#to clarify i mean this all rhetorically
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You know how people will say, “Yes, mom,” sarcastically? Would the Bluth siblings say that? Cause, like, from their frame of reference, a mom wouldn’t have the attributes that would lead them to naturally using that phrase.
Like, would they say, “Yes, nanny,” or something? “Yes, maid”?
“Yes, Michael”?
#to clarify i mean this all rhetorically#for all i know they’ve said something like ‘yes mom’ in the show#but it just crossed my mind and i thought it was funny#gob bluth#michael bluth#lindsay bluth#buster bluth#lucille bluth#george bluth#arrested development
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I have to explain what is going on in the UK, because it is absurd.
So, this is Gary Lineker:
He's known for a fair few things over here.
He was a very good (association) footballer, playing for England in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups, winning the Golden Boot in 1986, and managing to never get a single yellow card in his playing career. He played for Leicester City, Everton, Barcelona, and Tottenham, before finishing his career in Japan.
But if you aren't in your mid 30s, you probably know actually know him him for a couple of other things.
The first is the role of spokesman for another Leicester icon, Walkers Crisps (which are sort of equivalent to Lays, but hit different), as pictured above. Despite being a notably clean player, he used to play a cheeky serial crisp thief. I don't think he's done that for well over a decade, but his ads were on the telly a lot when I was a kid and it's a bit like learning that the hamburglar was an incredibly clean (American) football player or something.
The second thing Gary is widely known for is having presented Match of the Day, the big football program on the BBC, the sort-of state broadcaster, since 1999. He is, incidentally, very well paid for this (though with a consensus that he could get even more if he went to one of the non-free-to-view broadcasters because he is very good at the job).
He also has a twitter account. And political opinions.
So, the UK government has got itself dead set upon doing heinous stuff that will totally somehow work to prevent people who want to come to the UK making the perilous crossing of the Channel (between England and France).
By heinous, I mean "openly advertise that they won't attempt to protect victims of modern slavery" stuff.
It's very obviously using a legal hammer to victimise a marginalised group of people in order to win votes.
And, uh, I should clarify that by "legal" I mean "using the passage of laws" - the policy is, in addition to all the other ways it's awful, probably incompatible with the Human Rights Act and the UK's international law obligations.
Gary, top lad that he is, objected to this.
On Tuesday 7th March, he made a quote Tweet of a video of the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, bigging up the policy, he wrote "Good heavens, this is beyond awful.".
This got a bunch of backlash from extremely right-wingers, and then he made the tweet that really got him in trouble (with right-wingers): "There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?".
Now, I am not actually subjecting myself to watching a video of Suella Braverman bigging up a cruel policy to say whether the specific comparison of the language to 1930s Germany is accurate.
But needless to say, Ms Braverman was amongst the many figures on the right of UK politics objecting to Gary's rhetoric.
And here's the part where a fact about the BBC comes in: it is nominally neutral and impartial (and so, of course, is routinely accused of bias from all sides but particularly the right-wing), and has something of a code for its contributors to this effect.
Now, that code has previously been applied to Gary Lineker, over a comment about whether governing Conservative Party would hand back donations from figures linked to the Russian regime.
But it generally hasn't been applied too strongly to people like Gary, whose roles have nothing to do with politics (such as presenting a "here's what happened on the footie today" show), on the basis that, well, their roles have nothing to do with politics.
However, when directly asked about whether the BBC should punish Gary Lineker for his tweets, government figures basically went "well, that's a them problem".
But a couple of days passed, and it seemed like Gary's approach of "standing his ground because he did nothing wrong" was working and everything would die down. He was set to get 'a talking to' but not much more than that. The Conservative right, after all their fire and fury earlier, had gotten bored and moved onto something else.
And then, on Friday 10th March, the BBC announced that he would be suspended from hosting Match of the Day this weekend.
But it could still go ahead, because there are, like, other hosts!
Except, well, funnily enough, when you take a beloved figure off air, for making a fairly anodyne tweet, no one wants to be the scab who actually takes up the role of replacing him.
Gary's two co-hosts, Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, said that they would not appear without him.
People who (co-)host Match of the Day on other days followed suit.
The net result is that Match of the Day is currently set to air without hosts, BBC commentary, or global feed commentary.
And the solidarity shown to Gary Lineker, over what is very flagrantly actual cancel culture and an attack on freedom of speech (the logic implied is that institutional impartiality requires that no one say anything too critical of the government ever), has continued to grow.
The BBC has pretty much been unable to run pretty much any live sports content today, and has resorted to raiding the BBC Sounds archive to fill the sports radio channel.
And, as of 17:30 on Saturday 11th March, the situation shows no signs of improvement, though some are calling for the Chairman Richard Sharp, who is separately facing corruption allegations, to resign (yes I linked to the BBC itself there, there is nothing, nothing, the BBC loves more than going into great detail about how much the BBC sucks).
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genuine question--would you mind clarifying why the use of trans lesbian is bad in reference to a trans person who is a lesbian? am i missing some context? i tried googling but i got mostly just a lot of vile garbage. nw if you're done talking about this topic, that is understandable. have a nice day (saluting emoji which i dont have but please imagine it here)
sure. 'trans lesbian' is, like, a compound word that means specifically 'a trans woman who is a lesbian', and not just 'someone who is trans and a lesbian', in the same way that idk a 'little finger' isn't just 'a finger that is small'. & obviously i am all for recognizing that labels are just labels, that words are not the things themselves, but 1. this is not, like, some weird backformation or super restrictive definition that people make up to mean arguments, it's how that word is used in common practice by queer orgs, media outlets, the UN, and 2. i think that there is context here that makes it pretty important to be extremely clear about who is and isn't a trans lesbian in this sense.
the context is that trans lesbians (ie, trans women, who are lesbians) are like at the center of the hurricane of transphobia across the world right now. ray blanchard, the fucking pioneer of modern pseudoscientific transmisogyny, specifically singles out the 'autogynophiles' (as opposed to the 'homosexual transsexuals, who are trans women attracted to men') as dangerous perverts. TERF's most hateful transmisogynistic caricatures and canards of trans women as dangerous sexual predators who are threat to Women's Spaces are implicitly about the Trans Lesbian. it's a term that sent the entire transphobia industrial complex into overdrive when it was used in some UN org's tweet:
these headlines are not about Trans people who are also Lesbians--both these articles are filled with all the usual bile about how trans women are really sexually predatory men who want to infilitrate womanhood. neither of the people writing these articles would like leslie feinberg for sure, but they also wouldn't think of hir as a Dangerous Predator Infilitrationg Women's Spaces. & so when the trans lesbian is the fucking like cultural boogeyman that politicians are determined to performatively target and punish, i think that using that language to describe people who aren't transfem is diluting our ability to talk about this kind of transmisogyny.
& i mean like, this is not just an abstract concern, right, because the instant that i initially took issue with was someone essentially saying 'wow, why do you think that people who obsess over SBB specifically and The 80s more generally as the end-all be-all of Queerness and Lesbianhood tend towards a transmisogynist view of thoes things when leslie feinberg is literally a trans lesbian.' like it is explictly and obviously a rhetorical sleight of hand which is why i treated that ask with the contempt it deserved.
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fighting
gojo satoru x fem!reader
summary: megumi gets in trouble at school
warnings: they are a family (and hate each other)
last part | next part
*
year three.
your mouth is a straight line, and you know both of them are staring at you.
you're all sitting in the car, three hours before megumi's supposed to get out of school, and it's been quiet for the last ten minutes.
you don't have anything to say, you think. nothing that will make sense of the mess in your head.
and satoru's eyes are glaring into your head, burning your skin. you want to shove him and tell him to leave you alone--even though he's not doing anything--but that seems hypocritical.
especially considering that megumi is suspended for the rest of the week.
“okay,” satoru says, after his eyes have basically glazed over from focusing on you for too long. “megumi, can you say something? i think her head's about to explode.”
“i'm fine,” you hiss. and then you glance at megumi in the rearview mirror and feel a little bad.
he looks smaller than usual. his eyes are shifting from you to satoru, and his mouth is open like he wants to say something but isn't sure what. and, of course, he's scrunched himself up, almost a ball right behind you.
you don't want to be frustrated with him, but it seems inevitable. he's just a kid, you try to think, but it doesn't work. when you were a kid you didn't--
so yeah, you feel bad for him. not that bad though. you know he knows what you’re going to say.
megumi sighs (but it sounds more reminiscent of one of satoru’s many whines). “i’m… sorry.”
he might as well be telling you that he cut out your heart, and blew up a church with how dreary his voice is.
satoru grins. “there. we’re cool now.” he reaches back and ruffles megumi’s hair. his arms are too long for anything in the world. he's basically an arachnoid. “y/n…” he hums. “you can stop frowning now. he apologized.”
you glance over at him, unimpressed. satoru will brush this away like everything else.
even though you know he cares--and doesn't want you to be mad, or megumi to feel guilty.
his stupid smile almost makes you break, but you look away.
“sorry for what megumi?” you ask, softly, trying to ignore your stupid roommate. he’s been downgraded.
“…hitting those kids.”
“are you actually sorry?” you clarify, even though you know the answer.
he’s silent.
you can see out of your peripheral when satoru gives him a nasty look. mouthing something to him.
at least you know where megumi gets this from. his protectiveness is not unique to you, but at least satoru does it jokingly. at least he only destroys the already destroyed.
maybe you're thinking too hard about this.
you sigh, this time, rubbing your eyes with one hand. “look, megumi, we can talk about it later.”
you could use a break from both of them. a couple of minutes to yourself to... probably cry in your bed and wonder why the world is so terrible.
“um, no we can’t.” satoru says. “i’m going to be gone later. i told you about my—“
you pinch his thigh over the gearshift. “we’ll talk without you.”
he gasps. “excuse you,” he says, “but i am a part of this conversation.”
“yes, i think you’ve done plenty to contribute to this, gojo.”
“what’s that supposed to mean?”
you try to smile at him, but it feels more like a grimace. “just that you’re the one sparing with megumi on the weekends.”
satoru frowns. “we’re practicing. you want him to be as weak as every other shikigami user in the world?” he asks, rhetorically.
“i like sparring,” megumi interjects, like it matters.
“maybe a little too much,” you say, under your breath.
satoru grabs your hand from his leg, intertwining his fingers with yours. it would be sweet--a nice connection--if you weren't actively trying to hurt him.
maybe megumi gets it from both of you.
“okay, megumi,” satoru sings. “you can’t hit your classmates, okay? look i fixed it.”
you glare at him. then turn into your driveway.
satoru groans. “why are you both so difficult? megumi, just apologize, and y/n, he made a mistake. he’s not gonna do it again.”
