you were raised in comparison.
it wasn't always obvious (well. except for the times that it was), but you internalized it young. you had to eat what you didn't like, other people are going hungry, and you should be grateful. you had to suck it up and walk on the twisted ankle, it wasn't broken, you were just being a baby. you were never actually suffering, people obviously had it worse than you did.
you had a roof over your head - imagine! with the way you behaved, with how you talked back to your parents? you're lucky they didn't kick you out on your ass. they had friends who had to deal with that. hell, you have friends who had to deal with that. and how dare you imply your father isn't there for you - just because he doesn't ever actually talk to you and just because he's completely emotionally checked out of your life doesn't mean you're not fucking lucky. think about your cousins, who don't even get to speak to their dad. so what if yours has a mean streak; is aggressive and rude. at least you have a father to be rude to you.
you really think you're hurting? you were raised in a home! you had access to clean water! you never so much as came close to experiencing a real problem. sure, okay. you have this "mental illness" thing, but teenagers are always depressed, right. it's a phase, you'll move on with your life.
what do you mean you feel burnt out at work. what do you mean you mean you never "formed healthy coping mechanisms?" we raised you better than that. you were supposed to just shoulder through things. to hold yourself to high expectations. "burning out" is for people with real jobs and real stress. burnout is for people who have sick kids and people who have high-paying jobs and people who are actually experiencing something difficult. recently you almost cried because you couldn't find your fucking car keys. you just have lost your sense of gratitude, and honestly, we're kind of hurt. we tell you we love you, isn't that enough? if you want us to stick around, you need to be better about proving it. you need to shut up about how your mental health is ruined.
it could be worse! what if you were actually experiencing executive dysfunction. if you were really actually sick, would you even be able to look at things on the internet about it? you just spend too much time on webMD. you just like to freak yourself out and feel like you belong to something. you just like playing the victim. this is always how you have been - you've always been so fucking dramatic. you have no idea how good you have it - you're too fucking sensitive.
you were like, maybe too good of a kid. unwilling to make a real fuss. and the whole time - the little points, the little validations - they went unnoticed. it isn't that you were looking for love, specifically - more like you'd just wanted any one person to actually listen. that was all you'd really need. you just needed to be witnessed. it wasn't that you couldn't withstand the burden, but you did want to know that anyone was watching. these days, you are so accustomed to the idea of comparison - you don't even think you belong in your own communities. someone always fits better than you do. you're always the outlier. they made these places safe, and then you go in, and you are just not... quite the same way that would actually-fit.
you watch the little white ocean of your numbness lap at your ankles. the tide has been coming in for a while, you need to do something about it. what you want to do is take a nap. what you want to do is develop some kind of time machine - it's not like you want your life to stop, not completely, but it would really nice if you could just get everything to freeze, just for a little while, just until you're finished resting. but at least you're not the worst you've been. at least you have anything. you're so fucking lucky. do you have any concept of the amount of global suffering?
a little ant dies at the side of your kitchen sink. you look at its strange chitinous body and think - if you could just somehow convince yourself it is enough, it will finally be enough and you can be happy. no changes will have to be made. you just need to remember what you could lose. what is still precious to you.
you can't stop staring at the ant. you could be an ant instead of a person, that is how lucky you are. it's just - you didn't know the name of the ant, did you. it's just - ants spend their whole life working, and never complain. never pull the car over to weep.
it's just - when it died, it curled up into a tight little ball.
something kind of uncomfortable: you do that when you sleep.
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MHA Chapter 423 spoilers translations
This week’s initial tentative super rough/literal translations under the cut.
tagline 1
ねじ込んだ一撃ーー‼︎
ねじこんだいちげきーー‼︎
nejikonda ichigeki--!!
A single, exacting blow--!!
tagline 2
No.423 OFA vs AFO 堀越耕平
ナンバー423 ワン・フォー・オールバーサスオール・フォー・ワン ほりこしこうへい
NANBAA 423 WAN FOO OORU vs OORU FOO WAR Horikoshi Kouhei
No. 423 One for All vs All for One Kouhei Horikoshi
1
何故気付けなかった
なぜきづけなかった
naze kidzukenakatta
Why didn't I notice?
