thalassophobe

tell me about gideon and fabian!

ok so i love them as twins. and like identical twins. however not as like 'fred and george variants' or whatever & i also fuck with them being very very different people. like i view fabian as more of a serious guy, he's very into his work and education and everything. whilst gideon is more laidback and popular. but they're both still best friends with each other and love to hang out with each other- despite like fighting a lot. they're still siblings yknow. i also see them as molly's younger brothers, but they're still older than marauders. idk like roughly ted and andromeda's age. (yes i see them as close mates with ted). i tend to see fabian as having a job in the ministry but i can never settle on what exactly. and then honestly gideon is kinda just being in the order. has some side hustles but they're very random/spontaneous & his usual partner in them is mundungus fletcher. like idk neither of them are rlly pranksters or anything like fred & george. fabian would find pranks very funny but wouldn't rlly think to do one himself & if gideon attempted a prank he would mostly like be doing something to scam someone with mundungus. anywayy they're both ginger so ofc they take lily under their wing during war years (even tho she's more dark red than orange like them). they're also both immensely talented wizards (clear from their death) & duel rlly rlly well together that james & sirius tend to copy their techniques for their own duolling (sorry, is that a bad pun? duo-duelling? idk) but yeah. they also give very tall vibes, sadly.

Any thoughts on how the existence of pensieves would impact therapy in the hp universe?

sorry I've been sitting on this ask forever!! I'm very much not sure. I think it depends on how it feels to put a memory in a pensieve and how it feels to be in your own memory.

First, it seems like pensieves are rare and expensive so I don't think they'd be commonly used.

Second, I could see how they could be used for exposure therapy around traumatic memories - revisiting them with your therapist by your side. But I don't love (pure) exposure therapy personally - like with EMDR I want to help rewire those memories. So like for a classic experience in EMDR, a person might revisit a traumatic memory and then insert their adult self into it to protect the childself and experience some healing around how the childself deserved protection. But with a pensieve you can't change or intervene at all! so you're just getting the pure exposure.

Third, I think there's something interesting about the idea that memories in pensieves are somehow pure or objective. But that's not how I engage with memories as a therapist - like they exist with layers of emotional learning and beliefs and subjective processes. Like what would I do with a neutral, objective memory? Do we enter into it together and then allow the client to reflect on their experience of re-experiencing the memory? That I think could be interesting.

I suppose you can also use that for memories where a client got super triggered and reacted as if the past was happening rather than the present. So like... revisiting a memory where a beloved friend didn't text back, and everything feels like it's crashing down around you and you're abandoned all over again. and then you can go back into the memory and see it as like... not that bad? idk? maybe there would be something there?

idk! those are just some scattered thoughts so I don't sit on this ask forever. what are your thoughts?

I’m definitely guilty of making Lily morally grey in my hcs and writing mostly because I find characters most interesting/enjoyable/compelling when grey but also I feel uncomfortable having her be the only non morally grey female character surrounded by very grey men.

While I do think there’s enough in the text to make this version of the character work (and work well), I don’t think it’s a definite reading of the character, meaning I don’t really think people can say with certainty that Lily is actually grey, there’s not really enough evidence for that to be an objective fact like with James and Snape. But again I feel like you can absolutely make her grey without changing any of her story or characteristics. I guess I just have an issue when people try to make this a fact rather than their own reading haha

I mean I think that's great haha! I'm all for exploring a darker, messier Lily. And tbh I think all humans are morally grey to some extent, so I'd find it equally unrealistic if Lily was written as a saintly being who could do no wrong. I wouldn't describe her as 'morally pure' LMAO, because quite simply I don't think that exists in human beings. Not to get existentialist, but we aren't born with an inherent moral nature or destiny, rather we are free to make our own choices and decide who we will become. Humans are fallible, so every single person at some point will make mistakes.

When I say I think Lily was a good person, I definitely don't mean she was morally pure! I've said this many times loll, but I think even I, Lily defender of all time, have written her as less than perfect. For instance, I had her not immediately understand when she found out Remus was a werewolf-- until someone explained it to her, she struggled with the idea that Remus was a monster, because that's what she had learnt in the wizarding world and had simply never given it much thought. It certainly doesn't make her evil, it makes her flawed, realistically I think-- but ultimately she's willing to learn from her mistakes and try to be better.

And to me it's just more interesting and worthwhile to approach all characters as complex humans rather than points on a moral alignment chart, so for me personally Lily never feels out of place within the cast of characters. There have been moments where James acts with more integrity than her, moments where Lily is weak, and (obviously lol) vice versa-- because all humans are capable of acting with integrity and all humans are capable of weakness. So it's all just a bunch of people trying to figure out their own morality haha, including Lily.

But anyway, as you say-- the issue isn't at all that someone wants to write a dark!Lily or explore the idea of a Lily who is harsher or meaner or more selfish or more fucked up than she's portrayed in canon. Tbh I like the idea of a fic exploring a more problematique Lily. The issue for me is people acting like it's explicitly canon that Lily is a selfish bitch who is a gold-digger and social climber, especially when it's clear they haven't spared a drop of empathy in thinking about her character.

