#c: bertha

[laurabenanti]

CARRIE COON as BERTHA RUSSELL 02.01 - you don't even like opera

[flwrsmyth]

𓂃▸ 🦢🍥 ⁄ 𝒩𝐞𝕨 𝙿𝑜𝘀ᡶ! 𓂃 𓈒 ♡⃞ ᨶꪹꫀᦔỉᡶ ꪑꫀ. ⟨ Ꮉ ⟩ 〃 𝘭ĭ̈ƙᨻ 𝗼𝒓 𝐫ᨻb̲𝚕σg ๑ﾟ˛𓍊𓋼 ؁ ♰▮ ▯! …ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ ｡:.ﾟヽ(｡◕‿◕｡)ﾉﾟ.:｡+ﾟ𝘪𝒄o̲𝘯s̑̈ 𝄤 ׅ ࣪ 𖦹 ᵎᵎ

[violetc4ts]

drawing mal rn & irl i have this thing where i write my friends names / initials on the white part of my converse so now i hc that mal does the same

[ardenrosegarden]

What was Bertha de Cornouaille's second marriage like? From what I can tell her first marriage doesn't seem to have been very good (although she outlived him, slay!) but im a bit confused about her second

Lmao yeah, slay indeed, get that Honour of Richmond 💪💯 At the end of the day I have to respect the grind even if it sounds like her time in England was a bit rough :')

As for Bertha's second marriage, that also seems to be quite murky, she was rarely (from what I can tell) acting very independently (the only known charter we have of hers is from her time in England), so it's hard to get a clear picture from the little information we have how she may have felt about Eudon.

On one hand, it could have been a pretty politically advantageous marriage- Porhoët was pretty expansive, which is kind of important if you're concerned about a potential power vacuum destabilizing your family. Unfortunately that call kind of came from inside the house.

I've seen some writers claim that when Eudon and Conan IV fell out, she took Eudon's side and others claim the opposite, so it's hard to get an idea of where she would have been in all of this. I tend to lean more to the latter opinion, given the commentary from Judith Everard and Sara McDougall which suggest that Conan III's decision to make Bertha his heir instead of her brother was a cooperative family effort to increase their family's influence, which to me colors how she may have seen Eudon's grab for power.

On the other hand, Eudon was claiming Brittany in the name of the daughter he had with Bertha (Alix), so I can also understand on there being some messiness for Bertha on a personal level if she felt she had to choose between her daughter and son's livelihood.

[unbeleveable]

tag drop 1

[lemuseum]

[unbeleveable-archive]

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[perfettamentechic]

31 dicembre … ricordiamo …

31 dicembre … ricordiamo … #semprevivineiricordi #nomidaricordare #personaggiimportanti #perfettamentechic

2021: Betty White, Betty Marion White Ludden, attrice e conduttrice televisiva statunitense. È nota per numerosi ruoli televisivi e al cinema. Nella sua carriera ottenne oltre 20 candidature agli Emmy Awards, vincendone 7, e fu candidata più volte per i Golden Globe. Nel 2012, all’età di 90 anni, vinse il suo primo Grammy Award. Debuttò nei primi anni quaranta come modella, per poi apparire, nel…

[packedwithpackards]

Shared gravestone of Henry C. Packard and his wife, Bertha B. Gurney.

[emeraldspiral]

So another interesting thing about Jane Eyre is its take on relationship inequality.

Like, Jane is 18 at the beginning of the story and Rochester is said to be something like 35-38. And it's not casually brushed aside like that was normal back in the day. It wasn't. Concerns about the age gap are raised within the text. But the story emphasizes that Jane feels comfortable accepting Rochester's proposal, despite the age difference, the class difference, and him being her boss, because Jane feels that Rochester regards her as an equal. When they converse, Jane doesn't feel any tension, like she has to impress him or try to read his mind and say whatever he wants to hear. She feels that he respects her and values her thoughts and isn't compelled to use his power against her if she says something to displease him. Around the midpoint of the story, Jane believes that Rochester is going to marry another woman, and resolves to leave because she's heartbroken, believing that because she is poor and plain Rochester can't possibly be as hurt by their parting as she is, and he'll forget her and move on long before she does. But it turns out to be the opposite. After finding out about Bertha, Rochester begs Jane to stay and insists he'll be miserable forever without her, while Jane, still thinking she's too poor and plain to ever attract someone like him again, resists all temptation and leaves him. And she does this specifically because she feels that if she were to compromise her morals and self-respect to be Mr. Rochester's mistress, then he would lose respect for her and the relationship would fall apart. It was only by maintaining her integrity that the relationship could stay in-tact when the reconciled at the end.

St. John Rivers on the other hand, I don't think is given a definite age, but I think he's intended to be a much younger man, probably in his early 20s. He is poor and without relations aside from his sisters or any other connections, just as Jane. Jane finds out they're actually cousins at the same time she learns she's come into a vast fortune that was willed to her rather than the Rivers, but decides to share her fortune equally with them. So she arguably had more social capital, even though she made an effort to put St. John on equal footing with her, because the money was hers by right and she could've presumably cut him off at any time, just as easily as Rochester could've terminated Jane from her job.

And yet, Jane's relationship with St. John is vastly more unequal than her relationship with Rochester. Even though Jane practically worshiped Rochester but only cares for St. John as a brother and is acutely aware of his faults, she still finds herself desperately craving his approval in a way she never did with Rochester. And St. John is willing to exploit that intentionally. He asks her to do things she doesn't want to and make sacrifices for him just because he knows she'll do anything to please him, and that's why he thinks she's the perfect wife for him. Where Rochester tries to explain himself and persuade Jane not to leave him by addressing her concerns, St. John basically tries to command Jane to marry him and refuses to accept her "no" as final. He withholds affection from Jane as a tactic to get her to compromise in order to reconcile with him when he's the one who should be apologizing to her and considering her needs and not just his own. Jane knows that she can't ever be happy with him because he doesn't respect her and his lack of respect only makes her want to seek his approval, which he is all too happy to exploit for his own benefit.

But Jane ultimately stays firm and rejects St. John's proposal of a loveless marriage, just as she rejected Rochester's proposal of an unlawful marriage, because both situations were doomed to fail if she didn't put her own self-respect first.

