Humannequin (twenty one pilots-RUBY)

9.Skylines and Turnstiles

January 2016

"So how about some tacos?"

"Oh no, no!" Jenna shook her head. "This is where I draw the line! There will never be tacos in this pub."

"Well, Puzzles isn't technically yours per se," Josh tried to argue but decided against it upon seeing the look on her face.

"Bummer," Tyler frowned. "I love tacos so much I could write a song about them."

Hermione smirked. "I'm sure that would be a true masterpiece."

Josh sipped his tea. "So you let us drink tea at your pub and I can pass cookies around daily but this is where you draw the line? What did the poor tacos ever do to you, huh? Hashtag offended, hashtag triggered, hashtag all Mexican foods matter."

That cracked them all up. Someone who didn't know Josh would probably find his antics ridiculous but they knew him well enough to understand all he wanted was to make people laugh. Tyler admired that about him. He wished he could be more like that.

"Not even Madison, a 7-year-old, uses hashtags when speaking."

"Excuse me? And just how do you happen to know what Mad does and doesn't do?

"Oh, we're practically besties now."

It made Tyler emotional how much his friends cared about his little sister.

"Take that back!" Josh gasped. I'm Madison Joseph's bff! We've got matching bracelets to prove it!"

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"I'm sick."

"Of living?" Josh asked, only half-joking.

"That too but I have the flu."

"Oh, well I guess I'll just come over and-"

"No, you'll get sick too! Stay out of my house, Joshua Dun!"

"Ugh you're such a hypochondriac..."

"Am not! I'm just, um, concerned about your health, friend. I mean there's a chance you'll get the flu and then you'd miss school and stuff..."

Tyler heard Josh sigh from the other end of the line. "Fine, just put something on tv and I'll do it at the same time and we'll watch it together."

He was so lucky to have a friend like Josh. They eventually decided to have a Glee Season 3 marathon, since it was their favourite.

"I'm bored," Josh blurted," maybe we should juststart with the best episode of the show"

"But'Born this Way' is in Season 2!"

"I meant 'On My Way', obviously."

"I'll allow that one because you're sick right now."

Withthat, they put on the episode at the same time and watched, occasionally makingcomments and laughing. Josh of course turned off his mic during the songs soTyler wouldn't hear him sing.

[he's still not comfortable enough around you]

"Doyou believe that?" Tyler mumbled.

"Huh?" Josh was too distracted, watching the current performance of 'Stronger'.

"Do you believe that 'what doesn't kill you really makes you stronger' ?'"Tyler heard Josh pausing the show so he did the same.

"See," he replied, "I'll start by explaining something else first."

"Go ahead."

"See," Josh began again," I've never been a believer of monism, but I despisedualistic cosmology too."

"Okay, elaborate." Tyler coughed. 

Josh waited until his friend was done and went on. "For instance, there is notjust good or evil-"

" 'Only power and those too weak to seek it' ?"

Josh sneered. "No one is evil or pure, Ty. 'We've all got both light and darkinside us', right?"

Tyler remained silent.

"Anyway, my point is nothing is either good or bad, black or white...there'salways a gray area of many shades between these two...So the quote actually comesfrom Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols, if I'm not mistaken. Now, I'd like toquote Drown by Bring Me the Horizon tocontradict this position. 'What doesn't kill you makes you wish you were dead'and 'What doesn't destroy you leaves you broken instead'. So this is prettymuch the opposite right? Nietzsche says that hardships leave you stronger,while BMTH...much weaker, almost dead, if you please. "

Tyler listened carefully.

Josh took a deep breath. "I don't really think that whether you supportNietzsche or BMTH's opinion has much to do with whether you're a pessimistic oroptimistic person. In fact, as that song's title 'For A Pessimist, I'm PrettyOptimistic' shows, everything is relative. So, returning to my original point,nothing is black or white after all. And Ed Sheeran's Drunk shows us the"middle" of that gray area saying 'What didn't kill me, it never made mestronger at all', so that all the hardships may sometimes have no effect on us.And I think it's very important to realise that. When we face an obstacle oranything at all really, we shouldn't either expect it to destroy us or help usbecome stronger, shield us. We could also completely move past it, stayunaffected and forget about it."

"How did a show choir competition lead us to philosophy again?"

Joshed chuckled. "So I suppose, in short, my answer is that no, I don't believethat, but also I do. Some things that won't kill you will destroy you, otherswill make you stronger, others may help you in some ways but also harm you andsome you will just forget about."

Tyler felt that Josh wanted to ask him what he thought about all that but theboy must have decided against it, considering Tyler's state and the episodethey had left.

"So let's unpause, okay? In one, two, three..."

"That explains how someone can be okay but not-okay then, I suppose," Tylermumbled after a while. "How they can be technically alive but dead inside."

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References/Quotes: Glee, KellyClarkson-What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger), Harry Potter and the Philosopher'sStone, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , Friedrich Nietzsche-Twilightof the Idols, Bring Me the Horizon-Drown, Ed Sheeran-Drunk