#high class family

[fishcat480]

Dog in Winter

SUMMARY:

Kids from Districts 1-4 don't have to fear the reaping.

Careers always volunteer.

Until a tragic accident forces Lustre Baneswood into the Games with no hope of winning. An actor, and the daughter of a Gamemaker, Lustre has to decide what she desires more: glory or her life.

But there is a dark underbelly to the Games, and winning is not always the end. Lustre Baneswood is going to discover the price one has to pay for beating the odds.

Spanning from the 72nd Hunger Games all the way to three years after the events of Mockingjay, this is the story of a girl struggling to reclaim her identity after giving it away to the people who would hurt her most.

FANDOM: Hunger Games

Pairing: Original Plus Size Character/Original Male Character

Other Characters: Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta, Gloss, Cashmere, Joanna Mason, Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, President Snow, President Coin, Gale, Prim

It was 5am when the call came.

I’d been awake for hours writing, the only time I was able to get any of it done. Mother doesn’t like my writing, and classes at the observatory took up all of my time during the day. My hands were cramping over the datapad keyboard, and I swiped a knuckle over my bloodshot eyes, trying desperately not to succumb to sleep. 

The sound of the phone had been so unexpected I’d jerked violently upright. With a cursory glance at the time, I quickly padded out of my room and into the empty hall. Moonlight shone in harsh slivers through the full-length windows. I followed the ringing sound through the silver-white hallway and into the main room of our apartment, where the phone lay next to the front door. 

“Hello?” I said, agitation and fatigue coloring my voice. The door to my parents’ room opened and my mother stepped cautiously out, her hair wrapped in a pink silk turban and mouth set in a firm line. My father was just behind her, his eyes horizontal slits, his hair a tuft of downy cotton.

The voice on the phone shrieked at me. “Frederick?! Frederick something’s happened!”

I shook my head before I remembered they could not see me. “No, this is his daughter. Is this an emergency?”

The voice went from feverish to chilly in a moment, freezing my veins like icicles. “Put him on, love. It’s urgent.” 

My father had already begun walking over, and he took the phone from me quickly. “Hello?” he asked, his hands reaching into the breast pocket of his pajamas, where he’d placed a box of matches. He fumbled in the drawer of the side table for smokes.

“Uh- huh…Yes, I remember….”

I watched him for a moment, hoping his body language might clue me into what was going on. When I got nothing, I joined my mother on the opposite side of the room. “ D’ya think everything’s ok?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s the Games. Everything’s an emergency.”

The Games were the most hectic time of our family’s life, with my father a showrunner and my mother performing in reenactments and singing at parties. Even my brothers had gotten involved now that they were out of school. 

Still, the voice on the phone had sounded scared. Desperate. Something felt off. 

“You’re joking.” my father said, lowering the cigarette from his mouth, and bellowing. “You’re fucking joking.” 

“Fredrick?” my mother asked immediately. My father did not raise his voice ever. He stared at us, his face ashen, as he listened to whatever news was being delivered on the other end. 

“Dad?” I asked, when his eyes locked onto mine and didn’t leave.

“We’ll get another volunteer.” he said, desperate. “There are dozens of kids. Dozens of options.”

Volunteer…?

The reaping had been two days ago, and as expected, both tributes had been volunteers, eager to go into the Games. That’s why I hadn’t even flinched when they called my name. Reaping day was like picture day at school - annoying, but a good excuse to get out of class.

My volunteer had been my best friend. It was her final year in the reaping pool, and her last chance to go into the Games and prove herself. If I could bet, I would have bet on her winning the entire thing. 

But now my father was looking at me like I was a hundred miles away, and talking about other volunteers. Why did we need another volunteer? Where was Razzle?

“Dad!” I cried. “What’s going on?”

Tears had begun falling onto his cheeks, and my mother was lurching forward to hold his face in her hands. The excitement had woken my brothers now, both of them tumbling out of their rooms with mussed hair and slurring voices.

“Luster, what’s happening?” Kellen asked from behind me, he and Jace standing on either side of me. Jace scratched his chest with a lazy hand. 

“Something bad.” I said. That was all I knew. 

My mom was soothing our dad, her hands trying to rub away tears that just kept coming. The phone was pressed to my dad’s ear, still listening. He gently pushed my mom’s comfort away, resignation taking over. Something had happened to Razzle. 

“What time?” he asked. The answer made him sigh. 

“Ok.” And he hung up. My mother didn’t waste any time. “Frederick,what on earth is going on? It’s practically dawn. The Games are your job, not your life. Oh, these people!”

My mother continued ranting, but my father was looking at me again. I knew already that I would be leaving, but my mind was obsessing more over the why.

“What happened to her?” I asked. My mother grew quiet. My brothers looked confused.

“Training accident.”

“Is she…?”

“Yes.”

Dead. Razzle was dead. And she had volunteered in my place.  

“When are they coming to get me?”

“Within the hour.”

My family’s eyes were widening and cries of indignation sounded on their tongues. “She’s going into the Games!?” my mother yelled. “No! Frederick, no!”

“She’s not trained.” Kellen said. Jace said nothing. He wasn’t much for talking. 

“She was reaped!” my father explained. “And her volunteer has died. It is law that she must go.”

My mother’s eyes bugged out of her head. “And you’re a showrunner. Surely they don’t expect the law to apply to us!” 

It often didn’t. 

“This is different. This is the Games. If Luster becomes exempt from them for being my daughter, then other future tributes could argue their way out of participating. Snow would have to weed them out and use force. It could foster dissent.”

It was five in the morning and my family was standing in the living room, talking of treason. 

“It’s fine. I’ll go.”

Kellen scoffed, arms folded across his chest. “You’ll die. You’re not a career, you’re a fucking actress.”

 The heel of my mother’s hands were pressed against her eyes, her perfectly manicured nails curled tightly against the palm of her hand. “Kellen! Please, that’s not necessary.”

My father puffed on his cigarette, lost in thought. Kellen didn’t back down. “She’s not going to live, mom. Am I supposed to just sit here and watch while my sister dies?”

She draped herself across the chaise. “We’ll figure something out. I’ll talk to Pedro in casting. Maybe a lookalike?”

My father joined her, looking intrigued. “That might work. We’ll release her for training, but for the arena it can be anyone. Keep the close-ups to a minimum, kill her in the first ten minutes.”

Jace was still standing next to me. I watched in abject horror as my parents and Kellen planned the murder of an innocent girl in place of myself. I felt something warm on my hand, and looked down to see Jace’s pinky linking with mine. Then his whole hand. When I turned to him, he didn’t look upset or scared. He was smiling at me. 

“Who was the girl who did makeup for you for 68?” Kellen had his hands on his hips, pacing across the living room. He looked the picture of a gamemaker, and it made my stomach swoop like drinking milk that had turned. 

“Petra or something?” he asked. “Get her involved.”

My mother was taking notes on an old script. My father was punching something into a datapad, tugging at his hair in distress. 

“Stop.” I called, but they ignored me.

“We’ll have to keep Luster out of sight for at least a year. Julian will find us a nice little bungalow for her to lie low in.”

“Pay for it now.” my father said. “Travel to the Capitol increases after the Games.”

“Stop!” I said again, and this time I got their attention. 

“You are not killing a random girl just so I can live. That’s actually insane!”

My father shook his head. “No, there are people who like the attention! They’ll do it willingly.”

Willingly….When had someone in a District past four ever gone into a Games willingly? 

“I don’t care. That’s fucked.” I removed my hand from Jace’s and ran it through my hair. “This whole thing is fucked.”

Gently, Kellen approached me. “Luster, I know you’re stressed. Let us …un fuck this for you. A year in lockdown, a new Games will happen, and everyone will forget about it. Then we’ll get you a job at the studio.”

“Doing what?” I laughed. “I’m eager to know what you think I’d want to do at the studio.”

He shrugged, frustration evident. “Stylist? Hair and makeup? I don’t know, Luster! I don’t really care, as long as you’re alive.”

“And what about the other tributes? The ones from 9? Or 12? The ones who don’t have careers to volunteer for them. What about the people who want them alive?”

My mother harrumphed, and somehow she had moved from the chaise to the bar, pouring herself a glass of port. “Oh, sweetie, it’s too early in the morning to develop a conscience.”

But drinking wine, I thought bitterly,  was perfectly acceptable. If I said anything, she’d hold my impending doom up as her reason for indulging. My head was on the chopping block, but she’d be the one to lose blood somehow. I didn’t particularly care to open that can of worms, so I ignored her entirely in favor of turning to my father. 

“Daddy, I don’t want you to get me out of this.”

That statement shifted the temperature of the room greatly. Stillness blanketed us. Kellen punched something hard enough to break it, but I refused to look at what it was. He was always so petulant, and I wouldn’t give into him.

I held my father’s gaze, desperate for him to see things my way, if only for a moment. 

“I’ve done everything you guys wanted. I went to Opal instead of Harrison. I went into acting and not writing. I attended every party, talked to every miserable asshole, wore every stupid outfit. All I want in return is for you to let me go.”

He took a puff from his cigarette, already practically down to the filter. It was funny, watching him smoke. I’d never seen him do it before in my life. Not once.

“Why?”

It was a fair question. The answer was more complicated. Because it’s right …but he wouldn’t understand that. Because she volunteered for me…. He wouldn’t understand that either. Hell, I didn’t even understand why I wanted to go. But Jace was still smiling at me, still believing in me like he always had. Sometimes it felt like he knew what I needed before I even had a chance to do the needing.

“Because she was my best friend….and she was supposed to win.”

My father’s face fell. He may not have understood what was right, but he understood honor. He understood fair.  He nodded slowly, stubbing his smoke out on the arm of the couch. He must have still been half asleep.

“Ok.” 

He didn’t say anything else, and I thanked him quietly before giving him a hug. He held me to him, and it felt like when I was a girl and I would run to him as he came home from work, calling out to him in glee. He’d scoop me up from the ground and press all the pain and grief of his day into my bones, and I took it from him like any other gift. This hug felt like that. He was pressing his grief into my bones, except this time I was grieving too. 

When the peacemakers came, I went willing. Quiet. Everyone knew not to resist a peacemaker, even if you were in the right. Agitation led to aggression. Peacemakers were not aggressive dogs, they were violent ones. Hand biting often led to death.

Kellen had refused to say goodbye. I didn’t entertain his fury, just wrapped my arms around his middle. He didn’t move away, but he didn’t hug me back.

Mother was three pours in by the time I had to go. She blew air kisses and raised her glass. 

Jace gave me a proper hug and kiss, and pulling away from him had been the hardest goodbye of them all. 

“My writing…” I told him, and he nodded. 

“I’ll keep it safe.”

My father had taken helicarriers before. He would be taking one hours after me, headed to the Capitol for the Games. I hadn’t ever had the pleasure. 

While the door was open, wind and sound rotated around you in a maelstrom. There was something happening everywhere. A seatbelt was being placed across my lap, a pilot was checking gauges, the Peacekeepers chatting in even tones. When the door was closed, though, it was silent.

A light thrum of the engine was the only background noise, but I was effectively left alone with my thoughts for an hour. This was not good. 

My thoughts were instantly on Razzle, and with nothing to distract my mind, grief settled in my chest like a purring cat. 

She’d spent the morning of the reaping in my bed. We often had sleepovers, but this one had not involved much sleep. Her hands had touched me roughly, like sandpaper, and I had liked the grit of it. I was always considered so delicate, like glass. Razzle touched me like I was solid stone. 

She’d whispered promises into my hair, weaving them around the strands like the ribbons I would place there hours later. “When I win, we’ll go away.” She’d said. “When I win, we’ll have forever.”

