#but she does it simply because his surname is so difficult to her

[sumiiregarii]

You are not into robots????

"Do I look like Lars?"

[folkdances]

let’s talk about franziska and grief in justice for all.

the narrative that the games, at first glance, appear to be pushing is that franziska is aware edgeworth has not committed suicide. she repeatedly affirms this, most notably in turnabout bigtop, when she tells phoenix that she believes her brother to be alive and hiding somewhere. however, one thing we need to keep in mind is that franziska and edgeworth were not shown to be close in the interim between jfa and the prequel cases in aai — in fact, it would go against both their characters and the writing of their relationship for them to have kept in much contact at all.

franziska is, if anything, rooted in the past. her hair is cut almost boyishly short and choppy. she carries around a whip because she is so used to being spoken over and ignored, having started her career so young. her youth underlies her every professional achievement; and if not her youth, then her lineage. her physical design is meant to reflect the uniform of a jockey, and taking her aristocratic surname into account, it makes sense: horseback riding, obsessive as it is, remains a pastime for the social class she inhabits. it’s only logical that, in the absence of a real connection with her brother, she would base her understanding of his character on the most recent version of him that she knows, being the vain and easily affronted rookie prosecutor wracked between ambition and guilt that she grew up with. she has no way to know how to fill in the gaps between a suicide note and the brother she knew, because to her, there is no gap to fill in; it seems a logical conclusion to her brother's story and life that he would rather run away than face his own failures. it is consistent with the younger version of edgeworth that we see in trials and tribulations. it is difficult to reconcile that individual with someone who might actually take his own life, at least outwardly speaking. franziska has no hands-on knowledge of her brother and his mental state beyond what she might have seen in the press or heard filtered down from her father. it’s only natural that she draws the conclusion that he simply turned tail and ran away in order to preserve his dignity. it is an obvious conclusion to make.

however, this interpretation completely overlooks the fact that franziska is not stupid. she is well aware that her brother had very recently been 'betrayed' by the man to whose standards he strived to rise to almost his entire life and is aware that the driving force behind this desperation to prove himself was his father's murder. manfred von karma was their father; there is a tendency in both the games and their surrounding fanbase to portray the senior von karma as being nothing more than a teacher and mentor, but if we examine the (limited) dialogue the three share in aai, edgeworth and franziska address von karma as one might a particularly volatile and austere parental figure, and he responds in kind. he employs and underlines a pattern of the same types of verbal abuse and neglect present in many fictional case studies of the paternal abuser; to edgeworth, he shows the former and to franziska, often the latter (what comes to mind is a piece of dialogue wherein franziska, aged 13, asks her father if he will attend her courtroom debut, to which he responds, "i'll consider it"). she frequently demonstrates her emotional intelligence, again, particularly as a child, such as a short exchange in which von karma berates edgeworth rather cruelly and is met with silence. rather than let the topic linger, franziska very deliberately changes the subject, asking von karma who he thinks is the culprit behind the current investigation. later, when edgeworth thanks her for it, she acts as if she does not know what he's talking about.

back in the 'present day', her insistence that she defeat phoenix wright in order to avenge her family name is also rendered moot; franziska places a lot of pride in her family name, but her defense of her father is lackluster at best. she, too, is left to grapple with the weight of his legacy and has (seemingly) decided that her father simply does not live up to expectations. he instilled in her such strong convictions regarding the meaning of the law and the von karma family name, and it only makes sense that, once he failed so utterly to exemplify them, she would instead shift her understanding of those convictions onto herself and the only other person she believes she can see those qualities in, being miles edgeworth.

the initial theory, that franziska believes edgeworth to be in hiding, while a version of the truth, would not appear to be the truth to someone who has repeatedly demonstrated the emotional intelligence and understanding of the subject necessary to read between the so-called lines; to me, it is obvious that franziska believed, at least in large part, that edgeworth really had killed himself, and her actions and dialogue in jfa shift subtly into a much more interesting light if one runs with this interpretation. she goes from presenting herself — something i'm going to touch on in a moment — as an almost cartoonishly dense and vain girl into someone desperate to deny the truth staring her right in the face; that she has been virtually abandoned by every figure she loved and trusted in her life, left to uphold a legacy with no room for error, bound to rules so straight-edge and self-imposed that no single person could ever walk only in their light. anyone would resort to staunch denial — and franziska, so attached to her past, does so with aplomb.

finally, i want to point out that it's very easy to take franziska at face value. as unfortunate as it is, she's only present in four games — aai, aai2, jfa, and t&t — and she usually isn't in the majority of cases in those games. there is a stark yet subtle difference in her comportment in the investigations games, though, which can be very clearly explained: in every game she speaks to the player character, and in jfa, the player character is phoenix wright, her self-ascribed enemy. it makes complete sense that she would present herself a certain way, speak in certain manners, and act rash and overconfident in front of him, because she hates him.

all this to say, franziska is a very potent case study of grief and how it can change people, especially when that grief gets caught up in a messy tangle of ambition and a legacy whose stipulations border almost on mania. also, i love her very dearly and thought this would be interesting to talk about. obviously, this is not the entirety of the situation, as i mostly focused on franziska's relationship to edgeworth, but i think this is long enough as is.

[revvnant]

some movie mike headcanons.

first and foremost, yes, his actual surname is afton; however, he is living under the name 'mike schmidt' ( mother's surname ) for the time being. his siblings' names are also evan and elizabeth. but--

he suffers from dissociative amnesia after the triple punch of '83, the mci, and william disappearing / being taken by cps ( i haven't decided yet; one way or another, the children are separated from william and michael ends up as the sole provider, compounding his stress and causing a rapid unraveling ).

this works backwards and forwards. he perceives his life as one long day starting around age sixteen, and can't discern between 'yesterday' 'today' and 'tomorrow'. he's unable to conceptualise the future. it's also not that he struggles to remember his past and can't -- it's that he doesn't think of it at all. it slides from his brain. it doesn't feel like a loss to him, it simply does not exist.

elizabeth was so young when he started acting as her guardian that she doesn't even know her name isn't abby. mike cannot recall that her full name is elizabeth and the papers he acquired for them do say 'abigail schmidt'.

the 'who the fuck is garrett' fandom reaction is also the reaction of anyone who knew the aftons before william vanished. there was never a garrett. mike cannot perceive this though. he's censored it out. you could sit in front of him saying 'evan' and he would hear garrett every time.

last psychological point, regarding the above, in addition to the psychosis he may have b(orderline)pd. he has an incredibly unstable self-image, is terrified of losing what little he has left to the point of irrationality, quickly becomes attached to people he meets whom he thinks could be friends ( and support systems, he is desperate for some support ), exhibits mood swings, and feels emotions so intensely that it becomes difficult for him to control. all of this is caused and worsened by his living situation.

moving away from his mental health, he lives alone with his sister and he works. he has trouble holding a job due to paranoia, outbursts, and dissociation. despite being relatively smart, he lacks a high school diploma and thus can only really get minimum wage work. he rotates jobs every three to nine months or thereabouts.

he knows he's an unfit parent and not what abby needs, but he doesn't want to give her up. even if he understands that it would be better for her in the long run, he just can't bring himself to do it. she's all he has and he's desperate to keep her.

his knowledge of freddy's is hazy at best. sometimes an offhand mention may prompt him to say that he's been there before or that he used to like it, but he can never summon up a concrete memory.

'doesn't steve raglan look like his dad' no first of all everyone looks like steve his friend steve. the employment officer and the auto guy and the lawyer and the therapist all look exactly the same it's just one of those faces. also steve doesn't look like his dad his dad looks like [stock image of a customer service representative his brain autofills into any memory of william].

he still knows how to do some fun mechanical shit! he just doesn't usually offer it up because it doesn't come to mind. if you put a machine in front of him and told him to fix it he'd probably do it without thinking, but since it's not something that often occurs to him, he can find himself stumped by his own appliance problem. you very much have to distract him and then slide the pieces into his hands at which point he'll just take over.

fun tidbit: he can kind of roller skate.

fun tidbit: his japanese and russian are intermediate, he learned from past coworkers. normal shelf stocking activity and i'm not joking he was killing time. this should make him more employable. it does not.

fun tidbit: he's a very good artist!

[momolith]

lets see if i can cobble together something coherent about jiyong

completely unintentionally jiyong and his story has become a place where ive poured much of my traumas into... i realized the parallels of his story with MY traumas after the fact LOL if that makes sense?

for a long time i really struggled with him (and i still do, but now its mostly his design and not also his story and personality) but lately ive really managed to develop him well! im really happy about that because when i made him i knew he had potential but i just couldnt get there no matter how i tried.

anyway onto him and his story... (btw the worldbuilding is very much a wip and theres a lot i still need to work on and flesh out)

essentially his is a story of family trauma and revenge.

his father is Nikephoros, real name Min Jeongho. hes a dragon and celebrated knight from a House with very high standing in this world. he was the youngest of his siblings and thus is very much A Youngest Son. but unforeseen circumstances made it so he ended up the only one of his siblings alive to inherit his fathers seat as head of house.

now hes been head for a very long time already (dragons are very long lived so he's been alive long enough to show visible signs of aging) but all these years has refused to settle down to marry and have heirs. his adviors are SO stressed dealing with him.

which is then very ironic when he accidentally ends up fathering jiyong with a prostitute he spent the night with after celebrating some sort of feat (unsure, but definitely a battlefield victory or something of that note). unfortunately for jiyong and his mother, nikephoros' advisors learn of his existence before nikephoros does. and they can NOT accept a half-breed, most definitely infertile, peasant boy as their lords heir! they take matters into their own hands. their lord doesnt need to know.

hes in a dragons equivalent of his 50s-60s. fantasy korean (LOL) bisexual 9 ft / 275cm he/him characters that remind me of him: yan wushi, tianlang-jun

now jiyongs mom on the other hand i still dont know all that much about as shes the newest addition to this. nikephoros is so fleshed out because ive had him as an oc for years, i simply updated and upgraded him LOL. luckily these past few days ive been inspired to work on jiyong and his family so ive got more than i had for a long time

her name is Eirwen ir Heilyn and shes a unicorn. at the time of meeting nikephoros she was a prostitute but shes retired now (as either the madam of the brothel or simply a servant there). she was unprepared to have jiyong as conception between a dragon and unicorn is rare, but she did her best. thankfully she and her coworkers were close and they stepped in to help her with raising jiyong.

she gave jiyong a korean name (and his fathers surname) in the hopes of him being taken in by his father... in vain. because nikephoros couldnt give less of a fuck and his house wants jiyong dead. she had sent letters to nikephoros as well but none went answered (they were obviously intercepted by his advisors) and after the first assassination attempt on her son, she gave up on nikephoros. through luck or maybe even sheer coincidence she's managed to survive attempts on her own life as well as her sons.

at first i considered having her be killed by his fathers men but then i was like girl... not another dead mom trope lmfao fuck that

shes in a unicorns equivalent of her 40s i think fantasy welsh bisexual 5'10 / 178cm she/her

AND NOW... ONTO THE MAN OF THE HOUR...

Min Jiyong is a qilin/kirin, which are dragon/unicorn offspring (they are more often than not sterile). as both his parents have very little pigment (both their coloring is predominantly white) he has albinism. he grew up in the brothel, and spent much of his childhood working odd jobs such as fetching water, getting groceries, delivering messages and even mending clothes.

despite a difficult childhood his relationship with his mother is good and pretty stable. his father on the other hand... now his parents only did spend that one night together, so eirwen didnt actually know much about nikephoros except what she gleaned from that one night and what was public knowledge. she was honest and upfront with jiyong about his father although in the beginning she did have a naive hope that nikephoros would welcome his son into his house with open arms.

the first attempt on his life almost succeeded, and he still has the scar from that. its also the most visible. (he wears that shit like a necklace. he runs solely on spite and pettiness LMFAO)

as a child he taught himself how to speak as nobles do by eavesdropping on customers and imitating them.

as to not stand out too much he dyes all his hair black.

in his late teens and early 20s he met devora, who took jiyong under their wing as a bounty hunter. devora is a dragon, and a rare one at that, who used to have a high ranking position before they went their own way. so they had worked with nikephoros before, and knew him on an acquaintance level. when devora and jiyong parted ways, devora gifted him a pair of earrings similar to the ones they knew were nikephoros' signature pair.

devora had a profound effect on jiyong, more than they realized, as they were the closest to a proper father figure jiyong had ever had.

now he works as a bounty hunter. but his number one goal is revenge. on his father and his house. and he'll do whatever it takes.

jiyong is highly intelligent, adaptable and ruthless. hes patient when it matters, perceptive and analytical. hes resentful and cynical with an obsessive streak.

hes in his 30s half korean, half white bisexual 6'5 / 195cm (this might change? but as of now) he/him his insane character insp list, as seen by that little board i did: hua cheng, johan liebert, griffith, edmond (nu: carnival), alucard (specifically ayami kojimas), luo binghe, shen jiu/og! shen qingqiu, jin guangyao

there might be more to say about him but i ran out of steam LOL!!!!!!!! HELP this is the most ive written in months

[allthingsglittergold]

Headcanon #002 - Traditionalism

Gold is, even by the standards of his circle of friends, incredibly traditionalist. 

His mother, only a few generations removed from being Johtonian herself before she moved back there was eager to teach her son to love and embrace his heritage from a young age.

While some of this didn’t stick entirely - mostly due to his father’s Galarian heritage also seeping into how Gold thought - you can see this upbringing and passion for his culture manifest in four main ways:

Social etiquette and decorum:

Gold is unflinchingly polite and incredibly well spoken. He addresses those older than him by their surname and prefix (Mr, Miss, etc), all of proper station are given their dues and he won’t use any slang or swear (heaven’s forbid!). Even when he is given permission to use someone’s first name he’ll often not do so if they aren’t there, instead defaulting back to their surname and any prefix they may have.

The only exceptions to this are when he is around close friends, in private, or is confronted with someone he has absolutely no respect for (like a member of Team Rocket). In the former two cases he’ll still seem a little uptight and stilted but not nearly as much as around relative strangers; he’ll even use slang! Swearing is still almost nonexistant though. Around the last category? You get no respect and he’ll absolutely drag you through the dirt verbally.

There is one major caveat to this, however - Gold has a fairly huge ego, and he’s proud of his accomplishments. He’ll often humblebrag and can, at times, come across as incredibly condescending. Though this often isn’t intentional, its a bit difficult to tell when it is given he’ll have a polite smile on his face the entire time.

Apricorn crafting:

Originally something Gold picked up an interest for in the aftermath of meeting Kurt and having him create several specialist pokéballs (primarily as a distraction from the existential horror of realising he’d just picked a fight with a criminal syndicate), it developed into a full-blown passion in the years that followed during his travels around both Johto and Kanto. It wasn’t until he’d finished the Kanto circuit that, upon his next visit to Azalea requested Kurt teach him the ins-and-outs of the craft so he could carry on such a wonderful tradition.

Kurt thankfully accepted, and a year and a half later (between juggling his Champion duties and other activities) he was certified as being able to create the balls himself without a teacher. His craft became well-known during his early years as Champion (primarily because he carries his team in them) and it drew incredible interest from Johto’s youth to be able to do it themselves, inspiring further hope that the tradition would not die yet.

Gold’s pokéballs are not too dissimilar from Kurt’s, though he primarily specialises in standard Pokéballs, Heal balls and Heavy balls. In his spare time he’ll often carve shells for fun, and picks up the internals from a Silph subsidiary in Goldenrod (he doesn’t wish to make them unsafe by going ‘fully’ traditional).

Worship of Ho-oh:

This one is self explanatory - Gold worships Ho-Oh, making frequent pilgrimages to the Bell Tower to offer tribute. It is very well known that it was him who summoned Ho-Oh back to Johto after 150 years and that they did battle, though Gold did not capture the Legendary Pokemon. Rumours persist that they have a special bond or link, though only a few know the truth behind that.

This does not mean that Gold does not pay respects to Lugia, mind you, especially given he often trains in the Whirl Islands; his relationship is simply different. He also pays respects to the Legendary Beasts, given their connection to Ho-Oh.

The separation of people and pokemon: 

Perhaps the most ‘controversial’ part of Gold’s personality and views, especially to those from other regions. Gold grew up in a household both influenced by Galarian culture and rural Johtonian/Kantonian culture. This meant that Pokemon were treated a little more as equals than was common in rural Johto, but still nowhere near the same as is common in places such as Alola, Kalos or Galar. It was (some might say unfortunately) his mother’s more traditional slant that rubbed off on him more.

What does this mean? This means that Gold does not view his Pokemon as family; they are companions and treasured friends but there is a degree of separation intentionally kept between them. This was true even during his journey as a teenager.

For example, his team do not sleep in the same bed as him, they do not eat at his table and unless needed, they are training together or it is during ‘downtime’ (at home, for example) they are kept within their Pokéballs. Likewise, you will almost never see him give them public displays of affection beyond a pat or a scratch under the chin, as one might their dog or cat.

Gold sees this as a very natural state of affairs, frankly, but his father’s influence kept this from being as severe as it is amongst some populations. He is also very prone to brushing off criticism about this, especially from those who aren’t from Johto.

[chilly-me-softly]

Every Little Thing's Gonna Be Alright • Chapter 23

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19 - Chapter 20 - Chapter 21 - Chapter 22

A few months later the situation between Evelyn and Jack was quite stable, both of them very happy with their relationship and always doing their best to see each other as much as possible. Not everything had always been rosy, of course, sometimes distance or small misunderstandings turning into big ones had contributed to create bumps along the way. But the two of them always found a way to fix things, either in person or from a distance.

Cece continued to grow pampered by everyone, giving smiles and babbles here and there. It was impressive how much she had achieved in that time, how she could keep everyone trapped around her little finger. How much love Evelyn felt for that little creature who every day added a brick to her personal growth and development.

Another football season was coming to an end and Jack had made her a proposal she'd had a lot to think about recently. Villa's last game would be at home and not only had Jack asked her to go to the game, but also to take part in the traditional lap of honour to thank all the fans for their support during the season.

Needless to say, she had taken a few days to think about it. Taking part in the event would certainly have meant first of all making their relationship public, exposing not only her but also Cece and giving the green light to various gossips and unwanted free opinions. On the other hand, however, there was being able to spend time with him, in his world. Taking the relationship a step further.

It was in those moments that she realised that her good intention to think less and act more would be more difficult to carry out. If she could let herself loose on some things, well, there was still something of her old self that surfaced from time to time. It was always like that, she knew from the start that she would eventually go but until that day she wouldn't stop worrying about this and that, about what might happen....

As she sits on the bed keeping an eye on Cece who is playing with the puppet given to her by Ben, Jack phones her. A smile automatically forms on her face as she runs her finger across the screen to accept the call. It's time to give him an answer.

"Hey you"

"Hi. Where are you? Doesn't look like your room to me or am I wrong"

"We're in Ben's room. Apparently this girl here got bored of hers" Evelyn shifts her phone slightly to also frame Cece who continues to chew on that bear's ear she holds in her hands undisturbed.

"Who is he? Who is he? Is he Jack?" she coos as the little girl pays attention to that familiar figure she now sees regularly, waving her little legs and babbling something making Jack smile.

"Hi sweety! Hi! I miss you so much"

"So I have news for you"

"Really?"

"Don't act like you didn't call just for that" he chuckles throwing a quick glance at the calendar where the date is marked a thousand times with a black marker.

"So what did you decide?"

"Well me and my girl have been consulting a lot"

"Oh yeah?" he interrupts her smiling cheekily as he closes one hand in a fist and uses it to hold up his head.

"Yeah" she teases him sticking her tongue out at him as Cece starts opening and closing her hand to greet him.

"Ha ha she doesn't like it when you're a smartass. Tell him we're not going anymore"

"That's not true!" his voice almost covers the last part of what she's saying but in reality he's understood all too well that in a few days he'll be able to hold them both again, and the smile on his face cancels out the poor attempt to claim he's offended.

"Say bye bye to Jack"

"Nah she likes me"

"To sleep, sure. I'm a little jealous to be honest she has the blanket with your scent on it though"

"You have me" he promptly replies as she bites her lip moving her gaze out of the camera frame.

And they continue to talk as they always do, the confirmation took a load off both of them, with Jack most of the time just watching the two girls while Evelyn plays with Cece wishing time could move faster. Until they are forced to interrupt the conversation due to a nappy change and the little one has already hit her with the puppet a couple of times.

-

Evelyn and Cece arrived at Jack's a few days before the last game of the season. He has promised that sooner or later they will also be able to get out of that house and maybe take a walk in the park taking advantage of the beautiful days the weather is offering, but the first few days are for him and no one else.

He comes home after the last training session of the season a little later than usual because he stopped for a little extra with some teammates and finds no one downstairs. As he goes upstairs, however, Evelyn's voice and Cece's little cries become more and more indistinct enough to take him to his room, and when he opens that door he can't help but smile. The two of them are playing tenderly with Evelyn leaning over to kiss the little one's tummy and the baby laughing moving her tiny hands, closing her fists around her mommy's hair.

He can't help himself when Cece won't let go of a lock of Evelyn's hair causing her to moan, laughing and blowing his cover. Evelyn looks up at him immediately lighting up and signalling for him to come closer.

"We have a surprise for you" she tells him and his curiosity immediately ignites so much that he almost runs making those few steps that separate him from the bed.

"What is it?" Evelyn simply shifts her gaze between him and the girl wanting to point at something and he after a moment gets the message by lowering his gaze, his eyes immediately falling on the Villa crest and wandering over the small kit trying to find differences from the usual. But it's only when Cece rolls onto her side, showing part of the Grealish name on her back, that he swears his heart has stopped beating for a few moments.

Cece's kit had always been plain, no name no number on the back. Evelyn had always felt on the edge for a choice that was so simple on the outside but actually brought up so many questions. Should she have had 'Daddy' written on it? No it was too soon. What did Jack think, was it too much? And again, does using his surname mean forcing him to take responsibility? What are we? Geez, the fight with her madness was really open.

And it was Jack who had then put an end to her paranoia, as always, and bought a small plain kit, giving her further time to clear her head and be satisfied with the fact that for the time being she would still wear the kit while supporting the team he played for.

"Since we're only going to see each other tomorrow when the game is over, we made a preview just for you" Evelyn pulled him back into the room and he reached out to the little girl taking her in his arms.

"Probably for the best or Jack would have cried in front of the whole stadium. Don't you think so too?" he murmurs cuddling the little girl, who seems to just want to reach up his nose, under Evelyn's tender gaze.

"I can't wait for tomorrow now. I mean look at this!" Jack lifts her up in the air like in the Lion King scene so he can look at that name once more and Evelyn can't help but laugh at the boy's excitement, happy it was the right choice after months.

The atmosphere in the stadium is something sensational, but she wouldn't have expected less to be honest. That's how it is when someone cares about a team, you stick together through thick and thin. It's a mutual kind of love. It doesn't matter if the previous week went well or badly, every time you try to do your best on one side and show all the support on the other. And that season for Villa had not gone badly at all, no one's fate depended on that game but it was still an opportunity and should be taken as such.

That hour and a half passed between watching something of the game, entertaining Cece, chatting with some of the girls she had already met in the previous months until the final whistle blew and little by little everyone began to prepare to take the field. Having fulfilled their duties more or less, even the players can finally allow themselves to relax. Jack is quick to find them and take Cece in his arms leaving her a loud kiss on the cheek, happy for the win and the moment.

"Ready?" Evelyn just nods, following Jack around the field but still remaining a little on the sidelines allowing him to do what he needs to do, greet the fans and enjoy the moment. More than ever she can understand when both he and her brother referred to those people as a second family, seeing them all gathered there happy and smiling joking with each other or playing with their kids. Everyone seems to know everyone, everyone is nice to everyone and she really has a good time getting to know this new family.

Once home and having put Cece to bed, who had fallen asleep in the midst of all the commotion, the two of them enjoy a moment alone snuggled up on the sofa.

"Today was nice"

"Evelyn" Jack sighs and she waits for him to continue, but when that doesn't happen she lifts her head from his chest meeting his eyes, "Move in here"

"What? Are you sure? Just know it's different from having us here only once in a while"

"I want everything. I want you here every day when I wake up or when I go to sleep. I want you here to cheer me up or have fun together. I want to live both of you every day, I want to be part of your lives fully, make this our home and I don't want to worry anymore that you might leave. I want to give you everything I'm capable of and build something strong with you" Jack strokes her cheek softly.

"So what do you say?"

----

I just want to let you know that there won't be a chapter next week, I need to focus on something else but I'll be back for the last chapters normally then. In the meantime I hope you enjoyed this one x

Tag: @alexajanecollins @emwritesfootball @rosie7703

Chapter 24

[autumn-writes]

Oh my gosh, i love your Autumn aesthetic, may i request (Separate) headcanons for Gundham, makoto, Hajime and Nagito with an Fem!S/o who's the ultimate Guard, and the reason they're the ultimate guard is because they have Natural Reaction instincts like Mikasa Ackerman from attack on titan, And one day they see her take action when [Character of your selection] Tries to Attack Them, And S/o does that one move ( what mikasa did, when she Slammed Armin onto the table and pulled his arm back instinctively) I'm trying to be as Descriptive as possible😭😭😭

i absolutely love this ask! it's just so creative and i love it to bits! i'm sorry i took a bit of time with this request! had to finish some stuff for school, so i couldn't get to your request as quickly as i could've, so here you go! right, might i add, s/n will mean surname/last name!

Nagito, Hajime, Gundham, and Makoto with a fem! Ultimate Guard S/O!

Makoto Naegi:

✧ He thinks your talent is so cool! He's read a bit about you before coming to Hope's Peak.

✧ S/O S/N, the Ultimate Guard. With incredible strength and a heightened sense for danger, she was able to protect those she was tasked to protect flawlessly, them not receiving even a single scratch.

✧ For the sake of this, let's just say after a few weeks, you and Makoto clicked and got together <3

✧ The fact that he doesn't have to worry about you getting hurt much because of your natural reaction instincts relieves him!

✧ I mean, he is still worried about your safety in the killing game.

✧ But he stopped worrying when he heard your stories about people who tried to hurt you getting heavily injured, ending up with a broken back and an arm.

✧ He believed you then, but he was 100% convinced that you'd survive when Syo tried to hurt you for talking back to Byakuya and you simply just flipped her like she was a pancake.

✧ Syo was unconscious for hours.

✧ Makoto's very impressed with your strength!

✧ He finds it endearing when you protect him! He feels safe with you due to your strong instincts.

✧ People often underestimate you just because of your gender, so Makoto wells up with pride when you prove to them that your gender can't define your combat skills!

Hajime Hinata:

✧ Was caught off guard at first.

✧ It wasn't cause of your gender, it was cause of your looks! You looked like you wouldn't be able to hurt a fly!

✧ But then Teruteru tried to pull some stuff on you and you managed to almost send him to the gulag.

✧ Was very impressed with your natural reaction instincts!

✧ Hajime is attracted to you and naturally starts talking and hanging out with you.

✧ You guys get together after a while.

✧ Sometimes, he asks you to teach him how to do your cool moves! It's a great way for him to learn how to defend himself and spend time with you.

✧ Once, you and him were walking along the beach during the evening, when someone masked tried to hurt you both.

✧ Your instincts kicked in and before the person could even land a blow, you managed to grab them by the arm and give them a roundhouse kick.

✧ Hajime's so impressed.

✧ Like Makoto, he feels very safe around you!

✧ He sometimes worries about what would happen if you were caught in a vulnerable time and wouldn't be able to defend yourself.

✧ But he trusts in your instincts and is overall very supportive about it!

Nagito Komaeda:

✧ He praises your instincts every time you display it!

✧ He thinks your title as the Ultimate Guard is so amazing! So hopeful!

✧ Surprisingly, you weren't afraid of him. Perhaps that was cause your instincts told you he wouldn't actually try to harm anyone? But still, you stood by his side despite him revealing his true nature.

✧ It shocked him when you confessed, but he accepted you! He's always thought your talent was a bit above superior to the others, and he genuinely liked you for you.

✧ So yay now you're in a happy relationship with a hope crazed madman who is actually a big sweetheart in this dreadful island!

✧ Wanted to at least see how you got your title just once!

✧ He got his wish when Kazuichi tried tackling Nagito to chain him up once again and you simply took him down by twisting his arm and putting them behind his back.

✧ Nagito swore he felt his heart flutter at the thought of you protecting him <3

✧ He doesn't need to worry about you, knowing how strong your sense of danger is. He can be assured that you can defend yourself!

✧ Naggy loves you so much it's almost overflowing <3!

Gundham Tanaka:

✧ A mortal capable of sensing such danger?! Impossible!

✧ Well Gundham, it is possible cause S/O exists.

✧ At first, he sees you as another mortal. Definitely not worthy of being able to talk with the Forbidden one.

✧ But then you managed to save one of his dark devas of destruction who somehow managed to get away from him from a falling tree branch and he is now indebted to you.

✧ When he first finds out of your strong senses, he thinks you're from the underworld as well!

✧ "Are you perhaps in possession of the all seeing eye?! How could you tell such danger is headed your way?!"

✧ You are no longer a mortal to him. He now sees you as a familiar.

✧ It takes a while, but you two get closer and closer until you start dating!

✧ You're now his dark queen ♡

✧He finds it endearing when you protect him!

✧ Though he claims he doesn't need it, he appreciates your protection greatly. It always leaves him a blushing mess with his face hidden behind his scarf.

✧ Gets a peak at your Ultimate in action when Nekomaru proposes a training session.

✧ You didn't see a reason to decline, so you accepted.

✧ He was surprised when you had managed to defend yourself from Nekomaru's ruthless training! Like, the guy's huge! And you managed to defend yourself flawlessly?!

✧ He is starstruck and thinks you're the most amazing familiar to ever enter his life <3

just like peko, i'm still trying to study gundham! his way of speaking is a bit difficult for me to write, as of the moment, but this was a great way to practice! thank you so much for requesting! again, i'm sorry i took a while with your request. i'm not really sure if this what you wanted, so if you'd like me to re-write this, do tell!

be sure to stay healthy and take care of yourself! refrain from overworking and be sure to rest, eat your meals, and stay hydrated!

[pellucidity-is-me]

On Comparing Two Werewolves

Summary: Another scene from my fanfic (link in blog description) that can work as a one-shot. Dumbledore returns to his office the night before Halloween, argues with a few portraits about Remus Lupin’s place in Hogwarts, and decides to take a closer look on his own past with Fenrir Greyback.

Wordcount: 4396

Dumbledore returned to his office, humming Benny Goodman's Sing, Sing, Sing. He looked around and smiled at all the decorations on his walls. The group of Gryffindor boys calling themselves the “Marauders” had snuck into his office and decorated it as a little Halloween practical joke. It was very advanced magic (highly impressive for first-years), and it would have fooled anyone else. But not Dumbledore—and he was going to let the prank play out. It was harmless, after all.

Dumbledore removed the portrait-coverings from the walls. The portraits found it terribly annoying to be covered up like that, and Dumbledore did like having their input... most of the time. However, many of them held very hostile beliefs towards werewolves, and Dumbledore didn't want Remus to hear any of it. Remus had, of course, probably heard it all already. But the boy was eleven years old, and Dumbledore wanted to let him be a child as long as he could.

Even if it meant having his office expertly decorated for Halloween.

Especially if it meant having his office expertly decorated for Halloween.

"They've decorated your office," Eupraxia Mole said sternly from her portrait-frame. "A couple of boys. I think there were three. One of them was the werewolf." Dumbledore noticed the contempt with which she said the word and raised an eyebrow.

"I am aware, Eupraxia. And I do not see it fit to discriminate against Remus when you are quite literally a portrait. You're not even a living being, and I do not need to argue with you."

"The audacity!"

"I'd say you weren't fit to run this school if you weren't the best Headmaster we've ever had," said Everard, twirling his moustache. "I trust your judgement, even though I do not trust the boy."

"Thank you, Everard."

"I was a Healer before I was Headmistress, you know," said Dilys. "I've healed a few, and they are not completely ill-mannered, to my knowledge. Most of them seem to be normal at first. It is society, I believe, that drives them to be the monsters that we believe them to be. Watch him carefully, Albus. It is still possible that he will go down that path."

"Very insightful, Dilys."

"Half-breed, that's all he is," said Dexter Fortescue. "They all end up the same! Why you would put the school in danger by allowing him in, I have no idea! You ought to just put a stop to this nonsense and put him out!"

"You've heard our conversations, Dexter. He is no more dangerous than you or I."

"Whiny, snivelling little brat if you ask me," said Phineas Nigellus Black. "Doesn't seem to pose much of a threat. It's Sirius Black I'm worried about. I would recognize his voice anywhere, and this hijink will be reported directly to his mother. If he were anyone else then it would be acceptable. But he has a responsibility, as heir, to act his age. I've heard Walburga rant about him—he's a Gryffindor."

"No harm done, Phineas. I find him to be a bright and entertaining boy, myself."

"Of course you would," said Phineas snidely. "You let a literal monster into Hogwarts. That never would have been done in my day. It wouldn't have been done in anyone's day. There's a reason it's never been done before."

"Remus is an eleven-year-old boy. There is no reason to be afraid of an eleven-year-old boy."

"How do you know he's not a senseless monster? You have no proof," Euphraxia argued.

"Monsters are not pleasant, clever, kind, and mild-mannered," said Dumbledore evenly. He was getting a bit frustrated now. It should be such a small thing, letting a werewolf into Hogwarts. The portraits only disliked the idea of it because it had never been done before. It was difficult to talk with paintings that were stuck in the past, could not grow, and could not mature. Dumbledore again wondered why he was doing it.

"He's faking it." Euphraxia blew out a puff of air and let her portrait-y lips flap a little. "I can't believe you can't tell. He's not a normal eleven-year-old; he is a monster assuming the shape of an eleven-year-old, pretending to act as any other child would. It's obvious, Albus, that he's lying. You saw. He nearly lost control that one time. Had to stop, breathe, and take up his façade again. Remember?"

"He was stressed. I would have stopped to take a breather, myself. And, forgive me for saying so, but I excel at reading people. He is not pretending to be a person." Really. The notion was ridiculous. Remus was good at a great many things, but pretending to be a person for six and a half years was not something that he could do. It wasn't something that anyone could do.

"Don't get defensive, Albus," said Dilys. "We are only trying to protect the school. That is our duty, after all. I am inclined to agree with you, but I would be cautious if I were you."

"Thank you, Dilys. I accidentally allowed myself to forget that you are only portraits, and that I cannot easily change the mind of a painted inanimate object."

"I had no idea that you were so irresponsible," said Phineas, "letting my descendant go bad like that."

"What was I meant to do?"

"Re-sort him. Put him in Slytherin. That House will lead him right."

"The Sorting Hat does not agree."

"You mean the inanimate talking hat?"

"I see you've heard of it."

"This school is going to go up in flames!" Dexter continued. "A werewolf running rampant in a school full of children! I may be a portrait, but I've heard of the deeds of Fenrir Greyback! Mark my words, that boy will go bad!"

Armando Dippet cut in for the first time. "I remember Fenrir. I taught him, though he didn't go by the surname 'Greyback' at the time. You taught him, too, Albus. Quiet. Soft-spoken. Like the Lupin boy."

"Not all quiet teenagers are the same person, Armando."

"I know, I know. But I see my colleagues' point. I never would have imagined Fenrir to grow up the way he did. Something snapped, Albus. Something changed. He wasn't the same after being bitten."

"He became bitter because of a tragic event. I can't see Remus taking that route."

"And I couldn't see Fenrir doing it, either. I advocate for equality, of course. But I don't think you should have let Lupin into the school."

"And you," said Dumbledore, picking up his quill, "are only a portrait. I do not wish to discuss this any further. I make the decisions. You have all made your opinions clear, but my say is final. Sirius Black is a Gryffindor, and Remus Lupin is a Hogwarts student. And remember: you all are sworn to secrecy about his condition."

"Condition!" scoffed Dexter. "What a euphemism! It's not a condition, nor is it a sickness... it's a way of life! It's a species!"

Dumbledore closed Dexter's portrait with a snap. "I would like some peace and quiet. Do not make me permanently remove your portraits from my office."

The portraits were quiet (most of them even left their frames, perhaps to sulk somewhere else), and Dumbledore finished composing a letter to the Minister. But something niggled in the back of his head. He remembered Fenrir, of course. He had gone to Hogwarts. He had been human at the time. But what had he been like? He had seemed like a normal student. Dumbledore had never paid much attention to him.

Dumbledore rifled through his bottles of memories and found what he was looking for. He poured it into the Pensieve and entered the memory of one of his classes. Fenrir Greyback was sitting at a desk, his head bowed over a book and his fingers tapping on the desk impatiently. Dumbledore bent next to him and tried to remember.

It was almost unnatural to watch this boy—whose face was now constantly in the Daily Prophet—who was now one of the most feared people on earth. He looked so young and innocent: he was hardly the same person. It was no wonder that no one ever recognized him after he went bad. Dumbledore himself hadn't believed it; when the name Fenrir Greyback had become popular amongst fearful wizardkind, Dumbledore had thought that it was simply someone with the same first name. After all, he'd taught multiple Fenrirs. He'd even entertained the notion that the name was completely fake, or that he hadn't taught Greyback at all... he'd never once made the connection until he had seen that 1965 photograph of the man, and it was hard to believe even then.

Dumbledore studied the young Greyback's face, but could find no trace of Remus Lupin in his eyes. He simply looked bored, and Dumbledore could hardly fault anyone for being so in the middle of Transfiguration class.

Fenrir was quiet. Hardly ever spoke at all, in fact. He didn't spend any time around peers in his own House—he spent more time with the Gryffindors, in fact, than anyone else. Fenrir's chosen company reminded Dumbledore of James and Sirius, in fact. But he was always an add-on; someone who never had nor was ever considered a "best friend". He was just... there. Quiet. He reminded Dumbledore more of Peter Pettigrew than Remus Lupin, if Dumbledore was being honest with himself.

Dumbledore could hardly see the current Fenrir Greyback in the boy's appearance: the man who had grown out his nails and hair, who had embraced his condition and used it to become more wolf-like and intimidating. This eleven-year-old boy looked... sweet. Happy. Had he changed? The boy stood up and walked over to young-Dumbledore after class ended. Dumbledore only had to search the depths of his brilliant memory for a moment before he remembered this conversation.

"Professor Dumbledore," said the young Fenrir Greyback, his eyes bright. "I forgot to do my homework again."

"And what were you doing instead, Fenrir?" It was always so unnatural, hearing his own voice in a memory.

"I was... er."

"Yes?"

"I dunno, sir. Sleeping. Reading. Outside. I just didn't feel like doing it."

"First year is an excellent time to start applying yourself, Fenrir. Habits are formed when you are still young. Do you realize that you have not turned in a single homework assignment since school began?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why are you here?"

"Sorry, sir?"

"Why are you at Hogwarts, if you are intent on shirking your responsibilities?"

"It's not like I'm not learning the spells. I can perform them. I just don't want to do the written homework." Now, that sentiment reminded Dumbledore of those of James Potter and Sirius Black. But still not Remus.

"Which will help the spells to stay in your long-term memory," Memory-Dumbledore said. “We teachers rather know what we are doing."

The memory faded and reformed, and Fenrir was now in third year. Dumbledore looked on as Fenrir spoke to Armando Dippet, who looked thoroughly frustrated with the child.

"Fenrir," said Dippet, not unkindly, "You are still refusing to apply yourself. What do you plan on doing after Hogwarts?"

"Don't know, sir," Fenrir said dismissively, "and I don't care. I'm meant to be doing something more than sitting still and doing homework."

Dumbledore was almost amused despite himself. Well, that ended up happening, didn't it?

The memory shifted again, and Fenrir was laughing with his friends... running and chasing them around the Hogwarts grounds... playing catch and Exploding Snap.

All monsters had started out as boys and girls, hadn't they?

Dumbledore remembered a little more of Fenrir now. He hadn't been able to sit still for the life of him. He used to tap the desk with his fingers so loudly that the children sitting next to him would be driven to madness. He held grudges. He had gotten good enough grades, but only ever ended up doing enough homework to squeak by when exams rolled around. He had been innately interested in Defense Against the Dark Arts and was a decent duellist.

Dumbledore could see some traits in Fenrir that might have contributed to his current state. He was resourceful and cunning, yet didn't often think before he acted and was wont to give into current desires rather than make future investments. He seemed to value a "pack" setting—he was fiercely loyal to those he cared about and didn't seem to care whether anybody else lived or died. He didn't seem to show much empathy, save to a few of his closest friends, but he didn't exhibit a lack of empathy either. He was just... there. A student.

Could Dumbledore imagine him going bad? Sure. But people went bad all the time. Anyone had the potential to go bad; it was only a matter of choice.

This boy had been bitten by a monster shortly after leaving Hogwarts (according to Dumbledore's recent calculations), was shunned by the wizarding community, went through unimaginable pain every month, and had eventually decided to look after his own desires rather than the needs of others. Dumbledore could see him doing that. He could see many people going down that route.

But while Fenrir had been self-centered because of his condition, Remus remained others-centered.

No, that wasn't quite right in all respects. It was right in hardly any respects, actually. Fenrir had focused on others as the object of his hate. Remus had focused on himself. Remus never got angry with others for his suffering—not for long. He seemed to quite loathe himself on occasion, but almost never others. Remus was always focusing on himself, it seemed: he pitied himself, blamed himself, and overall thought about his own troubles quite a lot. It wasn't always a strength, but it was undeniably Remus.

Fenrir, alternatively, considered himself better than others—with or without the lycanthropy. Remus considered others to be better then himself because of the lycanthropy. Funny how that worked out.

They were different people, Dumbledore deduced. Greyback was a monster. Remus was not.

He had already known that, of course. And he was thankful for it.

But looking into Fenrir's young eyes, so full of life and energy, he couldn't help thinking of Remus'—the dead opposite. Remus always had a tired look to him, looked so much older than he really was, was much too mature, and had grown up before his time. Why did Greyback get a childhood and Remus did not?

So was the mystery of the universe.

Dumbledore resolved, then and there, that he would never let Remus Lupin go bad. He had allowed Grindelwald to do so in his childhood. He had already made the mistake of letting someone's faults take over until that person was no longer who they once were. He would not let the same thing come to Remus. He was going to invade the inner workings of the universe and fix things—that was his responsibility as someone who was both powerful and intelligent. Dumbledore knew how to fix things, and he was going to do it. He simply couldn't sit idly by and watch Remus' world burn.

But Remus didn't really need his help, did he?

He returned to his office, where all the portraits were sleeping—with the exception of Armando.

"Greyback, hm?" Armando asked. "Have you considered?"

"I have. My mind has not changed."

Armando chuckled. "Albus Dumbledore, changing his mind. That will happen the day that a Welsh Green becomes Minister for Magic."

"On this matter?" Dumbledore said. "Not even then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was one more memory that Dumbledore wanted to view, but he waited until all of the portraits were sleeping. He fished the vial out of the cabinet and poured it into the Pensieve, slightly dreading it. But it was perfect for Halloween, wasn't it?

And then there he was. That night that he had been out on the streets, walking on the cobblestones and singing to himself, enjoying the cool air and the streetlamps. His hair had been a little darker then, and his eyes a little brighter. It was only about five years ago, but it felt like an eternity.

Fenrir had been a werewolf now for... let's see, if he was eleven in 1948, and bitten at age eighteen, and now it was 1966, and he was about twenty-nine now... eleven years. Less than twice the amount of time that Remus had been a werewolf: present-day Remus had been a werewolf for six and a half. But Dumbledore didn't want to compare the two more than what was necessary, though he knew that it was inevitable.

Dumbledore saw his memory-self pause and look around. When Dumbledore heard a strange sound and he couldn't tell where it was coming from, he had a ritual of sorts. First, he would look up, because that's what the average person would least expect. Then he would look down. Then he would look to his left, because he was right-handed. Then he would look to his right. He watched his memory-self do all of this, and when he was doing the final step—spinning in a circle—he noticed the source of the sound.

It was Fenrir, of course, shrouded in a black cloak that was so ripped it barely covered him. Memory-Dumbledore did not recognize him at first. "Hello?" he said, drawing nearer. It wasn't until the thing looked up and met Memory-Dumbledore's eyes that he realized. Memory-Dumbledore recognized Fenrir's image from the papers, so he drew his wand and trained it on the creature, ready to attack if need be. "Fenrir. Fancy meeting you here."

Fenrir smiled, and both Dumbledores noticed his teeth—sharp, pointed, and stained with red... Very Halloween-y, thought Dumbledore, and also mildly disturbing.

"What are you doing out here, Fenrir? Do you need assistance in getting somewhere? Azkaban, perhaps?" Memory-Dumbledore pretended that he was not repulsed. Memory-Dumbledore imagined that it was only tomato juice or something on his teeth. Even Memory-Dumbledore, though, knew that this wasn't the case.

"Dumbledore. Long time no see." Fenrir wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His eyes were not those of the eleven-year-old boy at all. They were more dangerous. They were bloodshot. They were narrowed. Wolf-like was the first word that came to mind. Dumbledore's eyes drew to Fenrir's hand, which sported long, curled nails. He realized with a jolt that Fenrir had bitten Remus Lupin only about a year prior.

"You look a little worse-for-wear, Fenrir," said Memory-Dumbledore. "I deeply sympathize." Memory-Dumbledore did not yet know the extent of Fenrir's exploits. He remembered still the young Fenrir, full of life and a deep desire to do the right thing... Memory-Dumbledore had stupidly believed that he could somehow turn Fenrir to his own side, even though he'd been Voldemort's weapon for years now.

"You can't sympathize," said Fenrir. His voice was deep, gravelly, and scratchy, almost like a sinister record-player. He pronounced his R's in the back of his throat and ended his sentences a bit abruptly. How had his voice changed so much in a few short years? Remus' voice sounded nothing like that, so it had nothing to do with the lycanthropy. But Clark Darnall pronounced his R's that way—had Clark picked it up from Greyback or had they both gotten it from another place? "You can't sympathize," said Fenrir again. "You have no idea what I've been through."

Memory-Dumbledore, indeed, did not know. But current Dumbledore had an idea.

"I'm sorry, Fenrir. Is there anything I can do?"

"'Course not. It's not a problem anymore. I made the best of it. Made do with what I had. You know how it is."

"Hm. Have you been hurting anyone?" Memory-Dumbledore's hand twitched on his wand, knowing the answer—but he wanted to hear Greyback say it; perhaps, he thought, it would drive the man to conviction....

Fenrir was quick to confirm, and there was no guilt in his voice. "No more than they've hurt me. You've heard the stories, haven't you? You know what I've done."

Memory-Dumbledore looked at him intensely. "Fenrir," he said, "I am a very powerful wizard, you know, and I will not stand for that." Fenrir eyed Dumbledore's wand warily, but Dumbledore was not budging. "There is a way out, you know... we can keep you safe on the full moons. You are infamous for attacking children, my friend—but it's not too late to step away from all that... you'll have to pay for your crimes, of course, but we can keep you hidden from the higher-ups at the Ministry, who no doubt want to execute you. You're not trapped in this lifestyle."

Memory-Dumbledore had suspected that some of the rumors about Fenrir were unfounded, but he'd been wrong. He'd felt sympathy for the boy who had attended Hogwarts not too long ago, but he'd been wrong. Clark Darnall was in Dumbledore's ranks, and he'd warned Dumbledore of the horrific acts that Fenrir had committed... he'd already spoken to Dumbledore about Remus at this point. But Dumbledore had still thought, somewhere, deep down, that Fenrir could not have changed so much from when he was a boy—that he was only evil because he had not been given a proper choice—and Dumbledore had known that, if he could convince Fenrir, then he'd automatically have all of the werewolves in Britain on his side... countless lives could be saved.

Dumbledore was a brilliant man, yes, but he was sometimes incorrect. This was one of those times.

"Dumbledore. You know me; you taught me. Do you really think that it's so easy to convince me? You underestimate me—I wouldn't leave behind all that I've built, not for the misguided lie that there's a place for me amo-" Crack. Fenrir had, intelligently enough, Apparated away in the middle of his sentence. Nay, the middle of a word. Memory-Dumbledore had not seen it coming, and that was a rare occurrence.

Memory-Dumbledore marveled at the boy's—no, the man's—no, the monster's cleverness, and resolved to keep an eye out and figure out what he was up to before he could hurt more people. It wouldn't be that difficult. Memory-Dumbledore was already, so to speak, following the scent, and he was sure that he would have plenty more chances to apprehend the werewolf. Memory-Dumbledore walked away, less of a spring in his step, but confident and relaxed.

Current Dumbledore made his way over to the place in which his memory-self had once stood and peered down the alleyway where Greyback had been standing. A dead rabbit, still warm-looking and covered in blood, lay on the ground.

Dumbledore's stomach roiled a bit, but at least it wasn't a toddler.

With that comforting thought in mind, Dumbledore removed himself from the memory, sat down on an armchair, and opened a book.

He did not read it, though. His eyes skimmed over the words and his hand idly flipped pages, but his mind was back in the alley, watching the boy-become-monster.

The pieces clicked together in a way that they were wont to do in Dumbledore's keen mind. They were pieces that had come together in the past, yes, but now they did so even more securely.

Ten years after Fenrir was bitten, at age twenty-eight, he had attacked Remus. And he'd been savage for a long time before that. Remus had been a werewolf now for six and a half years: when Fenrir had been a werewolf for six and a half years, he had probably already begun attacking people.

The portraits had been wrong, obviously, and this proved it. But now Dumbledore thought about why.

It wasn't because Remus was a better person than Fenrir (though that was undoubtedly the case). It wasn't because he had somehow escaped whatever disease had made Fenrir go bad. It wasn't because the lycanthropy somehow affected him differently. So why had they turned out differently?

A mixture of personal choice and better circumstances, Dumbledore decided.

Remus was doing so well because he had such good parents—who had taught him right from wrong, who had spent time with him, who had loved him unconditionally. He would be further shaped by his professors and friends. He would learn, he would grow, and he would continue to live in human society—as he had done for his whole life. He'd made a choice early on to be this way, and now his choices were manifesting themselves in his personality. That was what made a person human (in the abstract sense of the word), not a species.

It was likely that Fenrir had not had systems of support like Remus did. That didn't force him to become what he was, of course, but it made it much more difficult. And then Fenrir had made a choice to do this—to give in to things that he knew were wrong—to let the worst parts of him invade his life and personality—thus Fenrir Greyback was born. Would things have gone differently if his parents had loved him unconditionally? Had they? What if Fenrir had still been in school (though Dumbledore knew that Dippet would not have allowed that)?

But one thing was for certain: it had nothing to do with lycanthropy. It was not biological. It, like many other things, was a matter of choice. It was one’s choices, after all, that showed one who they truly were—far more than their abilities.

And that was why Sirius Black, who had grown up a descendant of Phineas Nigellus, was a Gryffindor. That was why James Potter, who loved everything Gryffindor, was a Gryffindor. That was why Peter Pettigrew had chosen friends that did not match him in either ability or personality. It was all personal choice applied to surroundings: it wasn't even werewolf-specific. No one was biologically a monster.

Dumbledore had already known all that, but it was nice to put it into words.

Everyone starts out as children, he mused as he fiddled with a Disillusioned bat decoration hanging off the wall.

And as the memories replayed themselves in Dumbledore's mind well into the night, he meditated once again on the fact that having such a brilliant mind and a tendency to stick his nose in other people's business was both a blessing and a curse.

[runawayfairie]

━♡ guess the 21 YEAR OLD NOVEMBER baby just arrived to dallyeog! it makes sense, because AHN SEOJIN is just as RAW as the month of NOVEMBER. wait, why do they remind me of LEE GAHYEON? beyond that, they seemed OUTGOING & RESOURCEFUL upon first glance. i heard someone say they’re sort of REBELLIOUS & SELF-SERVING though. i hope they get acquainted here in COMPLEX # 4 / APARTMENT # 6 / FLOOR # 3 ; they seem to have a lot going on with HER job as BUSKER (unemployed).( Bee, 24, she/her, cst. )

Hello everyone!!! My name is Bee ( the 2nd lol. She/her, 24, cst! ) and I’m so happy to be in this group with my sad girl Seojin!  Please add me on discord too, its so much easier to message there! bee121#9991 I will be posting links to her navigation but I’ll also put in a little bio under the cut with some plot ideas and connections I need filled out! Feel free to message me or like this post and I’ll come message you lovely people!! ━♡

Profile || Wanted Connections || Plots || Full Nav  Pin Board & Playlist for Muse!

━♡ STATS & BASIC INFO

☾ Ahn Seojin is 21 years old, born November 5th, 1999 and the moment she was born her life was nothing but struggle. 

☾ Backstory!!  Seojin never knew her dad because she was actually the result of a scandal between a man who was married with a family of his own and her mother. The two had a secret relationship for years before she came along, naively her mother thought he would do something for them but instead of physically being there for them he simply paid her off and forced her to never speak of the affair or the accidental kid. He gave them enough to get by on, or what he deemed was enough, and sent them away. Her mother had to work multiple jobs to keep them afloat and they were happy for a while with just the two of them. Her mother died her junior year of high school and she ended up dropping out to work because she wouldn’t of survived if she’d continued school. With no other family to lean on, any relatives on her maternal side disowned them the second they found out about her and she didn’t even know her father, not that she would want his help anyway, she was on her own and did her best to get by. This resulted in her having to work any job that would give her a chance but it wouldn’t be long until she was fired for stealing food or supplies she wasn’t able to pay for, since most of her paycheck went towards trying to keep the apartment her mother and her had. It also wasn’t long before she eventually lost that too and she was on the streets for a while, finding people to stay with or spending most nights in internet cafes or norebong bars. She finally realized that she could make more money singing in busy shopping districts, especially when its known for attracting tourists, and with this new “job” she was able to barely afford a new apartment! Now she’s living in Dallyeog and life is looking up!

━♡ PERSONALITY

x  Just like the changing and chilling weather of November, Seojin is quick to adapt to whatever life throws at her, no matter how dark or difficult it may be. She is very extroverted and comes off as extremely sweet and friendly, but she is quick to get defensive and although she is always dealing with something she rarely ever shares her personal issues with others. She likes to live in the moment and not worry about the past or the future, even if she does dwell and overanalyze everything in her life when she lays down to try and sleep.

x She likes fun above all else, any excuse to have a good time is something she is totally down for, anything that keeps things light and impersonal. When people try to get to know her personally she tends to take a step back, putting up a bit of a wall around herself for protection.

x She likes to be the center of attention, the life of the party, and she tends to surround herself with a lot of people and from an outsider’s perspective you could assume that she was very popular and had many friends, but she never really let anyone get close enough to truly start to know who she really is. She is worried that people will think she’s no good, broken, a waste of space- all that stuff, and she tries to make herself as likable as possible so that people will want to keep her around.

━♡ WANTED CONNECTIONS / PLOTS

★ Family Connection wanted!!  Seojin never knew her dad because she was basically a “mistake” from the beginning, no one could know about her lest her father’s “perfect reputation” be soiled by HIS mistake. He couldn’t let his own family find out either so she wasn’t even told his name, she took her mother’s surname which is exactly how she wanted it. She does eventually find out who he was and learns that she had a half sibling (or siblings) that were living in Seoul and she wants to learn more about them. Do they know about her?? Would they be mortified? Embarrassed? Angry? Would they be able to get along maybe..? After all, they are the only family she has now, so she feels like she has to try. || OPEN ||

★ Much like a stray cat, Seojin is always over at other people’s apartments begging for food, she seems to always know when someone is cooking, and she tends to spend a lot of time on couches receiving love and affection while she talks about where she went out the night before. Her heat and electricity is often shut off at some point towards the end of each month because she is late on payments, which is also why she’s always seeking out meals. (Rip her empty fridge lol) I am needed many muses who either don’t mind her coming over for food or people who seem to have to just deal with her because she’s cute and they pity her or just enjoy her company. || OPEN for many muses ||

★  As a way to deal with what she’s been through, Seojin has been known to party and go out, sometimes more than she really should, and you can be sure that she’d never turn down an invitation to have a night out on the town! She goes out often and makes it almost a game to find new places that are tucked away and usually have secret menus. If your muse ever wants a drinking partner, she’s your girl!! || OPEN for many muses ||

★ Wanna go on a picnic? Food and drinks on me! Or well.. The convenient store down the street! She may be a little bit of a clepto.. but it’s not because it’s an addiction, it’s because she needed to do this to get by, and it’s so much easier than paying for things! She’s gotten quite good at it too, she rarely ever gets caught anymore. Does your muse approve? Will they join in? Turn her in? || OPEN ||

★ “Would you light my candle~?” -Rent Seojin comes to your muse’s apartment complaining that her electricity and heat is off and she needs a candle lit and maybe some time to warm herself up. She is looking for company and maybe a place to sleep, and she isn’t too shy about how grateful she would be to them and how she would definitely repay them, make it “worth their while”.  ( I get big Mimi vibes from Seojin in most ways but the junky part, she is more into alcohol than drugs. I just love this song so much and think a plot like this scene would be fun! ) || OPEN ||

★ (more to come soon, if you have any ideas feel free to message me!)

[lilylysanderscorpius]

The Story of Astoria Greengrass and Draco Malfoy

(As told by Scorpius Malfoy)

'So-' Lily propped her elbows up on her knees and rested her cheeks onto her palms, settling into a comfortable position in preparation to listen.

'Who is this story about?'

'It's about a witch who turned into a hawk'

Scorpius had turned his face back up to face the starry night sky and had his eyes closed peacefully.

'Your mother?' Lily asked with interest. She had only ever heard snippets of Scorpius's mother's life. Though she had always wanted to ask more, she had felt nervous about prying. Scorpius nodded and then, taking a deep breath, he began speak in a low, tranquil voice that seemed to defy the fact that he had just spent the past few hours screaming in pain.

'Seven years after the defeat of the Dark Lord, a witch of twenty four years of age by the name of Aglaé of the distinguished pureblood Maudit family, runs away from her home in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. With no intention of returning, she takes with her several very valuable family heirlooms; enchanted jewelry, rare potions books, and other such things.'

'Wasn't your mother's name Astoria?' Lily asked. Though it was rare for her parent's to gossip, that name had been on their lips on a number of occasions when Lily was a young girl and they had discussed rumors of Draco's marriage. To Lily it was a distant memory of a conversation which at the time she had had no interest in because it had been about people she didn't know and who she thought she would never meet.

'Don't worry I'll get to that' Scorpius said. He smiled as though reminded of an old joke.

'Anyway- Aglaé has been living inside the family home in Paris for the best part of 24 years. She was homeschooled there and though her sisters were all allowed to attend Beauxbatons and the elite Parisian pureblood social gatherings that their parents attended, Aglaé was always made to stay home. Even on the nights when she transformed into a hawk- something that she could not avoid doing but which always made her parents very upset with her- she was confined to a bird cage in her father's study. The only time she was allowed outside into the fresh air was when her family would go to their holiday manor near Beynac-et-Cazenac, in the countryside of Dordogne. On those occasions they would allow her to take walks along the rivers or through the empty farmland. There she was also allowed to fly- on the condition that she never told anybody outside of the family about her affliction. These trips gave her hope that one day her parents might allow her to leave them and to live freely'

'But by the time Aglaé has turned twenty-four, all of her sisters have married wealthy pureblood wizards and have left the family home. She, on the other hand, is yet to even meet another person who is not a family member or a tutor or a healer. So in a desperate bid to find a way out of her restrictive life, she tells her father that she wants to marry and leave as her sisters did. But he forbids her, saying the blood curse of the Maudit line must stop with her. She is never to leave the house, never to marry and certainly never to have children'

Lily watched the small crease in Scorpius's brow with concern. She had already learnt from seeing how he had reacted to his french grandfather at the dueling championship last year that he was not a fan of his mother's family.

'So Aglaé decides to leave. She knows that her family will be looking for her in the skies; that they will assume she has flown away from them as a hawk. So instead, Aglaé chooses to take the one form of transport out of France that she knows they will never think to search; she decides to take a muggle cargo ship. She does not particularly mind which country it is headed to, as long as it takes her far away from France and so she sneaks aboard a container vessel bound for Iceland.'

'Iceland?' Lily asked in surprise.

'Iceland' Scorpius repeated, giving her another little knowing smile.

