#also interesting to think about is where sirius falls in the middle of this dynamic

[padfootastic]

J/egulus’s dynamic is very funny for me if they both just hate each other, and for the exact same reason: they both despise that Sirius loves this other person so much. Sirius loves his little brother, and James hates that Regulus can hurt Sirius so easily, and that Regulus has the audacity to think that Sirius doesn’t adore him; James knows what path Regulus is headed on but so does Sirius, and it hurts James to watch Sirius get his heart broken as time goes on and Regulus gets in deeper and deeper with the Death Eaters. Regulus hates James for taking his brother away and making Sirius quit loving him, Sirius would’ve gone to Slytherin if not for him and Sirius would still be at home. It’s very interesting to me if James and Regulus utterly despise each other, and the root of this is Sirius and their contradicting views of who Sirius is

no but i think about this way too often for someone who doesn’t rly give a shit about reg and is mostly indifferent or annoyed by him. i’m so much more interested by james and regulus’ dynamic the way you described—there’s a lot of potential for angst, as well as a toxic relationship sort of a deal, ykno?

i do wonder how they navigate it. tbh. because i’m me, i think james’ reasons are much more valid (logically/morally speaking) but ofc, from an emotional standpoint, u can’t negate reg either. and that’s tough, right, because both of them firmly believe they’re in the right. james has the added complication of having to navigate complicated blood-familial ties whereas reg has to come to terms with the fact that chosen family is just as (if not more) important for sirius and he has to both acknowledge and accept them before doing anything else.

sirius is just so—central to both of their lives and identities? and the way they perceive him is so different that they might never reconcile it, ykno? and idk, i feel like in a canon universe, they might just go their whole lives being quietly disdainful but tolerant of each others presence, only so they do not hurt sirius. and i’m sure that peace is hard won—there would’ve been times when they came to blows (or wands?) and both of them had to be on the other of an angry/disappointed sirius and they realised, quick, that they’d rather shut up and deal with it than go through that again.

of course, the only time they manage to put their dislike away is when someone/thing is threatening sirius and they realise he’s more important than their feelings. but that’s a given.

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa has 8 stories at Gossamer, but there are even more X-Files fics at AO3 and her website. She writes Mulder and Scully in a very lovely way. I've recced 3 of my favorites of her fics here before: Bird in Snow, Fall: East on M St, and Skuamorph. Big thanks to Tabula Rasa for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I'm always extremely pleasantly surprised to get kudos (or, very rarely, a comment) on my old fic, but I'm always happy to see it! I did post them all (I think) to AO3. I'm not surprised people are still reading fic, though. It's an iconic show and now with streaming, it's really easy to watch older shows and natural to want fic about them!

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

XF was my first fandom, definitely my first online fandom, and so it will always have a special place in my heart. Also... I had a great time! I stumbled upon and joined the Scullyfic email list by accident, but it was the best thing I could have done. I learned a lot about how to be a writer and how to be in fandom, and those lessons are still important to me. Foundational. Also, in terms of modern fandom drama, XF was more low-key on the drama (although it didn't seem like it at the time!). But I learned something that's always served me well: find like-minded people, and hang out with them. Don't worry about the rest.

Also... you can't control the show, but you kind of can control the canon.

Because of Scully, I ended up taking a forensic anthropology class in university-- and now I have a Master's in a forensic science! Part of the Scully Effect, and proud of it!

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Definitely mostly email list! I never really got the hang of message boards. Posting fic was exhausting, and tbh I never figured out how to work Ephemeral. I checked it every day, though! I loved, after a new episode, everyone sending in their thoughts and reading everyone's experiences together. Fandom was a lot more work back then, tbh!

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

That fic can be just as good, or better, than traditionally published works. There are works of XF fic that have stuck with me for years now, far more than some books I've read. That fan writers can know the characters better than the show writers. The fandom in general was really smart, and mostly more adult than me (I joined fandom when I went away to college, so I always felt at the younger end of the scale. That was good though!).

Also, my first time reading and writing porn. Not gonna lie, I was shocked the first time I accidentally read smut. But I adjusted fast. lol

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I was still a kid (now we would say preteen) when the show premiered- I think in middle school. But I was already into ghosts, aliens, monsters, solving mysteries, and I'd already imprinted on the dynamic thanks to Square One (really)! I was also just old enough to start developing celebrity crushes. Hilariously, I did not twig to the fact that I'm bisexual the entire time I was in XF fandom, despite having enormous crushes on BOTH Mulder and Scully. Ahhhh!

Also, my whole family was into the show, but I was definitely the one with the hyperfixation. I used to take notes and record the episodes as I watched. It just had the right stuff and hit at the right time. And I've always been obsessive.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

As a kid I also really liked Star Trek, and someone had given my dad a book about the history of Star Trek, which I read. This included mentions of fandom and fanfic. As soon as I had a private-- and perhaps more importantly fast-- internet connection (in college), I went looking for XF fanfic, and that was that. Hooked immediately. Also I shipped them A LOT so that's what I went looking for.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I tend to not go back to a fandom once I have a new fandom, so I wouldn't say I'm in it. I did hang around the edges for the revival, of course, because I wanted to experience that with the same people, but since the revival was mostly not that great (with a few exceptions), I didn't get pulled back into it. But I still think of the people I knew in the fandom a lot, and always hope they're doing well.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I've never left fandom, and I've been in a BUNCH: Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Bandom, Supernatural, now CQL/The Untamed and other Chinese-media fandoms, with many smaller ones in between or on the side. I feel like at their core fandoms tend to be similar, although where you host the fandom makes a big difference: Livejournal, tumblr, twitter. I think that because fandoms now tend to be bigger and more diverse (which is good) there tends to be more wank (which is bad). In some of them I was close to a group of people, some of them not. Honestly the best thing is when someone you know from an old fandom is in your new fandom. It's so much fun. I have really good friends thanks to fandom, and I've had them for YEARS. Like. 15 years.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I tend to focus more on ships than characters, but some of my all-time favs: Scully, Hermione, Sirius Black, Castiel, Lan Wangji, Xie Lian. That's just fandom-oriented ones, otherwise we'd be here all day. :D

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I don't often rewatch episodes any more, although if I come across an ep on tv I might. I definitely still think about them though! For example, I'm a teacher now, and just a couple weeks ago one of my colleagues mentioned he'd heard the students saying they shipped two of their classmates, and he was like "Ship? I don't get it" and I was like "HOO BOY, do I have a story for you!" And I explained how shipping came from XF fandom, and why. That was fun. I definitely still think about Mulder and Scully too-- I mean, they're cultural touchstones, so they do come up sometimes in greater pop culture. Also, I was in Hannibal fandom for a while, and Gillian Anderson is still The Best.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I haven't read XF fic in years, even the ones I remember as being really significant/important to me. I still have my all-time favs saved on an external HD though! Fic in another fandom- every day lol.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Blinded by White Light by DashaK has stuck with me. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Ruby-Throated Warbler by I forget I'm so sorry -- that's lasted as my ideal post-canon MSR and as an interesting and different way to tell a story.  [Lilydale note: It’s by rah.] I was always thrilled to see fic by Brandon, JET, MaybeAmanda, Syntax6... and, frankly, everyone on the Scullyfic/ Emuse list. So many talented people in that fandom!

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Things Outside, which is the only thing I've ever written based on a dream, and I'm really satisfied with it. It was hard to write but so much fun to revel in the weirdness. I always kind of wanted to write more because I know a lot more about the situation, but otoh, I like the open, ambiguous ending (usually I am very HEA).

In other fandoms, King & Country in bandom (MCR) and in Supernatural I'm very proud of Hope and Clay. I struggle to write casefics even though I love to read them, but that one really worked out.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I don't think I'll ever write something new. There is an old fic that may be done but it was smut so I was too shy to post it at the time. In theory if I find it and it's decent, I could post it!

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I do! I write fic very slowly, but I do write still! I have a million ideas for stories, but I'm so slow at the actual writing part.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

I usually take a jumping-off point from canon, or of course, something I need to fix or expand on. Or sometimes I start telling myself a story as I fall asleep and the idea grabs me long enough I can manage to write it.

What's the story behind your pen name?

