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CUPID DE LOCKE, ft @ritualunicn:

(...) as it stands right now, they sit alone at their table with no one paying them much if any mind. after all, what's the importance of women if a man isn't around to take notice? hyein sighs and begins to speak more plainly. "is this a call out of duty or because the royal family is ignoring their demure little princess?" cocking her head to the side, she smiles again at jieum a little more warmly this time than before, "i'm safe in assuming it's the latter?"

it's the names that divide them. yang, shin⏤better, worse. and park⏤best.

so she's supposed to have won. jieum thinks she has, until the cards flip open on the table and she's left with a bad beat and empty table settings at a funeral. maybe she ought to be grateful that she's got a seat at the table at all, but that's not much of a consolation prize when she'd wanted the crown.

she's used to settling for second best, second founding family. yang hyein sits alone at a table, second in ways different from her but first in all the ones that matter. all except the most important way, and it sits on jieum's ring finger, resized to fit.

so, settling means it's better to be sitting with someone than alone at the best table. her eyes glance over at the room where nam chunja's casket sits, the recipient of the biggest honour for the next three days. she doesn't make a quip about the old woman, because she's not that kind of girl, only thinks of it inside and doesn't let it leave the confines of her teeth. "oh, no, you looked like you needed company."

lord knows that she does. jieum doesn't bother acknowledging the truth in hyein's follow up, simply sliding her gaze over the other woman when her words turn sharp, out of earshot from the people who mean something. "did you expect the former?"

she's used to being overlooked. it would almost be easier, if not for the fact that jieum thinks she's owed so much more than that. but that's no matter⏤she's going to get her flowers, one way or another. starting with the soil they grow on.

she leans in to speak, like they're equals. they're sitting at the same table. but hyein has the yang land on her hands, and jieum has open palms. returns the smile sent her way, the curve of her eyes that go along the horizon of goero's land. "there isn't anywhere else to go, is there?"

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let's gaurrr same girl same deal it's just blue again with shin jieum, nothing has changed so tbh if you've read this intro before u don't need to read it again! still a sadpathetic girl looking to exchange a plot of land for just a bit ( a lot ) of the love or power she thinks she deserves ! profile, background pages are here & more info / plots under the cut, like this or just hmu i’ll be there! 💗

info

unknown / nth was on loop while writing her bio, though i think that's more indulgent for her than the sharp objects jieum's actually made out of rip but that's on context & for listening!

starting from the bottom: the shins are a family that somehow manages to weasel their way to capitalise on whoever's in power at the time ( usually the parks ). have an unfortunate tendency to angle for their daughters marrying into the founding families—though they can't be said to be unsuccessful on that front!

so that's how jieum is raised! mother is sour from losing out on the yang heir of her time & is now puppeteering her children into where she almost was. she lied to jieum that she's a yang-affair baby & insists that she's lost out, so she's got a big chip on her shoulder about not having what she's due

( would fuck her up to find out that she's actually just the daughter of a mediocre man but she doesn't know that. yet! )

but anyway jieum is not the alluring type :( she fades into the background, v much unperks of being a wallflower. not rlly charismatic or sweet enough to win any hearts & doesn't have the backbone to stand taller than kim i or yang on her own either so she's kind of fucked she's always 2nd yknow bridesmaid but never the bride until!!!!

she Does become the bride. hot damn!

she thinks she's finally getting her flowers, but this marriage is loveless & faithless so eventually ( quite quickly ) falls apart. her ego is her undoing and she turns cold & dry to park i, which only makes things worse, rip—she's defo keeping up the facade of a perfect home but it's not that at all

tries to soothe her ego by reminding herself of all the people she's better than now that she's married into the parks! has defo stepped on a few toes for her ego's sake but she has old habits of deferring to people & also needs her father in law's help re the land so she can't be Too uppity?

let's go horoscope girlies she's got a pisces sun aries moon taurus rising, she longs for love & loves herself too much but it's not enough for her... she might think she's playing the game well but it's usually clouded by her ego / insecurities. makes missteps all the time bc she's not used to being on the upper hand or needing to be careful since being 2nd means no one rlly notices u. feels sorry for herself all the time & can be kind but only when it makes her feel better about herself. also she's so bored & discontent with life she's just a housewife but who knows if she'll still be when she starts shilling for tk group!

plots

fellow stiffed by life sufferers. people who are willing to commiserate about how bad their lives are even tho objectively none of them are having it that bad

the first / only person she's ever come first to & like sure they aren't important or powerful but they make her feel powerful so maybe she's attached but sneakily. maybe she doesn't want to be associated w them too publicly?

a friend her friend they're hers & she might have smth codependent with them

someone who thinks she's so pathetic but she's like trainwreck entertainment for them they keep leading her down the wrong paths

or maybe someone who feels bad for her. they keep trying to help her & she keeps getting mad at them for meddling even tho they mean well & she Knows they mean well but her ego is small & easily bruised

people who don't like park i & the wife of my enemy is my enemy—but if she doesn't like him too then is she ur friend?

someone who smells a rat when she's around & repeating jung / iida's talking points about selling the land...

also someone who might believe her & legit thinks the shins have the good of the town at heart she's working an angle on them now

the usu yknow childhood friends rivals exes fwbs ( yes she's married but if he's cheating so is she... )

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Sylvia Plath, from The Unabridged Journals [ID in alt text]

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DOONA! (2023) ★ ↳ Doo Na || episode 02

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{ Words by: Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation //Susan Abulhawa, from Against the Loveless World: A Novel }

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Kate Baer, from What Kind of Woman: Poems; “To take back a life”

[Text ID: “the hunger to be held, to be wanted, to / be called from the streets like the family / dog. You are not a good girl. You are not / somebody’s otherness.”]

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Spoiler

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The little girl’s sense of secrecy that developed at prepuberty only grows in importance. She closes herself up in fierce solitude: she refuses to reveal to those around her the hidden self that she considers to be her real self and that is in fact an imaginary character: she plays at being a dancer like Tolstoy’s Natasha, or a saint like Marie Leneru, or simply the singular wonder that is herself. There is still an enormous difference between this heroine and the objective face that her parents and friends recognize in her. She is also convinced that she is misunderstood: her relationship with herself becomes even more passionate: she becomes intoxicated with her isolation, feels different, superior, exceptional: she promises that the future will take revenge on the mediocrity of her present life. From this narrow and petty existence she escapes by dreams.

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex