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flowerandblood · 6 months

Text

The Prince and The Fox (2)

[ modern! • Aemond x friend! • female ]

[ warnings: bullying, mention of sexual abuse, trauma ]

[ description: After the events of her childhood, despite her best efforts, her neighbor and the younger brother of her friend Helaena, Aemond, does not want to know her. This state lasts until a house party organized by his older brother, Aegon, during which an incident occurs that will change their relationship forever. Slow burn, angst, toxic ex-Alys, rough Aemond. This is several anon requests combined into one fic. ]

WARNING: The main plot between the characters takes place in high school. Yes, in high school. The belief that teenagers wait with an intimacy when they are in love in high school is ridiculous to me. Aemond and the character here are the same age. Don't ask me how old they are, in my country you are of the age of consent in your first year of high school and an adult in the last year of high school, so if it is more convenient for you, think about it that way and decide for yourself. In this story, I am not following the trail that they are magically friends right away, but how they become friends and what that even means. I'm writing this fic to give the perspective of young, lost people, not adult women who want to see exactly themselves in everything they read. If that's all you expect, this isn't the fic for you.

I don't want whining about this in my comments or asks. I will delete these and block you. You have been warned.

Aemond + Evans Series Moodboard

This is my first story that has its own playlist, but yes! Get in the mood! Story Music Playlist. Songs used in this chapter: Turn Your Back on me & The Lion's Mouth by Kajagoogoo and Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses.

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Next chapters: Masterlist

_____

That night she slept very badly. Her parents asked why she had come back so early and if she had enjoyed herself. She burst out crying, unaccustomed to lying, and told them what had happened.

Her father was furious, stormed out of the house and made her show him which boy had nagged and touched her. She begged him to let it go, Cregan had been away from the party for a long time, they had gone somewhere with friends.

Her father said he wouldn't leave it like that and demanded to speak to Aemond. The next morning she appeared, accompanied by her father, at their house, embarrassed, her father explaining what had happened. Their mother was shocked by what she had heard.

She, her father, Alicent, Aegon, Aemond and Helaena sat down in the living room to talk about it.

"What? God, I swear, Mum, I didn't know Cregan would do something like that!" Mumbled Aegon, shocked at what had happened, Helaena was distraught and sat beside her, stroking her hand. Aemond looked at her, some kind of understanding in his eyes.

He felt that she had done the right thing telling her parents about it.

"Aemond, my daughter told me that you stopped him and stood up for her. I am very grateful to you and I want to ask you, if his parents insisted that it was word against word, will you be able to confirm what she said?" Her father asked, and he nodded without hesitation, tightening his lips.

"Yes. It was exactly as she said. I heard him tell his mates at school during break that he was planning to fuck her here at the party." He said in shame, lowering his gaze, his mother shaking her head in disbelief, slapping her hands on her thighs in a gesture of helplessness and rage.

"And you kept silent?" She asked with disappointment and pain. He pressed his lips together and swallowed hard, overwhelmed apparently by remorse.

She felt her stomach tighten at the thought that he really hadn't meant to stop then, that he could have done something much worse to her.

Aemond lifted a gaze full of pain and shame at her.

"I-I thought he was just bragging to his mates and... I don't know, that you're into each other. That maybe you want this too. That he's actually a good guy and wouldn't do anything to you against your will. But when I saw your face when he started touching your thigh on the couch, that look of discomfort, I…" He said in a slightly trembling voice and paused, looking her straight in the eye.

She swallowed hard, understanding what he wanted to say.

He didn't expect it from him either.

She nodded, feeling warm in her heart nonetheless at the thought that he had followed them out to see if anything would happen to her.

If he would hurt her.

She covered her face with her hand, her father put his arm around her and stroked her tenderly.

"It's good that you spoke about it, sweetheart. You can't leave it like that." Alicent said, nodding her head. Suddenly she clapped her hands as if she remembered something.

"The cameras! Our security company keeps footage for 48 hours. We also have one in the garden in case of a break-in, why don't I call them and ask them to send us the video from yesterday? We'll check if we can see anything on it." She suggested, her father said it was an excellent idea.

She lowered her head, terrified that her father and others would be able to see it, that perhaps on the video it wouldn't look like sexual assault at all.

After all, she had hugged him herself.

They waited impatiently by Alicent's laptop, sitting down and glancing at her inbox, the security company employee who was in charge of her equipment said he would try to send her the footage within fifteen minutes.

They all flinched and moved closer as a new message appeared with a video file. She swallowed loudly, terrified, ashamed, feeling a tightening in her stomach and throat, afraid that it didn't look at all like she said it did, that everyone would think she was lying, that they would never believe her again.

She felt herself shaking, her knee moving up and down in an involuntary tic. She shuddered when she heard someone put a chair next to her, Aemond sat down touching her with his knees and shoulders, placing his elbows on the table, leaning over the monitor.

"It was about ten o'clock at night, Mum. I remember because by the time I left the clock was striking the hour in the living room." He said lowly, and Alicent quickly ran the cursor to that hour and turned on the accelerator a few times.

"Oh okay, mum, it's them, I can see Cregan!" Said Aegon, leaning between them, turning off the acceleration. Alicent pressed the spacebar, stopping the video.

"Do you want everyone to watch this?" She asked her quietly. She looked around and thought, in essence, that she recognised that these were people she trusted, who she hoped cared about her.

She nodded, swallowing hard.

Alicent pressed play.

The camera was up high and part of the bench was obscured by the canopy, their faces not visible. She saw them sit down, saw his arm around her, stroking her hand for a moment. She felt a cold sweat on her back as she saw his fingers lift higher and higher, heard Aegon and his mother draw in a loud breath as his hand slid under her dress.

Her father covered his mouth, heartbroken when he saw her hand immediately clamp down on his wrist in a clear gesture of defence, her whole body tense, it was obvious she was trying to pull away, to push back, to escape, and instead of letting her go he pressed her tighter against him.

She felt tears under her eyelids and lowered her head, not knowing where to look, she felt Aemond press his body closer to hers, felt his breath on the top of her head, felt him looking at her.

"− Jesus −" Muttered Aegon in disbelief, running a hand over his face. "− fucking piece of shit −"

Then they could already see Cregan and Aemond struggling with each other, her sitting down on the grass and crying, Aemond crouching down beside her and putting his arms around her, saying something to her.

The footage had no sound, but what could be seen on it was enough to clearly understand what had happened.

Her father got up and said he needed to get some air for a while and smoke a cigarette. Alicent followed him out, apparently wanting to work out what they were going to do, whether to report it to the police or not.

She felt Helaena's warm embrace, felt her lay her head on her shoulder and hugged her immediately, Aegon and Aemond looked at them in silence.

"− I'm sorry − fuck − if I had known, I would never have invited him! − I saw you two cuddling on the couch in the living room, but God, I thought you two were just in love − that, I don't know, you're together, just unofficially yet −" He mumbled, and she swallowed loudly, rubbing her eyes, trying to pull herself together.

"− please, Aegon − it's not your fault − you didn't do anything wrong − don't worry, I won't tell anyone about the alcohol −" She said quietly, tiredly, and he sighed heavily, scratching his head, clearly distraught that something like this had happened at his own party.

Aemond said nothing, fiddling with his mug of already half-cold coffee, it seemed to her that he hadn't slept well that night either.

Her father had decided that they would drive with this recording to his parents.

She was horrified.

"I will go with you." Aemond said, and her father nodded.

They drove there together in their car with Alicent's laptop. They sat side by side in the back seat, she saw that he was pulling at the cuticles around his fingernails again, she noticed with pain that he had actual wounds around them.

When he saw in the reflection in the window that she was looking at him he stopped immediately and swallowed loudly, lowering his gaze.

He was stressed too.

When they arrived a surprised Mrs Stark opened the door for them, asking who they were and what had happened.

"I would like to talk to you about your son."

She, Aemond and her father sat on the couch on one side and Cregan and his parents on the other as her father played them the video. Cregan was pale, sitting with his arms folded, feigning indifference, his knee shaking restlessly, he was biting his lower lip, his eyes red.

He was terrified.

His mother made big eyes when she saw the moment he slipped his hand under her dress and looked at him with disbelief mixed with pain. His father snorted, shrugging his shoulders.

"And what, are you going to go to the police? Destroy a young boy's life because he made a mistake, because his hormones are raging?" He asked as if it was a trivial matter, a complete nothing. She felt the rage surge in her father.

"Because of your son's hormones, he can act like a mindless monkey and grope girls who don't want him to?" He hissed, his father raising his eyebrows, pointing at her with his hand.

"Please, forgive me, but from what I can see in this video your daughter was pushing herself into his arms, after all he could have misunderstood her…"

"Mark." Said his wife, clearly not believing what she was hearing, pale.

Her father stood up, pointing his finger at her.

"My child came home crying because someone molested her. He only stopped because her classmate went out into the garden. And what would your son do if no one helped her, hm? How long would he hold her while she tried to break free?" He thundered furiously on the verge of tears, she had never seen him like this before.

She just sat on the couch, looking at her shoes, shaking all over, feeling that her biggest nightmare had just taken place in front of her eyes.

Please, forgive me, but from what I can see in this video your daughter was pushing herself into his arms.

Mr Stark raised his hands in a defensive gesture as if to show that his aim was not to argue or escalate the conflict.

"I admit, my son acted unwisely. He misread the girl's signals and behaved badly. We will be watching him more closely in this area. Is that all?" He asked, and her father closed the laptop with a loud slam and growled to them that they were leaving.

She stood up and cast one last look in Cregan's direction, he was looking at her with a hatred she had never seen in her life before.

She burst into sobs as soon as they got into the car, her father comforting her loudly telling her not to cry, that they were driving to the police station.

"No, no, please, no!" She whimpered, leaning forward, grabbing his arm, her father looked at her in the mirror.

"What?"

"I can't do it, I can't do it anymore. I… stop, I think I'm going to throw up." She mumbled, her father stopped with a squeal of tyres. She got out and immediately vomited on the grass, coughing and crying, feeling her stomach convulse in pain.

She heard them both get out of the car, her father put his arms around her saying that everything would be fine, Aemond stood beside them not knowing what to do with himself, not knowing how to behave.

The next few days at school were extremely difficult for her. Some of her friends and acquaintances were shocked and horrified, giving her their complete support and understanding, saying they were disappointed by Cregan's behaviour.

