#but the level on which people feel the need to justify themselves is just... interesting | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dchan87 · 1 month ago

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The incendiary political climate surrounding Israel/Palestine since October 7th, 2023 needs no introduction. For the better part of a year, the war in Gaza has dominated the discourse and maintained a fever pitch of emotional intensity like few issues in recent memory. Amid the blistering outrage of the war’s most vocal critics, one of the world’s most intractable and longstanding conflicts gets reduced to a bumper sticker. The Western, pro-Palestinian left takes a complex history spanning over 75 years and more than a dozen wars and armed conflicts and collapses it into a simplistic moral binary in which Israel is the evil, oppressive empire and Palestine is the helpless, oppressed victim. Indeed, the loudest voices on the front lines of the pro-Palestine movement see themselves as kindred spirits of the Rebel Alliance from Star Wars, the resistance fighters from The Hunger Games, and the Fremen from Dune. This is the level of sophistication they bring to the issue.

None of this should be especially surprising given that the core of the Western Palestine movement is driven by young people. They believe a fictional version of history in which Israel is a white European colonial project, never mind the fact that half of Israeli Jews are Middle Eastern Mizrahis or that 18 percent of Israelis are Muslim. They don’t know which “river” or “sea” they’re chanting about. They don’t know that the Palestinians rejected a chance at a state of their own on no less than five occasions, each time preferring war to peace. But The Hunger Games — that they know. And so they engage in the most loathsome behaviors, trafficking in anti-Semitic tropes, harassing random Jews, and rolling their eyes at rape victims without regard for principles or decency. The worst part is, none of this is even about Palestine.

You can tell a lot about what people actually believe by looking not at what they say, but at what they do. And just like pro-life “family values” congressmen who secretly get abortions for their mistresses, we can see by the actions of pro-Palestine protesters that they don’t really care about the cause to which they profess. They may think they do, but their actions do not reflect a sincere desire for lasting peace. The movement is not just immature and profoundly unserious — its atrocious behavior and lack of clear goals actively works against the interests of the Palestinian people.

I used to think that anti-Zionism was separate from anti-Semitism, but October 7th changed that. After seeing the naked anti-Semitism of the pro-Palestine movement spring to life on October 8th, before Israel had even responded to Hamas’s attacks, I began to question my priors. I saw actual swastikas on display. I saw demonstrators justifying the slaughter at the Nova Music Festival. I saw protesters throwing Hitler salutes. I saw Holocaust memorials defaced, holocaust ceremonies picketed, and Jewish businesses attacked despite no apparent ties to Israel. At a certain point, it became impossible to deny: a virulent hatred of both Israel and Jews is rampant in the pro-Palestine movement.

Whenever these blatantly anti-Semitic actions are called out, we hear the familiar chorus of “anti-Zionism isn’t anti-Semitism.” But with every heil Hitler shouted at a protest, it becomes less and less credible. If this overwhelmingly leftist movement was consistent with its own purported anti-fascist values, such anti-Semitism would be swiftly shut down and forcefully kicked out of the movement, not downplayed or denied. Years ago, there seemed to have been some daylight between anti-Zionists and anti-Semites. Right now, the Venn diagram between the two is fast approaching a perfect circle. For all the valid criticisms that could be levied at the Israeli government, it has sadly become rational for Israelis and American Jews (91 percent of whom are Zionists) to feel that anti-Zionists are simply anti-Semites.

The fact that the pro-Palestine movement is fine harboring racists isn’t just a moral problem — it works against their own stated goals. When the most vocal and visible advocates are the worst people imaginable — tearing down hostage posters, blocking traffic, telling Jews to “go back to Germany”, and protesting an exhibit for massacred partygoers — any sane observer will be turned off. Viewed from the perspective of wanting Palestinians to have a real shot at peace and an independent state of their own, the movement’s repellent antics and lack of realistic and achievable goals make no sense.

If, however, we view the Western pro-Palestine movement not as a serious campaign for justice, but rather as a masturbatory exercise in virtue exhibitionism, the pieces begin to click into place. Evaluated by their behavior, the real goal of the protesters is not to affect change, but to be seen among their peers as a Good Person™ who is opposed to all the Bad Things™ — colonialism, fascism, capitalism, you name it. The war in Gaza is just the latest convenient excuse to take to the streets and call for revolution — or in this case, intifada.

This is by no means a new phenomenon. The activist left has always been a haven for the rudderless children of the upper-middle class with a penchant for role-playing. Whether it’s burning cities and decapitating pigs to defund the police, or defacing the Mona Lisa and Stonehenge to stop fossil fuels, the point isn’t to find a realistic path to change. The point is to gorge on what Aldous Huxley once described as “the most delicious of moral treats”:

“The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people that they will have a chance of maltreating someone. [...] To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.”

What makes Israel/Palestine unique is the combination of issues it weaves together in the minds of young leftists. Pro-Palestine activism ties the war in Gaza to Western imperialism, Islamophobia, US-style racial identity politics, and anti-Americanism. Israel, in this view, is an apartheid state, a settler colonial regime as bad as the Nazis, genocide and all. That European colonialism never once involved a land where the colonists had cultural and religious ties dating back thousands of years, not to mention a continuous presence, or that imperialism is in no way specific to white European countries, is lost in the shuffle. As is the fact that the Israel-Palestine conflict is more geopolitical than religious (Israel has normalized relations with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both deeply religious Muslim nations).

The accusation of apartheid likewise falls flat upon considering that Israeli Arabs have the same rights as Israeli Jews. As for the absurd charge of genocide, much has been made of the case brought against Israel by South Africa in the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ), as though the mere accusation of genocide was ironclad evidence. But far from proving these serious allegations, the president of the ICJ who presided over the case clarified that it “didn't decide the claim of genocide was plausible.”

What illustrates the anti-Israel fetish on the Western left is the near total apathy for the world’s many other — and often far worse — humanitarian crises. Where is the outcry over the Yemeni Civil War, a war involving slave-owning terrorists that has seen 377,000 dead? Where are the protests over the Syrian Civil War, which saw a staggering 617,000 dead? Or the ongoing oppression of the Uyghur Muslims in China? Or the Sudanese Civil War? Not a peep. None of this is meant as a whataboutism. 600,000 dead in some other war doesn’t give Israel carte blanche to kill civilians. But to have activists so passionate about one conflict that they’re literally setting themselves on fire while completely ignoring all others is eye opening. It’s hard to see the Palestine movement as a principled opposition to oppression and civilian casualties rather than an unhealthy fixation on the world’s only Jewish state.

For all that the pro-Palestine movement calls for “peace” and “ceasefire”, they have little to say about Hamas’s role in the violence. Imagine if Hamas laid down its arms in surrender instead of trading Palestinian civilian lives for anti-Israeli PR. Imagine a Gandhi-like peaceful Palestinian resistance. The international pressure behind them would be overwhelming. Israel would lose all justification and have no choice but to back down. But Hamas would rather continue seeing their own people butchered in the crossfire of urban warfare, because Hamas doesn’t want peace or coexistence — they want the complete eradication of Israel and the Jewish people. And the Western leftists who support them don’t want a negotiated peace — they want Israel abolished, with no thought for what would happen to the Jews living there now. The pro-Palestine movement does not want a Mandela-like figure building reconciliation. They want a Robespierre-style revolutionary to burn the entire system to the ground.

Consider, by contrast, Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement. Although fiercely controversial at the time, King’s activism and the broader protest movement of which he was a part ultimately paved the way for reforms that ended Jim Crow. How? Because King had a brilliant strategy with a clearly defined, achievable vision. With a principled commitment to non-violence, protesters forced the authorities to make the first aggressive move and thus traded their own suffering to change hearts and minds and create political pressure. It was brave, intelligent, and most importantly, effective, because the movement had concrete goals and a realistic method for getting there. None of this ethos is present in the pro-Palestine protests. They would much rather chant “there is only one solution” or pointlessly occupy a university building and then demand the administrators feed them. There’s a reason why the protesting intensified the moment the weather got warm and finals were around the corner. It’s all so endlessly sophomoric.

In a saner world, I would be a moderate on Israel. I oppose the settlements in the West Bank and think that Israel’s far-right Likud party and its obstinate leader Benjamin Netanyahu have been obstacles to peace. I believe in a two-state solution, and acknowledge that in this long and bloody conflict, neither side’s hands are clean. But because the far left would rather engage in apologia for terrorists than learn the most basic nuances of the conflict, I come across as a pro-Israel hawk, which is a sign of how unhealthy the discourse has become. Israel is stuck in an impossible situation, surrounded by hostile actors and under constant bombardment by terrorists. That doesn’t justify the loss of civilian life in Gaza, but I have yet to see a single pragmatic solution to the war coming from the left that doesn’t amount to Israel willingly exposing its throat to those who would gladly cut it.

