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melanielocke · 2 years ago

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Book recommendations: horror

Horror & fantasy romance ended up in a tie in my poll. I chose to do horror first mainly because the book I'm reading right now will be on the fantasy romance first and I need to finish it first.

I have been reading some horror lately. It's not my most read genre, but I have a big enough pile that I could pick out the ones I think are really good. Most of these aren't necessarily so scary it keeps you up at night, but they can be eerie, very atmospheric, dark and occasionally very messed up. I'll mention the type of horror and what kind of scary elements are in there. All of these are YA, I don't have many adult horror books on my shelf.

I'll start with House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

Iris is the youngest of the three Hollow sisters. When they were young, the three sisters disappeared from a busy street. It should have been impossible, but there was no trace of them. A month later they reappeared, changed, and with no memory of what happened to them. Iris has tried to forget what happened, and stay away from the weirdness that followed. But when her oldest sister Grey goes missing, Iris and middle sister Viv go looking for her. If they want to find Grey, they will have to uncover the mystery of the past.

This book is creepy and has a rather horrifying twist near the end when you learn what really happened in the past. I think this is one of the scarier books on this list, but it's done really well, with monsters chasing Iris and her sister around and an eerie parallel world

Rep: bi main character, lesbian side character; Korean side character

Other books from this author: The Invocations (horror, coming early 2024); Our Chemical Hearts (contemporary), a semi-definitive of worst nightmares (fabulism)

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

Two hundred years ago in small Oregon town Sparrow, three sisters were accused of witchcraft. Stones bound to their feet, they were thrown into the harbor and drowned. Ever since then, the sisters have returned once a year as ghosts. They each possess one young girl in town and kill one boy.

The town has long accepted their fate and Penny is no different. But then Bo Carter enters the town, unaware of the danger he's just stepped into. Penny can't trust him, but she wants to save him from the danger just the same.

This book has one big twist. It's not super scary perse, nor is there any gore, but very atmospheric and that's where this author excels. Would recommend it for people who aren't used to reading horror.

Winterwood is the next book by Shea Ernshaw

Once again set in a small, isolated town in Oregon, this book follows Nora Walker, a girl descended of a line of witches. She is connected to the Wickerwoods, dangerous haunted woods that only she can enter during full moon to collect lost things.

In the middle of winter, with the power out and all connection to the outside world lost, Nora finds a boy in the Wickerwoods. Oliver went missing from the Camp for Wayward Boys weeks ago. By all accounts, he should be dead and yet she found him. Oliver has no memory of what happened the past weeks.

Nora quickly bonds with him, but realizes she has to uncover the mystery of what happened to him and how he could survive so long in the woods. And it soon turns out Oliver was not the only boy who went missing.

Much like the Wicked Deep, this book excels in its atmosphere and the way it portrays a very creepy forest. It has an interesting plot twist, though not as strong as the one in the Wicked Deep. It's not keep you up at night scary, and also has a lot of focus on the romance.

Other books from this author: Long Live the Pumpkin Queen (Nightmare before Christmas book); A History of Wild Places; A Wildnerness of Stars

Next: Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

This book is set on the isolated island of Sawkill rock, where girls have been going missing for decades, stolen away by evil no one has dared fight... until now.

Marion is new to Sawkill rock, trying to escape the tragedy that befell her family

Zoey's best friend was the last girl to disappear, and she is determined to find out what happened, and if Val has anything to do with it

Val is the queen bee, the daughter of the richest woman on the island. But she has a dark secret.

This book was not entirely what I expected when I bought it, but I loved it. This one is rather creepy, I think, though not what would keep me up at night (to be fair, movies are more likely to keep me up than books due to being scary). It creates an isolated atmosphere, but another strong point in this book is the relationships between the three girls and the development there. Marion and Zoey become friends and team up to uncover the mystery when Marion's sister disappears. Zoey hates Val. But Marion might have feelings for Val.

Rep: Sapphic relationship, Zoey is Black and asexual

Also by this author: Furyborn trilogy (epic fantasy); Extasia (horror); Winterspell (Nutcracker retelling)

House of Salt and Sorrow by Erin A. Craig

This is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses

Annaleigh is one of twelve sister. Or, she used to be. Four of them are dead due to strange accidents, and people are saying her family is cursed. Annaleigh becomes more and more suspicious that her sister's death were no accidents.

Then, her sisters start sneaking out, going to glittering balls and dancing the night away. Annaleigh does not know if she can come with them or stop them, because where are they really going and who are they dancing with?

If Annaleigh does not find out what happened to her sisters soon, she might be the next one to die.

It's been long enough that I do not remember exactly what happened in this book, but I do remember that it was eerie and there was an interesting plot twist when Annaleigh finds out where they really go dancing.

The book stands on its own, but there will be a companion coming out this year, House of Roots and Ruin, which follows one of Annaleigh's sisters

Also by this author is Small Favors

I read this solely because someone told me it would make a good comp title for the book I'm querying, and this is a retelling of Rumplestiltskin.

Ellerie is the daughter of a beekeeper in Amity Falls, a small town surrounded by mountains. They're very isolated and have to go on supply runs to a bigger city to make sure they have what they need. But during a supply run, all people on it die. More and more strange things start happening, slowly building up. Monsters in the woods, people acting strange.

Ellerie finds herself in a race against time to save herself and the people she loves before her town goes up in flames.

This book has a kind of strange pacing. The last part has a lot happening, but before then it's all a very slow build up. Most of the incidents with monsters, Ellerie does not witness, she hears about it second hand. She befriends a strange boy who has come to town as a trapper, catching animals in the forest to sell their hides. He won't give her his name, making me instantly suspicious, but their relationship builds up for such a long time that I was constantly questioning if he could be trusted or not.

My biggest criticism of this book is that I could not tell you when it was set. It took me a while to figure out it was America, though the religious small town feels very American to me, but I couldn't tell you the time period. Likely historical. But when? Who knows, certainly not me.

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

Mars and his twin sister Caroline have always been inseperable. But that summer, Caroline went to Aspen summer school alone. Mars no longer felt welcome there due to his gender fluidity. But when Caroline dies unexpectedly, Mars decides to take her place at the camp to feel more connected to her. It does not go as expected, and Mars quickly remembers why he stopped going. But he befriends Caroline's old friends, a group of girls called the Honeys because of the bees they tend to. But he soon finds something is seriously wrong in the camp, and it might very well have caused his sister's death.

This is a book about grief for a large part, and I think inspired by the author's own grief for his sister. I especially loved the way the Honeys were characterized in this book, and their friendship with Mars, and the story is also about a very femme queer person being accepted within a group of feminine girls.

Rep: gender fluid MC; queer side characters

Also by this author: Reverie (contemporary fantasy); Be Dazzled (contemporary); Beholder (horror, coming in October)

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould

The Dead and the Dark is a paranormal/horror mystery set in a small town in Oregon. Because apparently Oregon is where all the spooky paranormal mystery things happen? I don't know, it seems to be a popular location

Logan's two dads host a ghost hunting show together, and have traveled to this town, which is also their hometown, for the new season. But teenagers are disappearing and there might be something really spooky going on here, and Logan has the feeling her dads are keeping secrets from her.

Ashley is a girl who has lived in this town her entire life, and her boyfriend was the first to go missing. Now, Logan is her only hope to find him.

This is a sapphic story as well as a paranormal mystery, but the emphasis is more on the mystery, I think. There are ghosts in here and a pretty sinister and quite creative explanation for what is happening in this town and why.

Rep: sapphic relationship, main character has gay dads

Last on this list is Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

Trans boy Benji is on the run from a cult. A fundementalist sect that unleashed Armageddon, killing most of the population. They believe that one chosen one will end the world for them and they made the ultimate bioweapon to do this.

Benji is rescued by the teens from the ALC, a queer youth center, and their leader Nick. Benji is immediately drawn to Nick, he's slowly changing into a monster capable of destroying the world and Nick knows.

Still, Nick allows him to stay with them as long as he can control the monster and use it to fight on their behalf.

This is I think the goriest book on this list, with lots of details on the ways Benji is slowly transforming into a monster. It's written by an autistic trans man. Benji is trans, while Nick is autistic. There is a lot of creepy fundamentalist religion in this book, as Benji was raised in the cult and their whole idea is that they should kill everyone not part of their world with their bioweapons.

Also from this author: The Spirit Bares its Teeth (coming September)

@alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer @life-through-the-eyes-of @astriefer @justanormaldemon @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised @amchara @all-for-the-fanfiction @imsoftforthomastair @ddepressedbookworm @queenlilith43 @wagner-fell @cant-think-of-anything @laylax13s @tessherongraystairs @boredfangirl16 @artist-in-soul @beyondlifebeyonddeath @ikissedsmithparker

#book recommendations #horror #ya horror #hell followed with us #andrew joseph white #the honeys #ryan la sala #small favors #house of salt and sorrows #erin a craig #winterwood #the wicked deep #shea ernshaw #sawkill girls #claire legrand #house of hollow #krystal sutherland #the dead and the dark #courtney gould

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https-furina · 2 years ago

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perse’s fave reads of may 2023

may is officially over! so here is the may 2023 compilation of my favourite reads this month. these are in no clear order nor ranking, i just thoroughly enjoyed reading these this month.

♡ abyssal love by @calxide — fem!reader

this scaramouche college!au socialmedia!au had me giggling, kicking my feet, gasping and begging for a different ending than what i was thinking of (bonus points, it was a different ending than what i was thinking!) infamously, yes i did prolong releasing one of my own works because i got hooked reading this socmed!au lol.

♡ midnight clemency by @papiliotao — gn!reader

midnight clemency is hurt/comfort headcanons for alhaitham, diluc, kaeya & zhongli that healed my heart a little. it regards established relationships having an argument with positive endings (not clickbait!) so for simps with ✨trauma✨ like myself, i highly recommend reading midnight clemency and crying over how perfect fictional men are.

