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comradekatara · 5 months

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if you had to give bolin a good personality/arc, what would it be? mako has (hardly touched) parallels as the repressed, protective older sibling. bolin, like katara, is the younger sib who wears their heart on their sleeve. but while she's a prodigy on top of being the last bender of her tribe, he has mediocre skill, and probably would get looked down upon as a mixed earthbender in neocolonial republic city. but instead he's just written in cringy ships that are esp hard to watch

this is a great question. the thing about bolin is, he’s actually a pretty talented earthbender. obviously not toph level, but you know, good enough to be a pro athlete, and to lavabend! the problem with bolin isn’t that he’s untalented per se, it’s that he’s stupid. katara may be naive, but she’s still incredibly smart, witty, and practical. no one in atla is straight up dumb tbh (even zuko has his moments). but plenty of characters in lok are dumb and serve no narrative purpose other to be annoying UHH I MEAN “”funny”” . bolin was actually fine at first. in the first couple episodes, he’s confident, outgoing, and optimistic, but he’s also grounded and has at least one brain cell. then i guess they decided they wanted bolin and mako to fight over korra but for mako to “win” korra in the end, and so they had to nerf (or perhaps lobotomize) him. which makes perfect sense, of course. it’s clear from then on that the show never really has any idea of what to do with him, which is a problem with pretty much every facet of lok.

bolin reaches his peak of character usefulness in the book 3 subplot wherein he and mako get stranded in the lower ring and run into their extended family. this is a very good mini-arc and exactly what i wish we had seen from mako and bolin throughout the entire show. i don’t care about their misguided career choices (apart from insofar as it is informed by their trauma), i care about their roles as they problematize the neoliberal fantasy lok largely uncritically glamorizes. not saying that all my favorite children’s cartoons need to be marxist propaganda (although……… im not NOT saying that), but their entire backstory conflicts w the ideologies being presented in the show, and they’re ostensibly main characters!!! so where is that tension???? why are we focalizing capitalists and nepobabies (sorry tenzin i forgot ur not actually defined by ur famous parents) when mako and bolin are supposed to be significant players?? and not just in a “oh teenage boy romantic drama” or “wacky buddy cop sideplot” way. in a “how do they reflect the themes” way.

i don’t really know what exactly i’d do with bolin if i rewrote lok right now (because i tend to forget he exists tbh), but i do know that he NEEDS to have more depth, nuance, and like… a modicum of intelligence. the class, racial, familial, and romantic aspects of his character would need to be teased out more and actually cohere. he would need to have feelings that aren’t simply played for laughs, and his role in the narrative would have to be more than simply being the show’s little jangling jester. maybe some people enjoy the “dumb comic relief” archetype (and if anyone says “but what about sokka? you like sokka” i will find where you sleep) but he literally has no depth. and what’s the point of a PRIMARY CHARACTER who serves no thematic function. his function is mainly to be proximate to mako, and of course to annoy the viewer with his wacky subplots. also i guess to introduce the avatar world to red pandas, but again, that first happens before they nerfed him, so im not even gonna count it as a positive. actually you know what? since the beginning of writing this paragraph ive given it some thought and decided that bolin should’ve been a communist revolutionary 👍🏼

#surelyjtemple #asks #bolin #lok crit #the last sentence is a joke if you disagree and dead serious if you agree. btw

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dear-yandere · 2 years

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little dove.

yandere! colombina x gn! darling x implied! yandere! arlecchino. headcanons.

› tw. suggestive themes.

— colombina is so terribly fond of you, going insofar as to call you her little dove. the name had come as a surprise as first, given that she is far more delicate and graceful than you could ever attain — but she insists. if anything, you welcome her infatuation, even if you’re not quite sure why she feels such a way in the first place. perhaps it’s the way she enjoys dressing you up in snezhnaya’s latest fashions, or the way she adores washing and combing your hair when she all but forces you to join her in the bath. perhaps...she sees you as nothing more than a doll or pet, but you are in no position to speak out against her overwhelming love for you; after all, you suppose it could be far worse — memories of the way dottore and scaramouche used to treat you flashing through your recent memory.

“you’re just so wonderfully adorable, little dove. however can you blame me?”

— the way she dotes on you would leave any of her countless admirers overwhelmed by jealousy, but they do not dare speak out against their lady. whether it is in fear of her power or from respect in her position amongst the executives, colombina is adamant in her adoration of her sweet little bird. the way you chitter and peep like a baby bird when she so much as runs delicate fingers through your hair or along your skin is enough to melt her heart — if she could help it, she would want nothing more than to hear those sounds all day as she cradles you within her arms.

“little dove, fragile little songbird — won’t you sing for me today?”

— she rather enjoys sharing you with her lover arlecchino, the latter of whom is surprisingly just as fond of you as colombina is. as intimidating as she is, the knave dotes on you just as much as she dotes on the damselette. your fingers, neck, and hair are sure to be adorned with the finest jewels — gifts from arlecchino no doubt, who prefers to show her affection in expensive jewels and beautiful trinkets rather than colombina’s affinity to physical touch. whether material or physical, you are the center of their attention when they aren’t awning over each other.

“sweet dove, you’ll come and join us, won’t you?” colombina will muse, patting the seat between her and arlecchino, the latter of whom flashes a small but rare smile in an attempt to welcome you to their sides. you’ve learned better than to hesitate in front of these two, so you hurry over, seating yourself squarely between the two gorgeous women. between them, you feel awfully small, but they welcome you as if you are one of their treasures.

and perhaps that’s all you are... a treasure to be shown and flaunted.

you hardly register the way colombina rests her hand atop your thigh, her eyes shining innocently from beneath her half-veil. it’s only when arlecchino blushes and rests her hand atop yours that a smile forces a way to your lips. and so the show begins again.

“little bird, you are quivering. could it be you’ve missed us so dearly? now...that won’t do it, will it, dear arlecchino? perhaps we should pay our darling extra attention today...♥ ”

#yandere! colombina x reader #yandere genshin impact x reader #yandere genshin impact #yandere x reader #yandere x you #*headcanons #[ planning to do most of the harbingers eventually! ]#[ really want to do pierro and capitano especially <3 ehehe. .. ]

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saintmeghanmarkle · 6 months

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The Telegraph's review which includes thoroughly disrespectful paragraph about Queen Camilla by u/Von_und_zu_

The Telegraph's review, which includes thoroughly disrespectful paragraph about Queen Camilla Omid Scobie’s Endgame is ludicrous propaganda for Team Sussex... The reporter’s much-trailed study of the Royal family is laughably partial, devoid of insight and bizarrely misogynistichttps://archive.ph/mJGXXIt begins with a spot on observation:"Hell hath no fury like a royal reporter scorned. Omid Scobie’s Endgame is billed as the real story of what has been going on inside the Palace walls. But what runs through its 400-odd pages is Scobie’s sense of burning indignation that he was shut out." This indeed seems to me like Scoobie in a nutshell. Edit: This also reminds me of the effect of grey rocking the UnSussexfuls -- burning indignation that they have been ignored.Then it goes through some of the mean spirited nasty things he has to say about the main characters in this drama. But then it provides this excerpt about the Queen, and I must say, this is so off-putting, I really cannot believe anyone even pretending to be a serious journalist or author would publish it:" As for the Queen, is that a tone of misogyny I detect in Scobie’s prose? “Camilla,” he writes, “might not have stood on the barricades in the ’60s, but she did enjoy the sexual freedoms ushered in by that radical generation.” “Some who knew Camilla” have described her as “the sort to throw her knickers on the table”; he quotes, from one of the tabloids he despises, a housekeeper saying that she knew when Camilla had been to stay with Charles because there would be knickers all over the place. “Camilla’s undergarments making yet another appearance,” Scobie adds."Later, the review includes this: There is little gossip to be had here, unless you count Scobie regurgitating a rumour that one of Charles’s bodyguards found him with Camilla “doing what Lady Chatterley enjoyed best” in the garden at Camilla’s grandmother’s house. He caveats the story by saying it is “an old (but probably false) fable in royal circles”...It futher includes this paragraph that says to me that the UnSussexfuls really have no respect or regard for the Monarchy which was the life's work of the late Queen and his father and provided them with the titles to which they so desparately cling:There is a lot of petty detail, but Scobie’s target is bigger than any one individual. It is the monarchy itself, described here as “a desiccated system”, “a cratered Firm”, “an unstable family business” and “an institution in decline”. The family is “debilitatingly out-of-touch, even expendable” because it hails from “an incredibly shrinking, old-fashioned world of land barons, polo fields and posh formality”. “The rot has set in,” Scobie warns, “and it’s eating away at the monarchy’s undergirding.”Surely, this really must be the end of the Monarchy insofar as it heretofore included Harold and Madame. I hope as it goes forward, it does so without reference to them. post link: https://ift.tt/2XpNaPi author: Von_und_zu_ submitted: November 28, 2023 at 05:06AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

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fideidefenswhore · 2 months

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I think the problem with Chapuys is that the ambassadors aren't really seen as "people", if you will, with agency and biases like everyone else, but just disembodied voices narrating the story, and so for a long time historians and writers just accepted reports at face value, because there wasn't "thought" behind it. You should write a book on him as a response to the other one. You've got a lot of interesting observations.

