The Sky Above, By @mediumorange

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

"what's a male acting performance where he's having the worst day of his life but looks so hot doing it" oooooh you mean Jake Gyllenhaal in Prisoners. You mean Detective Loki from Prisoners. You mean the single most absolute babygirl ever, from Denis Villeneuve's 2013 masterpiece, Prisoners. Portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal. You mean him.

Important rules/tips I've learned as an adult that helped with anxiety

If people are mad at you, it's their responsibility to tell you, not your responsibility to guess

If they're mad at you in secret anyways, they're the ones in the wrong, not you

If people don't like what you're doing, it's their responsibility to tell you

If they say it's fine when it's really not, they're the ones in the wrong, not you

People are allowed to be wrong about you

If they are wrong about you, wait for them to bring it up, because if you try to, you will inevitably overcorrect

Some people are committed to misunderstanding you. You will not win arguments against them. Yes, even if you explain your point of view. They do not care. Drop it

The worst thing that will happen from a first-time offense is being told not to do it again. Maybe with a replacement if you broke something

You can improve relationships and gauge willingness to talk to you by giving compliments. It's like a daily log-in bonus and nobody thinks twice about it

Most things are better after you sleep on them

Most things are better after you have a meal

Most things are better after you shower

Your brain makes up consequences that are irrational. If the worst DOES come to pass and someone acts like they do in your head, they are overreacting, and you are entitled to say "what the fuck"

If your chest hurts after you feel like you've made a social error, that's called rejection-sensitive dysphoria. It means your anxiety is so bad that it's causing you physical pain, which is a good indicator that you're overreacting. Tense yourself, hold it for 20 seconds, let it go, then find a distraction

If you're suddenly angry at someone after you feel like you made a social error, that's also rejection-sensitive dysphoria. You are going to feel annoyed about it for awhile, but being genuinely pissed off is your anxiety trying to find something to blame to take the responsibility off your shoulders, and getting scared because it can't justify itself. Deep breaths, ask yourself how much you ACTUALLY want to be angry at that person, then find a distraction

"Sour grapes" is more healthy for you than stewing. Deciding you don't like someone who's perpetually annoyed with you, won't talk to you, etc. makes letting go of anxiety over them easier

If people don't like you, they will find reasons to be annoyed with you when they otherwise wouldn't. If people do like you, they will find reasons NOT to be annoyed with you when they otherwise would. People do not ping-pong between the two

You DO have to make a conscious choice not to think about something. If you're having trouble circling back to it, say out loud that you're done thinking about it and why. Then find a distraction

When you're upset, part of you is going to want to make false bids for attention (suddenly texting differently, heavy sighs, etc. but when someone asks you about it, you tell them it's nothing). Do not listen to it. You gain nothing from it except more misery

People like to help people they care about. It makes them feel good about themselves

If you think you're insufferable for needing help, see above. Yes, really. They get a serotonin kick from it

If you think you're insufferable for mannerisms you have, you either have to consciously choose not to do them, or accept that they're part of the package that comes with you. Being apologetic about existing does nothing except make you more miserable

If you do things you don't like when you feel meh about it, it makes it easier to do them when you hate it

If you avoid things you don't like when you feel meh about it, it reinforces and magnifies how bad it feels when you hate it

Seriously. Read those last two points again. If you can make yourself make a phone call when you've got nothing to lose, you will slowly lose that panic you get when you have to make a phone call you haven't prepared for. You do have to CONSCIOUSLY take that step

Hobbies that make you care for something get rid of that nagging feeling that you're not doing enough. Go grow some rosemary

If you don't engage with your hobbies regularly, you will feel miserable, and anxiety will spike

Hobbies are things that give you a bit of happiness. They do not have to be organized or named to do that. Go be creative in something. Play with coins. Make up lists. Start a new WIP

No one cares what you look like

If people point out things they don't like about how you look unprompted, they are being rude. You are entitled to say "what the fuck"

People who like you will find you pretty to some degree. Minor things about your appearance go completely unnoticed. Literally, scars and dots and blemishes do not register to someone who likes your company

You looking at yourself in the mirror is 10x more closely than anyone is going to look at you

If you're anxious about your body type, and you're creatively inclined, make/write an oc with that same shape. Give them nice things and make other characters love them. Put them on adventures. You'll start to see yourself in the mirror more kindly

You care about wording and perfect lines/colors way more than anyone who views your work ever will