♡ i like you so much, you’ll know it! by @shanieveh — gn!reader

this set of fluff imagines consists of kaveh, zhongli, kaeya, alhaitham, scaramouche & diluc and it’s literally just a pleasure to read. very sweet and has you kicking your legs i swear ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

♡ fake it till we make it by @kazumist — fem!reader

this scaramouche socialmedia!au is actually ongoing but i think that it definitely deserves a spot on this list (and probably on june’s list too.) it’s a college!au where scaramouche and reader fake date to deal with scara’s fans and it’s a bad idea hehe. i also love all the twt bios they have!

♡ mr. oblivious by @ventismacchiato — gn!reader

i read this on my other account at the start of may and i love it so much so here’s a mention! this is a scaramouche modern teacher!au where their colleagues are lowkey trying to hook em up but they’re actually already married. it has my whole heart. there’s a lot of scaramouche on this list, huh?

i’ll admit this list is fairly short because i got the idea towards the end of this month (and i didn’t want to backtrack through my liked posts) so hopefully next month i’ll be able to praise many more writers on this site during my monthly top reads <3

#genshin impact #genshin #genshin fluff #genshin x reader #https-heizou #《★ monthly reads ★ 》

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fumifooms · 3 months ago

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Bonbon is fucking me up

Fancy alt title: On coping, safety in the inanimate and helplessness against the animalistic

I don’t care about the storybook symbolism I’m here to talk about the experience of it all and how it’s so viscerally relatable. Watched the new Jacob Geller vid and I am in shambles (< how to say something that immediately ages your draft pfft…) I appreciate this game I appreciate it a lot

I recommend if you’re here but don’t know a thing about Bonbon you just go watch it, here’s a gameplay, it’s short. Or the Jacob Geller video segment at least 🙏 It does an amazing job at covering it.

Official game description:

Bonbon is a thirty-minute long, first-person domestic horror narrative about childhood events you are too young to understand. Playing as a young toddler, walking and carrying objects will be difficult. You will drop things, and you will fall over. Since your parents aren't there to pick you up, you'll be spending time with a large, overbearing and ambiguous visitor... a monstrous, hungry rat named Bonbon.

Official CW: Steam : The player character is a young child who is being traumatised by a giant humanoid rat who appears in the house one day. The traumatic events are symbolic and related to domestic issues. Physical violence is extremely mild, but some players might find the threatening atmosphere to be uncomfortable. // itch.io : Bonbon deals with grown-up themes and suggestions of child-abuse. There is no literal violence or onscreen abuse, it is entirely in the subtext.

If you play through it without knowing anything about it, you’ll have to piece things together to grasp the theme of domestic abuse, but the second you step into official descriptions, it is very straightforwardly about that. I mention this because the game also makes the rat monster, well, a literal rat— a pet rat that is shown in-game to be feral & average in the end credits and to have been adopted into the family from a newspaper rehoming ad. I’ve seen people argue without the extra context that the story has no "fancy" analogy and metaphor for the monster, that it’s pretty literal and is just about a kid’s fear of his own pet rat exaggerated. And, well………. 🧍

So warning for this specific post, we’ll be talking about domestic abuse and trauma, not any acts perse but moreso the feelings it makes you go through- what I think this game is interested in representing.

So I only looked at other non-youtube-comment reviews after writing most of this, but now that I have I do have many nifty little links and snippets to share as cherry on top. If you look on the game’s itch.io page you can find links to some other interesting reviews/analyses. In particular, this short quote by Adam Smith about the game represents well something that people keep bringing up about Bonbon, childhood anxiety :

"the confusion between what is real and what isn’t, and what is threatening and what is malign, rings true."

This reddit thread is another interesting analysis, particularly with the angle of sexual abuse but also goes into the meta mechanics & experience. Only setback is you must have a reddit account to read it. (I won’t be taking the same angle at all but it isn’t incompatible with my reading either, either way it’s very compelling and supported by concrete analysis so give it a look if that interests you.)

And yet even still with all these I wanted to make my own thematic analysis bc I need it and I have other & new things to say. Like how personal experiences have shaped others’ reviews, mine will have a specific angle influenced by my own as well. I don’t consider I was abused- but I was traumatized by a parent, so I do relate to the feelings evoked. Alcoholism, absentness and mild anger issues with an occasional threat of corporal punishment makes for a very fitting cocktail for Bonbon, I feel, but we’ll be getting into that.

The suspense, the fear lingering at the back of your mind that you’re trying to suppress because this is your daily. Domestic horror feels like a quite accurate term. Critiques of the game often agree on a central theme being agency and the lack thereof and that’s particularly interesting, but I want to give a look at the coping angle of the narrative specifically, moreso than the suffering & enduring reactive and active side of it that has been extensively covered.

No the rat man never stops feeling disturbing next question

Before truly getting into it I want to lay out the game’s plot and structure. It has 5 scenes. In the first scene you, the kid, are playing outside when your mom calls you inside, and you have to put away your toys. In scene 2, you play inside and your mom calls you to dinner, and you have to put away your toys. Scene 3, it’s your birthday and you eat cake. In scene 4 a radio with dad’s voice soothingly reads you a morbid tragic bedtime story. In scene 5, it’s night and you can’t sleep, you wander a bit before going back to bed. In scene 3 and 5 the parents are arguing as background noise (albeit very deliberate and purposeful one you’re meant to notice and pay attention to). Bonbon is in all of these scenes, and the aggression he shows/discomfort he causes escalates, until the game abruptly ends when he jumpscares you.

Mild fear, no alarm

Scene 1 and 2 especially are great at establishing normalcy. It feels like routine. The acts are mundane. This is your normal. There is nothing that feels special about today and seemingly nothing is out of place, even a giant rat man suddenly coming crashing in through the fence. No one comments on him, but you interact with him and talk to him. You already know his name, the way you know the name of all your toys, Bonbon.

A significant part of the gameplay is spent with toys, holding them up, manipulating them, playing with them and putting them away. Even in scene 5, toys are used in eerie ways to lure and scare.

Toys are obviously important to the child. They’re the only thing besides the environment and parents that they interact with at all, and the only thing they talk to besides Bonbon. They talk to the toys, saying "hello [toy name]!" almost like a ritual, compulsively, every time to every toy if you the player takes the time to. You certainly have the prompt to do so, and no reason to do or not do it. This ingrained habit shows that they humanize the toys to some degree, and supports that the child has an active imagination.

So, you’re putting your toys away when suddenly Bonbon appears, like I said crashing through the fence noisily. There is no more sudden movement or noise from him, and nothing indicates that this is strange or unusual. Eventually, you’ll have found all the toys you can in the backyard, but that doesn’t mean you found all the toys you need to put away. With nothing else to do, you wordlessly approach Bonbon, and only then does he do anything at all. He watches you, and he drops the last ball you need, it rolling closer to you. You have to approach and bend down to grab it. You do not know why or how Bonbon had the toy in the first place.

There are two levels with this as with any game, the character’s experience and the player’s experience. We have very little insight on the kid’s emotions through all of this, but player wise it’s clear and unanimouse- It’s disturbing. This scene is very powerful in showing how something as simple as help from someone you feel uncomfortable about— someone you’re not sure about— can be very, very intimidating. Uncanny, even. Both during and after, you’re unsure wether the help is genuine or if, like an animal it’ll turn around at the flip of a dime and rip you to shreds if you make one step out of line.

But no, (for now,) the rat helps, and this makes you tentatively decide it’s not all bad. You still feel a little uncomfortable. Bonbon is holding a toy, something that is safe and joyful, helping and giving it, after all. Still, the association between Bonbon and "safe" can’t be made, despite the signs pointing to him not being nefarious we always instinctively hang onto nitpicks of "so far" and "for now". You feel the wrongness, the distrust. Even though by the time the second scene rolls around, the association between Bonbon and "toy" has definitely been made.

You move on to the next scene still wondering if any consequence will come of the encounter. And scene 2 is very similar, almost a repeat in only a different setting. This time Bonbon enters the house and stands in the doorway to the room, almost fully filling it with his size. When he gives you the toy you’re looking for, it’s smaller than a ball and it doesn’t roll toward you. You have to pick it up, bending down right next to his feet, almost touching.

He didn’t hurt you last time, but (in the player at least) there’s something that screams at you to be careful, that that’s no reason it won’t hurt you this time. Still, you need its help, and still, it offers it.

The uncertainty. The threat of danger— though you constantly second guess yourself, should you be scared at all? Is there a threat, or only a possibility? Does that distinction matter? Is it your fault for being scared? And you don’t know, you don’t know if you truly should, there’s no way to know until it happens and that’s precisely the thing you’re stressed over and working so hard trying to avoid.

Has it not happened yet only because you tiptoed and walked on eggshells, or would it not have happened either way? The game in this case answers this in its last second of the last scene- and I argue that’s why that’s the end. That answer was given- the game is about this longheld feeling of anxiety and dread and discomfort, that you’re unsure of when the elastic will have been pulled too far causing it to snap. Then it answers this, and it ends just like that. There’s no proper closure, about what happens afterwards to the kid or anyone else in the family, or even about the meaning of all the imagery and metaphors, but there is closure in one thing: you hadn’t imagined the threat. You were right to be scared all along.

This is the core of what the game was building up with the first two scenes : tension. A balloon swelling until it pops, more and more and more and you keep asking when will it pop.

It’s a never ending suspense, a jumpscare music starts but the jumpscare never happens, rationalizing everything and gaslighting yourself. A child, though, of course, thinks of these things much less clearly, all of this is much more subconscious. Feels things instead of understand them- which is why I think the game was so well thought and made, you’re a child and you don’t really know what’s going on —and you don’t have the tools to either—, everything feels vague and more importantly vaguely wrong. You can only feel. You have no proof and you understand nothing you can only feel. There are instincts but they’ve been dulled by normalization and habit.