I was getting into fandom and realized people didn't use their real names. I flipped through my history book looking for inspiration, and decided tabula rasa was a great name for a writer. I tend to add an X because it's rare to get "tabularasa" as a username, and the X is indeed for X-Files (so I'm something like tabulaxrasa most places). I usually go by Tabula Rasa or Tab, though. And I still use it because 1) it IS a great name for a writer; and 2) it's not fandom-specific so I can keep it in every fandom.

I identify with it so much I have answered to this name in class (oops). I have a "Tab" t-shirt (as in the soda, but I have worn it to Comic-Con for ease of ID-- better than a nametag!). And my mom got me a necklace with a "tab" typewriter key as a charm, which I adore. Yes, I have accidental merch of myself.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

As you can tell from the above, my family knows (my family being my parents and sister). They are supportive! I think my mom read a couple stories? But obviously she has to know the fandom to get it... I got my sister into fic, and we even wrote a couple fics together (in Gundam Wing). She's a lot more selective about fandoms, but she's joined fandoms on her own, too. She's just not in one constantly, like me. :p

I tend not to tell not-online friends unless I have felt them out and know they're super fannish, or they bring it up first.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Most of my old fic is now on AO3 and I hang out on twitter a lot, @tabula_x_rasa

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

I'm really glad people are still in this fandom! It will always be so important to me. Thank you Lilydale, for this nostalgia trip!

(Posted by Lilydale on March 30, 2021)

[aidanchaser]

Character Profile: Lily Potter

Canon: We know that Lily loved her sister in childhood but hated her gifts in adulthood; we know that she had a friendship with Snape that fizzled out over time and ended in a dramatic bang; we know that she hated James until she didn't; we know that she loved Harry.

AU: When I sat down with this AU in mind, I knew for certain that James and Lily were going to be flawed. I wanted them to be as real and interesting as anyone else on the paper. I also knew that I couldn't lean into traditional gender roles. I didn't grow up in that sort of a household. My mother was the breadwinner for most of my life. She worked at a school and hours were long. My father spent time at home, took us on trips, read to us and told us stories. I had them both home during school holidays, and our family was close.

So when I wrote James and Lily I wanted to capture a family that loved each other, but was dynamic and shifting, and had room to grow.

Unfortunately, I didn't know what that growth would be for Lily. I don't think it was until Goblet of Fire, when she approached Voldemort, screaming, "You took my son!" even though Harry was safe, that I really knew who she was. That moment was such a dramatic turning point for my understanding of her that I went back and revised parts of Philosopher's Stone and Gryffindor Blood to reflect that temper, to dig into the bits of the girl who once called James a toerag with a head so fat she didn't how he could ride a broom, to reflect more of this girl who was so fiery and passionate but also so kind and giving, to be spoken of so fondly by Remus.

So I gave Lily my anger. She worries like my mother, she is loyal like my father, and she burns the way that I do.

I did know, from the beginning, that Lily would have to foil James. Where he relaxed, she worried. Where he joked, she rolled her eyes. But I never wanted this to make her seem cold or to in any way diminish the love between them. So I also made her like Sirius. I thought of how easy I have found falling in love with friends, and how like James it would be to fall in love with the same person twice. All the passion, the quick wit, the ferocity we get to see in Sirius I also gave to Lily.

She is my mother, she is my father, she is James' opposite, she is Sirius' match. She is the teacher I aspire to be and the teacher I see in my mother. I also gave her my mother's miscarriage, though I gave James my memory of my mother's miscarriage. There are two stories from my life that I think of when I write Lily and James. I will share one here for her, and the other I will save for James.

When I was around nine years old, my father was away for work, and my mother was taking care of me and my two younger sisters. My youngest sister, who was maybe 4 or 5, was playing on the floor and she accidentally ripped her hand open on an exposed tack. There was a lot of blood, and I didn't know what to do. I remember staring as my mother took charge of the situation -- and scolded me for not taking charge or calling her for help -- and she hurried my sister the sink to clean her wound, and told me to get bandages. She quickly organized and delegated without fear or hesitation.

And then my father walked in, home from his trip. He saw my mother at the sink, me looking for bandages in a cupboard I could not quite reach, and my other sister holding towels for Mom. It was probably not the welcome he expected, and what my mother did next still surprises me.

She broke down in tears. She passed my injured sister off to my father and had him organize and delegate. She broke down and let my father be the one to decide that no, my sister didn't need stitches, he could take care of it himself.

She was so strong and so independent -- until she no longer needed to be.

I think of that memory when I write Lily (and it also has similarities to James' breakdown after Remus' arrest in Goblet of Fire, because I try very hard to balance each moment of strength and weakness between James and Lily). I don't think of Lily nor my mother as weak, not for a moment. Love teaches us how to rely on others, teaches us who we are allowed to fall apart with. I do not think that makes love weak, and I do not think it makes them weak. We all need someone, and Lily needs James as much as James needs her -- and as much as they need Remus and Sirius. But there will be more time for conversations about pack in another post.

Character Notes: wants electricity, good at potions, fierce and impulsive about protecting Harry, excellent shield charms, middle name Juniper

[gameofdrarry]

Wizards Hearts Recs: Modern AU/Non-Magical

Wizards Hearts was a four-month-long Drarry reading fest. Players were given a playing deck of 52 tropes, and were asked to find 52 different fics to read and comment on to fill their decks. To prevent the same few fics from being read, fics were restricted to only being used for the game three times before being considered ineligible for further points. The tropes and submissions list can be found here.

Check out the masterlist of fics for this trope below the cut!

