#yeah let's not. talk about how upset i am about this

[xmads-omensx]

Let Me Help You

Noah Sebastian X Reader One Shot

Masterlist

Word Count: 1927

Content Warnings: swearing, angst, fluff, comfort, crying, mentions of burnout

Summary: Y/N is always there to support Noah, but what happens when Y/N needs support?

The soft patter of rain filled the silence of the night as my sleep-filled eyes blinked open.

I turned my body over to the other side of the bed where I expected Noah to be sleeping, but instead, the bed was cold. He hadn’t come to bed yet. I rolled back to my side of the bed and reached out for my phone. My hand fumbled around for a bit before I grabbed it. Turning it on, the time read 3:43 am.

This was unlike Noah. Sure, he stayed up late getting work done, or watching an anime with the guys, but he always came to bed. It was like a magnet was pulling him back to the soft confines of our shared bed.

I pulled the soft covers back and swung my legs over the edge. I slid my feet into my slippers and padded out of our bedroom and into the hallway. I could see a light coming from downstairs, so I moved towards the wooden stairs and peered over the banister. The home studio light was on.

Noah’s back faced the doorway as he stared, unmoving, at the monitor’s screen in front of him. His black hoodie hung loosely on his tall, muscular frame. His hood covered his soft, brown hair and his headphones sat over the top of the hood.

The bright glow from the screen illuminated the dark room. Noah must have been sat there for a while if he hadn’t turned on the light. He mustn’t have realised how dark it had gotten.

I knocked on the door softly so I didn’t startle him, but he didn’t react at all. I padded over and placed my hands on his shoulders before sliding my hands down his chest to hug him from behind. He flinched as soon as I made contact.

“Hey baby, you okay?” I whispered softly.

“Yeah I’m good, just working.” He replied with a yawn as he ran his hands down his face.

“Still? It’s late.” I asked.

“I’m almost done honey, just go back to bed and I’ll be there in a little bit.” Noah said with a sleepy smile.

“Noah…” I trailed off with a sigh.

“I’m serious babe.” Noah sighed back. “You need to sleep.”

“So do you.” I replied with a slight edge to my voice.

“Please don’t do this now Y/N.” He sighed again.

“Don’t do what?” I huffed, letting my arms fall from his shoulders.

“Fight me right now.” Noah said.

“I’m not trying to babe, I just want you to come back to bed.” I moved to stand between Noah and the monitor screen.

“I need to get this done.” He looked everywhere but at me.

“When for?” I asked, already knowing that there was no deadline for this.

“I just need to do it.” He sighed.

“Baby look at me.” He didn’t look up. “Noah. Come on.”

Finally, with a sigh, he looked up. His eyes were surrounded by dark circles and his stubble had begun to grow back. He looked utterly exhausted. I sighed when his eyes finally met mine.

 “You need to rest Noah. Come back to this tomorrow when you’ve cleared your head.” I suggested with the warmest smile that I could muster.

“Baby I can’t.” Noah said with a sigh, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. He rubbed his hands up and down my hips.

“Why not.” I asked quietly.

“I just can’t. I need to get this done.” He replied, voice barely above a whisper.

“You didn’t answer my question, Noah.” I simply stated.

He looked at me with a blank expression. We stared at eachother for what felt like eternity before his eyes started to get watery. Without thinking, I brought my hand up to the side of his face and wiped away a single tear that had begun to fall.

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. But I do think you should get some rest. Come back to this in the morning my love.” I said softly. I didn’t want to push him when he was clearly upset and struggling.

“Okay.” He softly replied, his voice still quiet and barely audible.

Slowly, he began to stand up off of his char and took my hand. I began to lead him out of the studio when I stopped, turned around and saved what he had been working on before turning off the monitor and walking back towards Noah and took his hand again. He looked down and smiled at me softly before we made our way upstairs to our bedroom.

I sat back on my side of the bed and pulled up the covers whilst Noah got undressed for bed. When he was ready, he slowly pulled back the covers on his side and motioned for me to come and snuggle against him.

Sleep found him relatively quickly after his head touched the pillow. I threaded my fingers through his hair as his snores began to get louder as he drifted further off to sleep.

I fell asleep shortly after, comforted by his warmth and breath against the top of my head.

ONE MONTH LATER

I stared blankly at my computer screen as I typed random words and sentences before deleting them.

Nothing was working. It was all wrong. My mind wasn’t working.

Looking at the time on the screen, I saw it read 2:53 am. Fuck. I let out a long sigh and rubbed my hands down my face. I had been working since 10:00 am this morning and had been doing well up until late afternoon, when my mind started to wander.

I needed to get this essay done by the end of the week, and it was already Thursday. Well, Friday now. The plan was to get it done by Thursday evening, so that I had time to refine it before the deadline. Unfortunately for me, I had written about a quarter of the word count before I ran out of ideas and my mind started to wander.

I had thought about anything and everything except the work that I knew damn well I had to finish. I had re-hashed drama and arguments from back in middle school. I had thought about re-watching The Walking Dead for a third time. I had researched and made a list of animes that I wanted to watch when Noah went back on tour. I had not, however, done anything about the word document that sat open in front of me.

A soft knock on my office door shook me out of my thoughts. I turned my head to look over my right shoulder to see Noah, my lovely boyfriend, stood in the doorway with a plate and a mug in his hands. I offered him a tired smile as he walked towards me.

He was clad in checkered pyjama bottoms, that he never actually wore in bed as he claimed he was too warm with them on, and a black hoodie that proudly displayed the new line of Bad Omens merch on the front.

“Brought you some toast and some coffee.” He said softly. “I figured you were still working so I thought some brain food might help.”

“Thanks.” I muttered, barely audible over the buzz of my monitor.

“How’s it going?” Noah asked with a nod towards my screen.

“Fine.” I simply said.

“You sure?” He pressed, tilting his head to the side.

“Yes. It’s fine.” I snapped.

“Hey, you okay?” Noah crouched down and placed his large, tattooed hand on my arm. Rubbing it with his thumb comfortingly.

Before I could do anything, tears began to spill down my face and by body shook with sobs.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay.” Noah reassured as he stood taller to pull me into his arms to hug me.

“I- I- I-“ I stuttered through sobs.

“Shhhhh… Don’t speak. Catch your breath first baby.” Noah rubbed my arm comfortingly as he kissed the top of my head.

He slightly puled back from the hug so that he could lift me into his arms. I hadn’t even registered that he had picked me up before he sat back down on the office chair, with me curled up on his lap.

After about ten minutes, my breathing began to even out as my sobs lessened.

“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?” Noah asked in a whisper.

I offered a half-assed shrug in response.

“You wanna know what I was worried about a month ago when you came to get me from the studio?” He said. It was less of a question, and more of a statement.

“I was worried that if I stopped working that night, I would lose all of the great shit we had come up with earlier in the day. That if I couldn’t get that the finished product of that one song to be as good as the very rough demo we had come up with earlier, then the song would never be good.” Noah began, “But do you know what happened after I took a break and went to bed? We finished the final version of Even, and it’s by far one of the best songs on the album, and I bet the fans will agree when the album comes out.”

I let out a breath and brought Noah’s hand closer to my lips, then placing a kiss on the back.

“You need to take a break baby. I learnt that the hard way. Let me help you.” Noah said in a whisper.

“But you can’t help. I needed to finish this literally yesterday.” I sighed in frustration.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. It’s not due until the weekend, right? So let’s go to sleep and regroup in the morning… or later because it is morning already.” Noah laughed, trying to cheer me up.

“But I’ve not written enough to get it finished.” I gave an exasperated sigh.

“It’s okay honey, I will help you get this done, but you need to rest. And as you know, I am amazing at making sentences longer than they need to be.” I laughed at that. “There’s that smile.” Noah continued.

I buried my head into his chest to try and hide from him, but he wouldn’t let me. He gently cupped my jaw and pulled me into a sweet and gentle kiss.

“Let’s go to bed baby.” Noah patted my thigh.

I started to protest but he would not hear any of it. He lifted me off of his lap so that I was standing. “You have deprived me of cuddles all night and I hate it. You need to make up for the pain that you have caused my heart.” Noah said in a very serious tone, but the pout on his face gave his lack of seriousness away.

I laughed and gently shoved his chest. “Fine, you’ll get your cuddles dumbass.”

Noah laughed as well and wrapped his arm around my shoulder before he began leading me back upstairs.

Like that night a month ago, we both crawled into bed and Noah opened his arms for me to climb into. I complied and snuggled my face into his chest. He let out a content sigh and whispered a quiet “Finally, cuddles.” Into my hairline which made me let out a breathy laugh.

Much like that other night, it did not late long at all for Noah and myself to fall into a deep sleep, comforted by his warmth and his breath against the top of my head.

[rw-ascension-au]

note: pieces of dialogue in [square brackets] are thoughts

Greetings, Artificer.

What do you want?

I am here to ask some things in order for us to get to know you. It will allow our mission to proceed more easily due to the risk of--

You may not.

Why is that?

I just met you a few cycles ago! What do you think!? You keep pestering even your own group!

I don't believe "pester" is the correct word in this situation-

[Added a cut due to length. Before proceeding: CW- implied panic attack. Could be inaccurate, despite me having knowledge from my own experience. Also motion blur]

We don't want to answer your stupid questions, okay!? It's all - "May I ask something" this, "Can you please answer a few questions" that! You never hold a real conversation.

I apologise-

Do you!? Do you really!? I found hunter freaking out after your "information collection"! I'm not putting up with this!

I was simply concerned abou-

Concerned about your own mission going awry. If you're not asking questions, you're talking about the mission.

Artificer, you must calm down-

Oh right, that totally helps!

My intention was not to offend you.

I'm not humouring you anymore.

Artificer, please-

Don't pretend like you're worried! You gave me a choice. And I'm choosing to leave.

Artificer, if you stay, I promise I won't be an irritation again.

...

[She's gone.]

[What am I going to tell the others?]

[How did I fail my first mission?]

[How am I going to tell Invenot?]

...

[I ruined it for everyone.]

[Something's happening.]

[It's hard to breathe.]

[it feels as though I'm surrounded by lizards]

[I need to find Gourmand]

[They're the medic, if I remember correctly.]

[Do I remember it correctly?]

[What if something goes wrong again?]

[What if Gourmand leaves in a similar manner?]

[What if I'm merely pestering Gourmand, too?]

[what's happening?]

[what am I supposed to do?]

[what if invenot doesn't let me return to the void sea?]

[what if I'm banished somewhere?]

[what if I ended up locked at the lowest possible karma?]

[what if invenot punishes me for this?]

Saint?

May I- may I inquire about- did you see Artificer?

No, why?

She uh- I- I deeply apologise- she- she was upset with the way I've been inquiring about information. And-

...

May I ask something about- ...

Sure! But before that-

...

why?

It works with Spears.

I do not understand. But this does remind me, I think there might be something wrong.

Other than the fact that I found you all stressed out?

...

what?

You were panicking about something. Did Artificer leave?

...does Invenot punish failed missions?

Oh, this mission hasn't failed. We just have to be patient. Artificer usually comes back.

'Usually'? Does this happen on a regular basis?

Sometimes, yeah.

Would you please care to elaborate?

She's rather indecisive about the whole ascension thing. But the comes back after a little while. Though I'm not entirely sure why.

...very well then.

Let's go hang out at the shelter- I've already collected some plants and stuff. Arti will find us there.

...

[How did that happen? I'm supposed to be calm. I'm usually calm.]

[deepfriedpaddymayne]

ok so to clear everything up and also give this some context, the short version is that I got in touch with the person who runs the Daily César Domboy fan account (here on instagram, and here on twitter), who has spoken to César himself about Rogue Heroes season 2, and he confirmed that unfortunately his character, as well as the few remaining Frenchmen, have all been written out and will not be coming back for s2.

While I couldn't get TOO much detail, the reason for this was apparently script changes, so it does seem that he was initially supposed to have a storyline for s2 which had to be taken out for whatever reason. apparently César is not planning to make an announcement, so I think this is as close to official confirmation as we are gonna get until, y'know, the season actually airs and he's not there lmao.

so, yeah, in short,

[sparklingchim]

[no-light-left-on]

So the Death of the Outsider lacks a chaos system and it makes perfect sense

(I recommend reading my other post on how chaos works in the DH universe first but it is not mandatory.)

The point of the chaos system is, at its core, a reflection of how a world already at its tipping point reacts to the player's actions: Dunwall ridden by the plague and oppressed by the Lord Regent’s rule, Karnaca bloodfly-bitten and slowly torn to shreds by the Duke with people scared after the recent coup.

Billie, however, simply exists as a person once the world has been tipped towards the better, Emily having reclaimed her throne and Karnaca slowly but surely steering towards better times. Her quest is not motivated by politics or by a falling empire. It is entirely personal to her, Daud, and the Outsider.

Billie is an ex-assassin. She puts the world on a tipping point, but she does not decide whether the world rights itself or comes crashing over the edge. She takes jobs from the black market, sometimes killing people for money, because that is all it is to her - a job. And while she may kill innocent people while at it, there is no more terror it can bring atop the cruel rule of the Duke and people dying in the mines. In the end, she will disappear into the shadows. It is just another mugging, another unfortunate murder of a father coming home in the evening. Nothing more, nothing less. No responsibility to take over it after.

She is dedicated to her quest, and that quest is not even hers - it is Daud's, and she is just going along with it out of maybe guilt, maybe old times' sake. She is not even that interested in killing the Outsider herself, has very little stakes in it, and decides to go through with it because it's what Daud wanted. There is no world that can react to her because she is the world that is reacting, in a sense, to Daud's wishes and the Outsider's subtle interventions.

Compared to, say, DH2 which takes place months before the events of DotO, Billie has very little to lose, no place to reclaim, no world to save. The results of her actions, no matter what they might be, won't change how the world is at the end of the game. Emily can choose whether a brilliant doctor lives so she can save lives, she decides whether the Howlers or the Overseers take over Batista, dictates who rules and with how much power, with what level of cruelty. Billie is killing a god, no matter what it takes, and there is little need for consideration of how this result is achieved.

The game does not even have targets, save for one, the Outsider himself. All the missions are about gathering intel and preparing for the job. The structure of the whole game is very different to serve the purpose of the plot and honestly it's a clever choice so that the focus remains on the one thing only - killing the Outsider.

One thing I did not mention in relation to chaos in my other post is that the chaos also influences the Outsider and his speeches at the shrines. Which, fair enough, it is just one more change in dialogue among many. But in the case of DotO, he is directly involved. He is not an observer anymore. He has real reason to be emotionally invested in what is happening and what Billie is doing. He needs to bait her into murder, or change her mind to spare him and free him from his eternal imprisonment. There can't be a change from interest to cynicism as Billie kills more people to get to him, because in the end, he is the target. He wants out of the Void by any means necessary, which means he has to be fully invested at all times. He has no reason to suddenly go soft and make subtle comments. He comes across as so much more malicious in this game, maiming Billie and being so incredibly cruel when he tells her that Daud has passed while she was away. All this because he can't risk her changing her mind, thinking to herself, “Hey, maybe he sucks but he’s not That Bad” and then turning on her heel to leave. He is trying to influence Billie instead, which he didn’t do with his Marked (unless you count his mentions of multiple possible outcomes as influencing, or him telling Daud about Delilah).

So no, the world won't change for you, the player. It won't change because you chose not to kill anyone, not even the contract targets, because if you don't do the dirty work, someone else will. And the Outsider cannot change either, because Billie is not changing the fate of an empire. She is changing the fate of Him, personally, and he cannot afford to let her choose the only bad choice - indifference. So there is no point in a chaos at all.

No matter what Billie does in the end, the outcome will be the same - the Void will change. sShe will change the universe as they know it, but no matter how she goes about it, the change will come. She is not faced with a question of what she wants the world to be. She was guided there by others, expected to do one thing - kill a god. The world has set her up, and now she has to react.

And so she comes to the Void and is met with the only choice that will matter: Is she going to show mercy, or remain the same?

