post-soiree

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

My first thought on reading alt_boot's post is: house elves are set free when they receive clothes from their owners; it's a pity it doesn't work that way for Terry. Next thought: what if it does work that way in some terrible ironic sense? What if the clothes are going to kill him? Or nearly so.

This morning alt_amycus's second post reads differently to me, not only in light of Terry's report on the "soiree" but also in retrospect of our conversation with Amycus' player yesterday:

tidbit's getting quite the sense of self-esteem!

So, tidbit, to celebrate, Alecto and I are holding a little soiree tomorrow night. I've got a surprise for you that will, I hope, drive you mad.

Be sure to wear your new clothes, too.

In other news, the pigeons are driving me crazy. The twittering's been worse than ever. Ha. When they see me coming, the birds all try and hide. But I'm onto them.

So, this morning, with a bit of hindsight and in the cold aftermath of a strangely anti-climactic soiree, I think Amycus has been practicing on the pigeons for a formula he has now applied to Terry's new clothes. The pigeons didn't like it very much. Amycus hopes it will "drive [Terry] mad". I hope Terry catches on and finds a way to get help before too much harm is done by his lovely new jumper, soft corduroy trousers and new boots.

hello new players!

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

I've begun to feel badly about the fact that we got so carried away yesterday with the emergence of a brilliantly-played new Evil character that we overlooked this past week's bigger news: we have LOTS of new characters (and probably some new players, too).

Students:
I'm so glad for alt_hannah that she now has some companionship in our virtual Hufflepuff, and I've really enjoyed Susan, Ernie and Megan's entry into the game. They've fit right into this strange new world we're seeing where Slytherins are happy to study and play and create in-jokes with students from other Houses. (I wonder how long this will last? Will it be an important strength for the students in the days ahead? Or will we see them grow disenchanted and fall out so that someday they will dislike as strongly as they now seem to like one another?) For right now, though, I'm really enjoying that Slytherins can gently poke fun at Michael Corner's post about magical stuff he's dying to see; they are poking fun because they genuinely like him, and that's very cool.

Staff:
I've also enjoyed meeting alt_horace this week. He's already establishing his canonical brand of Slytherin personality type: he's inviting particular young people to chat with him (presumably, as in the books, to forge connections now with young ones he believes will grow up to positions of influence) and passing over others. I was amused to note that Draco had to assert himself in order to win an invitation. Poor Draco, even in this game, you aren't one of Slughorn's chosen! I note, too, that he's (so far) by-passed Sally-Anne. I assume that this is reinforcement of the game's subtle picture of the prejudice against half-bloods.

Order:
alt_frank arrived (more than a week ago? not much) with a bang of big news about Alice's pregnancy. I look forward to seeing what role they play going forward. Lots of potential for poignancy, peril, and pathos, I should think!

Death Eaters:
alt_crouch_jr is a welcome addition. I'm hopeful that he and his new house-mate, Regulus, will inspire each other to post more frequently than we've seen yet. I think that I'm looking forward to meeting Alecto Carrow if her part gets cast. (I had been sort of hoping the Carrows would remain uncast and off-stage, but now that we have such a beautifully horrifying Amycus, I'm changing my mind.)

Mudbloods:
I'm going to include Dennis here because his first week injected a new set of interesting issues and personality dynamics into the game, and I'm hoping to see much of him as we go along.

So, hi to all! (I hope I haven't missed any of you...!)

Introduction Post

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

I think we've been spending enough time together (and for me, it's been very enjoyable time) that we should get to know each other a bit more. So here's a post for that purpose. Some things I'd love to know about you, my fellow fen, are:

-Your name and a little about yourself. (Age, job, where you live, anything about you that you consider important)

-How you got here. (History of the path you took to finding this game, not just how you heard about it but what made you care enough to actually check it out. And what made you interested enough to want to stay and spend hours and hours discussing it)

ETA: I had more, but after writing my own answers I realized that this was plenty to start with.

I have put my own answers to the questions in a comment. I really look forward to seeing what everyone has to say.

Further Carrow Activity (Speculation)

[wintercreek]

Hermione posted that Amycus has been taking a creepy interest in her and she's now, according to Dennis, absent without amulet.

We also know from Hermione's post that Amycus (or someone/thing else) drew pictures of a sleeping Terry on the wall in reddish brown ink. Hermione doesn't want to think too closely about what that ink might be; I'll go out on a limb and guess that it's blood. alt_player tells us that "The pictures play into it because of the ink used," so if it's not blood it's something else of significance.

Assuming it's blood, whose blood is it? Pigeon blood? Or is it Terry's? Amycus's most recent post tells us that Terry's "been really lethargic and pale lately." It also tells us that the new clothes come from Alecto, who recently had a dream in which she was on "her knees on a hill in a storm. hands covered with blood."

Amycus also made a reference yesterday to 731 which looks to be a reference to human experimentation.

So, here I go with crackpot theory #1 (more to follow in comments, surely):
We know from alt_lucius that research on the process of Magical Tranference is underway:

Even now, specialists in the Department of Mysteries are working to discover how it is that Muggles are able to steal magic from its rightful heirs and implant it into the capabilities of their issue. It is essential work, to discover the linkage between Mudbloods and Squibs, and to determine how that transfer is accomplished.

We also know, again from Lucius, that Professor (Alecto) Carrow teaches Muggle Studies and is familiar with the history of torture.

And we know, from all over the place, that Professor (Amycus) Carrow is the Transfiguration teacher. Transfiguration, we may recall from canon, involves the changing of one thing in to another thing. At its advanced levels, it can involve Animagery. One or both Carrows (probably Amycus) recently changed Terry in to a dog.

Putting it all together, the crackpot theory for which you've presumably been waiting is that the Carrows are conducting their own research on Magical Transference, possibly in an unauthorized fashion, using Terry and (probably) now Hermione as subjects. One wonders if the creepy blood-pictures of Terry and his recent lethargy are the result of attempting to transfer magic out of a Muggleborn wizard. Oh dear.

( Now with rampant music-related speculation! )