When. There had been no question in my mind that there would be a when. The only question left unanswered was the how.

But now, there was no when or if or how. There was instead. 

We touched down in only an hour. My stomach roiled from the constant vibrations, and when I stepped off it lurched dangerously. Vomit pushed its way onto my tongue. I stopped halfway from the helicarrier and the safety of the roof entrance, the peacekeepers’ hands flying straight to their guns. 

I waved my hand at them to give me a moment, but they grabbed me violently by the arm and shoved me along my way. The nausea bobbed up and down inside me. I tried to keep myself from letting it give way to sickness. 

In the end I didn’t throw up, but I wanted to.

We took an elevator down, down, down. The first District tributes stayed on the first floor, with the second District tributes on the second and so on and so on all the way until the penthouse. District Twelve lived like cattle, so they got treated like kings. We were all being served up on the finest of China, waiting to be eaten whole.

The Peacekeepers kept their eyes trained on me. They wanted me to act out. A peacekeeper craved violence like a horse craved water after a long ride. The one to my left tightened his hand around his baton. I looked down at the floor.

They dropped me off in the first floor suite, where two people waited at the dining room table. I knew them as Gloss and Cashmere, winners of the  63rd and 64th Games respectively. Cashmere sat cross legged on the table, her silky blond hair pulled into a low ponytail. Her pajamas were champagne colored silk and they emphasized icy blue eyes that stared at me with no discernible emotion. 

Gloss stood scowling, his large arms folded across his chest. His pajama pants were silk, too, except in blackest black. Instead of the matching shirt he wore a white T-shirt. 

I felt a bit lackluster in my grey sweats and Opal academy shirt.

“You must be Luster.” Said Cashmere.

I nodded. 

“I’m Cashmere.” She waved, her lips forming into an inhumanly beautiful smile. She was like what you thought of when someone said ‘the prettiest girl you know’. 

“This is Gloss.” She pointed to him and he made no gesture of greeting. He simply stared.

The Peacekeepers that had escorted me were already back in the elevator. I looked around the suite for the first time and noted its distinct Capitol style. The furnishings were modern, with rich golds and deep blacks accenting them. The large dining table was made of frosted glass. A sectional couch took up most of the living room area, its cream colored cushions pristine in the light of a mini chandelier.

“Can I go to bed?” I asked.

Gloss sighed and dropped his arms. It was the first movement he’d made the entire time I’d been there. It was like watching a statue come to life.

“I’ll be your trainer.” He said, ignoring my question.

“Ok great. Can I go to bed now?”

Cashmere looked a bit puzzled. “Do you have any questions for us? I’m sure this has been a difficult transition.”

What a paltry word for what had happened. Transition implied choice, of which I had none.

“I’ll ask them in the morning. I haven’t been to bed and I’d like to get as much sleep as possible.”

Brother and sister stared idly at each other. They appeared to be having some sort of telepathic conversation, much like she’d seen Kellen and Jace do many times. She needed to fall asleep soon or she’d be plagued by memories of home.

The conversation ended when Cashmere motioned with her hand to where the tributes’ rooms were. 

“The door on the left.”

The other tribute had already claimed the room on the right. I would be sleeping in the same place Razzle had. 

I gave a curt nod and exited, my fists balled at my side. I didn’t relax until the door to my room was closed and I was lying on the very plush, inviting bed. 

It seemed the odds were ever in my favor, because no matter how hard I tried, I always seemed to get the short end of a very long stick.

#hunger games #hunger games fanfiction #fanfiction #drama #dark #character death #major character death #minor character death #underground fighting ring #the volunteer dies in training and the reaped candidate goes in instead #violence #canon typical violence #character study #plus size character #original female character #high class family #gamemaker #gamemaker's daughter #finnick x annie #finnick odair #peeta x katniss #annie cresta #peeta mellark #winter arena #snow arena #73rd hunger games #capitol family #career turned revolutionary

[femmeconomics]

i think it’s important everyone knows about the little roman girl who died at only five years and seven months old, and her grave reads "dum vixi, lusi" or "while i lived, i played"

#her epitaph actually has a much longer poem which contains this line #and it’s not like. stylistically high quality poetry either #which indicates this was not a poem someone was hired to write for the grave (as was a relatively common practice) #but instead written out of love by one of her family members #it’s twenty three lines of mostly correct dactylic hexameter #and it makes me bawl when i read it #we translated it in a latin class i took a few years ago and then wrote our own latin poems about our friends

[ink-the-artist]

forgive me if you've been asked this before or if its annoying, but how did you learn to use colored pencils like that? your art is so special to me.

ty :) I took an art class for a few years where our teacher had us buy prismacolor pencils as one of the art supplies and had us use them kinda like paints, pressing down hard right away and blending the colors together. its not how youre supposed to use them she was just trying to teach us to use color and ig this was more to the point. I picked them up again years after i stopped going to that class just bc they were there and i wanted to play around w them a bit and ended up actually enjoying it when doing it on my own terms lol

#it was a weird class #it was just this russian lady doing private lessons in her house that my mom learned about somehow #I did NOT like those classes all we did was still life and they were hours long which is esp rough when im in high school and busy #and she wanted us to stand while working the whole time bc tradition i guess? #she did allow me to work sitting but thought i was lazy for it. idk dude i dont want to exhaust myself fast for no reason #standing is a lot more tiring than walking #i def did still benefit from those classes just from learning to accurately draw from life #did not like the teacher tho #on one hand shed paid for the art supplies for kids whos families were too poor to (and these are nice expensive supplies) #which is very nice #but on the other she was very homophobic and open about it #like when they legalized gay marriage she went on a rant about how horrible it is that they can adopt kids now #and also kind of racist #she was telling me how she got blocked from a facebook group bc she made a post asking if she could speak to a white person #and she didnt realize she was posting that publicly she thought it was a private message to the group owner #im honestly still not sure i heard/understood her correctly bc it was so bizzare and the only time i ever remember her being racist #she talked abt it like she genuienly was unaware it was racist #she described it as a misunderstanding bc she accidentally posted it publicly instead of privately #like it wouldnt have been racist to ask that at all #also one time she talked about how she saw demons in her home once #also she doesnt vaccinate her kids bc of microchips #she was like a walking russian stereotype lol #anyway heres some ink the artist lore

