#hp society/the ton

[wellpresseddaisy]

My Soul Revive pt. 2

His ears buzzed strangely, and not from apparition. They had since “he’s your godfather”, but it wouldn’t do to be seen in a flap. He and Narcissa worked so hard to keep Draco from ever seeing them in a panic, a relic of his first so terribly delicate years of life. If they behaved as if everything was fine, no matter the crisis, then surely Draco wouldn’t panic either.

Severus.

His heart clenched painfully. He’d allowed himself a few awful moments in his dressing room earlier, but if Severus lived…

Out of all of them, Severus deserved a quiet, happy life where he was thoroughly spoilt most. Would he let them give him that now? If.

The moment their feet touched ground, he and Narcissa reached for one another’s hand and dashed for the Shack. That Severus would be so injured here, where he’d already experienced several lifetimes of terror, seemed like the universe laughing at them all. They entered carefully, wary of traps, though anything left by him should have evaporated with his soul (finally, finally).

Lucius heard Granger behind them, puffing a bit. One would think that being friends with Potter would encourage one toward some type of exercise program, preferably with an emphasis on sprinting, but it didn’t seem to have occurred to the girl. He edged ahead of Narcissa, opening the first door off the passage, and froze.

Severus.

No one else wore that many layers of solid black. A shallow, rasping breath froze him in his tracks.

“He breathes still.”

Narcissa went still behind him for a moment.

“Conjure a light and come with me. Miss Granger, I am going to ask you to wait in the hall. I don’t think Severus would appreciate you seeing him in this state.”

“If you need anything, I can apparate for it.” Granger spoke unsteadily. “It’s the least…”

“He’ll pull through, I’m sure,” Lucius spoke bracingly. “He’s too stubborn to do anything else.”

Granger gave a watery sort of snort at that.

Lucius ushered Narcissa into the room ahead of him and shut the door. He conjured the sort of light he knew she’d need and they both froze.

Kreacher stood next to Severus, searching frantically through his robes.

“His Grace sent Kreacher! Kreacher keeps track and His Grace knew!” The poor elf pulled his ears viciously. “Kreacher cannot find it.”

“It’s good you’re here, Kreacher,” Narcissa said as she knelt beside Severus and surveyed the utter wreck of his throat. “It’s going to take both of us to pull this off. Have you given him anything?”

“Used the Black Elf magic, Madame Cissa,” Kreacher seemed to calm. “Kreacher is looking for the potion he knows Master Severus carries!”

“I have it here.” She pulled a vial from her box. “The anti-venin. He gave everyone a few vials of it after Mr. Weasley was attacked. Can you—”

Kreacher took the vial so Narcissa could set herself up. Lucius looked away as she cut Severus’ clothing away from his wounds. It seemed indecent to see him so vulnerable. That his chest still rose and fell was a miracle.

“Blood replenisher, wound cleaner, I am so happy that snake is dead, skin knitting potion, topical anti-venin, if you die I will follow you into the afterlife and murder you myself, Severus.” Narcissa muttered as she organized what she needed.

“Once I get the potions into him, Kreacher, I’m going to need your help calling on the family magic. His pulse is…not what I would like.”

“His Grace said to do whatever Kreacher deemed necessary.”

How she sounded so calm Lucius would never know. His role, thankfully, was to hold the light steady and relay any orders to Granger. Lucius kept his eyes toward the window and listened to the low murmur of Narcissa and Kreacher at work. The soft glug of potions and the rustle of bandages formed a backdrop for the surreal night.

Severus lived.

He would continue to live if Narcissa had her way.

There would be a future for them.

He held onto that thought as Narcissa began a soft chant. His skin prickled as a thread of familiar magic wound through the room. The Black magic answered her children, always. He knew Narcissa would have to make some sacrifice. If called on, he would add his own to save Severus. Blood, most likely, for healing.

There were reasons those of Black blood called upon the family magic so sparingly. Always, always they paid a price. Sometimes the price paid was transient, like giving some blood. Sometimes it was permanent. No one had ever worked out what would be asked of them for specific situations. It changed every time.

He glanced down and tried not to blanch. Narcissa had indeed sacrificed her own blood and now drew a series of runes in it down Severus’ chest from his forehead.

Her chant rose and rose, the Black magic swirling about her, now a silver mist thick in the room. Lucius held his wand steady. He wouldn’t fail either of them no matter how unnerved he felt. Not now, when they were so close. The mist whirled about them, going from a dispersed cloud to a heaving stream and poured into Severus.

Narcissa sat back on her heels, her chest heaving, and looked up at him, smiling like she did when she’d dipped a bit too deep into the champagne punch. Her eyes were solid silver, shining queerly in the conjured light.

“He’ll live,” she laughed, low and delighted. “He’ll live.”

Lucius let out a deep breath. “Thank you, my love.”

“Let’s take him home. He’ll be very weak for quite some time, but we can move him.” She tried to stand and her knees gave out. “In a moment, perhaps. The family magic hasn’t been called upon in some time.”

--------------------

Draco stared at Weasley over top of Potter, who seemed to have gone catatonic now he’d done what he set out to do.

“Don’t suppose you could see your way clear to feeding him. I don’t think he’s eaten since…” Weasley trailed off, clearly attempting to think. “Is it Wednesday now?”

Draco sighed and suddenly knew just how his parents felt trying to deal with anyone not a Malfoy.

“Please do not tell me he hasn’t eaten properly in days again? I thought we got past that last year?”

“Right, I won’t tell you that, then,” Weasley replied.

Draco surveyed Potter and made a decision. He slipped his wand into his hand and sent a quick cleaning charm at him.

“I still want him to scrub under hot water, but he’s hygienic enough to eat something, at least. How much weight do you think he’s lost this time?”

“A stone at least. He’s always been on the titchy side but he isn’t usually this small. I reckon there’s more going on, but he wouldn’t see any of the healers Madame Pomfrey brought in today…yesterday? When does it stop being today?”

That confirmed Draco’s suspicions. Honestly, sometimes he wondered if Potter really was Professor Snape’s love child they were so similar.

“You sound particularly gormless when you say things like that, Weasley,” Draco answered airily. “Can you help move him to the sitting room?”

Instead of using magic like a civilized person, Weasley scooped Potter into his arms. For some reason, that made Draco want to hiss like a stepped-on cat. He could have done that just as easily. The thought of Potter nestling his head around his collarbone had him swallowing hard.

“Could an elf please bring a tea tray and something very light to eat to the green sitting room,” Draco called as he led the way for Weasley, trying to ignore his own feelings. “And something more substantial for Weasley.”

“Thanks, Malfoy.” Weasley at least possessed some manners. “I think I had something right after, but all that’s a blur. Nice to be somewhere that isn’t Hogwarts, to be honest.”

