#she was just wrong and women should be more careful about accusing innocent men

[horribleweasel]

Watching Voyager for the first time and incredibly confused by what the point was of Retrospect (s4 ep17). Like it's a very thinly veiled rape allegory, and the whole point is what, sometimes women are just confused and we should feel bad about accusing men??? I know it was produced about 30 years ago but still feels so out of character for Star Trek.

[bohemian-nights]

Fuck Rhaenyra, fuck the writers with this sapphic plotline they invented, it's simply pathetic, and fuck Emma D'Arcy who is the cause of that. Im sorry but why trans/LGBTQ agenda should be included, but then they don't care about racism? Cause Laena has bee treated awfully, next is Nettles, reduced to Daemon's new distraction/whim to cheat on Nyra and shows how bad husband he is, or even cut out to redeem him (?) This Show sucks. Fuck white privilegies. Fuck HBO and all the people who's supporting this trash. To all the people who kiss Emma D'Arcy's ugly ass, am i transphobic cause i hate what they did to Rhaenyra and to the story? Ok, and you're racist for using Laena as an excuse of made up ship (Laenyra) to shit on Daemon X Laena in order to praise your incest ship and for not wanting Nettles in the series cause could ruin it. Whatever happens it seems is always the black characters who gets sacrificed for the sake of white characters. I said what i said.

Um, this has the energy of this:

Oh God you really let it all out there. Minus calling Emma ugly(again guys can we please not call the actors/actresses ugly), I don’t think you are wrong and I get your frustrations.

It’s pretty clear this show has an agenda, is biased towards one character in particular at the expense of basically everyone else, and has a misogynoir problem.

Now to be clear, even though Emma is going along with what is being pushed, I think it’s inaccurate to blame any of the actors or actresses on this show for what is happening. Because at the end of the day it’s the show runners and the execs at HBO who are calling the shots. Emma is just a mascot for their agenda(take that as you will).

They more than likely purposely picked Emma because they wanted to make Rhaenyra into some feminist warrior queen who has a rainbow coalition of supporters against the conservative greens.

It’s corny, but with another character like say Rhaena the Black Bride(who’s already a lesbian) or even Visenya(who’s a warrior queen) it could work.

However the problem with choosing to make Rhaenyra into a revolutionary type figure/girl boss/feminist is that she’s the complete opposite of that.

Rhaenyra in canon is a racist to the point where she’s willing to use it to explain away murder, she mocks Laenor for being gay(says her half-brothers who are children are his type), looks down on and underestimates the small folk, and doesn’t even bother to help advance other women(Stokeworth and Rosby) in her class much less women like Nettles.

Her and Alicent have a completely different relationship dynamic in the books than in the show.

She’s selfish and self-focused. She’s malicious bordering on sadistic. She even puts her own children in danger for her own wants.

And before her followers go moaning she’s done too many things to claim that she’s been wrongly framed by the narrative. No sane person is chopping off heads and feeding it to dragons or trying to murder innocent women in their sleep. That’s not maester propaganda. She’s objectively awful.

She may be a woman, but she’s no better than her brother. Women can be just as awful as men(for Christ’s sakes look at real life not everyone is wrongly accused because of sexism). Rhaenyra shows that. Even at the last moments of her life she pretty much has zero remorse IMO.

For those reasons, I absolutely hate that the show is trying to redeem her. I hate how they cast Black actors to use them as human shields to make her look progressive, to lessen her atrocities, and even to make her something like her death look less atrocious.

Fans see Black people(the characters) supporting her vs. the mostly white greens they go that’s the progressive team(that ideology is so f*cked up). They even have Black fans supporting Rhaenyra because of all the Black secondary characters.

Never mind that these characters(who are race-bent) are being screwed over by the narrative, haven’t been presented in the best light, and have had their stories be rewritten to better serve Rhaenyra and make her look sympathetic/noble/just. The best who are treated way worse than their white book counterparts.

They added Ser Vaemond calling Rhaenyra a whore to justify Daemon killing him when in the books he rightfully calls her out and gets unjustly beheaded and feed to a dragon as a result on Rhaenyra’s orders. Then his sons and cousins get reprimanded by with some getting their tongues cut out, but that’s all been cut out.

Instead of showing that was loved or at least cared for by Daemon like in the books show Laena has been regulated to sorta second best(third best if you factor in the Viserys situation). She’s unloved and unwanted. Her suicide is made into a girlboss/empowering moment instead of being criticized for what it is away to make Rhaenyra’s death look better. Laena’s character is a walking stereotype(disposable Black girlfriend, look it up).

The audience eats it up of course and instead of calling out making her into a stereotype they are upset that the show did not make the non-canon throuple situation happen so they could get more brownie points for their I love Black people, I'm not a racist, I just don't want that Black person who isn't a plot device on the show act.

(I’m calling it non-canon cause you can’t only use the word fond to support a relationship, especially when you claim that word means nothing when it comes to Dettles which has more evidence than a single word).

Even Laenor has been made into a deadbeat dad. Corlys looks stupid. The girls have been given nothing to do. Addam’s whole purpose is to scarifice himself for Rhaenyra which is why they are highlighting him so much.

It’s absolutely disgusting.

I have no idea what they are going to do with Nettles, a character who doesn’t need to be race-bent cause she’s already Black, but based on their track record it could be terrible(I’m holding out hope though). She shouldn’t be treated like she’s just some whore or Daemon's mistress. She has her own plot, she’s loved by, and she’s one of the few survivors of the dance(and one of two dragonriders).

If the show was decent at all they’d do the right thing and show her as the multifaceted character she is and not regulate her into another stereotype(I guess they’d go the Jezebel route).

I totally get where you are coming from on the racism aspect. This is obviously lost by most though. Hell, most in the fandom are racist themselves, but skirt by because they like this show using the Black characters as human shields. It's a circus.

And no one is going to take this rant seriously since you went a little too far. All they are going to focus on is you calling Emma ugly, which again was uncalled for, but I get the essence of it.

[seraphtrevs]

It's a little frustrating sometimes seeing fandom's reaction (and I mean fandom at large, not specifically fandom on tumblr) to Jesse's involvement with Drew Sharp's death versus their reaction to Kim's involvement with Howard's death. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we, as the audience, have come to know and love Howard, and she was being very mean and unfair to him right before his death.

But the amount of blame given to Kim versus Jesse in those situations really doesn't make any sense. What Kim did to Howard was awful, but by Howard's own admission not something that was going to ruin his life. There was really no way that she could have anticipated Lalo's appearance, let alone his murder of Howard. The two incidents were completely unconnected. The same thing would have happened if they were on good terms with Howard and he just happened to be over for dinner that night.

Meanwhile, Jesse was actively committing a crime at the time of Drew's death. The death of an innocent witness was a very foreseeable consequence of their plan. They thought they had planned a way around it, but the fact that they made a plan specifically to try to avoid it proves that they went into the situation knowing that was a risk.

And Kim's "crimes" up until the point of Howard's death have been pretty minor - I think the worst part of the Ham scam was drugging Howard. But Jesse at the same point had killed someone (Gale) and been involved in several other deaths, on top of manufacturing a dangerous drug in the hopes of getting people addicted in order to make himself rich, without caring that it will kill some of them. Kim is in no way a morally worse person than Jesse. In fact, it's pretty ridiculous to even put them in the same ballpark

A big part of it is that the audience knows and loves Howard by that point, and Kim had been cruel and unfair to him prior to his death. Meanwhile, we don't know Drew Sharp at all, so his death doesn't hit as hard.

But it's also misogyny. I saw people arguing against any defense of Kim - that she was unforgivable. Meanwhile, I don't think I've ever seen anyone claim that Jesse was directly responsible for the murder of Drew, even though of the two situations are similiar, and even though Jesse arguably bears more responsibility because he knew this was a potential outcome. People even accused Kim defenders of letting her off too easy just because she was a woman

But the opposite is true - Kim is seen by some as more guilty than Jesse BECAUSE she is a woman. Women are thought of as naturally more moral and therefore held to a higher moral standards - men can't help themselves, but women can, and therefore are twice as guilty of any crimes. No one says Jesse is as bad as Walt, but I have seen takes that Kim is (although less so now that the finale aired).

Even in this post, I found myself several times hedging, making sure to point out that I know that what Kim did to Howard was very bad and she was very wrong to do it and she should have to face consequences. I never feel that urge when talking about Jesse, because I know no one is going to wag their finger at me about it. Why is wishing well for Jesse not controversial, but wishing well for Kim is?

[crowmero]

An updated note about my stance in the whole "False accusation" plot that happens during LL.

1. The whole plot is horrible and ridiculous and should not exist.

2. This plot is fucking unrealistic. The true is that if Rayan was accused like that in the real world... nothing would have happened to him. Is true that the people at the city learns about the case because Renata leaks the story on the news, but to be honest, I can't imagine people making too much noise about the situation, at most the students, and probably the people more likely making noise about the case and demanding justice would be women and feminists groups. The true is that the general public cares more about men's feelings than women's feelings. In the real world I have watched how women get burned and demonized for the most stupid things but men who kill and rape, barely get some heat.

3. Also it was a FALSE ACCUSATION, so of course, Rayan was in all his right to be the poor victim here, poor little meow meow was suffering. This is the narrative that a lot of misogynistic men are salivating to happen to them, this is a fucking male fantasy. Some men want to prove so much that women are evil to all cost. On side note: I have to guess and think this was done to clean a bit his image since the hate he was getting during UL was harsh, but I think women who where calling out how uncomfortable this character was, was justified. Because I know and I know a lot of women had seen this happening in their own school, happening to their classmates, living this experience and I don't think all the teachers doing this (trying to get into a relationship with a student) are as good as Rayan.

4. The writer representing Beemoov really sacrificed and burned four women (three of them are POC) FOUR WOMEN for the sake to save one man. You can't tell me this is not a very misogynistic thing to do in a game that is aimed for women.

5. I totally can see why Priya and Miss Paltry act the way they act if you decide to side with Rayan. It makes more sense why they don’t feel that sorry for Rayan after what happened: they were choosing to give priority to a woman over a man. Because is a feminist principle "I rather believe a woman even if she is lying, over a man that could be a potencial abuser"... because statistics says that 75% to 90% of the people perpetrating violence over women are men.

6. I think this is a good post and food for thought to talk about Renata. I understand that the women involved in this plot committed wrongs, but I think is good to question their motives and why they act like this (Aside from the writer doing a shit job).

7. What was really realistic was the amount of hate that Marina, Miss Paltry, Priya and Renata got from the fandom and because it was justified for the false accusation and because we knew from the start that Rayan was innocent because we're are watching everything as spectators, but this characters just faced the normal outcome of someone speaking out. The writer representing Beemoov did a excellent job demonizing four women and the fandom was more than happy to participate in this misogynistic hate-fest.

8. Misandry does not exist, because misandry doesn't have an actual weight or influence in the real world. Misandry is just the normal outcome of women having to endure abuse for many years and realizing later that they are done putting with that. No woman is born hating men and they don't teach us to hate them either but to prioritize their feelings. But Misogyny, that sure is really doing good and well and normal in the real world, even some women love to be misogynistic and think is the most normal thing to do.

9. This is just my own point of view about this whole mess. I have changed my mind over the years because I learned more and this is the way I see this plot now. I'm not looking for debate or people to convince me about changing my mind. I don't really care if people disagree with me either, everyone is entitle to their own opinion. If I missed something I'll probably update the post.

10. If you hate Priya I really don't want anything to do with you, this is not the place for you and you're more than encouraged to seek for some other place that can accommodate your misogyny.

[raggaraddy]

your writing is amazing 🥺

could i ask for a yoongi version of the reader being shot because of them? your other ones are so good!!!

Family affairs

@dramaclub-thin

A/N: Thank you, sweetheart! I'm glad you're enjoying the series. This one has a bit of OT7 and I hope you like it too. 💜💜💜

If anyone else wants to request, you can here.

Other parts:

Namjoon

Jimin

Taehyung

Jungkook

Summary: You'd tried so hard to hide your relationship with Yoongi from your father. You knew when he found you were dating someone from a rival club that he'd kill you. You just didn't think it would be literal.

Trigger warnings: Violence, Filicide, Blood, gun usage.

Yoongi

Mafia! Yoongi

Mafia! BTS

"Yes Daddy," you poke your head through the door to his office with a little knock. Normally you would never bother your father while he was working, but one of your brothers came to your room to let you know he was calling for you.

"Ah, Darling. Yes, have a seat." He stands up from his desk, gesturing to the chair ahead of him. "I need your advice on something."

For a moment you get a flutter in your stomach. He never asks you for anything. Your his pretty princess on a pedestal. And he never involves you in anything that a woman wouldn't have been responsible for in the 1950s.

"Of course," you smile, shifting comfortably.

"I know you're tech-savvy, so maybe you can explain this to me. I had some photos printed, but I think there must be something wrong with the camera. Have a look,"

Reaching into his desk drawer as he speaks he pulls out a stack of A4 photos. As he lays them out your eyes jump straight back up at him. Checking for his reaction, a sharp pang of absolute fear hitting you. They're pictures of you and Yoongi, his arm around you when you were coming out of the Bangtan clubhouse.

"I know the camera has to be faulty, because that" he tapes your image, "looks like you. And I know my one and only daughter wouldn't be socializing with those Bulletproof scum."

"Daddy, I-I," you stutter with no idea what to say.

You thought you were so clever, so careful that there was no way he'd ever find out. Even when Yoongi would worry about you possibly being caught you would shrug it off. Your love was invincible and meant to be, and you were smart. No chance your family would ever know you're with Yoongi, and no way his family would ever know you were from a rival gang. As far as they knew, you were just Y/n Brown, the hairdresser from one district over.

But clearly, you weren't careful or clever enough.

Your stark silence is loud enough for your father and he nods a sombre confirmation. "How long Y/n?" He questions.

"Daddy, I don't-"

"How long?!" He's quick to anger, making you jump.

"A few months," you lie, your eyes dropping to your lap. Telling him it's been closer to 18 months is only going to enrage him further.

Slumping back into his office chair he lets out a heavy sigh.

"You think you raise your kids right. To know loyalty and family." He derides looking at you fiercely. "But then you find out your own daughter will open her legs for any cretin. In complete disregard of everything she should know."

You knew it would be awful if he ever found out, you know he is a terrifying dangerous man, but hearing your father's derogatory comments are harder to take than you ever expected.

"What did you tell them?" He sits forward. His demeanour, his expression going from disappointed father to cold mafioso.

Your mouth going dry, you swallow hard. Shaking your head softly. "Nothing."

"Bullshit!" He yells. "You expect me to believe they just let the daughter of Bastille get all cosy with one of the 7 without you giving up something."

This is so bad. You knew your parents, your brothers, the entire Bastille would disown you for this, but they'll actually kill you if they think you've sold them out.

"No. I didn't tell them anything. None of them knows who I am. Only Yoongi knows. And I didn't tell him shit. You know I wouldn't." You defend yourself trying to reign in your distress.

"Well, there's a lot of things I wouldn't think a daughter of mine could do." His voice is so detached. He's stopped looking at you. This is so so bad.

"Dad. I didn't say anything." You restate, fighting to convince him. Feeling like you're trying to prove the case for your own life. "I know the rules. Don't talk to anyone. Not cops. Not friends or enemies." You repeat the words that had been drilled in your entire childhood. You knew nothing, you saw nothing. Those are the rules.

"I don't believe you." He says bitterly.

Your hands are trembling, you're panting heavily. You know being with a rival club member is a stupid thing, but the clubs are in a truce.  And despite your father's opinion, you would never be so stupid as to actually say anything. And Yoongi would never let you, even if you decided to. You did one thing wrong, but you made sure you did everything else right.

Leaning back, he opens his phone book. Searching for a number.

"Dad," You plead for his attention. Raising the phone to his ear he shushes you, placing a finger over his mouth.

You have no idea what to do. You've seen him decimate people for so much less than what he's accusing you of. You don't know how to prove your innocence.

The call answers and you can hear a distant 'hello'.  Putting the phone on speaker he puts the receiver down.

"Warren L/n here. I believe I have something of yours," he says.

"What are you talking about?" You inhale a staggered breath, hearing the familiar gruff voice of Kim Namjoon.

Your dad's plan was simple. If you were telling the truth about Bangtan not knowing who you were, their leader would be confused and concerned that you were with the leader of Bastille. But if they knew who you were, this would be a much more straightforward issue. Namjoon would understand right away why he was calling.

And if you were lying about one thing, he could assume you were lying about more.

"Say hello Y/n." Your dad prompts, his look daring you to refuse.

"Hi," You squeak, nervously chewing the inside of your cheek. Your own safety aside, Namjoon was going to kill Yoongi.

There's a brief pause. The background noise on Namjoon's side disappearing. "Kidnapping women? I didn't realise you were handling that personally now."

"Who said kidnap?" he leads the conversation.

"Then maybe you want to explain what one of our girls is doing with you?" Namjoon growls, sounding protective.

That was enough confirmation for your father. The leader didn't know what was going on. But he was about to.

On Namjoons side of the line, he was pacing back and forth in a closed meeting room at the entrance of the clubhouse. Your father was revealing the secret that you and Yoongi had fought so hard to keep.

The phone call ending, Namjoon was in a rage. Marching across the bar he stormed at the table with other members around it. His maddened expression drawing Yoongi's attention. But the older member didn't have any reason to think this fury was directed at him and so he doesn't react quick enough as Namjoon punches him in the face, knocking him from his chair.

The other boys instantly becoming alert, Jungkook jumps to Namjoons side holding his arm out in front of him, looking ready to intervene. Jimin standing between the floored Yoongi and the enraged leader.

"Hyung, what the hell ar-" Jimin snaps.

"You fucking idiot! Bastille's daughter?!" he roars trying to push through Jimin. Jungkook stepping in to help keep him at bay.

