the moment I heard elphaba's delivery of "there's a girl i know..." in i'm not that girl i knew i had to draw this comic, i strongly recommend listening to it while you read for the full experience!
this comic is a companion to this piece (which was inspired by glinda's delivery of the same line in the i'm not that girl reprise).
pages 1-4 are from elphie's pov, pages 5-8 are from glinda's.
My dad and I once had a disagreement over him using the adage "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
I said, "That's just not true. Sometimes what doesn't kill you leaves you brittle and injured or traumatized."
He stopped and thought about that for a while. He came back later, and said, "It's like wood glue."
He pointed to my bookshelf, which he helped me salvage a while ago. He said, "Do you remember how I explained that, once we used the wood glue on them, the shelves would actually be stronger than they were before they broke?"
I did.
"But before we used the wood glue, those shelves were broken. They couldn't hold up shit. If you had put books on them, they would have collapsed. And that wood glue had to set awhile. If we put anything on them too early, they would have collapsed just the same as if we'd never fixed them at all. You've got to give these things time to set."
It sounded like a pretty good metaphor to me, but one thing I did pick up on was that whatever broke those shelves, that's not the thing that made them stronger. That just broke them. It was being fixed that made them stronger. It was the glue.
So my dad and I agreed, what doesn't kill you doesn't actually make you stronger, but healing does. And if you feel like healing hasn't made you stronger than you were before, you're probably not done healing. You've got to give these things time to set.
final count of “fics that came to me with little to no prompting” while i was at work: 22*
live look if i were to try and explain how any of these came to me:
anyway here they are, consider this a random fic rec list for your weekend:
To Make It Count by @jazzfordshire
make sure that you know (my wip that tbh i still don’t think it should count in the total but is was in a capacity other than “i need to work in that” so…)
Wipe Out by Veritas33
At the Catch by @filament-max
if music be the food of love, play on by @lovepotionnumber5
Plus One by @shallow-seas-we-sail
in too deep by @contagiousiridescence
I'll be looking at the moon but I'll be seeing you by @ayeti
these feelings i can’t fight another @jazzfordshire classic
Hockey and Hot Chocolate by @jordswriteswords
Never have I ever by @kendrene
lay with me (like a renaissance painting) by @coffeeshib
Cadentibus Astris (3 fic series)** by @bibliophile-rhino-nerd (i know i mention this one a bunch but i truly think about it unprompted constantly)
I’ll Be Your West Coast, Honey by @thebluewritingbench
the future starts slow by @inanotheruniversemusings
[okay tbh i can’t remember the name of this one and i’ve been trying to find it again for months but the general premise is: kara is the queen/leader of the community and lena is “caught” sitting on her throne and they fuck about it (my brain is remembering it as an abo but my brain is also an unreliable narrator given how tired i am this week)]
A Rich Girl with Issues... Lots of Issues by @inkedroplets
Lena Luthor: hot girl bummer by Rouser
love like on a silver screen by powergrapes
Tasting the Talent by @legalizesupercorp
You & Me & Holiday Wine by by @ekingston (likely subconsciously fueled by a reindeer onesie lena existing on every water bottle i own)
Relationships are not a game. Quit the "well they didn't answer my text for two hours yesterday so now I'm gonna wait two hours to answers theirs." Quit the "I'm not gonna tell them that I'm upset cause if they really care they'll notice and if they don't notice they don't really care." Quit the "I'm not gonna text first cause it's their turn." Quit all of that. If you want to talk to them, talk to them. If you want to see them, ask them if they want to hang out. If you care about them, let them know. If you have something to say, say it. Stop playing all those silly mind games. It's a waste of everyone's time.
"An act of service is the physical expression of a thoughtful gesture... Act of service is about someone going out of their way to meaningfully help and support the other person. When people take initiative to ease some of their responsibilities and burdens, it helps them feel taken care of, safe, and loved in return."