“i’m not talking about this right now,” you tell him, shaking your hand from his, wanting not to be mad at either of them.
but you’re mad at both. they both suck and you love them too much to even yell.
“i’m difficult?” megumi retorts.
satoru groans again and you all get out of the car.
“go get started on your homework,” you tell megumi, after you unlock the door. “we can talk in a bit.”
your voice is naturally softer with him. megumi’s too cute to stay angry at.
satoru doesn’t have that issue.
megumi looks back at you, his eyes inquisitive, his mouth pinched. “you’re mad at me?”
you sigh, hanging the keys on the hook. “no, megs. it’s fine. we just need to talk about it. later.
“you’re mad,” he repeats, all-knowing. seriously, who allowed satoru to raise him?
“i… maybe a little. not really at you. just the situation.”
“i’m sorry.”
you shake your head, hand on your back as you gently nudge him down the hall. “just go hang out for a bit. relax.”
you try not to notice how he rubs his fists, tiny bruises forming on his tiny knuckles.
satoru walks in behind you, bumping into you purposefully. “start writing your opening statement,” he adds, grinning at you both.
you push him away and megumi rolls his eyes.
you walk into the kitchen, thinking about moving megumi to a new school—a new family. they’ll probably do better than you’re doing. at least there he won't have one parent who actively eggs him into violence every day.
you know satoru is following you (because when isn’t he?) but you don’t expect a hand tapping on your arm, and wary blue eyes meeting yours.
dark blue eyes.
“can we talk now?” megumi asks, his voice softer than usual. you can tell he feels bad, but you know that it’s only because you’re upset.
and it’s not even him. you just wish that he had a better response to these things. that he didn’t feel like fixing everything was his responsibility.
you’re not sure where you went wrong, but you know that it was somewhere.
“megumi… i just need to think for a bit. i’m really not mad.” this time you actually smile at him, because even if he’s beating kids up in school, he’s so sweet to all of you. so cautious.
(except for satoru, but he deserves it).
“i’m really sorry. i didn’t mean to get in trouble.”
satoru snorts from behind you. he’s leaning against the wall, watching.
lord knows he wouldn’t be any help—even if he actually was contributing to the conversation.
you swallow, because you really don't want to tell megumi anything. not without running it through satoru first, at least. without considering the consequences.
but he looks very worried, and you don't want to leave him to obsess over this by himself.
“i just don’t understand why…” you shake your head. you’re not going to make any sense of a nine-year-old mind. “you can’t hit people because you’re upset. you know that.”
“they were messing with a girl in class,” he says, frowning. then he looks to satoru, his head tilted. “i thought that’s what you told me? i’m stronger, i can help.”
“uh….” satoru scratches the back of his neck, wincing. he's lucky that he's several feet away from you.
you turn. “what?”
“i—“ he holds his hands up in defense immediately. “i may or may not have mentioned that we, as in all of us, we’re meant to be upstanders, you know. not—“ he clears his throat. clasps his hands together. “bystanders.”
“satoru.” you groan, leaning against the counter. at least it's all coming together.
you need to bug him or something, just to monitor everything he says
satoru continues. “but i meant in public! with curses. not—not children,” he glares at megumi.
probably for ratting him out.
“but you said that if someone was in trouble—“
“can you stop talking?” satoru says to him, shaking his head, lips pouting pathetically. “i didn’t raise a snitch.”
you furrow your brows and megumi crosses his arms.
“satoru, you told him to fight people?”
he winces again, adjusting his glasses. “i meant… bad people.”
“they were bad,” megumi reassures you both because it obviously matters. “they tried to steal her backpack. that’s bad.”
you sigh, shaking your head.
you can't believe that you're still standing here, still contemplating what to say to him.
where did it all go wrong?
“was the backpack cool?” satoru wonders, going to stand right next to you, hand slinging around your shoulder. he ignores it when you try to push him off.
he's probably just trying to be annoying.
megumi frowns. “i don’t know, i didn’t ask her to—“
“stop talking, both of you.”
you ponder running away from all of them and starting a new life. rome is supposed to be nice this time of year, and you’ve been saving up…
but you’d feel bad for leaving tsumiki with the two of them. plus, satoru doesn’t know how to fill out his tax return.
“we’re talking,” satoru says, raising a brow at you. “you like that.” he grins at you like he’s solved world hunger or something.
with his stupid face and stupid mouth. you would move to rome just so you never had to look at him again and feel briefly distracted.
“i need a minute to think.”
the two boys share a look. how you’ve survived three years with them is questionable.
finally, you sigh again, rubbing your temple. “megumi, you know you can’t hit people. why didn’t you get a teacher? violence is never an option.”
satoru frowns. “what about—“
“in the real world,” you correct, glaring at him. “violence is not an option. don’t put your hands on other people. talk to someone.”
megumi kicks his foot against the hardwood. “i didn’t think they’d listen.”
you nudge his chin, getting him to look at you. “then you tell one of us. preferably not satoru. i know—i understand that you want to help, but hurting someone just to protect someone else isn’t any better than bullying, okay?”
“yeah, don’t bully your bullies," satoru waves a finger at him.
you roll your eyes, and megumi looks disheartened—annoyed maybe—but nods eventually.
not that you expect him to agree immediately anyway. megumi has never been fond of talking. even with all of you, he'd rather hug you than ask how your day is.
and it's fine, usually. you don't want to push him.
you also don't want to have to bail him out of jail.
“okay. good. if this ever happens again i'm homeschooling you.”
megumi doesn’t seem to mind this, shrugging at the threat.
you pause, then say, “actually, satoru is homeschooling you.”
the boy frowns.
satoru nudges your side, giving you a skeptical look. “no punishment? he’s just free to go? last time i tried to—“
“you were trying to put megumi in a headlock.”
“he was eating the last mochi! he knew i was saving it.”
you scowl at him. “it’s not even his fault,” you say, looking pointedly at him. then you brighten. “and he has to deal with you every day, that’s punishment enough.”
satoru opens his mouth, holding a hand in the air. then he closes it.
you turn around to see megumi smirking at him.
you roll your eyes. “what do you want to tell tsumiki?”
you'll have to pick her up in an hour or two, and she's going to ask questions. plus, megumi's scratched-up hands are not very discreet.
megumi’s face falls. “um—“
satoru starts laughing beside you, body shaking against yours, and you feel like there’s about to be another fight.
but at least you’re not upset anymore.
megumi says something to satoru--like shut up--but you're not really listening anymore. just looking between the two like they aren't the most important, special things in the world to you.
whatever happens, you think, is satoru's fault.
*
next part | series masterlist
#gojo satoru#gojo satoru x reader#jjk gojo#jujutsu gojo#gojo x reader#gojo smut#satoru gojo#gojo x you#gojo x y/n#gojo satoru x you#gojo satoru x y/n#gojo satoru fluff#satoru gojo x reader#satoru gojo x you#satoru gojo x y/n#satoru gojō x reader#satoru gojo fluff#jujutsu kaisen x reader#jujutsu kaisen#jjk fanfic#jjk x reader#a typical family
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Hi again, lovely! Would it be alright to please request Bada x F! Idol reader with smut at the end? Where they've been together for years and are engaged but keeped it private. But then reader decides to surprise Bada at the SWF 2 final to support her and when Bebe wins, Bada can't hold back and runs to reader picking her up and kissing her, shocking everyone, that's how they reveal their relationship to the world. And maybe afterwards they have their own private celebration at home after team bebes win.
The Winner Takes It All
Pairing: Bada x reader
Synopsis: you attend the swf2 final show to support your very secret fiancée. she decides to spill the secret in front of everyone
Warnings: fluff, only suggestive at the end sorry anon :'(
Note: i just realized that for me it's common sense that the reader is always a girl? that's why i never feel the need to mention it above there but i realized it might not be the case for everyone? so to clarify BADARI IS FOR THE GIRLIES!!!
Masterlist
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
You’ve never thought about getting married, let alone this young. The whole ‘you haven’t met the right man’ rhetoric was the most annoying thing you’ve ever heard in your life. Because you had to meet the right woman. In the span of your six year relationship, Bada had managed to change your entire perspective. In particular, the most impressive thing she did was getting you engaged last year. You didn’t expect it, although she would drop hints and questions here and there to find out if you would say yes. She didn’t want to pressure you but the moment had to be special, unforgettable and most of all a surprise. Of course you said yes.
It didn’t mean that your relationship went public, though. You were quite comfortable with having your closest people only know. You had her only to yourself. No imprudent questions, no expectations and no judgement from anyone. You had her only to yourself and you both enjoyed the quiet and intimate moments you shared. On top of it, Bada had her career which involved a lot of time and networking, not to mention she was gradually getting more and more popular. She was the talk of town and, frankly speaking, neither of you wanted your relationship to be a public subject debated on online forums and social media platforms’ comment section.
She always had to remind you that you were an idol and the relationship would have impacted your carieer even more than hers. You were rarely seen together in public and you were thankful for that because it was already very hard to hide. She was working with SM mostly and you got to meet her through a common friend that was a stylist. You both agreed that if you would ever work together your relationship would be too obvious, so you avoided that as much as you could. Things had to remain secret.
But the exact opposite was happening right now. You leaned your head against your girlfriend’s shoulder, unlocking your phone again.
“Unnie, leave them be.” Minah said, noticing you were checking the comments again. She was sitting next to you at the table and took it upon herself to pour you another shot of alcohol.
“I don’t know why I’m so pressed about it.” You said, sighing and locking the phone and putting it on the table. Bada only looked at you briefly from the side of her eye while taking care of the meat on the grill in the middle of the table.
“What Bada unnie did was sooo cool, though.” Cheche joined. “I’m sure things will be easier now.”
“Maybe you’ll enjoy outdoor dates more now.” Tatter chimed in.
“Guys, we’re here to celebrate we won the show.” Bada said in a cute scolding tone. You knew she noticed talking about it only made you more anxious. “Gimme that.” She took your phone from the table and put it in her pocket.
She had asked you several times if what she did was wrong. And every time your answer was no. Because, to be completely honest, you agreed with Minah. What Bada, your fiancée, did was very cool and very romantic.
Only a couple of hours ago you were still waiting for the final results of the Street Woman Fighter 2 finale. If your girlfriend was popular before, her popularity was now exploding. Joining the show along with her crew had her in the spotlight, and many people found out about her talent through it. But it also meant that she had become busier than ever. More tired than ever. More stressed than ever. There had been so many days when you wanted to drop by and bring some freshly cooked food for her and her team, especially noticing how she was losing weight as much as she was losing sleep. But you couldn’t. All eyes were on her more than ever, and your relationship was still secret.