Omg, you're too kind. But thank you ❤️

Yeah, I actually made a similar observation to you, elsewhere, expanded a bit:

Unfortunately, the practice of using Chapuys' dispatches as the emotional blueprint for all these historical people has become rather prevalent. I think he had credible insights at times, but what's sort of forgotten is that while many of his reports are of what these people said and did (according to, a noblewo/man, or Cromwell, or a physician of a nobleman, or a servant of a gentleman, or 'several reliable quarters', or COA or Mary themselves), many others are simply what he's assuming they thought or said or felt, and have no specific incident or quote or source given. One particularly egregious example informed a lot of subsequent portrayals of Thomas & George Boleyn, namely that upon the death of COA in Jan 1536, they "must have said to themselves, what a pity it was that the Princess had not kept her mother company", with the 'must' (ie, speculation, rather than an actual report of what any of his sources claimed to have overheard) omitted.

[To wit]:

"The King’s mistress had from the very beginning resolved that the Princess should act as her train-bearer, and that she would cause her and her mother all manner of annoyances; but considering that her singular beauty, goodness, and virtue, might possibly induce the King to change his purpose, and that if the Princess were to attend Court, and be seen there continually, she might daily gain the hearts and favour of the courtiers, she has not allowed her to come." Jan 1534, Chapuys to Charles V

[Also, literally a month after this report Anne does invite her stepdaughter to court, the first of three recorded attempts, so...awkward.]

Now, as 'resolved' is not 'said' (it's also interesting that his concern seems to have shifted from the report of the year prior, in which making Mary her trainbearer was the least of what Anne threatened: 'I hear she has lately boasted that she will make of the Princess a maid of honour in her household, that she may perhaps give her too much dinner on some occasion [ie, poison], or marry her to some varlet [a low-ranking servant of poor birth, Chapuys would later refer to Mark Smeaton as a 'varlet']), this would be a case of the 'mind reading' I meant; insofar as some explanation as to why Mary was sent to Princess Elizabeth's household, which was a satellite of the the King's court, rather than the centre of everything, the King's court itself. Granted, I think AB fearing her stepdaughter's popularity is more likely, but the likelier explanation overall would be that Mary was not invited to court for the same reason her own household was dissolved; she defied Henry's appointment and determination of her illegitimacy. Youth and beauty and envy thereof was hardly the determinate factor here, considering [...] that Margaret Douglas, of almost identical age and equal in beauty (according to their contemporaries), was one of AB's preeminent ladies and much in favour...the determinate difference was that MD and her mother acknowledged Anne as Queen, and, for obvious reasons, Mary and hers did not. Rich pickings for the narrative trope casting Mary as Snow White and AB as her wicked stepmother, tho......

#anon #important to remember that they are not omniscient narrators...for sure #not even so much thought but as if there was not intent to present matters a certain way?#and of course there always was #not to mention emotional bias #the difference btwn chapuys and other ambassadors is not so much that they were devoid of emotion and he was emotional #but like...he developed very close personal relationships with both coa and mary #and most ambassadors had more formal relationships with the royals they were writing about #so of course those emotions colored his reports #idt hviii was a one-note bully and idt AB was a relentless harpy #these were people with a lot of power. people in power are not always palatable #their actions certainly are not...but they are human.#and i think they were both people of great intelligence that has generally been underestimated #due to chapuys' self-aggrandizement of his own intellect

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zeldahime · 3 months

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Highway to Pail Day 19

[Day 1] [Prev] [Next] @do-it-with-style-events

February 19: I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down.

The angel did not have a desk, because desks had not been invented yet. He did not have a pencil, because those hadn't been invented yet either. What he had was a quill and a book and an innate understanding of the physical laws of the universe and a mission ordained by God.

He was going to build a nebula.

Not design it, technically, just build it. He was given the designs by the Archangel Saraqael, who said that they had been written by God Herself. He'd given a bit of feedback at the beginning, proposed a couple edits, and Saraqael had just looked at him and handed it right back, but that was okay. She hadn't said no, so he went ahead with them anyway. It had been a lot of red, very nouveau-Gothic except that original Gothic hadn't happened yet.

He thought that in the Z quadrant, there should be a bit of a pinky-blue kind of thing, and a bright orange splotch up in the corner of B area, and a big bright yellow streak right down the center. It was going to be glorious.

He sat on the firmament, insofar as firmament existed enough to be sat upon, the book floating in front of him as he worked out the calculations.

Time wasn't really a thing that existed, as such, so there's not a measurement that can tell us how long the angel worked there, alone in the firmament. It was long enough that each time he returned to Heaven to rest or to retrieve a tool, he didn't recognize any of the angels he saw there. He didn't know where Saraqael went. He didn't mind, because he hadn't known any of the angels to begin with. He hadn't been born with friends, just a Divine plan to enact.

Eventually, his nebula was nearly complete. He'd constructed over a million pages of meticulously detailed calculations, graphs and charts, all to carry out the Concept he'd been handed down from On High (plus his couple little tweaks, stuff to make it even better). He'd gotten the winding kit from the Quartermaster and the blessed scroll to concentrate the miraculous energy that would activate the firmament.

God's Plan was going to go off without a hitch.

Except... there was one last bit.

The blessed scroll wasn't like the book. It didn't interact with the firmament, didn't float in the nothingness of space. The angel needed two hands in order to hold it properly, and then he'd need to stand a foot away and turn the crank in order to wind up the nebula. For all the brains God had given him, he couldn't figure out how to work it solo.

He tried for a while, growing more and more frustrated, until he saw a bright blue light zooming through what would become the cosmos. A fellow angel—someone to hold the scroll!

"Excuse me! Hi!" he yelled, waving them down.

The blue light changed course. He agreed to hold the scroll. And the other angel was there with him, watching as he said "let there be light" and as his nebula was born. He thought the other angel would leave after that, but he stayed and talked. He introduced himself as Aziraphale, tried to warn him about what happened when you made suggestions to God.

The angel had already made suggestions to God, and nothing bad had happened, had it? No. This Aziraphale's heart was in the right place, the angel thought, but surely whatever he was all worked about couldn't be that bad.

Sometime after Time started, the demon remembered this conversation, looking up at the angel on the wall. He remembered his book and his nebula. He remembered Aziraphale, and how much he had cared about someone he'd barely met getting into trouble.

He slithered up the wall to say hello.

#my writing #highway to pail #do it with style events #good omens #good omens fanfiction #crowley good omens #before the beginning #the angel that crowley was #angel!crowley

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caesarflickermans · 3 months

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dear prof. dr. caesarflickermans (the prof dr is still so funny to me), can you please tell me more about how v sees plutarch's body? he's pretty neutral about his own body, but what's her opinion on it (his body and how he sees it)? thank you so much <3

What we need to keep in mind about bodies within the Capitol is that similar beauty standards apply to them as in our real world, but that changing one’s body comes at a much smaller cost than what we know. The dieting pills are hinting at this fact in canon, and my perception of the Capitol in terms of pharmaceuticals or plastic surgery has been shaped around the ease with which one had access to such the in-canon pills. For example, Virgilia makes frequent note of plastic surgery and Caesar, too, has had some done.

This implies a lot about Plutarch’s body even at first glance: That him being overweight is, in contrast to today, very much a choice. Paired with his movie look—that of a relatively subdued style, little makeup, receded hairline—and you get a man who does not fall into the standard Capitol appearance.

Plutarch is not unaware of his options; which indicate that he has chosen to abstain from the Capitol’s beauty industry. You and I have often referred to this as his own little rebellion inside the rebellion.

This appearance difference is an immediate fact Virgilia notices about him in the very first description we receive of Plutarch. His weight being the main signifier:

The new [Head Gamemaker] was rounder than the usual visitor, yet it suited his face, making him appear softer and kinder than the pointed sticky faces who had aged terribly and talked in long and exhausting sentences. (CH1)

The first chapter and its first half cover a relatively broad and purposefully undefined time. What pauses it all is a regular dinner with an irregular guest. Plutarch’s weight is the first irregularity within that and his interest in making watches the second. Both throw her off and both are part of the initial fascination she has with him.

