@starsreminisce posted these comments on their blog:
And the last paragraph really stood out to me.
Something I've seen said by a certain side of the fandom is that a bonus chapter should not change the trajectory of what is in the actual book. I disagree with that because I look at the bonus chapters as a sneak peek of what's to come in future books (with this particular bonus following the pattern talked about in a post yesterday, with the resolution to the small story pointing us in the direction of Gwynriel), things that Sarah will at a later point expound on within the actual series even if they weren't initially clear to us without having read the bonus.
But say that's the truth, say the bonus chapters are only in line with that which we already know (which still works for Gwynriel because though the bonus hinted at Gwyn having a curiosity towards Az and him possibly having a bond with her, we do see bits of that in the actual book as well, there are scenes with her staring in his direction and scenes where he's staring in hers, where he shows admiration for her, where she's teasing him, where Nesta calls Az her new ribbon).
One of the big arguments is that it's extremely clear that Elain has no interest in Lucien, that it's been the case for multiple books. It's said Elain does not owe Lucien an explanation, that she does not owe him her time or attention.
So why not write an Elain bonus chapter in SF where she and Lucien have a conversation discussing how they don't want to explore their bond? According to E/riels there's no need for it in the first place since she's made herself clear but they have also claimed that she won't break the bond until we have her POV. Then wouldn't a bonus in Elain's POV before her book be the perfect place for something that's so obvious so that when she starts her own book "with Az", there's nothing standing in their way and the focus can be on their romance and the plot and not the emotional toll that her severing her bond with Lucien would take? If the Elucien bond is as much of a non issue as some claim it be be, then why not deal with it in an Elain Bonus Chapter? When her book starts, Sarah could even recap the events of the bonus for those who had missed it.
Elain thought back to that conversation she and Lucien shared shortly after Solstice. Where after Azriel's rejection, which had cut her deeply, she realized there was no place in her heart for anyone but Az even if she wasn't sure he still wanted her.
That would have actually be a perfect way for SJM to move us past the Elucien bond with very little in the way of feeling devastated on Lucien's behalf, where his heart is not being broken in real time within her romantic arc.
But the author didn't do that. She gave Az and FEYRE a POV. Feyre who already had 3 books and a novella and Elain with a total of 0.
We know Az doesn't think Lucien is good enough for Elain but we don't know if Elain agrees with that.
We know Az questioned the Cauldron because of his brothers and her sisters, that he hadn't thought of being with Elain beyond his sexual fantasies but we don't know where Elain stands on the whole "just wants one taste / why wasn't Az made my mate" debate.
We know Az thought of Elain as too trusting and hopeful but we've no clue whether Elain was really thinking anything of the sort.
We've got Feyre thinking back on how she made sure to keep her mouth shut on Elain not wearing Lucien's gloves, how had she put them on she would have never been pierced in the first place but we still don't know whether Elain's actions with the gloves actually line up with her thoughts.
If Sarah wanted to continue on with what is apparently so evident in the four books of buildup for E/riel there was nothing preventing her from finally giving us Elain's POV in SF and having her tell Lucien that there's no reason for him to hold out hope any longer.
The more likely explanation for why Elain wasn't given a bonus is because everything that E/riels and Az claim that is so very obvious regarding Elain's character might actually not be as obvious as they think.
If she's so happy in the NC, then why hide her thoughts?
If she's so in love with Az, that it's clear as day, then why hide her thoughts?
If she's so disinterested in Lucien, then why hide her thoughts?
If we're supposed to believe that Elain's choice is Az, that there is no competition and that it should not be a mystery to anyone at this point, then why has she been so reticent to put us into Elain's head?
51 notes
·
View notes
Blood of the Condor (Yawar Mallku), (1969), film poster. (director: Jorge Sanjinés)
"Ignacio (Marcelino Yanahuaya), the proud chief of a tribe of Quechua natives in remote Andean Bolivia, discovers that his wife cannot bear children. Like the other women of their village, she has been secretly sterilized against her will at an obstetric clinic operated by a purportedly beneficial aid group from the United States, with the covert help of the Bolivian government. Ignacio gathers the men of his tribe to exact revenge and bring justice to his people."
The story, which was based on accounts by indigenous people to Jorge Sanjines, provoked a public outcry which led to a government investigation about the Peace Corps' actions in Bolivia, ending in their expulsion from the country.