'Most of her time on board this ship is spent hiding from the crew; either as a hawk perching on the masts or as a witch huddled in between shipping containers. But the journey takes longer than she predicts and soon she is out of the food rations she had taken with her. But the ship has a kitchen and a food hall for the workers and so she begins to source her meals from there.

'The head cook of that kitchen, an elderly muggle man by the name of William Bush, begins to notice that food is going missing. It doesn't take him long to figure out that there is a stowaway and to discover Aglaé hiding in the bowels of the ship. She is wearing the strangest attire he has ever seen- traditional wizarding families in France tend to wear fairly extravagant dress robes- but he is a kind man and when he hears that she has run away from a cruel family, he decides to help her. He tells the ship's crew that she is his niece come to assist him with the cooking duties and so for the rest of the journey she is able to live on the ship without hiding. Aglaé is determined to start a completely new life for herself and so she tells William and the rest of the crew that her name is Astoria Greengrass. 'Astoria' because it means 'like a hawk' and 'Greengrass' to symbolize new beginnings.'

'She gave herself an allias?' Lily said intrigued. 'That's kind of brilliant. But did she know that there was already a Greengrass family in wizarding Britain?'

'Well she wanted a name that didn't sound French to help hide her identity and she had thought that she was going to Iceland at the time so I suppose she wasn't too worried about that. Honestly I suspect she spent so much time growing up being shown lists and diagrams of pureblood family lines from all over Europe, that the only surnames she could think of where those of well established wizarding families. People think the Malfoy's are obsessed with pureblood ideology, but the Maudit's take it to a whole other level. She had never even really spoken to a muggle until she met William Bush. For most of her life she had heard that they were awful, inferior beings who hated anything they could not understand- like magic. And yet here old William Bush was helping her even though she had been stealing from him.'

'But the problem of course with having grown up in a pureblood wizarding family with little to no contact with the muggle world, was that Aglaé- now Astoria- is hopeless when it comes to hiding that she is a witch. At first, William Bush simply thinks that her quirks are just a result of her having been treated badly by her family for so many years. Until one day, Astoria slips up and he sees her transform before his very eyes.'

'No longer able to hide who she is, Astoria tells William everything. He is the first person she has ever been able to tell about her condition and she is terrified that he will think she is a monster. But though as a muggle it is a lot for him to comprehend, he thinks it is wonderful. So wonderful, that he offers to let her stay with him and his family in London. So after having travelled all the way with the crew to Iceland, Astoria decides to come right back again with William to start her new life in Britain'

'When they finally arrive in London, William takes Astoria to his small townhouse, where he introduces her to his wife April, who is just as excited to learn that she is able to perform magic. They take her in and treat her like a true niece and for a short while Astoria has the family that she has always wanted. They accept her unconditionally. But though Astoria does her best to start a new life with them in the muggle world, her condition makes it very difficult for her to find and hold down a muggle job. Besides this, years of homeschooling with elitist pureblood tutors means she has not learnt anything remotely useful outside of magic.'

'But Astoria is eager to earn money to contribute to the household that the Bushes so kindly opened up for her. In the end, she realizes that she has no choice but to make contact again with the wizarding community in Britain. And so, one day, in desperate need of an income Astoria finds herself in Knockturn Alley-'

Lily caught Scorpius's eyes.

'At Borgin and Maudit's?'

Suddenly, this tale which had sounded so otherworldly had connected back to something familiar and Lily was eager to hear more.

'It was called Borgin and Burkes at the time, but yes' Scorpius smiled.

'Burkes had long since passed away and Borgin's health had begun to deminish. So old Borgin solicited the help of one Draco Malfoy-'

Lily laughed at this. He spoke as though he were a character in a fairy tale.

'Your father you mean'

Scorpius just grinned back at her and carried on.

'At the time Astoria walks through the door, Draco has been working at the shop for a good year or so. He's fairly bored with it; it's not the most exciting job, especially as the Ministry has been cracking down on the trade of illegal magical goods and he isn't able to sell anything near as dark or dangerous as what the place used to stock.

'But when Astoria walks in she's changed out of the muggle clothes she now usually wears and is back in her elaborate French dress robes; She's there to pawn off her family heirlooms and she wants to give the impression that they are valuable. In her best British accent, she tells him that she has come upon some very expensive gifts that she would now like to sell. She shows him each item in turn, exaggerating each ones worth and usefulness. But though he is quite impressed with the quality and rarity of the goods, he says 'no'. Besides the fact that he finds her manner of speaking to be quite odd and is suspicious of her, business has not been going well and he's in no position to be buying'

'He tells her as such, but she won't take no for an answer. She tells him that her items will undoubtedly sell and that he can pay her a commission once they do. Draco is quite ill-tempered by this point but he agrees just so that she will leave. But she doesn't leave. Instead she walks outside onto the street and starts spruiking the shop, grabbing onto the arms of passersby and asking them if they wouldn't like to have a look at the new items Borgin and Burkes are stocking.'

Lily giggled.

'She's so determined' she said impressed.

Scorpius grinned.

'She was always very good at getting her way- incredibly persuasive when it came to convincing people to do what she wanted. People say that's a Malfoy trait, but she was much better at it than my father…'

'Anyway- as it so happened she was able to talk several people into visiting the shop and suddenly Borgin and Burkes has more customers than they've seen in years. A few items are sold; some are hers, others are just those that had already been in the shop. But Astoria demands a commission for everything. Draco is less than pleased; he says they only agreed on her getting a cut from the items which she had brought in herself and he refuses to pay her a sickle more'

'So by the time old Borgin returns to the shop from his check-up at St Mungo's, Astoria and Draco are in a yelling match. And by this point Astoria has completely lost any flicker of a British accent. Not knowing what on earth is going on, Borgin demands to know her name.'

'She introduces herself as Astoria Greengrass and tells Borgin that Draco has swindled her out of money and that she'll be back to collect it, before storming out the door.'

'But wait- isn't it technically true that he only agreed to give her a portion of the sales from the items she brought in?' Lily asked.

Scorpius shrugged.

'Depends whose version of the story you believe' he smirked.

'Anyway, a few days later she comes back to Knockturn Alley determined to get the cut for the other items she helped to sell and he asks her if she is from the Greengrass family that are part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. And because that was where she heard the name in the first place, without really thinking it through, Astoria says yes. But then Draco tells her he went to school with the Greengrass's daughter Daphne, and that she never mentioned anything about having a younger sister.'

'Oh no-' Lily was now fully engrossed in the drama, her hands clutched tight to her knees and her eyes wide. 'What did she say?'

'She said not many people know about her because her parents sent her to Beauxbatons rather than Hogwarts and so she lived in France for a number of years-'

'That's pretty clever-' Lily remarked. 'Lies are always much more believable when they're closer to the truth'

'Like I said- she was always very good at being convincing' Scorpius smirked.

'So was he convinced?' Lily asked.

Scorpius laughed and shook his head.

'He was right up until she called him 'Mr Burke''

'She did what?' Lily asked confused.

'She'd assumed that that was his name because of the sign- 'Borgin and Burke's'. She'd met Borgin the day before and he had introduced himself. But Draco had been far too grumpy with her to do that himself. Besides, he had sort of assumed that she knew who he was. Some of the particularly complicated death eater trials were still going on at that point, so the war was still fresh on the minds of the general public in wizarding Britain. Besides, everyone knew that the Malfoy's- mostly my grandfather mind you- had managed to avoid Azkaban by giving every single detail of who had done what during the war to the Ministry. Draco was one of the most hated wizards in Britain, by death eaters and Voldemort haters alike. In fact, that was part of the reason business was doing so bad. So it didn't make sense to him that she wouldn't know who he was- particularly if her sister was Daphne Greengrass, who he had snogged at few times at school'

'So what did he do?' Lily asked.

'He gave her the money that she was demanding from him and then he asked her to dinner'

'What?' Lily was taken aback. 'But he didn't even know who she was- and he knew that she was lying to him-'

Scorpius grimaced, seeming to find the whole thing a little pitiful.

'Yeah, but he hadn't been on a date since Hogwarts and everyone who knew who he was hated him. So he figured this might be his only chance'

'And she said yes?' Lily wanted to know.

Scorpius grimaced again.

'She hadn't been on a date in her entire life, so she wasn't that picky'

'And it went well?' Lily couldn't quite imagine what a dinner between two people who had only ever spent time in conversation arguing with each other would be like.

'She was impressed that he took her to a muggle restaurant' Scorpius said with a frown. 'Since moving in with William and April, she had really taken a liking to muggles and she thought it was proof that he wasn't as conceited about blood purity has her family had been.'

'That's sweet-' Lily cooed.

'Not really- in reality, he'd only taken her there because he didn't want anyone to recognize him and for her to find out who he was'

Scorpius looked apologetic for having ruined the romance for her.

'Oh…' said Lily.

'They did that for months. They'd go out together to muggle places; restaurants, parks, even the cinema. And the whole time he's calling her Miss Greengrass and she's calling him Mr Burke. He does a great job of hiding the fact that he's from a family of war-criminals and she does wonderfully at hiding her blood curse from him and for a little while they're quite happy'

'But then one day Astoria sees an advertisement for a wizarding ball in the Prophet. She really wants to go; she's learnt all the ball dances from her sisters but was never allowed to attend any when she was living with her family in Paris. So she asks Draco to go with her.'

'He refuses of course. Going out into wizarding society together would be a minefield; someone would be sure to recognize him. But- like I said- she's very good at getting her way, and low and behold, she convinces him that it is absolutely essential to their relationship that he takes her. So he does'

'He got away with it?' Lily asked.

'Oh no- he was recognized instantly. Everyone was calling him 'Malfoy' left, right and centre. But to his surprise, she didn't freak out. She was just confused as to why he'd changed his name'

Lily raised both eyebrows.

'The thing about my mother was-' Scorpius explained with a sigh. '-she didn't know much about Voldemort or the war. She knew of his existence and that there had been a war, but her family never told her about the awful things he did. Though they weren't ever directly involved in Voldemort's rise to power in any way, the Maudit's were sympathetic to his ideals. She'd heard of the Malfoy's, just like she had heard of every other pureblood family name in Europe, but she'd been living with muggles so she didn't know anything about the trials or why the faces of the people at the ball darkened when they saw Draco as though he were a Dementor'

'But obviously she realizes that he has been lying to her about his name for a reason and so she demands that he tell her. And he does and finally he's honest. He tells her everything that happened during the war; everything that he contributed to. And to his great surprise she isn't disgusted by him. She just asks if he's sorry and he says 'yes' and she says she forgives him'

Lily felt her heart swoon a little.

'That's when she decides that she has to tell him about her curse- and about her true identity-' Scorpius said gravely.

'And he tells her he doesn't mind?' Lily guessed.

'No, he's a total prat about it' Scorpius said tonelessly.

'He tells her he can't be with someone who's blood is tainted'

'What?' Lily felt truly outraged. 'But she's just forgiven him for having been a Death Eater!'

'I don't know if you've heard but my father hasn't always been totally virtuous' Scorpius lamented sarcastically.

'So anyway, then they sort of break up and she's absolutely furious with him- hates his guts. He on the other hand- he's completely miserable. He misses her, and through some kind of mental gymnastics- which to this day I am unsure of how he managed- he has the revelation that he's being an utter tosspot and that he has completely messed up his one chance at being happy'

'He tries to formulate a way of finding her and telling her he's sorry but he has no idea where she lives. So for a few months he wallows in self-pity and drowns his sorrows with Nettle wine'

'But then, luckily for him, a few months later she comes marching through Knockturn Ally again to see him'

'Why? I thought she hated him now?' Lily said with a frown.

Scorpius turned his head to the side to catch her eye.

'Me' he said with a small shrug.

Lily looked at him in confusion until it dawned on her.

'She was pregnant?'

'Like I said; my father- not so virtuous, loose morals and all that' Scorpius rolled his eyes.

Before Lily had time to question what he was implying, he hastily continued his story.

'Anyway, she's still really angry with him but she figures that he should know about me, so she marches up to Borgin and Burkes only to find something that makes her five times angrier than before'

'What?' Lily asked in suspense. She couldn't really imagine how Draco might have made the situation any worse.

'He's changed the sign on the shop' Scorpius sniggered. 'His stupid idea for getting her attention and getting her to come back was to change the name from Borgin and Burkes to 'Borgin and Maudit's'. But of course, she's been trying to ensure that her family doesn't find out where she has run off to, so she's enraged that he would do something with such blatant disregard for her situation'

'So she comes in, and after she's screamed at him and smashed about half the things in the shop, he tells her that he loves her and that he doesn't care about her blood curse'

Lily winced.

'Not great timing…'

'No' Scorpius agreed. 'She yells at him that it doesn't matter anymore because he won't ever be seeing her again now that her family is sure to be on their way to come get her and force her back to Paris. Then he tells her that he won't allow that to happen- that he'll start a new family with her and so she won't be a part of her old family anymore'

Lily raised her eyebrows again questioningly. 'Was that a proposal?'

Scorpius nodded ruefully.

'I honestly have no idea why she said yes; but I suppose she must have still liked him for some insane reason. And I think him asking her to marry him was just really shocking to her because she had thought that no one would ever want to marry someone who was cursed as she was'

'But she's concerned he doesn't know what he's getting himself into. So she tells him that if they get married, one day she'll stop being able to turn back into a human again and that it'll be up to him to raise their child alone-'

'-that's how he found out about me-' Scorpius added with a smirk in Lily's direction.

'And she also said that if I turned out to be a girl there was every chance that I could have the same curse that she did'

Lily was now tipped forward in a crouch on the balls of her feet, hanging on to every word.

'He tells her he isn't worried about the first point- though he definitely was- and that she needn't worry about the second point because for centuries of generations Malfoy's have only ever had sons'

'Is that true?' Lily asked in surprise.

'Yeah' Scorpius frowned and his eyes flickered away in thought. 'We think it might be some kind of weird blood curse of its own, but nobody knows the exact reason behind it'

'What happened then?' Lily was eager to know.

'Well that's pretty much it. Not exactly a 'happily ever after'; my grandparents were absolutely furious. They didn't want a daughter in law with tainted blood, no matter how well-breed a family she came from. Plus they were shocked that Draco had asked for her hand in marriage without introducing her or consulting them; I think it was the first time he'd ever really rebelled against them. It didn't help that she insisted that William and April attend the wedding.'

'But to be fair, the Maudit's were much more furious when they heard that their daughter- who they had forbade from marrying anyone in the first place- was marrying into the disgraced Malfoy family. They disowned her faster than a snitch, but I think she was quite pleased with that. It meant they wouldn't come looking for her anymore'

With Scorpius's story now at an end, and Lily still deep in thought imagining the vivid characters in it, the pair fell into a silence. After a while, Lily nudged him gently with her foot.

'Were you thinking about all this because you almost died?' she asked bluntly.

'I suppose so…' Scorpius reflected. Then with a small laugh he said; 'I mean, I guess I was thinking I'd better not snuff it here after all the trouble my mother went to to be able to start a family'

When Lily looked upset, he added; 'which would've been your fault, seeing as you were the one flying the broom'

Lily burst out laughing. She gaped at him in mock outrage.

'That is not the part of tonight where you almost died!' she cried, slapping him on the shoulder.

'Really? Because the Acromantula felt like a tickle compared to that turbulence' he shot back with a grin.

From: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12973166/75/Lily-Potter-and-the-Villain-in-the-Valley

[minmotl]

Chapter 26: Sui Zhou Asks Tang Fan To Move In With Him

Context: Tang Fan has arrested his landlord Li Man for killing his lawful wife Lady Zhang, while Wang Zhi has given Pan Bin an impossible task to solve, so Tang Fan heads to the Northern Administrative Court hoping that he can find either Xue Bing or Sui Zhou to help him.

Happens after The Marquis Wu An Case and marks the start of Tang Fan’s domestic life with Sui Zhou and Ah Dong.

Introduction Post | Masterpost

—

Highlights under the cut

Unfortunately, Xue Bing was not at the Northern Administrative Court, and the men currently on shift are unfamiliar faces to Tang Fan, so Tang Fan asked a few questions and seeing that they were reluctant to reveal any information to him, he did not force the issue, turning around to leave.

However, a familiar, cold voice sounds from behind him, “Why are you looking for Lao Xue?”

Tang Fan turns around and grins, “Guang Chuan-xiong, you have returned?”

Sui Zhou still has that stoic, icy face on, but the moment he sees the genuine delight on Tang Fan’s face, his eyes reveal that little bit of happiness, and he nods, “Hnn, you were looking for Lao Xue?”

Tang Fan smiles in return, “I was intending to look for you and made a trip here a few days ago. Lao Xue told me that you left on a trip, so I didn’t expect you to return so quickly. If it is convenient for you, I do have some things I would like to discuss with you.”

Sui Zhou replies, “I did hear about the request you made of him.”

Pausing for a moment, Sui Zhou looks to the side slightly to indicate at the person standing behind him, “In the future, if both Lao Xue and I are not around, you can look for Pang Qi.”

Pang Qi is similarly dressed as an Embroidered Uniform Guard, but at a glance, his position seems to be slightly lower than that of Lao Xue’s. He is also younger with a child-like face, the kind of person who smiles constantly and gives off a gentle and harmless feeling.

Yet, Tang Fan would not underestimate him just because of this. Any person who works at the Northern Administrative Court and does not bat an eyelid even at the sight of various kinds of prisons cannot be judged with the standards of a normal person. Out in the world, one should not read a book by it’s cover, and it is often that the more harmless a person looks, the more capable he is.

Tang Fan nods at the man in acknowledgement and introduces himself, “I’m Tang Fan, Tang Run Qing, a prefectural judge at Shun Tian Prefecture. We met the day you accompanied Guang Chuan-xiong to Hui Chun Tang for the investigation.”

This person before Pang Qi calls Sui Zhou by his birth name, and after hearing Sui Zhou himself tell the man that he can look for Pang Qi next time if he needs to, even if Pang Qi was dumb, he knows that this man has a very good relationship with his superior. This is a man that Pang Qi cannot afford to offend, and so he puts his hands together and greets, “Tang-daren is too polite, if there is anything you need in the future, just let me know!”

Sui Zhou turns impatient, listening to the both of them exchange unnecessary pleasantries, and so he interrupts them, “Jian Xian, you can get back to work first.”

“The location of that White Jade Horse that you asked Lao Xue to search for, we’ve found it,” Sui Zhou continues.

“Where is it?” Tang Fan asks quickly.

“In the house of the Eastern Depot’s Head, Shang Ming.”

Tang Fan’s expression turns strange at that.

Sui Zhou adds, “Shang Ming was the one who paid a high price to buy the White Jade Horse from Ying Guo Gong, and Wang Zhi wanted one at the same time but was unable to snatch it out of Shang Ming’s hands, so he’s not involved with that object.”

Tang Fan laughs wistfully, “Pan-daren is in a difficult position if that’s the case. Why did Wang Zhi prank him like this without any reason?”

It was futile, because even if he knew the location of the White Jade Horse, how could Shun Tian Prefecture go to Shang Ming and ask for the object? The fact that the White Jade Horse was originally Shang Ming’s aside, even if it was not, with Pan Bin’s position, if he really went to ask for it, would Shang Ming have simply given it to him?

Considering this from another perspective, wouldn’t Wang Zhi have known that the object was at Shang Ming’s? And yet, he still asked Shun Tian Prefecture to look for it, is it not clear that Wang Zhi is putting Pan Bin in a spot?

Is Wang Zhi really as the rumours say, an arrogant and selfish who marches only to the sound of his own heartbeat?

Sui Zhou thinks about it and says, “Wang Zhi has always been enemies with Shang Ming, his motive could be simply to disgust Shang Ming.”

Tang Fan puts out both his hands, “Pan-daren who has nothing to do with this was dragged into this when he he was never involved in the first place.”

“Then how are the both of you going to handle this?”

Tang Fan shakes his head, “I’ll go back and let Pan-daren know about this. Oh right, there is something I wish to tell you.”

He briefly explains the situation with Lee Man murdering his wife and his mistress, surname Chen, disappearing, before mentioning the White Lotus Sect mark again.

“The White Lotus Sect has risen from the ashes again, and all they will do is create trouble from the dark, I will get my men to keep an eye on this.”

He doesn’t know why, but once Sui Zhou says this, Tang Fan knows for certain that the man will treat the matter seriously. On his part, Tang Fan is also assured, as if he has entrusted this important task to someone reliable.

Perhaps there are simply people who handles tasks well and are naturally able to set others at east, and Sui Zhou is exactly this kind of person.

Tang Fan smiles then, “Then I will leave this to you. I should be sitting down with you and having a chat with you since you have just returned from your trip, but because of the White Jade Horse matter, Pan-daren has been very concerned so I have to quickly head back and let him know. Let us reschedule for another day?”

Sui Zhou makes a sound of assent and they slip into a moment of awkward silence, before he asks abruptly, “What time will you get home today?”

“If nothing else comes up, the court will be dismissed at the usual time and I will go home then, what is it?”

“Then I will find you tonight,” Sui Zhou says.

Tang Fan unconsciously agrees, and looking back now he thinks that something is amiss, but what exactly is wrong with what Sui Zhou suggested?

The incredibly intelligent Tang-daren thinks hard about this on his way back, but is unable to come to a conclusion.

Pan Bin’s dilemma over the news of the White Horse Jade is put out of his mind for now. Without Ah Dong sending snacks over to him, Tang Fan usually settles his dinner outside after he is dismissed from work before going home, but considering that Sui Zhou said he is coming over, Tang-daren veers off to the side of the street and buys some meat stewed with soy sauce from a snack stall, and also buys a bottle of rice wine from the wine stall next to it.

He makes a huge detour and by the time he makes his leisurely way home, he realizes that someone is already standing at the door to his house, and isn’t that Sui-qianhu?

“If I’d known you were coming over so early, I would have come home first and save you the wait standing outside my door!” Tang Fan increases the speed of his footsteps as he walks towards Sui Zhou, an apologetic smile on his face.

“It is no bother,” Sui Zhou says.

Tang Fan realizes that there are also some snacks in Sui Zhou’s hands.

“My house is quite a distance away from yours, I will just stay here tonight, you don’t mind, do you?”

“Ah? I don’t mind at all, it’s a rest day tomorrow, we can take the opportunity and chat through the night!”

Tang-daren lives the legendary bachelor’s life. Other men, when they become officials, even if he is not married and has a family, he would at least have one or two companions at his side, but only Tang Fan lives alone. He faces the moon in the night, nibbling on snacks and reading his novels, and this life can be considered quite entertaining as well.

Of course, with one more person around, the place becomes more lively, so it cannot be helped that once night falls, it feels colder and emptier. Even though this person is often expressionless and doesn’t like to talk much, it is better to have company than not.

Both men put their things down. Tang Fan goes in search of cups for the wine, while Sui Zhou opens the paper bags containing snacks.

Tang Fan bought pig’s ears and tongue stewed in soy sauce, fragrant and delicious, and is the best snack to have with wine.

Sui Zhou brought peppered pig intestines, crispy-fried tofu, slated peanuts and raw cucumbers mixed with sauce.

“Since you are visiting, why did you still bring things over? You and I are so familiar with each other, you must not spend the money on this next time!”

Tang-daren says these pleasantries out of courtesy only, taking a bite out of the crispy-fried tofu. The tofu skin has been fried to a crisp, but once he bites into it, the inside is white just like beancurd, so soft that it almost drips out, the aroma of the tofu fragrant.

“Where did you buy this crispy-fried tofu from, why is it so delicious?” Tang Fan asks, bewildered.

“I had some ingredients at home,” Sui Zhou answers simply.

“You know how to cook?” Tang-daren asks, astonished.

Sui Zhou’s mouth curls upwards, the motion a rarity, and stays silent.

After a few breaths, Tang Fan is still immersed in his surprise, “Guang Chuan-xiong, you can actually cook? This is… is… this is…”

He stammers for a long while but is unable to come up with the right words for it, and that’s when hurried knocks sound on from outside.

“You’re really great!” Tang-daren exhales, finishing his thoughts on the matter before getting up to open the door.

Ah Dong is standing outside, and without waiting for Tang Fan to open his mouth, she blurts, “Tang-daren, save me!”

The girl is about to kneel down, but Tang Fan stops her, “What happened?”

With tears on her face, Ah Dong answers, “Ah Chun jiejie told me that tomorrow Master Li will get the dealer to come over, and they’re going to sell me!”

Tang Fan startles, “They’re selling only you?”

Ah Dong nods, “They sold off a batch of us a few days ago. The steward knew that I wanted to come over to your place and didn’t have anything to say about it originally, but who knew that they would suddenly change their minds today, saying that they are going to sell me off!”

She held back her tears and told her story in detail through gritted teeth, but when she got to the end of it, she could not help but choke, “Tang-daren, what do I do, can you please go tell the steward, that I don’t want to be sold off!”

Tang Fan knows that this is definitely not the steward’s intentions, and it is likely the idea of the Li family’s young master Li Lin.

Li Lin probably resents Tang Fan for what happened this morning,  but at that time he was unable to oppose Tang Fan directly, so he decided to act first to gain the upper hand and sell Ah Dong off so that Tang Fan would end up empty-handed. She is after all the Li family’s slave, and no one can say otherwise.

As his thoughts come to this, Tang Fan finds himself momentarily struck speechless.

When Lady Zhang was still alive, he met Li Lin a few times and the boy was shy and a person of few words then, but because they were both scholars, Li Lin admired Tang Fan for passing the imperial scholars examination at a young age, and Tang Fan did give him some advice in the past.

Who could have known that with the passing of time and changes in the family, Li Lin’s character would change so drastically, becoming this irrational. He wonders what Lady Zhang would think of her son under the netherworld.

It is true that it is Li Lin’s right to sell Ah Dong off and it also holds true that Tang Fan is unable to do anything about it. He was intending to think of a solution to Ah Dong’s situation, but who knew that Li Lin plans to sell her off immediately. If she’s sold into a bad family, Ah Dong will have to suffer through some tough days ahead.

Looking at this adorable young woman, Tang Fan cannot bear the thought of that happening to her.

“Let’s do it like this, don’t panic. Go back to the main house first, I’ll think of something.”

Ah Dong has a natural sense of faith and trust in Tang Fan, and so after listening to his words, she obediently nods and heads back, wiping her tears away as she goes. She snuck out earlier, so she cannot leave through Tang Fan’s main door, and when she leaves, she makes a detour and leaves by the back door as well.

As Tang Fan watches her figure disappear from his line of vision, he thinks about what can be done.

Behind him, however, someone says, “You want her?”

Tang Fan nods, then realizing that the sentence could be understood in a few ways, he explains Ah Dong’s situation briefly.

“Coincidentally, I am short of a helping hand that can help me with household chores and cooking. Ah Dong is hardworking and can do the job well.”

Sui Zhou nods, “This is not a difficult matter, you don’t have to concern yourself with this anymore, I’ll settle it for you.”

Where would he go and find such a loyal friend, and Tang-daren is touched by the gesture, hurriedly putting out both hands, “Then I’ll have to thank Guang Chuang-xiong!”

Sui Zhou adds, “Since you’ve fallen out with the Li family, then what are you going to do about your accommodation?”

Tang Fan did not tell him about how he was currently searching for a house, but for Sui Zhou to actually notice this detail, he can see just how meticulous Sui Zhou is.

“Jing City is large and there are many houses, I can still find one,” Tang Fan says.

Sui Zhou is silent for a moment, before he suggests, “If you are willing, you can move out and come and stay with me.”

Tang Fan startles, “This… it’s not appropriate, is it? Won’t sister-in-law be unhappy?”

Sui Zhou returns coldly, “I have not yet taken a wife.”

“Then you should at least have a lady of the house…”

Sui Zhou is now upset, “Since I have not yet wed, I do not dally with any servants either.”

Before Tang Fan can ask further questions, he continues, “My parents stay with my older brother, I have moved out on my own, you do not have to worry.”

Since he has said so much and with Sui Zhou’s sincere invitation, if Tang Fan continues to refuse it would not be good. He puts his hands forward and bows, and says with sincerity, “Then I’ll have to impose on Guang Chuan-xiong temporarily.”

In reality, even though Sui Zhou seems cold at times, he’s not a difficult person to be around, and the both of them have common topics to talk about. Most importantly, not only does Sui Zhou cook, his cooking is more than a hundred times better than Tang Fan’s.

Now that he thinks about it, Tang-daren is feeling quite excited about moving in with Sui Zhou.

The end of Sui Zhou’s lips finally curve upwards a little.

“You and I are so familiar, you don’t have to stand on ceremony.”

===

Notes:

*北镇抚司 bei zhen fu si - Northern Administrative Court

This is the organization that the Embroidered Uniform Guards 锦衣卫 (jing yi wei) belong to, and they are primarily in charge of the imperial prison. They are authorized to make arrests, interrogate, torture and execute suspects, and they don’t have to go through the usual process that other departments have to. They’re known for having a variety of torture methods and in cases where there is a big investigative case, it is possible for the cases to bypass the legal and law enforcement department 刑部 (xing bu) and go straight to the Northern Administrative Court. During the Cheng Hua years, the Northern Administrative Court reported directly to the emperor, and not even the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s Commander could interfere in this process.

Translated as Northern Administrative Court as per iQiyi’s English subtitles.

*千户 qian hu

There are four ranks within the Embroidered Uniform Guards - 千户 (qian hu)、百户 (bai hu)、总旗 (zong qi)、小旗 (xiao qi) arranged highest to smallest rank, aside from the Commander 统领官 (zong ling guan).

*老薛 lao xue

This is referring to Xue Bing where Xue is his first name and Bing his last name - In Chinese we usually affix terms such as lao-, xiao-, a- etc. to names and this usually indicates familiarity with the other person. In this case they used lao- to indicate someone who’s older as a nickname for Xue Bing.

*广川兄 guang chuan xiong

As mentioned in my introductory post and on courtesy names, Sui Zhou’s courtesy name is Guang Chuan, surname Sui. -xiong can be affixed to the end of someone’s first names and means ‘brother’. I’m not translating it as Brother Guang Chuan because it looks weird, so I’m settling for typing out -xiong instead.

*回春堂 hui chun tang

The name of the medicine hall involved in the first case. Hui Chun in general means to ‘return to spring or youth’ and Tang means hall.

