Clay

The vessel is fragile.

It carries water, the only water you'll ever find. Without the water you cannot survive. No tea, no cooking, nothing doing.

The vessel is fragile.

You've wondered about the nature of the vessel and sometimes mused what would happen if you were to throw it away. You'd never have the guts though.

The vessel is fragile.

One of these days you'll hear a shattering sound and know it's all over. No more grand plans, no tea, no cooking, nothing doing.

People are talking

You know how these things happen when you least expect, right?

You return from a horrible and drawn out campaign of terror to put down that insurgency in the Caucasus to find out that her heart has turned colder than the Siberian winter.

Your first instinct is to call the Okhrana on all your bastard ministers and torture them till they confess. But then you sit down, pour yourself one and listen to some Lorde (because that's what royals are to do nowadays).

When people are talking, people are talking

Let 'em talk

What cats have taught me

I had been a dog person for as long as I can remember. There was a cat sometime in my early teens or something, but I don't even remember where we buried it after it died.

Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Cats—and I can't stress this enough—are selfish bastards. This makes them immediately relatable. They will naturally gravitate towards the person who is at the top of the domestic power hierarchy.

The cat gives you their attention when they feel like it: when they are hungry, scared or otherwise needy. You can't just waltz in and cuddle their royal fluff whenever you feel like it. Well, you can but it feels wrong.

You could lure them in with treats, but you feel like just giving them the treats and walking away. Cats condition you on how to love them.

And basically that's  what cats have taught me: that the love shouldn't be about you, it should be about the person that you are loving. They've taught me to be more considerate and look out for cues, and instilled in me a megalomaniacal yearning for world domination. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Passion

People always underestimate passion, or maybe it's just me. I take actually being fired up and excited about something for granted. Don't. When that passion leaves you, and you're hit with the searing and searching brightness of sober day, you'll wonder what the hell you're doing here with something you obviously have no love for.