#But he’s just so flagrantly abusive and in no world would I think someone should be with someone like that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

darrowsrising · 5 years

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Hey there! It’s the girl who writes really long posts about Virginia. Feel free to spilt this up if it’s too much to post at once.

I saw this: You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about this thing: people think Virginia always manipulates people, even the ones she loves, because she said once that it came easy to her (and then there was a lot more stuff) And I couldn’t help but wonder if this was because of what I said?

Not gonna get too far into this because I think we’ve had a good discussion about Virginia already, but I thought maybe I didn’t write my thoughts clearly the first time around so I wanted to try again.

Virginia says she’s always been able to manipulate people, so I assumed if she knows that about herself it’s because she’s done it relatively often. But the book doesn’t really make a thing about it so can I say definitely that she manipulates people? No. As to whether you can manipulate someone unconsciously — IDK maybe you can’t. I was envisioning a scenario where you’re nice to someone to get them to go along with you and it’s only after a while that you realize you don’t even like them and it was just a reflex to charm them. Maybe that’s not a thing.

But I think I got caught up in all this does she or does she not manipulate people stuff and ignored my main point, which was that, for me personally, I found it hard to connect with Virginia’s character because I didn’t have a sense of what she wanted (like, what were her reformist views before she found out about Darrow?) and I felt like I never saw her actually struggling with anything personal or anything that felt like a character arc. One option could have been to dive deeper into this idea that she can manipulate people, but Pierce didn’t go that way and that’s fine. I was only brining it up as something I would have wanted to see. I’m not trying to label her or reduce her whole character to someone who’s just manipulative.

Honestly I feel like I’ve laid out a lot of logical/rational reasons why Virginia’s character didn’t totally work for me and given specific examples from the books and it’s a little frustrating because, maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like no matter what I say it’s just going to be interpreted as, you’re just a hater. I don’t hate Virginia I just didn’t completely love the way her character was handled and I have reasons that go beyond oh I just don’t like her.

I saw somebody post that you can recognize a character is well written but still not like them (that’s how I feel about Roque lol) but I think the inverse is true, too. You can point to things in the text you did not like about how a character was written and still respect that character and the fact that other people like them.

Astrea: Ok, contrary to popular opinion, I don't throw subtle shade. If I have something to say I'll say it without 'wanking around the bush' (Sevro would be so proud of this joke, tho). I explained my side of things about Virginia's manipulation skills on the last submission you send and that was that. Trust me or not, there are plenty of people who hate on Virginia and exacerbate some of her traits to make her fit into their hate mold (if that makes sense). I understood where you come from with your argument and I said what I thought about the subject and that was it. I'm not going to make a call out, because I'm not going to start shiteshows in the fandom, but Virginia being a 'manipulative bitch' is all over the internet and I found most in comment sections.

It's fairly easy to make a mountain of out molehills when it comes to 'arguments why I hate x character' and that's what I wanted to critique in that post. That exagerating traits to justify your hate for a character is not cool.

But it had nothing to do with what you said, I understood why you dislike Virginia and I decided it's your interpretation of her character and so, your buissness. You don't try to justify hatred or sometthing equally annoying.

Lastly, Virginia struggling is always implied. Just to name some stuff: she lost at Deimos, she admits she struggled alone (without Darrow), after Deimos she went into hiding in the Asteroid Belt and gave birth to Pax, she soon left him with Niobe and by the way motherhood changed her she was probably constntly worried about Adrius finding him or other 1 million things a mother worries about. I mean, I understand that the way it was handled was not so satisfactory (because we only find out about Pax at the end of MS), but that's because it's Darrow's pov. That's why I want her pov, because it's more to her than what even Darrow gets to see. And her story should be more than just implied stuff.

Anyway, other stuff!

I think one thing you said you wanted to talk more about was Dancer and the Vox Populi. Honestly? I kind of get where they’re coming from. It seems like life for most low colors hasn’t been great since the Republic was formed, and it does seem like all resources are going toward the war effort instead of things like education for low colors or affordable housing or something. To me the most interesting part of Lyria’s story was to see just how bad the Reds had it. And it does seem like Darrow and Company’s only real plan is, first we win the war and then we start actually taking care of people. I get why people would be mad about that.

All that said I fully expect it to turn out that the Vox Populi don’t really have the interest of the people at heart. I’m not sure about Dancer. I don’t trust him, but I also can’t see him teaming up with what’s left of the Ash lord’s forces or the rim? Maybe he genuinely believes that they could have made peace with the Ash lord? I mean, I get why they’d want to try. It does seem like they’re stretched really thin and it’s making their military weak. Also Darrow really should be following the laws if he wants anyone to take the Republic seriously (I’m not saying I’m mad at him for making bad choices, I like it when characters make bad choices, I’m only pointing out that it’s a bad idea to break the law so flagrantly).

On the other hand, I get where Darrow is coming from. His enemies aren’t going to stop until one side gets a definitive win.

This issue between Darrow and Dancer is really intriguing because I can see both sides of the argument. I expected the Vox Populi to play a bigger roll in Iron Gold but they kind of faded away after the first few chapters. Maybe with the Virginia POV coming in Dark Age we’ll see more of them. I think they’ll ultimately turn out to be bad guys, but who knows?

Astrea: I dislike the Vox Populi. I do understand the struggles the Reds face now. I understand that the Rrpublic isn't the promiseland they all expected it to be and I understand the anger. But the Vox's side of the argument, although it has very good basis, the rest is hay. Non offence, but peace with the people who want to enslave you back or torture and maim masses so that every last drop of demokracy has dried out? Let them continue to make slaves out of 'your brothers and sisters' as Dancer calls them? What, the Reds on Venus and Mercury don't matter? No offence, but the peace was a scam and Dancer a fool for ever believing in it. Also, since when does Dancer have a say on who is a Red or not anynore? Because he fucking started the trend and the rest of the Reds kept it going.

I understand that resources are concentrated on war, but this is not something you can help. This war ends when someone loses for good. If you try an defensive war that will make the resources even scarcer as it requires more and faster. If you try to make peace...lol! Have you seen these guys having any ounce of honour - enough to respect ceasefires or actually come to negotiate without murdering anyone?

