#i'm only human au | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

25% of US internet users with an annual income of $80-100K use Tumblr.

slightly-gay-pogohammer · 2 months

Text

relistened to some rayman legends ost today

#rayman #i'm only human au #ales mansay #ray #globox #murfy #barbara the barbarian #barbara #gif warning #my drawing

155 notes · View notes

mrghostrat · 2 months

Text

Big Name Feelings - 11/17

“She… She recognised me,” he started, which Aziraphale interrupted with a shockingly loud gasp. “Yeah. From the panel selection thing. Knew who I was.” Aziraphale stared straight ahead as he floundered to process that information. Crowley was looking at him expectantly, but he didn’t even know where to begin. So, he just stammered, “Does that mean she’s read your eighty-thousand word incubus PWP?” Crowley barked out a laugh and didn’t stop until they’d moved a full pace up the line. “Fuck! Who knows? Maybe!”

#did you order some unreliable with your narrator?#i'm so so sorry we only have unreliable in stock today #to make up for this error we've included a second serving free of charge #good omens #gomens #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #crowley #aziraphale #good omens au #good omens human au #bnf au #rat writes

240 notes · View notes

wysteriaisapenguin · 4 months

Text

I don’t know how I feel about you…but everyone else does.

I wish I could have met you.

Inspired by this panel from Veil by @_K0TTERl_

#wysty draws #thomas the tank engine #ttte humanized #railroad roundabout au #ttte thomas #ttte rosie #if only she got to know what he was really like...#Anyways I'm glad I found this panel cause it's PERFECT for this scenario

40 notes · View notes

izartn · 16 days

Text

Something something the way the bones/ashes of a ghost in TGCF work as a totem of love, bc they're literally the anchor of the soul on the mortal realm. Something something Palamedes trusting Camilla to take care of his remains in case he died, so he could come back, trusting her with his soul. Something something Camilla defending ferociously what little she could kept of him near her heart, lamenting she couldn't find the rest, keeping faith to the end.

This is a ghost love story. You could say the way remains and ghosts link is everywhere all over the world, but the specific way theyre a token of love in TGCF reminds me awfully of Camilla and Palamedes whole situation.

Hua Cheng says that if his ashes were destroyed (bc he knows xl enough to know it'd be only when xl is permanently dead and gone himself) (bc if xl doenst want him to remain in this world he won't...) it'd be OK. His soul, his very being on the hands of his beloved. The year of waiting by XL at the end, trusting HC will find his way home to him. Brr.

#the locked tomb #tlt is much more... R romantique and human than tgcf at the same time #tgcf is more a fairytale #tlt mixes scifi and fantasy for achingly human flawed charas and relationships #tian guan ci fu #my thoughts #campal #camilla hect #palamedes sextus #anyways #tgcf au when XD #jod can stay as God emperor; Gideon died on the heavenly tribulation for Harrow ascention....#pal as a god who was banished died as mortal (bc he discovered sus things about jod)#cam was his deputy and she stayed on heaven and became a god on her own right but she kept pal ashes bc they planned for it and now she's #spying on heaven to bring down jod #they recruit harrow and Gideon #ianthe is the water tyrant and corona the wind master with all that implies #this makes babs black water only he was like the childhood friend of the twins when they fucked him over for ascension #(does this means babs is also conspiring with the sixth? Hilarious)#anyways I won't write the au #but I see it in my mind eye #enjoy the horrors of love meanwhile I'm going off for Nona tomorrow

16 notes · View notes

slightly-gay-pogohammer · 6 months

Text

blink

#rayman #ray #i'm only human au #my drawing #colored stuff #gif

149 notes · View notes

nell0-0 · 11 months

Note

With your thoughts on evil Emmet, what about the opposite? Where Emmet takes his lost and while still wanting to find him(or I seen some version where he is in the acceptance phase) takes up a bigger position to both do so and to not let this happen to others. I seen some where he joins the police interpol or even one where he becomes mayor, but I think my favorites are when he decides to become Unova’s Champion.

I think that fits more align with his character than just “he becomes evil out of grief” since both his fights in games and Masters show he does really care about the people around him. He also has his line about loving winning more than anything, basically confirmed to be champion leveled, and his theme in the original was Alder’s theme. If there was ever a Black and White 3 or Emmet’s character were to get big development, I think something like that fit better and be more interesting than another evil trope. But what do you think?

