Fear and Control

prints

here's a quick drawing to say goodbye! wish i could've participated more tbh, but the art won't stop here :>

thank you for the support on my art, it really keeps me motivated amidst the lil hate here and there! :')

BONUS:

Sit down in the shower. Tip your head back and pay attention to each drop of water that lands on your face. Listen to nothing but the noises that the water makes as it misses your body and hits the base.

Sit by an open window late at night and feel like cool breeze brush past your face. See how it helps forget your problems for a brief second?

Lay down on your floor and place your legs up against the nearest wall or wardrobe. Play song songs through headphones as you stare into the abyss of your ceiling. Cry if you need to.

Listen to a heavy bass song on an old speaker whilst in the bath. Turn off the lights and submerge your head underneath. For a couple of seconds realise how nothing else matters apart from that bass that swims through the water. Take a very dramatic deep breath when you raise your head from beneath the water.

Write down your feelings and deep secreted emotions on a piece of paper. Screw up the paper and throw it into a lot fireplace. Watch as the paper blackens and how your thoughts are lost within the blaze.

Drink fruit juice out of a wine glass. Swill the juice around the glass whilst you turn the pages of an old book. Read a dramatic line of a book and react loudly before taking a sip from the glass.

touchstarvation (I’ve also seen it called “skin hunger”) is the desire for human touch. it is not sexual or even inherently romantic or platonic in nature. if you correlate it with any love at all I think it’d have to be general love for humankind. it is felt all over the body (not localized to any one area) and is the one that causes ASMR-like shudders just by accidentally brushing hands with a stranger. human contact with anyone will help cure the issue. I recommend going out and getting your hair done or a professional massage (with a masseuse, not a chair). petting animals can help alleviate the feeling somewhat but ultimately you will want human touch.

emotional longing can be easily confused with touchstarvation for a few reasons, and I usually like to throw both in my fics because it’s a fun combination, but they aren’t a package deal. you can long for emotional intimacy without any sort of touch, but a whole lot of humans have physical affection as a love language, or even if they normally don’t, they’ll seek it out when grieving. it is felt in the chest (you know how we say you feel emotions from the “heart” even though that’s not true? I assume this is why) and manifests as a tightness or throbbing. a kind stranger can temporarily help but it’ll probably worsen the longing in the long run; what you really need is a loved one like a close friend to hold you for a while. you don’t need a hug to pull your bodies closer together, you need a hug to pull your souls closer together, and your bodies happen to be in the way.

being horny on main (yeah I’m gonna meme to get through this part) is not the type of thing I usually talk about on this blog, but as an alloaro who sees a lot of aces worried/confused about “what am I feeling,” I’m gonna go ahead and talk about it. it is not inherently linked to romantic or platonic love (although I know that for some, it can be) and is very distracting and annoying. it can be a bit similar to the chest throbbing except that it is most definitely localized to the parts of the body you’d expect (mostly the Lower Regions ™) and also won’t rly be fixed by the remedies for the other two, just like how looking at hot anime girls won’t make you any less lonely. it can be aimed at a person or people, but for the most part (again, I know demisexuals exist), this doesn’t have anything to do with who those people are, just how they look.

Sex isn’t the only form of intimacy. Try writing your characters into these intimate scenarios:

Person A placing their hand on Person B’s forehead to check if they have a fever

Person A scratching an itch that Person B can’t reach

Person A wiping away Person B’s tears

Person A rubbing Person B’s stomach when they have a stomachache

Person A giving Person B a foot/hand/neck/back massage

Person A drying off Person B after they’ve had a shower or come in from the rain

Person A gently blowing into Person B’s eye to help them get something out of it

Person A lightly brushing Person B’s hair out of their eyes

Person A whispering into Person B’s ear

B : Can I what?

A: Can you-

B: What? Can I do what?

A: Nothing.

Fake Family

1. “This guy is being a creep and won’t leave me alone. Will you pretend to be my overprotective older brother for five minutes?”

2. “The nurse said only family was allowed back here, so I told her we were siblings. Just go along with it.”

3. “That person asked if I was your S/O. I’m sick of people not believing when I say we’re friends, so I said we were siblings.”

4. “I’m your bodyguard, but the event you’re going to does not allow bodyguards, so I’m now your sibling.”

5. “I was on a date, and the person made me uncomfortable, so I told them my parent was a cop. Only problem: My parents are dead, and you’re the only cop I know. Help?”

6. “We have a very elaborate story of how we’re related that we tell everyone when they meet us. No one has any idea that it isn’t true.” 

7. “I told someone we were siblings, but we look nothing alike, so you said I was adopted. Now they want to have dinner with my family… Are your parents good at lying?”

8. “We always joke that we’re siblings, but someone didn’t realize we were joking, so now we’re seeing how far we can carry this out.”

9. “Our organization is extremely covert, but your friends have caught me at your place a few times picking you up. I just found out that you’ve been telling them I’m your hysterical aunt who calls you every time she has a new heartbreak. Really? You couldn’t come up with a less embarrassing cover?”