Climbing back to his feet, nursing a split lip, Yoongi's eyes go wide. Completely caught off guard by Namjoon's revelation. "How did you-" he gapes.

"Everything she's seen, everything she knows! Do you have any idea how much you've exposed this club?" He lunges again, bowling the mediating members out of the way. Diving through Yoongi, the two men trade blows as they scuffle on the floor.

The scene quickly gets out of hand, and as Yoongi throws Namjoon through a table, Jin and Hoseok come from a backroom to step in also. The four of them now working to pry the two battling men apart. Jimin and Hoseok holding back Yoongi. The oldest and youngest members trying to keep Namjoon at bay.

"Enough!" Jin scolds with a firm shove to Namjoon's chest. "Someone explain what the hell is going on!"

"Just Suga thinking with his dick, instead of his brain." Namjoon spits.

Shirking off the boys, Yoongi barges forward infuriated by the provocative comment. War breaking out again with a solid hit at Namjoon, a gash opening over his eye. Another difficult struggle beginning for the members, grappling and clawing them apart. Having to fully restrain them to have them stop. Being held as they bleed.

Grabbing both of them by the collar, Jin demands their focus. "The next man who throws a punch leaves here with a bullet in his leg!" He growls. "Am I clear?!" His fist tightens, stiffening their necklines.

"Yes,"

"Yes, Hyung."

The two of them conceded, their energy dropping as their eldest releases them. "Good. Now sit down so we can talk this shit out."

It takes several minutes and a round of drinks, but the room calms down enough for the members to sit down. They send the few 2nd levels out and the 95's girlfriends. The bar remaining with only the 7 original members. Taehyung coming back just as the disclosure began.

Namjoon starts, passing along the information your father had given him. The 6 of them all sharing disappointed, worried or angry glances towards Yoongi.

"She wouldn't have said anything." Yoongi insists, after explaining his side also. Trying to defend his decision. To defend you.

"You can't know that," Jimin argues, flumping back in his seat. Taking a sip with a pissed-off scowl on his face.

"Yeah, we've all been pussy blinded before. You're not thinking clearly." Jungkook snips.

"Maknae-" Yoongi warns. Getting tired of the disrespect that keeps getting thrown his way.

"Hey, watch it." Jin interrupts, correcting Jungkook's blunt attitude. The youngest shrugging, downing the last of his drink.

"Look, if she was giving information to L/n, then why would he call to tell you that he knows." Yoongi disputes. Hoping to bring reason back into the debate.

"He wants to trade. The latest shipment of horse for Y/n." Namjoon answers with a frustrated scoff and a roll of his eyes.

"That's close to 500 K. That's not happening," Hoseok jumps in. The rest of them firmly nodding in agreement.

"Okay, but if that's the case. If he's trying to sell her off, that means she's not working with him. Right?" Taehyung backs Yoongi's point.

"Idiot," Jimin shoves his friend, "It could be a part of the plan. A way to rip us off for half a million."

"Or it could be a set-up," Namjoon adds. "Let's say Hyung's right, and she isn't working with her old man. If we're willing to sit down, if we try to buy her back, it confirms that she knows enough that we're concerned about it."

"I'm telling you, she doesn't know anything. She didn't want to know anything. And even if she did, she's not gonna give it up." Again Yoongi vehemently defends you.

"Well if she doesn't give him anything then L/n kills her." Namjoon finalizes. "To hurt the club, and as retribution for her betrayal."

"What I don't understand is why you would let her go back? If you trust her and you know how ruthless Bastille is, why would you let her keep going back to him?" Jin asks, genuinely baffled.

Standing up Yoongi can't take anymore. He's furious. He's upset. At himself most of all. Feeling to blame for allowing you to be in this situation, he leaves in anger. Needing some time to himself to think.

"I don't know, she seemed pretty cool," Taehyung mutters, leaning into Namjoon. "You don't really think he would kill his own daughter, right?"

It's been 2 days and you've been locked in an empty storage shed at the edge of the property like a captive. Your father turned your world upside down looking for information. His people went through your computer, your phone, your car, your room. Everything that was yours he and his men had raided. And just like you said, there was nothing there. No information about Bastille, and nothing about Bangtan.

"Suga. I'm guessing that's Min Yoongi? Unless you're cheating on him." Your dad muses holding up your phone. That is so humiliating. So many nudes and dirty texts are in that chat. There may not be revealing information, but there was still plenty of personal stuff.

"You know Darling, I don't like to admit when I am wrong, but it looks like you were telling the truth. I can't find any proof that you gave up any family details." He smiles softly, your heart lifting with relief for a moment. "But then I was looking through your camera roll and, in the pictures where you actually have clothes on, it's just full of Bangtan." He comes further into the empty shed, leaning on the wall alongside you. Showing you the screen as he scrolls through. The only entrance being blocked by one of his more grizzly looking men. "See here, there's you and a bunch of them at a restaurant. There's you and the leader. You and the crazy one. Here's a family-style photo, isn't that nice."

He keeps scrolling through shot after shot, exhibiting an entire album full of Bangtan family pictures.

"I'm sure you never expected anyone else to see these. I guess I should have been teaching you not to put the same password for multiple devices." He scoffs. "But the interesting thing, when I'm going through these photos you seem to be really close with all of them. Some of these even go back to last year. Which makes the timeline you gave me a little off."

He shows the details of one of the pictures to you, the time stamp from when you had already been with Yoongi for 6 months.

"This one is from May 2nd. Last year. On the 10th those bastards stole one of my shipping containers. With nearly 100 grand worth of merchandise. Did you know about that?"

"You mean people." You sneer, his characterization of human trafficking as 'merchandise' making your skin crawl.

"So you did know." He smiles coldly.

"I found out- I knew after," you justify. Even as you continue to defend yourself, you have a sick feeling that it's all for nothing.

"I'm really curious what else you know." He hums, walking around the front of you to get back into your eye line.

"I don't know anything," you tell him for the 1000th time with an exasperated shake of your head. Moving away to the far side of the shed.

"Darling, I'm your father and I'm telling you we need to reconcile this. Your mother is worried sick. I'm here losing sleep over this. I'm giving you a chance to repay all the damage you've done. A chance to forget all this. You tell me everything you know about Bangtan, and just like that," he snaps his fingers, "you get to return to your comfortable life."

You don't trust his change in tone or his promises for a minute. You may not have known the darkest parts of who he is, but that's how you can be sure that his offer to forgive and forget is rubbish. Not even the father in him would let you forget a mistake. Especially one this major, not with the way he is reacting. And he's so much more brutal when it comes to Bastille.

"And if I don't?"

"Then you've betrayed your family. And we'll find out what we want to know in other ways." he taps the back of his hand in the other, symbolizing a beat down.

You shake your head hard. You might love your dad. But you don't like him. You've known for most of your life that he was a bad guy. And Yoongi, Bangtan, they might not be the good guys, but they've been the family you've always wanted. There is no way you were telling him even the most insignificant detail.

"Hit me all you want dad, I still don't know anything." You snarl.

"I could never hit my own daughter." He taps his heart, a feigned pained expression on his face. Nodding his head in your direction, he trades places with his man who advances on you.

Breathing hard you step back only to hit the wall.

The tall, square-built man swings. The back of his hand slapping your cheek, the force so strong that it smacks you into the corner sidewall. His hand, like a vice, grabs ahold of your head and mightily slams it into the steel beam running down the sheet metal wall. Pushing your hands against his chest, you weakly attempt to fend him off, but he ends your efforts with another solid wack against the frame.

As blood streams down your head, his focus switches. The majority of his attacks landing on your torso.

With you curled up on the floor, wheezing and gasping for breath, the assault finally stops. But not out of mercy. Even through the ringing in your ears, you can hear the outburst of gunfire in the distance.

Both your dad and his man rush out, leaving you locked away. While it's for an equally terrifying reason, you're thankful to have this time to catch your breath. Although every laborious intake brings agony.

After some time, light floods back into the room, your father standing in the doorway outlined by the setting sun. "I'm sorry Darling. If I had to do this, I hoped it would be a bit more ceremonious. But we don't have the time for that now."

You gasp at him raising his gun at you. He shoots three times. One in your chest, one in your shoulder and one in your stomach.

The shock, the impact takes the breath from you. And you can't draw it back in. Your eyes glassing over, your head filled with nothing but white noise. Feeling a fleeting moment of relief as everything goes quiet and dark.

"Fuck. No!" Yoongi howls. He, Jin and two 2nd ranks had chased after your father as he fled.

Bangtan's siege on his property was highly successful till that point, and he had run downhill to the storage garage. Looking to make a getaway.

The other's continue after him as Yoongi stumbles into you. His steely outer shell crumbling away the moment he sees your body limp and bleeding out.

Falling beside you he leans over shaking and in tears. Kissing your lips gently with heartfelt pleas "I'm sorry Y/n. I'm so sorry. Please don't do this. Please."

Jin doubles back, watching distraught from the entrance as his brother falls apart.

Lifting your head up, Yoongi brings your forehead to his. The movement making you splutter blood. The first sign of life that either of the men had seen.

"Holy fuck, she's alive." Jin gawks, jumping in beside Yoongi pressing on the hole in your stomach. The bullet in your shoulder and chest had both hit bone, stopping the slug from going through, blocking the wounds from severe blood loss. The bullet in your torso shot through your bowls and thankfully not through your vital organs. Meaning your chances of survival were much higher. It was either 3 highly unlucky shots or three precisely placed ones.

"I'm so sorry Y/n." Yoongi's in shock. Devastated and guilt-ridden, and unable to make himself function.

"Dude, get your shit together or she's not gonna make it." Jin smacks the side of his brothers head, snapping him out of his grief-stricken daze.

"Can you save her?" He asks rubbing the tears from his eyes.

"Not a chance. But I can keep her alive for a minute until we get to the clubhouse. Call the doc, tell him to meet us there." Jin orders, having much more clarity at this moment. "And get the boys to bring the car around. We're going to need a few of us to move her."

Yoongi follows Jin's lead, wiping the blood from his hands onto his pants to dial.

"Think of it this way," Jin smiles shortly, trying to soothe Yoongi's fear and panic with an ill-timed joke. "If she survives, at least she'll have proved she's Bangtan."

[mostly-mundane-atla]

Got it. What about Inuit, Yup’ik and Inupiaq stereotypes? Are there a lot of harmful ones to avoid? I do know you shouldn’t make eating meat their entire personality, but what else?

Okay, this is going to get dark, so if you need to blacklist any content warnings (mine are tagged as "[insert content here] mention", do that before reading and if you need me to tag anything specific, please tell me and avoid this post until I get to it.

And again: Disclaimer that simply having an eskimo coded character fall into these stereotypes is not inherently racist or wrong. Keep this in mind as writers of color, and thereby Native writers, often get a lot of shit for writing our experiences as we feel them. Not to mention, yelling at someone trying to do justice to a dark topic, even if they don't succeed, is a shitty thing to do. Some of these have subtextual backing in canon. Remember that although we are looked down on for crimes, wrongs, or unpleasantness we're assumed to have commited, it's the members of our community who suffer most for it. There is value in understanding the pain that comes from the community that's supposed to protect you, and I don't believe the writers of the series had any malicious intentions toward us for writing characters that fall into any of these stereotypes. Recognize the nuance or get off my blog and find someone else to back up your discourse.

I'm going to use the term Native in this context. Natives come from many different cultures and cannot be assumed to be the same, but many of these stereotypes are used against more than just Inuit, Inupiat, and Yup'ik peoples. This is why I find it to be the most appropriate term in this context. I will add my understanding of where these stereotypes came from and why they're harmful, but I am only one person and a full understanding of the topic requires more than one point of view.

"Natives are drunks." The United States used alcohol on Natives the same way Britain used opium on China. They introduced it to us and blamed addiction on our own "weakness of character." This assumption of alcoholism carries with it assumptions of untrustworthiness. For a real life example: I was on a grand jury (a jury that decides whether a case is worth taking to court) years ago and one case was an older Native man accusing his brother of physically assaulting him. For some reason, a nearly all-white jury was deemed to be a jury of this man's peers, and two or three white men violently insisted that it shouldn't be brought to court because it happened at a party and therefore it was just some alcoholics from the village wasting a judge's time. Eventually, after some discussion about how no alcohol was mentioned, it was decided the case should be presented to a judge. I would also like to point out that the Native man in question was entirely sober, well put-together, spoke more cohesively than other cases that day, and had a bad limp.

"Natives are child abusers/molesters." This one actually links to the first stereotype mentioned, and a lot of what I've said on this blog about how abuse perpetuates. There was a lot of physical, mental, and, yes, sexual abuse in the US run schools, especially the Christian ones and boarding schools. (I've heard people mentioning that the priests would more often target the boys because they couldn't get pregnant.) When one gets regularly exposed to this sort of thing, they come to accept it as normal. This normalizing of abuse is bad enough for the one person, but it also affects the way they interact with others when put in similar situations as the abuser. They're hurt and traumatized and weren't effectively told that it was wrong and they shouldn't have been put through that, so they perpetuate it on people as vulnerable as they were when it happened. Movements have started in hopes of bringing awareness and getting help for these people before they can carry out the cycle further. Abuse between adults is also a tricky issue because the ways people are taught to give or not give consent are counterintuitive to cultural norms around verbal and nonverbal communication. See: the "they didn't say no" argument.

"The Stoic Native." There are a number of reasons one culture might emote less than another, especially around people they don't know. This doesn't mean that we don't feel or are too strong or brave to feel. Our emotions are our business and we don't owe anyone an explanation.

"Natives are part of the land." For some reason, a lot of non-Natives have trouble grasping that Indigenous Peoples are human beings in our own right. A lot of media portrays us not as people in the same sense that the outsiders are, but as extensions of the land or the spirits of the land. It's true that generations upon generations of living somewhere means the land will change to reflect the people, but that is due to the influence of people living there and how their culture says to interact with it. This trope reduces us to symbols of "a simpler time" or just as often white people's ideas of nature conservation. It's dehumanizing and infantalizing, ignoring our cultures and civilizations, treating us as either innocent martyrs for someone else's cause, or pests that are done away with once the land is developed.

"The Native Princess." Sometimes the only way non-Natives can see us as people is by pushing cultural norms and forms of government they're more familiar with onto us. Naturally, this means assuming that our civilizations were as successful as they were because they were like the non-Native author's. This is especially gratuitous in the case of Inuit, Inupiat, and Yup'ik peoples because we don't have anything resembling a monarchy. Yeah, this one is explicitly in the text so I can't expect much to be done with it

"Native women are always available to men." I don't know what it is about cultures that consider themselves more "advanced" seeing ones they consider "primative" where women have more autonomy in the relationships they have with men and fewer restritions on their bodies. I don't know how they misinterpret "she can do that here" as "she's there for the taking" but it's so gross and I would like it to stop. Sexuality being more open and not inherently sinful doesn't mean the women don't have standards or won't turn anyone down.

"Natives are broke and/or homeless." This is just the typical racism mixing with classism to make something even uglier situatation. The result is a lot of treatment you see non-Native POC get, such as being followed at the store because they expect you to steal something.

There are more, I'm sure, but these are the ones I get the most. Note that again, it's not inherently bad to write a Native or Native-coded character who drinks or has a lot of partners or is particularly connected to their homeland or poor, but take care to handle it with some sensitivity. Understand that there are implications to these things and real harm can be done by legitimizing racist stereotypes.

[lillywillow]

Sinners ‘n Saints

Summary: When private detective Steve Rogers is hired to investigate the wife of a client who claims she is having an affair, he discovers some things are not quite adding up.

 Word Count: 2208

 Square Filled: 1940’s AU

 Pairings: Helmut Zemo x Female Reader/ Steve x Female Reader (later)

 Warnings: Infidelity, smoking, drinking, mild language, 40’s slang

Written for @star-spangled-bingo

New York City. The Big Apple. The city where dreams were made. For all her glitz and glamour, Lady New York held some dark secrets. Steve Rogers knew this well from his years of working as a private investigator, covering everything from missing persons to ransom cases.

 One quite afternoon, Steve was pounding away at the keys of his typewriter, taking some time to document some of his toughest cases when a man entered his office. The gentleman’s hair was nicely combed; he was well dressed in a finely tailored suit, expensive Italian shoes and obnoxiously overpowering cologne. He walked over to Steve’s desk and sat in the vacant chair. He lit a cigarette and took a drag before addressing the detective.

 “You are Detective Steve Rogers of ‘Rogers Private Eye Agency’, yes?” He spoke with an accent that Steve couldn’t quite place.

 “I am. How can I help you?” he asked, pouring the man a glass of bourbon from the decanter on his desk. He thanked him and took a sip before introducing himself.

 “My name is Helmut Zemo. I suspect my wife is having an affair...”

 “I see... and what brought on this suspicion?” Steve always hated this part of the job. When spouses came to him with accusations of being unfaithful.

 “It is just a hunch... for now. I would like you to find evidence soon.” Helmut placed an envelope full of cash on Steve’s desk. “Here is half of what I am willing to pay. You will receive the other half when you complete the job.”

 Steve took the envelope and was shocked to see how much was in there. Helmut finished the drink, cringing as the amber liquid burned his throat and stood up.

 “You may start this Friday. My wife will be singing at my club The Baron.” With that, he left.

 The name suddenly clicked in Steve’s head. Helmut Zemo was a wealthy socialite who owned many nightclubs and made it into the gossip rags. There was something that didn’t sit right with Steve about the man; however, he would take jobs where he could.

That Friday, Steve went to The Baron for his night of surveillance. He took a table somewhere in the middle; close enough to see the action for himself but far enough back not to be noticeable. Steve looked around the joint, taking notice of his surroundings.

 The place was classy. The furniture was polished with the highest sheen and drinks were served in the finest crystal. The large stage in front was obscured by a velvet red curtain which would no doubt be drawn when the entertainment would begin. As he scanned, he noticed a lot of high powered men who were rumoured to be part of a crime syndicate. Steve’s attention was broken when the announcer spoke.

 “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage our very own nightingale Ms Y/N!”

 As the curtain went up, the band began to play. Lying on top of the piano was the most stunning women Steve had ever seen. Her hair was done up in curls, pinned back with a diamond hairclip. Her lips were painted sinfully red and the second she opened her mouth, her honeyed, velvet voice poured out. Her black dress sparkled under the spotlight. As she sat up and crossed her legs, the split in her dress moved up, showing off her supple thigh. Men called and whistled at the sight.

 Y/N gracefully jumped off the piano, her dress smoothing down her sides, the bottom pooling at her feet. He could now see the way how nicely it framed her curves; curves that would put Mae West to shame. Y/N made her way into the audience, her hips swaying seductively as she walked. She would place her gloved hand on the shoulder of one of the patrons, fingers running over the length of it before moving onto the next person. As she moved a little closer, Steve could see more of her diamond and pearl jewellery and smell her expensive perfume. A dame like this would certainly have no trouble attracting any man she wanted. When the song ended, she made her way back to the stage and finished up. The crowd burst into raucous applause and gave a standing ovation.

 After the show, Y/N made her way over to the bar. Steve followed, placing himself far enough away not to be noticed. She ordered a drink and while waiting, a gentleman approached her.

 “Hey, doll. Can I buy you a drink?” he smirked.

 “No, sir,” she cooed, giving him a playful tap on the nose before taking her ready drink and heading backstage. The man was about to try further to coax her when his friend grabbed him.

 “Are you crazy?! That’s Zemo’s missus. You want to be found on the bottom of the Hudson with cement shoes?!” The man’s eyes widened and headed off.

 Steve pretended he didn’t hear the conversation and ordered a whisky neat.

 “What’s the deal with the singer?” he casually asked the bartender.

 “Oh, I wouldn’t waste your time with her. She’s only got eyes for her husband. A husband I might add with a mean jealous streak in him,” he said, pouring the drink and giving it to Steve.

 This information made him think. If this information was true, why would Zemo contact him to find evidence of infidelity? Was Y/N the type of woman who liked to play dangerous games? From what he saw on stage, he wouldn’t put it past her. However if this were the case, why would she turn down the gentleman’s offer? Perhaps some things would be clearer in the light of day.

...

 Throughout the week, Steve followed Y/N wherever she went at a distance. She filled her days with perfectly mundane tasks such as shopping, cleaning the house or the occasional trip to the salon. Every interaction she had with men was normal and innocent enough, all conversations at appropriate length. There were no signs of the captivating temptress Steve had observed at the club that night.

 Her evenings were just as ordinary. The most exciting thing to happen was when she hosted a card game with her lady friends. Y/N spent most of her nights alone and when her husband did finally come home, she was greeted by a cold kiss on the cheek. Steve found this rather odd.

 One night, Y/N was sitting at the table with dinner freshly made, patiently waiting for Helmut to come home. The phone rang and she happily ran to answer it. Her expression went from smiling to looking sad as she spoke to the person on the other end. When she hung up the phone, she returned to the table and held her face in her hands crying. Steve assumed that was her husband telling her he would not be home for dinner.

...

  The following Friday, Steve went to the club once more and watched Y/N’s performance with fresh eyes. Yes, she was just as enticing but she was also professional. Steve suspected that this was the act of a strong woman who was trying to keep her marriage from falling apart while doing her job as the sultry nightclub singer. After the show, he noticed someone heading backstage with a large bouquet of flowers, presumably for Y/N. He quickly intercepted them and went to deliver them himself. Steve knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter before going in. Y/N was dressed in a silky robe and taking her hair out of its style. There was a red haired woman helping her that Steve saw around the club.

 “Delivery for ma’am,” he said, holding out the flowers to her.

 “Oh, thank you,” she smiled, taking them from him. “They’re beautiful.”

 “Probably more guilt flowers,” Nat said bitterly.

 “Nat, please...”

 “Oh, wake up and smell the coffee, Y/N! Helmut is cheating on you!”

 “Enough! He gives me flowers because he loves me! I’m one of the luckiest gals in the whole city! My husband showers me with jewellery and imported perfumes and-and expensive clothing because he loves me! Helmut loves me Natasha...” her voice became reverent and Steve wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince her friend or herself. How could he be so wrong about her? This was not a woman having an affair. This was a woman who was trying so desperately to believe that her husband was still faithful to her.

 “Are you still here? Get out!” Nat barked at Steve, going to hug Y/N. He took this as his cue to leave. Maybe he should take a closer look at his employer.

...

 Sure enough, as soon as Steve began to follow Helmut around, the evidence was as plain as the nose on your face. He saw the man with multiple women who were not his wife. He took pictures of them kissing and/or locked in a passionate embrace. Steve felt bad for Y/N and decided to go to her with the photographs.

...

 Steve arrived on the Zemo’s doorstep, taking care to come over at a time he knew Helmut would not be home. Y/N was understandably surprised to see him but invited him in nonetheless.

 “Mrs Zemo, my name is Steve Rogers and I’m a private detective. I... I’m afraid I have some bad news about your husband,” he said, handing her the envelope with the pictures. As Y/N looked through them so many emotions flashed across her face.

 “Did Nat put you up to this?”

 “No... Your husband did.”

 “Wh-what?”

 “He hired me to investigate the infidelity on your end but...”

 “That bastard! First he disrespects the confines of our marriage bed and then he hurts me further by treating me like a common whore?!” Y/N threw a nearby vase against a wall in anger. Tears started flowing down her face

 “Why would he do such a thing?”

 “The fidelity clause... I come from a rich family and owning so many businesses, Helmut was rich too. Our lawyers though it was a good idea to protect our respective assets. If one of us was proven to be unfaithful, they would be able to take the other for everything.” Y/N dropped to her knees.

 “I knew for a long for a long time I just... I thought if I told myself it wasn’t true, wished it hard enough that it wouldn’t come to light...” Steve carefully hugged her. She allowed him to, leaning into his warm touch. “He never used to be like this. I know he loved me once but I don’t know what happened.” Steve gave it some thought.

 “I... I know someone in the paper. If you will allow me, I could give the story to him. He’d approach it tastefully...” Y/N was quiet for a few moments.

 “Do it. I want him to feel as humiliated as I do. I want his name dragged through the mud as he has done with our wedding vows...” Y/N softly removed herself from Steve’s embrace and stood up, wiping her eyes and sniffling.

 “I apologise for making a scene...”

 “It’s alright. I’m sorry for dropping this information on you. My job is to fund the truth not fabricate stories.” Y/N offered him a small smile.

 “Thank you. Steve was it?”

 “Yes, ma’am.”

 “You’ve got a kind heart. I appreciate what you’ve done for me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a few arrangements to take care of.” Steve nodded and headed off, hoping that he would see her again one day.

...

 It was the biggest scandals of the year. In the months that followed, it was discovered that not only Helmut was cheating on Y/N but he was also involved in illegal activities; often involving crime syndicates. That was how he earned his fortune. As far as Steve knew, Y/N got everything in the divorce.

 One afternoon, Steve had a surprise visitor.

 “Detective Rogers?” Steve looked up to see Y/N knocking on his door, already having entered the room.

 “Y/N? What are you doing here?” As she crossed the room, he could see how much more confident she looked, like the woman she portrayed herself to be on stage.

 “Helmut owed you a debt and I intend to pay it,” she said, placing the envelope full of money on his desk.

 “I... I can’t accept this...”

 “Please. He hired you to find proof of unfaithfulness and as far as I’m concerned, you found it. You have done your job, sir.” Steve looked at the pay-packet on his desk.

 “I know this is a little forward but... may I take you out to dinner?”

 “I would like that very much. Pick me up at seven,” Y/N warmly smiled.

 Steve couldn’t wait until then. After all that she had been through, a lady like Y/N deserved to be out with a true gentleman.

[kiranxrys]

hmm... ds9 characters by which kate bush song i think they are:

julian - the man with the child in his eyes

kira - hounds of love

jadzia - jig of life

ezri - cloudbusting

garak - waking the witch

sisko - hello earth

miles - this woman’s work

worf - army dreamers

nog - running up that hill

jake - breathing

odo - suspended in gaffa

quark - wuthering heights

and actually you know what not that anyone cares but over 1000 words of ridiculous over-analyzing explanations under the cut bc i feel like it

julian - the man with the child in his eyes

bush wrote the song about a man in whom a younger protagonist notices a youthful quality, a sort of childlike awe for the world. this really speaks to me about julian’s character, who seems to repress this side of himself throughout the show in order to earn the respect of others. to me he really is “the man with the child in his eyes”. it’s also a very sweet and loving song that reflects the way i feel about his character. 

kira - hounds of love

hounds of love definitely has a more romantic leaning, filled with a girl’s story from uncertainty about love to embracing it joyfully. analyzing this from kira’s perspective, though, to me this might be more of a story about her uncertainty with vulnerability, “what was following [her]” that she was “hiding from” being her trauma and her past. the song is upbeat and gives the sense of entering a new, exciting world filled with possibility. that’s kira’s path of recovery starting from the beginning of the story to me. particularly bush’s final cries of “i need love” ring true for me for kira. she is entirely mature and strong and experienced at the start of ds9. her journey is about learning to let go.

jadzia - jig of life

jadzia’s bush song being jig of life is a bit ironic, in a sense, as jig of life is about survival. jig of life is about fighting to let your future self live even when the present seems hopeless. maybe that’s what makes it so powerful to me as a song for jadzia. the song describes the future life and children she never got to have (or maybe did, depending on your AU ideas). the desperate cry of jig of life’s protagonist’s future self “never, never, never, never, never let me go! [...] let me live!”, as well as the song’s exploration of time and different versions of oneself really speaks to me for jadzia’s character. 

ezri - cloudbusting

what initially drew me to this song in ezri’s regard was its strange optimism given the subject matter. without getting into the historical specifics, bush wrote the song from the perspective of the son of a psychoanalyst, exploring the memories of his eccentric and troubled father. looking more closely, i would say the concept of having someone else “here in my head” connects to her struggles with becoming joined to the dax symbiot. i like the idea how “everytime it rains” (every time things get dark) that voice is there for her “like the sun coming out”. the declaration “i just know that something good is going to happen” rings true for me for ezri. 

garak - waking the witch

waking the witch is one of bush’s weirder songs, it’s very disjointed and confused in a striking kind of way, a stage in bush’s story of a girl drowning and lost at sea. the protagonist in waking the witch is this girl who, in a strange hallucination, finds herself on trial for witchcraft. the song deals with guilt and innocence as a threatening, demonic voice presses the protagonist for a confession. several key emotions connect this song with garak for me - guilt, paranoia, fear, hopelessness as she finds “a stone around [her] leg” that drags her down. “i question your innocence”, the voice tells her. “guilty, guilty, guilty!” declare the court. “well, are you responsible for your actions?” the voice asks. meanwhile the protagonist pleads (“bless me father for i have sinned” - perhaps a connection to tain, “help me, help me baby, talk to me, talk to me, please talk to me” - this terrified desperation reminds me of garak in his darkest moments). waking the witch to me represents garak’s inner turmoil and sense of guilt.

sisko - hello earth

oof, hello earth. this song is a true masterpiece. like waking the witch and jig of life, it’s a part of the story of the drowning girl. hello earth is towards the end of the story, as she struggles to survive. the awe for the world and the sense of detachment between the protagonist and her physical universe in the song reminds me of sisko’s connection to the prophets. he “[watches] storms start to form over” his country (in this case, ds9, bajor, the alpha quadrant) but “can’t do anything, just watch them swing with the wind out to sea”. when voices demand of the protagonist to “get out of the waves, get out of the water”, to me that is benjamin’s loved ones pleading with him  to return from the figurative world of the prophets. “murderer! murderer of calm!” voices accuse. i interpret this as sisko’s guilt over the regrettable things he has had do over the years, such as the events of in the pale moonlight. the song ends with a phrase, spoken by bush in german - “deeper, deeper, somewhere in the depth there is light”. sisko has this determined optimism, this conviction in what he stands for and what he can achieve. 

miles - this woman’s work

this woman’s work is a song in which a husband fears for his wife as she gives birth to their baby, looking back on their time together and finding regret. you can see the connection here. but while the idea of “i know you have a little life in you yet, i know you have a lot of strength left” can be read as being directed at keiko, i think it can also apply to miles himself. it may be a bit of a joke, but christ, miles has gone through the most - ‘hard time’, especially, comes to mind. even before the dominion war, he’s been through horrific conflict, but he still holds on and keeps fighting with his determined attitude. he’s a repressed person. “[he] should be crying but [he] just can’t let it show”. he’s still clinging to life, even after all this time. 

worf - army dreamers

army dreamers is a war song. it’s also a war song about a younger soldier, told from the perspective of his mother, who has died. she imagines what her son could’ve been, wondering what she could’ve done to save him from this fate. on one hand, this does connect for me to worf’s continuous ‘loss’ (of both people and things) throughout his time in both tng and ds9. but i think in a way worf also is, or is afraid of being, the young soldier in the story. army dreamers connects to klingon warriorship and the horrific loss of war - “oh, what a waste of all them army dreamers”. of any kate bush song, this was the one in which i felt him the most. 

nog - running up that hill

god, running up that hill. truly peak kate bush. there’s a lot here that i connect to nog. first of all, running up that hill is a song that carries so much weight, seems to touch upon themes of great burdens and struggles, something nog certainly experiences. but bush’s intended meaning with the song was a reflection upon how people from different groups (here men and women) struggle to understand each other, and if only they could “get [god] to swap [their] places”. this speaks to me of nog’s experience as a ferengi, the first ferengi in starfleet. if only those around him could understand him better - this goes both for being ferengi and for being traumatized - he would be running up that hill “with no problems”. 

jake - breathing

breathing is one of my favourite bush songs of all time. it’s a true masterpiece. here she takes on the persona of a baby in its mother’s womb, aware of a world outside that has descended into nuclear destruction and the horrors former generations have inflicted upon the earth. jake is the face of the next generation in ds9, growing from child to adult, but if the dominion war goes wrong, what world will he be left with by those who came before? at the end of breathing, bush’s protagonist, joined by other voices, desperately pleads with those above -  “oh, god, please leave us something to breathe!”. i connect this song to jake’s place as this next generation, as well as (unlike nog) an outsider in the war. 

odo - suspended in gaffa

i deliberated for a long time about which kate bush song could fit odo’s story. i chose suspended in gaffa because it explores a concept of experiencing something wondrous (in this case, witnessing god) and then not being able to experience it again, trapped by one’s unworthiness. the song’s protagonist is desperate to be rewarded - “can i have it all now?” i connect this with odo’s intrinsic desire and struggle to experience the great link, to be with his people, as well as other aspects like to be accepted by others and at peace with himself. 

quark - wuthering heights

yeah.

[putflowersinmyhair-callmepretty]

The fate of a nun (Finan x OFC); part 2

GENERAL A/N: Hi there!

This story is my first attempt to write a fanfiction. English is not my first language, so feel free to let me know how to improve my writing/language skills 😊 I will try and post a chapter per week, let’s see how it goes! The story takes place in season 3 and you will notice that I have used some of the sequences and dialogues from the tv series, changing them to include my OC. I did try not to be too colloquial and informal with my writing -giving the time of the story- but I preferred to make it more enjoyable than realistic, same goes for Finan’s accent. I’m nervous and excited to share my work, hope you enjoy! Bacini, Cate. 

A/N: Hi sweeties! I have received so much love already, this is really the best fandom ever! I hope you enjoy this character, you’ll be familiar with many parts and hopefully amused by Aoife’s twist on them, I do love her dearly. Also, I have decided to shorten the chapters cause they where way to long! Bacetti, Cate!

Summary: The life of the young novice Aoife completely changes when the Lady of Mercia arrives to the Abbey of Wincelcumb.  Oaths, battles and love will turn her in a warrior.

General warnings: Violence, Blood, Strong Language, Smut, Fluff, Graphic description of violence

Chapter’s warning: Not really, blood maybe?

Words: 2213

Chapter One.

Chapter Two: Ale and Princes

There was no sign of nuns through the corridors while she run down the stairs, weapons tinkling under the new dress and cloak Aethelflaed had gifted her.She had washed herself from the dirt and the blood of the battle and was now looking like a lady. A tired, sad lady. Aethelflaed was waiting outside with the warriors, all of them already on the back of their mounts; in her left hand, the Lady was holding the bridles of Aoife’s horse. “You are a strange nun” Uthred stated “why do you have weapons and a horse?” “They were gifted to me years ago.” Aoife simply answered, jumping easily on her mount and patting her on the neck. “They are expensive gift.” the other Dane noticed, and she turned to shoot him a weak smile. “Someone really cared for me.”

Aylesbury, Mercia

They arrived at Aylesbury when the sun was setting, and Aoife thanked God when the route opened in front of them and, among the white of the snow, appeared the stone walls of Aylesbury. They rode among the tents of the soldiers and, at the doors, they were welcomed by a line of guards, shields and spears pointed in their direction. Behind them stood the tallest and scariest man Aoife had ever seen, who pulled out his sword when they came closer. Next to him, Aoife saw a somehow attractive man, with dirty blonde hair and an unripe face; she guided her horse closer to Finan’s, feeling unsafe under his gaze. “That’s Aethelred. Lady Aethelflaed’s husband” Finan told her, noticing who her eyes were following. It was all clear now, Aethelflaed have told her stories about the weasel that her husband was. He was the one threatening her friend and Lady’s life. Once again Finan had to stop her from throwing her dagger at someone. “You need to stop being so impetuous.” He snorted with a half-smile “You will put us all in great danger sooner than later.” She grinned “He would not be missed.” “He is a Lord.” Finan insisted “Stay nice and quiet, would you?” They watched in silence Uthred and Aethelflaed discussing with that mountain of a man and Aethelred, probably explaining the situation. Aoife couldn’t really hear what they were saying, but she didn’t care. She had never seen the snow outside of the property of the Abbey and it was nice how soft it looked over the walls of the fortress. She didn’t notice Finan watching her, smiling at her amazement; and he didn’t notice Sithric and Osferth staring at him, amused. Finan was known and, made fun of, for quickly fall in love with women and that pretty warrior nun was no exception, but Osferth was worried for the young lady’s feelings; Finan was also one to love you during the course of one night and forget about you the morning after. However, Aoife was innocent but no fool, and the monk was sure enough that she would reject his attempts. Or at least he hoped so.

It was decided that the outlaw Uthred and his companions could pass, but they had to leave their weapons outside. Finan tried to protest, but his words were ignored by the Lord, while his guard repeated the order slower, as to mock Finan’s intelligence. Guards were sent to collect their weapons and Aoife didn’t like the way her guard was watching her as a prey. “You done?” she asked harshly when his eyes fell on the modest neckline of her dress. He quickly left her side with a small bow and behind her back she heard the Dane, whose name was Sithric she had discovered, laughing. “You have a temper, nun” and he walked with her through the gates.

They were left as enemies outside the hall, Aethelflaed nice enough to choose to stay with them and not to feast with her family. Aoife, at her side, soon found out that she wasn’t the only one with a temper problem; Finan, who she was sure had a desire to die, not only stood his ground to the huge warrior, but also made fun of his orders. The men did not seem intimidated, though; he smiled menacingly to the Irishman and patted him on the chest. “Steapa!” Uthred intervened “Food and ale would be appreciated.” The warrior agreed and turned to enter the hall. “And Steapa! Good food!” Finan added, under the amused looks of his companions “Meat! And lots of ale.” Uthred pushed him playfully “He will have your head one day.” “He just has to try.”

Under the supervision of Steapa himself, the diverse group of outlaws and ladies were drinking and eating at the alehouse. Aoife had never drunk ale before and she was quite enjoying the sweet and earthy taste of the beverage that she was gulping down. “You should slow down.” Osferth suggested, over the chatter of the others “It is not the strongest, but it will confuse your thoughts.” She smiled sweetly “Thank you, Brother.” She had just discovered that Osferth was a bastard child of Alfred and she did know how it felt like to be an unwanted consequence of illicit love. She decided that he deserved to know that he was not alone and that there was nothing to be ashamed of. “Osferth” she called softly, and the monk turned to her with a smile “I just wanted you to know that I too am the bastard of a Lord and a maid. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You have claimed a family of your own. A family of bad smelling, brutish men, sure, but still a family.” The monk smiled widely and squeezed lightly her hand “I sure do. Thank you.” “That was very sweet.” a voice whispered in her hear. She turned around and almost brushed the tip of her nose on Finan’s. The man was sitting very close to her; she could smell the ale in his breath, but it wasn’t unpleasant. He was much taller than her, and he had dropped his head on his close fist to look at her. His eyes were not hungry, but curious and perhaps even sweet. He was so unbelievably handsome that she found herself at loss of words. She didn’t have to worry however, because who she assumed was a young Lord approached Steapa telling that an approximation to a Witan had been gathered and they were required. None of them knew what an approximation to a Witan was but they all emptied their cups and quickly followed Steapa inside the hall. It was a large room, warmed by a fire that burnt right in the centre. The floor was made of wood, the wall of stones. Aethelred was sprawled on his throne, at his left stood a young man and, against the walls the men of the Witan, priests and lords in their heavy cloaks, watching them enter the room with stern faces. Not a warm welcome. She didn’t need Aethelred’s comment to notice the absence of King Alfred; she had never met him, but she had heard great stories about him, and closing her eyes she could create an image of what it should look like. She was disappointed by his absence. “I am here in place of the King. I’m here to speak for the King.” the young boy stated, and Aoife could easily assume that he was Aethelflaed’s younger brother, Edward, the atheling of Wessex. Weirdly, all Aoife could think of was that he looked something like Osferth. Aethelflaed was invited by her husband to say what she had come to say. The men of the Witan received with suspicious her accusations of Haesten, who was a declared ally of Wessex. When the Lady explained how Haesten had threatened her life and Uthred had saved her, the one questioning her was her own husband. “I am at a loss, how is it that Uthred knew of this danger? How is it that he knew exactly where to find you?” “An irrelevant question.” Aethelflaed commented coldly; Finan and Aoife made eye contact and they had to look away to not burst laughing. A man of the Witan, old and unpleasant to the eye and the ear, supported Aethelred’s suspects with impossible stories of Uthred’s betrayal, about him planning Aethelflaed’s killing with Haesten, all to earn her trust and get once again close to King Alfred. It was such a fool story that Aoife couldn’t imagine anyone believing it. She couldn’t be more wrong. “A spy?” Aethelred insisted. “An assassin, even.” the man replied. Neither her nor Finan were smiling anymore, it wasn’t going as expected and Uthred’s patience was visibly running thin. “Should have expected nothing different.” he said, his eyes rolling in exasperation. Surprisingly, in the defence of the outlaw, Aethelflaed was joined by her brother. “Seems rather grand strategy, Lord Aethelred” he stated, turning to the Lord, “and for what?” “It’s here, among us.” the young lord, the one that had guided them to the hall, answered. “And under guard.” the atheling replied bluntly, “Then let us get to the truth of the matter.” an imperious voice resounded throughout the room. King Alfred had entered the room, and, despite his sickly appearance, Aoife could feel the power he exuded. He was surely a man of strong, uncompromising mind and where he lacked with physical strength, he more than compensated with great presence and spirit.

Uthred had then explained his intention to the King; in exchange of him saving Aethelflaed, he asked for one thousand men to attack Beamfleot and defeat Haesten. He was clever enough to point out that the fall of Beamfleot and Haesten would mean a great loss for the Dane army and consequently ensure peace in Mercia and Wessex, for a while at least. Prince Edward spoke in favour of the agreement, but Alfred, supported by the men of the Witan, decided not to trust the outlaw and declined his request. He then invited the Dane to leave as the free man he was in Mercia, but he would remain an outlaw of Wessex.

***

The group found itself once again sat around a table outside the alehouse. They weren’t pleased by the outcome of the Witan. For what Aoife could understand, it was crucial to reclaim the Dane seer, Skade. It had something to do with a curse she had casted on Uthred and that was apparently putting them all in great danger. Aoife was no one to discharge others’ beliefs; on the contrary it made her appreciate Uthred more. He had saved Aethelflaed despite the danger that his choice entailed. She was quite surprised by how much she was enjoying the warriors’ company; they were kinder that she expected and, usually, it was a pleasure to spend time with them. That moment was the exception, but she could not blame them for being quiet and angry. They had been left without hope nor plans; and even if she was confident that they would soon find a way to reclaim the witch, she understood their fears. She was the first to notice the priests approaching, behind them came Prince Edward. He sat down next to his sister, Aoife on his other side. He shot her a questioning look and she gracefully bowed her head; but it was clear that he had more urgent issues to address. Osferth, at Aoife’s other side, excused himself and left before she could even turn around; it was clear the situation was paining him greatly. Words of curtesy were exchange between the people; Aoife, who didn’t know neither the priests nor the prince, sat in silence. She could not help but laugh, however, when the priest, who had taken Osferth place next to her, kindly stated that he couldn’t waste his prayers for Finan, being that he already belonged to the devil. The Irishman’s eyes moved from the priest to Aoife, and a corner of his mouth curved upwards in a smile, hidden by his bushy beard. “Could well be right.” he admitted. The other priest urged to get to the point, considering the dangerous position the prince had put himself in; the statement caught the attention of the entire table. The first priest asked them all to appear uninterested, for the safety of the presents, and, as strange as it sounded, a heavy silence fell on the group. “How… how many men does Haesten have?” Edward finally asked. Aoife watched hope return on Uthred and Aethelflaed’s faces. “Maybe as many as one thousand.” Uthred answered. “And a fortress.” the prince recollected. “Beamfleot.” Edward asked how Uthred could be sure to defeat him when it seemed impossible to do. Uthred pondered his words, then answered calmly that a siege would require the sacrifice of three thousand souls; Haesten, however, wouldn’t resisted the opportunity to kill him and would follow him outside. Fighting on open ground would increase their chances of winning. Prince Edward took his time to think about it, listening patiently to the warriors’ advices. He then decided, with a proud smile on his young face, to grant Uthred five hundred men. He swore to be there, the day of the attack, hidden in the wood with his army of half a thousand men.

Aoife hand run on the blade of her sword.

Chapter Three.

[priorireverte]

Congratulations Storm!

Your application for Molly Weasley has been accepted. Of all the Weasleys I ever thought we’d get, Molly was not one of them. I am delighted to have been proved wrong.

Please look to the checklist for the next steps and reach out if you have any questions!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME & PRONOUNS: Storm, they/them

TIMEZONE: EST

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I should be able to post a few times a week and keep up with the activity requirement! I wouldn’t apply if I didn’t think I had the time to actively participate.

ANYTHING ELSE: Graphic depictions of gore ( more of a squick than a trigger; it just makes me uncomfortable, but if I see it it’s not the end of the world! This would apply mostly to gifs and images / aesthetics though )

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Molly Elizabeth Weasley

BIRTHDATE: October 30, 1950

DEATHDATE: n/a

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Female ( she/her pronouns ); bisexual – Molly has always been comfortable with who she is, and her sexuality is no different. She realized she liked both men and women from a young age and was unashamed of the fact because, unlike muggle society, sexuality wasn’t deemed a problem like blood status would be. It didn’t matter in the end, though, because once she laid eyes on Arthur Weasley, she knew he was the one for her. No crush could compare to the pure love she felt for the bumbling redhead who stole her heart.

BLOOD STATUS: pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Gryffindor

OCCUPATION: Unemployed. Molly, at one point, considered returning to school as either a professor at Hogwarts or an educator for young wixen children ( sort of like muggle pre-school ), but after her marriage and many children, work was never in the cards. Now that she’s older, she’s once again considering offering a daycare of sorts for young children – she has time to spare with her children all grown up, and she’d rather be looking after and teaching children than left to her thoughts.

FACECLAIM: Amy Adams

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

POSTBELLUM

Molly had the disprivilege to live through not one, but two wars started by the same sick man, and they both had no small impact on her. During the First Wixen War, Molly wanted no part of it, staying firmly neutral even though her beliefs were aligned with the Order of the Phoenix. She and Arthur were married with a small brood of children by the time it picked up in earnest, after all, and her primary thought was to stay by her little boys to keep them as safe and innocent as possible – going out to fight and possibly die would do no one any favors. Her point was only proven in the death of her younger brothers, something that was a catastrophic blow on her soul. She and her brothers were close, after all, or as close as they would let her; Molly would have done anything for Gideon and Fabian. It was their deaths that made her question whether or not her choice to stay out of the war, as logical as it was, ended up being the right one after all. What if she’d been able to save them somehow? What if she’d been at least somewhat involved in the order and privy to their plans? Maybe she could’ve convinced them to stay home that evening. None of those regrets mattered, in the end – her brothers were dead, and soon after you-know-who was dead as well. Things were over… or so everyone thought. The Second Wixen War was unexpected, but Molly was more involved that time around. She didn’t volunteer to go out on missions; she still had children to look after. She was involved, though, particularly once Ron brought home young Harry Potter himself. Molly cared for Harry like her own son, and he was smack in the middle of the war to start with. She hated that her children were involved in a war, but this time would be different – this time, she would do all that she could to keep her family safe like she couldn’t with her brothers. Fred’s death took that resolve, chewed it up, and spat it right back at her. How foolish was she to think that her family, so involved as they were, would not be drastically impacted by the war yet again? Five years did little to ease the pain of losing a child, and she was certain she would be burdened with that pain for the rest of her life. She could still see her darling Fred’s face, still in death with the ghost of his last smile as she sobbed over his body just as much as she could see him alive and playing tricks on the family with George in her mind. Encumbered by grief like she was, Molly hardly paid much mind to the first report of the Returned making its way around. The second report piqued her interest ( and her confusion ), and despite herself, she kept watching and waiting for those she lost to return to her. She got her wish in the form of Fabian, young as the day she lost him, but that only made the Returned become something of an obsession of hers. If one brother was back, surely Gideon would be right on his heels? If her brothers were back, then surely she’d see her little Fred again, back from the dead and finally home? She knows the obsession isn’t healthy and is only making her grieving process worse, but Molly can’t bring herself to give a damn. She just wants her loved ones to finally come home.

PERSONALITY

Molly is and always has been a homebody. Family has always meant the world to her, the Prewetts having been a loving family who could lean on one another through thick and thin. While some would appreciate that and move on, Molly took that as a core part of who she was as a person and became what people dubbed “the mom friend” to her friends during school and beyond: she fussed over those she cared about greatly, to the point of being an annoyance, and worried over strangers if they looked like they needed a friendly face or shoulder to cry on. This tendency made her a rather outgoing person, and she was rarely judgmental if she could help it; Molly just wanted others to be happy. Some, however, saw this more as annoying than anything else. her caring nature backfired half of the time, painting her in the light of being far too nosey rather than concerned and wanting to be helpful. She’s guilty of eavesdropping on others, and while she says this is out of concern, she secretly knows it’s because she loves to listen to gossip as well. Molly likes to be in the know, whether she’s told directly or not. This has led to more than a few fights with friends, family, and strangers, but it’s always been part of who she was. Molly is unapologetic about who she is. These arguments are never small, either; Molly is short-tempered and can get easily annoyed when she’s not watching herself, and arguments where she’s been accused of something bring up this fiery part of her more than anything else. Despite her flaws, Molly tries to, first and foremost, be kind. Everyone needs a smiling face to look toward, and in a world as cruel as theirs, she tries to be that person for whoever needs it. If someone needs somewhere to stay, she’ll open her home up gladly; if someone needs to vent, she will lend an ear. She’s particularly fond of children ( if her own seven didn’t give that away ), and taking Harry and Hermione in whenever they wanted or needed to stay at the Burrow wasn’t even a question in her mind – of course they were welcome. war has taken much from Molly Weasley, but she refuses to let it take her kind heart.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY

The Prewetts were a loving, if loud and obnoxious, family, and Molly wouldn’t have had it any other way. She was the daughter of upstanding ministry workers, Mr. and Mrs. Prewett both being respectable in their departments and showing their children to be so as well. Respectable, however, didn’t necessarily mean disciplined, and most of Molly’s early childhood was filled with the yelling of her brothers, the soft croons of her parents’ voices, and the mewling of a stray cat Molly begged to keep ( creatively named Cat ). It was through her parents that she learned the value of truth and the power of words, learning from a young age that her greatest weapon won’t be her wand, but the words that come out of her mouth. A debate is just as deadly as a spell, her father would say. Speaking the truth shows the true value of a person, rather than lies that anyone can spill from their tongue, her mother would add. Molly took both to heart, making her quick-witted and stubborn to a fault when she knew she was right. As a Weasley, life was quite similar, though her role was reversed. Her home was still loud with the sound of screaming children, the heavy thundering of footsteps running through the house echoing what she experienced as a girl. Instead of partaking in the running, however, she was instead the one to scold like her mother did, but never fully discourage. Her family was part Prewett, after all, and Prewetts were nothing if not a little wild. It was she that taught her children the power of words, rather than the one learning them, and listening in as her husband taught their children how to be kind and judge others based on character rather than anything else. Life as a Weasley was dancing in the kitchen with her husband in the early hours of the morning, breakfast cooking while the radio crooned in their ears. Life as a Weasley was just as full of love as life as a Prewett was, and Molly cherished every moment. She always would.

HISTORY

Life was a series of moments, and Molly’s was no exception. Those moments formed her into who she was, after all; who would she be without being sorted into Gryffindor? She never would have met Arthur, whom she swore to this day that she fell in love with at first sight ( that wasn’t quite true; no first year knew love like theirs at such a young age – she fell hard, but love didn’t come until later, when she knew she would marry him before they both left Hogwarts ). Hogwarts introduced her to her friends, people who would become close enough to family that she’d introduce them to her children as aunts and uncles alike. Hogwarts made her a Prefect, though not Head Girl, and brought out her motherly side even more as she helped first years adjust to being away from home in an overwhelming environment. Being a Prefect prepared her to care for young children, though she still fumbled her way through Bill and Charlie’s infancy – she was much more prepared by the time Percy came around. Her children introduced her to their friends, who would grow their family even further ( both in marriage and in simple friendship; all friends were family in Molly’s book ). Each person she was introduced to expanded Molly Weasley’s capacity to love and to be loved in return, which made the Battle of Hogwarts that much harder as she saw others that she knew lying dead in the rubble. She mourned for Fred, but she mourned for the friends of her children as well, and for the friends she made through the order. It all hurt so much, but she’d rather take that hurt than lose that capacity to love.

OOC EXPLORATION:

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? I was introduced to this rp by Nic, aka Fabian Prewett, and it looks absolutely phenomenal! The plot is super intriguing, and I honestly can’t wait to start playing in this verse with everyone.

ANYTHING ELSE? https://pin.it/23mXrSb <<< I wrote Molly elsewhere too who had a connection to Bellatrix, so ignore that section! Every other section is relevant to Molly here however.

EXTRA FOR NON-BIO CHARACTERS:

This section is only if you are applying for a character that does not yet have a biography written (i.e. a character not listed on the character page). Any character can be applied for, so long as they can realistically fit into the plot and add substance to the roleplay! It may be a good idea to send a message to the main before applying to a non-bio character so we can work with you.

CHARACTER CONTRIBUTION: Molly has a ton of connections to characters both already in play ( Fabian, George, Ginny ) and available to play ( Bellatrix, the golden trio, potentially Fred and Gideon if they’re brought in down the line ), so I think it would be interesting to have her there to bounce off of others and let her bounce off of them in return. She’s a pillar of support to many people and is happy to offer that support to many more, but I plan to make her more than that. Molly is dynamic as a person: she’s kind and warm, yet fiery and firm in her beliefs. She has an obsession with the Returned because of how many people she’s lost in such a short span of time, to the point where she might use her free time to try and figure out how they’re coming back even though she’s not part of the Ministry and is missing a lot of critical information. Whether that goes anywhere is up to the admin team, of course, but it’s a line i’d love to look at in more detail.  

PRESENT: Though life has improved slightly over the past five years, Molly is still very much riddled with grief and a shadow of who she was a decade ago. She still has her warm heart and does her best to be who people expect her to be, but sometimes she’ll see a shadow, or see a flash of red hair, and fall into herself once more while she mourns Fred’s loss. News of the Returned only made this grieving process worse, because instead of learning to move on, Molly clings to the fact that she’ll see her loved ones once more – something that intensifies once Fabian returns to them. Now it’s more akin to an obsession than anything, and Molly wouldn’t stop the obsession even if she wanted to. She just wants her loved ones to finally come home where they belong.

[ratingtheframe]

Everything wrong with... Ep 3 - Pretty Woman

*sigh* *big sigh*.  I’m back here giving you another politically charged review of a film I like to call a femmeçade:

Femmeçade /fɛm//fəˈsɑːd/ noun noun: femmeçade; plural noun: femmeçades; 1. A genre of films directed by men that forefront yet misinterpret the female narrative and representation on screen. "Pretty Woman is the worst femmeçade of them all in the way it depicts women as the lesser gender"  (definition by yours truly).

I have to say, I have never felt more compelled, more angry in my entire life to write such a review and tear this film down until there is nothing left but the underlining, prominent misogynistic aspects of this film. I am talking about the 1990s classic, Pretty Woman starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. Now a musical, the film has survived three waves of feminism (if you count MeToo), and yet is still available to access for our entertainment. Even though censorship is less common in the Western World, the only good thing about watching Pretty Woman would be to see how vile and unacceptable it is in the eyes of our modern and ever changing society. It truly brought tears of anger to my eyes to watch such a film and see how its lead was shoved into the spotlight for a round or two of humiliation and prodding by the fingers and eyes of the male gaze. There is A LOT to go through here, so grab a snack and buckle in as I put Pretty Woman to shame.

Let's just start with the title itself Pretty Woman, a pretty lazy title for a film if you ask me. I understand it does what it says on the tin, like any title should, however the irksome thing about the film and title is what it’s selling. The lust and beauty of Julia Roberts as opposed to her character or story for that matter. Stood alongside Richard Gere in thigh high boots with her legs for days, months and years on show. We get it, Julia Roberts is a beauty, but why does a film have to focus on that sole part of her? By doing this it creates the idea that it’s her only asset and BOY does this film do a good job at reminding us just that. They’ve got the man’s vote and supposedly the woman’s seeing as the story is about them or who they’d like to be. WRONG, seeing as the crew behind Pretty Women were mostly men themselves. The writers, cinematographer, director, producers, best boys and gaffers, you name it. So who was this film for if it wasn’t to satisfy at least it's mostly male crew members?

Male satisfaction are the appropriate words to use when we are introduced to our leading lady in close up shots of her bra and knickers. Vivian is played by the highly talented and ordained Julia Roberts. Ever since seeing Erin Brodkovich which bagged her an Oscar in 2001, I’ve been in love with her spirit and confidence on screen. As we all know she is certainly one of Hollywood’s shiniest stars, up there with the elites like Meryl Streep, Viola Davis and Angelina Jolie. Why she decided to sign onto such a film, I would hate to speculate seeing as Feminism was more of a dirty secret than a positive movement back in the 1990s. Many (mostly men, though women too, especially those in the film business) would accuse the movement of threatening the comfortability and fun out of life’s pleasures, like women wearing makeup, dresses and being groped at office parties (sarcasm). However, as we now know, feminism isn’t the demon that the 1990s tried to make it out to be and I hope that Julia Roberts was unaware of feminism back then rather than being a strong opposer of it. 

Vivian Ward is a hooker living and working on the streets of LA, the city of dreams as some may brandish it. She lives with her roommate Kit (Laura San Giacomo) and between them they spend their nights trying to scrape enough money for their rent. I’m glad that sex work isn’t as scrutinised as it was back then and another arresting aspect of Pretty Woman is the way it depicts the so called “atrocities” of being a sex worker. The propriety and haughtiness of those who laid eyes upon Kit or Vivian was degrading and dehumanising, simply because they choose to lead a different lifestyle to those around them. It seemed so archaic, almost Victorian like the way people ogled and gazed upon Vivian at the hotel where she was taken in by her male counterpart. Pretty Woman again proves itself to be an anti-feminsit horror show for shaming women on choosing what to do with their own bodies and how they dress. We need to cut this BS out of society ASAP that women dress in certain ways to attract the attention of the opposite sex. Clothes are a form of expression and 9 times out of 10, that expression hasn’t anything to do with wanting to be leered at in public. Enough with the victim shaming as well; asking women what they wore when they were sexually assaulted. Instead let's ask what the attackers were THINKING when they decided to prey on an innocent victim....

One night whilst Vivan is looking for clients, she meets the so called delectable and mouth droppingly handsome male lead that is Edward Lewis, played by Richard Gere. I didn’t get the hype at all as I felt Vivan to have enough personality and lust for life to fill both of her and Richard Gere’s character. Edward Lewis was wooden, stern and boring, and despite this, Vivian seems to see more in him beyond her usual hookups. That’s another irritating thing about Pretty Woman. Edward Lewis didn’t have to do FUCK ALL to prove his love or worthiness in the life of Vivian. 

He didn’t have to (nor did) change one thing about himself throughout the entire film and that’s not only extremely sexist, but shit filmmaking. Did the writer of completely forget or give up on Edward Lewis’ character arc whilst he was too busy making drooling over Vivian? All Edward Lewis had to do was wave his card around and POOF Vivian was at his knees. No wonder the 1990s shamed feminists because this is the exact sort of crap they were trying to prevent from happening on screen. It may seem like fun and games when Edward Lewis tells Vivian to go shopping, buy herself a new dress for dinner, but in reality this is just a fresh case of misogyny, served up with a side of degradation and bigotry for dessert. 

Edward Lewis goes as far to hire Vivian for the week as his...escort? His actual motive isn’t known and we are left as an audience to conclude that it’s because she’s pretty. Again, selling the film title through and through and deminishing the worth of women with each scene. Vivian is never actually asked what she wants, nor do we get to know her seeing as Edward’s inflated ego and wallet covers up most of the screen time whilst watching this film. If you didn’t think this film could get any more horrific is the age gap between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere at the time of filming, to which Roberts was 22 and Gere, 40.

One moment in particular that proved this film to have zero substance to it, is when Vivian eventually gets down on Edward and to my absolute horror, her bra strap is INCREDIBLY and shockingly inauthentically loose. Like falling off loose. Not one woman in the world who chooses to wear a bra; not in China, India, Pakistan, the U.S, Ukraine, Hooker, doctor, astronaut, teacher, hairdresser or not would ever EVER wear their bra strap so loose. An impractical and uncomfortable choice, this tiny infinitesimal yet significant part of this film showed that this film doesn’t care or know how to show accurate female representation on screen and goes against any sense of providing women with strong characters they can use as role models. And all from one bra strap. 

The shopping and transformation part to this film had to be the big red thumb that stood out the most from the eternity of this film as AGAIN for the fifteenth time this film has proved itself to be in favour of entertaining those who like to ogle at Vivian as opposed to getting to know her. Edward thrusts his card at her once again (without giving her much choice, a common behavioural pattern associated with sociopaths and abusers) and she goes to Rodeo Drive to essentially pretty herself up for him so that Edward isn’t judged by those he introduces Vivian to. 

When Vivian had attempted to go shopping alone on Rodeo Drive in her casual attire, the female employees of one of the stores behaved abominably towards her, classing her as someone who didn’t have the means or appearance to shop in such a place. This film just got even worse as not only do we have the opposite gender dictating the appearance of women, we’re having our own sisters do the same whilst investing in the patriarchal narrative of the way women should be seen in public. At this point you may think I’m going crazy and repeating myself, of which I am doing both, however once you’ve fully taken the time to wake up and smell the patriarchy’s cup of coffee, there’s no turning back. These details become smoke signals that turn into epiphanies and realisations that have you questioning is this really okay? And a Pretty Woman is NOT okay.

Once Vivian has had her transformation (so kindly afforded by the dominant Edward Lewis) she seemingly begins to enjoy her new life as a piece on the side, until she is presented with Edward’s lawyer, Philip Stuckley.

So here’s what we have so far on our checklist of misogyny and anti-feminsit motifs to Pretty Women

A poster and title created in the eye of the male gaze CHECK

A female character whose worth is based on her desirability and propriety CHECK

A mediocre white man who doesn’t progress and gets his way through charm, money and power CHECK

Women who take unkindly to other women because they don’t fit the normalised standards of the patriarchy CHECK

Shaming women for their dress sense and career choices CHECK

Lack of women in general, most of which don’t speak throughout the film CHECK

The list could go on but another motif to add to the list from this film that acts as big shiny wrecking ball that smashes up feminism and leaves its values in the dust is sexual assault. Or attempted sexual assault at that, as when we see Phillip Stuckley’s first interaction with Vivian he says right out that he knows she’s a hooker, whilst running the edge of his sunglasses down Vivian’s arm and suggesting they get together after Edward’s demise back to wherever he came from. EW, this was one of the many moments of the film where I had to swallow my vomit. Phillip attempts to rape Vivian back at Edward’s penthouse suite, when luckily Edward comes in to stop it happening, which was the most decent thing he did the entire film. Edward’s lawyer represented a hoard of men that existed back then and now who feel entitled to a woman’s body, hooker or not. Even though Pretty Woman had dug itself a big enough hole, by the time I got to this part of the film I had been sold on the idea that this film is completely out of line with women’s liberation and empowerment. It’s just one big game to prod and poke at women, seeing how far they can go, which in itself is a metaphor for sexual assault. 

I’ll wrap up on the lack of diversity in Pretty Women. Because the world affords white men and women more luxuries and privileges than people of colour, they were at the forefront of this story whilst black and asian minorities were put in the background as butlers, maids and chauffeurs. It makes me so angry that on top of being a whirlwind of misogyny and sexism that such a film would have the audacity to misrepresent minorities entirely and highlight their so called use as servicing white people. IT. IS. GETTING. OLD.

Hopefully you’ve made it to the end of this “review” (kinda) and seen the damaging implications such a film has on our society. On reading Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies curated by Scareltt Curtis, I read that “Books and things reflect what’s happening in the world, Hollywood movies DICTATE IT and MOULD what people think”. 

You may think movies don’t matter or a film of the 1990s doesn’t matter, but if we are to learn from our mistakes and progress our movements, we must unpick the past and see it for how it was. Movies are our culture, our representation of what we’ve learnt or seen in the world. I don’t want to see women as sexual objects without their permission. I don’t want to see them being moulded by the patriarchy or by women who support it. I don't want to see women only good enough to be hookers, wives or mistresses. I want women to be the strongest versions of themselves and for films to buckle up and show that shit on screen.

Pretty Woman can kiss my ass and if it’s a film you like in  unlike it. Pronto.

[herstorshe]

I Have Come Hither To Die

- A Historical Fiction Short Story about Anne Boleyn -

This is an original piece of historical fiction written by me, do not steal this. I also do not claim that all or any of this content is historically accurate.

____

“I am sorry, my lady Anne Boleyn, but your execution has been delayed again, for the swordsman is running late.”

I heaved a sigh. “How long is it delayed for?”

“We will be ready tomorrow at dawn.”

I forced a shaky breath. “Thank you,” I say, starting to pace the room once more, a sweat developing on my forehead.

The man left the room, and I immediately dropped to the floor, hysterically sobbing. My ladies immediately rushed to my side and Catherine, my dear niece, gripped my hand. We sat there in silence, aside from my vicious sobs. I screamed a little. None of them knew what to say.

All of a sudden, Catherine stood and announced: “We must distract ourselves. This truth is too heartbreaking to wade in for so many hours. Come, aunt, let us play cards.”

I shook my head, descending once more into tears. She grabbed my hands and pulled me up.

“Come.” I swallowed hard and she lead me to the small table in front of the cold fireplace. She threw a new set of logs into the pit, and lit it, illuminating the large, wooden chambers where I once awaited my coronation. This time I awaited my demise.

Catherine shuffled a set of cards and slowly my other ladies trickled over from the door. The cards were split, and she played the first move, placing a pair of queens in the middle of the table, as well as two golden coins. She drew another pair.

“Your Majesty,” she used my old title, “I bet you two gold coins that you have no better pair than these two queens.” I looked at her pair and thought of my predecessor, Katharine of Aragon. Now that I had been eclipsed by a Seymour girl, and a stupid, big-nosed one at that, I had some sympathy for Katharine. She must’ve thought I was a ninny too.

Catherine looked up at my glum face to remind me to play. I glanced at my deck and smirked wistfully, placing a pair of kings next to her pair of queens. 

“I win,” I announced. 

“Not yet, Majesty.” She added another gold coin to the pile as well as another queen, a queen of spades this time. I placed a pair of 10’s of hearts and a coin, and took all the coins.

“Well played, Majesty.” She smiled at me with her honest, caring smile. It reminded me of her mother, my sister. I hadn’t seen her since I banished her from court when she married a commoner for love. Now, well, I couldn’t blame her. I married for power and look where it brought me. I thought she was stupid all the time when she would speak of “true love” and never understood the Howard family ambitions, but now I yearn for some of that blissful ignorance. But what can I say, I’m a Howard girl, born and raised to be ambitious, but not too ambitious for a girl. 

“Let me tell you all a story,” I said, picking up my sewing. “Once upon a time, a teenage girl was brought to the English court from France, where she had spent her girlhood. She quickly became the center of the court, possible lovers constantly battling for her praise, for her favor, for her love. She must’ve turned down some fifty men for marriage, for her father never would have let her marry anyone the family didn’t pick. Her younger sister, however, gave the king her favor, accepting treats and gifts from him like they were simply children of farmers. Eventually, their relationship grew and she became his mistress.” Giggles and tiny gasps spread around my ladies, but I continued. “Their parents became obsessed with getting as much power as possible from her sister and the king’s courtship. The older girl had to be her sister’s servant to serve the family ambition. Any marriage arrangements that were being made for her stopped. Until the king’s eye landed on the the older girl herself.” I paused as Margaret took my hand. 

“He quickly tired of her sister, you see, so he looked to the older sister. They began courting, but she, feeling guilty for her sister, denied many of his gifts and refused to love him until she could not do so without being accused of treason, and until her father told her she must. The girl finally started accepting the king’s love, and soon the whole court knew of their relationship. The girl found herself in her sister’s shoes, with her father playing her like a puppet on a string, a pawn on the chessboard of the court.” I took a moment to rethread my needle. 

“Then, somehow, it was silently agreed between the girl’s father and the king that the girl would marry the king, setting aside his wife, the queen. The king had grown tired of his wife, as he had of the girl’s sister, and of many other women. His wife could not give him a son. The girl could not refuse, and at this point did not want to, for she was approaching the time when she would be considered a spinster. It took many years for the king to set aside his stout and devout queen, but he did, and the girl married the king, becoming the queen. She had a beautiful, golden-haired daughter. But, alas, she could not give the king a son. Despite how long it took to put it on, the crown fell from her head as quick as the snap of a finger.”

____

The sky began to darken, and me and my four ladies still sat at the fireside, some reading, some sewing, some crying and trying to hide it.

I picked up my  bible and began reading. Accidentally, I found myself on the verse in Leviticus that Henry used against Katharine when he was trying to get a divorce. I always knew the accusations against her were false, but to please Henry and my father, I swore she must have been lying. What fools we were! Why would Katharine of Aragon, of all people, lie in an exchange with the Pope? And again, I find another way I am similar to Katharine: we are innocent of all the ridiculous accusations against us, no matter how much it would please the king for us to give him an excuse to torture us.

I cried the night Henry proposed. I didn’t want to hurt Katharine. Sure, we were quite different, she being raised by the devout, conservative and pious Spanish court, and while I was raised by the risque and chaotic French court. But we were both inspired to be more than just wives. We were inspired to be women. Katharine’s mother, Isabel, was a queen in her own right, and ruled jointly with her husband over Castile and Aragon. Isabel raised her daughters to be strong, educated and not let others limit them. I hardly knew my parents. I was raised by all the women I encountered in the Austrian and French courts, Queen Claude, Margaret of Austria, my good friend Margaret. I read books, so many books. Theology, history, religion. I formed my own ideas about God, and the meaning of life. I found that if all anyone else would do is pick my life for me, or judge my choices, there was no point not to reach for my dreams, no matter how strongminded my father and uncle were. No matter the difficulty one must face when born a girl. I would reach my goals, no matter what it took.

Sadly, my revelations meant nothing once I reached the English court, where the power hungry patriarchs of my family dictated my life. And now their choices will be the end of me.

_____

“What will become of Elizabeth?!” I cried as the ink of the night cloaked the sky in darkness.

“Your friends will protect her. Even a royal bastard is cared for. Remember Henry Fitzroy?” Catherine said, trying to reassure me.

“A royal bastard, sure, but not a Boleyn bastard. And she’s only two! I always imagined her as queen. A queen monarch, I mean. But-” I interrupted myself with a small scream. “I think Henry shall never want to see her again.” I sobbed out, dropping to the floor again.

Catherine moved to the chair next to me, and gently rested my head on her lap. She pulled out a kerchief and before I knew it she was crying too. We sat there, the bastard daughter of the king, and the disgraced queen of England. What a picture we must have been.

Eventually, I drifted into a light sleep, leaning on my wise niece. 

____

I flew awake from a dream of my body laying headless in the cold ground of the Tower. I took a few deep breaths, steadying my heart rate, and turned to look out the window. The sun was just peeking over the horizon line. I stood and looked in the mirror at my pale skin, dark hair, and deep, falcon eyes. I silently resigned myself to death, and the hands of God. I would soon be elsewhere, and my presence on Earth would not affect my afterlife. 

Margaret broke my reverie, tapping my shoulder from behind. “We should start getting you ready. I am sorry, Anne Boleyn.” I almost laughed at her casual usage of my name. The name of a queen. I will be known in history as Anne Boleyn, the headless queen. The queen who wreaked havoc on England. The queen who tricked the king into loving her. Little would they know that they were wrong.

I heaved a long, hefty breath, and nodded, signaling for my ladies to get out my gown for my execution. My final armor.

With their help, I stepped into the grey gown with pearls and jades sewn onto the collar, and French lace at the cuffs. All my ladies were crying. But I had let out my hysteria. I was ready for my final battle.

Soon after, the confessor came. I had already pled innocent yesterday, but he offered me one more chance to plead guilty.

“I plead innocent of all charges against me,” I began with my single sentence from yesterday, but decided to continue. “I may have not been most gracious to His Majesty, but I never committed anything cruel or unholy, other than speaking my mind.” He crossed me, and blessed my soul. I rose, my whole body cold with dark acceptance.

Catherine, shaking with sobs, placed my ermine cloak on my shoulders, and secured my signature pearl necklace with the B initial in gold on my neck. She pulled my hair into a tight bun, and stood in front of me, still crying vigorously. I ran to her and locked her in an almost motherly embrace. 

“It is alright, child. I will be alright. I must die, it is the king’s will.”

She hugged me back, and her breath started to steady. When we split, she had the same face of depressed acceptance I knew I was wearing as well. 

I quickly wrote a little scrawl in my bible, left for Catherine:

“Remember me when you pray that hope doth lead from day to day. For my dear Catherine.”

The same man who alerted me of my delayed demise came through the door just after, and told me that it was time.

He led us through the cold halls to the private courtyard where I would meet my end. Henry had offered me two luxuries for my execution: a professional French swordsman instead of the lazy English axe, and a private execution, without the dirty cries of peasants. Only nobles, such as Charles Brandon, my parents, and the king’s sister would be present. As soon as I walked into the hall, with inclosed stone walls and open ceiling, I knew that Katharine was there. Watching. Waiting for my ghost to join her so we could sew together once more.

I mounted the scaffold and looked about the crowd. I recognized most of the faces from court. The Spanish ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, Princess Mary’s one friend, was there. I think I may have even seen Mary herself, who was either there to see her mother’s enemy’s death, or out of respect for me.

I took a breath, and began. “Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it.” I paused, feeling the breeze on my face, and regurgitated my script, written to suit Henry’s wild fury. “I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord.” I clenched my jaw, biting back my retorts. “And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best.” I smiled genuinely, thinking of the many historians and conspirators who would bake up wild and complicated theories about my story. I hoped that someone would take it up, and show that it was not so. I took a final deep breath and finished: “And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.”

Margaret removed my cloak and necklace. I stopped her for a moment as she secured my linen cap on my head.

“Make sure those are given to Elizabeth as soon as possible.” I muttered, motioning to the cloak and necklace. She nodded, crying. 

The executioner asked forgiveness, I nodded, and knelt. My eyes looked up to the sky, at the great sky that I passed under on my highest and lowest moments. That I passed under my  whole life. 

The sky went dark.

[klaumiel]

You are all I’ve got, Austin//Chapter 6: Skylar

‘Russo!’ I heard from the corridor.

I got up from my cell floor after doing push-ups, the workout was the only thing that kept me disconnected from all the noise in here that was getting into me day by day more.

I approached the bars while wiping the sweat from my brow.

‘Mail for you’ I saw Jason approaching. He was one of the worse wardens I’ve ever met, one of those assholes who overuse their power to bring everyone else down. I knew him from my early days in Perch, he never liked me and didn’t have any problem with showing it. He always wanted to challenge himself and trying to rub me the wrong way, but sadly for him, it only worked once. Ever since they moved me here, he was on me every chance he got, and today wasn’t any different.

‘Looks like our pretty princess got himself a girl… is that the chick that came the other day? Fine ass …’ he said sniffing the envelope with this stupid smile on his ugly face. I felt my blood starting to boil, my jaw clenched when he approached the bars. Keep fucking calm.

He passed me the envelope but didn’t want to let go, I looked in his eyes. He brought his face closer and whispered ‘Is a shame you didn’t fuck her on that table, that would’ve been quite a view.’

I pulled the envelope from his hand, got even closer to his face, looking down on him. He was a small fat prick with a bold head, playing strong but I beat the shit out of him a few years back. But he knew I won’t do it now, not being so close to freedom.

‘Unfortunately for you, it is a view you will never see.’ I walked off, I could sense his fury.

I sat on the bed looking at the envelope. Of course, it is from her. I recognized now the familiar sweet smell of her perfume. I opened the envelope inside were two photos of her and a pink note stuck on one of them.

‘’Surprise ’’

I smiled and looked at the pictures, there were different from the ones she sent me before. On the first one, she smiled, with her hair blown by the wind standing on the beach, golden sun glowing on her face, waves covering her naked legs, while she held her dress. On the second picture, she was holding a bouquet of white lilies. Her gorgeous eyes looking right at me. She is so beautiful.

On the back of the second photo, she wrote :

‘’ Life isn’t perfect, but every second with you is. I can’t wait for the day when I don’t have to miss you anymore. ‘’

I stared at both photos, remembering every second of our time together a few days ago and how I felt being around her, her smile so sincere and kind, those beautiful olive eyes so peaceful. Still, with this spark that instantly drove me crazy, she didn’t have to even try. Her perfect body, so delicate and hot at the same time, just perfect. That raven black hair, so soft like silk.

All those feelings I never felt before, where did they even come from? I knew I cared about her, she was special.  But that moment I saw her in the flesh, touched her, kissed. All those weird new feelings made me realise she was something else. There wasn’t just a physical attraction but this enormous emotional connection that we’ve built over the months. Just being there with her, talk, laugh, touch made me feel all sort of different ways. Ways that I never experienced.

I didn’t know if that’s how love felt like, I never been in love before. I only knew that I don’t want to stop feeling it. She became the most important person in my life, the only person I loved.

I missed her, and that somehow scared me, the feeling of losing her like I’ve lost my pop. That thought only confirmed that I have to protect her at all costs, even if that cost is my own life, after all, she saved mine.

I was here, days from my last court day thanks to her, and the only thought in my head was, how did I even get so lucky? I made a promise to myself that I would never come back to my old life. This was a chance for me to start again, and I was ready to do everything to use the most of it. Not only for myself but for her, I wanted her to know that everything she did for me was worth it. From the moment I saw her, she became my main goal. Making her smile every day, protect and feel special was the only thing I wanted to do.

I’ve been lost in my thoughts, staring at Maya’s pictures missing her more and more every second.

‘Girlfriend?’ I heard a voice snapping me from my thoughts.

It was Skylar, he was my new cellmate, he was put in here temporarily a week ago, he got accused of starting a fire in his school’s lab. He kept saying he is innocent but isn’t everyone here saying that? Somehow, I believed the kid. He did look like a troublemaker, but he didn’t strike me as someone who would risk people’s lives for a bit of fun. Whatever fun was for him.

I’ve made a small connection with this kid, he also had a girl on the outside. After leaving her behind, he tried to escape but got caught, she had no idea he was locked up, he promised to come back for her. Ironically enough, they also met on Lovelink.

‘Huh?’ I looked at him confused, he wasn’t in the cell before I sat down.

‘I asked if this is your girlfriend?’

Is she? What is she for me apart from the first girl I ever loved?

‘Kind of…’ I said still holding the photos

‘Jason is talking about her around. He is such an asshole, everyone knows now she came to visit you… but lucky you. You will be out soon. Is it true what they are saying? ’

‘What they are saying?’ I asked, already getting annoyed. I knew exactly what Jason was saying about Maya, he made sure I can hear it each time.  I swear if not for her I would finish him the first chance I have.

‘That she saved your ass from the death row’ He said a little bit unsure if he should

‘Well, they already saying it so is no point for me to lie, I will be out of here in few days anyway… Yes, she did, she proved my innocence and saved my ass. But she did a lot more than that. Unfortunately for you, this is only for me and her to know.’

‘That’s sick, mate! I won’t ask for more, that’s none of my business… only one …What’s her name?’ He asked, looking at the photos I’ve been holding.

‘Maya’ I said with a slight hesitation sliding the photos back into the envelope and putting it under my pillow. Connection or not I can’t trust him, he’s been here only a week.

‘You know I never thought that women can have such power over us men. It takes only one pretty little person to change our way of seeing things. I’ve never imagined myself wanting to pump the breaks after meeting her. Crazy huh? This whole situation showed me that it is ok to have some fun, but it is time to grow up’ He laughed laying in bed, looking at the ceiling.

‘Better late than never’ I whispered and approached the bars and waved to the warden. Luckily Jason was walking on the other side of the corridor, so I didn’t have to see his ugly face.

‘It’s my time’ I pointed at the clock. We had times scheduled when we can leave our cells, and my time was already running ‘ I need to use the phone.’

A young warden – clearly new, unlocked the cell and let me out. ‘I don’t know if you will manage to get to the phones today, but you can try.’

I looked around the hall when walking to the phones. Most of those guys were kids, barley eighteen, probably first time seeing jail. That reminded me of my early days in prison, I wasn’t much older than them. They have so much to learn if they want to survive here, but lucky for me all this soon will be in the past.

When I was getting closer to one of the free phones, one of the new ones got up and started to walk fast towards it. I looked at him, he was tall but skinny, clearly exhausted. He looked like he didn’t have a good start here, he knew I could beat the shit out of him without breaking a sweat, so he decided to back off. I got to the phone and looked at him again.

‘ I will wave you once I’m done, you can use it then’ I said, he nodded and sat down by the table.  I might look big and scary, but I’m not a monster.

I dialled Maya’s number, hoping she will answer. It was in the middle of the afternoon, she was probably working, but I had to talk to her, I missed her too much.

‘Hello handsome’ I heard her sweet voice

‘Hello, beautiful’ I smiled ‘ I hope I’m not disturbing, it’s a middle of your working day after all.’

‘ You are never disturbing me, it’s not a very busy day anyway. I will be getting ready to go to our office party soon.’

‘Office party? Sounds boring ‘ I laughed

‘ You are right. It’s not really a party. It’s five years of the company kind of party, boring speeches and mostly boring people’ She laughed ‘ But I have to go, Greg has some surprise for me. I have no idea what it is.’

‘Maybe a nice pay rise, I’m sure you are working really hard.’

‘Oh no, definitely not. I am already getting way more than an average accountant. I will find out when I get there I guess… And how are you? ‘

‘I’m good, a lot better after receiving your photos.’

‘ You like it? I picked the best I had.’

‘Very… you are so beautiful and just wanted to say that I also can’t wait for the day when I don’t have to miss you anymore.’

‘Cheesy!’ She laughed ‘ Soon… now is just downhill. Your lawyer said probably next week, so you better start packing your sexy ass, because I already made a space for you in the house.’ I could hear how happy she was, and somehow that made me even happier.

‘You didn’t have to, I only need space in your bed, I don’t think we are going to leave it for some time, so the rest can wait.’

‘Well honey, challenge accepted, my bed is very comfortable and has more than enough space for two naked bodies’ Her voice has soft and sexy

‘That’s all we need’ I said, but at this point, I couldn’t think about anything else, just me and her. But that wasn’t the typical feeling, it was only her I wanted, nobody else just her. I craved her like never craved any woman, I never saw her naked, never touched that way, but the feeling of having her drove me crazy. Just the thought of it made me lose control of myself. What the hell is she doing with me?!

‘Austin? Are you there? Are you OK?’ Shit, did I go quiet?

‘Yes, I’m here, baby. I just got lost in thoughts for a second. I just can’t wait to be close to you again.’

‘Soon… just remember to let me know when is your big day. I want to be there to take you home.’

‘I will definitely let you know. Listen, baby, I need to go. The phones are very busy today. And there is this kid here, I think he is having a hard time. I’m sure he would want to talk to someone familiar. I will be out soon, and he might be here for some time’ I said looking at the kid, some other guys were circling around him like

‘Look at you getting all soft’ she said

‘It’s all you, you showed me that helping others is important. You helped me why I can’t do the same for someone else? ‘

‘I love this part of you, you know?

‘And I love you.’

‘Love you too. Go, and start getting ready. You need to be in your top form when you get here’  Damit, again that sexy voice! ‘Bye, handsome’ She hangs up before I even got my thoughts together

I waved to the kid sitting by the table, he approached me.

‘Thank you, I’ve been waiting for two days to call my dad.’ He said

‘What’s your name, kid?

‘Taylor’ He said evidently scared

‘Listen, Taylor. I will be in the library. I can give you few tips how to make your time in here easier, you can come and find me there in about half an hour… and now go and call your dad’ I said patting him on the shoulder.

A few hours later, after talking to Taylor, I was sitting in my cell reading some boring book, that I managed to sneak from the library. Skylar was quiet, he looked worried.

‘What’s bothering you?’ I asked tossing the book aside

He shuffled in his bed but kept looking at the ceiling.

‘You know… my whole life I’ve been doing a lot of crazy shit. Adrenaline was my second name, running away from cops all the time, and never getting caught. I didn’t care at the time, but as soon as I wanted to chill, stop this and focus on something that might be more important, I  got caught  and put in here for something I actually didn’t do.’

‘When did you realise it? That you need to pump the breaks?’ I felt like he needed to get it off his chest.

‘After the date. I broke into the chief police officer’s house and invited her over, she had no idea. I wanted to impress her, plus a bit off adrenaline … but he came back home, we had to run, I thought she was behind me, but she wasn’t. I felt horrible for leaving her there, so I went back, but she wasn’t there anymore. She was fuming after that,  I thought that she won’t speak to me again, and that made me think, what if I am taking things a little bit too far? Is OK if I’m putting myself at risk, but someone else is an entirely different story. She kind of brought me back to earth. I really like her and …, and I hope she will wait for me.

‘No the best choice for a date, I  have to admit, but you’ve learned something from it, that’s the most important’ I said looking at Jason standing by our cell. What the fuck does he want now?

‘Quinn, you are out! Pack your ass and kiss the princess goodbye.’ Jason said, opening the cell.

He started to pick up his stuff, he turned to me.

‘That was quick, I just spoke with my lawyer a couple of hours ago.’

‘Well, you are free now, make sure you take that girl of yours on a proper date’ I laughed

‘I definitely will, we should keep in touch after you are out of here.’ He said, pointing at my pillow  ‘Take care, mate. Thanks for everything. And good luck with Maya.’ He held his hand towards me.

‘Take care of yourself, Skylar’ I shook his hand and patted him on the arm.

‘Ok, hurry up, kid!’ Jason called him, Skyler walked off. That’s was it, now it was just me left still waiting.

I reached under my pillow, where I left the envelope with Maya’s photos. Next to it was a note with his phone number and email address, I’ve put the message into the envelope hoping that there won’t be any inspections before I’m out.

I spent the next few days with Taylor, giving him some tips on how to survive in this place. At least nobody messed with him when I was around.

He was put in jail for five months for stealing money, his father was sick, and they didn’t have money for his treatment. Taylor was only eighteen and terrified, older inmates were taking advantage of his weakness, he wasn’t strong enough to fight back, which made him an easy target. And having Jason walking around and only looking for trouble didn’t make it any easier. He already picked Taylor as his next target.

I told him to hang around in the library, keep a low profile and stay away from other guys problems.

I asked myself many times, how this was possible?  For the last seven years, I never helped any of the other inmates. Always kept away from others and their problems. What changed now? First, Skylar, I would never open up to a new guy after a week. Then Taylor, what came into my mind to help this kid? Why I felt sorry for him? And why it feels so good doing this?

And the answer to all those questions was always one; Maya.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the phone call with Austin, I started to get ready for the party. No matter how boring, I was happy to finally see all those faces again. I didn’t see my colleagues for weeks.

Shaun found a house and moved out a couple of days earlier. Things with Angel were going well for him, so he decided to find a place for himself, but I knew that he wanted to give me and Austin some space, he knew we will need it.

I checked myself in the mirror one last time, changed my shoes and walked to my taxi.

I walked into the office, full of familiar faces in full party mode.

‘Maya! Long time no see, girl ‘ I heard Sara coming towards me with the drink in her hand.’ Look at you, stunning as always’ She gives me a hug

‘ Hi Sara, long time indeed’ I smiled and hugged her back – she was the most two-faced and hateful person in the office. Her being nice meant serious business, I knew that I have to avoid her tonight at all cost. But I saw Greg coming to rescue me from the viper.

‘ Sorry, but I need to steal Maya for a few minutes’ He said, grabbed my hand and led towards his office ‘ I need to talk to you before everyone gets drunk here.’                    

We walked to  his office, he pointed me to sit down. He poured some of my favourite wine and passed me the glass.

‘I’m happy you came today, I know it is not easy for you because of Gemma’ he said, taking a seat on the other side of his desk.

‘ I’m okay with Gemma, we just don’t speak that’s all. She will come around eventually. I was actually thinking about coming back to the office in a few weeks’ I said, looking around. Something was different, I saw a familiar touch to it. Who else if not Gemma would put two diffusers right next to each other.

‘I brought you here because I have an offer for you. You know that our company is growing, we are opening new departments soon. We hired new people in the financial sector, but the team is growing. I need someone on my level, who will take over the Finance part of the business. You are my best accountant, you know our finances inside and out. I can’t see anyone else in that role. We are opening a position for you as Finance Director if you accept of course ‘ He said taking a sip of wine – he knew I wanted this more than anything. That was the most significant step in my career, ever. I worked my ass to get where I was then. He knew I won’t refuse it.

‘Oh my god, Greg … I don’t know what to say, thank you’  I smiled with excitement.

‘ I will take it as, yes.’

‘And who is going to take over my job? Is a lot work for a junior position’ I asked, but I kind of knew the answer already.

‘Gemma, she just finished a few main trainings, and she is capable of doing most of the main work. Plus she will have a junior assistant. I need you to focus on a bigger picture. If not you and your hard work we won’t be celebrating five years right now. You are the only person I can trust with this.’

‘Greg, this is really an honour I am speechless… and are you and Gemma still together?’ I said looking at the plant on his desk- he hated plants, he always called ‘a woman thing’.

‘Yes, she has grown on, I was wrong by judging her, she didn’t use me. It was all me, in my head. She always struck me as someone like that, but she proved me wrong, and I am glad. She deserves the promotion. I have fallen for her silliness and positivity, we will see where this will go. So far, it is going well.’ He said with a gentle smile on his face, he seemed happy, finally.  Gemma, smartass. Always gets what she wants.

‘ I am happy for you two.’

‘Now... I know we have a party, but that’s not all. I’ve spoken to Shaun about you, and I made a decision. Your job starts in the next three or four weeks, but I need Gemma to get up to speed before you start. So, in the next few days, I need you to pass all your work to her and take a break—at least three weeks. I need you to relax, focus on your man and yourself and come back to the office refreshed and happy. You need this Maya, and I won’t take a no as an answer.’

‘ Well, if you say so, I won’t object’ I laughed

‘Cheers to our new F.D’ he smiled and clicked my glass

I was so happy, this was the best day of my career. I worked so hard for it.

After Greg’s speech, I went to get myself another drink and some snacks, I approached the minibar and started digging in. But all those healthy snacks just put me off, suddenly I sentenced a familiar smell of cherry blossom and jasmine.

‘Hi Gemma’ I said without turning around just yet, I knew she was standing right behind me.

‘Maya, can we talk?’ I heard her sweet voice, and something in me snapped. Suddenly the feeling of missing her hit me again, I turned around and saw her standing in from of me. My girl, I missed her so much.

‘Yes’ I said and nodded her towards the empty offices, she grabbed herself a drink and walked with me. I closed the door and sat on the desk, crossing my legs.

‘I wanted to talk to you because I want to apologise. It was wrong for me to say all those things. I was wrong in doubting you, not the first time, but as always you showed me how wrong I was. I feel horrible, you needed me all this time, and I just walked off. Like a coward, I miss you, girl.’ She said, looking at the floor. Her eyes filled with tears.’ I know that it was you voting for me in the recognition, I know that you told Greg to give me a chance. Even after everything I said. I wouldn’t be here building my career without your help. I feel like I was so ungrateful all this time, for everything you did for me… I don’t deserve a friend like you’ She cried.

I jumped off the desk and hugged her.

‘Stop it you silly thing… You know I am not mad, I thought you needed time, that’s why I didn’t call you. Don’t ever say that you don’t deserve to be my friend. You are my friend, my sister, and no matter what, no matter how big the fight I will always look after you. I love you, boo.’

‘I will understand if we can’t come back to how was before, but if you could ever forgive me for all I’ve said…’

‘Gemma’ I cupped her face and looked in her eyes ‘ There is nothing to forgive, you had the right to be afraid, I could’ve very easily fallen into the same trap as with Luke. It was hard for you as well being there with me and supporting me. The whole situation with Austin was a big unknown, for me as well. I should’ve thought about your feelings as well, and I am sorry for that, I was blinded, and I didn’t know how this could look like from your perspective. I acted selfishly, not just with you but with everyone else. And I am truly sorry for that’  I wiped her smudged make-up with my sleave.

‘I love you, girl. I missed you so much.’

‘ Do you want to come to my place now? We can talk, without worrying about looking like a mess? Plus this party is fucking boring me to death. I need some good drink, and some normal snacks not this falafel shit.’ I laughed

‘Yeah, let’s have some proper party’ She giggled

Five minutes later we sneaked to the taxi and went back to my house. I was so happy to have my girl back. I knew that she needed time, we had issues like this before, and only time could fix it. I knew in a few days everything will come back to normality, the only thing we both needed was a drinking bonding time.

We changed to PJ’s sat on the sofa with a bottle of scotch, crisps, and party music and started to talk about everything that happened in the last six weeks. She asked about Austin, and  I told her everything.

‘ So he will be out soon?’ She asked

‘Yes, hopefully, next week. I can’t wait to see him again, you have no idea. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I want to be here for him, he deserves it.’

‘I am so happy, it worked for you, somewhere deep inside I knew this must have a happy ending but I was to too scared to admit it. Somehow I only saw everything that happened with Luke, and that terrified me. But again, you showed me how wrong I can be.’

‘Everything worked out well in the end.’ I smiled

‘ So is he as hot as on the photos?’ She asked with this mischievous look

‘Girl! Hot is an understatement, well I didn’t see everything, but if someone can make the orange pants look so sexy, must be the god himself under them. And woman! Those eyes! I never saw in my life, such as deep blue eyes. So mysterious, intriguing and dangerous, but with that softness and kindness deep inside. So fucking sexy.’

‘Wow, I can sense fanny flutters here. I need details… you know that. You have a week, and then I need a full report on my desk’ She laughed, taking a sip of the whiskey from the bottle.

‘Hang on a minute, I just realized … I am your boss now.’

‘Shut up! Not yet! In four weeks, so I still have the rights to make demands, before you get your fancy office… This calls for a toast, for our sexy boys and our promotions ’ She raised the bottle and passed it to me.

‘For our hot males! And the new offices! And getting back together! ’ I laughed

We’ve been giggling, crying, drinking and dancing all night, just like before. I was so happy to have my girl back. Maybe this whole fight was needed for both of us to understand how much we need each other? We weren’t just friend, after all, we were sisters.

We woke up on the floor with a massive hangover, but happy.

We spent a whole day together, recovering from the night before.

[montagnarde1793]

Ribbons of Scarlet: A predictably terrible novel on the French Revolution (part 2)

In case you were wondering, that’s not actually the novel’s subtitle, which is really “A Novel of the French Revolution’s Women.” But like, only the famous ones. Ok, I’m done. Moving on...

Parts 1, 3, 4 and 5.

Structural Issues

 While the choice of characters was a red flag for me (and not in a good way), choosing to structure the book the way they did was a mistake.

 This is true for a number of reasons. (I’m sorry, btw, for all the comparisons to Marge Piercy’s novel, but the shared conceit kind of made it inevitable.) Piercy’s characters also only got an average of 80 pages each (though as the typeset was denser, they arguably had a little bit more space), but since the POVs were interspersed, they played off each other much more naturally and allowed the characters the time to develop. Even there it could feel underdeveloped, but here it seems like they’re rushing the undeserved character development so they have some kind of complete arc for each character before the next part starts.

Some chapters are clumsier at this than others. The absolute worst is Pauline Léon’s, which is unsurprising for a number of reasons, but notably because she has the fewest pages of anyone except Charlotte Corday, who doesn’t really get an arc: she shows up in the plot already wanting to assassinate Marat; she succeeds; she doesn’t regret her decision; she’s tried and executed. That’s it.

 This choice also means that the main strength of this type of anthology goes largely untapped: namely, that we get different POVs on the same events. Since each protagonist is associated with a different period in time, we can only ever get their point of view on previous events through awkward flashbacks.

 It probably also accounts for one of the worst, most artificial and amateurish aspects of the book: the way in any given section the other six point of view characters are shoehorned into the narrative, whether it makes any sense or not. The protagonists of the different sections have to have some (highly improbable) relationship with one another or be reflecting on each other’s lives in the most ham-fisted, author-soapbox way possible. We’ll circle back to that last part in a bit.

 Possibly the most ludicrous example of this is Manon Roland’s inexplicable decision to take a random trip to Caen in mid to late August 1792 just so the author can have her run into Charlotte Corday. Like, do I even need to explain how little sense this makes? Apparently so. Look, first of all, going from Paris to Caen was not a trivial trip in the 18th century. Today you could make a day-trip of it and not be missed. It’s about 2 hours each way in the TGV. But in the 18th century, you’re looking at more like 2 days each way, minimum. Not the sort of trip you tend to make without an ostensible reason. Does Manon Roland have one, even as written? No, she does not. She’s going to Caen to flee the temptation of François Buzot’s advances. Which, ok, internal motivation for leaving Paris, but they don’t bother to give her a pretext. How is she going to explain to her husband her random absence of at least 4 days (not to mention the expense)? And why Caen (other than the external reason of the author’s wanting her to come across Corday)? She has no connections there. Does the author even know that the main person Manon Roland knows from the region is Buzot and that it’s therefore the last place she should flee to stop thinking about him? And she’s supposed to be a savvy politician: does she not care about the optics, as the interim Minister of the Interior’s wife, of fleeing in the opposite direction as the Austro-Prussian troops are advancing on Paris?

 And I know what you’re thinking: I’m overthinking this. This wasn’t a book designed for specialists. But I think a reader can tell when a world they’re reading about doesn’t feel fully fleshed-out. In that sense, it’s less about accuracy than it is about how flat and artificial a reading experience it makes for. One of the most valuable things I was taught in school was that when making a presentation, you should always know more than you intend to say. I think the same goes for fiction: you should know more about the setting and the characters than appears on the page. In this book I consistently have the impression that the authors know less.

 Moreover, the authors claim to have been striving for maximum consolidation of characters in order to reduce confusion, but it ends up coming across as both artificial and condescending. Trust your readers to be smart enough to work through their confusion. Otherwise you make it feel like there were a total of about 20 people in Paris during the Revolution, which, again, makes the setting feel completely artificial.

 While I’m not sure anything but better research and writing could have salvaged it, this book would have already been 1000% better if the characters met or thought about each other only when it would actually make sense for them to do so and the narratives were interwoven.

  The Authors are Desperate to Make Sure You Feel the Way They Want You to about Key Figures. They Also Think You’re Stupid

 Don’t get me wrong. I’m not accusing them of supposing their readers to be ignorant about the French Revolution. You should always assume your reader to be ignorant of what you’re going to tell them. Ignorant, but intelligent. That’s the key. The problem is that the authors don’t trust their audience.

 So we also get characters doing things like giving you a who’s who of the most famous (and only the most famous) authors, artists and activists of the time whether it makes sense for them to do so or not, like this is a textbook and we’ve got to make sure the reader is informed of the existence of all these figures (or maybe give them the chance to pat themselves on the back if they’ve already heard of some of them).

 Or my least favorite French Revolution trope: having Robespierre ominously show up in 1789 to start plotting the “Terror” (here they have him spouting the apocryphal* quote “pity is treason” to an audience of Sophie de Grouchy, Condorcet and the Sainte-Amaranthe family sometime in May or June 1789) (p. 89).

 *Presumably, it’s a corruption of declarations such as the one in his 5 November 1789 response to Louvet’s denunciation that “La sensibilité qui gémit presque exclusivement pour les ennemis de la liberté m’est suspecte.” (“I find the sensitivity that groans almost exclusively for the enemies of liberty suspect.”) or the one in his second speech on the judgment of Louis XVI of 28 December 1792: “la sensibilité qui sacrifie l’innocence au crime est une sensibilité cruelle ; la clémence qui compose avec la tyrannie est barbare” (“sensitivity that sacrifices innocence to crime is a cruel sensivity; clemency that compromises with tyranny is barbaric”).

 Again, we see the same need for oversimplification. Robespierre is, as one of the authors’ notes puts it, one of the “dangerous men” (back matter, p. 18) that should have been prevented from ever having power so he’s not allowed to ever do or say anything sympathetic. (And yeah, I know, death of the author and all that, I shouldn’t count the authors’ notes, but they really only serve as explicit confirmation of what could be pretty transparently inferred from the text and this way no one can accuse me of reading things into it that aren’t there.)

Because of this, even real quotes are cited out of context to the same end: when Robespierre says “pity is treason” in 1789, Condorcet says his bit from the Chronique de Paris article from April 1792 to his wife — you know the one, about Robespierre’s being admired by women because he’s basically a cult leader (p. 90). There’s no reason to think Condorcet had any particular enmity toward Robespierre (or even that Robespierre would have been on his radar) just after the opening of the Estates-General, though certainly, contrary to what is portrayed here, Condorcet was not a democrat in 1789 and Robespierre was. But again, historical figures we’re not supposed to like must be set up early and often as stock villains — otherwise you run the risk of your readers thinking for themselves, I guess. Also the Chronique de Paris quote (which is from an unsigned article generally attributed to Condorcet) is pretty damn misogynistic, which given the book’s stated main theme, you would think would be addressed in some way, but nope!

 Conversely, figures the authors like are liked by the characters — or they are at least forced to begrudgingly recognize their merit — whether it makes sense or not. One of the things Manon Roland is made to number among the things going “wrong” in August 1792 is “the hero Lafayette[’s being] forced into exile” (p. 261) and while it is the author of a different section who is a self-proclaimed La Fayette stan (thanks to Hamilton, of all things…) I think it’s fair to say from his portrayal in all the sections that we’re meant to admire him. But here’s the thing. I don’t really care what you think about La Fayette. That’s not the question. To Manon Roland in August 1792, La Fayette was a traitor who attempted to march his army against the Legislative Assembly and all her friends and allies in said Assembly voted to indict him. If you’re writing from her point of view, it should reflect that.

 Likewise, they have Pauline Léon describe Olympe de Gouges like this in July of 1793: “A defender of women, of slaves, I wish I could have admired her, but having aligned herself to my enemies, I could look at her no other way.” (p. 353). Olympe de Gouges is far better known now than she ever was in her lifetime, so making sure every character has an opinion on her is, once again, pretty artificial, but even assuming Pauline Léon had heard of her, Olympe de Gouges’s brand of feminism was an elitist one that excluded women like Pauline Léon and her abolitionism went out the window when the slaves actually started to rise up, so Pauline Léon actually would have had reason to dislike her beyond the logic of ‘you’re with me or you’re my enemy’ (there is a quote where she’s made to think precisely that, but I can’t seem to find it now — or maybe it was Reine Audu; they’re characterized pretty similarly in that respect). Likewise, Pauline Léon is made to disapprove of Condorcet or the Rolands because they don’t “[get] things done,” not because of any actual ideological disagreement (p. 349).

Probably the worst bit of condescension comes once again from Manon Roland’s section, where she tells a fellow spectator in the gallery of the Convention, “‘Don’t bother trying to tell the different assemblies and conventions apart,’” which is pretty transparently just the authors directly talking (down) to the reader rather than a conversation people who were living through events (and invested enough to be attending the Convention) would plausibly have had.

If it sounds like I’m being particularly harsh on the Manon Roland section, btw, I actually think it’s one of the less poorly done, at least in terms of rendering an historical figure’s mentality, most likely because unlike for some of the other figures, we have her memoirs and correspondence. It helps that the figures she’s supposed to hate line up with the figures the authors want us to hate as well. She saw herself as a reasonable republican and her Montagnard enemies as demagogues and that’s also clearly the authors’ assessment of the situation, so there’s less of the strange cognitive dissonance you get in some of the other chapters where even what is supposedly characters’ own POV frames them as wrong.

Stay tuned for style issues and reflections on what it means to “write what you want to know”!

[irinapaleolog]

The Rise of Skywalker Does a Terrible Disservice to the Women of Star Wars

Besides Reylo, one of the great marketing tools of the Star Wars sequel trilogy was its emphasis on girl power, as well its subversion of class dynamics. The films showed that women -- even poor, destitute women with no connections to powerful men -- could play the same role in the franchise as every cocky flyboy or adopted son of a moisture farmer. Unfortunately, and despite the press tour assurances from the cast and crew that Rey and her gal pals are here to lead a new generation of fans into the new world of gender equality, The Rise of Skywalker makes sure that none of the women of the franchise gets to live happily ever after nor establish any lasting romantic connection.

Instead, Episode IX leans heavily into the tired trope of the "strong female character" that has to resign from silly notions like love and family to live up to her full potential. Adding insult to injury, the film removes all agency from the women, and instead thrusts them onto a straight-and-narrow path of contrived choices foisted upon them by male characters or by the Force -- which, in J.J. Abrams' movie, acts not as the power that propels life in the universe, but like the mean Catherine de Bourgh of Pride and Prejudice.

Let's start with Leia Organa, whose call for help in The Last Jedi was ignored by the entire galaxy. However, Lando Calrissian, who has been hanging around on Pasaana doing who knows what, just has to say the word for an entire legacy fleet to appear out of nowhere. Then there's the handling of her Jedi training, which she gave up because she felt the Force might corrupt her unborn son -- a narrative choice that comes out of left field but that mirrors the real-world dilemma of women giving up promotions for fear that their careers might get in the way of parenting.

But we could argue that Leia's arc in Episode IX is clunky because Abrams had limited footage of the late Carrie Fisher. But what about the characters portrayed by living actresses?

There's Rose Tico, played by Kelly Marie Tran, who had a major role in The Last Jedi with an interesting arc of her own. Unfortunately, a vocal segment of Star Warsfans loathed the character and harassed the actress until she left social media. Things looked brighter when Abrams announced Tran would rejoin the cast in The Rise of Skywalker and that her role would be even better. She was billed as a general, an essential part of the Resistance; Tran went on a press tour and talked about the great feminine energy of the set. The comes The Rise of Skywalker, where Rose appears three times, speaks four lines, and is sidelined to the "really important job" of tech support, with her connection with Finn never addressed. In The Rise of Skywalker, Rose doesn't get romance, connections, friendship, a job, or a story of her own -- something that should please the most toxic fans.

Then there's Jannah, played by Naomi Ackie, another "strong female character." The twist this time is that, like Finn, she's a former Stormtrooper who mutinied and defied an order to kill a bunch of villagers. For a few seconds, her story is hopeful and fascinating, and teases the line from the trailer that "good people will fight if we lead them," that free will and the power of the individual are concepts that exist in Abrams' Star Wars.

How foolish of the audience to hold such hope. Jannah and Finn explain theyweren't the ones who decided to spare the innocent villagers; it was a feeling. The Force takes care of silly dramatic concepts like agency, choice and heroism. Jannah is not a good person because of her actions, but because the Force willedher to be one. The only funny thing about this depressing predeterministic twist is that it also works as an apt metaphor for the actions of the characters in The Rise of Skywalker, who do things not because they make sense, but because the script -- the Force -- says so. To add another nail to the coffin, The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary hints at Lando being Jannah's father, yet another woman of Star Wars whose story doesn't matter unless she's related to a legacy male character.

Moving on, Keri Russell plays Zorii Bliss, a spice runner from Kijimi who essentially wears Leia's slave outfit, only with thermal underwear. Zorii's only purpose in the story is to provide a tragic background for Poe Dameron, as well as a potential love interest. She's also a glorified MacGuffin holder (twice!), and one of the many characters that Abrams fake-kills to ignite an emotional response from the viewer in a desperate effort to make Poe sympathetic. Zorii's role could have easily been filled by Rose, who was an actual tech whiz with a questionable past and a potential massive beef against Poe. After all, he's directly responsible for her sister's death.

Let's move on to Rey (Daisy Ridley), who is retconned from being a resilient orphan scavenger strong in the Force... to receiving her powers from a male bloodline. Now, to be perfectly clear, there's nothing wrong with overly dramatic space operas where everyone is related to a royal family, but this "reveal" goes against the premise of The Force Awakens and the heart of The Last Jedi, which proposes that anyone can be a hero.

There were no hints at all about this "twist" -- not in the movies, in the animated series or in the ancillary material, which makes it feel like a last-minute decision designed to appease those fans who accused Rey of being an overpowered Mary Sue, overlooking one of the most common Mary Sue tropes: their tendency to be secretly related to important canon characters.

Another Mary Sue trope exploited in The Rise of Skywalker, but that wasn't even touched in the previous two movies, is the female character sacrificing herself for the greater good, only to be saved at the last minute by a man, which is exactly what happens here. This double-whammy of "being powerful because of grandad" and "getting to live because of a man" is particularly egregious, and caters to no one, because of what happens right after Ben Solo sacrifices himself. We'll get to that in a moment.

Then there's the Force vision scene. Rey already had a trippy Force vision in The Last Jedi, a deep dive into an array of feminine symbology that she wasn't afraid to confront, from which she emerged heartbroken but stronger. In The Rise of Skywalker, this moment is undercut and shows Rey terrified of the darker, sexier, powerful version of herself, which is a hard pill to swallow. Rey explicitly says that she has nightmare visions where she and Kylo Ren are the evil Empress and Emperor of the Galaxy, linking the fulfillment of her desires to the galaxy's apocalypse. In Episode IX, romantic love is a flaw that the "strong female character" should overcome, but sex is pure evil.

Her visceral rejection of her dark side is also a 180 turn on her chill acceptance of her darkness in The Last Jedi. In the real world, women are taught from a young age to hide their negative feelings, to smile and live to be pleasant to everyone, to not be loud or angry or intense. That mentality only makes things easier for everyone in the world who is not a woman, and runs contrary to the quickly angered but enthusiastic scavenger of the previous two movies. However, by the end of The Rise of Skywalker, Rey has transformed into this Cool Girl version of Ideal Femininity/Strong Woman Character.

Ben Solo's death right after his redemption and first kiss should have been treated like a tragedy at least by Rey, and at least for one minute... but she does not react at all. The camera cuts from Ben's clothes folding as he disappears to Rey's neutral expression as she flies back to the Resistance. His death, and any emotional reaction that it might have caused in the protagonist, is not mentioned at all, which is baffling, to say the least. After a brief reunion with Finn and Poe, Rey immediately regresses on-screen to a lonely child on a desert planet, sliding down a Tatooine sand dune and negating her evolution for the last two movies, just so Abrams could throw in a homage to himself.

For the sake of argument, let's take Rey's reveal of her villainous ancestry at face value, and let's imagine that Disney had prepared this reveal from The Force Awakens: Her ending is still insulting, because it forces her to pay for the actions of her grandfather, despite having suffered as much as anyone from his evil ways. Palpatine's murderous pursuit of his son's family was what caused Rey to grow up heartbroken and abandoned on Jakku.

Rey longed for family and love her entire life; she jumped at the opportunity to establish a real connection with Han Solo, Maz Kanata, Finn, Leia, Luke and Kylo Ren, and in The Rise of Skywalker she looks longingly at the Pasaana children, clearly wanting a family of her own. Rey marveled at the green of Takodana in The Force Awakens and at the water of Ahch-To in The Last Jedi. Just like Anakin, she hated the desert. So why does the plot force her to go back to Tatooine to take on the Skywalker name, a planet where none of the Skywalkers, Organas or Solos were born; that Anakin and Luke longed to escape; where Shmi Skywalker was enslaved twice and then killed; and where Leia became Jabba's sex doll? Wouldn't it make more sense for her to head to verdant, watery Naboo, where both Palpatine and Padmé came from, the place where the latter wanted to raise her Skywalker twins?

But, no, Rey doesn't get to live where she would be logically happier, or where it makes sense; she goes where the fan service is stronger, and the twin suns of Tatooine were unparalleled -- until now. When an old woman asks Rey her family name, she answers "Skywalker," which doesn't hold up to close examination. Luke Skywalker refused to train her, Leia's name was Organa, Ben and Han were Solos, and she's standing on the Lars' buried homestead. And although it makes sense that she would lie about her true ancestry, denying the Palpatine name still reeks of burying her darker side, which worked really well for the Jedi Order.

Compare this ending of a lonely girl on a barren planet lying to strangers about her family name to the ending of The Return of the Jedi, where Luke, Han, and Leia are surrounded by life and celebration, and everyone is radiant with love and living family. Or compare it to the ending of The Last Jedi, where a Force-sensitive boy is looking up at shooting star. Or even the final scene of Revenge of the Sith, which takes place in the same spot after the fall of the Republic, the death of Padmé and the rise of Darth Vader -- but at least in that little spot there's love, family, life and hope.

Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Keri Russell, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, and Carrie Fisher, with Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant.

[theoneforgameofthrones]

Daenerys Targareyan: The Path Towards Madness.

Okay let's begin.

Intro: I read book 1. And then, I binge watched seasons 1-6 after season 6 finale. By that time, I knew all the major theories like L+R=J, dark!dany, targ!tyrion etc.

So, I was paying extra attention and these are some of the obvious moments where I felt they showed Dany's mad side show. Some points, you may find valid. Some points you may find silly and over-reaching. In any case, this is what *I* felt.

Feel free to have discussions. Appreciate positive critisism. However, just yelling/abusing will not be tolerated.

1. Lack of Empathy

Her obvious lack of empathy when her brother was killed.

I did not expect her to save him. I did not expect her to mourn him. I did not even expect her to cry for him. I did, however, expect a reaction, any sort of reaction, when someone close (despite him being an abusive asshole) dies that suddenly and that violently.

2. Her facial expression during Drogo's speech.

"I will kill the men in iron suits and tear down their stone houses! I will rape their women, take their children as slaves and bring their broken gods back to Vaes Dothrak!"

3. During her Breaker of Chains phase, she conviniently seemed to forget that she used to practice not only slavery, but also pillaging while she was with her khalesar.

Master Illeryoi owned slaves. Her brother owned slaves. She was gifted slaves to teach her how to please the Khal.

Her husband was a war-lord and her khalesar constantly raided and pillaged villages. They killed men. They raped women. Remaining alive women were taken as sex slaves and later sold. That was their way of life. She saved Mirri Maz Duur and several other women from the fate of gang rape and murder but they were still dragged along side the khalasar as slaves. In books, the reason MMD was not sold was so that she can assist Dany during childbirth.

4. The burning of Mirri Maz Duur (MMD)

This is going to make sense to a lot of people. But confuse the fuck out of many. But let's see.

In colonized countries, we have a term called "Savior's Complex". It is where a colonizer raids a country, steal its riches, impose extreme taxing, destory most of its heritage and then expect praise for bringing something (could be education, technology, architecture).

Dany takes the complex another step above. She not only expects gratitude from an enslaved MMD while dragging her along with her khalesar with sole purpose of assistance with childbirth, she also expects her to save the life of her husband. The war-lord whose khalesar raided her home, pillaged her village, killed her countrymen, raped/killed her countrywomen, dragged remaining alive women along with the khalesar to be sold later. Despite all this, Dany expects gratitude from MMD for her life. This flawed logic however is thrown back in her face.

"So, tell me again exactly what it was that you saved?"

"Your life."

"Why don't you take a look at your Khal? Then you will see exactly what life is worth, when all the rest has gone."

This is an old age tale of revenge. Khal raided her village. She took revenge on them for destroying her temple. Dany burned her for it.

What completely bamboozled me in this fandom was how much people hated MMD for what she did while completely making Dany the victim in this scenario while forgetting that MMD was the orginal victim who was not only an enslaved prisoner of war, but also gang-raped victim of her khalesar's doing.

5. Ser Barriston's words.

Ser Barriston in Mereen, tells her to treat injustice with mercy. She replies that she will treat injustice with justice.

Another quote by Ser Barriston: "He gave people the people the justice he thought they deserved."

Justice and what people in power percieve as justice is often very different.

6. Daenerys' justice for the crucified slave children

She did that by choosing 163 random Great Masters and crucifying them to avenge the 163 slave children. This seems like justice. But is it, really? They never recieved trial. They were never proven guilty. Like Hizdahr Loraq said, some of the masters were not in favor of crucifying children and tried very hard to stop it. Who knows how many other good masters she crucified?

This is a direct parallel to Ser Barriston's words about Mad King Aerys: "He gave people the people the justice he thought they deserved."

7. She stopped slavery only when it benefitted her.

Some of you, while reading point 6, may have thought, "They were SLAVERS! So what?!".

Well, while choosing 163 masters, Dany decided that all Masters are her enemies. She decided that all of them deserved punishment. She decided that they were guilty just for engaging in slavery while conviniently forgetting that if that were the case, she should be the one in the first cross.

8. She burnt Great Masters without even investigating who were behind the Sons of Harpy's attack.

After Ser Barriston's death, we again get to see more of her twisted sense of justice. By her own words, "Who is innocent? Maybe all of you are, maybe none of you are. Maybe, I should let the dragons decide."

It is not supposed to be called justice if you punish (and a cruel punishment, at that) without even caring whether they are innocent or not.

9. "You are a conquerer. Not a ruler."

Time and time again Dany proves this to be true. She conquered Yunkai and left immeidetely. The slavers took back the city in no time. She closed off the fighting pits and refused to open them despite being told that participants will be free men who enter willingly. This is where ruling comes in. Any place she conquered and freed, she failed to put something else to keep up the economy. She collapsed the economy so bad that slaves were selling themselves again.

10. Wrongful imprisonment.

Dany finds that Drogon has harmed children. The correct response is to either train or punish the dragons. She, however, imprisons the two dragons who werent at fault while Drogon ran free. Does that mean she is not responsible for whatever terror or death Drogon caused to wherever he flew off to? What exactly does imprisoning Rhaegar and Viseryion get her?

What kind of justice is it where the accused is free while the innocent get prisoned for association. Again, feeds into the twisted justice train.

11. Twisted Justice. Hipocrisy. Again.

While many men were fed to dragons, Hizdahr Loraq was imporisoned. He begged for mercy in terror.She also decides that she will show her respect for Meereen by marrying a member of one of its great families. For a woman who was forced into marriage and "sold like a broodmare", she sure didn't feel any moral dilemma in making a terrifed man betroth her. His death though, proved that he was not at all involved with Sons of Harpy and he was imprisoned for nothing.

12. Burning POW's

Burning Tarly's (father and son) was a direct paralell to her father burning Ned's father and brother alive. You cannot hide behind "It was a war. She gave them a choice." No matter what defenses one can attempt to give her, killing (forget burning) POW is a war crime. So is forcing prisoners against their own side of war.

13. Defending cruelty in path of justice

She killed Tarly's and defended that decision, by saying that was necessary.

When Hizdahr asks her how many men will have died to achieve her goal, she says "They would have died for a greater cause." She is talking about destroying cities and sure, that must be for a greater purpose.

When Tyrion reminds her that about what her father planned to do when she said she wnated to burn Mereen to the ground.. her response was "This is different,". How, exactly?

"The easiest way to defend cruelty is to say that it is part of the destiny."

14. The insinct to burn down cities.

By s8e01, she has wanted to burn down cities thrice. Meereen - once. King's Landing - twice. Both times, she had to be talked out of it by her advisors. The fact that her first instinct when her plans were failing was to burn down cities. Direct parallel to Aerys wanting to destroy king's landing because he thought there were traitors everywhere. The fact is that a person can surrond themselves with good counsel. But it is not necessary that the counsel is always heeded. Which is what happened to Aerys. He was going incresingly mad for months and his counsel members hid the fact from the outside world because they thought they could control the madness. We all know what happened in the end.

Since s7, Dany has been becoming increasingly paranoid about Tyrion's loyalty and increasingly more frustrated with every loss. How long before she decides not to listen to them anymore?

15. The entire collonialist/white savior imagary presented in Essos.

It is amazing how most of the fandom either ignores it or is just unaware of it.

Though this point doesnt parallel anything to the show, i just found it extremely cringy. I am sure members of most colonized countries would. I cant even beging to describe how cringy that mysha scene was.

16. The typical white priviledge mentality.

She wants to inherit her ancestor's throne and power. But she doesnt want to repent for her ansestor's sins and betrayal.

17. Wrong sense of entitlement

She truly believes that she is entitled to the North's fealty. She asks Jon Snow not to judge her based on her ancestors and in the same breath asks him to hold up the vows of his ancestors.

But, whatever vow the Starks made to the Targareans was broken the moment Aerys decided to burn the Starks. The fealty was made on promise of protection. Technically, any member of the houses that Aerys burnt, is no longer accountable to the vow.

Still, she expects everyone to uphold their fealty but refusing to accpet that her father broke that fealty when he decided to burn the vassels (whom he promised to protect) alive.

18. Savior Complex

Some parts of Dany reminds me of how missionaries work.

"Will your God punish me for not praying to him if I did not know about him?"

"No."

"Then why did you tell me about him?"

I believe one thing about Daenerys Targareyan. That she truly wants to help people. That she truly wants to save people. But her problem is, she wants to be the one to save people. She doesnt seem to understand that some people dont require saving.

She talks about freeing the world of tyrants and in the same breath refuses to give North the independence that they demand in solidarity. How is that not the definition of tyranny?

This is Westeros. I am not expecting a democracy and free elections. If she wants to be a conquerer, then she can be one. If she wants to bring to bring together the 7k, she can. What she cannot do is talk about destiny, talk about a wheel, talk about breaking the wheel, and and then do the exact same thing her ansestors did years go by spinning the wheel so that she is on top.

19. She was smiling when she saw that her dragons terrified people of Winterfell.

20. "They eat whatever they want"

Is that really the correct way to respond to people are already scared/cowering over the arrival of dragons? To people who have never seen such beasts before? Did she forget that few seasons ago "whatever they want" that Drogon ate were children?

21. Jaime's trial

She made Jaime stand trial and was heavily leaning towards punish him despite the fact that she knew what her father had planned and what Jaime Lannister had done. She openly spoke in favor of the Mad King in front of Northern Lords. When Tyrion intervened, she publically breated him and questioned his loyalty. Further adds to the Mad King's paranoia and unwillingness to listen to counsel.

22. Jaime Lannister

Not only has he tried to kill her, he has also questioned her intentions twice. The only living person who knows about Mad King more than anyone is perhaps Jaime Lannister. When he questions Tyrion, "Is she really different? Are you sure?" in a sceptical tone. If he doesnt trust her or thinks she had the Targ madness, then I am willing to bet that she probably does.

23. Her decling human connections

the show seems adament in making her seem alone. Like a stranger in her own home land. In an episode full of emotional reconnections, tenderness, friendships and relationships, she is shown all alone. In later episodes, she is incresingly shown alientated: Theon coming to fight for the starks despite being her bannerman, death of the Jorah, Tyrion's withdrawal.

24. jorah was her mercy.

She had shown jorah mercy despite his betrayal. She cared for him and most importantly, completely trusted and listened to him. When she felt no remorse about berating Tyrion and strongarming Sansa, jorah urges her to forgive tyrion and to try and make amends with LAdy of Winterfell. And, she listened to him. He is the only advisor she fully trusts and listens to without having to worry about wavering loyalties. And jorah's death is going to be the acorn in Ice Age that started the avalanche.

<<2 episodes left. will add more after next one airs.>>

This is not to say that she was an evil character. She was a good person with good intentions and bad execution with a twisted sense of justice and destiny. But, the journey to hell is paved with good intensions. Dany was a character who had the potential to be great. But she was always headed to doom. She is a good person whose downfall will be due to pride, ambition and obsession with destiny. She will chose her fate with a sound mind but a flawed personality. Her story will not be heroic, but tragic. Not because of what she was, but because of how she could have been.