[marzipanandminutiae]

still not over the absolutely braindead take that "if you say brutalism looks dystopian, you care more about your aesthetic than people having homes!!!!"

like

can't criticize Shein or you must want their workers to be unemployed

oh you don't like that restaurant? guess you want the people eating there to STARVE

fuck both roses AND bread; nutrient-dense gray EnergyCubes would keep you alive so wishing for a better sensory experience is basically capitalist bootlicking

(I agree that considering Soviet-era brutalist apartment buildings in the context of "shit we need housing; put something up quick" is important for those specific structures- though I think that can coexist with "wow that's ugly" -but. this person did not stop there)

#hot takes #the discourse #the main brutalist structure in my area resulted from tearing down an entire neighborhood of working-class homes and businesses #and it's a government building- not residential or commercial #so I guess now YOU ~care more about your aesthetic than people having homes~ #like dude you can enjoy a style of architecture without it being That Deep #I don't think everyone who dislikes High Victorian Addams Family Nonsense (my favorite) is a shill for big developers #(except the developers and house-flippers; fuck them)

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I'm probably going to do a terrible job of articulating myself here but every time I think about the worldbuilding in Hatoful Boyfriend, I think about the implications of having the birds simply have adopted the structure and policies of human society and go insane.

It's clearly originally just for the ridiculousness of it all for the players, but AGH it explains so much regarding the extremely rampant classism/racism/speciesism and how apparently normalized it is. It also, to me, adds a bit of moral nuance to the Dove - Hawk Party conflict.

(Long post under the cut. I'm so sorry I just kept going.)

First off, I'm obsessed with the concept of the birds becoming sapient and simply... taking over a society that was not structured for them. It leads to difficulties in universe! Bird wings are not made for doing tasks that human hands can do naturally - there's a couple instances where the characters ask for Hiyoko's assistance or express envy since she can just do the task more easily than they can. The birds are outright disadvantaged in certain areas of life, and yet, the society is in such turmoil due to the newness of it all that there still aren't really any workarounds for stuff like this.

Not that there haven't been any suggested solutions, such as the Labor 9 series, put forward initially by the Dove Party. Yeah, you know, that one throwaway line about how the party that up until this point have been the "good guys" wanted to take still semi-conscious human brains and make robotic slaves out of them Cyberman-style? What the hell. And what gets me is that Shuu was able to find the initial proposal, which he really only made tweaks to, which means that the project was at least close to being finished on the conceptual/planning/design phase before somebody went "hey this is a little fucked up actually".

The Dove Party wants peaceful coexistence with the humans, while the Hawk Party wants to eliminate humanity entirely. But we don't really go into how these two lines of thought evolved. I believe I have a suggestion for at least one part of the puzzle though.

Of all the birds in Hatoful, who enjoys the most privileges and the highest status? Fantails, it would seem. A breed of pigeon that is popular as a pet, considered beautiful and sought after, and achieve high accolades in shows and competitions - for clarity's sake, fantails were valuable in human society, and this status appears to have transferred when birds became sapient and took over. Conversely, which birds are ranked lower and often blocked from entering certain higher class places? Rock doves, who, in human society, are given an unfairly bad reputation, and considered anything from unclean and dirty, to nuisances, to pests. Again, this status transferred over when the birds took over.

So, while we don't know too many of the birds who make up the agents of the Dove and Hawk Party, let's take a look at who we do know of.

Fantails (Yuuya, Dove Party) are considered valuable over other doves and pigeons for being specially bred for their striking tail feathers

Cockatiels (Leone, Dove Party) are some of the most popular and beloved companion birds, kept as pets and considered very friendly

Rock doves (Ryuuji, Hawk Party) are considered unclean pests who receive a bad reputation, and are generally not treated with respect or appreciation <;- notable thing to mention here is that Ryuuji actually does like humans - I think he was only Hawk affiliated for the grant money and research facilities, which... fair enough man.

Chukar partridges (Shuu/Isa, Hawk Party) are game birds, specifically bred and released to be killed and eaten, and considered a delicacy

...do you... see what's going on here?

(I haven't mentioned Tohri as he's a special case. Give me a minute and I'll get to him!)

The birds we see in the Dove Party are those birds that were already viewed in a more favourable light by humans, a favourability that transferred over to their new society. Of course they are more likely to advocate for coexistence! They have less to lose, overall. And the Labor 9 series, and how that could've ever been suggested in the first place, suddenly makes a lot of sense. For many of these birds, society the way it exists now benefits them. Some of these high ranking Dove Party folks may be less about actual peace and justice (like Yuuya or Leone) and more about maintaining the current order of things - humans coexisting under their control, while they get to maintain their status... which is itself a product of human invention.

The birds we see in the Hawk Party, by contrast, are looked down on or hunted. Historically, even before bird sapience, they did not have a harmonious relation with humans - and it's likely this status carried over to their new society also, with many of these birds being more likely to have been disenfranchised. Their goal of elimination is therefore reactionary towards perceived threat. After all, the people who suffer when things go wrong aren't the ones at the top - it's all the people who sit at the bottom of the social rung; the vulnerable members of society who do not enjoy the same advantages as others.

Of course, the Hawk Party has built itself up into such a powerful group that they may have lost touch with this starting foundation - the only thing that remains is likely that reactionary fear. After all, people caught up in the actual conflict - Nageki, Hitori, Ryouta, and Hiyoko - see this kind of horrible bloodshed firsthand (firstwing?) and just want it to stop.

Again, it's not usually the people in these political factions who are the ones caught up in their conflict. It's the individuals who lack power or influence.

