#spoilers for all the book plots
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Liveblogging the Aubreyad: Book 3, HMS Surprise (part 1)
This one, I made notes on my phone while listening to the audiobook, so we shall see how well I distill them.
The series is hitting its stride now as a series, I think. M&C was kind of oneshottish, no real expectation of continuation; Post Captain was the pleased "oh! i get another one? great!" where he then crammed in three books' worth into one, and now HMS S is "ah. this is a series! Settle this plot down, then." pacing-wise.
So we pick up with politicians wrangling over the aftermath of the previous book, which had seemed to end so tidily and on such a happy note. Of course that is not the end-- there's a series now.
So at the end of the previous book, Jack was one of five captains sharing out a prize of some several million pounds, and this would have made him enormously wealthy and guaranteed his marriage. Of course.
In the opening scene of this one we hear that, legally, Spain had not declared war on Britain at the time, so legally, that money is not prize money, so legally, it should just be kept entirely for the government and not distributed to the sailors and officers who actually did the fighting at all, despite that being the well-established custom of the day. Legally, see, they don't have to hand it out, even though the people who designed the mission, and the people who executed the mission, all felt certain that it was a legit prize at the time and acted accordingly.
Stephen's friend Sir Joseph, head of Naval Intelligence, is arguing that of course it should be prize money, for large numbers of very good reasons, not least that he designed the mission with that in mind.
But the new First Lord of the Admiralty is a civilian politician. And he openly mentions Stephen Maturin's name, despite the fact that Sir Joseph had stressed to him that the man is a confidential agent. The First Lord does not catch the hint. And then he asks who the captains are, and remembers that Jack Aubrey's father is an opposition member in Parliament, and immediately Sir Joseph knows that it's over; this is political wrangling now, and this man will make a decision that harms the national interest and the morale of the service and everything else simply because General Aubrey is a politician he does not like.
So there is no prize money. And Jack is not out of debt. And cannot marry Sophie. And, far far far worse, Stephen's name is now exposed to a crowd of non-confidential people of no particular discretion, particularly marked as a secret agent with knowledge of Spanish affairs.
Anyway-- zooming out from that crackerjack first scene, and it is despite how it sounds, it's really well-told political intrigue with a very good layering of easy-to-understand, easy-to-deplore bullshit (and Admiral Harte gets his shitty little nose in there being a massive hypocrite, have no fear) -- the general situation is thus:
Jack, still in the Lively, is in the Med bottling up the French fleet in Toulon, and is engaged to Sophie-- legally, with all kinds of avaricious wrangles from Mrs. Williams, all the terms and conditions he acquiesced to unprotesting, so that Sophie will legally own most of their joint property. Diana has run off to India with Canning; Stephen has been collecting intelligence on them, though mostly it seems for the purpose of hurting himself with it. Stephen is to go to Minorca to do more intelligence stuff despite the fact that his name has been exposed-- the news will not have reached them, Stephen says coolly, declining to cancel the mission.
The Lively has a schoolmaster to oversee the young gentlemen's lessons. (Prior to being a midshipman, a young gentleman will be expected to have served three years of sea time, with the status of First Class Volunteer; many are listed as servants during this time, and many of them do not actually report to the ship during this time-- entering a friend's son on one's books to say he was on a ship long enough that when he joins he can just start as a midshipman with no waste of time is a perfectly accepted kind of little fraud, very common in Jack's social circles. "Young gentleman" as a category seems to include both the volunteers and rated midshipmen. But the Lively has a number of quite young gentlemen actually aboard, including the five-year-old [or, seven. he was five in the previous book but in this book, some weeks later, he is now seven] son of one of the lieutenants, as he came home from a voyage to find his wife dead and no family remaining to care for the child, so the little boy has been onboard ever since. Apparently Babbington may actually have still been a volunteer during some of the events of Master and Commander, but of course this is not consistently represented. I fully support an author doing whatever the hell he wants with timelines, and it is absolutely consistent with the inconsistency of historical records, LOL.)
Anyway-- Jack also actually went to sea as a volunteer very young, and the ship he was on did not have a competent schoolmaster, so he has suffered his entire life from not a very good education. He is sitting in on the young gentlemen's lessons ostensibly because he is concerned for them and wants to ensure they learn what they must, but in practice, he is taking advantage of this opportunity to get a proper thorough grounding in his own education, belatedly, and is thereby unlocking a real true love of mathematics, heretofore only instinctively guessed-at.
