Reputations

Because the real Sir Arthur Conan Doyle knew how to box and I just wanted him to punch someone.  If you wanna read more of my stuff, then check here.

“You are utterly impossible, Arthur Conan Doyle.”

If it weren’t for the fact that she was truly upset, Arthur would have enjoyed seeing the adorable pout that sat on her features. She was absolutely adorable, but then again, there was never a time when she wasn’t. Right now, however, all he could feel was guilt over having worried her so much.

On the other hand, had he the opportunity to go back to that moment, he would still have done the same thing.

“What in the world possessed you that you just had to knock that guy out?”

Arthur briefly considered telling the truth - that some bastard, bitter after having lost a bet to him, had had the audacity to call her terrible things - but he ultimately decided against it. Simply thinking about it was enough to make his blood boil and make him want to hunt him down and slam the miscreant’s face into a wall all over again.

No, she didn’t need to hear the things he called her, to have her insecurities be brought back up again. It was his fault, after all, for having established such a reputation of being a philanderer, but whatever they all called him, he could stomach.

But for anyone to throw those kinds of words at her?

He’d never tolerate it.

So with an easy smile, he patted her head. “It’s nothing,” he assured her. “He was just upset over a bet he lost, and he wanted a rematch. He just lost again though.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, but wasn’t exactly the whole truth either. Her eyebrows pulled together, obviously unconvinced. “This happens from time to time. Not everyone is a sport, after all.”

“That may be true, but…” She pursed her lips as her gaze shifted to his hands, his knuckles slightly swollen and raw. She gently took them in hers and brushed her thumbs over the back of them. “You honestly make me worry.”

Arthur’s expression softened. “I apologize,” he murmured before pulling her close for a hug and pressed his lips against her forehead. “I’ll be more careful next time.”

— David Deida

@briars7 I have a feeling this will be Tux and Noema 😏🤭🫠😆😍

You know that’s right 😏 Gonna love every second of those brilliant, bright professionals not realizing they’ve crossed the line from a mutually beneficial arrangement to…this is personal.

Happy birthday Arthur!  (｡・//ε//・｡) Please be happy you deserve it birthday boy 

— Mary Anne Radmacher

— explorinqmyself

I genuinely think the last few generations raised on “You are special!” and “You are important!” and “You are unique!” were actually deeply harmed by the message.

I was only able to pull myself out of a miserably anti-social hole after I made the actually world-shattering discovery that I wasn’t important, I’m just like other girls, and no one (absolutely no one) cares what I’m doing.

It sounds mean, it doesn’t sound all that inspiring, but it’s what I needed.

I was so insecure and utterly miserable, because I was absolutely certain my every move was being analyzed, scrutinized and misconstrued. I had no self confidence and I was scared of people, even though I had a deep longing to be part of “community,” I couldn’t make a step to join

And then when I was…sixteen? I suddenly had the thought “Hold up, am I spending all this time analyzing what other people are doing? Do I care if they’re special or different?”

And I was not. And I did not.

I was so busy being obsessed with a my own insecurities that I wasn’t able to think about other people at all, either for good or ill.

And that was what it took to snap me out of it. I started to realize that everyone was more afraid of me than I was of them. (Even the people who seemed to have it together.)

It might sound uninspiring, but I’m really not that important. And that’s a good thing, because people aren’t spending their time judging me. I’m actually not all that unique, and that’s a good thing because I can empathize with people. I’m not special, and that’s a good thing, because no one is out there trying to idolize or sabotage me.

The parents and educators got it all wrong. Kids don't need to hear that they are special and important. They need to hear "you are special and important to me."

The former comes with pressure and expectations.

The latter comes with love and connection, and ultimately a sense that one is worth loving and connecting with. Not by virtue of what they achieve, but simply because of who they are. And, ironically, it is the solid sense of self worth that grows from that that actually supports people taking risks and being able to do amazing things.

The best genre of family portrait is and will always be Husband With Multiple Kids Making Come Hither Eyes At His Wife

Barbara Krafft, Die Familie Anton von Marx 1803

Marie-Geneviève Bouliard,Monsieur Olive & family 1791

Best part with the first one is while he is making "come hither eyes", he is also keeping one of his younger sons from mischief with that fish🤣

Very realistic family portrait in my humble but accurate opinion

To anyone who believes fairy tale romances never happen in real life, may I remind you that JRR and Edith Tolkien met and experienced a forbidden love in their youth, and then were separated for five whole years because of his guardian’s rules that he could not date till he was 21, and she got engaged to someone else only because she assumed he’d forgotten her and lost hope that she could ever be with him, but then on his 21st birthday, he wrote her a letter saying he still loved her and wanted to marry her, she responded basically saying ‘if I’d known you hadn’t left me on the shelf, I would never have said yes to anyone else,’ then a week later she greeted him at the train station and then immediately dumped her fiancé, and they got married and she converted to his religion and danced for him in a flowering field far away from the trenches into which he was drafted, which left such an impression that he crafted an entire story about the most beautiful maiden in the world who danced in the woods and made enormous sacrifices to be with the man she loved, and they had four kids and remained faithful to each other and blissfully grew old together and their gravestones are now marked with the names of that same fictional couple that he created, who broke every rule and overcame every possible obstacle to be together and get a happy ending, who only did all that because he based it all on their own real love story.

Knowing all this has always made this bit of Beren’s song instantly reduce me to tears:

Tolkien straight up wrote a poem that said “the world could end, but it wouldn’t have all been pointless, because she was in this world, however briefly, and that justified all the rest.” Kills me.

Who can outdo Wife Guy Tolkien? Dude was writing elaborate AUs where his wife is an impossibly beautiful magic-wielding immortal elf princess who fights Satan and wins to rescue her human boyfriend from Satan’s doom fortress. Flawless.

Final note: while they were dating, a favorite activity was to go to a local cafe with a balcony and throw sugar cubes into people's hats.

I think Licht is into pet play, him being the pet, that is.

That card? With him in the collar? I saw that image before I ever downloaded the game. And I saved every single gacha ticket in anticipation for that card coming out.

Plot twist: it was an ECB for a collection event. Bonus! Much easier to get than a randomized gacha and you bet I had it that first night. My tickets then went to trying for Keith cards.

Mitsunari and coffee, in modern day AU

Having joined late, I’m on a slow progress on Mitsunari’s story event. How’s everyone doing? :D

please do not repost. ^_^

happy birthday artem! ❤️🍿🎥

Happy Birthday Artem! ⚖️🥳🎂❤️ ☀️ 🌊 🏖️

#TearsOfThemis #ArtemWing #未定事件簿 #HBDArtem #fanart