#and it just feels kind of dickish to pick at martha for just doing what has to be done

[terrainofheartfelt]

thinking about Nat and the group and this reaping ritual...

not that I expect logic to apply, but it is illogical, right? Nat is the hunter, she is the one with the skills to keep them alive and fed. and yeah, there isn't any game to hunt right now because it's winter, but what about when winter is over?

and Nat is the practical one. in the wilderness where the rest are seeing things that aren't there, she sees them for what they are. (when she says to jackie's remains that shit is gonna get a whole lot worse). she doesn't partake in the rituals because she doesn't see their worth, but she respects the others enough that she lets them do what comforts them, until it goes too far and there's a knife at her throat.

but she's the hunter. she is a good shot, and until winter came and the hunting dried up, she was crucial to the work of survial. and thinking about that has just got me thinking that, there is this tendency in religious sects...to value the ritual and the people who participate fully in the ritual, over the people who do the necessary, unglamorous work of survival. the yjs convince themselves that Lottie is necessary for their survival, meanwhile Nat has been quietly doing the work.

not that she wants praise for it, or even recognition, even in the dynamics of the team we see precrash she's less concerned about ego and more about keeping them working together. and maybe that's why she participates, but it's also why she tells shauna to look her in the eye.