The Lively has seen long prior service in the South Pacific, and as such has a number of Asian crew members aboard. (So we do now see the word Chinaman occur, which unlike Indiaman does refer to humans, but is used as a neutral descriptor; I will nevertheless henceforth be avoiding its use, though to be fair I think it only occurs once in the book anyway.) Jack is pleased with the Chinese and Malayan crewmen, largely, as they all are unfailingly polite and have a number of useful skills, and are excellent seamen. But he finds out during an elaborate cutting-out expedition that many of them had formerly been pirates; they slaughter their opponents with absolutely stunning efficiency in a quite practiced manner despite how little combat the Lively itself has seen.
They make for Minorca to pick up Stephen but he does not make the rendezvous. Another Catalan man appears, and says Stephen has been taken, and is being tortured by the French in Port Mahon. Jack knows the city. With the Catalans, he sets up a rescue mission, and frees the prisoners, burns the house (coincidentally, the house where Captain and Molly Harte used to live), and rescues Stephen, who has had all his fingernails pulled out and has been stretched on a rack. (Touchingly, he has hallucinated Jack coming in to rescue him before, and so when it truly happens, is surprisingly calm, mistaking it for another hallucination.) It is a taut little action, badass as fuck. The officers of the Lively are disappointed when Jack won't take them, but this is not an official sanctioned expedition and there will be no glory, no report, no credit, no advancement of career-- it is simply a pragmatic necessity, and he wants only people who know the ground (his own people, Killick and Bonden) plus enough to pad out the numbers to make it work, so he takes those of the Chinese and Malay pirates who choose to volunteer, since this is just the ticket for them. (All of them volunteer.)
(A side note. The Catalan who helps them is named Joan. The audiobook narrator pronounces this Catalan man's name, which in Spanish would be Juan, and is pronounced the same, as the English woman's name Joan. Come on Simon. I believed in you.)
They get Stephen and get out, and we resume the tale in England with Stephen staying at an inn in Portsmouth. The Lively has been handed back over to her real captain, Hammond, at Gibraltar.
Jack is immediately arrested for debt as he tries to get the invalid Stephen into a carriage to go from Portsmouth to London, so off he goes to a sponging-house, hero or no; he goes quietly and resignedly. Sir Joseph Blaine is shocked to hear that heroic Jack is imprisoned; he had arranged for at least a consolation, an ex gratia payment, for the captains who were denied prize rights over the Spanish treasure, but it comes out that the agent has been slow in paying it out, and Jack is helpless without it. Blaine resolves to see it settled, at least, and does-- Jack is released. At least provisionally; there are other debts.
Sir Joseph, in his gratitude for Stephen's rescue, gets Jack another ship-- HMS Surprise, on an errand to carry an emissary to Kampong. It's a good long mission in a lovely ship (in which Jack served as a midshipman long ago), and he hopes it will give Jack's affairs time to settle.
Stephen turns to Bonden, asking him to write a letter for him, since his hands are so injured, and it comes out abruptly that Bonden is illiterate.
'Bonden,' cried Stephen, 'take pen and ink, and write -' 'Write, sir?' cried Bonden. 'Yes. Sit square to your paper, and write: Landsdowne Crescent - Barret Bonden, are you brought by the lee?' 'Why, yes, sir; that I am - fair broached-to. Though I can read pretty quick, if in broad print; I can make out a watch-bill.' 'Never mind. I shall show you the way of it when we are at sea, however: it is no great matter - look at the fools who write all day long - but it is useful, by land. You can ride a horse, sure?' 'Which I have rid a horse, sir; and three or four times, too, when ashore.'
Bonden takes the message on foot, and goes and fetches Sophie and Pullings, Sophie to write the letter from Stephen to Jack, and Pullings to carry it. This allows them to arrange for Sophie to come along to the rendezvous, so that she can see and speak to Jack briefly without her mother's knowledge. Jack had tried to release her from the engagement when his renewed troubles with debt became apparent, but she wished to refuse, but could not speak to him directly about it, so this is their chance.
