#also. I don’t know how to put this exactly. but his conflicts with Orion never feel equal

[extrahorribledynne]

Here you go @bougiebutchbitch I finally wrote this beast.

A general ramble abt the villains of Transformers Prime. It gets super rambly the longer it gets, I wrote this in a burst of 2 hours before I went to work JFKSD.

I think the thing that makes the villains of Transformers Prime very frustrating is that the show presents a certain tone with both its heroes and villains. The show wants to say, hey, our good guys are gonna have to make tough decisions that aren’t always right, and our bad guys may not always have sympathetic backstories but they do have interesting personal morals!

And it’s like... yeah! They sure do! But only sometimes. Usually when the show needs it.

Megatron is definitely the poster child of this particular problem. He has the interesting backstory but the show seems actively worried about giving that any room to breathe. At the end of One Shall Stand, when Optimus looses his memories, Megatron has a rare moment of vulnerability. Sure, he also intends to use Orion’s skill as a data clerk, but there’s a reason people remember that face he makes. The ‘using Orion for his leet hacking skillz’ part came later. All Megatron was thinking then was ‘oh shit, ok, oh shit, um, fuck, to the Nemesis we go I guess.’

And after these what, 4? Whole episodes building up the idea that Megatron and Orion were super close you guise, really, we finally get time for them to interact in a neutral, friendly setting and they... Really don’t. I think they talk once or twice throughout the three parter, but calling each other ‘old friend’ does not a deep friendship make!

That part is particularly frustrating because Optimus and Ratchet (and other close relationships in the show) work very well through using only dialogue to tell the audience how close they are. Optimus and Ratchet aren’t close because they’re calling each other ‘old friend’, they’re close because Ratchet is never once put off by Optimus’ blunt nature like other characters are. Because Ratchet is unafraid to dig into the parts of Optimus he knows are flawed, and the general way they clearly care deeply for one another. Hanging near each other in the background, Ratchet always worried for Optimus’ wellbeing, Optimus wanting Ratchet to rest, stuff like that builds an idea of how close they really are very effectively.

At best Megatron and Orion come across as like... Friendly co-workers. They don’t interact beyond Megatron trying to keep the lie of why Orion is there going. And this is as much Orion’s issue as it is Megatron’s tbh, Orion is very poorly defined as a character in these episodes too. And It’s definitely fine that Megatron is still like, the bad guy in this situation. But beyond his panic in One Shall Stand Part 3 he never shows any more vulnerability towards Orion.

He doesn’t have any internal conflict about the situation, nor does he seem particularly regretful about telling his Vehicons to go nuts sure, go kill him. He can come out of this situation thinking ‘I am Correct, and this is What Has To Be Done’ but considering the show is trying very hard to sell the idea of how close they are, the idea that they were even friends to begin with ends up coming across as disingenuous for all the ‘effort’ the show goes into to tell this story.

This issue, the seeming presence of fear to let villains have moments of, aha, humanity, spreads to most of the major baddies as well.

I put some of the blame on Starscream’s awkward writing on how badly Armada kind of got received, like they reaaally wanna dip their toes into doing a more serious/sympathetic Starscream but they don’t wanna go full redemption arc either. And like fine. Y’know considering the writing of Megatron’s redemption I’m kind of fine with Starscream not even getting touched by that.

Starscream isn’t exactly given much backstory, everything about that is fanon at large, but he’s charming, intelligent, and has an interesting moral code. He also doesn’t have a neat several episode arc to easily summarize how I think the show fails him but he has a few individual moments. He might be a backstabber but if you do him a solid, he’ll pay you back. No strings attached. He just doesn’t like keeping or owing favors. His view on favors, though, comes up I think twice? Once for Breakdown, which, by the by, completely goes unmentioned ever again after he rescues Breakdown from Silas. Breakdown dies and so do all the unresolved subplots involving BD. Then, with Arcee, where it does actually have a conclusion and he saves her from Arachnid.

Speaking of Breakdown, I think it’s very worth noting how Starscream goes against Megatron’s (frankly, insane) order to NOT rescue Breakdown to... well, go rescue Breakdown. He has literally nothing to gain from this. Starscream takes the not insignificant risk of getting beaten to go and find one of their only doctors. Hell I think it’s fair to say he only demands Breakdown do something for him because Starscream really did stick his neck out for him there. Does the show do anything with this idea that Starscream does hold at least more appreciation for his troops than Megatron does? No lol.

Now, he spends a majority of season 2 fucking about on his own. This is the time where he has the most interactions with any of the Autobot characters, and they’re always without fail just an asshole to him. And I mean hey, it’s not like he’s exactly owed trust for being a little scheming murderbag but even when he’s very injured, and one instance of straight up being unable to harm anyone, no one ever seems to think of, idk, not being a dick. Like. Optimus. Optimus, he doesn’t have his T-Cog. AND he’s handcuffed. Literally, he can’t harm you. He comes up to your fucking stomach and he’s as wide as a twig, what is he going to do to you my man. And then they have the gall to act shocked when Starscream goes ‘ok, I guess this isn’t gonna work out, time to be evil I guess >))’ and he steals the gay baby jail armor and works to fuck over the Autobots when it’s clear they’re not feeling like being magnanimous towards him.

THEN we get to the end of season 2, when Optimus destroys the Omega Lock and I think it’s interesting to note that out of all the characters, the ones who react strongest to it are Ratchet... And Starscream. The show gets so close here. Like, in general. It gets so close to having this moment of saying ‘hey the baddies lost their home too, they do want it back as well’. It’s very nullified by none of the other ‘Cons acting very effected by it, like Knock Out just doesn’t care lmfao, and Megatron seems more willing to use this as the reason to just go full ‘FUCK IT’ and razes the base and a whole town, we don’t really see much inner conflict resulting from this. And beyond Starscream engaging in a roaring rampage of revenge this personal conflict doesn’t carry over much into the next season.

I think his last moment of note is when he stands up and protects Megatron towards the end of Season 3. The moment where he makes the choice to stand and fight against Predaking is very much framed as a Big Character Moment... That just doesn’t get dwelled on for a second. Sure things kind of go to hell right after this but damn dude. You almost had a nice little Moment and the show went right back to ‘oh shit can’t let the villains get TOO interesting here’

Speaking of Knock Out... Honey. Lmao. Breakdown dies in episode 7 of season 2. Beyond what I’m going to call an Attempt of KO getting scratched to all hell in Tunnel Vision, 5 whole episodes later, and not bothering to fix himself for a couple more after that, we don’t actually see a personal character reaction or resolution until Human Factor. Human Factor is episode 19. I don’t need Sadman Hours or whatever but a REACTION is not asking much. Like I said with Op and Ratchet above no matter what ambiguity the show tries to use, Breakdown and Knock Out were close at the very least.

But Breakdown dying aside, Knock Out really could’ve had a more interesting redemption. He is a Decepticon who has an interest in some aspects of human culture, a rare enough trait itself. He is ostracized and frankly treated terribly despite the fact he’s their only doctor. Plus, he was off faffing around on earth with Breakdown up until Starscream hailed them to the Nemesis. Were they a part of the team to begin with? Were they on earth for a while on their own? These things could’ve lead into a decent little arc. Instead it feels like the show seemed to realize ‘ah, shit, if we kill this guy off people are gonna get mad’ so we get what we got. (note I’m fine with him living and getting redeemed I just wish they used the actual characterization instead of JUST ‘actually starscream’s a dick’)

Finally, the last two of note (imo) are Breakdown and Dreadwing, and since they’re fairly similar I’ll sort of cover them at once.

Breakdown was, I believe, written with the idea of redemption in mind. His backstory involving the Wreckers is vague and leaves a lot of room for questions. Was he sent to the Wreckers as a Decepticon plant and was going to betray them no matter what? Was he originally an Autobot Wrecker, who got in with the Decepticons and betrayed the Wreckers then? He seems, at the very least, insecure about himself as a Decepticon whenever his place within them gets questioned and has conflict about his feelings towards the Autobots. He’s also notably very kind, especially towards the oft abused Vehicons. But then, whatever happened, money issues, VA conflict, he gets killed off. Absolutely none of his plots get resolved before then, either. His backstory with Bulkhead and the other Wreckers is straight up never explored, his internal conflict as a Decepticon gone, and whatever Starscream was going to ask of him just disappear into thin air. The potential for an interesting Decepticon-turned-Autobot is continuously teased in TFP but the redeems we get are so half-hearted it makes me sad.

Dreadwing has a similar lot, though he’s a very loyal Decepticon who later experiences conflict when he has to deal with how the war has pushed their ideals to something he disagrees with. He also gets a sort of relationship with both Bulkhead and Wheeljack, as well as Optimus, and seems to develop an understanding between them. But when literally asked ‘hey, you should join us’ he just goes ‘no, bye’ and then dies.

Like dude not for nothing but you should’ve just mentioned your beef with Starscream and Megatron and Arcee would’ve been all over that.

Transformers Prime has a lot of potential in it’s villains. And it’s totally fine that they’re not particularly interested in exploring them but then... I dunno, don’t write all this intrigue and then slam dunk into the trash when it’s more convenient for the story. My frustration isn’t ‘I want redeemed villains’ it’s more ‘don’t set my expectations for one thing and then continuously DON’T do that thing’. I don’t need redemption or sympathetic villains but what I DO ask for is some consistency for the characters you’re writing.

#the dog speaks #tfp #transformers prime #maccadams #decepticons

[antiloreolympus]

6 Anti LO Asks

1. this isnt exactly about LO but it's wild to me how HxP stans go "besides-kidnapping-and-forcing-persephone-to-marry-him hades was totally chill!" like??? even if you make the seeds more symbolic than literal (tho every version is VERY clear persephone was r*ped in the mythology) kidnapping is still bad?? it was never consented to? he wasnt forced by zeus to do anything? persephone didnt fall in love with him ? just bc hades was the least horrible god doesnt mean he still wasnt horrible.

2. I really wish Apollo could have been written as *anything* other than a literal r*pist. It would have been way better if he was just a friend who was protective of Persephone or a romantic rival (if he *must* be an antagonist to HxP as a couple) or even a school-rival/frenemy who eventually bonds with Persephone!

Which actually, yeah- Apollo as Persephone’s school rival turned friend would have been so much more interesting than what we got. It would have fleshed both of them out and added some conflict without demonizing Apollo and giving Persephone trauma for the sake of Plot and it would have shown a facet of Persephone’s life outside of Hades or being very sheltered

(Expanding on my last ask about the possibility of Apollo being rewritten as a Persephone’s rival instead of as her r*pist)

It could have also set up a parallel between LO Demeter and Zeus as being parents who think they know what is best for their kids but are putting them under pressure since Rachel wants to make Demeter and Zeus antagonists anyways

Just, Give Persephone more agency that doesn’t revolve around victimizing her!

3. I really hope Rachel doesn’t put Hyacinthus or Cassandra or any other character associated with Apollo what with how she completely demolished his character. I could totally see her writing in Cassandra or Orion to make him look worse (and with regards to Orion, give more pity points to Artemis)

4. ok but only having maybe 5-ish moments in over 170+ episodes of persephone having hobbies isnt like ... good? like its not great we have more random info about aphrodite's sex life and artemis' mommy issues than actually having the LEAD CHARACTER being remotely fleshed out. only hints of personality/hobbies in three+ years of a weekly comic is terrible character writing, especially when it's the lead character and its supposed to be their story. She should not be this blank of slate this far in.

5. A bit of explanation for that one anon: Hephaestus is called ugly in some languages' most popular translation of the myths. In my language he was, for example. It might stem from the translator and their culture's ableism, but, you know, it's there. So that's what some people end up expecting of a portrayal of Hephaestus

6. you can always tell when someone is an LO-only reading person because they always go on here or twitter talking about they dont get how anyone would find hxp "problematic" when its like? have you read the actual mythology? it's not hard to see why a lot of people don't like HxP. I dont get why we have to ignore thousands of years of women in forced marriages finding strength in persephone's story to only accept a rewritten "romance" to appease a bunch of arrogant tumblr and twitter stans/

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lo critical #lore olympus critical

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

A hphm character tier list please!! Bonus point if added reasoning/ explanation!

Have a great day :3

I doubt there are any placements on this list that would truly surprise anyone, but let's go through the different rankings. I didn't name them, by the way. Those were the categories that were already offered. I could have renamed or recolored them I suppose, but I didn't wind up doing so. Let's go in ascending order.

"Avada Kedavra." Self explanatory. Three of these characters are absolutely evil and irredeemable pieces of trash. And then there's Lockhart. He's just here because he pisses me off. Granted, so does Rita Skeeter, but she doesn't ruin an entire dating quest. At least when she shows up, it's because it's a quest about her. Fenrir Greyback purposefully infects children and describes them as "delicious" so...yeah. I'd put him even lower if I could. Albus Dumbledore's placement is also not a surprise if you know me. I hate him with all of my hate. Patricia Rakepick is also here and I doubt I need to explain why.

"Send to Azkaban." They don't bother me as much as "Avada Kedavra" but I am still not a fan. The Volde-clown Boggart is personally annoying in presentation but also as a plot device. For Peeves, there is the Prank storyline of Year 5. Enough said. The Weird Sisters creep me out, Filch and Mundugus are generally annoying, I discussed Rita, and the Dementor literally calls Azkaban home. That leaves Wormtail. I don't passionately hate him but he's not exactly a good person either.

"Kinda Sus" This is where I placed all of the characters who I, for whatever reason, do not trust or otherwise find shady, the ones who give me a bad feeling. This doesn't have to be plot related either, for cases like Ethan Parkin or Madam Hooch, it might just mean that their behavior is sometimes questionable. Of course, this is also something of a joke, like putting the Red Cloak on the list. For someone like Moody, it's more obvious - everyone knows I don't trust him. Characters like Bilton and Madam Villanelle are technically on our side, but they could be spies. If a character is a known villain, but their agenda and the depth of their evil is unclear, like The Dark Witch and the White-Robed Wizard, they also go here. Jacob and MC being placed here is somewhat of a joke, but it's also somewhat meta. Jacob is like Moody, his intentions are still unclear to me. And the game keeps teasing the idea that MC may fall to the Dark Side.

"Do you even go here?" Wow, do you ever stop to notice how many characters HPHM actually has? And this tier list included all of them, even the ones I would never have thought of. I literally just used this category to place all of the characters who do not technically attend Hogwarts school, though in a few of those cases like Aurelie, it definitely came off as more amusing. Additionally, I used this ranking for all of the characters who could be considered forgettable. Either by the fandom or the game itself, such as the prefects and poor Elora Dunn. Look, if the tier list has to actually list their name in the picture so that I can remember who they are, maybe they don't need to make the list, that's all I'm saying.

"Don't care." Mostly interchangeable with "Do you even go here." Again, the cast is so huge, that I'm not going to go through every character that I placed here. These past two rankings can mostly act as a summation for the majority of the characters for whom I don't particularly like or dislike. Emily Tyler hasn't returned or been developed as an antagonist in a while, so I don't care. Trelawney giving another prophecy is boring and conflicts with canon, so I don't care. Cedric Diggory is one of the most in-your-face examples of fanservice I've ever seen, so I don't care. But again, not all of these are negative. I think the Red Cap is funny, even if his storyline is brief. I love seeing Dobby, Arthur and Molly. I always love seeing them. I could go on.

"Ok." For the characters who, when I look at them, my immediate reaction is a generally positive one. I could probably get interested in a fanwork about these guys. For many of them, there is great potential to be explored but it just hasn't happened very much. Diego would not have been this high a year ago, but he's been fleshed out. Characters like Andre, Duncan, and Tonks...whenever they're in the spotlight and get genuine development, I'm interested. It just happens so rarely. The same goes for the Weasley boys, for Badeea. Other characters go here because I personally like them, even if they aren't that relevant. People like Aberforth and Percy. But two people can wind up here despite being very different and my having completely separate feelings about both of them, like Alanza and Ben.

"Like." Everyone that I would probably write a fanwork about someday, if I could actually motivate myself to finish my current WIP. Talbott, Chiara, and Jae are genuinely interesting and compelling. They might not make my top five, but they would make my top ten. I will always love Flitwick and what HPHM has done for him, I don't even care. Keep in mind, this doesn't mean I condone everything that the character has done...Ismelda has a lot to answer for, but it doesn't mean she's not interesting. And Penny can be very interesting too, but usually only when she's put under intense stress. As heartless as it is to say. You may also be surprised to see Myrtle here, but similar to Flitwick, I just love what this game did with her. Some of these could rise or drop a ranking pretty easily too. Like in hindsight, maybe I should have switched Duncan and Myrtle. It's not a big deal either way, I guess.

"Must be protected at all costs." Self explanatory. For the most part, these are all my favorite characters in the game, and the ones who I would lay down on railroad tracks for. Another character who climbed higher over time is Skye. If it wasn't for how much people message me about her, I may not have gotten quite as invested. My love for Orion is well documented, Rowan is the reason I started playing this game, Beatrice was the breakout character of Year 6, and Tulip x Merula is my OTP for this game. I could gush about any one of these kids for six paragraphs but the bottom line is that they are my favorite characters. It is at this point that we have entered "top five" territory.

"GOD TIER ~ ALWAYS" Characters who reign supreme and are factually flawless. It's not surprising to see characters like Dennis and Fang up here because critters are, generally speaking, leagues above humans simply by default. We can also see her majesty Queen Bean ruling from the sky, guarded by her champion, the arbiter known as Erika Rath. You are entitled to your wrong opinion if you fail to see the divinity of these characters.

#Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

[mumufic]

My ranty Author Notes to address questions on my Three Sisters fic

So, I feel like I should put up some notes on a number of recurring questions I get in the comments, for those who don’t really read my responses (because I do provide some detailed explanations for why certain things are happening in my fic, but I get it if sloughing through comments for insight isn’t your thing; it isn’t mine either, hence the A/N.)