(Also as an autistic person, thank you for touching on ableism, even for a moment)

So valid, anon! You've basically described my favorite route for Emmet after Ingo disappeared. He has the skill, the charisma, the pokemon and he definitely has the motivation. Not only would becoming champion give him a bigger reach in his search for Ingo, it would also be a way to come to terms with what happened. The changes.

I say out with the villain trope and in with the character growth. Let Emmet be inherently kind and nice!

I don't know how familiar you are with some of my previous content, but I've gone with this route before. There's my take for this in the pokemon ranger Ingo au where Emmet becomes Champion of Unova while still maintaining his title as Subway Boss (using different teams for each so it's not the same for the challengers), and also as part of the context in this reunion fic.

#asks #subway boss emmet #emmet #my art #submas au #pokemon ranger ingo au #champion emmet #f ableism fr fr #doesn't matter if you're neurodivergent or neurotypical. Ableism is a thing that shouldn't be. have some human decency omg #only thing we can do is be aware of it and try to be better day by day #tbh idk if I'm autistic or not myself but heck it. why should that change how someone's treated :(#i heavily dislike it

68 notes · View notes

discordiansamba · 3 months

Text

@bookwyrmie replied to your post “urban fantasy AU where Pidge resorts to summoning...”:

My first thought when reading this was of an eventual reveal where Keith is captured or something, and instead of worrying Pidge just summons him back to the castle.

Allura finds out that while all of her paladins are Earthlings, not all of them are human first, when Pidge summons Keith through the Castle's barrier to her. Keith is standing next to her one minute, and the next minute, he's just gone. Haxus is struggling to regain his footing after he's nearly knocked into the ship's engines one minute, and the next minute he's being drop kicked into them by a paladin who definitely wasn't there a second ago.

(Pidge and Keith just sort of stare at each other for a hot minute afterwards. Okay, didn't know they could do that. Noted.)

They get Allura to keep the matter a secret, ironically opting to describe the situation as 'imagine if you found out someone you knew was secretly half-Galra. situationally the reveal would kind of be like that'.

(and then Keith also goes on to be half-Galra)

#bookwyrmie #keith: okay. so I'm both one of the most reviled things on Earth *and* one of the most reviled things in space. that tracks #allura has a million questions though and is excited to learn that humans have magic as well!#then pidge tells her she only knows the spell that let her summon keith and nothing else #keith deliberately leaves out that shiro is from a line of exorcists and probably knows some magic as well #that's not *his* secret to tell #but hey! KEITH has magic!#(that he's very bad at)#demon in space au #pidge's (highly improvised) guide to demons

17 notes · View notes

emelinstriker · 7 months

Text

About those 3 Anon messages recently...

Yes, there's 3 now. Third on came up while I was finishing typing about the 2nd one.

tl;dr context: peeps defending a fictional 2D lego character, questioning the morality of esau (despite the lack of lore context), as well as for some reason a personal attack on me... also smol chinese jesus??? :'D

DISCLAIMER:

I respect y'all's opinions and headcanons and whatnot. It's all valid. However. I expect respect on my own opinions and headcanons return. That's literally all I'm asking.

That's common sense and I will from this point on just delete anyone else's anon asks if they try to argue with me about my standings on these matters mentioned in here. Or this post in general.

There's literally no point in arguing over words written in a story, or debating whether or not pixels on a screen are hot or not.

With that disclaimer being said...

Case 1:

I'm fully aware of the entire discussion thing of Nezha being eternally 12 and all that, but I'm also fully aware of how LMK Nezha is more of a parody on the original. LMK Nezha is more of an adult 2D character who took the characteristics of the source, but then was turned into an aged-up parody.

It's not weird with the context of how things even came to be in the AU. It does involve a form of "infection" that changes those that are infected. In ESAU it's just slightly different from my original story's OCs to appeal more to the Reader. There are people out there who seek comfort in their own superiority complex too, especially if they can never explore that part of themselves normally. If that doesn't appeal to you, that's fine. But don't assume it's weird just because you don't like it if a fictional master/servant relationship isn't for you.

Now, this ask wasn't really bad or directly disrespectful. That was just basic questioning on the general relationship of the AU as well as the LMK Nezha being 12 discussion. So I went to bed, cuz I didn't wanna respond with my rather aggressive response to the topic. Like, I ranted about it to my Discord server, but it was already around midnight and I knew I'd come off as aggressive, despite the logic and facts, if I just copy n pasted the way I phrased the rant. So I went to bed. But then I woke up to an essay in another ask...

Case 2:

I'm assuming this is the exact same person, based on the timeframe and the writing style..? Maybe even the same person who asked that question about whether I'd make Nezha's relationship towards the Reader romantic or platonic..??

For the sake of this entire thing being unworthy of an unnecessary discussion, as well as the fact that the person sending this isn't worth directly responding to if they hide behind an anon face, knowing they would get flamed, I will solely respond to these for my actual viewers, who do enjoy ESAU.

As in, I noticed how almost every single point is easily arguable. Like, they literally just made it up as if every single relationship between the Reader and their champions is romantic. Which couldn't be further from the truth. This is a point I wanna get more into due to how it covers the Master System more. A random anon sending me questions, or rather statements, like this doesn't deserve to get a detailed response to this directly either. My viewers do deserve more insight though. Be it to avoid more people thinking this is automatically grooming, or just to give interested people more lore dump.

To keep it short: Everyone who wants to be a Reader, is a Reader. I myself am a Reader of fiction, which is why I use my persona to fill in the Reader's space in any drawing I do for ESAU. Which is also why Macaque referred to their Master currently being female in that one drawing- Because in that moment, in my drawings, I'm technically seen as their Master.

So when you see the champions swap between their Master using non-binary or female pronouns, this is why. If you see me draw them referring to their Master as a "she", they're referring to basically their current Master in that exact moment. However, literally anyone else can also be placed in that spot.

Whenever I refer to a Reader's reincarnation, I usually mean either "the same person, but another life" OR "different people of the same/a different life". As in, the Reader can imagine themselves having had multiple past lives, or their "past life" is actually another Reader. We're all the Reader. That's why I kept saying the Master System is rather philosophical.

The Reader can imagine themselves if they met their champions as a child or as an adult. However, nothing in ESAU is forced to be romantic or sexual. If you were born as a prince/princess/royalty, that doesn't mean your servants are immediately destined to be romantic or sexual with you, right? That entire portion is up to the Reader to decide and imagine. I do not control what another person thinks of and imagines. If they chose to pick a darker path, the fuck do you want me to do about that? Unless it ends up hurting anyone, or they actively push the topic onto others, I see no issue with however a Reader wants to think up what happens in their life with their servants. All I do is create material for others to play with.

Except for the First Master, any other Reader can be considered either the same person or various people. That's up to the person behind the screen, whether they feel more comforted with one idea or another.

On the Nezha being 12 topic... Do people know what a parody is, I-

LMK Nezha looks more like THIS-

Not as young as THIS-

And he was never said to be 12 years old in LMK. Nor does he look 12, act 12, speak 12, sound 12... LMK needs to be seen and accepted as more like a parody AU of the original story, if that wasn't obvious enough. I find it funny how they brought up my own age though-

Cuz yeah, I'm 21, almost 22, and I do understand the difference between reality's religions, fictional 2D pixels, and the difference between the source and a parody. Wow. Shocker. I know.

Or as I said it in tags earlier today-

Also I'd just like to add… If we go by the theory of specifically LMK Nezha still being 12, despite literally thousands of years having passed, his body being depicted as a fully grown adult in basically every single goddamn aspect of his character within the show… Literally all he got is his paperwork saying he's 12. Like- LMK Nezha would literally just be one of those people that were born on February 29th. Just him not getting any birthdays. Do you assume after literal thousands of years, with his body and mind being mature, and only his paperwork saying he's 12, this dude wouldn't be tryna explore more of himself and his interests, wh-

Like- LMK Nezha isn't the original source Nezha. Simple as that. Just accept it's a parody and be done with it. If you don't agree with it, that's your opinion and I respect that. But don't you dare fucking push that opinion on others who do actually accept the show as a parody and wanna live out their fantasies in said parody.

Your opinion does not mean it's the opinion of others.

Like, the entire age thing in LMK is such a headcanon thing to the point where no one seems to have a solid age, besides maybe MK, who I've seen people calculate his age for due to his driving license and all that. LMK Nezha is confirmed to be depicted as an adult within the show, which is the headcanon I'm going with, regardless of whatever bullshittery people are trying to argue with.

