#deceit and remus are like

[belovedroach]

Ellooo!!

To your bug-sides au,

do their rooms look like how the insects would build their homes in nature?

Like Logan having an elaborate scheme of rooms and subsections and furniture blocking straight ways with knickknacks everywhere so you feel like your walking through a winding tunnel

Or Patton having it more open but loads of shelfs like you would see in a beehive with all the little hexagons. And the hexagon pattern being used everywhere in decoration like wallpaper or a rug and such

I don't know more examples of the top of my head

But I just wanted to know if the rooms are still just Thomas's house or if they are personalised in that way?

This is one of those questions I really wanted to draw but I suck at environment design 😭 sorry for taking so long lol

Rather than having their own rooms, I thought it would be cute that their "rooms" where different zones of the living room. For example: Remus and Virgil have their own nook behind and under the couch, Logan and Roman would be over the desk, and Janus and Patton would be in the kitchen. And they use little trinkets for furniture because of course. That's so silly.

I can only offer some poorly executed concepts lol, Im still thinking about Janus and Patton's space and YES im making this about moceit. shut up.

I really like the concept of the rooms tho! That could be in the Mindscape/the Imagination where they have their own space

[lycheeleeches]

*Grabby hands* baby sides?? Little sides??? Pllleasssse

haha I tried

I absolutely need more practice on drawing babies/ little kids

[stonerundump]

Wouldja believe this is Sanders Sides fanart? That's one Christine that won't care about the murder!

[fanderstuckin2018]

“Dee where did you go?” I was thinking about Sanders Sides’ fall from grace, and thought so hard that I wrote an essay about it.

It’s 1.4K words, lowkey unedited, and I finished it at midnight so if it doesn’t make sense that’s why. But I hope you read it, and if you read it, I hope you enjoy/understand my points LOL. This will prob be edited in the morning so check back if ur interested

This isn’t to say that I hate SaSi or I hate Thomas and his team, I still adore SaSi and I acknowledge that Thomas&Co are people too who are probably struggling about how to continue the series. However that doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist, and I rly wanted to write about it…so…yuh. Enjoy!!

[let-roman-bite-someone]

there’s something to be said about the fact that janus is the most professional out of all the sides. i genuinely think that he’s the only side playing his part because it’s his job, and not because he has any personal feelings attached.

virgil showed signs of genuinely wanting to be accepted and loved by thomas and the other sides. logan definitely values thomas’s validation a lot and becomes sad when he doesn’t get that validation. remus.. might actually be the second most professional side. but since he seems to work under janus (janus sending him over to thomas and telling him what to do), i guess a lot of that professionalism comes from janus himself. remus isn’t as stupid as he seems obviously, but he doesn’t have a clear-cut agenda like janus does.

i just think it’s interesting to see a side who is only concerned with thomas’s well-being because it’s their job and they want to do a good job. even janus’s frustration at thomas not taking his advice and later his excitement about thomas acknowledging his points came off to me as someone dealing with their kinda shitty boss (no offense to c!thomas, i just imagine that’s how janus views him lol). of course, janus has some fun at his job but i mean, i would too if no one ever listened to me and i’m automatically labelled as the bad guy.

all of this is slowly beginning to change since janus seems to be getting closer to patton but i guess we’ll have to wait and see if they actually become friends or if they’re more like coworkers on friendly terms.

[wikithewikipedia]

Hey-o! Haven't posted any of my art in a while so here is a mini Sanders Sides art dump!

Bonus unfinished piece:

[sandersontheside]

thinking about a 10 Things I Hate About You AU….Roman Prince is the most popular boy at Padua High. His brother Remus? Is something else entirely. The only thing they have in common is one simple rule:

“You can date when he does.” “But he’s a mutant! What if he never dates?”

Virgil is Cameron, awkwardly crushing on an oblivious Roman. Patton is Michael, his loyal friend who helps him concoct the scheme to get Remus to date so Roman can. Janus is Patrick, paid to ask out Remus and falling for him in the process when he finds someone who sees pst his false reputation. Remy is Joey, Roman’s crush who turns out to be self centered and jerky. Logan is Mandela, the nerdy girl Michael ends up with.

[maddragonfruit]

If there was an roleshuffle AU for sanders sides, what would be more interesting.

The start of the series having Morality/Light Creativity/Logic on one side and Anxiety/Deceit/Dark Creativity on the other? Or the start of the series having Patton/Roman/Logan on one side and Virgil/Janus/Remus on the other?