Obviously, toys are the opposite of this anxiety. They’re predictable and safe because you know them and what they are and what they do, there is little to no hidden factor and they have no will or intent. The communication there is to be had with them at all is in very predictable standard sentences and onesided, "Hello, [name]!". There is no body language to analyze or keep track of and their faces if any are drawn and designed for a child’s, smiling and bright or teaching emotions through cartoonish exaggeration. A pet rat, or parents, by comparison, have subtle and complex body language, hard to read expressions- You never see your parents’ appearances at all, much less their faces, but what can you read in Bonbon’s face? You can’t read anything, it’s morbidly neutral, it’s not human in a way you can intuitively understand and that makes it feel more unpredictable and scarier. The inanimate is safe. Toys are humanized to some degree to make them warmer more fun company, but other living things are inversely objectified to attempt to make you more comfortable with them. Let’s move on and I’ll get back to this in scene 4.

Deep fear, mild alarm

Scene 3. It gets revealed it’s your birthday! There’s nothing that cements it for sure, but there’s no reason to disbelieve that all 5 scenes of the game are set in the same day. In which case, the mother’s unremarkable mundane behavior can speak even more interestingly about the theme of neglect.

You’ve been called to the table and mom lit up the candles on the cake and sings you happy birthday! You two are interrupted when the phone rings and mom steps away to answer it, breaking the happy mood. You hear a chair scraping on the floor and when the screen shows things again Bonbon is sitting next to you, huge and insistent on getting cake. You cut a slice, for yourself presumably but he asks for it and you give it. Asking for a slice, then another, then another until he pushes you over to eat all your cake and you still haven’t had any. And of course this happens during while you can hear fight on the phone between mom and dad. Mom seemingly blames the mess on you and sends you off to take a bath fondly.

This was the part that made me wonder what line the metaphor was toeing. The dad is busy on the phone, so Bonbon can’t just be dad when he’s physically there. My first impression was that the child brings their rat to the dining table to have company sometimes. Someone to share a cake with even perhaps. But not something they can hold back or make behave, so when they give it some cake it gets out of hand… We’ll come back on this but I think loneliness is an important and supported theme. Is it only the child’s trauma given form, that causes them to lash out and smash the cake or such? Is it the memories, that ruins the cake for them? The official description of the game makes it sound like Bonbon’s presence is only allowed because of the parents’ neglect, some visitor that appears when they’re not watching... This is all interesting to ponder, but ultimately this is the point where the line gets truly blurred, what makes me think that it’s nuanced and situational rather than a black or white answer.

The mom never comments on Bonbon, and Bonbon joins the table quickly only after mom goes away on the phone to talk to dad- Bonbon has inserted himself in the scene both figuratively because he called by phone and it’s distracting from the moment, from the birthday cake and from the child’s birthday, and literally (through Bonbon, perhaps just a personification of trauma) by seating himself at the table.

In this scene the child talks to Bonbon for the first and only time. "Hello, Bonbon!" they say, and after this they get the prompt to either give Bonbon a slice of cake each time they ask or say "No, Bonbon!", but even if you do he’ll only insist and ultimately push you out of the way. The theme of agency is of course central here, the sheer helplessness of it all. To add insult to injury mom comes back and makes light of the situation, dismissing it entirely.

Extra stuff you could read into is how sweets are unhealthy and potentially poisonous to rats. Bonbon in french means candy btw, if that’s anything at all. I also had in my notes written that there was smoke in the scene, interesting because it’s unecessary, helps atmosphere even though it’s illogical or such? Idiom reference, or reminds smoke detectors bc of kitchen for a metaphor? But was it puffs of breathing? The thing is that I physically cannot rewatch the cake scene so, sorry you only have my memory after five months from watching it lol.

Comfort

This is an interlude of sorts. The only thing that happens in this scene is you have to listen to a bedtime story while tucked in bed, one told by a radio at your bedside speaking with dad’s voice.

In meta, this has an effect on you, it slows the pace and the game’s story down. Maybe there’s lingering tension in you and you can’t relax all throughout it, because of what’s happened so far, but personally, I found myself getting sleepy, almost comfortable, soothed. Both are very interesting experiences. The story and scene lasts long minutes where you can’t move or do anything but listen, so it’ll have an effect on you in any case, even if it’s simply breaking tension through boredom, which could feasibly be an emotion experienced by the child as well. A tradition done out of routine, so the story can bore you to sleep lol. The former shows just how much the child’s home life puts one in a constant state of stress and tension, meanwhile the latter shows a potential reprieve from the tension and more importantly where the child would find it in.

I’ll be going forward with the latter. You, the player, get to be soothed with a bedtime story to the voice of daddy. The scene tells a story that can explain the symbolism and is ripe grounds for analysis, but it itself shows you another side to things. Daddy here, through the inanimate object that physically cannot be unpredictable, a recording of sometime nice, is soothing, a bedtime story, it’s a presence that lulls you to sleep with a kind soft voice.

By this point, it’s been cemented that the father is the unstable destabilizing element in the household/family dynamic. This was the scene I was most onterested in analyzing, because I think this goes back to the child’s liking of toys. Dare I say, their coping through toys. The radio shows distance, which both has positives and negatives. This reinforces to me the theme of neglect and loneliness— Daddy reads you a story but it’s through a radio, which supports the dad might be an absent father. Mechanically, you can never give an appearance to either mom or dad like I mentioned, they’re always offscreen or in black screen cutscenes. In this house it’s only you, Bonbon and the toys. The radio is there because dad couldn’t or wouldn’t be physically present to read it to the child, or because… The radio as mentioned is an object, something safe. The recording of daddy’s voice is unchanging and it stays soothing, predictably slow and soft. It could be argued that the radio isn’t even literal and it’s a way for the kid to pretend that the dad has no physical presence. Perhaps because like the end shows, physical consequences can and do happen. With scene 5 it’s arguably, but as of scene 4 with scene 3 we’ve only ever heard dad’s voice through an electronic. There is an association being made between dad and phones and radios, a faraway voice.

The mechanic of the kid saying "hello, [name]!" is very associated with toys, and then we say that to Bonbon in scene 3… Daddy is the radio, the mother never gets any metaphorical or warped form like that, and then there’s Bonbon. This in good part is what makes me think that Bonbon is somewhat considered like a toy too by the child, but unlike inanimate objects they have a will of their own. I think this mechanic is also meant to portray loneliness like I mentioned, that the kid always talks to the toys, always plays with toys, etc. It’s not "stop playing with your friends and come home", it’s the kid sitting on the floor with toys and playing away, and then Bonbon. The kid had the rat to stave through the loneliness I think, and visually/behaviorally it disturbed them even though it got categorized as a toy and then it also grew an association with father.

We’re building a dichotomy here. There is helpfulness and aggression. There is object = predictably safe and Bonbon the pet rat = unpredictably unsafe. And we’re coming closer to me saying it plainly, but I think Bonbon the humanoid rat monster is at once both the child’s literal pet rat, fused with the father, a way to visualize him that puts distance between him and the child, or the child and their parental trauma. I think the father’s bad is being absorbed by the child’s boogeyman vision of Bonbon, and I think the good and comfortable is associated with the radio, is relegated to that visual representation again. The good ol’ coping mechanism of compartmentalization. How to reconcile scene 3 with scene 4, if both Bonbon and the radio are the father? Which part of him is more important, which vision of dad should you go with? The one that’s scary or the one that’s soothing?

Bonbon is great I feel at showcasing what it feels like to be traumatized by the threat of danger but not it being fulfilled perse. Or yes it being fulfilled but- it’s about being scared in your daily life by someone. That suspense I spoke of. Bonbon is a coping mechanism, but in the pet rat becoming associated with the thing it’s helping the kid cope with, it becomes a source of dread also. If Bonbon is dad when he’s mean, then dad’s nice voice on the radio— dad when he’s not physically present- can be comforting instead of scary, because that wasn’t dad it was Bonbon. Personally of course this effect, the need to compartmentalize and dehumanize, reminds me of alcoholism, because when drunk it can truly feel like they become an animal- unpredictable, with baser instincts, more impulsive and primal and messy. Their patterns of behavior are all thrown off so in turn you recognize them less and that’s viscerally scary. If you can’t predict them and you can’t recognize them then it makes them something unknown that’s in your range and could do anything to you- if your brain is to be believed.

To summarize the story that gets told roughly, our poor protagonist gets tricked into doing a bunch of things by a rat guy he thinks is his ally to the rat’s benefit and the trickery is only revealed at the end, upon which the rat villain wins and the protagonist loses. The story reflects well the outline of the game, the first scenes compared to the ending, Bonbon revealing himself to not be as much of an ally as we’d like to think. It also reinforces this sense of helplessness, being at the mercy of others, and the theme of trust.

There are a lot of associations in the game, rat and dad, rat and distrust— which is perhaps why these three got tangled together in the first place. The story’s scenes evoke routine, so presumably this isn’t the first time they hear this storybook, so then just how formative was the story for them? Do they listen to it every night And then, my main argument, other associations: Toys and bonbon, toys and safety�� If Bonbon, a pet, is a toy but he’s also a rat, then what is he? Safe or untrustworthy? Again the confusion from these contradictory associations could have been what kickstarted this analogical hot pot.

