't know about it, but it came to light and it totally escalated. Bronnar quit right away and left. Jennis and Melrun tried to ignore the tension, but they got into such a fight at work that they destroyed the variegated roses and threw them at each other. That's when I fired them both."

"Who's Jennis?" asked Daeran, obviously confused, which made Tishlia laugh.

"That's the person you've been paying to take care of our garden for the past three years, and who you always call 'the gardener.' Sometimes it might be useful to ask people their names."

"Nonsense, if you start asking for the names of your servants, they'll soon tell you about their personal problems, and you'll get involved in things you don't want to know. You can see how many people are stuck with us just because we learned their names during the crusade. You never manage to ignore any of them when they ask for help or advice."

"These people are called friends, my love. When they ask for help or advice, you should be there for them."

"Friends are a few people, not a whole city of them. We waste way too much time with people we barely know. At the end of the day, it is my time with you that is at stake. If we worry about the servants now, there will be no end to it. I'm happy about everything you don't know." He had talked himself into such a rage that he almost bit his tongue to stop himself from saying his last sentence. It was too late, Tishlia had long since slipped out of his arm and onto the other side of the bench, glaring at him suspiciously.

"What don't I know, Dae?"

"It's called digging your own grave, isn't it?" Jax quipped before Midnight silenced him with a sharp look.

There was a brief silence, broken only by the incessant chirping of crickets. Tishlia said nothing, waiting patiently for her husband's response with an iron gaze. He squirmed, tried to avoid her gaze, took a sip of wine, but no one did him the favor of breaking the silence and bringing up a new topic. Finally, he sighed and relented. He feared that exposing his little white lies would lead to their first real argument.

"It was always trivial, nothing really important. Sometimes just rumors, or trivial problems of unimportant people who think their hero of the Fifth Crusade will solve everything for them. Like the situation with the gardeners. I… simply tried to prevent more and more being placed on your shoulders." He spoke very softly and seemed a little contrite, but not really remorseful.

"For my sake or out of concern that you might be neglected?"

"Both, probably."

"I still decide for myself what I put on my shoulders, Count Arendae." The salutation hit him like a whiplash; she had never called him that in a serious tone before. He nodded, but remained silent, waiting for her to continue. An apology would be pointless, she knew exactly that he didn't really regret keeping the informations from her. Instead of the next blow he expected, Tishlia said nothing. Instead, she climbed onto his lap, pressing his shoulders against the backrest and keeping her gaze fixed on him. "You're probably right. But don't do this to me, Dae. You should help me say no more often. And hell, tell me if you think we're not spending enough time together."

"That's easy, if you're by my side for less than 24 hours, I feel neglected." Smiling gently, he stroked her cheek, "I'll try to do better, I promise. But I'm not going to start remembering the names of the gardeners."

With a smile on her face, she leaned her head closer to his hand, never really able to be angry with him. "We'll just give the next ones numbers." To relieve any remaining tension, she kissed him tenderly before they moved on to the next course of the enjoyable dinner.

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Remember that this is not the proof that they love each other

That was a last-ditch attempt from Crowley to get Aziraphale to stay

This is the proof that they love each other

Their love wasn't just made real because they kissed

It always existed

[nouverx]

*proceeds to drink the whole bottle*

Yeah Alastor you're gonna be loved and appreciated wether you want it or not :)

[hansoeii]

head empty, no thoughts. just turtleneck crowley

[neapenning]

It'd be so embarrassing to join a group after trying to kill their members and losing

[chloesimaginationthings]

The Mikes and Vanessas celebrate 10 years of FNAF!

[shadow-queens-blog]

additional thoughts, from tags i got on the og post

[faerieomenart]

An old sketch of Damian Wayne and Jason Todd ofc ofc. Damian has always been one of my favorite dc characters (next to Bart!! ik. drastic difference), but I never draw him (or Bart but I'll fix that dw).

I always like it when these two get along. They are like opposite sides of the same coin to me.

Drawn Nov 5, 2020 (prob the oldest art piece that I'll repost lol).

This was in my queue but I'm posting it early bc why not?

[inkskinned]

there are a lot of posts out there that are positive and healthy coping mechanisms for handling the holidays. this is not one of them :)

i think there's like. going to be times in your life you will be stuck in a social situation that you cannot escape from gracefully. i do not know why the internet doesn't believe these times exist. it's not always just that your physical safety is at risk - sometimes it's legit like "i just don't currently have the energy or time to put in the effort of responding to this." sometimes it's a coworker you hate so much. sometimes it's just like, fine, you know? like you know you can handle your aunt when she's cheerily horrible, but if you actually set a boundary around her, it's going to be weeks of fallout with your father.

i don't know why people think the answer is always just "cut them out!" or "don't let them get away with that!" because ... the real world is tricky and complicated. i think kind of a lot of us have an internal "radiation poisoning" meter for certain people. like - i'm talking about the ones who are absolutely giving you gradual ick damage. like, you can handle them, but you'll be exhausted.

and yes. you absolutely should listen to your therapist and the good posts about handling others and set good boundaries and take care of yourself. prioritize peace.