So this novel from 1847 was really saying that power dynamics aren't pure black and white. Age and class and wealth and status can be a factor in making a relationship unequal, but you can also be equal on pretty much all social axis and still have inequality in a relationship. What's really important is that there's mutual respect.

[laurabenanti]

[cinematic-phosphenes]

THE GILDED AGE (2022-) + ART [6/∞]

🌸 Bertha Russell in S1E2 | Mrs Hugh Hammersley (1892) - John Singer Sargent 🌸 Madame Paul Poirson (1885) - John Singer Sargent | Marian Brook in S1E9 🌸 Maud Beaton in S2E2 | Before the Ball (c. 1870s) - Alfred Stevens

Dress inspo found by: @tomcraweley + @whartonists

[justafleck]

@adversitybloomed​ :  ❛  are you always this straightforward with strangers ?  ❜

—  “  Are  you  always  this  presumptuous  when  it  comes  to  clowns  ?  ”  Oh   how  it  makes  him  want  to  laugh  .  A  guy  can’t  compliment  a  lady  around  here  without  some  sort  of  retaliation  ,  but  he  loves  it  .  Like  adding  fuel  to  a  fire  ,  it  invigorates  him  .  His  heart  pumps  faster  than  it  should  in  his  chest  ,  mostly  from  the  what  he  considers  a  blatant  rejection  that  fueled  his  deep  rooted  anxiety  .  He  thought  his  intro  line  was  cool  :  ‘  I  must  be  in  a  museum  because  you  truly are  a  work  of  art  !  ’   It  was  golden  ,  or  so  he  thought  .  She’s  captured  his  attention  as  she  stands  out  from  the  crowd  much  like  he  does  .  Bonus  points  because  she’s  beautiful  but  he’s  not  trying  to  pick  her  up  like  that   —  he’s  not  a  creep  ,  or  at  least  he’s  not  trying  to  be  .  “  What  do  I  look  like  ?  A  creep  ?  ”  The  question  wraps  up  with  a  laugh  .  Its  loud  ,  his  painted  smile  stretches  from  ear  to  hear  and  his  teeth  flash  from  behind  crimson  painted  lips  .  “  I  thought  women  liked  compliments  .  Jeesh  !  ”

—  Perhaps  it’s  his  lack  of  social  skills  :  he  heard  the  pickup  line  long  ago  during  a  show  at  Pogo’s  and  jotted  it  down  thinking  it  was  a  genuine  compliment  rather  than  some  cheesy  pickup  line  sleaze  bags  at  a  bar  would  use  .  He  didn’t  know  the  difference  .  “  Everyone  else  around  here  looks  so  boring  .  ”  he  said  ,  adding  a  certain  emphasis  to  the  description  .  “  But  you  don’t  .  ”  he  pointed  out  .  The  people  around  them  all dress  so  blandly :  black  suits  and  plain  dresses  .  To  him  it’s  like  walking  around  a  funeral  home  .  It  was  nice  to  stumble  across  someone  unique  around  here  .  He  straightened  his  posture  ,  shoulders  squared  as  he  brings  the  cigarette  pinched  between  his  fingers  towards  his  lips and  held  it  there  to  speak  before  taking  a  pull  from  it  .  “ If  you  haven’t  noticed  ,  I’ve  got  a  keen  eye  for  fashion  and  you’re  killing  it  .  ”  His  smile  never  dims  and  he  blows  a  stream  of  smoke  out  from  between  his  lips  .  He’s  cocky  ;  arrogant  .  It’s  just  a  front  . The  nicotine  barely  settles  his  frayed  nerves  and  he  feels  as  if  he’d  bounce  right  out  of  his  two  toned  shoes  . 

—  “  So  ,   what  now  ?  Are  you  gonna  slap  me  across  the  face  ?  Call  me  a  bad  guy  ?  ”  Joker  quipped  .  It’s  certainly  anticipated  ;  trauma  from  his  past  as  every  time  he  used  to  try  to  strike  up  conversation  with  anyone  it  seemed  to  almost  always  end  up  that  way  .  A  slap  in  the  face  .  An  insult  .  Nothing  pleasant  .  “  Or  can  I  give  it  another  shot  and  introduce  myself  like  a  true  gentleman  ?  ”  He’s  certain  that  she  should  already  know  who  he  is  .  He’ s  the  most  infamous  man  in  Gotham  City and  it’s  indicated  by  the  mixture  of  gasps  and  murmuring  by people  passing  by  them  on  the  streets  .  Others  stopping  to  take  pictures  of  him  from  across  the  street  .  How  he  revels  in  the  attention  ,  but  for  now  ,  he  pays  it  no  mind  .  Emerald  eyes  remain  locked  onto  her  ,  sharp  like  a  hawks  gaze  piercing  into  her  as  if  she  were  the  only  person  he  could  see  .  He’s  not  angry  ;  nor  does  his  demeanor  suggest  it  .  If  anything  ,  he’s  entertained  .  

[lesserknownwaifus]

Big Bertha and Britannia from On Concrete Foundations World War I Political Cartoon by Louis Raemaekers, c. 1915

[kakashixhatakesxwhore]

An Extended Sesh

Pairing: Nara Shikamaru x f!Reader

Summary: Smoking With Shikamaru (fic version). Our lovely reader is going out to her weekly sesh with her pals, but there are a few things about this week that differ from the last.

W/c: 4.4k

Warnings: Fluff. Oui'd. Mary Jo. Reefer. Pot. Cannabis. Shikamaru's got a bit of a dirty mind, but we're all over 18 (RIGHT?), we can take it.

Notes: teehee, i'm a slut for thc and shikamaru - lmk how y'all feel, i implore you - also this fic works as a part 2 if anyone wants a smuttier extension.

Masterlist💿

That smell of the rubbing alcohol as it broke down the thick, black resin that coated your favourite bong permeated the air, putrid and clinging to every inch of your sinus. The down stem and bowl piece were off to the side, soaking in salt and more rubbing alcohol inside of a tied up bag. Gagging, you shook your bong, covering the lip and the mouthpiece.

Nothing was more disgusting. But you had to do it. Not for yourself, you would've been happy just poking holes through the down stem.

It was for that fucking prick.

He always brought his piece to seshes, but lately he'd been bitching about how much of a drag it was to be the only valuable member of the sesh. In all fairness, everyone bought their leaf off of him and you were the only other person in the village to have glass to smoke out of. But that was how you could tell his gripes were targeted.

So, you had to volunteer to bring your piece this week. And, of course, that prick teased you and said that your bong was probably made of glass thinner than a bottle. Like you only had one.

Before he had said that, you had thought to bring Calissa - your thinnest, cheapest bong. But, fuck, the look on his smug, dreamy face, if he were right- you had to bring out the big guns.

Big Bertha was your second-pick, she was a much thicker glass and had strips of crystals blown into her neck. But she was small, and you hated her down stem. Plus, Talia was the prettiest of all - you had to impress Shikamaru.

Letting your chosen piece soak for a second in the bath tub, you moved to shake the bag that the down stem and bowl piece were in. The liquid turned murky as soon as you moved it and you sighed - you thanked the stars for giving you the foresight to scrape them first. You rinsed them out a few times then moved to your bong, that you knew would blow that prick out of the water.

"Alright, Talia," you said to your favourite piece as you dumped the alcohol out of her lip. "Rinse, swish, repeat, then we're outta here."

Once you were finished, you put her down stem and bowl piece back, then wrapped the gorgeous bong in a fluffy towel. It was Talia's designated towel. Her black and gold design stood stark against the white fuzz of the blanket, making you smile a bit as you rolled a corner of the blanket and stuffed it down her neck. You rolled her in the blanket and put her in your bag, the neck peeking out just a tad.

With a deep breath, you threw your grinder, your wallet, a packet of tobacco, and rolling papers into your bag. In the last second, you grabbed one of your nicer decks of cards, just in case, and just to further your position as a valuable member of the sesh.

You left your shabby apartment to meet everyone at the Eastern tree line, just South of Nara Forest.

Standing around was such a drag. Leave it to Kiba to be the one holding everyone up.

"Let's just go, he'll be able to smell us," Choji groaned. Shikamaru had been thinking similarly, but knew he was right in his decision to keep it inside when your frowned deeply.

Mirroring your expression, Ino chided, "That's rude, Choji. Could you imagine how you'd feel if we left you to find us?"

"I'd be fine! I would want you guys to start without me, if I was going to be so inconsiderately late," he argued, crossing his arms.

"We'll wait another minute," Shikamaru interjected derisively. "Kiba will be able to find us."

Though he thought you would be happy with the compromise, you rolled your eyes and went back to talking to Ino and Tenten. Your smile grew as you spoke to them, and Shikamaru watched you gesticulate strangely. The women laughed loudly, and you seemed happy their reactions, until you looked at Shikamaru.

Your eyes glinted with an edge, and your smile faltered for a breath. Quickly, you looked back at Tenten and Ino as they held each other, giggling.

"What's so funny?" Shikamaru asked, trying to seem as casual as possible, striding up to your small group, ignoring the conversation Choji and Shino were trying to loop him into.

"Oh, Y/n was telling us about-" Tenten began, still chuckling.

"Nothing important," you interrupted. The way you avoided his eye piqued his interest.

Ino pushed your shoulder a little and giggled, "We'd leave out the important bits."

"You can't do this to me, Smokey," Shikamaru teased you. Just like he wanted, your eyes snapped to his and he got to see that beautiful bite behind your gaze. He grinned, "C'mon, I know you want to tell me."

Eye twitching, you answered, "Don't call me that."

"Why not, Smokey Bear?"

Oh, you got so deliciously upset every time Shikamaru teased you. He loved poking the proverbial bear, if only to see how your eyes tore him up. You couldn't have been more obvious; he riled you up, and you loved it just as much as he did.

Not taking his bait, you answered his first question, "I was telling the girls about how I spent two whole hours cleaning my bong, because you're such a prick."

Maybe he was hearing things.

"Sounds to me like you put in effort, just to impress me," he asserted confidently, even though he was crumbling on the inside.

Beside you, Tenten and Ino giggled, and Ino leaned into whisper something in your ear, covering her mouth. The three of you got into a whispered conversation, peppered with giggles and scoffs. Shikamaru took a step to the side to digest... your words. Your tone.

Such a prick.

A prick, sure, but such a prick? That seemed unreasonable. How could you think that? Was it the teasing? Shikamaru was in a slight panic, he had always teased you. For years.

"I'm here! I'm here!"

"About fuckin' time!" Choji exclaimed as Kiba ran up to the group. "What took you so long?"

"Akamaru was having an issue with one of Hana's ninken," he explained, trying to catch his breath. Kiba inhaled deeply then smiled at everyone, sparing your group of girls an extra second. "I hope I didn't make you guys wait too long."

"No, no," Ino said kindly, moving to stand nearer to Kiba.

"Yeah, we like watching grass grow," you joked, coming behind the two of them to stand on the other side of Kiba.

Seemly jealous of how closely you and Ino were standing by Kiba, Tenten went to him and took his hand. Kiba looked around at the three women that surrounded him and smiled so broadly that all of his teeth were on display.

Tenten pulled him to her side and started flirting in earnest while taking him into the forest. You walked beside Tenten while Ino walked on the other side of Kiba. His head bounced around to the three of you, clearly getting torn in three different directions.

"I hate him," Shino grumbled.

"Me too," Choji agreed.

"Hatred is an illness," Shikamaru said, beginning to walk into the forest as well.

"Yeah, don't act like you're not one of the afflicted," Choji chided as he and Shino came up on either side of Shikamaru. "We all saw that face you had on after Y/n walked up to Kiba."

"You do psychoanalysis now?"

"Even my bugs saw it," Shino added.

Shikamaru sighed, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his sweat pants. He watched you intensely as you took your bag off your shoulder and gave it to Kiba, thanking him.

Fuck, Shikamaru should've been the one to take your bag. It did look heavy. Maybe he was a prick.