She sneaks out at night and goes in the coach with Stephen, and there gets a half an hour (well, forty-five minutes; Stephen with the timepiece is soft-hearted) of conversation with Jack before they must part ways, her to go home and sneak back in to her house, Stephen and Jack to go on to the Surprise, waiting in Plymouth.
The Surprise makes her way off around the world, saddled with a moderately ineffectual but amiable first lieutenant named Hervey who has influential friends, and a second lieutenant named Nicolls who is inoffensive if clearly suffering from major depression, but with Tom Pullings as the third lieutenant, competent and familiar. They are becalmed awhile, and Jack teaches Stephen to swim-- badly, but at all, which is an accomplishment.
'Did you see me?' [Stephen] cried as Jack came nearer. 'I swam the entire length: four hundred and twenty strokes without a pause!' 'Well done,' said Jack, swinging himself into the boat with an easy roll. 'Well done indeed.' Each stroke must have propelled Stephen a little less than three inches, for the Surprise was only a twenty-eight gun ship, a sixth-rate of 579 tons - the kind so harshly called a jackass frigate by those not belonging to her. 'Should you like to come aboard? Let me give you a hand.'
Some of the men get scurvy. They run short of supplies and are down to eating rats, which they euphemistically term "millers" out of absurd delicacy. Stephen has pet rats, he is feeding them madder as an experiment.
They find St. Paul's Rocks, where Stephen begs to be put ashore for a moment to study the birds. Jack declines, as it is Sunday and one cannot ask the men to work on Sunday, but the second lieutenant Nicolls volunteers to take him over in the little rowboat for a few hours.
A sudden squall damages the ship and washes poor depressed Nicolls away, along with the little boat; Stephen survives, but is stranded, and the Surprise driven away by the wind. Some undefined time later (two days?), Babbington comes in the barge with Bonden and others rowing double-banked in a great hurry straight into the eye of the wind where the ship herself could not come, certain the Doctor must be dead but hoping against hope to find him. They do, alive, and bring him back to the ship.
Stephen claims that the extreme heat on the shelter-less rock has worked miracles on his torture-twisted tendons.
'I wish you joy of your rescue, Doctor,' said Mr Atkins, the only man aboard who was not pleased to see the barge return: Stephen was attached to the mission in an artfully vague capacity, and the envoy's instructions required him to seek Dr Maturin's advice; Mr Atkins's advice or indeed presence was nowhere mentioned and he was consumed with jealousy. 'May I fetch you a towel or some other garment?'- with a look at Stephen's scrofulous shrunken belly. 'You are very officious, sir; but this is the garment in which I shall appear before God; I find it answers pretty well. It may be termed my birthday suit.' 'That has choked the bugger off,' said Pullings to Babbington, just above his breath, out of a motionless face. 'That is one in his bleeding eye.'
During Stephen's absence, however, he finds that someone has stolen his rats, and he is furious.
Babbington is given an acting promotion to lieutenant to replace Nicolls. His perfect delight in this is marred only by his guilt at having, along with the rest of the larboard midshipmen's berth, eaten Stephen's rats, and he blubberingly confesses. Stephen revenges himself only mildly for this offense.
Jack wished to avoid putting ashore in Brazil, to avoid official delays, but Stephen suggests they just find a village and buy green stuff there, which works. Stephen of course has to go ashore. He promises not to return with any vampires, but in the event comes back with a three-toed sloth, which does not like Jack. Jack wins it over by giving it grog, in time-honored sailor fashion. Stephen discovers this and is indignant, leading to possibly the funniest line in this book:
Stephen looked sharply round, saw the decanter, smelt to the sloth, and cried, 'Jack, you have debauched my sloth.'
The dignitaries aboard are annoying and take up an enormous amount of space, including Jack's entire great cabin, so that he must room with Stephen in a smaller space. The envoy himself, a Mr. Stanhope, is dignified and kind (though a bit remote: "Once he had established that Jack and Hervey were connected with families he knew, he treated them as human beings; all the others as dogs - but as good, quite intelligent dogs in a dog-loving community"), but his head secretary, Mr. Atkins, is an officious, self-important, tale-bearing busybody universally loathed onboard.