However, what you could do was be there for her at the most important moment of the show. You didn’t tell her but had been invited by the producers to be one of the few celebrities that attended the live broadcast, especially since people knew you were good friends with most of the 1million girls. In truth, you accepted the invitation because of Bada.
When she saw you for the first time she was sitting in the backstage, anxiously waiting to be called on stage. Daniel asked you to share your feelings on being there so you did your best to cheer on all teams equally and have a professional speech. Her face lit up immediately and it took her all self control not to wave at you through the screen like a five year old full of excitement, knowing she was filmed. She always went the extra mile in dancing whenever you were watching and the performances were completely out of this world. You loved it as a whole, all the team did an amazing job, but your eyes shifted to wherever Bada was at, being completely mesmerized by her. You knew how much she had worked to be there. After the performance was over all you wanted to scream out for everyone to hear was that she was your girl and you were so proud of her. You only cheered along with the audience, hoping she would know your feelings.
The most nerve wrecking moment was Daniel announcing the winner. Your heart was beating out of your chest as you looked at all the girls in BEBE team holding hands, praying their name would be called out.
And it was.
Maybe Bada was too drunk on victory. Or maybe not being able to express her happiness when she saw you in the audience was too much for her to handle. Or maybe she was simply too overwhelmed. In any case, you didn’t expect her following actions. After her never ending speech, thanking everyone she could name, checking her piece of paper where she had previously written her thoughts, she kept looking at you. For a moment, you thought that she would do something reckless and say your name in the speech. But she handed Tatter the microphone instead. They were running out of time anyway.
You wanted to hug her so badly. Tell her how proud you were. How much she meant to you. That you always believed in her. But, as you stood there in the crowd, the stage got full of people as the other contestants went to congratulate the winners. You pressed your lips together, trying to suppress the feeling of your heart aching. You were happy for her. Immensely so. But, for the first time, you hated this secret relationship thing you had. The live broadcast was finished already but your girlfriend was still busy chatting with people on the stage.
You noticed Bada hugging and thanking everyone for their kind words. However, she was growing impatient by the minute and it was harder and harder for her to respect the formalities and avoid being rude to everyone trying to talk to her. She wanted to go to you. She wanted to share this moment with you, her girlfriend, her fiancée, her soulmate. After hugging some people and taking some pictures she’d had enough. Bada hopped down the stage, not even minding to take the stairs on the side. Your eyes widened, not knowing what she was about to do. Or rather, because you knew exactly what she was about to do. She walked in your direction, some people still around you, most of the celebrities already gone after the results were out. You heard them talking, squealing. She only looked at you, her chocolate eyes making you weak in your knees. Bada stopped right in front of you and cupped both of your cheeks as she leaned down and kissed you. Her plump lips pressed against yours firmly, as if she wanted to get under your skin. Your hands instinctively grabbed her blue leather jacket, pulling her closer, forgetting everything and everyone around you for a brief and blissful moment.
To say that everyone was in shock would be an understatement. The sounds of reality came back to you as she pulled away, pressing her lips together and looking at you like a kid that just broke something he was told to be careful with. Around you some people had their phones in their hands, recording. Some started talking quietly to each other, letting out exclamations that weren’t that subtle. Some were too surprised to do anything. Even the loud laughter and chatting from the stage stopped, turning into a faint murmur. You suddenly felt anxious, noticing all those eyes on you.
However, Bada just pulled you by the hand and forced you to follow her up the stage, which for a moment gave you even more anxiety. She took a mic while still holding your hand firmly, speaking on a very bright yet nervous voice.
“Uhm, yes!” She started with a loud voice. She always did that when she was anxious, speaking loudly as if trying to snap herself out of it. “I've known y/n for quite a while and not through our jobs as artists. This is the person I want to give my biggest thanks to, the one who has been next to me at my worst and is here with me at my best. Y/n is my girlfriend, my fiancée and the best person I could ever ask for.”
You didn’t really remember how you got to the restaurant after that. All you knew was that all the contestants flocked around you, congratulating you, calling you pretty, teasing Bada and asking if you were alright since you looked rather pale. Some of them were your fans even and they scolded your girlfriend for not introducing you sooner. The members of team Bebe tried sheltering you as much as they could and you eventually ended up in a car with Tatter driving and Bada sitting with you in the backseat. You only came to your senses after munching on some meat and, most importantly, two shots of alcohol.
All of these events flashed in your mind in the span of a moment and you realized you might have had a panic attack back then. However, going out to celebrate with team Bebe was good for you. They were loud and happy and you would forget the stress of your now public relationship at times. Even if you felt the need to check once again what people were saying and what videos were circulating online, Bada had your phone and she wasn’t going to let you cause more stress to yourself.
***
You got home very late, after driving the younger members home safely. You were both exhausted, especially your girlfriend since she had been up all day, rehearsing, performing, stressing out. However, probably because of the alcohol at the celebration or simply because she was finally alone with you after a long time, she was feeling very frisky. She was touching you with every occasion she got, her hands roaming over your thigh or back more than necessary ever since you were at the table, making you feel a little embarrassed in front of her friends.
When you got home it only got worse. And, even though you were tired, you allowed her to kiss you and touch you all over, loving the way her skin felt on top of yours. However, after letting her have her way, you pushed her away, down against the mattress and she looked at you with surprised eyes, worried she might have done something wrong.
“Are you mad because of what I did?” She asked from the hundredth time. She was only wearing her bra and her hair was scattered on the sheets around her head and over her shoulders.
“I’m actually happy about it.” You said pushing strands of hair away from her chest as an excuse to gently touch her skin.
“But… you’ve been checking whatever people are saying the whole night.” You looked at her plump lips and half opened tired eyes and wondered how you could ever be mad at her. "What's going to happen now?"
“Whatever.” You said. “My management will do some damage control.” You looked at her with a gentle but tired smile on your face, taking in every detail of her face. You didn't need alcohol to be drunk on love. “You’re the winner tonight. You deserve a prize.” She started grinning like an idiot in anticipation.
“What could that be-“ She hummed but her words turned into a moan as you leaned down and licked a line from her collarbone up her neck and under her jaw. Her hands grabbed you by the waist, fingers digging into your skin as you continued to leave wet kisses along her neck. She tried grabbing your face to pull you into a kiss she was desperate for, but you only pulled her hand away above her head.
“I said you deserve a prize. Just sit back and enjoy it.” You said, your lips only inches away from hers, and you felt her hips shift under your weight in an attempt to create some friction between the two of you. “We’ll get to that soon, love.” You continued, knowing exactly what she was looking forward to. Her hand relaxed in your grip and her whole body eased up, ready to received whatever you were about to do.
“Being a winner really is great.” She managed to say before turning into a moaning mess under your touch.
tags: @ssc7514
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Hi, I was going through some of your old posts and wanted to clarify something. Do you think transfems can have internalized misogyny? Are they in your experience especially prone to sexism from having grown up as someone assigned male at birth?
weird vibes from this ask, i can’t tell if you’re trying to bait me or genuinely curious. if it’s bait, get fucked. in case it’s not, here’s my answer:
i think anyone can struggle with internalized misogyny or internalized patriarchy, especially women or people who are expected to be women. and, as the name would suggest, trans women are women. when a woman is told by society that her worth is in her appearance, and she internalizes that and starts judging herself based on those patriarchal expectations, that’s internalized misogyny. this is especially compounded for trans women and trans femmes, whose identity is already questioned by society. they face extremely intense scrutiny to look or act a certain way, to hold a certain societal role to “prove” their womanhood or femininity, so it’s not surprising that many struggle with internalized misogyny and judging themselves on the patriarchal norms that are violently forced on them. so yeah not only do i think they can have internalized misogyny, i think it’s inevitable for them to struggle with at some point on their transition journey simply because of how inescapable misogyny is in our society.
in terms of “socialization” based on agab, i think the entire concept is flawed. we’re all socialized to act a certain way based on our upbringing and environment, and very often our agab influences that, but there is no universal “afab/amab experience” and simply being raised as a boy or a girl doesn’t make you inherently more or less prone to sexism. i’ve known cis men who are staunch feminists because of their upbringing, who always work to dismantle patriarchal norms in the spaces they’re in. i’ve also known cis women who were deeply misogynistic and deeply harmed the people in their lives because of their insistence on forcing patriarchal norms onto them.
i’m not going to pretend i haven’t had bad experiences with individual trans women being sexist or misogynistic, but that’s because trans women are in fact people and people aren’t perfect. i have experienced misogyny from many different kinds of people, and the thing it always has in common is an attempt to make sure everyone’s staying in their patriarchy-prescribed box. we’ve all grown up in a sexist and misogynistic society that impresses on us how important it is to stay in our box and make sure others stay in their box.
we all have things to unlearn, including trans people. being trans doesn’t magically absolve us of doing that work. unfortunately that means there are going to be instances where trans people, including trans women and trans femmes, perpetuate misogynistic or sexist rhetoric. but i have found that offline the vast majority of my conversations with trans women and trans femmes about my experiences with misogyny and sexism go something like this:
“i face this as a trans man.”
“woah i had no idea, thanks for telling me. i relate to this tangentially because of the way trans people often have multiple gender roles forced on us at once.”
“wow i love connecting with other trans people through common experiences even if they might not be 1:1.”
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Hi hi! I hope this isn’t too much to ask as a new follower but thoughts and drabbles on brat tamer Jotaro x fem!reader ⁉️🤯
a/n- TYSM FOR BEING MY FIRST JOJOS ASK :3 i am a whore for this man. (v sorry if this is lacking)
Also to clarify, this is part 4 + jotaro 😓
content / warnings - pussy spanking, slight degrading language
MDNI!!
Both of you had attitude problems and quick tempers, often pissing each other off without much effort. More so you setting him off than the other way around.
You were playful, teasing. Always at the wrong times. He swears he can't take you anywhere without you doing something to embarrass him.
He wouldn’t say anything of it while you were out, however. You’d continue on thinking it was just a silly game, that there wouldn’t be repercussions.
Until you got home.
Then you’d be bent over his knee without warning, pants dropped down to your ankles. You’d laugh like it’s fun, only egging him on more. You were immune to it at this point.
He’d spank your ass until you gave him the proper apology he wanted or until he felt bad for hurting you.
This time, however, his palm firmly strikes your cunt, making your giggling come to a halt.
Not what you were used to.
“Feels different, hm?” he asks rhetorically, striking again without warning. “If you were a good girl, I wouldn’t have to be mean.”
It was different. It stung, yet at the same time it made you throb.
Tears fill your lash line, threatening to spill over. The pauses between hits just made it worse. And the cool air did nothing to simmer the burning feeling between your legs.
Even so, your arousal was clear. Exposed for his all seeing eyes.
