#but of course my brain is like ORIGIN STORY HOW DID THIS FAMILY END UP LIKE THIS | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ughgoaway · 8 months

Text

playing on my mind

content warnings: swearing, referring to Matty as tall (look we all lie for plot purposes okay), dilf Matty and rushed writing... i think that's it? word count- 3.3k ish

a/n: woah this was quick but I am nothing if not impulsive!! this is just a one-shot but if y'all want a series I might do one?? idk it depends on how inspired I am lol. but yes this is just my little blurb-thing from yesterday fleshed out into an actual story!! I'm so glad people liked the idea, I hope this doesn't disappoint <333

(I didn't proofread this so I apologise if its utterly shit </3)

“And off you go! If you need your pencils sharpened or help, make sure you raise your hand! I’ll come to see you!” You say to the group of 30 little balls of energy in front of you. 60 eyes looking up at you might seem intimidating to most, but when it's a hyperactive group of 5-year-olds; the fear wears off slightly.

It was family tree week in your classroom, and you had given your little ones the usual task of drawing their family, each set up with pieces of paper and various pencils and pens to create their masterpieces. Seeing them smile and talk about their older sisters and brothers or how much they love their parents always warmed your heart.

You originally got into teaching with every intention of working with teenagers. You were sure you shouldn't be moulding such young minds - you were never sure your mind was a very good example. But one test week in a year 1 classroom changed your outlook entirely. Seeing the pure, unadulterated joy on a young child's face was something beyond comparison.

Getting to watch them grow and develop into little people brought you so much happiness that it could never compare to standing in front of a group of grumpy teenagers. Each teen boy clearly trying to get you over to their desk to “flirt” with you, well as much firting as a 15-year-old boy can do.

Seeing a child come out of their shell, make friendships, and discover their passions made your heart warm in a way nothing else did. So as soon as you qualified you jumped at the opportunity to teach these little ones, this class might be your first but you are sure it will always be your favourite.

And of course, despite what every teacher tells you, they have a favourite student. You were adamant when you began that you really wouldn't have a favourite but then little Annie Healy came bounding into your classroom with a mop of curly hair, untamable energy and the cutest slightly wonky smile you've ever seen.

She very quickly stole your heart, always wanting to tell you stories and going off on tangents rather quickly, organising tea parties but soon getting distracted leaving you at a small table surrounded by teddy bears giving a toast. Her little body seemed to be filled with enough energy to power the world 3 times over, and you couldn't love her anymore. The idea that she would be leaving your class broke your heart every time you thought about it, despite people telling you not to get attached - you did,

You had just settled at your desk after explaining for the 4th time to Zach that sticking pencils up our noses isn't a very good idea. You ended up telling him if he pushed too far, he'd touch his brain, and soon after that, the pencils stayed firmly in his hand rather than up any nose. If any student was the problem child, it was him. You couldn't hate any student, but let's just say he's given you one too many impromptu haircuts this year to be in line for your favourite.

Soon your real favourite student stuck her arm into the air and wiggled it around in an attempt to get you to see her sooner, little Annie Healy was ever impatient- a trait that is only endearing on her. You quickly nodded and started wandering over, trying not to laugh at her large toothy grin back at you.

“Hi sweetheart, do you need some help?” you say, crouching down to her eye level, flashing a sweet smile.

“Hi miss y/n!” she began, her eyes flittering around your face before landing on your hair, and soon, her hands were stroking your head.

“Wow! I like your hair! It's got sparkly clips in it! You know I asked my daddy for some like that, and he said-” you gently placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to stop the tangent before it started. You knew she'd somehow end up keeping you there for 20 minutes, giving you a detailed list of all of her Barbie dolls and their jobs if you didn't redirect her quickly enough.

“Thank you, Annie! I saw your arm wiggling in the air earlier. Did you need some help?” her eyes light up as she remembered why she called you over here.

“Oh! Yeah, I want to write what's in my daddy’s hands, but I don't know how to spell it. Will you help me?” she says, bringing her attention back to her drawing and grabbing the black pencil to continue her work. It's the first time you actually looked at her drawing, and to say you were concerned would be an understatement.

Most drawings of family consist of the same basic elements; a mum, a dad, a sun in the corner, and a house that is wildly disproportionate to everything else.

So imagine your surprise when you look down to see 4 men in what seems to be leather jackets, holding various musical instruments, and a very tall dog next to them.

You blink a few times. Just checking what you're seeing is right. The lineup starts with a tall man holding a guitar, next to a slightly shorter man also holding a guitar with a mess of black scribbles on his head. Next up is a very tall man with drumsticks in his hands and a kit behind him, and finally another very tall man with a beard and a bass. The concern briefly melts away as you consider how impressive it is she knows the difference. In the bottom left corner is a black dog with very long legs and a big pink tongue sticking out, the dog was almost as tall as the first man but you're aware kids aren’t known for their skill with proportion.

No one had prepared you for this in teaching school, there was never a lecture about what to do if one of your kids does a mildly troubling family drawing of 4 men in leather jackets and a horse dog. You try to stutter a response to Annie, but no real words are leaving your mouth. Just a jumble of sounds, each one sounding more confused and stressed than the last.

You flash a look at her only to be met with a confused head tilt and sad eyes. Oh god. She thought you hated her drawing. Shit.

Time for damage control.

You make the decision then and there not to ask her about the details of her drawing, desperately trying not to make her cry.

Maybe you could go and see her mum in the playground? Yes, that's what you'll do. You'll walk her out, have a brief discussion with Mum, and make sure Annie knows her family isn't 4 men in a band and then leave her be. That sounds like the professional thing to do.

You take a deep breath and smile at Annie, and soon her downturned lips flashed that cheesy grin you knew so well. You tighten your hand on her shoulder and grab a pen, ready to help her any way she needs.

“Do you mean the word ‘guitar’ Annie?” she gives you an excited nod as you continue speaking, “Ah yes, that's a really hard word for even grown-ups to spell. Let's work it out together, hmm?”

With your mind racing you help her sound it out and label her drawing, even stopping to sharpen her black colouring pencil for her- there's a lot of black for young girls drawing but she's committed to an aesthetic, and part of you respects that.

On the walk back to the desk, you begin practising your speech in your head, trying to figure out how to ask why she’s drawing a band as her family without unknowingly offending mum. Maybe she just really likes music?

You run through your memories trying to think of her mentioning a band before, but nothing comes to mind, Annie doesn't even stay on track long enough to talk about her family. Always seeing something shiny and discussing that instead.

You flick your eyes to her one more time just to see her animatedly talking with another little girl on her table, her hands gesticulating wildly and her curls bouncing as she tells her story.

The sight calms you slightly, seeing the little girl you know so well acting exactly as she should be. You have the fleeting thought that you might be overreacting, but eventually, you collect the drawings to see Annie had dated her work “1975”. Yup, that discussion with her parents was definitely happening.

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

The bell rings, and you manage to catch Annie just before she runs off into the playground without you, “Hi Annie! I have your drawing from today. Should we show it to mummy and daddy together?” her eyes light up as her curls bounce from her excited nods.

You walk hand in hand out onto the playground, crouching down you make eye contact with Annie before asking, “Can you point out your mum or dad Annie?”

She nods and begins scanning the playground. You stifle a laugh at the look of concentration on the young girl's face. Her nose is scrunched along with her eyebrows, one hand pulling at a curl by her ear and the other holding yours. Soon, you see her face brighten, and her eyes fill with joy.

“DADDY!!” is the scream that comes from the little girl as her hand shoots from her head to point to the corner of the playground, she starts dragging you before you even look up but as you do, you feel your heart drop.

As a student teacher, you'd definitely seen some hot dads, but they were still dads. Most were slightly creepy, partially balding, and talked about nothing but golf and their “annoying” wives. You were used to that kind of dad, not exactly this kind.

Standing nonchalantly in the corner of the playground was a tall man. A pile of salt and pepper curls sat on top of his head; untamed but effortlessly and obnoxiously cool. The white t-shirt he was wearing did nothing to hide the patchwork of tattoos that snaked up his arms. The low neck of the top even teased the top of his chest tattoo. Sunglasses sat on his face, they gave him an "I'm too cool" rocker vibe that, for some unknown reason, made you dizzy.

In one hand, he had a lit cigarette, something that was not allowed on school property, but the way his cheeks hollowed as he took a drag had you forgetting that rule completely. He dropped the butt of the cigarette to crush it with his heavy boots before taking a sip of the can of coke that was in his other hand.

As he noticed you coming over, a dazzling smile broke out on his face. You felt your knees weaken as you tried to brush off how hot he was.

You then realised you actually had to speak to this man. Fuck. You're not sure you even have a voice currently. If you opened your mouth, you're sure incoherent noises would come out, followed by wild hand motions trying to explain your insane behaviour.

The closer you got, the less you stared at him, feeling too intimidated to keep looking in his direction. This did mean you almost tripped 3 times, but you would rather fall than risk making eye contact with this intimidatingly attractive man.

Annie dropped your hand as you finally reached the man, and she jumped into his arms. He grunted at the force but soon began pressing kisses all over her face, smiling at her uncontrollable giggles.

Quickly, the man noticed your presence and stuck a hand out to introduce himself, “Hi! Sorry about that, you know what it's like when kids miss you. I’m Annie’s dad, Matty.”

And this is where a normal person would introduce themselves, stick their hand out, and shake Matty’s. Maybe even say their name and start talking, but oh no. Not you. You stood there motionless and just said “Matty” breathlessly to yourself 3 times over.

Time dragged on in the 10 seconds Matty stood there with his hand out. If you weren't aware of how time worked, you would swear you stood there in stilted silence for 10 minutes.

By some grace of god, little Annie Healy saved you and introduced you, “Daddy. This is Miss y/n. She wanted to come and show you my drawing."

Matty retracted his hand and pushed the sunglasses that sat on the bridge of his nose up to his mess of curls, just as wayward as his daughters. His deep brown eyes met yours as he tilted his head questioningly at your behaviour. His smile remained wide at you, his tongue swiped over his bottom lip, and you felt your heart stutter. A litany of inappropriate thoughts swirling through your mind.

He quickly diverted his attention back to his daughter, “Oh really munchkin? Is your drawing just that amazing? Is Miss y/n going to send it to all the museums?” he said whilst tickling her sides. You smiled at the pair of them watching Annie throw her head back with erratic laughter.

Finally, you manage to right yourself and begin speaking, “Right. Sorry about that, long day,” you explain, looking apologetically at Matty, who only nodded and tried to hide his widening smile at your flustered state.

“I'm just here to talk about Annie's drawing,” you pause briefly and look at Annie in her dad's arms. Not wanting to disappoint her, you form a plan in your mind. “Hey Annie, why don't you go practise some hopscotch! I'm just going to have a quick chat with your dad, okay?”

Before you’d even finished your sentence, Annie was wiggling out of her dad's arms and running off.

“She's got endless energy that one hasn't she?” you say wistfully, staring off in the direction she ran, watching her jump around and giggle with some of her friends.

“Ah like father like daughter, I suppose” Matty says, grinning at your clear love for his little girl. He feels his heart warm at your caring eyes. “So what seems to be the issue? I'm sure you're not over here because the Louvre has asked for Annie’s drawing?”

You laugh at Matty's joke, perhaps a little too hard. Nervous laughter was one of your less attractive traits, but you try to shake it off and have an actual adult conversation with Matty.

“Ah no, no phone calls from Paris yet,” you begin laughing lightly, you pull out Annie's drawing and pass it over to Matty and start to analyse his reaction as you finish speaking, “I was just coming over to ask why Annie's family portrait is seemingly a band? I wanted to make sure she knows her family isn't 4 tall men in leather jackets and a surprisingly tall horse dog.”

As you finish your sentence, Matty bursts out in hysterical laughter, folding over as his chortling laughter takes over his whole body. Your face scrunches up at his reaction, your eyebrows are pinched, and a small frown overtakes your features.

Eventually, Matty catches his breath and looks up at you only to realise how strange his reaction appears. His hand shoots up to your arm and begins to stroke it lightly as he attempts to explain himself.

Each featherlight stroke of his fingers made your breath hitch. You felt your eyes fogging over, and your ears felt as if they were stuffed with cotton wool, the surrounding sounds suddenly becoming muted.

A shake of your head brought you back to earth as you fought to focus on the words Matty was saying.

“Oh I'm so sorry, once you know the story you’ll understand my reaction” Matty began explaining with wide apologetic eyes, “basically Annie's mum isn't in the picture, it's just me and my 3 best friends,” he said smiling.

You lightly laugh and say, “Ah I'm assuming they are the man with the guitar, the one with the bass and the other with the drumsticks?” You finish with a teasing tilt of your head.

Matty's fingers encircle your wrist as that smile you've quickly grown to love appears on his face once again at your teasing.

“Yes those are the ones. You see we’re all in a band - hence all the instruments. I always tell Annie that Uncle George, Ross, and Adam are our family. So when you asked for a family drawing...”

“She drew her family!” You finish his sentence for him, staring at his hand and holding your wrist as you do. He quickly drops it, and you curse yourself for bringing it to his attention.

You wrap your arms around your stomach protectively in an attempt to hide your mounting embarrassment.

Matty smiles and starts to speak again, only to be interrupted by you, “Wait I understand that, but why did she date it ‘1975’?”

Somehow, Matty's smile grew again, “Our band is called the 1975. Weird, I know, but it comes from me being young and pretentious with a Jack Kerouac book.”

Before you could respond, Annie came bounding over and wrapped herself around her dad's leg, “Dadddd” she complained, pulling out the last letter to announce her annoyance to the world.

“Annieeee” Matty teased back in the same tone as her, picking her up as he did.

“Can we go home now? I want to see mayhem!!” she said, excitedly clapping her hands as she finished.

You shoot Matty a questioning look, and he quickly answers your silent query, “the horse dog” he says teasingly, parroting your earlier words back at you.

“Okay darling, let's get going then,” Matty says with a grunt, putting Annie down, grabbing her hand, and taking her backpack from her.

“Say bye to miss y/n Annie,” he says, smiling sweetly at you, but you can see the mischief brewing in his eyes.

His eyes keep your attention so long you almost miss Annie's sweet goodbye, “bye miss y/n! See you tomorrow! Can we talk about your sparkly clips tomorrow?” she asks with a tilt of her head.

“Of course, little miss Annie!” You say smiling at the young girl. You focus solely on her in an attempt not to get lost in her father's eyes again.

You watch them walk away but after a few steps they pause, Matty turns over his shoulder and waves with his free hand, “Bye miss y/n” he says with a teasing lilt to his voice and a flirty wink.

Before you can even process what just happened, he's strolling away casually, and all the mums in the playground are silently lusting after him.

A heavy breath leaves your chest as you start to watch him leave.

“Isn't he gorgeous” a voice behind you whispers, causing you to jump and let out a small scream. You hold a hand to your chest and look at your colleague with wild eyes.

“Oh my god, Amanda, please do not sneak up on me like that! I'm fragile” you say, now laughing at your ridiculous reaction.

“Sorry, sorry,” she begins giggling, “but isn't he just so hot? Annie was in my class last year, and I used to count down the days until parent’s evening! I mean, who wouldn't want to sit across a desk from a man who looks like that?” Amanda says, wiggling her eyebrows flirtatiously.

She begins to teasingly poke your sides at your awkward silence, and you quickly brush her off and straighten up, “Amanda! You can't talk like that about a parent!” You say, trying and failing to have any conviction in your voice.

“I can when the parent looks like that!” she says, smiling and watching Matty stroll away.

You huff at her behaviour and walk away, desperate to sit down and process what just happened.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your desk chair squeaks as you sit down behind your desk. You spin the chair and pick up a pen to begin marking some spelling tests from last week, but before long, you give up.

Staring off into space with endless thoughts poisoning your mind, only one thing can come out of your mouth.

“fuck."

#matty healy #matty healy fanfic #matty healy fic #matty healy fluff #matty x reader #matty healy x reader #the teacher reader obsession was too real #once again an obnoxious number of hashtags but we move #i hope you dont all hate this #unsurprisingly i do hate it <3 #teacher au!

394 notes · View notes

toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp · 3 months

Text

Hello and welcome to Day 27 of "Let's Explore My Plot Bunnies"

(Sorry Cale, I will be, once again, taking away your peace and quiet)

How is everyone today? Me? I AM IN SHAMBLES! I just finished the Penacony Story Quest Act 1, and my mind and heart are broken. But I still want to finish the 31 days of plot bunnies so here I am with day 27.

This plot bunny is literally an entire series of books. More precisely, this plot bunny is my rewrite of Harry Potter with Cale Henituse (and other characters from the novel) as part of the actual cast.

I titled the plot bunny: "A small change in the script"

I will explain the idea below, but beware it is going to be kind of a long explanation. So, enjoy my rambling! (And I am gonna post some memes about this Au pretty soon)

PS: This is really long. I go through the first 5 years at Hogwarts in some detail (I still have a ton of things I haven't spoken about because brain power is very low and I just wanted to get the idea across first). Also, I am sure I made some miskates, so please forgive me. So beware before you start reading!

We start with Cale Henituse and the Henituse and Thames families in this world.

