#and just outright malice

[littleeyesofpallas]

Bleach’s Issue with Queer characters (3/3)

So then there’s Giselle (and to a less canon extent Shutara) who I think Kubo erroneously categorizes as similar to both eachother and to the above gay men stereotypes.  And I think understanding Kubo’s approach to Giselle hinges on what he set up (but didn’t follow through on) with Shutara.

I’ve mentioned before, but I’m pretty certain think Shutara Senjumaru is meant to be a kabuki onnagata*.  Not in-world, mind you; I don’t think she is somehow employed as an actor in a literal kabuki theater. (i would hope that was obvious, but one can never be too sure...)  Just like Tier Harribel isn’t literally a light skinned, dark haired person doing gyaru/ganguro fashion, her presumably naturally tan skin and blonde hair is based on the general aesthetic.  Shutara likewise is channeling distinct look and feel that draws from a mix of oiran, geisha, and kabuki aesthetics. (granted all three are closely related in influencing one another’s aesthetics in the first place)

But while the look and even the demeanor tend to play all three ways, I think the particular fixation on clothes, costuming, and the somewhat adjacent theme of “disguise” that Kubo has shown to put emphasis on in this kinds of situations, as well as the fact that he gave her a distinctly masculine name, Senjuumaru, point to her being some form of queer, albeit something Kubo seems to pretty clearly lack the understanding to better articulate himself.  Is she a trans woman?  Gender fluid?  A male identifying transvestite?  There’s not enough real material for us to draw that particular line, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to conclude that she’s not a cis woman.

*Kabuki is traditionally an all-male theater form, and “onnagata” refers to actors who specialize in playing women roles.  Generally all actors train in the delineated masculine and feminine styles, but an actor’s career sticks to just one or the other...

...There is a whole big thing about how cultural institutions like kabuki and takarazuka theaters’ creation of socially acceptable and even celebrated, public and professional genderqueer spaces creates a myriad of gender dynamics that just don’t exist in the West, and it’s something that has made the attempt to adopt a globalized understanding of queer identity a little trickier in Japan:

In the West the gender binary was rigidly enforced such that to explore alternatives was basically uncharted territory (that’s an oversimplification, but you know what I mean; There’s a lack of contiguity with those who came before) but with japan there were already nonbinary spaces in place, and the lines around those don’t neatly line up with the ethnocentric western ideas some people try to pigeonhole those into.  In general, it gets dangerously close to just flat up colonizer rhetoric.

(forgive the outdated reference image, but honestly I don’t know what even counts as a recognizable example of a “““trap��” character these days.  And I use that term with GREAT reluctance, but I want to differentiate the exploitative cliche usage of a trans caricature from any actual representational trans character.)

Anyway...  That all just leaves Giselle.  And let’s be real, there’s no excuse for this one.  Maybe that seems like a weird anticlimactic place to take this series of posts... like, after all this, maybe it feels like I should’ve had some equally obtuse logic to explain this one away as a matter of escalation or as a Rule of Threes.  But no, not really.  I just think it’s a little unreasonable to treat the massive screwup that was Giselle’s portrayal as part of some sort of bigger ongoing trend, when it’s really more of an unrelated outlier in a bigger umbrella subject.

She is in fact a bad case of the long standing anime/manga fetishization of transwomen as a concept, as a spectacle to be gawked at and made the butt of jokes or to be included specifically as an anomaly.  And in Giselle’s case her specific depiction as a depraved, physically/sexually abusive villain on top of that is an explicitly toxic combination.

In spite of that, I still don’t think Kubo actually meant for it to reflect poorly (not that that matters or diminishes its harmfulness) I think he genuinely just has no real grasp of what that kind of characterization means.  I say that largely because of the way he treats a lot of her role in the plot.  Not that she’s integral to moving it forward, but that she occupies space and survives in the plot as long as she does, even when she could've been conveniently (and frankly more neatly) written out;

He seems to like drawing her and gives her a range of expressions and gestures (something he doesn't afford all his characters, even some of his major ones)

He likes to expand on her powers and gimmicks beyond what was necessary if he'd been aiming for minimum effort

He even paired her off against his personal favorite character, Mayuri.

Point being, Kubo seems to personally like Giselle as a character, but he took a horrible insensitive and ignorant path in writing her character.

But an undeniable fact is, she’s not alone as this kind of villain, she’s just the only one that happens to be trans.*  Mayuri himself, Aaroniero, Szayelaporro, Zomarri (just a little bit), Tousen (at the very end), Tsukishima, As Nodt, Gremmy (a little), and Askin all to some degree dip into this shtick Kubo does where his villains aren’t just sadistic but ecstatically so, to the point of intoxicated, gleeful derangement.  Yet in spite of that, those characters are all usually meant to be “cool,” not detestable.

Remember, Mayuri was initially written as, hands down, the most despicable characters in Bleach —he was abusive and sadistic, misogynistic, actually physically grotesque, predatory, dishonorable sneaky & underhanded, complicit in a genocide, just in general a clearly communicated mad scientist villain, and he was all of this in direct and deliberate contrast to Uryuu’s chivalrous personality type(already established in his defending Orihime from Jiroubou) as well as Nemu’s noble stoic subservient victimhood— and yet he’s also Kubo’s favorite character in the series.  Kubo doesn’t actually write Giselle any particularly worse than the others, BUT he also doesn’t disassociate her being trans from her being villainous, and again, even incidentally, that manages to perpetuate a harmful narrative in the overall.

*(Actually, I’ve kinda touched on it before but I sort of suspect Mayuri could be trans, in which case; OOPS, that makes two, and that doesn’t make it better....)

[1][2][3]

[miniagula]

sorry ghouls but the latest chapter of suitor armor is kinda making my neurons fizzle out

like. do you Get It

[pansyfemme]

this is very extremely easy info to find out and im very open about it but i just want to clarify bc with a few of my posts making the rounds lately ive noticed a few rare instances of people outright either implying that i am or referring to me as transfemine, or nonbinary (as well as a few followers who have “men dni” in their bio) , and while i do identify as femme, i need to state extremely and utterly clearly: i am a trans man. FTM. female to male. I use HE/HIM pronouns. you are to refer to me as male at all times. While again, this is extremely extremely easy info to find, i am both sick of people who follow me, not strangers to me, people who should have at the very least read the three or so words in my bio if not my pinned, misgendering me. I am also making this post to clarify i have no issue with people not wanting men to interact. But if you do, i would prefer you include me in that, for both your and my comfort. I also have no plans to claim to be something i’m not. I do not want to claim any identity other than the one i currently hold. This is not a secret. I post about this all the fucking time, so yes. i am a little sick of the misgendering. referring to me as they/them is not tolorated here. I do not use those pronouns.

Thank you.

