#oh or the equally bad take i saw on there of

[kingjasnah]

idk if this has been discussed but i do wonder if there was a way jasnah could have won over fen. jasnah calls her very emotionally intelligent and she only started responding positively to dalinar in ob once he got truthfully frustrated with her and did some yelling and idk i wonder if jasnah had set aside all her philosophical talk and made a passionate and emotional plea if fen would have been more receptive. but of course jasnah wouldn't do that

short answer: agreed. long answer: ive been wanting to talk about this for weeks. so you're getting kinda a long one.

jasnah is obviously one of my favorite characters and that's almost why i was clapping and cheering during the taravangian takedown--like all of her flaws and everything that makes her compelling was completely cracked open. if jasnah cares about anything at all, it's how she is perceived. we dont know what happened to her when she was a child and we dont know why it seems that she was institutionalized or at least in confinement for a period of her youth but we do know that every single thing she does is a measure to keep her from never going back to the kind of powerlessness she felt back then. i remember shallan commented on her perfect her hair and makeup and clothing was waaay back in book 1/2 and thought how interesting it was for a self professed heretic to still take care to make sure the darkeyed sailors on their ship to the shattered plains never saw her out of makeup. jasnah has been vulnerable in this series, sure, but only to her family. or maybe shallan. or maybe hoid? persumably. every single page she has appeared on in this entire series has reinforced that to her a huge part of the way she does her job (and im considering hiring a spy to follow her sister in law her job too, not just being queen. i mean what she considers her role to be in her family) of statecraft is in the perception that she is perfect. and yeah, that's why it was never going to work with fen

dalinar did have a hard time cracking fen because i think that in the beginning of their interactions they both made fundamental misinterpretations of each other based on where they came from. fen only thought of dalinar as a warmonger who would walk all over her country in the name of conquest, and dalinar straight up did not understand that fen's perspective was so heavily influenced by the thaylen mercantile culture. they still found common ground and yeah it was a frank conversation and an abandoment of diplomat speak that did it. jasnah's made emotional pleas before but i think the crux of her error with fen is that she DID know how important the mercantile culture was but she interpreted it as "fen is going to leave the alliance if she gets a better deal for her country so i need to prove that im her best option" instead of "fen values exchange of commerce but she really values relationships. fen's culture involves building relationships with other merchants so that they can trade with each other and understand each other" (please see the original two rysn interludes). fen didn't need a perfect argument from jasnah but she also didn't need dalinar's approach either. all she needed was for jasnah to TRUST her enough to treat her like an equal partner in their alliance instead of a marker to be moved around a war map.

cause let's be honest. fen is an extremely capable ruler. she's smart and she's been in power for a long time. i do not think for a second that she was genuinely aghast that jasnah sent spies after aesudan or well, the kharbrath murders were pretty bad but im certain that a middle aged to senior member of ruling nobility has seen worse. it's not a bad thing for jasnah to put her people first. i am convinced that fen felt betrayed because jasnah had already set the parameters of their relationship by even engaging in this debate with taravangian. fen saw her logic backfire on herself and went "oh. okay. you are putting YOUR people first because you do not see the thaylen people as having the kind of relationship to you as, for example, vstim had with the shin or with the reshi king. you see us as an argument to be won over, as numbers on a map, as a thought excersize. not onyl withh you walk all over my country in the name of conquest (like dalinar might have) but you'd do it for the sake of what, rhetoric??" in that way, at least taravodium was honest.

but yes. jasnah would never do that. jasnah put on a full face of makeup every morning in her cabin just in case a handful of sailors that she never learned the names of would see her. of course she would never let a queen that she respected see her worry for her kingdom on purpose but it's over now. the mask has cracked, she lost, and she knows that the trap she fell into only closed around her because of her own hubris/the kind of love you have for winning that you'd have to have in order to spend your pre-apocalypse time actively arguing about heresy with every scholar and ardent out there. taravangian's arguments would not have worked on fen if jasnah had never put her in the position to be won over in the first place. i cannot stress enough that jasnah was my first love in this series and watching her finally crack and expose what i have always considered to be the most interesting thing about her was easily one of my favorite moments in the book. insane shit. i can't wait to see how she builds herself back up.

[sirenontheloose]

PET-SITTING CHAOS

Chaos is just another word for adventure in disguise.

GENRE: comedy??

“Don’t forget we’re pet-sitting for Mrs. Han tomorrow!” Yoonchae shouted across the street with a burst of enthusiasm. The two girls had decided they needed an easy summer job, and Mrs. Han, the strict but sweet old lady in their neighborhood, had offered what seemed like the perfect gig.

“Got it! I’ll meet you at your place at 8 a.m. sharp!” Y/N shouted back, equally excited. The whole neighborhood knew they were looking forward to spending a day playing with Mrs. Han’s adorable pets, or at least that’s what they assumed.

The next morning, as they walked to Mrs. Han’s house, they chatted excitedly about their plans for senior year. The five-minute walk flew by, and soon, Yoonchae was knocking on Mrs. Han’s front door. Mrs. Han greeted them with her usual warm smile, though there was a slight edge of desperation in her voice. “Oh, girls! Thank you so much for doing this. I wouldn’t know what to do if no one could take care of my babies.”

“All good, Mrs. Han! We’ll make sure everything’s fine until you’re back at 5,” Y/N assured her confidently.

Mrs. Han, looking both grateful and slightly rushed, then informed the two girls, “They’re upstairs, second floor, first door on the left. Good luck!” With that, she hurried to her car and drove off before they could ask any questions.

“‘Good luck’? What does that mean?” Y/N muttered as they climbed the stairs.

“Probably just her being nice,” Yoonchae replied. “How hard could this be? Feed a couple of cats, maybe walk a dog. Easy peasy.”

When they reached the door, Yoonchae swung it open with a grin, expecting to see a couple of fluffy puppies or sleepy kittens. Instead, the first thing they heard was a loud, “Bitch!”. Before they could process it, a monkey leapt from the dresser and landed squarely on Y/N’s face. Y/N screamed, stumbling backward as the monkey clung to her head like a furry hat.

“Get it off! Get it off!” Y/N yelled, flailing her arms.

Yoonchae, half-panicked and half-laughing, grabbed the monkey and pried it off her friend. She quickly shoved it back into the room and slammed the door shut.

“What was THAT?” Yoonchae gasped, leaning against the door like it might burst open again.

Y/N, still recovering from the ambush, wiped her face. “I think… I think it was a monkey. Why does Mrs. Han have a monkey?”

“More like why didn’t we ask what kind of pets she had?” Yoonchae groaned. “We just assumed it’d be normal pets, like dogs, cats, maybe a goldfish. Not… this.”

As they stood there trying to catch their breath, a loud squawk came from behind the door. “Idiots! Idiots!”

Yoonchae froze. “Please tell me that wasn’t what I think it was.”

The door creaked open a crack, and a colorful parrot peeked out, glaring at them with what could only be described as judgmental eyes. “Bitch!” it repeated, then cackled like a cartoon villain.

Y/N and Yoonchae exchanged a look of pure disbelief.

“Okay,” Y/N said, taking a deep breath. “We’ve got this. It’s just a monkey and a cursing parrot. How bad could it be?”

The door rattled ominously as the monkey tried to open it from the other side. Yoonchae gave her a deadpan look. “Do you really want the answer to that question?” Y/N let out a big sigh and said, “Look, we just need to keep them alive until 5. We can do this.” She wasn’t sure if she was convincing Yoonchae or herself. “You better hope we stay alive until 5,” Yoonchae muttered, getting ready to open the door again.

As soon as the door opened, the parrot shot out like a rocket, yelling, “Losers! Stupid!” It sounded like it was laughing at them.

“Come back here!” Yoonchae shouted, running after the bird. “Why does it sound so proud of itself?” Y/N groaned, chasing after it too.

While the girls ran after the parrot, the monkey saw its chance. It climbed out of the room, sneaked into the kitchen, and opened the fridge. Moments later, it was holding a bunch of bananas and throwing yogurt containers everywhere.

“Is it throwing yogurt?” Yoonchae asked, staring in disbelief.

“Forget the parrot! We’ve got a monkey making a mess in the kitchen!” Y/N yelled, ducking as a yogurt container flew past her and splattered on the wall. The parrot landed on top of the curtain rod, watching the chaos below. “Idiots! Losers!” it shouted again, laughing loudly.

“This isn’t pet-sitting,” Yoonchae said, crouching behind the couch to avoid flying food. “This is a survival show!”

The monkey peeled a banana, took a bite, and then threw the rest at Y/N, who wiped banana mush off her shirt.

“Alright, you little troublemakers,” she said, glaring at the monkey and the parrot. “Game on.” But the monkey and the parrot weren’t done yet. They were just getting started.

After surviving the wildest food fight of their lives against animals, no less, Y/N and Yoonchae finally managed to corner the parrot. “Gotcha!” Yoonchae said triumphantly as she slammed the cage door shut.

The parrot glared at her, puffed up its feathers, and muttered, “Idiots…” before turning its back on them.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re the idiots,” Yoonchae muttered, wiping yogurt off her arm.

Meanwhile, the monkey had retreated to the top of the fridge, happily munching on its last banana.

“Alright, your turn, buddy,” Y/N said, hands on her hips.

The monkey looked at her, then at the empty banana peel in its hand, and threw it at her face.

“That’s it!” Y/N shouted, grabbing a towel quickly. “You’re getting a bath whether you like it or not!”

It took another ten minutes of chasing the monkey through the house, including a brief moment where it tried to hide in Mrs. Han’s flower vase, before they finally managed to scoop it up.

“Why is it so sticky?” Yoonchae asked as they carried the squirming monkey into the bathroom.

“I don’t know, but it’s about to be squeaky clean,” Y/N replied, turning on the shower.

The monkey, realizing what was about to happen, let out a dramatic screech and clung to Yoonchae’s shirt. “Oh no, you don’t!” Yoonchae said, prying it off and plopping it into the tub. Water splashed everywhere as the monkey flailed, but eventually, it gave up and sat there sulking while Y/N scrubbed it with shampoo.

“See? This isn’t so bad,” Y/N said, rinsing the suds off.

The monkey gave her a look that clearly said, I will remember this.

By the time they were done, the bathroom looked like a hurricane had passed through, but the monkey was finally clean and wrapped in a fluffy towel. Yoonchae collapsed onto the couch, exhausted. “We should’ve just taken a babysitting job.” Y/N flopped down next to her, still holding the damp towel. “Next time, let’s ask what kind of ‘pets’ we’re dealing with first.”

From its cage, the parrot squawked, “Try harder! Pathetic!” one last time, as if to agree.

The girls groaned in unison.

THE END