#but to actually witness it.. oh man oh man

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Sum of All 5

Warnings: non/dubcon, mentions of crime, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Character: mob!Steve Rogers

Part of the mob drabbles au

Summary: you are given an unexpected assignment.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging ❤️

“You look upset?” Rogers’ voice startles you. You sit straight and rub the stitch from your forehead. How long has he been there? 

“Do I?” You wonder.  

Three days in this place, sifting through scraps and musty old receipts, and it’s starting to bleed through. Oh, don’t think of the blood. You grip the desk and shift in the chair. 

“I guess,” he shrugs. “Something wrong? I can get you a different chair.” 

“Chair, uh?” You look down, “no, that’s fine. Actually, I think I’m probably almost done.” 

“Good,” he says.  

He crosses his arms and turns on his leather sole. He starts to pace. He does that a lot. If he’s not sat in the arm chair or disappearing to wreak havoc out of sight, he’s there, walking back and forth. Back and forth. Combing his fingers through his hair, waving his hand in a wordless argument, moving his lips silently. Even if you hadn’t witnessed it that first day, you could tell he’s a man with a lot of pent-up anger. 

You go back to tallying it all up. Your stomach somersaults as you hover the pencil along the columns and review the numbers. Honestly, you are done, you just don’t know how to say what you need to. To tell this man what you discovered. 

“You’re breathing heavy again,” he stops and turns to you, “what’s the matter?” 

“Asthma?” You lie. He grimaces. 

“You got something for that?” He asks. 

“No...” you look away guiltily. “Alright, I don’t have asthma,” you wiggle the pencil nervously then tap your nose without thinking. What are you doing? You still it and put it down. “I’m done, okay, and, er...” you suck in air through flared nostrils, “you gotta promise you’re not going to freak out.” 

“Freak out?” He echoes as if the concept is absurd to him. 

“Yeah, because it’s not good news.” 

“Spill it,” he steps closer to the desk. 

You lean back in the chair and look up at him. A shank of his dark hair slips past his ear and the sheen of silver strands on his chin catch the light. His jaw squares under his thick beard. 

“Okay, but like just remember that it’s this Warren guy...” You clasp onto the armrests as you talk. “Oh boy, right. I’m not sure how to say it...” your eyes skitter back and forth. When you look back to him, that vein is bulging in his head. Just say it before he explodes! “He stole. A lot of money. And he actually hid it quite well but... yeah, I can show you--” 

“Amazing!” He claps and his face lights up. You flinch and your eyes go wide. Huh? He looks almost happy. 

“It is?” You flutter your lashes as the fog fades away from the edge of your vision. 

“You did it,” he said. “Get up. You gotta tell the boss.” 

“Huh? Me? You can’t--” 

“You’re the one who knows numbers. Grab the book, let’s go,” he commands. 

You don’t dare disobey. You grab the ledger and stand so abruptly, the chair snaps on the axle. You give a sheepish smile and scurry around the desk. 

He waves you out of the office. You’re all too happy to oblige at the realisation that you’re close to being out of here. He takes you down the hall and stops you at that same door. He knocks and waits until he gets an answer from within. 

He ushers you in ahead of him and shuts the door with a heavy click. That man, Buck, or Bucky, or Barnes, or whatever he wants to be, sits behind his desk. He is just as unimpressed as the last time you saw him. 

“Steve,” he greets the other man. 

“Go on,” Rogers nudges you with his knuckles. “Tell him.” 

You hold the book up in front of your chest and sway, “may I?” You nod towards the desk. 

Barnes gestures to the empty space and you approach. You put the ledger down, flipping it to face him. You turn the pages back and start at the beginning. 

“So, I was going through it all. This Warren guy. You see, here are the expenses, then--” 

“I don’t need the exes and ohs, doll, just get to the business,” he insists. 

“Right, I know you’re a busy man so I wouldn’t want to waste your time,” you chuckle nervously. “Alright, well,” you stand straight. Your head feels bubbly. “He stole a whole bunch money!” You say it a bit more chipper than you mean too. “Oops, well, not that it’s a good thing but...” 

