SKYDISH1

[glendover]

so there is a significant lack of Aaron Minyard in TSC and not to be my own hype man but I wrote a pretty cool Aaron centric fanfic that’s almost as long as TSC so I’m not saying you should check it out but you can if you want to

you can read it here

[skyddish]

i'm on my knees

"It wasn’t as if someone had turned a switch and suddenly he was miserable; Aaron had always been miserable."

GWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

[jordiipordii]

for your consideration: andrew absentmindedly tearing neil’s lunch into small bits for the first time. neil stares at the shredded remains of his sandwich and he has no idea what compelled andrew to do this but he appreciates it anyway?

[depsidase]

[dandelionsresilience]

Just gonna drop these here as a starting point :)

How to identify, and then deal with, your emotions

Emotional regulation skills

Conflict resolution skills

Creating and enforcing boundaries

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy skills

Emotional intelligence ideals to aim for

Axes of self-care/wellbeing

Self-care self-evaluation (find out where you’re starting)

How to make a self-care checklist

How to start a self-care habit

Reparenting resources

Crash Course Psychology

KhanAcademy: Understanding the Self and Society (some units more relevant than others)

Emotional education activities for children and teens

Social-Emotional Learning activities for kids (information can be adapted for adults)

[kevindaysmyspace]

kevin watching from his top bunk making sure nothing nefarious happens now that neil’s moved in with andrew

[skyddish]

i'm so pumped to read the broken cage. this fandom is so FED!!! every time a new book comes out i get to reconnect with my online friends to geek out about the thing that brought us together five years ago, it's such a magical experience

[xxverygoodcowsxx]

Both fucking masterpieces btw.

[skyddish]

god forbid they create a live action Daria and i see jenna ortega on that screen

[lyraaorion]

poor Jax

[teashteinn]

FOUND A STRANGE COMPUTER!😱EXPLORING AN ABANDONED OFFICE PART 1!🤯

[andreauxminyard]

ok. beach episode. dont look at me

[skyddish]

AGSJKFLGLG IM SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS

[andreauxminyard]

uh oh babydeer goes to columbia

[skyddish]

the screech i just scrumpt oh man oh man ohMAN

[barkbarkvnbarkenstein]

Was I not enough?

[decayingmercy]

Something that pmo (this is not a rare instance) is Aaron/Kevin. Not because I have sth against the ship itself but BECAUSE THIS IS KATEKYN ERASURE. GIVE HER BACK. Katelyn stuck around for so long in spite of never being able to be with Aaron. She dealt with Andrew's bs didn't leave him. Everything she did in AFTG, such as ignoring Aaron, was to push their relationship forward. Don't you dare use that as your excuse, it's so cheap. I am 100% onboard for Aaron/Kevin/Katelyn. Stop throwing her away for the sake of bl you COWARDS.

[jeanneil]

back to shitposting after a post that was more plot related 🙂‍↕️ featuring the triumphant introduction of my angel, cody winter

(pt 3)

[debutsdestar]

ok there's something I genuinely haven't understood.

I heard somewhere that Nora said that yes, Neil and Andrew do live together and have a cat and are in love but she also said that Andrew never really heals, never comforts Neil and they never get that touchy thing other couples do, that Andrew remains dead inside and never smiles.

And like

I can totally accept the touchy thing (even if I like to think that they'll reach it at some point)

But the other things???

I am extremely sure that I can't take a dead inside Andrew that never smiles at Neil???

come on he's even doing therapy (I'm just tryna to convince myself don't judje me I know therapy can't solve all your problems BUT IT COULD)

everything but a dead inside Andrew even when he lives with Neil

I will not accept that

so I need to know if Nora really said this or if it is just a rumor

I might cry if it's the second one but ignore that, just tell me what you know abt this

[coldsaturn]

You can look for the EC yourself following THIS link!

There's a question that goes literally "does andrew get less dead inside" and the answer is actually pretty realistic for a medically untreated bipolar guy with "more deep lows than highs":

Yes, but it is a learning process that is going to take him years [...] He’ll never be as.. attached? expressive? as the so-called “normal” characters are, [...] He slowly learns to trust the things in his life enough to let them in, whether it’s Neil or Exy or the cats, and these things are worth giving a shit about. These things are important enough to wake up for and to pay attention to and to care about, and Andrew learns to feel for all of them. Is he ever going to be a bundle of sunshine and feels? Absolutely not. But he stops counting the seconds between waking and sleeping & the breaths that take him closer to an escape in death.

I've always had issues with people understanding Nora's points around Andrew as "he never heals" because what's healing? And why is it worded like it's some threshold everyone can walk through once and for all, rather than an individual process with highs and lows that could very well take years, if not forever based on the person? Managing, healthier coping skills, a functional and fulfilling social/romantic/professional life—these are all perfectly valid standards for healing, as opposed to maladaptive coping strategies and traumatic triggered responses. Some talk about Andrew like he could at some point flick a switch and transform into the perfectly realized person he was always meant to be if his life wasn't so fucked up, but that's not how it usually works. His past isn't erased, his depression isn't erased (especially because for the foreseeable future it will be medically untreated—which, totally understandable considering his repeated trauma, but not ideal in the long run). He'll never be 100% "okay" but that's also, ironically, okay. He "never heals" in the sense that he will never be done with the process of healing.

There are some genuine heartwrenching answers around Andrew and Neil's romantic development which include the topic of physical affection, and it's so tenderly them that I truly invite you to read through her replies. The EC might not really be canon (in part or in its entirety) now that we're inside the second trilogy, but even just for angst-with-fluffy-happy-ending potential, it's a great read. She might have written "Neil doesn’t understand affection enough to miss or crave it, but he and Andrew aren’t cold with each other. They might not bury each other with I love you and hand-holding, but they don’t doubt what they mean to each other." but the first time they hold hands is one of my favorite bits in the entire EC list. Or Neil's journey through his issues with being restrained. Or Andrew taking comfort in Neil's presence even if he'd never admit that's what it is. Or how he refuses to comfort Neil if not for those times when it's clear Neil needs it ("This is how Andrew comforts: by being a stabilizing force, an anchor to keep Neil at home, a place to rest his weight and his secrets. Honestly, that’s what Neil needs"). Or their non-dates that are totally dates.

Basically: Andrew is a flawed character who 100% gets better, but he never truly erases his mental issues because they're not issues that can be erased, only managed in a way that is more or less successful. And he definitely gets more successful at doing that. He makes so much progress and goes so much further than he ever though he would that it would be a disservice to look at his adult life and think it's not enough or that he's not healing.

"Andrew’s “happiest” moment is the day he gets a letter from Cass and he doesn’t care enough to hold onto it. It’s been a while since he let go of her memory and what she once stood for, but this is still a quiet turning point of its own, that what he has is more than enough to start undoing everything he’s been through."

[Under the break, a painful point about Andrew smiling. Dead dove do not eat]

P.S. Now, if we actually want to be very very specific and lore-coherent: Andrew will probably smile again the next time his bipolar disorder loops him back into a manic phase. His refusal to take proper medicine for it kinda makes it a "when" more than an "if"

[skyddish]

whoever reading tkm on the archive website right now, making it unavailable to me... PLS I CANT COPE PLEASE PLEASEPLEASEPLEAS GIMME ACCESS PLEse

[fieldsofpoppies-in-salt-air]

I have a pdf of it would you like me to send it to you?

[skyddish]

YES !!!!

[skyddish]

whoever reading tkm on the archive website right now, making it unavailable to me... PLS I CANT COPE PLEASE PLEASEPLEASEPLEAS GIMME ACCESS PLEse