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artificial-transmutations · 1 year

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Minimum Wage

"And finally, it is worth to consider that the majority of those low-end jobs are being held by foreigners. Foreigners who took those jobs from our own people! Foreigners our country does more than enough for already. Any raise in minimum wage will just be spent on alcohol and cigarettes and condoms for their gay sex! Ladies and gentlemen, raising the minimum wage should be out of the question! We should think about lowering it instead!" Thomas finished his speech before the parliament and was content. Great speech, he thought. There was applause from one side of the room and angry shouting from the other side, just as usual.

One of those pesky left-wing women was especially outraged. Her head was as red as her unkempt hair, and he could hear her agitated shouts even without her using a microphone. Something about having no idea about the reality of those minimum wage workers and that he should try experiencing such a life for himself. His microphone was still on, so he added: "And my suggestion to Miss Motley is to find a broomstick to fly away on instead of shouting nonsense." Laughter from his fraction, angry faces from the other side of the room. Great job, Thomas concluded and left the lectern.

That woman was being ridiculous. Even comparing himself to such a low-life was out of the question. He would never lower himself to something like that. That's why he had been working hard all these years, studying politics and economics in order to get into the government. It did help a bit that his family was wealthy, but that was clearly because they have lived in this country forever and weren't some immigrant scum or sexual deviants. Thomas thought for a moment while adjusting his expensive suit and looked at his smartphone. He didn't care too much for the rest of the parliamentary day. There would be some speeches from opposing fractions and then there would be a vote where the majority would vote in favor of the raised minimum wage. Fools. Thomas shook his head and decided to go home early today.

He gathered his things and phoned his driver on the way out. Thomas scowled when he heard the man say that his car was still in maintenance since he didn't expect to be needed before the end of the session. It was really hard to find good staff these days. It was too far to walk, so he would have to take a cab. While he was walking to the cab stand, he messaged his secretary to fire his driver and find him a new one.

"What do you mean 'on a strike?'" He asked, incredulously. There had been no cabs at the stand and when he phoned the company, they just told him the cab drivers were on a strike today for higher wages. Angrily, he hung up. Just great! He would have to take the bus now. The bus. A public transport system for the poor. He hated them with every fiber of his being. They stank like hell, they were full of criminals and immigrants who couldn't even speak the language properly, and worst of all, they were overcrowded.

Fuming, he made his way to the bus stop and entered the vehicle. It was full, but he managed to secure him one of the last seats. It would take quite a while going by bus, so the first minutes, Thomas was busy swiping on his phone. It was really full and warm in here, with the smell of sweat and unwashed people assaulting his nose. He felt really uncomfortable and shifted around in his seat. He wanted to get back to using his phone, when he noticed that there was dirt under his fingernails. No wonder in this dirty environment. When he tried to clean it, he noticed that the nails on his other hand didn't look better. In fact, his whole hand looked dirty and rough, like he had tried to dig a hole in the garden. He frowned and inspected it closer. The skin seemed different and not only that, it was darker. He looked down at his designer shoes and saw that they were covered in mud.

"What the..." He muttered to himself. This wasn't possible. He was wearing his best clothes, which cost more than most people earned in a year. He looked down at his hands again and realized that his rings were gone as well. What the hell? Where are my rings? He took off his jacket and checked inside the pockets but found nothing. His cellphone was missing too.

Thomas began to panic. Had someone stolen his stuff? That was impossible. He just used his phone seconds ago! And that wasn't his jacket either, even though he just took it off. This was a high-vis vest made out of cheap reflective fabric, not the expensive jacket he was sure to have put on this morning.

"What the fuck is happening?" He said aloud, but nobody answered. All he got was an annoyed glance from a woman behind him. She gave him a dirty look and turned her attention back to her phone, ignoring him completely. Thomas looked at his hands again. There was something wrong with them. It was like looking at a strangers hands. The back of his hands looked dirty and hairy, with more dirt under his nails. The skin was darker than he used to. If he just saw these hands, he would think they belonged to someone used to working outside.

He checked his feet again, like this was all a bad dream. Still covered in mud. But these were not his shoes, either. He was wearing sturdy work boots all of a sudden. With steel toe caps. The leather was torn in places, too. He could feel that the soles were worn thin, and the heels weren't exactly comfortable to wear for long periods of time. Just as he was watching, his expensive dress pants changed next. Over the course of a few seconds, they shifted to a pair of worn work pants. His shirt and tie followed suit, but instead of changing into something else, they just disappeared into thin air, leaving him shirtless. A large leather toolbelt formed around his waist. Thomas couldn't believe his eyes. He was dressed like a filthy construction worker! He felt angry and helpless. He should call the police or something, but what would he tell them? That somehow his clothes just magically turned into some cheap worker attire?

Something else caught his eye. His work pants were pretty lose. If he were to stand up now, they would probably slide down his legs. However, as Thomas began to tighten his toolbelt, he watched in awe as his midsection began to expand. It was not that he was growing a gut; on the contrary, his belly even started to shrink. No, his hips started to widen with a broader build and fill in with muscles. At the same time, some coarse dark hairs started to appear on his abs. Not many, just a few. The changes quickly spread upwards, with his chest filling up with strong pectoral muscles. At the same time, he felt his upper legs touch his pants legs more tightly, as they filled with muscles, too.

Thomas's mind was reeling. He knew that there must be a logical explanation for this situation. It couldn't just happen by itself like this! So why did it happened? He thought about it hard and fast but came up empty. Generally speaking, thinking became more and more difficult for Thomas. It felt as if years of precious education that his parents paid for just evaporated from his mind.

As Thomas continued to stare at his body, he realized that the changes were far from over. His arms grew larger and stronger, and his shoulders broadened with each passing second. At the same time, his lower legs and feet thickened, filling out the pants and boots now much better than before. Even his face changed, becoming more masculine and rugged. His cheekbones stood out more clearly and his nose widened. His mind was getting more and more foggy during all of this, and as the changes reached his cock, his intellect was reduced to a way more simple, practical version of himself.

He had lost most knowledge of his once native language, but another language grew in to replace that. With some horror, Thomas realized he wasn't just becoming a dumb construction worker, but also an immigrant! He tried to hold on to his ethnic background, but it was like trying to catch sand. Before long, Tomasz knew he had lost the battle.

It might not be for the worst, he mused. After all, his genetics gifted him with some boons, like the enormous cock whose bulge was now prominently visible between his wide spread legs. He would have liked to man-spread even wider, but sadly, the confines of the bus didn't allow for that. Perhaps, if he worked hard, someday he would earn enough money to be able to afford a car.

Well, speaking of work, his stop came up next. He would have to walk have a mile after that to get to his current construction site, but that's life. Tomasz smirked, as his dick grew hard thinking about his colleagues. Perhaps a few of the other men would be up to releasing some steam in the break, after a smoke and a beer perhaps. It slowly became a regular thing between them to pound each other’s asses, and he loved it more every day. If only he had enough money for condoms.

#male transformation #dumbing down #racial transformation #muscle transformation

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softdedue · 6 months

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I remember as a boy asking my father about the conflict in Israel and my father—who is a world expert on international relations, who has literally written the textbook on these sorts of genocides, who never shies away from a discussion—told me: we don’t talk about that. It’s complicated. Being a child, I listened.

I went away to college, to a good Jewish school, trying to reconnect to my roots. I asked my Rabbi: what is so complicated about the conflict in Israel? And he said, we don’t talk about that, it is too complicated. Not being a scholar of such things, I listened.

I asked my friend, a political sciences major who was studying to one day become a rabbi themself: why is it that no one will speak about Israel? And they said, it is complicated. You are German; would you like it if everyone who walked up to you asked you your opinion on Hitler? And I thought, that is no answer at all.

And then I moved to Tigard, and I met Muna, who would become a mother to me in many ways. “Habibi,” she would say. “Can you come download this new app for me? My daughter wants to play some new game.” And we went from working together to caring for each other, and I met her family—few enough of them blood, but built together out of the shared experience of coming here to this hostile country that did not like their scarves and their prayer and their accents. My Arabic is poor, and heavily accented, but the fact that I knew any at all—and wanted to learn more from her, and was willing to listen—was enough to get her to welcome me in, and we had known each other for less than a year when she began to tell me stories of home.

My Muna was born in Jerusalem, and she immigrated here when her daughter was only five years old, trying to escape the constant bombs. Every single day of the Israeli occupation she was afraid for her life, and her family’s lives, and they were the lucky ones: they got out, and they came here, and she and her husband had been able to find work and support their family in spite of all the prejudice they faced. Many of their loved ones were not so lucky. She couldn’t tell me how many people she knew who had died, and that was before the current conflict.

I knew then that it had never truly been “complicated”. The plight of my people is complicated, yes, and it always has been, but that has never—and will never—give any of us the right to displace other innocent people from their homes in the name of claiming some sort of god-ordained holy land. “God said we could have it” has never been a rightful claim for anyone. Jewish people across the world have been blinded and misled by Israeli propaganda, as have others of all religions, but it truly is just that: propaganda.

I stand with justice. I stand with freedom. I stand with Palestine.

#free Palestine #palestine #this is okay to reblog if you want!#politics

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frithwontdie · 4 months

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Historical Fun Facts #5

Did Y'all know, that jews were almost expelled from Union military districts in Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi during the American Civil War? Yes, it almost happened.

On December 17, 1862, Union General Ulysses S. Grant lashes out at Jewish cotton speculators, who he believed the driving force behind the black market for cotton. Which he was trying to surpress.