Starting with the Henituse side, they are a pure-blood wizard family that live in the far north of Germany. They are a family that excels at Charms, especially the Shield Charm, Protego. They are known to be neutral when it comes to the idea of muggles and muggle-borns learning about magic. Or rather than neutral, they think the following: "If the muggles/muggle-borns bring trouble, we will do something about it. But if they don't endanger anyone, there is no need for us to intervene." As such, the family keeps out (for the most part) of the drama that the Wizarding World seems to deal with.

Since they are located in the far north of Germany, Deruth attended and graduated from the Drumstrang Institute, just as many other members of his family.

On the other hand, we have the Thames family. They are a pure-blooded (originally) nomadic wizard family that is scattered around the world. They have (lesser known) ties with the Pevrell and some who know members from this family would say that the Thames family have made deals with Death just as the Pevrell brothers did, for they seem too... welcoming, for the lack of better word, of death.

The Thames family are more akin to a "jack of all trades, master of none" when it comes to their magic. Jour Thames, herself, was extremely talented at Dark Arts (mostly in knowing how to repel them), but her parents were more oriented towards Herbology as a subject of specialization.

Jour Thames had decided to remain in Britain once she got her letter to Hogwarts, while her remaining family still wandered the world. She ended up as a Slytherin, beginning in the same year as Severus Snape (and the rest of the Marauders + Lily). She was pretty much Snape's friend (alongside Lucius) in Slytherin.

Jour and Deruth met during the summer before Jour's 7th year at Hogwarts when she decided to take an impromptu visit in Germany. The one who fell first was Deruth.

Deruth was always interested in Muggles and their technology. He is dead set on settling in the Muggle world and living there for the rest of his life. Jour liked the idea enough, as long as she is still free to go to the Wizarding World to talk with her friends and help them in certain missions - Deruth, of course, had no problem with that.

They married after graduating from their respective schools, moved into a muggle city in Germany (somewhere around Berlin) and had Cale Henituse just 2 years after, when they were 20 (Jour) and 21 (Deruth). Six years later, Jour died under mysterious circumstances, leaving a grieving 6 years old Cale and her husband Deruth behind.

Just a year later, Deruth remarried to Violan, a muggle, who already had a son, Bansen. Violan becomes pregnant with the Lily Henituse the following year, making Lily two years old when Cale leaves for Hogwarts.

As a side note, we also have Kim Rok Soo, Choi Jung Soo, and Lee Soo Hyuk, who attended Hogwarts and were in their 4th year when Jour and Snape entered their first. Kim Rok Soo was in Hufflepuff (everyone in there called him "the little snake that was raised as a badger" because, technically speaking, he would have done splendidly in Slytherin); Chou Jung Soo was in Griffindor; Lee Soo Hyuk was in Ravenclaw.

Kim Rok Soo grew close to Jour Thames, to the point where Jour is ready to publicly claim Rok Soo as her sworn brother, which in turn should make him Cale's uncle. Kim Rok Soo was one of the people (besides Snape, Lucius, and Narcissa) called by Jour after Cale was born to see him. Btw, the date of Cale's birth still coincides with Kim Rok Soo's own birthday (November 8th), and Rok Soo believes Cale to be akin to a blessing to him, which is why he vows to protect the kid even after Jour is dead.

Kim Rok Soo, Choi Jung Soo and Lee Soo Hyuk will later form the "Supernatural Prevention Team" within the Ministry of Magic, a separate type of organization that is mainly about finding whatever "supernatural creature/phenomenon" that appeared in the Muggle world and eliminate it before magic/the supernatural is revealed to Muggles. (Think Mystery Inc. gang from Scooby-Doo but the monsters are half of the time actual real creatures and not just some dudes in constumes)

Cale's name was written in the Book of Admission since the day he was born, mostly because, upon being born, baby Cale managed to let out an influx of magic along with his first cry which shattered the windows of the hospital they were at - thankfully, Jour decided she will give birth to Cale in a Wizard Hospital rather than a Muggle one.

Growing up, Jour basically taught Cale both magic and how to handle magical creatures (I can just imagine that Jour became friends with Aragog during her stay at Hogwarts and she was like "Give my son a giant spider friend too"). Cale, just like the rest of the Thames Family, is a "jack of all trades, master of none" when it comes to his magic and, just like the members of the Henituse Family, he uses Protego a lot more than other spells.

When he goes to Hogwarts, on the train he meets with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. All of them are 1st years, but Cale finds the other two a bit... too childish - especially when Ron starts insulting the Slytherin House and its members by calling them all "evil" and "deranged". But instead of lashing out, Cale calmly points out that Merlin was a Slytherin too, while also calling out different names of people from the Griffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff who were branded as criminals in the past. When asked by Ron how he knows so much, Cale's response is "Unlike you, I do enjoy reading books", before taking out a book and starting to read, completely ignoring the other two.

When Cale gets sorted, the Sorting Hat pretty much is at a loss. Cale has recklessness of a Griffindor, the intelligence of a Ravenclaw, the loyalty of a Hufflepuff, and the cunningness of a Slytherin. Cale's own mentality of "I don't care in which house I get sorted into" doesn't help the Hat either. So the Hat spends well over 5 minutes trying to dig deep enough into Cale's character so that it can actually put him in a house. In the end, the Hat finds that Cale's ambition - which is to take over Kim Rok Soo's position as the current leader (which he got mainly because Lee Soo Hyuk decided ot will be funny to put Rok Soo as the leader) of the "Supernatural Prevention Team" - is pretty strong and decides to sort him into Slytherin. Snape is pretty pleased with that since he also wants to look after Cale. Dumbledore isn't as pleased since Cale looks like a smart kid, and he thinks he is very vulnerable to Voldemort's influence.

Cale integrates pretty well into the Slytherin House, getting along well with Blaise Zabini and, somewhat well, with Draco Malfoy. (It's mostly as "babysitter" type of relationship at the beginning: Cale makes sure Draco doesn't get in that much trouble by calling him out of some things, while Draco is basically the sulky kid that was told "no" for the first time in his life - Cale is not impressed by Draco's attempt at "puppy dog eyes")

However, Cale also ends up, more often than not, around Harry, Hermione, and Ron and deals with their shenanigans. He is the one who convinced the 3 that it was impossible for Snape to be behind Harry's broom going out of control during the Quiddich match and, while they Ron and Hermione don't truly believe him, Harry thinks Cale is not lying. The reason Harry believes Cale so much? Because Cale has never in the months prior ever told lies - Harry fact checked even the names that Cale said were criminals on the train at the beginning of the year, and it turned out he was correct. Same goes for anything else Cale has said before.

Because of this, they reason that Professor Quirell might have been behind all of this, but without proof, they can't be sure of anything.

When they find out that the Philosopher's Stone is in danger of being stolen, the 3 (who also kinda dragged Cale with them) attempt to get to the stone and protect it while Dumbledore is away in London. Cale takes a liking to Fluffy and employs the methods that his mother taught him to calm down magic creatures of all kind - sharing a bit of his magic with them. By doing this, Cale basically shares his emotional state with the creatures he gave magic to, and manages to calm them down as long as Cale himself is calm.

He insists that the other move quickly after Quirell and tells Harry to be careful because he just knows that Quirell's magic just feels off. Once they are gone and Fluffy is back asleep, Cale goes to Snape and informs him of Quirell's actions. Because of this, Snape ends up there when Quirell dies from a combination of Lily's protective charm and the true Quirell's will fighting against Voldemort's control at the very end. (Basically while his body was burnt from the protective charm, Quirell's mind was trying to keep Voldemort from doing too much damage because he realized... Harry is a fucking child and this is wrong on so many levels. So Quirell fights back, but still dies)

While Dumbledore tells Harry he did the right thing, trauma is a bitch, and I refuse to think Harry wouldn't have trauma from seeing someone die in front of him. Cale finds Harry looking like he is about to cry in the hallways so he takes Harry away and, once more, puts his mother's teachings in action. Jour told Cale when he was little that in Hogwarts, as long as you actually need it, you can ask Hogwarts itself for a room - be it if you need it for studying or just as a place to hide.

Cale asks Hogwarts for a place where he and Harry can be alone, and Hogwarts obliges. Once in the silence and safety of that room, Cale tells Harry he can let it go. Harry starts crying. While he may not be the best at comfort, Cale shares that Harry is not the only person who went through something like that since Cale himself watched his mother die on a hospital bed. Harry feels closer to Cale after this instance and thinks to himself that he will try his best to be a good friend to Cale as he was to him. (Cale: Since when was I a good friend? Since when are we friends?)

In the 2nd year, Cale's interest was piqued when Harry spoke Parseltongue during his duel with Draco Malfoy. This alone made Cale suspicious about how intertwined their family lines were with the Slytheirn line since Cale can also speak Parseltongue.

Since the Secret Chamber's serial petrifications cases already started, Cale is immediately suspicious since he knows Harry doesn't have the spine to do such a thing, and Cale himself thinks it's too much of a bother - so someone else is doing something here, and Cale has a strong belief that there is something more to Moaning Myrthle, the ghost from the girl's bathroom on the second floor. (In the meantime, Harry is freaking out because he is half convinced he is doing something while sleep-walking)

After Hermionie is petrified and Hagrid is sent to Azkaban, both Cale and Harry (and Ron, who still didn't like Cale all that much) decide they should do something.

Trying to prove that Hagrid is innocent, Harry and Ron take Hagrid's advice to follow the spiders while Cale tries to find something by asking Hogwarts. Cale asks if there are any books that might help them discover the reason why students are getting petrified. Hogwarts' response is to get him into a room with books on magical creatures.

Once Cale finds out about the Basilisk and about the Acromantula. Knowing that both Harry and Ron went to the Forbidden Forest following Hagrid's advice, Cale immediately goes there as well, making use of his mother's way to tame magical creatures to get to Aragog's lair. Since Aragon knew Jour, Aragog recognizes Cale's magic as belonging to someone blood related to Jour. By sharing his magic with Aragog, Cale gains Aragog's favor and lets the 3 go. (It's way more complicated that I made it look here, but the words elude me for the moment, so this is the short version)

After this, Ron seems to be just a tad nicer to Cale since he pretty much saved them from the giant spiders. Cale tells them about what the information he found about the Basilisk, a creature that fits the narrative of what has been happening recently. Finding a note in the petrified Hermione's hand just proves Cale's deductions correctly. And then Ginny is kidnapped.

When they hear that Lockheart wants to deal with the creature himself, Cale advises Harry and Ron to be careful when dealing with Lockheart since Cale's instincts scream danger whenever the guy is near. They still go and try to tell him what they found about the Basilisk but instead they find that Lockheart, as per Cale's ("frankly scary" as Ron would say) intuition, is a fraud and tries to use the Memory Charm on them too. Cale disarms him.

This time around, both Harry and Cale are trapped inside the Chamber of Secrets after the ceiling caves in due to Ron's broken wand's misfire (don't worry, Lockheart still gets a taste of his own medicine called the Memory Charm).

This is where Harry learns that Cale can also speak Parseltongue and where Cale informs Harry that it is mostly only the descendants of Slytherin who can speak it, bringing forth the idea that in some way they are both related to Slytherin by blood.

During the battle with Tom Marvolo Riddle, Cale is the one who decided to take a leap of faith and protect Harry when Tom ordered the Basilisk to kill him. Thinking fast, Cale orders the Basilisk to stop altogether, banking on the fact that he might also be a contender for the "Slytherin's Heir" position. If the gamble fails Cale dies, but if it succeeds Cale, Ginny and Harry will manage to live. The gamble pays out as the Basilisk stops and, through broken hisses, wishes for her death so that she will not become a weapon of war for Tom Riddle.

Harry pulls out the Sword of Griffindor from the Hat and stabs the Basilisk, after which Tom decides to take matters into his own hands by attacking Harry. Cale, during the battle, talks with the Sorting Hat and finds out that Basilisk Venom will kill whatever the Tom Marvolo Riddle in front of him is as long as he uses it on the source of the magic. To put an end to everything, Cale is the one that stabs the diary with one of the Basilisk's fangs, causing the Tom before them to dissipate.

Towards the end of the year, Cale is dead set on getting him and Harry to Gringotts, where they could have a test done to decipher their family tree and relations to other families. Once there, Cale teaches Harry another thing: the Gringotts Goblins can be your best friend or your worst enemy, so choose wisely. Cale's associate from the bank, a goblin named Rodnar, is the one that they met and the one that helps them with the test.

Turns out, both of them are related to the Slytherin Family, which explains the Parseltongue. They expected that much. Harry got confirmation about his own family and was informed that he is the one in charge of the Potter Family Vault - provisory for now, permanent holder once he reaches 17 years of age.

At the same time, because of the tests they had to do, the Goblins become somewhat worried when they detect foreign magic inside of Harry Potter's body - specifically, dark magic.

Remembering what happened with Voldemort during their first year, Cale and Harry accept a full test on the dark magic and decide that if it is Voldemort's, they will find a way to get rid of it. This marks the beginning of a 3 year-long plan to get rid of Voldemort once and for all.

During the summer before the 3rd Year, Cale spends time with Kim Rok Soo and his team. Rok Soo tells Cale stories of his years at Hogwarts, and he teaches Cale the Patronus Charm. Cale's Patrons turns out to be a Thestral - mostly because most of the happy memories Cale has are with his mother and her death affected Cale a lot more than people think at first glance.

Year 3 begins with both Cale and Harry meeting a Dementor on the train, with various reactions to it. While Harry faints and develops as deep fear of Dementors, Cale's experience is a bit different. When the Dementor appears before him, Cale's magic seems to go just a bit out of control, which makes the Dementor flitch due to its potency. Cale doesn't seem to be as affected by that encounter, which is something Remus Lupin takes note of when Cale comes and visits Harry's train compartment to check on him.

When Harry sneaks into Hogsmeade, he meets up with Cale, who is there to buy candy for Bansen and Lily as Christmas gifts. While Harry is in one of the shops, Cale notices a black dog and starts petting it, finding the animal quite cute. When Harry comes out and finds Cale petting the dog, he not only recognizes the dog but also believes it is weird for the dog to have followed him around.

When it is time for them to return, Harry tells Cale both about the dog and about the tunnel he used to get to Hogsmeade (and the conversation he overheard). Cale is immediately suspicious about the dog and very interested about the Marauder's Map, thinking that whomever created it is a very skilled wizard.

After the divination class where Professor Trelawney gave her prediction about what will happen in the future, Cale contacts Rodnar and asks him if he can find anything on the case of Sirius Black, since he believes something is not quite right there. Rodnar contacts Cale back a bit later, telling him that there is no such thing as a court hearing of Sirius Black and that he was sent immediately to Azkaban. From there, Cale works with Susan Bones and her aunt to resolve this clear lack of justice accorded to Sirius Black's case and to get his name cleared.

In the meantime, Harry, Hermione, and Ron hear about Buckbeak's execution and try to prevent it.

The more Cale digs into the past of Sirius Black and his crimes, the more suspicious everything becomes. Then, he remembers Scabbers looks peculiar for a pet rat - specifically, that Scabbers is a rat with a missing finger. Realizing Harry and the others are in danger, Cale attempts to reach them in time to help, only to end up coming a bit too late and assisting Harry and Hermione with the Time-Turner, coming with them to the past and having his Patronus help Harry's when they need to get the Dementors to back away from Sirius and past Harry.

Once Sirius is safe, Cale presents to Sirius his options: 1. He continues like this and hides for the rest of his life or 2. He can accept help from Cale and present his case to the Ministry of Magic and get some mind healing sessions, after which he will be free to take custody of Harry.

Of course, Sirius accepts Cale's help, and Remus Lupin even jokes that if he didn't agree, Remus himself would have dragged him to get help. When Sirius asks why Cale is doing all of this, Cale just replies that this will help Harry and annoy a certain people he quite dislikes. By the 5th year, Harry is in Sirius's custody.

Towards the end of the 3rd Year, Cale tells Harry to meet him in the Chamber of Secrets. When Harry arrives, Cale tells him that there is something very strange about the Chamber - it was way too empty. Understanding where he is going with this Harry asks if Cale found anything that tells him there is something more to the Chamber. Cale says that it is merely his intuition.

The two spend the night there trying to find something amiss within the room. During this time, Cale tells Harry he should be weary of Dumbledore. When Harry asks why, Cale replies: "Men like Dumbledore care only about their plans, not about the people that are part of their plans. Dumbledore is the same type of person that I am. So be careful around him and scrutinize every word he says."

Harry, internally, disagrees on the view that Cale has of himself, thinking that although Cale might not show it the conventional way, he truly does care about him and the others.

The two, in the end, find that there is a secret library inside the Chamber of Secrets, full of books from the time of Salazar Slytherin. They even find his journal. Cale decides to try and memorize as much of this library as he could, looking for ways to try and get rid of Voldemort, whom Cale suspects to be behind the Dark Magic inside Harry's body. In the library, Cale and Harry find some information on Horcruxes - something even Salazar Slythrin called "a practice that no one should ever attempt at any point in their life" and they both start making connections between Voldemort and Horcruxes. This is how year 3 ends.

Year 4, for Cale, starts with hearing about the Death Eaters raid after the Quidditch Championship. Knowing that this is merely the beginning of the trouble, Cale starts conversing with Kim Rok Soo about the situation. Kim Rok Soo asks Cale to be careful and not to be reckless should he ever come across a Death Eater.

At Hogwarts, Cale decides to make more progress in the memorization of the books in Salazar Slytherin's secret library. The book that he starts reading explains the concept of "magic reflection" as a defensive technique in a duel. Cale starts thinking if this could be used against the Unforgivable Curses that Mad-Eye Moody showed them during the Defense Against the Dark Arts.

