sailor juice

just a brain dump of whatever this shipper's currently losing sleep over

[gingeralejasminetea]

we should be paying more attention to judge jin joo

There are clues that Sun Ah (the foundation’s “secretary”) may take advantage of Jin Joo’s desire for attention and manipulate her to become an important pawn or even partner in her game against Yo Han. 

It’s no secret that Jin Joo loves attention. The most obvious examples were her delight at being called a natural on screen by the media directer:

And when she attended the fashion event with Yo Han:

But there were other hints as well. After the success of the first live show, she says:

Her expression noticeably changes at “not me”. Jin Joo’s smile and eyes drop, and she stays silent for long enough for Ga On to ask what’s wrong. She’s fixated not on on the fact that she received attention, but that she wasn’t the center of attention like Yo Han was.

Then we have Sun Ah. As we now know, Sun Ah likes “shiny things”. And what does Sun Ah call Jin Joo the first time they meet? 

In my previous post, I noted the parallel between Sun Ah/Jin Joo and Yo Han/Ga On in the scenes where the former of each pair has their hand on the latters’ wrists and drags them in a particular direction. 

Then we have the very eye-catching scene of Sun Ah saving our female associate judge from falling:

We had queercoded Yo Han/Ga On...and now a common Kdrama romantic trope is being used for these two female characters. I don’t think these parallels are coincidences. We already know that Ga On is becoming increasingly swayed by Yo Han, and the scenes with these two are suggestive of something romantic. Something similar may be happening between Sun Ah and Jin Joo. Could these Sun Ah/Jin Joo scenes be foreshadowing of Jin Joo becoming swayed by Sun Ah’s mission and joining her?

We’re currently only at 6 episodes, so whether Jin Joo will simply become a pawn for manipulation or play a larger role has yet to be revealed. But Sun Ah has already put things into motion.

Here we have Sun Ah appealing to Jin Joo’s desire for attention, and she’s very clever in making it seem as if the two of them are of the same kind:

This radar quote is strikingly similar to what Jin Joo said in episode 1:

Then Sun Ah makes a comment on something that gets to the core of Jin Joo’s desire:

Sun Ah’s saying, “Look, we both grew up poor and worked our way up to positions of power. We speak the same language. But even at where we stand, we’re still beneath these stern old men (Jin Joo doesn’t know Sun Ah’s real identity). But I see your potential. Don’t you want to be the most powerful and the important person in the room?” 

And who is the stern “old” man above Jin Joo? Yo Han. Seeds of doubt and distrust are being sown; that’s Sun Ah’s real goal. 

We see this shift in attitude towards Yo Han almost immediately:

Notice how she changes pronouns. It goes from “we” and “us” to “me”. She feels personally attacked by Yo Han’s actions even though, from what she says, Ga On should be in the same boat as her. Seeds of personal distrust against Yo Han have already been sown. 

In the coming episodes, we might see Jin Joo become one of the villains. The writers have already given us another parallel:

with the Minister of Justice:

The minister is already one of the established "bad guys” (at least from existing episodes). By giving Jin Joo similar lines as the minister (facts and truth mattering less in the public’s eye than stories and image), the writers are nudging us in the direction of becoming suspicious of Jin Joo. This could be foreshadowing of an important change in Jin Joo’s character in becoming more villainous. 

But doesn’t Jin Joo idolize Yo Han? If she’s so jealous of the attention and power Yo Han has, why does she like him? Well, people idolize for different reasons. Sometimes idolizing resembles parental pride. Sometimes it’s romantic feelings. Other times it stems from envy. “I wish I could have what you have. I wish I could become you. Therefore I idolize you.” Is it so far of a stretch to say that a part of Jin Joo’s idolization of Yo Han stems from envy?

It’s also interesting that both Sun Ah and Jin Joo are drawn to Yo Han’s image, whether as someone “pretty” or as the nation’s hero. And both are facades of Yo Han’s deeper character and personality. 

Or maybe all of this is just mindless speculation and I need to get a life instead of writing this whole overanalyzed post. Whoops. If so, then thank you for entertaining this humble fangirl by reading until the end of this very long rant :D

[gingeralejasminetea]

my project hail mary library book has a sticker with “luck” in various languages:

im sure there’s a legitimate reason why it’s there, but to me, it’s like even the librarians were cheering grace on (similar to the good luck quilt in the movie) 🍀

[gingeralejasminetea]

i like to think that movie!grace had a better diet with actual veggies once on erid, since there were live plants on the hail mary. grace uses some of the time from tauceti to erid for cultivating those seedlings and supplementing his diet. once at erid, the eridian scientists figure out fairly quickly how to bioengineer their pet alien some proper leafy greens.