Part of an interesting albeit slightly flawed review on IMDB:
"... Molly Geidel, author of, "Peace Corps Fantasies: How Development Shaped the Global Sixties" found documents decades later clearly showing that the Bolivia Peace Corps director and volunteers with the agency, inserted IUDs in indigenous Aymara women at the time, despite not always having medical credentials and not being able to communicate well with the women.
So, it would seem that it wasn't the large-scale premeditated sterilization of a people that this film would have you believe (that is debatable), but none-the-less, an incredibly problematic policy practiced by the U.S. Peace Corps. It's not a long walk from nonconsensual contraception to accusations of population control. But the true story gets more complicated.
Long after this movie was released, a 2002 report by Peruvian Health Minister Fernando Carbone suggested that the president of neighboring Peru, all around asshole Alberto Fujimor, was involved in the forced sterilizations of up to 300,000 Quechua and Aymara women between 1996 and 2000 as part of a population control program called "Voluntary Surgical Contraception".
The United Nations and other international aid agencies supported this campaign, and yes, USAID provided funding and training for it. Whether these Western NGO's and Orgs were told that it was a voluntary family planning program (as the title suggested) or they knew it was a crime against humanity, I can't say.
The point is, the conspiracy theories this film uses to push its political agenda are based on either an eventual truth, or an ongoing truth that we simply don't have the full reportage of. So the movie's anger is prophetic or timely, but regardless, righteous."
Source:
36 notes
·
View notes
Appalachian Trailer Park!Sihtric - dating (SFW)
AN: This was supposed to be headcanons but now it's just turned into ramblings oops. This is not necessarily meant to be a universal Appalachian experience portrayal, but it is basically very close to mine and most people I grew up with. 😅
Masterlist here!
CW: Some sad moments, character death, AFAB!reader, talks of murder, talks of violence, blood a little, FLUFF (like tooth rotting kinda vibes)
Pairings: Sihtric Kjartansson x You
Word count: I'm guessing between 1 and 1.5k but I'm not real sure 😬 I kinda went crazy I will admit
You had lived in the same trailer park in the foothills of Appalachia your entire life. Despite anything that might lead someone to believe different, you liked it here. True, part of you longed for more. But how could one find more when their heart belonged to the mountains?
And maybe the cute guy who lived in the trailer across from yours had part of the reason to do that.
See, Sihtric moved in with his grandma, across from you, when you were both just entering high school. Your momma found out that Miss Ethel's daughter had been killed by her husband, and she had to take in her grandson because of it.
Miss Ethel was a lovely woman. She always volunteered to watch everyone's kids, during the summer she'd help provide the lemonade and the jar for catching lightning bugs. If anyone needed anything, from a cup of sugar to knowledge on hiding a body, Miss Ethel was there.
So, your little community welcomed the boy without a doubt. He didn't really cause any trouble, for the most part. Mostly just cussing in front of the little ones without thinking or throwing something in a fit of anger and making a loud noise.
Surely, wasn't a punishable crime.
Though it helped that you, the girl who helped tutor anyone who asked and baked cookies for the miners to have after their shifts, was sweet on him.
And boy, was he sweet on you.
He was working on his dirt bike in the driveway and you stepped onto your porch. Immediately, he fumbled around and dropped his wrench and cussed like a sailor.
Your cheeks heated up and you would debate to yourself on whether to go back inside or pretend like he wasn't there.
But your eyes connected. You waved. He waved. And it was the easiest thing in the world.
You started dating that same night, after he offered to teach you about his dirt bike and it ended with him kissing you.
Despite the doubts, you and Sihtric stayed together through it all.
Every year in high school began and ended with you walking through doors of the school hand in hand.
You both graduated, though him only by a thread.
He was there as you started college two towns over, close enough to commute daily so were still together.
You watched as he started working for the local garage.
When you were both twenty, Miss Ethel passed.
It felt sudden, especially for Sihtric, but you found out she had been sick for a while and just hid it from everyone. Including her grandson.
If anyone asked him, you were his rock.
You explained the situation to your college professors, and if you could make sure to keep up with your assignments according to the syllabus, they would find a way to make it work.
So you all but moved in with him officially in the weeks following. You had originally planned on waiting until you got your degree.
But you felt the need to take care of him. And at first he was just angry, angry at everything and the world and the gods and even God who he didn't believe in. He was going to work and coming home and going straight to bed. He wasn't eating, wasn't talking to you.
So, like any good girlfriend, you told him either he let you help him or you would beat him with a broom.
For the first time in weeks he laughed. You started staying with him that night and you just never left.
