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no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist · 7 months

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Juliette, the Girlboss Trope, and Structural Change

From what I’ve observed, stories with “girlboss” protagonists tend to be less likely to critique existing power structures and end up focusing more on slightly tweaking surface level aspects of them to allow the protagonist to prove themselves within the context of the existing system. To me, this is extremely interesting within the context of These Violent Delights because Juliette is arguably initially set up to fulfill this archetype. Because she is a girl, her claim to the status of heir is questioned by those around her more than it would be otherwise. She feels more pressure to be ruthless and to do whatever she can to earn the respect of those around her. Toward the very beginning of These Violent Delights, she threatens to kill Tyler when he attempts to upstage her, saying that she will kill him before she lets him take her heirdom away from her. Without knowing that These Violent Delights is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect Juliette to become the leader of the Scarlet Gang and somehow fix things from the inside at the end. She is well set up to be the Strong Female Protagonist ™ who takes what is owed to her and is hardened and kickass and ruthless and doesn’t let interfering men get in her way.

But importantly, regardless of how much Juliette initially knows it, this is a facade. The image of the hardened ruthless heir may be one that Juliette encourages, but it is a heavily distorted reflection of who she truly is. Because at her very core, though she was raised to be the heir of the Scarlet Gang and therefore should be the literal personification of the continuation of the blood feud, that is not who Juliette is. Throughout the duology, her main motivation is protecting those she loves. At first, she believes that she can do this by working within the existing system. She tries to legitimize herself as heir within the existing power structure of the Scarlet Gang. However, the Scarlet Gang Juliette is set to inherit is one built upon a foundation of fractures that legitimizes its existence through the perpetuation of the blood feud to the extent that to solve the blood feud, or even seek to calm it, would be a violation of its very nature. The Scarlet Gang could never accept a leader that sought to do this, nor could the White Flowers, who equally rely on the blood feud as a source of power, accept the figurehead of their rival gang as an ally. To do so would be a fundamental betrayal of the nature of these two groups. Thus, Juliette must choose between legitimizing her position as heir, bringing more suffering upon the people and city she loves in the process, and giving up her position as heir and forfeiting her power.

But if Juliette forfeits her power, who does she forfeit her power to? After all, if she merely walks away, the blood feud will still exist. The refusal of one person to fall in line cannot topple an entire system. The answer comes back to Tyler who, unlike Juliette, truly is meant to represent the continuation of the blood feud. He feels the need for vengeance and hatred at his core, and is constantly suspicious of Juliette, recognizing her lack of loyalty though it is incomprehensible to him. Ultimately, there was never room enough for both of them. When Juliette threatened his life in These Violent Delights, she did so out of fear of him usurping her place. Little did she know, he already had. In representing the longevity of the blood feud, Tyler, not Juliette represents the longevity of the Scarlet Gang. While she was the heir in name, he embodied the very lifeforce of the gang. In a way, he almost represents the Juliette that could have been. And that is precisely why Juliette had to kill him.

Though Tyler’s death is foreshadowed by Juliette’s initial threat in the first book, when she shoots him in Our Violent Ends, it is not the callous, unfeeling kill of an heir pushing aside the final obstacle before claiming their rightful place at the top. Instead, it is Juliette’s final severance from the vicious cycle of the blood feud and the illusion of her status as heir. She recognizes that the power she would wield as the future leader, or even the true heir, of the Scarlet Gang stakes its legitimacy in the continuation of the blood feud, and therefore, she would lose legitimacy as a leader if she were to act against the blood feud. This is further demonstrated when Lord Cai tells her that she can choose between dying a White Flower and being heir following his discovery of her relationship with Roma, representing her direct defiance of the blood feud, and her murder of Tyler, representing her sabotage of the longevity of the blood feud and her rejection of her status as heir.

By this point, Juliette has established that she cannot live as a part of the blood feud. She put a bullet through its heart, firing on her own kin to do so. Because the blood feud has no future, she can no longer pretend to occupy the role of heir. But at the same time, in killing Tyler, she has rejected her place within the blood feud. She cannot die a Scarlet, and she cannot die a White Flower because she refuses to be either. In the end, it is not her and Roma’s apparent deaths that aid the end of the blood feud. Instead, it is their rejection of its perpetuation through their rejection of their statuses as heirs. Their continued survival after their apparent death and the birth of their daughter stands in direct defiance to the division brought on by the blood feud. Though, as is further explored in Foul Lady Fortune, this division is still very present, Roma and Juliette’s continued survival both acknowledges that the kind of change required cannot be brought about by the efforts of one titular protagonist, no matter how world ending their sacrifice, and gives hope for a better future. Unlike the girlboss protagonist, Juliette rejects the status quo and achieves her goals by rejecting power. Instead of seeking to be the figurehead of change, which would also be extremely ahistorical, she does her part and steps back, acknowledging that as a singular person, she does not and should not have the power to fix everything. In the end, she watches from the outskirts of Shanghai, and though she is doomed to forfeit her place within her home to protect the people she loves, she is safe enough to live with her husband and raise her daughter and use her remaining connections to do what she can. Because in the end, one person cannot fix everything, no matter how powerful they are. And the spark of hope represented by Juliette and Roma’s continued survival and the birth of their daughter as well as the protection offered by their weapons ring is enough.