If I thought that Hamas would honor a ceasefire, I would call for one too. But as the world saw on October 7th when Hamas broke the previous ceasefire, they are not a party that can be reasoned with — they must be defeated. And their Western supporters, who couldn’t discredit the Palestinian cause more if they were Mossad agent provocateurs, are only making that fate more likely.

Every principled supporter of Palestine should look to the comrades at their side and ask, with friends like these, who needs enemies?

#israeli palestinian conflict #israel #hamasniks #dirtbag left #substack #long article

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quicktimeeventfull · 3 months ago

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Been reading your Near and Light fics and i love how you write them especially since they're from Near pov. It's rare that people write about them. Do you mind writing a meta about their relationship? Only if you want to and have the time for it ofc! No pressure!

hi thank you!! this is such a great question and it's something i think about constantly. SO my personal feeling is that light and near are each other's foils & that this is the driving force behind the second arc.

near is often seen as L 2.0 and i do understand this, but imo he could more accurately be described as an ideal reflection of light. by the second arc, light is really a shadow of his former self -- he's bitter and barely interested in his own actions. i don't think he ever stopped believing in his mission, but he works towards it with a sense of jaded duty rather than the idealism he'd had as a teenager.

as a teenager, he describes kira as a pure and affluent child. i think we can see this as the way he views himself.

youth and a certain degree of protection from the more complicated aspects of the world is important to him -- he sees naiveté as a strength rather than a deficit.

near's age is never explicitly stated in the main series, but i think we can assume he is within the age range light describes here. he is affluent, and he has been isolated for the majority of his life -- i don't think the wammy house or his time hunting down kira was necessarily a pleasant existence, but it's certain that he was surrounded by people who cared for all his material needs, and that he was exposed to criminality and suffering only in the high-level way that light was. (light spend much of his childhood helping his father solve difficult crimes; in theory he would have been exposed to abstract but severe violence.)

he is of course opposing light, but the way he views the world is actually fairly similar. light thinks the world he grew up in is untenable and he advocates safety at all costs; near things the world he grew up in is untenable and he advocates freedom at all cost. totally different conclusions, but they come from the same place of an insistence on ideological impurity.

during light's speech in the warehouse, near never argues that kira isn't doing good for the world -- only that kira's methods are impure. whether or not kira benefits people is of no interest to him.

likewise, light never actually argues that it's right for him to kill people, and in fact often brings up the possibility that it isn't. he just doesn't care because he feels the outcome is righteous. it's 'the ends justify the means' vs 'the means justify the ends.' neither of them are willing to consider any nuance or the practical implications of their actions. both of them consider themselves capable of making moral decisions for the whole world.

which is all just to say: they are incredibly similar people who oppose each other specifically because their views differ but their mindset is essentially the same. i think part of the reason light resents near so vividly (whereas he sees mello only as a person who is in the way) is that near reminds him of a version of himself that was left behind. they have imo a fascinating tension between them -- there's a lot to be done with that relationship.

#light yagami #near #nate river #death note

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mageknight14 · 9 months ago

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I think what’s interesting about Neku as a protag is that while I’ve seen some people talk about how he’s one of the deeper/most complex characters in the franchise, I’d argue that he’s actually one of the most straightforward characters in the TWEWY duology-and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. That’s not to suggest that he doesn’t have depth, far from it. His trauma and the way that he goes about in trying to dissociate from others while still genuinely loving them deep down, even if he says otherwise, is genuinely interesting to see in action, especially in how he approaches his relationships. But compared to the others, I don’t find him as fascinating to explore in comparison to, say, Shoka, Joshua, Sho, Kanon, Motoi, Shiba, Mr. H, or even Rindo as a protag, even if his reappearance in NEO as well as how he tries to keep his trauma/emotions under wraps is still interesting to see in action.

That said, he’s still one of my faves for how much he embodies TWEWY’s themes in general, his development just being great to see in action, and the impact he has on the people around him in various ways. In a series where a lot of the characters like to hide parts about themselves and how those affect the relationships around them, Neku in the first game is blunt to a tee, almost to a fault, and confrontational, which makes him the perfect receptacle for the themes/lessons the game imparts on him. We're privy to almost every single one of his thoughts, feelings, and emotions throughout the game, to the point that it almost becomes a first-person narration at times. He hates lying and it shows because when the characters have doubts about themselves, he’s the perfect guy for the job of setting them straight instead of trying to dart around the issue, getting them to look at themselves and try to press forward anyway.

This is also part of what makes Rindo such an effective foil to him as a protagonist. Like I said in another post, while Rindo SEEMS more socially well-adjusted compared to Neku on a surface-level, once you look into his actions and mindset, you can see that he's also quite the dysfunctional mess. Whereas Neku is blunt, brutally honest, and incredibly confrontational, Rindo is much more passive, self-contradictory, and incredibly insecure about himself and the people around him, which feeds into how he puts people at arm's length, including his supposed best friend. The kid can't even tackle a simple-ass puzzle without needing to consult his online friend first or ask them about their identity because he's afraid of rocking the boat. Whereas Neku is alone AWAY from the crowd, Rindo is alone IN the crowd.

This also extends to their inner thoughts, where Neku will let us, the player, view into his mind and have him lay out exactly what he's feeling, the conclusions he comes to, and be confident enough in what he's feeling to then express himself in exactly that manner (with some exceptions such as some of his interactions with Joshua, which is justified because he doesn't want to risk anything happening to Shiki if their partnership goes south so he tries to keep what he says in check, even if it internally kills him inside, and even then he still spills out how PISSED he is with Joshua towards the end.)

Meanwhile, in NEO, while we do play as Rindo and get the majority of the story through his perspective, we don’t get to see his inner thoughts/turmoil as much as Neku’s…because he DOESN’T want to recognize his issues, instead trying to rely on everyone else to solve his problems for him so that they can take the fallout in case something goes wrong and a lot of it shows through his actions/outspoken dialogue instead. Nagi’s Dive and Haz’s conversation with him are some of the only times someone directly calls him out on his flaws within the main story but when you pay attention to how he acts, his flaws pop up quite a bit. For example, how he claims that An0ther's quote of "never miss your chance to make a friend" is one of his favorite quotes yet he balks at the idea of recruiting other potential team members as well as grimace at the concept of the first game's Reaper's Game.

So we have a guy who’s constantly internally struggling with himself while putting on a cold/blunt persona because he doesn’t want to get hurt and recognizing that maybe he’s wrong on a point and letting us in on how he's feeling a vast majority of the time in his head versus a guy who constantly bitches and moans internally while passively going along with everything in spite of himself, constantly self-contradicting/being hypocritical without recognizing himself as such until he gets a much needed wake-up call later and I think that’s really interesting.

#the world ends with you #twewy #neo twewy #ntwewy #neku sakuraba #rindo kanade #analysis post #character analysis

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marreddream · 4 months ago

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Housamo Fic - Two Dog Warriors Walk Into A Cafe

Ding-a ling~

Shinya Tennoji is picking up empty cups and plates from the tables when he sees a small pink and a large brown Therian enter his cafe. Hazelnut strawberry and matcha dark chocolate. They make a rather charming pair, he thinks.

“Oh my, Tanetomo and Yasuyori! It’s so nice to see the two of you again!”

Yasuyori beams. Tanetomo scoffs.

“We’re just here to use the coupons you gave us. We happened to be close by, so we figured we’d scope your place out.”

Shinya’s glad to see them, and glad they hadn’t shown up until a good amount of time after the Valentine’s Snowball Fight Shinya had met the two at had passed. Days after an absence of his at the cafe were always busier than normal, to speak nothing of a missed Valentine’s Day shift.

“Aw, I’m happy to hear that! Yes, see what on the menu you’d like, and order at the front when you’re ready.”

“Shinya Tennoji. I hope for your sake that what you just said was a simple case of you automatically rattling off whatever generic customer greeting phrases first popped into your brain when you saw us, and not you assuming me to be so moronic I never learned how to order from a cafe.”

“Ahaha, it was most definitely a case of the former, Tanetomo.”

“Well, perhaps Yasuyori might have needed the assistance, so good on you for being such a diligent and attentive employee.”

“Counselor! You have seen me function perfectly well at the plenty of other establishments we have been to together before!”

There are some minimally subdued rumblings from the regulars about the fresh faces who have entered the cafe.

“At least...not fawning…Shinya, but…” “Treat… more respect…holes…” “...think they’re …type?” “… are pretty cute…”

Tanetomo’s ears twitch at the last comment. He does a hair flip and a whimsical 360 degree twirl for the crowd as naturally as he draws breath, which is to say: effortlessly yet with intention, before returning to scanning the menu.

