#[ then why aren't they acknowledging it? ]

[add1ctedt0you]

Canonically speaking, jc' reaction to someone he doesn't like/has strong negative feelings towards, because that person was a jerk to his sister, is to regulate his emotions according to how his sister feels. In a jyl lives au, after wwx's return, canon jc is going to his sister, saying something like: 'while I think we should throw at least a cup of tea at him because he left us you and a-ling like that, it's your choice, jin zixuan was your husband. What are we feeling now, jiejie?'

[fromtheseventhhell]

Very funny to me how Stansas present her character as being so interesting and complex because of her vulnerabilities, while simultaneously ignoring those same vulnerabilities in other characters. Dany is sold as a bridal slave and lacks agency throughout AGOT and after. Her dragons are either too young/small to utilize effectively or locked away for the majority of the story. They aren't some all-powerful trump card that protects her from harm. Arya is captured as a prisoner of war, forced to watch countless people tortured and murdered, and then essentially enslaved in Harrenhal with no way to fight back. She has an entire arc of feeling powerless, of being a "mouse", during ACOK. She doesn't have "kung-fu" or the ability to magically fight her way out of every situation, she's a young child lacking physical strength with only the most basic sword training.

Sansa isn't the only female character, she isn't the only young character, she isn't the only character who suffered, and no one is obligated to prioritize her. I'm so tired of Dany and Arya being mischaracterized and having their stories erased to prop Sansa up. "Sansa has kept her dignity" In other words, let's praise her for having a level of security that Dany and Arya don't have access to. She hasn't ever been forced to make a hard decision which of course means that she's morally superior to them. They can't even admit to themselves that her lack of action is due to her own passivity. If it doesn't fit their delusion, they erase it from the story and expect the rest of us to play along. Ask one of them what they like about her character without bringing up her being the ultimate victim, and I genuinely don't believe they'd be able to give you an answer. They belittle other characters more than they talk about her and these takes just scream insecurity/jealousy at the content and development other characters have in their POVs.

[dollypopup]

"But everything Lady Whistledown wrote was true!"

. . .does it matter?

Is the price for cruelty truth? Does it cease to be unkind if it is honest? Was the bullying many of us were subjected to swept away simply because it was, in some ways, objectively true? Because I have been fat all my life, and the people who weaponized that against me were 'just being honest'? When it took me longer to answer a question due to my processing with ADHD, were people right to call me 'slow' and laugh just because it was true?

Are rumors okay to spread if they're 'true'? No matter how much they harm others? Is the hurt someone experiences at the hands of gossip inconsequential because it happens to be private information made public against their will- but is still, at the core of it, genuine?

Can we out queer people, just because it's true? Can we reveal locations?

Do the ends justify the means? How much blood is okay to spill in the name of honesty? Who asked for Brutal Honesty to knock on their doors? Or is it allowed to come into our homes unwarranted simply on the basis of existence?

Where is tender honesty? Compassionate honesty? Empathetic honesty? Gentle honesty?

My issues with Lady Whistledown, and thus Penelope's actions and how people defend them, do not rest upon the truth of them. They rest on the unkindness. They rest on the fact that Penelope wants to 'be better' but is still, at the core of it, revealing information that is not her business or right to reveal. That she herself was at the bladed end of that experience and cried and cried and cried- and still chose it. That she knows the pain she can cause, and does cause, and yet cannot let it go for the sake of the power it holds.

It's not all her fault. She lives in a sexist society. She is a woman who has been made powerless because of misogyny and then snatched that power back. In some ways, it's impressive.

But we have to acknowledge the cruelty of it. That the people who pay are predominately woman. Those she cares for. The disenfranchised. That she herself has paid. That Colin has. Eloise has. Marina has. Kate, Edwina, Daphne, Cressida, modistes, and countless staff who came under scrutiny have paid.

I just want her to grow in Season 4. I want her to recognize she can pursue her passions without gossip and rumors. I want her to write stories and go traveling. I want her to make new friends outside of what she can provide for them with the power of her publication. I want her and Colin to be in love knowing they're moving forward together, instead of him being a mirror for 'her light' as she burns herself out.

I want more for her than 'brutal honesty'.

[butwhatifidothis]

I LOVED To Be a Creature, and it genuinely creeped me out to see the things Edelgard and Hubert said to Byleth (though it's the same as the game, stripped out of its voice acting and background music, the dialogue is so much more horrifying). Really makes me wonder if Edelgard's love for Byleth is genuine in any way. Do you think there's any real love there or is it just obsession?