#disclaimer: i am not necessarily saying that that any of this is correct and true i just sort of went into a trance and wrote this #also i didn't even touch on juliette grieving for tyler and the contrast that was drawn between them there #i might revisit this and talk more about how structural change is approached throughout chloe gong's work #and/or maybe how this is continued within foul lady fortune #or maybe the difference between the girlboss trope and the morally gray thing #hopefully this is coherent #if someone wants to add onto this please do i love overanalyzing things #i was going to wait to proofread this again after sleeping but its fiiiineee #chloe gong #secret shanghai #these violent delights #tvd #our violent ends #ove #last violent call #lvc #a foul thing #aft #juliette cai #roma montagov #juliette x roma #romajuliette #mai #katherina montagova #tyler cai

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redinthefaceandcheeks · 8 months

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HPL:A The Yellow King

[Part One]

Sarah woke up in a panicked jolt, eyes bolting wide open as they strained against the early morning darkness. They tried their best to make out the contents of the room while desperately scanning the area for any unwelcome intruders.

There was none.

‘I don’t think any of them were capable of stalking in the shadows, even bother playing games with us’, Sarah reassured herself as she forced her body to take some deep breaths, ‘but there could always be desperate scavengers around.’

Once she was able to calm down and weigh the options, Sarah decided that it was not worth the risk of even trying to go back to sleep. With a muffled groan, she tossed the blankets off and let her body be shocked by the morning cold before rolling out of bed to begin the day as much as she could. It started with her physically double-checking every nook and cranny of her recently claimed shelter before making her way to the kitchen.

Sarah scooped an extra generous spoonful of instant coffee and drowned it in cold tap water while whisking it with a fork. She choked down the caffeinated sludge before she crossed the kitchen and examined the pantry of stolen supplies that she managed to gather before the outside became too risky.

She scanned the dwindling shelves and selected the last good energy bar, a packet of preportioned peanuts, and a stick of beef jerky. It would not be long until she was forced to move on to canned products and instant oatmeal. Eating canned food without any form of heating was not something that Sarah wanted to think about, although it would not be the worst option.

Sarah did one last loop around her place, this time paying special attention to examine the window barriers while trying her best not to look out at any of the cracks and openings. Once she was certain of her defenses she crept back to her bed and retrieved her phone from the changing station. The heating went out on the second day but somehow, against the odds, the electrical grid was still running.

Sarah curled herself into a ball underneath her blankets, turned on the phone and began cycling through the remaining feeds across her half dozen apps. As the harsh LED light shone in her face, displaying the most recent updates, her mind drifted back to just a few days ago when the whole world went to hell.

“DO NOT PITY THE DEAD, THEIR JOBS ARE ALREADY DONE.”

That was the voice… the thing that resonated across the supermarket as the bodies of those afflicted bodies disintegrated into themselves, leaving a three-dimensional pitch-black silhouette in its place. Following that, the void beasts pushed themselves out of those bodies and into our world.

Sarah vividly remembered how, against all logic and reasoning, a multi-limbed panther-like creature clawed out of the form of an elderly man who was on the opposite end of the food aisle when it all went down. Thankfully the creature did not see her and instead bolted down the other lanes to begin its rampage.

From Sarah’s adrenaline-flooded mind, she could only remember seeing less than a half dozen void beasts within the store but those were more than enough to slaughter the remaining customers and staff. She still did not know how she got out of that store in one piece, but she will always remember the face of that woman whose body served as a distraction for the gorilla-like creature as she made her escape.

Once out into the open parking lot, Sarah ran full sprint to her car, praying that none of those flying creatures circling above would swoop down to get her nor that any of the void beasts trapped inside the cars could claw out until she passed by. She remembered practically flinging herself through the driver-side door of her car and almost crashing into an SUV as she peeled out of the parking lot.

