#and I love and appreciate them and their compassion

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Do you think Katara could have loved Zuko before he got his scar? Let me explain: do you see the episode in season 1 where we discover Aang and Zuko's past?We have a Zuko we hadn't seen before: he wanted to save the crew, he showed himself as a hero, brave and compassionate. We know that Katara is attracted to people like that. Who seeks to help people (even if it was the Fire Nation), it was still a crew that was going to die for a vain sacrifice.

Zuko stood up to the leaders, just as Katara stood up to Pakku to defend the other women of the tribe; it's a small parallel that could have connected them. In that moment, I could say that maybe if Katara had met Zuko at that time, she might have been attracted to his devotion and his need to protect others.

Because I dug into the series to find out when Katara could have fallen in love with Zuko, and ultimately, I don't find any attraction between them. Because after Zuko's father disfigured his face, it created a trauma in him and changed him: not that the brave and compassionate Zuko no longer exists, but the trauma matrixed him, made him change... That's when I see the attraction between Katara and Zuko more clearly.

Zuko, after his banishment, became very angry, rarely smiled, withdrawn, and very emotional, which sometimes hurt those close to him. (emo, si je peux dire). But over the seasons, he gradually changes.

Even after he joined the gaang, he is still somewhat the same person, but with more sensitivity and more open to others.

Now, tell me how, in all that I just mentioned, Katara would have an attraction to Zuko with all the intrigues that have happened, Ba Sing Se, the North and South (1 s) and so on...

Maybe her awkwardness in communicating with others is charming in her personality?

His physique?

His way of being clumsily intentional?

But guess who is the person who was attracted to Zuko with the three points I just mentioned: Jin

I find that Zutara fans try too hard to force a connection so that Katara can fall in love with Zuko when there isn't one. Or it's because they themselves have a crush on Zuko, which is normal, but they want Katara to fall in love with him because he is the ideal model for a girl. While rejecting Katara's needs and her personality,

1 - Pre-scar Zuko was already raised to be an imperialist that would do things like laugh at a joke about Ba Sing Se being burned to the ground, and yes, objected to HIS soldiers getting killed, but not the literal war and genocide his nation and family had been engaging in for a whole century. Katara isn't gonna be impressed by his compassion towards the people of his nation when he has none for the other nations - including her own.

2 - Pre-scar Zuko was already being negatively affected by being raised by a parent that was emotionally and verbally abusive towards him (and agreed to MURDER him, leading to his mother's disappearance/"death"). He isn't being openly hostile to everyone around him, but he is already a victim, traumatized and coping poorly by trying to "earn" not only his father's love but the basic right to not be his punching bag - by supporting his evil actions. Katara's potential empathy for the unfair situation Zuko was in wouldn't blind her to the fact he is being unfair to others too, just look at how fast she turned against Jet.

3 - Lack of compassion might be a deal-breaker for Katara, but someone not being a cruel bastard is not enough to make her fall in love with someone - if it were, she would have had feelings for half the cast. Compassion is the bare minimum for her not to HATE someone, not for her to LOVE them.

4 - Katara likes effortlessly cool/charming guys, that's Jet (literally) sweeps her off her feet, and why she's all over Aang when he's being the cool guy in cave party in "The Headband" but is FURIOUS at his awkwardness and cluelessness in "Cave Of Two Lovers." She would NOT appreciate Zuko's dorkiness and he would not appriciate her getting mad at him for it.

5 - Katara met the new and improved Zuko, who, despite his flaws, was kind, regretful, compassionate and willing to do what was right and, more importantly, keep his own bad behaviors in check, which Katara does appreciate. Yet not only did she still not fall in love with him, she treated him the same way she treats Sokka, her brother.

6 - While Jin was certainly charmed by Zuko being hot, as well as pure of heart and dumb of ass, we cannot really use her as basis for comparisson to LOVE. She didn't even know his real name, let alone understand who he is a person. MAI loved him. When he was an innocent, sweet child. When he was a moody, kind of asshole teen. When he was an honorable, brave, wise young man. Mai is the one who loves every version of Zuko, not Jin, and surely not Katara.

[use-yr-voice]

Oh wow. Wow. Democrats need to learn how to be more loving do we?

Like when we contend that children ought to be able to go to school safely?

Like when we insist that kids ought to have free school lunches?

Like when we propose that adults ought to be able to care for their elderly parents without an additional strain on their own finances?

Like when we refuse to villainize immigrant populations who came to this country seeking a better life for their families?

