#also offtopic but i always get surprised by how many cities there are in the south like in general

[lwieserce]

i declined that venice trip with one of my sisters right cause i think its way too out of my budget for now and i am going to be childless and rich as hell in the future anyways so i will go there eventually. Right. But now my other sister declared that she is taking me to wrocław and well taht would be a way different scope of costs but there is a certain divide between them on well A lot of things but one of them is competing for my love because i am the youngest and a star and the golden child by the mere fact of existing. And i unfortunately do get along WAYYYY better with the latter sister🥸

[closetgremlin]

Some more “Pretties” by Scott Westerfeld thoughts! Because I’m amending theories on Tally’s potential Third love interest

The meeting with Zane… did not go how I thought it would. Good on him for sticking bubbly (that’s the term, right? Opposite of pretty?), and for helping the New Smoke. Also, the book group? Very nice, that’s a good idea. I like that

Ok so the Cutters thing is actually… actually self harm. That is. That is for sure a squick. That was not my brain making random connections, that was my brain correctly identifying a thing. Kudos to you then, brain. Thanks. Wow that’s… wow that sure is a thing. Not sure what else to say. Just surprised, I guess, that that’s legit.

I feel bad for Zane, of course I do, but also… what does the Special surgery/transition do to make Tally think that way about/towards him? She’s disgusted by his prettiness now (and… presumably that he’s,, disabled? As well? Can’t remember if that’s the case or not, but definitely surprised by it), and she wasn’t before… was she disgusted by Peris when she saw him as a pretty while she was an ugly? I don’t think so, but if she was then the explanation there would be that pretties are naturally revolting to look at (or something, which sounds a bit ironic). My point is, something must’ve been done to make her think that way. She said that even through all that she’d been through, her emotions were still the same underneath it all and one of those that remained was her love(/attachment?) to Zane (or something to that effect), but still his prettiness revolted her as a Special. Similar to how David’s ugliness threw her off as a pretty? Idk. It’s all very interesting though.

If she has a Third love interest… well I wonder how it’s gonna shake out now. If it’s just gonna be her and Shay tracking him, because that’s what it sounds like to me so far, then who knows who the Special love interest would be. Falseto would be interesting? In the fact that, ‘hey we’re saving your life/rescuing you now, oops you’re real cute seeya later Zane’. Maybe interesting isn’t the right word, more like… kinda cute. Idk, I’m just spitballing really.

How far apart are the different… “cities”? Idk why I put that I quotations, but maybe there more like states. Each has their own government and people etc- Anyways, that’s offtopic for this bulletpoint. How far apart are they? Do their governments interact? If they do, which I’m assuming they would, how often does it happen? It was mentioned that the last serious feud between cities hasn’t happened in 250 years or so, while these cities have existed for the last 300 years - what happened within those first 50 years? What fight happened, and between who? Well, between cities obviously, but which in particular? And why, for what reasons? How often do different cities communicate, how many are there, how far apart are they, how was land/territory/etc designated between them all, where even is the Uglies setting in particular physically located on a modern day map? My thought was the USA, but of course I would think that since that’s where I live- a desert is mentioned, as is the sea and a city and fields and forest, so in America that could be… maybe some part of California? Maybe Oregon? I don’t know the east coast as well, else I could maybe come up with ideas for locations, but uh… yeah that’s my speculations on where they’re at. Oh, maybe near the Gulf of Mexico or the South? …Does Canada have deserts? Maybe a part of Canada, then.

Let Tally rest… she’s gone through so much sh*t! She’s gone through every stage of Person (ugly, pretty, special) this world has introduced her to, let her Rest!

What about the Special operation changed her view about the Smoke? About freedom? She was really about that, always testing boundaries and easily becoming disssatisfied/restless being in one place for long (as an ugly she couldn’t wait to be pretty, as a pretty she couldn’t stick with it, as a Special she already feels alienated almost…). What happened to that? Surely she isn’t just waiting for Zane- yeah that may be her justification for her restlessness in the Specials, but that can’t be it, that can’t be the only reason. She’s been here 2 months already, and how long did she last as a pretty? Just a month before getting restless, no? So presumably, her want for freedom hasn’t gone away- perhaps instead shifted/masked (bc of operation) or suppressed, but not gone away, not erased. I wonder what’s gonna snap her out of it, and I wonder what’s caused it.

Zane is still so familiar to her, and yet so foreign. It’s really interesting how her pretty mind and her special mind are clashing here, and I do really feel bad for her and her desperate want for Zane to be like her, too. It’s a bit heartbreaking, this dilema, which can go one of two ways or so: he becomes a Special and they make happy together, or he doesn’t and she gets her new love interest. I’m just spewing out random at this point, I’m not really sure what I’m saying. This got off track. Anyways, it’s just… interesting, this dilema. Just a bit heartbreaking, and also interesting.

Also, just to talk about Tally’s feelings towards Zane for a moment- she’s glad he’s alive, of course, as anyone would be, but she’s… almost revolted by him as well, I believe, because he’s a pretty. Possibly because he’s disabled now, too? I don’t think the word she used was a kind one, “crippled,” but I also am not knowledgeable on what terms are ok/not ok by the disabled community; either way, I’d rather err on the side of caution and use disabled as a descriptor instead because I think I’ve heard that’s better. But anyways, I’ve strayed from the thought- She’s surprised by him, by his state of mind and by what he’s doing, and by his features and physicality. She’s surprised at how revolting it feels to look at him, now that she’s a Special; possibly revolted by his new disability, as well. Is that particular revulsion also from guilt, guilt that she caused it, that it happened because she involved him? Or revulsion because of ableism, that a young pretty is moving like a crumbly pretty; or revulsion because of however the Special operation changed her? It’s all just so interesting