#like any trauma on him he also reflectively thinks about how this would impact him in the eyes of others while consciously or

[happy10thousandyears]

I feel like spending so much time thinking about 🪞 kinda made me immune to any disturbing media content (if it’s not visual). Like no matter the trauma depicted I’ve already spent enough time thinking about the marks it leaves on characters it’s like . Okay it can’t be worse than 🪞

[hallucinatinghalos]

I don't think this contains spoilers but if you don't want to hear any book references or season 3 speculation be warned.

Reading the interview clip where Sam Reid said that Lestat is ripped from the stage by Magnus is wild because we know he knows the books, that's not how it happens there, so he's maybe let Rolin's version slip. Which, if holds true, would be a seismic change. Instead of being torn from Nicki's arms while they sleep, Lestat would be taken during a performance, in front of an audience. Surrounded by humanity, by those he loves, but not a soul can save him. The one place that brought him joy would now be connected to the trauma of Magnus and his turning. If he truly is going to be the catalyst for the theater becoming hunting grounds in the show, for better or worse, it would seem to be related to this change as well. Also, his rockstar moment would have a desperation to it that reflects the books but is tragic in its own way. It would all become devastating in a subtly different way than how Rice wrote it. Even events that only happen in the show would have a different impact. Like Armand first approaching him telepathically while he was on stage would now seem cruel and calculated, and later choosing to put the trial on stage. Sorry about the ramble but it blows my mind how much a small change, changes so much. The murder of the opera singer...the mocking of the Dracula film...the baby on the Mardi Gras float...would all feel different.

[neversetyoufree]

The way Noé Archiviste is written is so good. I'm so obsessed with him.

He's such a protagonist—endlessly hopeful against adversity and filled with kindness and attempted understanding toward everyone he meets. He's a good person! He wants to save everyone! He is genuinely and utterly without any sort of cruelty or unfair bias.

Yet, the more the series goes on, the more he's written as a very obvious parallel to our antagonists.

The most blatant example of this is the Ruthven parallel. Ruthven once happily said that he liked vampires, and in the same way, he liked humans. Noé repeats this exact same line when he has tea with Ruthven.

This parallel doesn't reflect too poorly on Noé, since it's pretty clear that something Happened to Ruthven to change him between his speaking that line and him becoming our antagonist, but it is an interesting way to tie the two of them together. It raises certain questions in readers' minds. In what other ways are Noé and Ruthven still similar, and how might Noé change to become more like him?

Then there's Noé's toxic optimism. The "you should be a little bothered, actually" aspect of him. Noé is the mirror to Vanitas's toxic pessimism. He latches onto the good in the world to a fault, and in this way he detaches from reality and endures an endless series of abuses to his person without even understanding they're abuses.

That is also one of the defining traits of Mikhail. Misha is unsettling in part because he is completely detached from any understanding of severity. Misha happily recounts being abused and watching his mother die not because he's cruel or hateful, but because he doesn't understand what's happened to him or why those things are bad. Misha wants to bring Luna back to life because he's in denial of the reality of their death. He believes he can just resurrect them and everything will be fine, and he'll get to play happy family again.

If Noé went just a little bit more extreme with the over-optimism, he could disconnect from reality just as badly as Misha has.

Finally there's my favorite parallel—the tie between Noé and his Teacher. Noé Archiviste has a tendency to watch others in fascination, trying to figure them out from the sidelines while he fails to understand his own impact on them, and he absolutely loves the Blue Moon. He thinks the Blue Moon is beautiful. Teacher spends his time collecting interestingly damaged children in putting them in awful situations, apparently just for the fun of watching what they'll do next, and he calls The Vampire of the Blue Moon "the most beautiful creature in the world."

Noé's curiosity-driven fascination with Vanitas's trauma and his love of the blue moon—neither of these are necessarily a problem on their own, but when written in direct parallel with The Count of Saint Germain, they become somewhat alarming.

In the same way that Misha is "worse" than Noé because his obliviousness to his trauma leads him to harm others, Noé's teacher is surely a worse person than him because he lets himself harm others in pursuit of his interests. Noé doesn't do that. But what would it take for that to change? He's pushed boundaries before. He learned to hurt Astolfo and Misha in the name of protecting those he cares about. What other strange places could his headstrong nature lead?

What might Noé do when his fascination and his obliviousness intersect? When the parts of him that are Teacher and the parts of him that are Misha overlap? What would he do to see Vanitas again? What might he do without letting himself realize how terrible it was?

Noé is a good person. He's one of the best people. But in his attentiveness and his optimism and his love, there's the seeds of something that could lead him down a very dark road. Each of the above antagonists is a little bit a part of who he is.

Misha wants to bring Luna back to life. Ruthven is working toward some mysterious aim with the dead or dying Faustina. And given how he talks in mémoire 55, I wouldn't be surprised if Teacher also had an interest in bringing back The Vampire of the Blue moon in one form or another.

In all his fascination and love and hope, would/will Noé be able to let Vanitas die when death is preferable to the alternative? This is a story about the inevitability of death, and the denial of that inevitability creates nothing but horror and perversion. Noé is growing and learning to understand both Vanitas and the moral complexities of the world, and we can only hope that he learns enough. We can see through his many reflections in other characters what he might become if he can't accept painful reality.

[katebeckets]

AMIDST THE CHAOS: An MSR Playlist ⤷ Part One: Mulder

It's the heart in you, I know it in my bones, that made me change direction when I thought better off alone.

playlist / songs ↘

FAVOR by Julien Baker / "Who put me in your way to find? What right had you not to let me die?" I think in the context of an MSR playlist, this song speaks to Mulder's self-destructive and self-sacrificial tendencies and how he comes to learn that Scully does what she does for him — "I used to think about myself like I was a talented liar / turns out that all my friends were trying to do me a favor / I always want to tell the truth but it never seems like the right time to be serious enough / ... / how long do I have until I've spent up everyone's good will?"

FOUR by Sleeping at Last / The lyrics featured in the gifset are from this song: "This blurry photograph is proof; of what, I’m not sure, but it feels like truth" is such a Mulder line. I'm not sure what enneagram I would guess Mulder is, but I think there's something to this song and his tendency to seek out the extraordinary/learning to find the beauty and mystery in the ordinary. Plus the line right before the one above: "I've fallen in love with a ghost / I lost my balance when I needed it most." And in an MSR context: "What if we already are who we've been dying to become? / In certain light, I can plainly see a reflection of magnificence hidden in you... maybe even in me."

I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY by Gracie Abrams / Anyway... pain!! This song describes how Mulder loves so well: "I like to slam doors closed / Trust me, I know it's always about me / I love you, I'm sorry." And I think it touches an important point about how trauma can impact behavior: wanting to do better is one part of healing, but sometimes we end up in patterns despite ourselves. It doesn't mean that it's not on us to do better, but there can be a feeling of helplessness that comes with trying to do better and failing, knowing you're hurting others and wishing you were learning faster.

SOON YOU'LL GET BETTER by Taylor Swift / This song is so devastating to begin with—truly one of my favorite songs ever—and it is absolutely the worst thing ever to think about the cancer arc and this song :) This whole song fits cancer arc (and abduction arc/literally any time Scully is hurt) so well, but I especially die when I think about the bridge: "And I hate to make this all about me, but who am I supposed to talk to? What am I supposed to do if there's no you? / This won't go back to normal / if it ever was / it's been years of hoping / but I keep saying it because / 'cause I have to." And if you really want to hurt, watch this incredible video. It's fine, I'm fine.

READY TO LOSE by Ingrid Michaelson / The chorus really says it all: "I'm ready to lose everything but you." This song is also where the lyrics I featured in the post come from: "It's the heart in you, I know it in my bones, that made me change direction when I thought better off alone."

ANYWHERE BUT HERE by SafetySuit / Something something abduction arc... "and when I'm not with you / yeah, I know that it's true / that I'd rather be anywhere but here without you."

RUT by the Killers / "So I'm handing you a memory I hope you understand / that steadily reminds you of who I really am." This song reminds me of I Want to Believe; I think it's some of what I imagine Mulder to feel when Scully prepares to leave.

COME AROUND by Rosi Golan / "You feel like breathing / come around, come around, come around, come around to me / can't you see you're my lifeline?" To me, this song feels like a companion to "Rut."

A THOUSAND YEARS by Christina Perri / Cliché, I know, but hear me out — "The Field Where I Died." I know their conversation is Mulder asking Scully about it, but it's so Mulder to believe that they've known each other and been friends, always. "I have loved you for a thousand years, I'll love you for a thousand more."

THE ARCHER by Taylor Swift / "And all of my heroes die all alone / help me hold on to you." There's something so, so beautiful about the way this song builds — "they see right through me, they see right through me, they see right through—can you see right through me? they see right through me, they see right through me, I see right through me, I see right through me." And the way the questions that are asked—"Who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay?"—are then answered: "you could stay." And guess what? Scully does.

LET YOUR HEART HOLD FAST by Fort Atlantic / This song was one of the choices I almost put for the description: "to believe I walk alone is a lie that I've been told." I've always loved the core message of this song — let your heart hold fast, for this soon shall pass — and it makes me think of Mulder surviving all these years of loss, especially with Samantha.

ORPHEUS by Sara Bareilles / I think there's a theme of "don't give up on me" in these songs, but I think this one adds softness because it goes beyond what Mulder perceives as his own personal shortcomings to speak more generally: "don't stop trying to find me here amidst the chaos / though I know it's blinding there's a way out, say out loud: we will not give up on love now." The beginning of the song makes me think of Mulder as a child: "I know you miss the world, the one you knew—the one where everything made sense because you didn't know the truth." And then one of my all-time favorite lines: "if the bottom drops out, I hope my love was someone else's solid ground." And really, Mulder is love.