However, others thought that she was simply lying.

"Attention whore." One of his friends growled, hitting her on the shoulder with his arm as he walked past her.

She saw that someone had scratched the word 'liar' on her locker standing in the corridor. She looked at it indifferently, then opened it as if nothing had happened and exchanged the books she needed with the ones she could put away.

This time he was the one looking at her.

She felt his gaze on her back in the classroom, in the corridor, as she sat at the bus stop looking at her shoes.

For some reason, even though she was alive and everything was going on, she felt dead.

She couldn't erase his touch from her mind.

She sat on the bus in total reverie, occupying the seat at the back by the window, sitting in her earphones, listening recently to nothing but Kajagoogoo songs, 'Too shy', 'Turn Your Back On Me', 'Ooh to Be Ah', 'The Lion's Mouth' looped on her player.

Their electronic sound and the wonderful bass guitar in the background energised her when she had no strength and couldn't rouse herself.

She had just listened to 'Turn Your Back On Me' for the second time since the morning when she felt someone sit down next to her.

She glanced to the side and spotted a black sweatshirt, familiar hands clicking something on his phone, apparently pausing the song he had just listened to on his player, she saw that it was 'Welcome to the Jungle' by Guns N' Roses. She pulled down one earpiece, looking at him in surprise.

"What are you listening to?" He asked, pulling on the cord of his black earphones, which dropped gently onto his lap with a quiet click.

She handed him her earphone, which he took from her, placing it in his left ear, moving a little closer to her so that there was enough cable for both of them. He mused, listening.

"Interesting." He muttered lowly, glancing at her player.

"Kajagoogoo." She said quietly, going into the track list so he could see what their songs were called.

"Nice bass." He admitted, as if surprised by this discovery himself. She nodded and closed her eyes, resting her temple against the glass, just sinking into the sound of the music.

He listened to the songs of her favourite band with her until they reached the school.

When the bus stopped he handed her back her earpiece, their hands touched. They looked at each other, for the first time so closely. He picked up his backpack and rose, trying not to hit his head on the low ceiling and walked out in front of her, no longer paying attention to her.

She walked through the corridor of her school listening to "The Lion's Mouth", trying not to pay attention to whether anyone was looking at her or not, focusing on the words of the song, staring blankly ahead.

Hey fool watch out! (Watch out) You'll get mauled by the lion's mouth -

Hey fool watch out! (Watch out) You'll get mauled by the lion's mouth (I don't think so) -

Hey fool watch out! (Watch out) You'll get mauled by the lion's mouth -

The music suddenly stopped when someone tripped her up. She wobbled and fell over, collapsing on the floor, her earphones falling out of her ears. She lifted herself up on her arms and turned over her shoulder, noticing Cregan's hateful stare.

A moment later, several things happened at the same time. Aemond who threw him to the floor, pounding his face with his fist, holding his sweatshirt, growling that he was a fucking piece of shit, a mere abuser, a nobody, a zero.

His colleagues and teachers had to separate them, Cregan spat blood on the floor.

She felt someone grab her shoulders, Helaena stood over her, looking at her in horror.

"Are you all right?"

She sat in her classroom terrified, glancing anxiously over her shoulder at the empty seat in the bench he sat in, knowing that he and Cregan had ended up at the headmaster's office.

That he was in trouble because of her, that he could be suspended because of her.

She shuddered when she heard the sound of the door opening and saw him step inside, the teacher paused his reasoning for a moment and grunted, returning to the subject of the lesson.

Aemond walked over to his bench without a word, not looking at her, and sat down in his chair, pulling off his backpack, taking out his textbooks and notebook, giving her one calm look.

She pulled her phone quickly from her sweatshirt pocket, reminding herself that she had his phone number, and quickly texted him.

She heard his phone vibrate on his bench. She sat looking ahead, feeling her heart pounding hard.

After a moment, the display of her phone lying on her thighs lit up and she saw that she had received a new message. She opened it quickly, feeling a tightness in her throat.

She turned towards him over her shoulder, his lips curving into a grin. She smiled gratefully at him and breathed quietly, turning ahead, trying to finally focus on what her teacher was talking about.

Boarding the bus after class, she dared to sit next to him. They looked at each other, he watched as she untangled her earphones and plugged them into her phone. She saw him pull his own off and pause his player.

"Are you going to listen to that band with weird name again?" He asked lowly and she nodded, smiling at him.

He held out his hand to her and she handed him her earpiece, this time with her left hand, turning on 'The Lion's Mouth'.

"This is my favourite." She admitted with a smile, feeling calm for some reason, her stomach filled with warmth.

"Mmm." He hummed, their elbows resting against each other lying on their armrest, however neither of them seemed to mind.

She understood then.

The Little Prince took a step towards the Fox of his free will.

She smiled under her breath.

He wanted her to tame him.

_____

Aemond Taglist:

(bold means I couldn't tag you)

@its-actually-minicika @notnormalthings-blog @nikstrange @zenka69 @bellaisasleep @k-y-r-a-1 @g-cf2020 @melsunshine @opheliaas-stuff @chainsawsangel @iiamthehybrid @tinykryptonitewerewolf @namoreno @malfoytargaryen @qyburnsghost @aemondsdelight @persephonerinyes @fan-goddess @sweethoneyblossom1 @watercolorskyy

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 2 months

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I’m not sure if you’ve ever said anything about this, but the first time I read new moon, the vote chapter, there was one bit that really stuck out:

(from Bella’s point of view) Edward grabbed my face in his hand, forcing me to look at him. His other hand was out, palm toward Carlisle. Carlisle ignored that.

Bella later went on to say it was hard to talk clearly with how Edward was holding her jaw. I don’t know if I’ve misunderstood what exactly was happening, but why did the entire family watch that and do nothing? I’ve read the metas where you’ve said it’d take a lot for Carlisle to realise what Edward really is, but surely that’s a pretty massive indicator and Carlisle actively ignored it?

Anon, you're hilarious.

An Aside in Which I Say "Look in the Mirror"

I've been running this blog for a few years now (a terrifying thought) and I'm both a) one of the most critical of Edward in this space (which is not a bad thing, mind, people are free to do what they like) b) often get asks in which I am asked by anons to justify why I think poorly of Edward.

This is on top of the thousands of metas I've written pointing out various things from canon, where I've presented many arguments, and anons still will ask me to make more arguments.

This is fandom, anon, relatively objective observers who are privy to information the characters in the story don't have. We know Bella's exact thoughts, we know how Edward has interacted with her in private, and we even know Edward's private thoughts for at least the duration of Twilight because of Midnight Sun.

AND YET, I AM HERE.

And you ask this as if it should be obvious to the most casual observer.

Back to Your Ask

I've discussed this at length in posts I'm too lazy to look up at the moment but the crux of it is that

a) Edward's a beloved family member and it's deeply hard to think ill of those we love and we want to justify their actions

b) the family doesn't see most of what goes on with Bella and are only told things by Alice and Edward with Alice being firmly on Edward's side

c) Due to his having previously had a redemption arc in which Edward came back unprompted to the diet even though it must have been not only humiliating but terrifying, Edward comes across as one of the Cullens who best understands that human life is worth protecting and just why they're all doing the diet.

This particular moment though, I'd also give Edward a pass if I was present. To touch Bella at all, to move her like this, Edward has to be extraordinarily gentle and careful. If he was at all rough with her, at all, Bella would be dead or seriously injured (with her jaw crushed between Edward's fingers, her neck snapped, etc.) Basically, for Edward to do this at all, he's being incredibly mindful and the Cullens as vampires are very aware of that.

Add onto that that Bella can speak, when this is a guy who's hand is made of stone, he has to be holding her incredibly gently from his perspective for her to be able to speak at all (and not have a broken jaw).

Also from the outside perspective, where Bella and Edward are in this romantic relationship (even though they just got out of being broken up) and they all know Edward's deeply in love with Bella, this looks like an intimate gesture than it does a "LOOK AT ME" gesture. It's not something any of them would do, or a normal person would, but they're also not dating Bella/convinced they're soulmates with her.

Add into that that they're in the middle of a very intense day, in which Edward had just tried to kill himself and is very emotionally fragile, Bella's now asking to be turned directly, the Volturi barely pardoned them, and Edward is coming unglued with the idea that Bella's going to be turned and the Cullens aren't at the top of their game.

They're just trying to get through the conversation where they tell Edward (and Rosalie) that, yes, they actually do have to turn Bella.

This doesn't register as physical violence to them, and I don't blame them for this one.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #bella swan #the cullens #carlisle cullen #meta #headcanon #opinion

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matan4il · 1 year

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Good morning Alice!! If you don't mind, may I add something to the topic of antisemitism? Because in the last year, I had 2 things happen in my personal life that made it blaring to me how much subconsciously for some antisemitism was back on the rise. I am not Jewish, although I am luckily enough to be surrounded by many different Jewish communities and families. In turn, I also live in a progressive city and have always felt I am surrounded by tolerant open-minded people.

But first it was a brunch I was at with some friends. Someone I have known since high school was complaining about a bonus she got and said something like, "Dude, the owners are acting like such Jews." I was taken aback and like what did you just say?? She seemed surprised and was like well that's how people in the office describe them. I mean, I watched Schindlers List with this girl in high school, and I reminded her of everything we learned. The thing is, I know her and her family and have never heard them speak this way. So it's horrible to think she subconsciously always felt that way, or maybe never has, but the term has become mainstream enough again that people felt comfortable using it to describe owners of their company.

The second time was a movie someone recommended to me. Based on what I do for a living, they were being friendly and thought I would enjoy it. I will be sort of vague here so as not to give away spoilers and / or open up the politics of the person involved in the scene. The movie is called "You People". Let's just say I found the movie a bit off putting to start, but then came a scene where someone was bragging about Farrakhan to a Jewish couple. I almost dropped my wine and turned off the movie. In my opinion, the Jewish couple were written kind of as clueless in this scene and the people praising Farrakhan as smart. I only finished the movie because I was waiting for this attitude to be corrected or changed. I was disappointed that it never was. The Jewish couple "learned a lesson." I, of course, messaged the person back and told them what I found problematic about the movie, and again, the person was bemused by my disdain. For me, though, I was just shocked this perspective was able to make it through production. I mean, everyone involved in this movie was never like, maybe this is a bridge to far??