[sophiesjunkblog]

Idea - Sanders Sides "Psych" (2006) AU

Janus - Lassiter

Juliet - Patton

Vick - Virgil

Woody - Remus

Now, I know you're wondering who would be Shawn and Gus, as they are the main characters. I say to you, the roles are shared by Logan and Roman. I'll use a version of the first episode as an example:

Logan and Roman are hanging out, talking, when Logan makes a quick call to the police station with an anonymous tip. Janus, who is on the other end, realizes that this number has called in a suspicious amount of anonymous tips, and requests for the caller to come to the station. Logan, confused, goes, and Roman comes with him.

When they get there, Janus accuses Logan of being a criminal, and Roman quickly covers for him by saying he's psychic. The two of them have a typically comical argument about this when Janus goes to get his partner, as Logan doesn't believe in psychics and resents being associated with them; Roman resents Logan apparently preferring to be arrested.

When Janus comes back with Patton, Logan is resigned to keeping up the charade until they can be released. Patton, of course, is incredibly excited about meeting a "real psychic", and his support bolsters Roman to start making more and more claims about Logan's "prodigious abilities", until Patton exclaims that maybe the psychic can help them with a case they're stuck on. Roman (enthusiastically) and Logan (hesitantly) agree, and as they work on the case, Virgil shows up, asking why there are civilians on their investigation.

Janus starts in on how he didn't want them and still thinks they should arrest them, but he is drowned out by Roman and Patton explaining that the psychic and his "assistant" are being consulted on the case. Virgil is about to order them off (and possibly to be detained) when Logan, who was not paying any attention to the argument, interrupts with the most promising lead thus far, so Virgil relents, but parts by saying they are still being held under suspicion.

The episode continues, and Logan and Roman solve the case (with Logan providing the near-photographic memory and precision, as well as most of the worry over continually lying to the police, while Roman provides the classic Shawn charisma, easily imagined half-truths, and cavalier attitude toward the rules). After a bit, they meet Remus, the extremely weird but somehow eerily competent coroner!

Janus continues to not believe a word the dynamic duo say, but infuriatingly can't hold on to a shred of evidence, while Patton seems to trust them implicitly. Virgil lets the two pseudo-detectives become regular consultants (especially after Roman sets them up a mostly legitimate business), but is still delightfully snarky and skeptical (whether he actually believes all that "psychic" racket is yet to be seen).

Other than this, who knows!

Is Thomas Shawn's dad?

How does Juliet's brother figure into this?

Mr. Yang? (And, come to think of that, Mary Lightly?)

Despereaux?

I surely don't have a clue. It's your problem now.

[yourchemicallyimbalancedromance]

Discoveries

Prompt: “We can work this out, okay? Just come back here, it’s not safe there. You know that too.” (Credit to @me-writes-prompts for this prompt!!)

Ship: romantic Prinxiety

CW/TW: slight self harm, panic attacks, swearing, unsympathetic Virgil, unsympathetic Janus

Summary: Finally deciding to leave the “Dark Sides” Virgil leaves Janus after a heated argument, leaving him begging for him to come back.

__________________________________________

Virgils glare burned a hole into Janus’ irises, face hot and wet with incessant tears, voice hoarse and unbearably scratchy from the yelling that echoed off of the walls of Janus and his room.

Janus looked back, expression tender and begging, sincere. He stepped closer to him. “Virgil, please. I know we have our differences but I think if we just talked it out we could—“

Virgil’s shoulders were up to his neck, his entire body felt like it was burning from the unforgiving rage boiling inside of him. “Save the shit Deceit, I don’t wanna hear it.”

Janus’ expression changed in the blink of an eye, going from pleading to stone cold anger. “Yknow what? Maybe Thomas was right about not wanting you around, after all, Paranoia isn’t very healthy…” he said, seething pain and irritation dripping off his tongue.

Virgil wrapped his arms around himself tightly, knowing from past experience that the grip would leave bruises, but the pain grounded him enough to help him leave his expression the same, not letting Janus have the satisfaction of knowing he got to him.

“You’re nothing but a manipulative sack of shit. I can’t believe I trusted you.” Virgil growled. The statement was only half true; Of course Janus had his moments—all of them did, inevitably, although some more than others.—but he and Remus were the first to accept him with open arms, although recent events said otherwise.

Janus scoffed at the statement, not saying anything else in response.

Virgil let go of himself, summoning a bag and shoving whatever that was nearest to him into it; A blanket, headphones, his phone, his poetry collection that consisted of Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allen Poe, and Emily Dickinson.

Janus watched silently as Virgil sunk out, not bothering to give him a second glance.

———————————————————————

Virgil walked through the border between the light and dark mind palace, feeling his emotions shift from completely enraged with no ending in sight to mildly irritated. His body relaxed, the released tension leaving him fatigued. His jaw unclenched and his nails found their way out of his palms.

He sighed before twisting the knob and letting himself into a world of new possibilities. He stepped one foot into the common area and all noise was stripped from the room. He found Logan on the couch, Patton asleep next to him. He heard Roman singing Hamilton from his bedroom. Logan was the first to notice his presence.

