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thewertsearch · 9 months

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AG: Tavros, you give confidence a 8ad name. I gave you all the chances in the world to earn it, to earn REAL confidence, and you failed.

Pictured: Vriska giving Tavros 'a chance to earn real confidence'.

AG: You couldn't even do the one little thing I asked you to! The one thing that would have made you man up once and for all.

'Man up' is a funny idiom for a troll to use. We've occasionally seen trolls fall into human gender stereotypes, but it's quite rare, and always sticks out like a sore thumb.

There's an interesting conversation to be had about troll genders. With a reproductive cycle so different to ours, their gender framework will inevitably be different as well. Yes, there are male and female trolls - but what do male and female actually mean to a troll?

On Earth, your assigned gender carries cultural baggage which simply wouldn't exist on Alternia. Assigned gender plays no role in reproduction, nor does it influence household division of labor, since trolls don't have households.

Gender aside, do trolls have a concept of masculine and feminine? Beyond a few stray idioms, the only evidence I can find is their clothing styles. We haven't seen any male trolls rocking a skirt - not yet, at least.

tl;dr: 'Man up' is a cultural can of worms. I think that was probably unintentional, though, and I think we're supposed to interpret that line as if a human spoke it. Vriska's calling Tavros a wimp, which is business as usual.

AG: So instead you flew away and cried, and decided to sleep away your sorrow for the rest of the adventure.

Tavros already alluded to this incident during his conversation with Jade. I guessed that Vriska would be involved, but that was a bit of a no-brainer.

Vriska's trying to frame Tavros as pathetic, but it sounds like he actually put his foot down, flat-out refusing to participate in whatever she had planned. Much like the FLARP incident, this sounds like a victory for Tavros, even if she's convinced him otherwise.

AG: Do you have any idea how sick that made me? Everything a8out you makes me sick.

He rejects your advice. He rejects your advances. His lusus cared for him. He was allowed to be kind, and accepts kindness from others. He doesn't care about winning, but he never lets you win. No matter how much you torment him, he refuses to get any stronger, which means your mindset might be wrong.

'Sick' would be an understatement.

AG: Your plan to control her lusus really wasn't a 8ad idea! AG: And using your a8ility to "save her life" (lol) was a pretty good way to test how effective your powers are across sessions. [...] AG: Practicing your a8ilities is important, so when it comes down to using them for something that really matters, you know you're ready for prime time. AG: I know this first hand. AG: I got lots and lots and LOTS of practice with your little guinea pig friend. ::::D

So that's why Jade was constantly napping? That can't have been good for her brain.

AG: The catch is it's not going to work! [...] AG: You couldn't sic the guardian on Noir even if you were inclined. Not even if I were to MAKE you inclined! :::;)

Like I said before, it's really Vriska who can control First Guardians.

AG: 8ecause you are dealing with a pro here. I already thought of that. AG: I thought of everything! AG: The guardian is not going to attack the agents who engineered him in the first place. AG: Or who I should say were "encouraged" (lol) to engineer him.

Why the fuck would you do this?

When Vriska prototyped Bec, she explained that the event was mandated by the Alpha Timeline, so she didn't make anything worse by causing it. I don't agree with her argument, but I do understand her logic.

This is different. Up until now, there has been no evidence that Bec can't harm Agents. Vriska had no prophecy to fulfil, and no reason to believe that this was required to preserve the timeline. Yes, now we know it's baked into the timeline, but only because Vriska wanted it.

Having Bec help with Jack was a really good idea, and removing the option to do so helps no one. Where's the benefit?

AT: wHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, AG: Tavros, at this point it should 8e o8vious. AG: I am the unseen hand 8ehind every major event in their session, and to some extent, their whole lives. AG: At least those events not happening 8y the volition of their own natural incompetence! AG: Don't you think this is how it should 8e? Shouldn't the greatest player leave her fingerprints on every step of the rise to power of her ultim8 nemesis?

I know Vriska likes to feel in control, but this is ridiculous.

Inserting yourself into Alpha loops is one thing, but nerfing Bec when you don't have to is straight-up sabotage. Couldn't she just stick to micromanaging John's outfits?

AG: I have every angle covered already. The human session is on full Serket lockdown. Any effort you make to disrupt my plans will 8e laugha8le, just like everything you have ever done in your life. AG: The only thing left to do now is prepare to kill Jack myself, and save everyone's ungrateful asses.

Oh my god, I think I've cracked it.

Vriska thinks she's the only one with the right to kill Jack.

She describes him as her ultimate nemesis, which reeks of main character syndrome. Bec isn't important enough to kill Jack, so she eliminated him as an option. It has to be her, the most powerful Player, who's gained all the levels, because that is how these things are done.

It's not just ego, either - there's a deeper motivation at play. If Vriska doesn't beat Jack, she doesn't win - and if she doesn't win, then what was all that abuse were all those challenges for? What was the point?

In Vriska's head, Jack needs to be her nemesis. She needs to be destined to kill him - because if she is, then everything she went through was justified. She'll have secured her position as the most powerful Player of all, and she'll never have to be jealous of anyone again - least of all that wimp with his sweet little fairy lusus. They're all weak, and she's strong.

If she doesn't kill Jack, she's a loser.

And losers may as well be dead.

#homestuck liveblog #full liveblog #act 5.2 #3059 #s96

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acaribeau · 1 year

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Ch 16 wasn’t the first time we traveled back in time

And I'm not talking about NB

Theory time! (And a little rant)

Too much text incoming

What if I tell you that the timeline that we see in cannon (specifically S1) wasn't the first time we lived that year? What if we repeated that year over and over until it came right, not for us (and definitely not for the neckless MC that died in Mammon's arms) but for Diavolo?

You don't believe me? Well, I have a theory...

In multiple times, the brothers had told us that "they wouldn't do something like that for a random human".

But they had, indeed, showed too much attention and attraction to a random human. (Yes, MC isn't completely human but if Angel!Lucifer couldn't see what they were, they just saw a random human with a nice soul). Some of them didn't do pacts at all.

Even Lucifer was flirting with MC (in the form of dead threats like a good demon 😈)

What if that was the remanant of the feelings that they built in the previous time-lines?

But Barbatos vowed to never use his powers... Wrong!

Yes, he vowed to never see the future again... For himself. Diavolo can have totally control over them, over Barbatos. He's his butler and he has vowed to serve him. If assuring the succes of the exchange program (the first step to Diavolo's dream of interdimensional peace) wasn't important enough to use his power, when could they use it?

Barbatos already used his powers in front of everyone in ch16. But... Wasn't too ideal that he knew that MC only needed 5 pacts? As if... He already saw them open the attic before? How did he knew he needed to warp time? Because I'm not going to buy that he leaded MC to Mammon's room by accident. How did they knew (or even suspect) that MC were descendant of Lilith? (And that we could revive magically by her).

Barbatos, ordered by Diavolo, rewinded time and time again that year for assure that neither of the exchange students died in that year (any dead could mean war, depending of how good is the relationship with the Celestial Real. We already saw the threats that Michael send to Diavolo through Simeon in S2).

And like a cerise in a cake, end that annoying and dangerous 'hate for humans' of Belphegor. (And assure again the loyalty of all the brothers for Diavolo at letting them know the reason behind Lucifer's pact was to save their sister)

All ended too good for Diavolo. But for achive that, MC had to gain the affection of the brothers, little by little, or one by one. By the time the cannon is happening, Barbatos already knows what to do without seeing the future...

Of course I'm not saying that all the pacts were for his direct intervention. Mammon's and Satan's were for prophecies (arguably Levi's. When have you seen Barbatos left something dirty for more than 5 seconds? But he wasn't in Levi's competition, so Mammon slipped... but that could be thinking too much) but he helped planning the retire for doing Asmo's pact (remember that they are very close friends, how could he not know how to push his buttons? He could even ask Solomon to lend MC his magic if he wasn't planning it).

And of course, probably that's how they knew about the prophecies of TSL (and why Diavolo avoided the final act, and made Simeon rewrite it), seeing things that no matter what he did, there were thing that always happened. Not in the same way, but inevitable and unavoidable things.

Now! For finishing this :

We all know how OM like to insert the media (normally Levi's animes and games) with long and uncannily titles that adjust too perfectly to the situation they are living.

Poor MC with so many prophecies in their life, I don't know how they aren't paranoid in all their elections.

So... Diavolo said this in a chat.

The actual theory

There were routes. Bad ending routes. We died many times, and in at least one we survived thanks to friendship Lilith's magic and freed Belphegor (in the same or separate timelines). We said what she told us, but something was incomplete, something was wrong and we died again.

Then Barbatos did the little things that could done to be sure that we made the pacts. The moment MC had the 5 pacts, an MC from another timeline came, opened the attic and returned to their timeline (because this Barbatos wasn't an asshole and made the portal door close to the attic).

Belphie, Beel and MC go to PH.

Belph is a prisoner.

MC didn't die.

Lilith doesn't tell them their message (No good Belphie here 😔 only hate).

Then, as things weren't as good as they could be, Barbatos decide to... Expand his options, bending time. How? Well... Being an asshole Making MC to change the past.

He knows MC has to die to "speak" with Lilith and a Belphie filled with blame of killing 'a part of' Lilith again is a good Belphie. A Belphie that won't start a masacre or war in the human world. So, he sends MC to Mammon's room, directly to the past brothers (why risk that MC could be sneaky enough to avoid them in the Hall? Throw them directly to them!) And the rest is history...

So... The questions that we all are thinking (or at least me)...

Will OM! Music Nightbringer give us that bad ending routes?

Will they connect that past-timeline with the present OM, doing this theory semi-accurate or completely wrong?

Will they finally explain the limits of Barbatos' powers? Or is he an ancient god without limits?

Were Mammon's instantly crush in MC product of a past timeline that neither of them remember?

Were Diavolo and Barbatos assholes? Yes

Will Simeon fall?

Will I ever overcome my ADHD and procrastination and write a fic about this theory?

Did I overthink too much an Otome game?

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stannyramirez · 6 months

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𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐯𝐬. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥

“Nope-nope-nope-nope-nope. You need to leave right now. Take your carriage and fire and dead horse, and go back to the underworld.” “We broke up! Period!” “Wait, wait, wait, wait. NAME, hang on. I'm a changed man, okay? I've got a life coach.” “Back off, demon!” “Never go with a predator to a second location.” “Look, I can see you're mad. You think I'm a total jerk. I get it. But I have changed.” “Why didn't you tell me I'm dead?” “Why don't you just stay here, where it's always fun? Like... guaranteed.” “I just gotta stop using magic on my face.” “I'm so excited to be covered in blood with you.” “Ugh! That's the wrong piece of music! This is gonna drive me crazy. Alright, don't go anywhere. I'll be right back.” “Let's get out of here. This place is the worst.” “No! You! You're infuriating!” “I know you're trying to look out for me, but you have to let me figure things out on my own. I don't need a hero. I need a friend.” “You're right. I should've trusted you. I'm sorry I ruined your night.” “I wallpapered my locker with pictures of you.” “You're right. I wouldn't invite me either.” “Let me sing you some birthday tunes with my mouth sounds.” “Something tells me we were not invited to this party.” “You do that, homie. I'ma get this party started!” “Ugh! This party is a disaster.” “It's hard work making everybody happy.” “That's a particularly stupid plan.” “How could I have been so stupid?” “I'm sorry you had a bad day, but what does that have to do with right now?” “I guess I'm just not cool enough for a guy with a record.” “I've never seen this dude in my life.” “So this is what it's like to be bored to death.” “You put so much thought into this. Gifts are such a great way to show how much you really care about someone. I didn't think it was possible to love you more than I do right now.” “Best anniversary ever, best anniversary ever! Best anniversary ever, best anniversary ever!” “Come on, my dear. Let me capture your beauty-ness on this magnificent adventure.” “Every once in a while, I need to sneak away and fight monsters. It keeps me sane.” “I didn't see you and you didn't see me. But just this once.” “After a victory like this, there's only one thing to do: get Chinese food!” “These are fortune cookies. They can magically predict the future.” “You're a weird girl.” “Eh, previous job experience? Nope. No one's ever been dumb enough to hire me.”

“Weaknesses? I don't have any.” “You make absolutely no sense! Go away!” “Oh, wise and powerful cookies, bestow your sugary prophecies upon me.” “Blindly following these fortune cookies is the best decision I've ever made.” “Guess I'm doomed, huh? Be honest. I can handle it.” “Sorry. It's not the will of the cookie.” “This is really hard to say, but if this is gonna go any further, I want our relationship to have a foundation of honesty.” “Sorry. I should've listened to you. Obviously you know better than a dessert.” “This isn't about learning! This is about love.” “This is definitely one of the weirder places we've been to.” “I can't believe we're actually doing this!” “Oh, he's so cute! I just want to gobble him up!” “More than just "Hello"? Too risky. I may say something dumb. That's why I let the kitten pics do the talking for me.” “I used to think that, but now I'm fifty and all my dreams are in the rear view mirror. The best thing of my life is teaching you, and I hate teaching you.” “I was born to lead. Literally.” “When you give people the freedom to do whatever they want, they might just surprise you.” “Being a leader is easy. Just say yes all the time.” “Please, stop where you are and ask yourself: Is this something you really want to do...” “I really didn't think this through!” “They're not lost, we just don't know where they are.” “Ugh, you're even bad at getting fired!” “Monsters are the bad guys.” “I don't have to be bad. In fact, I've always secretly wanted to be good.” “Actually, that's 100% wrong and you want to do the opposite. Now say you're sorry.” “Yeah. You should just give up.” “Uh, the next time you get the urge to punch somebody, just imagine how it would feel if it happened to you.” “Okay, that was my fault. I assumed you knew this, but... you can't eat children.” “Yeah, you know how the news sensationalizes things. I still believe you can be good.” “The key to being good is ‘do unto others as you'd have them do to you’.” “How could you do this?! I was trying to help you!” “Sometimes there's a sense of satisfaction in doing things yourself.” “Either rise up and conquer, or wither here and die!” “I want you to use that time to think about what you've done!”

#sentence meme #rp meme #inbox meme #ask meme #vvmeme #star vs. the forces of evil

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tobiasdrake · 4 months

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The Demon General Burmese Tapir has been slain! Onward, to victory!

Quadruple Shithead at 12 o'clock and closing in fast. Let's fuck him up, Manfred, so we can end this whole thing and go home!

PINWHEELS OF DEATH! I fucked up the Sycophantic Speedster and now I'm here to--

Wait, why does this seem alarmingly familiar? I am at 12 out of 10 on the What The Fuck Scale.

Oh my goddess, we are doing this again.

The fucking Time Shards. They manifest whenever time's being looped. I was waiting for something like this but I wasn't anticipating... this.

That's what Western Hero means!?

It's not a fucking prophecy, it's a goddamn loop. Oh yeah, the great prophets predicted NO THEY FUCKING DID NOT, THEY'RE JUST WATCHING RERUNS.

...

Uh, please disregard my sacrilegious fury. You have done nothing wrong.

I can't believe our whole order is an Avatar chain of postal delivery workers passing the same package along.

What the fuck are we even doing here?

I think... I think I need to lie down and think about my life. Everything I thought I knew about what we were doing was just shot to hell.

I've been moving at a frantic pace from one thing to another and... and for what? I can't do it anymore. I need some time to process and really think about--

FUCK YES I'M THERE LET'S DO IT

You know what, that makes sense yet is somehow tremendously disappointing.

I've built up so much mystique, so much allure surrounding what this even is. But there was never anything there to begin with. It was just a closet. The allure came from the narrative we wove together surrounding the cabinet, moreso than its true contents.

A pretty little fiction in a pretty little bow, tied around a mundane piece of nothing. An apt metaphor for the entire Messenger syst--

Hang on, do you use a glamour photo to get dressed instead of a mirror? Because that's amazing. 10/10 Luana-approved.

So now I'm being inducted into the Cryptic Asshole community? Sure. Whatever. I could use friends, I--

OH I'M YOU NOW AM I

Is that how this works? ...wait, hold up, does that mean your true identity is the Archer who Western Heroed all over my burning village? This is where you've been all this time!?

BYE!?

I have so many questions about--

WELCOME TO ASSCLOWN'S ANAL EMPORIUM. If you give me a moment, I'm sure we have something your size.

Expect to do remarkably little shopping here. There's a bit of it, but for the most part, I'm just going to give you useful geographic background information and stuff. Oh, and I suppose I could read you my favorite passages from the Moon Goddess fab-- I mean, I have some neat stories to share.

Don't get used to freebies; Those only come along when you need a traversal boost for the next leg of your journey. I expect you to pay me in Time Shards for most of your Upgrades. Don't ask what I'm doing with them. You're still too young for that level of cynical disillusionment.

He seems nice. We're going to be best friends.

Wow, from my perspective, you were gone five seconds. For some reason, I anticipated being unmoored from time and space to still progress time at the same pace as, y'know, being moored in time and space. I don't know why I thought that.

Sure, I guess we'll breeze through this loop.

Gonna be totally honest with you, about 80% of the lore you're going to receive from me is probably going to be made up on the spot. I wish I understood even half as much of this world's deep secrets as my predecessor did, he was always so quick with the....

...

Oh, son of a bitch.

I need a moment. I'm having horrifying revelations. The shop is temporarily closed due to existential despair.

#the messenger #drake plays the messenger

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esther-dot · 1 year

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GRRM's treatment of Ratgar is something I go back and forth on a lot and is a prime example why Death of the Author is a thing lol. I saw one fan say that anyone with critical thinking skills (so let's remove Targies from the equation) would see R as a douchebag but she was annoyed because she thinks GRRM himself does not see R that way and I kind of agree lol. I keep seeing some meta writers saying that GRRM "definitely thinks badly of R and R/L is some commentary on grooming", etc., and I'm not saying I totally disagree, but I 100 percent believe when GRRM conceived of R/L he meant for it to be a romantic, completely consensual star crossed lovers situation and R was meant to be a tragic, but Capital R romantic figure. However, that fan also said that because so much time has passed since he wrote the first book (90s to 2023 lmao) a lot of the shit GRRM romanticized is now seen as problematic and would need to be "fixed" or retconned. That being said, I don't think ADOS will see the light of day so we may never get the full R/L backstory or GRRM may choose to have what happened with R/L forever be some amorphous mystery (the more I think of it the more I think this will be the case for various reasons). I also don't think GRRM himself has a lot of what happened worked out in his head as he is not a plotter, but a seat of his pants writer and changes things as they go. He's the type that puts things in his writing that look/sound cool or interesting and then needs to find a way to bring it together which is one of the reasons it's taking him forever to get the second to last book out.

(in reference to this ask)

I agree we need to remember the impact of his style of writing. He made a blog post last year talking about that, how he can reach a dead end or explores and finds something wonderful, how he’s discovering things as he writes, so it’s good to strive to be as open minded to revelations as the author is. Although yes, we should all feel free to dislike and criticize some of those developments!

My hesitancy to believe Martin has changed his perspective on Rhaegar is that in AGOT we get Lyanna’s anti Robert stance (anti unfaithful husbands) which imo is the biggest “Lyanna wouldn’t have wanted to go with Rhaegar” sign we have. And then it is in ACOK I believe, that we get prophecy baby as an additional motivation for Rhaegar to pursue Lyanna, not love. It’s later, ASOS (I think), when we learn she wept while he sang which to me would be where we see the “love story” theory really enters the picture. That’s why I feel like Martin’s version is likely “complex” rather than one thing. As in, to me, he’s adding layers, making us understand the initial story isn’t entirely correct and slowly unraveling the truth, not changing directions.

Agentrouka has talked about parallels between R/L and Jon/Ygritte, with Jon in the “maiden” role being moved by the singer, but Jon believed he loved Ygritte, and Sansa believed she loved Joffrey (another Stark maiden charmed by someone who sang to her), which is why I think Lyanna willingly went even if in the end, she regretted it. But even that...when I read Ned’s memories of her dying while holding the crown of roses...idk. It’s definitely romanticized. Like, holding a lock of hair or a dry flower from a lover as someone dies is something I’ve read before, so perhaps we’re meant to read that and damn Rhaegar for being the cause of her death, but I’m not sure. Whenever/if I ever do a reread, I’ll be open to being swayed in either direction.

I’ve said before that I think Martin has a much more expansive view of people than I do, as in, he truly doesn’t want us to allow one bad thing they do to negate the good, and on the one hand, cool, we’ve all made mistakes so we can appreciate the concept, but on the other, I’m not sure I agree with him on what is or isn’t a forgivable wrong. Based on things he’s said about Dany, I know that we don’t have the same view of teen girls, and that has impacted what I think he’s capable of writing.

I do agree that there will be a lot of things that we have conflicting views on without getting a clear cut answer. It might feel like a cop out, but it’s interesting to deny the reader an emphatic, authorial “here is the truth” and leave them to determine it themselves. For a series utilizing the POV structure, that seems fitting, and I’m sure that will be true for some prophecies as well. What is the truth? We have to determine it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

#dot chat #< tag to filter

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the-al-chemist · 1 year

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Artemis Hexley and the Return to the Riddles

Chapter 24: Set Free

A/N: the chapter featuring the first of Artemis and Dumbledore’s annual chats was called “More Questions Than Answers”, and I feel like the last chapter left us with exactly that. So, let’s answer the rest, shall we? Warnings: mentions of death, violence, murder, intrigue, betrayal, and war. Spoilers for the Harry Potter series. One NSFW but hilarious joke I plagiarised from the BBC series “Ghosts”.

Her mind reeling, Artemis felt her whole self spin, before her feet touched back on solid ground. She was out of the Pensieve, and back in Dumbledore's office once more. Still dizzy, she looked from the Pensieve to the headmaster and back again.

"I..." She took a deep breath and rubbed her damp cheeks with the heel of her hand. "The doors. I used to dream about the doors. And the rest... That's what I saw in the final Vault. Some of it, anyway. It didn't make sense, because the rest was all memories, but that... I didn't remember it. But they were memories too, weren't they?" Professor Dumbledore nodded his head, and Artemis took another shaky breath. "So all of it really happened? My dad... My father, he... He wanted Jacob to open the Vaults, so he..."

"He found the kindest way to fulfill the prophecy he could think of," Dumbledore said gently. "But, yes. He attempted to take your life."

"And my mother..."

"The following morning, Leander Hexley was found lying beneath the same archway he tried to convince you to run through. He knew the significance of the archway, and so his death was suspected to be self-inflicted. No one ever suspected Sally Hexley. But then, people always do underestimate the ferocity of a mother."

"But why don't I remember it properly?"

"You know why. You saw why."

"No," Artemis shook her head. "Jacob wouldn't do that."

"You have just seen that he did."

"Well, you must have it all wrong. There must be another reason why I don't remember."

"I do not have it wrong,” Dumbledore sighed. “You don't remember because the two people who loved you most wanted to protect you. Jacob removed your memories, and your mother did her best to hide the truth from you, however she could. In doing so, they relieved you of the burden of knowing about everything you just saw."

Artemis' hands shook with anger. "But that's not fair. Those memories were mine, and I didn't even get asked if-"

"I am not condoning either of their actions, Artemis. I am merely stating facts," said Dumbledore, his blue eyes filled with sympathy. "Your own father attempted to kill you in order to fulfil an ancient prophecy that would enable him to gain access to great power. Is that something that any child should have to live with? Of course, the answer to that question is no. Now, was it fair that your brother tampered with something that should have been yours and yours alone, and in the process denied you your right to the truth? Also no. Was it right that your mother pushed you away to stop you from reading the truth in her eyes, and in doing so, made you doubt her love for you? Yet again, no. But, they did these things thinking that they would protect you from harm. Sometimes, even when - especially when - try to keep the ones we love safe, we hurt them in other ways."

Artemis was used to Dumbledore's eyes sparkling as her spoke, though not with tears, as they were now. She sighed deeply, her anger draining from her, just a little.

"How do you know all this, Professor?" she asked.

"Your brother told me himself, shortly after your father's death," replied Dumbledore. "He told me everything. He told me how, in his search for the Vaults, he had discovered that his father was the leader of the group that had derived itself from the Ronde of Fortinbras. He told me that his father believed him the one to open the Vaults, and yours the life required for the sacrifice. He begged me to help him, appealed to my better nature, and together, we came up with a plan that would keep you safe from the Ronde.

"As I said before, the prophecy that you and young Mr Weasley procured from the Department of Mysteries could have pertained to either you or to your brother. If Jacob were to open the Vaults, you would not survive the process. However, if you did it..."

"Then it wouldn't be me who would be used as a sacrifice."

"Precisely. It would be your brother. Jacob knew that you adored him more than anyone, and he was prepared to switch places with you, to lay down his own life for yours," Dumbledore inclined his head. "This is what I mean when I say that it was not your action of picking up the prophecy record that made you the one to fulfil it. Your brother had already taken measures to ensure that you would be the one, and not him.

“That is why he continued his search for the Vaults after his expulsion. He was attempting to open each one in turn, ready to take you to the final Vault and sacrifice himself to allow you to open it. It is why he left home all those years ago, why he disappeared without a trace. He was making himself unavailable to the Cabal so that they would have no choice but to use you until he was found. He even went as far as to leave a trail behind him for you to follow, should he fail in his endeavour. Just as well he did, because he later became trapped inside the Buried Vault, but then, your brother was very good at planning ahead. There was, however, one thing that he did not plan for."

"What was that?"

"Your heart," said Dumbledore simply. "The curses were dormant, the Vault was sealed, and Jacob trapped inside. But, in the time it took for him to be freed, you had begun to grow into the young woman you are now. You changed, you learned about the yourself and the world around you, and you forged deep connections with others. As you should have, I might add." Dumbledore's lips twitched, but his eyes still looked sad. "In absenting himself, Jacob had distanced himself from you emotionally, allowing your heart to make room for another to take his place. He was no longer the person you held most dear, and his was not the life required as a sacrifice."

"Rowan..." Artemis swallowed. Her throat was bone dry. "So it really was my fault that she died."

Dumbledore shook his head and placed his hand on hers.

"No. No, my dear girl," he sighed. "Artemis, I owe you an apology. The same apology I owe to Rowan herself and to all the other people who loved her. When Jacob Hexley came to me and begged me to help save his younger sister's life at the expense of his own, I agreed. I even went so far as to put him in contact with someone who I knew would stop at nothing to help him in his endeavour. I am talking, of course, about Patricia Rakepick.

"Patricia had been a student several years earlier, and after leaving Hogwarts, had gone on - to absolutely no one's surprise - to achieve great renown in the field of curse-breaking. Her views about certain events affecting the wizarding world at large during that time closely aligned with my own, and she herself had been fascinated by the idea of the Cursed Vaults as a girl. I knew that her intellect, bravery, and ruthlessness was precisely what your brother - and you - needed to reach the final Vault. She would have both the ability to make difficult decisions and the understanding of why they needed to be made. She would do what was necessary, I was certain of it. Sadly, I was correct about this.

"This is why I must apologise," said Dumbledore. "I knew the lengths to which Patricia Rakepick would go, but I failed - either wilfully or not - to see how her doing so might result in the death of someone not already directly embroiled in the mystery of Hogwarts’ Cursed Vaults. If you must blame anyone other than Rakepick herself for Rowan's death, it should be me."

Artemis blinked back tears, and the headmaster squeezed her hand.

"You acted in innocence, I in ignorance," he told her. "It is a small difference, but one that renders me culpable, and you not." He let go of her hand, his own eyes dewy. "The Cursed Vaults were always going to have their life eventually, Artemis. There is nothing that you could have done that would have stopped that, and your opening the final Vault tonight will have saved countless others great losses such as the one you experienced last year."

Slowly, Artemis nodded her head, her eyebrows knitting together. Dumbledore's words were reminiscent of someone else's. Rakepick's.

"In her trial, Rakepick said that Rowan's life had spared those of many others," she said, and Dumbledore inclined his head. "Is that why this is so important, all of this? Why so many people wanted what was inside that Vault, and behind that door?"

"All that most people know is that the Vaults were created to hold a great power. The terrible thing about power is that there are many who will stop at nothing to gain it. Power corrupts, which is why Morgan Le Fay thought it necessary to protect this specific power with such a complex system of secrets and riddles as the Cursed Vaults. As for why that power is so significant..." Dumbledore straightened up in his seat, his face growing stern. "Miss Hexley, I once taught a student who was completely and utterly corrupted by the mere promise of power."

"Rakepick, yeah, I know."

"No. Not Rakepick. This student's name was Tom Riddle." Dumbledore spoke the name as if it ought to have meant something to Artemis. Clearly her face gave away the fact that it did not mean anything at all, for he continued, "You, of course, will know him by another name. Lord Voldemort."

Artemis' mind boggled. "But what has You-Know-Who -"

"Voldemort."

"Yeah. Voldemort, sorry," she corrected herself quickly. "What's he got to do with the Cursed Vaults?"

"Four years ago, you asked me if I believed that Voldemort had ever truly died. I told you that I did not," said Dumbledore. "Miss Hexley, you have seen how many prophecies are held in the Department of Mysteries. One of those prophecies hints at a way by which Voldemort may be defeated, once and for all. However, in order for it to be done, we will be in need of a great power, one of which Voldemort knows not."

"The power inside the Cursed Vaults?"

"That has indeed been my theory for many years."

"And your theories are usually correct," Artemis said. Dumbledore chuckled softly, and she bit on her lip. "What is it, then? This great power? The thing that all these people have been searching and hurting and dying and fighting for?"

"The same thing for which people have searched, hurt, died, and fought since the beginning of time, and will continue to do so for as long as there are people still living to do so. It is a power that can cause great harm, but can also bring great strength, courage, and happiness. It is the greatest power any of us can ever hope to know."

She wasn't sure if Dumbledore was being especially cryptic, or if she was being especially stupid, but Artemis had no idea what her headmaster might mean. He smiled at her gently.

"The answer is love, Artemis."

"Love?" Artemis' nose wrinkled. "That's it? Just love?"

"Just love? My dear girl, have you not been listening to a word I said?"

"I dunno, sir. I don't really see how love can be this great power that can save us all," said Artemis. "I mean, how can anyone defeat a wizard like You-Know... like Voldemort using love?"

"The same way that you have used love to solve the riddle of the Cursed Vaults," Dumbledore replied. "Consider this, Artemis. Your brother's love for you was the thing that made him so desperate to keep you safe. Your love for him drove you to search for him against all odds. Your love for your friends kept you going through the darkest times in your life, and their love for you kept them by your side every step of the way. Your love for Rowan-"

"Got her killed."

"I never said that love wasn't dangerous. On the contrary, it can be exceptionally dangerous. Nothing so powerful could not be. Love can cause people to do terrible things, just as it can cause them to do the most wonderful things. In your case, love inspired you to honour Rowan's memory, to protect others, and to fight back against the Vaults until you had opened them all, a feat that no other witch or wizard has achieved since they were created in the time of Merlin and Morgana. It made you braver and better, it kept you going like a fire burning deep inside your heart. It has been - and continues to be - your greatest strength. It is all of our greatest strengths."

Finally, Artemis thought that something in all of this made sense. She nodded her head slowly.

"But Voldemort doesn't know this," she said.

"He does not. He has never known what it means to love, and so he underestimates the power of it. And that, I hope, will be his downfall," Dumbledore stood up and walked over to the Pensieve, still swirling in its stone dish. "We live in a strange time, Artemis. This is the calm before the storm. But the storm will come, make no mistake, be it in a year, or five, or fifty." He looked at Artemis with an expression that was neither happy nor sad. "Because of you, however, I now have an idea of how we might weather it. And for that, we should all be thankful."

There was a finality in his voice that made it clear that Artemis was free to leave. She walked across the office to the door, pausing by it to ask, "What do I tell the others? They're bound to ask me what I found in the Vault..."

"The truth," said Dumbledore. "Tell them what you found. But perhaps do not speak of the second prophecy. It would be most unwise to give away our most precious secret, after all."

"No," Artemis agreed. "I guess it wouldn't."

"Now, you'll have to excuse me, Miss Hexley. I have a letter to send to Azkaban about a prisoner who deserves to be set free."

Artemis left Dumbledore’s office feeling as if she had grown significantly older in just a few hours. Outside the windows, the lights of the battle against the cabal had dimmed, and she found herself wondering exactly what had happened in her absence.

She did not need to wait long to discover the answer to her question, for when she turned out of the gargoyle corridor and descended the grand staircase, she found the entire Circle of Khanna gathered on the stairs discussing the night’s events, the portraits on the walls gathering around them in a blatant attempt to listen to their conversation. A few of them had cuts and scrapes to their skin, and Charlie’s left arm was in a sling, but otherwise they looked largely unharmed. As she neared them, they caught sight of her.

“Artemis!”

“Where have you been?”

“The others said you disappeared inside the Vault.”

“Yeah. Dumbledore managed to find me. I’ve just been in his office.” Several mouths opened, presumably to ask Artemis more questions, but she quickly continued, “Did you manage to capture the Cabal, then?”

“Yeah, we did,” Jae told her. His cheeks were flushed, though Artemis wasn’t sure whether that was due to the excitement of the battle or the fact that Chiara was currently using a piece of damp cotton wool to clean a cut on his temple. “Every single one of them. The Aurors have taken them away now.”

“They conjured these metal things to go over their hands to stop them from using wandless magic,” said Ismelda. “They were actually kind of cool.”

Artemis nodded. “Right. And the Cursed Vault?”

“Well, after you disapparated, the light in that column grew really bright,” Penny said breathlessly. “Almost blindingly so, actually. And then the Vault started to shake and rumble, until the walls started caving in on themselves. Luckily, Ben managed to blast a hole in the wall so we were able to escape.”

“We got out of there pretty fast. As soon as we were out the gillyweed started taking effect again so we managed to swim much quicker,” explained Tonks. She screwed up her face and held up a pair of webbed hands before demonstrating her swimming technique. “Just as well, really. Not long after we got out of there the whole thing crumbled completely, we heard it crashing against the floor of the lake, and then the light radiated out like shockwaves, or something, and swept us right out of the way.”

Bill raised his eyebrows. “I dread to think what it would’ve done to us if we’d been closer to the Vault at the time. By the time we regrouped and actually looked back, the whole cave had completely disintegrated.”

“So it’s really destroyed then? The Vault?”

“I think they might all be,” said Talbott. There was a bandage on his right foot in lieu of a shoe, and he looked even more disgruntled than usual. “I was out of the main fighting by that point because of my foot, and I saw the glow on the middle of the lake. There were more bright lights in the distance at the same time, and I’d say that they would’ve been in the right direction to have come from the forest and the library. I thought it was odd at the time, but I was more concentrating on what was going on in the courtyard.”

“That’s fine, Talbott, don’t worry. I’m sorry about your foot.”

Talbott made a noncommittal noise. Penny shuffled closer to him and his expression grew a little happier. On his other side, Merula rolled her eyes before turning to Artemis.

“Come on, then,” she drawled. “Tell us what it was.”

“What what was?”

“What was inside the light. The power inside the Vaults. What was it?”

“Oh,” Artemis frowned. She wasn’t quite sure what parts of her conversation with Dumbledore she should or even could tell them. “Well, that light was inside the column, and it felt like it wanted to take me somewhere. So, I let it. I disapparated, and it took me to this spring.”

“The season?” asked Barnaby. “Or a bed spring?”

“Neither, I mean a water spring, like where rivers come from. Except this wasn’t water, it was something else… I dunno how to explain it. It wasn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before, and I couldn’t even see it properly, because it disappeared every time I looked straight at it.”

“Like a mirage,” said Badeea, her brown eyes wide.

“No, it was real. Definitely real,” Artemis told her, shaking her head. “It was flowing somewhere and I followed it until it went down into a fountain, but when I looked back behind me, the stream of… whatever it was had disappeared.”

Chiara looked up from her bandages with concern. “Were you frightened?”

“Not really, no. It wasn’t frightening. Well, it was a little, but it was more the sort of frightened you get when you’re scared but excited, too. Mainly it just felt… nice. Really nice.”

“It sounds glorious, darling,” Andre said impatiently. “But what was it?”

Artemis shrugged. “Love, apparently.”

Her answer was met by a mixture of reactions. Penny’s blue eyes grew wide and wistful, Liz frowned behind her glasses. Ismelda looked almost repulsed, and Diego raised one sceptical eyebrow. Merula snorted loudly.

“That might be the most stupid thing you’ve ever said, Hexley,” she said. “And that’s really saying something.”

“Well, it’s what Dumbledore said.”

Tonks laughed. “Of course it was. He’s an old hippy, isn’t he?”

“Think about it, Hexley. As if Morgan le Fay, the most powerful Dark Witch to have ever existed, would’ve gone to all that effort just to hide something like love.”

“Merula’s right. That makes no sense.”

“Doesn’t it?” asked Badeea. “I mean, they do say that love is the answer.”

“The answer to what?”

“Nothing specific, Barnaby. Just in general.”

“Oh, right,” Barnaby nodded sagely. “I suppose love is pretty powerful, isn’t it?”

“I still don’t think it makes sense,” Merula said. “Trust you to go to all that effort and not even manage to find out what this all-important power is. This is why you don’t put Hufflepuffs in charge of things.”

“Hey!”

“I’m just saying it how it is, Caplan.”

“Maybe there’s another way to find out what it was,” suggested Jae. “Could you go back and getting some samples of the stuff?”

“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea! I could take it with me to France to analyse if I get good enough grades for my alchemy internship.”

“Or we could just try and analyse it ourselves,” Ismelda said. “Test it on some first years or something before we leave.”

“As the oldest person here, and former Head Boy, I think I’m going to veto that idea.”

“But we need to know what it is!”

“Do we?” asked Ben, and the others all stared at him. “I don’t think we do. Maybe Dumbledore’s right, maybe it is love. Maybe it’s not. Does it matter?”

“Yes.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he shook his head. “Because we never set out to find out what was inside that Vault. That’s what the Cabal were doing, we were just trying to stop them doing it. That’s what made us different to them. It was never about power for us. It was about ourselves, about keeping the people we cared about safe. And most of all, it was about Rowan. We wanted to honour her by defeating the Cursed Vaults and the Cabal, and tonight we did both of those things. I don’t know about you lot, but I think that’s what really matters.”

He took a deep breath and fell quiet. Charlie reached across with his good arm to pat him on the back three times, slowly.

“Well said, mate.”

The rest of the Circle of Khanna - for once - stopped bickering, and began to chat peacefully among themselves. Only one person remained completely silent, uncharacteristically so. Artemis sat down beside her.

“Hi, Tulip,” she murmured, and Tulip stopped scratching dirt from under her nails to look at her. “How are you?”

“How do you think I am?” Tulip asked, her lips twitching into a small wry smile. She sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know how I am.”

“Of course not.”

“I just… It’s weird. My dad and me, we’ve never been close, or even really got on. It’s not like we have anything in common. He’s so controlling, and he’s always spent more time at work than he has at home, but… But I thought I knew what sort of person he was, you know? I mean, he’s my dad, for Godric’s sake.”

“Yeah,” Artemis nodded. “I get that.”

“I suppose you do, after everything that happened with your brother.”

Artemis frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, even when people said all those things about him, because of that book, and after he went to Azkaban because of Duncan Ashe’s death, you-”

“That wasn’t his fault.”

“- still believed that he was good deep down. That’s exactly what I mean.”

“Yeah, but it’s different. Sort of.”

“Maybe,” Tulip shrugged, looking unconvinced. Artemis swallowed. She wasn’t sure that she was convinced, either. She wasn’t sure of anything right now. “I guess I can’t believe it. Not because I don’t know it isn’t true, but because it doesn’t feel real yet. Once it’s more real, hopefully I’ll know what to think and how to feel. Or not. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.”

Artemis nodded, her teeth grazing her lower lip. Suddenly, her friends’ quiet conversations seemed far too loud. She looked around herself, scanning the stairs for a way to get back to the comfort of her dormitory and Fergus the cat without anyone noticing her leave, but she couldn’t see one. Further down the steps, Charlie made eye contact with her.

“You alright?” he mouthed, and she shrugged in response. He cleared his throat before speaking aloud. “Do you think we ought to tell Duncan Ashe about the Cursed Vaults being destroyed? After all, he went looking for them years before any of us did, and, well…”

“I’ll go,” Artemis said quickly. “He knows me.”

She gave Charlie a grateful smile as she stood back up. As she rose to her feet, so did Bill.

“I’ll come with you,” he said. “Just in case… Well, you know what Duncan’s like.”

Artemis considered the offer for a moment before nodding her head, and together she and Bill made their way up to the fifth floor of the castle.

“What’s wrong, little one?” Bill asked her, once they were well out of earshot of the others. “You look pretty glum for someone who’s just solved Hogwarts’ greatest mystery.”

He raised his eyebrows at her, and Artemis sighed deeply.

“It’s… Can I tell you some other time? I don’t think I have the words to explain right now.”

“Of course you can. I’ll even buy you a dictionary to help, if you like.”

In spite of everything, Artemis found herself smiling. Her smile faded, however, when they opened the door to the prefects’ bathroom. There was a ghost hovering above the sink, but it was not the ghost they were looking for.

“Peeves,” Artemis said, her hand instinctively reaching for her wand as the poltergeist floated closer to her.

“Why, if it isn’t little Hexy. What is little Hexy doing here?”

“We might ask you the same question,” muttered Bill, and Peeves blew a raspberry at him by way of response. Artemis tried a different approach: telling the truth.

“We’re looking for Duncan Ashe, Peeves.”

Peeves let out a deep sigh before turning upside down and beginning to sing: “They seek him here, they seek him there, but they won’t find him anywhere!”

Artemis wrinkled her nose. “What does that mean?”

“Means that Duncan isn’t here anymore,” he said, turning back the right way up again. “He’s been sucked off.”

“He what?”

Peeves did not reply, merely floated upwards with raised arms and wiggling fingers. Not entirely sure that she understood what the poltergeist was trying to say, Artemis turned to Bill, who frowned briefly before a look of realisation appeared on his face.

“I think what he means is that Duncan has moved on.”

“Moved on to where?”

“Just on,” said Bill. Clearly, Artemis looked as confused as she felt, because he continued: “Well, not everyone becomes a ghost when they die. They say that those who do have some kind of unfinished business that’s still tying them to the life they had before death. Once that has been dealt with, they don’t have to keep hanging around.”

“So” - Artemis swallowed - “he’s just gone?”

Though she could not say that she had ever been overly fond of Duncan - he certainly had never been fond of her - she couldn’t help but feel sad that he had gone for good, no matter how Peeves put it.

“Hey,” Bill said, with a sympathetic smile. “Think about it. Duncan was kept here because the Vaults were still around, and now that they’ve been destroyed, he’s been allowed to go on to wherever he needs to go.”

“But-”

“He’s been set free, Artemis. It’s a good thing.”

Bill was right, of course. It was a good thing, being free. Artemis knew that much. Her heart lifted slightly. Maybe she could be free now, too.

“So, does that mean that the Vaults really are gone for good?” she asked, and Bill smirked.

“I can think of a way to find out.”

They left Peeves in the prefects’ bathroom, but instead of returning back down the grand staircase to find the others, they continued to make their way through the fifth floor. When they reached they easternmost corridor, they turned down it until they reached a hole in the wall where there had once been a locked door, several years ago. They stepped through it into the small room with the wall that hid the secret staircase to the first Cursed Vault. Artemis pointed her wand at the wall.

“Revelio!”

Nothing happened. Nothing was there. Scarcely able to believe her own eyes, she looked back to Bill. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and grinned at her, and she at him.

“Good work, Curse-Breaker.”

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birbs-in-space · 1 year

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woo I've got 3 of 4 crochet projects done! I'm taking a quick break before i return to the final one, but here's what I've been working on for the past month!

brief explanation: a friend of mine talked me into putting together some crochet stuff for the fiber arts part of my local fair! all submissions are due may 26th (including photography and art, which I'm going to figure out after I'm done with my crochet work) so I've been scrambling ever since finishing up with my dcrb stuff

the first of the projects is an elephant themed handbag. it's technically a bit of a collab with a friend of mine who came up with the initial idea and is going to be dealing with the interfacing and the lining, so I'm going to have to sort out how to represent that in the submission but

here's what it will look like, minus the ears, tail, and feet. i photographed it before sending it off to her! i also made a trial bag ahead of time

i also made this to trial run my design ideas. it's got some major flaws though i do actually like the head shape more lol even though I spent a LOT of time trying to make the final one work properly.

project 2 is these parols! if you're unfamiliar, an actual parole is a star-shaped paper lantern made in the philippines as a christmas decoration. now i can't make paper lanterns but i can make these, which i did, based off of a design i worked out last Christmas to make some as a gift for my mom. most of these were made using lily sugar and cream yarn which was a Huge Mistake lol.

project 3, which i actually finished a while ago before finishing up the parols are these...things. it's a bit tricky to explain but basically i made these both for fun and as an experiment to test out the capabilities and limitations of chatgpt. if you're somewhat familiar with me, you'll know I'm a programmer by career. which means i have to keep abreast of technological developments NOT because i need them for my job, but because i WILL get pestered by other people who think i know the answer (a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy, that). plus, machine learning is a bit fun cause it's a) it's fun to see it flop and flail around cause it doesn't actually know shit and b) it's a fascinating reflection of the world we've created and the failures and limitations of the structures we create to define and control it.

which is to say that i asked it for various patterns with varying levels of specificity and oversight and crocheted what it gave me with varying levels of "forgiveness" (damn thing doesn't even tell me where to sew or attach things most of the time). IF my submission is accepted, I'm hoping they'll let me submit some explanations to go with lol. and also after finishing the last pattern, which i generated maybe 2 weeks ago, I've finished off the project in solidarity with WGA and the newly unionized "AI" content moderators.

(the most powerful tool i think i have personally is my ability to explain why chatgpt and it's siblings are so limited in their ability and why people ought to be careful implementing them in any meaningful way)

so now that I've adequately proved that i am not a tech bro, actually. observe: my children

the absolutely comical moray eel

i requested a separate jaw piece and that it be long and thin. it gave me this in the silliest way possible.

yes the fins are all wrong and the body is weirdly twisted. i don't know why it gave me a trapezoidal panel. it didn't even tell me to make a tube out of it or how but idk what else i couldve possibly done. anyway, i love him

next, a small collection of flowers.

one looks like a sunny side up egg but pink. chat gpt claimed the one on the left was specifically supposed to be a rose, which is genuinely funny. it's a flower doily, at best, and not even a good one at that.

poppy, orange

im actually quite impressed by these, especially the poppy petals and the leaf of the orange (though the orange is rather flat... i squished it in a bit for the sake of the picture. also check out that stem. wild.)

mystery patterns 1 and 2

these were supposed to resemble actual things, when i was done with them. they do not.

my beloved pill quail

the pattern actually had the dots misaligned because it miscounted the number of stitches in the round, making the instructions mathematically impossible. for the sake of not accidentally creating a physical impossibility and plunging the world into a spontaneously generated black hole, i decided to fix it instead. though that didn't stop my poor quail from literally being capsule shaped, having coffin shaped wings, and the largest quail beak ever. i actually was very specific about this pattern and had to ask it for modifications and answer regenerations a lot (if you do this, you'll find that the average crochet pattern it makes is JUST outside the bounds of it's character limit), so the fact it turned out so funny looking will never not be hilarious to me

mushrooms

for the first, it actually just gave me a panel for the stem, but not cylindrifying it made no sense. for the second it literally just gave me two balls but the nature of crochet balls is you can kinda squish them into shapes.

the "flower basket"

i asked it for an idea to put into the fair, it gave me the flower basket—a small, deflated ball. 10/10. the biggest failure, which is why I love it so

the water lily

it did not adequately tell me how to put the petals onto the circular back panel (which it called the flower). I'd say what i did is probably what it was going for, but it's literally incapable of going for anything. that's not how text predictive models work. and fun fact! no water lily patterns on the internet look like this

self-representation

if chatgpt looked like a little crochet guy, it would look like this, according to it. (once you get past it insisting that if has no visible/physical form) apologies for the very mediocre glasses—i did not get into this hobby to embroider. i am very specifically not good at that. also it's feet were literally too big to have it NOT be sitting. and i did ask for the size safety eyes i should use, which is why they're so small lmfao

and finally:

Ert the hedgehog. it told me i COULD add spikes by using a crochet hook to add yarn at the top of its head. it did not tell me how. so i did that...for at LEAST as much time as it took to make the rest of it. Ert is my newest scapegoat whenever i have a problem. also i forgot to style his spikes for this photo lmaoo

bonus:

#new post #crochetposting #i think i shall put any crochet related projects in that tag now #ok I'm gonna zone out for a bit and then get back to project 4 #i was at work nearly 12 hours yesterday so I'd like a bit of a break lol

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throughdarkeningskies · 2 years

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ok SO final thought about the seven siblings au. jaykit uses his dream powers on firestar and finds out about the prophecy not long before he's due to be made an apprentice. Except he's not any relation of Firestar (that he knows of) so, like Firestar, he concludes that the Three are Squirrelflight, Leafpool and Cloudtail.

He tells his siblings and they're all like. ok. why do we care. Jay's like I Got This Vision From The Cat Gods We Have To Care. Hollykit is happy to shadow Leafpool, because she wants to be the medic anyway, and the others agree to watch Squirrelflight because she's more fun and plays better games. Jaykit sets himself on bothering Cloudtail.

At first Cloudtail is baffled as to why this yappy kit suddenly wants to follow him everywhere and ask every single question in the known world. But then he thinks back to his own apprenticeship in the forest, and the friendships he had with the elders, and is like aww jaykit just wants to make friends with the older members of camp :) so he lets jaykit go around camp with him asking questions.

eventually, he does get sick of it. he goes to firestar and is like 'hey this zesty young child is really annoying me, and is obviously frustrated being cooped up in camp... can I have him as an apprentice?'

jaypaw upon receiving his mentor is like Ah Yes. It's All Falling Into Place.

the two of them get on like a house on fire, but something isn't right. jaypaw just isn't enjoying the apprenticeship as much as he thought. neither is hollypaw. eventually they decide to swap. cloudtail is kind of sad but yknow. These things happen. he makes an effort to stay close to jaypaw, and is the first to congratulate him when he's made a full medic.

Eventually, The Reveal comes. jayfeather is alone in the medicine den, feeling more isolated than he's ever felt in his life.

cloudtail comes barrelling in, all his fur on end. jayfeather doesn't even look up.

'something wrong?' he asks jay. 'why don't you tell your uncle cloudtail all about it'

jayfeather's like OH

whenever someone makes a sideways remark about him from then on Cloudtail jumps in like How Dare You. That's My Nephew. How Could You.

and in all the shit that follows, it cheers jayfeather up just a little bit.

#warrior cats #seven siblings au #i dont know if this. makes any sense. poast. goodnight #long post #i dont think trying to put in a readmore worked. sorry

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sad-scribble · 2 years

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AI generated Deltarune fic

I polished it a bit (like correcting Kris’s pronouns and adding a few scenes) but other than that its posted in all its raw glory.

After sudden fountains have started popping up in the dark world, the Lightners must destroy the fountains before the Roaring can happen. If the Roaring happens, the world will crumble and all Darkners and Lightners will die. The story starts in Castle Town.

Their first task is to discover what exactly the prophecy entails so they can fulfill their tasks. Once their task is completed, they’ll set sail across the land to where they believe the next fountain must be. The only problem is when said fountain was supposedly destroyed, there were several more ruins to explore. This is not an easy task for both the young heros to handle.

“Well I guess it can’t hurt to try.” Kris muttered to themselves, glancing over at their older friend. “Besides, what if the fountain really is here? It would make things easier if we found it… right?”

Susie smiled faintly.

“It could be nice having something to help us out. It’d probably give us some ideas how to look further into this whole mess.” She shrugged.

“I suppose…” Kris said, shrugging back and heading towards the castle with Susie following behind them.

Once they got inside and had settled in a bit, Kris began reading the prophecy aloud.

“Three saviors shall fight against the darkness. One who is not born of the earth, another who is neither human nor monster. The third will hold dominion in these lands, the last will bring balance to the land,” Kris read aloud, pausing. “That sounds familiar, don’t you think?”

“Hmm… yes it does kinda remind me of somethin’, actually.” Susie agreed, nodding her head thoughtfully.

“But I still think we should keep going until we come across the fountain and figure out just where in the world we need to go.”

“Yeah… You’re right. After all, why else would we even be here?” Kris replied, shrugging slightly.

“Exactly! We can’t waste any more time.” Susie declared, placing her hands on her hips. Kris rolled their eyes and giggled a little.

"Alright alright, let's take off then."

And with that, they made their way through the ruins towards the castle gates. As soon as the two heroes stepped foot in the new town and onto Main Street, the air felt tense, which caused Kris to instantly perk up. They knew something bad was coming. But they had no idea what. They glanced nervously behind them and saw Susie frowning.

“Did you sense anything wrong too, Kris?” She asked quietly, tilting her head slightly.

Nervously, Kris shook their head. “No, nothing. Just nerves. That’s all.”

Susie nodded and turned to face forwards again. They both kept walking until they reached the town gate. There, they stopped and surveyed the area, wondering what exactly they needed to do now.

“Maybe we’re supposed to follow that road down this way.” Susie said, pointing down a dirt path.

Nodding in agreement, Kris followed the path down, trying desperately to ignore the ominous feeling looming over them.

About 20 minutes later, however, Susie’s prediction came true. “Susie, wait up.” Kris called out as they caught up to their friend.

“What the hell are we doing?”

She glanced backwards, looking slightly panicked. “I dunno Kris! Whatever we do, we gotta hurry! Those creatures could attack us at any moment!”

“Calm down, I know, I know.” Kris sighed heavily, running a hand through their hair. “Just tell me what we’re doing again, cause I lost track after a while.”

“We’re searching for this stupid fountain! How could you forget that!?” Susie huffed, crossing her arms.

“Yeah… I know… just don't know why we gotta go out all the way out here without Ralsei." Kris wondered, furrowing their brow slightly.

Susie looked over to the end of the dirt path and saw a familiar blue figure.

"Hey, isn't that Rouxls? What's he doing here?" She grabbed ahold of Kris and ran over to the Duke.

"Uh, who are you two again?" Rouxls turned around and asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"It's Susie, remember? And this is Kris? We're trying to locate that fountain!" Susie explained.

Duke nodded and glanced behind him. "Oh well, uh, good luck with that. I'd better head on back now… See ya around!"

Before Kris could say anything, Rouxls turned and raced back down the hill.

"Huh, he's gone." Susie commented.

The duo walked down the hill after him and came to a halt once they reached the bottom.

“Wow… I guess he really wanted to run away.” Kris mumbled, rubbing the back of their neck.

“You’re telling me.” Susie groaned, throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

"Come on Kris, let’s just go look for this fountain. If we don't find it, we're gonna get yelled at by everyone.”

With that, the two took off down the dirt path, hoping that whatever was causing the odd feeling wasn't nearby. They didn't have to wonder very far before Kris spotted the fountain; or, what remained of it anyway. Its surface had been shattered to pieces, leaving a massive gaping hole in the ground. Large pieces of rubble floated in midair like islands in a deep sea. Even the water seemed to be gone, leaving only a murky, cloudy substance beneath the rubble.

"This looks familiar…" Kris breathed out slowly as they stared at the destruction.

"Well, it certainly looks like something happened here. Maybe the Fountain went rogue like the fountain that the old lady told us about?" Susie said, shivering slightly.

"Yeah… maybe." Kris replied softly.

"So what do we do now?" Susie asked.

"well I guess we have no choice but to go home, the fountain destroyed itself." Kris shrugged.

"maybe Rouxls destroyed it for us?" Susie laughed to herself.

"Maybe, though I doubt it. He seems a little scatterbrained to me." Kris admitted, scratching the back of their head.

After a moment, they suddenly remembered where they had seen the statue they had seen earlier, near the fountain. Looking around, they realized they were pretty much alone at the moment. Well, almost.

There, about 30 yards away, sat a tall stone pillar, the base of which had fallen into the ground, making it impossible to see beyond its base. At least, that was what Kris guessed.

"Guess we can go see if it'll work!" Kris grinned, grabbing Susie’s hand as they jogged towards the ruined pillar.

After reaching the pillar, Kris stood beside the fallen pillar, trying their hardest not to stare at the broken statue lying atop it. As the pair gazed upon the statue, they noticed a strange symbol carved on top of the pedestal.

“Hey look! A dragon!” Kris called, gesturing towards the carving. “Look at that! What a cool piece of artwork right? I wonder where it came from!”

“Yea… I wonder if anyone’s found it yet or what…” Susie murmured softly.

A few moments passed with Kris and Susie staring at the statue silently as a cold breeze blew past, sending tiny bits of debris floating around them. It appeared as if someone had placed a large rock upon the statue’s head.

At that moment though, the wind abruptly changed direction and the statue lifted itself off of the pillar with a loud cracking noise. The next thing Kris knew, there was a sharp crack as the stone statue crashed into the ground, revealing a staircase leading upwards that lead deeper into the ground below.

"Ahhh…" Kris breathed, letting out a shaky sigh.

"Looks like we found some stairs." Susie stated.

"Yup…" Kris replied.

Without saying another word, the pair headed up the stairs, trying their best to avoid looking downwards. Once they reached the top of the steps however, it became quite obvious that there was nothing up there. No sign of a door, no entrance to any other room aside from the one they currently stood in, which led into the main part of the tower.

"What do we do now? Are we just supposed to sit here? I'm starting to get a little impatient…" Kris muttered.

"Uhm, well, it's either that or go home and leave our things to fend for themselves. I think we should try our luck at least first. Besides, I kind of feel like something bad is waiting for us if we just turn tail and run." Susie said cautiously.

"…That makes some sense." Kris agreed, shoving their hands into their pockets. "Well I guess we'll never know if we don't try." They concluded.

"Yeah, you're right." Susie responded.

"Okay… let's get moving then."

"Good plan." Susie smirked, nodding as she kept ascending the stairs.

As soon as they hit the last step, Kris heard a low grumble below them; it sounded suspiciously like thunder. Both of them froze and peered over the edge of the staircase, trying to catch sight of whatever might have created such a sound. Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy and when they looked up again, nothing was visible except a couple of small rocks hovering above their heads.

“Did you hear that Kris?” Susie whispered, glancing over at them worriedly.

"I think so." Kris replied quietly, craning their neck back to try and peer downward.

"Wait, do you hear that too?" Susie whispered, tilting her head slightly to one side.

Kris narrowed their eyes, listening hard for the sound again. Sure enough, a faint whirring sound was getting louder and louder.

"It sounds like it's coming from below us." Susie said thoughtfully, looking around as a sudden realization hit her. "And unless I miss my guess, that doesn't sound good."

"Right… I think it's starting to get closer…"

Kris swallowed thickly, their body shaking ever so slightly.

"guess we have no choice but to fight it." Susie took out her axe and started descending the stairs as the noise got louder and louder.

"wait, what?!" Kris shouted, staring down at the axe in Susie’s hand.

"If it wants us dead, then that means we’ve got to face it ourselves." Susie stated firmly. "Cmon Kris. Let's not waste time."

Sheathing her axe, she started racing down the steps, leaving Kris scrambling to follow.

Susie ran down the stairs before seeing a small platform that hadn't been there before, and jumped down on it, before quickly disappearing from view, and reappearing on the other side. When Kris arrived on the platform, she was already standing, gripping her axe tightly in her right hand.

"Are you okay? Your hands are really shooky." She noted.

"Yea, just nerves I guess." Kris responded uneasily, shifting their gaze around nervously.

“Let’s do this…” Kris breathed quietly, stepping onto the small bridge that connected the platforms together, their grip on their sword tightening.

Looking ahead, Kris saw what they could only describe as the most terrifying creature they'd fought in a long time. The thing towered over the two heroes, towering at several stories tall. Its large, black wings extended out from both sides of its massive torso, while its clawed feet tapped the ground every few seconds. Its long, snake tail swung back and forth with each tap.

Even worse than the monster’s appearance though, were its huge jaws that were open wide. Its tongue stretched out from within the gaping maw, flicking against the rocky wall of the tower every so often. When the monsters eyes finally met the two, they instantly froze and stared back.

Slowly lowering her axe, Susie crept forward, staring intently at the monster before them.

"Is that it…?" Susie asked, glancing towards Kris.

"We won't know until we take it down." Kris replied in an equally soft voice, stepping further onto the bridge.

Taking a deep breath, both of them charged towards the monster, slashing their weapons through the air as fast as lightning, slicing through the creatures' large jaw. As it fell to the floor, all of the dust began to settle, revealing that the creature had stopped moving completely. At that point, the two decided to get the fuck out of there and jumped off the platform back onto the stairs and made their way down back to the ruined fountain.

Kris, tried to steady their breathing, still in shock from the sudden fight. They had fought so many battles before, why was this any different?

"Next time we find some weird staircase, we'll tell Ralsei." Susie chuckled, also very exhausted from the battle.

"Sounds good." Kris smiled weakly. "Do you think he'll be able to help?"

"I don't know." Susie shrugged. "But maybe he will, if we ask him." She smiled, causing Kris to smile back.

"You did great today, by the way." Kris mentioned. "Even if we didn't destroy the fountain, that is."

"Thanks. That means a lot." Susie got up and put her axe away.

"I think we should go back now, the fountains gone so we can't go that way. Gotta find a way out from the starting point. Maybe Ralsei knows how to get back?" Susie suggested.

"Sounds good to me. We can try asking him." Kris nodded.

The two walked along the dirt path back to the town, trying to forget the battle they had gone through just now.

Soon, they made it back. And in the distance they saw a familiar Prince.

"Kris! Susie! You're back, and you successfully destroyed the fountain!" Ralsei greeted them both.

"Hey Ralsei. About that.." Kris muttered. "It wasn't exactly us that destroyed the fountain."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ralsei questioned.

"the fountain was destroyed before we got there." Susie replied, not really paying attention to the conversation.

"that's strange… well it's destroyed and that's all that matters!" Ralsei immediately brushed off the implications of all that.

"Yes but how are we supposed to get home then?" Kris asked.

"I'll just teleport you two back to Castle Town! Simple!" Ralsei smiled.

"You can teleport people?" Susie gasped.

"Of course I can! Don't worry, I won't drop you anywhere dangerous." Ralsei assured.

"I still don't think it's a good idea…" Kris muttered, turning to look at Susie apprehensively.

"Oh come on Kris. It'll be fine!"

Before Kris could respond, the 3 appeared in Castle Town instantly.

"huh." Kris looked around, seeing a small round figure in the distance. it was Lancer!!!! THE BOY!!!!

Susie looked over towards Lancer and smiled.

"well look who finally came back! It's been forever!" Lancer hopped over towards Susie.

"Lancer it wasn't that long! Only a day." Ralsei reassured him.

"It still felt like an eternity!" The small blue pumpkin pouted.

"Lancer, what's going on?" Susie interrupted, giving him a confused look.

"Oh yeah. I'm sorry, I got excited and forgot about the fact that you guys didn't come back yet. It's just that… well you've gotta see this!" Lancer grinned widely before grabbing Susie by the arm and leading her over to a dirt spot in the corner of Castle Town.

"what's that?" Susie asked, very puzzled about what she was looking at.

Lancer pointed down at the tiny thing wriggling around in the dirt.

"worm." He said, smiling.

"worm?" Susie repeated, blinking a couple of times before slowly kneeling down to check it out.

it was indeed a worm. Very wormy!

she looked back at Lancer, and chuckled.

"You really like worms huh?"

Lancer nodded.

"You dork." Susie stood back up and turned over towards Kris, who had also been looking at the worm.

"that's one lousy worm." They said.

"Shut up Kris, you eat nothing but moss."

">:("

"Anyways, now that we're back in Castle Town what do you wanna do Lancer?" Susie asked the small boy. "Well, I want to show you two something else! Something cool!!!" Lancer exclaimed excitedly, bouncing up and down on his feet.

"Like what?" Susie glanced over at Kris.

"Follow me!" With that, he ran off in the direction of the castle.

Kris and Susie followed, with Ralsei not long behind them. A short time later, the three found themselves inside the castle, walking past various rooms until they eventually reached Lancer's destination.

"here it is!" Lancer exclaimed when the three of them came to a stop in front of a door. He pulled a key out of the pocket of his pants, opened the door and stepped into the room.

there was nothing inside the room except for a black box thing. Kris inspected it closely. It was a PS5.

"Lancer how did you acquire a PS5!?" Susie questioned him.

"Lesser dad got me it!"

"how did Rouxls buy you a PS5? Nobody sells them here." Ralsei asked.

"oh no, he stole it." Lancer smiled. Kris and Susie shared a glance between each other.

"guess that explains it." Kris shrugged.

"How about we play video games?" Lancer asked, excitement vibrating off his body.

the four decided to spend the rest of the day playing PS5 games. the end.

#Deltarune #ai generated #dreamily ai #kris dreemurr #susie deltarune #ralsei #lancer #rouxls kaard #fanfic #this is so silly

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mallmarrdlc · 6 days

Text

Eugene quickly threw on some trousers as Rapunzel and Adira made their way upstairs. The two women sat down at the table, while Eugene took a spot on the couch.

'What brings you here, Adira?' Rapunzel asked, straightforward.

'I've seen Short Hair in the Realm of Magic.' Adira gasped. She seemed very moved by something.

'Short Hair?' Rapunzel frowned. She didn't understand what Adira was talking about. 'Wait. Do you mean... Cassandra?' she suddenly realised. It's been so long since she last heard that nickname.

'Yes, her. There's something seriously wrong with her.' Adira continued.

'Wrong how?'

'She has two souls in her body!'

'Two souls?' Rapunzel shook her head. 'I'm sorry I'm having trouble understanding all of that.'

'That's what I felt at first, too. I couldn't comprehend how can one person have two souls. So I returned home and did some research. I found out that if a spellcaster dies and comes back to the Earth as a spirit, they are able to become a passenger in a living person's body.'

'So it's like... a possession?'

'Almost but not quite. A person must agree to this deal but once that's done, there's no going back. Depending on the strength of the spirit, they may take control over the mind and body of the person. So then essentially it's up for the spirit to do as they please. It's called a vessel.'