"Perhaps I should sit on this until we're alone-"

"It's not like they're listening," Shikamaru pointed out, immediately interested in what Shino had to say.

"Well," he started, much quieter. Choji leaned over Shikamaru and even Shikamaru leaned in, terribly curious. "I was talking to Kiba the other day at the izakaya... and he said if he were to make a move on one of the girls, it'd be Y/n."

"Grand."

"If he were to, or is he planning to?" Choji asked.

"He's planning on it, if you-" Shino's index found itself in the center of Shikamaru's chest. "-don't step up to bat, soon."

Fuck. And you definitely didn't think Kiba was a prick.

It wasn't even a question in his mind; Shikamaru had to change your opinion of him. As soon as possible.

"Would you rather have sex with a being that has the Fifth Hokage's body and the Third Hokage's head - or... rethatch the entire Academy building?"

"That's disgusting, Kiba!"

"Can I close my eyes in the Fifth-Third situation?" You asked across the circle.

"Nope, eye contact is necessary," Kiba confirmed with a devilish grin. He looked over at Ino pointedly and added, "At least someone understands that we're playing a hypothetical game."

"Okay, who's neck does the being have?" Shikamaru asked, his voice so deep, you could feel the vibration while sitting beside him.

The question made you snicker wildly, having to look away for a second. Kiba repeated, "Neck?"

"Yeah, where's the cut-off," Shikamaru clarified.

You looked back at him and he was smiling so softly that it made you nervous. Cripes, such handsome men were always nerve-wracking. What was he planning?

Shikamaru cleared his throat, looking to Kiba. He shrugged, "It's a fair question."

"Hiruzen-neck," Kiba decided.

"Yeah, give me the roof," the black haired boy yucked. "No amount of tit could distract me from that turkey neck."

As you laughed at his decision, Ino chastised Shikamaru and Kiba for speaking about the Hokages so lewdly. It just made you laugh harder as Tenten blew out her stale smoke.

"I'd say," she coughed. "Give me the being."

"Me too," you agreed with a soft laugh, taking Talia from her. You took up the bowl piece and Shikamaru passed you his grinder before you could pick up yours. You took it hesitantly. "...Thank you."

"No problem," he replied cheerily.

Quickly, you packed a horrifically small bowl and tried to gave him back his grinder.

Shikamaru smiled at you, eyes crinkling so sweetly, as he pushed the grinder back to you. With a beautiful lilt, he chuckled, "Are we rationing?"

"You pack it for me then," you sighed, feeling a little anxious. "I don't want to steal all your weed."

"You could if you wanted to," Shikamaru told you as he took the bowl piece and the grinder from you. By blessing of his grinder being so large, he literally dipped the bowl into the shredded weed and scooped up a lung-buster. With that same sweet smile, he slotted the bowl piece into the down stem and looked deeply into your eyes. "Think you can take it?"

"Y-yeah, I can take it," you exhaled. You snapped back into reality, shaking your head quickly and looking away.

The man sitting beside you couldn't take his eyes off of you as you toked, and your thoughts began bouncing off the walls of your mind.

Oh, something was wrong. Something was off, something had happened.

You just didn't know what.

All you knew was that Shikamaru was suddenly acting all sweet with you.

First, he insisted that he sit with you and Tenten, to help you with Talia. Then, he couldn't stop complimenting Talia. Sure, she was a beautiful piece, but he didn't even make one snide comment, even when you fucking prompted him.

Worse yet, when everyone pooled their money to give to him, Shikamaru had slipped fifty yen back into your pocket without anyone but you noticing. You had tried to give it back, but he argued, and told you that he had overcharged you last week.

What sealed the deal for you was the fact that he wasn't letting you touch your own weed, only his. And no one got to smoke from Shikamaru's personal stash. Ever.

"Everything okay, Smokey?" Shikamaru asked you quietly, everyone else talking about the would you rather question Kiba had posed.

You looked around and remarked how inebriated your friends were. They could never match your tolerance, but Shikamaru could give you a run for your money.

He nudged you, moving a bit closer on the fallen tree that you, he and Tenten were using as a bench. When you looked into his eyes, that glint that boiled your blood was absent, and the corners of his eyes drooped a bit, making Shikamaru look so... kind.

"What's up with you?" You asked finally.

"Me?" He asked, smiling wide. Shikamaru put his hand on his chest and shook his head. "I'm alright, thanks for asking."

"No, you fucking prick," you said. Shikamaru's smile dropped in an instant, where he normally would have laughed. You pointed and asked, "That... why aren't you being my friend right now?"

He seemed at a loss for words. Shaking his head, much more seriously, Shikamaru stuttered, "I- I am... I am your friend. Right?"

"Yeah," you nodded. "You're my friend. So where are the jabs, the taunts? You're so mean, all the time, and it's disconcerting to see you be so nice."

Shikamaru looked down, studying the forest floor. You looked around briefly before you cleared out your stale and passed Talia to Shikamaru.

"Is it Tenten?" You whispered into his ear. Shikamaru gave you a cut eye and you leaned back, nodding. He probably just wanted to make a good impression on her without directly flirting with her. That was fair. Tenten was so pretty. "Okay, I'll keep your secret."

"That's not it," he mumbled, probably thinking of something to deter you from the right track.

"Then what is it?"

Shikamaru looked at you, more emotion on his face than you had ever seen before. And it broke your heart, because he looked so sad.

"Do you wanna know?" He asked. You nodded, and Shikamaru's lip quirked a tad. "Do you really wanna know?" You nodded again. "Do you really really wanna know?"

"Yes, damnit, tell me."

"No," he smirked.

You groaned. What a fucking prick. You knew he was stalling, coming up with something to hide his attraction to Tenten. Stars, he got under your skin so easily, it was like he lived there.

"Let's smoke together, later, just the two of us, and I'll tell you then."

He should invite Tenten to sesh, if he likes her so much, you thought bitterly. You narrowed your eyes at him, but nodded slowly. "Alright, you're on then."

He'd never been so nervous. Never, not once in his life. Jittery, that would have been a great way to describe it. He was absolutely shaking with anticipation. Shikamaru couldn't wait to shake off the others, just to get you alone.

