#like its so funny to me that Copper is viewed as SUCH A VILLAIN by literally ALL OF THE CLANS

[burning-thistles-bt]

i wanna talk about the burning thistles reflamed au sooooo bad but i cant and its killing me

[randomnumbers751650]

Sometimes people ask a thing like “how did it get so big?” This is almost like any meme in the internet and sometimes even whatever is in the Top 10 bestselling books of any list. Due to being a historian of economic thought, I’m study the ascension of the idea of the entrepreneur as a hero, how it happened and its consequences, both good and bad. Therefore, I couldn’t avoid Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged. It wasn’t a good experience and I’ll talk more about it under the cut.

I think we all know how much of a controversial person Ayn Rand was. But it worked. She’s one of the most influential writers of the 20th century whether we like it or not. Like, a lot of people say she hates the poor and minorities. It’s even a meme, like there’s a joke SCP that makes everything it comes into contact unnecessarily verbose and one of the incidents was a sticky note written “I hate poor people” that becomes a copy of Atlas Shrugged.

After reading her work, I can safely say these are traps she set up in her own work. Not only that, these traps hide the true problems of her work.

In first place, we need to consider her demographic target. That wasn’t me, if I wasn’t researching, I wouldn’t even bother reading it. Like, I remember I saw in the internet a game called “The Jihad to Destroy Barney” and someone commenting: “because 20-years old thinking they’re funny were obviously the demographic target of Barney the Dinosaur”. Rand knew what her demographic target was, after working in Hollywood for so many years.

One might think that her demographic target was people like her, but it’s wider than that. Through all her book, producers (she doesn’t use the word ‘entrepreneur’, but it’s obviously the same) are the protagonists. Dagny shows her dedication to her railway, always looking for ways to improve it, to hire the best people to work with her, to deliver the best product she can, always treating others with respect. All the producers are people full of passion for what they do. They do not just for the money, they do it to express themselves (but still want/should be paid).

Meanwhile their enemies are the government organs that want to curb them, by introducing legislation to make everything equal, like people are forbidden to be fired, prices are controlled and so on. And they are evil, they are hypocrites who don’t really believe in the altruistic values they spouse or they are too dumb to realize they’re being hypocrites. They are always men in position of power, evil bureaucrats, quisling industrialists, hypocrite union leaders (though the union leader, Fred Kinnan, interestingly is the most sympathetic of the villains, and actually gets away scot free, to the point some think he’s a Galt agent undercover).

Rand aimed for the real life entrepreneur identify with the “heroes”. All the companies have names of their founders in their titles, Taggart Terminal, d’Anconia Copper, and so on. Their enemies show their true faces by naming themselves with abstract titles, like National Union and so on. She aimed the person who ever had to deal with the Health Department, with the Labor Department, who has to fills forms and more forms and say “Wouldn’t the world be a terrible place if it wasn’t for you? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you didn’t have to do all of this? If you just had the opportunity to truly express yourself? Free from the prying eyes of government inspectors? Rejoice, because I have the answer!”

Rand answers this with the Galt’s Gulch – a utopia of freedom, where the word “give” is taboo, while leaving the outside world of looters and moochers to destroy itself. All the producers are gathered to escape the terrible collectivist world around her. Everyone has money and, since they’re all enlightened by the principles of greed and selfishness, the prices are small, even symbolic. Monopolies are good and rivals are always being taken down, and they rejoice with it, both winner and loser, because they contributed to the expansion of human spirit.

When John Galt says “I swear – by my life and my love of it – that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine”, he’s implying all men who belong to this valley. They are not ashamed of taking low jobs, because they know their true power is what they do with their minds and hands. Francisco is shown to be perfect in everything he does, makes one think he’s a Gary Stu, but it’s because, according to the book’s philosophy, if you’re a true man, anything you do you become the best. For this reason, Galt’s Gulch is quite diverse, because it has not only industrialists, but also factory workers and small businessmen who share their ideals. And not only workers, but also artists, intellectuals and others.

This is why I think the argument “this books hates poor people” might not be accurate. The low worker whom Eddie Willers meets in the beginning is actually John Galt in disguise. This I think it’s the most important part to understand why Atlas Shrugged was so influential with small businessmen when published: John Galt is where the Übermensch and the Everyman meet. “Who is John Galt?” Anyone can be John Galt – the same way anyone can be Bella Swan, anyone can be Ritsuka Fujimaru (at least before the 5th singularity), anyone can be Kirito Kirigaya – the idealized self of the entrepreneur.

