#i think i lost the password and i don't think i have access to that email anymore so ill probably never log onto it again lmao

[amoripomoea]

i found my super old ao3 account that i made back in 2016 and abandoned in like 2021 (i don't remember why) and im reading one of my old fics from 4 years ago... tell me why im hooked on it 💀

[darkbluekies]

Like magic —Part 1

part 2 Male!yandere x female!reader x female!yandere

Hogwarts AU

Summary: your parents have denied you access to going to hogwarts, but finally in your 3d year, you manage to sneak off. But is life really that good at hogwarts when two students take a concerningly big interest in you?

Warnings: bullying, indications of unstable home life, kissing (dubcon?), forcing reader to throw up,

Word count: 6.8k

A/N: I have loosely followed the AU, but have made up my own things for the plot to work, so don't take my work literally :)

It has to be a joke, right? There’s no way that you can run straight through a wall! You gulp and look around, seeing if anyone else is doing the same, or if anyone is noticing how much you’re staring at the pillar separating the two platforms. Finally, you see two others make it through and you decide to make a run for it. You close your eyes and when you dare to open them again, you’re there. The train, the students, it’s finally time. After three, long years. 

You were supposed to start when you were eleven, but you weren’t allowed to. They didn’t believe you. If you hadn't picked the lock to your bedroom, you'd not be here this year either. You don't have anything — no books, no animals, no broom. You only have a wand and a packed suitcase. You watch the other students already wearing their Hogwarts uniforms. They hug their parents and catch up with their friends. You sneak onto the train and sit down in your own little coupe. Your heart is hammering against your chest. Your parents will figure it out soon enough and you're terrified that they'll stand on the platform and demand you to get off. 

Just start the train, make it leave.

"Oh, excuse me", a voice says.

You turn your head to the door, seeing a blonde girl standing there with a black, Grey and yellow uniform on.

"Can I sit with you?" she asks and quickly adds: "I saw you out on the platform. You looked rather lost so i just wanted to see if I could help you."

"Yeah, sure", you answer, startled. "Thank you."

The girl sits down on the couch in front of you with a smile.

"I'm Hedwig", she smiles. "Third year student. What's your name?"

"Y/N", you answer hesitantly. "I'm … new."

"I see. You're a first year student?"

"Not exactly, no … I'm supposed to be in third year too-"

"Oh, really?" Hedwig shines up. "I don't think I've ever seen you before. Which house are you in?"

"I don't know." You shrug embarrassedly. "This is technically my first year."

"Oh … I see." She smiles brightly. "That's totally fine. I can help you if you want. We have some hours to kill, so I can fill you up on most things so you're not as lost when you reach Hogwarts as you were out on the platform."

"Yes, please, that would be great. Thank you."

Hedwig fills you in on basic information. Four houses, different characteristics, a talking hat gives you your house. The school is a gigantic castle that has moving stairs, every house has passwords to their common rooms, some teachers are asses, some are okay, some are nice. Don't wander into the forest, especially at night, stay out of certain corridors. The janitor's cat is an asshole.

"I suppose you're a muggleborn then", Hedwig smiles and adds when you frown confusedly: "born and raised by normal people. Otherwise you'd know most things already."

"Are you?" you wonder, wanting to find something in common with this extraordinary girl.

"Halfblood, actually. My dad is a businessman and my mother is a witch. But don't worry, I don't care about what type of families people come from. It doesn't interest me in the slightest."

"Do some care?"

Hedwig squirms uncomfortably. "Some do. Some people think that being from a wizard family makes them superior to halfbloods and muggleborns, but don't you worry, those people aren't worth socializing with."

"Which house are you in?"

Hedwig smiles and shows you the yellow logo on her cape. You can see a badger in the middle.

"I'm a Hufflepuff!" she smiles and giggles. "The best house according to me, but I'm supposedly a bit biased."

"Which do you think I'll get into?" you ask.

"I'm not sure. It's hard for me to say after only talking with you for thirty minutes … but I think you could be a Hufflepuff like me … or a Gryffindor."

"Why a Gryffindor?"

"I don't know, but you seem to have a steady heart."

"Which is the worst house?"

"There's no such thing as a 'worst house', Y/N. Every house has both good and bad people — even Hufflepuff. Although some houses may have a bigger percentage of 'bad' people." She sighs. "Slytherin. Although I do have some friends from Slytherin, some of the students in that house can be quite … scary. Their pride can be extremely big and they let that go out over other people. Don't worry about it though, not everyone is mean."

You nod and gulp.

Hedwig catches you up on some easy spells and knowledge on the rest of the way. You avoid every type of question that can lead her to know about your … situation.

You get sorted into a house in private, after Hedwig asks the principal about not pulling so much attention to you. You're embarrassed as if already. You're a Ravenclaw.

"The uniform is so pretty on you, Y/N!" she gasps as you come out of Dumbledore's office. "The blue looks really good on you."

"Thank you", you say and feel the material. "What do I do now?"

"We'll go back to the welcome ceremony and then you'll have to talk to your prefects. They'll fill you in with everything you need to know." She takes your hands in hers. "If you ever need any books, let me know and I'll lend you one, okay?"

"Thank you, Hedwig."

She doesn't let your hands go. You have to pull them back to be able to walk to the hall. You sit down with the other third years and glance over to Hedwig’s table.

"You know Hedwig?" a Ravenclaw boy with black eyes asks. 

"I met her on the train", you say.

"She's the most popular girl in our year", a girl says. "Everyone wants to be her friend."

"Really?" you wonder and glance at Hedwig who's sitting and smiling with her fellow Hufflepuffs. "She never came across as someone popular."

Maybe you're too used to how the people back home act.

When all the first years have gotten their houses and the food has been devoured, you follow your prefect through mighty corridors that have ghosts flowing past. You enter a rower with a long, spiral staircase. Your legs hurt after four steps.

"Y/N", the prefect says. "Before I show you to the dormitory, I need to talk to you a bit. Do you know any magic at all?"

"Hedwig taught me a bit on the train", you reply, concluding that only saying her first name should work if she's as popular as that boy had insisted.

"You'll have to take extra classes unless you want to start all over with the first graders."

You shake your head quickly. Rather hard work now than be known as 'the third grader among first years' for your entire school time.

You're led into the dormitory and granted your own bed. Your things are already in your drawers. After this long, eventful day, you fall asleep quickly, finally where you should be. When waking up, you’re first confused about where you are, sure that everything that happened yesterday was just a nightmare … but no, it was all real. 

"Now, don't be alarmed, my dear", Hedwig says when you meet her. "You will do just fine, okay?"

"I have never been around the castle", you mumble and take a bite out of your toast. 

"Your first lesson is Transfiguration. You'll have that class with the Slytherin students."

"Will we have any classes together?"

Hedwig smiles widely. "Sure, we will. But I think you better go now, you start in ten minutes." 

Hedwig shoots her book over the table.

"Here you go" she smiles. "Good luck now, I'll meet you for lunch, okay? You can sit with me."

"Okay, thank you", you say quietly and walk out of the great hall. Your heart is beating loudly in your chest and you start to wonder if the feeling of needing to throw up is real or only imaginary.

You find yourself lost in the large corridors before finally finding your way.

"I'm so sorry", you say quietly as you enter. "I lost my way."

"I will have mercy on you this time", the professor says. "But don't think that this will be a habit of yours, young lady. I expect you to be on time from now on."

"Of course, Professor McGonagall. I'll never be late again."

"Very well." She looks around. "Sit down beside Edmund, all the Ravenclaw seats are filled."

"Yes, professor."

You glance over the class and see an empty seat with a boy wearing the Slytherin uniform sitting beside it. He looks bored out of his mind. Carefully, you make your way over and sit down. Edmund glances at you.

"Who are you?" he mutters. "Are you a transfer student or something?"

"Something like that", you answer. 

The class starts and you immediately feel your head spin. You can't keep up.

"What's the matter, new girl?" Edmund chuckles while he leans his cheek in his hand. 

"I-I've never done anything like this!" you hiss to avoid anyone else hearing. 

Edmund’s face drops. He seems to … crawl together without having to move.

"You're a … a-", he starts.

"Edmund and Y/N, if you're going to continue talking, I'll use the both of you as guinea pigs — literally!" the professor says sternly.

Your cheeks heat up in embarrassment when the rest of the class turns to look at the both of You. Edmund rolls his eyes and grabs his book. When they turn around, you breathe out.

As break time starts, Edmund joins his friends.

"New girl", he says, catching your attention. "Next time, come earlier so I don't have to sit with you again."

"Of course", you mutter and leave.

You smile when you see Hedwig wait for you by the entrance to the big hall. She holds out her hand.

"I've missed you!" she smiles and hugs you tightly. "I was worrying for you all through Herbology!" She holds your hand while pulling you with her. "Tell me everything!"

You sit down by the Ravenclaw table to eat. Hedwig’s hazel eyes never leave yours. 

"I came late, so I sat down beside a Slytherin student."

Hedwig's smile thins out slightly. "Oh? Who? Do I know them?"

"His name is Edmund."

Hedwig chokes on her pumpkin soup and starts to cough. 

"What's wrong?" you ask quickly and pat her back.

"Did he say anything to you?" Hedwig asks worriedly. 

"He just told me to be quicker to class next time so he didn't have to sit with me. A bit rude, if you ask me."

"A bit rude? Y/N, that boy is a bully!"

You feel a shiver run down your back. 

"Edmund is one of those bad Slytherins I told you about", Hedwig says quietly. "He's a pureblood and … thinks he's better than anyone else. It's said that his parents helped … well, you know who, before he disappeared two years ago." 

Hedwig had talked about that man on the train. You gulp.

"Whatever you do, Y/N — and promise me this — don't go close to Edmund", Hedwig says and holds your hands in hers. "Please?"

You nod. Hedwig smiles and caresses your cheek.

"Let's go to the library and study on the lunch break", she says. "There's so much you need to learn!"

You study with Hedwig every day. But she doesn't seem to mind, she neglects her friends to be with you. 

"What a cute sight, isn't it?" you hear a voice say.

You're sitting in the courtyard, studying magical history. You look up, seeing Edmund and his two friends come over.

"One half and one mudblood, how sweet", he says with a wide smile. "They really do be letting anyone in these days."

“What is wrong with you?” Hedwig gasps. “Have you no shame?!”

“What? Did I say anything wrong? Aren’t you halfblood, Hedwig?” He turns to you. “New girl, aren’t you muggleborn? What did I say that is wrong, Hedwig?”

“You do not call Y/N that. You are a disgrace to the wizarding world, Edmund.”

“I find it funny how someone that isn’t fully pure is calling me a disgrace.”

Hedwig grabs your hand and helps you up on your feet. 

“Come, Y/N”, she says. “Let’s leave. We can’t study here.”

You nod. While Hedwig drags you away from the courtyard, you glance over your shoulders, seeing Edmund’s icy eyes follow you. 

“I can’t believe that he called you that”, Hedwig says quietly and pulls you with her. “I’m furious.”

“What did that mean?” you ask carefully. “Why did that matter so much?”

“Mudblood, Y/N, is one of the foulest things anyone can ever call a person. It basically means that your blood is disgusting for not being born into a wizard family. He … he called you something less than human. It’s disgusting.” Hedwig hugs you tightly and hides her face into your shoulder. “You don’t deserve that. You’re such a sweet soul, I’m so sorry.”

“Hedwig, it’s okay”, you promise with a smile. “I didn’t take any offense — I barely knew what it meant.”

“I get sad for you. You don’t deserve that.” She thinks for a moment and then lights up. "Would you like to have a sleepover?"

"How would that work out?" 

"Sneak into Hufflepuff, I'll give you the password. I'll take all the blame if we get caught. Please, Y/N? It'll be so much fun."

"The girls you share a dormitory with will be tell on us-"

"No, they won't! Trust me. The girls like me, they wouldn't tattletail."

It must be beneficial to be popular. You frown. Aren't you quite famous now too? After being glued to Hedwig’s hip for over a month must have caused rumors. You have been so busy with your extra classes and studying that you haven't been able to catch up with it all. You barely know what your fellow Ravenclaws are named.

"Please, Y/N?" Hedwig pleads. "It will be so much fun. I will get us some snacks and we can read together and tell stories."

"Where should I sleep?"

"In my bed, of course! We're friends, it's not weird. What do you say?"

"Alright, if you promise that we won't get in trouble."

"No one will tell, I promise!" She takes your hand. "Let's go to the library and study now."

You do sneak into the Hufflepuff common room that evening together with Hedwig. You can't help but feel terribly wrong and every motion you make feels watched. At any time someone will pop out and you'll be caught. Hedwig pulls you through the common room and you can't help but gawk. Why weren't you placed in Hufflepuff?

Wearing your pajamas, you climb down into Hedwig’s bed. She smiles, cuddling up beside you. Her arm hugs yours, her head leaning onto your shoulder. The other girls in the dormitory glances at you, but none of them say anything to you. 

“Y/N, what do you want to do?” she asks. “Would you like to read anything? Or just sleep? Or anything else?”

“I think I’d just like to sleep”, you say quickly. “My nerves are still telling me that this is a bad idea.”

You don’t admit it out loud, but you want it to be over as quickly as possible before someone finds you out. Hedwig nods and turns off the lights. You lay down in the light of the moon and feel how Hedwig crawls down beside you. She pets your hair in a loving manner, feeling it gently.

“You have such pretty hair”, she whispers, making sure no one else hears. “I always stare at it. Have you caught me looking?”

“Actually, no”, you smile. “I know you look at me a lot, but I didn’t know you looked at my hair specifically.”

“I’m not only looking at your hair, silly. I think you’re pretty.”

“I think you’re pretty too, Hedwig.”

“Really? Do you really think so?”

You nod. She seems to burst with happiness.

“But you already know that”, you say. “Everyone loves you. Everyone tells you that.”

“Yes, but there’s a difference when someone you don’t care about says it and when someone you hold dear tells you.”

You smile. Hedwig’s hazel eyes glisten in the moonlight as she smiles widely and curls up in your arms, like a cat. She holds you tightly, hiding her own face into your neck. You’re not sure how, but you do fall asleep easily that night — snug and secure in her warm embrace.

The next morning, Hedwig doesn't want to let you go. She begs you to skip breakfast and lay in bed, buy you insist on eating.

“Before we go, could you please try my uniform?” Hedwig pleads and holds up the yellow and black uniform. “I want to see how you’d look like if you were a Hufflepuff. Please, Y/N? Just for fun?”

“We’ll be late for breakfast”, you mumble. 

“Nonsense.”

She has already start to tug at your pajamas. You give in and put on the Hufflepuff uniform. Hedwig watches you with excited eyes. 

“Oh, why weren't you placed in Hufflepuff?” she sighs. “Why weren’t you placed with me?”

“I don’t know, Hedwig.”

“It’s so unfair.” She pouts. “We belong together. We’re destined to be side by side. Why did the sorting hat have to put us in two different houses?”

“The sorting hat has its reasons. Now, give me back my own uniform so that I can go to breakfast.”

“Yeah, yeah …”

You change into your own uniform before sneaking out to the corridor with no one in sight. A small smile plays on your lips. You managed to to do it!

Together, you walk to the great hall but before you reach it, Professor Snape has caught the both of you. 

“You two better follow with me”, he says coldly. “You’re both in deep trouble.”

Shit. He knows. 

Hedwig takes your hand, squeezing it. You only have time to look at her terrified eyes before you’re pulled into Snape’s office. He’s not alone. It seems like the entire faculty staff is there. Hedwig’s squeeze becomes tighter. 

“Y/N, you went into the Hufflepuff house this night”, Dumbledore says, not sparing any sweet talk. “That is strictly forbidden.”

“I made her do it”, Hedwig says firmly. “Y/N hesitated, I told her into it, I convinced her. Please don't punish her, I was the one giving out the password from the beginning."

"These are serious things, miss."

"I know. I just … I really want to be with Y/N." She takes your hand. "More than anything. I’m so sorry for causing all of this, professor. I will never do it again. Punish me only, please.”

“Snape, this is a clear sign of innocent love”, Dumbledore tells the other man. 

You flinch. Love?

“I don’t care”, Snape mutters. “They broke the rules.”

“I don’t see any malice in their intentions. They only wanted to be with each other. I will not punish them — this time — but if they do this again, I will give them a week’s long detention in different classes. I can’t punish miss Hedwig all too much, after all, she is Y/N’s tutor. But if you break the rules again, Hedwig, we will find someone else to tutor her, is that clear?”

“Yes, professor”, Hedwig replies. “Thank you for not punishing us. We will make sure to behave.”

“You can go.”

Hedwig tugs on your hand before you leave. Your head is spinning with confusion. Who snitched you out? Did one of the girls do that? They could risk house points and to get in conflict with Hedwig … no they wouldn’t risk any of that. Then who?

“Breaking rules is so not Hufflepuff behavior”, a voice snickers. 

You turn to the side, seeing Edmund lean against the wall. 

“You spied on us?” you ask. 

“Spy?” Edmund wonders and stands up. “I couldn’t care less about the two of you, don’t flatter yourselves. You two are like annoying, loud flies, I can’t ignore you because you’re always in my face.”

“Don’t listen to him”, Hedwig says and pulls on your arm. “Let’s go get some breakfast, Y/N.”

“Careful, Hedwig”, Edmund smirks. “You heard what they said: break one more rule and you lose tutor privileges over Y/N.”

You roll your eyes as the two of you walk alongside each other. Edmund’s words don’t feel good in your stomach and you have an eerie suspicion that he’s going to do something. 

You sit out in the grass, reading. While Hedwig is having her defense against dark arts-class you have a free period. Deciding to take your alone time to your benefit, you decide to read up on some things beforehand.

"Where's your little halfblood?" you hear that voice ask.

You look up from your book, seeing Edmund and his two minions grin at you.

"In class", you answer shortly and start to change pages, hoping he gets the hint that you're busy and leaves you alone. 

Edmund snatches the book from you. You cut your finger on the paper. With a hiss, you stand up. Edmund laughs as he looks in the book.

"I learned this last year", he chuckles. "You really are a transfer student. Cute."

"Give it to me", you sigh. "I'm not in the mood, I have to learn that."

"You won't learn from the book. We barely used it for this topic."

"Great. I'm doomed."

"I could offer you some tutoring. I got full marks after all."

You frown. "Why would you do that?"

"What can I say? I'm a generous spirit. Besides, I'm bored. Teaching a little mudblood magic could entertain me for a week or two."

"Don't you have class?"

"Not until twelve thirty." Edmund points at the castle wall with the book. "Sit down, mudblood, let's learn."

That 'nickname' makes your stomach turn. After knowing the full definition, you'd rather have Edmund call you something along the lines of a whore — that way you could actually have some clever comebacks. Mudblood, on the other hand, is nothing you can answer to. You sit down slowly. Edmund sits down on your left side and his two minions on your right side. Edmund opens the book and puts his finger to a paragraph.

"See this?" he asks. "This is something you have to learn in case you want to pass. The checklist doesn't contain this, but it will come anyway. So learn it."

You nod. 

"Take up your wand", he says. "You have to learn this spell."

You pick up your wand from your pocket. Edmund orders one of his friends to stand in front of you as he holds his hand over yours, showing you how you're supposed to move. His hand is cold. The spell causes his friend's wand to be sent flying. You lay the word Expelliarmus onto your mind.

"This is actually great for dueling", he says. "We had some dueling classes last year, but I guess we'll have this year too. In that case, you'll have to have mastered these spells or you can kiss your ass goodbye."

"You'll end up in the hospital wing", one of Edmund’s friends grins.

"H-Hospital wing?" you say and damn yourself for stuttering. 

The three of them chuckles.

"Yes, little girl, hospital wing", Edmund smirks darkly. "Ending up there is never fun. People often scream in pain there. If you end up there you'll never be the same again."

Your wide eyes make Edmund laugh. He presses the book in your arms and stands up.

"Let's make a deal", Edmund says. "Do you know what quidditch is?"

"Hedwig told me on the train", you reply.

"I play. If Slytherin wins the next match, you're going to be my little maid for a full week. You'll do everything I tell you to. And if those ridiculous Gryffindors win, you're free from polishing my shoes."

"I don't get anything either way."

"Don't be greedy, transfer student."

He takes your hand and shakes it before you have time to register. 

"Now you can't back out", he smiles proudly.

"Did you enchant-?"

"Yes."

You rip your hand back, snatch your book and start to walk away. You meet up with Hedwig who's walking out of the classroom.

"What's wrong?" she asks quickly, rubbing your shoulder. "You look disturbed."

"Edmund and his friends cornered me outside. He forced me to make a deal with him."

Hedwig goes white. "What type of deal?"

"He plays quidditch and if he wins the next match, I have to be his maid for a week."

"Oh, my God, I hate him." She cups your cheeks. "We'll come up with a way to stop him or break the deal. Worst case scenario, we'll have to ruin for the entire Slytherin team and then we'll be dead, but if we have to then …"

You nod.

"Let's get you something to eat", Hedwig smiles and takes your hand.

She stays with you until your class starts. The second the classroom door closes, her smile drops. She makes her way over to the Slytherin entrance and waits for one to come out.

"What are you doing here?" the Slytherin girl asks.

"I need to speak to Edmund, do you know where he is?" Hedwig asks shortly.

"I'd suppose the quidditch court. He came in laughing and said that he had to train hard this time."

"That son of a- … thank you, for your help."

"No problem."

The Slytherin girl passes her and Hedwig scoffs. The audacity of Edmund …

She makes her way over to the quidditch court, finding him training all alone. He doesn't notice her at first, but when he does  a smirk plays on his lips. He flies down to the ground and steps off his broom, holding it close to his body.

"Well, well", he says. "I start to believe that you're obsessed with me the way you're always hanging around. By the way, did you know that there's a rumor going around about you and Y/N? You're not slick, you know. Everyone knows that you're head over heels for her."

"Cut the talk, Edmund. Break the deal with Y/N. She has enough on her plate. I'm not going to let you hurt her."

"You came here to threaten me? Careful now, Hedwig, think about what you're doing." 

"I'm not going to let you take her from me."

Edmund takes a step closer. His icy cold blue eyes seem to darken without having to change their light color. "Listen closely, you filthy, little halfblood", he hisses. "If you try to interfere — if you even try as much as to stick your pointy little nose into my business — I'll put you into the hospital wing until I'm done with Y/N. Is that clear?"

Hedwig can't answer. Edmund walks past her, intentionally hitting her shoulder with his. 

The day for the match arrives. 

"I think that I'm going to throw up", you mutter, taking a hold of the wood railing in front of you.

The two teams are flying above you, tension growing.

"I'm sure he won't win", Hedwig says, but she sounds hesitant. 

“Slytherin has the lead!"

"Let's hope that the Gryffindor seeker gets the snitch."

"Did you manage to destroy for Edmund?"

Hedwig shakes her head carefully. You groan and rest your forehead down on the wooden railing. Another score has been made and you don't want to look. Finally, someone has caught the snitch. Slytherin wins. You look up in horror, eyes darting to Edmund. He's looking right at you with a smirk. You're dead.

Already the next morning, Edmund waits for you outside the Ravenclaw entrance. He dumps his heavy books in your hands.

"We're having a class together", he says. "And you are going to carry my books."

You groan and take a better grip on his — and your — books, unsure how you're going to carry them all to the other side of the school.

"Where's your friends?" you ask.

"They're still at breakfast", Edmund replies as you start to walk. "I don't need them now, not when you're carrying my things. Speaking of friends, I don't want you to be with that annoying Hufflepuff during the entire week."

"I'm not going to be your dog."

"Oh, yes, you are — and you're going to bark if I tell you to."

"What am I going to do when you're in class and I'm not, then? Be all alone?"

"Yes, because if I find out that you've been talking to her, I'm going to make you wish you never transferred here, got that?"

You nod. Edmund doesn't say anything more until you reach the classroom. He catches up with his friends who laugh loudly when they see you. Oh, how you wish that you knew any transfiguration spell that could turn you into a mouse.

"Look, she's embarrassed!" one of his friends mock.

Others start to turn to look at you with chuckles. Their stares burn right through you. You want to hide your face in the pile of books in your hands. 

"Sit with me", Edmund says and grabs your tie to pull you with him. "You're going to take notes for me."

You sit down in the middle of the classroom. Edmund pushes you to the chair by the wall while he takes the aisle seat, trapping you. You take notes for him while simultaneously trying to ignore that he exists. Surprisingly, you're great at multitasking. 

You give him the notes as soon as the class is dismissed. Edmund reads it with a smirk on his face.

"Good job, little girl", he says. "I can actually read them." He folds it and puts it in his pocket. "Now, let's go get some air."

Together with his two friends, you walk out to the courtyard. You can see Hedwig with some of her friends walking from the Herbology classroom. She hugs books close to her body, one being the Herbology book, the other a book about potions. You meet her eyes. She suddenly looks incredibly sad, but tries to give you a small, reassuring smile. You're close to jumping out of your skin when you feel a hand on your shoulder. Turning, you see that Edmund has noticed Hedwig as well. He squeezes your shoulder while keeping eye contact with the girl. Hedwig turns her eyes away and speeds her steps.

Not seeing Hedwig feels like a punishment in itself. Edmund and his friends aren't pleasant, at all — or at least not his friends, Edmund’s not been as bad as you thought. He's toned down on the vulgar nicknames and started small talking when you're walking.

"Stop fucking yawning", Edmund mutters and hits you in the back of your head.

"Why are we up before the sun?" you whine and rub your eyes.

"You're going to watch my quidditch practice."

He drags you out into the cold, autumn air, over to the high wooden pillars of the quidditch court. You're sat down in the Slytherin section and told to sit there until he's done. Edmund disappears to the changing room and comes out in his quidditch uniform. You sit still, watching. You can't quite understand the rules, even if you've already watched a match. You're unsure of what Edmund’s position is or what the flying balls are used for. Every minute grows colder. When the sun has risen, you're as cold as ice. You can no longer feel your fingers or toes.

Edmund flies over to you, now holding his Slytherin scarf and gloves in his hand.

"You're so stupid, why didn't you bring your own scarf?" he mutters while tying his around your cold neck. 

"I barely knew who I was when I walked out of the common room", you mumble. "I was so tired. And now I'm cold and hungry."

"You do nothing but complain, do you? Breakfast is in an hour. Think you can hold out until then?"

You nod tiredly. 

"Good girl" he says and puts the gloves on your cold hands. "Keep your hands in the gloves and put them in your pockets. You're like a child, unbelievable."

Ironic, coming from a brat like Edmund. You take a deep breath and sink into the seat. When Edmund’s done, he changes into his normal uniform and comes to meet you. You start to take off the scarf, but his hands stop you.

"Leave it on", he says shortly. "Come now."

The second you enter the castle, you feel warmer. You're about to remove the scarf for a second time.

"God, woman, just keep it on, will you?" Edmund mutters and ties it to the point where you choke. 

"We're inside now, I don't need it anymore."

"Oh, trust me, you do."

"Why?"

Edmund smirks. "To give your girlfriend a sweet little memory."

"We're not together though."

Edmund furrows his brows and nods, clearly thinking hard.

"Very well", he says. "Winners keeper, I say."

"What?" 

"Nothing."

His icy blue eyes sparkle in a new, competitive way, like he's now gotten a new challenge. His hands tie a double knot in the scarf before sending you off to the Ravenclaw table. The others give you weird glances. By now, it's not a secret that you're Edmund’s pet. Although it's only two days left of your week, you're sure that your reputation as his dog will stay with you throughout your entire schooling. 

You look around, noticing Hedwig sitting by the Hufflepuff table. She looks at you with something you can't describe in her eyes, something dark. She holds something in her hand. You can just make out the outline of a small, pink bottle. She gives you a small, sad smile. All you want is to go over and hug her, but you remember Edmund’s warning. You have a class together after breakfast however, he can’t forbid you from going to it. 

Your plate is already set out with a glass full of pumpkin juice. Devouring it would be an understatement — especially after the morning you’ve had. You're happy no one is taking a picture.

The day continues normally after Edmund’s rude awakening. You can meet up with Hedwig in Herbology class, and oh, how happy you're to see her. You hug her tightly, earning a mirroring squeeze back. She buries her head into your hair. 

"I've missed you so much", she coos, hugging you tightly. “So, so much.”

You breathe her in, mind getting fogged up with her scent. Oh, how you want nothing more than to ditch Edmund and be with her. Hedwig doesn't seem to mind how you cling onto her and you’re surprised yourself with how much you want to hold onto her. She strokes your hair with a smile. Being back with Hedwig — despite Edmund's warnings — feels like absolute paradise. The few days spent apart has made you see her in a completely new light. You’ve forgotten how pretty she is. 

"I can't watch that anymore", she sighs and starts to remove the Slytherin scarf from your neck. "Where is your scarf, dearest?"

"In my dormitory", you answer sheepishly. 

Hedwig gives you a motherly stern gaze before taking off her Hufflepuff scarf and tying it around your neck. It smells just like her.

"That's better", Hedwig smiles. "Don't you think so?"

You nod. Much, much better. The teacher interrupts your talk with demands of the two of you working. You don't mind, because you work with Hedwig who knows exactly what to do. 

"Would you like to read on the break?" Hedwig asks you.

You nod, not even thinking about Edmund’s threats. You follow her out to the yard, sitting on one of the brick walls with her. You lay down with her head in her lap while she reads aloud for you. You can't focus on the words, only how they're formed through Hedwig's pink lips. You want to feel them on yours. Before you have time to think, you reach up to kiss her. Her lips melt into yours instantly.Hedwig lets go of her book and cups her cheeks to kiss back. Fuck Edmund, you think. You pull Hedwig closer, wanting to be filled with her and her only. Everything about her is soft, even her kisses. They're filled with love and taste like strawberry.

"What the fuck are you doing?" the voice you've just damned says angrily. "I warned you, mudblood, didn't I?"

He rips you from Hedwig, up on your feet. Edmund glances from Hedwig to you, and back. He halts and grabs a hold of your face, opening your eyes with his thumbs. 

"You sneaky bitch!" he gasps. "You've given her a love potion!"

"I have not", Hedwig replies defensively. 

"Really? Then why are her pupils heart shaped?"

Hedwig doesn't answer. Edmund grabs a hold of your arms.

"If you excuse me, I'm going to go shove my fingers down her throat to get it out of her", he says coldly.

"You are not!" Hedwig screeches and rips you back.

"Then you'll get it out of her. I don’t care how, but Y/N is going to puke that love potion out before the break is over. Y/N is still mine, remember? I have two more days to do whatever I want with her."

Hedwig groans. Edmund, you, Hedwig and Edmund’s two friends make your way to the girls bathroom. The boys wait outside while Hedwig takes you into the bathroom stalls. She helps you throw up the love potion, holding your hair in her hands. 

“And there goes my well earned breakfast …”, you sigh groggily and get up from your knees. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N”, Hedwig whispers guiltily with tears in her eyes. “I didn’t want to trick you or anything, please don’t believe that. I-I just … I was scared that Edmund had manipulated you. I had to make sure that you knew that … he wasn’t good.”

You sigh and nod heavily. “I understand, but I had wished that you hadn’t given to me without my knowledge.”

“I’m really, really sorry. Can you please forgive me?”

The tears fall down her cheeks. You can’t be mad at her, not after every nice thing she’s done to you. You can see how bad she feels. You’re sure that she won’t do it again. 

“Of course”, you say. “I’m just grateful that you didn’t make a potion that did something bad. It wasn’t the potion itself that was bad, it was the way you did it.”

“I understand. I’ll never do it again, I promise! I will never, ever do anything like that again!” She takes your hands and sniffles. “I don’t want to lose you as a friend. I-I do like you more than a friend … but I will not let that come between our friendship. Please don’t leave me. I can lose every single friend I have … but not you. Oh, God, not you.”

You can hear Edmund bang on the door to the girls bathroom impatiently and you sigh.

“I can’t spend time with you right now”, you say. “Edmund’s right — unfortunately — I have two more days in his captivity. If not, he’s promised to ruin my life. I don’t want to take that risk, I’ve had enough problems.” You squeeze her hands. “It’s just two more days.”

Hedwig sniffles and nods. “Okay.”

You give her a small smile before going back to Edmund. He tells his friends to take you further down in the corridor while he talks with Hedwig. She wipes her tears and glares at him. 

“Silly girl”, Edmund scoffs. “You’re not that bright, are you?”

“I don’t know what you want Y/N, but at least I didn’t do anything to cause her harm, like you do”, Hedwig answers sharply. “I did something that would benefit her.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Y/N belongs to me now and if you don’t want to get hurt, Hedwig, stay out of my way, got it? I’m warning you. If I were you, I’d listen.”

Hedwig takes a step closer. “I’m not going to let anybody take her from me.”

Edmund’s eyebrow twitches. “Alright then. Suit yourself.”

With that said, he walks towards his friends and you, leaving Hedwig behind. He rips of the Hufflepuff scarf. 

“Get that ugly thing off of your neck”, he mutters and drags you with him. “Can’t even leave you alone for five minutes! Can’t fucking believe that little filth. If Hedwig gets to play dirty, then I do too.” He stops to wipe of your lips. “If you ever kiss her again, I’ll kill her.”

You try push his arm off of you, but instead, it tightens and he gives you a stern look. 

“I should just do it …”, he mutters. 

“Do what?”

He gives your lips a quick peck. You stand as frozen, looking up at him in shock. Edmund rests his hand on your cheek. 

“Never kiss her again.”

[gatoraid]

Rakugo references in One Room Angel

(Alert: this post includes spoilers)

One Room Angel, the BL drama directed by Eda Yuka, based on the manga of the same name by Harada, features quite a lot of references to rakugo. Angel seems to enjoy performing rakugo both now and in his past life, and a famous rakugo reference ends up being the key for uncovering Angel’s past memories.

So, what is rakugo and what are the rakugo stories referenced in One Room Angel?

In short, rakugo is a form of traditional comedic storytelling, that was born during the Edo period. It’s been around for about 300 years now. In a way it could be compared to stand-up comedy, except in stand-up, every performer has their own stories/jokes, whereas in rakugo the performers (rakugoka) mostly perform existing rakugo stories, bringing their own flair to them. Rakugoka use only their voice and expressions, plus simple tools like a paper fan (or chopsticks in Angel's case) and a folded tenugui towel to evoke different characters, settings and items in the story. 

Since rakugo was born during the Edo period and was considered entertainment for ordinary people, many classical (kotenrakugo) stories make references to everyday Edo life. There are also new rakugo stories (shinsakurakugo) being written and performed by rakugoka nowadays. 

The two rakugo stories referenced in One Room Angel, Manjuu kowai ( まんじゅうこわい, ”I’m afraid of manju”) and Jugemu (寿限無/じゅげむ) are both classical rakugo. My Japanese teacher told me that these two stories are usually taught to kids at school, so even without ever seeing a live rakugo performance, most Japanese people would be familiar with them.

Manjuu kowai is the story that Angel is repeatedly seen performing. The story starts with an introduction talking about how different people have different tastes, likes and fears. The story itself is about a man who claims that he is afraid of manju (a bun filled with sweet bean paste), and when his friends try to play a prank on him by filling his house with manju, proceeds to eat them and then wonders if he should next tell them that he’s afraid of tea. I really don't think there's any deeper meaning for why they chose this particular story, other than that it's so well known.

Jugemu is a story about a boy with a ridiculously long name. When he was born, his parents asked a Buddhist monk suggestions for a good name that would ensure a long life. After getting a list of names, the parents couldn’t choose just one, so they ended up naming their son Jugemu Jugemu Goko no Surikire Kaijarisuigyo no Suigyomatsu Unraimatsu Furaimatsu Ku Neru Tokoro ni Sumu Tokoro Yabura Koji no Bura Koji Paipo-paipo Paipo no Shuringan Shuringan no Gurindai Gurindai no Ponpokopi no Ponpokona no Chokyumei no Chosuke.

The comedy of the story partly comes from the rakugoka’s ability to recite the long name with amazing speed, and from how inconvenient such a long name is when you just want to have a normal conversation.

Jugemu is referenced in the twitter username tks_jugem2, and Kouki is able to guess the password for the account based on Jugemu’s full name (ie what comes after two Jugemus). 

The irony that a boy who ended up dying so young had a username based on a boy whose million names were meant to ensure a long life is not lost on me. I’m not sure if that was actually what Harada intended in the og story at all, maybe it’s just me overthinking, but it makes this whole thing even sadder.

Fun fact: in the manga, the password was not spelled out for the reader like it was in the drama, you had to figure it out yourself if you wanted to access a website that is linked at the end of the manga that features a special bonus drawing. I think you can still find the link at the end of the english edition of One Room Angel manga on MangaPlanet’s website.

If you want to know more about rakugo, I definitely recommend checking out Descending Stories/ Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. It's a story about two rival rakugoka, and it showcases the culture and stories of rakugo with love and detail. The original manga was drawn by the famous BL mangaka Kumota Haruko, so even if it’s not strictly BL, I think BL lovers will enjoy it (I sure did). The manga has been licensed in english by Kodansha and there is also a beautiful anime adaptation and a live action drama!

Online sources: JP and ENG wikipedia, NHK for School

[painterfriend]

Summary (VERY SIMPLIFIED VER) of what happened with Cellbit, Richas, Forever and the Federation, for those who may have gotten a little lost.

Order of events:

During Cellbit's break (he did not stream for 2 days) someone, probably Max, decided to show all of the server one cringe tv ad Cellbit did many years ago.

Obviously, Cellbit was embarrassed by this. But out of nowhere, he started acting really weird. He started being mean to eggs, and isolating himself away from other people.

He eventually betrays everyone by saying he wanted to have 100% of Richa's paternity, told everyone he'd join the Fed and wouldn't leave the island. Pretty much said he'd do anything if it meant Richas was safe, and told Forever breaking the rules was a bad idea as it would endanger the eggs.

This caused a huge commotion as it was all very sudden- causing everyone to dislike him. Forever is especially hurt by this and they become enemies.

Cucurucho accepts and brings him to The Hospital, shows him things no one's seen before, such as confirming there are more than 1 Cucurucho.

MEANWHILE

Quackity gets notice of what has happened, convinces Richas that he's better off with him than with Forever and Cellbit.

Quackity "kidnaps" Richas and brings him to a place far away from society. He manipulates Richas into thinking he's not safe with his Brazilian parents.

Before this happens, Richas leaves notes for Cellbit and Forever.

Pac and Mike end up finding these notes, then proceed to notify Forever, and Forever tells them what happened with Cellbit.

BadBoyHalo decides to help Forever find Richas, and they eventually DO find him.

Forever tells Richas to go back. He does agrees with Quackity's point- maybe Richas should stay away from Cellbit and himself while this goes on. But Quackity does not have the resources to keep Richas safe, nor does log in everyday, so he comes to the conclusion that it's better for him to stay over with Pactw and Mike.

Forever talks about this to Richas and and then brings the idea over to Mike. Forever tells Mike to hide Richas as best as he can, and tells him to not tell ANYONE (not even himself) of the location. Mike agrees.

Richas is a bit cautious about this, as it seems Quackity's words frightened him, so Forever brings Mike over to have a talk with him. Forever then decides to leave them to have a private talk. Mike wasn't streaming, so we don't know what happened yet, but I guess it's safe to assume Pactw and Mike will be the main caretakers of Richas from now on.

BUT AS IT TURNS OUT

Cellbit had already planned his betrayal from way back then. He just didn't know when to do it, as betraying the great polycule would be extremely weird, without any reason, lowering his chances of being accepted by the Federation.

You see, he's not really "betraying" he's playing the long game here. He's playing mole, trying to find secret info from the inside.

Of course, NOBODY knew this. Not the streamers, not the fed, not the viewers and not sofia. He even avoided showing his plans on stream.

Cellbit went as far as to hide all of the things he's done, his files and changed SOFIA's password so that Max couldn't access it (more on that later).

The only person who got know more was Richas. Cellbit himself admitted it was risky telling this stuff to Richas, but the thought of Richas being disappointed in him made him too sad.

...So yeah. For the moment Cellbit's plan is being undercover, only to reveal everything later. He says he hopes he won't regret any of this.

As for Max, on Cellbit's files, he says he really doesn't trust him. Like how after making an alliance with the Fed, a code attempted on his life. afterall, the codes are the enemies of the Fed. But that's what makes Max so suspicious, he was attacked by the codes before. Not only that, he made SOFIA. It all indicates Max is hiding something.

This all up until today, 26/05. There's a whole ass document Cellbit made but it's already been translated @mooniebunny, check it out!

If I got something wrong here please tell me.

[justin-chapmanswers]

If you don't mind me asking, is there any old Inanimate Insanity video that isn't available, lost media if you will. The only thing I can think of is the audition for fan character in season 1, it was mention on episode 5.5 and the Taco Show. I wonder if there is a way to view these video again, maybe saved somewhere. I think they are important part of the history of the show, but I understand if you don't want to reupload these video.

Golly golly. I think that pre-5.5 video is the main loss in terms of things that never got saved anywhere, especially before the hacking/deletion incident. There's also no record of the Inanimate Insanity Audition video, but that was on DuncanEpic not AnimationEpic. Nothing crazy about it, but a neat little archival of all the original character designs and requested audition lines. Bonus would be if there were video responses also still embedded, I watched all of those auditions back in 2011 so many times to see if I felt I could be the frontrunner for any of the roles.

Paper also gets the short end of the stick haha. Nothing that was uploaded, but I recorded two or three things for him in that 2011-2012 window that were started and never made. There was a short written/voiced with the start of animation starring Paper that I really remember super little about. Except for like... I him having a tough day and then tumbling down a hill. He was also the main guest on The Taco Show 2 (I think it was going to start inviting each contestant on to guest after their elimination?). Also don't remember anything from that script except for the fact that Knife was introduced late as Taco's bodyguard and he had to forcibly remove Paper from the premises. Paper had a repeated string of bad luck in all of these, which by-coincidence was replicated with the gag someone added into FFF 4.

And of course can't forget the Friday (Rebecca Black) cover music video that was organized by Nate Groth and started animation. Starring Balloon, with his pals Nickel and Knife. Good times.

But yes! The recommended character video you mentioned earlier, that was a FINALIZED gem lost to time when the April-August 2011 slate was wiped from the channel. STORYTIME.

Adam was going away to camp for the Summer, and he left Nate Groth and me with channel access and each a different responsibility. Nate was to create from scratch the entire video that asks the audience to submit a recommended character for consideration to join the game. Nate and I would pick the ten concepts we liked the most, Adam would pick which of the ten joined the game. It was like a five minute video narrated by Knife explaining everything.

Meanwhile, just Adam gave me episode 5 to upload on August 1st (in a time before scheduled videos). And Nate was not having it.

Nate felt like getting to upload an actual episode as opposed to the recommended character video was a MUCH cooler job. Envious, while Adam was away at camp and in the days leading up to August 1st, Nate changed the password to the account and locked me out in protest. I had to calmly address the situation, remind him of how awesome his recommended character video is, and assure him he can do the next episode upload whenever Adam cannot do it (which would of course never come to fruition cause he was only on the team for another month or so).

Nate shared the password and the episode got out on time, but Adam was frustrated with what happened and understandably locked out everyone else from the account. Nate, of course, got back into the account via (admittedly easy) security questions a few weeks later in his next fit of rage and deleted all of the videos- ironically, erasing his own video creation for all time.

[mixelation]

on storage seals

one really Typical thing i feel fic protagonists who specialize in fuinjutsu do is a whole lot of pre-planning but sealing tons of objects into scrolls. but i get kind of annoyed with this trope when it's treated as some sort of obvious thing or Great Convenience that other characters don't get to have, but.... there's no reason given why everyone doesn't just do this? given everyone seems to have storage scrolls, why doesn't everyone just do what your fuinjutsu specialist does??

that's my approach to a lot of the weirder solutions i have my characters hit on, TBH. why doesn't everyone do this? if you can store bento boxes in a scroll to eat later (example i've seen more than once), surely everyone would do this. did you have to do something special to keep them in stasis so they don't go bad? if you can do it, why can't anyone else? even if it were very difficult to do, it seems useful enough older, genius characters would have figured it out and spread it. is the seal stupid complicated to draw? was this the culmination of thousands of hours of experimentation?

i just don't like "no one else has thought fo this" as reason when "no one else" includes generations of ninja, unless the author can very carefully sign post WHY their character has such a different way fo thinking from everyone else on earth.

all that being said tori has a lot of hangups over suddenly losing every single possession she owns one day, so i think she probably shoves a lot of things into seal storage, particularly the ones where you can key into a special dimension from anywhere (as opposed to everything being tied to a single scroll that could be lost of destroyed). i have to come up with limitations for it but i think an obvious one would be the fuinjutsu equivalent of forgetting your password

tori: great news everyone. i remembered how to open chapstick dimension.

tori: it's where i store all my chapstick so i can access it whenever. <3

tori: (puts all her new chapsticks in with old, only to forget her password the next time she goes more than a week without needing chapstick)

[dreamsequencermusic]

Big corporations should burn in the fire of the revolution

I'm fucking done this time. I'm furious, seriously. I'm sick and tired of Google's and Facebook's and Amazon's sleezy corporate policies and poor platform management decisions.

What happened, I hear you ask? Well, I lost my goddamn phone. And just like that I'm locked out of all of my important data and contacts, because of the fucking two-step verification bullshit they came up with. Most importantly, in the case of Google, I DISABLED THAT SHIT just two weeks ago.

I know my e-mail, I know my password, I even know my "secret secutity questions", which are apparently useless these days. Still, I can't use anything, I almost missed a job interview because of this, I can't call my friend, who lives in Denmark, and I can't access half of the websites I often visit (including my Stripe account and YouTube channel), because they're all tied up with fucking Google.

Make no mistake about this is. This is not about our security. The mere reason this 2-step assfuckery exists is to create a bridge between your computer and your phone so those corporate dipshits and sleazy marketing dickheads have your online identity complete. So they can show your more "relevant" ads.

That's right buddy, look at those beautifully AI generated toothpaste ads. Get that new gorgous tracking device, which probably cost the life of some poor kid in China. There you go. Accept all cookies. Goood boy. Now lick my fucking boots and balls and go back to your wage-slave job, while we come up with more ways to tighten the rope around your neck even more. I think we should come up with some new ways to lock you out of your bank accounts as well, what do you say? Oh, right. That already exists.

This is bullshit. We don't need you. YOU need us. You need us to be quiet, and docile, and engaged in some meaningless conflict, so you can smoke your fine cigars and take a nice, warm bath in our own tears.

And what WE need is just a little more boat rocking, just a little more eye poking, and I swear to God, - you're all gonna get what you asked for, delivered Ramsay Bolton style.

See you on the streets.

[renxstimpy]

CLARIFICATION OF MY CANCELLATION MADE BY AXE

Hey guys, I'm posting this to clarify a few things:

• When I made the profile, I had indeed put in my description that I was a pro-shipper, which at this moment makes me feel somewhat sick to normalize pedophilia. The truth is that at that time I only saw it from the point of view of "It's just a cartoon" but now I see that seeing those things in things as common as in cartoons is normalizing something that is wrong.

• I've been told it's more perverted to draw your oc having sex with a cartoon character, but that's fine Axe because I don't criticize or put labels just because of his art, art is diverse and can be interpreted in many ways. If you see my drawing of me and Stimpy in women's underwear as blasphemy, that's fine.

• It seems ridiculous to me that you want to cancel me just for something that happened several months ago, I mean, at least I have the ability to change, I'm not an internet monster who sticks to his ideology without considering the different points of view as well as not realizing his mistakes and I know that on this occasion I was the one who made the mistake and I apologize for my vocabulary from months ago.

• I also think it is unfair because I had not been active on that account, so by common sense it was because something happened to that person, for example to me, I lost the password of my profile losing accessibility to change my description

[economicsresearch]

page 562 panel a - Of course you are welcome to tell yourself that the machine connects you to more of your life, in the same way having access to wikipedia makes you smarter. It doesn't. You are an empty vessel that sometimes feels filled but moments later you are drained and vacant. You don't remember anything. You just look and move on. You have farmed out the hard work of memory to a tool and you are now slave to it, your abilities of recall atrophied. Plenty obliterates all nuance and subtlety. Unless your goal is to be a shit cyborg whose experience of the world is a shallow one, you are not better for your tools.

The cost of it all only adds to the humiliation. Not just the cost of having emotional profundity erased and overridden by visual overabundance, but there is actual treasure we hand over to be treated in this way. A worse product at a higher price. Remembering for ourselves is free but now there's rent. Maybe only cents on the day but still we tithe a corporation to keep a dead parent alive or remember an ex who we hated at the end. Why are they still here? Monetary cost, emotional cost, such small amounts you barely notice, but real all the same. The ghosts of memory we can't quite see, the ghosts of wealth drained that we never knew we had, they all grow fat and laugh at us.

Memories gained, memories lost. It feels natural, like the moon and the tides, ceaseless and without worry. As the night draws on this moonrise is lost but there will be another tomorrow, it goes. But once we decided to hoard and fortify, make memories permanent now that they're safely stored outside our fallible biology, it all becomes brittle and a loss is catastrophic; there is trauma in preservation now. Our technological aide-memoire (usurper-memoire?) make us think it can all be retained, we just need to use the tools, pay the toll, be conscientious, have some goddamned personal responsibility. But a harddrive melts, a password is lost or a company goes bankrupt and once again there is the same old loss. Only this time it's your fault. If only there had been a third back-up or a fourth, then I wouldn't have so foolishly deleted this piece of my soul. And we are left ill and worried by a buzz inside us as we try to keep it all safe, but we can't. We can't control the corporation that dances and sways in capitalism's breeze or even the micro solder that has some imperfect weakness at an atomic level, We can only pray.

