#i don't wish harm upon people generally

[staticespace]

ID: Tweets replying to an unknown message by @ wizardingnews. "Mold got her" — Tetsuo the Iron Tran {mouse emoji} @ justal...[name cuts off] "The black mold got her" — Madison @ CynderMizuki "mold ate her" — Lichen Devourer {crown emoji} {pig emoji} {red heart emoji} @ asst...[name cuts off] End ID

POV jk Rowling hasn't tweeted in a few days

[birdantlers]

A heartfelt and grievously expanded-upon update to this—please, please read the whole thing if you can. reblogs much appreciated.

(DISCLAIMER, for all who are saying reasons like abusive parents/legal stuff/toxic ex/triggering memories/page got deleted/job/stalkers/bullying/[[insert any other shitty life thing]], This is not concerning that—personal safety & health ALWAYS comes first, and is worth more than any media ever could be. This is my biggest reason for defending that autonomy. I would be a hypocrite to say I hadn’t deleted triggering posts of mine or ones that got me in trouble with my family.)

it genuinely makes me sad and kinda upset when someone purges all their old art off the internet like. barring harmful content what if someone liked that. What if someone would have. And now nobody will ever know and it's just gone. even people's old invader zim askblogs or whatever getting deleted feels like a micro alexandria to me and that's just something I made up. I wasn't even thinking of a specific one it just stresses me out. Is this the autism I don't get why nobody else seems to freak internally abt it like I do. I see artists whose blogs I've never even looked at go like "man so glad I deleted all my old stuff it's so clean" or saying they throw out art from when they were kids I'm like. how are you not hurling. How is that not distressing that is literally your tree rings why would you do that. I want to see what's out there. people want to see it I promise someone out there likes it

...don't they??? Does everyone get quietly irrationally upset by this as me, or is this just hyperfixation/autism/some amalgam of the two. I'm not a hoarder or obsessive compulsive or anything like that so i wonder..

Anyways. reblog if you had a favorite amateur youtube animator in your childhood whose channel got nuked without a trace one day that you still think about.

I wanted to attach this video because it condenses my point very well. A TLDR of sorts. Please watch the whole thing, it genuinely changed the entire way I think about art as a concept.

(2nd vid is "Subjectivity in Art")

“The moment your art touches an audience, the ownership shifts in an irreversible way. [They're] not having an art experience with you and your intentions. They're having an art experience with the art object.

“You can't just burn your past; it's not even your past to burn anymore. It's other people's history as well. Whether or not you like it, that art is already bonded to somebody's soul, and if you rip the art away, you're ripping a bit of the soul that has adhesive contact to it.”

The digital age makes it very easy to distance or detach yourself from the impact your work has—be it art, fanfic, videos, even memes. Online content is as important to people now as any other media, if not more. But it's also by far the easiest, fastest, and most effective form of it to erase from public access. Media so unbelievably important to people and in general. Yes, you—with the 2010s purple sparkle dog speedpaint. I still think about that speedpaint all the time, because it was the first time i learned that you could draw on a computer, and I thought it was cool as hell. I still do.

I do wish there was a stronger culture of preservation and consideration for this, because every time I see people talk about snuffing their stuff because it doesn't personally resonate with them anymore, I just think ...what about all the people it did?

I've seen lots of people saying "get over it, it doesn't even matter," but it fucking does. It does matter. Even if I didn’t make it, even if I don’t have to deal with being the one who made it, even if I'm naturally inclined to be distressed by it—It still matters. And there’s nothing you could ever say to suddenly make it not matter, because there’s nothing you could ever say to make it not matter to me.

Don't devalue the act of creation. Don't dismiss something you made. It's out there, in people's thoughts and hearts and souls, and that is real. Even if you don't know it. Especially if you don't know it. Especially in a world where physical media is being snuffed out, the internet is constantly dying without any physical remains to recover, social isolation is rampant, and simply because independently produced content online is still media.

Fanfiction can hold equal or greater significance to someone as a book, but you can’t unpublish a book. Authors don’t have a button that can vaporize every copy of their work across all time, but fanfiction authors do. I’m not counting people who download fics either—when you buy a book, that transaction is over. But online, you have the power of unending transaction that can be terminated instantly at your will. The process of publishing fanfic vs. publishing a book may be different, but people’s connection to the art is the same intensity.

So yeah. I do get depressed about the Internet being a constant Alexandria, but the times I get the most depressed is when I click someone's page and see that all their work is gone because they're ‘curating a new aesthetic’ for their page or some shit. Or weeding out all the "ugly" art. Or just went on whatever the hell 'thrill deleting' is, because they just get a kick out of it.

Fuck it—yeah! It upsets me! I’m not wrong to say that. I’m saying it!

Under the cut, because it got long as shit! Also don’t worry the ending is way sappier and more ‘beauty of human nature’ vibe so it’s not all doom and gloom lol

What if that was someone's favorite art of that character. What if someone read that 'cringe oneshot' on the worst day of their life. What if that Warriors meme vid is still burned into a college student’s mind despite being gone for 10 years. What if it's actually not just you and the ones and zeros you rent out to the world—secure in knowing the original will always be on your computer for you to do whatever you want with it.

I really, deeply wish there was more of a general awareness of this, because even though social media can be used like a diary, that’s functionally the opposite of what it is. It’s social media. When you post, it’s no longer in a vacuum, even though you can’t see the real humans that content touches—often deeply.

Media is history. You shouldn’t burn that history just because you personally believe it isn’t worth saving.

Because it’s no longer just your personal opinion. It’s no longer just your personal work. it’s. history. Memory of media is not a suitable replacement for the media itself. If it was, we wouldn’t save anything at all. Nostalgia is an agent of that. The definition of nostalgia is grief for moments of the past that are inaccessible, and the biggest balm for that pain is accessing a physical reminder of those moments. That opinion of yours is no longer personal. It’s weighed against uncountable people across all time that your thing is ALSO personal to. People who would, and will mourn its absence.

How many times have you joined an older fandom only to discover that some of its most popular works are gone? How many times have you routed through random blogs looking for scraps people hopefully reblogged? how many times have you used Wayback machine desperately praying that a fan fiction or a YouTube video will be there? How many times do you look up crunchy old vines or YouTube videos or anime AMV‘s? How many times do you remember old fanfic.net sex that impacted you in middle school, only to shake your head and go ‘probably no point even looking.’

i mourn the absence. No, people can’t and shouldn’t have their agency over what they post revoked, but they should be conscious of that weight. If you’re reading this and getting extremely annoyed, and you’re not in the pink text above,,,, good.

I honestly do hope it gets under your skin. I hope it sits with you. I hope you feel it every time you hit that button, and whether or not you do hit that button—if you hesitate, if you remember this, even spitefully, I’ve done my job. I am howling into the void. And I may not want an answer, but I do want my anguish to be heard and remembered. Because it isn’t me just being melodramatic.

I know I sound that way writing so much, but if my favorite writing YouTuber can drop trow this week and go, "yeah, sorry, all my video essays from less than a year ago that you listen to in the car all the time? I'm "rebranding" my content so i deleted them. besides, my personal views don't really agree align with the analyses i did, or the techniques i taught in them anyway. Sorry if some of the literal tens of thousands of you used them, but I don't want to feel shackled to having youtuber "classics" tied to me”

….then i guess I'm just going to have to sound dramatic! That fucking sucks! Hours of work and knowledge gone! This was a new channel too. It’s very likely there’s no archive of any kind, because who would think someone who worked hard enough to write, record, and edit hour-long videos, would just turn around and nuke it all? I definitely didn’t see it coming, but I did just start a new screenwriting class a few weeks ago, so I’ll tell you at least one person is REALLY missing those fucking videos right now. Because a lot of them were about specifically screenwriting, which I know jack shit about. and that specific person’s pace, editing, and style of breaking down information was the best suited style I found that I could focus on and absorb. There’s no replacement for that. No alternative for his individual perspective. his jokes. his opinions.

No, they may not resonate with him now, but in this decision, he’s put up a big middle finger to everyone who might have. And he has like 100k subscribers! Those are confirmed supporters! Imagine how many silent and untethered observers are feeling this loss right now. Imagine how many will not have it in the future.

If he never posted them at all, we wouldn’t know we had it. It wouldn’t be a loss. But we did. We did have it. Until he decided that no, we didn’t, because he just happens to be the one out of millions of individuals holding the button to burn it in a hundredth of a second.

His personal work, the attachment I had to it, and the ways that it helped me are now just ripped away. I am one person out of millions, literal MILLIONS of people who saw and liked this content before it vanished. The soul has been ripped, the access severed, and by CJ’s (and my) definition, the art is functionally dead. Not for the YouTuber or anyone else lucky enough to save a link or download, but everyone else. From this point until the end of time, even if people even two weeks from now don’t know it. Even if someone who stumbles upon his channel today, doesn’t know it.

We only mourn the concept of Alexandria because we had some kind of scope for what was inside. Yes, maybe you got self-conscious and deleted your 12 year old deviant art account. Do you know who else is doing that?? THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of other twenty somethings who ALSO feel self-conscious about their old socials. Art. Fanfic. One direction fan videos. anything.

Suddenly, an unquantifiable amount of information from your age group—an entire age group in 2012, is. gone. And we will NEVER know what’s been erased from that history. We will NEVER know what could have been significant to us ten years from now. Twenty years from now. A hundred years. A thousand.

You could have deleted a fanfic that would have been someone else’s new go-to panic attack distraction tomorrow. You could have deleted a video someone used to laugh at with their friend who died yesterday. When you delete something, you risk tearing a hole in unknowable personal histories.

The Internet isn’t just a big library of Alexandria. It’s a library containing libraries. And those libraries have their own libraries in those libraries have their own as well. libraries inside libraries, inside libraries, ad infinitum. To conceive the amount of destroyed history on the Internet is crushing.