Bonbon as a pet being halfway between toy and unpredictable animal. Pets as more property than separate living being. Something that is not allowed to hurt you, but can sometimes surprise you with shows of agency and aggression if you neglect its warnings. Because pets are infamously easy to neglect and commonly mistreated, they’re often seen as possessions. Or yes, just toys for their kids, fish and small rodents especially. How many afternoons has the child spent inside, in the room of the end credits, with Bonbon in its cage as their only company… If the parents tend to neglect the child, who’s taking care of Bonbon? Bonbon might be our protagonist’s only friend-adjacent being. Like with toys conversations are also onesided with animals, and there’s also how a pet is a bit like the responsibilities of having a child, sometimes a violent one especially when starved or mistreated. There’s lot of things pulling them in different directions with Bonbon. So then we’re left with a mix of contradictory concepts and feelings, somethings that triggers your fight or flight but is too confusing to settle on anything, instead just leaving you restless yet used to it.

Associations like that a subconscious thing, human pattern recognition is a strong and instinctive thing. That his dad taught him that rats are to be distrusted and that he then visualizes him as a rat… I don’t think it was a conscious thing —and in many ways it’s a coincidence that both the pet they got and the story character were rats— but it could have become a subconscious way to rationalize both the fear the child feels (because they were taught rats are to be mistrusted so they’re validated in disliking and fearing it, not the way kids’ fear of their parents often get socially invalidated), to deflect and to warn themselves. They’re trying to rationalize and normalize it, has done so, but a part of their brain keeps begging them to be careful, to not trust it, to keep a distance and keep safe from it.

Deep fear, no alarm

So, final scene. You wake up in the middle of the night and hear your parents arguing, leaving the bed to take an eerie trip through darkned halls where supernatural things happen.

And something that interests me about the game is how the child never speaks up about their experiences with Bonbon right. Their mom cares, why not try to tell her, or get her help if they’re scared? But, why would you seek out help from mom or anyone in the first place? It’s scary, but it’s your normal. It’s normal so it’s nothing you can or should get help for. It’s just a natural part of life to endure, just a silly fear you’re unsure if you should have. What would asking for help or crying about it help, change, at all?

So after this then you get back to bed, still wondering, when will it snap? When will it snap? You hear an argument that you can’t tell the words of, but it’s dad and he’s arguing. The argument stops and now the silence is complete. But the angry one hasn’t stopped existing, he had to either go silent or go somewhere. Which is it, where is he? There’s a fear as you face away from the door. If you turn over, will that fear be confirmed or undermined?

The game abruptly ends on a jumpscare that occurs when the player character is in bed. Bed, the place that should be your safest, in your room. The same bed in which daddy radio nicely reads you a story, the same bed where Bonbon will get you. The framing feels like where a game would cut off and say "game over", what regardless of game over animation is usually synonymous with ‘death’. You as a player have to push a button to roll over, that triggers the jumpscare and thus progresses through the game. But this scene removes the artifice of agency that was present in previous scenes and Bonbon directly attacks the child player character at their most vulnerable moment, no matter how soon or late you push that button. Placed in the narrative’s broader context, it reads as an escalation of the abuse and as confirmation that the player character was always already powerless—the exchanges and negotiations of prior scenes were facades, and the abuser was never going to let the child assert themselves in any meaningful way. On a meta level, the game being a linear narrative (as opposed to offering the player meaningful choices that might affect the game’s outcome) reinforces this lack of agency communicated by the story and gameplay mechanics. I was really intrigued by how well the interactive aspects of the gameplay contributed to tensions surrounding power and autonomy. I can’t not see it as being about the visceral experience of child abuse from a child’s perspective and logic, and I think it evokes those feelings so well without ever becoming so literal as to be triggering (for me), which was very welcome.

Making my research on this game’s reception like a scholar by reading Manlybadasshero’s comment section I saw many different theories and appreciative or unappreciative comments, and I have to say I think going "it strictly symbolizes the father or this specific trouble" or inversely "there’s nothing deeper to it" misses the purpose of ambiguity. In ambiguity there is the possibility of letting every individual in the audience come up with their own most satisfying conclusion yes- hence me being able to relate so much despite having never had a pet rat— but there is also an implicit nuance to be had, that things aren’t clear cut, and coping mechanisms or trauma or discomfort is something we can feel and visualize in big or subtle ways. The game is great at capturing a feeling, and I think that above piecing the lore is what’s important to experience with it. Of course, the game works to convey the experience of child abuse in general, and the game’s mechanics here articulate a vulnerability and sense of entrapment well regardless of whether they evoke that specific concept for a particular player.

Someone said that it should’ve been a short story instead of a game and, disagree. I think having it as a game instead of a short written story is good, because one the sound design is great, two the visuals are disturbing and the atmosphere– everything greatly enhances the whole thing. And most of all, as always, agency is the crux of games. Again it enhances the powerlessness here ironically, that you can do nothing, and it isn’t unrealistic, not when you’re a child in a home situation like that. And even as you the player are the one choosing when to roll over in that bed sealing your fate, you know it had only ever been a question of time.

Conclusion

The scenes can be referred to by time of day (afternoon, dinnertime, evening, nighttime) but also by room (backyard, living room, dining room, bedroom). By being a domestic horror slice of life story with a sense of routine we can assume these are snippets that embody the rooms for the child, the kitchen is for tense meals shared, the bedroom is for comfort and terror alike. I think it’s an interesting angle to ponder it from that I won’t go over more extensively since this is already so so long.

My thesis in the grand scheme of this is that Bonbon, the rat monster and not just the feral pet tat, is for the child that middleground between toy (predictable, safe) and animal (unpredictable, unsafe). It uses that complex ~harder to deal with and wrap your head around~ dynamic between material possession that’s also a living thing to show a child trying to cope with a relationship they don’t know how to understand or process. An attempt to make it more digestible, but mostly more stomachable I think. An attempt that fails, but an attempt nonetheless.

The unknown is scary, because then you don’t know wether you are safe or unsafe, and that uncertainty and confusion can be even more unsettling than knowing for certain that the enemy is hostile or aggressive. A nice video on the topic. This in good part is what can make us more afraid of animals, or people we can’t read well, etc etc.

I said that my own experience growing up was that I was under the occasional threat of corporal punishment, but the truth of the matter is— once you teach your child to be scared of you physically hurting them, the threat doesn’t feel occasional, it feels constantly lingering. On an edge, teetering, just waiting to be pushed and then you’re in danger again.

And there’s a lot of compelling things you could assume about the father. The game gave me the impression that he was an absent one, because his presence was through a phone and a radio, plus he misses your birthday, parents are heard arguing in scene 5 at night but it could be argued that there’s no proof the dad was ever even around or in the house during the game. If he was home in scene 5, was it because he got home from work or whatever he was doing or was it because he wanted to come even if say, they were divorced and he had a restraining order on him? How closely is the rat meant to be dad being physically present? Because I can also see the narrative where it’s the latter, where Bonbon coming crashing through the fence is a way for a dad to steal little moments with the kid it was discouraged to see again. The coaxing undertone to the first scenes can also recall grooming specifically. In the first two scenes, the dad is cautiously on his best behavior to gain your trust and approval, in the third one where he argues with mom on the phone he loses his temper, perhaps because he wasn’t welcome to the birthday party he’s invading as Bonbon, in scene 4 you try to calm yourself with memories of a better moment but in scene 5 he’s home and bad things happen. It’s notable that he never talks to us, either because he never asks to like in scene 3 on the phone and the child’s just that unimportant to him in the grand scheme of arguing with mom, or mom won’t let him. Mom talks to us but dad never does, closest is a radio telling us a story, again through a filter, through the object, a step removed, through distance. You could also say that there’s a contrast between mom and dad-bonbon, mom giving you directives and orders in a way that feels very warm and fond, and dad talking very little to you at all, instead coaxing and leveraging gestures in a way that feels disturbing and wrong.

someone brought up "if you give a mouse a cookie", the story where a mouse just asks for a cookie but if your provide it then it asks for milk then if you provide it it asks for a straw etc etc, and I think that’s an interesting link to make with the theme of ceding ground to an abuser with trust or complacency. It’ll always take more and more. Most explicitly represented in the cake scene.

I went with inconsistency as my core analysis theme but there is an argument to be made for the level of Bonbon’s intentionality in its actions, wether its gestures are purposeful to gain trust before abusing it, or wether it is truly acting on impulse and whims at all times, wether it was truly well-meaning in helping you with your tasks in the moment and angrily hungry the next. Ultimately, it matters little, because your cake still got ruined and you still got… Well. There is a lot of elements that give the game a somewhat dreamlike atmosphere, the hazy lighting being one, your garbling voice when speaking to the toys, and so much more. In the end all we can do is theorize for the sake of theorizing, and try to cope with the reality of things as the game showed us.

#indie horror game #indie games #analysis #The scariest scene for me had to be the cake one #The sorta energy i love channeling for dunmesh chil family angst pieces <3 Trolls that thump feels very similar to Bonbon actually #I realized that Bonbon and skinnamarink give me traumacore energy #And yeah yeah yeah!! The contrast of the scary and the mundane. Something cute in somewhere neutral saying something upsetting #The banalization of the horrifying. Horror that’s domestic. Horror that’s a house that happens to be your home.#Your home is horror. Your horror is home- in a weirdly hollow yet deep way. Iykyk #Now that I have heard of domestic horror i shall be abusing the term. bless <3 #Bonbon #cw abuse #tw abuse #cw #I heard about the movie Skinnamarink and it made me think of Bonbon again so I immediately had to polish this up in the night #One-off post #Starting a tag for analyses or posts that I don’t think I’ll be touching on again? 🤔#Fumi rambles #Yeesh the structure of this one…. It was meant to be quick i just need to exorcise it from my drafts and call it done and movemon gdbdg #Rattling the bars of my cage FREE MEEEEEEE #I’ll be back with more dunmesh shortly. Inktober’s gonna take stuff outta me too tho

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julietasgf · 9 months ago

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*I crawls into your inbox; crawling like a worm*

Guess who underestimated the homework his teachers would leave her before Easter?