“Such a slut,” he grunts, his hand slapping against your clit once more. “Getting wet from your punishment… supposed to be learning a lesson.”
Your whines fill the room with every slap, and he doesn’t even consider stopping until you beg for him to. You give your usual apology, but he’s not buying it. Seems you never really mean it considering the repetition.
His fingers drag through your slick, just enough to ease and distract from the pain for a moment.
“Promise me you’ll behave, and i’ll let you cum.”
#jotaro kujo#jotaro x reader#jotaro kujo x reader#jjba smut#jotaro smut#drabble#jojos bizarre adventure#jojos bizzare adventure x reader
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How to construct character psychology!
– Introduction
Hello hello! :D I’ve been very slow with my writing lately due to uni work (and some unforeseen health issues), but I’d like to still be able to make content and be interactive in the writing community, so I’m here again to share some advice based on my own experiences! One of my favourite things about writing is writing characters, specifically constructing a character’s psychology. I’d like to preface this post by saying that while I’ve had formal classes in psychology, I’m by no means any sort of expert within the field, and I also don’t believe that every aspect of how a character is written needs to be rooted in realism. However, I do want to share some insights that I got from it, and also because I feel like “character psychology” has this very mystified weight to it that makes it seem a lot bigger and intimidating than it needs to be.
So! My goal is just to share some advice on how to break down a character’s psychology and work from there! If you like what you read and would like to read more, I’ve also written a post about creating “complex” characters, which you can find the link to here! Aaand yes I think that’s about all I have to say beforehand, I hope you enjoy :,)
What do I mean when I say psychology?
Before getting into the nitty-gritty, I’d like to start with the basics, just to make sure people are on the same page when reading this post. When I’m talking about psychology here, I’m specifically referring to a character’s cognition, as in how they process information and act on it/make judgments. I’m not necessarily referring to personality in this case (although personality is an aspect of psychology, but I’m more so referring to personality as a consequence of cognition here, rather than as a collage of traits and behaviour).
Another thing I want to clarify is that exactly how much of human behaviour is nurture vs nature is a hotly debated topic that I’m completely under-qualified to take a stance on, but for the sake of this post; I believe both are equally essential aspects of human behaviour, so just keep that in mind! (I’m looking at any behaviourists in the chat rn). That being said; I’m not really comfortable treating psychology as “nature” (as such rhetorics are often used in gender-essentialist and other bigoted ways of thinking), so my main focus will be nurture, since that’s what is most readily observable!
Determining character motivation
If you’re working with very little or bare minimum characterization, my recommendation is to consider; what motivates a person to act? And by this, I’m not referring to the external quest or goal behind the character, but rather, what’s the core of what motivates your character to act at all? Even in grand, epic adventures of good vs evil, where the external goal is as simple as “putting an end to whatever evil the bad guys are doing”, there needs to be a reason a character is specifically on the side that they’re on. Multiple characters can be on the same side, but they might find themselves on that side for vastly different reasons, even when their exterior goals are the same. From there, you’ll want to consider what informs this motivation in particular.
One technique I love to employ, when still figuring out my character, is to have them make some sort of bizarre decision, a decision I’d initially think to be improbable for this particular character, and then try to list off various justifications or variables that would allow for this character to make this particular decision. There’s a couple of reasons for why I do this.
1) It removes some of the pressure to have a perfectly cohesive, perfectly put together and neatly defined character from the get-go. The drafting process isn’t just for plot and story structure’s sake, it’s also there for you to experiment with characters! Having your characters make story altering decisions that possibly challenge or contradict themselves is a great way to make sure that you’re writing active characters as opposed to more passive ones, and I think the first couple of drafts should really be a playground for you to see just how far you can stretch your characters based on their characterisation.
2) It helps me clarify what is and isn’t important in my character’s decision making. I’m a firm believer that most decisions/actions aren’t inherently in or out of character; it just depends on whether or not the readers/viewers can understand the character’s thought process behind their decision, and this ultimately comes down to how well you, as the writer, conveys the character’s priorities when they make decisions. If you’re established that a character acts based on a code of honour, an exterior source to morality and conduct, then the justifications and reasonings they would use to justify murder would likely be very different than a character who acts based on their own convictions. This is also a great way to show character development; by showing how a character’s decisions gradually change as their cognition change as they develop.
3) It allows me to explore nuance and make note of potential contradictions within the character’s way of thinking—which is often the most interesting aspects of a character’s psychology, at least in what I enjoy to write and read. Most real people don’t have perfectly cohesive morals, and most people can’t always act congruently with their morals either, so allow for your characters to make some bizarre decisions! See how far you can stretch their cognition! These decisions don’t have to be canon to the story, but it’s a good way to actually solidify what line of thinking your character makes when faced with difficult and potentially morally indicative choices.
Work your way backwards!
If you already have the overall traits and behavior of your character pinned down, you can always work your way backwards! As a pantser, this is a very common occurrence for me. I have a character with a clear goal and defined characteristics, but they’re completely uninformed so far, as I usually discover the cause of their motivation and characteristics as I write the story. As such, most of my characters don’t have any sort of backstory established until I’m much further into the process, as I discover it as I go along. So here’s some things I look out for in my character writing when creating a backstory after I’ve already established a character.
1) What are some things the character is often drawn towards? Humans are typically very habitual, a lot of us enjoy some sense of familiarity (to varying degrees depending on the person), and taking note of what your character tends to gravitate towards can be a great stepping stone to fleshing out backstory. An example could be a somewhat cold, stoic character who’s incredibly picky with their relationships due to trust issues (pretty common characterization) has a tendency to let their guard down more when around elderly people. Why is that? Maybe they were raised by very old parents, or even grandparents. Maybe it’s a cultural thing to treat elderly with more respect. Maybe it’s a religious thing. Maybe it’s because elderly people have treated them with more kindness in the past, etc. Note that this can be flipped too! Maybe this character feels uneasy around people closer to their own age, or even people who are younger than them.
2) How does your character socialize? The way a character approached social settings can often be very indicative of how they were raised, as that tends to affect how people form attachments (according to attachment theory in psychoanalysis, at least). Are they very sociable? If so, why? Is it because they’re accustomed to being around a lot of people? Maybe they had a very large family, or maybe they had a family that took part in a very active social sphere. Maybe this character just comes off as sociable because they understand the value of social connections. Why’s that? Maybe their family have a political influence, or maybe they have a business they want to sell, etc. Or maybe it’s the complete opposite; maybe this character grew up with little to no family at all, and that’s why they want to make friends and connections. If so, then maybe that affects how they make decisions, leaving them incredibly loyal and somewhat co-dependent. Even the smallest character traits and behaviours can be expanded upon to inform you of how that character was possibly raised, it’s really just about digging into said behaviour!
3) How receptive are they to new experiences or other people’s perspective? This is also somewhat linked to attachment theory, but it doesn’t have to be approached that way! The reason I bring this point up is because I find that a character’s receptiveness is often a good way to gauge their relationship with their parent. For example, a character with very strict, traditionalist parents might adopt that outlook on life because it offers them a sense of stability and security. They weren’t raised to be adaptable or to adjust themselves to new experiences, and thus have a difficult time accepting things outside of their established paradigm. This would suggest that this character likely didn’t rebel much to their parents’ outlooks on things (or if they tried, they failed), since they adopted said outlook for themselves. Another way to write this character (with the same premise) is to have them react in the opposite way; maybe they are super open and receptive because the rigidness of their parents prevented them from ever experiencing anything. Maybe the status quo bored them, or maybe they see their parents as narrow minded. This characterisation suggests that there’s possibly more tension (not necessarily in a negative way) between the character and their parents.
Interplay between morals & behaviour
A character’s morals and behaviour don’t always have to align. Like I mentioned in an earlier point, humans hold a lot of contradictions, and how people cope with those contradictions can vary. However, how do you determine if a contradiction is purposeful rather than a case of out-of-character writing?
Let’s say you have a character who views all animals as sacred, and this is something they were raised with. Suddenly, this character is thrust into a situation in a different world/kingdom/region/etc. where eating animal meat is the only viable food option to survive. They decide to do it, despite their morals directly conflicting with this behaviour.
One way this character might justify this is by thinking “well, my intentions matter most, and my intention was never to hurt animals, so while I feel bad for killing an animal for food, my intentions of doing so respectfully makes this action more acceptable to me.”
But another character in the exact same situation might not be satisfied with such logic. Maybe they see intentions as irrelevant, and only care about the consequences of their actions. If it’s been established beforehand that a character is consequentialist, then this action, paired with the justification above, would feel incredibly out of character, because the logic behind the justification is not intuitive to the reader.
Whether a contradiction feels purposeful or out-of-character ultimately boils down to what information and how much of it you’ve given to the readers, so that they have the information necessary to break down the interplay between the character’s morals and behaviour.
Using other tools (cognitive functions, socionics, enneagram, etc.)
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I’m very interested in various types of typology (mbti probably being the most popular and well known one), and while I consider all forms of typology to fall under pseudo psychology, I often use these tools to help me better understand my own characters better! I personally gravitate towards cognitive functions (which is not the same system as mbti, even though it uses the same letter system) as they help me put into words my character’s cognition, and enneagram, which describes behaviour and motivations that arise from a person’s upbringing and coping mechanisms. There’s other things you can take into consideration as well, like socionics, temperaments, attitudinal psyche, etc!
I’m not suggesting you use these as replacements for developing characters, but they can be great supplements when trying to dig deeper into your character’s psychology! I’d also argue that you get more out of putting these systems into use if you learn about typology and analyse your characters yourself instead of taking a test for them, but I’m also very biased in this regard, since I enjoy analysing my characters myself :,) And there are times where I’ll take a few tests to help solidify my breakdown if I’m having a difficult time labelling my character correctly. Honestly, just have fun with it!!
– Outro
Sorry for yet another lengthy post! And sorry it was a bit later than I’d anticipated, I had a much busier weekend than I thought I’d have, so I kept having to squeeze writing in anytime I had enough spare time to sit down, and then I stumbled across a series of health complications that I’m still trying to sort out. Which, speaking of, thank you so much to everyone who’s been wishing me good luck! I’m still working on figuring out what’s wrong, but I’m making progress!
As usual, my asks and messages are always open, so feel free to shoot me a message about anything! Even if I may be slower with my replies ^^; Thank you for reading! <3
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I know the debate died down a while ago, yet I still constantly hear the rhetoric that aros are inherently un-queer and non-lgbt.
Yes, it is slightly different from the other queer identities due to the lack of attraction that is integral to the identity. Nonetheless, I will defend aros with all my might.
Just because it is “different” doesn’t mean it doesn’t belong in the community. Yes, it may be different because of the lack of attraction inherent to the identity and the disconnect from sexuality. And, that doesn’t matter. Not one bit. It diverges from the heteronormative and amatonormative.
I’ve seen people try and justify its exclusion by stating it is not discriminated against. They’re wrong. They couldn’t be any more wrong.
It faces discrimination like many other queer identities, but in different ways. It faces aphobia and prejudice, amatonormativity, and ignorance.
But that is beside the point, discrimination shouldn’t qualify you for queerness, your queerness does. Thus, aromanticism is a queer identity.
To further clarify, I define the word ‘queer’ as an identity that diverges from the normalities in today’s society surrounding gender and sexuality. And I’d be dense if I said that didn’t include aromanticism!
#lgbtq#lgbtqia#aroace#aro#arospec#aro positivity#aromanticism is valid#aromantic#aphobia is a real thing and aromantics are as discriminated as any other queer identity#aphobia#arophobia#aro pride#aromantic spectrum#aromance#aromanticism#aro spec#aroallo
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Brodie Sampson was a foreboding man, but he somewhat reminded Robin of his father; tough and weathered on the outside, with a soft, gooey centre reserved for those who knew him closely. His voice was gruff when he finally decided to speak.
“I thought I told you not to wander off-.. and who is this?”
Alex rolled her eyes, resenting the way her father constantly scolded her for leaving the watchtower, despite the fact that he left for hours and hours every day.
“I was bored, and this is Robin-.. but he can’t talk.”
Brodie scoffed, “That’s convenient.”
“He’s fun and nice, don’t stress over it-.. please?” Alex asked, or rather, demanded, throwing a dusty notepad and a pencil in front of Robin. He’d promised to write his address down for her so she could write to him, they were going to be pen-pals!
Brodie grumbled, immediately dropping any misgivings, just as Alex had asked. “What do you want from the store?”
“Gummy worms!” Alex shouted.
“You’ll have no teeth left…” Brodie tutted, grabbing his coat.
“They’ll grow back.” Alex shoved a finger in her mouth, prodding the exposed gum where her front teeth used to be.
“Hm-.. you better get yourself gone soon, son. I’m sure your parents are wondering where you are.” Brodie squinted at Alex as he headed out, as if to warn her against convincing Robin to stay any longer; she stuck her tongue out at him.
Robin nodded as Brodie left, hastily scrawling down the rest of his address. He wondered if he ought to write anything else, an apology perhaps? He felt bad that he hadn’t managed to speak to Alex yet, but he was going home soon, so the opportunity had already passed. Maybe he didn’t have anything interesting to say, anyway.
“He’s nice really, he’s just-.. moody, or whatever.”
Robin forced a smile as she continued.
“It’s so not fair, having to stay cooped up in here all day-.. what does he expect?”
Robin supposed he expected his daughter to listen to him, though he also supposed it wasn’t fair that she had to stay here alone every day either. Did she go to school? Were they on some kind of permanent vacation? He’d have to remember to ask her when they wrote to one another, they’d have more chance of getting to know each other that way-.. especially since he still seemed unable to talk like a normal human being.
Alex hovered at the top of the staircase, blocking Robin’s path.
“I don’t want you to go-.. home, I mean.” She clarified.
For some reason, Robin found it hard to read Alex, but he could sense enough to know that she was lonely. She seemed much more present than anyone else he knew; often avoiding thinking about the past or the future, or ruminating on her thoughts for too long, instead acting on contagious, frivolous impulsiveness.
He couldn’t decide whether it was refreshing or frustrating. He’d gotten used to knowing what went on in people’s minds, and whether he liked it or not, Alex was an enigma. Robin would’ve done anything to avoid going home-.. and back to school, but since he couldn’t say so out loud, he did the next best thing.
“Ough!” Alex squeaked with surprise as Robin yanked her off her feet, wrapping his arms around her in a vice like bear hug.
Since he was so awkward with his words-.. or lack thereof, she’d wrongly assumed he’d be weirded out by physical affection too. Giggling slightly, she decided it was quite nice to be wrong. Her father wasn’t exactly a hugger, and it wasn’t as though she had anyone else she could randomly accost with her need for affection, people would think she was odd or clingy.
“I guess you don’t want to go either?” She asked, almost rhetorically.
Robin shook his head vigorously, tilting backwards precariously until Alex squealed again.
“Okay, okay, you can put me down now.. I promise I’ll write!”
Previous // Next
#ts4#sims 4#simblr#ts4 story#sims story#forever in between#fib#robin finch#alexandra sampson#brodie sampson#helppppppp they're too cute#i need to go lay down#let's just stay here forever#😭#forever in between is now forever camping fkjdkfj
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Oh. “Zombie Boy” is a homophobic nickname
I guess this should’ve been pretty obvious. I mean, Will is a confirmed gay character, who is walking around town and having a mean nickname constantly hurled at him. Clearly there is some queercoding in that.
But does that mean that the nickname is homophobic in universe? If that were the case, why not just call him homophobic slurs in the first place?
The nickname Zombie Boy always was kind of strange to me as well. Why make fun of a kid for coming back to life? Wouldn’t that be a cool thing? Maybe it’s a little odd, but why be so mean about it?
Unless it’s not the only thing they’re making fun of him for
TW for discussion of rape below cut
To understand the intent behind the Zombie Boy nickname, we need to go back to Will’s dissapearance in season one. Our boy Troy lays it out pretty plainly what everyone in town thinks happened to Will.
Not just that Will was killed, but clarified as “killed by some other queer.” The emphasis on sexuality adding an implication to his statement. What Troy is really trying to say is that Will was raped and then killed by a gay man, otherwise why bring up sexuality at all?
And to be fair to Troy, that is kind of what happened.
But of course the town doesn’t know this. The story that was told is that Will only got lost in the woods. That was the story published in the Hawkins Post, so that’s what everyone believes, right?
This is the version of events that Lucas tells Max, and he is immediately met with skepticism from her. Lucas then tells Max not to ask Will about it because he’s very sensitive about it.
I’m not saying that the town believes that there is something supernatural going on, but rather I’m thinking that the people of Hawkins at least suspect that there is something about Will’s disappearance that is not being talked about openly. Let’s not forget that the “Zombie Boy” note that Will receives in his locker is a desecration of the news article sharing his story.
So here’s what the town initially believed happened: Will was kidnapped and raped by a gay man before being thrown into the quarry.
And here’s what the town knows: Will went missing and was found in the woods before being hospitalized. He is very sensitive about the topic and doesn’t like to talk about it. After being released from the hospital, he is now occasionally pulled out of school early for doctor’s appointments—
Oh.
I mean, it is any coincidence that all of this is happening while Reagan’s name is plastered all over town? Is it just a coincidence that the anniversary of Will’s disappearance falls right on Reagan’s reelection day?
And just to cut through all the shit and stop being vague, I’m talking about the AIDS epidemic of the 80’s, and yes I think that part of the town believes that Will has it.
I recently read a post from @emblazons that struck me with just how laden the AIDS metaphor is in season. To quote the post as best I can, there is something described like a disease attacking Will’s body and slowly killing him, and the Reagan administration government scientists are trying their best to prevent the truth from spreading and view the possible death of a queer person as a non-issue.
Starting to think about it through this lens, a “zombie” is the perfect metaphor for how Hawkins now views Will. He isn’t technically dead, but they suspect he has a disease with an incredibly low life-expectancy at the time, so he’s essentially a walking corpse.
The nickname doesn’t start and end at simply making fun of Will for having a disease. What do zombies do? They try to bite and turn other people into zombies.
The town doesn’t just see Will as someone who has been infected by someone else with an illness, but as someone who has been infected and is going to spread his illness around.
The rhetoric regarding queers as people who spread disease and kill continues in season 4, when we see Eddie reading the article that links sodomy with satanic practices, violence and murder. We then go on to see the entire town blame Eddie and his group of “satanic” outcasts for spreading death in the town. This attitude is certainly not lost on Hawkins, and the show doesn’t shy away from showing it.
The way that characters in the show use and react to Zombie Boy match this as well. There is a certain level of vitriol that comes with Zombie Boy, and the nickname is what leads Jonathan and Will into their extremely coded conversation about being a freak.
If Zombie Boy is an intentionally homophobic nickname, then does that mean that in this scene she's actually saying...?
So I actually don’t think that Snowball Girl is being intentionally homophobic here (although, saying what is essentially “Hey f*****, wanna dance?” is still CRAZY)
I think it’s less realistic if the entire town is in on this conspiracy and more believable if say, the nickname was started intentionally as a homophobic jab by some of the townsfolk, but is ambiguous enough to be picked up by more naïve kids like Snowball Girl who may not realize the actual meaning behind it. It may seem like it’s only about his ressurection on the surface, but when you peel back the layers you see just how offensive it really is.
Using a vague nickname is also very intentional by the Duffers as well. If they wanted to be subtle about Will’s sexuality before later confirming it, then having a more ambiguous moniker rather than just having the entire town call him an evil queer.
Even if the town really is just making fun of him for coming back to life and nothing else, and there isn’t actually this rampant rumor spreading across Hawkins about Will spreading disease, the heavy coding and intention from the writers is still be there.
#also not mentioned but note: those girls staring at Will as he is leaving for his doctors appointment#even if it is purely metaphor#its still a metaphor for homophobia!#will byers#stranger things#byler#<- target audience#tw rape
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Trying to parse my thoughts on Izzy's death and why I had a different reaction to it than I thought I would. To summarize: I thought I wouldn't like it, but also that they wouldn't do it; the opposite happened– they did it but I'm ok with it.
I'm also feeling like talking through some mourning for an amazing character, so follow along if that's you, too 😌
(I should probably clarify the following thoughts are coming from someone who deeply enjoyed this season.)
I first wondered what would be of Izzy around the end of season 1. I expected him to have a heel-face turn – which I object to calling a redemption arc and I'll get into why, because the distinction ties into his death imo. A lot of antagonistic characters' changes of heart end directly in death, but I thought they'd subvert that trope. And they... did, actually, despite Izzy dying. Not an option I had imagined.
What the show avoided is the logic, the set of tropes attached to the deaths of this kind of character. These deaths usually come as a consequence of the character's changed ethics or "redemption". My being against that scenario came from the diverging natures of traditional redemption arcs and OFMD's rhetoric.
A traditional redemption arc functions by a kind of catholic logic, if you will: the villain can become one of the good guys by balancing out his "sins"/bad deeds with enough good deeds to tip a moral scale. This often involves a purifying suffering, which acts as an agent to expiate one's faults. To the viewer, this suffering can serve to activate our empathy and make the character more sympathetic. It can also legitimize his quest: our trust in the character's good intentions comes from seeing that the character is ready to make sacrifices to become better and he isn't deterred by the hardships of doing the right thing.