Idk, maybe I'm biased on the issue, but while the core values of Vox Populi are good, the way they proceed about them is bleah!

Darrow mocking the laws, though, is something I agree that must be resolved. He made himself a rogue, though so that the people allied with him won't start some civil war in his name. But he must deal with the consequences of that. And it will suck. But honestly, sitting nice and obedient wouldn't have solved anything. Although the Ass Lord's death wasn't actually the key to winning, I think it'll help in the long run and besides, it's also good news that they found out about Atalantia's plans so they could stop them. If he just sat on his arse, Darrow would have just watched powerless from the comfort of house arrest as the Republic will lose the war.

It's not like Darrow doesn't understand the struggles the Reds go through atm. He blames himself for that. He lets his own people spit on him and feels guilty that he didn't end the war faster. Also, last time I checked, the Senate made those awful immigration rules. Dancer paints Darrow as an enemy instead of pushing for actual reforms that could help Reds.

I think the Vox Populi's brain is actually a villain. But I'll wait Dark Age to see for myself.

I saw those q&a things you posted from reddit — I forgot about those! I had not thought that Darrow viewed his relationship with Virginia in a negative light in the beginning of GS. It seemed like he really missed her wanted to be back with her — very interesting to know that wasn’t 100% the case.

Err...it always seemed to me that that was a given. I mean, Darrow does miss Mustang, but also reiterates that she distracts him every now and again and he pushes her away a lot until chapter 43. At the gala he pushes away his feelings for her and tells her things even he doesn't believe. After they talk a few times to solve some miscommunication or issues that they have, he still pushes her away and she accepts it before the Iron Rain. Even during chapter 43 they still are pushing each other away, until they can't do it no more.

Their relationship waas far from perfect even in Morning Star...though, that's the beauty of it.

On other topics, I gotta say I feel like it would be fine for the “tone” of the story if rape wasn’t included. Also, the rape that’s actually called rape (so setting aside pinks) is all of women. I get that there are plot reasons why Titus only attacks women, but what about his allies? What about Tactus? The book also doesn’t really follow any of the survivors of rape in any meaningful way. I know Nila (sp?) shows up here and there but she doesn’t have a huge part. So it does feel like the rape was included to show that a) Titius is horrible and b) to set Tactus off on his character arc. And I didn’t need rape for either of those things. I think it’s important to talk about rape because there is still a huge stigma against victims, so I’m not saying I never want to see rape depicted in media. At the same time, I’m fine with seeing less of it. And I think there are other ways to explore power dynamics and abuse of power.

That's a great take on it. Nyla was indeed present here and there as a commander of her own team in Reaper's Army. And she sometimes sang to her friends near the fire. She was supposed to go to Vienna to study music, but she got an invitation to the Institute and although seen as 'a better offer', we all know she couldn't refuse it for other reasons. Also, Nyla helped Virginia conquer Jackal's Keep by leading her team. Fortunately, Tactus was stopped in time, but I would have liked to see more of Nyla too. What we got was cool, but Darrow wasn't interested in her development after Tactus was properly dealt with.

We should include Pinks, because the abuse they suffer is horrendous and shouldn't just be brushed off. Evey mentions it in Golden Son.

Honestly though, I am not in the position to say what should go about this. I disliked Titus's arc from start to finish and the use of rape was one of the reasons why.

It could have been better handled? Of course! But it is what it is and I'll take it like it is. It wasn't ASOIAF/crime/thriller bad, but it could have been handled better. And I'll expect better from now on and that includes the tv series they plan on doing.

One last thing: I just saw Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and I’ve never wanted Red Rising to be an animated show more lol. The animation in Spider Verse is sooooo beautiful and while I don’t think that exact style would fit Red Rising, it shows you can have animation without being anime (not that I’d mind that but it seems like a lot of people don’t like that style). I just think animation would solve a lot of potential issues: you wouldn’t have to worry about finding a bunch of 7 footers to cast for all the golds, or casting two different Darrows (one Red one Gold), or doing the visual tricks/CGI to make characters the right size. Plus you could do so much more with fight scenes and space battles. I mean, I watch Game of Thrones and that show has a huge budget, and there are things that still don’t look great. Also, it would really set RR apart from the Hunger Games/Divergents/Maze Runners of the world. I know we won’t get it because ultimately a lot of people straight up won’t watch a “cartoon” but I can dream.

Astrea: Idk, people do watch Young Justice. And it's not a simple cartoon, it has pretty mature stuff. It's very hard to convince the dudes in entertaintment that a project should be animated, because there is a stigma around what audiences think of animations.

Although I don't doubt Pierce Brown thought of that possibility. Animating Red Rising would be indeed awesome. But I don't want it PG-13. I want Sevro to swear and I want to see blood and gore.

I do love the anime style though...mostly because it's not just one style, it depends on the studio and the manga artist (not all the time, but it happens).

Thank you for your submission!💖

#red rising trilogy #iron gold trilogy #submission

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safty · 6 years

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To the Rescue (Part II) Chapter 30: Pillowtalk

New chapter is here! And with an email from Ao3, I’ve been notified that it was indeed a commerce violation that I was flagged for! Thankfully, with some compliance issues resolved, TTR should be back in good standing after a review by the abuse case people.

In the meantime, enjoy this chapter. Hopefully by next week or the week after, thing swill be back on, regular style.

Even if Seth had the time to discuss things frankly with his boyfriends, he wasn't really sure what he was going to say. Whether it was the obvious, looming cloud surrounding his inheritance or the more immediate problems of Roman's drinking, he was at a loss for words. Without the ability to triage the most important issue, Seth just felt listless and disconnected.

That night, Roman eventually came to bed after Dean, but the three were all siloed from one another, in their own space. Seth tried to half-heartedly cuddle with each of them, if only to make himself feel better. But Roman's snoring was terrible and Dean was even more fidgety than usual, springing up during the night to use the bathroom on more than one occasion.