📜 Black Coffee on a Lonely Night by Femme (femmequixotic) Rated:  Mature Words:  21658 Tags: Cricket, British Politics Summary:  Draco owns a café in the city. Harry's a MP who comes in every morning, newspapers in one hand, BlackBerry in the other, and orders a triple espresso macchiato. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Scribbled Confessions by MotherBooker Rated:  General Words:  9185 Tags: past Harry Potter/Fred Weasley, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Diary/Journal, POV Third Person, POV First Person, Pining Harry Potter, Fluff, Teacher Harry, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Implied/Referenced Homophobia Summary:  Draco finds a diary and discovers that the latest entries are all about him. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 And They Were Roommates by sithsanidala Rated:  Mature Words:  21547 Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Roommates, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Eventual Romance, Bisexual Harry Potter, Physical Abuse, Light Angst, Coma Summary:  Harry Potter has college life all figured out: athletic scholarship, good-looking girlfriend, and his bestfriends by his side. His only problem? His roommate is the most stuck up person he's ever met. And Harry thinks he's falling for him ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Seeking: pet carer for Bartholomew (four-year old rescue greyhound, no special needs) by GallifreyisBurning Rated:  Explicit Words:  14694 Tags: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Dog Carer Harry Potter, Lawyer Draco Malfoy, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, No Angst, Oblivious Draco Malfoy, Running, Pet Ownership - Freeform, Past Draco Malfoy/Blaise Zabini, Getting Together, Mentions of Canonical Character Death, Not Canon Compliant, (in basically any way), Minor Original Character(s), Explicit Sexual Content, Anal Sex, Shower Sex, harry works for draco, but I promise there's no power dynamic involved in their relationship, There's nothing unethical at all I swear, just read it you'll see, HP Fluff Fest 2020 Summary:  When Draco’s boyfriend ends their relationship rather abruptly (and, frankly, extremely rudely), he leaves Draco with full-time responsibility for their rescue greyhound, Bartholomew. Draco loves his dog with all his heart, but the long hours he works at his law firm mean that he can’t possibly be home as much as Bartholomew needs. Enter Sirius Pet Care, an app designed to solve this very problem! When Draco books Harry, he’s relieved at how quickly the man and his dog bond. He’s less relieved by how unexpectedly, distractingly attractive Harry turns out to be… and how Draco’s afternoon meetings keep being “mysteriously” cancelled, meaning that he JUST HAPPENS to be home when Harry comes by. After all, it’s not appropriate to ogle one’s employees… right? ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Worlds Apart by QueenyMidas Rated:  Explicit Words:  30561 Tags: muggle, Muggle AU, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Gaming, World of Warcraft - Freeform, Falling In Love Summary:  In a muggle AU, Draco and Harry are left looking for magic in much more virtual places. For the both of them, the PC game World of Warcraft provides an outlet from their lives at school (where they’re both still nasty rivals). When their characters meet in game and a romance blossoms, it’s only a matter of time before they figure out who’s on the other side of the computer screen. You really don’t need to know anything about WoW to read this. Explicit in later chapters. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 We Built This Right by Remy_Writes5 Rated:  Explicit Words:  15344 Tags: Inspired by Yuri!!! on Ice, Alternate Universe - Skating, Ice Skating, French Draco Malfoy, Desi Harry Potter, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, First Time, Fluff, Light Angst, Smut, Getting Together, Enemies to Lovers, Homophobic Language, Draco Malfoy & Pansy Parkinson Friendship, LCDrarry, Anxiety, strained relationship with parents, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Minor James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Minor Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical Summary:  At last year's Grand Prix Final, Harry had an accident that left him with a lightning scar on his forehead, a concussion and a twisted ankle. Now everyone is waiting to see if his career is over - including former rival, Draco Malfoy. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 You Give Me Feelings That I Adore by rosejoongs Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  2235 Tags: Humor, Alternate Universe- No Magic, modern!AU, Embarrased!Draco, Flustered!Draco, Teasing Slytherin Girls, smitten!Draco, Teasing, Kissing, Flirting, Terrible Innuendos, Aaaand I've Nothing Interesting To Tag, ooh wait, confident!harry, Flirtatious!Harry, Kinda Fluffy, shy!Draco Summary:  There’s a gorgeous brunette standing at the table opposite theirs, grinning and taking the orders of the group of girls sitting there. He’s clad simply in a toga (the uniform here is strange) but damn is it raising Draco’s- And with that his brain comes to a screeching halt. Nope. No. He is not going to become another one of the predators sitting at his table. He is not going to lust after that guy and imagine taking him home and pinning him against the- “Having a nice reverie there, are you, Malfoy?” OR The one where Harry works as sexy-ass waiter in a strip bar and Astoria Greengrass can still bully Draco into going to such bars. Of course, it's not like Draco is exactly left wanting to complain about the ambience when he spots said Greek God in a toga... ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 The Songbirds of Avebury Manor by Tessa Crowley (tessacrowley) Rated:  Explicit Words:  18237 Tags: Omega Verse, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Victorian, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Omega Draco Malfoy, Alpha Harry Potter, Class Differences, Soulmates, Sexual Tension, Mating Cycles/In Heat, First Time, Knotting, Implied Mpreg, Victorian Attitudes, Well sort of Victorian attitudes, Like Victorian attitudes except A/B/O, It makes sense in context I swear Summary:  Harry Potter presents as alpha at fifteen, and it is supposed to change his life for the better. Instead, it leads him to a beautiful noble omega he cannot have, a political plot he cannot escape, and a threat on his life. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Catfish by QueenyMidas Rated:  Explciit Words:  49525 Tags: Underage, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Catfish - Freeform, MTV Catfish, Falling In Love, travelling, Investigations Summary:  After having gone to high school together and parted bitter rivals, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter find themselves reunited under professional circumstances. They’re hired to host MTV’s hit show ‘Catfish’, a program dedicated to finding out the truth about online romances when one partner is desperate to meet offline and the other has avoided every attempt at real-life interaction. Fake profiles, lies, and surprising love stories run amuck with Draco as the classic skeptic and Harry as the hopeful believer when they travel the country for the show and become invested in their cases and in each other. American muggle AU. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Dial Tone by firenxe Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  34699 Tags: Texting, text fic, Drarry, non-magic au, AU Summary:  Harry Potter decides to text the number on his arm. Draco Malfoy finds himself woken up by messages. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Boldly Go by ChristineP Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  1895 Tags: Alternate Universe, Non-magic, American!Harry, Humor Summary:  Harry was sure the scowl would have had more force to it if the blond wasn’t dressed in a catsuit reminiscent of Seven of Nine. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 The Consort: Hummingbird Cirus by Gold-Snitcher (Revenant) Rated:  Mature Words:  78568 Tags: Alternate Universe, no-magic, harem/slave fic, Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Betrayal, fist time, Loyalty, Love, Non-Graphic Violence, Romance Summary:  When a rebellion is crushed on the outer-edges of the empire Draco finds among the captives an intriguing youth who joins the men and women of the harem. Can this quiet boy who refuses to admit his name be worthy of the role of Consort? Or is he as scheming as the other occupants of the harem? ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Unexpected Turn by Oakstone730 Rated:  Explicit Words:  26812 Tags: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, United States, Road Trips, Mechanic Harry, real estate developer draco, tow truck sex, One Night Stands, American Harry, past Draco/Krum, South Dakota Summary:  English real estate developer Draco Malfoy is in America to find his long lost cousin and escape a scandal. When his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, his trip takes an unexpected turn. Non-Magical AU. (Fleeting mentions of Neville/Ginny and past-Draco/Krum) ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 A Surprising Christmas Present by 100SleeplessNights Rated:  General Words:  6632 Tags: Harry Potter's Cat, Fluff, Meet-Cute, First Meetings, harry has a cat, Christmas Eve, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmates, Romantic Soulmates, First Dates, kind of, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Christmas Fluff, Artist Draco Malfoy, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, New Year's Fluff, First Kiss, Artist Harry Potter, Artist Lily Evans Potter, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Meeting the Parents Summary:  Harry's cat disappears on Christmas Eve and he goes to find her. In the end he also finds something else he has searched for. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Incurable by Warholhp Rated:  Explicit Words:  119473 Tags: Angst, Alternate Universe, First Time, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Smut, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Explicit Language, Sexual Content Summary:  Non-Magic AU. Harry Potter was not sent to Hogwarts at age 11 as his parents intended. Instead, when an altercation with his uncle turns violent, he is sent to St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys. But four years later, he has the opportunity to attend Hogwarts, where he learns to live a life he never thought possible for himself. H/D and a bit of mentor-Snape. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Give Me a Quiet Mind by calrissian18 Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  16260 Tags: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical Summary:  Draco is Weasley’s assistant. Except for the week he’s not. Whose brilliant idea was that again? Featuring offices in Edinburgh, an epic Measley Bromance (that no one will admit exists), several unrequited crushes, fantastical revenge scenarios, coffee snobbery, the dreaded – yet adorable – toddler terror, promises of organ swapping, a play about Scottish history (no one cares), sequins, and the League of Snarky Secretaries! ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 There's No I In Team by JulietsEmoPhase Rated:  Explicit Words:  13389 Tags: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Office, Parent-Child Relationship, Babysitting, Getting to Know Each Other, Past Character Death, Smut, Fluff and Smut, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Dom/sub Undertones, Dom/sub Play, Romance, Falling In Love, First Kiss, First Time, Praise Kink, Coming Out, Top Harry, Bottom Draco Summary:  When Draco's babysitter cancels on him, he has no option but to bring his son to work, despite the fact he has an extremely important day ahead of him. Rescue comes from the most unlikely of places, and Draco ends up having a day he never could have planned, or hoped for. Muggle AU, smut. Birthday present! ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Synthetic Bonds by mypetelephant Rated:  Mature Words:  116270 Tags: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Arranged Marriage, Drapple Summary:  Harry has always been the golden boy of Malfoy Corporation, earning the respect of Lucius and the resentment of his high school rival, Draco. But Lucius has a business proposal that involves Harry becoming a Malfoy..by marrying Draco. Non-magic AU ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 When Trust and Truth Collide by silvergalaxy Rated:  Explicit Words:  47374 Tags: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Office Romance, Banter, Mistaken Identity, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Harry Potter, Fluff and Angst, Insomnia, Power Imbalance, Boss/Employee Relationship Summary:  Harry meets Draco for the first time in the employee break room on a boring Wednesday morning and they immediately hit it off. Chance encounters turn into dates, and dates turn into feelings. Oh, yeah. Draco's also Harry's boss. Harry has no idea. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 To the Memory of Love by jamesilver Rated:  General Words:  55952 Tags: Major Character Death long fic, Amnesia, but not, Coma, i really don’t know how to describe, AU, Alternate Universe - Voldemort Wins, kinda ya know like in the beginning, Angst, So much angst, Fluff, Muggle Life, harry in the muggle world, background hermione x ron, background sirius x remus, because this is an au i can do what i want so i day sirius didn’t die okay okay, Hogwarts Eighth Year, But also not, Past Child Abuse, don’t worry the major character death isn’t like draco or harry but it is other people, Horcrux Hunting, alphard black is alive, Happy Ending Summary:  The light was bright as he blinked open his eyes. He was vaguely aware of the steady sounds of beeping. And he felt weird. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton. Strange. He was in a hospital. But it wasn’t St. Mungos. It was muggle. All the technology, it was muggle. “Mr. Potter, you’ve been in a coma for the last seven years. When you were eleven, you took a terrible run face-first into a wall at King’s Cross.” “No, but. But Ron. Molly was there and she...she directed me to. And Hagrid. Hedwig. Diagon.” This was a mistake. This was all a terrible mistake. ____ Or, in which Harry wakes up from a coma in a muggle world at 18, but with all the memories of Voldemort and the war. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 The Man with the Purple Umbrella by Moood Rated:  General Words:  2251 Tags: Fluff, Drabble, Drarry, Muggle AU, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés Summary:  Draco Malfoy works in a coffeshop. One day, a man with a purple umbrella walks in, and Draco's life change forever. ❤️ Read on AO3

[readerinsertfanfiction]

Hi! New follower here! Do you think you could write Ikemen revolution headcanons? Could I please have headcanons of what Jonah and Lancelot would be like as big brothers to a younger sister? (We all know how much Jonah loves Luka, so I’m curious how he would be with a sister!) 🥰

Cute! 

