Figment's car is acting up again -- this time, there's a Check Engine light on for his brand-new engine! One hopes it does not have anything to do with the way he and his carpool buddy were tearing the car doors apart to try and fix the windows. (It shouldn't, but you never know if you're clueless about cars, which I am.) So when I wound up getting upset during a conversation, he wound up over here on the bus (because he's not about to drive on the Check Engine light after what happened last time he had a light turn on), and that turned into a serious neckrub (yay tension-relief!) some more talking about things, and a lot of hugging.

Crucial notes in handling one's Lunatic: do not withhold snuggles. Just. Do. Not.

It is also a mark of $FUNKY_GENDER-INEQUAL_CONDITIONING to hold the double standard where if a man presses his attentions on a woman, she is perfectly within her rights to tell him off and/or have Several Burly Friends enforce the rejection, but if a woman presses her attentions on a man, he would be rude to tell her no if he has the slightest interest. (The other, very nasty, side of the standard is the one where the man can press his attentions on an unwilling woman and get away with it, but if a woman tries to assert her interest in an uninterested man without pressing the issue, she becomes the one in trouble. But that wasn't the one that was the issue in this case.)

In this case, the Figment seemed to be holding back on general snuggles because he did not want to be rude to the Lunatic in rejecting some of the Lunatic's advances if the Lunatic should get fresh with him, which did Not Go Over Well once we figured out that this was what was going on, pretty much. I explained in no uncertain terms that I had no problem with him rejecting any advances he found inappropriate, but I did have a very definite problem with not getting an appropriate amount of snuggle time. And since snuggle time is the most crucial ingredient in my general stress management suite, a sudden lack of snuggle time meant a lack of effective stress management.

When the Figment pointed out that the Darkside could snuggle the Lunatic, the Lunatic burst into tears. The Darkside does not snuggle, in general. The Lunatic has not seen the Darkside in person since mid-February, and has now gone for two weeks without talking to the Darkside, neither of which is a good thing.

That was when the Figment elected to show up on the Lunatic's doorstep via the bus, and lo, there was Much Snuggling, and debate of Birthday Party Fun, as the Lunatic's birthday is coming up. And the Lunatic got some Sleep.