you're in the habit of denying yourself things.
if someone asked you directly, you would say that you love a little treat. you like iced coffee and getting the cookie. you drink juice out of a fancy cup sometimes, and often do use your candles until they gutter out helplessly.
but you hesitate about buying the 20 dollar hand mixer because, like. you could just use your arms. you weren't raised rich. you don't get to just spend the 20 dollars (remember when that could cover lunch?), at least - you don't spend that without agonizing over it first, trying to figure out the cost-benefits like you are defending yourself in front of a jury. yes, this rice cooker could seriously help you. but you do know how to make stovetop rice and it really isn't that hard. how many pies or brownies would you actually make, in order to make that hand mixer worthwhile?
what's wild is that if the money was for a friend, it would already be spent. you'd fork over 40 without blinking an eye, just to make them happy. the difference is that it's for you, so you need to justify it.
and it sneaks in. you ration yourself without meaning to - you don't finish the pint of ice cream, even though you want to. the next time you go to the store, you say ah, i really shouldn't, and then you walk away. you save little bits of your precious things - just in case. sometimes you even go so far as putting that one thing in your shopping cart. and then just leaving it there, because maybe-one-day, but not right now, there's other stuff going on.
you do self-care, of course. but you don't do it more than like, 3 days in a row. after that it just feels a little bit over-the-edge. like. you can't live in decadence, the economy is so bad right now, kid.
so you don't buy the rice cooker. you can-and-will spend the time over the stove. you can withstand the little sorrows. denial and discipline are practically synonyms. and you're not spoiled.
it's just - it's not always a rice cooker. sometimes it is a person or a job or a hug. sometimes it is asking for help. sometimes it is the summer and your college degree. sometimes it is looking down at scabbed knees and feeling a strange kind of falling, like you can't even recognize the girl you used to be. sometimes it is your handprint looking unsteady.
sometimes it is tuesday, and you didn't get fired, and you want to celebrate. but what is it you like, even? you search around your little heart and come up empty. you're so used to denying that all your desires draw a blank.
oh fuck. see, this is the perfect opportunity. if you had a mixer, you'd make a cake.
30K notes
·
View notes
Liliana telling Imogen, "You know how much I miss just taking care of those horses? You know how much I dream of just walking the fields and making breakfast at sunrise? All that was taken from me" really brings to mind something that Laudna said to Imogen in episode 49:
"If you wish to have a quiet life in a cozy cottage in a field, raise horses and just be, no gods or fates or destiny can keep you from that."
That's the crux of why Liliana's argument fails to be convincing. Laudna is right--at any moment in this journey, Imogen could have decided she didn't need to do this and found a cottage to settle down in. At any point in 14-16 years of wandering Exandria before finding the Verity, Liliana could have gone home and had all the things she feels were "taken" from her. But she didn't, and that was her decision, not the fault of the gods, or Predathos, or any other force she thinks kept her away. She decided she needed answers more than that cozy life she loved so much. Foisting the responsibility of that decision does not erase that it was hers
526 notes
·
View notes
“haha odo is so beige and bland and boring despite being a literal shapeshifter” like ok yes I laugh at those jokes too and find them funny I literally have no issue with them but sometimes I also wanna talk about how that’s kind of the whole point of his character.
like odo’s abilities and way of being is so unlike any other known species in the alpha quadrant that it’s shown to be disturbing and off-putting to a lot of people — or at the very least that’s what he was led to believe. like we see this in the alternate where mora tries to convince him he’ll either be locked up in a prison or put in a zoo to gawk at if he’s perceived to have committed any sort of crime or transgression.
so despite being able to literally become anything he can think of, he chooses his default presentation to be as standard, bland and uninteresting as he possibly can. male, always in a beige uniform, very standard hair cut.
odo is so plain because he was made to be afraid of being literally anything else
797 notes
·
View notes
Thing about just clicking with someone and not having to put in the work is finding not making and those relationships - whatever form they take rarely last or manage to develop past a surface level.
Buck is such an all in or nothing kind of person that has had to fight for pretty much everything (when it comes to relationships of any form) he just cant comprehend that other people experience various levels of friendships or relationships more widely.
We see it in his training of Ravi, it comes out in his father son reltionship with Bobby, it’s part of the underlying reason the lawsuit happened and stems from his childhood abandonment issues. We even saw it in the other sneak peek where he’s with Tommy - he’s trying so so hard to make a friend that he comes across as slightly intense and focused. And while the worthwhile people will stay (the fire fam, his sister, Eddie) those who can’t take that level of focus will pretty quickly drop away, Abby and Ali are prime examples of this and even Taylor to a certain extent - she just didn’t care enough to be bothered by it.
It’s one of the reasons he’s oblivious to the fact his relationship with Eddie is different on multiple levels and it’s part of what makes Buck so interesting and why so many of us think he’s neurodivergent.
190 notes
·
View notes
i wrote something inspired by that dream scene from “route 66” but it’s reader in aaron’s place.
i kept it kinda vague…it could be that aaron was your boyfriend who is now dead or that aaron is who he really is, a fictional character. your choice. either way he stays the same age.
angst 🫡
♡ ♡ ♡ ♡
“Hi, sweetheart. I saved you a seat.”
“Aaron?”
He stood up tall and gorgeous, dressed up as if he was your date to a ball. His hand reached out to you and you grabbed it without a second thought.
It felt warm and real, but even after giving it a squeeze, you still knew it wasn’t.
“Come to me.”
You, of course, did.
“You look different,” he said once you sat down. His large hand cupped your cheek and you nuzzled against it, savoring the moment; knowing it could very well be the last time you had the chance to do it. “You’ve grown.”
“You haven’t,” you said and the realization broke your heart. “I miss you.”
“I know.”
Staring into his eyes, you wished for the moment to never end. You only wanted to drown in that feeling of peace and safety forever. But he took his eyes away from yours, redirecting his attention to the big screen in front of him.
“Oh look, it’s starting!” he said, seemingly excited for the movie you were about to watch.
Instead of the face of a famous actor though, you saw your own self moving across the screen. Moments of your life; you at home, you at work, you alone or with friends.
“Look how beautiful you are,” he said admiring you.
Where you saw sadness he saw beauty; you loved him for it.
“Who is that?” he asked, hitting you playfully with his elbow.
“Just a boy.”
“I think he likes you.”
“He’s not you.”
And even if he was, he would never love you the way you wanted to be loved. The way Aaron did it.
“It gets hard,” you spoke again. “And I’m alone. When it gets too much, I think that if you were here I wouldn’t be afraid.”
“I am here. You just can’t see me. I’m proud of everything you do.”
With that he brought his lips on yours, kissing you more gently than you’d ever been kissed before.
“I need to go now,” he said when your mouths parted. “I’m sorry.”
“No, please don’t leave,” you begged him, a few tears escaping from the corners of your eyes.
Aaron was quick to catch them with his thumb, rubbing your cheek as he spoke to you softly.
“I have to.”
“Then I wanna stay with you. I don’t wanna go back,” you asked with a broken voice. “Please.”
“We can’t always have it our way, sweetheart,” he scolded you. But his tone was loving, not tough.
You had no choice but to accept that you had to let go. “That’s unfair.”
“I know.”
You sighed and your gaze dropped to the floor, so he took your chin between his fingers and forced you to look at him. “There are people back there who care about you, you know.”
You nodded at his words, and that earned you a proud smile. Aaron opened his arms and you gladly got lost in them, melting entirely in his embrace. Holding him as tight as you could, you silently begged that the moment you’d wake up would wait just a bit longer.
184 notes
·
View notes