[liquidstar]

a friend who'd wait :)

[soft-spooks]

blushy emoji

[loregoddess]

I think it’s funny that the dev team for AoC was like, *takes a look at Rhoam* “We can fix him”

and then the Hopes dev team was like, *takes a look at Gilbert* “We can...” *sets him on a shelf to collect dust, turns around an pulls Rodrigue out of the dead-parent bin* “WE CAN FIX HIM”

[dagasinfilo]

man i wish. i wish i could go to a professional and be like “hey uh i think i got adhd or something” and they would be like okay let’s do some tests and maybe in a month or so id have a relatively conclusive answer and treatment plan with medications that would be more likely to work than not.

instead i gotta be like. okay i read about 10 scientific papers watched a bunch of videos about it both made by experts and patients read another bunch of papers about the comorbidity of it with this other disorder i was diagnosed with read to exhaustion what people with the condition have to say about it and about how it feels to have it and their struggles with it, and i think i may- AND I KNOW i’m not the professional here and could be grossly misinterpreting everything i’ve read but maybe i think i may have adhd maybe probably perhaps? or if not still there might be something wrong with my dopaminergic system because of [huge list of symptoms that otherwise seem unrelated and vague] and at BEST i’ll be met with a little chuckle a dr google comment and from there complete dismissal of whatever i have to say about what the hell is going on in my head. oh and i’ll be only given antidepressants that work with serotonin and norepinephrine even though they either do nothing or they make me actively feel more like shit. it’s fun!

[ms-demeanor]

i’m curious what your opinion is on the finer points of the case mentioned in the JSTOR post you reblogged earlier. the two sources in the post say that JSTOR didn’t press charges against him and had already settled with him by the time he killed himself. from what i read on wikipedia, the concern seems to be that JSTOR complied with a subpoena, which i don’t believe they have a choice to ignore? if anything it seems like the us government had reason to want him dead for wikileaks and public court records reasons, so they took a terms of use violation and blew it up into a dozen federal crimes.

is there more context i should be aware of? i have no particular affection or malice for JSTOR but the sources i found don’t exactly implicate the database or its employees in murder.

That's from page 175 of this document. This line: "The activity noted is outright theft and may merit a call with university counsel, and even the local police, to ensure not only that the activity has stopped but that - e.g. the visiting scholar who left - isn't leaving with a hard drive containing our database" is where I think the culpability starts.

If someone is downloading 1000s of articles (what seems like reasonable threshold for us to take action), what's wrong with us - or the university in collaboration with us - alerting the cyber-crimes division of law enforcement and initiating an investigation, having cop search dorm room and try to retrieve any hard drive that contains our content, etc. Our content is extraordinarily valuable and hard to replicate by the sweat of one's brow, but can be duplicated by savvy hackers and who knows what they want to do with the content?

Page 379: "Does the university contact law enforcement? Would they be willing to do so in this instance?

From page 1296:

I think the important thing to note here is that JSTOR had worked with MIT and had plans in place to prevent future similar downloads, but remained focused on identifying the person responsible for the downloads and ensuring that their data was deleted.

"I might just be irked because I am up dealing with this person on a Sunday night, but I am starting to feel like they need to get a hold of this situation right away or we need to offer to send them some help (read FBI).

And there it is. Page 3093 of the document.

JSTOR can hem and haw about it all they want, but you can't un-call the cops.

MIT was working with JSTOR on preventing future incidents of pirating, but JSTOR repeatedly said that they weren't going to let it go, that it was unacceptable to drop the issue, that they were going to continue to pursue the pirate.

You can scroll through the document and see the JSTOR tech department and abuse team talking about Swartz as a script kiddie, and a hacker. You can see someone talking about how this was real theft - making the comparison to stealing books even while admitting that piracy doesn't close others out of access.

You can see the thread starts with a joke about punching someone in the face for hacking their system, and includes the tech team ominously considering whether they should threaten the MIT librarians with the FBI.

There's something really important to note here which I don't think that people who aren't PRETTY DEEP into hackery shit aren't aware of: US law enforcement is absolutely rabidly feral about prosecuting hackers. People may be more aware of this now because of Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden (and perhaps a bit on tumblr because of maia arson crimew), but people who work in tech and who are in infosec - like the people joking about calling the FBI in these emails - would be aware of the bonkers disproportionate punishments faced by hackers. And knowing that, they kept pushing and pushing and pushing for identification of the hacker. They kept digging with MIT, they kept saying that simply preventing future incidents wasn't enough.

Early in the exchange someone from JSTOR asked "what's wrong with us - or the university in collaboration with us - alerting the cyber-crimes division of law enforcement and initiating an investigation, having cop search dorm room and try to retrieve any hard drive that contains our content, etc." and the answer is what happened to Aaron Swartz.

It is absolute bullshit for JSTOR to say "we arrived at a solution privately and didn't want to press charges" after law enforcement has gotten involved with a hacking case, especially one where they're talking about "real theft" and are attempting to quantify and emphasize the amount that was "stolen" from them.

The *public* may believe that private individuals or institutions are the ones who "press charges" but that's simply not the case. It's prosecutors who decide whether or not to go ahead with charges; they do it based on what cases they think they can win and what their office's perspective is on the crime. When you hear about people choosing to press charges it simply means that they decided to tell the prosecutor they wanted the case to go forward. It's up to the prosecutor whether or not that happens.

And the tech team at JSTOR had to know that law enforcement wasn't just going to wag a finger at an academic hacker.

There's a parallel here that happens sometimes when people have their identities stolen by their parents. If you mom takes out a credit card in your name, that's identity theft. That's fraud. That's illegal. If you reach the age of 25 and realize that your credit is ruined because your mom has been defaulting on cards in your name, you've got two choices to fix that: one is to accept the debt and pay it off and build up credit, and the other is to report the identity theft - which will end up with your mom in prison for a decade or so. Ruin your own personal finances, or your mom goes to jail for ruining your finances. So if you find out that your mom stole your identity you can't just call the cops to pressure her into transferring the debt to her name or something. That's not an option. The cops are not a threat to wave over people, they are not a way to get people to fall in line or act right. They aren't someone you can send to a college student's dorm room to retrieve a hard drive and have the matter drop.

When you call the cops on someone you are sending the full force of the law after them, and the full force of the law falls really heavily on hackers, and how heavy that blow can be is something that the JSTOR team must have been aware of when they were making snide comments about calling the FBI because they were frustrated with the noncommittal responses they were getting from librarians.

Ultimately it was the carceral state that killed Aaron Swartz, but they would not have been involved if JSTOR didn't think that what he did constituted theft.

Taking an *EVEN LARGER* step back from that, the idea that information can be owned and locked behind a paywall is what killed Aaron Swartz, someone who fought for information to be free.

Like. JSTOR is a licensing company. At the end of the day, cute social media posts and all, they're the same as the RIAA and ASCAB. They exist to extract a fee from people attempting to access information.

Aaron Swartz and all that he stood for are an existential threat to their core function.

Are JSTOR's hands as dirty as the federal prosecutors? Absolutely not. But they operate on a model that puts them in opposition to open information activists and it ended up with a hammer falling on Aaron Swartz that they dropped.