Why is Lily so stupid / obtuse / blind about Snape? Let’s level-set a couple of things: A) Lily is about as Gryffindor as they come, and some of the more common character flaws of people who belong to that house is that they rather tend to think a lot less of situations before diving in. That’s the case for Lily in this fic. Snape was her first magical friend that she’d ever met. She cherishes that friendship because she knows it’s returned even though she might not agree with a lot of Snape’s beliefs, not to mention Snape was the first person who told her that all the strange things that have been happening to her was the result of her being magical. For a child feeling the otherness of her abilities so keenly around her perfectly normal, muggle working class family, that is a huge thing. For the first time, Lily thought she’d met someone who understood her and the things she could do, and for that to have happened to her as a child, the person who validates that part of her being is going to play a very central role in her life until she reaches a breaking point. In the books, that breaking point was when Snape’s bigotry included her. For the longest time, he’d always excluded her from his hateful rhetoric, and there’s passages in the books that support that. B) Lily is a kid. She’s 11, and she probably met Snape at a much younger age (I’m guessing around 8 or 9) Kids who value their friends can sometimes be stupidly loyal to them even when their friends are behaving badly. Why do you think peer pressure is such a huge thing among young people? It’s partly because they value the person who is their friend to the point of being foolhardy over said friend’s bad actions. C) A lot of Snape’s bigotry goes over Lily’s head, because she’s never been taught to find differences between magical and non-magical people. Her parents obviously love her and Petunia the same and for her, that means they’re no different. She doesn’t understand the superiority Snape feels over Petunia, and because she doesn’t understand it, and also because she’s just a stupid kid who doesn’t really know better or even understands the slurs that come out of Snape’s mouth, she doesn’t think too much of it. Notice that Lily actually does call him out when he’s being mean to Petunia in ways that she can understand, when Snape tells Petunia that he had no place being in Platform 9 3/4 for example. But then Snape follows it up with reasoning that seems to be perfectly sound - Platform 9 3/4 is a magical location; it might not be the best place for Petunia to be. As for the spoon encounter, Lily had some basic understanding of accidental magic, thanks to Holly, and mostly chocked up that unfortunate event to Snape’s accidental magic rearing up from Petunia’s mean-spirited taunting. Petunia isn’t innocent in that scene, if you go back to it and think critically on it, look at it in the eyes of a normal rational adult. She’s just presented as being sympathetic because the narration is from Holly’s POV, and Holly likes this Petunia and hates Snape absolutely. Lastly, pretty much everything I have on Snape during the Summer with the Evanses part of this story have a basis in canon. He was hateful to Petunia, but Lily constantly made excuses for him, thinking that he’s just mean in general because of his difficult family life. The same goes when they get to Hogwarts. Snape spouts the same bigoted things the Slytherin Purebloods say, and Lily makes excuses for him. That’s canon. Lily made excuses for Snape’s behavior to her sister and her friends (especially Mary, who was canonically muggleborn) until she found she couldn’t anymore because his hatefulness suddenly spilled over to include her. Does that make Lily stupid? Probably, yes. Does it make her human? Fucking hell yes, and anyone who thinks that they won’t behave that way have clearly never figured out conflicted love-hate relationships with toxic people, so good for you, but these things happen to others, and it shouldn’t be surprising. There’s a basis for this in reality, and there’s a basis for Lily’s blind loyalty to Snape in canon.  And barring all of that if you don’t agree, it’s my fic, and I choose to write her this way. If that makes her a stupid character and you think I’m assassinating Lily’s characterization from canon, your interpretation is valid, but so is my right to write what I want as long as I’m not making a cent off of this. Thanks.

Why is Sirius spouting the bigotry he vehemently disavowed in OoTP? And why did he call Holly a mudblood? I don’t know about you, but I think Sirius had to have been an extremely sheltered child, growing up in a magical house surrounded on all sides by a muggle neighborhood. I think he started questioning why he wasn’t allowed to play with other children whom he could probably see from his bedroom window, but he didn’t actually know how and why he needed to reason it out with his parents until he met people who taught him how to articulate the feelings he had over his parents’ bigotry against muggles and muggleborns. As for why he called Holly a mudblood, again, has a lot to do with the normalization of hate in the household he grew up in. Walburga and Orion Black taught their children to hate anything and anyone that didn’t subscribe to the same Pureblood rhetoric as they did. And since Sirius thought Holly lived with the Evanses, who were muggle, and not with the Potters who were Purebloods, he didn’t see a distinction for her blood status from Mary or Lily, who were actually muggleborn. Hell, I don’t even think Sirius understood blood status all that well at all as an 11-year-old. He was just repeating shit he heard his parents say because he didn’t know any better. I’m not going to tell you how to interpret your reading of my fic, but generally, I wouldn’t ascribe knowledge that I know of characters and events to the characters within the story, because they can’t be expected to know and understand what I know and understand, especially in a fic written in such a limited POV, and things like Holly’s blood status, would not be known to Sirius because Holly had never actually told James or him about her parents, other than that they were Potters. And while you can make a case for the fact that Holly told Sirius and Regulus in Chapter 7 that she’s not muggleborn, I still stand by the idea that the Black exclusionist ideas that Walburga and Orion taught their children would still have Sirius identifying her as one simply because of where he thinks she grew up in.

Why is Holly so stupidly letting so many details from her timeline out to her friends? I think we should all cut Holly some slack for spilling so many details about her life to Lily and Petunia. She’s an orphan who’ finally met the girl who would be her mother. She can’t shut up about her life because OMG my MUM! I finally got to meet her! On top of that, up until the point where Holly met Fleamont Potter, the last time Holly had been warned about meddling with time had been when she was in third year, and it was rushed and the warning hadn’t even been made to her; it had been McGonagall warning Hermione and Hermione repeating the same information to her. So the meddling about time? Holly didn’t exactly give a shit. Lastly, we have so many references in canon of Harry Potter being an exceptionally impulsive little blockhead to the point where he constantly gets himself into trouble. Running after the Philosopher’s Stone in PS, continuing on to fight the basilisk and look for Ginny while Ron tries to get help in CoS, haring off to the Ministry in OoTP, Sectumsempra in HBP, uttering Voldemort’s name and getting them caught by Snatchers in DH… the list is actually pretty damn long. So why should it not be a character flaw for Holly in this fic to be stupidly impulsive in the information she gives out to a person she thinks is her mother, one she’s loved and idolized and put on a pedestal all her life? Why shouldn’t she spout similarly incriminating information to a boy she knows would be her godfather, whom she trusted and loved up until he got killed? It’s a character flaw, yes, and I’m not here to write perfect characters, because perfect characters who only do the right and intelligent thing make for a dry, boring read. If you weren’t about annoying flaws like this, then you’re welcome to click off my fic and find some other story where Harry is the perfect godsent angel come to save us all. That’s not what this story is about.

Why aren’t you patching up any of these inconsistencies that multiple people have already pointed out? Some of them, because that is how I want to write the characters in my story. Some of them, because there will be points in the future where these things are addressed and resolved. And yet still some of them because I don’t want to. Yes, even the stupid ones that really don’t make sense and should probably be changed. I don’t want to go back and change them. That’s how I am as a fic writer, and last I checked, this is still my fanfic.

Want to have a say in how I’m planning the characterization and plotting out? I’m still looking for a beta who I’d like to be able to help me with things like plot inconsistencies, annoying characterization (ok, shut up about Lily already. I didn’t make her this stupid; JKR did when she wrote Lily insisting on her friendship with Snape all the way up to fifth year!), and just generally talk about how and where I intend for the story to go.

If you’d like to beta for me, hit me up on my main Tumblr, @mumuinc  or DM me on Discord; my profile is mumuinc#7662.

#fanfic writing #the three sisters #my writing

[sweeethinny]

I wish you could do a sirius / hestia fic where you chat in the gryffindor common room (yes I like to think that she is from Gryffindor) as friends and he realizes he likes her💜💜💜

Well, first, thank you very much for sending this ask, I know I was late, sorry

I also think that Hestia is from Gryffindor, and I hope you like it (all of them are in the seventh year)

I realized that you asked about Sirius talking to her as a friend, but I like to think that here in the fanfic he really thought it was just a passing thing, and that he still saw her as a friend, and the drink touched his feelings and made him realize that maybe not. I hope you like it anyway, it's a little angst, but that's okay

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'Alone?' Sirius leaned down to whisper in her ear, laughing softly when he saw her jump on the couch, the cup of tea almost falling out of her hand.

'Fuck, Black.' Hestia screamed, uncrossing her legs under her and going to sit on the other pillow, giving him space. ‘I hate it when you’re silent.’

'Well, if I hadn't been, maybe we would have been caught almost every day for the past few years.' He smiled, sitting next to her, his arm stretched out on the back of the sofa, his fingers almost touching Hestia's shoulder. ‘What are you doing here alone?’

'Thinking. You? Oh, don't tell me, let me try to guess... Did you just come back from a night out with some pretty girl? Or, no, you were trying to ask this girl out.'Hestia laughed at herself, watching him as if she expected Sirius to back off or agree with her, but all he did was laugh and bow a little more again, getting more near her. This time his hand touched her shoulder, also feeling some curls.

'Only if that pretty girl is you.' If Sirius' ego was fragile, it would break in the same second that Hestia laughed, her head thrown back and her cheeks flushed almost the color of wine that he, Remus and James had drunk a few hours ago, while they were trying to convince Peter to drink too.

Something inside him seemed to get even bigger now that he had made her laugh.

'You are drunk.' Hestia wrinkled the round nose that Sirius had spent too many hours admiring, in the last History class. He started to worry about how everything in his mind always managed to turn to her.

He was getting tired of always waking up hard after dreaming about her.

‘It makes no difference.' Sirius walked away, a little tipsy from her scent, something like vanilla and jasmine. 'But,' He changed the subject, maintaining his composure. ‘Really, what are you doing here?’

'I already said, thinking.' She shrugged, gently pulling out a curl that had fallen in front of her eye.

'Thinking about when I would finally come to ask you out?' He smiled confidently, trying to ignore how the shirt she wore seemed to perfectly design her breasts.

'Actually, I was thinking about whether or not to accept Ed's request.' At that moment something inside Sirius broke, he could even hear the sound of shards on the floor if the voices in his head weren't so loud. He would blame alcohol for the sudden dizziness he felt.

'Who?' Sirius frowned, still a little lost.

'Edmund, you know, from Ravenclaw.' She started talking non-stop then, details that Sirius was unable to hear or pay attention to, only being bombarded by conflicting feelings and a pain in the pit of his stomach that he had never felt.

It was like the worst hangover ever, and maybe it could be even worse.

Sirius struggled to remember this boy, the drink seemed to slow him down a little, but nothing that would not allow his chest pain to increase at a speed that could easily kill him, he thought.

Edmund was a fucking nerd, Sirius shouted to himself, remembering seeing the boy always stuck in the library, bragging about his good family and always seeming to keep his nose up. It was as if he were a Regulus, but with a good and Ravenclaw family.

Sirius had to put his hand over his eyes to try to stop the madness that his mind became, his heart seemed to ache just like his head.

He should have known that Remus was wrong when he said that he noticed Hestia looking at him, and that Moony should just be mistaken and not realize that it was for fucking Mr. Perfect.

'Are you okay?' Hestia asked, her hand touching Sirius' shoulder. He wanted to throw up.

‘Yes, I… I think the wine didn’t do me very well. I was on an empty stomach.' He tried to smile, even though his throat seemed to scratch as if he had swallowed sand.

So this was how James felt when he saw Lily kissing another one?

No, Sirius thought, it couldn't be that way, because first he would have to like Hestia just like James did with Lily, and Sirius knew he was too good, or too empty, to like someone. No, that was wrong, it was the wine that had made him feel that way.

Suddenly his father's voice, muffled by the closed door, resonated in Sirius' mind. It was as if he suddenly fell back into the Black family house, still 11 years old, kneeling in front of his father's office to try to find out what he and his mother were discussing so much. Sirius tasted blood, realizing how he was biting his tongue to stay firm on Earth, something he did whenever he needed to remember exactly where he was.

'How are we going to take him? Do you think I want to be seen with... him?' His father murmured.

'Orion, do you think I want them to find out that he... he is in Gryffindor? Which Regulus can be influenced by him? Do you think I want Cissa to find out about this shame?’

'Sirius, are you really okay?' Hestia asked, pulling him back to the now. Sirius nodded.

'Yes, great.' He opened his eyes again, the vision focusing on her. 'And have you thought about whether to accept going out with him or not?' Sirius did not say his name, feeling a little nauseated yet.

'I don't know, I think it's going to be cool.' Hestia shrugged, a shy smile on her lips, her brown eyes shining in a way that Sirius knew was probably never shining when she talked about him. 'And you? And tell me the truth now, stop these games,’ She laughed. ‘Have you called someone yet?’

'Actually,' Sirius cleared his throat, wanting to buy time. 'I think I'm going to stick around, the boys and I have some... plans.' Or they would now, he thought, begging James not to have taken the courage and asked Lily out, or anything like that. Or that Remus had finally taken his head off his ass and gone to talk to that Hufflepuff girl. It would be too lonely to even think of Peter having someone to go out with, and Sirius to find himself alone.

He could smoke weed, it was always a good day for it, or maybe he just slept all day. The second option seemed much more striking, however.

'So you really weren't with a pretty girl before?' Hestia asked, seeming to hide a smile, as if she had caught him in the lie.

Sirius' chest burned, and he thought that if that was like liking someone, he didn't want it anymore.

'No pretty girl.' He tried to smile. 'But, hey, I'm going up. I just came to see if I found Peter… you know, he looks like a rat when he drinks, hiding in the corners.' Sirius lied. Hestia laughed, nodding, and what once seemed to fill Sirius' chest with pride, now seemed to break him into more pieces yet.

He wondered if she laughed like that with Edmund.

Well, but between making her laugh and being able to kiss her... Sirius sighed, not wanting to think about it.

The two said goodbye in what seemed like a friendly nod, each going up to their own dorm, but Hestia didn't look as miserable as he felt, and Sirius would blame Moony for the rest of his days for making him go through this.

‘Did you ask her out?’ Peter was the first to ask, still sitting on the floor next to James’s bed, where Moony was lying, looking up at the ceiling like a great drunk he was. James was not in the room.

'She goes with someone else.' It was the only thing he said, falling on his own bed, tired even to change his clothes.

Sirius was happy that Remus was too drunk to argue about, or that Peter didn't talk about feelings so much, and that James wasn't there to play the group's adviser.

Closing his eyes and hiding under the cover like a child, Sirius allowed himself to be miserable.

It was horrible to like someone, he thought, he would rather die than have to feel it again.

#sirius black #sirius x hestia #the marauders #moony wormtail padfoot and prongs #padfoot #marauders era fic #sirius #hestia jones

[sambinnie]

1. Happy Mabon! Every autumn, I forget that the darkness comes clanging down in a great rush in the mornings. One day, I am greeted by a pinking sunrise. 48 hours later, it’s so dark on my run to the river that I have to stop a passing runner and check the time, in case my disturbed sleep sent me dressing and leaving the house at 2am. This summer may not have given us those mornings where it’s so hot I can barely get out of the water, where those early hours feel like full silent days carved out just for me to sit in the light and wait for everyone else to wake up, where the only extra thing I put on to run home is my trainers — I look at my waiting winter gear, neoprene socks and gloves, head torch, two more thickening jumpers, hat, thermal mittens — but every season, every day, is beautiful.

Today we go early for celebrations, and the water is silky, and Orion hangs over us with his phallic sword dangling and Betelgeuse winking on one shoulder. The near-full moon spotlights us and I feel almost ready for the shortening days.

2. Hilary Mantel continues to be a literary god. How does she write with that clarity? How can I ever speak with her calm good sense and wit? 

3. We have two main problems at the moment, as far as I can see. a) What we’re doing (“curating” our lives; twitter spats; purity spirals; division and isolation; wanting ‘debates’ that can only be won or lost; encouraging people to buy more things; trying to buy our happiness; letting marketers tell us how we feel about the world rather than encouraging major moral lessons from throughout the ages to challenge us on our weaknesses; refusing to accept that life is suffering; asking self-care to be a plaster for everything we don’t have) and b) what we’re not doing (joining together to stand against those with more money and power; protecting the people who have even less power and voice than we do as a matter of course; learning from history; protecting nature above all else; prioritising going for walks; learning to repair things and campaigning to make things repairable; having a basic belief in human dignity for all, not just those with whom we agree; accepting that truly, we are all different and no amount of shaming or disgust will change that; working to shape our societies, culture, economies, production, food supplies and communications around improving — not just sustaining ��� the air, water and land, and fighting to ensure all of those new shapes protect women and children).

Individualism has morphed into something so completely self-destructive that we’ve forgotten we need nature more than anything — literally, more than anything — and we need to unionise and unite and put aside differences and work together even with people we don’t like. 

Because when there are wicked people in power, when it’s genuinely exhausting to think about all the corrupt, venal, toxic, divisive, false, and cruel things they have done since coming to power, those people love to watch everyone below pointing their fingers at one another, saying, You, You’re The Enemy, You’re The Problem, while corrupt populist leaders rub their bellies and chuckle at another promise broken, another mass death on their hands, another building site on a protected forest. Do you understand the stakes here? Do you understand that it’s actual survival? It’s not about being right any more, it’s not about besting someone in the argument. It’s about having decision makers who can not only ensure there is still food to eat and air to breathe, but that relations both within a country and between countries are built on care, and support, and compassion, and believing in human dignity. And while it sounds wishy-washy and hands-clappy it’s the schmaltzy, sentimental truth. It’s the only one, really. 

If we instead continue to believe every single day that my feelings are the most important, that my beliefs are the right ones, that I’ve got to prove those baddies there are evil and awful and wrong, then honestly, what the fuck? If we’re happy to live in a country where hostile architecture is the starting point for all public builds, where we send refugee boats away from our shores, where affiliate links are a career goal, where we haven’t stormed the Daily Mail offices with accounts of all our lovely immigrant friends and family and had a huge feast together and compared our long and tangled family trees, then come on. It’s only a race to the bottom if we all keep running. 

Because, pressingly, whatever the spark of a major global conflict — assassination, fuel shortages, hyperinflation, invasion — the kindling is almost always a populace fed pure hatred for months, for years, until they can’t even taste it anymore but are ready to spew it out again, and are ready to use another populace as the receptacle. And hatred is brewed up in silence and isolation, and in the ashes of bridges burned between disparate groups. 

And on that note, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, mainly because I don’t believe governments are generally competent enough to manage Grand Plans, but it’s annoying that technology and social trends and culture have developed in such a way that no one knocks on anyone’s door for a chat as a matter of course now, that it’s a given that a ringing phone triggers anxiety, that it’s not the norm for cups of tea with your neighbours, that we don’t know each other’s neighbourhoods, that we don’t even talk on the phone, with live words and intonation and synchronised laughter, but in text, in WhatsApp chats, in tapped out words and symbols that we know can be screen-grabbed and misinterpreted, that we know are kept, filtered and sold by the tech companies. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s just a reality that every single one of us can choose to do differently. 

Sometimes exactly the right thing comes along at the right time. All of us here watched About a Boy at the weekend, a film which is so wonkily weighted and oddly rhythmed, but a perfect depiction of everything I’m banging on about here. Hugh Grant’s character likes being alone. He’s happy that way. It suits him. It’s his choice. Then, between one thing and another, he finds himself drawn into a world of a suicidal single mother, a duck-murdering young boy, more single mothers, more tricky teens, plus exes and mothers-in-law and awkward support groups. And it turns out that actually, being with people is better. Being uncomfortable often develops you as a person. Constantly prioritising only yourself produces a waxen, pointless baby. Making shared sacrifices might just be the point of being alive. Remember that to be human is to be flawed. That no one is ever completely right, and no one is ever completely wrong. That the boring stuff makes us feel good, and the glossy stuff, if all we strive for is gloss, doesn’t. 

If you want anything practical, here are the things that have really helped me over the last few years:

Writing a letter or email regularly to my MP, to CEOs of organisations, to anyone I want to communicate my strong feelings and how I’d like things to be done better. Tweeting eats your soul. It’s a horrible myth the media pretends is important. It really, really isn’t.

Inviting people to go in front of me in queues, in traffic, getting on to buses and trains. It lowers my stress levels right down.

Learning the names of my neighbours and people I meet regularly on walks and letting them learn mine. (I definitely haven’t just decided I loathe a neighbour because they cut a bird-hatching tree down in their garden on the last day of the year it was legal to do so. It’s fine.)

Joining a few political parties, and the closest thing I have to a union

Making something, anything — everything can be done with love, and learning to not get sucked into the capitalist conceit of having to make it perfect, sellable, exhibitable is a genuine gift to yourself; making a cake or a film or a coaster and not putting it on social media, letting it be ugly or serviceless and loving it anyway. I felt extremely overwhelmed the other evening, but instead of doom-scrolling I knitted a… I don’t know, something flat and woollen, and it helped to have my hands and eyes working on directionless introspective creation. 