But that's just the political groups themselves. On an individual level, it's kind of interesting to look at and theorize where along the spectrum our core cast falls based on their species/breed.

Ryouta (rock dove) is actually rather indifferent towards humanity as a whole - he just likes Hiyoko. However, his witnessing of the Heartful House tragedy led him to abhor violence and unnecessary loss of life, and I'd imagine his mother's later illness solidified this. Ryouta doesn't seem overly interested in political struggles or the broader implications of a lot of things - he's actually a rather self-oriented character when it comes down to it (this is not a judgment, nor a bad thing! I love my boy!). Ryouta just doesn't want to lose people, really. A conflict would mean more loss, and rock doves seem to have to struggle enough as is.

Hiyoko (human) is the daughter of two diplomats, but interestingly, we don't get to see much of her political views on things - perhaps because even if she expressed them, it wouldn't really matter - she's not herself a diplomat, and humans are the lowest of the low - her going to a fancy school doesn't really change that. Social-wise, except with her friends, she is tolerated, not accepted. Yet, it's safe to say that Hiyoko strongly disapproves of people who flaunt their status - she's quick to not take crap from Sakuya, to get angry on behalf of Ryouta and herself over the gull clerk's assholery, and also to defend Miru and Kaku as living beings worthy of respect. Interestingly though, she also uses Okosan's status as a fantail to get Ryouta to let go of him and let him do whatever he wants so... it's kind of unclear what her firm beliefs are. Perhaps, as a human, she still values fantails more highly. I don't know honestly. Implicit bias?

Sakuya, Yuuya and Okosan (fantail pigeons) may share the same breed, but their experiences are highly different. Sakuya is largely separate from the human-bird conflict, as he is unlikely to be directly affected by it. As such, a lot of his story and development has to do with actually learning and un-learning about the world outside of the limitations of his "father's" classist views, which he simply mimics without understanding the larger implications. Yuuya and Okosan, on the other hand, may be fantails, but are also looked down on and often treated as inferior - Yuuya for being a "half-breed" and for his reputation, and Okosan for being closer to feral than a lot of other doves. Interestingly, these two show more interest and respect for the individual than Sakuya does, who often makes sweeping generalizations based on status - which makes sense to a degree, as they've been on the receiving end of this kind of treatment, whereas Sakuya hasn't. Okosan believes that each person has their own "wonderful names" (read: identity outside of breed or status), while Yuuya is a genuine fighter for justice who is able to get to the heart of people, especially in Holiday Star. However, even though they have experienced classism, they still have certain privileges with regards to species/race - take Okosan's shock when Hiyoko and Ryouta are barred entry from his favourite store. None of them are quite as out of place in everyday society as some of the other birds here, and it's notable that "diverse" St. Pigeonations still apparently has a significant fantail student population.

Shuu (chukar partridge) is really interesting, as he doesn't particularly care for the politics of the Hawk Party, and yet his role as a killer/hunter of both his fellow birds and humans is an interesting reversal of the chukar being a game bird. Shuu also has a disability (his semi-paralyzed right side) which hinders him in bird society even more than most. His extreme, yet coldly logical solution to kill all humans to stop the fighting between them, could be as much his rationality, as his joy in the sadistic, as a reactionary survivalism (remember he was caught up in a human terrorist attack as a child - while overall he considered this beneficial to him, he also did lose much of his colour vision and the use of his right side, so it did leave him weakened). Shuu attains control by "flipping the script" as it were.

Tohri (golden pheasant) starts out in the Hawk Party, but much like his colleagues, doesn't seem to care much for their politics. Golden pheasants are game birds whose eggs can be eaten, but are more often bred and kept for their plumage - they're not prey, but they're not exactly pets either. All this puts Tohri in this interesting position of being somewhat in the middle of this conflict, and indeed he goes on to be a part of (found?) the Crow Party - an opportunistic group that seeks to benefit from the overall conflict. Golden pheasants are birds intended to be admired for their beauty and intelligence more than anything else, benefitting in some ways from humans without a strong connection or a reliance, and Tohri's opportunism fits nicely with that. (As an aside, our sole crow character, Albert, is also something of an opportunist, being an assassin on the fringes of society.)

Hitori and Kazuaki (button quails) are somewhat interesting. It would be both expected and understandable if Hitori held hatred for humanity after the Heartful House incident, or even before then, considering they were all war orphans. Instead, he doesn't seem to harbour any particular ill-will - he seems totally fine around Hiyoko, and her being a human has nothing to do with his reticence with letting Nageki hang out with her in the shrine universe. Kazuaki, too, doesn't seem to mind Hiyoko being human and isn't afraid of her any more than he is anyone else. While quails are game birds, with both meat and eggs being eaten, button quails are too tiny for that and are mostly kept as pets - they are considered cute, silly, and entertaining, though a bit too jumpy to be outright companion birds. The quails don't seem to experience too much in the way of speciesism (except arguably with the whole mistaken identity of Kazuaki's corpse... there may be a bit of an "all quails look the same" thing going on perhaps). At the very least, they are able to occupy teaching positions at a renowned school as respected intellectuals, and did go to university. Still, it's kind of a known thing that you don't put button quails with bigger, more dominant birds, since larger birds will often pick on them or even outright try to kill them simply because they're small and shy - this may, in hindsight, explain some of Kazuaki's demeanour.