Fandom: Ikemen Revolution

Characters: Jonah Clemence & Lancelot Kingsley

Jonah

As mentioned, he has Luka on whom he dotes, so he is definitely the doting big brother to a little sister as well!

And since this is the first and only daughter of the Clemence I’m sure she gets spoiled by all the rest as well. Just imagine the good looks of the Clemence all formed into one girl?

Unlike how Jonah was with his brother I feel that he won’t abandon the girl once he swore his loyalty to Lancelot. Depending on whether she is older or younger than Luka he will probably even entrust his little brother to the sister, hoping that she will make the second Clemence son feel less lonely.

Now, with a brother as proud as Jonah and a one as shy as Luka? This sister is going to be a delight. She will be constantly reminded how beautiful she is, and who to thank for her superior genes, but she will be sensitive and well-adjusted to all of the socio-politics in her daily life, the dynamic between her two brothers.

The Clemence sister just has to bat her eyes to make either brother stop. Jonah will actually back off on Luka with one look from the Clemence sister, and Luka will stop being so hostile as well for her sake.

Now as their little sister she will also find herself in the middle of their crossfire at times, having to mediate and in general calm down Luka. It honestly is a little tragic.

And they know it is a difficult position to be in! Which is why neither will force their sister to choose a side. Jonah will probably try to tell her to convince Luka to come home, but ultimately he isn’t going to shoulder that responsibility onto her.

Needless to say, she is popular with the soldiers from both sides. Also needless to say, neither brother likes it one bit.

Jonah especially. Just imagine him aggressively challenging anyone who dares to come near her into a swordfight. He will cut down heads if that means keeping the wolves away.

Of course crackheads like Edgar will thus try to flirt with the Clemence sister just to annoy Jonah. Oh, how great the fury of the queen is (and how sharp his sword).

Mille feuille tea parties? Yes. Always. Luka had to eat fifty of them? Sister isn’t going to be spared either. And if she bakes or cooks as well? Well, Jonah will float up to the heavens every time she brings something for him to enjoy.

And he will be damned if he has to share it. Even Lancelot can’t get near her delicacies, though Jonah will never deny his king if Lancelot just asks for it, even if it is begrudgingly with the poutiest of pouts.

Lancelot

Lancelot having a sibling at all will take away a huge part of his loneliness. It will mean company, someone that will treat him fairly, not because he was born with a crown on his head.

It will also mean more pressure. One more person to protect, one more person to shield, one more person to prepare for his eventual (planned) demise.

Will probably go cold turkey on any sibling, male or female, because of that. Cut off ties, pretend that he doesn’t care for them, turn them away and break his own heart into smithereens.

However, before that Lancelot will be a doting brother. Though somewhat reserved he will always check up on his little sister and make sure she has everything she needs.

Probably will be as spoiled, if not even more spoiled than the Clemence sister, because damn. A Kingsley sister will never have to worry about anything, because she will only have to look at it and it is hers.

Unlike Jonah, Lancelot will not mind the little sister ogling his friends with interest, or his friends eyeing his sister. Especially not Sirius, he approves of Sirius and might actually secretly be hoping for a union between his little sister and the Queen of Spades. It might actually help a bunch with encouraging peace within Cradle!

Now, there is a story going on that when the Kingsley daughter was born Lancelot would not let go of his little sister. The fear that something might befall upon her terrified the boy and the midwife had to get used to being followed around everywhere by the future King of Hearts.

Now, back to the present. Of course Amon used his little sister to threaten Lancelot into doing his bidding! Of course he would, and it is so very effective.

Nearly at the end of his wits Lancelot has no idea what to do other than cut off his little sister as harshly as possible. And as he does so he also looks for a reason to banish her away, far away from Cradle and out of the claws of Amon.

Which means there is a likelihood that the little sister will end up with Harr, another man that Lancelot approves of and holds very, very dear.

When Alice runs havoc in Cradle the King of Hearts is nearly desperate to get Alice to his side, though not for the same reasons as before. He plans on using Alice to send his sister away to the Land of Reason where it is much more peaceful than it is here in Cradle.

This goes double if the sister also knows how to use magic. Lancelot will do anything to prevent his sister from using magic, but also to keep her away from falling into the wrong hands. There is nothing he won’t do to keep his sister safe along with the kingdom.

[raptured-night]

A question that has been bugging me is how other woman/girls react to others laughing/expressing other emotions as groups, do you not mimic others by instinct? From my groupe of female friends in school and myself I know we did, but form the extream critism of Lily Evans doing SWM others apperently do not?

I do believe it depends on the person and their unique neurological wiring. Some people do mirror other people, whether consciously or unconsciously. In certain social settings (e.g. interviews, conferences, etc.)  I mirror body language deliberately because I’m familiar with certain studies that suggest doing so can make a person more at ease or amiable towards you when you mirror them. However, in terms of how I react to other people who are laughing or expressing emotions, it is less a matter of mirroring for me and more a matter of context and what response that prompts from me. For instance, if I’m with a group and someone tells an offensive joke I don’t mirror the group and laugh along because they are all laughing. In fact, I very deliberately refuse to laugh and I’ll feign confusion and tell the person who told the joke I didn’t understand it just to watch them uncomfortably try to explain why an offensive joke should be funny. It’s how I draw their attention to the fact that they’re being problematic in a way that doesn’t allow for them to get defensive or try to excuse themselves with appeals like “It was only a joke, really you need a sense of humor.” Making a person explain through the thought process of their offensive joke really highlights how problematic it is, so it’s a calculated effort on my part to put them on the spot and make them think. 

Other people might respond differently; some might get angry and tell the person who told the joke off along with anyone else who laughed; some might feel pressured to laugh along because they’re not comfortable with confrontation and/or don’t feel safe drawing attention to themselves; some might laugh without giving much thought to how the joke could be problematic or damaging, etc. Outside of the example of the offensive joke, there are also people who are neurodivergent in some way and they might be more inclined to draw their social cues from the people around them and mirror the emotional signals of a group for that reason. I have a friend on the spectrum who struggles with non-literal thinking, so satire and sarcasm can trip them up, and they compensate for that by observing the people they’re with and mirroring them and their responses. Ultimately, I think it would be difficult to get an accurate measure of what most people might do using just myself as a basis for comparison because so many people process things differently and respond differently to different situations based on their own experiences and circumstances. 

Had I been in Lily’s position, I wouldn’t have smirked because nothing about the situation would have been funny to me and the emotional responses of the group wouldn’t have influenced my perception of the situation. Other people might be different; they might have grinned because they were taking cues from the crowd and found it funny because other people were laughing and that momentarily overrode their sense of compassion or objection, or they might be more susceptible to peer pressure and laughed even if the situation inwardly made them feel uncomfortable, or they might have just found their friend in that situation comical and not really been able to sympathize or empathize with their friend deeply enough to recognize why they shouldn’t be grinning. My own experiences with powerlessness from childhood abuse might have made me more hyper-empathic to Snape’s situation as a reader, so I would be more aware of how problematic it was where someone like Lily, who came from a more stable home-life, may have briefly just found a bit of humor in a friend’s embarrassment the way some of the people I went to high school with used to laugh if one of our classmates was pantsed in the hall (although today that would be considered a form of assault in my high school and the generation of high school kids that have come after me are less bold about pulling someone’s pants down in the hallway) or some group of guys saw one of their buddies take a hard hit to the groin. 

