I Still Have Thoughts About This, So To Continue In Something Of The Same Vein As Last Night…

Some of…practice

Snape Fic Recs

@scverussnape, I hope you enjoy these!  

Mentor/Teacher:

Harry Potter and the Enemy Within and Harry Potter and the Chained Souls by Theowyn of HPG - aka the holy grail of fan fiction, the first HP series I ever read and thought “I wish this was canon”.  The characterization is so good, it feels as though I’m reading a different version of the actual books. I re-read this series at least once a year.

A Place for Warriors by owlsaway - the caption for this story does not even begin to do it justice.  I cannot do it justice.  The way the relationship between Snape and Harry grows is just *chef’s kiss*.

Emerald Eyes, Emerald Eyes: Fate’s Hand, and Mindful Eyes by JadeSullivan - Snape takes on a mentor role for Harry during his 2nd year.  This author has an incredible way of describing the feelings in each moment that I find captivating.  She hasn’t updated Mindful Eyes in a couple of years, but I have high hopes for her return!

O Mine Enemy by Kirby Lane - Snape is injured and ends up spending some time with Harry at the Dursley’s house.  Once they are able to leave, Snape reluctantly takes on a mentor role for Harry.  Harry begins having dreams predicting the future, causing him to question just how much he actually trusts Snape.  Not only is this story excellently written - the writer just posted two new chapters for the first time in several years!

Walking the Line by hairballl26 - Snape is badly injured and turns up at the Dursley’s.  He intends to hide from the muggles as best he can until he can recover or until help arrives, but inevitably, there is a terrible confrontation, and both he and Harry go on the run, trying to get to safety at Hogwarts and avoid the agents of the Dark Lord.  ROAD TRIP FIC my favorite.  Hasn’t updated since 2011, but I keep re-reading it anyway because I love it so much.

Behind Doors and Masks by dragonwriter24cmf - Headmaster Snape has decided to personally handle the troublemaker Neville Longbottom, but Neville uncovers his secret agent status.  Now he has to help the boy survive an increasingly hostile Hogwarts, and train him to fight back.  Ooooh boy is this fic all of the things I love.  A close look at Snape during his time as Headmaster, and I love love love how she writes Neville.

Sectumsempra Splits the School by thegoldenfirebolt - Harry faces severe consequences for using the dark spell sectumsempra on Draco Malfoy.  He has to work closely with younger students and the staff as part of his punishment.  I didn’t expect to enjoy this fic as much as I do, but it offers this wonderful peek into the daily lives and relationships between the staff members that I greatly enjoyed.

Kept Behind and Dark Influences by LAXgirl - Harry is killed by a death eater, and only Snape can see his ghost.  Through their connection, they try to find out if there is way to bring Harry back.  I just really love any story that has Snape and Harry having to trust each other and work together, and these are really well written.

Severitus/adoption:

All the World’s a Stage by Alexannah - In a bid to gain control over the Boy Who Lived, Cornelius Fudge serves notice that he intends to adopt Harry Potter.  Snape receives the notice, and since no one else is available, he manages to submit the paperwork just in time to adopt Harry instead.  Now they just have to learn to live together.  I very much want more of this story, and it hasn’t been updated in a couple of years, but it ends at a place that isn’t terrible.

The Unexpected Snape by Imablack - Harry Potter arrives for his first year at Hogwarts, but he doesn’t look like James Potter - he looks like Snape.  It takes some time for them to address this fact.  This has the most lovely slow growth of their relationship, from respect to trust to love.

Reading the Signs by goldencompass - During his first year, Harry is attacked and hurt by some older students holding grudges against the Boy Who Lived.  Snape helps in his recovery, and Harry begins to trust and respect him, leading to a deeper understanding and relationship between them.

General Snape Fics:

The Pawn by ReeraTheRed - a short AU version of Snape’s confession to Dumbledore and the growth of trust between them in their early days working together.  Makes me cry actual tears every time I read it.

The Wendell That Wasn’t by opalish - Snape’s ghost is stuck haunting Harry and Ginny, and they (or really Ginny) get their revenge.  Absolute crack fic, hilariously funny.

The 11th Day of Hogwarts by lyras - This story is on livejournal, and is a short look at Snape’s time as Headmaster.  He is supported by the portraits of the other headmasters, and trying to do what must be done under terrible circumstances.  Very bittersweet.

It's about us. No matter what you say, it's about us. It's a love story.

Christopher Walken and John Turturro Interview Each Other | PEOPLE

Image description: Digital art in saturated tones of orange, pink, blues, and purples of humanized Hollow Knight characters. Quirrel and the Knight sit on the sandy shores of the Blue Lake. Quirrel smiles, relaxed, with his cheek resting on his hand. He is visibly aged, his face lined and his hair sprinkling with white. The Knight holds their helmet in their hands, expressionless. Both watch the waves of the lake out-of-frame, neither facing the other. End ID.

there is no death

down n’ dirty lipsync for animation class. i will never again hear sans with anything but ricky’s voice.

sorry but it’s sympathetic reading of agamemnon time, feel free to scroll past this if you don’t want to see agamemnon appreciation, but agamemnon is so interesting because he DOES learn from the lessons of his ancestors and from the cursed history of his house. he looks at his great-grandfather who killed and cooked his own son, his grandfather who betrayed and killed the man who helped him win his wife, and his father who killed his nephews and fed them to his brother (as well as previously killing his other brother), all three of them thoroughly cursed for their actions. and agamemnon takes away from that the message that godcrimes are a serious thing. not something to be trifled with. so he’s very very careful to live his life in keeping with the gods’ rules of right and wrong. when he’s offended artemis, he takes every possible measure to set things right with her, because he knows what happens when a god has it in for a man. he’s so hesitant to tread on the carpet clytemnestra lays out because he’s afraid of appearing over-proud and of offending the gods by rising above his place as a mortal. he makes so many sacrifices and is so careful to avoid getting on the bad side of the gods, any gods, because he knows what a terrible fate it is to have a god hate you. 

and in doing so, he forgets to avoid getting on the bad side of other mortals. he does not consider what it might mean to be on their bad side. in the eyes of the gods he’s done nothing wrong– it was a god that ordered him to sacrifice iphigenia, and why should the gods concern themselves with petty mortal things like the seizure of briseis or the murder of the trojans? no godcrimes were committed, no godlaws broken, it’s not like it was wife-stealing or kin-slaying or the murder of a guest. slaves and trojans are fair game. by the rules set forth by the gods, he has been pious, afraid to misstep and careful to make amends. he forgets that other mortals may not see his actions the same way. he forgets the mortals have different ideas of right and wrong and that what is right and proper by the laws of the gods may not be so in the eyes of his wife or his comrades.

Two up, two down

We talk about Potter as a timeless series, as quills and parchment will never date, but there are a few key elements which are of their time, and I sometimes suspect that eventually, their original meaning may be lost.

Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is one of these.  If you visit Surrey, a house akin to Number 4 on Privet Drive can be found on hundreds of identical estates.  Indeed, the three-bedroom house with a garage, and both front and back gardens, situated on a private housing estate in leafy surburbia is one that most British people will have strolled through at some point.

But Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is the opposite of the Dursleys’ aspirational abode, and is somewhere that few modern readers will have seen in its original form with their own eyes.  Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is a traditional two up, two down through terraced house, mired deep in a maze of identical cobbled streets, overlooked by a looming mill chimney, and seemingly – by the 90s – entirely abandoned.

The difficulty that some may have in accurately picturing this scene is because these houses, in this state, no longer exist.  A large percentage of two up, two down terraces were demolished as part of slum clearance, which should tell you all that you need to know about the state of the houses.  

Those which remained have been extensively modified – usually knocking down the privy (outside toilet), and then building a two storey extension across the bulk of the yard to create a third room downstairs, and a bathroom upstairs.  Some houses only have a single extension; it is rather common in some areas of the Midlands to have a bathroom that leads off the kitchen downstairs – because the bathroom was the missing room, and it was cheaper to build one storey than two.

Pottermore had an article earlier in the year which explained how the filmmakers originally wanted to film on location, but could not, because the houses simply did not exist in their traditional state.

