house worms update: more worms have joined in on this new thing where they glue the houses together into one giant flotilla. at least five or six worms are in there now. ability to actually select and then reach a destination is now greatly reduced
The girl lunged forward, shoving her aweful noseless face towards him. “Look at me!” she said, her voice all twisted by her twisted mouth. “Look at what your brave, kind Valentine did to me!” “What do you mean?” “Ask him!” she screamed. “Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!”
VOTE HESTER She is vicious and twisted and bitter. She wants to be a good, gentle person and she tries really hard but she just can't make it work, she ends up restless and uncomfortable, and she lashes out. She is fiercely protective (and at times possessive) of the people she loves, to the point that other people may as well be ants
Propaganda under the cut.
Beatrice:
1. One of the best character of all times 2. Super hella charistmatic 3. To be more specific, she carries the story with Battler and their wit battle. 4. She murder the Ushiromiya family, several times (time loop yeaaaaaaaaah), and laughs at it. She enjoys watching the family's downfall and Battler's dismay.
Hester Shaw:
Okay first, her main motive in the book (I’m not using the movie as my reference here) is that she wants to get revenge on Valentine after killing her mom and scarring her (physically and mentally). And she shows no limits, her first introduction is her stabbing Valentine. But it goes much deeper when we learn her relationship with Shrike and how he was akin to a guardian to her. And I realized I such at explaining half of the propaganda i do. Anyway, in the second part of the first book, she tells Tom (the Mc) that she wants to become a stalker, dead people basically reanimated into machines, that lack memories from their past and emotions. Though she’s a character we never get to see her pov of in the first book. In fact you read it through Tom’s perspective who felt betrayed by Valentine. But it wasn’t the same as Hester. Which makes her come off as more mysterious and cold. However later on she turns out to be really kind to those she cares about. TLDR: steampunk badass
Some thoughts on Hester, inspired by this post from @alishatheninth
Part of the tragedy of Tom and Hester's relationship is that she tries so hard to be better for him. She really does try to make the choices a “good person” would make, the choices that Tom himself would make, to do things his way, but ultimately the way she knows of getting things done, the thing she's best at, is violence and killing and having no mercy for her enemies.
She doesn't know how to learn anything else either; she's far too restless for the patience and stillness that change would take, even when that stillness is forced upon her, and she genuinely believes that everyone (including herself) is better off with her as an outcast from society.
Congratulations! You are present for my annual single Mortal Engines drawing! Based on a fic I once wrote about Hester, Tom, and, most importantly, frogs
characters who refuse to heal. characters who change but only for the worse. characters who are trapped by their grief and rage. characters who unravel throughout the narrative. i am putting them in my pocket for later