I NEED Y'ALL TO STOP SAYING "THANKS IT'S THE TRAUMA"
TRAUMA DIDN'T MAKE YOU KIND
Do you have any conception of the sheer number of people who got trauma and decided to use that to become the biggest asshole they could possibly be????? DO YOU!?!?!?
Trauma didn't cause you to look at it and think "I need to do everything I can to be the opposite of this". YOU DID THAT!
Dark times don't create heroes. They reveal them.
It is you, actual, trembling, miserable you, that have ALREADY TOUGHED THE POISON OF THIS WORLD, and though you shake and grip the railing of life you do so with your KINDNESS INTACT, because the reason you are, right now, such a good person is that you looked at the raging psionic death-storm that is this world full of abusive, shitty people, and you CHOSE TO REJECT THE POISON.
I WANT ALL YOU TO SAY THIS, IF ONLY TO A MIRROR OR SOMETHING:
Thanks. It's not the trauma. It's my unbreaking will to rise above the hurt that has been done to me.
Make your faith bigger than your fears. Set standards for yourself and the people you choose to love, and don’t ever betray yourself because you’re lonely or trying to fill a void that no one and nothing can fill but yourself. Believe that what you desire is already yours, already on the way, already available to you — then patiently await its arrival while you take the next step that’s revealed to you, and then the next and so on. You are worthy and deserving of your dreams and because you have them is enough proof that you can achieve them. They’re meant for you. Dreams in your heart are there because it’s part of your destiny. Stay hopeful and just take the next step. Before you know it you’ll look back and realize how it was working out for you all along.
Honestly the cliche advice is true. If you fill your life w things you’re passionate about, if you challenge yourself every day, if you give your own opinion of yourself more weight than you do other people’s opinions of you, you will actually thrive. Like no one can tell u anything
Leo being put into a situation where there is absolutely no fighting, just verbal manipulation and perception games, would be amazing to witness. We see a lot in the series how good he is at subterfuge and how he uses his perception to manipulate to great effect, so it’d be so cool to really see it put to the test even more.
Manipulation is one of the most effective tactical strategies of all time, so just imagine Leo putting this skillset of his to the full test. Imagine the boys slowly get up to busting bigger and more powerful criminals, including those with networks of crime under their belt, and a simple fight isn’t enough to take them down. For criminals like this, Leo’s skills in subterfuge would be deadly.