And I just can’t help but I ask myself how in gods name people can choose to contribute to that, instead of reposting everything to trash heap alts titled “hall of shame” or some shit.

You can offload to alts. Put up disclaimers. Make password locked blogs, or dropboxes, or anonymous imgur dumps. Anonymous reuploads. Orphan fics. Make a playlist or linktree of unlisted videos. Cut off the watermarks. Delete all references to it on your main. Make a dedicated unlisted playlist. make a google drive. Make new portfolio sites. Delete any questions you get about it. Change pen names. Pretend it never existed.

Give a heads up.

Something.

But don’t. kill. the media.

The knowledge that our stuff is going to forever be tied to us is a cross we have to bear, but the responsibility that comes with putting it out there in the first place, can’t be ignored.

Anyway. I'm not trying to start conflict. This is not a bash on anyone, nor a call for witch hunts. Or anon hate, or blocks and unfollows or anything of that nature. I'm not wishing ramifications or hate of any kind on anyone who does wants to do any of this.

I'm also not guilt tripping— I am not saying that you should feel bad. I AM saying why it makes me feel bad. That’s not guilting, it’s a dialogue. One I personally feel is long overdue.

It's me yelling into the void: please consider the real people on the other side of the screen before you hit that button. Realize and know that whatever you're about to erase from history could be the most important thing in the world to someone.

Art is an experience. It's why we revisit it. If art and history simply lived in the matter and code of media, we would only need to look at it once. We wouldn’t put things in museums. We wouldn’t build libraries. We wouldn’t look up vine compilations.

If you're able, consider (and I do mean consider, this is not a call to action) not destroying that. And don’t shrug it off as some pretentious asshole venting on Tumblr. You only need to look in the notes and tags to see that it isn’t just me. it’s never just me, or you, or the pixels.

And even if you do shrug it off, then at least recognize that what you make matters. Whatever you think about it, if it’s out there, that's not your discretion anymore. If a tree falls in the woods and even one person is around to see it, it fucking mattered. Because it happened. Don’t mulch your tree rings if you don’t have to. Because if enough people do it, a whole forest is gone. Media is history, no matter whether you think it’s worth putting in a museum, or only has 30 notes.

Thousands of years ago, a child named onfim doodled on his homework. They’re crude, and everyone has the wrong amount of fingers, and they’re also priceless archaeological artifacts recognizable throughout the world.

the only thing separating Onfim’s doodles and your MS paint Pokémon doodles is time. The only thing separating your old MS paint Pokémon doodles from being a priceless artifacts, thousands of years in the future is time. Your creations are already priceless artifacts. No matter what you do, don't ever, ever deny that. It isn’t blowing up your own ass, it’s artistic and anthropological fact.

The mundane and the supposedly unworthy are often the first things lost to time, and that’s why they’re so precious. That’s why artists who were before their time are scorned first only to be celebrated later. Do you think they knew that was going to happen?? What if they nuked it? Many probably did! But now that’s happening exponentially and instantaneously everywhere, WITHOUT the artist having to destroy their only copy—which makes it way easier and more dismissable.

Sometimes, If you’re revolutionary enough, people will make an effort to preserve your work, but recognized and thoroughly recorded work is rare compared to unrecognized and thoroughly recorded work.

Sometimes something is beloved enough that it would be impossible for it not to go down in history, but even then it isnt a guarantee, and it’s rare. But if van Gogh burned all of his paintings in a fit of despair before his death, we would have no van Gogh. Because he wasn’t respected as an artist in his time, but that wasn’t what defined the worth of his art. The people after him did, because his art was still there for them.

If you rip the art away, you're ripping a bit of the soul that has adhesive contact to it. If you belittle your art, you belittle the very real relationships and emotions and revisitations people have with the media. You defy the inherent worth and weight of a creation. you created. That's effort. It's passion. No matter how flippant or unskilled or worthless you think it is, it matters. Because at the end of the day, you could have chosen to make nothing at all, and you didn't.

•

Muting notifs

[gorgonsagainstrape]

do you think forgiving rapists / abusers is necessary for healing? i've been reading a lot of essays and articles that all basically boil down to the same thesis: i couldn't heal until i forgave him. many of them also say that they wanted to reject the idea that survivors are all angry and want their rapists / abusers to die, which is something i have been struggling to find anywhere. there's margaret cho [Margaret Cho Explains Why She Wants To Kill Her Rapist] but beyond that i couldn't find much on this topic aside from people criticizing it.

there seems to be a consensus that all survivors want is accountability. all they want is their rapist / abuser to admit they did it and apologize. and then that's it? what about the research that sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated? there is no known program to rehabilitate sex offenders that works in any meaningful way. they go through the program(s), learn how to game the system, get released, and immediately go back to harming women and girls.

why is it so taboo to hate them? hating them doesn't make us the same as them. it's quite literally the opposite. they love the violence they do and we abhor it, there is no way anyone can look at it and say our hatred is just as bad as theirs. we hate them for what they do, they hate women and girls for what we are. massive difference. if they don't want to be hated, they shouldn't rape. it's that simple.

i think a reason why it's generally frowned upon to want any kind of meaningful justice or to hold any rage or hatred in your heart for rapists is because men as a whole are aware of how many of their own are rapists. they know that if every rapist was imprisoned or killed, there would be maybe 5% of men left in the general population. and that scares them. i wish we lived in the world they think we live in, the one where being a rapist and being called out for it means your life is ruined or even ended. wouldn't that be nice.

[intheholler]

On Appalachian and Southern Stereotypes

After seeing some people leap at the opportunity to insult and further harm us under my posts, even by obviously leftist accounts, I wanted to address some of the most popular stereotypes of our region.

Not as an excuse. There are many negative, violent and otherwise harmful features of the American South. We have a horrific history especially in terms of the violence we inflicted and continue to inflict upon the Black community that cannot be forgotten, and, as a culture, we do need to pay our dues.

But maybe this will help y’all apply some nuance to the situation and understand that we aren’t all your enemy.

Stereotype 1: Everyone is a Republican Racist

Absolute horse shit, my friends. There are people like me all over the south and in the hollers. We just get drowned out by the fascists, and it is all by design. 

In my home state of North Carolina alone, they are working tirelessly to make it impossible for young, often liberal (if not outright leftist) voices to be heard. They specifically target regions with heavy POC populations.

As recently as May of this year, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned their own previous ruling which once made gerrymandering illegal. This allows Republicans free range to draw their congressional lines wherever benefits them most. 

Meanwhile, Roy Cooper, our Democratic governor, has been in office since 2017.

Gerrymandering is a real problem, and it reflects the worst of us. But it does not reflect all of us.

We are a working class, pro-union people.

We are coal miners and mill workers and farmers.

We took up arms against the government and fought for our labor rights during the Coal Wars as recently as the 1920s.

We bled for labor rights at the Battle of Blair Mountain.

It’s a myth that you keep perpetuating that we are all closed minded, bigoted regressionists. It diminishes the efforts of everyone from the coal miners to people like me while we try to make the region a better place.

It actually only worsens what you say that you wish you could “saw off into the ocean.” 

That's my home you're talking about.

Stereotype 2: Everyone is Obese

36.3% of the overall population of the Southeast is obese. This is true.

Have you considered why that may be? For starters, Southerners are more likely to be uninsured compared to individuals living in the rest of the country.

"Among the total nonelderly population, 15% of individuals in the South are uninsured compared to 10% of individuals in the rest of the country."

Partially because they didn't even expand the same Medicaid benefits to us. and partially because we are just so fucking poor. 

17% of the American South is below the poverty line, compared to 13% in the Midwest, 13% in the West, and 13% in the Northeast.

Percentages under 5% may not seem like much, but when you consider 1% of the total United States population is around 3,140,000 people, yeah, that adds up real quick.

How does this relate? Well...

Mississippi has 19.58% of its residents below the poverty line, and a 39.1% obesity rate.

West Virginia has 17.10% of its residents below the poverty line, and a 40.6 % obesity rate.

Kentucky has 16.61% of its residents below the poverty line, and a 40.4% obesity rate.

Are you seeing the trend?

We, generally speaking, are more likely to be unable to afford to feed ourselves wholesome foods, and we are less likely to be able to afford medical insurance--two things that are obviously important to maintaing good health and a "healthy" weight.

By the same token... 

Stereotype #3: We're All Uneducated 

The South and Appalachia are some of the lowest ranked in terms of educational funding and spending per pupil in the entire country. We don't even break the top 30 on the list, y'all.

49. Tennessee at $8,324 per pupil 47. Mississippi at $8,919 per pupil 45. Alabama at $9,636 per pupil 42. Kentucky at $10,010 per pupil 36. North Carolina at $10,613 per pupil 35. South Carolina at  $10,719 per pupil 33. Georgia at $10,893 per pupil 32. West Virginia at $10,984 per pupil

The top three best-funded states, by comparison, receive between $18k and $20k per pupil.

In terms of higher education, student loans are a death sentence for everyone but especially impoverished kids just looking for a way out. It just isn't feasible for most of us. And that's if we even tested well after going to shitty schools our whole lives. If we had better education, we'd have better literacy in all things, including critical thinking, allowing us to better see through the bullshit we are taught. But we don't. And you aren't helping the ones who are trying in spite of that.

Stereotype 4: Bad Teeth

Quickly going to touch on this one--when we consider a lack of access to affordable, healthy food, shitty medical insurance in general and our poverty rate, this one is kind of obvious. Even so:

“Dental coverage was significantly lower than the national average in the South Atlantic (45.6%), East South Central (45.6%), West South Central (45.9%), and Pacific (48.0%) regions.”

Every time you make a toothless hillbilly joke, ask if poverty is really the butt of the joke you want to be making.

