#and there are Sympathetic Things even about people who are Doing Harm Right Now

[boypussydilf]

prev post is sort-of the thesis of very good webcomic “what happens next” which you should read right now although do very much pay attention to the content warnings. thank you

[nekropsii]

Aww. On one hand, I'm glad my words touched you. On the other, it makes me so deeply sad knowing even the smallest glance towards granting one basic human dignity is enough to drive one to tears. I wouldn't even call my words the bare minimum - I don't think that countering the common idea that a group isn't inherently abusive should be the bare minimum. The bare minimum should be casual respect, the same that's afforded to any other person. The bare minimum should be me not even needing to say any of this in the first place.

NPD is so heavily demonized, especially right now. There's wave after wave of people claiming "Narcissistic Abuse" is a valid term and viciously attacking anyone who breathes in the direction of contradiction, every single search adjacent to NPD results in almost nothing but article after article on, specifically, how to hurt people with NPD, or protect yourself against them... There's conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory posted online quite literally painting them as actual real demons, like, Demons, from The Bible, or linking them to the Jewish Reptilian conspiracy theory, and it's just completely and utterly gut-wrenching. Even in spaces that proclaim themselves as safe, or progressive, or bigotry-free, these unjustified, bigoted snap judgments occur. It's the worst.

NPD is not something that I have. I don't have any Cluster B Disorder, actually. But I'm sympathetic because they're all fucking human beings the world has decided is socially acceptable to turn into a Sinister Other, a Walking Otherworldly Threat, like this is a fucking fiction novel or a video game. I'm sick of it.

There's a few people in my immediate circles who have NPD. They're all good people. They're nice, they're funny, they have perspectives on things that I deeply value, they're smart, and I treasure their proximity so much. They've never done anything wrong, and certainly haven't done anything wrong purely on the basis of being some Evil, Conniving Super Villain. They're literally just hanging out, and I'm glad to know them. My life is better and more enriched having known these people. They have never wronged me, and I don't think they ever will. And even if they do, it would not be because they have NPD, it would be because they're a living being. As people, we all have the capability to harm others. Animals have the capability to harm other animals, too. Plants can harm you. This is not a trait unique to the Disordered.

Us people without NPD need to do better, to listen to our friends and siblings with NPD, to help boost them up so that we can help end this wretched fucking curse - or, at the very least, quell it. We need to help them speak louder, and amplify their cause with our vocal support. Ableism will never go away, but the least we can do is try to move towards making it not as socially acceptable to be bigoted. None of us need a Sinister Other to combat. This is not war, this is not the medieval times. We do not need this. We do not need to beat a persecution complex into ourselves to excuse persecuting others. We do not need to live in constant fear of the idea of the line cook who just wants to go home and play Dark Souls, or the office worker passing the time by thinking about their 3 cats, or the high schooler at home reading their favorite shoujo manga, or the guitarist driving home tapping their fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the radio. These are not your enemies. They are people going about their lives. They've literally never hurt you. Stop projecting your fear of abuse onto strangers - onto minorities.

My message to people without NPD is to fucking check yourself if you believe in Narcissistic Abuse, or automatically assume that people with NPD are up to something. Especially right now, that is a very, very vile, dehumanizing form of absolutely rampant ableism that we needed to take extreme steps to mitigate fucking months ago. Years, even. The best time to shoot this bigotry and burn it's corpse was the moment it started rising. The second best time is Now. Interrogate yourself. Realize that people with NPD are literally just human beings. Stop being awful to your fellow person. The way people think and speak about people with NPD is just absolutely disgusting, and everyone needs to apologize to them right now.

My message to people with NPD is simple: You deserve one billion dollars for having to put up with all of this shit. It's actually deranged. Trust me, there are others out there that think this is horseshit. You are not alone.

[yanderes-galore]

Yandere The Boys Queen Maeve concept?

Sure! I just hope I got her character right ^^;

Yandere Queen Maeve/Maggie Shaw Concept

Pairing: Platonic -> Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Overprotective behavior, Violence, Murder, Fear of loss, Denial, Isolation, Kidnapping, Blood, Delusional behavior, Forced relationship.

Queen Maeve, other than Starlight, is probably the best Supe yandere you could have.

She wouldn't want to harm her obsession and would actually be very caring.

Maeve, or Maggie, doesn't particularly enjoy getting close to people.

She sees having personal connections as having weakness.

After all, people can exploit you by threatening those you love.

This is understandable for her considering she had a past relationship with Homelander.

She's probably also one of the only people who can stand up to Homelander too.

Maggie would most likely be in denial of how she feels about you.

She's had many encounters within The Seven, some intimate, but she's struggled truly connecting with others after Homelander.

How could she? Homelander quite literally killed anyone who showed any interest in her.

If you think about it, in canon that's eerily close to having a yandere.

Which could mean a couple things when it comes to her obsession.

She's either just a protective yandere, not wanting to be like Homelander.

That or she subconsciously acts like Homelander by being possessive and jealous over you.

There's plenty of reasons for her to try and avoid being close to you.

She doesn't want you hurt, be that by someone else's hand or her own.

She may even be scared to hurt you.

Maggie could be either platonic or romantic.

Naturally a romantic obsession would be more intense due to her past (Intimate encounters, relationships, etc.)

But a platonic one is more mellow, often being her trying to give advice and protect you.

Maggie truly tries to be cold and distant with you.

Yet she's always been a sympathetic person, even if she's more cynical now.

Eventually she'll step in to help you occasionally, always wary of anyone noticing.

If her obsession is platonic, she may be less wary... but still anxious.

She thinks it's okay to have her obsession start as just a friend.

You're probably still in danger... but it's not like you're involved.

Maggie overall is primarily a protective yandere.

Despite never wanting to be a hero...

She's used to being there for others and can't seem to break the habit when it comes to you.

If she's going to be a 'hero' for anyone, it's you.

She's very secretive about her behavior.

She keeps an eye on you, regardless of if you're a civilian or even working for Vought.

She feels at ease when she knows where you are and what you're doing.

Maggie definitely keeps an eye on Homelander too.

She doesn't want him learning of her newest obsession.

She really tries to keep how she feels about you as a 'secret friendship'.

She knows Vought and does NOT want you being used as some form of marketing.

Maggie takes time to come visit you when she isn't doing duties for The Seven.

You're an outlet for her, she really needed a friend.

She just hates the fact it would be so easy to lose you the second she slips up.

When Maggie begins to develop romantic feelings, she's scared.

She's terrified the second she acts on them... you're going to be dealt with in some horrible way.

This fear, no doubt put in her by Homelander, is what makes her yandere behavior truly develop.

Originally she was just protective.

That alone makes sense because of what her supposed duty is.

Yet the possessive and isolating behavior that comes later?

That's caused by other factors.

Maggie may not even realize she's being as bad as Homelander, her previous partner.

She just excuses it as paranoia.

No, she's not jealous that you get to speak so freely to other people.

She's just... worried they'll hurt you.

She isn't isolating you in your apartment.

She's just watching over you in case Homelander comes by.

Don't you know it's dangerous to associate with her?

She knows it, she knows it quite well...

Yet she can't seem to give you up.

Maggie would kill for her obsession.

