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rjalker · 8 days ago

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join the Flatland fandom your tragic art can literally look like this:

[ID: An MS Paint drawing of a white square above a thin white triangle and two thinner black shapes, one a crooked rectangle, and one a very thing diamond shape. End ID.]

Billie the Straight Line's tragic backstory before she helps Bob and Joe demonstrate things for the Flatland Summary.

(Archive read-more link)

Billie stared in dismay at the quickly approaching bright point that was her mother's familiar eyemouth, and behind that the twitching grey line that was her sway.

Billie'd thought she'd be hidden here among the trees and bushes at the park, but her mother had still managed to sniff her out like a bloodhound. Somehow she always knew where Billie was, no matter how sneaky she’d thought she’d been.

She'd come here to get away from her parents, but her mother had clearly decided that wasn't allowed.

"Beryl Oakley!" Her mother called, and Billie cringed further into the space between the trees. "Come out of there, young lady, I can see you from a mile away. Are you really going to go and get yourself dirty after the hour I spent preening your exoskeleton until it shines so nicely? Is that how I taught you to show gratitude? Do you really want Mr. Nietra to see you like this?"

Billie didn't respond, hoping against hope that if she just kept quiet, it would turn out her mother was only bluffing and hadn't actually seen her. Maybe she was secretly relying on precedent to trick Billie into revealing herself. Maybe if she just stayed still and stayed quiet—

But her mother had stopped just beyond the range of the trees Billie was currently hiding in, and was staring directly at her, the slight dint in her eyemouth visible at this range.

"Beryl,” She said sternly, “If you don't come out of there and behave like a proper young lady, you can say goodbye to Mr. Nietra and his propsal forever. No gentleman like that is going to want to marry a young lady who runs off and hides in the trees. Is that what you want? You want to drive him away?"

Billie continued to say nothing, and made no move to leave her hiding spot, now even more determined than ever to stay. That was, in fact, exactly what she wanted.

Victor Nietra was a Square who thought that having one more angle than her family’s men meant that her whole family should be prostrating themselves before him in worship and going along with every single thing he said.

Somehow he'd decided that Billie was the wife he wanted to have, and since he'd decided that, that meant that she and her family automatically had to agree, and Billie herself had to immediately leap to do his bidding.

It was all find and dandy to have a gentleman ask to marry you, but it was another thing entirely for that gentleman to be an absolute...

Billie couldn't think of a word strong enough to describe Victor. He gazed at her like she already belonged to him. When he spoke to her, it was as though she was already his wife and would just unquestionably agree with him in everything he said.

He'd tried to get her to start planning their wedding meals just a few minutes after he'd walked in her home, before he'd even asked her father permission to propose at all!

Getting rid of him was exactly why Billie’d run out of the house and come here to hide!

Her mother seemed to sense this. Billie heard her sigh loudly, and saw her eyemouth dim, and blink.

"Beryl..." She started to say, but Billie, unable to stand hearing that name any more, cut her off, jumping forward from the trees as she snapped, "I told you to call me Billie!" She stopped just in front of her mother, so that all either of them could see was the bright eyemouth of the other.

Her mother jumped backwards at the sudden movement, but otherwise held her ground. Her sway became twitchier and faster as she got angry. "That is not a name for a lady, and it's not the name your father and I gave you!"

"That's because I'm not a lady!" Billie snapped back, "And I'm not going to marry some pretentious dirtbag who thinks he's better than all of us!"

Her mother's voice was cold as ice, and her sway had almost stopped entirely as she said flatly, "You are a lady whether you like it or not. And he is better than us, Beryl, which is exactly why you should be doing everything in your power to marry him."

Then some of the coldness left her voice, and she spoke earnestly, almost desperately.

"Don't you want a better life for yourself, for your children? Don't you understand how miraculous it is for a Square gentleman to be asking after the daughter of a common Isosceles? None of your brothers measure even close to 60, and I am half afraid that this gentleman must be insane to want to marry you, because Providence knows he's more likely to have Pentagon sons if he marries the daughter of another Square or better! Even an Equilateral's daughter would give him better chances for eugspring! But with you, he's taking a huge risk of having degenerate sons — and he has to know this, but he's decided to ask to marry you anyways. This is not the kind of opportunity you can afford to throw away, Beryl, no matter your opinion on the man himself! Your children have a chance to be free, don't you see that? That's not something even little Jaimie can hope for!"

Jamie was Billie's youngest brother, who'd been born with a full fifty degree angle, closer than anyone before him in the whole family's history had ever gotten to sixty. But still, unquestionably, an Isosceles. Still subhuman, as far as anyone with higher, or more angles was concerned.

