#The next bit is even more fun

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

okay so Allie @oflights got me thinking about this fic I wrote last year where Harry teaches Draco how to conjure a Patronus, and I just find the scene so fun that I’m going to post it here 🥰

“Right. Okay. So,” Harry leaned back against his desk, feeling a little self conscious. “The Patronus Charm is one of the most ancient pieces of magic still in common use. You can actually track surges of its use through history. It’s associated with troubled times, obviously. At the moment, we have an unusually high number of people trained in its use. Some of that is down to Dumbledore, actually. Because of the talking Patronus messages you saw Hagrid use yesterday. That was a favoured method of communication used by the Order of the Phoenix.” 

Harry paused to let Draco catch up in his notetaking, picking up the thread again when Draco raised his head and resumed eye contact, “There’s been this idea in the past that a Patronus can only be cast by someone pure of heart, which. I think is kind of silly. What does pure of heart even mean? The reality is that because it takes so much magic, it requires an equally incredible amount of focus and clarity of purpose.

“I find it helps in casting to understand what exactly a Patronus is-”

“It’s a physical manifestation of hope and joy,” Draco interrupted quietly. 

“Exactly. I’d add to that, it’s a physical manifestation of your survival instinct also. And since a Dementor's a sort of personification of despair, a Patronus can drive it away. The incantation actually translates to ‘I summon my protector.’”

“Poetic,” Draco said, scribbling in his pad. 

“Yes, well. It works. So the most common way to summon a Patronus is to fix a powerfully positive, joyful memory in your mind, focus on it with all your might, and then cast. Generally, I have my classes practise focusing on the memory before trying to cast the spell.”

“All right.” Draco didn’t move. 

“You should put away your notebook,” Harry advised, raising his wand, “Nox.” 

The torches in the wall brackets extinguished themselves, and they were plunged immediately into a much deeper darkness than Harry had been expecting. The curtains were drawn, and it was rather dark outside anyway, as it was snowing. 

“Potter,” came Draco’s voice, bemused from the sofa. “Are these theatrics strictly necessary?”

“Shush, you’re meant to be focusing.” 

“Fine. For how long?”

“That’s up to you. When you’re ready to try casting, try casting.” 

Draco fell silent then. Harry tried to keep as still and quiet as possible. The only sound in the room was Happy’s slightly whistly breathing from her bed. 

Presently there was a shifting as Draco rose from the sofa, “Expecto Patronum!” 

The room was illuminated by the silver cloud that burst from his wand. It hung moon-bright between them for a moment, then faded away into nothingness. Draco inhaled loudly and steadily and cast again, “Expecto Patronum!” 

This time, the thing that exploded from his wand was a distinctly animal shape, four legged, hairy, huge and dazzling in the dark office. It vanished too quickly to make out what it was, and Draco promptly dropped his wand. 

“Did you see it?!”

“Of course I saw!” Harry was so excited he could have hugged Draco. “I wasn’t expecting you to get it so fast.”

“One would think you’d have learned not to underestimate me by this time, Potter,” and Harry could picture exactly the whisk of his hair that accompanied that remark. “I told you I’ve cast the incorporeal form before. I’ll bet I have it perfect next time.” 

But Draco tried twice more, and produced only silver mist, even more indistinct than his first attempt. 

Harry heard him throw himself back onto the sofa with a huff, “Got to focus. Give me a moment.” 

The silence that followed lasted far longer than the first time. It set Harry wondering what happy memory Draco was honing in on. His desire to ask grew stronger as he waited in the dark, though he knew it would be abominably intrusive, and he didn’t dare break Draco’s concentration. 

Harry was thinking so hard about what Draco might be thinking that he didn’t even notice him get to his feet, and the bellowed incantation took him quite by surprise. 

“Expecto Patronum!” 

This time, the enormous shape that sprang forth was perfectly clear, a shining, silver-white lion so dazzling and so huge that it obscured Draco from him completely. It opened its jaws in a silent roar, then faded away, leaving them in darkness again. 

Harry felt hot all over, his skin too tight. He thought of Snape’s silver doe. Tonks’ wolf. His mouth went dry, and he fumbled for a seat more secure than the edge of his desk. 

After a moment, he raised his wand, “Lumos.” The torches flickered into light.