Shino, high as a kite, with a cloud of bugs around him, hung off of Shikamaru's neck as the group made it's way back to the village, walking from the plot of forest just South of the gorgeous Nara woods, then through the Nara compound. Everyone definitely smelled a little, but Shikamaru had brought peppermint oil to mask it. None of his relatives paid his group any real attention, nothing more than a passing glance.

"Let me braid your hair, Y/n," Ino whined at you, running her fingers through your locks.

"It's too short," you weakly argued.

Tenten scoffed on your other side, playing with the ends of your hair, "Shut up."

"Would you let me braid your hair, Y/n?" Kiba asked.

The three of you, having been walking in front, slowed and looked back at the four boys. Shikamaru, not wanting to see how you would smile at Kiba and agree, looked off to one of his aunt's houses.

"Fuck no," you scoffed. Shikamaru looked at you, trying to conceal his joy at your genuinely put-off expression. "Can you even braid hair, Kiba, or are you just putting me on?"

"Ah, I could always learn for you," he flirted.

"I know how to braid," Shikamaru lied. Your eyes shifted to him and softened. Yes.

"What kinds of braids?" You asked. No.

"I- er, the regular one?" Shit, he didn't know there would be a quiz. He thought about his mother, her strange braids, and added, "And... the fish braid?"

"You can fishtail braid?" Tenten questioned, completely disbelieving.

"Like fuck he can," Kiba laughed.

"Show us, Shikamaru!" Ino prompted him.

Fuck sake.

No, he couldn't come clean. He could figure out how to braid right now, with an audience, in front of the woman he'd been pining after for years, even if it seemed like a hard braid. Yeah, sure. Good stars, he needed a miracle.

"Alright, then, I need a model," he said as smugly as possible, looking at you. "Smokey...?"

"Well, this, I have to see," you said, shifting your bag on your shoulder as you walked to a bench on the side of the road.

Shit, he wasn't supposed to let you carry that back. He already neglected to help you with it the first time. Shikamaru was going to carry it back for you, but he took one toke too many to remember, before he was reminded. Cripes, he really was a prick, wasn't he?

Shikamaru stood behind you, sitting Shino down beside you, as Choji and Kiba crowded around him and the girls sat on your other side. Tenten started telling him, "Fishtail is four sections, not-"

"Don't tell him!" Choji cut her off.

Tenten crossed her arms and started watching with everybody as Shikamaru stared at your gorgeous, shining hair. It caught the sun so nicely, it was almost distracting. Slowly, he brought his hands to your hair, gently pulling out a few knots.

"You can be a bit rougher, if you want. I can take it," you said.

Shikamaru bit his tongue and shook his head, though you couldn't see him. Rougher, maybe in the bedroom. Oh, that'd be the day, when he would feel your silken hair and hear you say those same words, but in such a different context.

As carefully and precisely as he could, Shikamaru divided your hair into four sections, like Tenten had said.

Then came the hard part. He hadn't much of a clue what to do.

Well, a braid was just a series of woven plaits, right?

He took the furthest right section and brought it over the center two, then repeated the action with the left. Yeah, okay, that didn't look wrong. Shikamaru pulled it tighter then repeated it, moving the new furthest right second over the two in the middle, then the left. He tightened it, then again, right over two, left over two.

Shit, this wasn't hard at all.

"I should've put money on this," Shikamaru murmured as he neared the ends of your hair.

"I want to put money on the chance that you just learned that on the fly," Tenten laughed, voice full of praise.

Which only made Ino swoon, "Even if he did..."

"Man, I hate you," Kiba said.

There was no music as triumphant to Shikamaru's ear.

But, no one's opinion mattered but yours. As Shikamaru laid the braid over your shoulder, having gone down as far as he could without his fingers fumbling around, he waited with bated breath as you examined it. Seeing you wrap a hair elastic from your wrist around the end made Shikamaru's heart pound in his chest. You ran your fingers up the center, then started pulling at the sides near the top.

Fuck, you hated it.

"What's wrong with it?" Shikamaru asked quickly.

"Nothing," you giggled. Despite your answer, you kept pulling it the braid that Shikamaru was shaking over. "It's really tight, Shikamaru, you did a really good job on this."

He was going to cry. Right in the middle of the Nara compound, in the midst of all of his friends, in front of all of his family.

That sentence alone was like winning the lottery.

"Bet I could do better," Kiba said, trying to steal Shikamaru's moment.

"Well, not on my head, I'm never taking this out," you said to Kiba, standing up from the bench. Shikamaru contained himself, biting his tongue hard enough to draw blood. Tenten and Ino both shared your refusal, already having their hair done-up.

The group started moving again, though the order had gotten strange. Kiba and Ino occupied the front, trailed by you and Shino, having been the one to pick him back up, while Choji, Tenten and Shikamaru held the end. Shikamaru was walking right behind you, watching the way your braid- his braid bopped around as you moved.

It was all Shikamaru could do to not steal you away and leave the group. You said you would smoke with him later. Later was now. Shikamaru needed later to be now.

Finally, you gave Shino to Tenten and the two of them peeled away from the group, going in the direction of their neighbourhoods. Choji popped off next, in the direction of the Akimichi compound, and Ino left in the other direction, to the Yamanaka compound.

It left just you, Shikamaru, and Kiba.

"I'm going down to Imanishi in a bit, Y/n," Kiba started boldly. "I'd love it if you came with me."

"Not tonight," you said with a smile. "Shikamaru and I are hanging out."

Kiba looked at Shikamaru over your head. His eyebrow cocked and Shikamaru dipped his head a little, making Kiba smile, but his eyes drooped ever so slightly. He got the message.

"Ah, don't worry about it," he said, speeding up a little. Kiba turned and waved at you and Shikamaru, before saying, much to Shikamaru's chagrin, "If anything ever falls through, you'll know where to find me."

"Whatever you say," you sang, shaking your head with the smallest smile.

Shikamaru gave Kiba a quick two finger salute as he turned back around, continuing on his merry way. Alone at last, Shikamaru took a deep breath, basking in the notes of your fragrance the held in the air around him.

"Your place or mine?"

"My bed's bigger," he murmured, not thinking. Shikamaru's eyes widened as your eyebrows shot up. "I mean for sitting on. Or we could smoke in my living room. My bed doesn't even matter, what?"

"So, your place then."

"Yeah."

"Cool."

"On particularly romantic evenings of self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion," you stated, twirling around Shikamaru's open living room.

"And, do answers ever dip you?" He asked, standing from the navy blue couch slowly.

Pattering over with the softest steps, you opened you arms to Shikamaru and he took you in his. He whisked you around the room as if the two of you were standing atop a cloud, though the cold hardwood was tingling your toes. Your eyelids felt heavier as you looked up at him, smiling down at you so gently that you were sure he wasn't aware of the smile.

"Sometimes," you replied. Shikamaru spun you gracefully from the three step, then caught you. He dipped you back lowly, his thick forearm flush to your back, and you giggle, "But they're never real."

"I am," he murmured, pulling you back to your feet. "This is."

"Mhm," you hummed, taking his hand and twirling yourself.

Shikamaru smiled, taking a step to the window while letting his fingers linger, interlocked with yours. When he finally let go, your fingers snapped. Cripes, how could this possibly be real?

"In what flavour does your confusion come?" Shikamaru asked as he sat on the tuffet in front of the window, getting the dab rig ready.

"Rocky Road is my favourite," you answered, your first few dabs clouding the part of your mind that contended with metaphors, sitting on the ground in front of him. "Rum Raisin is pretty good too... ooh, and Pralines and Cream. Mm, can't go wrong."

"Grandmama? Is that you?" He laughed, igniting the torch.

You rolled your eyes but couldn't suppress your laugh as you laid back on the hardwood. Looking at his popcorn ceiling, you sighed, "No one is as big of a hater as you, Shikamaru."

"You should hear what I keep inside," he snorted as he moved the flame around the banger.

"I should, you're right," you said, sitting right back up. Shikamaru smirked at you, eyes glinting playfully, making you feel so warm and welcomed. You grinned, "C'mon then, I know you wanna tell me."

"Do you really think I'm a prick?" He asked suddenly.

You shook your head and shrugged, "Only playfully. Like, I'd trust you to hold my baby, if I had one, but I wouldn't trust you to not draw on my face if I fell asleep first at a party."

"Alright," he nodded, seemingly relieved. "I can't fault you. I'd write my name across your forehead, for sure."

"Cripes, you wanna brand me?" You asked, laughing. Shikamaru bit back a smile, shaking his head and looking at the glass as it started to turn red. You hummed, "That can't be it, I always call you a prick. Tell me what else is inside that big, beautiful brain of yours."

"If this dab goes alright, maybe."

Shikamaru clicked off the torch and quickly gathered up the small pot of butter concentrate the two of you were using. He collected a sizeable pearl and you scoffed, "You plan on keeping your secrets, huh?"

"Just watch the master, sweetheart," he cooed condescendingly.

If you hadn't been so high, that would've sent you on some convoluted diatribe about how mean and prick-ish Shikamaru was. But, as it stood, you had no desire to say anything like that to him. You had no idea how fucking amazing being alone with Shikamaru would be. You had an inkling, but you couldn't have imagined how happy you would be in the moment.

Your previous notion of Tenten being the one he wanted wasn't even a flicker in your mind. That was stupid, wasn't it? Shikamaru wouldn't do all this, just to impress your friend. No, he was trying to impress you.

"Okay, now that I have the floor," you said as Shikamaru started to smoke. He looked at you, lips attached to the dab rig, and quirked his brow. You smiled and continued, "There's totally something up with you. You're being so sweet, and it's not like you're not a good person, or anything like that, but you've got me thinking things that are probably so far from the truth-"

"Like what?" He wheezed, mid-toke, blowing out the first round of smoke before going back to the rig.

You scratched the back of your neck, looking away to one of Shikamaru's book shelves. "Well, y'know, like... you like me. Like, wanna-kiss-me kind of like me."

Shikamaru's face flamed red as he exhaled the second round. You watched as he prolonged his toke, trying to put off his answer.

But he couldn't run out the clock on this one. Putting the dab rig down, Shikamaru looked at you tentatively and asserted slowly,

"I... do... want to kiss you. I've... liked you for... years."

"Well, then..."

"Yeah?"

"Don't be a prick about it," you laughed. "Kiss me."

[whinlatter]

The Ginny and Peter parallel though?? How have I never thought about that?? It‘s so horrifying and insanely compelling to me at the same time. I would love to hear (read?) you elaborate on that.

"Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord… you have no idea… he has weapons you can't imagine…. I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen…. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me - " "Harry – oh, Harry – I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn’t say it in front of Percy. It was me, Harry – but I – I s-swear I d-didn’t mean to  - R-Riddle made me, he took me over..."

thank you so much for this question anon.  i have been thinking about this for a long time - about how ginny weasley might have made a really, really good traitor - and would love to talk more about my thinking behind it. a little meta on traitor talk - who flips, and why, and why ginny weasley might be the peter pettigrew to the trio's marauders after all - can be found below the cut (with spoilers for beasts chapter 14). 

hp, as a series, puts great moral emphasis on the concept of choice. after all, it’s about a world at war, where the question of whose side you're on is often a matter of life or death. double agents, deception, treachery, people serving the interests of others (either consensually or under duress): these are recurrent tropes, on both sides of the wizarding war. the plot begins the ultimate act of betrayal - that of lily and james potter by peter pettigrew - and the series concludes with the revelation of another (snape). throughout the books, there are all sorts of characters who spy, or flip, for all sorts of reasons. you have those who knowingly pretend to be serving the interests of one side when actually serving another, for principled reasons, either ideological motivation or out of selfless loyalty to another person: snape, peter, likely rookwood, quirrell, fake moody/barty crouch jr, both sirius and regulus black, kreacher, and narcissa in the forest. and then you have the group who betray either out of fear, or who are manipulated into acts of betrayal and deceit, sometimes through possession but otherwise through blackmail and intimidation, to varying degrees: xenophilius lovegood, mundungus fletcher, pius thicknesse, marietta edgecombe, bertha jorkins, bathilda bagshot, those types. (in a sign of jkr’s consistently dicked-up biases re gender in the series, women are never allowed to be interesting enough to actively betray anyone unless they’re doing it out of maternal love eg. narcissa - they can only ever actively be led astray or hoodwinked, whereas male characters can have a vast array of complex motivations and all sorts of shades of moral grey. we'll come back to that in a minute).

in chapter 14 of my postwar fic beasts, during the course of the hogwarts inquiry, augustus rookwood takes the stand and testifies of an attempt by him and his fellow death eaters to find someone who could play double agent to pass secrets about the resistance, the order and harry to the other side during the second wizarding war. rookwood - himself a former double agent - talks about how to make a traitor. he discusses the different motivations of traitors, how to find a target and how to exploit their existing vulnerabilities and weak-points to get them to come around to your side. he also reveals that, during the death eater seizure of the ministry and hogwarts school, he and his peers identified a would-be target in ginny weasley. in the fic, i have him describe the process of traitor-identification as ‘the pettigrew playbook’: finding someone who is connected, who knows the order’s secrets, who has the information you want, and who will flip less out of an ardent ideological commitment, but more because they are weak and scared but also disrespected and resentful and more inclined to save their own neck than act out of loyalty

i’ve always been very struck by peter pettigrew’s attempts to justify his betrayal of lily and james in PoA (see above). peter pettigrew is always a slippery and elusive character, rendered mostly through other people’s memories or descriptions of him. this is one of the very few times he explains something of his own worldview - though, as we know he is a liar, and in this instance errrr trying to save his own life as sirius threatens to kill him (slay), we have to take even these lines with a pinch of salt. we know pettigrew is a character that acts, at all times, out of a desire for self-preservation, trying to secure his own survival. he was tolerated but never respected by his schoolfriends, made the potters’ secret keeper as a ‘perfect bluff’ because he was a  ‘weak, talentless thing’ voldemort would never bother going after, a trait which ultimately made him the perfect and most vulnerable target. when outed as the real spy by sirius and remus here, he acknowledges he is aware of his deficiencies and weaknesses, and talks about his fear for his own life, his sense of how he did not live up to the principled bravery of his friends, and claims  that voldemort ‘forced him’ to surrender lily and james - presumably through the threat of terrible violence, suffering and death. 

pettigrew’s remarks are particularly interesting when put alongside the justifications and excuses of another character who has betrayed harry to voldemort, albeit under very different circumstances. like peter, ginny’s confession is given through floods of tears as a desperate plea to be believed and excused. in it, ginny begs harry to understand her own lack of culpability. just as wormtail does, she insists to harry she was forced by riddle to cause harm to others and to hand information about harry over to riddle, and to play an integral role in returning lord voldemort to life.  of course, the series always frames ginny’s actions in CoS as the behaviour of an entirely innocent person. but even these lines show a streak of self-preservation and a certain amount of weakness and cowardice that runs throughout ginny’s encounter with the diary. ‘I couldn’t say it in front of Percy’, she says, suggesting she feared getting in deep trouble with no proof of riddle’s hand in her actions. in fact throughout the diary episode, ginny shows real moments of acting to save herself rather than do the right thing and come forward with the truth. she tries to dispose of the diary, but doesn’t go to a teacher about what it has been making her do. she stole the diary back not to protect harry but to protect her own secrets and prevent him from discovering her complicity (at least by TMR’s telling). she even watches hagrid get falsely accused and sent to azkaban, and stays silent in the process, a distinctly pettigrew echo if ever i heard one. 

of course, we know ginny and peter pettigrew’s relationships with voldemort are not alike in dignity. it’s clear that, in so many ways, ginny’s encounter with the diary is much more clearly an experience of victimhood than of malicious intent. we know that ginny was possessed; we know she is not a character who would commit murder without that level of involuntary mental surrender. but there are more uncomfortable echoes of pettigrew in her experiences in CoS. we see them in the decisions of a character acting of fear and a desire to save their own skin in ginny’s experience of the diary than we might like to think. ginny ofc was targeted by lucius malfoy because of who her family was, as stalwarts of the anti-voldemort pro-muggle resistance during the first wizarding war, with powerful enemies determined to discredit and undermine them at every turn. but, as TMR makes clear, what makes ginny such a good target in the end, so vulnerable and so useful, was that she was weak. she was insecure, and lonely, teased and misunderstood and feeling inadequate. in all of that, there was a very rich opening for TMR to access her innermost fears and secrets and to use them to manipulate, pressure and threaten her into compliance, in addition to the active possession of her body to conduct deliberate acts of attempted murder. it’s not a perfect pettigrew parallel by any means. but there’s more than a little bit of pettigrew in that, too. 

maybe more parallels with ginny and peter pettigrew than meets the eye - particularly in ginny’s relationship to the trio. there are a few posts that periodically do the rounds on tumblr and reddit that talk about neville’s relationship to the trio as the parallel to peter pettigrew’s with the marauders - as this post compellingly puts it, ‘all who peter could have been’. neville, these posts usually point out, was a character who was weak and much less talented than his friends, an outsider who needed the protection and patience of cooler classmates, who was always on the outside looking in on a friend group that largely excluded him. what distinguished neville from peter was his approach to his own weakness, and how that approach drove him to heroism rather than betrayal and villainy. it’s an interesting idea, and there’s something to it. but the more i thought about it, the more i thought - is neville + the trio the only parallel with peter + the marauders? what about ginny? 

it’s remarkably under-appreciated in fandom that ginny is remarkably poorly treated by the trio for much of the series. ‘go away, ginny’ - that’s how ron banishes his sister at the start of PoA, because harry mutters to his two mates that he wants to talk to them in private and to ditch ginny. neither harry nor hermione object to it - hermione, though kind to ginny when the dementors arrive, makes no defence of her right to stay. ginny duly leaves, hurt, to go sit by herself on the train back to school, returning to hogwarts for the first time after her deeply traumatic experience in the chamber, dismissed and dispatched. not meaning to drag ron here - this is, ofc, how big brothers have behaved for time immemorial, as is their wont. but it’s kind of the statement for how the trio treat ginny for much of her school career really until HBP, harry and hermione included. ofc there are many textual/plot reasons ginny needs to be held at arms length from the trio. but it is striking that the effect of this plot habit for the reader is a usually unkind and sometimes even callous exclusion of ginny by the trio throughout many of the books.