Breakfast was quiet, and Roman seemed to realize he was being circled with a wide berth. Seth watched with a sort of dissociated fascination as Dean focused intently on nibbling his egg sandwich to completion before checking on the chickens. It didn't seem malicious or passive aggressive, but Roman cleared his throat loudly, looking around the kitchen as Seth mutely rinsed out his coffee mug.

"Ugh… sorry I've been kinda… slacking since vacay," Roman admitted, rubbing his eyes and leaning back in his seat. "I'm gunna clean the house up this weekend. Got the carpet cleaner's comin' anyway."

Seth just hummed, blinking hard. Past using the bathroom several times before noon, he wasn't sure if his coffee was doing anything for him anymore.

"Dean okay you think?" Roman asked, looking out the window to where their boyfriend was aimlessly wandering around between the garden patches. "Was sort of quiet… last night."

"Ask him if you want, I dunno," Seth sighed, shaking his head. Everything else seemed so much larger than the petty tedium between his boyfriends. He yawned hard and set his mug in the sink before going to the bathroom to shave, too sleepy and preoccupied to be polite. This was Roman's problem after all, not his. It wasn't like they could help him with his own problems right now.

Needless to say, Seth's detached mood threw their morning routine for a loop when he went to load his work bag into the Cadillac instead. For Seth, it made obvious sense. Roman only had to work a few hours in the morning and their carpooling was becoming inefficient. With all the last minute duties of the fundraiser, Seth was also sort of hoping that he might have to work later and have some time away from the house to occupy himself. Dean watched, obviously torn as Roman just went to the Jeep, likely a little put off by Seth's own grumpy attitude.

"I'll still pick you up if you want," Seth heard Roman call. He didn't bother looking up as he searched for a good song on his phone to play for his morning commute. Another plus to riding without Roman was that Seth wouldn't be subjected to R&B music he didn't want to hear. A little surprisingly, Dean took to the Jeep and Seth blinked, watching his boyfriends load into the larger car without a perfunctory goodbye.

"Whatever," he mumbled under his breath. Gripping the wheel maybe a little tighter than usual as he turned down the road, toward the highway. Hadn't Dean just confessed to him yesterday about being uncomfortable with Roman's behavior? Seth supposed he could be using the short ride to talk, but it seemed unlikely.

With everything going on, work was a godsend and Seth was ready to isolate himself all day if it meant he got a mental break from the world. With Roman and Dean just a few seconds behind him, he powered through the lobby, past Sami and the school group that was coming in, to Hunter and Stephanie's office that was darkly lit and unoccupied. He paused for a moment, squinting through the glass before his hand went to the door handle, about it open it. Usually he checked in with his boss before he put his things down in the maintenance room, it was just a habit at this point.

"Hay, you can' go in there."

Seth turned his head and came face to face with a rather large bearded man donning a lifeguard tube. He was quite a few inches taller than Seth, with chest hair that was puffing out from under his guard shirt, Seth blinked, amused.

"Uh, I work here?" He almost laughed, feeling the frustrations with Roman and Dean that had been just beneath the surface flare up again. "Employee of the month? I'm Seth Rollins."

The man raised an eyebrow, eyes flicking back to the water he was attending. If he hadn't been so flagrantly rude, Seth might have thought he was attractive. He was similarly bearded with long dark hair, and something about his voice was vaguely foreign, like british, or something.

"Well… you don' have a nametag or nuttin'," the man mumbled, re-adjusting the strap of his tube across his chest. "Thought you were just some patron."

"Don't worry about it man," Seth said, more dismissively than anything as he put his hand back on the door handle. If he was in a better mood, Seth might have asked for his name or at least put on a guise of benevolence. But that morning, he was more than happy to appear haughty and self-important as he came inside the office and flicked on the light.

Sure enough, on Hunter's desk, a note had been left detailing a set of tasks that still needed to be completed before the fundraiser the next day. At this point, Seth was sort of used to untangling his boss's shorthand scrawl, and he smiled as he saw a large circle of items that Hunter had simply scrawled SETH next to, in the margin.

Call Paige (See cell # on contact sheet) Working front desk w/ Sami? Fundraiser start time

Seth had remembered Hunter mentioning something about Paige, and he blinked, trying to think if it was best to just try texting her. Aside from always feeling a little stupid on the phone, he had next to no relationship with the girl. All he'd known was the swarm of gossip around her and he didn't really want to stick his nose in it.

Surf camp sponsorship: attn: Shinsuke

At this, Seth noticed an arrow pointing from the clipboard to Stephanie's desk, where a catalog of surfboard gear was resting on her desk. Sure enough, the catalog had a sticky note that said NAKAMURA in large script. Seth didn't really know what it was about, but he supposed he would probably have to go find the guy and give him the catalog.

Find Face Paint (restock??)

More Fundraiser stuff, and Seth sighed hard, trying to imagine where the facepaints were. Miz's office was a good guess, though there was a large rubbermaid container full of a miscellaneous selection of crap that White Water kept around for birthday party groups. It was likely that he'd have to do some digging.

Chairs from basement

This was pretty self explanatory. There were some chairs that Hunter had discussed needing to bring outside for use by the staff. If the note was referring to the metal folding chairs, he'd have to find the service cart to load them onto. For this, he might need someone's help, just because of his knee. However awkward it might be to go find Dean and Roman for their help at that point, he might have to.

Lanyards (See Sami)

Seth had no idea what lanyards the list was referring to. He might try to tackle that first, just so he could get an idea of what he was supposed to be doing.

Confirm water X class with Roman

"OO' was that guy?"

Seth blinked, hearing voices behind him, in the pool area. The tall guard that had accosted him on his was into the office was talking to someone. Though his voice was muffled, Seth could hear him through the glass easily. He didn't want to turn around and reveal himself, as the lights were on, and so Seth just played dumb, listening intently with his back turned.

"Who?"

"Dark haired guy," the man said. Seth sniffed, it sounded like he was talking to Dolph. To appear busy, he picked up a pen from Hunter's desk and twirled it between his fingers.

"Oh, Seth," Dolph said, lightheartedly. The back of Seth's neck prickled. Ever since he'd heard Dolph talk shit about him on accident, they'd been a little cold. "Hunter's sassy gay friend."

His chest went cold for a moment as the man he didn't know gave a snorting laugh and said something unintelligible. Dolph's words were entirely inappropriate- bordering on some sort of harassment, but Seth kept his cool, feeling his hands began to sweat. Dolph continued on, saying something along the lines of "Used to guard" and "mostly harmless" and the two men walked down the pool deck, moving onto a different conversation. Seth stayed rooted to the spot, bubbling with anger and the desire to call Dolph into the office for a man to man chat. Was Dolph really so stupid as to think that he hadn't heard him?

There didn't seem to be an opportune time to make his exit, but Seth gave himself a few moments before blindly leaving the office. Five steps out, and he was forced to double back for the clipboard, but even he didn't know where he was going. Dolph and the taller guy were on the other side of the pool and didn't even seem to see him, talking to a patron.

"Hey!" Sami piped up as Seth came behind the desk, pulling out the weekly work schedule and tossing the clipboard onto the counter with a flippantly careless thwap. "I got those little keychain things."

"What?" Seth said, unhearing as his gaze went down the list of guards working the pools that day. The usual 9:00-1:00 shift slot showed Dean in P-Pool and Baron opening the adaptive area. The name DREW MCINTYRE was printed large under the lap pool tier and Seth just blinked, wondering what he'd been hoping for.

"Hunter told me you were going to assemble these once we got them in," Sami said, kicking a large cardboard box in his direction which rattled with the noise of plastic packaging. "I can help too. Most of them are in these clear sleeves right now-" Sami held up couple of little inserts, but paused as he seemed to sense Seth's distress. "What's up?"

"It's nothing," Seth lied, shaking his head. A few patrons came in and Sami paused, quickly scanning their membership cards. "Uh… I'll uh… I'll be back in a bit here."

"No prob," Sami said, handing an older man a towel. "I'll take them out of the sleeve things. Should make it easier."

"Thanks man," Seth sighed, walking back through the turnstile without any real plan of action. Why had Dolph felt compelled to say something so offensive? Did he know it was offensive? Honestly, the more Seth thought about it, the more he felt it probably wasn't intentionally malicious. Straight people said all sorts of cringeworthy things about gay people all the time, and Seth had spent most of his teenage years trying to dodge women that seemed over-eager to befriend him when they found out he was gay.

Perhaps it was the use of the word sassy that had particularly grated him. Seth doubled back to the lap pool to grab the catalog off Stephanie's desk with a face set in concentration. As soon as he'd come out as gay in a frenzied emotional fit to his mother, sassy was a word he had begun to loathe. Seemingly overnight, almost everything he did that was remotely antisocial or introverted, his mother referred to as sassy for comedic effect. Everything he did was deemed effeminate, and it aggravated him to no end. To Seth, it seemed obvious that the words were derogatory, but he instantly began to question his own behaviors and mannerisms.

It doesn't matter what they think Seth thought as he left the pool for the second time, purposefully ignoring Drew Mcintyre and Dolph. Hadn't Dolph got him coffee that one time he had to open the pool? Weren't they friends?

There was still some cleaning to do aside from all of Hunter's errands, and Seth decided to reline the trash cans first and work his way around the building to cover his ground. Shinsuke wasn't on the schedule until three, usually when Seth was leaving the building. He could catch Roman literally whenever he wanted to, and so he quickly texted Paige about the fundraiser before Seth worked top down, heading to the adaptive pool.

"Hiya Seth," Finn grinned sweetly, passing him at the utility closet where he was grabbing a new box of trash bags. Seth nodded, trying to smile and pull himself out of his head. "Wha' time are ya workin' the fundraiser tomorrow?"

"Morning shift," Seth said, setting the box on his cart and looking for gloves. "I think they're having me man the gate or something."

"Could barely fine' parking in the lot, what with all da folks out der," Finn mumbled, looking a little tentative about something. Seth looked up as Finn licked his lips, looking a little sheepish. "I was uh, wonderin' if I could ask ya a favor…"

"Yeah?" Seth asked, looking up as Finn blushed, holding up a plastic bag which was stuffed full with a bag pack.

"Urh… I didn' wan' to haff ta ask, it's jus…. Kev made fun of me pretty bad last time and tol' me he wouldn' wash it twice… I spilled coffee on et…" Finn explained. Seth accepted the bag, peering in. "Do you tink you coul' wash it while I'm on da lifeguard stand?"

"Yeah man, no problem," Seth laughed, wondering why Finn was so uptight. "You want me to put it in the breakroom when it's done?"

"If you coul'," Finn beamed. "Thanks Seff!"

With just another item on his list, Seth took the elevator to the top floor and began working his way around AJ and Miz's offices, pointedly hurrying to get away from the two insufferable men. For once, AJ wasn't subjecting the room to obnoxious country-pop music and Miz wasn't on his headset device, talking boisterously. The two men seemed swamped by the fundraiser as well and several stand up displays were resting against the wall of the office, ready to be used the next day.

Baron was on the stand, watching a single kid and what was likely a professional assistant, working with a special needs child. The deck's single trash was barely ever full, and after checking it, Seth made a beeline for the boys locker rooms.

"You want me to check the ladies?" Sasha asked as she came in, watching Seth consolidate several bags as he stood outside the youth locker rooms, arms full.

"Uh, if you got a sec," Seth mumbled. Sasha and Bayley occasionally helped with these sorts of things, but Stephanie wasn't above assisting either, if she was walking down the hall. There were a stange view moments as Seth stood, holding an empty garbage liner as Sasha ducked into the locker room, feeling unaccountable for his mood. As his mind seemed to be paddle-balling back and forth a lot these days, he wondered idly how long he'd have to clean bathrooms before he received his inheritance. Seth knew a six-figure check didn't mean he was better than anyone, but he was getting awfully tired of having dirt in between his fingernails.

Dolph passed through the youth locker room, shaking him from his thoughts and making Seth slightly angry again. Sasha came by to grab another liner and wiggled her eyebrows.

"You okay?" she asked, fluffing up the garbage bag. "You look moody."

"It's my face," Seth grumbled, watching his bleached-blonde coworker traipse down the hall as though nothing was wrong.