Stephen teaches Bonden to read and write. They have their lessons up in the top, for privacy-- Bonden is not keen to be mocked on his scholarly habits, and hides the book when the midshipman Callow comes up to deliver a message. Stephen doesn't notice this.
They get, finally, to the high latitudes, where there is a huge blow, though Stephen is consoled by finally seeing the albatross. The dignitaries complain that the ship leaks and demand better accomodations. Stephen refuses to pass the message and tells the officious secretary to go tell Jack himself. The man declines to do this, as Jack is currently lashed to the wheel in the driving rain working like hell round the clock with all hands to keep the ship from broaching-to and foundering, and indeed shortly after winds up clinging for his life to a broken mast in the front of the ship trying like hell to keep the sea from overwhelming them. Surprise is damaged internally, her timbers strained, and they have to limp the rest of the way. Not a single rat is left in the ship, the stores are dangerously low.
I wasn't going to do this but I'm going to divide this. I swear I'll get better at making these short. I'm kind of doing a... rehabilitative exercise on my ability to write, here. Coming up is part two, Bombay! With critical updates on How Many Indiamen Tom Pullings Has Been In! And you'll never guess who gets the clap!
#liveblogging the aubreyad#tom pullings#jack aubrey#stephen maturin#patrick o'brian#spoilers for all the book plots#book report#i need to institute word limits#i don't have the capacity to mentally organize myself#but i'm working on it
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(it probably wasn't actually Idia's fault)
(or was it)
some quick initial reactions to celebrate Diasomnia Day One! it felt like a bit of a short intro, but oh, what a tasting menu of things to come.
#art#long post#twisted wonderland#twisted wonderland spoilers#twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers#twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers#it's been thirty seconds and already#lilia is sending himself to a farm upstate where he'll have lots of rabbits to chase#malleus does a whole flashback to his most embarrassing childhood memory#ponytail lilia CONFIRMED we have a CONFIRMED SIGHTING everybody#idia does a surprisingly good crowley impression. this is not important to the plot but it's important to me personally.#also silver is probably a cursed prince or something WHO CARES look at these COOL ACORNS#the mental image of silver and lilia having that little heart-to-heart about the ring#while sebek is five feet away sorting laundry#absolutely incredible#meanwhile yuu continues to just have no survival instinct whatsoever#if a horned man approaches you at midnight and goes 'wouldn't it be nice if we never had to say goodbye to anyone ever?' DO NOT SAY YES#also if he starts bragging to you about his sorcerer ancestress DO NOT be like 'yeah but...did she maybe kind of suck'#'was she just super unlikeable personally speaking'#we are so lucky that for some reason malleus is really into all of our weird bullshit#okay shutting up now i promise#i just have so much to say and so few tags to do it in
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i present: my extremely long and highly specific list of book recs for my fellow rings of power fans
#apparently this is what i do on my off days from work when i'm sitting on the couch recovering from a covid vaccine haha#also: there is a book on this list for a plot twist that inspired the same level of glee as the sauron reveal#but i can't say which one since it is a BIG SPOILER. but if you know you know#pie says stuff#pie reads#rings of power#the rings of power#trop#rop#lotr#banewreaker#gods of the wyrdwood#deathless#dark rise#dreadful#the sword defiant#for the wolf#long live evil#witch king#sleepless#dark lord of derkholm#the children of gods and fighting men#silver in the wood#winter be my shield#godkiller#black sun#the stardust thief#the unspoken name#good grief that's a lot of books why did i tag them all
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Something a lil funny about wishcraft smelling like sugar, you're telling me that traveler who doesn't wash their hair smells like a bakery? Press X to doubt
#isat#isat siffrin#isat spoilers#sorry Siffrin but you smell like dirt unwashed hair and oil there is NO WAY THAT SUGAR SMELLS GOOD ON YOU#I bet Isabeau kisses them post canon and is like. Wait why do you taste like caramel?? Why is this a YA book all of a sudden?m#plot twist thats why Isabeau pushed Siffrin away during Bad Touch. He was just too surprised by the sugar overload
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The wildest experience of recommending Gideon the Ninth to someone was my friend who, after reading up to the second trial, casually said "yeah, one of my theories is that the trials are preparing the necromancer to absorb the cavalier's soul". With four people having read the whole series so far in the zoom, the amount of self control it took to keep our faces neutral.......
