Hi Clari! I hope you're doing well<3 I wanted to ask you a question because you not only seem to be comfortable sexually but we also share a lot of preferences! You were the one who got me on board with stepcest with our favorite Touya-nii~ Anyway, I am painfully shy about sex despite being in a long-term healthy relationship. I noticed that when you write Reader, we have similarities in being both shy and kinda desperate, but Reader seems to be more able to be vulnerable. You talk about your sex life and seem to be well-oriented, so I was curious about where you get your confidence from? Is it something you even think about? Even if I want to explore my kinks I tend to freeze up so do you have any advice?

hi anon bb!! thank you luvie i hope you are as well!! <3 ooh this is an interesting question!

so, like tnii’s reader, i am actually also super shy when it comes to sex. i’m a little brattier than she is, but for the most part i am still rly rly shy. my boyfriend knows this; we had a long discussion about it, because it concerned him a little—like why am i still shy when i feel comfortable and safe with him? etc—and we came to the conclusion that it most likely has roots in trauma & how that affects/has affected my self esteem. we also came to the conclusion that i really DO want to speak up more/be more vocal and gave him permission to gently (or not so gently sometimes ehehehehehehe) push me to tell him what i want, to use my words, etc etc. and even though it lights my whole body on fire because i feel sooooo embarrassed and shy, it’s also rly hot and i always feel like ??? i dunno, this sense of relief almost? it’s like this gush of pure love for him that surges through my veins after he gently coaxes things out of me, like i’m proud of myself for doing it and he’s proud of me and i love him so much for understanding and for helping me, and us, find ways to work through/with my shyness.

in general tho i am also a very shy person, at least when i first meet someone! i become more vibrant and chatty after i get to know them a little better but those beginning stages always have me like >.< waaaaah hehe

so, unfortunately, my advice is just talk about it. i know that sounds obvious, but open + honest communication and trust are both so important, like in my opinion they’re two of the foundational keys to a healthy relationship. maybe you and your partner can find some ways to work with your shyness that work for the both of you the way my boyfriend and i did! additionally, it seems like you have a general idea of what the root cause of this is, noting that you struggle with vulnerability, so if i were you, i would explore that first and foremost and try to get to the bottom of those feelings and why they exist; like why do you struggle with feeling vulnerable/allowing yourself to feel vulnerable? what is it that makes you feel so shy and self conscious? etc etc. i think that if you can get to the root cause there it may help you a little in moving forward and solving this problem!!

i also have this ask which gives some general advice for talking to your partner about your kinks!! in this ask the kink in question is a daddy kink, so tw for that <3

i hope this helps a lil anon bb <33

I love unhinged women

Ohh how long are/were in animation school!? I like animation and someday wish to pursue it

i'm in my second year and i've barely learned anything. though hopefully it'll be a good gateway into the industry.

I just taught myself how to animate by studying fan animations frame by frame and apparently it worked

Edit: lol sorry that was probably too mean. I'm further into my second year now and I'm making good connections and learning essential things about the industry workflow. The first year was just more relaxed to ease us into it :)

I found a four-leaf clover, does that mean everything will turn out alright? 😭🍀

not to sound weird but what was that work you put in to get where you are 🙏 i want to improve my life so bad but have no clue where to start. even a general gist of things

You dont sound weird! I think it's commendable to want to change your life for the better, and I want to help in any way I can :D

This is also my own perspective but I think a lot of it could be universally applied if you look at it through different lenses of ppls different situations. This also got rly long so I'm putting it under a readmore ^^;

So I had pretty much been isolating myself with increasing ferocity for years until recently. Even when trying to reach out to people I was extremely closed off, keeping my feelings behind many walls and chains always. A lot of my hard work has come from undoing all of that fuckup. I put all my eggs into my online friendships (and even then had a hard time with them).

My behavior was a cluster of personal garbage, learned mannerisms from keeping bad company, and hardwired reactions to specific behaviors. It's something pretty hurtful to realize when you do realize it, but that doesn't mean that you are a bad person or a failure or anything like that. It just means that you have certain bare minimum survival behaviors that worked before but now are only doing you damage, and you have to learn to undo them. (which is a great step!!)

Which brings me to what I have (painfully) learned over the past several years: the basis to any and every good relationship, romantic, platonic, family, or anything is crystal clear communication. Straight up for the love of god communication skills will save your life time and time and time again

And also like I said in earlier posts the solution to wanting to be more social is just BEING more social. This is arguably extremely hard, especially after years of "if they want me around they'll ask me" and always waiting to be invited but not wanting to bother anyone by asking if you can join NO!!!!!!!! GET THAT SHIT OUT OF YOUR BRAIN EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY!!!!! It really does NOT work that way at all. People will invite you to things if they see you express interest in them. The same way that in your head you think 'theyll invite me if they want me to go' if they dont see you express interest people will think you dont want to join. If you go someplace and just stay recluse because youre shy they likely will also think "theyre probably not comfortable or dont want to be here, so we wont force them". People are inherently kind and they are definitely NOT thinking about shunting you on purpose (and I am speaking this, genuinely, from personal experience)

While I was studying my major I got close to a group of people and thought of them as my friend group, but they always seemed cold to me, and I rarely got invited to hangouts because they seemed closer among themselves so I ended up always thinking that they didn't really want me around, and created all of these assumptions in my mind about them or what they thought of me.

Years later, recently, I found one of them again just... randomly while walking through the street and we started talking. And in my much better state of mind I asked about this whole thing because I wanted to know how the rest of the group was doing (I care very much for them still) and he revealed to me that THEY were the ones who thought I was shutting myself off of the group bc I didnt wanna be close to them. Which just blew my mind but it made a lot of sense and explained a lot. I was always on my phone too, talking with my internet friends (because it was my comfort zone), so what they'd assumed was that I already had a friend group that I was invested in and so I wasnt going to prioritize them. SO basically this whole thing ended up being resolved with clear communication and would have been solved much earlier if I had just spoken up about it and gotten braver (though my mental state did not let me at the time)

Anytime you are making up assumptions and ultimatums in your mind without communicating them to the other party you should stop and very much go and speak out loud to the other party (or parties) it will genuinely do you good cause huge as hell brain snowballs do nothing but drown you in your own mind.

Also on the being social front, if you dont have the practice in then it will be hard but a lot of it is very much "fake it till you make it" and I genuinely cannot recommend that enough. Inject yourself into conversations and places and act like yourself unapologetically because the secret isnt to craft a persona that you think people will like, its just being yourself and finding people who will love you for who you are. And like I said I just got invested in other ppls plans and asked to be able to go to places, and oftentimes just by expressing interest i got invited "oh I love this show very much!!" "well we have a plan to watch it at my pals house do you wanna come?" "we were planning on going to X place this week" "omg that sounds so cool can I come with" "of course!" Generally people will respond with "the more the merrier" so please dont be afraid to ask. And even if you get a rejection or two it's fine, don't let it discourage you. Some plans are simply not meant to be, and that's totally fine too!

Something else I worked for was reestablishing contact with old highschool friends I'd lost and I missed terribly. I went out of my way to find them again (old phone numbers, old emails, old instagram accounts that hadnt posted since 2019), and I found them!

And most of them really missed me too and were absolutely thrilled I contacted them again, we picked up right where we left off eight years prior. With a lot to catch up to but its genuinely so nice to have them in my life rather than just melancholically thinking about them and wondering if they hated me or anything. Turns out that they had also thought to contact me as well or had tried and lost my phone, or some of them even thought that it was better to leave things as they were to not "stir up shit" so we were all stuck in the same loop of insane thinking without actually confirming it until one of us (me in this case) finally broke the ice (and it took a damn long time too)

The thing is, people are just like you. We all have our own mental nonsense to fight, and we all have our assumptions and propensity to think ourselves into the grave, that's why its so so so so important to communicate things as clearly and as often as possible. Bearing your suffering alone will only make you miserable in the end, and your circle is there to help you

As a last note, I do want to say I have been incredibly lucky, because the friend group I've been adopted into I have met through that one friend from uni that I just HAPPENED to find on the street. I could have not waved him over on the street and just kept walking with my music on and ignored him. I could have said 'no' to his offer to get dinner that day if I'd wanted to be home earlier. I could have never spoken up about liking eurovision and never gotten invited to the hangout where I met my bf. And none of this would have ever happened at all. But that just strengthens my advice of "just say yes and reach out of your comfort zone" because you never know where it's going to lead you!

All this to say:

Communicate clearly with your peers to reduce misunderstandings. More likely than not they'll be in the same boat as you are. (Also extra note. Communication works BOTH WAYS. It needs to come from both parties. It is also a skill you have to nurture and hone!!)