Thus, one is not born a “man”, but becomes one. Dagny and Hank’s entire character development is to become “men”, to learn to love themselves more than what they create, no matter how passionate they are. This contrasts with Eddie Willers, Dagny’s right hand man, probably the most tragic character of the tale.

Eddie loved the railway just as Dagny. He’s been her friend for so long, and even developed feelings for her. But the book constantly observes that Eddy doesn’t have the capacity to lead something as important as a railway. But he does it nevertheless, dedicating all his resources and passion for the railway. But, unlike Dagny, he doesn’t learn to look for greater things. Thus, he ends the novel stuck in a railway, defeated and probably left to die.

This is controversial, so much everyone still discusses his fate. In the movie adaptation, they deviate from the novel by having the heroes making a point to rescue him from his fate. In Jennifer Burns’s biography, she mentions a letter Ayn Rand received asking about Eddie and she replies that in a collectivist society, Eddie would’ve perished, while in a free one he’d be living okay. Nevertheless, this reveals a truth about that world: not everyone will become a “man”. Eddie would never become a “man”.

Since pity is against Galt’s doctrine, Eddie cannot be pitied. He has to live under the mercy of his Galtian overlords. He has only two options: either worship the feet that trample him, expecting his breadcrumbs fall from their banquet table, or to question his place in the world, thus denying that A is A, and be trampled harder. It really doesn’t matter his kindness, his dedication, he’s not a “man”, and thus has more in common with the looters and moochers than the heroes. Thus, if Eddie ever becomes an obstacle to the productive forces, even if unintentionally, he has to be trampled.

While one might think that I’m being unfair, it should be reminded that Ayn Rand openly advocated the people who were killing Natives during the American expansion to the West were doing nothing wrong. The Natives were actually privileged for being trampled by the productive forces, thus creating the great nation. The same argument can be made for the colonized people and even to the “essential workers” of this pandemic – since apparently people who take this book seriously are one of the most resistant forces to lockdowns and mask mandates, you can guess why.

And this is why Rand hated the environmental movement, because it puts an obstacle to the productive process. Nature can only react with deaf indifference to Galt’s speech. For Rand, this is unforgivable. Would it be surprising if oil tycoons were fans of Rand’s work?

In the end, the producers execute their revenge against the world that rejected them. Galt’s speech caused a lot of disturbance and the last chapters deal with its consequences, with more villains being evil for no reason and more showing how awesome their heroes are. Galt becomes more and more like Jesus, even with a gnostic Judas in Dagny helping him. In fact, in the funniest part of the book, where it comes THIS close from being self-aware, he says to his tormenters, when they asked to cooperate with him: “It took me three hours on the radio to tell me why”. It gave me angry laughter.

In the end of the day, what matters? This is a work of fiction, where caricatures of men and women fight each other. The entrepreneurial process works nothing like described in the book. It takes a naïve view of selfishness, upon saying that if everyone was selfish the world would be a better place, when in reality, if you expect selfishness, it’s what you’ll get.

It’s never explained how they invented their inventions, only that they did it and it’s awesome. The One-Man Industrial Revolution trope is one that I loathe a lot, because it misrepresents the innovation process. It requires so many factors, including government funding – scratch that, it REQUIRES government funding because technologies like touch-screen used to be so risky that no private company would take seriously and government can fund because it doesn’t go bankrupt the same way. Even if we take it as a metaphor, it doesn’t work when you stop to think.

Rand belongs to the same class of writers as Stephenie Meyer and Christian Weston Chandler. But she wanted to influence the world, she wanted it to be more than entertainement, much more. Thanks to her publishing network and appeal to real problems, she did it. This is why the problems of her work require critique. And I hope anyone reading this try to understand better what “relatability” means, this is what relatability can do. Stop trying to look for relatability everywhere, let it just come naturally and if it doesn’t come enjoy the story!

[brightsun-and-darkmidnight]

Heartbeat: A Fragile Reminder

TITLE: Heartbeat: A Fragile Reminder

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 10 / ?

