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#but i do hold my opinion strongly
mandala-lore Β· 2 years
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Interacting with normie others in a professional atmosphere after so many years of not doing that is bizarre because in academia it's pretty normal to espouse radical leftist ideas and somehow all my close friends and even many friends I'm not close with have all pulled further left at a similar rate that I have
So I do exist in somewhat of an echo chamber lol (not really because I have plenty of family who are extremely conservative) so it's so weird to be on friendly terms with people I work with and then they say things that I'm like "well that sounds very centrist or white privilegey" and then it hits me that duh, it's because they're centrist and/or haven't reckoned with their privilege yet.
And then it's a delicate dance of trying to sway them without getting fired. 😬✌
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apollos-olives Β· 3 months
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hey! if you don't mind me asking(feel free to ignore this ask) what do actual palestinians think of hamas? I'm not asking to sow any discord or to "catch" you out, I'm asking purely out of curiosity. from where I'm from, people generally view hamas and the houthis positively (and by people i mean the vast Muslim majority of pro-palestine supporters) but i have seen than some Palestinians don't hold them in such a high regard. similarly some people supported the IRA whereas other irish people strongly were against them - so I'm wondering if this is a similar situation? again if this ask is uncomfortable for you to answer , don't feel obligated to
this ask is uncomfortable but i'll still answer because i think it's important.
we as palestinians are sick of getting asked about this. it's asked as though every palestinian somehow has the same opinion on hamas and that each singular palestinian can speak for the rest of the population, which is obviously not true. i don't know every palestinians' opinion on hamas and i cannot list every opinion out there because not all of us agree on one single thing. each palestinian has their own opinion on hamas and honestly, it doesn't matter. we are tired of this question. we don't care about hamas anymore. this shit isn't about hamas at this point. 30000+ palestinians are dead and people are STILL talking about hamas as if that's actually important and rather than protesting for a ceasefire or fighting for a free palestine.
my opinion on hamas is different than my friends' opinions on hamas. my opinion on hamas is different than my parents' opinion on hamas. my opinion on hamas is different than my palestinian mutuals' opinion on hamas. my opinion on hamas is different than a lot of other palestinians who are involved. palestinians who keep getting asked this are tired. we are so tired. i appreciate that you are asking in good faith, but we don't want to talk about hamas anymore. we want to have a free palestine. we want our children to stop dying. we want to return to our land.
my personal opinion is that i don't really care about them. i don't care for their policies or their political goals. i only support them because they are one of the largest and efficient groups who are trying to liberate palestine. many palestinians share this same opinion. they do not support hamas as a whole, but they still appreciate that hamas is trying to fight for a liberated palestine. we support their efforts for the fight against the occupation, but past that we do not care or do not support them outside of that. what they do as a political group isn't something that i'm interested in, because i'd much rather be focused on freeing and rebuilding palestine.
some palestinians hate hamas. my parents dislike them, but they won't criticize them for trying to fight against the occupation, because they know that hamas is one of the most powerful groups of resistance in palestine, and will not go against their efforts to try to help palestine. some palestinians love hamas. some palestinians don't care about hamas. every palestinian is different, but in the end it doesn't matter. hamas is fighting for the same goal as the rest of us. a free palestine.
@el-shab-hussein has a post on his own opinion on hamas that i think is worth the read.
in the end, it doesn't matter about what our opinions on hamas are. because hamas only exists because of israel. if israel didn't exist, hamas wouldn't exist. hamas is a large group working for the resistance and hamas isn't the reason of palestinians' suffering. israel is.
@fairuzfan says: "I know this was sent in good faith but it doesn't really matter what Palestinians opinions on hamas are because even before hamas existed 750,000 Palestinians were exiled and killed."
we suffered before hamas existed and we will continue to suffer as long as israel is in power. so again, it doesn't matter what palestinians' - or really anyone's - opinion is on hamas. what we should be focusing on is fighting for a ceasefire, fighting for a free palestine, and fighting for a free world.
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snekdood Β· 1 year
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If you believe the shit my abuser says about me and use that as your reason to not listen to trans men who are vocal about our issues then you dont care about trans rights. you make all of your moves based off of drama and a desire to keep the clique pristine.
#mood#if one person makes you lose alll sympathy for the marginalized identity they have then you never cared in the first place.#i honestly just think yall refuse to hand me any stmpathy for anything i go through bc then it means you have to consider actually#that maybe perhaps i am in fact telling the truth about my experiences. which ik is so incredibly hard for yall apathetic wastes to do#yall will hold so strongly to your black and white thinking and desire to not critically think to the point of dividing the community#and that tells me everything i need to know about how you function and how many fucks you actually give about liberating trans ppl#(which is none)#no no wait- you only give a fuck about liberating yourself specifically and only give af about doing it for your friends bc they let you do#whatever you want regardless of the consequences besides all the very very mean other trans people who ask you to actually#use your fucking brain and critically think sometimes.#like. the only reason you refuse to listen to my side is because you dont have faith in your own ability to hold on to what you believe in#once provided with different information. which is good in this case bc the info i provide is true to my experiences.#but if you're so weak and so bad at critical thought that you cant view ANY opinion that opposes your own without waning on that belief#that means you actually have to do more critical thinking and actually try to think for once instead of essentially lobotomizing yourself#in any of your thoughts bc dur nothing matters πŸ€ͺ even peoples rights πŸ€ͺπŸ€ͺπŸ€ͺ#god. what a boring personality.#nihilism with a twist of selfishness#and a desire to only ever indulge and never actually idk. do shit. bc idk. you're so hopeless so its just easier to drink away the pain ig.#literally mindless self indulgence! and you dont care about anything! how fun and unique of you and totally subversive#bc if theres anything we need rn its the younger generations to become apathetic and stop trying to soak in the things that make them feel#good than to ever actually do anything else bc it hurts bc you've been traumatized so much that now youll do anything to avoid the pain#like i get it but its not an excuse.#not saying you cant indulge ever but thats all yall ever do and its tired. gonna eat half of the world for your own pleasure. SAD!#imagine being that sad and miserable.#and stop trying and to soak*#reminds me of my dad. which makes me feel so ick inside since thats literally what my abuser is like#ig its true what they say that ppl tend to get in relationships subconsciously w ppl who abuse them in similar ways to their parents#oh and my dad was such a careless self indulgent fuck that didnt care about sexually abusing people either. curious!#its almost like theres a certain level of mindless self indulgence that becomes purely self serving and not giving an inch of a fuck about#other people in any capacity because You Need To Feel Good To Numb The Pain and thats all that matters.
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comicaurora Β· 3 months
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You’ve mentioned a lot your characters run free in your head and take on a life of their own. Do you have any advice on how to learn/practice that skill?
I often feel like with my characters they’re less alive, and more action figures with bad joints I have to force to do things, and their choices me essentially stereotyping their characterisation. Eg. my Druid has a survival of the fittest mentality, so all everything he says and does derives from that rather than an actual personality/character.
Sounds like the missing element is how the characters are feeling!
When I'm not sure what a character is going to do next, I'll sit down and check in on their headspace - what emotional state they're in, what they want, what they're avoiding, etc. This gives me ideas for what they're going to do, or at least try.
A survival-of-the-fittest character can reach that worldview from a lot of emotional angles. Do they believe the strong survive because they themselves were once weak, subjugated by someone strong, and they hate this and strive to be strong to avoid it? If so, then they'll have very strong opinions about strong people hurting others, and weak people who remind them of their former self. Do they have a more zen attitude about the world as a whole, not feeling particularly strongly when things die because it's just the cycle of nature? Then they might choose inaction at odd times, like when a friend needs healing, because they believe nature should take its course even if that means losing someone they care about. Do they think of themselves as "the fittest" and hold pride and confidence in this? If so, anything that makes them feel weak might send them into a full-blown irrational panic, because in their worldview, weakness means death.
Characters aren't automatons that act on a list of motivations and flaws, they're bundles of stimulus-response emotions, and sometimes they surprise you because they unexpectedly feel very strongly about something. If you wanna cultivate that school of character-driven writing, check in on how they're feeling and why!
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oncomingnight Β· 3 months
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ΰΎ€ΰ½² ⊹ β•°β‚Šβœ§ ゚ .𝒀𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆! π‘Ήπ’π’„π’Œπ’”π’•π’‚π’“ π’ƒπ’π’šπ’‡π’“π’Šπ’†π’π’… 𝒙 π‘­π’†π’Ž 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓ྀི ⊹
-♑⁠˖ 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐 π’†π’—π’†π’“π’šπ’π’π’†, 𝑰'π’Ž π’†π’„π’”π’•π’‚π’•π’Šπ’„ 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'π’Ž π’‡π’Šπ’π’‚π’π’π’š π’ƒπ’‚π’„π’Œ 𝒕𝒐 π’˜π’“π’Šπ’•π’Šπ’π’ˆ. 𝑰𝒕 π’˜π’‚π’” π’’π’–π’Šπ’•π’† π’…π’Šπ’‡π’‡π’Šπ’„π’–π’π’• 𝒕𝒐 π’‡π’Šπ’π’… π’Žπ’π’•π’Šπ’—π’‚π’•π’Šπ’π’ 𝒇𝒐𝒓 π’’π’–π’Šπ’•π’† π’‚π’˜π’‰π’Šπ’π’† 𝒖𝒑 π’–π’π’•π’Šπ’ π’šπ’†π’”π’•π’†π’“π’…π’‚π’š π’˜π’‰π’†π’“π’† 𝑰 π’˜π’‚π’” π’‰π’‚π’—π’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒂 𝒉��𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 π’π’Šπ’ˆπ’‰π’• π’˜π’Šπ’•π’‰ π’Žπ’š 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 π’‡π’“π’Šπ’†π’π’…. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 πŸπŸ—πŸ—πŸ” π‘Ίπ’„π’“π’†π’‚π’Ž π’Žπ’π’—π’Šπ’† π’„π’‚π’Žπ’† 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’Žπ’š π’π’ƒπ’”π’†π’”π’”π’Šπ’π’ π’˜π’Šπ’•π’‰ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’‡π’Šπ’π’Ž π’„π’‚π’Žπ’† π’ƒπ’‚π’„π’Œ π’“π’–π’”π’‰π’Šπ’π’ˆ π’•π’‰π’“π’π’–π’ˆπ’‰ π’Žπ’†, 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 π’˜π’‚π’•π’„π’‰π’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 π’Žπ’–π’”π’Šπ’„ π’—π’Šπ’…π’†π’π’” π’‡π’“π’π’Ž 𝒕𝒉𝒆 πŸ–πŸŽ'𝒔 π’˜π’‰π’Šπ’„π’‰ 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒆𝒅 π’Žπ’† π’˜π’Šπ’•π’‰ π’˜π’“π’Šπ’•π’Šπ’π’ˆ π’”π’„π’†π’π’†π’“π’š π’Šπ’ π’•π’‰π’Šπ’” π’‘π’Šπ’†π’„π’†. 𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 π’šπ’π’– 𝒂𝒍𝒍 π’†π’π’‹π’π’š 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏 π’‚π’Žπ’‚π’›π’Šπ’π’ˆ π’…π’‚π’š & π’π’Šπ’ˆπ’‰π’•.
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Ezra was the guitarist of the well known five-man group, 'Corrupted Minds'. He co-founded the band during the early 1980's alongside his good friend, their creativity resulting in the group growing to five and gaining a prominent title in the rock scene. Not only that, some notoriety also bubbled up due to several instances regarding band mates brawling with hecklers or other members of popular rock/alternative groups.
Ezra could be some as an intimidating man of some sorts, but that assumption was only built upon his darkly framed appearance, never the actions he went through with, whether they were committed in public or private. He was known as the calmer one of the bunch, despite the lewd, sometimes even frightening tattoos that adorned his body and the quite obvious fact that he had his fair share of lace and leather decorated groupies.
Expanding on his charming behavior, he's extremely keen on keeping up with you. In other words, he's incredibly attentive towards your likes, dislikes, wants and needs. Even during your first meeting, it was severely apparent that he was it for you, he seemed to understand you as astronomers do the sky. He can't remember any other time where he's felt as protective over anything as he is over you, the mere thought of anyone disturbing your peace drives him up the wall.
Back on the topic of the band gaining some notoriety owed to many fights that the group had involvement in, most of the brawls were in your defense. There were a handful of low quality videos that circulated during the early 80's showing Ezra ferociously pounding his fists against whoever offended you at the time. Any articles depicting the horrific injuries the person suffered, their dozens of stitches or police reports are immediately wiped off by the band's management.
He's quite shameless when it comes to his tactics he uses when proving not only his love but devotion towards you. In his opinion, there's nothing to apologize or feel sympathy for when he hasn't done anything wrong. Anyone that says they wouldn't commit 'crimes' or step outside of their moral beliefs for their lover are either lying or are complete cowards.
His words not mine.
You're constantly by his side which in turn results in you spending quite a large amount of time with the rest of the band as well. He's extremely fond of having you around the studio or venue while they're either recording or rehearsing, especially if you give him a congratulatory kiss after he finishes a show.
Ezra strongly believes that you saved him from the haunting thoughts that clouded his mind as well as his unfaltering addictions to several substances. Your boisterous laugh, the unwavering gleam you have in your eye while looking up at him, the way you tightly hold onto him (even in your sleep), how proud you seem to be after he does something he's never been praised for.
No one has loved him the way you do.
"you know, you're my reason for changing, I'm not like who I used to be." He's no longer self destructive, he no longer believes he deserves ever demeaning glare or degrading term thrown at him for a simple mistake he's made. You make him feel normal, which he's never felt for most of his life. Not only that, but you make him feel as though he's truly worth loving, sure, he's had girls tell him how amazing he is in the past but it meant nothing coming from them. After all, they were only a fleeting moment, they weren't here to stay as long as it was up to him.
Despite how emotional he can be, he isn't always like that. He's an extremely confident man that smirks in acknowledgment of his reputation when the time calls for it.
He is very soft spoken even when saying something with an aggressive tone. Nothing could ever make him raise his voice at you, the only time he comes close to it is when you were in a dangerous situation. Though he raises his voice, it's never directed at you and he always expresses his anger in mutters. There are several instances where he has gotten into a bar fight because someone mentioned you during an argument just to set him off. Ezra isn't afraid to use anything near him as a weapon in a blind rage, whether it be shot glasses, whiskey bottles, his boot against their face, his fists, his fingers reaching to gouge their eyes out.
anything.
"stupid son of a bitch, thinkin' he can just throw that bottle over here...almost hittin' you."
He believes that you deserve only the best in absolutely every sense. Ezra is the type of boyfriend soon to be husband to spoil you every single day. Whether it be with gifts, dinner or trips, it really doesn't matter, he'll give you anything you ask for. Though, he knows you're far too cautious and shy to outright ask him, he purchases everything he knows you'll take an extreme liking to without you having to say anything.
Ezra is really touchy when it comes to you and he doesn't feel the slightest bit of shame over that. His silver ring covered hands circle around your waist whenever you're sitting on his lap, spooning with him or if he's just hugging you from behind as you cook a meal for the both of you.
On the topic of cooking, one of his favorite places is in the kitchen, it's basically in his top three.
1. By your side
2. On stage
3. In your shared kitchen
He absolutely adores watching your face with intense intent as you take a bite out of the pesto pasta he made with ingredients from your shared garden.
His band members quite obviously noticed how much of a good change you were for Ezra's character, he seemed to be much more open to talking in interviews than he was before, he's smoking a lot less, he doesn't even touch alcohol anymore, if anything, he's disgusted by it. He wants to be better for you. Another example is that you guys have a garden together for fuck's sake, who would've thought THE Ezra Taylor would be tending to a garden while also being tied down to the love of his life. Though, they're not complaining, as a matter of fact, they're glad to see him so radiant. They also frequent your house to taste test Ezra's newest recipes, they mainly want to eat the cooking you whip up when they come over, they swear you make the best dessert.
Ezra is an extreme fanatic of anything involving horror to the point where he collects horror game instruction manuals, graphic manga, dvds and photograph/art books created by his favorite horror writers and directors.
He always talks about you during podcasts he's featured on or interviews involving other members of the band. They'll often jump in on what he's saying about you, often adding in, "He's absolutely whipped, man. He doesn't even hide it!" "I've never seen him like this before, you know? It's nice, though." "Y/n is a nice fit for him, she's a sweetheart and she's always here to support him." He gets extremely happy when he's able to converse to whoever will listen on the topic of you, "yeah, i just really love her, man. She showed me just how great I can really be and i try to show her just how much i truly love her every second of every day. She deserves it."
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harunayuuka2060 Β· 3 months
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Levi: ...
Child MC: ...Levi?
Levi: A-Ah, yes. I'm sorry.
Child MC: *stares at him curiously*
Levi: Sh-Shouldn't you be with someone? It's dangerous to go out alone.
Child MC: I was with Mammon earlier and we got separated.
Levi: That idiot-
Levi: ...
Levi: Do you know the way back to the house of lamentation?
Child MC: *shakes their head*
Levi: W-Well then. I will take you there.
Child MC: *holds his hand*
Levi: !!!
Levi: What are you doing?
Child MC: There are many people.
Levi: R-Right. Don't let go of my hand or you'll be lost again.
Child MC: *nods*
Child MC and Levi: *have arrived*
Lucifer: Can't you remember where you left them?!
Mammon: No! I- MC! I have been looking for you!
Lucifer: Oh dear- *rushes towards them and carries them up*
Lucifer: Do you know how worried I was?
Child MC: Levi saw me in the street.
Lucifer: Thank you, Levi.
Levi: Yeah, yeah. Just be careful next time.
Child MC: Thank you, Levi. *smiles*
Levi: ...
Levi: *frowns* Don't smile like that! *runs to his room*
Child MC: ...
Child MC: *turns to Lucifer*
Child MC: Luci, did I do something wrong?
Lucifer: No. You didn't do anything.
Mammon: Yeah. Levi is always like that. Anyway, where were we?
Mammon: Don't leave my sight again!
Child MC: But you were the one who ran off...
Lucifer: Mammon.
Mammon: Eek!
Child MC: Beel, does Levi hate me?
Beel: Levi?
Beel: ...
Beel: No. I don't think he does. Why? Is he being mean to you?
Child MC: No. But he doesn't like it when I'm smiling at him.
Beel: ...
Beel: MC, you just need to understand him. Okay?