HOWEVER :) ...... since im often in a situation with a Gradual Sense of Ick person i cannot just "cut out" of my life (without losing someone else precious to me) - i have sort of developed the most. maladaptive form of mischief possible. because like, if i'm going to have to listen to this shit again, i like to have a little bit of private fun with it.

now! again, i am physically safe, just mentally drained by this man. you should only do this with people you are not in danger with. which leads me to my suggestions for when your Unfortunate Acquaintance shows up and says oh everyone pay attention to me.

my favorite word is "maybe!" said as brightly and happily as possible. whenever the Horrible Person starts in on a topic you do not want to go further with, particularly if they make a claim that you know to be inaccurate, do not respond to it. you and i have both tried to actually argue with this person, and it hasn't gone well, because this person just wants the drama of an argument. however, "maybe!" gives them literally nothing to go on. it is incredibly disarming. they are used to people having some response. they know they can't prove what they're saying, and maybe! treats them like the child they are. it dismisses them in the politest way possible.

i like to say maybe! and then, in their stunned silence, immediately change the subject. this is because i have adhd and i will have something unrelated to talk about, but if you can't think of topics fast enough, i recommend just pointing to something and saying, "isn't that lovely?" because fuck you let's bring in some positivity.

by the way. that second trick - of pointing to something and stating an opinion about it? - that just works on its own, like, 70% of the time. i picked it up from teaching preschoolers. it's an intentional "redirect". it stops children crying and it also stops grown adults from finishing their explanation on why women belong in kitchens. dual wielding!

keep it silly for yourself. i absolutely do not care if people think i'm fucking stupid (it's more fun if they do) and as a result i will purposefully misunderstand things just to see how long it takes them to realize i've completely removed them from the subject at hand. when they say "women aren't funny" i get to be like. "which women." "all women." "all women in america?" "no in the world." "like the mole people? the people in the world?" "what? no. like, alive." "oh are we not counting the mole people?" "what the fuck are you talking about." "you don't believe in the mole people?"

similarly, i play a personal game called "one up me." my Evil Acquaintance literally knows this game exists (my family & friends caught onto it and now also play it) and it always fucking gets him. i don't know why. you have to be willing to be a little free-spirited on this one, though. the trick is that when they make one of those horrible little bigoted or annoying comments they are always making, you need to go one unit weirder. not more intense, mind you - just more weird. "you don't look good in that dress." "yeah, actually, my other dress was covered in squid ink due to a mishap at the soup store." "you shouldn't wear such revealing clothes." "wait, what? oh shit. sorry, your son tears off strips when no one is looking and eats them. i swear it was longer before we left the building."

the point of "one up me" is to completely upend this person's narrative. we both know this person likes setting up situations where you cannot "win" and then they really like telling other people how badly you handled it. in a usual situation, if you respond "please don't say something that rude", you're a bitch. but if you let it happen, you're letting yourself be debased. they are not usually expecting door number three: unflappably odd. because what are they going to say when they're telling everyone how badly you behaved? "she said my son eats her dresses" ".... okay?"

if you can, form an allyship with someone whomst you can tagteam with. where they can pick up on your weird "soup store" story and run with it.

the following phrase is amazing and can be deployed for any situation: "oh, be nice :) it's the holidays!" i do not know why this works as often as it does. i'll say it for the most random shit. i think this is bc most of the time these people know they're being impolite, they just like to fight.

godbless. when in doubt, remember that you could always start stealing their pens.

the whole point of this is - if you can't escape. maybe see how long you can just be. like. a horrible little menace.

[slavhew]

two guys enter a closet

[bbbbbbbbatman]

Bruce and Clark start dating and Clark finds himself spending more time around the batkids and whenever he's losing an argument he just says "yeah? well I fucked your dad."

It's very effective.

[melonalemonade]

I think they umm they

[hinamie]

congrats on your recovery n all yuuji but unfortunately for you I thought the scars were cool >:/

[tinkkles]

I really do love the fresh take on the dead wife aspect in scavengers reign like. She didn't die in some terrible accident or at the hands of an evil third party, she died because of you. Because of your ambition and carelessness and because you didn't prioritize her enough to even look for her as the ship was going down. You will carry this guilt for the rest of your life. She will haunt you forever. Pray that her ghost is enough to change you for the better.

[botanical-garden-system]

Someone drowning in 6 feet of water is as equally dead as a person drowning in 20 feet of water.

Please stop comparing trauma and making it a challenge. It’s trauma. Not a competition or medal.

[egophiliac]

Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !

Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)

I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!

someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)

uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE