#emotions are so hard to figure out. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tokyoteddywolf · 1 month

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22 isn't very much at all, I think.

#5am rambles #anyways ignore this as per usual im just thinking in a post that i'll delete soon. i just worry and writing it helps.#you ever wonder when you'll “grow up'? and then realize youre not even fully grown?#that theres still more to learn in life and that the mistakes you make are just that? mistakes?#that you are still so very very young in a world that is so very very old?#im almost 23. barely a quarter of my lifespan. im still a child in a way- my brain not fully formed.#you ever wonder how many mistakes you can make before you figure something out?#I dont know much of anything really. that's the sad part. and the adults who were supposed to help me learn... didnt.#i was failed. and now im a failure. at almost not quite 23 years old. Maybe i wont be a failure in another few years.#i still have a while to go before I die. I'm not going to waste time thinking about it. im just going to try my best.#I have time. I can learn. Grace and patience are not endless but damn if i dont try to figure things out #first step though is meds and therapy tho. we're done with the pity party. some things you just have to accept are okay #cuz my whole life i was taught that being emotional is a weakness. its pathetic and stupid to be upset or angry about anything.#any time i wanted to show i was upset or angry i was 'wrong'. i was 'selfish' and 'dramatic'#so i suppressed and pretended i was fine. that i wasnt weak and pathetic. that i was good and not an annoyance or burden.#i am not weak. i am not pathetic. i am fine i am fine i am fine you dont need to worry about the inconvenience at your door.#sometimes the shame is so much that i cant look at myself or even think i deserve help. that therapy is for people with real problems.#that i feel like ill just be told im like this for attention or dramatics. that im such a disappointment and selfish too.#ive been a “problem” my whole life to the point i dunno if i CAN be fixed. that anxiety eats me alive every day.#therapy is supposed to give you methods to cope #i dunno if it'll work though. I forget my appointments a lot. i struggle to talk sometimes. i may be autistic but its hard to get diagnosed.#emotions are so hard to figure out.

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cozylittleartblog · 1 year

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swatchvember prompt: party

happy 37th birthday to Microsoft Paint ✨🎂🎉🎈

#deltarune #swatch #swatchlings #tasque manager #queen #art #swatchvember #THE ONE PROMPT I COULD NOT AFFORD TO MISS THE DATE ON #''guys what theme should we do for the bosses cake'' ''what if we made 3 cakes with diff themes and stacked them on top of each other''#''by the fountains Percy you are a genius''#queen makes them run around all day doing stupid shit and they finally get to the cafe and mysteriously its rented out #they cannot believe this is the first they're hearing of it this stuff usually has to go through them first #they very quickly find out that queen is also behind this and it is a huge private party just for them <3 they work so hard they deserve it #she is Snapping that stupid party hat onto their stupid head #and Repeatedly shoving a second one over the end of their beak all night to be annoying #yknow its good when swatch breaks character and actually Emotes but its an even better sign when they go completely static #because that means they are hiding an absolutely embarrassing display of emotion and its taking All of their energy #the cake flavors are strawberry - chocolate/vanilla split - and Funfetti btw #... funfetti is just vanilla with sprinkles in it last i checked but Shut Up Lmao #also i totally messed up their mood tints i figured fear was yellow but happiness is also yellow. so. i decided fear is more of a #highlighter/yellow-green color and happiness yellow is like a. nice mac and cheese yellow :) very warm but still distinctly golden #one is pleasant to look at and one is terrible

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gabelew · 16 days

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( />/</) ehehe

#botw #zora #sidon #bazz #sidbazz #oh wow is this the first time im posting a ship art of them? really?#i thought i already drew so many #anyway #this is supposed to take place some decades before botw events when sidon was more in his teenage-ish years #thats why the size difference isn't that visible #i have the whole timeline figured out you see #there is even a whole story for this stupid ship that im not going to share now #but i hope the emotions sorta manage to come through anyway #also yes i am ignoring the 3d-ness of sidon's head handlebars very hard why are you asking #it's in service of having pretty posing i am justified

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puppyeared · 5 months

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its so hard to watch time pass when things like careers and assignments exist. what do you mean im supposed to take that seriously

#I have an assignment that was due a week ago and I really really dont want to do it. I have to but i dont want to #im probably making it worse because my brain has built a wall around it so now i can’t do literally anything else until thats done. but #because I don’t want to do it I’m just kinda stuck. turns out this is what they meant when they said emotional regulation is part of #exec dysfunction.. I’ll have a thought like if I get a little bit of it done now i can get it over with. I can just submit something #and then not even 5 minutes later itll be like ugh but I have to draw all the assets out. I have to write things and make spreads ugh #and its just flopping between those two things. i hate it when ppl are like well how much time do you need to work on one thing #because BOY id love to know too. I’d love to know exactly when my brain wants to cooperate with me and work around that but I cant #even my period can’t decide when it wants to punch me in the stomach. which is kinda funny in the grand scheme of things but still #its so weird im just lying on my bed thinking abt all this like damn.. the time will pass anyways no matter what I decide to do.. damn….#if I submit that assignment now and take the L I literally won’t die. it’ll just be a deduction on an assignment nobody will ask me about #I know this but I’m still stressing myself about it so my thoughts aren’t really connecting to my body. weird #maybe its because Im having a hard time looking forward to things. theres definitely a lot I should be living for but I don’t really feel #a strong attachment to it I guess? it’s been like this for a while with holidays and meeting with friends so I just don’t #I kinda figured its because im pretty passionless and its more like passing interest. but it’s not very fun when it feels like I’m going to #be living distraction to distraction for the next 70 years or so lol #idk it kind of feels like slowly bleeding out. which is funny because I actually did experience blood loss this week #had a 30 minute nosebleed and literally could not stand. also it felt like someone was pinching the back of my brain which was interesting #yapping #does this count as vent #vent #Ive just been making an oc carrd and contemplate changing my blog header for the past 3 days honestly

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tunaricebowl · 7 months

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finally got my pics back from the lil shoot i did at the japanese gardens earlier this month c: i honestly didnt know what other pose to do but other than that i think these look super cool! it’s my very first cosplay as well so i’m still figuring out how to be photographed and stuff

#tbh i don’t like my double chin though #i was considering editing it out but i decided against it. i feel like it would be disrespectful towards myself to do so #i’m still learning how to be phtographed in a way i’m satisfied with & i shouldnt be so hard on myself for not figuring it out immediately #i’m allowed to feel proud of these and want to show these off despite not thinking i look perfect or 100% like the character #though to make myself feel better i do hc maya as a bit chubby. she does love burgerd after all #anyway sappy emotional rant over #tuna stuff #ace attorney #ayasato mayoi #maya fey #ace attuna #gyakuten saiban #cosplay #ace attorney cosplay

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weirdmageddon · 10 months

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HER RIGHT ARM IS LITERALLT ON HIS HEART IT’S ACTUALLY SICK. NOT A BIT OF AIR BETWEEN THEM

#it’s the same hand he missed by a hair btw. her right one #loz #totk #zelink #i’ve been cornplating the hell out of the falling sequence in totk #literally looking up totk ending 60fps 4k on youtube and playing it at 0.25 speed #because nintendo made the worst camera angle decisions ever for this cutscene and im trying to figure out how theyre posed #and this mad eme emotional #first link’s smile out of bounds when zelda says “warm loving embrace”#and then this just barely visible with the greatest scrutiny and multiple videos some in 4k and some with with different bottom armor #why do they want to hide the details so bad like……trying to figure out their vertical pose here has been so hard #the fact that i have to use different videos just to show more details is crazy. like i had to rely on speedrunners for wearing no pants #totk spoilers #but i found this when comparing the footage and it made me go. AAAGGHHHHH

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thatgoddamngingerundercut · 1 month

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and I begin to bloom like a lotus flower once again the Agust D trilogy

#agust d #min yoongi #bts #suga #bts suga #bangtan #bangtan sonyeondan #bts gifs #btsedit #my gifs #i've had this concept in my head for a while now #and i've been trying to figure out how i wanted to do it #and i finally figured it out #the font is the pulp fiction font lol #i wanted to use the scarface font but it's paid and all the free versions look weird #and like... i'm not paying $30 for a font i'll only use once #and anyway the color effect wouldn't really work with it #this set right here is the entire reason i decided to learn how to make gifs in photoshop #anyway his eyes man #he has the most beautiful intense eyes i have ever seen #amygdala is very very hard for me to watch actually #and that's part of why this took me so long also #had to keep in mind what he said in the shoot sketch lol #cuz like... y'know really amygdala is faaaaaar from my favorite agust d track #but the sheer emotion in both the song itself and the mv #it's almost suffocating #he's tremendously talented and yeah i'm a lil obsessed tbh lol

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tea-time-terrier · 9 months

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This creature has been smooched on her face and stuffed full of snacks <3

We qualified each rally obedience run (despite large areas requiring handler improvement <3) and finished the weekend with a 97, 84, and 97. This baby dog now has her Rally Advanced title!

(All rosettes were default as we were the only ones in our class.)

#a whole collection of emotions #I am really proud of her #she is a fun little dog and she tries so hard #I asked too much of her to do two trials in a day (now I know)#lots of areas for improvement but this was a nice satisfying way to finish trialing for a while #my low key goals this year was her RN and CH (if we were lucky)#so to have finished both of those + her RA has me a bit lost now #we're probably taking a break for a while until I figure out what our next steps are #she's growing up so fast and yet is so baby 😭#turnpike #gotta go camping with all this nice weather

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laniemae · 14 days

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Not gonna get into danganronpa another spoilers because this whole scene is something else that I’m still processing but I absolutely love this line. Like to bring up milgram I think this is an idea which can reflect on lots of the characters as well. The idea of basing your entire existence off of a certain thing/person/ideology and then for something to happen that completely destroys that. Your entire person has been stripped away and just what’s left? You can’t comprehend your own existence or meaning without that specific attachment and you start to question all of your actions based off that…

I can only really think of John, Kotoko, and Es here (and possibly Amane and Mikoto to an extent). And John bases his life off of Mikoto, Kotoko upholding justice, and Es being the warden.

John’s idea of his whole existence and reason for being is Mikoto. It’s the only reason he believes he exists and if he were to fulfill his role he’d “disappear” as he would be completely worthless without him. John tries to repress and ignore his humanity and reduce himself as a tool to protect Mikoto and that’s all he can see himself as. But now Mikoto’s starting to not deny his existence and feels pure hatred for everything about him. And what will happen to John, when the person he’s dedicated his entire life to and desperately wants praise from, denies his existence? What will he be but some worthless existence that is only a burden, to him.

Kotoko. An ideology of upholding justice and punishing evil that has completely overtaken her. She has pushed herself into a role of a “fang” for justice, protecting the weak and persecuting evil. But even so matter how much she tries, she knows her goals are unreachable. She denies relationships and attachments to other people based on this ideology. Kotoko admits that she does feel attachment to the prisoners, but has to deny them in order to fulfill the role as a tool. And believes that pain and violence is necessary to achieving a greater good. Trying to deny any regret because wouldn’t it be easier to believe you’re entirely in the right? She latched onto Es, believing them to be similar as the warden who carries out judgement on wether the prisoners are forgivable or not. But now, Es has denied her whole ideology, her whole existence due to the pain she’s caused. Kotoko wants to believe that what she did was right and that Es, another enforcer of justice would accept her, because that’s how it is.

And Es… they’re the warden of the prison. There’s nothing more to them than that they believe. Es has no memories of their identity or past before Milgram and immediately latched onto the identity given to them, of being the guard. Es took this role as their entire identity, an extension of the milgram system in order to interrogate and judge prisoners. I think Muu put this best.

“Warden-san, we call you "warden" because that's what you are, right? And I was assigned the role of prisoner, but that doesn't mean I'm now nothing but a prisoner at heart, too. After all, I'm still me.”

Es has an unstable sense of identity, to the point they latched on to the first thing they were given in order to give themselves a purpose and a meaning for existence. And Kotoko calling them “imperfect caused them to question their identity. But as the story progresses Es will probably begin to learn about the audiences control and the truth behind what they assumed to be their verdicts. That their will never was 100% their own. Who knows what Es’ past was, but eventually they’ll likely have to tackle it and their whole identity, the warden, the arms of milgram, is gone.

gonna think about Mikoto and Amane here as well. Mikoto, although may not seem to be as first, focuses his entire identity around other people. He’s the friendly sociable guy who’s easy to chat with. But that’s all he believes he should be, I guess. As perhaps this mindset is upheld by an inherent fear of other people rejecting him, so he focuses all his attention and identity on being a social person. He’s never truly friends with people, as perhaps that would be “too close” and open up the possibility for danger. He doesn’t completely deny his identity like the others, but he molds and shapes it in a way that is acceptable to others. He likes what everyone else likes and does what everyone else does so the fear of being rejected for being different won’t hurt him. But now he’s stopped denying John’s existence and his DID, believing himself to be crazy, and to be completely rejected from other people, his entire sense of identity to an extent. And especially with John scaring other people off with the mindset that will help Mikoto, he has now been completely distanced from everyone else and now has to come to terms with himself, but not the ideal persona he put on to be acceptable to other people.

Amane is a more different case as she in a way has rejected that idea, but not completely. Growing up in a cult it’s very likely that she was always conditioned that she was just a servant for god. That all the good things she did were actually god blessing her and all the bad things a fault of her humanity, herself as a person. She is in a unstable relationship with the whole submitting her personhood to her religion, as she sacrificed her ideologies in order to help a cat. But at the core, that wasn’t about herself and her identity, rather a focus on the cat’s life. Amane’s murder was her will. Rejecting everything and fighting for her life in direct opposition to what she has been taught her entire life and how her identity should be, a rejection of that and a glance into “herself”. But once again, this murder wasn’t entirely self motivated. She’s still broken enough that she can’t fully grasp herself as a person besides god and religion. And a large cause of her murder was out of the death of the cat, rather than simply protecting herself. Amane still slips back into the belief that her personhood is entirely dedicated to god. As she tried to convince herself and Es that the only reason she killed is because they deserved religious punishment and she is in the right for carrying out god’s will, once again denying her personal reason for doing so. Reducing herself to “we” on behalf of her religion, that this isn’t herself anymore. Amane is in a limbo between rejecting her personhood for god, but at the same time rejecting the suffering she’s been through in order to save “herself”. Amane’s case is so interesting, as there’s no clear answer of what she believes in here, and it is truly fascinating.

#milgram #Milgram theory #milgram analysis #amane momose #mikoto kayano #john kayano #john milgram #kotoko yuzuriha #es milgram #uhhhh this was meant to be a quick analysis how did this turn into an exploration of the identities of 5 characters #And comparing it to a scene from dra which focused a lot around the loss of someone’s beliefs completely destroying their identity?#May analyse that scene directly because the whole philosophical and psychological concepts coming into play there is just soooo cool #and man I was kinda figuring out stuff as I was writing this but like I said it’s so interesting how Amane isn’t completely dedicated to go #Like the other characters I mentioned who have dedicated their whole identities to something #And Amane’s at the struggling between her true self and her perfect religious self #But perhaps she doesn’t entirely realise this conflict going on within #Which is interesting as a realisation of their identities would probably cause the other characters to lose it #But Amane it’s coming to her in a different way #She’s so strong uahhhahhajajshshshs #Tw cults #Ok now thinking about this more I’m starting to see this whole ideology apply to other dra characters as well #Man this is just so interesting #Like Kinji although having nowhere near as bad of a situation of amane was in a way forced to repress his emotions his entire life #Due to religious reasons and to devote his life to god and reject personhood #Surprisingly he’s actually not a bad person but still is very stoic and avoids other people due to being taught those values #And kinji’s a whole parallel to Tsurugi so this would be really interesting #I would talk about Tsurugi here but this is primarily a milgram post so for everything he’s like kotoko with a dedication to justice #But handles it in a very different way #His story is just way to long to analyse now #But hey this is an invitation to play (or watch bc downloading the game is hard technically) danganronpa another

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enhanced-operatives-division · 11 days

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i don't think you've made a solaris design yet.... but am i allowed to request solaris anyways. or will i get beaten with two billion hammers until i die. for this.

No hammers for you, these asks hold me accountable to actually design the characters...

Filled a double page spread with just her...thus the 'Oops! All Solaris'

On THAT note, +2 sketchbook pages filled, 6/30 completed. I have 2 weeks until my hand in so I gotta pick up the pace. Blimey.

#waugh ty for the ask a lot of this was me getting a feel for her design but...im very fond of it...idk.... it's kinna fun #her shapes are nice..i loosely based her body type on my mom #it also took me a hot MINUTE to figure out what she'd wear then i remembered dungarees exist #I also like her in a jumpsuit kinna thing like prism #i just got silly with her!!! I'm trying to push myself more and more with my art idk if you can tell #like yk I'm trying hard not to fall into skinny and white etc etc eventhough im just getting dtarted with people and such #and yk i have improved and that's crazy to me because i look at stuff i did a month ago and im like hm! im doing better #and that's. awesome #i love it here #also uhh i really like giving characters an eye shape to fit their personality it's fun to me so yeah. permanently lidded eyes for her #she has 2 emotes unlocked/j #but nyeah!!!#[agent moose's art]#ieytd #solaris #commander solaris #tw healed scars #tw scars

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trainingdummyrabbit · 5 months

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once again thinking abt angela's realizations re: Yeah She Just Does That Sometimes Now(tm). like it certainly never gets as Bad as it was in canon, but on occasion something or other ends up manifesting without her really noticing. a slight singe at the ends of her gloves, a trail of flower petals, things like that. a "hey can you go check on angela, shes starting to track feathers everywhere again."

#yknow. a 'youve been awfully fussy lately.' 'cant a guy look out for a pal? by the way; uh. butterfly on your shoulder.'#piktalk #projmoon #like yes those are intense expressions of a lot of bottled up emotions that hold a lot of symbolic importance-#-but also. funsies :] ijust think its neat when characters carry little pieces of things with them.#listen listen. the Instant i figure out what if anything is going on with them post canon. shakes fist.#i just think. itd be nice. t see them get to genuinely know each other again. maybe even actually become friends.#past the uh. weird strained coworkers thing that was mostly going on.#but anyway . besides the point. thinks abt them so hard i get motionsick

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sparring-spirals · 2 years

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The parallels, in Imogen, who had spent years, and years, and years, running from the storm. Felt that fear in every inch of her and had fled it, for years. The only directive she ever had when the sky turned red, her only defense. Run. And only recently, so recently, had she started to do something else, started to screw up that courage to walk into it, to face it head on, to do something, anything, other than run. Sitting after a nightmare in the darkness with Fearne and Orym and Laudna around her, promising they'll be there, promising they'll help, promising she isn't alone.

The parallels to this battle, to her, running, her being quickest and cleanest to exit, heart in her throat, hoping against all odds they can get out too-

She's running, of course she's running, she's hiding, she hasn't left, not yet, but she's running.

And Orym falls.

Orym falls, and Orym was the one to put a hand on her knee and tell her, intent, urgent, that she wasn't alone. Orym, sweet Orym, who trusts her, right? To do good, to stay good-

And she stops running, and she gets angry, and furious, she flies up, she plants herself as a distraction, as a prize, demands STOP.

She flies into the eye of the storm.

(The eye of a hurricane is the calmest part. The rest of the storm rages on).

Far below, Fearne falls. Fearne, sweet and fickle and a matched pair with Orym, Fearne who watches her with worry whenever she wakes up shaking, Fearne, who wrapped a bracelet around her wrist so Imogen would know when it was a nightmare, so she could look down and know she could just wake up and be surrounded by them again.

(Is the bracelet still there? Would Imogen even want to look?)

Pleading, now, desperate, angry, negotiating- what do you WANT? What do you want. Her friends, her friends, scattered far below and hurt and broken, scraping themselves together and trying so hard to haul themselves upright, trying to give each other those last little scraps of healing. Trying. Trying so hard, so far, far below.

"I want you to give in"

(It felt wonderful.) (Maybe I should just give in.)

She doesn't give in, she doesn't. She fights. She attacks. She tries to give herself up.

"Is she your favorite?"

"Ill go with you! I give in!"

She tries. She tries. She tries to give up. She tries to give in.

Laudna falls.

Imogen doesn't give in. The storm takes her.

The storm takes all of them, by the end.

#critical role #cr spoilers #c3e33 #imogen temult #bell's hells #character meta #okay folks im writing this between meetings so i cant put the essay in the tags here that i want to #but like: 1- im still figuring out how to process fearne and orym in a way that approaches the emotions of the deaths #while being aware a lot of details are still in flux and nothing is set #2- holy SHIT the way things lined up was awfuo but uh. uhhh. man. the thoroughlines. fearne and orym and laudna specifically #anyway YES this is about imogen but its also a good lens for Me Specifically to chew through the latter half of that encounter bc oh boy #okay time to go to another meeting #have fun folks!!!!!#my meta #imogen meta #narrative meta #ashton technically got out!!! fcg the healer on empty. chet trying so hard to draw fire.#theres SO much in that encounter

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bwabbitv3s · 1 year

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Good Godfather Vlad AU - Part 2

Part 1 Those that asked to be tagged. @kaitouhime @krzys2000 @moobloomrights

~This took a few drafts to get it where I wanted. Vlad is really hard to write as getting the help he needs while still being really new to all the sudden changes. ~

Ice Machines and Fudge

The one that manages to corner him first is their daughter Jasmine. She catches him in the ice machine and vending machine room at the hotel at 3am. He is rather impressed with it as he can’t escape by using his powers as there is a CCTV camera to stop people stealing from the vending machine.

“You need to talk to Mom and Dad tomorrow, or Dad is going to try to break into your room.” Jasmine says straight away.

“I beg your pardon?” Vlad responds.

It is 3am, he has not slept well the last two nights. Had a very long video session with his therapist that left him emotionally drained. He just wanted some ice for a cold compress for his headache. The last thing Vlad was expecting was for a teenager to materialize out of the dim shadows between the vending machines. If he had not known better he would have suspected she was a ghost.

“They are both spiraling from the revelation that they left you feeling abandoned for the last decade. They thought they were doing the right thing in respecting your boundaries and not pushing into your life until you reached out. Your lack of response back even years later never deterred them. They took it as a good sign that you never asked them to stop sending letters. ” Jasmine pauses for a moment.

“Dad sends you an invitation to Thanksgiving and Christmas every year, we all sign it.” Jasmine trails off a bit.

The ice bucket nearly falls from his hands at that new sucker punch to the gut. Vlad’s family had always been small and after his parents passed he never had anyone to get together for the holidays with. Until Jack found out and dragged him to every single family holiday since. He would always play devil's advocate in the yearly debate over if Santa was real between Maddie and Jack. It was always good fun and they used the most bizarre physics equations to explain their case. At least until the accident, how many Christmases had he missed.

The ice machine thumps as more ice fills the basin. The static humm buzz of the fluorescent lights fill the air. Jasmine does not press him to respond, just waits for him to collect his thoughts.

“I don’t know if I am ready to face them.” Vlad says softly.

“Sometimes we are not ready for things. We just have to do them anyway as if we wait to be ready it will never happen.” Jasmine says.

“You are quite insightful for your age.” Vlad responds.

“Thank you.” Jasmine.

“Now how do I keep them from trying to smother me while I try to piece things back together.” he continues ending with a wry smile.

“Well first off, fudge always works with Dad.” Jasmine smiles back.

“He always did have a massive sweet tooth. I swear he used to live off nothing but fudge and coffee during exams.” Vlad fondly reminisces.

“Mom is harder and I don’t think you want to be shouting out ghost, while pointing in random directions to distract her.” she embarrassingly tells him.

“I don’t think that would help very much with this. She is more than likely to drag me after a ghost sighting.” Vlad chuckles. He pauses for a moment before a memory alights.

“Does she still fiddle with rubix cubes?” Vlad asks.

“Rubix cubes?” Jasmine asks, confused.

“Your mother in college used to keep a rubix cube to occupy her hands with. Creating patterns and solving a rubix cube was seen as smart and impressive so it did not get taken away from her. She said it helped her focus on things and ground her emotions.” Vlad tells her.

“I never knew that. That could work if you need to escape her manhandling.” Jasmine confirms.

“Well if I am going to face them tomorrow at the brunch I should get some sleep. I will see you and your family tomorrow morning. Have a good night.” Vlad tiredly thanks her. He has to stifle a yawn at the end.

There is a teenage boy staring at his hotel room door, a very familiar looking boy. He feels a flush of warmth inside as he realizes just who has tracked him down. The boy stiffens and turns to look down the hall at Vlad. What an odd pair they must make in this dim hotel hallway. Vlad in his dark silk pajamas and matching housecoat holding a slightly melted bucket of ice. The boy, Daniel, in an oversized NASA hoodie space print flannel pajama pants with a small box?

“Your sister beat you to it. I fear you are too late to warn me about how your parents are ready to ambush me into restarting our friendship. I have consoled myself to facing them tomorrow at brunch and the emotional encounter it will be.” Vlad dramatically sighs out.

From the way Daniel untenses that was the right move. His hands fiddle with the small box.

“Did she catch you in the stairwell or the elevator? I know she has been working on her elevator pitch all day.” Daniel jokingly asks.

“Her elevator pitch was put to good use in the ice machine room. Trapped me between the exit and the vending machines.” Vlad tells him.

“I did not think she had it in her to actually stalk you. I thought she was going to just stay in the elevator and wait for you to use it.” Daniel laughs out.

Not that it would have worked as Vlad had been turning invisible and phasing up the elevator shaft to precisely avoid encounters.

“Never underestimate a determined young woman. Now how may I help you, Daniel?” Vlad asks.

“Well Jazz did the hard work already getting you to face our parents. Here take this.” Daniel says stepping forwards and offering out the small box.

Vlad takes the small box which appears to be a chocolate box of some kind. It is fairly heavy for its size.

“Dad has not had this brand of fudge before. It should give you a solid ten minutes of him running it through his ranking system before he remembers what he had wanted to do. It won’t stop the hug but should allow you the time to remind him to let you keep your feet on the ground for it.” Daniel quickly says.

“That is very thoughtful of you Daniel.” Vlad thankfully says

“Just Danny, Daniel makes it sound like you are going to give me detention.” Danny embarrassingly jokes.

“Danny then. Thank you for this. I know it must be hard to find a chocolate maker that Jack has not tried the fudge for.” Vlad says.

“Glad to help. Well I am still getting over the time zone change and need all the sleep I can. Night Vlad, good luck with Mom. I have yet to find anything to really stop her so you are on your own.” Danny says cheerfully before he sprints down the hall to the elevator.

Vlad looks after as Danny turns a corner then disappears from sight. He sighs before unlocking his hotel room. It seems that at least the children have decided to help him take things at his own pace. He sets the box gently onto the bedside table. Put the ice that has not melted into the cold compress bag for his headache. Sets up his laptop and begins the searches for the closest store that has rubix cubes.

If one happens to go missing from inventory the next morning. Along with several bills totaling more than the cube are found in the empty cash drawer when they go to open the register for the morning, well that is just a wonderful coincidence.

Now with a Part 3, and Part 4