(as a big foodie, the malnutrition horrors experienced by book!grace just made me so, so sad)

[gingeralejasminetea]

i need a stern conversation with my bladder.

what do you mean I’m finally able to watch project hail mary in imax 70mm and I have to pee during stratt’s karaoke scene? what do you mean I went to the bathroom before commercials and still couldn’t hold it? what do you mean by the time I rushed back I missed the lead up to “im having a moment” and the iconic infrared astrophage transition?? what do you mean today’s the last day it’s available in imax??? 🥲

[gingeralejasminetea]

a close friend of mine pointed out that i have a character type: blond men with emotional baggage.

…i have learned something new about myself today. the unpacking and self judgement will be for another day

[letterstoyourlove]

[gingeralejasminetea]

I would have loved to take that class…and I think we would all benefit from doing a similar activity of interviewing adults on romantic relationships in our youth.

[hiveswap]

If you got enough money to live happily and comfortably for the rest of your life, but everyone who saw you immediately knew what fandom you are in and understood what that means, would you take it?

[toomanydramass]

I finished reading "running on air" and idk what to do with myself now. It was so good i want to forget it and read it for the first time again. I need more 😭

[gingeralejasminetea]

running on air changed helped me get over my fear of driving.

even up until a few months ago, i didn’t drive. having grown up in a country where it wasn’t a necessity, living somewhere now where driving is a expected stressed the hell out of me. i had miraculously passed my practical and gotten my license two years prior, but the road was still a terrifying space.

then a year ago, i read running on air. besides eclipsing all my other favorites from my 15+ years of reading fanfic (and being the literary equivalent of a warm blanket), it made consider how driving could be a form of therapy, self-discovery, going away, and coming home. for the first time, i desperately wanted to become a proficient driver. i wanted to drive along the british coasts and feel my thoughts lulled to peace by a never ending stretch of road. what must it be like to have anywhere possible with my own hands on a wheel? could i experience the same comfort and familiarity harry and draco felt with their humble renault?

i just finished rereading RoA a year later. i have since relearned to drive and am pretty confident on the road now. this is certainly in part because of this fic. it’s strange seeing how fandom and reality interact in my life sometimes.i hope to someday visit the spots from the fic…and now i’ll be able to take myself on a roadtrip to do so!

[gingeralejasminetea]

am actually so feral for smoker and law rn

all it took was reading one post about their dynamic (i hadn’t even reached punk hazard at the time) and now im afraid these two have pulled a hotel california “check in any time you like, but you can never leave” on my prefrontal cortex 🫠

[bebx]

reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

[gingeralejasminetea]

aka: the main reason why i struggle with reading published fiction now

[gingeralejasminetea]

SPOILERS/THOUGHTS ON YATAGARASU EPISODE 13

we've finally reached the end of books 1 and 2, and boy did the directors not disappoint! we're also past the point where manga/anime only folks (myself included) know what's going to happen, and im super excited to see where next week's episode is going to take us.

that MUSIC during the reveal of asebi's hidden actions contrasted with her "innocent" expression/mannerisms with the cherry blossoms billowing elegantly around her made me all the more creeped out and uncomfortable. she really manipulated princess fujinami, takimoto, and her attendant ukogi so flawlessly that they're all tripping over their shoes to defend her not even realizing until it's too late how they've been played. ive always loved mystery as a genre, so i was pleasantly surprised to get my dose of that here with wakamiya playing the brutally honest but fair detective. he's so clever...

but also, they cut out masuho-no-susuki's conversation with hamayu where the former pledges her allegience to the latter and vows to become her lady in waiting?? whyyyyy i loved that scene in the manga and i always felt like they were forshadowing that servant/master relationship with how their positions in the posters mirrored yukiya/wakamiya's:

i mean, just look at how hamayu's in the foreground with her head tilted to face the same exact direction as wakamiya's and masuho-no-susuki being the only one of the four women/girls looking to her left just like yukiya.

i don't know if masuho-no-susuki will come back as a recurring character but i genuinely hope she does (i'd love to see more masuho-no-susuki/hamayu interactions)

next saturday, pls come quicker 🥲

[gingeralejasminetea]

Does anyone know where I can read an English translation of the Yatagarasu series??

I only just found out about The Crow Doesn’t Choose the Master a couple days ago and have already caught up with the most recent anime episode. It’s soooo gooooood what the heck, people weren’t kidding when they said it’s one of the most underrated anime of the season. I’ve previously been a huge fan of Chinese novels like Sha Po Lang so the political/court drama in this anime is so up my alley.

I understand that the anime is based off of a series of works by Chisato Abe that is also being adapted to a manga, and I’ve checked that out but it’s currently being (fan) translated. I also saw that this website says her works have been translated into different languages. There’s no official English translation that I know of, but if anyone knows where I can find any fan translations in the meantime, I’d love to know!!