In conclusion: Nezha may be eternally 12 in a story. But that story is NOT Lego Monkie Kid.

On a side note, something I found ironic and funny, is if an aged up character isn't allowed to be sexualized, then I guess if someone ages a character down, suddenly that original source of the character is no longer allowed to be sexualized either, just because that character suddenly has a younger version of themselves. It's not even the younger version that's being sexualized. That literally is the entire logic of this debate on not wanting a fictional character to have an aged up version of themselves.

Good job, nobody wins. I guess nothing can be sexualized at that point- But then again, Rule 34 wouldn't exist then.

Okay, but now this, THIS is where I got REALLY annoyed, cuz NOW we're getting into more personal territory of nitpicking at ESAU. And those who know me are aware of how I go Asian mom mode when my creations, or younger friends and mutuals, are being wrongfully disrespected.

In general, their entire point is a snowflake-behavior nitpick. Branding is also seen as a way to claim ownership over something. The torture part is basically just the pain of it. I could've also just have the champions have one of those toy stamps for lil children be slapped onto them if you really wanna snowflake it all for tHe PrEcIoUs cHilDrEn...

C'mon. I grew up with FNAF and Creepypastas. Which tend to be usually two of the first fandoms I see children get interested in and hyperfixated on. Mentions of brandmarks that have fully healed ain't nothin' at all.

Like, I literally met a boy who was 8ish years old, who was so happy and hyped about FNAF that he asked me to draw Freddy and Bonnie.

Creepypastas also might make one edgy for a while, but they do grow A LOT from it once they leave that phase. So far, everyone I've ever talked to about Creepypastas in the past became such a good person. Because they look back, and recognize morals so much better. They have seen what bad things can happen and we all know where to draw the line between what's fine, and what's not. Nitpicking on LMK Nezha and ESAU doesn't mean anything since it's just that, nitpicking. I know where to draw the line, but this line these people set is a line no one but themselves can imagine.

Show children bits of reality's darker side and they will know how to deal with the knowledge much better and faster as they grow. That wasn't even just about branding, but I'm tired of people saying how we need to keep children safe. Well yeah, keep them safe physically, but they will never fucking grow and become more independent unless you fucking let them think and process the good AND the bad for themselves.

Also on the topic of adding content warnings- Like, the fuck do you want me to even add? Those asks other people sent of the Reader being basically raised by their servants need no warnings, X Readers in general need no warnings, the brandmarks need no warnings cuz they're just there as aesthetic symbols for anyone not invested in the lore, LMK Nezha needs no content warnings-

Literally the only content warning I'd ever need to add is something like gore, which I do admit I didn't add on the ESAU!Nezha X Reader one.

And I'd just like to add a little something that made me raise an eyebrow: They complained about me going against "Wukong's celibacy vows" when they literally admitted to actively looking through the LMK X Reader tag. While that doesn't necessarily mean they would marry or bang Wukong, that means they're at least curious or interested in what a relationship with any of those characters would be like. Which by all means, would not be possible without it being fiction/fanfiction, and without them having some curiosity or interest in the 2D show of LMK.

Like you're literally telling me I'm practically hurting a fictional character's feelings on the matter, but then turn around and try to get with another character.

Fanfiction and AU's are a thing, man. It's all opinions, headcanons, and literally made up shenanigans. And there's nothing wrong with it when it differs from one person to another.

But dumping empty accusations onto me, someone who thinks more logically than emotionally, literally doesn't help your case. Like, you're debating whether or not this 2D character would actually give a shit if someone would wanna bang them cuz they look hot to the other person.

Case 3:

This one just got dropped into my inbox as I finished typing out the last paragraph and just- This is literally just a unnecessary and only somewhat personal hatred thing at this point- But I'm wheezing at the idea of a smol Chinese Jesus-

Bro, as someone who was forced to be Christian on paper, but never gave a shit about it, because Religion doesn't prove anything or form you, I really don't care. And even if that were the case, I wouldn't complain. It's all fiction dammit. You're again, defending pixels on a screen. Besides that, that wouldn't even be the original source character, again. Also in general, honestly, I see any religious story as fiction anyway. Cuz that literally is what a religion is- You put a belief onto someone over a being/a story-

If you're religious, I respect that. But so do you have to respect that I'm not exactly religious myself.