Plutarch’s body is defined as the other. In the first case, it is the contrast to the usual visitors, but it’s a frequent subject with which Virgilia draws lines between her current circumstances and Plutarch. For example, we have him not fitting into the mansion:

There were barely any straight lines, except for his thick eyebrows, and he seemed so strange in the frame of a mansion who fitted right to Gratia - or Gratia to the mansion. (CH2)

But the most important comparison is that between Snow and Plutarch:

Yet, [Plutarch] was so very lovely the way he was; she pictured him less bony than her husband when embraced. What was it like to be held by him? It must certainly feel extraordinarily pleasant. (CH7)

This is the key point of why she is so drawn to his weight, especially at first, because he is the exact opposite to Snow. At first all she knows about him is the visual difference, but this visual difference is only an indicator for what comes next, insofar that Plutarch from a character level and from a relationship level is the very opposite.

For example, a frequent point within the fanfiction is that Virgilia is not good at talking and uttering her thoughts. A main reason for that is because she has never been given the momentum to speak—you cannot be good at speaking or debating if you aren't practiced in it. She is not invited to partake in any of the conversations that are, to her, also very often not part of her skill level—“They talked about the economy, or something, [...]” (CH1). In contrast, Plutarch is often noted to be waiting for her to voice her thoughts, frequently being attributed with patience as early as chapter 3. When she speaks, he doesn't interrupt her. He takes her words seriously.

Once they grow closer romantically, Virgilia begins to have a fascination with feeling his body. She wonders about what it might feel to hug him in the above quote, and once she receives a hug, she feels very positive about his body both as it is and in contrast to her husband:

Plutarch’s hug was warm and welcoming. His arms were rather strong, wrapping around her so entirely and keeping her close for only but a mere moment. But that was enough, more than enough, sensing an ubiquitous prickle spreading from her stomach as she felt him so close. Virgilia imagined hearing a pounding heartbeat—albeit it might have been her own. He was different from her husband, whose large but thin shape seemed so cold and empty. No, Plutarch didn’t slip away from her, even when her chin briefly came to rest on his shoulder. He appeared ever so real, caught in the moment in the same way the sun warmed her face after clouded days, awakening her anew in a reality that grew dense and present. (CH8)

To paraphrase, Plutarch is: warm, welcoming, strong, hugging her whole, stays with her, feels real. Her husband is thin, cold, empty. While some of it has to do with the nature of their hug—for example the length—much of it is a comparison between two bodies, and Plutarch’s being attributed a lot of positive notions. She’s fascinated by how he feels and wonders about it because she is craving that connection with him. She daydreams about him, and some of those include what his body—a foreign, unexplored entity—feels like.

I very purposefully wrote about those moments and about how she views his body. I did not want her to be detached from it, both because the difference felt important, but also because a romance with an overweight character would feel wrong if it glossed over the body. It felt important to make his weight part of her attraction, not an in-spite-of or a secretly feeling grossed out by it. Neither did I want to make her too obsessed with it in a kinky sense, because overweight people are people, not kinks. My goal was to make this part of her attraction to him without it being the sole part of her fascination—that, if he were to lose weight, she wouldn’t jump ship, but that she nonetheless likes him that way and isn’t interested in having him change for her sake.

Obviously, one of the most significant scenes in terms of Plutarch’s body and Virgilia's thoughts on it happen during the sex scene in chapter 14:

She kissed him the way that flowers looked up at the sun, desired every ray of its warmth, every attention of its light. Her hands had grown desperate in hunger, moving from the stubbles of his cheeks down the muscles in his arms to the softness of his belly. (CH14)

This is the first time she is exploring his body. She is once more affirming his softness in the first quote. Once more, Plutarch is different: Virgilia lives in a world where everything with sharp edges, poking bones, or straight lines is not safety and not love. Plutarch is, because of his otherness, safety and love.

Touching him had been different than she expected, and yet all what she had hoped for. Plutarch was not like the people in the Capitol, whose latest craze seemed to have bones poking out everywhere. Her hands trailed across his chest, led by the soft hair that adorned his upper torso. Each breath of his lifted chest and belly, bolstered his shoulders and changed the shadows cast across. Eventually, the hair was gone, far too few in between, and she had been left alone as her fingers traced to his belly button. It was then that something had tugged on the edge of her mind. (CH14)

She is making room for this interest by exploring his upper body; affirming the difference and being allowed to roam and explore at the speed she needs. In that moment, Plutarch is watching her, and he’s once more being patient as she is touching him. This quote is followed up by him asking about undoing her hair, and it’s an equal fascination on his part that Virgilia is not very much in the know about yet. They both have mysteries they wish to explore about the other that day. His body is hers.

She sunk deeper into the bed, deeper into the black fabric. Blonde hair appeared, then his thick brows, the warm gaze, and lips smudged with her lipstick. Plutarch had climbed on top of her, and what seemed a not-too-uncommon place, whenever she moved, he responded by shifting his weight; enough that she could break away if needed—except she did not want to. There was trust in the heaviness of his on top of her, and, for once her heart ached not for escaping, but for more. (CH14)

I’ve thought about this moment a lot before writing it, and I’ve worked on those lines a lot. Plutarch’s weight is a factor once more—again, I never wanted it to be mentioned once and then be ignored—and it’s one that could be very scary. It’s a fact that he is heavy. He could easily overwhelm her and sleep with her as he pleases, completely ignoring her needs while keeping her in place.

The easy solution is to switch—and have her be on top. Right before this quote, they actually have a conversation (“There were whispers exchanged, like small gusts of wind carried into the woods.”) and while I leave the exact words out because it’s more reaffirming the wants of each other, it being followed up by her sinking into the bed, and him climbing on top of her should give away at least parts of the content of their conversation.

They don’t go for the easy solution. And that is because Virgilia trusts him. I didn’t go into the depths of their sexual relationship because it did not feel like the fanfiction to do that—I really don’t like more explicit smut scenes in a work otherwise not very focused on them—but it is very much alluded to here that she enjoys the feeling of him, with all his weight, being on top of her. She likes feeling that, despite every odds technically being against her, this is a safe space, and he’s listening to her. Him moving when she does might initially be born from discomfort on his part, but it is meant to eventually become a play where both move in unison knowing the other, and this is its first act.

There is some part insecurity voiced by Plutarch at the end of the chapter. This quote happens right after Plutarch jokes about how she had not gotten a younger lover, which leaves Virgilia confused.

With an equal amount of confusion, much as if she did not understand that the sun rose every morning, he opened his mouth far before words could come out. “Most might prefer someone who is stronger or taller or younger and certainly with less grey hair.” (CH14)

She responds that she likes him and his hair. While much of her thoughts on his body are focused on weight, the other parts of it not affirming to Capitol beauty standards, such as non-grey hair, an indicator of aging, are loved, too. She likes him, and she likes his body.

To return to general ideas about Plutarch’s body—and we did somewhat talk about this recently!—his body is something daring to her. Virgilia has carved time and time again into the beauty standards. She needs to maintain them as they are closely tied with her own survival. Plutarch does not need to do the same; and Virgilia recognises it for the rebellion it is.

She will always love him regardless the body he has, but the body he has as seen in the movies is a source of comfort, love, and safety for her. She wouldn’t change a thing about him.

#inbox #beedelia #plutarch heavensbee #virgilia snow #she smelled like white roses

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avelera · 1 year

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Having a Neil Gaiman moment over here when I realized you saw my tags. Like, “Oh this author I adore that who I know reads their tags might notice, but oh well!” And then just doing a tag ramble because that’s what one does on tumblr, and then. WELP. The mortifying ordeal of your tags being known. 🤣

Anyways!! I would love anything you’re willing to do for Calliope’s perspective. You’ve done one of my favorite characterizations of her that I’ve seen and it’s arresting in the best way. I want to know more of her in this world, Pre-Madoc, and see what she thinks after everything is said and done and if this human truly IS the match of her ex husband. It’s just so fascinating to think about her perspective of their relationship as an outsider with intimate knowledge of Dream and what it means for where Hob and Dream are at!

Friend-o I religiously read my tags you don't understand like how much I'm obsessed with seeing every little thought people might have about my work! (LOL, meanwhile I too live in terror of one my critiques of Mr Gaiman's work from a literary angle one day making it back to him, eep!)

I will say, without diving into prose for it, that Giving Sanctuary Calliope being Pre-Madoc was very central to planning out her character.

I wanted her to be even more strident and powerful than we see her in canon. There's... hmm... something of a theme that plays into with Giving Sanctuary, that's based on my own lived experience, that sometimes it can take quite a while for powerful, confident people to recognize and admit that something traumatic has happened to them and that it has changed them? And there are scars left behind the first time something really bad happens to a person who had previously thought themselves untouchable? So this is not to say that Calliope was in any way weakened by her time with Madoc, but she might have been changed by it, and at least when we see her in the immediate aftermath, she's more quiet and reserved than she might have been before he captured her, before she's had any time to heal and go back to her old self (insofar as anyone can).