Draco had been trying very hard not to think of the nearly three-year siege they’d endured. This was his first night home since he’d stepped onto the train after Easter in their fifth year. Strange that it should feature both a desperate rescue attempt and Potter fleeing to him. Honestly, he’d expected a quieter homecoming having left Potter at the school. Perhaps Weasley was right, that night they’d all got squiffy on purloined fire whiskey, and the ridiculousness of Potter’s life was like an infection or a mold.

“What happened with Potter today?” Draco asked quietly as Weasley settled Potter onto one of the long sofas.

“He…I’m not sure I’m the one who should tell you all of it. He didn’t have a chance to tell us everything. I can tell you what happened with his parents,” Weasley said, finally getting Potter in a position that looked somewhat comfortable. “Harry, you need to come back for a bit and eat something, right now please.”

The tone, that brusque command, surprised Draco. He really did sound like his mother. Potter groaned, his eyelashes fluttering.

“I know you aren’t down all the way. Come on, wake up,” Weasley tapped Potter’s cheek and turned back to Draco. “He gets like this when he hasn’t slept properly for a while…just complete collapse, but he really needs food before he can sleep.”

“And a wash,” Draco shuddered. “Cleaning charms only do so much.”

“Ever bathed someone before?” Weasley asked all-too-cheerfully.

“You’ve bathed him?” Draco had no idea where the raging jealousy came from. He wasn’t jealous of Weasley, not at all. Malfoys didn’t do petty jealousy.

“You’ve got to know he’s rubbish at taking care of himself, yeah?” Weasley sat on one side of Potter. “It isn’t often, but when he’s like this it’s better than letting him drown. You know it’s like he’s my little brother?” Weasley sounded infuriatingly patronizing.

Draco ought to have realized, but some of the rumors…and how close Potter seemed with both Weasley and Granger.

“Of course I know that,” he grumbled.

Thankfully, the elves chose that moment to send up the trays. One held delicate, thinly cut wedges of buttered toast and a tureen of fluffy scrambled eggs. The second held the makings for substantial sandwiches. The third, Draco was relieved to see, held what he’d last seen as  the nursery tea service. The heavy pot and more substantial teacups meant no one had to worry about delicate china. He poured three cups of tea and made himself a sandwich while Weasley coaxed a reasonable serving of eggs and toast into Potter.

“Yes, you can go to sleep as soon as you finish,” Weasley huffed.

Draco paid them little attention and bit into his sandwich. Glorious. The last few months had been mostly things grown in the Hogwarts kitchen gardens, porridges, potatoes, and whatever game Hagrid managed to catch. The Hogwarts elves did their best, but they hadn’t had their usual stores to work with. Roast beef, wholemeal bread, horseradish sauce, and that piquant little salad the elves made had never tasted so wonderful to him before. Perhaps he’d try some of the ham next, with the crumbly sharp cheddar. He found he had a good deal more appetite than he’d expected.

“That’s Harry gone for a bit,” Weasley commented.

Draco looked over to see Potter passed out between them. Even with the blood and whatever else had been on him magicked off, he still looked dreadful.

“He hasn’t really been sleeping lately. Nightmares, you know, from the soul tie.”

“A what?!” Draco screeched. “Please tell me Potter wasn’t subject to...to…that sort of abomination!”

“You sound just like your mum when you do that, you know?” Weasley began. “All I know is what Harry told us his parents told him. They said it was a soul tie that nearly killed him when your parents did the necessary in ’81. And I’m not blaming them for anything since no one really knew at that point except for Aunt Lily and she wasn’t telling because she probably did something really illegal to shield him from it, unlike some sanctimonious arseholes.”

Draco stared at him. “My parents did what in  ’81?”

“Er…Malfoy…they’re responsible for the first decimation of Dark Lord Dirtnap.”

Draco couldn’t hold back a snort at the name. “Don’t make me laugh right now, Weasley. I’m being serious.”

“Sorry. Habit. Your parents killed him and destroyed his first body is what Mum told me. Then your dad went on to go after the Horcruxes he knew about. No one knows how they found out or decided to turn, but I’d put my money on something with Professor Snape.”

Draco could only blink at that. His parents. His parents. Did that? And never told him?

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Weasley shrugged. “You could pass the ham, though.”

#my soul revive #hp society/the ton #hp the season au #hp the season/the ton au #the Snalfoys #lucius malfoy #narcissa malfoy

[slightly-depressed-sloth]

So like we already know Toh makes fun of Harry potter in a ton of ways and subverts all of its tropes but I haven't seen anyone bring up the way Toh treats magic disability Vs the way HP treats magic disability.

Specifically thinking about the fact that squibs in HP can't use magic but their whole family can and instead of being allowed into school to learn potions, astronomy, beast keeping etc etc (literally any class except charms and defense against the dark arts really) they're ostrichisised from the whole wizarding community and presumably not given any education whatsoever, not even a Muggle one. And while yeah HP treats this as tragic it also doesn't pose this treatment as wrong or smth in need of change just 'oh the poor disables are born so sad and that sucks but oops what you gonna do'.

Vs the owl house where Luz is similarly magically disabled (she literally can't do magic according to boiling isles conventions). But instead of the show going whoops guess you were born unlucky shoulda had better genes, Luz learns a different way of doing magic and while the community is shocked by this they still accept this new form of magic and allow her into their society. Hunter also falls into this, he's born a powerless witch so instead he uses a staff and artificial magic until he gets a palisman. While toh acknowledges that the world is harder for people like Luz and Hunter it doesn't frame that as the end of the conversation and instead shows that just because you can't do things like other people can doesn't mean you can't find a new way that works for you that nobody has thought of before

God I love this show

#toh #the owl house hunter #the owl house #toh luz #luz noceda #huntertoh #hunter toh #hunter noceda #hunter wittebane #hunter deamonne #owl house #disibility in media #disability #h*rry p*tter #slightlyslothspeaks

[glossolali]

GM Roundtable Redux

- Need multiple session zeroes!!

- Good idea to do character creation together so they can have interpersonal relationships

- Character session with each PC, then together is also a good idea

- The group needs to have a cohesive identity!

- "What kind of game do you wanna play? What inspires you? What are you excited about?"

- Give each PC the opening moment!