Be kind!! and be loving!! and be yourself unapologetically!!

reach out to people the same way that you'd want to be reached out to. It sucks that sometimes (even often) you have to be the one to do it, but you eventually reap what you sow and people will learn that they can reach out to YOU

People will respond in kind to you being nice to them and a positive energy in their life. Some people will take advantage of it yes, thats just how things are, and its something you have to learn to recognize but you should never let that steel your heart. It is so so so important to remain kind and loving the world needs it so much. We're all out here trying to make our own lives and our loved ones lives a little bit brighter <3

-Happy Birthday, Lela!🤍

@lelaloly

Good Morning Gamers!! Hope you're all doing well! :> Just a quick heads up that I might not be very talkative and such today or the next few days for that matter. Upcoming finals along with a few other IRL things have been keeping me pretty busy ^^"

Hey I'm not dead

But this is a dying acc.

BUT GO VOTE FOR CARDINAL RULES HERE

IT WOULD GIVE ME MUCH JOY

Call your tmnt friends!!

HEHEHE HOHOHO LOOK WHAT I GOT ✨

Are you also in biomed? Cause i am and i HATE immunology like SO much

i study medicine! in the middle east we don't have pre-med so u just go straight into medicine and yeah it sucks so bad😭😭😭

HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY @zu-is-here!!!!

i can't believe i missed your b-day again!! i had to make you something this year and so why not draw the bean the legend, the sweetest baby ever as a gift!!! >:Dc

thank you so much for all of your sweet words and making your blog one of the most comforting places to be at!! hope you're having an amazing day<3333

Hiya! I’m kind of a small creator on here and trying to get my rottmnt fic an audience but no matter what I do as promo material (art, skits, rambles) nothing ever works to get more than like 2 notes max. I’m confident in my story’s quality so I’m fairly sure that’s not the issue. I was wondering if you have any advice or anything like that? Your stuff is lovely and get a lot of community engagement so I’m curious if there was anything you actively did that helped you grow! I hope this doesn’t come off as rude or desperate, I just wanted to know if I was missing something since I’m pretty new to Tumblr. Enjoy your day ^^

Don't worry! You don't come off as rude or desperate at all!! <3

But tbh... you are asking the wrong person here...

I'm going into marketing, and I spent a full school year in high school doing an independent study on social media algorithms. So I know a LOT about how to grow social media followings- specifically instagram accounts.

But I never actually studied tumblr. I used to use instagram as a platform, but knowing how the algorithm worked was too stressful for me... I'd post stuff and be like "the algorithm won't like this because blah blah blah." Eventually I was drawing for the algorithm and not for me, and so I quit because it just wasn't fun anymore...

Which is why I have very specifically not studied Tumblr's algorithm, because I don't want it to turn into the same situation as with instagram. So I don't know a ton about how to grow a following... and also I've only been on tumblr for 5 months...

THAT BEING SAID: I can walk you through my tumblr and how it's grown!

My very first post was of a meme redraw with the 2012 turtles. I think it got around 1,600 likes?

I posted a couple more things, with varying amounts of likes and such. My first comic (which I never actually completed past the first part) got a total of 7 likes within the first months of posting it. Only when I got more followers did the like amount change.

When I posted my first chapter of the Flashbacks AU, I had 33 or so followers. I think I got to like... 300 followers from that first chapter alone. From there it was just... a steady growth of followers I guess. And with followers comes more reblogs, and with more reblogs comes more followers.

I have around 1,600 followers now. Not everyone is gonna like my posts, I think I get around 20 for responded asks and 100-300 for random pieces of art. Comics get closers to 600 or so. It depends on the content.

I think there are a couple of universal things that help grow an account:

1- Making sure your content is reaching the right people. Put the right tags in. Go crazy with them in fact. If I'm posting a piece with Rise Mikey in it, Im gonna tag: Mikey, Mikey tmnt, Mikey 2018, ROTTMNT, Rise Mikey, etc etc. On instagram they are currently trying to get people to limit their use of tags, but I don't think the same thing applies here. Even tho tags don't help as much here, they are still a good tool!

2- Consistency. Idk how it works on this platform, but consistency is generally a good thing! With instagram theres an actual method to it (1 post a day= good, but the more posts you do a day the less people it shows it to), it might be worth it to look up if tumblr has something similar.

3- Have fun with it! I know this is kinda lame to say... but don't change your content for views. Just... do what you like and eventually your target audience will find you :)

4- Engage with what audience you do have! It's fun to bond with people online, and it helps that "community engagement" piece you talked about!

