TwiLyghtSansSparkles

I like him too. He's a broken person who has let that brokenness drive him to treat people badly, but he's also fought Voldemort in ways few other people would or could. If I met him in real life, I doubt I'd like him; but that's the beauty of fiction: you get to see beyond the surface and come to appreciate people you might not like otherwise. I'm not excusing his actions in the series, but I am saying that given his past, they're understandable; and they don't keep me from liking him as a character. Not a huge fan of Harry, though.

That's probably the safest course of action right now. Toward the end of my time at home, when my mom was the worst she'd been since I was a teenager, I'd just keep conversations short and focused on her. She'd ask me how I was doing, I'd say fine and offer up a few mundane details—while staying away from topics like traffic (an invitation to criticize my driving) rude customers (an invitation to criticize my attitude) classes I didn't like (ditto)….basically anything that could be considered a complaint. Jokes. Funny or cute stories. Lighthearted observations. Those were fairly safe topics. Of course, that didn't mean she wouldn't bring up something she wanted to criticize me on (the way I'd apply for jobs everywhere but the region she wanted me to move to was a popular point of contention) but it kept the number of fights as low as possible.

Ah, that's awesome! Which episode?

Thanks! I actually let this one take a backseat to a lot of things, though I had some ideas for part 3, if y'all are interested.

I'm sorry. It sounds like she wanted to pick a fight and—as you said—play the victim in order to get attention. Negative or positive, it's still attention. It still sucks to deal with, though.

Taylor from Worm. I understand she’s meant to be a bullying victim whose deep trauma has made her cynical and aloof, but her lack of compassion for other outsiders (Rachel, most memorably) just made her seem judgmental and hypocritical. And her disregard for the consequences of her actions made her come across as self-centered and immature.

Prince William of Orange had a dog named Pompey. One night, while William slept, Pompey heard the sound of men approaching and barked, scratched, and jumped on William's face to wake him and warn him of the intruders. As it turns out, the men were actually assassins, and Pompey was right to wake his owner. In a monument to William, Pompey is carved lying at his feet. Although the breed is disputed, many believe Pompey was a pug.

I was assuming Vasher would need a moment to draw him.

Nightblood woukd hesitate all of 0.325 seconds before destroying Nighthound with prejudice.

If...you go with an alternate ending instead of the actual one, then sure, it can end happily.

Did....did we break book order and story structure itself? It can fit within Oregon canon or it can be disregarded. Whatever you’d like to do.

Asking how it’ll end? That’s a whole new level of skipping to the end of a story. but yeah, it’s not going to be a happy ending. If you want.

I'm not a huge fan of first person for my own writing, since I've found it's more difficult for me to establish a unique voice through it. I tried writing it in third person first, and it almost worked, but didn't quite gel. Then, when I took a break from it, some other elements of the story itself started coming together, providing more opportunities for conflict, and that was about the same time I started listening to Imagined Life, which tells the stories of well-known people in second person, so it just kind of fell into place. (Although that podcast doesn't reveal the subject's identity until the last two minutes or so, and I didn't go for that in my fic.) Plus, I've found second person is a great viewpoint for making a sad or dark story even darker.

How’s that?