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sweetestberryofthebunch · 1 year

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The one where Denali learns something important

Thursday rolled around and Rosé‘s pink monster of a leather jacket still hung over the bedframe of Denali‘s bed. Neither of them had addressed it since the weekend, let alone spoken a word to the other in general. But Denali had caught herself several times spying the dining hall or the green hills between the main building and the Lake house for a pop of electric pink at least twice. It turned out that the McCorkell sisters rarely spent time on Campus, only really sticking around for their classes. And when they were, she would usually find them in a group of three, sometimes joined by a few others, but always secluded. Either in one of the corner booths in the Dining hall, the very popular ones cause you could sit sheltered from the long tables filled with chattering students, or, on sunny days, the three colourful heads of hair could be spotted down by the lake, under the willow tree where a few tables and benches were assembled. Those were the times when other students would swarm around them like eager little worker bees, offering their services to the three queens. Especially Jan could sometimes barely make her way down to the lake without a whole pack of her classmates swarming around her, the poor girl too polite to turn them down, smiling at her sisters apologetically every time. Lagoona usually just laughed, shooing Jan‘s classmates away with a have of her hand like a swarm of mosquitoes. Rosé obviously never failed to drop a snarky remark, clearly having her fun with the whole thing. It didn’t go past Denali how none of Rosé‘s classmates ever dared to even step in her way. While Lagoona and Jan often struggled to make their way through the hallways, crowds seemed to part for Rosé wherever she was. It was a phenomenon freshmen and upperclassmen participated in alike.

To Denali, it looked downright ridiculous. The oldest of the McCorkells got treated more like a deity than a person. It was hard to tell if people parted crowds for her out of adoration or fear. Either would be an absolute joke.

A few days ago, as she sat with Olivia in the empty dining hall, escaping Jasmine and Daya fighting over the space in their closet to have a moment of peace an calm, Denali brought the topic up.

„Have you ever noticed way everyone treats Rosé and her sisters like royalty? It’s so weird!“

Olivia looked up from her notes, genuine surprise written all over her face. „What do you mean?“

Denali cocked her head to the side. „Liv, you’ve been here over a year longer than me, you can’t tell me you haven’t noticed the way everyone turns into little minions the moment one of them enters the room!“

„Oh“, Olivia‘s eyes widened in disbelief and she dropped her pen, „You don’t know?“ She folded her hands to rest her chin on them, taking a deep breath as if she was about to pack out an entire storybook. Denali took a sip of her coffee and listened adamantly.

„Have you ever watched Downton Abbey? That show with the rich English people and the funny accents? Rosé‘s dad plays one of the Scottish Lords in the early seasons. Overseas he’s like, a big deal.“

Oh. That’s why the name had sounded so familiar!

„Anyways, that’s just Rosé‘s dad. Their mom divorced him after less than a year. She’s like, a big name at Versace. Ask Gigi or Nicky, they’ll know more about that. Anyways, Lagoona‘s dad is some country singer from Tennesee, and Jan is the kid of the current husband, some other guy at Versace. That’s why they all have different last names!“

They did? Denali had only looked up Rosé in her class lists. Out of pure boredom of course …

„Anyways“, Liv continued, lowering her voice as a group of seniors walked past them. „They‘re like the deal. Absolutely loaded. And not just that. All three of them went to like, crazy expensive private schools and stuff. Their mom basically pays half the school‘s bills with her donations and she’s also in their former alumni program. They’re legacy. Of course everyone wants a piece of that.“

Lost in thought about that, Denali breathed out harshly through her nose. „That must suck.“ Maybe it wasn’t Rosé‘s fault that she was so insufferable, maybe she had to be. At least this explained the girls opulent living situation. With a family history like that, a flat downtown was probably nothing to them. Denali shook her head. „Then it’s honestly just sad how everyone sucks up to them. No wonder they’re barely on campus.“

Olivia shrugged, „They’re probably just careful, especially after last year …“

„What?“, Denali raised a brow, „What happened last year?“

Suddenly, Olivia got all fidgety, her fingers tugging at the elastic of her notebook, lifting it up to snap back, up and snap. „I don’t know if I’m allowed to say…“ She mumbled, suddenly so quiet that Denali barely heard her.