5-... stalk people hehe. (By which I mean: Look at what other artists post! What tags do they use, do they reblog their own posts a lot, etc etc. Also look at artists with similar followings to your own. For example, studying Cass might not be very helpful, because Cass has a large amount of followers and I'm convinced they could post a picture of a blank canvas and still get 1,000 likes hehe... BUT- I mean you could scroll down to Cass' (or other artist's) first posts and see what they were doing then! Just... observe others I suppose!)

Id love to tell you likes don’t matter, that what matters is having fun and loving what you are drawing. But also I do know how it feels to post something you are really proud of and then have no one like it- it sucks.

But just keep on going :) You'll find your people eventually I'm sure.

OH ALSO: IF ANYONE ELSE HAS ANY TIPS FEEL FREE TO REBLOG AND ADD STUFF IN!!! <3

hiiiiii i think you've answered smth like this before but i can't find it so i just wanted to ask if there are some basic tips/etiquette points you think are important for concert behaviour? ive never been to one before as a kid and i might be seeing noah kahan in november so i just wanted to be prepared x

I ALSO MIGHT BE SEEING HIM IN NOVEMBER OMG HI <3 concerts are great bc there's no set way of behaving like some people dont dance or sing or interact at all and some people are drunk off their nut screaming every word and BOTH are acceptable so honestly just have fun my attitude at concerts is always that i wont see anyone there again aside the people i came with and seeing an artist i love is typically a once in a lifetime opportunity so just LET LOOSE <3 whatever works for you works babe. some heads up of shit that happens at concerts that might throw you for a loop if you aren't used to it:

mosh pits and drink throwing. neither will be applicable at a noah kahan concert i dont THINK but also i dont trust the brits so who even knows. these also only apply if you get standing tickets. basically at any sort of beat drop or dancey song, people will mosh which can get very aggressive very quickly especially if you're short (rip me during the catfish and the bottlemen concert years ago i almost DIED) but they're also easy to avoid if you see them forming (baso everyone starts backing up to clear a circle of space) bc you can just push out of it. and drink throwing is self-explanatory and also happens on beat drops. me personally i cannot fathom throwing an entire pint in THIS economy but whatever

post-concert gridlock. this is BRUTAL especially if the artist is mega popular getting out of a concert can literally see an entire city be shut down, so keep that in mind when working out logistics and etas and STAY TOGETHER ALWAYS

water! concerts always do free tap water and if you can it's always good to bring some with you too, it's actually insane how dehydrated you get in concerts and if you're stuck in a crowd with no way to the bar then that's how people wind up fainting

usually artists release their own set list that you can look at but sometimes they dont and if that's the case there's ALWAYS some angel on spotify that's already got it down on a playlist. it's so much more fun if you know the songs so checking out the set list beforehand is brill and also just gives the entire experience a structure

Do you mind if I ask what medication you are taking for ADHD? I've been taking viloxazine but it keeps me awake for multiple days sometimes. My doctor and I are going to meet and talk about revising the medication. I'm trying to avoid adderall.

Hi anon! I'm not currently taking any medication for ADHD. When I was in grad school I had a methylphenidate prescription, the generic version of Ritalin.

... I also couldn't get the prescription refilled because I did grad school in England and fast-acting stimulants are a schedule II controlled substance there, plus adult ADHD diagnoses weren't really a thing at the time (this was 10 years ago).

So since I only had the limited supply I brought with me I would take it "as needed" to write papers, finish assignments, write my graduate thesis... Basically I was one of those bad people who get a prescription they "don't need" just to get schoolwork done, even though I had been properly evaluated and diagnosed by my regular non pill-pushing doctor before going to the UK.

Maybe it's because I wasn't taking the medication regularly AS medication, but my experience was the same as yours. I had a lot of trouble sleeping, plus I would get a bit, I don't know if manic is the proper word for it, but energized and then crash afterward.... I don't think I've ever been as depressed as I was while prescribed methylphenidate, lol. This would happen with both the quick-release and slow-release pills and actually the slow-release ones were worse because they were at a higher dose.

So my experience with ADHD medication is mixed because on the one hand I did finish my thesis on time and on the other hand it wasn't something I could continue long term, and ultimately I decided to stop taking it and find other ways to focus.

...and also, I decided to not pursue a career in social statistics that would have required a lot of intense focus on solitary projects for long periods of time. Instead I work in an urban high school where we're always in crisis mode and there are immediate consequences if I don't plan my lessons well enough and that motivates me, lol.

It's funny, as a kid I always considered that I had a shorter attention span than others, and also that it was more variable than others and less under my conscious contro (Thinking, Fast and Slow is a good book about this).

But as I've become an (older) adult and settled, and also as more and more people spend more and more time looking at screens -- we were the ONLY family with a desktop computer at home in my neighborhood when I was in middle school -- lately it seems like the average attention span has shortened. And mine is actually fairly long now in comparison. So I don't feel the need to take medication anymore, really.

The non-medication thing that helped me the most, btw, when I was job-hunting after grad school was a project to journal my moods / energy hour by hour throughout the day. Because what I realized was that my main problem was that I didn't **know** how I was feeling, so I couldn't manage my energy by myself by adjusting my schedule, resting when needed, drinking coffee, etc.

Once I gained the magic skill to know and manage my own moods that helped tremendously. And I want to say that the ADHD medication, although I didn't keep using it, really helped with that by exaggerating my attention swings and making them predictable. Not just was it easier to recognize the exaggerated moods, but also I let go of a lot of ideas I'd had about what I "should" be able to do and a lot of moralizing I'd been doing about being a lazy good for nothing, etc. Because how could it be a moral issue or a question of willpower when you could change it with a pill?

For this reason, I think everyone should try a mind-altering or mood-altering drug at some point in their lives, even if they ultimately decide to not take any drugs. I think it gives you empathy for other people whose brains work differently from yours, and a sense of perspective about your own brain.

I'm sure this isn't what you wanted, maybe try asking in a ADHD medication subreddit or on ask.metafilter.com. I think you'd get a lot of interesting advice.

(What if too tired for work, but not too tired for fanfic?) XD But seriously, I’m taking advantage of the fact that I can no longer focus on assignments to be able to read the latest chapters! And boooooooy do I have thoughts! Ok, ok, so first of all, man did Moon take the brunt of that reveal huh? Not only realizing what’s been going on, but now questioning his whole relationship with the Robin he thought he knew. I’m sure their complaints were more annoyed at first, but surely Sun may also have exaggerated a liiiiitle how bad the “coworker” was actually perceived when he told Moon about it, based on how we know Sun has also felt a pang of jealousy when y/n did speak fondly of him. But I can definitely see how Moon needed the space, (even if it actually might have made it worse just spiraling in his thoughts). And then also Sun! Because he’s so, so afraid that y/n wouldn’t see him as the sweet guy that they kinda went on a date with and have been building a closer relationship with, (which I mean, fair assumption, we saw how the ruthlessness went in reverse au even if it was due to have it directed AT them, which canon Sun wouldn’t do at this point). These guys are a combined ball of anxiety and fears. And omg, poor Robin. You have mentioned before that they didn’t use to hang out with anyone before and that they generally didn’t get along with most coworkers, so I suspected they were already a very lonely person (and pretending they could handle it fine) before they met the boys, but wow, this really highlights how much that was the case. They’re very concerned about Moon, and while they themself have disappeared before, they probably felt something was off about this time. And then to come back to find out their neighbor who maybe possibly went on a date with them just the day before is obviously avoiding them? Sun and Moon at least had each other to reassure themselves that everything would be fine when their landlord/rival disappeared . Robin had no one. And knowing how sweet Sun was towards them probably only made them think that whatever they did was a grave offense. So their rival could be dead and they wouldn’t know, and their neighbor might hate them now, and now they tried to fix it, but they’re still terrified of finding out what really is going on. And that loneliness that they probably didn’t even notice was there before is coming twice as strong now that they’re used to the company of two very important people to them. Ough, loving it all, can’t wait until reckless y/n learns the truth and does whatever they’re gonna do!

I sat on this the entire workday wanting to answer, you really sent this right before I left! gdhsj

This. has turned MUCH too long I am so sorry. Read more for you GFHDJS

But yea yea yea! If we compare Moon's reaction about being the "annoying coworker" in the first alt reveal drabble and the canon reveal, the difference is drastic.

In one, he has the complainer right there - throwing pillows at him, rather than anything actually hostile. Y/N is frantic, and near panic, but did not go further than any attacks they direct at each other on any other day.

Another example from that one unpublished drabble I have no idea when I'll get to it (context: Dusk picked Robin up):

This is early in the rivalry, but still standard. They fight a bit, but they don't truly hurt each other - in the alt reveal scene he had that immediate reassurance that yes, Robin may snark and throw some punches (or, pillows), but they don't see him as an enemy.

