#i never thought they'd be active after i got into them but first the tribute concert and now the book tour and geddy's songs

[dust-n-roses]

all the Rush news with the press Geddy's been doing and now the start of the book tour is actually giving me anxiety oh my god

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

How do you think Peeta could join the Careers at 74th Hunger Games?

What did he do? Duel with another career? Killing another tributes on the Cornucopia?

Do you think before The Rule Change (2 victors from the same district), Peeta already determined to help Katniss becoming the winner? Thoughts?

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

*clears throat and smacks a binder on the podium*

I have thoughts @curiousnonnyblog. Even if this one has also been sitting in my inbox for freaking ever.

Then the boy from 4. I didn't expect that one, usually all the Careers make it through the first day. - The Hunger Games, chapter 11

I just get a glimpse of Peeta, lit by a torch, heading back to the girl by the fire. His face is swollen with bruises. There's a bloody bandage on one arm, and from the sound of his gait, he's limping somewhat. I remember him shaking his head, telling me not to go into the fight for the supplies, when all along, all along he'd planned to throw himself into the thick of things. Just the opposite of what Haymitch had told him to do. - The Hunger Games, chapter 12

And finally:

"Let him tag along. What's the harm? And he's handy with that knife. Is he? That's news. What a lot of interesting things I'm learning about my friend Peeta today. - The Hunger Games, chapter 12

Okay. Hear me out. when Katniss first sees Peeta after the mayhem of the blood bath is over, he's injured. He's clearly been in a fight. And the Careers provide further evidence for that by saying that he's "handy with that knife," which is information Katniss didn't have about him. She never saw him wield a knife during training because Haymitch told them not to show off their greatest strengths in training, and Peeta didn't even consider her wrestling experience as useful in terms of hand to hand combat until Katniss pointed it out.

So here's my theory. When Peeta asks Haymitch to train separate from Katniss, it's because he knows he's going to try to team up with the Careers, for a couple of reasons. 1) Peeta has zero hunting and wilderness survival skills. Teaming up with the Careers is his best chance, other than teaming up with Katniss herself, at not starving. But also 2) The Careers are the most obvious threat the Katniss's survival in the Games. So teaming up with them allows him to keep tabs on them, to "mislead them about [Katniss]," which she comments on him doing without giving details when they're watching the recap of the Games. It also gives him the chance to help her out or buy her time in certain situations, as with the tracker jacker tree. He gets them to stop actively threatening her, which buys her time to come up with a solution.

I'll come back to Peeta's teaming up with the Careers as a survival strategy for Katniss in a minute. But first... how did he join the Careers?

I think that was something set up in advance between Haymitch and the mentors of the Career Districts. However, while the Careers know he got a training score of 8, in book world, they have no idea why. They're going to want proof that he's somehow useful, beyond getting their hands on Katniss, who they'd see as their biggest competition along with Thresh. So how to prove he can hang with the Careers? One of them attacks Peeta during the blood bath.

And Peeta's already admitted that while he doesn't want to kill anyone, he would if it came down to it. So I think the boy from 4 drew the short straw, so to speak, and had to test the upstart from 12 wanting to be in their pack. And Peeta won that fight, explaining why he's injured, how he wound up in the Career pack, and also how they know that he's good with a knife.

Careers in the arena are only going to see two reasons to call someone "handy with that knife." I doubt Peeta killed an animal for food because honestly he's too beat up for me to believe that interpretation, and also it's too early in the Games for the Careers to need food. They have all the Cornucopia supplies still. So at that point being "handy with a knife" means they saw Peeta fight with it and win.

Why wouldn't Katniss tell us this? Because she wouldn't have deemed it important. It probably looked exactly like self defense, not going down without a fight on film. Maybe Peeta wasn't even expecting it, although I doubt Haymitch left him unprepared to face a challenge like that. The point is, Katniss would view him killing the boy from 4 as a moot point in terms of how she views him as a person, how she sees his character. She's far more concerned with how he reacts to accidentally poisoning Foxface because that wasn't self defense. She wasn't yet a threat to either Peeta or Katniss.

Which brings me to Katniss's comment about Peeta running into the bloodbath being the exact opposite of what Haymitch told him to do. Yeah, that is what he tells them both to do on the night of the interviews. But who's to say he didn't pull Peeta aside after that and give him a different set of advice? Whose to say that Haymitch hadn't already prepped Peeta during their private training sessions for getting caught in the bloodbath or jumped by the Careers right after?