Sometimes when you're upset, you're going to feel like not eating. Do not do that. Not eating makes you more miserable

Same with things you normally enjoy. Denying yourself helps no one. You are punishing yourself for being sad. Stop it

Both of these will take conscious decision to break the habit of. Make yourself do it anyways, and it will slowly get easier

And again, to reiterate: If someone is mad at you, it is THEIR responsibility to tell you, not your responsibility to guess

hear me out, we joke about the 118 having bets on when buddie is getting together, mainly hen, chimney, bobby + extended family. but what if b-shift is in on it. they somehow have a whiteboard at the firehouse. a-shift writes normal memos on it. as soon as they all leave, someone dramatically flips it and bam! there's a whole detailed timeline trying to figure out what buck and eddie are to each other, red string and everything. there's multiple theories, some right, some wrong. at the start of each shift they brainstorm. ravi has the task of arriving early to see if buck and eddie leave together or not. someone knows lena bosko and they call her for details. she tells them about the grocery store fight. they move up the divorced theory on the board. at the end of the shift they flip it back around and nobody ever notices even though there's obviously red string hanging from the bottom.

Awww thank you, chasing-caws!

@lohengreen <3

You are someone’s treasured mutual.

🌹🌹🌹🌹

yet again combing the depths of my inbox for My Purposes....... in this case, sharing a bit from camcorder kidnapping! :)

As if he’s heard her and is determined to make her life that bit more difficult, River says, “You don’t get many guests around here, do you?” For fuck’s sake. Catherine thinks the words but they have the rough abrasion of Lamb’s voice in her head, which is equally as annoying as whatever it is River thinks he’s doing but for a different reason entirely, and she’s so frustrated by the both of them that she doesn’t notice the fist until it’s already made impact with River’s stomach. It startles out of her: “River!” in this horrible, pitched shriek that is lost amidst the sound of River wheezing where he’s bent double, curled around his stomach.  “I told you,” the man says, shaking out his hand with a chilling calm, “you shouldn’t have done that, brat. I also—” He grasps River by the hair and jerks him up, and then his free hand curls again into a fist and hurtles towards River’s spleen “—told you to keep that pretty little mouth shut.” River’s knees give out at the second hit, but the man doesn’t release him. “Guess you haven’t done your research,” he slurs, stupid and taunting and too brave by half. “M’no good at following orders.”

THE REAL MARVEL JESUS

MATT MURDOCK REALLY BACK ON OUR TELEVISION SCREENS FOR 9 WEEKS HALLELUJAH

@spiralwaves Progress update on the "In Imago Diaboli" fanbind!

After weeks struggling with the typeset (note to self: never think "ahh, this is going so easily!" during a creative project because. that's just asking for trouble 😅 ), I finally got it to print more-or-less nicely... ignoring the printer skew, lol. Ah well! We're out of the typesetting and into the fire, or something, heh.

Could you tell us about riv shirley? It sounds interesting

I answered some here but wanted to wait until I had a new clip to share to answer this. I shared a bit and then talking with the wonderful @tenderhooked about it has helped immensely move it from mostly vibes to some coherence of a story.

I'll put another clip below the cut:

Shirley Dander was pissed.  Lamb was going to be even more pissed at the pair of them. Likely more at River than Shirley–the old spook didn’t actually like any of them, but seemed to have a soft spot for hating River in particular–but Lamb had attempted to fire her more than once. Well, he succeeded at least once. Now, tied to a chair with only an unconscious River Cartwright for company, Shirley was starting to think maybe she should have stayed fired because as much as she wanted to get loose and kill each one of these fuckers, the blood seeping into her sleeves from the cuts the restraints had caused was making it seem a bit of a lost cause.  But once they freed her, which they would eventually, and then she would kill each and every one of them.  Hopefully.  There were a lot of them, as far as she could tell. There could be more. She had seen six for sure. And it was just her and River. Well, probably more likely just her. River wasn’t looking too fit for service at the moment. River didn’t look fit for anything other than laying in a hospital bed. He was unconscious, having passed out from pain on the third hit of a wrench to his clearly broken hand and whatever other bones had snapped under the weight.  Shirley had heard them snap. It would’ve been cool if it hadn’t been River. She was already fantasizing about turning the wrench around on the bastards holding them. Then it would sound really fucking cool.  But for now she was stuck tied to a fucking chair watching River’s chest rise and fall unevenly and hoping it continued to do so.

c'mon, friends. do you see it. do you see the vision