Like when we assert that all marriages are loving commitments between two consenting adults and they ought to be recognized and celebrated?

Like when we sent a message to women and girls everywhere- especially women and girls of color- that they might be the president of the United States someday?

Like when we demand policies that actually help the American people- all of the American people including republicans- and we tax greedy oligarchs who hoard their wealth?

Like when we tried to send aid to people who lost everything in two major hurricanes, only for a red congress to block it?

Like when we say we want to leave behind an inhabitable planet for future generations?

That wasn’t out of love???

I didn’t know Dr King personally. The man’s life was cut short years before I was born. I don’t know what his take on this election might have been. But well… given Dr King’s record of activism, of non-violent resistance, of his commitment to creating a better country for all Americans, especially people of color… I can reasonably surmise who he might have voted for and it wouldn’t have been Trump.

Sorry, but I’ll be saving up all of my love for the people who need it most. Turning the other cheek? Forgiveness? Yeah that’s all well and good for my actual neighbors or my co-workers or my own family. But I have no love, no affection, no sympathy, no pity, no compassion, and no tolerance for Trump or for his cronies. They forfeited that when they ran a campaign based on little more than lies, hate, and greed.

Jesus of Nazareth, much like Dr King, was a political agitator. His love was a radicalized love, meant for the poor and the destitute who rallied around him, the people who were suffering under the government of his time. Much like Dr King, his love got him killed. Jesus of Nazareth loved his people not the establishment. We don’t have to love the establishment either. Don’t ask us to love an administration based on little more than hate.

Under an administration led by Kamala Harris, America would have continued to thrive. Love would have flourished for the American people because her policies told us all that it was okay to love those who are different. I don’t hear that from her opponents. All I hear them saying is that we should fear outsiders, that we should hate those we disagree with, and that we should attack the vulnerable rather than help them. Those policies are kinda hard to love. It’s not easy to love your enemies when your enemy plans to wipe away your very existence.

I know op means well. I appreciate the sentiment. But op, you really ought to direct that meme at your fellow Republicans.

Democrats will continue to share their light. Democrats will continue to fight for the right to love and to be loved. VP Harris and Governor Walz based their platform on joy and revelry and we will reach that point again.

For now though, we grieve. It wasn’t just Kamala Harris who lost that election- it was all of us, Democrats and Republicans alike. Tariffs will hurt all Americans. Budget cuts and deregulation will hurt all Americans (it already is… listeria anyone?). Trump’s cabinet choices will hurt all Americans. Fascism will hurt all Americans. You republicans think you’ve won this election? False. We all lost. America lost. Musk won. Bezos won. Putin won. Trump’s greedy and heartless sycophants won. We all lost, even you, op. But sure, tell us that we need to shine our light when you’re blocking it with your trump signs. Tell us that we need to be more loving when you support the most hateful person in the country. Sure.

Actually, I found a much more relevant quote for you:

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly".

- Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Do not mistake our cries for justice with words of hate. We see a rapist getting elected president and appointing other sexual predators as his cabinet? We want justice. We see a convicted felon getting elected president when felons can’t even vote? We want justice. We see a spoiled brat draft dodger about to become the commander in chief of our military? We want justice. All of the people who’ve been sexually abused or assaulted, all the convicts blocked from the careers they most want even if they’ve served their time and reformed, those who fought for our country with honor… hell, all law-abiding, tax-paying, hardworking Americans? We want justice!

Even Jesus of Nazareth had to pick up a friggin rope and chase the deplorables of his day out of the temple. There’s a time for love and there’s a time to protect the ones we love. And that’s why we Democrats need to keep up the fight. It’s love we’re fighting for in the first place.

Hey Democrats?

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

love how my friends visit my in my state One Time and immediately go “oh u poor thing. we need to help u leave here Immediately.”

[getinthefuckingcarkitten]

The Doren storyline has so much potential i hope it gets more content soon

[hyperfixationcritter]

AAAAAAHHHHHH don't worry at all about sounding argumentative! I appreciate what you said 💖💖💖

Another reason I couldn't personally put together an ideal-ish arc for Viktor was because I didn't want to confuse what I'd like to see with a character LIKE him vs what would've been cool for him SPECIFICALLY.

Part of why I liked Viktor's characterization in s1 was because he wasn't really presented as someone who thought he knew better than everyone else, at least not to the extent of someone like Veidt. I liked how deeply he felt and how he was motivated by compassion/wanting to help others but even then, there still would be things to discuss around him being in Piltover for so long and the comprises he ended up making willingly or unwillingly (and being a white guy compared to the characters of color who are marginalized in the context of the show like Ekko and Sevika).