In the canon reveal? He has the immediate comparison of Robin & Dusk vs Y/N & Sun, with the latter being much friendlier and closer (as he thinks). Then he has the thought that he's the coworker, and Y/N isn't there to reassure him of their relationship and dynamic, he only has Sun who's in denial and then freaking out just as much, and he catastrophizes. It's a lot, it's too much, and then he's already buried himself in those worst case thoughts where not even Sun could reach him.

The nights he hides away to think he basically went through all their interactions, trying to interpret them differently, and some (especially earlier) memories might have fit this terrible new pattern he has to consider, but more and more... It doesn't make sense. Things don't add up, and then Sun shares that he was jealous because Y/N wouldn't rest until they heard their coworker is concerned.

So by the time Sun urges him to go back to work to see Robin? He's ready to hope again, and boy does Robin deliver. There's still a lot of hurt, remnants of doubt that he needs to talk to Y/N about, and fear of the unknown future for them all. But when Robin cheers him up, baits him into a chase, and is just so relieved to have him back? That's when things start looking up for him again.

And Sun? "which canon Sun wouldn’t do at this point" well. Maybe not quite - but once Sun leans into the rivalry, Robin is in for a surprise. And not just the "Oh no he's hot" kind! They just have the advantage that they already know all of him by then, unlike reverse Robin meeting the ruthless side first.

He is ruthless. That is him, and he enjoys a good chase! He's also sweet and loves taking care of Y/N, yes, and if he had thought it's an option he would have hidden away all those parts he wouldn't want them to see and just be that for them. Would he have been entirely happy? Probably not, honestly. The secrecy and cutting off parts of himself to fit into that image he projected would have taken their toll on him.

If, post-reveal when things settle down, you'd ask him if he thinks it was good they found out? Immediate "Yes." He gets to show all of himself to Y/N, and they accept him, and enjoy all of him. He gets to cook for them and ask them if they're staying hydrated and also chase them through the city and fluster them on missions.

But right now? He doesn't know what the future holds. There's just fear that they might find out, and while they might not be horrified at what he's capable of per se, it's still one hell of a contrast to the person he tried to be for them. He thinks they'd see it as a downgrade, as opposed to Moon having an easier time since they already knew his agent side.

Moon's fear is that Robin may have never liked him. They disprove that as soon as they get the chance, unknowingly.

Sun's fear is that Y/N may hate Dawn. He doesn't get the reassurance until they do find out, and then some.

Moon took the brunt of the reveal - but Sun has to endure it longer.

Y/N? They thought they were fine on their own, they were doing well enough, they had some fun, they didn't realize that something was missing until they gained it, and then lost it again.

They were sick when they were "missing", or in the first case in the hospital, though Dusk knew about that.

An animatronic does not get the flu.

They don't know if it's something harmless keeping him, like it was something harmless for them - because their situation simply does not apply to Dusk's.

So when both of their support pillars suddenly crumble and cave in, when they're suddenly all alone again? They're terrified.

They're proud, and don't quite dare pester their supervisor for more info - just "You'd tell me if he was dead, right? I work with the guy regularly, I need to know if he'll be back. When he'll be back" and only gets noncommittal answers back that they assume mean he's fine, because they would tell them if Dusk was dead, right? But they can't be sure.

And they might feel like talking to Sun about it, hear any reassurance even if they can't share much, but... His last text came super late, and was kind of stiff, and they haven't seen him for a while now, where before they used to see each other on the porch or balcony pretty regularly?

Is he... Is he avoiding them? And if yes (because man, that would fit what's happening), why? The distance came after they sent the pictures - was there something wrong with those? They took a bunch of him, and didn't ask every time, was he put off by that? But that wouldn't warrant ghosting, right? Was there something else, something they missed? A signal, a cue, did they mess up? They don't even know, and they're already in a bad headspace, so they just spiral.

Keep hoping Dusk comes back, keep hoping they'll see Sun again.

When neither happens, they reach out to the one they can reach at least, their pride finally having lost to their concern and hope and loneliness.

They got the reassurance that Sun doesn't suddenly hate them for some reason, but he's still tense and unhappy, and Dusk is still missing, so it's still just a small relief.

They start feeling better when Dusk comes back to work, and almost close to normal when he falls back into their usual pattern, and Sun greets them on the porch again when they meet. But things are off, still, somewhat, and, well...

Their boys do have a bomb to drop right back.

i've spent my entire weekend doing absolutely nothing but practice aptitude maths tests and i'm still failing every single one of them. i have to do the real thing by thursday. the (dream!!) job i've been shortlisted for has absolutely nothing to do with maths and yet now i'm not going to get it. because of maths. someone tell me how this makes sense 😭