[jesterbots]

genuinely one of the saddest parts of this new era of the internet is how hard it is to rick roll someone now. with people's attention spans shortening so much, they wouldn't even get through the first few bait seconds before clicking off the video. like i saw a comment that ended with "btw i made all of this up" and the replies kept treating it so seriously because none of them finished the entire 4 sentence comment. and We're no strangers to love You know the rules and so do I (do I) A full commitment's what I'm thinking of You wouldn't get this from any other guy I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling Gotta make you understand Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

[fantasiavii]

DARK HEIR SPOILERS

okay but is anyone going to talk about how Visander returned via the white death which is the Dark King’s magic but it was the Queen who apparently performed that magic………

I just think it’s suspicious as hell

[gingeralejasminetea]

Yes, this!!! I was thinking precisely the same thing, and I'm generally just very suspicious about our lack of knowledge of who exactly the Queen/Lady was. According to Visander she had been training since she was around 5 years old or so (from what he told Elizabeth), but besides this and a few scenes from Sarcean's memory of them meeting and her capturing him, we genuinely don't know much. I believe Pacat has been saving these details for the next book...there's something fishy about her always being portrayed as "good". After all, Pacat did say DR was all about breaking stereotypes of good/evil...

[gaycowboywizard]

Are we gonna talk about the magic pseudo-sex that Will and James had??

[gingeralejasminetea]

never have i ever read such a spicy scene without any actual...spice. Pacat, DH was your masterclass in PG-13 sensuality. Color me impressed.

[eleyras]

About narratives: the story of Sarcean, Anharion and the Collar.

Ok soooooo I finished Dark Heir and I have THOUGHTS.

This could be my delusional mind speaking BUT I firmly believe that the whole thing about the Collar and the relationship between Sarcy and Anharion depicted in the story written and established by the winners (the Lady's faction) and Gauthier is far from the truth and a lot more complex and fascinating.

More ramblings under the cut!

Putting all the hints given in DH aside for the moment (I will discuss them later) for me the biggest red flag about these narratives is the way Anharion is depicted in both.

This is a little twisted but it’s something I’ve been thinking about since DR, so let me elaborate.

In DR, the Stewards DON’T know about the Collar. James himself admits that he found out about it from Sinclair, and so the Stewards are convinced that James/Anharion had willingly betrayed the Lady’s side, becoming willingly Sarcean’s lieutenant and his lover.

Gauthier instead reveals a more twisted version of the story.

It’s clear that the two narratives are in contradiction with each other: the one told by the Lady’s faction and echoed throughout the centuries among the Stewards doesn’t include the knowledge of the Collar, and it entirely blames Anharion for his deeds and his betrayal; Gauthier’s version instead, serving for the readers as an introduction to the existence of the Collar, specifies that Anharion didn’t have any agency.

So, which version is the true one? Neither of them, because both, as it often happens in history, took the truth, and twisted it to serve its own purpose.

Let’s start with the narrative ‘written’ by the Lady.

My biggest doubt about it is why the f*ck it seems that A LOT of people outside the Hall know about the Collar. Gauthier knows about it because his ancestor was the one who stole it, but Sinclair? Let’s hypothesize that he knew about it from Kettering. Kettering knows about it because he is a Returner, so someone who was THERE, in the Old World. It’s not a stretch then to theorize that the existence of the Collar and its power was somehow known in the past.

And in DH, the presence of the chain attached to the throne in the Sun Court, where EVERYONE could see it, hypothetically ( and I underline this because I don’t trust ANYTHING of what we saw in the Undahar for it was the Sun King’s court before Sarcean’s) linked to the Collar around Anharion’s neck, makes me think that the Collar and its power weren’t such a well-kept secret.

So, the whole “the Lady’s side didn’t absolutely know about the Collar” narrative is a bit sketchy at this point. I believe someone knew at some point, so why would they iterate this version of the story, instead of depicting Anharion as a victim and blaming Sarcean for it?

Well, the answer is simple: damnatio memoriae. The version of the story known at this point had been written by the Lady’s faction, so of course her enemies are painted in the worst light possible. Anharion’s memory is, in my opinion, even more tainted by this narrative than Sarcean’s one; we don’t even know his true name. It didn’t matter that he could have had reasons for his actions: he went against the "good side" and chose the dark, the end.

This narrative is not interested in reporting the truth. Its purpose is to celebrate the Lady as a Saint figure and vilify her opponents, disregarding their reasons, their feelings, their insight of the events entirely.

So, it’s not so difficult to believe that underneath all the twists and the lies, in this version of the story there is a grain of truth; that, in a way, Anharion did betray willingly the Lady. Maybe he understood that the so righteous Lady was, in fact, not that pure and good. Maybe, at the culmination of the fight, he somehow hesitated to kill Sarcean, because he was a human being, not just a cold hearted betrayer. All factors that would of course be excluded from this narrative, for they would expose the Lady’s true face.