PEACE by Taylor Swift / I'm so glad that we get to see Mulder grow over the course of the series and that this song begins to take on new meaning, but I think this song speaks well to the idea that chasing ghosts and monsters is part of who he is, as well as his worry that that isn't going to be good enough, that he can't be what Scully needs—"would it be enough if I could never give you peace?" I think by the end of the series, the meaning of this song can change to refer more to the questions that may never be answered, rather than Mulder's difficulty giving up the chase, which reflects his growth in his partnership and relationship with Scully. But I also think this feels like a very Mulder song because there is so much insecurity; I think at the core of his character is a sense of unworthiness, and it's part of what's so beautiful about his relationship with Scully—eventually, he's able to give her the peace that she brings him.

[tealvenetianmask]

Not to overanalyze a joke (I would never do that), but this moment from the fucking penguin short says a lot to me about Blitz and Moxxie's relationship and why it's so rocky.

Moxxie: I first read this interaction as Moxxie messing with Blitz, not gonna lie. But after some reflection, I don't think he is at all. Based on how fucking dialed in to every single task Moxxie gets (think all of Unhappy Campers or how carried away he gets with paying the street vendors in Seeing Stars), I think he's just so fixated on taking the notes Blitz is dictating that he completely fails to realize when Blitz's comments start to be not for the notes.

I think it also reveals a way in which Moxxie fundamentally doesn't understand Blitz. As the audience, we can tell right away that when Blitz switches to complaining, it's not for the notes. But I could see Moxxie viewing Blitz as sort of unpredictable/chaotic and truly not knowing that he wouldn't want it included. Will he yell at me for not including it? Don't know. Better be thorough to do a good job! And then he gets yelled at for including it. Poor guy.

Even though he's often critical of Blitz, Moxxie relies on Blitz's approval for his self-esteem a lot. So he's used to getting yelled at by his boss, but it still hurts him.

Blitz: Okay, our guy has a short temper in general, but especially with Moxxie. From his perspective, Moxxie is doing something completely nonsensical, and yes, beyond stupid.

At the beginning of the penguin short, it's clear that Blitz doesn't want to do this job. He thinks that what the client wants is pointless, and besides, they have to go somewhere freezing. And we get quite a few clues that he's been feeling down about the whole Stolas situation and he's not excited to work any job, much less this one. And in the midst of all that, Moxxie is making a mess of the notes, so now it will have to be fixed. It's very annoying.

Also, Moxxie often has this air of superiority with Blitz. He likes calling out Blitz for having stupid plans, and he often comes across as judgmental. In Truth Seekers, we saw that he feels like Moxxie is smarter than him and/or judging him. So his annoyance might also relate to the idea that Moxxie is both judgmental and always fucking up.

If we want to stretch it a bit (yes, I know it's a stretch), Blitz is relying on Moxxie for accurate and quick notes because if Blitz's dyslexic ass did it himself they'd be a mess. He doesn't want to spend time fixing his own work OR Moxxie's work.

In all: No, I don't think this is a big moment in the plot by any stretch. I just think it's a really funny and interesting way to highlight some aspects of their dynamic, especially since the short later sets them against each other in *cough* other areas.

As a final thought, there are absolutely conflicting trauma responses impacting the friendship/working relationship between these two, and very likely differing neurodivergences as well. Blitz for sure needs to apologize to Moxxie for how he treats him, but Moxxie could maybe stand to explain and possibly adapt some of his behaviors as well. (Get all these characters good mental healthcare please.)

[tavyliasin]

Disability Pride Essays - Halsin, Carer Fatigue, and The End Of Healing's Path

Halsin might be one of the last characters you’d be thinking of with disability parallels and chronic conditions - he seems to be pretty well adjusted, arguably easily the most stable of the companions - but that’s where we find another couple of angles to the topic. First is around carers, and the potential for burnout when someone takes on the responsibility for the wellbeing of too many others. The second is more about how Halsin’s story can show us what recovery can look like much further down the line, the result of time, work, and healing. So there is a little mild mention of trauma, but nothing in depth, so whilst there is still a CW here for talk of mental health and healing, it shouldn't be as heavy as other topics. Still, know yourself and feel free to skip whatever you're not in the right place to read~ Your well-being matters. So I hope you’ll forgive me for this one being a little less direct than our other character examinations, but it’s still a topic well worth covering~ 

What is Halsin’s Disability?

When you look deeply and closely at Halsin’s character, and listen to the little throwaway lines he can drop so very casually, you’ll notice a couple of things. First, he talks very casually about an incident that sounds intensely traumatic - years of being held captive by drow - but in a way that suggests, along with his actions, that he’s no longer struggling with the impact of this trauma but has come to accept it. There’s another aspect, too, that we see in the romance scene where he struggles with intense emotions physically transforming him into a bear. Now, this is obviously not a real disability that we see in the real world, but plenty of people do struggle with overwhelming emotions that can leave them feeling like someone different or unable to communicate in the ways they normally would. Beyond this, we see a carer. Someone whose instinct is to support, listen, and quite simply help in any way he can. When we first meet him, he’s very quick to offer his aid in dealing with the tadpoles even if he doesn’t have the solution yet. Halsin simply wants to do everything he can, because he can. 

How Do We See The Disability In The Game?

The bear transformation is something we only really see happening without his choosing to in the romance scene, though at this point I’m almost certain that those of you who haven’t romanced him have encountered the scene somewhere by now. It’s one of the most famous scenes for how unexpected it is, and has been in plenty of promotional materials at this point. Arguably what we see most from Halsin through the game is in his interactions with others, and also if he’s Orin’s victim the things she says in his form are instantly gut-wrenching - talking about being held captive, tortured into losing control, harming innocents - these are easily what we can interpret to be Halsin’s worst fears about himself. Things he keeps well controlled and very carefully in check, with his instinct being to help not harm, although we know it isn’t Halsin, there’s a moment where it’s believable. Painful. And it works because it can reflect the real fears that people who have worked hard on their mental health can have about having a bad day and saying or doing things they would never consciously choose.

How Does This Reflect Real Life?

The thing I keep coming back to as I think about Halsin and his story is how he is similar to Astarion in some ways, which might well entirely be some heavy personal projection going on I’ll admit that one! But where Astarion shows us the early stages of recovery, of trauma still fresh and the difficulties of healing from it, Halsin shows us later stages. There’s more time that has passed, more work that has been done within himself and outside of himself. As a result Halsin has come to that point where he accepts the things that he has endured, even if they are still painful and he doesn’t approve of them, and they are no longer impacting his day to day life. Arguably we see this most clearly when he is quite happy to join in at the brothel with the Drow, despite his past experiences. Now, all that said, there is a point that can be made that someone who talks too casually about their past trauma might not have processed it in the best way, but for the most part what we have is someone who seems to be coping well in their day to day. It’s quite relatable, to see both the earlier stages of healing and those later ones, and comparing them can be helpful to see how far we have come in ourselves as well as the potential place we could be if we keep going. Otherwise, what we have in Halsin is the closest thing Faerun has to a therapist and/or carer. Whilst leadership isn’t his aim entirely, it’s a role he naturally falls into because he has that calm and understanding presence that many around him respect. Arguably, leadership isn’t good for him either - not because he’s bad at it, but because like many who fall into a caring role for the people around them, he doesn’t know when to stop. That’s the thing with caring, you don’t want to say “no, sorry, I can’t help you” even if you’re running on empty. But eventually there has to be a limit, for your own well-being. Just this morning I came across a meme that fits perfectly: “You can’t pour from an empty cup” doesn’t entirely work, because all you get from that is nothing. “You can’t boil and empty kettle” is far more accurate, because not only do you risk damaging the kettle if you keep trying to boil it whilst empty, if you really push it you might just set the whole kitchen on fire.

And this, really, is what we have going on in the Grove in Act 1. Not only is Halsin trying to lead and protect the druids, but he’s also taking in the Tiefling refugees, then going out after the goblins to investigate and protect everyone. He’s stretched himself too thin, not asked for help when it is needed, and as a result we have a Grove in chaos with nobody to prevent the conflicts from escalating between druids and Tieflings, Halsin himself captured, and the goblins now know the way to the Grove to stage an all out attack if the druids don’t perform a forbidden rite first. It’s a mess, and one he has landed in by trying to lead from the front with his fingers in too many pies, but when you do that too much you won’t know which fingers have gravy on and which have custard any more. Maybe that’s a very silly analogy, but good gods did I realise that I’ve been far too close to this myself with taking on too many projects. Luckily I usually know where the line is before ending up in captivity in a goblin castle, but if you’re also reading this and feeling like it’s getting a bit close to home: take a break before you burn down the kitchen. 

Therapy and Therapists

When we look at Halsin as a therapist-like character, which admittedly may come more from the fan created content than the game, there’s plenty there that reflects life. There are a good number of people who go into therapy and care professions because they have direct experience with mental and physical health difficulties. There is a reason why all therapists also see a therapist themselves to cope with their work, and whilst it isn’t universal there is a reasonable venn diagram of people who have felt the same over this. To borrow from my own prior essays, “to truly understand suffering is to avoid being its cause”. Those who have felt harm will often seek to reduce it in others. It’s almost a shame that we don’t get to explore this much further, with how he can easily be a healing and stabilising presence for many of the companions, but that’s where fan works can come in and build on that foundation. I admit I often find myself thinking about how Halsin might use his experience and deep capacity for care to work with each and every one of the companions to help them heal from their own wounds. That, in itself, can be cathartic and soothing. I highly recommend it.