These are just the most pervasive of them, imo. And they can all be underlined by extreme poverty which is absolutely by design.

It also contributes to why it isn’t so easy to “just leave” as we are so often dismissively told to do. Moving is expensive.

And why should we have to, anyway? Why should we have to flee our homes?

Why, for those who feel safe enough and/or have no other choice, should we not stay and fight to better the region?

And why can’t you other leftists get behind us and help us in our fight instead of perpetuating harmful stereotypes? We're your people, too.

Just some food for thought. And I hope some of y’all take a big ol bite.

[worriedvision]

Forgery - Chapter 2

Gender neutral reader, will tag part 1 at some point. Part 1 is the first chapter, and is needed as it's part of this fic. This is more build up than, I can see this having more than 5 chapters with how I'm thinking up a plot... And that's before stemming off into other routes!

--

"Good morning." You hear Sethos smile, handing you some water before stretching his limbs. "Ready to keep going?"

"Do you need sleep? I know I've slept a good few hours, I'd feel bad for letting you run on nothing." You chime in, Sethos rubbing the back of his head.

"As much as I'd like to take you up on that offer, I'm afraid because you are considered a suspect - I can't leave you unattended." Sethos states, beginning to prepare for the continued walk.

"Fine...If we land up walking past a village, though, could you ask for a couple of hours of sleep? I'll make sure someone keeps an eye on me."

"Funny you say that - Aaru village is just a few miles away! I'll stop by there, and Candace can keep watching of you." Sethos smiles.

Nodding, you help Sethos pack his bag before continuing on. Turns out he was right, Aaru village was there, and he was allowed to sleep. The only difference was, instead of Candace watching over you, it was the General Mahamatra himself. Initially, it was Candace looking after you while Cyno spoke to Sethos - you could only hope he wasn't tearing Sethos a new one for stopping. You plan to address this when you do finally speak to Cyno.

"So you're the person allegedly threatening the Medical Melusine?" Cyno speaks, causing you to jump.

"I was accused of that, yes." You start, already sensing Cynos immediate distaste. "I promise it wasn't me who sent the threat though! I wouldn't dream of hurting Sigewinne - she's my friend!"

"I must advise you to be careful with your words." Cyno responds, sitting across from you. "I plan on interviewing you here, before taking you to your final location."

Seeing your face drop, seemingly terrified you were going to be executed based on what you heard of Sumerus punishments, Cyno pipes up once again. "Don't worry - you will be working alongside a colleague of mine. I have not yet decided your fate due to lack of evidence."

Letting out a sigh of relief, you let him continue.

"Now, forgeries are very common - from my conversation with Sethos, it isn't a scenario I would rule out as unlikely. That being said, I must say I don't know you well enough to decide." Cyno begins, pulling out a pen and paper before pushing it towards yourself. "I would like you to write how you begin a letter, as well as how you sign off a letter. Be precise - if you have multiple variations depending on the relation, please include these."

Not thinking twice, you pick up the pen and paper, writing the requested evidence out. Cyno watches you, taking mental notes for himself as you carry out the task without having to think too hard.

"Here. What else do you need?" You ask, the paper being handed back over as well as the pen.

"Do you have any people you do wish harm upon? Any enemies at all?" Cyno asks, you shaking your head no. "How about jealousy - anyone you think of that may be jealous, please let me know."

"I can't think of anyone." You answer honestly.

"Last question - do you have any connections to outside organisations? The Fatui, the Abyss order, the Guhua Clan, anyone?" Cyno asks, you denying this. "Thank you for your answers. Please complete this form - this will be basic information for healthcare in Sumeru, and since you are still considered a suspect due to lack of incriminating evidence efficiently linking you to the crime you are entitled to free healthcare."

-

The walk to Gandharva ville is relatively uneventful - excluding your admiration of all the wildlife and plants you hadn't seen before. Upon arrival at Master Tighnaris house, Cyno knocks before walking in, you following along.

"Oh, thank you for gracing me with your presence, General." Tighnari huffs, finishing up with a vial of medicine. "Consider yourself lucky I didn't drop this vial. And is the person behind you the "alleged" Melusine hater?" Tighnari tuts, looking at you.

"I don't hate my friend, it was a forgery!" You tell, Tighnari wincing at the loudness. "Sorry, I've just had a hard time with all of this."

"...Cyno, please take our esteemed guest to their home - they will be staying with a guard - before we continue our discussion of the situation?" Tighnari asks. Cyno nods, gesturing for you to head out with him.

Upon entering the home, Cyno excuses himself as your roommate shows you around - where to get cleaned up, your bed, the essential bits and bobs.

--

Tighnari looks over the evidence Cyno had collected of your situation - some from you, and some from Wriothesley or Neuvillette. Upon first glance, the threatening letters look real.

But a second glance gives more context. None of the threats had your usual signatures or opening lines, and there were inconsistencies with the writing. A rare letter looked out of place, almost like two letters had been smashed together to make up for a mistake on the writers behalf.

Your medical information also gave hints - the person who wrote the letters didn't seem to account for your age, clearly quoting an 'age' you were that was off by approximately 5 years from when the letter was written and/or sent.

"I think this is a forgery, but I want to consult another opinion from someone else before pushing forward." Cyno explains. "I am asking yo.u not as a colleague, but rather as a friend - if you had been looking at this letter, would you think this person was _?"

"I think it's clear this is a forgery - I'm surprised that nobody in Fontaine clocked this, given they will likely have more evidence than ourselves." Tighnari tilts his head. "Ask for a second opinion, but I think they jumped to conclusions given the violent threats in this letter. I also noted _ referred to Sigewinne, but didn't voice any distain towards her..." Tighnari places a hand on his chin, thinking intently.

Cyno takes the letters, nodding as he agrees with Tighnari.

"Turns out-" Cyno starts, noting Tighnari cringing inwardly. "- the medical records have proven to be important to this investigation."

Tighnari let's out a sigh of relief, relieved Cyno didn't crack an awful joke.

"I would like to tell a joke, however given the seriousness of the threat I will hold back." Cyno blankly explains, walking out.

[fallenrain40]

gosh, figuring out i am aplspec (greyplatonic) and loveless is so amazing honestly, cause it helps me finally understand why certain phrases always bothered me so much. specfically, when aroaces would defensively say "I'm not loveless!" or "I'm not heartless!" like, yeah I get why they say those things. you wouldn't want to be seen as loveless or heartless if you aren't, especially not in a world where those things are often seen as literal insults. but yet, it still bothered me. why did they feel the need to emphasize so much that they "can still feel SOME things!!" ? why would it be an issue if they DIDN'T feel those things? why would it be an issue if they were loveless or heartless? just becuase you don't feel love for someone does NOT automatically mean you feel hatred for them, right? it doesn't even mean you dislike them. you can reject someone simply becuase you don't see them romantically, but you can still like them. why is it suddenly different when it comes to all feelings? sure, i don't feel much for others, but that doesn't mean i want harm to come upon them! why would i? i just don't feel anything. and, I do still CARE about people in GENERAL, like yeah i don't want people to get hurt because. that is wrong? but that doesn't mean i LOVE them. i really don't get how that's so difficult to understand. and there's a lot of other feelings besides love. there's respect, admiration, and care. there's so much... why is the focus always placed on love? and just moving your focus on love down a notch from romantic to platonic, isn't helping anything. i mean yeah, platonic love is pretty cool, friendships are cool, but we don't need to act like it's the sole meaning of life. you are still implying you need to love someone to live. you are still implying that everyone feels some form of love, which is so not true. srry this got kind of rambly haha. tbh i just think it's super cool that aplatonic and loveless are actual words and are things that other people can actually understand and relate to. i'm just like... there's other people who feel like i do?? really?? i always expected that if i told others "i don't really... feel much for other people. i dont care about them the way i think i'm supposed to." that i'd be called a bad person. it's just really really cool that there are accpeting people out there that WONT call be a bad person for this aspect of myself, and WONT try to make me change it (cause like. i cant change it. i cant make myself feel a feeling that i DONT HAVE). i just wish that the majority were more accepting of people like us.

[wutheringskies]

everyone is like: if wei wuxian told everyone he gave his core to Jiang Cheng, all of this wouldn't have happened!

me: if he told jiang cheng, it would be WORSE.

consider these points:

Jiang Cheng was a newly appointed sect leader, hell-bent on revenge, finally surpassing others. He would emotionally break if he finds out it's all because of Wei Wuxian's core. He wouldn't want to lose it; but Wei Wuxian holding that over his head will make it terrible for him; rage, tantrums; in that war-time would have literally robbed him of his senses.

This is a war. If some people find out Wei Wuxian doesn't have a core, what's stopping the enemy from finding out? Even so, there would be people who wish to kill the ever-powerful son of a servant. The hundreds-hole curse could only succeed because Jin Zixun had low cultivation. Think of how many enemies (Wens, and the others) Wei Wuxian had. They don't dare curse him because 1) they believe he has superior cultivation and 2) if he comes for revenge with his stygian tiger seal and chenqing, it simply wouldn't be worth it. So, high risk and low reward. but in actuality, if someone did curse him, without a core to cleanse him, it would be fatal!

As the "son of a servant" and "wielder of immense power," his place in the cultivation world was already unstable. If they find out he doesn't even have a core, he cannot stay in the cultivation world! If he leaves, then there's no protection guaranteed for him from those who wish to claim his power anyway!

Literally, the only ones who would genuinely care would be Lan Wangji and Jiang Yanli. And what could they do? Lan Xichen would be sympathetic, but when has sympathy saved lives when there's no follow-up action? Nie Mingjue would commend his sacrifice, but will he save the Wens? Nope. Nobody would magically go like, "oh, let us help wei wuxian who doesn't have a core tragically."