Nageki (mourning dove) and Anghel (luzon bleeding heart dove) are the two who are uncommon bird species in Japan. Nageki is another war orphan, who would be forgiven for harbouring resentment for humanity, but instead is appalled at the violence and made a huge sacrifice to get it to stop. It's kind of unclear how Nageki fits into this society, as mourning doves are not prey or pets - they're wild birds. They live on the outside of the human world, and while Nageki exists within current bird society, he likely doesn't have a designated status within it. Nageki is unfortunately also alienated from much of the action due to his illness and later his untimely death - this is why a lot of Nageki's thoughts are somewhat from an observer's perspective, with his most emotional moments being derived from his rare direct experiences - specifically the Heartful House tragedy and the human killings he was forced into, which solidified a really firm stance of not wanting anyone to suffer like that. Anghel is another outsider, this time genuinely a foreigner, as opposed to Nageki. Again, Luzons are wild birds, not prey or pets, and so it's a bit unclear what his status is. This might explain why Hiyoko repeats Sakuya's remarks towards him without apparently realizing they're actually insults - Anghel is removed enough from the conflict she is familiar with that it seems she doesn't quite... get it. Again, Anghel's role is as this strange kind of omniscient observer, whose perspective is closer to the player's than to the rest of the cast. He definitely frowns on the Hawk Party's overall goal - the Demon Spores are evil to him, and his main objective is to stop them from spreading, as they would cause damage to both birds and humans. I attribute his morals to his mother having raised him right lol. The lack of a clear status for both of them may be why they appear to take the stance of judgment based on individual actions, but are not heavily involved in the conflict itself - while humans tend to like mourning doves and luzons, there isn't much interaction that goes on between them. Nageki and Anghel are simply less embroiled in bird society's human-derived status conflict, which makes them both outsiders and observers.

As a bonus note, Azami, Rabu and Kenzaburou are all species of birds that can be kept as pets (java sparrow, budgie, parakeet), which may account for some of their friendliness towards Hiyoko, and Kenzaburou's willingness to hire her. Kenzaburou is even a bit old-fashioned it seems - he sleeps in a cage, which implies his ancestors were probably pet birds themselves. It's likely he, in particular, has more positive views on humans.

...Please tell me I'm not the only one who spent ages thinking about the implications and workings of a fictional post-apocalyptic bird society. Also I hope this made sense I kind of went off the rails here.

#storyrambles #anyways this was supposed to be a quick write up. yet here I am three hours later. does this even read properly anymore. help. #the one thing i'm a little unclear on here is how the ichijou family fits into all this. ichijou mino the headmaster was a nicobar pigeon #i find it likely mino was hawk affiliated if we're going with the trend here (nicobars are heavily exploited for food/ #gizzard stones/zoos/illegal pet trade) and also note that he signed off on the human representative directive #but i want to know how shuu fits into that as he was formerly ichijou utsuro. who has the ichijou name? why different species? #are they prominent benefactors of the hawks? interesting to think on #also i was thinking about the gulls - they seem to be fairly high class but gulls definitely do not have a good reputation with humans lmao #however gulls get to do whatever they want a lot of the time because they are loud. and like to bully others (including humans) #i hereby propose they gained power by doing much the same once birds gained sapience hjfhbdf #hatoful boyfriend #hatoful spoilers #holiday star #hatoful meta

[enbysiriusblack]

i cannot for the life of me remember who made that post with the headcanon about the black family losing a lot of their wealth.

but i've been thinking about it a lot. and in england from early to mid 1900s, the aristocracy changed fundamentally as a class, they lost a lot of their previous held power as well as a lot of their money. and because of this, they either had to get a job (the aristocracy is the leisure class. they don't work), which means leaving behind the traditions of your class and your family in order to modernise and keep your money/power, or they could sell off their large estates/lands/artworks in order to keep tradition of the aristocracy as much as they could, but it meant losing a lot of money/power.

there's this quote describing this change in the aristocracy actually- "less power, more prestige". in staying with the traditions of old money, they lose the power they had in government/economy/whatever, but gain lots of admiration and respect from society- like they still have honour and integrity despite losing their money and power, which then becomes their primary tool in still being seen as an influential family.

and with the black family being known as "the noble and most ancient house of black", that definitely could show they chose that pathway. they're clinging onto their lineage of nobility in a time when the aristocracy as a class and the idea of high society is very much falling apart. and unlike quite a lot of these families, they don't modernise but instead keep their heads high and very much make it known that they are nobility and an ancient family, and have no intentions of disrupting this and losing the meaning of what being an aristocrat and a noble used to mean.

#also their motto being “always pure”. like i know its about purebloods and shit #but i do think there's an element of clinging onto traditions #in early 1900s was the rise of celebrities (actors/musicians/writers) surpassing a lot of religious or noble figures in pop culture #and then aristocracts then began to marry these sort of new money celebrities (although not all of them new money #i just mean not following traditions of high society and upper class #and the always pure motto could be very much a clear statement of outrage at this. of class becoming less about lineage #and more about who's the got the bigger wallets and the better parties #sorry i'm doing a module in uni rn about the monarchy and the british classes in early to mid 1900s soo #marauders era #marauders #the black family #the noble and most ancient house of black

[sugarwurm]

Emotionally constipated bard vs. The Softest Druid Alive™ 🍂🐻

#She's a shut in bard from a high class family who was never taught how to show her emotions properly #And he's a soft bear man who openly tells you how wonderful you are constantly #can I make it anymore obvious #bg3 #bg3 tav #bg3 halsin #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 fanart #halsin #bg3 fanart #baldurs gate 3 halsin #fanart #oc #my art

[shallowseeker]

"I'm working on a Ph.D," Sam says.

Sam's lie about himself was so interesting in terms of how he sees himself. (I wish it had made it into the episode.)

Instead of defaulting to, "I'm working on a personal research project," or "I'm taking some classes at a local community," Sam says, PHD!

(And I get it. At my age, I wanna say that I'm working on a Masters' or a Ph.D, too. Not that I, "never made it," even though I was, "considered so low-budget genius and backwoods bright.")

From the 14x13 script Dean draws back-- huh? He and Sam swap a confused glance. SAM: What-- who do you think we are? ELIOT: I-- survivalist bigfoot hitmen? Sam and Dean trade a look. SAM: No-- we're-- my brother is a mechanic and I-- I'm working on a PHD-- (exasperated) Just tell us what you saw.

