been thinking about strength and how it applies to Sariah
Sariah strikes me as the kind of person who is very very strong, but not in the way that one might usually associate with strength. I think they have a very Cinderella-type of strength. That quiet, determined perseverance to get back up and keep going even when everything is screaming at them to just lie down and stop.
I don't think they're the kind of strong you usually see in female characters either, which is usually some flavor of boss bitch or badass babe archetype. Which like, I love those characters don't get me wrong, but there's something so compelling about the strength of a character who chooses their own peace time and time again.
This is part of why I think they'd be such a good match for Kurt. Most of Kurt's canon love interests have been fellow front-liners from all allegiances, absolute badasses on every front and I love that for them honestly! But it just never stuck me as the type of love-interest Kurt needed.
The current one in the Uncanny storyline, McKenzie I think? She's... close, but the whole thing feels very rushed for my taste and I think her being human leaves her too out of the loop on mutant issues for it to work out long-term.
Granted I have the power to just insert Sariah at the beginning to the X-Men continuity in my AU so I admit that part's a bit unfair, but the rest of their characterization is where the real meat of the matter is.
Sariah isn't a front-liner. They aren't a combatant, the don't fight the big fights or throw themself into danger with the xmen team, and most importantly, they don't put the greater good over their own life.
That's not to say they're evil or that they'll sacrifice the greater good for themself! What I mean is that they won't force themself into a position where they have to sacrifice their own peace for something they can't guarantee. And that takes a kind of strength that isn't really touched upon I think with the self-sacrificial shtick most of the xmen have; that their own happiness is worth protecting.
And I mean yeah, the xmen's whole thing is about protecting mutant kind, I know, but they so often do that at the expense of themselves and Kurt especially. I think that someone like Sariah, someone soft and strong who focuses that strength on choosing their life and all the people they include in it, is exactly what Kurt needs.
Cause the reason most of his canon romances fall apart is because Kurt can't give up his responsibility to mutant kind, and his love interest can't give up their responsibility to whatever it is that they've sworn themself to, which inevitably ends up tearing them apart. With Sariah however, they love deeply and fiercely, and would rather bite off their own tongue than sacrifice their loved ones for anything else.
But they also don't want to be a hero. What they want is a normal life with their loved ones at their side. And I think that sort of groundedness is what Kurt needs in a partner. Not someone he can fight on the battle field with, but someone he can build a home with.
And it takes a very particular type of strength to say 'no. my peace is worth protecting, my loved ones are worth being soft for. I will not let the cruelty of the world bend me into something sharp. My hands are worth more than the violence they can bring about.'
And I find that beautiful.
