#than just a vague evil wizard

[captaincleverusernamehere]

Finally got to play dnd for the first time in over a month and Something Happened to me at that table like. The NPCs just. took over. It was amazing. Kelek the incel wizard and Uni the flamboyant unicorn and Wally Nutt and Poppy Corn the two most obviously in love gnomes on the planet and Susan the hardass boss who only is nice to her wife Angela the forensic chemist who physically and vocally is Lin Manuel Miranda. I love improv I love acting I cannot go too long without them or I explode.

[fandomspacenqueue]

Utterly heartbreaking how the reveal about the truth of the Wizard through the beginning of Defying Gravity is just one long sequence of betrayals for poor Elphaba. First she gets manipulated by the Wizard and Madame Morrible into casting a spell that harmed the monkeys, which she never intended or wanted (and the way the Wizard and Morrible were framed during this scene almost as if they were Elphaba's proud parents was an extra gut punch). Then she learns that not only are they responsible for the plight of the Animals, they've both actively lied to her about it. And of course, that the Wizard is nothing but a fraud. Then, while she's reeling from the complete shattering of her entire worldview, they start trying to cajole and threaten her into falling in line (Morrible's "Think about your future, dearie" line sounded SO menacing to my ears), even recruiting her own best friend into basically ganging up on Elphaba. Watching the horror and heartbreak grow on Cynthia Erivo's face with each passing moment brought tears to my eyes; just an absolute tour de force in emotional acting.

Then, after the chase/balloon sequence (where, notably, Elphaba and Glinda almost got away! To have come so close to escaping only to be foiled at the last moment must've felt so crushing), we get Morrible's speech demonizing Elphaba to the entirety of Oz. Again, I can't praise Cynthia's acting enough. She really sold "thought the situation had already hit rock bottom only to discover there was still a ways to go" so well. And the sheer betrayal of the very first person we saw on screen treat grown Elphaba with kindness and never react negatively to her skin color to then turn around and use that to paint Elphaba as a monster. Morrible is just so evil.

And finally, this might be a bit of a controversial take, but I see Glinda refusing to go with Elphaba as the icing on the cake of betrayal. They've had guards chasing after them. They've just heard a broadcast framing Elphaba as Public Enemy Number One in Oz. She's in very real danger. Yet, in Elphaba's greatest hour of need, her best friend refuses to stand by her. Yes, it was an impossible and unfair situation. Yes, the choice Glinda makes is about more than just her personal relationship with Elphaba. Yes, Elphaba does not hold Glinda's choice against her. I understand all of that. But I still cannot see Glinda's refusal to stand with her best friend against those who would harm her as anything other than one final betrayal on this horrible day. Not to mention Glinda then joining the very regime hunting Elphaba down in the next Act.

On that note, it really hurts to think about just how stacked the deck was against Elphaba no matter what she chose. Having been discriminated against all her life through absolutely no fault of her own, she makes an almost too perfect "enemy" for the Wizard to hold up to the public, feeding into all their preexisting prejudices about her. She stood absolutely no chance against this character assassination, especially coming from the Wizard, who has been all but deified in Oz. And even if she had chosen to try to work against the Wizard from within the system, as I've seen so many takes argue she should've done, leaving aside the morality of participating in a fascist regime in the vague hope that someday she might be in a position to overthrow him (of which there is absolutely no guarantee), I'd argue that her chances of success were already greatly diminished from the moment she learned the truth. The Wizard and Morrible had seen how horrified she was. I don't think they'd ever fully trust her because of it, so they'd always be on guard against her. And even if Elphaba played along long enough for that to change, that would surely take a very long time, at which point would it even be possible to undo any of the damage done under the regime? I do believe she made the best decisions she could possibly make in this situation, but the cards she was dealt were just shitty all around.

My heart weeps for Elphaba. All the kudos to Cynthia Erivo's stunning portrayal of her, especially during the Defying Gravity sequence. Just utter perfection.

[keicordelle]

You know, I was going to make a post about how, for all that Mizora says she can't undo the magic that transforms Wyll, there are plenty of ways a powerful enough spellcaster could restore him to his original body, but when I went to read up on the spells I had in mind-- there really isn't, huh?

The obvious go to is True Resurrection. I mean, you don't even need the dead person's body to restore them to life, the spell creates one for them. And admittedly, the spell description is a little vague about restoring them to their own body, but I have to assume that's the intent. It does restore undead to their non-undead form, so it can alter the body of whoever it resurrects, but given that it states that so clearly, I'm reluctant to assume it'd be the same for someone altered in a different fashion (say, a werewolf, or perhaps someone twisted into a devil as a result of their pact). It does clear curses and other nefarious effects, so if it's a curse laid upon him then maybe it would work. But I think the chances of it simply giving him back his devilish body are pretty high, and given the 25k gold price tag on it, that's not really a risk I'd want to take.

Resurrection is similarly worded, except it can't clear curses or raise undead, so probably even less likely to restore Wyll's human body.

Clone can restore your youth, but given that it requires an offering of flesh to cast, I think it's safe to assume the test-tube grown Wyll would also bear horns and pointy bits where he does not particularly want them. If even Mizora can't undo the magic that turns him, I have to assume it's transformed him down to his DNA, and growing a new body from that same flesh will result in the same appearance.

Reincarnation could craft him a new body with a reasonably high likelihood of not being a tiefling, but he wouldn't necessarily be human -- and even if he was, it crafts him an entirely new body, like hitting the randomizer on a character creator. There's almost a 0% chance he'd end up looking like he used to. So new appearance yes, original body no.

If he felt like dipping into less savory techniques, he could try Magic Jar and then possessing someone else's body, but again, that doesn't really help him regain his human form.

True Polymorph could work, depending on how you define "creature". Is a human a different creature than a tiefling? Or are we talking broad categories here? Do I need to turn from a humanoid into an aberation? (This could work though to turn a mindflayer back into a humanoid though, couldn't it? Hmm...) The changing of stats makes the idea of tiefling-human transformation a little awkward, but it could work. Maybe. Just make sure he's stripped down before you cast it, or you're losing all that lovely gear you spent 17 levels gathering.

And of course there's always Wish, but I'm not sure there's a Wizard in the world who wants to risk that 33% chance of never being able to cast it again.

But I also feel like all of that is moot, because I really don't think Wyll would take you up on it if you offered. For all that his new form discomforts and discomfits him, I think he'd refuse to part with it. He wears his altered, intimidating form with pride, because it stands for his beliefs, his refusal to bow down in the face of evil when his morals are on the line. For all that he looks the part of a devil, that body represents his complete and utter goodness, and even if that's probably not how he sees himself, I think that he would want to keep his body if only to show that you can look like the most monstrous version of yourself and still hold true to your virtue. And once he's had some time to grow accustomed to the horns and the stares, he would not wish to erase his body and what it stands for, even if the opportunity presented itself.

[saintsenara]

❤️

So many options here! Therapised Sirius, endlessly kind Lupin, suave Draco, incel Snape, emotionally intuitive Hermione, villainous Dumbledore, boorish Ron, the list goes on.

thank you very much for the ask, anon! and you're so right that we have lots of potential options to use as answers to this question...

which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

but i'm going to go for my best girl, merope gaunt.

merope’s son is, in my opinion, the most interesting character in the series, and his relationship with his dead mother’s memory is one of the most fascinating things about him [and also an aspect of his characterisation which canon dwells on only lightly - dumbledore’s view that voldemort "despises" merope is never interrogated, despite the fact that harry clearly clocks the ways in which his grief about his motherlessness drives his decisions].

but i also think that merope is a fascinating character in her own right, not least for what she reveals to us about the complex threads which bind being a victim and being a perpetrator together, what she shows about how there are no perfect victims, and what she shows about how there are no irredeemable perpetrators. and i really dislike the fact that - even in fics which attempt to deeply get into voldemort's character from perspectives not found in the canon series - authors typically write her as an unambiguous villain, and take dumbledore's view - that merope chose to die [something which directly justifies voldemort's view of death as shameful, which isn't what the series thinks it's saying...] because she wasn't brave enough to live.

i hate this - because i hate anything which suggests that wizards and muggles are, essentially, different species. throughout the course of human history hundreds of thousands of women - who would have loved to have stayed alive for their babies - have bled to death in childbirth, because childbirth is dangerous. a lack of courage doesn't come into it.

but i also think that merope deserves to be treated as something other than a one-note villain outside of this.

she's a rapist. there's no need to handwave that away - even though canon does [love potions are treated as somewhat benign in the text, the canonical tom riddle sr. gets no sympathy whatsoever within the narrative, and he is blamed by both harry and dumbledore, even if this happens in ways which make sense for their characters, for "abandoning" his son].

but she's also someone who must meaningfully lack the capacity to understand what she does as rape. the implication of canon is that she's subjected to incestuous sexual violence at her father and/or brother’s hands [morfin’s jealousy over tom sr., and the fact that he tells tom jr. that merope "dishonoured" him by having a sexual relationship with another man, heavily suggests this], which the narrative once again considers vaguely amusing - and she's certainly subjected to physical violence by them. she's treated as little more than an object to display her father’s locket. this is a girl [she’s nineteen when she dies] who cannot have any idea what things like consent and bodily autonomy are, and who shows through this how this lack of safety and education in one person’s life can go on to beget horror in another’s.

and, alongside this, she also provides a particularly good insight into something which is often absent from the canon narrative - the failure of the wizarding state. it is extraordinary that, when morfin and marvolo are arrested, she's just left on her own. or that the state has made no prior effort to remove her from the home of two men with reputations for violence, or to make sure that she has an education, or to notice that she lives in grinding poverty. or that she's forced to sell her father’s locket for a pittance because the wizarding state makes no effort to help heavily pregnant women who have nowhere else to go.

this - the fact that evil is often banal proceduralism, and that the greatest harm is caused by state apparatus - is something which is largely absent from the canon narrative, which tends to locate good or evil within the individual. so too is the reality of gendered violence, or how poverty affects women specifically, or how the institutions praised in the series - hogwarts chief among them - maintain a social structure which is hugely oppressive. these things go on to affect voldemort too, but they originate with merope.

[adeptofarmok]

Blood magic isn't evil, it's just too effective, that's why it's banned.

ry casting a basic thunderbolt but charge your wand or orb with blood essence instead of regular mana

also sacrificing other people or familiar, while fucked up, is kinda useless since your own blood is the most efficient, it's powered by soul energy, not by evil, evil is not a power source.

and remember, despite being called sacrifices, the pseudo-weekly bloodletting sessions are not dedicated to any deity or animate force, it's really just nomenclature from old armokist cults, don't worry it's not summoning infernals.

apprentices don't understand this but it's really easy to do blood magic safely, just use a simple musk-cumin-olive incense with a jacaranda base and have a BUNCH of healing spell salves in bottles by your blood altar, and don't sacrifice more than once a week, and drink a LOT of water afterwards.

but noo that's too good for them they want to be cool like the evil wizards in their little movies on their magic mirrors, the most dangerous part of blood magic is the actual blood loss, not some vague imaginary "corruption" made up by the imperial ecclesia or witch hunters or whoever it was this time

and to be clear, i'm talking about actual sanguimancy, not hemokinesis spells

-Sincerely, an accomplished blood magician

[homestuckreplay]

acrobatically fucking pirouetting off the handle so hard i turn into my best friend

(page 607-614)

9/7/2009 Wheel Spin: Sburb Lore Verdict: i fucking wish :(

9/8/2009 Wheel Spin: Character Switch Verdict: HELL YEAH JOHN’S BACK !!!! :D

A couple of shorter updates compared to the bumper 13 pages on September 6, but it’s all relative, and would be silly to complain about.

The narration on p.607 tells Dave, ‘It is time to face your destiny.’ In the short term, this obviously refers to the trap that Dave’s bro has set up for him, but it also gets me thinking about whether destiny more broadly will play a role in this story, and if so, what Dave’s might be. On p.293, GG – who appears to have knowledge their friends don’t share – theorizes that saving the world is John’s destiny. Nannasprite in her exposition refers to John’s ‘purpose’ (p.427) but it’s left very unclear whether this is a fantasy-novel style Prophesized Destiny, or just a result of John choosing to play Sburb.

I think this might be intentionally vague in the story right now, either to allow for readers to theorize, or because Hussie hasn’t yet decided the exact nature of the story. However, when destiny is a theme in fantasy, a chosen one's destiny is usually to defeat a great evil. I think it'd be neat if Dave's destiny was actually to defeat Bro once and for all - probably the most evil character we've seen yet, and certainly the one who's most affected Dave's life - which would make this line on p.607 end up looking really prophetic and bringing things full circle.

I am wondering just how many Smuppets Bro owns, and what the turnover rate is like. There’s at least 20 in the puppet pile Dave’s stuck in, and a lot of them get sliced in half. Bro needs these for work and has a large collection to draw on at any time, but they’re regularly getting destroyed, so logistically I am imagining a large crate of a couple hundred Smuppets showing up at the apartment each week, which is a horrendous thought. No wonder they are in Dave’s dreams. The ‘puppets per square meter’ and ‘new puppets per day’ are probably much higher numbers than the equivalent for harlequins or wizards in John and Rose’s houses. If these decorative choices represent sources of alienation and anxiety for the kids this could suggest that Dave’s mental state is even worse than that of his friends.

Also I think that if Bro really wants to be Jigsaw so bad he needs to put some variety into his traps. Puppets every time is nowhere near as creative as the saw traps in the movie.

Page 611 repeats a Dave-Rose Pesterlog from p.522. I like when this happens – it clarifies where we are in the timeline, as well as giving the characters equal importance while showing both perspectives. Earlier when Dave referred to himself as ‘enrobed in chafing, wriggling god fucking damned puppet pelvis’ I did think he was exaggerating for effect, and was just describing the puppet-strewn living room with an overactive imagination. Reading this for a second time knowing that Dave is being extremely literal is very different – it feels like someone begging to be taken seriously and failing, instead of someone committing to the mutually constituted bit.

Dave’s bro referencing Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff – ‘where doing it man where MAKING THIS HAPEN’ – on a sinister note pinned to the crawlspace hatch with a weapon feels really insidious. Taking this piece of art that Dave made and is proud of, and turning it into something threatening, is upsetting to me. What does Dave get to have for himself? Is there an aspect of his life that his bro doesn’t twist into something evil? Does Bro know about Dave’s friends, and if so, does he work them into his schemes too? And yet it’s effective despite all this – it does provoke Dave into action, jumping up and escaping the puppet prison, leaving Dave’s story on the cliffhanger of what exactly Bro wants to ‘make hapen’ as we smashcut to John.

I am very excited to see what John and Rose get up to and I hope it is not famous last words to say that it will surely be less disturbing than what is happening with Dave. At the very least, I feel lighter and freer knowing that I don’t have to think about Dave’s bro for a few days.

[deuterium51614]

Boueibu Rewatch Part 13

Episode Ten

I need to start using this clip of Ata in bed for Nefarious Kyoata Purposes™️ like I do with my two Enkin clips. (I did it once for that Community AMV I did the night the movie got announced... Really, I need to just start making HK AMVs in general!)

Kyoutarou's hair is so pretty here~

Also it's cool how we can see the Happy Braces through the water. I don't think they had that detail with the Lovracelets?

Okay, so like. I mentioned this in my rewatch post for LOVE! S1E4, that the logic for this monster makes more sense than Igarao's, but then was thinking they both make sense, so here goes.

Igarao's monster was created for a TV show in-universe, with the goal of destroying the Earth. I don't think we got an explanation from Zundar for why they were turning everyone into kids/babies? There is the whole thing someone said with "kids are cute (good for ratings) and when the Battle Lovers turn back, they'll be naked (also good for ratings)." But since the goal with the swan monster was to make a world "where boys love boys, and no one will be able to make progeny," maybe the original goal if that one succeeded was to regress everyone's ages and raise these children to be evil? Or just obey Caerula Adamas?

On the other hand, Santa's turtle monster really was based off his negative emotions and insecurities. Furanui's whole thing is that he wants to rule the world with fear, he has no reason to care for anything like "ratings" since he's not doing it for a TV show. This student doesn't like being called old? People tend to be afraid to get older? Okay, show everyone that you have the power to turn them into senior citizens, and only turn them back once they see him as their king.

Anyway...

The slowed down music for the attack gets me every time lol

Cloth otter vs wire Fennec. (That was in my notes with no elaboration...)

Episode Eleven

"One Centimeter to Happy" vs "I Miss You 3 Meters" lol

Still annoying that they de-transformed, just to re-transform with the full transformations.

You think we're going to have the "muddy kids forever" scene happen in the movie? Like will the BL Defense Club look back and be like "oh yeah, we remember you as kids" or will it be revealed that it was Death Amor going back in time disguised as them? Or will it be the future BL Defense Club going back in time to make sure the event happened, and that's why we don't see their faces? Because they're not high schoolers anymore and just wearing the uniforms?

I have a jokey headcanon that in all these ten years, Ata never had a bath because of this incident. (He's a stinky boy lol)

I love Martha's "oh my God!" and "shut up!" English moments.

The pigeon sounds like the old man with the bird on his head from Labyrinth.

Episode Twelve

So like. For a split second, the architecture in the Honyara Land city, not the castle, vaguely reminds me of Most City from Gekkan Mousou.

The 3D soldiers always give me Wizard of Oz vibes for some reason...

Didn't know Wao shares a seiyuu with the crab monster that attacked the twins! (Or maybe I did at some point.)

At some points, it seems like the throne room is in the robot's mouth, but other times it seems like a screen.

Also, I don't like how the mecha's mouth changes from open to closed and back to open whenever the camera changes. Like... The mouth opened, it's been established. Either keep it open, or have another clip to show that Wao closed it again and keep it closed from that point on.

Anyway, if I had a nickel for every time a Boueibu finale had an animal-themed mecha piloted by the (surprise) villain(s), I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

Did the staff change for the Super Happy and Turn? (Looked again, and I don't think it did. Thought I noticed extra details...)

Is there any pattern to the clips in the ending? I feel like the first two seasons had them in some sort of order if I'm remembering right, but these feel like they're going all over the place...

But anyway! That's it! The end of my rewatch! People are watching the movie right now, and I am screaming and crying that we can't see it until maybe March!

Should we do a rewatch of other Umatani anime in the meantime? At the same rate of 3 episodes per week, we'd probably be able to get through RobiHachi (makes sense to continue with that, since it's in the same universe as Boueibu) and most if not all of Fairy Ranmaru...

[ceruleanvulpine]

the larp drama to which i have vaguely alluded has culminated in a decent portion of the community deciding my friends are liars and bullies who are just looking for excuses to call people they don't like racist. :|

this portion of the community includes at least one person who signed the petition letter, who i didn't know well but kind of looked up to as an older butch who said she'd burnt out on trying to change things but it's good someone was.

now it turns out that apparently i manipulated this woman 20 years my senior into writing (checks notes) "The Board has been aware of this behaviour for some time [...] However, when a problem has reached the point where a letter has to be written by the general population of a community, that is beyond unacceptable. And I question the Board in it's entirety. [...] It's time to fix policies, and put out the fire that's already burning in the building. Use this as an opportunity to extinguish the fire and start building new foundations." which would be pretty impressive if I had done that. those seem like some opinions that have been simmering for a while.

also, implying that a Nice Progressive might be harboring some biases after they compare their enemy, a Black guy, to the evil invading desert wizard empire in the game .. is BASICALLY worse than calling someone the n word. (even the earlier petition letter was "hateful" and "cruel" whereas saying the n word was "stupid" and "disappointing" and "inappropriate")

also I've been blamed for causing a mental health crisis for the guy who said the n word.

the actual game leadership has been pretty open to changes but parts of the community have been such assholes about this that I am pretty set on taking my toys and going home. sighs

[lucaswarmhotchocolate]

harrymort but harry has a gun. please. someone tell me I'm not the only one who has thought of this. I just feel like harry would be a very good mid-range handheld pistol (I think that's what I'm thinking of idk) user. like 1. it's hilarious to imagine Dumbledore being all vague and mysterious about a Very Important and Serious Weapon that he wants harry to learn how to use, and harry getting all nervous like "omg what niche magical artefact is he talking about" only for old dumbles to pull out a western-style very ornamental gun like "don't point it at anyone and only turn off the safety when you're in mortal danger. good luck" and running off, but ALSO because 2. it's hot and 3. I'm fairly certain it's very illegal in the UK which I find hilarious

bonus point I think harry using muggle weapons is really compelling because it challenges the idea that these wizards are inherently more powerful than muggles which is important to remind their society of if they have any intention of continuing on with the statue of secrecy

It would also be interesting to explore the nature of guns as a uniquely muggle creation that is still illegal in muggle britain as a sort of parallel to Harry's own struggles. Growing up in the muggle world and not feeling like he belongs anywhere because of his abusive family that isolated him from any potential support system he could have had, but still understanding that muggles are not evil as a whole is similar to the concept of guns being illegal in his muggle country even though the weapon itself isn't actively evil or wrong (idk if I phrased that well might edit this bit later today)

Continuing on with the parallels between my weapon of choice for harry and his own history, Harry was abruptly introduced to the wizarding world and had his entire understanding of the world flipped on its head, and went to hogwarts without any real explanation with what was happening and had to pick things up as he went. This theme could be very gracefully continued by having Dumbledore once again putting harry into a dangerous position by giving him a very deadly weapon without much instruction on how to use it nor any reasoning for why he is bestowing it upon harry. NOT in a dumbles bashing way tho, but rather in a "I have no idea how to use this thing, neither does anyone else in this school, but it is probably going to be your only chance of surviving in this war when no wizard expects it. here is the most surface level safety information, it is all I know, I hope this is the right choice" kind of way.

it also ties in well with harry's guerilla fighting style; he can conceal it with minimal effort, reach it easily, and use it quickly, all without relying on physical strength but rather on quick strategic thinking and swift movements.

plus like can you imagine Harry managing to get the upper hand on Voldemort by shooting one of his legs out from under him, immobilizing him, and taunting him by getting up close and threatening to finally dish out the finishing blow, only for voldemort to bite the barrel like "shoot me, I dare you" I think that would be really cool/hot in equal measures

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

infodumps abt a new au idea (the demon-familiars au, or the un-familiars au)

TL,DR: Reader is a witch/wizard hired by a town to handle a poltergeist/demon problem (Vanny has a cult and is trying to summon demons lol), but they aren't very good at being a witch/wizard and after a bunch of 'throwing things at the wall to see if anything sticks' and absolutely nothing working, they, in a panic, kind of accidentally summon Sun and Moon, who are equally shocked to see them and after a bunch of staring at each other like ?????????? reader ropes Sun and Moon into helping them and hides them in plain sight as their 'familiars' until they've taken care of the demonic cult problem, promising to send them home as soon as things are ok again. PLOT TWIST THEY GET ATTACHED TO EACH OTHER AND KISS PROBABLY HAHAHAAAAAA

(the long initial ramblings/brainstorming i did w the space aces in discord is copy-pasted below, if anyone wants only vaguely coherent ideas n concepts abt this au and ur willing to torture urself, go nuts w it ig lol)

taken directly from the space aces discord, i present: the reason all of my aus are barely coherent and somehow overly thought through and barebones all at once, as shown by the following example (unfamiliars au edition)

weird silly demons/familiars Sun Moon au where Reader is a (less than talented) amateur witch/wizard trying to lie themselves into a position of relative security (bc theyve had to move three different times bc towns shun n drive away witches/wizards that proves to be unhelpful) and they werent actually trying to summon sun n moon so they end up getting them involved in their scheme but oops there is some kind of other demonic threat that is actually a big problem and oops oops now we have to seriously work together to not get killed by the other eviller demon or the cult summoning it while also fooling the townsfolk into thinking that u r competent and have everything under control

Sun and Moon, a couple of demons just chilling when suddenly summoned to the material world: what in the heck Reader, having just performed a spell/ritual they've never read the instructions for backwards and facing the wrong cardinal direction: SHUT UP AND PRETEND TO BE MY FAMILIAR FOR A MINUTE OR WE ARE BOTH GONNA GET KILLED, BURNING-ON-A-CROSS STYLE

hhhgj i just had. a rlly sappy idea for the 'familiars' part

basically like. witches n wizards naturally end up casting their own 'summoning' spell for their familiar at some point, most of th time when they are really starting to understand and control their magic? so to see a witch or wizard without one it's like 'wow they're a beginner' or 'something is wrong with them, why dont they have a familiar??'

so Reader asks Sun n Moon to pretend to be their familiars partly bc 'uh oh i summoned two whole entire demons without even meaning to i have to make this look intentional' and 'if i have a familiar the people will assume im a Real Witch/Wizard and respect me more'

and at one point when they r getting to be like, actual friends instead of 'weird roommates', Sun gets curious bc ofc he does

Sun: Soooo,, we're your pretend-familiars? Reader: Yea Sun: Sooooooooo,, do u not have a familiar? I've never heard of a wizard with no familiar Reader, visibly upset/disappointed (in themselves): Yeah, well, it turns out it's only the witches and wizards with actual skills that can summon familiars. So. Couldn't tell you if I've got one or not, I've never managed a proper summoning spell. Sun, foot in his mouth: oh,, Reader: Yep.

and then later. It turns out. There are ways to make a demon into a familiar! Turns out in the distant past some wizards used to make demons they frequently summoned for spell/magic services into familiars bc it was way easier than just doing the entire summoning ritual every single time

but at this point, Reader and Sun n Moon are close enough to be good friends, and Reader doesnt want to force that kind of permanent connection on them, they probably just want to go home, theyre probably sick of being here and being around u, and,,, u get the idea

and Sun n Moon dont wanna force that kind of permanent connection on YOU bc what if ur sick of them, or ur tired of feeding and housing them or putting up with their jokes n bickering, or maybe after everything u really dont want anything to do with demons!!!

so there's a lot of sad pining that none of them know abt

bc ofc they r all idiots in this au sorry thems the rules

and then at some point there is some big threat/place they have to go to, or maybe Reader gets injured in a fight, idk take ur pick, anyway in a heat of the moment panic Moon is like 'HEY U WANT US TO BE UR FAMILIARS RIGHT??' and reader like barely conscious is like 'w??? yea??????' thinkin he means the pretend thing theyve had going on

anyway spur of the moment/'im doing this to save ur life bc i love u' familiar binding spell/ritual performed BAM now ur stuck together

and when everything is calm again n the fighting is over reader looks at Moon and is like 'so ur like,, my actual familiar now,,' and Moon, sweating bullets, unsure if this is rlly what u wanted or if u went with it out of fear of dying, is like 'yyyyyyyyyes?'

and reader starts bawling their eyes out and kisses him bc this is like. th dream scenario to u

anyway reader n sun n moon are th worlds least likely wizard/familiars combo but somehow they r absolutely unstoppable together thank u for coming to my tedtalk

[adarkrainbow]

I was looking at this article that studied the motif of "The wizard versus the witch" in Disney movies. They listed the "Disney wizards" and alongside Merlin from the Sword in the Stone and villainous sorcerers like Jafar or Doctor Facilier they had... King Triton. I was quite surprised but he IS one of the "Disney wizards". Elderly man with a big white beard, using magical powers thanks to wielding his magical staff - I mean, his magical trident... Later takes on Disney's Little Mermaid even made him the direct brother and rival of Ursula the Sea Witch (with this whole thing that the trident is Triton's magical item opposed by Ursula's shell). So yes, he IS one of those.

Looking at this article also made me realize that, despite what the person who wrote it tried to claim, in terms of magic users, the "wizard versus witch" motif is NOT actually a prevalent or strong Disney trope... There isn't much a gendered dichotomy when it comes to magic helpers and influences. Out of my mind there are only three of those "gendered magical fights" across the Disney movies and they are set far and wide apart (The Sword in the Stone, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog).

Since its early days Disney has been favorizing a conflict between same-gender outside of influences. Cinderella has the Fairy Godmother versus the witch-like Lady Tremaine. Sleeping Beauty has Maleficent versus the three Good Fairies. Aladdin, to take a more recent example, is the Genie versus Jafar.

Exception made for the very first Disney movie where the Evil Queen's influence is countered by the seven dwarves, who are not truly "wizard", though they are still men with white beards... In fact I realize now it is quite fascinating how Disney kind of had a vague age-positivity motif in its early days? The white-bearded seven dwarves are the good guys against the fake old/obsessed with youth queen ; all their good fairy godmothers are powerful little old ladies... And while yes there are good and bad old folks, the important thing is that there is a LOT of old folks, and very often in position of power (royalty or magic). Especially when you look at more recent Disney movies where you see less and less characters with gray beards or white hair... It might be just me but I get the feeling there was much more elderly characters in old Disney movies than today. (Of course I am looking at fairytale centered movies ; Cinderella versus Frozen, Sleeping Beauty versus Tangled, all that stuff)

I don't know, this is just a post where I scrambled ideas and throw them on a wall and call it "modern art".

[aspoonofsugar]

Ruby's Volume 4 Character Short

Ruby's Volume 4 character short is a great piece of foreshadowing of our Little Rose's arc as a whole. Let's see why.

Little Red Riding Hood Meets Wolves

First of all, the short clearly references the Red Trailer and it is LRRH in a nutshell.

Ruby wanders in the woods aloneand finds some Beowolves preying on people's homes. She immediately goes to fight the monsters, so that people can be saved.

This is the crux of Ruby's character: a LRRH who fights the wolves hidden within the shadows thanks to her ability to see the beauty of the world (Silver Eyes). It is her innocent and hopeful self, which makes her "the best Huntress of all".

The short pays homage to this idea while exploring other important elements. For example, the town destroyed by fire and Grimms clearly calls back to Beacon:

Which leads us to another recurring theme in Ruby's arc. Grief.

From Nevermore to Idol

Ruby sees a place resembling her lost school and rushes in to help. This shows how our girl deals with grief. She never stops to face her feelings, but rather she pushes forward and fights. So, the short starts with a metaphor of Ruby's own coping mechanism in the face of loss.

It is full of symbols linked to death:

Ruby looks like the Grimm Reaper. She wears a cape and has a scythe, both symbols linked to this mythological character.

She rides a Nevermore, which embodies grief, as its name references Edgar Allan Poe's Raven. This poem is about a man mourning a girl (the famous Lost Lenore) and crying he will see her nevermore.

Ruby lets go of the Grimm and lands on a statue. The statue is clearly a religious idol. So, Ruby crashing on it and symbolically taking its place hints to this:

Ruby: It's all… so… heavy… It's the only thing I can feel anymore… and it never, ever goes away. The feeling of not being… enough. Blacksmith: And how would you measure “enough”?

Ruby: Mom?

The whole sequence shows how Ruby is dealing with Summer's death. She is literally wrapped in death (the cape which resembles Summer's) and struggles with grief (the Nevermore). Finally she decides to deal with this complicated feelings by becoming an ideal, just like Summer:

Past Ruby: Mom was the best… but even she failed.

She steps in the fallen hero's shoes. This is why the statue really looks like Summer herself. After all, it is a white hooded figure:

Dorothy Meets One-Eyed Monkey

So, Ruby chooses to overcome Summer's death by becoming like her mom. Still, she meets 2 enemies in her path:

Beowolves and a Beringel. Both tie with 2 different fairy tale allusions.

The Beowolves are Little Red Riding Hood's enemies. This is why Ruby meets them in the Red Trailer, as well.

The Beringel is Dorothy's enemy, as it references Wizard of Oz's Winged Monkeys.

So, Ruby going from the Beowolves to the stronger and more intelligent Beringel shows that she is stepping into Dorothy's role. She is gonna fight the Evil Witch of the West:

Not only that, though, as this specific Grimm has some interesting similarities to another one of Ruby's greatest enemies:

Just like Cinder, the Beringel only has one eye:

It also shows itself to be smarter than the Beowulves, which launch stones to Ruby:

It instead makes use of other Grimms:

Just like Cinder manipulates even her own allies to defeat her enemies:

Finally, Cinder seems destined to turn into one of the Evil Witch of the West's minions:

So, to link her to a Winged Monkey seems just perfect.

In other words, Ruby metaphorically fights Cinder in a town filled with flames. How does their fight go?

Fall And Rebirth

Ruby fights the Beringel on the roof of a church. this setting is interesting because:

It ties into the religious symbolism Ruby herself has - she is an idol and a messianic archetype.

The tower of the church vaguely resembles Beacon Tower - this place is important for Ruby, Cinder and their relationship. There they have their first and second dances and there they will probably have their finale one.

In any case, the Beringel eventually has Ruby fall:

And roars victorious.

Just like Cinder succeeds in sending Ruby down into the Ever After:

And gloats about her victory after Atlas.

Still, this isn't the end.

Ruby symbolically breaks in many pieces:

But is eventually reborn:

Just like in the Ever After she goes through a process of Destruction:

And Re-Creation:

Ruby comes back and defeats the Grimm. Similarly, she is now back to fight Cinder again. I don't think their confrontation will go like Ruby and the Beringel, though. Rather, our Dorothy will turn into her LRRH's self and see the person inside the monster. She will save the Child swallowed by the Wolf, like the Huntress she is.

Light After Dark

The short ends with a reminder that Ruby isn't alone:

JRN are with her and her teammates are fighting their own separated battles, as well:

The final frames of Weiss, Blake and Yang tie the girls to some of their respective motifs. Weiss is associated with the moon and the night (like Ruby), Blake with the twilight (where light and shadow meet) and Yang with the sun and the day (Sunny Little Dragon). At the same time, their order of appearance is used to convey another key idea. The protagonists are moving from the darkness towards the light. From the night to the day. From the Fall to the Dawn.

[cheemscakecat]

Missing in Action 10

Chapter 10: Splitting Up

The hunt for Merasmus begins, with Scout and Spy left to hold down the base. They’ll be fine… right?

TW: Heavy angst. Spy is not in fact okay.

Ms Pauling briefed the team on a Merasmus lead. She said he mighta been training up in the Appalachian mountains to ruin Soldier and Zhanna’s wedding. She told Scout and Spy to stay at base, so someone could guard it while the others went after him.

Jeremy was glad that Soldier and Pyro weren’t staying at base; he’da been left to baby sit them alone, with Spy not feeling right and being new. Then again, this was a real threat to Soldier, so he wouldn’t have stayed put at base anyway. It looked like he was really taking this seriously, as far as Scout could tell.

Spy looked stiff for the whole briefing. Angry even. But Scout figured he was just on edge because of last night’s nightmare.

—————————

Heavy was glad that Pauling didn't waste any time. Zhanna was new to America and the most naive of his sisters. He could only hope that her training was real and useful to her.

He didn’t like her marrying Solider, but had to respect the man for wanting to protect her. And for trusting in her strength as well. Soldier was impatient to start the mission one he heard the briefing.

Heavy also wanted to avenge Spy, not just his sister. If that curse had not hit Spy, he may have already fixed things with Scout. At the least, the team boy would not have been so sleepless and ill with bottled tears.

It was time for answers. They packed up swiftly and got ready for one last stop on the way.

—————————

Spy and Scout were in no condition to go on this hunt, even if they could’a known the truth. Engineer couldn’t bear to leave Pyro in their care with everything goin on. He knew that if Pyro had to withhold fire, he’d be a much bigger threat to Merasmus when he was finally found. And Soldier was already ruthlessly ready.

The plan was to look for Merasmus and take any help or clues from the other magic users. Once they found their evil old wizard, they’d trap him for Pauling so she could question him.

They had Soldier call up Zhanna and the Holy Wizards to assist. Bein Merasmus’ Halloween playthings, they needed all the magical assistance they could get.

—————————-

Demoman and Sniper talked to Pauling in the ship. Sniper had also noticed Spy acting strange around her, and wondered if it was connected to that terrible nightmare. “The lad looked fierce the first time, but I was the only one who saw. Thought it was the scrumpy playin tricks on me eye.”

“He was like that at today’s briefing too. Not sure if theah’s something he hated Helen for, or if it’s just the nightmare problem.” They had to be vague with Soldier, Pyro, and Zhanna in the ship.

“I thought he sounded off, but you know how much I overthink. I just assumed it was me overthinking last time.” Pauling said. “The sooner we get Merasmus locked eway, the better. So we can puzzle out what to do.” “I agree. You guys have a battle put on hold until you get back, but after that we should investigate.”

——————————-

Medic kept a wide expanse between himself and the wizards. He wasn’t sure if they could sense his dealings with the Devil, but the way they were talking about the dark arts, he didn’t need them finding out. They focused on healing and growth spells, like planting new forests and healing herbs.

It was a bit surprising that they got along with Soldier so well, but nobody was complaining. They said that the Appalachians were enchanted to allow wizards to train and experiment without interruption. The practice was put into place during an uneasy peace between holy and dark magic users.

It was better to bring them along and risk his deal getting screwed up, than to get cursed or lost in the enchanted mountains. Soldier’s strange habit of attracting magic was coming in handy for once.

————————-

Heavy was surprised that the white wizards trusted Soldier to wander in the woods; when they got out of the ship, none of the magic users took issue with Soldier’s erratic behavior. Here he seemed to move with unexpected smoothness, as if he knew the land well.

Zhanna had been training under these men, so perhaps Soldier had learned how to act through her. Though Heavy didn’t notice too much difference in how the man was acting now. Pyro was being closely watched now that it was established he was not permitted to set the forest ablaze. Doktor was acting strange, like he was uncomfortable with the wizards being there.

The magic allowed them to travel undisturbed through wizard trails, hidden from that one BLU Scout and the other local people. Strange plants and animals were all around them, many of them being pleasant smelling and beautiful. Zhanna said she had been growing some of these flowers and vines for the wedding, and the wizards were making new hybrid plants for the desert.

The wizard with two points in his beard explained that the dark faction was very likely to kill unsuspecting locals for venturing too close to their lairs. The hidden trail magic and enchanted eerie feeling in this place was created by the light faction, to remove any excuse for such murders. It was accepted by the evil wizards for providing them privacy when they didn’t want to see non-magicians.

It also meant that they must be careful not to attack random creatures, in case they belonged to someone bloodthirsty. Only if they were attacked first, and the wizard magic failed them. Heavy was worried that Soldier would not follow that rule, but he was surprisingly unbothered by the magic birds and little creatures. He didn’t lash out to attack like anyone thought he would.

————————

Soldier jumped back as something huge ran across the path, growling. It was a giant raccoon, the size of an elephant. It looked like it was going to attack, but stopped. Doe swore he’d seen this one before. No, that didn’t-

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the newly-weds.” Merasmus. Merasmus could bring things back to life. But Lieutenant bites and the other raccoons didn’t leave behind bodies, how could he have done this?

“Thought it was a shame to waste these savage little animals after you dodged my magic.” The wizard smirked. “Attack if you wish, it’ll only hurt them and you.” *******! He was using Soldier’s friends as a meat-shield! Doe couldn’t fight his raccoons like the other monsters, and they would not attack him. He didn’t know how to get back at Merasmus this time.

He stared out at the other wizards, looking bored and annoyed. “Stay out of this, goody-goodies. This man killed my innocent roommate and destroyed my lair many times. You’re on the wrong side.”

Soldier knew the other mercenaries weren't really on his side right now, but they cared about Zhanna. Everyone knew he was dumb, they just assumed he was too dumb to see how they looked at him. It had always been like that, with other kids, and teachers, and orphanage people. He didn’t know what the white wizards would do if they agreed with Merasmus. For once, he didn’t yell anything.

“Did you ever explain your rules?” Spice wizard asked. Merasmus looked annoyed. “What was there to explain? We were in a lair with normal human furniture, it’s not like I asked him to do magic. Any person should have had common sense-“ The white wizards launched magic at the raccoons that turned them back to normal. Lieutenant Bites jumped on Doe and bit him, his way of saying hello.

“I missed you too, Bites.” He choked out. The other raccoons abandoned Merasmus too, sitting next to the wizards and mercenaries without trouble. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Do you know what he’s like?!”

“Yes”. Said the tea wizard with the two tailed beard. “And I also know he’s a feral child Merasmus. And you know that common sense is not the same to them.” Zhanna stepped forward. “Did he kill Tom Jones before you threatened to kill everyone he loves?” Merasmus grumbled. “No..” Zhanna shrugged. “Then it vas returning favor, I think.”

“I forgot about that!” Demoman said. Soldier turned to look, and the whole team seemed just as surprised as Demo. “Come to think of it, yeah! Ye the one who be cursin us all each Halloween. Been doin that fer far longer than ye lived with Jones.”

It was times like this that Doe remembered Zhanna really understood him. Sometimes he worried that she would get fed up with him like everyone else, but right now he knew she wouldn’t. And the wizards didn’t get fed up with him, and the other men were trying to understand. Things were not so bad.

“Merasmus.” The old wizard general growled. “Did you target this man’s team over a death, or over property damage?”

————————

The necromancer started to stutter, sensing that the Holy wizards had turned against him. Medic knew they had to be stronger than him, in numbers alone. They joined hands with each other and Heavy’s sister, and started chanting.

The oldest wizard with the longest beard continued to talk. “Merasmus. By order of the Holy Herbologists, thou art sealed in these mountains forever! No more will you torment non-wizards in this or any other place with thy magic.” Some kind of glowing lock appeared on the necromancer, before disappearing.

“What?! What is the meaning of this, high master?” The wizard with the goatee and the sass piped up. “Well, since you decided to live in the desert amongst non-magicians, you caused conflict with this Soldier and his friends. This place is free to both Holy and Evil wizards to separate from the normal folk of this world, but you didn’t use it. It stands to reason that your travel privileges should be taken.”

Another wizard turned to everyone. “Even if he goes into the local towns, he’s blocked from using magic on the people there. So don’t worry, the civilians are safe too.”

—————————-

“Will he be able to wander very far?” Engineer asked. They would need to come back to get more answers if he wasn’t mistaken. “No, he’s locked into a certain acreage so we can monitor things. Why, is something else going on?”

Engineer whispered an explanation, apologizing for the secrecy before. They couldn’t tell all of the teammates.

“A dark de-aging spell and cruel nightmare… I’ve heard of this spell. In animals, it is not so difficult to undo, but when a human is cursed, only going through their life’s memories in order can reverse it. Your teammate needs to look through his old things, pictures, letters, anything like that.” Engineer frowned, and so did Heavy, who was listening too.

”Zhis Spy on our team, he is very private. And some of that is our fault for teasing him.” Engineer wasn’t surprised that Heavy regretted that camera prank. He wouldn’t be surprised if Medic did too. “Ve do not know vhere his things are, to help him.”

Soldier and Zhanna were chatting with each other romantically and noticed them all huddled to speak privately. “What’s going on?” “Wedding surprises.” They said in unison. That was enough to send the lovebirds on their merry way, thankfully. “I’m sorry, without something to remind him of his life in order, there’s no way to undo this curse. Many have looked for another cure, but it doesn’t exist.”

————————

Back in the ship on the way home, Soldier, Zhanna and Pyro had fallen asleep. Pyro had been allowed to burn something to calm his nerves of course. Heavy asked the wizards what a feral child was.

The answer surprised him. Apparently through Soldier and Zhanna, the wizards had learned that he was raised by feral raccoons. They said that he was not permitted to join the American military because of this feral nature.

“Some of these lost children are unable to adjust to civilization. They were taught the common sense of wild creatures in nature, human common sense doesn’t pair well with it.” The elder wizard explained. “But in any case, Holy wizards often meet this children, at a higher rate than normal humans. Merasmus is more than aware of the signs that someone is a feral child, but in all these years he did not report it. He chose revenge instead.”

Heavy was glad to know this, before he became even more disapproving of the marriage. They had all wondered why the soldier was so strange, and now they knew. They could get help from these wizards to make the base understandable to him, and Zhanna thankfully already knew. Things were finally starting to look up.

——————————

Scout really needed to talk to the other teammates in private. He wished they were back, Spy needed their help bad.

It started out weird but harmless enough. Spy looked off at nothing, wandering the halls and staring out windows for no reason. Jeremy wasn’t good at talkin about feelings, and he didn’t know what to say about Spy’s nightmare from the night before. But after a whole day of Spy acting really weird, he decided to check up on him.

Nobody was here to make fun of him for being weak, and nobody would have anyway. He was starting to wonder how much his brothers had ****ed up his brain, for him to be hesitatin in the empty base.

He visited new Spy in the smoking room that night. He was just sitting there, looking into the fire. His revolver was on the side table, but the barrel was open and clearly emptied of bullets. Spy was smoking a cigarette and holding a glass of wine. When he heard the door and Scout’s footsteps, he lifted the glass and looked in the reflection on it.

“Oh, hello. I was not expecting you.” Spy said, turning suddenly. This was wrong. Nobody else was there, he shouldn’t have been checking visitors with a wine glass either way. “Heh. Whaddya mean? We’re the only ones here right now…” There was something wrong in Spy’s eyes, but he couldn’t place it. Jeremy was getting another nasty gut feelin.

“You are a nice person, desert Scout.” He nodded once, still feeling uneasy. “Please close the door.” Jeremy did and looked around. “What’s wrong? Did a BLU Spy get in?” “No. Not BLU. Something worse, but I cannot say.”

“Spy, what’s goin on?” Jeremy asked. Spy went real quiet for a minute, too quiet. When he did look at him, he didn’t look right. “I’m going to die soon. That helicopter, it was no accident.” The room was warm from the fire, but Scout froze and felt a chill run down his spine. He hurried and sat down in a chair across from Spy.

“Someone’s after you? Who?” New Spy shook his head. “I cannot tell you.” “Well, I can’t sit back and ignore this. Who?” Spy stared into his drink, chugged it, and tried to shrug. “I had a false identity in Canada. Secret agent, their CIA. I came to RED when they got close to finding me out, to tracking me.” He stared at the fire.

“It seems they’ve found me.” Scout wasn’t the smartest, but that explanation was too simple, and too fast. Spy didn’t hesitate like when he talked about his kid. There had to be more to it than that. “What can I do to help?” “Let it happen. Don’t get involved, or you’ll be in danger too.”

“Hell no! Listen Spy- nobody in their right mind would cross Admin like that, and the others..” The others weren’t there. Spy thought he was getting silenced tonight. Jeremy didn’t know much about Canada, but he sure hadn’t heard of a Mob up there. He didn’t like this one bit.

“Admin… would prefer not to get involved. No use losing good mercenaries like you over me. So please…” Spy looked at him. “You must not try to stop it. This is why I did not want to say, I knew you’d want to.”

“I can’t do nothing, Spy. Listen, why don’t we just go to the camera room with some food and lock the door? Bring our guns, keep watch on the base… We can wait this out until the others get back and it’s too hard to target you again.” Spy didn’t look hopeful at all.

“When I.. When I die.” He pulled out a sealed envelope. “Give this to the Administrator. But don’t read it yourself, she wouldn’t like that.” Scout thankfully had two words to try to read in the fire-light. Divorce Papers.

“My ex… I want her to get my money when I’m gone. And I want Admin know that she was uninvolved in this matter, so she can tell the Canadians to stop at me.” He put his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. “Remember, whatever happens, my ex didn’t know anything.”

Scout stayed posted outside the smoking room all night. He didn’t know whether Spy was having another episode, or if this was real. And he wasn’t gonna take chances. The others had to know when they got back, the minute he could pull them aside and explain. This wasn’t right whether it was real or not.

Spy had been hesitant to talk about his kid. His ex had a two year old. They were in danger, and Jeremy was smart enough to know it. He didn’t believe that Canada story, Spy musta gotten in trouble with the mob or somethin. Somebody who was actually bloodthirsty, either way.

Scout had never heard of the mob infiltrating the Gravel War. The old Admin was too scary even for them. But Pauling was in charge now… they might have gotten the idea that it would fly with her in charge. Maybe Spy was a basket case, but somehow, Jeremy doubted it.

All he knew was that something was wrong, and the others needed to get back already.

[nanabansama]

who was talking to nene in chapter 101? The one who asked her what she thought would happen with the play because of the accident. Do we know what they were talking about yet? I thought it was tsukasa because he appears randomly in 102, but looking at the hand I'm not sure.

The hand was also drawn feminine and did not look at all like how AidaIro draws any of the boy's hands. Honestly it looked like nene's hand.

Oooh, this is a fun time to bring this up again! Your comment about the hand looking like Nene's made me think of doppelgangers. Like what happened in the recent After-school Hanako-kun chapter.

Veeery interesting... And as you say, the hand that taps Nene's shoulder is feminine. When compared to Nene's, it's not all that far off, either...

I have no doubt that the apparition here takes on the form of a girl! But even though I just brought this up myself, I have my doubts about them taking Nene's form... there just isn't much to support this idea, y'know? Nene has pretty generic girly hands. And I personally don't think the new After-School is anything more than a bit of fun. I think AidaIro wouldn't want to ruin the surprise of there being a whole other Nene in a little spin-off chapter, do you?

Some kind of Evil Yashiro would be so fun to see though!! So I wouldn't complain. ♡

Out of curiosity, I also decided to poke around the internet for some urban legends told in schools (school mysteries) and I couldn't find anything that quite matched the encounter Nene had. There were mysterious hands with no visible owner, sure, but tales involving those seem to have them coming out of swimming pools or toilets and grabbing people. But maybe I just overlooked one, who knows!

Anyway, I have no idea who they were or what they were talking about. (∀｀*ゞ) Sorry....

They're clearly talking about the play, though! It's just that what they're saying is so vague, it could mean anything. Basically, what this whole interaction is supposed to do is give us and Nene apprehension about the school play. The word "accident" just sends shivers down your spine, doesn't it!? Makes you wonder what accident happened prior, and how it concerns us in the present day...

But how does this apparition know, and when did this other accident occur? It's hard to say, but considering we haven't seen the play put on in 1968 yet, I have my suspicions it happened in that one. Not only was it also a performance of The Wizard of Oz, but our favorite local troublemaker Tsukasa Yugi had a hand in its production.

Curious, right? That Tsukasa helped prepare the play, but is content to just wait here with Amane? This isn't just Tsukasa being attached to Amane either, mind you... Amane didn't help. Amane cut class. When Tsukasa was helping his class prepare, he did not cut class with him. Maybe it doesn't mean anything, and Tsukasa was just having fun doing arts and crafts and what-not, but there's decent reason to believe that Tsukasa could have sabotaged the play somehow.

Remember, Tsukasa during this period in time has already been proven to have destructive tendencies. He wanted to destroy the Big Clock.

It's not completely out of the question!

This all still doesn't answer who the hand is, of course, but perhaps if the accident the hand is talking about is related to the 1968 production, then the hand has some relation to Tsukasa...? A former classmate, perhaps? Or maybe it's just some nobody ghost that lurked around the Closed Auditorium. Hard to say.

Anyway, that was a whole lotta talking to basically say nothing, huh? But I hope this helped get your brain juices flowing! And I really hope this apparition comes back, too. We desperately need more female characters in the cast, especially after the tragedy of Sumire-chan... (RIP...)

[saintsenara]

For chose violence 12 13 14 :))

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

[choose violence ask game here]

12. who is an unpopular character you actually like, and why should more people like them?

i've answered this previously for petunia dursley, and i stand by that. but i also have another overlooked woman i adore:

merope gaunt.

merope’s son is, in my opinion, the most interesting character in the series, and his relationship with his dead mother’s memory is one of the most fascinating things about him (and also an aspect of his characterisation which canon dwells on only lightly - dumbledore’s view that voldemort ‘despises’ merope is never interrogated, despite the fact that harry clearly clocks the ways in which his grief about his motherlessness drives his decisions).

but i also think that merope is a fascinating character in her own right, not least for what she reveals to us about the complex threads which bind being a victim and being a perpetrator together, what she shows about how there are no perfect victims, and what she shows about how there are no irredeemable perpetrators.

because merope is a rapist. there is no need to handwave that away. [even though canon does - love potions are treated as somewhat benign in the text, the canonical tom riddle sr. gets no sympathy whatsoever within the narrative, and he is blamed by both harry and dumbledore, even if this happens in ways which make sense for their characters, for ‘abandoning’ his son.]

but she is also someone who must meaningfully lack the capacity to understand what she does as rape. the implication of canon is that she is subjected to incestuous sexual violence at her father and/or brother’s hands (morfin’s jealousy over tom sr., and the fact that he tells tom jr. that merope ‘dishonoured’ him by having a sexual relationship with another man, heavily suggests this), which the narrative once again considers vaguely amusing (the joke about the gaunts marrying their close blood relatives). she is certainly subjected to physical violence by them. she is treated as little more than an object to display her father’s locket. this is a girl (she’s nineteen when she dies) who cannot have any idea what things like consent and bodily autonomy are, and who shows through this how this lack of safety and education in one person’s life can go on to beget horror in another’s.

and, alongside this, she also provides a particularly good insight into something which is often absent from the canon narrative - the failure of the wizarding state. it is extraordinary that, when morfin and marvolo are arrested, she is just left on her own. or that the state has made no prior effort to remove her from the home of two men with reputations for violence, or to make sure that she has an education, or to notice that she lives in grinding poverty. or that she is forced to sell her father’s locket for a pittance because the wizarding state makes no effort to help heavily pregnant women who have nowhere else to go.

this - the fact that evil is often banal proceduralism, and that the greatest harm is caused by state apparatus - is something which is largely absent from the canon narrative, which tends to locate good or evil within the individual. so too is the reality of gendered violence, or how poverty affects women specifically, or how the institutions praised in the series - hogwarts chief among them - maintain a social structure which is hugely oppressive. these things go on to affect voldemort too, but they originate with merope.

[she also deserves defending on one specific charge, which sincerely makes my blood boil: the idea that she could have avoided dying in childbirth if she’d been braver. throughout the course of human history hundreds of thousands of women, who would have loved to have stayed alive for their babies, have bled to death in childbirth, because it is dangerous. they did not fail. they were unlucky.]

13. who gets the worst blorbofication?

remus lupin.

lupin is ready to execute a man in cold blood seconds after learning he’s still alive, and he doesn’t give a shit that three children will be watching. that’s undoubtedly justified, given what wormtail did, but it’s an edge that the chocolate-loving king of cardigans never seems to have.

14. what is that one thing you see in fics all the time?

pornography, i suppose…

[glyphknight]

"You were always better at solving problems than I was."

Just turning this moment over in my head:

Caleb -- boy genius, chosen protégé of one of the most powerful evil wizards in all the land, with an incredible memory that puts wizarding on easy mode, who said things "came more easily" to him than the other two -- has just spent "so much time working on this" ancient artifact to stop Trent. Weeks of puzzling and tinkering but it's Caleb so of course he gets it eventually. Yet at the moment of triumph it doesn't work and he's stumped.

Then Astrid just rolls up like, "What's that?" rocks a 24, and immediately fixes a critical issue on this totally-unknown-to-her Arcanum object. LOL

Like, he doesn't even tell her what it actually is! He just does that thing where he's all vague and dramatic, lmao.

(Correction--She got a 24, not 26. Post changed to reflect that. Also "than me" --> "than I was." Caleb is nothing if not grammatically correct.)