„Liv!“, she whined, „You can’t leave me in the dark like this! What do you mean?“

Olivia looked up, her eyes meeting Denali‘s. Her expression was a single plea for understanding. „Listen, I am really not in a position to talk about it … If you really wanna know, ask Rosé or Mik …“

Denali huffed, a hand running through her hair in frustration. She was not going to force it out of Liv, not when her nervous pout basically begged her to drop the topic. But that left only two options: The girl that hadn’t taken a single situation Denali had seen her in seriously or her roommates boyfriend, who she had only ever heard about but never seen so far. The odds really weren’t on her side with this one. Shaking her head, she finally let Olivia off the hook, grabbing her books to shove them down her bag. „It’s almost five, lets bring our stuff to the dorms before the Club meeting.“ The smile on Olivia’s face was obviously a silent thank you.

Despite being one of the School’s most renowned professors, Ms Monsoon always managed to make her presence feel more comforting than intimidating. Her fiery red hair was pulled up into a fancy updo, a few curls framing her inviting, rosy face. Her dress had the same deep colour as the peppermint tea she had prepared for them, making sure everyone got at least a cup of it every session, as well as providing fresh sugar cubes and biscuits every week. The smell of peppermint filled the sun kissed room and paired with the unique decor, the Young Philosophers Club always felt like a little magical bubble, shielding the girls from the outside world every week for a full hour.

Ms Monsoon always made sure everyone was comfortable, welcoming both Rosé and Jan with a wide smile and signature giggle, expressing how happy she was about the new faces. Jan’s eyes had shined like a kid‘s on Christmas morning, declaring how excited she was about being there. Rosé had been a little less smooth with the sudden affection from their professor, awkwardly smiling and nodding before dropping down onto the same chair like last time. If the way her hand grazed Denali‘s as she reached for a biscuit was intentional, she didn’t let it show. It was still enough for the hairs on Denali‘s arms to rise skywards. She almost rolled her own eyes at herself. It was just a subtle touch, Rosé‘s tattooed skin grazing hers for less than a second! Nothing more.

After Jackie had recapped what they had done last week during Ms Monsoon’s absence, the ginger haired professor nodded slowly.

She let out one of her hearty, signature giggles. „You girls are so well behaved. Back in my day I wouldn’t even have showed up.“

„All because of Jackie“, Nicky joked, tongue between her teeth in a grin, „She has us in an iron grip.“

Jackie‘s mouth fel open in offense, shaking her head at the French girl. „She‘s overexsaturating! All I did as president of the club was remind you that we’re still meeting up! And anyways, you as deputy-“

„Girls!“, Ms Monsoon couldn’t contain another giggle, „as much as I appreciate your deontologic approach to your role as club leader, that is not what I wanted to talk to you about today. Unless you want to, of course.“

Willow let out a sigh, her nose hidden deep inside her teacup, midway of taking a sip. „Deontology sucks.“ Crystal nodded eagerly, as well as Nicky. „Preach!“, the blonde whispered, her accent always thicker when she lowered her voice. Denali herself leaned back in her chair, eyes wandering back and forth between Jackie and Willow. This was certainly going to be interesting …

„How can you say that? Deontological ethics are the best moral code a person can submit to. Humans need a set of rules, just look at literally every law. How else are we supposed to function in a society?“

Setting her cup down, Willow smirked. It was always like this. Willow was quiet and laid back for most of the session, until someone stroke a topic she was passionate about. And then, she showed them all why she was here. Denali couldn’t help but admire the small honeyblonde.

„First of all“, Willow said, taking a break to snack another biscuit before continuing, „Societal ethics are a whole other topic than normative ethic, stay in your lane. Secondly, in my opinion, deontology is nothing more but avoidance. You are doing things because the rules tell you to. Let’s say“, her green eyes wandered over the group of girls, landing on Jan, „Let’s say as Club leader you have to test all of us on our knowledge, okay? And whoever ends up with the worst score has to be kicked out. Now Jan here really tries her best, but she recently went through a bad breakup and it really messed her up. Fuck that guy, completely breaking her spirits. Of course, she does horrible in your test, she is a complete mess at this moment! But you are our president, and the rules say the worst score gets kicked. Would you really kick out poor Jan, worsening her situation, just because the rules say so? And even if you do, can you do so with a good feeling?“

„Of course not, I’d feel horrible“, Jackie had both of her hands wrapped around her cup, hanging onto every word Willow was saying.

„Well, if you truly felt like deontology was the way to go, you’d feel just fine, happy even. You followed the rules, no problem here! See what I mean?“

Denali noticed Ms Monsoon nodding in approval, staying silent to let the girls come to their own conclusion. This was where the philosophy professors real magic happened. Somehow, she always managed to lead them in a specific direction just by dropping the right hints in what felt like an absolutely irrelevant moment of smalltalk. And then, as soon as one of them took the bait, she leaned back, enjoying the group heatedly discussing what she had taught them. It was unlike any teaching method Denali had experienced back at home and it had made her understand quickly how the school had gotten the reputation it had. They truly shaped the future generations into calculated, sharp minds like Willow. Transferring had been the best decision Denali had ever made.

As her thoughts had trailed off, the room had fallen silent. Jackie obviously contemplated what Willow had said, the latter stirred her teacup and most of the others simply watched them, impatiently waiting for the next move.

But to everyone’s surprise, neither Willow nor Jackie broke the silence.

„I agree with Willow“, Rosé had her arms crossed defensively, her body still very much demonstrating how she didn’t want to be here, but her voice was calm, almost quiet. And she didn’t even tell a joke … intruiged, Denali couldn’t help but watch her as she spoke. „The rules don’t matter when people get hurt. What we really need to ask ourselves is can we live with the consequences of our actions? And can we live with the consequences of the things we don’t do?“ All eyes were on her, but Denali didn’t miss the warning glance Jan shot her sister. What had happened last year …

Ms Monsoon clapped her hands together before Denali could trail off again. „And this, girls, is a Teleologist to the bone.“ She smiled at Rosé, the girl trying her best to return it, scratching the back of her head with one hand. „If you say so …“

„Honestly“, now it was Nicky who spoke, „I don’t think either of these are the right ways of thinking. Sure, we cannot blindly follow a set of rules, but we also can’t make every single decision out of our gut.“

Jan nodded quickly, joining in. „At the end of the day we still live together, and a set of basic ground rules is just necessary for that to work out!“ Her round, hazel doe eyes searched for Jackie‘s, who shot both the younger girl as well as Nicky a small smile.

Ms Monsoon emptied her teacup, putting it down onto the saucer with a loud clattering noise. „Now girls“, she said, the smile on her face so proud, it almost had something motherly, „I hate to interrupt you, but since our time is almost up, I would really like to remind you to empty your tea. If any of you want them, you can take the biscuits too, my wife absolutely despises them …“

Even as Denali made her way down the hallway, her bag shouldered and pace trying to keep up with Olivia, her head was still in the backroom, replaying what Rosé had said. Something told her that it was important, that she should store this information in the back of her mind for god knows what.

She once again was pulled from her thoughts when a figure came up behind her, white Doc martens synching their steps with hers.

„You know, if you want to keep my jacket you could just say so. No reason to steal it like this“, the grin on Rosé‘s face was entirely too smug for Denali‘s liking. Olivia glanced over at them, shooting a grin towards Denali before fastening up her steps, leaving the two of them behind her. Damn her!

Denali rolled her shoulders, facing straight forward. „I don‘t, I just tried to wash out that horrible pink stain, but turns out it just looks like that.“

Rosé threw her head back, sending her hair flying, genuinely laughing. The sound pulled a smile from Denali before she could help herself.

„You know what“, Rosé said, „If you want to give it back, do it on Saturday. Goona just recorded her first song in a studio and we’re celebrating with some people.“ Her eyes trailed up and down Denali’s body, causing shivers to creep up her spine. Frustrated by her own physical reaction, Denali threw her bag over her shoulder, always keeping up the cool Fassade.

„Wear something blue“, Rosé grinned, her fingers ghosting over Denali‘s lower back for just a split second. It almost went by unnoticed through the fabric of Denali’s sweater. But then she felt a short squeeze, visibly gasping at the touch. But before she could even muster up something to say, the taller girl fastened her pace, strutting towards the entrance hall. The same hands that had just ghosted over her back now lazily waved at her.

„See You then, Nali!“, Rosé threw a wink over her shoulder one last time before disappearing around the corner. Denali stared at the turn where she’d disappeared, her lower back tingling just enough to make her face heat up.

#berry’s writings #academia au #rosenali #jankie #well a little #featuring Jinkx!#ok guys I’m reaching the point where I really have no more plans for this #I’ll probably start prompt requests and hcs soon before the next long part

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arsenicpanda · 2 years

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Thing is when it comes to ships, shipper goggles are such a huge factor that they cloud everything else. BH shippers see things one way JT shippers another, then there's (those few of us) who ship both BH and JT who see things differently again, when you're a shipper it's hard to see things objectively. Focusing more on BH, let's take last weeks episode, when JH had those flashes of memory BHs saw it as this massive conformation that he's still in love with Betty, I personally didn't see it that way, I saw shock and him looking slightly uncomfortable, and he was so relieved Tabitha texted him, he loves Tabitha and they make each other happy i believe that wholeheartedly, and his reaponse even in text form seemed so heartfelt to me. But let's say that the BH stans were right in theie interpretation, the part of me that ships BH can't celebrate that, because again as in S5 any hint of remaining feeling between them is from JH, Betty from what we've been shown on screen has no romantic feelings left for Jughead, so I cannot be happy with him ending in a relationship where he's with someone who doesn't love him the same way, or worse have him end up being someone Betty settles for when Archie and Veronica inevitably reunite, why would I want that when I can have Jabitha, a relationship that is mutual and I think beautiful, where both parties are equal and actually LOVE EACH OTHER. I'm not saying I'm not open to a BH reunion but I don't see how they can realistically write one now that does any of these characters justice. Also I like to believe I'm generally a good person but there's a small part of me like 0.005% that doesn't want BH to get back together simply because I find the racist way they talk about Tabitha and the way they act like JHs only purpose is to be Betty's security blanket disgusting.

You are correct, shipper goggles extremely affect how a person views a show, and, speaking in a general sense, I think that is both fascinating and frustrating. Fascinating because it can lead to such a diverse collection of reads on a text (regardless of medium), and frustrating because it can sometimes feel like people are being willfully obtuse about what is going on in a text. I have certainly predicted the future events in a series incorrectly because of my shipper goggles (*cough*atla*cough*), and, when that happens (as it has many times), I always like to look back and go “oh, what did I miss?” as well as “how stupid were the things that I missed?” because I am judgmental.

I find the disconnect with the end of 6x14 to be more tiring than anything, because it was very obviously a deliberate set up to go “oooo, look at this, could bh be returning? Or will we stick with jt? Tune in next week and every week after that until we finally address this!” and both stir up conversation on twitter as well as pull bh fans back into the show to increase ratings, which are certainly flagging (although, per Parrot Analytics, Riverdale has a 32.62x demand distribution, which is marked as “exceptional” and is a level of demand that only 0.2% of all tv shows in the market have, and it also ranks in the 99th percentile in the Teen genre ; additionally, while its current demand rank is #78, its peak rank during the past week was #38, so it’s doing pretty well for itself). And it did stir up conversation! That night bh trended and everything! And a number of people also talked about how the episode was disrespectful to Tabitha (which it was)! Their plan worked! Yes, it was disrespectful to Tabitha, and yes, if this is the set up for a bh reunion, it’s the worst possible set up for one, but it got people talking and possibly returning!

The cynicism of it all gets to me, the placement of buzz over story and character.

But, that aside, we’re basically back where we were after 5x10 aired and everyone had different interpretations of Jughead’s Betty hallucination and the bunker scene with Tabitha. And I hate it here, it’s so tiring. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t address the matter in the next episode, and we’re just going to sit on it for god know how long, and I am tired, let’s just commit to one direction and go, please, and do it in a non-bullshit way, one that doesn’t ruin Jughead.

