Hey btw, if you're doing worldbuilding on something, and you're scared of writing ~unrealistic~ things into it out of fear that it'll sound lazy and ripped-out-of-your-ass, but you also don't want to do all the back-breaking research on coming up with depressingly boring, but practical and ~realistic~ solutions, have a rule:

Just give the thing two layers of explanation. One to explain the specific problem, and another one explaining the explanation. Have an example:

Plot hole 1: If the vampires can't stand daylight, why couldn't they just move around underground?

Solution 1: They can't go underground, the sewer system of the city is full of giant alligators who would eat them.

Well, that's a very quick and simple explanation, which sure opens up additional questions.

Plot hole 2: How and why the fuck are there alligators in the sewers? How do they survive, what do they eat down there when there's no vampires?

Solution 2: The nuns of the Underground Monastery feed and take care of them as a part of their sacred duties.

It takes exactly two layers to create an illusion that every question has an answer - that it's just turtles all the way down. And if you're lucky, you might even find that the second question's answer loops right back into the first one, filling up the plot hole entirely:

Plot hole 3: Who the fuck are the sewer nuns and what's their point and purpose?

Solution 3: The sewer nuns live underground in order to feed the alligators, in order to make sure that the vampires don't try to move around via the sewer system.

When you're just making things up, you don't need to have an answer for everything - just two layers is enough to create the illusion of infinite depth. Answer the question that looms behind the answer of the first question, and a normal reader won't bother to dig around for a 3rd question.

I really like the idea that Lucy Gray and Snow are both a snake and a songbird. This also got me thinking about their connection to these animals and what that says about them. Especially regarding snakes.

Lucy Gray likes songbirds. She and the covey admire them, and almost see themselves as one of them. She is empathetic towards them, wishing for their freedom, as well as hers.

Lucy Gray also likes snakes. She is friends with one. She may not trust them entirely, but she is not afraid of them. She can even interact with venomous snakes, although we only see this with Gaul's mutts which wouldn't hurt her in the first place. The point is, she doesn't have anything against them. She accepts them as they are. And this is interesting because snakes are usually associated with evil, especially in the original trilogy. But they also have other connotations, such as transformation, rebirth, protection and healing.

Coriolanus hates songbirds. Well, he hates Mockingjays. And it's such a visceral hate that he wants them to dissapear, to kill them all as soon as possible. Even after admitting that they aren't particularly dangerous, he feels threatened by their existence. They weren't planned, they can't be controlled, and he doesn’t accept that. But even knowing this, he constantly associates them with the covey, and therefore with Lucy Gray.

Now, it's not clear how Coriolanus feels about snakes. He doesn’t like them as Lucy Gray or Gaul do, but he doesn’t hate them either. When he first sees the rainbow snakes, he doesn’t know if they scare him. Then Clemensia got bitten, which led him to question his trust in Gaul and the Capitol. Later, the same snakes would have killed Lucy Gray, if he hadn’t cheated. Lastly, he was bitten by a snake, which, contrary to his initial thoughts, wasn’t venomous. Whether it was planted by Lucy Gray or not, we’ll never know. He thinks she did, though. And that’s the thing, he assumes the worst. He thinks she’s a traitor and a manipulator, looking innocent only to attack when he least expects it. Because of this, he swears he’ll never leave his guard down again. He’ll strike first, every time. And for that, he uses venom.

So then, what can we get from this?

Snakes transformed Clemensia, both inside and outside. This affected Coryo too.

Coriolanus was reborn after being bitten by a snake. After all, he did say his old self was dead, lie or not.

Snakes never hurt Lucy Gray, even when they were designed to kill her. In fact, they protected her at times.

And, although venom can be used to heal, Snow chooses to use it as a weapon.

I’m sending Good Writing Vibes to anyone and everyone who needs them right now!!!

I think something that truly shows Katniss’s character growth is her reaction to death

She says in THG that she used to double over in pain, wondering where her father has gone. In mockingjay, she collapses with Buttercup because she knows where Prim is.

Her father’s death gave her the ability to kill - it gives her the strength to hunt, both animals and people. Prim’s death gives her empathy for life as she cares for the cat she once tried to drown.

I think Prim’s death also shows what she is at her core - a caregiver. Prim kept her going after her father died since she had someone to look after - she only starts to properly process her feelings once she has Buttercup (named after another small yellow flower) to care for.

And that is Katniss’s problem. All throughout the series, she never lives for herself, only to care for others. And if that keeps her going, it’s enough. But I like to imagine that perhaps she learns to care and live for herself after the war.

Spring in Kyoto.

hey

hey friend

dont kill yourself tonight ok

you have a really pretty smile and i know its not always easy to manage one but itd be a bummer if we never had the chance to see it ever again

youre really important and you matter a lot so stay safe and try and have a nice sleep

by Gustaf Emanuelsson

MARGOT ROBBIE Vogue's Sneak Peek into Barbie: The World Tour (March 8, 2024)

"You are worthy and enough on every part of your journey. Not just once you arrive at who you want to be." - Unknown

Trails

alexxhinson

ANYA TAYLOR JOY The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Along with all the other brilliant differences between their characters, with even more comparisons being clear after reading and watching the wonder that is BOSBAS, it is amazing to see the difference in how Katniss and snow treat their childhood trauma in the war. Because snow was traumatised. It's the entire basis of his character and a brilliant and relevant context bosbas provided. He knows first hand how horrific war can be, and so everything he does, at least on a moral level, is done to ensure that war will never happen again.

Control, chaos, contract

A foot on the throat of the weak to ensure they might never rise up.

And the hunger games, in all their spectacular cruelty, are just another piece in that foot. Part of their purpose, along with whatever metaphorical nonsense snow creates to justify them, is to ensure that the memory of the war, and the blame thereof, stays fresh in the mind of every citizen and even child. Even if none of them were alive when the war truly happened (two generations have passed) Snow deems it necessary for the districts and capitol to never forget, justifying his tyranny indefinitely.

Katniss, however, wants nothing more than to forget. The end of the book is coloured by a desire to rebuild and to grow. Peeta and district 12 are her dandelion, a reminder that there is always hope for a better future. The winter ends, snow falls.

And unlike our dear friend coryo, she wants nothing more than to forget the past, and the trauma it carries. She is more than justified to be vengeful and hateful and tell her children of their enemies in the capitol, but she does not. She is better than that. The subjects of her hate are long dead. And, unlike snow, she wants nothing more than to be free, from power, from fame, and from the games or blame and hate and politics. She's happy with her quiet life with Peeta, her dandelion, in a home that they can build together.

Gale never forgets, and doesn't want to, he is like snow, she is better.

And all of this is symbolised beautifully by the book. The book that they create together, like the life-saving directory of plants. A book full of memories and photos and love, glowing bright with stories and songs. There are no reminders of war, only glimmers of the people who were lost, and all that they gave to the world. It's small, it's beautiful, and it is, in my humble opinion, a far better way to honour those who died. Instead of starting another war.

And one day, when they are old enough, Katniss' children will read the book, and hear the stories. And they won't understand the full weight of the past, but they will know enough. They will be better. Safe and warm, with their two loving parents in their new home. Full of song and freshly baked bread.

They have some great costumes :]

Any W.I.T.C.H girlies still alive out there?