Beel: There's a reason why he's acting like that.
Child MC: Can't I know why?
Beel: Unfortunately, you can't. At least not for now.
Child MC: Okay.
Diavolo: Ah! My sweet child! How have you been?
Lucifer: They're doing fine, Diavolo.
Diavolo: *chuckles* You don't need to answer for them every single time, Lucifer. Right, MC?
Child MC: *nods*
Diavolo: Oh. By the way, can you guess why I'm here?
Child MC: You skipped work.
Lucifer: *laughs*
Diavolo: I-No. I mean, *clears throat* Papa Dia wants to take you on a vacation.
Lucifer: *immediately frowns* And where are you taking them?
Diavolo: To many fun and beautiful places?
Lucifer: *stern* Diavolo, they're starting school soon.
Diavolo: What do you mean by "school"? We already talked about this. They're taking private lessons.
Lucifer: I want to send them to a school in the human world.
Diavolo: That is infeasible. You can't be gone for long away in Devildom.
Lucifer: Yes. Yes, I can.
Child MC: ...
Child MC: *decided to leave them to their discussion*
Child MC: Levi?
Levi: *crying in "MC's" room* What are you doing here? This place is off-limits*
Child MC: I was on my way to my room.
Levi: *wipes away his tears* That doesn't explain why you're here.
Child MC: Why are you crying? *goes to sit next to him*
Levi: ...
Levi: I'm crying because I'm missing someone special to me.
Child MC: Oh. *sad frowns*
Levi: ...
Levi: You missed someone too?
Child MC: *nods* I'm wondering if he's alright. But it's Rapha so... he's probably fine.
Levi: ...
Levi: *pats their head* We're the same then. Our special someone left us.
Child MC: Is yours not coming back?
Levi: ...
Levi: Yes.
Barbatos: Hello, Luke.
Luke: I'm not here for pleasantries.
Barbatos: I'm aware.
Luke: Did you already forget about the agreement between the three worlds?
Luke: That no human should ever step Devildom again?
Barbatos: I'm afraid there was never an agreement like that.
Luke: But you had acknowledged it!
Barbatos: Yes. However, the young master strongly went against it.
Barbatos: I am merely a servant. My opinion doesn't matter to him.
Luke: ...
Luke: I shouldn't have believed your words then.
Barbatos: My apologies, Luke.
Luke: ...
Luke: I will continue to keep an eye on you. Remember that.
Barbatos: I will. *then watches him leave*
Barbatos: ...
Barbatos: It will never be the same anymore.
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drdemonprince Β· 7 days
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The article regarding about annoying queer people sparked a by now long forgotten memory.
When I went to my first pride I snuck out secretly and thus was there after the parade. Most people were already some form of drunk or high(didn't know that at the time, I was 15 and naive beyond hope)
That was also the first time I saw puppies ever. In retrospect I must have stared and seemed like one of those annoying "no kink at pride" puriteens. They probably just wanted to allow themselves a small joke but what happened in praxis was, that a grown, white man in only puppy mask and boxers crawled up to me, stood up, started sniffing my breasts and when I started panicking and running away he run after me and everyone else watched and laughed. I think I screamed for help or cryed to please leave me be and was ignored but I can't remember much past the fear.
To them it was probably a small joke but to me it set me back for years. I didn't go to pride in that city ever again and took years to move past "no kink at pride" opinions, an opinion I didn't even have before that.
I felt incredibly isolated and wearing a small rainbow bracelet and cutting my hair took so much bravery. And it earned a lot of backlash too?
So often I see coloured hair and pins as this cutesy cringe thing of no consequence, but for me it resulted in hours upon of arguments and insults. It was worth it, because it helped me built my own identity apart from my families bigotry, but it sure wasn't fun or cutesy. Ultimately it led me to becoming brave enough to actually discover who I am and start making connections with the wider queer community.
Thankfully I had no social media accounts or I would have had some truly stupid arguments.
What I'm saying is, yes young queers can be annoying and it can be tiring to deal with them but being an asshole and vilifying them isn't the solution.
Making fun of teenagers doesn't make yourself more valid and doesn't give you the status of being an old experienced queer.
I'm saying teenagers here but the fun thing about queer people is that we can discover ourselves at any point in time. So it's less teenagers and more people newly discovering themselves as queer.
I get how annoying they can be very well now, doing voluntary work at pride does that.
Do many of those we consider annoying queers hold some harmful opinions? Yeah sure. (The amount of white queers, teens or adults, not dealing with systemic oppression beyond their own is staggering and they more than deserve to be called out. Just to be very clear, when I talk about annoying behaviour I do NOT mean microagressions or discrimination in any way)
But annoying behaviour is not synonymous to that and maybe we should all just start being less mean in public spaces? I get how satisfying it can be to get a hit tweet via a bitchy twitter reply now, but quite honestly I am more ashamed of that now than when I was running around in hoodies and short hair being painfully naive.
Because then I wasn't being mean to anyone. I had some stupid takes sure but no outlet. On twitter I was making fun of people to validate my own queer-ness. (Personally I think I was covering up for the fact that I was afraid the queer people I worked so hard to be part of wouldn't consider me one of their own. So I worked hard to show how I'm not one of "those queers".)
Either way, thanks for reading all this and thank you for sharing the article because it is something I strongly agree with. Just let people be annoying without making fun of them for it. It doesn't need to be a big deal.
Thank you for this wonderful, vulnerable, honest message about your slow path to self-acceptance in the face of a lot of barriers, anon. I'm glad that despite everything you've found your way.
Yeah, I think queer people have many reasons to feel terrified at the rising "no kink at pride" discourse, but sometimes when we lash out at puriteens we sound a bit like the childfree people who say that they hate kids?? Like, we're blaming literal children for an ideology of protecting "The Family" that has been foisted upon us.
I'm guilty of it. I was HAUNTED by the social pressure to get married and pregnant and raise a bunch of kids. It caused me massive dysphoria and didn't jibe with my queer identity. But I rebelled against it for far too long by saying that I hated kids.
It was not the kids' fault! It was the ideological specter of The Family as an institution that isolates and attacks all nonconformity and 'deviant' sexuality! Me being an asshole to children was not gonna set me free, kids were even more disinfranchised than I was!! I don't think I was ever overtly cruel to children, just kind of aloof and freaked out by them, but I definitely *did* say some numbskulled shit to my friends with kids a few times. Completely missing how disempowered mothers (and it was usually mothers) are in society BECAUSE of these same forces .
And I think something similar is going on here. Queer people are tired of having "Family Friendliness" shoved down our throats by corporations and conservatives, and so then we lash out... at young queer people. it's fine to have 18+ areas and events; It's very, very important to me that spaces like Furfest have them. But that's not the same thing as claiming young people have no space in our community as a whole. And I do think we need to erode the barriers between the adult and child worlds in a whole lot of ways, and reorient our attitudes toward nudity, sexuality, roleplaying, etc in public life. but that also doesn't mean a pup should run you out of a pride parade actually fucking sexually harassing you.
It feels great to be able to talk about this stuff! Thanks for your message.
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neptunes-sol-angel Β· 6 months
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BOO! πŸ‘»πŸŽƒπŸ•Έ How are you scaring people with their shadows? Pick the picture(s) that you're drawn to the most then scroll down for the corresponding message(s). Happy Halloween my Sol-cherubs!!
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Pile One
"SHE AIN'T NO DIVAAA!"
You trigger others in a way that threatens their confidence and provoke them into a cycle of evaluating their self worth and identity after an ego death that's probably been long overdue. Some people in this group may hinder themselves back from speaking to people about anything in general, like expressing your opinion on something, talking about yourself, joining in a conversation so that you can be outgoing and network with others because you could feel like developing normal interactions with others is difficult for you. You could feel that people may find what you have to say as meaningless, they could even talk over you, or maybe you fear that people will hate you for what you say. You could also find yourself in too many situations where people are dedicated to misunderstanding you by twisting what you say or snubbing you. But despite their reactions, people strongly value what you say, and are often changed personally by even just a few words that you mention and could still think about what you've said years later whether it's from a normal conversation or an argument. I feel called to mention to this group that you shouldn't restrain yourself by muting your verbal expression in order to please others, because I'm getting that even though you aren't aware that there are people who want to listen and do listen to what you have to say and will like and respect you for who you are, you understand the weight of your words and the repercussions you face when you defend yourself and but there are times you don't in order to keep the peace. You must understand that peace is simply an illusion when you keep putting your feelings and wellbeing aside to keep people that are not even for you in your life. Tip toeing around others is not what's going to keep you safeβ€”you gotta step on some toes to free yourself. This group has to learn both when it isn't your fault for when you trigger someone and when it is. Because I'm getting that another part of this group is more so in the darker aspect of this trait, you don't hold your tongue for anyone and when someone goes low, you go to straight to the pits of hell. You're fully aware of how you know just the right words to break someone and to intentionally offend them. Your brutal honesty isn't needed all of the time and sometimes you're not being blunt, you're just being an asshole. Reserve your poison for the people that deserve it, but it will benefit you to learn that the same way the magnitude of your words can be poison to others it also be venom used to help others heal. I know it may feel like that someone's always trying it with you but you gotta calm down and start seeing the good in humanity, because not everyone is a piece of filth that you need to sweep. The shadow work that you make other people do eventually creates a balance that keeps their egos in check and where their humility is holding them back.
Pile Two
What's chilling about you is how elusive you are. This can mean a variety of things, but one of the scenarios that I'm getting is that this pile could be adamant when it comes to holding grudges. People hate that you don't forgive them because it gives them a reality check with how entitled they feel to treat others and how they expect them to react about it afterwards. You seem to unfortunately attract a lot of people that don't take any accountability. They show up as either someone who feels like they have the right to mistreat others and have control over how their victims feel or perceive the situation or people who have lived their entire lives as victims but are in disbelief when they are in situations where they have made someone else a victim so they manipulate the situation to confirm their bias and lack of self awareness. These people are possessive over outcomes and how they want to be seen. You are very much capable of forgiving others, but you are strong with your boundaries to the point where you don't make yourself accessible anymore to the people have hurt you and this confuses them. They're used to thinking that words have more meaning than their actions or that forgiveness is something that's automatically given when asked for it, but you show them that's not exactly how it works. This makes them have to unpack guilt that they will deal with for a very long time or your absence reminds them of how powerless that they feel. Both are situations that are hard to sit with alone so these people may tend to latch on others and surround themselves with company. The shadow work that you make others do is to reflect on situations where they are habitually self-undoing.
Pile Three
What makes other people shook about you, is how unmoved you are but how you always seem to ironically move others. You could have this radical intelligence and self sufficiency where you don't care who's on your level or not. You could be isolated by others a lot, and on the outside it could look like you're out of touch with humanity, but no, you're actually way ahead of your time, they just need to catch up. The same things that people have tried to shun you for, end up becoming trends in the future. You guys are very secure with yourself and it intimidates others, but you've grown or will grow to not let that effect you anymore. I see that your purpose involves leading others. You guys could be coaches to help people break habits that maladaptively stagnate their lives, you keep yourself strong, in order to pass this on to others who finally decide that they to help themselves. Your insight isn't going to be accepted by the majority because those people are still stuck on outward appearances or are complacent with their own delusions, and it's not your responsibility to help everyone, but you're good at what you do and you have the potential to save a lot of lives with the changes that you help other people make within themselves. It doesn't even have to solely be changes either, you could motivate others to recognize what they already have within themselves too and that's so empowering. If you guys are tarot readers that are feeling down about the messages that you're trying to bring to people, I'm getting that you guys need to keep going, what you're doing is meaningful even if you can't physically see it, you awaken others deeply to things that they may not be ready to publicly share with others so give it time and remember your mission. You aren't here to entertain any thoughts of staying the same, you are here to promote growth. Don't downplay your gifts, you know what you know.
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cy-cyborg Β· 22 days
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Toph Beifong doesn’t hold up as disability representation - Disability in the Media
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[ID: A screenshot of Toph, a twelve-year-old girl with black hair in a loose, green and tan short-sleeve shirt and shorts, cheering in an arena. Next to text written in a rough, blocky font: "Disability in Media - Toph Beifong Doesn't hold up as disability representation" /End ID]
Avatar the Last Airbender is one of my all-time favourite TV-shows, and Toph is still easily one of my favourite members of Team Avatar. I was a few years younger than Toph when the show first started airing, and being a disabled kid who was into martial arts, constantly being dismissed by my able-bodied opponents and teachers, meant that I connected very strongly with her right from the get-go.
But upon my last couple of rewatches of the series, I began to come to the realisation that my opinions on Toph as a shining example of good disability representation were... well, pretty heavily influenced by my nostalgia for the show and that many aspects of Toph's character just don't hold up today. Which, honestly is fair, the show is nearly 19 years old (if it were a person in my country, it would be old enough to drink) and I think it's pretty ridiculous to expect every part of every character from an 19 year old show to age well. So today I wanted to talk about the things I think Avatar the original Last Airbender did right with Toph, where I think they missed the mark, and what changes I think would need to be made to Toph to make her work for a modern audience.
So let's start with why I think Toph doesn't really hold up as "good disability representation" today, and the elements of her character that just haven't aged as well.
For me, one of the biggest issues I noticed upon rewatching the show, is how often we are told (often by Toph herself) that she is blind, but how infrequently we are actually shown it's impact on her life beyond her bending or outside of jokey contexts. Outside of her bending, we only ever see her blindness impacting her ability to do things like read or write, otherwise, she functionally has full vision -so far as the audience is informed - with the only exceptions being when she's in the air or water (e.g. on Appa or in the submarines) or in loose soil (e.g. the desert). Having places and circumstances where she doesn't have access to her power that allows her to "see" was a step in the right direction, but I do think it would have been better if her seismic sense wasn't quite as accurate, even in the most ideal of circumstances.
But why? Well, I think Suki explains it really well, long before Toph is even introduced. when Sokka says "I should have seen you as a warrior instead of a girl" Suki stops him and says "I am a warrior, but I'm also a girl". Being a warrior and a woman are both important parts of Suki's character, and only recognising her as one or the other means ignoring a big part of who she is, and the same is true for Toph. Being blind is a big part of toph's character that has informed a lot of her life, but so is being a warrior and bending master. Many people see Toph as a warrior or fighter, but ignore her disability, but both are important. She's disabled, and a warrior, and those things don't cancel each other out, the same way being a warrior doesn't diminish Suki's status as a woman.
When the show was still airing though (and even still today) it was very common to see non-disabled fans of the show exclaiming that they honestly forget that Toph is even blind sometimes, with many people going so far as to say that she's not even disabled (and that this was a good thing). While I do think some of that comes from the fact they weren't used to seeing a disabled character as both disabled and an active participant in these kinds of stories, I do think this mostly happened because of the show's lack of, well, showing the impact of her blindness on her daily life and allowing her earthbending and seismic sense to erase the effects of her disability to some extent. It's much harder to forget a character is blind when it impacts their daily life in ways that are shown to the audience. This doesn't have to be in big, showy ways mind you, showing things subtly but consistently works way better than one "very special episode" type setup.
In the show as it is though, the seismic sense functionally gives Toph a perfect image of her surroundings until it's just not available anymore for *plot reasons*.
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[ID: A black and white shot of Toph and how she sees the oponent she's fighting, with shockwaves radiating from him towards her to indicate how she's interpreting the scene. Her foe has jumped into the air and now has his hand dug into the ground of an arena, about to launch rocks towards her. /End ID]
In many ways, her picture of the world is better and clearer than what the non-disabled characters can see, leading to this feeling of her disability being erased. It may have been better though if the seismic sense could give her a general idea of big things in her immediate vicinity but she still missed the finer details, functioning at least a little bit more like a tactile/earthy-vibration version of the limited sight some legally-blind people have in real life. Things like a person's position, movement and overall pose would still be "visible" to her in a general sense, as well as big things in the environment (including things underground, since there are a few plot-points that require that), but smaller things like details about objects and creatures, people's facial expressions or what they're doing with parts of their body that have no direct contact with the ground (like their hands) is less clear. On top of this, she may struggle to detect smaller, lighter objects or creatures that realistically wouldn't cause much of a vibration at all. creatures as small and as light as Momo and Hawky for example might be detectable, but "fuzzy" to her, and anything smaller might make enough of a vibration to tell her it's there when it moves, but not enough for her to be able to tell what specifically it is without some other cue (such as sound). There are a few moments in the show that seem to imply this is what they were initially going for, but it's not really consistent, and is directly contradicted in her debut episode, "the blind bandit" when she explains that she can even "see" something as small as the ants off in the distance.
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[ID: A shot of Aang, a twelve-year-old bald boy with an arrow tattoo on his head, dressed in a yellow and orange outfit, standing with Toph at night. In the foreground is an anthill will a trail of ants, which Aang is looking for. /End ID]
With an adjustment like what I'm suggesting though, she still serves her narrative purpose of teaching Aang the importance of being able to wait and listen - possibly even more so, as her needing to wait and collect more information in order to get a clearer image before striking, would back-up what Bumi tells Aang that he needs in an earth bending master. It would also still help to illustrate the connectedness of the world, a theme Toph continues to embody heavily in The Legend of Korra, while still showing the ways her disability impacts her more frequently.
When I talked about the "super-crip" trope a while back, I mentioned that one way to avoid the more harmful elements of the trope (where the character's disability is erased by their powers) is to use the ability in question more like a mobility or disability aid than a straight-up cure. The power should help them, but shouldn't make their disability redundant. People are creative and we would find ways to use a superpower or magic to help with our disabilities if it were available in real life, but what's the point of including a disabled character if you're just going to functionally erase their disability? For a character like Toph, I think this is the kind of approach that should be taken with her. Her seismic sense still helps her, but it's not a perfect replacement. (Ironically, I did use Toph as a "good" example of that trope, but I do think after this last rewatch, for the reasons I'm discussing here, I might have to backtrack that a bit).
I considered giving an alternative approach here, to keep the sensitivity of toph's seismic sense as it is in the show as is, but giving it draw-backs such as making her susceptible to sensory overload similar to what autistic people experience. However, while replacing one disability with another can work for some characters and stories, I don't think it's the best adjustment to make for Toph or any blind character, largely thanks to this also being a trope. The "blind (or d/Deaf) person who's other senses become super-human to make up for it" trope is very common in fantasy, sci-fi as well as older martial arts films, and while I'm not really the best person to cover it, I do know that members of both the blind and deaf communities have expressed a lot of frustration with it. Toph already falls into this trope quite a bit, and any suggestions I could make would have just dialled that element up to 11, and fixing one problem with another is never a good idea.