Draco was still staring in wonder at the place where his lion had vanished. “It was so beautiful,” Draco said quietly. “I didn’t know it would. I wasn’t expecting that.” 

Harry found his voice, “There’s nothing like seeing it for the first time. That bit of you that you’ve never laid eyes on before. Right in front of your face.”

“Yes,” Draco said reverently. Then, hesitant, “Show me yours?” 

Harry stood and raised his wand, “Expecto Patronum!” And the stag came at his call, as he knew it would. Quickly and easily as a devoted old friend. 

With the torches lit, the stag did not appear as dazzlingly as the lion, though it was just as huge. It stepped delicately right up to Draco, and lingered, nose to nose with him for just a moment before it disappeared. 

“I wish he could be with me all the time,” Draco said softly, almost to himself. “My lion.” 

“Well,” Harry said. “He is, isn’t he?”

A slow smile spread over Draco’s face, “I suppose you’re right.” 

———-

read the rest on AO3!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

At your side [End of Season 2]

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[rambles-about-minecraft-ocs]

one of my favorite things about zedaph is that on a server full of people that find strange and oft-overlooked minecraft mechanics or rare events and then see just how far they can push them in the name of spectacle or efficiency or world-breaking, zed is over here finding these mechanics in order to do the weirdest things he can think of in as entertaining a manner as possible

like i 100% have faith in zedaph's theoretical ability to be just as efficient or spectacular or world-breaking. if he wanted to do that stuff, i trust that he absolutely could. but thats so far from being his priority. instead, hes going to spend around a week of irl time focused entirely on eventually having the good luck to spawn in something insanely rare so that he can convert it into something even rarer, the result of which being something that 99% of the server reacts with complete and utter shock that it even exists in the first place, just because its zany and funny and he wanted to. and i love that

[sysig]

So much experimenting to be done, where to even start (Patreon)

[sneez]

gwyn and dea through the years :D [full id under cut]

ID: The first drawing (1690) shows Gwynplaine as a child, carrying the baby Dea wrapped in a coat in his arms. He has long yellow hair, and is wearing only a ragged pair of breeches. His feet are bare and bloody. The labels read:

[Skin] tans easily

Adult man's coat

Adult man's breeches

[Joints] hypermobile; frequent joint pain (especially in bad weather)

[Feet] severely scarred

The second (1695) shows Gwynplaine as a youth and Dea as a small child; Gwynplaine is holding Dea's hand. Gwynplaine is wearing an oversized shirt, sleeveless doublet, and breeches. Dea has curly auburn hair and is wearing a simple greyish dress. The labels pointing to Gwynplaine read:

Ursus's shirt

Ursus's breeches

[Shoes] much too big

Still refusing to let Ursus cut his hair (bad sensory experience and dislikes anyone coming near his face)

Ursus's doublet with the sleeves cut off The labels pointing to Dea read:

Reddish hair until she got older

[Dress] made by Ursus out of an old blanket

Cloth wraps rather than shoes

The third (1700) shows Gwynplaine as a teenager and Dea as a girl; they are standing side by side. Gwynplaine is wearing the same outfit as before but with the inclusion of a red necktie and light hose, and his hair is shorter. Dea is wearing a blue dress. The labels pointing to Gwynplaine read:

Ursus's doublet with the sleeves cut off

Finally submitted to a haircut (very reluctantly)

Same shoes (slightly better-fitting now) The labels pointing to Dea read:

Skin burns easily

Bitten fingernails

[Dress] most expensive single thing Ursus had ever bought

The fourth (1705) shows Gwynplaine as a young man and Dea as a young woman. Gwynplaine is wearing a green waistcoat, red breeches, and a leather esclavine, and his hair is longer. Dea is wearing a white shirt, a blue dress, and the same necktie Gwynplaine was wearing in the previous drawing; her hair is also longer and darker. The labels pointing to Gwynplaine read:

[Hair] gets very light in summer

[Hair] greying

[Hands] very calloused

New shoes! The labels pointing to Dea read:

[Necktie] used to be Gwynplaine's [smiley face emoji]

Very visible veins

New shoes!

End ID.