Ultimately, different people will interpret Lily’s reaction in different ways depending on how much they might be able to relate to Lily versus Snape; how much they might favor Lily or Snape; their own experiences with either bullying or attending school and dealing with things like peer pressure or a falling out with a friend etc., or just how they may choose to read the text and apply it to their headcanons about the characters. I do personally interpret Lily’s response as further evidence of the growing schism in her and Snape’s friendship. I also tend to regard her near-smile as an indication of the fact she was already starting to develop an interest in James and may not have taken the situation as seriously as Snape did until it escalated to a point where Sirius got involved and Snape was lashing out. Overall, I am of the opinion her reaction was insensitive but I did not find it nearly as surprising as I did the revelation that Lily had been made aware of the fact that Snape had nearly been killed and that James had needed to save him yet she seemingly made no efforts to check in with Snape and see how he was. 

Speaking from a bit of personal experience, my natural instinct when I learn anyone has been through something traumatic is to check-in with them and ask how they’re doing, even if they’re not a close friend. The fact that Lily had not done that for Snape when she had claimed they were best friends was, in my opinion, far more open to criticism than her cracking a near-smile at him being publically humiliated. Mainly because I know that teenagers can be insensitive and impulsive; plenty of them laugh at things they really shouldn’t or make light of situations they shouldn’t downplay without thinking too deeply about the consequences (in terms of cognitive development this is to be expected as the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is where we get a lot of our impulse control and ability to problem-solve using reasoning, doesn’t even finish developing until our mid-20s), but being told that Snape almost died and Lily seemingly choosing to keep the knowledge to herself and say nothing about it to Snape until they’re in the middle of an argument and in defense of James struck me as particularly callous and detached. Ultimately, that is what I personally come back to when analyzing Lily in relation to her friendship with Snape (and also why I struggle to see their friendship as healthy; Snape certainly crossed a line and Lily had the right to end their friendship because of it but what pieces of their canonical friendship Rowling showed us also revealed to me what I believe were glaring inequalities in their power dynamic) but I can understand why others might be critical of her near-smile when James and Sirius are humiliating Snape too. 

[twdmusicboxmystery]

How 6a Foreshadowed Beth’s Return in S10/S11

Okay Everyone! This will be long and sprawling. In other words, very typical me. ;D

Let me preface it by saying that there are three things that have been floating around in my mind over the past week: the Phantom of the Opera template, the Pied Piper Template, and then I kept having the thought that maybe I should go back to 6a and look at Operation Lead the Walkers Away again. I’m not even sure why I kept thinking that. Maybe it’s just the obvious fact that we’re dealing with TF being surrounded by a huge horde in S10, so there could possibly be some parallels there. But I didn’t know for sure, beyond what we’ve already seen in the past.

I finally went back and watched a bunch of 6a episodes this past week. Boy was I in for a treat. ;D

Pied Piper Template:

Let’s start with the Pied Piper. My fellow theorists and I had discussed this briefly, though not in great detail. The reason we came up with it at all is because we’ve seen so many rats this season. I think we saw them 3 times, but I’m already forgetting where one of them was.

We saw a bunch of rats running ahead of the walker horde near Yumiko and Kelly. Then we had Negan equating rats with possums. Which is super important because that links Beth to the rat symbolism through the possum, in a 6-Degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon sort of way. ;D 

And I think we saw a dead rat in a cage. Originally, I couldn’t remember when. I remember thinking the cage looked a lot like the ones in the pet shop in 6a, and I was hoping we would see a dead dog inside (twisted as that sounds) because it would've been more Sirius symbolism. But it wasn't a dog, it was a rat. And I was disappointed. Looking through screenshots, I found it. It was during the Michonne/Virgil episode. She found a dead rat in a cage when she was snooping around his compound.

The conundrum I have with the Pied Piper symbolism is that I'm not sure exactly how we’re meant to interpret it. Obviously, there is a major musical theme in that legend, and that's good. But at the same time, the Pied Piper (the one who played music and therefore the one who would probably be equated with Beth) was kind of an evil character. He led the children away (and Beth does have a child and baby theme around her) but he basically led them to their deaths and separated them from their parents. Really doesn't sound like a very Beth-ish thing to do. So again, it's not that I doubt the template being used. I just wasn't sure exactly how to interpret it.

Then I got this ask in my inbox. It totally kicked me in the butt and sent me somersaulting down a tunnel. Check it out.

So, to answer the Nonny who asked it, I really don’t think Carol will figure very heavily in the actual “leading away” of the walkers. She’s around, of course. She and Kelly were seen filming separately from others in part of the city, so I think they’re going to have their own arc, separate from Daryl’s. I have some evidence for this belief based on foreshadows we saw in 6a. I’ll get to that in a minute. That said, thank you SO MUCH for this ask. I really led to a lot of clarity for me, which I’m about to explain in the rest of this post.

6x01: Operation Lead the Walkers Away commences

I've totally never thought to equate the Pied Piper template with Operation Lead the Walkers Away. Maybe I should have. Why haven't I? Probably because they didn't actually use music to lead the walkers in 6a. There was some noise, such as the noise the flare guns made, but for the most part they used flashing lights and the motion of the cars. Not music. So. it just didn't occur to me.

But I think this Nonny is completely right and onto something. It's what made me go back and watch a good portion of 6A.

My mind started spinning with all these possibilities.

The basic premise of what I’m about to say here is that Operation Lead the Walkers away in 6a was a foreshadow what's happening now with Alpha’s/Beta’s horde. And that's super important because in my mind, it shows the Beth is about to be back.

Like, right now.

With all the social media stuff they're doing, I think it's pretty obvious that Beth will show up in the finale, but this cements it for me.

So, Nonny suggests that Beth and Carol will lead the walkers away, but I don’t think so. Carol was nowhere around the horde in S6. She was back at Alexandria fighting the wolves. But remember this decomposing chica?

Everyone on TD equated her with Beth and she’s not only leading the horde, but is directly behind Daryl most of the way. So, I don’t think Daryl and Carol will lead the walker horde away from the hospital in S11.

I think Beth and Daryl will.

Think about it. That’s how Beth fits into the Pied Piper template. She won’t be leading children away (who knows if they’ll even use that part of the template at all?), she’ll be leading rats away, and in TWD world, rats = walkers. This entire sequence in 6a was one big foreshadow of what would be going on when Beth returns. There will be a walker horde storyline, and she and Daryl will be leading them away from Alexandria/TF.

Hence, why this blond, female, Beth-ish walker is so front and center during the entire sequence. Also, just for the record, this walker ends up front and center just before Glenn falls off the dumpster, which also equates her with the death fake out. Just saying.

Next up: the Sasha/Abraham dynamic. This is an edit I made and have reposted several times. 

There are some significant shots where it shows a lineup of Sasha, Abraham, and Daryl from the side. We also hear Glenn was counting 1, 2, 3 at the tractor place. I think the “1, 2, 3” could represent the three parts of the 15-season arc. One is Bethyl being together (Sashraham). Two is Daryl alone. Three is Beth’s return (Blond walker).

After 6x06, I came to realize that Sasha and Abraham were a Bethyl proxy. Once I realized that, I took Daryl being beside them as a way to associate him with them or them with him. To show that they were proxies of Beth and Daryl. But it's a lot more than that. It not only shows that there were proxies of Beth and Daryl, but it's a way to show that Beth and Daryl together (i.e. Sasha and Abraham) will end up leading the walker horde together.

(By the way, not all of this will probably happen in the finale. I'm thinking this can be a big part of the story line 11 A.)

So, here's the thing that really killed me about 601. Just as the horn goes off and the walkers start leaving the road and heading toward Alexandria, we see a sign advertising the mansions of Alexandria. 

There's an eight on it. It says they started 800K. And then at the top of the sign is the phrase, "You're almost home." For me, that shows that this is a foreshadow of something that will happen eight years later, and will bring the Sirius character home.

6x02: Enid’s Backstory and the Wolves

We’ve always seen a lot of Beth parallels in Enid’s backstory. And we’ve never known exactly why they used her for those parallels, though there have been plenty of theories over the years.