AUTHOR: brightsun-and-dark midnight

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki falling in love with a Midgardian and his words to Thor about Jane during Dark World coming back to haunt him. “It would be a heartbeat. You would never be ready.”

RATING:  M for Mature

NOTES/WARNINGS: ~▪︎~FOR THE WHOLE STORY~▪︎~

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Check Masterlist. It's going to be a long read. I try to keep each chapter around 3,000 words.

My Ao3: brightsun_and_darkmidnight

!-!TRIGGER WARNING(S)!-!

So many triggers, read ALL of them!

Swearing. Angst. Death. Depression. Violence. Self-harm. Regret. Carelessness for safety. Doubts. Torture. NSFW. Smut. Fluff. And Of Course- Mischief.

Summary: Meeting important people.

 ~ ~ ENJOY  ~ ~

It was another day. Another public date and Loki wasn't sure who was showing off who today.

“I would really love to go to the park and walk around for a little. My sister and I would go and watch the sunset.”

“That sounds wonderful Love.” Loki felt Alicia’s hand move to hold his instead of holding onto his bent elbow. Letting his arm straighten he laced their fingers. He saw the sharp turn of her head as she smiled at him. He looked at her with fascination and that warmth in his chest was keeping the weightless feeling going. She was beautiful. Her blonde hair flowing around her and glowed with the sun light. The white of her halter and long length dress that constantly danced around her legs as she walked. Her heels clicked with each step and grabbed the attention of everyone.

"Loki!"

Loki tensed as he heard Thor's booming excited voice. Alicia turned and then looked back at Loki. Her kind smile and a squeeze of his hand comforting but it did not help his worry.

"Is this your lady Alicia?"

Loki faced Thor, "she is."

Thor smiled. That damn smile every woman fell for. Loki felt his entire being constrict as Thor's deep voice rumbled like his thunder, "I'm upset I see you on the news all the time and I rarely see you in person. Loki is keeping you to himself."

Alicia held Loki’s arm. Her other hand laced with his fingers. "Perhaps I'm the one keeping him."

Thor's smile was wider and voice boomed as he laughed, "well maybe that's a good thing. He is in a much better mood when he leaves to see you.” Loki braced himself for the push from his brother and glared at him because it made Alicia falter in her balance as well.

"Is he now?" Alicia smiled at Loki and he saw that happy light behind her eyes. "I am happy to hear that."

Loki gave a gentle squeeze back.

"I have seen you two playing tricks on each other. I'm worried he has more skill than you. With tricks that is."

Alicia laughed but it was a breathy and forced laugh. "It takes great skill and a sharp mind to carry out any PLAN successfully." Alicia smiled and mocked Loki, "I am god of lies and mischief and I have a reputation to maintain."

"Darling. That is not how I sound."

Alicia pecked his cheek, "Well those are your words."

Loki hummed and spoke as he moved to capture her lips in a slight lingering kiss, "you are not wrong." Loki’s hand went to her lower back and pulled her a little closer. Loki could feel her smile and he pulled away to look at her. “Ready to go to the park?”

Thor leerily spoke up, “Jane and I were about to go there as well. May we join you?”

Jane said excitedly, “There is a music festival.”

Alicia blurt out, “That’s today? It’s so fun! My friends and I would go all the time!” Alicia pulled Loki urgently.

“I’m assuming I have no choice?”

Jane's amusement was not hidden at all. “It does look that way.”

Alicia’s heels clicking quickly along the paved trail. He could hear the music playing, and saw the stage was still a bit further. Alicia was urging him along, and Loki teased, “You know Love, if I carried you it would be faster.” Loki couldn't help the shocked sound that escaped him as she turned and threw herself at him. Loki laughed at Alicia as she told him to hurry along. “No Love I am not running, But see? So much faster. You are so clumsy in any heel bigger than 3 inches.” 

Alicia tapped his nose and said, “Onward noble steed.”

Loki chuckled, “I should just put you down and leave you as I walk normally, to turn around seeing you try to catch up.”

Alicia glared, “That would not be nice.”

“I would love the view.”

“I'll just sit there.”

“Still so stubborn.”

“Loki put me down. People are staring. Put me down, come on Loki.” Alicia huffed, “Please?”

“There you go darling.” Loki looked around and saw people moving on the dance floor. Alicia pulled Loki to a food stand. “You are not seriously going to eat here are you?”

