#Papermonkey

[featheredbeardog]

some artfight drawings I did this year.

AquaDraws's Bling

Papermonkey's Pulla

JadieBean's Bea

Siruwolf's Rogue

SonderCerebro's Marr & Divo

[papermonkeyism]

Look how amazing my left arm looks now!!!! ✨️

Done by Valerija Kas, a.k.a. zu_immortal on instagram.

[dracomort]

i think your takes on draco are the most interesting and realistic that i've read! would you mind sharing some more about your thoughts on him? specifically his life after the war (you mentioned that he is unlikely to be down-and-out, which i agree with vehemently and it was always off-putting for me to read in a fic lololol). but also you mentioned he is likely to not be SUPER guilty after the war and i wonder how that plays into your idea drarry dynamic? (i hope that made sense @_@)

Makes complete sense, anon :)

There's a million-and-one things i could say about Drarry, but I'll keep this Draco focused to maintain a somewhat reasonable wordcount and actually answer your question.

I don't think I have an 'ideal' post-war Drarry plot/setting since what I like most about Drarry is the variety in fics. Thematically and relationship arc-wise though, what I enjoy seeing most from Drarry is a situation where they both bring something to the table and shift each other's perspectives, rather than Draco bending over backward to align to Harry's moral rigidity.

Just as Harry won't be cheerily joining the Death Eaters and declaring Muggles scum that need to be wiped off the planet (or maybe he will be in your fic, IDC), I also don't see Draco embracing the Muggle world with open arms, abandoning his family and donating all his money to charity. I don't care how much Voldemort bullied him. This is still Draco Malfoy we're talking about.

I know the more common dynamic is for Draco to be self-loathing and Harry to give him a motivational pep-talk about how he was a victim/he was acting under duress, etc. etc. But personally, I think Draco would deny responsibility till he was blue in the face. Not only is he a known compartmentaliser (hence why he was good at Occlumency), but he's also a spoilt brat who has never had to take responsibility for his actions in his life. It's easier for his psyche to insist that he played no active role in the war or anything that came before it. He's very well practised at playing the victim, after all. This of course would lead to a legendary spat and Harry wondering why he ever felt sorry for Draco in the first place.

Draco is not someone who handles rejection or embarrassment well (e.g. "you don't like me? well your mum is dead"), so I hardly think he would cope with shame or guilt in a productive manner. It's precisely this guilt that would lead him to lash out with aggression, hostility and blame, rather than cope with those emotions in a healthy manner. He's not a pleasant person at the best of times, let alone when you mix in war trauma. Only through getting to know each other (perhaps through some sort of forced proximity) would Harry be able to begin to unpack the clusterfuck that is his brain.

In post-war Drarry I would love to see more of an emphasis on the recovery of the Malfoys as a family unit. Even if Draco eventually decides to distance himself from his family, I think that would be a complex, extremely difficult decision for him to make. Quite frankly I don't see Draco ever cutting them off, leaving behind the magical world, etc. I can see his focus post-war being on improving the reputation of the Malfoys, returning the Manor to its former glory and strengthening their relationships with the other surviving pureblood families. I don't think the Malfoys would be the only family doing this. Many purebloods would double-down on their ideology and cry about persecution under post-war scrutiny while, for the most part, still benefiting from being a formidable, wealthy, politically powerful force within Wizarding Britain, regardless of whether they have Voldemort. I don't exactly buy Lucius spending much time in Azkaban, but if necessary for the plot/Draco's character growth, I fully support.

Draco is the Malfoy heir and the last of the Blacks. There's a thousand years of history resting on his shoulders and that's not something that Harry can easily empathise with. I don't believe characters can overcome all their flaws, nor that couples need to agree on everything. Harry and Draco will always have differences that they will never, ever see eye-to-eye on, and that's perfectly fine. Smooth, flawless characters that can come to an agreement on any topic through healthy, open communication regurgitated from some shrink's relationship script-book are not at all interesting to me. Sorry lol.

Do I think Harry would tolerate bigotry or have a healthy, warm relationship with Lucius? No, though the latter would be pretty funny. But do I think Draco will ever be able to match to Harry's idea of moral goodness? Also no. I like to see them find a middle-ground. Draco lives in a world of ambiguity and contradiction. I'm sure he's very used to the people he loves most doing horrible things that he will never properly be able to comprehend. As a child, he justified their bigotry and cruelty with a certain level of moralism, but I doubt he'd be able to keep that up post-war. I imagine he would just ignore their unpalatable traits, avoid conversations where he has to address that, etc. I don't think Harry would respect that approach, but I also think he has enough empathy and maturity (post DH) to understand the difficult position Draco is in.

I have some difficulty with eighth year fics where pursuing a career is something Draco sees as a natural next step. I don't have an issue with Draco falling on hard times financially for the sake of the narrative (I too have written, as one commenter called it, Temporarily Embarrassed Billionaire!Draco), but I think he would struggle with the shame and embarrassment of having to 'lower' himself to take a job. Again, something that Harry, with his (at best) middle-class upbringing, wouldn't be able to even comprehend. You thought first world problems were obnoxious? Try 0.001 percenter problems. I do love fics where Draco pursues a career though, be it Auror, Healer, Curse-breaker, etc. It's one of my favourite features of post-war Drarry fics. The world is their oyster. I just don't agree with Draco having a middle-class liberal mindset. Bro is an aristocrat.

[dracomort]

The point of the portrayal of Cho's grief is not to mock or criticise her, but rather demonstrate Cho and Harry's incompatibility and immaturity. Cho needs to talk about Cedric and express her emotions openly as part of her grieving process, Harry bottles it up, goes mute, explodes in anger or cries alone on the edge of the Great Lake. That Harry, our POV character, cannot understand her grief does not mean that we as readers can't understand it.

Not only are Cho and Harry's methods of grieving so incompatible from a personality perspective, but they also are grieving very different things. Cho likely knew Cedric a lot better than Harry did, having dated him. Harry watched him die and could do nothing to stop it, Cho saw her boyfriend go into the maze alive and return dead. For Harry, his grief is coloured by a sense of helplessness, fear and guilt; for Cho, her grief is incomplete. It's difficult for her to comprehend Cedric's death, having not witnessed nor expected it. She wants to hear about his last moments to help her come to terms with the reality of his passing. In contrast, to relieve his last moments for Harry is extraordinarily traumatising, and something that he, with his tendency to avoid his negative emotions—other than anger—is unwilling to reckon with.

The 'human hosepipe' scene is the strongest example of their incompatibility. The humour is not from Cho's tears but rather Harry's idiocy. We're meant to laugh at him.

I mean, talk about incompetent. "No, Cho, he was busy fucking dying. Anyway, how bout them Tornados?"

Harry's denial and anger is not superior to Cho's tears, nor is he wrong to have exploded in the manner he did. A fourteen year old child who witnesses the death of a friend and then is tortured alone in a graveyard, knowing that no help is coming, is going to be deeply traumatised. That combined with being isolated and cut-off from all communication with his friends and locked up with his abusive family, does not lead to a mentally stable person. We see him lash out at his friends or even Hedwig for their inaction, despite them being in as helpless a situation as him. And the thing is, his friends understand where he's coming from. They don't take it personally because they know that Harry isn't truly angry at them. He's angry at the world, he's angry at Voldemort, at Fudge, at himself for not being able to do more. Does he handle his emotions well? No, but he handles them as well as I would expect any fifteen year old to, under those circumstances.

It's abundantly clear from OotP that neither Cho nor Harry are ready to be dating. Especially not dating each other. Neither of them know how to handle their grief and they actually don't have much at all in common. It's a very teenage experience to be mad crushing on someone (Harry had a thing for Cho from third year) and then to go on one single date and realise that thinking a girl/guy is pretty is not actually enough to sustain a relationship. It's a fucking disaster but I'm sure it rings true for many peoples' experiences as a teenager.