Taking On Too Many Burdens

So that downside of being a carer… I’ve already covered some of this, but we are very close to having a burned out Archdruid crumbling under the immense pressure in Act 1, then we go straight in to Act 2 where he has to face the consequences of past mistakes and all of the guilt that goes along with that. It’s clear he has not forgiven himself for what happened with the Shadow Curse, Thaniel, and Shar’s influence spreading over the region. This can sometimes be seen in real life, too, where someone has tried to help and made things worse, given bad advice, or generally made mistakes that they quietly hold on to for decades. Forgiving ourselves is hard, even when we rationalise it, look at it objectively to know we were young and didn’t know any better, or didn’t have the experience needed to help in the way we would now. But I want to take a moment to remind everyone still here that we are only human, not perfect, not infallible. Mistakes are how we learn, and we should focus on what we can do rather than what we cannot change. In Halsin’s story, we know he has been avoiding the Shadow Curse. He even tells the player that the land should be avoided if at all possible, because he knows the danger there, but still offers to be a guide. It’s difficult to face up to past mistakes, but with the right help and support, Halsin is able to find a way to help at last and ease that burden from his own heart. He’s no longer turning away, running from it, or feeling like there’s nothing he can do - instead he is able to find that solution with the help of the player and companions, healing the land as he heals himself. This really can be such a reflection of trauma and how we handle our mistakes, as well as the importance of knowing when we have taken on too much and need help and support. Just as Halsin asks the player to help him find a way to break the curse, to fight for him to keep the portal open as he retrieves Thaniel, we can see this as a parallel to a carer asking for help or respite care. It’s not saying “this is a terrible burden that I don’t want to bear” but instead “my strength has a limit, your help will make it possible to keep going”. With that support, with being able to know the Harpers can take care of the refugees, Halsin is able to find not only the healing for the land but begin to heal the hurt from the weight of responsibility he has shouldered alone for centuries. And just as a side note here, for those wondering why he seems so guilty about it all, there’s some lore from Early Access that was eventually cut from the game that explains he was the cause of the curse when he accidentally killed Isobel - that set off the sequence of events leading to Ketheric’s desperate actions, Aylin’s imprisonment, and Shar’s curse settling over the land. 

The End of the Path of Healing

Act 3 for Halsin, if the curse has been lifted, really continues to reinforce that this is someone who has learned from his mistakes - both the recent and the distant past. He’s not rushing back to take over the Grove again once his work is done with the Elder Brain, instead he’s finding a new path. One that still allows him to be in nature where he wishes to be, helping the cursed lands continue to heal, as well as caring for the refugees and others who need a place to go. In the epilogue, too, it sounds as if he has learned not to take on all the responsibility himself either, instead sharing the work of caring for his people so that if he is gone for a few days he doesn’t need to worry about it crumbling apart or falling to friction and arguments like the Grove once did under Kagha’s leadership. Halsin shows us that although we cannot take on everything ourselves, we can resolve things when we have the right help and support. He also shows us that our mistakes won’t always define us, nor can our traumas, and although they cannot be erased or undone, there are ways we can reconcile them with ourselves. To move forwards with what we have learned and reach a point where we are no longer so deeply haunted by them.

What We Can Learn From Halsin’s Story

There are a few things we can learn from Halsin’s experiences and how they are portrayed in the game, and largely they serve as an example of that later stage of healing and reconciling past experiences with the present self. This might for some feel like a reflection of themselves now, but for others instead it can be an example that it is possible to make that progress and reach that goal.

Whilst we do see that moment of Halsin not being able to control his Wild Shape in the heat of intense emotions (in this case, lust and passion), it’s also shown that he still does have that control. That he’s learned how to handle that change and bring himself back to where he wants to be - in this case, going from non-verbal in bear form to resuming his usual body shape and calming himself. I feel like this can serve as a good example that although our emotions might still have moments that they overwhelm us, once we have taken that time to process them and learn how to cope with them, we can use those techniques to bring ourselves back to where we want to be. Not easily, of course, but we won’t always be completely at the mercy of the whims of powerful emotions. They’re still there, but what has changed is how we cope with them. Really what I’d like to take away today is that caring for others is a good and positive thing to do, but there must always be a limit. Drawing that line is going to be tough, naturally, but if we continue to try to do too much with caring for others we risk neglecting our own needs and ending up in a much worse place. It’s alright to ask for support even when you’re providing it to someone else, whether through a professional career or through a more casual role of being a carer for a loved one or simply supporting friends through hard times. You won’t always be able to do it all alone, and this is not a failing. It’s normal and reasonable to need respite, help, and support of your own. In the wider experiences of disability, many of us who are disabled learn this the hard way, that we might want independence but there are quite solid limitations to that which need to be worked with and around instead of fighting against them and making things worse. Many of us rely on carers and support to differing degrees, so it is also important to recognise when they may need reminding about not boiling that empty kettle.

So as we finish off this last of the planned long pieces, I encourage you all to keep in mind that healing is possible. That you can be a support to others in the ways that you once needed yourself. But to not let it be to your own detriment, you are still worthy of care and support even as you provide it to others. 

[memnoch-the-meticulous]

Book!Louis v Show!Louis (ft. Movie!Louis)

[A/N: I initially posted this as a reblog, but i feel like i went off on a couple of tangents so I'm just going to make an original post about it]

Oooh ok so I have a lot thoughts on this. For context tho, I'ev watched the show and movie, but I've only read the first book (the og iwtv novel) so pls bare with me if i get any facts wrong.

I think Book!louis (BL) and Show!Louis (SL) are a lot more similar than people realise. I think most show fans hate on don't actually hate on BL,,, they just hate that he was a glorified slave owner (yes it was the 1700s but u can see why it makes ppl uncomfortable). BUT in saying that, fans who geniunely dislike BL for his other characteristics, like his emo-ness and catholic guilt and philosophical tangents,, i think its a little strange because SL is pretty much the same in that regard??

I think it's harder for viewers to realise on screen because yes SL does appear more expressive and obviously we can't hear SL's thoughts like we do in the books, but even just from his narration to daniel, a lot of his actions and relationship with his loved ones reflect that. I also think that also deal with their traumas pretty similarly and have similar unhealthy coping mechanisms. They can sometimes very super impulsive and reckless when provoked. They think they deserve to be punished, they think they are damned. And obvs their reaction and antagonizing over vampirism is basically the same.

I think really the only difference between SL and BL (besides, ya know, the race/work/time period) is that BL feels the need to mask his sadness and inner nature and present to society in a certain fashion,, whereas BL wallows in his misery pretty openly (well at least in comparison to SL). This may come from the fact that SL is a Black man from the early twentieth century and has a family to care for as well as lots of expectations, wheres as BL doesn't really have any of that -- well we, ok technically he had close familial relationships but we're not really shown much of that in the book. We are introduced to him in mourning and distanced from his family,, we never really get to see how his life was like before that. In the movie, we are even introduced to Brad Pitt's louis very publicly showcasing his sadness and lack of will to live by putting himself in a fight, so to speak.

I think that's why I really enjoy reading SL-centred fanfiction because they explore his thought process through the stuff that happens in the show and it aligns so much with BL!!

Anyways,, i guess my point is,, BL and SL are actually pretty similar!! love to read. love to mope and ponder on the moral failings of life! Love their loved ones SO much but can never voice it out loud. catholic guilt. both would be entertained watching paint dry. lowkey dickmatized

anyways i love Louis so much as a character and I'm so glad to see another adaption of him -- and yeah i'll say it, I do prefer show louis more but only really because of Jacob Anderson + the intersectional portrayal of Blackness and how it impact's Louis' character, + getting rid of that whole white slaver owner spiel (not saying that SL had a totally innocent job btw but damn idk why anne rice went with the plantation thing like,,??) -- anyways yeah main point is that I love Louis and he isn't boring in any version and all adaptations of him are more similar than ppl realise.

[many-but-one]

Trauma Informed Biases and TERFs

In light of my ex-best friend being outed as a TERF, I think I want to have a series of discussions. Mainly about the biases that we (community "we") can have and that trauma and biases work hand in hand, and how we cannot allow trauma-informed biases impact our decision making or critical thinking skills, but also a bit about my experiences as a trans man and how being trans yourself doesn't mean you automatically escape transmisogyny. (Spoiler alert: while I'd never say I was transmisogynistic in action, I was in some part biased due to my past traumas, and having a transfemme partner and seeing the way she's treated by others just for existing had to make me rethink everything I understood about what it meant to be a trans woman, which has made me a better person--and I believe a better partner, too.)

First, I'm going to talk a bit about trauma-informed biases. As trauma survivors, we all have them. For example, we were primarily abused by white, Christian men. By all accounts, when we encounter a white, Christian man, we are immediately wary of his intentions. Often without even knowing him or trying to know him, we will already assume he's just like our abusers deep down. While that may sometimes be true, more often than not, a white Christian male who hasn't done much self reflection and growth will mainly just be misogynistic to various degrees and probably not understand the weight of his privilege. That doesn't automatically make him a pedophile who tortures kids like our abusers were.

Branching off from that, and narrowing it down, we get to the meat of the problem, which is men. We have met and known cis men who are by all accounts nothing like our abusers, in fact, the exact opposite. They are sensitive, they are caring, they know their privilege and use it to uplift the voices of their female friends. They are avid supporters of the queer community even if they aren't a part of it. While they are sometimes misguided, they are also always open to learn more and be corrected and change. There are good men out there. However, this doesn't make our bias towards men change. We were hurt by men, we know others who have been hurt by men. People both AFAB and AMAB have been harmed and subjugated by men for centuries, so it's not like it's coming from only our experiences with men.