I think to express this is not to diminish the experience of the victim, but to rather acknowledge the violence of the hurt? Calliope was more strident and self-assured, more powerful in the way she took up space before she was captured.

Dream before Orpheus died was happier and it did make him shrink into himself and harden towards the world and become icy and cruel and callous towards the suffering of others when his son died and his wife left him and it felt like the whole world turned against him at once so he lashed back harder and shut Calliope from his kingdom. The whole fic begins because a moment's kindness and empathy from Hob awakens Dream to the realization that Lucienne is afraid of him, that him being party to "cursing" Hob with immortality when Hob hadn't done anything to him and indeed, showed him kindness when they spoke the first time, was monstrously cruel and unjustifiable. Dream as a powerful person took two thousand years to admit that a bad thing happened to him and he can't just use his power to wish it all away and Dream of 1,000 Cats Orpheus back to life! That there's no fixing this and he's been hurt and it changed him, deeply.

And finally, likewise, with Hob. Hob was at the top of the world in 1589! Even when he embarked upon having a family and trying to do it all "right" he did it from a place of hubris, as one who had never really been hurt before. It never occurred to him that his wife or children could die young, or hate him for his immortality, or that some other tragedy could befall them. He waited until he did everything "right" in terms of wealth and status and had a family and thought having waited and planned that long would somehow shield him from the random tragedy of chance, and it didn't. He is scarred by that tragedy, he has shrunk within himself, he is trying to claw his way back and he has faith that he will, someday, but that time is now lost, that suffering has now been felt, he has seen those depths of deprivation and he will never be the same. I headcanon that in canon, without Dream's help, this set Hob on a path to becoming the apathetic, self-centered monster in the 1700s who was so focused on regaining wealth and status after losing them so traumatically that he didn't give a fuck about entering the "shipping business" to do it! GS Hob has already diverged from that path, just by having Dream's kindness and mercy stop his descent into becoming more like Dream over the next century of self-defensive cruelty.

... None of which was your question about Calliope BUT! At the risk of this getting even more insanely long, I will say this:

For Calliope, the most humiliating part of her separation from Dream was Dream becoming a monster. It already took a great deal of courage for her to flout her entire family to marry him in the first place, I can't even imagine having my wedding boycotted by my family? So for him to be so cruel to Orpheus, for Orpheus to then die, and for Dream to just shut himself off from the world and become this icy monster who doesn't give a fuck about anyone and barred his own wife from his realm? That was humiliating for Calliope. It made her feel like maybe she was an idiot, maybe her family was right all along!

The hope she sees in Hob is for him to make Dream a good person again, the person he was when he was in love with her. The person she felt was worthy of her hand in marriage. She recognizes with age and experience that the bitterness began to brew between her and Dream because she couldn't give him the sort of 24/7 clingy affection he craved because how lonely he was being Dream of the Endless, he wanted a personal life so badly and so when she wanted to go create, he grew increasingly bitter about it, because the thing that brought them together (creating) was now driving them apart (Dream just wants to cuddle when she wants to make art together!). She sees in Hob, who has been in love with Dream for 300 years, who is human, who is good for him, who makes him smile, and who *can be* that personal life to Dream, joyfully!, that Calliope saw as her second priority after being a Muse, and she has hope. Not just for Dream, but for herself, that maybe she just wasn't quite the right person for Dream, this famous ex husband of hers. And if Hob works out, Dream will become kind again, and she'll be able to point to him to her family and say, "See, I wasn't the right person, but we were happy for a time, and now he IS with the right person and just look at him. Look at how kind and wonderful and full of joy he is, the Lord of the Dreaming. That is the man I married. That was the person who was worthy of me. And you were wrong to say I was a fool for marrying that person, because he is worthy of love."

#giving sanctuary bts #giving sanctuary #1689 fic #sandman meta

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checkoutmybookshelf · 7 months

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...Someone Get Me Back on the Ice

Ok, for a lot of reasons, I was never a competetive athlete. That said...I am Canadian and I was probably 3 or 4 years old when my grandparents bought me my first pair of skates and my parents took me to the (manmade) kiddie rink in the park to teach me to skate. My middle sister and I had skating lessons for a few years, our parents took us skating pretty often growing up, and when we moved into the big house in Alaska, we had a pond out back that we skated (and burned christmas trees--yes, it was always awesome) on every winter until I left the state. And even when I moved back to Canada, I brought my skates with me and still use the arenas and outdoor town square rink in the winter. All this to say that while I'm never going to be an Olympian, I deeply love skating, so when there was a cozy college skating romance between a figure skater and a hockey team captain...it was not a hard sell. And then I was absolutely delighted by this cozy, fluffy, very skate-y book. Let's talk Icebreaker.

CONTENT WARNING: I'm not going to cover much of this here, but if anyone wants to pick up this book, please be aware that it does contain disordered eating, a super controlling/abusive relationship, and a near-death experience, so take care of you when choosing your books!

The very last thing Anastasia Allen wants to do right before sectionals is be forced to share her rink with a hockey team. Then she gets adopted by a bunch of overgrown man-children with hearts of gold who enjoy body-slamming other overgrown man-children into the boards over a puck. It is possibly the most adorable thing I have ever seen, and it is the best possible embodiment of the healthy, non-toxic version of "boys will be boys" insofar as the team just genuinely love and support each other and make space for Anastasia and Lola in that world with care, respect, and joy. I love it so, so much.

Of course, Anastasia is not here just to be adopted by a hockey team. She's also very much in danger of falling deeply in love with Nate Hawkins, captain of said hockey team. Nate and Anastasia are a genuinely darling, adorable couple, and watching them together was just FUN.

Particularly in contrast to Anastasia's relationship with her skating partner, Aaron. Who is--to put it mildly--the biggest most manipulative toxic douchebag I have ever seen. There's something about his and Anastasia's relationship that managed to embody everything that can go horribly toxic with athletic partnerships and how difficult it can be when your dream relies on someone who is actively trying to drag you down.

The super nice thing though, is that Aaron is absolutely the bad guy in this book. Neither Nate nor Ryan (the adorable himbo basketball player she begins the book in a friends-with-benefits arrangement with) descend to Aaron's level. They are there to support Anaastasia. That doesn't mean they don't get angry or jealous--they're human men in their late teens/early 20s, of COURSE they get angry and jealous--but they deal with those emotions pretty freaking healthily, and they don't descend into petty ego-based bullshit. Add that to Anastasia's therapy-honed communication skills, and the relationships in this book are just so well done. Sometimes relationships in romances can get weirdly toxic for drama, but that's not the case here, which made this cozy romance GENUINELY delightful to read.

The side characters are also super well-developed and full of personality, so everyone in this book feels well-rounded, real, and delightful. From Lola to Henry, Robbie, Russ, and JJ, you get to know an ensemble of strong secondary characters in the context of the main romantic relationship, and Anastasia and Henry's platonic love for each other might be the best platonic relationship I've seen in FOREVER. I would 100% read a spinoff novel about those two buddy-ing around.

Author Hannah Grace is a self-proclaimed "fluffy comfort book writer," and if Icebreaker is any example, then ACCURATE. And I cannot recommend this book enough, it was a delight to read from start to finish.

#hannah grace #icebreaker #stas and nate #cozy romance #sport romance #ice skating #college romance #books and reading #books & libraries #books and novels #books #book recommendations

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fatalism-and-villainy · 1 year

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Piggybacking off of my thoughts here a bit, here are some further musings on the distinction between Will and Bedelia in how they relate to Hannibal -

To put it briefly, they’re both afraid of Hannibal, but Bedelia is afraid of what Hannibal will do to her, whereas Will is afraid of what Hannibal brings out in him.

That Bedelia is afraid Hannibal will eat her, and that her general objection to his entire deal is the risk he poses to her, is pretty obviously established. She’s intrigued by his extra-moral tendencies, but balks when confronted with the reality of what he is. In Florence, her therapy is motivated by a genuine desire to help him, imo, but also by self-preservation, pitting him against Will and continuing to be useful to him so as to prolong her survival. And once she gets away from him, she’s got no inclination to see him again - as she tells Will, “I’ve seen enough of him.”

But while Bedelia certainly has trouble stomaching actual murder (as seen in the cases of Neal Frank and Anthony Dimmond), she doesn’t seem particularly fazed by the mere fact that violence appeals to her. When talking to Will, she owns her urge to crush a wounded bird without any compunction. She might not actually do it, but she’s not troubled by the impulse itself. She doesn’t believe in thoughtcrime! Hannibal recognized her sadistic and destructive impulses, and perhaps even helped make her more aware or accepting of them, but they don’t instill guilt in her or destabilize her sense of identity - she simply finds acting on them disturbing and unpalatable. So the horror in her relationship with Hannibal stems not from having to confront herself, but in the creeping threat of what he’s capable of - and the fact that it’s so much more than what she’s capable of, that she's bitten off more than she can chew.