Taromaiti is at the cash register. She observes this action without judgment or reaction. Hermes isn’t here today, but it’s what you could call a slow day, so Shinya doesn’t particularly mind. Kalki is busy preparing food and cleaning dishes in the back, so he does not get to witness this 10s-across-the-board maneuver.

Cafe Asterism’s patrons tend to get upset when Shinya isn’t the server or cashier, but he wishes he could be on cooking duty during cafe hours more often sometimes. Oh well. He wishes for a lot of things that can’t come true. He returns to what he was doing before hand, and Tanetomo and Yasuyori make their order.

“Iced coffee. Grande. And a bread pudding.”

“Could I have… a venti sized matcha frappuccino? Five Monte Cristos, and two shortbreads, please.”

Yasuyori pays for them both, and they take a seat.

“Oh, 1 hour seating?” “Well, we won’t be staying long. Anybody who could find something in here even remotely interesting enough to justify spending over an hour in this place (aside from the presence of yours truly, of course) would have to be quite the simple minded kook.”

It’s a subtle dig at Shinya, and the corners of his lips curl up a little. But, for somebody whose goal was to win over Shinya’s “adoring throng of fans to show them who was truly worthy of their love”, as Tanetomo had put it, Shinya wasn’t quite sure if…ah, what was it called? If, “negging”, was the right direction to take.

The people seated nearby Tanetomo and Yasuyori smile upside down. There are definitely some unsavory feelings to be felt in the air, but romantic rival nor direct threat to Shinya’s life/ego (it’s the same thing to them really) Tanetomo does not yet appear to be, so they keep to themselves.

Shinya drops off crockery in the sink, and Kalki has already completed the preceding order for Shinya to serve. Kalki’s insane multi-tasking skills are one thing, but that combined with his four, rugged, heat-resistant arms puts him on a whole nother level when it comes to cafe work. Shinya could sing his praises about Kalki all day long, but not out loud. Kalki would explode the world from embarrassment before any of Shinya’s fans could do it for him in a fit of an envious rage. So Shinya settles for a simple ‘thank you Kalki’ and serves Moe-chan her order, who smiles and says thanks.

When Tanetomo and Yasuyori’s orders are completed, Shinya brings their food over.

“Wow! It looks so good! Thank you, Tenn-”

“Taste test for poison.” Tanetomo spoons a scoop of pudding into Yasuyori’s mouth, and then a strawful of iced coffee.

“Gulp. Delicious! No poisons identified, Counselor.”

Shinya wonders if this is Tanetomo’s roundabout way of sharing his food with Yasuyori, some sort of twisted display of dominance, or if poisoning attempts really are frequent enough to be something they actually needed to watch out for. Regardless, it’s a somewhat endearing scene, in a darkly comedic sort of way.

They are in dangerous territory too after all, Shinya acknowledges. He smiles at the two and leaves them to go attend to the other customers.

Yasuyori takes a small sip of his frappe before setting it down on a coaster. The drink is now already half empty.

“Give me some of your drink.”

Tanetomo has already snatched it before his sentence is even finished and tries some. He drinks a quarter of it, and Yasuyori nibbles on one of his cookies before giving it to Tanetomo.

The two of them efficiently dine and chat. As Tanetomo consumes the bread pudding and his drink at a surprisingly fast yet visually refined pace, Yasuyori piles three Monte Cristos on top of one another to impressively bite down on all at once, and then hands the remaining two to Tanetomo who proceeds to do the same.

Wow. Shinya can already feel his jaw locking from just looking at them, but it also kind of makes him want to try it out as well.

Yasuyori finishes his sandwiches and cookie first, and then stares at the one he had given to Tanetomo. Tanetomo purses his lips and tells him to go buy some more for the both of them to-go. Yasuyori complies.

To Shinya’s surprise, Tanetomo calls out to him.

“Don’t think I haven't been seeing you side-eye us the entire time, Shinya Tennoji.”

Oopsies. Looks like Shinya Tennoji got caught. He wasn’t bombastically ‘side-eyeing’, as Tanetomo had verbally interpreted it as, but he really thought he was doing good about not being that obvious observing them. He hopes the other customers haven’t been as perceptive and paranoid today as Tanetomo is in general, but he’s been pretty good about personably interacting with everybody so he thinks it’ll be okay.

“So was the entertainment of our dining in your establishment to your satisfaction?”

“Aha, sorry, sorry. It’s not like I wasn’t looking, but the two of you seemed like you were having a lot of fun. I always want to see my customers having a good time at Cafe Asterism.”

“Hmph. Is that so.”

Well, yes. That is so, Shinya thinks. He most certainly does not like to see people having a bad time at Cafe Asterism, when the reasoning for most everybody gathering here tending to be because of him.

“Ahhh… could it be that... that wasn’t the case for you two today?”

His hands come up to his chin. It’s an endearing pose that he finds tends to quell agitated customers, but it only serves to scrunch up Tanetomo’s expression even more. Shinya holds back a smile.

“The atmosphere here is not to my standards. The interior design doesn’t help either.”

Shinya’s proud of his quaint little cafe, but he knows it’s just that. A quaint little cafe. That also attracted a lot of… rather strong-willed habitué . So he can acquiesce to that opinion. And besides, Tanetomo was not saying Shinya’s decorating was making the atmosphere worse! He can take that part as a compliment.

Anyways, the only opinion on his cafe that truly mattered was Retail Food Health and Safety Code’s opinion, and Cafe Asterism was up to snuff.

“Aww…. Tanetomo, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’d love for you and Yasuyori to come again sometime… but if you’ve lost all interest in returning to Cafe Asterism, then I completely understand.”

He doesn’t want them to never return again. But it’s not a bad thing to let people run while they still can either.

“I’d be significantly more incentivized to return if I had some more coupons to use at a next visit. The food is up to par, I can at least say.”

“Hehee. At least that can be arranged.” He pulls some from out of his apron pocket. “Here you go, Tanetomo.”

He smoothly plucks them from Shinya’s fingers and looks them over.

“You just give these out to whoever asks?” “When I feel like…I have extra, I guess.”

Shinya feels a presence behind him and turns around. Oh, it’s Moko.

“Sh…Shinya… sorry, cuz’ I overheard…but could…. I have a coupon, too…?”

Moko gets the words out just audibly enough for only Shinya to hear, but Shinya knows it’s only a matter of time before people will begin to gather round, and Tanetomo seems to sense this looming phenomenon as well.

“My, one’s heart can't help but be tugged at by such pitiful displays of desperation…”

Yasuyori returns with a paper bag of confections in hand, and Tanetomo gets up to leave.

“I’m off.” He spins, his hair elegantly following in a curve, and heads to the exit.

“Farewell Shinya!” Yasuyori gives a friendly wave goodbye, and Shinya turns around to reciprocate.

When he turns back to respond to Moko, and Sumael, Amon, and Rue who have also begun to crowd around Shinya, he hears the bell of the exit door ring as it is opened and Tanetomo calls out from behind.

“Customer service wasn’t bad either. Give my regards to Miss Taromaiti and the chefs.”

The door closes shut.

“I was still right here to give regards to, you know,” Taromaiti remarks amusedly from the front register.

Shinya proceeds in the distribution of coupons to his patrons who have circled around him.

#my art #housamo #housamo shinya #yasuyori #tanetomo #housamo tanetomo #housamo yasuyori #shinya tennoji #housamo fanfic #tokyo afterschool summoners #sorrryyy not too sure how accurately i wrote Tanetomo and Yasuyori here but i really was trying #edit: F WORD. coffee and matcha are toxic for dogs #gahhhh idc idc

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matan4il · 8 months ago

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"Breaking your faith in humanity "... Truer words never spoken. There is knowing the true horror that was done to innocent civilians and being horrified by it. But then there is the ultimate sadness in how some people act now. How are people criticizing Paltrow for speaking the truth. Rape is not resistance!!!

Even on a mundane level, I can say as I first found you because of Buddie, I almost have no joy for it coming back. I'm almost grateful there were no shows this fall because it would have felt icky for me. But it still does even now. It feels vapid to find joy in something knowing how people suffered and are still suffering. I, of course, don't judge others who find solace in it. I will watch it and hope. I just find it hard to go back to a normal thing like shipping a fictional couple.

As always, I hope you're staying safe and sane. I hope you feel ok and maybe have the house situation figured out . xoxoxo

Hi darling!

I hope you're well. *hugs*

It's insane to me that the sentence, "Rape is not resistance" is something that actually needs saying. People who are truly against rape, are always against rape. They don't need convincing not to make Jews an exception. I have NEVER heard in any other context people saying, "Well, I'm against rape as an idea, but this specific case is okay."

If you're okay with some rapes, you've never truly been anti-rape.