The death occurring at the end of a traditional redemption arc acts as the ultimate sacrifice and/or purification. A number of ideas might be at play behind it, depending on each story: only in death can the soul become fully pure, or a final sacrifice is "needed" to demonstrate the change once and for all, or change was only possible up to a point after which there is no viable/acceptable future – the character deserves moral points for changing, but not so many that he also deserves a full life, or past crimes make him more expendable, etc.
But these are all ideas that aren't evoked in any of the crew's journey in OFMD. For starters, the show isn't interested in "catholic" redemption; its focus is on reintegration/rehabilitation into the community. Rather than appealing to the more traditional (in Western media) and more christian principle of "purification of the soul through mortification of the body", it plays with notions of restorative justice.
We see it especially this season with Ed and Izzy. Ed's arc is a whole little lab for it. We have the community being made to decide whether he can stay or should leave; catbell!Ed is made to apologize to the people affected – which he initially does abysmally, with what fandom has dubbed his "CEO's/YouTube apology". Later, he's given the opportunity to have a more honest and genuine conversation with Fang where he learns about how he hurt him. He's made to repair some of the material damage his behavior caused. Some members feel repaid by the idea that they did to him the same he did to them (Fang) while others don't (Lucius), and the show touches on what this means for each/legitimizes both feelings. Arguably, Ed using his treasure to throw Calypso's birthday party – a much needed refrain and moment of social (re-)connection within the community – is an additional form of reparation. While Stede's belief in Ed has a clear role in helping Ed change for the better, Izzy's s2 journey focuses even more intensely on the role of social support within an individual's constructive (re-)integration into their community. The show is condensed by choice of format, but the beats are all there.
With that kind of rhetoric set up, I'd never be able to accept Izzy dying in a way that feels like a punishment for his past crimes, nor in a way that should "confirm" his positive change/"purify" him for good. And he doesn't! By the time he dies, we know full well he's deeply changed, it's already established to completion. How it happens has nothing to do with proving himself – he's randomly shot in battle. It's never questioned that the time he got to live surrounded by affection mattered. The speech he gives Ed is only possible because he's changed, accessing a completely different perspective on piracy/life than before, like we see when he talks to Ricky earlier. The reason the whole crew is paying respect and crying is because he became "the new unicorn", a treasured member with a defined role. But his death itself is the show going back to the initial symbolism of Izzy as ultimate pirate. The narrative function of his death is underscoring that the age of piracy has come to an end. It's nothing to do with his change. It's posited as the "natural conclusion" (again, by symbolic function) of a character that represented piracy through-and-through, not the "natural conclusion" of a process of becoming better.
And for me, that difference changes everything. I can see and accept the logic behind it, even as I mourn Izzy as a character. It makes the grief feel like a catharsis I experience within the context of the story I'm watching, rather than a grief I feel from a show "betraying" me.
It's also a difference that completely changes how Izzy's death relates to his queerness. Izzy's change is intertwined with being able to express queer affection openly. Becoming "a unicorn" is this extremely queer imagery already – a magical rainbow creature. His role becomes akin to a mother to the crew (the mother hen!Izzy many headcanoned last season, tapping into his potential), a position that isn't extraneous to older queens, including our honored real-life mean-old-queer men. Last season he threatened another queer man for showing too much delicacy, effeminacy, vulnerability. Now, his change is a process that culminates in him singing a tender love song among the crew in drag. He's given the privilege of playing the soundtrack to our protagonists making love for the first time, which ties him symbolically to the event in a way it does no other crew member. Suffice it to say that insinuating his process of change should end in death would have been disastrous, as far as I'm concerned. Antithetical to the show's supporting ideology.
But that's not how it went. Grief occupies a big role in the queer community, but it's so rare that we get to experience it cathartically. In real life, we often have to contend with the ways queerphobia causes us trauma or even shortens our lives, or the lives of our friends. In fictional narratives, a lot of characters that get to express queerness unabashedly still die for the transgression. They're still usually the only queer character with relevant screen time or at all, at best one of two that formed a tragic couple.
We almost never have the opportunity to just mourn some motherfucker who died because they meant something else as well that was central to their character. To mourn and know we're mourning someone who wasn't ever punished for being queer-as-in-fuck-you and going all out. To mourn and not feel like it's another message of queer doom, because for once the character is surrounded by an entire crew of other queer characters that go on to live and be happy. To know the story is saying something about life, not about being queer. To know this kind of crafting was deliberate, too, because the creator has talked about working to avoid those tropes. I struggle to remember another time I had the opportunity to grieve for a queer character like they're a human being, without the implication that it's queerness itself that's a death sentence.
And honestly? It feels good. It feels like a form of catharsis I do not dislike. That I'm maybe kinda glad for. OFMD is and stays a magical world. Beyond that, in a show full of queers, one of them dies after getting some extraordinarily meaningful happiness, and it's peaceful, and I get to just be sad for the fucker without the gutting of being reminded that if you're gay, better not shoot too high. It feels like a completely different emotion that no other show, for now, would give me, but OFMD. To me, it's yet another thing it's pulled off.
As it's been known to do.
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ℕ𝕠𝕥 𝕞𝕪 𝕔𝕠𝕕𝕖 - ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕍
[Anakin Skywalker x Padawan!Fem Reader]
Masterlist | Wattpad | AO3
Not My Code Masterlist
Summary: On the day of your knighting, you find yourself forced to confront someone you absolutely do not want to see—at least not in Anakin's company. The presence of your Master's ex-wife at the ceremony has a hidden agenda, but whatever she aims to achieve, you want to be one step ahead.
Warnings: angst | jealousy | kissing | satisfying ending
Author Note: This time, there won't be anything spicy, but let's raise the suspense a bit! We'll delve into some intrigue, but in the end, I hope the conclusion will be satisfying.
Word Count: 3k
The absence of your Padawan's braid behind your ear was a strange feeling, but even though you often complained about how it irritated you and visually ruined your best hairstyles, you held it in your hands with a hint of nostalgia. It marked the end of a very significant chapter in your life, but also the gateway to something, you hope, much better.
The ceremony was beautiful and atmospheric, with surprisingly many guests—not just those you invited through your friendly droid, but also a few important senators, the Chancellor himself... And... Well, speaking of senators...
You knew Padmé Amidala would show up at the ceremony—it wasn't a surprise to you. However, you consistently pushed that awareness to the back of your mind, not allowing thoughts of that 'first encounter' to trouble you.
You didn't look in her direction during the ceremony—your gaze was probing Anakin, who, in turn, didn't even turn his head toward her, which buoyed your spirits.
After the ceremony, you exchanged handshakes and accepted congratulations from guests alongside your Master, who proudly accompanied you throughout. Once you made sure to thank everyone for their attendance, you directed your guests to Dex's diner, reserved for you and your party that evening.
"Are we not all going together?" Obi-Wan asked, standing with Anakin in the temple foyer.
"Go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a moment; I just need to change into something more comfortable." you replied with a smile, gesturing to your elaborately adorned, albeit uncomfortable, outfit worn during the knighting.
"Ten minutes, and we'll be toasting without you, Ma'am." Kenobi summarized, eliciting laughter from you and Skywalker, before slowly making their way toward the exit.
"Um, Anakin!?" you called out while the two were still within your reach.
"Yes?" Skywalker turned toward you.
"Do you have the reservation confirmation with you? Just in case." you asked, and Anakin pulled a paper badge from his belt.
"Better safe than sorry." he replied with a smile, to which you nodded and smiled back. With this brief exchange, you went your separate ways.
..................................................................................................................
Obi-Wan and Anakin walked in silence until they entered one of the lifts in a spacious corridor.
"What was that?" Kenobi suddenly asked, pulling Skywalker out of his reverie.
"What do you mean, Master?" he asked, trying to figure out what had caused such a puzzled expression on Obi-Wan's face.
"You didn't insult each other, neither of you called the other an idiot or showed the middle finger, and to top it off, it's the first time I've heard her call you by your first name." Kenobi clarified, crossing his arms in an 'appraising' manner.
"Did I do something wrong?" Skywalker asked rhetorically.
"No, but any deviation from the norm—in your case, Anakin—especially surprises me." Obi-Wan replied, maintaining his posture.
"I'm just putting into practice what you taught me, Master." added Anakin, smiling proudly at Kenobi.
"Should I be afraid?" asked Obi-Wan, even more bewildered, though surprised.
"Who knows?" Skywalker added with a hint of irony as the lift doors began to open.
The two walked through the deserted ground floor of the temple, which was a straight path to the exit.
"I had something to ask you... How are you feeling?" Kenobi suddenly inquired, taking advantage of the moment.
"I don't quite understand." Skywalker expressed confusion this time.
"It's the first time in a very long time when, you know... the Senator is our guest. I know you've been through rough times, and..."
"Answering your question, Master... I feel better than ever." Anakin interrupted, surprising Kenobi slightly, but internally delighted because the answer to this question—especially recently—hadn't been an easy one for his apprentice.
Obi-Wan regularly posed this question to him, but today, for the first time, he received a determined answer, a response he had been waiting for a long time, perhaps signaling that a painful phase in Anakin's life was finally becoming clear.
"Well... So I guess we'll raise a toast for that as well today." Kenobi added after a moment of silence, and Anakin turned towards him, exchanging a subtle smile.
Soon, the duo reached the exit of the temple, and before them stood the crew waiting by the doors, ready to accompany the two Generals to the diner.
"Finally, so, are we ready to roll?" Rex shouted, gesturing towards Anakin and Obi-Wan.
"This is where the fun begins." Skywalker whispered to Kenobi, and both with smiles, headed towards the crew.
..................................................................................................................
In the meantime, in the absence of the others, you managed to change your outfit in Anakin's quarters, where you had left your more comfortable attire the day before. Along the way, you decided to bring R2 with you, who had been on guard duty.
Once you had smoothed your hair and touched up your nose for the rest of the evening, you closed the door behind you and the droid. With brisk steps, you made your way along the corridor leading to the lifts. At a certain point, you noticed that the door to one of the guest quarters was ajar, and the dead silence in the hall allowed you to hear the conversation emanating from it.
Intrigued by the sound, you stopped. Perhaps you wouldn't have done so if the feminine voice coming from the room didn't sound so dramatic, and perhaps you wouldn't have done so if the room for the night didn't belong to Padmé.
"Maybe you should at least try? If you don't try, you'll never know."
"But how? I can't just approach him and say, 'Hey, let's try again.'"
"But we both know you came here today just to talk to him."
"I know... But I was hoping he'd be the one to approach me first, but he didn't even look at me."
"You can't keep thinking this way forever..."