Will, on the other hand, is surprisingly unconcerned with Hannibal’s murder and cannibalism - at least, insofar as he himself could become a victim of it. He snarks about the cannibalism a few times - “I haven’t been gorged, drowned, plucked, and roasted” in Ko No Mono, and “If you’re partial to beef products, it is inconvenient to be compassionate toward a cow” in Wrath of the Lamb - but unlike Bedelia, he doesn’t seem seriously preoccupied the threat of it. When he discovers that Hannibal has had other murder protégés in Randall and Margot (and makes a connection to Bedelia), what upsets him about the implications as to his possible disposability to Hannibal seems to be less the idea that Hannibal might kill him, and more that the authenticity of their bond is in question - that Hannibal might not be wrestling with the same conflicted feelings that Will is, and that Will is nothing but another toy for him to play with (“wind me up and watch me go”, etc.)

The horror of Hannibal, for Will, initially comes from the shock of the realization of his true nature - starting with Savoureux and continuing into early season 2, the stag man indicates the terrifying dissonance of the fact that someone Will trusted and opened up to so much could have such a monstrous nature, without him realizing it. But in the second half of season 2, it shifts into the horror of Will’s own transformation, and of the blurring between him and Hannibal. He comes to feel, as Chiyoh sums up, that he has to kill Hannibal to avoid becoming him, and that’s reflected in a lot of the most overt horror elements of the latter season 2 arc. The beginning of Ko No Mono - imo, one of the most genuinely unsettling nightmares sequences in the show - features the imagery of Will emerging, screaming, from the stag, which is rendered chrysalis-like - Hannibal’s nature is secondary to the horror of Will’s own becoming. That same episode features the extraordinarily uncanny few seconds in Hannibal’s office in which Hannibal’s face is swapped with Will’s, seemingly listening to himself talk, and then Will is in turn swapped with Hannibal - like the blending of their faces in the final shot of Naka-Choko, the unsettling horror elements are centered on the fear of Will’s loss of himself, of not knowing where he ends and Hannibal begins.

The summation of this is Will’s rejection of Hannibal in Digestivo. It’s not on the basis of Hannibal trying to eat his brains, which in a different story would easily be the “you’ve tried to hurt/kill me too many times” last straw. It’s “I don’t have your appetite.” Yes, it’s deliberately chosen because it would hurt Hannibal the most, but I’d also say it’s true in that it’s the main reason Will wants to be able to walk away from Hannibal - the fact that Hannibal brings out a part of Will that Will himself doesn’t want to face.

To put it another way, Bedelia is pretty thoroughly amoral, and in this she’s actually more akin to Hannibal than Will is. Will does have system of morals - one could even say an overly rigid and punitive one - but his moral compass just starts going haywire whenever Hannibal is around because of Hannibal’s irresistible magnetism (really getting some mileage out of this metaphor). Hannibal sees himself as God, and his values are centered on his own whims and aesthetic preferences. Bedelia’s values are centered on her own self-preservation first and foremost. But the fact that she has this particular quality in common with Hannibal is exactly why it’s so easy for her to walk away from him when she’s had enough. She’s self-possessed enough that she doesn’t need him the way Will does. For Will on the other hand, Hannibal brings about a rupturing of his sense of self. So he’s inclined to set himself up for pain and violence, over and over, in seeking Hannibal out, just to find some kind of clarity. And whether he rejects Hannibal or embraces him, there’s always a sense that he’ll lose some fundamental part of himself.

I would say this is part of why it’s important to Will that Hannibal take something from Bedelia, as she puts it in 3.12. Part of it is his belief that “if you play, you pay” and his moral outrage over her ability to escape without consequences. But I think another part of it is more personal resentment - resentment of the fact that she’s able to let Hannibal go so easily, using her experiences with him for monetary gain without much emotional turmoil. That she doesn’t dwell on Hannibal, doesn’t struggle with her feelings about him, doesn’t feel the same confusion and anguish and longing that Will does. The fact that it’s possible for anyone to have a brush with Hannibal without feeling that.

#cutting because this ended up quite long #will graham #bedelia du maurier #hannibal lecter #hannibal #hannibal meta #none of this is new insight exactly but - it is interesting to me to lay it all out #as an example of how extraordinary it is that will is just... not scared of hannibal in the way one would expect #and bedelia is so akin to him in some ways and yet is terrified of him #i love the character parallels/contrasts on the show #and the different combinations of notes in different people #my meta #hannibal talk

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enchantra35 · 1 year

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Reflections upon Volumes 7 & 8 of RWBY by a first-time watcher

Hi, it’s me again. I’m writing this as I have already gotten into volume 9, but I believe it’s a good opportunity to recapitulate and review what has happened before the Ever After.

- Volumes 7 & 8 play around a lot with many ethical dillemas. We see all characters trying to figure out what is the right thing to do. Everyone has their own ideas about what is right, and this is exactly what is creating conflict. Ultimately, this struggle leads to the fall of Atlas. At the beginning, there is not a clear answer to the pending question of what is the right thing to do, but towards the end of volume 8, what becomes clear to the viewer is what isn’t the right thing, even if that isn’t clear to all of the characters.

- General Ironwood is the primal example of such a character. I admit that I was slightly more sympathetic towards him in earlier volumes, but volume 8 in particular made me despise him greately. That said, I don’t think he was completely on the wrong. He was driven by fear and rightfully so. However, that still doesn’t justify any of his actions. His hero complex blinded him and turned him into a violent tyrant who didn’t hesitate to kill anyone who disagrees with him (Jaqcues Schnee being the exception, he had it coming). He becomes dangerous and when his subordinates turned against him, he doesn’t even pause to think why. All he says is that he has always expected to be betrayed. Yeah, well I wonder why. He’s foolish to believe that loyalty is unconditional. He learns the hard way that this is not remotely true.

-Ironwood’s actions also create conflict within his own forces by bringing forth the dillema between fullfilling one’s duty and doing the right thing. Winter Schnee and the Ace-Ops in particular are those who struggle the most with this dillema. The deaths of Clover and Vine show that those above do not always have the best interests in mind, and blind loyalty leads nowhere but to distruction. Admittedly, I was shocked to see Clover die, but in retrospect I understand why it happened.

-Conflict doesn’t only exist among the ranks of the Atlas’ military, but among the huntresses as well. It’s heartbreaking to watch team RWBY split and it’s not easy to claim which side was right (to me, both of them made valid points). The conflict exists not only on a team level, but also on a personal level, as we see among Ruby and Yang, or Ren and Nora.

-These two volumes focused quite a bit on Renora. I actually liked the fact that they decided to expand upon Nora’s character, because insofar she was the archetype of a “comical relief” or an accessory to Ren. It was heartwarming to watch them reunite and reach a common understanding of their relationship. Ren has a difficult time processing his anger and the rest of his emotions throughout these volumes, but ultimately he learns to manage them and to acknowledge Nora’s feelings too.

-Speaking of ships, Bumbleby also becomes a lot more clear these seasons, although there’s a bit less focus on them this time around. But the signs become even clearer. For starters, the subtle flirting and Blake laughing with Yang’s jokes. To the more angsty side of the spectrum, Yang also fears that Blake thinks less of her because she made a different decision. Jaune does little to comfort her, assuming she’s talking about Ruby (he’s an oblivious idiot, I love him), but Yang’s response makes it obvious she wasn’t referring to Ruby LFMAO. Right after that when they return to the Schnee mansion, Ruby and Weiss are open to Yang, but Blake sits back hesitatly. But Yang approaches her, caresses her face and they bonk heads. AGAIN! And don’t get me started about all the blushing, I’m going to run out of space. But the rollercoaster of emotions idensifies when Yang falls into the void and we witness first-hand Blake’s despare. If it hadn’t been for Weiss, she would have jumped after Yang, I think we all know that.

-Penny has had one of the sudden stories (in my list, she’s up there with Pyrrha). How can so good a person suffer so much? But I think the most tragic part of her story was the fact that she gained a human body, only to die a little bit later on. I mean, I kind of expected it because it seemed to me that Winter becoming the Winter Maiden was sort of unavoidable, it’s so heavy implied. But it didn’t make it hurt any less. She was loved by so many people, her father, Ruby and her friends, and even Winter.