- Connection to world (goals, desires and enemies) is essential

- Asking PCs right before you start so they can give you a summary

- Making your own world is easier than sticking to a campaign book! says Matt

- Put an apostrophe on it! (Nirdal'poc.... vax'ildan... etc)

- Matt hates the idea of one person owning a world so he shared it with Brennan and Aabria :3 (lov u matty)

- Collabing on DMing and worldbuilding is amazing and exciting!! And sometimes you get a chroma spa and a casa bonita (LMAO)

- Irreverance is healing, profundity and absurdity go hand in hand

- "My job today is to come up with 30 fake wizards"

- It's a fun logic matrix / puzzle to figure out how all the different cities and societies fit together

- They called Matt 'Story Dad' 🥺

- Exandria started with one town, Stilben and it slowly and organically grew and grew until the world became Exandria

- Lore is disjointed in some classic fantasy and the logic breaks often, that was important for Matt to make sure it all fit in together

- New players don't know boundaries so you take wider swings and it's wonderful, and then you fall in line and then over time you go back to being your crazy young self

- Game MASTER creates a hierarchy but it's a reverse hierarchy, you're there to serve your players like a genie granting a wish or a cook making food for people

- Lucien was hot bc Taliesin made Molly hot (scREAMS) and Matt made him naked bc he just wanted to

- DM life hack: Othello token for HP points esp when battling a ton of mobs

- Theatre of the Mind is fun because anything is possible! Anything could be in there! Maps can limit the imagination

- Spacing out and talking to yourself as you develop lore or characters in the bathroom is a Totally Normal DM thing that happens often

- Bathroom Buddies (tm)

- Limited stories (like D20 etc.) without limiting characters? cleverly improvised rails where DM and player end up on the same rails to get the experiences they both want, story beats (brennan), modular lore and dont lock lore info behind dice rolls bc it halts the story, momentum always need to be going forward (matt), players who are good storytellers can get it and go for it if you cue them up for 3 act structure bc of prior knowledge from reading books and watching movies etc (aabria)

- What's your fave GM snack *insert angry Brennan monologue here* and also it's almonds

#cr spoilers #critical role #gm roundtable #matt mercer #aabria iyengar #brennan lee mulligan #cr #cr bts #glossopost

[evesaintyves]

If Lupin and Tonks had survived the battle do you think their relationship would’ve lasted

i love this question. this isn't something that gets much discussion within the remadora fandom.

i lean toward no. i think lupin and tonks would have had a very difficult time of it after the war for a lot of reasons.

it's hard to say exactly what the political/legal/social landscape would have looked like in the first few years after the battle of hogwarts, but i think it's reasonable to think that even if the legal status of werewolves changed immediately (doubtful), their position in society would be much slower to shift. (it's worth pointing out, because in lupin-centric fics it usually gets glossed over, that it makes sense to be afraid of werewolves! werewolves are dangerous!) so, after the war, lupin is likely still unemployable and kind of a pariah. it's likely that tonks will have lost friends over it, and would be treated differently at work and in any social spaces where people know who her husband is. probably also very difficult for lupin to participate in the public/social aspects of parenting, and school-age teddy is likely to see social fallout from this, too.

those things alone are a huge strain on a relationship, and then there's the fact that lupin is likely to continue agonizing and self-destructing over them. everything he feared their relationship would mean for tonks & teddy is still going to be true. lupin is deeply traumatized and has a ton of maladaptive behaviors toward other people that are clearly evident in canon (manipulativeness, dishonesty, keeping people at a distance, bottling his emotions - and this is the tip of the iceberg that's visible in the books, you can certainly extrapolate a lot more) and i think it's unrealistic to imagine that his epiphany in the last book changed all of this. dude needs therapy, probably a lot of it. being in a relationship with lupin would fucking suck.

meanwhile, tonks is quite young, and canon suggests she has idealistic views about love. she's experienced a huge amount of change in her society, her career and her personal life in a very short time, she's definitely traumatized as well, she's got a baby, she's probably the sole breadwinner, AND she's got all of lupin's issues—psychological and social and health and supernatural issues—to deal with. that is a LOT. sooner or later, once all the big feelings of a new relationship start to die down, staying together is going to be a ton of hard, ugly work for both of them. even healthy partnerships would struggle to survive stuff like this—and i don't think lupin and tonks' relationship seems particularly healthy.

divorce isn't really ever mentioned in hp canon, so who knows what options lupin and tonks would feel like they had, but if they did stay together i feel like they'd be in for some very unhappy times.

i should say, and i think this is evident in my work, that the doomedness of lupin and tonks' relationship is one of my favorite things about it. as much as i like them as characters and feel very real huge feelings about the way things went for them, i wouldn't change the fact that they died, nor do i really enjoy imagining a happy ending for them. the brevity and irony and cruelty and mistakes and regrets and wasted time, and the crater of grief they would have left in the lives of the people who loved them, are all part of what makes their little window of time together fascinating to explore.

that said, don't think it would have been such a tragedy if they made it through the war and broke up. especially if they could still amicably co-parent and move on with their lives. sometimes a relationship is beautiful and special and important and worthwhile, and then it runs its course and ends. most relationships are not lifelong relationships. i don't regret the time i spent with people i used to love, nor do i wish i'd stayed in the relationships that fell apart. sometimes people give each other a few years of love and joy and that's enough. remadora, as a story, is a great reminder to savor what you have, and make peace with the things you don't, because right now might be all there is for you.

#remadora #hp meta #hp headcanon #remus lupin #nymphadora tonks #lupin x tonks #remus x tonks #tonks x lupin

[thecatslug]

Let’s Flesh-Out Barovia: Part 2 💎

This week on LFOB we’re once again delving into the weirdly specific niche of Barovian society. We’re going to be focusing on one extremely important (somewhat homebrew) element, which brings with it some new game mechanics and spicy items for your players to hoard! Without further ado, let’s get into Barovia’s most coveted resource: Bloodstone

Bloodstone is a very niche resource that has some mentions in Faerun lore, which we’re partially thefting for Barovia because it fits SO well. So here’s our Barovian bloodstone, kids:

Bloodstone is a dark crimson (almost black) stone which grows to a reddish color when blood is spilled over its surface. When “fed” bloodstone grows warm and staves off the effects of frostbite to those holding even the smallest scraps of stone. The larger the stone, the more protection against this notorious barovian danger it can bring. Furthermore, bloodstone has the unusual ability to close gaping wounds.

Mechanics: Bloodstone can be fed 1 point of blood (~1 piercing damage to a player if you wanna be gritty) to activate its warming property. This property lasts until the following sunrise and stave off the effects of frostbite. The larger the bloodstone, the more regions of the body it protects. Otherwise a small shard might only protect one hand or foot from frostbite. Bloodstone can be run along open wounds (e.g. sword gashes, shrapnel wounds, anything open and bleeding like crazy) to magically close the wound. This does NOT heal hitpoints, but it prevents the further loss of HP. As an optional homebrew effect, bloodstone in this context can be used to end the homebrew BLEED condition (see below).

Bleed Condition: When an attack or ability deals bleed damage, a creature gains the bleeding condition. While a creature has the bleeding condition, it is subject to the following effects;

At the start of each of its turns, the creature takes bleed damage again (I.e. damage from the attack which caused the bleed).

Unless otherwise stated, the bleed damage the creature takes is reduced by 1 for each subsequent turn that the creature remains under the condition.

Unless otherwise stated, the condition ends when the amount of bleed damage the creature would take becomes 0, the creature receives magical healing of an appropriate level (restoration or better), or a creature uses their action to make a Wisdom (medicine check) with a DC equal to the bleeding condition’s current damage, or 15 (whichever is lower).

