#be sad! your feelings are valid

[caparrucia]

Writers, I love you but you're not entitled to an audience.

People are not obligated to read your work just because you posted it. There's no malign, evil conspiracy destroying fandom at the seams because you didn't get engagement.

AO3 is an archive. It means you put stuff in it, so it will be preserved. It's not the systems fault that you decided it was the Validation Machine instead, and that you convinced yourself it's a transaction that's taking place: you put in words, you get validation. It's not. It's an archive. That's it. That's all it is.

Posting stuff and getting comments or kudos or bookmarks are two completely distinct and separate things. Stop listening to the monkey brain trying to force a correlation. You're smarter than that. You deserve to not live like that.

Writers, your audience owes you jackshit.

But hey, you owe them about the same, so take comfort in that.

[bonefall]

Did Brambleclaw actually disown the Three when the secret is revealed? I don't remember this happening (then again, it's been a while) but it does bug me how all three go "Poor brambleclaw :(( He was such a good dad to us and he has to learn we're not even his biokits :(((( poor guy" while simultaneously shitting on Leafpool and Squirrelflight despite them showing them more care and affection before AND after the reveal. If he does disown them, then.... WOW is the double standard real here.

In-canon? It's something you have to approximate. They don't seem to have a concept of ""disowning"" because blood relation is taken as such an insurmountable, FUNDAMENTAL fact of life. He doesn't write them out of his little kitty will and testament, but his actions ARE disowning.

It's as if the fact he is not their biological father is an automatic disowning. From the reveal onwards, he is immediately cold, distant, and the "betrayal" is mentioned often. The Three also explicitly don't blame him for his behavior, like it's just to be expected that he's Not Their Dad anymore.

Lionblaze in particular stares longingly at him several times, really missing him. And like... that's kinda what gets my goat so much

I do believe Brambleclaw is entitled to his feelings of betrayal. I believe Squilf was ultimately in the right to lie, actually, but he's still allowed to be upset and angry that she didn't trust him enough to tell him something so important. THAT SAID, YOU ARE NEVER ENTITLED TO TREAT OTHERS POORLY.

And that's what GETS me. He isn't upset that it was all revealed in such a painful and embarassing way when this could have been avoided, or that his lover struggled with this lie for so long without him, or that he feels he's lost his children. Squilf points it out in The Last Hope-- He's so ANGRY at Squilf that he will THROW HIS FAMILY AWAY

Lionblaze seems desperate to be his son again. Hollyleaf is gone for months, and Brambleclaw is still huffing about the secret when she comes back from the dead. Squilf is fawning in the hopes it makes him talk to her again. Doesn't matter. Brambleclaw Is Upsetti Spaghetti so the narrative will never examine his role in hurting this family he apparently loved so much.

(Narrative seems to understand full well that when Squilf lies for a good reason, that doesn't invalidate the hurt Brambleclaw felt... but when Brambleclaw is upset for a good reason, it actually DOES validate what he put her and his kids through)

In BB it is explicitly a disowning. He cuts them off as his children, and they reciprocate. BB!Lionblaze does so in a ball of fury, vowing that he has ONLY a mother.

[shannonsketches]

he's so important to me

[add1ctedt0you]

"Can't you see the look on jiejie's face?"

[the-ace-of-arrows]

I don't truly experience anything

- a poem of some sort, I suppose

aromantic - I've never felt this thing that others say define us as human.

this feeling that in media seems to be the one feature that qualifies an alien or a robot as owning a soul

this one feeling that everyone seems so obsessed over

the thing behind the curtains of everything

the thing that surely, no one could ever live without, right?

I've never been with a person, thinking about how I'd love to spend the rest of my life with them and them alone

I've thought I might have, several times, with my closest friends, the ones I feel comfortable around

but it's not the same

it's not how others describe it

I've never wanted to kiss anyone

the closest I've come to romantic love is platonic

but if it is

if it turns out I'm pan- and polyromantic

if I've only ever experienced romantic love, and never platonic

then I'm still one form of love short from everyone else

I'm still less

asexual - I've never wanted intimacy the way others seem to.