#the locked tomb#gideon the ninth#gideon the ninth spoilers#<- just in case#e's finished the book now so we can talk about it but it was *wild*#also e was casually picking up on the loose threads that were set up for the second book like......#we all had to be like yeah no that's on purpose#they don't talk about who the cohort is fighting because it's a major plot point in the next books#i can't wait to hear er thoughts on harrow and nona
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Spoilers
Malenoa ascending to the afterlife, a bit hopeful that she's finally gonna meet Levan again:
Then she finds out he's been buying milk all this time and the only fatherly thing he's done for their son is cheer on him during Spelldrive
#lol joking#although it's a nice plot twist if that theory is real and there's a tragic reason why all of this happened#i had a conversation with a friend about this and i might share it if i find time later#book 7 spoilers#twisted wonderland#ventique rambles#malleus draconia#mama draconia#papa draconia#dire crowley
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they girlbossed Sally Jackson
#pjo#pjo tv#riordanverse#sally jackson#this shall be my non-spoiler only review of the show so far#just watched the first two episodes - they were good!#i might make a post about Percy's char so far cause i am very pleasantly surprised so far with the adhd experience vibes#my compliments to the writing team for the good good disabled character rep in this script#very pleased with almost all the characters and plot so far#my only one i'm iffy on is Sally as mentioned ^ they girlbossed her#like. book sally is most defined by her kindness and perseverance. this sally is just kind of. tough. she's tough. girlboss.#which is not necessarily a bad thing? she's still a fine character she's just different#also only semi-spoiler in my review: Chris is there! Love that Chris is there#he's just there! but i am a rogue demigod enjoyer#so his presence alone is appreciated
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also erin please please please be having a vampire baby. that would be so good for me. if you're having a vampire baby then I can officially start a collection along with ultraviolet 1998.
#for those of you who haven't watched ultraviolet (spoilers btw)#there's an episode where a woman is vampire pregnant and she wants a child but isn't sure what to do#so she goes through a phone book to find an abortion clinic just to talk#and as she's there she realizes it's actually a pro life clinic#and the christian paraphernalia around the office makes her spontaneously abort anyway#10/10 use of a vampire baby plot for all it's worth#midnight mass#marina marvels at life
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The amount of criticism and hate the wottg book is getting makes me scared to like it bc it feels like if I do then I’m doing something wrong😅
#I read for the feels and vibes so most of the time I’m not paying THAT much attention to actually properly critique it#I fear we may have gone into this book with inadequate standards and that’s why many are incredibly mad and disappointed#I’ve seen many critiques being about Annabeth playing into ‘Percy is dumb’ but I feel like that’s his own insecurity#like when you think your hair or smth looks bad and that everyone thinks the same but it’s really just you that notices#but I am afraid to say that#I don’t think this book was supposed to be a big adventure with plot twists and a lot of character development#bc if it was then yeah this is definitely not that but who said it was supposed to be#also if you’re aware that it’s a cash grab then maybe just maybe don’t buy it????#I like some rr crit but now I’m just scared to like this book at all#once again this is not that deep take this with a grain of salt or don’t even interact to disagree#people are feisty okay they tend to get upset when u disagree#pjo#percy jackson#percy jackson and the olympians#annabeth chase#heroes of olympus#hoo#wrath of the triple goddess#wottg#spoiler free#pjo fandom
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It's giving... "but I was thinking about you the whole time".
#on the spoilers im reserving judgement until ive seen the whole show myself which ill be doing weekly#but i have heard from people who have seen it all and i cant lie i absolutely think theyre gearing up for canon call it a plot twist#caryl#the book of carol#daryl dixon
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do u think the authors chose the leaders to be specifically thunderclan & windclan so they could name the conbo stormclan bc u would've
Hm probably becoz they are not really neighbours in the forest, so the territory shape is kinda awkward. The authors probs picked the leaders randomly tho tbh. I can imagine Galestar and Stripestar scheming to come up with that name and being so chuffed about it as well lol.