My major point here is that it's scary all this has again become a mainstream thought process. People seem not to notice the repeat of history. I talk to a lot of families all over from very diverse Jewish families. So maybe I am a bit more biased because I hear stories of families in New York that have to hire security to take their children to school because the hate crimes are so bad. However, you never read about it in the media.

My rule now is to not assume anyone is not hearing these things and somehow absorbing it and inadvertently pushing it on. Always be ready to correct or remind someone that yes, they are being hateful. Sorry for the essay I just wanted to point out how people can notice it even from people they least expect it from. Please feel free to correct any POV I presented. You know I always wish to learn!!

As always, stay safe, and I hope you are feeling ok. xoxo

Also, don't feel bad if you don't post this because you don't want to get political on here. I would completely understand

My darling, it is so good to hear from you, no matter what, but especially on such an important topic as antisemitism that is NOT talked about enough.

Thank you for sharing both of these incidents. The first one is just so blatant... I mean, it's clear "Jews" is being used in a negative manner, so how can there be ANY confusion about it being an antisemitic way of expressing oneself? You don't even have to know the specific bloody, hateful history of this particular antisemitic stereotype that links Jews to money hoarding to get that it's a hateful thing to say. And in the case of this stereotype, it really isn't in the past. Just the other day, I reblogged a post about Ilan Halimi, who in 2006 was kidnapped, tortured, mutilated and burned alive because of this antisemitic notion, before he passed away. I'm shocked that in her office, it's an okay thing for anyone to say, but I can't help thinking... this girl can't be stupid, right? So even if she heard it from countless people, there should have been something in her telling her that using the word "Jews" like that is antisemitic and wrong.

As for the movie You People... *sighs* I have it downloaded and waiting for me to watch it. I've tried watching it twice now, and twice I couldn't get past the second scene (when the first one is "just" the movie's opening). So I haven't gotten yet to the part you're describing, but I have no doubt you're spot on in your assessment of it, and honestly... For those who don't know, Farrakhan is a raging antisemite, and praising him to Jews would be akin to the Jewish family praising David Duke (a notorious anti-black White Supremacist) to the black family, and no one pointing out why that's wrong and offensive.

There are several American movies I'm aware of that are based on the concept of "black vs white families who would normally dislike each other have to overcome their differences because their kids wanna get married". This is a concept that works based on the tension between those whose ancestors suffered from slavery in the United States and those whose ancestors were responsible for it. The most basic issue I have with You People is that the white family from the original concept has been replaced with a Jewish one. Since presumably this is meant to work on the same kind of tension, that already implies Jews were responsible for the enslavement of black people in the US. This is not true and has even been recently addressed with historical research on this precisely due to this new antisemitic lie spreading and putting Jewish lives in danger.

I guess that brings me to an issue that's a continuation of something I brought up in my Jewish representation post: American movies and shows hardly ever show us any kind of antisemitism except for the "classic" type trafficked by the Nazis. And the problem with that is that there are so many other kinds, too! We don't represent them in our media, so people don't know to recognize them. And we are not giving young Jewish people and allies of the Jewish community the tools to identify these forms of antisemitism and the weapons to fight back against them.

At some point, I might be able to stomach getting through the movie to detail everything I think is wrong with it, because from what I've heard from you and from @geekgirl101, there's gonna be a lot I would have to rant about. But for now, maybe I'll just mention that the movie has been pretty universally rejected and condemned by the mainstream Jewish community and its allies. Here are just some of the many scathing articles criticizing it:

Critics pan ‘painful’ portrayal of Jews in race relations rom-com ‘You People’

The woke antisemitism of Netflix's 'You People' - opinion

You People's Outrageous Antisemitism

Jew People

Instead of giving us a contemporary Black Jewish story, Netflix’s ‘You People’ erases Jews of color

Netflix’s You People has a problem with Jew people

Netflix Hit 'You People' Branded 'Horribly Damaging' to Jewish People

Thank you for this ask and for caring! Thank you for helping me to still have faith in humanity. Sending you all the love! As always, here's my ask tag. xoxox

#jewish representation #jr #jewish #jewish rep #antisemitism #you people #netflix #you people netflix #jumblr #frumblr #ask #daphnesvalley

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kaislabratory · 1 year

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I really love to read, it expands my mind and brings me new opinions. Speaking of new opinions and perspectives, I really love legendborn!! The two books out rn are very well in line to be the best books i’ve ever read. The writing was great, and the main character,Bree, being black and from the south all whilst being a woman was just so relatable. Since i love seeing other peoples opinions here are some of mine. SPOILERS FOR #legendborn and #bloodmarked

-Legendborn did not have too much romance, in fact, it barely had any really. I think that people confuse genuine connections and emotions for people as them being madly in love. It had his lovely moments, but just enough to where it didn’t make either of the characters involved. It just added another element to the story and showed us new sides of the character.

-I am not team nick or team sel. If i had to choose though, i’d lean more toward Sel. To me, nick just doesn’t understand Bree as deeply as she needs to be understood. Nick is a conventionally attractive white,cis,rich man. He relates to bree only in the topic of arthur, and simply doesn’t understand bree’s anger sometimes. Selwyn doesn’t understand really really deeply either, but she can identify with him more. He is discriminated against and threatened by the order. Constantly being reminded that he is only there because his higher ups allow him to be, and the sins of his mother weigh on his back. He and bree relate on a level of family, of being unwanted and unliked anyone else around you. They clash and fight so badly because to me, they know eachother so deeply.

-I wouldn’t so much mind it if bree didn’t get with either one of them and stayed with alice,mariah,patricia, and other rootcrafters. She would probably work towards bettering herself and expanding her already vast knowledge. I love the depth of her relationship with the women around her.

-NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE TALK ABOUT FELICITY AND RUSSS!! I was genuinely so sad for felicity at the beginning of bloodmarked and towards the end of legendborn. I was crying soo hard, and i loved how she and bree had a talk about grief. Bree explained how she genuinely couldn’t relate to how felicity was feeling about russ, but she knew some of the symptoms and still helped her out.

-People who shit on bree for leaving with the Erebus but don’t shit on Nick for disappearing on Sel and Bree baffle me tbh.

-Polyamory between nick,bree, and sel, just seems out of character. I feel like a lot of people forget that polyamory is a THREE WAY street and not two people that like a girl at the same time and the girl just can’t choose. Nick and Sel have a connection that runs very deep, but the both of them have stated that it’s strictly platonic. Especially Sel, who has gone through the process of loving Nick. Polyamory between the three just doesn’t seem right to me but to each their own ig.

-I REALLY WAS SHOCKED WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT EREBUS WAS THE SHADOWKING I WONT LIE.

- The plot of legenborn and bloodmarked is so good in general. I really loved the world building and the dedication tracy put into the story. It’s godly really.

That’s all i can really think of for right now!! My next reads are gonna be the cruel prince & the witchery.

I’m currently reading children of blood and bone and it’s SO GOOD.

#legendborn #bloodmarked #selwyn kane #bree matthews #nick davis #tracy deonn #alice chen #enimies to lovers

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vampirechatroom · 3 months

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It does come across as very privileged to even HAVE the privilege of speaking out about Palestine in the first place. Many of us are mentally ill, neurodiverse, or have other conditions that make constantly paying attention to such traumatizing content impossible. Try telling someone with PTSD that they should repeatedly expose themselves to videos of kids dying or buildings being bombed. IMO more people need to understand this before posting about how everyone needs to be spreading awareness all of the time.

i'm begging for this to be a troll or a copypasta but unfortunately i know too many well-off white libs with this exact mindset so.

it is so, so genuinely disgusting to use your mental illness/trauma as an excuse to fully turn away from a genocide unfolding before us. there are a million resources readily available online for disabled folks to get involved in palestinian liberation activism. i am a severely traumatized, disabled activist who deeply understands what it means to hold those identities while doing on-the-ground work and i absolutely believe that everyone can and should engage in this struggle in whatever capacity they can. stay silent if you choose, but know that in doing so you are part of the problem. you should not expect to be coddled for your decision to ignore a genocide.

no one is telling you to be glued to a screen 24/7 watching footage of murdered children. rather, people in gaza are begging us to pay attention to the mass murder of their communities and destruction of their homes. they are asking us to advocate for israel to stop carpet bombing gaza and for enabling governments like the united states to stop funding israel's war crimes. they are asking for us to take whatever action necessary to stop this genocide, from contacting government representatives to blockading military ships.

palestinian liberation is a disability justice issue. here are some resources for folks who are interested in getting involved through a dj lens and it would be fantastic if any comrades have additional tools they'd like to share:

alt text palestine toolkit:

essay on palestine liberation + disability justice by alice wong:

call to action by a jewish dj rights activist that includes tools + more accessible actions to take:

two more calls to action/essays around disability justice and palestine liberation:

disabled-centered narratives from palestine (skip directly to 'palestine' section for palestinian perspectives, sorry to say that this weblink may include zionist propaganda)

#disability justice #free palestine

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stardust-211 · 26 days

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April 2, 2024

Today, tears welled up unexpectedly as I scrolled through a random post on Instagram. It served as a poignant reminder that living in the present moment is paramount, rather than fixating on the imagined allure of a life in another city. I often find myself fantasizing about the prospect of starting anew in Singapore, convinced that it holds the key to a happier existence. In my mind's eye, I envision leisurely strolls through museums, peaceful moments spent sketching, and the camaraderie of socializing with expat groups on weekends. The thought of sharing this life with Mimu fills me with hope, as if this alternate reality promises a happiness that eludes me now. Yet, this constant pursuit of an elusive dream blinds me to the beauty of the present, where happiness may already reside if only I shift my perspective.

Rediscovering the joy of running has been a saving grace, a steadfast habit that anchors me amidst life's uncertainties. No matter how challenging things may seem, as long as I lace up my shoes and hit the pavement, I find solace and strength.

A newfound realization dawns upon me — a struggle with acceptance. I've long harbored a desire to embody the qualities of those I admire, yearning to become another version of myself, someone akin to "Hai Duong" or "Alice." In doing so, I've failed to accept myself for who I truly am, perpetuating a tragic cycle of self-doubt and dissatisfaction.

Feelings of loneliness weigh heavily on my heart, amplified by the abrupt disconnection from my best friend, Thu. Despite my attempts to seek understanding, her silence speaks volumes. It's a painful reminder of life's unpredictable nature, where relationships ebb and flow without rhyme or reason. I'm left grappling with unanswered questions, uncertain of where I went wrong or why love continues to evade me.