It was me 😍 and I lived the great experience of sleeping 3 hours (I don't recommend it, don't be like me) but thank God Easter finally arrived. I don't know if this happen in Brazil but México is too catholic to exist and if you are a student you have 1 beautiful week off because Jesus did his thing Hehehehe

Fun fact about me. It took me years to realize that the USA bunnies and eggs were for Easter. Like my head couldn't comprehend that we celebrate in theory the same thing or something similar because here instead of chocolate eggs there is blood, destruction and rebirth and stuff like that hahaha

Well, I will stop rambling about that and I'd better start rambling about our eternal debates.

Every time Coriolanus saw Persephone I had to laugh. Im so sorry 😭😭😭😭, I understand that it was a really traumatic experience to see a man mutilate a body to commit anthropophagy and not only he did it, Baby Persefone also ate ate human flesh unknowingly (although that's the most tragic thing about it you know? it's implied that Nero Price resorted to such an extreme measure because he had a family to feed, and the man may be named Nero -you can deduce a lot of things from that-, but I can't help but want to give him a hug because no one deserves to have to live through such anguish, all to avoid Baby Perse dying of famine ahhhh) but I just can't help but laugh when the poor girl is just existing and Coriolanus is screaming in his head "she's going to eat me, she's going to eat me, she's going to eat me"

Like dude. Thats a teenager who lived through war and famine in her childhood, not Hannibal Lecter 😭😭😭😭😭

While we know very little about Persephone outside of that incident, she strikes me as a pretty sweet girl by Capitol standards. I don't recall us having a description where she had an overbearing attitude (like Juno, oh she lives in my head for free) or made dehumanizing comments concerning the tributes.

In fact she was quite sorry about Arachne's death, and even though Coryo was being a jerk to her, Persephone gave him a hug under the impression that he was one of those most affected by said event.

She sent food and water to Mizzen every time he asked for it and in abundance. She teamed up with Festus to put together a joint strategy for their tributes to have a better chance of getting out alive and when the drone mess happened she wanted to talk diplomatically with Dr. Gaul because they were hacked and what she sent to Mizzen didn't arrive (and later the boy died) 🥺

Also Persephone is one of those who asks about Coriolanus when he is sent to D12. And the thing is, yes, I think all the mentors have a lot of potential to explore but under the specific theme of "people from the academy who could have been friends with Sejanus", Persefone seems like a good choice to me.

Especially because they have a lot of similarities in their relationship with Coriolanus: he pretends to like Sejanus and Persephone when in reality he is terrified of both of them and has contempt for them.

Besides the fact that she is Coriolanus' neighbor offers a LOT OF POTENTIAL 🤭 does she even know or suspect the Snows situation?, does she know and get along with Tigris?, wouldn't you love a snowjanus fanfic where they secretly date but she is the only one who knows they are boyfriends because she has seen Sejanus there all the time? MY GIRL PERSE IS JUST WAITING TO BE NOTICED!!!!

Speaking of academy students I'M SO GLAD YOU SEE THE VIEW ON PUP 😭 It's a somewhat cruel hc because damn he's been to Sejanus' house, he's experienced first hand the kindness of the Plinth and yet he resents it. He resents it because his father forced him to spend time with the scum of the district, because he's met him and realized in a way that none of his other peers know how different and vulnerable Sejanus is. It's fucked up. Very fucked up.

🤣 On the contrary I think Strabo and Pliny could get along really well, which is terrible for the whole family but also a hc too much fun to pass up. Btw I think it would be realistic for Mr Harrington to meet Crassus. Pls get together from time to time to do hate hour club towards Crassus (they don't invite Casca because he is too stoned but if he was sober oh boi what they could have done and what Sejanus would have suffered from having THE DEAN be a bitchy about a dead men with his father LMAO...)

As I mentioned to Crassus and Casca I think this is the time to discuss it because BUDDIE I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY. I love the very realistic aspect of absent or present parents, the past to say the least haunting and shaping the youth causing unintentionally events to repeat themselves - giving rise to very similar circumstances, continuing behaviors and ideologies (I wouldn't say History repeats itself because I'm a little historian in training and I get the pet peeve...)

IS VERY INTENSE.

The case of Coriolanus and Crassus is in my opinion one of the points that best reflects the discussion Suzanne mentioned wanting to explore with TBOSAS: nature vs. the environment. At what point does culture dictate nature and vice versa. Like Marina's song: Savages. Which is very deterministic in several aspects but I highlight this phrase:

Is it running in our blood? Is it running in our veins?

Is it running in our genes? Is it in our DNA?

Humans aren't gonna behave as we think we always should

Yeah, we can be bad as we can be good

Coriolanus did not know Crassus. And yet his influence over him is overwhelming. Which is quite striking when you consider that he knows NOTHING that tells him who his father really was, only the impression and roles that man played in other people's lives.

His grandmother told him of an exemplary son, a patriotic man, a Snow. Tigris spoke to him of a cold man, of someone full of hatred and terrifying. Casca spoke to him of the worst human being who ever walked the earth, of a traitor, cruel and wicked. And Strabo of someone who hated the people of the district and enigmatic.

All Coriolanus has are fragments and he has had to reconstruct his father from them.

That image is full of holes that Coriolanus had to actually fill in with himself. So while upbringing does influence character (the grandmother's role in Coriolanus' care, the woman who made Crassus, the Capitol itself and its ways), I think what ultimately determines his following in his father's footsteps is that he actually built him - his father - based on cultural and social aspects to which he had access so that being like him in such a similar way was something achievable.

I do not know if it is understood (and I think that the excess of homework made me lose my communication skills), but I mean that as Coriolanus does not really know who his father was, and can only try to define him through others who denounce him based on a social or cultural norm, to which he can aspire to pursue it is possible then that he can follow in his footsteps.

If Crassus were alive, if he were flesh and blood, capable of contradicting or affirming these denunciations on the basis of his coexistence with society, Coriolanus could not have been like him. He would have reacted to a living and unpredictable something because Crassus would be a flawless human.

And that mean something. Like Coriolanus idealizing his in a very strange way because she is dead, she is not a human anymore..., although all this argument is under the idea that your context shapes you. And we can't really ignore biology: Coriolanus bears a strong resemblance to Crassus physically. So how far do genetics go in determining character? When he was born blond and with blue eyes - the eyes of his father - was his fate sealed?

(As we know and you explained well when we discussed the choice of Coriolanus as protagonist: the final answer for Suzanne I think is a 50% - 50% and emphasizing that the important, the determining factor really lies in our own criteria and the choices we make and what each one of them implies and the responsibility we acquire of what socio-cultural ideas we decide to perpetuate).

Now my very personal opinion on Crassus and Casca.

While I like to slander the Snow's as much as anyone in this specific case I like to believe that there were no bad intentions because that makes it more fucked up lmao. I think Crassus genuinely liked Casca and actually believed he was doing his friend a favor since Casca mentions he was doing poorly in Dr. Gaul's class.

So think of it this way: Crassus knows his friend is in danger of missing class. They team up to do a paper in said class and on a night of drinking Casca is suddenly sharing a good idea, one that Dr. Gaul might specifically like!!!, it was his chance!!!!!

Crassus just needed to write a nice paper with what Casca his bestie already told him. "I'm sure Casca would thank me, I gave him the encouragement he needed to get his smart brain to think of something to avoid having a bad grade with dr. Gaul!!!!!" Yippee 😊

It's that horrible things happen because of good wills that to me is fascinating. Because Crassus had no way of knowing that they were going to go to war with the districts. Much less that the Capitol would win said war and that Dr. Gaul would implement the college project they did so they wouldn't lost grades

In what world would that happen?

I can tell you from experience but there is no more terrifying hotbed for atrocities than academia and its constant theorizing, hypothesizing, perhaps. People will say ABSOLUTELY WILD things as long as they view everything hypothetically.

Which is what Casca does. What Crassus sees and approves. And what Gaul implements because she knows best, how the world works.

I think Casca / Crassus in any case is a parallel to Clemensia / Coriolanus because Coryo also didn't believe that doing Dr. Gaul's work and lying about Clemensia's participation in it was going to bring such fatal consequences for her. And if you notice all the mentors didn't believe that they were actually going to implement their ideas.

They were surprised that dr. Gaul told them it was a possibility: it was at that instant that they discovered that the idea could cross the mind's field and become real.

As an aside. I once saw on tiktok a very interesting question and it was exactly at what point Casca will have started to hate Crassus? We know they argued after that incident but Casca could not have condemned Crassus at that point for the reasons he later does (creating the hunger games).

Maybe he complained because he got him drunk!!!, because he didn't write the paper right!!!, or because he didn't need to be saved from losing a grade with Dr. Gaul!!! (And I can very well see Crassus getting upset because: "what is wrong with Casca?!!!!!! I helped him and this is how he repays ME? How ungrateful!) but not because he ruined his life and condemned the districts.

Nah. That came later. Maybe when the first games happened, a youthful bitterness turned into Casca eternal condemnation.

With this, I don't want to say that I am against Casca / Crassus and Sejanus / Coriolanus parallels. ON THE CONTRARY I LOVE THEM VERY MUCH!

In short, I can't help but wonder what Casca must have felt when he saw Sejanus blindly trusting a Snow. If he must have wanted to warn him or if every time he saw them together he thought of him and Crassus (the phrase "like a moth to the flame?," he projects himself). IT IS DELICIOUS AND CRUEL

A PART. See all the ideas we discussed about Sejanus' unfortunate fate if he had stayed in the Capitol?, most of them I got from Casca because I'm sure THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SEJANUS IF HE HAD STAYED.

