#i hate being a woc sometimes you just have to sit there while being reminded you are never going to be someone's type

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

You know Jack Ryder? The reporter in the game Batman: Arkham Knight? He reminds me of the type of reporter/person Alya is slowing turning into. Especially in your story. You get a good taste of his character by watching a playthrough of the side quest Most Wanted: Lamb to the Slaughter

With Alya’s interlude in “Paper Sky” and the first chapter of “All the Laughs” out, I think now is the time to give some commentary on Alya.

I have mixed feelings on canon!Alya. On the one hand, I think we’ve all had to sit through some toxic relationships or rough patches in our friendships in our life. I, for example, was not a good friend in elementary school. I would actually go up to my friends and tell them “I don’t want to be friends this week” only to go up to them three days later and ask to be friends again. Of course, as I got older, I stopped doing stuff like that.

And I’ve been on the other side of the fence too. I can think of three friendships that really messed with me at different points in my life (one in middle school, one in high school, and the third in college, which I alluded to in another post), as well as someone I would have been friends with if things were different (as in better, but that’s another story). 

With how Alya has been acting this season, and her growing friendship with Lila, I thought it would have been an interesting plotline to have Marinette and Alya have an actual fight. Marinette isn’t allowed to disagree with anyone, not without either being wrong or suffering for it. But her and Alya have legitimate sources of conflict that ought to be addressed - I stand by my opinion that The Puppeteer 2 would have been a great place to address this.

And in general, I haven’t been a big fan of how Alya’s been acting this season - with the dismissiveness in Chameleon, the pawning off of babysitting duties in Christmaster and Timetagger, and the pushiness in Puppeteer 2, and no consequences to be dealt in sight, it’s a wonder she hadn’t become my least favorite character in the entire show. I don’t blame anyone who does feel this way.

But on the other hand, I definitely get where the backlash to the backlash is coming from. Alya is one of the few dark-skinned WoC characters on this show, and black women in media tend to get the worst treatment from writers of their own shows (mostly referring to shows where these women aren’t the protagonist, or are co-protags with another character, likely white) and fandom. 

By contrast, fandom tolerance for white dudes and their antics tends to be a lot higher, even if they make the same bad decisions like Alya has. So when you see enough salt fics going the direction of “Alya is a bad friend” and sometimes take it even further than that (”Alya is the absolute worst!”), it can feel particularly hateful and even racist, even if the writer isn’t intending to be.

I’m a white woman, so I was anxious when trying to respond to this. How far is too far? While it seems most people tend to like how Alya has been handled so far and the trajectory of her arc, it wouldn’t be fair of me to just write off anyone who feels like that’s not true.

I want to note however, that I don’t think fic writers should just stop critiquing Alya in their writing or feel like they have to have Marinette and Alya makeup just because of this anxiety. Different writers have different ideas for how they want to handle the scenarios presented to them, and depending on execution, that’s not an inherently bad thing. Fiction is the space meant to explore possibilities, after all. I just think, in this specific case, it’s a hard rope to walk, mostly if you’re white. If there were other prominent dark-skinned girls in the main cast, or if the story didn’t always focus on the rich, white kids (coughChloeandAdriencough), this probably wouldn’t be as much of an issue. 

I don’t want all writers to feel like they have to go this route if they don’t want to. I chose to give Alya another chance because I like the redemption arc that was set up for her in Nice Guy Adrien and wanted to do something similar for TOtMiS. I wanted Marinette and Alya to work things out in the end, regardless if they remain BFFs or teammates. And at the end of the day, every character on this show deserved better writing (yes, including my least fave Lila and Hawkmoth).

TL;DR: Alya hasn’t been a good friend to Marinette in canon and should answer for it, but I don’t think she’s The Worst™ and should be crucified. 

Anyway, I actually really liked writing commentary on my own story, so I might do something like this again in the future - maybe with Chloe or Adrien when we get further along.

#ml salt #ml salt fic #salty answers #ml s3 au #alya cesaire #the one to make it stay #totmis commentary #ml s3 salt #ml writing salt

[dalishious]

@briannamorley Well I wasn’t going to respond to all your replies, but then I figured hell, if you felt the need to go through all my anti Celene shit to leave messages saying you disagreed, you must really value my opinion of your opinion, so who would I be not to?

briannamorley replied to your post “What ending should I take in WEWH? Last time I played I hadn't read...”