Grant was extremely angry about the unscrupulous activities of jewish profiteers who were undercutting Union efforts to suppress the black market in Southern cotton. After learning that his own father had teamed up with three Jewish traders from Cincinnati in a scheme to procure cotton at a discount, the general lashed out in anger, and issued General Order No. 11 expelling all Jews, which he issued from his headquarters at Oxford, Mississippi. Which this order expelled all jews from the territory he commanded, which was comprised of portions of Kentucky and Tennessee west of the Tennessee River, and Union-controlled areas of northern Mississippi, "within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order."

Prussian-born Jewish immigrant Cesar J. Kaskel from Paducah Kentucky, received his later to leave his home and business behind. He telegrammed Lincoln on behalf of a group of Jewish merchants from Paducah, condemning the order as "the grossest violation of the Constitution and our rights as good citizens under it... [it would] place us...as outlaws before the world. We respectfully ask your immediate attention to this enormous outrage on all law and humanity....” Other telegrams were sent to President Lincoln from Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. This stirred the extremely powerful jews in the North to protest to President Abraham Lincoln, who promptly directed Grant to rescind the order. Then Grant later made an apology to the Jews.

Yet what Grant wrote in his General Order No. 11, speaking about how jews cared only about making a profit, and were dishonest and swindling every gentile that they did business with.

One recorded Example of shady dealings:

A swarm of Jews, within the last ten years, has settled in nearly every southern town, many of them men with no character, opening cheap clothing and trinket shops; ruining or driving out of business, many of the old retailers, and engaging in an unlawful trade with the simple negroes, which is found very profitable.

Here is the text of Grant's General Order No. 11. Judge for yourselves whether the activities of the jews seem familiar:

The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the Department [of the Tennessee] within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order. Post commanders will see to it that all of this class of people [Jews] be furnished passes and required to leave, and any one returning after such notification will be arrested and held in confinement until an opportunity occurs of sending them out as prisoners, unless furnished with permit from headquarters. No passes will be given these people to visit headquarters for the purpose of making personal application of trade permits.

A military comrade, General James H. Wilson, later suggested that the order was related to Grant's difficulties with his own father, Jesse Root Grant. He recounted:

Quote:

"He [Jesse Grant] was close and greedy. He came down into Tennessee with a Jew trader that he wanted his son to help, and with whom he was going to share the profits. Grant refused to issue a permit and sent the Jew flying, prohibiting Jews from entering the line."

#history fun facts #historical fun facts #jews #civil war

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berniesrevolution · 1 year

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Editor’s Note: This article, republished from the Daily Yonder, is part of a series of photo essays created for the American Creed “Citizen Power” multi-platform documentary initiative exploring American idealism and community leadership from a range of young adult perspectives.

Jonathan Blair lives, works, and studies at Alice Lloyd College, in Eastern Kentucky. He coordinates a work-study crew of about 60 people, mostly first-generation college students from rural Appalachia. Blair and two of his crew members — Jacob Frazier and Carlos Villanueva — document their connection to blue-collar work in and around the Appalachian coal industry, and they reflect on their hopes for the region.

Explore more of Jonathan Blair’s story here.

My grandfathers on both sides were coal miners. My father is a mechanic for one of the railroads that transport coal. Basically, ever since our family has been in these hills, the coal business has put food on our table, and that’s the case for most families in our region. Even if it’s not why they came here, it kind of became what they did, because that was what paid, and you’re going to do whatever it takes.

Survival is a big aspect of Appalachian culture. For a long time, coal meant survival, but there was never a sense of stability because the coal business is like a light switch: It’s either “on” or “off.” And when that switch was off, a lot of people, like my grandpa, would find manufacturing jobs elsewhere, in Ohio and other places. And whenever the coal business picked back up, they would come back, because this is home. Today, you look around and you can see the mountaintops have been removed to extract the coal from them, and much of the coal that was deep in the ground is gone. The coal business is a phantom, a shadow of what it used to be. We can’t rely on it coming back to what it once was.

(My stepdad Charles Hampton was in the Marines, but he got injured. He used to work for a drilling company but now he’s retired. He also used to be a truck driver but he got injured there too.)

For Appalachians, other than faith in God and the love of our families, coal has been what we have always leaned on. Now we are having to take a step back and look away in order to move on to the future. Like diamonds, coal takes millions of years to form, so there won’t be much forming in our lifetimes. In fact, it could be exhausted by the end of our lifetimes.

I know very few people my age who go into the industry. The generations before us have warned that no matter how good the money is right now, no matter how sweet of a deal they’ll cut you to get you to work, it’s not gonna last. It can’t last. Right now, the price of coal is up but we’ve seen what happens when the price goes down and industry packs up and leaves.

There is no plan B in places like this. A major concern for my generation is finding that plan B right here in the only place we’ve ever known, because these mountains are home. And it truly is beautiful.

(My grandfather and his co-worker, underground about two miles.)

(The culture in Appalachia is rich in faith. Ever since I can remember, I was in the House of God listening to my grandfather preach. I asked him to turn to any passage of scripture, and he turned to Luke 15:11 (the story of the Prodigal son).)

(Coal Miners go to work never knowing what the day will hold. One day my grandfather sacrificed his arm while cleaning a belt head. “I would go back in a heartbeat,” he said. Even though the work took something from him, his heart still has a passion for the industry.)

The Appalachian culture has deep roots because, much like the rest of America, this is a land of immigrants who made this their home. People of many backgrounds, colors, and creeds were brought together here to build the railroads and pull the coal out of the ground. Over time, bonds formed through our shared labor and sacrifice.

There’s a saying around these parts that goes, “All blood isn’t family and all family isn’t blood.” Coal workers often left their loved ones behind for the opportunities in this region, and although those opportunities have dwindled, many of them formed new families and remain committed to these mountains. That’s how we ended up with this rich culture.

(Although the family has been spread across the region because of work and other aspects of life, when we are able to gather the sense of joy never seems to falter. As I have grown older, I have witnessed these bonds grow, even as the distance between us becomes greater. It becomes more bittersweet each time.)

While Appalachians have always wanted to maintain a life and community here, the same can’t be said for the industry we’ve welcomed into this region. You can drive through these mountains and find ghost towns like after the gold rush, abandoned places that were once home to so many people.

A sense of distrust exists between the Appalachian people and outsiders — whether that’s big business or the government. This distrust is deeply rooted and generational because New England businessmen came into the area and ripped a great deal of the coal out of our mountains. When the prices were low enough for them not to bother anymore, they went back home. When it was time for war, the federal government would come into our region and recruit young men, leaving behind suspicion and fear of exploitation among locals. It’s difficult to erase those scars of generational distrust. Many Appalachians fear that solutions presented by new industries or the government will only repeat the exploitation of the past. When you can see the end of the coal industry, it’s frightening. But there are solutions. Fear has to be countered with knowledge and power.

(Continue Reading)

#politics #the left #appalachia #climate change #climate crisis #green new deal #progressive #progressive movement #in these times #poverty #fossil fuel #capitalism #economic inequality #long post #long reads

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justplainwhump · 7 months

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Deal

Don't mind me, thinking about "voluntarily" acquisitions.

Content: BBU setting, blackmail, threat of deportation, abuse of office, implied dubcon.

The man sitting across from her in the tiny interrogation room frowns at her, a look filled with grave seriosity. It's ridiculous. The only reason that Morva doesn't break into laughter is that she's a better actor than him. She is, in fact, fantastic.

It's not her skill who has brought them here; it's fucking Eddie's failure. It's not the first time she needs to get out of somebody else's mess. Morva will manage. She always does.

And step one is, do not laugh in the face of a small officer in a too large suit, who pretends to give a shit.

"I've looked into your files, Ms Gholamali. It doesn't look good."

She raises an eyebrow, a hint of amusement that she doesn't feel. He's not supposed to know that name. "I am sorry," she says. "There must be a mix up. My name is Mary Ann Ellis. I'm American."

"No, you're not." There's a smugness in his smile, and this time, he's dropped the act.

Well. Fuck.

"Morvarid Gholamali. It was your birthday yesterday. 20 years old. Quite the impressive criminal record, given how short you've been in the US. Illegally."

She doesn't flinch. Just tiredly rolls her eyes and lifts her cuffed hands. "Sir," she says with a bored voice. "That's ridiculous. I'm from Maine. I don't even know how to pronounce that name you just said. Where is it even from?"

"Iran." The man gives a thin lipped smile. "You'll hear the proper pronounciation of that name soon enough. Regardless of what you say, paperwork is being processed right now. You'll be deported."

"I don't-"

"Ms Gholamali", he interrupts her.

"Ms Ellis," she corrects automatically. His Persian proununciation is a nightmare. Still, she'll prefer hearing it from him than from an Iranian border officer. Fuck. This is taking a turn she does not appreciate.

The man goes on, unimpressed. "You're a criminal. A plain boring little thief. I bet you call yourself con artist, somewhere in your head, because you fucked your victims before robbing them, but you're not special in any way. You're a criminal, you're an illegal immigrant, and we don't want you here."

Behind her fake, confused smile, Morva grits her teeth. That asshole didn't talk about the fucking part by chance, she's sure of it. Her toolbox is a lot larger than that. If he mentions sex, he wants to get somewhere with it.

Fine. She's fucked men for way less than her own fucking chance at freedom.

"I'm American," she insists, still. "You can't deport me."

"You know.... An American would have other options," he says slowly. Almost thoughtful. Almost like he didn't plan this thing from the fucking start. "Do you know WRU?"

This does catch her off guard. "WRU? The... The pet distributors?"

"They have a program for people facing jail time to sign up, as part of their sentence." The man smiles. She hates that for a second, she doesn't even want to punch him. She wants to hear him out. He nods. "They could stay here, be reeducated, do a service to society again, in a way. Get assigned an owner, live with them, be-"

"Be a pet."