“You mean us.”

“I thought you were going to cook.”

“I changed my mind. Surprise.” Alicia gave Loki a lightened smile, “Come on. Fair fries are the best!”

“If Loki doesn’t want any I will share with you.”

“Thank you Jane. Mr. picky is so stubborn about trying new things.”

Thor laughed.

Loki scowled, “There is nothing funny here brother.” 

Alicia ordered too much food and Loki knew most of that was for him. “This is so nice. I can have a taste of everything with how much you eat.”

“Literally everything. You bought everything on the menu besides the drinks.” Loki eyed the “drink” in his hand. “What is this?”

“Its a bubble tea. There is a lemonade stand over there. Its fresh squeezed lemons so its so much better than what you have tried.” Alicia took two trays of food to a table, Loki carried the drinks on another tray with plenty of food on it as well. “Protect this table with your life. I'm going to get us lemonaids.”

Loki rolled his eyes, "yes because there is going to be an overpowering villain wanting this exact spot." She sent him her trademark playful glare with a crooked grin. Loki watched her go to a stand and kept an eye on her.

“Geeze you got it bad.” Jane sat down across from the spot where Alicia would sit. Thor taking his place beside Jane.

“I haven't seen you so happy since…”

Loki rolled his eyes. 

Thor continued with a mouthful of food, “Well this is the happiest I have ever seen you.”

Alicia announced her arrival, “I see there were no threats." Alicia set the tray down then plucked hers off and placed a straw in, "I got everyone lemonaids, The bigger ones for the men.”

“Thank you Lady Alicia.”

“Thor, I despise formalities.” Alica started peeking at the food, searching for something, “There it is. Try this Loki. It's a gyro.”

“You are with my brother. Formalities are inevitable.”

Alicia wrinkled her nose. She hated formalities but accepted them. Alicia enjoyed the talk with Jane and Thor. They worked well together. They seemed happy, Alicia hoped they would be since they are engaged-courting officially. 

Alicia watched as a few children approached Thor from behind and tapped him. They called him, “Mr. Thor,” it was so adorably innocent. They asked him about storms and if they were safe when it rained really hard. Thor put their worries to rest. Then children asked Jane what it was like to marry a king.

Alicia laughed and watched the children as she took bites of things before handing them to Loki. She kept up her promise and lied about something tasting bad but was actually delicious. Jane eyed Loki oddly when he tried to steal food. Alicia explained her lying about it, Jane laughed. Loki had held her and his other hand held her hand to feed him. Alicia seriously thought about smashing it in his face but he held her wrist tighter. Alicia felt something odd about feeding him and it must have shown on her face. 

Loki gave her that damn smirk and licked his lips, "is there something wrong, Darling?"

Alicia's eyes widened than narrowed just as quick. She pulled her hand away and started to collect garbage, "I'm going to go throw this away." Loki wasn't sure if she was mad or aroused with the way she walked. Alicia was throwing away some items to help keep the table clean.

"Auntie Alie!" A blur of copper hair ran into Alicia but she already had her arms out.

Alicia picked the child up and spun them around, "Justin!" Both of them were so happy. Alicia set the child down, asking, "how are you?"

"We are good. I got all A's in my school!" 

A woman with red hair to match Justin as well as a younger girl. A two seated stroller was carefully maneuvered by a man with lighter copper hair.

The little boy pounced in place and shouted, "Look who I found!"

As they walked over to their table it was loud with greetings, small talk for catching up. The children were doing well; Justin was top class as he said, and Little Emily was so outgoing now, and the 9 month old? Alicia was cooing over it as she rocked side by side. The mother claimed they needed to have girl's night. They haven't seen each other since last year and they should really try to keep better contact. Then the conversation took a turn.

"Come on Alicia, don't you want one?" The mother, Susan, looked at the baby in her arms.

Alicia occasionally bumped into Loki as she swayed side by side and laughed, "maybe if they stayed so peaceful."

Loki glanced at the small babe, staring at Alicia with wide eyes and was making sounds that were definitely not words. Loki felt no one could stop Alicia from conversation as if she understood the child. Loki stared at Alicia with such adoration as she held the child. She was beautiful -gorgeous holding a child. She looked as pure as her white dress as she conversed between the whole family.

"Children are great!"

