Evanelle's Hiding Place

of critters in clover

none of this "MY department is the last thing that should be touched by AI"

no departments none please I agree there's technically a sliding scale if you look hard enough

but that's where the cracks start to form, and bargaining starts to be an option

But the thing is, she already knows how horribly she treated them. She's fully aware of how awful she was and the things she's done. She regrets it! She already feels unforgivable and unlovable and that it would be better for her to die. But if you die, you can never make amends. If you're dead you can never get better. Jax believing she's unforgivable is what made her do all that in the first place! If she thought there was hope for her she wouldn't have acted so carelessly or cruely, because she'd already accepted her fate and chose not to fight it! Pomni choosing to care about Jax isn't her excusing Jax's actions, it's her trying to give her a second chance. If she marched up into Jax's dying consciousness and told her "You suck and we all hate you!" it wouldn't have done anyone any good. That would leave Jax in the same place she already was. Pomni hugging her and proving she still deserves kindness disproves everything Jax thought about herself and everything she used to keep treating others like dirt. She didn't think she could get better. Pomni thinks she could. Jax had dug her grave too late by then.

Jax is not a character that is meant to be forgiven. Jax is meant to be understood. Jax is a cautionary tale warning against isolating yourself, repressing your emotions and lashing out at anybody who wants to get to know the real you. Punishing someone for their actions only works if that person wasn't already punishing themself. And honestly, if you think people who treated others badly in the past and are suicidal because of it should just die and don't deserve kindness... you're part of the problem. People like you are the reason unstable people think it's easier to kill themselves than admit they were wrong. Wanting others to be punished forever instead of learning to grow and right their wrongs is not healthy behavior. It won't do anybody any favors. I understand the desire for people you think are bad to die, but I also think suicide is one of the worst ways to go, and I don't wish that on anyone.

The kid was picked up by an ambulance 30 minutes later.

Now as an adult working in security I get SO MANY folks- upper-middle aged mostly- coming to me to 'rat out' people they think are faking it.

I was once sent into a bathroom because a client demanded that the "fucker won't get out, so go drag them out"- I was NEVER going to do that, so I did a wellness check instead. You know who it was? A person recently released from the hospital after a car accident. They had a hole in their skull and major hearing loss. They couldn't answer the owner because they couldn't HEAR the owner.

Another time about a homeless man who got around town by kicking the ground from his wheelchair. "You know he doesn't actually need that thing, his legs work fine, it's just for pity points"- Oh, so he's not paralyzed, his wheelchair is performative? Funny story Dale, I actually know that guy, he was backed over by a truck and has chronic pain from his shattered pelvis. But sure, let's make him stand up and walk everywhere so nobody feels too bad for him and tries to help him or something.

"She doesn't need that scooter, I've seen her get out of it."

"Look how fat he is, because he just rides around and refuses to get up."

"She doesn't really need that cane- she comes here without it all the time"

"simple," replied the master. "through patience and long practice."

"but master," said the student, bursting out with impatience, "every time i go online i see people my age getting 50k notes, 100k notes!"

the master chuckled. "the self-assuredness of the 22-year-old lends itself well to the occasional callow foray into posting, it's true. but for posts of true substance, one must turn to the mentally ill 30-something tgirls. observe."

she pulled up a post on her phone. the student peered at it. he did not laugh. he said, "but master -- this post only has 12 notes. and it's not even funny."

His quiet moment, however, was not meant to last, as one of the doll-bodies of the villagers tumbled from the top face of the ridge above him. He reacted more quickly than either of them was prepared for, it seemed, for both of them yelped in shock as soon as he caught the tumbling doll.

Something shiny clattered to the forest floor, and he placed the doll on its feet and backed up in a panic. The only doll he knew of that did not fear him was Cian, and this doll had screamed with a woman’s voice. He could only assume that she would have rather fallen than be caught in his clawed hands.

“Ooooh Moony!” Snatcher’s bright yellow eyes and glowing grin filled his doorway for a moment, before a two fingered black claw brushed the drape at the door fully aside and the shadowed half of the prince’s spirit let himself in, or at least halfway in. His snakelike body didn’t fit in the small space, and some remained coiled out the door and under the shack. “I’m sorry, did you forget who’s in charge here? BECAUSE ONLY A FOOOOOOOOOOL WOULD JUST ASSUME THEY COULD PUT A TACKY COTTAGE IN MY FOREST!”