[naryrising]

3 easy things to do so you don't get locked out of your AO3 account

(Prefacing this by saying that while I am chair of the Support committee and thus handle plenty of attempted account recovery situations, this is unofficial advice based on my own observations.)

OK, ideally you would never get locked out of your AO3 account. You would keep your email address there up to date so if you ever did forget your password, you can request a reset and get right back in. Or you would use a password manager and never forget your password again. But sometimes things happen - maybe you used an older email that you no longer have access to, or you can't remember which of 27 different fannish emails you used, and now you want to get back into your account but you can't. I get it, it can happen easily enough.

Here are 3 things you can do with relatively minimal effort that would potentially make it easier to recover your account if you do get inadvertently locked out.

Put some social media links in your AO3 Profile. Add your tumblr, your twitter, your dreamwidth, your fanfiction.net or wattpad, or whatever you feel comfortable putting there. If you don't want to put your "real" social media there (for whatever reason - stalkers, nosy family, don't like mixing fannish and real life, etc.) go MAKE a fannish account somewhere else purely for the purpose of linking it on AO3. Keep those accounts active (by which I mean, don't lose the email/password there too! Maybe even use a different email address than you use on AO3, so if your email access suddenly shuts down one day, you haven't lost both accounts.)

Post a work or two! Even if you are mainly using your account for reading/bookmarking/subscribing, write a drabble or a short fic and post it. You can disable comments, make it restricted to archive users only, etc. if you don't want to deal with potential feedback. You can even post it to an anon collection if you want to keep people from knowing it was you. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, just a valid fanwork (so don't just post some random words or something).

In conjunction with #1 and 2, cross-post a work from another site. If you have older fanfics you never imported from Livejournal or Wattpad or fanfiction.net, import them now! If you have a little series of ficlets you wrote for a prompt on tumblr or twitter once, archive those. (Yes, even if you think they're bad or embarrassing. They still deserve to be archived! See above about making a work anon or restricting access if you prefer.) If you don't have pre-existing older works posted elsewhere, write a new story, post your story somewhere else (say, on dreamwidth or tumblr), and then a day or two later, archive it on AO3.

Even doing one or two of these things would make the chances of recovering your account higher, but doing all three would be ideal!

[notetaeker]

found out today that google is full of sh!t PLS PROTECT YOURSELVES

my account got hacked, the hacker changed all my recovery details and now has access to my google drive files, my emails, any photos in google photos, and also the login info to so many websites that use google and there is NO way to get anything back or at least delete the acct.

You would think that google, as a company offering to store and handle so much info and FILES in particular and also passwords and login infos for other websites would have some kind of support for this but no they don't even have a single customer service phone number or any way of recovering anything. I searched around online for solutions but the internet is FILLED with THOUSANDS of ppl with the same concern for YEARS who lost their files, lost their connected youtube accts with thousands of subscribers. I lost access to my yahoo acct too but they had a customer service phone number (paid) but at least they verified my identity and helped me to get access back and secured my account. PSA: DO NOT RELY ON GOOGLE TO SAVE ANYTHING FOR YOU. BACK UP YOUR OWN STUFF ELSEWHERE. If anything goes wrong there is literally 0 recourse - google offers absolutely 0 support:

My only wish now is to be able to at least delete the account so they don't have access to all my info anymore but there is literally no place to go for that so I just have to be okay knowing some evil people indefinitely have 10+ years worth of my private info (emails, files, photos)

PLS learn from my mistake and use this opportunity unentangle yourself from google. They literally. have no recourse if anything goes wrong. It's not like it's impossible: Yahoo literally asked me for my state ID and location to give me access back to my account.

[ragecndybars]

AO3 tag game :3

thanks so much for the tag @mvshortcut !!!!! much appreciated, this was a blast to fill out :D

How many works do you have on AO3?

86! Damn, that's more than I remember 🙀 I have been writing pretty fervently since I was pretty young, though, and I transferred all my old fics from fanfiction dot net to AO3, so it's a long stretch of time. All my old wattpad fics are still rotting somewhere though lmaooo I can't even access them anymore bc I forgot my password and I can't reset it bc I used a school email 😔

What's your total AO3 word count?

443,734! When I get to half a million I'm gonna have to throw myself a party. With boba and everything

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Oof, okay, here we go. A lot of the fandoms I have tagged on AO3 don't really "count" because they're just aggregate tags for the same fandom, so even though AO3 says the number is 48, I'm gonna count the TRUE number as 17. (It got cut down so much because of how many video game series have different games with different fandom tags on AO3, lmao)

Here's the breakdown of the list:

Persona (Mostly Persona 3)

Fire Emblem (Mostly Shadow Dragon and Blazing Sword)

Legend of Zelda

Pokemon

Professor Layton

RWBY

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Earthbound/MOTHER

Red vs. Blue

Voltron Legendary Defender

Naruto

Final Fantasy XV

Harvest Moon

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Avengers

Animal Crossing

Care Bears (despite having never actually consumed any Care Bears media to my knowledge)

The worst part is that this stupid list would be much, much, MUCH longer if I finished even a quarter of my WIPs 😭 Hell, even just my "Video Games" subfolder in my "Fanfiction" subfolder has more than 17 subfolders in it...

Y'all don't understand how many random fics my ADHD spares you from ever seeing I have no focus

Top five fics by kudos:

Ash and Emotion (Zelda) - Not surprising, I knew this was my most popular fic. It was for a ZeLink zine full of beautiful work :)

Resemblance (Naruto) - bro I always forget people really liked this one. Literally an unedited drabble I did in an hour for a "pride month drabble challenge" which I immediately abandoned. Trans rights I guess

Always Wanna Play (But You Never Wanna Lose) (Persona 3) - This one isn't surprising either, and I'm very proud of this fic so I'm quite chuffed to see it get so much attention... thanks everyone :')

The Beat of Your Heart (Zelda) - Now this one surprised me a lot. This was just a little piece for ZeLink week... Another unedited one, I literally was writing it on the toilet in church so I could get it out in time 😭

Comfort (Zelda) - Another ZeLink week piece, but I knew this one was popular. Also unedited, lmao. I was writing it on the day of my AP Calc finals and I rushed through the exam so I could have more time to work on the fic 😭 I made some Choices that year

Do you respond to comments?

I try to! But I get very anxious about it and tend to work myself into a tizzy, so I often put it off for later and then forget, haha. Then I'll go and respond to all my comments from the last few months and feel even weirder about it... T_T

What's the fic with the angstiest ending you've ever written?

Oof. That's... a hard one, haha. I've written a couple of fics without happy endings, though I typically don't. At least three fics which end on a canonical character death, for instance. But I'd say the ending which made me the most emo writing was Butter, a Mother 3 fic. It ends with Lucas, who's like 9, recently lost his mother, then lost his twin brother (and thinks it's his fault), and is now being neglected by his father, crawling into bed and crying. So yeah, pretty bleak, lmao... but at least he doesn't die I guess?

Do you write crossovers?

I do, but I haven't posted many yet. I'm not always huge on writing them, but I do think about them a lot. I was working on this one Persona 3 x Fire Emblem Awakening crossover but I lost steam on it, and now there's a really lovely crossover on AO3 with a similar premise that I was SO delighted to come across!!! Hope y'all don't mind me taking a break from linking my own work to shill for this one, hehe

Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?

Unfortunately, yes, about six times, I'd say. Even more unfortunately, most of those times happened earlier on in my fanfic writing career, and I was pretty sensitive to hate back then, so I deleted many of the relevant fics, and some of them I don't even have access to myself anymore.

Not gonna talk about the ones that are still upsetting, but I will talk about the funny examples: on a (since deleted) RWBY fic, I said in the author's note that I "wrote them as platonic, but the fic can be read as WhiteRose", and then I got a glowing comment gushing about how good the story was which ended with "but then you had to ruin it by shitting all over WhiteRose, how about you [long suicide bait]". Third most baffling comment I've ever received.

The two most baffling were on different fics, but both were making the same weird accusation??? One was on a ZeLink fic (actually, on Comfort, my fifth most kudos'ed fic of all time now), and y'know I think I'm just gonna show you the comment in question:

The other one was on a long-since deleted fic which focused on both a romantic ship, as well as a fatherly relationship between one member of the ship and the other member's father. I guess having a fatherly relationship with your father-in-law makes your boyfriend actually your brother (and therefore you can't date him anymore). IDK man people are crazy. (tbf the commenter in question thought I was setting it up so that he'd get adopted by his boyfriend's parents, which would give them more of a case, but like... that didn't happen in the fic and wasn't going to. they just guessed at a future plot development and got angry about their guess)

Do you write smut?

I do, but I've never posted any. I've posted one fic that was very suggestive, I'd even call it "NSFW" in a sense, but never anything explicit. Maybe I will in the future? We'll see if I can ever finish anything smutty, lmao.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep, I had Ultimatum, my longest chapter-fic (and by far my most popular fic in the ff.n days) stolen and posted on another site by somebody. I reported it but never checked back up to see if it got taken down.

I also feel that I've had my work plagiarized pretty damn blatantly in another fandom (I was browsing a certain AU tag and read one which contained all the exact events and sometimes word-for-word dialogue from a fic of mine, just very very slightly rewritten) but the poster had no other works and their writing was definitely extremely juvenile, so... I figured they were a dumb kid and just decided not to raise a fuss. Checked back later and they deleted it, hopefully because they realized they shouldn't do that, so I figure there's no need to start shit over it. Honestly, if that person used that experience as a jumping-off point to write their own fics, then I'm glad it happened, imitation being the highest form of flattery and all.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, though I had someone reach out to me on fanfiction dot net a long time ago and ask permission to translate An Unheard Goodbye, which was super exciting! I agreed, but I don't believe they ever got around to it, or if they did, they never posted it. Still very flattering, and I think about that a lot, hehe.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

HOW COULD I POSSIBLY ANSWER THIS. UM. UM UH. UHHH UM UH I. UM.

I'm.... gonna say Zelda/Link? I haven't written it in FOREVER but it was such a huge part of me coming into my own as a fanfic author, so I have to give it credit for that.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

.......all of them 😭 god I have so many of these damn things. But for the prime example, I'd point to Ultimatum, an old Pokemon fic that I started in middle school. I got all the way to the climax and I feel bad leaving my readers hanging, but... at this point, if I did continue it, I would honestly have to rewrite the whole fic first just to be in line with my current understanding of the characters.

What are your writing strengths?

Y'know, I think I get character voices down extremely well in a way which elevates my dialogue and narration. That's probably the thing I'm most proud of in my own writing, at least.

What are your writing weaknesses?

BREVITY. Or the utter, glaring lack of it. I have also been known to muddy up my writing with an overabundance of A) adverbs, B) unneeded clauses tacked onto perfectly good sentences, and C) em-dashes 😭

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I think it's dope as fuck, but I currently can't really accomplish it because I'm monolingual (NOT FOR LONG IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT, I'M COMING FOR YOU, JAPANESE FLUENCY!!!!). I will also say that I don't like when authors will write characters having a story-important conversation in another language, then put the translations in the end notes or something, requiring you to either read the chapter confused or else keep scrolling back down and back up.... I think even that's totally fine to do if what's being said isn't plot-relevant, though.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Naruto. I hadn't read or watched Naruto btw, I had only read other Naruto fanfics. I have spoken on this topic many times, but it remains hilarious to me. Also, so many of my old Naruto fics are lost to the Wattpad times, but I will take this opportunity to once again share a quote which I recently managed to unearth from my long-lost unsung magnum opus:

Never ever will I intentionally attain the level of comedy gold that I managed while writing completely dead serious Naruto fanfiction on Wattpad in 2012.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written so far?

See above. How could I ever top that fic.

In all seriousness, this question always makes me sweat, but I think I'm gonna say Oil, a slightly older fic from my EliHec days which I absolutely obsessed over for months before finally managing to finish. And, unlike most of the fics that I obsess over, I think the obsession actually made it come out better rather than worse, haha.

thanks again for the tag!!!! as for me, I'll tag uhh, hm, @wizard-finix @dreamedge @misty-wisp @flyfish1999 and any other AO3 writers who see this!!! (idk how many of you use AO3 and most of the MBS authors I know have probably already been tagged hehe but anybody who wants to should absolutely feel free!!!!!!!)

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase: How to Hack the Motherboard

So, when I was writing my episode discussion post on Cyberchase Season 1 Episode 1 "Lost My Marbles", I mentioned that I might make another post about the security breach that allowed The Hacker to infect Motherboard with the virus. What did The Hacker do to set this up? How did the kids accidentally open the breach? And other questions like that. I have a bit of background in software engineering. I will try to keep things as simple as possible.

Much of this is head-canon built on top of what we see in the episode. Of course, the show plays it fast and loose with computer terminology. Don't try to hack things in real life. You will go to prison.

So, here's an MSPaint diagram of a tiny piece of Motherboard's setup. Keep in mind that she is the god of the Internet, and her Internet may even stretch beyond Earth into other galaxies.

So, there are three separate network segments here. We have the library's internal network, which has the big board on it. We have Control Central's internal network, which has Motherboard on it. And then we have a Database Server internal network, which has a Database Server running on it.

The Database Server is something that I invented here. Remember that this whole diagram is head-canon. However, it's not too far-fetched to think that Motherboard must reach across Cyberspace to a separate Database Server, maybe at the Cybrary.

Now, we know that Motherboard is not directly reachable, even with her Firewall down. Otherwise, The Hacker wouldn't have needed a separate security breach to get to her. He would have just pushed the virus once she took down her firewall for maintenance.

However, Motherboard has a Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnel to the Database Server. If The Hacker can compromise the Database Server and get his virus in there, it might be able to ride the tunnel into Control Central.

The purpose of any Firewall is to apply a set of rules to any network traffic going into or out of a network, device or application. A good Firewall configuration allows on the traffic that is needed and denies everything else. Motherboard's firewall between herself and the Database Server is currently down. The Database Server itself has connection points to the larger Internet without using a VPN tunnel. However, the Database Server's own Firewall for that access point is UP. If The Hacker tried to throw his virus at that access point, it wouldn't work.

However, there is another connection point into the Database Server. This is another VPN tunnel from the library network. Let's say that the board retrieves the data on the locations of different objects on the map and the icons for those objects by reading one of the Databases. Maybe the board also writes data to the Database to log what directions people requested.

The point here is that some traffic from the Board is authorized to pass through the Firewall on that VPN tunnel. Now, is there a way for The Hacker to get the Board to send authorized traffic over the VPN tunnel to tell the Database Server to open a breach in the Firewall for that public access point? Maybe. It is an Internet-of-Things (ioT) device. Alot of people get these devices, and then they either leave passwords set to their defaults or they forget to keep the sofware patches up to date.

There is a public access point to the Board with a poorly-configured firewall. Maybe there's a way for him to get inside. It may be possible for him to dump the virus code into the board, but there's no guarantee that it would be able to go any further, since the Firewall between the Board and the Database Server is working.

So, let's think about the Board as its own thing.

Suppose that we have two user accounts associated with the board. There is a Principle of Least Privilege that states that a given user account or system process should only be given the minimum amount of permissions required to perform its tasking. That way, if the user account or system process attempts to do something out of line with its permissions, it won't be allowed to perform the operation.

However, if you leave other unnecessary permissions open, and the user account or system process attempts to do something outside of its original intended operations, then the operation may succeed and have unintended consequences.

This also links up with the software development concept of the Minimum Viable Product. You build your software to perform only the exact tasking that it needs it perform. You don't put any additional, undocumented functions in there. Otherwise, those functions could activate and have unexpected consequences.

The board's purpose it to display the different locations. It allows for users to input two points, and it will draw a line between them to assist in navigation. We also established earlier that it reads its information from the Database and writes other information out to the Database.

However, suppose there was some undocumented functionality here. Suppose the developers had a special feature installed in the board that ran a cleanup command against the Database if you pressed three buttons in quick succession. Suppose that the cleanup command in question could be any arbitrary command. Therefore, the developers put the command into a configuration file to be read and executed by the software at runtime.

However, the developers knew that if some kids turned up and started poking the map, they could accidentally kick off the Database Cleanup command. They removed the Database Cleanup command from the configuration file. That way, if someone did poke three buttons in quick succession, the software would check the configuration file, see that there was no command defined, and then do nothing.

The trouble is that they left the part of the software that read the configuration file and ran the arbitrary command in place. So, if the command was somehow added back to that part of the configuration file, then there would be a command for the software to run. Then, if someone else pushed the three buttons, that command would be run. So, yeah, someone could put a command in there to write a bunch of junk into the Database until it filled up and crashed. Again, these are commands being sent to the Database from the Board. The Firewall would let them through just fine.

That's pretty bad, but that only lets them modify the Database, right? It's not like they can just tell the Database to open the Firewall on the server that it is sitting on, right?

Well, what if one of the things that the Database could do, upon request, was to open a command shell on the server and run a command. And what if, that command shell was able to run commands that impacted things on the server beyond the Database itself.

What if we called it "xp_cmdshell" and called the Database Server "Microsoft SQL Server 2000". Windows XP and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 would have been around at the time of "Lost My Marbles" after all. Those were also the key players in the real-world Heartland Payment Systems data breach of 2008, which inspired this post.

But hey, just because the Database could open a command shell on the Database Server doesn't mean that The Hacker could use it to bust the Database Server's external Firewall, right? He still needs a way to execute "xp_cmdshell". So, he needs an account with the correct permissions to tell the Database to execute "xp_cmdshell", and he needs the Database itself to have high-enough permissions to run a command via "xp_cmdshell" that can bust the Database Server's external firewall and open a path to Motherboard. Thankfully, the Database only run the "xp_cmdshell" for the top-level Database Administrator account.

This is where we get back to the Principle of Least Privilege. The Board should connect to the Database with a fairly low-power account. It only needs to read-from and write-to a few Database tables after all. Likewise, the Database itself should have been started on the Database Server by a fairly low-power account, as it only needs to handle reading and writing its own set of tables.

But then some moron decided to hook up the Board to the Database Server on the top-level Database Administrator Account. So, if the Board was configured to send an "xp_cmdshell" command, the Database would run it. Oh, and another moron decided to have the Database Server start the Database with the "root" account for that server. So, if the Board was configured to send in an "xp_cmdshell" command to nuke the external Firewall, then the Database would be able to nuke the external Firewall.

There is a principle called Defense-in-Depth, where you build multiple layers of defense around your critical item. That way, if a layer fails, you may be okay. We're running out of layers.

We only have one or two layers left. We know that the Board doesn't run "xp_cmdshell" for its regular operations today. Sure it has an undocumented debug mode that allows someone to execute any command in its configuration file (including "xp_cmdshell") against the Database. But someone would need to get to that file.

The board's main account doesn't give you a filesystem to play with, as they wouldn't want kids running up, poking things, and deleting the filesystem. No, you only get the interfaces that you get. You can pick two items and see a path between them. Or you can pick three items and see the undocumented debug mode run whatever command is in the configuration file.

But what if there was some sort of maintenance account accessible through the Internet that didn't enable someone to send commands to the Database, but would enable someone to get into the filesystem and mess around with it? And what if that maintenance account was still using a weak or default password because people just don't check that for IoT devices?

So, he's in the Board's filesystem now. That's concerning. And wouldn't you know it, yet another moron left that critical configuration file in a state where the maintenance account can make changes to it. So, of course, he found the empty configuration item for the cleanup command. Remember, this was setup to run any arbitrary command. Of course, he put in an "xp_cmdshell" command that tells the Database to nuke the external firewall on its own server.

While The Hacker was able to put the command in place, the maintenance account doesn't have the power to send commands to the Database on its own. That power is only enabled for the system account tied to the Board's user interface. So, he still has to rely on someone in the real world to push three buttons in quick succession.

Well...shit.

That's not good.

That's not good at all.

Seriously though, don't try this at home.

I suppose we can speculate on the nature of the virus. We know from Season 1 Episode 14 "Cool It" that Motherboard goes through more cryoxide than normal due to the virus. There are actual computer viruses out there that were designed to turn off heat safety warnings on CPUs and then cause them to run hotter. Some CPUs would eventually melt and ruin the computer.

The original infection destroyed the Encryptor Chip, and it is stated that only a replacement Encryptor Chip could cure the virus. The name suggests that it deals with data encryption, but perhaps it is also a virus cleanup tool. Perhaps it worked to weaken the existing virus until it was eventually overwhelmed and destroyed. Perhaps the virus exhausted most of its strength destroying the Encryptor Chip first.

In any case, curing the virus permanently would end the show.

[whereshadowsthrive]

Let me tell you how I just almost lost this account forever-

I went to check tumblr only to notice that it had forced logged me out on desktop. So I enter my email to log in...no dice. Then I think to myself "well it's probably my college email then, surprised I hadn't changed it over." No dice again. I then think to check on the mobile app what the email was. Bingo! It was my long dead middle school/high school era email. I tried that email and my password I had written down for tumblr...no dice Again. Now I start to panic. I start trying other passwords, nothing is working. Then Down From The Heavens Descend Into My Mind: the memory of my old universal password for everything when I was kid. Bingo, I'm back into tumblr. I have no earthly idea why I was using *that* password here or why it doesn't match my notes but whatever. Hacker voice, I'm in...

So I go to update the password to what I had written down so this doesn't happen again. I do this on the mobile app for Some Fucking Idiot Reason...and it doesn't ask me to input it a second time to make sure it's right...and then the app force logs me out.............and I try to log back in....I Fucking Mistyped The Password. I could literally start to feel my heart pumping and my ears get really warm with panic at the realization I might've just lost my decade+ old tumblr account because a basic password reset feature apparently doesn't exist on this site. I went to go report this issue to Tumblr Support and ask them to recover my account. However, I need to provide the email this account is attached to... and I don't have access to that, so support is just a worthless route...and then I realized going to submit a fucking support ticket logs you out. So now I was logged out on both app and desktop. Literally beside myself. Broken ass website, deadass wondering if anyone tests this place. I go to recover the email this account is attached to. Then gmail does me so dirty, it says to me "to recover this email, you need a security code sent to your elementary school era email." At this point, I'm ready to just cry. So I go to crack into that email and BECAUSE I HAD REMEMBERED MY OLD UNIVERSAL PASSWORD AND CUZ SHIT LIKE 2 FACTOR JUST WASN'T A THING WHEN I MADE THAT EMAIL, I GOT IN So then I had to fuckin' recover and reinstate the middle school email from my elementary school, recover my tumblr account and reset the password *again* (this time on desktop and not the fucking app) and make sure this account was set to my up to date email and just.....y'all, if my memory didn't just shit out my childhood universal password at me, I deadass would have lost this account forever. All because desktop just randomly decided to log me out. I hate social media.

[crazy-loca-blog]

I know I'm super late to this party, so I don't know if this has been said, but at this point I'm going back and forth Crimes of Passion because I think even the most random dialog has some useful information. I wrote a super long post with everything that comes to my mind at this moment, but I wanted to start with the doors. Did you notice the detail about the doors in the chamber?

At first, when we ask Trystan about the passage, he says this:

Everything seems to be fine at that point. it would mean we could only have 9 doors for 9 kids. But when we enter the chamber, we find out there are actually 10 doors:

But then, if only the 9 children have access to the chamber, where does that 10th door lead? Another Thorne, for sure, but who? The king, the queen or Eveline's suite?

Also, I have many, many theories (and a few questions) on the children and the royal family in general (leaving them under the cut):

I don't think any of the kids killed Juliana and/or Nadja, but the person whose room is behind that 10th door.

I don't understand why they didn't ask everyone to immediately show their daggers. We know there would have been four daggers missing: Vasili, Sebastyan, and Marguerite's (because they don't have one), and Astrid's (because she apparently lost it). Could the dagger they found be Astrid's?

I think Sebastyan and Juliana were more than friends. I think they were actually lovers, but then Juli genuinely fell for Trystan and tried to break up with Bas. So, the letter that was read during Trystan's trial was meant to be for Bas, not for Trystan. And that's why Sebastyan resents Trystan so much.

Based on my previous idea, at the very beginning of the story, Juliana says: "Nothing beats a good 'enemies to lovers' story". I don't think she was just referring to the book she was reading at that moment. Trystan was her "enemy" at first, then he became her lover.

I think Kaspar doesn't steal stuff for fun or boredom. My guess is that he has some kleptomania issues, and the only person who knows about it is Emika, that's why she's constantly protecting him. Could this be their big secret?

Marguerite fiercely protects Trystan not only because he's her favorite brother, but also because she knows who the killer is. However, she won't say a thing about it (yet) because she's trying to protect the killer as well.

Vasili DOES resent Trystan for him not being second in the line of succession, even if he says otherwise.

I think Patryk will end up recording something super useful that will lead us to the killer 😂.

We've been able to see several security/intelligence issues throughout the story: Luke said it was lax, Trystan password was cute, but super weak for a royal affair (not to mention he knows Patryk's password! I mean, why?!?!), and even Olivia said Cordonia's intelligence was better (and we all know they suck 😂). Shouldn't this be part of Lydea's job as well, as a natonal security matter?

If you choose to ask Eveline about her relationship with the queen, she says they're not friends, but they're allies. What for? Raising the kids? Sharing responsibilities in the house? The only thing they seem to have in common is the king!

It seems Trystan is King Maksim's favorite son. If Trystan was willing to help Juli and Nadja and Bas pass the The Drakovian Act for Heir Equity they had been working on, does this mean Trystan could have convinced Maksim to join them as well?

The queen was willing to kill Gregor if he didn't break up with Astrid. HUGE red flag, if you ask me (I'm pretty sure she'll try to do something against the MC. You know, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". MC is an enemy).

I loved to see Olivia confirming my initial thoughts: this has nothing to do with Trystan, it's all about politics. I've always thought this is about protecting the crown and the status quo. Trystan was just a collateral victim, but he doesn't know it (yet).

I think the only reason Sebastyan is not the killer's third target is because he's part of the family, and because now that Juli and Nadja are gone, he stopped being a threaten for the crown.

Is there any link between the case we solved in New York and some of the royal children? Maybe Kaspar and Emika? Maybe Astrid? What's the point of making us solve a whole case in New York if our main case in the book is in Drakovia? Is it just a distraction?

[igaveyouamortentia]

Introduction?

Name: Well.. It's a secret that I won't tell, I might tell you later if we get to know each other. But it starts with 𝑨.

Nationality: Not really a secret, I'll tell if you ask me, but I'll not put it out here yet if not interested. (But English isn't my first language so if you find any mistakes, I'm sorry, feel free to correct me, I'll try not to get offended 😄)

Age: 22 (August 6)

Height(? If that matters); Around 162-164 cm, 5'3-5'4 feet?

Hair: Mostly straight, naturally brunette, and dyed brunette now, but I had a few colours..

Eyes: Green? I think. Have some brown in the center, but mostly green.

Sign: Leo ♌︎, I'm a bit into astrology, I wouldn't say I base everything on it, it's fun, and I'd say there's some truth in it definitely.

Occupation: I just started workiiing, I've been studying this and that, but nothing got me a job until recently.

I'm an introvert.

I've been told I can be funny.. I'd describe my humour as... Bad. 😂 Sarcastic.. Dark sometimes. I can make people laugh, but definitely myself.

I prefer cats a bit more, we've always had dogs, but since we got some cats too I started to like them more maybe. But I'm fine with either!

I have a tattoo since I was 13... Almost 14 O.o yep. It's kind of a family tattoo.

I can't really say anything about my music taste.. It's like everything... Almost.

I probably have some undiagnosed mental health issues, so be aware of that, that can be the reason for my insecurity, negativity or absence, but I'm not gonna do anything, don't worry.

I started this.. Or my previous Tumblr accounts in upper primary I believe 😂 I think I had ones before this, but I always lost access to them, forgot the passwords and such, but I have this since 6-7 or 8th grade. My friends had it, they were watching maybe fan arts, or we were just sad and depressed, yk teen life.. So I joined them and created it. They're not active anymore, and I just come here every now and then for different reasons.. To vent, to look for inspiration for fandoms, or right now.. I'm looking for stuff to send to the man I'm interested in.. And it's a long distance kind of thing, so that's how we try to beat this. 😄

As a hobby.. I like playing video games sometimes, I tried out video editing, you know for TikTok and stuff. I love to write.. I'd not say I'm good at it, but I love doing it. I had some experience in roleplaying for years, but I quit it 😄I want to write a book one day in the future hopefully.

Hmm.. What else can I say.. Oh movies maybe.

I watched all of the seasons of American Horror Story! So we can talk about that.

I watched Breaking Bad, and now I'm watching Better Call Saul..

Also watched Fleabag and some non popular series if you wanna hear it 😂

I've been made to watch almost all of the Marvel movies so I know about that a bit 😄

As I mentioned before I'm a biiig Harry Potter fan, I only watched the films, haven't read the books yet. I'm obsessed with Professor Severus Snape 💚And the actor who played him Alan Rickman (I have his book, the diariesss). So there goes my daddy issues-

I had a lot of years when I questioned my sexuality, and I'm still not sure.. I could describe it best as.. I don't care about gender, nor anything else like age(don't get me wrong, I mean adults 🙌) I love a person regardless of those.. I fall in love with their vibe, and need to have that connection. Some would call it pansexual... I don't know. I had times when I thought I'm asexual, but my sex drive is way too high for that-

That's about it for now...

We can discuss more about that and other things.. Feel free to ask me, anons too, I'd be happy to answer anything. I don't judge or bite.

~𝑨