No, see, now I'm thinking about Iris teaching Phoenix how to plait hair and getting emotional about it because like. The first person who ever plaited her hair was probably her mother, right? And I think Morgan's the kind of mum who's rather strict with hair, meaning that it'd be drawn very tight and be a rather painful affair. After they leave Kurain, I'm guessing that Iris still may not have known how to braid her hair but Dahlia did, and so Dahlia was the one who used to do it for her before eventually teaching Iris to do it herself; and, while I don't think Dahlia was as rough as Morgan was, she did learn how to plait from her, and she has nails, so it still hurt a little. But that's how Iris learns to plait her hair: with a touch of force and an emphasis on bridled control. It's necessary, when you're working up in the mountains since it keeps strands out of the way.
But then she goes to Ivy-U and meets the kindest, gentlest man she's ever known, and he gets curious as to how she does her hair, so she shows him. It's the first time anyone's ever touched her hair and truly cared about not hurting her -- he's hesitant to even comb his fingers through it because he's afraid of tugging on her scalp -- and she has to change the way she moves as they slowly, carefully work their way through the two braids together. Yes, it takes longer than it normally would, and the braids are looser than she would usually wear them, but they stay, and it's the first she's ever tried plaiting them in a way that's different from her mother and sister -- the first she's ever considered it, even -- and it shows her, irrevocably, that kindness and gentleness can be just as effective as the harsh strength her family has always prided and possessed. It's the first time that Iris has used her hands in a way that feels truly natural to her and not been ashamed for her own weakness.
And she carries that with her for the rest of her life; just as he carries what her hands showed him as he brushes his fingers through her younger sister's fairer brown locks, while she sits in jail and does the same to her own long, dark hair, now black as it should be instead of red.
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it’s easy to say that ozai banished zuko for “speaking out of turn” because ozai is a terrible father and the violence he inflicts upon his family as well as everyone else is absurdly cruel and unjustified. but it’s not just that zuko spoke out of turn, is it? he spoke out of turn at a war meeting by making an impassioned speech that undermined the entire ideology of the fire nation.
sure, zuko may not have realized it at the time, but his argument was essentially that their whole war, the purpose of the fire nation since sozin’s reign, is fundamentally wrong. by claiming that sacrificing fire nation soldiers for the sake of their imperialist project is a bad thing to do, zuko is positioning his own values outside of the fire nation’s; he was directly disrespecting the fire lord in front of his court.
that’s why ozai challenged zuko to an agni kai. in the kyoshi novels we learn that an agni kai is typically fought until an opponent is either killed or too badly wounded to continue fighting. i think ozai was hoping that stubborn, foolhardy zuko would attempt to fight him despite knowing that ozai is much stronger than him, giving him an excuse to kill his son.
he didn’t account for the fact that zuko didn’t actually understand that to the firelord, filial piety is incompatible with treasonous thoughts against the fire nation. zuko had no intention of insulting ozai, he was simply too clueless to realize that by speaking out against their tried and true war tactics, he was insulting ozai in the first place. so he surrenders, begs for forgiveness.
but of course ozai would never accept surrender. if he can’t kill zuko in combat, he will still burn him, and banish him. send him on an impossible quest with an empty promise that zuko can obsess over so relentlessly that he won’t even question why he was banished in the first place. which is because he had directly challenged the entire mission of fire nation outright.
it wasn’t just that he spoke out of turn. zuko surely didn’t know it at the time, had no idea that he was doing so, but nonetheless. he essentially committed treason.
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hi uncle nina! it's my birthday today and u don't have but will u pretty plz consider reposting that part of ch6 of rm where raven in on the phone with kenny b4 his hate with jers? i thought it was super cute and i really wanted to read it :3
awwww, happy birthday, darling! i hope it's as lovely as you are!
and i--sigh.
okay.
i hate complicated feelings surrounding chapter six ( aka the introduction to the iconique ravesey hate that i deleted from stress ) because i actually did love it...i just rushed the hell out of it, didn't plan it out very well and it was a mess. it could have been a lot better.
part of why i deleted it was actually because of that ravenstan/kenny phonecall because i felt worried that i revealed too much about how not cool and actually boy-failure-y stan was too early and could have kept the suspense going longer but aaaaaa i just wanted y'all to see how CUTE he was, like??? and how nervous! AAAA!!!
buuut considering the cat has been out of the bag, or rather, the raven has flown the nest for some time now...and it's the beauteous day you were born...i will humbly present you with this b-day present in the form of my incompetent idiot girl ramblings/writings, though, i fear it is not at all as grand the gift of your life is.
so, without further ado darlings, here is the endearing, embarrassing phone call ( it was over discord actually ) that ravenstan had with kenny prior to showing up to blondie's for his little hate-date with jerseykyle. it's a mess and unedited, but regardless, please know that from whatever hurts or harms you, i hope you heal, please rem(ember) to smile, pendejos,
and to now, as always, angels:
please enjoy the very, very...
worst part of your day. ;)
-uncle nina <333
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I've gotten up to the end of Season 1 in my rewatch of OFMD, and that final episode is so devastating in so many ways. Not just the Ed sections, which are hard to watch (because they're so good and so real). But the Stede sections too. The fuckery with the leopard is hilarious, as is literally everyone trying to kill Stede, but it is just so painful to watch this man attempt to fit back into his old life, knowing that he doesn't belong there and that it will just slowly kill him from the inside out. It's devastating to Mary and to his kids too, because they made lives without him.
I love that Mary is never vilified, which would have been such an easy out. She's a good person who tried very hard to make a marriage work with a man she didn't love and who didn't love her, and when he left, she moved on and was able to be free for the first time ever. She's trapped in that marriage too. It's such a quiet and humorous but profound way of showing that people are far better off when they're not lying about who they are, to themselves and to others.
Also: "His name is Ed" still gets me, man. Props to Rhys Darby for delivering that line as he does, because it's so sweet and so certain. He knows what Mary is saying. He knows what love feels like, and it's Ed. He meets her eyes when he says it; he emphasizes "His name is Ed." He's never said it before.
It's just really beautiful.
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