Among the general public, would anyone look at it as anything other than a grand sacrifice for his superior? "Wei Wuxian is really loyal," and when he saves the Wens, it would go down the path of, "Can't believe he betrayed the Jiang Clan."

The only one who wished to know the why's and the how's and the reasoning behind it all was Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji, who would try his utter best; but Wei Wuxian himself was so powerful. Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan were powerful. Wen Qing and Wen Ning were also powerful. All the righteous people had tragic ends - if Lan Wangji was allowed to know, he would push harder at Wei Ying. But will Wei Ying accept it? Will he feel a certain disregard of respect? A lack of trust from Lan Wangji because they dont have the fundamentals down?How can it magically make things alright, when their issues go deeper than Wei Wuxian being on an "unorthodox path"? So, who's to say, even if Lan Wangji realized it all, somehow forced himself into Wei Wuxian's space when Wei Wuxian did not want it with some OOC syndrome, but even then what can he do? In the end, rather than just one, both would die. The odds are bad when it's 1 vs 3000, but is it much better if it's 2 vs 3000?

Wei Wuxian's arrogance protected the secret that would've signed him out of the war, out of the cultivation world. The fear people had for him protected him. Even after his death, they only noticed the annihilation of minor clans because "oh no yllz is here to take revenge!" If he acted weak and approachable and sad, just how few would hold true empathy compared to all the many that would see an opportunity to strike? Whoever wields power, speaks out, and is from an unproveleged background yet sitting among the gentry is already an outcast.

The only way he wouldn't have died were if he were someone who bowed to servitude, if he kept quiet, if he counted his losses and gains like Jin Guangyao. Will this harm me? Yes. So I cannot do it.

That's not Wei Wuxian.

"Let gains and losses remain uncommented upon." If the whole world wishes to kill innocents to satiate their own hatred then the whole world is wrong, and he won't stand up for it - whether or not, he has a romantic relationship with Lan Wangji early, or if he's actual siblings with the Jiangs (like actually adopted.)

Whether he wields a sword or his flute or nothing at all; whether he's loved or hated, he is bound to be resented by those who are hypocrites. The loss of his golden core won't shake them with empathy, but mockery not just towards him, but towards Jiang Wanyin as well.

"Congratulations, Jiang Cheng, for killing the man who killed your entire family (false, but you know) and was unrighteous!"

"But isn't the Jiang Clan only alive because of Wei Wuxian's core?"

"Jiang Wanyin is such a loser; he took his servant's core."

That would be a fucking literal nightmare. That is why, Wei Wuxian doesn't say a word or whine or cry. He probably thought he could wait until Jiang clan is in a better spot and tell only Jiang Cheng, but by then, he'd already been caught up in the Wen's situation.

[tidesreach]

The phrase "good representation" should not refer to whether or not the character is a good person. It should refer to their queerness being handled appropriately or not.

Does the story respect their queerness? Is their queerness portrayed honestly and genuinely? Does it lean into ignorant or malicious tropes about queer people?

agreed, absolutely! also. prefacing this with: my original post was about 911 (abc) and broke containment. so i'm not entirely sure whether you are a 911 watcher or not, but i am taking the opportunity to answer it in that context because it touches upon the points you made. the post is broad enough that it is applicable to many other things, which people have been applying it to. and that's fine. but specifically, it was about 911 and a subset of fans demonising and harrassing an actor who expressed his wish for the bisexual character he plays to explore himself post-break up via casual relationships. the argument from this subset of fans was that this is biphobic and would be "bad" bisexual representation because it perpetuates the idea that bisexuals are sluts. and, well. i think that in itself is incredibly harmful. it's restrictive and it's reductive. for a plethora of reasons. but specifically—

1) that people consider the exploration of sexuality via fun, consensual casual sex with multiple partners (or just the existence of bisexual people who do not wish to be monogamous) nothing more than a trope is problematic. the insistence that the only "good" bisexual representation is depicting bisexual people in long-term monogamous relationships and nothing else is not progress. it's the opposite of progress. bisexual people, queer people in general, are not a monolith. and i don't think we can or should consider bisexual people/queer people in general well-represented in media when that representation does not explore multiple, varying experiences. and i think, actually we need to talk more about how actively harmful it is to queer people that when those experiences are genuinely explored, they are labeled "bad". like, we need to consider that it is doing actual harm to real people to see their experiences described that way, to see their experiences ignored because they're not "good" enough. we cannot destigmatise these experiences if we simply refuse to depict them.

and 2) the slut-shaming element. i could write paragraphs on this. but it comes down to this: considering these experiences inherently bad actively perpetuates slut-shaming.

which is where i think intent comes in. because obviously, these experiences have been depicted with maliciousness and ignorance in various media. they have been framed as bad in-media or are disingenuous in their depiction. which i think is the point you are making. in the case of 911, that is not what is happening. the actor himself made a post that highlighted this. they are not depicting this as a bad thing, but are in fact coming at it from a place of care and consideration. specifically

so. yeah. that's the context here.

[scottsmajorshipbracket]

Hi, genuine question, but is Scott and Owen’s platonic or? I’m asking since I know they’re uncomfortable being romantically shipped with each other. I hope this doesn’t come off as aggressive or accusatory, I’m really bad with tone so I can’t tell a majority of the time

https://www.tumblr.com/mostlyinconvenient/699815059169378304/hey-i-havent-seen-anyone-else-put-this-clip-up?source=share

If you allow me to be blunt, I do not care what cc!Scott and cc!Owen preferences are. This is characters, not creators. I do not push it in the CCs' faces, and if they stumble upon the bracket or anything else I do in fandom, it is up to them to block me, keep scrolling, or choose to interact.

Indulging this question/concern for a second, I believe it is more complicated with shipping them than people realize. People were referring to both the CCs and the characters by default as "Copper Husbands". It made them uncomfortable because they have not chosen to be romantic via their characters nor are they romantic irl. This is in contrast to calling Scott and Jimmy "Flower Husbands" because they initiated romantic relationships as their characters and called their characters that. In response, the fandom has switched to defaulting on calling them "Copper Duo" (and perhaps another duo name I can't recall at the moment), which is respectful to the CCs and good on everyone for doing. This does not mean that we, as a fandom, are forced to stop shipping or are "not allowed" to ship Copper Husbands.

If you or anyone else want to ship a pairing and make/interact with the fan made content of said ship, you and everyone else should be able to (or "allowed to") without being shamed or made to feel unnecessarily guilty.

In addition, this blog attempts its best to take a neutral stance on ships regardless of the blog owner's own opinions. The bracket runs with the first 32 nominated Scott ships, regardless of what they are, as long as it isn't immoral/unethical such as person/animal, minor/adult, or something else like that. I am not here to make any sort of judgement on the validity of a ship. I simply acknowledge that the ship exists and run the bracket accordingly.

As a general rule of thumb, don't tag the creators if they haven't requested/encouraged it, don't force fan content into their faces via stream/etc, and tag your posts (especially shipping posts) correctly. The creators' interaction with the fan base as a whole and specific parts of fandom are up to them to maintain, just as it is with us personally. As a fandom, as long as we follow those general rules, there is nothing wrong with shipping the characters however we wish.

This and similar issues are more nuanced than people tend to realize, and it gets frustrating to have to defend things and explain myself over and over, but please know that I say this out of sharing an insight. This post is very /info /nm and not meant to be seen as an attack. Here are some tidbits I think people really should remember: live and let ship (aka live and let live), learn how to just scroll/filter out tags, the block button exists for a reason, someone else's opinions/preferences/etc do not affect you personally, and you do not have to interact with people you disagree with.

If what someone is doing doesn't cause harm to themself or others, then why do you care?

/info /nm /rhet /nbr /npa

Continuation of the conversation:

[landoom]

(I’m the anon who brought up people not liking Oscar for off track stuff)

Yeah, I agree with all of that, I think. I try really hard to check my biases while also reserving my right to have an opinion. And just to clarify- I absolutely don’t think Oscar is nearly as much of an asshole as some drivers! It’s just his particular brand of PR that irks me… and some other things… anyways, not your problem. lol

I may not like Oscar much, not hate, and I actually feel kinda bad about not liking him, but I’m not out shouting hate against him for unfair reasons.

That’s the thing, right? We don’t have to agree, but it’s not cool to spread hate or wish ill upon someone for being a bit of a dick as a racing driver, on or off.

But to be fair, a lot of blogs are a “what you see is what you get” so we can block each other. And people should be allowed to vent… hmm.

McLaren has handled things poorly (race strategy and PR) in my opinion, and so many fans are vocally toxic that it exacerbates every tiny thing.

Some Hardcore Lando fans (kinda somewhat myself included) are so used to him being attacked for anything and everything he does that we’re super defensive of him, sometimes in unhealthy ways. Lando gets A LOT of hate. Way more than Oscar has. Way more. I always have to give myself a day after a race to let my emotions cool down. Just like some of the drivers have to! 😂😛 But I am very defensive of Lando, sometimes to my own detriment, I get so angry at people. I recognize that.

And McLaren has done exactly nothing to defend him, which I find distasteful.

Anyways, this turned into a tangent. 🤦‍♀️ I am so sorry. Ahhhh

(I’m so glad you didn’t take that ask poorly and it came across how I meant it, I do appreciate that we can have a calm discussion without either of us trying to change the others opinion ❤️)

Once again I agree with mostly everything.

Just the part about being able to block Tumblr means people can vent here... Yes but then they need to tag accordingly.

If you really want to hate on a driver, then tag it. That means realising you're perhaps going over the limit and that your words can be read as disrespectful or hurtful.

Because there is something I really despise in this fandom at the moment and on social media in general: how hate is becoming accepted, seen as normal or even glorified (through likes and views, etc...). It shouldn't! People should feel ashamed of hating or wishing harm to other people, especially ones who they don't even know, that aren't hurting them in any way! You can have an outburst brought out by your passion for F1 and adrenalin and acknowledge (like your doing) that you went over the limit. But some people are creating their whole online persona over being a hater!