///

I recall, very fondly, this scene with Rowena in 12x02 Mamma Mia:

INTERIOR: INSIDE A RESTAURANT. ROWENA IS SITTING AT A TABLE WITH A MAN. ROWENA: Sent me to the grandest boarding schools, but I was a wee imp and ran away for a life in the arts. Mother didn't speak to me until I became a star. BEN: A star? Of? ROWENA: Uh, do you follow the Royal Ballet? BEN SHAKES HIS HEAD. BEN: Not a bit. ROWENA: The Royal Ballet. BEN: You know, it reminds me a lot of my story. I left school to work in a steel mill. I rose up through the ranks, and now I own half a dozen. ROWENA: You're not serious? FOOTSTEP’S APPROACH AND A WAITER COMES UP WITH A BOTTLE OF WINE.

NOTE: Ben turns out to be a cad and a fraud, but there's something so interesting about how Rowena wants to portray her class background. We know from 11x10 that Rowena, "was (before magic) nothing but Rowena, the tanner's daughter... a pale, scared little girl, who smelled of filth and death."

It's a brilliant thing about Samwena. They get each other, at least as far as this is concerned.

From 15x06 Golden Time:

SAM: Rowena got it. I mean, she didn't know all the details, but she knew the game was rigged. So this... Magic. This is how she kept control.

#i feel like i could say some stuff about dean and cas too and how they both seem to embrace low-brow entertainment and food #cas himself is royal-family adjacent something like a lower military prince that chose to leave his status behind #and the macleods are struggling so hard to rise above but no matter how high they get it's like ppl can smell it on them #sam + social mobility #rowena + posh background #spn + class #samwena #and the thing is...the game IS rigged #social mobility is a little overstated in many cases esp during rowena's human life #a portion of sam's freak feelings come from feeling like a prince among thieves he wants to divorce himself from his lower class muck #because academia and high life DO look at his kind with a certain air of disdain you know? #and sam doesn't want that disdain aimed at him #he'll struggle with this his entire life most likely

[paula-gio]

Redesigned Ameri cause I think her original outfit is so ugly. Godbless 🙏

#rip to ameri likers but it looks like a cheap Halloween costume #if that’s what’s they were going for then good job?? #I like the swirls in her hair so I put them everywhere #made her clothes more formal because school council president + high class family #not a fan of the orange and pink but I wanted to keep the og colors #also accentuated the cat theme with the boots and the tail-like hair swirl #plus monster high-inspired heels #ok I put too many details in the boots to the point where it got a little ugly #but I flipping love what I did with the heels #so I’ll call this done for now and if I ever have a better idea I’ll come back to it #ameri azazel #mairuma #redesign

[sonyshock]

I swear I had to do a double take when I saw your oc Faust, because I have a sonic oc with the EXACT name and I’d never seen another character with the name 😭

your Faust is literally such a silly dude tho I am literally eating him /pos

Haha! Was it a bat too? Anyway, OC naming siblings! 🤝 His name comes from the fact he calls a 'demon' (Bazeel, who is not a demon, but could very much be) into his own world seeking knowledge and power. He also embodies that 'middle-high class intellectual asshole with lots of theoretical knowledge so he thinks he knows everything' stereotype. Fun fact, but Faust is actually a shortened version of his name! His full name is Fausticus. It's a mix of Faust and Icarus, so I'm sure he'll be fine. Anyway, have this old sketch of Faust as a Sonic character I sketched for fun. It's very cursed

#ask #sketch #lines #oc #text #faust #fausticus #He also used to go by Fatima #Also he's not really middle-high class but he and his family sure did what they could to act like it #He even supposedly has noble ascendance but that never mattered #they always were the most middle of middle class

[lemonsweet]

I know I'm the freak that uses mobile for everything but it rly annoys me when people act uppity about how kids these days don't use desktop bc to be honest computer classes in school suck pretty bad and not everyone was allowed to have their own personal computer they could use at home lol

#i only figured out folders and stuff because specific classes i took in high school #i only got my first laptop when i was like 16 and it ran like shit #i had a family computer but my older brother basically only used it and i had limited access #ofc I'm gonna use the tiny computer that I can use privately whenever I want #im not saying computers are bad obviously but man not every kid got to do all that stuff

[nikialexx]

ik that regulus was canonically a quidditch player and that quidditch is generally regarded as an esteemed and beloved sport in the wizarding world (if only because there seem to be no other sports to compare it to) but i actually do not see the Black family as sporting-type people. i actually think they would look down on athletes especially in high contact sports like quidditch and think it perhaps just a step above pure barbarism

#maybe if there was something more 'high class' like the way ballet is perceived #the black family

[sea-owl]

I request a governess polin au, hell we can add kathony too.

So let's say that in this au, Kate never went to London and Penelope never had London debut. To help with the family finances Kate set out to become a nurse/governess (I am aware they are two different positions, but just roll with me.) After discovering Lord Featheringtons debts Portia only had enough money to debut one more daughter. After debating she decided to place her bets on Felicity. Neither ever met the Bridgertons.

Somehow Penelope ended up as a sort of apprentice/partner to Kate and the two found a good job within the house of the Duke and Duchess of Hastings. With two of them they are able to take care of the children, Auggie, and Amelia, when they are younger and later teach them as well as any other children the Duke and Duchess may have.

The two get along well with their employers and they have each other so the loneliness that usually comes with their kind of position isn't as bad.

Then comes 1816 aka the year without summer. Things were wet and cold, some of the ton had decided to forgo that season and stay in their country homes. One of those families was the Bassets, who decided to invite the family to Clyvedon for the rest of the season, with possibly taking some time to go to Aubrey Hall.

Of course Kate and Penelope are also at Clyvedon, helping take care of the young lord and ladies.

"Oh Kate, Penelope," Daphne greeted as she walked into the nursery. "You two can take a break for a little while. Just bring the children down to the drawing room, my family will be here soon and I'm sure they'll want to see the babies."