-Speaking of Winter, at this point I’d like to mention how much I FUCKING LOVE this woman. I really liked her early on, but I was a little bit worried about the fact that she was Ironwood’s subordinate. But when she finally turned against him after realizing what a monster he is, I cheered so LOUDLY. Yass girl, now go chop his dick off- I mean, slay! I also loved her bond with Weiss, the Schnee sisters really said, fuck this stupid family. Yes, she gives Weiss some tough love, but she does love Weiss, I think beyond anything less. It suddens me how distressed she is now that she thinks Weiss is dead.

-ALSO speaking of the Schnees, I’d also like to point out how the family instantly bonds again in the absence of Jacques. Again, fuck this GUY. The only good thing James Ironwood did was kill him.

-I hope I’m not alone when I say Winter and Robyn should kiss

-Although we are given some context about Cinder’s past, I cannot bring myself to sympathize with her. Yes, I can see why she became what she became, but that doesn’t make her any less of a horrible person. She also seems very childish to me. When Watts yelled at her, I was like: “When the worst person you know makes some good points”. I hope Neopolitan actually beats her ass the next time they meet. Cinder definately didn’t deserve Emerald’s royalty AT ALL.

-I also felt really bad when Hazel sacrificed himself in order to stop Salem, because although it’s not very explicitly shown, he grew to be something of a fatherly figure to Emerald at least.

-ALSO WE SAW GLYNDA AFTER I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY SEASONS? GET MY GIRL OUT OF THAT BASEMENT.

-A little comment on volume 9 and I will call this a day, because this already an essay on its own and not just an afterthought LOL. It is clear Ruby WILL suffer a lot. The psychological trauma caused by the death of Penny, and the overall guilt about both Penny’s death and the fall of Atlas is just too much to handle. Ren was right to still call her a child back in volume 8 I believe. This is too much of a burden for a kid to carry. I will not be surprised to see her break down.

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aladaylessecondblog · 2 months

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Mother, pt. 4

Author's Note: Ffs this is gonna turn into its own fic...

--------------

Tav appeared in Reithwin with a slight smile, and when one or two of the children who knew her ran up, she asked, "Where is Halsin, little ones?"

They took her by the hands and, giggling, pulled her along behind them. She smiled, running after them without a trace of resentment. Their enthusiasm was contagious, and it did her heart good to see them so happy.

Halsin was sitting beside a sapling tree, apparently showing a horde of other children how to safely whittle a block of wood. The two who had led her there quickly joined the rest of the group, and she stood towards the back, watching over them.

After a few minutes he looked up, and on noticing her, made some excuse to the children and instructed one of the older children to ensure that no one was in danger of cutting any fingers off.

Tav gave a brief smile as he approached. "Halsin...it is good to see you again."

"You've been away for some time," he replied, "I was beginning to wonder..."

"I could never forget you. I would prefer to forget the one who wears our star's face, but..." Tav shook her head. "He is no longer the man we loved. I thought I was helping by letting him--"

"Let us talk of other things. Like what you have been doing. Surely something to the benefit of the children, considering you have made it your sphere."

She nodded. "I was...ensuring that the devil that plagued our journey would no longer attempt to make deals with children."

"My heart--"

"I know what you would say," she went on quietly, "That it is too dangerous, that I cannot trust him. That he will inevitably win out over me in the end. Perhaps he has...but I have ensured his agreement. He will no longer offer deals to children."

"And in exchange?" Halsin asked, "What did you promise him? To share the power you gained from the Crown?"

"Insofar as it relates to his attempt to conquer the hells," Tav replied.

"There is more, isn't there." He studied her face, and she felt herself forced to nod. "Why? Why would you agree to this? It pains me to see you offer yourself up like this, a lamb running to the slaughter."

"For the children, Halsin. That is why I've done it. Because I count the cost and find it as fair as it will get. The only one this harms is me. And the residents of the hells, of course."

She looked up at him.

"What else?" he asked.

She looked away.

"He wants me as consort."

-------------------------------

"You have stolen my gifted."

Tav looked into Mystra's eyes and sneered. "I have saved children from becoming your tools."

"They were mine to instruct, mine to teach."

"They are no such thing," Tav snarled, "You think yourself the end-all and be-all of magic. You think yourself virtuous and loving. But tell me, Mystra--do you know that there are people who hide their sons' magical abilities? They hide them, so they may be safe from YOU. You groom them into your perfect lovers and you think yourself the final authority on it all."

"How dare you--"

"I will never seek your end. But I will do everything possible to prevent another Gale from happening. To save these boys from being made to feel like they are lesser because they displeased you. And if I have not been clear enough, mark this: I have set myself against you. I will never seek your death, but I will fight you at every turn."

"Do you think your devil husband will help you?"

"Oh, I know he will. He loves nothing if not power."

#this is Mousetrap AU god tav who wore the Crown after losing her son #fuck mystra #tav #bg3 #halsin #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 mystra #female tav

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buffyspeak · 3 months

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From Katniss' POV, we know that every district has specialization about their main product or industry, such as District 3 (technology), D4 (fishing), D12 (coal) etc.

What kind of economic system do you think Panem have?

If we can draw parallel with real world right now, which country is the most similar with Panem?

What's your opinion about this situation on Panem and its system?

Thank you 😊

@curiousnonny

hi there!! i saw this a while back and forgot to answer until now, so i appreciate your patience because this is definitely a real interesting subject. i'm probably not the best person to ask, tbh, as i'm not well-researched in my understanding of modern economics and find it all a little fake and strange (as in, money only has value insofar as we assign, value to it), but regardless here are my thoughts!

i don't have any specific quotes to pull, but i'm confident i remember references made to coins and possibly bills as well, so panem clearly has some form of finacial currency comparable to what we have now. it seems unlikely it's the same kind, as i actually believe that these are the kinds of things that would've retained their names if passed down so many generations later, but who knows?

it also seems, however, that the majority of district 12, at least, which is the district we are most familiar with, does not have reliable access to such currency. it's possible that the merchants do - though i find it unlikely they have it in abundance, as we see the baker regularly accepts hunting spoils as currency. the only people who probably regularly pay them in currency are peacekeepers - but in general, it seems that district 12's economy functions primarily - and could not function without - an illegal and somewhat rudimentary bartering system. we learn of a whole illegal black market center known as The Hob very early on. this actually seems to be where MOST of the day-to-day trading activities go on. it's notable because - unless i'm not remembering correctly? - even some of the merchants are known to frequent it, with katniss noting they always waited until the baker's wife left before engaging him in a trade. i could be wrong - it's possible she meant at the bakery. regardless, it's worthwhile to note that while the merchants are obviously materially better-off than those from the seam, they still live in the poorest district and it doesn't seem like even they could function without partaking in some of the bartering system that defines the district. (understanding the culture here is also signifcant in terms of understanding katniss' relationship to being indebted to others.

interesting, too, is the value we learn specific items may hold. for instance: at the start of thg, gale trades the baker a squirrel for a loaf of bread. this is implied (or maybe outright stated? i don't have my copy handy) to be a very good trade, and it's also said that the baker was likely feeling generous that day. a squirrel may be a more life-sustaining product in that it provides more protein in a meal, but A) it is an illicit product, since hunting is illegal, and therefore there is less room on gale's part for negotiation and B) fine bakery like what the mellarks make is a luxury item, with a lot of demand for it but few outside of the peacekeepers who can actually afford it. mr. mellark seems like someone who probably tries to trade fairly, but there is more value assigned to his bread than there is to gale's squirrel.

i'm also very fascinated by both katniss and peeta's changing relationship with currency at the beginning of catching fire, as we learn that, as victors, they earn (what i believe is) a monthly capitol-sponsored income that is substantial enough that they will never need to work again and are not expected to finish school. i have no doubt that this is the first time in katniss' life she has had any signifcant contact with this kind of currency, and i believe it is more unfamiliar to peeta, too, than one might expect. this puts both of them in a new kind of class inside there district (one that only haymitch had entered before them), alienating them from their loved ones in some very interesting ways. what i'm particularly interested in is understanding that this newfound wealth is framed by the capitol as a reward but is fundamentally just another means of control. while the insidiousness of this is not delved into as clearly as other aspects of the capitol's control over the victors, i think one could make a strong parallel between this and more real-world exampels of financial abuse. (i also think this is why i find it a bit harsh when people get down on gale for not accepting when katniss offers him some of her newfound wealth as a victor. i won't act like pride has nothing to do with it - though even that i can understand - but one of gale's strengths is that he really does understand the tactics the capitol uses for manipulation and control. he can't always regulate his feelings about them, but i think he implicitly understands in this situation that accepting this offer would just be one more way he was putting his life in the hands of the capitol. it's also worth noting that his and katniss relationship has always been one based in transaction. they came to care about each other in real and profound ways, but it's hard to shake that original dynamic of "i give you this, you give me that, i teach you this, you teach me that, i protect you, you protect me." only now, in this scenario, gale has nothing comparable in value to exchange for what katniss is offering him. and while katniss doesn't care about that, he obviously does. and i can understand that.)