She's killed people before... proud of it? Not necessarily.

She'd kill to protect her obsession.

She tries nothing all that gorey.

Maybe she'll snap their neck... That seems good enough.

Although, impaling others with her sword is more satisfying than she'd like to admit....

There's just something about the way their blood spurts when she cuts them down... a strange thought, especially when she thinks of you during it.

She may even take on other Supes if she needs to.

She isn't afraid of conflict, she's even known to speak her mind, yet she tries to prevent it in case you'll get hurt.

When she accepts the fact she's in love with you, Maggie can be affectionate.

She'll hug you more often and sit beside you in your home.

If she gets involved with you, she'll kill you all over and cuddle you.

All of her obsession is a secret.

She hides it from you until she can't take it anymore.

She's going to end up doing something that gives her away to you.

Maybe you're fighting with her or maybe she gets worked up over the idea of Vought finding out about you.

Maggie's confession could be rather blunt I feel.

Like in an argument or maybe she saves you from another Supe...

That might be when she admits it...

She loves you.

While possibly flattering... This isn't normal love, of course.

It's more like a paranoid obsession than anything.

It would not surprise me if Maggie snapped and decided isolation will keep you safe.

It would also keep you hers.

I definitely think Maggie will accidentally act like how Homelander did with her.

She doesn't trust you with anyone else, to the point of her killing anyone who tries to find you.

She keeps you at a private home, or even just house arrest at your own home or apartment.

She's often around you, telling you she loves you.

She tries to excuse her behavior, saying Homelander might kill you.

You don't doubt that...

But you'd rather she didn't hide you away from everyone you know and love.

Maggie may hate to admit it... but Homelander's rubbed off on her.

She may think she's different, that she's doing what's best...

But locking you up... fear mongering you... coming home bloody...

There's no difference.

She still wants you to herself, the excuse doesn't matter.

You'll be scared of her, just like she was with Homelander.

Maggie wants a normal life, she wants to love you and provide for you... She wants you to love her back...

Unfortunately, you'll only be scared of her... It's frustrating.

She has a temper that flares when you refuse her... making you change your tune.

Maybe she'll even be delusional?

Maybe she'll think you love her back... That she's having her happy ending...

In reality you're scared and just trying to placate her...

It's a repeat of her and Homelander... Except she's the problem now.

[twst-hottest-takes]

I think what a lot of people don't seem to realize with the Malleus situation is that everyone–both fans and the characters–is being so MEAN about it. As a Malleus fan myself, I don't think what he's doing is right. I don't think most fans that are opposed to the treatment he's getting are saying he's right or that he shouldn't face consequences. What we're saying is that other fans and even the characters are treating Malleus different than the other overblots and it's rather upsetting to witness.

None of the other overblots have been threatened with being physically disabled, nor do they really face that big of consequences for their actions in the end. None of the others have been called evil or monsters and they always had other characters who were sympathetic to them even while trying to stop them. And keep in mind, the other overblots have actively tried to KILL people. Malleus hasn't. Ortho doesn't count, because Malleus equates him to a ghost, which Ortho AGREES with. It's not the same. "But he put a lot of people to sleep!!!!" Okay? And? Idia tried to wipe out the entire world. Like actively dead. And there's been not a peep about how he should face consequences for his actions. But suddenly when Malleus does something bad, everyone is up in arms, it's bizarre af.

Speaking of Idia, you'd think he of all people would understand how much grief can ruin you. When he was trapped with Riddle (who really understands deep loneliness) I expected them to realize the kind of situation that's happening, but instead they just don't really do anything?? And Idia treats a real person and their emotions like a video game. He was literally able to sympathize with ROLLO, so it kinda feels ooc that suddenly he's so oblivious to the same suffering he's experienced in another.

Not to mention the fact that people seem to be really downplaying the issue with Silver in the KoD armor and the "enemy of mankind" phrase. I don't know how to explain to you all that the fae were quite literally colonized, their princess murdered, and their land, homes, and resources stolen from them and yet you don't see why these things might be kinda gross?? Silver's dad was a colonizer. It doesn't matter if he didn't agree with it, he didn't speak up at all. He didn't try to stop anyone. He was complicit in the acts of his fellows and thus his image doesn't deserve to be used as the savior of a people he helped destroy. It's disgusting.

I am writing an essay responding to each part of this take as I believe it deserves a thought out answer.

But Book 7 is over now, so I have some burning questions to ask that are entirely relevant to said essay.

I usually try to avoid spoilers to the best of my abilities, but I'll just ask about the finale in favor of coming to more informed point on how differently Malleus is being treated:

Does Malleus lose his horns?

Is this a permanent change?

Is he unable to use any magic now?

Will he ever be able to use magic in the same capacity again?

Who physically harms or berates Malleus for his actions after his overblot is over?

Who continues to call him a monster once he is finally snapped out of it?

Does anyone try to intervene when that happens?

Does Malleus get hauled off to STYX or the Briar Valley to never been seen again as punishment for his misdeeds?

Does Malleus so much as get suspended from school or have his title as Housewarden revoked?

Who hugs Malleus when the crisis is over?

And of course, does Lilia actually leave and go into retirement?

After all of the details about how Malleus is treated after the world-threatening magical crisis he caused is resolved, we'll talk about how differently he's treated. Fair?

Thank you for your take.

(Also, way to give Silver the "sins of the father" treatment.)

P.S. If anyone wants to answer these questions, please do so in a comment so that I can see it, or otherwise PM me. I don't want to see responses to this in my askbox. ~Please and thank you.

[olderthannetfic]

Hot take incoming.

People who have been traumatized or otherwise harmed by certain people (predators, etc) have every right to be upset about it, and angry, and scared about whether other people will experience the same thing. They also have a right to process their trauma in their own time, because everyone is different. It is also understandable that some people might not have access to a way to process that trauma. Lastly, obviously, people with trauma totally deserve to be included in fandom spaces as much as someone who doesn't have trauma.

However… I feel like there is a line that shouldn't be crossed when engaging in certain discourse in fandom, and outside of fandom. If someone has lots of unresolved, unprocessed trauma, and because of it, they can't be (sufficiently) objective, or look at things in a more unbiased manner, they should not be engaging in discourse about things like censorship too heavily—if at all. They need to postpone that until their mental health is a bit better.

Unresolved trauma can make it really hard to properly acknowledge nuance. For example, if someone's parents grabbed them, beat them, withheld food, opened locked doors on them, et al, yes, they're going to have trauma. But the question remains whether they can view something like a fictional dynamic where, for instance, someone makes amends with their parents who abused them due to mental illness, which has since been treated, with ample objectivity. Or any other, even darker topics, especially ones where toxic relationships and events are written to be erotic). It really feels like many people in fandom don't recognize they might be too biased to read something without viscerally (viscerally!) reacting, and throwing down the "ban it" card. I get the impression it's not really healthy for the individual a lot of times, too.

I've reblogged posts about why it's bad to censor sensitive topics in fandom, and I've posted some of my own commentary, which tends to be very clinical. I've had multiple strangers, at these times, create full-on essays in my inbox where, after mentioning how I seemed like a safe space, they described how they were groomed and abused by someone, and all sorts of stuff that I didn't want to read. While it was very sympathetic, they argued that x things should be censored, and nobody should be allowed to write toxic relationships, because they "knew just how bad that trauma could be," and they implored me to believe them. But even if they do have firsthand experience with that trauma, and they feel so strongly about it, does that really make their argument any more logical?

I'm convinced these people still had unprocessed trauma, so they were acting with their feelings, not their brain. I got this impression from how they completely trauma-dumped on me - I kid you not, it felt like they had to get this stuff out somehow, because they hadn't been given enough opportunity to vent before. One of these people who were in my inbox? They legitimately seemed desperate to get me to accept what they were saying. Now, it could've been a bucket of fake bullshit. But if it was real, I have to wonder how much of the incessant campaigning for censorship is actually a misguided way for people to manage and make sense of trauma, to validate it somehow, and feel like they're getting control over a situation, even if they don't realize that's what they're trying to do.

Not to claim people shouldn't be allowed to speak their minds. But, there's nuance. I feel like a lot of people in fandom need to wrap their heads around the fact that there is a large difference between being informed by trauma, and letting trauma speak for you. And the latter can often lead to bad outcomes.

--

[hamliet]

Why do Gen Z viewers have such a problem with nudity all of a sudden?

I'm not really here to denigrate younger generations. (I'm a Millennial!) Every generation feels frustrated with the up and coming one, and every generation will frustrate the up and coming.

That said, I do think demographers have discussed the right-wing swing of Gen Z, particularly younger Gen Z, and I think this is accurate based on what I'm observing. All generations are kind of reacting to what came before, to the failures of the past, so I'm not entirely blaming them for it.

But my guess is that there are a lot of interlocking issues that influence this. Mostly systemic issues.

For one thing, at least in the United States, the quality of education has plummeted--it was already plummeting, but COVID accelerated it. There honestly is a stark, stark difference in classes 10 years ago and classes now--mostly based on the student behaviors and expectations. Trust me, I've taught both.

So, you have a poor education system that is, in all honesty, buckling. Add systemic problems to this and attempts to fix them without addressing other systemic issues that make fixes more a shifting of who gets hurt than erasing hurt.

For example, take the prevalence of IEPs, which are extremely helpful at times but also which do neglect the needs of other students at times--and teachers/professors--for the needs of one student. Make no mistake, IEPs are great. I support them fully. I just also think we have so many issues in education, so many systemic issues, that the implementation of IEPs can be harmful to others, which can then create resentment in other students which can lead to generalizations. And please understand that I'm not singling IEPs out or saying they even play a major part in this shift (they help more than they hurt) but I am using it as an example of how systems (like public ed) tries to fix problems and creates new ones which is not necessarily worse than before, it could even be better, it's just not arriving at a "no problems" place. There are lots of issues like this, wherein one group's needs ignore another's, and then that creates resentment.

Let's not pretend that this resentment isn't extremely felt by privileged (white cismen) people. Now, just because someone's privileged doesn't inherently mean their needs are less important, but they also aren't used to the feeling of having their needs not prioritized. In an ideal world, we could prioritize everyone's. We don't live in that world and schools are understaffed and underfunded, as are social workers--who are also tremendously underpaid, by the way. So then privileged people who may have felt sympathetic in the past now feel angry because they see that it was easier for their parents, etc. And that can lead into a slide into a more conservative viewpoint.

On a less personal level, the lack of solid education means that people are not learning how to think. They are instead memorizing facts to pass tests, and not learning how to read. Learning how to read at different levels--understanding subtext and the like--is extremely critical to critical thinking. You don't have to love fiction to be able to read well and understand at a critical level.

If you don't think critically, you're far more likely to be sucked into an ideology, whatever it is, that tells you it's okay, shh, you don't have to think because we'll tell you what to think. You don't have to think about other people or empathize because you are the only one that matters. For people who feel neglected even if comparatively with the historically underprivileged we might side eye is, that's really appealing. You don't need to look at yourself and examine the ugly parts we all have.

Not to mention the world is increasingly terrifying. Fascism. Genocide. Hatred. Climate crisis. If it looks inevitable that not everyone will survive, then why not prioritize yourself? Why not cling to something that tells you either that it's not happening, or that it is but they have the answers--something that makes sense instead of chaos, which itself breeds fear?

And these beliefs then leap into purity culture. Which is also natural for younger people because your frontal lobes being underdeveloped means that you are more likely to lean into black and white thinking. You're safe if you avoid even the slightest hint of impropriety. Whether religious and conservative or "liberal" and unproblematic. And that leads to generalizations like the term "sexualization" which if I hear one more time I'm going to lose it. What do people even mean by that? What is this umbrella?

The body is not dangerous and it is not inherently sexual. Nudity is extremely common in pretty much all cultures in art. If we can't appreciate the human form, what on earth are we even doing? It's a shame people equate nudity to perversion. And all sexuality is perversion for some, but sexuality really normal for the majority of people--which isn't to say it's normal for everyone (asexual people exist).

Yes, nudity can be sexual. Not everything that can be sexual is inherently so just because it exists. Studies demonstrate that honest portrayal of bodies and facts about sex (delivered in age-appropriate ways which doesn't ever mean lying) are actually far more effective at preventing abuse than just saying "body bad."

[thewoollyviking]

There’s something that’s been bothering me about discussing the finale to SU (the finale to the main series that is, not future) that I hear often.

Namely, that Steven’s success in getting the Diamonds, especially White, to change their ways is meant to be a sort of escapist fantasy where you can somehow reach out to your bigoted, hyper conservative family and get them to change their mind.

For a while I was sympathetic to that. I understand that in the last few years a lot of people, especially anybody living in the US, have had to cut ties with their family for one reason or another, and that this ending can be comforting. Perhaps even enough to inspire hope that maybe one day, they themselves could do the same with their friends or family.

But in the last few years I just feel like this need to cling to that fantasy has aged poorly and might even be more harmful than hopeful.

I wonder how many people watched the show and thought that if they just said the right thing or had the right argument, they could reach out to that person they had to ghost for a while and pull them out of that rabbit hole.

But whenever I do hear about or talk to people who have tried to do that, who try to talk them out and change their mind, all I hear about is how emotionally draining it is. How much that person just hurts them bu basically spitting in their face. Ever since 2020 these people have just become impossible to talk to because they aren’t interested in having their mind changed.

If you have a friend or family member that traded their principles for a red hat, they’re not going to care about your arguments.

The people who stay and try to get those people to change just keep hurting themselves. And the people they’re trying to reach out to are either too lost in the sauce to see how they’re hurting them, or they do know and revel in it.

It’s why I can’t help but feel like Steven was kind of coddled by the narrative and given an easy out (most likely because CN was threatening to pull the plug after the Garnet Wedding) to make for a nicer ending to the story.

But in a way it cheapens other elements of the story. Are we to assume then that Rose could have reasoned with White and simply didn’t try as hard as Steven had? Did Steven just come off as more convincing and charismatic than Rose? Is the nonstop demonization of Rose after season 5 suggesting that Rose should never have ran away and instead should have stayed to suffer under the Diamonds abuse in the slim hope that she could get them to understand her?

What was so special about Steven that Rose lacked in getting them to finally change?