Sarah's activity chose to not remember the contents of the drive out of the store, the pitch-black monster clashing against the sunny day as they carried on their nondiscriminatory and inhumane assault on everyone who was caught outside. She also tried not to remember the blood flowing through the streets, whose scent invaded her nose through the car vents, nor the screams of terror as bodies were torn limb from limb and the sound of those body parts thudding underneath her car.

The chaos prevented Sarah from getting back to the safety of her own house and was forced to take refuge in one of the abandoned homes that she found on a side street off of another side street. She selected a simple one-floor house that had a ‘for sale’ sign on it and thankfully there were no squatters, other residents, or even void beasts roaming the halls.

Once inside, Sarah secured her surroundings the best she could and then did the only thing she could, she retrieved her phone and desperately tried to get an idea of what was happening. She was bombarded with text messages from frantic friends and family members asking if she was safe and informing her of who either transformed or was slaughtered in the still ongoing unfolding mayhem.

It was then she learned that whatever it was, it was a global phenomenon and it happened at the exact same time. The police and armies of the world were caught off guard and were in the process of getting slaughtered as the governments scrambled to figure out which leaders were killed, who their replacements were, and how to respond.

It took a while but from the reports, it seemed that just five percent of the population transformed into void beasts. Five percent of the human population was all it took to carry out enough slaughter to stop the world in its tracks.

It was clear that whatever was happening, it would not be over quickly. With that daunting realization, Sarah surveyed the neighborhood and after building up her confidence, she bolted from house to house and began raiding the area for all of their food and supplies. Through a strike of luck, she made off with a bounty of food before anyone else thought of seizing it.

After her quick one-woman raid of the neighborhood, Sarah was feeling pretty confident in her chances until the night fell and the heater system sputtered after the first attempt of turning it on which led to an uncomfortable cold night that only enhanced the uncomfortableness of the paranoid and fear of the void beasts that were now roaming outside.

As the global chaos continued, it became evident that it was not just the transformation that was a problem. It seemed that the planet itself responded in terror with earthquakes in India, storms in Africa and South America, with consecutive tidal waves crashing upon the west coast of the United States. Each of those ecological disasters, only further exasperated the remaining government services as they tried to provide humanitarian aid and fend off the void beasts.

Even beyond the natural disasters, it soon became evident that not all void beasts were the same. News reports and first-hand accounts not only reported regional void beasts around the world but some were clearly special. There was a dragon-like creature terrorizing China, a giant goliath amalgamation was roaming Europe, and something in the Arctic was reported before all communications were cut off. Out of all of them, the one that caused the most alarm for Sarah, in her little hideout in Beaumont, Louisiana, was the one that started in New Orleans and was slowly approaching.

Multiple online rumors reported that a human emerged from New Orleans when all of this first started. Some said he emerged from a person, similar to the other void beats, while others said that he was chosen by the monsters. From the utter chaos of the initial event and the frantic rumor mill of terrified people speculating on every aspect of the unfolding events, it was impossible to figure out anything about who the person was beforehand.

Despite the conflicting origins, one thing was known, down in New Orleans, a man climbed atop one of the six-legged elephant-like creatures and commanded it to head due west. He was also able to rally a huge following of both void beasts and humans to join in next to him. Soon enough there was a massive parade of humans and void beasts marching side by side without any bloodshed. The parade itself was orderly, following the roads when possible, circled by panther-like creatures on the ground and winged void beasts overhead. Reports came out that all the people were happy, with wide smiles as they also sang along in the march.

At first, it seemed like this was truly a miracle, a path of salvation in his hell, but as more and more people were giving it attention the danger revealed itself.

Through the power of the parade or some outside force, the man who started this radiated a yellow-tinged aura. Only through second-hand reports was it discovered that anyone who laid eyes on that light, even just a glimpse, was immediately compelled to join in the parade. That meant men, women, and children of all ages would drop whatever they were doing and feverishly race on foot to catch up and join in the parade while singing the communal song.

When it started some of it viewed it as salvation, both with safety in seeming protection from the local void beasts, and some viewed it as an exit from this hell. Nonetheless, when the parade started, word spread to look towards the light and join the march.

It did not become apparent what that truly meant until a viral video of a family of a father and two children desperately trying to soothe a frantic mother who was tied to a chair. As that was happening the mother was trying her best to claw out of the restraints while begging to join in the parade. According to the follow-up reports from the family, she protested and pleaded throughout the entire night. When it became clear that her mania would not subside and would jeopardize the safety of the family, the husband gave in and set her free. From that series of posts social media and remaining news platforms referred to the mysterious man as, ‘The Yellow King’.