Grief is the heart of Order of the Phoenix. There's a reason that it is the book that introduces Thestrals. Whether it be Cho's need to dwell on the dead; Harry's explosive, destructive anger; or Neville's quiet, shameful, perpetual mourning. Are any of them perfect? No. But that's the point.

Is it misogynistic to portray complex, flawed female characters or teenage boys who struggle with empathy while balancing their own difficult grief? Not in my opinion. Harry and Cho are, in their own clumsy ways, just trying to make sense of the horrible circumstances they have been placed in.

This is a good video that delves into Harry's grief and anger for those of us who found capslock Harry annoying or frustrating.

One of the biggest non irl related sins of Harry Potter was spending the Longest Book in the entire series showing how fucking angry and unbalanced Harry Potter, our titular character, is because of witnessing a boy die the year before.

And then having him date the girl who used to date the boy who died...and then spending the whole book mocking her for HER emotions.

Like what the fuck was that.

Oh I'm allowed to shriek at my friends for an entire book, to the point where there are literally pages and pages of caps lock, but the girl whose boyfriend DIED THREE MONTHS AGO...

Hahahaha she's a human hosepipe. Hahahah she's sad all the time. That's a good one. Wonder why she's so sad?

Girls cry, and it's funny, amirite?

Now let me go back to screeching at my friends.

Like it's even worse because he knew Cedric.

It would be terrible if he was dismissive about the death of a boy he didn't know, but he was friends with cedric at least a little.

Why the fuck would a boy who's supposed to be nice be such a fucking asshole to his girlfriend, who is grieving someone...that he literally watched die?

What a fucking joke.

Jk Rowling's rampant misogyny is ironic in the face of her current terfism.

She's so pro women that she views girls who cry as pathetic weaklings who should just get over it, but boys who scream are actually so strong and cool.

Fuck off.

[pyrocatproductions]

My Tenth and final attack for Artfight 2024! For Papermonkey of their character, Puro (Brooke). This was originally going to be a colored sketch, but I just really liked the idea too much to leave it at that and the character is super rad! I enjoyed painting this a lot!  

https://artfight.net/attack/8628024.take-aim

Pose referenced from @adorkastock

Posted using PostyBirb

[di-daynamic]

@hprecfest Day 13

Prompt: A Rare Pair

The Travelling Cabinet by papermonkey [Draco Malfoy/Tom Riddle] Tom Riddle is locking up at Borgin and Burkes for the night when a boy comes tumbling through the filing cabinet. He claims to have come from 1997.

An Excessive Amount of Politeness by Tye aka: What if Harry, Cho, and Cedric all went to the Yule Ball together?

The Second String by Eider_Down [Harry Potter/Gideon Prewett] Everyone knows Dementors can take souls, but nothing says that they have to keep them. After the Dementor attack in Little Whinging ends disastrously, Harry must find a place for himself in a new world, fighting a different sort of war against the nascent Voldemort.

Bookbinding by @saintsenara [Tom Riddle/Myrtle Warren] Which will win: sixteen years of planning for brutal world domination, or one (1) teenage girl?

[have-you-read-this-webcomic]

Propaganda:

"I remember reading this when I was younger and being fascinated with the character designs and world-building especially compared to other canine related webcomics available on DA at the time."

[yumeurl]

Not sure if you've been asked this already, but do you have any Taco fic recs? 💚

any of papermonkey's taco fics GMFDMGMFD oh but i also recommend Scribescrawls' Taco Time Travel Vignettes, they have such a cute domestic tomdraco😭😭

for more fic recs (tomdraco + others too) i made a spreadsheet for it if you want to check it out. some of the links require you to have an ao3 account, so keep that in mind. i'll add more when i can o7

[shinondraws]

I had a dream that I was at a con as a vendor but I was also a guest because I had apparently done art for some DnD thing. I was allowed to bring my cats with me so they just freely roamed in the breakroom area.

Before I would set up my table and the vendor's hall would open I was to participate in a DnD one-shot that would be broadcasted on the venue screens and streamed. I didn't know basically anyone from the group but the main selling point was that Marisha Ray was the DM. I think Papermonkey was also playing so I wasn't completely alone.

They wanted to do a short into of the players before the game and I decided to go to the bathroom before the stream started. The closest bathroom was in the breakroom area so I would also be able to check up on my cats.

People had apparently left the door open so my first thought was great, now my cats are gone. Saku and Speedy however were just chilling in the breakroom. Väinö was nowhere to be seen. I hastily wrote a note on the door urging people to close it, grabbed a bike and started looking for Väinö at the venue.

I quickly found him but I had no time to return him before the stream so I hastily made it to the streaming location. I remember giving onlookers a royal wave as I passed them. Fortunately they were still introducing the cast so I made it just in time for my introduction. I panicked and asked a guy in front of me if I had to intro myself or if it was scripted. It was scripted so with Väinö on one arm I stepped forth, waving, took my seat at the table and Väinö sat on my lap. They introduced me as the artist for the game. I just remember thinking how grateful I was that I didn't have to intro myself because that would have been awkward as shit.

And a random tidbit, at the con I got a flyer about a Pokemon convention. I had also donated some of my art for the con and they put it in treasure boxes. Anyone at the con could participate in the hunt and you could buy clues or sth. Anyway the prizes were gold, silver, and bronze boxes full of merch, games, art and books. The gold box had easily hundreds of euros worth of stuff. Finders keepers.

[papermonkeyism]

It's wednesday.

The tattoo is officially two weeks old (well, will be in a few hours), and thus has made it through the recommended healing process. Hurray!

Huge thank yous to Valerija Kas, a.k.a. zu_immortal on instagram for the tattoo and for studiokyy for hosting! Also big bonus thanks for my friend Shiru for wrangling me to the studio.

I'll have a friend to take better photos once weekend comes around (photographing your own forearm is surprisingly difficult), but I had to do a little celebratory post in the honor of the milestone.

[dracomort]

Hello! I’m the MBTI anon :)

Thanks so much for your answer! You have amazing insight into Tom/Voldemort. That, in addition to your fantastic post analyzing Tom’s mannerisms as a child—which, to me, point to him developing Te before Ni—has me swaying towards ENTJ. (That said, I’m with you: As an INTP, I can’t write an ENTJ to save my life—they’re always doing things! I can’t keep up—so whenever I dabble in writing, I always write an INTJ).

I fully and completely agree: Draco is an ESFJ! A high-Te or high-Ti Draco, even if well-written, is just…missing something beautiful and essential, and leaves me wanting. Let him be his ESFJ self in all its glory! Totally a matter of personal taste, obviously, but I’ve never understood why Thinker!Draco is so common and beloved by fandom.

Thoughts on their Enneagrams (I’m tentatively going for 3w4 for Tom and 3w2 for Draco), or literally any other MBTI or Enneagram thoughts? (I too could talk about both all day!)

Yeah, I will never understand Ti/Te Draco. I think it stems from the common assumption that Thinkers are dickheads and Fe types are compassionate and empathetic 100% of the time. ESFJs at their worst are classic mean girls. And Draco has always given me a mean girl vibe.

I also think that Draco is a Three, though I believe he's a 3w4, rather than a 3w2. His drama, theatrics and self-absorption are much more of a w4 trait than a w2. It's rare to see Draco depicted as a Three in fic though. Sixes are most common, followed by 2w3.

Tom, from what I've seen, has two main characterisations in fic: 3w4 and 8w7/8w9. I do think it is somewhat open to interpretation in canon too, depending on how you perceive his motivations. There's a lot that can be said about both, but I'll try to keep this succinct.

Type 3

Basic Fear: Of being worthless Basic Desire: To feel valuable and worthwhile

Threes are, at their core, a mirror of whatever traits their society defines as 'successful'. Many Threes are charming, ambitious, and very hard workers (workaholics, even). On the more negative end of things, you might find them to be narcissistic or delusional, not to mention bitterly jealous of the success of others. But at the heart of every Three is the fear that without success and achievement, they are worthless. That who they are is defined by what makes them successful. Threes are burdened by a deep feeling of shame, though they may be oblivious to that emotion.

Three is perhaps the most cynical, self-aware and pragmatic version of Tom. Someone who is devoid of morality and understands how wizarding society works and how to manipulate it to his benefit. This Tom doesn't truly believe in anything except putting himself on the top of the world. Deep down he is ashamed of his blood status and poverty and, more than anything, desires to not be defined by it. His self worth is very much attached to his status and power. Status above all else.

Coming up with a name like "Lord Voldemort" as a teenager is peak 3w4. His obsession with his family history and the Heir of Slytherin thing is also very Three.

Type 8

Basic Fear: Of being harmed or controlled by others Basic Desire: To protect themselves (to be in control of their own life and destiny)

The Eight is a very different type to the Three, though they may have superficial similarities. Eights can be charismatic, bold, decisive and intense. On the negative side, they can become domineering, arrogant, controlling and ruthless.

Anger is as much a core emotion for the Eight as shame is for the Three. Anger drives, motivates and energises the Eight. Often the Eight's negative emotions (fear, embarrassment, disappointment, etc.) will be expressed as anger, rather than what they truly are. Eights have an inherent desire for independence, a distrust and fear of those who have power over them, and a belief that being vulnerable in front of others and letting them close is putting oneself in danger. They fear being hurt, controlled or constrained and will seek power to prevent this.

Tom as an Eight is a true megalomaniac who believes in his fundamental superiority over others. Built on a belief that other people are, at their core, untrustworthy and unreliable, this Tom sees the world as a hostile power hierarchy that he must rise to the top of. Several valid reasons an Eight Tom Riddle might want Muggles dead are (1) vengeance against his father/other muggles from his childhood, (2) seeing them as a genuine threat, (3) that Muggles have underserved power/world dominance that Tom believes himself entitled to because of his power and ability to take it from them. And despite all of his power, there is one thing he can't control - his mortality. Through the lens of the Eight's need for control, you can see why he has such a deep-seated preoccupation with death.

I'm not quite sure what an Eight Voldemort would actually think of his own blood status tbh. I don't think he'd spare it much thought past his obvious resentment of his father.

I think this conversation with my housemate from last year is a good summary:

I have read and enjoyed both interpretations in fic. But personally, I view Tom as an Eight.

[rauniokirjastonklaani]

Here I was, minding my own business, when a friend of mine sent me a pretty baby

How dare she.

[paltaxiox]

The favourite babysitter for cherubic babies, aka, Lord Voldemort.

.

Inspired by a scene from Edible Horcruxes by papermonkey

I mean, since I read this I KNEW I had to draw at least something about voldemort as a part time babysitter. It was so funny—and then sad, fffck.

@the-paper-monkey I really hope you like it!

[deadlyrose9086]

Description:

Tom Riddle is locking up at Borgin and Burkes for the night when a boy comes tumbling through the filing cabinet. He claims to have come from 1997.

[duplicitywrites]

would love to hear about your non-tomarry faves!

THANK YOU FOR ASKING 💖 here is a collection of some i've read recently/throughout 2022, and then one at the end that i think everyone should read because it's so much fun

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i'll show you every version of yourself by latteloves | Cedric Diggory/Tom Riddle | Voldemort | WIP

i don't think dia made a post for this yet, so i'll take a moment to share some love 😌 a great take on the similarities between cedric tom during his time at hogwarts 💕

Harry Potter is dead, Dumbledore is dead, and Voldemort decides he deserves a holiday. Instead he gets captivated by the beautiful and tortured Head Boy, Cedric Diggory. - Or, Harry dies in the graveyard instead of Cedric.

-

Turmoil by Metalomagnetic | Sirius Black/Severus Snape | WIP

a great look at the marauders era; the relationships between characters are vivid and thoughtful, and i enjoy how it slots in with canon

Two lost boys taking all the wrong turns.

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Blood by papermonkey | Delphi & Draco Malfoy, Delphi & Voldemort, Draco Malfoy & Voldemort | Complete

a really lovely take on draco's character and the impact of grief on his life in a vee-wins AU. can be read as pre-slash/relationship for draco/vee!

Outside, the world burns. But Draco isn’t watching.

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The Best by say_no_more | Harry Potter / Cedric Diggory | Complete

i think people who enjoy tomarrymort long fics with a 'softer' tom would like this fic. i enjoyed a lot of the concepts around 'dark' cedric!

Cedric demands only the best of himself, and for himself. The best marks in school, the best position on the quidditch team, and the best reputation. When it's time for him to begin dating, he won't settle for less than the best partner, as well.

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Proximity by Phantomato | Aberforth Dumbledore/Tom Riddle | Voldemort | Complete

a sweet look at an unconventional pairing! rarely do we receive a glimpse into his youth that is treated with tenderness. tom deserves some soft love too 💕

Tom gets a weekend job washing dishes at the Hog’s Head, falls in lust with its proprietor, and learns the value of patience.

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Gaunt by Name, Gaunt by Nature by Blood_Stained_Fingers | mostly Tom-centric, also (one-sided) Merope Gaunt/Tom Riddle | Complete

a compelling story about who tom might have been if merope had lived to raise him. the world needs more AUs where tom's character is explored in new ways that aren't tethered to romance plots

It ends the way it was originally supposed to. Merope Gaunt dies due to her son. But this time he is seventeen years old, closer to eighteen than a mere twenty minutes old and still covered in afterbirth. -- If Merope lived would she be in love with her son?

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Seventh Horcrux by EmeraldAshes | canon ships but weirder | Complete

i have rec'd this fic before but i swear it is so good and so FUNNY. my sense of humour vibes with this story. i need to reread it soon

The presence of a foreign soul may have unexpected side effects on a growing child. I am Lord Volde…Harry Potter. I'm Harry Potter. In which Harry is insane, Hermione is a Dark Lady-in-training, Ginny is a minion, and Ron is confused.

[verse-the-comic]

What inspired you to create this universe and how it works? It's an interesting one.

Thank you!

It's sort of a complicated history of how this universe came to be in its current state? At least if we factor in Verse. I tried to keep it concise. You can see by the readmore that I didn't do a good job.

The main thing that kicked off the idea of contained worlds is this art and its description from Papermonkey - that is, the concept of a "pocket universe" with something living in it and having total ownership. I super liked that idea and made a character and a loose concept similar to it. Impaxter was the first design, and he was still the owner of a world that had been broken and destroyed and he had no idea what happened. It was still the mission of the main character (a human at the time) to find out everything.

Obviously, things radically changed over time. The world became worlds, and the characters were made and taken out or redeveloped. Seeker's story was the start of this universe, but it was still pretty vague.

However! Verse is the older story by far, and it had a way different concept that I'll touch on another time because I'm trying to be concise still and I'm failing.

Verse initially had a huge problem, in that I couldn't decide on its setting's location and its logistics. I tried several times to make it work and I just couldn't, and it was frustrating the hell out of me. I was pretty sure I'd have to scrap the entire story and start from square one. I really didn't want to do that, because I adored the characters (and still do!), but that looked to be my only option.

Then the practical side of my brain tapped me on the shoulder and said, "You know, you barely have to change anything to make it fit in Seeker's universe".

And it's true! All I had to do was answer a different question than the ones presented in Seeker. You'll be seeing that question in the comic itself, so I won't say here, but this single question is what saved Verse from being tossed out.

The thing is that Verse has a much more complicated situation going on than Seeker did, and so I ended up having to answer more questions, many more than I did with Seeker. Over time, these queries helped develop aspects of the universe until I ended up with a pretty solid setting that works well with my method and pattern of worldbuilding. I still work on it to this day, but there isn't much left for me to do, except show it all to you guys!

TL;DR: Seeker was the start of the universe, and Verse was the architect of it.