Also, as a Lando fan too, I can completely understand the part about Lando being hated for nothing or never doing the "right" thing whatever he does. And I agree it makes us a bit defensive.

But we won't fight hate with hate! Some Lando fans are treating Oscar exactly like they are complaining other people treat Lando! I'm sorry but I can't understand that...

[rayroseu]

Another Silver kinnie moment.... I always recommend cakes for celebration too bcs it has fond memories ✨✨✨

AND WAAAHHH Lilia celebrating his child's first big accomplishment 🥲🥲💞💕💖💕💖💕 I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT AHDHAJDH SILVERS FACE BRIGHTENING UP KNOWING HIS FATHER PUT UP A LITTLE PARTY FOR THE EFFORT HE MADE.... JUST LIKE HOW GEPETTO WAS LOOKING FORWARD FOR PINOCCHIO TO RETURN FROM SCHOOL HE COOKED A FEAST FOR THEM 😭💞💕💞

-

LMFAO PLEASE SEBEK IS EVEN CRYING.... AKDHAKD HES SO FUNNY PLEASE SEBEK NEVER CHANGE 😂😂✨✨

KKKKKSHAAAAAAAAA 🦇🦇🐊🐊🐉🐉LETSGOOO THATS MELEANORS GENERAL 💪💪💪✨✨✨✨🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣

I would love to see General Lilia defying physics on the hanging bar lol

Also The 2nd line reminds me of whats happening the Playful Land event...

"strong leadership by unifying a large group and orchestrating them to put on a show"... Meleanor is so amazing...✨✨She's an organizer of calisthenic demonstration too??? MAYBE????

Just like how Fellow honest is controlling the NRC students to put on a show... Also she views the humans as stupid and weak, just like how Fellow views NRC as stupid boys lol

I guess she really does act as the Puppeteer as the Highest Commander of Briar Land's soldiers... But also it COULD imply that she can manipulate several people yk (IM OVERTHINKING ABOUT THIS AJFHHA)

Every Silver Owls said that they successfully lured Meleanor into their trap but what if that was never the case?

Lilia's dream rn is far from its end... We don't even have concrete evidence that she was defeated by Knight of Dawn... Maybe I'm hoping too much bcs I don't really want her to die lol🥲 but what if all this time she was orchestrating a fake death to initiate a more sinister end for the war between faes and humans??

or Idk maybe she really died.... 😭😭😭 she DID plotted that Malleus is going to be harmful to humans. Which if we think her single purpose is to destroy humanity

(reffering to her line smth like: Weak, fragile, and stupid. The humankind is begging to be destroyed. If that is so, I shall bring it upon them. With the thunder of judgement!")

then Malleus is making her wish come true that the Dark Faes will reign supreme than humans because he overblotted and planning to spread its curse across the world lol

But i dont like that this theory implies that shes involved of Malleus Overblot I dont think Mother Meleanor will do that 😭😭😭💔💔💔

Also literally why tf did my brain jumped from this??? I think im doing mental calisthenics... Lilia literally is just discussing an Old briar valley tradition and its never even brought up again 😂😂😂💥💥💥

[tuliptired]

Hey! If you don’t have much stuff to write I just had a fun scenario I would like to see.

I’ve had the idea of all the Ghostbusters interacting with an almost friendly ghost.

Like, the reader, is a ghost who haunts the old fire department and, for some reason, the busters can’t get rid of them.

But they aren’t a bad ghost. Do they cause a little mayhem? Yeah, but they don’t harm people.

Maybe everyone is a little weary because, let’s face it, they’ve all been through some stuff and expect a possible negative outcome.

… that’s all! Thanks lovely!

You Don't Hear what I'm Saying (Do You?)

Pairing: Ghostbusters & Ghost!Reader

Warnings: Mentions of death

90% sure this gif is from frozen empire but haiiii

Better formatting on Ao3!!

Your last moments were, funnily enough, the foggiest in your memory. You always remember the parade running through the streets for a new mayor, generally just a reason to be jovial for a while. You can remember the rain falling from the sky, sending everyone inside for a minute, and you can remember the firehouse you took refuge in. What you can never recall is why exactly you woke up, presumably weeks later, with a splitting headache and no tangible body.

When you got over the shock over your new form, it was hard to come to terms with dying, to know that you inadvertently left everything behind without ever meaning to. Death always seemed so far away to you, as the thrill of the Progressive Era lingered in the air. It was even harder, to know that you’d never be able to leave the confines of the building you passed in. True, you had all the time in the world to explore, or test out your new abilities as a spirit, but it just made you even sadder, to disturb these hardworking men and be reminded of their livelihoods as they served the city. So you slept, invisible to the world and for as long as you wanted to escape thoughts of hopelessness. 

Ghost-sleep wasn’t the same, though, not nearly as satisfying as sleep when you were flesh and blood. It was more like suspending yourself in a different state of matter for a while- something you would have never understood until you actually felt it. You didn’t want anything to do with anyone anymore, tucking yourself into the farthest and darkest corners and letting yourself stay dormant for years upon years. After a while, you’d be brought back to consciousness by a dull and throbbing pain in your head, forcing you back “awake”. Time had managed to slip your grasp, the firehouse eventually defunct and destitute in only a matter of time, its rundown interior only giving you more motivation to hide away from it all. In the simplest of words: you were in a neverending state of loneliness.

“I’ll be one minute!” Ray called over his shoulder. He went up the steps of the firehouse, until he was at the seldom used third floor. This place needed a good sweep, maybe a dusting, but that could wait. He had something much cooler in mind.

Ray moved a creaky shelf, looking around for a quick second before he did. “Are you here? You can come out now,” he stage-whispered.

You materialized behind him instead, smiling shyly as you peeked out from the shelving. He was so, so lucky. A ghost! Living in his attic! Technically, the attic of his ghost extermination service, but the little details didn’t matter much. 

Not long ago, he was up here to stuff some of Peter’s junk in the tiny bit of storage they had. A chill ran up his spine after dumping it, hair standing up on end. There was no way, right?  He scanned the room silently, not daring to breathe or move too hard or too fast. His hopes rose.

Ray swallowed. “Any ghosts up here, come out so I can see you.” No answer. “...we can play a game.”

Still nothing but the sounds of the air conditioning. His posture dropped in defeat- it was wishful thinking, anyway. Ray turned to leave, before he was willed to spin around. Another chill, one that ran down to his bones, racked him, eyes bulging wide as the figure of an early 20th century spirit appeared before him at will.

You didn’t attack him, or wreck the room. You just stood there, blinking occasionally, looking just as freaked out as he was. You were a ghostbuster, Ray! You’ve seen ghosts!

He snapped out of his stupor. “Oh yeah! The game!” He stared at you for a few more seconds, before scouring the room for something. To be fair, he didn’t really have a plan. Ray just thought it’d be pretty cool to have a ghost friend around- who wasn’t Slimer. And now he’s got one! Maybe. He emerged with a little ball, wondering why the hell four grown men owned one. He set himself up for catch, watching as you hesitantly raised your hands.

It fell right through you. Obviously. 

Since then, through trial and error, you both compiled information about yourself. For one, you couldn’t talk- at least not much. He’d have to look into that, but it could be something you’d just have to relearn. Secondly, your control over physical objects seemed touch and go. You could interact with some things, but not others- and he suspected that it had something to do with the material’s age relative to your own. You could travel freely, fortunate for you and troublesome for him. Ray had a new experiment this time, one he thinks you’d like. 

“You’re from 1902? 1904?” Ray asked, zipping open up a cloth bag that hung around his neck. You put your shoulders up- understandable, you’d been dead for a long time and out of commission for a while. “Well, have you ever had your picture taken?”

He watched as you eyed the Fujifilm in his hands curiously. You shook your head, gazing down at it like it was an object of a folktale. You nearly reached out to touch it, amazement making you forget your current predicament. 

He smiled at your wonder. “Do you want one?”

Ray laughed as you nodded wildly, adjusting the phantom clothes that died along with you. You picked a spot that was freer from clutter- near the lab and sitting area, and tried to channel the portraits of dignitaries and upper class families that you only ever dreamed of being a part of.

With a few quick snaps, the best one printed, and it was only a matter of waiting until it would develop. You were impatient- surprised at how quick it took to manifest but annoyed at the dark square that became clearer at only a snail's pace. 

“You gotta be patient,” he teased you, protecting the delicate film. “You’re just like Egon.” Your expression dropped, and Ray let up slightly. He felt bad, accidently bringing up his friends like this. The friends that you weren’t allowed to meet, otherwise they’d trap you almost immediately. “They’ll come around. Just give me some time,” Ray promised with a small smile.

You nodded, seeming to understand. Ray’s short gasp tore you from your melancholy, showing you the now developed photo between two fingers. “Look at that,” he said softly, grinning as you inspected it. If he was right, it had to have been decades since you had seen your own face.

“Ray!” a voice called from far below, impatient. He clicked his tongue, carefully leaving you with the photo where you could see it without having to move anything. As he reached for the doorknob, the room was shroud in darkness before illuminating again. You stood proudly, if not a bit coy, flicking the electricity on and off with pure physic energy a few more times.

Ray beamed. “Hey! You learned lights!”

Another quiet day. You counted the front door opening and closing twice from your spot upstairs- Winston lets the door drag, you learned, and Ray lets it slam. That left Janine, the woman you always hear at the very front desk, and Egon, the man you’ve seldom heard any noise from. According to Ray, he’s been spending more time in the lab than anything. Peter, the one with short footsteps, typically sleeps during these drags in the day, especially after a long night like the kind they had prior. It felt oddly comfortable, to familiarize yourself with their routines, though you had no idea what they looked like. How much could you learn about someone, when you observe them without eyes?

You could tell how sunny it was outside, growing jealous that they could soak up the warmth of the world while you were stuck at the top floor with very little natural lighting. Ray would understand, right? One quick trip couldn’t hurt. Everyone was too preoccupied with their midday activities, and if they did happen to see you, you’d scramble back to safety and just deny. 

The sliver of light streaming in from the large window in the hallway felt lovely. You feel things differently, when you’re only a soul. There was almost a hypnotic property in the way you were able to bask in the wake of dancing dust, floating along the beam, and you swore your vapors were growing more and more vivid. Thank goodness someone left the drapes open- they’d simply passed through your fingers. Your senses, however, heighten when you’re a ghost. You could tell someone was watching you, and when you turned, it was a resident of the firehouse, disheveled from sleep and pointing one of those vacuum-wand-gun things Ray had tried explaining to you.

Instincts carry you to the safest point of escape. You could hear the man shouting into the vent, probably on the edge of his toes, the presumed image amusing you. 

“You’re in the walls?” He hollered incredulously, voice bouncing off the metal. “Not fair.” When you never answered, he stormed off, short footsteps growing further and further away, before pittering back. “Stay off the second floor. Egon’ll see you.”

Winston had the hood of their vehicle propped open, doubled over into it and covered in dark oil. Ray was in bed, sleeping just like Peter was that one day after loud alarms and wailing sirens called them out to a job late that night. You had paid his snoring form a quick visit, but now you just watched Winston, no meddlesome plan in mind as the large white car intimidated you a tad. He shivered, dirty hands running across the length of goosebumped arms before he went back to work.

“I know you’re there.”

You blinked, slowly becoming visibly as he continued to crank a wrench around the soiled engine. “Ray’s terrible at keeping secrets. And it’s 5 degrees colder in here.”

So much for subtly. You were at least a little disappointed, before he spoke again. “Are you gonna possess me?” You shook your head. “Slime me?” No. “Chase me around?” Probably not.

His defenses dropped as he eyed you up and down, looking as stereotypical as a ghost could in your turn-of-the-century outfit and mystic state. “You’re lucky he has no survival instinct,” he pointed the wrench at you, “it’s like second death in that containment chamber-”

Winston saw you frown, softening. Not very nice, you thought. 

“I’m sorry. Not cool, talking about death with a ghost, right?” You nodded. He wiped his hands on a spare towel. “And you’re stuck downstairs all day?” shaking your head, you pointed upstairs. All the way upstairs.

You started away from the car. What a gaudy thing to drive around in, you thought. You trusted Ray’s judgment, but not on this. Winston must’ve noticed, asking in disbelief, “you’ve never been in a car?”

You rolled your eyes defensively, and he just chuckled at you. Of course you’d been in a car! Just- not giant white hearses with junky gear strapped to it. Winston only laughed harder, holding the door open for you. “Wanna see this one?”

You swallowed- or, you would, if you still produced saliva. Careful to not fall through and onto the ground, you hesitantly lowered yourself into the seat, jumping slightly as he suddenly turned on the engine. “How is it?” You didn’t answer as he took his spot on the driver's side, and when he looked over, you held out the molecules of your hand, bouncing with the vibrations of the car. Forget how it looked- being in a car was fun. The things you appreciate more when you’re a ghost.

“What else can you do? As a ghost?” You thought about it, before leading him upstairs and pointing to the closed blinds by the large window. He didn’t hesitate to open them, watching as you glowed brighter under the light. 

“Sun-basking,” Winston smirked. Just then, the phone started to wail throughout the firehouse, and Ray joined his friend, rushing down the steps, as Winston couldn’t stop snickering.

“What?” Ray questioned, startled awake.

“Nothing, nothing.”

It wasn’t until after their hour long job that Ray realized he had pen all over his face. And, that you were starting to get restless.

You knew Ray would be at least a little anxious that you were out and about, but you just couldn’t help it. You had friends- or at least, people who had no choice but to be around you. Peter tried to trap you a few more times, to “keep you on your toes,” but you always found new ways to escape. Janine had nearly spilt coffee all over herself when she first saw you, trying to figure out her desktop radio, but you were forgiven after demonstrating your best laundering tips from when you were alive. Now, she lets you listen whenever you want, as long as it was an agreeable station. You’d even met Dana, awed at how much she resembled early 1900’s aristocracy. Louis was so easy to mess with that you’d lost track of what you’d done. And it was fun, to stay out of sight and follow Ray around, keeping your laughter to yourself as he shuddered and continuously checked the thermostat. 

Peter loved to step on your metaphysical toes, especially in the comfort of night. “What-” he flipped on the lights, watching as you sat in the middle of dozens of lit candles, trying to conduct your own personal seance.

“This is where all my red candles went?” he gestured around you. Whoever you would have contacted has definitely flown away by now.

“If you wanted a nice ghost friend, we would’ve introduced you to Slimer.” And who knew, fellow specters could get slimed? He was a clingy friend at first, but he quickly came to terms with the fact that you had no interest in eating.

Your little antics got bolder and bolder as your new friends started to drop their defenses. Switching around their boots, long john’s or pajamas was always fun whenever you got bored- though it got Winston taken off of laundry duty. He could’ve snitched on you, but he never did, and you silently thanked him with your best attempt at brewing coffee. The mug of water you planned to pour into the pot ended up slipping out of your phantasmic grasp, so that was the end of you trying to do favors.

Back to observing. You had been invisibly watching Slimer finish what was left of breakfast, before Peter came in and chased him out. He must’ve been forced to take care of the piling dishes in the sink, because he worked so hastily that a ceramic plate nearly flew out of his slippery hand. You caught it, not wanting the nice glassware to shatter, bashfully revealing yourself.

Peter stared at you, before turning back to the sink like it was the normalest thing in the world. “Oh. It’s you. Listen, Spooky-” he dried a dish, “I heard you learned ‘lights’. That’s awfully cute, but Egon would have my head if he knew I let a ghost run around. My job is to catch you, and you don’t want that. So, scram.”

Peter was officially off your list of friends. What’d Dana see in him? You irritably stalked off, disappearing from sight again.

“It’s still freezing, I know you’re still here.”

Maybe Slimer was better company. Before you could depart, Peter sighed, leaning against the edge of the sink as if he was surveying the amount of dishes he had left to clear. Reluctantly, he turned to you, starting your ascent to the ceiling.

He holds out a dripping cup. “If you help me dry these, I can open the blinds for you.”

Egon walked in then, and you were back to being as clear as air. “Who’re you talking to?” he glanced up from a notepad. Peter’s under eye twitched, and your whole body quaked as the scientist unknowingly passed through the space you occupied. He didn’t say anything, stilling as his shoulders tensed slightly. 

“No one. Say, Egon, how’s a little pool? I’ll let you win.” Peter dried his hands off. Egon didn’t say anything, instead pulling his lab coat closer to himself.

“It’s cold in here,” he stated, pulling up the hefty window. What’s better than sunlight through glass? Sunlight from the source. You settled in euphorically on the sill, ready to sleep for a while. Thank you, Egon- no chores and a great nap. You could continue to dislike Peter, but you did overhear him encouraging Egon to keep the windows open whenever he thought you weren’t around.

Ray sighed, shutting the door to the attic solemnly. It had been a few days, and you hadn’t shown up in some time. Not a sock misplaced, car keys never once being clipped to the back of belt loops rather than the front. Winston had no ill intent, even bringing up your absence a day or two ago. Peter had promised not to try and trap you anymore after he slipped up and attempted it while Ray was turning the corner. Janine wouldn’t, Louis couldn’t…where’d you go?

Egon. It had to be. One surprise, one unsuspecting door being opened…he couldn’t even begin to imagine what could be happening to you in the containment grid. Ray flushed with worry, hurrying down the stairs and bounding into the lab as quickly as possible. “Spengs! Let ‘em go!”

The bespectacled man sat in the dark laboratory, hands wrapped around a cup of what must’ve been tea. There were roots, windchimes, and other trinkets that Ray recognized as objects for attracting the otherworldly placed around the room.

Egon calmly took a sip of his tea. “What’s wrong?” Ray blinked, catching his breath. There you were, not stuck in the mechanics of the containment unit but in your approximation of sitting in a chair, not drinking your tea but enjoying the steam billowing into you.

“But- I thought- you-'' Ray stuttered. 

Egon flipped through a few notes. “I’m not that dense, Ray. And they’ve been a interesting topic of research,” he held up what looked like a much more intensely detailed account of your past life. Ray squinted, skimming past dates, addresses, family names.

“I thought you couldn’t talk!” Ray put his hands on his hips, reeling from all this new information.

You simply shrugged, smiling guiltily.

“You’d be surprised. Did you know they learned lights?”

[astrojulia]

PAC: Your witchy side

~Your natural magical skills

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DISCLAIMER. These general free readings are made in good faith for entertainment purpose. This pick a pile is very specific and direct, even certain people came into my mind when doing it... so I already say that it doesn't seem to be for everyone.

How to pick a pile

When you have different cards to choose from in pile 1,2,3… look at each of those cards. Wait until someone reminds you of a memory. Perhaps a character’s outfit resembles one of your own. It is this pile that has its message. What if they all remind me of something? Go for the one with the strongest memory, one might look like her earring but another might be the favorite candy you got from your grandma when you vacationed at her house. But what if none reminds me of something? Take a deep breath and wait a little longer, without charging yourself or creating worries. Relax, some will awaken some memory in you, I promise!

Pile 1 - My Melody

(Justice - Queen of Pentacles - Ten of Wands - Two of Pentacles - Four of Swords - Eight of Wands)

You are most likely an air witch with a focus on magic involving people, technical knowledge, and extensive research. Therefore, you must enjoy practicing astrology and manipulation magic. Apart from that, as a witch, you believe that you must first give in order to receive, and that everything you receive has the same weight as what you gave. You believe in equivalent exchange, alchemy, and the idea that the effort you put in will determine what you receive.

Your primary area of study is the physical realm, specifically prosperity, abundance, and fortune. You concentrate on the material aspects of your magical practices, performing magic that involves your body and personal belongings. You have a precise way of speaking, addressing your spirituality with respect but also with authority, as if you were the head of a different organization. You admire your guides, respecting and listening to them, but you don't feel inferior to them.

You manage to produce excellent results with your magic, bringing abundance to your home, but it sometimes becomes overwhelming for you. This could be due to your guides having dense energy. As a young witch, you may find it challenging to handle the amount of energy they transmit, leading to instances like an overflowing potion. In other words, even if you try to control the outcome, what you receive is often more than you can handle, whether it's positive or negative.

That's why you should practice more restrained magic. You need to choose between focusing on one aspect or another. Either you ask for love or you ask for prosperity; you can't pursue both with this type of magic. Start by engaging in more basic activities and communicating with "smaller spirits" such as children or fairies—whatever you prefer.

As for magical objects, you can have a diverse range, including daggers and swords, as well as white clothes and furry animals like rabbits, foxes, and dogs with long hair (preferably white animals). Additionally, you feel a certain connection with the cycle of life, understanding that things die and are reborn.

Your shadow side, your greatest temptation, is the desire to curse others. Many times, you want to see those who have wronged you suffer and contemplate whether you should act on it. You genuinely wish to return the harm that was once inflicted upon you.

On the other hand, your light side reveals that your primary focus is yourself. This self-focus is both your greatest strength and power. You have the ability to learn and study quickly, initiate new cycles promptly, and bounce back when things go wrong without being harmed in the process.

Pile 2 - Kuromi

(Judgment - Page of Wands - The Fool - The Devil - Page of Cups - The Emperor - Ten of Pentacles)

You're probably a generational witch or, at the very least, a member of a cult or coven. In other words, you're not a solitary practitioner and have been on this path for a while. You're deeply interested in matters related to the soul, rebirth, and karma.

Your studies now encompass new areas that you've never explored before, such as herbology and astrology. There's something you have little knowledge of but find highly intriguing.

Your greatest skill lies in the freedom to pursue whatever you set your mind to. Your magic knows no bounds, and you have the ability to accomplish anything you desire. It appears that your specialty lies in magic involving glamour, love, and relationships. You excel at making people like you or even fall in love with you. This can be through a well-chosen word that wins them over or by adding a special touch to food.

An area you should focus on studying is shadow work. Personally, I find this topic too personal to discuss, but it is what the cards reveal. It suggests that you should address unresolved issues from your past. You have traumas and situations that are currently influencing you in negative ways, fostering destructive desires. This cannot continue as it is. You need to learn to free yourself from these chains and rid yourself of greater dangers.

A magical object you can keep with you is a goblet of water, but it can also include fish figurines or an aquarium. Additionally, letters you wrote or received in the past, childhood items like dolls and stuffed animals, can provide you with strength.

As I mentioned before, your darkest side is the desire to destroy everything and start over again, hoping for a "better" outcome. You believe that if you have the power, everything will improve, free from problems and pain. You possess an explosive and uncontrollable urge that can bring harm to others and yourself.

On the flip side, your light side emerges through your involvement in a group. You have people who love you, and you reciprocate that love. You strive to do your best for them, presenting your finest version. You protect and support them, fulfilling their needs. You rarely find yourself alone, and the strength of the group becomes your own.

Pile 3 - Cinnamoroll

(Four of Pentacles - The Hermit - Seven of Cups - Three of Pentacles - Strenght - Ace of Pentacles - Wheel of Fortune)

You are most likely an earth witch who focuses on material well-being. You are a zealous and capricious person. You take pride in your appearance, especially when it comes to your hair and jewelry. You are the type of witch who enjoys casting spells using your hair, colors, and accessories. You don't conform to societal norms, but you respect traditions. If necessary, you are willing to engage in mischief as a response to being hurt by others.

Your current path is a solitary one. You are discovering things that only you can comprehend, unable to share them with others who wouldn't understand. It feels as if you are keeping a significant secret and are on a journey to uncover its meaning. You are also pursuing a dream, striving to make it a reality.

You enjoy working with potions and food, crafting spells from scratch using your own ingredients. You are the type of person who can serve others their own poison without hesitation. You possess a repertoire of tricks up your sleeve, knowing the right ingredient for a recipe or the appropriate spell for any situation that arises.

It's time for you to focus on forging new paths for yourself, working with a small group to create something greater for everyone. Additionally, you can start studying flowers and aquatic herbs.

A magical object you can keep with you is images of large animals such as lions, whales, or camels—strong animals that command presence and whose names are generally recognized. Nets can also be beneficial to you, as something you can use to capture things, similar to a Dreamcatcher (although you're aware it's primarily decorative) or, if you prefer, pictures of spiders.

Your shadow side is your ambition—an insatiable desire to possess everything while doing little to attain it. It's as if you planted flowers but never watered them, allowing them to wither on their own. You desire more, craving abundance, but it's unlikely that you'll attain everything you want, which may lead to disappointment.

Your light side is your profound faith and belief in your spirituality. You likely have a daily routine that involves prayer or engaging in magical practices, making you naturally powerful. By allowing your guides to direct you when you're uncertain, you are able to navigate your path.

(CC) AstroJulia Some Rights Reserved

[furiousgoldfish]

When abused children get bullied at school it sends a slightly different message to them.

Bullying in general, can be terrifying because of the violence, destruction, toxic social hierarchy that is imposed on the bullied child, the humiliation and the social abuse can be traumatic and scarring, and there's a lack of protection, social isolation and knowledge that even in the public setting, you can be hurt and others will do nothing to help you, nobody will stand up for you. That is, ultimately, rejection from your entire social circle; you're unwanted among your peers, they don't find you worthy of saving, or physical safety. It makes you distrust the society, and the good in people.

But abused kids also get this at home, so it's nothing new; for those abused extensively at home, bullying can even seem like not such a big deal. It was like that for me. When life at home would be a constant death threat, few kids at school destroying my things and mocking me in public seemed like a minor inconvenience. Nothing short of life-threatening violence would even upset me, and the kids at my high school weren't looking to go that far.

Looking back though, I understand that it did more than upset me, it let me know that I'm unwanted everywhere. For those abused in their homes, the only hope is the escape in the outside world, where we could dream, that someone would care enough to make sure we're safe, that the don't die from lack of resources, that we could possibly be loved and protected. But bullying puts an end to that hope before we can even start. It tells us, no, public is just the same as home. There's nothing for you anywhere, we don't want you either. It's going to be the same for you everywhere. It's because you're different and weird and unlovable that this is happening to you; you can see it's not happening to other people, so it must be your fault directly that everyone hates you.

I haven't realized for a long time, how far it reinforced the message of the abusive parents, that I deserve this. That in my case, it was normal, and that I'm ultimately unlovable and nobody could possibly want or protect me. 'Something is wrong with you so we're going to hurt you' is the mantra both of the bullies, and the abusive parents. It goes hand in hand. And having no space where I could relax or feel like I'm not going to get hurt, made the world a worse place for me to live in. Regardless of whether I fought back or not, it didn't change the fact that I was surrounded with people who wished to hurt me, and would take any chance to do so. It made me feel that there is no escape. I was just too weird and something was deeply wrong with me, and everyone could see it and agree upon it.

Except it's not true. Nothing was wrong with me, I was only unprotected. I would have been just fine left alone. Nothing I did was any incentive for any of these people to do harm to me. It was their choice to do so, to make the world less safe for those who don't have anyone standing in their corner, and nowhere to turn to.

What society tells us about us sticks with us for a long time. A message repeated long enough, from enough sources, will end up etched in our brain, without us having the ability to scrub it off. We're sensitive to how we're being perceived, and out perception is affected by what other tell us about us. So when people tell us the worst possible things, no matter how untrue, they stick. We can't know immediately, that they're saying it only to excuse and rationalize their own gross actions. We can't know that they need to say it, in order to frame their crimes against us as just and normal, when they're anything but. It takes intense and conscious training to link people's spoken opinions of us, to what they're intending to do to us. It takes a lot to realize that when they're talking with hatred in their voice about us, they're doing so only in order to create a fake scenario in which they are allowed to hurt us. They don't know or perceive us at all, they only perceive a situation where they can get away with causing harm. Our only crime is existing, unprotected.

[sjbattleangel]

Public Service Announcement: Please, stay away away from HellYeahHeroes, Ubernegro, Chadfarsight*, KK4EverStuff, and Cohore.

*I'm aware Chadfaresight doesn't speak to HellYeahHeroes anymore but she's still responsible for spewing the very same toxicity.

HellYeahHeroes/HellYeahTeenSuperHeroes, Ubernegro, Chadfarsight, Cohore and others are the most vile, most pettiest, most hateful people who have no right to call themselves "comic fans".

[Trigger warning for screencaps in the links] They will personally target comic writers using hyperbolic, personal attacks on them: Disgusting insults, making horrible assumptions of them like calling them "Hacks" multiple times, along with "Pussys", "eugenists", "homophobes", "perverts", "mysoginysts", "sex offenders", "cowards", "rape apologists", "fascist sympathizers", "Nazi apologists", "dog f***ers", telling them to "lick goats" and more.