The true horror was revealed after someone attempted to scavenge a New Orleans hospital that the Yellow King and his parade passed by. The person quickly got his camera and started recording all of the sick and elderly patients who were strewn around the hallways. Apparently, they all ripped themselves out of their medical equipment and crawled out of bed all in an attempt to join the parade. Through the video, you could hear their feeble voices wavering as they sang the same song in unison.

Once those two videos hit the web, people gave the parade the caution it deserved but it still claimed victims from those just too curious to look away and those who risked their lives to provide the best on-the-ground reporting for the rest of the world.

But even with the necessary precautions, people were quickly reminded that the human’s sight range is infinite. People who were miles and miles away, even as far as where the parade was only a speck, were infected with the compulsion to join.

The most bizarre thing about the ones that were affected by it from a distance was they would not use any vehicles to close the distance, instead, they would just run on foot. Even though who was on the highway when the parade passed by, all of them would fling open their doors and scrambled out, leaving their possessions and in some cases, their still buckled children in their car seats.

But as the parade carried on throughout the first chaotic hour of the apocalypse and into the night, it was revealed that the Yellow King and his elephant-like steed never stopped. They just continued on its path due west from New Orleans. There were no breaks or any consideration provided for the people surrounding him, the precession just continued at the same steady pace. The enraptured people never stopped their marching or their fevered reverence either, not stopping for food or rest. They all just continued singing his praises.

While their minds were willing, the people’s bodies were still only human and began to falter. They sang until their throats went hoarse and lips were cracked and despite that, they continued, willing themselves or being willed to sing and march with the same ravenous energy that they started with

Without rest or sleep, one by one the bodies failed them, first it was their legs which they then resorted to keep up with the parade by dragging themselves with their struggling arms until they died of exhaustion. On the second day, there was a line of broken rotten corpses that was already being picked apart by scavenging animals.

Once they realized the true threat of the Yellow King‘s parade, the overwhelmed military and police forces diverted their limited resources to respond.

There were three strikes against the monstrous parade, the first two failed outright as almost all the combatants fell to the compulsion to join, with a fleet of fighter jets crashing into the ground in a hastily emergency landing to join them.

Through those failures, it was discovered that any glimpse of Yellow King’s aura from a reflection was enough to induce the compulsion.

It was well into the second day, through both government intel and people nearby and a lot of trust in those reporting, it was discovered that looking at a digital photo of the Yellow King did not evoke the otherworldly affliction. The photos were either grainy or out of focus but with enough people’s effort, and the help of some government officials that were able to spend time and resources, the internet could get a clear idea of this Yellow King.

After days of surviving terrors and watching the horrors of the parade unfold, the most anticlimactic moment was when it was revealed that it was just a man. A scrawny, somewhat frail late middle-aged man who just stood on the back of a massive elephant-like creature. Sometime during or possibly before the parade, no one could tell, this Yellow King acquired a set of yellowing robes that were inscribed with undecipherable runes.

His body looked as dehydrated as his eager followers, yet he was able to compose himself to stand tall and bask in the praise while he led the parade forward as he smiled and laughed through cracked and bloody lips.

From the first few low-quality pictures, they looked like a cloth draped around him. But once someone was able to capture a clearer picture with the higher definition and the edges of the robe it became clear that it was made of flayed human skin.

Upon his head was a warped golden crown, the metal that comprised the crown was deformed, as if it was placed through a physical distortion filter, and set upon to the top was a gem that shone eldritch yellow light that was the source of aura that engulfed him.

Once the military had its target of an old man, the source of his power, and a better understanding of the limits of the aura, the remaining United States forces mounted a third attack with drones and specially outfitted tanks. When they thought they had the upper hand, they discovered that the void beasts would use their bodies to block all incoming missiles and attack any tanks, reducing them to shreds.

After that, the military retreated and resorted to just tracking the path of the parade and providing push notifications to the citizens of the Louisiana countries and towns that the Yellow King was passing through. That admitted defeat only added more fuel to social media as rumors of who the Yellow King was and what his purpose in the grand scheme of things.

Since the start the parade ravaged New Orleans, passed through Lafayette, just crossed Lake Charles, and was just outside of Beaumont, which was where Sarah was currently sheltered. Sarah did and redid the math herself, tracking where the Yellow King started, his recent path, and the trajectory of where it would go. If there was no immediate change or interruptions the parade would not just cross through the town she was in but it was going to march right past the house she was taking shelter in plus or minus a few blocks.

Those hazards did not stop others from sheltering around the neighborhood from trying to make their escape when they heard about the incoming parade. Sarah witnessed others emerge from their shelters to make a mad dash to any of the abandoned cars before getting eviscerated by the patrolling void beats as they tore through the metal frames to get to them.

