#it all ends up looking like that one den of rabbits in watership down

[etherati]

Vampires as we think of them in media are so weird, in terms of like, the ecology of sentient species. Like imagine earth being observed by aliens:

There's two sentient species coexisting on this planet. Species A is your typical dominant sentience on this class of planet. They have an average lifespan, are omnivorous and social, depend on technology rather than physical prowess, but are clever and highly adaptable--in other words, the pattern you see everywhere. They make up 99.5% of the intelligent life on earth.

Then you have species B - nocturnal predators, nearly indestructible, highly intelligent and long lived, viciously violent. Or are they a subspecies of A? Hard to say, because despite advanced biological science and plenty of evidence, species A doesn't know that species B fucking exists. Despite the fact that species B literally preys upon species A for food. Is life just really that cheap on this planet? Are their lives so dangerous that hey, accidents happen all the time, must have tripped and fell on his own pitchfork? What's the A on A murder rate in this fucking place that they don't notice a few extra corpses? How is this sustainable? How can they have not figured this out?

Then you find out that members of species B are fucking recruited from species A, and they make a conscious decision that they're going to eat their old species in order to live forever, something that is regarded as a wildly overrated and foolish pursuit by most of the civilized races of the universe.

Do you know what you're going to do, if you're an alien observing this bullshit? You're going to nope the fuck out. You're going to say, at least 0.5% of the population of this planet are big enough amoral shitheels that they are just fine signing up for a "murder your friends" lifestyle plan and that suggests that there are probably a lot more that would do that if they knew it was an option. You are going to stamp a big red [QUARANTINE] classification on the earth at best, and at worst you're going to raze the place on your way out, because you have NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS.

And you don't ever want to again.

#vampires #fantasy #scifi #meta #shower thoughts i guess #how do you even explain this shit to someone unfamiliar with the cultural mileu? #it all ends up looking like that one den of rabbits in watership down #try explaining watership down to an alien just try #we are kind of messed up huh

[echoesofadream]

books I've read in 2023 so far, as of July

Den lodande människan - Patrik Svensson: loved it, could not have started my year with a better book. 5/5

Sveket - Birgitta Trotzig: became severely depressed during the three days I read this in (had to read fast for school), seriously affected my wellbeing and mental health and the way I viewed the world. when it ended it felt like waking up from a nightmare, the relief of realizing there is beauty in the world because there was none in this book. ???/5

Watership Down - Richard Adams: read swedish translation. love, just love. I found the Efrafa arc weird and misplaced in this book about rabbits though, very strange. 4/5

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad: read this after I watched Apocalypse Now because I loved the film, and I think the film made me like the book more. also the first classic I read in a while and I think thats part of why I liked the writing so much. extremely racist even though its supposed to be like, anti colonial commentary? but I suppose it was in its time. 4/5

Annihilation - Jeff Vandermeer: swedish translation. I watched the movie a few years ago and ive been wanting to read this since. and im glad I did because I did like it but idk im sensing a theme here like maybe I shouldn't have read swedish translation instead of original language in some cases. cause I liked this but maybe I wouldve liked it more in english? idk.. like 3.5-4/5 though

Circe - Madeline Miller: I really liked this one. reading this in front of the fireplace, immersing myself in another world. I loved living in the Ancient Greece and greek myths for some time, I really felt I was there. I don’t know how Miller did it but she really conveyed the feeling of immortality, I really felt I was living through centuries alongside Circe and the feelings that come with that. thats why the ending was so perfect. Odysseus was the best part tho. 4.5/5

The River Between - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: read up on the topic of FGM in Africa on the side as I was reading this. a very interesting and also gruesome, eye opening experience. what stays with me is the total darkness of the nights, really pierced through my soul. 4/5

Dear Edward - Ann Napolitano: swedish translation. my grandma gave this to me and told me to read it because she read it and wanted to hear what I thought, I never would have read it otherwise. it wasnt really my thing but I do like airplanes and airplane crashes as a plot, so that was the stuff I took away from the story, the rest kind of just went through me. but im kind of happy I read this book just for that reason because that part really affected me. also the conclusion was more touching than the rest of the book, which felt kinda detached. 2.5/5 for the book, 4.5/5 for airplane stuff (my post i make the rules)