In the midst of this turmoil, I'm left to reconcile with the harsh reality of my circumstances. Despite the ache of loneliness and the sting of rejection, I find solace in the simple act of acceptance — accepting life's uncertainties, accepting my flaws, and accepting that some things may never be fully understood. Though I may feel adrift in a sea of unanswered questions, I find solace in knowing that I'm not alone in my struggles, and that each step forward, no matter how small, brings me closer to finding peace within myself.

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creativecourse · 5 months

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Emotional Direct Response Copywriting Information Let me share a story, as told from the perspective of an investment newsletter prospect, Fred… “I can’t believe how much of a failure I am. “I mean, I made enough money that we should’ve been able to quit working by now, and Alice and I could be on a Mediterranean cruise, living it up. Or at least be retired, and not have all this financial stress. “But too many times in life, the way I thought things would go and the way they went just didn’t add up. My career path. My retirement accounts. My financial decisions. They never worked out as well as I hoped they would. “Even worse, every time I got really excited about the market, and finally started buying, it seemed to be at the top, and I’d lose anything I made, faster than I made it. It’s like Wall Street was watching my account, and when I showed up, they had a secret signal that the party was over. “I feel like I’m not good enough. “Like there’s more going on in the markets than I even understand. Like there’s a lot of rich and powerful people involved with the markets whose primary job is to screw little guys like me out of our hard-earned money. “It’s just not fair. A good person can live a good life and just not get a break. So much for the American Dream. “I don’t even know if I understand money, or investing, or the markets at this point. I’m starting to feel like an insignificant old nobody who spent his life giving to society, but who is only getting chewed up and spit out in the end, destined to see my lifestyle just get worse and worse until I go to my grave. “I don't even need that much. I know many people would consider my life normal, even mundane or boring, but that’s okay by me. It’s not the lifestyle that bugs me that much — even though I’d love a few luxuries — it’s the fact that just to maintain this simple life, we’re still under a load of financial stress. I’m just not confident the ends will always meet. And that scares me. “I don’t need to eat caviar, I just don’t want to eat cat food!” If Fred’s story makes you uncomfortable, that’s good… I made up Fred’s story. Fred is an imaginary person. But the details and the emotions are all too real. Fred struggles to admit it — even to himself — but he’s feeling a whole pile of desperate negative emotions right now. Thoreau was right — “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” In many cases, as marketers, we’re selling products designed to help with that. To make more money. To be healthier. To have better relationships. To get more out of life. To relieve their desperation. And it’s important to speak to those positive outcomes, in our marketing. But our prospects have been sold a thousand “magic pill” solutions that spoke to those positive outcomes. So simply promising another magic pill and good feelings won’t resonate. You have to show them that you UNDERSTAND their struggle. You have to have empathy with what they’ve gone through — and how they feel about it. And even more importantly, you have to be comfortable speaking to the shame that plagues them, based on where they’re at and the mistakes they know they made that got them here. And, you have to do it with compassion and kindness. To understand and connect with your prospect on an emotional level, you must understand that they hate themselves… Okay, so maybe hate is too strong of a word. But then again, maybe not. We are our own worst critics. We know all the worst things about ourselves. We know our flaws. Our shortcomings. Our mistakes. Our own worst qualities. We know what we did yesterday that we’re embarrassed enough about even as a secret — and we dread the day someone we love or respect would ever find out. And it’s only getting worse… In the world of social media where so many post carefully curated “images” of themselves, we’re faced with constant proof that everyone else is better than us. They have it all together. They’re perfect. But we’re miserable excuses for human beings.

Pile on the self-loathing. Some of us try to fight it by putting on a front. By posting our own heavily-curated “images” on social media. (Or by buying a nicer house, or a better car, or going in debt to be a photo tourist in beautiful places.) But this only adds to the shame. The lack of integrity gnaws at us. Deep inside, we feel more lost and empty than ever, even as our outside appearances look wonderful to those around us. We desperately long for someone to know the truth, and love us anyway. “If you forgive me for my dirty secrets, I’ll love you forever…” When we’re not numbing the pain or putting lipstick on the pig, this is what we want at the deepest level. We want someone who understands this wash of negative emotions that plagues our subconscious in nearly every waking moment. But someone who will handle us with kid gloves — care, compassion, kindness, love, and respect. Someone who readily agrees with us when we insist we did the best we could. More courses from the same author: Roy Furr

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skruffie · 1 year

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connected and reconnecting

A few days ago I saw this frankly insufferable person here on tumblr that was trying to carve out their blog to be a safe space centering Indigenous people who are already connected in their communities and saying that those who are reconnecting need to be aware of that, and I’m just really very curious about what exactly that means and what purpose that is meant to serve?

Ages ago when I was still unwinding my own family history I saw a lot of perspectives on what it means to be reconnecting over on Native twitter and opinions vary: some people are tired of the mainstream narrative being people “discovering” their ancestral heritage and writing article after article about what they’re learning and all the trauma their family endured that buried their stories. Other people pointed out that because of colonization, everyone is still reconnecting to some degree even if you’re a pure rez kid. We’re all reconnecting because there is an overwhelming amount of information, culture, language, etc that has been lost. That second point gave me a feeling of like... not closure, but it helped put to ease some of the fear that I’ve felt in trying to reconnect in my own way. We’ve all suffered tremendously but to varying degrees.

But with this one blog phrasing it, it was done particular to sound like you’re taking up space because you don’t have The Connection. Like it’s your fault. Putting it out there like if you’re disconnected then you’re tainted or problematic is incredibly fucking harmful. Also, the other thing is how are you going to know when you’re fully reconnected and revitalized in your communities?

On Saturday I went down to Seattle for an MMIW march and there was a woman going through the crowd before we took to the streets who was smudging and praying over every single person who showed up. I watched and could start to see who was familiar with smudging based off of what they did. The white allies mostly held still, but the Indigenous people were cupping the smoke over their bodies as if pouring water over them. That second one is the protocol, from my understanding of what I’ve learned, is what you do and I had this little moment when she approached me where I realized a couple years ago I wouldn’t think to do that. I’m still thousands of miles from my ancestral communities but there’s community here. It’s intertribal, but this is another way to reconnect. You show up for the people around you even if you’re all different nations. Am I disconnected because I don’t speak Yurok or Michif or am I connected because I can march with the urban ndns in Seattle? What’s the limit there?

The other realization I had, which makes me feel incredibly sad, is that I’ve been wanting to travel to Montana to meet with cousins and learn more culture stuff but in light of the anti-trans movement picking up rapid speed I’m not sure if it’s actually safe for me to go there anymore. It’s not safe for Alice. I have no idea if my kin would actually be accepting if I go “by the way hope you’re cool with trans stuff”, so forget asking about like... how you determine if you’re two spirit, how to powwow dance, learning language, learning songs, being a drum keeper (something I am especially interested in).

#anyway the blog has been blocked because jesus fucking christ

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ofevcns · 1 year

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[ UNSENT ]: a letter written for the recipient, but which the writer ultimately never sends for reasons that the writer conceals, or may reveal within the letter itself.

Dearest Alice,

I don't even know how to begin, although I suppose it's easiest if I start with the news. Severus has come to us, and while I don't know if I can entirely trust him, there was a sense of truth in his words. I've heard his harshest truths before, and this one seemed similar to that day so many years ago. I don't know if it was the emotion behind it that sparked the urgency in me. Can I call him old friend again? Ali, the way he looked at me... It was unnerving and bright-eyed all at once. I felt small again, and you know how little I like to feel belittled.

I'm sure I'll tell you this information in person, but in case his words ring true, I needed to get it down. On paper. Just in case they come for me before a decision is made. Just in case... well, these days it's rather terrifying isn't it? Each morning. Each fretful sleep. Knowing that the next time you see someone might be your last.

I'm beating around the bush, anyways, but in case I never show up to tell you this information, know that your Neville isn't safe. There's a prophecy, one that decrees a boy born this year will defeat the Dark Lord. The problem is, that they aren't sure once one. And Voldemort will surely not cut any corners.

I am terrified of what this means, Alice. Terrified that it means I'll never see you again, that our boys won't grow up together like we planned. That we won't grow together as we planned. I miss you already, and you aren't even gone. Silly, isn't it? Yet, I can feel a goodbye rounding the corner, one I don't think any of us are prepared for. And, what is most terrifying about Snape's message, is that Dumbledore is leading us on. Using us as pawns. Making sure we die, so that his plan might live.

And I don't know about you, but it quite makes my blood boil.

I know we've skirted many times about the way Dumbledore seems to be handling this war. I know we feel the same way, or at least a semblance of similarity. You're the only other person, I believe, that understands what's at stake here in the same way I do. James and Frank too, although from a slightly different perspective as fathers rather than mothers. Maybe I'm rambling now, but I believe you'll understand what I'm saying, and that you can convince Frank to go very, very far away from here. If you get this letter, I hope you're doing well, and far from Voldemort's clutches, or Dumbledore's for that matter. I hope you aren't missing me too much. Or little Harry for that matter. I hope Neville gets to grow up with so much light and love in his life, and please make sure he knows he has us watching out for him too, even if we can't be around anymore. I love you, Alice Longbottom. Never forget what your friendship means to me. All the best,

Lily Potter x

Note: This letter was never sent, as they were able to speak to Alice before going into hiding. It was among quite a few letters, to James, to Petunia, to Snape, and to her parents. Lily later burned them all, in case anyone else were to get their hands on it.

#& ( alice fawley ) .#( owls away | answered ) .