When the Triwizard Tournament starts and Harry is suddenly and inexplicably chosen to be part of it, Cale immediately suspects Dumbledore of putting Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire. He tells as much to Harry and the others, feeling that even if his suspicion turns out to be wrong, at least they will keep their guard up during the competition.

During the competition, Cale tries to help Harry as much as he can to prepare - and that includes stopping Ron's jealousy from going too far. So Cale invites Ron to have tea with him and talk to him about his insecurities. Cale tells Ron not to let his feelings destroy a friendship that he cherishes, and instead, invites Ron to come to him and talk about whatever he wants as a way to get things off his chest. Cale reasons with himself that he already does that (in some capacity) with Draco since the second year so having Ron do this too is not that much trouble now.

From there, things progress normally. During the Yule Ball, Cale attends with Susan Bones. The two discussed the happenings in the previous year and what happened this year as well. Susan is well aware that Harry couldn't have gotten into the TriWizard Tournament without someone else putting his name in the Goblet, and she feels pity for Harry, who has to deal with so many things happening to him. Both Susan and Cale decide that this year protecting Harry and finding who made him part of the Tournament is the most important thing. Both also remark how Rita Skeeter is a very annoying type of journalist and that if she becomes a problem, both of them will do their best to deal with her.

On the day of the last task for the tournament, the Weasley Twins decided to pull a little prank and, though sheer bad luck, Cale ends up being the one that the prank falls on. Cale has to change clothes due to the twins' prank, and a Hufflepuff student tells Cale he can take his spare robes. (The Hufflepuff kinda like Cale ever since Susan vouched for him despite being a Slytherin.)

Cale takes the offer. Feeling that something is about to go wrong, Cale asks Harty before hand if he can borrow the Invisibility Cloak. Harry, although confused, accepts.

When the third task starts, Cale sneaks into the labyrinth with the Invisibility Cloak and tries to stay around Harry to make sure he will be fine. Cale loses sight of Harry at one point but finds Cedric Diggory, a 7th year Hufflepuff student and gives himself away in his haste. When Cedric asks Cale why he is there, Cale tells him he is not there to intervene with the Tournament, he is just there to make sure Harry makes it out in one piece. Liking the loyalty Cale showed and fully agreeing that Harry is in need of protection, Cedric tells Cale he will help Harry if he is in a any trouble. Cale thanks him and the two make their way through the maze, later meeting Harry at the place where Cup was.

When Cale realized that the Triwizard Cup was a Portkey, Cale also held onto the Cup being transported with Cedric and Harry to the graveyard where Peter Pettigrew was. When Peter tries to use Avada Kadavra on Cedric, Cale employs the "magic refection" technique he read in the Chamber's library, casting Protego and praying that the Unspeakable Curse will bounce off the shield he created. It does happen, but Cale miscalculated and Harry still ends up injured and his blood is used to raise Lord Voldemort from the grave.

Voldemort and Harry still duel, which resulted in the Priori Incantatem still taking effect. Thinking fast, Cale tells Harry to come behind him with Cedric and sets up a new shield. This buys the three kids time, as Cale tells Harry and Cedric to take the Cup once again while their are under the shield so that they can go back. When the two ask Cale what he will do, Cale just tells them he will be fine. Once they are gone, Cale turns his attention towards Voldemort and his followers. Voldemort is indignant at the attitude of a mere Hufflepuff child and fires another Avada Kadavra. Cale knew that if that spell hit the shield will not save him. As such, Cale did another stupid thing: he used a type of magic he only read about before, Apparition.

Cale ends up in the Forbidden Forest, with a shoulder injury but otherwise alive after his 1ts successful Apparition.

Later on, after Cale makes his way back to Hogwarts, he finds out that both Harry and Cedric are alive and well. Harry and Cedric were worried sick about Cale but unanimously decided not to mention Cale's presence in the graveyard because they know Dumbledore doesn't like Slytherin students and they both fear Cale will be in trouble.

When Dumbledore talks with Harry in private later, Harry keeps in mind that Cale warned him not to trust Dumbledore. Cale's works seem to be proven right when Harry noticed Dumbledore looks triumphant when he hears Harry's blood was used to bring Voldemort back to the living. Feeling hurt, Harry seeks out Cale to tell him thing, and Cale comforts Harry as best as he can.

A bit later, Cale tells Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Cedric to meet up to discuss what happened during the tournament. Cedric shows up and brings with him most of the other classmates who also feel something is weird about this. When Harry tells about his conversation with Dumbledore, everyone is quite mad because they don't like that Dumbledore went to the extreme of putting Harry's name in the Goblet to use him as a pawn in his own schemes. When someone points out that Barty Crouch Jr. who disguised as Mad Eye Moody could have done that, Harry points out that Moody was Dumbledore's friend, so would Dumbledore really be fooled by Barty's act?

When that was pointed out, everyone became quiet. Cale breaks the silence by telling everyone that whatever is happening will not be resolved by the Ministry of Magic. Susan backs Cale up, stating that her aunt told her that Fudge is not as reliable as people think.

Cale proposes everyone to work together from the inside of Hogwarts since they will most likely be in danger, most are skeptical - especially Ron who doesn't trust Draco or any of the other Slytherin that much. Cale tells Ron it is understandable for him not to he OK with this arrangement but if they don't work together, the ones that will lose will be them.

Someone asks Cale if he has a plan since he is so sure of what he said. Cale looks at Harry, who nods in response, and says: "Harry and I have a plan. It's risky and very difficult to put in action. But my main question to you all is: Do you trust us?" The others nodded, some faster, others more reluctant. Cale smiles and then proceeds to tell the: "Then trust me when I say, we need to help the Slytherin students to be on our side. They are just kids. They are scared more of their parents' words/actions if they disobey, rather than the consequences of their blind loyalty. That undying piece of shit is using them as a means to an end, and when their usefulness expires, he will get rid of them. Just because they are Slytherin doesn't mean they don't deserve to be helped." Harry takes it from there: "Which is why we want to show them that they still have a choice. Cale has tried his best until now to make his fellow Slytherin understand that, but to no avail. Now, if we work together, we might just be able to save them from all of this."

Draco is a bit surprised by this since he never realized Cale tried to help the others in the Slytherin House. Cale, seeing his reaction, explains to Draco that when dealing with Slytherins, you can't show too much that you are against the Dark Lord's orders since that will immediately alert them. The Slytherin kids know that if someone betrays the Dark Lord, they should tell their parents, or they will be called an accomplice to their betrayal. So Cale cannot be upfront with the others, but putting seeds of doubt in their minds is better than nothing at this point. If they play their cards right, the other Slytherin will doubt the validity of the Dark Lord's words at one point or another. What they need is to make that happen sooner.

The meeting ends with that and with a confirmation from Cedric that he will help Cale with whatever he needs over the summer. Cale tells Cedric, Draco, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Neville, Luna, Susan, and Terry to meet him again during the summer because he needs their help with something that is essential to their plan.

(After the meeting, the Hufflepuff house pretty much adopts Cale as well. Especially after Cedric tells them that Cale saved his life during the confrontation with Peter Pettigrew and later with Voldemort. When they realize Cale's shoulder is still hurt after the Apparition, the entire house puts Cale into blankets and makes hot chocolate for him. Cale, albeit confused, doesn't complain)

During the summer, the group meets up and, amidst all the planning, they bond. Draco becomes more friendly with Harry and his group, much to Cale's approval. Meanwhile, everyone starts seeing Cale as the leader of the entire movement/group, although Cale remains oblivious to that. Harry is officially put under Sirius's care during this time, to Dumbledore's disapproval. (Not that there is much he can do about it since the Ministry of Magic not only approved of this but pushed for this to happen. All thanks to Amelia Bones, btw.) Because of this new arrangement for Harry, Cale ends up visiting him at 12 Grimmauld Place during summer and, though Cale honestly doesn't know why, Kreacher takes a liking to Cale, while still disliking Sirius and, somewhat, Harry too. (Look, don't ask Cale. He was just polite to Kreacher. He was taught to be polite to older creatures since young goddammit)

Also, Cale and Harry get some useful updates on the research for a way to get the Dark Magic out of Harry from Rodnar and the staff at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. All in all, the summer passes quickly for everyone. Especially with the hearing Harry has to go through in August - thanks a lot, Dumbledore - but at least now they know fully that no one believes that Voldemort is back. They can cross out the idea of going to the Ministry for help in this situation.

Then, the fifth year starts, and everyone is introduced to Dolores Umbridge, their new DADA teacher for the year.

When Harry first gets the Umbridge Detention experience, complete with the (illegal) enchanted quill, it is Cale that he chooses to go to first. Cale, although enraged with Umbridge, tells Harry to keep his head down and try not to go against Umbridge. When asked why, Cale replies with: "I have a plan to deal with her, but I need you and everyone else to keep out of trouble for now." Harry, reluctantly, agrees to that.

Meanwhile, Cale poses as a perfectly obedient student in front of Umbridge, telling her that his father has chosen him as the successor to the family business and that he has to conform, and, as such, he won't be able to join the little army of students she is making. Umbridge, seeing that as a pertinent excuse, agrees and notes that Cale and his family would be a wonderful addition to the Dark Lord's army, especially once they are swayed to his side. Cale, on the other hand, is actually digging for misdeeds of Umbridge so he can report her.

To make sure that the report would actually work, Cale meets with Snape and asks what the requirements for a Hogwarts teacher are to be expelled from their position. Snape, guessing where this is going, tells Cale that there needs to be 3 wrongdoings recognized by the Ministry of Magic (with proof) for the teacher to be expelled. He also warns Cale that he will not hesitate to expell Cale should he be found out to be the one behind whatever he is trying to do. Cale takes that as a challenge and asks Snape for a favor: to give Cale lessons in Occlumency. Snape does agree. However, he states that the lessons will stop the moment Cale makes one mistake or the moment he thinks Cale's little scheme to get rid of Umbridge (which Snape also wants to happen mind you) will be found out. And so, before in October, Cale's first lessons in Occlumency begin.

During this time, Cale works with Harry and the others and creates the Hogwarts Army, once it is clear they won't learn anything from Umbridge as their DADA teacher. They use the Chamber of Secrets as their true meeting spot, with the Room of Requirement as a front. Meanwhile, Draco, who is part of the group created by Umbridge, named the Inquisitorial Squad, is trying to do as Cale told them at the end of last year - to place seeds of doubt in the minds of the other Slytherin students. Draco chooses to do so by pointing out that Umbridge's temperament is getting worse - today she was screaming at some 2nd year kids from the Hufflepuff house, and tomorrow she might just start screaming at us. To divert suspicion from himself, Draco just says that he just finds the old hag's attitude annoying since she is merely a half-blood compared to most of the Slytherin students who are pure blooded and that if she ever rises her voice at us then should we, pure-bloods, just stand there and take it? ("My father will hear about this" intensifies)

This attempt does plant some doubt in the others although Draco sees it as a failure.

Until Januray, Cale puts his little scheme in action. First, using the Occlumency Lessons from Snape, Cale makes sure to create a pensive containing the memory of Umbridge stating that she is part of the Swayer Family - which he will use later in the year. Next, after digging into Umbridge's past, he strikes a deal with the Ghosts of Hogwarts - including Peevees - that has them spreading rumors around about Umbridge and whatever mistakes and scandals he could find in her past. Finally, he contacts Kim Rok Soo with these findings and urges his uncle to finish his part of the plan before coming to Hogwarts to take care of Umbridge.

When Harry has his vision of the attack on Mr. Weasly, instead of bringing it up to Dumbledore, Harry finds Cale and tells him that they need to start putting their plan in action. This leads to Harry still taking Occlumency Lessons, but instead of Snape teaching him, it is Cale (who took the Polyjuice Potion to look like Snape) that teaches him. This is merely a front for part of their plan. Since they know now that Voldemort is the owner of the Dark Magic inside Harry, the two want to use this connection Harry has with Voldemort to find out about the locations of his Horcruxes. The principle they use is something studied by Salazar Slytherin, who writes in his library that there is a way to feed false information to someone but that person's mental state should be less than perfect for it to work. Combined with the knowledge that whomever attempts to create a Horcrux will have their mental state damaged, Cale and Harry decide they can actually try this on Voldemort. So Cale teaches Harry how to implant imaginary situations inside Voldemort's head, with Voldemort thinking that these are Harry's actual memories that seeped through their connection rather than just made-up scenarios. In the meantime, Harry learns about the Horcruxes: the diary they have destroyed during their 2nd year; the Gaunt's Family Ring that is currently in Dumbledore's possession; the Slytherin Locket - location unknown; the Hufflepuff Cup - location unknown; Ravenclaw Diadem - location unknown; and finally Nagini, who is always with Voldemort.

Knowing they have to destroy these items, the two start searching for them using the easiest way they could think of - asking Hogwarts. Cale asks Hogwarts if there is any room inside that castle that has a Horcrux inside of it, and, in response, Hogwarts opens the way to the Room of Requirement where the two find Ravenclaw Diadem - after a long time of searching.

From there, they announce Rodnar and the Gringotts Bank about the fact that there are more Horcruxes than anyone could have guessed and tell them what items they are. Knowing this, the Goblins make an inspection of the vaults in search of a signature of dark magic, finding the Hufflepuff Cup and giving it to Cale. With 2 Horcruxes in their hands, 1 already destroyed and 1 in Dumbledore's hands, the two decide that the Slytheri Locket should be their next target. But, with no concrete location for it yet, the two turn their attention towards dealing with Umbridge, who has been getting more and more angry due to the rumors that were spread around by the Hogwarts Ghosts.

Umbridge's temperament is truly getting out of hand, for she even starts yelling at her own Inqisitorial Squad when the rumors don't stop. This makes the Slytherin doubt their choice of loyalty even more since Umbridge is a half-blood and she is allowed to yell at them (pure-blood wizards) and the Dark Lord seems to not have heard or done anything about it.

In April, where Umbridge would become the Headmistress in canon, instead there is a visit from Kim Rok Soo, his teammates and 2 other officials from the Ministry of Magic because Cale sent the evidence that he found about Umbridge. They accuse Umbridge of "impersonation of a successor to a pure-blood wizard family" with the proof being the pensive that Cale send of Umbridge claiming she is related to the Swayer Family which turns out to be a lie. Next, they present the evidence of her taking bribes and other means of payment as a member of the Ministry, which is illegal by all means.

During these accusations, Umbridge becomes more and more furious, knowing that it was a student who organized all of this. Since the accusation scene takes place in the Main Hall with most of the students and teachers present, Umbridge sees Cale, who appears (to her) a bit smug. Knowing that even if she tries, she can't prove her innocence anymore, she decides to take Cale down with her. Umbrige uses Crucio on Cale, which causes him quite a lot of pain.

Meanwhile, Cale is very much aware that there is a chance that Umbridge will attack whomever she thinks is responsible for her downfall. He, however, is fully ready to take whatever Umbridge will do because 1. it will only serve to incriminate her further and 2. Cale was the one that came up with this plan, he will not let someone else take the fall for him. (Although Umbridge casting Crucio was not in his plans)

The pain that Umbridge's Crucio brings Cale is quickly stopped by Kim Rok Soo who punches Umbridge and leaves her unconscious. (Go get her, Rok Soo!!!!)

This incident happens in front of the already doubtful Slytherin students, who know (read: think they know) Cale is innocent and immediately jump to help him since he is pretty much down for the count, Draco and Blaise being the first ones to try and see if Cale is alright. Harry and the others then point out that this is not the only time Umbridge has resorted to punishments such as these, telling the officials of the Ministry about the enchanted blood pen that Harry was forced to use in detentions. (To say that Snape and McGonagall weren't horrified was a lie) Other students, including the Slytherins, came up to tell about how Umbridge kept yelling and blaming them for every little thing that went wrong for her.

Cale was taken to the infirmary where he is recovering, while Kim Rok Soo is very much aware that Cale might have even planned for himself to become a target of Umbridge to further incriminate her. Kim Rok Soo doesn't like that one bit. He tells as much to Snape in private (with whom he is still friends btw) and asks Snape to look after Cale. Kim Rok Soo is not able to stay long since they have to get Umbridge to an interrogation (Kim Rok Soo promises to make her scream during it btw) and, later, to incriminate Fudge who was responsible for putting Umbridge in charge of children at Hogwarts. (In other words: Operation "Ministry Take Over" is a go!)

A few days later, Cale wakes up at the infirmary. He is still in a bit of pain, but not nearly as much. Snape is the one that stays with him and the one that is there when Cale wakes up. Snape does tell Cale that what he did was extremely dangerous and stupid (2 attributes that are very much Griffindor-esque), Cale counters with "I can't just let her send a Crucio at another, probably, even younger student, right? Also, how was I supposed to know she knows Crucio of all spells?" Still, Cale does get a lecture from both Snape and, later, McGonagall. And it's not like his friends (from any house) are pleased with this either.

After this, things go back to normal. However, in May, Cale gets a letter from Kreacher. Kreacher feels like Cale and the late Regulus Black share a lot of things - specifically their desire to make things right. In the letter, Kreacher states that he knows where the Slytherin Locket is and that he knows (from the Goblins that he converses with) that Cale is after the Horcruxes. Kreacher says he is willing to give the Slytherin Locket to Cale as long as Cale promises that what they are doing will bring justice to the death of Regulus Black, the last member of the Black Family that Kreacher actually cares for. Cale sends back his promise to do so and tells Kreacher he could come and see that the promise is kept towards the end of the year.