#but yes they defo did#warrior cats spoilers#ivypools heart spoilers#it just sucks that stormclan is likely gonna be some bs Important 6th Clan and not like#why wasnt this a plot for a book set back then the rise and fail of it :/#or the clans are all gonna merge in changing skies like stormclan or smth
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3. Tempest
Post 6.0, things are changing for the Scions.
They just haven't told all of them yet. So naturally, that becomes an issue.
word count: 1,313
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“Big things ahead for us, I should think,” Alphinaud chimed happily without looking up from the letter he had brought in to work on.
“Hmm. Bigger than what we just finished?” Serella asked, her own focus deterred from goldsmithing between his comment and the ache in her ban.
“Oh heavens, I should hope not! Many changes loom on the horizon, but much will feel familiar. It will be nice to go to ground again, so to speak. Not that we should hasten to our next task, of course, but having a plan is preferable.”
There was a peculiar pause there—only a few moments, but long enough that Serella caught the way he flitted his eyes toward her with as little movement as possible. Had she not stopped fiddling with her project, she might have missed it entirely…which she suspected he had been hoping for.
“What do you mean,” she asked slowly, “when you say we will go to ground again?”
That got him to set his pen down, though he kept his eyes on the paper in front of him.
“We Scions have been talking—”
“—Without me?” she asked with care.
“Oh!” Alphinaud was startled into actually looking at her when he seemed to realize how horrible it sounded when put like that. “No, not with the intent to leave you out of the discussion, of a certainty, but we thought to bring it up when you were perhaps a bit further along in recovery—”
“What are you lot talking about, then? What’s this plan I’ll find out about later?” she pressed, already thin on patience.
Silence stretched for another few heartbeats, drawn out further by Alphinaud’s resumed refusal to look at her.
“I— well, ‘tis hardly a plan just yet, but…given all that we have accomplished, and how far the Alliance has come—”
“The Grand Company of Eorzea.” Serella corrected him.
“Yes, yes, the Grand Company,” Alphinaud hastily corrected, adding, “though even that name change proves how far they have come. Far enough along that I believe it time for the Scions of the Seventh Dawn to slip back into the shadows. We aim to announce our disbandment upon your medical clearance—”
“Disbandment?” Serella gawked.
“Not in truth! Only insofar as the official story will tell!” Alphinaud reassured, at last turning to her fully.
Serella wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the conversation, at the way he looked surprised that she might take umbrage with the notion.
“We are an organization that has always worked in shadow in service to the star—”
“Oh come off it,” she cut him off waspishly, “Minfilia called us the worst kept secret in Eorzea before we had even moved to the Rising Stones. If you think for one second we were ever fully hidden—”
“I am under no such delusion.” Alphinaud huffed. “Even if only in principal, however, we were not outwardly acknowledged.”
“Until Minfilia specifically declared that we would be a public institution. To be open and honest with the people we fight to save. And you would undermine that, Alphinaud?”
“The world has changed, Serella,” he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, “to even begin to speculate on what Minfilia would do after all of this is a disservice to her memory.”
“And the choice to lie to our friends isn’t? To our allies? After fighting alongside them in the name of truth and unity? When we have only barely started pulling back as arbiters for advanced technologies and mediators between peoples post-Calamity? For what purpose, even? So you won’t be pestered by the things they don’t ask of us anymore?” she asked.
“Not—not lying—well, alright, ‘tis a lie, but one that we feel—”
“We?”
“—is necessary. The city-states will continue to grow independent on their own—”
“You know they only asked us for help when they couldn’t do what we did, yes? That such needs were why the Scions were even founded to begin with?” she pressed him. “I don’t even particularly like the governments we’ve worked with, and even I would not be so uncharitable as to consider them demanding.”
“They did ask much of us—” he began.
She was having none of it, however, citing, “Eorzea was losing to Garlemald when I joined the Scions. Do you even remember that? It was a lifetime ago, aye, but they didn’t even ask us at first—do you not recall how close they came to surrendering? Now that they have the means to combat primals without the Echo and a cure for tempering, you cannot even trust them to restrain themselves from asking needless favors?”
“‘Tis not only up to me—” he sidestepped.
“But you suggested it, I’d wager.” She countered.
When the silence re-entered the room, it was incredulous. Stifling.
“That…is a cruel assumption,” Alphinaud said slowly, eyes averted.