The eavesdropped conversation ended at this point, and you couldn't steady the trembling of your hands. The overheard words made your blood boil, and you prayed just to manage to keep that feeling inside because Padmé and her handmaiden, with whom she was conversing, were just coming out of the quarters.
"Oh... Hello, it's been so long..." Padmé said with a slightly surprised expression when she saw you standing a few steps in front of the door from which she emerged.
For a long time, you had the habit of bowing, greeting formally and respectfully when it came to politicians - but now, you didn't even blink.
"Do you happen to know if Anakin is in..."
"He's not there." you replied before Padmé could finish her question, to which the woman next to her reacted with a somewhat confused expression.
"Oh, I see... Were you looking for him too?" she asked, aware that not everyone had the right to enter private quarters in the Temple.
"I came to get R2." you replied with a stony face, beneath which a hint of pride could be discerned, a pride that only you could feel.
"Oh." Padmé let out a short sigh, tinged with a hint of uncertainty, and being sure that this was all the senator needed from you, you moved ahead.
"Uh, wait, please..." even though you would rather keep going, not wanting to build such a dramatic aura around you, you stopped and turned your head toward her.
"Congratulations on your new title. I always knew you were capable." You paused for a moment, hearing those words, and forced a fake smile, looking at both women.
"Sure. I mean... Thank you. And now, Senator, I apologize, but I have to go. They're waiting for me." Without waiting for 'permission,' you moved away, and Padmé just nodded, slightly embarrassed, and went with her handmaiden in the opposite direction.
Walking, you replayed Amidala's words in your head. Nasty lies that you wouldn't even buy as a child, because you knew well that she never cared about your development under Anakin's wing.
All that concerned her was his time spent with you, the energy she claimed you were "stealing from him," and the attention she expected but never reciprocated.
Jealousy mixed with fear gnawed at you from the inside – you tried to be confident, tried to think about how Anakin ignored her – but you couldn't stop entertaining dark scenarios.
What if he yielded? What if he gave her a chance? What if her plan was cleverer than yours? The one you were just putting the finishing touches on in your mind because, after all this, you have to prove who's playing the first violin here.
Oh, you didn't even care how dangerous it was in terms of the Jedi Code at the moment; why should it concern you now? Are you supposed to give up and not sleep peacefully?
No way.
..................................................................................................................
Your little 'after-party' helped you calm down significantly. When you entered the venue, Anakin sensed your conflicting emotions, but as you sat next to each other, unnoticed by others, he subtly ran his finger along your thigh, signaling that everything was okay and you shouldn't stress. Of course, he didn't know the exact reasons for your mood, but he felt enough to help comfort you.
The reception went in a truly festive atmosphere—there were 'uncle' jokes from Obi-Wan, who, after a few deep glasses, had everyone in tears of laughter, and toasts in honor of you and your master, which you lost count of after a few hours.
Everyone was getting themselves together and extending their stay, led by Kenobi, whom Rex was helping to stand on two legs. However, you and Anakin decided to slip away to the temple quarters.
"But promise me it's nothing scary!" you said, laughing, as you ran after Anakin to his apartment.
"I promise, I promise!" Anakin replied, amused by your suspicion.
Your hasty escape from the party was initiated by Anakin—he told you he had a gift for you and had been waiting for this day specifically. Throughout the journey to the temple, you kept bombarding Skywalker with questions to which he didn't want to answer because, after all, it was a surprise.
"Ugh! Can you at least tell me where we're going?" you asked impatiently and breathlessly, trying to keep up with Anakin's brisk pace.
"To my quarters!" he replied, winking at you.
"Really? I was there before the reception, and I saw nothing..."
"That means the hideout was a success." Anakin replied, maliciously picking up the pace.
"Damn it!" you muttered, running after your master and catching your breath every now and then.
When you reached the door and the squealing R2-D2, who was also experiencing a pace crisis today, Anakin quickly opened the door, and everyone enthusiastically stepped inside.
"Okay, now just stand here and turn around... Unless I blindfold you with something." Anakin said, pointing towards the corner by the door where you were supposed to stand facing away.
"Okay, I'd rather just turn around. Let's save that for another occasion." you said with a cheeky smile, which Skywalker reciprocated, and you did as he instructed, turning around and putting your hands behind your back.
Anakin stepped back, ensuring that you weren't peeking. Satisfied that you were obedient, he approached one of the hidden compartments in his apartment. You heard behind you the sound of... metal? and heavy, lowering doors, but you patiently waited for the signal to turn around.
"Ready?" Anakin asked, his voice filled with excitement.
"Like never before." you smiled widely but still kept your eyes on the wall in front of you.
"So?" Instead of giving a command, Anakin came over to you. With a gentle move, he grabbed your arms, maneuvering your body so you could turn around and see what he had prepared for you.
"Congratulations, Jedi Knight." he whispered tenderly into your ear, and your eyes widened at the sight of the gift.
"Is this... QT-KT?" you put your hand over your mouth, unable to believe what you were seeing.
"In the flesh." Anakin replied, joyfully watching your reaction.
"What did you..." you started, approaching the droid, which was slowly activating.
"I tinkered with it a bit, gave it some attention, polished it a bit... Well, and I reprogrammed it just for you." Skywalker answered before you could finish your question.
"Are you telling me you did this... for me? Am I to understand that this is my droid?" you asked, looking at your master with immense surprise and affection.
"Yes, indeed. I've been planning it for some time and decided that today would be the right day to give you this little surprise." he replied, joyfully watching you test the functions of your new droid.
Finally, you stood up from a kneeling position, and still in disbelief, you took a few steps toward the large window in the room.
"Anakin... I... I don't know what to say..." you held your head, turning to Skywalker with a broad smile.
Without saying anything, Anakin came over to you and, turning you towards him, embraced you around the waist, and at that moment, your foreheads touched.
"I really don't know how to thank you." you whispered, looking into his eyes, and Anakin hugged you very tightly—due to your height difference—almost lifting you off the floor.
"Just... Be here... With me." hearing those words, not knowing why, you pulled away from Anakin's arm to look him in the eyes.
"Do you mean... Today?" you asked, wanting to dispel your doubts.
"Today..." he left a single kiss on your lips.
"Tomorrow..." he kissed your lips twice.
"Always." he concluded, pressing his lips to yours in a overwhelming, long kiss. Your heart pounded like a hammer hearing those words... Or rather, THAT word...
Your embrace was still very strong, but suddenly you looked aside, through the glass where until now you could mostly see the beautiful, night sky of Coruscant, illuminated by many stars.
Without saying anything more, you gently released yourself from Skywalker's embrace and stood by the window, collecting your scattered thoughts. Anakin's words not only ignited you from the inside, not only melted your heart, but also indicated that the time had come. The time to execute your plan.
"Can I...?" turning your head to Anakin, you pointed to the open entrance to the terrace.
"Sure." Skywalker smiled, gesturing as if to say 'make yourself at home.'
Returning his expression, you went to the terrace, and although for the first few moments, you looked around at the starry sky, your goal was entirely different—and you had it in the palm of your hand.
Anakin was still inside, clicking something with your new droid when you had a moment to look around on your own. It didn't take much for your muscles to tense with determination—your eyes landed on the guest terrace, which for the night was at Padmé's disposal, and it was none other than Amidala standing outside, leaning against the railing, watching the movements of night Coruscant.
She didn't see you. Not yet. But your plan was clear and straightforward—she had to see you, and you had to act.
Now or never.
"In moments like these, I truly appreciate this place... It can be genuinely beautiful here. Despite the war... the fear..." you began speaking slowly, trying to capture Anakin's attention as his slow steps approached you.
He walked with his hands casually folded behind his back, a smile on his face, and you heightened your senses. You were waiting for the moment when you'd feel the gaze on you—this time not Anakin's but from the nearly adjacent terrace.
Your ability to sense glances was always highly developed—you excelled in it even more than Anakin himself, so at least in this regard, you sometimes managed to protect him on the battlefield.
Now, you felt somewhat like you were on a battlefield, waiting for the right moment to use it and do it in the best possible style. But to gain it, you needed to first capture attention.
"Today is exceptionally beautiful here." Anakin said, gently embracing you from behind.
"Because you're here." You grabbed his hands, which were tenderly spread over your stomach, and your eyes almost sparkled from the heard words. Suddenly, you decided to turn face to face with Skywalker and placed your hands on his neck.
"I'll be by your side..." you whispered, watching his eyes scan every inch of your face.
"As long as you want." you finished, being so close to him that you could feel his every breath on your lips. This moment was so priceless for you that you momentarily forgot about your plan, but when it returned to your mind, you once again heightened your senses.
Touching Anakin's face and looking into his hungry-for-kisses eyes, you began to take small steps backward, as if you were about to lean against the fountain wall in the middle of the terrace. However, none of your movements were without purpose.
Already almost leaning against the stone wall, you initiated stumbling over the flat platform separating the fountain from the rest of the space. Hitting the surface with your heel, you produced a dull sound that, you were sure, reached not only the ears of the two of you.
You didn't have to lower your eyes from Anakin to know. To feel that HER gaze landed at the source. That she's already onto you.
"Kiss me." you whispered to Anakin, when he, taking advantage of the new position, leaned you against the fountain wall and threw himself onto your lips in a passionate kiss.
Padmé froze, not believing the sight before her eyes. Not believing that her mission failed so miserably.
She watched.
She watched as her ex-husband kissed you with a passion he might never have given her.
She watched as you touched him as if he were yours, and he touched you as if you were his.
When she almost ran inside, you smiled in the ongoing kiss, knowing that your intrigue had succeeded.
You touched him as if he were yours.
He touched you as if you were his.
Because you were his.
And he was yours.
#anakin fanfic#anakin fanfiction#anakin skywalker#anakin x reader#anakin skywalker x female reader#anakin skywalker x reader#anakin skywalker x you#anakin x y/n#anakin x you#hayden christensen#anakin angst#angst with a happy ending#angst#anakin skywalker angst#anakin skywalker fanfiction#anakin skywalker one shot#anakin skywalker x f!reader#anakin skywalker x y/n#star wars anakin#star wars#star wars fanfiction#star wars rots#anakin needs a hug
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On unhealthy relationship dynamics
A little while ago, I stumbled across a post discussing Aziraphale's character on a meta level, and without knowing the content, I was completely unprepared when one single sentence pushed me from 'uncomfortable but doable' into 'triggered and panicking'. The post itself was triggering from start to finish, but that phrase stood out to me.
Why am I telling you this?
After calming down and thinking about it for a few hours, I realised what exactly my brain had reacted to—victim blaming rhetoric repackaged to fit Aziraphale and Crowley's situation. Victim blaming is, to provide a short summary, the act of putting blame for mistreatment on the victim instead of the perpetrator. It's a concept often used in r/pe discussions, but it can be applied to any abusive or non-abusive situation as long as a power imbalance is created, meaning you have at least one person harming another in whatever shape or form.