When the O.W.Ls begin and Harry has that vision of Sirius dying, the group knows it is time to move. Harry and Cale instruct the remaining members of the Hogwarts Army to be in full alert mode, knowing that Voldemort plans to keep Hogwarts occupied by sending an army of Dark Creatures while he is at the Ministry of Magic. Harry also tells Sirius to not, under any measure, come to the Ministry of Magic - advice which is ignored and Sirius even brings Remus along since he was there when Harry sent the message. (Thankfully, Kim Rok Soo intercepted the 2 idiots or they would be dead)

Cale, Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna, Terry, Susan, and Cedric go to the Ministry of Magic, fully aware of Voldemort and his Death Eaters being there, but also fully aware that they have a plan.

The final showdown happens in the Department of Mysteries, where Cale has convinced his uncle, Kim Rok Soo, to set up the trap that they need to get rid of Voldemort once and for all.

When Voldemort and his Death Eathers (Bellatrix included, but no Lucius) appear, the trap activates, and there appears an array under their feet. The ten kids start their incantations (all of them having different ones, mind you), and a shield separates Voldemort and his minions from the kids. As they continue their incantation, Voldemort tries to use Avada Kadavra on Harry or Cale, but the shield redirects the spell towards Voldemort himself (tho it doesn't quite hit him). Bellatrix is also trying to use any spell against the kids, Neville in particular, but they are also bounced back. Seeing that their spells are ineffective, Voldemort and his minions resort to taunting to make even one of them lose their concentration, which could lead to the array breaking. Bellatrix starts taunting Draco saying things like "If your parent saw you doing this, they will do everyone a favor and kill him on the spot" or "You are a traitor who sided with the mugles. Do you really have no shame or respect for your pure-blooded origins?". Draco, although he is deadly afraid of his father's opinion of him, is also fully aware that he had never felt more at ease than when he is around Cale and the other. He, aware of the consequences, decided to take matters in his own hand and chose his own path - and he chooses to help Cale and Harry. He doesn't falter in his incantation, nor does he fall for the taunts of Bellatrix, which annoys her.

Voldemort, meanwhile, is going back and forth between trying to get a raise out of Cale and Harry or trying to recruit Cale in his army by telling him about the power he will be given. Neither budge.

When the incantations are complete, Voldemort and his minions find themselves sealed inside a crystal ball. The walls of the crystal ball basically absorb any spells thrown at them and reflect them right back. This makes Voldemort and his minions into a non-existent threat. Cale even taunts Voldemort saying that only our blood can get them out of the crystal balls now. The 10 kids congratulate each other for a job well done. Before they leave the Ministry, they meet with Lucius. Voldemort and Bellatrix are gleeful, thinking that Lucius will kill the kids. The one that speaks up is Draco, who tells Lucius not to get in their way. Lucius looks at his son, lowers his wand, and let's them through, telling Draco that he is proud of him. Voldemort and Bellatrix call Lucius a traitor, but Lucius looks at them as says: "The only one I was ever loyal to was my family. You are not part of my family" before ruffling Draco's hair and leaving. Draco is still in shock (but also very happy) even after they leave the Ministry and go to Hogwarts.

Meanwhile, at Hogwarts, the rest of the Hogwarts Army decides to take part in the fight against the Dark Creatures sent by Voldemort, much to the disagreement of the teachers. During the fight, Slytherin students also enter the fray on the Hogwarts Army side. Most of the Slytherin students were already against the Dark Lord after seeing how Umbridge behaved towards them and how she attacked Cale. Now, they make a full statement by fighting against the Dark Lord. The fight ends without casualties - the injuries the students get are not death threatening.

When McGonagall and the other teachers (including Dumbledore) are about to ask/scold the children for their recklessness, Cale and the others return with Voldemort and his Death Eaters in the crystal balls. When Cale starts explaining the plan that has been in the making for the last 3 years (at least), Cedric, Ron and Neville dissappear for a while, only to return with the Hufflepuff Cup, the Ravenclaw Diadem, and the Sword of Griffindor and a vial of Basilisk Venom in hands.

Cale tells everyone present of what Voldemort did to his own soul and how the items that were brought here are some of the Horcruxes. Ron takes the Sword of Griffindor and puts Basilisk Venom on it, before bringing it down onto the Cup and the Diadem, destroying 2 of the Horcruxes in front of Voldemort.

Luna and Hermione look at Dumbledore and tell him to give them the Gaunt Ring that they know is with him so that it can be destroyed too. During all this, Cale explains how he and Harry came across the connection between Harry and Voldemort and how they used said connection to make sure that they found the Horcruxes. When Occlumency is mentioned, it finally clicks for Snape what Cale used his lessons for. When Snape asks Cale why he couldn't tell him directly of his plan, Cale says: "You were already in a lot of danger since you played the double spy for Dumbledore, Professor Snape. If I told you all of this, it might put you in even more trouble with either Voldemort or Dumbledore." (Cale has suspected that Snape was a double spy since the beginning but with no proof it was hard to even say this; the others started suspecting this during this year). The Ring is also destroyed, this time by Cedric.

Voldemort laughs since there are 2 more Horcruxes, and the kids don't have them. Cale stops him by calling out for Kreacher, who is waiting with Dobby to make his entrance. Kreacher gives Cale the Slytherin Locket and, while looking straight at Voldemort and Bellatrix, tells Cale to destroy it and finally fulfill the last wish of his late Master Regulus.

Cale takes the Locket and looks at Kreacher, who nods. He takes a breath and speaks, for the first time in front of everyone, in Parseltongue, and thus opens the Locket. Once open, he holds out his hand to Cedric, who gives Cale the Sword of Griffindor, and Cale destroys the Slytherin Locket. Now, 5 of the Horcruxes are destroyed. But there is still Nagini, who is still missing.

When Voldemort points that out, Harry looks at the clock and tells everyone to wait a bit.

After a while, Kim Rok Soo (together with 2 dogs *cough* Sirius and Remus *cough*) enters the Main Hall and says: "Sorry I was late. I was snake hunting, and I found 2 dogs on the road as well, " and points to Nagini (who is struggling against some magic binds) and Sirius and Remus, who look like confused puppies.

Cale and Harry tell them they were just in time. Cale then looks at Voldemort and states: "I thought about how you deserve to die, Voldemort, and I felt like a quick death is too kind for you after the amount of trouble you gave everyone. So, I decided I should let you die the death you fear most: the death of muggles. No death in a battle, nor by a sword. But by starvation. Slow and painful."

While Cale was speaking, Kim Rok Soo brought Nagini closer. However, in a last-ditch effort, Nagini manages to free herself from the bindings and makes a dash to bite Cale. Neville, although scared, takes the Sword of Griffindor from Cale's hands and kills Nagini, protecting Cale.

And with this all the hope Voldemort ever had vanished as Nagini dissipates.

Everyone congratulates Neville for his bravery, although Neville doesn't feel like he did anything much - he just says that his body moved on its own and that this was by far the scariest thing he ever went through.

Cale and Harry share looks, and then they say things aren't really over yet. Cale passes Harry a bottle of liquid and tells everyone that Voldemort has one more Horcrux, one not even Voldemort knew about - Harry. He then proceeds to tell everyone about their findings at the end of the 2nd year and what the St Mungo Hospital found as a solution - it is a potion that will expell any magic in someone's body, be it theirs or someone else's. Harry says he will take the risk that the potion poses because he trusts Cale to bring him back if something goes wrong. Harry then proceeds to find a chair nearby and sit down. He drinks the potion and slowly falls unconscious.

Cale keeps a keen eye on him the entire time while explaining how the potion works. Whoever takes the potion will have their magic slowly seeping from their body into the air around them. This can kill the person, which is why a maximum of 5 minutes of unconsciousness is the amount permitted before someone actually dies. If the person who took the potion spends more than 5 minutes into unconsciousness they will defines die.

During the next 2 minutes, everyone witnessed a black fog exiting Harry's body, and after it is fully gone, Cale goes to Harry and makes him drink another potion, the one that will wake Harry up.

During his sleep, Harry enters the Limbo, where he meets and talks with a young Tom Riddle who feels very guilty about everything that Voldemort has done. He apologizes to Harry for all that he went through and explains that the piece of Voldemort's soul that Harry had inside of himself was the last piece of humanity that Voldemort possessed. Tom then explains that he had tried to stop Voldemort from going down the path he did, but he was always brushed aside. Voldemort created so many orphans when he himself lived the life of an orphan before. Voldemort went against everything that was his old person when he killed Harry's parents and tried to kill him. So, when the opportunity appeared, he attached himself to Harry and tried to help warn him of Voldemort's presence around him. Harry says that it is not his fault, for he tried his best and failed. As such, Tom has no reason to apologize, and the one who should feel guilty is Voldemort and not him. Tom thanks Harry before saying that he will spend his remaining time here, in Limbo, as he waits for Voldemort's remaining soul to follow him into death. He also tells Harry not to worry, for he has made peace with Death and is ever eagerly awaiting the slumber now. Before Harry comes back to reality, Tom tells Harry to live well and cherish his friends.

Once awake, Harry asks if it worked, and Cale answers with a resolute yes. After this, he is hugged tightly by Sirius and Remus, who were worried beyond words.

Cale takes the crystal balls containing Voldemort and his minions and gives them to Kim Rok Soo for safekeeping. When asked why Kim Rok Soo gets to keep the crystal balls, it is revealed that Kim Rok Soo took over the position of Minister of Magic after he and his team arrested Fudge after it was found out that him and a good chunk of the Ministry of Magic were supporters of Voldemort. Kim Rok Soo referred to the whole thing as a "Well needed sping cleaning" and mentioned that most of them are currently in Azkaban or awaiting trial. He also mentions to Dumbledore that he is also on the list for the amount of sketchy things he had pulled over the years and that because of this, from the next year onwards, either Snape or McGonagall will be Headmaster/Headmistress. Snape immediately gives the position to Minerva, stating he is already done with children for the rest of his life. Everyone laughs at that, and Rok Soo says gleefully that Lee Soo Hyuk owns him money now, which earns him a glare from Snape.

And so the 5th year ends. Voldemort and Bellatrix are basically waiting for their death in the crystal balls, and the other Death Eaters (bar Snape and Lucius, who are exceptions - one because he worked for the Order of the Phoenix; the other because he turned himself in and even turned other Death Eaters in so Kim Rok Soo decided to lighten his sentence to a life of working for the Ministry under a blood contract) were hunted down and send to Azkaban.

What no one knew was that while everyone was high on the relief of getting rid of Voldemort or focused on getting the Death Eaters, Voldemort was visited by an individual. This individual wore a mask and was very disappointed in Voldemort: "Taken down by a bunch of kids? Tsk, tsk, tsk. This is why you were never going to be the strongest wizard - no matter what you wanted or sacrificed for it" said the masked man. "Too bad. I didn't think I had to take the stage this early but oh well. I would say you were useful for as long as you existed, but I would be totally lying. Enjoy death, Tom Marvolo Riddle." said the masked man before putting Voldemort out of his misery, his body dissolving inside the crystal ball.

Even though Cale and Harry expect their 6th and 7th year to be way less eventful, what awaits them is a fateful meeting with the one that calls himself "White Star."

A war is on it's way and they can only hope to survive.

And done. Thank fuck this was long as hell, but then again, I did go through 5 years worth of events for this fic. And, I still have some little details I need to speak about:

Cale was born on the 8th of November 1979. This makes him 11 on the 1st day of year 1 at Hogwarts, and he turns twelve just a bit after the Troll Incident.

Cale is extremely happy to have someone like Kim Rok Soo in his life, and he is also very grateful for his presence. Kim Rok Soo feels more like an older brother that Cale never had, rather than an uncle.

Cale's boggard is... well, himself, in a way. After his mom died, Cale tended to lash out at everything and everyone. He fears returning to the type of person he was back then, when he would say hurtful words even to Kim Rok Soo.

Kim Rok Soo took Cale around with him and his team during the summers after the death of Jour, mostly to make Cale have some good time and a change of scenery.

This is how Cale met Alver in France. (I swear I can't NOT have Alver as French. He looks like he would eat a baguette and correct your pronunciation of "croissant" - I know you think the same now)

Here, Choi Han is Choi Jung Soo's nephew. Choi Han goes to Drumstrang btw.

Ron and Beacrox are still serving the Henituse family. (Cale also feels guilty for saying bad things to them as a child)

Bansen is a muggle, but Lily turns out to be a half-blood. This is one of Cale's main reasons for going against Voldemort - a world where Voldemort wins means a world where Bansen and Lily can't live.

There are a ton of things that I haven't even mentioned: like how many people Cale (unwittingly) befriends at Hogwarts; Cale also stress bakes (which makes him share whatever he ends up baking with other students, which results in him being liked because who would turn down baked goods?); Cale is friends with most of the Elves and they like Cale because he is nice; Cale and Hagrid become good friends because they share their adoration for magic creatures; Ron admits that Cale has "balls of titanium" after he approached Fluffy without fear - and ever more so after meeting Aragog; Blaise feels like he is the only truly normal and sane Slytherin whenever he watches Cale;

I want to introduce Raon, Ohn and Hong, but I dunno if they should be introduced from year 1 or if I can introduce them during Year 6.

Cale, as always, destroys White Star's evil plan in 2 years tops while juggling graduation and studies. For reference, taking down Voldemort basically took 5 years, so yeah, WS should be ashamed since his minion was harder to deal with.

You read that right, Voldemort was thrown down the road he went by White Star. He was the one who actually gave Voldemort the information about Horcruxes.

I want to mess with the canon because canon is dead to me for the most part. This also means I want to make new ships. I wanna put Draco with Ginny (it will work out later on, I feel); Harry either with Hermione or Hannah Abbott; Neville Longbottom with Luna Lovegood; Cale might get together with Susan Bones (political power couple these 2 are); Ron either with Hermione (like in canon, if Harry doesn't end up with her) or Lavander Brown. Trust me, I know the ships are weird but if the narration works, the ships will also work.

Harry and Cale kinda end up like brothers - mostly because they have the same amount of bad luck and they end up in the same shit-show together.

Cale feels indebted to Fred and George Weasley after the prank from year 4 because he was in Hufflepuff robes instead of Slytherin robes when Cale went against Voldemort, so he was kinda saved from a lot of trouble. Cale literally tells them "Whatever you need, whenever you need it, as long as I can get it - it is yours".

Lee Soo Hyuk becomes again the leader of the "Supernatural Prevention Team" after Kim Rok Soo becomes Minister of Magic. He is still laughing since Kim Rok Soo ended up with even more paperwork to do than him. (This usually ends with Rok Soo giving him more paperwork to do)

Rok Soo might end up with Severus Snape... at least as an implied relationship. They have been friends since Jour basically forced them to become babysitters for her in Hogwarts and implicitly trust each other.

Lucius is more loyal to his family than to Voldemort here, which results in him just turning his back to Voldemort once it is clear he is dealt with. He never wanted Draco to end up as a Death Eater and is very proud he never did.

After the confrontation with Voldemort at the end of Year 5, Draco can perform a Patronus Charm. His Patronus is a Falcon.

And yes, Draco actually gets friends and a personality beyond being just a bully in the first 4 books/movies. Like seriously, let him be a child, and he can change for the better goddammit. (Cale will be a good influence on Draco, but, essentially, Cale is bad for Draco's heart rate because he is damn crazy)

Kim Rok Soo's Patronus is Runespoor. Choi Jung Soo's a St. Bernard. Lee Soo Hyuk's is a Crow.

I haven't planned out Year 6 or 7 yet but I do know that White Star quickly became a problem for everyone.

Also, during years 6 and 7, the Thames family and the Pevrell family became more important. I know I want Death to still be intertwined with White Star and the 2 families. (And yes, Death is still very much a whining child that wants either Cale or Harry to take his place like in the TCF/LCF canon)

Cage and Taylor are working at St. Mungo's Hospital. They are the ones that create the potion for Harry.

Dumbledore will answer for the bullshit he pulled - especially, for putting Harry with the Dursley's and keeping him there, whether he knew about the abuse or not. He will also answer for the whole "Sirius's missing trial" thing.

Yes, I am giving Sirius therapy. You can't expect him to take care of Harry without going through therapy first, can you? Some other kids will also get therapy through osmosis from Cale himself.

I will also explore Jour's time at Hogwarts as well - probably in a separate series, like a prequel. Also, the reason Kim Rok Soo, Choi Jung Soo, and Lee Soo Hyuk are in Britain is because their families fled Korea after the Korean War that ended in 1853. Kim Rok Soo is around 34 when Cale is starting Hogwarts, just for reference.

Cale is very mature for his age, and Kim Rok Soo kinda hates it because, to him, Cale is still a baby, and he needs to be protected. But fate said a big "Fuck You" to both of them.

This is all my brain is capable of rn. This damn thing took 2 weeks to write - because I couldn't stay and write it in one go like many of my other ideas.

So what do you think? Good? Bad? That I am high on magical mushrooms with this?

Hopefully, you had fun with my ramblings despite the length of this idea.

Either way, I hope you have a great day/night and that you take care of yourselves!

