#britney is arguably even more powerful than him yet the conversation always circles back to her behavior and promiscuity and mental health

[taylortruther]

Sorry but this anon knows exactly what she' means, the one comparing Justin Timberlake to TS and Britney Spears to JA might not. Are they really comparing Britney Spears' level of fame to J A's? Wrong example of power imbalance. The situations are not comparable

okay then i think you should explain what you mean, anon, because your point is unclear. if britney spears was not very famous, it would be wrong, but because she was famous, it was okay to slut-shame her? even though this was all happening against a backdrop of a deeply sexist culture where purity was at the forefront? i mean, not to jump to conclusions, but... your clarity would help

[livesbeneath]

i'm so sorry for asking so many but .. 1-10 for the ilitw ask meme? i love reading about the mc's relationships with the characters bc it always differs between players :')

it lives in the woods mc ask meme. 

pls don’t apologize u made my ENTIRE DAY!!!! i love learning abt people’s mcs too!  (putting some of this under a read more bc it’s gonna get long)

what is your mc’s name? gender? orientation? ethnicity? any other tidbits you feel compelled to share?:

my mc’s (full) name is harley maura blanco! she’s a cis female, bi, white, and the only daughter of two super successful entrepreneurs.   she has absolutely zero clue what she wants do with her life, and while school doesn’t particularly engage her, she isn’t really a slacker.   lives most of her life in her head, more street smart than book smart.  collects pins as a hobby!

rank the members of your friend group in order of who your MC was closest with to who they were least close with:

this one is SUPER hard just because she’s pretty close with all of them for different reasons.  here’s a subject to change list:  dan, noah, ava, lily, lucas, andy, stacy. 

thoughts on dan pierce and your mc’s relationship with him:

other than jane, dan was the one that harley was arguably the closest with as a kid. neither had siblings, so they sort of became each other’s brother and sister. after their mishap on halloween of dressing as the same character, they made it a tradition to do so every year.    the split from dan was really hard. she never resented him for climbing the social ladder and succeeding in high school, but she also never picked up on him struggling, which is something she kicks herself for endlessly. when she gets that text from him at the start of the book, she’s terrified, but also excited deep down that dan would message her after so long.    even if they didn’t speak much until his rescue, they were never on bad terms.  she dies mere hours after really reconnecting with him, but feels more relief after she saves him than she does at any point in the story. 

thoughts on noah marshall and your ,c’s relationship with him:

noah and harley’s relationship kind of serves as the crux of my ilitw narrative.   she had an innocent crush on him as a kid, something he resented due to how jealous he was of her relationship with jane.    these feelings come back to bite her in the ass full force after they reconnect at the start of the plot.   her and noah have just always been on the same wavelength, part of the same crowd, with the similar morals and ways of thinking; there are plenty of fish in the sea, but she wants the one emotionally unavailable fish.   both of them harbor that guilt over not being able to protect jane,  and that is what makes harley almost reach out to him a handful of times before the plot actually kicks in.   the betrayal stings her harder than anything else, as she really thought they were getting to a place where they understood one another, but she still can’t find it in herself to be 100%b angry with him.    she chooses to die in his place because even after everything,   she loves him. 

thoughts on andy kang and your mc’s relationship with him:

andy is the one that makes harley laugh the most.   he brings out her livelier side and reminds her that she does know how to have fun,  which is something she kind of forgot was possible after becoming so withdrawn.    it can be assured whenever they’re together that harley is 10/10 the one that’s going to egg andy on in his antics.    even in the time that the two of them were apart,  harley was always silently cheering andy on from the sidelines.   the true testament to their friendship comes with how quickly they were able to pick up where they left off as kids after not speaking to each other pretty much at all in the ten years between jane’s death and redfield’s resurgence.    there are maybe 20 minutes of awkwardness between them before they go back to cracking jokes and being stupid together,  and when andy is kidnapped and hurt,  it’s the sight of him being dragged through those doors that superpowers harley into becoming the hero of the night. 