I don’t like the idea of this element of the story, the confrontation with the apathetic, abusive family of the protagonist’s mother, feeling like it has to end on such a perfect fairy tale ending when so much they had been everything but that.

We kept all that emotional ugliness and drama when it came to Rose and how losing her affected Steven’s family. Why choose to have the Diamonds walk away thinking they can be a happy family now with Steven, and why is Steven coddling them by letting them think they can have him be their stand-in for Rose without having to accept that she’s gone because of them?

Why not keep it here? Why not show that people like Rose and Steven don’t need to always change the minds of or gain the approval of people like White. That sometimes the best we can do is just to try and get away, cut ties, and strike out on your own for your own sake because they will never. stop. hurting you.

But if you can, the best you can do is try to take away whatever power that abuser is using over others. Not necessarily by killing them, but at least by making it so that they could never hurt somebody ever again.

That should have been how Steven dealt with White. Having to bitterly accept that she’d be a hateful, abusive piece of shit no matter what he said. But at least Yellow and Blue, two of Rose’s family who had thousands of years of grief to process before getting called out for their role in Rose’s abuse, would want to help in making things right.

It would not be a perfect fairy tale ending, but that would have at least been one that better handled the Diamonds as villains.

Because they are. And that’s something this fandom seems to have forgotten and instead in a confused stupor seemed to have slapped onto Rose.

[paingoes]

(long Paris apologia paragraph ahead sorry)

I love both Delta and Paris, and while Delta is infinitely more likable and I have more in common with Delta re: autism and child abuse, I honestly find Paris to be a more compelling character? (Part of this is because I'm also an alcoholic with complex trauma and I so very rarely see the worst parts of my trauma being represented in a sympathetic light.) I definitely get why people don't like him. he's a violent shithead, a menace to society and himself, not to mention he has the emotional intelligence of a rock.

You mentioned this in a previous post but I think you did a really good job with showing that a lot of Paris' worst qualities (his violent mood swings, his sense of entitlement, his power tripping abusive behavior etc) comes from a place of his own patheticness and refusal to change (especially the times when he breaks down after getting too drunk) and I think that's what allows me to sympathize with and like him more then anything. His childishness in his most monstrous and vulnerable moments really drives home that he's not really suited to the role of all powerful monarch he was raised to be, and who's abuse and status in the empire caused him both to grow up way too fast, while at the same time never allowing him to develop into a healthy adult and that he's in many ways, a kid in a grown person's body who sees himself as doomed to repeat the cycles of his childhood trauma that created him unless he chooses otherwise. (A horrifying and daunting task for someone like him)

Like the scene where he breaks Delta's arm and almost drowns him? It's scary as hell but what stands out to me it despite the horrible violence and long term consequences of his actions, is just how petty and childish his motivations for doing so is (which does not make them any less harmful). he's acting this way because he feels slighted and abandoned by Lorelai. You hurt me I hurt you. This gives me a lot of leeway into both sympathizing with him as someone with similar struggles while also reminding me that he's not the way he is because he's powerful, like he wants you to believe, but a very weak and jaded person who wants to feel powerful and is given the systemic means to. Which doesn't make him less dangerous.

Sorry for the long ask, I'm just very much enjoying your story, especially Paris's "being humbled by life" arc and I'm super excited about what will be in store for both him and Delta next ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

oh my godddddd this was such an amazing thing to wake up to. i kind dont even wanna post it i just want to hold onto it forever. this is so sweet.

i dont know if i can respond to all of this right now and i might talk more about the different points you brought up later. but generally i am so pleased with this analysis and im pleased you have gotten this much out of it? im gonna say more under the cut

pretty heavy warnings for child abuse. nothing explicit just discussion of institutional child abuse/complex trauma and how it affects people psychologically.

like i said i could talk about them basically forever but re: childishness and being pathetic. YEAH i mean i think it is very obvious that paris’s growth has been stunted as a result of abuse + neglect. in fact i think that growing up in empire alone is inherently stunting because it is a system very much designed to kill empathy and to breed hunger and greed in people. its a problem with the whole society, cruelty and selfishness are incentivized over developing more complex moral structures and even over developing your own identity.

[ people like lorelai are very much an outlier within Empire, but i think its clear that she is….also pretty immature? she has a lot of love and a desire to do good, which kind of makes up for it, but she is childish in the sense that her parents sheltered her and her own ideas about revolution and utopia are very very idealized. i think this delusional optimism is a good thing for paris tbh and it kinda balances out his own cynicism. but lorelai will need to grow up at some point too. its just her reckoning is allowed to be softer. ]

but paris’s case was particularly bad for a few reasons.

the most obvious is that he was prince and naturally the expectations placed on him were a lot greater and the consequences for not meeting them were a lot harsher.

paris was born with pretty severe ADHD and mood regulation issues and his symptoms only worsened the more that he was punished for them

paris at his core is a genuinely sensitive and intelligent person that understands right from wrong

and i think this alone provides a lot of context for how he is now but it also makes it easier to understand why his childhood was basically torture for him. like yeah exposure to complex trauma will kind of naturally stunt your growth at certain points but you also get the sense that paris’s growth was like. deliberately stunted or that the handicap was self-inflicted. paris acts dumber than he is. its how he makes peace with it. its cool to be a callous idiot because if you have to be a self aware and moral person in this environment you will immediately get one-shotted by guilt.

and for what it’s worth i think delta’s growth was also — obviously — stunted. but in a different way shaped by their respective roles.

it’s legitimately really gross for me to describe it this way but it does feel like one of the goals with delta’s conditioning was to make a forever-child. someone who will do what you say and remain perfectly ignorant and docile and obedient. he can be used but is basically incapable of putting up a fight. martino and simon both speak to delta like he’s a child and that infantilization is to keep him pliant and similarly trapped in that same sense of helplessness he felt when he was little :(

i think delta is very low empathy naturally and actually doesnt have an innate moral compass which is what made him such a perfect candidate for the job. but it also means he is super susceptible to getting someone else’s morals imposed onto him as long as he finds them logical and coherent. his ability to morally reason and his way of interacting with people is obviously very underdeveloped but its more immediately obvious why.

ive said before that i think delta is more emotionally mature than paris but i think maybe this paints an incorrect view of things? i mean. delta is not holding his tongue and regulating his own emotions because he thinks its a mature thing to do. hes doing it because he knows not to speak without permission and that if he ever had an outburst the way paris did, he would be beaten within an inch of his life. so i feel like maybe its wrong to attribute this as one of his virtues. (without totally discounting the fact that delta is very sweet and doing his best.) delta would very much struggle with like. setting boundaries, standing up for himself in any way, communicating his feelings. you can describe paris as childish but i think delta is childlike. in that he’s also suffering the consequences of abuse but his specific conditioning has made him more fawny in a way that reads as sympathetic and virtuous.

basically yeah my point was. they were both stunted at some critical point in their development and are both dealing with the consequences of that. paris was a victim but he was simultaneously groomed to be a perpetrator, versus delta who is mostly victim.

anyway thanks so much wow im gonna print this whole ask out ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

[tanoraqui]

the thing is... JK Rowling did write the books. She certainly did write the books, which was the pivotal first step.