See you soon (because I need to recharge after this),

- TooManyPlotBunnies- Send Help

45 notes · View notes

scoonsalicious · 28 days

Note

you're such a wonderful writer and i hope you are doing great 💖

wanted to ask you, how do you write this type of topics that are hard and difficult? what did you feel while writing for chapter 23, 24 and 25?

i hope to know more about you as a writer and your methods because it has been mind blowing reading Unwanted

Thank you so, so much! I'm doing great! lol

So, I originally started writing an answer to this question that more specifically aligned with what you asked, but the more I thought about it, the more I kind of wanted to delve into what this story was supposed to be, what it turned into, and what it was like creating it. This is probably way more info then you every asked for or expected, so I apologize, but just rewatched Endgame in the name of research and I'm crying like a baby right now, and feeling pretty emotional, lol WARNING: This is going to get heavy. So, Unwanted was never actually supposed to turn into what it was. It started with this really simple image in my brain. Reader (not yet named) undercover, working at a strip club, and Bucky showing up to annoy her and get her flustered. She's unhappy to see him. Why? They used to sleep together, but she hates him now. What happened? In the original story, Bucky and Pocket never fell in love. They were best friends, and became FWB. A new Avenger is recruited (Jade was originally named Sage, and then Jewel, before we got to where we are), and Bucky goes on this Russian mission with her and sleeps with her. He comes back dating Sage and distances himself from Pocket, and she's heart broken, because she feels like she'd just been used, and now that Bucky had a new set of holes to fill (Pocket's words, lol), he didn't need her anymore. Then, she gets assigned to this mission in Atlantic City (that part-- the missing women, the trafficking, was always the plan), and uses it as a chance to get away from him.

But then something IRL happened that actually ended up changing the entire course of the entire fic. A little backstory: When I was a child, I was sexually abused by a neighbor/family friend for many years. I didn't have the language at the time to explain what happened to me, so I never told anyone. I changed, going from a really happy, outgoing kid, to being really withdrawn and anxious; it basically destroyed my soul. This, of course, was back in the early '80s, where CSA wasn't really discussed or understood the way it is now. The signs were there, but my parents didn't know they should have been looking for.

I thought I got over it. I thought I processed and dealt with it and moved beyond it, and I grew into adulthood. But in reality, I was just building a mask. But then, in February of this year, while I'd already been working on the fic for several months under the aforementioned plot, something happened: My young nephew started showing signs that he may have been abused, as well, by either his nanny or someone the nanny had exposed him to. My brother and sister-in-law recognized the changes in him immediately, and did everything right. This triggered me, and it was pretty apparent that I had never processed my trauma-- I'd just repressed it. And everything came rushing back. I suddenly had immense anger toward my parents for failing to protect me, for not seeing the signs, for forcing me to interact with my abuser for years and years. It was misguided, and I recognize that, but I never allowed myself to process the emotions at the time, and was kind of starting over from scratch.

So, Pocket, in a lot of ways, became me. I gave her extremes of what I experienced so she could help me work through things, to help me process everything I was feeling, that sense of abandonment, not being able to trust people, the inability to form real relationships because I don't know how to be vulnerable. And I gave her some of my characteristics: from about ages 15-25, I was addicted on and off to opiates, and in college, I started drinking excessively to numb my pain, to the point where I have liver and kidney damage from it. I gave Pocket my use of humor-as-a-coping mechanism, my penchant for swearing, and most importantly, I gave her my pain, my hurt, so that she and I could get better, together.

So, when I write Pocket's spiral in Chapters 23-25, I'm writing an exaggeration of every spiral I've ever had, because, I figure, if I can get Pocket through all of that, surely I can get myself through my own shit, right?

I'm sure it wasn't the answer you were quite looking for, but it's the best way I can explain how I, and Unwanted got here. And as for my nephew, fortunately, after a State Police and Child Protective Service investigation, it looks like he was never actually sexually abused; for that, at least, I'm grateful.

22 notes · View notes

martellspear · 6 months

Text

— power went out and I ran out of things to think this afternoon;

— this is a anti targaryen restoration post, be warned :)

One of the most surprising things in the entire ASOIAF books is simply HOW did that family manage to be around for over 300 years. I’ve never seen so many individuals being so dense – of course, we have exceptions – but ?? Perhaps that’s what you get for the inbreed, the stupidity gene remains and grows strong and turns into a parasite that eats brains.

Let’s start with the C trio; A united the Seven Kingdoms because he thought unity was the right path to defeat the Long Night, which is great, but then he did NOTHING to actually prepare for it ?? The Wall was built by the Starks. In F&B we see that, Targ after Targ, the prophecy has little impact on how they conduct things; I’d love to say something like: fine, let’s blame it on time and wars (which, they caused) but ?? your ancestors' most important words about saving the place you, and your descendants will, live just do not carry enough crucial significance for them to be carefully passed down to the next generation?

Then, we have R. I will admit that when I first read the books I liked him - and although I still find him an interesting character, I cannot let go of the idea of how obtuse he is (it’s deeper than that in his case but I’m annoyed) -. Since I’m venting, let me just say that it completely baffles me how some still view RL as a love story; that man was OBSESSED with the prophecy, he drastically changed his lifestyle for it, but he’d abandon everything for love? And then… proceed to – likely – hide from his lOvE that her loved ones are dead (his dad killed them) while keeping said person in a place that, regarding both climate and social aspects, is detrimental for her. Furthermore, to defy and insult three powerful Houses because he fell in love with someone he saw a few times?

Yes, love can make people take routes they wouldn’t normally take, but the cost was too high for it not to be “means to an end”.

Coming back to my original thoughts: I believe that Targs are unfit to rule – if you want evidence, you can literally just open F&B, any page will do – and the couple good monarchs that family produced doesn’t make up for all the damage they caused since they sat foot in Westeros. They feel entitled to a land that doesn’t belong to them and are saviors because the Gods said they are ??

It's a funny concept when you contrast it with how the series ended: Cersei on the Throne, Arya defeating the Night King and the two last Targs with awful endings (that’s martelldoo): one dead and the other exiled.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent because the thought of a Targ restoration pissed me off this afternoon – it validates every horrendous thing that happened to those considered “casualties” and puts these people in that obnoxious concept we see in succession: no real person involved. But since “we” have the power to save the world, it was worth it and everything it valid, RIGHT?–

#anti targaryen restoration #anti targ restoration #anti targaryen #anti rhaegar targaryen #anti rhaegar #you have no idea how much free time I have in my hands until february #asoiaf

42 notes · View notes

gingkos-eldritch-secret · 8 months

Text

Fanfiction commentary and recommendations: Lex Luthor´s ascend from supervillainy to fatherhood Part IV (chapters 16 to 20)

The Original story can be found here.

The previous parts of the commentaries can be found here:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

So, the classic silly rambling before the actual commentary part is surprisingly part that´s the hardest to do. Go figure.

Well. At least aside from formatting. I may have found out how to make links into hyperlinks, but I still have a problem with getting the HTML code to do what I want and just center the line break. And I´d also love to do blocktext, so that there are the most even edges of text possible on both sides, but I know the second one just WON´T work because different devices and different formattings so it would just look awful. I could still center. But my brain hates HTML code rn. Why is HTML so much easier on AO3?

But to build anticipation: I know that the next few chapters will be kind of wild. Or. not really 'kind of' but actually a bit wild. As in: The Joker´s involved. I mean, with all of the foreshadowing in the past few chapters I was really not surprised, but damn, do I hate the man.

With the knowledge of not being with that knowledge: back to the regularly scheduled program.

○○○••○○•••○○••○○○

So? Which topic do you think chapter 16 starts with? Ding ding ding! You´re right! Lazarus Pits! Or rather: the price some people have to pay for the boon. In Jason´s case? His sanity.

And also the helpless feeling of just. Not knowing. Not knowing why or how he was the only one that suffered such harsh side effects when the rest of the family got away more or less scot-free.

I … can´t imagine how hard it must be to know all the darkness that dwells in oneself can just … erupt like some kind of volcano. Even worse if you wake up after such an eruption and just. Don´t remember. It´s frightening. And that Jason has endured that for years now? Oooof. He needs more hugs from his friends and family ASAP. Especially because he seems to feel like such a burden …

But how did we get to such deep introspection from him? Because he finally feels as if he´s getting back from the pits. You remember what I said about Jason feeling a lurch in his chest?

Yeah. It´s still happening, again and again and it´s kind of crawling up his throat.

And as I can´t imagine that feeling all too pleasant - he just kind of. Slowly falls onto the floor. Or. He would have, if Dick hadn´t caught him, good older brother that he is.

It doesn´t help that Danny collapses as well.

And then he throws up something green and goopy and it starts to move towards Danny and ugh. It sounds so digusting and horrifying I kinda had to take a moment to get a drink because god damn, that was not a comfortable experience to read about and any time I reread this for corrections I feel this imagine return to my mind.

Thank god for Alfred saving the day, because as the only one with his faculties intact he just puts a bowl over this … thing. And it helps! Whoooooo!

But now we have an exhausted Jason, a collapsed Danny and a very worried family. And not just any worried family, but a worried batfamily. Good god that can´t end well, can it?

Because of course, after the discussion about his health problems the family gets even more worried when his heartbeat slows further. And since he´s not awake, he can´t even veto going to a hospital. Thank god for Duke though, because he got them to go to Dr Thom(p?)kins instead.

And of course they´re suspicious now. Probably more of Lex than Danny, but still.

Tim, bless his soul, wants to tell Lex what just happened because any parent should know what happened to their child. Especially since there could be allergies or traumata involved.

But no, bruce just wants to get him to a clinic. It will come back to bite him in the ass - that I can promise.

And where does it come back to bite him in the ass? Right at the clinic. Jason may be fine, but Danny? In the eyes of the doc? Fuck no, he´s not. I mean, he never is, but they don´t know that, do they?

And because of all the radioactivity and the health problems and because he´s a sus mf - what does Bruce do? He wants a blood sample.

Now. We know how Danny is about his blood. It´s a dangerous thing. Thank god for Leslie and her ethics though. Because I don´t think neither Danny nor Lex would forgive him for that breach of trust and bodily autonomy.

Bruce and Damian are both deeply suspicious because the matter seems quite close to Lazarus pits and fear that Lex may be experimenting on him … and also Damian kinda lowkey hates Danny because he has hurt his family twice already, however unintentional and who says he won´t hurt even more of them?

And after that whole ordeal? Danny just decided to take his legs into his hands and get the hell out of dodge.

Can´t blame him tbh. Really, really can´t blame him.

So where does the baby boi end up? At a random roof in Gotham where Harley finds him. Predictably she thinks he maybe wants to jump though our Boy quickly reassures her that that´s not the case.

Doesn´t change the fact that he´s still spooked though. Mainly because he thinks he did something wrong and now the Waynes won´t want him as a friend anymore, because why would they? He hurt them and then they even had to get him to a clinic and Harley, please do something about this, it´s just sad to read :')

And now Danny doesn´t even wanna call Lex, because of the situation because he fear he´ll never be allowed to go anywhere again because he was 'right' and just. Danny I understand your fear, but comunication please.

Of course he deflects by asking if the Joker was around, which somehow leads to Harley taking him to her and Ivy´s place? Don´t ask me how it happened, the only I way I can condense it is if I say: they ranted.

This leads to this part of the conversation:

“Really? Then why did… you know,” he said, looking her up and down. “I know it couldn’t have been just the Joker that made you this way. He’s your… origin story, not your love interest.”

And I think that just endeared danny to her forever.

So while Danny cuddles with Bud and Lou on the Couch, the bats are freaking out because they lost Danny. And what do the bats do best when they panic? Suit up and spread out.

Lex is finally being called. Suffice to say the conversation does not go well. At all. And Lex is now on the way. Because of course he is. Especially after Bruce basically insulted him by insinuating he´s a bad parent. Way to put your foot in your mouth, Bruce.

And what else does happen on this lovely day? The Joker gets out, because of course he does. Why not make bad things even worse? That´s what this man does best after all.

Meanwhile Ivy is exasperated at Harley´s antics, seeing as she wants to steal Danny from Lex and yeah. Just a typical start to girl´s night i guess? Catwoman will have fun with this situation, i can already tell xD

Now if only I knew what Damian would want those bolt cutters for?

Selina arrives! And instantly thinks Danny was kidnapped as well.

That topic quickly shifts though. And what does it shift into? Bruce´s batdoption problems. It´s just such a good meme and I´m not even mad about it.

It also seems a put a few things into perspective for Danny since she tells him that some people don´t think Lex to be a good parent. For very good reasons to be honest, but I guess it still stings a bit ...

In the end girl night starts with them just trash talking Bruce and his furry tendencies. As well as his hypocrisy when we consider his dating history. How a man with such a moral compass can deal with dating people such as Talia or Catwoman I will never understand. I know, I know. Sexual Tension. But Sexual Tension does not cause you to conceive a child together (that´s just trash as well. I gotta be solidary xD)

So in the typical girl night fashion, they talk about feelings and who may have a crush on whom and how oblivious some people (*cough* Danny *cough*) are and there´s many an adive to be had. They´re just gal pals having fun :D

Meanwhile Lex is annoyed at the Gotham airspace seeing as he can´t get into the city without changing vehilces because a certain clown blew up some buildings.

Meanwhile girl night changed into poker night and well. I don´t think any of them play fair xD

The conversation that follow are easily put under the "What happens on girls’ night, stays on girls' night" category as Ivy suitably calls it.

The bats and birds still haven´t stopped searching. Joker´s still a crazy piece of work and Danny? Danny is just losing at Uno and living his best live.

36 notes · View notes

incorrectsmashbrosquotes · 4 months

Text

Tav Origins

So, I'm curious. What origins have ya'll made up for your Tav's in BG3? Cause if you're anything like me you constructed elaborate fucking backstories for those bitches.

I'd really like to know 'em! Reblog this post with yours!

And, as a show of good faith, here's mine.

First off, my Tav's name is Invi. He's a Tiefling Paladin, Oath of the Ancients, and how he came to be a member of that order is a bit of a story!

So, Invi was once an urchin living on the streets of Baldur's Gate. His family had been displaced by a greedy slumlord and his parents had died of the plague, leaving Invi all alone. Invi turned to thieving to avoid starving, but by all accounts he wasn't very good at it, escaping by luck more than skill.

But one day, Invi's luck ran out. He pickpocketed what looked like a wealthy man and was caught by the watch, who dragged him back tot he man for judgement. Turns out the man in question was a Paladin of Tyr, Sworn to the Oath of the Ancients.

Desperate, Invi lied, saying the man had given him the money. The guards didn't believe him, but when they asked, the Paladin looked at Invi for a good long while and said: "Of course! But, my young friend, you left so quickly! Did you forget I gave you this as well?"

And the Paladin gave him the Golden Ring on his finger, carved with the symbol of his order. The Paladin, named Cirion, bid the gards leave, and walked Invi to a safer place. There, Cirion said, "Now you be careful now boy. And if you're ever in need, let that ring guide you. And it may do far more than that."

Invi went on his way. He used the money, but he never dared part with the ring. He puzzled and puzzled over Cirion's words. Eventually it became too much for Invi, and he sought Cirion again, seeking answers for his strange behavior.

Invi tracked down the Temple of Tyr and showed the ring to the Paladin guarding it he was let in with a smile. Unfortunately, Cirion was away, but the Paladins were more than happy to allow him to stay.

So, Invi stayed, waiting for Cirion to return. But as the days turned to weeks, the Paladins offered him things other than food and board. They offered to show him sword work. How to sew and cook and other things. Before long, Inni felt at home there, terrified it would end when Cirion returned.

And return Cirion did. His cloak dusty from the road, his sword well-used from hunting demons, Invi was brought before him, and Invi asked his question.

"Why did you give me this ring?"

"You were a child in need, I believed you needed it more than me."

"I could not sell it. And it... it brought me here."

"Just as it brought me here, all those years ago."

And so Invi became Cirion's apprentice. He trained and grew and learned. He laughed freely. He brought aid to his fellow urchins, the ones he'd grown up with, providing them aid and succor and pulling them out of the streets when he could. The order was more than happy to provide. Gold, after all, is useless when hoarded like a dragon.

And on the day Invi took his Oaths and became a Paladin in full, he embraced the now old and worn Cirion and called him father, and never had either man felt more love and pride than they did in that moment.

And, years later, a Mind Flayer Tadpole in his brain and the gaze of a False God upon him, Invi is in The Grove, trying desperately to save the refugees there. When, in the midst of it, he's robbed by a pack of young tieflings.

Invi catches them, of course, he still remembers the old tricks. Some are annoyed, others are unrepentant, but the girl, Silfy, crying in shame and fear, that he sees something... familiar in.

Invi smiles, consoles her, and presses a familiar ring into her hand.

#incorrect super smash bros #Baldur's Gate #Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 #Tav #My Tav #backstory #writing #OC #oc backstory #oc bio #Tiefling #Paladin #Paladins #Silfy #Mattis #Mol #Emerald Grove

21 notes · View notes

nientedenada · 6 months

Text

The Peasant Princess Rewritten (by an Actual Peasant)

Developed from asks originally on @norieleanduril into a post for r/teslore. I rewrite one of my least favourite ESO stories.

Preface by Alys Thierry, Scholar of Breton folklore.