"Be in America."

She swallows, as he holds her gaze and goes on talking.

"So... Hypothetically. If I were to believe you, disregard all the talk about Ms Gholamali - would the American national Ms Mary Ann Ellis take this option?"

Her mind is racing. It can't be that bad now, can it?

She's been acting all her life, she's degraded herself so often to play a role, seduced men to get into their homes and wallets. She could become a pet, sure. She'd find a way to get out of it on the other side. She could, here. She couldn't, back home.

"Ms Ellis would certainly consider it," Morva says softly, looking down at her handcuffs and back at him through her lashes. "If only you were to believe her identity."

He smirks and raises an eyebrow, gaze wandering down her body slowly. "Interesting."

It's almost a relief. This is something she understands. A game she's played hundreds of times. Never as desperate. But always successful.

She can do this.

"Is... Is there something I could do to convince you?" She bites her lip. "Sir?"

"You know what?" He chuckles and leans in, loosens his tie with his free hand. "I think there is."

#bbu #bbu sign up #pearl the romantic #dubcon #abuse of office

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illarian-rambling · 1 month

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Chemistry is making me sad, so I'm gonna ramble about something @mk-writes-stuff and I were talking about!

The Cloud People

The Cloud People are Illaros's aliens... kind of. They got their start about a thousand years before the start of Honor's Outcasts, during the War of Conquest. Back then, the young Republic was carving a bloody path through the south of the Iarlan continent, pillaging and enslaving as they went. The nations of the south fought back, of course, but by the time the horror that was the one-day Siege of Lanokos took place, it was a losing battle. People were getting desperate. They needed a way to escape.

Here's where we meet the wealthy merchant, Suruk Baijahreet. Suruk was a third-generation human immigrant living in the hobgoblin city of Koptet. For many years, he'd made money by delivering his goods via rune controlled balloons, flown by pilots he'd trained himself. It was a novel technology, but one this pillar of the community made good use of.

When the Republic came knocking, Suruk knew he needed to find a way to save his people. He researched bigger and better flying machines as the army closed in. Despite the fact that the Republic was a human nation and Suruk was a human, his heart belonged to Koptet and the people of the city helped him in any way they could. By the time the Republic army made it to the city walls, just about the entire population lifted off in a fleet of what were Illaros's first zeppelins. And by god they weren't coming back down.

The war continued to rage below, but now, the people of Koptet were safe in the sky. They had stores of food and could send smaller craft down to scrounge when those stores ran low. They assumed, eventually, the war would calm down and they could return to sift through the ashes. However, for a hundred years, they were wrong.

By the time the War of Conquest ended, most people living in New Koptet, or what was coming to simply be called the Flying City, had been born up there. Suruk's son, Yazid, served as the city's navigator now. They had established a new form of democratic government, and even elements of new religion and language. They liked it in the sky. With a better vantage point for their fancy telescopes, they saw the other planets and wondered if they might make one of those their home.

For two hundred more years, the Flying City lurked in Illaros's atmosphere, occasionally coming down to trade with some remote Janazi islands. The many smaller crafts were consolidated into one massive structure. A winged, wooden behemoth with great fans and sails to keep it aloft, constantly orbited by smaller zeppelins. The Flying City is roughly twice the size of a very large cruise ship and holds 14,000 people. Eventually, their mages figured out how to protect the ship from the ravages of space, how to renew their air, and how to travel at incredible speeds. With that, the Flying City left Illaros, excited to see what the other planets held.

They did indeed find some cool stuff out there - aliens, most notably. They traded and mingled curiously with the blue-skinned Daramaktians and crystalline Hal'lahris. Some people from these planets joined the Flying City, bringing fresh blood and new cultures to the nomadic vessel. The blue Daramaktian blood bred especially true, leading to most modern people of the Flying City having a navy tint.

Really, the only reason they have to return to planets at all is because they have no way to produce their own food. Also, they've sort of embraced their role as mysterious merchants now. The folk of Illaros call them Cloud People because they descend from the clouds bearing strange gifts on exchange for canned produce. No one remembers the mythic flight of Koptet anymore, and even if they did, they'd be hard pressed to recognize the Flying City as the same place. Most of the population has mixed alien blood, many worship the Daramakt or Hal'lah gods along with the old Koptet religion, which has been long wiped out on Illaros by now. There's still a Baijahreet at the helm, even all these centuries later. Captain-Queen Jawen Baijahreet is well liked by her people as the head of their Citizens' Council. There is still a statue of her distant ancestor, Suruk, standing proudly at the bow.

But yeah, that's what's up with the Cloud People. I like them an inordinate amount considering they don't feature at all into my books other than Ivander’s absent mother being one of them. Yes, that does mean he has blue blood because he's part alien.

Hope you like this and lmk if you have any questions!

And go have a bitchin day <3

#writing #writerscommunity #writblr #my ocs #author

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charliethomascoxuniverse · 11 months

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In the Footsteps of a Saint

FAITH TODAY：MAY 2011

Catholic actor Charlie Cox is making waves across the Atlantic – and he’s about to hit the cinemas in his native UK playing a saint in a new movie.

FAITH TODAY went to meet him.

How does it feel to be a saint? That’s something no-one alive can ever really know, since sainthood is only acknowledged after death: but up-and-coming actor Charlie Cox knows more about it than most. Cox, 28, is the star of There Be Dragons, a new movie about the early life of St Josemaria Escriva, the Spaniard who founded Opus Dei. So – given that he’s a Catholic himself - how did it feel to Cox to walk in a saint’s shoes, and to portray his holiness on screen?

What struck him most, says Cox, is that ‘there seemed to have been no single moment when Josemaria was saintly... instead, what people who knew him spoke about and wrote about was a lifetime of consistently good decisions and a dedication of his entire life to God’. So in fact, he explains, portraying him meant being very human – and yet aware that decisions often had to be made that weren’t directed at other people, but were directed at God. Playing Josemaria is the latest step on a path that’s fast feeling like the road to the big-time: Cox first appeared on the showbiz radar in 2007 when he got the role of Tristan Thorne in the movie Stardust, and he went on to play the Duke of Crowborough in the ITV drama Downton Abbey. And just a fortnight before we meet, he’s filmed his first episode of HBO’s prohibition drama Boardwalk Empire, the flagship programme of the new Sky Atlantic channel, in which he plays an immigrant from Northern Ireland with ties to the IRA. Cox says he’s loving the part: Steve Buscemi, who recently won a Gold Globe award for his portrayal of Enoch ‘Nucky’ Thompson in the series, is one of his all-time heroes, and he can hardly believe his luck in being cast with him.

’Working with Steve feels amazing, I can’t believe how lucky I’ve been,’ he says, as we chat over coffee at a Madrid hotel on the morning of the premiere of There Be Dragons. He jetted in this morning from New York – he’ll be there filming Boardwalk Empire through the summer and, he says, he can’t imagine a better way of spending the next few months. ‘They’re the nicest bunch of people – and everyone is so confident about how good the series is, so there’s a great buzz about it.’

Working on Boardwalk Empire has taken him a long way from his Sussex roots. He grew up in Hearst Green, the son of publisher parents – and he was raised a Catholic, like his father, although he was educated at a non-Catholic independent school, Sherborne School in Dorset. ‘Only about 70 out of 700 boys were Catholics. We had to get up early on a Sunday to go to Mass at a local girls’ school... it would have been easy to skive off it, but actually we never did. I’ve always loved churches – even now, in a strange city, I’ll often wander around looking at churches.’ There was no history of acting in the family – bar a grandmother who had been at RADA before the second world war – but even as a youngster, Cox was smitten with the idea. ‘My mum and dad had a fantastic attitude to it,’ he says. ‘The school wanted me to go to university, play it in safe mode, have a back-up plan. But my parents came to see me act, and afterwards my dad sat me down and he said: ‘I think you’d be a fool not to pursue this’. And I don’t know whether I’d be here now if it hadn’t been for that one comment...’ Despite living in the US at the moment, and the fact that his parents spend most of their time these days in France, Cox says Britain will always be home – and he’s very close to his family. He has a brother, and three half siblings from his father’s first marriage, and his parents have flown to see him in Madrid while he’s over for the premiere of There Be Dragons. After school, he spent a gap year working for a photographer – and even before he could take up a place at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, he’d landed the role of Theo in the movie Dot the i. ‘An agent took a punt on me and put me up for the part,’ he says. ‘I’ve been incredibly lucky, and that was just one of my lucky breaks.’

But it’s not just luck – Cox is immensely likeable, and he’s obviously genuinely passionate about acting. He’s also been smart enough to realise that he can learn a huge amount from more seasoned actors – so he saw acting alongside Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust, for example, as a fantastic opportunity to soak up knowledge. And he’s learnt lots more, too, from Roland Joffe, director of There Be Dragons, who was also the film-maker behind The Mission (about the early Jesuits in south America) and The Killing Fields (about the murderous Pol Pot regime in Cambodia), both of which were Oscar nominees.

‘I didn’t think twice about taking the part of Josemaria, and that was down to Roland,’ he says. ‘He’s such a great director – he really understands the processes that actors have to go through to give their best. I learnt so much from working with him.’

Given the subject-matter of There Be Dragons, Cox also spent time in the run-up to filming learning about Opus Dei, which has the status of a ‘personal prelature’ within the Catholic Church. ‘I visited several Opus Dei houses, and I went on a retreat and had a lot of help from an Opus Dei priest, Fr John Wauck.’