As for your last question, I think Peeta decided to fight for one of 12's tributes to survive from the moment he asked Haymitch to train separately. Perhaps even before that. I've talked about it before HERE and also HERE but the gist is that Peeta wanted his death to mean something, and since he didn't think he could win the Games, he wanted whoever did win the Games to help the people he cared about back home in 12, which would be Katniss. And there is something to be said about how subversive that is, in and of itself. It's not new to the Games for the Tributes to show compassion for each other, as we see with Haymitch and Maysilee, and with several of the tributes in Ballads, but it is extremely rare for a tribute to willingly sacrifice themselves for another. I think Peeta was prepared to die for Katniss to win, in part because not only would her win benefit their district and everyone he cares about, but he's also aware from book 1 that her family needs her to survive while his will be just fine without him. He's trying to do the most good with his death, and I think that the rule change when they allow 2 victors is actually when Peeta allows himself to hope for his own survival too. Up to that point, I think he was preparing himself to die.

[homoeroticgrappling]

Revolution is going to be emotional

Or: me reflecting on wrestling and Sting, under the cut

Revolution marks the anniversary of the first time I sat down to watch AEW, I got invited by a friend who was into wrestling to come hang out for the PPV weekend and watch it as a social thing and figured why not? We spent the day before doing a crash course for me (and the one other non-wrestling fan in the room) so we'd know who we were going to see at the PPV and what storylines were going on so we could follow and pick who we wanted to root for. One single clip with Danhausen in the background tipped me from intrigued to actively invested, I stayed up all night catching up on things and when the PPV started I was so excited to watch even if I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I got into wrestling in a big way immediately, I haven't missed a show since then and I've met so many incredible people through wrestling especially here on tumblr, including the love of my life. (Wish I could time travel and try to explain to my past self that thanks to a wrestling demon with a thing for teeth and his hoodie wearing, chip chomping tag partner I met the most incredible person, wrestling is such a wild thing to explain without context) I guess people are right when they say wrestling really does bring people together, it definitely changed my life for the better

Before that point, the most I'd done was keep loose tabs on Rhea Ripley after seeing clips of a match of hers late 2018, but I hadn't thought wrestling was "my thing" so I never tried engaging with it more. I didn't grow up with it, I wasn't allowed to watch it when I was younger, the most I can remember interacting with wrestling as a child is getting to play with a friend's action figures when we were maybe 9. I couldn't for the life of you tell you who most of them were supposed to be, there's only one that stuck out in my memory enough for me to know who it was: Sting. I didn't know who he was, but I had a cool goth uncle so I wanted to play with that one because it looked like the guy in that movie my uncle liked. I remember my friend excitedly telling me "HE'S THE BEST ONE" and showing me how to pretend swoop down from the rafters of an imaginary venue so I could properly play Sting.

I can remember watching AEW when I was a new fan and didn't know anyone and going "I know him!" Sting's reach extended beyond wrestling fans, and although I didn't know much about his career I knew he was a big deal. I watched his run in AEW, I got recommended matches of his throughout his career to check out, and I could see why they called him the icon. When I spoke to people who watched wrestling when they were younger but didn't keep up with it, they'd ask if there was anyone they'd know and I'd always immediately say Sting, usually getting a response along the lines of "wow, he's still going? I used to love him"

(I also managed to meet some people at an event for All In 2023 and discussed with them my ranking of Sting eras by most attractive, because I am not immune to an attractive person in face paint. Then maybe 15 minutes later as we were waiting for the elevator to leave the hotel, who should come up also wanting to leave but the man himself. I have never gone so silent in my LIFE I swear, made panicked eye contact with our little group, and as soon as he'd gone on his way I got asked if I was okay, as if I hadn't just felt my life flash before my eyes)

Like a lot of people, I haven't known the world of professional wrestling without Sting in it, and it's going to be strange for him to not be there anymore. So many wrestlers are posting tributes, he paved the way for the current era of professional wrestling in America and he has inspired so many people. Seeing the outpouring of love and sharing of memories it seems like everyone is united in celebrating not only his career, but the man behind it as well. Although it's bittersweet knowing tonight will be his last match, I'm grateful I got into wrestling in time to see him wrestle live in person and see him go out on his own terms, happy and healthy. Knowing he got to decide how he wanted this to go, who he wanted to wrestle with and against, it doesn't matter to me what my personal feelings might be on if I would've picked this for his last match because it's what he wanted, and Sting always delivers an entertaining match.