Some years ago, before the War, I enjoyed the rare privilege of making a journey into Valenwood as an interpreter of Aldmeri languages for the Imperial envoy, Falco Attius. As a student of folklore, I was excited to speak with the locals about their regional tales and customs. Sadly, very few Dominion citizens felt comfortable enough to speak to an Imperial stranger. I should have expected that. There were few times that we were not accompanied by a pleasant but uninformative justiciar.

I had some rare successes with a handful of mer who were either daring enough to brave our justiciar's glares or so unobservant they did not notice them. Most memorable among the latter group was an Altmer footsoldier stationed in Falinesti who not only answered my inquiries but a few days later slipped me a letter to further elaborate on his answers.

This curious document was written in the common dialect of the Isles, consistent with the author's peasant-class background, but is peppered with more formal words and expressions. It would seem the author is imitating more erudite authors, with questionable success. I do hope the author was not punished for his association with me. He was very helpful in expanding my understanding of Altmer culture outside the hallowed halls of academia or court.

_____________________________________ Most Honoured Nebarra Lady,

You asked me if the mer of Summerset actually enjoy stories like The Peasant Princess and I was sorry to say I had never heard of it. But after we spoke, I went looking in an old library and found it. It's a very old play and indubitably one of the worst stories I've ever perused. It begins with a beautiful young servant girl whose mistress dresses her up as a princess to go to a ball. There, she meets a Kinlord who falls for her, and then when she tells him she's not actually a princess, he rants at her for tricking him. Then she realizes she should just be a servant, because her family are servants. The End. No wonder I never heard of this story before.

Sure, this is how it might happen in real life. But that doesn't make it a good story! I suppose this play was commissioned by some smug official to try to show the public a good moral exemplar. Town-reeves always put on the worst public entertainment.

The tales the common people actually enjoy back home are stories about clever farmers or labourers who run circles around their landlords and priests.

So, I have decided it would be meritorious to rewrite this play’s ending so that it may educate the reader in full about our traditional Altmer culture.

I'm keeping this part:

Narrator: So great was Virenire's beauty, she caught the eye of the young prince. Forgetting all decorum, he went over to her and asked for a dance. And so the prince and the servant girl danced for a good portion of the night.

Prince: I've never seen such a beautiful mer. Tell me, who are your parents?

Virenire: Oh, dear prince, I feel I must be honest. My parents are poor peasants, and I but a serving girl to a wealthy mistress.

Narrator: Gazing upon the beautiful eyes of such an entrancing mer, the good Prince came to a startling realization.

Prince: Why, I've been tricked! Here I thought you were a noble mer of good standing, who I might court and one day wed. But you are a mere servant girl.

Now, this prince isn't going to marry a servant girl, of course, that would never happen. And he isn't a nice person, anyway, claiming she tricked him when she told him the truth the moment he asked. We need a better ending here. Virenire needs to use her brains and get what she deserves. It's time for her to turn in her Mistress.

See, the reason Virenire is at the Ball dressed up as a princess is that her Mistress wanted to show her how abject and low-class she was, even if she wore a beautiful dress. She was set up to fail by a woman who didn't care about her or the Prince’s feelings. But the main character of a fairy tale should be quick-witted, so here's my new edition of her response.

Virenire: Oh dear prince, I would never have dared trick you. I am only here at my Mistress' command. If she designed a slight against you, forgive me my ignorance. I am just a simple serving girl who knows her place and does as her lady tells her.

The prince then takes out his anger on that viper Lady Teryldil, who is called away to the capital to face the displeasure of the Prince’s Kinship. Virenire keeps all the jewels and the dress, which she later uses as a dowry to marry a decent young man she'd already had her eye on.

The story is now greatly improved, and think I will petition the village puppeteer to do a performance next time I'm home in Auridon.

You also wanted to know if there was a Valenwood version of this story. I asked my Spinner friend Galethor, since he is a master of all Valenwood lore. He says he has never heard such a story but if it was set in Valenwood, the serving girl would reveal to the prince that she is a long-lost offshoot of the Camoran family, the prince would marry her to secure his claim, and together they’d start a new Civil War for the throne at Elden Root.

He may have been joking, but doesn't that sound a lot like the chapters on Valenwood history in the official Dominion textbooks?

Your Honoured Informant,

[Name Redacted to protect the author's identity.] _____________ Notes:

The Peasant Princess, A Play in One Act is subtitled A demoralizing tale surrounding the Altmer's adherence to tradition. And boy is it demoralizing! It's a lesson taught to the people to keep in their place.

But I wondered if this is really the sort of story that the peasants themselves would tell. Enter Norieleanduril, Noriel for short, who previously has been my voice for the common Summerset folk. With Noriel I try to avoid the usual character tropes (mine too) of Altmer scholars, aristocrats and justiciars, and instead present a more down-to-earth perspective of life for the regular person in Summerset, who has some of the prejudices and beliefs taught by the priests and upper classes, but with their own perspective. (Though he's probably 100 percent sillier than most regular Altmer.)

#tesblr #elder scrolls online #niente fic #altmer

26 notes · View notes

shiftingconfessions · 7 days

Note

Hello,

I’m the original anon from this confession:

https://www.tumblr.com/she-continues-on/ 749080898593587200/though-i-do-like-how-open-everything-is-on-here-i

Someone responded with:

https://www.tumblr.com/shiftingconfessions/749747815126843392/why-did-this-anon-trauma-dump?source=share

And another backed me up (thank you💞💞)

https://www.tumblr.com/shiftingconfessions/749943366822838272/httpswwwtumblrcomshiftingconfessions74974781

First of all, the person who first responded to me, fuck you. Use your brain before saying such awful things, oh my fucking god.

“We all have sob stories and it’s good to be vulnerable but idk why you’re using your story to say I don’t like this, like that’s fine you literally have free will don’t engage with those people or content”

That’s crazy… the fact that I was

⚠️MENTION OF CSA⚠️

sexually assaulted by my own father for 7yrs

⚠️END OF MENTION⚠️

is a ‘sob story’? Not an experience? Not my reality? I think that says enough about what kind of person you are. I was also not using my story, or wait no sorry, my sob story, I was explaining my perspective on something I had an issue with because of my ‘sob story’.

“Why when it comes to shifting we’re all suddenly babies with no free will like 😭😭😭 99% of the seemingly issues in the community would be solved if people knew what a block button/censor/ or muted words…”

This might still be a little confusing for you because I’m a baby. Goo goo ga ga bitch. I don’t engage with the people who act like this. I don’t. I block people who do. I didn’t know you could filter out certain words; I suppose I should look into that. The RCTA trend introduced me to this way of thinking; I have it specifically in my DNI list that I don’t want RCTA people interacting with me. I’ve also seen a confession that someone literally wants to be Asian for this reason.

So… I would like to introduce a whole new concept to you…

People think about social issues that pertain to them.

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Do you think an Asian American isn’t ever, not once, going to think about yellow fever, and as a result of thinking about said yellow fever, be a little reluctant dating a non-Asian man because they don’t want to date a man who only wants to be with them because their Asian? It’s the same thing. Of course I’m going to think about shifters who fetishize Asians from time to time. Because I’ve seen it happen before.

Unfortunately, I have the ability to think about how my race affects how other people, especially men, perceive me. You’re lucky you don’t have to; that is the one aspect I’d want to have from you.

“like how can you want to experience mortality and accept that and still be spiraling over simple concepts like literally blocking content.”

How can I want to experience the good and bad in life but still feel uncomfortable with people supporting fetishizing Asians…? Sorry, I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to set boundaries or anything. As previously mentioned, I do take measures to block people who make me uncomfortable. I’ve really tried to feel not uncomfortable with this concept; I’m not sure if I said that in my confession, but I’ll say it here. I really did, I was all ‘well they aren’t hurting anyone’ even though they’re spreading the stereotype that Asians are all stupid little kawaii dolls. I did try to be supportive of things I don’t like publicly so I wasn’t called an ignorant policing shifftoker. But the race fetish ideology still made me uncomfortable. I have absolutely no problem with people race changing if they’re respectful about it. If it’s to fit in a family tree or something, to me, that’s valid enough.

Also not sure if I said this in my original confession, but I’ve only ever posted about this online a total of 3 times. Twice anonymously, including this reply. “spiraling” is crazy, if I was going truly nuts about this I’d be posting all about this issue on my blog. But I’m not, I’m posting something completely different, still related to shifting, but not about this issue. If I was truly spiraling out of mind because of this phenomenon, I’d also be policing people, which I am not. I don’t harass shifters (and ppl who aren’t shifters) who have Asian fetishes, I simply don’t interact with them. So calm your fears, I will not be contributing to tumblr becoming ‘sensitive’ or ‘more like shifttok’. Asian fetishers, breathe a sigh of relief. You can live out your kawaii chan porno fantasies without ever seeing a single comment from me.

“It’s not surprising most people thing we’re mentally ill a lot of people literally become children again, if I hadn’t don’t it yet I would have probably thought the same tbh”

People like you are making shifters seem mentally ill, tf are you talking about? I had to read this three times because the grammar is off, but I’m sure you’re saying shifters are becoming children again just because they’re uncomfortable with something. That’s actually crazy. Again, I’m not even scolding a bunch of Asian fetishers. Why can’t I be uncomfortable with people acting like this… about my own race?

You’re the mentally ill one here.

Oh, I almost forgot about this:

“Why did this anon trauma dump”

Let’s go over the definition of ‘trauma dumping’.

“Trauma dumping is defined as unloading traumatic experiences on others without warning or invitation. It's often done to seek validation, attention, or sympathy.”

Source: https://www.talkspace.com/blog/trauma-dumping/#:~:text=Trauma%20dumping%20is%20defined%20as,does%20more%20harm%20than%20good.

As you mentioned earlier, I do in fact know that I have free will. But so do you.

Why are you accusing me of trauma dumping, when I bolded, italicized, highlighted the warning in red? I warned you. If you didn’t want to read what I went through, then heed the very bold warning. It seems that you’re also accusing me of using my ‘sob story’ to gain sympathy, validation, and attention. I wasn’t, I was explaining why I felt one way because of my experience. Cause and effect.

I will not be responding to your reply.

I refuse to interact with you further.

Note: since this post is mainly abt Asian fetishization, let’s take a moment to consider that using Manhua lashes, drawing an aegyo sal, or wearing Douyin makeup is NOT Asian fetishization. Liking flower knows and using Korean skincare is not Asian fetishization. Wearing traditional Asian clothing, if done respectfully (like not wearing it in an 18+ film) is not fetishization. Nor is learning an Asian language. Living in an Asian country as a non-Asian is not Asian fetishization. Liking Kpop is not Asian fetishization unless things are taken too far, like only dating Korean guys to live out your dreams of having a Kdrama boyfriend. Wanting to ‘act Asian’ and claiming you’re Asian by squinting is Asian fetishization, using Asian stereotypes in 18+ films is also Asian fetishization.

#reality shifting #shiftblr #shifting realities #desired reality #shifting community #shifting #shiftcourse

7 notes · View notes

jmrothwell · 6 months

Note

Okay but the generator gave me Alien Invasion AU and Imprinting AU and now I need it, for any pairing

Ok but like. . .

So in trying to be all which type of imprinting my brain went all “why not more than one?”

Reggie, Alex, Luke, are part of the Alien Invasion, but like, really early first wave. See, the Alien species has been studying earth for a while and have noticed the human trend to adopt other species and have decided to use that to their advantage.

What the Aliens don’t expect is for some of their first wave to be too young and form pack bond/familialy imprint on some of the species they first encounter.

Which in the case of Reggie, Alex, and Luke is Julie. (Though over the course of the story Reggie and Luke would both question their bond with Julie. Reggie especially after he develops a second familial imprint on Ray and none of them have heard that happening before-though to be fair to them most of their education regarding their Alien culture was limited, they were in a sort of hypersleep for most of their lives/the journey to Earth. Plus, no one knew how that particular part of their physiology would interact with Humans and their pack bond tendency)

This leaders of this first wave decide on their own to sort of forgo the original plans and to just integrate with life on Earth.

So all of Earth is dealing with how to do that exactly, many still advocating to eliminate the Aliens, others are very interested in learning about the advanced technology, others don’t want to risk incurring an alien species wrath. There’s a lot of background political drama.

Meanwhile, Ray decides to go ahead an open up his home to Reggie, Luke, and Alex. Carlos is ecstatic, Flynn is suspicious but can definitely see how the three are helping the Molina’s.

Julie is just frustrated. She did not ever in her life expect to be treated like a mother duck, with three Aliens following around her like ducklings…or maybe they’re closer to a pack of puppies or energetic kittens. She feels a bit of guilty relief when Reggie eventually switches to following her dad around, eager to learn all about life on earth from him.

The relief is heavily outweighed by Luke(and to some extent Reggie) acting weird around her in ways that Alex doesn’t. She’d almost think they were sometimes jealous if she didn’t know better. (She’s also wrong but that revelation doesn’t happen til later)

Things get more complicated when a second wave of Aliens shows up a few months after the first. This one follows a similar pattern to the first wave, however with a touch more hesitancy. They haven’t formed the same bonds and still recall the overall end goal was complete takeover of the planet.

This is around the time Alex runs into Willie, who as it turns out was actually apart of some of the last of the investigative research/preparation teams. He arrived a few weeks before the first wave did.

Two important revelations occur with the introduction of Willie. First, Alex and Willie imprint on more of a mate level and Alex, after getting over that joyous shock, realizes that’s how Luke and Reggie imprinted with Julie. They’re all just too young/dumb to have noticed/realized sooner.

Secondly, Caleb is part of the second wave. Willie used to work with/for him and knows Caleb is a major advocate for the world domination thing and was old enough to not have formed any of the bonds/imprints as others. There are also more older aliens who are very likely to rally around Caleb in this second wave.

That’s as far as I have gotten plot wise…but I also love the idea that Trevor was among an earlier alien research party and just refused to leave, which then makes Carrie half Alien and adds a whole other level of drama when that comes to light.

#No snippet for this one XD #Writing game #AUs are awesome #ok so like I had never HEARD of an imprinting AU and when I tried to google it only one actual fic showed up #Otherwise it was just different articles and science definitions

16 notes · View notes

hopeymchope · 11 months

Text

Why Raeliana Ended Up... Being So Awesome

"Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion" is SO fucking good - so much more up my alley than I ever expected - and I'm going to now struggle to explain why.

The short version is that it's all about the quality of writing and the likeability of our lead heroine. The dialogue is so human and the conflicts never feel based in stupid actions that could just be equally discussed. The characters are all smart and engaging. The animation's no slouch, either, and the opening song is a BANGER.

...okay, so there's a lot of stuff to like. But the writing is the MAIN factor.

I'm getting ahead of myself. See, this all began as a Korean serial web novel, and I would DEEPLY like to read it some day but DAMN, there doesn't seem to be an English translation. It was then adapted into a manwha that thankfully IS being published in English. (...I'd still rather have access to the original source material though.) And now it's additional gotten a visual novel that's coming to Steam and it has this anime adaption! The very last of those being how *I* finally discovered it.

You know what this shot implies *already*, don't you?

Let me get this disclaimer out of the way: This is... an isekai. And I usually recoil from isekai stories because it's not a setup I like to begin with, but they are also SO overdone by now that they feel SO generic.

And yet... lately I've found a couple delicious exceptions. Such as this one.

Lovely Sarcastic Independent Aggressive Manipulative Funny Adorable Badass

Your quick story setup: A young woman (in the web novel and manwha, she's Korean; in the anime, she's Japanese) is killed under mysterious circumstances and wakes up inside the body of Raeliana, a minor character from a Eurpoean Fantasy-style romance novel she recently read. In the book she read, Raeliana's murder is what spurs the main heroine of the story, Beatrice, to come home from studying abroad, investigate and charge the killer with his crime, and fall in love with the mysterious Duke Noah Wynknight along the way.

This immediately presents our New Raeliana with multiple concerns rolling around her brain:

She now lives in a world that resembles a Regency-era European country, albeit with magic and monsters. This means that, as a woman, her options for autonomy are limited. Women in this fantasy world may have slightly more freedom than they did in reality at the same time... but not by a lot. And this becomes an overarching issue to EVERYTHING ELSE she tries to do.

She wasn't fully reincarnated, either — she woke up inside an already-adult body. Which implies that she somehow stole it from the soul that previously inhabited it. If that's the case, where's the Original Raeliana? And how will New Raeliana feel about suddenly occupying another person's life and altering it by her actions, either unwittingly or intentionally?

New Raeliana knows from reading that novel that "she" — or rather, the body she's inhabiting — is supposed to die soon. She also knows who the culprit will be: Her own fiancée that she's been engaged to for years, with both families long having agreed upon the match. She has no intention of just letting herself die twice in rapid succession, but how is she going to get adequate leverage to break it off? And even if she does, will that actually change her fate?

....though if she doesn't die, where does that leave Beatrice's future?

Of course, New Raeliana is wielding the inside knowledge she gleaned from the book about this world and its characters. She uses those resources to work her way into a protective arrangement wherein she lives at the mansion of Duke Noah Wynknight under the guise of being his fiancée. (The Wynknights are evidently well-known for their tradition of incoming fiancées having to live in the same house with their future husband, albeit on separate floors.) Then it's matter of manipulating over events into her favor...

PLOTTING.

This situation makes Noah and Raeliana into Uneasy Allies. And many more challenges will threaten that alliance, as well as his standing and her own survival, including physical dangers from murderers and monsters, societal threats from plotting nobles, the potential exposure of their lies, emotional turmoil from within, and SO MUCH more.