*字 zi

Courtesy name, as in 表字 (biao zi). As I explained in the introductory post, a courtesy name is a name chosen by someone’s elders or significant person like a teacher etc once they turn of age and to be used in public from then onwards. In this novel’s case, the courtesy name is not used usually and people are addressed by their given birth names, and only those who are close to each other can call the other by their courtesy names. A little counter-intuitive, I know, but that’s how it is in this novel.

*唐大人 tang da ren

Tang is Tang Fan’s surname, followed by da ren as in Lord. It literally translates to ‘big person’ but it’s general term that most officials use regardless of their ranks i.e. for most civilians, when they see Tang Fan (who’s a sixth rank official in the beginning and then a third rank official later in the novel) or Sui Zhou (who is a qian hu and then vice-commander later) it’s alright for civilians especially to simply address them as da ren rather than their formal titles/ranks.

*见贤 jian xian

Pang Qi’s courtesy name.

*白玉骏马 bai yu jun ma

This is a white jade horse decorative piece that can come in the shape of a horse or refer to a white piece rectangular or oval plaque-like piece with a horse carved on it and they used to be very expensive and valuable. Now you can buy one for less than 40 bucks on Taobao.

*英国公 ying guo gong - The Grand Duke

The closest equivalent would be a duke. It’s a title, among many others, used to indicate royal and noble ranks. In the beginning it was used only for members of the royal family, and then shifted to be used to promote rankings of well-performing officials in court as a reward.

*黄酒 huang jiu - Rice wine

Originating from China, this rice wine can be made by fermenting various types of rice and wheat, and the alcoholic composition is usually between 14-20%.

*人牙子 ren ya zi

A slave-dealer or slave smuggler back in those days.

*管家爷爷 guan jia ye ye

Guan jia means butler/steward (someone who takes care of the house in literal translation), while Ye ye means grandpa. Ah Dong refers to the steward as a grandpa due to his age and likely grandfatherly role in her life.

*九泉之下 jiu quan zhi xia

In the netherworld or underworld. Literally means under the ninth stream/river, which is traditionally used to mean the deepest point in the ground, where a corpse is buried.

*京城 jing cheng

Cheng means city, and in this case jing cheng is actually today’s Beijing, and is noted as China’s capital city where the Emperor and most royals reside in.

*嫂夫人 sao fu ren

Sao as in sister-in-law, usually meant to refer to an older brother’s wife. Fu ren means wife.

*纳妾 na qie

To take in concubines. A usual Chinese family in those times would have one lawful wife 妻 (qi) in the main house, and then several other 妾 (qie) concubines. Who becomes the lawful wife and who becomes a concubine is dependent on status of the woman and reputation, especially in big reputable families. For example, a prostitute that a man takes home and weds may not be approved of as his lawful wife (by his family usually), which is reserved for a woman who comes from a family of ‘good upbringing’ or with money etc. It’s possible for a man to take in concubines without having an official wife in a sense, which is why Tang Fan refers to Sui Zhou possibly having a lady of the house even if it’s not a lawful wife.

*侍婢 shi bi

Also very common for men to have female servants to serve them - whether in household chores etc. or in bed.

[carelessgraces]

ok so i started this last night, got distracted by having my heart ripped out, and then danced around it in the tags of a different post so here are those tags and here is a quick rundown of why astoria’s mother in her grishaverse au really... isn’t a good one and how that damages astoria in the long-term —

#(i was going to write abt her mother in this verse not really being a good mother and the way that astoria is let down) 

#(first by the father - father-as-fjerda - and later by the mother and the way that this makes her both actively seek out validation)

#(especially validation from men in positions of authority & men who represent a threat to fjerdan values)

#(and actively reject anything that resembles family for as long as she can - because family means disappointment)

#(family means being let down by the people who are meant to protect you no matter what)

#(and the only way she finds family after this is by having a specific person reach out and pull her into it usually against her will)

— and i want to emphasize first and foremost that veronika isn’t a questionable mother because she’s raising astoria alone; she’s a questionable mother who happens to be raising astoria alone, and the way that this damages astoria could possibly have been lessened had astoria had another adult role model in her life during her childhood. 

     and i talked a little bit about fjerda as the father in this post, but essentially: asta does not have a father in her life and so she, like a lot of fjerdan children, look to fjerda as a parent and a guide. the nation represents the model of what a good man should be, and asta, who really doesn’t have any men in her life, looks to that for guidance. it’s an inversion of kaz’s “my mother is ketterdam. she birthed me in the harbor. my father is profit. i honor him daily,” in a sense: my mother is veronika. she gave me my power. my father is fjerda. i fear him daily. fjerda is her father; the drüskelle order is his arm; the ice court is his impenetrable study; and for asta, the ice, the water, is the only extension of his love.

     and this is her first great disappointment: fjerda, her father, not only actively rejects her, but would destroy her if she drew his attention. asta learns from her mother to hide from fjerda-as-father: when you use your power, be subtle. when you use your power, be quiet, be cautious. don’t let anyone notice you, don’t let anyone catch sight of who you really are. veronika — herself straddling the line between tidemaker and heartrender, but with more skill as a heartrender than her daughter — teaches asta only a handful of things, but just enough that asta — becoming astoria — can put the rest together herself —

     she can boil water for tea. she can speed or slow water, and move it in the ways that she wants. she can find the water in blood — and therefore she can boil the water in blood, she can slow or speed the flow of blood, she can halt it entirely to force a blood clot in a wound. she can locate the water in someone’s hair or clothing and wick it away ( wet hair and clothes are dangerous in a place like fjerda! better to stay dry! ), and therefore she can locate the water vapor in the air and manipulate that. shape it. redirect it. if she can move water, she can move ice. if she can move water, she can move it away from salt, and make sea water safer to drink. 

     over and over, veronika teaches asta the things that she needs to survive, without ever telling her what these things are; as a result, asta, though blessed with a fair amount of raw power, is horribly unprepared. she kills the first drüskelle by accident — her absolute fury at seeing her mother harmed inspiring her to lash out viciously — and she has to try and mimic that with the two drüskelle who hunt her next, and it’s a long shot. veronika thinks that if she simply never tells asta that she is in possession of something so desperately deadly, then she’ll never be found out for it. 

     and she could move. she is aware of the danger she’s in — her own mother and sister were killed by drüskelle when she was a young teenager ( as described here ), and she knows what it is to lose a mother, and to be on the run. her father and brother are in ravka, and she could go to them. instead, veronika refuses to leave; fjerda is as much hers as anyone else’s, she reasons, and while she’s not wrong, it does endanger a child who has a very limited understanding of her own danger. it’s more important for veronika to ensure that she gets her own revenge on fjerda — by remaining there, by remaining unmarried, by raising her daughter in the same tradition without shame or fear — than that her daughter, whose power manifests at a young age, is safe from the drüskelle. 

     and veronika’s anger is not a surprise to asta? if anything, it’s a constant companion. as much as asta learns to fear fjerda-as-father, she learns to try to look after her mother, whose anger and grief never quite leave her. so asta grows up fairly quickly, not simply to avoid detection, but to care for her mother. and veronika is, in other ways, a wonderful role model — independent, clever, self-sufficient — but she never fully wants to be a mother and so when asta comes, she almost expects asta to fill the role of sister more than daughter. 

     when asta is caught — because she, at nineteen years old, was so desperately lonely in her isolation that she told her closest childhood friend about what she could do, and he panicked and called for the drüskelle — the drüskelle threatens her mother first, suspecting that she is grisha as well and recognizing the surname. asta responds by lashing out when she sees her mother struck across the face, killing the drüskelle. her immediate response to this is to coach her own mother: tell the drüskelle who come looking for them that you didn’t know. i killed him, and then i knocked you down to escape. you don’t know where i’m going. 

     and veronika does it. veronika, overwhelmed by fear, agrees to asta’s plan, and she doesn’t follow her daughter, or offer to go with her. she reports exactly that to the drüskelle who come next, and she submits to testing by the amplifier only after she’s covered her wrist in parafin, and when she’s released she moves to elling under the guise of wanting to escape a place where her daughter lied to her for nearly two decades, in reality out of a deep sense of shame. 

     it’s some time before asta — astoria, then — is able to fully grasp the depth of how her mother let her down, but she feels so deeply guilty for bringing the drüskelle into their home that she finds it difficult to hold her mother accountable for such a betrayal.

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Mulan (2020, Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the week following the movie’s release on Disney+ worldwide, so if you haven’t yet seen the 2020 live-action Mulan do not read on until you have.

General Reaction:

I had a very hard time deciding what I thought about this movie. I firstly had time to wait to see the movie as I didn’t watch it on Disney+ on the Friday it was released but instead got to see it for free the following Sunday night. But in that time all the reviews were coming out and while some of them were positive, a lot of them were negative.

I guess my feelings can be categorised into three pillars just as the oath sworn by the imperial army...loyal, brave and true, the first pillar is loyalty as in my thoughts on the original animated Mulan and how this movie holds up.

I will say, had I not seen the original I would probably just like this live-action remake fine enough but because I have not only seen the original 1996 animated version but have a strong connection to that version with it being the first movie I ever saw in theatres but also one of my favoured soundtracks of all Disney movies growing up, it’s difficult as we are literally comparing new for old.

That being said, a lot of what made the original so good for me has been completely gutted in this version. No Mushu, Cri-Kee or even Little Brother. It would be so easy to simply have a Shar Pei or a Shih Tzu roaming around Mulan’s home because they already had a spider taking the place of Cri-Kee in that matchmaker scene but no...we get the horse who isn’t even called Khan in this movie because the main villain’s surname is instead Khan rather than Shan Yu like the original, and a phoenix that...despite all the exposition and my movie trivia knowledge of what a phoenix can do...simply just flies around almost like one of those box kites and acts more like a drone than an ancestral family protector.

Also the grandmother from the original, who I loved because Disney has a habit of doing these elderly cooky women traditionally for comedy but also with some heart, is omitted from this version and instead seemingly replaced with a younger sister for Mulan. Now it’s not like the grandmother was integral to the original story other than giving Cri-Kee to Mulan and without Cri-Kee there is no need for her but if you’re going to replace her replace her with something interesting...this sister does absolutely nothing.

As for the songs, Everyone knew right from the off that this wouldn’t be a musical and so all those great songs from that soundtrack that I said at the time was one of my favourite Disney soundtracks were obviously out...but the way in which the score incorporated the main song “Reflection” is something we’ve already heard in the trailers and used very well played out here, then also two of the other songs “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” and “A Girl Worth Fighting For”, while not scored are referenced as lines from the songs are spoken by the Imperial Army soldiers at times.

Then speaking of ditching characters, Shang who is the main male lead of the 1998 animated Mulan is here split into two different characters. The commander of the Imperial Army played by Donnie Yen and then a soldier recruit in said army who acts as Mulan’s love interest...I think. I get the fact that these were the two sides of Shang’s character in the original...with the addition of dealing with the murder of his father...but it would have made more sense maybe to have the commander be “Shang’s” father rather than literally having Shang A and Shang B.

But while other fan-favourites were omitted, one new addition stole the show for me and that was Gong Li as Xian Lung aka The Witch as she’s referred to throughout in this movie. I thought the addition of magic to this adaptation was an interesting take because the original stands out for not relying so heavily on the fairytale aspects. I mean yes we have a talking dragon and ghostly ancestors, who also aren’t in this movie but are referenced a lot and responsible for the box kite phoenix, but the movie didn’t need magic per-say...here it is almost like the secret sauce for how the major players thrive.

This brings me onto my second pillar, brave...as in this movie takes some big old swings in the dark to not only try and stand out from the original but also be mature. Going back to the magic angle, chi is a massive part of this movie and it seems to be that if you’re an important fighter, you have it man or woman.

The only issue with that being the 1998 animated version of Mulan, despite being Disney, was one of the more grounded Renaissance movies as it didn’t rely heavily on the fantasy angle other than the talking dragon and ancestors.

So when you flip that around and tell me that not only does Mulan effectively have superpowers but also there is a major antagonist in this movie who can not only shapeshift but perform matrix-style Wire-Fu action which she somehow teaches the Rouran army, then it loses what made the original version special in that it didn’t rely so heavily on those fantastical elements.

That being said, despite a major problem with other Disney Live-Action remakes like The Lion King being that they rely too heavily on the source material, this remake is practically a different movie to the original 1998 version.

However, while a lot of the beats of the first half of this movie, and even the second half are met such as the Matchmaker scene, joining the Imperial Army, the avalanche battle and the Emperor being captured, the true emotional moments of the animated movie are completely gone.

That incredibly powerful scene after Mulan and her father argue and she is next seen crying at the Great Stone Dragon statue while watching her ailing father before deciding she must take his place and cuts her hair, disguises herself and leaves home in the middle of the night in the rain...here replaced with Mulan wielding her father’s sword, next she’s in the armor, then she’s travelling to the army camp...no powerful music, no visible emotion at how she comes to the resolve of leaving her family, nothing.

Even though there are no songs sung in this movie, the scene “Reflection” is originally sung in makes the song one of my favourite Disney Princess songs because of the fact it lyrically and visibly shows Mulan’s inner torment at being the outsider within her family and longing to be able to truly express herself. Here you have any resemblance of that scene taken out and instead go straight from the Matchmaker scene to the Imperial Army drafting scene.

As for the comedy, I understand the original animated version was more of a comedy-action movie as opposed to this one which is action-drama, but I don’t think I laughed once while watching this movie.

Yes, the original had Eddie Murphy as Mushu and that’s taken out here, but it also had the likeable funny trio of soldiers in the army. Here there are 5 of them, Shang-lite included, Yao and Chien-Po I think try to be despite not spending enough time on any of them to know who is who. There’s this newish character called Cricket who is supposed to be the substitute for Cri-Kee...but is a recruit in the Imperial Army instead of an insect and I had to look up to make sure it wasn’t Ned from the Spider-Man movies because they look so similar and try to force comedy despite not being particularly funny. Even the river shower scene from the original which was rather funny due to Mulan trying to hide the fact she’s a woman from the three guys, here it’s just Mulan and Shang-lite (Chen Honghui) and is played off more as some weird and awkward romance scene.

It is truly brave of Disney to try and appeal more to China than to Western audiences who loved the original movie and the comedy etc and this brings me on to the third pillar which is True, as in Disney trying to be true to China, it’s culture and respecting Mulan as a legend of China rather than a Disney Princess.

That being said, we definitely got more Chinese culture in this version than the original. Obviously you see a lot of China in the animated movie as the Imperial Army moves around a lot like they do here, but it’s never quite as cinematic as it is here. The 2020 live-action Mulan demands the attention of the big screen because for me watching it on my laptop, you can tell a lot of the establishing shots and landscape scenes were intended to be viewed on the silver screen.

Particularly the shots of people running up and down that vast staircase leading up to the Emperor’s palace, just imagining that in theatres impresses me.

Even shots like when you see wide views with either the phoenix or the witch in bird form soaring across the sky, you can tell it was meant to be viewed first on the big screen just to get that feeling of wonder because on a smaller screen it isn’t that impressive.

However, on the subject of “True” I do not understand how in-keeping with the original Chinese legend involved Chi being utilized as some sort of superpower equivelent to Avatar: The Last Airbender whereas in the original animated Disney version, which should really be the one emphasising the fantasy element, you’re either a good fighter or, in Mulan’s case for that movie, you’re not and have to train.