I've never seen a person and felt anything like what people have described

I've never been able picture myself in a sexual setting, and I've certainly never enjoyed it when I've tried

I've never experienced an orgasm, not even sure I could if I tried

I've never felt the need to do anything of the sort

I've felt the want to, sure, but even then, not really

because I've never wanted it for it, I've wanted it to feel included

I've wanted to know what everyone else seem to revolve their life around

I wanted to understand, and to stop being so alien to the people around me whenever I just don't understand something

agender - I don't understand it

really, it just doesn't make any sense to me

never has, and tbh I just thought we'd all agreed to just go with it, because that's what everyone else did

I've never felt like a girl

I've never felt like a boy

I have yet to understand what this "feeling" is supposed to feel like

I'm me

just me

my body exists, sure

and I guess it's keeping me alive, so I'll try not to damage it too much

but it has never really meant any more than that in any way that means anything

it's a house

and you can decorate it to your choosing

and sometimes you'd like to move, but then you look at the housing market at the moment and decide that actually

the house I have now isn't that bad

and of course, you can't tear down a load bearing wall, the whole house would collapse

but otherwise, do whatever you want with what you've got, and you'll be good.

I guess in that sense I've kind of seen trans people as claustrophobic people stuck in a small attic-appartment without windows

the housing market is still horrible, and so they start by making modifications

make a window

let the air in

maybe even make a terrace on the roof out the window

doing what make them feel better

and if that so means I'll have to stop calling their house and attic, because they've expanded so much it's really a proper house now, then sure, I'll change the mailing address, why not?

agnostic - I say agnostic, but really I'm just afraid to say atheist

because I've never been able to believe

I don't even think I've ever really grasped the concept properly

but I want to

I really really do

I want to believe that there's some higher power out there

that there's someone looking out for us

taking care of us

I so badly want that comfort that others seem to get from talking into the void and somehow still feeling heard

but I don't know how

belief is such an amazing thing

belief is unconditional trust, something I'd almost call stronger than unconditional love

it's trusting that someone else will do good without any guarantee beforehand

and yet even when it comes to my closest friends, I can't do it

because I only actually believe in them if I've seen proof of it before, and that's not belief, it's a conditional trust

and I'm so incredibly jealous of the ones who are able to do so

I wish I was religious

a human - ahuman

I sometimes don't think I'm human

and I it

so much

because these are the things that everyone else call "reasons to live"

these are the traits that everyone says define what it means to "be human" or "be alive"

and so if I don't

if I never experience the reasons to live

if I never experience what it is to be human

if I never experience the essentials of being alive

then what am I?

I have no reason to live, so I'm meaningless

I'm not a human, so I'm alien

I'm not alive, so I'm dead

I'm a meaningless alien, dead to the world and to myself

a non-human, walking around with no purpose or light

a nothing

existing in the background

and even then, not really existing either

because what is existence without purpose or life?

a - the greek prefix for no, and the letter that seems to pursue my very being

a-being

a-thing

no-thing

I'm nothing

I'm nothing, wanting everything

staring at the rest of the world as if through the pages of a book that I'm doomed to only ever read and never experience myself

I hate it

I'm jealous

I want what everyone else has

And I'm crying

Somehow

I'm crying

because even with all the everything that I just seem doomed to never feel

for some reason the universe never thought to add sadness to that pile

[moeblob]

Deacon loves two things: Ymber and digging himself a grave.

Fulj hates one thing: Deacon.

[vaguely-concerned]

just going about my day idly contemplating how some of the ways hawke can interact with a romanced anders are not at all unlike how they interact with leandra (and a bit of carver too, especially with a purple hawke), and then thought about my hawke in the timeline where he romances anders and was hit straight in the face with 'was he ever actually in love, or was he just desperately trying to renegotiate with his mother's ghost in any way he could' and now i need to lie down. this is the power of dragon age 2

