Pre-Jump Earth Literature

[aestrix]

It's a new term, and the end of the break between terms most students have been enjoying. But time marches ever on, and so at 1:00 PM, just after lunch, twenty-six students all around the age of fifteen are finding seats in an obnoxiously decorated classroom. It's one of those classrooms that tries very hard to be peppy and inspirational, and only succeeds at being very out of touch, and kind of creepy.

Soon it will be time to read about things long-dead people wrote.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

"Agreed. Okay. Do you have anything you want to include in this essay, or would you rather just be my accomplice in making Frank cry?"

[poll_the_stars]

She snorts, then actually stops to think.

"... Okay, my turn for depressing. The female characters all lose their children and families. And - the play sort of implied Margaret had some kind of ability to curse and create prophecies and then she passed that on to the other women who have lost things. But that still rings kind of hollow to me. Elizabeth tried to keep her son safe by claiming sanctuary and staying in a church, and it didn't work, not because she failed, but because the people that were supposed to protect them gave her son up. She's treated as one of his main antagonists, but unlike the others he doesn't bother to kill her because she's no longer a threat. The Duchess was the first person to make Richard flinch, but all of the warnings of doom in the world don't make up for not - she didn't really have a hand in finally killing him? Okay, congrats, you called down curses on his name, but cursing until you're blue in the face doesn't actually - fix anything.

"I - am not sure where I'm going with this, actually. It's like - there's a silent potential horror story that hangs in the back of my head. It actually kind of goes something like this. The lives of every child I helped bring into the world, extinguished, my - the person I married and presumably love, dead, everything I try to do to stop something terrible, useless, and then I am bitter and powerless and there's nothing I can do but curse at the world."

She shrugs, and looks away. "It's a shitty, shitty fate. I don't know if we want to include it, but - it sticks out in my head."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Yeah, that's... I see what you mean," he says. "Nobody's getting a good deal here."

[poll_the_stars]

"Except the guy who showed up at the end with an army," says Yvette wryly. "He got to be king."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Okay, fine. The girls get despair, the mutie gets death, and the guy who shows up at the end with an army gets political power. Are we sure this isn't Barrayaran history?"

[poll_the_stars]

She laughs.

"Remember Miles, we don't want either of us to be persuaded to punch our teacher. And if we compared it to Barrayaran history..."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Punching would ensue, oh yes."

[poll_the_stars]

"So the real question is how do we spin all of our complicated Barrayaran emotions into a form that will not ensue in punching, but will make him cry."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah, that's the tough one all right."

[poll_the_stars]

She hums thoughtfully, scrolling through the play to skim it a bit while she thinks.

"Mm. A - theme I'm noticing is that - the people in charge are all not very responsible? The church failing to protect the prince, the guards failing to protect Richard's brother, the king being crazy right up until he dies, Richard and his murder spree, I'm not seeing anyone here actually trying to rule in a fair manner?" Pause. "No idea how to connect that to our complicated Barrayaran emotions, but, it's a thought."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Ooh, yeah, that's an interesting angle. ...But I might want to stay away from it because I'm at least theoretically supposed to be pretending I'm not anybody important while I'm on Beta Colony, and my perspective on power and responsibility is very much the perspective of somebody who played tag with his Emperor as a child, you know?"

[poll_the_stars]

Yvette flashes him an understanding smile.

"Fair enough. We'll skip the interesting angle in favor of not making ImpSec unhappy."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Uncle Simon thanks you for your understanding."

[poll_the_stars]

"Uncle? You call Simon Illyan uncle?"

[thisvorlunatic]

He laughs. "Well, not so much recently, but when I was a kid, yeah."

[poll_the_stars]

She giggles. "That's incredibly adorable."

[thisvorlunatic]

Snort. "Thanks?"

[poll_the_stars]

Grin. "You're welcome."

Skim skim skim. "... Maybe something about minorities and cycles of cruelty? Victims becoming perpetrators? Not just Richard, Margaret definitely did it too."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah... there's something there, but I don't know, how much agonizing emotional suffering can you bring to life in Margaret? Because I can get a lot out of Richard."

[poll_the_stars]

"I don't believe I can match you and Richard there," says Yvette seriously. "Not with just Margaret. I mean I can probably make some eloquent points but that's not quite the same as agonizing emotional suffering." Pause. "I am maybe bad at attempting to make someone cry."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I don't think I've ever deliberately set out to make someone cry before, but I have high hopes about my ability to pull it off."

[poll_the_stars]

She snorts.

"I'll make you be the one to type the essay, then."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Reasonable."

[poll_the_stars]

"I try! ... That being said I do want to uh. Actually help."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Well, help as in contribute to the essay, or help as in contribute to the goal of the essay? Because if it's the second thing, your most effective role might be as a test audience. ...Although I'd rather not make you cry, you haven't done anything to deserve it."