2
この窶れた"身体"に「超再生」が適用されない違和感
このやつれた"からだ"に「ちょうさいせい」がてきようされないいわかん
kono yatsureta "karada" ni 「chousaisei」 ga tekiyou sarenai iwakan
[This] sense of discomfort that Super Regeneration no longer applies to this worn-out body.
3
こいつだ…いやーーー
koitsu da...iya---
It's this guy...no---
4
こいつらがーー‼︎
koitsura ga--!!
All of these [people]--!!
5
謀ったのだ
はかったのだ
hakatta no da
They conspired.
1
それ単体では
それたんたいでは
sore tantai de wa
By itself
2
あまりに脆弱な"敵意"
あまりにぜいじゃくな"てきい"
amari ni zeijaku na "tekii"
[each one's] enmity was too frail,
3
しかし撚り集まって
しかしよりあつまって
shikashi yori atsumatte
but when they gathered together,
4
いつしか僕を覆い感受を鈍らせていたのだ
いつしかぼくをおおいかんじゅをにぶらせていたのだ
itsu shika boku wo ooi kanju wo niburasete ita no da
before I knew it, they enshrouded me and dulled my sensitivity.
(Note: He means his ability to sense one person via Danger Sense became dulled because there were too many people with enmity gathered together in one place.)
5
与一と継承者どもを打ち込まれたあの時にもう精神のみならず
よいちとけいしょうしゃどもをうちこまれたあのときにもうせいしんのみならず
Yoichi to keishousha-domo wo uchikomareta ano toki ni mou seishin no minarazu
Yoichi and all the successors were cast [into me]. At that time, not only my spirit but
6
身体も…‼︎
からだも…‼︎
karada mo...!!
my body, too...!!
7
生半可な"身体"では
なまはんかな"からだ"では
namahanka na "karada" de wa
(literal) A half-baked body
(official) Your limp-noodle body isn't ready for it.
8
受け取り切れず四肢が爆散してしまうんだ!
うけとりきれずししがばくさんしてしまうんだ!
uketori kirezu shishi ga bakusan shite shimaunda!
(literal) can't receive it. Your limbs would explode!
(official) Your limbs would pop right off!!
(Note: This frame is from chapter 2.)
9
たった2年…!8代目より少し上乗せされた…
たった2ねん…!8だいめよりすこしうわのせされた…
tatta 2nen...! 8daime yori sukoshi uwanosesareta...
"Only 2 years...! I only added a little more to [what it was with] 8th..."
(Note: He means he only added 2 years' worth of power to OFA, a tiny amount after what it was when All Might passed it off.)
10
9人分の力の結晶だ
9にんぶんのちからのけっしょうだ
9ninbun no chikara no kesshou da
"It's the crystallization of power in proportion to nine people."
1
既に"身体"も
すでに"からだ"も
sude ni karada mo
This body also has already
2
砕かれていた事に
くだかれていたことに
kudakarete ita koto ni
been broken, unfortunately.
3
"個性"が崩れてく…
"こせい"がくずれてく…
"kosei" ga kuzureteku...
"His quirks are crumbling..."
(Note: This is a word often used to describe the effects of Tomura's Decay.)
4
やったのか緑谷…!
やったのかみどりや…!
yatta no ka Midoriya...!
"Did you do it, Midoriya...!"
1
まだだ‼︎
mada da!!
Not yet!!
2
"個性"で無理矢理
"こせい"でむりやり
"kosei" de muriyari
With his quirks, he forcibly
3
つなぎ止めた!
つなぎとめた!
tsunagitometa!
tied himself together!
(Note: This word also means "to save someone's life." In this case AFO is forcibly preserving his own life by using his quirks to keep himself from falling apart.)
4
まだ何も為していない
まだなにもなしていない
mada nani mo nashite inai
"I haven't achieved anything yet."
5
誰にも奪わせはしない…‼︎
だれにもうばわせはしない…‼︎
dare ni mo ubawase wa shinai...!!
"I won't let anyone steal it away...!!"
6
僕だけが夢を為す
ぼくだけがゆめをなす
boku dake ga yume wo nasu
"Only I will achieve my dream."
7
誰にも…!継がぬ…紡がぬ‼︎
だれにも…!つがぬ…つむがぬ‼︎
dare ni mo...! tsuganu...tsumuganu!!
"No one...! [They] won't inherit it... [They] won't spin the tale*!!"
(*Note: The word used here means "to spin (thread), to make up a story, to assemble, to put together.")
8
魔王は常に唯一‼︎
まおうはつねにゆいいつ‼︎
maou wa tsune ni yuiitsu!!
"The Demon King is always the only one!!"
9
そうだとも繰り返せばいい…
そうだともくりかえせばいい…
sou da tomo kurikaeseba ii...
Even if that's true, I can just do it over again...
10
愚かな弔にそうしたように‼︎
おろかなとむらにそうしたように‼︎
oroka na Tomura ni sou shita you ni!!
Just like how I did to foolish Tomura!!
11
OFA無き今緑谷でも…!誰でも‼︎
ワン・フォー・オールなきいまみどりやでも…!だれでも‼︎
WAN FOO OORU naki ima Midoriya demo...! dare demo!!
Even Midoriya, now that he doesn't have One For All...! Anyone!!
12
"個性"を「与え」奪えばいい‼︎
"ぼく自身"を「あたえ」うばえばいい‼︎
"boku jishin (kanji: kosei)" wo 「atae」 ubaeba ii!!
I can give and take away "myself" (read as: my quirk)!!
1
器を!!!
うつわを!!!
utsuwa wo!!!
"[I'll make] a vessel!!!"
2
もうやめろAFO
もうやめろオール・フォー・ワン
mou yamero OORU FOO WAN
"Give it a rest, All For One."
3
緑谷‼︎
みどりや‼︎
Midoriya!!
"Midoriya!!"
4
白雲…⁉︎
しらくも…⁉︎
Shirakumo...!?
"Shirakumo...!?"
5
消…太
しょう…た
Shou...ta
"Shou...ta"
6
山…田…
やま…だ…
Yama...da...
"Yama...da..."
7
ゴメン…ナ……
GOMEN...NA......
"I'm...sorry......"
8
行かなくては…私はーーーーー
いかなくては…わたしはーーーーー
ikanakute wa...watashi wa-----
Have to go...I-----
1
死柄木弔を守らなくては
しがらきとむらをまもらなくては
Shigaraki Tomura wo mamoranakute wa
I have to protect Tomura Shigaraki
2
Xあ‼︎X生‼︎
Xあ‼︎Xしょう‼︎
XA!! Xshou!!
(Note: This speech bubble is partially cut off.)
3
やっぱり…‼︎どこまでも…
yappari...!! doko made mo...
"As expected...!! No matter what..."
4
手ぇ差し伸べちまうんだよあいつは‼︎
てぇさしのべちまうんだよあいつは‼︎
tee sashinobechimaunda yo aitsu wa!!
"he's that guy who'll hold out his hand [for someone]!!"
5
A…FO…
オール…フォー・ワン…
OORU...FOO WAN...
"All...For One..."
6
死柄…木弔を…オ返シ…下サイ
しがら…きとむらを…オかえシ…くだサイ
Shigara...ki Tomura wo...OkaSHI...kudaSAI
"Tomura Shigara...ki...Please give...him back."
7
オッおォッ
OoO
"Ooo"
1
オ友達が待っテイルんデす
オともだちがまっテイルんデす
Otomodachi ga matTE IRUnDEsu
"His friends are waiting."
1
爆豪⁉︎
ばくごう⁉︎
Bakugou!?
"Bakugou!?"
2
病院にって…‼︎うっそだろあいつ!
びょういんにって…‼︎うっそだろあいつ!
byouin ni tte...!! usso daro aitsu!
"They said [you were heading to] the hospital...!! That guy's unbelievable!"
3
「爆破」で一人で来やがった‼︎
「ばくは」でひとりできやがった‼︎
「bakuha」 de hitori de kiyagatta!!
"He went and came over alone using Explosion!!"