It's because of those factors that I personally would've loved to see a genuine team up with them, but I don't think it'd be necessary if their writing was good/along the lines of your concept. Again, I really like the Dr. Manhatten and Veidt comparison for the direction they could've gone with his character because I think that could work really well so long as they didn't, as you said, demonize him vs Singed who's just straight up unethical (but enjoyable to watch at least to me lol).

Like I really respect your take and how it tries to stay true to that tension and nuance to his character's lore and I love the idea of setting him and Ekko up as foils to each other. Like that would've been some cool shit XD and, like you said, show a variety of ideologies within Zaun in a way that fleshes out the world and characters without demonizing them/fully categorizing all of them as just bad with no nuance.

Also don't worry about how long this was, I really enjoyed reading it 😊

i think this is a little unfair as a critique because i generally do not see much value in being like "well i wish this story had just been a completely different thing instead of the story it was" like there are better ways to talk about how a narrative could be improved on its own merits rather than just saying "well do something different". BUT this is my blog where i get to say what i want and so: read the rest at your own risk wherein i talk about what i might have preferred to see with viktor's storyline

i think that if they were going to dispense with the variations of viktor's prior lore - which is totally fine to do tbh! - but they wanted to still stick to him feeling more alienated and indifferent to human needs/suffering but also superior to them and kind of outside of time without fully leaning into the timeloop cyborgism of it all, it would have been wise to make him somewhat more nihilistic on the order of doctor manhattan?

a: if he were outside of time in the way that doctor manhattan is, it would avoid the issue of a time loop (which generally tends to damage to a story in my opinion) and would still permit for some kind of epiphany about love a la what happens with doctor manhattan and laurie juspeczyk. it also would maintain viktor's ability to see into other people's pasts and memories or to walk among them in those past places. this might have even allowed us to get a fuller and more sensitive picture of sky as a person independent of viktor once he was unstuck from time or in quantum time or etc!

b: jon osterman is a physicist and, like viktor, goes through a transformation that basically makes him feel completely distant from humans and as if their fates are fixed in a hopeless cycle, he's obsessive about his research, and he generally behaves as if humanity is somewhat beneath him because of how he experiences time and space

obviously there are some differences. doctor manhattan never aims to build a perfect world of flawless nonsuffering. he decides to abandon humanity altogether, and the person with the questionable morals driven by a raging ego is adrian veidt, but honestly you could just blend the archetypes of the two and get a clearer sense of direction for viktor's story.

like obviously this is just my vibe. i think i like this better because doctor manhattan and adrian veidt, both of whom are deeply selfish and in veidt's case egomaniacal about how to 'fix' the world, are still realized in ways where both characters feels more complicated than how viktor's story played out in arcane. like even leaving off the league lore about him, i think the show either didn't have enough time to fully actualize the struggle in him between wanting to help and being sure he knew better than everyone else about how to help, or it was always just going to be too cartoon-villain simplistic with his army of evil robots. i think the latter is unlikely given that they worked pretty hard to paint silco, jinx, and more or less everyone else in the undercity in many shades of grey but who knows!

like most of what frustrated me by the end about viktor's story wasn't that he was doing cruel things, it was just that those cruel things felt goofy and flat compared to even the cruel things ambessa was doing for most of the season. i cite mandus from a machine for pigs a lot as a different possible comparison to viktor. mandus is another industrialist/inventor who ends up splitting his consciousness and decides the world is full of nothing but cruelty and that he knows better than everyone else and starts mutilating people and feeding them to each other to build a new world order. but even mandus, who traps people into forced-cannibalism, feels that he has more depth to him than viktor did for me by the end of the show. it may be how mandus's story is constructed and that his logic feels sadder than viktor's, or it may just be that again the writers had less time to deal with more storylines but! idk!

all in all i maintain that the machine herald arc was pretty disappointing and honestly kind of goofy/immature along with being like cringily ableist and relying on politically unsound tropes that mostly amount to 'hey watch out for communist zombies', so i'll be out here thinking about what might have made it land better for me

[mossy-covered-bones]

You mean you can watch something without becoming immediately obsessed with the characters and symbolism?

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

"Emily, Emily...Emily, oh, my heart..."

Though he was reeling from...everything, it seemed (the memories rushing forth to greet his brain, the sea of emotions threatening to sweep him away, the closeness of Emily here and now, anchoring him amidst it all), Randall had enough clarity to cup her face, brushing her hair back as he breathed, "Emily...there was nothing you could've done. Had you tried to fight her...she would've killed you too."