'A vessel? And you think Cassandra is some spirit's vessel?'

'I don't think. I know it! I spoke to the spirits. They revealed everything to me.'

'What did they say?'

'It's Elsa! Elsa Snyde.'

The silence that fell in the room felt heavy. Rapunzel could have sworn that something knocked all the air out of her chest. Eugene gasped so violently, that he began coughing.

'My- mother?!' Rapunzel exclaimed, her eyes open wide in shock.

'I knew you would recognise the name.' Adira nodded her head.

'But we defeated her so long ago! How did she come back?'

'Well, clearly, she was never in peace when she died. So her spirit lingered on Earth, trying to find that peace.'

'What do you think she wants from Cassandra?'

'That's very hard to tell. I have no idea what she may be plotting. But chances are she's just using Short Hair as a vessel. When spellcasters die, they lose a portion of their powers. Spirits are weakened without a body. So she may need a body to be more powerful.'

'Do you think it's connected to the prophecy you gave me?'

'Oh, absolutely. That's why you must prepare to fight your mother again.'

#ts4 #the sims 4 #disney legacy challenge #generation 8a #generation 7a #rapunzel s #eugene f #adira beauvoir

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beauty-and-passion · 3 years

Note

I know I probably ask a lot, but I would love to read a post from you, which would tell about all the most significant relationships (references) of sides to Greek-Roman mythology and/or the Bible. I don't know, maybe you've already written about this somewhere or something. Anyway, I don't want to annoy you too much. So I ready for any answer. And I really hope that everything is working out for you, and you're not under stress. I wish you the best. Bye :³

Oh my, that's not an easy ask at all! I will try my best, but if I miss something, please feel free to reblog and add more references.

__________________________

Patton

* Greek reference: Patton’s name has been specifically chosen by Thomas because Patton comes from the greek word pathos, one of Aristotle’s three modes of persuasion (along with logos and ethos). As Wikipedia explains, pathos “appeals to the emotions/feelings of the audience”, hence the connection between Patton and his role as the embodiment of “most of Thomas’ feelings”.

* Psychoanalysis reference: Considering his role as Thomas’ Morality, Patton also represents Thomas’ super-ego. Super-ego is one of the theoretical constructs used by Freud to describe the activities/interactions of the mental life of a person, along with the concepts of Id (the chaotic, instinctual desires) and Ego (the mediator between instincts and super-ego).

Super-ego is the critic, the moraliy. Super-ego "reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying their guidance and influence" (Wikipedia). And if these words sounds familiar, it's because they are:

[Thomas]: And finally, this is my moral side. My sense of right and wrong that I’ve learned ever since I was a kid from my own parental units.

This is how Thomas introduced Patton to us in the very first episode. So yes, Patton clearly represents Thomas’ super-ego.

__________________________

Logan

* Greek reference: Logan’s name comes from logos, one the three modes of persuasion, along with pathos and ethos. While pathos appeals to the emotions of the audience, logos is based on facts and figures that support the speaker's claims. So it makes sense both his connection with Patton and why Thomas specifically chose this name for Logan.

* Religious reference: in Christianity, Logos is the means through which all things are made, as it says in the famous line: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God".

Logos/the Word isn’t God, but it’s something within God and part of God. And this is incredibly cool, because it gives Logos a trait almost ethereal, as something that is divine, but also something more, something superior.

* Greek reference (again): in the WTIT’s end card, Logan mentioned Apollo and the entire fandom freaked out. I was drowned in asks about Apollo, people starting analyzing the entire history of Apollo and finding out parts of his story that might be related and so on. In other words, pure fandom’s work XD

So, to all the people who wrote me asks about Apollo: here’s just the quickest recap ever about him.

Apollo is a very important good - considering he’s the national divinity of the Greeks. He’s the god of sun: he pulls the sun’s chariot in the sky during the day and he has always been associated with light, brightness and, even later, with the sun itself.

He is also associated with prophecies: the most important Oracle in Greece was the Oracle of Delphi and its high prietess, known as Pythia, was able to predict the future under divine possession by Apollo.

Apollo is considered the inventor of string-music, hence why he’s commonly depicted with a lyre. He’s the god of music, dance, poetry and arts in general (he was companion of the Muses).

But, most importantly, Apollo is associated with science and medicine. His own son Asclepius is the god of medicine. And Apollo has always been concerned about health and education of children.

Heck, Apollo is so strongly associated with science and education, there’s a whole space program with his name: the famous Apollo program, which succeeded in landing the first humans on the Moon.

And that’s not all: in my post about Remus I talked about the Apollonian and Dionysian impulses. The first being analytic, calm and ordered, while the second is chaotic and destructive.

This is the main reason why Logan chose Apollo. Compared to the other greek gods, Apollo is the most balanced, logical one. Apollo is the god closest to him and to what he wanted to do during that episode: to push Thomas towards more analytic, organized thoughts, instead of lingering on the chaotic ones.

__________________________

Roman

* Roman reference: Roman’s name is an obvious reference to Rome and the ancient Rome period in general.

And this is extremely important, because real Thomas used Rome as main reference for the Sides, along with the ancient Greece. In fact, the Others have names that refer to ancient Rome, while the Core Sides have names related to Greece. So having a side whose name doesn’t refer to just one concept or an historical/mythological figure is VERY interesting. Almost a way to suggest Roman is someone important, important enough to encompass a whole period.

* Artistic reference: by Thomas’ admission, Roman’s name also refers to the Romanticism movement. Unlike the name might suggest, Romanticism isn’t entirely based on romance: the movement was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism, in opposition to the previous Enlightenment movement.

As Wikipedia perfectly explains:

“The movement emphasized intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as fear, horror and terror, and awe — especially that experienced in confronting the new aesthetic categories of the sublime and beauty of nature.”

So Romanticism wasn’t just a purely “romance-based” period: it was based on emotions, especially terrible ones. It originated in opposition to Enlightenment, that was a movement mostly based on rationalism and logic. And it valued the individual, the “hero”, much more compared to the masses.

__________________________

Virgil

* Greek/Roman reference: Virgil’s name is based (by Thomas’ own admission) of Publius Vergilius Maro, the most famous Roman poet and author of the epic poem Aeneid (the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan warrior who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans). In addition to that, he’s also known for being Dante’s guide through Hell and Purgatory in Dante’s Divine Comedy.

This shows how much Virgil acts like a bridge between the two “main groups”: he has a Roman name like the Others, but he talks about a Greek hero - thus showing a connection with the Core Sides. And it’s very beautiful.

* Biblical (headcanon) reference: I joked a couple times about Virgil being the prodigal son, because I am very weak for some dark sides family content, so here it is for you a brief accurate (more or less) recap of the parable.

A father has two sons. One day, the younger one says “screw you, old man, I want my portion of inheritance to go live my life far away”. His father says “k”, son goes away, wastes all money and, when there’s nothing left, he comes back home, begging his father to accept him as servant. However the father welcomes him with a huge celebration, kills the fatted calf and when the older son says “I can sense some favoritism here”, the father replies with: "you are ever with me, and all that I have is yours, but thy younger brother was lost and now he is found.", which is objectively very christian and very kind, but also a huge “maaaaybe there actually is some favoritism”.

Now, put Janus as the father and Virgil as the prodigal son. It works, even if I think the ending would have a tiny little difference: after welcoming Virgil back, Janus would probably break his kneecaps first, then kill the fatted calf.

__________________________

Janus

* Roman reference: Janus is named after the Roman god Janus, who is a strictly Roman god, associated with all kind of changes (from birth to marriages, to deaths) and able to look into the past and into the future (hence the title Janus Bifrons). Also, he was called Pater, because unlike other Gods, he has always been. And this is also probably why he was such an important figure in the Roman pantheon.

* Biblical reference: Janus’ whole appearance is based on a snake and, of course, the most clear reference is to the snake in the Garden of Eden, the same snake who tempted Eve with the fruit of knowledge from the Tree.

Speaking of all of that, I would like to add a few interesting points:

1. The Tree wasn’t just a simple tree, but the “Tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and, according to Wikipedia:

“The phrase in Hebrew, טוֹב וָרָע ("tov wa-raʿ") literally translates as "good and evil". This may be an example of the type of figure of speech known as merism, a literary device that pairs opposite terms together in order to create a general meaning, so that the phrase "good and evil" would simply imply "everything".”

This is very interesting, because the tree isn’t just about discerning good from evil: it’s about everything, full knowledge. We will come back to the point of knowledge, so keep that in mind for now.

2. The Bible never fully specified the snake was the Devil. In Genesis, the snake is introduced as “more cunning than any of the creatures of the field that the LORD God had made”: so the snake is a normal creature, albeit a smart one.

But, as I found out later, in the New Testament Satan is called “the ancient serpent”, referring to the snake in the Genesis. So it’s because of this “secondary” connection that we identify the serpent in the garden of Eden with the Devil.

And so, Janus himself does, especially in his playlist: the religious references are all over the place and more than once he referred to himself as the devil.

3. According to the Genesis, the snake tricked Eve into breaking God’s commandment and eating the forbidden fruit, by saying: "then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.".

And this is what makes scholars still think a lot about the role played by the snake. Sure, eating the fruit was a transgression of God’s command, but it gave Adam and Eve something they did not have before. By eating the fruit, they became “like gods” - and this is why God expelled them from the Garden: they were too similar to him, the acquired knowledge.

And even though it’s never specified what “knowledge” truly is, the Genesis makes it clear that it is something extremely important, considering how heavy the punishment was.

And, despite their punishment, eating the fruit gave benefits to humans. Knowledge made them something more, compared to other creatures, something divine.

So the serpent was a trickster... but it also helped humankind to evolve into something more. It was bad and cunning, but its work made humans better.

And, well, I don’t know you, but it sounds like what the snake boy actually tries to do with Thomas: he’s a liar and a trickster and he keeps his plans close to his chest, but everything he does is still for Thomas’ sake.

* Religious reference: snakes have always played a very important role in ancient cultures all over the world (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, America, India and so on). The serpent was a symbol of power and chaos, but also fertility, life/immortality and healing. Serpents are curled around Hermes’ caduceus (today used as symbol of medicine) and, according to greek myths, people could acquire second sight if their eyes were licked by a snake.

Also, snakes are a common feature of many creation myths and they are also symbol of everything/eternal cycle/totality (like the Ouroboros).

So, well, the snake is an incredibly important figure in general, seen as both good and evil. A very great choice for the Sides who better represents this duality.

__________________________

Remus

* Roman reference: Remus is the name of Romulus’ twin brother, founder of Rome. They were the sons of Mars (god of war) and Rhea Silvia (Vestal Virgin, descendant of Aeneas). They had a lot of adventures together, until the famous dispute about where to found their new city.

Romulus won and became the founder of Rome. Remus got killed and he basically disappeared from history.

* Biblical reference: Remus himself compared him and Roman as Cain and Abel. According to the Bible, they were the first sons of Adam and Eve after they were banished from the Garden of Eden. Wikipedia perfectly summarizes their story this way:

“Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices to God, each of his own produce, but God favored Abel's sacrifice instead of Cain's. Cain then murdered Abel, whereupon God punished Cain by condemning him to a life of wandering.”

I can see why Remus specifically chose this story, by comparing him to Cain and Roman to Abel. Abel was loved by God, just like Roman is loved by Thomas. He’s way more loved than Remus, the other brother - who still offers his produce (aka his creative ideas) to his God/Thomas even if he’s not the loved one.

So do you see what these two stories (Romulus and Remus / Cain and Abel) have in common? That one brother was got more than the other. One was loved and got everything, the other was hated, ignored, left behind.

And that shows a huge self-awareness from Remus’ side. He knows too well he’s not the loved brother, he knows Roman will always be loved more than him.

So, well, take this awareness and use it as you please (:

#sanders sides #sanders sides theory #patton sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #I hope I got all references #if I missed something please add them to the list #brainstorming

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aj28gaming · 3 years

Text

Nagito's diagnosis?

Okay hear me out, what if the only mental illness Nagito has is extreme paranoia or Nagito is just really paranoid about death?

Now listen

Listen

I get that this is gonna be laughed at a lot and probably treated as a joke

but hear me out

So, regarding Nagito's dementia, I already made these posts https://aj28gaming.tumblr.com/post/650577508025155585/danganronpa-messing-up-nagitos-character-cuz

https://aj28gaming.tumblr.com/post/650633399392944128/nagitos-dementia-and-misuse-of-information

But to be sure, I basically explain how and why Nagito has almost none of the symptoms of Frontotemporal Dementia, he might still have it tho, just not the symptoms

But think about this, the only time Nagito has actually acted "crazy" was when the killing game starts. Before that, all we get is a paranoid, self-deprecating boy used to trauma due to his abusive luck cycle. A boy who also has flawed beliefs in the talented and untalented due to the society of Danganronpa. A boy who fears murder and the death of others more than most.

Now, remember, he only gets crazy (I AM ONLY GONNA TALK ABOUT SDR2 BECAUSE THE LATER ITERATIONS AND GAMES AND ANIME ADAPTATIONS THAT PORTRAY NAGITO PORTRAY HIM INCREDIBLY WRONG) when the killing game starts

A killing game

A game of murder and death

And what does Nagito fear the most throughout the first chapter of SDR2 and throughout Island mode? What does he keep making sure doesn't happen? What does he keep asking Usami about while being extremely scared and paranoid about it?

WHAT DOES NAGITO FEAR THE MOST?

MURDER

HE HATES MURDER

HE CONSTANTLY TRIES TO GET HIMSELF DEAD OR KILLED TO ENSURE NO ONE ELSE DIES

Now imagine having a person who hates murder, who fears the possibility of death surrounding him and is constantly paranoid about it

Now put that person in a killing game, you know, A GAME FULL OF MURDER AND DEATH

So you get someone who fears having death and murder around him, and you put him in a place that is full of that, a killing game

YOU GET THIS

THIS

THIS (also keep in mind, NAGITO SAID IN ISLAND HE LAUGHS WHEN HE GETS SURPRISED, NOT BECAUSE HE IS HAPPY OR HAVING FUN)

See the pattern now

If you trap someone in a place full of everything they hate and fear for their entire life

They go crazy

Now remember the links I sent at the start? In them, I explain how his extreme paranoia causes a lot of his actions to happen

One, his coping mechanism

His coping mechanism is hope

He is constantly in denial about his mental state, about the people dying around him

Not saying he doesn't believe people are dying, I mean he struggles to accept that people around him are dying

He needs to find a reason for all of this despair

For why everyone has to experience despair

Nagito is a person who finds reason for everything, basically constantly tries to find order in his chaotic world

Makes sense since literally and figuratively due to his luck cycle, Nagito lacks control in his chaotic and traumatizing life

So he tries to find a reason for everything despairful that happens to him

Basically, "There has to be a reason for my suffering, right? RIGHT?"

So what does he do? He clings to hope

HOPE /hōp/

noun 1. a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. "he looked through her belongings in the hope of coming across some information" Similar: aspiration, desire, wish, expectation, ambition, aim, plan, dream, daydream, pipe dream, longing, yearning, craving, hankering 2. a feeling of trust. "our private friendship, upon hope and affiance whereof, I presume to be your petitioner" verb want something to happen or be the case.

KEEP THOSE DEFINITIONS IN MIND, TRUST ME WHEN I SAY NAGITO IS TALKING ABOUT THE ACTUAL MEANING OF HOPE, NOT SOME SUPERFICIAL VERSION HE CREATED HIMSELF

So this makes sense right? A person is in a stressful situation which is basically their personal hell, so they cling to hope

Literally

And we get this a lot of the time in real life and in tv shows and movies where people in stressful times cling to hope

So it really isn't a surprise that Nagito does this

So, Nagito isn't worshipping Hope like it's a god, he is clinging to an ideology. He is clinging to positivity, a bright light amidst all the darkness

He is quite literally clinging to hope in a despairful situation, which a lot of people do and most likely the same with you and me.

And again, no, his views on hope aren't due to his own personal opinion of what hope is. The hope he believes in is the literal definition of hope.

Hope as in light amidst all the darkness

He truly does have heroic and good intentions and truly does understand the hopes and despairs of others

He knew Teruteru wanted to continue the culinary legacy and help his mom, that's his hope

He knew Imposter would want to protect everyone no matter what, that's his hope

He knew Mikan killed for Despair, that despair being Junko Enoshima

He knew Fuyuhiko's hope is Peko and that both of them care about each other very much

He knew how similar he and Hajime are and how they are both bystanders and lovers of Hope, for Hajime that Hope being Hope's Peak academy itself and/or having talent

That's why he wants to help everyone's hope. He doesn't want them to escape to "spread their hope to the world," he wants to help them because that is generally everyone's hope in the killing game, to escape and end the killing game. That's why he is also fine with helping the blackened because if he knows all the blackened wants to do is escape

All Nagito wants is for him to be the victim instead of anyone else so no one else has to die if someone must commit murder.