"Yes your grace," Kate and Penelope bowed.

"Thank you-," Daphne cut herself off with a yawn. "Oh forgive me on that."

"It is alright your grace," Kate said.

Daphne fought another yawn as she walked out of the nursery.

Kate and Penelope looked at each other before letting out soft giggles.

"I suppose we'll have another little one soon enough," Kate said as she held onto Auggie's leading strings in one hand and held Belinda in another.

"Good for us, it keeps us employed longer," Penelope joked. She gently bounces Caroline, while her other hand holds Amelia's leading strings. "Looks like you won't be the baby for long young miss."

Kate grinned. "That it does."

The two lead the children down to the family drawing room where Simon was waiting. After that they were temporarily free for probably most of the afternoon if this was like the other visits from the duchess' family. Not that Kate and Penelope haven't really had any more than brief glimpses at the infamous Bridgertons.

After that Kate went to take a walk while Penelope went down to the kitchen for some leftovers cook left since she missed breakfast.

Enter Anthony and Colin.

Anthony had ridden separate from his family as he had to make a stop on the way for business. Unfortunately this also meant that Anthony had gotten caught in the rain on his way. Colin had gotten back just in time for them to leave and had not yet had a chance to change out of his traveling clothes nor a chance to really eat anything. Suffice to say they did not really look like sons of a high bred family.

Kate just happened to be passing by when Anthony rode up to Clyvedon.

Kate had to stop herself from raising an eyebrow at the soaked man who was foolish to ride out into the rain. If she had to guess he may have been one of the tenets. Just as they always did during the first day of guest arriving, the duke and duchess gave strict orders that they are not to be disturbed.

"Excuse me," the man said. "You could you direct me to where Simon and Daphne are?"

Kate was taken aback. She has never heard of a tenet being so informal. "I'm sorry sir, but their graces are not seeing to any business today. The duchess' family had arrived today."

The tenet looked annoyed. "I assure you they are expecting me."

"Sir," Kare sighed, then yelled when he pushed past her. "Sir!"

That's when Kate heard the bell designated for the nurses and governesses. Well fine, she'll just let her employers handle the tenet.

Meanwhile Colin had sneaked down to the kitchen. He was a growing boy after all, and he hadn't eaten all day.

He was surprised to see a cute red down there happily eating an eclair.

"Is there anymore?" Colin asked her.

Penelope jumped, just barely catching the custard that fell. Turning towards Colin she did in fact raise an eyebrow. She has not seen this man before. Penelope could place almost all the servants at Clyvedon by face and she has seen this one. Plus his clothing does not look like anything any of the servants would be wearing. Nor is he looking at her food like anyone else she has met before.

"I'm sorry sir, but this was the only one Cook had set aside. The rest are being served to her grace's family," Penelope said.

The man's eyes lit up at the mere mention of more food. "Really? Oh must show me where they are!"

What was this man? Some kind of interloper? Penelope would rather not show him where the duke and duchess are, but blast. It looks like she might not have a choice. That was the bell to summon her and Kate. Well hopefully if he does follow the duke will take care of it.

Kate and Penelope met at the entrance of the drawing room both of them looking at their partner with a questioning look at the strange man following.

Before Kate or Penelope could stop them the tenet and the interloper both walk into the drawing room.

"Anthony!"

"Colin!"

Oh fuck, Kate and Penelope knew those names. Those were the names of the duchess' brothers, the Viscount Bridgerton and the third Bridgerton. And now among the rest of their siblings Kate and Penelope could see the resemblance.

#anthony and colin: pretty lady😍😍 #daphne: QUIT TRYING TO SEDUCE MY STAFF #so in general a governess was a daughter to a middle or upper class family that generally fell on hard times #it was not an enviable position since they were basically outcasts among the staff #generally born too high and too educated for the rest of the staff but also not on equal level to their employers #the one they more than likely worked the most with was the nanny since they both were responsible for the raising and education of the kids #I would've done the saphne kids older but i thought 1816 would fit better due to how cold it was that year and indoor bound others would be #bridgerton #kathony #polin #governess au #kate sharma #kate sheffield #penelope featherington #anthony bridgeton #colin brigerton

[bijoumikhawal]

I think if Ziyal was more obviously a little fucked up a lot of people would go from low key ignoring her to hating her but she should've been more obviously fucked up

#cipher talk #ds9 #Like yeah she's manipulative. Can we push that a little more to the front? #Ziyal is a very traumatized child who only just got out of a bad situation I wanna see her making grabby hands at any sense of safety #And any sense of /power/. I wanna see her relationship to Cardassian (implied to be very rigid) class dynamics as the daughter of a very #High class family and how exactly that intersects with her being Bajoran as much as she is Cardassian #I think you could analyze this in her character as it already exists like- the way she dresses isn't the same as other Cardassians but it's #Very similar to Cardassian fashion with very little Bajoran influences from what I can see and you can argue that's a form of her grabbing #At power and safety via Cardassian class b/c it really isn't doing her any favors to dress that way on Bajor #But I want more. More introspection. #Also I think she navigates social interactions too normally honestly. Let her say weird things completely seriously #Be a bit rude on accident. Not quite get what's appropriate/forget other people don't share certain experiences

[cellgatinbo]

got one of those 3d printing pens for christmas and immediately went into a trance trying to make a cucurucho cookie for like 2 hours

#and then i gave up because it's just. blobby atm #might work on/fix it later but i might have slightly burned my fingertips :D #i printed like a handful of things in a single high school class and my family has decided it's my Thing™ now years later

[avallachs]

got my results from my uni finals back and i feel like i’m about to pass out??

#ophelia.txt #i got all distinctions?? the highest overall grade u can get is 7 (high distinction) and i got all 6??? holy shit??? #i really. really struggled this semester. i've had so much going on w mental health & family things. i was honestly just hoping to pass #my classes. i didn't think i was going to do very well. but oh my god. i did it. and i did it well.