However, here is an incomplete list of people who meant more to my experience of reading and enjoying the Harry Potter books than JKR ever did:

My grandmother, who read them because she loved to read and because she wanted to understand what the hell her granddaughter - whom she'd recently moved 3,000 in part to live near - spent 90% of her time talking about; who passed away this past fall.

My other grandmother, who read them for more or less the same reason except without the cross-country move; who passed away in 2014. It was in her honor that I bought the current set of books I own.

The uncle-shaped family friend who always listened to me expound on my latest theories for the next book, and told me his own like an equal in intellectual debate

That one writer on Mugglenet's fanfiction archive who wrote a crack soap opera fic in which Professor McGonagall got pregnant from Crookshanks, and the children were cat-human hybrids whom they called "kiddens." That haunts me to this day.

Honestly, collectively every single person who wrote content, be it recordkeeping, fic, or analysis, for MuggleNet circa 2005-2008. Some people spent their internet-childhoods on Neopets or Club Penguin; I read every single page on MuggleNet.com.

The summer camp counselor who'd read HBP when I hadn't yet, and who responded to my positively tsundere attitude toward spoilers by telling me straight-faced that Harry started dating Luna [not Ginny]. A) The fucking audacity! she lied right to my annoying 10yo face! B) I got to experience the giddiness of finding out what happened twice, once then and again later when I read the book! Thank you, Natalie(?) from Y-Camp!

The two friends with whom I went to the DH midnight release party at my local secondhand bookstore, in closet cosplay. We were all in the first 5 people to get our books, and we promptly started reading them while standing outside the bookstore, in the light coming through the front window. 1 of them was parentally required to go to bed but the other and I stayed up all night reading, until we finished the books sometime mid-morning.

My dad, specifically when he (still) tells the story of having to make a "walk of shame" (his words) back to the bookstore the next afternoon, to ask if they had the broom we'd accidentally left behind.

The tourists from America, England, France and China who were all waiting in line at the Platform 9 3/4 overpriced photo op in King's Cross Station the same time I was, in the summer of 2013, which unironically made me feel more spiritually connected with humanity as a whole than possibly any other experience in my life. Like, this is embarrassing. It's a pure tourist trap. Yet people from LITERALLY all around the world had all made the same journey I had to be there, just because we all loved the same books. and that's...really special.

...you know? So, JKR is doing real harm to the trans community now, and will continue to do more and maybe even worse in the future; and I am so, so sympathetic and angry about that. I have no intention of giving her money or any other support ever again, nor of encouraging anyone else to do so.

But all her present vitriol is only drops in the lake of my warm memories. I don't let them give me a falsely rosy view of her, but nor will I let her poison them. And I encourage others to let themselves find the same balance, if they can.

[spacerockfloater]

Hi.

It's so disheartening to see how a big chunk of TG turned on Aemond and Alicent and only support Aegon now. I deeply dislike most of the writing decisions this season, but people seem to forget that these decisions didn't harm only Aegon's character, but also Aemond, Alicent and Criston's, I would say even more than Aegon's. Nevertheless, after the last week episode I've seen a lot of TG hate directed towards Alicent and Aemond that reminded me of TB discourse and it's just sad.

I would love to hear your opinion on this. Thanks in advance.

Hello there friend! Thank you so much for sending me this ask!

Sigh. This is such a complicated issue. As a fellow TG supporter said recently in one of my posts, us turning against the Targtowers and hating them was exactly what Ryan Condal wanted.

They accidentally made them too sympathetic and righteous in the first season, so they had to ruin them to remind the public of whom they are supposed to hate. It’s sickening.

Alicent’s whole journey was about understanding that she needs to be more fierce and demanding to help her family survive. The first season ended with her being ruthless and ready to sacrifice everything for her children. But now she has regressed back to herself from the first half of S1, a scared little girl that doesn’t have the guts to do what must be done and loses all hope the moment the first tragedy comes her way.

Aegon’s whole journey was him overcoming his bullying tendencies and genuinely supporting his brother and his family. He may have initiated the pink dread incident but when his mother told him to cut the bullshit and stop acting like his nephews are his friends, he had no problem knocking Jace to the floor during practice. He stood tall when his brother was disabled and refused to name his mother as the one who spread the rumour(!) of Nyra’s children being bastards. He spoke his truth with his whole chest. Years later, the moment Aemond rose to answer to Lucerys’s mockery, he was right beside him, toasting with him and smashing Luc’s head on the table. And finally, when everyone turned on Aemond for taking his revenge, it was Aegon who demanded Aemond remain in his council, because that was his brother, his best sword and he wanted him there, even if their mother could not bare to look at him. Aegon rose to the occasion and was ready to become a better person, he seemed to genuinely want to serve his subjects. He loved nothing more in the world than his son and his death tore him apart. But suddenly, next episode he has forgotten all about it and is back at bullying Aemond again? That’s just none-sense. All that character development for nothing.

I did feel like Aemond burning his brother alive went from 0 to 100 real quick. He already got his lick back when he made a fool of Aegon in front of his own council. Aemond is a calculating person. He would know that talking Aegon out of the way would cause more harm than good.

Their relationship has been destroyed. Every TG member hates the others. Ultimately, I think we just have to accept this is bad writing and let go of the show because yikes.

However, if we want to discuss show canon, we should keep the characters accountable for their actions and unfortunately, I am displeased with all of them except from Criston. I’ll keep supporting Aegon, Aemond and Alicent but I must also criticise them for the things that they do if I want to be fair.

That being said, I can see why Alicent is horrified by Aemond’s actions. I can see why people think Aemond went too damn far. At the same time, I can see that Aemond would never just sit down and accept being abused. Add to that his not so secret desire to be king, and you can see why he wouldn’t think twice about turning his brother to ashes.

All in all, I think that every opinion is justified and that we must wait for the new episode to air (Aemond’s interactions with Aegon and Alicent are essential) for some additional insight on the incident of Rook’s Rest.

[pizzabox-box]

Ah this is cringe as heck for me, but screw it, the last ask you got about a person not feeling much sympathy all for Peppi-No really was great, kudos to the OP of that comment since it really got me thinking, why even if I agree what the dude is doing is awful... I actually feel pretty fucking bad for him XD.

Like, I think we can all agree we've done shit in our lives that wasn't great, and that doesn't diminish the harm done or the fact other people have gotten hurt from our own stupid decisions. I also just think sympathetic villains are so interesting. (when done right, and hell you could argue even if he is the protagonist of the DMW AU, Peppi-No is a bit of an anti-villian) it really makes you think about the fact its so normal for people do try to avoid the consequences of their actions. I'm sure everyone has done something bad and instead of admitting fault have doubled down and tried to save face because they were SURE they could "fix" it without getting hurt from it.

Sure most of the time, (...I hope) its not as bad as murdering a person and taking on their identity... I think there is something really human about wanting to not get hurt, and feeling like shit about regrets we've had.

I think that Peppi-No even if what he doing is wrong, still... I dunno I can empathize. I mean.. he's sooo sowwy 🥺, its kinda pathetic, like a more extreme version of a puppy that just destroyed something important to you. Like "awww... you asshole, you're so cute though but goddamn it..."

I both am loving the angst of this AU and know its going to be so cathartic to see Peppi-no finally deal with his lie blowing up in his face and suffering MORE >:). I feel sympathy yes but I also love angst hehe.