And tbh Nagito has only done 2 things,

One was when he orchestrated his own death so no one else dies during the first trial, but this fails due to his luck cycle

He knew someone would die eventually, and if he didn't do this then either Teruteru would've still murdered someone else or Fuyuhiko would've murdered Mahiru with Peko like in trial 2 due to the next motive

Someone would've died regardless, Nagito just wanted to be the victim to save everyone else. And he needed to make sure only HE BECOMES THE VICTIM which is why he orchestrated it

But alas, his luck screwed it up and Byakuya dies instead.

Second thing Nagito did was try to get everyone killed when he found out everyone were a bunch of terrorists and remnants of despairs. Do I seriously need to explain why anyone would've done this? Especially someone as paranoid as Nagito?

Hell, Hajime almost did way worse because he almost did the complete opposite, he almost pressed graduate so Junko can take over the dead bodies of their classmates and spread despair AGAIN

HOW THE HELL IS NAGITO WORSE THAN THE OTHERS?

HAJIME ALMOST CAUSED DESPAIR ONTO THE ENTIRE WORLD AGAIN AND EVERY OTHER MURDERER MURDERED FOR THEIR OWN SELFISH MOTIVES LIKE TO ESCAPE OR GET REVENGE

NAGITO SERIOUSLY JUST WANTED TO BE THE VICTIM SO NO ONE ELSE DIES AND WANTS TO ELIMINATE DESPAIR

HOW THE HELL IS HE THE CRAZY ONE?

So now I explained how Nagito's paranoia of murder caused him to have a desperate belief in Hope as a coping mechanism in a very despairful situation

Now let's see how extreme his way of coping became. Seeing that he is in his actual personal hell, I would expect it to be pretty extreme.

And it is, a lot of the time.

Even to the point that he uses it to explain the deaths of his classmates and how to cope

Knowing Nagito, he has a habit of trying to find a reason for everything, like a prophecy or reason for his despair like I said before

And how exactly does he do that with the dead bodies of his classmates? He goes and treats them like stepping stones for hope

Basically saying, "Yes, our classmates are dead. But we shouldn't give up, because these deaths, this despair, it's all a stepping stone for an upcoming hope. A future good ending waiting to come, RIGHT?"

I added the right at the end because throughout the game, Nagito doesn't really seem like he only believes in hope. It's almost like he desperately needs and clings to hope.

So no matter what, he has to believe in hope

Because then, what is there left of him to believe in

He is trapped in his personal hell, forced to see classmates getting killed left and right, already experiences and fears the possibility of death and trauma on his normal day to day life, and what's worse is he constantly blames himself due to his luck cycle

He clings to hope, the possibility of a good ending happening in the end

Because what else can he believe in, what else can he live for at this point?

You seriously don't need dementia to explain his actions

All you need to do is remember that all of them are in a killing game

So of course people will go crazy

And knowing Nagito and how paranoid he gets, no wonder he reacts way worse

Nagito isn't crazy, he isn't a lunatic. He is just a paranoid kid who hates and fears murder and despair more than anyone else but is constantly forced to witness it and be subjected to it due to his luck cycle

And to be honest, anyone would've reacted the same way he does, and Hajime is proof of that

Also stop calling him the Joker wtf

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kookie-doughs · 3 years

Text

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything is now ruined.

Chapter 22: Then It Ended

As soon as we came, Annabeth ang Grover tackled me. We were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, so of course everybody treated us as if we'd won some reality-TV contest. According to camp tradition, we wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.

Annabeth's shroud was so beautiful—gray silk with embroidered owls— Percy told her it seemed a shame not to bury her in it. She punched him and told him to shut up. Percy being the son of Poseidon, he didn't have any cabin mates, so the Ares cabin had volunteered to make his shroud. They'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle.

As I was still unclaimed, Hermes cabin had made me one. (Just... IDK go crazy with your shroud IG) It was fun to burn. As Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores, Percy and I was surrounded by my Hermes cabinmates, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past." The only ones not in a party mood were Clarisse and her cabinmates, whose poisonous looks told me they'd never forgive us for disgracing their dad. That was okay with me. Even Dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen my spirits. "Yes, yes, so the little brats didn't get themselves killed and now they'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday...." Going back to the cabin I finally had time to talk to Luke. Who just expressed his relief of me being fine, and how he was scared when Annabeth told everyone about me. No wonder everyone was so shocked seeing me come back with Percy. On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's kids, they weren't going to settle for a few lame red-white-and-blue explosions. They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles. According to Annabeth, who'd seen the show before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky. The finale was supposed to be a couple of hundred-foot-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors. As Annabeth, Percy and I were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell us good-bye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human. "I'm off," he said. "I just came to say ... well, you know." I tried to feel happy for him. After all, it wasn't every day a satyr got permission to go look for the great god Pan. But it was hard saying good-bye. I'd only known Grover a year, yet he was my oldest friend. Annabeth and I gave him a hug. She told him to keep his fake feet on. I asked him where he was going to search first. "Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan ..." "We understand," Annabeth said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?" "Yeah." "And you remembered your reed pipes?" "Jeez, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You're like an old mama goat." But he didn't really sound annoyed. He gripped his walking stick and slung a backpack over his shoulder. He looked like any hitchhiker you might see on an American highway. "Well," he said, "wish me luck." He gave Annabeth and I another hug. He clapped Percy on the shoulder, then headed back through the dunes. Fireworks exploded to life overhead: Hercules killing the Nemean lion, Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who, by the way, was a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware. "Hey, Grover," Percy called. He turned at the edge of the woods. "Wherever you're going—I hope they make good enchiladas." Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him. "We'll see him again," Annabeth said. July passed. I spent my daysplanning out strategies with Luke for capture-the-flag and making alliances with the other cabins to keep the banner out of Ares's hands. I got to the top of the climbing wall for the first time without getting scorched by lava. From time to time, Percy and I would walk past the Big House, he'd glance up at the attic windows, and think about the Oracle.

I tried to convince him that its prophecy had come to completion. "You shall go west, and face the god who has turned." "Been there, done that—even though the traitor god had turned out to be Ares rather than Hades." "You shall find what was stolen, and see it safe returned." "Check. One master bolt delivered. One helm of darkness back on Hades." "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend." Percy recited. "Ares had pretended to be our friend, then betrayed us. That must be what the Oracle meant.... Or maybe Nereid?"

"And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end." He sighed. "I had failed to save my mom and lost you..."

"So why are you still uneasy?" The last night of the summer session came all too quickly. The campers had one last meal together. We burned part of our dinner for the gods. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads. Percy and I got our own leather necklace, and when I saw the bead for my first summer. The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center.

"This is so beautiful..." I smiled to Percy. "The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!" The entire camp got to their feet and cheered. Even Ares's cabin felt obliged to stand. Athena's cabin steered Annabeth to the front so she could share in the applause. I'm not sure I'd ever felt as happy or sad as I did at that moment. I'd finally found a family, people who cared about me and thought I'd done something right. And in the morning, most of them would be leaving for the year. * * * The next morning, Luke called me. He gave me a paper, telling me to fill it out, and asked me to meet him as soon as I could. I knew Dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong: Dear (WRONG NAME) , If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabin or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unregistered campers. All personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit. Have a nice day! Mr. D (Dionysus) Camp Director, Olympian Council #12 That's another thing about ADHD. Deadlines just aren't real to me until I'm staring one in the face. Summer was over, and I still don't know what to do. I had no where to go to. The only option I had was Percy's or maybe Hades was not joking about inviting me back to the Underworld. Sighing I decided to just meet Luke before filling it for second opinions. The campgrounds were mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat. All the campers were in their cabins packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, getting ready for final inspection. Argus was helping some of the Aphrodite kids haul their Gucci suitcases and makeup kits over the hill, where the camp's shuttle bus would be waiting to take them to the airport. I was walking around looking for Luke. I jumped when I felt someone tap me from behind. I instinctively unsheathed my knife and turned only to see Luke with his hands raised.

"Whoa! Calm down just me." He laughed.

"Kinda weird seeing someone laugh at a knife pointed at them." I smirked sheathing my knife.

"I only laugh since its you." He smiled and ruffled my hair. "Are you done with everything?"

"Not really. I don't know whether to leave or not yet. That's why I came. Help me?" I asked him.

He turned to me and to the forest. "How about you hear me out about something... important and private... then decide?" He gestured towards the forest.

"Not planning on killing me are you?" I squinted at him.

He gasped. "Not you. Never. I would never hurt you."

I let him lead me to a shrouded area of the forest.

"How serious is this thing that you can't let anyone see? I am blindly trusting you here Luke." I laughed nervously. But when he didn't reply I felt something was off. "Luke, okay this isn't cool. How deep into the forest do we have to go?"

"Y/N remember when you said... You want to be the person I trust...? How you promised to help me?"

"Luke?" He took my hand and pulled me sharply. I winced at how hard he pulled me. "That hurts! Let me go!"

He snapped back and let go of my wrist. "I-I'm sorry... Y/N..."

As much as I knew I had to leave, I couldn't I was worried about him. I reluctantly placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's happening?"

"I did it..." I said and sat on the ground. "I swear I didn't mean to get you hurt. But, I confess to everything. I stole bolt and helm, I summoned the hound, I gave Percy the cursed shoes... And just now, I tried to kill Percy Jackson." He looked at me with empty eyes.

I shot up and looked at him in emotions I couldn't put in words. "W-Wh---" I wanted to leave and check on Percy. But once again, seeing him right now... I need to stay with him. "Why are you telling me this...?"

"Join me... please?" his voice was weak. He sounded vulnerable. "Let's serve my Lord together..."

"L-Luke... no. I-I can't do that!" I took his shoulder, "Y-You should stay with me instead. How about that, huh? L-Let's explain to Chiron and the others... come on please. I could help you!"

Nothing was working.

"Come with me..." He muttered.

"Luke, I won't join you. You have to change your mind. You can't do this."

"I can't change my mind."

"I can help you with that? How about you go with me huh? I could spend all my time doing this and that. Please, just change your mind."

He didn't reply for a while until he whispered, "Promise me."

"Promise you what?"

"You'll stay with me."

"What? Luke I wo--"

"You won't join... Just...don't stay here for the year... and stay with me."

"I-If I stay with you... what would that mean?"

"Yo-You... might change my mind."

"I'll go." I replied with no hesitation. "I'll leave camp for the year. And I'll find my parent to prove to you that Gods and Goddess aren't all bad. We'll find my parent together."

"I do my lord's bidding--"

"You can still do it. If you want to. But whatever happens... stays only between us. I'll stay with you until I change your mind. And I'll bring you back to camp."

"I would never do anything to ruin your trust in me." He knelt down. It was kinda awkward but hey... "I need you."

Worry not hero. We shall stay.

"Please..."

We'll meet again. Wait for us, we shall join you soon. Now leave.

I had no idea what happened since when I came to Luke was gone and there was no sign of him anywhere. How were we going to st---

We will meet him once we leave. Now go as our hero needs us.

I suddenly remembered Percy's state that Luke had told me about. So I ran. I ran to the Big House

***

Percy finally opened his eyes. He was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the Big House, his right hand bandaged like a club. Argus stood guard in the corner. Annabeth and I sat next to Percy, I was holding his nectar glass and she was dabbing a washcloth on his forehead.

"Here we are again," Percy said. "You idiot," Annabeth said, "You were green and turning gray when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's healing..." "Now, now," Chiron's voice said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit." He was sitting near the foot of the bed in human form. His lower half was magically compacted into the wheelchair, his upper half dressed in a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, the way it did when he'd been up all night grading Latin papers. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved." "Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened." Between sips of nectar, he told them the story.

I bit my lip trying to keep what happened between Luke and I private. It was a risky move that would not be approved by anyone after all. The room was quiet for a long time. "I can't believe that Luke..." Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him.... He was never the same after his quest."

Percy was looking at me as if checking what was my reaction to his story. "This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured. "I will go at once." "Luke is out there right now," Percy said. "I have to go after him." Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods—" "Won't even talk about Kronos," Percy snapped. "Zeus declared the matter closed!" "Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready." "Chiron... your prophecy from the Oracle... it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? Y/N? And Annabeth?" Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling. "Percy, it isn't my place—" "You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?" His eyes were sympathetic, but sad. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you..." Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows. "All right!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!" He sighed in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing." "We can't just sit back and do nothing," He said. "We will not sit back," Chiron promised. "But you must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come." "Assuming I live that long." Chiron put his hand on Percy's ankle. "You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice...." I got the feeling that he had a very definite opinion, and it was taking all his willpower not to advise me. "But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision." "I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. "Argus will watch over you." He glanced at Annabeth. "Oh, and, my dear... whenever you're ready, they're here." "Who's here?" Percy asked. Nobody answered. Chiron rolled himself out of the room. I heard the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the front steps, two at a time. Annabeth studied the floor. "What's wrong?" Percy asked her. "Nothing. I ... just took your advice about something. You ... um ... need anything?" "Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside." "Percy, that isn't a good idea." Percy slid his legs out of bed. Annabeth and I caught him before he could crumple to the floor.

I said, "I told you ..." "I'm fine," He insisted.

He managed a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on me. Argus followed us outside, but he kept his distance. By the time we reached the porch, his face was beaded with sweat. But we had managed to make it all the way to the railing. It was dusk. The camp looked completely deserted. The cabins were dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glittered in the last light of the sun. "What are you going to do?" Annabeth asked us. "I don't know." Percy replied. "I got the feeling Chiron wanted me to stay year-round, to put in more individual training time, but I'm not sure that's what I want. I also don't want to leave you both with Clarisse only." Annabeth pursed her lips, then said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy." He stared at her. "You mean, to your dad's?" She pointed toward the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, at the very edge of the camp's magical boundaries, a family stood silhouetted—two little children, a woman, and a tall man with blond hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack that looked like the one Annabeth had gotten from Waterland in Denver. "I wrote him a letter when we got back," Annabeth said. "Just like you suggested. I told him... I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided... we'd give it another try." "That took guts." She pursed her lips. "You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least ... not without sending me an Iris-message? Both of you?" Percy managed a smile. "I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have to."

"You already know my plans."

"When I get back next summer," she said, "we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?" "Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."

She held out her hand. Percy shook it. She gave me a hug. "Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth told Percy. "Keep your eyes open."

"You too, Wise Girl."

Then turned to me, "Good luck on your own quest Droopy."

"Of course Peabody." We watched her walk up the hill and join her family. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. She touched Thalia's pine tree, then allowed herself to be lead over the crest and into the mortal world. "I made my decision." Percy said. "What's yours?"

"I'll be leaving camp... I'm going to look for my parent..." He looked at me in shock. "I'll be back next summer," I promised him. "I'll survive until then."

"Alone?"

I smiled at him.

"Don't you want to stay with us? Mom said---"

"I want to find my parent. I need to. I'll be fine Percy."

I helped Percy to his cabin so he could pack and went to mine. To my surprise I see a middle-aged man with an athletic figure slim and fit with salt-and-pepper hair, and a very familiar sly grin. He had bags at his foot.

"Delivery for Y/N L/N."

"Uhm..."

"Hermes." He said.

I froze and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Personally packed. As a thank you for what you're about to do." He smiled softly and handed me the bags.

"H-Huh...?"

"For helping Luke."

"I..."

Don't forget her mail!

Ooh! And tell her to bring us snacks next time we meet since it'll be often now!

No it wouldn't be often! She'll be with Luke!

"Both of you keep quiet." Pulling out a mail he handed it to me. "Luke... prayed to me telling me about your plan. He asked me to help you. I don't know what or why he did it. But I know he'll change thanks to you. So do guide him."

"Sorry you lost me at the talking air..." I blinked.

Hermes laughed and showed a caduceus. "It's just George and Martha."

"Hi?"

Hello!

"I just wanted to let you know. No god or goddess could see you. No matter how hard they tried. So your secrets.. are really secrets. Good luck on your travel."

Next time we meet you should have snacks.

Then he vanished.

Staring at the letter on my hand, I was stunned seeing it was from... my mom and dad.

Sweetie,

You've made quite a friend here.

-Mom and Dad.

I immediately knew where to look. I hurriedly took my bags not bothering to check the contents. I ran to Percy's cabin and helped him out so we could leave.

Percy got a cab and looked at me worriedly.

"I'll write you. Stay safe Arthur Curry." I ruffled his hair and watched him go.

I didn't know where to go so I just went to the first secluded area I saw.

"You have more stuffs than when you arrived." I heard someone behind me.

"You prayed to your dad. I hope he knows how to pack." I sighed turning to him. Turning around I barely made out Luke from the few days I last saw him. "You okay?"

"Do you know where to look first?"

Call upon our hound.

I whistled, I don't know why. But when I did, D/N came out of the blue. Luke looked at me and my dear dog, who was probably bigger than the hound he'd summon back then. "How do feel about L.A?" I said riding on D/N and making space behind me for Luke.

~~~END OF BOOK 1~~~

Previous | Book 1 Masterlist | Series Masterlist

END OF BOOK ONE!!! THANK YOU FOR READING YLATHB I HOPE YOU ENJOY!! I'LL PUBLISH BOOK 2 WHEN I'M DONE OR EVEN AT LEAST HAVE WRITTEN 5 CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK 2 ;))

I HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT TIME!!!

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ronsenburg · 3 years

Note

Hi! I wanted to ask you something about Klapollo. What topic/argument do you think could possibly cause them to break up or take a break from the relationship? I live for the drama and was thinking about maybe writing a fic but like I dont want to make either of them assholes, like Apollo bringing Kristoph up to hurt Klavier, for example. I don't think he would do that but I struggle to come up with something else.

Oh boy, I hope you’re not upset about this, but I wrote you an essay. I’m sorry.

Overall, I really like the klapollo relationship timeline because, compared to, say, narumi/su they have a much more normal, organic story. They meet, flirt, share a mutual trauma, get together! Totally normal! But I also think that they would have a much harder time than narumi/su finding the balance you need in a serious relationship and I can see them calling it quits for perfectly practical reasons that aren’t really anything to do with one being a jerk, you know? Here are my top things that I think they would have to navigate and maybe struggle with before a real happily ever after:

1. Money. You’ve probably seen my post where I talk about Apollo feeling uncomfortable with displays of affluence. I don’t think that this is an easy one to get past. AA6 Spoilers, but Dhurke and Datz literally raised them in hiding on the run in the mountainous jungles of Khura’in. They sent Apollo to the states as a nine year old. We don’t know what he did when he got here, but my money’s always been on the foster system. That doesn’t typically breed a sense of stability, financial or otherwise.

From my experience (so take it with a grain of salt), children who grow up with very little tend to behave in one of two ways when they reach financial stability and/or achieve wealth: first option, they’re really bad with it. They spend it nearly as fast as they make it on things they didn’t get to have or experience when they were growing up. Second option, they never spend it. They know what it’s like to be without, so they save as much of it as they can so they have the security of knowing, if something happens, they won’t have to go back to the way it was before. I will always put Apollo in the latter category. He works hard for what he has and what he gets and, I think, things that signify extravagance make him uncomfortable. On the other hand, I think that the Gavin’s have always had some sort of wealth. Klavier and Kristoph have very different aesthetics to their spaces that we get to experience (Klavier’s office and Kristoph’s cell) but they’re both pretty lavish. Now, we can assume they each made their money individually in their respective careers but, honestly, Kristoph’s cell is so gaudy. To me, it screams “this is what I’m used to and I refuse to accept any less” which is an attitude that I feel comes more from a lifetime of that treatment.

So if we accept everything that I’ve said above as true, trying to put a person who saves every penny they get and feels bad treating themselves with a person who spends money freely because it’s been a constant throughout their life? It can go poorly. Casually dating, maybe it’s not such an issue once Apollo says “please no more presents and can we just get takeout for once?” but if you’re talking about something more serious, where you have to live in the same space and pay joint bills and be confronted with the other person’s spending habits constantly, it’s a whole other thing. Please take it from me as a person in a long term relationship who loves their partner tremendously—everyone fights about money. Everyone. It would be very difficult for Apollo to feel comfortable, even if he knew that finances were in good shape and there was savings, etc. Things happen, people leave. Nothing gold can stay. Changing that line of thinking takes work. It would also be easier said than done for Klavier to just do an about face on his own habits for Apollo’s comfort. Being a celebrity makes money, but it costs money, too. There is a certain amount of lushness that people expect. That can’t just go away. These are things that become bigger problems overtime, no matter how much you love each other.

Anyway, I would be really surprised if—even if you’re writing them as really happily married—Apollo doesn’t have a ‘emergency fund’ that even Klavier doesn’t know about. It’s a ‘just in case’. Just in case Klavier leaves him. Just in case he needs to get away fast. Just in case the world ends. It’s not a logical thing, something that he sat down and rationalized doing, it’s just there because it feels better to have it than to not. But that can be kind of hurtful if the other person finds out about it, so. There you go, a whole minefield of money related drama.

2. Apollo’s Abandonment Issues. He’s got them! What do you call and orphan twice over who also lost his very best friend? I don’t know, but if capcom doesn’t stop picking on my boy I’m going to kick them in the teeth. I will still never get over AA6 for telling us that Dhurke took Apollo in when he was orphaned as a baby, then abandoned him in the USA, then came back for him and got his hopes up, and then was actually dead the whole time! Hahahaha! What a trip!

Anyway, you don’t come back from that super easy. People who suffer this kind of trauma usually have a really hard time trusting others, which is understandable. They also can have unrealistic needs from their partners, become codependent, or even just self-sabotage their relationships, pulling away first to try and avoid the pain because they think the other person will leave them. I think that last one is most likely for Apollo, especially given the disparity in circumstances I mentioned above. If Apollo can’t trust that Klavier actually loves him, can’t trust that he won’t leave him like EVERYONE ELSE HAS, then they can’t have a healthy relationship. Drama.

3. Klavier’s Emotional Trauma. Kristoph is a pretty big jerk to Klavier in the last case of AA4. He criticizes and undermines Klavier, threatens and admits to manipulating him. In the anthology, Klavier shares an “lol so funny!” story about Kristoph accidentally breaking a window while he and Klavier are playing ball. In it, he convinces Klavier that it was his fault and that he should take the blame and apologize for breaking the window! And Klavier does! That’s gaslighting, baby, and since the Anthology is supposed to be canon, we can take that to mean it’s been happening since Klavier was a kid. Think about that. An entire life of gaslighting and manipulative behavior! You don’t come back from that easily, either.

People who experience emotional abuse can, among other things, suffer from depression and low-self esteem. They need affirmation from their partners and can have a hard time with letting people in or being honest (though not from a malicious mindset—more a “I’m going to say what I think you want to hear because if you’re happy, bad things won’t happen!”). They can also always be waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. Sure things are good, but when will that end and the bad time start? It’s a self fulfilling prophecy: if all you can do is worry about things going wrong, then you aren’t actually enjoying when things are going right and you will cause the issues you’re so worried about. Drama.

4. Fame. Klavier has been in the spotlight since he was a literal child. If the Gavinners were already hits when Klavier was 17, they likely formed and starred their rise some time before then. A year, maybe two? Klavier spent his formative years in the spotlight. He quite literally doesn’t know any other way. Apollo, on the other hand, has never experienced the kind of scrutiny he’d be subject to when dating someone like Klavier. It can be really stressful and hurtful and just overall not a good time. And I’m not saying that Klavier wouldn’t be sympathetic, but I don’t think he would really understand how difficult it could be to have been thrust into that position out of nowhere, because he’s had years of dealing with it and was in a completely different place in life when it began for him. It’s not unreasonable to think that Apollo might not be able to take it. You can love someone and want to be with them but if you can’t adapt to their lifestyle, it’s not going to work. They could walk away rather than risk what might happen to Apollo if they kept it up. Drama.

5. Careers. They both have very demanding jobs. While sharing a similar profession can mean there’s a mutual understanding, it can also cause issues if you... never get to see each other? Schedules can be out of alignment (which could easily happen; their cases can’t always line up and they seem to require a lot of time investment outside of just normal hours). If Klavier goes back into music, that’s an additional time constraint. Why be in a relationship when you can only see the other person for moments here and there? What about the stress that comes with those jobs? That can cause drama.

6. Klavier looks like Kristoph. They are very different people, yes, but similar enough in some ways that it could cause tension. Maybe Klavier is tired and stressed and snaps at Apollo, and suddenly, all Apollo can see is Kristoph and all he can feel is the uncomfortable churning in his stomach that goes along with the memories of him. Someone he trusted, someone who let him down. That’s a difficult subject to broach, and it can fester like an infected wound if left intended.

But Apollo sounds like Kristoph sometimes. We saw it in AA5, which is, of course, an extreme circumstance. But it can come out from time to time in other ways. A phrase that slips out, the way he intones certain words, the way he signs off in his emails—little things that are harmless, but can still act as triggers.

Sometimes you need to get away from things that can remind you of your past in order to work on getting over them. If you are in love with someone who shares a similar trauma, who brings those issues from the past to light frequently just by being themselves, it might not be a healthy situation. I don’t think they would need to throw it in each other’s faces for it to become an issue. Drama.

There are more, but I probably took this more seriously than you intended. Whoops! Anyway, I hope that helps??? Maybe???? I hope you get them back together in the end because they deserve to be happy though!!!!!!!

#LONG POST #shut up krissy #if you want me to cut this please let me know #klapollo

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twoidiotwriters1 · 3 years

Text

Written In The Stars CXXXVIII (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: Meet Mel’s little brother :)

Words: 5,235

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Book Six

Listen to: ‘Thread’ -by Keane.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Leon Regulus Sultens-Black.

HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED RETURNS

[...]Albus Dumbledore, newly reinstated headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, re-instated member of the International Confederation of Wizards, and reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, was unavailable for comment last night.

He has insisted for a year that You-Know-Who was not dead, as was widely hoped and believed, but recruiting followers once more for a fresh attempt to seize power. Meanwhile the Boy Who Lived —

"There you are, Harry, I knew they'd drag you into it somehow," Hermione interrupted.

"Of course they would," Erick rolled his eyes, he was sitting on the floor between the two beds, his back against Hermione's bed.

Now that all his Slytherin friends knew the truth, they had stopped talking to him, so Erick was now spending all his time with Mel.

"He's 'the Boy Who Lived' again now, though, isn't he? Not such a show-off maniac anymore, eh?" Ron grabbed a bunch of chocolate frogs from his bedside table and handed one to each.

He leaned over and stretched out his hand to Erick, the older boy stared down at the chocolate and then up to him, Ron waved it impatiently in front of his face and Erick grabbed it quickly.

"Yes, they're very complimentary about you now, Harry," Hermione agreed. "'A lone voice of truth... perceived as unbalanced, yet never wavered in his story... forced to bear ridicule and slander...' Hmm... I notice they don't mention the fact that it was them doing all the ridiculing and slandering, though... 'You-Know-Who's Last Attempt to Take Over, pages two to four, What the Ministry Should Have Told Us, page five, Why Nobody Listened to Albus Dumbledore, pages six to eight, Exclusive Interview with Harry Potter and Mel Dumbledore, page nine...' Well, it's certainly given them lots to write about. And that interview with Harry and Mel isn't exclusive, it's the one that was in The Quibbler months ago..."

"Daddy sold it to them," said Luna. "He got a very good price for it too, so we're going to go on an expedition to Sweden this summer and see if we can catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

"...That sounds lovely," Hermione said after a short silence.

"So anyway, what's going on in school?"

"Well, Flitwick's got rid of Fred and George's swamp," said Ginny. "He did it in about three seconds. But he left a tiny patch under the window and he's roped it off —"

"Why?"

"Oh, he just says it was a really good bit of magic."

"I think he left it as a monument to Fred and George, they sent me all these, you know," Ron pointed at the bunch of Frogs. "Must be doing all right out of that joke shop, eh?"

"I'll miss them..." Mel sighed.

"You can always buy a few of their products and set them around the school," Harry offered, "it'll feel as if they were still here."

She chuckled softly, around them the group shared confused and relieved glances. It wasn't exactly like before, but they could sense the friendly tones of their conversations, they had stopped fighting.

Although it didn't mean there wouldn't be fights later, they had pushed the conversation about their lifeline further into the future, right now they didn't have the energy to discuss life-changing matters.

"So has all the trouble stopped now Dumbledore's back?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, everything's settled right back down again," Neville nodded.

"I s'pose Filch is happy, is he?" asked Ron.

"Not at all! He's really, really miserable, actually..." Ginny lowered her voice. "He keeps saying Umbridge was the best thing that ever happened to Hogwarts..."

"If any of you feel like pranking Filch next year, let me know so I can look the other way," Erick joked.

All of them turned to see Professor Umbridge on the bed opposite Ron and Hermione's. Dumbledore had rescued her from the centaurs, nobody knew how, and Umbridge was out of it, therefore unable to speak.

"Madam Pomfrey says she's just in shock," Hermione explained.

"Sulking, more like," said Ginny.

"Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this," said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clip-clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking wildly around.

"Anything wrong, Professor?" called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.

"No... no..." said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows, "no, I must have been dreaming..."

Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter.

"Serves her right," Mel scowled. "She caused a lot of suffering this year..."

She looked down at Harry's hand, and the boy moved it only to hold hers.

"Speaking of centaurs," Hermione spoke, causing Harry to retreat his hand abruptly, "who's Divination teacher now? Is Firenze staying?"

"He's got to, the other centaurs won't take him back, will they?" Harry shrugged.

"It looks like he and Trelawney are both going to teach," said Ginny.

"Bet Dumbledore wishes he could've got rid of Trelawney for good. Mind you, the whole subjects useless if you ask me, Firenze isn't a lot better..."

"How can you say that?" Hermione frowned. "After we've just found out that there are real prophecies? It is a pity it broke..."

"Yeah, it is. Still, at least You-Know-Who never found out what was in it either, it was clever of you to break it, Mel. Though you really shouldn't have used your hand to do so..."

"I think it made you look really tough," Erick smiled.

Mel returned his gesture tensely, she wished she could feel as calm as the rest of her friends, she wanted to go back to normal but she couldn't ignore what was about to happen once the school year ended, now her home had as many ghosts as the castle.

"Hey, where are you going?" Ron asked in a hurt voice when Harry stood up to leave.

"Er — Hagrid's. You know, he just got back and I promised I'd go down and see him and tell him how you two are..."

"Oh all right then," Ron grumbled. "Wish we could come..."

"Say hello to him for us!" said Hermione. "And ask him what's happening about... about his little friend!"

Erick occupied Harry's place, he nudged her arm.

"You're going to let him go just like that?"

Mel contemplated the door in silence. She was ready for Harry's grief this time, there would be moments when he would want to be left alone and she had no problem with it. She understood, there were moments in which she wanted to hide away forever and never wake up.

"He doesn't need me right now," The girl shrugged. "And before you give me a lecture, I don't mean it in a bad way. Whatever he's going through... I can't help him go through it faster. I can't even help myself..."

Mel looked out the window to avoid her friend's eyes.

"How about we go for a walk?" Erick suggested.

They stopped once they reached the courtyard. It was deserted, most of the students were out on the school grounds bathing in the sun. Mel sat on the edge of one of the archways while Erick remained standing, she could feel him staring, but she kept her eyes down.

"So you and Harry are okay now," He started, "no more fighting?"

"None at all," She sighed. "We have better things to do than to fight over our love life. Not that it matters, we've stopped liking each other that way."

"How come?"

"It just happened," She replied quietly.

Erick hummed, moving to sit next to her.

"Maybe you're meant to be just friends. I mean, your relationship is already too complicated with the lifeline..."

Mel couldn't care less about what her relationship with Harry was destined to be. She didn't know what she wanted to do with the connection after hearing Harry's reasons to keep it. All she could think of was her mother; she'd sacrificed so much to keep them safe, what Sirius had done to help them... She was running out of days to think of a proper way to apologize to her family. Dumbledore had taken the blame but those were just words, in the end, it was Mel and Harry who'd decided to drop every precaution, part of her felt she deserved all the hurt.

"You know," Erick said quietly. "I've been thinking about dropping out of school after this year."

"Why?"

"Well, my intention was to become a Ministry worker, but after these last few months, I realized they're useless. It would change my plans completely... but maybe I could join the Order?"

"Is that what you want?"

"I don't know what I want," He sighed tiredly. "I know I'm good at duelling and I have nowhere else to go... Did you know Sirius offered to take me in for the summer?"

Mel stared at him.

"Well, he did," Erick continued. "He said I could live with him, that he didn't mind having me around — said I reminded him of his younger brother... Wish I could've done something to help him..."

"You should hate me," She blurted out. "My mother's going to hate me. She'll hate me for being impulsive and for not listening to my uncle — My brother will hate me..."

"Why would I hate you?" He frowned.

