#//anyway i came to this udyati sized realization a few days ago and it kind of broke my heart sdhfuidsui

[dvarapala]

udyati's aversion to hunters goes a lot deeper than most might think. yes, most of them are white people, happily othering preternatural people and creatures (of color) whilst squawking about 'protecting the (white) innocents' because it's what they've been taught and it's what they've never questioned, but it's so much more than that. it is more than a girl holding a grudge because "i needed you guys when it mattered most and none of you showed up for me". you see, udyati's ancestors hail from india and they were taken to suriname becoming indentured workers or "kantraki's" - which is a shortened dutch term for contract workers. whereas some people willingly made the journey from india to suriname to escape from their abusive families or the abusive families they (unknowingly, unwittingly) married into, most people were "recruited" (read: tricked into and forced) to make the journey by arkàti's. hunters. bounty hunters, to be very specific, but hunters all the same, taking choices from the people, and making choices for the people in the same breath. (men were easy. arkàti's went after women, specifically, as they fetched higher prices.) this, too, was the case for udyati's ancestors, according to her amma - ankita. and while udyati is perfectly capable of conversing and co-existing with most hunters at some level, even developing friendships, the aversion and revulsion remains in her blood and bones. in her very dna. and perhaps it isn't fair to most modern hunters, many of whom carry modern sensibilities, but there will always be a part of her - hidden though it may be - that's waiting for the other shoe to drop.