4
轟の"ジャンプ台"貸りたけどよォ〜〜〜〜〜
とどろきの"ジャンプだい"かりたけどよォ〜〜〜〜〜
Todoroki no "JANPU dai" karita kedo yoO~~~~~
"I borrowed Todoroki's jump platform, but~~~~~"
5
俺に追い越されてンなよ出久‼︎
おれにおいこされてンなよいずく‼︎
ore ni oikosareteN na yo Izuku!!
"don't let me overtake you, Izuku!!"
6
AFO…‼︎おまえを許しはしない
オール・フォー・ワン…‼︎おまえをゆるしはしない
OORU FOO WAN...!! omae wo yurushi wa shinai
"All For One...!! I won't forgive you."
1
けれど理解できない化物だとも思わない
けれどりかいできないばけものだともおもわない
keredo rikai dekinai bakemono da to mo omowanai
"But I don't think you're an incomprehensible monster."
2
…やめろ
...yamero
"...Stop."
3
おまえは魔王なんかじゃない
おまえはまおうなんかじゃない
omae wa maou nanka ja nai
"You are not actually a Demon King."
4
見るな
みるな
miruna
"Don't look [at me]."
5
おまえはただの
omae wa tada no
"You're just"
6
寂しがりな人間だ‼︎
さみしがりなにんげんだ‼︎
samishigari na ningen da!!
"a lonely person!!"
1
与一…⁉︎
よいち…⁉︎
Yoichi...!?
"Yoichi...!?"
2
緑谷くんは
みどりやくんは
Midoriya-kun wa
"Midoriya-kun"
3
限り限りのラインでカケラが残るよう
ぎりぎりのラインでカケラがのこるよう
girigiri no RAIN de KAKERA ga nokoru you
"seems to have a fragment remain for as long as possible."
4
ぶつける力を調整したんだね……
ぶつけるちからをちょうせいしたんだね……
butsukeru chikara wo chousei shitanda ne......
"I guess he adjusted the force of his hit......"
5
そして 残り火による"感応"で叩き起こしたんだ
そして のこりびによる"かんのう"でたたきおこしたんだ
soshite nokoribi ni yoru "kannou" de tataki okoshitanda
Then, I was roused awake in response to his embers.
6
僅かな残滓となった僕を
わずかなざんしとなったぼくを
wazuka na zanshi to natta boku wo
I, who became mere dregs,
7
ワン・フォー・オールを
WAN FOO OORU wo
One For All.
8
正しく完遂させる為に
ただしくかんすいさせるために
tadashiku kansui saseru tame ni
In order to properly follow [things] through.
(Note: The order of the lines here makes this confusing. He's saying that, in response to Izuku's final attack with his embers, the barest dregs of Yoichi's vestige was roused. This one last piece of his vestige remained likely because Izuku held back on his attack using Yoichi's vestige. Now that he, the base One For All quirk, has awoken, he will carry out the mission of One For All.)
9
どうでもいい‼︎
dou demo ii!!
"I don't care!!"
10
どうでもいい‼︎
dou demo ii!!
"I don't care!!"
11
消えるな‼︎顔を見せろ!
きえるな‼︎かおをみせろ!
kieruna!! kao wo misero!
"Don't disappear!! Show your face!"
12
無理だよ
むりだよ
muri da yo
"That's impossible."
13
消える
きえる
kieru
"I'll disappear."
14
駄目だ
だめだ
dame da
"You can't!"
15
僕のモノだ‼︎僕を見ていろ‼︎目を見せろ‼︎
ぼくのモノだ‼︎ぼくをみていろ‼︎めをみせろ‼︎
boku no MONO da!! boku wo mite iro!! me wo misero!!
"You're mine!! Look at me!! Show [me] your eyes!!"
16
兄さん
にいさん
niisan
"[Older] Brother,"
17
貴方を導けなかった
あなたをみちびけなかった
anata wo michibikenakatta
"I couldn't guide you."
18
これは緑谷くんが見出してくれた
これはみどりやくんがみいだしてくれた
kore wa Midoriya-kun ga miidashite kureta
"Midoriya-kun discovered this for me."
19
僕らへの最期の救済だ
ぼくらへのさいごのきゅうさいだ
bokura e no saigo no kyuusai da
"It's our final* salvation."
(*Note: The word used for "final" here means "one's last moment at their time of death.")
1
駄目だ‼︎許可しない‼︎大好きだ!