[crystalkitty1220]

Man I wonder where the leader of the fear realm could've gone, it's alMOST LIKE NEVIN HAS AN

[grmpgm]

ok executive dysfunction is kind of ruining my life actually

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

i feel like i should start making more of an effort, when i talk about something in a piece of media being Upsetting to me, to distinguish between 'cathartic' upsetting and 'gave me psychic damage' upsetting. sometimes i mean OUGH OW MY FEELINGS THIS FUCKS ME UP IN A MEANINGFUL AND RESONANT WAY, MY LIFE IS ENRICHED FOR BECOMING AWARE OF IT and sometimes i mean that it is genuinely distressing and i want to shake the creators and ask what the fuck they were thinking

[katierosefun]

Howdy Caroline, I saw a post about Talk shop Tuesday so I thought I'd be nosy on main. I wonder, how does research factor into your fic writing, and what was the most taxing research you had to do for a fic? 🐸

oooh hi, iva!!! thank you so much for shooting the ask--god knows i always love talking about fic!

to answer your question: i think most of my fic-related research is limited to "what episode did character x do this/say that", just so that i have the timeline of events down. i know it's not the end of the world if i don't perfectly remember how a certain scene went down, but i can't help it--i like being precise when it comes to at least recalling canon events.

outside of that specific brand of research (just making sure my timeline/recitation of quotes is all set), i'll sometimes do wilder research for like ... au projects that are set in a different time. that doesn't happen often (i think the reason why i tend not to write au's that are set other than present day is specifically because i get overwhelmed by the amount of research to be done), but when it does, i'm usually stuck researching for hours. that's probably why i just never got around to posting this one period jwds au i have. the plot keeps shifting, mostly to suit the research that i've done. deep sigh. one day i swear i'll finish writing that story and post it, but right now it's just gotten a little away from me. it's marinating.

outside of that story though, i think i've been lucky enough to not need to do too much research for fics . . . maybe that'll change one day (especially if i ever fall in love with a more period-drama-esque story), but ! ! ! as of now, i think my research time really only takes up 10 - 15% of my fic writing process.

[keeps-ache]

DARN, missed it again! 2nd anniversary of being a they/themer :D

[latinokaeya-moving]

everytime. everytime i talk abt finding the whole immortality dilemma a lil funny/Personally trite bc i’ve very desperately wished i was immortal since i was like. 12 years old. i’ve gotten ppl trying to explain why immortality is narratively treated as a bad thing that has many downsides actually as if i haven’t heard the argument of “but you’ll outlive everyone you know🥺” before and just straight up don’t care that much abt it 😭

when i was watching iwtv this weekend w my cousin i brought it up bc obviously vampires r always talking abt the gift/curse of immortality n when i rolled my eyes n jokingly was like immortality rocks actually she very stiffly was like “you just say that bc you haven’t lost someone yet” and like yeah i guess that’s true but also i think you severely underestimate how much i fear my human mortality lol

[todayisafridaynight]

YEAH NO TONBI GOT HANDS.......... my timing on suggesting it may be Questionable but I AM very glad it holds up as a movie :] hopefully the interview and We Make Antiques are fun diversions! But also take it easy <3 can confirm Nakai is Pretty Moe in both though <3 And I WILL harass you about Masato's VA next week...

TBF YOU SUGGESTED IT A WEEK OR SO AGO twas on me for taking a while to get to it... nevertheless i did really enjoy it thank you..... AND YAYA IM SO STOKED TO WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW AND WMA2 THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆!!!!!

esp cant wait to hear about masato's VA in the future.. 👁️👁️

[snekdood]

Ppl gotta understand that just bc you do x thing because you're mentally ill, doesnt mean your actions dont have the same effect if you weren't. Like if you've been manipulative to your friends, you cant get mad at them for not sympathizing entirely with you when you go on about how they dont accept you for your mentally ilness. Regardless of your reason, you were still manipualtive, you fucked with peoples trust. Theyre still gonna have trust issues about you even if its bc of whatever mental illness you have.

[heyitslapis]

its times like this when i really wish i had an SO's shoulder to cry on

Because I think i factrued/sprained my foot the other day it happened wednesday but its still pretty swollen and pops when i try to walk on it without hobbling. i know i signed up for health insurance through work. i wrote down the insurance company name as Bayside and I have my personal insurance id number but the card never came in/got lost in the mail (and i already called for one replacement that never came so idk if theyll send me a third) so i cant confirm the insurance name nor call them, but i need to because ive called/visited 5 health care facilities around me and NONE of them have even heard of Bayside. So im calling the phone number that my manager provided me with telling me that was the insurance company. I keep calling the number (and mind you ive called them before to try to get a second insurance card sent to me but that was in like April) and i get that its saturday but theres no answer and the stupid automated machine wont let me leave a voicemail. the automated answering voice on the phone also says that theyre called National Benefit Plans by SafetyNet and google says the phone number im using belongs to National Benefit Plans out in San Antonio Tx (i live no where near there). I found National Benefit Plans' website on SafetyNetPlus dot com but National Benefit Plans doesnt have their own website, just through SafetyNet, and also the SafetyNet website says on a side panel that "this is NOT insurance" and instead keeps saying "health benefits" instead so idk what the fuck ive been paying for for the last 6 months tbh and im having an emotional breakdown bc i dont want to fuck my foot up for life just cause i couldnt figure out my health insurance/benefits shit