As for your bit on Betty (man did I take a while to get here), I think there is wiggle room to interpret her as having interest in Jughead. I still believe that the close up of Kevin during the jt moment at the end of 5x18 was meant to set up a scene in 5x19 where Kevin told Betty about jt getting together that was cut for time and/or characterization, because why else would he be there? And, even though that moment isn’t there, I can’t help but at least want to interpret Betty’s relationship with Archie through that lens (as well as her rushing to save him in 5x17 and also a couple of other moments in that episode) for Betty/Jughead/Tabitha reasons. And we get some concern from her about Jughead in…5x07? That moment where Archie goes “Well, at least he’s got Tabitha” and her face in the reverse shot can be interpreted in multiple ways. And the mind reading scenes are a goddamn free-for-all, and of course chemistry is subjective, so that’s a factor in reading her scenes with Jughead as well. So, there’s room, basically.

I would argue that there are a couple of moments for Jughead→Betty in 5a, as well as a couple in 5b that shipper goggles can read in a romantic way, but I think that, once we get to 5b, and particularly those last moments in 5x14, we close the door on romantic Jughead→Betty and enter fully into Jughead→Tabitha and getting Jughead sober and in a place where Jughead and Tabitha can date without risk of Jughead’s Issues ruining it, basically. And then they have three episodes (5x17-5x19) of Jughead just supporting Tabitha and helping her in every way he can to kind of even out their relationship so that it’s equal, and it’s not just Tabitha supporting Jughead; they support each other. And after that, when we get to 6b (the Riverdale part of s6), it’s just a matter of who needs support in a given episode (Jughead’s hearing loss, Tabitha’s trouble with saving Pop’s, Tabitha brings Jughead Pop’s to eat, Jughead always does the dishes, etc, etc). They’re equal, and they clearly love each other; it’s just a matter of when we get that parallel to the Rivervale love confession.

(Although, in defense of bh, there’s also the bh makeout to save the world from 6x05 looming overhead, and, as with Betty, 6x14 is pretty much a free-for-all.)

ANYWAY

My interpretation of Betty is “I would like to believe she is settling for Archie because Jughead and Tabitha are dating each other and she doesn’t know how to slide into that, but, realistically, the intent is likely that she probably wants to be with Archie to some unknown degree but will break up with him for drama reasons involve her threat aura and fear of hurting people or something and then start dating Agent Drake, and then idk what will happen from there.” I think she and Jughead will have some more friendly interactions and we’ll either get a 6x05 parallel or a flash to their kiss in 6x05 during some important moment or something idk, idk, that one is super up for grabs.

But yeah, I agree, I don’t see a good way back to bh for multiple reasons, as I’ve said before. It would involve a mess of racist tropes and be deeply uncomfortable, and “Tabitha has tried to save Jughead 1384 times, but yeah, Jughead ends up with Betty” would be absolutely bizarre as a storytelling choice, so I’ve got nothing there.

Also, I have been fortunate to largely avoid seeing the more racist discussions of Tabitha and jt by bh fans because I filtered out every possible anti jt tag the second I started shipping it and unfollowed people who made that kind of post but didn’t tag it, but I have certainly have had the displeasure of seeing some of those posts in the past and heard about them from other jt fans, and it’s just so disappointing, isn’t it? The bh fandom had picked up on the racist way ba fans have talked about Veronica, but multiple people fail to notice when they dip into similar racist tropes themselves. Ah, how difficult it is to see the splinter in your own eye.

(Let it be known that jt fans are not innocent either; I have seen a few too many people across various parts of the internet who focus too heavily on how much Tabitha cares for and supports Jughead, and it can drift a bit too close to being all about how much a Black woman helps a white guy with no regard for reciprocity for my taste. The same can be true for bjt fans, just broadening Jughead to Jughead and Betty.)

As for that 0.005%, I get that, I do. A fandom’s behavior can often shape our opinions about a ship for the better and the worse, and the occasional spiteful desire is, I think, normal. Just don’t get carried away, y’know?

Anyway, that was long and rambling. I think I answered everything? Please tell me if I didn’t.

#asks #anonymous #Riverdale #Riverdale season 6 #shipping #jabitha #bh negativity #bh fandom negativity #fandom racism #well a little #that's more of a cw tbh #this is almost 1.3k words alwkfjladkfjal #sorry not sorry #my thoughts on Riverdale let me show you them #betjug for ts

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