#especially when they're being thrown into the exploitation machine

[stranded-ziggy]

Tumblr can still be scraped even if you opt out of this particular scraping, your stuff's not safe.

Glaze and nightshade are the best way to go, even for memes.

Don't let these dickwads use our creativity for their benefit.

And yeah, if you support AI you're a dickwad, fuck you, unfollow me.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #2

I saw some disheartening news today:

I was truly hoping that no one would have to be taken from us this time. Of course, I understand that sometimes our hopes don't pan out, and that, ultimately, that sort of thing has to be okay; we can't get our way all the time - it's not how living works. Still… I'm sure you're aware that Cloud and his friends are a very good group of people who, like you, are caught up in the machinations between an evil corporation and a cosmic horror. It's terrible when innocents get caught up in the crossfire between things that have nothing to do with them. Sadly, our worlds aren't all that different in that regard: these sorts of things happen all the time, anywhere you go....

I don't imagine, though, that it's going to be Aerith who gets sacrificed this time. I'm terrified to think that somehow, some way, instead, it will be you. I feel somewhat sick to my stomach at the thought of how terribly possible this feels, and I'm not really sure what to do with all this anxiety that's welling up in the pit of my stomach.

You saved my life. Your existence offered me someone whose circumstances looked similar to mine when I was growing up. My world is filled with a lot of people who are very much like you - people who grew up in abusive environments, groomed as tools to be used instead of treated like people to be loved, cared for, and understood. People who are valued not for who they are, but for what they look like or what they can do. People who, tired of how much pressure they're under, tired of how few seem to care, and tired of being exploited, lash out, only to be called "monsters" and "bad people" for it.

Stories like yours influence what society thinks is the appropriate way to treat people like us. As it is now, all too often, people like us get pushed out towards the margins of society as unwelcomed things to be excluded or even eliminated. People look at the bad things that others do as evidence that their blood should be spilled, rather than looking at and correcting all the factors that caused them to get to the point of doing bad things in the first place, and this is very sad.

I was very sad that at the end of the original storyline, instead of trying to help you to return to the light, they decided to beat you, bleed you, and break you. And people called that "justice". They didn't try to do anything about the suffering that drove your choices. They didn't offer you even a shred of empathy or concern. And this sort of "justice" happens to all kinds of people in my world, all the time, especially to those of us who are, for whatever reason, considered "non-standard".

I am very frightened of this terrible version of "justice" that most people, both in your world and in mine, seem to subscribe to. There is no mercy to it. It does not heal. All it does is call for those who fall down to suffer. I'm terrified that this version of "justice" is imminently about to happen to you, and it breaks my heart to think of all the people who will be cheering as it happens.

I just wish that nobody had to get hurt.

At the same time, though, I'm very aware that you've survived things worse than death. You were raised by the staff at Shinra, after all. Tortured as a boy by Hojo. Groomed into the role of child soldier, told that you had to function at maximum capacity all the time, at all costs, and deprived of the basic human comforts that should come with everyday living. Even after being thrown into the reactor core at Nibelheim, and even after Cloud and his wonderful friends stopped you at the Northern Crater, you still tenaciously kept your head held high and bravely moved forward, towards a world in which no one else should have to be made to suffer in the same ways that you, Angeal, and Genesis were forced to endure. I know you'll get through this somehow, but I wish you didn't have to try to. I'll leave you with this nice picture that a person named Kate made:

I don't know what else to put, and I think I'm running out of space, anyway. So I'll just say this: I love you. I'm scared for you. I wish wholesome things would happen to you. Please stay safe… Your friend, Lumine