Trying to stop hating. Every time I want to tell a negative story in my head about someone, I attempt to turn it into something positive: how unhappy that person must be, what they must be missing out on. It’s so nauseatingly Pollyanna-ish, and of course it isn’t always successful, and of course every single day brings a hundred thousand examples of cruelty and injustice and wickedness, but the alternative only makes my life feel worse, so why would I indulge that? 

Teaching myself the names of birds, trees, flowers, clouds and constellations. I’m still at the most basic levels on all of these, but the difference one feels in the world when you can name things  — let alone use them and know their stories — is a very real sort of magic. (For that reason I hope to read this book very soon.) This episode of The Cut is also good on the wonder and power of learning the names of the weeds that grow in your nearest pavement crack. 

4. Creating anything is always a gamble, isn’t it, but writing a book you actually like for once and seeing it slowly and beautifully sink to the bottom of a river never to be seen again is ever so slightly crushing. However, it turns out even Thom Yorke feels that way, so I am comforted. 

5. I’m sure I’ve mentioned plenty of these before, but if you want some suggestions of where to find joy, here are my favourites from the last year or so:

I was given Lucy Easthope’s book, When the Dust Settles, for work recently, and I was surprised and delighted to discover the most uplifting, hopeful, human and rightfully angry book I’ve read in a long time. Do yourself a favour and preorder it. I bought this other book for my own birthday, gave it to a housemate to give to me, forgot about it, and was delighted to later unwrap He Used Thought As A Wife. Laughed a lot, cried twice. Marvellous. 

Now even the youngest housemate here can recite John Finnemore sketches and sing the songs. Has also taught them various composers, gods, logical fallacies and gothic story tropes. Also v funny. Oh, Kate Beaton! Her two books (Hark! A Vagrant and Step Aside Pops) are a bit like a comic-book version of Finnemore, but swearier and sexier and utterly unsuitable for all the housemates who have read it and been educated about the Brontes, Katherine Sui Fun Cheung, Tom Longboat, Nancy Drew, Ida B. Wells, Sacagawea, and the Borgias. 

Had to give Inside a restraining order against me for the sake of us all, but Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade is a masterpiece of writing, acting, sound design and optimism. Spy is dumb action comedy polished to perfection, and Yasujirō Ozu’s Good Morning seems like the inspiration for almost all US arthouse films since 1990, and is also beautiful, funny, thoughtful, and good. 

Taylor Swift’s Evermore, like all brilliant albums, isn’t completely perfect. But most of the songs are. And Hole’s classic Live Through This is still just ideal for turning up very, very loud after a tricky day, for the enjoyment of any neighbours who may have hacked down a bird-friendly tree on the last day of February. 

Watched both series of Liam Williams’ Ladhood when I had a week off this summer, and really relished the location, the intention, and the writing. More please. 

Miles Jupp and Justin Edwards continue to be my comforting bedtime listening in In and Out of the Kitchen. Has it ruined Nigel Slater for me? Well, a bit, but no more than any of us deserved. 

I thought this would be a book I’d mumble through the first chapter of, then let get buried in my To Read pile, never to re-open. Instead, I found Whatever Happened to Margo? laugh-out-loud funny, drily written, and full of humanity. Excellent Women has made me want to read everything written by Barbara Pym, a goal I am slowly but surely working towards. 

6. I’ve spent the last few years trying to find hazelnut trees, and finally found a copse between a car park and a play area, full of nuts the squirrels hadn’t noticed. Now I’ve found them, the spell has been cast and I see hazel trees everywhere, on walks and on pavements and running along motorway slip roads. A tray of green and brown frilled hazelnuts now dries with the laundry. They are so beautiful. 

[official-weasley]

The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 4, Ch. 6

PART 4: THE YEAR WHEN EVERYONE HAS A CRUSH Chapter 6 - Weasley vs Blackwood

Charlie

Nothing made me happier these days than eating breakfast in the Great Hall, seeing Nova come in and smiling. I swear my heart skipped a beat the other day when Tonks was telling us how she had to stay behind in Potions because she slipped and pushed a cauldron full of Sleeping Draught off the table and the imitations of Snape's face she was doing made Nova laugh out loud for the first time in 4 months.

I was finally able to sleep and not constantly think about if she is alright, if she is crying alone or if she's waking up Tulip for a shoulder to cry on.

The day Professor Flitwick came to our Care of Magical Creatures class to get Nova was one of the worse in my life. Nobody expected anything to happen to Mr. Blackwood, especially her. When she came out of his room and collapsed to her knees I felt something break in me. She is my best friend and nothing pained me more than seeing her so hurt.

What was even worse was the fact that my family also wasn't handling it well. I haven't seen Mr. Blackwood often as he was in Egypt most of the time and I mourned for Nova, but my parents were shattered, losing one of their best friends. It made it worst for me when I tried relating to them and just thinking of losing Nova sucked all the will to live out of me. Bill shut himself into his dormitory for several days and couldn't look me in the eyes for a week. I knew he was also worried about her, but I also knew that he was mourning as he spent 2 months with him in Egypt. He was practically his role model.

When Nova decided to come back to school, I knew I must do everything to make her feel better no matter how hard I would have to try. She seemed so out of place for weeks. People were staring at her in the corridors, whispering in class and teachers pitying her.

Tulip was doing the best job of all, being her roommate. I would do anything to be there with her but I knew Tulip was taking good care of her, especially when she managed to get her to eat something.

The first time she came down to the Great Hall I thought that I was going to cry. She was so pale, dark circles under her eyes and she seemed skinnier. Her hair that usually shone and was all and all perfect was now everywhere. I was just hoping that the rest of our friends wouldn't make it awkward.

I talked to my parents about what I should do, how I could help her and they told me to give her time and just be there and that's exactly what I did. After Penny couldn't shake her 'I feel so sorry for her' face and people couldn't stop staring, I decided to take her into the Forbidden Forest and see if she would like to read something.

Apparently, I was doing something right as I started reading her favorite book. I could see the life filling her again after weeks and weeks of silence. I then tried to make casual conversation by talking about my day and classes and I didn't feel uncomfortable at all by the fact that she never said anything back.

The day she told me that she wanted to talk was one of the best in months even though we sat in the Forest, me holding her while she was crying and explaining her emotions for hours. I knew she was getting better and that it didn't pain her so much. She was healing.

And now, in February, I am confident to say that she is back to her normal self to the best of her abilities. She even made a joke the other day when Penny was telling us how she proved Snape wrong about a potion ingredient and Nova said that perhaps she could ask Dumbledore for Snape's job. Tonks, of course, seeing Nova smile started impersonating Snape's reaction just to keep her in a good mood.

—

It was a couple of days before Gryffindor would play against Ravenclaw. Nova told me that she was worried as she only started going to practice in January. I couldn't help being conflicted as I wanted as many positive things happening to her as possible.

I was conversing with Barnaby at the Slytherin Table. I was telling him how Nova and I sneaked into the Forbidden Forest in our Second Year and he volunteered to start searching for ways to get inside so he could tag along with us next time.

I saw Nova entering the Great Hall and felt my cheeks burning. After Barnaby gave me a rather confused look, I quickly said goodbye and sat down next to Tulip at the Ravenclaw Table.

“Who was that you were talking with, Charlie?” She asked.

“Oh, that's Barnaby. He's in our Care of Magical Creatures class.” Answered Tonks for me.

“Thank you, Charlie.” Tulip mocked her and Nova giggled.

“He's alright. Loves animals as well even though he can be kind of strange sometimes.” I scratched the top of my head, thinking about moments when the things he said didn't really make sense.

“Loves animals you say?” Grinned Penny and turned to Nova. “I guess you have some competition.”

“Wha-?” Nova put down the box of cereal and seemed disturbed from her thoughts by Penny's sneer.

“Barnaby likes animals, he might steal Charlie away from you.” Penny explained.

“Nobody can steal me away from Nova.” It took me a second, looking into my porridge, to realize what just came out of my mouth as I looked up and saw Tulip wink at me, Penny with a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from saying anything.

“Exactly.” Nova's cheeks were slightly red and for some reason that made me happy.

“Why so in your thoughts, Nova? You alright?” Tonks asked her.

“Yeah, I'm just nervous about our match against Gryffindor.” She looked at me.

“Right, I forgot the game is in a few days!” Exclaimed Penny. “You'll do fine! You'll show those Gryffindors who's the best Quidditch Team!” She shook her shoulders.

“Sitting right here.” I said, acting offended. The girls laughed.

“Charlie, you won last year, it's someone else's turn. Don't be so selfish.” Tulip grinned mischievously.

“Yes, Charlie don't be so selfish.” Nova giggled. “I might just knock you off your broom.” My heart started beating faster as it did every time Nova looked me directly in my eyes.

“Oh, we'll see about that. I'm not going easy on you!” I smirked.

“I wouldn't count on it.” She said, her chin up.

The morning of the match, I woke up rather nervous. It was the first match of the season and it would do us good if we got a head start. But I couldn't help thinking about Nova and how happy it would make her if they won the match. If she would get a chance to catch the Snitch I know she would be thrilled. However, I had to think about my Team, right? Nova and I made a promise that we wouldn't bring our friendship to the pitch but I'm not sure I will be able to keep that promise this time.

Of course, if I let her win, Nova would be furious at me like she has been just a week ago in Care of Magical Creatures when Professor Kettleburn scolded us for putting food bags for a Niffler where the bags for a Porlock were supposed to be. I took the blame even though Nova made the mistake and she made me promise that I won't pity her or give her any privileges just because her dad was gone.

I got dressed and went down for breakfast. I sat down next to Penny and Tonks who were talking to the Quidditch commentator Murphy McNully.

“Morning.” I said, my voice still sleepy.

“Good morning, Sunshine!” Penny was beaming. I knew that she couldn't wait for the match as it gave her a chance to stare at Andre without him realizing, being preoccupied with defending the hoops.

“McNully was just telling us the odds of each Team winning.” Said Tonks, pouring more juice into her glass.

“Oh, yeah? So what's the outcome?” I wasn't particularly interested in hearing him speak as I had plenty of that during Friendlies. Boy, did he talk a lot.

“I think it's about 53,6% chance that Ravenclaw will lose as their Seeker, Nova Blackwood,” he said her name as if we didn't know who she was, “missed quite a lot of practice matches. However, if they succeed with the strategy the team has been planning for weeks, their chances increase by at least 21,9% and...” How was he coming up with these numbers?

Just as I willingly zoned out, I looked at the entrance and saw Nova coming into the Hall with Tulip. I leaned on my hand and stared at her. Her hair was in a ponytail, prepared for the Quidditch match and she was giggling at something Tulip said. It made my lips curve into a smile.

“And if they happened to score 5 goals before the Snitch is caught that would increase their chances, winning against Hufflepuff by 35,1%...” I heard McNully say before I zoned out again when Nova sat next to me, her hand brushing against mine.

“Putting Slytherin in the last place if Hufflepuff would be able to get enough goals or to catch the Snitch at the precise time and...” Does this guy ever stop talking?

Just as I was beginning to zone out again, Nova giggled and I sat up straight. She was looking at McNully, smiling. Why did she giggle? He has been talking for what seemed like a century and I haven't laughed once. At this point, if I didn't know he was so in love with Quidditch I would say that I was 99,8% sure that he wasn't talking about the game at all.

I chuckled at my little joke, oblivious to the fact that everybody heard me. McNully actually stopped talking and they all turned to me. At that moment I hoped that I had enough freckles on my face so that they couldn't see just how red my cheeks got.

“I just remembered something funny.” I said quickly. They were all looking at me, confused, except Nova giggled and that made me feel better.

“Blackwood, come on, let's go!” I turned around and saw Skye and Orion walking towards our table. Nova stood up, lowered her head to my ear, and said “See you on the pitch, Weasley.” She winked at me and walked away. I was now conflicted more than ever, about what to do.

Our Team Captain was going over the strategy we planned to do for the match one more time. It wasn't concerning me much as it did the Chasers but when he turned to me and said “Weasley, we are counting on you for that Snitch.” My heart sank as he pointed at my face.

We heard Madam Hooch's whistle and we flew onto the pitch. As the balls flew up in the air, I tried to forget that my best friend was on the opposite Team and started looking around for the Snitch. I rolled my eyes as McNully started with his percentages again as if they made any sense and decided to fly up high to get a better view of the situation.

Our Captain, Tom, said that if we would be in the lead and have luck scoring, I should wait to catch the Snitch and stall as much as possible so that we get ahead with points for our next two matches.

It was 70 to 30 for Gryffindor and I knew it was time to start looking for the little golden ball. I spotted it at once just under the stands where Ravenclaws were cheering. I flew in that direction, not trying to make it too obvious. However, when I got closer, Nova was already after it. It flew down towards the ground and I leaned forward to catch up to her.

She looked at me for a second and nearly crashed her broom at the ground while I stopped just at the right time. I chuckled and flew after the Snitch that was now flying towards the Gryffindor hoops. This was fun! It was like Nova and I were battling for the little ball, both amused, and for a second everything else disappeared and it was just us, flying around the pitch.

“Blackwood and Weasley are still battling for the Snitch which now has a 65,8% being caught if they make the effort.” Oh, shut up. I had to admit that we weren't trying hard to catch the ball as we were both having too much fun flying around after it.

After about 15 minutes, the score was 110 to 60 for us and I felt bad exchanging looks with my Team Captain as he was glaring at me, furious. I knew it was time to finish the game. I spotted the Snitch near the roof of one of the higher stands and I flew towards it as fast as I could. Nova was coming from the other side and I knew that whoever got to it first would end the game.

I also knew that we could crash by the angle we were both approaching it. Nova's eyes were narrowed, focused on the Snitch and just as I was about to crash into her, I braked and she caught the Snitch. I knew that I would be able to avoid her and get the ball right under her nose but I was hoping that to the rest of the eyes watching us it looked like I didn't have a choice.

The Ravenclaws roared in excitement and McNully forgot that he was supposed to be neutral when he started shouting into the microphone. “We've won! Ravenclaw won 210 to 130! I dare to say there was a 71,2% chance of that turnout...” I heard him say and then I tuned him out.

It wasn't that bad, it was our first match of the season. We still had Slytherins and Hufflepuffs to beat and I was confident we wouldn't have any problems with that. After all, we were only 80 points behind and Ravenclaw could easily get fewer points than us in their other two matches.

We flew off the pitch and I jumped off my broom.

“Weasley! Tent! NOW!” Shouted a voice behind me. I gulped as I turned around and saw Tom violet with rage. I wasn't so confident now that nobody could tell that I let Nova catch the Snitch.

I hurried to the tent and he ordered the rest of the Team to sit down. He then looked at me and came so close that our noses were almost touching. I leaned back a bit.

“WHAT was that, Weasley?” He barked at me. “Do you think this is some sort of a game?” I just shook my head. I knew saying anything would just make him angrier.

“You were flying with that Ravenclaw Seeker as if you were on a date! What took you so long to catch the Snitch? You had plenty of opportunities to snatch it from her!” I blinked as a drop of his saliva hit my eye.

“I was waiting for more points. We did say that we...”

“Waiting for more...” He interrupted me. “You let her catch that ball and you know it!” A vein was beginning to show on his forehead.

“I did not!” I defended myself, even though my voice wasn't very convincing.

“Oh, really?” He was rather calm now, turned to my teammates.

“Then why did you break right in front of the Snitch? You are smart enough to know that you could have flown away with it before crashing into her and you know it!” He wasn't calm anymore.

“It's only the first match, we are going to catch up with them.” Said Ellen, one of our Beaters.

“Oh, shut it!” He turned to her, his furry raising.

“I asked you a few weeks ago if her being Seeker and the fact that her father passed away would be a problem and you said no!” His nose now close to mine again.

“I told you...” I tried to stay as calm as I possibly could as I got angry when he mentioned Nova's dad. “That I didn't do it on purpose.”

It seemed we have started a staring contest as neither of us blinked and my face was turning red as well.

“One more mistake, Weasley...” He finally spoke. “And you're off the team!” He hissed and stormed out of the tent.

“It's okay, Charlie.” Said Marry, the girl who got me on the Team last year.

“We're not mad at you, mate.” John, our Keeper smiled at me.

“The Cap just thought we were going to win all the games this year, but what's the fun in that.” Marry added and they left the tent.

I sat down and was surprised just how unphased I was by the whole thing. I knew I did the right thing and was now hoping that Nova didn't figure it out more than how mad it made Tom.

When I lifted the curtain to get out of the tent, I saw Nova running towards me.

“Charlie, I did it! We won!” Her face beaming. She pulled me into a hug.

“Congratulations, Ravenclaw! You deserve it.” I smiled and returned the hug.

“Did you see me push forward as we almost ran into each other? I was good, don't you think?”

“You were brilliant.” The excitement and happiness on her face made the whole thing worth it and if I regretted it before, I definitely didn't now. The only thing that I remembered from Tom shouting at me at that moment was that he said Nova and I were on a date.

#harry potter hogwarts mystery #hp #harry potter fanfiction #hphm mc #harry potter hogwarts game #hp hogwarts mystery #hphm charlie #charlie weasley #charlie weasley fanfiction #hphm #hogwarts mystery mc #the weasleys #hphm tonks #hphm fandom #hphm au #hphm characters #hphm fanfiction #hphm tulip #hphm penny #bill weasley #weasley family #weasley fanfiction #ron weasley #orion amari #hphm orion #quidditch #the burrow

[libermachinae]

Schematics [Or, Another Chance] – Ch. 3, Law/Crime

Also available on AO3! Notes: Day 3 of @prowlweek! More Constructicon nonsense bc I, too, am a bulldozer rocketing down the street at max speed and my momentum cannot be stopped.

⏳ 🚧 🚓 ⌛ 🏗 🚧 ⏳

Third walk through the timestream: wasn’t getting any easier. Prowl was waiting for them somewhere in the past, and Hook had to keep reminding himself of that while every step felt like his frame was betraying him. He was behind Long Haul this time, an experiment to see if another member of the team would be better at following Prowl’s first instruction. Bonecrusher followed him. Scavenger had passed out once they’d gotten him propped against a wall, and Mixmaster had promised to use his downtime to find a way to reverse the effects of the powder. Though he only had a small assortment of chemicals on hand to work with, Hook had no doubt he would put something together.

He startled when he bumped into Long Haul. Again, he’d withdrawn so much that he hadn’t noticed the point at which he was supposed to stop. Patience was hard to define in a place where time didn’t strictly move forward, so Hook could be forgiven if he was in short supply. As soon as Long Haul started moving again, Hook followed him, feeling Bonecrusher close behind.

They emerged on a rooftop, under a bank of stars. Underneath them, a vibrant, writhing, pre-war Iacon pulsed with nightlife. This wasn’t a sight Hook had ever personally witnessed, though he might have once helped lay the foundations for something like it.

“This is 4th cycle 501,” Prowl said as the team gathered around, snapping their attentions back to him whenever they started to drift toward the distracting collection of lights and sounds down below them. “Nominus is Prime, the Clampdown is in effect… Am I forgetting anything?”

“Decepticons are growing,” Long Haul said.

“This would’ve been before Scrapper got us recruited, though, so Megtron’s not building arenas yet,” Hook added. “Autobots are on guard, but no one’s declaring war yet.”

Bonecrusher didn’t contribute anything. Whenever Prowl wasn’t the one talking, his attention drifted outward, to the sparkling lights and distant signs of life. Like Prowl, he was a little hard to read sometimes, but the steadiness of his movements indicated that this was no trip down memory lane: he was surveying, searching for any possible danger. Prowl was doing something similar, actually, though Hook didn’t dare to assume he knew Prowl’s intentions.

