Beauty and the Beasts

Reminder that Parker also forced himself on Bai because he was jealous and wanted to show his dominance around Winston, and all Bai did in response was scold him the next day

It’s really frustrating because I like the concepts of this series, but the author seems all too comfortable with rapey behavior. And don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fine to portray a BAD character as a rapist, but these are supposed to be our heroes. You shouldn’t have your main characters be rapists and portray it in this way. If your story was about a bad main character then I get that, but the author just kind of makes it seem like it’s not a big deal, which is a huge problem because it comes off as glorifying and like it’s not a very horrible issue

I can’t speak for the novel because I haven’t read it (though I’ve heard things) but in the Manga Curtis is mostly respectful of Bai’s boundaries in the beginning. He is still feral, possessive and forceful, but they describe ferals as being that way (not that it’s okay). With Parker from the very beginning he threatened to claw Bai’s face if she removed the mud, isolated her, was controlling and constantly pressuring her. At one point he even said that she could reject him if she wanted, but she could only reject him after they mated, which is pretty fucked up because then she would have to not only have the trauma of being forced into sex, but Parker could have manipulated her into staying his partner or made her feel guilty if she removed the mark

Anyway, the difference here is that Parker is supposed to be civilized. His parents are the king and queen, and he acts more like a feral than Curtis does (again just pulling from the Manga). I’d be fine is he was just sort of immature in the beginning and the author made it clear that this was the case (and had him evolve over his relationship with Bai) then that’d be much better. Same with Curtis. The characters need to evolve and get better, to have consequences (real ones) and to have it shown that their behaviors are not okay and they NEED to be better. It made me so mad that Bai is written in a way where she just kind of doesn’t respond to her situation in a real way and that she’s just okay with so much of what happens to her. I know that some people are capable of enduring more trauma, and if it was written like she was repressing everything and slowly being worn down by it, that would explain her dismissive behavior a lot more

There is soooo much potential here, and I keep hoping that eventually the characters will have, oh I don’t know… character arcs? And with Winston I understand why it happened and I don’t blame him, I understand there was a lot of instincts and drug stuff going on, but I feel like Bai should have been much more terrified of him and needed time to process what happened before deciding. Even if she liked him already, and even if I want them to be together, even if she felt terrible about how guilty Winston felt and knew it wasn’t his fault, that wouldn’t erase the terror, physical or psychological pain. If someone you cared about was drugged and beat and raped you, even if you understood it wasn’t their fault, it still happened and it’s still fucked up. The author can write this bad shit happening, but they need to make it clear to the audience the psychological effects, trauma and suffering Bai is going through. It’s not something that should just be swept away just because he wasn’t 100% responsible for his actions

Hopefully next chapters have some stuff to better represent what should be happening :/

Damn going on 9 days without an update

Can’t wait for the next chapter

Possible spoilers ahead, don’t read unless up to 288.

Omggggggggg I really wat to see their reactions! I think Curtis will be okay but Parker will be hella angry XD.