I hope we all have fun, but most importantly I hope Sting has fun in his last match before retirement. He's earned it.

[blackasmidnightcats]

Continued discussion about Sophie's "redemption arc"

Original post from @agathasarmy

@agathasarmy I've moved this to a new post cause I have a lot of feelings and still want to continue this discussion and I hope you don't mind

So anyways...

(this wouldve been also a great way to introduce the concept of legacies, especially with the past vs. present. vs. future theme and it would also parallel tedros’ storyline as they’re both dealing with the fallout of carrying their predecessor’s glory)

YESSSS

All of them have big shoes to fill because of the people who've nurtured and believed in them

One thing I really hated in the camelot years was the lack of mourning that Agatha and Sophie did for Callis and Lady Lesso respectively.

That is the kind of anguish that I was looking for. Just them being children and missing their parent/parental figure and wishing that they could still be someone's child who could look out for them and motivate them when they needed.

Like Sophie remembering that Lady Lesso believed in her the way that Sophie could never do and Agatha remembering how her mother would have wanted her daughter to live out her life with with love and adventure.

Let's not even get with Tedros (that's a whole other meta in itself)

so far all i got was lesso and hester being the best examples of it, but what i also got from them was that Evil wasnt being cruel but serving as the balance to Good like ok???? what exactly does that entail??

Exactly, I'm really frustrated about this because as much as Soman has tried to make us understand that Good and Evil are equals, he has never actually shown us how equal they can be since all the Evil figures that we have are usually helping Good.

I'm really pissed that the Coven's quest involve them finding a new School Master when they have absolutely no need to do that. They should be doing their own stuff instead. It's the one thing I shame Prof Dovey for.

that was what I expected the series would be: Tedros and Agatha as Good because Good always stands stronger together, and Sophie as Evil because Evil is best alone, but not lonely

I stand behind your point about "Alone but not Lonely" quote because if that does not describe Sophie's biggest problem than I don't know what does. She can have all the fans that she wants and build the whole School for Evil in her tribute and pretend that she's a strong independent woman who doesn't need a man but she'll still feel the loneliness seep through if she doesn't have a closure with her insecurities and envy

instead Soman subverted our expectations in the worst way possible since GoT S8 (dont @ me)

I will stand by you with the hate for GoT s8. That was a trainwreck so badly done it imploded on itself. Recently, writers that have big productions have been having a hard time gracefully ending their stories

EXACTLY I JUST KNOW SOMAN’S GONNA BRUSH IT OFF OR BARELY MENTION IT WHEN THIS KIND OF DIALOGUE IS MORE IMPORTANT TO THE MESSAGE OF THE STORY THAN SOMAN RANDOMLY INSERTING DOVEY AS TEDROS’ GODMOTHER OR REAPER BEING KING FOR PLOT CONVENIENCE

I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL. I WILL NOT STOP BEING SO FREAKING BITTER ABOUT IT.

Soman was off with a good start on that one. I would have been more interested with Sophie trying to handle her narcissistic desires vs her need to actually be a decent Dean to all the new students just like how Lady Lesso was for her. Her understanding how to be Evil and be herself would have been a nice read.

if soman had to bring back a trope from the last era, it would be the discussion of dichotomies i.e. Good vs. Evil, instead of the evil lover trope cos aint nobody got the time for that

YESSS

It's still technically the school for GOOD AND EVIL SERIES even if we go to a new era I was hoping that Soman would still have these as the roots but NOOOO.

His obsession with Sophie obsessing over boys that obsess over her is a strong one apparently.

like at this point it’ just really blatantly obvious how much Soman favors Sophie and I wouldnt be that bothered if he didnt sacrifice the plot or the other characters’ brain cells to go along with it cos to this day I refuse to believe that people really would just accept Rhian like that after reading The Tale of Sophie and Agatha

EXCATLY. I HONESTLY COULD NOT UNDERSTAND SOME OF THE DECISIONS OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS ABOUT THIS.

Like did no one still understand that not everything is what it seems?!

I am baffled with how easy they trusted a comeplete stranger over Agatha who has proven over and over and over again that she fights for the good of EVERYONE and is perfecrly willing to sacrifice her happiness for theirs.

Like at this point I'm thinking that her fairy tale propably does not do justice for everything that she's been through cause if the other people of the Woods read her story the way we did, there would be no doubt that we would stand behind Agatha for a lifetime

like cmon people we went through this already?? a random hot stranger coming out of nowhere??? ITS THE RED FLAG

In defense with them, (and I am saying this very, very off handedly) Rhian did come around saving everyone's asses and was a pretty decent guy (NOT).

WHAT I AM REALLY SURPISED ABOUT IS THAT THEY WANT A PIECE OF HIM AND HOW EASILY THEY TRUSTED HIM WITH EVERYTHING

I THOUGHT THE POINT OF THIS SERIES WAS TO SHOW THAT ROMANCE WASN’T THE ONLY HIGHEST MANIFESTATION OF LOVE, BUT A LOVE BETWEEN FAMILY OR A LOVE FOR ONE’S SELF WAS JUST AS IMPORTANT????

One of my biggest beefs with Soman's writing. He highlights romance too much compared to platonic and self love. I want a moment with Sophie like the one in TLEA where Agatha was getting stressed about letting Sophie and Tedros grow closer and Soman managed to pretty realistically portray that; Agatha was being insecure and possessive and jealous but she let herself reflect on her actions. She made peace with it and faced it with bravery even though it really hurts her. Because she understood that she would never have closure for this if she didn't let it happen.

AGGIE IS THE BEST. I LOVE HER

Why the hell can't Soman write something similar like this for Sophie.

WHY SOMAN PUTTING THIS AMATONORMATIVE BS IN THIS STORY AGAIN LIKE WE ARE TIRED

In fairness, Sophie getting into ANOTHER romantic relationship I will PASS SO HARD.

But for everyone else that deserves some romantic love (TAGATHA PLS) I will accept crawling

also I like your ideas on what could’ve happened instead, with Rhian being more proactive towards Tedros and Agatha instead of Sophie - it would play well into the Camelot myths and themes that I was really expecting in the new era

I KNOW RIGHT?!?!?!

If Soman could only just get over his Sophie Obsession, then he would understand that Tedros was the perfect target for Rhian's manipulations and Sophie was the perfect target for the downfall.

I have no idea how the hell did Rhian think (but apparently it worked because soman plot) that seducing Sophie would win him the love of the Woods.

plus it wouldve been a chance for Sophie to actively help them instead of tearing them apart like in the last 3 books?? like she’s kinda doing that rn but it would’ve been nice if she didn’t have a hand in stealing their happiness like she’s always done too

Well...for me she doesn't seem like she's tearing them apart anymore but I stand with your point about her stealing their happiness.

This could have been good, good character development for her. Her realizing that she keeps making tagatha miserable and stealing what belongs to them and the complexity that comes with her inner struggle between her envy vs love for her best friends.

PLUS CHADDICK DESERVED TO LIVE INSTEAD OF BEING KILLED FOR PLOT CONVENIENCE LITERALLY IT’S THE WORST DEATH IN THE SERIES NOT COS IT’S SAD BUT COS IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE AND MAKES FOR TERRIBLE WRITING IMHO

"NOT COS IT'S SAD BUT BECAUSE IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE"

SCREAM IT A BIT LOUDER SO SOMAN CAN HEAR IT AT THE BACK!!!!

Soman, I will never forgive you for doing this to this boy.

You could have made Tedros and Chaddick have a falling out. I mean the last time that they interacted was during AWWP and Chaddick treated Tedros as crap. I know that all of us headcanon that these two are each other's best mates but they've barely had significant interactions for me to consider that a case.

They'd be so pressured about not followong the legacy of Arthur and Lance that a small problem could propably tear these two apart.

also, on another point, you would think Sophie would be more sympathetic to Tedros situation given that they’re both leading populations, essentially

plus Sophie learned to understand Tedros’ mind better in awwp??? where the hell did that relationship development went (even if she was Filip at the time)??

I am honestly more suprised at how viciously Tedros seems to treat her.

Like it wasn't that long after TLEA that Tedros was perfectly willing to let Sophie stay in Camelot and even asked her to visit but come his coronation (which was like less than a day after) he keeps on proclaiming about how happy he is with her out his life and in aCoT his distrust for her was off the roof.

Then there is the Handbook ordeal with Sophie just completely roasting Tedros like what happend to the two of you?

I don't even understand Soman's decision about this. It doesn't even affect the actual storyline in anyway. It's just Sophie and Tedros at each other's throats.

Tedros has been treated the crappiest out of the main trio (let’s be honest) as if the game was built to oppose him, meanwhile Sophie gets major Soman privilege and is given the role ONCE AGAIN that could change the game

THIS

It's the reason why I can't even read AWWP anymore. It hurts too much to have to read at how badly the other characters treat him. Just reading the first line of that book gets me anxious.

And PREACH THAT SOPHIE HAS MAJOR SOMAN PRIVILEGES.

This is why I was actually suprised that Soman shared that he planned on killing Sophie off at the end of TLEA but we'll never how that story went

like if the School Years was for Sophie to realize and accept her Evilness, couldnt Soman have decided to give Tedros and Agatha the deciding roles this time around given that, you know, it’s called the CAMELOT YEARS ERA???

Honestly, I just want Tedros to have the most agency out of all the characters. Like make his decisions actually matter to the plot. Make him the center of the plot and revolve Rhian's plans around him instead of being against him cause that's exactly how Agatha's role in the school years era was for Rafal.

The basic formula goes like this;

Sophie important to the Rafal's/Rhian's/Japeth's/hell even Evelyn Sader's plan

Agatha/Tedros are in the way of that plan so they have to go

Agatha/Tedros saves Sophie's ass

Sophie making the big decision

Like didn't Soman say that he didn't want to be that repetitive writer? That's why he changed the ending of AWWP because it was too similar to the first book?

WTF SOMAN?

she’s still out here wanting someone to look at her the tedros looks at agatha (honestly big mood right there) but I wish this didn’t have to be her main conflict

This is actually why I'm not that mad that Sophie fell for Rhian. Because at the end of the day Sophie will be Sophie.

But I agree I kinda hoped that she wouldn't be as guilible

the girl is smart and knows her worth so I can’t really understand why she decided to get ENGAGED to the next person (Hort obviously cant count cos plot) who tells her she looks pretty???

NOW THIS. THIS IS MY BEEF WITH SOPHIE.

I can understand why she'd date him but MARRIAGE?! That was going a little bit too far.

You'd think after her engagement with Rafal that she'd be TRAUMATIZE for the next one.

And honestly it would have been hella funny if she did feel this way. Imagine Rhian nearly getting all that he needed but Sophie just straight up leaves him on the stage cause she's still got issues with it.

Would have been my favorite scene

And Hort, poor boy, he needs character development of his own. I'm not his fan honestly and currently, he's not winning me over.

ALSO THE FACT THAT SHE ENDS UP BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE ROLE OF QUEEN OF CAMELOT INFURIATES ME SO MUCH COS WE WENT THROUGH THAT SHIT IN TLEA???? WHY ARE WE BRINGING THIS UP AGAIN????

THIS. THIS IS MY BEEF WITH SOMAN

Can he not understand that she would be crap as QUEEN?

A parallel I noticed with Rhian and Sophie is that they both completely remodeled their respective castles in their image. Not even considering anyone else. And they both treat their faculty as crap.

Kinda tells us that she really would be crap as queen.

At least the Camelot citizens had enough braincells not to fall for this crap

Every other kingdom in the Woods though. They better be budgeting gold to Tedros and Agatha once they're back on the throne.

(and im so so tired of Sophie stealing Agatha’s Ever After from her, indirectly or not, like cant she just be happy for her best friend and move the plot in some way other than this???)

I really do believe envy is only one of the things that Sophie needs to sort out. The fact that she admitted at the end of TLEA that she does, in fact, feel envious that Agatha gets to be a queen and her little episode in the Ever Never Roundtable about how she's the one with the official title of queen and that Agatha isn't even a princess says a lot.

I wouldn't have minded if Sophie had a slight blackout and just lost it and saying mean things about Agatha but instantly regreting it because no matter what, deep down in the foundations of her soul, she loves Agatha with everything that she has. And is she has the be in a constant battle with herself about this fact then she's willing to keep on fighting. That would have been satisfying to read.

I mean just imagine if Sophie was there when Agatha was leading her army and Hester mentions that Agatha is Queen in the School, in Camelot, or anywhere elsse in the Woods. They would follow her. Willingly.

Sophie would have had a panic attack.

This girl needs to learn that she can't force people to be loyal and follow her by making every physical reminder of how amazing she is but instead she needs to lead and make some sacrifices of her own because she's doing these sacrifices in the benefit of Evil and its future instead of herself.

Sophie appreciating people?? Not only remembering them when she needs something from them??? Like @ soman im not asking her to be the next Mother Theresa but I’ll take this character development pls and thank u

I am all in for Sophie appreciating everyone. If she can't do it for other people, then she better do it for Evil.