“Anxiety? It’s odd seeing you here, is there an issue?” Logan looked at him the way he looked at every other side, an impassive expression all over his face.

Virgil sat on the floor facing the couch where Logan was sitting, flipping through a “History Of NASA” magazine.

He shook his head. “I might need to stay here a while..I don’t know.” He said faintly, taking his headphones and phone out of his bag, not wanting to make eye contact.

“For what reason in particular?” Logan responded, bookmarking the page he was on and setting it down next to him.

“Deceit. He..” his voice trailed off as he stared at his phone, searching through multiple different playlists for a certain song to match his mood.

“He what?” Logan prompted, confusion in his voice.

Virgil looked up, “We got into an argument, an extremely heated one, that’s it. I don’t want to be there anymore. Can we please drop this?”

Logan nodded “Yes, Of course. I suppose I should let the others know you’re here then?” He asked.

Virgil blinked in surprise at the compliance with dropping the subject before slowly nodding a “yes”.

Logan disappeared for a minute into the hallway, leaving Virgil to his music, letting the words sink in and calm his nerves.

He reappeared once again, Virgil taking out his headphones, noticing Roman had stopped singing.

“I have let him know. I am sure that Patton is fine with you being here, so no need to worry.” Logan said.

Virgil nodded, getting up and sitting on the couch next to Logan.

———————————————————————

Hours passed before Roman finally left his room, coming into the common area where Patton and Virgil were watching Lion King.

“Hiya, Kiddo! Wanna join us?, we’re binge watching Disney movies” Patton said giddily, the TV illuminating his a multitude of different colors.

Roman looked to the TV, watching as Scar let go of Mufasa, and nodded. “That sounds delightful Pat, sure.” He seemed a little hesitant before sitting down beside Patton.

“Logan’s working on some big project in his room so if you’re wondering where he is that’s where” Patton clarified, hoping to ease his confusion a bit; luckily, it worked, and Roman settled into the sofa. “He also doesn’t like Disney movies” he added, giggling a bit.

Virgil stayed silent, staring at the TV; trying to make it seem as if he was focused on the movie when in reality his mind was elsewhere. Guilt coursed through his bloodstream, leaving him feeling hollow. His phone buzzed and he picked it up, the screen practically blinding him due to the darkness of the room.

It was a message from Janus. He hadn’t even been gone a day and Janus was already begging for him to come back.

“We can work this out, okay? Just come back here, it’s not safe there. You know that too.” He had written.

Virgil tried ignoring him, acting as if he’d never seen the message, god how he tried, but within seconds he found the lack of response too anxiety inducing to ignore.

He stood up, walking into the nearest room absentmindedly, and closing the door, calling Janus.

He listened to the phone ring and ring and ring until it went to voicemail. He texted Janus back, fingers flying over the screen.

“It’s a lot safer here, actually. You were wrong Janus, you have to let it go. I’m not coming back, and I don’t want to work anything out, give it up already.”

The message was a lot nicer than intended, but he sent it anyway.

Janus left him on read.

He was about to leave the room before he was struck with the sight in front of him. Silky red curtains, star decals everywhere, Disney characters plastered on the door— shit. He was in Romans room.

He would’ve laughed at the decor of the room had he not been so tense.

A knock at the door made him jump, and he opened it quickly, coming face to face with Roman.

“Do you wanna explain why you’re in my room?” He said, confusion and Irritation apparent with every word.

Suddenly, the room was spinning and nausea hit him like a truck. Too many things were happening at once. The control once ever so present in his life was slowly crumbling like sand in his hands.

Roman caught him before he fell, holding up all of his weight with ease. “Woah, hey.” he said, taken off guard. Virgil didn’t respond, couldn’t respond.

“Breathe, take deep breaths, can you do that?” Roman said

Virgil took a breath and exhaled a shuddery one, leaning against Roman, the knowledge that Princey was seeing him like this only made it worse.

“Good, that’s good. Can you do a couple more for me?” Roman cooed

Virgil repeated the cycle a few times before the room became less and less blurry and the nausea subsided slightly.

Roman led him to his bed, both of them sitting down next to eachother.

“What is going on? You just…showed up here suddenly” Roman looked away from the side next to him, his eyes fixated on the floor. He was hesitant to speak; apart from his usual cockiness, truth be told he was really afraid to say the wrong thing.

“Ja— Deceit…I left the others.”

“You..oh okay..” he said softly

“So does this mean…”

“That I’m one of you?” Virgil finished the sentence for him.

Roman nodded, looking up at him.

“I doubt you guys would want me to be.” Virgil mumbled, messing with the loose seams of his jacket.

“Hey, no. You do a great deal for us and Thomas. You mean a lot, Anxiety.” Roman responded sweetly.

“Virgil.” Virgil corrected.

“Virgil..?” Roman parroted, eyes widening a bit.

“My name, it’s Virgil.” He repeated.

While he was still weary about trusting the Others, he didn’t see the pain in telling atleast one of them his name; if he made fun of it, then so be it.

“I think that’s wonderful.” Roman said, slowly taking the other sides hand in his.

Virgil’s face heat up with surprise and happiness and he immediately hid it with his hoodie sleeve “thanks, I guess” came the muffled reply.

“You’re one of us, I’ve deemed you so, right here, right now, and if anyone has a problem with it they can talk to me” Roman said confidently, taking Virgil’s hand away from his face and kissing it.

Virgil couldn’t stop smiling and Roman loved it.

“You have a beautiful smile, Virge” Roman said, hoping to egg on the side infront of him.

Virgil practically fell apart, pulling Roman close and kissing him, smiling into it.

Roman returned the passion, holding Virgil gently as their teeth accidentally knocked together from the uncontrollable smiles.

Roman pulled them apart, forehead pressed against Virgils.

“You can stay here for as long as you need, alright?” Roman whispered.

“I could stay here forever.” Virgil responded.

‘and I will’ he thought to himself.

[fangirltothefullest]

Merch I have always wanted from sanders sides:

Official Virgil hoodie that looks like the one he wears, plaid and all

Reversible hoodie or T-shirt with Roman and Remus's clothes designs.

Charm/friendship bracelets for each side that look like Patton made them for the other sides and himself

Stationary set that looks like it fell right off of Logan's desk

How-to guide at being deceitful poster by Janus

Workplace safety checklist poster from Logan

Cryptid guide poster by Virgil

Fake VHS sex tape by Remus. It's not actually a sex tape, if you have a vcr and you manage to play it it's just like 4 hours on repeat of him staring way too close at the camera and occasionally saying "buttsex" and wiggling his eyebrows.

[orbch]

another stupid sasi mv but its short and. and… well not sweet.

anyways im gonna talk about it more so pop this bad boy open ⬇️⬇️⬇️

okay yeah this is creativitwins and patton centric. NO SHOCKER. i kinda wanted to show how i think that roman and remus were split purely on the basis that there needed to be a “good” creativity, meant to be put on a pedestal, and a “bad” creativity, meant to be hidden and locked away forever. like thats the entire reason they exist.

and i do also believe patton was responsible for the split, but absolutely NOT out of malicious intent. not even close. listen, when outside influences are telling you that “bad thoughts” are going to land you into eternal damnation, and ALSO you’re like 7 years old, it’s completely understandable to react such a way. not excused, but understandable. i think patton, in a state of complete emotional and mental distress, TRULY believed that splitting creativity would keep c!thomas safe.

and naturally everyone came out of it a littleeee fucked up. i hc that logan and king creativity had been very close before the split, and as you might expect, seeing someone you are the closest with split in half and permanently altered would make you kinda apathetic (especially on the topic of others emotions and your own bonds). and janus, having just watched someone die because of just being themself and living their truth unabashedly, kicked his ass into full “self defense via deceit” mode. and virgil (who at this point represents every kind of fear, rational and irrational) just watched someone get split into subjective “good” and “bad” halves and thought, in no better words, “holy shit I’m next”

shoutout to @heartwitchhouse for inspiring a part of this pmv!!! it was the cross blade thing btw LOLLOL

okay now for the stills because capcut turned my art into mashed potatoes (that was pissing me off btw. sigh. sorry about the sandpaper quality) (its also only letting me add 8. so im doing my faves 030)

[whinlatter]

The Ginny and Peter parallel though?? How have I never thought about that?? It‘s so horrifying and insanely compelling to me at the same time. I would love to hear (read?) you elaborate on that.

"Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord… you have no idea… he has weapons you can't imagine…. I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen…. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me - " "Harry – oh, Harry – I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn’t say it in front of Percy. It was me, Harry – but I – I s-swear I d-didn’t mean to  - R-Riddle made me, he took me over..."

thank you so much for this question anon.  i have been thinking about this for a long time - about how ginny weasley might have made a really, really good traitor - and would love to talk more about my thinking behind it. a little meta on traitor talk - who flips, and why, and why ginny weasley might be the peter pettigrew to the trio's marauders after all - can be found below the cut (with spoilers for beasts chapter 14). 

hp, as a series, puts great moral emphasis on the concept of choice. after all, it’s about a world at war, where the question of whose side you're on is often a matter of life or death. double agents, deception, treachery, people serving the interests of others (either consensually or under duress): these are recurrent tropes, on both sides of the wizarding war. the plot begins the ultimate act of betrayal - that of lily and james potter by peter pettigrew - and the series concludes with the revelation of another (snape). throughout the books, there are all sorts of characters who spy, or flip, for all sorts of reasons. you have those who knowingly pretend to be serving the interests of one side when actually serving another, for principled reasons, either ideological motivation or out of selfless loyalty to another person: snape, peter, likely rookwood, quirrell, fake moody/barty crouch jr, both sirius and regulus black, kreacher, and narcissa in the forest. and then you have the group who betray either out of fear, or who are manipulated into acts of betrayal and deceit, sometimes through possession but otherwise through blackmail and intimidation, to varying degrees: xenophilius lovegood, mundungus fletcher, pius thicknesse, marietta edgecombe, bertha jorkins, bathilda bagshot, those types. (in a sign of jkr’s consistently dicked-up biases re gender in the series, women are never allowed to be interesting enough to actively betray anyone unless they’re doing it out of maternal love eg. narcissa - they can only ever actively be led astray or hoodwinked, whereas male characters can have a vast array of complex motivations and all sorts of shades of moral grey. we'll come back to that in a minute).

in chapter 14 of my postwar fic beasts, during the course of the hogwarts inquiry, augustus rookwood takes the stand and testifies of an attempt by him and his fellow death eaters to find someone who could play double agent to pass secrets about the resistance, the order and harry to the other side during the second wizarding war. rookwood - himself a former double agent - talks about how to make a traitor. he discusses the different motivations of traitors, how to find a target and how to exploit their existing vulnerabilities and weak-points to get them to come around to your side. he also reveals that, during the death eater seizure of the ministry and hogwarts school, he and his peers identified a would-be target in ginny weasley. in the fic, i have him describe the process of traitor-identification as ‘the pettigrew playbook’: finding someone who is connected, who knows the order’s secrets, who has the information you want, and who will flip less out of an ardent ideological commitment, but more because they are weak and scared but also disrespected and resentful and more inclined to save their own neck than act out of loyalty

i’ve always been very struck by peter pettigrew’s attempts to justify his betrayal of lily and james in PoA (see above). peter pettigrew is always a slippery and elusive character, rendered mostly through other people’s memories or descriptions of him. this is one of the very few times he explains something of his own worldview - though, as we know he is a liar, and in this instance errrr trying to save his own life as sirius threatens to kill him (slay), we have to take even these lines with a pinch of salt. we know pettigrew is a character that acts, at all times, out of a desire for self-preservation, trying to secure his own survival. he was tolerated but never respected by his schoolfriends, made the potters’ secret keeper as a ‘perfect bluff’ because he was a  ‘weak, talentless thing’ voldemort would never bother going after, a trait which ultimately made him the perfect and most vulnerable target. when outed as the real spy by sirius and remus here, he acknowledges he is aware of his deficiencies and weaknesses, and talks about his fear for his own life, his sense of how he did not live up to the principled bravery of his friends, and claims  that voldemort ‘forced him’ to surrender lily and james - presumably through the threat of terrible violence, suffering and death. 

pettigrew’s remarks are particularly interesting when put alongside the justifications and excuses of another character who has betrayed harry to voldemort, albeit under very different circumstances. like peter, ginny’s confession is given through floods of tears as a desperate plea to be believed and excused. in it, ginny begs harry to understand her own lack of culpability. just as wormtail does, she insists to harry she was forced by riddle to cause harm to others and to hand information about harry over to riddle, and to play an integral role in returning lord voldemort to life.  of course, the series always frames ginny’s actions in CoS as the behaviour of an entirely innocent person. but even these lines show a streak of self-preservation and a certain amount of weakness and cowardice that runs throughout ginny’s encounter with the diary. ‘I couldn’t say it in front of Percy’, she says, suggesting she feared getting in deep trouble with no proof of riddle’s hand in her actions. in fact throughout the diary episode, ginny shows real moments of acting to save herself rather than do the right thing and come forward with the truth. she tries to dispose of the diary, but doesn’t go to a teacher about what it has been making her do. she stole the diary back not to protect harry but to protect her own secrets and prevent him from discovering her complicity (at least by TMR’s telling). she even watches hagrid get falsely accused and sent to azkaban, and stays silent in the process, a distinctly pettigrew echo if ever i heard one. 

of course, we know ginny and peter pettigrew’s relationships with voldemort are not alike in dignity. it’s clear that, in so many ways, ginny’s encounter with the diary is much more clearly an experience of victimhood than of malicious intent. we know that ginny was possessed; we know she is not a character who would commit murder without that level of involuntary mental surrender. but there are more uncomfortable echoes of pettigrew in her experiences in CoS. we see them in the decisions of a character acting of fear and a desire to save their own skin in ginny’s experience of the diary than we might like to think. ginny ofc was targeted by lucius malfoy because of who her family was, as stalwarts of the anti-voldemort pro-muggle resistance during the first wizarding war, with powerful enemies determined to discredit and undermine them at every turn. but, as TMR makes clear, what makes ginny such a good target in the end, so vulnerable and so useful, was that she was weak. she was insecure, and lonely, teased and misunderstood and feeling inadequate. in all of that, there was a very rich opening for TMR to access her innermost fears and secrets and to use them to manipulate, pressure and threaten her into compliance, in addition to the active possession of her body to conduct deliberate acts of attempted murder. it’s not a perfect pettigrew parallel by any means. but there’s more than a little bit of pettigrew in that, too. 

maybe more parallels with ginny and peter pettigrew than meets the eye - particularly in ginny’s relationship to the trio. there are a few posts that periodically do the rounds on tumblr and reddit that talk about neville’s relationship to the trio as the parallel to peter pettigrew’s with the marauders - as this post compellingly puts it, ‘all who peter could have been’. neville, these posts usually point out, was a character who was weak and much less talented than his friends, an outsider who needed the protection and patience of cooler classmates, who was always on the outside looking in on a friend group that largely excluded him. what distinguished neville from peter was his approach to his own weakness, and how that approach drove him to heroism rather than betrayal and villainy. it’s an interesting idea, and there’s something to it. but the more i thought about it, the more i thought - is neville + the trio the only parallel with peter + the marauders? what about ginny? 

it’s remarkably under-appreciated in fandom that ginny is remarkably poorly treated by the trio for much of the series. ‘go away, ginny’ - that’s how ron banishes his sister at the start of PoA, because harry mutters to his two mates that he wants to talk to them in private and to ditch ginny. neither harry nor hermione object to it - hermione, though kind to ginny when the dementors arrive, makes no defence of her right to stay. ginny duly leaves, hurt, to go sit by herself on the train back to school, returning to hogwarts for the first time after her deeply traumatic experience in the chamber, dismissed and dispatched. not meaning to drag ron here - this is, ofc, how big brothers have behaved for time immemorial, as is their wont. but it’s kind of the statement for how the trio treat ginny for much of her school career really until HBP, harry and hermione included. ofc there are many textual/plot reasons ginny needs to be held at arms length from the trio. but it is striking that the effect of this plot habit for the reader is a usually unkind and sometimes even callous exclusion of ginny by the trio throughout many of the books.

in CoS itself, ginny is never invited to join the trio or spend any time with them: when she isn’t, you know, trying her hand at possessed attempted murder, she’s doing a light bit of potter hero worship that does recall a certain lakeside snitch-catching display of yore. it’s ginny who’s left feeling left out when the trio are swapping suspicious eyes and sirius secrets in GoF, ginny who is hermione’s back-up friend when the ron and harry showdown kicks off over the triwizard tournament, ginny who shoulders the role as harry’s consolation prize friend when ron and hermione go off to the prefects on the train in ootp (and takes him to neville and luna), ginny who goes defenceless when the trio are demanding to be included in order secrets and is physically removed from the room with no protest from the others, ginny who has to fight her case to be taken seriously and included in the department of mysteries plot to rescue a man she too is friends with (‘I care about Sirius as much as you do!’), being patronised by three friends who pick her up and put her down when they feel like it (always enjoy hermione being like ‘we need three thestrals!’ and ginny being like ffs we need four why won’t you show me an ounce of respect). in fact, when ginny is revealed to be becoming popular in a different social circle throughout ootp and hbp, it is something of a shock to harry and ron, who have spent a good six years making no effort to include her and now are finding she has built a much more successful social life beyond them (you reap what you sow, lads). i don’t say this to overstate the trio’s malice nor to overstate the pettigrew comparisons (ginny is clearly both conventionally attractive and much more socially adept).. but i do think it’s striking that  if there is a character with pettigrew echoes in the trio’s surround, always orbiting the trio, trying to feel included (and hero worshipping the potter at the heart of it), it’s more often young ginny than it is neville. so many of the things that made ginny vulnerable to TMR - her loneliness, her isolation, her insecurities and sense of inadequacy - are not helped by the trio in the years afterwards, and in some cases, actively reinforced.

