#glad alice doesnt follow me

[australet789]

Anyway i just finished the Left Right game. It was cool! Reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia tbh, mostly the last book.

Lilith was my favorite out of the group. I was sad she died and honestly a bit angry at Alice for not acting faster with the explosive. Considering the maniacal state of Bluejay, she wouldn't have noticed if Alice warned Lilith. She would have died regardless in the Silent City though, or the lake. Or whatever what's going to be next.

I was so glad Rob didnt turn into a villain and he was just a broken man who wanted to make his son right. He wasnt the obsessed one, it was Marjorie, he just wanted to fix his own mistake and get an answer about his daughter-in-law. He didnt want knowledge like Alice wanted.

Bluejay though. I agree it would have been a tid tad better if they showed more of her skepticism. That's why i dont like the theory that she spoke to the Hitchhiker. It doesnt make sense. It's more rewarding if she wasnt affected, that it was her own hubris why caused her own dismiss. The Hitchhiker could have told her that Alice was the mastermind though, that doesnt mean Bluejay had to respond and she followed the rules. Which is why she died believing she was right: the whole thing was a game created by Alice.

The rules? Alice's doing, that she gave to Bobby. Thr voice she only heard? Herself. How she knew about Silent City working? Her knowledge. Bluejay wanted to prove she was better than Alice and in the end she ended falling in the same game everyone did. Doomed by fate.

My only big complain in Marjorie, and it happens in every other media: the fact that she was terminally pregnant and still wanted to do the game. That was so fucking stupid. If Bobby had gotten lost i would have understood it, but she made that last travel for her own selfishness? And Bobby too brought her pregnant wife to it? Rob told Alice they were doing the game by themselves, so waiting for the child to be born wouldn't have stopped them? What were they fucking thinking??? That was clearly to add shock value though. I think making her be into the middle of the pregnancy, not like the last couple of weeks, would have made her decision better. Or idk, make her give birth in the woods and leave the baby behind. The C-section was unnecessary.

Overall a fun story!

[mysteriouswolf]

Hi :3

Hey! Glad you somehow found your way here throughout this chaotic hellsite :D

I typically go by Mysterious or Raven, I'm a minor, and I use she/they pronouns

I mainly post about Hermitcraft/life series, but here's a bunch of my other interests as well :D

Mcyt (lil bits of dsmp, qsmp, empires, Xlife, + some others)

Alice Oseman (Heartstopper, IWBFT, etc)

Brandon Sanderson (Skyward, Cosmere, etc)

Percy Jackson

The Owl House

Good Omens

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Kipo And The Age Of The Wonderbeasts

Persona (though I've only played 3-5)

Epic the musical (I was peer pressured by @royallygray /j)

Writing

Music/guitar

Reading

Art in general :3

The art in my pfp is by @kaereth and the art on my header is by @chrisrin!! (both amazing artists that you should totally go give a follow to)

DNI if you're homophobic, transphobic, or plan on spreading hate to people here.

If you are my mutual, I will probably tag you in a lot of tag games, lil things I think you would like, etc, so if you don't want me to tag you please send me and ask or message me!! Also, I don't tag every single one of my muts in every tag game, and I don't have any sort of system to how I choose, so if you see I didn't tag you in something IT DOESNT MEAN I DONT LOVE YOU I PROMISE (and feel free to join in anyways!!)

Please do not send me asks for donations for reasons here:

I am likely to block you if you do, as I have now clearly stated that it is against my boundaries.

Under the cut are: tags I use, some encouragement + love, some of my mutuals, and just general nonsense.

Tags (that I sometimes use) :D

#mysteriouswrites- All my writing (including stories, fics, poetry, etc)

#mysteriousanswers- My answers to asks :D

#mysteriousdraws- My art + sketches

#rambling- my silly lil random posts

#fave- MY MOST FAVORITE ART EVER THAT I THINK IS JUST AWESOME AND GO FERAL OVER

Some love for anyone who needs it:

I love you. I don't care if I've never met you, we were made from the same things as the stars, weren't we? That in of itself is beautiful- I will love you with the same mysterious adoration I have for the stars, and I just want you to know that I care about you. And I know sometimes things seem like they'll never be better, that it seems the entire universe is against you, but I'll always be on your side. You've got this. And I'm proud of you, no matter what you've done. Things get better eventually, I know they will- and it sucks waiting for things to come around, especially if they keep going down. But the sun has shone before, and it will again. And even in your darkest times, the stars are still shining their light into your soul to push you forward.

I love you. Stay strong.

Some of my mutuals who I love very dearly and would die for:

@royallygray The most amazing lovely creature to ever walk the stars and I love them to death <3

@charbeloved The person who I would literally sell my soul to, another glorious human who's remarkable

@geodetojoy Someone who I'd absolutely love to just run away into the forest with and never find our way back out again

@emmaestrella Another lovely silly human who's just incredible

@izoexa you are. so cool. just. vibes. yeah. :]

@t4tgempearl Juneeeeee (you will always be june to me) you're also just. super cool. probably who I've been muts the longest on this list :D

I love you all <3

[staliamazing]

tag game TEHEH

name: sarah !!!! c'est moi

age: twenty, to be twenty-one soon-ish. i am planning a party. will i go through with it? who's to say.

star sign: taurus sun, capricorn rising, gemini moon. i have beef with geminis so the last one deeply upsets me.

first language: english

second language: je parle français !!

i was near fluent and have my B2 but don't practice anymore. i am considering getting back into it because i feel i need more hobbies and highly regret throwing out all my textbooks and notes. (that's a whole other story i LOVED school and threw out all my damn notes and stuff?!?!? sarah you dumb dumb)

favorite lip product: that lush lip scrub! i've lost my peppermint tub but anticipate it turning up when i least expect it. my lips always has excess skin peeling off for some reason so its great to feel exfoliated!

the best food dish you can make without a recipe? um. pizza bread! pizza, pizza sauce, cheese. eat up friends!

if you drink tea, what kind? none, get away from me. SOMETIMES lipton peach iced tea but only if im at mad mex.

if you drink coffee, what roast do you usually get? see last answer. i get the jitters.

favorite thing to watch on youtube right now: THE BALD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. i;ve been watching upwards of two episodes every night in bed.

favorite thing to watch on youtube in 2012: for sure mormon family vloggers. pick a channel i probably watched them. i have no fucking clue why!

favorite item of clothing right now: new graphic tee! the alice oseman x everpress collab with this gorg patchwork design and all little queer and trans doodles over it! the proceeds went to LGBTQIA+ refugees <3 i fucking love graphic tees holy shit

favorite item of clothing in 2012: some form of graphic leggings im certain.

fandom -

three movies you recommend: the half of it on netflix - watched recently and was confused but pleasantly surprised

your favorite concert: either one i went to with my gf! they were both great experiences even though i was shitting myself before both because i have a lot of sound and crowd sensitiivities ( # actually autistic). i loved being in the pit for ATL despite not knowing any songs and i like how you can feel the music inside you.

have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion? no i've actually followed someone because i love getting mad <3 over time i have grown to really respect them and where their views come from which im proud of because i can be a bit close-minded.

the best tv show you watched last year: i watch a lot of shows! recently though i watched euphoria and understood the hype. couldn't rewatch though. it felt like a disservice to the shock factor i feel like the show really feeds off.

do you have a fancasting you just can’t let go of? don't pay much attention to fancasts!

a ship you’ve abandoned: im so sorry amy and rory from doctor who... i legit met them too. it just doesnt hit the same and im glad they divorced. amy was too swept up in the doctor and rory is a damn sweetheart who honestly deserves better. ALSO maya and lucas from girl meets world - bit random honestly why did they do that. lucas and riley from day one. maya and zay!

on a scale of 1-10 how willing are you to share your ao3 history? 7? depends on who to! anyone on here sure. not real people they'd be like "what do you mean you like fics where that little thug man wears short skirts" they just wouldnt UNDERSTAND

what fandom do you wish was bigger? tori spring fandom! maybe it is and i just dont know but.

do you have a fandom tattoo? yah, the fandom of my high school english teacher! most of my tats are literary inspired and specifically books i read in school for the curriculum.

my others are - phoebe bridgers related

gf related (she tattooed me) (fave fandom) (she's the best)

has a finale ever ruined a show for you? definitely i just can't remember which lmao im sorry

have you…

swam in an ocean? yep! swam is a strong word though. i've been in and bobbed up and down! i usually run from the tide.

been vegan/vegetarian? both! at different times. it was very much part of my friend and family culture growing up.

gone skinny dipping? yes, in my exs best friends dads girlfriends dead uncles pool :) honestly 10/10 swimming with clothes on is so random? i think its so beautiful how people look under the blue wavy water of the pool.

gone skiing? no i am scared of the snow since learning about crevasses in year 4 and almost falling off a ski lift at a very young age. i do love the cold and the ski lodge episode of gmw though.

thanks for the tag @iansw0rld, these are fun :)

[lostacelonnie]

Ah hell my bad i did get. Really busy & really tired the end of year holidays are busy & really draining. I am a sea person but im glad that resonates with non sea people too. People try & talk to you often there? I dont know a whole section of verb conjugation so im not sure how id do there. Fried bread & cinnamon sugar what a peak combination thank you churros. Same i need to pick up more spanish food recipes. Oh? Thats a good start actually. Knowing simple stuff like eggs or grilled cheese or uh. Chicken noodle soup are good baselines. I mean. Yeah same to a degree. I turn them on when im reading or walking/going places. Keeps me focused. Mag is good. Same with nightvale & alice isnt dead. Thats some solid luck kudos to everyone for not getting attacked by gulls. Id wonder about that too australia seems. Nice but very weird. Like their one prime minister who walked into the ocean & disappeared. Kudos to her for finding one she likes & gets along with enough to move there. Ah nothin like light hearted roasting among friends love that for you. Oh jeesh thats like my geometry teacher i had once. Dude would get distracted & then skip stuff he was supposed to help us learn. & still test us on it. Had a different math teacher help me sometimes because he was better at teaching. Hell yeah english teacher for the save. She sounds cool. I dont have time for meta so like. Why bother when if something works it works? Oh is honkai meta that hard? Do i need to focus on that on the way through the story? Oh thats way better like star rail having a pick your own on standard after x amount of pulls. What genshin's fate system could be if it was good. Hmm im not sure where even to start. I guess about himeko. Like her place in the story & what her story in hi3 is. Since i doubt its similar to in hsr. Hell she does have that vibe doesnt she? Chill piracy milf in a way. I hope she becomes playable. A thirty minite backstory? Must be a heck of a joke. Or because of all the polish nuance. Thanks! Ill have to see how she plays of course but personality wise she's good. Fontaine has killed it with interesting characters. Oh? Why the screen limit is it a doctors orders thing? & no worries about that life hit me hard so i understand. Ah thanks im getting to where gear matters a bit so ill need that luck. Need to up talents & such more though. Makes sense then but damn 4 pm as the other option? Both of those aren't super great. I live close to my work which is nice but i still have to wake up 2 hours before for early days because otherwise i wont wake i am not a morning person. 4 am? Hell mad respect for that i could never im barely a person some days at that hour i definitely wouldnt be. Oh nice congrats! On the exam & the history memes. At least your friends are becoming nerds with you. Important group activity. Im caught up on show & manga releases but i do need to read the spin off still when i can find it. Claire has protag rights to one name

AH ITS OK i just. Dont trust tumblr to function properly AJSKFJJH. but ah wishing you some time to chill soon. i understand tho since its the end of the first semester in my school so literally every teacher is trying to squeeze in as many tests as possible. yeah sjdkfkkskdf thats one thing everyone can agree on i suppose!! and it really is like that!! the stereotype about spanish people being seemingly All Extroverted is. much more true than i expected it to be. especially when compared to poland where everyone just more or less minds their own business. and not knowing the language that well proved to be less of an issue than i thought actually!! as in. i do Not speak spanish very well but through a series of trial and error combined with a lot of gesticulation i managed to communicate well enough. AND FOR REAL good lird. they were so right for that. and thanks!! i can more or less follow intermediate recipes so i can Survive more or less. and ahh thats fair, i unfortunately cant really listen to stuff outside my house as i only own headphones and not earphones and i dont like being Completely disconnected from the sound around me when im not at home. but very understandable. ANYWAY YEAH AUSTRALIA IS. A PLACE. i heard about that one prime minister yeah..... wild...... and yeah ajdkfjg me and my friends have been dissing each other for a Long time since i did the same thing in my previous school. always fun. AND AOUGH I FEEL YOU i have. a Lot of teachers like that. but eh im pretty decent at studying on my own [if i find the energy.....] so its managable. with math teachers too actually which is very funny bc last year we had this one teacher [we called her The Brick] who just. did not explain Anything just start doing exercises on the board and then be disappointed when we didnt understand anything. so obviously we were very happy to hear that were gonna have a different one EXCEPT??? SHE DOESNT KNOW HOW TO COUNT???? LIKE GENUINELY SHE DOES SOMETHING ON THE BOARD THREE TIMES AND EACH TIME ITS SOLVED INCORRECTLY. IN A DIFFERENT WAY. ah well. but yes my english teacher is very epic. if nobody got me i know she got me can i get an amen. and exactly i agree with you!! as in. i like when theres a Big Number so i try to more or less build my chars but im not gonna wreck my sanity doing the same domain over and over again. the honkai meta however IS pretty hard so i try to keep up with that. but im much less excited for part 2 so when it drops im probs gonna focus on gearing the chars i already have instead of pulling the new ones since you can do anything with a good support and i have. pretty good supports [HERRSCHER OF TRUTH FOR THE WIN]. id generally recommend Not Completely Ignoring it yeah. tho i did and still managed to pull myself out, but it wasnt a pleasant experience [god. superstring dimension with ungeared teams. Augh.] so. yeah. AND RIGHT???? honkais meta may be painful but the gacha sure is not. I WILL GET INTO HIMEKOS STORY BUT ITS GONNA TAKE A SEC SO ILL JUST PUT IT UNDER A READMORE AND ALSO BEWARE OF VERY VERY VERY HEAVY SPOILERS. since im not exactly sure in what point of the story youre in. AND YEAH shes just. chillen. and the joke is [linguistic rant incoming] actually not That long [i just love hyperboles] although there is one joke that is Actually pretty hard to explain. anyway what i wanted to say is that she has ESSA which. first of all this is slang but its slightly outdated slang [which, of course, doesnt stop me from using it] and it just. well when you say someone has essa it means theyre like. chill in a cool way. cool in a chill way. but also essa itself can be used like. hm. for example if you manage to do sth, say, pass an exam, and you wanna say you did it and also it wasnt very hard?? you can just say NO I ESSA. its not quite translatable into english but needless to say i shall now begin using it. AND YEAH FR rare occurence where genshin made me actually care about male characters. as in. i love furina forever but neuvilette has actually proven to be someone i like as well.

[once again. tumblr forcing me to do a paragraph break] his autistic swag has captivated me. and yeah ajdfkgjsj as it turns out im both farsighted and have astigmatism so i should be limiting my computer usage...... its ok tho im trying to get into traditional art more and also studying is easier. so Its Joekay. ahhhhhh talents are such a pain to level up.... i just never have enough stuff for them seemingly. yeah my history classes have godawful times good lird. and we actually do less material bc of that since our teacher just refuses to do anything on the 6pm classes and just does twice the material in the monday block instead. i love my life. fair enough tbh, i picked up an ADDITIONAL 7am class bc its not mandatory and was close to disbanding but my classbestie really likes it so i joined to make it less likely to fall apart but ah. im regretting my decision. but at least the teacher is nice so. AND FOR REAL i do not understand where they get their energy from. or the dedication. ESPECIALLY for this godforsaken school. and ah thankies!!!! and good luck with catching up!!! i LOVE the manga sm omg...... im also very excited for the anime since the love scale arc is starting today and its my favorite........ big hype. and ah i started playing noita recently!!!! very fun i love games that are engineered to hurt me personally

ANYWAY. ONTO THE HIMEKO LORE

i Should mention that im not an expert on himeko lore BUT ill do my best hehehe. however i will reiterate that heavy spoilers ahead, especially for chapter 9.

SO himekos backstory is revealed in the alien space manga [which, admittedly, i read only because i found out shub niggurath appears by the end and i love niggurath] but it goes more or less like this. i wont go into detail about what Exactly happened because truth be told this is a pretty long manga and i simply do not have the motivation to do an Entire Summary but basically. when she was in university, her father, who was working for schicksal and also the host of an Actual Literal Alien kiiiiiind of went berserk [without her knowledge, of course] and welt had to Kill Him. which is pretty bad because they knew each other and were Kinda friends. anyway since her mother was already dead and she was infected with honkai at the time, this caused her to join schicksal! of course, the entire time kept in the dark about what exactly happened to her father. so when she was in schicksal, she was in the squad let by ragna lothbrok, who also ended up dying in action, and himeko ended up in saint freya. she also made bianka join schicksal! so anyway this is where we get to the main story. i wont go into chapter chiyou bc im gonna be honest i remember Nothing from chronicles. but she was kiana and the others from the main squad mentor, guiding them through their journey as valkyries. when kiana awoke as the herrscher of the void during the void arc, she was also Actively Dying from honkai poisoning [since valkyrie gear uses the honkai in it but she had pretty low natural resistance to it]. fu hua gives her an antidote that Could save her life but, during the final lesson, she uses it to temporarily seal the herrscher of the void so that kiana can live on. and dies in the process. i cry watching it to THIS DAY. but himeko remains as somewhat of an Afterlife Guide to the end of the series, appearing as flashbacks and visions in the chapter 11 ex cg, meteoric salvation, like an entire section of set tomorrow ablaze, everlasting flames, and graduation trip. to summarize, I LOVE HER AND WILL CRY ABOUT HER AGAIN. AOUGGGHH. she actually means so much to me you have no idea you have NO idea

[weaponizedducks]

this is incredibly exciting ive never met enyone whos actively liking Shapeshifter!! following u immediately we are now best friends

ABSOLUTELY agree with u abt the government side of things- so ive got a whole oc sorta for this one- i feel like they should have had like a kid of one of the government people who is really against the colas and then sorta gets turned over to their side- making the readers like wake up to the horror of the cola project.

also LOVE ur lisa analysis- shes always been my favourite- i adore that she gets to be angry and powerful but also feminine and pretty? i love how angry she is. also the patrick wood messages thing?? NEVER thought abt that before that is such a cool idea- they really underused this guy and his power was so interesting.

re: the lisa and mia thing. ohoho their dynamic is so interesting to me. i am incredibly invested in it bc to me they really remind me of erik and charles from x men and im also really invested in them. but to me theyre like two sides of a coin. they want the same thing- but their methods are wildly different. mia is angry at the world and she's hurting and she wants to get rid of anything that hurts her friends, especially lisa. she doesnt want the cola's to be accepted so much as left alone. lisa wants to fit in. she's always wanted to fit in- she wants to be normal. she wants to be accepted and while she acts like other peoples opinions don't bother her, they really do. mia and lisa value each other so so much, but they're constantly hurting eachother. its clear to me that mia loves lisa- and their twisted dynamic in feather and fang when mia is BEGGING lisa to come with her, and lisa is horrified by what mia's done, but she still loves her, and she doesn't say 'i hate you, i don't want to see you ever again' she says 'maybe later on i will see you again. when we're both better.' i think they work because fundamentally, lisa has always understood mia more than anyone else, and because she's so angry and expresses her feelings, around her mia finds it easier to express hers. i sort of relate to mia- i really get her character bc she feels like she has to be the happy, calm friend all the time- she never gets angry, she bottles up her pain, she pretends everything is fine when it's not. and she hates being seen as breakable or fragile. she's quite like dax in that sense. (also if u wanna get into xmen i recommend x men first class and days of future past, but also the og triliogy are amazing)

mia is such a tragic character, she's always been hurting so much. she presents herself as very easygoing and calm and 'nothing bothers her'. she seems very at peace, when in reality she's the opposite. she seems very open- like she has no secrets, but she has major trust issues, and she doesnt let anyone get close enough to her to understand her. apart from lisa and the rest of the gang.

re: humanity of the characters- yes i love that abt the books. i also love how they portrayed the bad effects of having these powers and how they impact such young people- i feel like a lot of ya fantasy just sees it as a cool bonus. might expand on this later idk.

(also apologies. our diva alice jones would absolutely star in barbie. not even gonna speak on gina bc i hate her and she fucked up her kids badly. gonna speak on this maybe)

CATHERINE. OH MY GOD. YOU ARE SO RIGHT ABT HER. i do feel horrifically bad for her- she's essentially a failed experiment. its so interesting to see a female antagonist like her- she's so young, so she isn't forced into that 'cool, flirty female villain trope' that i despise, which is great because it allows her to go completley batshit without the readers needing to like her. i feel a lot of books make the mistake of wanting to create a likeable villain, and i'm glad this wasn't the route taken.

re: gideon. yes yes yes he's such a Character. he's been through so much, and yet it's never really acknowledged. i would have loved to see more of his arc- i think him and lisa have a really cool (platonic) dynamic that would've been fun to explore. and yeah get this boy a bf. he deserves it.

tysm for adding ur analysis- its so cool to find someone who likes these underrated books!!! please feel free to come yell into my inbox any time, and ur character analysis is so interesting and accurate

(also. xmen. its very like shapeshifter and i cant believe im only just realising this.)

Hello! Your pinned post mentions The Shapeshifter books so 🫵 hi

Tell me about them. Who's your favourite character? What do you like about them?

(feel free to redeem this ask as a way to infodump if you want. license to yap)

omg hi hi!! i love you so much for asking this and im sorry for turning this ask into an infodump. definite spoilers for the shapeshifter below.

ok so my favourite character is lisa probably bc shes iconic and her instincts when something goes wrong is just to attack. either verbally or physically. also her backstory is so sad??? like she predicts someones about to die but she doesnt know thats what her visions mean (bc her visions are very cryptic and she was like 10 at the time) so she only realised when the girl died and then blamed herself?? like what??? these books are so dark for a kids series. i think she deserved a gun and also to say fuck. i really love her relationship with dax also theyre just so cute. like she'll by fully attacking someone and he's like :). isnt she so pretty :). theyre a bi4bi power couple i just know it.

also she fully had a doomed wlw situationship with mia and i fear we dont talk about it enough. mia was fully in love with her both before and after she went evil. like they very much gave cherik for a hot moment there. actually now that i'm thinking about it shapeshifters is very x men coded. so yeah im never getting over lisa and mia but i do love her and dax so im not mad.

MIA OH MY GOD. I LOVE MIA SO MUCH. never before has someone so deserved their villain arc. she's like morgana. i LOVED the subversion of her being the sweet healer-y type and then going batshit insane with her healer powers. like kinda using them for...nefarious purposes shall we say. she's still very sweet she's just very cunty and evil now.

i also love alice especially in the last book bc. shes just a kid. her mother's shit. stepmom neglected dax and smothered alice while never actuallly listening to her wants and needs. and their fathers never there. i wish we had gotten to see alice and dax bond more over their shitty parents. they could have been the best sibling duo. also shes badass and she would have loved wearing pink to see barbie (2023).

gideon for me is one of those characters who is so into women it just wraps around into him being gay. he's like lance mcclain to me. he deserved a boyfriend. also i think he's bi (i think everyone's bi. i don't think there's a single straight character in these books. minus mr grey). i love gideon he's so mecore. he's also traumatised!!! and he has a twin brother and an evil twin sister who's thirteen and ripped out her brother's tongue.

on the subject of gid's evil twin sister she is SUCH an interesting character to me. like obviously i hate catherine but she's so fascinating. her power means she can never stay with someone for too long or she'll end up killing them. she never has her own likes or hobbies or talents- she borrows someone elses because she feels herself isnt good enough. she crucified a man. she's killed three adoptive mothers. sort of on purpose. she just wants to be loved. she drowned an entire school with a massive tidal wave after leeching their powers. she was killed with fire. she was french for a while. she's perpetually thirteen years old.

i love the series as a whole but i think it had so much potential to be more. it was already pretty dark (windmill scene. need i say more) but it was technically a teen fantasy series, and i feel if they committed to a YA age rating and went all out with the horror and the very clear 'fuck the government' theme that was present throughout the whole series it could have been amazing. i have so many ideas for these books and what they could have done (note i love the books so much as they are but god. what we could have had if they weren't technically kids books).

also just realised i forgot to talk abt owen!!! gay father figure of our hearts. he accidentally adopts a bunch of motherless children and then he commits to it for the rest of his life. he canonically faked his death to live in a cave in spain with his superpowered male best friend. he's killed quite a few people.

this is the end of the Yap. in conclusion none of these characters are either normal or know how to function in society. i love these books. theyre like xmen and harry potter combined. but no jk rowling so win

[ifididntlaughidcry]

top 5 cursed osemanverse ships

only five?

mucus (michael/lucas) (obviously)

pisster (im not even talking about this)

clarinick (forbidden love)

sprolcas (ot3)

ass tea (BITCH)

[spanishinfluenza]

hi! first of all i just wanna say how grateful i am for your unending great headcanons, and for being one of those blogs who are always feeding my carlesme heart with content that sm*yer deprived them of. honestly, thank you. and idk if you've done this already, but i just wanna ask what do you think are the cullens up to during this pandemic? <3

tysm! I'm so glad people are enjoying the absolute drivel im churning out bc i have so much more coming.

I love thinking about how these guys are gettin on in corona. Most of my thoughts on this are headcanons shamelessly adopted from @askcarlislecullen and @gisellelx but ofc I have my own thoughts too! I'd really recommend you check out their fic Cien Años de Compañerismo on ao3 because it's some grade A Cullens-do-corona content imo

i personally headcanon that the pandemic has been hard on the Cullens but no one more so than Carlisle. He and Esme have been moving constantly since February 2020, following the hot spots around the world. He worked in Italy for two months at the beginning of the pandemic because he felt compelled to use his lack of fatigue where it was most needed. Briefly, he considered staying in Volterra for vampire-safe residency but Aro, as hospitable as he is to Carlisle, is undeniably creepy. Both he and Esme felt they would actually be safer living amongst dense human population in Lombardy. In March and April, Carlisle was working for entire weeks without break and when he did come home - for human appearance's sake - he was severely distressed, uncharacteristically short and anxious to get back. He's lived through a number of plagues in his time but, to this day, he's never seen anything like what he saw in Bergamo hospital.

Pretty soon he was drafted back home so he and Esme moved back to the US. Rosalie and Edward both hold medical degrees so they retrained and volunteered for the front of the pandemic. It was incredibly hard on both of them - Rosalie because, despite her inhuman strength and power, she could do nothing to stop innocent people from dying. She had never encountered innocent death before and it will take years to process when its all over. Edward because of his own undoubted medical trauma. Edward ended up having to take a long break in June of 2020 as the climbing sickness and death was getting to be too much for him. When he did return in October, he volunteered his effort outside of ICUs and emergency rooms. He takes much shorter shifts and Bella has learnt a lot about how to help someone suffering with PTS tendencies. Rosalie has resumed her newborn blood-resistance lessons with Carlisle and the extraordinary amount of time they're spending together have actually made the pair a lot closer.

As for the others, some of them have taken great advantage of online schooling becoming more widespread. Alice and Jasper took themselves to the South and are fuckin about on zoom school (fashion with a thesis on green-washing and, weirdly enough, philosophy and ethics respectively). Emmett and Esme are enjoying their time off. They wanted to dedicate some of their luxury to the pandemic efforts of course, but neither could hope to be around dying humans or vaccination centres without chowing down on somebody. Instead, they take semi-regular shifts with a volunteer domestic abuse support hotline because when Esme read about the spike in victims, she wasn't going to do nothing about it and so yes she drafted her son in too. They also donate ofc. She can't take too many calls without it getting too much for her so in her ample off time whilst Carlisle is working, she has thrown herself into multiple renovation projects. Emmett, with little to do besides keep Rosalie propped up, likes to help. He's only allowed to aid in demolition though as it's all he seems to understand. When Carlisle does come home, he immediately lies face down in Esme's cleavage in their room with the lights turned off. It's how he unwinds.

Emmett, Alice and Esme have all created tiktoks.

Bella was mid English Lit degree when the pandemic struck so she's just a stay at home vampire student.

Those that don't have to interact w society, generally don't. Getting temperature tested is honestly a ballache for someone without much of a body temperature. Carlisle, Rosalie and Edward usually just rub their hands on their foreheads really fast before going in. They also signed off on each other's lateral flows and covid swabs until the pandemic progressed to the point of human doctors just doing their own. Six needles were necessarily broken when they had to get "vaccinated".

It's weird and they're barely getting to spend any time w their loved ones in comparison to usual but the six of them that are living together are making it work the best they can. Carlisle and Esme have made a promise to take a year away from all work when this is all over as they've officially had history's shittiest 100th annivesary so far (they did do a lil something special for her 100th birthday but they'll also likely celebrate that again afterwards too).

rutabaga doesnt exist bc she creeps me out

[keycrash]

so i just finished the zero escape trilogy blind and i absolutely loved iiit tho i am seriously annoyed at the lack of epilogue for d team and the fact that kyle's importance was totally dropped (i get that the another time pov was supposed to be the player an dpossibly the 'god' of free the soul/delta that akane had revealed to her but that doesnt explain kyle's absence)

i’m glad you liked it!! i’m surprised you managed to stay unspoiled if you followed me beforehand lmao. but yeah those two critiques were really common following the game’s release-- as for the kyle thing, i will add that part of uchikoshi’s explanation for that was that the “another time” part of vlr was added fairly last minute (it wasn’t even voiced in japanese) as a means of creating a more ‘hopeful’ ending in the wake of the tsunami that hit japan, iirc. it was never made clear to english fans until after the fact, but it was meant as meta-commentary rather than actual events taking place in the game, apparently. a lot of us were still disappointed, but. yknow.

rest of the messages:

carrying on my previous message im not disappointed a lot was lef tot figur eout e.g. that delta was probably lying about the nuclear war (unless he caused it himself) in line with the 'fanatic bio r = fabrication' thing, and the fact the 'final choice' is solely up to the player i.e. Delta's god, and that the 'way for clover and alice to return from the another time ending in vlr' is implied to be the transporters Akane recovered in the VLR timeline

yeah i actually did really like the fanatic bio r/fabrication thing being ambiguous in isolation, i just felt a little weird about it in the context of delta’s motives; it seemed like the game was intentionally as confusing as possible about his motives in order to make them appear complex instead of actually building them logically

wrt the last thing, this made me come up with a theory that i think is sound but is like HOLY SHIT, i.e. alice and clover get sent via transporter thousands of years into the past and then Alice becomes the original priestess of amen-ra who via ~shenanigans~(involving antarctic ice?) then becomes all-ice and either via clover (transported) or delta/phi shes saved in the 20th century and eventually leaves the mandrake root for hongou to manufacture soporil-b and make all three ZE games possible

i had this theory too before ztd came out!! that alice was gonna get sent back and become all-ice. since it was never touched on in ztd i just kind of dropped it but it’s still fun to think about

last note, i am soo conflicted on akanes portrayal in ztd, on the one hand it is sort of a nice synthesis of her pragmatic self and her bubbly self, on the other hand i feel like it severely undercut how awe inspiring she became in both the 999 and vlr endings that felt like she was a being that existed supeceding timelines and was on par with delta/brother (phi shouldve also had a similarly pivotal role in ztd too tbh)

oh trust me i hate how akane was portrayed in ztd; i think showing a bit of her everyday personality & banter with others would be a great idea, but when i imagine that kind of akane i imagine more like the akane of end or beginning-- she’s practical, pragmatic, a bit morbid, teasing. not the hyper-emotional impulsive reactions that ztd akane had. taking away any sense of power or control from her without even justifying it made her jarringly different from her past two iterations. it didn’t even seem like she had a plan going in to save the world!! and yeah, phi was totally dropped in ztd; she was in character for the most part, but narratively her arc led nowhere, she was painfully absent in the latter half of the game, and the developments we got concerning her had more to do with the material state of her existence/past rather than any emotional trust or opening up by her.

uhhh overall on ztd its weird because with both 999 and vlr i found them kiind of tedious and full of stuff i hated for a large part of the game, and then as they got to the end with the last few hours everything came together so perfectly it blew my mind. zts lacked that completely, but it was also more enjoyable the entire way through, so maybe i cant say i enjoyed it less than the others

for this one it’s more personal taste (i found 999 very fun to play through, though i DEFINITELY agree it gets tedious if you’re playing the original and can’t skip puzzles you’ve already done, but vlr is very much tedious either way); i will agree though that ztd is actually fun to play all the way through with the fragment system, even if the fragment system both adds to and detracts from the story A Lot in different ways

vlr is prooobably the best game i think, which makes sense bc my four favourite characters are akane (no.1, incredible metafictional mastermind ascends to ultimate self), sigma ('congratulations. you played yourself' on loop for 45 years), diana (principled will of steel, "do no harm" even if it creates the apocalypse), and phi (i need so much more phi content), 2 of which are from VLR jfieofuefji. yes D team is my fave

you’re valid, i loooove the vlr characters & story even if the actual experience of playing it knocks it down a few points below 999 for me-- d team is a beautiful little mess and they deserved better treatment in ztd kasmdflaksjdf

[thegeminisage]

What other characters (of DBH) you think people should appreciate more and why? I love read your opinions❤

omg anon pls thats so sweet

(if anybody wasn’t here for the last ask the first character was north & there’s a follow-up here)

alright just a “””quick””” (lol as if) little thing for each one bc it’s getting late & you’ve already been waiting on this for like an hour at the time i started typing. it’s probably gonna be long as fuck but the tl;dr is at the bottom

LUTHER:

they did luther so dirty…it was like david cage was playing “racist trope bingo” for his entire debut chapter…and then on top of that all he cares about is kara & alice, these two near-strangers, and it’s real easy to get him killed for them. in fact, in an ending where kara sacrifices herself at the border, she tells alice that luther will get her across the border, and after that, rose will take care of her. UM WHAT? don’t call ur PSN trophy “happy family” and then try to erase luther like that!! what does luther want? what are his hopes and dreams, his fears? nobody ever bothers to ask bc they’re too busy making ralph alice’s dad. and it’s not that i don’t like ralph - i do! but he threatened alice with a knife TWICE. after her previous dad’s bullshit, that’s the last thing she needs!!

here’s my take on luther: he says that what his life was before kara & alice doesn’t matter, and that’s because david cage doesn’t care about him. but imagine instead that luther remembers what he did (was forced to do) before he broke his programming. our luther is sweet and gentle and good, but zlatko forced him to use his strength as a weapon for LITERALLY tearing people apart. don’t you think luther regrets that? don’t you think he wishes he could take it back? perhaps his even temper and loving heart is a RESULT of those early memories: he’s seen the worst sides of anger and callousness, he’s had to be complicit in it. my feeling is that he never ever wants to be complicit in something like that again…it feels weird when he picks up a gun in the game because i think he would be even more of a staunch pacifist than josh?? i feel like even when luther does get annoyed or angry he’s so afraid of the harm he’s capable of doing he doesn’t even really let himself feel it And That’s Sad. he should be able to get annoyed at like a broken coffee maker or some shit without illogically worrying it will result in someone’s maiming or death?? maybe he is So Ready to throw himself on a grenade for kara and alice because yes, he does love them, but also he feels he has to redeem himself somehow, yk? he has to be willing to do absolutely WHATEVER it takes to be Good

they didn’t give luther any depth…he never got to speak to zlatko’s captives and apologize, he never got to express a feeling about kara potentially burning down the whole fucking nightmare house (with living androids inside, i might add) - would he have wished to save those androids? would he be glad their suffering was over? would he have motherfucking hearts in his eyes for kara single-handedly destroying his own personal hell? he deviated for alice, it was alice that made him say “ok, doing this to kids is where i literally can’t take it anymore” - don’t you think he’d be so retroactively terrified of all the terrible things that could have happened to her? 

like i truly don’t get why people make ralph alice’s dad when luther loves her so fucking much he’d bring her the moon if she asked - he’s the only person who loves her just as selflessly and unconditionally as kara does. she accepted him and wanted him to say goodnight their very first night together…as soon as he resisted his programming, she stopped being afraid of him, and it must be so amazing for him to finally have people around who don’t either fear him or try to control him…whether u ship him with kara or not (i do, everyone should - it’s one thing to HC kara as gay but i side-eye people who don’t wanna ship luther with anybody) you know he’s gotta cherish them so much

AMANDA:

ok look i know amanda is the antag to connor’s story but honestly she’s metal as FUCK. i was so fucking floored to not only learn the garden isn’t a garden but that amanda isn’t amanda…my first playthrough i was letting connor be just a lil bit deviant but whenever amanda would ask about it i would panic and lie…now i know it doesnt matter what you can say and you can be blatantly deviant right in front of her and she’s like ok Whatever BUT i was deeply shook to realize all my lying to her all along hadn’t meant a thing…she did in fact KNOW i was lying because she wasn’t real, she was living in connor’s brain and she could see all that shit he was doing

and also?? like, imagine you were made out of a dead person’s face and voice. we don’t know if amanda has a body, we don’t know if kamski actually liked what he created or thought it was creepy (like imagine if he and amanda were close and then she died…it’d be weird to see her like that), we don’t know if amanda CAN deviate like the androids…she’s living this half life potentially stuck in some garden and just doing what her program says like everybody else. but even though machines get all the sympathy in this game i very rarely ever see people stop and go “dude, is she ok…is someone controlling her can we help her” - amanda’s a lot like connor, she’s hunting down deviants but she’s not a human and she’s not alive yet so who’s pulling her strings?? can they be cut??? 

JOSH:

i’ll be honest i haven’t figured out what Angle i like best for josh the way i’ve got one for luther and north but he has such strong convictions i feel like they would have to stem from some past experience. everybody’s always arguing about simon vs north that nobody stops to give josh the attention he deserves…he’s part of the fantastic 4 too!! who is josh? what does he want? what is he afraid of? does he refuse to be violent for reasons like luther - did he hurt someone, deliberately or accidentally? (to a lesser extent, a pacifist markus who shoved leo can also follow this pattern - he gave into violence and thought he’d killed carl’s son, so he swore to do no more violence after that.) or: did he see someone else get hurt/get hurt himself? i know the backstory they give him in the gallery but tbh it’s very similar and not stand-out from most of the rest of the stuff we hear…

like, what made josh deviate? we literally never find out. i think it would be interesting tho if instead of just being the victim of violence, he was ordered to DO violence, and refused - maybe that’s why he got hurt. but i think his relationship WITH violence could be a complex thing for anyone who wanted to tackle it. we know why north prefers violence, why does josh detest it? (similarly, why does simon prefer safety over either approach? - but fandom gives him a lot of love and attention and tries to explain this, and nobody tries to explain it for josh.)

KARA & ALICE:

like…to a small extent…i know they’re main characters but i could write an essay just on why they didn’t get a fair shake either - constant victims of assault, little depth, kara got to choose what happened to her but not what kind of person she was gonna be like markus & connor, significantly less playtime than markus & connor, had NO influence on the big macro plot like markus & connor, i could go on…but definitely the worst for me is that everything about kara that made us love her (from the short), was ERASED - david took her memories and never made the slightest move towards kara wanting them back, or her being able to get them back. she’s six years old and he took all of her history from her, all of her agency!! i feel like translated into fic they can both become very flat - all kara cares about is protecting alice, and alice is constantly scared or hurt or needing to be taken care of, like a baby doll. granted that’s not actually far from the game’s canon, but it could have been MORE. kara had six entire years of experiences before she met alice - what makes alice special? who is kara without alice? 

i really wish we had been able to take a personality route with kara - her main superpower seems to be empathy and getting people on her side (ralph, jerrys, zlatko’s creatures), but she can also wave around a gun at anybody who gets near her baby. it would have been really interesting to explore two sides of that - to have a kara who is 1000% Done and ready for wholesale murder if it means surviving vs having a kara who can bring out the best in anyone, even if they seem like bad people at first. (imagine the influence you could have over alice - she would learn to be wary of strangers or be warm to them.) but instead the narrative is wishy-washy; you can’t teach alice anything, and in fact she serves as kara’s moral compass instead of the other way around - you wind up doing things like comforting the guy who broke kara multiple times and waving a gun at ralph (who like, shouldn’t have done that, but also isn’t 100% in control of his own facualities all the time). it would have been really interesting to see kara be able to influence her own fate more as well - the camp sections are shitty and should not exist but like maybe a kara who had spent the whole game yelling at everyone with a gun would have the ability unlocked to then rally the people inside, and who cared what connor and markus were doing, you know? 

but david doesn’t know how to write women so that’s not what we got - kara carried that entire franchise into reality and he totally screwed her over!!

TL;DR

luther was forced to do terrible things and that could explain a lot of his behavior if anybody cared, nobody ever wonders if amanda is being forced to obey programming like the rest of the machines or if she’s ok, josh’s relationship with violence could be very complex and we don’t know his motivation for refusing to participate in it the way we know north’s for preferring it, and david can’t write women so he shafted kara so fucking bad and it is an honest to god shame

(dbh meta tag)

[kerasdnd]

Forced Socailizing

Table of Contents

The rest of the first week was about the same as Monday. The only difference was my mad dashes to other teachers to turn in homework on time. I had learned my two note takers names by Friday. The second year was Alice Rosier. She was quiet but top of her class. Her dirty blonde hair hung in perfect rings every day, was the only indication that she might be an Heir to her Family Name. The third year was Dravin Selwy. Also top of his class, Dravin took the opposite approach to the title. Dravin was loud, outgoing, and made it clear who he was. His soft blue-green eyes, however, told a different story. I, however, knew better than to ask about personal matters until knowing the person a few months. Saturday was basically a Q&A with Serveurs and McGonagall about Legimens and Animagus procedures. Sunday I was lectured none stop on both sides of the Dark Arts, which I promptly collapsed under the Willow. I was glad that within the week I was able to stop asking to come sit with her. I did always thank her for allowing me to. The second week was similar, until Thursday. It was the first years first flying lesson.

We, Slytherins, walked out onto Quidditch pitch to see two straight columns of broomsticks. I smiled and skipped over to one. It instantly jumped into my hand as I stepped up. I mounted it and drifted a few centimeters off the ground. I floated back over to the rest of the group as they walked up. No one else stepped up to the brooms. Instead, they gathered around Draco, who was boasting about his father teaching him how to fly. I drifted off into a memory about my first time on a broom. I was about five. My aunt thought it would be okay to get me a toy broom for my birthday. I was zooming around the backyard laughing and giggling. Suddenly I saw a small ball get thrown at me. I leaned up and caught it without hesitation. “Well someone’s going to be a great player when she grows up,” I heard Uncle Teddy say. I shook my head and looked around me. That would’ve happened if I hadn’t been forced into the Malfoy family. I thought. Madam Hooch walked up and we welcomed her. I laid down on my broom as the class listened to her about how to get the broom in their hand without picking it up. Then there were choruses of “Up”s around me. I was floating next to Theo. He got it in a few tries so I looked across from me. To my surprise, it was Granger and Longbottom. They seem to be getting increasingly frustrated so I called out to them, “Take a deep breath and Calm down. Brooms are like animals. They don’t like negative energy.” The Gryffindors stares at me before doing as I said. A few times later, they had it down. Everyone was instructed to mount their brooms. Then Madam Hooch came around to correct. When she got to me, she noticed I was already flying. I looked up at her from my back and raised an eyebrow. “You helped Miss Granger and Mr. Longbottom?” I shrugged, replying, “Just because we’re in different Houses doesn't mean I can’t help a fellow student.” She nodded and continued on. A few moments later I heard her say Draco had been flying completely wrong his entire life. I closed my eyes as I waited to be able to actually fly.

About five minutes, I heard her whistle and someone screaming. I opened my eyes and saw Longbottom screaming as his broom took off. Before I could even move, Theo pressed his palm into my shoulder. I stopped moving and watched in silence. Longbottom finally fell and landed on the ground. Everyone rushed over to him. I flew over to Madam Hooch and asked, “Can I go get the broom?” “Go,” was the answer I received. I flipped on my broom so that I was upright and flew after the rouge broom. It had drifted over the Forbidden Forest. I grabbed it and brought back to the pitch. I saw Draco and Potter flying. I could tell they were fighting over something. The Draco threw it. Without thought, Potter bulleted after it. I landed as Draco did. After laying the brooms down I stormed over to Draco and slapped him across his face. “First of all how dare you bully someone who isn’t even here to defend himself? Don’t deny it because that’s the only reason you would’ve been in the air in the first place. Second congrats you just gave Gryffindor their seeker for the next seven years!” I growled at him before stalking off. Draco had just stood there with his hand on his cheek. Serveurs was waiting on me when I got to the Entrance Hall. He didn’t say anything, just turned around and started walking. I followed silently. My Godfather took me to the library. Holding his hand up to me, he walked in alone. I waited outside in the hall for about ten minutes before he emerged with Flint. Flint smirked down at me as I pushed myself off the wall.”Lyra this is,” Serveurs started but I cut him off, “Marcus Flint, Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. For you to bring me here to talk to him means you want me on the team. I barely have the time to get all my notes and homework done and turned in on time. Not to mention the spells and potions I have to master for exams. I don’t have the time for,” I waved at Flint in frustration, “This!”

“I understand that you sit under a certain tree during your breaks each day. You seem to have time then,” Flint snapped at me. “I’m doing my bloody workload when I sit there. It focuses me and allows me to be outside. Something I haven’t been allowed in a few years. Serveurs seriously. I’m a first year that’s completely out of practice. I don’t think it’ll work,” I turned to the adult, pleading now. His face was blank and his arms were crossed. “Lyra you were flying with your back on the broom. Then when given permission you flipped while still on said broom and flew off after a rogue broom. You had the broom back to the pitch in under 30 seconds. That’s not out of practice,” he stated. Flint’s smirk fell as he heard that. “Wait you can actually do that?” The sixth-year asked. I shrugged. The two males stared at me in different levels of disbelief. Surprisingly another student came out of the library just then. “Flint, just because you don’t want to learn this doesn’t mean that you can slack off from it,” Dravin growled holding up some paperwork. With the distraction, I slipped away from the trio and went off to my next class. I placed my earbuds in, played War of Change by Thousand Foot Krutch, ignored everyone for the rest of the day. The group kept space between Draco and I since I slapped him.

Life resumed as normal after that. We went to class together. Ate meals together. Studied together. During periods that I was in other classes, I kept my head down as much as possible. Study periods were spent under the Whomping Willow. I collected the other paperwork from Alice and Dravin before dinner and made copies into corresponding notebooks after. Around the 15th of October, I got down a timetable on when to do certain classes’ homework as to not overwhelm myself. The group supported me in their own ways. Crabbe and Goyle studied with me late into the night. Pansy made sure I was up and dressed in time for breakfast. Blaise kept a steady supply of chocolate going. Theo dragged me away from school work to dance or show me something new he found. Draco would smile his rare real smile from behind a book whenever he spotted me needing a test subject and help me. The Twins were stilling bothering me whenever they saw me but I paid them no mind. I felt normal. That is until the Twins cornered me on the 20th.

“Why aren’t your scores posted?” They asked together as they pressured me into a corner in the Entrance Hall. I stood tall and shrugged, “Maybe because I don’t go to all the third year classes?” They paused and looked at each other. I took the chance and slipped passed them. Only to run into Flint, Dravin, and the rest of the Quidditch team. I groaned, “No, I’m not going to join. I don’t have the time.” Dravin held out a slip of paper while Flint smirked. “You do now,” they barked in unison. I snatched the parchment from Dravin. Lyra Lestrange is, from this moment forward, a Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team. She will practice and play matches along with her other duties. A. Dumbledore I growled as I read the note. “Fine. I’m going to need a broom,” I stated crossing my arms. “Looks like Harry isn’t the only one who has skills,” I heard one of the Weasleys say from over my shoulder. I didn’t look back at them as I pushed passed the Team and went to dinner. Quidditch was then added to my schedule, taking away my what little sleep I was getting in the first place.

I woke up on Halloween at 530 am in a cold sweat. Groaning I sat up and looked up over at Pansy to make sure she was still asleep. Once I was sure she was, I got up and changed into my uniform, without my robes. I grabbed my bag as I walked out of the dorm. I jammed my earbuds in my ears and blared ‘Demons Among Angels’ so no one would bother me. It was just turning 6 am so only the Quidditch players were up and about, if only out of habit. Flint said we could have the day off. I made my way up to the Entrance Hall and out the door before I realized it. I jogged over to the Green Houses. I saw Professor Sprout tending to some of her plants so I left the 3rd year assignment on her desk. I then jogged to the Whomping Willow. I stood just out of reach once again. “I’m sorry to bother you so early but perhaps I could join you in welcoming this morning?” I asked. The branches, which were up in the air today, moved as if to say come on. I sighed and took my normal spot five feet away from the trunk. Though I’ve only had three hours of sleep, I pulled out my binders. I started transcribing the notes that were given to me yesterday into their respective notebooks while listening to Flyleaf. I lost track of time so I jumped when I heard the bell for class to be starting soon. “Bloody hell. Thank you for letting me sit with you,” I called to the Willow as I ran to Transfiguration. I slid into my seat with seconds to spare. As soon as the bell rang, McGonagall started class. By the time we went to lunch I was starving. I sat down across from Pansy while the boys made our plates. I don’t know why this tradition was put in place. It’s rather demeaning. I thought while absentmindedly reacting to Pansy.

I looked down to start eating and there was only a small salad. I looked up confused. “Why?” I asked open-endedly. “Mother wrote a letter saying that she thought you had put on a few unwanted pounds and to put you back on your diet,” Draco whispered from next to me. I bit my tongue and took a deep breath. “If that’s what Narcissa wants,” I grumbled as I started eating. I had mastered the art of finishing with everyone else with so little on my plate. However today I pushed the plate away after a few bites and stood up. “Lyra, sit down and finish eating,” Draco growled at me. “I have some questions for Professor Quirrell so if you’ll excuse me,” I stepped over the bench and started walking away. Theo grabbed my arm, “You weren’t at breakfast this morning and now you’re skipping lunch. What’s going on?”  I turned to face him and growled, “I woke up from a nightmare this morning so I spent it roaming the grounds. Now I refuse to eat something I hate simply because I don’t match Narcissa Malfoy’s vision of how an 11-year-old pureblood heir should look, even though I’ve lost weight if anything. I’m on the Quidditch Team and I’m taking three years of bloody school at once.” I heard the entire Slytherin table become silent at my outburst. I blew my bangs out of my face, pulled my arm from Theo, and turned around. I came face to face with a wall of third years. “What? Are you going to force me to sit and eat?” I asked, not in the least bit scared or confused. For all I knew they got a similar letter from their families. All of them laughed. Dravin, taking lead as always, said, “No, Lestrange. We’ve noticed the Weasley Twins had been bothering you when you came back from your,” his eyes flicked to Draco then back to me, “roaming. They are in our next class as always and we would like to escort you to all third-year classes that you have.” I was taken aback. “Of course we can’t let our Princess get pestered by some blood traders no can we? Especially when the Prince isn’t protecting her,” another third-year stated. I sighed as protested came up from behind me. “Fine. Let’s go,” I said walking out the Great Hall. Dravin threw his arm around my shoulders and walked next to me. Everyone else formed a protective circle around me.

“Here,” Dravin said softly, presenting me a PB&J sandwich. “Thank you,” I whispered as I took it and scarfed it down. “First fight amongst the Heirs it seems,” Dravin stated. I would’ve answered but I was distracted by the Silver Balled Python that was poking its head out of Dravin’s sleeve and looking at me. The snake slithered out a bit farther and flicked its tongue at me.