#especially compassion

[anoray]

Guess who it is? :3

[jewish-microwave-laser]

i feel like we can say both "i'm glad more hostages were brought home safely" and "i wish nobody got killed in the process of bringing those people home." it's not even self contradictory, it's saying "i don't like when people get hurt" yk

[themirepirate]

was reading Sherlock holmes and this popped into my head

[hyenagurl]

yeah yeah compassion for homeless people and addicts and psychotic ppl but im kind of running out of patience for crackheads now. especially after seeing this dude chase a girl into a carls jr and wander around screaming his head off afterward. literally shut up…

[bigquestionmark]

a lot of people act like xie lian was entirely unaware/ignorant to the power imbalance in his and mu qings relationship when he was probably the most empathetic and understanding towards mu qing. for example, he defends mqs behaviour to fx multiple times because he understands what causes it.

i think he just believed their friendship overcame this power imbalance (which was easier for him to do because he wasnt negatively impacted by it unlike mu qing).

whereas, despite how deeply he cared for xl, mq couldnt overlook it because he was literally xls servant and was faced with this power imbalance everyday.

xl saw mq as his friend first, however mq believed he was viewed primarily as a servant

[seance]

the power is on, the guillotine hums / my back's to the wall - go on, let it fall

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

hot take I think the sexes would be much happier if we just accepted each other as mysteries instead of constantly shaming one for not being more like the other.

like, personally, in my own life, the whole idea of romance & marriage became way more exciting and attractive when I ditched the notion that men are just bigger stronger women, or women are just smaller prettier men.

like. not only is it okay that men are from mars and women are from venus, it's good.

do I know what's going on in my guy friend's head? I used to think I did, but it turns out I don't. Turns out I've never known what was going through the heads of any of the men in my life. And you know what? what a relief. he can do or say things that don't make sense to me, and they don't have to make sense to me. I know he's a smart, good-hearted guy; I can safely assume he had a reason for saying or doing that thing. And if I listen to him over time, I may even start to understand what that reason was. But I don't have to. What I can recognize instead is that each sex has a wisdom in their way of thinking and doing which befits given situations. More often than not, a situation requires both.

But you simply can't get both from one person, and you shouldn't demand it. And what a relief knowing my guy friend doesn't expect guy thoughts and behavior from me.

[scoobydoodean]

#okay wait do y'all think that she wasn't going to try and murder Dean?#Do you think he was going to get through to her?#convince her somehow to not try to stab him?#that she was telling the truth at all in that scene?#because she was totally going to try and kill Dean#like 100% that was going to happen#and if Sam hadn't shot her then Dean would have had to kill her and that would have been so much harder on Dean#like it was disturbing that Dean had a 3 day old monster child that wanted to kill him but who was then killed by her uncle Sam instead#and even more disturbing that they then never mention her again#but these are also the guys who left their half brother in Lucifer's cage and didn't lose any sleep over it so...#and I love Dean but killing Amy was an asshole move#and there's kinda a difference between killing an active imminent threat and killing someone in cold blood after the fact @jinkieswouldyoulookatthis

I didn't want to clutter someone else's post but this was partially directed at me? I've talked about the whole "Emma vs Amy" debate quite a few times, but I'll share a few thoughts.

Amy is a present, unrepentant, fully cognizant, adult, serial murderer. She is not actually sorry about what she did in any way. She believes that slaughtering humans like cattle to feed them to her son was the morally correct action even if it wasn't the ethical action because it kept her son alive. She is not correct.

Emma is a brainwashed child who's been psychologically conditioned for a few days. She has never killed anyone and only wants to kill Dean because some women who abused her told her to.

Hunters like Sam and Dean primarily deal in punitive justice, not preventative justice—and what I mean by that is that Sam and Dean try not to kill people (with powers or without powers) who have never killed anyone.

While I think you're right to point out that a preventative justice component is in play, that is not primarily how Dean makes the decision to go after Amy, and the reason we know that is because Amy's son swears to kill Dean and Dean does nothing about it because the boy has done absolutely nothing wrong.

Dean's application of his personal code is consistent here. He kills Amy, who is a murderer who killed four people, but he does not intend to kill Emma or Amy's son—both of whom wanted to kill him—because neither has actually killed anyone and both may choose not to.

You say that Emma was going to kill Dean 100%, but you don't actually know that because we never got to see that future. You assume Amy would never have killed again, but when you add up "murderer who regrets absolutely nothing" and "child vulnerable to catching illnesses" you get "Mom who absolutely would kill again as necessary and who would feel zero remorse doing so just like the last time".

