Dawnbringer

WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS MY FAVORITE TELEVISION SERIES OF ALL TIME (it's not out yet)

You have to rest in your own desire to create.

But, because I see statements like this turn into a sort of general notion of “it’s bad to want validation or attention or engagement”, and to me, that’s not what this means.

It’s perfectly valid to want people to like and engage with what you create. In a general sense, when you create anything, you do it to share with other human beings. Art, craft, food, anything you create is a way to connect with others through our shared humanity.

And wanting someone to like you fanart or read your fanfic is part of that.

This is an interesting case and I think it illustrates my exact issue with the shipping aro/ace characters debate. He's not canonically aroace as far as I know, and as I have said a million times before, it's not a real person having their boundaries violated by being forced into a relationship, it's a fictional character. And why should it bother me? I haven't read the book, I haven't seen the movie, I am not in this fandom. However, it is extremely, EXTREMELY telling how everyone collectively agreed that he is definetly aroace based on the text and it's pretty much the most logical interpretation, and it means so much to aro/ace viewers, then suddenly people decide that it's simply more fun to ship him with a guy who isn't even from the same story.

two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl 🎏

Yes.

But what about:

you keep going because there's no other option right now. you keep going because you have to. you keep going and that in itself is a kind of despair; acceptance of your fate. and yet. you haven't given up. you don't know what your future looks like, can't even remember what it's like to imagine one, but you haven't thrown it away.