Thank you!!! I had a feeling that placing Edelgard and Hubert's words in a context that isn't meant to make them look flattering would really let their casual racism shine, and I'm glad it's seeming like that is in fact the impression people are getting lol. SO sorry for the late answer btw 😭😭😭

As for whether Edelgard's love is genuine... I got opinions lmao.

got a bit long lmao under the cut it goes

If Edelgard felt the way she does for Byleth on exclusively SS and CF, I could maybe see how this is a "genuine" love (insofar as a love steeped in "I may hate your race but you're special and Not Like The Other Ones because I think you're special to me" can, uh, ever be genuine, in any case). But because Edelgard still feels as strongly towards Byleth on AM and VW where she quite literally never talks to them directly in any meaningful way, it becomes waaaaay more like she's just weirdly obsessed with this person who saved her one singular time ever five years ago from an attack Edelgard set up. It makes the "love" way more forced and contrived and obviously trying to squeeze tears out of the player for standing up against the cute girly trying to murder them. Or, alternatively, it makes Edelgard come off as manipulative, saying that she just wanted to walk with Byleth and it makes her so sad to HAVE to fight Byleth because BYLETH wouldn't stand by HER - and she's saying this on AM/VW to a person she's talked to in conversation a cumulative, what? Hour? Two? Maybe a few days, being nice? Over the course of, being as absolutely generous as physically possible and not counting the five years Byleth was missing... two fucking years? She's shitting herself over fighting this stranger she doesn't fucking know? Yeah, sure buddy, whatever you say - you see what I mean?

And honestly even outside of those two routes, I think it's more that she sees Byleth as being hers rather than actually liking them for who they are. A body to stand next to her and tell her how right she is and comfort her - who doesn't have the background of "I was literally raised to think this is my only purpose in life" muddying the sincerity of the brown-nosing - who also happens to also act as The Perfect Fighter and The Perfect Strategist to actively help her get what she wants. That view of Byleth being a tool doesn't really go away unless they marry her, seen by how they quite literally get nothing for all they've done for Edelgard should they go unmarried to a noble (guess they just weren't meritable enough once their use to her was done).

As well as how much more Edelgard doesn't like Byleth disagreeing with her or otherwise going against her flow than pretty much anyone else in the game - you lose supports points if you don't think the Black Eagle Strike Force name she made is good, she quickly denies the notion that Byleth is detached from others/emotions and insists they are just like she is, she gives them the same callous and thoughtless words she was apparently given once in her life while they are in the midst of mourning their recently murdered father so that they get over it already and get back to being useful to her (directly saying she will only reach out her hand when it's time for HER to move forward, not when BYLETH heals from WATCHING THEIR DAD DIE IN THEIR FUCKING ARMS MAYBE A WEEK AGO). She never treats Byleth kindly unless they do everything she wants, which like. Isn't love???? At all????

There's just this... weirdly possessive air Edelgard has around Byleth that always threw me off, especially with how easily she admits to have been willing to kill them so far into CF and how readily she cuts ties with them the second the fighting's done (which is particular because how just how clingy she was to Byleth everywhere else - you know during all that time Byleth had a use to her). Incorporating that into being an intentional part of her character is certainly interesting, but not in a way that's flattering to the idea of Edelgard genuinely being in love with Byleth lmao.

Personally tho, even disregarding almost everything else, the simple explanation is that I don't think you can really sit there and say you love someone while openly hating part of their racial heritage. Wild thought, I know lmao

[shalom-iamcominghome]

In the Jewish tradition, the special prayer known as the Mourners' Kaddish is not about death, but about life, and it praises God for having created a basically good and livable world. By reciting that prayer, the mourner is reminded of all that is good and worth living for.

...

How does God make a difference in our lives if He neither kills nor curses? God inspires people to help other people who have been hurt by life, and by helping them, they protect them from the danger of feeling alone, abandoned, or judged.

-When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Harold S. Kushner, p. 153, 1981

[uncanny-tranny]

It's really frustrating being trans sometimes with cis loved ones because other cis people will go, "oh but it's such a huge adjustment for them! They're grieving for your pre-transition self/they aren't used to the change yet/it's hard on them!"

It's just so frustrating that people forget that trans people's feelings on this matter, too. Cis people aren't the only ones who have adjustments to make. Frankly, as much as I sympathize with cis people in this position, I can't help but be really jaded about it because so often, cis people jump to the defense of other cis people and they will seemingly forget to or refuse to give the same grace to trans people.

[dottyistired]

i don't think you can criticize aa6's colonialism in good faith if you haven't. played or watched the game yourself

[wonder-and-wildflowers]

I love being aroace, but I desperately need friends who will prioritize me and won't make me their second choice without it turning into them having a crush on me.

Being pushed aside for a romantic partner hurts. Being less of a priority to someome I've known for YEARS than someone they've known for like 3 months is DEVASTATING.

Having a friendship with someone who prioritizies me and puts me first and is intentional about the effort and time they put in is all I want. And call me selfish but I want them to do it without falling in love with me.