But the fact that so many of those who say it, who supposedly justify it as anti-colonialist, are actually colonizers living on colonized land, is even more deranged, because it means either they're saying they're okay with they themselves, their families and fellow colonizer friends and colleagues being raped as well (I doubt that's what they mean), or they're applying this "notion" of rape being resistance in a discriminatory way, where rape is resistance so long as it's done to Jews living in the Jewish ancestral homeland. Which is not anti-colonialist at all, IS hypocritical and IS antisemitic. HOW can they take this stance, and not see how harmful to Jews it is? They're being pro-rape and anti-Jewish, while claiming they're motivated by empathy and concern for human rights!?

I'm so happy you found me thanks to my Buddie content, and I endlessly appreciate what an incredible, real ally to Jews you are. I'm generally very grateful for every 911 fan, who actually implements the show's notions of compassion, which include listening to marginalized groups about their own experiences (and Hamas' massacre, the motivation behind the war, the pain over the loss of so many Israelis and Jews by a nation which has survived a genocide, and still carries an inter-generational trauma because of it, the sense of betrayal over the rise in antisemitic incident on Oct 7 already, while the terrorists were still inside Israel, butchering, raping, beheading and burning people, these are OUR experiences. Ignoring us when we talk about them or telling us we're only motivated by bloodlust, an antisemitic trope, when we explain that we're much more concerned about liberating our hostages and preventing another massacre, that's speaking over us. Arguing with us on what is and isn't antisemitic, that's speaking over us, rather than listening to us. It's antisemitic in itself, and it's not something that's done to ANY other marginalized group).

I can't believe we're at the point where Jews have to beg people to just listen to us, listen as if we're human beings, and not caricatures of vampiric villains (again, a classic antisemitic trope), cruelly interested solely in destruction and death. But in response so many people just look at us, knowing there's a rise in antisemitism, and still go... "No."

When people in every fandom go around, not just blocking Jews and Jewish allies who believe a Jewish state has the right to exist in the Jewish ancestral land, but they're also telling others to block us, to silence our voices, to act like there is no pain and there are no victims on the Israeli and Jewish side of this conflict, it is hard to be enthusiastic about any fandom.

At the same time, I KNOW I'm living through a major trauma, the worst Jews have experienced since the end of the Holocaust. I've seen my maternal grandmother never really recover from the trauma she went through in the Holocaust. I've never seen her laugh without a touch of sadness and pain being there, she never went through one celebration without slipping aside for at least one moment and crying. After my paternal grandmother died, I discovered that her sister never had kids because of the Holocaust, and actually ended up taking her own life (up until our grandmother's passing, my sis and I were told she died of cancer). So I know how persistent trauma is. I know that the Holocaust did not end in May 1945, and I know that Oct 7 didn't end when Israel was freed of the 3,500 terrorists who invaded it that day. Oct 7 probably won't end even when the current war does. That's why I recognize how important it is to hold on to every bit of normalcy I can, to not let the trauma take over. And that's what fandom is in a sense. A semblance of normalcy.

Except fandom isn't normal anymore, not after I've seen incomprehensible amounts of hate and hypocrisy, including from people I trusted and liked, and thought liked me. My belief in the kindness of people (especially when it's people who love a show that is all about celebrating kindness) has been shaken to the core.

Which is why I currently honestly don't know what I'll do once s7 premieres. I'll watch it, obviously. And I am excited about some stuff I've seen. But will I write and gif? I don't know the answer yet. It's not a certain yes, it's not a certain no. I guess I'll see how I feel at every given moment. I'm not putting any pressure on myself one way or another. But I promise you that whether I post my Buddie content or not (let's be honest, if I watch 9-1-1, you better believe there will be Buddie content alive and kicking in my mind), I will never stop loving them, or thinking they're the ultimate battlefield boyfriends, and sweetest little family unit with Chris. :) And I know that if I do post, it would be an honor to be in this fandom with you, and those like you, who care about my people, and actually listen to Jewish voices (all of them, not just the few they can tokenize).

So... THANK YOU. I can't say that enough. And yes, I've moved into my new home, though it's not quite what it needs to be yet. But I'm getting there! Tiny steps still count, right? I'm sending you massive amounts of love, always! xoxox

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magicalbats · 1 year ago

Text

Kinktober Day 4: Rimming

Rating: R-18+

Word Count: 4357

Warnings: Afab!reader, rimming, handjob, the deeply flawed relationship between Albedo and his assistant

A/N: I'd actually wanted to keep these about the same length, but somehow they're just getting longer xcnvdjkjnv

⭐

“How is this?”

“Good, I think.”

Albedo sends you a slow, vaguely amused look over his bare shoulder. “You think? Are you not supposed to be the expert here?”

You feel your cheeks start to become warm, that borderline playful smile shattering your closely guarded clinical facade more so than the words themselves. He was teasing you, yes, and you could deal with that. Probably. But the faint gleam of mischief in his sparkling spring eyes was another matter entirely. How were you possibly supposed to maintain professional impartiality when he looked at you like that?

“Forgive me. I just, ah … I’ve never quite done this before.”

“That’s alright. Then it will be the first time for both of us. We can figure it out together.”

His optimism on the matter should have been reassuring. In any other situation it likely would have been, but this …

Slowly, you drag your gaze over his body, admiring both his perfect, creamy complexion with nary a single flaw or blemish in sight, and his attractive physique. His proud, perfectly composed posture doesn’t so much as waver even when he’s stark naked and presenting his backside to someone who was effectively a stranger. You’d known him for some time now but never in any meaningful way. The two of you would have been hard pressed to even consider yourselves friends, let alone whatever level of acquaintanceship was needed for this. Either way, you were coworkers at best.

Somehow, it felt like you’d missed more than just a few steps in this process.

But saying Albedo had taken a keen interest in the subject of human sexuality would have been something of an understatement. You really hadn’t expected as much when you’d first floated the idea by him, subtly making the suggestion one evening when you were tinkering around together in the small alchemy lab sequestered deep in the knights headquarters. You’d tried to tell yourself it was just meant as a joke — and had then tried to convince him of that as well when he’d sent you a long, unreadable look over the workbench. A number of frantic thoughts had run through your mind all at once, each more alarming than the last, but then, to your slack jawed surprise, he’d actually expressed a certain amount of curiosity on the subject.

That was the very last thing you could have ever anticipated, and the following discussion leading into an impromptu hands on demonstration had come as an even greater shock. Really, you aren’t sure what you’d thought would happen considering how unhesitatingly he always seemed to throw himself into any new pursuit that came along until it soon lost its luster and shine, but you’d effectively backed yourself into a corner with this.

Not only was he eager (in his own strange, offbeat kind of way) to learn more about the methods which people copulated with one another and why, but he also assumed you would be the one to carry out these experiments with him. Although you had been the one to bring it up, perhaps foolishly so, that didn’t necessarily mean you’d been volunteering your services. Not that you were complaining, exactly, but you still couldn’t quite shake the feeling of being in way over your head with this.

Frankly, you still couldn’t quite seem to grasp that it was really even happening at all but, as they say; in for a mora, in for a pound. You’d already gone this far so there wasn’t any justifiable reason for you to stop now.

Gathering your inner strength and steeling yourself, you shuffle across the floor of his captain's office to approach him from behind. He’d initially expressed some doubt about this particular activity after happening upon mention of it in some book — which book, you did not want to know — but he now seemed perfectly willing to humor it long enough to find out if it would net any results or not. You, on the other hand, were far too embarrassed about it to offer yourself up for the initial trial and had instead been delegated to the active role of principal investigator for the time being while he played test subject.

You’d tried to tell yourself that this was fine. Surely being on the giving end wouldn’t be half as bad as on the receiving, but looking at him now … oh, you were so flustered you didn’t even even know where to start.

“Is something the matter?” He prods after a long stretch of terse silence, well after it had become awkward and uncomfortable.

“No, no,” You rush to say. “I’m just trying to figure out how to begin. I mean, usually there’s a buildup leading into something like this, right?”

Noising a thoughtful sound, Albedo idly touches fingers to his chin in consideration. “I see what you mean. The literature I’ve read on this topic always had some kind of precursor beforehand to build tension and set the tone of the encounter. However, I think introducing anything else to the parameters of the experiment might skew the results. For example, if I were to kiss you right now that could spark a pleasure response that would carry over and interfere with our findings so it’s probably best if we stick to the task at hand.”

Somehow listening to him talk about this from such a detached, purely scientific standpoint does absolutely nothing to put you at ease. In fact, it actually seems to make it worse, and your stomach fiercely cramps with the sinking feeling of dread that settles over you. “Understood. Then I’ll get started right away.”

Glancing up at the dejected tone in your voice, he offers you another of those vaguely sly smiles that would seem to imply he found humor in this. “That’s not to say I have no interest in kissing you at all, though. Perhaps we can revisit that matter when we’re through here?”

You duck your head, embarrassed all over again as you shuffle the last few steps to close the distance between you and him. “If that’s what you want, Captain Albedo.”