I don't personally think SPN gives us any reason to suspect that three days of psychological conditioning from a cult is too much to overcome. We have seen other characters overcome much more serious levels of psychological conditioning intended to make them killers. For example, Cas and Alex. I'm not saying Emma wasn't trying to pull the wool over Sam and Dean's eyes in the scene where Sam shot her, but I am saying that doesn't actually mean in any way that she couldn't be convinced to actually choose a different path.

Under the same litmus test with which you suggest Emma's condemnation, we'd also condemn season 2 Sam for his potential "future" crimes. We are killing monsters before they actually become those monsters... because of the dark path someone else intends for them to go down. Amy—again—is an active present unrepentant serial killer.

I think sometimes people misremember the scene where Sam kills Emma—recalling the scene as a scene where Emma lunges at Dean with the knife and Sam steps in just in time to save his life, or where Dean is unarmed and Emma has him at knife point. But that is not what happened. Emma quite literally brought a knife to a gun fight. Dean had a gun pointed at her, and if she was thinking straight at all, she would have left to avoid being killed if given the chance—especially when Sam arrived. And had she not, Sam could have shot her at that point—but Sam didn't wait to see what she'd do. He wanted her dead, because even if she ran, he didn't think they were equipped to deal with surprise attacks from Dean's Amazon child. That is the decision Sam made after a brief moment to consider, and it makes sense to me given the headspace he was in at the time and his assessment of Dean's headspace as well, but it does not make his decision consistent with his previous or future behavior regarding people who have been psychologically conditioned to kill.

My own frustrations are more with fandom, for a thought process that really really does not make sense to me, where Emma deserves to die but Amy deserved to live. I do not agree with that premise. I do not understand why so much of fandom has the perspective that a child who hadn't shed a drop of blood and who was acting in response to a cult's torture, who brought a knife to a gun fight and had already been driven into a corner where she had no choice but to surrender or run—doesn't deserve a chance to choose something else before she's barely lived and before she's heard a loving word in her entire life, but an adult with full cognizance of their actions who went through with killing four people and doesn't regret it should go on with their life and is "just a good mom doing what she had to" and killing that person is the bad thing. I don't understand that. I don't think Dean killing Amy was wrong at all in the "hunters kill supernatural murderers" show. The only thing Dean did wrong was lie about it and not take enough care to keep her son from seeing it happen.

[p4nishers]

thinking about the relationship between mightily oats' "the worthwhile [words] don't burn" and constable dorfl's "the words in the heart cannot be taken"

[shannonsketches]

[miquella-everywhere]

Fromsoft legit just made us the villain of the DLC huh

[o-vera-nalyzing]

sometimes i feel like the people who are saying the bad kids should have tried conflict resolution instead of fighting are watching the same show i am. first off every single season thus far with the ih has ended with a huge battle so why would you expect this one not to? secondly like i like the rat grinders as much as the next person but you can’t negotiate with people that are canonically 100% blinded by rage. like i would consider the idea of some other resolution than killing them if it seemed possible but like put urself in their shoes? they’re a bunch of teenagers who have been tormented by other teenagers and told that they’re the privileged ones by people getting power leveled by teachers. i’m certain they all know the ‘big bad’ is porter (and jace but he was also shatter starred so idk) but that doesn’t change the fact they’re also fucking mad. but like totally genuinely if someone explained to me a plausible situation where porters plan gets thwarted without a fight i might be able to see it but all i’ve seen is people saying ‘conflict resolution’ and ‘talk it out’ like we’re in kindergarten and the other team doesn’t have ninth level spell slots. maybe that sounds harsh but i’m open to listening if someone actually thinks there’s a plausible way for it to end without fighting/without killing the rat grinders. cause i can’t see it unless the entire season changes from like basically the beginning.

[bonefall]

Do you have a design for Bright Storm? I'm fond of the wise older figure thing you're doing with her

I do NOW

Made her, as well as a revamp of my old Thunder Storm design (I last drew him like a year ago!!) in preparation for some character summaries I plan to bang out after finishing a couple drafts, but Bright in particular gets requested so much (anon you're like the 4th person) that HERE, lady girl and her son be upon ye

I'm thinking about doing the BB!DOTC character summaries in "family" posts, so they're all grouped together the way I plan them to act in the story. Every family is telling a little mini-story of its own, in a way, from the Frost family and their inventing prowess, to the Heart family and how the kits react to Bumble's exile, to the Storm family and how they grapple with Clear Sky's influence.

I wanted to make sure Bright Storm was very large and powerful looking, but in a round, kind of "humble" way. She downplays her strength, her intelligence, and even her better judgement.

So she has these big cheeks, fluffy primordial pouch, poofy tail, keeps her head low-ish. Tends to deny compliments.