However, this is where the problem lies. While it's okay to be wary of men for our safety, outright hating ALL men is where it gets dicey. That's where radfem ideology will suck people in, specifically AFAB people. They feel wronged by men, they have been hurt by men, so of course in their mind, men have to pay in some way. Feminism on its own sets to destroy the patriarchy and keep everyone on even ground, whereas radfem ideology often trickles into spaces related to that vengeance aspect of men needing to pay for what they have done in some way. And truly, I can understand. From the bottom of my heart, I can understand. I want the men who hurt me and hurt my friends to pay too. Vengeance (or justice, as many would prefer to call it) is a tantalizing concept, even if only in theory due to how shoddy the justice system is at actually bringing any justice to survivors' lives.

And when an AFAB person enters a radfem space, they will immediately be in danger of developing TERF ideology. This is what happened to the aforementioned friend. Most people will already know who I'm talking about. I think they started in a good place, but the biases that they already held within them were taken advantage of, and they let their trauma-informed biases take root and allow them to follow that TERF path. For the record, they still deny being a TERF, but as everyone has already seen, they most certainly are. TERFs will *rarely* actually self-identify as a TERF, even if they are spouting the most clearly TERF-ridden ideology known to man. The reason for this is because TERF is a "bad word" (rightfully so) and the baby radfems out there who are trying to avoid becoming a TERF are going to start by avoiding anyone who self-identifies as a TERF. Which of course, is not what TERFs want. They want baby radfems to feel welcome and not immediately shun what they teach them, because TERFs do eventually want those anti-TERF baby radfems to eventually become TERFs just like them.

[As a side tangent: I know I sound like I'm calling TERFs predatory in the way I describe their tactics, but I'm going to be completely honest in the way I believe a lot of TERFs utilize cult tactics to find new radfems or radfems who are on the fence between feminism and radical feminism and get them to join their cause. If you examine the BITE model (Behavior, Information, Thought, Emotion)--what is often used to define a cult--it's very clear that TERFs WILL use emotion-based tactics and manipulative tactics to get baby radfems to join their cause, and once their thought processes get changed and they lose their friends who don't jive with those beliefs, they get stuck in the echo chamber. And then they'll get pressured to believe more and more extreme things with the threat of ostracization from the "in-group" for not agreeing. And if someone has already lost all of their friends for joining this in-group in the first place, where else to go but to stay? See what I'm getting at, here? While they may not be as damaging to their own members as some cults, they DO cause a threat to others, namely transfemmes. People in power who share those beliefs make laws that distinctly work to harm transfemmes, e.g. JK Rowling providing massive amounts of funding towards anti-trans legislature.]

So how does this relate to trauma-informed biases? How do we get from disliking or hating men to becoming a TERF? Well, because TERFs utilize bioessentialism as a weapon. They reduce everyone down to the parts that they have (or were observed to have) at birth. While a TERF may not outright say "everyone born with a penis deserves to die" they WILL outright say things like "well, I just think AFAB people ("real women") should be allowed to have spaces that are only for them, you know? They shouldn't be forced to be around women who aren't AFAB" (if they will even acknowledge that trans women are women at all, more often they consider trans women to be men masquerading as women or accuse transfemmes of outright trying to invade women's spaces to hurt them). This is especially apparent in the lesbian side of TERFdom, where they try to use the justification of "not being attracted to penises" to explain that trans women shouldn't be allowed in their spaces. Which, to be completely honest, I do think it's fine to be attracted to certain genitalia and turned off by other people's genitalia, but you also shouldn't let that guide you toward completely excluding trans women from lesbian spaces. You can just choose to not date trans women and call it a day. Is it pretty lame to reduce someone to a set of parts and only date someone based on a set of parts? Yeah, it is, but you're within your rights to date who you want to. You just shouldn't exclude them from the entire space altogether based on your preferences.

For the record, I used to be part of this group of people right here. There was nothing I had against trans women, I was just extremely terrified of the parts they have due to my past traumas, and I didn't want to make a trans woman feel like I was afraid of them for the parts that they have. I didn't want my fear of sexual situations with her to ruin whatever romantic attraction we could have, and I was certain for a long time that this would be true forever.

Until I met my current partner, who is a trans woman.

I'm going to segue into how being a trans man (technically we are genderfluid but we usually present as a trans man to most people) doesn't automatically mean you cannot hold biases against trans women or even be outright transmisogynistic, and that while I do believe trans men have their own slew of issues related to being trans men (such as being perceived as a traitor to your AGAB, or the first time you get clocked as your correct gender but not in the gender affirming way, in the way that the women that you have always held so much community with think you're a cis man and are afraid of you. That's a tough one to come to terms with, personally, and is also why our system tends to lay within the "butch lesbian/faggy trans guy" section of transmasc, so that while we definitely do get clocked more often, it also helps the women we care about so much in our communities know we're not cis. Because no, our goal is not to be to be as cis as cis can be and so our gender ambiguity that we express does us a lot of favors while also opening other doors for trouble, like harassment for appearing as a faggy trans guy or as someone who's clocked as a lesbian) they are a completely different ballgame than what trans women have to deal with on a daily basis just for existing as they do.

Things I've learned about trans women's experiences that I never knew before:

-They may never be able to fully pass and that puts them in danger of harassment or even death for the rest of their lives

-if they come off as too loud or too intense for someone, they will immediately see them as a danger even if the transfemme in question is one of the kindest human beings you've ever had the pleasure of meeting

-if they don't talk in the somewhat-stereotypical "quiet, demure, trans girl" voice or for any reason dress in a more butch or non-hyperfeminine style, they are going to be seen as a threat despite any actions they will have done to prove they are not a threat

-if a trans woman likes to be around kids, some people are going to immediately assume they're a pedophile. This one deeply saddens and disgusts me more than I can even describe

-if they are talkative or ask a lot of questions about something and they come off as a little too pushy or are socially awkward/autistic, people are going to immediately assume they need to be afraid of her despite there being no evidence of that being a conclusion that needs to be jumped to, or they may label her as "creepy"

-if she decides not to opt for sex change surgeries then she's clearly just a man pretending to be a woman, if she opts for sex change surgeries, she's a trap. Same for if she passes well or not. If she passes well, she's a trap, if she doesn't pass well, she's a freak

-people will assume she's always trying to manipulate them in some way, as mentioned above. If she passes well, she's manipulating them and tricked them (usually for sex, but could also happen in a romantic situation). If she tries to disclose that she's trans early on, she might risk out on them leaving her just for being trans and not actually getting to know her as a person

-if she's into sex or hypersexual and comes off strong, at best she might be labeled as pushy or creepy, at worse she may be labeled as a rapist

-additionally, trans women are extremely fetishized, but once she has autonomy and is seen as an actual person and not a fetish object, all of that attraction goes away and she's seen as a trap or gross or whatever other vile concoctions people have come up with to describe trans women in a sexual light.

-many, many more things that I couldn't even begin to list in this post.

All of these affect a trans woman every single day. She's at nearly just as much if not just as much at risk of attack as cis women are. She's much more likely to hear the word tranny in a negative context than a trans guy is. While a trans guy could get called a tranny, sure, they're significantly less likely to be attacked or even killed for being trans. Trans men are often labeled as "confused little girls" which is infantalizing, yes, but trans women are often labeled as creeps, rapists, or manipulative/evil people. Imagine what that does to a person's sense of self? Their self image? Even if she's never done anything remotely that bad, she's going to be labeled that anyway.

And gods forbid she ever does anything that could be seen as kinda "weird" or "bad"--not in the morally reprehensible sense. I mean like she cheated on someone or she does drugs or she says something a little tone deaf ten years ago. Trans women are forced to live life on their tiptoes for fear of being told they are evil monsters. I've seen with my own fucking eyes someone who I thought was an ally to transfemmes (they were dating a transfemme!!!) who immediately demonized another trans girl because she was socially awkward and autistic. Tried to make assumptions that she must be abusive to her partner, tried to claim that because of one interaction with this girl, they already knew that she had antisocial behavior (which I find funny that she says this to us, someone who has significant ASPD traits), which to me alludes that they believe she could be manipulative and hurtful. All because she was a bit awkward in a social gathering! I was appalled and disgusted by this, and it really opened the door beyond what I'd heard from my partner already the types of things that trans girls have to deal with from people that are within their own community that they should be able to trust.

So what does this have to do with not letting our trauma-informed biases rule the way we think about others? I'll keep it as simple as possible with this little flow chart:

Someone (usually AFAB) has trauma with men -> they hate men -> they join the feminism movement -> they veer into radfem spaces because of how vocal radfems are about hating men and they feel they are justified to believe this because of the harm men have caused them personally -> they become a TERF because radfems see people as a set of parts rather than what they actually are -> TERFs spread hatred and vitriol towards trans women in particular -> that hate and vitriol leaks into the LGBTQ+ community because a large number of TERFs are lesbian cis women -> trans women are unable to feel safe even in their own communities

Trans women deserve to feel safe in their own communities. You can be the biggest trans woman supporter ever and still not be a good ally. I thought I was a great ally to trans women before I realized that I was equating trans women's struggles with my struggle as a trans man. And until you really understand what they go through and see it with your own eyes, you may never truly realize just how difficult it is to exist as a trans woman AND you may realize you had biases you didn't even know you had. Existing as a trans man =/= existing as a trans woman. I didn't even realize I had any bias towards trans girls until I realized that I had decided (rather young I might add) that I wouldn't date a trans girl because of the fact that she was AMAB. I didn't realize how much this completely screwed up my view of trans women until I examined it under a microscope, AFTER I fell in love with a trans girl. I don't want y'all to feel like you have to fall in love with a trans girl to understand their struggle and to question your own biases. (though I will say, dating a trans woman has been the best relationship of my life, I love her so much).

