Mirameana - Mírame, Ana, Mira

my ship dynamic

also this is how you'd flirt with me

this is so momtara and dadko coded

it's so heartwarming to read fics where Ekko is all patient, level-headed, and painfully tender with Jinx.

makes me question whether I have finally turned cold, pessimistic, and heartless when I smile reading them, smile through the tears and think of how much work it would take for them both to allow themselves being soft again.

Jinx, who believes that she is a bad omen, killing and bringing misfortune to everyone she cares about and who cared about her.

and Ekko, the leader, the inspiration, the boy who became a savior before he became himself - always managing, strategizing, settling conflicts, always putting others first... because what good could ever come his way, he is a lost cause, he is damaged, he lost everyone and all that he's good for is to build and care for others so that they would never experience this - or, at least, experience it later.

for him, the world, Zaun, his people might have a chance, but Ekko... he turned himself into a tool and almost lost hope for his life, for dreaming, feeling, being soft, reckless how a teenager and a young adult are, and not as a rebel leader who sticks his hand into every trap for it not to harm his people.

how cautious it must have made him.

friendly and social, and ever cocky and confident on the outside, but closed off on the inside.

how much effort it must have taken him to really coexist with Jinx in the same space, caring for her - and for himself for the first time in years.

trying to believe and accept that this time she'd stay, that they can have good things together...

for all of that to blow up in his face.

all.

over.

again.

When Life Imitates Tv Show Feat. Miguel as #1 Fan of Guznadia.

People need to understand that Zutara isn't about Zuko being the hot and sexy dream guy that makes Katara swoon. It's about their complimentary Tired Parent™️ energy and the fact that Zuko is—at all times—slightly terrified of Katara in the most smitten way possible.

catching fire // metamorphoses: orpheus and eurydice // the hunger games: catching fire // metamorphoses: orpheus and eurydice // to love is to turn back - aaronstveit // peeta's games: throwing sparks - igsygrace // catching fire // orpheus and eurydice by emily balivet // mockingjay // eurydice // the hunger games: mockingjay part 2 // mockingjay // the hunger games: mockingjay part 2 // mockingjay

Themes of Implicit Submission in The Hunger Games (Book One)

I’ve just finished re-reading The Hunger Games (book one) and there are a few themes that I expect SOTR will develop based on Hume’s implicit submission theory. Specifically, these are the main six tactics I believe the Capitol uses to thwart another rebellion present in the first book alone: 

Societal Pressure:

District 12 has a “keep your head down” culture. Any talks of rebellion are frowned upon. Any anti-government statements will cause social repercussions. It’s not just Katniss rolling her eyes at Gale in the woods, it’s how she has been groomed by the culture to keep quiet about the issues pervading life in the district:

“When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually, I understood this would only lead us to more trouble. So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts. Do my work quietly in school. Make only polite small talk in the public market. Discuss little more than trades in the Hob.… Even at home, where I am less pleasant, I avoid discussing tricky topics. Like the reaping, or food shortages, or the Hunger Games. Prim might begin to repeat my words and then where would we be?” (p.6)

All of this proceeds the statement:

“Even here, in the middle of nowhere, you worry someone might overhear you.” (p. 5)

Under this point, it is also telling that during the reaping ceremony, Katniss says the “boldest form of dissent [the audience] can manage,” is silence. Not outrage, not yelling, not like district 11, but silence (p. 24).

2. Division between Classes 

The Capitol has created conflict within the districts to draw hatred to a local target. In the case of the first book, Gale remarks tesserae is a tactic to keep them divided. 

“Gale knows his anger at Madge is misdirected. On other days, deep in the woods, I’ve listened to him rant about how the tesserae are just another tool to cause misery in our district. A way to plant hatred between the starving workers of the Seam and those who can generally count on supper and thereby ensure we will never trust one another. “It’s to the Capitol’s advantage to have us divided among ourselves,” he might say if there were no ears to hear but mine.” (p. 14)

Interestingly, tesserae is already known as the “courtesy of the capitol” as stamped on Haymitch’s shorts in SOTR. The Capitol markets tesserae as something it does out of goodness. It attempts to make itself seem well-intentioned via the distribution of necessary goods. It’s their courtesy, after all. 

This point also includes the division between the districts. In the games, Katniss remarks how allying with the careers is essentially traitorous. 

“No one from District 12 would think of doing such a thing! Career tributes are overly vicious, arrogant, better fed, but only because they’re the Capitol’s lapdogs.” (p. 162)

By treating certain districts better, the Capitol promotes distrust between the districts, dampening potential unionization with planted hatred. By choosing favorite children, the parent that is the Capitol forces the districts to fight. 

3. Weaponized Language

The name of the Treaty of Treason, the treaty that makes the Hunger Games necessary per the law, is definitive of how the districts are forced to see themselves. They are the ones who committed treason by rebelling, and therefore they are guilty. They must repent by sending the children to the games. The permanent treaty, read during every reaping ceremony, enforces the guilt the districts are supposed to feel. In turn, the fact it is a “treaty” means the districts must have agreed to and signed it. Regardless of the circumstances around the signing of the treaty, the capitol then has the ability to wave it over their heads henceforth. 

The name itself points a finger and keeps the districts forever at fault. 

Furthermore, the fact Katniss is referred to by her district number until and even after she is given something to remember her by (the fire) further dehumanizes the tributes. During the parade, she says the citizens of the capitol have liked her and Peeta enough to "read the program" and learn their names (p. 70).

There are many more examples of villainizing and dehumanizing language in the book, but I have chosen those examples for the sake of brevity.

4. Propagandizing Education

A major theme in many dystopian novels is how the system treats education. In District 12, Katniss tells the reader:

“Besides basic reading and math, most of our instruction is coal-related. Except for the weekly lecture on the history of Panem. It’s mostly a lot of blather about what we owe the Capitol.” (p. 42)

A weekly lecture in a school is quite a lot of time to devote to any one subject. Seeing as how the rest of their curriculum revolves around district-specific content, the weekly lecture must be mandated across all districts, likely leaving the rest up to the discretion of the district itself. The Capitol once again emphasizes how the districts were wrong. It is repeated week after week, and eventually, it becomes ingrained in the social psychology of the district. 

5. Hunger and Deprivation of Needs

Continuing from the section about Katniss knows the weekly lecture must be propaganda, saying,

“I know there must be more than they’re telling us, an actual account of what happened during the rebellion. But I don’t spend much time thinking about it. Whatever the truth is, I don’t see how it will help me get food on the table.” (p. 42)

This point coincides with my second point about the division of classes. By keeping the people hungry, they are too busy thinking about the lowest rung on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. They see those who have food, and they are the opposition in front of them, rather than examining the source of the problem. By keeping the people hungry, they are less likely to have the time or ability to even think about a collective uprising. 

6. Limiting Flow of Information

The Capitol limits the flow of information between districts. In doing so, the districts are forced to make bridging assumptions about one another. This is revealed through Katniss and Rue’s discussion in the games: 

“It’s interesting, hearing about her life. We have so little communication with anyone outside our district. In fact, I wonder if the Gamemakers are blocking out our conversation, because even though the information seems harmless, they don’t want people in different districts to know about one another.” (p. 203)

By keeping them separate, they can turn any district against another. They rely solely on the Capitol for information about other districts, and therefore the Capitol has all of the power. 

Interestingly, another division between classes is shown through Peeta’s knowledge about other districts. He knows the different types of bread from the districts, implying the merchant class may have more access to information than those of the seam, leading to further division between classes. 

All in all, these are the themes I expect to be addressed in SOTR based on the pretense of implicit submission.

not having children in Panem isn’t even a guarantee that you won’t still watch your kids be reaped, is it, Haymitch?

So one thing I've been thinking a lot recently, regarding His Dark Materials, is the way Lyra and Will's last kiss, the one with the doorway between worlds, parallels Marisa and Asriel's one in Northern Lights, in the sense that they are the complete opposite of one another.

Aside from the fact that they both happen in front of a portal, and that it is heartbreaking because neither of them would pass together thought it, think of this :

The odds have always been against Marisa and Asriel's relationship. First because she was married, and then the whole scandal and the shame that came after, and the hate and all that. There was not one time when the odds were on their side. Meanwhile, Will and Lyra's romance was written in the stars. They were tied together by fate, and so there was never any chance that they wouldn't be together.

And then comes the point where they are both standing in front of those gates, together, and suddenly there is nothing that's keeping Marisa and Asriel from being together. They have managed to get there on their own - now, they have the chance to continue together. Will and Lyra, on the other hand, are standing there for the sole purpose of the fact that they can't, after all, be together, even thought it was written in the stars and it was their destiny.

Marisa refused to go with Asriel because she doesn't dare to, or because she wants to find Lyra, according to either the book or the TV show. Asriel doesn't protest to that because he has a war to wage. They let each other go and missed the only chance they had at a fresh start because they loved other things more, because they would not put each other first.

However, Will and Lyra didn't want to join one another because their lives would be shorter, and their death would pain the one who survived, were they to live in the same world. They accepted that they couldn't be together, and let each other go, because there was no one else they loved more.

how do you think it happened?

was it the realization that hit her in the dead of night, with only his steady breath and the ghosts of a forgotten district to keep her company?

the realization that the ache in her chest when she saw him in pain was not simply a heart attack. or that the subtle pitter patters that danced around her heart only seemed to accompany him.

was it the smile that she couldn't help but bare as she whisked her feet towards the towering victor's village? where he would be awaiting her, arms offering bread. offering life.

was it the warmth that spread from her fingertips as his knuckles fit perfectly against hers. uniting them. as friends. as allies. as something so much more.

was it the soft kisses that peppered caresses that wiped away tears? tears of a tormented past. mixed with the reassurance that, after everything, at least they still had each other. and that was enough.

or did it come slowly? as she stared at the curves of his face in the dark, illuminated by candlelight. reminding her of the different colors and shapes that touched his face in their years together.

like the bruise he bore to save her. or the crinkle in between his eyebrows that deepened when he realized she was going to do anything to save him. even if that meant she didn't make it home. or the terror that flooded his features as he refused to let her go. making her live to see another day.

and maybe, in the quiet solitude of their room, the memory of his many faces sprinkled throughout their history pointed to one thing. his goodness. 

the goodness that forged them together. from the bread to the primrose. the goodness that reminded her that there was a future to hope for. the goodness that reminded her that she had goodness of her own. and that she always had.

how do you think it happened? that inevitable declaration. the kind that wasn't as much of a declaration but rather a confirmation of feelings brewing under the surface. feelings that crept up on her.

ones that had been real all along.

And they are.

Oh, but they are.

Honestly 80% of the reason I ship Zutara is because I believe both Katara and Zuko deserve simps, and they both are simps. Simp x simp supremacy