The man holding a screaming Emily spoke up, with a forced optimism. "Children are great." And he bounced, promising the child some food soon.

Alicia laughed as the babe giggled hysterically at the dramatic expression of disapproval. "Not now. With my job I don't have time. I'd want to always be there for them."

The father left with the other children towards a fry stand as Susan spoke, "oh just quit. Loki makes plenty to support you and many children."

Many? That...didn't sound so bad.

Alicia coughed. "I don't know about many, but really, children are a big no for me at the moment."

The two older children, Justin and Emily, were eating fries and Loki hid his amusement as the man stole some fries for himself. Loki wondered if he would have to steal fries like that man someday. He had learned that Alicia did not want children but maybe at a later date? They had never talked about their own in the future, but now he had his answer.

Then. Loki turned his head. 

“Mr. Loki… we were wondering if you could show us some magic.” The little girl, Emily, looked down as the toes of her shoe disappeared into the dirt.

Loki met Alicia's eyes and she motioned for him to do something. His jaw slack and he looked between the children and Alicia. “well then. What is your favorite animal?” Alicia could barely hear the little girl's response. “I like snakes too.” Loki covered his hand and then he displayed a small green snake. The little girl gasped with excitement. Justin exclaimed his favorite animals and got a rather large crowd.

Many of the other children were very demanding with their requests.

However, Loki did not seem to mind too much. When they requested something his smile was so kind, so gentle with the children. Alicia's heart soared when younger children stepped forward. Most of them she could not hear but knew Loki when he displayed an animal the child's eyes lit up and the shyness disappeared.

“How about one more and Loki eats? Everyone needs their strength.” Alicia smiled and booped a young boy's nose and made him giggle.

Loki pretended to think with a loud hum. Due to his eyes, Alicia knew he was up to something...“How about a dance? To celebrate this festival, and maybe Mrs. Alicia will learn something.” His hands held up and an illusion formed above his hands.

Alicia sent a playful look at Loki. She watched with fascination as two dark figures danced around in graceful and grand circles. The masculine figure dipped the feminine one and then brought her up close, then they pulled away and curtseyed. Alicia clapped her hands with the onlookers with a wide smile pulling her face. Loki did a bow with a genuine smile that took Alicia's breath away.

The children were taken to a different section of park or sat in the same sitting area as them.

"Your fan base has increased. Be prepared for party requests." Alicia giggled.

Loki smirked before placing a fry in his mouth, "And have Mr. Rumbles ruin everything? I don't think so."

Alicia and Jane did not hide their amusement. Thor grinned, "it is a good name isn't it?"

Loki turned to Alicia, "did you learn anything from that last illusion?"

Alicia shrugged, "honestly I have no idea, are you going to teach me in person?" She finished with a smile.

Loki stood and held out his hand to Alicia, who she pointed to the food. He rolled his eyes and sent the food away. Then held his hand out in demand. She laughed but grabbed his hand. Loki tried to take her towards the middle, "no Loki let's stay out here. I never danced with anyone..as you showed. I don't want anyone to see me fall on my face."

"I'm not going to drop you. Trust me."

Alicia looked doubtful but let him take her. 

"Relax love. We won't do anything crazy… Yet." Alicia playfully rolled her eyes at his wink. Loki held her close as they swayed and then he felt confident in her steps and began to spin with her. "How about we start to take larger steps and I spin you around?" 

"You will have everyone laughing at me for sure."

Loki hummed with a laugh, "you have never been spun in a dance?" Loki whispered in her ear, "I'll never let you fall." And Loki spun her out and once she was out he moved his wrist in a way he was taught to keep the lead while dancing. He brought her back to him and she landed into him a bit clumsy. He pulled her close by her lower back while their hands were still joined. He guided her back into their two step side to side pace. She had her head in his neck.

"You lied. You let me fall rather hard for you."

Loki chuckled and kissed her head, muttering "always into my awaiting arms." Loki felt this song was ending when Alicia moved her head slightly. Loki stared into her eyes as their linked hands parted. His went to meet her other hip while both of hers went to his neck to pull his lips to her awaiting ones. Loki was the one breathless. 

Alicia was cautious about public displays of affection. He was only allowed short pecks to the face, hand holding, him being able to hold her in "appropriate" places. All so children wouldn't be, "corrupted." Also something about she thought it would help his public image. 

