#this goes completely unedited because i kind of don't want to read it and see what i slapped onto this post

[cbrownjc]

i think you're right people came blind for the romance and i was maybe too harsh. i've been sideyeing people's reaction to this show and themes since half the fandom called daniel a voyeur pedophile for... demanding proof that claudia's diary actually said what louis was claiming. like this fandom is sensitive AS HELL and if/when louis chooses dick over claudia/it turns out episode five went way different i'm kind of scared how people will react

Hey Anon,

It's okay, I don't think you were harsh or intended to be.

The Daniel situation is interesting. I get people who sided with Louis and the idea that he was protecting Claudia when that episode first aired. Even I did, in theory. (Having to care for my mother, who had Parkinson's, for 10 years made me completely unobjective about Daniel slapping Louis when Louis manipulated Daniel's Parkinson's, however. I personally would have punched Louis for that one, even if it would have gotten me killed.)

But in my head, I also knew what Claudia's diaries, even being around, and a thing in the show, actually meant. Because I knew their significance in the book Merrick and what Claudia had written in her (one) diary that was found - and that was her hatred for both Lestat and Louis.

And so, I couldn't shake the feeling that Claudia's diary was being edited not just because Louis was trying to protect what had happened to her.

And as we see by EP7, Daniel was right to question the pages that were taken out. Because even though Louis took the pages of the SA out to protect Claudia, we see that even more pages than just those have been taken out of her diaries.

One section, in particular, where Daniel can clearly tell Claudia hated Louis' guts. Which matches up with her diary in Merrick.

Investigative Journalists aren't there to be friendly and sometimes can lack tact. And they aren't there to reinforce a story you want to tell yourself. I really don't know what to think of people who thought Daniel was being a voyeur pedophile for asking for the missing pages, because wow for missing the point. Daniel was asking because he could sense something was off when it came to the story Louis was telling and Claudia's diaries - which were being used to reinforce Louis' story - were not being presented unedited to do that, and he was right.

If you look closely at this image, you can even see pages have been taken out of where Claudia recorded Lestat's last words:

Armand is likely the one who's been editing the diaries when the edges are clean-cut like that. But the main point is that Claudia's diaries are being edited. Claudia's story, which she told for herself, is being changed to suit whatever story Louis has been needing to tell himself about everything that happened.

Daniel is being told an account of the events to suit what Louis needs to believe and removed of the things he can't face up to. Particularly when it comes to his own choices and actions.

Spoilers Below For The Second Half of the Book IWTV and Possibly Season 2:

I know much of the non-book fandom will flip out when Louis goes off with the man/vampire who orchestrated Claudia's death. Not gonna lie, when I read that in the book years ago - after having seen the 1994 movie when it first came out, which changed that bit - I was side-eyeing Louis hard for that one.

But Louis isn't supposed to be some heroic figure. He's tragic, with some maddening faults.

This whole story is a tragedy. IWTV ends tragically, not happily. And I just don't know if the part of the fandom that doesn't know the story will be able to deal with that fact.

These vampires are monsters. They love deeply and passionately and crave love like they crave blood, but they are monsters, each in their own way. And they are all going to do some awful shit, in season 2 and any others seasons we might get. Because that is the nature of their story over the course of the chronicles.

We'll see how those new to the fandom deal with that. But not all of it will be well, I can already tell.

[sideshrimp]

Booktok is ruining books?

I am currently rereading the Inheritance Cycle so I can pick up the 5th book, and it's kinda crazy to remember this was written by a 15-year-old? The revelation is extra startling because I read fourth wing a few months ago-they have pretty similar premises: dragon riders, telepathic connection, special powers, evil empire, etc. Obviously, they are aiming for completely different crowds but if someone would have advertised Fourth Wing as for fans of the inheritance cycle and acotar I wouldn't bat an eye. The common premise got me thinking a lot about what I didn't like about Fourth Wing, and I'm very struck by how much better constructed the story is in Eragon. The world-building makes more sense, the character's voice is more distinct and overall the plot has an actual arc and the pacing is much better!

(Granted I'm not acting like Eragon is peak literature, it's derivative and trope-ridden and has a classic hero's journey that we've seen a thousand times. However, as a middle-grade novel it works well as an introduction to fantasy and throughout the series finds ways to differentiate itself. Moreover, it is just a better-polished work)

There is also this other conversation about the declining quality of books since this Bloomsberg article came out: TikTok Is Turning the Publishing World Into Fast Fashion & to say its sparked a lot of conversation would be an understatement, but much of the article focuses on the release of Iron Flame (Fourth Wings much-anticipated sequel) in particular, and I can't say I agree 100% with it.

1. The title is obviously meant to catch your attention but now that I keep seeing people repeat it I just want to clarify that the biggest critique of fast fashion is that it is unsustainable, promotes overconsumption, and relies on cheap and unethical labor practices, so like no I don't think comparing publishing to that is 100% warranted instead the issue is mostly surrounding lack of quality, misprints, and the fact that many books read like unedited first drafts.