[laikahh]

i wanna go to sleep so bad but my throat is sore as fuckk and its making me feel like shit

[musicrunsthroughmysoul]

Might want to do a bit of reading about the Ramones. Several sources point to their anti-blackness and siding with white supremacy groups at their shows, as well as supporting presidents Reagan and Bush. Dee Dee was also a pedophile, grooming a sixteen year old when he was in his forties

Unsolicited but I am assuming well-meaning anon, thank you for the heads-up about the Ramones, but in case you could not tell from a very basic search of my blog, I do not give a shit about the Ramones - which is to say that I've never liked them or cared for their music and find them vastly overrated and mediocre, anyway - and the only time I ever intend to post about them is in relation to someone I certainly like better (who I, most likely, find quite a bit less overrated and mediocre). Nonetheless, it's good to know about their anti-blackness, although to be fair (not to them - just in general), that could very, VERY easily be said about almost any white artist (at the least; they would otherwise, of course, have to be rather vocally anti-racist!), which is not at all meant to be in their defense but is just to suggest, why single out the Ramones when this issue is rampant in all art forms? Honestly, it should be acknowledged in regards to everyone's white faves, and my white faves are no exception (though I am not, of course, at all saying that the Ramones are my faves. LOL I could not care less about them, except for the way their music was given far more credentials than women and non-white, and especially non-white women, in punk were ever given; THAT! I CARE A WHOLE FUCKING LOT ABOUT!! And I've posted about this before, although I will say, it does suck that my primary example is Patti Smith given her history of anti-blackness. I can certainly rethink who and how I laud those who spearheaded punk, but I also think there are lines to be drawn). Nonetheless, aligning themselves with white supremacy groups at their shows is FUCKED!!!! And that does make me consider the way my faves have associated themselves with the Ramones. Oh...*is now deeply unsettled* yeah, that's really fucked up. I will be thinking about that quite a lot more now, so thank you for that bit of information in particular. But also, *coughs* I have a song to share that speaks to that history of white supremacy in punk - from a very beloved folk singer, no less. :') (Brief, historical context for that, btw: she was in punk before she became a folk singer!! So she was there witnessing this stuff around that time - the late '70s and early '80s, which is exactly why it's relevant.)

Still! Despite my defensiveness, I do appreciate the heads-up about them, and I will gladly (I guess; just to be informed, because when did that ever hurt anyone...rhetorical question!) read about them as you suggested. So thank you for bringing that information to my attention, and if you have any recs about where to read more about them concerning their anti-blackness and association with white supremacy in particular, that'd be super helpful, but I'm never afraid of a little research, anyway.

Note: sorry to gloss over the "Dee Dee was a pedophile" bit, but...not that I am defending pedophiles in any area of anything whatsoever, but there have been far more pedophiles in areas of 'popular' music than just one of the Ramones and punk; there are people that we do not talk about (for this reason, or do so very carefully), or people who we still laud to this day, and probably always will, despite the fact that they were absolutely, 100% taking advantage of young people and children, and I'm sorry that I cannot sugarcoat that. My acknowledgment of this is not to say that we should not talk about them, nor do I think it's right to continue to give so much credit to people with so much fame, and thus power, let alone to give them more fame and power, when they've done such reprehensible things. Rather, I would like to suggest that we think about and discuss ways in which we can PREVENT things like fame, and proximity to fame (and thus power), from empowering these people (men, women, and people of any gender) to take advantage of children, young people, and young fans. Because that's a significant part of what has been happening for all these years, and it will continue if we do not consider ways to check famous people - and fame, in general - and those in power. (And if you happen to think of the whole J*ffr*y *pst*in situation, that's a great starting point! Let's consider the ways in which they're all connected, but in particular, WHY!!!)