Tentatively reaching out, you place your hands on his narrow waist with careful intention. He doesn’t react to the touch alone but he seldom does anyway. Usually it takes a bit of effort on your part to get any kind of physiological response out of him, or at least a more direct sort of stimulation than this, but he doesn’t show any signs of discomfort either. You also don’t see any of the anticipatory tension thrumming through his body that you otherwise would have expected in just about anybody else and, more for your benefit than his, you slide your palms down to cup his firm ass in your fingers. Taking your time with it, you gently massage the skin and knead into the muscle underneath, giving yourself one last chance to calm down before taking the plunge.

With a quiet sigh, Albedo relaxes against you almost imperceptibly so and you take that as your cue to proceed, slowly lowering yourself to kneel on the floor. On your knees, you grab two handfuls of his backside and squeeze, marveling at the way his fair skin reddens slightly where the pressure was applied. He was so beautiful it seemed to defy all logic and reason, and his attractiveness certainly made carrying out these experiments together a much easier task than it could have been with someone less to your liking. Momentarily forgetting how to breathe, you gently spread his cheeks apart to expose him to your voracious eyes, greedily drinking in the sight of his vulnerable and defenseless little hole.

He’s all pink and smooth, the faintest hint of peach fuzz interrupting the otherwise unnatural perfection of his body. If you didn’t know any better you would almost think it was manufactured, how picture perfect and flawless he was. You even have the half delirious thought that perhaps he’d been made in a lab, painstakingly designed to be a gloriously sublime specimen in every way imaginable from his beautiful face right down to his evenly spaced and distributed toes. If you hadn’t been looking right at him, you never would have thought it was possible for someone like this to even exist in the first place.

“Ready?” You softly venture, figuring it couldn’t hurt to make absolutely certain he wanted to go through with this.

“Yes, you may begin.”

Well. That took care of that.

Slowly inhaling, you settle your weight to ensure you wouldn’t lose balance and tip over, then lean in to dip your face between the pert cleft of his cheeks. Your tongue slips out and you drag the flat of it over that tight pucker, some amount of surprise washing over you when it twitches faintly at the contact. Albedo doesn’t react beyond that though, neither issuing any sounds that might indicate his thoughts nor any shifts in his posture to denote pleasure or dislike. It was the same as every other time you’d found yourself in these predicaments though, and your cunt gives a muted throb at the memory of that first threadbare moan he’d finally let out when you sank down on his cock in the alchemy lab. That felt like eons ago, whole lifetimes in the past, but in reality it had only been a few weeks.

But that distant reminder is enough to spurn you on, evidently, and you feel an odd spark of determination light up within you as you lean into the task. You wanted to hear him sigh and huff in pleasure again. No matter how fleeting or quiet they were, the sounds he did make were unlike anything you’d ever heard before. Intoxicating the way fine aged wine is.

So you lap at his hole, swirling your tongue around the outer rim until you feel it soften and puff up under the ministrations of your mouth. You attack the center then, just barely dipping into the tight heat of his body and then pulling back out to encourage it to open up for you more. Unexpectedly, Albedo pulls in a quiet breath at that, so you do it again, worming your tongue a little deeper this time.

“That’s … a somewhat odd feeling.” He murmurs, not quite surprised but — curious. Like he’s actually struck on something that was of interest to him and he was fascinated by it. Archons help you, what have you gotten yourself into?

Pulling back for a much needed pause, you take a moment to study him again. The faintly raised rim of his hole gives another brief twitch, no doubt at the rush of cool air coming in to replace the warmth of your mouth, and you quickly swallow down your last remaining nerves. Hands sliding down to grip the backs of his thighs, you lean in and flick your tongue over the puffy muscle, teasing over the center of it with alternating fast and slow kitten licks. You try to get a feel for what he might respond to, try to work through the problem at hand, but he doesn’t give much away at all even when you seal your lips around the pucker and suck at him. It was like you were effectively doing this blind, and the difficulty of breathing with your face smothered in his ass wasn’t exactly helping you think straight either.

That is, until, his hips give the briefest little jerk at something you’ve done, and you moan into his skin when he subtly rears back against you.

“I see,” He seems to marvel, apparently still more focused on evaluating the results than actually enjoying the feeling itself. “It’s not necessarily pleasurable as a stand-alone but the nerve stimulation in the target area does encourage responses elsewhere. I also have reason to surmise that a large factor of the appeal has to do with the mental state of the recipient more than anything else.”

Leaning back with a wet, faltering gasp, you have to take a moment to catch your breath. “What do you mean?” You finally manage to croak.

“Hm? Oh, I just mean that this is a rather demeaning act, isn’t it? Someone doing such of their own volition — outside of experimental parameters, mind you — would probably denote a great deal of self deprecation and perhaps even fatalistic submission to the recipient's power over them. Is it possibly just a simple method of asserting dominance?”

He issues a faint hum into the room, clearly getting lost in his own thoughts, and you ponder over his hypothesis for a moment before carefully choosing your next words. “I think that could be part of it. Maybe even a big part of it for most people who engage in … this. But I don’t believe it’s out of the question that some might actually enjoy it.”

A stretch of quiet and then, “Do you like it?”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” You stammer, glad he can’t see the fluster on your face. “But it’s not terrible either. Depending on the dynamic between participating parties, it’s very possible to simply get off on making your partner feel good.” You hesitate before adding, much more quietly, “I’d say that’s about where I fall in this.”

Shifting his weight, Albedo twists around to look back at you and the bright glint of fascination in his eyes quickly makes you regret having said anything at all. You were just further humiliating yourself every time you opened your mouth it seemed.

“It’s not just physical response that drives one’s sexual impulses, then. The preoccupation with your partner's enjoyment plays a role as well.” He seems to mull that over for a long beat, and you can practically see the gears grinding away in his head, trying to work out the full implication of what the logical conclusion to this new information would be. You aren’t sure what he’s going to come back at you with when he eventually draws a deliberate breath, but it’s certainly not, “And if I were to tell you I was feeling good?”

You blink up at him owlishly. “I’d be happy, of course. But …”

“But? Please, you can speak freely here.”

That was certainly easy for him to say.

“Well — being told something like that isn’t exactly bad or anything, but I’d be even happier if it was apparent. Rather than being told you feel good, it’s nice to see it. Remember when I climbed on top of you down in the lab … w - well, you made this noise. This breathy little groan that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since, if you want the truth. Knowing I made you feel good based on the sounds you made is what made me feel good too. Or part of it, at least.”

Slowly, his brows lift with understanding. “Ah, so that is what you were referring to. Subconscious reactions instead of deliberate acknowledgments or praise. I see.”

Your heart gives a lurch at that, and you rush to amend yourself. “Oh, that’s not quite - -“

“Let’s resume the experiment. I won’t intentionally withhold my reactions from you this time, and I hope you continue to do the same. I'm quite curious to see if it changes the results when I’m freely expressing them or if they stay the same.”

Well, you couldn’t exactly argue with that, now could you?

Especially not when he decisively turns back around, indicating that the decision has already been made.

You take a moment to draw a deep, steadying breath to ground yourself and then lean forward, bracing your palms on the backs of his thighs again. But this time you don’t immediately put your mouth to work, and instead give him a brief nudge. “Bend forward and brace your hands on the arms of the chair. That should make this a little easier for both of us.” Since he was so damn determined to see this through to the end.

Evidently recognizing the wisdom in that call, Albedo does as you’d requested with a quiet hum of acknowledgment, and you suddenly have to fight very hard to keep the intense flush that tries to claim your cheeks at bay. Not only does this position present his ass on perfect display, but you’re also now afforded a shamefully tantalizing glimpse of his smooth taint and the fleshy hang of his testes, and you can also see his cock where it dangles between his legs. To your staggering surprise, he’s stiff and hard, the glans flushed a pretty shade of pink where it’s peeking through the slit of his foreskin. That must have been what he’d meant about ‘reactions in other areas’ earlier.

“Is this agreeable?”

You swallow. Hard. “Spread your legs further apart.”

He complies once more, and you feel undeniably dizzy at the sight of him spread open like this. His perfection had never been more apparent than in that moment when you could see all of him without interruption, no clothes or furniture in the way to obstruct your view. It was like looking at a painting come to life, every inch of him so picture perfect it was uncanny. Disconcerting, in a way.

Shrugging off that feeling, you go up on your knees again and shuffle close, leaning into him to kiss at the swell of one cheek. You were starting to get an idea, formulating a plan in the back of your mind that you were sure would net the desired results you suspected he was secretly hoping for. While it was true he wasn’t half as expressive or easy to rile up as most men, that didn’t mean he was totally immune to having his body stimulated. The cock subtly bobbing between his thighs was proof enough of that. You could see how this was going to end now, and you had a feeling he would be quite pleased with the results this time.