“Why did our guy put himself on the roof?” Hook asked. “He a flier?”

“He’s—”

“Hey, Prowl, isn’t that you?”

Bonecrusher’s effort had paid off. Standing at the edge of the roof, he pointed down to the ground level entrance. The others joined at his sides, just soon enough to watch Prowl and some other mech enter the building beneath their pedes. Hook glanced to Prowl, whose optic had brightened in interest.

“Oh,” he said, “I see why he might’ve come here.”

“What’d you do?” Long Haul asked.

“I was performing my function,” Prowl said. “Tu—Chromedome and I did everything as per regulation. That an incident occurred doesn’t—”

“Clowndome?” Long Haul interrupted. “What were you covering his aft for? You’re better than him.”

Hook felt a thrill of alarm as Prowl’s doorwings sagged down. He couldn’t let another mission go sour, not when they’d barely gotten this second chance. Furious at his teammate for potentially jeopardizing it (even if he wasn’t entirely sure what Long Haul had done wrong), Hook took advantage of their usual conflict resolution strategy: he slugged Long Haul in the arm.

“Hey!” Long Haul yelped, grabbing at the shallow dent that had formed. “What was that for?”

“Don’t say stupid slag,” Hook warned.

“The frag are you talking about?”

“Behave,” Prowl snapped, doorwings flaring back up above his head. Even if Hook didn’t know exactly what they were trying to say, the attempt at intimidation was obvious enough. It didn’t really work, not when the size difference between them was still so apparent, but both mechs stepped away from each other and turned their attention to Prowl. He huffed and straightened.

“To answer your earlier question, Hook,” he said, “our target does possess flight capabilities, though he is not especially fast. If we move now, there is a chance we can catch up with him. Hook, you’ll come with me for a perimeter check. Long Haul, Bonecrusher, you’ll stay here and keep watch over the timestream. Do whatever it takes to keep anyone else from finding it, but keep in mind that I am currently in the building and have no memory of encountering you this night. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” they said. Hook thought he heard Long Haul grumble something, but since Prowl didn’t comment on it, he decided it wouldn’t be his place to, either.

“Can you at least tell us what we’re looking for?” Long Haul asked.

“He flies,” Bonecrusher offered.

“He’s green,” Prowl said.

Long Haul and Bonecrusher took up positions to either side of the portal, the latter with more earnest enthusiasm than the former. Prowl stood back to look at them once, like a general inspecting his troops, then turned his back on them to lead Hook to the opposite edge of the roof. The alley here was narrow, allowing them to leap across. As they started to maneuver the rooftops this way, Hook distracted himself from his vertigo by thinking about anyone he knew who was green and had something against the flow of time.

“It’s not that Liege Maximal guy, is it?” he asked. “Hated him.”

“He’s dead,” Prowl said.

“Yeah, and? Seems like everything that happens is because of some guy that was supposed to be dead,” Hook said, watching as his teammate surveyed the area around them before deciding another direction to head in.

“You mean Shoackwave.”

“Yeah, and also Optimus Prime, Metroplex, Megatron.”

“Hm.” Prowl peered down from the edge of one building, as though judging the distance to the ground.

“What?” Hook was pretty sure Prowl was thinking something. It would be generous to say that meant he was learning anything about his teammate, since Prowl was always thinking about things the others wouldn’t get to know anything about, but the noise he made suggested that something significant was going on in that processor.

“Your statement could almost make someone mistakenly believe you were anything less than jubilant when Megatron returned,” Prowl said.

Hook took a moment to make sure he understood Prowl’s meaning before he responded.

“You were in our head,” Hook said. “You know it was more complicated than that. We had a bad thing with the Autobots, and no matter how we felt about Megs, he was our ticket out from under them.”

“No loyalty to the Decepticon cause, though?” Prowl said.

“Eh.” Hook shrugged. He’d had this conversation with plenty of Decepticons before and had become comfortable with his level of commitment to Megatron’s fanaticisms. Sharing it again with Prowl, whatever he considered himself nowadays, wasn’t stressful.

“Mixmaster’s into it,” he said. “Can’t stand organics, and that means Bonecrusher’s on board, too. But for the rest of us, it just started as another job. I think Scrapper read Megatron’s big book before he got us hired, but it’s not like he ever told us about it.”

“Not a conversationalist?”

Hook didn’t know why Prowl was curious about any of this, but he was delighted and didn’t want it to stop.

“Nah, it’s just that he was like you,” Hook said, “everything was always about—”

Prowl grabbed Hook’s shoulder and shoved him down, until he was almost flattened on the roof.

“Prowl!”

“Shush!”

A silent finger pointed out, across the rooftops. Silhouetted against the lights of the living city and the stars above was a figure, standing still, looking out across this small slice of the planet.

“Is that our guy?” Hook whispered.

“No,” Prowl said. “That’s Orion Pax.”

Hook felt the tide of revulsion he’d become so used to over the years.

“Ugh, Optimus? What’s he doing here?”

“Doing exactly what he’s supposed to,” Prowl said. “When a Decepticon attacks the residential building, he’ll jump down and neutralize the threat.”

“When a—Prowl!” Hook’s systems revved at the threat to his teammate.

“Be quiet, Hook.”

He forced his engine to calm down and dropped his voice to a hush again.

“You never said you would be in danger.”

“I’m not, in a determined sense,” Prowl said. “Orion does his job and I survive the war, remember? Anything that happened prior to our meeting doesn’t concern you.”

In a logical way, yeah, sure, Hook understood what Prowl meant. He didn’t understand, though, how Prowl thought he would be comfortable sitting here, several blocks away, knowing that his teammate was about to be attacked. Even with combat routines locked down, he felt like he might bust out of his plating for all the effort it was taking to keep himself in place.

“Yeah, of course,” he managed to say, “but when the others hear you being shot at—”

“Hey!”

They swiveled around, following the sound of the voice back to the rooftop they’d come from. Though hard to see from a distance and in the dark, both were able to make out Long Haul. Impressive for his stature and his natural steadiness, it was a shock to watch him as he struggled to grapple with the much smaller Bonecrusher, who was apparently doing everything in his power to fling himself off the side of the roof. And, by the looks of it, that was a lot of power.

“Let go of me, Prowl’s in danger!” Bonecrusher roared. He broke free of Long Haul’s grip and sprinted forward, before he was flattened again by Long Haul’s tackle.

“We can’t,” Long Haul said, “Prowl will—”

“Who cares?” Bonecrusher demanded. “Let me—”

“Halt!”

The whole team, two on the original roof and two watching from afar, froze as a familiar voice traveled across the rooftops. Bonecrusher used the moment of surprise to get his legs underneath him and start to physically lift Long Haul off himself. As the surprised dump truck was tossed aside, Bonecrusher once more made a break for it, only to be intercepted by Orion Pax.

When the officer spoke, his deep voice was too low for either Hook or Prowl’s audials to pick up. Twice, Bonecrusher tried to dodge around him, but a firm hand would stop and put him back in his place. After just a couple minutes of talking, there was a sound of gunfire, glass shattering, and Orion had whipped around to look down and behind.

Then, he was gone.

“Did he just—”

“Yes,” Prowl said with an air of resignation. “He was fond of that sort of thing.”

Hook followed him back to Long Haul and Bonecrusher, who had scooted back to the edge of the roof to watch the action. They both turned at the sound of footsteps; Bonecrusher jumped.

“Prowl,” he said, “how did you get up—”

“Both of you, up, now,” Prowl said, ignoring the question. “We’re leaving.”

“Already?” Hook asked.

“There’s no sign of our target and even if he had been here, you’ve caused enough of a disturbance that we’ll be unlikely to find him not,” Prowl said. “Bonecrusher, you will have time to explain yourself when we return to base.”

“Not that much to explain, Prowl,” Bonecrusher said. “You were in danger. I had to protect you.”

“I was in danger in the past,” Prowl said, the glare of his single optic narrowing as he pointed an accusing finger up at the berserker.

“Well, yeah, but—”

“No,” Prowl said. “It is not your job to reason or make decisions. You leave that to me. Regardless of what the situation is, my authority comes first.”

Hook glanced at Bonecrusher, but still his stance gave away little. He didn’t know how to explain to Prowl that this was what BC did. He was the protector, the one who always had everyone’s backs. Even if Prowl asked if he understood, and even if BC said yes, he wouldn’t think twice about it if the same situation came up later and there was no one else to help.

“Follow,” Prowl commanded, as he led the way into the timestream. Long Haul waited the two seconds, then followed, but Hook lagged at Bonecrusher’s side, waiting until they were alone to speak up.

“What’d Optimus have to say?” he asked.

“Wanted to give me a citation for ‘disturbing the peace,’” Bonecrusher said. “Told me to wait here so he could finish filling out the form.”

The cant of his helm and the glint in his optic band told Hook exactly what he thought of that.

#maccadam #prowl week #prowlastator #prowl #constructicons #transformers #my writing #longfic #schematics #law crime

[queenofnohr]

Aeaean Spring Breeze - Ch. 1: Breathe Like it’s Any Other Monday Morning

(Here’s the dreamwidth link for easier reading)

[in My Room]

Circe: Ugh…… For some reason…… Motivation…… Dwindling…... Fou: Fo~u...... Mash: Once again, Circe is slacking off in Master’s bed…… Circe, every time you do this, senpai turns up with “perfect” timing. Circe: It’ll be fiiiiiiiine. This time I’ve set up detection magic, after all~. Mash: I see. But isn’t that a violation of privacy? Circe: Just be cool, be chill. I’m worried about Master, so it can’t be helped.

[you come in]

> No, it can be helped

Circe: Gah!!

*the sound of her falling off the bed* *the sound of her shakily getting up*

Circe: H- Hey, Piglet! How did my detection magic get disabled? …...Medea! This is SO getting old and that girl is getting downright vicious! Always butting in on other peoples’ love lives, this is why I’ll never find a new partner! Fou: Fou, fo~u. (Translation: Like student, like teacher.) Arjuna: ......Circe. We are of different classes and different places of origin, and as such thought it prudent to avoid conflict due to our different values. However— I cannot overlook your actions. Go sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done. Circe: Eugh. Who appointed you head of the disciplinary committee? Arjuna: Disciplinary committee……? Perhaps I am. After all, even Osakabehime said that I was like a “white-uniformed disciplinary committee member or student council president as a second pick” Mash: Yeah! You really do have the good sense of a Japanese student! Fou: Fou, fofo~u......! (Translation: Your good sense is a little off, Mash……!) Arjuna: ......No, this is all beside the point. We confirmed the existence of a Micro-Singularity. Circe: Huh. Mash: ! Arjuna: The Chaldea staff are busy with the investigation and analysis of Lostbelts, so they want Mash to be in charge of monitoring it. Mash: Leave it to me. I’m happy to receive orders straight from the student council president himself! Circe: So, where is this Singularity? Arjuna: Right— It’s at Aeaea Island. Circe: ...... ...... What did you just say?

> Aeaea Island Circe: Guh…… Mrr…… Ugh……

> Isn’t that the island where you lived, Circe?

Circe: ...... ...... ...... ......Yeah, it was.

Arjuna: Then I’ll make this briefing quick. The era seems to be the Age of Gods, if not, somewhere close to it. Circe: Ehhhhh…… About that island…… I only have bad memories of it, so…...

> Was it painful?

Circe: ……I feel like I had a bad dream about that island recently.

> Is that so……?

Circe: Uhm...... Errrr......  

Jason: Ha. That’s not a reason, you just wanna skip out. And I wanna skip this mission too! Orion: I- I- I also wanna skip out. I mean, Artemis isn’t even gonna be there. And if she’s not there, I’m useless. Arjuna: Putting Jason aside, Orion…… What happened to that goddess? Orion: It was something weird like a meetup for goddesses in a relationship or something. And thanks to that, I’m free. Arjuna: Then that’s even more reason to take you along. After all, it’ll be easier to keep an eye on you if you’re with us. Orion: Why do I get this kind of treatment!? Jason: Sounds right to me. Georgios: It’ll be good for both of you. Circe, if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. I will be departing for the front. Jason: What? That’s unusual for you, Georgios.

> I meant to ask Chiron, but—

[flashback]

Chiron: If I go, Jason might be nervous. When he tries to show me how much he’s grown, he ends up making mistakes…… that’s the impression I get. I’m terribly sorry to suggest a replacement, but how about Master Georgios? If you bring him along, he’ll surely help balance the party.

[end flashback]

Jason: Huh!? HUH!? What the hell is Chiron on about!? I don’t get nervous at all just because he’s around! I’m the man who journeyed across the sea on the Argo! Orion: I don’t really know what he’s talking about, but you probably will have a lot of screw ups. Arjuna: I agree. To be honest, I can picture it all in my mind. Jason: Since when did you guys get to be such a bunch of know-it-alls!? ……Well, it’s fine. So, what are you gonna do, Circe? It doesn’t matter if you go. It’s a Micro-Singularity, so three Servants should be more than enough. Orion: Including me? Jason: Why would you think you’re included in that number? I’m not gonna rely on the skills of a stuffed animal.

> Orion is pretty calm

Orion: Oho, so you’ve finally zeroed in on my strengths, Master. That is, being able to pull back and look at everything from a bird’s eye view. Fou: Fou...... Circe: Oh…… I— I’m sorry. It’s kinda…… Um…...

> You don’t need to force yourself.

Circe: Thanks. No, wait a second…… Let me think…… Orion: (......Why is this “Great Witch” frozen and twitching in a corner of the bed) Jason: ……We’ll be on our way now. I think we can manage without one or two Great Witches. Circe: Wha!? Jason, isn’t that super rude of you? If you don’t have a Great Witch, won’t you be in trouble? Jason: ……Alright, let’s go! Circe: Agh, wait. I said wait! Let me think on it a little more——

[we Reyshift]

> In the end, she just sorta went with the flow…… 

Jason: The result was gonna be the same either way. Let’s go, Great Witch. Circe: I have a bad feeling about this. Guh…... Georgios: Mm. Even so, it’s quite picturesque. The color of the Greek sea is beautiful. Then, I’ll take one…… 

[he snaps a photo]

Orion: I’ve been thinking this for a while, Master Georgios, but where’d you pick up that camera? Georgios: Well, it became my hobby without me realizing it. Perhaps I used the Grail to wish for it in some Holy Grail War. …...I’m joking, of course. Orion: …………You got me! (I have no clue what to say when such a grave guy cracks a joke) Mash: ……Ah, everyone, we’re getting a Servant reading immediately. Jason: A stray Servant? Mash: Yes. It seems to be an unknown Heroic Spirit whose Saint Graph has yet to be registered with Chaldea. Arjuna: We don’t know if they’re friend or foe. Let’s approach with caution for the time being. Orion: …………Not that it matters, but. Why “stray” Servant? Jason: Because calling them “wild” Servants totally changes the meaning. Wild Servants are ones like Atalante, Penthesilea, and other meathead Servants. Mash: Jason, Jason— Those two are currently in the control room, so…… Penthesilea: Hey, Jason. I’ll be sure to give you a “warm” welcome when you get back. Atalante: I think I will as well. Tell me, captain, which do you prefer? Being a target or being a crash dummy? Jason: Mash, tell me who’s in the room with you sooner!! It’s a matter of life and death for me! Arjuna: ……Perhaps it’s better for you to keep your mouth shut? Jason: Shut up, Mr. Logic! I’m the type of person who’s got something to say for everything! Georgios: So you admit you talk too much. Circe: *sighhhhhhh*...... This is a total bummer…...

> You okay?

Circe: Yeah, it’s just mental strain, I’m fine physically. Mash: Are your memories of Aeaea Island that bad? Circe: ……Overall, the memories I have of it are good ones. I have just one bad memory. But you know what they say, right? One rotten apple is all it takes to spoil the barrel…… Jason: Odysseus? Circe: Has anyone else ever told you how insensitive you are!? Jason: They have. Circe: What’s with that attitude!? Orion: I mean, sooner or later it was gonna come up, right? Your legend is super famous. Even you know it, right, Master? Circe: !!

> Of course I know it.

Circe: *grumbles* Well, at least there’s no need to explain. Right, moving on! Jason: Well, the gist of it is she was totally rejected by the guy she fell in love with. Circe: Can you be a little more tactful—!? Is this just what human royalty is like!? 

> Not very well……

Circe: Yeah, exactly. It’s nothing you need to know about, Piglet! Orion: Oh, then I’ll explain it. Circe: It’s. Fine. Just. Drop. It. Orion: It was after the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus got on a boat to return home…... Circe: You’re rea~lly doing this, huh. Orion: But he was set adrift. A bunch of other stuff happened, but long story short, he ends up washing up on Aeaea Island. Jason: But the witch who lived there didn’t trust humans, so they got turned into animals. Stuff like pigs and lions and wolves. Orion: Even though they were welcomed in, Odysseus’s men were also transformed into pigs. But she sure apologized quickly when Odysseus got angry and pulled a sword out.  Circe: Agh- Geh- Guh…… (She’s writhing) Jason: And then, in exchange for turning his men back to normal, she got Odysseus to stay. ……Now that I think about it, you’re pretty good at doing business…… Circe: You think that’s what’s admirable!? Orion: But, ya’know, from the start Odysseus already had a wife, Penelope. After recuperating his strength on Aeaea Island, he decided to return home. Circe: (She’s starting to get into the depressed loner at PE pose) Jason: And that’s the story of how Circe got rejected! Circe: ーThank you all for your “courteous” explanation. I’m so gonna turn you guys into pigs!!

Orion: ......Huh? Hey, Master, do you think that guy way over there is the Servant? They’re collapsed on the beach. Jason: Oh, maybe they smell bad and that’s why all those Phantasmal Beasts are gathering around.

> W- We have to help them!

Georgios: Indeed. Let’s move out! Circe: Fine, but I’ve still got a number of complaints, so— Jason: Forget about that and help!!

[battle]

Georgios: That should be it. Now then, everyone, if you would be so kind. Everyone: ? Georgios: Smile.

[he snaps a photo]

Jason: I smiled on instinct, but is there a reason why you had to take a picture? Georgios: For the memories, of course. Circe: Well, we should probably get to waking up this Servant, right? Good grief, we really are a bunch of insensitive heroes…… Hey, are you okay? …… …… Hm? Hmmmmm?

> What is it?

Circe: I- It’s nothing. Super, totally not even a thing, ya’know? Jason: I thought the back of their head looked strange, but it’s a helmet, huh? Oi, they might be drowning in there. Why don’t you take off his helmet? Circe: ...... ...... Orion: Georgios, teacherー please helpー. Georgios: Right. And-a-one, and-a-twoー ???: Ug…… Ugh…… W- Where am I……? Jason: Oh, he’s alive. ???: Who are...... you people......?

[Circe is constantly at the side of the frame while we’re talking]

> We’re from Chaldea

???: Chaldea......? Jason: If you don’t know Chaldea, does Jason or Orion ring a bell? ???: ......Those are the names of legendary heroes…… Are you saying you are too? Georgios: I am Georgios. The thing that looks like a bear at first glance is Orion. And the man who’s crossing his arms, slowly backing away, and thinking things like “When I get my chance I’ll turn tail and run”...... That one is Jason. Jason: Why do I get roasted for my introduction!? Georgios: Moving on— Oh? What happened to Circe?

> Huh?

???: ......Circe? Mash: Circe seems to have slipped away. Orion: Just what does she think she’s doing…… Hey, you guys stay here. Master and I will find her. Jason: So she ended up skipping out after all. ???: Circe…… Georgios: She’s the famed Great Witch of Aeaea Island. You’ll meet her in a bit.

Node 2

[at a waterfall]

ーAll at once, I ran away. I don’t understand what’s happening right now. All I knew was that I had to get away from that suffocating atmosphere.

Circe: *pant*…… *pant* *pant*…… So that bad feeling I had was right…… 

……I thought this day would come. Because he is a hero. A hero among heroes. Of course he would be summoned, the only question is when.

Circe: It probably wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t a chance meeting.

Why did it have to be this, of all things? I just had to find him summoned to Aeaea Island. Where it all began.

Circe: What’s gotten into me, running away like that!? I’m not usually this bad. Right now I am first and foremost— Guda’s Servant. …… ……

……If I could just breathe and sort my feelings outー But even as I think this……

[there’s a noise]

Circe: Can everything just be quiet!

> Circe!

Circe: Guh, Master!!

[she starts shifting around]

Circe: *fiddles with her hair* *pulls her own cheeks* *checks her face in a hand mirror* *turns away, then looks back with a smile* Hey hi, what’s up, Piglet! Orion: Stop looking in the mirror and help us fightー!! Circe: You’re just a bear that doesn’t understand a maiden’s heart!!

> Preparing for combat!

[battle]

> Now then, what’s wrong?

Circe: ...... ......Ugh. It’s about that guy we found on the beach.

> Do you know him?

Circe: I do know him. I know him very well. That man’s name is— ......Odysseus. He’s one of the few heroes that survived the Trojan War. The man who devised the Trojan Horse and led the Achaean forces to victory. ……A man who was set adrift for a long, long time on his way back to his beloved wife. ……A man who spent a bit of time with me here, on Aeaea Island.

---

T/L: Only one! The section where Circe is “frozen and twitching at the corner of the bed” is a phrase that I do believe got translated (re: her connection to Penelope in Material Book VI) as “curled up in a fetal position”. I think, perhaps, the description in the Material Book could be translated as that, but that turn of phrase seemed much too severe for Circe in this moment. The feeling here is more like “are you sure you want to think on it” rather than “oh something is seriously wrong here”

Prologue ← → Ch. 2

#fgo #fgo translation #grand order #aeaean spring breeze #my translations #long post

[darrowsrising]

Hi! Hope you don’t mind that I wanted to respond. I think I have an addiction to literary criticism. Ugh, why am I like this?  PS I can rant/talk about other stuff! Anything in the series you wish you saw discussed more? 

I don’t agree with this:“a character doesn’t have flaws/their flaws aren’t significant if they don’t impact their narrative” — Interesting. I mean this in a completely sincere way: it did not occur to me that a reader wouldn’t be bothered by a lack of results stemming from flaws on the page. But we all want different things from our reading experience, right? And knowing you feel this way I understand where you’re coming from better. 

For me, the measure of how important something is is directly linked to how it impacts the story (or how it impacts a character’s personality/development). Having a flaw that doesn’t impact the character or the story in any way is underwhelming for me. It’s setup with no payoff. It’s a Chekhov’s Gun that doesn’t go off in the third act. 

I agree with you that not every flaw needs to impact the character in some huge negative way. Like, if a character is clumsy, I don’t need them to trip and fall to their death to have a satisfying character arc. But I want to see them run into a sofa or something. If you aren’t going to address a character’s flaws in any way, why even bother including those flaws? I think it’s great that we as readers can dissect plot points and come up with our own interpretations and analysis of characters, but with something as important as character development it feels cheap if none of it is actually on the page. 

she chose to play by her father’s rules (manipulate, win at all costs etc.) and she intetionally put herself through the ringer I consider that a mistake on her part. - I consider what she did a mistake too. And I’ll give it to you, I believe it did cause her pain. I just wish this had informed some of her actions or impacted her relationship with her allies. 

I wish there was more exploration of her reformist views, — I agree! It’s clear as early as RR that she has sympathy for low colors, but what was her vision for a more fair system? Virginia is a planner so there’s no way she didn’t have some idea of how she would have changed things. However, given her reaction to finding out Darrow was a red her views weren’t always aligned with the rising. It’s disappointing to me that we don’t get more or her opinions on this. 

She sacrificed herself. She did what Adrius or Nero would have done and it was painful for her. She bend her own morals to protect her family and she is the kind of person who has a lot of respect and love for her moral compass. - I didn’t see it as bending her morals, actually. Her morals tell her she needs to protect family and she does, even if it makes her miserable. I see this more as sticking to her moral code than bending it. Honestly I’m more mad at Pierce Brown than Virginia about this (I know that sounds crazy lol). She’s so smart he couldn’t have given her something better/more interesting to do than sleep with Cassius? 

You think Virginia manipulates everyone in the same way  - lol ouch. Honestly I do think Virginia manipulates people, intentionally and unintentionally. Virginia says herself she’s always been able to manipulate people. And I don’t mind! I think it’s really interesting. I just wanted to know more. She’s someone who wants to Do The Right Thing, so how does she view this ability of hers? Does it bother her that she can manipulate people? Does it scare her? Does it remind her of her brother? When she brings it up in that conversation with Darrow in GS I thought oh cool, is she going to be questioning her relationships with friends now? will she hesitate to reach out to new people because she thinks she’ll accidentally manipulate somebody? But it never goes anywhere. And I think this does a disservice to her. Alternatively, if Virginia isn’t supposed to be someone who manipulates people, why even have that line in the book? 

I do think she felt bad about using Cassius, but it wasn’t as impactful to her as it was to be something she wasn’t. - agreed (and it makes me feel bad for Cassius, because I think this whole relationship really messed him up and she was able to more or less shrug it off) 

In Morning Star there is a big emphasis on the fact that she chose to save Orion and the rest of the fleet and even let Orion have the fleet. It was because she chose to do the right thing. — Okay but to be fair, she didn’t have much of a choice but to save the rest of the fleet, right? I mean at the end of Golden Son her options are: fight the sovereign (who just killed her father and who she thinks has killed Darrow) or give in. To fight she needs a fleet. Orion has been in charge so why mess up a good thing? It’s not exactly a hard choice. 

I do feel that her trust in her family was a flaw too: she was really willing to trust Nero that he’ll give the Reformers a chance - he was going to kill them and let Darrow lick her wounds. That was really naive of her. — I agree her trust in her father was naive. But she never has to confront that. How much more impactful would it have been if she had to choose between her father and the rising in golden son? What happens at the Triumph forces her hand. Instead of choosing between her father and the rising she’s choosing between the sovereign and the rising. That’s an easy chose. Because of that her decision to “save the fleet” just didn’t have the same impact for me. 

To be honest, everyone’s flaws in the Red Rising Trilogy (ok, maybe almost everyone…) are a thing of interpretation. not everyone has to suffer for them. Not everyone’s flaws impact them on page./The focus is Darrow and we don’t see other characters dealing with their flaws on page either - look a Victra: her narrative isn’t directly impacted - it’s more implied than anything and there is nothing wrong with that. /The most on-page development in the trilogy is Darrow’s and that is totally valid - it’s his pov, his story, his views. All the other characters that get any development get on and off-page development - Sevro being the most proeminent, but we can also include Ragnar. Cassius’ development is mostly done off-page. -  I agree that in this trilogy about Darrow there isn’t enough time to fully flesh out other characters. But one of the things I love about this series is its ability to make characters come alive with just a few scenes. 

I love Victra so let’s look at her. Her narrative is directly impacted by her flaws. She has a super complicated relationship with her sister and it messes with her head. Victra says she has poison in her veins — we as readers can interpret that a bit but however you see it you know Victra is upset. She says she’ll just ruin everything and breaks up with Sevro. That’s a direct impact on her narrative because of her flaws. And it’s all on the page (Sevro tells us the whole story). 

I also want to bring up my favorite Victra scene here. When Darrow and his council are all clamoring to torture Cassius in MS it’s Victra who stops them when she shows them the scars from her own torture. It’s a beautiful moment and it really highlights how complex Victra is. Victra is as tough as they come but she can be vulnerable too. I think it’s interesting that Darrow observes at this moment “I don’t think Mustang would ever let her guard down in public like this.” 

Sevro, Ragnar, and Cassius all get enough on page development that I can connect the dots in their character arcs. Sevro has always been an outcast, and so when he sympathizes with other outcasts it makes a lot of sense. We see interactions between him and his father and we get a sense of their strange but ultimately loving relationship, so we can see how the death of his father would impact him. We also see how vicious he is so it’s no surprise when he leads the rising down a path they probably shouldn’t go. We see him fail on the page, and we see him grow when he ultimately decides he wants to stop the cycle of violence and save Cassius’s life. 

In RR Cassius’s moral code is set up. He doesn’t want to hurt innocent people, but he’s got a lot of dumb ideas about honor and he’s under a lot of pressure from his family. In that way he’s a lot like Virginia (struggling with loyalty to his family vs what he thinks is right). His flaw is his loyalty to the system and because of that loyalty everything he loves is stripped away from him. And we see it all on the page. And we see little scenes with him (he covers Darrow with his cape, tells Darrow about the nukes, and has whiskey with Darrow). Every time you see him he’s a little changed. I think you can trace his arc very well. 

Some others: Tactius can’t choose a side (flaw) and pays for it with his life. Roque is so proud of his color (flaw) that he takes his own life. 

All this is not to say that Virginia had to be more like Victra. Sevro, Cassius, or anybody else to have a good character arc. My only point here is that PB is really good at writing flaws/character arcs/character development in minor characters. I just wanted more from what he did with Virginia. 

Virginia’s hatred for showing vulnerability affects her relationship with Darrow in Morning Star. - how? I’m genuinely asking. She keeps her distance but Darrow sees that all as his fault. Her inability to be vulnerable never makes Darrow question whether he loves her. She never has to be vulnerable to achieve anything. 

The Rising isn’t too pleased with having her as an ally - see Dancer. — this conflict lasts for one scene so it never felt super impactful (in MS anyway. in Iron Gold I think it’s explored better). 

Her relationship with Victra doesn’t go smoothly - Victra was the first to insinuate that Virginia only joined them for power, because she couldn’t explain it otherwise.  — Ok, this is an example of how Victra was mean to Virginia. That’s not really illustrating any of Virginia’s flaws. Sorry, that was nit picky. The main thing for me here is that again, this conflict lasts for all of one scene. However, I’m glad PB didn’t press this point because (as mentioned later) there aren’t a ton of female friendships in the original trilogy and it would have been a bummer to have these two fighting. 

Deanna doesn’t shy away from calling out bullshite when she sees it. So I highly doubt that Mustang would have (manipulated) her. — I agree. Deanna genuinely likes Virginia. And…fine. It’s kind of boring but whatever. I guess this is supposed to show us that Deanna can tell that Virginia really loves Darrow. But then, Deanna doesn’t like Victra and I firmly believe that Victra loves Darrow (as a friend) too. IDK, I think PB just liked to contrast Virginia and Victra. 

As for Virginia testing Darrow? It was a trust test. — I just — this isn’t how trust works. When you trust someone you’re honest with them. You don’t “test” them. 

Because they lost that trust they had. - This is so interesting. I’ve been listening to the Howler Pod podcast (it’s really good) and they’ve been re-capping Golden Son. And one thing I forgot about that book was how many times Virginia confronted Darrow about letting her in. She’s no dummy, and she knew he was keeping something back from her. She begs him time and again to let her in and tell her the truth. There’s that great scene where she’s hitting him with the practice razor to try to get him to open up to her. 

And in the end of GS, he does. 

Darrow tells Virginia the truth about himself even though it’s really dangerous for him and all the people relying on him. He tells her the truth even though they are finally back together and he doesn’t really have to tell her. 

He takes a leap of faith. He trusts her with this secret. With his life’s purpose. He trusts her. 

And…she leaves him. She doesn’t kill him sure but she does let him twist in the wind. I completely understand that she was shocked but he thinks she might turn him in to the sovereign. It seems like she could have at least gotten a message to him to say “hey I’m not going to rat you out but I need a minute to process this.” 

So when this whole trust thing comes up in morning star I’m left wondering if I read a different book lol. Darrow trusted Virginia with his whole life and with the whole rising. She knew he was keeping something back from her. She’s logical and she’s a genius. It seems wrong to me that Darrow is the one who gets all the blame for breaking the “trust” between them. He did trust her. 

I was just re-reading MS to try to find a quote to use, and in that scene between Darrow and Cassius, Cassius says, “I never thought about the weight on you. All that time among us. You could never talk to anyone.” And I kind of think — shouldn’t Virginia be saying that to him? It’s presented in the book like she feels betrayed and its up to Darrow to make things right. Where’s her compassion for him? If you say she saved the fleet, that benefitted her as much as it did Darrow. 

And it needed rebuilding. It was rebuilt on the ice. - Darrow says “I felt like I proved myself on the ice, but it hasn’t gone away.”  Implying that even after the ice Virginia is still testing him. 

But what she really wanted to see was - what kind of world does Darrow want for the Colors? Can this world include their son? Is Darrow just warlord? Because that is what the Sons of Ares are considered - especally after what Harmony did. Mustang knew Darrow au Andromedus: a highly skilled Peerless Scarred, so skilled he was saw almost as an Iron Gold, an orphan with many ambitions and a quest for glory, she saw a good friend to his mates, she saw someone who broke paradigms to suit himself or his moral compass, she saw someone who never used Pinks, never abused Browns and respected other Colors, she saw someone who murmured an off-Color name in his feverish sleep, she saw much of Darrow. But she never expected him to be a Red. SHe felt as if she never knew him at all. And it’s not a great thing, but it is understandable. - Yes, I understand how she felt all this. But it’s not really fair to Darrow, is it? I feel like MS reduces their relationship to something so one sided. It’s all about how Darrow has to prove himself to Virginia. I’ll admit my criticism is subjective here, but if you want to build trust with someone and get to know the real them, isn’t the first step by being honest with them? Virginia never voices any of the concerns you mentioned above until the very end of the book. I don’t really connect with their relationship because of this lack of communication. 

In Iron Gold, we see the consequences of her actions more than the consequences of her flaws: — I agree! But I think her actions are her flaws 

I am pretty sure every POV character minus Darrow has something against her. - Lysander seemed ambivalent to her, Ephraim hates everybody, and Lyria…I tracked down Lyria’s reaction to seeing Virginia: “years of anger, resentment, now compromised by the subtle beauty of her, by the rolling power of her calm voice…she was tall, beautiful. But that’s not the impression she left on me No, the Sovereign is tried. What would it be like, to be responsible for so many lives?” I left out a few things but the passage stresses how Virginia is “brilliant, perfect, beautiful” a lot. And Lyria’s anger fades. IDK, it reads to me like Lyria sees her and is like, oh she’s so pretty I sympathize with her now. Little underwhelming to me when I think about all the reasons Lyria had to be angry with Virginia. 

Another mistake I think she made was severing so much of her power -  she’s partly at fault for the rise of the Red Hand and the Syndicate. And she’s partly responsible for the fact that the Republic is divived so much: her string of pardons pissed a lot of people off and rightly so, but on the other hand it isn’t like she had much choice — i agree in Iron Gold we see real fallout from her decisions, and I’m hoping we get even more in Dark Age 

I do wish there were more interactions between her and other females, in Golden Son, especially. I wish there was more exploration of her pregnancy, her relationship with Niobe, Thraxa, Xana, the Arcos women (who remained her allies).  - Agreed. I do chalk this up to the fact that the books are only so long and you can’t fit everything in, but hopefully we get more in DA 

So if you’re willing to really give Virginia a chance, I do believe you won’t be dissapointed. But if you’re not…well, we can always agree to disagree. — It’s not even that I want to “give her a chance” it’s that I see how she could be a more interesting character (to me anyway). I don’t hate her now. I just wanted more. 

Astrea:

Ok, so, I guess we'll just agree to disagree on this one. But it's ok. It's not like we aren't respectful about it.

I can understand where you are comming from and I respect the fact that you don't like Virginia. And I never, at any point, tried to change your mind. I'm sorry if it ever came out that way. I'm not here to change opinions, I'm here to give my take on thing, my interpretation of these books. I'm not big on saying I critique books, I just give my honest opinion on them. Me saying that I'm a critic would make it seem like what I say has much more value than the average person and that's not true. I'm no George Călinescu.

I won't delve into comparing Virginia's journey with Cassius's or Victra's, but I do stand by the fact that all of them were dealt mostly off-page and all are valid. It's just a matter of interpretation which will end with a never-ending back and forth I refuse to engage in.

From what you said in your response I really want to adress some things. I'll just say what I think, of course, you can disagree, what I say is not absolute truth, it's just my take.

Virginia's journey in the books was mostly off page and I think that it can be traced well enough to make for an interesting character. That is my opinion. That's how I interpret her story. You obviously disagree with that and that's your right.

I think that in Morning Star, her relationship with Darrow suffers the consequences of both their actions. They reconcile bit by bit on the ice (between the attack at the Peace Treaty and the siege on the Gold Gods, they have some rocky steps to deal with and they still have their moments when they shut the other out and there are a lot of fade to black scenes where anything can happen - including disscussing feelings and stuff, although Darrow states that 'there are a lot of things between them' yet they kinda choose to be together inspite of them, because life is short and they can die at any time...which is a trope I find easy to make annoying, but I feel it works in the Red Rising series, because it is so focused on action). A lot of their reconnection takes place during the time they spend on the poles of Mars to get the Obsidians and it's not something instant, but I get that it can be considered unsatisfactory. But Darrow isn't instantly trustful of her - he himself tells Victra that he will sacrifice Mustang if necessary.

Trust is not always black and white, sometimes you need some reasons to trust. And Virginia needed some reasons: with Darrow believed to be dead, Virginia continued to live for her son and she wanted to know (after she found out he is still alive) if there could be a future for her son in the world Darrow tries to build or does he want to just turn the pyramid upside down. Now, I don't know if this is a right or wrong reason, but I think it is understandable. When Pierce Brown came to Romania he talked a little bit about the fact that Virginia as a mother needed to be assure her son's future, because he is half Gold and half Red.

I think that motherhood changed her a lot, not having Darrow near her during pregnancy might have played a part too - she states that she dreads being left alone again by him. But I can accept it and I get it that other people don't.

Another reason was the fact that Darrow had all the right to be angry at Golds and want vengeance. He lied to her about his identity for many years and he hid a lot of things from her, so she wasn't sure about some important things when it came to him. Plus, it's easy to put 2 and 2 together and figure out that Darrow planned to assassinate Nero to obtain power and change the Society. She wanted to kbow what he wanted to do with that power.

I don't know if it was fair to Darrow or not, but her reasoning was valid to me.

What she actually wanted to know about him after the ice was how he is with his family - that's when she was absolutely sure he just wanted a prosperous future for his family. Afterwards I think it was just about Pax, how would he feel about Pax, if she should tell him. Because immediately after Darrow says that about the 'trust test', she tries to tell him about Pax and ends up just showing him.

I think that, while Pierce had to create some tension between them, he didn't insist on it or on explaining their relationship that much, because he simply doesn't write too much about romance. He focuses more on action and that's valid. I don't complain, I love what we got until now as far as romance goes, although I'd admit that Victra and Sevro coming back together because of a life-threatening situation was a bit boring as a trope, but in the end it was pretty well-executed. I've read pretty bad ones and this one (and those between Darrow and Mustang) wasn't bad at all compared to those.

In Iron Gold they have a huge fallout due to miscommunication and lack of proper communication and that's a good thing for them, because they are not telepaths. As much as they know each other, that doesn't compensate for communication in their relationship.