"You doing okay though?" Sasha asked, looking at him seriously. Seth knew she was asking because of his grandfather and he just shrugged, wiping the side of his nose with the back of his hand.

"Weird day, I dunno," he admitted. "Don't worry."

Paige texted him back during his break, and Seth went out of his way to avoid Dean. He was still in a weird mood and wanted his space, and although it was hot outside, Seth went on a short walk around the steamy parking lot. There was still a lot of work to be done in the cordoned-off area where rented tents were being erected in preparation for the big day.

Hired workers were sweating in the hot sun and a few were smoking on the outskirts of the parking lot, taking a break. In his mind, Seth could imagine the layout that he had seen on Hunter's computer screen several times. The park would be closed for the day and several food trucks would be parked by the entrance, including the one belonging to the Joe character he'd talked to on the phone. The tents were for a few different outreach programs and White Water's internal programming, like swim lessons and water exercise. Looking out to the farthest corner by the line of trees, Seth was sure the bounce house and kids games were all going to be set up the next morning.

His forehead sweat as he walked, but his knee was feeling good enough to survey the area in a lap, awkwardly waving to the workers and Kevin, who was coming out of the park. As he came around the backside of the tents, Seth could see Hunter at the front, talking on his cellphone.

"Yeah, no, I know, but it's only supposed to be for the morning, so worst case scenario, we'll just be anticipating a bigger crowd in the afternoon." Hunter was saying on the phone. Seth stepped forward, mingling around but trying to appear casual by bringing out his own phone. It wasn't strictly necessary for him to keep checking in with Stephanie and Hunter, but he was feeling sort of fragile and directionless.

"Yeah… I'll uh, I'll catch you tomorrow Shawn, just make sure you've really got that dinner reservation…" Hunter shot Seth a sort of playfully exasperated face as his friend clearly wanted to prolong the conversation. "Yeah brother, you too…"

Seth half smiled as his boss sighed and hung up the phone. They were both sweating in the sun and he was grateful as Hunter gestured for them to walk inside.

"Paige got back to me, she said she can be here tomorrow around eleven." Seth said first, mentally trying to work through the list he'd been given. Still gotta get those chairs and the lanyards… You just want them in your office when they're done? The lanyards?"

"Yeah, that sounds best," Hunter nodded, pocketing his phone and making to get the door for Seth before they could fight over it. "I'll help you with the chairs now if you're ready."

"Sure sure,' Seth said, following Hunter down the stairs at a shuffle. Predictably, they were stopped several times and Seth had to idle behind his boss as all manner of questions were lobbed his way.

"I need to talk to 'ou before the end of de day," Maryse said seriously, looking awkwardly between her boss and Seth, sure in the fact that she wanted privacy.

"When do you leave? Four?" Hunter asked calmly, looking at his watch. "Can you meet me in my office then?"

They were accosted again by a very sun-tinged Sheamus, who was angry with Rusev for being made to work in the direct sunlight.

"I think Aiden had the same complaint," Hunter laughed, Seth watched his boss pat the large ginger haired man on the chest. "We still need to get the rest of those umbrella's put up there for you guys. I'll make sure it gets done after the fundraiser."

"It's like you get stopped every five feet," Seth laughed lightly as they continued on. Hunter just shrugged, turning down his walkie talkie as Tyler requested more towels upstairs.

"That's sort of the idea behind the position we're creating," Hunter explained, flicking on the light in the basement and surveying the large racks of folding chairs, sitting dusty in the corner of the basement storage area. "Stephanie's taking on a lot more outreach work lately and it would be nice to have a more communicative lead staff."

"Well, you know I'm in," Seth said firmly, walking over to where Hunter was pointing at the moving dolly. "I know that I've had… like all that stuff happen. But I'm getting back in the groove of things."

"Good. Life has bad timing sometimes." Hunter said cooly, as though he wasn't talking about something as complicated as a deceased family member. "Knee still healing then?"

"Yeah, uh, I still need to go to the doctor again," Seth mumbled, accepting chairs from Hunter to stow on the dolly. "Waiting… till after the fundraiser. It's been feeling fine and I've been doing the exercises I'm supposed to, so I feel like I can push it a little…"

He felt a little stupid talking about his life to his boss, but Hunter's attention seemed to be the perfect mix of detached and focused to allow Seth to speak. There wasn't much that he really wanted to say, but it felt better than mutely pacing the halls and finishing chores as he usually did. As the two pulled the chairs up the elevator, through the lobby and back outside, Seth wondered if there was really a vocal minority at work that could possibly dislike Hunter and thus similarly dislike him. Dolph had said Hunter's sassy gay friend as though he was also dismissing his boss a little. For a moment, Seth mulled over the possibility of telling his boss what he'd heard, but he sighed, swallowing it down.

"We're still waiting on two tents and the display board," one of the workers explained to Hunter, fixing a work cap over his sweaty hair. "Truck's comin,"

"Will it be here by four?" Hunter asked, slightly annoyed. Seth watched him check his watch and fanned his shirt quickly. Even if he did tell Hunter anything, what the hell could he do about it? The fundraiser was the priority right now.

With the folding chairs crossed off the list, Seth put Finn's backpack in the wash and set Shinsuke's catalog aside at the front desk for when he eventually came in. It was now almost two o'clock, and Seth worked with Sami to begin fixing the keychains to the lanyard strands. Hunter and Stephanie had ordered five hundred little White Water metallic logo keychains that were to be given away with donations to their water safety program.

"There's gunna be an ad in the paper, tons of folks show up," Sami explained, tossing Seth a lanyard clip. "Weather doesn't look great, but that won't stop a lot of people."

"I'll be glad when it's over," Seth yawned, clipping a keychain to a lanyard and tossing it into a box. He knew if he wanted to do his job right, he'd go through and tie the lanyards together in strings of twenty or something, but he was losing his enthusiasm as his fingers grew dry. Sami kept having to pause to check people in and the evening rush was coming on fast with swim lessons. It took Dean clicking his tongue from the turnstile for Seth to notice him. His heart leapt a little and he realized he hadn't seen his boyfriends all day.