Gradually pecking your way over the swell of his pert ass, you finally reach Albedo’s cute, puckered little hole again and you seal your mouth against him, applying a faint amount of suction. You feel him twitch under you, hesitate to do it, and then let out the softest, barely there groan you’d ever heard. So he did feel something from that. Good.

It had been a bit uncertain as far as moans go, yes, but you knew he wasn’t used to freely expressing himself in such a way and it was just nice to know you were doing something right. Tongue snaking out, you flick it over the raised up muscle for a long moment until he eventually twitches, gasping quietly at the sensation. You can’t help but feel undeniably pleased as you work the tip of your tongue into the center of his hole next and press in, slowly breaching the defenses of his body. He lets out a breathy, almost whiny sound when your face presses flush against the upturned curve of his ass, as far as you can reach, and that’s when you bring your hand up.

Taking hold of his cock, you give it a tight, savory squeeze and start to tug at it. Albedo offers up a tiny little start and looses the most surprised sound you’ve ever heard him make, higher in pitch than usual and faltering. Evidently he hadn’t expected you to attack him from both sides like this … and, evidently, you hadn’t been prepared for your plan to work so well, because that noise catches you off guard and your pussy clamps down hard in response. Groaning into him, you have to pause a moment and find your bearings again before it bowls you right over, and it still somehow nearly succeeds. It was even more tantalizing than that huffy moan you’d heard him make down in the lab. It was like something divine, straight from the mouths of the gods themselves.

Surely you weren’t currently eating out one of the sevens’ creations … were you?

“I thought we agreed on — nghh! Staying on task today.” He murmurs, but makes no move at all to stop you. Alright, so he hadn’t accounted for the variable of a handjob in his calculations or hypotheses for this experiment, and how could he have? Clearly these were all unknown factors to him and he was relying on you more than anything else to set his expectations for what sort of results would come of it. But that wasn’t your fault. He’d never asked you directly or outright.

That thought sparks an almost mean, petty light within you, and you pull on his cock a little harder in response. Wriggle your tongue a little faster. You could feel the muscles of his entrance gradually slackening around the intrusion, becoming increasingly soft and pliant, and you find that you can move around a bit more freely as it does. Now that he’s not squeezing you so tight, you start bobbing your head back and forth to tongue fuck his hole, slowly pulling all the way out and then pushing right back in.

Albedo’s hips give a sensitive jerk at seemingly random intervals, his breathing a bit labored now, but you soon pick up on the pattern. If you time it just right and shove your tongue into him at the same moment your palm passes over his glans, rubbing the foreskin over that sensitive tip, it makes him react. You feel devious with this knowledge, quickly adjusting your rhythm to match this newfound information, and the results are glorious.

You think he might actually collapse into a boneless heap right then and there when his knees seem to buckle, threatening to give out under him, but he manages to steady himself with the help of the chair. Leaning heavily into it, he lets out a flustered string of hot, breathy whimpers and groans that seem to steadily build into something a bit more dire, a bit more urgent, and you have to force yourself to maintain the pace you’ve set when your jaw starts to ache.

He hadn’t exactly been wrong to call this demeaning. If it had been anyone else other than the Chief Alchemist himself you certainly never would have entertained the thought. But because it’s Albedo you put your all into it, determined to show him the results he wanted, and maybe even earn something more meaningful than the title of research assistant in the process. Perhaps something a bit more personal. Intimate.

“Oh, dear - -!” Softly wheezing, he gives his narrow hips a stuttering thrust that fucks his cock down into your hand. He twitches harshly at the sensation, a distant, uncharacteristically vulnerable whine rising in the back of his throat as he repeats the motion at a staggeringly slow speed. It’s like he can’t seem to decide which way he wants to thrust, forward or back, and you make the decision for him by simply adjusting your rhythm to match his.

The way you move together becomes seamless, perfectly timed to compliment one another and feed off the kinetic energy between you two. When he rears back on your tongue you’re already there, shoving it as far up his ass as it will reach while tugging down on his cock at the same time. When he stutteringly thrusts out, you drag your hand straight down to the base to peel back the foreskin and expose the glans in the same motion. Like this, it doesn’t take long for his sounds of stuttering pleasure to climb higher and higher, until he finally lets out a strangled, heaving grunt.

Albedo cums, just like that; rocking between your mouth and your hand. You can’t quite tell where you’ve got his cock pointed like this, unsure if he was ejaculating all over the seat of the chair or the floor, but you don’t stop milking him until he finally issues a vaguely frazzled sound into the room. Only then do you disengage from him, pulling off his ass with a much needed gasp of fresh air.

You’re a little dizzy after that. A bit overwhelmed by what had happened, how lost in the pleasure he’d allowed himself to become. But most of all you were insanely wet between the legs and you whimper softly as you settle back to sit on your butt, trying desperately to collect yourself. You’d thought that first time in the lab had been like a horny dream come true but this … it felt like you were losing your mind.

“My theory was correct.” You croak once you’ve finally managed to catch your breath. “It’s not only possible for the active participant to get off on it without any power dynamics being involved … but it’s also not out of the question for the roles to be reversed either.”

Albedo seems like he still hasn’t quite recovered yet, quietly panting where he’s still leaning over the chair, but that does manage to catch his attention and bring his head up. “What do you mean?”

You laugh, breathless and thin. “I turned the tables. Even though you were on the receiving end and arguably in control, I took that power away from you. There at the end you were completely at my mercy, weren’t you?” Giving your head a quick shake, you reach up to wipe some of the half dried spit off your chin. Archons, you couldn’t wait to freshen up. “Something like that can be used to assert dominance, but it’s not a guarantee. I’d say the end result depends entirely on the individuals involved.”

And you feel pretty damn proud of that up until he slowly straightens and turns, pinning you with an enigmatic but no less sly look, and your heart promptly skips a bit. If you didn’t know any better you’d almost think he was smirking at you.

He wasn’t actually smirking at you, was he?

“Why don’t we test that theory then, my invaluable assistant? I wonder how much you’ll be at my mercy if I do the same to you.”

⭐

Crossposted here

#genshin impact #albedo kreideprinz #albedo x reader

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ladyazurith · 4 months ago

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Totally agree with you about Cater in Book 5. I always found Ace and Deuce's inclusion on the team extremely forced and contrived. Realistically speaking, neither of them should’ve ever made the cut. Neither one of them have any singing or dancing training. While they did practice a little, there’s no way in hell someone would ever become a professional level dancer in the matter of a couple of days, even with the best teacher in the world.

I’m 99% certain that Yana only did that for plot convenience, because that way she wouldn’t have to craft two new characters to fill in the roles on the team. While I can understand that logic from a real world game development standpoint, like you said, I still don’t understand why someone like Cater could’ve taken Ace’s spot at the very least. Cater is in the Light Music Club, so he has a background in that area. His VA is a professional singer. Cater making the team wouldn’t be as big of a stretch as Ace. It’s not like Ace did much in this arc other than cause trouble and insult Deuce, anyways, so anyone could’ve taken his spot.

The other question about ch 3 is going to take a bit more thinking, cuz I've tried to make it work before in various stories, but this seems like a complete rework kind of answer is needed.

And yeah, I made a post a while ago about how Cater had to feel about the VDC, and it's something I tackle in some of my fics. Because I don't know how he can look at what happened and who got picked and not come to the conclusion Vil just hates him? Like this man is so driven to win that he's willing to do anything...except let Cater on the team.

And given I ship the two of them primarily their dynamic is something I've put a lot of effort into figuring out. The only thing I've found to justify it is that Vil doesn't like the idea of dating someone just for PR/fame. Because the way he talks to/reacts to Cater is just... not in line with how he treats everyone else. He constantly calls him shallow or implies he's only after fame which is just a wild take.

That he would let someone like Rook be his friend who 100% comes off more like a stalker fan type than Cater. And Rook doesn't even hide it. Like I get they bonded over Theater but it's not like Vil and Cater have no common ground at all. Cater's shown to be into fashion and design, given they go out of their way to mention Cater came up with Heartslabyul's Halloween costumes and designed their LMC clubwear (When for the most part that's all just assumed to be Crewel)

And then there is his friendship with Kalim like I've pointed out. And Lilia which Vil admits is someone he's interested in getting to know better himself. Hell Cater and Rook are friends? Like none of it makes sense.

Especially when Vil also has no problems with associating with other people who are clearly out to use him?!?! Like Azul, Jade, Ace...even Leona? But nah we're gonna hate on Cater. When he's always you know ASKED to take Vil's picture, even in situations where he wouldn't have to ie in public spaces and what not. He's never just taken it without permission.