Secondly, the whole manipulation thing...just because it comes easy to do, doesn't mean she does it all the time. I say that because it comes easy to me too. Everytime I want something from someone I get it through sweet, kind words, friendliness, not too much, not too little, just enough, some interest taht is at least half true and you get what you want from people (I got lots of favours from teachers this way and lots of good quality courses from fellow students...and lots of bonus points at annoyingly hard classes). It's easy to do, but honestly, if you want genuine relationships with people, you don't do this. It's not like it's some uncontrollable behavior. It's always a clear delimitation between manipulating people to gain something (or to make them like you for a higher purpose) and trying to make yourself pleasant for the purpose to build a relationship. Deanna is the kind of person who sees through bullshite and doesn't shy away from saying it like it is. And honestly, I don't see a reason why Mustang wouldn't want a genuine relationship with Deanna. Her mother died when she was young and she obviously respects Deanna because she asks her for what to do about Pax and Darrow. Plus, Deanna watched the interactions between Darrow and Mustang and I think she made up her mind about her through Virginia's action, not by just pretty words. That is my opinion, though. That's how I saw it

Lastly, I think Lyria hated Virginia for so long and once face to face with her she was at a loss for words. She blamed her for a lot of the bad things in her life, but when she looked at her she couldn't find what to say to her because what she saw didn't match her perception of her. Like when you spend time hating on a person, but face to face you just can't justify your feelings. Now, that combined with the fact that she was the only one willing to listen to her and not torture her or just kill her, I'd bet she was willing to chnage her mind about hating her.

As for Lysander, he may have named her Conqueror, but that doesn't mean he likes the fact that he's not on the throne or what Virginia did with grandma's Empire. Not to mention that Lysander insinuates his support for his godfather a lot - he's quick to point out what the Republican forces destroyed with savagery on Mars, but it's Cassius who reminds him that Magnus is not a slagging saint either.

Plus, Julia au Bellona, Dancer, Sefi...they all have to certain degrees a lot of resentment towards her. Julia because she's...Julia. And Dancer and Sefi...well, mostly because she is Gold and then, because her policies aren't vegenful enough for their tastes. Though, I agree that for a Gold is hard to understand other Colors (being married to a Red and having a son it's not going to make her perfect in understanding all Colors), it was the only way the Rising could win without having to destroy the entire Gold Color. Because as Darrow said it and as Roque showed it - Gold won't bend for Red. They'll bend for one of their own.

Well, that's my take on it. I'm not claiming absolute truth about it. I just felt like I should say what I thought about some stuff.

To me, Virginia au Augustus is an amazing character and I think she'll be even more amazing once we get into her head more.To you, she just has/had the potential to be one. I doubt we'll ever come to a consensus, but that's not a bad thing.

Anyway, I'm not going to insist about this subject anymore than necessary, because I feel satisfied with where it came to. I understand that my interpretation and yours are different and I respect that. If you want to add your take on what I said above, be my guest, I'll read it, post it, respect it. No problem!

It'd be awesome to talk about something else regarding Red Rising. You stated something similar when we talked long ago about the GS plot, but we never got around to talking about something else and that was too bad.

Hope you'll pop more often in my inbox, honestly. If you did, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you and the previous statement has no use.

Here are some stuff I'd like to see more talked about:

Lilath and Antonia

The Valii-Raths

How Darrow's superhuman abilities are balanced out through out the books

How Darrow ends up inspiring characters in the books and how it affects their lives (and his)

Capitalism and the Solar Republic - why Sun Industries prospers, but the working class doesn't (add speculations, we have little stuff about it to make concrete arguments)

Reds and the Vox Populi

Martial arts, individual fighting styles and warfare in Red Rising

Traditions in various parts of the galaxy

Weaponary, tools, guns, ships etc.

Apollonius liking the Sauds might play a part in solving the issues with the Rim Dominion? How the hell will peace be restored when the Republic is being attacked on all fronts: the remains of Octavia's empire, the Rim and from the inside.

If you guys have any other ideas, please add in a reblog. 🤗

Howl on!

Later edit: I'm sorry, I made some grammar mistakes and a pleonasm. I tried to fix as much as I could. Promise I'm not dumb, I just think too much and try to write all the ideas at once...that's dumb, but that'a how my brain works. Again, sorry!

#red rising trilogy #iron gold trilogy #virginia au augustus #mustang #sovereign #lionheart #darrow of lykos #darrow au andromedus #reaper #submission

[avengers-nextgen]

The Rise Of The Lost VI

Rooftops are tempting. It was no wonder Fox perched on top of one every night. She enjoyed it, the way the city unfolded before her, splayed out like a hand of poker cards.

The stars glittered like the diamonds and watches she liked to snatch. They taunted her with winks and smiles and Fox hated them with all of her being. She hated a lot of things.

She hated people. All people. There wasn’t a single person in the entire world that deserved her approval. There wasn’t a person in the entire world who hadn’t walked past someone like her, ignored a girl beaten by a man, or a man beaten by a girl. People ignored lousy parents all the time leaving children to suffer.

No, the world was full of bad apples. Everyone was a bad Apple. Even still, there was a wounded butterfly of hope inside of her chest that remained carefully guarded by wires and traps.

It was slowly dying.

Fox recalled all of it. The money she’d made helping those damned scientists get their experiment back under control. The price she paid thanks to Alex’s stupid friend. It had seemed worth it in the moment, the high of adrenaline was intoxicating, and for a moment she forgot her own plights. At the end it all came crashing down again, unavoidable was her reality.

Fox’s throat tightened and she pried her eyes away from the sparkling city. They landed upon someone familiar but also foreign. “Well, I never expected to see someone like you up here.”

“Cut the shit.” James frowned.

“How’d you find me?” Fox mused.

“It wasn’t hard. All I had to do was ask around.” James glowered. “You have one chance to be honest with me or I take you in.”

“Tempting.” Fox rolled her eyes and stood to balance carefully on the rooftop edge.

“You tipped the Wakandans off about Sage.” James crossed his arms and jutted his jaw. “And I know damn well you were the one who figured out how to steal the vibranium. Who did you give it to?”

“I don’t know.” Fox smiled coyly. “I only know as little as possible.”

“That’s a lie.” James’ voice grew gruff with impatience.

“Is it?” Fox never knew more than the necessity. Any additional information was dangerous, making situations like the one at hand, even more deadly. Tattling on clients never ended well.

“What are your clients planning? First Bianca, then vibranium, and lastly Sage.” James tilted his head to study the other girl. She was sly, conniving, difficult, and shifty. “You’ve got some nerve playing so many games at once. I don’t know the grand picture of your scheme-“

“James, James, James...I don’t have a plan. I work for anyone and everyone.” Fox pivoted with ease upon the ledge. James grew nervous with how close she was to the edge of death, the last thing he wanted was to see someone’s broken body on pavement. “I do what I can to survive and there’s nothing more to it.”

“You’re not happy with that.” The red head shook his head. He was thankful his mother instilled her interrogation techniques in him-he could read her if he focused hard enough. “You’re upping your game. You’re getting bolder just like a serial killer does. You’re bored, you’re looking for the next high you can get. But what does a girl like you have to fight against? How in the hell do you have to ‘survive?’ “

“Not everyone has Captain America as their father.” Fox’s lazy, sly smile shifted into a sneer. “I’ve told you that I do what I want when I want. That’s all I know now get the fuck off of my roof.”

“Your roof?” James snorted. “This is the roof of a bar. Two floors. One for drunks and one for whores. You don’t own it.”

For the first time, in the few James had encountered this enigma of a girl, she gave away true emotion. It was vibrant anger in all sorts of fiery colors. “This is my roof. My name is Fox Duran.”

James paled and felt his stomach tighten. “The owners are...the Durans.”

“Glad you figured it out.” It was too fast for James to properly react. One moment he was fine and the next a hard punch rocked against his jaw. “And don’t you ever call any girl a whore you piece of shit. You have no idea what some people go through...”

“Listen, I wasn’t thinking.” James winced and rubbed his face. “I just want to make sense of this! All of this! What’s happening to my friends and my city. My sister is in constant danger because of the decisions you’re making.”

“I don’t care about your sister!” Fox yelled. “I hate her more than I hate you!”

“Why?” James demanded.

“Because she’s exactly like your father. Some charismatic piece of filth who acts like they can fix everything. It’s all a lie! Don’t you get it?” Fox was no longer able to keep the passion from her voice. “Nothing is going to change! No matter how hard any of you fight this world is still going to be a shit hole!”

“That’s not true.” James argued as he stumbled back to his feet.

“Isn’t it?” Fox’s voice drifted into a terrifying quiet. “You’ll let the witch go thinking she’s changed and the moment she gets a chance she’ll tear her uncle apart piece by piece. The girl with the metal arm is only going to remain sane until something triggers her effed up memories and it’ll begin all over again. And if you stop them then someone else is going to fill their place. It’s a never ending cycle.”

“You think you’ve figured out the entire universe?” James snorted. “Sorry honey, that’s not true.”

“You know what? I’m the only one smart enough to figure it out. You wait and see.” There was a challenge in her voice. A fire in her eyes so intense James felt himself wither under the stare. “I see more than any of you do. I know exactly what kind of pain people go through. I know what that does to someone.”

“People always have choices to make. Pain can be turned into a tool.” James finally found his voice. “It’s not an excuse to break laws and hurt other people.”

“Maybe I’m just delivering the justice that needs to be dealt?”

“You don’t get to play God.” James spoke sternly. “And you have yet to answer my questions. Tell me exactly what’s going on!”

An odd smile found it’s way on Fox’s face. It looked almost sad, like hope was firmly crushed for her, like she’d tried to make someone else understand and it hadn’t worked. It occurred to James that maybe she’d had numerous conversations just like this with a dozen other people who had all ignored her.

She backed away slowly. “You want to know what’s happening?”

“Wait...” James made a motion to move as she stepped back onto the edge turning to face him.

“It’s the Rise of the Lost, James.” Fox shook her head. “Everything you know is going to be turned upside down. There aren’t heroes or villains. There’s only people.”

Before he could do anything she stepped backwards and fell. Instinct made him dive to the edge in hope to catch her hand. He only grasped air. With a frantic panic he peered over the edge ready to locate a pulverized body. Instead he saw nothing.

Fox had vanished.

“Damn it!” With an angry huff James rocked back onto his knees and punched at the roof. The sound of feet landing lightly behind him queued his attention.

“No luck?” It was Scout.

“How’d you know I was here?” James questioned.

“I felt your distress.” Scout sighed. “Not to mention the new boy, Orion I believe, said you left in a rush when I asked. You’re conflicted.”

“It’s hard not to be.” James shook his head. Scout rested a comforting hand on James’ shoulder.

“Come on, you need rest.”

“I need answers.” James groaned. He’d promised to dig up information for Siyanda but this was not the information he wanted.

“You have them.” Scout replied patiently. “She gave them to you. She’s right. However, you’re also right.”

“Well Scout, thanks for showing up.” James sighed giving his friend a thankful look as he stood. “Mind giving me a ride home?”

“Anytime.” Scout smiled. “If you need to talk, I am always open to conversation. She’s got a complicated mind from what I can sense. Someone who doesn’t fit anywhere. She’s not good or bad, as you put it, simply human.”

“Thanks Scout.” James gave a final sigh of irritated contentment and allowed Scout to fly him from the roof.

#avengers #avengers next gen #captain america #steve rogers #black widow #natasha romanoff #james rogers #iron man #tony stark #pepper potts #pepperony #vision #vision/wanda #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch #clint barton #hawkeye #thor #loki #loki laufeyson #bucky barnes #bruce banner #hulk #peter parker #spiderman #wakanda #black panther #guardians of the galaxy #marvel #mcu

[furederiko]

The era has changed, so the ways of the past can no longer be applied to solve the same problem! That's the essence of Kyuranger episode 23. The 'Rivalry of the Reds'...

- LOL at that opening intro speech. Spada's blatantly saying that Tsurugi is "so arrogant"! So what's going on with our bossy 'Sleeping Beast'? He is hungry. But instead of stopping down for some chow down, he takes his 'team' (Chef and assistant? Duh!) to... a TV Station. Wait, HUH? Is this a company visit to... TV Asahi? Nope, he's taking over Jark Matter News, and broadcasts a news about his heroic triumphant over Don Armage in the past to the... whole universe. Yes, using his Phoenix Station as the satellite. CONVENIENT! - Lucky is still mulling over Tsurugi's words that they should stop fighting. Of course, the livefeed announcement about Don Armage's secret surprises everyone in the Orion. Fortunately, Balance and Champ have discovered Eris, so hopefully that means they can clarify Tsurugi's bold statement. As soon as they can get her to talk, that is. LOL. Worried that Tsurugi's action might endanger the crew at the TV Station, Commander Xiao immediately dispatches an away team to the Station. - Clearly, Tsurugi's action is pissing off many people. Including Don Armage himself! The Shogun immediately commands his Vice-Shoguns to eliminate him, and the long-necked Tecchu is the first to head out. But publicity-hunter Malistrate Mediatsuyo-Indaver steps in to steal his spotlight before hand, attacking Tsurugi's team, as well as putting the civillians in danger. Precisely like what Xiao has feared. Trivia: Tecchu might be the only one speaking for now, but these three can be considered as 'Special' antagonists. How so? They are voiced by former Sentai heroes! Tecchu is voiced by Hiroshi Tsuchida, a now-regular VA for the franchise who debuted as Saizou/ Ninja Blue in the 1994 "Ninja Sentai Kakuranger". The female one, Akyanba (direct katakana romanization for now, not Over-Time's version), is voiced by Arisa Komiya. Fans would easily recognize her as Youko Usami/ Yellow Buster in the 2012 "Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters". And last but not least, Kukuruga (also, direct katakana romanization) is voiced by Naoya Uchida, the most 'veteran' of the three. He was Tatsuya Midorikawa/ Denzi Green in the 1980 "Denshi Sentai Denziman". Now a prolific stage actor, with "Les Miserables" and "Sakura Taisen V" as some of his most memorable performances. "It's SHOWTIME!!!" XD... - Tecchu's arrival changes thing. The fact that a Vice-Shogun, a higher rank than Menaster is joining the battlefield, means Don Armage is getting serious. But instead of focusing on rescuing the civillians, Phoenix Soldier gets all riled up to fight him. He's hinting that he and Tecchu have a history. They have battled before! But oddly, the latter doesn't seem to have ANY recollections of that. First Don Armage, now Tecchu? What's really happening here. - Tsurugi's action is placing everyone in jeopardy, and Aquila Pink ends up getting injured for shielding a crew member. Obviously, Lucky can't accept his reckless behavior, putting innocent lives in danger. Yet the older Red insists that "You won't be able to save the universe without some sacrifice". OUCH! Basically, it's the 'trolley problem' of saving the greater number of lives. Intriguingly, Tsurugi then tells the story of his old allies, who once acted as 'shield' for him before. One ended up never able to fight again, and another died. Now I don't know about you, but I'm more than certain that one of these two people he's referring about, has since become the new face behind 'Don Armage'. It's almost always, those closest to the hero, right? - Avoiding confrontation (Lucky almost punches him), the gang decides to walk away and return to the Orion. Thankfully they arrive just in time. After going through a bit of... 'situation', Balance and Champ are finally able to convince Eris, and ask her to extract some information to the team. At the same time, Tsurugi opens up about what happened in his past to Raptor and Spada (Yes, Xiao DID send them to do this after all). And well... - Tsurugi is telling the truth. It is confirmed that after gaining immortality from the Phoenix Kyu Globe, he indeed united the universe. He then led 88 Warriors (from each Constellation system) aboard the Argo, to defeat Don Armage whose Jark Matter began disrupting the peace. A battle hard fought that took the lives of almost everyone, Tsurugi ended up sacrificing his immortality by turning it into power to kill Don Armage. Eris then added, that Sir Olion was a surviving member of Tsurugi's force. This is likely the information she wanted to share before, but then the team got distracted by Scorpio. Judging from the silhouette, I think Olion is the one standing on Phoenix Soldier's right. Can we assume that he's the one who could never fight again then? Hmmm... intriguing. Eris assumes that Olion realized Don Armage's revival, and thus entrusted the Carina Kyu Globe in her safekeeping. He was also the one who put the badly injured Tsurugi to cold sleep prior to that. NOTE: Over-Time is still using the romanization 'Sir Orion', but I've decided to use the name 'Sir Olion' anyway, even if to set him apart from the Rebellion's ship. - This is where things get a little... melancholic. Turns out, Tsurugi is telling the Kyurangers to stop fighting, so that they won't suffer the same fate to his 88 Warriors. That's why he wants to handle things on his own. In a way, Tsurugi's harsh attitude is basically meant to protect the Kyurangers! Hold on, is this some kind of... a lone survivor's syndrome then? Aaaawww. But Lucky has a different ideal. He says it out loud to Tsurugi, that the Kyurangers are fighting together, simply because neither one of them can do it alone. An acknowledgement to why all these time, the entire team is needed to take down one Menaster. One is stronger with friends, he means. The power of UNITY!!! Of course... he somehow missed the point that it's exactly what Tsurugi did before with the 88 Warriors. And that it... didn't work. But let's save that discussion for another time... - Interestingly, Lucky's point is then put into solid proof almost immediately. Metal Death Worm that Tecchu sends out, is defeated through a rough co-op of him and Phoenix Soldier. While the other Kyurangers take down Mediatsuyo-Indaver in a very impressive (and neatly choreographed) group effort. Even the giant battle, requires all mechas because a Consumarz is added into the fray. In the end, it's about teamwork all along! WITH Phoenix Soldier among them. LOL. - Just like Ryutei Kyuren-Oh with 3 members absent, this time we're not seeing a complete set of Kyurangers at the battlefield either. Balance and Champ are still in Planet Keel, and Stinger stays behind on the Orion. So Ryutei-Oh heads out with Ophiucus as Scorpius replacement, while Kyuren-Oh with Aquila as Taurus' substitue. And speaking of Aquilla, the long awaited has come. The pink Voyager detaches as arm, and forms... a WING! Giving Kyuren-Oh aerial ability to chase the flying Consumarz. This gimmick was possible from the start, but was never used in the show until now. NOTE: By the way, Ryutei-Oh's combination in this episode with its LightBlue-Purple-Gray color scheme, could be a strong nod to those Extra Heroes on "Kyoryuger". As for Gigant Phoenix... I got very excited about the "Thunderbirds" nod, and the BGM song last week (which is NOT used in this episode... bummer), that I forgot to point out something. Its design is very similar to the style of a Machine Robo Rescue. And if you're looking for a more global comparison, it looks a lot like Transformers, instead of a Super Sentai robo! - Post battle, the friction isn't getting a solution just yet. Tsurugi still goes on his separate way (along with Spada and Raptor, of course). The Rivalry of the Reds is pretty much ongoing, due to their different point of views. However, it seems Lucky begins to warm up to needing the Phoenix, while Tsurugi himself is slowly warming up to having other people around. In fact, the latter's having a sweet 'Legendary Curry' moment with his team! Knowing this, I doubt it'll take long for them to work out their differences...

Overall: Tsurugi's presence continued to disrupt the balance of the show! Not only he's bringing a heft of altered history to the fray, he's also attracting scarier and more powerful enemies. As the kids nowadays are saying, "Things just got REAL". Despite the occasional attempts at humor, this episode felt tense and serious in general. The friction between Tsurugi and the Kyuranger felt loud and clear. But that's exactly why I think it's a great episode! As I've always said, conflict makes people grow, and in this case, it helped the Kyurangers to realize that they are nothing without each other. Next week: Rumble of the Reds. The 12 Stars are alligned... PS: A new trailer for the Summer Movie is shown after the episode. The opening sequence has already included scenes from it too. Not a surprise, because the movie is set to premiere this weekend, on August 5th, 2017. I think this movie looks fun and epic, so if you happen to be in Japan, don't miss it out, okay!

