#hes a good listener

[dynamic-power]

We talk a lot about Max gaining older brother figures in Eddie and Steve (and fanon Billy, too), but what about the father figure Wayne would be to her?

Wayne's never raised a girl, but he raised a standoffish teen, and Eddie turned out pretty okay, he thinks. So when he realizes Max has been by herself most of the time, he doesn't feel bad about parenting her a little.

He doesn't ever pester her, because he knows that can go south really fast, but he does talk to her. Chats from across the way become conversations over dinner, sometimes with Eddie and sometimes without. She begins to really talk to him, and he begins to really listen.

She comes to him for advice. She comes to him to complain. She comes to him with homework questions, sometimes.

She watches him work on the old fixer upper he's got behind the trailer. She knows some things about cars, probably from watching Billy, and he finds he enjoys having her company. Eddie was never big on cars, but Max soaks up everything he tells her like a sponge.

Before homecoming, she comes to him asking for advice on a boy. He laughs, says he can't offer advice on boys (he told Eddie the same thing when he was her age) but he sits and listens.

After the disaster in 1986, of course his first priority is his son, but his second is the redheaded girl two rooms over who he's become pretty fond of.

[toastedwigeon-blog]

I love my younger brother because he's super into fallout and he asked me about nukes and how fusion works so he just sat there as I explained nuclear physics to him for 2 hours straight

[n4rval]

i lied. here's a bonus.

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF movie Mike and Michael meet their younger selves..

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Jason insists on being the bait for a joint mission with the Bats. But the moment he starts “screaming” during the interrogation process, Batman calls the whole thing off and smashes right through the window and into the first thug.

Absolutely nobody is surprised by this development. Except Jason.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

while we wait.

may i offer you all a pubby?? lil bby barns?

[theminecraftbee]

man the thing is joel on hermitcraft. his whole bit is “mean girl with a fragile ego” can you IMAGINE throwing him in a room with hermitcraft’s OTHER mean girls. like iskall. or cleo. or, in the other direction, it sounds like he’s already gotten in shit with hermitcraft’s other “talks big, fragile ego”, which is to say, doc. can you IMAGINE the level of sarcastic sniping this would reach. can you picture it. more importantly: can you picture joel in a room where he is forced to confront BIGGER MEAN GIRLS THAN HIM. I am preemptively delighted,

[yourangle-yuordevil]

Don't embarass him or he'll go full snake 🐍

[rockingthegraveyard]

Every time Jason has a positive interaction with a kid people will make posts with various panels were he saved or was just gentle with children but it always gets me when when this kid is added

like Jason wasn't talking to him with his hand on his gun the whole time.

Jason is all for protecting kids but he's also like...

[shootingstarrfish]

shoutout to that one post about barbatos casually adopting powerful beings i couldnt stop thinking about it

[spacizia]

he’s just a swinging space age bachelor man!!!!

[mirrorhouse]

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE | 2.02 + 2.03

[tinartss]

first (and only) crush

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The musical episode.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[twisted-deal]

Spreading my agenda that Ace Trappola might be the worst and best option for Heartslabyul's next housewarden

[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.