With startling clarity did he remember his demise, and how struggling against his attacker was so futile: He tried, God knew he tried, but her grip was like iron, and so he was pinned under his hands, so much like claws, as her fangs sank into his throat to drain him dry. He fought with all of his strength, but it was not enough, and he knew it wouldn't have been any better for Emily had she tried to fight her off.

"I'm here, I'm here..." he swore gently, pressing his forehead to hers and squeezing her hands in his, trying to ground her in the moment, to prove that he was real and that he wasn't going anywhere. "Oh God, Emily...I remember...I remember so much!"

Oh, those beautiful nights! Nights were the only time they could see one another, and how they made the most of them-long walks in the moonlight, dancing in the darkened haberdashery, taking turns reading passages from their favorite books...it explained so much about how he felt when he met her-how it felt as if they'd already done so much together. It was because they did!

[datastate]

i love reko and kai's friendship because you look at them and it's ex-assassin assumed homemaker with a morbid, mildly concerning sense of humor (with the occasional pun) whose two closest friends are people only slightly younger than his father & then a Rockstar who actually hangs out with people her own age but didn't fully register how to befriend and relate to them on a personal level until two years ago where her only unconditional support for the longest time was her brother, who ended up murdering someone. and despite both of them still very much learning how to navigate healthy friendships, they somehow find theirs through kai breaking down reko's intimidating exterior by mentioning yokai

[savage-rhi]

Magenta.

[katyspersonal]

I don't understand how there are people still supporting your content after it's clear you are an emotionally unstable narcissist. I swear some people care about their dumb fandoms more than common human decency.

First - I refuse to let my lore posts, drawings and theories be called 'content'. I protest. It is a very soulless term that reduces creativity (the very expression of the soul, mind you!) to some sort of shallow and more importantly, replaceable good. "Why you consume the content from this PROBLEMATIC :( person" in the same vein as "Why you buy your car fuel from an unethical corporation" is absolutely absurd in any way, because creations are not physical goods but something unique.

Second, you seem to be confused on what the fandom entails.

Being a fan of something, in fact, doesn't... really entail all that much? Being a fan of something doesn't, and will NEVER mean that you subscribe to certain cultural, religious, political or humanity values or opinions, it will NEVER be only for the ones the loudest people in the crowd deemed "right" and "pure" enough, and certainly it will NEVER be only for people with clear history *cough cough* or people of "proper" mental state *COUGH cough*.

The only, and only, and only, and ONLY "requirement" for being a Bloodborne fan is - to care about Bloodborne. Ironically, this is something people I tend to become antagonists with often fail at, as there is a difference between 'Bloodborne fan' and 'Mariadeline fan that knows nothing about BB lore and holds only interests in how to shame men more and what kind of fans to declare "problematic"' *COUGH COUGH* god sorry guys, got a bad cough attack during this ask fhdhgfds

But, again, I think we the people that obsess with this or that media came to the conclusion that gatekeeping leads to another extreme - the whole thing with shaming artists that draw something not accurate, and think something not 100% correct to the canon is 'dirtying' the canon. You know, the whole 'oh you are fan of X band? name 40 songs' thing. So I think gatekeeping should be avoided unless someone appears who is both completely uneducated about lore AND tries to set their own rules.

*COOOOOUGH COOOOOUGH*

But, yeah. Your confusion is likely caused by the fact that people who like Bloodborne... love to read about Bloodborne, and not about what user should be blacklisted and what character is this or that identity and what this or that character is "problematic" etc. I object the idea that certain game/movie/book/etc is only for "right" kind of people and I think we as society at this rate are capable of separating interaction with the fictional universe and personality/personal lives.

[inkling0121]

You know what, fuck it, I want there to be a story with some grand master choosing a pupil and theres a huge competition thats widdled down to two people. One of them looks stereotypically evil and has "darkness in their heart" and the other looks like a person with a "pure heart" (blonde, great smile, very lovely to talk to) and they're usually a great sport

And I want the master to choose the evil looking guy to train. I want them to be chosen so they can find the true path and grow as a person. I want the "evil" person grow and suffer and become kind hearted, I want them to be redeemed while still holding onto their tough guy exterior. I want the character growth goddammit

Bonus points if the good person gets jealous and becomes evil or whatever and becomes the antagonist of this (hopefully long ass) series

[carbonateddelusion]

I'm usually very good at identifying and expressing my emotions!