Barnes’ eyes narrow and his chin ticks. You gulp and chew your lip. Shoot. 

“Sorry, don’t be mad. It wasn’t me, you know, I just added it up and--” You rock backwards and tip.  

You’re saved from hitting the floor as Rogers catches you and puts you back on your feet. He keeps hold of you, an arm across your back and his other hand on your shoulder. Barnes watches with unyielding derision. 

“Holy hell, she got something going on in her head?” Barnes asks. 

“She’s fine.” Rogers insists. “Look, Buck. We figured it out. You got everything you need to off that guy.” 

“Off... you’re going to kill Warren?” You squeak. 

Barnes gives you a sharp look and you seal your lips. Why did you say that? Your vision pulses and the colours blur. You feel yourself tilting and your head falls back. You slip into darkness to the shallow noise of your own breaths. 

When you wake again, you’re in a car. Rogers’ car. It’s dark and he’s silent. You look over at his shadow as he drives. You don’t recognise the streets outside the windows. 

“Noooo,” you sit up and pull on the handle as panic course through you. “Nooo, please, don’t kill me--” 

“Hmph?” He grunts and grabs your arm, pulling you back against the seat. “Sweetheart, if I was gonna kill you, you wouldn’t be awake right now.” 

“Oh god, so you would?” You screech. “I don’t know anything. Consider it all forgotten. Out of my head... oooh, my head.” 

“Calm down. Have some water,” he points to the cupholder. Your water bottles firmly in it. “Boss is happy. You did a good job.” 

“Oh, okay, right. Yeah. I’m a good accountant,” you say. You cringe and take the water bottle. You uncap it and clear your throat. “I’m sorry.” 

You drink deeply as he keeps his foot on the gas. You feel a bit better. You put the water back and wipe your hands on your skirt. 

“Um, Mr. Rogers?” You eke out. “Where are we going? You don’t have to say but I’m just asking.” 

He snorts quietly, “gotta pick someone up. You just stay quiet and don’t move.” He pulls up in front of a house. It looks like a really normal one. “Can you do that without passing out?” 

“I...” you look between him and the window, “I’ll try.” 

[rip-cod-brainrot]

Oh yeah that’s why the first game makes me SO uncomfortable. It’s just. It’s war crime simulator the whole way through. It’s less “haha shooty bang bang” and more actual fucking warfare.

THIS BIT IN PARTICULAR is why I enjoy Gaz as a character. When he says he wants to fight with the gloves off, it’s because he’s tired. He’s tired of being held back by bureaucracy. His team knew that cell was there, one of his men died next to him in the car because they weren’t allowed to act sooner. There wouldn’t have been civilian casualties if he had just been able to act sooner, weeks sooner, instead of in the middle of the attack. The attack they knew was coming.

They followed the rules, the orders, and ended up with lives on their hands that they couldn’t save.

Of course he wants to abandon the rules then. Of course he wants all those higher ups and their restrictions and their laws to go and burn in hell. Maybe in hell, they’d witness how many lives were lost because they waited instead of acting.

You get the scene at the embassy. More needless life lost, right in front of Gaz… for nothing else but to make a point. To prove that the Butcher is willing to go through any means necessary, any people necessary, just to fuck with their heads.

He’s seconds away from beating the Butcher up in that little warehouse before Price turns him away, tells him to get “the package” from Nikolai. Gaz is so fucking pissed that this man is taunting them, being an absolute prick, still messing with their heads-

And you can hear it in his voice when the van door opens. You can see, down to the second, when Gaz hesitates. He sees that mother and child, and he realizes that Price is willing to go through any means necessary, too.

Any people necessary.

And that’s why he argues with Price in the car. Because going that far beyond the limits- Gaz had just wanted the rules to stop, to say ‘fuck you’ to the higher-ups and do what needed to be done, when it needed to be done.

He didn’t realize that Price meant this, too.

Going this far…. That was something that the enemy did. Going this far was what separated the enemy from the good guys. From him.

Gaz is left fucking reeling, dude. He’s pissed at Price, he didn’t want this, he didn’t mean this…

And Price tells him in no uncertain terms that you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. He wanted the gloves off, well, they’re off. There is no half-assing it. If you’re in… you’re all in. All the way.

As Price talks, Gaz has the time to process it. Then Price says ‘if you’re having second thoughts, then I can do this on my own.’

… Gaz still hesitates. Because, again, this isn’t what he wanted. This isn’t what he meant.

But he settles back into his seat, sets his jaw.

He’s gone this far, and he’s not about to let Price go alone.

“No, sir. No second thoughts.”

People sleep on Gaz when his introduction to 141 was basically him ranting to Price how they won't let him do the war crimes and Price going "you wanna do war crimes come with me"

Following them to go to Russia and threatened with killing a woman and a kid in order to get information from their pretty sure illegal POW

I feel like people in this fandom obsess over masked people when it's the unmasked ones that are psychos

[cartoon-buffoon]

A thing I noticed immediately when watching Finding Frankie and was an inconsistenty is the footage not used from one of the earlier trailers because THIS was the trailer I saw that got me properly excited for this game. In the official game trailer released 7 months ago (not the release date trailer which features the fall guys inspired characters dying before it switched to game footage). You can see some stuff NOT used in the final game and I wanna show them, break them down, and give my opinion on why the ending we got feels a bit... Weird? Disjointed? Yeah disjointed, let's go with that.

Okay for starters we see an sequence where we actually are in our apartment and the cereal box is poofed onto the counter, I'm assuming this was placing it on there and this entire environment was scrapped for what is now the ending cutscene where we see our apartment as Real Frankie talks to us

I'm assuming this was cut for time constraints and to get straight into the action. Who cares about a sequence where we have the player physically opening the cereal box when we ya know—can solve everything by simply showing a cutscene which gets the point across better and is a thousand times more cinematic? But ya know in the ending area we do get to walk through our apartment so they didn't COMPLETELY wanna scrap the environment so they repurposed it.

Okay second off is the character who I'll refer to as "Buddy" (like Boris in BATIM)

Now this comes RIGHT AFTER you put on the suit and we can clear as day see this was a section almost entirely cut from the game. This isn't the starting line and another contestant awaits us. I find this interesting because it leads me to believe Buddy over here was gonna be some sort of helper. During this sequence where we see Buddy during the trailer a voice line Real Frankie has goes unused but it's in this trailer, he can be curiously heard saying "The mask conceals your voice and identity to avoid cheating with other contestants!" Which is kinda an odd thing to say which leads me to believe Buddy was gonna be possibly our version of a tutorial however Buddy would still be killed because as well all know: Frankie hates cheaters. The line "the other contestants have mysteriously died... Not sure how that happened but oh well!" Meaning the idea of us being the sole survivor was always set in stone but sadly Buddy was nothing more than a corpse in the current game we got.

Third is something I wanna note because this line appears in the old trailer, went used in the game, but makes no sense? Now we all know of the whiteboard with the status of the contestants on it

We are lucky contestant number 3, yet for some reason contestant number 4 is MIA for some reason... Now the reason why this makes no sense is because the broadcast states 3 bodies were found yet only 2 are marked terminated??? This is weird because we actually only see 2 death's on screen (ehhh 1/2)

We all know of the CRUNCH Monster Frankie gives the one cheater who gets a headstart, but after he dies it's at this point the player probably gets jump scared so they don't see it but an animation plays of Monster Frankie reaching over and plucking the second contestant up like a piece of candy. Now while this is happening the fourth contestant actually WALKS BACKWARDS AND OUT

My man does a back pedal, immediately avoiding this and seemingly leaving. According to the police report though that's not the case, we never see it but it seems after Frankie munched on the first 2 he went for the fourth contestant leaving us, lucky number 3, alive. Now the reason why I find this so interesting is because despite what the police report says, Real Frankie has yet to mark contestant number 4 as dead which wouldn't make sense? If Real Frankie saw the first 2 die logically he'd also be able to witness Monster Frankie pry open the shutter the 4th contestant is hidden behind and kill him. But he doesn't? This is where my theory comes in about the very odd ending:

I don't think we were meant to survive, but rather contestant number 4 was supposed to steal our winnings?

Like the ending of us plummeting into the incinerator REALLY does make it seem like we die and this bitch comes in after hiding behind a door the entire time and goes "lemme get that 5 million" because everything is already taken care of. Consider contestant number 4 is MIA and we don't exactly know why it really does seem the intended ending was that we die and number 4 steals our cash prize. However the police report contradicts this seeming like contestant numbers 1, 2, and 4 all died by Frankie leaving us all alone and alive. My explanation?: the devs just didn't really bother recording lines or redoing cutscenes to fix any mistakes they had when scrapping this idea, it's why ya know in the ending cutscene it's made apparent we ARE the winners as contestant number 3. Like all things considering, and I'm definitely not calling them lazy, I think this was a case of not exactly caring about the lore because ultimately this game wishes to set itself apart from other horror games thus the VERY LITTLE lore and concrete explanations we get.

Idk that's all for now, just some neat stuff I thought I'd point out

[stormandforge]

Raw reactions to X-Force #5

Yup, someone dies.

MASSIVE spoilers (and controversial opinions) below.

It's Nori. There'd been so much foreshadowing in the comic - and so much fan discussion about the upcoming character death - that I had started believing it wouldn't be her. But no, it was always going to be her. When you consider the way she joined the team, her post-Krakoa trauma, her selflessness and her relationship with Forge, it makes complete sense.

That death scene goes hard. We actually see her burned-up corpse, we hear her farewell words - oof, my heart. Rest in power, little blue-haired hero.

This said, everyone attacking Geoff Thorne over Nori's death needs to calm down. I would understand this amount of upset if he'd done her dirty, but he really hasn't. He's consistently written her with respect, gave her as much spotlight as he could in a team book, and gave her a heroic death. Stories kill characters, people. That's just the way it is.

Also: Nori's coming back, maybe even in this run. We just don't know yet. And don't give me nonsense about the resurrection protocols being gone - mutants came back from the dead before Krakoa, they will continue to do so.

"Forge always has a plan." YES. Nothing to do with his power; he's just always up to something. That's Forge 101. Fuck me, it's so good to have a writer who understands him. And because Thorne has done his homework, I believe what we're witnessing is a typical Forge plan: something that he believes will benefit the greater good, but that is also misguided and full of hubris and will repeatedly backfire in his face.

Forge can be cold, but this is subzero. He loves Nori, he wouldn't act that way if he was fully himself. Something's going on. Someone needs to shake him real hard - beat him to a pulp, really - and realign his neurons. The two most qualified people to do that are showing up in the next issue, so I'm thinking this is what will happen.

Why does he take her gauntlets? It can't just be for the sake of getting his tech back. As i said he's not that cold, and also he can probably make those again in his sleep.

FORGE ALMOST KILLED AN ALT VERSION OF STORM IN COLD BLOOD. The man is not well, I'm telling you.

There's a theme of Forge hurting the women he cares about in this issue. Trust Sage to see the pattern and get the hell out before anything can happen- the hurting or the caring.

OK, now he's hovering above the ground with a big shiny triangle around his body. That's magic, isn't it? For a second I started thinking the Analog must be magic after all, but then I remembered Sage loves staring into it too, so it can't be. Mmm...still processing.

Thorne understands Forge's power better than any writer I've seen (yup that includes Claremont), and I appreciate that he mentions his need for materials to build anything. It should be obvious, but most writers have him make things out of thin air. There's only so much he can fit in that utility belt.

So many people, so many things! Poor Marcus To.

Marcus To is still doing excellent though. Do I need to tell you that Forge is hot? I think I've been clear on that already, but let me reiterate: FORGE IS HOT.

"Slippery as ice": oh, that made me hap-py. Such an evocative, accurate way of describing Sage.

No, Forge's power doesn't let him see what will happen. But you know whose power can see every eventuality? Sage's. This was highlighted in the very first issue, and Forge repeats the exact same words from this moment in this issue. THERE'S SOMETHING TO THAT.

I continue to dig the dynamic between Forge and Sage, curses and all. The little cerebral push and pull they have going on is very interesting.

Also continue to adore Tessa herself. The way she challenges Forge at every opportunity, the way she always asks the right questions *chef's kiss*. Everyone obviously wants to murder Forge on that last page, but I love that she's the one who tells him to go fuck himself, even though she's been the person closest to him on the team. She's my girl. I'm this close to opening a side blog entirely devoted to her awesomeness. (I see what Geoff Thorne means when he says she tries to steal the show. She does!)

OK, so, there's no way Forge has a team anymore at this point, so I assume the next issue will be a downtime one. I imagine he'll go home, have an existential crisis featuring his two exes (as you do) and then get back on the road. Or something? Also, the next issue has a Sage variant cover, which could imply she plays an important part in it. One can only hope. If it's the issue of Forge getting his ass kicked by awesome women, she should take part.

[emotional-emotion]

YOU SPOILERS AHEAD

this is honestly the single most creepiest thing i’ve seen on this show so far

nOT the creepy ass smile wtf WTF WTF

penn badgley YOU ARE INSANE MISTER.

[dcdreamblog]

Oh sure. You take some various on superhuman law/ethics/philosophy in every semester of my program. Basically, the whole philosophy is bunk from either a legal or moral perspective. Legally speaking, unless someone had a gun to the back of the Joker's head, no one forced him to pull the trigger. Especially considering the nature of his crimes is entirely violent and destructive. He has no mitigating factor. He just wants to hurt people. There's a reason he hasn't actually been TRIED for anything in more than a decade. He records himself doing this shit and that's when he doesn't do it in broad daylight surrounded by witnesses. On the moral AND legal note, it's also why he's not "insane" in any workable sense. He KNOWS what hurting people is, he KNOWS the outcome of his actions and chooses to make them anyway. He is able to make long term, premeditated plans to cause death, destruction and mayhem. He knows the difference between right and wrong. He's not insane. Mentally ill? Probably, but that's not in the same world, let alone the same thing. As far as Batman's "culpability". Criminals have existed in every form, in every society since the dawn of man. If he wasn't putting on makeup to do this dance with a masked lawman, he'd be mailing kidneys to the most famous police detective, or mentally sparring with a local genius, or defacing religious monuments, or something else that satisfies his inbuilt desire to be recognize and "feared" for his actions.

Plus New Jersey isn't a death penalty state in the first place, let alone the kind of society where a single man is deputized to make that call in the dark without trial.

Followup, the Joker has claimed a few times that he was the original Red Hood--do you think there's any credibility to that?

Am I placing much historical stock in one of the many, MANY manifestos written by a murderous sociopath? No honestly I can't say that I am. Thankfully, I do not have to because as any Gothamite will tell you, the Joker is not as slick as he likes to think he is. SO, let's talk some dates and times.

(The Ace Chemical Process Planet located in Gotham City, NJ) The raid/robbery that The Joker cites as his "one bad day" in his manifesto DID happen. That much is a matter of public record. Generally, here is how it went down.

(All times are taken in EST)

2:00 AM: The Gang makes their way, unnoticed into the factory's central processing area

2:02 AM: The Gang's gunmen are spotted by Ace security, a call to the GCPD is made and the security guards open fire against police advice.

2:03-2:15 AM: Most of the Gang members are killed in the resulting firefight before the police arrive outside the building. Leaving only "Red Hood One" the Gang's assumed leader.

2:16 AM: Batman arrives on the scene, breaking through the skylight of the processing area. His presence is noted entering the building by the GCPD and within the plant by Ace security

2:17-2:20 AM: Batman and Red Hood One engage in a short scuffle and chase through the processing plant, eventually ending up on a catwalk overhanging vats of caustic chemicals. Red Hood One is characterized as "nervous", "jittery" and "terrified" by Ace security

2:21 AM: Red Hood One backs up against the railing of the catwalk, seemingly over committing his weight he falls backwards over the railing. Batman lunges forward in an attempt to catch him but Red Hood One's loose evening glove slips free and he tumbles into the vat below.

2:25 AM: GCPD arrives on the scene, all members of the Red Hood Gang are marked DOA by paramedics.

1 Week: The tanks are drained in full, their contents and the drainage pipes, outflow stream and factory grounds are searched. Red Hood One's body is never recovered. Ace Chemical releases a statement saying that full immersion in the chemicals within the vat is "incompatible with human life". On their advice, Red Hood One is declared legally dead, his identity never established.

1 Month: His single evening glove is left in a sealed evidence bag on the desk of Gotham's then new police commissioner, Jim Gordon. This is taken as evidence that even Batman has declared the case cold.

4 Months: The Joker makes his first public appearance, attempting to release toxic chemicals into the Gotham reservoir. After his defeat and arrest, the chemicals are tested. They are the same chemical from the vats at the Ace Chemical Planet where Red Hood One went missing. The chemical is not publically available for purchase and is a controlled substance, meaning it is only purchasable in bulk for corporate and government manufacturing. This means the only missing batch is the one drained from the vats to search for Red Hood One's body.

It's that last detail that I think will leave this door open until the end of time. Famously as it has been noted though, it's impossible to prove beyond circumstantial evidence.

The Joker has no fingerprints (consistent with them being burned off, which is a common enough criminal tactic that it doesn't prove anything), dental and DNA records matching his own do not exist on any public database.

If Red Hood One left skin, hair or prints on the inside of that glove it's not in the case file and Batman's not telling.

[katierosefun]

okay so now that i’ve officially finished watching leverage i just want to say that maybe i’m obsessed with this show on multiple levels and something about how it hits so many itches in that it’s about found family and it’s about fucking over bad, rich guys (no billionaire bootlicking in this show! and i fucking love it) and it’s also about how sometimes the bad guys are the only good guys you get and it’s also about how we are all stronger together it’s about how at the start of this show, we have all of these characters who are largely used to working alone and being alone and yet the show concludes that ultimately, we are better when we are together and by being together, we might be able to leave something behind that is bigger and brighter for the next people in our generation and no man is an island and no person is meant to beat goliath on their own or whatever

[pacific-coast-hockey]

yk i have not been watching the rookie tournament due to the horrors but getting all my information secondhand thru @whoredeleau, it does strike me very much as similar to the '22 rookie tournament, where i walked out of it convinced this would be the cuda's year. and it absolutely was NOT, but i did proceed to have the most fun i've ever had as a barracuda fan in the 22-23 season. fingers crossed the vibes are changing

[o-uncle-newt]

I think that the thing is that Sayers a) always has SOME kind of a point if you don't take it too far and b) she's such a good and convincing writer that while you're reading, she can basically convince you of anything just by saying it. I noticed this when reading Unpopular Opinions, her book of essays, which are great but which rely a lot on "I am saying this and making it sound true so it is true, you have to trust my Vibes." And guess what, for a bunch of it I absolutely trusted her Vibes, even after I thought about it for a while with the book closed! She's just a fascinating combination of an incredibly clever and often actually wise person who combined that element of herself with weirdly nostalgically conservative politics. Always SUPER fun. (At some point I need to do my Sayers and the Jews essay but I want to do some reading first.)

The thing with Bunter is that I don't think there's much discrepancy there- the relationship between Wimsey and Bunter where Wimsey treats him somewhat like an equal wouldn't be the same if Bunter didn't already go out of his way to treat him as a superior. Wimsey can make the overtures of semi-equality because he knows that they aren't in equal positions- not in the sense of it being false or rubbing it in, but him also being more sensitive to their class differences because he's aware of them. (Incidentally, I was just reading Clouds of Witness and Wimsey stops Bunter before he can accidentally "forget himself" and insult the Duke's intelligence... as though that would be a step TOO far.) Sayers often returns to this well of "when everyone knows their place in society then everyone is happier," with the corollary being that the place of the aristocracy is to be friendly and condescending (in the non-negative connotation) to the common people and servants in a way that shows that they value them and are looking out for them. In Busman's Honeymoon, she basically has Harriet say this outright and appreciatively about Peter slotting into the role of local squire; and Murder Must Advertise, a book that seriously annoys me as I mentioned earlier, has this scene:

“Well,” said Mr. Smayle, “Tallboy always says that Dumbleton is a public school.” “I daresay it is—in the sense that it has a Board of Governors,” said Ingleby, “but it's nothing to be snobbish about.” “What is, if you come to that?” said Bredon. “Look here, Smayle, if only you people could get it out of your heads that these things matter a damn, you'd be a darn sight happier. You probably got a fifty times better education than I ever did.” Mr. Smayle shook his head. “Oh, no,” he said, “I'm not deceiving myself about that, and I'd give anything to have had the same opportunities as you. There's a difference, and I know there's a difference, and I don't mind admitting it. But what I mean is, some people make you feel it and others don't. I don't feel it when I'm talking to either of you, or to Mr. Armstrong or Mr. Hankin, though you've been to Oxford and Cambridge and all that. Perhaps it's just because you've been to Oxford and Cambridge.” He struggled with the problem, embarrassing the other two men by his wistful eyes. “Look here,” said Miss Meteyard, “I know what you mean. But it's just that these two here never think twice about it. They don't have to. And you don't have to, either. But the minute anybody begins to worry about whether he's as good as the next man, then he starts a sort of uneasy snobbish feeling and makes himself offensive.” “I see,” said Mr. Smayle. “Well, of course, Mr. Hankin doesn't have to try and prove that he's better than me, because he is and we both know it.” “Better isn't the right word, Smayle.” “Well, better educated. You know what I mean.” “Don't worry about it,” said Ingleby. “If I were half as good at my job as you are at yours, I should feel superior to everybody in this tom-fool office.” Mr. Smayle shook his head, but appeared comforted. “I do wish they wouldn't start that kind of thing,” said Ingleby when he had gone, “I don't know what to say to them.” “I thought you were a Socialist, Ingleby,” said Bredon, “it oughtn't to embarrass you.” “So I am a Socialist,” said Ingleby, “but I can't stand this stuff about Old Dumbletonians. If everybody had the same State education, these things wouldn't happen.” “If everybody had the same face,” said Bredon, “there'd be no pretty women.”

To me, this is kind of the summation of Sayers's whole attitude toward class and education as relayed in the books- if you stay where you're meant to be, you're taught the way of dealing with your class and privilege/lack thereof in life, how you're supposed to relate to others, etc. If you socially climb then you end up in uncharted territory where you're a) not meant to be and b) made to feel out of place, which you then end up pushing onto other people, making them feel uncomfortable.

You can kind of see where she and others who look at it so nostalgically like that are coming from- as depicted/essentialized here, part of Wimsey's privilege also meant responsibility for those beneath him, and part of a more "common" person's commonness meant, or should have meant, a sense of security. While MMA goes a lot into anti-consumerism in a way that's hard to deny, in Unpopular Opinions her essays get a lot more into it as a problem in that it destroyed the normal order of work- where instead of having a hundred shoemakers all (apparently) happily making 10 pairs of shoes a day, you have five shoe factory managers and forty-five miserable and overworked employees making two thousand pairs of shoes a day and fifty people without their "proper job." It's a totally different angle on the issue that rings a bit more false when the ideas of both class essentialism and, as you note, bio-essentialism are removed from the picture.

...And of course that's what makes Parker so interesting! On one level, Sayers clearly doesn't believe in an "aristocracy can only marry aristocracy" kind of a thing because Peter marries Harriet- and in fact there's a through line in the books about Gerald and Helen's marriage being a cousin-inbred disaster with Harriet pointing out in Busman's Honeymoon that the injection of common blood into Parker and Mary's marriage made their kids basically normal. So that's not inconsistent. But it's also so interesting that Parker is himself this innately religious, conservative kind of a guy- in many ways more so than Wimsey, who describes him as a "perfect Victorian"- and he himself, in two separate books, is insistent on highlighting the class lines that exist between him and Mary as a barrier between them, with Wimsey essentially having to give him permission to a) have interest and b) later act on it. Though, of course, in the end he actually DOES act because Wimsey suggests that his indecision is making Mary unhappy... so it really is about love and not permission, I suppose!

What's fascinating to me is that at the end of Strong Poison, when Peter is trying to convince Gerald that Parker's suitable for Mary, he makes the point that Parker will climb the ranks and will likely eventually end up with a title/knighted. Obviously, to a degree that's him trying to speak Gerald and Helen's language, where they REALLY care about that kind of thing. But it does I think speak to something else which is that Wimsey and Parker seem to have become friends because Wimsey saw something in Parker and let him in. And I think that your point about Parker kind of earning his way out of the lower/middle class by being not just smart but dedicated and, in his way, intellectual is very solid. It's made clear that he had a decent grammar school education, works to transcend it while also not being pretentious about it, tries to improve his French, reads religious commentaries, is conservative socially... it's like Sayers is drawing a sketch of someone who isn't trying to climb but is trying to be the best of the kind of person who he innately is, while also having the talent to back it up. And THAT is what makes him worthy of Lady Mary. Because, of course, upon marriage she descends to his level in terms of lifestyle and such (even with all that money behind her for their kids later). He's not trying to climb so he's allowed to.

I just re-read Gaudy Night, and it's interesting how it feels very relevant and very dated at the same time. There's so much discussion about a woman's "place" and whether a woman can (or should) still have an intellectual life/job outside her husband if she's married, and it seems like many of the academic women in the story feel on some level that they have to choose one or the other. On the one hand, this debate, again, feels very dated in an era where most women do have jobs regardless of whether they're married or not. On the other hand, women still are frequently expected to put their families before their jobs, while men are usually not; and women are still frequently expected to sacrifice their own careers and interests for the sake of their families, while men are usually not.

The "question" of whether women belong in academia no longer seems to be a question in mainstream culture, but women in academia still don't get the same amount of respect or opportunities as men. And while British and American society no longer demands that unmarried women remain celibate, I think there is still a great deal of discomfort at the idea of women who choose to remain single, and with the idea of voluntary celibacy in general.

It's also interesting that the Senior Members of the college (all women) seem to more or less jump to the conclusion that the college "poltergeist" is expressing some kind of psycho-sexual frustration born of celibacy and academic isolation, when in fact it's someone seeking revenge. It seems like even though these women have been in academia/running the college for decades, they still harbor some insecurity over the legitimacy of their profession and lifestyle.

And then, of course, there are the casual mentions of eugenics and the one woman who thinks execution is wrong and that murderers should be used for scientific experiments instead (because that's more humane somehow??). There's also the instance where one of the porters (who is otherwise very likeable) says that Britain needs "a Hitler" who will put women in their proper place. Interesting times...

Idk, Gaudy Night fascinates me because there's SO MUCH going on in it that even on my second read, I think there's a lot that I'm probably missing. The various philosophical debates in it make me really curious about what Dorothy Sayers' own views were.

[deus-ex-mona]

i miss her…

[8o8o8o8o8]

The weird-out factor was too high to introduce it this early into the fic, so this has been nixed (for now), but we could've had minosmail

[witchofthemidlands]

BAD SISTERS || Chopped Liver

This reads like an incorrect quote but this is, in fact, an actual line from this show in a conversation between the two most serious characters in this series.

[claratwelve]

any companion who witnessed a regeneration is the strongest soldier on earth

[juniestar]

Oh my god one last thing my ex took me to outside lands and when we tried to watch lana del rey he laid down on the grass and had a “panic attack” (this was after months of him talking about how he didn’t like her) so we went to see foo fighters after a bit and he was FINE

[altruistic-meme]

WHY DO I KEEP FORGETTING TO START WRITING EARLIER KSFHKSHF

[discoknack]

(Low keeling wail) wehhh I can't do anything I set out to but then I go do some bullshit like this!