Examining your biases and understanding what is trauma-informed and what is an actual issue is paramount. Being wary of cis men is kind of a given, considering the amounts of violence cis men do upon people and have been doing upon people for hundreds upon hundreds of years, but you can't let yourself get into the rut of outright hating cis men just because you've been hurt by cis men in the past.

Interestingly, I've also been abused by cis women, though rarely in as violent of contexts as cis men. I've made myself look at that under a lens too and it made me realize that I greatly distaste old women, and for me, especially if they are 50 and older--though some parts of my system also struggle with any woman older than her mid thirties. I will almost immediately assume an old woman doesn't have my best interests at heart, though it's different than with cis men. While I may assume a cis man might violently assault me in one form or another, I typically have different assumptions with older women and it's definitely something I'm going to have to also examine under a microscope and try to pick apart to really understand if my assumptions are based on verifiable truth ("all old women are bad," like the "all men are bad" assumption) or based on my traumas. My traumas are my own personal truth, but I can't let that affect my relationships I have with men and older women for the rest of my life. Or I could end up a TERF, or like one of those people who were happy that old people were dying of COVID. What a miserable way to live, you know?

-Delphine (she/her)

[mc-critical]

It's fascinating how Süleiman's relation to Selim Yavuz evolves throughout the show not just in terms to how similar to him he eventually gets, but also in terms of who notices and calls out a similarity.

We first have the one-trick pony Çafer Ağa, the traitor SS executed for taking advantage of the people in E01, who notes the similar gaze SS has with his father a while before. Çafer is established for that execution alone, so he has no ties to any of our main characters in or around the harem and comes out as distant even from the pashas in the divan, doing his own thing, the traitorous thing we're supposed to condemn, right out of the gate. He gets to appear only to be gone in a blip, we merely pass him by without regard, as we should, as his little plot is not really about him - it's about Süleiman and his first bigger action as a padişah, his first order that impacts the lives of his subjects outside of his family and the harem. It's about him setting a grave injustice right immediately (paralleled with Mustafa's first decision as the governor of Manisa that entails executing Bekir Ağa as well), thus discerning him from Selim Yavuz instead through that decision, through the one who thinks they're somehow similar's own rejection, and the voices of the very subjects SS helped with that decision, claiming that he's different from his father that overwhelm that one foretelling sign of similarity (for now). SS's earlier monologue, pointing at his fear of becoming his father, is also part of this only within the context of E01, as it highlights that SS is still somewhat self-aware enough to at least fear as well as it highlights the very likely possibility even here for SS to become Selim Yavuz.

And then we encounter Beyhan, the wife of another traitor executed for some of the same reasons (Ferhat's traitorous deeds start out similar to Çafer Ağa's with him getting all the money for himself from the people and merchants but then he reaches the wider unrest Ahmet Pasha causes in a whole terrain he's given from the sultan/grand vezier in order for his ambitions to be controlled, if not extinguished, and his loyalty tested), who calls out a similarity of SS's to his father after the execution. She is first established in relation to him, but is now also tied to our main characters; she rarely appears, living her own life out of sight, but the other characters value her and care about her. Ferhat Pasha's execution is most of all about her - we get in touch with her life and inner world as they hang in the balance, so we get invested in the tragic end of her struggle to exonerate Ferhat. That execution is just as well, but her hurt is palpable and poignant, so there's no turning back from its impact. The path is opened for SS's similarity with Selim Yavuz to creep in by the way Beyhan's claim of a similarity is echoed by the rest of the episode: not just by SS's reflection afterwards that's pointedly an E01 callback (that SS can't look away from anymore, no matter how hard he'll try: this indeed is the first decision that'll put him against his family. Süleiman sets a grave injustice right again but this isn't met with everpresent approval), but also by Süleiman acknowledging the similarity himself in his confrontation with Valide about Ferhat in the episode: "If I disregard the laws of the Empire that have been enforced for centuries, my great ancestor Sultan Mehmet Khan and my deceased father, Sultan Selim Khan, will turn in their graves". Before SS wanted to escape from Selim Yavuz entirely, now he wishes to proceed as he himself would, at least this once. The seeds are fully planted.

We move to Ayşe Hafsa, the wife of Yavuz Selim himself, the mother of his children, of Süleiman who has that whole burden on his shoulders, of Beyhan who already has called back the trauma from Selim Yavuz, of Hatice who will call it back in the future (and is next in line), and the person related to everyone entangled in this whole ordeal, so she is put in the position of the middle ground and she succeeds at it, at least until she sees for herself on which way her son is heading. She's a main character we've known from the start, prominent and fully fleshed out with her virtues and vices; her opinion on Selim Yavuz is a new angle we see of her that still complements her, however - she knows Selim Yavuz the best, so she has lived through the full extent of his cruelty and we can absolutely take her words into account. The fact that namely she notices a similarity between SS and Yavuz Selim because of it becomes all the more concerning as that similarity threatens to not only be a one and done deal done out of unambiguous necessity, but to unremittingly extend to an even bigger part of his family, to his own son; a more direct parallel is drawn here, Hafsa has to stand against SS and try to cut that similarity off before something worse happens. After Hafsa does just that in E29 (it kind of parallels their E21 confortation too), Süleiman acts even more unfazed in front of his mother, talking about what he needs to do in terms of his ruling overall and after the confrontation, he directly gets a flashback to his E01 monologue. He's gotten reminders of his fear more than ever in this season so far (the battle for Mohacs, as well as here), so it's almost like the similarity to Selim Yavuz can't help but become more prevalent to SS himself. He wants to escape from it as much as he embraces it more widely. The seeds grow.

We jump to Hatice, the wife of a traitor who calls out a similarity of SS to his father after the execution as well, but what's more, she's not just a main character we've known from the start: she's become SS's closest sister after the death of their mother, his closest figure he leans on; they get to lean on each other. It's namely that closeness, as well as everything we learn about her in every single episode that forms quite a deep and multifaceted character, which ties her not to Selim Yavuz, but to what she's experienced in that period of his reign, the most out of Selim Yavuz's family. These experiences appear to inform her actions right from the very first episodes (before any of Hafsa's reveals that turn out to have retroactively informed her actions), and continue informing her even at this point, as now she's the only character left that is this informed by Selim Yavuz, so she's the only one around Süleiman who can hurt him as hard and give him a hint of his fear now (Beyhan already has and is already done, while Şah never would). Ibrahim's execution is far more nuanced than Ferhat Pasha's both in terms of reasons and in terms of reach: it impacts both Hatice and SS and the rest of their dynamic will be dominated by it as well; it will haunt Süleiman himself until his very last days. And yet when Hatice calls out the similarity to Selim Yavuz, SS doesn't ponder on it after the scene: he waves it away at first glance, but he's already deep within. And he goes deeper and deeper, up until he himself fully faces his father as his Azrael, episodes before the furthest reaching, most unjust execution out of all of the aformentioned executions comes to pass.

The more distant the person who calls out the similarity is to the sultan, the less similar he is to Selim Yavuz at this point. The closer that person who calls out the similarity is to the sultan, the more similar he becomes to Selim Yavuz. When unveiling more similarity, we go from execution to execution (apparently the biggest possible stample of cruelty, what could better recall such a seemingly infamously cruel figure?): from the executed, to the people related to the execution and the one who ordered it, to the executioner himself, all interrelated in many ways. We get more personal investment in Selim Yavuz himself and the characters who name him and all of that is added to the grander stakes and Selim Yavuz's haunting of the narrative's share in them.

[practically-an-x-man]

random question- do you headcanon any x-men characters as neurodivergent?

Oooooh man don't get me started-

The short version is, yes. I think there are a lot of characters that are coded as neurodiverse in some way or another, more characters where the manifestation of their mutations could be an allegory for neurodivergency, and even some "lighter" headcanons that I wouldn't want to see in canon but think have good storytelling potential outside of it.

It's a common headcanon that Scott is autistic, and I agree with it. I also think Hank is autistic, but it manifests differently in him than in Scott. I also headcanon that Scott gets chronic migraines, though I'm not sure whether that qualifies as neurodivergency or not.

Prodigy is AuDHD for sure, just by the nature of his powers - he collects skills, takes a new hobby and learns as much as he possibly can about it, masters it, then ends up dropping it and moving on to the next one? I know AuDHD is more than just that, but as someone who does the same thing, it definitely speaks to me and I think he's a good character to reflect that.

Peter Maximoff absolutely has ADHD, he's basically ADHD incarnate.

Erik has PTSD six ways from Sunday, I don't think that one even qualifies as a headcanon. Logan also has PTSD, along with Forge and most/all of the mutants who were drafted into the Vietnam War in DOFP (Alex Summers, Toad, etc.)

I do headcanon Dazzler as having some form, maybe multiple forms, of synesthesia. It could be comorbid with her mutation itself, given her abilities are to change one form of sensory input into a different form of sensory input, and that's effectively what synesthesia is within the brain. In general, I subscribe to the idea of superpowers that genuinely affect multiple aspects of a person's life - it's not just a press-a-button power to turn on, it's woven into their mind and body and genuinely affects how they interact with the world.

I also think any telepath would have to qualify as neurodivergent, given their view on the world is innately impacted by processing the thoughts of everyone around them. I don't know that there would be a specific "label" for what they experience, and I think it varies from person to person, but it's definitely a form of neurodivergency.

