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Atlas: Ah, it’s time for the yearly garden. Perfect, more strawberries for me to steal when you’re not around.
Taryn: I’ve always noticed, I just never said anything.
Atlas: OH. Shit.
Taryn: Kai isn’t home today, need me to tell him anything?
Atlas: Actually, I wanted to speak to you.
Taryn: If this is about the other night, can we not…
Atlas: We need to talk about it. Please?
Taryn: You seem to- Nevermind.
Atlas: I what?
Taryn: I shouldn’t.
Atlas: Taryn, if anything is going to come out of this conversation, you have to be honest with me.
Taryn: Even if it’s difficult to hear?
Atlas: [ squeaks ] yeAH. Hold on, there’s something in your hair.
Taryn: Atlas, what?
Atlas: Got it.
Taryn: [ scoffs ]
Atlas: Bee, wait-
Taryn: Please stop calling me that.
Atlas: I don’t understand.
Taryn: You really don’t see it, do you? You’re charming… [ pauses ] Calculating. Only showing me parts that you want me to see but there’s more to you than that. And I… Fell for it.
Atlas: That’s not what this is.
Taryn: Then tell the truth. Why me?
Atlas: Because I think you’re neat.
Taryn: Not good enough. Why?
Atlas: Because I look at you and I see someone I’ll never be. I was a bit jealous at first. Questioning if it’s even possible to be so sure of yourself and I wanted to test that theory. Push boundaries. Then I understood the beauty in that. Taryn, there is nothing to change about you.
Taryn: I- For fucks sake.
Atlas: That’s a valid response.
Taryn: Thanks for being honest.
Atlas: T-Thanks?
Taryn: I’m sorry I’m a bit speechless after getting a bomb dropped on my head.
Atlas: I… Don’t expect you to forgive me. But if it takes an eternity to try and make things right, I’d do it. I’d do anything.
Taryn: You’ve got to swear that you won’t try anything like that again. I’m not a person to confuse or just another endeavor.
Atlas: I swear.
Taryn: Because if you do, you’re dead to me, Atlas.
Atlas: I swear to you.
Taryn: To new beginnings.
Atlas: And to weird friendships. Damn. Your hands are kinda crusty.
Taryn: Huh… That’s such a curious way of accepting a gesture of kindness. Lemme just-
Atlas: HEY WAIT!
Taryn: [ chuckles ] I made some lemonade, want any?
Atlas: Hell yeah!
Taryn: What’d you do to your hands?
Atlas: I kept falling off my board.
Taryn: HAH! Get good.
Atlas: Taryn!
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Hii it's me, the anon who wants to eat your writings as desserts!
I've been thinking about something, specifically about Fragile!Reader. (Sorry if the bad English is bad)
During Dottore and Nahida's meeting, I like to imagine Nahida take a look inside Dottore's mind when he erased his segment. At first, she expected to see the horror and the unsettling mind of a mad doctor, a mind with nothing but ambition and insanity. How surprised she was when she saw you occupying most of the doctor's mind. How surprised Nahida would be to see that Dottore is capable of loving someone, especially someone so fragile as you are.
She probably commented on something about you and your relationship with the doctor to which the doctor almost instantly tried to change the topic with a lingering threat.
After everything that she saw, I wonder if Nahida would remember and keep the story about the Mad Doctor and his fragile beloved as a fairy tale. In my opinion, she would. And if she does, I wonder how she'll portray Fragile!Reader.
Ok that's it, my thoughts about Fragile!reader. Also can I be Dessert Anon? ><
YES!! I LIVE FOR DOTTORE AND READER VS NAHIDA INTERACTIONS!!
Nahida doesn't think she will ever understand the mind of the Outcast, nor she will ever agree with the way he works or thinks. He has long succumbed to the mind of a pure scientist, disregarding the value of human life if it will allow him to progress in his research. So, when the young God looks into the Harbinger's mind, she expects to see nothing different from that. But, even the God of Wisdom can be proven wrong, is something Nahida has come to understand, for although the Doctor's mind is certainly mad, he is also mad for you. That is certainly something she did not expect. She didn't even know you were still alive. So he's managed to prolong your life as well? But judging from what she's seen, you're still quite ill. Hm... the Dendro God is a mixture of surprise and intrigued. The Doctor is one who isn't above abandoning his experiments when they get boring or seem fruitless. And your case certainly seems hopeless, with no progress to be seen but... he still seems to be completely obsessed with you. It's strange, and a part of her understands and doesn't understand at the same time. Nahida knows that love can truly change people. But is the Doctor really one that could be changed? She finds it a bit hard to believe, but the evidence is right in front of her.
Of course, her curiosity cannot be contained and she has to inquire about you, to which Dottore blatantly disregards. He's not going to speak about you to almost anyone, much less a God. ("I didn't think the God of Wisdom would be so nosy about my private affairs.")
I imagine obviously she doesn't particularly like or approve of you, but Nahida still can't help but feel pity for you, with your illness and all. But she would still like to have a conversation with you. She would want to discover how you managed to have the Outcast wrapped around your finger... she would want to know your story... that is if you're willing to speak with her.
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So you know how Takayoshi gifted Akemi two songbirds in a cage together as a sincere apology for his mother?
I think those two birds are meant to symbolize both Akemi and Takayoshi. They are both marginalized in some way despite their privilege. Akemi as the daughter of a lord and Takayoshi as the disabled second son of the shogun are both denied agency in their roles despite their privilege. Takayoshi and Akemi both are song birds in a gilded cage. Two pawns to the political and social machinations of their parents. Akemi a victim to her father’s political aspirations and Takayoshi evidently a victim to his mother’s social manipulations.
(Aside: and possibly emotional abuse/neglect, with the way he was forbidden from speaking to women and who knows what actually happened to this first wife. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that it seems to me like this is all in service of maintaining a “respectable” image of the family, and cannot risk having people know he has a stutter. just spitballing here)
If I were to make a prediction for season 2, or a wish, it’s that I would like to see Akemi and Takayoshi form a genuine bond and alliance as two privileged-yet-marginalized individuals having to navigate a politically fraught and rigidly hierarchical society, and I think there’s at least some textual evidence to support this being a real possibility.
They demonstrate in the show Takayoshi is no fool and that he’s clearly an educated and well-read man. Take how he engages with Akemi’s poetry during sex compared to Taigen as an example. He simply has a disability and is somewhat submissive and subdued (likely due to being shamed or ridiculed for his stutter and getting little to no support as a child). They are capable of being intellectual equals. Any sort of power or control Akemi would gain over Takayoshi is by virtue of the kindness and empathy she is showing him, not because she’s outsmarting him. I believe Takayoshi is willingly surrendering himself to his wife and cognizant of this fact.
I think we may see a dynamic where Akemi will both advocate for her own political ends but also at times advocate for and try to protect her husband where she can where familial and interpersonal relationships are involved. I really really hope their union will be one that grows in political power through the healing power of love, compassion, and solidarity between two marginalized individuals.
They can acknowledge the humanity in each other and see each other as equals in their shared pain and victimization, and find empowerment through each other. If they cannot be their own masters at least they can be each other’s sole masters.
Takayoshi and Akemi may be two songbirds stuck in a gilded cage, stripped of their freedom and humanity. But they at least have each other and together they can harmonize.
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