[dotthings]

Okay yeah I am really really tired of this. So I'm just going to say outright that what spn did with 15.18, with Cas's confession, that was a whole lot of people at spn showing their love and support. Writers, Jensen and Misha, the director, and anyone else who cared--which was a good number of people who worked at spn. It was the show full on validating fan lens and the deliberate crafted work of writers that had to queer code Destiel for years due to network censorship.

Crew members were in tears watching that Dean and Cas scene get filmed.

No, Cas's love for Dean wasn't last minute added.

No, it didn't come out of nowhere.

It was a 12 season arc payoff.

It was many seasons, who knows how many years, of writers weaving it into the text.

Who even knows when the deliberation to try to push it into text decision was made. I usually think Carver era, but then Ben Edlund said some things and...who knows.

No, spn was not gaslighting and mocking Destiel shippers.

The original plan for the finale at the time 15.18 was filmed had Cas be there for the ending. They made 15.18 in good faith believing they'd be able to follow through on Destiel, as much as they could get away with it.

15.18 was filmed in March 2020 and the pandemic production shutdown hit a few days into filming 15.19. Production shutdown gave some higher ups too much time to think, and too much of an opening and an excuse to strip back 15.20.

Without the network support the most spn could do on Destiel anway was thread the needle to get as much into the text as they could, even if they couldn't make it open. But they tried to make it anyway within those parameters. They deserve credit for that and they didn't know how 15.20 was going to be stripped back when they filmed 15.18.

So tired of seeing malice assigned to the effort of the creatives who did it. Who told that story within a restrictive system.

Cas's confession wasn't even queer coded. That was the moment it switched to loud and blatant. Misha even said he was astonished they were allowed to film it at all. Lack of network support and PR erasure set in afterwards.

No, it wasn't fanservice. It was integral to the plot!!!! The major giant stakes save the world endgame plot!!!!!!!!!!!!

15.18 was respectful.

15.18 was showing the love!!!!

[prettysuper]

@reddrakebird:

If there was one thing Conner Kent could put his mind to - it was sulking. If there was a world record for the number of days spent wallowing in self-pity, Kon was fairly certain he could win it outright out of sheer stubbornness. During the disaster in Metropolis, Kon had spent the entire day rescuing people from the destruction of his own rage manifested. Finally, Kal had placed his hand on his back and told him to go home. But where was home? Kon didn't know anymore. He was starting to doubt everything all over again. Hurt tugged at his heartstrings like a grappling claw from an arcade machine. Humiliation crawled up the back of his throat. Stupid boy. He spent the next several days on the moon, wanting to isolate himself from everything and everyone, lost in self-deprecating thoughts. But there it was safe to kick at the dust, pull off his shades and just yell; eyes heating up as he shot heat-vision far off into space. Screaming where nobody could hear you. It was ugly. It was lonely. But most of all it was cathartic. Memories replayed in his head; those blue saddened eyes haunting him 384,400 km away. Eventually, he had to go back to the farm. Ma would worry about him. Ma worried about everyone. And sooner or later, Krypto would track him down and then he'd have to deal with talking to Kal about his feelings. Hard pass. Kon eventually headed down to the Kent farm, spending lunch with Ma reassuring her that he'd be fine - just on a mission with his friends. It was a white lie, and one he wasn't sure she entirely bought but she didn't probe further and he appreciated that. Eventually, he got out his phone to check on Bart. That's when the number of missed calls and messages hit him; a perfect twenty. How very like Tim. His stomach wavered as he clicked on the notification, scrolling up to read from the top. At first his eyes rolled, breath hardened as Tim asked if he was okay, then a few messages later if he wanted to talk. But the more he scrolled, the more he felt his chest tighten until eventually he crumbled and messaged the other man a simple, short text back. He busied himself helping out the farm with iits chores the rest of that afternoon before heading inside to grab a shower in he early evening. Taking the time to wash the grime off his skin, Kon got out (this time with a towel wrapped around his waist), heading to Kal's old room, which had temporarily become his when the Kents unofficially adopted him. He pulled out a fresh costume and grabbed his jacket, fixing his hair in the mirror, before doing up his boots and belt and sticking his shades securely onto his face. He got to the studio in Bludhaven deliberately a minute late just to keep Tim sweating. Hovering outside Timothy's window, Kon tapped a rare and gentle knock on the glass as he floated in the air outside, waiting for permission to come in. In his other hand, he held a small box of glazed doughnuts, picked up on the way there.

He waited for Timothy to open it, before passing him the box and slipping inside, careful not to bang his head on the window frame.

"Hey." He mumbled awkwardly; no hint of anger or malice left in his voice. He'd already exhausted that harshly into space. His face saddened at the visible darkened circles underneath the smaller man's eyes and the sunken in cheeks beneath them. "Long week, no sleep huh?"

[katsumox]

"the roomate."

~1k words. jason todd x reader.

there's so much sexual tension here it should be illegal. anyway..

“Fuck you, Jason. Literally fuck you,” you shout, stomping into the shared apartment.

It was the third argument this week. It's been two months since you moved in, and the two of you have been arguing ever since. You found Jason's apparent severe dislike for you confusing, as you'd been nothing if not outright kind to him. At the very least, you've been an amicable and considerate roommate.

Time after time, Jason Todd found ways to get under your skin in the apartment you shared with him, Roy, and Kori. Though you were a new addition to the trio, you meshed extremely well with everyone, except Jason, of course. The two redheads were quick to tell you that Jason didn’t get along with many, but he didn’t mean any harm. Nevertheless, The four of you began renting a condo for the sake of cheap rent when the going got tough.

Something about you seemed to fundamentally irritate Jason. Maybe it was the fact that you didn’t have a perpetual stick up your ass, unlike him, or maybe it was because he had a natural aversion to anything happy or remotely nice. Perhaps it was the way you found reasons to smile and laugh obscenely hard at jokes his male friends say, but somehow find Jason entirely unfunny. Or perhaps it’s the fact that you don’t immediately shut down Roy’s frequent flirty jokes and offers for dates.

“Oh,” he drawls, eyes widened. “Didn’t think good girls like you cursed,” he mocks, following you into the shared living space.

You roll your eyes, kicking off your heels with a little more malice than you probably should.

“Just because you make it your life’s mission to be the meanest, most inconsiderate son of a bitch on the planet,” you snarl, stalking towards your room, “doesn’t mean I have to deal with it. Be a fucking cunt on your own time.”

“Fuck did you just say to me?”

You whip around, tired of the back and forth. “You heard exactly what the fuck I said.”

The smell of his cologne mixed with gunpowder all but invades your senses as he storms toward you.

“Fuck you,” he sneers, eyes narrowed. His hulking form towers over you, his neck craned down to see all of you as he backs you into a corner. At nearly 6’4, a literal wall of muscle and angst, he towers over you, posturing.

His near-permanent scowl hardens as you refuse to break eye contact, despite something in you begging to. Jason's always been pretty. If not for his attitude, you'd find him incredibly attractive. In fact, you think, mentally frowning, you find him attractive despite his cold demeanor. Maybe even because of it.