I also feel like clone characters are innately neurodivergent, especially in relation to developmental or age-related disorders. Studies of actual cloned animals tell us that they're more prone to neurological conditions and tend to develop age-related mental and physical disorders much earlier than they should, so I think there should be at least some sort of reflection in mutant clones like Laura Kinney. Healing factor of course would negate some of the effects, but I could see her with dyslexia or dyscalculia, or perhaps some form of memory disorder. And of course, in Logan (2017) she has a sort of selective mutism tied to trauma, which could be an neat thing to explore in writing her even outside the context of the movie.

I think there are a lot of characters that would be interesting to explore if they had some form of neurodivergency, even if it's not my headcanon for the canon character. These aren't necessarily what I'd want to see from canon, but I think it brings dimension to their stories and could be neat to explore how it interacts with their mutations.

I mean, it would be neat to see Husk with some form of sensory issues, since it would bind up with her mutation in an interesting way and could make for a cool plot. Take her mutation as a metaphor for dermatillomania, where picking at her skin becomes shedding her skin as her mutation manifests, which at best is unpleasant and at worst could be outright dangerous.

And it would be interesting to explore schizophrenia or psychosis in Magik, especially from a social perspective, since her manipulation of Limbo would no doubt be seen as a psychotic episode by others around her (angsty, but a strong metaphor for the hoops actual people with those conditions have to jump through to get recognized), and even from her own perspective it would be interesting to see how she learns to separate her actual, tangible mutation from the things she might experience with her neurological conditions.

[gingerylangylang1979]

Will Carmy become an addict?... Also, exactly what are his mental health (or other) issues?

This conversation is an offshoot of thoughts expressed here in conversation with @november-rising.

I'll start by saying I do not think Carmy is currently an addict or in recovery from an addiction. But, could Carmy become an addict like his dad (was he an addict or just a heavy abuser, we don't know) Mikey, and Donna? Maybe. Also, I hope nothing I write is offensive to anyone. If anyone thinks there is something I'm missing or misrepresenting please share and we can talk about it. I'm open to learning.

The statistic rates for people impacted by another person's addiction becoming an addict themselves is high. I myself had a drug addict mom and an alcoholic ex. I dabbled in drugs but never became an addict unless you count cigarettes and weed (no longer do either). How me and my brother didn't end up addicts despite our experimentation with hard substances is beyond me. All of the prerequisites were in place and I feel like we almost were tempting it like, come on, I know you want to take me, yet, neither of us ended up addicts.

Sometimes I felt it would make things easier. I think it was Lou Reed, maybe, who said something like addiction made life simple because then you only have one problem to deal with. I wish I only had one problem. I tried stuff as hard as coke, meth, and opium. I was a bartender and partied but never became an alcoholic. My brother went as far as trying heroin a few times. But neither of us became addicts. It's insane if you think about it.

Does that mean we didn't/do participate in fucked up self-destructive behavior? Hell no. Most of my life I have battled with trying to "be normal" all the while self sabotaging all along the way. But I never became an addict.

This is why it's so easy for me to see Carmy in all of his darkness and still see how he isn't necessarily someone doomed to become an addict. Nat didn't become one, me and my brother didn't become ones. I see a lot of us in Nat and Carmy. Carmy is way worse off than Nat, for sure. How, I dunno. And I would say I'm closer to Carmy in the melancholic creative way than my brother. So it's kind of a weird blessing that traumatized people who you would think would become addicts, don't, but it happens.

Could Carmy become one? I think if he continues to not address his issues with individual therapy, continues to blame himself, and just continues the same grind he wanted to escape, possibly. But I'm looking more to how Storer and Co. are telling the story as my signs more than Carmy's actual history. I guess I just don't see what the show would have to gain from Carmy becoming an addict. It would be a tragic ending. I'm not beyond them doing some tragic ending but I think it would just be kind of lame and what was the point if it ends with Carmy continuing the cycle and becoming an addict.

I see him and Nat as the second chance for the Berzattos. She is about to be a mom and hopefully will raise a child that doesn't have to witness any of the trauma she did. Carmy is trying to start over and I think as much as he is struggling now and it may get worse before better, I just see too many points of lightness for him to crawl towards/through. And I think this being so inspired by Storer's lived experience, I can't see him wanting it to end in doom and gloom. Chris and Coco are Carmy and Nat to me. They broke the curse. I think because of that he would want the show to reflect that.

Now, what the fuck is wrong with Carmy, in detail. I will start by saying we don't really know a diagnosis. I think common/possibly correct assumptions are a mix of anxiety, depression, and CPTSD. But I've also seen other ideas like maybe he is on the spectrum among other things. I'm not quick to say anything outside of the first three. He could be neurodivergent, but I guess what makes me not want to say that is because when people bring it up there is often this sentiment that it explains everything about him or that is takes precedent over his behavior being a reaction to his trauma. Two things can be true at the same time but I sometimes feel people apply neurodivergence in a way that dismisses how the average person would deal with a series of overlapping traumas.

The same way I see people assign Sydney as being neurodivergent and I'm like, or she could just be dealing with a lot of bullshit and trauma as a black woman? Because shit, I'm similar, does that mean I'm neurodivergent, too? Not to take away anyone who is neurodivergent and they relate to things they see in the characters. I'm just saying be careful to not dismiss common reactions to lived experience as such without more insight. Or sometimes people can be awkward or quirky without it being neurodivergence. Like sometimes it comes across as what we do know the characters have gone through isn't enough to justify what we see.

I will say I could see a case for Carmy having a learning disability. The evidence being his dislike for reading extensively and his very poor math skills. I think it was @eatandsleepwell who pointed out he only likes books with pictures. It's true. Most of his books are image heavy. And a lot of people are bad at math but he can't keep up with basic addition and subtraction (aka dyscalculia). But again, I think we are seeing evidence of this specific condition, not vague symptoms that could occur due to a number of things.

None of this is to say speculation or headcanons are not welcome. But to hard assign diagnosis is another thing.

[dopepoisonivyoncrack]

Got quite bugged by the lack of a more nuanced take on Astarion intelligence. This ended up quite long so I'm putting it under line

Won't get medical into the "less wrinkled brain" narrative comment, which can be offensive, I've seen some complain about it, I don’t have the medical expertise and it's not necessary because, while maybe not an excuse, it was used figuratively. Astarion is not the smartest person in the room but also not the dumbest, which makes sense and I'll get to that in a moment. I've seen the jokes though, and there is a big difference between being less wrinkled and having the brain as smooth as a chicken breast. I have not laughed.

About the stats, I think it reflects his current state but not the limits of his intellectual capacities. If anyone more knowledgeable in dnd inner workings can correct me in this, feel free to do so.

What I can say is that intelligence is the ability to solve complex problems, to learn and adapt and make better decisions, and there is nothing to suggest Astarion doesn't possess this ability, quite the contrary, he learns and adapts relatively fast when allowed to do so. The brain is like a muscle that needs to be trained, and unfortunately, he couldn't do that much in the last 200 years. Trauma also messes with the brain and many of its abilities. It can physically change the brain and the mechanisms used for learning and survival [x]. Not to dig into details as it's beside the point here but "trauma significantly impacts our ability to learn, to form memories, to regulate emotions, it can affect our ability to be calm, to learn, to think, to reflect and to respond flexibly and in a planned way" [x]. It should be no surprise that Astarion has difficulties in doing a number of these, if not all.

Before jumping at me like I'm trying to use the trauma in defense of his intelligence, I am not saying he was some brilliant mind before. He was probably a bit above average, with a privileged access to higher education. We can't know anything for sure because we were never given anything on the magistrate elf (not to assess intelligence anyway), but whatever his starting point was, it got affected under Cazador. We only have the current Astarion and some observations during our game travels.

So, while I don't think he was ever the brightest, he is far from being dumb. The lower intelligence stats in the game make perfect sense for someone like him, as he is now. He was killed as a young adult, he was controlled body and mind for 2 centuries, stuck following orders, and in survival mode. He didn't get, and wasn't allowed to think for himself, to grow, to learn, to develop his skills to their potential! Including thinking skills! Moreover, he was told and made to feel incapable, worthless. Cazador likes to remind that quite often. Of course he isn't adept at thinking things through, making complex plans, figure out things that would be more obvious to others, and so on... like when it comes to relationship experience, because he didn't had to think or do anything more complex than seduce someone for a night and carry them to Cazador, for a very very long time. The routine and ingrained mindset, the "chains" so strong, he kept doing them out of inertia for a while even after the tadpole-gained-freedom. It took him a while to even realize he can just stop doing it now, like slowly waking up and regaining senses, and control over his body. It's great writing there, sensitive, thoughtful, realistic writing. It would be quite weird if he knew any better, and that would have to reflect into higher stats. And I would like to point out that he learns and adjusts himself from now on with increasing pace, going hand in hand with recovery. (Going into how this affects Ascended Astarion who, I argue, rejects recovery, would be interesting but maybe another time).

On the other hand, the skills that helped him do what Cazador asked for, are very very honed. I still remember his lines, not being able to even put a name on another type of relationship "You are not a victim, not a target, not another night it's better to forget. But then...what in the world could you be?" (Might be paraphrasing a bit but the point stands). It's not for lack of intelligence that he fails to do that, and it's not for lack of intelligence that he fails to do many other things.

Basically, I am saying is that he was never the smartest, but he is not dumb, he was made a bit dumber/ kept for a long time, by trauma and circumstance, from getting smarter, kept from reaching whatever his potential was, and that if allowed to regain his freedom and recover, he still has the ability to reach whatever his potential is. Things we can witness him doing, gradually. And that his stats or the comments on his intelligence in the game reflect his current situation and not his limits.