The way they talk about writers like Jason Aaron, Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brisson, Matthew Rosenburg, Dan Slott, Donny Cates, Brian Michael Bendis, James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, Joshua Williamson and others, it's clear that they hate them solely as people. In fact, they have held a deep personal hatred for them WAY before they read any of their works. Yet they will happily mask what is clearly a bloody vendetta against people ,who never harmed them, under a smokescreen of "criticising crappy writing" and wanting their favourite characters "treated with respect".

KK4EverStuff has gone on to send death threats and wish harm upon creators, it's very possible HellYeahHeroes, Ubernegro, Cohore and Chadfarisght have done so too.

Please, report and block them. They are the most hate-filled toxic people to ever exist in the comic fandom.

Eventually, My friend Samasmith23 and I bumped into @Majingojira and told him HellYeahHeroes and co.'s behaviour since he is their friend. Because of his more chilled, open-minded attitude, we thought he would listen to us and condemn this behaviour but instead...

...he just kept shifting the goalposts; using whataboutisms: Like "Oh, HYH doesn't talk about comics anymore", "KK isn't a member of our group", "That was old stuff", "he (Samasmith) should hold SJBattleAngel to a similar standard", "Screencaps as ammunition is a C*micsgate tactic" and others.

He then suggested that I "fabricated" the screenshots.

But worst of all?

He made excuses for their abhorrent behaviour towards creators. He dismissed our calls for acountability as "tone-policing", being "puritanical", operating under "Tumblr Morality" ect.

He even excused HYH and co's attacking of comic writers by saying: "Complaining about insults towards creators is rich when creators themselves are generally okay with its existence. Just don't do it to their face."

NO.

Calling for innocent creators to be fired is NEVER "okay"!

Telling them to "lick goats" is NEVER "okay"!

Attacking them as "perverts", "eugenists", "fascism apologists" is NEVER "okay"!

Encouuraging harrasment against them NEVER, NEVER "okay"!

Sending them literal death threats is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER "okay"!

Majingojira turns a blind eye to toxic fan harassment and, by doing so, enables it. Stay away from him.

I've wrote to multiple comic/nerd/fandom blogs on Tumblr, telling them about HellYeahHeroes's and his friend's toxicity; asking them to shame this sort of behaviour. But most never reply back. They probably think I'm some sort of "troll" trying to "start drama". And I don't blame them, HellYeahHeroes, Majingojira, Ubernegro and others are some of the most beloved, well-respected comics/social justice bloggers on this website, I understand looking up to someone thinking they could never do any wrong. I know because I was once one of those people.

You know, this takes a toll on my mental health: Trying to tell people that some of the most revered members of our communities are actually horrible pieces of work, but they don't believe you. It's like being trapped in a room all alone, with no door. You scream the truth at the walls, hoping a door will appear. But it never does, and you're stuck forever with no-one to hear your cries. And it hurts. This pain of never being believed.

I hope you all understand.

I just want our community to be safe and healthy. Please, believe me.

Dear @Hellyeahheroes, @ubernegro, @farsight-the-char @Cohore,

The way you targeted and demonized creators like Dan Slott, Tom King, Donny Cates, Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brisson, Matthew Rosenburg, Grant Morrison, Jason Aaron, Brian Micheal Bendis, Adam Glass, Tom Taylor, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Rian Johnson, Neil Druckman was just disgusting and horrible. You have every right to dislike their work but to personally attack and vilify them is unacceptable! They are not "misogynists", they are not "creeps", "they are not "racists", they are not "antisemites", they are not "eugenists", they are not "fascist sympathizers", they are not "Nazi apologists", they are not "closeted Neo-Nazis" but most of all: They are not "hacks!"

To @Hellyeahheroes, @ubernegro, @farsight-the-char, @Cohore,: Seeing your disturbing parasoical hatred of creators like Slott, King, Cates, Hickman, Brisson, Rosenburg, Aaron, Bendis, Snyder, Tynion Williamson, it's clear that outside of comics, way before you read any of their work you've always held a personal vendetta against them as people.

Why? Did they personally hurt you or your loved ones? Did they ruin your lives? Even if they did, that gives you no right to email them countless death threats!

I don't know what you think but personally attacking these writers and sending them death threats will not magically undo the likes of One More Day, Robin: One Year Later, Avengers Academy: Arena, Avengers Undercover, Heroes In Crisis! No! Your actions are the very reason people see nerd fandom as a toxic cesspool of bullying and entitlement. And you're just proving them right!

Apologise, do better or leave.

Tell Lily Orchard, CinemaSins and Mr. Plinkett I said hi.

[kaija-rayne-author]

Is Solas a Villain?

Spoilers for Dragon Age Inquisition and Trespasser DLC. Maybe DAO and DA2 too.

So is he a villain?

Nope!

That's not me being a Solas apologist.

That's me being a pedantic AF writer/editor/word and literary nerd.

Solas, no matter how players feel about him, is an anti-hero.

Firstly, what is an anti-hero?

1. A character who is a hero to some, a villain to others.

Solas was a hero to the ancient enslaved elves, even if he did end up basically destroying the world. If he does what I suspect, he'll also end up a hero to the current generation of enslaved elves, too. He's mentioned he has spies, many, indicating that many people, even good people, serve him. Because they think of him as a hero.

2. A character whose existence offers a critique of social morals and reality.

Can you think of any other character in DA:I who calls attention to the problems of the status quo more than Solas? I mean, truly pointing out the uncomfortable truth?

This convo w/Dorian sort of illustrates that point.

Dorian: Solas, for what it's worth, I'm sorry.

Dorian: The elven city of Arlathan sounds like a magical place, and for my ancestors to have destroyed it...

Solas: Dorian... hush.

Solas: Empires rise and fall. Arlathan was no more "innocent" than your own Tevinter in its time.

Solas: Your nostalgia for the ancient elves, however romanticized, is pointless.

Solas: If you wish to make amends for past transgressions, free the slaves of all races who live in Tevinter today.

Dorian: I... don't know that I can do that.

Solas: Then how sorry are you?

3. A character who is the focal point of conflict in a story.

Rather a no-brainer on this one. I truly think the actual villain/s of DA:D won't end up being Solas. I think, as he was in DA:I, he's a massive distraction. A misdirection of attention.

4. A character who is particularly engaged in the conflict, typically on their own will, rather than for a specific call for the greater good. As such, the anti-hero focuses on their objective first, and everything else is secondary.

Solas, if Romanced, gives up his heart's desire, the Inquisitor, the only person that has ever drawn his attention from the fade, for his goal, even though you can see how much it destroys him to do it.

His heart, hers, his friends... NOTHING can get in the way of the goal. And it's a goal he's taken on of his own will. He's taking the responsibility of fixing his fuck up because he fucked it up. (He's foolish because if he'd just stop and think for a second, he'd realize he's really bad at fixing things.)

5. An Anti-hero is still operating for what they think is the greater good. Solas truly believes that fixing what he broke is for the greater good of Thedas. Not just his own people, (that's an enjoyable side benefit XD) but Thedas itself. Because it was never meant to have the veil in the first place. (We'll just brush that whole evil self-absorbed mage-gods being set free at the same time under the carpet? Because he has "plans". Solas, Solas, just stop and think for a minute!)

6. They tend to be flawed heroes in the sense that they do wrong things/screw up/cause harm.

Welp. That's pretty much a dictionary definition of Solas, isn't it?

So how is that actually different from a villain?

A villain is a malicious, often cruelly malicious character, who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime or hurting others for their own sake. One who contributes evil agency (motivation) to the plot.

The literary purpose of a villain is to stand opposite the hero to help the plot move forward.

In contrast with the hero (which is defined by ingenuity, bravery, pursuit of justice and the greater good), a villain is most often defined by their acts of selfishness, evilness, arrogance, and or cruelty. They are often cunning and display unilaterally agreed upon immorality that can pervert or oppose justice.

In short, an anti-hero is a character who does too much good to be truly bad, and too much bad to truly be considered good.

Solas, as a character, gives unflinchingly of himself to the Inquisition. He gave them his home, if you believe Skyhold is actually his.

He gives of his blood and flesh in battles.

He gives his knowledge.

If Romanced, he gives his heart to a mortal inquisitor.

And he's willing to give whatever is left of his heart, his soul, and very possibly his life to fix what he broke.

Sorry, Solas haters, he's just not the villain you want him to be.

And that's what makes him so bloody fascinating!

Humanity loves our anti-heroes.

Did you know the term anti-hero was used as early as 1714, but that the character archetype has been used by Homer (Theristes), in Ancient Greek drama (Medea), in Roman mythology (Hercules), and in a lot of Renaissance literature (Don Quixote)?

At some point, the existence of an anti-hero character eventually became an established form of social criticism. Which Solas is very good at.

Other examples of anti-heroes most folks will likely recognize

Wade Wilson/Deadpool

Huckleberry Finn

Lou Bloom/Nightcrawler

Bruce Wayne/Batman

Mad Max

Captain Jack Sparrow

Lisbeth Salander (Girl w/dragon tattoo)

Han Solo

Pinnochio

James Bond

Lestat de Lioncourt (Interview w/a Vampire)

Geralt of Rivia (Witcher)

Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones)

Dexter Morgan (Dexter)

Indiana Jones

John Rambo

T-800 (The Terminator)

John McClane (Die Hard)

The Beast (Beauty & the Beast)

Tyler Durden (Fight Club)

Magneto (X-Men)

Logan/Wolverine (X-Men)

Riddick

Shrek

Stitch (Lilo & Stitch)

Harley Quinn

Hellboy

John Constantine

Frank Castle (The Punisher)

V (V for Vendetta)

Tony Stark/Iron Man

Sherlock Holmes

Judge Dredd

John Wick

Maleficent

Venom

Angel & Spike (Buffy)

Dean & Sam Winchester (Supernatural)

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow

The Mandalorian/Din Djarin

Wednesday Addams

I'll stop there, because the list could probably go on for a looong time (as if it hasn't already? 😅)

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