Casca mentions that he tried to stop the games JULI!!! HE TRIED! AND MANY TIMES. We don't know what those attempts consisted of but we know they failed and not only that but they blew it. That man had a big guilt eating him alive and somehow everyone let him be a drug addict in an academy full of sons of the elite? I'm telling you that happened because they wanted it to happen!

Someone gave him morphiling. Someone gave him access to a dosis everyday. Someone let him become an addict without ever helping him get sober. Someone let him "embarrass" himself in front of other people, especially children.

Someone did everything they could so that NO ONE WOULD TAKE CASCA SERIOUSLY, so that he would self-destruct *I roll on the floor in consparanoia*

Well I'm normal again. I'll just say that this infodump is kind of like spoilers for the wedding fic because those are my headcanons and you'll ultimately see them there...

About the fandom and the movies:

Really the tribute actors deserve a lot of appreciation because they did wonders AND GOD YES I AM OBSESSED BY HOW AMAZING THE MARCUS ACTOR WAS. THE GUY DIDN'T EVEN SPEAK ONCE TO SEJANUS BUT HIS EXPRESSIVITY????! ughhh yes yes yes you are so right about the angeeer, the tiredness HE EXPRESS

😭😭 As you are also right about how much small changes contribute greatly to the quit any politic aspect of the films. Because even if they are one page or one line details, they were put there to help better convey the big message and getting rid of them, makes the story lose its intentions and strength (especially the choice of cast we already saw with Rue's case, that can provoke strong reactions and questioning, Katniss being played by someone POC would have raised a worse stir but at the same time would have forced an interesting questioning).

In def I think the biggest flaws of THG movies were the choice of main cast (except Peeta althought with this I dont mean I hate the main cast. I believe they were infredible!!! 🥺 but ugh the big message really feel and come a lot lest), focusing on the love triangle (that was so dumb... The triangle ITS LITERALLY ALMOST NON EXISTING IN THE BOOKS) and getting rid of the more disruptive parts (NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT DISABLE PEETA). I'm not surprised that happened, in fact that approach is the one that allowed the books to be adapted to the big screen: because those aspects respond to the market and its tastes.

It's the way you ensure a profit, a business, and although as people have grown older they have begun to appreciate THG more for its denouncing content, the truth is that I'm sure many of us approached the franchise because it seemed on the surface to be something far away and impossible, that had little to do with reality.

Because many products today are like that. Made by and for consumption, just like that.

Which brings me to fandom BECAUSE I NEED TO STUDY THEM / STUDY US. WE ARE SUCH AN INTERESTING CASE

Because you will see these people growing up reading extremely political books while consuming apolitical movies and then you find them in tiktok repeating propaganda and prejudices that the original work criticizes and denounces (both: 1. within the text. Perfect example: this point of people not understanding what Coriolanus does not despise privilege nor wealth but Sejanus having it and coming from the district -btw I agree with you on that. You EXPLAIN SO WELL WHAT REALLY HAPPEN AND MEANS.

2. Outside the text. Again LO DE RUE when her cast was announced???? Its a very sad but perfect example).

The human mind is fascinating. This thing you keep saying about the "death of the media's understanding", is a symptom of a larger issue that ends up clearly impacting how fans will interpret and interact with the text and the film, and that combines with each individual's experiences to get a particular albeit fucked up compression on what THG-TBOSAS means 😭 *scream*

Now.

I think we're all set to forget the angst and focus on the beautiful fix everything Latam Au. It's like happy hour, the candy world where no one gets ripped away from everything they know and forced to deal with violent xenophobia or engage in a macabre game to the death against other children that if you win will FUCK YOU FOREVER <3

I LOVE THAT LGB AND CORAL CAN UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER SO INTIMATELY ON SUCH A DIFFICULT SUBJECT AND HELP EACH OTHER!!!! Raising children as an adult is hard enough but you being both a child, a young person? My god the angst and panic and conflict 🥺 (I can imagine at one point LGB confesses to Coral that she has no idea what she's doing and it's weird to say it out loud because everyone thinks LGB somehow handles it well and is so cheerful and is always helping everyone but at nightfall it's hard, almost impossible to keep pretending and you know I think having Coral looking out for Mizzen around could be so refreshing not only because she could understand EXACTLY WHAT LGB WAS GOING THROUGH, but because I think that while Coral may seem tough and be very self-sufficient to someone like LGB who is so observant and intelligent she could see her struggle to keep going a lot of times and it's kind of like in seeing herself in someone else?? kind of like knowing that this other person who is going through the same thing not only shares the experience but have the same problems in dealing with it and it's like a relief because then bc LGB don't feel anymore like there's something wrong with her or some secret trick that she don't know about? Ah again I'm missing the point? I hope it's understood jsjsjsjsjs)

🤧💜 A part I love it because that implies Maude Ivory and Mizzen alliance, pls get them together to annoy Coriolanus and Billy Taupe (Coral probably shitalk about them so Mizzen is like "they are my enemies yes" and Maude Ivory confirms it and tells him she will help him in the attack because blackmailing Coriolanus and helping LGB to kick out BT is not enough LMAO) pd: JSJSKS IM SCREAMING BUT I APPROVE ALL ABOUT CORYO AND HIS LITTLE SISTER AND MAUDE IVORY. THEY ARE HIS DEMONS. HIS HELL

Btw I need LGB one day to write a nice song in Spanish to Coral ~

My contribution to the world is to make Strabo afraid of his wife asking for a divorce 🙏🙏🙏🙏 it will never be a bad day to bring it up and pls one year at the infamous Christmas fight Vesta threatens Strabo with divorce IN FRONT OF EVERYONE BECAUSE SHE WANTED A NICE DINNER WITH FAMILY NOT A BATTLE FIELD AND HE'S THE ADULT!!!!

(Although she probably scolded Sejanus too. RIP THE PLINTH BOYS THAT DAY)

What you added to the Snow family story is also canon I have said!!! (Although god we need to hug Mom Snow on this. She got the worst part and I would need to redo the research but I one saw something about a several economic crises in argentina caused migration in 80s / 90s, so while I need to check the years well, I propose that is the reason they leave Argentina and when they arrive Crassus as you say makes THE WORST DECISIONS AND RIP SNOWS FORTUNE)

I AGREED 💀 grandma was the one who manipulated little Snow into assimilating so brutally and I'm sure when Tigris and the others realized what baby Coryo was doing she feigned insanity over the matter:

"I don't know where he got those ideas from although it's not so bad for him to do that either..."

"GRANDMA!!!"

"🙄"

BTW I love the potential of Coriolanus fighting for attention. <3 AND OH YES. THAT'S WHY HE'S SO AMBITIOUS. I'm sure everyone paid attention to him ONLY when he won diplomas and stuff, so he became obsessed with that because he thought that was the way he was going to get that attention - love. Let's make it more tragic with Tigris being the only one who notices and tries to show him that he dont has to be exceptional for him to be loved? Which is more tragic considering what you say 😭

Because the cousins are still close. Tigris always felt pressured not only to meet the expectations of her own parents (I don't think they were strict or cold but the type support her and are proud? Which is not a bad thing but makes her afraid of disappointing them so bad) and her own dreams AND to be a role model for Coriolanus, her baby cousin who looks up to her and who she knows feels ignored by his mother and only has the evil and delusional grandmother putting bad ideas in his head.

But once Tigris is there it is TOO MUCH. She tries to push her limits but maybe she got really sick from stress and had to accept that she couldn't. And it was such a blow because she was supposed to make her parents proud, she would be the perfect, smart girl she wanted to be and even more so she would be the role. THE MODEL that Coriolanus WANTED TO BE? And now she is none of that anymore??? 🥺

I can see how she would be too scared of the idea that if Coriolanus finds out he would not only be disappointed but at the same time let's say he would no longer love her for "be a fake / " Bc she knows he was trying SO HARD to achieve the same sucess that she "had" (and then if you think about she finding out Coriolanus still lies to people about his damn origin).

Tho that fear would ultimately increase with him living with her because even if Coriolanus relieved a lot of her loneliness and discomfort, now is THERE. He can found it.

BTW TIGRIS AND CORYO DRINKING MATE TOGETHER THE FIRST DAY AMOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, THEY ARE ADORABLE they sure ate alfajores too 😭😭 💖💖

Little scene: A friend from Argentina told me that apparently if you say thank you while they give you mate is the same as saying you don't want it anymore so pls Sejanus visiting them and they give him mate and HE OBVIOUSLY IS GOING TO SAY THANKS WHEN THEY GIVE IT TO HIM AND CORIOLANUS TAKES IT AWAY IN HIS FACE AND LEAVES HIM VERY CONFUSED AND Tigris is like CORYO HE DOESN'T KNOW BRING THE MATEEEE XDDDD jsjsjsjsjs

About college and stuff being drama kids:

🤭💖💖 it makes me so happy and proud that you are more willing to take care of you over homework and these things, that tells me you will probably had so much good for your time in college, and oh buddy I understand the horror of buses to get around campus. It's a mess

And yes the good thing is that besides learning a lot, getting lost eventually becomes a fun story to tell others (I have such memorable stories jsjskwjw). I hope you have been doing well this week. Anything you want to tell me please do!!!! And I hope this coming week if you have classes everything goes well and you enjoy it 🤗

HSJSKSKSKSJS IT'S A HORROR TO BE A THEATER FAN AND NOT SPEAK ENGLISH. THE MANY TIMES I WATCHED VIDEOS OF DOUBTFUL ORIGIN AND THE WORST IMAGE QUALITY EVER but sacrifices had to be made if you wanted to enjoy the shows ah.

That's shocking news to me lmao bc I was always a Burr girl. Wait for it really altered my brain chemistry at 14 😭😭😭😭 and HIS SONGS WERE ALWAYS MY FAVORITE although Non stop and Hurricane have special places in my little heart.