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baezdylan · 3 years

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you said you prefer platonic love over romantic, so you do believe it’s possible to be in love with someone platonically because i think i am? i don’t really know- it’s definitely not romantic because i don’t think about kissing them etc or anything like that- or feel “butterflies” towards them but when i talk to them i feel like the happiest person ever, i always want to be talking to them and always can’t wait for the next time we speak, like idk how to describe it but just talking to them because my heart so full and i do love them very much, i feel a lot of love towards to them it almost hurts sometimes because of how much i do, idk what the point of this was but yeah i’m #confused

Before anything else, thank you for coming to me with this anon. I feel qualified to respond because this subject is something I tackle a lot on here and it's something I spend a lot of the time writing about (also, Jo and Laurie from Little Women is my favourite fictional dynamic ever and I have a hard time explaining how I do not ship them whenever the topic comes up so yeah :/). My storybook is essentially about this: the power of love, but more than anything else, the power of platonic love. I'm going to be using a lot of quotes from there while creating this post because I feel like it could help you, if not understand what you are feeling, then at least help you be at peace with being confused. You absolutely don't have to label your emotions and try to put them in some kind of boxes. Trust me, I had a lot of trouble with that myself and ended up being content with not knowing how to name whatever feelings I had until the answer revealed itself to me. Labels can be helpful, but only if you feel comfortable with them. It's very human, that need to attach explanations and names to objects and sensations. Human, but not necessary or obligatory. Anyhow, back to platonic love. I'd like to mention a quote by the amazing Alice Oseman, taken from her book "Radio Silence" (you should definitely add that to your reading list if none of my ramblings help because it has a couple of platonic soulmates at its centre and it's brilliant, in every sense of the word): "I'm platonically in love with you." See? Same words that you used, so yes: if you are experiencing it, it's possible. Somebody must have felt it. You can love someone without wanting to kiss them or whatever it is that romance is supposed to mean because I don't understand a thing about it. All I know is that, and I have said it before, people should feel free to state their love to one another without the romantic implications. I agree that it's hard. The world functions in a way that says: marriage is the core of everything, everything revolves around marriage, finding your partner is the primary life goal, you're worthless if you're not dating anyone, if you say you're happy being alone you're a desperate liar. No wonder people, consciously or unconsciously, feel that pressure and expect their first strong emotions to be romantic. I agree that it's hard, changing the way the world functions. Well, that's not what you should think about changing. When I write, I think about individual minds exploring my work and if one person ends up thinking about what I have written, I count that as a win. So anon, work on your own perspective, share your opinions or the process of your thinking and somebody will find themselves inspired by your words. Write "friendship=love not lesser than love" on the back of your notebook and somebody will see it.

Another aspect of your ask that intrigued me is just how much it reminds me of my own characters, from the storybook that I mentioned at the beginning. It's called "scrapbooks of flowers" and I'm going to share some passages from it. I really want you to know that your feelings are valid. You might find these more convincing that what I've written above. I will link the specific chapter with the text:

"You're in love with that boy."

It's a statement, a clear decleration said with such certainty and Dorothy should claim it as valid. But, before anything else, she never thought of Rev as a boy. He was always a person for her. Her person. And she should accept this explanation Celestine is providing her with and say: "Yes, I am", put on a soft smile and play with the buttons of her shirt. That's what a girl in a movie does. And just like that, everything would have been resolved.

"I don't think that's true enough. "

And it's left at that."

"Dorothy has somehow managed to get away from him. She's so far into the field, the sun complimenting her, embracing her features as if it was always meant to hold her. Her and no one else. It makes him question his sanity, which he, for the record, does a lot of anyways, no matter the circumstance. Today's dilemma consists of wondering if he was running in the first place. Dorothy positions herself on the grass, her back the sole part of her that he can actually see. A strange fear blossoms inside of him, spreading its petals, tickling his sides. Teasing him. What if she doesn't look back?

But she does look back and then, he's already close enough to touch her. He doesn't. He takes a few steps forward and she lies down completely on the grass in return, staring at him from her flowery kingdom. He stays where he is, smiling from the above, not quite certain if he should put his hands in his pockets or not. There are moments like these, when he feels entirely disconnected from his body, when he wishes to observe and observe only, without the burden of existing and following people, endless parts of himself, around.

"Pass some of that magic to me, will you?"

He hears it as a joke, but it rings in his ears like an echo. Probably because he should pronounce it back."

"She can't put whatever she feels for Rev in a box. She can't frame his picture in a locket and call it true love. That's why she mumbled that question last night, despite clearly knowing she won't get an answer from Celestine or anybody else. But she needed to say it out loud. If Rev was here, she would have told him. And more importantly, he would have understood."

"He smiles with that smile that died decades ago and she knows. He understands. The blurry lines, the lack of labels, the string that's connecting them. All of it.

She loves him. For whatever it means, in whatever way, in whatever reality.

She. loves. him.

And that's all that can be said about it."

"The town thinks that Revelius and Dorothy, her brother's person, are dating. Nova understands where they are coming from. For instance, Revelius and Dorothy hug in public places. They embrace one another so tightly that Nova wonders how they still recognize air. She asks her older brother about the rumours and all he says in return is: "love never repeats itself". She isn't sure what exactly does he mean by it, but the line never leaves her head."

"Now this, this is what's always been fascinating to him. People are quick to put you in a basket and call you a cold hearted scientist if you like numbers and chemicals or call you an artist if you enjoy theatre or literature or paintings. In actuality, those things don't have to cancel each other out. The concept confuses him, but he's sure of its validity because Dorothy never needs precise words or clarifications despite her being good at and genuinely enjoying science (he too enjoys science, but he's no good at it which ultimately led him to buying an entire set of books about people involved in science that he continuously gives up on reading). He's different. Rev knows blurry lines like the back of his hand. That doesn't mean he likes them."

That's about it. Platonic love is practically all I talk about and a lot of my short stories can be read as both romantic and platonic, but I chose these quotes because I think they compliment what you are feeling very well. Feel comfortable to send in another anon ask and tell me if any of this helped. For the end, here's that famous Leo Tolstoy quote because I'm a nerd who sleeps with her Anna Karenina copy beside her bed:

"I think... if it is true that

there are as many minds as there

are heads, then there are as many

kinds of love as there are hearts."

#platonic love #love #platonic soulmates #my writing #jo rambles #discussions #long post #question...?🔮#anon ask #radio silence #alice oseman #anna karenina #leo tolstoy #jo x laurie #little women #louisa may alcott #scrapbooks of flowers

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lunarrin · 4 years

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Twisted Wonderland Theory! May have future spoilers so please skip this post if you don’t want to risk getting spoiled.

I accidentally posted this before it was finished before, that’s why this might seem like a repeated post, whoops sorry. Edit: Also I tumblr keeps on messing up the format and making me edit it again ;-;

Anyways, It seems like a bunch of people are interested in learning more about this theory circulating among JPN twisted wonderland fans so here I am to display the possible evidence/hints. I had to use google translate to look at some of their claims and although it’s easy to just confirm on your own the claims I have to admit I couldn’t list some of their claims simply because I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Please keep in mind this is only a speculation and has no in-game proof or foreshadowing that I’ve seen at the very least proving it, so take it with a grain of salt. Now, onto the theory!

The Ace Betrayal Theory

This theory concerns our beloved Ace Trappola and concerning “coincidences” that point to Ace possible betraying us in the future. If you would like to look at the twitter posts yourself, search up エース裏切り説し on twitter.

So first of all, the first thing that may point at things being not what they seem, or at least that something is wrong is the Heartslabyul dorm main characters. There are 5 main characters from the Heartslabyul dorm and in terms of cards it seems a bit odd that there is no sign of a joker within the dorm, of course you could chalk it up to Riddle being the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland so he doesn’t count as a “Heart”. With the “heart” suit being represented by Ace and Riddle, is it possible one of them could also represent the joker? In this case, when I say “joker” I don’t mean they’re gonna be like “surprise I’m actually a joker not a heart suit!” I more so mean that one of them will like a wild card. Given that Riddle already had his episode, and Ace’s status proven by the twisted wonderland opening to be a main character, could we say that Ace could be the “joker” of the dorm in a way? The wild card? Of course this point is based on perspective, if you exclude Riddle from being counted as a “Heart” suit then the dorm is fine, but if you count him as someone representing the “Heart” suit then the repetition seems odd.

There is one main concerning part of this theory that surely would be difficult to pass of as mere coincidence, and it’s Ace’s last name, “Trappola”.

In Italian is means “trap/pitfall(a possible danger)".

And Ace is the only dorm member to not have his suit somewhere in his last name, instead he has Trappola, a Venetian trick-taking card game where the Ace is the most powerful card. (Funny enough, it seems like the Deuce is the second most powerful in terms of points alone) And it’s no news to anyone who’s read Ace’s profile that he enjoys card games doesn’t he? What’s a trick-taking card game? It’s a tile based game where each round is called a “trick” and in Trappola, your goal is to take/win the trick. Funny thing is, in Trappola specifically, it seems like the player is awarded bonus points for taking a trick(s) with a Deuce.

There is also another trick-taking, or more so, trick-avoiding game called “Hearts” where you try to have the least amount of points by the end of the game. You get points by wining hearts in tricks in which the amount of points lost depends on the the specific card, with the ace of hearts giving the most points (something you do not want). A fan interpreted this in terms of twisted wonderland to be another pointer for Ace betraying the group just as the Ace of hearts in the game in a way betrays you because it gives you the most points, I personally feel like this is a stretch? But I listed it anyways in case you wanted to know.

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that the Red Queen and Jack of Hearts are from Alice through the Looking Glass and not Alice in Wonderland so the next point does not hold as much ground anymore, but I’ll leave it here anyways

Then there is Ace's similarity or possible link to a character within Alice in Wonderland, being the Jack/Knave of Hearts, who betrays the Red Queen (whom he was previous lovers with, and in general close to the Red Queen). Both Ace and Jack(or the Knave of hearts) have a heart on or around their left eye (our right). Both Jack and Ace steal a tart from the Red Queen (Queen of Hearts (Riddle) in Ace's case). Next, Both betray the Red Queen/Queen of Hearts respectively at one point (Jack tries to kill the Red Queen while Ace tries to take Riddle’s dorm leader position).Off topic coincidence, there is an otome game where the Jack of Hearts is named "Ace". Now this point’s coincidences seem difficult to be just “coincidences” but at the same time you could also say that Ace’s role as the Jack of Hearts has already ended since he has already had his failed attempt at overthrowing Riddle. The concerning part of this link though is that the Jack of hearts tried to kill the person they were at least it seemed to be very close to and at least loyal to (when in actually he hated her) while Ace himself wasn't very close to Riddle at that point, but who is Ace close to and loyal(?) to? MC and the gang ;-; But still take this possibility as a grain of salt.

Of course, we know Ace’s name isn’t Jack, or at least, hopefully he doesn’t pull a “Ace is not my true name at all! Instead I’m also named Jack/Knave!”. But he does have a older brother who once went to the same school, could it be that Ace’s brother is named Jack/Knave? We don’t know much about his brother besides it seems like he was rather relevant as he led a parade that is shown in a picture in one of the halls of the school and that he’s good at card tricks. And similiar to how the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts are different, the Knave of hearts and the Red knight could also be different, with the Knave of Hearts and the Red knight being Ace’s brother and him. Still, we need more info to see how relevant Ace’s brother is in all of this.