we obviously know a lot less about every other district, and i'm not well-versed enough in economics that i feel confident in extrapolating beyond some very basic assumptions. (mainly that i assume outside the capitol, there is some sort of underground/black market trade system in most districts, likely based on their specialized industry. for example, i imagine resale of scraps of technology has a significant market in district 3. i imagine currency as we think of it is still less common than in the capitol in most districts, though i think it's likely more common in say, district 2 in exchange for the weaponry industry than it is in somewhere like district 7.)

we know a little bit more about the capitol than we do most other districts, though ofc, district 12 remains the one we know most about, as the story is told through katniss' eyes. but interestingly, even in the capitol - where most citizens are perceived as very well-off by katniss - it only seems that only those who are either in government or heavily involved in the games (which, in a way, do seem to function like a department of governement) are the ultra-wealthy. many of the citizens of the capitol certainly have this appearance - and can engage in luxuries that those in district 12 couldn't dream of - but we find it out in mockingjay that many of them are in debt, implying that there is some sort of credit system, and that those who cannot pay off their debts might eventually be forced into becoming peackeepers. in tbosas, we also learn that the war took a financial toll on some families and lifted up others, with sejanus' family rising in both wealth and social status and coriolanus' family losing his wealth and having to keep up a facade of maintaining his class and social status. while snow's family was obviously significantly impaired, i doubt he was an outlier in being financially affected by the war, and since the events of the original trilogy are really only a few generations later, it's likely that the family's acutely affected directly proceeding the war are those most susceptible to debt years later.

i don't think we can assign a single economic system to panem because the two places we have the clearest pictures of have such opposing systems, but it's clear it's complex around the board.

as for what country panem is supposed to represent - i mean, i'm obviously coming at this with narrow, western, us-based goggles, and would love to hear other perspectives! but yeah, my answer is... it's complicated? geographically, most of panem is canonically what used to be more north america. but socially, america - and the us in particular - is closer to the capitol than any of the districts. notably, though, i think most of us are far closer to the capitol citizens (who perform wealth and have access to many luxuries but are also exceedingly susceptible to debt) than the wealthy of the capitol, but all the same, i do think the story asks us citizens in particular to take a look at our lives and fill our blind spots. one could argue that it's only the government and ultra wealthy in our country who are meant to represent the capitol and that there are impoverished areas in the us that are just as comparable to the districts as other countries - which i think is fair! the point, in general, is that the book asks us to do that self-reflection, not that it gives us the answers.

#the hunger games #thg #thg meta #my meta #tbosas #anonymous #asks #curiousnonny #long post //

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belle-keys · 1 year

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I'm the Letty anon that other anon @'ed. Sorry for writing this if it's annoying, this'll be the last time I'll speak on this.

Again, my problem with Letty is that Babel is a weird 21st century-19th century hybrid insofar as Kuang nitpicks what aspects of the story she wants to keep historically accurate or not so that her book can have most of the racism a POC would experience in the 1830s and largely none of the misogyny that suit that same time period. This, I feel, is a slight at both Letty and Victoire, and it may sound a petty complaint, but Kuang wrote a book with fucking footnotes every other page so I feel like I can be a bit petty.

The thing is, women weren't allowed at Oxford until the 1920s, POC men weren't allowed to study at Oxford until the 1870s. The first Black man to get a degree in British soil did so in the 1850s, when the Edinburgh Seven weren't allowed to get their medicine diploma in the 1870s because their faculty decided admitting them had been 'a mistake', even when one of them would've graduated suma cum laude (and that was only the cherry on top, because they weren't allowed to take classes in the same rooms as their peers, they were routinely the target of violent abuse, they had to pay higher fees, etc).

I'm not saying POC wouldn't be treated horribly, because that would be the same ahistorical perspective I'm criticising Kuang for. I'm just a bit mad that Babel is so shallow sometimes when it's promoted as dark academia, has fucking footnotes and Kuang spent pages arguing against claims of historical inaccuracies (she even explained why she'd used xyz treat common among poor folks as a delicacy the rich enjoy ffs).

Also, I'm not trying to be mean, but the white women/feminists/suffragettes who helped maintain imperialism would likely not be friends with POC to begin with, never mind attempt at protecting them (ball scene, Letty is ready to punch Pandennis for wanting to compare her and Victoire's nipples), hence why I say that Letty is strange and I daresay badly written, too, because stuff like her falling for Ramy and getting into contact with the father that has disowned her doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Anyways, sorry for the spam. Anon, I'm not angry at you or whatever, just kinda frustrated by Babel because I waited a year for a book that ended up kinda disappointing me :)

So, there’s a lot going on here, but I think I expressed my own opinion about Letty as a caricature when I asnwered a few previous asks on the matter. I do agree the book is quite one-dimensional and shallow at times, but it’s set up so politically that highlighting the way it’s shallow actively goes against the central thesis of how white supremacy and British imperialism hurt people of colour and colonized nations. Letty is a rather unrealistic villainess, I agree, but regardless, Letty was a tool used to make a point about how white women and white feminism were actively hurting people of colour and colonized nations too. The original white feminists wanted equal power with white men and the ability to oppress POC the way rich white men did. And guess, what? That’s very much Letty. Letty is a tool to portray the worst parts of white feminism and upper class white womanhood. She’s really not a character at all.

Letty bides her time with the “colored folk” until she gets a chance to really choose where her loyalties lie aka not with them. Letty herself is a bit of a cartoonish character, but her actions ultimately seem quite realistic to me (aka the betrayal). You’re absolutely right that for a book that prides itself on research, it reads like the characters are millenials who were magically transported to the year 1830. It’s 2022 discourse transplanted to an 1830 setting. But Letty’s poor characterization doesn’t change what Kuang was trying to say or the point she was trying to make. And sometimes the message is more important than the execution in political novels. Kuang just went about it in a very unsubtle and Twitterish way, which is mostly okay in a politically-charged book like Babel. Once you, like me, don’t see the book as art or as a means of truly expanding consciousness, then these gimmicky tactics don’t bother you all that much.

But a word of unsolicited advice: I’d also redact that whole comparative paragraph about women and Black men at Oxford in this ask. It’s pretty irrelevant to compare the two when we’re talking about a novel where white women actively oppress MOC. It’s kinda giving “I missed the point”.

#babel #babel an arcane history #letitia price #rf kuang #colonization #victoire desgraves #ask #anon ask #dark academia #dark academia blog

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waltwhitmansbeard · 1 year

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my fair lady: chapter five

other chapters are here. i also recommend reading @romeoandjulietyouwish's medieval au, which clearly sucked me into a rabbit hole!

At first, he's sure he's dead. There's the darkness, for one, that clues him in, but then there's also that scent, as familiar as his own name. Floral and sweet and just a bit smoky, he'd know it was her anywhere. That's when he feels them, the fingers brushing softly through his hair. He highly doubts he's earned a spot in a domain of any of Exandria's better gods, and yet surely, he thinks, this is heaven.

Unbidden, his eyes creak open, finding a softer kind of darkness, the darkness of creeping dusk. He's staring directly up into the blue-black sky, which is edged with a parade of towering trees, but then the sky is blocked by a pair of shining green eyes and a constellation of freckles, as familiar as they are a relief. "You're alive!"

He blinks, and things become a little clearer. Keyleth is smiling at him, upside-down, from his perspective, and he starts putting the pieces together to come to the conclusion that his head is in her lap. "Keyleth?"

"I didn't kill you," she breathes, more to herself than to him, he thinks.

That's when he remembers. "What happened...the arrow...?" He coughs once. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she insists. She takes one of his hands in hers and squeezes it. "You got me out of there, Vax. You saved my life."

"But how am I alive?" Things are still hazy for him, but he's almost positive there was an arrow sticking out of his back, the same back on which he now lies.

Her expression turns uncertain. "I...that doesn't matter. What matters is that you're okay, and that we should probably start moving soon. It's getting dark, and the others haven't found us yet. You led us fairly deep into the woods."

He'll have to take her word for it, because he doesn't remember much of what happened between the initial assault on the carriage and his waking up on this forest floor. "Yeah, okay." With a groan, he pushes himself into a sitting position, surprised by how easy the movement is. A hand reaches back to feel for the spot where he knows the arrow had been. It's gone now, and when his fingers probe the area, it's sore, but not agonizing. He turns to look at Keyleth, confused. "How...?"

She bites at her lip and looks down at her hands. "I...I've never done anything like that before. But I was scared...by the gods, Vax, I've never been so terrified in my life." When she looks back up at him, there are tears in her eyes. "I healed you."