So Loki let her be in charge, to show she did this. 

The pecks on his lips getting longer and the space between them getting shorter with each part. This was her doing. Alicia placed her forehead against his. Her eyes bore into his and Loki saw the familiar outer lines dark with need. "What now, Love?"

"I can hear your teasing. So shut up."

"All with a smile gracing those lips? I dare say you enjoyed yourself."

She shrugged and turned her head to the side and glanced at him, "The spin was fun."

Loki laughed as his hand found hers twirling her around with their hands above her head. "Well that was more graceful." Loki pulled her close again and started to spin with her again. He was so used to her playful eyeroll. Especially as their eyes meet with that silly lopsided smile. Then there it is. The bite of her lip. Always just the one side and looking as though her canine might actually pierce her skin. Loki did nothing to hide his smug grin. "My darling.. have I told you look absolutely ravishing today?" 

Her eyes dilated, "I believe the word earlier was beautiful. But… I like the description change. Don't try to persuade me to leave. I want you to experience one of my favorite days."

Loki's eyes darted to one of their most famous reporters.

Alicia didn't even look at him, "Loki don't worry about them. No one is going to change my mind about you except yourself." Loki took an interest in the surrounding, realizing how once again, she took him into that wonderful world filled with everything of her. The world where every sense was provided by her. "Loki I'm serious. Please relax, I want to show you off as we walk around the park."

Loki looked at her with a knowing smile, "I believe you just want to show off yourself, Darling."

"Maybe a bit." Alicia winked at him, "as your partner. What? I love being seen with you." Alicia pulled him off the dance floor as more people swarmed around them for faster paced music. 

A little body blocked their path, "Will you play with us?"

Susan chuckled, "Emily blink your eyes and say the magic words."

Alicia's sound of pure happiness as the little girl did as directed. It was amazingly adorable with the toddler slur of a beg. Alicia followed the children to the sets of various things they could run around on. Loki sat with the parents and they both sighed loudly.

The father laughed as he wrapped his arm around the woman and looked down at the sleeping baby in stroller. "She still has that gift of putting children to sleep."

The father, who Loki still did not hear the name of, explained in disbelief,  "Hopefully the other two get tired as well. Oh god. Is she really getting in sand box with them?"

Loki watched as Alicia took off her shoes and got in the sand box with the children, not sitting on the edge but kneeling with them in the sand. The parents talked back and forth how they could and couldn't believe she was getting so invested in building… well no one knew what. Everyone laughed as Alicia's plans were foiled by Emily.

Alicia's white dress looked as if it was changing color when she stood to get another mold. She looked like a real mother as she picked a child up and brushed them off, urging them to keep playing. The other children were building things around her. The younger ones messing up her progress however she smiled and tried showing them how to achieve what they wanted.

The voice of Pepper was to his side and sat on a nearby bench, "She is..Great with children."

"She is." Loki kept his eyes on Alicia as a child smashed her little tower of sand. She looked shocked and then laughed.

Then the annoying voice of Stark "Don't encourage a breeding kink with reindeer games. We will have the whole gang of Santa's sleigh pullers."

Pepper laughed, "With you as the billionaire Santa gifting other children with gifts?"

Loki rolled his eyes at their argument. But listened to Peper explaining Loki's behavior is for the best and he seemed happy. Tony couldn't do anything but agree after a while. Peper won. Tony claimed he was going to go talk to her but children were already blocking his way. Alicia dusted herself off and grabbed her shoes. Walking barefoot to Loki. He was so right about her looking beautiful as she walked towards him. 

The curls in her hair didn't bounce but danced in the wind. Placing hair behind her ear and then looking back up at him. Her eyes standing out, and her smile with those pale pink lips and bright teeth. The dress blew to the side as she walked. A pure site. Loki knew she was beautiful but white was just...her color. Maybe not quite white anymore...

Alicia said goodbye to her friend's family. Keeping the promise to see each other again as if it would be up to fate.

Once out of eye sight, "I want to take you to the other side of the park to see the sunset." Alicia held onto his bent arm again as they walked through the park. She guided them to a pond not far from where they were. "I assume you have figured out by now that I have contraceptive. I don't see children in my future, at least not for a long time. I'm…  not entirely sure if I will ever be ready. I have targets on me and I don't want little me's inheriting them."