We have to look at 6a as a whole rather than at each episode in a vacuum. If you do away with the episode break between 6x01 and 6x02, we have is a situation where they showed that sign (800 K/“you're almost home”) and the very next thing we see is this girl on the outside alone who survives and ends up at the gates of Alexandria.

That's why there's so much that symbolism around Enid in this sequence. We were spot on back then. She is most definitely a proxy for Beth, but she wasn't a proxy for Beth back in S6. She's a proxy for Beth coming up in season 10/11. Also, that red jacket she's wearing? Red equals resurrection, right? So the point is, they're telling us that in conjunction with a great big walker horde, the Sirius character will return, it will happen eight years after the time period of 6A, and that a female character who's been out on her own for a while will show up at the gates of Alexandria. Oh, and she’ll be a resurrected character. 

The Wolves

Let’s talk about the wolves, who we’ve long equated with the Whisperers. There's been a lot of conjecture about the gray ninja being from a new group. So, in the middle of Operation Lead the Walkers Away, a new group shows up at Alexandria (the wolves). Now, we have another huge walker horde storyline, and a new group (the gray ninja) has shown up. My point is just that the parallels are there.

Carl and Enid in 6x02. This is SO great, guys, and something we never could have recognized back in S6.

When the Wolves first show up, Carol sees them out the window. Carl comes running down the stairs holding a gun and says that he saw them from upstairs and they’re coming in from everywhere. Carol then tells him to STAY THERE AND PROTECT JUDITH.

This jumped out at me because, in terms of what this foreshadows in S10, who is the one who is protecting Judith right now? It's Daryl. Rick is gone, Carl is gone, and even Michonne is gone. So, Daryl is Judith's protector and mentor right now.

Long story short, Enid and Carl represent Beth and Daryl in the sequence. It's a foreshadow for things that will happen when Beth returns in S10/S11.

So, Enid gets into the house of a set of KEYS. Obviously, that's a huge symbol because, Key Theory. Carl almost shoots her before realizing that it's her. Random aside: I wonder if this will end up happening in some way with Beth and Daryl. He’ll think she's whisperer or something and almost shoots her before she reveals herself.

Enid says she's leaving, and Carl says she isn't. He says she needs to stay there and help him protect Judith. (Again, obviously with Rick and Michonne and Carl gone, Beth would stay with Daryl and help protect Judith.) Also, keep in mind that Enid and Carl were Bethyl proxies in terms of their romance and they did the intertwined fingers hand hold in S7. Just saying.

Then we have lots of interesting Beth dialogue. Carl (Daryl) says, "Don't tell me goodbye." Enid replies, "Okay. I won't tell you goodbye." I think we could interpret this a couple of different ways. On the one hand, perhaps it shows that once Beth returns, there will be no more goodbyes between her and Daryl. That's definitely my favorite interpretation.

But to be fair, Enid was being sneaky here and using a play on words. She didn't tell him goodbye, but she still left. She snuck out when he wasn't looking. That may just equate to Beth not saying goodbye to Daryl when they were first separated in S4/S5. So, another way to equate Enid with Beth. Maybe we should be reading other things into this as well, but if so, we probably won’t know what they are until they play out in the show.

During the Enid/Carl/Don’t-tell-me-goodbye scene, Enid said something interesting. She was saying that Alexandria was too big to protect. Too many blind spots (so, a Beth proxy talking about blindness). And then she said, “That’s how we—” and Carl cut her off.

I don’t know if everyone remembers this, but when it aired, there was a lot of conjecture about Enid being part of the Wolves group. Like maybe they sent her in ahead of time as a scout. Obviously. that wasn’t the case, but it’s because of this line that people thought it. I still have no idea what the end of this sentence would have been, but I’m wondering now if it was merely symbolic. Maybe it will make sense the second time around? Thought that was worth mentioning.

We definitely several bicycles when the wolves attacked. And at one point, Carl leaves the house to help Ron. When they focus on Enid, standing on the porch, she's framed by a yellow doorway. I thought that was interesting. And remember that, after Enid leaves and meets up with Glenn in 6x07, we see her playing with a little red firetruck in the café.

I’m also wondering how far the Carl/Enid = Beth/Daryl metaphor will extend. In 6x05, we had the slap fight between Ron and Carl,

and it occurred to me that Ron represents a second love interest for Beth. I know, I know. We don’t like to think of her having any love interest except Daryl.

For me, I always think that maybe there will be someone in her group that is interested in her, but she doesn’t really reciprocate. (You could argue that this was true of Enid, as she often lied to Ron about leaving Alexandria and was ALWAYS looking at Carl.) So, I’m wondering if this foreshadows circumstances when Beth shows up, or if it doesn’t extend that far and is JUST meant to be a Carl/Enid thing. That could be the case, too.

Morgan:

Okay, let me deviate for a minute and talk about Morgan. At some point, I had the random thought that Morgan was one person who would not be part of the sequence in S10. In the same way a lot of the characters that were alive in S6 are now dead, he was there in S6, but now he's gone to FTWD, so I don't expect to see him when what S6 foreshadowed comes to pass in S10.

Or should we expect to see him?

As soon as I had that thought, things started jumping out at me about Morgan. For one, there's the conversation with Michonne about the peanut butter protein bar. A lot of people commented on that back then and how it was discontinuous. Because if you go back and watch Clear, Michonne is clearly not eating a protein or granola bar. It looks and crunches like potato chips. Back when S6 first aired, I also didn't understand peanut butter symbolism. It’s still a discontinuity, but if they’re changing something like that, in a way that fans can easily figure out and scorn them for, there's got to be a good reason for it. In short, they probably changed it specifically to put in the peanut butter symbolism.

Now, the peanut butter is definitely a Beth symbol. It also strikes me that we have Rick, Michonne, and Morgan together in the shot. As of right now, Rick is with the helicopter people in Michonne is going there to get him. So, it could be that Morgan will run into them inside the helicopter group in some way. (Just as a reminder, all these characters have their own arcs and while we focus on Beth symbolism, each character’s arc is probably foreshadowed in much the same way, and we just don’t realize it because we don’t focus on anyone else.)

We definitely have hints that the FTWD characters will run into the helicopter group at some, right? So many the peanut butter symbolism is more about Rick than anything else. I'm not sure, but it's interesting.

Then, we have the part when Morgan holds Judith on the porch while he's talking to Rick. It’s interesting because Judith is such a huge part of the storyline right now, and maybe this foreshadows that Morgan might have something to do with her storyline when this sequence comes back around in S10.

He’s also the one who reaches the wolf truck with Spencer and silences the horn.

Yes, I know he's on FTWD and that would constitute a major time jump for his arc, but I always think it would be cool if anybody from Fear suddenly popped up on TWD. It doesn't even have to be Morgan. I'd be super happy to suddenly see John Dorie show up in the woods or something. (I answered an ask mentioning this yesterday, btw.) But I digress.

Here’s the next thing that’s super crazy. I…well, didn't exactly forget, but I wasn't thinking about this at all until I did my re-watch. The truck that hit the church, that was driven by the wolves, the one whose horn began to blare and pull the walkers off the road? Do you remember what kind of truck it was? It was one of those Dell Arno trucks. The one that says, “how the harvest gets home” on one side.

Back in 5x16, when Daryl and Aaron first triggered the wolf trap, EVERYONE equated this with Beth. I don’t want to go into the specific symbolism now, but it has to do with life and growth and coming home. So, in short, the harvest = Beth. Yet another reason we thought she would “come home” in conjunction with the wolves.

But do you see? This may be the best thing I found in the episode. It means the "new group" that shows up during the S10 walker horde storyline is going to be how the harvest (Beth) gets home. Boom! Confirmation. Right there. She’s got to either be this ninja, or with this ninja’s group.

6x03: Pet Shop, Glenn’s Death Fake Out, Rick’s Epic Marathon, and the Weirdness of Daryl

Onto episode 603. There’s definitely some interesting stuff having to do with Rick and his storyline. Episode 3 is Glenn’s death fake out, of course, but also had the parts where we saw Rick running along the road for long stretches of time. He ran on foot back around the route and got into the RV, right?