Vax is familiar with magic only insofar as to know that the arcane is carefully regulated so as to ensure its wielders do not wreak undue havoc upon the world. The divine is less closely watched, though that magic is usually relegated to the devout of the land's pantheon. But Keyleth is not a disciple of any particular god, and Vax has never heard her discuss having magical talents before. "I don't understand."

"Neither do I." She picks up a large oak leaf from the ground and holds it out in her open palm. After a moment, the leaf begins to float up gently, as if propelled by a faint gust of wind, before swaying lazily back down into her hand. "Before today, this type of thing was the most I could do with my gifts. Small things, frivolous things, things I couldn't really understand but didn't think important enough to try to. But then you were unconscious and bleeding out in my arms, and I thought..." Her voice falls to a whisper. "I thought that if you died there was no way I'd survive it. So I pulled the arrow out, pressed my hands to your wound, and healed you."

And Vax sees it now, the blood coating her skirts, caked under her fingernails. He imagines that the same fear that gripped his heart during the attack on the carriage gripped hers when she thought him dying right in front of him. "You saved my life, Keyleth."

Her cheeks tinge pink. "A favor repaid, I guess." She pauses. "I like that you're calling me Keyleth again."

His stomach sinks like a stone in water. He hadn't even noticed he'd been doing that. It feels so natural, saying her name, like it was the only word he was born to say. "I shouldn't be."

She juts her chin out defiantly, looking every bit the queen she'll be some day. "Why did you do it?"

He blinks in confusion. "Take you away from the attack?"

"No. Why did you..." She lets out a small sigh. "When did you stop loving me?" Vax's jaw drops. "What was it? What was the thing that...did you ever love me?"

"Gods above, Keyleth." He wishes the arrow had killed him; it's the very least he deserves. "I love you more than any man has a right to love someone. I love you so much I fear I won't be able to breathe through it."

"Then why?" Her voice cracks, and Vax cracks along with it. "Why would you do this to me?"

He grabs one of her hands in both of his. "Keyleth, I told you that night, I cannot be the thing that holds you down. I cannot be the secret you keep that hangs above your neck like a blade. I am willing to die for you but I am not willing to put your life and your crown in harm's way. Do you think that was fun for me, breaking your heart? Do you think my own hasn't shattered in shards so fine they slice me every time I breathe?"

"But it's my life, Vax, and my crown. And if I am the woman you claim I am, then shouldn't I be able to put them in harm's way if I so choose?" The imperious look is back in her eye. "Do you think me too immature to make my own decisions?"

He sighs. "Of course I don't—"

"Then why can't you just accept that I love you, you ass, and I don't care what the consequences are?"

"Because those consequences don't just affect you, Your Highness."

There's silence in the wood, both of them glaring at each other now. He watches shame edge in around her eyes, and he hates himself for snapping at her. "You're right," she says eventually, voice low. "You're right. It would be...bad, for me, if word got out of our...relationship. It would be bad for my father. But you..." She takes a deep breath. "You would be ruined, of course. You'd never work in our nation again. My father might not have you killed, but there are other ways he can make your life hell." She looks him dead in the eyes. "If those risks are too great for you, I understand. I...I wouldn't blame you for walking way."

Every inch of his body aches to take her face in his hands and kiss her until he passes out again. How does he explain this, how does he tell her that there is no risk too great, no threat too large to make him want to walk away from her—except, of course, the danger of her future being torn away for him?

And his sister. Vex'ahlia. He doesn't know what happens to her when he ruins his life for the love of a princess. Surely she will be stripped of her station as captain of the castle guard. She could work again, perhaps, though if anyone could live well off the land it would be his tenacious hunter of a sister. What would Lord Percival do, though, if the woman he loved away from the eyes of court were to become an object of speculation and ridicule? Would Vax be dooming his sister to share in his misery of loneliness and heartbreak?

"Time," he mutters, to himself, though he doesn't realize he says it out loud.

"What?"

He squeezes her hand, which he's been clutching like a lifeline this whole time. "All I want with you is time. Time to hold you, to love you, to watch you grow and soar. And even those stolen hours in the dead of night, the minutes I could only spend loving you in the dark, those could be enough for me. But I am a selfish man, Keyleth, selfish and weak and hopeless. And I want everything with you. I want to love you in the daylight." He swallows, trying to keep his voice from breaking. "It's what you deserve."

Keyleth stares at him, eyes wide and mouth agape, and Vax would give anything to hear the thoughts he can see playing across her face. She's gripping his hand as though she's afraid he might disappear. The silence reigns for a long time, and the skittering sounds of night begin to chorus around them, the snuffling of skunks and the croaking of frogs and even the near-silent winged flight of owls. After an endless minute, Keyleth whispers, "Well I guess I'm selfish, too. I want to be the leader my people deserve, and I want you. And I think that I convinced myself that I could have both. I'm sorry. I wish I could say that I regret falling in love with you, but I know I'm also too selfish to regret any moment we've spent together."

"Fuck." Vax surges forward and kisses her, his hands on each side of her neck. She grips his tunic beneath his armor, pulling him closer to her. She sighs against his lips, and what he wouldn't give to have this, her and her lips and this forest and the falling night, until oblivion comes to claim him.

But oblivion is not coming, at least not tonight, and he breaks the kiss to rest his forehead against hers. "We need to get back to the others. I'm sure they've dealt with the threat by now."

Worry flashes in her eyes. "Percy." She stands, helping Vax to his feet as well, which he's grateful for, as now that he's moving, he's feeling the ghost of his wound pull and ache. He gives Simon an appreciative pat on the muzzle, murmuring, "Thank you, friend," before helping Keyleth up into the saddle. He climbs up in front of her, and when her arms snake around his waist to hold her steady, the ache in his back is replaced with the warmth of the sun.

Vax guides Simon slowly and quietly through the wood, using only the light of the gibbous moon to navigate. When they reach the road again, far in the distance he can see flickering lights. He nudges Simon into a shadow and slides off of the horse. "Stay here," he instructs, "and if I don't return in two minutes, ride far away from here."

Keyleth nods, and Vax stealths forward, darting between trees to approach what he eventually sees are torches. They're being wielded by Grog and Percival, who seem to be searching the tree line. As Vax shifts out of the shadows, Percival brandishes his weapon directly at him. "Halt in the name of the sovereign!"

Vax raises his hands into the air. "It's Vax'ildan, Lord Percival. Has the danger passed?"

Percival drops the weapon to his side. "Where is the princess?"

"Not far. Is she safe to return?”

"Those bad guys are paste," Grog answers, grinning happily and cracking his knuckles.

Relieved, Vax jogs back to Keyleth, leading Simon back down the road. When they reach Percival and Grog, Keyleth leaps off of Simon and throws her arms around the Master of Development. "Percy, are you okay?"

With a laugh, Percival extracts himself from her embrace. "I'm fine, Your Highness. Were you injured?"

She shakes her head. "Unharmed, I promise. Vax was stalwart in his duty to protect my life. He took an arrow as we escaped."

Percival blinks in surprise as Grog groans jealously. "Is that so?" the former asks.

Unsure of how much Percival knows of Keyleth's magical prowess, he quickly answers, "The arrow missed anything serious. The princess showed great skill in bandaging the wound, and I'm well enough now."

Vax shoots Keyleth a quick look to encourage her not to contradict him, which Percival must notice, because his eyes narrow suspiciously. Still, he gives Vax a nod of respect, which is returned.

"Right, well, we're all fine and I'm bored. Can we get back on the road now?"

Percival rolls his eyes at Grog's outburst, but Keyleth pats his arm with a gentle smile. "Yes, Grog. That's a great idea." She returns to Simon's saddle and begins to follow Grog back to where the carriage was left.

As they walk, Percival pulls Vax behind the others. "I know you'll say it was your job, but...thank you for keeping her safe."

"You know full well that it wasn't just my job," Vax mutters under his breath, staring straight forward.

"Be that as it may...you showed great bravery in continuing to protect her even after being injured yourself." He cocks his head to the side. "Though I have to ask...if the wound was so trivial, as you implied, why did it take you two so long to return? You were gone for quite a while."

Vax turns his head slowly, eyes narrowed into slits. "What are you asking me right now, Lord Percival?

"You know what I'm asking you."

Vax's fingers itch to knock this rich boy's teeth from his skull. "You'll be happy to learn that the princess has learned the error of her ways and has expressed...an understanding about what her future is going to hold." He looks forward again. "And what it's not going to hold."

There's a long beat, and then Percival says, "Good. I'm glad. And...I'm sorry." With that, the two continue in silence, walking in step behind their princess.

#critical role #critical role fic #cr fic #vaxleth #vaxleth fic #vox machina #vox machina fic #tlovm #tlovm fic #vaxleth au #my fic #my fair lady

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