CELL BLOCK TANGO DEF CHANGES LIVES I SWEAR 😳😳😳😳😳 AND YES YES THE FANTASMA IS STILL SO GOOD (stop me or I'll make an au of that too LMAO, although YOU'RE SO RIGHT ABOUT THE WICKED AU. WHAT IS THIS FEELING? IS THE ULTIMATE CORIOLANUS SONG. HE WILL DIE IN DENIAL RATHER THAN ACCEPT HE'S IN LOVE WITH SEJANUS AHHHHHHHHH).

I appreciate the recommendation <3

I really liked both versions and this lines stayed with me and I think they IS SO SEJANUS CODED:

"Fica na minha sombra, eu posso ser teu rastro"

🤡... About my new recommensation. Um. I actually got one last snowjanus song in Spanish this week although it's good know I'll be able to recommend the ones in English next time JSJSKSJSB

PLEASE PICTURE THIS: SNOWJANUS IN LATAM AU.

THE SONG IS:

Don - Miranda!

😈😈 I will see you soon Juli and yes you can call me Ika

IKAAAAAAA I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!!!! 😭

(and also omg I FEEL YOU, it's unreal bc here before the easter is when the teachers pass even MORE assignments than the normal, IT'S SO CRUEL- I hope you're able to rest this week!!! take care, srsly)

((and also, mexico and brazil are siblings regarding this, each catholic holiday I wake up and I'm like "graças a deus nasci na américa latina 🙏"))

LSKLSKLSKLSKLS gonna be honest with you: when I was a child, I watched usamerican movies and stuff, and I was like "my god, how dumb these kids are to think that a BUNNY will bring them chocolate EGGS???" because here we do have the chocolate, but we all know it's our parents who buy it 😭 and ofc there's also the gore element associated with easter (mini me was terrified of the jesus image covered in blood and suffering like that)

CORIOLANUS WAS SO MEAN TO HERRRRRR (in his thoughts, ofc, but STILL). but yes!!!! I was watching recently sociedad de la nieve, and what horrified me the most in the movie (and tbf, in every single media that talks abt cannibalism for survival) is how DESPERATE, how HUNGRY you must be to decided to eat another human. and I'm going to be very, very honest here: if crassus snow was around during the war (in the snow household, I mean), I don't doubt he would do the same, taking desperate measures to feed his family. and in nero price's case, it goes even far, because he did it not only to feed himself, he did it to feed his daughter. how hungry baby persefone probably was for him to decide doing this? but you're so right, it was so freaking funny exactly because of how ABSURD it isKLSKLSKLSKL

(and also, on a more serious tone and disregarding how funny coriolanus' delusions are, it's also worth saying it highlights how coriolanus lacks empathy even for people who are from the same social circle as him, but he isn't close to)

and absolutely yes!!! persephone seemed very sweet to me, and I absolutely agree with everything you said, I couldn't have put it better!! and particularly, I wonder if the whole thing abt what her father done spread through the capitol social circle. after all, rich people hang out together, they talk together, they go to afternoon teas and everything. this kind of gossip spread quickly. I wonder if the other kids from the academy knew, if they pretended to like her just like coriolanus, or if she was also isolated. ANYWAY.

(AND OMG I FORGOT SHE WAS HIS NEIGHBOUR THAT'S TRUEEEEEEE that's such a good idea for a fanfic!!!! imagine persephone being so quiet, she's that kind of person who doesn't talk much, but she's always observing and looking around... but coriolanus doesn't even think about worrying about her looking through the window, so he isn't so careful when he invites sejanus over. but persephone sees, she notices, and she starts noticing other things in school that make things make even more sense... and every single time coriolanus and sejanus are sitting together, she's there like 👀)

and you're so right, it's so cruel 😭 because there are plenty of rumors regarding the plinth family on the wealthy social circle on the capitol, but pup knows these aren't truth, because he went inside their house, he ate from their food, he knew ma plinth's kindness and he knew that sejanus was sweet (bc sejanus actually tried to bond with him, despite the awkwardness; he was happy that pup liked some stuff he liked too), and still, pup participated in the vicious bullying campaign, he even said some of the mean rumors were true (even though he knew they weren't, he knew very well)

this is even more fucked up than the stuff arachne does, for example, because arachne never set foot on the plinths' apartment. pup did. pup knew. and still he went and did it.

NAHHH JUST IMAGINE IT, strabo inviting pliny's family to their apartment. poor vesta is there suffering bc his wife CLEARLY doesn't like her, sejanus and pup are in an awkward silence... and pliny and strabo are there chatting and having fun shittalking about other rich people from the capitol lmaoooo (AND POOR SEJANUS BRO 😭 he wouldn't even be able to take casca highbottom, THE casca highbottom, seriously anymore bc he looks at that man and all he can see is the guy who drinks in his couch with his pa and called crassus snow a whiny little bitch)

(before we get into crassus and casca, I just wanted to say that it's SO cool you're going to be a historian!!! srsly, it was my dream course when I was a child)

YOU'RE SO RIGHT ABT SAVAGES BY MARINA!!!! not only it really describes this whole discussion, but it's also a very tbosas-coded song, tbh!!

and YES YES YESSSS YOU PUT IT PERFECTLY INTO WORDS!!!!! coriolanus idolizes crassus because, despite knowing what other people said about him, he never knew him (this also may be a reach, but what coriolanus thinks of crassus is what he thinks as the ideal man, the ideal dad, the ideal person, the person coriolanus aims to be, and even a bit of himself; and all of that is also a mix of everything he hear about crassus: everything, including the bad things, and in the end, coriolanus molded himself into what he thought of crassus snow, but without ever knowing him). you know that phrase, "never meet your heroes"? sometimes, it's not just because they're straight up assholes, it's because they're humans with flaws, and therefore, they can't be idolized. we can't create a perfect version of them in our heads (because that's what we do with people we don't know, we never talked to; we create versions of them in our heads, as if they're characters).

and that's what coriolanus does with his dead father.

(and yes!!! I've seen a BRILLIANT post earlier where the person made comparisons between lgb, coriolanus and sejanus and the three mains philosophers who mold the tbosas narrative; but even though there are three main philosophers, there are also plenty of other debates sprinkled there. and one of the debates I can see is the determinism. right before the start, when we know that the main character is coriolanus snow, we can bring ourselves to ask: is it a matter of fate, of genetics, of nature? or is it purely choice, a matter of society, a matter of envinroment? and the answer is both... even though we know what weighs the most.)

I REALLY like your interpretation of crassus and casca, and actually, it makes things even more tragic and horrible. that's what they say, isn't it? that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. and also, this is even much more interesting because in the end, it's a big butterfly effect. imagine if casca never got drunk that day. it was a small thing, a small action that ended up causing the most terrifying and horrible event in panem, an event that keeps going and going for more than 70 YEARS. we're talking about 1701 dead children (and I didn't count the 75th quarter quell). and all because of a night casca got drunk... and what possibly was what crassus thought to be a good action.

AND OH MY GODDDDDDDDD I DIDN'T THINK ABT IT!!!!!! AND IT!!! MAKES!!! SO!!! MUCH!!! SENSE!!! I'M SCREAMING

specially because when you think better abt it, coriolanus did almost the same to clemensia (he put her name on a horrific assignment for the games where he said the most horrific things, things SHE didn't completely agree on) because she was mourning over arachne. and he did it much before knowing about what crassus had done.

this maybe doesn't mean anything. but it maybe does. it's just interesting to think abt.

and about the question about when casca started hating crassus: this makes things even worse because... even if casca was mad at first bc of the assignment, let's suppose he didn't hate casca right away (which I think he didn't; why would he hate him like that bc of that? it doesn't make sense to me, at least). that means he probably mourned over his death.

and this also means he probably hated crassus when he was dead, when he couldn't even scream on his face about how much of a DICK and an ASSHOLE and a HORRIBLE human being he was.

I'm sick.

I LOVE THIS THOUGHT, even though it's SO tragic and cruel. imagine casca seeing sejanus and coriolanus pairing up for a school work, and he immediately separates them and makes sejanus do the work with someone else. coriolanus thinks that it's because casca hates him, but it's actually other thing. it's fear. not only fear for sejanus and his fate, but if the first time what happened were the hunger games... then what the hell will happen on the second time? what's as bad as the hunger games, or even worse, that coriolanus snow could do?

and omg you're a GENIUS, BECAUXE EXACTLYYYYYY. because even if casca got addicted by himself, even if it were his choices... nobody helped. nobody did a thing. and it was definitely a choice to let him teach at the academy in his state, without anyone doing anything. if a new generation sees that man, that stoned and addicted man who constantly embarass himself, saying stuff about how the games are bad and yada yada yada... who'll believe him? who'll take him seriously? the new generation would never give in to these ideas.

the casting for tbosas is amazing, all of the actors give their lives for these characters, but the TRIBUTES, ALL OF THEM DESERVE EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING, REALLY.

and yessssssss!!!! I'm not really against casting actors who are different from the book characters, unless we're talking about whitewashing. the thing is, if they kept the descriptions we're given in the book AT LEAST about the seam characters, it would've made a HUGE different in the storytelling. and I agree, I DEFINITELY don't hate the main cast, in the end, I think they did a great job (specially josh hutcherson, he was such a good choice for peeta), but it really weakned some of the messages from the book... and abt the love triangle, the thing is, this was not even the most evil thing of the hunger games marketing from that time 😭 I know it's a common thing that the movie needs to make money, and that capitalism is a bitch, but idk, it's so WEIRD seeing some of the stuff that were marketed around the release time of the movies, specially when we're talking abt a movie like the hunger games.