I want them to do it platonically. Or alterously.

And you know what? I'm sick of people having crushes on me. I'm sick of friends building an entire relationship with me just to come out and say they only did it cause they wanted to kiss me. Or fuck me. Or both.

And then they get angry because I don't see them that way. They get resentful because they acted like thidls and behaved this way with the intention of is being a romantic investment.

And now I have to deal with the emotional distress of having someone pour so much into me, love me, prioritize me, doing a complete 180. And them resenting me for being upset that their behavior towards me has changed.

Them being resentful that I still expect thier usual behavior, because to me those were stardards for a platonic relationship that they set with me, and to them it was all a ploy to get me to be their girlfriend. They don't want a qpr. Thats never good enough for them.

[fromtheseventhhell]

Every time I see people talk about Sansa and Arya's relationship as "just sisters being sisters" I think about that one girl on TikTok who was basically stalking her sister who went no-contact and kept responding to comments criticizing her with "it's just a sister thing, you wouldn't get it". Like! Being shitty to someone isn't okay just cause you're related to them. Personally thinking a certain behavior is normal/harmless does not mean the person affected by it feels the same way! Arya being mocked and having self-esteem issues is referenced often throughout the story, all the way into ADwD. How people read that (jk I know you guys don't actually read her chapters) and think their issues will magically disappear is beyond me. "Stark sisters lover" but the only time you talk about them is when you're centering Sansa and her feelings 🤨

[three-soulmates-askblog]

Thoughts on the two blonde bs in your high school? (Imu and the one w autism I forgot his name)

Note: the artist is well aware they misspelled Akechi on the paper you will have to ignore that for now. I apologize Akechi fans

M: he's actually around a bit. He's one of the few who know about Ku's powers and he's an honorary Psykicker!

M: he's endearing when he's not using his freaky deduction skills to catch me out for something stupid like cheating at Monopoly

R: he's endearing when he's not trying to psychoanalyze everything I do!

K: *shrugs* he's tolerable... Sometimes

M: she's a smart cute girl... but she should be spending her time making friends and memories... Not mettling and chasing clout

M: *sighs* She's young. She'll learn.

R: she's literally not that much younger than us?? And ur one to talk when it comes to mettling

R: I haven't really interacted with her so... I don't really have an opinion of her

K: just waiting for her to have that talk with Teruhashi. Maybe then she'll leave me alone.

[longmaxsilvarg]

will forever have a soft spot for chloe cause yeah dawg i get it we can try to avoid becoming attached out of the overwhelming fear of being abandoned again but miserably fail together

[that-was-anticlimactic]

*sprays fandoms with a spray bottle* height is NOT a personality trait!!!

[satanfemme]

sorry for another late night serious post but attempting to unrepress shit in order to work thru it properly is all fun and games until u remember why you repressed it in the first place

[thresholdbb]

"Happy Bell Riots" feels wrong

[weirdwonderfulworld]

one more thought. watcher isn't entirely comparable to netflix or other streaming services. unlike netflix, watcher tv exclusively hosts content that they've made. watcher isn't limiting any access to content that isn't their own. the closest thing to what watcher is doing is when streaming services have content exclusive to their platform, like netflix originals, tubi original movies, disney+ aninated shorts... it can be frustrating to not be able to access content because it only exists on one paywalled platform, but when it's literally created, owned, and funded by the platform itself, it doesn't really make sense to expect that content in any other way. you can want the content to be free or hosted on another platform. but the creator has the final say.

(and yeah at that point, maybe it's expected for things to get pirated. but unlike other media where sometimes the creators don't exactly discourage piracy bc their hands are tied and otherwise there's no way to access their work except through this larger entity, watcher is both creating the content and providing the means to access it. they have control over their own work. they can choose to do with it as they please.)

again i think it's normal to feel shocked, overwhelmed, upset, sad, disappointed, frustrated, etc. but if you specifically view this move as a betrayal against you, i'm personally inclined to think that you thought you were entitled to watcher's creations all along. you weren't. you aren't. you're not entitled to anybody's art, creations, or passions. and if you want to combat all of that by saying watcher doesn't make art in your opinion and thus shouldn't be allowed to treat it as such.... you and i have drastically different viewpoints and i don't think we can have productive conversation here lmao

[bijoumikhawal]

WRT to Kai Winn I hold two opinions constantly at the same time

The writers and fans often position her in a way that is inconsistent with their world building by giving her more power than she actually has (thinking of her as a white catholic or evangelical when in universe she just isnt in that position) and the show occasionally gave her views that were "radical" in what felt like an attempt to delegitimize them

In 60 years Bajor will have its own version of the Hinduvta movement or some shit and they'll fucking love Kai Winn, because she has horrible politics and will have sown the seeds for their existence