#rosewand

▋    INCOMING TRANSMISSION  # ???    SIGNAL SCRAMBLED.❛  QUEENIE, I’M CALLING YOUR NAME.  ❜   –   TRANSCRIPT AS FOLLOWS.

Today I found the railroad tracks.  They ran straight and long through a field of tall green grass, like tracks left by parallel skis in the snow.  But the winter has thawed now.  It is springtime again.  At least …  it looks like springtime.  [ SILENCE, 45 SEC. ]  …  I walked along the tracks as far as I could.  The grass was so tall, I could put my hands out on either side and skim my fingers along the blades.  But I couldn’t find the train …  Then I grew tired.  I lay down.  I waited to hear the rumble of approach beneath my skull; to be crushed beneath its wheels in a sudden bolt, like an annihilating arrow …  but it never came.  [ SILENCE, 20 SEC. ]  Why won’t it come?  …  Queenie, are these the rails that brought you to Star City?  Or the ones that took you away?  I remember the smart clip of your heels on the platform; your matching luggage …  When you told me you were proud to know me, that you would point me out in history books and say, ‘ I knew him before he flew, ’ I shook my head and laughed.  I said it didn’t matter if I was remembered, if I was praised, if Stas Arsenievich became a household name or was lost forever.  What was important, I said, was only the present; only to do now the most wonderful thing one could think of  –  and hang whether anyone remembered.  [ LAUGHTER. ]  What a fool …  [ SILENCE, 30 SEC. ]  …  You know, Queenie, thinking of it now …  I think …  I wish I had … exercised a little more foresight.  I think it would be nice to be remembered.  When I close my eyes and strain to listen, out across this vast … this barren wasteland …  I wish I could hear someone calling my name.  [ SILENCE, 10 SEC. ]  But there’s nothing.  Not even the sound of a distant train.  [ SILENCE, 30 SEC. ]  And when I awoke, it was snowing.

❛    a lyric / quote for our muses.    ❜     ⊹     @rosewand ,   queenie !

honestly,   the song  “ i was wrong “  by  a r i z o n a  really suits the vibe that we have going on for our current thread,   and kind of the general feel of queenie & matt’s relationship when it comes to pre-matt telling queenie that he’s daredevil,   and maybe the immediate moments after.   i can’t use the whole song though because that’s not what this meme calls for   (  i will link it here,   though!  )   so here’s the snippet that i feel most pertains to them:

used to be so warm,   those daysi try not to rememberi got lost in the storm of my wayscouldn’t pull myself together,   ‘self together

 america  was  a  nearly  frightful  place  to  be  ,  though  not  quite  so  terrifying  that  matthew  wanted  to  turn  tail  and  return  right  back  to  where  he  came  from  .  it  was  a  bit  of  that  ,  and  a  bit  of  the  newness  of  it  that  he  found  he  wanted  to  know  more  of  .  england  sat  waiting  ,  but  so  did  new  york  ,  and  his  ship  ,  at  least  ,  had  managed  to  take  him  safely  here  .  now  it  was  only  a  matter  of  existing  here  safely  .  he  had  a  map  in  his  hand  ,  but  it  didn’t  seem  to  be  doing  much  good  ,  and  ,  anyways  ,  he’d  found  the  perfect  building  to  take  cover  in  .  the  smell  was  alluring  and  reminded  him  of  the  paper  shoppes  back  home  .  all  he  needed  do  now  was  catch  someone  who  might  know  where  he  could  go  .  so  he  did  :  the  first  who  came  wandering  past  .            ❝      excuse  me  .      ❞            bright  ,  cheery  smile  .            ❝      i  seem  to  have  lost  my  way  .      ❞

        expressing only mild criticism,  he's being quite unfair to the generations of students who have regularly trembled in the wake of his venomous temper.  but he won’t chastise her so cruelly  ----  not when he’s finding something greater in queenie than her current skill set in potion-making.  his impatience is further distinguished by her illuminating smiles and soft glances his way,  completely devoid of distaste.  

he pays attention to how brightly she glows with her renewed confidence,  and the perfect way her white robe has slipped down her shoulder :  a picturesque image of how he views her,  prompting those words from him.  

the nickname she has chosen for him feels familiar,  like a warm summer’s breeze from days long past.  but he chooses not to linger on it,  and finds the way her gaze tilts bashfully his way to be an ample distraction.  corners of thin lips curve upwards in subdued amusement with her following words.

❛   the potion  would  be a close second.   ❜

he’s still inclined to tease her as something  must  be done to counterbalance his plain honesty.  sensing her fatigue,  he flicks his wand,  and the ingredients once strewn all over the desk begin organizing themselves. 

LISTEN TO  ME TEAR DOWN THE ENTIRE FANDOM AND / OR LITERARY CANON MEME

i know what you mean !!   the whole  ‘ you are the basis upon which humans realize their humanity;  you have to be a brute  /  an evil  /  an ugliness so that the opposite may exist ’  thing.

and i think that, when John Gardner had the dragon tell Grendel that exact thing in the novel, it was intended to be taken as complete and utter bullshit.

Grendel is, in no way, the inherent  ‘ opposite ’  of a human being.

the reason human beings rejected Grendel, and continue to reject Grendel, so adamantly, is the same reason why humans hunted the gigantopithecus to extinction  –  he was too much like us for our own comfort.  

Grendel does not serve as an adverse opposition to humanity so much as he serves as a reminder of humanity’s ability to be brutal, cruel, and horrific.  we didn’t like recognizing these traits alongside traits we considered to be exclusively  ‘ human, ’   so we pushed him and abused him until he no longer felt the desire to express his own humanity.  WE are what turned Grendel into a monster.  WE are what decided he was to be defined as  ‘ opposite ’  of us  –  WE were scared of the truth.

after all; Grendel, like a good number of humans, was  ‘ born good. ’   he has a sweetness in him, a sense of empathy and higher intelligence, a sentience, a conscience, a desire to do good unto the world despite his tarnished reputation  …  and that fucking terrified us.  

THESEUS  &  QUEENIE  !!