I understand how legends and mythologies can include fantastical elements because that’s what makes them as such, but if Disney want to tell me that in this movie Mulan is practically Wonder Woman because that’s how she is said to be in the legend then where the hell was that in the 1998 animated version because that Mulan is classed officially as a Disney Princess despite not being royalty or marrying royalty and having this type of power would at least qualify her to stand alongside the likes of Pocahontas and Moana.

Getting off the rant and moving to a compliment for a moment, I did appreciate the movie staying true to Chinese fashion because that really puzzled me about the original movie, how every man, woman and child effectively looked like they were wearing the same robes just in a different colour with maybe some different styling depending on if they were royalty or officials in some way.

But here, the Emperor definitely looked regal, the Witch looked regal but in that nomadic styling which was true to her character, and even though all the soldiers were wearing the same uniform, they all had something different enough about it.

Characters:

Alright so I’ve gone on enough generally, now I’m going to be more specific in terms of character, but because most of these characters aren’t fleshed out enough to warrant their own section, I’m listing who I feel are my three stand-out characters and then grouping the rest.

Mulan:

Obviously the movie is about Mulan so I have to start with her, and despite all the negative stuff which to be perfectly honest with you doesn’t overly concern me in regards to how Yifei Liu has been so adamantly in support of the Hong Kong Police drama, I’m judging her solely on how she plays the character here.

She was okay.

I mean this in the best way possible but, in a similar way to last year’s The Lion King remake, Yifei Liu was practically stone-faced the entirety of this movie. Good things happened, no expression, bad things happened, no expression, sad things happened, no expression. Especially when she was pretending to be a guy in the army camp it felt like her acting choice was “If Mulan was to show expression, it may give the game up”, it was just so rigid it made it hard to like her.

Speaking of her “undercover guise”, I know the original movie was animated and therefore the animators can get away with slightly altering the look of the character to make it believable and voices can even be changed as evidenced here with Jet Li...but I did not believe for a single second that Mulan could actually pass as a guy looking like how she looked. She didn’t cut her hair, her clothes weren’t particularly masculine, barely changed her voice and aside from having that leather brace/corsit to hide her chest there was no evidence as to how an entire army camp could not tell the second they saw her...maybe with the exception of Chen but I’ll get to that when I get to him.

Also, I touched on the Chi power thing beforehand, why was she was born with it? Why was it so powerful in her from an early age? None of this was explained, they hammered home the dangers of her having such strong Chi and that was also personified beautifully with Xian Lang aka The Witch as a kind of Ghost of Christmas Future visage, but the reason the original animated version worked so well was because she was flawed, clumsy and awkward yet also caring, strong-willed and outspoken. Really all they did here was take away all of those qualities that made her...you know...human and added the Chi power thing from the start so she didn’t have to learn to fight, she didn’t have to make this massive sacrifice as you know she’s probably going to prevail and again it made her unlikeable because there was no growth or real character development.

All except for the very end when the Emperor offers her a position on the royal guard rather than as an adviser like he does originally, and she rejects it here like she did then as well...but then she is asked again maybe two days later and we don’t get an answer but she probably says yes.

It’s quite clear they’re trying to tee up a sequel by the end of this movie, but there is so much negativity both to the movie and specifically the leading actress that I really don’t see this happening.

If a sequel was to happen it would most likely be Mulan’s struggles with being a female member in the emperor’s guard or even leading the team, but we saw her do that for the second half of this movie.

Literally the halfway point in this movie after a confrontation with Xian Lang, when Mulan’s father narrates how Mulan’s lie died but she herself lived and so she then decided to appear in front of the Imperial Army as a woman despite the obvious consequences I found stupid.

In the original it’s a mistake that she’s found out, it’s towards the end of the movie and she has to fight just for acceptance. Here she pretty much states the obvious in what she knows the villains are doing, suddenly she’s leading the fecking army...despite being told that if she shows her face again she will die...no death but just a promotion.

Finally while talking about Mulan, I can’t really not talk about that fantastic Ming-Na Wen cameo at the end of the movie. It was so great, I had heard prior to seeing the movie that she was going to be in it and so my eyes were peeled throughout the movie.

I love Ming-Na Wen and I do think she is one of very few to hit a Disney trifecta with being a Disney Princess, an MCU hero of sorts and a Star Wars character, though having recently finally seen The Mandalorian I have to say her part was exaggerated a bit considering the one episode she’s in.

It never dawned on me until it was brought up that I even needed Ming-Na to appear in this movie but having seen her I have to say I would be disappointed if she didn;t. Originally I would have suggested she maybe play Mulan’s mother as a type of passing on the torch, but the very fact that her one line and duty in the movie is to introduce Mulan to the emperor it does seem to have the same effect.

Xian Lang:

As I say, the Witch was my favourite character in this movie. Everything about her from when I first saw her in the trailers just worked for me. Her look was stunning, Gong-Li’s acting was on point, her story despite being a secondary antagonist based on the villain’s pet bird from the original movie was very compelling. The parallels between Mulan and Xian Lang were fascinating to see particularly with Xian Lang being a potential future cautionary tale for Mulan.

The first major scene when we see her use her powers was my favourite scene in the movie. I love a great power-set piece and we got to see a lot of the different fascets of Xian Lang’s power. From that gorgeous blend of coloured powders to act as a smokescreen for her shapeshifting, the weapon manifestation, using her sleeves as whips. It all worked so well and Mulan wasn’t even in the scene.

That being said, my next favourite scene is that confrontation between her and Mulan where Xian Lang is trying to get Mulan to admit who she is but she’s insistent on stating she’s her male name, so Xian Lang says “then you will die a lie” and knocks her into a rock which Mulan’s father then narrates “Mulan’s lie did die but Mulan lived”, it’s such powerful stuff and I wish the rest of the movie was as clever as that.

The Emperor:

The only other character I can really single out is Jet Li’s Emperor of China. I’m not a massive Jet Li fan, but I have seen him in a couple other movies and to my knowledge always in non-English speaking roles. However, I have also seen him in interviews so know the voice he has...this wasn’t it.

It was really distracting all the way through this movie because he looked regal, everything around him looked regal and powerful, but then he spoke and I was sat there pondering “Why is that not his voice?”. I mean I know how Hollywood likes to dub voices if the actors they hire don’t fit the roles vocally but do physically, but doing this not only to Jet Li who is one of the more famous Asian actors in Hollywood but any Asian actor in an entirely Asian cast does seem like a huge step backwards in representation particularly after Aladdin.

It reminded me a lot of Ray Park who is one of my favourite underrated actors. In some roles you see him and hear his voice like Toad in the first X-Men movie, however famously you only see him physically as Darth Maul in the Star Wars movies but have his voice dubbed by other actors.

All that aside, the actual character was a lot more fleshed out than in the original movie. I mean all you really need to know about him is that he’s the Emperor of China but here, because he’s Jet Li apparently in body only, he also has some kick-ass martial arts scenes.

Although, similar to the TV series Arrow, I do not understand how magic allows people to catch arrows fired at them, yet somehow Jet Li does and to be fair redirects it in a rather bad-ass way with Mulan doing a flip kick sending it straight into the chest of the main villain guy.

Hua Family:

As for Mulan’s family, I thought they were okay. Again I got more emotional from the original movie and I did miss the grandmother this time around and do not understand how the younger sister was a worthy substitute, but the actual parents were at least acted well.

It was great seeing Constance Wu in a dramatic role after seeing her in Freaky Friday, Tzi Ma was a surprisingly central role this time around as Mulan’s father with a lot more drama put on his character, in the original version you know Fa Zhou is injured from war so when he’s drafted again you can guess he may not survive. Here, Constance Wu states “Be brave for he won’t return this time”.

Imperial Army:

I didn’t like any of these guys, we spend little time getting to know any of them as individuals, maybe with the exception of Donnie Yen’s general character. Having said that, Chen either had to know that Mulan was a girl or simply be attracted to Mulan as a boy. But there were so many looks and so many times where you could tell that he knew but maybe wanted to protect her so didn’t let on.

Rourans:

I didn’t like the Huns in the original movie but at least they had individuality about them, the Rourans had nothing. Jason Scott Lee was obviously the Shan Yu of this movie but he did not have the intimidation factor that he had and really didn’t have a lot else to him.

The one plus about the Rourans is they seemed to take lessons from the Dothraki in Game of Thrones in how to not only ride into battle but battle while riding. It was very cool visually.

Recommendation:

By the time this review posts if you haven’t seen the movie yet you may not be inclined to and I don’t know if this review is really a promotion for it, but when someone asked me for my recommendation I did say it’s worth at least one viewing.

However, I would not pay the excess fee for it. I watched it for free and I feel $30 or however much it is here in the U.K. would feel a bit of a rip off despite the fact Disney+ allows for multiple users and so multiple viewings.

Overall I rate the movie a 6/10, it’s visually gorgeous, Gong-Li is the best thing about the movie and it is interesting to see what is different between versions. I just wouldn’t rank it up there as one of the best Disney Live-Action remakes, too much doesn’t make sense.

So that’s my review of Disney’s Live-Action Mulan, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Disney Movie Reviews as well as other Movie Reviews and posts.

[ghostcryptid]

gosh i wish i could write but okay just hear me out,,,

so there’s this amazing fic i found on ao3 right and basically it’s what if the pit de-ages jason and i can’t not think about it

specifically, de-aged jason meeting marinette

so. it goes like this

talia went against ra’s to revive jason and then they go in hiding

and i’m like, perfect why? because, after a bunch of false trails and going around the continent, they can settle in PARIS

hopefully the league directs it’s attention to more important things now (except obviously talia very rarely hopes instead of being prepared)

months following jason’s immediate revival were difficult

partly because of imminent danger of league and in part because jason was, simply put, a mess

the pit might’ve been merciful only because jason did not have to remember his death in vivid details(he still has nightmares about it tho) but the disorientation and muddled memories wasn’t ideal either

jason was 11 after revival but talia doesn’t let them surface from hiding for like two years

so jay’s 13 when they go to paris, same as mari (this is just a year before mlb starts)

talia changes her name but jason keeps his cause that’s the only thing he is certain of and he is not going to change it. he does however, get a different surname

it’s not instant friendship cause jay’s still a bit unsteady on his feet —and the world is tilted and mari’s a bit too afraidinsecure

but then mari never stops trying and jay feels like a boat that’s found an anchor in a storm

so it’s not quite a meet-cute but they have their first friend ever and then they’re basically inseparable 

(jason doesn’t call talia mom but she is basically his mom at this point)

[dorminchu]

Misnomer

Fandom: James Bond Genre: Drama/Humor Characters: Lyutsifer Safin, Madeleine Swann Rating: PG/K+ Warnings: None, really. Summary: "On the train to Oslo, Madeleine is feeling pretty restless; Safin does his best to be charitable." 

Takes place right after Chapter Five of Insult to Injury. This was cute to write but a bit too directionless to keep in. (Besides, I don't think Safin would throw out a name in front of people he doesn't recognize!) So I've made another deleted scene-fic.

"It's curious. I really don't know one thing about you."

"It's not your job to know."

"Well, perhaps your name would be a good start."

"I've already given you a name." She scowled at him. He said, "What more do you need?"

Madeleine scoffed and feigned interest in the window. Time was spent in the wordlessness that comes out of having a million urgent questions but no good way to disguise one's true intent. The smooth chug of the train had a strange, somnambulant quality. Safin could not allow himself to be affected. He scanned the aisles for any visual change but found none.

"Wait, don't tell me—are you seriously implying that you have one name?" Madeleine smirked. "Is this how you sign all of your sanctions, just, Safin?"

"If it helps you sleep, yes."

"Hah." She glanced out the window again. "You are impossible."

She went quiet after that. The man in the aisle behind them had not moved an inch. There was a good enough chance he was listening. Madeleine glanced up from the window as though trying to divine what else had his attention besides the latent threat. Safin did not acknowledge this in the hopes she would finally settle.

She said, "Well it isn't very good for a secret identity. You would stand out more with one name."

She wouldn't be able to keep her wits about her if she wore herself down. Perhaps it would be more prudent to simply let Madeleine talk herself into a state of exhaustion, all the while letting her think she was saying more than she was. Prudent, but not easier. For all intents and purposes it was as though she were drunk again. When No 1 first gave him the assignment to protect No 8's most valuable investment, this was not what he had been imagining.

"What makes you think I'm going to tell you anything?" he asked tersely.

"I never said you would."

Safin came back to the point of contention. There was no sense in getting hung-up over her curiosity. He had brought that trouble upon himself from the moment he had decided to engage with her directly. Killing her was a last resort and completely out of the question right now. If he wanted to save face he should be doing everything he could to earn her trust—he had already identified the vulnerabilities. He would turn the oversight to his advantage.

"Lyutsifer," he said after a pause. He did not look up from the general direction of the man in the aisle. There was no immediate reaction from either party.

Then Madeleine proved him wrong again: "Sorry?"

"Lyutsifer Safin."

"Yes, and I am sure you've gone by Beelzebub as well."

"Do you even know what it means?"

"Light bringer." Madeleine looked rather patronised. "If you want to be technical, it would be "bringing light", derived from the Latin lux, 'light' and ferre, 'to bring'." He shot her a glance out of the corner of his eye.

"And?"

Madeleine frowned slightly, trying to dredge up something she had memorised for the sake of camouflage and not thought about in a few years. "The name originally referred to the morning star, Venus. It only became associated with Satan because of other literature, such as the Divine Comedy by Dante and Paradise Lost by John Milton. The idea also underlies the proverbial phrase 'as proud as Lucifer.'"

"I can see your time at Oxford was well-spent."

The look of indignation on her face was almost worth the effort expended prodding at her brain. "In case you have forgotten, I am working off of..."

She trailed off. At last, Safin thought, she was going to take the hint. He returned his attention to the train-car door and ran through the itinerary one more time. Roughly five hours left from here to their destination. With any luck there would be no complications. If Madeleine were out of the picture for a little while he could perhaps afford to get up and start a conversation with their tracker. But if the situation necessitated, well, he was armed and he was confident she would be ready to deal with that possibility.

"Three!" Madeleine said, snapping him halfway out of thought. He did not give her his full attention but he tensed somewhat. "Three hours of sleep, no thanks to you. So if you didn't want the history lesson, do not ask for clarification next time."

He shrugged. "It makes no difference to me what you talk about, as long as you don't make my job any more difficult." He glanced over at her. "Which you haven't."

She blinked slowly. Then she seemed to remember she was supposed to be disgruntled. "Well, I would be happy to sleep if I felt it would be safer in any way."

"You don't feel safe?" She was still glowering at him. "Well," he muttered, "I don't blame you." Safin held his tongue, waiting for the tension to abate. It did not, and so he said, "You didn't even ask what my surname meant."

"I thought you wanted me to go to sleep," she hissed.

"Yes. But we have established that you don't feel safe around me." He held her gaze, very cold.

"I never said it was around you."

"Hm?"

Her shoulders stiffened, her jaw went tight. "But you have already done enough to make me think I should reconsider telling you more than I have."

"I see."

She looked like she wanted to argue but she was too tired to do much else. She slumped back in her seat.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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