(sorry if that wasn't super well worded? I don't normally send things like these >//>)

I assure you, it’s not cringe! It’s nice to see both sides voice their opinions!

Personally, I’m pretty divided on how I feel about Peppi-no. Part of me wants to strangle him for what he did (and what he might still do*cough* ), but at the same time, he’s,like you said, a sad, pathetic "sowwy" puppy, and I can’t help but feel bad for him.

When he took a piece of Peppino, he may have gained a conscience but not emotional maturity. He’s like a kid who just realized he fucked up in the worst way possible and is terrified of the consequenses. And fear can drive people to do terrible things, after all. Before that, his entire existence was just scrambling around, making pizzas out of whatever he could find: pigs, other clones, pizza monsters. He ended many lives, that but never faced any sort of repercussions. Never got a chance to learn "murder bad" ,

Then he takes a bite out of one of the kind Peppino—bam! Conscience, coherent thoughts, and memories of the guy he killed flood into his head. Can you imagine the whiplash, the shock, the stress? I certainly can’t.

Obviously, I’m not some dough doppelgänger pretending to be someone I killed. That would just be silly… no, really, I’m not.. But I can relate a little to what Peppi-no’s going through.

And let’s be honest, how many of us would have the absolute balls of steel to admit we killed someone’s friend in cold blood? Sure, it’s the morally right thing to do, but… you know. I’m not sure I could. (Once again purely hypothetical scenario)

Peppi-no's actions are unexcusable, he should know better than this by now, but at the same time you can kinda understand why he acts the way he does.

[thebreakfastgenie]

Wheelers and Dealers is one of BJ's least sympathetic breakdowns--not only to me, but to the other characters in-universe--but it's also probably the episode that most effectively explains his whole deal. That's because Wheelers and Dealers reveals a new piece of backstory: BJ had the chance to dodge the draft. Hawkeye jokes about being an unsuccessful draft dodger and Klinger talks about his various attempts, but BJ had what neither of them did: an actual, for real ticket out.

I could've gotten out of the draft, like Ned Gradinger. Big all American hero from Stanford. Medical deferment, signed by that eminent physician Ned Gradinger, Sr., who offered the same to me, but I was a good guy.

Within this episode, this new detail explains why BJ feels so intensely guilty about his family struggling in his absence. It also explains his anger that people like him because of his "good guy" personality. One level to that is the fear that if he does something selfish or less than good no one will like him anymore. But I think that's secondary to something else:

Everybody wants to play when it's lovable Doc Hunnicutt, gentleman loser. But let me win a few, it's like I committed a crime.

If BJ had "won one" by dodging the draft, he would have committed a crime. I think that's what he's speaking to, here, more than a fear of losing people by expressing human failings. After all, he does express human failings all the time, and he's hardly ever blamed for them. Now, the continuity on MASH is loose at best, so I don't for a moment imagine the writers planned this bit of lore from BJ's introduction, or that intended it to apply retroactively. But let's do that anyway.

What sets BJ apart from Hawkeye and Trapper and even to some extent from other characters is a certain respect for the rules and faith in the institutions of American life. It makes sense for someone from a more comfortable, middle class background to have that attitude. It's why Margaret and Frank set their sights on him initially. Of course, this aspect of BJ is deconstructed as he comes face to face with war and with rules that are transparently arbitrary or even morally wrong. But he really digs in his heels. Just look at Preventative Medicine, where he rigidly adheres to a code of medical ethics and a definition of "harm" that feels almost absurd in a war zone. (Can an army surgeon "do no harm?" Ask Hawkeye in Letters or BJ in Bombshells.)

Of course, this makes a lot more sense when you put it in the context of BJ being drafted because he strictly adhered to the rules, to a rigid idea of right and wrong. Of course BJ clings to the rules; he desperately needs to believe they mean something. If the rules don't matter, if right and wrong aren't so simple, he allowed himself to be drafted for nothing. He allowed himself to be taken from his family, to be made into a soldier, to witness some of the worst things a human being can witness, to get used to the horror, to do things he would never otherwise do, because he believed he was doing the right thing. If doing the right thing doesn't mean anything, he let all that happen for no reason at all. That's a hell of a thing to come to terms with.

Now, what's the big moral argument against draft dodging, if you don't believe in serving your country? If you don't go, someone else will have to go in your place. Now look at Period of Adjustment.

Radar's home, Hawk. I should be glad for him. But I'm not! I'm so torn up with envy, I almost hate him! And I feel the same way about Trapper, and I never even met him.

BJ hates them for being home when he's not. Invoking Trapper here is powerful, because on a meta level and to some extent in-universe, BJ is literally there because Trapper is not. If BJ had taken the draft dodge, someone else would be suffering over here. If he'd won one, he'd have condemned someone else to that fate. Is that some kind of crime, not legally, but morally? Here, BJ is on the other side. Trapper and Radar won a hand: they got to go home. BJ is trying to be lovable Doc Hunnicutt, happy for their good fortune, gracefully accepting that he has to stay. But for once he can't quite do it. This is also one of the only times in the series we see someone really, furiously envious about another character going home, which isn't really relevant here but I thought it was interesting enough to highlight. This fits with how I've described Period of Adjustment from BJ's perspective before, as a shattering of the illusion they all use to get through each day.

Essentially, BJ clings desperately to the rules because all the worst things that have happened to him are things he accepted as consequences of doing the right thing. He accepted them naively, the war is worse than he could have imagined, and the possibility that on top of that, his reason for accepting them was meaningless is kind of unbearable.

[utilitycaster]

I've talked before about how the metaphor of Imogen's powers as queerness or neurodivergence fails miserably in trying to understand her time in Gelvaan due to the implications it bears; but a place where it does work is in understanding her relationship to Liliana.

It's a bit difficult because Liliana left when Imogen was so young, and so they lack a strong parental bond, but it reminds me of some parents who grew up without their neurodivergence or mental illness being diagnosed, or who suppressed their sexuality or gender expression due to the time in which they grew up and are then confronted with a child with that diagnosis or with that information and improved acceptance. Her response, rather than to nurture Imogen and perhaps even learn from the way things have changed is to stick to the "right" way to deal with her own issues and insist her child to do the same despite their wishes - with fantasy Qanon thrown into the mix.

It's not a perfect one-to-one in real life, obviously; there are plenty of parents who, when confronted with their child's autism or genderfluidity say "oh, huh, this explains a lot of things about myself" and learn from it and explore what they thought was "wrong" about them and often find new joy in adulthood from it. But there are many Lilianas as well; the people who say "well in my day you just needed to work harder and stop getting so easily distracted", and who punish and who push their own coping mechanisms they understandably developed for themselves but which are not healthy for their children, in a slightly more informed and understanding world, to adopt. Liliana is representative of this deeply sympathetic but also immensely conservative and harmful mindset.