Billie growled, and started up a dangerously twitching sway, unwilling to concede the point. But she knew her mother was right. She had to get married someday, and it was very unlikely that anyone with higher status or even anything close to it would ever come along again. Her family had belonged to this land for as far back as anyone could remember. Every man in her family had been born a laborer and would die a laborer.

If she agreed to marry Victor, she'd never go hungry again. And any sons she had would have a chance at being born free, able to go where they pleased. If they got lucky, and they were born as Equilaterals, at least, or Squares, or, miraculously, Pentagons.

And her daughters? What about them? What could they hope to gain from having Victor for a father as opposed to any other suitor? As opposed to a laborer for a father?

The opportunity for even better marriages, for one thing. They'd probably be able to marry other Squares at the very least, and lead as pretty a life as Billie could probably get with Victor. And they’d grow up with all the food they needed, and with room enough not to be pinched and squished.

Maybe she would even be able to send extra food back to her family. Maybe, when her father died, which she’d heard her parents talking about for the past year, because he was getting weaker and weaker by the day, and none of the Isosceles doctors could help him, or even tell him what was wrong. She’d heard her parents talking about what would happen when he was dead. None of Billie’s brothers were old enough to take over the household. But maybe Billie would be able to bring her mother and siblings to live with her? Gentlemen lived in giant homes, surely there would be enough room? And if she was his wife, she might be able to convince him?

And even if she couldn’t….

It was Billie's turn to sigh.

She wanted to cry.

Her mother must have sensed her defeat, because when she spoke again, it was gentler. "If you come back with me now, and we're lucky, and if this man has the patience or insanity of a saint, we can probably still make this happen."

She came forward at an angle and swung around to press her side against Billie's in a hug. Billie didn't pull away; she welcomed the embrace. She hated arguing with her parents.

"I know it's hard, Beryl," Her mother said softly, her voice coming from the glow just visible out of the corner of Billie’s moutheye, "But this will probably be the best thing that will ever happen to you."

And the worst part was that she was right. And Billie knew it.

If she didn't marry Victor Nietra, she would inevitably have to marry someone else, and they would probably be another Isosceles, and if she didn't take this chance to marry a Square, then she wasn't just betraying her parents, brothers, and her own future children, she'd be betraying every member of the Isosceles class who'd ever come before her. She couldn't throw away an opportunity like this, that most Isosceles-class wouldn't even be able to dream of getting.

If any Isosceles found out she’d refused to marry a Square, they might even refuse to marry her at all, for fear that whatever was wrong with her to reject such an opportunity was contagious. They might even shun her entirely.

If she didn't come back with her mother right now to their home and apologize to Mr. Nietra for running away, she would be spitting in the face of everyone in her family history, all of her neighbors, everyone she'd ever met.

She didn't like Mr. Nietra. She hated the way he spoke to her parents, she hated how he'd just assumed as soon as he'd walked in that she already belonged to him.

But he was a Square, and she was only the daughter of an Isosceles. She would never be given another opportunity like this, for herself, or for her family, or her entire class.

The wedding would probably be celebrated by every Isosceles-class figure within the county. It would be a symbol of ultimate hope to them. Something to brighten their days and make their dreams a little sweeter.

She had to get married someday. Was marrying a jerk, who would be able to feed her, and potentially her whole family, and would make everyone she’d ever known celebrate, really the worst thing that she could do?

She had to get married someday. She would probably never find a husband more capable of taking care of her or her family ever again.

Billie was almost crying when she said, "I'm sorry. I'll go back now."

Her mother vibrated next to her, a comforting purr rolling through her perimeter.

Billie purred back, accepting the offered comfort even as she began to cry in earnest, viscerally feeling the lux-fluid surging away from her eyemouth and towards her sides and back, making her whole face feel empty and cold, forcing her to involuntarily retract her eye and close the point, shivering uncontrollably.

Her mother had to half carry her back, pushing her gently along the park's Women's paths on a carefully diagonal slant, humming the special Peace-cry that warned others what was happening so they'd know to give them a wider berth.

Some of the women they passed were neighbors, who called out encouragement and well-wishes and concern, even if they used the wrong name for Billie. This, along with her mother’s constant stream of reassurances, helped Billie regain control of herself until she could force the lux back to her eyemouth letting the cillia on her perimeter unconstrict so she could move of her own volition again and try to make it seem like she hadn’t been crying.

After that she walked next to her mother, but they kept their sides pressed together and synchronized their sways, and Billie started up her own Peace-cry. It didn't take long before she and her mother were singing together, an old song about daughters moving on to become wives, moving forward in the world, with happier children than they'd been.