2. The article spends so much time focusing on Yarro's appropriation of Scottish Gaelic, and the obvious lack of research that went into it, and while yeah I agree its poorly researched. I also don't think this is some new phenomenon like authors leach off other cultures all the time for aesthetic purposes, especially from the middle east and people don't really seem to care then soooo....

What I do think can be gleamed from Yarro's success and the strategy used by her publisher Red Tower is that TikTok is definitely having an effect on publishing, relying a lot more on hype through influencer marketing and special editions than the actual craft and quality of the writing, so it makes sense they would blow more of their budget on marketing, sprayed edges, and extra arcs than spend the time or money on editors or sensitivity readers. Furthermore, it is difficult to do either of those things when you are fighting an algorithm that only spotlights a book for a good 2 weeks or so before it moves on to something else. It's no surprise then that publishers like Red Tower would crack this formula through their special editions, influencer marketing, and forced scarcity, and its also no surprise that once the FOMO wore off and the hype bubble popped people realized the writing was actually kind of shit.

In terms of overconsumption, TikTok is always going to promote it. You need to post on the site almost every day for the algorithm to work for you and bc it relies heavily on videos rather than photos you need to own a lot more to make decent content. In general its bad, but unlike clothing that goes out of style and is tossed in the bin, people do tend to hold on to their books, and large personal libraries do predate Tiktok. I highly recommend you support your local libraries whenever you can!

Honestly, I think there is so much more to be said about the pressure Booktok puts on people to read more and how this leads people to skim or avoid more challenging books, and the rise in anti-intellectualism but I think I have rambled enough.

[inaconstantstateofchange]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

thank you @hereforanepilogue for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 2!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? about 19k

3. What fandoms do you write for? baldur's gate 3

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

finirà bene [been posted longer]

hold me (like a knife) [literally posted today 😅]

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? i try to! i love talking about my thoughts and plans for the story and the background brainstorming that goes into it

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? i don't know if it's applicable because i'm incapable of writing actual angsty endings? angst, absolutely, but I can't end it that way. the closest would probably be the WIP oneshot i have exploring raphael and haarlep's dynamic? and that's less angsty ending and more just... The Way Devils Are™ y'know

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? currently it would be hold me (like a knife). the characters are still working for their happy ending in finirà bene.

8. Do you get hate on fics? not yet, but i don't get much interaction on them in general, so that mostly makes sense

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? i do! the more unusual and inhuman the better, usually. i love exploring what the lived experience of someone not standard-human would be.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? not yet!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? certainly not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? no afaik

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? not unless mutual brainstorming over an unhinged wrestling!au counts

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? probably shen qingqiu/luo binghe from svsss, with a possible addendum of shen qingqiu/luo binghe/liu qingge

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? none so far! everything i want to finish right now i still very much have motivation to complete. finirà bene is going to take the longest just for its length, but so far i've been able to keep at it.

16. What are your writing strengths? from my own perspective and feedback i've received, i feel like i'm pretty strong in my descriptions and dialogue/characterization. those are two things that i used to consider my primary weaknesses so it's nice to be able to see them now as my strengths.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? i resist splitting sentences as long as i can. like are they technically correct? yes. should i please give the narrator a single moment to catch their breath? also yes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? hmm... i don't foresee a lot of cause for it? so i'm not opposed theoretically but i can't really see it happening

19. First fandom you wrote for? that i posted anywhere, naruto. that i just wrote longhand for me and my one friend in middle school, twilight and/or harry potter.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? hold me (like a knife), by a slim margin. it is so self-indulgent and everything i wanted to read myself, and the fulfillment of a scene that's been in my mind for months, since playing through bg3 the first time. i also took it from an unedited 4.5k to a fully-edited 10.5k words in a fever-dream of a long weekend, which is an absolutely unprecedented accomplishment for me.

tagging @selkie-of-sule-skerry, @edda-grenade, and @childofyuggoth, as well as anyone else who wants to participate!

[get-your-fuckin-star-bitch]

I REALLY want to just kind of post the whole draft thingy all at once but I also want to revise it but I also keep getting sidetracked so HERE’S THE DRAFT!!! Pretty much completely unedited! It’s just me rambling about stuff!

So he’s an orphan, because the entire point of him and his sister reaching the train had been to escape from their parents. Fortunately — and unfortunately — the platform is crowded, and busy, bustling with going here and there, trying to make it to the next train, pushing past people who’ve just arrived, shouting to each other, shouting at each other, pushing, shoving, jostling, and all in all, sweeping the poor boy up in the chaos, dragging him along with the human current. He hasn’t got a clue where he’s going. He’s too short to see over the tops of people’s heads.

But after several more moments of claustrophobic, confused movement, the current parts, abruptly dispersing around the boy and leaving him standing, on his own once again, in the middle of a crooked, winding street.

Suitcase clutched in one hand, he stares up at the signpost on the curb, trying to see where he is.

South Avenue, at the intersection of it, fourth, and third. The buildings seemed to loom over the street, giving a nasty, menacing air to the twisted roads, the cloudy, gray sky adding a sinister tone to the whole scene’s atmosphere.

“Hey. Kid.”