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami: swedish translation (ive read all my Murakami books in swedish, since the original language isnt english and also because i like it). some parts I really really loved and were some of my fav elements of any murakami book. but this was not my favorite. overall I liked it, though. actually loved the experience of reading this because i always love reading murakami due to the meditative descriptions of daily chores combined with surrealism, and this one was extra long and repetitive so i loved that. also was interesting cause I looked up the cult events its inspired by so that was interesting too. this one had a bit more surreal/fantasy elements than his other stuff ive read I think? which was nice also. 4/5

If I had your face - Frances Cha: im glad I read it. a good insight into the reality of women in South Korea. not perfect but i feel this book succeeded in what it aimed to be. 3/5

Eileen - Ottessa Moshfegh: swedish translation. i dont really know how to feel about it, really. honestly, I dont even know what to say. this left my head kind of empty, which... may not be a good thing.. could be a poor translation, if i read another of her books ill read in english. 2.5/5

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller: read this hoping to get more Odysseus but there wasnt a lot. Honestly not a huge fan of this book, Circe was so much better. what rlly irked me was Miller sugarcoating some aspects of these war criminals, more specifically the rapes/sex slaves — yet keeps some things in as if they were essential. More specifically, Patroclus sleeping with that girl i cant remember the name of, for god knows what reason, it was such an unpleasant read and she had to write this so much more explicitly and drawn out than any sex scene between Patroclus and Achilles? That pissed me off and genuinely I felt it was so ugly of Patroclus because that was cheating. If it was meant to be read as asssault thats worse because that woman is literally a rape victim (of Achilles) in the canon. Very distasteful to turn a rape victim into a rapist for fanfiction fantasy. Circe was Miller’s apology to women for writing this book. 3/5

Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro: swedish translation. My first Ishiguro. I found the conversations between characters unnatural and unempathetic, the latter especially when aimed at Klara. It is established that Klara has feelings to some degrees and yet is treated as someone who does not, and yet they characters are not supposed to be viewed as unlikeable? This threw me off and also put me off the whole book. But I really liked the character and perspective of Klara, she was my favorite part of this book. I thought it was kind of brilliant to be in Klara’s brain, but felt sorry for her due to her treatment. It frustrated me how much love and care she had for Josie and the others for almost no reason since they were never very kind or caring in turn to her or likable on their own. Her loyalty was almost pitiful, like that of an abused pet or child. The whole replacing Josie thing is so un-human I can’t even fathom these characters aren’t supposed to be viewed as something else than dystopically post-human! (Are they meant to be viewed as that? Unclear) Who could ever replace their child with a robot, an inherently selfish act, they can not possibly believe they would somehow be reviving Josie for anyone else’s sake than their own? Josie would not live on, she would still be dead. So it would be for themselves to play pretend, and it’s completely bizarre. I can’t believe this wasn’t even the moral dilemma. The whole ”something essential that can’t be replaced” is one discussion and it was handled quite weakly, but obviously even if Klara learns all there is about Josie, and is able to ”become” her, the same Josie will not have been born again to experience it. She would be a clone who ACTS like Josie, at most. She would have ”learnt all the rooms of her heart” but she wouldn’t be her, she would only copy. But no one cares about that, only whether Klara can become her clone or not. Including the father who is more critical about it seems to think it would be fine to clone his daughter and act like she is the same one, if it ever would work. could be the translator who sucks? Debating if i should read any more Ishiguro. 2/5

Lucy - Jamaica Kincaid: this is my second Kincaid, I love her writing. love it, gorgeous. she is straight forward, conveys so strongly, vividly. 4.5/5

The colorless Tsukuru Tazaki - Haruki Murakami: swedish translation. you know what, I think anyone complaining about this book should take an extra look at the cover. you’re reading murakami, this is what you get. that said, I do think this is one of his weaker attempts of his tried standard formula, ive seen him do better. I do feel like the prose was a little new, experimental maybe? Which was interesting. also not enough homoerotica. 3/5

#currently reading home by Toni Morrison almost done #my first book by her #but obviously shes a brilliant writer

[pika-ace]

In the Heights AU-Watership Down plot,part 10

((More bunny!Ruben and the climax approaches!))

