Theres something about Cinder using submissiveness and obedience (The bowing and not looking Salem in the eye) to get Salem to be less wary of her and not suspect her that she obviously learned from the Madame and the evolution of that mannerism throughout the volume that I want to talk about but I don’t know where to start. Like while she lied to her in the first chapter about how she got the lamp it wasnt too big of a fib that would give her too many consequences if found out because in the end Salem would still gave the Lamp and then when she went against Salem's orders in “Amity” she excused it as something that Salem would realize wasn’t a bad choice in the end if she comes back with results. Then we have the moment in “Midnight” where we can see her flashing back to the Madame while she is being tortured and I can’t help but think that this moment is where she started being okay with being full on dishonest with Salem if it meant she was in her good graces. Idk if this makes any sense but I don't really no how to explain it
i think i get what you mean? because even when cinder was being tortured by the madame, made to say “without you, i am nothing”, it was never really real submissiveness; her words were always coated with anger and hatred, she never actually meant them, she just needed for the pain to stop, to survive.
so when salem tortures her and she gets those flashbacks to the madame and the shock collar, it’s in that moment she knows “the role” she needs to go back to, a role that she needs to play to survive. to be seemingly obedient to stay in salem’s good graces, while still going against salem’s orders and wishes to get what she herself wants.
it’s like hiding in the plain sight, not coming off as a threat. why would submissive and obedient cinder be planning anything behind salem’s back or be hiding things from her, after all, she knows what the punishment would be if she ever did so, so why risk it? it’s not like she’d ever train in secret, planning her escape... oh wait.