[96percentdone]

Lately I've started thinking that Furue Jin is so absent from Nirvana Initiative on purpose. Hear me out. Here's a list of things we learn about Jin complete with how we learn it:

He is a CEO of a japan only not-spotify, a businessman and author. Boss and several other characters tell this to us. Riichi mentions that although they're both rich businessmen and he's heard of him, they have not met.

He runs a twitter account! Everyone has a different opinion about this twitter account, from Kagami thinking he's "a brilliant genius who isn't afraid of cutting through bullshit," to Amame thinking he "a pretentious jerk who constantly complains online to draw attention to himself". We never see his twitter account or any of the tweets. He circulates that picture of "himself" online, but we don't see the evidence of that either. It's just told to us.

He spent his whole childhood and teenage years in the hospital, and even went to school there because he was ill. We learn this from Shouma who also remarks how lonely he must have been.

The nurse says that "Jin-chan" was extremely meek and timid, and couldn't even use the restroom alone. She also says he was very meticulous and tidy.

Horadori Chikara called Jin "the almighty" because of a birthmark on his face that resembles a % sign, which is an important cult symbol. To him, Jin is a vehicle for perfection/god. We learn this from Shigure.

At one point, Shigure Tokiko loved him because he was her son and did not want to give him up. She then stopped caring about him or anyone after a suicide attempt when the guilt from kidnapping a child got too real.

Uru accuses Jin of constantly mocking him in the same paragraph he mentions Jin has apologized one million times before in his murder diary. Uru also patently does not understand at all why "Mom" "loves" Jin. Mizuki concludes Jin was not a bad guy at the end of the game and that he meant that apology. We do not see this event in a flashback or have a record of Jin's thoughts before he went down there.

There's a trend here. None of this is first hand. Now, you might think "well he's dead first thing so we can't get too much from him himself" but that's weaksauce look. Renju was dead first thing and we had several flashbacks with him IN it, and this game makes great use of reading journals and diaries. There's no reason they can't have shown us something he wrote, his tweets, his social media, his writing, his thoughts in the hospital—anything! This is deliberate.

It's all other people's recollection and opinions; he's a mirror to project on. With a game about duality, they've made a lot of use of the mirror motif, so here's a guy who exists only in reflections had by other people. In universe, he has half of Uru's body, but in the narrative he has NOTHING of his own. Whatever you make of him is entirely determined by the filters of other characters and then yourself.

I think this is a bold choice, and certainly interesting, but I still can't say I think it's a good one. He's the very first victim and too wrapped up in Uru's trauma to be so missing from the text. The duality motif would be better explored by having him appear to be one way and then revealed another way without all the layers and layers and layers of guesswork and interpretation because of subjective opinions WITHIN THE TEXT by having him also be a mirror guy. It's getting in its own way, and it makes his death have like no emotional impact, which is weird. He's the FIRST VICTIM. I SHOULD CARE MORE THAT HE DIED. It's not really great if at the end of the mystery most players are asking "hey so who even really. Was the dead guy anyway." And there's more interesting story potential in allowing him to BE then in obfuscating him.

[loadinghellsing]

ok now i wanna know more of your headcanons for vladcard. the fact that you’ve headcanoned him to be the manifestation of alucard’s human trauma makes it really interesting. especially for any ideas where alucard gets turned back into vlad through some magic fuckery

Heheheheh- so, most of my headcanons on Vladcard are based around a character analysis about Vladcard's form that I've have had in progress since… May 4th, 2022 (I keep getting side tracked by Anderson… I'm making it a goal to finish it by the end of the month, hopefully I can add a link to it later-) --- WARNING // LONG RAMBLY POST --- (link to the headcanon post we're referencing for context)

For Vladcard, I don't quite see him as the "manifestation of Alucard's human trauma"? So much as "Alucard's human form that still portrays the marks of his humanity". Visual evidence that Alucard's humanity still impacts him and holds weight over him. Thus the form reflects that. In the muscular build that portrays the built strength to wield the broad sword and the exhaustion to his eyes. His age is shown thus I see no reason his scars wouldn't show aswell.

While "Alucard" I see as more… disocitive. In the words of Anderson if you were to view Alucard as a kingdom- Vlad would be the king. While the rest of the kingdom is run by mindless ghouls that do his bidding. You take out the king? You takeout the kingdom. With Alucard being the personification of all those lives - even if he's not giving them freewill/a sense of self (like Seras with Pip), and he's remaining the sole mind as some cruel tyrant within himself. The statement still stands that all those ghouls provide a sense of distance between Vlad and the waking world. Because it is a level of distance that can make the world seem dream like. You could also compare it to a child playing with a toy army. The child is in complete control and the army acts like one being beneath that control.

And that's why I like the idea that Hellsing's seals don't reach Vlad… Because Vlad is Alucard's core/heart with human vulnerability, shame, and weakness in a way Alucard doesn't know how to cope with. A wound, perhaps old and scared over, but a wound none the less. It's one Alucard doesn't comfortably show for it’s the truth of his weakness and the cause of his fallen humanity that he so heavily resents (humanly terms? "disociation and self loathing"). And if we are to persume Hellsing's expiriments to be inhumane and cruel as they work to break and control the monster? The sole way I am coping is the idea that they didn't reach Vlad. Because never once do they show any achnoledgment to Alucard as anything but a tool to be sharpened, controlled, and used. (I think the closest you get is Arthur referring to monsters as children screaming for death) So I like the idea that the Hellsing seals work to control the kingdom, ghouls, and dream while allowing Vlad to maintain his distancing defenses.

And ohhh~ I absolutely agree- ANYTHING portraying Alucard in his human form strikes me in the feels. It is a form that is so terribly vulnerable when separated from everything else Alucard is. Alucard is a monster, a kingdom, more comparable to a tidal wave of motion. And is by all meanings stunning and intricately marvelous-but Vlad? Vlad is a human, it's raw, it's with wounds and fears and tears. It's something genuine and present and tangible. --- Edit: Just went through and reread prior post to figure out where I was misinterpreted- ("Within Alucard, Vlad is akin to an open wound. An infected wound bleeding memories of his humanity and tales of his damnation." right?) I tend to compare Vlad to a wound in terms of being Alucard's sore spot, the human core/heart that has all the memories and sense of being damned that bleed through the rest of Alucard no matter how heavily he tries to repress it/lock it away. Becoming apparent in the tears he shed and in the way he screeches the importance of humanity

[thenightling]

Stating the Obvious: Morpheus has issues

I know I'm probably stating the obvious but I think Morpheus's one-hundred-and-six-years of captivity in The Sandman Netflix series (seventy-two-years in the comics and The Sandman audio drama) effected him heavily, psychologically speaking.

Now before you reply with the "You don't say" meme, I'll elaborate. We know the captivity changed Morpheus. We know it enabled him to reflect on his past and to grow. And it enabled him to feel sympathy for Calliope and act as avenging angel to rescue her from Richard Madoc but the experience also scarred him deeply and caused him to want to die. When they summoned and trapped Morpheus he was stripped of his clothes, his tools, his power, his dignity and his freedom.

"Time moves no faster for my kind than it does humanity and in prison it crawled at a snail's pace." - Morpheus in The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes graphic novel, issue 1 of The Sandman comics, Sleep of the Just, and Chapter 1 of The Sandman audio drama.

Unfortunately the line in the Netflix series doesn't quite make it clear that time doesn't move differently for him than it does for humanity and this probably should have been left in because a lot of people have this misguided idea that for immortals time moves differently and a century is nothing. And it is important to know that for Morpheus this was not nothing. He suffered. And unlike mortals he didn't even have the escape of sleep and dreams because he IS the embodiment of dreams. I feel that there were probably additional psychological side effects to Morpheus's captivity besides the obvious depression, self-reflection, and weakness. For example the trauma of his captivity may have left him claustrophobic. Notice how rare it is that we see Morpheus in any confined spaces for any length of time and when he is in a small space (i.e. rescuing Cluracan during that one story in The Sandman: Worlds' End) he seems more irritable and tense, like he wants to get whatever needs to be done over with as quickly as possible. This could also account for his behavior in Rachel's bedroom when he retrieved his pouch of sand besides casual assholary before Constantine made him realize how wrong his behavior was. Other impacts Morpheus's captivity may have had on him is effecting his ability to trust. He was always, at least a little cynical, but he believed Alexander Burgess when Alex said that if not for his father he would free him. Morpheus believed him and thought Alex would let him go but when Roderick died Alex just left him in there and that broke some aspect of Morpheus that was quick to trust.

Morpheus genuinely expected Alex to let him go. He looked forward to it and anticipated it, thinking it was just a matter of time to wait for Roderick to eventually die but then Alex dashed Morpheus's hope of over ten years because he was scared. Morpheus truly thought Alex would free him and then Alex failed him. Neil Gaiman has been asked, at least twice, on Tumblr if Alex had let Morpheus go, would Morpheus have still cursed him to Eternal Waking (An Endless series of nightmares where you think you're waking up but just enter another nightmare) / eternal sleep or shown mercy. And Neil Gaiman has answered that he would have shown mercy. Also earlier when Alex killed Jessamy for trying to rescue Morpheus- and Alex wanting to prove himself to his father, I think that wounded Morpheus. It made him see a sadism he didn't originally seem to acknowledge in humanity, or had forgotten about, likely because of his friendship with Hob Gadling making him see the better side of human beings. Morpheus seemed to think being captured was one thing, but the murder of his familiar- his raven, his friend (though he wasn't likely to realize it) was crossing some line for him. In short, Morpheus needed therapy. It's too bad he couldn't have met Linda from the Lucifer TV series. Morpheus probably had some form of Post Traumatic Stress. Morpheus needed therapy... Preferably not from Cain...