Before you knew it, you had graduated college, gotten a job in your field, and Sihtric was being poised to take over as shop foreman in the next few years.
And yet, you stayed where you were.
The trailer was nice. It would be fine until you got enough money saved up to buy a house big enough for the brood that Sihtric seemed to want.
For now? For now you had everything you needed. Sure the windows leaked sometimes if the rain rolled down the metal wrong way. Sure, Sihtric would sometimes have to spend a few days working on something else that broke.
But you had him. And that was enough.
The weeks may have been dedicated to work, but the weekends were for you.
Yes, you both always went to bed together. You always were affectionate (the man was a hugging machine after all).
But Saturdays he would wake you up by running a bubble bath for the both of you, using your favorite scent.
Then you would go get breakfast, usually going to Tudor's Biscuit World so he could get a bacon egg and cheese biscuit bigger than your face. You would get, as you called it, a deconstructed pot pie that you joked with him you would leave him for. He would tell you that would give him more money to work on his car.
But he would get you a pot pie at least once a week just because it made you smile. And you would get in the way help him at the fourteen million car parts stores he would go to just because you loved seeing him do what he loved.
Sometimes you'd go to the mall. It was slowly dying, all the family friendly fun stores quickly leaving. But there were still some good parts.
Like Rural King where you could get free popcorn and look at turkeys, chickens, and rabbits (plus any dog that people brought with them).
You would inevitably get sad when you were reminded you couldn't bring home the animals. Like, tears in your eyes, heart aching sad because you just wanted them to have a home.
Which would be forgotten, until you came back at least, when Sihtric promised you he would buy you a milkshake and a stuffed animal or a book of your choice.
Sihtric watched as you practically skipped to the bookstore. You spent an hour there, talking about books you wanted to read but couldn't buy because you couldn't buy the whole series and you were not doing that to yourself right now.
So, after getting your milkshake, you would go find a stuffed animal that spoke to your soul.
He would carry around the contenders for you, because it was those specific ones that spoke to you and you couldn't risk putting them back until you were certain.
And when, inevitably, you came to two that you couldn't pick between, he would tell you get both.
He spoiled you, truly.
Sometimes you would go to a local bar. Not because you personally drank, but mostly because watching drunk people do karaoke tickled something inside your brain.
It also meant Sihtric would wear his white tank top, which showed off his arms in the perfect way. And maybe you would be jealous over the way women looked at him. But how could you be when his arms were wrapped around you all night.
The man was not at all subtle about showing you off.
And if a drunken idiot got too bold with his words about you, Sihtric would suddenly be in protective mode. His voice firm and commanding when he gave the warning to the idiot, making your face a little hot (which you swore had everything to do with embarrassment and definitely not how his voice affected you).
If that wasn't enough to deter someone, and they dared touch you, that was it.
See the only reason you and Sihtric had not been banned from this bar was because Sihtric played just inside the rules.
No fighting in the bar. Fine. Sihtric wouldn't.
He would just gently move away from you before grabbing whoever touched you and throwing them out the door and into the dirt.
He would spend a few minutes wailing on the idiot, getting hit a time or two himself since he had had a few drinks.
But he would come back, knuckles busted, some blood on his shirt or spattered along his face, a bloody lip.
He would settle back in his spot as a waitress brought y'all an ice bucket and the first aid kit (which they regularly replenished now because of Sihtric).
You would get him just cleaned up enough, his hands in the ice for a few minutes at best, when he declared he was done and tired and just wanted to be with you.
So you would drive home, with a tipsy Sihtric singing loudly whatever love song played on the radio cause you would need further proof of his love.
You would settle into bed, being held close to him as you read to him until he fell asleep, and you followed him soon after.
Sundays would depend on you.
Sihtric practiced Norse paganism. You parents were very active in their Methodist church. It caused some conflict, especially when Sihtric started talking about your future children.
If you wanted to go to church with them, Sihtric would kiss you before you left to go and be in the parking lot to pick you up afterwards. There would always be flowers waiting for you. Sometimes it would be dandelions, as you insisted they were beautiful even if they were weeds, sometimes butter cups, and sometimes you got lucky and he had seen tiger lilies.
He would smile at you and kiss you while he handed them to you, ask if the service was good, and then take you somewhere to get lunch.
If you didn't really partake in their church, you both would stay in bed until noon. When you would wake up, you'd crawl out of bed and cooked some breakfast foods that would wake Sihtric up. He would sleepily stumble in the kitchen, grabbing the coffee you set out for him.