Unfazed, Serella blanched, “Am I wrong?”
Silence chimed in to answer on his behalf: of course he did.
“I think it more than fair for us to step back from—” he tried to pivot.
“So do that. Assign other Scions to Eorzea’s care if you feel you’ve done your part. Disbanding would displace dozens of our colleagues. How many of us have rooms in the Rising Stones with nowhere else to go? For how long was I one of those colleagues?”
“Everyone would remain on the payroll—”
“But disbandment would require us to scatter. To “keep up appearances” and give credence to the lie. Have you factored in where our colleagues will go? How long will we be scattered? What will happen to the Rising Stones and the Waking Sands?”
“We’re barely starting the talks for this now, I know not what we will do to address these things—” he tried to argue.
“Have you told Estinien?” she asked pointedly. “Does he get a vote?”
Silence once more interjected—of course Estinien doesn’t know yet.
Nor was he an Archon.
“Well…” Alphinaud meandered.
“After all the effort the lot of you used to cajole him into joining, finally reassuring him he’s got a steady place to rest his lance outside of Ishgard, this is his thanks not even six moons on?! And what of the others?!”
“As I said, we’re still working it out—”
“So you’re bringing this to the table with no logistics, no plan, and nothing to act as a safety net for those of us that aren’t Archons?” Serella pressed.
“Were our deaths not enough?” Alphinaud asked, tired. “I care for our comrades’ well being. You know I do. But I haven’t the answers yet.”
“Were any of mine?” she countered. “You got to come along for the full ride once, and that was enough, was it?”
“I know not why this is an argument,” he huffed, throwing his hands up in the air as he added, “I still want to work to help Garlemald—your betrothed leads the charge in that—”
“Which makes it all the more insulting you would have me lie to him. You would leave no organization behind the lot of you, nothing to help future generations, no “guiding light” like Loui—”
“I know,” Alphinaud said in a low voice, “what my grandfather wanted. And I know what we want.”
“And who is we, Alphinaud?” Serella asked again in a matching tone.
Silence’s presence made itself known in the room again. It hummed in her ears, it buzzed in his blood.
“I think…I should go.” Alphinaud murmured, easing himself down from his chair. “Mayhap we can revisit this once you are better. You’re talking like you did years ago when you thought yourself alone.”
“And little wonder. You talk like you did when you thought to form the Braves. You’ve never seemed younger.” Serella quipped, already leaning back into her pillows.
If his flinch was any indication, Alphinaud understood it as the furthest thing from a compliment, yet silence saw him out of her room.
#ffxivwrite2024#ffxivwrite#alphinaud leveilleur#ffxiv#serella arcbane#endwalker spoilers#6.0 spoilers#is it obvious I'm deeply critical of this plot point#anyway it's a fun excuse to explore the Scions' biggest vice: their inability to unlearn academia#and all its institutionalized bullshit#it's easy to forget because most of them don't *behave* like book nerds but that's not what institutionalized academia is#ANYWAY I'm not gonna do all of the ffxivwrite prompts I'm just doing the ones that speak to me#it's fun to not be pressed about it#like I can just use the writing exercises for what they are
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Is there any indication that Fellow Honest has a limp like the original Honest John?
I don't think so? but we haven't actually seen him walk or anything (the sprites just zwoop around the screen like everyone's on skateboards), so no indication he doesn't either! no reason it can't be headcanon. :D
the first part of the event was pretty much all setup, so we still don't really know anything about him or Gidel at this point! we might learn a bit more when the next part comes out tomorrow (but more likely it'll be in part 4, maybe some crumbs in part 3 if we are lucky) (I am expecting part 2 to be standard "walk around and look at stuff and talk about it forever" event filler with perhaps a dramatic cliffhanger to hook us for next week) (but who can say for another...checks watch four and a half hours, wow, that next part really snuck up huh)
#twisted wonderland#twisted wonderland spoilers#stage in playful land#stage in playfulland#i am excited to find out what is going on with this evil theme park!#and i am willing to sit through three hours of the characters being like 'according to legend blah blah blah'#'and that's why we read books upside-down or whatever'#jk jk i don't generally mind the filler; there's usually some cute moments and i do like seeing what references they've decided to pull!#i just think it's funny how painfully filler-y it can get sometimes#anyway for all we know they might just jump directly into the plot this time! one can hope!#i'm bracing myself for in-depth discussions about an apple core is all i'm saying
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was compelled to do a bit of rudimentary research about “michaela stirling” and am now of the most certain persuasion that this is what bridgerton might be for. for this. for this fun little description on the francesca-book fandom wiki-page:
After a lifetime of chasing women, of smiling slyly as they chased him, of allowing himself to be caught but never permitting his heart to become engaged, he took one look at Francesca Bridgerton and fell so fast and hard into love it was a wonder he managed to remain standing.