[welcometogrouchland]

I miss them so bad (Dick and Damian)

[puppyeared]

its so hard to watch time pass when things like careers and assignments exist. what do you mean im supposed to take that seriously

[variksel]

peachyville horror has done Something to my psyche and i dont know if i enjoy it only bcs its slow and painful ......... for the first time in my life im sitting here, 5 days before a new episode is coming out, and im getting excited about it being dndads tuesday soon

[batsplat]

as our resident Casey expert i wonder what do you think would have happened if marc and casey competed against each other? since casey retiring is so important for marc coming into motogp im always thinking abt the what ifs...

my initial instinct with this hypothetical is always 'that sounds horrible', though I do have more thoughts and opinions about it than that! marc obviously would have loved the chance to race casey, and casey has even been one of his picks of 'guys he would've liked to be teammates with' before, so, you know, clearly something there - and he does very much respect casey as a rider. I think it's quite likely that by the time marc entered the premier class, casey had already developed... I don't know if wariness is going too far, but maybe a little bit of unease or caution where marc was concerned. marc already very much had a reputation based on his 125/moto2 track record, and some of these incidents were controversial enough that the motogp riders commented on them. so take the phillip island 2011 incident where marc rode into the back of another rider:

the valentino quote serves as a bit of a benchmark here, given he was generally pretty pro-marc. yes, casey's phrasing is perhaps a little harsher, but unsurprisingly none of the riders were big fans of marc's behaviour in that particular incident

on the other hand, it's not like casey never sided with marc. take catalunya 2012, where marc was slapped with a controversial post-race penalty:

yes, casey's main complaint was about inconsistent stewarding - but still, he believed marc had been unfairly treated here. feels like these incidents were some of the only things casey and valentino actually agreed on in those years, so that's nice

that being said, it's hard to see how casey wouldn't have his issues with marc and marc's whole approach to racing. I did include some thoughts on the teammate question here, but mainly I'm going to pilfer the relevant autobiography passage:

"if a rider doesn't care about his own safety then it stands to reason he doesn't care about anybody else's either"... there's nobody really who embodies the 'doesn't care about his own safety' maxim better than marc. he was the young rider desperate to win, and I can't imagine casey would have enjoyed actually racing him much. casey mostly didn't enjoy racing valentino, after all, who is a generally a lot more selective with his aggression than marc is (though casey did have to experience some of the worst valentino had to offer in that regard). casey talked in his autobiography about getting a sense when he just wasn't really able to trust another rider on the track, how much it bothered him - and that exact lack of respect is something that's been pretty closely associated with marc. that doesn't mean he would immediately declare marc his enemy... he'd just want marc to change, to learn, to grow up, to start treating his competitors with a little more respect. the way casey talks about young riders, there is a sense in which he has more time for them than he does for valentino - whose lack of respect casey views as more integral to who he is as a rider. valentino isn't a bully on track due to the exuberance of youth, he's a bully on track when he thinks he can use it as a tactic of intimidation. then again, marc by this measure is worse... and I think very quickly casey would have grown pretty disenchanted with how marc approaches all his wheel-to-wheel racing, especially when it becomes more and more clear marc does not feel particularly inclined to change

it's always important to remember how recent the trauma of losing simoncelli was for the whole sport, and it coloured both dani and jorge's wariness of marc... but also (in my opinion anyway) their restraint in how they dealt with him. how they tried to stop themselves from actually making an enemy out of him, in part because they'd just had an experience of harshly criticising a rider for a whole year and then having to process his death. both dani and jorge actually had more public and more serious disagreements with simoncelli than casey did, but I reckon there would have been an element of that restraint with casey too... on the other hand, his experiences with marc would have left him feeling even more alienated from the sport than he already was - at times frustrated (like jorge was) less with marc directly but more with the regulatory bodies for not holding marc back, for not giving him a race ban or whatever to teach him a lesson. that being said, marc's shamelessness vs casey's stubbornness means that if they had direct on-track encounters and casey didn't like marc's post-race response... well, I certainly think that'd end up being a pretty tense situation, even if it falls short of active hostilities

worth including irl!casey's take on marc in 2013:

which, you know. it's not just that marc's a hard racer - casey is accusing marc of deliberately wanting to make the defeats extra painful for his opponents, of wanting to not just beat but humiliate them. anyone else that reminds you of? someone who is as motivated in securing his psychological victories as his actual ones? perhaps someone who has a bit of a history himself with casey?

