#clarabelle

Clarabelle

Completed: May 3rd 2026

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But it's still a gun.

The most poignted usage of the derringer, outside of being an in game item, is its usage by certain characters within the game - notably, February and Clarabelle, two very different women.

For February, it is what she uses in her threats, pointed at others oh-so-casually. It fits within her persona, a defined woman, graceful and violent, for all the text paints her to be.

For her it is part of her grand threatening aura. In her way she subverts the Victorian idea of the fragile woman. She leans into the "weaponized femininity", it’s a part of her aura, a reminder that she can be elegant and lethal in the same breath.

For Clara however, it is just a threshhold of agency. It is her first and only true means of pushing back. Conceled in her sleeve at the climax of the storing, text describing her stroking her finger on it. It isn't a casual threat or a fashion statement. It is just...what she has. Still dainty and presumed upon, just like she is.

And, if you let her choose, the weapon of which she finally kills Edward with. Hands still shaking. Dropping the gun. It is violence viewed through the lens of someone who is still profoundly afraid of it. It is personal. The gun served its purpose as an equalizer, but it didn't change who she was.

 "I think most of all, I resent that he made killing him the only option,"

Its a strong distinction between how it is used between the two of them. Even though their motivations are worlds apart, both characters utilize the social assumptions of the Derringer.

[Spoilers? Maybe book 12]

Clarabelle✨

Wanted her to look more like Minnie and Daisy