I think what tempers my sympathy for Liliana is that she was not there for Imogen at any point, and is now pushing this without even attempting to listen to Imogen's repeated requests for answers or assistance. Had she been present, and had she been guiding Imogen through her powers when they appeared, then this would be a much more heartbreaking scenario, of Liliana genuinely trying to help but being stuck in her ways after so many years (and perhaps even terrified to try something else, given how hard it was to get to a place of numbness rather than outright pain). As is, however, her story is tragic, but my heartbreak is entirely reserved for Imogen. To continue the metaphor, Liliana left the people trying to understand and mitigate and even fight stigma, and fell in with the liars promising a cure, and in the process not just abandoned her child without even the flawed resources she'd had, but indeed worked with people who sought to destroy them.

[snakegorl212006]

FF16 pairs react to gender netural reader who was isekai-ed had cancer back in our world and thought they didn't have it anymore when they woke up in Valisthea, but realize they do, know they won't have much time left since chemo isn't a thing in Valisthea. and worked up the courage to tell them. (Also the ff16 pairs already know reader is from another world)

S/O with any incurable and harmful illness(like cancer or something)

(warning: reader death, death topics, illness, minor angst, minor spoilers)

========Clive + Jill==============

-they’ll be devastated if they knew -both would try ways to cure it

they would be as supported and involve in your life -they’ll shower you with attention and make sure you can do anything the world has to offer(that’s safe and in there limits) -jill would try to ignore the illness as he thinks that would make the situation worse -clive would also try but it’s more obvious he’s bothered by your illness because it reminds him of his brother -if you manage to beat your illness and survive longer than was expected that would be fantastic and you’d see them both cry with joy -if not and you just get worse or even pass away they’ll be devastated -it would take a while to get over the fact that they can’t do anything -that feeling of helplessness has plague them for most of the journey together and your passing from your illness is a nail in the coffin for them -they would try to move on and help free the world in cid’s and your name

=======Joshua + jote=============

-some one give jote a break plez -great now there’s two terminally ill people in the group -Jote would confine you to the same treatment as joshua -she would constantly check up on you when on the road -joshua is more sympathetic to your condition -joshua is dying from his eikon and you are sick from your illness -Jote and joshua would continue trying to find cures for you even when everything is lost -if you survive your illness at the end jote would be happy that you beat your illness on your own and would be proud about how strong willed you are -joshua would be the same -if you pass away before joshua did they would be heart broken and after everything is over, jote would continue her research into your illness and try to find a cure so this doesn't happen to anyone else -joshua would continue his mission in your honor

====Cid===============

-doesn't show that he’s bothered by it but inside he’s freaking devastated about it -he doesn't let your ailment ruin things and how everything is going -he takes you out more and incorporate you in activities that you might enjoy -he understand that this will affect you in the long run so he tries to include you in less missions -if you survive your illness, he’d throw a celebration for you. A small one with just the two of you -if not he’ll visit your grave every time he could -when he too passes away, he would want to be next to you

====Benedikta============

-no no no no no no no N O! -your not sick -your not ill -your NOT leaving her -she’ll down right ignore your illness until you end up exhausted and week from it -she would take her frustration on the medical staff for not curing you and would punish them if they fail to do so -slowly she would give up hope for a cure -she would lock you away to make sure you don’t get infected with anything else -she would take you out to the nieces places just to see you smile for she believes it might be the last she might see it -she would consider killing you herself so she can end this on her terms but could never bring herself to do it -if you pass from your illness, she would become empty a deeper shell of herself -would return to her more canon behavior but more depress and cruel -last resort she would beg barnabas to turn you into an akashic like him -if you live and survive, she’ll take every part of your recovery and will be more careful with you -she doesn't want to lose someone she loves -never again…

======Dion + terence==============

-also on a denial streak but more reasonable -much like Joshua and jote they would try endlessly to cure you -definitely treat you like broken glass unless you say otherwise -Both would visit you more often -after some decision, dion would try to give you lavish treatment to the best doctors to keep your condition stable -this would let the king know that you exist as Dion’s lover(that’s another issue that i might make separate headcanon if you get discovered on normal circumstances) -Terence would give you gifts and spend more time planning fun thing you all would enjoy -Dion would also take time away from his duties just to take you to do anything you wish -if you pass away, both would be devastated -If you live, they’ll be ecstatic and probably would make your relationship more public tbh -unless you still want to keep some privacy -but life would never be the same if you gotten better

====Barnabas + Sleipnir============

-not even bothered by it -they love you yes but death won’t stop them from being together -unlike everyone on this list, i don’t think they’ll try to find a cure after you given the info that your sick and it’s not curable by the technology in this world -they would spend time with you more than they already did -will be stricter with your time outside with others -if your illness becomes too much(like hair loss or bodily weakness) they would offer you to turn into an akashic much like barnabas -if you were about to die this won’t be a choice -you’ll become a akashic at the end of the day

====Hugo============

-calmer denial -like Benedikta he would be heartbroken and can’t comprehend losing you -would punish doctors who failed at curing you and won’t stop until you feel better or get rid of the ailment -unlike the others, his desire to help you could draw him away from you and bury himself into saving you -he would spend money on different experimental techniques into helping you -seeing you get worse breaks his heart and sometimes avoid seeing you like this, if you end up getting worse. -if you end up passing he’ll blame himself for not trying harder and would dedicate time and resources into making a memorial for you -if you live he’ll break down -you would hardly see this man to be completely vulnerable with you but this would be the few and i mean very few times he would crack -he loves you so much..

[katyspersonal]

Some Velka rambles

Honestly, Velka is such an interesting oddity amongst the Gods! Her element is 'Occult', which is opposite of 'Holy' (narrative through weapons passive effects..... 👍) and her symbol is literally the white circle of Way of White, but... black instead of white, lol. Her miracles are also dark and purple, which is a coloration associated with using Darkness like magic! I primarily remember attacks of the Four Kings, Artorias and Manus on this one.

Then in Dark Souls 1, her devout followers who turned into crow-headed monsters upon worshipping her (confirmed by Miyazaki to be the reason) and traces of her Pardoners are found in Painted World, a place for those who didn't fit the world the way Gods wanted it! However, she was feared by Gods as well, but also had assassins that pursued those who disrespected Gods.. But, this function got adopted by Gwyndolin, as now it is his Darkmoon Knights who hunt down the sinners and take 'Souvenirs of Reprisal' from them! Items dropped by the crow monsters in the painted world, who have no ears, so these are those they've taken too!

It all makes me feel as though something had to happen. Like maybe she betrayed the Gods and lost at some point, maybe those who feared and disliked her screwed her over as soon as they had the chance, maybe she left herself over ideological disagreements, who knows? But for a God, life form of Light/Fire, she certainly favors the Dark, and effectively humans, more! It feels more like a choice rather than being "born odd", unless she is like half-human or something! The latter would give an extra layer to the idea of her adopting Priscilla... but so would developing some interesting ideology, too!

Like, maybe she appreciated how "versatile" humans could be about ideas of justice? Humans have a sixth sense for injustice and unfairness even if all laws and rules are followed and even if "the right thing" was done! Nobody doubts legitimacy of rules and order like they. We are the species that wishes mercy upon a thief who was only a poor guy dealt a really shitty hand robbing to heal his sick child even if he broke the laws (and someone's property)! We are the species that doesn't want a woman that murdered her rapist to go to jail! And when someone feels drastically different about the matter, they get called soulless or inhumane. We can feel injustice even in justice, and maybe this reoccurring feature attracted Velka?

