Oleander

for instance, green tea, freshly steeped and served without additives, is hot and dry, and therefore has an aspect of fire.

a mocha, on the other hand, while hot, is sweet, and therefore wet, and thus has an an aspect of air.

lemonade, which is wet and cold, has a water aspect.

Shane would have felt this EVERY DAY OF HIS LIFE, from his earliest memory. And once it became apparent to the white hockey boys how exceptional he was, how he made them look like amateurs...his treatment would have become exponentially worse.

RR chose not to explore that for the reasons already stated. Shane fitting into stereotypes mattered to her more than addressing the racism that would be a constant factor in his life.

But I guarantee that he thought about his race. Every day. Every time he was called a racist slur. Every time someone pulled their eyes up at the edges. Every time some kid asked why he has a Western name.

He could NEVER be oblivious to it, because he sees it in the mirror, it's used against him on the ice, and when allegations of throwing games came up, HE was the one accused. NO ONE accused Ilya. He bore those allegations alone. And Ilya never defended him. Because the racism of the allegations didn`t occur to him.

and the thing is, I don't think it's that the people who do this don't understand. ask any white person who is the only white person in the room if they have noticed race. or just watch them twitch. the folks who are refusing to engage with this topic (the majority of what I see in HR tumblr fandom) just don't want to understand or think about it.

as you have both explained so well, the reality for Shane is that even if he lies to himself and tries not to think about race, that is perversely because he has to think about it in every single interaction, and that because he is minoritized and subject to racism. there is just no getting around it.

the racist takes are awful of course, but tbh for me, the committed refusal to talking about race in the fandom is almost as upsetting. because there's not even anything to react to. it feels so invalidating, but also is harder to address.

like...how are you out here talking about hollanov top/bottom and dom/sub dynamics and not talking about race

how are you out here talking about shane's social anxiety and not talking about race

how are you out here talking about shane's fear of coming out and not talking about race

how are you out here talking about ilya's experiences as an immigrant and not talking about race