As the group of bunnies float down the river,they take the time to introduce themselves to each other. Usnavi tells them that he knows they’ve been through a lot,but he hope’s that they can help them start to heal,and asks them if they would like to join The Heights warren. Each rabbit agrees that is the best course of action. They boat gradually comes to calmer water,where the bunnies leap off and swim the small distance to shore. As they’re drying out their fur Eliseo lands beside them and tells them that Efrafa is not following them at the moment. In the meantime, he must go back to the docks. Usnavi and the others thank him for his help and friendship, and ask him to visit from time to time, he replies that he will gladly visit again in the future and tells them goodbye before flying away. Once everyone is sufficiently dry,they make their way back to The Heights, careful of any predators that may be nearby. When they arrive, Abuela is waiting outside for them. When she sees them,she quickly rushes to meet them,nuzzling Usnavi and Sonny and telling them how worried she was,and how she prayed for all of them to be alright. Usnavi tells her that they’re all ok,some fairly minor wounds,though she might want to look at Benny’s shoulder,to which she replies that she’ll go get some herbs to stop any chance of infection. Before she runs off,she warmly smiles at all of the escapees and welcomes them home. They take the short remaining feet to get to the warren,and meet Camila,Daniela and Carla coming up to welcome them back as well,and they also introduce themselves to the new rabbits. All of the tunnels and burrows are completely finished, with a huge den just under the tree that they can all meet in if need be. Usnavi thanks them for all of their hard work,and looks at the new rabbits to tell them to choose any burrow they want to nest in. With the original ten rabbits and about 15 newcomers, the population of the warren has now risen to 25. In the next coming days,the new rabbits start to adjust to their new home, getting checked over by Abuela and Kevin(who’s also experienced in spotting muscle injuries) for any health problems. Benny’s shoulder needs a poultice put on it for the next few days,but he’s relatively fine. Most of the other rabbits check out just fine,with a scratch or two on them,the worst one off being Ruben. He practically has to be covered with the stuff in the first few days. When Abuela first really took a look at him she was nearly brought to tears of his story;he doesn’t really know how to react to that. After a couple of days of being fussed over,he tentatively begins to ask exactly what’s she’s using and what for,which she happily teaches him how to use herbs in medicine. He’s has a little bit of a hard time adjusting, being still spooked by any rabbit bigger than him,especially any bucks,but he slowly begins to relax,even getting some sass and sarcasm back,which many find funny,to his surprise. Meanwhile it takes a little while for everyone else to grasp the fact that they can go outside whenever they want. All except for Vanessa of course;she’s taking every opportunity she can to be outside. She becomes good friends with Nina, Daniela,and Carla over time. She also begins to grow closer to Usnavi,the later developing a crush on her over time. Benny urges him to act on it,make his move! But Usnavi is an awkward goofball much of the time, never actually taking the chance to ask her to go for a run with him,though he takes note of her favorite flower to eat and brings her some when he can. Benny and Nina grow closer as well, Benny even taking the time to teach her some fighting skills while teaching the new rabbits who have joined the Owsla. While in private, he asks her to be his mate for life;she accepts. Later when they announce it to the warren,Kevin seems to be pretty grumpy about it,to their concern. Later, when they approach Camila and Kevin to speak with them about it,tensions finally erupt between Kevin and Benny about their issues, Kevin taking issue with how Benny turned on him back at the old warren,as well as not informing them immediately when they discovered Nina was alive,and Benny taking issue with the fact that Kevin was always keeping him “on the backburner” before and never actually let him progress,and the fact that Kevin doesn’t seem to approve of him and Nina. Kevin responds that he just got his daughter back,he wasn’t going to lose her again, Nina yells that they aren’t going to lose her,and she’s an adult she can make her own decisions. Camila,tired of all of this drama,finally snaps and tells them all to quiet,pushing Kevin and Benny into a single burrow and telling them both to work out their issues with each other PEACEFULLY and to not come back out until they have,they try to protest,but she doesn’t want to hear it. She leaves them to work it out,while she goes to talk with Nina in private. Kevin and Benny try to ignore each other at first,but eventually begin to talk out their issues, and come to a new understanding and respect for one another. After a heart to heart, Kevin formally welcomes him to the family, and tells him to take care of his daughter. Benny tells him that he’ll lay down his life for her if need be. Kevin also tells him that he is proud of him for how far he’s come from that little punk he used to be,and also proud that he’s become Captain of the Owsla. Meanwhile later in the evening, Usnavi and Vanessa are grazing when they bump into each other. After some cute conversation, Usnavi goes to get her favorite flower for her to eat. Sonny,getting tired of Vanessa and Usnavi awkwardly dancing around their now mutual crush(he’s heard Daniela teasing Vanessa about it), takes it upon himself to tell her that his cousin(the one over there with his tongue hanging out) has been meaning to ask her what she might be doing the next day. She asks if his cousin likes to run,to which Sonny replies that he’s fine with it. When Usnavi,comes back,Vanessa tells him that tomorrow maybe they could go for a run and explore a bit,just the two of them,picking up the flowers Usnavi drops as his jaw slackened and going to munch on them inside. When she disappears, Usnavi begins to celebrate, jumping around and speaking almost too fast to be understood, to Sonny’s amusement. Later that night,Usnavi wakes to find that Abuela has disappeared. After waiting a little bit,he goes out of the warren to find her sitting outside looking at the sky. When asked if she’s alright, she responds that the stars are out tonight, aren’t they beautiful, Usnavi? He says they are,and admires them for a while with her. She tells him that she’s so proud of him. After all of the hardship he and others have faced,they’ve all made it here,and he’s the chief,something that would have never happened back at the old warren. He tells her that he still doubts himself; he’s not strong like Benny or Kevin,or smart like Nina,doesn’t have visions of the future like Sonny,and he’s not nearly as fast as Pete is. He often wonders what he could possibly offer this group that they made him Chief. She tells him, yes, he’s right, he’s not the strongest,the smartest,or the fastest, but what makes him a good leader is that he has believed in them,and brought out the best in them. After stargazing for a bit,he advises her to go back in and get some sleep;it’s very late. She seems to be a bit disappointed to leave but admits he’s right. To ease her disappointment, he suggests that if the stars are out again tomorrow, maybe they can all stay up and watch them,to her delight. They then head back to the burrow, unknowing of the buck in the distance watching them,who then turns around to deliver the news of their location to his Chief Rabbit,while also planning for some revenge himself.