だめだ‼︎きょかしない‼︎だいすきだ!
dame da!! kyoka shinai!! daisuki da!
"You can't!! I won't allow it!! I love you!"
2
大好きなんだ!!!おまえがいないと僕は駄目なんだ!!!
だいすきなんだ!!!おまえがいないとぼくはだめなんだ!!!
daisuki nanda!!! omae ga inai to boku wa dame nanda!!!
"I love you!!! If you're gone I have no purpose*!!!"
(*Note: The word used here, dame, means many things depending on context. It means "bad, no good, useless, broken, hopeless, wasted, in vain, purposeless.")
3
そうやって
sou yatte
"In that way,"
4
全てを己が為に利用してきた代償を払う時だ
すべてをおのがためにりようしてきたツケをはらうときだ
subete wo ono ga tame ni riyou shite kita TSUKE (kanji: daishou) wo harau toki da
"it's time to pay reparations for taking advantage of everything for your own sake."
5-6
彼が起こしたのは僕だけじゃない
かれがおこしたのはぼくだけじゃない
kare ga okoshita no wa boku dake ja nai
"I was not the only one he awoke."
1
先生に喰われて消滅したと思ったんだけどな…
せんせいにくわれてしょうめつしたとおもったんだけどな…
sensei ni kuwarete shoumetsu shita to omottanda kedo na...
I thought I had been devoured by Master and disappeared, but...
2
あんたが俺を
あんたがおれを
anta ga ore wo
were you
3
消えないように繋ぎ止めてたのか
きえないようにつなぎとめてたのか
kienai you ni tsunagi tometeta no ka
tying* me down so I wouldn't disappear?
(*Note: Again, this word also means "to save someone's life.")
4
おばあちゃん
obaachan
Grandma,
5
黒霧……………
くろぎり……………
Kurogiri...............
Kurogiri...............
6
先生から身体を奪い返しただけで
せんせいからからだをうばいかえしただけで
sensei kara karada wo ubai kaeshita dake de
I only stole my body back from Master, and
7
何も壊せやしなかった
なにもこわせやしなかった
nani mo kowase ya shinakatta
I didn't destroy anything.
8
結局俺はおまえの言った通り…泣いてるガキだったって事か
けっきょくおれはおまえのいったとおり…ないてるガキだったってことか
kekkyoku ore wa omae no itta toori...naiteru GAKI datta tte koto ka
"In the end, I was just as you said... A crying kid, huh?"
9
この手をX壊せなかったX
このてをXこわせなかったX
kono te wo X kowasenakatta X
"This hand X couldn't break X"."
(Note: Some of this speech bubble is cut off. It could say something like "I couldn't break these hands of yours.")
10
…やった事を許せはしないだから戦った
…やったことをゆるせはしないだからたたかった
...yatta koto wo yuruse wa shinai da kara tatakatta
"...I can't forgive the things you've done; that's why I fought."
1
止めたかったし…止まってほしかったんだ
とめたかったし…とまってほしかったんだ
tometakatta shi...tomatte hoshikattanda
"I wanted to stop [you]... I wanted [you] to stop,"
2
悲しみが紡がれないように
かなしみがつむがれないように
kanashimi ga tsumugarenai you ni
"so that the sadness wouldn't [keep] spin[ning]*."
(*Note: This is back to that word that means "to spin yarn, to spin tales, etc." Izuku is saying he didn't want the sadness to beget more sadness. He wants the chain of sadness to stop.)
3
ハッ
HA
"Ha."
(Note: This is an exhalation that could mean any number of things, like shock, laughter, realization, etc.)
4
緑谷出久
みどりやいずく
Midoriya Izuku
"Izuku Midoriya,"
5
スピナーが生きてたら伝えてくれよ
スピナーがいきてたらつたえてくれよ
SUPINAA ga ikitetara tsutaete kure yo
"if Spinner is alive, please tell him [something]."
6
"死柄木弔"は最期まで壊す為に戦ったって
"しがらきとむら"はさいごまでこわすためにたたかったって
"Shigaraki Tomura" wa saigo made kowasu tame ni tatakatta tte
"Tomura Shigaraki fought until the very end* in order to destroy."
(*Note: Again, this is that "finale" word that means "one's last moment at their time of death.")
7
もう…壊したよ
もう…こわしたよ
mou...kowashita yo
"You already...destroyed [it]."
tagline
決着‼︎永きにわたる因縁が晴れ上がるーー‼︎
けっちゃく‼︎ながきにわたるいんねんがはれあがるーー‼︎
kecchaku!! nagaki ni wataru innen ga hareagaru--!!
Settled!! The chain of cause and effect that spans a long time is cleared up--!!
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ok wait i need to hear more of your thoughts on peeta owning a bakery....
This is one of those rare times where I’m pretty sure this anon isn’t someone I know personally bc I’ve subjected anyone who will listen to my rant about the Peeta Bakery Headcanon. Anyway, you’re gonna regret asking this anon bc there are fucking Layers here.
I know this is probably a controversial take based on the number of fics where I’ve seen it, but I simply do not think that Peeta would open a commercial bakery after Mockingjay!! Like on a metatextual level, I don’t think it really fits with the point of the ending of the series. It actually sort of fascinates me that it’s just such a common headcanon because the ending of Mockingjay is exceedingly vague. I think that vagueness invites us, as readers, to imagine a better world post-revolution. A world where Katniss would feel confident that her children would be safe from injustice, where she’d feel confident that her children would never know want the way she did as a child. A just world. A kinder world. Can a capitalist society ever be just? Is a capitalist society where a disabled teenager has no other means to subsist himself (or feels like there’s no other way he can be a contributing member of his community) really the post-revolution world we dream of? Is that really the best we can imagine?
(This got so insanely long I’m adding a read more lmao)
I get that showing a better world is not always the point of post-mockingjay headcanons/fics. Like there are plenty of really great post-mockingjay fics I’ve seen where, yeah, part of the fic is that society like ISN’T all that different or all that much better. I’ve seen that really well done! Hell, I’ve written them myself! It’s easy to imagine how a lot of aspects of society would not get an overhaul, a lot of the same structural inequalities would continue to exist. One headcanon that really stuck with me (I can’t remember which fic it was from) was that Peeta sells basically mail order baked goods to people on the Capitol, sending them iced cakes and pastries by train, because there are still people who were “fans” of theirs during the Games. And idk this doesn’t actually have much to do with my point lol but I liked it because it’s kind of fucked up and like! Yeah! It makes sense! If he needed money that would be a good way to make it! War often makes people rich, often for horrible reasons, and often it’s people who already have capital in the first place.
Anyway, more about the hypothetical bakery because alright. I bring up the fact that “yeah society not being all that different post-revolution and still being an unjust capitalist hellscape” could be a reason why Peeta re-opens a bakery because that’s actually never the types of fics where I see the bakery headcanon. Fics where Peeta opens a bakery are usually trying to make the exact opposite point. Like. Things are getting better, now he can open a bakery! Look at how much better the world is now, plus he’s got a bakery! Peeta is healing, that’s why he can open a bakery now! And I am so, so sorry to inform everyone who’s never had the grave misfortune of owning a family business, but there is truly nothing further from the truth lmao. Like just putting aside the immense amount of emotional baggage that Peeta has about his family, running a small business is an insane amount of work in any context and being a baker especially is physically grueling and involves early hours (and long hours) that aren’t really the best fit with the multiple ways that Peeta is disabled now. (I could go into this more because I have a lot of thoughts. But I will spare you.). I also think it’s seen throughout the books that Peeta is someone who needs time to pursue creative outlets to process his feelings and someone who values leisure and values quality time with his loved ones. And having grown up in his family’s bakery, I think he’d understand the reality that running a bakery wouldn’t leave much space of those pursuits and wouldn’t leave much space for him to have the things that keep him healthy and stable. I think he’d know that the way he is now— after two Games and the war and unspeakable torture at the hands of a dictator—isn’t compatible with the lifestyle necessary for running a commercial bakery.
And tbh with that in mind, I don’t think he’d push himself to re-open a business (one that would be a constant reminder of his dead family and his complicated relationships with them that got no closure) that would require him to sacrifice his physical and emotional well-being. Like I think he might look into the possibility, I think he might even start trying to open a bakery out of a sense of obligation/duty, maybe harboring some idea that this is who he was supposed to be, who he would've been without the Games, or that it’s this last piece of his family that can live on, or that it’s this last connection to his family so he can’t let it die too. But ultimately, I think any attempt to open a bakery wouldn’t get very far. Maybe he'd start wading into the logistical nightmare that is small business ownership and realize it's not for him (because it's probably also true that as much as him and his brothers were involved in the business, there's almost certainly parts they weren't involved with and didn't see, i.e., filing taxes). Or maybe looking into opening a bakery— how triggering it is, the stress of it— causes a downward spiral. Maybe he hates how much he's worrying everyone by unraveling. Maybe having a breakdown from the stress of just trying to open a bakery makes him realize, yeah, maybe in another life he would have ran his family’s bakery but the way he is now just doesn’t work with running a bakery, not without great sacrifices he's not willing to make. I just can’t see a bakery coming to fruition.
I know a lot of fics include Peeta deciding to reopen a bakery as a big step in his healing or include him rebuilding a bakery as part of his healing process but honestly, I think the opposite would be more true: I think Peeta either trying/failing to open a bakery or ultimately deciding not to open a bakery would be hugely healing for him. I think it would be a huge part of him accepting the way he is now as a person, his new limitations but also his strengths. I think it would be a huge part of him accepting the way his life his now and accepting that he likes his life the way it is, that he’s satisfied with his life without needing to own a bakery. I think it would be an important part of him coming to terms with the loss of his family. I think he knows he can never have things back as they were and I don’t think he would try to recreate them, especially because his family’s legacy isn’t a business. I think he’s emotionally intelligent enough and self reflective enough to realize that what mattered to him about the bakery— taking care of others by feeding them, being integrated into his community and being actively involved in it, brightening people’s days with delightful things whether that’s beautiful cakes or hearty food or delicious treats— and the things he learned from his family through the bakery, are things that he can carry on in other meaningful ways.
(Do you regret sending this ask yet, anon? Because if not, you will soon. I’m not done yet. There’s more.)
I wasn’t really sure where to put this next part in what is rapidly becoming an essay because it sort of combines the points about like “what do we imagine a post-mockingjay society to look like” with the practical difficulties of starting this bakery but here’s another thing: do people really think that the Mellarks owned the land the bakery was on?? Like, sure, the merchants are the petit bourgeois of Twelve but I still don’t imagine they really own anything. In a society where houses are assigned to people upon marriage, where property ownership and capital are so closely interconnected with citizenship (as shown by the Plinths who, by having immense capital, are able to leave their District and become citizens of the Capitol) do people really think the Mellarks would be allowed to own the land their bakery is on?? I always imagined it sort of like a tenant farming situation: the Capitol gives them the raw materials for the bakery and in return the bakery give them some absurdly high portion of their profits, or the Capitol sells them a year’s supply of raw materials at a premium on credit and at the end of the year the Mellarks have to use the money they made with those materials to pay it back, except it’s never enough to turn a profit so they always have to buy next year’s materials on credit and the cycle continues.
We (understandably) get a really skewed view of the merchant class through Katniss’s perspective so I can see why people come to the conclusion that his family owned the property and, as the last surviving member, he would’ve inherited it. I’ve seen the inheritance thing in fics a lot or a hand wavey “well Twelve was decimated to no one owns anything anymore so it can be his” or even like an almost sort of reparations type situation where he’s entitled to the land as a surviving refugee of Twelve. But I don’t know. I guess I don’t think it fits with everything else we know about Panem that the Mellarks would’ve owned that land and I think the question of whether the government would’ve let him take ownership of the land post-revolution brings up a lot of issues about the structure of society post-Mockingjay that I find more interesting to explore in other ways, especially when, from an emotional perspective, 1) I find the idea of Peeta not opening a bakery more compelling and 2) I don’t think it really fits his character arc by the end of Mockingjay to reopen a bakery, as I went on about at length above lol.
On the flip side: literally who cares!! Do whatever you want!! Headcanon whatever you want!! I get why people go for the bakery!! It’s fun, it’s wholesome, it’s a built in bakery AU that isn’t even an AU. It doesn’t matter if it’s practical or realistic!! It doesn’t need to be practical or realistic!! It’s fanfic of a dystopian YA series!! My unfortunate affliction is that I grew up in a family that owned a restaurant and that I have multiple degrees in the social sciences so I can’t see the bakery without being like “What about the overheard? What about the start up costs? Who’s spending long nights balancing the books? Is Peeta covering shifts when an employee calls in sick? Is Peeta the sole person working there until the bakery is open long enough (often a year or more) to start turning a profit? How does that sleep schedule work with his nightmares? How does that work with Katniss’s nightmares? What happens when he has an episode and suddenly needs to take the day off before he has any employees? Does the bakery just remain closed for the day? Can the profit margins withstand regular unexpected closures? Can the supplies withstand regular unexpected closures?” And if the answer is “Elliott none of those things matter he’s not doing the bakery because he needs the money but because he wants to”, then my question is why does he want to? Does he not get the same sort of satisfaction out of feeding his loved ones? Doesn’t Peeta seem like someone who would rather give away baked goods than sell them?? Doesn’t Peeta seem like someone who would prefer to make cakes for people’s special occasions upon and then when they insist on paying him for it, he only lets them “pay for the ingredients” which actually cost significantly more than he says they did??
So yeah my point is that it’s a matter of personal taste! It doesn’t fit the way I see the series but that doesn’t mean it’s like wrong, I’m not an authority on Peeta lmao.
It’s also a matter of personal taste in the sense that I find the themes that most resonate with me at the end of Mockingjay (and the end of Peeta’s arc specifically) more interesting to explore in other ways. Grief, living with loss, relearning yourself, finding hope, figuring out your place in a dramatically different world when you don’t even know who you are anymore, healing, building a new life after such complete and total destruction of your old life— those are all things I find compelling about the end of Mockingjay but for me the bakery isn’t the most compelling way to explore them.
Not to say I find the concept of the bakery totally uninteresting. I have this fic about Johanna that I’ll probably never finish where the point sort of is that, yeah, her life really isn’t all that much better after the war. It’s been years at this point and she’s still miserable and she doesn’t know how to be a person but by the end she’s trying to figure it out. And towards the end, Peeta tells her that he’s spent years sort of passively, half-heartedly trying to figure out how to inherit the land his family’s bakery was on, only to find out it was never theirs in the first place. They’d been renting it the whole time and he’d never even known as a kid. So he sort of passively, half-heartedly went on another wild goose chase to find the owner and now, finally, after years of writing to various government agencies and being sent in circles and things being barely functional, he’s managed to track down the owner. Now it’s owned by the daughter of the man who owned it when he was a kid because the original owner (who was likely up to some sketchy war crime shit) died during the war and she inherited it (the irony…). He got in contact with her and asked how much it would take for her to sell it and she told him she’s not interested in selling but in light of the situation, in light of the fact that he’d have to build a new building in order to operate a bakery, that she’d cut him a deal— she’d only require 50% of the bakery’s profits as rent instead of the 80% his family used to pay. And of course Johanna is outraged, that’s not right, the owner shouldn’t be allowed to do that, they should do something about it, they should fight back. And Peeta is like. Not interested. He was actually sort of relieved that opening wasn’t very feasible. Getting the answer was a lightbulb moment where he saw that over the years of trying to look into this, he’s built a life that he likes— one where he’s stable, where his loved ones are stable, where he’s cared for and can care for others— and he doesn’t really want to change it drastically by opening a bakery anyway. He just needed an answer, one way or another, before he could get some closure and move on. (And the point of the conversation is Johanna is having her own lightbulb moment that it’s okay to move on, it’s okay to change, it’s not a betrayal of the people and things she’s lost but that’s not my point here!!).
But anyway. That’s obviously not about running the bakery— it’s about the choice to not run one.
Anyway!! Anyway… are you satisfied anon? Is this what you wanted?
Lastly, here is my most important qualm with the bakery headcanon: must Peeta be gainfully employed? Is it not enough for him to be Katniss’s boytoy? Can’t he just paint and garden and bake and hang out with his girlfriend all day? Is that really too much to ask?
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