Another thing that actually did bug me for a while, even before my most recent rewatch of the show, is how Toph is treated on the rare occasions she does point out something won't working for her. There are a number of times where Toph advocates for herself and points out that something The Gaang is doing isn't accessible to her or sets a boundary to do with her disability, and she's either left behind, her concerns are brushed off or she's ignored entirely. The three most noticeable examples of this are in the Episodes "The Ember Island Players," "The Library," and Toph and Katara's segment of "Tales of Ba Sing Se."
In the Ember Island Players, Toph complains that the seats they have for the play are too high up and too far away, and she's unable to "see" what's happening on stage. Her friends don't really take any notice of her though except for Katara who tells her not to worry, "I'll tell your feet what's happening."
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[ID: A shot of Katara, a fourteen-year-old girl with long brown hair and blue eyes, sitting with Toph, who is sitting with her arms crossed, annoying in a theatre seat. Both Toph and Katara are wearing red and gold, fire-themed outfits. Katara is looking at something off-screen. /End ID]
My problem here is that this particular kind of situation is something that is familiar to a lot of disabled people. Even the least independent disabled people I know get annoyed when their access needs or requests for accommodations, even among friends, are ignored and their pushback is brushed off with "don't worry, I'll just help you!" It's one of the first things that many disabled people tell non-disabled folks wishing to be better allies to us: you offering help instead of actually accommodating us isn't a good thing. We don't want to rely on others if we can avoid it, because honestly, non-disabled people often aren't very good at actually helping or in this case, relaying information to us without training and more often than not, it just results in us being left out. I find it very hard to believe a character as independent as Toph would accept that without any protest, especially considering that is pretty much exactly what ends up happening (even if the show didn't really acknowledge it). Katara never actually conveys anything about the play to Toph, except when she's attempting to throw Toph's words back in her face when she asks for clarification about the actor playing her - which ends up backfiring on her.
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[ID: A shot from the same location as before, this time Toph has a huge smile on her face and is leaning on the balcony excitedly while Katara is leaning towards her, annoyed by her reaction. /End ID]
While it would have been better if Toph was actually listened to, it would have been…fine? if a justification was given for why they had to sit there (e.g. to avoid being recognised), if Katara had actually described the play for her. This wouldn't have been ideal, but it would have been better at least. In real life, many movies, TV shows (including this show's sequel series, The Legend of Korra) and other forms of visual media have an Audio Description track that does exactly that. If they weren't going to move for Toph to be able to see better, having Katara describe the play could have introduced kids to the fact this is an option. but instead it's brushed off, and I'll admit, it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, even back in 2006.
The Library is a bit more forgivable in my opinion, since Toph is still new to the group, but in this episode, she states that she doesn't want to go inside the spirit library because she isn't able to read and therefor there wouldn't be anything for her to do. However, it still would have been nice to see her friends consider this at all before they actually arrived. They could have (and should have) still gone, but some acknowledgement that they at least thought about the inclusion of their disabled friend would have been nice.
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[ID: A shot of Aang, Katara, Sokka and another man are talking while looking down at a map on the table. Meanwhile, Toph is sitting on the other side of the table, completely disinterested as she sips from a large ice cup with her feet up on another chair. /End ID]
Alternatively, I do feel like Wan Shi Tong, a self-proclaimed all-knowing-spirit or his assistants would have been able to point her in the direction of something to interest her, since he does imply books aren't the only form of knowledge he collects.
The reason I mention this though is two-fold. In real life, disabled people are very often left out of "fun" group activities, whether that be in formal settings or in casual ones, like hanging out with friends. If the episode had been framed as "the Gaang learns about the library and decides to track it down," I might have been less critical, but it's specifically framed as something that at least starts out as a kind of break for the team where they all take turns picking out fun things to do so they can rest, and Toph's access needs not being considered at all until they're already there hits a bit close to home, especially since they just end up leaving her outside. Secondly, there's also a stereotype that disabled people (and especially blind people) don't belong in academia and places of learning, such as in this case, libraries. This stereotype is about as old as the concept of organised institutions of learning, and definitely isn't unique to AtLA, but the assumption is often that disabled people wouldn't be interested in more formal methods of learning, so it's not worth accommodating us. With blind people in particular, when I've seen this in media, the premise is often "well I can't read anyway so why bother?" which Toph definitely falls into here with no push-back against the trope.
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[ID: A close up of Toph and the rest of the group, Katara, Sokka and Aang standing in a desert. Toph shrugs, looking bored, while the others looks confused and surprised with the exception of Katara, who looks mildly annoyed, standing with her hands on her hips. /End ID]
It does make sense that she would have been resistant to going in, and I'm not saying this episode should have turned Toph into a bookwork akin to Wings of Fire's Starflight (another blind character) or anything. But there was a chance in this episode to push back against some of these assumptions, and I think it's a shame they missed it. How cool would it have been if Toph had mentioned not feeling welcomed in more formal learning spaces because of her disability, which was just reinforced by the way her old earthbending instructor and her parents treated her. She decides to go inside the library anyway as "backup" in case something goes wrong, grumbling about it the whole way down. Wan She Tong starts his introduction mostly the same way, saying humans aren't welcome and Toph makes a snarky comment about it. Wan She Tong, equally offended that this human thinks he, the all-knowing-spirit, wouldn't have considered something, shoots back with an annoyed comment about humans being so self-centred. He explains that spirits come in all shapes and sizes, and not all of them have eyes, but they can still access his library. She's not the first sightless being in his study, and he-who-knows-ten-thousand-things knows this too. Once everyone is permitted entry, one of the knowledge seekers shows her to a series of slates about a lost earthbending form that she can actually read (or at least, "see" the pictures on) because it's carved. Or instead of a slate, it's a series of statues outlining the form, similar to what Aang and Zuko find in the episode "The Firebending Masters". Perhaps this form is something that helps her develop metal bending later on, and lays the groundwork for Toph becoming interested in teaching in the comics.
And finally, Toph and Katara's segment of Tales of Ba Sing Se. Katara convinces Toph to go get a makeover with her as part of a girl's day. Overall, this segment of the episode is pretty nice, and I liked that they showed that a person's gender expression (in this case, being a tom-boy) doesn't mean they can't like things outside of what we usually associate with that. Tom-boys can like girly things on occasion, and vice-versa, and I think this is an example of an episode that would seem a bit ham-fisted today, but honestly, was needed in 2006. However, there's a throw away joke where Toph says "as long as they don't touch my feet," and it immediately cuts to show spa workers filing down the calluses on her feet in a way so painful several staff are required to hold her down.
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[ID: An image of Toph in a bath robe being held down in a chair by two spa workers while a third scrubs at her feet so hard that she is sweating. Meanwhile Toph is fighting against the two holding her down and has a facial expression like she is in a great deal of pain. /End ID]
this might be a minor thing in the grand scheme of the show, but it's still another example of Toph's boundaries about her disability and her access needs being disrespected by her friends, which the show just doesn't acknowledge it at all. People ignoring Toph's wishes about a part of her body she depends on in a much more direct way that others do is played off like a joke in a montage of otherwise enjoyable and goofy activities and this is a very, very common experience in disability circles.
There are a number of other, much more minor issues that show up with Toph as well, such as the fact she's the only one of the main cast who never has an on-screen (or on-page) relationship. not in the original show, not in any of the comics and not in The Legend of Korra. Again, it's not a big issue on it's own, especially because in AtLA, she's young enough where it's possible that she was just not interested yet, and she does have kids in The Legend of Korra where she mentions a relationship with a man named Kanto (Lin's father). So it is implied she does have some form of relationship eventually, but the issue is that it's never shown on screen or on the page. This feeds into a wider pattern in media of disabled characters being the only ones in their respective cast not given on-screen romantic relationships in stories, and so I still think it's worth pointing out, especially since the creators have had a lot of opportunities to correct that by now.
Toph is also portrayed, pretty much undeniably, as the best earthbener in a way that, at times, comes across almost like the creators felt like they need to compensate for her being on the team "despite" her being blind. This trope is one that I think Toph, at least partially, helped to popularise with the current generation of story tellers: The Disabled Savant. In this trope, disabled characters aren't really given the same room for growth as other characters; they aren't permitted to be average or still learning, they start good and get better. If they do progress, they often become the best, which is the case for Toph. To be fair, everyone in the The Gaang is the best at their respective skill by the end of the first series, which is why I say this is a minor point. She dose, however, have the least amount of on-screen growth in skill out of the whole team. Katara starts out barely able to lift any water at all, let alone actually bend it. Sokka is skilled with weapons from the start but does get his butt handed to him a number of times by others with more experience than him whom he learns from throughout his story arc. Zuko spends most of the early-to-middle of the show having things "blow up in his face" (to use his own words) and being belittled by his family of prodigies. While Aang is an airbending and, to a lesser extent, waterbending prodigy, he fails at pretty much everything else for a while before he starts to find his confidence - especially earth and firebending, not to mention the entire situation with locking himself out of the Avatar state. Toph is the only one who doesn't seem to fail or struggle all that much from a combat perspective. She does grow and improve in her bending (she invents metal bending after all) but she never has any moments where she really messes up or even struggles in combat all that much compared to the others.
All of these points and criticisms I've mentioned are not necessarily big in and of themselves, but when looked at together, they build up to create some issues with how Toph is depicted and how the people around her treat her disability
So that's it then? Toph is bad disability rep and Avatar should be "cancelled"?
God no. Like I said at the start, I still adore Toph and Avatar as a whole, but the show is a year away from being two decades old, it's bound to have some elements that don't hold up and I think it's worthwhile discussing them, specifically because I love the show and it's characters. Despite all the negativity I've brought up, I do think there are a lot of things AtLA did well with Toph too.
I've mentioned a few times that we rarely see how Toph's blindness impacts her life outside of her bending and combat abilities, and there's a reason I made that specification. Unsurprisingly, if you know much about the show's development, the ways in which Toph’s blindness and seismic sense impacts her bending and fighting style is one area where the show really does shine, and I still think that is worth a mention. The various types of bending are based on different styles of martial arts, specifically, different types of Kung Fu. Most earthbending in the show takes heavy inspiration specifically from Hung Ga, but Toph is different. Her bending heavily references Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu, something unique to her within this world.
The reason for this (outside of simply wanting her to be visually distinct) was because the show’s creators made sure to consider what limitations Toph might have and what parts of the more common earthbending styles wouldn't work for her. Since her connection to the earth was critical in order for her seismic sense to work, they decided on a style that would keep her feet on the ground more, prioritised strong stances with minimal jumping and put more focus on attacking with her upper body. While not an intentional choice, the style they went with for Toph, according to the show's head martial arts consultant, Sifu Kisu, was supposedly developed by a blind woman in real life, at least according to legend. The creators also made further adjustments to the style with the help of martial arts consultants and just watching Toph fight is evident that a lot of love and care was put into the decisions made on that front.
I also appreciate that Toph's disability wasn't off-limits to joke about.
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[ID: A picture of Toph waving her hand in front of her face with an exaggerated smile to remind the others she's blind. /End ID]
As I already mentioned, they didn't land 100% of the time, but lot of shows are afraid to use disability as a source of jokes, which would have felt weird and out of place in a show like Avatar. I see this hesitance in real-life too; people get extremely uncomfortable when I joke about my own disabilities and I've heard several people and even disabled comedians talk about the same observation. My last video on Tik Tok that got outside my usual audience was a joke about my prosthetic leg, and every single stictch and duet I received was people saying some variation of "I'm such a bad person for laughing!" "I'm going to hell!" or just straight up asking if they're aloud to laugh. If I didn't want you to laugh, I wouldn't have posted the joke! But joking about disability does make it more approachable. Despite how often Toph and the others made blind jokes though, outside of the one instance I mentioned earlier, they never felt mean-spirited or like they were punching down. Even when a very sleep-deprived Katara was intentionally trying to be.
I think it's also worth keeping in mind the context of the media landscape when Avatar The Last Airbender was airing. Today, characters like Toph are very common, so much so there's a whole trope about them (super-crips) but at the time, having a character with a major disability be a main character in an action-orientated kids show like Avatar was really rare. She wasn't the first of course, but a lot of the time, if they were included, they were almost certainly sad and depressed, wishing for a cure or they were designated to the roles of "Guy in the chair" (which is a character, usually a tech person, who helps from the background), inspiration, scary villain fake-out (or other variations of "creepy" character) or the actual villain. Having a character that was not only comfortable in her skin as a disabled person, who didn't want or need to be "fixed" or "cured" to be directly involved in the story, and who's main obstacle (at least in season 2) were how the people around her treated her, was pretty ground-breaking at the time (pun not intended) and went against the most prevalent stereotypes of it's day.
And I really want to emphasise that. For many Millennials and older Gen Zers, myself included, Toph was the first character that didn't tell us we were broken and needed to be fixed in order to be part of the group (even if they slipped up with that messaging occasionally). Prior to seeing Avatar, I honestly thought there was something deeply wrong with me for being happy with my life (a reminder, I was 10 years old when this show first started airing), because every other disabled person in the media only ever talked about how much worse their life was because of their disability, how much they hated it and how much they hated themselves. Many outright said that they wished they had died rather than become like me. Toph wasn't the first to go against those tropes, but she was the first example of a disabled character who wasn't like that many people my age saw. Did she do it perfectly? Hell no, but personally, back then, I was happy to have a character who maybe over-corrected and took things a bit too far than another sad character talking about how lives like mine weren't worth living.
I also deeply appreciated that Toph did struggle with her independence, at least initially, and where to draw the line with accepting help. Because of how much she'd been coddled and overprotected as a little kid, she saw any attempt at people being helpful and working as a team as them trying to baby her. It was very on the nose, but I liked that the show gave her an episode just dedicated to realising that it's ok to accept help. Again, this is a bit of a story telling trope today, but having the disabled character realise that it's ok to accept help, and to do it without talking down to them or saying that them wanting independence was bad, was a refreshing change compared to what was around at the time.
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[ID: a zoomed out image of Toph, standing before her parents with Aang, Katara and Sokka standing behind her. /End ID]
While I think the show's creators could have benefited from consulting with disabled people and specifically blind people the same way they brought in consultants for the martial arts featured in the show, it's very clear to me that the intention behind Toph's character was good, and that actual effort was put in to make sure they depicted her well, even if some of it was a bit misplaced. It's also worth noting that the groundwork for a lot of my suggestions is already in place, they just didn't follow it all the way through. Overall, I'd say Toph was good for her time, and she's what was needed in the 2000's, even if she doesn't hold up as well today. I also think it speaks to how far we've come in terms of disability representation. When I first started engaging with the online fandom directly, almost no one, even other disabled people, argued that Toph wasn't good representation, because honestly, the bar was on the floor and we were just happy to have something different. But now there are options, and the standards are higher, and that's so, so good. It means that people, even in the media, are starting to listen and be more thoughtful about their depictions of disability than we were in 2006.
And finally, I want to really quickly mention The Netflix adaptation of Avatar. A few people have asked me now what I think they should do with Toph when they get to her, and what my predictions about the show are. I'm not going to talk about my predictions here, because this post is already way too long and that's not what this is about, but I don't think the suggestions I made today would necessarily work in this particular remake, primarily because of the tonal differences. Some adjustments definitely could, such the other characters doing a better job at listening to Toph when she points out inaccessibility and them actually considering her in the first place, but others might be harder to balance. The original show could get quite dark and serious at times, but it was primarily a light-hearted adventure story for kids. From what I've seen of the live action remake though, they're more heavily leaning into those serious elements - for better or for worse, and as such, trying to tone Toph down in the specific ways I mentioned might not balance out as well as it would in the original show. At the very least, the specifics would need to be different. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what approach they should take, that's not really the point of this post, but I did want to quickly address it to avoid confusion. My suggestions today were specifically on how to approach the cartoon version of Toph for a modern audience, and were not meant to be read as suggestions on how her live-action counterpart should be depicted.
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Jujutsu Kaisen Lore Headcanons for "Toji Lives/Megumi Cock Blocks Toji" AU
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Warning: Female/Afab! Reader, Author(me) being a really fucking annoying narrator, Swearing, Inaccuracy to the anime and manga, Things that don't make sense but are trying to, Switching between reader and you, Mentions of OCs but reader is not one, Reader is highkey a marysue/OP
!!Disclaimer!!: These are my PERSONAL headcanons, thoughts, and opinions on how Toji would be like if he was alive and would act after the Hidden Inventory arc. Or how the events of Jujutsu Kaisen would be different b/c of reader and Toji being alive. These headcanons also explain Reader’s role and place in this AU how her presence changes many things.
Series: Jujutsu Kaisen
Pairing: Toji x Mama!/Fem!Reader
Pronouns: She/Her
Word Count: 5.5k words
Summary: Headcanons for the β€œToji lives”/”Megumi cock blocks Toji” AU, and Mom!Reader being a part of and affects each timeline.
(A/N: I will have a separate post that will further explain the Shibuya arc and post Shibuya onwards with the β€œToji lives” AU very soon! I know I said I'll have some posts ready after my lastest one but I was having fun and enjoying myself with the holidays that I kinda forgot about them. I promise I'll upload those posts within January! I apologize for my inconsistency!) [!!Unedited and not proof-read as of December 31 2023 12:05am!!]
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General Reader Headcanons:
Reader is roughly around 33-34 during the Plasma Star Vessel arc(Year: 2006). Reader is also around her mid 40s (45-46) in present day Jujutsu Kaisen. Toji is roughly around the same age.
Reader’s technique is exclusive towards her, but the only time someone shared a technique like hers was during the Heian Era/Time Period where one of her ancestors is said to have the exact technique like hers but with personal different methods.
Reader hates the Jujutsu elders and higher ups for the schemes they have brewed. One which ultimately caused the Japanese faction of her clan to dwindle in size when she was around 8 years old. Reader is a certified hater of the elders and higher ups of Jujutsu Society, it runs in the family.
Reader's sorcerer grade is officially recognized to be around Semi-grade 1 to Grade 1 sorcerer. But in actuality, Reader is classified as a Special Grade sorcerer b/c of the rarity, nature, power, and versatility of the technique itself.
Reader is a mentor/motherly figure to Satoru. You are the closest thing Satoru has to a parent/guardian so Satoru favors you over many adults/older people.
Reader is considered a part-time sorcerer as she holds down a full time job in the real world after graduating. This is mostly due to her not wanting to be at the beck and call of the higher ups and Jujutsu Elders doing their bidding, but occasionally does help and do favors for certain people like Yaga. She only became a part-time Jujutsu High teacher shortly before the Hidden Inventory Arc.
Reader met Toji around her early 20s when he freshly exiled himself from the Zen’in clan. She ran into him during a favor she was doing for Yaga. She was on a retrieval mission to get a curse tool for Jujutsu High’s inventory. On her way to the location, she was ambushed by a curse. Before she could exorcize it, the curse sputtered and coughed up its blood as a blade pierced its chest and it dropped dead. With no curse energy, Reader was prepared to fight only to see a strongly built man with a small scar on his lips. She meets Toji, and funny enough he had the curse weapon she was looking for. She was trying to negotiate with him to get the weapon. She didn’t have to for long as Toji just straight up gave it to her and said, β€œYou’re a feisty one, aren’t you? I’ll give it to you because you’re cute. Until I see you again, Ms. Sorcerer~.”
Then Reader randomly runs into Toji both on assignments and in real life. It was at random but in a consistent way. Eventually, Toji starts living with Reader because he is lowkey homeless. Reader first fell for Toji but Toji fell HARD for Reader. Always accompanying her when she has to run errands. Always watching out for her and in the shadows. Hell, he started asking Shui for information on certain people to make sure you’re not getting yourself into trouble. He also starts asking Shui for better paying jobs that he could do in a day then take a few days to complete.
Toji falls hard because of Reader’s understanding and compassion towards him and his past, which she was more than understanding of his feelings towards the Zen’in clan for their god awful mistreatment and ostracized Toji from Jujutsu Society. Yet he couldn’t understand why you had tears in your eyes when you pulled him in for a hug, saying that you’ll be his family now and he can rely on you. Thus, that’s when Toji said, β€œI need to fucking marry this woman or I swear to God I will assassinate every sorcerer in the world.”
After a few years, Reader and Toji get married and Toji takes Reader’s two last names: (L/N) Fushiguro. Fushiguro wasn’t originally a part of Reader’s last name, but decided to take it up as an alias when Reader briefly left Jujutsu society to live among non-sorcerers. The last name came from a distant relative a few generations back that was married into the family.
After around 29, Toji and Reader had Tsumiki. Then a year later, they had Megumi at 30.Β 
Though your place is small, it was homey and cozy for your little family. Life was good until the year where Tsumiki turns 4 and Megumi turns 3. Toji started having missions where he was coming home less and less frequently. It was starting to bother you because he was starting to miss out on Tsumiki and Megumi growing up. More so, it was devastating to you when Megumi told you he could barely remember anything of Toji, he even faintly describes Toji’s looks but it is starting to get foggy.Β 
It was becoming hard to support your daughter and son on your own, so when Toji came home one night you told him your thoughts. Then an argument happened, not a loud one to wake up the kids, but you were putting Toji in his place. Toji was trying to justify that it was his work and they have been demanding him recently, that it was the good of your family as they were paying him more money to do them. This was when you started questioning Toji’s occupation and what he does. Toji gets irritated about you questioning his line of work and tries to repeat again that it was for the sake of your family and nothing more.Β 
However, Reader is unaware that Toji made a deal with the Zen’in clan to sell off Megumi when he’s around 5-6. He couldn’t tell you this because he knew how you would react so he was going to keep it a secret for the time being. However, he would never tell after the argument the two of you had.
The next thing you know, Toji drops an envelope on the kitchen table and grabs his packed duffle bag as he heads towards the door. You tried to stop him but he says that he needs to leave for a while but he promises he will be back. Kisses reader on the lips and forehead before leaving their apartment.Β 
Reader is hurt and confused until she opens the envelope to see a check that’s already signed. It has $5000 dollars in it. It would last you at most 5 weeks for you and your children. Yet, that was the only check received from Toji as he went completely off the grid. No amount of resources would amount in a helpful way to finding what happened to your husband.Β 
That was when reader was assigned an important mission for the first time in years. Where you and another teacher, Maho(JJK OC) would act as guardians/chaperones to Gojo and Geto. Your jobs were to oversee and supervise the two students and report anything about the mission.
β€œToji lives”/ β€œMegumi cockblocks Toji” AU:
So basically in this AU, not only does Toji live. But mostly everyone else does live, or somewhere along the lines of dead and alive. Well, minus Junpei and Mai. But that’s just me being blissfully ignorant of the canon timeline and canceling most of the events out and just changing them.Β 
So everything in the Plasma Star Vessel arc happens but the only thing that changes is Riko and Kuroi being alive. The way that it happens is you were sent ahead to do some investigating of the Jujutsu High area to see if it’s safe. Then out of nowhere, you were asked to speak to Tengen themself. Unbeknownst to you, you were unaware that Toji, your estranged husband, had attacked Gojo which forced Geto, Riko, Kuroi, and Maho(JJK OC) to run and leave Gojo to fight him.
You were basically told by Tengen to respect the last wishes of Riko Amanai before they merged. But they popped that statement out, you responded with, β€œwhat if her last wish is to continue on living and not merge?” At first, Tengen opposed you for your question. Saying it would throw off the balance of their stabilization and balance of Jujutsu Society. However, you countered by saying it’s respecting Riko’s wish and the girl's wish to keep on living. Meaning that technically you’re honoring her wish and you believed that she deserved to live her life.
Plus you argued that there are few Plasma Star Vessels out there, like Yuki Tsukumo, who didn’t merge with Tengen are completely fine. And Tengen didn’t suffer from not merging with her or the other vessels. So after some thought, Tengen briefly allowed Riko to live and not merge with her. However, in exchange, you would have to find a substitute host in place of Riko. While it wouldn’t be the same, Tengen said it would be easier to merge with another host that had curse energy or was a Jujutsu Sorcerer.Β 
Meanwhile, Geto, Kuroi, and Maho escort Riko in front of Tengen’s chamber. For a bit, Geto offers Riko a choice to leave with Maho and him. To not merge and live her life out. Riko expresses this but before she could allow Geto to take her hand, Maho gets shot in the throat. The bullet was meant for Riko but Maho’s change in positioning took the hit for her instead unintentionally. Toji reveals himself from the shadows and says he’ll take Riko dead or alive. Geto tells Riko and Kuroi to run while Geto fights Toji with Maho supporting him the best that she can after learning Toji killed Satoru.
Suguru and Maho get defeated while Kuroi is knocked out by Toji and takes Riko to the Time Vessel association. You come out of the chamber to only find Geto and Maho bleeding out, you take them to the infirmary and have Shoko heal them. Suguru tells you that a man with no curse energy ambushed them, killed Satoru, and took Riko.Β  β€˜Wait, a curseless man? But. . . that can’t be’ You snapped out of it and left Suguru to find Gojo’s body to take back. You found where you assumed you would find his body but all you would find was a large blood smear on the pavement. So you went to find Riko in the association. What you didn’t know is that Gojo beat you to it. You snuck in and when they were about to kill Riko, you snatched her away and brought her back to Jujutsu High. However, you asked Riko about Gojo’s whereabouts. She said she last saw him fight a tall man with a small scar on his right lip. Your blood runs cold as you continue to drag her towards the school. She didn’t understand why you stopped talking, but the look of fear on your face told her something.
As Gojo and Toji duke it out for the second time, it was Suguru that caused Satoru to misfire his Hollow Purple at Toji and narrowly missed him. Toji knew that he lost the fight because he would’ve died if he got hit. Let alone, get defeated one-way or another. Since Suguru told Gojo that Riko’s retrieval was a success, Toji knew he wouldn’t get paid for the job and just gave up. He, surprisingly, surrendered himself to the two and was taken to an underground bunker where Toji was heavily sealed and chained up. Doesn’t even bother fighting back at all. Though the mission was a technical success, Tengen didn’t merge with the chosen vessel and there was a sorcerer killer on the premises of the school.
Since you were in charge of the mission and the only one uninjured, you were held accountable and take full responsibility for what has happened. The Higher-ups and Elders were not happy, to say the least, with the results. But specifically that you allowed the rest to get hurt and let Tengen’s vessel free, ceasing the merging. However, they weren’t on Reader’s ass for the first two. They were mostly on her ass because they discovered the identity of the sorcerer killer is Toji. And somehow figured out Reader’s marriage with him. Because of this, they were going to execute Toji and put Reader on trial.
This was also the moment reader’s suspicions were right with Toji doing all of this. She was going through the ringer of emotions when revealed the information in the same room with the very people she despised. So she kept to herself and remained calm. She proposed a deal to them that she knew they would consider. In exchange for Toji’s life and freedom, the reader gave these conditions:
Toji’s weapons would be heavily sealed and hidden away where no one can obtain them. Their whereabouts will be unknown and Reader and a select few would know about the location.Β 
Toji cannot enter Jujutsu Society/High without Reader. For at least a year, Toji can’t be near any sorcerer or enter any Jujutsu building. Reader is essentially Toji’s handler and responsibility. Toji has to be with Reader at all times when on Jujutsu Premises.
If Toji acts out of line, he will be immediately executed. Reader will also be executed or exiled from Jujutsu Society. However, if Reader dies, Toji will be executed. If Toji somehow dies, Reader would be somewhat safe. But if Reader dies, Toji will die with her. Reader’s life is in the hands of Toji’s behavior and actions. While Reader’s entire life and existence is the reason why Toji lives and her dying means he dies too.
These conditions were simple enough but the higher ups were still doubtful. But Reader also adds that after a year, Toji could go on missions if it involved a reward. Mentioning that Toji would be a vital asset to them and keeping him on house arrest wouldn’t be ideal. Reader tells the higher ups that Toji was exiled from the Zen’in clan years ago and would only listen to her. She implies that Toji could wreak havoc on Jujutsu society if it wasn’t for her.
With reluctance, the higher ups agreed to Reader’s terms but warned she would be on a watchlist. Reader just waves it off. Yet after she leaves the room and goes outside, the weight of her emotions get the best of her and she cracks under it all. This was a lot of process and bear but she was the only one to do this.Β 
Strangely enough, a distant relative of reader’s contacted her about moving into an old home of theirs. No prices or charges, they just needed to give the house to her since they were moving back into the clan’s main residence. Reader was like okay, thanks for the free house. Since there wasn’t much at the old apartment, they didn’t need to pack much.
Once Satoru and Suguru were healed up, Reader tasked the two of them to bring Megumi and Tsumiki to the dorms temporarily until the house was ready and Reader dealt with Toji. Satoru may or may not have slipped about Megumi’s true heritage, causing Suguru to bonk him on the head. Megumi doesn’t want to go with the two men but after telling him and his sister that Raeder sent for them, he and his sister followed them.
Reader basically was taken to where her husband was held. She only had less than an hour to talk to him so she had to speedrun their talk and leave some things out. It was strange to her to see her husband, the notorious sorcerer killer, chained up and not fighting his restraints. It looked like he hadn’t eaten in days and the color in his eyes was dulled out. But when you entered the chamber and made your presence known, he perked up because he recognized your footsteps.
As much you wanted to comfort and coddle him, you were furious and beyond disappointed with him. Toji admits his faults and was okay with dying. During which he reluctantly revealed to Reader that he sold Megumi to the Zen’in clan for his technique. With this newfound information, Reader is heartbroken and slaps Toji square in the face. Though she didn’t want to, he did deserve it. So Reader explains the conditions she made to grant Toji his freedom and life back, if he so chooses. Or he can get executed, the choice is his.
Toji doesn’t deserve a second chance but Reader offered one to him. While putting herself and life at risk for a bum who ended up abandoning his family. Reader said he can clean himself up, to step up as a husband and father. The only term she was willing to give Toji if he chooses to come back. In a way, Reader was giving signals to Toji that she still needs him and doesn’t want him to die. Toji thinks about it. He would be restricted to being at home and the outside world, while being on a leash by Reader when entering Jujutsu Society which he doesn’t mind the thought of.
Toji makes his decision by agreeing to the conditions while also promising to pull himself up. Although it made you smile, it disappeared when you remember how your children would react to seeing their absent father again and trying to adjust to his constant presence. Toji said he’ll try his best, but he wouldn’t guarantee Megumi and Tsumiki’s approval. But it didn’t matter to him because his family needs him and he would damn to waste his second chance knowing many don’t get any.
So it was settled. Toji is freed because of Reader with the somewhat of an approval from the Higher-ups, the house was ready to move with the kiddos, and everything was starting to set in motion. It was a hard adjustment for the kids in this new chapter of their life. Moving into a new, nicer, and bigger home than the previous smaller apartment was a big change. Another big change was seeing their father for the first time in almost months. Tsumiki was a little happy to see Toji back at home with them but Megumi was different. In fact, he was indifferent about Toji’s return and tried to completely ignore him. You and Toji completely understand Megumi’s feelings about his dad suddenly popping up again out of nowhere after months of not coming home. You reassured your son that Toji’s staying for good and that it’s okay for him to not accept his dad's presence right away or force himself to.
It wasn’t what it used to be but Reader didn’t mind it. Since Toji was on house arrest in the meantime, he was on house-husband duty. Since you were now working as a full-time Jujutsu teacher(2nd-3rd year teacher) and Sorcerer, you were away from home a lot during the morning and afternoons. Toji struggled in the beginning but he really managed and became good at it. He was an excellent cook, cleaner, errand runner, and even handyman. You still handled the money but Toji never asked you for more than what was needed. He started picking up Megumi and Tsumiki from school, making the other parents drool over him. He honestly likes the domestic aspect of this part of his life, something he never imagined when he was younger.
You knew it was bad but you asked Satoru a big favor. Since Megumi’s sale to the Zen’in clan was still up, you asked Satoru to postpone it or intervene in a way. Reader would have the power but her clan faction isn’t what it used to be and the Zen’in clan hates her guts for marrying Toji. Satoru agrees to help but it would mean that he would have partial guardianship over Megumi. That was fine with you but explaining this to your young son would be hard, considering he will be training and spending some of his time with one of his mother’s student.
Satoru and Suguru become older brother figures to the kids and Shoko being a big sister. They would come to your house to visit just to see the kids. It was challenging at the start since Toji was there and a constant reminder of their weakness. But you talked with them about it, saying that they don’t have to care for your husband and hate him all they want. But never hate the children. This was helpful to Suguru since Riko and Kuroi were living on Jujutsu Tech grounds as a safety precaution since there were still hits on Riko. You also noticed Suguru's depression while soul-searching. You always told him that you considered him family and let him know to come to you for help when he needs it.
Reader is the sole reason Suguru hasn’t fallen to the dark-side and became a curse user. However, he and Satoru almost became one a year later.Β 
A year after the Hidden Inventory incident, Nanami and Haibara were sent on a mission to exorcize a grade 2 curse. You accompanied them because you knew the area better and felt the need to watch the students. However, the information was completely wrong as the curse they were facing was a grade 1 curse that manipulated the earth and surroundings. While Nanami and Haibara had minimal to mild injuries, you were badly injured and bleeding everywhere. While you were able to exorcize the curse, you were hanging on by a thread because your main priority was the safety of the two students. Though you were healed, you did have a faint scar and you were out from doing missions for about a couple of months. Highkey traumatized the two students because their teacher was about to be murdered and they couldn’t do anything about it.
What they didn’t know was that the mission was a ploy to have Reader be assassinated while carelessly adding kids to the mix. All done by the Higher-ups and encouragement of the Zen’in clan. The only reason this information was spilled out was Toji was visiting you in the infirmary and his super hearing heard a low grade Zen’in sorcerer spill it out. He, along with Satoru and Suguru, forced the sorcerer to spill anything they knew. The sorcerer revealed that Reader had been on a watchlist and knew she was dangerous to them so they tried making her death a tragic accident. Surprisingly, Toji and Satoru had this moment of truce between each other. It was interesting to Suguru because both of the two men hate each other’s guts but decided to work together if it involved you. They would’ve stormed in and decimated the Higher-ups and Zen’in clan, which Suguru didn’t mind.Β 
It was Shoko that retrieved them, saying that you were awake and wanted to talk to them. The three begrudgingly made their way to your room. Reader essentially argues that going on a killing spree would make them curse users, they are just tools for the higher-ups and would turn on them at any given chance. She reminds them that if Toji kills in Jujutsu Society, she would die or be completely exiled and Toji would be immediately executed. Leaving her children all alone with both parents gone and possibly dead. Reader admits she wants to change Jujutsu society and take down the current higher-ups and dismantle the old system. But she doesn’t want to drag Tsumiki and Megumi into the mix, especially since Megumi possesses a technique that has been sought after for centuries.
This weighed on the four of them as Reader continued to talk. It doesn’t help that if they do succeed in killing the higher-ups, not many people would follow behind them, like the big three families. She advises that they need to wait, which she is aware that time won’t change anything. But something needs to happen in order for the change to happen and work in their favor. Suguru understands but doesn’t really agree because keeping them around for longer will just continue what’s happening. Reader points out that if they kill the current higher-ups now, possibly the worst people would take their place. A greater evil replacing a mild evil, pick your poison.
The men don’t go through with the killing but are on legit bad terms with the higher-ups. Toji couldn’t give two fucks about them and the Zen’in clan, but he loves you so he’ll abide to your rules. Similar to Toji, Satoru is the same. He does have the power to do all of this, he knows it would put many people at risk. Suguru was the only one who was conflicted about it, they could do it now so why wait for later? But Suguru is only doing this for his friend and you, not for Jujutsu Society.
Reader is aware of Suguru’s breaking point with what’s been going on. She tries to help but knows Suguru has to make that choice to reach out for help as well. He has been sent on mission after mission, breaking him down even more. One night when you were still on mission leave, there was a knock on the door. Opening it revealed Suguru holding two twin girls in his arms. After dragging him inside, giving the girls Tsumiki’s old clothes, patching him up, and making him tea, you asked what on Earth happened? Anxiety gnawing away as you assumed the worst. Then Suguru explained the situation, his latest mission in a village where he found the mistreated twins by the villagers. He didn’t kill them, to your relief, but he was mad and angry how non-sorcerer people could be more cruel than them. These are the people they were supposed to protect and save but they pull off the most heinous crimes, putting a hit on Riko then torturing these innocent girls.Β 
You didn’t deny Suguru was right, why protect non-sorcerers when they have the ability to be as cruel as the curse spirits they fight? But it was not about being the better person and letting them get away with it, no. It was about would it be worth it in the end for Suguru to kill off random humans who they’ll never see again? The village was remote as it is. So for torturing the girls, Jujutsu tech and other Jujutsu sorcerers weren’t allowed to do assignments for the village. Leaving the villagers vulnerable to curse attacks and incidents. While it still was a bad decision to leave them to fend for themselves, you couldn’t let Suguru go on a killing spree.Β 
So Reader helps Suguru take care of the twins along with Satoru and Shoko. The twins had a hard time adjusting but got used to living with Suguru as their guardian/dad. The Twins grow up with Tsumiki and Megumi as they would have play dates and hangout with each other whenever they were at Reader’s home or Reader brings Megumi and Tsumiki to Jujutsu Tech.Β 
With that, Suguru and Gojo become teachers at Jujutsu High. Shoko became a doctor, Yaga became the principal of the school, Haibara is a full-time sorcerer while Nanami left the Jujutsu World after he graduated but eventually returned a couple years later. You still teach at the school but more of a substitute teacher and only going on retrieval and investigating missions.Β 
During this time, you tried your best with your children to mend their relationship with Toji. While Megumi took a little longer than Tsumiki, they recognized that their father was staying and not leaving anytime soon. The household was a lot healthier because of that, putting Tsumiki and Megumi in a better mental state. With Megumi having developed his curse technique, Satoru trains him and spends time with him after school to help him better understand his technique. Though you do help your son, it seems like Satoru had teachings that stick with him more. Megumi recognizes Satoru’s presence, though annoyed for the most part, and sees him as an older brother figure but he’ll never admit it. Toji is more involved with his kids' lives as they get older, making up for their earlier years. They have good figures in their lives, making their lives better. While Megumi still has that surface-level brooding antisocial personality, it’s credited to him being an introvert and picking up bits of Toji’s personality.
Though Toji and Megumi’s relationship got better over the years, they have their little banter moments here and there. It was more for annoyance and teasing between the two. You allow it to happen only if it’s meant to be a joke and not a cruel insult disguised as a joke. Sometimes Tsumiki intervenes but you tell her that’s how Megumi and Toji show their love for each other. Especially when Megumi gets older and doesn’t show his vulnerability as much compared to when he was younger. Megumi grew to appreciate his dad more and Toji values from what his two children have taught him.
With the events of JJK 0, since Geto is alive and a non-curse user, let’s just say that the villain who attacked Jujutsu High was Kenjaku but in a different body of a powerful person. So Reader meets Yuta and the other first years and is shocked to see a Zen’in with no technique. She makes personal note of this while also helping Satoru and Suguru teach them. Reader was also there for the attack that took place on Christmas Eve, which pissed her off because she was supposed to be at home with her family but some powerful bozo wanted to conquer and see the whole world in shambles. Nanami and Haibara were serving on the battlefield. Gojo was literally giving hands to Miguel while Suguru was helping in exorcizing and stockpiling curses.Β 
Kenjaku gets heavily injured and flees the scene, proclaiming that this wouldn’t be the last time they would see him. So after convincing forcing Miguel to come to your side, Reader and Satoru sent Yuta with him to Africa in hopes of finding more of the curse rope Miguel’s clan makes.
Meanwhile sometime later, Megumi was of age to go to Jujutsu Tech. He had a lot of resistance from you to not go there, let alone be a sorcerer. But Gojo talked with you and convinced you that Megumi would become a better sorcerer if he went. Yet it meant dorming at the school and Reader was reluctant about it. But when Megumi showed interest and talked to you about it, you agreed to it but it meant that Satoru would be responsible for his well-being during school hours. Toji also was on Megumi’s side, saying the boy needs to spread his wings and kick ass. Plus Tsumiki will be home too. He’s becoming a young man and you hate to admit it but your husband has a point.
Also in this AU, Tsumiki doesn’t get cursed and goes into a coma. Long story short, you had a gut feeling that something bad was gonna happen. But it wasn't like the air shifted or felt different. Nah, you had this impending doom and you felt so sick that Toji was concerned for you. When Tsumiki left for the bridge, Toji secretly followed after her and saved her just in time. However, one of her friends ended up getting cursed instead. Tsumiki feels guilty but Toji explained about your concern for her safety which is why he went.
Everything still happens as per usual. Megumi meets Yuji, Yuji eats Sukuna’s fingers, Yuuji becomes Sukuna’s vessel, Megumi, Nobara, and Yuuji become a team, etc.
Megumi never really mentions Reader/You, his dad, or sister to Yuji and Nobara because they never asked him. But also, he still is a well-reserved person and doesn’t let information like that slip, especially what he knows about Reader’s status in the Jujutsu Society.
Yuji and Nobara don’t meet Reader/you until after the Kyoto exchange event because Reader/You were in Hokkaido for a bit. But let’s say Reader/You were not pleased with the treatment of Yuji and the Jujutsu Tech students from Kyoto. Todo gets a pass but he’s the only one, Miwa does but she’s a different story.
Reader brings up Maki to Toji and Toji seems interested to see another person that’s very similar to him. Reader brings Toji to school and this is one of the times he is actually well-behaved and watches from afar as he sees the second-years train. He observes Maki quietly as you await his response. Toji just stands up, saying there’s another foil to the Zen’in clan’s plans before leaving the school grounds with you.
Toji does go on missions for Jujutsu Tech but he’s not considered a sorcerer. He’s very similar to Mei Mei in terms of only doing a job if it bleeds money. Due to his Celestial Restriction, he is sent on more dangerous missions. But he doesn’t mind because the paycheck he gets is a fat one that could provide for a year for your household.
Now with the Shibuya Arc, it will be completely different with Toji being alive and an ally. Though tragedy and destruction will occur in Shibuya and afterwards, Toji’s being alive does change the tides against Kenjaku and his evil plan. This is also where Reader starts doing her own thing and pulls some strings that’ll help the main cast. Even if it’s not on legal terms.
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indigogvf Β· 4 months
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Word count: 6.8k
Warnings: mentions of SA!!! smut (minors dni), alcohol. If I missed anything please let me know!
Summary: You and Jake have never seen eye to eye, but when a guy creeps you out at his house party, does that change?
A/N: awful summary lol sorry I’m so tired and have been wanting to post this for ages. This is not as good as I wanted it to be, or as long, but I do not have the patience for that. For some reason the ideas were just not flowing for this fic, so I feel like it’s kinda jumpy. Sorry about that!! Also, my requests are open!! Anyway, enough of me yapping. Enjoy!!
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This was not your thing; parties. It’s not that you hated them, but a nine pm bed time meant a lot more to you. Drinking made you sleepy. However, parties are especially not your thing when Jake is there. Even more so when they’re hosted at his house.
Much like tonight.
You can’t deny Josh’s puppy dog eyes for very long though, and you weren’t going to let one person ruin your night. He’s hosting the party anyway, so he has much more important things to worry about than trying to piss you off. You thought.
You thought wrong. As always.
The night begun smoothly. You felt confident and sexy, your dress hugging you in all the right places. You weren’t planning on getting into anyones pants tonight, but it felt nice to know you could. With that being said, you also felt nervous. You and Jake couldn’t get along at all; you can be civil when needs be, but it never lasts long. If you can’t get along sober, you doubt adding copious amounts of alcohol is going to have a positive impact.
You made your rounds of everyone, making sure to say hi to the people you knew; also making sure to keep well away from Jake. You and Jake have been holding the battle of β€œwho can be the meanest” for quite some time now, and you honestly can’t even remember how it started, but you strongly disliked him. You’re both extremely stubborn, so as much as you feel bad for feuding with your best friends’ brother, you wouldn’t be caught dead making amends. And neither would he.
Obviously your first point of call after saying hello was getting yourself a nice, strong drink. A necessity, in your opinion. Definitely a necessity when jake’s around. You’d already lost Josh, who you came with, and you were now left to fend for yourself. You did know a good amount of people, but everyone knew everyone else more than you knew them, so you weren’t really sure where to start.
You wondered back to the main event, scouring the room for someone you know well enough to join their conversation. As you were looking around, you caught the eyes of Jake. His shirt was buttoned up by two buttons, max. You couldn’t quite see due to the darkness of the room. Speaking of, he’s wearing sunglasses. What a douchebag you thought. I mean, seriously? Sunglasses? In an almost pitch black room?
His hair was falling nicely, though. The sunglasses were giving his hair something to flow against, and it was framing his face well. It doesn’t matter how much you hate him, you will always be jealous of his hair.
He smirks at you, mischief written all over his face. You roll your eyes and move on. You promised Josh you wouldn’t argue with Jake tonight, and you really did feel bad. You know how hard it is for them to navigate this.
However, Jake had other intentions. He started walking over; you knew you were well within your rights to walk away, but you also knew that this would happen at some point, so you might as well get it over and done with.
β€œYou look cute.” He mentioned sarcastically, gesturing to your dress.
β€œThanks. Wish I could say the same about you.” You retorted with an eye roll, taking a step away from him. You wanted as much distance between you as possible.
β€œOh, c’mon. You and I both know you like what you see.” He suggested with a cocky smirk, pointing at himself. He took a step closer, closing the space between you that you had just made.
β€œSeriously? You have that big of an ego? Take a look at yourself for once. You’re wearing sunglasses in a dimly lit room. Could you look like more of a dick?” You replied, taking a sip of your drink. You knew he enjoyed this a lot more than you did; you were easier to piss off.
β€œLook at myself? Look at you! You look like you’re begging to take someone home in that dress.” He laughed, throwing his head back. β€˜Always so dramatic’ you thought.
β€œYeah? Well at least I could take someone home if I wanted to, which I don’t, for the record. You can’t, not when you look like as much of an uptight prick as you.” You argued. You felt like steam was coming out of your ears. He always had to dig deep. Every time.
He began responding, but you had already started walking away. Like you said, you’d promised Josh you wouldn’t argue with him tonight, so you really didn’t want it to go any further.
You spot danny and Sam and take this opportunity to distract yourself. β€œhey guys, you having fun?” You asked as you waved at them.
β€œHey y/n, did Josh ditch you? Already?” Sam queried, turning to face you. Danny sniggered beside him in response.
β€œWell, yeah. But I promise that’s not why I came to chat.” You knew that whatever Sam was suggesting was just a joke, but you also knew that if Josh hadn’t of ditched you, the overwhelming joy you felt when you saw them probably wouldn’t have been as intense.
β€œYeah, whatever. How’s things with Jake? I see you’ve continued your feud.” Danny joined, subtly looking over to Sam. They know exactly how to wind you up. You will never understand how they find the humour in this situation; if it was the other way round, you would’ve grown impatient a long time ago.
β€œYeah, but that’s done for the night. I’m really not in the mood for it to carry on tonight.” You said as you grabbed your drink to take another sip, taking a seat next to danny.
β€œAre you ever in the mood for jake, though? You say that every time, and every time the feud continues.” Sam giggled.
β€œYou know, he’s right. How did this β€˜feud’ even start? I can’t quite remember.” Danny said. Him and Sam were now laughing a little too hard considering how unfunny their comments were. At least you didn’t find them funny.
β€œYou know what guys, maybe I will carry it on. Just for you.” You remarked, pointing your finger at both of them to further emphasis your point.
β€œOh, we would love to see that.” Laughed Danny, turning to face you completely.
β€œMaybe you should just fuck it out. I mean, if all of our mutual friends can agree on that, maybe we’re right.” Sam added, without laughing. He was serious. He seriously suggested you β€˜fuck it out’. With his brother.
β€œYou guys suck. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to grab another drink.” You began walking away as they laughed; obviously happy with themselves for managing to wind you up.
You made your way into the kitchen, your eyes landing on a guy stood in the corner. You smiled politely as you walked past him to make your next drink. β€œYou on your own?” He asked. Are. You. Serious. You thought. You were not in the mood for this.
β€œUh, no. My friends are just in the living room, where everyone else is.” You said bluntly. You hoped that gave him the hint that you were definitely not interested.
Obviously, it didn’t.
β€œYour ass looks beautiful in that dress.” He said boldly as he took a step closer, looking you up and down.
β€œThanks, but I’m not looking for any of that tonight.” You smiled in an attempt to soften the blow, whilst taking a step back.
β€œC’mon, you can’t wear a dress like that and not want some attention.” He laughed, reaching his hand out to brush your arm. You quickly retracted.
You were starting to panic slightly as it was clear he wasn’t getting the hint. β€œI’m okay, really.” You reiterated, taking another step back. You were now against the counter, awaiting his next move.
As he started to take a step towards you, Jake walked into the kitchen, pausing as he witnesses the guy come closer to you; again trying to reach out and touch your arm. He flicks his eyes to you, and you look at him with pleading eyes. You really hope he can see what you’re trying to tell him.
β€œHey, what are you doing, man?” Jake asked, flicking his eyes between you as he walked further into the kitchen.
β€œThat’s none of your business, man.” He mocks, drawing his attention back to you.
β€œIt is when it’s my house. Did she tell you she was interested in you before you cornered her?” He asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm. He folded his arms and leaned on the counter, raising his eyebrows as he impatiently waited for his response.
β€œWell, I- no, but-β€œ
β€œEnough said. Get off of her and get out of my house.” He spoke with a steady tone, pushing himself off of the counter and moving out of the way, further prompting the guy to leave.
You breathed out, not even realising you were holding your breath. β€œThank you so much.” You sighed, running your hands over your face as you tried to ground yourself.
β€œYeah, are you okay? Did anything else happen?” He asked with panic laced in his voice. He walked over to you and moved his eyes over you to check that you were okay.
You looked up at him. His eyes were laced with concern and worry; they looked softer, It was different. He always looked at you with such annoyance, but you liked this. β€œI’m okay. Thank you, Jake.” You replied. You really were okay, but unwanted men coming onto you will never get less daunting.
β€œI’m sorry that happened. If you need anything, you let me know. My bedroom is upstairs to the right if you need some quiet.” He said softly as he ran his hand through his hair, letting it fall back into place.
You were taken back, to say the least. You and Jake were never nice to each other unless absolutely necessary, but even then you were still throwing dirty looks around like there was no tomorrow. It was a moment of clarity. You would see Jake acting somewhat similarly to others; always so kind and caring. But never towards you. You wondered what it would be like to not dislike him so much, and to actually get along with him. Although this only gave you a small taste of that, you liked this a lot more than hating him. You still hated him though. You’re way too stubborn to admit that you might like him, even to yourself.
β€œThanks. I’m okay, I promise. I always get shaken up when this type of stuff happens. I just need another drink.” You laughed a little, trying to soften the mood slightly. You picked up your cup and started to fiddle with it. You felt too awkward just standing there.
β€œYeah, sure. Help yourself. Do you want me to stay with you and then help you find josh? So you’re not on your own again?” He suggested as he walked past you to get a drink out of the fridge.
What the fuck? You thought. You knew Jake could be nice, but you never expected him to be this caring. Not in a million years.
β€œUh, yeah, actually. Would that be okay? I don’t want to steal you from your own party.” You mumbled, starting to pour a concoction of various kinds of alcohol into your cup.
β€œOf course. I know where he is, so it shouldn’t take long.” He reassured you with a soft smile, brushing past you to find a bottle opener for his drink.
You grabbed your drink and went with Jake to find Josh. Once you found him, you said your thank you’s to Jake and walked over to Josh.
β€œWas that Jake? Were you just with Jake? Did you just smile at Jake?” He asked, an excited grin on his face. He got up from his seat, eager to find out if your battle with Jake has finally ended or not.
β€œYes, yes, and yes. Some guy was being a massive creep and Jake saw and kicked him out. He was really sweet, actually. It was weird.” You said, taking a sip of your drink whilst stealing Josh’s seat.
β€œDoes this mean you both like each other?” He said, completely disregarding the small mention of the creepy guy; you didn’t blame him, though. This was exciting for him. His smile widened as he got more eager by the second.
β€œNo. I still hate him.” You said firmly. You were not admitted the fact that you maybe, slightly like Jake. Not happening.
β€œUgh, c’mon, y/n. You know he can be nice, you’ve seen it yourself. He’s even been nice to you now. Without any prompting.” He pleaded as he sat on the edge of the table opposite you.
You leaned back against the sofa and sighed. You looked at Josh’s face and you could see he was desperate for this to finally be over. β€œOkay, fine. I don’t like Jake. However, I’m not as inclined to gauge his eyes out when I look at him anymore. Happy?” You reasoned.
He shook his head and smiled. β€œFine. This is a starting point, then.”
β€œSure. You can call it that if you’d like.” You giggled. It was clear he was a little frustrated, all he wanted was his best friend and brother to get along, but it was fun to wind him up sometimes.
As the night went on, people slowly startled to filter out the party, only leaving a few people. You were thinking about jake, and how he helped you. You wanted to repay him, so you took yourself to the kitchen and began clearing up some of the used cups. You figured he would appreciate this, since no one likes cleaning up the morning after whilst morbidly hungover.
You were nearly done when Jake walked in. He paused in the doorway, β€œWhat are you doing?” He asked, not moving.
β€œOh, hi. I’m just cleaning up a little bit. Thought it might help you out tomorrow when you’re hungover.” You stated, smiling at him and continuing to throw away all the trash laying around.
β€œYou don’t have to do that.” He began to walk over and attempted to take the bag from your hands. You pulled your hands away.
β€œYou didn’t have to help me earlier.” You looked up at him and sent him a reassuring smile. You really wanted to help out.
β€œHow are you doing after earlier?” He asked, ignoring your previous statement.
β€œYeah, I’m fine. I’m just glad you helped.” You replied, setting the bag down on the floor when there was no more trash left on the counters.
β€œHow are you getting home?” He wondered, picking up the trash bag and moving it to the doorway so he could take it out later.
β€œOh, I was just going to get a taxi.” You said as you fiddled with your rings, again feeling awkward with this new tone of conversation between you.
He shook his head, β€œNo, you can stay here.”
β€œWhy do you care how I get home?” You retort. It came out slightly harsher than you expected, and he took a step back.
β€œWhy do i care?” He repeated. β€œLook, we might not see eye to eye, but what happened to you tonight wasn’t okay. He might not have done anything, but who knows what might’ve happened if i didn’t show up at the right time. I know you know that, and I also know that you’re going to have overwhelming anxiety about getting into a taxi, by yourself, at night. I’m not willing to let you do that whilst you’re also drunk and vulnerable. What kind of person would that make me if I didn’t care?” He said, raising his voice. He began to walk away from you, making his way out of the kitchen.
You rushed over to him, grabbing his hand to pull him back into the kitchen, β€œWait, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that, I guess I’m just used to keeping my guard up around you.” You apologised, looking up at him. You realised you were still holding his hand, so you hesitatingly let go. You’d never really been this close to him, and you weren’t complaining. You studied his features, moving your eyes around his face.
β€œI know, me too. I’m sorry for shouting, it’s just annoying because I was being nice, and you sort of threw it back in my face.” He said as he did the same to you; studying your features.
You wondered what it would be like to kiss him, or what his calloused hands would feel like against your bare skin, or how he would feel insid- stop. You still hate him. You thought.
He wondered the same about you. He wondered how soft your lips would feel; how you would taste. He was willing to find out. In a moment of boldness, he began to move closer to your lips. He was getting closer, closer, clo-
β€œHey guys- wait a minute. Did I just interrupt something?” Josh said as he walked into the kitchen, a smirk beginning to spread on his lips.
You both moved away from each other, not wanting to let on that you were making up with each other; or whatever you were doing. You weren’t really sure what just happened.
β€œNo.” You both spoke at the same time.
β€œI was just clearing up, and then Jake came in. That’s all. What were you going to say?” You stuttered. You fiddled with your rings again, looking down at your hands.
β€œOh. Well, I’m going to bed. I’m staying here tonight by the way, Jake.” He turned around and made his way out of the kitchen and upstairs to the spare room.
You giggled at Josh as you turned round to face jake again. β€œSo, am I staying here, too?” You asked. You felt bad asking, but he was pretty clear on his opinions about you getting a taxi.
β€œYeah, if that’s what you want.” He responded. He reached his hand to the back of his neck, playing with his hair. He obviously felt nervous. Or awkward. Probably awkward, you assumed.
β€œYeah, thanks. Can I take a shower?” You asked. You felt gross, you always did after drinking. You noticed his eyes move over you, sparking a warm feeling in your belly. You tried to push the feeling away, not prepared or ready to feel this way about him on such short notice.
β€œYeah. The bathroom is upstairs, opposite the top of the stairs. The towels are in the cupboard next to it.” He replied whilst pointing upstairs. Neither of you moved, you just started at each other. You were both equally as confused at what happened before Josh interrupted. Was it a moment? Was it not a moment? Who knows.
After a few seconds of painfully awkward silence and staring, you left to go upstairs and take a shower. You found the towels in the cupboard that Jake mentioned, and turned the shower on. You adjusted the temperature so that it was a little warmer, and peeled off your dress. It felt good to get it off of you; you never found tight dresses as the most comfortable option.
You tied your hair up in a bun after seeing the stingy amount of options for shampoo. You also didn’t fancy sleeping in wet hair. You stepped in and immediately relaxed at the feeling of the water hitting your back, making every effort to not get your hair wet. You took your time washing yourself, not wanting to leave the warmth of the shower. Your mind wondered to Jake. You’d always thought he was attractive, but you were never attracted to him. Probably because he was never nice to you. But after tonight, after seeing the caring side you’d only ever observed, you felt differently about him. It was hard to dislike him as much when you had been on the receiving end of his selflessness and kindness. You wondered what this meant for your relationship with him. Were you still enemies? Or were you walking into new territory with him? You weren’t sure.
Eventually, you decided to get out and began drying yourself. You wrapped the towel around you and tried to find Jake to ask where you would be sleeping, and if he had any clothes for you to wear. Both questions which should’ve been asked before you got in the shower, you realised. You found him in his bedroom, sitting on the edge of his bed in just his trousers. You’d never seen him shirtless, and you’d never say no to seeing it again; that’s for sure.
You knocked gently on the door despite it being open, to let him know of your presence. He looked up and raked his eyes down your figure. You felt exposed.
β€œHey. I was just wondering if you had anything for me to wear, and where I was sleeping?” You asked, speaking gently to not wake Josh up.
β€œUh, yeah. You can sleep in here, if that’s okay with you. I’ll find you some clothes to wear, just give me a second.” He said, getting up from his bed and making his way to the chest of drawers to find some clothes for you.
β€œBut where will you sleep?” You asked, feeling confused as you watched him dig through his clothes.
β€œOn the couch downstairs. Here, you can wear this top. You can wear these pyjama bottoms if you want, but they’re a little big on me, so they’ll probably be big on you, too.” He muttered as he handed the pile of clothes to you. Your hands brushed together, the small amount of contact bringing back the warm feeling in your stomach. Stop. You thought.
β€œNo, I’ll take the couch. I can sleep anywhere, it’s okay.” You responded, moving your hand to the top of your towel to stop it from slipping.
β€œHonestly, just take the bed. Take it as my formal apology for the last however many years of shit.” He smirked, attempting to make a joke out of the β€˜however many years’ of torture.
β€œOh, we’re apologising now?” You countered, returning his smirk.
β€œI think it’s about time, don’t you? Anyway, it’s your turn now. I just made my apology.” He said as he moved closer to you, leaning on the doorframe.
β€œNot to erase all of our progress, but that was not a very good apology.” You argued. God, he looked good without a shirt. You thought.
β€œI think it was a great apology. I’m offering you to sleep in a nice, warm, comfortable bed.” He retorted, gesturing to the bed behind him.
You shook your head and laughed. β€œIt didn’t even include the word β€œsorry”, Jake.”
β€œOkay, fine. I’m sorry, y/n. Better?” He said, still sporting the same smirk.
You wanted to kiss him. You’d been trying to ignore this fleeting thought since you were in the kitchen together, but it was becoming insufferable. You squeezed your legs together at the sheer thought of him touching you.
β€œBetter.” You responded, β€œI’m sorry, too. Truly.” You said, setting the tone to something more serious than before. You had less of an issue apologising to him now that he had initiated it, but you were so ready for this battle to be over between you.
He stared at you, not really knowing where to go from here. He also really wanted to kiss you; he thought you looked good in only a towel, and imagined how easy it would be to remove it. He imagined how you’d look underneath it, having to stop himself from finding out. He could see the swell of your breasts under the towel and felt himself starting to get hard. He saw your eyes flick down to his lips and linger there, before moving back up to his eyes. Does she want this, too? He thought. He took this as a signal that you felt the same and leaned in, capturing your lips in a gentle, yet passionate kiss.
You were in shock. You had been wanting this, but you did not realise he wanted it, too. You leaned into the kiss, feeding your hands into his hair. You tugged it at the roots slightly, earning a little groan from Jake in response. This felt so wrong; but it made sense. You wondered if all of your friends were right; maybe it was just built up sexual tension.
His hands moved round your waist, squeezing at your skin. His tongue swiped against your bottom lip begging for entrance, which you granted. You moaned into his mouth at the feeling and grabbed his arms, pulling him impossibly closer to you. You needed him, and he needed you just as much. You felt his hard-on press against your lower stomach. You could feel yourself getting wet at the thought of him inside of you, and reached your hand down and palmed him through his trousers. He sucked in a breath and pulled away, β€œStop. Are you sure you want this?” He asked with concern and desperation written all over his face, pushing you away from him slightly.
β€œYes, Jake.” You whined. You didn’t mean for it to come out like that; you were aiming for a steadier, firmer tone, but you found it hard to care, It’s not like you weren’t getting a little impatient.
He leaned back in, kissing you with more passion than before. He moved his hands to the top of the towel, silently asking you to take it off. You obliged, taking your hands away from his neck and unravelled it, letting it slide down your body.
He moved his eyes over your body, groaning at the site of you. β€œFuck, you look so pretty.” He muttered, pulling you back into him and kissing you again.
You moved your hands to his belt a second time, undoing the buckle and chucking it on the floor. You undid the buttons and he slid them off, stepping out of them and kicking them out of the way. You saw his growing bulge through his boxers; you wouldn’t be lying if you said your mouth started watering at the sight. You wanted to taste him.
So you did just that. You got down on your knees, using his thighs as an anchor to ensure you didn’t keel over; that would be embarrassing. He looked down at you, his jaw slack and his hair draped around his face. He took his hand and gently cupped your cheek, slowly guiding your head forward. β€œYou want a taste, baby?” He whispered, stroking your cheek with his thumb. You nodded your head yes whilst you took your hands to the tops of his boxers, he stopped you. Again.
β€œWords.” He demanded, tightening his grip on your jaw.
β€œYes, I wanna taste you.” You muttered, still gripping his boxers.
He nodded, giving you permission to carry on. You slid his boxers down, revealing his hard cock. There was pre cum dripping out of the head, and you swear you almost started dribbling at the sight.
You leaned forward, his hand still pressed against your face, and licked up the side. He took in a sharp breath and closed his eyes, moving his hand so that he could grip your hair.
You took the head into your mouth, sucking gently. You wanted to tease him. You moved down slowly, hollowing your cheeks ever so slightly. β€œAh, fuck. Don’t tease.” He uttered. His breathing was starting to get irregular as you continued down his length.
He was getting impatient. He needed to be inside of you, and you were taking too long. He moved his hand to the back of your head, edging you forward and testing the waters. You hummed around his cock, giving him approval.
He moved your head forward, forcing you to take almost all of him into your mouth. He was huge; to say the least. You hollowed your cheeks as much as you could as he created a rhythm for you. You moved your hand from his thigh to the base of his cock, jerking him off slowly as you took the rest of him in your mouth.
He hit the back of your throat and you gagged around him. His hand faltered as he threw his head back, β€œJesus, y/n.” He growled, pulling your hair harshly. You could start to feel him pulsing in your mouth, and you knew he was getting close. He was panting, at this point. His hair was sticking to his face and his jaw was slack. He looked hot, and the need you’ve been feeling for him has just increased by an obscene amount.
Almost as if he could sense your increasing desire, he pulled you off of him. β€œI nearly couldn’t stop myself.” He admitted sheepishly whilst he helped you off of your knees, bringing you in for another kiss. He could taste himself on your tongue; he could’ve come if he carried on, the images of you on your knees flooding his head.
β€œGet on the bed.” He uttered, unbuttoning his shirt and throwing it onto the floor. You obliged, swaying your hips as you walked over to the bed.
He joined you on the bed and pushed your legs further apart, β€œNow it’s my turn to taste you. You want me to taste how sweet you are, honey?” He whispered as he placed soft kisses around your dripping cunt.
You moaned at the sheer thought of his mouth on you, β€œYes, please.” You whined, moving your legs further apart as a way to prompt him.
He liked a stripe down you, causing your hips to buck into his mouth at the sudden sensation. You grabbed his hair in your hands, tugging slightly. β€œEager, are we? I’ve barely even touched you.” He taunted, smirking to himself at the thought of getting you so worked up.
Your cheeks turned a crimson colour from embarrassment. β€œPlease, do something. I need you.” You pleaded. It was getting too much now; you just needed something, badly.
β€œBe patient.” He muttered into you, pressing his mouth against you again. He circled your clit with his tongue, and with no warning, pushed his fingers into you; setting a relentless pace. The noise you made was inhuman, and as a reminder of the sleeping beauty next door, Jake smacked his hand on your thigh. Your hand flew to your mouth in an attempt to hide the noises coming from you.
The rate at which he was pumping his calloused fingers was sending you to the edge at an embarrassing pace; he could feel you squeezing his fingers, β€œYou gonna come for me, pretty girl?” He asked, somehow pumping his fingers even faster than before.
He sucked on your clit, and you couldn’t take it anymore. You were trying to speak, but you were sure your words were incoherent. Your orgasm was imminent; you were bucking your hips, desperate to come. His fingers hit a particular spot within you, and a wave of pleasure crashed into you full force. You were chanting his name like a mantra, though you were sure it made no sense. He took his fingers out of you and began lapping you up, striving to collect every little bit of your orgasm on his tongue. β€œSo sweet.” He groaned.
You tried to push his head away; but he was stronger than you and carried on. β€œCan you give me another one? I know you can, sweet girl.” He prompted, pushing his fingers back inside of you and, yet again, setting a relentless pace.
β€œI need you, Jake.” You begged, still trying to pry his head away from yourself. You threw your head back into the pillows as the slight pain of overstimulated faded, being replaced with pleasure. β€œGod, Jake.” You moaned.
β€œYou gonna come around my fingers again, hm?” He taunted, placing his mouth back on your clit straight away.
β€œFuck! Yes, yes, yes.” You whimpered, feeling your second orgasm approach quicker by the second.
β€œSee? I knew you could do it for me.” He remarked, β€œC’mon, sweet girl. You can do it. Just one more and then you can have my cock, yeah?”
His words of encouragement egged you on, and you pulled at his hair in an attempt to bring him even closer. He groaned into you; the vibrations sending you over the edge. You threw your head back, squeezing your eyes shut. You were beginning to wonder why you hadn’t listened to your friends because you did not want to wait any longer for him, and you were already half way there.
He pulled his head away, and slowed down the pace of his fingers, slowly working you through your high. He climbed on top of you, and the cold metal of his necklaces touching your chest sent a chill down your body.
You leaned in, starting a heated kiss with him. You couldn’t get enough of him; eager to feel him inside of you. He moved down to your chest, taking your nipple into his mouth and sucking harshly. You arched your back into him, β€œPlease, Jake. Please, I need you so badly.” You cried, wrapping your legs around his waist.
You moved your hand down to his cock and stroked him softly, β€œyou want my cock, baby?” He uttered, trying to conceal the groan he let out from such a delicate touch.
β€œI can’t take it any longer, I need you, Jake.” You demanded, quickening your pace on his hard cock. He could’ve come right there and then; the combination of your touch and your shameless begging making it hard to control himself. It was painful, and he wondered how he didn’t just fuck you up against the wall the second you removed the towel.
He removed your hand, replacing them with his own, giving himself a few languid strokes before guiding it to your entrance. β€œYou sure about this?” He asked, his tone switching from demanding to concerned.
β€œJake, if you don’t fuck me right now, I might go insane.” You stated, looking up at him with pure desperation. You genuinely thought you were going to combust with how impatient you were getting.
He needed no further confirmation, and thrusted into you. You yelped at the feeling of him; the burning sensation from his cock stretching you out catching you off guard.
β€œShit, y/n. You feel so good. So ready for me.” He panted, setting an unforgiving pace. His thrusts were deep, and reached all the right places.
You wrapped your arm around his back and dug your nails into him, needing something to grip onto. He groaned at the feeling, gripping the sheets beneath him. You could feel yourself getting closer already, and so could he, β€œAre you close? I can feel you- fuck, I can feel you squeezing me.” He groaned into your neck, β€œI wont last much longer if you keep doing that.” He moaned as he started to suck on your neck, leaving reminders of tonight for tomorrow.
You tried to respond, but the immense pleasure you were feeling caused your mind to go blank. You were trying to hold your orgasm off; not wanting this to end, but to no avail, your third orgasm came crashing down. You dragged your hands down jakes back, most definitely leaving scratches for him to discover tomorrow. He fucked you through your high; not faltering once, whilst whispering sweet words of encouragement into your ear, β€œyou’re doing so good for me, baby.”
You came down from your high, feeling utterly fucked out. β€œCan you do one more for me? I know you can- fuck, just one more, please?” He said, his steady facade slipping in an instant.
β€œJake, I can’t. It hurts.” You pleaded. On one hand, you never wanted this to end. But on the other hand, you were exhausted and the overstimulation hurt.
He moved his hand down to your clit, circling his fingers around it quickly. β€œYou said that last time, and you did. Stop being pathetic.” He growled, leaning his head into your chest to start sucking on your nipple.
Pain turned into pleasure; as usual, and your fourth orgasm was fast approaching. β€œYou can do it, please do it.” He begged, his hips faltering as he tried to hold off his orgasm. β€œI need to feel you come around my cock.” He pleaded, quickening his fingers which were circling your sensitive clit.
He toyed with your clit faster, silently pleading with you to hurry up.
It worked.
Although not as intense as the last three, you were still sure you were sent to some other dimension as your fourth orgasm hit you. You could feel jakes hips faltering as he fucked you through your orgasm, whilst also keenly chasing his own.
β€œFuck! I’m gonna come, y/n. Where do you want it?” He asked, his face screwed up and seconds away from coming.
β€œInside! Please, I wanna feel you fill me up.” You urged as he tucked his head into the crook of your neck.
His hips stopped, and he let out a guttural moan that you wish you could play on repeat. You pulled his head away from your neck, trying to see his face as his come filled you up. His hair was stuck to his face with sweat, and his cheeks were a crimson red.
He collapsed on top of you, his heavy breaths heating you up even more. You brushed his hair out of his face and tucked it behind his ears, wanting to see his fucked out face.
He rolled off of you and got up to the bathroom, leaving you on your own to reflect on what just happened. When he came back, he had a wash cloth and kneeled beside you to clean you up. β€œYou okay?” He questioned gently, stroking the outside of your thigh.
β€œYeah. Just tired, is all.” You replied, smiling at him. He thought you looked cute; sprawled out on his bed looking all fucked out and tired.
He discarded the cloth and came to lay next to you, pulling you into his chest. You wrapped your leg around his waist, and absentmindedly started to draw patterns on his bare chest.
β€œThank you. For helping me earlier.” You mentioned quietly. You felt bad. Now that you had seen, first hand, just how caring he is, you felt bad for the way you had previously treated him.
β€œLook, y/n,” he sighed, β€œI’m not a bad person. I know we haven’t gotten along for some time now, but it doesn’t feel good to think that you assumed I’d ever leave someone to fend for themselves in that type of situation; or any type of bad situation. I personally think I just adequately apologised by making you come four times, but I think you’d disagree. So, I’m sorry, y/n. I’m sorry for the way I’ve treated you, and for all of the comments I’ve made towards you. I’ll be honest, I’ve seen the way you are towards others; the real you, and I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end of that. Now I know that you’re a great person, and always have been.” He confessed, stroking your hair softly. You were overwhelmed, to say the least. You never expected to make up with Jake so fast; let alone going from hating him, to having sex with him, all in one night.
β€œI’m sorry, too. I know, and knew, you weren’t a bad person. If we’re sharing secrets now, I’ve wanted to make it up to you for a while, but I was too stubborn. I would agree that you adequately apologised, but hearing you say the words made it a lot better. The best apology I’ve ever received, if you will.” You giggled softly, admiring his face. He always thought you were attractive, but seeing you in this knew light made it different for him. He wasn’t just attracted to the way you looked anymore, but you as a person, too.
You wondered what this meant for both of you. You knew you at least liked each other now, but you wanted to know him. The small taste of the real Jake you had gotten tonight was simply not enough.
β€œWhat does this mean for us? Are we friends now?” He queried, a frown appearing on his face.
β€œI’m not sure. Why don’t you take me out to dinner and we can find out?” You countered, your heart rate increasing at your sudden boldness. He stopped stroking your hair and looked at you with a grin.
β€œDeal.” He agreed, leaning down to press a gentle kiss on your lips. You pulled away, nuzzling your head into his chest with a giddy smile plastered on your face.
294 notes Β· View notes
the-catboy-minyan Β· 1 month
Text
why so many people don't recognize that their antizionism is antisemitic, in my opinion:
(disclaimer: this is not an educational post, it will not have sources for claims, and is not meant to be read as the objective truth. it is solely my observation and opinions. civil debate and criticism is encouraged in both the notes and reblogs, I will do my best to answer those and correct my post if necessary. edits will be highlighted in pink, if this is a reblog, press the original post to see the most updated version. English is not my first Language, I might have used the wrong words for some terms.)
The Meaning Of Zionism:
this section is meant to highlight the difference between
firstly, they falsely believe the term Zionism means supporting genocide or Netanyahu's government, when most Jews don't use the term Zionism that way. Zionism has many different meanings and subgroups, as Jews love to argue (/j but Judaism encourages debate and personal interpretation), but all meanings are built on the original idea of "Jewish self determination in their indigenous land/creating and maintaining a Jewish country somewhere in the world" (yes, technically believing giving Israelis land somewhere else to be Israel is a form of Zionism, I've seen that take). the methods for creating and maintaining the lands differ, so is the belief of what land should be considered Israel, but all forms of Zionism rely on that core belief. while Zionists may support those things, that is not an integral part for Zionism, and many Zionists oppose those ideas and condemn them.
in addition, they falsely believe Zionism is in favor of illegal occupation and apartheid, which only specific subgroups of Zionists (extremely right-wing Zionists) are in favor of. Zionism is, again, mostly about an end goal (establishing and maintaining a Jewish state (which currently means in Eretz Israel)), and people will have different opinions on how to achieve it, including extremist and racist opinions. all movements have people who hold extremist beliefs, and are usually condemned by other members of their movement, Zionism is no exception.
they don't see Zionism as Jewish. I mean, there are more Christian Zionists than there are Jews in the world! of course it's not Jewish! lets ignore the fact the movement started by a Jewish man, was widely popular in Jewish communities and is what led to the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state.
now, let's for a moment ignore the misinterpretation of the term and assume that by saying Zionists, they refer only to people who support Netanyahu, illegal occupation in places like the west bank, war crimes committed by the IDF, etc. regardless of the Zionist's religion/ethnicity/race. (keep in mind that while that's their assumed intentions, their antizionism will still ultimately include self-identified Jewish Zionists who are strongly against these things)
Antizionist Activism and Beliefs:
have you heard accusations of antisemitism and the response "I'm not antisemitic, just antizionist"? this section will highlight the reasons why many antizionist actions or claims are seen as antisemitic by many Jews.
No Zionists Allowed: as in, excluding zionists from public, private, and online spaces. this tactic is used today to exclude many groups deemed problematic, "no [queer]phobes allowed", "no racists allowed", "no men misogynists allowed", etc. which is why on the surface, it doesn't seem antisemitic. yet this exclusion tactic is derivative from historical exclusion of ethnic groups, groups that were seen as evil/violent/sinners/subhuman were ostracised from society and denied access to public/private spaces. signs like "no blacks allowed", "no gays allowed", and, of course, "gentiles only".
Zionists Are Nazis: comparing any "evil" group to Nazis is common, they're so overly exposed to ww2 stories, especially ones that paint Nazi germany as pure evil cartoon villains, that they have no idea what the term Nazi actually means anymore. Nazism is based on race theory and antisemitism, it's the creator of the term antisemitism to make it sound more scientific instead of discriminatory, in Mein Kamph, Hitler wrote that almost every "issue" in the world is the fault of Jews. comparing the extremely antisemitic, supremacist, racist, homophobic, ableist, etc. ideology of Nazism to a Jewish movement for self determination is in fact antisemitic. (it is also wrong to throw the term Nazi around for any reason, but especially for a Jewish movement)
Zionists Control The Media/Government/etc: the belief that there's a secret organisation controlling the media is an old conspiracy theory, which comes from the genuine fear of your government feeding the people propaganda to sway their opinion in favor of the government to let it do what it wants. it's is good to believe the media is biased, as it's written by humans who are inherently biased, but to outright claim the entirety of media is untrustworthy when it's not hailed from a dictatorship is a harmful belief. this is what antivaxxers believed during the pandemic, what conspiracy theorists believed for centuries, and believe it or not, it's at least partially derived from the antisemitic belief of Jews controlling the banks and conspiracies like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Rid The World Of Zionists: again, there are many other activist groups that believe their enemy should be eradicated, that if they believe in or have done xyz, they deserve their rights to be taken away from them and to die. this is dehumanization, and an oppression tactic. the moment you say "this type of person doesn't deserve rights because they're evil", the moment people are gonna start getting falsely accused of falling into that type with the purpose of silencing them or getting their rights revoked. + the before point of political exclusion being derivative of ethnic/religious/racial exclusion. we've seen many people getting accused of being secretly Zionists for even mentioning the hostages.
Zionists Want Genocide/Are Bloodthirsty (a reminder that this is under the assumption that Zionists blindly support the current Israeli government and the IDF's war crimes): this is both straight up a variation of blood libel, and extremely hypocritical.
blood libel started as the antisemitic accusations that Jews kidnapped Christian children on Passover to creat Matzot, while no one beliefs are that extreme anymore, the underlying belief that Jews are violent and enjoy murder still exists, and was shifted to be about Israelis. the "it was self defense!" accusation that claims Israelis are just itching for their enemies to strike first to get the opportunity to respond violently and use self defense as an excuse, for example.
hypocritical as in, this goes hand in hand with the belief that Zionists should be killed. "Zionists support genocide so they should all die a violent and gruesome death" is a take I've seen MULTIPLE TIMES - and being said completely seriously, not in the comedic tumblr way of "my blorbo is cringe? wrong, killing you with hammers :3" - and is extra hypocritical when they very strongly oppose the idea of "Hamas are terrorists who committed atrocities therefore they should all die" (and ftr I don't claim they should support that).
there are people who believe that violence is necessary for an end goal, extreme violence even. that doesn't make them bloodthirsty or violent people, it makes them radicalized. there are some Zionists who believe the only way to maintain safety in Israel is to not only eradicate Hamas, but to eradicate Gaza, as they believe that all the people of Gaza are brainwashed to be violently against Israel and pro martyrdom (as in suicide attacks), and thus a threat to Israel's safety. there are some antizionists who believe the only way to free Palestine and bring safety to Gaza is to eradicate Zionists, as they believe that all Zionists are brainwashed to hate Palestinians and to be pro illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing, and are thus a threat to Palestine and their human rights. both of these beliefs are radical and false.
Zionist Blocklists: this is mostly an online problem, but Zionists have been doxxed IRL (and I don't mean individuals, massive lists of hundreds of alleged Zionists) for the same reasons those blocklists exists. people are gathering usernames of "Zionists" online to "warn other users" from interacting with them, with the disclaimer of "I'm not telling you to harass them, don't interact, just block". not only does it encourage to never hear the opposing side, thus pushing you further into an echo chamber of only voices that agree with you and never actually learning from the source what are the opinions you oppose, it ultimately creates a neat little list of people to harass because of the before mentioned dehumanizing belief that evil people deserve violence against them. suddenly sending death threats is easier than ever, and it's justified since these are allegedly evil people. you're not encouraged to double check if these people are actually Zionists, there's no explanation as to why they're on the list, you just have to trust the op.
Boycotting Zionist Companies: The Idea of boycotting companies or other organisations that support unethical causes is also, again, not new. People boycott companies that donated to anti-lgbtq organisations or that relied on slavery for their product creation. and yet the companies who are being boycotted are
Israeli companies, which are not necessarily supporting the Israeli government, it would be like boycotting every Chinese company because of the Uyghur genocide.
companies which helped Israel in some way, like McDonald's, which donated meals to Israeli soldiers during the start of the war (this is again a reminder that the majority of McDonald's income is real estate). there are arguments to be made to justify these type of boycotts, as they're similar to other justifications for different causes, yet unless these companies have directly funded the IDF's weaponry, the arguments for boycotting is flimsy at best.
companies which mentioned the hostages, like Paramount, which ran an Israeli ad for the release of the hostages. mentioning the hostages is not the same as condoning war crimes, it's recognizing there are innocent Israelis wrapped up in this conflict, just as supporting a free Palestine is not the same as supporting Hamas.
organisations that allowed Israel to participate, like Eurovision. there's just no reason to disallow a country to participate in a songs competition due to being in a war.
events that happen "while Israel is bombing Gaza". American events like the Oscars that happen on a set date and have nothing to do with Israel have no reason to be boycotted just for happening on the same day a war is happening.
Starbucks. why is Starbucks being boycotted? it had done nothing in support of Israel, literally fucking none, it's being boycotted for supporting Palestine wrong, once, on October. it doesn't operate in Israel, it never said anything publicly in support of Israel, there's literally 0 reason to boycott it????????????
anyways. while there are different reasons and justifications for every company or event, there's this silly little thing that happened in Nazi Germany that was boycotting Jewish business, in response to the "anti-nazi boycott". the Jewish boycotts were unsuccessful on paper, but ingrained the Nazi idea of Jews being inferior.
The Harm It Does For The Jewish Community:
The Overlap: the majority of Jews are Zionists, not in the sense of supporting genocide, but in the Jewish meaning(s) of believing a Jewish state should exist or is in some way beneficial for Jewish safety. by excluding and silencing Zionists, the antizionist crowd are excluding and silencing the majority of jewish people. a Jewish person who wants to integrate back into their circles has to refute their Zionism in fear of being seen as a genocide supporter, a Jewish person who refuses to hide their beliefs will be labeled evil and be ostracized. actual right-wing zionists would stay away from these spaces anyways for being leftist/centrist spaces, thus the exclusion is effective only on leftist Jews who dare believe Israel should exist.
"Zionism Isn't Judaism": is a claim many antizionists make, yet time and time again we see synagogues, Jewish schools, and Jewish neighborhood get targeted by antizionist protests. Jewish spaces are being attacked, even if you claim it is by a minority, these are still actions that are largely ignored by the antizionist crowd and aren't being condemned. you know, by the people who believe that silence is violence?
Can't Have A Single Positive Opinion About Israel: you have an Israeli relative that enlisted to the IDF? they should have refused servitude and gone to jail, you're a genocide supporter. You've done a birthright trip and it was nice? ew, everyone knows every inch of Israel is full of illegal settlements and apartheid, genocide supporter. you talked about the hostages? propaganda, genocide supporter. Israel passed a pro lgbtq law? pinkwashing propaganda, genocide supporter. you don't think Israel is an occupying terrorist force that oppresses their own citizens and deserves to be burned to the ground? genocide supporter, from the river to the sea!!!
Eretz Israel (not the State of Israel) is an integral part of Judaism. most of our holidays are about Israel in some way, some our traditions require Israel as a place, we bury our dead with soil from Israel, we vow to never forget Jerusalem during our weddings, we celebrate our agriculture and our miracles which happened there, our ancient holy cites are there, so are our ancestors (for ethnic Jews). many Jews are going to have at least a single positive or even a neutral opinion about Israel, and see it as a Jewish land.
The Israeli Identity: since people see Israel as an illegal settlement, apartheid, genocidal, terrorist state, etc, they also see Israelis as complicit in those crimes. every Israeli they meet is going to immediately be a criminal, Israelis are not a "real Jews" (that makes half the Jewish population fake), in the case Israel is dismantled and Israelis are forced to "go back to where they came from", will those countries accept them with open arms? or will the boycotts continue? what about Mizrahi Jews which hailed from the Arab world? do you think they'll even be allowed to live after their country's crimes against Palestine? will the Houtis let them when their flag has "death to Israel" on it (most Mizrahis are Yemeni)? if citizens are the same as their government, would that mean every Russian immigrant is an evil spy who wants to murder Ukrainians? just some questions to think about.
in conclusion: I'm tired. I've been writing for 3 hours. bye.
162 notes Β· View notes
auras-moonstone Β· 9 months
Note
can you write something of jack x shy!reader that are either working on a romcom together or she’s his interviewer?
hi! i actually really like how this turned out. hope you like it tooπŸ’“
enchanted to meet you β€” jack champion
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word count: 1,409
pairing: jack champion x fem!interviewer!reader
summary: y/n feels scared for her first job as an interviewer but jack’s warming demeanour makes her feel more comfortable as the interview goes on.
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Y/N’S HANDS WERE SHAKY AND SHE CONSTANTLY HAD TO RUB THEM ON HER DRESS BECAUSE OF HOW SWEATY THEY WERE. To be fair, she was only 18 years old and doing her first interview. It was very sudden, she just started working on this known magazine and the woman who was supposed to go to the Scream premiere had an accident so they just sent the only person available: Y/N Y/L. And of course the person she had to interview was Jack fucking Championβ€”the six foot tall boy with unbelievable gorgeous factions and a killer smile.
Y/N was probably the youngest person in there. Everyone seemed to know each other and she was just there, alone and feeling extremely scared and anxious. She used to have a planβ€”start getting over her shyness with chill interviews so that in the future she could be ready to interview famous celebrities. But no, she was straight off sent to the premiere of one of the most successful franchises of all time. She was going to throw up.
The silhouette of the boy started to make his way to her β€œHi!” his excited voice greeted her, pulling her out of her thoughts.
Y/N looked up, her eyes meeting a very bright brown set of eyes. The boy was even prettier in person (and taller). He was wearing a white tank top below his stylish black jacket and black trousers. He was so handsome. And did she mention he was really tall?
β€œHi, sorry. I was lost in my thoughts” she apologised, her cheeks already turning red. That was a typical feature of herβ€”always expect her to blush, her blood always betrayed her.
Jack was instantly enchanted by her sweet and soft voice. He had never felt so nervous during an interviewβ€”probably because he had never been interviewed by someone his age, and certainly not by anyone close to being as breathtaking as her.
β€œIt’s okay” he assured her, his smile so shiny it almost blinded her.
Y/N smiled thankful β€œFirst, I’d like to congratulate you on your movie! I got to see you on Avatar and thought you did an amazing job. It’s fantastic that you got to work in such iconic franchises! Were you a fan of the Scream movies before getting the role?” her voice, thankfully, didn’t show how insanely nervous she was. But the hand holding the mic certainly did. Jack noticed her shaky grip, and he wanted so bad to put his hand on hers to comfort her, but he knew it would be too much.
β€œThank you so much, you’re really sweet. And yeah, it’s honestly a dream come true” Jack pulled his dazzling smile and Y/N couldn’t help but take a quick look at it. He had perfect teeth, holy shit. β€œI watched the movies before we started filming and I absolutely loved them!”.
β€œCan I ask who your favourite Ghostface is?” Y/N questioned him. Very original, Y/N, she said to herself. Why did they hire her? She was really not qualified for this.
β€œOh, I love that question!” Jack exclaimed. β€œYou know, I always say Stu but now that I have re-watched the movies and read some opinions online, I also really like Jill! What are yours?”
Y/N’s eyes widened in surprise, she was not expecting him to ask her questions. It wasn’t usual during interviews for reporters to be questioned β€œOh- I- I think Roman, Stu and Jill” she answered nervously. His eyes were so strongly focused on her that she almost melted on the spot.
β€œRoman is also a really good choice. You have great taste! And by the way, I love your outfit” Jack complimented her, looking at the black dressβ€”it was like the one Courtney Cox used at the beginning of Scream 2. Y/N stood still. Did he know the effect those words had on her? Because she was two seconds away from collapsing.
β€œThank you for saying that… your outfit is amazing too” she brushed it off with a little laugh.
β€œThank you! Look, I have ghostface socks!” he said in an enthusiastic tone. She look down to see the black socks with patters of the mask and couldn’t help but smile.
β€œThat’s adorable” the comment slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it. But far from being uncomfortable, Jack’s smile grew bigger. β€œDid you all know who was playing Ghostface from the beginning or was it something you found out towards the end of the shooting?”
β€œActually, we didn’t know who would be playing Ghostface until the revealing scene” he answered, and admired the way her eyes shone in awe. β€œI take it you are a really big fan of the franchise”.
Y/N let out a nervous laugh, feeling a bit embarrassed β€œIs my enthusiasm that readable? I’m sorry, I literally grew up watching those movies”
β€œAnd now you are at the premiere interviewing the cast! That’s amazing!” he exclaimed loudly.
His happy aura was really contagious and it made her feel a little less shy β€œWell, thank you, Jack. Do you have any future projects?”
β€œYes! I actually did a movie with Liam Neeson that will be coming out soon called Retribution and another one called Freaky Tales! So yeah, I’m very excited” he balanced on his feet.
β€œThat’s amazing! Congratulations” Y/N gave him a genuine smile. Then they heard someone calling his name, telling him it was time to go. β€œThank you for you time, Jack. Hope you felt comfortable”.
β€œI did! It was fun, and you were excellent” Jack smiled down at her. The team kept calling him but he wouldn’t move, trying to decide if he should just ask for her instagram or if it would be too weird. Maybe she had a partner, god he hoped not. Before he could even ask her name, Mason came to him and grabbed his arm.
β€œJack, we have to go” his friend told him. Jack sighed, waving at the beautiful interviewer and cursing himself for not being quick enough.
Y/N turned around, ready to walk back to the van, completely wonderstruck by the charming young actor. She just prayed that wasn’t the last time they saw each other.