Love the page; disagree about Celine and Briala's relationship being toxic--save for her killing Bria's parents. I personally always reconcile them even if you weigh her over Gaspard, she's the lesser of two evils. Gaspard would do way more killing then a 1k elves plus, as far as the abuse we don't know the extent all Bria says is on days she was cruel, she imagined them being amongst the Dalish with Celine having to serve her.

So like... if having her parents murdered doesn’t cross a line for you into toxic territory, what does, then?

And re: “We don’t know the extent” of Celene’s treatment of Briala...

The black curls lightened to grey with the pre-dawn light, then slid to the light brown of cinnamon as the sun brought colour to the room. Dirt-brown, Celene had called it, when Briala had waited upon her as a girl. Horse-dung brown, an ugly shadow of Celene’s spun-gold locks. -pg 27

Briala, a WOC, grew up serving Celene, a white woman, comparing her hair to horse-dung. And had to just grin and bare it because that was her job, and her mother instructed her to be Celene’s friend.

“Maker, I envy you sometimes.” She knew immediately that she had said something wrong. She felt Briala stiffen, though her arms didn’t move, and Briala’s voice was light as she said, “The empress of Orlais envies an elven handmaid?” “You know what I mean, Bria.” Still holding her, Celene patted Briala’s back. “You could leave here, become someone else.” “As long as that someone is an elf,” Briala said with a dimpled smile, but Celene knew she was still hurt. “Yes, I know. But I... I was born to sit on that throne. I can’t do anything else. Since my parents and Lady Mantillon...” She trailed off. This time, Briala pulled away. “You would make a wonderful scholar,” she said as she stood and pulled her robe on, “at least until Emperor Gaspard made a decision you found objectionable. Then, I believe trouble would ensue.” She smiled over her shoulder. “You are probably right, my love.” Celene rose as well and pulled her own robe on, as if nothing were wrong. “And... I will consider Remache.” Briala nodded and slipped her mask into place, then left through the passage behind the mirror, and Celene sighed and fetched her little magical pot. She would be making her own tea this morning, it seemed. -pg 59

Celene hurts Briala, and her thought is how she’ll have to make her own tea.

Briala sat. “...The elves in Halamshiral are angry. Lord Mainserai killed a tradesman without justification, and the elves are calling for mien’harel.” At Celene’s silence, Briala added, “It is an elven word. When the humans go too far, the elves remind them that even a short blade must be respected. They—” “They will rebel,” Celene said, the words cutting through the chilly autumn air. “Against me. Now.” “It is not rebellion, Your Majesty.” Briala bowed her head and took a shaky breath, clutching at the griffon-head arm of her chair. This was exactly what she had feared. “The elves of Halamshiral have never seen you. Their grievance is with neither you nor Orlais. They only wish justice for a man of your empire who died without cause.” “What they wish is irrelevant.” Celene turned and stalked away from the window. “I am already fighting a war on two fronts. I cannot be seen to fight a war on three.” “Then don’t.” Briala rose, putting herself in Celene’s path. “Give them justice.” “A lord for the death of an elf? I... damn this thing.” With a quick jerk, Celene tore the mask from her face. Her face was flushed beneath, her eyes red from another night of little sleep. “Shall I declare the elves equal citizens before the Maker and the throne as well, while I’m at it?” “Why not?” Briala took her own mask off, stealing a quick moment to steady herself. “Unless you don’t believe that, and I’m just a jumped-up kitchen slut you haven’t tired of yet.” Celene turned away, tossing her mask onto an overstuffed couch and stalking to the great amber wall. “You know I cannot do that, Bria. I might as well engrave Gaspard’s initials on the throne.” Against the wall of gold and red, Briala’s empress and lover looked pale and wan. Celene had always seen sleep as an enemy, or at most a necessary evil, from what Briala could tell, and since the events in Kirkwall the stress of rising tensions had her awake before dawn almost every morning. If it were early enough, Briala could sometimes coax her into lovemaking, and the warm and drowsy bliss afterward would let Celene steal a few more hours of rest. Lately, even that had not been enough. Briala sighed. “I do know.” Instead of going to Celene, she went to the small table where Celene’s teapot sat, forever just shy of boiling. She poured Celene a cup of tea, brought it over, and gently touched Celene’s shoulder. It was not quite an apology. -pg 62

Briala fears having to ask Celene to enact justice. Celene says what the elves want is of no care to her. She then mocks the idea of elven freedoms. And “It was not quite an apology” my ass - Briala has nothing to apologize for.