Before he made the film, he admits, he’d never heard of Josemaria – and all he knew about Opus Dei was what he’d read in Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code. But researching Josemaria, he says, what struck him most was the saint’s humanity – and his ability, examined in the film, to forgive. ‘It was an example I had to put into practice, because one day when we were filming I returned to my trailer to find someone had broken in and cleaned the place out completely,’ he says. ‘They’d even taken my computer, and the charger, and even my clothes.’ ‘The following day I was due to film one of the big scenes in which Josemaria shows how he can forgive, and I remember thinking: this is really interesting. And the thing is that I did manage to forgive the guy who nicked my stuff.’ ‘And what I realised, through that incident, was that – though we think of forgiveness as something very moral and impressive, it’s actually something that works totally in your own favour. Because if you don’t forgive then you’re angry inside – and that anger doesn’t hurt the other person, but it really hurts you.’ Since filming finished for There Be Dragons, Cox has been working on another movie – Moby Dick, due to be released later this year – and now Boardwalk Empire. It all suggests, I tell him, that fame – which he’s told previous interviewers frightens him – could be beckoning. ‘It’s tricky,’ he says, candidly. ‘I’ve got friends who have gone on to extraordinary fame, and what I’ve realised through them is that it’s never quite as appealing as it promised to be. ‘On the other hand, like everyone else I want recognition. I like people to think I’m good at what I do. That’s human nature, isn’t it?’

~*~

#just me archiving another old interview 😊#had to check I didn't have this one yet but no I don't xd #thank you so much to Charlie's parents for supporting him in becoming an actor from the start 🙏💕#charlie cox #josemaria escriva #there be dragons #baby charlie #interview #article

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archiveikemen · 1 year

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Ikemen Villains Prologue: Chapter 7

I do not own any of the Ikemen Series content being uploaded on this blog, everything belongs to CYBIRD. Please support them by downloading and playing their games.

read this before interacting with my posts

I glanced around the dining room and noticed two people who barely said a word, so I fixed my eyes on them.

Specifically the man in a long jacket who wasn't even trying to hide his dangerous aura. There was a villainous air surrounding him.

If I am to be honest, he appeared unapproachable.

The moment I made eye contact with him his face twisted into a displeased expression.

Sinister Looking Man: Tch… gross.

(Uh…)

I felt shaken by the sudden extreme expression of disgust directed at me.

Victor: Don’t say that. Be nice to her, Jude.

Jude: No. What were you thinking, making use of Her Majesty’s power to trap this ordinary person?

(Ordinary person…)

(... Oh, is he trying to defend me?)

He seemed cold and distant from the other members of Crown, but maybe he’s a more fair person than I expected.

Kate: Nice to meet you, Jude.

I greeted him feeling a little hopeful, and he narrowed his eyes that resembled amethysts.

Jude: Sorry you got forced to come here. Want me to help you get out?

Kate: Huh?

His facial expression changed when I widened my eyes upon hearing those words whispered to me unexpectedly.

Jude: Kidding. What were you expecting me to do, idiot?

(Wha…!?)

Jude: Good luck to you, though. I dare guarantee you that you won't even last a month before you run away and get yourself killed.

After insulting me with his sharp tongue and a cruel smile, Jude left the dining room.

(As expected, he’s so unfriendly… his mannerisms also show that he has a brute personality.)

(But his accent… is he an immigrant?)

Tall Young Man: Don't worry about him. That's just how he talks to everyone he meets.

Kate: Wah…!

A tall young man was suddenly right next to me.

(Goodness, I didn't notice him there at all.)

(This guy is the one who suggested to kill me just now—)

Ellis: I’m Ellis.

He had a calm and gentle voice, and being near him made me turn cold.

There was this unsettling gut feeling that something was watching me from the darkness.

Kate: Nice to meet you… Ellis.

Ellis: Mm… nice to meet you too. I often go out of town with Jude to attend to some business, but I’ll make you as happy as possible while I’m here.

(Make me happy…?)

His words sounded so much like a marriage proposal, and what made it even more surprising was the fact that this was the same man who suggested to have me killed just a while ago.

I stared back at him, but his face remained expressionless.

(Maybe he only said that for politeness sake… albeit in a rather peculiar way.)

Kate: … Thank you. What kind of business do you do…?

Ellis: It’s a trading company. Jude’s the boss. I’m his assistant.

(That man is his boss…)

Victor: Alrighty, now you’ve got all their names, right? Some of these kids didn’t reveal their curses, but you’ll find out soon during your time as a “fairytale writer”.

Victor clapped his hands together and laughed merrily.

Victor: Allow me to show you a magic trick as a welcome gift before we start your castle tour.

Liam: Wow! *claps*

Roger: Another waste of our precious time.

Harrison: … This is insane. I’d rather use this time to take a shower than watch that lame stuff.

Alfons: Won’t it be so delightful to see the tomfoolery of the oddball who finds joy in embarrassing himself in public.

Victor: I need an assistant. Anyone up for the job? El?

Elbert: … I don't want to…

Victor: Mmm how are you still so charming with that sad face? Well then, what about Elis?

Ellis: If it’ll make you happy, sure.

Victor: I thank you for your altruism and self-sacrificing principles. Now, please lie down on the table—

(A magic show all of a sudden…)

They’re all laughing so happily right now. This is the same group of people who just took a life.

Even the sounds of their laughter made me fearful as I recalled their glares at the murder scene.

William: Are you scared?

Kate: …! Sir William…

#ikemen villains #ikemen series #cybird ikemen #cybird otome #otome #ikevil prologue

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frogmanfae · 8 months

Text

Newsies as Things I Heard This Week Part 3

Race, who decided to fuck around and take an intro to med course: Boogers, man *solemn nodding*

Literally everyone else who was having a normal conversation 2 seconds ago: ...

Race: They have a purpose

Davey: What's on your dress?

Romeo: Are those corn dogs?

Jack: They're popsicles!

Katherine: No!! They're otters!! You're like the third person! They're two otters swimming next to each other and holding hands because otters holding hands is the cutest thing ever!

Romeo: Ohhh I see it now

Katherine: I would wear a dress with corn dogs on it though, that sounds pretty cool

I'm gonna drop out

Spot: What happened

Race: Change my name

Spot: What happened??

Race: Move to another state-

Spot: What happened???

Davey: He was talking to his english teacher while she was trying to grade and she asked him to shut up

Race: MY ENGLISH TEACHER

Spot: ooh... That's rough buddy

Jojo: Uh... I think it's red?

Buttons: Damn that's a big apple!

Jojo: I know it's like huge-

Buttons: What kind is it??

Buttons and Elmer: ...

Elmer: *bursts into laughter*

Buttons: *gasping for air* I mean... Are we talkin gala, pink lady, honey crisp...?

Albert: Do you ever want to just start some chaos for no reason?

Jojo: Oh! Uh... *laughing but the crying kind* I don't know...

Race: Absolutely-

Albert: Because right now I just wanna- I'm fighting an urge

Elmer: *out of nowhere, directed at no one, for no reason* itty bitty titty committee

Race: What? Literally what did you just say?

Davey, running on an hour of sleep, three monster energies, and the crippling anxiety that if he takes a break he will have failed his entire family: It's like thing that there where like... What is that?

Davey: Where all the words are the same? Oxymoron!

Race, who isn't an english scholar but is pretty sure that isn't right: ...no?

Davey: Wh- *realization* ... Alliteration. I meant allitera-

Race: DID YOU JUST MISTAKE ALLITERATION FOR OXYMORON-

Race: NO BECAUSE YOU'RE A FUCKING OXY-MORON

Davey: SHUT UP

Crutchie: Were you on the marching band bus with the penis game last year?

Davey: THIS IS ANTISEMITISM AND HOMOPHOBIA AND- UH- fuck what see am I? I'm something else, for sure, right?

Race:.... An immigrant?

Davey: YEAH THIS IS ALSO XENOPHOBIA

Race: DID YOU JUST FORGET THAT YOU-

Davey: I SAID SHUT UP

Buttons: What?

Crutchie: The penis game

Buttons: No? Can I- I'm gonna need some elaboration

Crutchie: Okay so you say "penis" and you start really quiet and then the next person-

Buttons: Okay I understand. I need no more instruction, I know what to do now. I'm so glad I've been given the honor to bring this to Bus 1

Denton, addressing the marching band kids on expectations before they leave for their first away game of the season: Did I cover everything? Is everything said?

Medda: Language!

Denton, very obviously tired: Oh yes! Language. Only use the good words, not the bad ones. Like... Yay and... Yippee.. Oh darn... Holy smokes... Things like that...

Romeo: The trombone section shirt is going to say "I'm about to blow" and it's gonna have a trombone with a bomb

Henry: Why the bomb?

Romeo: So people think we're talking about explosions but actually... Cum

Henry: I mean the trumpet shirts say "I'm horny" so-

Romeo: RIGHT?! THAT'S WEIRD! If they can have that we can have this.

Elmer: Please don't quote me on that

Buttons: I'm quoting you on that

Elmer: Nooo...!

Denton: *chainsaw imitation in the middle of teaching class*

Davey and Spot: *autistic discussion about angler fish* (I wasn't able to write all of this down because deadass this conversation about angler fish lasted 20 minutes in the middle of my creative writing class instead of doing our work)

Elmer: *tricks his cat into thinking he has a treat when he, in fact, does not* Look he's looking at me like "you whore I knew you were lying"

Denton, teaching biology: This is called phagocytosis (fag-oh-sigh-toe-sis)

Davey and Race: *bombastic side eye*

Crutchie: *trying not to laugh*

Denton: It occurs when a phagocyte (fag-oh-sight) essentially, like- *eats* another piece of biological material in the body-

Davey and Race: *BOMBASTIC SIDE EYE*

Crutchie: *TRYING NOT TO LAUGH*

Medda, to her english class: Oh don't read that that's hetero

Les: you just use your tippies *talking about fingertips*

Davey: ... *trying so hard not to laugh*

Davey: I'm gonna touch you with my tippies

Race: *trying and failing not to laugh*

/after Les leaves/

Race: PLEASE GO UP TO JACK AND SAY THAT

Albert: *gets his heart broken by a guy* I'm straight now!