Between the still-roaming void beasts, the stockpile of her own supplies, and the terror of survival in the world beyond her four sturdy walls, Sarah was paralyzed with fear. She could have conceivably made her escape on the second day. Because of the choices she made, she was now in what the government called “the immediate danger” area of the parade’s path and line of sight.

When Sarah realized that it was too late to ‘safely’ escape, she spent her free time trying her best to border up all the windows and doors in her shelter. All in a desperate attempt to make her surroundings ‘watertight’ against the Yellow King’s shining aura and any of it reflecting off of the remaining mirror, windows, or cars.

Now there was nothing left to do except huddle in her safe little corner away from any windows and distract herself from the news of the rest of the world falling apart and the spiraling rumors of the Yellow King’s end game while praying that something, anything would happen to stop the parade.

The first sign of the parade was approaching not the procession itself, but rather the evacuation of all the void beasts in the area. There was no sound or call, yet they all decided or were instructed to evacuate the area.

After a few hours of near silence, she heard the first sound of the parade. It started as a faint, yet unmistakable sound of singing. In the new eerily silence, Sarah heard the panicked sounds of despair descending into madness as some of the few remaining survivors started to fully comprehend their oncoming fate.

As instructed by the internet, by those who allegedly survived the parade’s path, Sarah shut her eyes tight, wrapped her arms around her legs, and pressed her knees into her eyelids for added protection.

All alone curled in a ball in her makeshift bed in the corner of a bare floor, Sarah waited and listened.

The singing continued its steady increase in volume and clarity as it approached. The voices that comprised the oncoming crowd were one of all types, men, women, young, and old. Some of those voices were strained and hoarse while others were recently added. Yet despite that, all of the voices had the same frenzied vigor and came together and harmonized into a strong on-beat chorus.

Too afraid to move from her position, she was forced to listen and focus on the sounds of the joyous parade. This close to it, Sarah recognized that the song was not English nor was it any other identifiable language; it sounded too non-euclidean to be a human dialect, yet despite that they all sang with perfect fluency.

Now, over the sound of the singing, Sarah could hear the only thing that could be counted as instrumental accompanying the parade, the steady steps of the massive sex-legged elephant-like void beast. The very same that carried the Yellow King on its back. Its footsteps acted as a drum beat, which Sarah realized was perfectly synced up with the singing.

Sarah just continued to listen to the parade as she felt the growing vibrations of the footsteps of the multi-ton void beast march ever closer.

The Yellow King was here.

Panic now strangled Sarah as she tried to stagger out her hyperventilating breaths. At any moment an accompanying void beast could burst through her bordered-up defenses and she would just be sitting there, curled up in a ball, a perfect target to pounce on.

There could even be unreported fanatics who were tasked to search for anyone who was hiding, drag them out, and force them out to look at their king. Maybe, they were still human enough to know what the house was and the best places to look for people who were hiding inside.

The singing grew louder and louder as the sounds of the parade of all those people marched and sang past the neighborhood that she was in, just as predicted. As it came down the street, Sarah could not tell if she could feel the Yellow King’s aura or if it was just her own body overheating from the fear.

Despite the hysterical terror that gripped Sarah that forced her to remain silent, there was one small insidious voice that wormed its way in front of Sarah’s forethought.

‘Would it be so bad to join the parade?’

Srah immediately dismissed the thought out right, it wiggled back in to make its case.

‘What would be better: To stay free in this ruined world without any chance of going back to the old life? Constantly struggling to get by, to get food, be safe, and hide from the void beasts while waiting for someone to rebuild the world. Or just open your eyes and join the celebration.’

‘Both would involved in death, regardless of the outcome but one would guarantee that you would be protected from the void beasts and their razor-sharp teeth and claws. It’s been three days of this, how much more could one take of this… and besides they sounded happy.’

That little voice created a compelling argument that soon Sarah was caught in a struggle of two minds as tears streamed down her face. All the while the parade drew closer and closer down. The stomps of the elephant-like thing were now causing the bed to shake/jump with each step. Soon it would be right outside her front door. This was her chance. This was her best chance if she was seriously going to do it. If she waited and let them pass by there was no telling what options would be available for her.

By her side, she felt her phone buzz with the familiar vibration pattern of the push notification from the government.

If she was going to do anything, now would be her best chance.

Sarah took a deep breath, lifted her head, instinctively grabbed her phone, and opened her eyes.

Then she smiled. ***

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#Horror #Horror story #Horror Stories #HP Lovecr #aft #lovecraft #apocalypse #despair #Louisiana

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