(there was one thing that REALLY marked me, that was when the marketing team did a line of nail polish, and each color was inspired by a district + the capitol, and the announce had ppl dressed with capitol-like clothes and wigs. and like, it's not rlly a big deal, it's just nail polish, but idk, I wouldn't mind if it was the characters' names or something.... but this always unsettled me so much, it rlly sounded like something the capitol would do, like, "buy the nail polish of your favorite district!!!")

oh and absolutely 😭 SPECIALLY people who did the reverse way, and by that, I mean reading/watching divergent first and THEN reading/watching the hunger games. don't get me wrong, I'm not a 100% divergent hater (even tho I do have my beef with it), but the dystopia in the book is much more of a background thing than a way to denounce stuff. what matters the most is the romance and the characters... where in the hunger games, it's exactly opposite.

and you're so right!!!! even the way ppl talk about watching, reading, listening to thing, it's SO UNSETTLING. they don't say "I watch a lot of fantasy", they say "I CONSUME a lot of fantasy". the popularization of the word "content creator", too. and all of these are easy things, things to watch and ready quickly to pass on the next.

(and this leads me to reflect that nowadays, I feel like fandoms last so much less than older fandoms... exactly because people will move on quickly to the next new thing. they won't take their time to appreciate, to talk about the characters, to make fun memes and read fun fanfics and analyze characters, no, not anymore. but this is just an impression I have, I may be wrong... who knows, right?)

OH THE HUNGER GAMES FANDOM IS REALLY SOMETHING ELSE WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THIS.

like, I SWEAR TO GOD, I've seen people saying that snow isn't the true villain from the hunger games, GALE is. and I'm not a big fan of gale, don't get me wrong, definitely not my favorite character... but how the hell they read three books about a horrible oppressive society and then decide that the oppressed, desperate teenager is the villain, and not the terrible, cruel dictator??? GOD SEND THE FLOOD ALREADY, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. and this is not even the WORST take I've seen about this kind of stuff. and yessssss exactly 😭 the rue one, specifically, got me SO shocked, because it really showed how people read the book, but they don't really read the book, they consume it. it was not even a matter of interpretation, it was on the TEXT, and still, people's first instinct was to read the text in a shallow way to the point they completely IGNORED a character's description and imagined them as white.

and as you said, this is a larger issue, because we see this everywhere, in every media that tries to be more political and send a message, because people can't bring themselves to THINK, to ABSORB, to ANALYZE stuff. this all is really concerning, thinking about the future and how fandom culture is slowly changing into a tiktokfication of it (ppl get into a new fandom, enjoy it quickly, don't stop to really think about the takes and stuff, and then move to the next shiny thing; everything is too quick-paced).

I complained too much, sorry 😭 it's just that I think a lot abt these stuff, hopes it made sense the things I said

BUT LET'S GOOO, LATAM AU <3 the only way I can be happy as a tbosas fan lmao

LUCY GRAY AND CORAL, MY BELOVEDSSSSSS, it's even more special bc like, coral feels out of place in the neighbourhood because she can't really relate to the people there, and even though lucy gray LOVES her neighbourhood, she loves the people there, there's no one else she can talk about this, it's a different and very specific type of loneliness. AND YESSSSSSS, they're two sides of the same coin!!! lucy gray always seem cheerful and happy to everyone, while coral seems tough, as if nothing scares her, as if she can handle everything. where, actually, they're struggling; they were barely adults when they started raising literal CHILDREN, and they feel so lost, and so alone even though they try to keep the facade that everything is okay and fine. but at least they have each other <3 and again, with coral, lucy gray doesn't feel like she's messing everything up, because she sees, she knows coral struggles just like her, so it's not like there's something wrong with her, it's not like she's doing everything wrong. I love this concept so much <3

YESSSS MAUDE IVORY AND MIZZEN WOULD BE SUCH A CHAOTIC DUO, they would make billy taupe's life HELL, but now they have a new victim and it's coriolanus 😭 coriolanus can't BELIEVE he's being bullied by two children. it started only with lucy gray, but it didn't take long for mizzen to tag along lmaoooooo

(LGB WRITING A SONG IN SPANISH TO CORAL OH MY GOD YESSSSSSSS make it even cuter if lucy gray is rehearsing it and coral listens to her by accident. but the thing is: coral doesn't know spanish, so she has no idea what the song is saying, just that it's very beautiful. she asks lucy gray what it means, and lucy gray simply answers that it's about someone very special. coral thinks it's about coriolanus and she comes back home that night fuming, poor girl)

THIS IS TO FUNNY I'M SCREAMINGKLKSLSKLSKLKLS BUT MA PLINTH SOUNDED SO SERIOUS WHEN THREATNING HIM, HE DIDN'T EVEN DARE TO SAY ANYTHING THE REST OF THE DINNER. and of course sejanus got his share of her fury, boy almost cried in despair because he never saw his ma SO angry

(at least they had the dinner in peace that night tho)

((and they actually didn't fight for, like, 3 months, it was a record))

mama snow REALLY got the worst 💔 and yes!!!! in the 80s/90s, a lot of south american countries were going through the same horrible economic crisis, because most of them were finally getting rid of the violent dictatorships funded by the usa, and this affected deeply the economy of said countries (I don't know if the same phenomenon happened in argie, but in brazil, specifically, inflation got SO bad that the staff at stores had to walk around with little machines to change the price tags of stuff because the price would rise by THE HOUR. you would buy something that in the morning costed, idk, let's say 5 dollars; by the night, the SAME THING would be costing 10 dollars, and in five days, the SAME thing could be costing 20 dollars). it makes A LOT of sense for crassus to decide to leave around that time.

I JUST KNOW THAT WOMAN WOULD PRETEND SHE WASN'T DOING ANYTHING. she would be like "uhhh idk where little coryo got these ideas from, maybe it's from his school :/"

I'M IN SO MUCH PAIN RIGHT NOW 💔 tigris being the one who tells him how special he is, how he's such a smart boy and he's already enough the way he is, he doesn't need to study like this, or push himself so hard like this... and he would turn to her and be like "no, tigris, the only way I'm worthy is by being exceptional!!! I want to be just like you!! I want to work hard and go to college, just like you!!!" and even though she knows that his overachiever thoughts are not really healthy, her heart melts, because coriolanus admires her so much, he wants to be like her, so she feels on the obligation of being the role model he adores. but everything fails, and she feels like a huge failure, even though her parents say it's fine and she can take her time, what matter it's her health, even though she talked to mrs. plinth about it and she reassured tigris that tigris is young, she has so much time ahead. and still, she feels like a failure. she feels like she failed, like she failed coriolanus, and EVEN MORE now that he goes to live with her, and when he asks about her college, and he says about how he loved talking about how his cousin was amazing and was studying in new york with an incredible scholarship, she can't even bring herself to look into his eyes bc of how ashamed she feels.

I'M SO UNWELL. BRB, I'M GOING TO CRY ON A CORNER.

OMG coriolanus would lie and pretend he didn't miss eating alfajor, he would make a boring face like "meh", but HE MISSED IT OKAY, HE MISSED IT, IT TASTED LIKE HIS CHILDHOOD. he would NEVER admit it out loud, but tigris knows how to recognize his feelings and she's so happy <3

LSKSLSKLSKLKSLSKSLKLSKLS I'M SCREAMINGGGGGG 😭😭😭😭 now, coriolanus is like "he's in OUR house, OUR rules" and tigris is fighting with him bc LEAVE THE POOR BOY ALONE OH MY GOD, STOP BEING A DICK- and poor sejanus is just there, existing while the cousins bicker

tysmmmmmmm!!! 🥹 LSKSLSKLS the getting lost stories are always the best if we not consider the whole despair, it's really the definition of "we'll be all laughing of it at the future" 😭 thankfully this week have been good, despite very tiring, and thankfully this week I'll be FREE <3 but tysm for asking, and I really hope things are going good for you and your classes <3

AND YOU KNOW WHAT? THE IMAGE QUALITY IS NOT EVEN THE WORST, IT'S THE SOUND, because we ALREADY don't speak english 100%, and now w have to try to understand it with the sound ALL MESSED UP 😭😭😭😭 there were SO many times where I watched a video and the audio was so bad I couldn't understand SHIT, I was smiling and nodding all along pretending I was getting it, and when I saw someone from the fandom talking abt a line, I would get so confused

being an a.ham girlie unfortunately is the past I try to hideLSKSLKSLKLS but wait for it is SO good, when I heard it first it didn't affect me much, but listening to it after being older... IT HITS. IT HITS HARD. I AM THE ONE THING IN LIFE I CAN CONTROL, my GODDDDD. and hurricane got me HOOKED, I would listen to it over and over again.

PLEASE, MAKE A PHANTOM AU, I BEG YOU 🙏 (AND YESLSLSKSLSKLSKLS and also, there are so many other songs that could fit too!!! I was listening to popular in specific and imagining it and it got me cackling 😭)

I'm so happy you enjoyed the recs!!!! 🥹 AND YESSSSS THAT LINE IS SO SEJANUS CODED

I've listened to the song and all I could envision is: IT'S CORIOLANUS' POV OF THE LATAM AU. SRSLY, IT'S 100% CORIOLANUS' POV. I'M SCREAMINGGG

(and alsoLSKSLSKSL but I can't wait for the eng recs!!!)

(also, I wanted to recomment another song, hope it's okay: jão - idiota. LITERALLY SNOWJANUS. I won't even say much, it's just LITERALLY SNOWJANUS.)

take care ika!!! hope you're doing fine, see ya soon <3

EDIT: buddie I've just read your other ask with more calm, and OH MY GODDDDDDD I'M SHAKING!!!! THE WAY I LET OUT A LITTLE SCREAM!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭 I holding myself back so hard now to not comment on it by just let me make you know that I'm SCREAMINGGG

#tbosas #tbosas movie #ask #analysis #au #rambling #my silly little thoughts

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