The bleeding condition cannot be stacked, but instead when a new bleeding effect is applied, the bleeding condition’s damage number becomes the higher of the two.

A creature at 0hp that is bleeding makes their death saving throws with disadvantage. On a natural 20, the bleeding stops and the creature gains 1hp

Creatures with regenerative h although abilities are resistant to bleed damage in some cases (DM discretion) and can more readily combat the effects of a bleed.

As one would expect, bloodstone is a big deal, and it’s coveted. It’s expensive, handed down from generation to generation, and it’s something every barovian strives to have even a scrap of.

The Barovian military, and any Barovian blacksmith worth their salt, readily uses bloodstone in weapons and armor. Small bloodstones are imbedded into the pommels and hilts of all standard issue swords and similar weaponry, as it staves off the effects of frostbite in the hands, and acts as a quick way to close massive wounds. Bloodstone can also be found imbedded in some plate armor to combat the effects of frostbite and make it viable for winter combat.

Medics and healers worth their salt will have at least a small bloodstone pendant.

Bloodstone jewelry is almost standard in marriage or any gifts (for those who can afford it) and is handed down through the generations as heirlooms.

The biggest flex any Barovian or Vistani can make is to have a shit ton of bloodstone jewelry.

Obviously, in the context of this homebrew, Strahd’s giant “ruby” necklace thing, is bloodstone- and a massive flex over adventurers. It can be used in combat to end any bleed conditions he may have, and to add a semblance of body temperature if he’s not fed recently.

Another, kinda obvious, reason Bloodstone is coveted is because it combats vampire bites. While themselves vampires can semi-close some wounds (I’ll do a post on Barovian vampires later) if you suffer a brutal claw or bite attack in combat, you’re going to be hit with the bleed condition. DMs can decide if they wanna use the bleed mechanic (I personally do) and what vampire attacks may cause it (crit attacks, bite attacks, etc.) but even just thematically- vampires can make a victim bleed out in minutes, making bloodstone invaluable.

A small note for those using the homebrew bleed mechanic: use the effect sparingly! Not every sword strike causes bleed. However, some blood spells (I’ll elaborate in another post), monster attacks (vampires), and enchanted or mundane weapons can cause the effect. I personally pair this mechanic with the Bloodborne Armory homebrew book. Any weapon with the serrated property causes bleed! Granted, I use the bloodborne armory mostly for Van Richten’s murder toys or some of Strahd’s enchanted weapons. However, it’s a good thing to keep in mind! Highly recommend the resource (link below)

(As always, thanks for reading! And have fun giving your players a new resource to fanatically hoard and flex with! I had a player buy a pickaxe to try and mine bloodstone when they found out what it was and how pricy it gets 😂)

(Tagged Readers: @keegansakura )

(Just comment/@ me if you’d like to be tagged to easily stay up to date!)

#Bloodstone #New Shiny Clink Clank #Can I mine the bloodstone? #curse of strahd #ravenloft #dnd #dungeons and dungeons #barovia #dungeon master #Dnd guide #LFOB #dm resources

[vivithefolle]

Remember when you wrote an answer on Quora to a question that was something like, "Who would HP characters be in omegaverse" and you wrote that Ron would be omega and Hermione would be alpha. Well, I just realised the pairings in Omegaverse are never F!Alpha/M!Omega. So to clarify, Ron being an omega wouldn't be uncommon; Ron mating with Hermione though.. Also this trope is giving me some cursed OT3 ideas (all consensual, of course), that keep me up at night. What have you done to me?😭😭

[Warning: discussion of sex] The infamous Quora answer about the Omegaverse

I'll keep the rest under a Read More in case people don't want to see that particular trope being discussed!

I think the reason why F!Alphas in general are so uncommon is because female characters are given very little attention in the Omegaverse. The trope started out as a kinky request for a one-shot with two male characters having sex; since there was gay sex happening mpreg was quickly incorporated as well, and it just went from there.

I think there's some sexism at play. In the rare ABO fics I've seen that included Ron/Hermione, they tended to be betas, which is pretty much the "boring straight normie" category; but you find tons of other fics where Hermione is an omega to <insert preferred male character>'s alpha. That's because most Omegaverse fics treat omegas as the equivalent of IRL women, because in most fics using the ABO system only omegas get pregnant (and, yes, that's sexist bullshit and reduces women to their womb, but this is fanfiction, we're not writing a social studies paper here).

Ron especially is never written in that sort of role because people give too much faith to the base assumption that he's "too manly" for that, as you and I previously discussed together when talking about the fandom's reluctance to interpret him as being anything other than straight because they refuse to acknowledge his more feminine-coded side.

It's pretty much the standard fare for the HP fandom, and really every fandom in general: ABO started as a fetish thing, and so it's almost logical that it would feature fetishization and misrepresentation of gay relationships - keep in mind that most fanfiction writers are women.

So to clarify, Ron being an omega wouldn't be uncommon; Ron mating with Hermione though..

Ooooooh, this is an interesting plot bunny! Ok, basing ourselves on the idea of discrimination due to genders: society says that Hermione being an alpha female should go to an alpha male stud, to produce strong alpha babies because double-alpha babies are totally the best or whatever; while Ron being an omega male should go to an alpha male stud and become a good malewife and produce those cool mpreg babies... Ron and Hermione say that's fucking bullshit and get married anyway, power move. As for which of them will carry the children, fuck off it's none of you tabloids' business!

(Maybe they both carry one each... :'D)

Also this trope is giving me some cursed OT3 ideas (all consensual, of course), that keep me up at night.

I find that when I'm kept awake at night by stuff I want to write whether they're comments or stories, it becomes MUCH easier to sleep once I've written out the thing that kept me awake (totally why I sometimes answer comments at something like 2 in the morning (French hours) because I couldn't answer in the day and spent my night stewing on it). But that is just a suggestion... ;)

What have you done to me?😭😭

I have merely opened your mind to new possibilites *ominously walks away and bumps into the wall on the way out*

#vivi answers #ron weasley #hermione granger #tropes #omegaverse #writing #harry potter

[birlwrites]

ooo i wonder who you think could fit the corruption arc? (other than, yk, peter and regulus)?? i love seeing characters enter their villan era!

my big answer for this one is always 'lily deserves to snap'

her options are SUPER limited due to being muggleborn (with the added complication of not having a lot of money) - i've intensified this in ttdl by making the socioeconomic hierarchy of magical society much more clearly defined than it is in canon, with what is essentially an aristocratic class, the 'good families' that aren't aristocratic, and everyone else, but that's not to say that hierarchy isn't there in canon - it's just not laid out in as explicit terms

by virtue of being muggleborn, lily is automatically semi-locked out from the upper echelons of magical society. not to say that she *has* to aspire to being part of that group, but it's still a frustrating indicator of the status quo

like - you know how harry has a ton of money? that didn't come from the evans family's generational wealth, and lily and james died so young that it's HIGHLY unlikely they earned all of that themselves, especially since james was canonically an auror and lily was.......... we don't get that information because actually her entire life revolved around james and harry, why would you expect her to have any other sorts of life goals or interests :)

ANYWAY. thus, that money is the potters' generational wealth baybeeeee - like, lily married into an upper-class family, but a) she still wouldn't really be accepted in the mostly-purist world of the sacred 28, and b) in order for lily to marry into the upper class, sorta, she needs *someone from that class to want/be willing to marry her.* i'm not talking about lily's motivations here btw - i'm talking about how in order for lily to get into that upper class or be adjacent to it, she needs connections, which makes her relatively dependent on the whims of people like james. (again, not talking about individual motivations here - just how this world works. in canon, the social structure of the wizarding world is less obviously stratified than it is in my version, but these forces are still very much at play. it's just made more explicit in ttdl)

and since lily is muggleborn, making those connections is much harder. her parents don't have old friends from hogwarts, and she wasn't raised learning about magic, so she's at a disadvantage when she does arrive at hogwarts and start interacting with other magical people

in canon, lily does everything 'right', according to jkr's version of what a Good Woman looks like. (not that jkr explicitly articulates that, but like..... if you've ever seen that meta post about how the 'best' women in hp are married, mothers, and also dead, you know what i'm talking about.)

also, lily does not get to be a shitty teenager in the way that the marauders and snape do. she's held up as this example of a Good and Righteous and Moral person who Fights For What Is Right and james has to better himself before he is worthy of her, essentially. (the marauders, save peter, are held up as being good people, despite often being assholes as teenagers; snape is...... snape, but jkr definitely *intends* for us to view him as a good person Despite It All, and none of this is even getting into the 'good vs bad' dichotomy of canon which is partly due to it being a children's series and partly due to very absolute moral stances and just - okay i'm getting super off track. back to lily! who is not permitted to have this personal growth. she must be perfect at all times)

and then lily sacrifices herself to protect her child - which isn't a bad thing inherently, but it does play into this placing her upon a Selfless Pedestal. jkr values selflessness a LOT, to the point of martyrdom (you can feel the jesus bleeding through - consider the villainizing of 'slytherin traits,' primarily ambition and the association with self-preservation, neither of which are inherently bad, in canon; also, both lily and harry sacrificing themselves for others and how this ends up Saving Everyone™, BOTH TIMES).

so lily is this deified amazing mother who is Selfless and Virtuous and Heroic and Righteous and etc etc etc etc etc

ANYWAY. to get back to the corruption arc, i want a lily who is aware that she has to be pretty much perfect in order to get anywhere in magical society in an 'acceptable' way. she has to be good enough (at whatever it is she decides to do) to 'overcome' her socioeconomic class. it is unfair and it is infuriating and it is how this world works

and then i want her to decide It Is Not How This World Works. Anymore.

in essence, taking lily's canon characterization and turning that into something that was placed on her that she rejects

OOOOOOOOO ALSO. so dumbledore factors into this as well - he's got such a legend status among non-purists and something i really like for corruption arcs is characters who *were* incredibly diehard dumbledore supporters like. breaking off from that. not necessarily treating him as an enemy, but not treating him as a hero either

which is part of why i like a corruption arc for lily in particular. also for remus!

but also sometimes with regard to a villain arc i'm just like 'yeah i want to see what happens' fjwlghsfjdkls. that's a path barty's going to go down in ttdl - not a villain arc in the sense that he's going to be a villain in the story, but more precisely a bastardization arc. it's what he deserves<3

honestly for me i think the key ingredient in a successful corruption arc, no matter what the details are, is the character rejecting something they previously held dear, especially in favor of more independence. that's why i wouldn't settle on sirius for a corruption arc - it's already happened for him, and imo doing it again wouldn't be a satisfying character arc

#should i make an inbox tag #i'm going to tag as #dark lord wip #because it is relevant to that #but this isn't purely about atfhv #lily evans #hp

[bluebyrd-screaming]

Reasons why everyone should stop supporting jk Rowling and the hp books whether you are a TERF or not: (this list is in no particular order)

She racially justified slavery within the universe and said that they shouldn't be released from said slavery because they are simply happier as slaves (every character who tries to free them is mocked for it)

The goblins play into Jewish stereotypes. Greedy bankers with large noses. And then they start stealing children to drink their blood in the latest video game which is quite literally blood libel

The constant insistence that the safest place for a child is with blood relatives, no matter how abusive they are

Half the hogwarts staff literally abuse the children and its always played off as a joke unless it's Snape or Umbridge

Assigning 11 year olds to their personality traits forever, including "brave main character" "nerd" "evil future nazi" and "other"

Children labelled as slytherin are open ground for bullying. Not once does anyone think "maybe we can stop the nazi indoctrination now"

There are only a few types of girls: Not Like Other Girls TM, mother, evil bitch, and strange but quite. Rarely are any of these characters given any more in depth analysis beyond this trait

Owls are in invasive species where Hogwarts is but it's the coolest pet to have

All of the canoncially fat people are Evil (Umbridge, Pettigrew, Pansy to name a few)

The Weasleys are Irish stereotypes. Literally sound like weasels and have a shit ton of kids that they can barely afford to feed

All of the wizards think of muggles and squibs as inferior and that belief is racially justified. Even characters like Mr Weasley who supposedly love muggles thinks they are cute in the way you find a strange animal cute

Muggle and Mudblood are thrown around by the fandom as an insult as of the same wasn't done by the literal NAZIs in the original text

Severus Snape is both a child abuser and literal nazi, but we are supposed to forgive him because he had a crush on Harry's mom and did One nice thing foe Harry

Hagrid keeps bringing in dangerous invasive species to his home on school property. Every single time this is laughed off as an "oh you"

Voldemorts crime is never his superiority complex over muggles and mudbloods, but the fact that he wants to eliminate all of them. Again, it is textually justified to have this superiority complex

Harry literally owns a fucking slave which is justified by the slave preferring the more abusive owners and, if he had his way, going to the literal nazis to rat the main trio out

Her AIDS metaphor is so botched it's fucking disgusting. Remus was raped at a young age and now has to take medicine so he isn't a threat for raping more children. AIDS is seen as something that makes you inherently dangerous and society is justified for shunning those with the disease

Harry literally named his "favorite" child after two of his biggest fucking abusers becuase they helped him a little and that is supposed to overrule all of the abuse

Cho Chang and Kingsley Shacklebolt are the names of two real characters which are totally not racist names at all (/sarcasm)

Cho is considered to be hysterical and an idiot for grieving her boyfriend who was murdered on a public stage and how could she not love Harry

Native Americans are portrayed as idiots who must be helped to realize their full potential by colonizer boarding schools

Snape calling Harry's mom a literal slur is seen as misguided flirting and not absolutely fucking disgusting

Hermione kept a whole ass human being in a fucking jar because she was a gossip journalist

#harry potter #jk rowling #fuck jkr #long post #i definitely missed some this so feel free to add #fuck hp #racism #xenophobia #homophobia #abuse mention #child abuse mention #harry potter tw

[dragoneyes618]

Bet They Wish They Hadn’t Said That...

“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.”

- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949.

“I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year.”

- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.

“But what...is it good for?”

- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device in inherently of no value to us.”

- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”

- David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

“The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.”

- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service (which became FedEx).

“I don’t know what use anyone could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn’t be a feasible business by itself.”

- The head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.

“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”

-Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895

“If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this.”

- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3M Post-It notepads.

“So, we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, “No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’“

- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

“Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.”

- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard’s revolutionary rocket work.

“Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.”

- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

“Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.”

- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”

- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

“Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.”

- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872.

“The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.”

- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinaire to Queen Victoria 1873.

“640K ought to be enough for anybody.”

- Bill Gates, 1981.

“Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances.”

- Dr. Lee DeForest, father of radio and grandfather of television.

“The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives.”

- Admiral William Leahy, US Atomic Bomb Project.

“There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.”

- Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923.

“A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.”

- Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies.

“The supercomputer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required.”

- Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University.

“Who...would want to read a book about a bunch of crazy Swedes on a raft?”

- Editor, turning down The Kon Tiki Expedition.

“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

- Decca Recording Co., rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

“Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.”

- Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

- Ken Olson, president, chairman, and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”

- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

#no idea how to tag this #trivia #interesting #interesting facts #tidbits #quotes #history #irony #science #inventions #computers #telephone #microchip #kon tiki expedition #the beatles #supercomputer #mrs. fields' cookies' #chocolate chip cookies #atomic bomb #louis pasteur #medicine #discoveries #anyone know how to tag this?

[wellpresseddaisy]

Not quite sure what this is or if it'll go anywhere, but Ron kind of delighted me as a narrator.

Dread pooled in Ron’s gut when the Goblet of Fire lit for a fourth time.

Just like his dream last night, the one he’d laughed off while cleaning his teeth that very morning.

“Harry Potter.” The headmaster read Harry’s name off the little slip of paper belched from the Goblet.

Harry froze next to him, paling slowly as the enormity of the situation sunk in. Hermione squeaked, grabbing Harry’s hand tight.

“Harry Potter, please join the other champions.” Dumbledore sounded rather put about to have to remind him.

Harry lurched to his feet, breath coming in short bursts, and stumbled toward the front of the Hall. Ron bit his lip and thought furiously for a moment. Harry hadn’t a clue how anything in the magical world worked, of that he was certain. He’d be railroaded without someone looking out for his interests. Without considering anything further, Ron stood and strode after his friend. He knew Harry hadn’t put his name in (knew Harry would’ve involved him if he did). Knew just how much Harry wanted to avoid the whole circus of the TriWiz.

Merlin’s pants, Harry didn’t even like being called on in class and people thought he’d want to participate in something that would get him that much attention?

Harry didn’t even know his True Name, in any case. He couldn’t — he wasn’t of age and his parents couldn’t have let it slip early.  

“Ron…what?” Harry squeaked as they passed by a glaring Snape.

“You aren’t going in there without someone to represent you.” Ron muttered back. “It’ll be alright, you’ll see. Just follow my lead.”

And if he just pretended he knew what to do or say, well, no one else needed to know. He rather wished he’d thought to drag Hermione along, but there were limits as to what school officials (and the Ministry people) might put up with. Certainly they wouldn’t countenance being interrogated by Hermione.

And she would interrogate them. Brilliant, she was. He just had to hope he could pull this off without Hermione. He and Harry walked into the antechamber and shut the door. Everyone already there stared at them for a moment.

“Have we been called back into the Great Hall, Weasley?” Diggory asked.

“Er, no.” Ron swallowed, elbowing Harry before he could speak. “There’s been a bit of a mix-up and Harry’s name came out of the Goblet after everyone else was chosen.”

Once, when he was tiny, Ron had dreamed of making a sensation. It wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, honestly. Couldn’t adult magicals keep their heads about anything? Shocking bad form from all of them. They were so deep in their panic and indignation that no one else noticed Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall entering the room or Harry scooting slightly behind Ron. Crouch, in particular, looked as if he’d sucked on a lemon. He'd probably counted on everything going smoothly while working Perce half to death. Bagman beamed generally at the group, seemingly excited by the furor, and Ron rethought his career plans. Aurors tended toward head injuries as well, didn’t they?

He used his greater height and breadth to shield his friend from the accusations. As usual, Mum was right. Sprouting up and broadening out certainly helped keep Harry from everyone else’s nonsense.

Percy goggled at the pair of them from across the room but kept shtum. Ron had never appreciated his brother more in that moment.

“Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?” Dumbledore asked quietly from behind him.

At least someone wasn’t hurling vile accusations at a fourteen-year-old. Ron made sure to remember everyone else’s names for Hermione’s list.

“No, sir. I didn’t want any part of it.” Harry answered just as quietly.

Snape snorted at that, but Ron expected that sort of thing from him. Couldn’t see past the end of his prejudice against Potters, that one.

“Could someone have put his name in, sir?” Ron cut in. “I can vouch for Harry not putting his in himself. I expect most of Gryffindor can.”

“Tell me, Mr. Weasley, what are you doing here? I believe Mr. Potter was requested. Alone.” Crouch’s voice gained an icy edge Ron never wanted to hear again. But then, he did hate Weasleys.

Possibly also gingers in general, since mum had contributed to his sacking as head of the DMLE, but chucking dad into Azkaban without checking for curses first wasn’t his brightest move. Certainly he should have expected a daughter of House Prewett to raise hell over that one.

Dumbledore looked positively delighted by the turn of events. Ron couldn’t figure out why, other than maybe he didn’t much care for Crouch, either.

Or he liked a good scene. Given some of the things Ron heard from his parents (the Alchemy Shed Incident most recently), Dumbledore probably just liked a good show. Alchemists, on the whole, were mad as a bag of badgers.

“I’m his representative.” Ron explained, booting Harry in the ankle before he could say anything daft. He adored his best friend, but Harry had no grasp of a really good bluff. “After second year and all that business with Lockhart we made a handshake agreement that I would represent him in matters pertaining to the magical world, seeing as whoever is supposed to be his Magical Guardian has not done their job properly, his general guardians being non-magicals.”

Harry nodded in the right places and let him speak.

The headmaster winced a bit, which Ron thought strange. On the other hand, he got to see Snape go from glaring to looking as if he’d swallowed one of Dumbledore’s lemon drops whole. Strange that, he’d always thought Snape only had the one facial expression.

“Mr. Potter has obviously subverted Ministry decrees on the age of competitors and will be held to account. And you, Mr. Weasley, will have to leave.” Crouch seethed. Clearly he’d listened too much to the other school heads while Dumbledore questioned Harry.

Ron found himself agreeing with his mother’s view of Crouch as a Ministry official.

“Er, sir, according to Hogwarts, A History, my brother and Potter are not in contravention of any school or Ministry rules. In fact, this sort of arrangement is recommended.” Percy whispered frantically, only to be waved off.

“On further thought, sir, I think we’d best see if someone from the DMLE could Floo in. They’ll know what to look for with the Goblet. I’d suggest my mum, but she deals more in country matters.” Maybe it was dangerous ignoring Crouch like that, but Ron had nothing to say to that wanker.

Diggory had the temerity to snort something a bit rude about his mum. Ron drew himself up to his full height and skewered the older boy with a Look.

(He’d learnt that one from Hermione.)

“My mother, Diggory, is a certified law witch and Guardian at the Gate, which I should think you would remember considering all the help she gave your father in that matter with his pigs.”

Diggory shut up, showing at least some sense.

“Be that as it may, Mr. Weasley, I don’t know that we need to get the DMLE involved. The Ministry in general—”

“Actually, sir, I think that’s a splendid idea.” Percy broke in on Crouch, looking pale but determined “Mr. Potter may have been entered into a binding contract against his will. Given the history of the Tournament, this could be seen as an attempt on his life.” Percy somehow worked his way across the room as he spoke, ending up behind Harry. “I’m sure the Ministry wants everything done properly.”

Percy might have been pompous and a bit of a git, Ron thought, but he showed his Weasley colors there. Though Ron hoped he wouldn’t get the sack for it. Crouch looked ready to spit glass.

“Well said, both of you.” Dumbledore eased his way between them and Crouch. “While I would gladly stand in to represent Mr. Potter, I fear it could be seen as a conflict of interest. A  third party is precisely what we need.”

Ron stifled a triumphant smirk and watched as Dumbledore set the fire in the room to allow Floo access. In just a few moments, a red-robed Auror walked through the flames. She seemed distinctly unimpressed by everyone. Ron liked her immediately.

#hp society/the ton #hp the season au #hp the season/the ton au #harry potter #ron weasley

[nock-nox]

aight

I saw this post going around about how participating in the hp fandom is the same as being complicit with the issues that go hand in hand with JKR's ongoing controversies and I just want to say... no.

It is 100% possible to divorce a piece of media from the original creator. You're not automatically transphobic for being a drarry shipper. I'll be the first one to admit that the HP franchise has a ton of issues (antisemitism, exploitation of civil rights issues, two-dimensional female characters, etc!!) and JKR has some wildly transphobic opinions that I don't agree with. But creating and consuming fan content (and therefore contributing to the self-perpetuating harry Potter content sphere) does not make me responsible for her decisions. There is not a single piece of media on this earth that is free from issues. Lovecraft is an insanely popular universe to play in, and it's well-known for having deep roots in xenophobia -- that doesn't mean that Victor LaValle (writer of The Ballad of Black Tom, a Lovecraftian story from the perspective of a black American in 1920s Harlem) is xenophobic for writing something Lovecraftian.

HP fanwriters have lovingly rewritten the universe to address these issues time and time again. And there are things about the HP universe that are interesting and worthwhile. Don't toss the baby out with the bathwater because you're rightfully pissed at JKR.

I think the best things fans can do is think critically about the things that they love and enjoy, and make the conscious decision to make up for what canon lacks. Write Trans!Harry stories. Write stories where the elves violently overthrow their rulers and rewrite the rules of their society. Write stories about goblins that add more dimension to their culture. Unironically, be the change you wish to see.

#and fuck off if you don't like it #Venting #fuck jkr #Jkr is a terf and you should say it #Hp #the harpie speaks #jkr crit

[filliteapot]

Can you recommend books like Howl's Moving Castle and Uprooted? I would love to read more books about witches so witchy books recommedations are welcome! I never got into HP, I tried it but it was not my thing. What about you, do you like HP?

I've read HP, but was never into this universe. I read it after school so it was never a part of my childhood and something causing nostalgia, just a series to read quickly and move on. Now I think it's like the best compilation of what I dislike the most in fantasy: magical schools with large cast of shallow characters, default special protag, evil enemy being evil, and obligatory world saving (with really thick allusions on society). I don't care about whatever is happening around HP these days, but can't help but feel bitter that it influenced people so much that their love towards this kind of stories spread so much that now I have nothing to read, haha. My problem with HP lies here, I guess.

To tell you the truth, I haven't read much witch books lately. When I understood what want from fantasy in general, I became really picky and hard to please, so my recs will be nothing new if you've known me for some time.

I love Diana Wynne Jones so much, so I strongly recommend you to read her other works besides HMC. I loved the Chrestomanci series, this is how you write your characters (with parents issues especially) and don't make your world too loaded with magical stuff and plot holes. What I like the most about her is that her magic is never really explained 100% and it doesn't mater: it doesn't get more spotlight than characters' personalities and decisions took by them as persons, without any magic influence. Also, her evil is always terrifying, beacuse it’s painfully real and in Chrestomanci it’s not some kind of evil enchanters wishing for world dominion, but the most banal and dangerous thing - selfish adult people. My forever favourite standalone novel by DWJ is Fire and Hemlock, it's not really about witches, but its atmosphere is really something else, haunting and bewitching.

I also read Pratchett's cycle about Tiffany Aching some time ago and it was good too. I see it as a rather local story centered on the main character's growing up. Also, tons of quality interactions with charismatic witch grandmas, what can be better.

Now I laid my eyes on Eiko Kadono's Kiki's delivery service. All the books were released in my native language with arts of my fav illustrator Miho Satake, so I bought them but haven't read yet. But from what I heard it's exactly mostly slice of life with cute magic.

#replies #recs

[veebs-hates-video-games]

Ok time to go through some more small things quickly because I'm getting behind.

Will You Snail?

More fun and interesting than I expected. I wasn't really sure what I was getting into beyond it being cheap and having tons of positive reviews, but it turned out to be a precision platformer where you play as a snail (and can wear another smaller snail as a hat), and it's about the fear of AI literally taking over the world and whether reality is really real. Also the AI is an asshole and spontaneously spawns bullshit spikes and lasers and stuff exactly where it thinks you're about to go so you have to contend with that in addition to just making it through each room.

I had a good enough time to finish the story and get somewhere north of 50% completion, but I don't really see myself doing the optional stuff like beating everything on the highest difficulty. The auto-difficulty kept me somewhere in the 2-3 range out of 4 95% of the time with very rare spikes to 4, and with me getting worse at stuff like this over time as my reactions get slightly slower, my vision gets worse, and my brain just gets generally weird, I don't really see a point in pushing myself harder just to frustrate myself.

Lara Croft GO

It only took me forever to get around to this one, which I probably would've forgotten about if someone didn't gift me a copy a few days ago. Basically you, uh, raid tombs. Big surprise, I know, but this time it's a turn-based puzzle game. I liked the puzzles enough and different mechanics they introduced enough to finish it because some of them were reasonably clever/satisfying, but I'm not sure if I'll bother with the extra ones after the credits roll. Toward the end after I got the hang of it I tended to finish levels without having to retry more than a couple times, but just knowing I'd have to start over entirely for every mistake or misclick makes it less enjoyable.

I'm pretty sure it's my second favorite Tomb Raider game now, and one of only two I've ever finished. The other was the 2013 reboot, which I thought was great. I tried the sequel to that and didn't really like all the changes they made to the formula because they all made it less fun for me, and I always thought the pre-reboot ones were just bad. To be fair I heard the later ones did get better and I never tried any of those, but the PS1 era games were anti-fun for me.

I'LL KILL HER

More of a digital comic book than anything, like a visual novel with an extreme emphasis on the visual part and no decision making. The art style was enough to get my interest to try it, and that's probably the main thing it has going for it. The story is...fine? Not super deep or original and feels like it maybe has some translation or non-native English issues sometimes, but it all fits together well enough in the end I guess. All of the content warnings for this one for stuff like abuse and domestic violence and suicide.

Cris Tales

Somehow this is the only one of these that I gave up on before finishing it. A lot of stuff in it is absolutely gorgeous (go watch the animated intro, seriously), and I was getting into the setting and some of the themes it was hinting at, and the time shifting mechanics are pretty neat both for exploration and combat, but I just don't really enjoy playing the game very much.

Society has advanced beyond the need for random encounters, but Cris Tales has not. Good thing it has irritatingly long load times for each one, at least on the Switch, and it has to do it again going back from the battle screen to the main overworld. And I really am not into how the combat encounters are balanced. Even basic trash enemies a few hours into the game can do absurd amounts of damage, like 40+ when your characters barely have over 100 hp. You can reduce that with timed button presses like Paper Mario/Mario RPG games, but the animations while pretty are really bad at conveying the actual correct timing for stuff.

Basically I like most things about the game except for actually playing it. Well, it's fine in towns I guess, but there's too much other stuff I'm not into for that to make up for it. Oh, and the voice acting isn't terrible or anything, but it's definitely worse than most things I've played this year with voice acting and didn't really do it for me. Also it has the most basic and obvious bug that I'm mildly surprised I've never seen in anything else: it counts the entire time the game is suspended while the Switch is asleep toward your play time. I apparently spent 60 hours on the game, when really it was about 3.

#will you snail? #lara croft go #I'll kill her #cris tales

[seancekitsch]

Top 5 80s horror movies? I want to watch something Eddie would watch

idk if i know what eddie would want to watch but im gonna try to branch from vampires

lost boys

for all the reasons i said this movie before

posession

a woman's husband comes back to west germany after spying to find her cheating but its a demonic tentacle entity trying to create doppelgängers that has her under its grip.

evil dead

bc its literally one of the best horror movies ever (ignore these weird recent remakes but follow the tv show)

reanimator

(barbara crampton hot and herbert west fun boy) this is a fun and not racist hp lovecraft movie and you gotta take that and run its also his most fun work in general

society

body horror about the rich literally eating the poor and there's a ton of body melding and orgy

[robinsversion]

Something I just realized, and why I think I was able to so easily let go of Harry Potter compared to most people, is that I dropped HP like a flea-ridden rag because I’m now so used to dropping literally anything and everything due to the epidemic of YouTubers and other public figures being exposed as pedos/predators/bigots. I was a panic at the disco fan. I was a cryaotic fan. I was a boyinaband fan. And that’s just three I can name off the top of my head, I’m sure I’ll probably think of more when I hit send on this post. I’ve been a fan of the work of so many people, and in some cases even just a fan of their public persona in general, but over the years they’ve gone down one by one, whether it was Br*ndon Ur*e’s racist and bigoted and rapey statements (none of which he’s taken accountability for and all of which he’s tried to just shove under the rug and pretend he never said them) coming to light in the public eye, Cryaotic coming forward as a pedo and then having his victims reveal that he’s a sadistic abusive asshole on top of it, boyinaband being exposed for praying on minor fans and later further abusing them once he got into relationships with them, and so countless more instances of public figure’s masks being ripped off to expose a vile face underneath. Hell, there’s many further creators whose work has definitely shaped me in one way or another, but who I’ve felt the need to drop once they were revealed to have done or said things that I am unable to continue supporting, whether being abusive to others behind the scenes or cheating on SOs or actively trying to ruin the lives of their “enemies” or developing cult-like relationships with their fanbases.

All that to say, yeah, by the time JK posted her transphobia manifesto, I had become so used to being disappointed by creators I admired, that cutting all my ties and love for Harry Potter was second nature, like a chore that I could do subconsciously. And bear in mind I was far from just a casual fan. I read all the books multiple times and watched all the movies (from the fourth one on I saw them in theaters opening weekend), had all the books (most in hardcover editions), and had all the movies on dvd. I had played most of the games, and one was even an all-time favorite right up until said manifesto. I owned a ton of merch. I was one of those people where my hogwarts house was my whole fucking personality.

But then it just stopped. It all just stopped. I dropped her, because I was well used to dropping things and creators, because I was used to being disappointed. I was used to being let down. I was used to people turning out to be shitty.

Anyway, if this even had a point in the beginning I can’t remember where I was going with it. I guess I just wanted to talk about how sad it is that finding out someone I supported is an asshole, is basically just a normal Tuesday nowadays. It was upsetting when it first started happening—at least, when it first started affecting the art and content I liked, I should say—but now, well, now I just move on almost instantly. Harry Potter was my childhood, but I cannot in any way co-sign the words and actions of such a viscous, sadistic, transphobic bigot, and no piece of content or art, let alone something so full of fault in hindsight like HP, is worth letting bigotry be welcomed into our society. I just wish everyone else who grew up with HP felt the same.

#harry potter #jk rowling #come at me I don’t give a fuck #also while writing this I remembered I was also a casual fan of rooster teeth but I got out well before the allegations started compounding #why are you booing me i’m right

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Noisy Pool Pump? Here's How to Fix It

So your pool pump’s got pipes, and Pool pump enclosure simply no longer the kind that hook into your larger pool gadget. I imply: it’s getting loud. Now you’re worried your pump isn’t working quite proper, given the horrible noises emitting out of your yard, and you’re dropping sleep—possibilities are the pals are, too.

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More energy also way extra noise. If your pump has been noisy on the grounds that day one, it is probably a greater, um, everlasting problem. It’s feasible your pump is of a lower first-rate, end of story. Your pump can also be way too effective to your pool. Our society tends to assume larger is better, but don’t be fooled. A pump with higher horsepower than you want could weigh down your pool gadget and rack up your power bill.

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