"You staying for awhile?" Dean asked, holding his work bag, clearly ready to leave. Seth nodded from his spot on the floor, pointing to the box of lanyards.

"Yeah, that's the plan," he said, not looking at Dean. "Uce can pick you up right?"

"I can stay'n help too," Dean shrugged. "What do you gotta do?"

"It's no big deal," Seth said quickly, not really sure why he was readily refusing help, other than he felt weird around his boyfriends at the moment. If he just stayed at work, he didn't have to go home and have an awkward conversation. Seth could barely remember all the specifics either. Roman's drinking… a sort of filthy house… it hardly seemed important compared to his own problems.

Dean looked to Sami and then to Seth, lost. Seth felt a pang of guilt, but knew he needed some space. From his sprawled out station on the floor behind the counter, Dean couldn't ask him weird questions or physically say goodbye. But Seth knew he couldn't really place his fear in reality as his boyfriend rarely copped a poor attitude in these sorts of situations.

"Mmmmmkay," Dean said simply turning on his heel and heading back toward the turnstile. "You good on dinner then?"

"Yeah, don't worry," Seth said, piping up as Dean's scruffy head began to disappear away on the other side of the counter. "We'll uh… We can maybe hang out after the fundraiser or something tomorrow?"

"Yeah?" Dean said, coming back to the counter and leaning over it. A family skirted around him, clearly slightly annoyed he was in the way. "Promise?"

"Yes, I promise," Seth furrowed his brow a little. Aggravated at any hint of being called a flake. He knew Dean was just teasing him, but he wasn't in a good mood to hear it. His boyfriend raked his knuckles on the counter, thumping the surface before walking off, probably to sit on the chairs by the door. Sure enough, Sami didn't say anything about the interaction for several minutes, likely after Dean had actually left the building.

"Dean seems a lot more cool since you guys have been together," he said simply, setting down the card scanner to grab another lanyard. "I feel like he didn't talk to anyone ever. I mean… he's still pretty goofy, but it's good that he's got you guys."

"Mmmm," Seth hummed, uncrossing his legs. "Maybe I guess… Not like I was here long without dating either of them."

"I just thought Roman was his only friend." Sami explained, nodding to an older woman coming through the door. "Never seemed to like socializing much."

"Was Uce- Uh… Roman any different?" Seth asked, curious. Sami shrugged, thinking hard.

"Maybe… he's probably more relaxed now," Sami smiled. "All three of you guys are sort of weird and grumpy."

"Excuse yourself," Seth said, rolling his eyes. Dolph's words were still rolling around in his head and again, he bit back an anxious re-telling of the overheard conversation. "I have friends away from my boyfriends."

"Yeah you do, I'm just joking," Sami said, surveying the box of still un-connected lanyards. "Jeez, how long did you want to be here?"

"I'll finish it," Seth said tilting his chin so he could see the rest of his work. "Don't worry about it, you don't have to stay."

Shinsuke arrived on time for his evening swim lessons and as he came through the lobby, Seth presented him with the catalog of surfing equipment Hunter had left. For a day of completing mostly tiresome and thankless jobs, Seth was at least glad to see Shinsuke's face light up with excitement, paging through the bright pages full of wetsuits and boards.

"Did… Hunter say?" Shinsuke asked with a heavy accent, accessing his english. "What time? Eh... to Order?"

"Uh, I don't know," Seth said, trying to remember exactly what Hunter had written. "I'm sure after the fundraiser… I think that just came in the mail the other day."

"Kids will love it," Shinsuke said, beaming wide. There was something incredibly infectious about his enthusiasm and Seth smiled too.

"Yeah? That's great," he nodded. "Glad I caught you."

With the noise of swim lessons and children's voices cascading down the hall, Seth pulled the lanyard boxes into the break room so he might have some peace and quiet. Snacking on a bag on Sun Chips that had been abandoned on the table, he yawned a few times, checking on his progress and rolling his shoulders. If he was home right now, Dean would probably be checking on the chickens of knitting and Roman would be doing some dishes or lounging on the couch. At least, that's what they did most days. Seth knew he was probably acting really weird and distant to him, but he was at least glad he had the excuse of his grandfather's passing to allow him some thinking time.

Seth still had to call the estate lawyer and sort through the paperwork his mother had sent. It was so confusing it made his head hurt and there still didn't seem to be an obvious answer to his problems. As he sat in the empty break room and pressed keychains onto the lanyards, Seth wondered if a logical conclusion would arise through the court process or if he was supposed to have something in mind already. If everything he knew about lawyers and property bureaucracy was to be believed, he probably had a little while to think about what he wanted to do.

But still, Seth sighed, feeling hopeless again. If Dean and Roman just didn't want to make the leap with him, he'd have to face that reality. For all the issues he'd ever encountered with being dishonest with Marek and watching that relationship fall apart, Seth had never been thoroughly rejected before. The thought terrified him, and for a few moments, he simply sat, mouthing theoretical conversations to himself.

I love you both a lot, he tongued against his teeth. I feel like we could really do this if we wanted. I don't have anyone else I want to share my life with like that.

Seth jumped as the door opened and a very wet, disheveled looking Finn came in, towel around his neck, looking miserable. As soon as they locked eyes on each other, he laughed a little. Seth blinked.

"Little brot'er fell in da pool," Finn explained, "Probably didn' haff ta' do a whole jump, but the mot'er scared me."

"You're just having a great day, aren't you?" Seth snorted, standing up and feeling his knee pop a little from sitting still. "Your bag is in the laundry room. Did you want-"

"Uh, yeah," Finn nodded, dusting off his head a little.

"Everything okay?" Seth asked for good measure, touching the walkie talkie at his hip. "Someone got it?"

"Oh yeah, it was just a quick t'ing," Finn sighed. "Randy's givin' me sum time."

Seth retrieved Finn's newly cleaned bag and doubled his pace to finish up the lanyard assembly before six-thirty. Eager to leave and get a more substantial dinner, he swore as he remembered the children's face paints, still unaccounted for. Dropping his bag and running around the building, Seth used the service elevator to get to the top floor, checking Miz's office cabinets before looking elsewhere. The container in question was supposed to be some blue-lidded rubbermaid with little paint palettes specifically for face painting. If he found them, Seth was supposed to put them with the other kid's area boxes that were stacked in the corner of P-Pool. Looking outside through the window, more displays and tables had been erected before the sun was due to set.

