bakerstreet | listen to your heart 😌

listen to your heart 😌

"Can You Handle Your Emotions?"

Emotions are... eh. We all have them, whether we want to or not. Some people have control over their emotions, and some people let their emotions control them. Where does your character fall on this spectrum? More importantly, what's their relationship with their emotions like? Do they bury everything deep, deep down inside, or are they the first one to cry over a sappy movie? Do they even know how they feel about what's going on inside? Pretty meta stuff.

No blank top-levels.
Instead, characters are to respond to the proposed question: can you handle your emotions? / are you in touch with your feelings?
Get deep. Look within. Hear, think feel... or don't.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes.

Sounds like Father.

Ugh. What if I just don't want to have feelings about certain things?

Maybe try to...avoid people or, er--demons who make you feel that way? When you get overwhelmed, just go somewhere quiet where you can be yourself. Get some space and take long breaths. There're a few options for this aside from that. The ideal would be for you to learn to control it or to strengthen your sense of self so that no intruding emotions can affect you.

I do enjoy cursed music. And classical.

It's actually why I switched to that from reading.

There you go. What about playing an instrument? That also makes you focus on the music you make and not just the one you listen. Just an idea. You can rent a studio or go somewhere to do that when you get overwhelmed. But this is just a coping mechanism. You'll need to figure out a long-term solution.

I do. Piano, violin, guitar, drums. And compose.

I probably wouldn't do a studio, I have a music room, and it would be too difficult to find much time.

I seldom get... overwhelmed. [... Or rather, that's his constant state of existence so he doesn't know the difference. Close enough?]

Sounds like you have the room, and the instruments, but you need to start making some time for yourself. [Sideeye.] Welllll. You were sounding overwhelmed since the beginning of this conversation.

I stand by what I said. I still think no one is actually good with their emotions.

No offense, but that just means you're surrounded by people in need of therapy.

It's Hell. How many times do I have to say it??? I mean it literally. I mean, as far as I can tell, Devildom is at least Hell-lite. But it's just tortured people plagued by demons, and the demons they're all plagued by. I'm not opposed to therapy, but there aren't enough therapists to go around. And there are better ways to do it than just talking. Less time consuming ones too.

You have time to listen to music if you choose, so I didn't think it would be like the stereotypical fire-and-brimstone Hellscape. We used to get that at home, and demons didn't have emotions because they lacked souls. You sound too normal to be like that.

Maybe just talking is worth trying. Time isn't lacking when you're not short of it.

All demons are is bundles of raw emotions lacking wisdom and control. I've yet to meet one who has no emotions. They're more keyed up than some of the most abused wild animals. Even cursed artifacts simply become one after the spirit of it has been hurt so badly it starts to shut down and lashes out in the only way they know how.

Don't assume I have infinite time. I'm not my Father. I'm always short on time. And be grateful for it. Without that, we'd be much more like the fiery barren hellscape you imagine.

Ones back home didn't have them. They could, uh, "obtain" feelings from the souls they tortured and kind of consumed them like drugs? [That effect ran out, so they kept torturing, like an addiction.] A lot changed after billions of years. [Thanks to a human, Christopher Rudd started a revolt of the damned. Welllll, she doesn't get into details.] And they obtained their own souls.

[Happy ending. She pauses.]

Hey now, I didn't presume you had infinite time, but you aren't going to die in a few decades, right? You can allow yourself to take things more easily. For your mental wellness, too. Your well-being matters.

[He thinks about it.] Faeries weren't too emotional before demons. And they didn't have souls either. Devildom -- a lot of the demons and faeries are mixed now. But like I said, the shadows are just Jungian to an extreme degree, he knew what he was writing about.

Now you sound like Michael.

I hate hearing that.

I know, I'm more productive when I get sleep. [Who was it who had to tell Father that after "day 6" when he started getting loopy with making Metatron? Uriel, right?] And lashing out at my brothers isn't conducive to any of my goals.

[Ooooh, see he's connecting some. Dots. Concidences. Patterns. But fae and demons are different, and fae do have a spirit. At least, in the old Creation she came from. Everybody deserves a fresh start, so she believes.]

Pft. Maaaybe. [She giggles when she hears the comparison.] I'm a Michael's daughter, sooo I got to be at least a little like him. [Not that she knew him very well.]

Sounds like you're making things harder for yourself. But those are your honest emotions, you know. So you're not as bad with them as you thought.

[Always. He can't stop the pattern recognition or THINKING anymore than the empathy. Less than, even.]

[He arches SUCH an eyebrow at that. That would make her a niece????? Except... that... 1) Michael can't have kids 2) isn't his brother anymore.]

[An eyeroll.]