(Hoo boy,we are almost at the end of this little adventure, gonna get real serious in the next bit. Got a difficult decision to make)

#submission #watership down

[pika-ace]

In the Heights AU-Watership Down AU plot,part 6

((Alright, time for the violent shit to start))

In the coming days, Usnavi and Benny are on the mend with Eliseo,though they have to be watched like a hawk because they keep trying to get up and do things. Yes, you should exercise but don’t push yourself too hard! As Eliseo has been resting and healing,his wing heals first. Grateful for the rabbits help,he gladly takes to the sky to look for anymore warrens that look like they can spare some members. Benny and Nina are growing closer as the days go by. She often sits with Usnavi and Benny,both to keep them company and catch up, though Usnavi can obviously see that Nina is often sitting next to Benny. Benny even annoys him about how he looks before the usual time she comes over. Benny, you look the same everyday,quit trying to impress Nina! Kevin seems a little unhappy at this development because he just got Nina back,why did she have to grow up? Camila however is happy that the two are getting closer to each other. Eliseo returns after a few more days with news that about a few hours away(for the rabbits) is another warren that looks to be overcrowded with rabbits. After a meeting the warren decides to send three to ask for any rabbits that would like to join their group. Usnavi volunteers and asks Kevin and Pete to join him,Benny being left behind to guard the warren. After some well wishes from Abuela, the trio of rabbits follows Eliseo’s directions ,thanking him for his help. Eliseo tells them that he’ll head back to The Heights and stay for a few more days–he wants to hear the end of one of Abuela’s stories, and there’s still plenty of worms to tide him over. A few hours later,Usnavi, Kevin and Pete reach the new warren’s territory. They come across a patrol of four big,scarred bucks. Though a little unnerved by their cold stares,Usnavi introduces himself and his two companions, telling them that they would like to speak with the chief of this warren.(It’s important to note that Usnavi does not say he is chief of The Heights to these rabbits,though he is the chief. He did not think it was important). The rabbits, some even chuckling darkly,agree to take them to their leader. The four surround the three herding them into one of the tunnels, roughly pushing them to move them along. As they continue deeper into the warren they can see the deplorable conditions there. Another buck is screaming at group of does to move along,knocking one to the ground as she moves a bit too slowly for his liking. Kevin moves to try and stop him,but he’s warned by one of their guards that if he knew what was good for him,he’d move it. Reluctantly Kevin backs down,and the group is led to a large den. Several bucks,obviously Owsla officers stand at attention, Pete whispers that these are the biggest rabbits he’s ever seen. Then a new GIANT rabbit appears from another tunnel taking his place at the head of the officers. “Correction, THAT is the biggest rabbit I’ve ever seen” Usnavi quickly shushes him, placing himself in front of the younger buck subconsciously. The rabbit is a humongous scarred buck, with torn ears,and missing his left eye. He asks who the trio are. Once again, Usnavi introduces them. The chief is called General Sikes. One of the officers sharply tells Usnavi that he will refer to the General as sir,to which Usnavi obliges. He explains to the General that they are a newly established warren,and they would like to see if any rabbits would like to join, overcrowded as this warren is(They’re all disgusted at the conditions here but are trying to be diplomatic). At first,the General doesn’t seem to react,but then bursts out with evil laughter. They have the audacity to ask them for bucks and does!? They should have never come here,now they will never leave. They are now prisoners of Efrafa, the General promises that the rest of their warren will soon join them once they are found, to their horror. He gives Lee,a ruthless Captain of his Owsla,the task of taking these three to recieve their marks. The trio tries to protest but they are ignored and roughly moved along. As they’re led to the rabbit who will give them their marks,another group is pushed in with them,some does that were trying to escape,led by a doe named Vanessa. The groups quickly exchange names and greetings before being told to shut up. The rabbit that will be giving them their marks has extremely long claws. Whatever mark they receive is the group they are assigned to. Lee cheerfully asks if there are any volunteers to go first. Vanessa volunteers, saying she isn’t afraid, receiving the painful wound. After seeing this cruel sight ,Kevin tells Lee that he lacks animality(think humanity). Animals do not act like men. Animals do what they need to survive, yes, but only man goes out of their way just to hurt others. Lee threatens him that if he speaks to him out of turn again,he’ll rip out his tongue, that’s a promise. As Kevin goes next,Usnavi starts to talk quietly with Vanessa. Though very guarded she tells Usnavi about how Efrafa works. Those with certain marks go up for silflay at certain times, if you’re caught above ground at the wrong time, you get punished by the council, some even getting sentenced to death. They’ve tried all sorts of ways to escape to no avail;she thought that a buck named Ruben had finally been able to get away, but he was recaptured just a few days ago,and he did NOT look good. Usnavi tells her that they can figure out a way to escape,he’s sure of it. She tells him that it’s good he has hope,hopefully he won’t lose it…as she’s beginning to. It’s at this point they both notice Pete’s breathing is pretty shallow. He’s on the verge of a panic attack. Fighting the crows was one thing,running from the farmer’s bullets as well,but this? This was messed up! And they can’t do anything, they have to just let this freaky rabbit slice into them!? Usnavi tries to calm him down,telling him everything was going to be ok,they’re going to be fine. It begins to work,but then a soldier forces Usnavi away to receive his mark,causing Pete to begin to panic all over again. That’s when Vanessa steps in. She asks him his name again for clarification, and tells him to think about the things he likes,what makes him happy,and mimic her breathing, in and out. It begins to work at calming him as he thinks about running,carrots,art,hanging out with Sonny…. Vanessa encourages him to keep thinking of those things as it’s his turn. He’s able to keep calm thanks to Usnavi and Vanessa’s efforts, though the mark hurts like crazy. Usnavi,Pete,and Kevin all get put in the same group as Vanessa,their marks being very painful and still bleeding a little. As they settle down for the night,they talk quietly among themselves about any ideas for an escape, growing quiet whenever an Efrafan officer is nearby. As it gets later,they end up falling into a restless sleep. (So it ended up not being delayed because I had literally nothing to do yesterday so why not work on this? So we are getting into some more serious stuff at the moment,with some itty bitty pieces of fluff. I know Pete’s pretty brave but he’s still the youngest one there and I know if I was waiting for some wacko to slice me with a knife and I couldn’t do anything I’d be freaking out too. But, hey! Vanessa’s in the plot now!) *I know this is much longer than a plot summary that you might see,but I’m really trying to immerse you in it so you can see what the characters are going through and what they’re feeling, hope I’m doing it right. :-)

#submission #watership down

[pika-ace]

In the Heights AU-Watership Down plot,part 2

((AAAAARGH!!! IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER!!))

The escaped group travels for about a day,deciding the next night to rest in an abandoned building nearby. They hear a noise and see a figure in the darkness,and get nervous thinking it may be a predator or an Owsla officer,but it only turns out to be Pete. Pete asks what they’re doing out of their territory, and Sonny explains why. He’s surprised at what’s going to happen at the old warren,but believes Sonny. He asks to come with them to their new home, everyone is fine with it but Usnavi is reluctant, thinking he’ll just cause trouble. As they’re arguing a flock of crows return to the building and start threatening the rabbits. Usnavi tries to reason with them to no avail, as the crows begin to attack. It’s chaos for a bit as everyone is trying to protect each other and fight back,but Pete manages to catch their attention and lead them away from the group. He’s extremely fast,and is able to keep ahead for a while,but since crows can fly, they dive bomb him relentlessly. As he’s fighting the flock the other rabbits are able to catch up,and Benny is able to kill the leader,which causes the flock to disperse. Everyone has a few pecks and scratches(Pete most of all due to the whole murder of crows on him),but it’s not too bad. Everyone, even Usnavi,agrees that Pete is a good addition to the group(though Usnavi grumbles a little),so now he joins the party! They continue to look for a safe place to sleep,and run into a strange rabbit named Jefferson,who invites them to stay in his warren. Sonny protests,saying that they shouldn’t, that he has a bad feeling, but everyone is exhausted,and want to take Jefferson up on his offer. He appeals to Usnavi, but his cousin,out of concern especially for Abuela, and tired himself, decides to go with the majority. Jefferson leads them back to his burrow, everyone(even Sonny,though reluctantly) following,eager to get some rest. The warren that Jefferson leads them to is big,but strangely emptier than expected. He encourages them to pick whichever burrow they’d like,and in the morning they could join in for silflay. While choosing their dens the group meets another doe named Carla,who is very nice and hope to be friends,though there is a sort of sadness that seems to be in her eyes as she says this. Abuela,Usnavi,and Sonny all share a burrow,as they are used to it. Sonny still seems nervous but Usnavi reassures him that it’s just because they’ve had a very harrowing couple of days,and he’d feel better after getting some sleep. Abuela even tells a story about Hamilton as they fall asleep,helping Sonny to relax. The next morning they wake up and are directed to the main burrow,where Jefferson formally welcomes them. They then go up to eat,being led to a big pile of grass, including lettuce,carrots and fruit mixed in. They are reluctant,saying they smell man all over the place. Jefferson says that of course they do,after all,man is the one who put it there. They’re shocked to hear this, but Jefferson encourages them to eat,and that it’s all safe,the man protects them. Cautiously, they begin to eat,eventually stuffing themselves on the delicacies mixed in. Sonny,however can’t bring himself to eat much,to Usnavi and Abuela’s concern. Daniela and Carla really hit it off and become good friends,and we see that Carla tries to warn her discreetly about something, but Jefferson is nearby,and interrupts her,sending her off to do some sort of errand before she can finish. There’s something in his eyes that gives Daniela the creeps, but she doesn’t say anything. Benny approaches Usnavi privately, and encourages him to talk with Sonny about his behavior, as he’s concerned that Sonny will offend Jefferson and his rabbits,and the group will be kicked out. Usnavi agrees,and later tries to talk to him about it. It escalates to an argument because Sonny insists that all he can sense is death in this place and that they need to leave,while Usnavi says that Jefferson has been nothing but nice to them and Sonny was being