What had happened at Halamshiral was a still-painful ache, but the elves had rebelled. Celene had done what she had to do. Had Briala been there, she might have been able to turn Celene to a different course, but Briala herself was the one who had left. It was not Celene’s fault that she had been manoeuvred into doing what she had done, any more than it was Briala’s fault for leaving Celene without the guidance she had wanted. -pg 167

Celene even has Briala convinced that she’s to blame for Halamshiral, because she wasn’t there to tell Celene otherwise. If one person in a relationship relies solely on another to guide their morals, yes, I would indeed call that toxic.

But anyway, these are just a few samples of Celene’s dismissive behaviour towards Briala. She only does the bare minimum to keep Briala at her side; she does not truly care about the elves.

briannamorley replied to your post “What ending should I take in WEWH? Last time I played I hadn't read...”

Also Bria has accepted that neither the city or Dalish elves see her as part of them; letting her rule with him as her mask--much like forcing them to work together--while interesting in theory, wouldn't last I don't think anyway. Ppl would get suspicious; Gaspard is a military strategist not an adept ruler

Briala goes from this:

Briala could not afford to spare tears for inevitable deaths. In that respect, she supposed that she was more like the nobles she served than the elves in the marketplace. The thought sometimes sickened her, but again, not as much as the thought of deaths she could have prevented. -pg 61

to this:

She had been in Celene’s court for too long. Too many years being called “rabbit,” too many years ducking her head and working from the shadows. Too many years of being proud of who she was, a feeling she could cling to like a floating log in a rushing river. It had kept her head above water, but it had never let her steer her own course. She would fight for her people, because nobody else would, and Fen’Harel take whoever got in her way. -pg 144

Briala’s whole character arc is about discovering who she is as her own person, and reconnecting with her people. Unless “has” was a typo for “had.”

Also, why is it unrealistic for Dalish and city elves to work together? Dalish elves go to the city, and city elves go to the Dalish all the time. In some cases you have clans that have very strong relationships with nearby alienages, such as Clan Boranehn and the Edgehall alienage in Knight Errant, for example.

briannamorley replied to your post “grandenchanterfiona: I don’t hate Celene because she’s a woman. I...”

Disagree not about the genocide or lying to Bria but everything else

...K?

briannamorley replied to your post “grandenchanterfiona: That’s it. Until proven otherwise the Masked...”

Nope to each their own though

...K?

briannamorley replied to your post “grandenchanterfiona: Celene is a straight guy’s idea of a lesbian....”

Stop... I can see if you were equating this to RR Martin but really???

Yes really lol

briannamorley replied to your post “I just read The Masked Empire and even though I knew how bad Celene...”

Theres disliking something and then there's bashing it to the point it becomes infuriating

Sorry guess we never received the guidelines one has to follow in terms of disliking something. Tell me, does it include going through a blog’s tags and leaving reply after reply that says basically the same thing?

briannamorley replied to your post “mllemaenad: jocelyntorrent: mllemaenad: … Okay, I don’t get it. ...”

Disagree but crazy tired so to each their own

Good thing you left another just plain ‘disagree,’ otherwise I might have gotten confused.

briannamorley replied to your post “So this by no means excuses Celene's actions whatsoever, but I noticed...”

Love orlais but again, to each their own

Cool cool I hate Orlais but to each their own. Perhaps I should find some random Orlais fan and spam their email notifications with replies saying as such, to make sure they know!

briannamorley replied to your post “lmao no, about 300 elves were brutally slaughtered, sweet summer...”

More than 300 but it does border on bashing

WTF does this one even mean?

briannamorley replied to your post “grandenchanterfiona: Celene has absolute power; she does not have a...”

If so say that from jump don't go on and on going from legitimate gripe to bashing... like damn I like both of y'alls pages but FUCK me this is exhausting

Then why are you reading through all this? And seriously, what is with this “bashing?” Is there some kind of internet slang I’m unfamiliar with? Because if you just mean bashing as in criticism that hell fucking yes I am critical of Celene. She has a lot of reasons for me to be.

briannamorley replied to your post “Remember that time when Michel de Chevin partook in the Academie des...”

Sigh... y es it was an oversight by them that shouldn't have happened but goddamn

“But goddamn...” what? Why is there a but? Why is there a but goddamn? Just... why, period?

Anyway, TL;DR:

#briannamorley #anti celene #anti brialene