The rough timbre of Jason’s voice wakes you from your silent stupor.

“Tell me to leave,” he murmurs, pressing himself closer to you, lips just barely ghosting your own. He pulls back, realizing the desperation in his voice in tandem with his proximity to you is maddening.

“Tell me to get the fuck out," he says, breathless. "To stop touching you,” his hand now lightly squeezing your jaw, keeping you in place. Keeping you from avoiding confrontation.

His focus flickers between your lips and your eyes, taking labored breaths.

You part your lips, as whatever thought you began to formulate dies as you realize the proximity of Jason’s lips to yours. You take a shallow breath again. You could count every one of his dark, long eyelashes from here, you think. Every one of his sun spots and freckles, and scars.

“Tell me not to. Tell me now,” he rasps, blueish-green eyes half-hidden by low eyelids. Something unspoken passes between the two of you, neither of you saying anything, yet saying everything all at once. You take a breath, hoping your words won't fail you for a second time.

"…Fuck it."

Suddenly you both are on each other, kissing, clawing, and caressing all the same.

A groan rumbles in Jason's chest as you paw at him. You've been enveloped by him in all his entirety; his smell, his taste, his sounds. You press at his chest, a solid wall of muscle, hoping to push him blindly, to where you think the couch is. The man smirks at your initiative, taking the hint.

He taps your ass twice, but you're too distracted by the taste of him on your lips.

"Be good f'me, doll. Lemme lift you,"

You hum, more concerned with the mountain of a man in front of you. He lifts you with ease, sitting you on his lap as he resumes his mission to make you break. Your nails scrape down his chest deliciously, drawing out another low, needy noise from the man. Jason takes note of how freely you let your hands roam, ghosting over places that haven't been touched in a long time.

"Eager, aren't we, sweetheart?"

"Shut up," you say at full volume, caught off guard by the nickname and forgetting where you are.

"Shut me up, then," Jason quips, pulling you up toward his face for another dizzying kiss. His kisses move from the corner of your mouth down your jaw. Featherlight touches follow him down to your collarbone, where he lightly nibbles at you.

You let out a strangled, needy noise, one far too loud and embarrassing for the time and place the two of you find yourselves in.

"Shh, shhh. 'S okay, baby," Jason coos, a devilish smile creeping up on his swollen lips. "Wouldn't want the others to hear you, would we?"

You hum and shake your head, dazed, as the man deftly rubs circles into your hip with his fingers.

"Guess we should take this to a more private place, hm, pretty girl?"

You nod emphatically, chasing his lips as he moves you off of him.

"So," he pauses, catching his breath. His black hair is tousled, his lips pink and swollen, and his pupils blown wide.

"Your room or mine?"

[neechees]

How is the cult from Midsommer white supremacist? Because they are swedish and borrow from paganism? The nazis appropriated Norse culture, they even misused different runes and symbols, and Scandinavia is one of the most tolerant regions in Europe.

There's Nazi imagery throughout the film, & the fact that all the poc die first is no mistake. Ari Aster himself has said that the Harga are White Supremacists:

Defying an outdated horror trope, Aster does not kill off Josh (William Jackson Harper) — the only black character for miles — first. As Aster points out, though, the Hårga are racist, a callback to “a part of Swedish history and European history,” and all of the “outsiders” or “new blood” recruited for mating are purposely white.

“He’s thrown away in a way that the other members of the main cast are not," Aster notes. “And that is because these people have no further use for him.”

The Harga, when not inbreeding with each other, go out and groom new members to either 1. Be sacrified or 2. Introduce new genes by manipulating people into the cult or drugging & raping them (what they did to Dani & Christian), & they ONLY pick white people for this. There are no nonwhite Harga & that's not an accident.

The script also makes it crystal clear that the nonwhite couple were specifically chosen (bc they are not white) & brought there to be sacrificed & were never going to live. The member that brought the nonwhite couple displays hatred & malice towards them when they're not looking, but doesn't do this with the other white outsiders

(Ingemar is the Harga that brought Connie & Simon, the nonwhite couple). Connie & Simon didn't do anything wrong, they didn't do anything outright to insult the Harga. The only thing they did was be shocked about seeing the ritual suicide & express desire to leave (and they weren't the only ones who did this, Dani also did). And yet they were some of the first to die.

Even the visuals-- the Harga wear all White, it's always in blinding daylight. Whiteness is a GLARING theme. There's also foreshadowing early on in the film, where a book titled "The secret Nazi language of the Uthark" featured in Christian's room just before they go to Sweden.

There's also other Nazi ideology present within the Harga, such as the strict gender roles (the women all wear dresses & cook & clean & care for the children together but the men butcher the bear together), eugenics & ableism (the elderly are killed off at a certain age because they see disability & needing to be cared for as an elder "shameful", which is what one Harga states at the ritual suicide scene, & of course killing off the nonwhite characters), the "return to tradition" ideology (there are NO modern technology in the community, & it's in the countryside).

You see a cult full of ONLY White people, using Norse paganism (something VERY popular with Nazis) in an isolated area, who routinely murder poc, don't intermix with poc, kill off their elderly, Dani (the blonde, light eyed white girl) is praised for her beauty & made their May queen by the Harga, with strict gender roles, & this film was made by a JEWISH MAN to show the Harga as the bad guys, & you don't have a hunch that the Harga are maybe supposed to be white supremacists/nazis? That doesn't raise any red flags for you?

& let's not forget how Scandanavia committed genocide against the Saami, the Indigenous population who were there for hundreds of years before anyone else. That's a little off topic, but as a First Nations Canadian I aint gunna let that just go unacknowledged. Scandanavia has a white supremacy problem too, & Ari Aster is right for pointing it out

[polarspaz]

NikaEffect AU

While under the influence of Nika, Sanji gains some interesting powers, but the most notable ability he obtains is his "Allure" The best way I can explain it, is like how Bugs Bunny gets so many of his enemies to play along with his hijinks. He can't outright control people, but he can overwhelm them and make them act in ways they never would.

A good example of this is when Sanji transforms for the first time.

Sanji and Zoro are bickering in the kitchen and everything seems normal until Sanji's heart starts to feel funny. He panics, thinking it might have something to do with his Germa genetics, but that fear is abruptly smothered by overwhelming joy.

It's intoxicating, he feels beyond drunk, and Sanji can't stop the laughter that starts spilling from his lips. He looks up to see Zoro frozen stiff in front of him, his face etched in slight horror and Sanji suddenly feels mischievous. He darts forward before Zoro can react and kicks him through the galley doors and onto deck of the Sunny.

He slides out after the Swordsman, grinning ear to ear in sheer delight, ignoring the alarm of the rest of the crew before going after Zoro again with another kick. He's trying to spar with the other man, but his new boost in abilities is making the fight very one sided. It's not helping ease the distressing amount of power that's now burning inside him.