Duke Noah ain't a slouch on SKETCHY-ASS behavior, either.

Ultimately, this is a love story — the kind where some initial antagonism melts into affection against the supposed "better judgment" of those involved. It's can pretty touching, honestly. But along the way, there's just so much fun dialogue and characterization PLUS some really badass bits. The greatness isn't in the concept; it's in the execution. Which is something that's kind of hard to explain in a review like this one. You just have to see it for yourself, and I don't want to ruin any of the highlights.

Well... maybe I can imply a few things.

FEATURING SUCH DELIGHTFUL TROPES AS:

Fake Relationship

Deconfirmed Bachelor

Bodyguarding a Badass

Belligerent Sexual Tension

The Quiet One

Violently Protective (Boy)friend

Wham Shot

#why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion #anime reviews #anime review #manwha #web novel #romance #suspense #raeliana mcmillan #noah wynknight #anime gifs

34 notes · View notes

msfcatlover · 1 year

Text

@alycat76 : Can you give me the low urban fantasy AU?

YES! YES I ABSOLUTELY CAN!!! Ah, you have no idea how much I love this one!!!

Okay, so! This AU was actually born directly from my frustration with a bunch of Urban Fantasy AUs (and original stories, if we’re being real here.) Namely, that those stories will so often be like, “These magical beings are very, very rare,” and then the entire cast will be mystical beings of one sort or another. And I was like, “You can totally tell an engaging story in a world like this with an almost entirely human cast. You don’t even have to cut out the magic element or fun world building!” (And yes, that first part does accurately describe my Monster!Kids AU. Shhhhh, let me have my hypocrisy.)

I wanted to do that, and my brain is 90% Batfam brainrot right now, so here’s what I came up with.

(CW for minor mentions of sickness, canon character death, and child abuse. Bruce is not the abuser, for the record. But mentions are there. Also, Jason’s body is not restored to its pre-death state, and I do describe some of the things that would’ve been done to prep him for his funeral.)

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

Very first point: Bruce’s tie to Gotham is more than just his love & dedication to his city. The Wayne family are supposedly one of the oldest families in the city, and of those old families they’re possibly (I’m still a little unclear here) the only one not tied to the Court of Owls? They’re the ones most dedicated to improving Gotham and ending its corruption, anyway. So let’s do something with that, shall we?

The Wayne bloodline has a bond with the city. Some might call it a blessing, some might call it a curse. The eldest member of the family is a Fisher King; the health of the Lord is tied directly to that of the city. When the Lord is sick, the city suffers; when the city suffers, the Lord feels its pain. And for generations, the head of the family has near-always been ill. Bruce has vivid memories of his father retching over the toilet, or calling in sick because the trembling was too much for Thomas to risk operating on patients (they are, depressingly, some of the most vivid memories Bruce has of his father.) As a member of the family, Bruce could see the marks just under his father’s skin, from ink-black to bruise-yellow and every sickly color in between, that nobody else seemed to see (Zatanna did, and she was the only outsider to assure Bruce he wasn’t crazy over it, but there’s only so much she could do for him.) It was terrifying for a young boy to see his father so ill, but Thomas promised Bruce that even though it was a “family condition,” Thomas & Martha were working on it; Thomas promised his son that by the time Bruce had to worry about it, they’d have made enough progress that Bruce would hardly even notice it.

Of course, that’s not what happened. Thomas was actually feeling well that night, better than he had in months, and wanted to go out to celebrate. Martha chose the restaurant and Bruce chose the movie. And maybe, if Thomas had kept feeling well, if he hadn’t had to stop to catch his breath, if the family hadn’t stepped into that specific alley to avoid blocking the sidewalk... maybe things would’ve been different.

When Thomas Wayne breathed his last, his son collapsed under the weight of Gotham’s rot & suffering. Joe Chill assumed the bullet must’ve passed through one of the parents to hit the child, and fled in a panic.

The hospital could find nothing wrong with Bruce, but he saw the understanding in Alfred’s eyes when he arrived and the first thing Bruce said to Alfred was, “I think I’m dying.”

(In most legends, Fisher Kings cannot leave their homelands. The Waynes are slightly luckier, but the longer they are away, the more they... fade. Energy seeps out of them slowly, color leaves their skin, no amount of sleep is ever enough, and they eventually need to return to Gotham to recharge. Bruce’s record is 3yrs, and the doctors shipped him home basically in a coma.)

(Bruce swore he would never have children, never pass down his bloodline’s curse to an innocent child who should not have to carry it. He got a vasectomy as soon as he legally could. Needless to say, he was furious Talia would go so far as to create a clone-son for the two of them, violating both Bruce’s right to choose and cursing Damian to carry on that line of suffering.)

Bruce learned his city & body well enough that he can use it as a map. Not a map that would make sense to anyone else (street corners that are directly adjacent to eachother might be on completely different parts of him, like one on his ribs and the other behind his knee.) During the day, he uses his resources to try to treat Gotham’s suffering preventatively, going after unjust rules & systems, weaving a new security net for Gotham’s underclass, etc. At night, his methods are more surgical, cutting out the tumors & rot, while also taking the time to help as many individual citizens as he possibly can.

As the legend of the Batman grows, reality starts to bend ever so slightly under the weight of it. He jumps further & more accurately than a man of his bulk should be able to, can always find the perfect corner to hide in, always has something to grab when he falls off a building.

Despite all the suffering Gotham causes Bruce Wayne, he still loves his city. And the city loves him back.

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

Second point: Dick Grayson is human, and he doesn’t exactly have any magic of his own. It’s... I’m calling it “being a conduit.” Basically, Dick resonates with any magic in his vicinity. He’s very sensitive to the presence of magic, to the point of it being basically a sixth sense, and on an instinctive level he attunes himself to any natural or environmental magic around him. To a very limited degree, he can even take on a few traits of what that magic is, but not... he can’t tune into a fire spell and burn you with a touch, but when he’s resonating with Gotham, he is slightly more resistant to poisoning.

It’s much, much rarer than being a magic user (though many magic users do eventually become conduits through sheer exposure,) but in the same way having perfect pitch is different from being able to sing.

...I’m making it sound so much more powerful than it actually is here. The main benefit Dick gets out of it is that when he attunes himself to any given city, the city will treat him as a native and most citizens just passing him in the street will assume he is too (this does not affect his ability to, say, speak the language or change his accent, it’s just his “vibes,” if that makes sense.)

As far as story goes, this means Dick can see Bruce’s curse-marks despite not being a member of his bloodline; if they’re in contact with eachother, Dick can even very faintly feel what the city is inflicting on Bruce at any given time. (This scares the absolute bejeezus out of Bruce when he realizes, as he immediately assumes he misinterpreted the curse, and “bloodline” just means “family,” or even “household,” and he’s cursed Dick as well just by offering him a home!) It also means that as soon as Robin becomes part of Batman’s legend, Dick can benefit from the city’s protections just like Bruce does.

It is, in fact, Dick who causes Bruce to realize there’s something more than just good luck happening, when Robin is thrown off a roof but fortunately finds a pole of some sort hidden by the building’s shadow to kick off from and make it to the next one over (this also triggers a rumor that Robin can fly, something Dick is more than happy to lean into with some tailoring on his cape, and yes, he does move even better & faster as a result.) The thing is, Bruce is certain there was no pole there, because he would’ve incorporated it into potential escape plans. And when he finally has the time to go back & check, after the fight is over, after Robin is safe... he’s right. The alley is empty. There’s no pole, no pipe, no nothing. But Dick definitely kicked off of something in mid-air, Dick’s not a metahuman or a magic user, he can’t double-jump or anything. Dick himself insists his foot just caught the top of a thin, flat cylinder, no more than two inches wide, just barely enough to jump from; Dick’s even pretty sure he saw the pole when he glanced behind him, sticking up out of the shadows. Nothing weird at all, except for how it doesn’t exist.

(When Jason dies, Gotham’s grief is strong enough to feel it all the way out in space. Dick doesn’t understand the heavy feeling in his heart, nor the sudden urgency to get home. He tells the other Titans to just drop him off in Gotham, but the closer they get, the worse Dick feels. When they actually break the city limits, Dick just melts into tears as Gotham’s pain howls through every inch of his body. Donna calls ahead, more than a little panicked, and nearly gives Alfred a heart attack with how worried & hesitant Donna is to just straight up say what’s wrong with Dick. She offers Dick the communicator, saying it’s Alfred on the line, and Dick snatches it out of her hand to ask the only coherent word any of them will hear from him for the rest of the day: “Who?”

When Alfred answers, Dick just... breaks. Right there in front of them. He’s trying to say something, something about that being wrong, something about having plans, but he can’t deny what he’s feeling, and he can’t seem to get the words out.

The Titans land in the Batcave, and refuse to leave. Fuck Batman’s rules, they’re not abandoning Dick... and Dick isn’t the only one who didn’t get to say goodbye.)

(Bruce & Dick still fight about it terribly once they’re finally alone. Bruce never once raises his hand to his son, but Dick tries to reach out to him, to touch Bruce’s hand and resonate, to literally share his pain, and Bruce jerks away saying, “Don’t, it’s not---”

Dick stares in shock & horror as both of them silently complete that sentence: It’s not real. If you asked Dick right in that moment, he’d say striking him would have hurt less.)

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

Jason was human, fully human, with nothing special about him at all. Well, except for how Gotham loved him even more than Batman. The resonance Dick needs to wrap himself up in for Gotham to accept him, Jason has it echoing in his bones. He’s one of Gotham’s truest sons, he’s part of that city, and the city is part of him.

It’s not Superboy Prime’s reality breaking punch that brought Jason back from the dead. I... Look, I wrote a little nursery rhyme to explain it, and I’ve no idea if it’s any good (but it can’t be any worse than the Court of Owls’ rhyme, which has just a few too many syllables in certain lines for me to find whatever rhythm it’s supposed to have.)

Take me home to Gotham If I die far away Put me in her soil In a shallow grave

I don’t belong in Paris Or under London Town Don’t bury me in Tokyo Put me in Gotham ground

If you lose me out at sea In storm or dark of night I’ll swim back home to Gotham I’ll just follow the lights

Don’t send me off to Moscow Or drag me down to Rome I’m Gotham born and bred, my friend I only rest at home

Oh, take me home to Gotham If I die far away Put me in her soil In a shallow grave

I don’t need no tears or funerals Don’t miss me every day For I’ve come home to Gotham And right at home I’ll stay

(As far as most people are concerned, that’s where the rhyme ends. This next part is less well known, in-universe.)

I don’t want no fancy coffin Just put me in the ground Dig a hole on old Park Row And don’t let me be found

My soul belongs in Gotham She knows me blood and bone There is nowhere else that I may rest I’ll only toss and moan

But I’ll rest well in Gotham For two years and a day And if I’m feeling up to it I might even awake

So take me home to Gotham If I die far away You know I’ll only rest in peace In my shallow grave

...Yeah. This actually leads to a few traditions very specific to Gotham, like lighting a candle on someone’s grave on the anniversary of their death to help “lead them home,” or sitting vigil by their grave for the first 2-3 anniversaries. Lots of people don’t even know it has anything to do with this rhyme, it’s just part of Gotham’s culture.

Bruce & Dick of course know the whole rhyme and fight not to get their hopes up on the 2nd anniversary (have you seen that one post where Dick goes to smoke a cigarette for Jason on his grave, chokes on the smoke, and then Bruce shows up and they just silently share it? Yeah. Those vibes. Big those vibes.)

They made one crucial miscalculation, though: they calculated when Jason’s return would theoretically be from the time he died, not from when he was buried. Jason claws his way out of the ground just a day or two after they leave.

Now Jason’s a full-on undead revenant. In exactly the same condition they put him in the ground. He has embalming fluid in his veins, and wires holding his broken bones together. His mouth was sewn shut. But he’s not braindead, he’s fully aware, so enjoy that nightmare fuel for your near future! Additionally, people can’t seem to recognize him as being out of place; he’s walking around in his funeral suit, covered in dirt, and hardly anyone gives him a second glance. He doesn’t register to people, just a face in the crowd, just another part of Gotham, and it’s... Look, Jason’s not complaining that he’s not being arrested or having people run screaming at the sight of him. He can’t even say they’re ignoring him because people will still look up, say their greetings, whatever when he walks through a door, or grunt when they walk into him. But something about the way people brush past him, the certainty nobody will remember him after their interaction is finished, hurts.

(The only way for Jason to be remembered, to leave an impression on the people around him, is to become part of a legend once again.)

Revenants come back for a reason, and Jason’s is to kill his murderer. But he’s part of Gotham proper now, and unlike Bruce, Jason can’t leave. He tries to, he drives all the way to Arkham in a hot-wired car, but he’s still a good half mile away before the pain becomes too much and Jason’s forced to turn the car around or risk crashing when he inevitably passes out. This Jason never trains with the League of Assassins, but he doesn’t need to; no Lazarus Pit needed to fix his mind, and his undead body can take a lot more punishment than any living human could.

(I have this mental image of Jason going back to Wayne Manor, right on the edge of discomfort-not-pain outside of the city proper, and needing to spill so many identifying secrets to Alfred to get Alfred to even let him through the door. Bruce is out of the country, so Alfred calls Dick to please come help him verify their visitor’s identity. Dick has no idea who this stranger in their living room is, until he closes his eyes and focuses on the magic. Dives in deep, letting the resonance of Gotham’s soul wrap around him, and is surprised to find it so much clearer & louder than it should be this far from the city’s heart. Louder than it’s ever been since Jason---

Dick opens his eyes, and his breath catches in his throat as he finally recognizes the face staring at him with so much raw hope.)

Anyway, Bruce refuses to kill the Joker even harder when he finds out Jason is back, because he’s terrified that the moment Jason’s unfinished business is done, Jason will go back to being properly dead.

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

Okay, last stop: Tim! The only member of the family to be fully supernatural, non-human from the start.

Tim is a changeling. Specifically, he’s a fae who was born without the spellcasting abilities most fae have, so he was traded for a human child. Tim has no memory of the fae courts or his home mound, but he’s a smart cookie and it wasn’t hard to do the math.

Tim can’t lie. He has to keep his promises and he can’t help but keep track of debts (the kindest people in his life will give him quick, easy ways to repay them; a cool rock Tim found, or an interesting bit of information. Tim doesn’t like to hold debts over others most of the time, and will offer similar outs or just tell himself the next nice thing they do for him makes them even.)

Tim can’t cross salt lines or thresholds with horseshoes above them.

Tim can’t touch iron or silver without burning his skin.

Eating non-iodized salt makes Tim sick.

If Tim speaks someone’s full name as part of a command, they will do what he tells them to (other people don’t usually realize this, because they aren’t forced violently; their own minds usually try to find ways to justify what they’re doing.)

If someone has a piece of Tim’s body (like hair, blood, or nail-clippings) Tim’s brain goes into panic mode as quickly as if they held a knife to his throat.

Those are the obvious giveaways that point straight to fae. Tim’s inhumanity can also be found in minute details of his physicality.

Tim’s eyes glow in the dark.

The tips of Tim’s ears are pointed.

Tim has never lost a tooth (but his parents had his eye-teeth removed when he was eight.)

Tim’s nails grow in tough & black as pitch. (He’s gotten in trouble many times at school for painting them, despite the doctor’s note explaining it.)

Hidden under Tim’s hair, his scalp grows thick, curved thorns like a rosebush. (His mother sits him down in the bathroom the day before company comes over, and meticulously removes them with a pair of nail clippers. It hurts. They bleed. Tim’s learned not to squirm or show how much he hate it. It hurts worse if anyone messes with Tim’s hair afterwards, but he’s learned not to show that either.)

And, of course, there’s the biggest giveaway of all:

In all Tim’s pictures before the single trip his parents ever took him on (a whirlwind tour of Europe just before his 2nd birthday,) Tim’s eyes were hazel-brown.

They’re blue now.

(Tim tells himself his parents leave him behind and push him away because they can sense something is off about him, but that they don’t know what. He tells himself they didn’t notice when the fae stole their son away, that the real Timothy Drake would’ve grown up doted on & treasured, traveling the world with them, seeing the sights. Tim tries not to think about how Drake Industries was spiraling before they took that trip, or how it stabilized before they even made it home.)

Tim still becomes Robin, barely resisting Name-commanding his way into the role (it wouldn’t be right, it wouldn’t be honest, he needs Bruce to trust Tim if Bruce is ever going to get better.)

Gotham itself sees Tim as an interloper, but when Tim is Robin it can’t do anything about that. When Jason comes back, Tim sets off all his red-flag alarms, and all he can see is an alien parasite trying to worm its way into his family. It won’t be until Jason saves Tim from supernatural poachers who try to torture Tim’s Name out of him (fruitless in the first place, Tim doesn’t know his own Name,) that they’ll be able to move past that. Gotham can project its suspicions & paranoia through Jason, but how Jason chooses to see Tim will also affect Gotham.

(Someday, Damian will find Tim’s eye-teeth and return them to him as a birthday gift. It will be the kindest single act anyone has ever done for him, as Tim feels safe & whole for the first time since they were taken. Nevermind that they’re in a jewelry box and not Tim’s body, he has his teeth back, and nobody can take them ever again.

Tim will struggle to tell Damian that Tim can’t even begin to express how much this means to him. In the end, Tim just tells Damian, “Thank you. I owe you.”