Next we have the Twisted Wonderland Opening Movie, which has proven to spoil/hint at plot lines before with Azul as the opening movie teases Azul’s overblot form as well as his child self photos. Now in the opening a fan has noted that every character so far that has been seen alone (besides the part where they have the character’s names and dorms, this part (because Kalim appears and the dorm leaders have to be alone)

Every character that has appeared alone or a bit during the opening so far has overbloted, Jamil, Leona, (and we can guess Malleus and Idia will overblot). While every other character has been introduced with someone alongside them, for example, Epel only appears with Rook, Floyd only appears with Jade, Jack only appears with Ruggie, and the Diasomnia group(minus Malleus) only appear with each other. But who else appears by them self? Our boy Ace.

And Deuce who the OP proves alongside Ace has the same amount of relevance is introduced alongside Cater and Trey

Now for Ace to overblot, it probably means he’s gonna do something villainous like I don’t know, betray the group?

Now here’s the thing, does Ace’s character/personality have the potential to be evil/betray us? Yes, 100 times yes. This is the man who went up to us in the prologue and acted all nice and everything explaining the Great Seven, only to laugh (maniacally?) at our misery and ignorance claiming to have only visited us to mess with us and essentially mock us. If Deuce is the person who could and would (if you pissed him off) physically beat you to death, then Ace is the person to psychologically and emotionally torment/manipulate you, oh and verbal abuse too, he’s good at that. One thing I personally find very concerning about Ace is his hobby of card tricks, like aren’t you guys based off of cards? Are you trying to tell me Ace is good at manipulating/messing with people?

Like we’ve seen Ace be good at acting and lying on two separate occasions in the story, one with us in the beginning, two with the guard at the underwater museum. In his personal stories, for example in the ‘A Kouhai This Honest’ story, Trey comments on how Ace did indeed have ulterior motives to helping Trey besides just wanting a cherry pie as Ace was trying to fish possible test questions out from Trey. This is their conversation:

Ace: “To collect information, I’m carrying all this heavy stuff~ Beside, Trey-senpai you too… You knew from the beginning I wouldn’t carry all this stuff for a pie with lots of cherry on it “

Trey: “ You… could it be you were lying about liking cherries too?”

Ace: “ That’s the truth. I learnt that from my big brother. “When you’re lying mix a bit of truth in it” he said”

And with the ‘Tch, I Got Found Out’ personal story he tries to take the profit all for himself:

Ruggie: “ But anyway, isn’t it fine in the end? It wraps up without sensei knowing so your mark doesn’t get affected Anyway, I’m also… wait, Ace-kun!? Where are you going with that bag? That’s the mandragoras to be sold to the ghosts. Don’t just take it like that!”

Ace: “ Tch, I got found out. I thought I could sneak off with it while you two aren’t looking at me ”

Ruggie: “ You were planning to slip out and take the pay all for yourself huh? What an impudent first year”

Jamil: “ When I thought you were being all meek…You sure are bold”

Ace: ”Hehe, I’ll take that as a praise, senpais ♪ “

It clear to see Ace at times schemes for his own benefit, whether that is taking advantage of his senpais or other people, Ace will lie and pretend to be innocent while carrying out his ulterior motives. Funny how his big brother taught him that.

On another note, Ace has the uncanny ability of being able to copy what he sees, from his brother’s card tricks, to how to speak hedgehog from seeing Rook just say the phrase once, from quickly learning how to extract um, something from mandragoras and doing it very efficiently. Perhaps will his unique magic be a copy magic, maybe copying the unique magic of others? If so, that sounds like an ability that could build up blot fast if he uses it willy-nilly. (it also sounds OP)

All in all, it seems like Ace really does have the potential to be the villain at one point (even though almost all of them are villains lol).

One more thing pointing to a possible Ace betrayal in the future is kinda a stretch in my opinion, but I will list it anyways because it’s coincidences are a bit unnerving. It has to do with birth month flowers and the Dahlia, a flower which can symbolise “Warning someone about a potential betrayal” and Dahlia is the birth flower of August, what month comes right after August? September, the birth month of both Ace and Jamil. Guess what? Jamil betrayed Kalim in the story.

Well, that’s it for the evidence at least I found people using for the Ace betrayal theory, some of it is a stretch and some of it’s is concerning if it was a mere “coincidence”. I hope you enjoyed reading this, regardless if in the end you believe in this theory or not. I personally love this theory because I love the thought of Ace getting more development in the future, also the fan art people make for this theory is great. For example, the twitter account @GPs_ac has a piece of fan art of the ace betrayal theory and it’s great.

Also If Ace does betray us, I want to see Deuce beat him into the ground ahahaha... (I still love you Ace but I will be hurt if you do betray us, this is why I stan Deuce lol)

Turns out MC can’t trust anyone but Deuce, because Grim is probably gonna overblot and Ace might betray.

Also, fun fact. The Ace of Spades symbolises death

Haha very funny Disney, making our lovable no braincells duo represent death

Anyways feel free to comment your thoughts on the theory!

#twisted wonderland #ace trappola #twst ace #twst #twisted wonderland spoiler #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland theories #twisted wonderland theory

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werecat · 3 years

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A few words on focalization in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland:

As promised!

This was originally going to be a scattered smattering of thoughts; it still very well might turn out to be just that‚ but never mind… let’s get into it.

Firstly:

Focalization (n): a narratological term coined in 1972 by Gérard Genette‚ Frenchman extraordinaire‚ in his Narrative Discourse: A Essay In Method‚ and argued over ever since (what does it MEAN mean? Where are the boundaries between different types of focalization? How is it different from point of view‚ again?* Is it worth using at all when it is such a giant headache?**)

aka

“referring to the perspective from which a narrative is presented.”

*it’s sexier.

**Absolutely yes.

Old Genette explained it by saying that the focalizer sees while the narrator speaks‚ but subsequent narratologists are skeptical (understatement) of this on the grounds of “it’s too reductive‚” which‚ to throw in my two cents‚ reducing focalization down to LITERAL VISION, LIKE WITH EYEBALLS, is a little bit unbelievably (ahem) shortsighted. We will use his theory for now though because it’s easier and I don’t want to go hunting for the other papers I saved.

Anyway‚ according to Genette, focalization comes in 3 types. If we ignore all the smart and insightful discourse (it pains me too‚ I’m sorry) exploring these types‚ we have a simple formula: internal focalization (narrator = character‚ not literally‚ not always‚ but the narrator knows exactly as much as the character does); external focalization (narrator < character‚ the narrator knows less than the character(s)‚ is an “objective voice”); and zero focalization (narrator > character(s)‚ narrator knows more).

On to Alice!

You will all thank me for graciously sparing you the splatter of words I produced when I was mulling through the ‘type’ of focalization used in Alice. In my defense‚ the narrative itself is what lends to a muddy answer. Well‚ what we can be sure of is that there is a focalizer (our eponymous character‚ through whose ‘eyes’ the story unfolds); we aren’t privy to anyone’s thoughts or perceptions but Alice’s. What is confusing is that‚ while this would normally indicate internal focalization (and that is the conclusion I’ve come to‚ feel free to argue it), one also associates internal focalization with something not present in Alice…

…This is where I make a brief tangent about something related to but separate from focalization. ‘Psychic distance’ (known also as narrative distance; I like the drama of “psychic”) is how close a narrator is to the storyworld elements they describe‚ how ‘zoomed in’ they are‚ more or less.

When it comes to focalization‚ internal focalization tends to mean that the psychic distance is very zoomed in. To put it in POV terms‚ think first-person or third-person limited in your favorite stories.

The thing about psychic distance in Alice is that it is remarkably wide. Zoomed far out. The narrator and Alice are distinct entities; the narrator possesses its own voice. In fact‚ not only does the narrator not use Alice’s names for characters and places (“The Mouse” instead of “Mouse‚” etc)‚ as one would expect‚ they regularly snark (haha‚ fun fact‚ that’s a word Carroll invented himself!) about her lack of knowledge of non-storyworld things like math and history and politeness‚ essentially dunking on the poor kid when she can’t defend herself. (“‘Perhaps it doesn’t understand English,’ thought Alice. ‘I daresay it’s a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror.’ (For, with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened.)”)

We end up with a jarring sort of double-image that lends itself to wondering and spirited debate—me, I’ve tentatively settled on the answer given above. Personally speaking‚ trying as I am to dash out a post with my thoughts and analysis as quickly as possible‚ it’s a bit of a nuisance and a headache‚ but also a lively narrative-piece‚ and‚ I would say‚ very much in the spirit of Carroll‚ after all.

Thus concludes the trip down the rabbit hole‚ until we fall back in (through a looking glass?), or whatever figure of speech you will. Contact me with questions‚ concerns‚ or heated retorts at my askbox or in the notes.

#aaiw #placeholder narratology tag

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stuhde · 4 years

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After taking some time off to cry, understand, and speak with myself. I decided to write something out expressing my thoughts and feelings about everything going on in this country. It’s long, powerful, and provactive but I need to get my voice out. Like, comment, share, have discussions with me when i finish my social media cleanse, but I will not stand silent in times of injustice.

After seeing and reading the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police, I was quick to delete all my social media apps and hide away from the “uwu Black lives matter posts,” the underserving claps white celebrities get from doing the bare minimum, and just witnessing the continuous realities of injustice that take place in this country.

As a first-generation Sudanese American, I was nothing but confused and lost in the midst of a growing movement, particularly George Floyd’s murder hitting home the most because the police who were arresting Floyd was responding to a call from an Arab American-owned store. With intersecting identities of being black, Muslim, and Arab, witnessing the anti-blackness rhetoric spew from my religious and ethnic communities clash with my racial identity stirred tension and fear in what it means to be a black Arab Muslim in this country and what my place is in the Black Lives Matter Movement. I often found myself asking, “what is my duty to the black community?”, “Am I too Arab to be black, or am I too black to be Arab?” And “what is my privilege in identifying as Arab and a non-hijabi Muslim?” Black Arabs like me often experience issues with invisible intersectionality, people often forcing us to “take sides” or strongly reside with one of our identities when it sees fit (refer to how people responded to the Ahmed Mohamed clock incident).