Case 3 was probably the most directly aggressive one of the 3, but also the most unmeaningful one and so unnecessary one... as if that would be the one to prove a point.

Anyway, rant over, I'm done with this.

If I see any other personal hate on me for not sharing the same fucking opinion on such a niche debate, I'll just ignore and delete it all. This is such a pointless topic.

ESAU is supposed to be a comfort zone for those who actually do feel connected to it. If you don't, that's fine, I fully respect it. If people believe Nezha is 12, I respect that. But don't push that onto those who literally are just here to have a nice time away from shit like this. If you wanna "keep the children safe", fucking keep them away from this sort of nowhere-leading discussion topic.

Literally look at Genshin's Twitter Community, this just feels like the exact same type of unnecessary drama I see there.

And no I will not tag these 3 anons. If they respect me enough, they will either just keep quiet or block me and move on. I don't mind. But I refuse to let this bullshit be a whole ass discussion when I'm just trying to have a good time connecting to my viewers after a long day at work. If they look for a fight for some reason, I won't give them one. They can pick someone else for this bullshit, it's not worth my time as it's all OPINION AND HEADCANON-BASED.

And such debates don't end in peace. So I'd rather be the bigger, more mature person and just say "This is the line. Discussion over. We're done here".

Have a nice day, anyone who actually is nice and respectful towards others and their own takes/opinions on things! Weekend's here now tho so y'all ESAU lovers might see some wholesome lil doodles! :D

#lmk esau #eternal servants au #rant #the fact that all 3 are anons tho and 3rd one tells me to respond #but i'm over here still finding the anon part funny #like- easiest way to solve it is to literally just either block me or have me block you. problem solved. i won't change my opinion on thing #or just block the esau tags idk man #usually i wouldn't just say “ignore if you don't like it”#but in this case that's like the only option #this is a nowhere-leading topic that doesn't need to be discussed further #it's just opinion-based bullshittery #if you see nezha as 12 that's fine #if you see nezha as an adult that's also fine #neither side has to push their opinion onto the other #just let us have our fun and we'll let you have your fun. simple. just accept that humans and human minds differ from another.

32 notes · View notes

softquietsteadylove · 2 months

Note

Let's turn the tables!

Sersi and Dane have the eternal/human relationship. What if Thena and Gilgamesh have this relationship? They've been married for a long time and live their lives together. But through an incident, Gilgamesh learns of Thena's true identity as an Eternal.

"So," Gil started as he took a seat next to her, among the other civilians who were caught up in the 'alien incident' and being treated by the first responders.

Thena inhaled and immediately sighed, budging over with her shock blanket over her shoulders. He took a seat beside her. She pulled the blanket tighter around her, "so."

He was used to having to guide the conversation between the two of them. Even if he'd gotten some pretty new information in the last hour. "So...you're not a wizard?"

Thena let out a faint kind of laugh, although her throat was tight. "I'm afraid not."

Gil nodded, looking down at his feet. He turned to her, looking at her hands tucked away inside the blanket. "Can you show me again?"

Thena pulled out her hand, and even regardless of the general masses mulling around, she furrowed her brows. But all that happened was a faint golden spark, fizzling as soon as it appeared. "I shouldn't have been able to do it at all."

Gil waited, as he always did, patiently biding his time as she sorted her words out the way she wanted. He was owed the explanation, of course, after witnessing her pull up her shield into her hand after hundreds of years of her powers being dormant.

"We're called Eternals, from the planet Olympia," she began. "We came here 7000 years ago on the Domo, our starship, to protect humans from the Deviants."

"Deviants," he nodded, looking around. The carcass of the beast in question was already being covered up and transported by the authorities. "That's what that thing is?"

Thena also looked over to the beast's body. "We thought they were extinct. I killed my last one over four hundred years ago, before my family parted ways."

Gil looked at her.

She fidgeted with the blanket again, "my, um, siblings."

"Okay," he said aloud more than in response to anything. It was his way of trying to talk through what he was feeling. It sounded just the same as when she would tell him she threw out his terrible smelling sourdough starter. Or when she had asked about getting a pet but only if it was reptilian. "So, you and your siblings fought these things...hundreds of years ago."