thoughts on ava cunningham and your mc’s relationship with her:

as someone who is a bit offbeat, harley appreciates how unapologetically herself ava is.   they bond over the fact that they aren’t like the masses and they they, in return, don’t really care what the masses think of them.    even though ava is seen as unapproachable to most, harley actually finds her pretty easy to talk to once she gets past the initial fear of starting a conversation with her, and once they’re back on common ground during the plot,  that fear vanishes entirely.    they have a lot of similar views and share that “brave even in the face of death” mentality,  meaning that ava is one of the people harley tends to go to first about most things.    through that,  they talk a lot on the regular about stuff other than redfield as well.    harley is,  quite frankly,  terrified for ava when redfield gives her powers.    she sees ava as one of the group’s MVPs due to her knowledge of the supernatural and her all around badassery,  and is sick at the thought of losing her to those very things. 

thoughts on lucas thomas and your mc’s relationship with him:

despite their obvious aesthetic differences at first glance,   harley and lucas balance each other out perfectly.    lucas is,  truly,  harley’s impulse control, and he helps her think through a lot of her good ideas to make them into rational good ideas.   in return,  harley knows how to sort through lucas’ problems to make them more manageable and imposes her more easygoing attitude on him when he needs it.   harley has never held any grudge against him for becoming popular,  as she mostly just saw him as an incredibly hard worker.   for the longest time (until finding out about his struggles) she admired his work ethic, and definitely voted for him in every class election and similar situations.    harley and lucas probably confide in each other  /  keep each other in check more than anyone else in the team.    lucas was one of the gang members that harley spoke to the most throughout the ten year lapse,   each conversation a short,  friendly burst as they went opposite directions socially. 

thoughts on stacy green and your mc’s relationship with her:

stacy is the member of the gang that, at the START of the story, harley feels she understands the least.   the constant association of her with cody, britney, and jocelyn puts a very sour taste in harley’s mouth  -  even if stacy herself isn’t doing any of the bullying,  she doesn’t say anything.    their relationship reaches that deep place when stacy vents out to her that she’s being blackmailed by britney,  which kicks up harley’s instinct to protect her friends.   the two are pretty opposite in most ways,   but their differences strengthen their friendship more than anyone else in the group.    even when stacy doesn’t think of herself as a good person,  harley does,   and lifts her up at every opportunity she possibly can because she knows what stacy is capable of.    emotionally,   they are an outlet for one another about their respective social circles.   physically,  they are two of the most unassuming yet strongest fighters on the team,  and work very well together in a battle setting. 

thoughts on lily ortiz and your mc’s relationship with her:

lily is unequivocally,  the one member of the original group that harley talked with the most throughout the ten year span between jane’s death and redfield’s awakening.    both of them were deemed to be Losers by the popular kids,   but both of them were open enough to seek each other out again from time to time,  which explains how easy it is for them to talk at the start of the book,  even if they didn’t necessarily consider themselves “friends” during that gap.    harley is very protective of lily solely because she knows lily is good enough to give second chances to people like britney,  but she never babies her,  simply giving her advice when she sees fit out of the goodness of her heart.    lily is one of the group members that harley actually feels most comforted by when she realizes how thin she’s trying to stretch herself to keep everything intact.    all danger aside,  harley and lily just genuinely think the other is so cool. 

thoughts on connor green and your mc’s relationship with him:

in my narrative, harley and connor’s relationship serves as one of the foils to her relationship with noah.   she didn’t pay too much mind to him when they were kids,  often just thinking of him as stacy’s sill older brother,   but they take an obvious interest in each other all those years later.    harley doesn’t quite realize that 1. connor has a crush on her, because no one’s ever had a crush on her before or 2. that what she does could be considered flirtatious, because she’s never flirted with anyone before.    any romantic feelings she has are reserved for noah,   but she does value connor’s friendship a great amount and thinks he’s extremely cool.     they share a lot of similarities,  from not really knowing what they want to do with their lives to their generally unbothered dispositions,  but what connor really wants is to,  as things get more dire,  save harley.    what he doesn’t realize is that harley is the hero of this story.