Episode 23 Score: 8,2 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: July 29th, 2017 - Version 2.09. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

#tokusatsu #SuperSentai #kyuranger #uchu sentai kyuranger #uchuu sentai kyuranger #review #melancholymoments #friendship

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

How would the Quidditch characters work in a dating quest?

(Courtesy of an Ask by @dalekofchaos) 

First of all, thank you for your patience. I know I took forever to finish this one, but as someone who’s become quite invested in these four little misfits, I wanted to get it exactly right. There are two ways to go about this. One is to back and attempt to write the Quidditch characters into past dating quests like the Celestial Ball. The other is to start from scrap and design a completely new quest concept. I am going to do the latter. Perhaps someday, I shall write versions of other quests, but I’d want to start from the Celestial Ball, and I’m pretty sure I only have access to Valentines Day and the Festival Quest data-mines. Let’s get started. I’m calling this TLSQ ‘A Wonderful World Journey” for reasons that will become clear soon enough. Due to reasons of conflict in Season 2, I’m gonna say this would need to drop in Season 3 or 4. I’m also going to say that the pre-existing dating quests are going to be ignored for this - Quidditch is a different timeline, so as far as I’m concerned, this is the first date MC will be on. At least, the first one that matters. So, how does it start?

It starts with Orion gathering his team (plus Murphy) for a pre-Practice discussion like he often does. This time, it’s about Quidditch as a concept, and the players’ commitment to the game versus their commitment to their team. MC is given a choice - do they play because they like Quidditch, because of the friends they have on the team, or some other reason, like glory? But this is interrupted when Face Paint Kid shows up to tell everyone that he’s pretty sure he saw Ethan Parkin on campus, and that he was talking to Erika Rath’s team! Skye and Rath have buried the hatchet, so Skye is mostly curious about what her Dad is doing here and how he even knows Rath. MC resolves to ask her after practice. 

MC and Rath meet up in the Great Hall. There can be a Turkey Sandwich mini-game here. Rath admits that Ethan Parkin is on campus, but declines to explain why. Telling MC that it’s supposed to be a secret, and that Skye and the others will find out soon enough. Here, MC and Rath can have a more in depth conversation about feelings and such, and MC can have a dialogue choice to respect Rath keeping this to herself, or not respect it. But the conversation ultimately veers, again, into the concept of loyalty to the game, versus loyalty to your team. MC bringing up what Orion said. Rath proposes the question of whether or not MC can truly like and trust her then, if they’re not on the same team. Going to try and avoid using the word “friend” in this quest for obvious reasons.

After this conversation, Murphy meets up with MC back at the grounds, to tell them that Ethan Parkin has indeed been seen on campus by several witnesses, and has also been seen conversing with the other two Quidditch teams, meaning that MC’s team is the only one he has yet to visit. Both Murphy and MC speculate on why this is, and MC can be given the chance to choose between a few guesses. Murphy then asks MC to help him spy on Ethan, to find out what’s going on. Here, we can have further development of Murphy’s motives - what I’m trying to push is the idea that all four of these characters are dedicated to Quidditch for different reasons, and I also feel like Murphy is the kind of person who can’t resist a mystery. That could be his reason for being dedicated to Quidditch - the excitement of not knowing the answer, and trying to discover it beforehand. 

MC then tracks Ethan Parkin to the training grounds, and spies on him talking to Madam Hooch about some big event that’s coming up. The spying itself can be a task, and if Talbott’s quest has been completed, then the option to spy using one’s Animagus form can be available here. However, all of this is interrupted when Skye shows up to confront her Dad. Post-Season 2, she’s more mature and their relationship is stronger, but she’s still (somewhat justifiably) upset that he hasn’t come to see her at all, and is visiting other teams. In keeping with tradition between these two, it’s all a misunderstanding. Ethan sent Skye a letter ahead of time, and thought she already knew. He promises to make it up to her, and tells her to gather her team. After Ethan and Hooch leave, MC comes out of hiding to comfort Skye, and the theme of why people play Quidditch can be further explored with Skye talking to MC about her Dad. Skye can also admit that she almost never checks her letters because she gets so much fan-mail, and MC can express whether or not they think she has any fault in all this. 

It’s time for the big announcement. Ethan Parkin gathers all four Quidditch teams on the Pitch to announce the truth. He has a spare ticket to the next round of the World Cup that’s approaching fast - it won’t be in Britain because of canon, but you’ll soon see that isn’t going to stop me. Ethan himself cannot attend because of plot reasons, but he wants the tickets to go to the person most dedicated to Quidditch - hence a little competition. It won’t be an actual game, because that would exclude folks like Murphy, but it would be some kind of audition by heart. Basically, Ethan is going to hold a big party and talk to everyone who’s present, and figure out for himself who would deserve it/enjoy it the most. You might be asking why he doesn’t just give the ticket to Skye, and that will be explored, but the short answer is that she’s most likely attended World Cups before, so it’s not as big a deal for her. 

After the announcement, MC, Sky, Murphy, Orion, and Rath all linger in a kind of semi-circle and talk about their motivations. Murphy wants the experience of getting to see a World Cup game - it will be the ultimate challenge to analyze and deduce the plays before they happen. Rath wants to see Professional Quidditch players up close and learn from their talents to better her own skill as a Beater. Skye is getting all starry-eyed and nostalgic, since she probably hasn’t been to a Cup since she was a little girl. For her, this will be like going back home. Orion is strangely quiet about his motivations. But he encourages the others in his usual mystic way. After everyone parts ways, MC hangs back to ask Orion about his goals. Orion admits that he has no intention of vying for this ticket - because Quidditch isn’t a challenge or a project or a way of life for him. It’s simply the place that he settled and found his family - the Cup would not interest him. MC can convince him to try anyway, but whether or not he does will depend on a choice that’s coming up. 

MC meets up with Penny and Andre in the Courtyard, who have just been gossiping about the huge party that’s being hosted by the Ethan Parkin. Penny is excited at the chance to meet him again, and Andre wants to throw his own hat in the ring to win the ticket. But, sorry Andre, that’s not going to happen. You’ve got your own dating quests. What is going to happen is that Penny will excitedly ask MC about if they’re going to bring anyone to the party, surprising MC. When they express confusion, both Penny and Andre agree that a party like this is a perfect opportunity to have a date. Face Paint Kid, who was listening in, also agrees. If we want, we can also throw in a line about him going stag, to clarify that he’s not an option - sorry FPK fans. This can prompt Penny to ask MC if they fancy any of their Quidditch friends. The answers can be something like “Yes, I fancy one of them.” and, “I’ve never thought about it before,” and even “Actually, I fancy more than one.” But at the end of the day, one will still need to make the choice. At Penny and Andre’s prompting, and Andre’s promise to make MC an awesome outfit for the party, MC now begins to consider who they would invite. 

MC will next visit the Changing Rooms, only to find their four friends all rehearsing what they’re going to say and do at the party to make sure Ethan notices them and thinks of them as the choice for the ticket. (Side note: I think it can be a show of how far everyone has come that Rath is just here, hanging out as well, and no one bats an eye.) Face Paint Kid can appear again and tell MC that this is the perfect chance. Go over and offer to help be a sounding board to one of their friends, and in the process, ask them out! This is where we get that classic screen of the four Quidditch characters with exclamation points over their heads. MC makes the choice, and chooses which ending they get. They talk to their choice, help them figure out how best to present them-selves, which also includes talking about what they would wear, and one energy-collecting task later, MC asks their interest. No tricks here, all four characters gladly accept, though they behave differently about it. Rath is more subdued, Orion is more mystical, Murphy offers calculations, Skye definitely says, “Smashing!” Etc. 

Andre then sends MC one of those little owls, and the player will have to wait a few hours to unlock this next event, but it makes sense in-universe. Andre is finishing up the outfits, and he needed to clear everyone out because this event will also take place in the changing rooms. I don’t have too many ideas for what the outfits would look like, but I want there to be three or four, perhaps one that is slightly inspired by each character. Not to the point of being that noticeable, but if you look close. Like, one of the outfits could be a trench-coat. One could have a tie. One could involve MC putting a highlight in their hair. But they’d definitely all have their own unique spin so that any outfit could coincide with any date. During this scene, Andre also drops a question that MC has been too busy to even consider - what happens if they win? Why do they play Quidditch? It can be a choice, whether they’d prefer to win them-self, or if they want their date to win. 

Party time! I know the Quidditch Pitch has already been a setting for a Dating Quest, so this party could really occur anywhere. The Courtyard, the Great Hall, etc. But in my head, it’s happening on the Pitch. During this opening scene, MC can interact and trade banter with the other three characters who were not chosen, before finding their date and exchanging more playful, flirty banter. They can wander around and mingle, spending energy to do so, before MC’s date gets stage fright when Ethan is approaching. This can vary from person to person. Exclusive dialogue for Skye since he’s her Dad, more reserved dialogue for Orion because he’s still uncertain about winning, Rath’s social anxiety acting up, Murphy fretting that Ethan won’t see him as a “real” Quidditch player. At the last second, it will occur to MC’s date that MC hasn’t said anything about whether or not they want to win the World Cup ticket. Ethan arrives and MC’s date hesitates. MC can have a dialogue choice here between encouraging their date to speak up or filling in the silence them-self. Either way, Ethan moves on, and MC’s date apologizes for having been so self-focused. 

The time has come for the winner to be declared! Gonna tell you right now, the winner of World Cup ticket is determined entirely by the choice MC made during the outfit scene with Andre. It’s very simple - if they said they wanted to win, they will. If they said they would rather their date win, then their date is going to win. But no matter who wins, the scene plays out in similar beats. If MC wins, they express that they’re giving their ticket to their date instead of keeping it. Likewise, if MC’s date wins, they instead insist upon giving the ticket to MC. That’s when Ethan drops the plot twist that I’m sure you all knew was coming. There are actually two tickets, and with how moved everyone was by the selfless gesture, he’s giving the tickets to MC and their date. Much excitement, much celebration. Happy faces. It’s wholesome. But it’s not the end. 

There’s no way in hell I wasn’t going to put the World Cup in after all that teasing. Look, we’ve seen with the Burrow and the Portrait Vault that they can include one-time only locations that aren’t anywhere on the HPHM map as we know it. The same thing can occur here. Ethan calls MC and their Date over to the Training Grounds where he and Madam Hooch have a timed Portkey waiting, probably a Quaffle or something. Hell, for added fun, it can vary - be a Quaffle for Orion and Skye, be a Bludger for Rath, and a Golden Snitch for Murphy - though in the latter two cases, it obviously wouldn’t be “active.” There can be exclusive dialogue if MC has already used Portkeys, and if we really want to, we can have an easter egg line about “Portkey games.” Ethan gives MC and their date the tickets, and reassures them that the Portkey will reactivate after the match is over. So the whole question of “wouldn’t they be stranded?” is handwaved. MC and their Date touch the portkey, and ZAP! 

It’s game time. They arrive in the top box, and some generic wizard sprites usher them in to help them find their seats - having known ahead of time from Ethan that they were coming. Probably speak in an accent because this is definitely a different country. MC and their Date can see the sights, enjoying themselves and trading sweet banter as they await the game to start. And here’s one final surprise - the Player them-self is allowed to play in the World Cup. It’s just a re-skin of ordinary Quidditch games with a new background and new character sprites, that wouldn’t be too difficult to program. To be clear, they’re not controlling MC for this sequence, but the professional players. MC and their date are watching the match. It doesn’t matter if the player wins or loses though, since no matter what Britain isn’t playing in this match. But after it’s over, MC and their date cheer. We can return one final time to the theme of figuring out why everyone plays Quidditch, and the four characters can all express that, no matter their reason, they like having MC by their side as they follow a Quidditch career. We can return to Rath’s doubt that MC would be close to her since they’re on separate teams. Murphy’s fear that he wouldn’t be seen as a “true” Quidditch player. Orion’s uncertainty about his own place in Quidditch. Skye’s reevaluation of the environment she’s grown up in. All of these topics can make a return, depending on who was chosen. There can also be some exploration of MC’s bond with the character. Murphy can appreciate that they listen to him with his hyper-fixations. Rath can chuckle at the memory of how hard they tried to reach out to her. Orion can dwell on how they’ve always been kindred spirits, maybe reference the Quidditch-robe gift scene. Skye can allude to how much MC means to her, even after all of their ups and downs. 

For a final cut-scene, I dunno. I just kind of imagine fire-works going off, as MC and their date cuddle up in the top box. Maybe a forehead or top-of-the-head kiss can happen here. Maybe some hand-holding. Can go a few ways, as long as it’s sweet and wholesome. Rath might have a unique animation simply because of her different sprite. Either way, that’s how the scene fades out. We don’t see them make the return journey, because we don’t need to. That’s already been hand-waved. As a final reward, I like to imagine that the portkey, now inactive, is added to MC’s dormitory. 

Oh man, this was so much fun. Thank you for sending me this, and thank you for waiting on me to get it done!

#HPHM Quidditch #Skye Parkin #Murphy McNully #Erika Rath #Orion Amari #Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery #HPHM Face Paint Kid #Ethan Parkin #Penny Haywood #Andre Egwu

[thepillareddark]

The “Tannhäuser Gate”: Blade Runner and Jargon

Roy’s monologue at the end of Blade Runner is famous because it’s very disarming. It’s a bit of a trope to have AIs show sudden signs of humanity, often coupled with acts of mercy, as a kind of sci-fi sublime to round off your book/film/game. See: Portal, 2001, bits of Tron, more or less whatever AI fiction you like. Roy’s is particularly memorable because it uses a kind of thematic conclusion to end an action scene- suddenly it feels like the bigger question of “Are robots human?” is resolved instead of the immediate question of “Will Roy kill Deckard?”. Maybe Roy realises he won’t survive anyway, maybe he realises that none of it is worth it, maybe he just wanted to prove a point. What exactly happens remains a partial mystery, but one thing is clear to anyone who sees the scene: That a big part of the speech being cool is the deliberately bewildering sci-fi vocab that gets thrown in out of nowhere: the shoulder of Orion, the C-beams, and the Tannhäuser Gate.

See, the reason I’m writing this now is because I found that there was an earlier version of the speech which was cut down and altered. For clarity, here is the speech as it appeared in the film:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost, in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

And here’s the version which Rutger Hauer, the actor who plays Roy, says that he “put a knife in” the night before filming, without Ridley Scott’s go-ahead:

I have known adventures, seen places you people will never see, I've been Offworld and back...frontiers! I've stood on the back deck of a blinker bound for the Plutition Camps with sweat in my eyes watching the stars fight on the shoulder of Orion. I've felt wind in my hair, riding test boats off the black galaxies and seen an attack fleet burn like a match and disappear. I've seen it...felt it!

So the story goes that he half-wrote the final version himself, half-improvised it, or whatever. That’s not what I’m as interested in, because I feel like there are more film moments then we give credit to that are written by actors or improvised by them. What is weird to me is Hauer’s exact reason for changing his own lines. He kept the second and third sentences because:

“I had two lines that I kind of liked, for what they, y’know, what they pictured in the universe” “There’s only so much poetry you can get rid of, y’know?” “And these images are so strong”

But he cut a lot of it because, in his words, it was:

“opera talk” and “hi-tech speech” which didn’t have any bearing on the rest of the film

This is the great crux: that some of it is just about obscure enough to count as world building, and to make you wonder about the size and beauty of the blade-runner universe, but that there is a fine line which Hauer can see, and which a lot of us maybe can’t, and if you step over that line it becomes “hi-tech speech”. Because, to be entirely honest, I see it as pretty crazy that you could look at that first version and think “that’s overblown, that’s opera, that’s jargon”, and then cut it down to a version that so obviously IS jargon, and believe that there was something in the second version that was more in tune with the film and which made sense. That is, I think Hauer’s criticism of the first speech could so easily be applied to the second speech, but he doesn’t miss a beat when he discusses the changes he made.

So what’s going on? Why is 1. “I’ve stood on the back deck of a blinker bound for the Plutition Camps with sweat in my eyes watching the stars fight on the shoulder of Orion” just sci-fi jargon, but 2. “Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion” very poetic?

On the one hand it might be obvious: less is more. The power of the sublime being conjured here is that the obscurity of the concept- “shoulder of Orion”- makes you scope out from the roof they are fighting on to imagine a fight full of lives which are so distant from your own, and so large and so many, and which will be forgotten or lost or distanced, which can never be fully understood. The effect, or a sci-fi cynic might well say the trick, is that you introduce a concept which isn’t actually fully fleshed out (because there’s no real notion of a battle between attack ships or people on those ships or the sight itself) and then let it form in its full size in the listeners mind, so that they come to wonder just how complete and vast this universe is. So by less is more, we here mean minimising those powerful sci-fi terms so as not to make it sound like jargon, or like a parody. As I count it, sentence 1 introduces 5 of these terms, and sentence 2 only 2. What’s a Blinker? What’s a Plutition Camp? Why are the stars fighting? Etc. A similar reduction process could fruitfully be applied to “test boats off the black galaxies… attack fleet”. There’s just a bit too much for the listener to be convinced, as a part of the “trick”, that Scott has actually done his world building. 5 instead of 2 just pushes over into “Opera talk”, and away from captivating speech. “Tannhäuser Gate” in particular is as lovely as it is excessive, not least because we wonder how far German as a language has become a distant past or current tool in the far future of Blade Runner.

I think this fairly covers what is meant when Hauer says “pictured in the universe” and “these images are so strong”. Note also that the words themselves being used are very strong and large, and they perform the epic poetry device of generating big noun phrases and then moving on from them: not “galaxies”, but “black galaxies”, and not “shine” but “glitter in the dark”. “Tannhäuser” is also privileged like “Jerusalem” or “Anaheim” in that it has that semi-biblical grandness which is very hard to explain, but which I think you understand instinctively as impressive. Again, this is a bit of a proper-noun cheat, but it was a cheat that Milton used too, so we allow it. It’s no coincidence that Tannhäuser was an ancient medieval poet who became a Wagner character.

But what else does Hauer say? “There’s only so much poetry you can get rid of”. In a sense the couplet he speaks is very much poetical because it leaves a lot of gaps, a lot of space to ponder. The syntax is literary, of course, but the editing itself is another way of saying that less is more. That is, I believe that when you reduce it to be more in the poetical mode, you also have to cut what feels “hi-tech” about it, because you need the sort of abstractions that humans feel comfortable with. I only sort of know what to think about a Blinker, or Plutition Camp, but when you say that something glitters in the dark or that it is on fire, these are things which I see in my life on earth: the window might glitter in my room while the sun goes down, I might see a fire in my fireplace. But putting the bigness of the things themselves, the spaceships and C-Beams, alongside the more realisable, is the stroke of genius here, because it performs the same role as the jargon itself: it intimidates me even while it makes me feel at home, I can picture it and I can’t. What does it mean for something to be on fire, and also in space? What is a space fire, to me? Do I picture fire as I know, but on the distant and large horizon? And how big is this fire? And on the same note, why is this robot talking like a human?

Just to be “on fire” means that there is a blaze that is only as big as the object. “On fire” can scope up in so many powerful ways, but it always feels homely, almost like it’s not high tech enough. “Orion” and “On fire” run into eachother as a result of their conflicting linguistic fields- why not “ablaze”, or a “proton storm”, or “attack ships in a Thuringia blaze?” Because then you wouldn’t have the tension which is recognised as a literary tension.

