harrow nova provoking cam into beating the shit out of her in a fair fight (this is sex, To Her)
Harrow Nova is, quite frankly, a bitch.
For this reason Camilla has been able to ignore everything she's said. It's gotten under her skin, sure, but she's been able to take it resiliently.
Until-
"I could put him out of his misery over Septimus, you know."
Camilla takes a deep breath. She looks the cavalier primary in the eyes. "You have 3 seconds to take that back." Camilla sees the gleam in Harrow's eyes as she says this. Like provoking Camilla was the goal. She fully understands what's about to happen.
3.
Harrow relaxes her shoulders.
2.
Camilla flexes her knuckles.
1.
Camilla grabs the chain of Samuel and yanks Harrow into her knee. She was aiming for her sternum but the grip pulled Harrow off balance and Camilla's knee slams into Harrow's face.
Her nose starts bleeding freely. Camilla digs her fingers into the short hair and yanks back, forcing the smaller girl to make eye contact with her.
Harrow's jaw shifts to spit on Camilla but the tread of her boot slams into her sternum before she gets the chance.
The spit lands on the exposed section of Camilla's chest, the red dripping down slowly, staining her top. Camilla walks over to her and kicks the rapier out of her grasp before pressing her boot into Harrow's sternum. The soft space at the crest of her ribs giving slightly under Camillas pressure. "Are we done here." she asks, but they both know it's a statement.
Harrow shines a bloody grin like she's won, all the same.
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Not to be old, but I am thinking about things we lost with the end of over the air TV syndication as a common cultural vector.
I was in a conversation (several conversations) about where to start with Star Trek, and where people started, and ended up formulating the thought that the best way to start is to just randomly encounter whatever happens to be on at the time and go from there. (I know a few people a little older than I am who started with The Animated Series which is a hell of a starting point.) And for decades that meant random reruns in syndication.
Then I just posted about the role of M*A*S*H in my childhood, and that too was all about it just being on kind of in the background all the time.
Then @piratecaptainscaptainpirates posted about seeing declining participation in OFMD stuff, and I was thinking about the same thing that happened gradually after the TAZ Balance finale, and then about fandoms for old shows (both recent-old, someone I follow has been posting a lot of Gallavant gifs? And old-old, like @frommybookbook with Perry Mason), and then, of course, Star Trek.
How much of Star Trek being THE fandom show is due to those years in the 70s and early 80s when TOS was in syndication at whatever random time on whatever local station? (similarly in the US with Doctor Who through the 80s on local PBS stations) When new fans can just happen upon the source material by turning on the TV on a Saturday afternoon, or every weeknight at 7, etc etc.
Idk, I'm sure someone with an actual scholarly background has written something about this, and idk what this means for the future of our little subculture(s), it just made me ponder the landscape that I grew up in that simply does not exist now.
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i will never understand how or why the httyd movies did the books such an injustice.
the movies aren't even an adaptation - they stole the name of the series, the name of some of the characters and places, and the general idea that there are dragons. honestly, i would be fine with the movies and maybe even like them if they didn't capitalize off of cressida cowell's incredible books that never get any credit.
the books are an amazing story about the cycle of violence and how vengeance and revenge is dangerous. hiccup says that the past is a ghost story, one we need to learn from to better ourselves. the books are about how everyone deserves freedom, how every creature, every being on the earth deserves to be free. we see that in the slavemark, with the dragons.
and like... hiccup is so different. they did him a severe injustice. he's scrawny and intelligent and learned to talk to dragons simply by observing them! he chooses kindness first above all else; instead of yelling at toothless to train him, he is kind. and in the end, that kindness is why toothless chose to save him. bc even toothless himself says that dragons are inherently selfish creatures who care only for their survival. hiccup is brave - his beliefs differ drastically from both the vikings and the world.
hiccup is a child who chose to do the right thing even at the expense of himself. he agreed to free the slaves on nobert's ship, and in return, they gave him the slavemark which is easy to give but cannot be removed. he was like twelve. and having the slavemark means he cannot be with his tribe or his family, it means he isn't considered a human being anymore. and he keeps it a secret for awhile until it's revealed and when it is everyone turns their backs on hiccup. his family, his tribe, his mentor, people he TRUSTED. everyone except fishlegs, and, once she got over the shock, camicazi. he was thirteen. and even when he lost his memories and was really injured, he persisted. he was told to go to tomorrow and to save the dragons and he did bc in his heart he knew it was right even though he didn't know who he was or how he got there.
and fishlegs,,, oh my god FISHLEGS!!! the did him SO DIRTY!!! fishlegs is hiccup's best friend, one of the main motivators for hiccup. he steals norbert's potato for the sake of fishlegs, he gives fishlegs his dragon and goes to retrieve another, he takes the blame for fishlegs. and fishlegs does the same for him. he takes the slavemark with pride. he refuses to turn. he gives hiccup his lobster claw necklace which is his most prized possession. he is brave for hiccup, he believes hiccup is alive. he fights for hiccup harder than anyone else ever has. he does not turn. his is loyal, has allergies, has asthma, has a squint and a limp, has glasses bc he's blind without them... and he's still a hero despite being a runt, despite everyone even the adults telling him he's hopeless, telling hiccup to leave him behind.
and they cut camicazi! i'm sorry, but astr*d is nothing compared to camicazi. camicazi is a tiny, feral child who can easily best hiccup, fishlegs, and pretty much anyone in a sword fight. she can bring a grown man to tears with her rudery and smack talk. she is recklessly brave and craves adventure and follows hiccup blindly bc she trusts him that much. she isn't in love with hiccup - in fact she doesn't care about romance and love. she gives up everything to help hiccup bc she has a strong sense of justice. she is the motivator, the cheerleader, she finds a positive in everything. she never gives up. literally never gives up. and that's one of the most inspiring things about her: she always has hope.
and toothless! god!!! toothless is *thought to be* a common or garden dragon. he is horrifically tiny, he is literally toothless, and is the biggest brat in the world. he will cause problems on purpose. he has a stutter, he's the most selfless selfish dragon around. he and hiccup can talk to each other. he masks his fear with singing and being annoying. his growth is remarkable. he starts off refusing to obey hiccup, doing the opposite of what he says, making life harder for literally everyone around him, and he's still somewhat like that. but he's also braver, more caring, more willing to make sacrifices for the sake of others. he's clever, which he needs to be to make up for his size and aggression. he protects hiccup with everything he has, therefore, he protects what hiccup cares about just as hard. he was the only dragon that didn't abandon the vikings in the first book bc he cared about hiccup.
and snotlout,,, god,,, i will never forgive the movies for butchering snotlout. hiccup's cousin, the bully character, the one who is horrifically jealous that hiccup's dad was born before his. the one who desperately wants to prove himself, to be worthy, to make people proud. and you hate him, you despise him. he betrays everyone many times bc of the nothing promised to him by alvin and his mom. he loses himself, turns his back on himself, all bc he wants to prove himself. all bc he wants to be better than hiccup. and hiccup still forgives him and gives him chances, sometimes out of pity, but also bc snotlout is his cousin. he can't just turn his back on him no matter how miserable snotlout made his life. and in the end, snotlout sacrifices himself for hiccup. he gives up his life for hiccup in one last attempt to set things right. his death and the events preceding it are one of my absolute favorite moments in the book. gives me chills. makes me cry.
that's the thing with the books - they're so realistic. there is no inherently happy ending where everything works out. the first book begins with "there were dragons when i was a boy", implying that they're gone now. the books show there are consequences to our actions. they enslaved the dragons, they fought against them during the dragon rebellion all bc alvin and his mom said to, and now they're gone bc a simple apology doesn't fix hundreds of years of enslavement. and the only way for the world to move forward was for the dragons to leave and heal on their own. and now they have to learn to live without them. and yeah i've heard the third movie ends like that but. it doesn't have the build up. it doesn't have "there were dragons when i was a boy". it doesn't have eleven books of development to back it up, to make it feel meaningful.
i know that the movies are really special to a lot of people. i know that, on their own, they're genuinely good movies. i can acknowledge that the soundtrack is amazing and the animation is beautiful. i just can't see past the way they butchered the world that i love, the world that i grew up with. i can't see past the way people yelled at me for saying i liked the books better, the way that people gave me weird looks when i showed them a picture of the original toothless, when i tell them that nightfuries aren't even a type of dragon. cressida cowell created hundreds of different dragons, and the movies couldn't even pick from that. i can't forgive the way that barely anyone knows there are books bc the movie barely gives credit to them. i cannot forgive the way they capitalized off the books and then shoved them aside. i know cressida thinks they're good movies and i know a lot of httyd book fans also like them. but i just... i cannot get over how much they changed and how they missed so much and ignored the books. also they got rid of camicazi so hiccup could have a love interest and that is unforgivable to me.
if you disagree, that is a-okay. we're all entitled to our own opinions. i just ask that you, perhaps, try the books out. give them a chance. bc they're amazing works of art and also just like. don't yell at people who don't like the movies? whether it's bc they prefer the books or just aren't into that kind of movie. and just remember that dreamworks didn't come up with the story; cressida cowell did.
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Thinking about the triumvirate that makes the whole: Fitz, Nighteyes, the Fool. Thinking about how Fitz can never let go of the past. Constantly looking back, reliving his life's events, dwelling on regrets. A storyteller and a chronicler of histories. Thinking about Nighteyes and his wolf’s mindset of the Now. Always reminding Fitz that it’s useless to worry about things that are already done and can’t be changed, or about things yet to come that are out of reach. The only thing that matters is the moment you’re in. Thinking about the Fool, the literal White Prophet, reading the threads of all possible futures and guiding them onto the paths and patterns he desires. Eyes always fixed on the future, always focused on what comes next. Human, wolf, prophet. Past, present, future.
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Javert, the world is not merely black and white.
[Image ID: a drawing split into three vertical diagonal panels. The top and the bottom panels are a shade of dark blue. The top panel, written in white, reads: “He gave me my life/He gave me freedom.” The bottom panel, also written in white, reads: “I should have perished by his hand.” The word “perished” is written in red.
The middle panel shows an up-close drawing of Javert’s eyes. Blood is matted across the corner of his face. His eyes are blue and looking towards the sky with a frantic look. He is crying. His skin is pale, his hair dark. He is engulfed in shadows from the night sky as well as light from the moon above. /End ID]
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Books of 2024: ADHD FOR SMART ASS WOMEN: HOW TO FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR NEURODIVERGENT BRAIN by Tracy Otsuka.
I saw this on a new release promotional email and thought "well shit, that looks like my life, I should Investigate That™," only to realize it was a brand new hardback and I didn't want to pay $29 for 200 pages of information. Since I found out about it on release day, my next thought was, "Oh, I can check and see if my library has any copies!! We love supporting our libraries in this house!!"
Reader: They did Not.
But! I did find the "request a book" option on their website, and I entered this book, and I got a robocall within a week saying my hold was ready to be picked up! Y'all!! The library literally ordered this book for me (it was stamped into circulation one (1) day before they called me!), and now I have it to read! I love libraries!!
(book pic featuring the super cute coaster set @asexualbookbird made me that I love with my entire heart!!)
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