i’m not a violent dog → coral
coral!tbosas x reader
notes → in which you get to understand coral a little better. feminine intended reader.
warnings → descriptions of brandy’s dead body, other typical thg warnings. also me giving characters angst alert!!! not edited & uploaded via iphone (i didn’t know how to end this lol) AND ME NOT REMEMBERING HOW THE BOOK WENT LMAO
you barely managed to choke back a scream as brandy’s body dangled in front of you. heavensbee hall went silent, as the crane hauling her limp form, which was ridden with gunshots, paraded through the street. below brandy, the tributes could be vaguely made out, chained up. you couldn’t help but scan over them quickly, trying desperately to account for coral. spotting her, you sighed, though not of relief. perhaps it was shame that this is what your home had come to, exploiting the youth of it’s country. maybe it was even sympathy for coral, but seeing her in the state she was in brought anything but relief. coral was slouched over, making herself as small as possible, a stark contrast to the brave face she had put on at the zoo, when you had first met her. swallowing the vomit that threatened to rise, you decided to give her a visit later that night.
when the time came, you vowed to immediately make your way to the zoo, declaring that determining her safety was more important at the moment. and as soon as class ended, you were off. peacekeepers formed a wall in front of the entrance, forcing you to buy your way in. after arguing with the peacekeeper, who finally gave in when you had offered him payment, you were allowed visitation, but only under supervision and for a limited amount of time. you tried to be polite with the gruff older man, making small talk with him as he guided you to the monkey cage, but once you saw coral you were out of his sight.
“coral!” you cried. once she had noticed you she made her way to the front of the enclosure rather slowly. they still had the tributes chained up. “please tell me you’re not hurt.”
“not. but i can’t take much more of this.” she admitted. her gaze was fixed to the floor, and the refusal to look you in the eyes broke your heart.
“i.. i know. i’m trying my best to help but dr. gaul won’t give me the time of day.” you explained, eying her with worry. “i can’t believe they’ve chained you up like this, it’s inhumane.” while that was true, compared to the rest of the list of things the capitol was enforcing, this hardly scratched the surface.
“i wish they’d just kill me already.” coral muttered, voice gravelly.
“please, coral, don’t say that. you can win, i know you can.” you pleaded. her eyes bore resentment at your words.
“why do you believe that, huh?” she gripped the bars that separated the two of you forcefully, “because i’m big and scary? do i intimidate you?” her voice rose and her tone grew angry. the chains holding her hands together rattled as she moved. seeing as you almost flinched, she scoffed, slouching once more. “i don’t want to be the way i am, y’know,” coral mumbled, her lip quivering. “i’m.. i’m not violent. i don’t know why i fight. we’re all animals to them, that’s all we’ll ever be.” her words brought tears to your eyes.
the dehumanizing of the districts had gone on for far too long. there had been countless encounters with your classmates where the district people were referred to as “animals,” and the thought truly disgusted you. but up until this point you had merely been a pawn. despite the countless opportunities you were given to speak up to your classmates, you remained silent. even worse, you had ignorantly laughed along with them in the past. but what better way to wash away your guilt than play the savior in someone else’s story? even if the ulterior motive went unbeknownst to you, the privilege you had couldn’t be ignored by yourself. you could make a difference if you tried, if only you knew how. the best you could do for now was try to get your tribute out of the games alive.
“you’re not an animal, coral. you’re a girl. a strong one, and a really, really brave one. coral, please.” you begged her, you didn’t quite know what for, though. “the fight you have in you is nothing to be ashamed of, it’s how you survived. i’m sorry, coral. i’m so so sorry.” you broke down, allowing the tears to spill from your eyes. “i wish i could do more to help you. this is so… messed up,” you sobbed.
“back home, they tell us not to cry. there’s too much work to be done for tears. me and my siblings start work before dawn, and we work till night. if only they could see me now,” she laughed humorously. “and the things they’d say about you, gosh… you wouldn’t last a day there, princess. i can’t imagine you being able to haul crates of fish. let alone be able to catch one.” you pressed your forehead against the bars and let her words hang in the air. after a minute or so, her head rest against the bars as well, nearly touching yours. silence rang in the air as the two of you sat, contently.
“alright, girly, time’s up. you’re way too close anyway.” the peacekeeper approached you after a while, grabbing your arm and sweeping you away before you could object.
“coral!” she glanced up at you. “i’ll see you tomorrow.” coral took that as reason to get ahold of herself, suppress her vulnerability and impress the cameras tomorrow. besides, the cameras weren’t the only thing she wanted to impress. maybe, just maybe, if coral won the games she could have you too.
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sits up in bed. so lana and ema definitely thought they were responsible for edgeworth "choosing death", right?