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Magical Healing in Triangle Strategy

I'm currently working on a fic, and I wanted to have some clearer rules to play by as I try to make sense of Triangle Strategy's in-world healing system. I mostly made this for myself haha, but thought I'd share in case it's helpful for anyone else!

It's mostly just a breakdown of canon moments and potential implications, along with a more cohesive potential set of rules at the very end. Quick warning for spoilers: I discuss a lot of main plot points.

Canon Fact #1: Symon's heart-related condition couldn't be cured with magic.

This might imply an inability to fix some of the following:

any physical irregularity that the body naturally develops (e.g. a deformity in the structure of the heart) 

long-term injuries (e.g. gradual wear on the heart due to stress)

internal injuries

natural non-traumatic health issues in general

Canon Fact #2: Lyla is said to be in critical condition and then to be in stable condition relatively soon afterward. 

This supports that healing can have an impact pretty quickly. The two above screenshots are more than likely the same day, and seem to be around the same time of day as well. However, we don't know exactly how much Lyla improved (are her wounds completely healed? still pretty severe?), so it's hard to say exactly how fast the healing is going.

While it's unclear what specifically Jerrom is doing, we do know that he's not a magical healer. This indicates that magic healing isn't the end-all-be-all as far as healing goes.

(Though both of those points could also theoretically be handwaved away by assuming they were short on healers post-battle, and therefore couldn't heal Lyla as efficiently as they might like.)

Canon Fact #3: During in-game battles, members of your party are cured via magic and immediately continue to battle.

This includes injuries related to blades, arrows, fires, ice, lightning, wind, and blunt trauma; it seems like there isn't much that healing can't fix.

That said, temporary status effects (including poison, paralysis, immobility, and blindness), are a different story. There are non-healing spells that remove status effects as well, such as Geela's "Heal What Ails You," but they're uncommon. This might support the idea that these are two entirely different fields of healing and/or that they can't be done at the same time.

Healing appears to be more or less instantaneous, and after a unit is healed, they can continue battling on as if they had never been injured to begin with.

For a more specific time estimate: assuming that the turn system is supposed to reflect an actual battle with everyone moving and doing things all at once, we can say that a healer takes about as long to cast a healing spell as it does for a combat unit to make an attack on an enemy soldier (however long you think that takes).

There are also a variety of different costs to healing. In most cases, healing expends the healer's energy (i.e. TP), but in some cases it uses the healer's own health instead (like Cordelia's "Self Sacrifice").

We also have healing/status recovery pellets to consider. During a battle, they allow non-mages to heal themselves and others just as a mage would. Additionally, Medina has abilities to enhance the efficacy of those pellets, which could potentially mean there are methods of administering them that make them more powerful.

Canon Fact #4a: Dragan dies despite a healer being in the same vicinity. Cordelia, however, survives under similar circumstances.

Dragan seems to be killed by an arrow to the back, and no one even attempts to heal him after he falls, despite ample time to do so—he gives an entire monologue before officially dying. Conversely, when Cordelia is stabbed, a healer is called for and she survives. Some main differences between Cordelia and Dragan's injuries include:

The placement of the wound—Dragan might have been hit somewhere that resulted in a near-immediate fatality such as the heart, whereas Cordelia might have been injured in such a way that allowed her more time to be patched together

Roland might have held back upon realizing that Cordelia was the one taking the blow, vs. the archer who was definitely aiming to kill

Cordelia is a healer herself, and might have been able to aid in her own recovery

On a related note, Dragan was caught in an ambush (and might not have had access to any healer but Geela) vs. Cordelia's case, where they were in the middle of a war and likely had access to several healers and/or surgeons. Lyla, for instance, canonically helps out after Cordelia is stabbed on the boat.

General demographic stuff (Cordelia is likely several years younger than Dragan, and possibly has a history of better health since Glenbrook has historically had more access to salt)

They just liked Cordelia more?????

Canon Fact #4b: Additionally, Cordelia is weak and/or bedridden for at least a few days after her injuries (though due to route-splitting mechanics, she's weak even if she isn't injured, so this could potentially be disregarded as her being exhausted by her captivity, unrelated to her injuries).

This implies that healing can't be done all at once, and gives a better timeline for how long it takes for serious wounds to heal (at least a few days) even with the best of care. The above screenshots are in chronological order for reference.

Canon Fact #5: Healing can resurrect.

Healing can bring people back from death, with some caveats.

Magical resurrection is only shown to occur at the exact moment of death, and only if the spell is cast preemptively. Someone who is already dead cannot be revived outside of Quietus spells.

Resurrection earrings only work once per round, which might be interpreted as them needing time to recharge between uses (or possibly means that a mage has to recharge them). Likewise, Miraculous Light wipes out most of Geela's magic reserves, making it difficult for her to cast it many times in succession.

Since most normal spells only activate at the point of death, this also has some Ajin-like implications (i.e., that characters with the ability to resurrect might purposefully die in order to heal themselves of a non-lethal wound).

In canon, due to the mechanics surrounding it, Quietus can probably be tossed somewhere in the realm of dark magic and/or acts of god. (The word "quietus" is associated with finality, death, etc., which might support the "dark magic" point.)

 

Canon Fact #6: Healing is primarily done with a staff, while elemental magic is done with tomes.

The only exception to this that I noticed is Narve, who uses a staff for both healing and elemental magic.

Because of the consistency of healers having staves, it can be assumed that a staff is either required for healing or otherwise greatly improves efficacy. 

Theories

Taking all of that into consideration, there's a lot of different ways you can interpret what exactly is going on. I have two main theories that I play with while writing fic.

Theory #1: Healing as a time distortion

The linking factor between most of these is that magical healing can only heal what non-magical healing can also theoretically heal. Magical healing, then, might just be a speeding up of the body's natural ability to heal (even potentially an actual time spell that speeds things up, which is supported by Geela's "Haste" spell and Quahaug and Lyla's skillset in general). 

If this is the case, some potential limitations of magic would be:

It can't heal anything that the body itself won't put to right given time, so it can't cure terminal or chronic illnesses, nor save someone from lethal poison unless an antidote is also taken.

Likewise, it can't heal any wound that would kill someone faster than they could heal (e.g. possibly Dragan's wound).

It likely still requires an amount of non-magical healing techniques (Cordelia and Lyla might have required some sort of physical surgery to repair the damage they sustained). If a healing is performed without arranging things first and then the healing process was sped up, it would theoretically heal incorrectly and cause more harm than good.

It would still leave scars and leave the healed character in need of physical therapy when applicable. 

Larger, more serious wounds that would take weeks to heal will take a proportionally long time for magic to fix (at least a few days as shown by Cordelia's bedrest).

Infections and other complications could be an increased danger, assuming that everything is sped up including the growth rate of bacteria. Additionally, if it is a true time spell, then over time excessive amounts of healing would result in an unnatural, sped-up aging process.

Healing pellets/status recovery pellets essentially act as an already-cast spell sealed into a small capsule for use by non-mages, and would have the same effect as the spell that was sealed inside them. Panacea pellets are a little weird because no healer in the game is that powerful, but I guess you can assume there's some healing savant out in the woods somewhere who can make them (and then goes on to sell them for an exorbitant price).

Resurrection magic and earrings are just weird. For the sake of adding some sort of balance to these from a Watsonian perspective, you can always throw in sort of long-term drawback. I like to play around with the idea that resurrections shorten the lifespan/otherwise cost the user something with each use.

Theory #2: Healing as a temporary fix

For plot device reasons, I sometimes want the characters in my fics to be stuck on the sidelines for a few weeks/months at a time. So instead of speeding up healing, I go the opposite route and freeze the healing process altogether.

This theory revolves around these points:

Healing magic can't actually make the body heal, but it can put things back in place such that it heals properly. For example, it wouldn't be able to heal broken bones, but it could temporarily seal them into the right place such that someone could continue to fight in-battle. Same thing with bleeding wounds: it could temporarily stop the bleeding, but it wouldn't actually fix the issue. After the battle ends, both injuries would still need additional medical attention, and would take a normal amount of time to heal.

I usually imagine this requiring about as much attention/expertise as a surgeon would have.

Healing pellets are the same as in the first theory, as are resurrection magic + earrings.

This theory sort of has to work around status effects, since those aren't necessarily fixed by physical surgery-type techniques. For me, I assume that status effects such as poison and paralysis are magical conditions in their own right, and can therefore be negated by magic like Geela's spell (and normal, non-magical poison and paralysis can't be fixed by magic whatsoever). These magical status effects would eventually wear off when the spell runs out of juice, though if left untreated these effects could potentially be lethal.

Related to that, this theory gets complicated with things like burns or frostbite from elemental spells, since those types of wounds can't necessarily be healed by just moving things around. I could argue that a healer could manipulate the tissue on a cellular level, but that gets pretty overpowered the further I push it. (If they can heal damaged tissue from a burn, why can't they manipulate the tissue in Symon's heart as well? Going even further, why couldn't a healer manipulate their own flesh to the point of shapeshifting?) I usually sort of end up leaning on the first theory a little bit and say that it's easier to heal things that the body is biologically built to heal.

In the end, I usually end up using a blend of these two theories, and then pick and choose what I use in any given situation based on what plot device I need (which seems to be what the tri strat writers did as well haha). But it's nice to have some basic rules in place so I can plan around them.