"Justice is blind" for sure doesn't apply to her, her justice is likely very insightful. Justice that IS blind doesn't care whether the culprit "had sympathetic motivations" or "feels sorry". But whereas Velka did have assassins who pursue sinners for punishment too and snitching on someone to get those assassins on their asses is an option, Pardoners also serve to help to redeem and change. There is a justice that ensures those who sinned will pay and thus the balance will be restored but offers the chance to change until you literally die, and there is a justice that defines you by your sins forever and makes your life, future and possibilities rapidly shrink more and more until you have nothing to do but to embrace the sin as your self. In most case, "making amends" isn't possible. No amount of apologies, change or even actual compensation will erase the pain of affected people, return the time they've spent suffering, let alone more severe consequences. But if there was no faith put into "cleansing" sin, sin would be default state of people, and nothing would matter anything or make any sense. Why ever do better or do anything good at all, if what you did wrong is forever in history?

But that's kind of what Velka defies, too! You get the chance to erase your harm from the passage of time, if this is what you seek! It might seem cheap, but it is actually a virtue too. Even if people have the chance to erase their sins, sure many would choose not too because they don't believe they did something wrong. They'd rather hold onto their grudge or have that one guy always suffer because of them even with mutual consequences. Like, it still requires power of character. Pardoners can offer this possibility, but they can't force petty, spiteful, hateful, selfish people to use it. Like, in this fantasy setting, people deserved this cheat code by showing good intent that is NOT the default! ....and hefty amount of souls but is secondary and you know it hfbgjfnb

On a simpler level, Velka is already a "rogue" and heretic by giving the power of rewriting the flow of time on behalf of people who "feel bad 🥺", because time in this setting as we know it IS creation of Fire! And Dark defies passage of time, as well as time passage is failing as a concept when Fire is dying. Like, she literally defies the order of Fire, and so do her servants. But also? Way of White has Gwyndolin to culturally appropriate replace her assassins with the Darkmoon Blades, but.... not Pardoners. Like!!! They don't have "Pardoners at home". There are no guys who would offer to atone and cleanse yourself in the Way of White. And the fact that they've only copied the punishment part but not the atonement part is VERY telling. It is that "bad once = bad forever" shit us humans despise, until and unless we go fanatical and... well, inhumane.

I would not put it past Gwyn or Way of White people in general to feel this way! With Gwyn, you can only "atone" for literally being who you are; Seath betrayed his own kind and was content with his own being slaughtered, and then there were "four human friends that didn't think my jokes were misanthropic". I would not say pre-corruption Church of the Deep was the tool of atonement either; they seemed to be more keen on cleansing the very filth that human nature IS in the eyes of the Way of White? So, the Deep went extremely dirty from repeated attempts to discard that darkness.. much like how the world started to rot after repeated banishments of the Dark. They WERE very much Way of White, until Aldrich saw twisted beauty in human dregs I guess. There is much more mercy in Oswald's "It's only human to commit a sin" than that shit in comparison, or at least that's what it feels like for me.

Basically there is something in the Dark that is more genuine mercy, and more genuine justice. Driven by instincts and not mind or laws, and Velka is right to appreciate it. For them offering better life to those who sinned if they wish it may be a terrible thing. We alllllll know those pricks who complain about "offering compassion to the baaaaaaad person and not their victim!!!" as though it is a limited resource that can't be offered to both and you choose a side. Justice should make the world better, but fixing a bad person into a good one does that as well. But for the Light and its admirers, you can only deliver justice by amputating the bad guy from the body of society. It feels like Dark beings are strangely less interested in playing predator or pray with Light, despite their animalistic nature

[noinoi10101010]

About mono devil in Sams x dangronpa au angels vs demons

so to counter mono angel mono devil was made to kill and be a strong physical attacker there main think was to do the execution but mono angel got to in too that and she ended up being the ones that did it. Ruin's creator end up kidnapping a bunch of people to test his strength. To with he killed them with no mercy. Mono angel being more stronger of the two got a lot more attention and mono devil was for the most part neglected by ruin's creator. Cause of this he had very little self confidence and self worth. Ruin was the one who gave him any attention and he over all while he didn't want to admit it he viewed ruin as a father to him. When the killing game started he noticed how.....brutal mono angel was with the execution. Like with the first one with jack he could get as she was close with fan girl and jack killed her so she naturally wouldn't make his execution well painless but still he was a kid and he had no evil intentions he just wanted to protect his father solar and mono angel claims to view children to be innocent little angel who don't deserve anything harmful to them so her doing that to a child who just wanted to protect his dad made him a little suspicious. When he went to his realm ( were the blackends go when they die ) he sees jack completely and utterly scared. And mono devil was not made to kind or sympathetic but seeing this kid who just wanted to protect his dad scared out of his mind he started pity him then later feel bad for him. In chapter 2 when he finds sun crying cause of the argument he had with mono angel same thing he at first pitys sun and later after hearing him crying like that he feels bad and wants to help him by comforting him. (Very awkwardly). In the 2nd trial he noticed the very small smirk mono angel has that no one else does as sun is executed mono devil is just at a lose for words yes he is very brutal and yes he is made to very violent but nothing at all like that and he thinks the execution is just way to brutal even for him. He calls mono angel out on this and asking if she truly planned this like he thinks. She then chokes him with her magic and says "if you value your life you would keep your mouth shut" so cause of the literal fear that he would be killed by her he keeps his mouth shut. When he went back to check on sun (or what was left of him) he begs him to protect dazzle wanting her to be safe and get out of this he'll as much as she can. Mono devil says he can't but after more desperate begging from sun he eventually agrees and the two eventually become very close. In chapter 3 when dazzle is locked in her room cause of everything he was the one to convince her to at least go out to have her breakfast saying that sun wouldn't want to see you like this and how they all miss her. When they all try to comfort dazzle after the "comfort" mono angel gave her mono devil says to give her some alone time while checking up on her every hour as she needs some space after everything after words he immediately confronts mono angel About how she handle it only to choke him and threaten him with her magic again. he also became close with foxy as he would see how he was bay himself almost all the time and felt bad so included him more so when he was killed in chapter 3 he was so upset and when he found out kill code killed him blinded by pure rage he immediately attacks him only is then stopped by mono angel kill code then now has his right eye be in extreme pain 24 / 7 as when mono devil attack someone the pain is permanent unless it is healed by mono fallen or mono angel. Cause of this he has become incredibly paranoid about sun jack and anyone he becomes close with in that realm as he is scared they will be killed to.

Thorough the killing game dazzle and mono devil becomes more close and he then makes a separate goal once he free from the killing game someone who protects others and those he cares about to be a protector not a killer. In chapter 5 mono angel is framed and solar lets his anger out on her and she snaps and uses her magic to choke him and threaten him and use her magic to have him start hallucinating servant jack his moon sun and Monty all throwing his thoughts and insecurity back in his face mono devil seeing her do this is tired of her shit and attacks her and plans on ending the killing game once and for all only for her to choke him with her magic as he throws a peace of paper to solar that helps with finding out who the mastermind is and just as he is able to die he is about to dazzle what happened to sun and jack is not her fault only for him to get blasted by mono angel magic killing him instantly.

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