(the rest of this post was supposed to go in the tags, because it's not very well organised or written, but it got too long so. here are the slightly edited tags for your reading pleasure (or otherwise)):
i was going to make this solely about ema because she's the obvious one with her open adoration of edgeworth, but the thing about rfta is that it goes to great lengths to emphasise the connection between lana and edgeworth as well.
the sl-9 incident showed that lana grows attached to people deeply, hence angel starr's comment on how, when neil marshall died, 'she (lana) felt like her own brother had died.' with edgeworth, i think it was similar but worse. because he's not just a coworker or subordinate who's dear to her. he saved her life. and it cost him his own.
at the beginning of the case, edgeworth says he was mistaken for thinking that lana was always looking out for him post sl-9 (a statement interesting on its own because that's when everyone else says she grew distant), and, later on, he brings ema fingerprinting powder because lana asked him to. then, of course, there's the 'lady luck' comment he makes.
similarly, on lana's side, you obviously have the end of the trial when she says he did well, but there's also that additional moment post-trial where she's the only one to notice — in a group comprising her, ema, phoenix and gumshoe — that he's 'hiding', listening to their conversation. point is, there's enough to suggest that she might have been the nearest thing edgeworth had to a mia; his 'chief prosecutor' to phoenix's plain 'chief'. they're as close as two people can be in a relationship where one of them is constantly lying and the other is von karma's star pupil.
rfta is pretty straightforwardly depicted as the case which solidified edgeworth's resolve to do what he did; i don't think i have to prove that. rumours about him have reached new heights, his car and knife were involved in goodman's murder, he makes an unprecedented mistake in court by failing to connect the evidence room and carpark incidents, thus forcing the chief of police to enter the trial to do so himself, and he's publicly revealed to have relied on falsified evidence to secure a conviction in the sl-9 case, all of which only happened because of lana. jake marshall even claims that from the beginning — that if you trace edgeworth's rumours back to their source, you end up meeting one person: lana skye.
and it gets worse because at the end of rfta, she thinks he's fine!! she literally says, 'i was afraid the pressure would break you, but you rose above it,' and reminds him he's nothing like gant because he's not alone. she leaves the case thinking he will be okay. and then, what, like a week passes, and she finds out that he wasn't, and that he's gone, and it's her fault. even after she was freed from gant's control, even after she had finally stopped lying, she couldn't prevent herself from claiming another life. so much for 'lady luck', i suppose.
and the game reiterates this multiple times. gumshoe states at the start that edgeworth's ties to those higher up in the department have made him the subject of constant rumours, and phoenix says (in front of ema) that he shouldn't be held responsible for the forged evidence because that was all lana's doing, which then leads to edgeworth commenting (again in front of ema) that he feels as though 'something inside him has died.' it all goes back to lana. we can argue and say that it was technically gant's doing that caused all of this, but lana still took actions that led to it. even her complicated friendship with edgeworth isn't spared; it's that closeness between them that exacerbated those rumours. how could she not feel responsible in some way?
and with ema, it's rather obvious, isn't it? if she hadn't gone poking her nose into things, none of this would have happened or come to light. and, of course, she'd never choose anyone over her sister, not for anything in the world — it's simply not a question, but that's the problem, isn't it? it's not a question. it's not some hypothetical moral dilemma. it just is. she may not have killed neil marshall, but she still has one king of prosecutor's blood on her hands. and now she has to live with that. she just. has. to live with it. no matter if he chose otherwise.
moving on from that a little, i think it's actually wild how much of ema's journey to becoming a forensics investigator is paved with bad memories. neil marshall's death and her subsequent inability to testify are what drives her to begin pursuing it, her first proper investigation results in her idol's "death" and when she finally graduates, the person who saved her sister has been disbarred, and she can't even help because she isn't allowed to. all that pain and constant pursuit of her goals, and she's still the same ema skye, still that girl shrouded in darkness, always one step behind the truth, one step a little too late. no wonder she was angry in aa:aj. i would be furious.
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i turn 29 on july 1st. i feel like i make a lot of these notes to myself, to check in. hi, me, here's what's happening.
hi, me. hi, you, too, if you keep reading. here's some rules i have been following:
when a book is bad, i put the book down. i choose something i like instead. when i don't like a movie, i don't make myself watch until the end. i care less and less what people think about me and focus more on being a good friend.
for the 6 months or so, i've been asking people what they think should be my next book or tv show. i ask them where i should go on a walk next week. i ask them what food i should try next, what hobby. and then i write it down in front of them.
the truth is some stuff slips through the cracks. but most of the time? within two weeks, i get to send my favorite kind of text - so i tried the thing you were talking about and !
i have a new policy for split-second choices - it's better to try it. i have social anxiety. i have to talk myself into doing many things. i am constantly battling the desire to run away as far as my feet will take me. and then i stand up and i do the thing anyway. i make myself act and dance and sing. sometimes, yes, i know-immediately never again, i hate this. but most of the time - i just have fun with it.