And, I'll be honest, even that is not a huge issue haha-- for instance, if I see a random recommended post (which I did the other day lol) saying Lily must have been a selfish person because she dated a bully etc, I'm usually not going to reblog it and start arguing. Like it's whatever, people are allowed to have opinions that I disagree with. The only reason I've been arguing this at all is because people have addressed me directly-- either in my inbox or by reblogging my posts lol. Which is fine! In a general sense anyway haha-- as long as people aren't rude I don't at all mind discussing things and seeing different perspectives. I'm generally confident in my own opinions and I think I can back them up, so it's not a threat to me if someone disagrees with them haha (not just about HP characters but in life shdjdkghhjh)

Hello!! I saw that one ask you received about a jegulus tiktok and on the reply you talked about how the trends in a fandom never last forever and (assuming you are here longer than I’ve been) I wanted to ask if you think the marauders fandom is ever going to lose popularity? Or its ships like jegulus wolfstar etc etc

Sorry it’s kinda random hahah it’s just that I got here in late 2023 and I was super expecting the marauders to be a dead fandom but then when I saw how big it was and how everyone seems crazy about characters like regulus, barty, evan etc I was like damn… I don’t think this fandom is going away for a long time. It surprised me

Hello! honestly on the one hand, yes, things will trend differently in the future. (which ships are most popular, what characterizations are most popular etc.) I can predict that. can I predict what kind of differently?? nope not at all.

marauders(tok) fandom is such a bizarre phenomenon to me because it's so self-referential and so actively hostile to consulting canon but it then overlaps with a different really long-standing fandom, large parts of which like engaging with canon details. it's also so extremely modern in its habits and so based on tiktok with its weird censorial dynamics and algorithms. so I have no idea what it'll spawn into! it's also so hard for me to tell what's actually trending vs what tiktok is feeding me (like... according to my FYP there is a trend towards snape ships again and also towards more ~ controversial ~ ships like Tomarry but is that just because I'm engaging with that?)

the hp fandom in general is so large and so longstanding with so many little neighborhoods within it which are mostly self-sustaining. I think overall we'll last a long time. maybe there will be a time when a hp ship isn't in the top 10 ao3 ships for any given year but I think it'll be a decade at least for that to happen.

the main things that make me feel like marauders(tok) style fandom will burn itself out as a dominant strand of hp fandom is less because of its basis in fanon but more because culturally it's kind of mean and censorious and the dominant characterizations are kind of flat and I think the reliance on a few viral longfics isn't sustainable. but who knows! Jegulus does seem like it's here to stay, though I'm noticing a trend towards giving James more angst and trauma and making him a sadboy too.

I do think Snape ships are going to become more popular again (snupin and snack in particular). I also predict a small rise in prongsfoot but not with canon characterizations.

I also have no idea what this hbo reboot is going to do. nothing good probably.

does that answer anything? probably not haha.

1,2,3,5,15,17 for the black sisters

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Bellatrix: obviously I love all of them, so I’m answering accordingly - I love how she’s allowed to be angry, and allowed to be kind of a giant bitch. I love that she’s actively self-destructive, that she takes her pain and makes it the whole world’s huge problem, that she hits as hard as any man and she’ll fight anybody who gives her a reason (or no reason). I love that she’s such a picture-perfect rendition of the imperfect, flawed victim. Every bad coping mechanism you get from an abusive home and a series of abusive relationships is here. Like BCJR she’s a fantastic example of how mental illness can make you both very dangerous and very vulnerable. Also I love how weird she is about Narcissa.

Andromeda: I love how determined she is to live her own life on her terms and get out. I love that she didn’t have to get thrown out of the House that is a womb that eats its own young, she gathered her courage and escaped, and escaped successfully. I love that she supports her daughter, that she stands by her husband, that she deprogrammed and rose above her circumstances. I like to think that, presented with the same opportunities, her sisters would’ve done the same.

Narcissa: best mom brilliant mom mom of all time. I love how determined she is to survive, to see her family through even if it means holding her nose and looking the other way. I love how delicate she is, how unabashedly feminine she lets herself be. I have a major soft spot for damsel-in-distress types who really have a hard time keeping it together in a crisis who are nonetheless brave and clever in their own way, who excel at planning ahead and who have husbands who can protect them and help them find their confidence (she and Idril Celebrindal could have a few conversations) - that, to me, is Narcissa in a nutshell.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Bellatrix: look I don’t know what to tell you that woman’s a freak. did you fuck him while you were in Azkaban. I have to know.

Andromeda: my absolute favorite thing about her is that even though she’s not a known duelist and hotblooded Johnny Ringo type she’s clearly just as much of a talented witch as Bella is.

Narcissa: it is adorable that she didn’t want Draco to go to Durmstrang because she wanted him close. I love her so much your honor.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Bellatrix: why are you not canonically pansexual.

Andromeda: IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HER KILLING BELLATRIX IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HER. YOUR SISTER KILLED YOUR COUSIN AND KILLED YOUR DAUGHTER WHY ARE YOU NOT HERE TO AVENGE THEM WHY DID YOU NOT BLAST THROUGH THE WALL OF THE GREAT HALL SCREAMING HER NAME. COME THE FUCK ON. also, related, I hate that she’s “softer” and “less goth” and more nurturing-looking because she’s The Good One. Joanne, fix your shit.

Narcissa: I’m never gonna know what the fuck was going on with her parentage, and I need to know, Joanne, I’m going to live in your walls with the black mold until you tell me.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Bellatrix: “The Pioneer” by Follow the Cipher

Andromeda: “Burn” by Halflives

Narcissa: “Field of Innocence” by Evanescence

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

Bellatrix: if she and Narcissa had run away together things would have been different in a really good way.

Andromeda: honestly I really like her with Ted. I think there’s potential in a three-way Blackcest triad but I think that she’s likely to have left that behind for broader less-dysfunctional freedom.

Narcissa: see the above, I have to ship her with her sister

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

Bellatrix: if you ship her with Lestrange that’s fine lmao

Andromeda: I don’t have strong feelings about any other ships besides her canon one + her sisters, so… all of the rest, I guess?

Narcissa: I read a hot Narcissa/Ginny femdom D/s fic when I was like fourteen and it rewired my brain and as a result I’ve always been fine with it, but really I don’t think people ship her with anyone besides Lucius + her sisters, so…

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