Betty is really interesting in this. It’s like she’s simultaneously terrified of being manipulated but still needs it? Like, she’s so used to it with both Hal and Alice that she can’t “be real” without its absence? I wonder if it’s also something that grounds her to reality – it’s a mystery that needs to be solved and she must be alert and attentive to solve it. Jughead brings clarity but possible also reckless abandon so heady that she forgets about the jittery thoughts under her skin? So many questions…
Interesting when Betty mentions “nothing feels clean”. This is a very Hal thing to say and think… I wondering if this is foreshadowing or if I am reading too much into this?
I love your characterisation of Jughead in this. So far I have just seen him “observe” but not “feel”. Jughead is really judgemental: He is derisive towards Jason, though he learns from him. He is both derisive and pitying of Archie. I found the scene with Jughead watching Polly go to kill herself fascinating. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking – but it was like a weird juxtaposition of the logical “I know this is wrong and I should do something” and the morbid details like “her skin is different” “Angel Baby wooing and cooing”. I love how observant Jughead is and he knows that the Coopers are fracturing. Is this why he chooses this time to go to Betty? Because he knows he can be “solid” for her? He seems to understand consent, but he wilfully ignores it; stalking of the Coopers aside, he tells Betty she has to keep him informed of her seizures and she seems to agree and then he tells him to talk control during sex (why is she being obedient with him and no one else? Or is she obedient in a simmering, biding her time kind of way?) I am enthralled by this and it promises to be so delicious and dark…
Why does he want her obedient? What has him so out of control that he needs this? I love the psycho-sexual elements of this SO FUCKING MUCH. YOU ARE A SWEET GENIUS AND I LOVE YOUR WORK.
I am fascinated by the way he has relegated himself to the edge of her life and her arousal of him is “reward” for waiting…
This is such a fascinating and poignant line (in my opinion). It really speaks to the control and consent dance that is going on between the two of them. ///They both still have their security blankets, both iconic and beyond reproach. They give each other the privilege of taking it away.///
I am BEYOND INTRIGUED and I love this. I came here because redcirce told me that I would adore your work. That is true and I am positively in love hahah
~~~~ I loved these lines ~~~
The yelling and screaming and crying is only made more poignant and ridiculous by the red and blue neon streaking their faces.
On his way out of the woods, he spies the telltale curve of a classic love-bug peeking up through riverside shrubbery.
Everything feels like it is simmering with the summer heat, threatening to boil over. That night Jug witnesses the Cooper dollhouse fall apart.
Partway through the exchanges, the record restarts, the mild wobbling twangs of the guitar that coalesce into something pleasing, melodious, like falling in love – a rough, timid start but finding stride eventually.
Alice, maintaining, answers the door and directs the medics upstairs with one manicured index.
By the law of transitive properties, she is fucking Jughead, and that knowledge will only result in too many questions she can’t answer.
She still hears phantom rings of bubblegum horror, his bastardized voice. Did you miss me? To death.
She snaps his suspenders affectionately, burying her face into his chest, her cheekbone solid against his sternum. He palms her breasts, feels her inhale against him, skims down along her ribcage reverently.
She gazes down at him perched between her legs, sea glass eyes anticipating, the true want a little hidden.
Saliva pools in his mouth with the proximity to her cunt, but he busies his mouth on other safer points of contact, the curve of her ankle bone, the indent of her knee, his lips grazing along one thigh.
His imagination has room for a tome of rules, anthologies of rules.
And if he had his choice, dying between Betty Cooper’s thighs was at the top of his list. He dedicated his summer to the study of Betty Cooper’s body and damn hubris if he hadn’t become a star pupil in that arena.
He thought he would always be the passive observer of Betty’s life, her lonely moon in endless orbit, gravity pulling but never finding purchase. Now, he is an active participant, tonguing Jughead Jones wuz here into her pussy over and over like a punishment on chalkboard, her arousal in his mouth a reward for years of patience.
Appearing composed but he can see it in the slight tremble of her outstretched fingers, the tightness in her akimbo elbows, curbing her anxiety and aching to please him.
He is only a drunken blur of nerve endings, an exclamation point the epitome of euphoric completion, his weight sinking over her as she comes undone too.
I know sad isn’t really your cup of tea, but I do appreciate you reading this one – my opus to the big bad Sad.
I wonder if it’s also something that grounds her to reality – it’s a mystery that needs to be solved and she must be alert and attentive to solve it. Betty is very messy here. She’s coming straight out of her father’s trial, and she is really only seeing Dr. Glass to feed a drug habit, which remains below the surface for almost the entirety of this story until nearly the end. She is afraid of being manipulated again, by Dr. Glass here, but I also wanted to show that she needs someone to talk to, even if she doesn’t want to admit it, and she doesn’t want it to be Jughead or her mother or anyone who knows her. Hence, the messiness. Also, it’s setting the stage for her mistrust of others because she is afraid of being manipulated like her father did to her, but then we explore the issues with Jughead and the question of whether or not he is manipulating her throughout the story. It’s another long-con theme.
I love your characterisation of Jughead in this. So far I have just seen him “observe” but not “feel”. Jughead is really judgemental: He is derisive towards Jason, though he learns from him. He is both derisive and pitying of Archie. We get bits here about what Jughead is going through, and it becomes clearer in the next few chapters the current state of his life in the days leading up to Jason Blossom’s death, so yes, I did want to highlight his dissociation here. It also ties into the later section where he sees himself as passive observer made active participant.
He seems to understand consent, but he wilfully ignores it Yep, and that gets explored further throughout the story, the reasons why he does what he does, issues with impulse control, unhealthy coping mechanisms, etc.
he tells Betty she has to keep him informed of her seizures and she seems to agree and then he tells him to talk control during sex (why is she being obedient with him and no one else? Or is she obedient in a simmering, biding her time kind of way?) I am enthralled by this and it promises to be so delicious and dark… Sometimes people with the most high-strung of control issues are the ones that need to give it up the most.
Thank you for your thoughtful commentary on this first chapter <3 Rereading this and all the comments is helping me make sense of what came across and what didn't, so much gratitude, thank you :)
I think I've clarified my position on sad - the word is like "angst", a poor description on the contents of the bag. Grief is something I actively run from, but this story the realism of Riverdale trauma explored within the characters without the cracky elements (which I love, but have their place). I am currently writing you a letter to describe how this story makes me feel, but will share separately :)
I love how you show Betty's messiness - this is how it feels to speak to a psych at the start (even without having a serial killer dad and a stalker boyfriend), where you are trying to get a handle on your emotions and everything is tempestuous and you can't describe it, you don't want to be judged etc. etc. I do love your illustration of Jughead's dissociation - this is a very teen thing to do (and a human thing to do on some level). //the reasons why he does what he does, issues with impulse control, unhealthy coping mechanisms, etc.// very excited for this. I love the way you explore complexities of the psyches of these two.
//Sometimes people with the most high-strung of control issues are the ones that need to give it up the most.// lol too real
Ahh thank YOU so much for your thoughtful response to me! Sorry this is taking me so long to get through, but as I said, I'm re-reading it to remind myself where my head was at. All the love to you and all the awe for you and your story. x x x
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Lucivar on Chapter 1 Sun 15 Nov 2020 09:23PM UTC
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meditationonbaaal on Chapter 1 Wed 17 Feb 2021 12:59PM UTC
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Lucivar on Chapter 1 Tue 23 Feb 2021 12:48AM UTC
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