The same difficult trick is happening with “near”- it brings it all closer, both to Hauer as he remembers it, and as we feel him remember it, but also to Ford and the audience. I don’t think the speech is so much made familiar to us through the use of poetry, as much as I think Hauer realised that the device of contrast between sci-fi vastness and local language was a poetic one, and that high-tech jargon or distant “opera talk” was antithetical to the purpose of the speech, which was to bring the replicant’s blade-runner-universe experiences into line with Ford’s understanding of human sentiment, and so that’s why he says you can only remove so much of that poetry: because it is cheesy, but like anything cheesy, it toes the line very closely with “cool”.

So it’s good that he cut the speech down a bit. I haven’t even seen the trailer for the new one- maybe it’ll be good, maybe not, who knows. You tend not to be able to catch lightning in a bottle twice, particularly with film reboots/remakes/sequels. And it seems that the speech was definitely a little bit like lightning.

Love,

Alex

#Blade Runner #Hauer #tears in rain #sci-fi #movies #speech #harrison ford #ridley scott

[survivorelara]

Episode #7: “Bon Appetite Bitch” - Dani

Merge time baby, this is where the game starts. My first job is to figure out who flipped in that last tribal, I'm betting on Loris, but if it's John I'd probably understand as well. Regardless it's disappointing because as far as "OG Tribe Lines" it's now 5v5v2, which sucks.

I think I've likely got an ok position at the moment, the real move is trying to make sure I've got an in with a lot of people, and to make sure I find myself in the majority.

Here's hoping my first tribal council doesn't turn out to be my last due to social misplays.

We merged woo, my streak of never dying premerge continues :D. However, it does feel like an early merge. There's still 12 people left, I have a strong feeling someone ain't gonna make the jury... 👀

I just noticed im the only Aquarius left woot woot. Game wise, hello, it's merge. I'm finally messaging  people, introducing myself and what not. I'll check in later to list all of the people that don't like me, but for now let's go into this hoping that I'm charismatic

Ok sooooo...... tribal did NOT go as planned but it still was good because I could’ve gone easily but drew t saved my ass because I saved his last week. we love good karma. Roxy literally forgived me without asking her to and we have merged so I don’t feel that at risk anymore. :) I just gotta keep talking to everyone so my name doesn’t get raised.

oh lord. You know idk what I’m gonna do yet Because I don’t want to work with pre friends but i don’t necessarily like my tribe either So that leaves me with loris Idk I’ll figure it out

For now, I'll do a hot or not and comments Roxy- NOT. I have to talk to her almost continuously or else she'll think we aren't allies and vote me out. (not that we are allies rn but still) Ci'ere- DECENT. He's nice but replies are sporadic and idk if he wants to work with me. Loris- HOT AS FUCK. my #1 right now, he's p cool <3 John - STEAMING? He is so nice and so cute but he seems close to purple drew. Purple Drew - LUKE WARM. Love the dude, but I am semi trying to avoid pre game friendships. Little Mix Drew- STRAIGHT FIRE. only bc of LM. in reality, more SEMI WARM. it may turn out that each side has a little mix supporter? Drachus - WHO TF KNOWS. I cannot tell if this man is playing me or not. He tells me he can't vote him out, but is that true? We havent been to tribal and he seems to be lying to me about how much he knows. If he really doesnt know all that... he seems like someone I can maybe work with. We've been loyal to the end for each other before. Just keep in mind- I'm not playing for 8th. Emma- queen? She's inactive but a great number for me. We tell each other stuff and she's just precious. Kori- challenge threat, and someone who I want to be my shield. Dani- shes so inactive bruh like what even Dylan- also inactive.

so its 5 revati, 4 auva, 3 zosma. Zosma and Auva have 2 a piece of people who I loved pregame and would consider working with. So who knows? I have a double majority, so lets not be surprised when I'm first out.

Well, I THINK I'm in an ok-ish spot. I've talked with a LOT of people, IDEALLY the next one gone is Sam just so that I can get Dani more on my side and make it clear that I wanna work with her.

I'm a little salty Altager didn't beat the basic tribe name of Orion... but I'll get over it... eventually...

In other news, I ate a burger today... it was adequate.

MERGE BABIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I'm elated to make the merge AND get to name the tribe! Like that's fucking sickening! I'm excited to see what the merge holds for me because that was a rocky pre-merge phase. Like obviously I wasted my idol, blah blah. And like I was an emotional mess like the entire way through. It sucks being the one that has to blindside people and like break hearts- but in the end, that's the way it is. I just love that I'm getting to play IN THE MERGE. Like I rarely ever do that because I am too much of a physical threat (in most ORGs) to be allowed into the merge. So I'm super glad that I get to play in the merge and I just have to put myself in a mindset where I can be carefree and not let the stress of the pre-merge weigh me down!

Well, The challenge went pretty well I think, not sure if I won or not though, we'll see.

I'm getting frustrated with Ci'ere though. Everytime we talk they take hours to respond, even when they initiate the conversation, and I respond within 4 minutes. My patience is definitely getting tested.

Well, I didn't win the challenge, I was closeish, got all the right constellations. I just kinda, didn't math correctly in calculating my Tiebreaker number... not sure what I even did to reach that number anymore.

Regardless, I just gotta keep the target off of me, get a feel for what others are thinking, and go from there. Ideally Sam or Ci'ere since Dylan who I'm still not a fan of won.

Ci'ere has been making a bit more effort with me, which has me a bit suspicious, so Sam is ideal just to make it clear to Dani that I DO wanna work with her.

What do people do when they merge? Like this concept is so foreign to me that this laziness is actually nice. Its peaceful and serene. Like my god. If this is the case, why the fuck do I not try to make the merge more often? Honestly, this revelation is so beautiful, I may ugly cry just thinking about it!

ok no offense but the conflict between dani and ci'ere seems literally so beyond fake i can't even comprehend it. maybe im wrong but like it feels so planned, like dan's funeral or smth.

also ci'ere just like formally asked to work with me which was really sweet so hi. they also spilled some tea about roxy/drew/drew2.0 and how theyve been working together without me so. yoinks. glad i won immunity because i wouldve been so lost

Man i'm finna make that bitch dani leave, im working my ass off to save ciere and get her outta here since she's HELLBENT on getting us out. No no, you don't do that. Hope you enjoy merge boot and hopefully just missing out on jury :)

So yeah, the main name floating around has been ci'ere. But the thing is, I've been talking with people and dani seems disposable to a lot of people. So i'm tryna convince the people i'm close with to vote her out instead of ci'ere. Because here's the thing, if dani survives until next vote and ci'ere leaves, she's going to be after me. What i'm saying to my crew is that if ci'ere survives, he'll be with us while dani isn't close with like anyone, she just talks to throw names out cuz she sucks at this game. so like, if people really want ci'ere out, it'd be so much easier to simply blindside him next vote if we wanted, because he'd feel so safe. Esp since im 95% sure one of those 2 have an idol, so i'm gonna try my best to either flush it from ci'ere, or blindside the fuck outta dani sending her home packing with it

suprise bitches after a boring pre merge i am actually playing the game i just need to see which side everyone is on i may use my idol to have my side be on control i could probably be first merge boot before i play yikes! also me and loris are powerful... he has the legacy advantage his mind omg

I hate this cast. Yell at me for a short confessional if ya gotta.

Deadass probably setting myself up for failure this vote with going after dani so hard but fuck it idc, didn't have a chance to get rid of her after louise had left and she told toby to get the fuck outta here, and now I do and she's going and hopefully joins him in the vl :) toby this one's for you homie, miss ya lots <3

W e l l, things have went left here at the Orion camp 😄 I woke up to Andrea & Loris letting me know that Auva 2.0 was after me & that I should play an idol if I had one. Apparently the Auvacados are getting bad vibes from me? However, Dani was the one that made a move against y’all so why am I getting getting ya knickers in a bunch? I previously started laying down the groundwork to have people turn on Miss Dani, but I decided to toss that plan out the window. Last night, Loris told me that John Coffey was the Revati that flipped last round and it’s because he’s friends with Drew H. I’m certain that the Drews, Roxy, & John have an alliance that finalized right before the merge. So that needs to be broken up right away. I went to Dylan, an OG Auva, to let him know that his old tribemates said he was on the outs and they made an alliance with Louise, Dani, & I. He seems to be interested in voting with me, and if he isn’t, then he’s a flop.

Sam called me “babe” earlier & I really cannot with this flirting strategy, but I’m not opposed to it! I guess I would consider him my final 2, but I’d say he’s playing well so I might need to cut him before that hehe.

I don’t like this back and forth running around nonsense, so I’m laying it all out on the table. I exposed the Auvacado 2.0 alliance. I hinted that I have an idol that I really don’t want to use, but I probably will just in case they think I’m bluffing & people don’t target me in the future for it. Apparently this caused people to start scrambling which I’ll have you know is my favorite type of egg. Deviled eggs are good af too 😈

Sam says that we shouldn’t go for Roxy because he has an in with Drew T. & that we should keep Dani the target because she threw out our name. Dani says that John & Kori threw out my name to her. Do I believe her? Not exactly. In the tribe chat when I asked Dani to vote for Roxy, she says that she likes her & would rather do someone else. This is a mess. So right now it’s looking like myself, Sam, Andrea, Loris, Emma, Dylan & Drew T.?

Why is everyone always going after me what the shit. Its drew t and h fault im like their fuckin scategost I jk I love them but im so annoyed why is the fall out if the shit theyfor do, gets blamed on ne when I havent dine anything loll fuck off

I love u drews tho

I knew going into the merge that I wanted Ciere out sooner rather than later; and when an alliance with Dani and kori was formed I thought I’d be able to get him out right away. Dylan won immunity which is awesome because he’s easily my favorite right now. Idk what it is about him but we just vibe really well right now. I’m not sure where I stand with old revati other than kori who asked me to be his final 2 the other day. I’m a wannabe puppet master and nobody was taking my bait to vote ciere. Well it seemed like they were until little rat decides to announce that I had an alliance with the Drew’s and Roxy. I went telling everyone the chat is barely even active and we voted together once. As of now the majority is seeming to want Dani and Kori isn’t answering aoooo idk who I’m voting for I kinda still want to do ciere cause I swore to Dani I wouldn’t vote for her, but I also don’t like her attitude all that much tonight. Same old Dani from unifinished business, but I actually was going to have her back. I’m a mess!!!!!!!!111

WELL BITCH I MIGHT BE GOING. These motherfuckers REALLY want me gone huh? WELL IM NOT GOING OUT WITHOUT A FIGHT. Roxy will rue this day. ROXY WILL RUE IT. She just fucked over her whole damn alliance.

Dani is voted out 9-2-1.

#episode #flyinghigh

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Back again with one of my classic asks. With spooky season nearly upon us, I’d love to know what you think the boggarts are for the HPHM crew. 👻

Oh snap, I’ve thought about this a lot and it’s another one of those magical signatures that flesh out a character that are always fun to think about. Let’s see what I can come up with! This is going to be very disorganized and I apologize for that. 

Some of the characters are confirmed, we know for a fact that Tulip and Penny’s Boggarts are Merula and a Werewolf respectively. We also learn some of the other characters’ fears, although it’s not confirmed if they would be their Boggarts. Bill fears losing his family, meaning his Boggart would very likely be the same as Molly’s. Though it might be an easy way out, I think that Charlie would have the same values and probably have the same Boggart. Rowan feared failing their exams, which means that maybe it would be similar to Hermione’s and just be their Head of House condemning their failure. Or perhaps someone closer to them. Just imagine Rowan seeing their brother, or MC looking at them in disappointment? 

Barnaby is said to fear clowns, and that’s genuinely hilarious. However, I have to wonder if they would  really be his Boggart form. Though he pushes it down all the time, Year 5 makes it very clear that he lives in an abusive household. I’ve seen a lot of head-canons that Lucius would be Draco’s Boggart, but I’ve never agreed with them because however terrible Lucius was at parenting, he was never abusive - at least not to Draco. Barnaby, on the other hand? I wouldn’t be surprised if his Boggart is his father. Alternatively, I find myself remembering how he gravitated toward Merula and Ismelda, despite how they would hurt him. MC helped him see that he was being used. Maybe Barnaby fears being hurt by people close to him? Maybe the Boggart would be something more like a shadowy, scary figure - beckoning to him. The dissonance when one isn’t sure about the difference between abuse and love.

Then there’s Tonks. She’s said to fear losing her abilities. This is one of the only times she ever talks about her shape-shifting powers in a serious moment that isn’t played for laughs. She fears losing her powers? Why would that be? I think I know. I think I know why she constantly makes animals noses, and has her hair pink or purple or whatever color. I think I know why she prefers her surname. And sure, part of it would be that “Nymphadora” sucks as a name, but it’s not like “Tonks” is that much more “normal.” No...I think Tonks wants to distance herself from her mother’s side of the family. I think she’s low-key ashamed to be related to people like Bellatrix. I bet she’s the spitting image of Andromeda, who as we know, is the spitting image of Bellatrix. Maybe that’s why Tonks never shows her real face. Why she embraces the muggle side of her family more. Why she would fear the loss of abilities that let her present herself as she wants to be. As to what her Boggart would physically look like? Maybe Bellatrix herself.

We don’t have any canon information about any other characters, but let’s talk about Ben. I can’t say for certain what his Boggart would be, but I know where his fear lies. Ben is keeping some kind of secret. He’s definitely on our side, but he’s not telling the whole truth. Maybe he’s trying to protect MC, I don’t know. But I bet he fears, or at least feared, what MC’s reaction would be to learning this secret and learning that Ben lied. Imagine his Boggart being MC hating him and turning their back on him for it. Of course, after Chapter 18, I think it would turn into Rowan’s corpse. I doubt I need to explain why. 

Let’s get a bit obscure for a second. This one is more of a head-canon than anything else because there really isn’t any evidence for it beyond how I interpret the character. But when it comes to Badeea, I think she fears the loss of her senses, and her awareness. To put it simply, she fears losing her mind. Being unable to appreciate the world for all of the beauty and wonder it has, all of the new secrets she can learn. I think she’d be afraid of going blind, because that would painting a lot more difficult. I can envision her Boggart taking the form of Badeea herself, visibly unhinged. Blind and stumbling around, muttering to herself. 

I’m not sure what Liz would have as a Boggart, but I have to assume it would reflect on what she finds important. The things that are important to us are ultimately going to shape our greatest fears. Liz is an activist, we know this. I think she fears the evil that humanity is capable of, especially to the innocent. She fears the trauma that cannot be spoken, because the victims lack the language to ask why this is being done to them. Children and creatures, primarily. I could see Liz’s Boggart taking a couple of different forms. Maybe a wounded animal in a cage. Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what a Boggart would do for the more abstract fears...

Merula is one of the characters that I know exactly what her Boggart would be. At first it was Jacob’s Sibling. She feared them, felt intimidated by them. We know this - that was the real reason she locked them in a room with Devil’s Snare. She’s also envious of them - I wouldn’t be surprised if they played some role in her Erised vision as well. But post-Portrait Vault? Come on, we all know who her Boggart is. That seems almost like a given. You may be surprised that I’m not listing her mother, but Pre-Portrait Vault and post, I just don’t believe it would be. I’m not saying Mrs. Snyde is a good person or a good mother, but Merula seems to genuinely love and miss her. 

Chiara is different from Remus in that he hated himself for what he was. I don’t think that Chiara does. I think she has self-respect, but just because that’s true, it doesn’t mean the rest of the world respects her or would look at her with anything but fear and hatred if she shared her entire self. We see this with her trauma over what happened with Selina, and I think we have our answer right there. Young Selina, screaming and terrified when she saw Chiara’s transformation. We never got official confirmation that this was her Boggart, but it’s exactly the kind of thing that would be. It represents all of her insecurities. And sure, MC witnessing her transformation may have helped with that, but I don’t think for one second that it all went away. 

Talbott is another character who all but tells us what his Boggart would be. It’s said that many people who grew up during the First Wizarding War had Voldemort as their Boggart, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Talbott did. (Would make far more sense than MC having Voldemort as a Boggart, that’s for damn sure.) Or if not Voldemort himself, a Death Eater. Could also be his parents’ corpses. Hell, he said that they only found his parents because of the Animagus Registry. Suppose they were killed in animal form. Suppose his Boggart is a swan, lying slain and bloody. There are multiple forms it could take, but it’s crystal clear what Talbott fears the most. He fears the people who murdered his parents, and he fears that he’ll suffer the same fate and that they will have died for nothing.

Okay, I knew you were waiting for this one. Skye Parkin. Another character who’s anxieties are worn on her sleeves, pretty much blatantly. I’m not sure what form the Boggart would take. But it seems clear to me that she’s insecure about her own talent as a Quidditch player, not to mention her lack of social skills. She’s under tremendous pressure and she would have anxiety about not living up to that pressure. Would her Boggart take the shape of Ethan? Maybe. But similar to Merula, I’m not sure because at least on a conscious level, Skye doesn’t seem to realize that she fears him. The Boggart could just as easily take the shape of Rath. Either way, it would have quite a bit of fear to go on. 

Let’s talk about Jae. I’m not sure how canon this is but I’ve heard that the reason he’s dealing in Dark Artifacts is for the sake of his mother, and I really like that idea. It implies that there’s a lot more going on with him and with his family. I can only assume there’s no Dad in the picture. I can only assume that perhaps they aren’t doing that well financially. He can bond with Charlie over that. In any event, I think Jae’s biggest fear is his operations shutting down, that he might get caught or busted. Because he probably depends on this business to help his mother. Not sure what form that Boggart would take, perhaps Ministry wizards showing up to arrest him? Perhaps something to do with his mother? 

Ismelda. Oh Ismelda. Again, we all know what the source of her fear and her pain is. We all know her baggage. Then again, I think her reaction to her family has manifested more into hate, than actual fear. On the other hand, she seemed pretty scared when she thought Merula was going to ditch her for MC. I have to assume that, at one point, she desperately wanted her parents’ attention and feared that they would never love her, before she settled into bitter acceptance of that. I think Ismelda’s fear would look similar to Badeea’s, in that it would take the shape of Ismelda herself in the state that she fears - her being all alone with no one caring about her. Or maybe it would take the form of her sister, throwing this in her face.

Orion seems to value one thing more than anything or anyone else, and that is his family. He lost one family before, and now he has a new one in the form of his Quidditch team. I think he has an interesting perspective about them, and however odd his choices may be I think he’s fully invested in helping them and seeing them grow into the best people and players they can be. I wonder if the reason he’s hesitated to get too involved in the whole fiasco with Skye, is because he fears conflict? If so, I can relate to that. Or maybe he sees something that we don’t. Either way, I don’t think he’ll ever kick Skye off the team because she’s part of that family. His Boggart is probably something to do with his family, and serious harm coming to them. I’ve always speculated that his family died of natural causes. Maybe he fears his new family will dissipate in similar ways? The old fear of losing touch with people after everyone leaves school? Again, this is getting primarily into head-canons and I know I’ve rambled on, but I wonder if his Boggart wouldn’t be the members of his team, reuniting with him and barely remembering or caring about him...

I haven’t covered everyone, but with characters like say, Murphy and Diego and Andre, I have genuinely no idea what their Boggart would be. These are the characters that I’ve had ideas about for a while and I’m so glad I was able to share them, so thank you for that!

#HPHM Headcanons #HPHM Analysis #Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery