Harp the Wigglytuff @wigglytuffitout@computerfairi.es

if this bit of allergies is an ear infection brewing i'm gonna be super smad about it

oof ok this headache has settled in good and proper and made of me a foolish fool after i jinxed myself by floating the idea of writing tonight

hmmmm maybe with ice cream and beating back this headache a bit i can do.... another writing night in a row?????

i don't know why it's viscachaposting time but i support it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPxA6nasvQc

me, before namazu tribe quests in #ffxiv : why on earth did they do NAMAZU instead of SOMETHING COOL ugh

me, now, hitting rank 7: I LOVE ALL MY IDIOT FISH CHILDREN. *sobbing* look at them they're so dumb and so good!!!!

i mean honestly

if jk rowling can't even fucking wikipedia american history to put forward an idea that all of modern usa would be covered by one school in late 1600s, like it was all one english-speaking culture at that point, (HHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!),

i can probably skate by as i'm there googling what time lavender harvests are in france and what typical eurostar schedules are so i can have a throwaway detail be accurate

in the end, Cursed Child is like a friend saying she's going to cook a great roast dinner for you, you're going to love it. you mark your calendar, get all excited. you're sitting at the dinner table. it smells amazing. she tells you how she's been working on it all day, AND brining it all night, and basting it, and all of this. she pulls it out of the oven and it looks fantastic.

then she carves off all the meat, tosses that in the trash, and proudly serves you a single drumstick bone

it comes close. it comes *irritatingly* close to realizing that.

but instead, in among all of the time-travel sloppiness, and in among the stories of that second gen of characters struggling with THEIR legacies!, voldemort's daughter just ends up...

well, a chip off the old block with some cliche daddy issues.

boring.

bland.

a disappointment.

these... these are interesting characters.

they get to be themselves, all wrestling with the same problem, some coming up with bad answers, some coming up with good answers, some trying to come up with good answers and failing.

they are messy, and real, and INTERESTING.

they are everything that Delphini ends up not being, yet *could have been*.

one tried to just keep his head down and survive. he found a wife and loved her deeply, truly, as he did his children, right up until it became clear that he couldn't outrun all of his father's sins. and so he feels all he can do is isolate himself from those he loves - and the only thing he can do for his father's legacy is make it end with him, his axe, and every shallow grave dug for those who follow Voldemort still.

one was told he would have to follow in his father's footsteps, told to kill, and could not betray his own horror at this. instead he rebelled, and gave over his trust into redemption. one considers it his duty to balance the massive suffering his father dealt by working towards kindness, towards charity, for all.

one thought she could escape to numbers, which have no morality. and was horrified to be wrong.

so that's why i have this fanfic i'm slowly writing where there are just Too Many Of Voldemort's Kids.

one lived in fear of herself, until her fears were realized and she was killed for it. but until then she ran from magic and onto something that made sense to her - to ballet. and she learned over time that her love and care for her ballet students was real, and only aided by being afraid to hurt them.

so to have the titular Cursed Child just be... flat

to just be evil?

it's boring. stale. an extra serving of reheated Voldemort that somebody popped in the microwave that tastes mostly of freezer burn.

let her be human. let her wrestle with her legacy.

give voldemort's daughter the same chance to struggle that harry did with being lily and james's son.

this - THIS is interesting.

this is juicy. these are really riveting stories to tell.

because you're touching on something more universal and human, there. you're striking the hot iron of how people formulate their identities, their self, and how family weighs heavily into that, as something to embrace, as something to struggle against - all of those things.

what do they think about this?

do they try to balance how they feel they are dangerous to be around, with their own human needs to be loved?

do they try to escape to somewhere entirely different where those measures of good and evil don't matter at all?

do they seek someone else to purify them? to cleanse them? do they trust anyone or anything enough to do so?

what do they do?

even more juicy, interesting, and so on to me -

what if they're struggling? what if they're in flux?

what if they believe themselves corrupt and damaging to those around them, but seek constantly to overcome it?

what if they are paralyzed by self-loathing?

what if they try to be good and fail?

what if they desperately seek somewhere out from under the family shadow?

what happens then?

are they bad because their father was bad?

or are they bad because everyone told them they would be?

are they bad because they were groomed to be 'heir to the throne' and only know that way forward?

are they bad because they feel doomed to be?

are they bad because everyone treats them as if they're a rabid animal preemptively and thus abuses them?

...are they bad at all?

it feels like rowling was ok writing harry struggling under the weight of his legacy, and even snape fumbling to find his identity because of this, but... when it comes to voldemort's kid, everyone just gave up.

and that is when i think the stakes are highest, and the odds most interesting!

why would you turn down an opportunity to write a character struggling with THAT LEVEL of albatross around their neck?

the conflict ends up flat and inevitable. hatfields and mccoys. montegue and capulet.

notice how romeo and juliet is an interesting story only BECAUSE it's NOT about the titular characters in fair verona unquestioning the idea that they are destined to fight and be enemies because of who they are related to?

THEREIN LIES THE PLOT - the interest - the intrigue!!!