I was commiserating with my partner the other day about how intelligent characters aren't allowed to be thick-bodied. So between my fat, beloved Bumble the translator and Bright Storm the wise woman battle strategist I'm feeding us both

I needed to "finalize" their stripe pattern, because I actually plan for TIGERSTAR to have the same one. I'm probably going to update my Tawnypelt and Bramblestar designs to have it too; if they don't look better with Goldenflower's.

I just like the irony and bitterness of it. That these ancient stripes, once so associated with compassion and righteous fury, turn into a "legacy" so divorced from what Thunder Storm and Bright Storm stood for.

Becoming a symbol for the idea of modern ThunderClan and the culture of the new times, not the principles it was founded on.

Also I HAD to do the design thing where Thunder Storm's stripes look like top surgery scars lmao, my beloved transmasc boy

Anyway, I've decided that Thunder Storm was a REALLY dark orange. It bugs me a little, especially in-canon, that he looks nothing like either parent. So in BB he's not too far off color-wise from his mama.

I also removed the old "mane" and replaced it with combination white chest + his father's shoulder burls. The mane is going to become a Forest Cat trait, which is why it's going to get so prominent in ThunderClan.

Instead, Mountain Cats have a REALLY high concentration of ear tufts in their genes. They're also huge and generally hairy.

Funny enough though they're also "oily." They come from the Lake Cat population which was pretty water-resistant because of constantly dealing with the lake, and they haven't lived in the Mountains long enough for natural selection to get rid of it.

It's going to become SUPER advantageous for those who move to the River Kingdom, but become less prominent in the other populations.

But for now, Mountain Cats are kinda... well, naturally 'stinky.' That's not a BAD thing to cats who are animals who LIKE strong smells, but it is a notable trait that I'd like The Wind Runner in particular to comment on.

Thunder Storm: "Well? What did she say?"

Bumble: "Ummmmmm......"

Thunder Storm: "be honest"

Bumble: "she says she smelled you coming when you were upwind. rudely."

99% of the time when I'm changing character eye colors, it's to make them NOT blue because there's too many blue-eyed characters in WC imo. BUT.

I think it was another tiny waste to have the narrative constantly stressing Clear Sky's blue, blue eyes, almost like they're hypnotizing, and then they never really comment on what Thunder's eye color signals to other people.

So I've got an idea; instead of amber, Thunder Storm has ELECTRIC BLUE eyes. Almost green, like his mother's minty ones.

Intense as his father's, but more focused. Sharp. Shocking.

Side note: in my research I actually learned it's easier for tripod cats to RUN than it is for them to walk. They can "canter" like a horse, but when they go slow they have to hop. Taking this into consideration.

I put a splash of white on the little bit of lower limb that Thunder Storm has on the leg, so it sticks out a bit more. I don't want it to be hidden I want it to be prominent

I also figured out a hilarious trick for Bright Storm to pull on Sky's Clan at some point lmao

Thunder's crew is in conflict with Sky's cats and the attacks are getting more and more frequent. They decide they need some extra time to carry out some kind of hunt or diplomatic mission, but Bright Storm only has a small group of cats to pull off a stunt with.

She knows she can't fight them head on, but she NEEDS to buy her son more time, so she hatches a plan.

Clear Sky values his intelligence and his ferocity very much. To a fault, even. He loves to outsmart his opponents and overpower them-- so Bright Storm gets all her cats to build a very large, very tall, nearly impenetrable wall out of briar thorns. There's only one way in; the well-guarded tunnel they've constructed in the front.

It would be a challenge for a lesser cat. But Clear Sky, clever devil he is, realizes they've made a fatal flaw; they've built their camp right next to the trees. His fighters don't need to jump over the wall or push through it, the oaks are their allies!

So, while Thunder's cats are all surely sleeping, he gathers his best men and come through the canopy. In well-trained patrols, they swoop down into the camp and prepare for battle.

and no one is there.

You see, there was only one way in... and only one way out.

And Clear Sky and his best fighters watch with HORROR as the tiny crew of guards seals that entrance up like the neck of a bag. There are no trees to climb INSIDE the wall, and it's too tall to hop out of. It won't hold them forever, but it will hold them JUST LONG ENOUGH.

Bright calls this little plan "Operation Timeout."