being a qualifier about her:
i hope she wears riding pants and boots and buys ladies pianofortes and, if called upon, sings duets with women in harmony (winking subtly at any possibly saucy lyrics) before retiring to her library filled with smoke and books on the Law and an inkwell shaped like the maw of a wolf which reminds her of her father, for reasons unspoken. i hope she fences.
#reading bridgerton book plot summaries is kind of funny#they’re sort of all like: A Rake learns to Love and a Woman learns how to Fuck.#in every possible variation#bridgerton#bridgerton spoilers
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I'm down for genderbending Sophie. Hell give us lesbian Eloise. But Michael Sterling?? The entire point of that book is based on his male privilege. Then there is Francesca wanting a child leading her to go back on the marriage mart. Despite her reluctance because she LOVED John. You literally see her torn because she feels like she is cheating on her dead husband. We won't get her and violet bonding over the loss of her beloved husband now because she never loved him in the first place! We wont get her crying because the baby was the last piece of john she had AND the keys to the earldom. We won't get the marriage of convenience that came from Michael becoming the earl because women can't inherit. Despite frannie being far more competent at the job than michael. Which was something that was both acknowledged and celebrated in the books! We wont get frannie reading michael to filth for taking advantage of his male privilege and ditching when shit gets hard.
This was like the one DECENT bridgerton book. The one with fleshed out characters and a form of complexity.
Why destroy this plot when you had ELOISE RIGHT FUCKING THERE.
Her book is terrible and very outdated ALONG WITH BENEDICTS!!!!! Those books needed a makeover NOT THE ONE ABOUT GRIEVING YOUR DEAD HUSBAND AND INFERTITLY.
Not the one discussing important topics women go through AND RESONATE WITH. What the fuck.
This was a misfire.
#bridgerton#bridgerton spoilers#discourse#im all for inclusion but not sacrificing important topics that women resonate with#infertiltity is a HUGE thing#widows learning to survive grief and moving on is equally important#why this storyline???#why not the shitty eloise storyline where she is literally the built in nanny????#SHE WAS RIGHT THERE SHONDA#you were so fucking close!!!#sir philip could have had a sister!!!#but now she didnt love john#there is no marriage of convenience#and we got rid of infertility issues#so whats left?#pointless romance when the books was much more than that#its literally the only book with a decent plot#what the fuck
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finally got around to reading Mexican Gothic. It had me hooked and actually followed through (the buildup was good but I was worried the ending/revelation was going to fall flat. it held up though.) Anyway my take is that it felt like if a really good movie was a book. Like the story operated more on movie logic than book logic if that makes any sense. (not a criticism, just an observation.) Overall well done and well paced. Predictable enough to be coherent but mysterious enough to be compelling. There were a couple of elements that seemed a little clumsy to me, but forgivable in service of the whole. Would recommend if you want to read a book that feels like watching Crimson Peak or something
#Mexican Gothic#daisyreads#I think a movie adaptation could be incredible if done right#it saved me in a way because the last book I read was kind of a drag to get through and this one I crashed through in a couple days#Catalina was a more plot device than character but that's kind of hard to avoid given the nature of the story#and I could tell there was a real effort to characterize her so it's forgiven#also something I really liked about it was how I honestly had no idea if it was going to end well or not#they just felt so capital-D Doomed ///////////////spoiler////////////vv#that it felt like incredible mercy when all three of them actually made it out. as opposed to just the narrative#oug a little sensational—that's the genre lol—but at it's heart I think I liked how it dealt with the Themes#Noemí really said ''fix him? I'm going to undoom him from the narrative if it kills us all'' and good for her
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