The houses were typically constructed with two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs with a tiny backyard entry leading to the outhouse. Craig actually considered shooting on location, but even though the buildings were intact, they had been brought into the modern era, with up-to-date kitchens and plastic extensions, so the set was built at the studio.

Throughout the 20th century, cobbled streets were routinely replaced by various other road surfaces, namely tarmac and asphalt – and, of course, the scarcity of cobblestones now means that such streets are aesthetically desirable.  However, the cobblestones in Spinner’s End are not an indication of affluence, but an indication of an area left behind. This is further illustrated by the rusted railings, the broken streetlights, and the boarded up windows.

These were workers houses, often funded by the owners of the mill, and therefore tied – meaning that rent was deducted from your wage before you received it.  There were benefits to being in tied accommodation, including being close to work and having a guaranteed landlord – but that was as much benefit to the mill owner as the worker.  Seeing great competition, some mill owners invested in their properties to entice workers – but Spinner’s End is not an example of this; Spinner’s End would’ve been regarded as little better than a slum even when fully occupied.

The narrow streets are indicative of when these houses were built, presumably in the late 1800s – cars were not a concern, and the attitude was to build as many houses on as small a piece of land as possible.

By the time the 90s roll around, and we see Narcissa and Bellatrix descend upon the street, Spinner’s End appears to be mostly deserted.  With the closure of traditional manual industries, families would be keen to relocate to where work could be found.  Estates which hadn’t already been cleared by the 60s would find themselves left to rack and ruin, their former occupants long gone – whether seeking a new life elsewhere, or having died.

For once, Bellatrix is not being anti-Muggle when she sneers at the Muggle dunghill; she is unnervingly accurate. It is a slum by her standards, but most importantly, it was a slum by everyone else’s standards as well.  By the time Severus was born, work should’ve been well under way to clear the area, or to renovate it.  This evidently did not occur – which itself explains how undesirable the area is; nobody wanted to spruce it up - they wanted to leave.  There were no jobs, no amenities, no services – and eventually, no people.

We often ponder why Snape remains at Spinner’s End, but perhaps there lies the answer; he wasn’t just hiding from the magical world, but he was also hiding from the Muggle world as well…

Can we appreciate how Bumi and Kya went to find comfort at their father's statue in the Southern Air Temple after having an argument with their brother.

We found Bumi first, talking to their father's statue and how he got so emotional, how much his father meant to him and how much he wanted to make him proud.

and somehow Kya was there, in the same place, either she was looking for her brother or wanted to take a look at their father's statue too. And after hearing Bumi's emotional speech, she reassured him that Aang was eventually proud of him, of them. Both being there in the Southern Air Temple, taking this trip with their brother, being around their father's statue and talking alot about him, proves how much they miss him, this loss wasn't easy for their mother but also for them.

Also, I have to point out how Aang is a role model to his sons, Aang had spent his whole life, keeping the world safe. Bumi and Tenzin have been following his steps in every way they can, they both became leaders, they both wanted to make their father proud by protecting the world, both Bumi and Tenzin want to be a man like their father, a man they are both proud of and admired. Plus, their father would want them to follow their own path.

meanwhile Kya has been following both of her parents' steps, she had been travelling around the world like them and being one of the greatest healers the world has been gifted just like her mother.

These episodes, Civil Wars from the Legend of Korra, we have explored Bumi, Kya and Tenzin's childhood and seen their anger towards each other, their sadness, the jealousy and expressing how their childhood wasn't easy since their loving father was busy protecting a world and rebuilding a nation, what they've been feeling, are signs of grief, they are still coping of their father's death. But at the end of the day, they are still a loving and happy family.

The three of them are proud, continuing their parent's legacy, and have immense love for them, even though their father is gone, it won't stop them of making him proud.

An emotional first reaction to Arcane's finale

With an accent on Silco's arc...

*Wipes tears away*

Anyway. When was the last time you sat down to a tv show that punched this hard and respected its villain this deeply? Silco is by far the most interesting character, and he carries the show on his scrawny shoulders.