Dangerous words, with no limit on the debt.

Damian will blink, realize what Tim’s answer really means, and scoff. “Don’t be stupid. It’s a gift. You don’t owe me anything, that’s how gifts work.”)

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

Basically everyone else has the same stories they do in canon, but with a little less dying. I’ve given dying so much more weight in this AU, so like, Steph doesn’t die, Damian doesn’t die, etc.

Damian does inherit Bruce’s curse/burden when Bruce is lost in time, though. Dick helps him learn to manage it, on top of everything else.

66 notes · View notes

belle-keys · 1 year

Text

Incoherent Thoughts: Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare

Wow, haven't done one of these in about a year, I think. Here it is. The review of the book I've been waiting for since The Bane Chronicles. I gave my initial impressions of Chain of Thorns to my friends a couple of hours after I finished (operating on two brain cells only), and that was short and messy. This one is not short. It’s messy though, I’ll give you that.

TLDR: I loved this book so very much (despite my numerous issues with aspects of it). Here are the Incoherent Thoughts (a mix of critical and purely emotional reactions to the story. I've been waiting for this since 2014; of course, I frickin loved it despite everything).

Things that will tear me apart: The legacy of Clockwork Princess

There is nothing that could have gotten me to really hate this book. I've been waiting for it since 2014 and it was just so beautiful. It gave me the perfect mixture of comfort, nostalgia, excitement, and curiosity. These characters are my babies - probably more of my babies than Herongraystairs were, since I was 17 myself when GOTSM dropped and when the leadup to ChoG started. I was so happy to immerse myself in the same world that started when Tessa Gray popped into London in 1878 and I loved it here. Moreover, I think compared to TDA, TLH as a trilogy felt more polished and immersive. I really felt like this was a story that started in 2010 and which has grown like a vine with the generations of readers from back then (moving childhood to adulthood, like me), but also with the generation of characters in the story (who we also got to see grow up).

Moreover, Matthew's arc was perfect, and so I'm happy. Matthew was always going to be a core determining factor for me.

The core of the story: Love and Family

The Epilogue broke me, but in the good way. It really did. It was not as bittersweet or as sad or as mysterious or as all-encompassing as Cassie's other epilogues. But it was beautiful, and when I read:

Cordelia's heart was too full for speech. Without a word, she caught hold of her husband's hand. Side by side with James, Cordelia ran.

I felt so warm. The Epilogue felt like warmth, and it reminded me of the original Hyde Park picnic in Chain of Gold where Cordelia had just come to London and thought there was no future for her and when she hadn't yet come into herself. In a sense, I felt like we were reverting to that innocence and sense of peace at the start of Chain of Gold by ending off the trilogy in Hyde Park, with a dispersion of the characters to different parts of the world instead of a gathering to London. And likewise, March 2020, when ChoG dropped, is the same month when the pandemic started and all the universal awfulness on the planet turned up to 100. Now as the pandemic has retreated and I'm in a better place myself, the ending felt so fitting (as it pertains to James and Cordelia).

I mean, the book was about how the power of love and family, and unity can destroy and overcome even the most powerful forces in Hell, which is pretty powerful (meta on this coming soon). James healing Matthew for an entire night straight? Jordelia's pure love (and horniness) breaking the gracelet that was forged by a Prince of Hell? That's just so beautiful and perfect to me, the way Cassie shows how love prospers. I also think the book is about how secrecy and lies and falseness are actually more detrimental to love than massive acts of evil. Secrets and lies and the rigidity of society are the main conflicts of this series (I will update my current meta on this). Thematically, this story was an okay homage to Great Expectations but, just thematically, I thought it was perfect.

James, Cordelia, and Jordelia

Jordelia are the crux of the story. They truly love each other. Their love is so damn powerful. Like there's no doubting it. They really got back to each other through Hell and back. This is the kinda thing I read TSC for. This aspect of the story was beautiful and perfect, and at the core of James and Cordelia's relationship is something real and pure and good and strong - it's very storybookish. It succeeds in being very Layla and Majnun, in being very dramatic and earth-shattering and epic (in the Greek way). The endgame happened, and it was lovely. It reiterates the notion that goodness and love (God) will always defeat evil (Lucifer).

I now want to unequivocally state that Jordelia pissed me off for most of Chain of Thorns. Not even in the “I’m mildly frustrated” way. They're awful communicators, they lack cunning, and they both have way too much pride for their own good. They both also spent most of the series having no agency whatsoever, which is very annoying because they can only be victims who later become generic hero figures instead of anything more complex. Cordelia was tricked into becoming a paladin of Lilith and tricked into thinking her husband was being unfaithful to her. James was tricked into becoming infatuated with someone he didn't love and was literally fighting against the demonic inheritance he was born with - nothing has ever been James’ fault ever. Cordelia and James were victims for most of the trilogy, and I don't think they had to make difficult choices or ever had the need to possess any moral complexity. That pissed me off more and more throughout the story: the unwavering goodness and nobility and braveness that they inherently possessed. And I'm assuming this is by virtue of their last names being... Herondale... and... Carstairs. Cough. There is no plot armor stronger than being the children/descendants of the two most beloved characters in TSC. And boy, it fricking showed.

I'm not like, mad anymore. It's more of a me thing where I'm tired of morally perfect characters. And adding to the fact that James and Cordelia are so sheltered, rich asf, and also grew up among love and joy? James and Cordelia can... only do good, and can only be hurt by evil. They have never had enough agency in context of the narrative to choose to do something actually wrong. It's annoying. But I forgive them, it's fine. The biggest thing TLH suffers from is that James is Wessa's child (which is ironic, because that's why a lot of people even started reading TLH). James is like, great!, as a gentleman - he's attractive and well read and a great dancer and loves poetry and is rich and has manners and is handsome and is kind and is loving and is passionate and is the ideal bachelor, we get it. James Herondale is also clearly incapable of doing any wrong in his life and never had to make a single difficult choice besides to maybe self-sacrifice himself and then immediately get healed. So. Nothing bad was ever actually going to happen to James or Cordelia, or get in the way of their love. The narrative's duty was clearly to protect James in CHoT.

EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE THING! THERE WAS ONE THING THAT COULD HAVE GOTTEN IN THE WAY OF JORDELIA AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN INTERESTING AND COMPLEX AND IT DID LOWKEY KINDA PLAY OUT KIND OF THE WAY I WAS EXPECTING AND IT'S STILL KINDA UNRESOLVED BUT I WANTED MORE AND UGH CASSIE WAS SUCH A COWARD IN CHOT.

As for Cordelia, it's still a very mixed bag for me. I mean, she's one of the few brown women in YA fantasy who aren’t defined by fricking racial trauma or colonialism or genocide as part of her character arc. She's just a woman who happens to be brown. And she's so feminine and genteel and elegant and passionate and strong and loving, all qualities I live about her. She wants to come into her true self, and I see that struggle to find her place in the world and to find stability as her main internal conflict. I love her for that. But I also got tired of the fact that she lacks a single devious bone in her body. She is generally very oblivious and rather egotistical. She's simultaneously way too naive and proud for me to root for her all the time, and those qualities were never actually something she had to pay for in a significant way - Cassie has made her, like James, untouchable by the narrative. I love her, I really do, but I wanted to violently shake her.

Grace and Christopher

So, I have not properly processed that Kit is dead, and I may never. Moving on.

Anyways, I couldn't actually believe that the one person that did not hate Grace died. The one person that does not scorn Grace died. Grace's ending was... disappointing to me (I'll talk about this more in my Problems section). Grace is the most morally complex female character Cassie has written in TSC (I said what I said). All I wanted was for the gang to simply understand her. Not to forgive, or to forget, but just to see what she did and see why she did it. I wanted James to see and understand why she would do something so despicable. But James and Cordelia and the gang have simply decided to move on from Grace, not to understand her. They're brushing it off. That wasn't nearly good enough for me because I love Grace so much and I maintain she will be the most relatable character in the TLH for people in the real world.

I can't think of a good reason why Grace wasn't told about how Tatiana literally bought her, or why everyone else wasn't told that information or why that info didn't become public in the Enclave either. I can't think of a good reason why she isn't going to live with other Cartwrights or in the literal London Institute instead of among a bunch of people who will always kinda hate her. I think she has redeemed herself: she confessed what she did to Jesse, Cordelia, and Kit. Willingly. She helped them save London with science. She abandoned her mother and her mother's evil. She’s recognized what she’s done. But not enough was done in the story to close off her arc in a satisfying way, at least not for me. I also think making that one (1) Great Expectations quote about her siblingship with Jesse was a cop-out, because she should have said it platonically to James instead. But whatever.

Lucie and Jesse

Spent most of ChoG and ChoI not really caring about either of them only to start to like them both so much in ChoT? Jesse Blackthorn? What a man. And I warmed up to Lucie a lot. I feel like she didn't do all that much in this book, to be honest, but that's okay. I liked them both and I love how Jesse's meshed with the squad. On a side note, Lucie and Cordelia have the least compelling female friendship in the whole of TSC. I cannot properly grasp how or why they want to be parabatai. Like even their messiness isn't good or compelling messiness, so.

Matthew

He's getting a review post as long as this one on Friday or Saturday. It’ll be absurd for me to try to tackle his character here.

He is about to take over my life (again). His character arc was amazing. But moreover, I think he's the most... interesting character in the trilogy. Interesting in the purest sense of the word. He's the character I feel I understand best in TSC, and yet, I can't truly figure him out. He is either my No.2 or No.3 character in the whole of TSC right now. Matthew Fairchild is perfect. He is too good for everything ever. He, in his own way, carried the emotional aspect of the story for me. Which again speaks to how interesting Matthew is, as he doesn't get POVs. (I am genuinely trying to figure out how to express what I want to express right now.) Matthew could have like... changed everything, in a way, like he’s so powerful. Matthew's emotional state at the end of ChoT actually has changed everything, for me. I also think Matthew has managed to be the most subversive character in TLH, based on that ending alone. Matthew is an inherently jarring character, thematically, but also execution-wise. I hope Cassie knows how excellently he has maneuvered his character.

Everyone else

Alastair, Thomas, Anna, Ariadne, and the parents were all great. Tatiana was also a compelling villain (not as much as Malcolm or Sebastian, but I love her more than Valentine and Mortmain). That part when Jesse told her that Will, Tessa and the Enclave don’t hate her because they don’t even think of her was just *chef’s kiss*. I have to zone in on Alastair over the rest: Alastair was brilliant. He had the most perfect character arc besides Matthew, and also the ideal redemption arc. He didn’t just change his actions and compensate for them, but he became so loving and tender and protective throughout the story. I loved it. I’m so thrilled at how his story ended. I could have done with more adult Wessa. But the pieces and bits I actually got were both extremely in-character and hilarious and had me in fits of giggles. I love Will Herondale so damn much, it’s crazy.

Framework (Wessa, Charles Dickens, The Bible and Classic Literature)

The foundation of this book was responsible for its highs and lows. Starting with the great things: I think this book managed to be Cassie’s most “religious” work yet, and I adore that. That end sequence taking place in the literally Abbey was exquisite. The setup for a final battle between the Shadowhunters and Lucifer for TWP is there. The whole idea of love and goodness and self-sacrifice (manifested through Jordelia) defeating the powers of Hell is the most Judeo-Christian thing ever. The intersection between literature and religion was absolutely there too - from the Milton and Dante references to themes of Hell and reminders of the Fall. Another great thing that I enjoyed throughout the trilogy was the importance classic literature and poetry. Cordelia and James falling in love as children while she read Layla and Majnun to him is something that kinda makes me kinda tear up the more I think about it. The way the literature of the time period is integrated into the setting as well is awesome.

I think ChoT does not deliver as Dickens-inspired piece. Where was “to the last hours of my life, Daisy”? Why was the last third of the book so damn awful for Grace (the woman on the cover???)? The book also did not need any Epic Battle Sequence to begin with - TLH, like GE, is a book about the relationship between the individual and social codes. I have no idea why Hell and Heaven were raining fires over London for a third of th book. The tone and structure did not mesh well with a battle sequence, and so I felt like the romance and subtlety of TLH being a GE-inspired series was lost there. Likewise, another flaw that the story unintentionally suffers from is that this series… enumerates the events that took place in a generation that followed that of Wessa. And so neither James or Cordelia (*cough* a Carstairs and a Herondale *cough*) were never in real danger. For a moment I was hoping we’d get something dark and twisted or bittersweet, but then I realized… she’s never putting Herongraystairs’ direct lineage through something that screwy. The narrative existed to protect Jordelia. This book suffers from the fact that the narrative continuing to shelter and coddle James and Cordelia, similar to how they literally grew up sheltered and oblivious by virtue of having their specific last names and the associated plot armor.

Problems (many)

Kit’s death was a cop-out. She needed to kill someone, and it had to be someone important, but not too important. And not an obviously marginalized character. His death changed nothing in the story. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have died; I just thought it was poorly executed. It also didn’t help me that the one person who saw the good and the bad in Grace… is dead.

Grace’s character arc ended awfully. It would have made sense for her to kill Tatiana, and not Cordelia. But it also doesn’t help that she’s living on the fringes of society, given that said society literally hates her. The fact that she couldn’t even… stay at the Institute? The most negative things I have to say about the book are related to Grace’s arc. She’s like, been the most complex and compelling female character in TSC in a hot minute. I’m having trouble accepting the scorn she’s faced.

Edom - that sequence was ridiculous and unnecessary. The only good part of it was Heronchild, but they didn’t need to be specifically in Edom for that to go down the way it did. Lucie and Cordelia literally went to Edom to get in a portal which took them right back to London, because drama. There was no reason for the Edom trip.

No accountability or consequences - Grace and the gracelet? Forgiven and forgotten; no consequences. Jesse being raised from the dead and also them lying about his identity to the Enclave for most of the book? Forgiven and forgotten; no consequences. Matthew breaking Shadowhunter law with the whole potion debacle that cost a lot of people a lot of things? Forgiven and forgotten; no consequences. Cortana literally being able to do any and every thing the plot needs it to do, and Cordelia being the only one ever who can do it, is also quite convenient. Sure that isn’t coincidental. Like let’s have James stab himself and then we’ll Cortana Ex Machina as we see fit, don’t worry. James and Cordelia not having put on their second weddings runes until ages after they were expected to do so? Solved in one sentence in the Epilogue.

Not bittersweet (except for Matthew - only his ending was bittersweet). Grace’s ending was bitter, and everyone else’s, except Matthew, was sweet. None of the serious magical issues and the sinister secrets had any lasting effect or consequences. It was very much a happy ever after type of story; and everyone seems to have forgotten that Christopher’s very much unalive.

Sona just… had the baby. Everything was fine. Even after years of teasing that that would be more significant. Not even a Thomastair adoption, and none of the “mystery baby” theories she was teasing came though. What else was I supposed to say except… okay. Likewise, the whole explanation for why the Family Tree we’ve been teased about for a decade being screwy was weak. I just kind of zoned out. Like that whole Esme Hardcastle thing was stupid, since Cassie was giving a lot of hints about how that was supposed to go down, about why the Carstairs records are missing, and all of them involved Jem. But nothing actually “wow” happened. I suspect a lot of retconning happened. I’m sad.

Random Thoughts and Conclusion

It’s quite good that Will had refused Cortana in CP2 and that Cordelia will pass it on to baby Zachary instead of, uh, Owen Herondale, so it could have reached Emma. I’ve been, in my daze, entertaining ideas of “lmfao, imagine if Jace had ended up with Cortana and literally accidentally killed God with it, because that’s absolutely something Jace would do”. Jace, Angel Boy Extraordinary, would have beeen able to destroy Thanos with that sword.

Casual reminders of Matthew being rich and pretty and dainty are just… I love it here.

Jesse didn’t do much in this book, but he was quite funny. Like he’s unintentionally hilarious.

Anna asking Cordelia if she was pregnant felt like a personal attack against ME. I was like, one of the first idiots post-ChoI that started all the whatifs about Matthew and Cordelia and… Clary. Those theory posts still have like hundreds of notes. I was very wrong about all of my theories. It’s fine. I’ll be haunted by what so easily could have happened or not happened. But it’s fine. Ha.

Where was the Layla? The chess boards? Why was the fricking globe necklace A HOLDER FOR FOUR LINES OF GEORGE GORDON BYRON. JAMES PUT FOUR LINES FROM THE MOST GENERIC OF THE ROMANTIC ENGLISH ANGST LORDS INTO THE LOCKET??? No no no no no…

Oscar Wilde (doggo) was amazing. He’s a good boy. I think @lifeofbrybooks said that Oscar had a better character arc than some characterss. So accurate.

Hidden away, on Cassie’s hard drive, I really believe there’s a Secret Truer Original Chain of Thorns that exists. So many things felt like they were changed or omitted last minute…

Anyway, thanks to @eclecticdonutzippercroissant @amchara @benjamingross and @timesconvert for listening to me read this book. And for the fun calls and theorizing with me. Special thanks to Jenn for literally putting up with me when I put my clothes on and physically went for a long walk outside “to feel the Caribbean air on my face” before starting Chapter 23. Special thanks to Gill for validating me with her existence. I’m gonna have a lot of meta and memes coming up, in addition to moodboards and playlists. Stay tuned. And if you’re new here, check out my old stuff and accept my apologies (*generally speaking*).

45 notes · View notes