[bunnihearted]

im sorryyyyy i dont wanna be a mean bitch but genuinely i feel like im the one of only ppl who are actually alone bc i keep seeing all of these ppl complain abt how alone they are then they post a bunch of pics with their friend groups and they go on trips and celebrate their birthdays with friends and im like 😦?????????? im ngl i lowkey feel betrayed bc like yes sure we can relate on "feeling lonely" but ig at the end of they day im so sorry im not saying this to gatekeep loneliness or whatever but like u just cannot relate to what it feels like to not only feel lonely but also be alone and not even have people who want to spend moments with u. and feel and be like on your birthday you're alone. on your insta you're alone. irl u dont have ppl who even want to make plans with u. i know i know that everyone's loneliness is valid and you can still have partners and friends and feel lonely and that is valid i really do think so. idk i just feel so fkn alienated from everyone, including people who say theyre lonely - bc they still have ppl to talk to and ppl to be with and ppl who wants to be with them and consider them their friend lol.... i dont have anyone to take pics with or have groupchats with or go to concerts with or go for walks with and i dont have anyone to message abt stupid things or blah lahblahblah it doesnt even matter atp

[boimgfrog]

when my baby nephew trips and falls I'm always like ohhhhh oh wowww you're so strong and brave!! look!!! you didn't even get a scratch!! you're like achilles!! such a big strong powerful baby!!! and he always ends up getting back up and going back to playing <3 when he gets upset or overwhelmed and starts crying im like ohhhh the woes oh nooooo, oh the saddest little boy in the WORLD oh come here strong sad boy come here let's go sit in silence or hold a soft toy for a couple minutes and he calms down. idk if this is a long term solution but it works for now and he launches himself at me at the speed of sound whenever I watch him so <3

[icedteaffee]

It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to!

Happy 26th Birthday to yours truly 💖

[topicaltropic]

oops! all wips

[cabinetduo]

tubbo is genuinely so so good at this villain arc thing, he's thought this out fully and has his motives laid out and is wholly committed to ruining quackity by forcing him to spiral via psychological warfare.im getting chills every few lines like he's grinning and giggling and genuinely getting so much joy from the idea of causing q to suffer. also after he delivered a sick line to fit, post dramatic exit he went "THAT WAS SO COLD" like yes king hype urself up

[ae-cha08]

[palaceoftears]

Rewatched the last Fatma scenes some days ago and I can't stop thinking of what would've Mahi told her after she lost her baby & attacked Ayse. Idk I feel sad that such opportunity to see what Mahi thinks of her s1 actions on s3 & how this makes her bond with Fatma was thrown away so easily. Pretty much like her miscarriage was never ever touched again during the series and this was a chance for her mature self to talk about it? Still even when we didn't get to see it, I think the way she wanted to handle Fatma's situation it's admirable and like one of the few cases when a concubine's mental health it's taken into consideration. Maybe that's what she feels would've helped her back on s1 (and she did experience how taking distance stopped her of being absorbed by palace stuff) and that's why she acts like that.

[getvalentined]

Hey, so, it's all well and good to not like newer titles in an older fandom, but the moment that you say that anyone who does like anything about those titles is ignorant and stupid and wrong, the moment you say that anyone engaging with newer material in a positive way doesn't actually care about the source material, you are completely out of line.

I understand disliking later iterations. I do. I've been there, many times. I understand being upset about a piece of media being taken a direction you didn't want it to go, I understand feeling let down by the handling of new media. I understand lamenting about it with friends, on your blog, whatever. That is perfectly valid behavior, that's part of being a fan of something. It's normal and it's human and it's expected. It's fair. It's your right, in fact.

However.

The instant that you turn that frustration into vitriolic insults toward other fans for having the "audacity" to be excited about newer material, the instant that you decide that you get to choose who is and isn't a "real fan," you are grossly out of line.

That's not up to you. What people get out of a series, what people enjoy about a series, what people want to see in a series—that's not up to you. What the creators do with a series, what direction they take it and what declarations they make—that's not up to you.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being upset, with disagreeing with other people in fandom, or even with disagreeing with the creators. But spouting off about people whose only "crime" is interest, asserting that they don't know what they're talking about, that they don't deserve to be here because they don't feel the way you do? That's pure, unadulterated entitlement.

That's not how media works, and it's certainly not how fandom works.

[thebaffledcaptain]

reblog if you were a bird of very gay plumage throughout the whole of the 18th century