[court-of-constellations]

shout out to morally dubious characters who would be so much worse if they weren't using someone else as their moral compass

[cometblaster2070]

i love me some ranni and miquella parallels because I adore how both of these idiots are like the mommy/daddy issues prodigies who looked at how badly their parents fucked up and went "yeah no I can do better."

but i also love that for how similar they are their paths and motivations diverge in such interesting ways.

like ranni's motivation is at its heart a selfish one; she does everything in an attempt to be freed from the fate thrust onto her (which is VALID girlie go off). she orchestrated godwyn's death and the night of black knives and she does all this simply so that the two fingers won't control her; her motivations didn't really revolve around righting wrongs and fixing things she just wanted to get rid of the fucking creepy ass fingers.

and then we have miquella who arguably has the noblest intentions out of all of the demigods at first glance. he's a person who embraces all those who are outcasts and makes a safe haven for them, he abandons golden order fundamentalism because it can't help his sister and he creates unalloyed gold just to help malenia and he's someone who sees everything wrong with his mother's order and he decides that it has to be him who has to bear the guilt who has to bear the blame of the sins committed by his mother and how it is up to him and him alone to fix things and so he has to become a god so that he can make the world a kinder and better place for everyone.

but we see how well that goes and it's demonstrated most evidently in ranni and miquella's followers.

ranni's followers consist of blaidd, iji, selvius, and the tarnished (if we choose to help her ig) and consistently throughout her questline she makes it clear how dangerous it is to help her and constantly warns us about the danger of following this path with her; she reiterates how she doesn't want anyone to be forced into doing something they don't want to do and it's shown through blaidd and iji's actions that they continue following her at great personal risk to themselves simply because of their devotion to her and not really anything else, despite knowing that this is detrimental to their wellbeing.

ranni's followers consist of people who follow her of their own free will and because they wholeheartedly believe in her and what she's doing. ranni specifically stresses how she is not compelling anyone to do anything and that every action we undertake should be our own.

and we have kindly miquella. kindly miquella who has learned how to compel affection, who has learned how to make everyone love him and who has learned how to bewitch people to make them do what he wants; and we see this most evidently in shadow of the erdtree, as demonstrated by miquella's party. and we also see how when his charm over them is broken how quickly everything goes to complete and utter shit upon realizing that the only reason that any of them even got along was because miquella had bewitched them.

but miquella sees this as something necessary, maybe even something good. it is something good because this is how he can ensure peace this is how he can ensure his age of compassion this is how he can ensure an age where everyone loves one another and there is no such thing as hate. but all of this, of course, comes at the cost of a person's free will. something miquella sees as justified if it helps him achieve his goal.

there is just something about ranni, ranni who is described as cold and who is cunning and clever and the mastermind behind the night of the black knives; who gives off the vibe of being someone we should be wary of and who is very dangerous and untrustworthy, and as we get to know her we realize that even though she's shady as shit ranni cares greatly for those she loves. and she's also surprisingly honest with us (this girl casually admits to committing murder and then later on spills her entire backstory in doll form like) and she believes in a world where people are free to do whatever they want to without the meddling of gods.

and there's miquella who is described as kind and warm and loving and he's someone who only wants to help, only wants to make things better, only wants to create a better world for everyone; as we see through his haligtree and his efforts to help his sister. and we see miquella as someone who is good someone whose side we should be on and etc etc. but then we actually get to know him and we realize that for all his noble intentions and lofty ideals miquella is still very very immature and he's completely transformed into something that's almost monstrous; he is someone who is terrifying in how unassuming he is, he hold such immense power that he can bewitch and enchant even demigods effortlessly and miquella is someone who believes that a world where people are robbed of their free will is justified if it is a world of kindness and love; his world of kindness and love.

they're both means justify the ends kind of people but throughout her story ranni never loses herself; she sticks to her fuckass plan, she sticks to her ideals and she stubbornly lets them carry her through. miquella sheds and abandons so much of himself in an effort to become a god that by the end he's unrecognizable to the point that st. trina begs us to kill him as an act of mercy.

i just have thoughts about miquella and ranni if you can tell. just yk lunar princess ranni and her age of stars vs. kindly miquella and his age of compassion.

[sinistersuns]

I hope more people who feel they’re leftists begin to realize that genuinely hating men AND/OR immediately assuming a man (or someone you perceive as a man) you don’t know is out to harm you is t3rf behavior. This belief will not keep you safe, it’s meant to isolate you and put the marginalized men around you in danger. Hating men will not do shit to the bigoted cishet white men in power, but it’ll tell the marginalized men around you that they aren’t welcome around you. This extends to anyone who looks like cis society’s idea of a man, but isn’t actually one, too - do y’all really think trans people of ANY gender say “okay I’m x gender now” and are immediately treated like that gender by society as a whole? Do you think your fear of anyone with facial hair and a deep voice will stop at dangerous cis men, and that only dangerous cis men have those traits? And I’m specifying DANGEROUS cis men because cis men as a group aren’t inherently dangerous. The way someone looks or identifies says nothing about whether they’re “safe” or not! I thought we fucking learned this!!