Well, the RV had yellow balloons tied to it. Rick got into the vehicle with the yellow balloons tied to it and drove away. I'm thinking that's pretty much the same thing as him escaping through the yellow carnival ride in 7x12. This is a very early foreshadow of him having a death take out and escaping death. (Which could also be why they included Glenn's line of "good luck, dumbass" from S1.) Then we have the RV not starting for him near the end of the episode and at the beginning of 6x05, he comes running up to the gates on foot. Not sure exactly how to interpret that but I think it's interesting and probably a foreshadow.

(A note on 604: Morgan’s Big Episode. I didn't rewatch it. I don't think I need to go over the specific symbolism in it. While it’s important (remember it has a goat named Tabitha, who was resurrected in the bible) it’s not terribly applicable here except to say that, like Enid’s backstory squence, it's once again important that they interrupted this whole sequence to show us Morgan's back story and the massive Beth parallels in it.)

Remember the weirdness of Daryl? I’ve posted about this more than once. (HERE) His behavior in 603 was just really strange. First, he abandoned Sasha and Abraham to go back and help Rick, but he couldn't find him. Then he heard gunshots on the radio and started to freak out because he didn't know where Rick was or if he needed help. Then, with no explanation and without telling anyone, he simply met up with Sasha and Abraham again and stayed with them. I just thought it was weird that he suddenly changed his mind and it didn't explain what his thought process was.

Meanwhile, on a panel after that episode aired, someone asked Norman about it. He was obviously very reluctant to answer, because he didn't want to give spoilers, and all he said was that Daryl did it for more than Rick. There was more of a reason for it than just that. Once again, that's never been explained. I think I know what it means now. 

What I'm thinking here is that this foreshadows Daryl finding out Rick is still alive. Warning: this may not be anybody's favorite idea, but I’m just putting out there what I’m seeing. If Sasha and Abraham represent Bethyl. and we have Daryl leaving and them getting mad at him, maybe we’ll reach a point in the story where Daryl finds out Rick is alive and leaves to go find him.

While I'm obviously not in favor of Beth and Daryl splitting up ever again, right about this time, rumors of this Daryl Dixon movie started circulating. I know it's not official. It hasn't been greenlighted. So, it's not something we can really count on. But people are really misinterpreting what's being said as well. If they do the Daryl Dixon movie, it will be between seasons. Which means he would probably be the finale of one season, they’ll do this at this to the movie in the off-season, and then he would be there again for next season. I really don't see Norman not being on the show for any stretch of time. But this opens up some interesting possibilities.

Understand, I'm assuming Beth would be back in 10×16. And there will probably be another Operation Lead the Walkers Away/Pied Piper template in 11a. Probably not much time will pass during that. Maybe only a few days. So, let's say hypothetically after that, Daryl learns that Rick is alive. I'm thinking of the sequence in 6a where he leaves Sashraham to go find Rick. Neither of them were very happy about that. Plus, there were major Beth vibes, both in Daryl saying, “Nah. I have faith in ya.” And in Rick’s walkie-talkie speech, where he said, “This…is for them.”

So, if Daryl goes, maybe Beth will be angry at him for leaving. But think about that. If he leaves, he would leave her in charge, and she would be the sheriff.

Again, these are just possibilities. It may be much more symbolic than this. And you could also interpret it as that he THOUGHT about leaving Sashraham, but didn’t really. I mean, he did for a few minutes, but he didn’t REALLY go back and help Rick. So maybe it will just be a small part of things rather than something he actually does. I can see someone saying that Rick would want him to stay and watch over Rick and Michonne’s kids, and that convinces him to stay. And incidentally, that would parallel well with Rick’s speech over the walkie in 6a about staying the course and seeing things through. (“This is for them. If we go back now, it will be for us.”)

Phantom of the Opera Template

Full Disclosure: I’ve been mildly obsessed with the idea of the Phantom of the Opera template lately. There are really two reasons I keep fixating on this. One is just because I think it would be awesome. I’m totally rooting for it. ;D

From a more symbolic standpoint, it's because of Daryl's, "I never sung out in public before," line. I can just see that coming to pass in the Phantom of the Opera template storyline.

I will say that I can also see it happening in this Pied Piper storyline. Because I'm assuming that Beth and Daryl lead the walker away together, they will probably use music to do it.

I'm not saying Daryl will embrace his inner Miley Cyrus and suddenly belt out pop music, but if Beth is singing, and he's helping her in any way—perhaps if he holds a radio or something to contribute to the music and bring walkers toward them—I think that would qualify as satisfying the foreshadow. They’ll be out in front of people and sort of on display with something musical going on.

It’s too bad juke boxes are huge and need to be plugged in. I’d be all for Daryl holding one up over his head like John Cusack in…whatever that 80s film was. ;D

So with that in mind, maybe I don't need the Phantom of the Opera template, right? It's much more likely that it will happen somewhere in the Pied Piper template. I could get behind that 100% and accept that the rest is just my head canon.

Except for one thing.

Do you remember Denise’s storyline in 608/609? Obviously, she's a proxy for Beth. Remember that Creepy Wolf Dude took her captive for a short time, and Greg Nicotero said that he kinda fell in love with her?

Yeah, sounds like the Phantom of the Opera template to me. At the very least, it shows that someone — probably someone foreshadowed by the wolves, which would be a whisperer—will take Beth captive for time and probably fall in love with her.

I don't know how familiar everyone is with Phantom of the Opera, so let me give you a quick rundown. In the play, the Phantom (that would be Beta because he wore the mask) falls in love with Christine (that would be Beth) who is a singer. At one point in the story, he kidnaps her and her love interest Raoul (obviously Daryl) follows to get her.

The interesting thing is that he doesn't really save her. Don't get me wrong, he shows up and they get away together, but the Phantom gets the better of him and it gets to a point where the Phantom demands that Christine do what he wants, or he’ll kill her lover. I can see something like that happening between Bethyl and Beta. (I mean, we’ve all had the sense that at some point, Beth will save Daryl, right? I’m also thinking of the symbolism of Lydia showing up in a pillar of light to save him from Alpha earlier this season.)

But what really works in terms of Beth's arc is that Christine pretty much saved herself. She agrees to do with the Phantom wants in order to save Raoul, but really, by bringing across harsh truths to him, she basically talks him into letting them go. Which he does.

Now, the Phantom ends up living in the play. He just doesn't end up with Christine. I don't really see the happening with Beta. Because this is TWD, I'm sure they'll kill off Beta at some point. That’s just how they’ll deviate from the template. And remember that Creepy Wolf Dude with Denise was bitten and died.

The other thing I want to talk about is the idea of sexuality in Phantom of the Opera. So, in the story, the Phantom isn’t a rapist. At least, not in a classical sense. Not in a throw-her-down-and-attack-her sort of way. He talks openly of marrying her and even puts her in a wedding dress at some point. BUT he also makes no secret of the fact that he wants to have physical relations with her. And then there’s the fact that he’s forcing her to be with him and she has no choice in the matter. So, it’s a form of rape, but again, not an attack rape so much as a manipulative, Weinstein kind of rape. *shudders* So anyway, obviously I don’t think Beth will be raped or anything (for the record, Christine wasn’t; she and the Phantom never had sex). But I was thinking that if the threat is there with Beta, it could fulfill something I’ve been harping on forever: the idea of Gorman having been a foreshadow of something else to come. I always said the next threat would be bigger and, even just in terms of stature and shoulder width, Beta is definitely a bigger threat than Gorman.

The rest is more general. (I’m almost done; I promise.) In 605, we have Maggie and Aaron in the sewer. And this is more that isn’t very well explained. I know the two walkers they find in there are supposed to be the people Deanna banished, but it still wasn’t explained to my satisfaction.

There’s also a ladder in there that hits Aaron (Beth proxy) in the forehead and bloodies him. The ladder is usually about people saving themselves or being rescued, so it’s not clear why one was included here, other than symbolically. As this is literally a dark tunnel and in conjunction with Glenn’s death fake out, I’m sure you can see the symbolism. But even so. I’m sure this points to something in S10.

Remember that they showed the sewer grate below Beta’s horde at the hospital, and we’ve seen the sewer at Alexandria be used many times to hide, escape, or sneak around. So, if Aaron = Beth, I’m wondering if Beth and Maggie will use that sewer beneath the hospital in S10 to either get into the hospital, or get people out of the hospital.