Compelling if mysterious backstory, overcomes his demons and his traitorous brother in one fell swoop as he gains power. Silco's a zealot who dreams big for everyone. And yet in the end he finally understands why Vander did what he did. Finally has an emotional tie on a personal level that means more to him than the Nation Of Zaun, that big all consuming project that's been driving him from the start.

And yet in a completely masterful twist, Vander chosing his daughters over Zaun means the Status Quo, while Silco choosing his daughter over Zaun means War.

He gets everything he ever wanted. He's a villain who uses all ends to reach his goals and actually gets there, and the creative minds behind Arcane had the guts to make it absolutely irrelevant to his death. That is so wild, honestly. His love is his personal downfall (or more likely, the lack of mental health care in the Lanes is his downfall...) but he's never more human and more like Vander than when he dies...

For the creators to chose to NEVER redeem him, and instead just... humanize him to the very end... To let him say his piece and clear out misunderstandings and also to go knowing all his *fucked up* efforts fucking paid off...

*Silco style slow clap*

Fucking bravo.

Turns out Silco wasn't lying, not anymore than any of us do from time to time, even to our loved ones. Turns out that he was really worrying, really caring, and that it was really "just the two of them".

There's plenty wrong with Jinx's arc as a villain in the becoming, the whole "hearing voices makes me unhinged and violent" really isn't palatable.. it's an easy cop-out that puts people with IRL mental illnesses in another toxic limelight.

But there's incredible beauty in her being truly embraced by the villain, for the most wholesome family to really be with him. To be fought for as hard by him, as much as Vander did. Vi doesn't want Jinx. She truly wants "Powder", and even if she probably loves her and probably needs the mental help Vi would desire for her "to change" and "become stable", Jinx's toxic, zealot, asshole second dad loves her exactly as she is. Why the fuck would you not chose that side, being in Jinx's boots?

*chokes up for a minute*

I can't clap my hands hard enough to applaud the team behind Arcane (so I'll use them to write fanfic instead)

How did they manage to break the curse of video game adaptation?

Well, I think it helps that the studio itself retained absolute creative control. For once it's not a film industry giant buying rights and trying to do it's usual "adaptation" cash grab wringer. It's a studio getting another studio to work their (insane) magic and produce the best 9 episodes cinematic we've ever seen.

The vision was theirs, the story was uncompromising and unflinching.

I am not surprised the writing punches this hard. Video game writers know what the fuck they're doing, because they create immersive worlds and storyline in which the players/viewer is directly active. I mean look at other hard gut punches out there like God of War, Wticher 3 or even Jackie's arc in Cyberpunk.

But for them to stick to their guns to the very end... To give us characters this compelling instead of following the cliche route... For them not to betray us, the way so many other storylines do by trying something bold for a hot minute before falling back on tried and true cliches like deflating souflés...

Guys, I'm sorry but even Disney doesn't clap this hard. Arcane came on to the scene and swatted everyone aside. The visuals, the animation style, the music, the cast of character all painted in deep shades of grey, the riveting plot with its series of mirrored pairs going through the same divisive process... Arcane is the show we've all been begging for, but we were asking for it to the wrong people.

Bravo team. None of y'all will ever see this post, but know you're appreciated. You made me scream and choke up and built a whole new condominium in my skull for Silco to live in rent free. Fuck you and bless you, I love you guys.

This scene is so good I really love it so much, the blocking and shot composition is great, and tense and I love it.

The way Deckard subtly recoils in disgust

And Silco juuuuuust sliiiiiiightly turns to him and it's like... dude you said the wrong thing.

I LOVE THIS SHOT framing it through the blood-spattered, cracked glass? Amazing choice. And the body language is so good. Only Silco can feel predatory while standing perfectly still and unbothered.

"Power" Silco spits. I made a post earlier commenting on how Arcane uses spit, it's gross. And they do this with Silco a lot. He's icky, he makes your skin crawl. And it was a good choice, because Silco is charismatic and the grossness counterbalances that, it maintains this unsettled feeling about him. If you're starting to like SIlco it helps keep you ambivalent towards him, because ew.

And then yeah this shot is just super cool