"Boring!" Is the only warning Zoro gets before Sanji grabs his arms and spins. It takes a moment for Zoro to understand what is happening, but the fight has evolved into some kind of dance. His feet and body are moving in perfect tune with Sanji, like they've practiced this a thousand times before, but Zoro's never danced like this in his entire life.

It should disturb him more, not being in control of his body, but the sheer elation and joy coming from Sanji softens the fear. There's no malice to this, in fact it's kind of of enjoyable, being swept in this sheer high that's permeating from Sanji. It reminds him of bathing in the warm sun.

They only stop when Luffy declares he wants to dance too, and instead of snapping at him, Sanji just smiles wider, drops Zoro like a lead weight, before grabbing the Captain with a delighted chuckle. "Anything for my Mon cher capitaine!"

Zoro can only watch dumbfounded as Sanji pulls a flower from his hair, placing it between his teeth, and starts dancing with Luffy up in the sky. It's crazy to watch, especially with how Sanji takes full advantage of Luffy's ability to stretch, but it also shows that Luffy seems to be under the same effect Zoro was. Luffy couldn't dance to save his life, but there he was, pulling off moves he couldn't even comprehend with pure ease.

+Sanji other abilities include super speed, which he usually uses to make ludicrous large, delicious meals in seconds. (Yes, he is making the food cook faster too) -He can also float/fly. -The Nika power can last up to thirty minutes or an hour. When it's gone, Sanji is completely, and utterly wasted. He's emotionally numb and his body won't even move, meaning Zoro usually has to carry his ass to bed every time this happens.

-Why does this happen? No one knows. They try to find some kind of commonality to these sudden transformations but there seems to be no connecting factor, and for some reason, poor Sanji gets it the worse.

[moumouton4]

Can I request hcs, if they are open, for how any of these characters: Sasuke, Itachi, Kakashi, Orochimaru (Madara, Tobirama - I know these ones weren't on your list)

Would handle masturbating in front of their partner?

Like, is it hard for them? Would they feel self conscious? Would they just refuse to do it? What are they thinking about? Are they looking at their partner or closing their eyes? Do they look relaxed? (Just some things to think about, lol)

Just which ever characters you might feel any inspiration for! Hope this is okay! :)

Would He Handle Masturbating In Front Of You || Naruto characters x reader

Part 1 including : Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi Ichuha, Kakashi Hatake and Orochimaru

A/n : Hey hear me out. I'm going to add Madara and Tobirama when I'll get to finally see them lmao. I'm only at the ep 291 for now 👀

Part 2 including : Madara Uchiha, Tobirama Senju and bonus : Hashirama Senju ➡ HERE

Warnings : NSFW, masturbation, mention of riding, cum play, 18+ READERS ONLY and wrap it before you tap it

Masterlist ⚜

I don’t give permission to repost my work, if you want to share it just reblogue it

Words count : 1929

Sasuke Uchiha :

This guy is really tricky to understand. Like I got to the climax of his insanity so I'm not going to base this headcanon on that

Nevertheless I sincerely think that if you ask him outright if you can look at him while he's touching himself, he's going to look at you sideways and the ground is going to open under your feet / lh

Don't get me wrong he is flustered, very indeed but he won't show it to you

Not yet

He's not especially self-conscious of himself but he thinks it's very personal and he's filled with a mix of shame and embarrassment for some reasons

Moreover he is with you so he wouldn't masturbate often

However you are stubborn and you insisted

Walking around in your underwear to get his attention doesn't work, his eyes linger on your ass and breasts but he always manages to look away

Getting on your knees and sucking him off and stopping at the last second to force him to jerk off doesn't work either

You even tried to sneak in to surprise him but obviously he always knew when you walked in the house

The only time you saw him touch himself, was when his hand was stroking his thick cock in a swift motion from the base to the tip, right before he entered you. A moment when his mind was clouded by anticipation and lust, his lust for you

So one day, as you were about to get going at it, he jerked his cock a few times to make sure it was hard enough before sticking it into you. As he was moving it closer to your pussy you shifted your hips

He was surprised but didn't pay any more attention and realigned himself to you still masturbating

And you did it again 0.0

But then he stopped all movement, while a worried look appeared on his face. He asked you if everything was all right and you had to apologize profusely out of shame for having worried him

He's just so sweet

He realized why you did that a few days later when he thought about it

Because that's what he was thinking about when he was masturbating, you having sex and him impregnating you. But his mind went back to that last time

When he understood, he went to see you, after having emptied himself of course :')

He threw put you on the bed and looked at you with his usual stare, though you could detect some malice in it

"When you expect something from someone, it's because you're able of the same" he said as if he was lecturing you

You raised an eyebrow

"Take that off and touch yourself for me. I'm watching" he said as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. His sharingan-ed eyes went down to your crotch to signal you to take off your pants

And here he had just reversed the roles

That's so typical of Sasuke

Itachi Uchiha :

He really doesn't deserve to be associated with the other members of the Uchiha clan on this part. Because unlike most of them, he has much less trouble showing affection to his loved ones, and especially his special one, you

When you ask him he is all red, like the clouds on the Akatsuki's robe

He is a little reluctant at first because making love is one thing, his cock is deep inside you and his head is buried in the crook of your neck. You don't see either of them. But now you want to see him with his cock in his hand and his face facing you. What if he moans ? 😱

But also how can he deny it to you when you bat your eyelashes like that at him, your eyes shining brightly

So he'll eventually agree, it's not that he doesn't want to do it it's just that he's afraid to look fragile and vulnerable in front of you

So please do praise him while his back is leaning on the headboard. His nail-polished hand moving up and down on his cock at a slow pace, his eyes closed and his frown wrinkling his forehead

You noticed his discomfort and asked him if he wanted to stop but now that his cock was hard in his hand he would have a hard time stopping even with all the self control in the world ( pun unintended )

So you got closer to him and with a look you made him understand what you were about to do to make sure he agreed ( consent is everything, consent is hot )

You put your small hand - compared to his - next to his on his cock, making his breath hitch when your fingers touched it and his sharingan activated without him having any control over it

You accompanied his hand in its motion before accelerating the movement and his hand followed your rhythm

You saw his face relax as the pleasure increased

After a while you let him continue to make himself feel good, admiring the tip of his leaky cock with precum disappear into his hand while his was fucking his fist. His pace now was nothing compared to the one he started with

And as slimy noises began to be heard, you heard a slight growl that overpowered the other sounds

You looked up to see him sitting there with his eyes closed, his face turned towards the ceiling and his legs spread a bit

The view was ethereal

"So pretty" you said

And to your surprise you heard him grunt your name in a groan, his hand seeming to move a little more vigorously

He ended up coming in a broken moan on his stomach, his hair sticking to his forehead due to sweat

Of course after that you helped him clean up and covered him with kisses on his chest, neck, cheeks, forehead and mouth, everywhere he would feel your love for him. You can try with the tip of his cock but he might get hard again

He looked exhausted and relaxed as if you pulled out of him an orgasm like he never had while masturbating alone

Finally, even when you're not with him and he's masturbating, he likes to imagine that you're close to him watching him do it

Genjutsu what #_#

Almost feeling your touch on his sensitive cock as he jerks off

Finally he did the right thing by listening to you

Kakashi Hatake :

Bro might be one kinky smut reader

BUT

And there is a big but with only one T :')

He is also one introverted boy and even with you he is still shy with some stuff

One of them being masturbating in front of you, even if he has read a lot of this kind of scene in Icha Icha

And he would be lying if he said he didn't get hard thinking about it

You've already masturbated each other so in theory it's almost the same thing right ?