The boy turns around, and manages to spot the pair of policemen approaching him, their faces glaring at him from under their hats. His eyes widen, fear flickering in the green and brown irises. But before the cops can even get close enough to grab him, the kid turns, spinning on his heel with the speed of a child who’d been accustomed to making quick escapes, typically from the wraths of a pair of unhappy parents, and streaks down the street, suitcase held tightly against his chest.

“HEY!”

The sound of the quickened footsteps behind him does not deter him, doesn’t make him stop. The boy’s head of ginger hair bobs and weaves as he ducks and zips past pedestrians and shopkeepers, narrowly missing a fire hydrant and almost getting tangled up in the leash of a dog being walked by an old woman with a floral-patterned sun hat, who gives a surprised “oh!!” as he passes her by, the policemen following closely behind.

It isn’t long before his escape attempt is foiled, however.

BUT! Even though the cops are threatening to shove him into the orphanage, he manages to avoid being sent there, because while they’re trying to drag him away, this shopkeeper sees him and goes "that's my boy! Sonny, come here! Thank god you two found him, I've been worried sick!" And so the man took him in.

The man's a watchmaker and clockmaker.

Of course.

Jervis basically apprentices under him, the man teaches him and reads to him and everything.

Favorite book, Alice in wonderland, (starts off innocent and all that, y’know)

Man looks like Geppetto or whatever his name is

Man eventually dies of old age, jervis can't inherit the shop cause of legal reasons regarding the man's will, but fortunately he's now old enough to find a job for himself.

He keeps the Alice in wonderland book, as a memento, and... tucked inside..... or perhaps in the spine of the book.... there's a single small pocketwatch, on a chain.

Made for Tetch.

With a beautifully engraved little hat on the outside, and jervis's initials on the inside.

One last little gift from the old man.

Jervis obviously keeps the book, and the watch, and reads it every night before he goes to sleep, never going ANYWHERE without either the book or the watch, because of both sentimentality and fear of either of them being stolen.

He has to rent a motel room for a couple of nights. And then gets chased out by the manager, cause he can't afford it for more than a few nights.

Then he stumbles upon a casino/bar thingy.

Decides he might as well try his luck there, and see if they're hiring.

Some guy there (it's not joker don't worry it's just a random citizen) who's drunk and sees that he has a pocketwatch is like "Ey!!! You got one of those hypno-shizzle things??!" Which puts jervis on edge, cause this place isn't exactly the sort of place you'd go to AVOID criminals who want to steal your fantastic-condition antique book and/or pocketwatch-

"Lemme see!!!! Do the thing!!!!!"

And he has NO idea what the guy's talking about, at first, but then he realizes the guy wants him to "do the thing" that he's seen people do on tv-

With the swinging-a-thing-side-to-side thing.

Y’know………, hypnosis.

*wink wink hint hint winkity wink wink williffifillink-* /goofy

So, EXTREMELY embarrassed,

uncomfortable, and nervous about how many drunk people are suddenly watching him out of the corners of their eyes, he picks the pocketwatch up by the chain, opens it - for effect, and slowly "does the thing", feeling EXTREMELY silly but trying not to show it as he tries to gently swing the pocketwatch back and forth.

Trying to remember what the people on television used to do, he summons up the most dramatic, hypnosis- voice he can possibly manage, again trying not to feel TOO self-conscious....

…and goes through the basic instructions, passing off the man's startlingly prompt obedience of the instructions as just the man mocking him-

Until he says to do something absolutely

INSANE, that NO one would EVER do willingly, and watches in astonishment as the man starts to do exactly that-!

He stops the man, of course, after that moment of shock and realization, but the entire bar is now his audience.

They're absolutely INCREDULOUS, and so is he.

So, of course, he does the whole "uhhh ahahaha yeah I meant to do that" thing- and bows a little, as the room erupts into drunken applause

As time passes, he basically becomes a professional hypnotist, though he only

"performs" for that one bar.

..At first.

Then one day, a regular at the bar tells him she's found him a gig- at the local hotel and casino: The Colosseum.

(I Will FLIP out if that's The name of a canon place in the original Gotham universe 1)

Hsishsshh

Nervously, and with a bit of reluctance, he goes, and completely KILLS it. (Not literally, don't worry. Not yet- /hi)

And from there, he gets more gigs. Gradually going higher and higher up on the venue

"food chain".

It's a major confidence booster. And a bit of inspiration hits him when someone mentions the book he carries around, plus the hat engraved on his watch, saying that it's "like the mad hatter, innit?"

Cue costume wardrobe change.

But into a COOL version of the mad hatter outfit, y'know- not like he's been pulled straight out of the 1970s/60s animated movie-

Cause the crowds would HATE that

They'd be like "ew who's this weird guy"

At least, in his mind, they would. They probably would love it even MORE, but. Self-confidence is still not his strong suit- /Ih

The crowd goes absolutely WILD when he shows up onstage with the moniker "the mad hatter” and a colorful-yet- fitting costume.

Now, it might seem like this is a bit over-the-top-hat for a man who's a professional HYPNOTIST.

But, see... that thing he told the man to do?

I don't believe I properly explained just WHAT he said.

What he told the man to do… was something along the lines of "stand on your head, start reciting the first poem you think of, and start floating in thin air."

Sort of sarcastically. Cause, of course, he thought the man would just drop the act, laugh, and be like "ahhhh, that was a good one-" and then they could maybe have a normal conversation and the man would leave him alone after that.

The man, however, walked into the center of the room.

Managed to stand on his head ENTIRELY unaided, despite being clearly VERY drunk.

Began reciting the first poem that came to mind.

And began.

HOVERING.

Only rising very slowly at first, but after a few moments, he was about a foot off the floor, still reciting the poem.

At which point, of course, Tetch was like "oh, SHOOT" and snapped him out of it.

Eventually, he finally gets hired, and starts doing touring shows with this company called the miss fits

(Was the first thing that popped into my head)

The two of which are kind of shit to him

(Oh yeah the company's led by these two nasty bitches)

(Gina and Kat)

They keep trying to get him to do stuff he

REALLY doesn't want to do

Which results in him basically just hating himself and feeling generally really miserable

So eventually he snaps at them, right after their show in Gotham.

They'd just performed for mr Wayne at his office building.

(Of course-)

But after the performance and his big argument with the managers, who actually throw him out…

He's got nothing.

They legally own all of his profits.

he's broke, again. Pretty much homeless, feeling like a wreck. And the self-hatred is feeling VERY strong.

He hasn't even been able to change out of his show costume.

The only things he took with him were the book and pocketwatch.

And his suitcase.

So he's just on the street corner, crying, feeling like everyone's staring at him as the cars pass, like they're weirded out by the costume that everyone used to love.

Grossed out by the sobbing, by the fact that he's stranded on the corner. He must look like some disheveled madman.

The poor guy feels like he's all out of options.

And then somebody's voice comes from behind him, in the alleyway.

"Helloooo... Pray tell, are you the mad hatter…?"

(Ah crap forgot to tag @tiredconcepts )

[sunnyrifle]

Ginji's not in control (chat copypaste)

⚠️CAUTION!! i’m not eng native, this is an unedited text from my notes, structural & grammatical errors ahead⚠️

need a lot of translation and digging to find the truth-- but also, doesn't Morita just look good in blood? while Ginji looks kind of pathetic in it? I rly like the aesthetic hehe--

for me that's his wet dog outfit haha

I mean if he's menacingly smiling like he killed someone and the blood is on his hands or face-- yeah

if HE'S bleeding-- unlike Morita, Ginji's kinda pathetic in his own pool of blood (but that's just the vibes huhu)

then again it's just bc I like breaking characters facade a lot-- for me if I'd write Morita in his own blood, he'd probably be berserk mode or post that with tears (see Kamui arc lol)

if I'd do Ginji I'd probably write him being taken by surprise with "why did it come to this" kind of emotion--

I honestly like the kinda portrayal of Ginji where he sorta anticipates where his life would go

Idk how to describe it, but like I can see Akagi being taken by surprise a lot more than Ginji lol

also unlike Akagi, Ginji was drawn taken aback by something in manga... if Akagi reacts going "ooh? go ahead, show me" then Ginji gets that drop of sweat treatment lol;;

instances I remember are 1) Ginji listening to the exposition of men cage lol 2) running to the elevator bc of Morita’s proclamation of retirement

I also don't think Ginji intended for the serial killer arc to go as it went haha--

so I'd say Ginji is very competent at putting up a front but he's never actually in control

I'd say he's the type of character who'd do this:

- look, Morita, it'll land tails (flips a coin)

it lands on heads

- heh, the coin was rigged, I planned it all along... from this, Morita, you have to learn a lesson to not believe anyone, not even yourself 

and Morita nods with a serious face and thinks "damn Ginji's so smart and handsome”

I distinctly remember when I read GtK for the first time and wasn't even crazy yet, in Kamui arc Morita was yet to get into real mess and he held a gun and was planning and scheming how to get someone from the back in the dark-- and I thought damn;; he's younger than me, he turned complete yakuza in such a short span of story omg–

then it all made sense for me, that's when GtK finally started clicking in my head

I was like yeah yeah let's see where this corruption arc goes

AND IT DOESN'T

Morita just says fuck your corruption arc dammit I'm retiring

that's!!!! peak

and they don't even do it in The straight men fashion lol

they do it with Morita crying into a pillow and Ginji RUNNING to the elevator, smoking nodding and going "yeah yeah-- it's all ugh it's all part of the plan-- I uuuh FORESEEN THIS yes.....”

kmd-san likes to say that GtK is about turning steel (tetsuo) into gold -- that you can't bend Morita's moral code because he has an iron will like that-- and wasn't that the first thing Ginji liked Morita for? that test of "kill for the money" that Morita refused... which he passed with flying colours by not accepting the premise itself "I won't kill anyone and I don't want to make money like that" was basically his answer then-- in the end, I think, Ginji caused his own downfall and their heartbreaking falling out with Morita, all by himself

ah sorry it's not just gay story it's also a nasty huge age gap story + teacher/pupil dynamics.... damn they've had a lot on their plate from the very start huh

Akira: Ginji's mistake is taking him to solo missions, should've kept the leash short haha

I mean he courted Morita into submission by giving him space for two arcs and making him believe that's what he wanted in the first place (to be by Ginji's side as a reward) but that's a very risky almost self-sabotaging strategy

almost creates an illusion it all was voluntary wish from Morita's side huhu

like what was the probability of Morita not only returning but also multiplying the profits when he's left alone 1) with measly amount of money on the rooftop 2) to double his FIRST win and return AGAIN--

Pansy: I think the missions themselves were a reward too, "because I trust you I want you to do this". but Gin's morals were too twisted to notice Mori didn't have the same perspective as him when it comes to who is good/bad

he did get help from Gin during the arc art (which makes Gin's mentality of ~lucky~ Morita feel dumb to me)

Gin was so stupid to believe Mori could just do anything.

Akira: whenever Ginji said something about luck I find myself musing about that being an elaborate form of gaslighting hahah

but as a lot of lies do, when they're repeated you start to believe them yourself

Pansy: my headcanon is that Gin fell in love with Mori at first sight, got obsessed with him and truly believed Mori was "the chosen on". he thought he was too old to fall in love again and got the feelings all mixed. His heart got confused and he blindly believed that Mori was 100% his.

Akira: "I want Morita's luck by my side"

spend years together and

"Morita's my lucky charm"

ofc when left without him Ginji's feeling like he's reaching his limits and heading to the ultimate defeat 'turning to ashes'... he's lost his lucky charm didn't he

Pansy: As you say, when they broke up I think Gin realised he still had the ability to feel that sort of pain and in the end he accepted it.

I think Gin gaslights himself more than he does to Mori

Akira: imagining Ginji falling in love with Mori at various stages of the beginning of the manga-- hehe from the early point of "yeah I know everything about you and you know nothing about me, isn't it romantic?" to the "ah you won't kill for the money, your morals are unbending like that, I know~" tease and "not only did he rescue my ass but also left us with tape evidence itself... grabs the steering wheel with a manic smile"

If followed correctly then Ginji tries to act "professionally" doing what he was proposed to do and left Morita with serial killer duty, then he gets scared and surprised by it bc Morita's losing blood in his hands, in his car... so obviously he takes a step back and goes to break up things between them right after lol he's just an old man who doesn't understand how to do things differently (is he an avoidant attachment style? lol;;)

then Morita returns to him twice and each time he's a bit different but still the same young man, and Ginji is just glad, bc somehow it works out between them right? they have roles to play and they have business to do, everything is fine... until it isn't

and in the end Ginji's left behind and Morita's retiring and the tables turn... "I know everything about you, Gin-san, and you know nothing about me" huhu

I never considered Gin would try to break up with Mori bc of feelings of guilt, or fear that Mori would die. But then in the middle of the art mission he goes "fuck it I want him BACK I will help him just a lil bit"

hahhaha I mean it's obviously set up as Ginji putting up another test for Morita but what's Ginji to fucking win and to lose there

Pansy: his pride!!

Akira: I mean yeah, he's leaving Morita like for sure leaving him altogether hahah

imagine a guy rescuing your risky stock haste, then he gets stabbed bc of you and almost dies in your arms and your reaction is to leave him be forever? something doesn't click

and reaction of "hm yeah that's not enough of a proof, I'll leave him with another test" doesn't read that honest too

Pansy: or maybe he thought "FUCK he is actually willing to die for me? I will play hard to get in case he gets too intense..."  Morita we are breaking up. But then Mori is so cool Gin ends up giving in ❤️

Akira: remember that start of the poker arc when Morita's dressed in that clouds sweater and coat with a fur haha and he's just carrying that bag like he's homeless;; now imagine Ginji in that situation and that amount of money in his hands

not only would he whip out the metal money case without a second thought, I can clearly see him visiting the perfume store right after lol;;;

I mean... Ginji deserves his title as an underground fixer, he acts like it...

[retvenkos]

Drabble Harry Potter - A Luna Lovegood Story

✧ *:･ﾟ

after the war, everyone is made of scars and broken glass, one touch away from shattering, already broken and bruised and bleeding. luna looks at herself in the broken mirrors of a hogwarts bathroom and gingerly touches the dark circles that are forming around her eyes - blooming out of all of that pain and sorrow.

she goes to tend to the others, then, fingertips trailing over bruises and scars that won’t ever quite heal, and she wonders idly if one can ever move on when the story of who you once were is carved into your skin. she wipes away tears and listens the broken whispers and wonders what kind of flowers will bloom on the grounds of hogwarts, next spring, unaware of the blood that soaked those fields wet, allowing them to reach taller than before.

ginny is her first client, when the two of them are sitting on the floor of ginny’s room, morning sun peaking through the window and painting them in warm yellows and bright reds. ginny is complaining about having to start her seventh year at hogwarts - the castle’s almost remodeled, did you know? - and luna is humming in agreement, studying ginny’s scars carefully as she connects them with paint strokes, a vine littered with flowers and the occasional thorn, a simple drawing that connects the past in a way that makes ginny smile, her teeth glinting as they catch the sunlight.

“i should make this permanent.”

“do you think?”

and after that it’s harry. he sits at her kitchen table as she puts flowers on his skin where a string of words used to be, and they talk about what this world has become, after the dust settled. harry says he’s been fighting dark lords his whole life, and luna inks another petal, telling him that it’s time he put his wand down and let those callouses fade. he doesn’t need them anymore. when it’s time for harry to go, she mentions that neville is looking to get a job at hogwarts - they have so many open positions, these days. harry nods with a smile, but he’s still standing too stiffly and luna knows that rest will come to him slowly.

hermione comes, and luna covers a vile slur that was etched into her arm. the gryffindor looks at her with a tenderness that she rarely possessed and luna doesn’t mention it, only asking about what she had done, after the war. hermione is still made of big aspirations and luna smiles, welcoming the quiet that follows.

lavender brown comes next and luna covers the scar on her neck - a sort of choker made of flowers that makes lavender laugh from the tickling sensation. george weasley comes and luna inks carnations where an ear used to be. neville gets wallflowers and seamus gets sprigs of thyme. ron weasley comes, and he’s shy so luna carefully inks a vine of fern, simple and strong around his arms and shoulders.

it’s a warm day when luna is sitting in her garden, painting the horizon beyond her, when they come. luna turns to the newcomers, and she knows exactly what they want. without speaking she gets out her supplies and holds out a hand.

pansy parkinson accepts it and sits across from her, long legs crossed. luna is careful as she rolls up the sleeve, and when she touches her skin, pansy flinches. they don’t speak and theodore nott watches as luna covers a fading tattoo with something blooming and new - black and white pansies that crawl up the woman’s arm in their effort to grow. 

theodore thanks luna when they leave, and she smiles tells him she’ll be seeing him again, soon.

she covers the scars on parvati and inks sunflowers on blaise. she is visited by cho and marietta edgecombe, zacharias smith and hannah abbott, daphne greengrass and cormac mclaggen. percy weasley comes in with oliver wood and she hears all about their time at hogwarts, the war, and all that transpired afterward. others come in and are silent, their minds so loud as they watch flowers bloom over the remains of battles once waged that no words can escape their throats.

one day he comes, and it’s as though the war is already painted on his face. he’s hesitant to walk in, and there’s a moment where he doesn’t look like he will but he eventually knocks on the door and luna opens it for him, leading him inside.

theodore nott is with him, just as luna guessed, and she offers them both a chair at her kitchen table.

it takes him a minute to orient himself in this space, so different from that he has always known, and luna offers him a tea. he’s not going to be a talker, but he’s going to feel guilty if he doesn’t have something to do - malfoy’s don’t take charity, not even something like this.

luna studies draco for a minute, and she sees so many scars she doesn’t know where to begin. but he’s itching at his sleeve and she lets him roll it up, slowly, as though he’s afraid of what’s underneath.

and his scar is different than pansy’s - scaly and dry and burned; he had already tried to get of it, once. he had been burning with all of that rage for so long, but as he sits here, arm extended, grey eyes  cast away, luna knows his fire is gone. all that’s left is glass, tempered but moldable. hot but without something to keep them burning. luna mutters a spell, hoping it will calm the skin and give her a smoother canvas to work on.

it’s still burned when she starts, but it’s better than it was, before. and it’s a vine that starts to form, first - with thorns and leaves and eventually, flowers, roses of the darkest colors, with the brightest highlights. luna draws them until they cover his scar completely, and when she looks up at him, he is weeping.

“i’m sorry.”

and she wipes away his tears and listens to his broken whispers and wonders what kind of flowers will bloom on all of these war torn people, their scars deep enough to let her plant seeds within them, their futures bright enough to sustain a garden year round.

[strangerhottotties]

hi i have an eddie request but ill understand if you arent comfortable writing it, its a fluff piece where the reader gets their period in the middle of school at the hellfire lunch tabel and the whole time they seem uncomfortable and everyone is asking if they feel okay but they insist they are fine, then when its time to go to class everyone gets up and leaves besides eddie who notices the reader stays seated and then he tries to get her to tell him whats wrong

if you dont want to thats totally okay just respond so i dont spam you with the same request thinking you havent seen it <333

Haha, I get used to get pissed on for a living. A little fictitious period blood doesn't bother me. On that note, I made this a little gross cause why not soooo sorry? Thank you for the adorable ask! I had fun with this!

Also I apologize in advance I was fighting my trazadone writing this so its just a little unedited drabble that might not make sense to me in the morning. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

Warnings: Fluff, periods, period blood, Eddie is first and foremost a gentleman.

The cafeteria was too loud, laughter and chatter and bright lights making your head pound. You sink deeper into your sweatshirt, it already zipped up as high as it can go as the group of Hellfire nerds you'd long acquainted yourself with clamour around you. The room felt colder to you than normal - your body curling in to preserve as much of your body heat as you could.

Normally, your involved heavily in the rowdy antics of your geek squad. Normally, you'd have picked your way through most of your mediocre lunch tray. Especially, on pizza day. But the orange grease stains the half melted cheese and your napkin. You've barely taken more than two bites in the last fifteen minutes. The imagery making your stomach curdle just a bit isn't normal for you. You know that.

Your name being called by one of the freshman has you glancing up into Dustin's frowning face. "You feeling okay? You've barely touched your lunch."

You're heart flutters nervously when the table is silenced and all of them turn towards you. Your friends had the worst timing.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just not real hungry today. Do you guys want it?" You urge, pushing your tray further into the middle of the table.

"Are you sure?" Gareth offers up.

Your cheeks burn with hot embarrassment because you can see Eddie's intense gaze settled on you from the head of the table. The Hellfire King's eyes steeling you in place as you pretend it's not.

"Yeah, you should eat more than that, at least," Mike starts. "Unless your sick."

"Just kind of queezy," your admission comes quietly. "This is too greasy. I really don't want to make it worse." Your answer seems to appease most of them in the way you hope it does. The slice goes to Dustin. The milk to Gareth. And the rest is followed quickly by the rest of them. Hungry teenage boys never turned down offered food.

It's several minutes later when a gooey gush occurs that you realize exactly why you're feeling this way.

"What's with that face?" It's Eddie who commands your attention, obviously noticing the paling of your completion or the widening of your eyes.

"Nothing." You cover quickly. He lifts his brows in questioning. You pray he reads the expression you shoot back as "I'm fine, really!" And not constipated. He gives you a single nod as you cross your legs.

You cursed yourself for wearing a skirt today. The only barrier between you and the seat being your underwear. You'd just wait for everyone to leave before checking to see if you bled through the fabric and onto the rouch textured chair.

You plead the bell will ring faster, watching the clock nervously as it ticks closer to lunch being over.

When it finally does, you wave your friends off as they shuffle off. You're too busy watching people float past to notice someone pulling up the chair next to you. You jump when you turn and find Eddie's face inches from yours.

"Eddie, what are you doing?" You squeak at him.

"Seriously, what's wrong? Are you avoiding someone? Is Tommy bothering you again?"

"No," you promise as the last of the students exit the cafeteria. Your voice sounds nearly too loud in the echoing room.

"You can tell me, you know." You wanna melt against him.

"It's just embarrassing is all," you tell him, hoping to deter him from further questioning. Really you just wanted your crush to stop coincidentally inquiring about you leaking blood beneath you.

"Nothing is embarrassing to me. I promise. Are you sick? Do you need me to drive you home?" He insists. It makes you want to pull you hair out - you settle for running your hand through it in frustration.

"No," you repeat. "It's nothing. Just go to cl-" you stop talking when his hand lands on your knee.

"Don't lie. You're a bad liar."

You bite your lip, tears welling against your will as you break. In a tiny voice, you finally mutter out, "Eddie, I think I just blend through everything..."

To your surprise, his face summons sympathy rather than disgust. "Oh, okay," he takes a deep breath as he glances around the room at the lunch ladies clearing the tables. "Do you have the stuff you need? The offer still stands to drive you home.

"I'll get blood on your seat," you whimper. Eddie snorts at that.

"Wouldn't be the first time. Come on. Let's go." He stands, holding a hand out to you. Your eyes widen for a moment.

"Hold on," you promise and reluctantly shed your sweatshirt to tie around your waist until you stand. You want to cry when you stand and spot the red stain on your chair. "Dammit!" You breath and go reaching for your discarded napkins from earlier. When you turn back to wipe it up, however, your eyes widen with horror.

Eddie is leaned over your chair, casually using his hanky to wipe away the blood before you can. He straightens when he's finished, casually tucking it in his back pocket.

"Ready?" He hums, like he'd just plucked a hair away, instead of the shedding lining of your uterus.

You sputter at him. "That... you didn't have to -"

He grasps your arms, pulling you close with that sweet expression all over again. "It'll wash out." Then he frowns and rubs his hands over your arms. "You cold?" He hums, as he finds your goosebumps.

"A... a little?" You offer, still too stunned. In a little shimmy that brings him into your space even more than before, he's shrugging out of both his jacket and his 'Dio' vest together. He doesn't even stop there as he helps you into it instead. "Eddie," you murmur without further words.

His smile down at you is stunning, warm and proud. "Don't worry about it," he encourages. "I can't tell you how long I've wanted to see you in it." You nearly faint at the words as he slings and arm over your shoulder and tugs you into his side. You can't imagine what the two of you look like. Not until he waltzes you through the hallways, slowly approaching the up coming crowds of other students. You flush when Mike and Dustin cheer at the sight.

"Eddie," you chirp, leaning closer to whisper this to him, "It's gonna start a rumor about us." It earns you a grin.

"I can think of worse rumors, can't you?"

[stolligaseptember]

hey, so you seem to know a lot about politics. i don't understand what the hell is going on with article 13 again? like i get it, it was voted upon but is it really going to change anything? or is it just tumblr trolls trying to get a rise out of people for nothing? wasn't it supposed to be a directive for countries?(also why everyone's biggest concern over eu banning memes?)

Okay, first of all, it’s so funny that I’m now somehow known as “the one who seems to know about politics”, seeing how I’ve been known to be very vocal about my absolute distaste for politics. But, yeah, I study law, which is basically just the aftermath of politics, so I guess I do keep kind of updated.

So yeah. Okay.

Article 13: Here we go again 🎶my, my, how can I resist ya🎶

Oh boy. Where do we even start with article 13.

Well, first of all, the parliament voted on reworking the directive and then voting on it again next year. The draft proposals have slowly started becoming public though, and that is most likely the reason behind people having started to freaking out again. Why people are freaking out is a pretty big question though. I’m not saying it’s most likely because of right-winged anti-EU advocates, but it’s most likely because of right-winged anti-EU advocates.

I explained the basis of a directive back in June, and attached the then-proposed draft text. And yes!! You’re very correct in it being a directive for countries! The proposal has gone through a number of votes and redrafts since then though, and this is the current form of article 13 that is being discussed;

So, the first thing here; this is still a draft. Nothing has been decided yet. Not even the final text that is going to be voted on. The directive is being discussed behind closed doors as we speak, and things may still change before the vote goes through. But for now there is nothing substantial for us to be drawing any kind of conclusions from. Pretty much anything can happen from this point out.

But, if we’ll go through the changes that has happened in the last couple of months;

First of all, the so called “bots”, that was the biggest fear concerning article 13, have been removed. This is huge news!! This is great news!!!

I explained why bots would have been such a fucking bad idea here, and in this draft they have removed the “effective content recognition technologies” aka. bots, and put in place a human review system instead. This is much more in line with the already existing copyright laws, and means that automated blocking of content will be avoided, as stated in the third paragraph.

Any complaint of copyright infringement will now go to human review instead, which will most likely end in the same situation as when my class of law students, most of which does not even have a single artistic bone in their body, discussed if a few different shades of magenta constitutes as copyright infringement or not. Copyright law is weird y’all.

The memes!! Are also so fucking safe in this draft!!!

They’ve never really been in danger though, but the parliament has gone the extra mile and clearly stated that memes, and all other transformative works as in “non-infringing works or other protectedsubject matter, including those covered byan exception or limitation to copyright”, is not part of the scope of this article and, in extension, the rest of the directive.

This covers fanart, fanfiction, edits, parodies, and just any and all transformative work you can think of. Whatever you’re thinking of and freaking out over, it’s most likely never been threatened to begin with.

And like. I get that this can seem all very scary and threatening, seeing how it deals with things that we’re all very passionate about i.e. the power struggle between copyright and transformative works, and on the very specific battle ground of the internet, which we are all very protective of and how the directive text doesn’t really give that much to go on, especially not for people not used to legalese. But what I need everyone to understand is that what the directive is aiming for, is the pirating industry. Of people taking very clearly copyrighted material and uploading it to the internet, without any own input, for public consumption, and for their own gain. This is what the directive is aiming to get a better grip on, and that is the scope the EU is giving the member states to regulate. Any and all transformative work is as safe as it’s ever been, both on and off the internet.

So no, your social media isn’t going to be shut down. No, the EU isn’t going to erase your fanworks and make you pay fines for it. And no, the EU isn’t going to ban memes, jesus christ, why would they even want to do that.

What the directive sets out to regulate is that “onlinecontent sharing service providers”, i.e. corporations such as Facebook and Youtube, have to take responsibility for the copyright infringement on their platforms. This will not in any way affect you as a user of said platform. Even if you’re such a vaguely shitty person that you upload an entire copyrighted movie in its unedited form to a video sharing platform, nothing is going to happen to you as an individual. At least not in relation to the directive, you can still be sued for copyright infringement due to your national laws, but that’s a whole other story. What the directive regulates is that it’s the platform’s obligation to give the copyright holder their fair share of the revenue, seeing how the infringement takes place on their platform. Hence the huge backlash from Youtube and the like. These huge, multi-billion companies, would suddenly have to take responsibility for the copyright infringement that takes place on their platforms on a daily basis.

And if you still think that’s unfair, then yeah, go wild, I guess.

But the hysteria that has spread across tumblr in particular, is so completely unfounded. As I’ve already stated, this is the draft of a directive, which means we really have no way of knowing how or when this is all going to fall out in the end, and copyright law is already so fucking weird, that I have a really hard time seeing how this will even make a dent in the status quo of things.

So just. Please. Calm down. This is not even anywhere near as bad as everyone is crying and screaming about it being. Unless you’re a money sucking social media platform or a political Pirate, then you probably still think this is pretty fucking bad. CoughcoughJuliaRedacoughcough.

And, as usual, this has just derailed to me babbling on without really knowing where I’m heading. But also as usual, don’t be afraid to ask me follow-up questions, and I’ll try to answer them as clearly as I can!! I also highly recommend everyone to read through the commission’s FAQs regarding the directive! Their answers can get a little technical at times though, so if you need help translating what they’re saying or just want to clear anything up, don’t be afraid to ask!

But just. Please. Please. Everyone calm down. You’re all giving me heart palpitations just thinking about this whole mess.