After twenty minutes of searching, and enlisting the help of Bayley and Sasha, Seth was sure that whatever container Hunter had been describing had passed into non-existence. They checked the party room, the basement, the storage rooms on each floors and even behind the front desk, but there wasn't any face paints. Annoyed, but mostly just exhausted of being at work, Seth tapped his foot, trying to think.

"They wouldn't be in the park you don't think?" Bayley tried, surveying all of the lanyards Seth had pieced together over the course of the day. "Maybe they all dried up and someone through them away."

"If I buy more, Hunter can reimburse me," Seth sighed, pulling out his phone. His mouth twitched, realizing he had a text in the group chat he shared with Dean and Roman. Ignoring it, he opened Google, trying to think of a store that might have face paints.

"Most places are probably closed," Sasha said, pulling out her own phone and pulling a face. A group of swim team kids came by and she flattened herself against a wall. Seth felt guilty, his friends were ready to go and had their bags on their shoulders but were idling around on his account. The only art store that was open was south of Disney World and Seth didn't want to go to a grocery store and buy a low-quality product that wouldn't work.

"Okay though, I have to be here at 8:30 tomorrow…" Sasha began, looking at Bayley thoughtfully. "I could run to the store by my place… they'll be open at 8 and I could get stuff for me and Xavier to use."

"Could you?" Seth asked, fully ready to hug Sasha if he meant he could be finished working for the day. "That would be… perfect."

"You owe me a cool hangout night," Sasha said smartly. "I wanna go bowling or something. Maybe a movie."

"Absolutely, whatever you want," Seth said, nodding hard and picking up his box of lanyards again. "Just save your receipt and I'll get you cash back."

"Sweet!" Bayley said, happy to see the issue resolved. The girls waved as Seth shuffled as fast as he could to put the finished lanyards in Hunter's office and finally clock out. "Bye Seth! See you tomorrow!"

"Bye girls!" Seth said loudly on his way out. His whole body felt like it was priming to shut down, relieved of duty, desperate to sink into a few hours of rest before he was back again, bright and early.

The lap pool was fairly busy as he walked in and set the box on the floor of Hunter's office. Standing in the dimly lit room, he pulled out his bright phone to see exactly what he'd been sent. Two hours ago, Roman had asked How late will u be over there? Seth felt a little guilty, like he should have told them upfront in the group chat how long he would be, but he honestly hadn't known.

Heading home now he sent, stomach grumbling. It would be a lot to assume that Roman had kept anything warm for him, but Seth would have been appreciative if that was the case.

Of the three of them, Seth was the only one that had to work really early the next day. Dean had the second shift and Roman was more or less beholden to the same job he always worked, which was just his regular group exercise class. Mentally, Seth reminded himself to tell Roman that he was supposed to confirm the class with Hunter and do some stupid intro about the importance of donating to the fundraiser. Turning the key in his ignition, Seth shook his head hard, trying to just clear his head of work crap now that he was off the clock. He didn't really expect to come home and have a long talk or a stupid fight or anything outrageous, but Seth was starting to realize how disconnected he felt from the present. Driving through the city to get home, it was like he had no short term memory, nothing rooting him to the reality of him sitting in his car, turning the steering wheel and signaling for turns. Everything was in the future, and looking in the mirror, Seth thought his face looked sort of discolored and patchy, like his beard was short but growing in weird directions.

The house was dark and the Jeep was gone as Seth approached, feeling anxious again. Inside, Kevin was barking eagerly, but Seth paused as he imagined what he might see inside. What if Roman was passed out on the couch again? What if Dean was avoiding them both? It was nearly dark outside now and the air was sticky, not really prime biking hours.

But as Seth came inside, he realized he was fully alone. All of the lights were off and although the house wasn't quite the filthy mess of dirty dishes and drink containers, the garbage was a little overflowing and stinky. Kevin had already been fed, and Seth licked his lips, wondering what he was expecting.

We went out, there are noodles in the fridge was written on a note in Roman's neat handwriting. There was a little heart under it, which Seth guessed meant that no one was actually mad at him. Why hadn't they bothered to ask him about it? Did they just assume that he didn't want to go out?

Truthfully, Seth was in no mood to go out and he toed out of his shoes and let his hair out of it's bun for good measure. The house was humming with central air and the new refrigerator shone bright as he opened it, examining the buttered noodles left behind. As he spooned the contents into a bowl, Seth was struck by how empty he felt again, without any task left to do.

Am I depressed? He thought, walking to the sliding door to let Kevin outside. He knew he was being ridiculous if he was going to be lonely without his boyfriend's for a single night, especially after Seth had opted to see Cesaro the previous day. There wasn't anyone to talk to, so Seth undid his lips and again, practiced conversations on the open air.

"I don't want to do any of this." he said, not really knowing exactly what he was talking about. The inheritance seemed obvious, but the buttered noodles whirring in the microwave were also rather unappetizing. "Everyone should know that I can't deal with this."

The microwave beeped and he stared for almost another minute before he took it out to stir it again. Feeling dramatic and wishing he could just snap out of it, Seth strode to the living room and grabbed a pillow. He pressed it to his face and screamed as loud as he could manage with one breath, rubbing his beard on the upholstery and screwing up his face with a yell that nearly tore up his vocal chords. Another breath, another long yell and he felt light headed, standing up straight and hearing Kevin scratching at the door, apparently disturbed.

"You're fine," Seth snorted, striding to the door to let his dog in again and stooping to pet the little Yorkie. "You've got it the best Kev, don't take it for granted."

#ttr #fic #to the rescue

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danboorucomments · 7 years

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Mincemaker Yep. Jeanne was an illiterate peasant girl.

AdventZero That, and Marie Antoinette didn't even say those words. It came from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's autobiography which he supposedly quoted from a "great princess."

Marie Antoinette was 9 years old at the time Rousseau's books were written.