"It's my fault that your parents kicked you out," She responded. "I made you write those letters to Anne. It was me who dragged you into this mess, you never wanted any of this, you would've lived a quiet, prosperous life —"

"And I would've been miserable," Erick shook his head. "You never forced me to do anything. You asked and I granted every time because I wanted to, I needed you to give me that final push... I made my choice the moment I met you, Mel."

"It's my fault you don't get to live with Sirius — it's because of me that you won't have a nice home —"

"It's because of you that I'm still alive," His voice trembled with incredulity. He moved closer and held her by the shoulders. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, I'm so lucky I found you..."

The girl had been shoving all her worries deep within herself for too long, she hadn't cried properly, refusing to let herself grieve since she felt she had no right to do so. Erick's voice sounded honest and comforting, she cracked under the pressure.

Erick hugged her and Mel wept like she hadn't done in months, not even while making peace with Harry. She sobbed as loud as she wanted, and the knot that had been stopping her from breathing finally loosened a bit, it made her feel as if she was slowly shrinking back into her child self, the girl cornered in the playground, but she wasn't alone anymore, and she was no longer a weak little thing.

Erick ran a hand through her hair gently, there was something about the way he touched her that made her feel safe.

"You'll feel better. I promise you will..."

He'd lost someone not so long ago, the only adult he'd loved and cared for him. He was probably still grieving, but the fact that he was there, in one piece, was the definite and only proof she needed to hold onto her hopes.

When the last day of school arrived, it also meant having to sit there surrounded by curious eyes all staring at her and Harry, and she knew what Dumbledore would say during his speech.

Stay together.

She'd talked about the same thing for three days in a row and she was exhausted, if she could, she would drink a potion to forget everything, maybe even the fact that she was a witch, and she would go live with her uncle Lupin, surrounded by nothing but trees...

However, Mel had to keep fighting. It was far from over.

She decided to skip the feast and asked her friends to bring her food once it ended, she slowly made her way back to the tower. Mel turned right on one of the corridors and stopped abruptly when she saw Harry.

For a second they stared at each other in mild confusion, they had been careful not to spend too much time alone because they knew they would end up discussing things they weren't ready to address. Mel gathered enough energy to give him a weak smile.

"Trying to find your appetite? Me too."

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"You're not hungry?"

"It's been happening all year," She sighed. "I guess I grew out of that too..."

"No way. You'll be eating in a week, I expect."

"I expect the same from you," She replied. "I'll make sure you eat twice as much. Merlin knows you need it."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Care if I join you? I could use a walk."

The silence didn't last long when they found Luna.

"How come you're not at the feast?" asked Harry.

"Well, I've lost most of my possessions. People take them and hide them, you know. But as it's the last night, I really do need them back, so I've been putting up signs."

"That's horrible," Mel frowned.

"How come people hide your stuff?"

"Oh... well... I think they think I'm a bit odd, you know. Some people call me 'Loony' Lovegood, actually," The girl said casually.

"That's no reason for them to take your things," Harry replied. "They used to call Mel a nutter too, but they didn't hide away her things."

"That's because they thought I was an attractive nutter," Mel rolled her eyes. "Prats. People need new brains, Luna. You're wonderful."

"D'you want help finding them?"

"Oh no," Luna smiled. "They'll come back, they always do in the end. It was just that I wanted to pack tonight. Anyway... why aren't you at the feast?"

Harry and Mel shared a look and shrugged.

"We didn't feel like it."

"No," Luna agreed, and for a second, Mel was able to see something more than just the usual vagueness in her eyes. "I don't suppose you do. That man the Death Eaters killed was your godfather, wasn't he? Ginny told me. She also said your mother and him were expecting a baby, Mel."

Harry nodded, Mel barely replied with a broken 'yes'.

"Have you..." The boy started slowly. "I mean, who... has anyone you've known ever died?"

"Yes. My mother. She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine."

"I'm sorry," Harry mumbled.

"Yes, it was rather horrible. I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've still got Dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see Mum again, is it?"

"Er — isn't it?" Harry glanced back at Mel with slight worry.

"Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?"

"You mean..." The boy started, but he didn't dare to finish.

"In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them. I could see you felt them too, Mel. They're always there."

Luna smiled at them carelessly, as if she'd just commented on the weather.

"Are you sure you don't want us to help you look for your stuff?"

"Oh no. No, I think I'll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up... It always does in the end... Well, have a nice holiday."

"Yeah... yeah, you too."

"Bye, Luna."

As they watched her go, Harry turned his head slightly without withdrawing his eyes from the Ravenclaw.

"You think she's telling the truth?"

"About what?"

"Everything."

Mel stared at the notice on the wall for a moment, deciding to use her popular card one last time in order to help a friend.

"I think I would love for it to be true," She responded. "And since I have the liberty to believe in whatever I please... then yes, I think she's right."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who had clearly been waiting all week for the opportunity to strike without teacher witnesses, attempted to ambush Harry halfway down the train as he made his way back from the toilet.

The attack might have succeeded had it not been for the fact that they unwittingly chose to stage the attack right outside a compartment full of D.A. members, who saw what was happening through the glass and rose as one to rush to Harry's aid.

Ron and Harry walked back into their compartment and told them what had just happened outside, Erick put down the book he was reading and scoffed.

"One would think that having your parents sent to Azkaban would knock some sense into you... I'll have to keep an eye on them next year, then."

Mel turned to look at him in surprise.

"You'll come back?"

"Yes," He said, a little smile playing on his lips. "I got a letter this morning ..."

He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. It was her mother's handwriting.

"I'm welcomed to stay with you this summer, and I think I'll take the offer," He grinned. "I don't wish to work at the Ministry, but I could learn a few things before I'm off to become a member of the Order. Besides, I can't think of a better way to thank Sirius than to look after all of you in the meantime..."

"I think that's very sensible of you," Hermione agreed. "It would've been stupid to give up your education now."

"What's stupid is that he's been ignored by his housemates," Ron replied. "The only decent bloke that house got in decades and they hurled him out? That's rubbish!"

Everyone stared at Ron with amusement, the boy turned a bit red.

"What? I can admit when someone's a good person!"

"I don't know what to say," Erick laughed. "Gryffindor's king just gave me his blessing..."

Ron turned redder and threw a jellybean at him.

Harry and Ron whiled away most of the journey playing wizard chess while Hermione read out snippets from the Prophet. It was now full of articles about how to repel dementors, attempts by the Ministry to track down Death Eaters, and hysterical letters claiming that the writer had seen Lord Voldemort walking past their house that very morning...

"It hasn't really started yet," sighed Hermione gloomily, folding up the newspaper again. "But it won't be long now..."

Neville let out a short sigh, absently patting his Mimbulus Mimbletonia. Mel put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, he looked up and smiled tensely.

"Hey, Harry," Ron kicked his leg.

Cho Chang was passing by with Marietta Edgecombe, who made a great deal out of hiding her face. Harry barely reacted, glancing at her before returning his gaze to the game.

"What's — er — going on with you and her anyway?" Ron asked, unsure of whether this was a safe subject to handle with Mel around.

"Nothing," Harry answered.

"I — er — heard she's going out with someone else now," added Hermione, looking at Mel as well.

"You're well out of it, mate. I mean, she's quite good-looking and all that, but you want someone a bit more cheerful."

"Right, because Harry's a ray of sunshine," Erick taunted.

"She's probably cheerful enough with someone else," Harry shrugged.

"Who's she with now anyway?" Ron asked.

"Michael Corner," Ginny responded.

"Michael — but —" Ron stammered. "But you were going out with him!"

"Not anymore. He didn't like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch and got really sulky, so I ditched him and he ran off to comfort Cho instead," Ginny said distractedly, focused on her Quibbler.

"Well, I always thought he was a bit of an idiot," Ron said happily. "Good for you. Just choose someone... better, next time."

"Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he's better?" Ginny replied.

"WHAT?"

Ron knocked over the chess and Crookshanks chased around the pieces. Grey merely opened one eye before going back to sleep.

Erick laughed again, freedom suited him. The stiffness of his shoulders had vanished and although he kept some old-fashioned attitudes, he was slowly coming out of his shell. Affection settled on Mel's heart.

"What about you?" He asked her, bringing her back from her reverie.

"What about me?"

"Do you have any new prospects in mind? I know Fred's hard to beat, but..."

"I don't think I'm ready to date anyone yet," Mel responded sincerely. "Why?"

"No reason," He replied.

His eyes lingered on her long after she'd looked away.

The moment came when the train got to the station, and she stayed behind, unsure of whether she wanted to see what was expecting her outside the platform.

It was time to meet her brother.

"Remember what I told you," Erick offered his arm for her to hold.

Her mouth was dry, but she nodded and held his arm firmly, letting him guide her to the other side of the wall with a firm step.

There was Mad-Eye Moody, looking quite as sinister with his bowler hat pulled low over his magical eye as he would have done without it, his gnarled hands clutching a long staff, his body wrapped in a voluminous traveling cloak.

Tonks stood just behind him, her bright bubble-gum-pink hair gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the dirty glass station ceiling, wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend the weird sisters.

Next to Tonks was Lupin, his face pale, his hair graying, a long and threadbare overcoat covering a shabby jumper and trousers. At the front of the group stood Mr and Mrs Weasley, dressed in their Muggle best, and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand-new jackets in some lurid green, scaly material.

Emily was next to Lupin, she was hugging a bundle of blankets that could only be one thing. She didn't look like Mel was expecting, there were dark circles under her eyes, but she was far from angry.

Her face filled with relief as soon as she saw her. Mel stumbled back, not knowing what to do. Emily realized that her daughter was afraid and she looked at her in confusion.

"Mel," She began carefully. "D'you remember what I told Harry last year after the third task?"

Mel remembered, of course.

"You said no one would blame him for fighting as hard as he could."

"That's right," Emily cupped her daughter's cheek. "I was so scared of losing you... My brave, brave girl."

Mel hugged her mother tightly, around her, she heard the others welcoming the rest of their friends.

"Ron, Ginny! Oh, and Harry dear — how are you?"

"Fine..."

"What are they supposed to be?" Ron's voice asked.

"Finest dragon skin, little bro," Fred responded, probably talking about his clothes. "Business is booming and we thought we'd treat ourselves."

Mel finally stepped back so Erick could say hi as well. She realized then that she was now as tall as her mother.

"It's time you meet someone," Emily said, drying her face with the back of her sleeve. "Come here... this is Leon Regulus. Reggie, this is your sister."

He was the tiniest person she'd ever seen, didn't have much hair yet, but his eyes were definitely grey. She remembered Luna's words and in a way, she felt that a part of Sirius still remained.

"I have a brother," She whispered in awe.

"Is that your sibling?" Ginny beamed. "Can I see him?"

Quickly, Ron and the girls approached to look at him.

Harry stayed behind, a bit unsure of whether he was allowed to meet him.

"Hello, kids," Lupin greeted them while the rest of their friends surrounded Emily.

"Hi. I didn't expect... what are you all doing here?" Harry asked.

"Well, Emily can't drive and watch over the baby at the same time, as for the rest, we thought we might have a little chat with your aunt and uncle before letting them take you home."

"I dunno if that's a good idea," Harry said awkwardly.

"Oh, I think it is," Moody growled. "That'll be them, will it, Potter?"

Mel looked over Moody's shoulder and saw the Dursleys, shocked to the core at such scene. She couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it, the first genuine laughter ever since coming back from the Ministry.

She felt someone poking her shoulder and she turned, coming face to face with the twins.

"What, we stop seeing each other for a few weeks and you forget we exist?" Fred smirked.

She jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"I would never forget you. Have you met my brother?"

"Yes, ugly little thing," Fred grimaced, George hit the back of his head. "What? It's true! No newborn is pretty..."

"Bold words from someone with the ugliest taste in clothing," Mel laughed again, it was interesting what a bunch of familiar and happy faces could do to her soul.

"We heard Erick's staying with you this summer... Pitty, we were thinking about hiring him as our assistant."

"I would rather choke on my tongue," Erick walked up to them. "You look ridiculous, and that's coming from someone who likes to wear formal shirts on the weekends."

Fred and George trapped him in a bear hug and messed up his hair, Erick tried to fight back but it only made things worse.

"You missed us!"

"Flimsy little prince like you must bore to death without us around to keep things interesting..."

"Trust me," Erick grunted, looking at her with a smile. "Mel made sure you weren't that sorely missed."

"Ah, kids!" Mr Weasley looked at them. "Boys, let go of him! Ah, look at what you did! He looks like a madman..."

Erick blushed a nice shade of pink, but he laughed it off.

"It's okay, Mr Weasley..."

"He looks far better like this," Fred teased.

"Don't listen to them, they're just jealous," Emily replied, followed shortly by the girls and Ron. "Harry, would you like to meet my son?"

Harry wasn't expecting her to address him, but he didn't have the nerve to say no. Emily took it as a yes and did something she hadn't done with the rest of them: She asked him if he wanted to hold him.

Harry stared at the baby without uttering a word. He took him, and with a few pointers from Emily, soon enough Leon was safely tucked on his arms.

"He's... he's got his eyes," Harry said quietly. "Reggie, you say? ...He's brilliant."

For a moment he forgot about the rest of the world, Harry could see his godfather reflected on those small, shiny eyes, and with that came a life with no mistakes in it yet, a new opportunity to make things right.

Emily didn't take the baby away, instead, she joined the group of adults.

"Well — shall we do it, then?" Mr Weasley then directed his attention to Moody.

"Yeah, I reckon so, Arthur."

He and Mr Weasley took the lead across the station toward the place where the Dursleys stood, apparently rooted to the floor. Hermione disengaged herself gently from her mother to join the group.

"Good afternoon," said Mr Weasley pleasantly to Uncle Vernon, coming to a halt right in front of him. "You might remember me, my name's Arthur Weasley."

As Mr Weasley had singlehandedly demolished most of the Dursleys' living room two years previously, Harry would have been very surprised if Uncle Vernon had forgotten him. Sure enough, Uncle Vernon turned a deeper shade of puce and glared at Mr Weasley, but chose not to say anything, partly, perhaps, because the Dursleys were outnumbered two to one.

Aunt Petunia looked both frightened and embarrassed. She kept glancing around, as though terrified somebody she knew would see her in such company. Dudley, meanwhile, seemed to be trying to look small and insignificant, a feat at which he was failing extravagantly.

"We thought we'd just have a few words with you about Harry."

"Yeah. About how he's treated when he's at your place," Moody growled. "And trust us, Emily has made sure to tell us all about it."

Her mother smiled brightly.

"I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house —" Mr Dursley started, but he was soon interrupted.

"I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley."

"Anyway, that's not the point," Tonks added. "The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Harry —"

"— and make no mistake, we'll hear about it," Lupin added, looking briefly at Mel and winking.

"Yes, even if you won't let Harry use the fellytone —"

"Telephone," Hermione corrected under her breath.

"Yeah, if we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in any way, you'll have us to answer to," Moody growled.

"Are you threatening me, sir?" Mr Dursley asked in anger.

"Yes, I am."

"And do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?"

"Well..." said Moody, pushing back his bowler hat to reveal his sinisterly revolving magical eye. Uncle Vernon leapt backward in horror and collided painfully with a luggage trolley. "Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley."

He turned from Uncle Vernon to Harry. "So, Potter... give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along..."

"We'll keep an eye on him, Moody," Mel's mother replied, "Erick, Mel and I will. Feel free to have every meal with us from now on, Harry. There's no reason for you to be eating rubbish."

Aunt Petunia gasped loudly at this.

"I..." Harry blinked. "Okay."

Emily stepped forward and seized Regulus, then she stood on her tiptoes and kissed Harry's cheek.

"We'll see you in a while, love."

"'Bye, then, Potter," Moody patted his shoulder.

"Take care, Harry," said Lupin. "Keep in touch."

"You're not coming?" Mel asked.

"I'm afraid not," The man said, hugging her one last time. "We have work to do."

"I could help if you want," Erick responded quickly.

"You're not going anywhere," Mel argued, holding his arm protectively.

"Maybe later, kid," Lupin answered, staring at them in slight amusement.

"We should move," Emily responded before Erick could argue back.

"Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can," Mrs Weasley said. "And of course, Emily dear, all of you are invited."

"We'll see you soon," said Ron shaking Harry and Erick's hands.

"Really soon," Hermione added. "We promise."

Harry then summoned a real, loving smile. He waved at everyone goodbye and then turned to Mel and Erick.

A strange thought came to her when she watched those two boys standing next to her and her mother: Family.

Difficult times were ahead, but they would go through them. Together.

"Well," Harry scratched the back of his neck. "I'll see you later."

Erick sat in the backseat with restless curiosity, examining every detail.

"First time?" Mel grinned, looking over to the older boy and her little brother, completely asleep on the baby chair. "If you feel like vomiting don't stress, I get carsick too..."

"Ready?" Emily asked.

Mel stroke Grey's head and turned around to face forward.

Yes, she was ready.

Next Part —>

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#twoidiots writing #hp fanfic #Harry Potter #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter xoc #WITT fic

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