#that reinforces the Cho Chang of it all

[ashthehermit]

Harry Potter & shallow worldbuilding

I probably shouldn't wade into these waters, but once again, I am demonstrating that my self-preservation instincts are poor, and that my family refuse to listen to my rants anymore. [TW: Harry Potter and all that entails].

I was a little confused when I saw the trailer for Hogwarts Legacy (source of ire for me, and many many other people).  I had thought that it was supposed to be set in Victorian England, but honestly, it looked a lot like it was still set in the 1990s (or the early 2000s, the films never came down on exact dates).  Perhaps this is because the movies - upon which all subsequent media has based its design - relied heavily on Victorian and early 20th century design elements.  Think Hogwarts' gothic architecture; the ministry's early London Underground tiles; and the entire interior of Grimmauld Place.  This wasn't in any way a bad thing.  Harry Potter, as a story, made good on a sense of whimsy and old British aesthetics.  The wizarding world, having no need of technology, would not modernise its aesthetics at the same rate as the non-magical world.  It was a design choice that was of great consternation to my mother.  We went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, she whispered to me 'why do they have wheelie suitcases?  I thought this was set in the 1930s?'

It makes me wonder now, why doesn't the world in Hogwarts Legacy look much different to its predecessor?  I suppose that they are wearing vaguely Victorian clothes, but shouldn't we be looking at some 1700s aesthetics, or is the wizarding world caught in a perpetual loop of Victoriana?

Truth is, the Harry Potter universe has fallen foul of the problem that irks most fantasy universes once they are analysed for too long.  It isn't logically coherent.  Like the history of Westeros, the history of the wizarding world repeats itself perpetually, never looking or behaving especially differently.  In a series of children's books that were focused on the life of one teen, the cracks didn't show.  Sure, Voldemort was in power twice, and before him there was Grindelwald (for all intents and purposes, Voldemort but European).

J.K. Rowling's world building is fine for what it was in the beginning (again, the life of one teen in Britain), or as fine as it could be.  The world was not greatly expansive, but it didn't need to be.  The best parts of it were whimsical and extensions of the cheerier side of Britain.  There was the Knight bus, a purple routemaster.  The entrance to the Ministry of Magic was inside a red phone box, one of the great symbols of British tourism.  The primary setting was a boarding school.  One of the most popular elements is the house system, which is just a more complicated extension of your average school house system.  It is touted as a categorisation of identity, but it obeys all the rules of school houses.  Siblings going into different houses is rare (to the point that it's only mentioned once) because family groups always go into the same house (unless your school just doesn't care about houses).  The bigotry in the series is also British by design.  It ends up being a simplified version of classism, that features more in subtext than text.  This being said, there isn't a great deal of specificity in the world building.  I still don't know where Hermione's home town is.  I only know that her parents are dentists and they like to ski.  Where does Malfoy live, apart from in a manor that has peacocks in the garden?  These are the kind of flaws you notice when you have analysed the story for as long as I have.

The worldbuilding gets thinner the more expansive it gets.  The students from Beauxbatons are more or less French stereotypes, Fleur especially.  Durmstrang is the same, but Bulgarian.  Much has already been said on Rowling's shallow naming conventions (Cho Chang, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and now Sirona Ryan).  Without the crutch of something being British and vaguely quaint, the world loses all of its charm, and all of its logic.

Fantastic Beasts, for some reason, begins in 1920s New York.  Most of the richness of the setting is achieved by production design rather than the script (incidentally, flashbacks set in Hogwarts still manage to look like it's the early 2000s).  Conflict in the story is wrought from an American government that is more anti-muggle than the British equivalent.  If it is allegorical in any way, I do not understand it.  But let's not pretend Rowling's allegory has ever been any good.  Claims that Lupin's lycanthropy was a metaphor for HIV and AIDs only serve to lessen the character.  At best, it's an allegory for general prejudice.  The assertion that Lupin, at the age of six, was attacked by Greyback with the express intention of passing on AIDs, is well, it's dicey.  Rowling might have intended to create an allegory for stigma around 'blood-borne conditions', but failed to consider the extra baggage that that allegory might entail.  

The same is true for Fantastic Beasts, where the nonsense is turned up to twenty.  There's a group of muggles who somehow know about the existence of magic.  They name themselves after Salem, despite the Salem witch trials being appropriate for neither this setting nor this geographic region.  Any commentary on the nature of the Salem witch trials is hardly a commentary on the nature of America at large, but rather a commentary on a single Puritan colony.  Rowling takes pieces of Native American culture for her lore, with no understanding of the cultural legacy at play.

It gets even weirder in the sequels, which zip through countries so fast there's barely any time for worldbuilding.  There's a circus!  Why!  I don't know.

For no reason at all, there's a deer that chooses the outcome of an election.  In a baffling moment, Grindelwald (as played by font of virtue, Johnny Depp) tells a group of wizards that they have to kill muggles because they are going to start a world war.  He is wizarding Hitler, and that isn't a subtle analogy.  In that same scene, Queenie Goldstein, a character heavily coded as Jewish, joins wizard Hitler because he promises her that she will be able to marry her muggle beau.  The man that just gave a speech about killing muggles, is apparently all for marriage equality!  By all means, it doesn't make any sense.  It’s far from being respectful either.

There are of course attempts to make the wizarding world more diverse in Fantastic Beasts, but without any attempt to make these characters more genuine.  There's an Asian woman, but she's Voldemort's snake and she's going to be beheaded by Neville in a few decades.  The second film has Zoe Kravitz!  Yay!  But she's part of a needlessly convoluted tale in which a powerful white man hypnotises a black woman to be his wife, and then she dies?  I don't know what to make of that.  It's not good representation, and by gum it isn't good storytelling!  The Fantastic Beasts trilogy has all the perspective of Emily in Paris.

Hogwarts Legacy can hardly improve upon this worldbuilding, because it comes from an unstable foundation.  I might have been more understanding had the game been set in say, not Hogwarts, or even a Hogwarts that was fundamentally different from the Hogwarts that we already know.  The worldbuilding remains as shallow as it ever was, and with all the bigotry retained.  Of course, the main story is based on a piece of anti-semitic folklore, expanded upon in the books, and even more so in the game.  The problem being that Hogwarts Legacy can only make sales based on nostalgia.  It can't be that different from the world of the novels, because no one is bold enough to alter the world and alienate people who want nothing more than to experience their childhoods all over again.  As such, the shallow worldbuilding is laid bare over and over again, to the point that it is no longer a setting in service of a series of novels.  It now has to be a real, coherent world, which it fails at.  We have to examine the nature of Hogwarts houses, and the mechanics of time turners (thank you Cursed Child), and the reasons why house elves don't want their freedom.  

They'll never get freedom anyhow, because Hermione's attempts at activism are used for comedy.  The world at the end of Deathly Hallows is not greatly different to the world at the beginning.  Voldemort is dead, but we are not assured of any big changes.  The world returns to what it was.  For all that The Legend of Korra may not have lived up to its predecessor, it made an effective attempt at showing that the world had been altered by the actions of our heroes.  In the Cursed Child, nothing is different.  The story spends all of its time looking to the past and imagining increasingly unlikely alternate timelines (Cedric turns evil?  Ron marries Padma Patil?).  Hogwarts Legacy does not set up the world of Harry Potter, nor does it fundamentally alter it.  The status quo is preserved.  Like Westeros, it cannot change. The new game does nothing with the world, and acts in its detriment.  Anyhow, it’s not a good work of fantasy.  J.K. Rowling loves the status quo.   That much is evident.  Don’t buy this game!  Support trans people instead.

[hirocimacruiser]

JZA70

Big single turbine transforms the car into a powerful one, making it the fastest Supra for city riding.

GT-R, Silvia, 180SX and RX7

It is hidden behind,

Yes, there aren't that many, but this

JZA70 Supra is also a popular car as a tune base. In the case of the Supra, tunes that aim for big power are popular due to its character. This 1992 Supra is also the original

It is the highest speed specification that squeezes out so-called top power, changing from a twin turbo to a big turbine. A large intercooler installed in the front section efficiently removes piping from the turbine.

It is pinged. It is important to keep the intercooler piping as short as possible to minimize resistance, and this is done well in the case of this Supra.

I received big power again

For this reason, a metal reinforced clutch is installed.

It has a heavy steering feel, but once you get used to it, you can ride it around town without any difficulty. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to fully open the accelerator and try out the full power, but the accelerator response was good and it wasn't difficult to handle even at low speeds. Finishing of the engine room Even just looking at it, I could feel its high level of perfection. The crossed legs of the coilover

The surroundings also feel good.

The interior has a nice steering wheel.

It has been changed to Italvolante, and the center console has Blitz's twin SBC and turbo timer built in, but it doesn't feel like a big turbine is installed. The exterior also catches the eye with the air scoop on the bonnet and the air intake for Turbo A, but the rest is just a book.

The traditional form is being utilized.

PIC CAPTIONS

●The special all-stainless muffler produces a thick exhaust note. When you step on the accelerator, you can experience the intense surge of torque that only a big turbine can provide.

●The air duct for Supra's Turbo A is installed by modifying the bumper. The cooling efficiency of the large intercooler installed inside has been increased. An air scoop is also installed on the hood.

●The original twin turbo, which emphasizes response, was changed to a large single turbo with big power, and the engine room has been seriously tuned and is beautifully finished.

INFO BOX

Supra 2.5R twin turbo

1992 model with 2 years of inspection

Mileage 44,000km 1,980,000 yen

Tune data: K.27 turbine

large type intercooler

stainless Muffler

metal reinforced clutch

vehicle high pitch

turbo duct

stainless steel

muffler original compilation

SHOP INFO

liberty cars

847 Kurami, Samukawa-cho, Koza-gun, Kanagawa 253-01

0467-73-1496

It relocated from Ebina City and opened on November 1st. There are a wide variety of tuning cars, from light to hard. We only have young staff, so please feel free to come. We also sell parts and mail order.

[regheart]

Ah I did not mean to pitch two queens against each other! I’m just perpetually mad that people seem to think being friends with Lily = joining the resistance. Mary not being part of the order opens possibilities for many different types of characters, and it also reinforces the idea that the order was highly secretive, and an elite group of people trusted by Dumbledore with key positions or talents - not just a club you join if you hate evil. Why did Mary disappear from Lily’s life? Did she choose to move away from the war for her own safety? Did she choose a different path in life? Maybe like Cho Chang, she chose to keep her head down instead of risking her position and the lives of people she cared about? Was she not skilled enough (it’s fine!)? Not that interested in politics? This queen just has a different story to tell, but I wanna hear it too.

oh, absolutely! there are many options of why she wasn't part of the order, maybe not concerned, maybe she was muggleborn and focused on protecting her family, maybe she opposed voldemort in other way if not the order. i also think it's interesting to assume why she and lily, assuming they had been close, would fall apart after school and there's a lot that could be said about lily becoming a full time vigilante or starting a family so soon. and i'm all for the order actually collecting many distinct sets of skills with different members having different attributions

[detectivestucks]

A Jealous Hokage XI

18+ Content, Minors do NOT interact

Pairing: Kakashi x F!Reader x Obito

Summery: You officially submit your request to rejoin the field and face Kakashi's reaction as he comes to grips with the extent to which you have been deceiving him.

Warnings: Combat Violence, CNC Role Play, Oral, Tit Slapping, Sex Toy Usage, Unprotected Penetration.

Word Count: 5.9k

Part 10 New here? Check out Part 1

Your training continued for the next three weeks with Obito before work and Ino-Shika-Cho in the afternoons. Thanks to them you made remarkable progress. Just this past Tuesday Ino admitted that she was going full force and you were able to take her while fending off Shikamaru and Choji.

“I think it might be time to promote you to Jonin, Y/N”

These words filled you with pride. Finally a sense of accomplishment. 

The delicate dance around Kakashi was emotionally draining but now the deceit was at an end. You hated keeping him in the dark about something that was so important to you and you hated not being able to share with him your excitement about your training and your progress. But all it took was a glare from one of his many admirers or a crass joke from a colleague and the ability to keep you yap shut was reinforced with ease.

The day finally came. You typed up your request on Wednesday with a plan to formally submit the request on Thursday and give him Friday to assign you. That way on Monday you could start fresh with your new team. 

You must have written fifteen drafts. Between the excitement of the upcoming change and the nerves of facing Kakashi, you found yourself struggling to string the words together to properly express how this change is beneficial to you and the Leaf. You, a world renowned linguist, unable to come up with the right words. You plant your face into your hands while sitting at your desk. 

Why is this so hard? Who cares if Kakashi breaks up with me over this? Doesn’t that just help?

You weren’t cut out to date a celebrity. It was too hard. Maybe the two of you weren’t meant to be and this would help you cut the cord. But the thought of looking upon his gorgeous face while you do it…

****************************************************

You take a long deep breath outside of Kakashi’s door. You try to calm your shaking hands. The paper rattling in front of your chest would not be a convincing sight if the Hokage is considering sending you out into battle. 

Calm down, you got this. 

You knock on his door.

“Come in!”

You step inside and open your mouth to speak but seeing the look on his face silenced you. It was as if your vocal cords disappeared. You closed your mouth much to his curiosity and stride forwards towards his desk.

“Angel, what brings you by?” 

The initial excitement of seeing his favorite person come to his office was quickly stolen away by your strange demeanor. In complete silence you handed in your request. 

“What is this?” He asked. His eyes panned down. You watched as his gaze scanned across the paper. His expression became severe as he read its contents. 

“No.” He looked up at you. “No, I’m not accepting this request.”

“No? What do you mean no?!”

“You’re not going back out in the field; you’re not leaving headquarters!” He started to raise his voice. It was an insult to him. Surely you would have at least run it by him first. How could you be so impulsive and reckless? You were more intelligent than this. 

You stared back at him in stunned silence.

“You’re not giving up on your career cause of me. All this is just a temporary set back.” his voice continues to rise, “You’re not a quitter! I know you!”

Finding your voice you shout back at him, “I’m no longer effective at my job, Kahsi!”

“And I’m saying NO! You’re the best linguist we’ve got. We need you HERE!” He boomed, desperation thick in his voice, “I need you here!”

“Right now this is the best way I can serve my village!” You stand your ground but you feel on the brink of tears. The two of you had never raised your voices at each other before. Yet here you were engaged in a shouting match in his office. 

“You and I both know you’re no longer in shape to be out in the field.”

“You really think I’d be so ill prepared?! I’ve been training!” you say defiantly. Sure you had been hiding your intentions but he should know you better than that after being together for nearly a year.

“You’ve been training? When did you make this decision?!” You could not match the deep thunder of his voice but your words could unleash an equal amount of rage.

“I made it the week I lost my promotion cause of you!”

The sentence cut through him like a knife. Sobriety laced through his next question,

“And why did you wait to tell me till now?” 

“Cause you’re not talking me out of it.”

You see his mind start to put together all your strange behavior from the past 6 weeks. His rage seeping back to the surface, he rounds the desk to grab your wrist. He lifts your arm and pulls up your sleeve to reveal bruises in various states of healing. Hand still grasping your wrist, he shouts once more.

“So this is what you’ve been doing! Is this what you’ve been hiding from me?!”

He throws down your wrist before bringing his hand up to his mouth. His facial expression is one of a broken man. Hurt at the realization that you depended on fellow shinobi instead of coming to him. Anguish that you relied on others to deceive him. Brokenness at the lengths you went to to get away from him.

“And what if something happens to you?” his vocal cords cracked.

You drop your head and mutter to the floor, “Then something happens to me…” 

“no…” he whispers. “Not while I’m Hokage.” 

Not wanting to hear another word, you turn to leave. He creates a shadow clone to block your exit. 

Furious with him, you turn around and attack the clone. With precision taijutsu skills, refined by Obito’s hands, you block every attack the clone makes with ease. You surprised even yourself but you were too angry to care much. His clone was about to weave hands signs when you reached in and slipped your fingers between the clone’s to weave your own. A trick you learned from Obito. You threw mind confusion jutsu at the clone who staggered backwards gripping his head leaving him open. You channeled all your chakra into your fist and punched into the clone’s heart with your entire might causing it to poof out of existence. Kakashi was taken aback.

“THERE! Did I pass your little test?!”

“This changes nothing.” he spat with an energy reminiscent of his Anbu days. 

“If that’s the case then I’m leaving. Expect my resignation in the morning!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

You turn around and storm out of his office. Your face, a wall of red. Kakashi slams his office door and punches a hole in the wall, feeling tears well in his eyes. 

He knows he messed up. He knows he cost you your dream job. He also knows if he had just kept quiet you would have gone public about your relationship last week. If he kept his hands to himself he would’ve taken you out on your first real date tomorrow. Instead of that wonderful reality, you ambush him with a request to get yourself killed. It broke him. This entire situation completely destroyed him and he only had himself to blame. 

He sinks to the ground clutching his chest, mind a swirling mess of emotion.

****************************************************

“So I take it didn’t go well with Kakashi yesterday.”

You punch into Obito’s substitution log with so much force it splinters into mulch. “Nope!”

He smiles at you with pride. You were so strong now. If he were a normal shinobi, he might even be afraid of you. 

“I’ll talk to him. See where his mind is at.”

“I can tell you where it’s at. He wants to keep me here forever, suffering the consequences of being the girl who fucked the Hokage.”

You threw all your emotion into your strikes as you pushed the chakra towards your feet and hands, alternating which limbs you sent towards Obito’s bulking form.

Obito grabs a hold of the very wrist that Kakashi grabbed the day before and twists it behind your back while holding a kunai up to your neck. He grumbles in your ear.

“One, check your attitude. Two, stop acting like you’ve been defeated. He could always change his mind.”

You catch yourself as your breathing falters from the sensation of his breath against your ear.

“Trust me, he’s not gonna change his mind.”

Obito tightens his hold on your wrist causing you to struggle.

“I said check your attitude.”

You almost swoon and lay your head back to rest against his chest. Between your anger, the lack of sex, and the constant endorphins from working out, your endocrine system had you reeling from any small stimulation. 

You pull yourself together and swallow hard. “Yes, sensei.”

“Good. Now go shower. I’ll head to our Hokage’s office.”

****************************************************

Obito strides into Kakashi’s office without so much as a knock on the door. It was one of his more annoying habits. Always acting like he belonged in every room.

Kakashi’s head was buried in his hands and he didn’t feel he had the patience to deal with whatever nonsense his friend was up to. 

“Good Morning Lord Sixth.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Ah, I was going to ask how you were doing but I see you’re already in a testy mood.”

Kakashi breathes deep. “What do you want?”

“I was curious about the mission load.”

“Oh.” Kakashi was a little caught off guard at the normalcy of his request. “It’s okay. We’re slowing down right now. It’ll probably pick back up next month. There’s always more trouble the warmer the weather gets.”

“You doing okay? You seem on edge.”

“Y/N wants to be on active duty again.”

Obito feigns surprise. “How come?”

Kakashi can barely relay the answer. “Cause of me.”

“With all due respect. If she’s rejoining the field, I’d like to request her for my team.”

Kakashi quirks an angry brow at him.

“What? She’s extremely smart, she’s gotten strong, and I’ll keep her safe. You know out of every captain you have, I would protect her with my life. You can trust that I would make sure she comes home after every mission.”

“And how do you know she’s gotten strong?” Kakashi grew with suspicion.

Trying to cover his blunder he says easily “Have you noticed how she’s been filling out her pants recently? You don’t get legs like that from sitting at a desk all day.”

Kakashi’s vision went red with rage. How dare he be brazen enough to talk about you like that in front of him. “Watch your mouth.” he seethed 

Obito knew Kakashi figured it out. “I’m sorry Lord Sixth” he said genuinely. 

But he was not sorry for what he said, he was sorry for helping you deceive him. Obito left the room without further remark to go about his day. He had to check on his team and run training drills with them even though he was pretty worn out from his morning with you already.

****************************************************

Normally you would be training with your cousin and her friends on a Saturday morning but since they had other responsibilities to attend to and the plan was for you to be training with your new team by now, Obito joined you at the training grounds insisting that you don’t give up on your goal yet. 

Seeing your determination wane, Obito fights you with more vigor than usual. 

“I see you’ve been holding back.”

“Of course I’ve been holdin back. If I didn’t I’d kill you.”

“And how am I supposed to be prepared for battle if you’ve been holding back?”

“Cause there are only three other shinobi on my level.”

“So frickin conceded.”

He smirked at you, making you channel extra chakra into your fist. He knew he was in too close of range to dodge you so he let you fall through him. 

“Hmm, knew you couldn’t dodge me huh?”

“Don’t go getting cocky now. That’s how you get injured.”

“Oh, it is, is it?”

You engage in a series of strong hand to hand blows aiming for his face and chest to distract him from the sweep of your leg as you bring him to the ground, hands catching his wrists on your decent so that he was pinned below you. You huff inches from his face tired from your efforts.

He had a look of shock and pride on his face before a vicious grin replaced it. 

“Not so fast, Princess.”

He rolled you onto your back, so now he straddled you with your wrists pinned above your head. Your breathing was labored beneath him as you stared into his powerful eyes.

“I knew it.”

The both of you turned your heads towards the voice just in time to see Kakashi lunge at Obito who had you pinned in such a compromising position. 

Obito quickly let you go to catch Kakashi’s fists in his hands. Kakashi back flipped over Obito landing behind him.

“How dare you!”

“How dare I? How dare I, what? Make her strong? Ensure she can handle herself? Keep her safe?”

Obito flew towards Kakashi, swinging blows towards each other that sliced through the air so quickly a whistle followed each movement. They blocked each other with heavy thuds. It was almost as if you could hear them pelt each other with boulders.

“Stop!” you scream but they ignore you.

“You have no right!”

“I have every right to keep her safe!”

“Keeping her safe is my job!”

Kakashi’s chidori sings once more in his hand. You leap in front of Obito. “STOP!”

Kakashi comes to a halt but Obito steps through you. Standing in front of you before leaning down ready to re engage in battle. 

“NO! Both of you stop!”

You pull at Obito’s arm who swats at you like you’re no more than a mosquito. You run towards Kakashi, eyes pleading for him to calm down. 

“Y/N, this is between me and him.” he growls

“No it’s not! It’s between us!” 

You throw your arms around him in a sedating embrace. The hatred in his eyes vanishes as he lowers his hands and wraps them around you. 

“Please stop.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N”

Obito walks away unable to stomach the scene before him. It hurt to see the effect you had on Kakashi. To know how losing you would hurt his friend but also to see exactly what he was missing out on.

“I understand why you didn’t come to me, as much as it hurts me, but why him?” He was shaking with hurt.

“Cause he offered his help. Cause he’s more talented than my cousin. Cause I’d be a moron to turn down the chance to be taught by a legendary shinobi. It was the logical thing to do.”

“And those are the only reasons?”

“Kashi, you want to dissect my relationship with Obito but you can’t take a moment to recognize my relationship with the rest of the village?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“How many girls have you seen glare daggers into me when we are together?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Exactly! I told you I was afraid of becoming nothing more than your girlfriend and for the past six weeks that is exactly what has happened. All your fangirls hunting me down, all the men who have stopped respecting me. My thoughts and opinions mean nothing anymore. I am no longer my own person, I’m just your girlfriend and it’s suffocating.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Cause I shouldn’t have had to! You should’ve noticed!”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too. I didn’t like sneaking behind your back. I really didn’t, but I also didn’t want to fight with you about doing this.”

Kakashi buried his face into the crook of your neck and inhaled deeply. Only you could drive him so wild but only you could calm him down so easily. He tightened the grip of his hug. For the first time in weeks he felt he finally understood you. 

He inhales one more time before lifting his head to kiss your forehead. “I’ll let you go wash up. May I see you tonight?”

You pull your head back to see his face better, “Of course. My place?”

“It’s a date.”

Kakashi was going to make sure you forgot all about Obito tonight. Seeing you panting under him haunted his mind. You were his and after all the time you had spent avoiding him, he would make sure you remembered exactly who you were supposed to be panting for.

****************************************************

You go your separate ways for the bulk of the day, running errands and doing chores well into the evening. Around supper time you hear a knock at your door and open it to find a tall Anbu soldier outside your home. He wore a sword strapped to his back, and had a red and white mask with cat ears and two red stripes on each cheek centered on his face.

Your jaw dropped as Kakashi rushed in and restrained your arms behind your back. He spun you around and held you hostage in his arms as you struggled in his firm grasp. 

“Now Angel, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Which is it gonna be?”

You wrangle under his grip and a gratified hum rings in your ear, “The hard way it is.”

Kakashi drags you over to your bedroom playing the role of a cold Anbu agent and you can’t help but soak your underwear in excitement. He shoves your front up against your bedroom wall and pulls rope out of his tactical pouch. Pinning you in place with the wall, he ties your hands behind your back. He was so skilled in his transition that you wondered how many enemies he had restrained. Your mind whirls with admiration at his skill that is oh-so handy in this moment. 

When the knot is secure, he slips a hand around your throat and with the other he fists your hair. He whispers dangerously into your ear, 

“I know you stole one of the sacred scrolls from the Leaf. You are going to tell me where it is and exactly how you took it.”

“Never” you play along. 

“Wrong Answer”

He tosses his mask on the bed and spins you around, shoving your back into the same spot your face just was. He kisses you feverishly, bullying his tongue into your mouth, swirling it around with your mixed spit. You moan into him fully submitting to him and his role play. He presses his face into you so forcefully that the back of your head is firmly planted against the wall. You wouldn’t be able to pull away from the kiss even if you wanted to. 

He slipped his hands under your shirt and slid up so that both of his hands were cupping your breasts. You rubbed your legs together in response, along with a little whine that made him pull back, leaving a thick trail of spittle dangling between your lips. 

“Now, will you cooperate?”

You lock eyes with him and shake your head ‘no’ and his fingers move to pinch your nipples. Your mouth opens in pain and he goes back to attacking your lips. Pushing himself against you, grinding his pelvis on your leg.

He pulls back again and plants a kiss on your jaw, “Then I will have to find other means of extracting the information from you.”

Oh gods yes.

Your eyes sparked with excitement and he smiled smugly. He pulled down your sweats and discarded them near your closet. He swatted at your inner thighs signaling for you to spread your legs. Kneeling down before you, he brought his tongue up to your folds making you whimper. He gave you a few light licks while you looked down on him with anticipation.

“I can either treat you kindly or I can be mean. It all depends on the intel you give me.”

He goes back in, pointing his tongue so that it slipped between your lips and up into your heat. He licked forwards towards your clit and pulled away to bark at you before diving back in. “Talk.”

Your eyes close as you pant, “No.”

He latches onto your clit sucking hard. 

Your eyes scrunch up, “Ngh, I’d never betray my village.”

He pulls back to land a blow on your sex causing you to flinch, before he goes back in. Your hips tilt up and your knees bend making it easier for him to reach all the places you want him. He slurps up your arousal as it drips down onto his face and dribbles down his chin.

“It’s pointless, I won’t talk.” you say breathlessly. 

It took so much effort to stay standing as his mouth did heavenly things to you. The more you squirmed over his mouth the more he teethed on your precious clitorus. When he did, it elicited high pitched squeals from your throat that slipped away in the lustful night air.

With another slap to your sex Kakashi stood back up to his full height looming over you. Silently he lifted your shirt over your head and let it gather behind your neck exposing your perky chest to the passions of the night. 

With one hand he supported the bottom of your breast before slapping his palm down on it with the other. A yelp echoed around the room. 

“Hmm, it seems you have no objection to making noise, just to talking. Is that right?”

You spit in his face.

“Now that wasn’t very nice. Was it?” He wipes your spit off with his hand and brings it down on your chest with twice the force immediately leaving your skin red. 

“Wanna try that again?” 

He slaps each tit several times leaving you a screaming mess as you wiggle against the wall trying to avoid the beating. 

“Let’s kick things up a notch.”

He digs his hand inside of his tactical pouch and pulls out a black mini vibrating wand. He turns it on to its lowest speed and pushes it up against your clit. You close your eyes and exhale at the welcome stimulation. Kakashi gets close to you and whispers in your ear,

“See how nice I can be?”

He rubs the wand in soft circles, massaging it into your labia, pulling content groans out of you as you reach for Kakashi’s lips. 

He complies with a kiss, allowing his fingers to run across your shoulder and up your neck into your hair while his other hand continues to manipulate the wand.

When he separates his lips from yours, your eyes gaze up at him through your lashes, giving him that look he craves day and night.

“But I can also be not so nice.”

He switches the wand to its second highest speed making you knock your knees. Your entire core tightened and your shoulders hunched as your body braced for the stimulation. Kakashi could see your newly built abs through your skin. He pushes up into you before ripping the wand away. You pant trying to catch your breath after holding it during the wand's assault on your sensitive nerve bundle. 

“So now do you want to cooperate?”

He pushes the wand against you. “Haaaaahhh! I didn’t steal it!”

“Lies!”

He rubs the wand up and down on your clit quickly causing you to unravel. 

“Nooo, m’not lying!” you scream through clenched teeth. You’re so close to cumming but he pulls the wand back before you can release. 

“Hidden Mist scum, you really think you can fool me?”

He keeps a firm grip in your hair as he begins to lightly tap the wand over your bud. Breathy moans slip through your lips with each tap leaving you flinching and full of anticipation. He leaves your nerves on edge with his cruel pleasure.

“It wasn’t me!”

He bares down on you with the wand making your legs shake violently. You’re hardly able to remain standing when he switches to the highest setting. Your body pulls against the hair he’s kept captive in his fist as your weight succumbs to gravity.

He resumes the up and down strokes of the wand till your knees buckle and you fall to the ground with a scream as you squirt all over the floor.

The rush of power he feels as he sees you reduced to a heap on the floor, laying in a puddle of your own spray brings your silver wolf to his most primal. He manhandles you. Grabbing you like a sack of rice, he flings you on the bed. He lays you on your back with your head hanging off the mattress and returns your earlier spit with his own. Right on your face before he speaks. 

“I’ve lost my patience. You’re going to tell me where the scroll is.”

He unties his pants and allows them to fall to the floor, kicking them to the side. 

The weight of his cock slaps up against his gray vest. He stands in front of your face admiring how your tits sit atop your chest, pushed up by your arms restrained under you.

He grabs himself and strokes along his girth, drooling at the sight before him. He leans down and beats against your face with the weight of his member. 

“Where’s the scroll, Angel?”

“Torture me all you want, I’m never telling.”

“Hmm, maybe I need to put this mouth to better use.”

He pushes his tip up against your lips. “Open.”

You shake your head. He gives your face a slap. You open up and he immediately slips between your lips feeling your warmth envelop him. He stokes slowly allowing your throat to adjust to him.

“Now this must be what your mouth was made to do.”

You gag around him as you try to say ‘fuck off’

He slapped you tit and went still in your mouth. “What was that?”

You didn’t reply. “That’s what I thought.”

“Now…let’s try this again. Where is the scroll?”

He pulls out waiting for your response. You remain silent, staring daggers up at his gorgeous face.

“Hmm, curious.” he says as he slides back into you. He shoves himself deeper making you choke. You can easily deep throat him at this angle. He slips down your esophagus with ease and enjoys how your body goes rigid from the way it steals oxygen from your lungs.

“How about, you answer my questions and in turn, I will let you breathe. 

Does that seem fair? 

Of course it is. 

Where is the scroll you stole?”

He pulls out and you gasp for air. 

“It’s back at our hideout.” you say between gulps of air. Your teary eyes looking up at him before they are hidden by him sliding back down your windpipe.

“And exactly where is your hideout? Hmm?” 

He makes you wait to answer him, keeping himself buried deep in your trachea until he sees your chest flush from lack of oxygen. He pulls out, allowing you  to choke down fresh air. 

“It’s behind the waterfall.” you gasp. He shoves himself back in.

“That’s too generic of an answer.” He says casually stroking in and out of your mouth. “I want to know which waterfall precisely.”

You choke and cough around him. The vibrations tickled him euphorically but he pulled out with an amused hum. “What was that?”

He was good. 

“It’s behind the waterfall on the south edge of the woods. One hundred paces from sparrow’s rock.” you choke out, cheeks and brow covered in your spit. Your face was an absolute mess and he loved it. He gives you a few light slaps on the cheek.

“Good girl. Since you were so generous with me, let me be generous with you.” 

He fishes under your shoulders, grabbing a hold of your elbow to pull you up to your knees. He stands directly behind you. Reaching one hand around to play with your tit while the other reaches down between your legs to circle around your bud.

You fall back against his chest breathing heavily at the pleasure. You turn your face towards his with closed eyes, feeling complete bliss. 

Your bound hands find his shaft and grip around it. His chest rumbles. You stroke up and down along his length while his fingers quicken their pace between your legs. You tighten your grip in thanks, pulling up and down to the best of your ability with your limited range of motion. He breaks character and kisses your temple and cheek, cherishing you. He bunts his head against yours, completely enamored with you and mind numbingly in love with you. 

You circle your hips around in his hand with a moan that snaps him back into play. He licks a stripe up your face before berating you.

“Such a filthy slut. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you enjoyed this.” He pushes your head down into the mattress and lines his tip up with your slit. “Am I right? Do you enjoy this?”

Before you can answer he pushes into your warm heat forcing a guttural groan to escape as you appreciate the stretch that only he gives you. He drags himself in and out of you at a languid pace, making sure to fully bottom out each time. You moan in grateful satisfaction.

“Tsk, tsk. I bet you let yourself get captured purposefully so I could defile you. Am I right?”

“No”  you squeak out, unconvincingly.

“But you do enjoying this, don’t you”

“Mhm” your noise come out high pitched and needy

He strengthened his grip on your hips, making sure to pull you to the edge of the bed so that he could reach all the way inside of you from where he stood. He started to pick up his pace, pulling you into his hips as he rammed himself up into yours. Each time, bottoming out and leaving you breathless. He could hear your desperate pants as he pushed more air out that you could recover. 

He felt how you constricted around him, swallowing him whole like the greedy slut you were. 

“You know you should really thank me for fucking you so good.”

“Yes, thank you.” you say as if spellbound by his cock

He chuckles. “That’s the most cooperative you’ve been all night. Maybe I should have gone straight to fucking the information out of you.”

Your musical pants begin to fill the room. 

“Yes, fucking you would’ve been much more productive.”

He watches as your hands behind your back begin clutching at the air. You wanted to stabilize yourself but you had nothing to grab on to. 

Kakashi smirked again as he picked up speed allowing his sack to freely swing into your bud as he slammed into the back of your thighs. It was driving you wild. You were on the edge of cumming again and he knew it from how tight you were getting. He purposefully slowed down earning a desperate whine from you.

“Oh I’m sorry. Did you want to cum?”

“Mhm”

“Pathetic. You don’t get to cum when you want. I’m in charge of this interrogation, or did you forget?”

You begin to move your hips back and forth trying to increase the speed of his strokes. He slaps your cheek, “Slut.” he spits before returning his hand to your hip and resuming his earlier pace. 

He brings you to the edge once again before slowing down. Your walls spasm in retaliation to his edging. 

“You’re not here for your own pleasure. You’re here for mine. It would serve you well to remember that.” he snarls as he picks up speed again. His balls pounding into your clit, your face burried into the mattress as he fucks you deeper into it. He used you like a toy and you loved it. You wanted him to continue to stuff you full of himself.

He grabbed you by the neck as his strokes escalated. Lifting your face off of the bed. Your legs shook. You could feel yourself toppling over as he chased his orgasm.

The two of you groaned together, filling the room with your filthy sounds, ensuring your neighbors heard how he used you. He spilled his spend inside of you, casually stroking it deeper eliciting soft whimpers as you felt yourself about to collapse. 

Keeping himself buried in you, he untied your wrists. You brought them back behind your head to grip around Kakashi’s neck. You moaned into him loving the way his warmth filled you with happiness. 

You pulled yourself off of him and turned around on your knees to face him. One hand clutching his neck, the other exploring under his uniform.  Your fingers enjoying the feeling of his chiseled abs and defined pecs. Humming happily into his mouth as you passionately kiss him. 

You bring your make out session to a close with several pecks on his lips and jaw and whisper into his cheek,

“So what brought this on?”

“Seeing you in your old uniform made me want to put on mine.”

You hum into his neck. 

“I’m almost upset with you for not wearing it for me sooner.”

He kisses your forehead before he walks away to wash your drying cum off of his cock and comes back with a washcloth for you. He wipes your face off and then your inner thighs before tossing it into the hamper and walking over to his pants.

“Sorry Angel, I didn’t think of it till all this business about you wanting to go on missions.”