Henry: No!

Albert: I'm taking the rainbow heart pin off of my bag right now!!!

Race: I support you, I'm shopping for a straight pride pin to replace it

Elmer: Relationships are give and take, lately you've only been giving and he's only been taking you should really end that

Albert: thank you! A true friend

Race: here, here's an ally pin-

Albert: no I'm straight up homophobic after this

Race: oh shit

Crutchie: Damn okay look at you getting deep, freshman??

*long line to get in through a door*

Buttons: *opens a second door*

Denton: Oh there we go, second option. Always use plan b!

Jack: *snorts*

Davey: *side eye*

Race: *deep voice* get off my property

Race: You should keep that one in mind

Davey: I'm having a hard time seeing what I could use Plan B for

Jack: It's so weird to hear you using your straight guy voice

Race: *southern deep voice* oh yeah-

Davey: WHY ARE YOU SOUTHERN???

Race: *still in the voice* I was born in South Carolina

Jack: THAT DOESN'T COUNT

Race: *still in the voice* In another life I coulda been a cowboy

Buttons, about Oscar: Nah girl that is more than a bad day that's a bad YEAR-

Spot, sarcastically: It's governMENt not governWOMANt so sit down

Denton, teaching a band class: It's like your tongue is ever so slightly flicking the note-

Sarah, jokingly: :0

Davey, also a drummer: *trying (and failing) not to laugh* shut up

Spot, a drummer and therefore not a part of the tongue flicking thing: *starts laughing*

Specs: It's like we're a travelling truffle of elephants-

Romeo: Is that-

Specs: Yes that's the right term

Denton, about a halftime peice: No no it can't be that

The entire band: ah- pff- uh-

Denton: i's not funny anymore now it's just sad

Race: Alright I'm going to the bathroom so no funny conversations while I'm gone

*2 minutes later the book falls*

Race: Everyone point and laugh at her because her book is slowly falling off her desk

Davey: It's not that funny

Davey: *snorts*

Elmer: You have a cartoon character frown

Race:

Davey: shut up

Davey: What

Elmer: Like your frown is cartoony

Davey: I dropped ap chem

Jack: What?

Davey: I'm taking ceramics now

Jack: You-

Davey: I dropped chemistry for ceramics

Jack: You're so real for that

Albert: AH- You did not just L my jeans that are black!

Elmer: Okay but why would you have edibles if you could just have gummies

Jack, who has never actually done drugs of any kind in his life: I mean like drugs tho

Elmer: Okay but would you rather have a bowl of fruit gummies or like 3 edibles

Jack: But-

Elmer: Infinite fruit gummies or-

Buttons: We should give birds space suits and just send them up there

Davey: Huh?

Race: I'd get arrested if I was a politician

Buttons: See if they would fly without air

Davey: I feel like you aren't thinking any of this through

Romeo: Aren't the best politicians attested at some point? (/sarcastic)

#im back #back at it again #Newsies as things I've heard this week #newsies

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julietasgf · 2 months

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Juli

I'M BACK (I never left, it just took me a while to respond because I need to think about my answers otherwise I'll ramble on ad infinitum and college beats me eh). I love talking to you so I hope it's not a problem I'll keep asking you stuff about these fascinating characters (The Plinth) and any other topics because I love your ideas and your takes.

About your reply on AO3, I can promise that I will start doing my own HCs on Strabo and Ma and you will be the first person I will show it to when I have written it. I must also say that I agree with you: while ships and romantic relationships are amazing to explore, platonic and familial relationships are just as interesting and deserve to have their fics and hc and analysis within the fandom. (Can we talk about the potential of Lysistrata as a possible friend of Sejanus in canon?)

Before I start with my rant of the movie (it's finally here, another day we will continue with the many other things like the war in Two, First Quarter Quell, etc jsjsjfjs) I come to pass you the link of the fic I mentioned and also to recommend you a new series of fics that recently appeared centered on Baby Sejanus during the war (please tell me what do you think!!!)

1. Bullets Over Two

It is being update I must warn but what is there is for now, is very good!

2. All I Long for is Home (Little Sejanus series)

I really thought it was magical when they sent the link on discord for this series. It has everything we love: Baby Sejanus, studied the dynamics of the Plinth and their experiences during the war!

Speaking of the Plinth. I think its function is both ways: they are clearly the immigrant experience and the difficulties of forced assimilation of coming from another country as identity crises but also USA is a very large nation and as you say, the culture shock within its own territory is enormous and continues to reproduce these dynamics of discrimination.

Ah yes I send you a big hug for the mockery. People really can be cruel. I don't get it, to me it seems like such a nice way to call mothers. 🥺

In my case I'm from the capital but my father is not, he came from a state and has told me a couple of truly traumatic experiences about the problem of fitting in. Ah

But well. The time has come for the rant.

First I would like to clarify that I loved the movie. Great cast, great direction, costumes and cinematography. The soundtrack is a fucking work of art. Iconic enough that I will forgive them for not adapting the snowjanus song from the book. I also think Coriolanus and Lucy Gray had more than satisfying and well done arcs.

In fact there were some changes to the story they made in the movie that seem to me to be great additions or reinterpretations of the text (Example. making Felix the president's son, killing him and having Dr. Gaul use his death to interrupt Reaper's act of direct rebellion -another change that as you can see I am into it-, Tigris serving with that line "You look like your father, Coriolanus", etc).

I don't have a problem with any of that. My big conflict comes down to their portrayal of the Plinth and the Academy students (I'm mostly talking about Clemensia but I didn't limit myself to her). As I said before the absence of the Plinth (Ma and Strabo) seems problematic to me, because they will be the worst crime of Coriolanus. They are the proof of how many limits he is willing to cross to get to power while being the force that is able to allow him to fulfill those ambitions. It's fucked up and very necessary to show in order to understand Snow.

I understand that the time was probably here what contributed to the fact that we only got to see them in a small cameo but gosh I think one scene. One little scene they could have given us. Besides it wouldn't have been a waste, because a lot of information about the Snow's we found out in relation to the Plinth.

What can I say?, I just feel sad every day that we don't have the scene of Coriolanus and Strabo talking in the movie. It's such a short but intense conversation.

With Sejanus my biggest complaint is that because the involvement of his family and family history is almost nonexistent, viewers of the film alone don't know a lot of much needed facts about who he is to see his nuances and there were changes that worked against reflecting his character as well as his situation.

The most extreme example that we have discussed before is the Sandwiches scene. In the movie, the credit is taken away from Sejanus, who was the only one to be concerned about the welfare of the tributes in the book. He was the first to try to approach them not to put on a show like Coriolanus but to try to offer them dignified treatment.

That Sejanus brought so much food. That he did not give up even though at the beginning no tribute wanted to approach and in the end his thing with Marcus will not be settled are actions that speak a lot about who he is. Since such actions don't take place in the film, it leaves an incomplete understanding of the character (which leads people in tiktok to have the worst takes on him in the world).

But this doesn't just happen with poorly executed scenes, it's present even in well done scenes like Sejanus responding to Arachne's bad comments. While it's a scene I adored and establishes well that Sejanus and his fellow academy members live in very different worlds, I don't think it quite captures Sejanus' situation well.

Although inferred, in reality outside of disagreements of opinion there is little in the film that if you don't know the context of the book, tells you very clearly that Sejanus has been harassed and bullied by his classmates for over a decade and the true extent of the hostility of the environment to him.

Which in part doesn't quite capture the reason for his desperation. Equally influential is that Sejanus begins with a higher pitch of protest in the films rather than the escalating spiral he faces in the book.

Now about the Sandwiches scene, I think we can all agree that it is made to make Coriolanus look much better than he acted in that particular situation and ultimately impacts along with other subtle changes in his behavior to make the character a more gentle and selfless version than his book counterpart.

And as you rightly said Juli, Sejanus is not the only character who is prevented from showing his virtues to 100, to favor the image of Coriolanus. This happens in fact with all the students of the academy. Especially with Clemensia.

I wanted to talk about Lysistrata but I feel the same problem with her as with the Plinth: they are practically nonexistent, and it is striking that the other character who genuinely showed concern for her tribute, sought to give him a humane treatment and was not particularly in favor of the games, was almost eliminated.

But I'll go with Festus. Who like other characters in TBOSAS - THG is a greyscale. He'll say wild and clearly poorly thought out things like suggesting the use of capital punishment and brute force to get more people to watch the games but he's also a kid who mourns the death of Arachne, the twins, eats at all hours, is funny, and told Clemensia she was cruel for not wanting to send food to her tribute. And he had a kind of connection with Coral.

According to Coriolanus he was also one of the few people who liked Sejanus more than the average student at the academy. Which says something about his persona, but more importantly in Coryo's own words.

Festus was his best friend and I was quite surprised at the kind of focus they gave him in the movie because not only is there more focus on his flaws but his moments with Coriolanus are more sparse. You wouldn't think they were friends. Again I'm not 100% complaining about that alteration and I can understand where it comes from (it was to give more focus on snowjanus "friendship") but here we have a character who to a lesser extent is reduced to being a mentor who doesn't treat his tribute with gentleness unlike Coriolanus and who seems to not be his friend. Just his classmate.