When Rick is attacked in the RV by wolves, he finds that jar of baby carrots, right? For the first time, that is making sense beyond just the carrot symbol. Because the carrot symbol is a thing, but why have it in this sequence? Again, to show that when this happens again with the horde, we’ll reach the second phase of Beth’s story, and the carrot doesn’t mature until its second season of growth. The second time around, if you will.

The last thing I’ll talk about briefly is episode 6x06. I actually didn’t rewatch it for this post, but that’s because I know that episode backwards, forward, and inside out. The short of it is that 6x06 is chalk-full of Beth symbolism that points to Daryl meeting Beth out in the woods.

So without getting into the nitty-gritties, much like Enid’s backstory and Morgan’s backstory, it’s just significant that they put this episode here, in conjunction with the walker horde storyline. Everything about 6a was hinting at Beth’s return. It just wasn’t going to actually happen until 8 years later.

I will say that the events of 6x06 do muddle the chronology a bit for me. Everything else points to Beth leading the walker horde away with Daryl, but 6x06 happens AFTER they’ve led the horde away.

So, there’s a good chance I’m interpreting at least some of this a little incorrectly. In fact, just let me reiterate that. I’m sure I’ll have lots of people who disagree at least with parts of this. A lot of this is just me brainstorming and I could turn out to be wrong. That’s totally fine. 

But the rock-bottom line? Who cares! Everything points to Beth’s return in conjunction with the walker horde story line. So if I’m a little off about some or all of this, I’m cool with that. As always, it will make more sense as it unfolds in the show.

Thoughts?

[oddmentt]

The Deep End - Part 3

A/N: Can I ask someone to literally end me cus I just can’t get this perfect (imo) no matter what. Anywho I hope you still like it.

Part 1 Part 2

Rumi sighed and eyed Sirius curiously. They were about half way through the tutoring session, but she could tell his mind was elsewhere. His usual demeanour of effortless charm and heartily jokes, which Rumi several times would have to tell him to stop and concentrate, had not surfaced during their session today. She looked into his cloudy, grey eyes as he stared absently out the window at the falling snow. His fingers toyed with a feather quill, while a frown was playing on his handsome features.

“What’s wrong?” Rumi asked softly as she closed her book, watching Sirius’s face with interest. He seemed to snap out of his reverie and smiled at her warmly.

“Nothing. What page were we on?” he said as his smile faded quickly, glancing at the book in front of him.

Rumi cocked her head and smiled at him kindly. She had grown to rather like Sirius over their tutoring sessions and since now Lily and James were officially together, their two groups hung out a lot more. Marlene had also given up hope in becoming Sirius’s girlfriend, which made hanging out a lot easier. Sirius had now often joined Rumi and Remus’s conversations and Rumi could tell Sirius was undeniably quite smart, however he usually decided to conceal it by leaving homework for the last minute. She did have to admit that he had improved significantly, feeling slightly melancholic about their sessions coming to an end.

“You’re not concentrating. What’s wrong, Sirius?” she said softly as his eyes finally found hers. Sirius was surprised to find her expression to be sympathetic and gentle, her eyes encouraging him as if he could tell her anything in the world. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his wavy, dark hair. He wasn’t particularly in the mood to talk about his failed family relationships, but for some reason he found that speaking about it with her was more inviting than with the Marauders at the moment. And after all, he didn’t have to tell her everything.

“Well…” He hesitated. Rumi gave him a small encouraging nod and he slowly continued. “As you know, Christmas holidays are approaching and… I briefly spoke to my brother — Regulus, if you don’t know him — in the corridor and he told me that mother was still livid at me for staying at the Potters’ all summer,” he sighed again heavily and fixed his eyes on his hands that were still fiddling with a quill. “Associating myself with the wrong sort and so on... So I’m not allowed to come home this Christmas. Also… James will be going abroad to visit something important somewhere in Importandland and Remus and Peter are also going home for the holidays. And as far as I know… I’ll be the only one left at this bloody school.”

He gave her a quick glance and added quickly, “I mean not that I really want to visit my family… I just meant that I was just looking forward to spending some time with my mates. That’s all.”

Rumi listened attentively to his confession and smiled at him. Now it was her turn to gaze out the window, where snow was still falling earnestly onto the white ground.

“Well, if it’s any comfort, I’ll be staying here too,” she said quietly, her gaze still fixed outside the window. Sirius couldn’t help but feel surprised. Only a few students really wanted to stay at school for the holidays, especially now since most had already declared to have extravagant plans over the holidays. Her words had sincerely lifted his spirits and he was now grinning broadly; now at least he would have someone to talk to, especially if it was someone he fancied.

“Sorted! You’re not going home then? How come? Are your parents going abroad too?”

Rumi turned back to Sirius and bit her lip. Her eyes were slightly melancholic, focused in an unhappy place.

“In a way, yes. But I don’t really care to spend the Christmas with my parents,” she said quietly and gave Sirius a small smile. “My father and I don’t really get along. Mum’s alright, though I recon she’s still a bit scared of him.” He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“You don’t get along with your father?” She shrugged, returning her gaze to the ever falling snow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s alright,” she shrugged absentmindedly. “He’s been consistently drunk during every holiday ever since I can remember. He would sometimes shout at us. Me and my mum, I mean. When I was young it was very scary. Nowadays, he just passes out more quickly. I haven’t seen him for a while, though. He’s often busy with the Wizengamot.”

She fell silent, staring into the ever falling snow, her hazel eyes glazed with the white purity of the light sky. Sirius let out a deep sigh and considered everything she had just told him. He felt very disturbed by the fact that her father was an alcoholic. It was the first time she had spoken about her family in his presence. His brows furrowed as if he did not quite know what to say, her revelations probably being the main reason; it had never even occurred to him that she had trouble at home. In fact, he thought she must be very happy with her family, since she had never before complained about them. Or, now that he thought real hard, she had never even mentioned them. Perhaps she was hiding more than she was letting on.

After a few minutes, she spoke up in a quiet voice. “I think he’s always been disappointed in the fact that I’m not a boy.”

Sirius let out a loud huff in disbelief. “Are you bloody serious?”

Finally, her eyes met with his.

“It’s alright,” she said and gave him a small smile; she could clearly see that Sirius was troubled and was doing some serious thinking. “Or well… I don’t mean that it’s alright. Just that I have processed it and I’ve dealt with it. My father has never been… pleased with me and yet… I can’t bear the look of disappointment in his eyes. Mum usually travels for the holidays, since I usually never go home. And she doesn’t want my help, nor anyone’s help, for the fact.” Rumi slowly grabbed her book and bent to pick up her bag off the floor.

“She still loves him. You know… My father,” she added quietly, as she put the book and quills back in her bag.

Sirius, slightly less agitated, contemplated this unusual family dynamic. Rumi spoke as she had distanced herself from her family, just like he himself had done. Yet she wasn’t as tormented about it as he sometimes was.

“Everyone is fighting their own battles, Sirius,” Rumi said quietly, as her hazel eyes glanced intently into Sirius’s. “I know it’s none of my business, but James told me a little of what you’re going through at home… I’m sorry.”

He stopped in his tracks. James had spoken to her? How much had he told her? She saw the alarm in his expression.

“It’s alright, he didn’t tell me much,” she said hurriedly and added in a quiet voice, “I think you’re very brave.”

Her words radiated such warmth and awe that he found himself blushing. And he never blushed. He fought the urge to lift her in his arms, thanking Merlin that they were standing on opposite sides of the library table. He opened his mouth to say something, but to his amazement he couldn’t find the proper words.

She suddenly grinned playfully at him. “What, the cat got your tongue?”

“No,” he insisted and grinned his crooked signature grin, thankful for the overall mood of their conversations being lifted. “It’s just that… I’m glad someone’s staying behind with me, ‘tis all.”

Rumi grinned and got up, swinging her bag on her shoulder.

“So are you coming or not? It’s dinner time soon.”

“Bloody hell, is that the time?!” Sirius jumped up from his seat and hastily stuffed his belongings back into his bag. “I’ve never missed a meal in my life!”

“And it shows,” Rumi said in a loud voice, eyeing his middle in mock-disapproval.

“Oi!” Sirius grabbed her by the shoulder with one arm and squeezed, making her squeal in delight, their previous conversation long forgotten. Rumi in turn wrapped her arm around Sirius’s waist as if she had done it millions of times before, as they merrily made their way to The Great Hall.