And it's this way of thinking that helps him get over his flustered state

But once he's naked in front of you he's all pink

So he sits with his back against a pillow and close his eyes

You even asked him if he needed you to hold his books on an interesting page while he touched himself

He felt his face get warmer as his face got even redder

"N-no don't worry" he replied as he began to gently move his hand up and down on his shaft, grunting slightly as he felt his fist tighten on the head of his cock

At some point, his eyes fluttered open just to make sure you were still there and he was surprised to see you staring at him like he was the seventh wonder of the world

Was he that good looking ?

In fact he seems legitimately ashamed of those scars from his time in the anbu but also somehow of his tattoo

The look you gave him made his dick twitch in his hand and he grunts

He asks you to sit closer to him

As he does so the speed of his hand increases

And finally he comes in long hot ropes on his lower belly

Yet he keeps moving his hand along his length, he likes to overstimulate himself

After cumming a second time, he lets go of his cock and makes himself comfortable in bed closing his eyes now that he is comfortable in his sheets and relaxed

You took a clean washcloth to clean him and then joined him in bed to cuddle

He kisses your forehead thinking that even though it was hard for him at first it's still something he could do with you but only if you touch yourself as well

Why should you be the only one to enjoy the show ?

Orochimaru :

Literally has no shame

You are his creature and he is your master, at least in the beginning of your relationship, little by little he will start to realize that you are essential to his life and not at all to take your body, at least not in this way, he prefers to take you with his dick

And maybe he will start to be embarrassed at some point but not for the moment, you'll have to wait for him being in love with you

He is not at all self conscious about his body and he could walk around naked in front of you without any problem, he knows you love his body

It's not at all hard for him, the only hard thing there is his dick

And either if you are the one who suggest him to masturbate in front of you or if the idea comes from him, the goal is the same. It's a way to show your submission and belonging to him

And a good way to show it is to cum on you, on your face if you want, but otherwise in your mouth or on your breasts, where he can admire his work

He may even spread the mess he made on your breasts with his long cock or ask you to suck his dick clean

He needs to keep his eyes open, to have you in his sight

Not because he needs to see you to visualize you, he already knows you from every angle and could even draw you in detail. But he needs to see if you look at him, if you know the effect you have on him, how you make his cock hard and leaking

It's kind of intimidating in a way, he's the one who's naked but you feel almost as naked as him, even in your clothes, the way his piercing yellow-green eyes stare at you while being propped on his elbows

It's one of the only times, when he thinks about something other than his work, sure he sometimes thinks he could impregnante you and create an army of perfect little beings that would be the flesh of your two bloods but he is overall really disconnected from reality

And he looks so relaxed it's hard not to undress and join him, to ride his dick into the next century

So touching himself in front of you is something he can do without shame but seriously what's the point of jerking off in front of you while you look pretty drooling over the his cock when he can just undress you and take you as hard as he wishes

Just come here and enjoy

~

~

A/n : I hope you guys liked it ! 🥯🧀 Again my requests are open 🌯🍩

Taglist : @foxxymunson, @cl0vr, @ilovemanypeople, @glossy1pearl, @jane57sstuff

[comradekatara]

notes on “the runaway”

the more i see people discuss how strangely sokka’s character is portrayed in “the runaway” the more i cannot help but feel that all my ad hoc rationalizations and justifications as to why he would contradict himself so greatly might actually be meaningless. why would he allow the gaang to endanger themselves for foolish reasons when he is the overly paranoid voice of caution in literally every other episode? why would he be so easily swayed by toph’s manipulative promise of buying him a fancy atlas when he’s literally holding her wanted poster? and most crucially, why would he say that he sees katara as his mother when no other episode in the show indicates that this is remotely the case?

this episode is great for katara and toph, whose hangups are compellingly explored here. i won’t get into the common misconceptions about katara being “motherly” or why they’re even at loggerheads to begin with, as i’ve discussed this at length in the past, but it’s actually undeniable that the assumption that katara is the de facto “mom friend” stems primarily from this episode, where toph all but outright accuses her of fancying herself their collective mother. however, katara becoming “the mother” of the group is very much a post-toph shift in her character, and you see her femininity being accentuated in contrast with toph’s deliberate lack of femininity also being linked to this sort of maternal role that she occasionally adopts, especially around toph. but i don’t actually think the issue is one of katara being a smothering, maternal figure towards toph, but rather a miscommunication regarding power, gender, class, and community vs independence. when katara and toph fight, it is for far more complex and nuanced reasons than the notion that katara is simply too overbearing. if anything, it’s the way in which she is overbearing that irks toph, just as toph’s rudeness is not the central issue, but rather that toph’s values (those of total independence and freedom) are misinterpreted as malice by katara (who values community and collaboration), and vice versa.

something very crucial to understand about this episode is that katara is not actually mad that toph endangered their group by pulling fun scams. katara has endangered their group countless times in the past to satisfy her own impulsive desires (and yes, she wants justice, but toph similarly rationalizes her scams through the lens of achieving moral vindication). katara would be all over toph’s scammery, would come up with scams of her own, would be having more fun than anyone—had she been included from the start. which is exactly the point. it is her exclusion that foments her critique, not the subject of their act itself (and the reason that you could not replace katara with sokka in this scenario is simply because toph would never exclude sokka in the first place). but katara would never admit that she is hurt by toph’s exclusion aloud, because katara is an extremely proud person. and a prideful, wounded fourteen year old is not going to thoughtfully use “i statements” as if in a group therapy session with the equally prideful twelve year old who deliberately excluded her; no, she is going to lash out. (lest we forget that in their first real episode establishing their group dynamic, katara literally mocks toph’s blindness. hardly an okay thing to do, in my opinion!) their conflict stems from their differences, but also from their similarities. they are both proud, angry, powerful, stubborn, and must assert their dominance at all times. it’s clear they both want to be friends with each other, and at times they are, but it is really only in this episode where they are able to cross a threshold that allows them to be truly honest about more meaningful insecurities than simply their looks (although i do of course find their exchange in “tales” beautiful as well). and you know who is instrumental (albeit reluctant to interfere) in facilitating that growth? sokka.