In the end, despite the fact that Vil calls Cater shallow he's the one that comes across as incredibly shallow about the whole thing. Especially when we have Cater talking about what he sees in Vil and what he appreciates about him and why he looks up to him...and none of it is really shallow? He definitely sees more in him than just a quick ticket to fame.

It just seems so weird when Vil otherwise seems to put effort into helping others better themselves. He can be incredibly generous and thoughtful in certain situations. AND HE KNOWS THAT CATER IS LIKELY DEPRESSED. And that's what he's hiding behind his cheerful facade thanks to Cater's Labcoat personal story.

It's just like consistency, please. Anyway you probably weren't expecting this rant sorry XD It's a sore spot for me if you can't tell lol

#twisted wonderland #twst #cater diamond #vil schoenheit #cater x vil #vilkei #heartslabyul #pomefiore #twst thoughts

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aromantic-pantyanarchy · 11 months ago

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Hi, so I just read your post on your experiences as an aro person and it was really impactful for me. I’m still a teenager so I’m figuring things out but I’ve never really had a crush or liked anyone romantically and I feel like I’m aro but I don’t really know whether I can define myself in that way yet because what if I’m still too young to know? Then there’s my sexual orientation which I’m clueless about but that’s fine because I know I probably am too young to know that yet. To add to that, my friends are all queer and a lot of the fandoms I’m in are quite queer and I’m afraid that if I did end up being aro and heterosexual I wouldn’t be accepted as being queer or that I can’t call myself queer. I’m also realm afraid of being lonely when I’m older because I’m not really close to that much family and I’ve struggled to keep good friends for a long time so I just worry about the future a lot sometimes and that I’m going to be sad and alone. I’m really sorry this is so long I just needed to rant to someone and I was really glad to be able to find someone who’s aro who I can talk to about this stuff.

So, here's my advice. Mainly, tl;dr, nobody knows you better than you do.

It's absolutely fine to ID to aromantic even if you feel too young (trust me, I've had a couple moments in school where I justified myself as "being too young to be into girls yet" that seem really obviously aro in hindsight), but if you do end up developing a different way, in finding attraction to people specifically or broadly, then you can just redefine yourself. There's not gonna be any aro cop who comes around checking your aro license and making sure you still adhere to understandings of yourself from last year. More than anything it's only human to gain understanding of something through continued experience, and that goes for your own self as well as anything else in the world.

For friends, well that's a complex issue that ultimately comes down to what you (and your friends) want, I can only really talk about my own experiences. But most of my friends are queer, we didn't meet in queer spaces or become attached because we were queer, we just met from mutual interests and they found out things about themselves and I found out things about myself, but there's no expectation of a mandatory level of queerness among us cause that's a really unreasonable thing to ask of someone. There's even completely hetero cis straight people still hanging about, and they're cool too. And I totally get feeling like you don't form attachments that strongly, I certainly don't have a best most closest friend ever that I'd die for, just, like, people I enjoy spending my free time with. That's enough.

I know it doesn't mean much just saying it, there's not much I can do to properly boost your mental from the other side of a computer screen, but like. Try not to worry about shit, ya know? Take life as it comes. Some things might not work out, but spending all your time fearing about everything going bad is just piling on extra stress you don't need.

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nerdfighterwhatevernumbers · 3 days ago

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Finally watching season 5 of Miraculous Ladybug, I'm only halfway through but I'm so glad the show is finally validating Marinette's choices.

Multiple episodes in earlier seasons like Glaciator and the ice skating episode frame it like Chat is this poor heart broken boy being hurt by a careless girl even though she clearly tells him all the time she's not interested, he just doesn't listen or is upset that she doesn't change her mind. Then in Weredad Marinette's mom validates CHAT being in love with someone else and rejecting Marinette when no one validates LB being in love with someone else- Even when Chat says he's fine with it, he's still pouting and flirting in later episodes about it.

FINALLY Alya says Marinette should get to decide for herself instead of just doing what's convenient for other people. Marinette gets to insist she wants to choose and not be told how to feel. It's great! She and Chat are both in a messy place right now, so it's not like the ice skating or glaciator where he's being unreasonable and the writers act like he's not (which is obviously sexist but young fans would take at face value). Of course Marinette hates being told she can't really know Chat- not only does she actually know him more than he thinks, but how many times have we seen the superhero tell his love interest being with her is too dangerous instead of letting her decide on the danger for herself? Marinette wants to decide for herself what she can emotionally handle and it's heartbreaking to her that no one seems to listen or understand. I love when she and Chat calm down later and she's in a place to accept it's not about his idea of what she can handle or understand, it's about his comfort level with dating someone with a power imbalance in the relationship. It's perfectly done to justify how upset Marinette is and validate her feelings and choices while also making it clear Chat is exactly as valid as Marinette. It's not one-sided or unfair, they're just messy and upset and I love it.

I'm also extremely excited Marinette's behavior around Adrien does seem to be pathological. So many people in the fandom for years dunked on Marinette for being 'annoying' and 'creepy' and not deserving their poor sadboy Adrien, and I really like that it's exploring her neurotic behavior as a genuine psychological block she'll need several episodes to work through. Episodes like Chat Blanc make it seem like if they just knew everything she'd stop being a freak and maybe she would, but it comes off like Marinette's the problem to some people, like she'd stop being annoying and weird if she wasn't the one enforcing this strict identity rule and she's just causing everyone problems. Granted, I've been in the fandom from the start so maybe some people have outgrown their sexism, but the adult writers themselves haven't framed Marinette as sympathetically as they could a lot of the time. The depth, the emotional angst and troubled life, that's all saved for Adrien. It was great when she finally broke down and needed to tell Alya about her secret Identity in season 4, but we still don't get as much analysis on what Marinette is going through, it tends to be more surface level.

I LOVE being able to go through an arc about soul searching and mental quirks and self esteem with Marinette, it feels like the show is taking her more seriously and taking what felt like just an obvious awkward gag and really exploring it as a pathology. It's so interesting and gives more meat to Marinette, I'm so into it

#mlb posting is gonna get me more hate than my election opinions #mlb

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archivalofsins · 1 year ago

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Man, Mikoto and Amane are both going down now. It's kind of interesting to see. Mikoto's decline is more steady, though. Personally, I kind of understand why people would be on the fence about them. Their situations are typically difficult for people in general to fully grasp. So, the first instinct is to deny it.

However, it does highlight an interesting trend. Because it seems like more people are willing to give a day one innocent verdict than a guilty one now. Regardless of if they're personally undecided still or not. I've discussed this I private and somewhat publicly.

Yet, it's interesting to think about Milgram in terms of forgiveness. Not because guilty and innocent are too black and white or anything like that. It's actually the contrary.

Framing it as forgiving or not forgiving is so much harsher, in my opinion.

Because I think forgiveness, honest forgiveness shouldn't be contingent on what the other person can do or if what they did can be justified. The only thing it's contingent on is if people on an individual level are willing to forgive it.

I think the best example is when a social media influencer does something wrong. In my case, it'd be when they do something that is objectively racist. At which point I tend to see many people usually not from the minority group that was discriminated against are quick to say we forgive you. This has led to discussions around who can accept apologies and in what circumstances.

Is it right to accept or deny an apology that wasn't made to you? Is it right to forgive something that happened to another person who no longer has the chance or ability to forgive it themselves. It's something that living relatives of victims of violent crimes have to grapple with all the time. Would my family forgive you I don't know because they'rs not gere to ask anymore? The only thing oeople who go through that sort of loss can do is default to when that person was around and the character they displayed and decide from their or decide based on what's best fkr them mentally.

It begs the question of-

How do you forgive someone when they never even say sorry? They're not even sorry. They don't seem sorry. In fact, they seem to be having a great time. Making it pretty apt that Milgram would tackle this concept in the way it does. As if asking if feeling entitled to forgive or not forgive in matters that didn't involve oneself is on its own a sin.

From the beginning, asking the audience to look past their egos when it comes to these things. Have characters point out how we wouldn't understand whether to forgive them or not because we haven't been through what they have. That they shoul have just minded their own business instead of concerning themselves with things that didn't impact them. Or we'll understand if we're human. That last one is even more apt.

Because being human is a very subjective concept, and it's easier for humans to consider others less human than they are. So it raises the question for me-

When did their victims stop being human to them? When did those people's humanity begin to matter so little that they basically tore it away. That they snuffed out that life. From the concept of a murder maliciously being committed. From the concept of someone no longer being alive to discuss what being human is to them because of something all ten of them directly did whether one believes they killed them with their bare hands or not. These ten sit here speaking on and on about their feelings ans what they had to go through. What it was for them.

Yet, they're still breathing some very comfortably while fully knowing at times someone or multiple people are dead because of them. When we objectively step back and think about forgiveness as a concept in milgram. It truly does just highlight why no one here deserves it. Except probably Yuno is you subscribe to the theory that her murder was just an abortion which I don't. I just feel the need to specify here that I am assuming everyone here has killed a very real other person with a life and family of their own even if they were a part of the prisoners' families.

So, no one goes, but some of them didn't directly kill. This is also a good way to still cover well yeah even if they didn't do it directly someone can no longer live out the rest of their lives due to their actions and that's still fucked up. In everyone else's case, but again, Yuno's.

Thinking about it from this perspective simply makes it more messed up that they can sit here and say the things that they do, knowing that someone else can't talk at all anymore because of their choices. That's the heavy thing about deciding whether one can forgive someone for something that results in another person's or multiple persons death or not, in my opinion.

Because forgiveness isn't about if something can be justified. It's not if the person's feelings were valid. It's about an individual choosing to see the negative outcome of another person's behavior and excuse the transgression. It's about recognizing that people will be flawed and understanding that they very well may continue to be.

Regardless of how many times they're forgiven or told that the behavior is detrimental to themselves or those around them. Such as with the behavior we see Mahiru exhibit in I Love You. It's about knowing that just because you extend forgiveness it doesn't mean you endorse or allowed whoever you forgave to do whatever they did after that point. Like with Kotoko.

It's about asking where your line is? How many times can someone say sorry just to do something worse before you go actually I'm not forgiving you. Because forgiving someone is never the problem. Condemning or excusing an action is never the problem.

How people continually exploit forgiveness being extended or denied is. There's only so far an apology can rightfully go.

In example-

If I broke my neighbors window by accident. It'd be pretty easy to forgive me and sort it out with words. Yet if I did that and then each time I went over or passed their home after that point things pf theirs kept winding up broken at a point I have no one to blame but myself for them not wanting to forgive me. Forgiveness isn't a green light to keep making the same mistakes. It's not an endorsement of the behavior or a pass to go and do it again.

It's a recognition of someone making a mistake and a personal choice to go,

"I recognize your error here, and I forgive it."

What people do with that after isn't indicative of the character of those who forgave them. It's indicative of their own character. If people were kind enough to forgave someone, and that someone then went and did the same thing again. That's a sign that the problem was fucking them to begin with. We can all choose to forgive or not, but we just aren't entitled to having individuals respond how we believe they should to that choice.

If someone uses you forgiving them as an excuse to do the thing again. That is literally the definition of a bad person. They know the thing was wrong. They know it hurt people. They recognize it ended lives. Through doing it again after having their apology accepted, that person is showing everyone that they do not care.

It does not matter how many people get hurt, how others feel about it, or how it makes them look. They're going to keep doing it because it is simply what they want to do. Full stop.

That's the tricky thing about making Milgram about forgiveness to me. Because when it truly is about forgiveness, literally everyone here would be the definition of unforgivable. Unless I was extending immense benefit of the doubt. Assumed they never meant to hurt anyone and that they aren't here for murder but just a bunch of everyday things that Milgram has arbitrarily decided to compare to the worst crime imaginable simply because someone happened to die "technically". I say technically because again still don't consider abortion murder and would not consider aborting a child a death as a result but fuck it Milgram might.

In that case, the entire series is simply using the word murderer really loosely at that point, and none of them should be here.

#milgram #gunsli rambles

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sometimes-men-need-help-too · 2 years ago

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Let’s talk about body shaming

This is a topic that is almost exclusively talked about in reference to women; now, this does happen, women are body shamed so it’s not a bad thing in itself to discuss. However, the problem I have is when people either refuse to acknowledge that it happens to men as well or they try to say that it isn’t as bad for them and not on the same level than it is when it happens to women.

But they are body shamed. They do deal with hurtful remarks. We just don’t always acknowledge that. We tend to look at these things differently.

So I want to discuss some things that men are body shamed for.

- Their penis

It’s an infamous example. I’ve talked about this before, I’ve said how wrong this is.

It’s not hard to find a comment (and I apologize for the language) that say, “this has little dick energy.” You’ll typically see it if a guy is saying something a woman doesn’t like or what he’s saying is actually rude or if there's a post/video that’s showing some poor behavior on his part. And instead of criticizing the behavior, the attitude, they go right to body shaming.

And it’s considered funny. It’s considered clever. But there’s no real reason for it. In spite of that, people will try to justify themselves. I’ve seen comments of people saying that if the guy is acting like a jerk then it’s okay. They aren’t going to care about his feelings.

On the surface, it might seem reasonable. But it’s not. It’s not reasonable. It’s not acceptable.

When you body shame, even if it’s towards someone that isn’t a nice person, you’re perpetuating the idea that whatever you’re shaming him for--in this case, his penis size--is something to be ashamed of.

And you can’t act like it’s not a big deal because you’re not directing it towards anyone else--that doesn’t matter. Realistically speaking, it’s going to create doubt. It’s going to worsen someone’s image of themself.

Maybe that guy on the internet is saying things he shouldn’t. Maybe he won’t care what you have to say because he’ll just brush it off. But what about the teenager who is browsing through the internet and sees your comment, sees the attention it gets (laugh reacts, people agreeing). He’s young, he’s in puberty and just starting to express an interest in dating. The guy who struggles with insecurity about whether his own is too small or worrying about what girls will say about it does. The guy who has experienced someone making a remark about his size. They care. Other people are seeing those comments. They’re absorbing them.

Think about the guys who do have a small penis. What about them? They see and hear this kind of thing being mocked over and over which in turn makes them view it as something to be embarrassed about.

You know, I recently came across a reddit post that was basically asking why don’t more guys speak about this (penis shaming) if they want it to stop. The thing is, people (usually online) will take that (you speaking up) as you having a small penis yourself and then they get mocked for it, whether they have one or not.

- Their height

Here’s another big one. Shorter guys have to deal with a lot of crap, maybe not all of them but many do. And for something they can’t even control. They’re not even “allowed” to feel insecure about their height without being mocked for exhibiting ‘fragile masculinity.’

For instance, a guy might be dating somebody taller than him and he might feel a bit uncomfortable (for a lack of better wording) by it, especially if they’re wearing something like heels. They’re just kind of expected to not care and in a perfect world, they wouldn’t. But we live in a world where we’ve created that insecurity but we won’t own up to it, if that makes sense.

Compare it to when a girl feels insecure about her weight. For most people, they would try to assure her that she is perfect just the way she is, that she is beautiful and society needs to redefine its beauty standards.

It’s not the same with a short man. It’s not that nobody cares, it’s that we don’t really look at in the same way. We more so view short men who are dealing with insecurity over their height their own problem. Or something that only men care about.

- Their hair loss

This is especially true if they’re starting to lose hair but it’s not completely gone.

He may be made fun of if he tries to something about it (like wear a toupee). He may deal with snide remarks when he tries to date or from his own S/O. He may deal with jokes from his friends that hurt more than he’d like to admit.

It’s another instance where he doesn’t really have control over it. It’s embarrassing for anyone to deal with. It can really shatter your self confidence, especially if you’re pretty young.

Or maybe they have something like alopecia

- Their weight

Generally, we think of body shaming as something that only happens if you’re fat (aka fat shaming). It does happen. People will make them feel like crap for their weight.

They also get shamed for being too skinny. They might not have a lot of muscle to them. And we generally don’t take skinny shaming as seriously. Gosh, I saw this one post about this topic and a lot of people found it funny. They said they wished they had that problem.

Someone might point it out to them a lot (that they’re skinny/thin). They might get told they need to eat (like a cheeseburger). They might be told really rude things. And it’s just as hurtful. Maybe you’re someone that has dealt with people giving you crap about your weight, telling you that you need to do this or that. You might very well be upset by it just as skinny people are upset by it too. Put yourself in their shoes.

- Their teeth

They might have braces. Or broken teeth. They might have problems because they could never get to a dentist. It might be discolored due to medication. They might have buck teeth (where the front teeth is sticking out further than the bottom ones).

- Not being able to grow facial hair

I don’t know if men have been made fun for having facial hair but I’ve definitely heard about men getting shamed for a lack of.

Not every guy is able to. Not every guy wants to. And yet, it seems to be one of those things that you might get teased for--because a real man would have facial hair

These were some examples that first came to mind, Feel free to add more

Men and women are guilty of this. They might not even mean to do it, it might just be a joke to them but to somebody else, it isn’t. Or it was meant as an insult because that’s how our society is: if I don’t like you then I can say whatever I want to hurt you but I’m not being hypocritical because I think you’re a bad person

No, it is. If you believe ___ shaming is wrong but okay in some instances, you are a hypocrite. It shouldn’t be this way. If someone’s behavior/attitude is not okay, then focus on that. Call them out on that. Don’t stoop so low as to make fun of their appearance

Furthermore, what does that teach kids? Doesn’t that contradict how we tell them that bullying is wrong?

This needs to change

#mens rights #body shaming #double standards #misandry #anti misandry

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