But I have come to the conclusion that my blackness is comprised of being a woman, Muslim, and Arab - not separately and that’s what makes this unique. Black Arabs are often finding themselves at the struggle of fighting against racial injustice because of our skin color and against the xenophobic and Islamaphobic rhetorics that have only increased since the beginning of the Trump campaign. However, you all have a duty not to ignore the experiences of black Muslim immigrants in this country, like Yassin Mohammed - he was murdered by police in Georgia earlier this month. Say his name and remember him.

Yassin like me is a Sudanese American - black, Arab, and Muslim but he wasn’t reported or written as such. The media called him a “Muslim man” and yet, our Muslim community remained silent. Why? Because it only brings to light the deep and historical roots of racism that are instilled in our community and we need to address it. Muslim and Arab Americans have a duty to stand with our black brothers and sisters in times of injustice. They were there for us in supporting Palestinian liberation and with us against the Muslim ban - now it is our turn. Listen to Black Americans and Black civil rights groups about their unique experiences and learn how we can best support our collective struggle against injustice. You have a duty to educate yourself and tackle anti-blackness in our community. As quoted in Surah An-Nisa [4:135], “be persistently standing firm in justice, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives” - support your local CAIR organization and others like the Arab American Action Network and the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, who are all standing with the Black Lives Matter movement and doing their best to bring all our communities together to end all forms of racism, discrimination, and injustice.

For my fellow Sudanese, this is our fight too. While we must recognize the centuries-long of cruelty and pain the African-American community has endured since forcefully coming to this country and understanding that their pain is different from ours, we share the same skin and we will go through the same thing they are going through. I can tell you personally, from even the youngest age that I have always been afraid of the police. Why? Because I witnessed the disproportionate amount of cruelty and violence with which people who look like me are treated with.

While our older Sudanese community members will try hard to erase our blackness simply because we have drops of Arab blood, at a tragic reality we have all experienced and witnessed discrimination and racism at the hands of law enforcement. This is hard because we have a complicated relationship with race on the fault line of racial consciousness because our country is on the border between Arab and black Africa. However it is, we are BLACK and we need to have conversations about race in our community. We as Sudanese people are not doing enough to eradicate racism and prejudice that exists in our community as well as our Muslim, Arab, and general US society. The next phase in the revolution is to recognize that these issues exist in our Muslim community, come together with black Americans and African-Americans, and create change to take down these systemic institutions that were never designed to protect black and brown folk.

I will continue to do my social media cleanse, but I welcome those who wish to discuss what my views and opinions are more with me - should you agree or disagree. People who care will know how to reach me. In this time, I am reading, learning, and liberating myself to make a change and I can only ask you to do the same. There are so much power and knowledge invested in books:

How to be an Anti-Racist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Dr. by Ibram X Kendi and Jason Reynolds

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis (HIGHLY recommend to my Muslim and/or Arab folk)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Resources for my black Muslims, courtesy of my University’s Muslim Student Association:

The Muslim Anti-Racist Collaborative - deconstructing anti-Blackness within the Muslim community Believers Bail Out - re-imagining the prison and police systems through Islamic perspectives Sapelo Square - an online forum that places Black Muslims at the center: Reconstructed Magazine - a creative magazine and conversation space led by Black, Shia, and queer Muslims The Black American Muslim - space for Black American Muslims to share testimonials and resources on faith, history, and power Justice For Muslims Collective - an organization reimagining a world where radical inclusion leads to collective liberation for Muslim communities and beyond Kayla Renée Wheeler, Ph.D. - Islamic Studies Professor who created the BlackIslam syllabus Amina Wadud, Ph.D. - African-American scholar on gender and race in Islam. Learn more about her through her interviews here Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, Ph.D. - Scholar-Artist-Activist & Author of Muslim Cool Islamophobia is Racist Syllabus - resources to understand empire, anti-Muslim racism, and ideology

For my black friends, I hope you are well and I hope you are safe. I am with you all the way through in our fight for liberation and human rights. Take care of yourself first before anyone else and if you need a minute or more before protesting and educating those around you, take your time, you need it. All the love x

#lama makes a monologue #long post #black lives matter #blacklivesmatter #george floyd #yassin mohammed #afro-arab #muslim american #arab american #black muslim #politics #us politics #policing #tw: violence #tw: police brutality #tw: murder #please understand what i am going through while writing this #i am in pain i am scared but i will not stand in silence: i will be liberated and fight for my people and their rights #good night

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go-ldy · 3 years

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Riverdale 5x03

Man, I found this episode hard. There were some poignant moments, but there were also a lot of moments that were frustrating as hell. My emotions are mixed. But mainly sad. Hold me.

It really says a lot about this show that despite setting aside a whole episode dedicated mostly to character building and relationships rather than plot, it still felt like the show bit off more than it could chew. So much felt rushed including Bughead’s breakup.

anyway, the positives first:

Varchie were beautiful in this episode, and I am so happy for my Varchie mutuals for the care put into developing them and giving them this kind of send off (esp. considering the mess of 4x17 and 4x18). I loved how Archie’s flashback of his life over the last three years was just 90% about Veronica and how much she means to him. It especially contrasts to the BA “flashbacks” from 4x17 l o l.

Archie spontaneously deciding to join the army and shipping out on an actual bus 24 hours later was so Archie and so Riverdale. “Archie, there’s a war going on!” made me laugh out loud, IDK.

Veronica, Betty, and Jughead chasing Archie down in the jalopy to say goodbye was a sheer delight.

Betty Cooper: FBI trainee, default law enforcement officer, yearbook editor, serial killer genes, daughter of the black hood, sister of notorious killer Charles Smith - ALSO class Valedictorian! (Can u still be class Valedictorian if you were once suspended for cheating on a Quiz Show? Riverdale High says ‘yes.’) Good for u, B. Coop.

yessssss at Hiram Lodge being forced to put Sheriff Keller back into a job to arrest those kids hiding out at Archie’s boxing studio (and Archie didn’t notice that these youth were squatting there for months ?????? lmao). I KNEW RIVERDALE DID NOT HAVE A SHERIFF THESE LAST FEW EPISODES. Truly the lawless hellhole we have come to know and love.

Jughead staying in the Andrews’ home while it was put on the market to be sold was hilarious to me. I know it was supposed to be sad - and it was - but ALSO, can you imagine perspective buyers coming into the house only to find that there is a homeless person camping out in there without furniture or electricity or heat? “Why is there a rolled up sleeping bag in the corner?” “Is that a typewriter on the floor?” “Did I just step into an old can of soup?” JUGHEAD, MAN. They probably had to turn off the electricity and heat to save money because he was single-handedly keeping the house from selling.

It was very sad that Jughead was the only one who showed up at Pop’s a year later (and then sees a blonde girl come in and immediately his eyes light up because Betty before the disappointment o m g, murder me), but also a surprisingly relatable moment? I barely remember my own high school graduation, but I do remember that my high school friends felt like everything to me at the time, and I have since fallen out of touch with, uh, all of them. Life happens.

The stuff that was meh:

In theory, I am not opposed to the idea that Jellybean became the auteur/voyeur because she felt neglected and wanted attention, but it still feels like Jellybean is only about 25% of a character. Like, we heard a lot of other people (mostly FP and Jughead) tell us about JB’s motivations, but did JB have a single speaking line in this episode where she actually got to express to anyone what she was thinking and feeling? ugh.

I don’t care about Falice, but ????? @ FP’s solution to fix JB. So... taking her back... to her drug dealing mother who did not even show up for her own son’s funeral.... is better than a child therapist? Fine.

Nobody seemed to have any lingering reactions or trauma to Charles being a serial killer?? Like what. Is he even in jail? Or did Betty just let him go? This is actually quite inconvenient for me from a fic-writing perspective. Nobody is a better deux ex machina when Betty or Jughead need something in fic - just call their brother Charles who works for the FBI! I guess that’s done now.

I did feel for Alice, and Alice is not a character I usually feel for because she is the worst. But her husband and eldest son ended up being serial killers, Polly is in an insane asylum, the twins have disappeared from planet earth, and now FP is leaving her. Damn. That is a lot.

So did Choni breakup? It literally happened so fast with so little emotional fallout. Whatever, I don’t care about Choni.

The Beronica and Jarchie scenes were so rushed and forced. I just don’t get this storyline, y’all. What was the point of doing what they did with Betty and Archie in 4x17 and 4x18? Was it simply to break up our two main couples? Veronica and Jughead should have each had the time and space to be angry with their BFFs over what happened (because as crazy as this town is, it is still a massive betrayal) but instead they were both like: “NAH IT’S COOL SHIT HAPPENS LET’S HUG IT OUT.” It didn’t feel earned. I feel like RAS & Co. wanted the immediate drama of the ~kiss but also wanted to have this touching, Core 4 friendship moment before scattering them. What was the point. (I KNOW, I KNOW, ‘IT’S RIVERDALE’ but these characters matter to me ok and I want to understand where they are coming from.)

Bughead

This episode was... very hard. There were some cute moments, but the breakup felt so rushed and... empty? For the most part, we still have no idea where Betty’s head has been since 4x18. Presumably, she has been wracked by guilt, but terrified of telling Jughead the truth in case she ended up losing him (which, it turned out, was exactly what happened).

The scene in their bedroom where she tells him and they kiss desperately was a beautiful scene and the acting from both was oof. But I feel cheated that we did not actually get to see them talk about “us” as Jughead suggested. So did that conversation happen or not? And then to be told in a voiceover and montage that they grew apart in the space of about 45 seconds.... it was all very empty, and painful. I just.... :( :( :(

I guess we are supposed to assume that Betty and Archie’s kiss created this chasm between them that they were unable to talk about or address head on. But it was so rushed, very “tell not show.”

anyway, this stupid show has made me sad. I AM SAD. My heart is :( @ the unspoken hurt between them that they won’t talk about for seven years. And this show is never going to address the hurt between them in a realistic or satisfying way because it is Riverdale. Usually I would immediately reach to fic to get out my feelings, but in this case, I feel more like hiding in my zombie AU then dealing with how sad this all is lol. Is that insane? That’s what Riverdale does to us. I take heart in the fact that I am not alone in my madness.