If you broaden the definition, you can apply it to more situations, including—and this is where we reach the actual topic—their relationship and the Final Fifteen (F15).
That is exactly what some people have been doing—putting all the blame on Crowley and absolving Aziraphale of any and all responsibility as if it were his fault that Aziraphale broke his heart
Before anyone runs to the comments, let me clarify what I assume will be the FAQ.
no, I do not think Aziraphale is abusive
I do not think that their relationship is abusive either
no, I do not hate Aziraphale
yes, I know what I am talking about
everything I will talk about is largely based on what we as the audience actually see and know, combined with interpretations of the intentional subtext Neil wrote into the show.
I have been actively in this fandom since the second season was released, and I have seen a lot of (hopefully accidental) ableist & generally insensitive takes. These are the ones I see the most and what I personally consider to be important topics of discussion, but the same logic I will be applying to these can be applied to many, many more situations.
Since my meta posts get very long very quickly, I will be posting them in parts and always linking back to the others, plus this one as the masterpost.
Part 1—Nice Is A Four Letter Word
The basic pattern is this:
Aziraphale refers to Crowley with a 'nice' term -> Crowley gets upset and tells him to stop -> Aziraphale hears him but continues anyway.
There are reasons behind Crowley's rejection, and I will go into detail, but I want to make one thing very clear: It does not matter why Crowley asked him to stop. He set a boundary, and Aziraphale repeatedly and intentionally overstepped it; this causes understandable anger and frustration.
Crowley does not owe Aziraphale an explanation, just like you would not owe someone an explanation when you don't want to be called x-term. Mutual respect requires the acceptance of personal boundaries like that, and by breaking them over and over again, Aziraphale tells Crowley that his own wants are more important than Crowley's needs.
In the 1827 Edinburgh flashback, we see the consequences of Crowley doing good/being called good (which are usually connected, meaning if they notice someone is calling Crowley good, he most likely did something to cause that) firsthand, and so does Aziraphale. He gets dragged down to hell and tortured for up to thirty years.
Even before that, Crowley expresses numerous times how hell punishes good deeds, and they are 'always listening' in on him. You would assume that Aziraphale would stop to keep him safe—and yet he doesn't because he cannot accept the reality of Crowley's situation and refuses to listen to him.
On top of that, Aziraphale only ever "praises" Crowley when he does something he personally sees as praiseworthy, aka something good/kind/nice/angelic/etc. but never when it is something that CROWLEY would like to be praised for, or at the very least acknowledged. We see it in season 2 over and over and over again: Aziraphale cares for no one's thoughts or plans except his own and has no interest in even hearing Crowley out.
Aziraphale calling him nice is not a sweet little gesture, it is an intentional overstepping of a boundary Crowley has been trying to enforce for centuries, and it reinforces the dichotomy of good angels/bad demons, with angelic existence being the ultimate goal. At the very least, it's disrespectful towards Crowley, and at worst, it is actively keeping Crowley in a trauma response, tugging on his leash whenever he tries to explain reality to Aziraphale.
To have a healthy relationship, Aziraphale needs to stop.
part 2 - part 3
#alex talks good omens#good omens meta#crowley meta#aziraphale meta#go meta#good omens#crowley#aziraphale#good omens season 2#go2#aziracrow#crowley x aziraphale#ineffable husbands#ineffable wives#ineffable spouses#ineffable divorce#the final fifteen
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While I generally agree with your writings, I find myself confused by the term "Online Leftist". As a 75-year-old who has had a Social Democratic bent (and because of that has seen more of his votes lose than he ever wished in these United States), I have voted in every county-through-federal level election in my life since age 21. I also use social media sparingly, but I feel I certainly could be considered to be a leftist who is online, but I don't share the viewpoint of those you call "Online Leftist". Please clarify the meaning of that phrase in your writings.
I have to add that I've voted third party only once. I voted for John Anderson in 1980 and instantly regretted that action when Ronald Reagan won. (At that time, Jimmy Carter wasn't perceived as the great humanitarian and climate visionary he truly was, and the economy and the hostage crisis ruled the election arguments.) It was a lesson that was hard-earned. Thus in 2016, even though I supported Bernie Sanders's ideas and philosophy, I voted for Hillary because 1) she had unimpeachable (no pun intended) qualifications, and 2) not to vote for her would ensure that a really nasty and incompetent clown would be leading our country.
Thank you for all of your Tumblr postings. I find myself reblogging them hoping to reach the idealistic voter who tends to want to vote "purist" rather than "pragmatist."
The term "Online Leftists," as myself and others use it, refers to the specific group of often-young, often-white, often-western terminally online social media users, usually on Twitter, who post frothing manifestos about how corrupt the world is (specifically, how corrupt and fascist the Democratic Party of America is) and how the only way to fix it is to have some mythical leftist Revolution that will destroy late-stage capitalism and the current world order and somehow have no bad effects whatever and then a magical "progressive" utopia will spring into existence and everything will be fixed. Even the ones who don't go that far are heavily influenced by the ideology that the establishment/country is corrupt beyond repair, voting (especially voting for Democrats) is morally evil and indefensible, that there is no difference between the political parties of America, and that America/the West is the cause of all evil in the world. It has become especially visible with the Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Hamas wars, when they enthusiastically or at least tacitly support Russia and Hamas simply because those states/groups are "anti-western."
It also has to do with the whopping western leftist levels of virulent antisemitism and eagerness to call Israel a "white western colonialist settler state," as discussed in previous posts. Even while they decry Israel's genocide of Gaza, they will twist themselves into knots to excuse Russia's genocide of Ukraine or any legitimacy to a Jewish state or need for Israel to defend its own civilians, because you see, those genocides are committed by people they like in support of something something, Advancing the Great Revolution Cause. This is partly influenced by the belief that modern far-right fascist Russia is somehow a standard-bearer for old-school USSR socialism (which itself was horrifying enough) and should be defended and cheerled as a principled enemy of the West. This is the same group of people who unironically spend all their time posting fulminations that Biden is a genocidal fascist and America is a dictatorship, because they know that literally nothing will happen to them and they will face no real-world consequences, because none of those things are actually true. But as long as they can claim it for the rhetorical martyrdom, that does not matter.
By political beliefs and presence on Tumblr, I too am definable as a leftist who is online, but the Online Leftists (used together and with capital letters) are a distinct group whose ideology is marked by righteous nihilism, rejection of voting, support for a mythical "Revolution" in place of ever trying to work within the flawed political system, support for violent genocidal states or groups as long as they are "anti-western" or "anti-Israeli" (witness how they flocked to quiveringly defend the Houthis) while simultaneously yelling at everyone else for supporting genocide, making no attempt to incorporate actual politics, history, or reality into their all-consuming ideology, and shaming everyone else who doesn't agree with them. As you say, they are focused on some "pure" level of political engagement, which is of course impossible and therefore means the only thing they do is spend their time on Twitter rampantly spreading misinformation as long as it fits their beliefs. Pragmatism, harm reduction, nuance, or making a flawed choice that puts any kind of "moral burden" on them does not exist to them and is a dirty word, because it might conflict with bringing about La Revolution. So yeah.
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it's quite a dishonest framing that you say hussein was "regarding you with suspicion" baselessly even though you've publicly state on your blog how you believe zionism is an "intracommunity" discussion.
they at no point even mention that they blame you for "israel's actions". they assumed you were talking about zionism because of previous pointed statements you endorsed where you say zionism should be only discussed by jews. its not imagined, you straight up said this? and you claim that hussein is antisemitic for assuming you're saying the same thing again just with more inclusive language? And it coincided a few days after me posting that tributary post about "defining yourself as zionist or antizionist"? So he assumed that it was in relation to it? sure you might not have meant it about zionism this time, but with previous statements you've made/endorsed you don't exactly have the right to act like you have no idea why they would assume that and misconstrue this as an antisemitic attack where he's conflating zionism with judiasm when you literally agree that zionism should only be discussed by jews, which means you yourself are conflating zionism and judiasm.
but ok, i guess, they were just taking your words out of context because they're "antisemitic". I even saw this ask last month and assumed you were talking about zionism in your recent post because of this statement you published and told him privately thats what i assumed you were talking about. Not because of you being jewish. But because i remembered this statement you agreed with because i was so offended reading it. And yeah it's a really bad statement that I'll remember because of how antipalestinian it is so sorry I don't think you get to claim the moral highground???? You didn't exactly disagree with any part of this person's statements?????
And like I would have left this alone but hussein often gets called antisemitic by people you associate with and reblog from, and it really shows how little compassion you all have for Palestinians (which btw as I say over and over, we have a right to point out harmful rhetoric that impacts us) who have a "knee-jerk reaction" to these things when we quite literally see our communities call for the deaths of our friends and family by starvarion and bombing in the name of zionism and when we call it out irl we get called antisemitic. You could have like sent an ask or publicly clarified your intentions but you just jumped straight to calling him antisemitic. Which the onus of responsibility is on YOU because of your previous statements. Why would we assume you mean something different based on past experiences???
Rhetoric like "zionism is an intracommunity issue" is stuff that has literally led to death of our loved ones so of course we have "kneejerk reactions" when there is literal proof of you saying these things before. We are not doing this because you're Jewish, we are doing this because we see and experience first hand this rhetoric and youre perpetuating it blatantly and you have people who follow you who look to you for perspective on "israel/palestine". It's so disingenuous to claim he's an antisemite when he's literally finding common talking points zionists perpetuate against us and call it out. And saying "I don't support the likud government or Westbank settlers" means nothing to us because our families were expelled from palestine before likud and settlers happened. Trying to separate modern day zionism from its colonial roots from the 1800s is at its core anti-palestinian, no matter what other conversations you want to have.
Again like the only reason this matters is because people follow you and look to you for perspective AND you reblog/interact with people we have pointed out as harmful. I literally would not care enough to make this post if i didnt see your posts spread enough times around here. So it's not because you're jewish and framing it like that is really dishonest when the person pointing this out was a palestinian who lost family due to zionism throughout multiple generations of their lives.
#not making this rebloggable because i dont want this to be a big thing but like#the way this circle of people refuse to interact with ideas about palestine outside of like. standing together or#“israeli/palestinian peace groups”#just shows you guys are more concerned for your own circumstances than any actual liberation of palestine#like come on. you say zionism is an intracommunity issue and then get mad at people who “misinterpret” you#based on past statements.#like be for real#why would we care about you if none of us have seen your posts around#youre perpetuating zionist ideology and WE are the antisemites. ok.
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