Farran TFW the Throne of Heroes gives all the basic knowledge of the world to a Heroic Spirit and still can't make her literate. Though on a more serious note, I thought that Jeanne as a Servant could read, she just still couldn't do math?

Mincemaker And you would think that if she did indeed say those words, she should be excused because she was 9 years old, for God's sake!

AdventZero Agreed. She wasn't even a princess back then, much less a "great princess" of her time. If my research is correct, Rousseau didn't even know she existed when his book was written. Marie Antoinette arrived in France until about 5 years after his first six books were written - at the age of 14.

That, and the saying was already a hundred years old by the time he quoted it in his book.

BarefeetChaser It is indeed a tragic case of somebody just make shit up, and some other people gets the shit for no good reason.

Kippenberger When did that myth first appear? It sounds like something Robespierre or someone petty would make up.

NWSiaCB In general, the wives/daughters of despised monarchs were roundly vilified in their day. To say something bad about the king was against the law, and being open about such things gave anyone within earshot who didn't like you all the excuse they needed to have you brought to trial and possibly even executed. Talk shit about the king's relatives, however...

The same can be said of Lucretia Borgia, as well, who gets a rap as the wickedest woman who ever lived because she's the daughter of one of the most corrupt popes to ever use the church as a bargaining chip for getting his son onto as many thrones as possible. Since he needed political marriages, and only had one daughter, well, why not just re-use his daughter by murdering or annulling any marriages that live past their usefulness and marry her off again? Who cares what she thinks about this, she's just a bargaining chip woman.

Then again, Marie Antoinette doesn't really have room to complain too much. If she's played as the genuinely innocent naive girl who was brought into a decadent court just before it collapsed, then it raises questions as to why she even qualifies to be a servant in the first place.

Kippenberger Marie in her earlier years was basicly an innocent naïve girl who's "restraing bolts" was loosend too early and as a result overspent her personal fund (money gained from taxing already suffering cevilians) more often then not.

While Marie in her later years started acting more mature, by then Robespierre and people with similar ambitions had gotten into a position to take avantage of those with even less commen sense then most versarien nobles - Yes that's possible - (such as Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy) to stage a Coup.

Claverhouse Something continued with those poor wretches of pseudo-monarchs, presidents and such people: I have yet to come across an American First Lady not roundly abused by some screamers. And they are nearly all innocuous, rather dull women who have not interfered with their husband's work at all.

NWSiaCB Well, there's a gap between "some people" and "how history primarily remembers them". There are some partisans so fervent they loathe Laura Bush simply for being married to George W., but that isn't how the history books are written.

If you go back to First Ladies of more than a generation ago, the way history is handed down to anyone who didn't live through the moment leaves them only as historical curiosities if people know anything about them at all; a general whitewashing of history to heroify the likes of Jackie Kennedy, and a dismissal of Nancy Reagan's interest in the occult as a silly note of interest. As I stated before, the problem she has is "Let them eat cake!" is pretty much the ONLY thing most people know about Marie Antoinette. She wouldn't be noteworthy at all without it. (Hell, more people know who Marie Antoinette was than her husband who was the actual reining monarch of what was at the time the world's most powerful empire overthrown in the whole affair.)

Even worse, most portrayals of Lucrezia Borgia in anything that isn't trying to actively dispel the rumors of her life show her as a raging psychopath and incestuous slut who was willing to sleep with and/or murder (not necessarily in that order) anyone to make her otou-san or onii-san happy. (Of course, she has the misfortune of being related to the Pope so flagrantly corrupt that he's considered one of the primary reasons for the backlash against church corruption that led to the Protestant Reformation. Plus, he was also followed up by a Pope who loathed him with the blazing passions of a million hateful suns and overtly forced "confessions" under torture of Borgia servants to fabricate accusations of murder, adultery, and incest against a family already rife with rumors of those same activities.)

PraiseVectron To add onto that, Marie was an Austrian. Worse, she was an Austrian with the blood of the Hapsburgs in her veins. Nowadays, we don't really consider France and Austria to be arch-enemies, but the hate was intense back then. There were revolutionary politicians whose entire platform can be summarized as "we need to preemptively kill the Austrians before they kill us". Oh, and the Affair of the Diamond Necklace didn't help either.

In the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, Louis XV commissioned an intolerably expensive diamond necklace for his mistress, but died before it was finished. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette refused to buy the necklace. During this time, a group of scammers had convinced Cardinal de Rohan that Marie secretly loved him and wanted him to buy the necklace for her using forged love letters. Cardinal de Rohan told the diamond makers it was for Marie when he bought the necklace. The diamond makers told Marie about the purchase, and Marie had them all arrested. While modern historians believe it was all the fault of independent scammers, the French public at the time believed it was all Marie's Keikaku. They believed Marie was an evil Austrian who wanted to destroy the romantic Cardinal de Rohan while receiving a decadent diamond necklace on someone else's budget.

Also, she was heavily involved the firing of Finance Minister Jacques Necker. While Necker would later be revealed to have completely failed to bring France out of debt, the French public believed Necker was the savior of the French budget. Necker used accounting tricks to hide problems in the budget, but when the truth was revealed during the revolution, the public initially blamed Marie's excesses instead of the "genius" Necker and his "perfect" math. When the truth finally came out, it was too late. Marie's reputation as a profligate was too large to be removed by something as silly as the truth.

As for actual faults during the revolution, Marie's only problem was being convinced that God would let them turn back the clock with no real consequences. Instead putting all their chips on the constitutional monarchists of the Feuillants Club, their stubbornness helped lead to the domination of the Jacobin Club and their own execution. This is no great fault of Marie's, since more worldly French nobles made the same mistake and gave the same advice to Louis XVI.

Kippenberger The idiot I mentioned (Jeanne) WAS the one who broke the camels back with the whole "Diamond Necklace Affair" Stunt. Didn't know about Jacques though. I know he was fired but not because of imcompetence. I THINK A documentary I watched - Can't remember which one - said it was because of something else but I don't remember what.

#Fate/Grand Order #marie antoinette #y.ssanoha #lucrezia borgia

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