#riverdale #bughead #riverdale 5x03 #riverdale negativity #riverdale spoilers #riverdale episode reaction #riverdale thoughts: I have them

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writingwithcolor · 4 years

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Magical person in history, on not intervening on human rights issues

I am writing a dating sim/visual novel set in the present day. A major (non-romanceable) character is an ancient sorceress who moved from France to the Pacific Northwest in the 1850s. She is white. She is shown to have powerful magic. She also works closely with the main characters and develops personal relationships with them as she teaches them magic, giving each character comfort and advice during their respective stories.

Considering the events in America around her move-in date, there’s no way she could have missed the horrible human rights abuses going on, and there’s no way she was too powerless to help, even when most of the fighting and slavery was so far away. So I’m having trouble balancing “don’t make her a white savior by having her personally fireball Robert E. Lee” against “Hogwarts University is cancelled because Dumbledorette didn’t care about slavery.” I had the idea that the magical regulating body back home in France didn’t want her to intervene due to political reasons, so she helped out in small ways that could safely fly under the radar. She later realized that she prioritized her social standing over the suffering of countless others, so she began making a point of reducing human suffering as much as she could.

I can’t imagine this will show up in more than one small scene, but doing it wrong could really sour the whole thing. Is this backstory still icky? Should I just not mention it and let readers headcanon what they please?

I’m wondering what you think was happening in the PNW at the time for the fighting and slavery to be “far away.” Washington State had the Cayuse War at exactly this time period, Oregon didn’t ratify treaties and was calling for the extermination of “the I*dian race” in roughly this time period, and California’s Gold Rush created the California Genocide starting heavily in the 1840s, picking up steam in the 1850s, which included slavery of California Natives thanks to a law enacted in 1850 that lasted for 13 years.

This is all from the top five results of googling “pacific northwest genocide 1850”, for the record. It’s not exactly hidden history.

So suddenly your character’s lack of movement in healing the poisoned populations as disease ravaged the area, in attempting to stop or at least buy and free the enslaved Natives being auctioned on their doorstep, or in attempting to get treaties ratified and honoured looks a lot more damning.

This is not counting any of the future events that happened at the turn of the century, including the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Hawai’i monarchy being overthrown, and Federal Order 9066, which is the WWII concentration camps (that included Japanese, German, and Italian individuals). This is just to name a handful of coastal issues in the next 100 years, completely ignoring Jim Crow, residential schools, the San Francisco Earthquake (which nearly had Chinese people relocated to the worst land imaginable for gentrification purposes, had the Empress of China not stepped in), and many others.

In short: she would have had hundreds of opportunities to end suffering, and focusing on a single event as a small scene feels disproportionate to how much she could have done.

And honestly? The French were no angels.

The Second French Colonial Empire was one of the largest empires in history, and it began in 1830, covering roughly a third of Africa. The First French Colonial Empire began in the 1600s, and had both India and North America, primarily Canada.

She was white. French. You don’t specify her birth year other than “ancient”, but considering the sheer amount of territory-grabbing France has been doing since Normandy invaded England in the eleventh century AD, I’m going to assume her birth year is somewhere more recent than that. Therefore, I’m going to assume she has been around the Catholic Missionary Attitude that France had; one could call that attitude the bedrock of its existence for at least a millennia (and is still visible in modern day).

So tell me: when did she break out of it? What made her even care about human atrocities, when she has likely grown up watching France commit them her entire life?

Because let me just say, she has had plenty of opportunities to realize she did nothing in the face of her neighbours’ hatred of people not like them, and she has never taken them before.

Did she (or her parents, if she was born around this time) decry Napoleon re-introducing slavery in France in 1802? Side with Haiti when it declared independence in 1804, and hate that the government forced Haiti to pay for the “theft” of slaves and land (that was only paid off in 1947)? Is she presently championing for France to pay Haiti the money it wrongfully took from the country? Did she hate the delays in stopping the French slave trade, which took 11 years to actually stop after it was banned on paper?

Unconditional emancipation was only reached in 1848, after all. I don’t care if she was born in 1830, there was some sort of major racial event happening in France all throughout the late 1700s to mid-1800s. Where did she side then?

Abolitionism was not an unknown concept in France, so it is possible she had already been working towards it quietly, but that would mean she would have felt guilt at inaction much earlier, depending on when she began decrying slavery—if she was even delayed in decrying it, which I will admit is possible.

And if she was an abolitionist, would she have even listened to the French government in not at least easing the genocide around her? Because she would have watched nearly 100 years of the French dragging their feet on stopping slavery in their empire, and known how BS it all was… if she saw it that way.

That’s just abolitionism, and is not even counting the French relationship with the Native population in Quebec and the Great Lakes region, which is a giant tangle of proxy wars, colonialism, missionary work, and very, very, very complex relationships that started off good and ended terribly.

So I ask again: why did she only start caring then?

Speaking of proxy wars, the Napoleon Empire wanted a Confederate victory, because the Confederacy was its source of cotton and the American Civil War created a “cotton famine” in France that basically forced the textile industry into a massive downsizing. The Confederacy also tolerated Napoleon’s plans for expanding the empire in Mexico, which actually had begun in December of 1861.

So when it comes to how a magical board would rule—even though France was officially neutral in the war, the court of public opinion (among politicians and capitalists) was more on the Confederate side than the Union side. Many politicians secretly worked with the Confederacy, until they abandoned them when the Union showed signs of winning. The only reason France officially remained neutral is because a war with the British was inevitable if they acknowledged the Confederacy, and Napoleon didn’t want that.

I shall work under the assumption that because it was rather literally on her doorstep when she moved to America, she lost insulation to it (if she hadn’t thought about it before), but I will say how iffy that makes her look in the long term if she had so many opportunities beforehand (at the very least, seeing slaves in France).

My other option is the word “ancient” is liberally applied and she was only in her 20s or 30s when 1850 hit, and therefore had not had many opportunities to see otherwise (but she still would have seen slaves in France, likely).

Onto the white guilt and white saviour aspects

Strictly from a writing perspective, you have to determine if she changed the course of history, or not. This would not necessarily be within the realm of white saviour, seeing as white people were the only ones listened to at the time. You can see people who changed the course of history in this period by looking up the pastor who insisted Lincoln hold fair trials for the Dakota, which brought the execution count from over 200 down to 38. You can also look at Alice Fletcher, who made quite a few laws designed to protect Native people, but whether or not they were successful is up for debate (and she regretted some of the laws she helped enact).

If not, then you have the current tangle you’re dealing with.

Option 1

She was unestablished in America and relied on the magical regulations board to protect her, and she figured working small and under the radar would mean she could do more good long-term by not being killed, so long as you establish that such a threat is viable.

This option only works if she’s an active advocate for the slew of other racist acts that pass once she’s settled in America, of which I gave many examples above.

Option 2

She actually did change the course of history in perhaps a mixed way, or perhaps a positive way. She could have relied completely on being a white, well-to-do voice in the community, which would have granted her some privilege without using a drop of magic.

This can apply to any point in history, seeing as there were a lot of others to pick from. It would be particularly useful once suffrage was achieved, and if she was part of suffrage, did she call out Susan B. Anthony’s racism? Did she encourage allowing non-whites to vote?

Option 3

She was slow to care, and did not actually understand what a big deal it was that such atrocities were happening until it was too late. This leads to her dedication to atonement the strongest, but you have to be careful about white guilt. This option can go along with option 1.

This allows her to be a passive player in future racist events, but makes her an even more privileged white character who PoC will have a hard time seeing as kindly, and you should go out of your way to show white players how unkind and privileged she was, and perhaps still is.

Option 4

she doesn’t actually care much, because she has a president of not caring about atrocities happening in France, and her bigotry shows up in other ways in modern day and she’s just a kindly-but-bigoted character. She’s your wonderful grandma who you have beautiful memories with… she just doesn’t care about anyone not white.

This can go along with option 3, as she was so slow to realize that she is still bigoted and hasn’t done any work, but her racism is going to be more covert and you’ll have to do research on microaggressions and how to frame them.

Based off the way her lack of action is framed in-story and how little a plot role it plays, I would say that option 4 with a dash of option 3 appears to be the most likely interpretation of her character by PoC. She’s lip-service to progress, at present, but seems to have made no strides in losing her social standing to be an ally.

Now here’s why I don’t think you should let readers headcanon her however they want:

White players in particular are going to minimize her culpability in what happened, and think that she did all that she could, and she is a Totally Redeemed Character now. In fact, they’ll probably wonder why she’s even an Atoner, because she did something, right? She helped, right? And now she’s helping and that’s plenty. She’s good to the players, so she is a Good Person.

Meanwhile PoC players are going to see yet another white author ignore the fact that colonialism was happening en masse at the time, and that white people deeply benefited from it, and are going to see the “it happened in the past why do you keep bringing up racism?” defence continued.

Let her be flawed. Let her be on stolen land and acknowledge it every time she teaches them something, and let her sit and exist in the guilt that happens when she realizes she could have stopped the theft but didn’t. Let her not wallow in self hate, but acknowledge her mistake with every lesson the main characters receive, and let her work on righting that wrong by championing “land back” causes that centre Indigenous voices.

Let her dialogue options show every trace of how the past is not over because the past’s actions are still being felt and reparations have not been made. The settler state is still controlling the land she has made home and she knows exactly what they did to get it, and she passes that knowledge on.

Let players be uncomfortable with the knowledge that, if they sit by and “only do small things when they can, to not lose anything”, they are complicit. Let white people see they must well and truly denounce what has been given to them by their racist, colonial ancestors in order for PoC to “stop talking about racism.”

Make her use whatever income she makes be paid in part to Native causes, as rent for the land she occupies unfairly. Make her refuse to teach bigoted students who want “mystic secrets” that aren’t hers to give, that were appropriated centuries ago. Make part of her life’s work be hiding away Black and Indigenous spiritual leaders to minimize the loss.

Let her past be imperfect. And do not force redemption on her, but instead let her own the fact she made catastrophic mistakes that will not be redeemed until land has been returned to the Native population. Until all forms of slavery are abolished. Until colonial powers give back all the resources and finances they stole from their colonized regions. Until the privilege that white people spilled so much blood to secure is no more.

Because if you want her to truly be a good character who does not support racism? That is the level you have to step towards.

Everything else is simply whiteness trying to make itself feel better.

~Mod Lesya

#Writing question #submission #ask #genocide #colonialism #fantasy #witches #racism #white privilege #white women #white savior #white guilt #ally #asks #Long post

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