rude. It ends with Usnavi storming away back to the burrow. Abuela was too far away to hear the conversation, but could hear them yelling, and asks what is wrong. Usnavi explains what happened and how he’s concerned about everyone as well as Sonny and he wouldn’t think it would be fair to force everyone to move just from a bad feeling, he’s just trying to do what’s best for all of them. She reassures him that he can be a great leader as long as he has a good heart,takes into account everyone’s concern, and learn from his mistakes, because he WILL make mistakes. She also encourages him to make up with Sonny when he gets a chance to,not to let this tear them apart. Jefferson announces that in the afternoon, his warren likes to tell stories, asking the newcomers if they have any they’d like to tell. Abuela,being the storyteller, starts to tell a tale of Hamilton outsmarting a band of foxes called Redcoats,before being rudely interrupted by Jefferson, who says that stories of Hamilton’s tricks aren’t something they enjoy to hear. Daniela protests, saying rabbits have always needed tricks. To which Jefferson responds that what rabbits need is dignity and the will to accept their fate. He then asks his friend Madison to recite a poem that encourages these qualities. While it is being recited,Sonny comes back into the burrow,and starts to receive another vision,where instead of tree roots, he just sees bones all along the walls and roof of the den. It gets so bad for him that he screams for it to stop,suprising Madison out of his poem. On the verge of a panic attack, he runs out of the burrow, with Usnavi quickly following. He says that he can’t handle staying there any longer,and that he was going to go away. Usnavi, concerned, says if he did that he’d be killed,but Sonny claims that by staying here he was closer to death. Usnavi,seeing his poor cousin so shaken up, nuzzles him and apologizes for their argument earlier, saying if Sonny truly believed that this place was dangerous, they would leave. Benny,who followed Usnavi, is nearby and upset to hear this,claiming that he didn’t see any reason for leaving. They’ve eaten better here in one day than they ever did at the old warren. Usnavi stands firm, telling Benny that they were leaving, Abuela as well, and that he hoped Benny would continue to travel with them. Benny, though angry, agrees to get the others,but while going back to get them, gets caught in a snare. Usnavi sends Sonny to get help while he tries to keep Benny breathing and figure out how to free him. When Sonny informs the others about Benny, Jefferson tells them to stop talking about it and tries to stop them from leaving. He says that it was Benny’s time to die,that one day less for one was a day more for all. Carla tells him to let them through, and pushes him out of the way when he doesn’t move,letting the group slip through. Back at the snare Usnavi isn’t having much success with freeing Benny as he can’t bite through the wire,and Benny is getting weaker with lack of air. The others arrive and Daniela is able to figure out that they need to dig the peg holding the cable out of the ground. They do so,but it seems as though they’re too late as Benny is no longer moving. They mourn his death,but are relieved to see him regain consciousness. Everyone realizes that Sonny was right about this place being dangerous and angry at Jefferson for deceiving them. Pete even wants to go back and beat him up, but Usnavi says it isn’t worth it,that he’s doomed here anyway. As they start to leave,Carla catches up with them and apologizes for not being able to warn them,she also begs to go with them. They ask her wouldn’t she rather be with her friends? She says she doesn’t have any friends, that no one there likes to have friends in case they get snared. Daniela vouches for her,and she’s accepted into the group. Though she is warned that it’s not an easy life like the one she’s used to, she’s ready.

#submission #watership down #PRECIOUS COUSINS #fuck off jefferson you bastard bunny #lowkey still nervous #bracing myself for death to happen at any time #like you do when watching this movie XS