Loki knew what she meant. He might have pondered the whole idea before. However, after learning of his true parents… Loki felt that all to familiar squeeze of his arm and he forced himself into a state of relaxation.

"Did… you want children?"

Loki stopped with her at a bench and sat with her. The sun going down and the colors as the sky reflecting in the water that rippled from the fountain and swimming fish. Loki pondered for a second.

"If you do not want them, then that is a good choice for me as well."

Alicia gave him a look that was hesitant, "it's not just my choice."

Loki gave her hand a kiss and admitted, "I have always been undecided on this topic."

"Do you want to talk about it?'

Loki watched as the suns last remaining lights danced in her eyes. He grabbed her hand with both of his. "I will be forever happy knowing I have you. Children are…. Well the ones we just saw were pleasant."

Alicia snuggled into his side and watched the sun disappear. Loki watched Alicia stare at the sky until the first star was seen. Loki stood, put her shoes on her, and pulled Alicia with him, "let's get you home before you get cold."

She said those words Loki cherished the most in the world as he pulled her under his arm. And Loki said them back,

"I love you."

The day went too fast.

[jinxedncharmed]

Have i ranted lately about how much I fucking love “City of brass?” I fucking love this book. I don’t know how many times I’ve reread it. I’m slowly annotating it. I have “kingdom of copper"s release date on my calendar. Why isn’t everyone talking about this book? It’s incredible and pushes all my book buttons. I can’t even express the reasons I love it in full depth. I can’t like adequately convey why I love it and how much I love it. I mean, broadly speaking, one reason I do is the setting. Unique, you don’t see a lot of western fiction setting its stories in 1800 Afghanistan, with characters both nonwhite and Muslim. I haven’t read many fantasy stories about a realm inspired by Islamic and Arabic folklore and myth. "Aladdin,” of course, Scherezade, and I’ve read some Conrad and Kipling, and HR Haggard, and probably a random short story or two, but not a lot. And of course given our political climate, why risk featuring anyone Muslim at all? So it’s great to read a fantasy featuring PoC and an amazing pantheon of mythic creatures and stories that I’m not familiar with. Second reason to love it is the incredible story. So much political intrigue! There are so many mysteries remaining at the end of the book, driving me nuts! What is the truth behind Dara’s ring, is it just his enslaving charm or is it a counter to the seal? Is Nahri actually Menizheh’s daughter, or Menizheh in disguise, or not related at all? We dont even know if she’s a shafit or a daeva. Was anything the king said to Nahri and Dara in their first meeting true? Was Menizheh his lover? Was she really a friend? Or is he just playing the game, making the soothing remarks expected by constituents who wait to hear what a politician says about a dead rival? How’d she fake her death? Or did she? Is Ali the king’s true son? Did Zaynab try to murder Nahri that first night, not just get her drunk? What’s Nasreen’s real story? Is Jamshid secretly a Nahid? Are all Daevas now descended from the Nahids, as part of a rebellion plan? This isn’t even like a tenth of the questions I have. Very engaging and entertaining story. Related to that, the writing is, in the technical sense, near flawless. The narrative technique of alternating point of view characters per chapter is nothing new, but it is utilized to great effect, allowing chakraboty to control the pacing of the book, and boy does she, keeping readers on a roller coaster of cliff-hangers and gasp-inducing betrayals. Textbook tricks of conflict-driven storytelling, such as misunderstandings, just-missed-each-others, deliberate sabotage, multiple players with unique motivations, and plain dumb luck, are employed perfectly, keeping the story realistic and playing fair with your reader, keeping them guessing with misdirection that would be the envy of any master magician. The catty politics are deliciously indulgent, better than anything on daytime soaps. The players are all so clever, and sometimes they’re devious and sometimes they’re shameless, and it is fun! The way it is written is phenomenal, the way that writing tools are used is perfect. Like, when you’re teaching writing, use “City of brass” to illustrate what those tools are, how to use them successfully, and how to tweak but not break them. Now well I will say this, that I thought some of the dialogue, particularly regarding the syntax and vocabulary of the speakers, is sometimes anachronistic. There is also a lot of information that is tough for a reader to absorb, such as unfamiliar/made-up terminology, unfamiliar character names, and a complex and unfamiliar setting. I caught and better understood a lot more of the