let's bring in valentino. it's not that casey would really have begrudged marc his friendship with valentino, and he generally kept his hatred of valentino quite 'clean' in that he wasn't conducting any proxy wars or anything (for instance, I don't get the sense the vale/sic friendship ever affected his view of simoncelli... though I have very little to go on here either way). also, if nothing else in this timeline changes, we're assuming valentino in 2013 is fairly clearly the... fifth? best rider? kinda depends where dani would have landed I suppose (casey's retirement announcement did save honda from a bit of a headache)... but anyway what this means is that valentino probably wouldn't initially have been much of a competitive threat to casey. mostly he would have been consigned to the sidelines

that being said, I doubt casey would have massively enjoyed the whole laguna seca saga. unfortunately, we don't even really know what real life casey's stance on the copycat move situation was... though if I had to guess, in this timeline I'd say his position would've been, a) marc could and should have carried out that overtake two corners later, there was no need in that race situation to take that risk, b) still, it was valentino's slight error as he attempted to reclaim the position (in what was a pretty aggressive manner, it has to be said) that led to them both ending up off-track and fuck that guy, and c) the problem with 2008 wasn't just or even primarily the corkscrew overtake and it's annoying that that's the only bit everyone talks about. of course, there's also the question of whether casey would have bought marc's explanation that it was totally by coincidence that the overtake happened there... and again, complete guesswork, but my sense of casey is that he would have assumed marc was being at least a little bit dishonest. (which, you know... laguna's not an easy track to overtake at, but marc did prove with the bradl move that he was perfectly capable of overtaking after turn 8 - might not have been planning on the off-track excursion, but he was still attempting to overtake just ahead of a blind crest that happened to feed into the corkscrew lol.) I think casey by his honda days had calmed down a bit (though he still certainly had some conspiratorial tendencies), but I also don't think it's a stretch to imagine that he would've felt like he was a victim of a joke between the pair of them... not ideal

overall though, I reckon casey's main frustrations would have been less with the move itself and more with how it was discussed. in the presser, while joking with marc, valentino does take the opportunity to get in a jibe at casey for old time's sake. there's this clip, where he directly addresses livio suppo (at ducati in 2008, by then at honda) - specifically about how both casey and suppo criticised him for that overtake. in response, suppo says something about how he's grateful to marc because they finally got payback. valentino is later asked directly about casey's complaints in 2008 in this clip, and replies with the following:

would valentino have said this stuff with casey still in the paddock? well, yes! honestly, given valentino did very quickly lay off needling casey once he had retired, there's a good chance he would have said something worse. and marc would have laughed along at the whole thing. I don't know, I just don't see casey taking particularly kindly to that... he can hold a grudge, that man can, and at a certain point he'd probably be increasingly less willing to give marc the benefit of the doubt. interesting situation though, laguna seca '13 + casey is a very juicy scenario that could play out in several different ways

but I'm guilty of burying the lede here - there's a far more obvious reason than anything I've described above for why the casey/marc relationship would have turned sour. it's the simple fact that they would have been teammates which would do the damage all on its lonesome; they have radically different conceptualisations of how that dynamic is supposed to work and would inevitably have clashed as a result. the one commonality they do have is they don't see their teammates as potential friends, which is... also not helpful! I think they'd probably initially be fine on the interpersonal level - and, actually, given how the casey/valentino relationship played out and marc's general approach to his rivalries, I can see marc/casey more or less being able to maintain a minimum standard of politeness towards each other even at their worst. like, I still think they'd be able to smile at each other and do some small talk when face-to-face, but I also think everything else would be a complete disaster. I talked a bit about how marc approaches his teammate relationships in this post - and I'm not going to rehash too much of what irl!marc got up to, but I'll include some bits relevant to casey

from marc:

related to casey:

and dani comparing the two:

we do obviously even have actual real life controversy wherein casey thinks marc felt threatened by him and forced him out of honda... and this in a timeline where they weren't even direct competitors! if this is the level of tension a test rider role can generate, then if they'd actually been teammates...? yeah, no. casey thinks that teammates should cooperate - and he thinks that riders enforcing divisions within the box are essentially doing so because they are "afraid". marc has openly admitted to lying about what parts he likes to make sure his teammate doesn't get any edge over him. this is the thing, right: marc might think casey is a cool rider, would've liked the chance to race him and even be teammates with him... but this is the stuff he did to dani, who was one of his literal idols! this is his understanding of competition - (like valentino) he might love the fight, but simultaneously he'll do pretty much whatever it takes to win, because he considers this stuff fundamentally part of the game. casey does not. to casey, this kind of victory is dishonest. any kind of gamesmanship is a sign of weakness... the victory is worth less if you're accomplishing it like that

now, hey, maybe marc would never have been able to go as far as he did with dani because he wouldn't have the kind of performance edge that allows you to definitively impose your will within the team. I think it's a popular interpretation that marc wouldn't have won the title in 2013 if casey had been there, which... I mean, I think it's true that it would have been less likely - in that in a season with that much volatility, the more plausible championship contenders you have the less likely it is that any single one of them takes the title (same goes for instance if you add in a valentino who had not gone to ducati for two years and would have presumably been more competitive in 2013). but it's not like casey would have been the defending champion and the clear class of the field... partly due to injury, he ended up finishing in third in 2012. jorge and dani didn't win the 2013 title in part as a result of their own injuries, and who knows how casey would have fared... like sometimes it's just luck of the draw really. you can be the better rider and still not win the title, shit happens. I think for as long as a more or less healthy-ish casey stays in the sport, it would have been unlikely that marc establishes quite the same performance edge as he did over dani... but, well, if anything that would have meant he would have fought even harder out of perceived necessity to win the internal honda wars

it's the kind of thing that can make a relationship quickly deteriorate, especially with a prickly character such as casey, and it's entirely plausible that dynamic would have become strained at best and horrendously toxic at worst... sooner rather than later. and the thing is, this environment would affect marc considerably less than it would casey. again, it's the fact that he relishes the fight... he's very good at shrugging off (most) criticism and thrives in that kind of tension. the emotional fatigue that this scenario generates would be painfully lopsided, where casey offers harsh criticisms and means them and is endlessly frustrated with marc's approach, while marc... doesn't really care. at least dani also had a questionable manager who was conducting behind the scenes warfare on his behalf - casey doesn't want to play these games at all. he just wants to ride a bike, and marc is never going to allow him to live in peace as long as he's an internal threat. if casey were exposed directly to all of that from marc, I doubt he'd walk away from the experience with a particularly positive impression of him

does he walk away? I think there's a decent chance that casey would have ended up so disillusioned with the whole thing that this would have been what pushed him into retirement. if he wants to get out of that mess, let's say after two years, his options would have been pretty limited. yamaha is closed off and I'd struggle to think of a scenario in which either jorge or valentino would have been particularly interested in a direct swap (also, if you're sick of being marc's teammate, you're probably not gonna be jumping at the chance to be valentino's instead). I suppose you could go back to ducati (which he did return to as a test rider so it's not like those bridges were permanently burnt), and maybe casey could do something special even with *gestures* that version of the bike. really though... I think enough would have been enough for him. regardless of the actual balance of success between the pair of them, my guess is marc wins that war because he's happier to get nasty and because he wants it more. casey has his two to four titles... he's done. let him go fishing

[thornaelle]

A portrait of my Pathfinder character Sabella's current mental state. She's having A Time.

▸ Everything she thought she knew about her life was a lie. ▸ Her great-grandfather is not just dealing with a fiends, he is one. He's a Rakshasa, has probably been several of her ancestors through reincarnation or impersonation, and he wants her to come home and be a good little pawn, sorry, grand-daughter. He particularly wants her back now he knows she can change her form and hide that she's a tiefling. ▸ But she wasn't actually born visibly a tiefling! Her older brother Cesare was though, and that was deemed unacceptable because they needed a respectable face for the family heir and not one that openly advertised that they had been dealing with fiends. Their second born, however, could be safely kept out of sight until they could find a way to permanently hide her fiendish blood too. So their heritages were swapped via horrible transmutation magic involving a painting stretched over a frame of magically re-shaped ribs, which has been hanging in her bedroom most of her life :) ▸ Totally unrelatedly hahaha; She's missing a rib! Cesare is probably missing one too :) It's fine, it probably contributes to her ridiculous acrobatics modifier she's real bendy :) :) It's fine :) Or could that be the ancestry involving a creature know for having wierd joints? Certainly no-one's looking at the way she moves with new eyes at all hahahahaaa :) ▸ Her parents may have been trying to protect her all her life which meant pushing her away and making her want to leave. Real shitty way to discover your parents might not actually hate you, might in fact love and want you very much. ▸ AND her dad has "business dealings" with the Azarketi ambassador, of the kind that mean they light up when they're in the same room and her mother is really pissed off. Is your family life not complicated enough already, dad??? ▸ Everything is Fine. ▸ :) :) :|

She's quite looking forward to getting to go and hit things that are completely unrelated to her fucked up family. (I am having a great time. Sabella may be in the middle of a nervous breakdown.)

[unholyscrearn]

Anime Ramsay isn’t real, he can’t hurt you—

Figure used. Funko and Eaglemoss Ramsays for scale.

I’m almost finished with my Ramsay custom. I’ll have to fix where the gloss got under the masking tape and onto the shins, but he’s basically done, so I took some quick pictures. (He even has dust on him already, wow.)

This was my first figure custom and while he turned out quite messy overall, I learned a lot and the process was (mostly) fun. :)

[vivacia-18]

After many years, guess who decided to try their hand at bookbinding again?

That's right, me! And of course I chose I giant of a fic, because I am nothing if not ambitious XD. I think it's 3 inches or more thick, and came to a whopping 1088 pages! The fic is Count Your Blessings by @madmothmadame , a Founders Era Tobirama centric fic and I cannot recommend it enough <3 <3 <3

My cover fabric and end paper are pretty simple, one part because I thought it suited the story, one part because I had them on hand, and one part because I'm a raw beginner and that's about as good as I could manage XD

It took a lot of waffling on my part (graphic design is NOT a great skill of mine) but overall I ended up really happy with how the title page came out - if I had the artistic skill to paint/draw it or the supplies to transfer it, this would have gone on the cover as well. Alas, for now it shall remain inside only.

A little detail that gave me some grief, as I waffled on font style and size a bit, but ultimately I'm really pleased with it - I used a plum blossom branch as the scene break throughout the book. If you've read the fic, you probably know why I picked that particular image for this and the title page ;)

I realized after printing that some of my paper had gotten a bit aged, even though it was stored in the printer. I wasn't about to waste the paper, ink and time for a reprint though, so I left it. Since the book is for me, little things like that are no bother. I was just glad I didn't fuck up in the printing or signature sewing order X'D

I included the authors notes from the end of each chapter as a bonus section at the end, so they'd be preserved with the story but not breaking up the flow of reading the book ^_^

Final view, this time from the spine - think I left the gap a little to wide between the cover boards and spine but eh, again this is just for me and only my third binding ever (and certainly the largest! XD) so I'm still really pleased overall.

A very fun experience, and I'm looking forward to my next re-read of the story, where I'll be doing it with my very own chonky boi version held in my hands :3

[batfossil-fr]

I’ve been really thinking of reopening my art shop soon… I’ve been taking some practice doodles (hence all the posting lately) while I shake off my rust and I’m finding things I enjoy working on again. I miss trying my hand at more dragons/OCs and colors. my shop’s so broken rn lmao but that’s a problem for a later date it’s just nice getting back into art

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

really wish my one friend would quit flirting with me. and trying to goad me into hanging out more. and assigning us fictional characters that are oh-so-coincidently either couples or with romantic tension. and then interrupting our gameplay to ask me repeatedly if I think they’re “like us” (which they rarely are…). and matching my icon on discord without asking (again, usually by insinuating a couple connection). and giving me random things I do not want and did not ask to receive (and then forcing me to take them???).

[meamiiikiii]

i will not elaborate further beyond the original notes i had:

these are the type of thoughts i have while eating breakfast ASDASD

[why-the-heck-not]

Bought 2 two cans of monster ultra and an unlawful amount of gummy bears and I’m going to trick my anxiety-riddled brain with a simultaneous sugar and caffeine rush to get these presentation slides done