Which brings us to Clemensia. Who I think is worthy of a place in the "I was close to Coriolanus Snow and he ruined my life" club. I think people underestimate the weight of Coriolanus' actions when he decides to put himself first. When he decides to put her aside to ensure his own survival.

Clemmie is one of Snow's closest friends. And their relationship is the least complex compared to other important relationships in Coryo's life. Which I think is something that promotes the strength of their bond, as Dovecote is genuinely just a friend that Coriolanus spends time with.

It's not as wearing and multi-layered as his love hate Sejanus. Like the conflicts Lucy Gray stirs up and it's nowhere near as torturous as his relationship with Tigris. Coriolanus genuinely cares for her and they seem to understand each other well but this is what I think makes her the first victim.

I can't really say that Coriolanus will act badly in the whole situation. It was Gaul at the end of the day who did most of the damage; demanding that rehearsal from them even when Arachne died, lying to Clemensia to send a message to Snow.... But it is the turning point. Because Coriolanus is faced with a crossroads, what happens with Clemensia forces him to acknowledge what he has always known.

The Capitol does not care about protecting its people. The Capitol is cruel and oppressive. The Capitol subjugates them. He can't rely on institutions or adults to protect him.

And I can't blame him for his reaction, but it is his reaction that makes him complicit. He decides not to protest, not to argue, not to tell and not even to try to take care or to know about Clemensia once she disappears. He does it to ensure his own survival. To take care of his family in theory and other things but it is that point of fall where the debate opens up within him as to why his actions and what he is willing to leave behind in order to survive.

He runs away from her, unable to face the horror of his own inability to act or do anything else for Clemensia and while he awkwardly apologizes, for leaving his friend behind, it was this event that marks this point of who else he is capable of leaving alone as soon as they "become a threat" to his interests.

So I don't understand for the life, why they didn't shoot the scene of her in the hospital with snake scales? Clemensia and Coriolanus' arc IS VITAL. And removing it was a huge mistake, not only that, but changing Clemmie's attitude to make it look like she "deserved" what dr. Gaul did. It was honestly the worst decision. It just doesn't make sense. And I mean that in all seriousness. They didn't even complete her story *scream*.

But well, who I am to complain... On a happier note our beautiful LATAM AU. 🤭 Of course, Sejanus is the one who fights with Strabo every time there is a family reunion. His cousins try to eat at the speed of light before Sejanus starts saying things against the pigs politics who exploit people and Strabo tells him he's a dumb anarchist and stop questioning everything and then they start yelling at each other and have to take the kids somewhere else 😭😭😭

By the way it would be funny if Sejanus, is disinherits by his dad every christmas and he's like "I don't even care about your dirty money" but Coriolanus DOES CARE so he scolds him every time he says that and tries to talk some sense into him although the odds are also very high that he tried to convince Strabo to make him his heir instesd of Sejanus by chatting with him in the yard JAJSJSJSJSIS

Arg Coryo is good because Tigris has an album and a copy of that album with pictures of him dressed as a chick for a dance and other horrors. AND SIIII YOU UNDERSTAND VESTA IS THAT MOTHER WHO CAN DANCE EVERYTHING.

Rip Coryo and his two left feet. He let himself be led but was a very embarrassing companion for someone like Vesta who moves with grace. Sejanus offers to give him lessons so he doesn't make a fool of himself again at parties jsjsjshs

GOD IS CANON. LGB WOULD DEFINITELY GIVE HIM A NASTY POLITICAL CAMPAIGN SHIRT to (make fun of him). Also she has permanently threatened Coriolanus that if he is ever an unacceptable jerk again, she will funar him on social media 💀

STRABO IS THAT KIND OF DAD JSJSJS HE LOVES TELENOVELAS HE JUST REFUSES TO ADMIT IT BUT IT'S SO OBVIOUS. Imagine Sejanus and Coryo discussing telenovela villains and someone gets a fact wrong and Strabo is like "but this actually happened..." and saying he knows because Vesta told him but everyone knows that in his office he watches telenovelas in secret LMAO

About the daddy issues. This the scene

This is getting long already but I think daily about Coriolanus and Strabo's talk and then that time Coriolanus realizes he's acting like Strabo with Sejanus. Damn. I just know that if we would have had a snowjanus + strabo encounter. THAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED I SWEAR JSKSLS

😭😭

Coryo: Don't yell Mr. Plinth at Sejanus he is just trying to help...

5 minutes later:

Strabo: But don't give him the order yelling,young Snow, you should know Sejanus is sensible...

3 minutes later:

*both of them yell at Sejanus*

Sejanus: This is normal yes :)

Oh. I forgot my song.

1. New song sejarcus certified and yes it's an accurate portrayal of Strabo's father. Its crazy.

2. European Mexican warning: but I need you to see the video of Rosalia - millionaria + Dio$ nos libre del dinero. It's two songs that share one video and there's something there about Coriolanus and Sejanus and their relationship with money. Ehh

Now I will shut up for the moment.

HIII!!! I absolutely understand and 0 judgements bc I'll spend hours just writing a single answer bc time is needed (specially bc I'm a tad bit slow thinking in english 😭) also, good luck with college!! and aaaaaa I love talking to you, this is really sweet, feel free to ask or say anything, I'll be more than happy 🥹

YESSSSS PLS I'm now anxious to hear your thoughts, can't wait for them!!! I stand by the fact that ships are lovely, but there's a big lack of exploration for platonic dynamics and it's painful (and I say that as a platonic bairdplinth truther, snow can go to hell, let these two bond and be such an iconic duo). and yessssss I love lysistrata sm :( every single time her character appeared, all I could think was "omg why couldn't sejanus get closer to her instead of getting close to coriolanus?". there's just so much POTENTIAL here

YESSSS HERE COMES THE (DESERVED) RANT!! but about the fics: thank you sooooo much for sending the links!!! I bookmarked the first to read later, but the second, I've read the first work of the series when it was posted and it's SO GOOD <333 it's genuinely one of my favorite works that I've read recently, and I love how the author wrote bby sejanus' perspective regarding the war

yessss!! I'm not an usa expert (bc, well, I never lived there), but I've seen some interesting takes from people who are from there, but more specifically, are from the appalachian region; and these people were talking about how there's this whole view of people from that region being "uneducated" and other things (and how important it is that D12 is located in this region; I'm not sure if in the movie lucy gray have an appalachian accent because I SUCK at recognizing accents in english except for the texan one, but I know that when suzanne collins read a passage of the book out loud, someone pointed out that she gave lucy gray an appalachian accent).

(this also hits harder when there's a passage in the book where sejanus says him and lucy gray are very alike regarding this, not being able to fit in anywhere, except she had talent 💔)

thank you, this is really kind 🫶 some people will just be ignorant for no reason, just for the joy of being ignorant. and I'm sorry about the things your father went through :(

but okay, let's go to talk about the movie:

absolutely agree!! the movie is GOOD. straight up good. and as an adaptation, there are a few things I think they actually did better than the book:

the whole game, in general. I think the rythm got much more dynamic than it is in the book. I understand the book's purpose, but as a reader, it's slow. the changes made it more interesting and it worked in movie-form a lot.

the whole scene with reaper and the panem flag not only is gorgeous and strong and impactful, but it's so well-adapted, I just- I was really at a loss of words, because it IS much better than the book, imo.

wovey dying from the snakes instead of lucy gray poisoning her. it was an impactful scene that made me feel hopeless and horrible watching. even though the book is brutal, this death specifically made the movie much more brutal to me. that was a child begging to go home.

as you said, making felix being the one who got killed during the bombs. it just made more sense and it was gaul's perfect excuse. and it also makes us question more things: is it one child's life worth the life of 24 children?

but when it comes to coriolanus... oh boi. I have thoughts.

(before we get into it, it's worth saying tom blyth did an amazing job with the text he got; the forest scene was TERRIFYING, it made me genuinely scared and tense when watching it at the theater. plus, he has this constant look that just unsettles you. it makes you sense that there's something wrong with this boy, even though you can't really put your finger on what exactly. if there's such a thing as a perfect actor for coriolanus, that's tom blyth, no doubt.)

now, this is a feeling I personally have: the movie is an action dystopian movie. it would obviously want to appeal to this public, including people who never read the book in first place. so, to appeal more to the general hollywood public, they adapter coriolanus' character to be more of an underdog who goes through some sort of corruption arc. he's not an indocrinated, bigoted boy who thinks himself to be superior, who grows more and more power hungry, and this leads him to do things that are more and more horrible. in the movie, he's an ambitious boy, yes, but who goes through traumatic things and famine, and who, in the end, chooses himself in order to survive.

now, let's say the writers want to change this character to make him more appealing to the big public; after all, who would like watching someone like coriolanus thinking the things he think, specially about district people? and the way they seemed to do it was by not changing the core story, but omitting and toning down elements that make coriolanus seem much worse.

the plinths are definitely the most problematic of these characters who got omitted or toned down. the end in the film is not near as impactful as in the book. he killed their child. their only son. and then he comes back and acts as if he did nothing. he knew how much sejanus' mom loved him, then he kills her son and proceeds to call that boy's mom MA. he was SO sick for that. stealing someone's life is already bad, but there's so many layers that the more you look into it, the worst it gets. it's essential to understand that atp of the story, there's no turning back, because he isn't able to feel remorse anymore. he just doesn't care, and this is extremely important to know that THIS is the snow we know in the future. this is the snow that do horrible things to children, that mercilessly kills his opponents. that's how far he's willing to go.

I agree with you regarding the time, specially because the movie was already very long, but they could've given us one scene. at least one. if they inserted, for example, ma plinth going to talk to coriolanus abt sejanus being missing, I think it would already add a great impact (of course the scene of sejanus' death screaming for his ma is heartbreaking by itself, but when you know the context, when you see how close they were in the book, it's just MUCH WORSE, MY GOD). or in the end, a little scene with coriolanus and strabo talking abt coriolanus being their heir would already do a lot for the storytelling (I also think that was left a bit ambiguous in the movie).

(I also adore that scene of strabo and coriolanus, it gives us a lot of insight and I would've adored to have it adapted 💔)

sejanus in the book is a complex character that has a lot of nuances, and that's why I like him so much. when you look through coriolanus' lens, you won't really understand how depressing his situation is. coriolanus just looks to the fact that sejanus have money and is financially privileged, but mostly ignores the fact that the capitol is hostile to the plinths (coriolanus himself is hostile to the plinths! he doesn't say it aloud bc, well, he's coriolanus, but it's still there in his narration, and the way he talks about them), and sejanus was relentlessly bullied through his whole childhood growing up. he had no friend and not really a support network besides his ma. he was utterly alone in an environment that hated him, hated where he came from, hated his family. and he still turned out kind. and we see this in details through the book; the sandwich scene is the most significant, as you said, and it PAINS me that they cut it out, bc reading it, it was when it was clear to me that what coriolanus says about sejanus is not really reliable. sejanus brought food not only to marcus, he brought food to ALL the tributes. he wanted ALL of them to have something to eat. and he really didn't need to do it.

another thing that was poorly executed was that they basically got rid of the fact that he was suicidal. in the movie, it seemed like a naive kid thinking dying on that arena would be a good act of protest (which wouldn't be at all, as we all know it wouldn't be broadcasted). in the book, the whole thing regarding it being a form of protest is more secondary, because that boy was straight up trying to kill himself, and if it actually ended as some sort of protest, then it would be just a side thing. sejanus was in so much pain that he really thought that the only way he could make up to marcus was by dying, and then, after this whole thing, (if I remember right, but I may be remembering wrong) he had to be on sedatives because of how stressful and traumatic the situation was. and sejanus says AGAIN later in the book that he was planning to kill himself. it makes the whole rebel plan have much more sense, because OF COURSE sejanus wouldn't care it's dangerous, he doesn't seem to care about his life at all, he would know the risks and do it anyway, while in the movie it just seemed impulsive and (again) naive. and talking about the rebel plan, this is such a tiny details but it drives me insane how they changed the fact that in the book, he KNEW about the guns and he GOT THEM PURPOSELY, and this actually changes a lot how the public can view his character.

and as you said, all these changes lead to people on tiktok having the WORST takes on him, and I can't even judge them 100%, bc in the movie (imo) they DID make him much more spoiled and naive than he is in the book 😭

to wrap up my thoughts regarding sejanus because I talk too much: sejanus' arc is not one easy to the general estadounidense audience relate to unless you went through some similar experience, but when you did go through some similar experience, it hits HARD. and the book worked this very well, where in the movie, I swear some people I know that never read the book didn't even remember that he was district. it was very poorly worked, they toned down his character a lot, and it just doesn't sit right with me.

but now, let's talk about the academy students:

one thing that I find interesting in tbosas is that even though coriolanus is the worse, we can't really blame it on being from the capitol, because we DO see characters from the capitol who have the ability of being selfless and have empathy. and that makes you realize that, yeah, even though coriolanus is a product of his environment... it's still not justifiable, because we see good kids at the academy who aren't bigoted like him.

lysistrata is the BIGGEST of these examples. even though we see coriolanus being nice to lucy gray, we also read his thoughts and he mostly sees her as a possession, a thing to be possessed, not a human being. he barely sees her as equal. and we have lysistrata, who forms a genuine bond with jessup. there's a scene that I find really remarkable in the book. one of the academy students (I'm not really sure who, but I think it was hilarius) comments, in response to lysistrata saying jessup is a protector, that jessup is almost like "a loyal dog". and lysistrata immediately says that no, not like a dog. like a human being. like a protector. and lysistrata was born and raised in the capitol, she probably never got any contact with the districts, her family for sure have a lot of money for her to study in the academy... and she sees jessup as human. not as a possession, but as human. and they got almost completely rid of her character, and it really did make it seem like coriolanus was the only capitol-born kid who wasn't particularly cruel or xenophobic (when it's quite the contrary lol).

we barely see festus in the movie, and when we see, it's just him being kind of a prick (and I don't really understand why focusing on him being a prick specifically; there were other academy characters who would've served this purpose well; why, of all the academy students, pick right the one that was not hostile to sejanus? it genuinely got me confused, like, why, leave him alone 😭). I can absolutely see why they didn't focus on festus and coriolanus' screentime, and I'm also okay with it, but what bothers me is that changing him into just another academy student who's pretty much cold to his tribute removes the nuance of the story (in the book, we see plenty of academy students bonding with their tributes and feeling bad when they die, we see they are indocrinated privileged kids but who can still learn to be better and do better and unlearn all their bigotry; while in the movie, it sounds more like, academy students = bad, coriolanus = good).

clemensia DOES deserve her own small seat at the "coriolanus snow ruined my life" table alongside with sejanus, lucy gray and tigris 😭 I think she's very much forgotten when we talk about the people coriolanus hurt

coriolanus did clemensia so wrong.... of course it's not as bad or complex as he did to lucy gray, but as the book progresses, coriolanus goes down a spiral where the stuff he does to people around him get more and more and more cruel and more nasty and more unjustifiable. clemensia was when that spiral started. he calls her by a nickname, they pretty much grew up together and saw each other around a lot. she probably trusted him. she's a friend, just a friend, not a possession or someone he's straight up jealous of; as you say, it's not as important as the other 3 most important relationships we see in the book (coriolanus and lgb, sejanus and tigris), but it's still a relationship, and if anything, the most innocent and pure one. and also, clemensia DOES have her moments of goodness!!! unlike coriolanus, she's against betting on tributes, and she thinks watching the games is gruesome. of course, compared to all of his victims, clemensia isn't the worst; after all, if anything, dr. gaul is the one to have more guilt here. but he was still wrong for how he reacted to it (she was his friend!!! and he didn't say a thing!!! he puts his survival first and the person he cared about in second), and each victim he makes, the reasons and the motives get less and less justifiable. but overall, I can't really add more thoughts regarding clemensia, because you were pretty much on point, and I agree with EVERYTHING. everything, really.

and also, talking about the movie and how they made her arc incomplete: it really annoys me how they make it implied that she died ("caught a flu" and stuff), but we don't see a funeral, we don't see her friends grieving, we don't see nothing. I don't remember if we even saw her during the games, srsly; I genuinely can't remember, and if she wasn't there, who the hell mentored reaper? they just left him without a mentor and that's it? I can't really remember a case like that in the book, as all the mentors that died also had their tributes dying, so... yeah, clemensia deserved much better, they did her so wrong by making it seem like she deserved it and took profit from coriolanus' work (when in the book, she was actually mad that he wrote the essay because arachne JUST DIED and he's there writing an essay). again, small details, small things, minor characters that are really important to understand how FUCKED UP coriolanus is even to the capitol standards, and they got completely toned down or just changed to make him better and more of an antihero ig.

(in general, loved your thoughts, they were very well put and I basically agree with everything, it should be kind of a requirement to read the book before watching the movie because I can't stand some takes I see on twitter and on tiktok, specially regarding lgb and sejanus; LEAVE THEM ALONEEEEE)

LATAM AU my beloved <33 STRABO CALLING SEJANUS AN ANARCHIST, I'M SCREAMING because this is actually so on character 😭 the plinth family having to start the christmas dinner much before midnight because if they wait for it, they KNOW there'll be no vibe for it because sejanus and strabo are already at each other's throats. ma tried to ban alcohol once, because she thought that if strabo was sober then he would be more mature and not yell with sejanus, but it's no use because sober or not, him and sejanus WILL fight over politics (and it's even worse when it's election year, poor ma is so tired, SHE JUST WANTS A FUN NIGHT not a civil war inside her own house)

PLSSSSSSS every single year strabo going "I'm NOT going to leave my money to you, I don't know who I'm going to leave it, BUT IT'S NOT YOU", and when sejanus talks back, coriolanus is there next to him "babe <3 don't do that <3 I wanna be rich <3 if you don't, that's up to you <3 but I want that good life <3" but the thought of coriolanus trying to convince strabo to make him his heir is also too funny 😭 because strabo would be there slandering sejanus, but when coriolanus tries to slander sejanus too, strabo immediately glares at him and is like "who said you can talk about my son like that? 🤨"

coriolanus being so embarassed because vesta knows how to dance tango while he does not 😭 and imagine it being like on a party, it was the first time sejanus was introducing him to his parents, and coriolanus wanted so bad to make a good impression, just to make a fool of himself in the worst way possible. sejanus thinks it's cute tho when coriolanus goes to him having to put his pride aside to ask sejanus to teach him how to dance (because sejanus is vesta's son, he KNOWS how to dance too, I just know it).

lucy gray having a whole album on her phone just of pics to post online and expose coriolanus if he dares to be a prick again, I know that's right, if he doesn't want to behave by his will, then it'll be by force ☝️ and plus she's supported by tigris

HIM TRYING TO HIDE IT BUT ATP EVERYONE KNOWS IT 😭 and when he talks to sejanus and coriolanus abt it, the conversation lasts long, and he knows a lot of tiny details (because that man is an insane observer, he'll catch the tiniest details and actually guess the finale much before), and then coriolanus stops and goes... "wait, mr. plinth, how do you know all of these stuff?" and he tries to justify it and say that vesta told him, but these are TOO SPECIFIC details, vesta didn't tell him that

okay, so, I watched the scene, and I'M CACKLINGKSKSKSDKKSDKSDKDS I just KNOW that if we got a scene of these three characters together, it would go pretty much like that 😭 it's even more funnier if this is an au (a modern setting), and sejanus takes coriolanus to meet his father, and just then when he puts coriolanus and strabo side to side he realizes that these two are actually TOO alike and he starts to reconsider most of his life choices

EUROPEAN MEXICAN TRIGGER WARNING (I'll never NOT laugh at it, that's historical reparation 😭) but I watched the clip, and YESSSSS you're so right!!!! and again, coriolanus and sejanus serving as a foil to each other and being on opposite ends (specially because in sejanus' case, that money comes from selling guns that kills people and children, that's blood money, and the lyrics just fit him so well)

but anyway, it was amazing hearing your thoughts, hope to see you soon buddie <3 take care!!