At this point this is all but speculations, but one thing is certain, and this takes us to the second point: it’s canon that Anharion had feelings for Sarcy. Before the Collar.

I would not call it ‘undying love’ at this point of the story, but the affection is there. Palpable, visible, corporeal in glances and words. This is, like, a HUGE revelation.

Because this proves that the narrative told by Gauthier is not the truth either!

While I believe that the Collar has some kind of power (I’ll explain this too), in the Gauthier’s version of the story, it’s clear that the emphasis on the submitting part of this power comes from the desire to possess Anharion, from the (false) conviction passed on for generations that whoever put it around his neck would master him. I suspect it consumed not only Gauthier himself, but also every member of his family who owned the Collar before him.

In the end both narratives, pushing for their own agenda, give an insight on the relationship between Sarcean and Anharion not only false but also humiliating for Anharion, for he is depicted as a selfish, cold hearted betrayer where his own agency is totally dismissed (and not even mentioned) in one, and a plaything slave of the Collar in the other.

The truth is far more complex than this, of course, and the one million dollar question about it is then: how much influence did have the Collar on the true nature of their relationship?

In these days I have read a lot of theories about this. One of my favourites is the one depicting the Collar as a mere object of fashion without any power and Anharion not only conscious but also willing the whole time and the fact that this may be hinted in the text makes me feel unhinged (if this is true, you will hear me screaming about it for years)

In my opinion, and I will believe this until I read the third book, the Collar has some kind of power on James/Anharion but not in the way it has been described so far. This is but a mere speculation for the moment, but maybe this power leans more on binding Anharion’s magic to Sarcean’s than controlling his free will or feelings. (this bit in DH is soooo interesting!!!)

I’m convinced that the Collar cannot create something that is not there and that underneath its power, it’s clear that Anharion had conflicted feelings for Sarcean, he always had, because James REMEMBERS feeling this even with the Collar:

This means those conflicted feelings are still there and are not magically morphed by the Collar into pure and simple obedience and that whatever Anharion felt was real, whatever James feels is real, contradictions and all.

We still know so little about this two at this point, and since Pacat really loves plot twists, I believe that their real story will come out in the end and that Will and James will achieve what their past selves couldn’t had, unravelling the conflicts and the misunderstandings between them, and conquering the freedom they search in each other’s arms to be just Will and James.

I had fun writing this, please feel free to give me your opinion on this!

(PS. I think I needed to specify that this whole rambling is focused on Anharion’s feelings. What about Sarcy? I believe his feelings were a deadly cocktail of desire, affection, possessiveness, admiration and horny thoughts, like the disaster babygirl he was, thanks for your attention)

[mirkwoodest]

[gingeralejasminetea]

***Spoilers***

what can i say, the ending completely fucked me over and now im regretting not waiting until the next book was out before reading. 

now that we know that a) will is the dark king, b) james in his past life was under the control of the collar, and c) katherine and elizabeth are the true descendants of the Lady, im wondering if will’s attraction to both katherine and james are not simply remnants from his previous life’s emotions. 

we sort of now know that will only approached katherine cos he wanted to get close to simon’s finance, but even their whole “chemistry” seems to hinge on them feeling like they knew each other...from a past life. in other words, very little to do with katherine or will themselves. even will asking violet to promise to protect “the sisters” had more to do with him deducing their true identities as blood of the Lady than for any feelings he had for katherine. if will deduced this as early as after their kiss and the tree lit up, would him asking her to run and find him for help also be because of her identity?

will’s attraction to james is a bit more complicated. like with katherine, there’s an instant connection (that scene in the beginning of the book describing their eye contact), that post-unicorn stabby scene where they each feel their previous lives muddling their emotions, but then...there’s also the collar. as much as it is tempting for me to write off all of will’s motivations as manipulative and shoddy now that we know how unreliable as a narrative he has been, i believe will’s decision to let james go without collaring him up was genuine. it’s the first solid action will has done relating to either katherine or james that seems completely will, and NOT sarcean. yes, both katherine and james were ex-muses/lovers to the previous dark king (sarcean), but i think what struck me about the collar scene after reading the ending is that there is soooo much more needed from both will and james in this lifetime before a romance can sprout as a result of who they are currently.

basically, im just finding myself super compelled by where the romance between will and james will take us, and since we know pacat is the master at slow burn, im super looking forward to where this will take us. we may poke fun at james for being a clown not knowing who will was, but with all that will has shown himself to be now...we may very likely find ourselves with a shockingly un-fucked up romance just like how damen and laurent ended up being.