(to briefly say something on gender - sometimes wonder if ginny were a male character if people would have made more of this. percy stans, for instance, go to great lengths to point out all the ways percy was bullied or teased by his family as an excuse for his errrrr war crimes. would people care more about many ginny's exclusions if she were a maligned misunderstood young man? probably? it's noticeable too that all traitors in hp are men lol, a classic example of jkr’s weird and fucked feminism striking again. women are led astray or hoodwinked - men get the complex motivations and agency arcs. but i digress).

why does any of this matter? we know ginny doesn't take the path of pettigrew, however much she might have good reason to. harry's endearingly naive line in DH ('I trust all of you, I don’t think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort’) ends up being borne out: there are no betrayals during the second wizarding war, and certainly not by ginny (though the sword heist almost ended up doing it on accident). but i found myself thinking a lot about this as i was sketching out the plotline for beasts and thinking about ginny’s war, and what is asked of ginny in it. i was particularly thinking about it relation to how the second wizarding war plays out, the unique position of danger ginny would have been in as a hogwarts student in the 1997-1998 academic year, and what a good target she would make for death eaters on the hunt for a spy within the order of the phoenix.

when i was reading DH for the first time, i remember thinking that it is absolutely bonkers that ginny weasley goes back to hogwarts in september ’97. by that summer, the weasleys are the order of the phoenix. no longer just the blood traitors’ blood traitor, they’re now the face of the wizarding resistance, both parents and (nearly) all sons in active combat, something the ministry certainly knows about even when trying to normalise death eater rule and allowing the facade of arthur et al going to go to work in the ministry/gringotts etc. ginny’s family home is order hq: she lives there all summer, and trots off to the hogwarts express straight from the kitchen table where order meetings take place. when death eaters descend on the wedding, she’s there alongside the rest of the rest of dumbledore stans. she is also famously in the DA, and fought death eaters alongside the trio in the department of mysteries, and again in the battle of the astronomy tower. and then there’s the obvious point that hinny shippers everywhere have pointed out is baffling since the dawn of time, which is that the world and his wife knows that ginny weasley is harry potter’s ex, something that might put a big fat target on her head for a death eater or two to have a pop at trying to get some secrets and intel out of her. 

of course, there’s a compelling case for why ginny has to go back. ron’s already used the splattergroit excuse, and arthur’s going to work, and so is bill, and the twins (at least for a bit), and the weasleys are going for normalisation and at least a fig leaf of compliance. so off ginny goes, into the belly of the beast, back to school, despite all the access she has to order secrets and intel, as well as information on harry and the trio. she is in a uniquely dangerous position of risk: it’s a fortress run by death eaters and her card is marked. she finds herself in an unenviable and unrivalled position as a very good person to go after if you’re a death eater fancying some intel about what the guerilla resistance - and harry potter - are up to. we know there are death eaters about who would like to claw themselves back into some level of relevance by working towards the big man and trying to curry favour (yaxley). we know there is a family intimately aware of ginny weasley's weakness and failings who are desperate to get back in voldemort's good books (the malfoys). we also know there are witnesses to ginny's exclusions both from the order and from the trio over the years - in particular, one witness that already sold secrets on the order to death eaters, namely kreacher.

the reason i came back to thinking about parallels between ginny and peter in beasts is because beasts is a story about ginny’s war, but also in part about morality in the wizarding world, about war and sides and choices. at various points in beasts, i’ve tried to play with ginny’s echoes with characters that waver morally - including regulus - or who find themselves drawn to or in some way embroiled in darkness, and who are at times governed by fear and cowardice and self-preservation in a moral universe that prizes bravery, loyalty, and self-sacrifice. so this plot came from putting all these pieces together - ginny's existing vulnerabilities and insecurities, her position of privilege and access, but also her alienation and mistreatment, and this interest in moral motivations and what experiences or traumas might lead a person, or even justify, a person's treachery, moral inaction, or active moral failing. it was even more interesting for me to play with the idea that other people might have noticed ginny weasley's weird position relative to the trio and the order too, people who want to know what she knows and who would be willing to exploit the cracks in those relationships for strategic wartime gain. and that's for chapters fifteen and sixteen!

[5am-the-foxing-hour]

Struck by a lil plot idea for a possible sasi episode i will never write.

We all know Virgil have a better idea on how Thomas is feeling and won't hesitate to state it if Logan asks.

So cue scenario, maybe Patton is inconsolable and Virgil for once have no idea what's wrong, and Thomas isn't much help either, because he feels like a dumpster fire. Logan has no idea how to help, Roman isn't much help either despite trying.

In the end they end Logan summons Janus, because maybe this situation is in his realm of functions. Janus is all disorientated and falls over the moment he's arrived, not used to being summoned, least of all by Logan (who we know is bad at it) and Janus just groans out a "where's the fire?" while Thomas asks if he's okay as the deceitful side get's to his feet again, dusting off his clothes.

Maybe the reason for Patton's crying is that he's worried Thomas's relationship with Nico will end the same way Thomas's last relationship did (the guys and dolls guy), as well as Thomas not feeling like he's 100% ready for a full-fledged relationship yet.