You pull your shirt over your head and lay back on the bed, staring at him seductively. Rubbing your legs together, you simper,

“So does that mean I have your blessing?”

The air in the room suddenly becomes cold. He turns his gaze up at you with a frigid expression.

“Not even a little.”

The affection you had been flooded with washes away. He takes note of your expression and continues.

“I’m not letting you frolic around the woods searching for ways to get hurt.”

“Excuse me? I don’t frolic!”

“Fine then, I’m not letting you run around in the forest looking for ways to die. You wanna serve your village? Then sit at your desk and interpret the intel brought to you.”

He finishes putting on his pants as you seeth.

“I worked really hard to get ready for the field! Just ask Ino and her friends!”

“I don’t care. You’re going back to Class S projects effective Monday. I’m done letting you mope around.”

“I’m not moping! I’m trying to find happiness and you don’t seem to care!”

“I care!” he roars, “But you’re not going on missions! You’re not getting yourself killed. You are not to leave the village, that’s an order!”

He turns to leave, furious with you. He couldn’t even stand to look at you when you said such foolish things. 

Your breathing was ragged with rage as he snapped your front door shut. You run after him to lock the deadbolt so he couldn’t turn around and come back. He was treating you like a child. You are strong now. You excel at everything you set your mind to. He knows that. He’s being selfish. Letting his fear get in your way. 

You stand there panting and feel his cum slip out of you and run down your leg. A painful reminder of the happiness you just felt moments ago. You turn around and go to the bathroom to wipe it off and take a piss before showering. You needed to wash this whole night off of you.

Under the warm water you scrub at your skin. Willing the suds that slip down your body towards the drain to take your anger and disappointment with them. You lay your head and your forearm against the shower wall. What am I going to do?

Part 12

Masterlist

[maxdoan]

Week 4: Reality TV Case Study

Reality television has become a widely popular aspect of modern culture and has attracted considerable scholarly attention regarding its connection to social media. Ruth A's "Chapter Six: Reality Television in an Age of Social Media" examines how reality TV programs interact with viewers through social media platforms and how this affects their participation in the show.

In "a tumblr book: platform and cultures eds" by Allison McCracken, Alexander Cho, Louisa Stein, and Indira Neill Hoch, Chapter 16 involves a roundtable discussion about the Tumblr fandom cultures. The authors explore how reality TV shows have established devoted fandoms, and Tumblr offers a forum for fans to share their excitement and interact with other enthusiasts.

In Xavier L'Hoiry's "Love Island, Social Media, and Sousveillance: New Pathways of Challenging Realism in Reality TV," the author examines how social media platforms have become an essential part of Love Island's viewing experience. L'Hoiry argues that social media provides a space for audiences to engage in "sousveillance," which is the surveillance of the show's participants by the audience.

However, not all research regarding reality TV and social media is positive. Misha Kavka's "Reality TV: Its contents and discontents" contends that reality TV programs perpetuate harmful stereotypes and negative societal values. Kavka emphasizes that reality TV shows often prioritize drama and conflict, which can reinforce damaging societal behaviors and attitudes.

These articles highlight reality TV's varied and complex character as well as its connection to social media. The influence of reality TV on society has come under scrutiny as social media has provided creative methods to encourage viewer involvement and enthusiasm. The benefits and drawbacks of this phenomenon must be taken into account as scholars continue to examine the connection between reality TV and social media.

Reference:

Ruth A (2019). Chapter Six: Reality Television in an Age of Social Media. In Reality Television: The TV Phenomenon That Changed the World.

Hoch, I. N., Stein, L., Cho, A., & McCracken, A. (2017). a tumblr book: platform and cultures eds. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Kavka, M. (2019). Reality TV: Its contents and discontents. In Reality Television: The TV Phenomenon That Changed the World.

L'Hoiry, X. (2021). Love Island, Social Media, and Sousveillance: New Pathways of Challenging Realism in Reality TV, available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2019.00059

[i-prefer-the-fictional-world]

When I'm watching the owl house, I can't help but compare it to Harry Potter.

Of course there are a few intentional parallels and references to Harry Potter in the owl house but mainly because the owl house does what I wish Harry Potter would have done.

We know that show pointed out just how ridiculous quddich as a game is. But more than that it introduced another sport and had three main characters actually play and enjoy it. Over the years looking back at Harry Potter, I've started seeing the massive cracks in the world building. The problem with quidditch isn't just that it's a ridiculous game but that it's the only game. You wanna play sports but you don't like the one single sport that exists in your world? Well then you can't play sports, too bad. And in Hogwarts only twenty eight people in the entire school could take part in this sports. Seven per house. If your house already have seven players then you might never get to play a sport in all of your years at attending school. It's also very dependent on equipment. If you have more money, or if you are Harry Potter who has the money and people gift him expensive brooms on top of that, then of course you will be better at it than others.

Harry liked this sports so that's all that matters. All the Weasley siblings liked this one sport and even made it on the team. So we don't realise, or at least I didn't realise while reading the books as a kid that students at Hogwarts don't really have that many options.

Now in the owl house we see some of our main characters, founding a club for an underrated sports and it served as an incredible bonding and learning experience for some of them. But more importantly I love seeing Willow recognising things she is good at and something she has an interest in and pursuing that. And she had the option to do that because the characters in owl house have options.

Harry Potter is still dividing 10-11 year old children into for categories. The protagonists, the smart ones, the evils ones and miscellaneous. It felt like Hogwarts would stop with this system at the end of the series but they don't. Not only does Hogwarts puts a label on ten years old but they strictly keeps them seperate. They are not allowed to enter each other password protected dorms, they play against each other and they complete against each other. They only every interact with people who are similar to them, this system keeps on reinforcing the same ideas and the same beliefs on the children. Unless of course you are Harry Potter and you tell the hat to put you in the protagonists house. Sucks for everyone else who didn't knew who they were at the age of ten.

In the owl house, the logical conclusion felt like the abolition of the coven system and that's exactly what happened at Hexide. But even before that, Willow was allowed to change her track. We see these kids presented with this options, and we know that the system before was wrong.

There are so many magical creatures in the owl house and they they all coexist. That in itself makes the setting feel more inclusive.

When I was reading Harry Potter for the first time, the name Parvati Patil stood out to me. I read the Marathi translation of Harry Potter. There are a lot of great books in Marathi but unfortunately there really aren't any fantasy books for kids in Marathi so reading Harry Potter felt really great. And having a character named Parvati Patil felt even more amazing because that character isn't just Indian, she's Marathi. So every once in a while when that character was mentioned I could imagine that Hogwarts had a place for me.

But at the end of the day, Parvati didn't really do anything. In every scene you could replace her with with any random character and it wouldn't have changed everything. So at the end of the day, Parvati Patil become just a name on paper. She didn't really mean anything. She and her sister are so forgattable that so many people genuinely believe Cho was the only Asia character in Harry Potter.

Diversity is more than just existant of non cishet white characters. The owl house feels inclusive. The characters in it look different, act different, feel different and yet they all belong in Hexide. The school wasn't perfect but making changes to improve, to make the environment better for their students. Hexide made room for a person born without magic and the world of the owl house allowed a person born without magic to figure out a way to do magic. Something that can never happen in Harry Potter.

In Harry Potter, the magic races still remain divided and you will never be welcome at Hogwarts unless you born with magic. In Harry Potter, diversity or rather inclusion is limited to a few unremarkable words on paper that most people will easily forget.

The second I heard that the Titan trappers have hunted a species to extinction, something didn't feel right. So it feels nice when it was revealed that these people are in the wrong. It feels nice to know that the witches in this world are coming to realise the whole system in their world is flawed and not just the person in charge. That so many people were already in the opposition.

The youtuber Shaun made an excellent video on this topic and I really recommend watching it. But in short, the world of Harry Potter didn't really change. Their system is still flawed, the only difference is a literal magic Nazi is not running it anymore. The nice people are running it. And as long as the nice people are running it nothing bad can happen.

And so because of this and in addition the bullshit JK spews, over the years Harry Potter has stopped being magical to me. Hogwarts don't feel like a place that would have room for me. The world of Harry Potter doesn't feel welcoming.

It's also the reason why it feels great that a show like the owl house actually get it right.

[thedistantdusk]

Invisible Stranger

Written for @clarensjoy‘s Hinny Fic Fest! Prompt #28: “Just... talk to me. Please.” Thanks to Ina for the quick beta :D Summary:  When Ginny Weasley is eleven years old, Tom Riddle changes the course of her life. But she’s only eleven, so she doesn’t see it at first.  TW: Coded/implied assault. Mild smut (later excerpts).  ________________________________________________________ When Ginny Weasley is eleven years old, Tom Riddle changes the course of her life. 

But she’s only eleven, so she doesn’t see it at first. 

All she knows is that Tom talks to her when she’s lonely, although to say they merely talk would be a staggering understatement. She hears his voice more than anyone else’s. She sees his face when she sleeps. She cries to him, bonds with him, pines with him. She thinks of him so often — regardless of if they’re actually talking — that it doesn’t even occur to her that some of these thoughts might not be her own. 

She doesn’t even realize he’s entered her until it’s too late. Until he’s done it. Until he’s made her do things… shameful things. Things she’d been embarrassed to report to her parents. She knows full well she’d only be met with reprimands for making herself vulnerable in the first place. 

When she tries to ask her brothers for help, a tiny part of her is happy they don’t. How can she possibly explain this without feeling a hot, aching brand of shame deep in her soul? She’d have to answer some ghastly questions, ones that would make the whole situation even harder to believe. The thought of taking Veritaserum makes her shudder; she’d have to admit — perhaps to a Ministry stranger — that she did enjoy parts of this. 

She’d have to watch even more of her agency slip away, right in front of her eyes, as her body betrayed her yet again. The mere thought of the sort of mortifying confession that might slide off her tongue is enough to shut her up… enough to keep her from being even more persistent. 

Ginny just lies awake at night and grasps at the straws in her spinning mind until her head pounds from the exertion of trying. She’s desperate to remember something — anything — from the swaths of time that just disappeared. She eventually reaches the conclusion that perhaps she’s forgetting on purpose; perhaps she’s protecting herself. 

She just hopes and prays that the memories won’t slam into her sometime in the future with the force of a freight train.

She ultimately decides it’s a blessing, really, that she doesn’t get help. After all, she’s spent eleven years trying to convince everyone that she’s not a baby. It would be the worst kind of setback to ask for help now, just as she’s gained some independence. 

When she chucks the diary in the toilet, she’s confident she’s handled it herself. Her mother wouldn’t be thrilled that her only daughter found herself in this situation, but Ginny likes to think she’d be proud of her resourcefulness. Proud of her only daughter, who’s finally taken control. 

Still, Ginny keeps her head down, keeps her face impassive, keeps her cloak pulled tightly to hide the deepest blush of regret that crawls up her chest whenever she thinks of Tom.

Then the worst possible thing happens: Harry gets ahold of the diary. The second she sees it with his books, she can almost hear the entire world crumbling beneath her feet. 

She only has a single thought: No. She can’t let him. She can’t let Harry, of all people, have open access to the thoughts that have plagued her for months. The thoughts (the lurid, inappropriate thoughts) that she’s had about him. 

So she steals up to Harry’s room and snatches it back, her heart pounding in her throat. She’s long past the point of needing the diary itself to hear Tom’s voice, but seizing it again — letting him inside of her again — doesn’t exactly help. 

Because right from the off, this time is different. The diary hums against her fingers, throbbing in her palm; Tom hasn’t said a word, but she knows he’s going to punish her. She lets out a strangled choke, her eyes rolling back in her head. He’s going to make her regret her little stunt of chucking him in the toilet, isn’t he? Yes. He’s going to make her rue the stupid, impulsive part of her that thought she’d find a way out.  

Her last thought as she loses consciousness is that maybe death will end it. Maybe in death, she’ll truly be free.

Ginny doesn’t die, though — and to her surprise, she can’t even hear Tom when she wakes in the Chamber. All she knows is that Harry’s there. And Ron. And… Lockhart? Seriously? 

Shit, maybe it would’ve been better if she died. Then she wouldn’t have to endure the remnants of this mortifying, twisted nightmare. Then maybe she wouldn’t have to sit there and sob as Dumbledore and McGonagall explain this to her parents. 

She just lets the tears flow as her father yells, as her mother makes incredulous sounds. With every intonation and raised voice, a single word thumps against her skull: Weak.

Weak. Weak. Weak. 

She’s weak. 

But at least for now, she’s alone in her own mind. At least for now, it won’t happen again… not like it has. In retrospect, she reckons she should’ve known better to think he’d ever truly left. Because Tom Riddle has already become her past, present, and future. She just doesn’t know it yet. _______________

Tom takes a different form during her second and third years at Hogwarts. He isn’t entering her or forcing her to do things or beguiling her with his charm and feigned interest, but he’s there nonetheless. He’s dancing, taunting her in the edges of her periphery… crawling in when the weather changes and everything grows cold and dark. Whenever she does poorly on an exam — especially in the winter months, the anniversaries of when things went from Vaguely Bad to Horrifically Bad — she swears she can feel his sneering lips pressed to her neck as his high-pitched cackle resonates in her brain. 

“You’re a baby,” he jeers, his face split into a predatory grin. “I can’t wait to see how else you fail.” 

When Ginny catches a glimpse of the way Harry peers at Cho, Tom only reinforces how she’ll never compare. “Look at her,” he taunts, and Ginny can almost see the leer curling his lips. “She’s poised and beautiful and perfect. She looks like a woman. Why would Harry ever want a girl?” 

And he says it so much — and Ginny thinks it so much — that she starts to believe it. He’ll never want her, will he? It’s clear Harry likes girls, women, who don’t need rescuing. Why would he want someone who’s been tainted with darkness? 

So Ginny moves on… slowly. She finds strength in other ways. She uses quidditch to regain trust in her own body, the trust she had before Tom made her question her own muscles and movements. 

She even dates, as she feels a normal teenager would. Not that she breathes a word about Tom to any of her potential suitors. She knows they couldn’t handle it; most boys couldn’t, not that she blames them. She knows untainted boys would respond like her friends have: by awkwardly clearing their throats through a whispered, “Oh” or a strangled, “I’m so sorry.” Then they’d treat her like she’s made of glass, and it would ruin things. 

Because if there’s one thing she won’t tolerate, it’s someone making her feel weak. Weak gets you in trouble; weak ruins your life and makes you undesirable. No matter how much Tom loves to bother her in winter, she’ll never let anyone see the resulting weakness.

_______________

Ginny considers herself fortunate, really, that Tom doesn’t outwardly come up when she ends things with Dean. It’s an accomplishment that she escapes from that relationship relatively unscathed. Her darkness didn’t accidentally show itself or lay there, sprawling and naked, for him to pick apart. 

It’s different with Harry, of course. She knows it will be from the second he kisses her in the common room. He’s the first one who doesn’t need to see her in a mask of normalcy and constant contentment. He’s the first one who understands that she’s not asking for an apology or reassurance when she accidentally drops a sad piece of her backstory into a casual conversation. 

On the few occasions when she does say things like that (because, again, she doesn’t have to watch her words with him) Harry just holds her closer, her ear pressed to his beating heart, as he runs his calloused fingers through her hair. 

And Ginny thinks, for once in her life, that perhaps there’s an unspoken value in sharing that sort of darkness. 

_______________

She tells Harry the full details of Tom pretty soon after they start shagging. She knows the war’s over; she knows they’ve kind of won. She also knows a well-adjusted person would have left this bit behind… but she reckons neither of them will ever be well-adjusted, really. They’re the sort of couple who cries when they hear I love you but remains stone-faced at funerals of their friends. For Harry especially, she knows that love presents as something that makes him feel uncomfortably warm, almost smothered. It can be a prickly, painful, cloying sensation… one he doesn’t always know how to respond to. With everyone else, he’s afraid of saying the wrong thing. Of seeming either too flippant or too mindful. 

But as their bodies connect, as they rock together in the dying sunlight, his fingers digging into her hips as he pulses inside her, he doesn’t have to pretend, either. 

Harry’s angry when she tells him… but not with her. He’s angry Tom ever made her feel that way. He’s especially angry with the worst of what Tom said: that on the off-chance Harry did want her, he’d only want her for sex. 

Harry brings it up several months after her initial admission.

“You know what I think about a lot?” he slurs, his finger tracing the curve of her breast as she lies naked beside him. 

She quirks a brow; no, but it doesn’t seem like a rhetorical question. 

Harry sighs, flopping over to his back. “I mean, I know it’s horrible and everything,” he allows, raising his hand in warning, “but seriously, I can’t help but be confused that Tom thought I’d be good enough at sex to use anyone for anything in the first place!”

There’s a moment of silence. 

And then Ginny cackles, shaking her head against the threadbare pillow in her bedroom. Harry joins her, pressing her against his side.

“I’m glad we’re both fucked up,” she says, when the giggles subside. “I reckon normal people are boring.” 

“Probably,” Harry agrees, his hand unconsciously toying with her hair. “Guess normal isn’t really my type, though.”

“Oh, so you prefer funny and traumatized?”

Harry smirks. “I prefer you.”

_______________

Tom doesn’t come back in full force until she falls pregnant the first time. 

Maybe it’s because they hadn’t planned on this— and regardless of how misty-eyed and excited Harry is, they definitely hadn’t planned on it. 

Maybe it’s because she’s certain it’s a boy, which carries certain burdens as the son of the Chosen One.

Maybe it’s because she’s feeling a similar loss of control, like her body isn’t her own. 

But mostly, she reckons, it’s because she’s plagued with the near-constant thought that she’s doing something wrong. 

She had a glass of wine before she found out (strike one, Bad Mum). She trips on her trainers and lands on her bum (very, very Bad Mum). She starts spotting at 12 weeks after she goes for the only jog of her entire pregnancy (horrifically Bad Mum; utterly unfit to raise a child). 

And all of this spins around in her head, faster and faster and faster, until she sees Tom’s face again one night. “You’re fat now,” he mocks, his voice a cruel whisper that slithers into the space between slumber and consciousness. “The nerve of you, thinking you’d do something so selfish as staying in shape at a time like this. I can’t wait to see Harry’s face when you tell him you’ve lost the ba—“

She bolts upright in bed, her heart pounding, and throws the blankets off to peer between her thighs. A ragged chuckle of relief escapes her lips. Nothing. There’s nothing, the baby’s fine, and—

“Ginny?” 

Shit.