i have a new mantra - nobody is scorekeeping. at the end of my life, there will be no grand reading of how many calories i'd been eating. no reviews on how many boring documentaries i forced myself through, no calculation on how many hours i endured an extremely dull educational podcast. and so what if i try karaoke and i don't actually nail it? so what if i stumble over my words while trying to make a public announcement? so what if i wear something too-showy to go to the grocery store? nobody there knows me, and: nobody's keeping score.
life doesn't resolve with a grade (i know, i was as shocked as everyone else when i realized it). i am not falling behind, because there's no curriculum to life that i should be following. there are no checkpoints; nobody is making sure i have a fully-furnished life resume. i am just here for as long as the earth will have me, and i get to decide what makes me happy.
i don't have a partner or a house or anything that is supposed to belong to people-my-age. i spend most of my time focusing on being kind, compassionate, ready to listen without restraint.
and honestly? i feel good. like actually. i kind of like it this way.
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I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'm sure it won't be the last time. I AM SICK AND BLOODY TIRED OF THESE MFS, HALF OF WHO DONT EVEN CARE ABOUT CURSED CHILD, BITCHING AND MOANING ABOUT AN ANGSTY TEEN DARING TO BE AN ANGSTY TEEN, I WILL FIGHT THE LOT OF YOU
(this is gonna be a bit long and probably incoherent so sit down and fucking listen to me 🔫 stick with me because I'm not just complaining about albus haters)
eVERYBODY wants cOoMmpllEeXx relatable HUMAN characters - and then SHIT themselves when the flaws a CHILD has isn't just 🥺 uwu im socially awkward and traumatised 🥺. that's why scorpius doesn't get this fuckass treatment, because his terrible human flaw is that he's a bit shit at conversation and gets sad about his dead mum (generalised understatement, but this post isnt about him. dont come for me i love him 🫶🏻)
god forbid albus, who feels unloved and unwanted (with valid evidence for a teenager), albus who feels completely out of place and outcast from his entire famously-close-knit family, ablus who is well known by the world by default via Harry and hates the attention and high expectations, albus who then gets targeted and bullied by his peers because he's not as perfect and brilliant as his father, albus who is then isolated from his one friend because Harry is making irrational ptsd fueled decisions, albus who tells Harry completely sincerely that he knows he's unlikeable but he'll try and change himself and be more like his siblings because he genuinely believes that's what Harry and everyone else whos had the misfortune of meeting him wants, albus who spends the entire play trying to prove himself and fix things via idiotic childish decisions BECAUSE HES A WHOLE UNSTABLE CHILD
god forbid that CHILD doesn't react like a patient, supported, well adjusted, level headed adult. god forbid he reacts outwardly. god forbid he reacts at all, my bad. clearly he should just sniffle a bit as if he doesn't feel suffocated and helpless by everything in his life, because obviously hes just a spoiled brat who doesn't know what real suffering is. god forbid he complains or feels anything negatively, or doesn't quite grasp that other people are struggling too because he is too busy trying so hard to deal with himself and his declining mental health the best he can with basically no support or understanding. god forbid he isn't completely perfect.
you all sound like some fucking boomer telling teenagers they don't know what real struggling is, they aren't mentally ill, they dont have any problems because they have a roof over their head, they should all go to war kids are too soft these days 😫😖😱 fUCKING‼️SHUT UP‼️
he does things wrong but he knows he does and he does everything he can to fix it! and he is fourteen!!! do none of you remember what being fourteen is like 😭😭 I swear half of you have got to be basically fourteen yourselves cmon man
cause I'm seeing this fucking pattern a lot recently. not just for albus, not just in this fandom, everywhere. ‼️ no one can fucking handle flawed characters anymore ‼️ the only thing any character is allowed to have wrong with them is trauma apparently, otherwise they have to be perfect, and I'm getting sick of it. characters and stories are meant to reflect real life, they're meant to help shape our world view, why are you expecting everyone to be fucking perfect??? what happened to nuance? what happened to understanding character development? you are all acting like characters and people are so black and white. either they're perfect or they're insufferable and evil. I won't lie, the most common victims i've noticed of this are women. but the flawed women are typically demonised, whereas the men are typically turned into uwu baby boys who actually aren't capable of doing anything wrong and then fanon goes nuts making them into ittle wittle victims. and I'm so fucking sick of all of it, I hate this. (obviously this is not a strict rule. Albus Potter, and also Albus Dumbledore now I mention it, are demonised beyond belief)
BRING BACK FLAWS AND BRING BACK NOT COMPLETELY WRITING OFF A CHARACTER BECAUSE THEY DARE TO BE HUMAN
I AM FED UP, ALBUS POTTER GET BEHIND ME
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