which makes it all the more frustrating when I try to touch the giant gray mass that is my potential for romantic feelings

[daforged]

gnawing on the end of voyager 1x09 prime factors like its a new flavoured chewbone tossed into my enclosure and i’ve been starved for 3 weeks

[kafk-a]

"Sometimes while I ride the subway I try to look at each person and imagine what they look like to someone who is totally in love with them. I think everyone has had someone look at them that way, whether it was a lover, or a parent, or a friend, whether they know it or not. It's a wonderful thing, to look at someone to whom I would never be attracted and think about what looking at them feels like to someone who is devouring every part of their image, who has invisible strings that are connected to this person tied to every part of their body. I think this fun pastime is a way of cultivating compassion. It feels good to think about people that way, and to use that part of my mind that I think is traditionally reserved for a tiny portion of people I'll meet in my life to appreciate the general public. I wish I thought about people like this more often. I think it's the opposite of what our culture teaches us to do. We prefer to pick people apart to find their flaws. Cultivating these feelings of love or appreciation for random people, and even for people I don't like, makes me a more forgiving and appreciative person toward myself and people I love. Also, it's just a really excellent pastime."

— Dean Spade, from his essay For Lovers and Fighters

[darkvioletcloud]

I absolutely adore seeing concept art of all kinds. I have around a dozen different art books from various games, TV shows, and movies, all because I love seeing art in progress.

On the rare chance they include UI elements, I get so happy because it’s so neat to see a person’s thought process! I’ve also extracted UI images from games to use in editing shenanigans.

I hope you have as much fun making UI elements as I do seeing them!

I honestly feel a little guilty for how much I enjoy the boring parts of production art

I hear other people bemoaning the fact they're at the point in making a game where they have to start making a UI and I'm over here offering to draw 50 notification icons for fun because it's zen

[heywriters]

Details That Convey Intimacy

Developing fictional relationships that feel authentic takes more than dialogue and grand gestures. Every detail below can be used to show platonic, familial, agape, or romantic love depending on context.

cooking a meal for someone, bringing them food, or spontaneously sharing a snack

sharing body heat/warming someone with outerwear like jackets and scarves

fanning them with something if overheated

getting a cold/hot drink for them

offering to carry something, whether it's heavy or just a jacket, to lighten someone's load or free up their hands

more below the click!

changing the subject of a group conversation that will be personally discomforting to someone in the group

making sure to include someone in a group conversation, especially if it's a topic they have special knowledge of

waiting for someone to catch up when the rest of the group has walked ahead

remembering preferences/allergies ahead of time when preparing/ordering food

planning trips, whether in a pair or as a group, that provide something positive for every individual to enjoy

procuring personal healthcare items like sunscreen, moisturizer, lip balm, pain relievers, or a snack and keeping them on hand for that friend who frequently needs them

making room for someone in a crowded vehicle or on public transit

making room for someone under an awning or in another limited space to help them avoid bad weather

warning or wordlessly covering for someone with a wardrobe/cosmetic malfunction

remembering a small luxury someone mentioned they enjoy, and getting it for them the next time it's convenient

running an errand for someone to make their day easier ('importance of errand : depth of relationship' ratio should be explored)

escorting someone to safety in a sudden unsettling event

escorting someone who is drunk, sick, infirm, injured, or emotionally compromised

asking if light, noise, or other sensory factors are bothering someone and taking steps to make them more comfortable

getting gag gifts for someone to show you reciprocate their sense of humor or quirky self-expression (not everyone does this, not everyone appreciates it, and some people predominantly express love through humor and gag gifts; works well with some characters more than others)

holding someone's hand or arm as reassurance, especially when they are afraid*

using their body to block someone from wind, rain, or heat

picking up a dropped item, or carrying a train or other dragging garment for someone else

returning a recognizable possession to someone who may have lost it

This is an inexhaustible list as humans have many ways of showing love for each other. If you are writing spec fic with non-human characters, you can play with variations on these by remembering three core values the "lover" has to consider:

physical comfort of others

emotional comfort of others

social reputation of others

I'd add "sensory comfort" though I think it's tied to physical and emotional comfort.

Please do not try and force any of these into the mold of the misogyny-based "Love Language" trend. Human emotions and expressions of love are diverse and endless.

*While hand holding can be construed as romantic, in reality it varies. Some cultures do not see this as romantic, and some individuals only mean it as a sign of support or compassion. Same goes for long embraces and kissing, both can be done platonically and of course naturally between close family members or friends.

---

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