in CoS itself, ginny is never invited to join the trio or spend any time with them: when she isn’t, you know, trying her hand at possessed attempted murder, she’s doing a light bit of potter hero worship that does recall a certain lakeside snitch-catching display of yore. it’s ginny who’s left feeling left out when the trio are swapping suspicious eyes and sirius secrets in GoF, ginny who is hermione’s back-up friend when the ron and harry showdown kicks off over the triwizard tournament, ginny who shoulders the role as harry’s consolation prize friend when ron and hermione go off to the prefects on the train in ootp (and takes him to neville and luna), ginny who goes defenceless when the trio are demanding to be included in order secrets and is physically removed from the room with no protest from the others, ginny who has to fight her case to be taken seriously and included in the department of mysteries plot to rescue a man she too is friends with (‘I care about Sirius as much as you do!’), being patronised by three friends who pick her up and put her down when they feel like it (always enjoy hermione being like ‘we need three thestrals!’ and ginny being like ffs we need four why won’t you show me an ounce of respect). in fact, when ginny is revealed to be becoming popular in a different social circle throughout ootp and hbp, it is something of a shock to harry and ron, who have spent a good six years making no effort to include her and now are finding she has built a much more successful social life beyond them (you reap what you sow, lads). i don’t say this to overstate the trio’s malice nor to overstate the pettigrew comparisons (ginny is clearly both conventionally attractive and much more socially adept).. but i do think it’s striking that  if there is a character with pettigrew echoes in the trio’s surround, always orbiting the trio, trying to feel included (and hero worshipping the potter at the heart of it), it’s more often young ginny than it is neville. so many of the things that made ginny vulnerable to TMR - her loneliness, her isolation, her insecurities and sense of inadequacy - are not helped by the trio in the years afterwards, and in some cases, actively reinforced.

(to briefly say something on gender - sometimes wonder if ginny were a male character if people would have made more of this. percy stans, for instance, go to great lengths to point out all the ways percy was bullied or teased by his family as an excuse for his errrrr war crimes. would people care more about many ginny's exclusions if she were a maligned misunderstood young man? probably? it's noticeable too that all traitors in hp are men lol, a classic example of jkr’s weird and fucked feminism striking again. women are led astray or hoodwinked - men get the complex motivations and agency arcs. but i digress).

why does any of this matter? we know ginny doesn't take the path of pettigrew, however much she might have good reason to. harry's endearingly naive line in DH ('I trust all of you, I don’t think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort’) ends up being borne out: there are no betrayals during the second wizarding war, and certainly not by ginny (though the sword heist almost ended up doing it on accident). but i found myself thinking a lot about this as i was sketching out the plotline for beasts and thinking about ginny’s war, and what is asked of ginny in it. i was particularly thinking about it relation to how the second wizarding war plays out, the unique position of danger ginny would have been in as a hogwarts student in the 1997-1998 academic year, and what a good target she would make for death eaters on the hunt for a spy within the order of the phoenix.

when i was reading DH for the first time, i remember thinking that it is absolutely bonkers that ginny weasley goes back to hogwarts in september ’97. by that summer, the weasleys are the order of the phoenix. no longer just the blood traitors’ blood traitor, they’re now the face of the wizarding resistance, both parents and (nearly) all sons in active combat, something the ministry certainly knows about even when trying to normalise death eater rule and allowing the facade of arthur et al going to go to work in the ministry/gringotts etc. ginny’s family home is order hq: she lives there all summer, and trots off to the hogwarts express straight from the kitchen table where order meetings take place. when death eaters descend on the wedding, she’s there alongside the rest of the rest of dumbledore stans. she is also famously in the DA, and fought death eaters alongside the trio in the department of mysteries, and again in the battle of the astronomy tower. and then there’s the obvious point that hinny shippers everywhere have pointed out is baffling since the dawn of time, which is that the world and his wife knows that ginny weasley is harry potter’s ex, something that might put a big fat target on her head for a death eater or two to have a pop at trying to get some secrets and intel out of her. 

of course, there’s a compelling case for why ginny has to go back. ron’s already used the splattergroit excuse, and arthur’s going to work, and so is bill, and the twins (at least for a bit), and the weasleys are going for normalisation and at least a fig leaf of compliance. so off ginny goes, into the belly of the beast, back to school, despite all the access she has to order secrets and intel, as well as information on harry and the trio. she is in a uniquely dangerous position of risk: it’s a fortress run by death eaters and her card is marked. she finds herself in an unenviable and unrivalled position as a very good person to go after if you’re a death eater fancying some intel about what the guerilla resistance - and harry potter - are up to. we know there are death eaters about who would like to claw themselves back into some level of relevance by working towards the big man and trying to curry favour (yaxley). we know there is a family intimately aware of ginny weasley's weakness and failings who are desperate to get back in voldemort's good books (the malfoys). we also know there are witnesses to ginny's exclusions both from the order and from the trio over the years - in particular, one witness that already sold secrets on the order to death eaters, namely kreacher.

the reason i came back to thinking about parallels between ginny and peter in beasts is because beasts is a story about ginny’s war, but also in part about morality in the wizarding world, about war and sides and choices. at various points in beasts, i’ve tried to play with ginny’s echoes with characters that waver morally - including regulus - or who find themselves drawn to or in some way embroiled in darkness, and who are at times governed by fear and cowardice and self-preservation in a moral universe that prizes bravery, loyalty, and self-sacrifice. so this plot came from putting all these pieces together - ginny's existing vulnerabilities and insecurities, her position of privilege and access, but also her alienation and mistreatment, and this interest in moral motivations and what experiences or traumas might lead a person, or even justify, a person's treachery, moral inaction, or active moral failing. it was even more interesting for me to play with the idea that other people might have noticed ginny weasley's weird position relative to the trio and the order too, people who want to know what she knows and who would be willing to exploit the cracks in those relationships for strategic wartime gain. and that's for chapters fifteen and sixteen!