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THE INTERVIEW WENT VIRAL IN LESS THAN AN HOUR, AND EVEN FOR A FAMOUS COMPANY, IT WAS UNEXPECTED. The people were going wild on the comment section, pointing out how the actor looked at his interviewer in complete amazement. No one would have thought it was going to have such a repercussion. Especially not Y/N.
championslover man was in AWE
liked by masonthegooding
landrydaylight pls the way he looks at her i need them to be together!!!
liked by masonthegooding, jennaortega, baileybass, jamieflatters and more.
haunted.ethan β€œlook, i have ghostface socks” really jack??? πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
devyn_nekoda i can’t believe he said that omg
jackchampion I WAS NERVOUS OKAY LET ME BE
ghostfacelandry the evolution on this two min interview was so heartwarming??? like she was really shy at first but then you could tell she got used to his presence omg i adore them
jacksrep the way she blushes!! girl is honestly strong cause i would’ve passed out from having him in front of me
spiderboyjack let’s go to the important thing: does anyone have her insta????
championslover i just found it, it’s y/n.y/l/n (holy shit she’s so pretty!!!)
jacksgf oh jack… i get it now!!!
jackchampion championslover thank you for your service 🫑
championslover oh he’s down BAD
liked by jackchampion
jackchampion started following you
Y/N stared at the notification in shock. And then her heart stopped when she saw another notification, this time it was a direct message.
hey! it’s jack
i really wanted to get your instagram the day of the interview but honestly i was too scared
hi jack!
well, i’m glad your fandom (who honestly should be called by the fbi) found it.
hahaha me too tbh
and i’m going to be forward, i can’t stop thinking about you ever since the interview and it was killing me that i didn’t even get your name (by the way i’m praying you don’t have a partner).
i can’t stop thinking about you either (nope, i’m single)
you made me feel really comfortable, and that is not something i can say about a lot of people… especially not those who i talked to for two minutes
i don’t know.. you give that special kind of vibe very few people have
you know how to make someone blush ☺️
i heard it was your first interview. i can’t believe it, you were amazing!
thank you! i was so nervous but it could’ve gone way worse
you made it easier, you were really sweet
i’m glad i was your first interview then :)
i was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tomorrow? i’d really like to get to know you better
i would love to, jack!
great! send me your address and i’ll pick you up at seven.
can’t wait 🀍
me neither😫 wanna facetime???
sure! text me xxx xxxx
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artful-aries Β· 10 months
Note
I love your writing! Can I pls request β€œfirst I love you” with Diluc, Ayato, Al Haitham, zhongli, and Childe, pls? Ty
I’ve actually already done Alhaitham for this, but everyone else is included!
Saying β€œI Love You” For The First Time (Diluc, Ayato, Zhongli, Childe)
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Diluc
What do you mean Diluc doesn’t say β€œI love you. Most ardently. Please do me the honor of accepting my hand.”???
Saying he loves you is a difficult task, not because he doesn’t feel that way about you, but he’s terrified of what that would mean
As illogical as it is, he’s scared that if he admits he loves you, it means that he stands to lose you, and he doesn’t think he’s a strong enough man to bear any more grief than he already does
Yet it’s an undeniable fact that he loves you, and he agonizes over the feeling for weeks. It’s so obvious that he’s fretting over something; you and the entire Dawn Winery staff know it by his ceaseless pacing he does whenever he has a spare moment, but when asked about it he writes it off as merely being lost in thought about how to manage the winery better
Once he gathers the courage to admit to himself that he loves you, Diluc still hesitates on telling you his feelings. He doesn’t want you to feel awkward or pressured into loving him, so he resolves to wait until you confess first
That’s what he settles on, yet he finds himself going out of his way to show you he loves you rather than telling you. He gives you more tender kisses, lingering glances, and he even blushes under your gentle caresses of his face or hair. There’s nothing quite like a little love to make a man crumble
His heart always feels like it’s burning when he’s around you, threatening to consume his rationality and his resolve to let you take this relationship at your own pace
Eventually, Diluc finds himself unable to hold it in anymore. You’ll just be sitting with him in his manor, enjoying the peace and quiet when he would suddenly stand up from his desk and walk over to take your hands in his, the intensity of his gaze throwing you off guard a little
β€œThere is no greater honor than to give my heart to you, (Y/N). I love you, and I hope that you feel as strongly for me as I do you.”
He’ll give your hands a soft kiss, the passion burning in his fiery red eyes as he awaits your response. Diluc is graceful should you say that you don’t feel that strongly yet or aren’t ready to give an answer, but that would cut him deeper than he would ever confide in anyone. If you return the sentiment, a soft smile slowly begins to spread on his face, and he’ll ask to kiss you
After the initial confession, Diluc still isn’t one to say he loves you much; despite his almost stoic exterior, verbalizing the overwhelming yearning he feels for you makes him flustered, so he does it seldomly. He prefers to leave that kind of language for intimate moments rather than just saying it as if he was commenting on the weather
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Ayato
Calm, cool, and collected at all times, once Ayato has realized that he’s in love with you he is going to be confident in confessing to you, but he is a bit hesitant at first. As the head of the Kamisato Clan, he does worry about the target that might put on your back
It’s not that he’s not confident in his ability to keep you safe, but he wonders if he’s being a bit selfish in putting you in that kind of danger in the first place
Before he settles on confessing, he might ask you about your opinions on love in a roundabout way; guided questions on long term relationships, love, your opinions on his work, and your overall happiness with him now are the tools he uses to find out where he might stand in your heart.
If there is any hint of trepidation, Ayato will not confess to you until a later time. He’s willing to wait until he is old and grey if that is what it takes to ensure that his confession is something you want too. Even if he never finds the right time to confess, he won’t have any regrets
The last hurdle for him to jump through will be to talk to Ayaka. His sister is already aware of his relationship with you, but he thinks it’s important for her to know the depths of his feelings, almost like he’s asking for her blessing. His sister is extremely important to him, so he wants to make sure that she doesn’t have any reservations with how his relationship is progressing, even though he knows Ayaka will be happy for him
Once everything falls into place, Ayato is ready to tell you that he loves you. He wants to make the occasion romantic but very private, so he asks if you’d be willing to accompany him on a walk.
After finding a suitable location away from any prying eyes, he will smile at you and tuck a few strands of hair behind your ear or will gently caress your cheek as he tells you he loves you
It’s simple, yet sweet. After dealing with the politics of the Yashiro Commission and subsequently his own cryptic conversations, he feels that it’s very important for him to speak plainly at this moment. He doesn’t want to play mind games, not with his affections for you
When you return his words he is elated, though outwardly he only has a soft smile on his face as he looks at you like you’re the most precious thing in Teyvat
From then on, he’s pretty liberal with his affections; he’s not going to hang all over you and coo at you, but he will tell you every morning that he loves you, and when he returns in the evening after a long day he tells you he loves you then too. No matter how he feels or how tired he is, he doesn’t want you to go a single day without you knowing that you’re loved
Ayato knows better than most that those you love aren’t guaranteed to stay with you forever, so he makes a point to ensure that he never misses an opportunity to give you the affection you deserve
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Zhongli
Falling in love is a slow and steady process for him, and before he knows it suddenly he feels like he’s almost suffocating in his feelings for you
Despite this overwhelming emotion, Zhongli remains the sophisticated man he always is, leaving you none the wiser of the hammering of his heart each time he looks at you
With you being a mortal, he has his reservations about confessing his love to you; he felt like it was selfish to subtly tie you down to him, knowing that you would age gracefully over time, and he would remain stagnant. Your mortality was in part what drew him to you, and it hurt to know that the very thing that he adored about you would one day tear you two apart
He spends a lot of his free time reflecting over this fact, and your relationship as a whole. Humans were always changing, like the babbling brook that turns into a river at the first flood. Would you be able to handle the unyielding emotions of a former Archon?
Ultimately Zhongli decides to take a leap of faith, believing in the love that you have shown him thus far and calls you to have a cup of tea with him. Over your afternoon tea, he begins to let the emotions in his heart out
β€œI want you to know that though the world around us may change and potentially become something unrecognizable, my feelings for you will always remain. They are embedded into the very core of my being. I love you, (Y/N). I can assure you that will never change in all of the millennia to come.”
His confession is unintentionally intense, but it rings true to the depth of his feelings. Zhongli’s love for you reverberates throughout his entire being, and he longs for you to feel the same
When you say that you love him too, he will chuckle slightly before smiling at you, thanking you for your honest response
There is an unspoken tension between you two about the weight of what a mortal loving an immortal would inevitably mean, but Zhongli opts to put those feelings aside for now. He doesn’t want to ruin this jovial moment with the somber talk of the inescapable end of your life
He plans to have that talk with you sooner rather than later, but for now he focuses on making you feel loved rather than just hearing it. He becomes a lot more tender with you, a feat that you didn’t even know was possible when he already cherished you before his confession
It’s almost like he acts like you two are married already, which you most certainly have no complaints about. Hu Tao even jokingly refers to you as β€œthe missus” whenever she talks about you
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Childe
This man is ANNOYING when he’s in love. You’ll almost know before he even says the words by how clingy and possessive he gets. He barely lets you out of his sight when he’s not wrapped up in a mission for the Fatui
Not only is he clingy, but he loves to push your buttons now more than ever. Seeing your cute face all scrunched up with frustration or irritation is almost as rewarding as when he gets to kiss you, or the feeling he gets during the heat of battle. Almost.
Despite relishing in your reactions, he takes great care to make sure that you don’t hate him. How is he supposed to tell you he loves you if you can’t stand to look at him?
While waiting for the perfect opportunity to say those three magical words, Childe finds himself daydreaming about you. His thoughts are usually quite sweet considering his usual cutthroat demeanor; he even goes as far as to imagine marrying you, and what your future children will look like. He’s a family man at heart, and is completely head over heels in love with you
If the opportunity to tell you he loves you doesn’t come up naturally, he will make it come up. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, when he’s about to burst at the seams he’s coming to collect you for his romantic confession. You’re at work? He’ll tell your boss an emergency came up before scooping you into his arms and taking off. No matter how much you protest, he will not put you down until he’s brought you to a nice, quiet place
Now that he’s actually about to tell you how he feels, Childe almost gets a bit shy about it as he quietly puts you down, scratching the back of his head as he thinks of how to word this feeling inside him. You can’t help but smirk a little at the rare sight of the speechless, nervous Harbinger in front of you
He eventually finds his bravado again and finally speaks with a soft expression, β€œHey (Y/N), listen, I like spending my time with you. You’re smart, funny, resilient, and you’re even cute too, which is a plus.” Childe would dodge a swat from you before continuing, β€œWhat I’m trying to say is, I love you. I’d rather die than to love anyone else, you’re my one and only.”
When you say you love him too, he’s grinning ear to ear as he hoists you up again, ignoring your protests as he spins you around with a rare lighthearted laugh. He won’t be able to resist pulling you in for a kiss either, he’s just so ecstatic that you feel the same way he does
If you thought he was annoying before he confessed, he is a living terror after. Even worse, he uses your love as a shield from your anger if you ever complain about his antics. What do you mean he can’t grab your sides to make you jump? Didn’t you say you loved him?
Despite him constantly teasing you, there’s a warm look in his usually cold eyes that you aren’t used to. It’s a bit flattering to you to know that you were able to turn such a hardened, battle hungry man into the doting goofball he was now, even though he got on your nerves sometimes
Childe is never going to let you forget that he loves you, and constantly seeks to bait you into telling him you love him just as much. The man is pretty much on cloud nine around you. With his confession of the depth of his feelings out of the way, his new goal is to find a way to start a family with you, but he knows to bide his time on that topic…for now
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jennaimmortal Β· 5 months
Text
Musings on OFMD Season 2
I’m feeling a bit sad today for the OFMD writers. After rewatching S1 & 2 a couple times, it’s become blatantly clear to me that Izzy’s arc this season was a very obvious love letter to both Izzy fans & the great Con O’Neil. Izzy was very clearly written to be an obstacle to Ed’s healing & personal growth, a snare that Ed needed to be freed from, albeit with plenty of nuance hiding under the surface. It would have been much easier for them to kill Izzy off while he was still the toxic, abusive, sadomasochistic terror of S1E10.
Instead of taking the easy route, though, the writers flipped the trope on its head! They utilized every bit of the potential buried beneath Izzy’s super fucked up shell. This season Izzy got
β€’ a fully fleshed out redemption complete with terrible consequences of his 1x10 actions
β€’ a realization of the possibility of another way of thinking & existing that he’d spent all of S1 running from & trying to destroy,
β€’ genuine love & support from his crew mates which he was actually able to accept,
β€’ exploration of the long abandoned softer side of his nature,
β€’ an apology from Ed w/o first offering one of his own,
β€’ a powerful, devastatingly poignant speech that mentally demolished a new nemesis, and finally
β€’ a beautiful, meaningful death in the arms of the man he’d dedicated so much of his life to, known that he was truly loved by him & completely accepting of the fact that Ed’s love was not in the form he’d always hoped for.
It was so much more than we could have hoped for, and was very obviously done in service to the MANY fans that had fallen in love with Izzy even after S1, as well as to give Con a storyline worthy of his immense talent. Considering the face that Izzy was never going to end up becoming the show’s third protagonist, it was more than we could have hoped for!
OFMD has two protagonists, Stede & Ed. All the secondary character narratives that haven’t directly involved Ed and/or Stede have been icing on the cake, but the cake has always been the Gentlebeard love story. I feel like some people forget this, expecting them to treat the secondary characters as if it were an ensemble show instead of a show with leads.
Izzy’s arc really was an amazing gift! The writers gave us this incredible journey for Izzy this season, and what did a disgraceful number of people do? They attacked David directly, insulted the entire show, the writers, & other characters, even wishing actual harm & misery to other characters or even to David himself!
While I know that comparatively speaking, the percentage of show fans who reacted this way was relatively small, it was still an astounding amount of hatred & vitriol thrown at the people who had obviously worked very hard to give Izzy fans something beautiful to hold on to after his inevitable death. Much of the discourse honestly shocked me, considering the fact that OFMD isn’t even an adaptation of another work.
When fans get angry at shows written as adaptations of books, it’s a bit more understandable for them to have extreme reactions. They’ve had certain ideas and headcanons about characters they’ve felt very strongly about for a long time. It can be really jarring & painful when expectations like that aren’t met, the characters or plots are taken in totally different directions, or even excluded entirely.
OFMD, however, is an original creation. This is David Jenkins’s story. These are David Jenkins’s characters. He knows his story, his plotlines, his characters far better than anyone else does because they came from HIS brain! So while we as fans can have our own interpretations & head canons, they are always going to be at risk of being proven totally wrong by the ACTUAL canon.
One of the worst aspects of fandoms, in my opinion, is the way people become so proprietary over the story & characters, insisting that their own interpretations & theories are the only correct ones, which is exactly what happened with Izzy. Fans’ individual & collective interpretations, theories, hopes, & other head canons became concrete & true in their minds. So much so that when the actual story didn’t meet those expectations, so many of them lashed out in some truly unpleasant, sometimes hateful ways.
My only hope is that the rest of the fandom’s love, appreciation, constructive criticism, heartbreak, pain, joy, & excitement has been enough to drown out the deluge of vitriolic comments directed at David & the other writers.
If you stuck with me through this unintentionally long diatribe, thank you! Maybe take a moment to give the writers some comments or replies on social media, showing your love! I know I will!
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hyperfixatedfandomer Β· 4 months
Text
ATWOW extended cut: When one’s heart is opened in the face of death (my thoughts)
.
Ok I held back long enough, I think we have to talk about the Socorro Quaritch moments the extended cut provided us, because I’m obsessed with them. The dynamic that the fandom made up turned out to be true, with Spider being enabled to do as he wants during his time with RDA and Quaritch not once scolding him for his behaviour or "putting him in his place". Captivity was undoubtedly a very stressing time for him, a very emotionally taxing one but it’s interesting to see how the chemistry between these two characters bloomed. The scene where Socorro and the recom squad moved through the forest has shown just how fond Miles is growing of the kid, to the point where he lets go of his toxic behaviours and creates and environment in which the boy feels safe enough to go as far as leading recoms into traps. Also, it’s insanely funny.
The second scene is the extended edition of the Tau’nui village raid, with more violence and more tension. I feel horrible for these poor Na’vi, and for Spider, who got a little more screen time and with that, the movie makes it abundantly clear that Quaritch only makes the decision to burn the village because Spider was begging him not to take a Na’vi life. Not that it wasn’t clear before but I saw some ppl argue that Miles just has a β€œkind heart” (he does not.)
And then the cherry on top, the stand-off. A scene that should logically have never been cut out because it provides large amounts of character depth to everyone involved, but we’ll finally talk in depth about Quaritch and how he changed Spider’s opinion on him in just one minute of runtime.
Miles lets go of his charade of β€œI don’t care about this random kid” and frees Kiri, but Neytiri does not let go of Spider, instead pulling a knife to his throat. The Sullies panic, trying to bring Neytiri out of her grief-ridden trance.
And Quaritch tries so too.
His breathing is laboured, his ears pinned back, he was panicking. He asked her, in disbelief, β€œYou really gonna kill the kid Mrs.Sully?”, and then told her, β€œYou’re a warrior. Your fight’s with me, not with the boy.”
And Spider heard all of it loud and clear. He saw that horrible man whom he spent months with let go of his last ticket to victory, and then try and reason with a woman who holds him at knifepoint. I’m gonna quote @/soccorism a little on this, but Miles basically asked Neytiri to re-direct her rage from Spider to him.
Miles asked her to hurt him instead.
And after all that, how could Spider possibly have left him dying?
Every horrific thing he did is not cancelled out by his fatherly behaviour, but Spider had no time to ponder on everything and put his feelings to the side on the bottom of the ocean. The woman he knew all his life almost killed him, and the man whom he spent months travelling Pandora with pleaded with her to let him go. It was a decision made in a fit of emption, in a fit of sentimentality for a monster who got so strongly attached to him, he threw his mission out the window to ensure that he gets to live.
This cut of the movie provides so much more tenderness to the tragic relationship of these two characters, and ties the arc of their growing bond into a nice bow. No longer do we have to rely on glimpses of raw emotion and facial expressions. We have definitive proof that Miles and Spider had a bond, and a very strong one, which made both of the characters go against their respective groups for the sake of each other, and in the end?
It’s just the two of them.
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