It was bittersweet, and made Billie want to start crying again, but this time she was able to force it back, keep her emotions contained, like shoving back against the southern pull.

She was going to apologize to Mr. Nietra. She was going to accept his proposal of marriage if he cared to keep it extended, and try to make up for the fact that she'd run out of the house on their first meeting. Right now, her father was probably trying to spin the whole incident as just the whimsy of a spirited young lady who would undoubtedly make a very, very good wife who was worth waiting for.

Billie wasn't a lady. She'd never felt like one, had never wanted to be one. But she had to act like one. She had to marry the best man she could find, and she would never find a better man than Victor Nietra. He was a Square, he was a high ranking accountant, he had a large property he was happy to brag about, and for some Providence-forsaken reason, he had decided to propose to her, the daughter of an Isosceles, instead of any Line of his own class or better.

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, one that most other Isosceles-class Lines never even imagined, let alone hoped for. She couldn’t turn it down, no matter how rude or conceited Victor was. If he thought he was better than her family, well, he was at least better off. Billie might be forced to go along with the marriage, but she would never accept the idea that a Square was inherently superior to an Isosceles just because the Circles said so. She and her mother worked hard to keep the household running with eight men to feed and heal, and so did her aunts and other female cousins. Her brothers, father, uncles, and male cousins worked just as hard out in the mines and fields.

What kind of work did a Square ever do? From what she’d heard Mr. Nietra say before she’d run out of the house in her fury, all he seemed to do was sit around all day keeping track of other people’s money in little books. And he apparently had a whole office of other Squares to boss around, and they probably did most of the real work, if there was any real work to even be done.

How was he better than her father, or brothers, or uncles, or cousins, or any of the male neighbors? How did having an extra angle make him a better worker or person?

But he had money, and power, and status. He was a free man, and that was something no Isosceles would ever be allowed to be.

If she married him, her children would be born free, and hopefully would stay that way. They’d probably never go hungry.

She wouldn’t have to spend half her day patching cracked exoskeletons and worrying about getting sick from it with a husband who lived a boring office job. She didn’t even know what she would do with all the free time that would leave her, but she could only assume that with a larger house would come more cleaning. And without any daughters or cousins to help, it would be all up to her to manage for the first few years.

It would be an adjustment. But she couldn’t bear to say it would be a difficult one, not when she knew how much easier it would be for her than anything else she could ever hope for in this life.

By the time they’d once again entered the parlour where her father had successfully entertained Mr. Nietra in their absence, Billie had her emotions carefully controlled and hidden away.

She focused on keeping her sway steadier and smoother than she’d ever done before, trying to mimic what she could remember of the wives of the higher status Figures that she’d seen in parades a few times.

She tried to make her Peace-cry as pleasant and on-key as possible, singing a happy and celebratory, if unrealistic song about a family’s hard work paying off in the form of triplet sons, each with five more angles than his father.

Mr. Nietra received her, and her acceptance of his propsal, with complacent smugness, as though he’d always known she would come back, as though he’d never feared for a moment that he would truly be rejected.

He knew, as well as they all did, that his offer was the best thing that would ever happen to her, or her family, and probably the best thing to ever happy to any Isosceles attached to this land. Or in this city.

Billie had hated him from the moment she’d heard him speak to her father as he was led in the door, and her hatred of him grew stronger every time he spoke now as he dictated the wedding plans to her father and mother.

But she would marry him, and play the role of a normal, happy young wife, who was happy to call herself a lady and a woman and a Line, because she knew she had no other choice, and nothing better would ever come along if she turned this down.

It was her duty to her parents, her ancestors, and her own future children.

She’d be giving up her father’s name. She wouldn’t be called Miss Oakley anymore. After the wedding, she would only be known as Mrs. Nietra.

Billie wasn’t a lady. But she was going to have to act like one.

She hated it with every fiber of her being. But it was her only choice.

It was, she knew, the best thing that would ever happen to her.

#Rjalker reads Flatland a Romance of Many Dimensions #Flatland #Flatlandaromanceofmanydimensions #described images #Flatland OCs #Rjalker's OCs #Billie's parents will get names someday but that day is not today.#Flatland stories #tragedy #because I'm tired of authors always shitting on people who have no choice but to marry the richest person they can find willing to marry th #because they live in a society where they have ZERO fucking rights and the only thing they EVEN REMOTELY have a choice in is who they marry #so here's poor Billie having to marry some rich asshole because it's the best chance she has of being able #to feed the kids she'll have to have some day #because she has no choice in getting married or having kids. so she can only work with the opportunities she's given

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