She nodded.

"So," he blinked, making a face. He was uncomfortable. "Why did you stay on earth?"

Thena looked down at her lap--at her useless, powerless hands. "We weren't called home, so we remained on the planet. But with the Deviants defeated, there was no reason to stay together for some of us."

"Some of you?" Gil asked with a frown. He had at least some of the story. He knew that she had favourites among her siblings, to say the least.

"There was something else." That was quite an understatement, even for her. She held out her hand again, still unable to get more than a few sparks. "There is a sickness you can develop as an Eternal. It's called Mahd Wy'ry."

Gil's face showed a mix of things, but she knew he wasn't entirely happy when he said, "does it give you migraines?"

Thena winced, but she knew that he wasn't saying it to worsen what was happening, or hurt her in any way. He had a right to feel deceived. Their entire marriage probably seemed deceptive given what he was learning.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, slipping his hand into the blanket to close against hers, even pressing her little fizzles of Cosmic Energy between their palms. "I'm just trying to understand all this."

She couldn't blame him, really. She squeezed his hand, their fingers woven together, as they often were. "Mahd Wy'ry degrades the powers over time. It slowly affects the ability to call upon the Cosmic Energy an Eternal possesses until they are all but estranged from it."

Gil squeezed her hand again. "You had a shield in your hand. It was gold and it looked like it was both clear and-"

Thena shook her head. "Gil, I haven't been able to do that in centuries. I don't know how I did it then."

Gilgamesh sighed, though. He pulled her hand towards him, out from the blanket until he could kiss her wedding ring. "You saved my life, hon."

That was how. Thena looked at the man - the human man - she loved, feeling as if her heart could weep. This sweet, gentle human man who had given her his whole heart was still here with her. Upon hearing she was ageless, that she was an alien and that she had powers lying dormant within her.

Thena leaned up and in, tipping her head up for a kiss. Once, years ago, this movement was completely foreign to her. But now, she was practised in it. And her husband granted her request, pressing his lips to hers.

"Hey," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers and holding her cheek. The simple word brought tears to her eyes. "Look, this is a lot to absorb. But...you're still Thena, right?"

She nodded, too teary to speak quite yet.

"Okay then," he resolved with another kiss. He pulled back enough to look at her. "So, what else do I need to know?"

Thena sighed again. Oh, her sweet, sweet Gilgamesh. Always so ready to face whatever came his way. Even the positively poisonous dinner she cooked for him on their second wedding anniversary in an honest attempt to be romantic.

"Sersi really is a humanitarian, and she helped me adjust to living as a human for the first few decades when I was on my own. And she did go north to make it work with Ikaris, but instead of being stationed in Alaska, he just...flew off, one day. None of us knew why."

Gil made a face but kept silent. He knew how they felt about Ikaris.

"Druig was most worried about my illness," she smiled at the thought of her brother. "He offered to stay with me, make sure I was safe. But in the end he agreed that I should find a way to live my own life."

Gil nodded and kissed her hand again. He was a big believer in living life the way one wanted without regrets.

"After I managed to go a few years without questions about my 'oddness' or my skin routine, I figured it was safe to venture further. I travelled some, taught languages to cover for my knowledge of things," she smiled. She always did value those years. And she could see why Sersi fell so in love with the planet at first sight.

"How did you end up here?"

"I travelled with Kingo some. I liked the heat of the eastern continents and eventually I determined Australia was a good fit for me," she concluded, looking around them. There was damage, certainly, but Sydney as a whole would recover.

Gil squeezed her hand again, "will they come? If these things were supposed to be dead, I mean."

Thena nodded. She could imagine her siblings with the same issues, at least some of them. There was no telling what it meant for them if Deviants were indeed roaming the earth again. And for them to find her here, even without her powers, they could surely find Druig in his remote commune or Sprite buried in her illusions.

"Well," Gil cleared his throat and shifted his posture. He gave her his most encouraging smile, like when he was trying to tell her that just stirring what he had on the stove would not make it explode. "Think they'll like me?"

Thena pulled him in to kiss her again. In all honesty, she didn't know what they would think of her human husband. Even the siblings with whom she was closest wouldn't call her one to share details of herself. But she held his cheek as she told him, "I love you, so they will have to as well."