various plot points and political thorns in my second read-thru, thereby further enriching my experience of the story. So all that world building exposition can be overwhelming and move a bit too fast in some places. Another huge reason to love this book is its morality. For me, this is a book where it’s hard to label your hero and villain. Who’s in the wrong, and who’s in the right? Was it wrong for the Nahids to murder shafit? Their covenant to Suleiman was to leave humans alone, and they were terrified to let the djinn breed with them, so does that justify killing shafit? Is Dara right when he says in his time the shafit were treated like animals, as subhuman? Does that justify his prejudice, if that was all he was ever taught? Sins of the parents passing to children and all that; bigotry learned from parents’ example? Are the Qahtanis morally justified in overthrowing the Nahids in order to protect the shafit? Or is that last disqualifier a dealbreaker, and they overthrew the Nahids for their personal benefit, not for the shafit? Does it matter whether they give the former or the latter as their reason? If they aren’t morally justified in their coup, is Dara ethically right to start a rebellion? After all, Qathani killed his family well not personally. Was Dara right to take his revenge on his human masters, after he was enslaved and heavily abused? Why or why not? I love that I can’t parse out in a logical, moral process with empirical evidence, which party has a legit grievance and which’s being a drama queen. I really applaud chakraboty for pulling off this immensely difficult technique in creating a true morally ambiguous story. She does it better than Rowling, as in HP good and evil were the usual cliched stereotypes and people were easily sorted into the correct side, good or evil. The gray morality is a massive plus for the book. And finally, the characters. I have strong feelings for these characters, and that's what writers want, for readers to react in some way any way to their character. I like Nahri, she’s clever and jaded and trying to survive political machinations, and I want to know who wants her and why, who her family is, why she was abandoned. I want her to come out the winner in this trilogy, whatever that means. And I ship Nahri/Dara, it is the OTP, as is Muntadhir/Jamshid, Jamshid on top, shut up its my headcanon. I hate Ali, and it’s fun but also a little shameful to do so. He is the oldest 18-year-old ever. Hes a sanctimonious prick, a holier than thou cultist. But boy does he have a rough time, everything goes wrong for him despite his nauseating piety and seriousness, and at first it’s funny to see him get suckered but then the stakes go up and you sympathize with him. I’m interested in his emotional development, what the psychological arc is going to be for him. I mean he needs to get fucking laid so bad. Also he’s like half crocodile now so we’ll see where that goes. And of course Dara. I fucking love Dara so fucking much. He’s just so extra all the time. Raising those shedu, breaking that glass table with his bare fist, calling the king a sandfly to his face, tipping over his teacup and pouting, the way he killed the rukh, the way he reacts to nightmares. Dry and witty, and more clever than you think, and cunning. Unbelievably fucked in the head. Fragile, outrageously delicate, like two triggers away from a complete and murderous breakdown. A serious PTSD sufferer with mental trauma from an actually horrible life, even before his 14 centuries of slavery. That boy has suffered, and it’s made him hard and focused and isolated, even while his high intelligence keeps him spewing shrewd insults and nailing his power moves, and his emotional self remains a soft gooey ball buried deep inside. Honorable, racist, judgmental, a man who follows his moral code with integrity, arrogant, powerful, a hero, a war criminal, a legend, a demon, a scourge, a victim, a pawn, a master of his own destiny, clever, rude, obstinate, dead?, genuinely kind, noble, grieving, dignified, mysterious, gentlemanly, depressed, and dangerously fucked up. Oh I love it, ahhh, the angst tastes so good, i'm creasing my eyes in pleasure lol and the hurt/comfort aspect, ooooooh it just hits every nerve ending in a perfect ping. It won’t be a happy ending for him, a tragic hero like that always dies, ask Shakespeare, but I really wish he would make it, not just live but have a fucking happy ending, he gets the girl, he gets the throne, he gets a therapist and a bottle of Cymbalta and a recommendation to smoke one joint twice a day. Please he deserves a happy ending, what with all his suffering. The way Sirius and Remus both deserved happy-ever-afters. The way Gen does too, in the “Queen’s Thief” series, and which he also probably won’t get. But oh man I want Dara to be happy, whatever that means. Anyway, this book rocks, dying for the next one, everyone should read this book, it is fucking fun.