i’ve gone more in depth in the past analyzing why sokka’s speech in this episode regarding his mother and katara isn’t exactly as it sounds. i personally interpret his admission, that katara has always been there for him and that her face is all he sees when he tries to picture his mother, as an illustration of his codependent attachment to her, as she is the very locus of his identity. this interpretation is compounded by the fact that when kya’s face is finally revealed later in the season, she does bear an uncanny resemblance to sokka, which to me signifies the way in which sokka sublimates his own face for katara’s—which is also deeply unhealthy, but in a different way than an older brother parentifying his younger sister would be.

the fact is that there is simply no indication throughout the entire show (including this episode) that sokka views or treats katara as a parent. there are of course moments wherein she supports him emotionally or materially, but most of the time she is in fact teasing, tormenting, undermining, yelling at, or otherwise making life harder for him, at which point he is far more likely to act as her guardian figure and admonish her while simultaneously helping her get out of whatever mess she’s caused. and considering that sokka’s defining moment is when hakoda stakes his identity to protecting his (ontologically special) sister (which, as we know, as the bearer of kya’s face, in fact means dying for her), this dynamic makes far more sense than the other way around. i know that people commonly portray katara as the voice of reason who cleans up sokka’s messes, but besides a couple examples, it’s consistently the other way around. yes, it’s very easy to assume that sokka’s speech indicates that he sees katara as his replacement mother, but we cannot take this speech at face value if we are also to take the rest of the text into account, which we must.

but then there’s also the other glaring question that must be taken into account: why would sokka even allow all this? considering the first thing toph bartered was the sword he has painstakingly crafted just an episode prior, why didn’t sokka just pull the plug then and there? it really doesn’t make sense that sokka wouldn’t take katara’s side just for practical, logistical reasons. even if she doesn’t really care about the own point she’s making (as demonstrated by the fact that the scam she devises literally lands her in jail), sokka would see the logic in it. but... he does. he is the one to first discover the wanted poster, and he immediately points out to toph that their scams are drawing undue attention to her, and that they should put an end to it now that's it's putting them at risk. and yet, toph successfully bribes him, and so he continues to participate. why? what about the prospect of having money is so appealing to sokka that he’s willing to risk his precious rationality and caution for the potential of acquiring more of it? well, it’s actually quite simple.

toph is scamming for the thrill of the game. she loves proving the kind of men who undermined and demeaned her all her life wrong. she loves humiliating the people of the world who had once humiliated her. she’s not someone who values earthly possessions or really even understands that money is a finite resource. to her, these scams are a matter of ego. aang is also scamming for the thrill of the game. he loves a prank, a bit of mischief, getting into some tomfoolery. he loves spending time pulling hijinks with his friends. it’s funny, it’s fun, and it’s lucrative on top of that. but it’s clear that he views it as a game. now, sokka similarly enjoys pulling these scams. he adores toph and clearly finds it nearly as satisfying as she does to watch her destroy the egos of men thrice her size. but even more potent than his adoration for toph, is his appreciation for money.

when katara put them all in danger countless times in the past, it may have been to enact righteous justice, but it was never materially beneficial to sokka. sokka is a very practical person, and growing up in a state of colonial abjection taking on the role of provider for a couple dozen people mostly comprised of elderly women and small children makes you appreciate the value of goods and resources in a way that an aristocrat and a monk do not. you may be asking, "are you really arguing that sokka would undermine his own values and endanger himself and his friends so readily for the prospect of financial security?" to which i would argue that you underestimate how truly cynical sokka is. of course he loves money and food he doesn’t have to catch or forage – see: his appreciation for the immediate luxury of ba sing se that everyone else finds so stifling. he is not spiritual; he is attached to earthly possessions and the immediate physical needs of those around him. so of course he loves a material object. in his own words: “i do believe in the power of stuff.” because even when sokka is supposedly being uncharacteristically foolish or naive, he is in fact nonetheless promoting the cynic’s agenda every step of the way.

“the runaway” is a good episode, perhaps even a great one. however, it has also lent to some of the fundamental misinterpretations i see of katara, sokka, and toph that are constantly thrown around (including the occasional citing of this episode to justify that aang apparently “sees katara as his mother”). so in some ways, i do resent this episode for begetting those strange and incorrect takes, even if i think that in a vacuum, it is well-executed. it is an episode that complicates our characters, adds nuances and shades of grey to their pre-established characterizations, but does not actually rewrite them. sure, if this was the only episode of the show i had ever seen, i too might assume that katara was the maternal and responsible figure of the group, toph was a careless and rude little bitch, and aang and sokka were idiots who relied solely on katara’s infinite well of long-suffering guidance. but even within this episode, that is clearly not established to be the case, and if that notion is not sufficiently undermined by the episode’s conclusion, it is quite clearly by the episodes bracketing it, which provide crucial context through which to inform our understandings of the choices made in this episode, and why they are indeed interesting, but nonetheless do not reflect the characterizations established in the series as a whole.

[runnning-outof-time]

You Asked, I Answered | Tommy Shelby & Friend!Reader

Request: yes by @justrainandcoffee

Pairing: Tommy Shelby & Friend!Reader (platonic)

Summary: After finally working up the courage to do so, (Y/N) confesses something she's been hiding from her best friend. Tommy answers in the most Tommy way possible.

Warnings: smoking, language

A/N: thanks for sending this in, Flor! I hope you like how it turned out and I hope you like how I weaved the prompt you sent in! Enjoy! :)

I’D LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! - YOUR COMMENTS & REBLOGS HELP ME WRITE!

Comment/Message me if you want to be tagged!

I'm gonna tell him. I'm gonna tell him. I'm gonna tell him.

That was the statement that (Y/N) kept repeating in her mind as she made her way over to her friend's home on Watery Lane. She had no clue why she was feeling nervous right now, or why she needed to be psyching herself up to do this.

The two blinders standing outside the Shelby residence recognized her immediately. They both tipped their caps to her as they let her enter the home. She didn't have to venture too far in to find him. He was sitting in one of the chairs in the small entry room that the house had.

"Tommy?" (Y/N) called after the sound of the door shutting hadn't been enough to get him to look in her direction. His eyes snapped over to her when she spoke his name, and the distant gaze that greeted her was enough to make the breath freeze in her throat. "Is everything ok?"

Tommy nodded instead of responding verbally, his eyes finding the floor again. (Y/N) frowned and moved over to the chair that was sitting to the left of his.

"Business, hmm?" she asked in a knowing tone as she took a seat. It was obvious to Tommy that 'business' was a code word for the vendetta that the Shelby and Changretta families had been intertwined in for a few weeks now. She didn't want to say the word outright.

"Business," he affirmed with a slow nod of his head, letting out a sigh after he finished speaking.

"Anything I can help with to alleviate your stress?" she wondered aloud. Tommy didn't answer right away, so she continued, "you've always helped me when I needed it, so I'd love to re..."

"No. There's no need for that, (Y/N)," he cut her off, looking over at her as he shook his head. "This business isn't for you to be involved in."

(Y/N) nodded as she heard what he had to say. She wouldn't argue with his response. She just wanted him to know that she'd be there if he ever needed her.

Silence fell between the two of them then, and they held each other's gaze, both not really knowing where to take the conversation next. Of course, (Y/N)'s main topic was bouncing around her mind, just begging to be let out. She just had to wait for the right time. Tommy's mind was a mess of many different things...it always was these days with everything he had going on. (Y/N) said that she'd listen whenever he needed to talk, and she always had when he came to her in the past, but he felt that he couldn't burden her with the stresses he had weighing his shoulders down now.

"Is there a reason you've come over here?" Tommy finally asked. There wasn't any malice in his tone, and (Y/N) knew that his question was far from that. She'd been friends with him for enough years to know that he rarely liked to beat around the bush when it came to getting information. The pleasantries were almost always skipped. That's why she was so nervous to share what she'd been keeping from him for several weeks now.

"I, um...I wanted to tell you something actually," she finally mustered up the ability to say, busying herself by playing with her fingernails so that her nervousness wouldn't fully come through in her words. She wasn't sure how much it worked though.

"What's that?" he questioned, his one eyebrow quirked upwards.

"I've been keeping it from you for a few weeks now..." she trailed off, her eyes finding his again to see that he'd been staring intently at her the entire time. Instantly she felt like she was under interrogation. Tell him, (Y/N)!, she screamed at herself. "And it's not because I didn't want to tell you, it's just that...well more important things have been happening..." she paused again, justifying - or at least trying to - her reasoning for keeping this secret for so long. "I wanted to tell you that...that I, uh, well I've actually..."

"(Y/N)," Tommy's voice was flat, and it stopped her stammering instantly. It was the tone that he used with all of his business associates and blinders that worked under him. The tone that told them they were wasting his time; that they needed to get to the point. Now the former may not have been the case here with (Y/N)'s pauses, but the latter certainly was.

"I've met somebody, Tommy," she finally gathered the courage to blurt out, "and I'm in love with him." The breath got caught in her throat after she admitted her secret to him, and she stared at him with wide eyes. Each second that passed where he didn't speak felt like an eternity.

Tommy opened his mouth to say something, but instead closed it and pursed his lips. He looked away from (Y/N), a tell tale sign that he was thinking over what she'd just said. She hated the fact that she could read him like the back of her hand at that moment. Then, after what felt like forever, he spoke. "I'm happy for ya," was all he said, his eyes finding hers again.

"Thanks," she couldn't help but smile at his response. It wasn't much, but it was what she was looking for...well it was a half of what she was looking for. "I...I need your help," she started then, going back to wringing her hands together.

A look of confusion filled Tommy's features. "With?" he asked, wondering what she could possibly need help with in regards to this front. Did she need him to vet the man? Need him to check and make sure that he wasn't into anything he wasn't supposed to be. That was the type of man she deserved after all: a good man.

"I don't know what to say to him," she admitted, "we see each other quite often, and he's a sweet man...he's really sweet to me, but I don't know how to tell him how I feel."

"Just tell him," was the very basic advice Tommy had to offer, and it was accompanied with one of his famous shoulder shrugs.

"How do I tell him, Tommy?" she asked for more clarification, "because if I could tell him, I would have already."

"I don't know what more to say, (Y/N)," he admitted, grasping at straws as he wracked his brain, trying to think of something more to add. Nothing was coming up. Admittedly, it was hard to even get his mind to focus on it.

"I need advice. I..." she paused, exhaling a breath as she thought about all of the moments where she could have told Ben - the man she was completely enamored with, how she truly felt. She shook her head then, hating how she chickened out every single time. That's why she decided to come to Tommy. He was confident. He rarely, if ever, crumbled in situations like these. And above all, he was her friend. He needed to help her with this. "I need your help with this."

Tommy sucked in a breath and then exhaled it slowly, trying to center himself. He then reached into his jacket pocket and fished out his cigarette tin. Going about the motions of placing one between his lips and lighting it so that he could then take a long drag from it bought him enough time to collect his thoughts. "See how it plays out then," he finally offered another piece of advice. Although with the face (Y/N) pulled in reaction to it, it's hard to say if it could even be called 'advice'.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she questioned, incredulousness seeping into her words.

"You've not found a way to tell him, so just see how things play. Maybe you'll find a way to, maybe he'll come out with it," he explained his reasoning further.

(Y/N) held his gaze for a moment, her mouth opened slightly, showing her surprise. She was trying to think of something to say. There were few times where Tommy had left her speechless. She thought she was used to his out of pocket responses; the way he'd tell the truth without any buffers.

"What's his name?" Tommy asked before she was able to get anything out.

"Ben. Benjamin Martin," she answered, tilting her chin upwards slightly so as to (hopefully) show that she hadn't been fazed by his previous unhelpful advice.

"That's just bad taste," Tommy scoffed, more so to himself than anything, but (Y/N) heard him loud and clear.

"Excuse me?" she scoffed in response, her eyes widening.

"He's the man?" he checked with her.

"He is," she insisted.

"(Y/N), he's a war shy bastard...managed to dodge every fucking draft there was. He's not going to protect you if it comes down to it. He won't be there when you need him."

"He needed to stay. His mother was ill. She needed him to stay and take care of her," she insisted.

"That's what he's told you. His family has money, (Y/N). You surely know that. He was able to buy his way out of it," Tommy didn't waste a moment in sharing the truth with her.

"How can you say this?" she asked him, her brow furrowed deeply. "You're my friend..."

"You asked, I answered," he answered simply with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Well it's rather rich of you to respond in such a way considering the fact that your love life is an absolute trainwreck," (Y/N) snapped at him, speaking without thinking. Her mind was still caught on his brash thoughts on the man she was seeing.

"I don't know what you mean," Tommy responded in a dismissive tone, one that told her that he really didn't want to be given any further explanations.

But (Y/N) gave him one anyway. "I know that Lizzie's pregnant. I know that May's come back into town. You're leading one woman on while playing with the emotions of another," she used his ways against him, telling him the truth without any buffers.

"You asked, I answered," he repeated his previous statement, his tone still dismissive.

"Maybe I shouldn't have come to you with this..." she started, huffing as she stood from her seat. "I know that you've got a lot on your plate now, but...but you're my friend. You've always been my friend and we've been through worse before. I thought you'd help me," she hated the fact that her voice cracked as she uttered the final sentence.

"I don't have much help to give at the moment, (Y/N)," Tommy shook his head, stubbing the cigarette he'd essentially forgotten out in the ashtray before he ran a hand over his face.

"I see that now," she sighed. There wasn't any resentment laced into her words. Instead she was just upset. Upset because she thought she would have gained something useful in coming to him. Boy was she so wrong in thinking that. She hadn’t gained anything from this conversation. All that came out of it was frustration. “I have to go, Tommy. I’ll see you around, yeah?”

“Yeah,” his response came out as a breath, and his eyes found hers as he nodded.

Their eye contact was brief, and (Y/N) was the one to break it, leaving the Shelby home with the hopes that all of the hell that was happening in their lives would blow over so that she could have her friend back to the way she knew him before.

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