I'm not trying to.
Make it harder.
I'm not trying to make it harder on myself. [HUFF.]

Yes, being cursed with honesty as well as empathy is a good cocktail for ensuring I can recognize some of the blithering obvious at least.

You're not trying, but intention and result sometimes don't align. [She adds softly, ignoring the family bagagge stuff. He's making things hard, even if he didn't mean to.]

It's fine, my uncle wouldn't lie either. [Not a good reassurance. But honesty shouldn't be a curse.] You just need to learn it's okay to stop and enjoy yourself when you no longer can get in touch with your emotions. Presuming nobody can be good with them because you aren't is just being narrow-minded. Instead, think of it this way: if someone else has a good grasp on that, so can you.

Thanks Dad. [DRIPPING WITH SARCASM.]

[And yeah just twitches. Fine fine, he gets it. He's Lucifer. So what's new?]

[Ugh.]

[He hears her at least.]

[Scowling. A little red. But not arguing with her.]

[Drums his fingers in thought.]

What's the first step? To learning it? Practicing. Not the getting space to grow my sense of self. The other one.

Well, I didn't ask your name, but that's becoming a little obvious when you bring up your Dad a lot.

[ She flashes a wry smile. Not that her uncle liked to talk to him, but this amount of daddy issues is a sign. She can also recognize Patterns. Even when she's tried not to Look for them. ] Mine's Elaine Belloc, by the way. Nice to meet you.

[She hurries to add as a sidenote. Then clears her throat.]

I think that depends on your temperament, and those curses are literal? If empathy and honesty are curses, they are meant to weaken you. So two paths here: You either learn how to break the curse to get rid of them-----ooor you find a way to overturn them and make them become blessings to strengthen you. That's a choice only you can make.

Father. Creator. Never that familiar. Familial, yes, but not disrespectful. I only used it sarcastically in this case to illustrate a point. [He has a decent amount of FEAR of his Father. Since if he goes too far he still has a lot he can lose.]

You too Elaine. Sorry you're catching me in one of my atonalist periods. [To stick with the music references.] Is your version of your father still around? My version often sends me unsolicited advice like this, that I can't even ignore for it making too much sense. You're doing the same thing. It's... a compliment. [Nope. Couldn't be more awkward.]

I'm fine with them being curses. They can't weaken me. Pointing out places for me to work on strengthening isn't much different from Beelz' working specific muscle groups. [NO LISTEN, HE IS NOT AGREEING WITH HER. BECAUSE HE WILL NOT FUCKING CALL THEM BLESSINGS. STFU.] And while I cursebreak as a hobby, this isn't one that has been serving me poorly. [And he mostly just cursebreaks to free trapped spirits when they're ready. And it gives him that sense of accomplishment rush of PRIDE he so THRIVES on.]

Gotcha. [She lifts a hand platically, and muses why he said not disrespecfully. Right. Uncle wasn't informal because Lucifer is too pompous to be, but he scorned his Father with all the disrespect he could muster. That was mostly the point.

She doesn't ask this because, hey, she respects boundaries and wants to be helpful, not nosy.]

It's okay. You sound like you're undergoing a lot of work-slash-family-related stress. Don't sweat it. [She grins, still odd he's so young looking. The youngest uncle she met for sure. Maybe she should have manifested younger to get a more niece-vibey? Like twelve or thirteen? The age she was when she met Lucifer before her life went metaphorically to Hell.] Oh no, I'm all there's left of our family home. That was my dad, my uncle, and, er, grandfather are all gone for different reasons. So I got to pick up the family business on my own. [Her smile wanes a touch, but stays there, comforting and understanding. She doesn't clarify what happened and why they are missing.

Elaine means Torch, and that has been ~~pushed~~ passed onto her long before this conversation to take place.] Thanks for the compliment. I was actually closer to my uncle. When I had to choose between them, I went with Lucifer [It wasn't a dramatic moment, but Michael was hurt she chose to trust his brother more. Even if she was like, twelve and just met him? Really? The ego of some cosmic beings.], but he also told me I had my dad's temperament, but his flexibility. [Minus the whole emotional baggage they both came with. But she got that a lot.]

Well, let's try with a metaphor. [ She takes a long breath before going to go full mentor mode, but she doesn't know how his powers work; she could run her mind to find out, but that would be intrusive. Maybe. Even if he won't know she did, she would, and that isn't her point or place to be. This isn't Her Creation, but an orphaned soft place. ] Right now, you're like a sponge who is absorbing all those emotions, or maybe a magnet too that draws them in. You need to will yourself to become a shield, and to do that, you need to be one hundred percent aware of your emotions and thoughts, everything else you can block once you do. Does it make sense?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

listen to your heart 😌

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