She bites her lip and turns to Harry. He’s peering at her, his expression exhausted but alert. She hates that look, she really does; it reminds her too much of when he’d woken from his own dreams, right after the war. 

“A nightmare,” she whispers, brushing his hair from his eyes. “Only a nightmare. Go back to sleep.”

Harry sighs and grips her hand. He knows better. “Just... talk to me. Please. You don’t even have—“

“—It’s Tom,” she cut across, biting her lip. She feels guilty enough for waking Harry when he’s got work tomorrow; she’d better make it quick. “It’s just… stupid pregnancy shit, taking the form of Tom. Or maybe it just is Tom, somehow. I don’t really know.”

She throws her hands in the air before settling back against the headboard. And then, in a small voice: “He just… he’s so great at making me feel stupid.” 

There’s a beat. 

Harry reaches up to cup her cheek; she leans into the warmth, unsure if she’s finding more comfort in the familiarity or the gesture itself. 

“Well,” he says slowly; she can tell from his tone that he’s biting his lip, even if she can’t see it in the darkness. “You’re not stupid. But it’s also not stupid that he still makes you feel like that sometimes. Does that… make any sense?”

Her lips twitch in a soft smile. “It does. It makes sense. I just... I hate feeling weak.”

Harry chuckles and pulls her against him. She sighs into the crook of his neck, her eyelashes fluttering against his skin. 

“I could use a lot of words to describe you, darling.” His fingers dance on the gentle swell of her belly; he always sounds so pleased when he touches her, especially here, like he can’t help but feel chuffed that he’s actually knocked her up. “But I’m afraid that weak doesn’t make the cut.” 

Ginny giggles. “I’ll just have to settle for mad, I reckon,” she manages through a yawn. What is it about his bloody heartbeat that always settles her?

“Mad it is,” he agrees, kissing her forehead.

_______________

“It’s him again, isn’t it.” 

It’s not a question. But if it were, the answer would be obvious. 

Ginny’s staring out the window, her whole body poised and anxious. Every fiber of her being is taut. If she had a bit more self-awareness, she might compare herself to a hunting dog who’s just sensed a pheasant. 

But self-awareness is the furthest thing from her mind. Not when she’s worried about her babies. And she’s worried about all of her babies, yes — but there’s something especially triggering about the involvement of her little girl. Her only girl. Her girl, who’s exactly the same age as she was, right when—

“He’s here!” 

Ginny scarcely hears the words leave her lips as Pig flies through the air and into their open window. Safe. She hasn’t even read the letter yet, but she can tell from Lily’s messy scrawl across the parchment, from the agreed upon symbol of a tiny dragon, printed in the corner, that she’s safe.

Ginny has to draw a deep breath to stop herself from bawling with relief.

“Told you she’d be fine,” Harry murmurs, wrapping an arm around her waist. He rests his chin on the crown of her head as Ginny rips the letter open, nonetheless desperate for the proof she knows she’ll flnd. Desperate for confirmation that her baby’s made it to school all right. Desperate to know another little girl — her little girl — won’t find herself violated and alone. 

Ginny reads the letter through a veil of tears and presses it to her chest when she’s done. Safe. Her baby’s safe. 

A few minutes later, she turns to Harry with an apologetic shrug, brushing the tears from her eyes. “Ready for dinner?” she asks, gesturing towards the door. “Or did you want to stay inside all day and mope about having an empty house for the first time in ages?” 

Harry rolls his eyes, but a smile plays at his lips. He mutters something under his breath that distinctly sounds like not sure which of us was doing the moping, darling. 

But Ginny’s happy to ignore that as she links her arm in his. She’s pleased to go to dinner and drink too much and laugh too loudly. It’s just another reminder of what she has… and how she almost didn’t have it, at all. 

Because while Tom Riddle might be her past, present, and future, Ginny will do everything in her power to ensure he never defines another little girl’s life like that. 

Ever again.

[sabo-has-my-heart]

Hi i have a idea for a Devil Fruit since many years but im not sure if it's to overpowered or strange😅, i created it for my Oc,but i was never sure if it's realistic. If you have any additions or even better ideas for editing, that would be great.

Name: Cho Cho No Mi (Butterfly Fruit)

Type: Paramecia/Special Paramecia?

Look: (im not sure 😅,i drawed that for a few years)

Powers/Weakness:

• Parts of the body can dissolve into butterflies (theoretically, each individual butterfly can act independently,each one can theoretically be reinforced with haki)

• You can grow large butterfly wings to fly with, however, unless augmented with Haki, these are very delicate, especially with water of any kind. However, these wings are strong enough to cause light Stroms.

• The Butterflys/Wings can release different types of dust: Sleeping Dust, Healing Dust, Poisonous Dust, Stunning Dust, Dust of truth/dust of seduction,and a Golden Dust that can envelop you for a very short time and protect you from Seawater.

• The butterflies can glow in the dark, and even catch fire after years of training. The fire can burn in blue or very colorful.

• The user's body is (a little?)more fragile than normal and can also get more sick often. The person is also quite light.

• The devil's fruit user can merge a butterfly with a person (they have something like a butterfly-shaped scar on the spot, the merge doesn't hurt), the devil fruit user can now find the tagged person anywhere and in the place where the mark is sort of slipping out of the person (not in a gory or disturbing way, lots of butterflies fly out of the place where the mark is and form back into a person,that doesn't hurt but it feels strange). However, the devil fruit user can also kill/injure the person if they want to, but that would hurt the other Person of course and that would be bloody.

Hi, Thank you for sending this in. At first glance it's a fantastic power and very well thought out. But it is a little overpowered. If you're happy with that, don't change a thing, what I think doesn't matter if you're happy. If you want to change it, however, I'd start with the picture with the pink devil fruit sketch. From the sounds of it, her body acts similarly to Karasu (Sabo's friend with the crows), the wings sounds fine, though did you mean to type 'light storms' not "light stroms"? if so, I personally find it hard to believe that they can cause storms while also being so delicate. Furthermore, that's a lot of different kinds of dust that do lots of things, plus the butterfly tracking, lighting them on fire, and glowing, it's a lot. I'm glad you thought about weaknesses and their body being fragile and light weight, it was very interesting. I totally understand wanting to have so many abilities, truly I do, you want to be able to do everything, because you want to be awesome, but if you'd like help balancing her out a bit, here's my thoughts. 1) Keep the dust idea, it's great, but instead of so many dusts being released from the wings, choose one or two, or make it so that her wings can help disperse man made powders instead. Then you can keep all the dusts, but her power isn't the one making it, she has to carry the powders on her. 2) Keep the glowing butterflies, I love it and so long as they aren't blindingly bright, it's mostly an aesthetic thing, but if her body is also made of the butterflies, then shouldn't she sustain wounds from being lit on fire? Even after years of training. 3) I wouldn't merge the butterflies with another person, for a variety of reasons, that doesn't mean you can't use the base idea though. You ever have that bug just bothering you and you don't know where it is? Or someone tells you there's a spider on you but you can't find it? Have the butterfly hitch a ride on the person, but because the butterfly is a part of her, she naturally knows where it is. 4) if you do light storms, up the durability of the butterfly wings, just a tad.

If I were to rework this a bit, go with special paramecia (or mythical, special, omg wtf Zoan type!) I would go with the man made dust idea, keep the turning into butterflies, I like the turning into butterflies a lot actually, instant escape! Keep the large wings, go with tracking a butterfly that's been planted on the enemy. Totally keep up that glow, all the bioluminescence! Make her immune system stronger, she won't get as sick as often, but she is made of butterflies, it's natural that she would be a little frailer. And for the record, since you didn't state that you wanted this as private, it's going into the masterlist, others will be able to see it and use it.

[vivithefolle]

Is there anyway you could share the entire livejournal essay about Hermione's reaction to Ron coming back in DH? The few paragraphs that you referred to in your recent answer sound extremely interesting.

[The “recent answer” that goes back to... last December. Oh my god I’m such an ass I left you hanging for so long I’m so sorry.]

Okay, okay, so here goes! KEEP IN MIND: I DIDN’T WRITE THIS. I FOUND THIS ON LIVEJOURNAL AND PICKED EVERYTHING THAT I LIKED ABOUT IT, AS WELL AS SOME COMMENTS THAT INTERESTED ME.

This “essay��� was actually more of a “reading the books” thing with the person sharing their thoughts and ideas about it. The person was clearly a Snape fan, but they had sympathy for Ron too. I’ll try to formate it as accurately as I can remember it.

And now, here it is:

---

ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

[About Ron being made a prefect.] The essayist: It’s sad, but this probably is the first time Ron’s beaten Harry at something. And the last time.

A commenter: Ron's had a really difficult life, and this is the book that proved it for me. It made me a Ron fan. Just look at the interactions he has with Fred and George. This is commonplace. I know a lot of people don't like Ron, but just look at this book, this chapter especially. People have accused Ron of being lazy, unambitious, having no emotions, and being a big stupid boy. It's just not true. Look at how Fred and George needle him out of jealousy. Look at how they treat Percy. Imagine Ron having to grow up with two older brothers that will not hesitate to bother, torture and torment people that stand out or that get more attention than they do or that cross them. He saw it happening with Percy, so what's he going to learn? He'll learn to shut up unless he wants to have something happen to him. He'll learn that standing out positively is rewarded with cruelty. I can understand how Mrs. Weasley could not have fully protected him from those two. Not all the time, not while trying to also care for Ginny, keeping up with her other kids in school, and running the household. Worst of all, punishing F&G doesn't seem to do anything. Those two just don't care/they crave the attention, negative or positive. The best thing she could've done would be to give them no attention, but that's so against her nature that unfortunately she just fed the monsters. No emotions? Is it really difficult to understand that sensitivity wouldn't be encouraged in young Ron? He's got these two bullies that only want a reaction out of him. If he cries, it'll only encourage them. Any reaction is encouraging to them, but he has to go with anger. It's a survival thing- puff yourself up, make yourself look bigger than you are so the predator messes with you a little less. Look at the pride Ron's showing in his badge. The desire to do well is there. He likes the good feeling that comes with it, but he's been hard-wired since birth that it's better to be "middle of the pack". In later chapters, I know you'll have to point out the way the power makes Ron behave, so I just want to start on the defence now. It's all Ron knows. It's all he's been taught. It's a huge character flaw, but it's what makes him so human. Rowling did develop this in the book, but only accidentally. We're never going to get a good look at Ron's psychology except through these hints because it's, as usual, All About Harry. Ron's flawed, but I hope we remember that he has a reason why he's got those flaws. It doesn't excuse him, but it really explains him. So yeah... that's why I defend Ron.

...

“I’m not Percy,’ he finished defiantly.”

The essayist: Mmmm-hm. Ron feels nervous at the thought of his good fortune inspiring anger in someone and what's his first defence? "I'm not Percy"? Man, the evidence that the Twins' psychological torment has left lasting scars on Ron could not have been more obvious if he'd shielded himself and said "Please don't jinx me, Fred! ... I mean Harry. ... Shit, what'd I say?"

...

“Excellent,”  said  Ron,  with  a  kind  of  groan  of  longing,  and  he  seized the nearest plate of chops and began piling them onto his plate, watched wistfully by Nearly Headless Nick. “What  were  you  saying  before  the  Sorting?”  Hermione  asked  the  ghost. “About the hat giving warnings?” “Oh  yes,”  said  Nick,  who  seemed  glad  of  a  reason  to  turn  away  from  Ron,  who  was  now  eating  roast  potatoes  with  almost  indecent  enthusiasm.

The essayist: Ron’s not being very restrained with his eating, is he?

The commenter: I don't know if it's accidental or not, but this is one of those moments that I love, one of the tellings of Ron's home life via his behavior. In this scenario, he's totally a kitten who just got adopted to a house where he's the only cat. He's at a table with food, so his instinct is to eat as fast as he can or his siblings will yoink it. It doesn't help that there are many other people around, encouraging the "get the good stuff fast or you'll have to sate yourself on bread or whatever nobody wants". Ron is so much more human than Harry! How can Harry not be showing any signs of his "horrendous abuse" for eleven years? Well... I guess he sort of does when he buys all that stuff in his first year. And I guess Ron has to go back home every summer where it gets reinforced. But Harry goes back every summer, too... what the hell?

...

“What’s going on?” Ron  had  appeared  in  the  doorway.  His  wide  eyes  traveled  from  Harry,  who  was  kneeling  on  his  bed  with  his  wand  pointing  at  Seamus, to Seamus, who was standing there with his fists raised. “He’s having a go at my mother!” Seamus yelled. “What?” said Ron. “Harry wouldn’t do that — we met your mother, we liked her. . .” “That’s  before  she  started  believing  every  word  the  stinking  Daily  Prophet writes about me!” said Harry at the top of his voice. “Oh,”  said  Ron,  comprehension  dawning  across  his  freckled  face.  “Oh . . . right.” “You know what?” said Seamus heatedly, casting Harry a venomous look.  “He’s  right,  I  don’t  want  to  share  a  dormitory  with  him  anymore, he’s a madman.” “That’s out of order, Seamus,” said Ron, whose ears were starting to glow red, always a danger sign. “Out of order, am I?” shouted Seamus, who in contrast with Ron ‘was  turning  paler.  “You  believe  all  the  rubbish  he’s  come  out  with  about You-Know-Who, do you, you reckon he’s telling the truth?” “Yeah, I do!” said Ron angrily. “Then you’re mad too,” said Seamus in disgust. “Yeah?  Well  unfortunately  for  you,  pal,  I’m  also  a  prefect!”  said  Ron,  jabbing  himself  in  the  chest  with  a  finger.  “So  unless  you  want  detention, watch your mouth!”

The essayist: Note how Ron’s first reaction is to side with Harry.

The commenter: Not surprising because of the best friends thing (some might argue) but I say it's not surprising considering how Hermione and Ron were treating Harry like a ticking time bomb. Survival!

...

“Hello, Harry!” It was Cho Chang and what was more, she was on her own again. This was most unusual: Cho was almost always surrounded by a gang of giggling girls; Harry remembered the agony of trying to get her by herself to ask her to the Yule Ball. “Hi,” said Harry, feeling his face grow hot. At least you’re not covered  in Stinksap this time, he told himself. Cho seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “You got that stuff off, then?” “Yeah,”  said  Harry,  trying  to  grin  as  though  the  memory  of  their  last meeting was funny as opposed to mortifying. “So did you . . . er . . . have a good summer?” The moment he had said this he wished he hadn’t: Cedric had been Cho’s boyfriend and the memory of his death must have affected her holiday  almost  as  badly  as  it  had  affected  Harry’s.  .  . Something  seemed  to  tauten  in  her  face,  but  she  said,  “Oh,  it  was  all  right,  you  know. . .” “Is  that  a  Tornados  badge?”  Ron  demanded  suddenly,  pointing  at  the front of Cho’s robes, to which a sky-blue badge emblazoned with a double gold T was pinned. “You don’t support them, do you?” “Yeah, I do,” said Cho. “Have  you  always  supported  them,  or  just  since  they  started  winning the league?” said Ron, in what Harry considered an unnecessarily accusatory tone of voice. “I’ve supported them since I was six,” said Cho coolly. “Anyway . . . see you, Harry.” She  walked  away.  Hermione  waited  until  Cho  was  halfway  across  the courtyard before rounding on Ron. “You are so tactless!”

The essayist: So Harry meets Cho, makes a complete faux pas and reminds her of her dead boyfriend. Ron quickly steers the conversation away onto something more happy, i.e., Quidditch, before Cho can get too upset. Nevertheless, Ron is apparently the insensitive jerk around here, not Harry.

[If this reminds you of something, then yes, I absolutely took what the essayist was saying and elaborated on it. I confess, I am a dirty thief.]

...

“Well, I suppose he could’ve played better,” Harry muttered, “but it was only the first training session, like you said. . .” Neither Harry nor Ron seemed to make much headway with their homework  that  night.  Harry  knew  Ron  was  too  preoccupied  with  how  badly  he  had  performed  at  Quidditch  practice  and  he  himself  was having difficulty in getting the chant of “Gryffindor are losers” out of his head. [...] And so they worked on while the sky outside the windows became steadily darker; slowly, the crowd in the common room began to thin again.   At   half-past   eleven,   Hermione   wandered   over   to   them,   yawning. “Nearly done?” “No,” said Ron shortly. “Jupiter’s  biggest  moon  is  Ganymede,  not  Callisto,”  she  said,  pointing over Ron’s shoulder at a line in his Astronomy essay, “and it’s Io that’s got the volcanos.” “Thanks,” snarled Ron, scratching out the offending sentences.

The essayist: So Ron’s getting basic facts wrong in his essays.

The commenter: This is going to look so contrived, but I genuinely believe it, and maybe after these reviews, your standards for contrived have dropped enough for me to pass the bar :3 But... he's not putting in any effort. His ego can't take another beating at the moment (even punching bags have limits). Imagine it- after the Quidditch humiliation with his friend the Star Athlete (when he really was trying) he tries to distract himself by doing school work 1. which he isn't very good at anyway, 2. with the Star Athlete of Academics/Slytherin Spectator Crowd best friend Hermione there 3. with Hermione there to set it right anyway (it sounds as if Hermione isn’t so much correcting their essays as writing them herself). If he tries his best at this and then fails at that, Ron probably would start to consider suicide. It's self-preservation at this point to put in zero effort. This kind of fail is literally "I'm not trying because I have given up."

...

She  wrenched  her  bag  open;  Harry  thought  she  was  about  to  put  her books away, but instead she pulled out two misshapen woolly objects,  placed  them  carefully  on  a  table  by  the  fireplace,  covered  them  with  a  few  screwed-up  bits  of  parchment  and  a  broken  quill,  and  stood back to admire the effect. “What  in  the  name  of  Merlin  are  you  doing?”  said  Ron,  watching  her as though fearful for her sanity. “They’re  hats  for  house-elves,”  she  said  briskly,  now  stuffing  her  books  back  into  her  bag.  “I  did  them  over  the  summer.  I’m  a  really  slow  knitter  without  magic,  but  now  I’m  back  at  school  I  should  be  able to make lots more.” “You’re leaving out hats for the house-elves?” said Ron slowly. “And you’re covering them up with rubbish first?” “Yes,” said Hermione defiantly, swinging her bag onto her back. “That’s not on,” said Ron angrily. “You’re trying to trick them into picking  up  the  hats.  You’re  setting  them  free  when  they  might  not  want to be free.” “Of  course  they  want  to  be  free!”  said  Hermione  at  once,  though  her face was turning pink. “Don’t you dare touch those hats, Ron!” She left. Ron waited until she had disappeared through the door to the girls’ dormitories, then cleared the rubbish off the woolly hats. They  should  at  least  see  what  they’re  picking  up,”  he  said  firmly.  “Anyway  .  .  .”  He  rolled  up  the  parchment  on  which  he  had  written  the title of Snape’s essay. “There’s no point trying to finish this now, I can’t  do  it  without  Hermione,  I  haven’t  got  a  clue  what  you’re  supposed to do with moonstones, have you?”

The essayist: This doesn’t seem like a particularly open-minded and enquiring position to take, although I suppose that Hermione’s open-mindedness has always been something of an informed attribute.

The commenter: This trope among fans has got me riled up beyond belief because they use the "Hermione's word is gospel" thing to make unfair assumptions about other characters: Ron's "emotional range of a teaspoon" thing comes to mind, and right after that, Lavender supposedly being silly about believing Trelawney about her dead pet (Hermione never considered that maybe the thing Lavender was dreading was bad news from home or bad news about her pet). Regarding house elves: This is one case where the fans ought to have seen that Hermione was being very thoughtless as far as strategy. Ron has lived all his life up until this point thinking that there was no problem with house elves and she literally expects to be able to just tell him "it's wrong" and he's supposed to change instantly? Talk about your cultural insensitivity. In this case, maybe Ron knows better than you do, Hermione? You didn't even know about house elves until you were at least twelve (but more likely, she didn't know until this year). She must understand the concept of "he doesn't know it's wrong". That was how she defended Crookshanks when he was chasing Scabbers. ... Hey, Hermione thinks Ron's smarter than her cat. That's something, I guess.

...

The commenter: Competition is seriously the worst thing in the world for Ron. He's got wa-a-ay too much baggage. Do well so they'll love you. Do well so they'll notice you. If they notice you, you'll get praised. And tormented by Fred and George. Then if you fuck up, you'll have let everyone down. My brothers never let anyone down. That's the standard. Oh God, I can't live up to that. Which do I want to chose- being ignored or scorned? I could do well. Then I'll be good enough to be called "just like them"! JFC, when's it ever going to be "Good like Ron"? Chess. Literally everyone else has one thing they shine in, even Neville with his Botany and Dean with his art (and... and I'm going to ignore the fact that Hermione and Luna are the only two I can think of with non-appearance based special stuff... someone please help me out? I guess Tonks' doesn't really count as a shallow one because it makes her a master of disguise...)

...

HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

...

Ron gagged on a large piece of kipper. Hermione spared him one look of disdain before turning back to Harry.

The essayist: “Hermione spared [Ron] one look of disdain before turning back to Harry” pretty much sums up her relationships within the trio. It’s no wonder Ron’s so insecure and keeps worrying that she really fancies Harry.

...

“And you’ve been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway...”  “You  can  still  see  where  those  brains  got  hold  of  me  in  the  Ministry,  look,”  said  Ron,  shaking  back his sleeves.  “And  it  doesn’t  hurt  that  you’ve  grown  about  a  foot  over  the  summer  either,”  Hermione  finished, ignoring Ron.  “I’m tall,” said Ron inconsequentially.

The essayist: Ron’s so adorably pathetic here, the way he’s obviously feeling inferior to Harry and being ignored by his so-called friends. *hugs Ron*

...

When they left the Gryffindor table five minutes later to head down to the Quidditch pitch, they passed  Lavender  Brown  and  Parvati  Patil.  Remembering  what  Hermione  had  said  about  the  Patil  twins’  parents  wanting  them  to  leave  Hogwarts,  Harry  was  unsurprised  to  see  that  the  two  best  friends were whispering together, looking distressed. What did surprise him was that when Ron drew level with them, Parvati suddenly nudged Lavender, who looked around and gave Ron a wide smile. Ron blinked at her, then returned the smile uncertainly. His walk instantly became something more like a strut. Harry resisted the temptation to laugh, remembering that Ron had refrained from doing so  after  Malfoy  had  broken  Harry’s  nose;  Hermione,  however,  looked  cold  and  distant  all  the  way  down  to  the  stadium  through  the  cool,  misty  drizzle,  and  departed  to  find  a  place  in  the  stands  without wishing Ron good luck. 

The essayist: Hermione keeps belittling Ron and doing him down, and reacts quite strongly when he even so much hints at losing interest in her and showing attention to another woman. Can we say “abusive relationship”, anybody?

...

“Harry! Ginny!” Hermione was hurrying toward them, very pink-faced and wearing a cloak, hat, and gloves. “I got back a couple of hours ago, I've just been down to visit Hagrid and Buck--I mean Witherwings,” she said breathlessly. “Did you have a good Christmas?” “Yeah,” said Ron at once, “pretty eventful, Rufus Scrim—” “I've got something for you, Harry,” said Hermione, neither looking at Ron nor giving any sign that she had heard him. “Oh, hang on--password. Abstinence.”

The essayist: Wow, Hermione’s just being so childish here, ignoring Ron when he’s talking directly to her. Incidentally, Ron’s speaking to her like a normal friend, it’s Hermione who’s doing the blanking. Still, I’m sure this argument is all Ron’s fault for daring to go out with another girl. Hermione is totally blameless.

[Just in case: the essayist is being sarcastic, they’re pointing out the double standard of the HP fandom blaming Hermione’s immature behaviour on Ron.]

...

DEATHLY HALLOWS

...

“I think you’re right,” she told him. “It’s just a morality tale, it’s obvious which gift is best, which one you’d choose—” The three of them spoke at the same time; Hermione said, “the Cloak,” Ron said, “the wand,” and Harry said, “the stone.” They looked at each other, half surprised, half amused. “You’re supposed to say the Cloak,” Ron told Hermione, “but you wouldn’t need to be invisible if you had the wand. An unbeatable wand, Hermione, come on!” “We’ve already got an Invisibility Cloak,” said Harry. “And it’s helped us rather a lot, in case you hadn’t noticed!” said Hermione. “Whereas the wand would be bound to attract trouble—” “Only if you shouted about it,” argued Ron. “Only if you were prat enough to go dancing around, waving it over your head, and singing, ‘I’ve got an unbeatable wand, come and have a go if you think you’re good enough.’ As long as you kept your trap shut—” “Yes, but could you keep your trap shut?” said Hermione, looking skeptical. “You know, the only true thing he said to us was that there have been stories about extra-powerful wands for hundreds of years.” “There have?” asked Harry. Hermione looked exasperated: the expression was so endearingly familiar that Harry and Ron grinned at each other.

The commenter (?): Actually, I thought that Ron was proving the errors in the story. Because he’s right. The eldest brother didn’t die because the Elder Wand had corrupted him (like the One Ring). He died because he was an idiot. He died because he randomly decided to start blabbing about his new toy.

“You talk about wands like they’ve got feelings,” said Harry, “like they canthink for themselves.” “The wand chooses the wizard,” said Ollivander. “That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wandlore.” “A person can still use a wand that hasn’t chosen them, though?” asked Harry. “Oh yes, if you are any wizard at all you will be able to channel your magic through almost any instrument. The best results, however, must always come where there is the strongest affinity between wizard and wand. These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard from the wand.”

The essayist: Harry’s wand has to think for and protect him because he’s too stupid and incompetent to think for and protect himself! Ollivander’s the expert, and he just admitted it. He said any halfway decent wizard can perform magic with almost any wand. The reason Harry could only work with the holly wand is because of the phoenix feather core it shares with Voldemort’s wand. That is, it wasn’t Harry doing the magic with Harry’s wand! It was the Voldemort soul piece! Once Harry was forced to use wands that didn’t have that core, the soul piece couldn’t do the work for Harry any more. He was forced to rely on his own magical powers and competence, which are clearly minimal. This is proven by his inability to do effective magic with any other wand. It’s also proven by an incident from Philosopher’s Stone. Remember when Harry was being chased by bullies and inexplicably found himself on top of the shed roof? That was the soul piece allowing him to fly like Voldy. Lily could slow her descent from a height, as if she had an invisible parachute, but that is not the same as flying, and we have no evidence she could fly. Only Voldemort and Snape fly without assistance! The evidence is overwhelming that I am right. How many spells can Harry do effectively? Expelliarmus, Expecto Patronum, Protego--that’s it. Even as a young adult, he is incapable of doing the basic healing or cleaning spells a young child should have down pat before going to Hogwarts. Of course, we’re told the Patronus spell is difficult and advanced, but who told us that? Remus Lupin, friend of Harry’s father, sycophant, and notorious liar, particularly when it comes to flattering Harry. Recall Lupin also said Snape didn’t like James because Snape was envious of Potter Sr.’s Quidditch prowess, and we know that was a lie. Given this evidence, anything Lupin says that cannot be confirmed by an independent source, especially regarding the Potters, should be dismissed out of hand. True, Hermione has trouble with the Patronus spell, and she’s super-competent. Doesn’t that prove it’s a very difficult spell? Not at all. To take an example from a different field, Beethoven was a virtuoso organist, the greatest pianist of his day, one of the greatest pianists in history, and probably the greatest improvisational musician ever. But he was only a decent violinist. Everybody has areas of weakness, no matter how good they are overall. In addition, Hermione is very gullible where authority figures are concerned. If a teacher tells her, “The Patronus is a very difficult, advanced spell that many people can’t ever master,” she’ll believe that, which may create a self-fulfilling prophecy. A couple of years ago, another DTCL member and I facetiously suggested Harry was less intelligent than his wand. We didn’t know we were right. It rarely happens, but this is an occasion when I would have preferred to be wrong.

...

If only there was a way of getting a better wand... And desire for the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, unbeatable, invincible, swal-lowed him once more... They packed up the tent next morning and moved on through a dreary shower of rain. The downpour pursued them to the coast, where they pitched the tent that night, and persisted through the whole week, through sodden landscapes that Harry found bleak and depressing. He could think only of the Deathly Hallows. It was as though a flame had been lit inside him that nothing, not Hermione’s flat disbelief nor Ron’s persistent doubts, could extinguish. And yet the fiercer the longing for the Hallows burned inside him, the less joyful it made him. He blamed Ron and Hermione: Their determined indifference was as bad as the relentless rain for dampening his spirits, but neither could erode his certainty, which remained absolute. Harry’s belief in and longing for the Hallows consumed him so much that he felt isolated from the other two and their obsession with the Horcruxes. [...] As the weeks crept on, Harry could not help but notice, even through his new self-absorption, that Ron seemed to be taking charge. Perhaps because he was determined to make up for having walked out on them, perhaps because Harry’s descent into listlessness galvanized his dormant leadership qualities, Ron was the one now encouraging and exhorting the other two into action. [...] But not until March did luck favor Ron at last.

The essayist: MARCH! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. The first fifteen pages of this chapter cover three months, and during that entire time, Harry Potter does nothing, nothing, but sit on his ass fantasizing about the Elder Wand and trying to connect with his Voldie-soul mate. Oh, wait. He also tries to open the snitch so he can get the stone out of it. (Nothing gay about that, either.) I wish he’d succeed in that, too. Maybe he’d swallow the stone, and it would end up in his scrotum. He sure needs something that works down there. Harry doesn’t have the right to bail out on his society like this. He can’t have it both ways. He can’t have the adulation that goes with being Mr. Boy-Who-Lived-Chosen-One-Wizarding-World-Savior and abdicate the responsibilities that go along with those titles and that adulation. Look at what happens in this chapter: Harry becomes obsessed with finding and uniting the Hallows, so much so that he withdraws from his friends, bails out on the job his idol Dumbledore gave him, and spends all his time brooding and trying to connect with the Dull Lord. In other words, he acts clinically depressed. Ron and Hermione were exposed to the same information Harry was, but they didn’t become obsessed/depressed. Ron was mildly interested in the Super-Wand, but not enough to distract him from the Horcrux hunt. Hermione dismissed the whole DH story as nonsense and continued following Dumbestbore’s orders. So why weren’t they tempted?

...

The essayist: Harry opens the locket using Parseltongue--interesting that this never occurred to him before now--and two ghostly figures emerge. They’re Voldie-versions of Harry and Hermione, and they articulate Ron’s worst fears: “Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter...Least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend...Second best, always, eternally overshadowed...” I’ll say it again: When you’re right, you’re right. The evidence is overwhelming that Molly Weasley treated Ron the worst of all her children. And if Rowling doesn’t want us to ship HP/HG, she needs to quit throwing them together and making them leaders, with Ron either in the background or absent entirely. JKR obviously wants us to automatically dismiss certain statements just because they’re made by “bad guys” such as Voldemort and Rita Skeeter. There are two problems with this: (1) The “lies” make perfect sense, far more sense than what we’re supposed to believe. (2) Even pathological liars sometimes tell the truth, typically when it won’t hurt their own interests to do so. For those of us who live in what cartoonist Garry Trudeau calls “the reality-based community,” the evidence is what matters, not what we’re told by authority figures. Those of us in the higher stages of spiritual development are funny that way.

...

The essayist: Well, whose fault is that, Ms. Rowling? You’re the one who’s spent the last four books making Ron dumber and dumber, depriving him of any meaningful activity, while you shoved Harry and Hermione into increasingly dominant roles.

The commenter: Are we supposed to look down on Ron now so that we can condemn him for leaving Harry and Hermione? Because if so, then that’s just unfair. Every time Ron tries to come up with an idea, Hermione criticizes him or shoots him down. And the twins have done a fine job of intimidating Ron into remaining mediocre and modest so that he doesn’t remind them of Percy, so what is he supposed to do? How is he supposed to come up with ideas when he’s surrounded by people who basically tell him to shut up and sit down?

The essayist: Just then, Hermione comes out of the tent with cups of tea, with tears running down her face and looking terrified her “friend” is going to curse her with her own wand.

The commenter: So, Hermione will snarl at Ron all day long, but cower in fear when Harry gets mad. Is she projecting herself onto Harry and assuming that just because *she’s* quick to hex people who anger her (Ron, Marietta, etc.), Harry will do the same to her?

The essayist: The evidence is overwhelming that Molly Weasley treated Ron the worst of all her children.

The commenter: And blatantly showed favoritism to Harry while snarling at Ron in the same breath. Of course, Horcrux!Tom doesn’t bring that up, because JKR would have to admit that there might be something wrong with Molly favoring Harry the way she does. The essayist: Hermione acts so crazy Harry has to put a protection charm between her and Ron.

The commenter: Yeah…sorry, it’s not “slapstick” anymore when somebody actually has to stop her from hitting Ron. When Harry feels that the situation is dangerous enough that his intervention is necessary. That’s not funny. That’s a true-crime episode. What gets me is that Hermione's tantrum lasts for days. It goes on for several pages into the next chapter. She doesn't start acting normal again until she comes up with the idea of visiting Xeno Lovegood. The essayist: Hermione tells Ron she still hasn’t ruled out attacking him with birds again.

The commenter: *flatly* So, all of the fans who cooed about how “great” it was for Hermione to show “girl power” by sending Ron to the hospital wing in HBP or breezily dismissed the scene as just tired teenage melodrama? Can put a sock in it. Hermione has clearly learned nothing, JKR clearly feels that that scene was funny, and at no point are we supposed to think that Hermione is an abuser. Even though, if the genders were reversed, fans would be calling for Ron’s head on a platter if he dared lay a finger on Hermione. No. This isn’t funny. This isn’t charming. Hermione hurt Ron so badly in HBP that he had to go to the hospital wing. And she tried to repeat the damage she caused here. Is she going to attack him with birds again after they get married? Is she going to do it in front of their children? Will it be “cute” and “funny” then? No, if a man is an abusive monster for losing his temper and trying to hurt his girlfriend, then Hermione is an abusive monster for losing her temper and trying to hurt her boyfriend. Not only did Hermione land Ron in the infirmary with the first attack, but she wants to do it again at a time when they are on the run. She will NOT be able to take an injured Ron to Hogwarts infirmary, nor to St. Mungos. In other words - she intends for him to remain injured and stick with them while camping, or else he must apparate away while injured, risking another splinching so he could be healed.

...

The essayist: Ron and Harry go back to the tent, and Harry fades into the background so as not to interfere with the lovers’ reunion. That’s a mistake. After Harry wakes Hermione, she shows her delight at Ron’s return by--attacking him? She punches him over a dozen times while yelling at him and screaming for her wand from Harry. Remember last chapter, when I talked about how immature Hermione is? Here’s your proof.

[The essayist quotes an article that I haven’t been able to find, but paraphrased: it speaks of a father who came to pick up his 4 y/o daughter from daycare, a little later than usual, and the daughter reacted by punching and hitting her father, upset at his being late. Additional read:  “The parents must know that physical aggression is a common yet natural problem faced by toddlers.”]

The essayist: So there you have it: Hermione Granger, know-it-all supergirl, is so immature she acts like a preschool child when the boyfriend she’s been missing finally returns. I’m not suggesting she has a father-daughter relationship with Ron; this kind of anger is found in other relationships, too. What I am saying is that her way of expressing her anger is appropriate for a very young child. While adults may certainly feel this kind of anger and desire to hit when reunited with a loved one under similar circumstances, they don’t act it out. That restraint is what separates adults from children. Hermione acts so crazy Harry has to put a protection charm between her and Ron. I frankly found her behavior so out of control as to suggest mental instability. She engages in two full pages of histrionics before throwing herself into a chair, sitting so tensely I’m surprised the circulation isn’t cut off to her arms and legs. She remains in a bratty snit until the end of the chapter, which is another six pages.  Hermione is still pouting the next morning. I’m wondering if her real problem is not that Ron left, but that she didn’t. Is she angry at him because he had the guts to admit they were blowing it and take a time out, while she just kept trailing along after Harry like a lost house elf? I think she’s definitely mad because she’s always controlled Ron and their relationship. How dare he assert his independence of her! Who does he think he is? Her equal? In an AU, maybe. This is called the Potterverse after all, not the Ronverse.  Hermione’s having a bad month. First Ron runs out on them; then she saves Harry’s life, but he’s an ungrateful jerk about it; then Harry asserts his independence; then Ron comes back but doesn’t grovel sufficiently for her taste. All this mistreatment is going to give her the idea she’s just a normal character and not an Author’s Darling.   While Ron was gone, he was captured by bad guys called Snatchers, who are bounty hunters for Voldemort. In getting away, he got a spare wand, which he gives to Harry. Of course, it doesn’t work as well as Harry’s “real” wand, so Harry’s still in a snit about that, and with Hermione in a snit, too, they’re a cheerful bunch. Honestly, I don’t know why Ron puts up with these two. The Hs are so spoiled and self-centered, they deserve each other, but I don’t think this is what HP/HG shippers mean when they proclaim the two as an OTP. Sane, normal Ron doesn’t deserve either one of them. Run, Ron! Run while you still can!

...

The essayist: As an interesting aside, ròn is the Celtic word for seal. In Druid lore, seals represent love, longing, and dilemma. No more appropriate totem animal could be imagined for this boy whose sense of selfhood is undermined by his longing for love from a rejecting mother and inadequate father, and who, like the selchie wives of folklore, is faced with the impossible choice of being who he truly is and being rejected, or denying the best part of himself to gain love. Ron’s intelligence and independence threaten his insecure wife (and best friend), just as the selchie’s identity as a seal-woman threatens her human husband; Ron imprisons himself by hiding who he is so the Hs can feel smart and in charge, just as the selchie’s human husband imprisons his wife by hiding her sealskin in a trunk.

[drivingsideways]

k-drama rec list

Prior to 2020 I’d maybe watched 2 k-dramas in my entire life, but this year I got sucked in, thanks to some great recs, and y’know, *gestures * everything.  

I think I’d held off watching kdramas because my impression of them was limited to romances that I didn’t enjoy at all. But this was the year I discovered the equivalent of “gen fic��� kdrama- dramas that had wonderful ensemble casts, strong story lines that weren’t entirely romance focused and also a variety in terms of themes and styles. A big plus was that I found so many of these dramas had women leading the writers’ room, and seeing the effect of that in the story telling. (Notable exceptions: a certain “star” writer who should please stop inflicting her badly written, formulaic crap on the world, yes Kim Eun-Sook, I mean you, and whoever wrote that trashfire Flower of Evil)

So here I am with my own rec list! Caveat- these are mostly not the dramas released in 2020, I’m still playing catch up! :)

Under the cut for length

My Mister/ My Ahjussi  (2018, Written by Park Hae-Young, Directed by Kim Won-Seok, starring Lee Sun-kyun and Lee Ji-eun aka IU) 

This was definitely my absolute favourite of the shows I watched this year across western/ asian media. It’s a story about the thread that binds us all and the ineffability of human connection. It’s also a story that deconstructs ideas of masculinity and honour and shame in a non-western context, but with an extremely compassionate touch.  It’s a story that doesn’t shy away from showing the consequences of material and spiritual poverty; and how one can so easily feed into the other. It’s a love story that isn’t a romance, except that it’s a Romance. It’s about finding salvation in one another and in the kindness of strangers.  It’s about choosing life, and picking yourself up off the floor to take that one last step and then the next and then the next. The one quibble I have with the series is that it could have been better paced, it does get extremely slow after the half way mark. But god, do they land the ending. Both Lee Sun-kyun and IU turn in absolutely heartbreaking performances, and fair warning, be prepared to go through an entire box of tissues watching this series. 

Life  (2018,  written by Lee Soo-yeon  and directed by Hong Jong-chan, starring Lee Dong-wook, Cho Seung-woo, Won Jin-ah, Lee Kyu-hyung, Yoo Jae-myung and Moon So-ri.)

Medical dramas are very much not my thing, and I wouldn’t have taken a chance on it except that @michyeosseo said I should, and she was right! It’s a medical drama in the sense that it’s set in a hospital, but rather than a “case-fic” format, this is actually a sharp commentary on the corporatization of health care, and the business of mixing, well, money and what should be a fundamental human right. Writer Lee Soo-yeon was coming off the global success of Stranger/Secret Forest S1 when this aired, so I understand that expectations were probably sky-high, and people were disappointed when this show didn’t give them the adrenaline rush that they wanted. On the other hand, I thought that this outing was really much more nuanced in terms of the politics and also how the ending doesn’t allow you the luxury of easy-fixes. This show has a great ensemble cast, and while it took me a while to get used to Lee Dong-wook’s woodenness (i ended up calling him mr.cadaver after watching this and was surprised to learn that he’s very popular?), in the end I was quite sold on his version of angry angst-bucket elder-sibling Dr.Ye Jin-woo. His best scenes were with Lee Kyu-hyung who turns in a lovely, achy performance as the paraplegic Dr. Ye Seon-woo who just wants to live a normal life. The love story between the two brothers is actually the emotional backbone of the story, and I think they landed that perfectly. 

My one quibble with writer-nim is that she ended up writing in a forgettable and somewhat (for me at least) uncomfortable romance between the characters played by Won Jin-ah and Cho Seung-Woo. I think part of my uncomfortable-feeling was that I got the strong sense that the writer herself didn’t want to write this romance, it was as if she was being made to shoe-horn it in for Studio Reasons, and she basically grit her teeth and did the worst possible job of it.  I do wish we could have absolutely had the OT3 of my dreams: Moon So-ri/Cho Seung-woo/Yoo Jae-myung like, c’mon TV gods MAKE IT HAPPEN, just...look at them!!!! 

Anyway, that apart, I think this was a very engaging series, and by engaging, I also mean thirst-enabling, see below. 

 Stranger (aka Secret Forest  or Forest of Secrets) S1 & 2 : (2017-, Written by Lee Soo-yeon, directed by 

2017′s smash hit aired a much anticipated second season in 2020, and I managed to catch up just in time to watch that live, so that was thrilling :D . Writer Lee Soo-yeon  mixes up thriller/office comedy/political commentary in an ambitious series. I think S1 is more “exciting” than S2 in terms of the mystery and pacing,  but S2 is far more dense and interesting in terms of political commentary because it takes a long hard look at institutional corruption and in true writer-nim fashion doesn’t prescribe any easy solutions. Anyway, please enjoy public prosecutor Cho Seung-woo and police officer Bae Doona as partners/soulmates kicking ass and taking names in pursuit of Truth, Justice and just a goddamn peaceful meal, along with a stunningly competent ensemble cast. Also yes, Han Yeo Jin is a lesbian, sorry, I don’t make the rules. 

Search: WWW  (2019, Written by Kwon Do-Eun, directed by Jung Ji-hyun & Kwon Young-il, starring  Im Soo-jung, Lee Da-hee, Jeon Hye-jin)

GOD. Where do I start? +1000 for writer Kwon Do-Eun saying “fuck the patriarchy” in the most grandiose way possible, i.e. absolutely refusing to acknowledge that it exists. Yes, this is that power fantasy, and it’s also a fun, slice-of-life  tale about three women navigating their way through work, romance, national politics and everything in between. It’s true that I wasn’t entirely sold on the amount of time spent on the romance, and I really wish they’d actually had a textual wlw romance, though the subtext through the entire series is PRACTICALLY TEXT. But still, it maintains that veneer of plausible deniability and I think queer fans who are sick of that kind of treatment in media have a very valid grouse against the show. On the other hand, personally I felt that the queer-platonic vibe of the show is very wonderful and true to real life, and it was only reinforced by the ending. This is a show written by a woman for women (like me), and it shows. 

Hyena  (2020, Written by Kim Roo-Ri, directed by Jang Tae-yoo & Lee Chang Woo, starring  Kim Hye-soo and Ju Ji-hoon )

Those of you who’ve been watching hit zombie epic Kingdom are probably familiar with Ju Ji-hoon’s brand of sexiness already. I had not watched Kingdom and got hit in the face by Mr.Sexy McSexyPants’ turn as a brash, privileged-by-birth, up and coming lawyer who gets completely runover by the smoking hot and incredibly dangerous fellow lawyer/competitor from the other side of the tracks in the person of Kim Hye-Soo. When I say they set the room on fire, I mean it, ok. Every single scene between these two is an actual bonfire of sexual attraction and emotional hand grenades, and they’re both absolutely riveting to watch. “Flower of Evil” wishes they had what this show has- an actual grown up romance as opposed to a thirteen year old twilight fan’s idea of an adult romance. 

The “lawyer” shenanigans and the “cases” are hit or miss, and I think the occasional comedy fell flat for me. But that’s not why I mainlined like 6 episodes of this series overnight like a coke addict, and that’s not why you’re going to do it either. It’s so RARE, even in these enlightened days to find a female character like Jung Geum-ja: hard as nails, unapologetic about it, and not punished by the narrative for it. The best part for me is that she feels like a woman’s woman, not a man’s idea of what a Strong Female Character should be. Anyways, when I grow up I want to have what Kim Hye-soo has ok?

Other dramas that I watched this year, quickly rated:

The King: Eternal Monarch (3/10 and those 3 points are only for the combined goodness of second leads who deserved better- Jung Eun Chae, Woo Do Hwan and Kim Kyung Nam. Please head over to my AO3 and read my attempts to fix this garbage fire and rescue their characters from canon)

Flower of Evil (-10/100, dont @ me)

Tale of the Nine Tailed (5/10, I think it succeeds at what it set out to do, which is a light hearted, sweet fantasy-romance-melodrama, plus “second lead” Kim Beom will make you cry as the hot mess of a half human/ half fox spirit ALL TEARS character. I think if you’re into kdrama romances as a genre, this is probably a good bet?)

Signal  (7/10,  This was the first full kdrama I watched this year and would definitely recommend. It’s a police procedural with time travel shenanigans and has an engaging plot, good pacing, texture and compelling performances. My one disappointment with it was the way they wrote Kim Hye-soo’s character. As literally the only female character to survive in any way, she was given short shrift, and toward the end it really began to grate on me.)

Six Flying Dragons - (7/10, also would recommend if you’re interested in Korean historicals. It definitely already feels a bit dated in terms of styling and production values, and even scripting and acting choices. But it has a good balance of fantasy and history and political commentary. I was not a fan of Yoo In-Ah’s performance in this series, but it’s not anything that would make you want to nope out of the series. It’s GoT , if GoT was thoughtful about politics and characters and not the misogynist, racist trashfire that it became.)

My Country: The New Age - (3.5/10, and that’s 3 points to Jang Hyuk’s fan and 0.5.points to Woo Do Hwan’s heaving bosom. If you like your historical drama/fantasy with very pretty men, very gay subtext -seriously RIP to show makers who thought they could hetero it but didn’t account for Woo Do Hwan’s Tragic Face- lots of blood and tears and very nonsense plot, this is right up your alley. I probably would have enjoyed it more in other circumstances, I think? But this one just annoyed me too much at the time! 

I have a couple of more dramas to watch on my list, that’ll probably carry me over into 2021, so see ya on the other side! :D

[yourdesertsunflower]

Analysis/Opinion, Boruto Episode 178

Cause when they do something right that is worth watching I got to give them credit. 

Okay, okay, okay.  What the hell did just happen? Boruto almost made me tear up? Yes, almost.  I know I’m late (way too late, and I haven’t seen this weeks episode to be honest) but I needed to speak about this episode because, causing me to almost tear up is somthing that both OG Naruto and Naruto Shippuden only did in other occasion which, uncoincidentally, involving the same two characters. But well, we get more into it later but before starting with the analysis, which will be done in chronological order, I will just warn you: SPOILERS! Now yes, let’s get into it. 

At the beginning of the chapter I already knew this was going to be good. Like, really good. The first shot showing Shikadai tying up his hairs lacks of subtlety yet is a very good symbol and a clear indicator of what will come up next. Nara’s pineapple hair is quite a staple for the clan, it show us the tradition passed down from generation to generation. It’s, also, something that connects, both in a visual but also symbolical level, all three grandfather, father and son. Having Shikadai tie up his hair at the beginning of the chapter just was a sneak peak of all to come, how in some moment Shikamaru will have to do the same as his father and entrust everything of Shikadai knowing that he’ll be able to make things right. Really short and sweet. 

The “breakfast scene”, that’s how I called it. Well, this is the only moment we actively was Temari which is sad because I’m craving for moments with her and actually thought this was a good opportunity to do so. Yet, I respect the decision that Studio Pierrot made to focus primarily on Shikamaru and secondarily on Ino, though I would have loved to see a little bit more of the later but I’ll talk about that later. 

I think the gesture of Temari talking to Shikadai before hand about everything is very telling of Temari as a character and her relationship with Shikamaru. It does not only show a deep bond between the couple, created through a deep comprehension of and care for each other which is nice. Both Temari and Shikamaru know about loss and it’s really nice that they know what each other need during the times of grieving. She doing the dishes, talking to Shikadai or giving him the space during that day feels fitting as Shikamaru is known to be someone who needs to process things on his own. However, Temari always is there, and through little acts she shows it (even I liked the strict parenting that it was displayed here, is more of what I’ll imagine Temari doing). But, yes there is no need of flashy displays she just does it everyday which, is beautiful.

I got no particular dislike of Shikadai not remembering the date. He is almost a teenager born and raised in a period of peace and it shows. Probably he had other things in his head but, boy, you are supposedly a quick thinker! If you saw not only your father unusually late at home but both your parents are dressed all in black. I really don’t think that connecting the dots was so difficult. Still, it was passable since it gave the excuse for Temari to talk (which though sad, it’s true). 

Shikamaru in this scene is anticipating what will happen through the chapter. This is an important date not only to them but the whole of the villages but, also the change between the sequences to the monument of those who died in the line of duty, the Will of Fire also sujested the grate importance that it has to him even though he doesn’t like to admit it that openly. There is something that kept ruminating in his mind since that day; something that makes that day even more than a commemoration day towards his father.

Okay now, having finished with that opening scene, let’s get into the second scene. Before entering into the more detailed thing let’s get through this first. I know people were pissed about Hinata not being part of the group while being present at the commemoration ceremony. I find this to be understandable in terms that Hinata is no longer a active jonin, and that all the once that were up in the stage were people who thought at the Fourth Great Ninja War for Konoha and still are active ninja. Does this justifies it? No, but it gives us some sort of explanation. I personally was way more focused on having Hinata bringing Neji’s portrait. I found this enduring and a really nice gesture that just makes me want to have seen more of their relationship and development in Naruto Shippuden. In the same manner though I was pissed of that Choji wasn’t that present I understand the necessity to fill a story in a 22 minute timelapse so, even though I think Choji could be easily added better within the chapter, I understand the decision to not involve him that much. In the same manner it would have been nice to see Yoshino and Choza within the people of Konoha, a real missed opportunity.

Shikamaru looking above to the sky is a lovely gesture that carries a lot through it. I often talk about how beautifully written is Shikamaru’s arc through Naruto. He is the pivotal character that I would put a focus if a coming of age story is what you are looking for. And this character arc left us with one solid idea in my opinion, sometimes what you always wanted won’t be what is given or what is needed from you. Growing up is about taking responsibilities about following the path you consider to be right and not the easiest. However in this little moment we can see a really human Shikamaru that, is not only looking up into the sky towards his lost father but his lost dreams. There is almost a melancholic tint to all this scene, because we all have times in which we wish we could be kids again and really don’t care. It’s really humanising and it is done with such a subtlety that it surprised me.

Ao coming back is still something I don’t end up getting used to, even with two rewatches of the episode. But I got to say it, even though I find it quite convenient, he fufills the role that is needed from him in this chapter being the only person that can answer the question that’ll bring peace to Ino and Shikamaru so, even though a little bit crappy in its execution I really don’t mind he survived.

Shikamaru and Ino and their talk was really fresh and something I never knew I needed. As I always said, I love Team 10 and their dynamic. There is an undying love, support and care for each team member to the others that is so wholesmome and sweet. And in this scene they were able to replicate this perfectly. The friendship between Ino and Shikamaru was always a beautiful element within the narrative because they are, in my opinion, a really good representation of a female-male friendship. And no, this doesn’t mean that you can’t ship them (I mean you do you) but it means that I think that it was a really nice scene between two friends, one a woman and the other a man, that care about each other like family and that I am sure would do anything for each other and I think that is beautiful. Friendships between men and women should be normalised on screen and I think that Ino and Shikamaru, beyond the Ino-Shika-Cho as a whole, are a really true example of what a healthy friendship can be. They joke around with each other but also don’t shy of being vulnerable and supportive.

Here enters the well known “Survivor Syndrome”, also called Survivor Guilt, something that all three main characters within the chapter have, meaning, Shikamaru, Ao and Ino. This is a mental condition that occurs when a person believes they have done something wrong by surviving a traumatic or tragic event when others did not, often feeling self-guilt. Obviously all characters show it in different degrees; for someone like Ao that guilt is turned into the inspiration to move foward with his rehabilitation in order to live for those who died but in the case of Shikamaru and Ino it is explored completely diffeng through one element, key for this chapter.

The Recurrent Question, is basically a lovely way to introduce us to syche of this two characters and better understand the weight this two characters carry beyond the leadership of their clans. Their parents died at a fairly young age and their kids were inexperienced as it regards a war of this magnitude beyond being basically teenagers. Taking all this into account, beyond Shikamaru’s characterisation which goes alonb with it, it really isn’t weird the question they have. It fairly logical, give the situation they found themselves in years ago but also nowadays as parents to the next generation. It is really a ver humanising question as it reminds us that, before being incredibly talented ninjas they are people. This is something they need to understand for personal reasons: both as son and daughter but also as parents. Compeleting that piece of the puzzle is what something will give them a much needed peace and, also the key to move foward as it’ll be gaining a better understanding of, not only their parents, but themselves

The Next Generations, is a theme that was always reinforced through all the series but specially in Team 10. This is not only given the importance the Will of Fire had for the characters that conform it but also in the genesis of the team itself. The formation of the Ino-Shika-Cho is a strategic one that is built and reinforced through tradition. Hence the strong bonds between the different he generations of these clans because, by the passing of the torch they are entrusting there lives and legacy to the following in line. They importance of trust and time become apparent as they show us the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho as Shikamaru says that one day they’ll entrust everything to them, unknowingly, providing him with the answer to they question he asks. But, why he doesn’t notice this? Because he had to hear it himself, showing the respect and admiration they had as shinobi. As Ino said they were heroes, real shinobi till the very end, but is that really so? I don’t think so.

Then we go to the sequence in which Ao leaves a flower to greet farewell to Inoichi and Shikaku which I think is a really nice yet simple moment. He also had the weight of never having said goodbye to them and through this gesture he is finally coming together and giving himself a much needed peace; he finally forgave himself for being the sole survivor of that division and of the destruction.

“You look just like your father”  Well that hit me on a personal level. All people since I can remember always told me I look exactly like my mother. And, as many people that also where told so may know is not something you particularly like to hear when you are a child. You want to your own individual unbound of you parents and their lives but, when you grow and loss that special someone, well it hits differently. I can imagine what those words would mean for Shikamaru, probably some needed words that we all saw coming. It’s the idea that, somehow, he is able to keep with his father’s legacy which transcends the looks. It’s nice and sweet.

And here the question comes. Since Ao was introduced it was obvious he’ll fufill this role; answer the question. It was so brave for Shikamaru to ask it, knowing the answer may not be what he may wanted. The fact he says he “sometimes” thinks about this, shows us that the question tormented him for quite some while, fifteen years. It’s really sad if you think about the uncertainty that covered this vital part of his life that would go on to affect everything, his role as an advisor, as a Shinobi and as a father. But the answer was definitely something way needed for this two, and deserved. Seeing Ino and Shikamaru (well Shikamaru almost) cry made me almost tear up. And that’s what I said previously, Inoichi and Shikamaru as so many pointed out weren’t shinobi in their last breaths but fathers. And great ones, that entrusted without doubt and absolute trust everything to Ino and Shikamaru. It was a really beautiful moment that really felt gained and I couldn’t help but smile, though it always been obvious to me, I still was nice to hear it.

I would have loved to see more of Ino and her point of view through the chapter. I think we followed Shikamaru all through it, and don’t get me wrong I am a sucker for any Shikamaru-centric episode, but it would have been lovely to see the other side of the coin, the complete story and view. So yes, my main complain with this chapter as a whole would be that.

And we get to the ending. First of all we see Shikamaru watching the clouds as he used to do when he was a child, for me a clear indicator that a big weight had been taken away from him. It’s a lovely remainder that we can still dream and recall the child we once were.

Temari sending Shikadai to find Shikamaru is really fitting and a good gesture of Temari to be honest. I think she knew he’ll need Shikadai, as I said before this two know each other so much, so I doubt this was arbitrary.

Shikamaru and Shikdai are really such great father-son duo, I really like their interactions and how Shikamaru is able to reflect himself in Shikadai, hoping that one day his son can learn something from him as he did with his father and knowing he’ll be able to entrust everything when the time comes. And, who I am lying saying that the time will come? Some people say that this was a the anime anticipating Shikamaru’s death but, to be honest, that’s something I already knew since nothing of his dream come true. He never had two children and the first was a boy, he married a stunning and troublesome woman he truly loves, he is the Hokage’s advisor and one of the most important figures in the Shinobi world. Besides, Asuma’s and Shikau’s death I think showed Shikamaru that there is a way more fitting way for a shinobi, but even more importantly for a human, to die than peacefully which will be protecting what he loves. Yes, that moment will probably break my heart but, if done correctly, it’ll be a perfect end for this character.

The only thing I got left to say, because I won’t analyse the last scene cause (being honest) I was completely taken by surprise is, what happened to Temari? I got to say, that wasn’t really nice of Shikamaru and neither of Shikadai. Shikadai was looking for Shikamaru in order to go home to Temari, who was waiting for them. I just gonna set this clear - now Studio Pierrot owes us a Nara Family Moment/ShikaTema for doing dirty at last second lmao.

Well this is my opinion/analysis of this episode of Boruto. I hope I didn’t bore you that much when reading my opinion and that you enjoyed the episode as much as I did. Have a nice day! ❤️

[chsamuseum]

From Summer of Love to Civic Upheavals: Reflections on My Experience at St. Mary’s Chinese Day School

Mike Kranzke, our homeroom teacher, instructed EST meditation in class. (Courtesy of Raymond Lee from Evelyn Sacks, posted on Facebook, May 31, 2016).

Our Class of ‘76  witnessed and were affected by major societal changes during and after attending St. Mary’s on Stockton St. In 1921, Paulist priests founded the school and invited the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange to run classes. When we first met in 1967, the modernization movement of Vatican II had not completely taken hold: the sisters were wrapped in medieval black-and-white habits, and catechism was rote-taught. By the late 1960s, however, their attire was replaced with modern white blouse and knee-length skirt, and religion class covered a broad range of topics.

The biggest charge was the staffing of lay teachers to replace most of the sisters in the early 1970s. Wendy Dorband taught us Judaic beliefs and customs, including hosting a traditional Passover supper. Michael Kranzke practiced EST and instructed us meditation techniques. He led the Mass choral strumming a guitar to Cat Stevens’ Moonshadow. Don Papa brought youthful vitality and a free-spirited teaching style, encouraging us to discuss and debate current event issues, very much like Mr. (Mark) Thackeray in ‘To Sir with Love’.

Wendy Dorband, our grade 6 homeroom teacher, instructed English, history, geography, as well as sex education and Judaic customs. (Courtesy of Raymond Lee from Evelyn Sacks, posted on Facebook, May 31, 2016).

The counter-culture movement of the late 1960s encouraged teachers and students to question traditional values and attitudes held by mainstream establishment. Wendy covered sex education, including birth control and legal abortion, which were taboo topics prior to Vatican II. In the 1970s, territorial squabbling among the Chinese youth made for headline news and spilled into the classrooms of St. Mary’s and other schools. Perhaps as counterbalance, William Coward, our sixth grade math teacher, played “What the World Needs Now is Love” in class one day! Our cultural-ethnic awareness and identity strengthened after the introduction of Asian-American Studies at SF State, and media exposure and popularity of Bruce Lee films, both in the early 1970s. 

The optimism experienced in our final year at St. Mary’s was reinforced by the patriotism and pride of the Bicentennial celebration. That feel-good afterglow was short-lived. The Golden Dragon massacre the next year was a cataclysmic financial and psychological blow to Chinatown. Concurrently, the International Hotel protests lay bare the economic disparity and injustice many immigrants living in or near Chinatown endured, which continue unabated today. In the forthcoming years, ethnically-motivated mistreatment and violence, such as the Vincent Chin slaying in 1982, have become bellwethers of race relations in SF and other American locales.

At our 2016 reunion, teachers seated (left to right): Mary Tan (homeroom 8th grade), Johanna Pendleton (homeroom 3rd and 4th grades), Michael Kranzke (homeroom 7th grade), and Don Papa. (Courtesy of Raymond Lee from Corinne Cho-Beaulieu, posted on Facebook, July 9, 2016).

At our 40th class reunion in 2016, my classmates and I expressed sadness and frustration over the gradual erosion of the Chinatown neighbourhood, including the eventual shuttering of our alma mater due to revenue shortfalls. Ironically, a few years earlier, the school had moved into newly built facilities at the very site of the demolished International Hotel. The pandemic lockdown and retail closures have, once again, drawn attention to the plight of the most vulnerable in Chinatown, whose children and grandchildren our school once taught and supported. The community void will take all our collective determination and effort to fill.

Written by CHSA community member, Raymond Lee. Lee was born, raised, and educated in San Francisco. Raymond and his wife reside in Winnipeg, Canada, and Saint-Denis, France. He is currently employed at the Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba.

[driftbending]

i keep writing and rewriting my reaction to vincenzo because there are a lot but also i'm not certain i articulate everything i hated about the ending.

i will say that i knew no matter what that i wouldn't like the ending because murdering a character as punishment for their misdeeds is not something that appeals to me. i grew up watching kirikou et la sorcière, avatar: the last airbender, lilo and stitch, and (more recently) moana. all of these are stories that say "here is an evil character that we'll stop in a way that doesn't involve jail/murder," and the only exception i make for this is light yagami's death in death note and that's because ryuk killed him as a way to end their relationship, not as a punishment for his crimes. (and gothic lit is exempt bc they have to be resolved with murder.) so, whatever happened, regardless of how much violence the babel four did, none of their deaths would have held any emotional satisfaction for me. yet i prepared myself to be unimpressed by the finale since this is what the set up has always been: vincenzo will kill hanseok, and maybe myunghee, seunghyeok, and hanseo.

i knew this from the beginning. the narrative repeated it so often i got annoyed. there were so many close calls with vincenzo pulling a gun on hanseok that that got boring. by the time ep. 20 rolled around i was just fed up and wanted someone to die because this show had already failed me so many other times with their set ups that i wanted at least one good payoff.

lo and behold, they did end up killing the four characters i thought would die. hanseo died, and though he was my favorite character, and though i felt sad he didn't get any funeral scene or help while he was fending off his brother and that his death served as a sacrifice for vincenzo instead of literally anything else, i didn't cry or even get mad about it. he died and i felt free to stop caring about the rest of the story. yay me! i do understand the fans who hated that he was killed and that he should've survived bc abuse victims don't deserve the storyline hanseo got, but this is not a show i expected to actually care about victims. despite what it says, i knew i wouldn't get this for hanseo waaaaay back in ep 8 when they brought up the victims of that gay banker and just used it as a way for us to root against the banker. they didn't treat those victims with any respect at all and so i was already prepared for them to do it all over again. and they did and it sucks, but again for me i couldn’t get as angry as i normally would about this bc i always knew that the deaths from this show would never mean anything to me bc there was just so much of it it became meaningless.

another thing i knew that was going to let me down about this show is that it didn’t have a single “good” character for me to root for. mr. hong existed, but he was murdered early on. every other character on the show is too corrupt to be the ones i would want handling a reconstruction project for a more ethical world. yes, they made hanseo go through a redemption arc, but they didn’t let him stay did they? they focused so much on deconstruction they never cared about reconstruction. so when they got to the ending where vincenzo just leaves, chayoung and the tenants are thrown into a familiar cycle of court cases and defending their plaza from it being redeveloped, vincenzo just goes on to be a mafia boss again, and the guillotine file is back in the hands of the corrupt intelligence agency that created it on the orders of their president. the only thing that changed was babel group was destroyed bc their two ceos were murdered and the lawyers of their legal rep. were also murdered.

and yet, despite my expectations being so low they were basically non-existent, i was still disappointed. they didn't let chayoung do anything (which i knew would happen because i knew something about her characterization never felt fully fledged to me the way it did to fandom, so i wasn't surprised when they delegated her as a damsel-in-distress/love interest.), they killed myunghee the way we used to burn witches (which how fitting for a female character that is cunning and cruel), and the way they killed hanseok literally made me feel faint and nauseous (i wish this was an exaggeration; the second i saw the drill pointed at him i started feeling this way and i couldn't listen/watch his death scene because it was so brutal).

so, the ending satisfied nothing for me. if people who shipped the main characters were satisfied, whatever. i was never interested in them as a ship (i tend to ship vincenzo and chayoung with other characters), so the ending was even more disappointing bc it really held nothing that mattered to me.

i was also not a person that liked the way each character idolized vincenzo because i preferred his relationships with other characters to be filled with more tension* and the narrative just told me that the writers didn't, that vincenzo's word was what mattered, that the other character's conflicting needs were meant to be eclipsed by vincenzo's needs. so when the characters were all looking into the horizon hoping that vincenzo would some day come back (for what, i ask you?) i was just like :|

(*what do i mean by tension? i mean my favorite version of chayoung/vincenzo was the early eps when she hated him for being liked so much by her father that her flaws as a daughter were highlighted more and chayoung's own hesitancy with murder bumping up against vincenzo’s lack of hesitancy. mr. cho/vincenzo were most interesting when mr. cho wanted the guillotine file to use for his own purposes. the tenants/vincenzo were the most interesting when the tenants wanted to take the gold and vincenzo was trying to stop them. even hanseo/vincenzo was the most interesting when they had the "will you kill me? will you betray me?" tension as they worked together to get rid of hanseok. these dynamics added layers to the characters and reminded us they had their own motivations that were as equally important as vincenzo’s, but not enough of these tensions lasted past a few episodes and almost always would vincenzo's needs prevail with most of the other characters going along with his plans in the end.)

and this is all without mentioning how fandom sort of ruined a lot of the show for me, too. they took the characteristics that made the myunghee/hanseok dynamic one of my favorites and gave it to chayoung/vincenzo to the point where i was always left baffled and feeling like i was watching a different show. (a good point about the end for me is that i feel vindicated watching the scene where chayoung was basically like "i don't like your methods, vincenzo, but i needed to use them as the lesser of two evils to destroy hanseok," bc it did sort of reinforce for me my own reading of chayoung which was that she doesn't mind being corrupt and blackmailing people or scaring them into compliance, but that she was not going to get her hands covered in blood or dance over the corpses of her enemy. those traits belong to myunghee who accepts her role as a villain in a way that is as cool and collected as vincenzo. and lord, imagine what a show it would've been if the writers had made the kings chayoung/hanseok, the last ones that should ever be taken, while the queens were vincenzo/myunghee who would be the ones that would make all the moves, kill all their enemies pieces, and try to destroy one another first as the two most powerful players in the game? imagine if fandom had been able to read chayoung and myunghee accurately enough that i wouldn’t have to read post after post talking about how they needed to see myunghee brutally murdered/tortured by chayoung because they would understand chayoung’s character isn’t going to do that, posts which i hated seeing bc, as i said before, violence for violence’s sake means nothing to me? imagine if the writers cared enough about chayoung/myunghee to develop them more fully? sigh.)

i feel like i'm going nowhere with this and that i'm repeating myself a lot or not making much sense. but i'll end with this: i knew the last two episodes were going to be garbage when they all gathered at toto's restaurant post-fight in ep 19 and all they were talking about was vincenzo this and vincenzo that instead of worrying after the ones that were momentarily kidnapped/injured. like thanks show, for instead of pushing the narrative along we get a vincenzo fan club meeting and another round of "i never had anything to fight for until you came along" which is a convo we've had plenty of times before.

(footnote: i edited this on may 6, 2021 for clarity.)

[inclineto]

Books, September - October 2020

A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs - Ellis Peters [”Carve this upon Morwenna’s Grave: / NONE BUT THE BRAVE DESERVES THE BRAVE.” You know, the verse is what gives away Pargeter’s experience as a literary translator - whether it’s singing translations of Mahler, or Welsh lament, or, as here, Dryden willfully misquoted and mixed with convention and double meanings, she so clearly enjoyed its sounds and allusions. None of it is the highest art, but all of it is distinct and memorable and precisely right for its purpose.]

The Disaster Tourist - Yun Ko-Eun, translated by Lizzie Bueler

The Angel of the Crows - Katherine Addison [look, you may SAY you filed the serial numbers off your BBC Sherlock wingfic, but you didn’t file them very hard, did you??? (It is, actually, cumulatively extremely different - at least based on the first two seasons, which is all I could bear to watch before I was fed up and over it - but I can see where all the edges were.)]

The Eagle of the Ninth - Rosemary Sutcliff

Passing - Nella Larsen 

The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here - Hope Jahren

The Quest for Saint Camber - Katherine Kurtz

The Innkeeper’s Song - Peter S. Beagle *

The Pull of the Stars - Emma Donoghue [it’s Emma Donoghue, so of course it’s gorgeously done, but 1918 + the Ryan report + many extremely graphic descriptions of labor and delivery, and you know she doesn’t believe in easy happy endings in her historical fiction, so...] *??

Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell

Regency Buck - Georgette Heyer

Daring and the Duke - Sarah MacLean

Anne of the Island - L. M. Montgomery

H is for Hawk - Helen MacDonald

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows - Olivia Waite [ridiculous cover, less food than hoped for, agonizingly slow burn; also, I enjoyed this much more than Celestial Mechanics]

Transcendent Kingdom - Yaa Gyasi

The Piper on the Mountain - Ellis Peters

Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge - Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Turn of the Key - Ruth Ware

The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think - Jennifer Ackerman

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke *

Sorcerer to the Crown - Zen Cho * [I enjoyed this the first time I read it, but rereading made me like it even more; note that in real life Rollo would drive me up the wall, but in fiction he’s delightful]

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus - Charles Mann [honestly, there were big chunks of this that I know well enough that I could have skimmed...but on the other hand, I don’t know much of anything about post-Pleistocene, pre-Inkan South America, so I appreciated those sections]

The Mark of the Horse Lord - Rosemary Sutcliff

Black is the Colour of My True Love’s Heart - Ellis Peters *

Tam Lin - Pamela Dean

Once Upon a Time in the North - Philip Pullman

Murder Must Advertise - Dorothy L. Sayers *

The Unknown Shore - Patrick O’Brian

Can’t Even: How Millenials Became the Burnout Generation - Anne Helen Petersen [definitely didn’t need a book-length version of this article, but I couldn’t sleep so what the hell]

The Big Six - Arthur Ransome

The Grass Widow’s Tale - Ellis Peters

Fool’s War - Sarah Zettel 

The Nine Tailors - Dorothy L. Sayers

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism - Safiya Umoja Noble

[letterboxd]

Bong Hit!

Today Parasite overtook The Godfather as the highest-rated narrative feature film on Letterboxd. We examine what this means, and bring you the story of the birth of the #BongHive.

It’s Bong Joon-ho’s world and we’re just basement-dwelling in it. While there is still (at time of publication) just one one-thousandth of a point separating them, Bong’s Palme d’Or-winning Parasite has overtaken Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning The Godfather to become our highest-rated narrative feature.

In May, we pegged Parasite at number one in our round-up of the top ten Cannes premieres. By September, when we met up with Director Bong on the TIFF red carpet, Parasite was not only the highest-rated film of 2019, but of the decade. (“I’m very happy with that!” he told us.)

Look, art isn’t a competition—and this may be short-lived—but it’s as good a time as any to take stock of why Bong’s wild tale of the Kim and Park families is hitting so hard with film lovers worldwide. To do so, we’ve waded through your Parasite reviews (warning: mild spoilers below; further spoilers if you click the review links). And further below, member Ella Kemp recalls the very beginnings of the #BongHive.

Bong Joon-ho on set with actors Choi Woo-shik and Cho Yeo-jeong.

The Letterboxd community on Parasite

On the filmmaking technique: “Parasite is structured like a hill: the first act is an incredible trek upward toward the light, toward riches, toward reclaiming a sense of humanity as defined by financial stability and self-reliance. There is joy, there is quirk, there is enough air to breathe to allow for laughter and mischief.

“But every hill must go down, and Parasite is an incredibly balanced, plotted, and paced descent downward into darkness. The horror doesn’t rely on shock value, but rather is built upon a slow-burning dread that is rooted in the tainted soil of class, society, and duty… Bong Joon-ho dresses this disease up in beautiful sets and empathetic framing (the camera doesn’t gawk, but perceives invisible connections and overt inequalities)—only to unravel it with deft hands.” —Tay

“Bong’s use of landscape, architecture, and space is simply arresting.” —Taylor Baker

“There is a clear and forceful guiding purpose behind the camera, and it shows. The dialogue is incredibly smart and the entire ensemble is brilliant, but the most beautiful work is perhaps done through visual language. Every single frame tells you exactly what you need to know while pulling you in to look for more—the stunning production design behind the sleek, clinical nature of one home and the cramped, gritty nature of the other sets up a playpen of contrasts for the actors and the script.” —Kevin Yang

On how to classify Parasite: “Masterfully constructed and thoroughly compelling genre piece (effortlessly transitioning between familial drama, heist movie, satirical farce, subterranean horror) about the perverse and mutating symbiotic relationship of increasingly unequal, transactional class relationships, and who can and can’t afford to be oblivious about the severe, violent material/psychic toll of capitalist accumulation.” —Josh Lewis

“This is an excellent argument for the inherent weakness of genre categories. Seriously, what genre is this movie? It’s all of them and none of them. It’s just Parasite.” —Nick Wibert

“The director refers to his furious and fiendishly well-crafted new film as a ‘family tragicomedy’, but the best thing about Parasite is that it gives us permission to stop trying to sort his movies into any sort of pre-existing taxonomy—with Parasite, Bong finally becomes a genre unto himself.” —David Ehrlich

On the duality of the plot: “There are houses on hills, and houses underground. There is plenty of sun, but it isn't for everybody. There are people grateful to be slaves, and people unhappy to be served. There are systems that we are born into, and they create these lines that cannot be crossed. And we all dream of something better, but we’ve been living with these lines for so long that we've convinced ourselves that there really isn’t anything to be done.” —Philbert Dy

“The Parks are bafflingly naive and blissfully ignorant of the fact that their success and wealth is built off the backs of the invisible working class. This obliviousness and bewilderment to social and class inequities somehow make the Parks even more despicable than if they were to be pompous and arrogant about their privilege.

“This is not to say the Kims are made to be saints by virtue of the Parks’ ignorance. The Kims are relentless and conniving as they assimilate into the Park family, leeching off their wealth and privilege. But even as the Kims become increasingly convincing in their respective roles, the film questions whether they can truly fit within this higher class.” —Ethan

On how the film leaps geographical barriers: “As a satire on social climbing and the aloofness of the upper class, it’s dead-on and has parallels to the American Dream that American viewers are unlikely to miss; as a dark comedy, it’s often laugh-aloud hilarious in its audacity; as a thriller, it has brilliantly executed moments of tension and surprises that genuinely caught me off guard; and as a drama about family dynamics, it has tender moments that stand out all the more because of how they’re juxtaposed with so much cynicism elsewhere in the film. Handling so many different tones is an immensely difficult balancing act, yet Bong handles all of it so skilfully that he makes it feel effortless.” —C. Roll

“One of the best things about it, I think, is the fact that I could honestly recommend it to anyone, even though I can't even try to describe it to someone. One may think, due to the picture’s academic praise and the general public’s misconceptions about foreign cinema, that this is some slow, artsy film for snobby cinephiles, but it’s quite the contrary: it’s entertaining, engaging and accessible from start to finish.” —Pedro Machado

On the performative nature of image: “A família pobre que se infiltra no espaço da família rica trata a encenação��a dissimulação, os novos papéis que cada um desempenha—como uma espécie de luta de classes travada no palco das aparências. Uma luta de classes que usa a potência da imagem e do drama (os personagens escrevem os seus textos e mudam a sua aparência para passar por outras pessoas) como uma forma de reapropriação da propriedade e dos valores alheios.

“A grande proposta de Parasite é reconhecer que a ideia do conhecimento, consequentemente a natureza financeira e moral desse conhecimento, não passa de uma questão de performance. No capitalismo imediatista de hoje fingir saber é mais importante do que de fato saber.” —Arthur Tuoto

(Translation: “The poor family that infiltrates the rich family space treats the performance—the concealment, the new roles each plays—as a kind of class struggle waged on the stage of appearances. A class struggle that uses the power of image and drama (characters write their stories and change their appearance to pass for other people) as a form of reappropriation of the property and values ​​of others.

“Parasite’s great proposal is to recognize that the idea of ​​knowledge, therefore the financial and moral nature of that knowledge, is a matter of performance. In today’s immediate capitalism, pretending to know is more important than actually knowing.”)

Things you’re noticing on re-watches: “Min and Mr. Park are both seen as powerful figures deserving of respect, and the way they dismissively respond to an earnest question about whether they truly care for the people they’re supposed to tells us a lot about how powerful people think about not just the people below them, but everyone in their lives.” —Demi Adejuyigbe

“When I first saw the trailer and saw Song Kang-ho in a Native American headdress I was a little taken aback. But the execution of the ideas, that these rich people will siphon off of everything, whether it’s poor people or disenfranchised cultures all the way across the world just to make their son happy, without properly taking the time to understand that culture, is pretty brilliant. I noticed a lot more subtlety with that specific example this time around.” —London

“I only noticed it on the second viewing, but the film opens and closes on the same shot. Socks are drying on a rack hanging in the semi-basement by the window. The camera pans down to a hopeful Ki-Woo sitting on his bed… if the film shows anything, it might be that the ways we usually approach ‘solving’ poverty and ‘fixing’ the class struggle often just reinforce how things have been since the beginning.” —Houston

The birth of the #BongHive

London-based writer and Letterboxd member Ella Kemp attended Cannes for Culture Whisper, and was waiting in the Parasite queue with fellow writers Karen Han and Iana Murray when the hashtag #BongHive was born. Letterboxd editor Gemma Gracewood asked her to recall that day.

Take us back to the day that #BongHive sprang into life. Ella Kemp: I’m so glad you asked. Picture the scene: we were in the queue to watch the world premiere of Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite at Cannes. It was toward the end of the festival; Once Upon a Time in Hollywood had already screened…

Can you describe for our members what those film festival queues are like? The queues in Cannes are very precise, and very strict and categorized. When you’re attending the festival as press, there are a number of different tiers that you can be assigned—white tier, pink tier, blue tier or yellow tier—and that’s the queue you have to stay in. And depending on which tier you’re in, a certain number of tiers will get into the film before you, no matter how late they arrive. Now, yellow is the lowest tier and it is the tier I was in this year. But, you know, I didn’t get shut out of any films I tried to go into, so I don’t want to speak ill of being yellow!

So, spirits are still high in the yellow queue before going to see Parasite. I was with friends and colleagues Iana Murray [writer for GQ, i-D, Much Ado About Cinema, Little White Lies], Karen Han [New York Times, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The Atlantic] and Jake Cunningham [of the Curzon and Ghibliotheque podcasts] who were also very excited for the film. We queued quite early, because obviously if you’re at the start of a queue and only two yellow tier people get in, you want that to be you.

So we had some time to spare, and we’re all very ‘online’ people and the 45 minutes in that queue was no different. So we just started tweeting, as you do. We thought, ‘Oh we’re just gonna tweet some stuff and see if it catches on.’ It might not, but at least we could kill some time.

So we just started tweeting #BongHive. And not explaining it too much.

#BongHive

— karen han (@karenyhan)

May 21, 2019

Within the realms of stan culture, I would argue that hashtags are more applicable to actors and musicians. Ariana Grande has her army of fans and they have their own hashtag. Justin Bieber has his, One Direction, all of them. But we thought, ‘You know who needs one and doesn’t have one right now? Bong Joon-ho.’

And so, you know, we tweeted it a couple of times, but I think what mattered the most was that there was no context, there was no logic, but there was consistency and insistence. So we tweeted it two or three times, and then the film started and we thought right, let’s see if this pays off. Because it could have been disappointing and we could have not wanted to be part of, you know, any kind of hype.

SMILE PRESIDENT @karenyhan #BongHive pic.twitter.com/Dk7T8bFYtv

— Ella Kemp (@ella_kemp)

May 21, 2019

But, Parasite was Parasite. So we walked out of it and thought, ‘Oh yes, the #BongHive is alive and kicking.’

I think what was interesting was that it came at that point in the festival when enthusiasm dipped. Everyone was very tired, and we were really tired, which is why we were tweeting illogical things. It was late at night by the time we came out of that film. It was close to midnight and we should have gone to bed, probably.

Because, first world problems, it is exhausting watching five, six, seven films a day at a film festival, trying to find sustenance that’s not popcorn, and form logical thoughts around these works of art. Yes! It was nice to have fun with something. But what happened next was [Parasite distributor] Neon clocked it and went, ‘Oh wait, there’s something we can do there’. And then they took it, and it flew into the world, and now the #BongHive is worldwide.

I love the formality of Korean language and the way that South Koreans speak of their elders with such respect. I enjoyed being on the red carpet at TIFF hearing the Korean media refer to Bong Joon-ho as ‘Director Bong’. It’s what he deserves!

I like to imagine a world where it’s ‘Director Gerwig’, ‘Director Campion’, ‘Director Sciamma’… Exactly.

Related content:

Ella Kemp’s review of Parasite for Culture Whisper.

Letterboxd list: The directors Bong Joon-ho would like you to watch next.

Our interview with Director Bong, in which he reveals just how many times he’s watched Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

“I’m very awkward.” Bong Joon-ho’s first words following the standing ovation at Cannes for Parasite’s world premiere.

Karen Han interviews Director Bong for Polygon, with a particular interest in how he translated the film for non-Korean audiences. (Here’s Han’s original Parasite review out of Cannes; and here’s what happened when a translator asked her “Are you bong hive?” in front of the director.)

Haven’t seen Parasite yet? Here are the films recommended by Bong Joon-ho for you to watch in preparation.

With thanks to Matt Singer for the headline.

[randomfandomimagine]

Broke Another Rule (Percy x Reader)

Character: Percy Weasley, Cho Chang (briefly)

Fandom: Harry Potter

Categories: Gender Neutral Reader, Rivalry, Enemies to Lovers, Ravenclaw!Reader, Prefect!Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.6k words

Requested by anon: Can I request a Percy Weasley x reader where the reader is the prefect of ravenclaw and the two kinda have a rivalry against each other (but have feelings for each other as well) for some reason until they get into a heated fight which ends in them apologising and admitting their feelings

Notes: I feel like I took some creative liberties with this one (maybe a Ravenclaw would behave differently from how I portrayed, etc) to ignore possible inconsistencies with the HP universe, but I like how this turned out. Enjoy reading!

REMEMBER THAT IMAGINES/ONESHOTS REQUESTS ARE CLOSED!

I gasped in outrage when someone bumped into me, stopping me from walking. I recognized the combed mop of red hair and rolled my eyes.

“Gryffindor” I muttered, glaring daggers at Weasley.

“Ravenclaw” He deadpanned, looking me up and down. “What where you’re going”

“Ha!” I exchanged a glance with my friend Cho. “Maybe you should, or is your snobbish nose pointing so high that you can’t?”

My fellow Ravenclaw giggled next to me, to which I smirked proudly. When he struggled to reply with a witty comment, he looked at me with contempt. My smirk only widened.

“Perhaps you won’t be as smug when we win the House Cup” Percival mockingly tilted his head. “Like we do every year”

“You wish, Weasley” I continued walking, deliberately bumping my shoulder into his, until I left him behind.

“This rivalry of yours never ends” Cho muttered, catching up with my furious strut. “Maybe there’s something behind it”

“What do you mean?” Intrigued by her words, I stared at my friend.

“There’s a fine line between love and hatred” She said with a causal shrug.

I rolled my eyes at her, but did look over my shoulder. Percival was watching me too, but quickly changed his demeanor when he saw me staring. He scowled at me, lifted his chin up with dignity and continued walking. He probably couldn’t even see where he was going, and I had to suppress laughter when I pictured him falling to the ground.

Cho was still talking, mumbling about us two. But she was wrong, I couldn’t think of Weasley as anything other than a nuisance. Maybe if he was friendly and kind instead of mean and competitive. We were both prefects, but I didn’t guide my house with such iron fist. Besides, one thing was making sure the rules were followed and another one was believing oneself to be above everyone else because of the power we had. We were prefects, not the Headmaster.

If he changed, maybe then I could start to consider seeing him with new eyes. And even then, I didn’t think it was possible after so many years of rivalry.

-

I was so close to making the perfect essay! All I needed was a few sources to back up my arguments, so I headed to the library.

I smiled when I was received by the familiar scent of books, parchment and wood. There was a constant low murmur as students quietly talked amongst themselves and turned pages.

After taking a few books from the shelves and scamming over them, I realized their contents weren’t what I was looking for. If I wanted to write an impressive paper for our Dark Against the Darks Arts class, I would have to look for something a bit more… grim.

Walking calmly, I took a look at Madame Pince. She was busying herself with reading a book, so immersed in it that her nose nearly touched the pages.

I took advantage of that moment and hurried to the forbidden section. I instantly saw the book I wanted and quickly snatched it from its place. A second after, I hid it under my robes and continued innocently walking along the library.

Guilt consumed me immediately, but I knew it was the best way to do it. Our professor could be quite mild and may not agree to sign a permit for me to access the forbidden section. In any case, I promised myself to return it as soon as I had consulted what I needed.

When I dedicated Madame Pince a smile and walked out of the library, I huffed in relief. However, I wasn’t quite safe yet.

Not truly watching where I was going, too preoccupied with being caught still, I walked into someone. We collided, sending all the books I carried to the ground.

“Y/L/N” A familiar snobbish voice called me. “Watch where you’re going!!”

“Same goes for you, Gryffindor” I angrily plopped down to the ground to gather my books.

Weasley rolled his eyes and crouched down to help me, heaving a sigh. I was surprised that he didn’t simply laugh at me and leave. As I watched him in astonishment, his eyes never met mine.

Our hands nearly brushed as we gathered my books, yet we quickly pulled away before that happened. I couldn’t help thinking about Cho and her adamancy about my feelings for Percy, which were allegedly reciprocated. As if I harbored feelings for him at all.

“Thanks” I mumbled as we both rose to our feet. “I suppose…”

Weasley’s eyes traveled from mine down to my books. His expression, mildly tame, immediately shifted to his usual vexed scowl.

“I knew I saw you doing something bad!” He suddenly exclaimed, leaning closer.

I was startled as he took one of the books from me by the force. I felt myself blushing when he showed me the cover, tapping it with his finger to reinforce his point.

“Did Madame Pince allow you to pull a book from the restricted section?”

I shushed him when people began glancing our way, taken aback by his loud voice. I reclaimed the book, which I held safe in my arms, and glared at him.

“It’s for class!” I excused myself, just then realizing I owed him no explanations.

“Is it now? It doesn’t matter… You stole it, didn’t you?”

“I did not!” I exclaimed, matching his loud tone. “I merely borrowed it!”

“You Slytherin!” Weasley spat out, looking me up and down.

I gawked at him, feeling insulted by the way he was treating me.

“At least I have some initiative, Weasley!” That said, I faced my back to him.

I heard him stomping his feet as he followed me to the staircase. There weren’t as much people there.

“You broke the rules! We are not allowed on the restricted section unless we have a permit from one of the professors”

I rolled my eyes and continued walking. Of course I knew that. But it was simply too much trouble for such a quick query.

However, I yelped when the books flew out of my hands all of a sudden. Moved by a hunch, I turned around to face Weasley. Indeed, he firmly wielded his wand.

“What about you, prefect?” I scolded him, forgetting about the books. “You broke another rule! We are not to use magic outside of class!”

Unfazed by my reaction, Weasley only held my glance, defiant.

“So you do know the rules after all” He sarcastically said.

I was so angry and exasperated, how could he be so bothersome? I felt tears of pure frustration gathering at the corner of my eyes.

“Why do you hate me so much, Weasley?” I shoved him, wishing he stopped watching me like a hawk. All I wanted to do was finish my essay. I never meant any harm.

I despised that my eyes were becoming watery. I pushed him a little more, trying to vent all that pent up aggression.

Suddenly, his expression drastically changed. His frown softened and his mouth opened in awe. Weasley then furrowed his brows again, this time in confusion.

“I… I never hated you…” His voice lowered as well, now nearly a whisper.

“Yes, you did” I averted my gaze, rattled without knowing why. “You keep pointing out every single thing I do wrong”

I… I wanted him to like me, I realized. Instead of seeing my flaws, I wanted him to congratulate my achievements instead of condemning my failures.

“I thought… Weren’t we doing this to bring out the best in each other? As students, as prefects, as… people” Percy blinked repeatedly, watching me carefully. There was utter astonishment reflected in his eyes. “I thought you enjoyed it like I did”

“No, stupid, I didn’t!” Once again, I leaned down to gather my books.

This time, he nearly threw himself to the ground to help me. He gestured with his hands, silently asking me to let him do it on his own. I let him, thinking it was the least he could do.

When we both stood to our feet, there was a newfound kindness in his expression while he handed me back my books. Our fingers touched, and this time we didn’t pull away.

“I… admired you” As he spoke up, breaking the tense silence, he begrudgingly looked away. “You are smart and determined and…”

“Stop” I asked him, feeling uncomfortable with his sincere words. “It feels weird when you compliment me”

He laughed. That sound was completely new to me, and I felt like the person before me wasn’t Percy Weasley anymore. At least not the one I used to know.

“Maybe you’re not so bad yourself” I muttered, needing to let him know how I felt.

“You’re right, it feels weird” Percy grimaced, shaking his head with disgust.

“That is” I completed to fix it. “When you’re not being a jerk”

His smile returned, and I found myself liking that sight. I hated to think what Cho would say when I’d tell her what happened.

“Are you saying you like me, Y/N?” It was the first time he used my actual name. At least the first time he uttered it without any traces of mockery.

“Ugh” I sighed, rolling my eyes at him like I always did. “You’re so annoying, Weasley”

For just a moment, Percy grinned to my comment. However, he soon scowled again, almost making me wonder if that smile was a product of my imagination.

“You are annoying, Ravenclaw” He walked away, deliberately bumping his shoulder against mine.

We both headed opposite ways, pretending nothing had happened. Nonetheless, when I looked over my shoulder I found with his glance. He was smiling again.

Tag list: @dancewaterdance02 / @raararasputin / @thisismysecrethappyplace / @bitchingpretty / @lookinsidemyhead / @c-taylor-wanna-be-a-glader / @welcome-here-in-my-world / @x-joie-x / @under-the-clouds // If you want to be added or taken off the tag list for these fandoms or characters, let me know!! // Reblogs and comments are appreciated!