Sunday was a lazy day. You guys lounged around the house. Sometimes you both would play video games, sometimes you would watch a show.
There were times when Sihtric's friends from work, Uhtred, Finan, and Osferth, would come over on Sundays. You liked those guys a lot, if you were honest. They were all respectful of you, and kind, and Osferth cleaned up after them so you wouldn't have to. And mostly, they made Sihtric happy.
Sihtric and you would walk over to your parents' for Sunday dinner around 5pm.
Despite the differences in beliefs, and the way your dad not so subtly didn't really like him, Sihtric was respectful and kind to them.
He was the one who insisted you come, telling you he would give anything to have dinner with his family one more time, even if he didn't remember his dad fondly. Family was important to him, even if yours didn't like him, and he wanted you to have that
He would stay quiet, even taking his hat off when your dad would say grace.
He would make polite conversation, always eagerly bragging about you whenever he got the chance.
Sihtric would compliment your momma's cooking. She liked him, but since your dad didn't she tried to act like she didn't.
But she always managed to get him a little extra food to take home, would put his favorite cobbler in the dessert rotation, and make sure his favorite drink was always somewhere to be found.
Your dad was polite. That was about all he could manage. And that was fine, according to Sihtric, because he knew your dad couldn't bitch him out for making you happy.
Sunday nights would end back in your home. You would listen to his talkings of your life together. The promises he made.
He insisted once he became foreman, he would buy you a big house with a dishwasher and enough room for all the animals you could ask for.
You two would be able to have a family of your own, ideally with four children or more, and he would give you everything.
You assured him you knew he would keep the promises he made you. But you always thought to yourself how you would be perfectly content with him, here, forever.
You had a roof over your head, food in your kitchen, electricity and water on demand, and a whole lotta love. You had Sihtric.
It was a simple life. But it was yours.
Side note I could not find the original source of this picture if someone knows please let me know.
Taglist: @foxyanon
21 notes
·
View notes
inspired by @bunnliix's "The Point of No Return"
Things were a blur after they found his girlfriend's body. He had to make a statement, attend her funeral, and perform the next weekend of Coachella, all in such a short amount of time. His members tried to convince him not to do the next set, but he had to. There was no other safe way to release his anger than through his fierce on-stage personality.
People could tell that his demeanor was a lot more... well, less easy going. Every look, now, instead of the ease and happiness with which he performed before, was replaced with seriousness. He never smiled.
Fans were quick to notice this, and considering the events of the previous week, they praised him for not bringing on a stellar performance despite his clear shift in mood.
What they didn't expect was for him to never smile again.
He had a lot to think about after the second set at Coachella. He finally took his break before their next comeback, but he was debating on whether he could continue being an idol at all. He felt betrayed by the so-called Atinys who had done this and feared that he could never look at any Atiny the same way again.
He decided that this was his dream, and he wasn't going to let a few criminals have power by changing the course of his entire life more than they already had. He also knew his girlfriend wouldn't have wanted that for him.
And despite internally not being able to separate real Atinys from the murderers who took his love from him, he still knew that it wasn't their fault as a whole. They didn't deserve to be punished for what someone else did.
So, he continued his career with some limits. Fan interactions, especially one-on-one, were completely stopped. This meant no fan calls or meetings and even if an Atiny happened to see him at an airport or in a restaurant, he would not acknowledge them. He didn't do this consciously, but he couldn't bear to look at them.
On stage, he couldn't bring himself to perform with ease since the last time he had, a tragedy had occured. He could never smile in front of Atinys again. Thankfully that didn't stop them from loving him and supporting him, and even when there were a few netizens who criticized him for it, they were quickly squashed.
Hongjoong's trauma ran deep, and he could never forget his girlfriend's lifeless body and the cruel way in which she'd been taken from him. Continuing his career despite his grief was his "fuck you" to the people who had done this. Now they'd never get to meet him (before or after their jailtime) since he'd stopped all interactions with his fans.
In future contents, he often refer to his passed girlfriend as his wife since she would have been had she not been taken from him. In other members' lives, some Atinys complained about Hongjoong, to which they all told Atinys to be patient with him because he was grieving.
Hongjoong's demeanor with his loved ones didn't change as drastically as with Atinys. He was a lot more melancholy, but with his family and his members, he felt safe.
His members' hearts broke seeing their captain as a shell of the man he used to be, but they try their best to fill the gaps, hoping that Hongjoong would be able to find happiness again one day.
20 notes
·
View notes