Cue Virgil, Roman and Logan being like "But we're already been over this?!" maybe even getting frustrated with Patton because "oh great you can no longer tell him what to do so you pull this shit?!"

Cue protective snek snapping at all of them (not at Patton or Thomas) that "Grief (even for relationships) doesn't have a deadline. The past relationship is still hurting Thomas despite the coping skills he's found" but coping skills are hard to remember when you feel shitty.

Maybe Remus shows up a moment too.

[deepred00]

NAME IMPORTANCE IN SANDERS SIDES

Guysssss, I just realised something and it might have already been talked about but I couldn't find anything so I'm writing it now. So, we all know about the name reveals in Sanders Sides, their meanings and their importance, but I was casually watching through the series again when in Selfishness VS Selflessness I realised something that I have been noticing before but not knowing why. The moment Deceit, Janus, talks to Anxiety, Virgil, and brings up Virgil's reluctance to share his name. And that scene has always stood out to me in someway but now I finally realised why. Because Janus lied. It's not something new, he's literally Deceit, BUT it's what he's lying about that is important.

Janus: "Oh, so you've never been reluctant to share anything with the group then?"

Virgil: "Don't"

Janus: "What? I just meant your name"

Virgil: "DON'T!"

JANUS IS LYING YET BEING TRUTHFUL ABOUT HIS RESPONSE!!! THAT'S THE BEST WAY TO LIE, TO ALSO BE TRUTHFUL!

We may think, even assume, that Janus is talking about Virgil not telling his name to Thomas for a long time before finally revealing his name to be Virgil. BUT Virgil's reaction is too emotional, too strong, too desperate to be only about that. It's more like he's pleading Janus not to reveal something. And it would be ignorant not to include the fact that there's A LOT of theories about when Virgil was a "dark side" he was not Anxiety but Paranoia.

And now to the point I wanted to talk about. Names, their meanings and their importance. So let me list their names in chronological order they were revealed so you can see them clearly.

Logan

Roman

Patton

Virgil

Remus

Janus

And of course the orange side we do not know of yet. But look closely at the list of names. And do you remember what Patton said when Virgil revealed his name? "Huh, but that doesn't end with a -N"

And now look at the "dark sides" and their names. They end with -US. Do you see the the name that doesn't really fit in?

VIRGIL

AND I BELIEVE THAT IS BECAUSE IT'S NOT HIS "REAL" OR "TRUE" NAME BUT CHOSEN NAME!! Virgil means protector, that is what Virgil want to be for Thomas! Virgil doesn't want to be Paranoia, he doesn't want to be the bad guy. HE WANTS TO BE A PROTECTOR! And that is why he chose that name!

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!

Let's look at the name etymology here too!!

For the "Good sides" their names correspond with Aristotle's ingredients for persuasion, albeit Roman's name is not visibly linked to its correspondence like the others.

Logan - Logos

Roman - Ethos (Roman being the side with charm and scene presence)

Patton - Pathos

And now for the "Dark sides" we know of. Their names are derived from roman mythology.

Remus - Twin brother of Romulus, the founder of Rome which corresponds Remus being Roman's twin, since Roman's name is basically taken from the ROMAN EMPIRE as well as Romance and all. Plus it also places great significance that Remus is only an offshot of Roman, without Roman, Remus would not exist and therefore his name corresponds to "the twin brother of the great mythological founder of ROME"

Janus - God of doorways, duality, gates, passages, beginnings and endings, always depicted as two-faced. Two-faced=Deceitful

AND WHAT ABOUT VIRGIL'S NAME? DOES HIS NAME FIT INTO THESE CATEGORIES? NO! VIRGIL IS NOT FROM ROMAN MYTHOLOGY NOR ARISTOTLE'S PERSUASION! IT'S A SIMPLE ROMAN NAME, THE MOST WE CAN FIND IS THAT AN ANCIENT ROMAN POET HAD THE NAME VIRGIL. WHICH IN ALL HONESTY FITS ROMAN SANDERS MORE THAN VIRGIL. AND I BELIEVE IT'S BECAUSE DESPITE EVERYTHING VIRGIL WANTS TO KINDA BE LIKE ROMAN TO THOMAS, HIS HERO. ROMAN IS THOMAS' HERO AND VIRGIL WANTS TO BE THOMAS' PROTECTOR, HIS HERO!

SO IN CONCLUSION... I think Virgil's name is not the name he had before or his "true" name. It is his chosen name and that is what he wants to be. That's why it's different from the other sides' names. That's why Virgil has been so sensitive when Janus brought up his name and why Virgil has been sensitive about being called paranoid. Because that's basically someone he has been and not someone he wants to be. It's almost like being called by his dead-name. And this just makes me want to hug Virgil even more, feed him spider-shaped cookies, give him some calming tea and just.. be there