A Contradiction of Terms

i kinda believe that hal trusts his children more than that??? he knows that his daughters are not little girls but young brilliant women and he acts accordingly. i mean of course he would never put them directly in danger, of course he protects them, of course he wouldn't want them to be harmed in any way BUT

he very well knows that they are capable and smart. and they have each other, and they have elodie, and they have him and he has them, and they are not alone. he doesn't tell them everything but he's not actively hiding stuff or something. he gives them the opportunity to know things they get to know. he's honest when he says that everything's bad

he lets shadia use the paint and the blades even though he himself does not feel very confident about them

he lets hero be around and organize their little conspiracy teams

and yeah sure, he would potentially kill anybody who put his kids in danger (or is the source of the danger). but he's not as overprotective as people think about him and obviously not as overprotective as thjazi was towards him

Everyone knows that Hal was not involved.

But, of course, now Hal is involved. He stepped into the sewer, he's building a spy network, he's a Schemer now. But everyone he's involved with is still working off the muscle memory of "protect Hal" that they got from Thjazi-- even Bolaire, who really seems to hate Thjazi, was working from that framework. Protecting the kids to protect Hal is the natural extension of that. Hal is making choices that are putting himself in danger, and that doesn't mean that he wants his kids or Elodie to feel the consequences of that, but the people around him who have spent the last 20(-ish) years protecting him are still adjusting to this new version of Hal that now wants to be involved.

So we're stuck in the same pattern. A Fang is stepping away from the family he loves in order to do something righteous, and his family must be protected at all costs. Even if they are more than capable of taking care of themselves, even if they would take up their uncle's sword as quickly as their father had, even if keeping them away keeps them in the dark.

Each of the lyrics comes from an old-time hickory song for fiddles, and is a lyric from that corresponding song.

"Fire on the Mountain" --> "Fire on the Mountain, run boys run"

Fire On The Mountain - Fiddle Player POV

"The House of the Rising Sun" --> "The Devil's in the house of the rising sun"

House of the Rising Sun

"Ida Red" --> "Chicken in the bread pan peckin' out dough"

Ida Red - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

"Granny Will Your Dog Bite" --> "Granny does your dog bite? 'No child, no'."

FTC #149 Granny Will Your Dog Bite

And for your furthered education, The Mountain Whipporwill.

in a time before things like radios and record players, every time you heard music was because there was somebody in the room with you playing an instrument. and many, many, many social events involved dancing, which requires music. so, if you're planning any kind of gathering in the american south or appalachia, you need to find a fiddler. and the fiddler's job is to play music that everybody knows and likes and can dance to.

the mistake The Devil makes in his bet with Johnny is that he misinterprets the contest as being about technical ability, so he has this big flashy song. he plays fast and impressively with a band of demons playing unfamiliar instruments in unfamiliar rhythms. he's definitely more skilled at playing than Johnny, and thinks he has it in the bag.

Mini Ashley and Taliesins on the Weird Kids' Weirdsville map.

that said! i am fascinated by the way that murray seems a little blind to struggles that aren’t in line with her own until she’s directly and pretty aggressively confronted with them.

we get to see this first with occtis, and how she sees his name and knows his house and immediately assumes that he’s just like the rest of them. she doesn’t see the implication of a child of a sundered house having to resort to studying wizardry when he should have all manner of magic at his fingertips without a lick of effort by his birthright. she doesn’t see the truth of his situation, doesn’t look for it at all, until occtis is dead at her feet, murdered by his own family.

on the other hand, there’s demodus, who has the same struggle as her in her eyes, of not being taken seriously with the talent he’s studied to cultivate, and working for the funding and freedom to continue studying as murray has fought for continued funding and freedom for her school

and then there’s azune, who she’s taught same as demodus, and who has struggled on his own the same as demodus and she have. but his struggle ends with him aiming to be useful, it’s ended with him in a position of power (as much as being a magic cop under the thumb of a noble who has said azune should be afraid of him is holding some power), and murray doesn’t seem to see how hard that is for him, even when he says in no uncertain terms to her that he worries she hates him for his position in a corrupt system. it’s not until he’s devolving into a gasping panic in front of her begging for her help and saying he’s scared and can’t do this anymore that she sees that he’s truly, severely struggling with the burden he’s under.

and even then, she tells him he’s a boy scout, and one of the good ones, and that he has to keep going he has no choice. in the same breath that she’s telling him that demodus, who is only maybe 4 ot 5 years younger than him, is too young and innocent to risk, she’s telling azune that he is worth risking for the cause and he has to buck up and get over it. he has made his bed and must lie in it.

which is true, he has made this bed for himself, but only because he’s been living in this level of isolation where he only interacts with what passes for his support system when thjazi needs something from him, to the point where even thimble doesn’t know where he lives or if he has anything to go home to.

It's rude. You're making someone take their time to read something you couldn't bother to write. You're telling them they were so unimportant you couldn't be bothered to actually take the time to say something yourself. And frankly, you're lying about it while you're at it.

my mother, completely deadpan: well are they reviewing the theatrical release or director's cut.

me:

Reopen the doors to Faerie so Thimble can stop aging again

Occtis is already unable to age because he is dead