#tbosas #tbosas movie #coriolanus snow #president snow #sejanus plinth #clemensia dovecote #lysistrata vickers #ask #my silly little thoughts #this was long welp

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beansnpeets · 15 days

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I was tagged by @blueboyluca, @fluff-fibre-fun and @thebarkpaladin to share 3 random facts about myself. These tend to be tough for me since I already yap about everything on this blog so I have to try to figure out what you guys may not already know 😅 I also tend to be late to the game on these so not sure who hasn't been tagged already.

1) I've talked about it before, but I have a 1990 Dodge Dakota convertible. There were only just over 3,000 of them produced from 1989 to 1991. It needs a restoration very desperately, but it's a really cool little truck. I'm very into classic cars.

2) My family heritage is largely German Mennonite, but my grandparents on my mother's side are Mexican Mennonite, so that's a little more interesting I suppose. My one great grandfather is from Kansas, too. My dad's side we have more record of and I know they immigrated to Canada in the early/mid 1800's from Germany. My family were Prussian nobles and we have a coat of arms.

3) I took piano lessons for YEARS as a kid and cannot play the piano or read sheet music to save my life. I thoroughly feel that my teacher was just not very good. Also the only things she taught us was church music and I've always been pretty averse to that stuff. So that probably contributed.

#tag game #thanks for tagging me friends!!!#love you 😘

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trashlie · 8 months

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You're right it's very possible that Nol had a fight with his mother... I was also moved to a different country as a child, and I remember having a phase where I resented my parents for it because I was promised all these good things, but all I got was homesickness and feeling lost in the new environment. It was probably similar for him, and it would make complete sense if he argued with Nessa about it. And related to what you sad about Nol being angry and bitter and hot-headed... I keep thinking about the dialogue that was like "He sent someone's son to the hospital" or something like that. We know it was not Kousuke, because he seemed physically fine after whatever happened. So it must be someone different then. And... Nol must have gone to school, right? Yes they were illegal immigrants, but surely Rand could have pulled some strings to get his son into a school. If he was homeschooled like Alyssa, we would probably know that, right? So, what if before the incident with Kousuke, Nol got into a fight, maybe even multiple times? Maybe those kids in school teased Nol for something. For looking different, the red hair, the freckles, his foreign name, maybe not speaking the language well. Maybe they were rumors going around about his mother, how she is a mistress, how his father is a skirt chaser, how Nol is an illegitimate child, how they're all bad people. Kids can be cruel and probably used less polite words, if you know what I mean. And Nol was already dealing with everything you mentioned. Maybe those kids pushed it too far and he snapped and lashed out. Similarly to what happened with Shin-Ae, basically. Except Shin-Ae was this small girl, she couldn't do *too* much damage (though the boy she fought looked pretty rough), but Nol was always big and tall for his age, so maybe he underestimated his strength and severely injured someone.

Think of it this way, too: One instance of being violent and unstable isn't really enough to justify locking a child into a mental facility for two years, especially with the media involved and the whole story being very public. There are procedures and protocols in place. Sure, Yui could've arranged it regardless. But what I think happened is that she got wind of the fight at school, and used it to her advantage. Made Nol appear like a repeat offender. There were already rumors and even "proof" of him being unstable and aggressive, which makes him getting violent again so much more believable, right. Much easier to convince everyone that putting him in the facility is necessary, that it's the right thing to do. It would also make it easier for Kousuke to believe Yui's narrative, because the kid attacked someone at school and you're his victim too but don't worry he is under control now you're safe. And most importantly, it would make it easier to make Nol believe that about himself. I didn't do anything to Kousuke but everyone keeps telling me that I did, so maybe I'm wrong? I know I lost control and hurt someone before, so maybe they're right and it happened again? Can I even trust what I remember, what I believe? Maybe there really is something very wrong with me? Maybe I am an unstable dangerous person that should be kept away from everyone? That deserves punishment? It would be so much easier to insert these beliefs into his head, mess with his memories and his self-perception, when there is undeniable proof of violent behavior and he probably already feels guilty about that and is starting to question himself...

First off, Nonny 💕 Thank you for sharing your experience 🥺 I can't imagine that must've been easy for you as a child to deal with such a radical change to your life.

But yes, I very much agree with you! I can't remember if I've ever said it on here or if it's only come up in my conversations, but I've been wondering for a while now if Nol DID, in fact, hurt someone. It used to be that I wondered if he really DID hurt Kousuke - quimchee has said before that they've had one fight. But a couple things never made sense. Wasn't it curious that he said "people got hurt"?

In retrospect, it seems like an odd way to put it - that he had issues plural and that was what kept them apart. People got hurt. Even the article that mentions the heir being attacked doesn't make it sound like Kousuke had to be hospitalized. But right, I agree he very well still could have sent someone's kid to the hospital with everything he had on his plate - his unhappiness, the hot-headed anger, kids being cruel and bullying him, spreading rumors, being xenophobic, etc.

There's also this

"Especially after hearing how you were treated in middle school."

This has stuck out to me ever since this episode dropped because of what we DO concretely know... nothing really fits that logic, does it? Had Nol ever fought Kousuke, that's not something that he'd think relates to Shinae being bullied and fighting a kid in act of desperation.

But if Nol was fighting kids, had really hurt someone and his very important father pulled weight so Nol got into less trouble... That feels like it could be something he fears will change her perception of him, what he thinks of her. Because right, even if he was lashing out after being pushed too far, the right button was pushed and he attacked, it's SO easy to see how he could turn that on himself. Further to this point, it sounds like he was put through anger management therapy and we know he uses his punching bag to let out his anger, we can absolutely see how very easily he blames himself, how HE could have been convinced of all of this. That he's unstable, he's dangerous, he needs to be subdued.

And further to that, it makes me wonder if punching Sangchul was parallel to what happened in his past. Again, Sangchul was the one taunting him, baiting him because he was certain Nol was too much of a coward to attack, so he pressed his buttons and Nol snapped. And what's more, Kousuke knows a LOT of intimate details about Nol and his family. Plenty of people know rumors about Nol and his institutionalization. Maybe Sangchul figired not only was Nol too much of a coward to act out but because he has a pre-existing record he couldn't lash out without getting into trouble.

And because everything is a parallel and Nol and Shinae are mirrors, it feels very likely that his own incidents with fighting and hurting someone were similar to Shinae's experience, where he reached his limit where it all spilled out where he lashed out at the people who were making his life hell and more miserable than before. Again, it's SO EASY to twist it around on him if he made that first move. "You should have just ignored them. You shouldn't have let their words get to you. You struck first. You hurt someone."

Likewise, it makes it so much easier to kind of brainwash him with this thinking in the hospital. To convince him that he's a bad person who deserves no kindness, who needs to be punished. As readers we get it, we understand. We see how he's been treated by people, reduced to nothing, made to feel like a bother, a mistake, that he only makes things worse. His mother's death looks like suicide, like she took her own life and abandoned him in this foreign country so far away from anyone he knows and left with this cruel family who treats him like he doesn't exist, shouldn't exist, and all of the kids who have bullied him and made him feel like shit. 😭😭😭

How easy it would be to convince this poor kid, this illegitimate bastard of the Hirahara family living as an undocumented immigrant in their shadow, that he is a terrible person who has hurt so many people who doesn't belong here who only hurts people, who can only bring harm to the people he cares about. It also would explain why he worked so hard at absolution - he believes he has so much to atone for.

And that's the worst part, isn't it? To know that he probably did fight, probably did hurt someone after putting up for so long with people taunting him, mocking, bullying him, that no one defended or protected him and when he reached breaking point, he was faulted for how he reacted. It sounds like no one gave him the help he REALLY needed, the understanding and compassion as well as the anger management. All too often when it comes to bullying we see this kind of thing, too. Those children were responsible for pushing his buttons but instead he gets blamed because he couldn't "just ignore them". Instead he was made to feel like a monster, to take all of the blame for not being able to handle what others did to him. Expecting people, especially children, to be able to carry that kind of stress, to live with those kinds of harassment and never to step in or defend them, to try to put a stop to it before it reached that stage. 😭

Once again and as always, these children were all failed by the adults meant to protect them and I will never get over it.

#I Love Yoo #ILY Brainrot #ILY Anon #Nolan Oliver T. Lochlainn #i have so many feelings about this and esp about the kids being failed by the adults #it KILLS me #and esp if we are right about this yes Nol did need some help it's good that he's got an outlet for his frustration and anger these days #but at the risk of taking the blame for everything #for feeling like he is a dangerous monster #that he causes hurt and pain #that BECAUSE of all of that he believes he must always be punished that he doesn't even deserve kindness and friendship #😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭#hurts my heart #they fucked up this poor child #and as a result he's internalized EVERYTHING #EVEN HIS MOM'S DEATH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭#also i wrote this on mobile pls forgive any typos lmao i am abysmal at writing on my phone but i HAD to answer this

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