video ( open to seelie + unseelie )

[brainiest]

[ The feed opens with Hermione in the library - where else would she be? - in the Seelie court, a pile of books and papers around her. It's obvious she's been reading and taking notes, going deeper and deeper into as many of the shelves as she can (and the only place she hasn't been allowed access is the Restricted Area, which she is going to get permission for soon). After a moment of brushing her hair out of her face and forcing a slightly brighter smile she leans forward, into the 'camera'. ]

Hello, everyone. My name is Hermione Granger, for anyone I haven't met yet, and I was just wondering if you'd mind answering a few questions I have?

[ She pauses for a moment, grabbing a piece of paper with a list on it and smoothing it out. ]

I was wondering if you'd all be able to tell me about magic, or powers, or anything that might not be considered 'normal' to the average human or otherwise that exist in your worlds? Maybe magical creatures, too, or beings that you think do not transcend to other places that you've heard of. In my world, if it's alright to call them that, we have magic, magical creatures and humans, giants, werewolves, vampires... But a lot of worlds - or universes, I suppose - don't.

[ She smiles, almost sheepish, shy. ]

I hope this isn't too intrusive, I'm just curious and I'd love to learn more, if I'm able.

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[marred]

[ where he had intended to perhaps be a dick about demigods, seeing how much she knew of the myths and testing her against them, the conversation has detoured down a path luke wants to break away from, opting to venture into the dark wilderness he doesn't know how to navigate, despite his inbuilt gps, and try his luck. it's the titan war, it's hermes, it's thalia and annabeth and even percy, who come to his mind now; it reminds him of something he thinks jason would say, inspiring hope where there is none. but luke doesn't want to think of hermes as wanting to undo the mistakes he has done, capable of changing his son's path as he had been privy to the prophecy and his doomed future, but had done nothing to interfere, not even taking his mother beneath his wing and somehow helping her. but isn't everything hermione has just said what he wants to do? make up for his mistakes, own them, and move on, proving himself to not be that kid, truly? gods — and titans — are selfish. and luke knows he is, himself. ]

I guess so. [ it's clear luke doesn't particularly want to believe it, as it completely undermines his anger, and the grudge he still holds, even now. ] But is it really a loss if you want to go back and change things, anyway? Hindsight's a pretty good thing to have in your arsenal. Wisdom and all that.

[ his nose wrinkles at a face he pulls, as though the movement of his muscles and his skin will somehow throw the weight he suddenly feels from his entire body. it only sinks further, as it always has. ] I know us Hermes kids aren't really wise, but … unlocking things and stealing things is what we're good at. Sometimes you want to go back and unlock that door just a little bit slower. Where you end up might be a little less ... [ pressing his lips together, he pulls a word that doesn't quite encompass what he wants it to. ] monstery. [ and perhaps halcyon green would still be alive today. but would he have ever met annabeth? it's what hermione's getting at, changing things will cause a ripple effect — and, besides, why would he wish to change the good parts of his life, even inadvertently? ]

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[brainiest]

You see, that's the problem. Everyone imagines hindsight to be this great gift, allowing us to see what mistakes we'd made so that, in the future, we can fix it, but in a way it's more like a curse. It's not a good thing to know your past and try to go back and change it, that's why there are so many restrictions on time travel and the effects it can have. You can say that you'd like to go back and fix your mistakes which, of course, is admirable, but -- don't you think that, by fixing them, you're changing yourself? You're becoming someone different than the man - or woman - that went back to change the mistakes in the first place. Who's to say that, once you've gone back, you'd want to change them?

[ time travel, analogies, all of it is rather complex and despite having spent a year basically doing double time (she was, actually, closer to twenty-one than twenty) there isn't a lot hermione does, truly, know about time travel. it's still all very open and a very technical topic and she doesn't want to be That Person but it seems she's stumbled into it all the same. sheepish, she bows her head, trying to ignore the flush crossing her cheeks at her reply, the lecture she's handing out as though she's some kind of authority. ]

It's not a loss to want to change things, of course not. But understanding the mistakes we've made and trying to make ourselves better from them? That isn't something you should just throw away to make things easier. We become stronger and wiser from our experiences, not weaker.

[ she pauses, then she lifts her head, smiling softly. he's a son of hermes, right? and what she remembers of him, yes, he's the patron of thieves, but... ]

You're not just moulded by who your parents are, you know. Your father might be the God of thieves, but he's also the patron of sports, travellers and trade, too, isn't he? And shepherds. There's nothing saying you have to be like your father and be a thief or someone that picks locks.

[ she swallows, then, because, really, she is entirely unsure of the mythology of his world, but - she's started, so she has to finish. ]

There's precedent that says I should be a quiet, lowly mudblood and I should keep my mouth shut and leave things for those of pure status to sort out. But I won't, because that's not who I am. I'm more than my heritage, Luke, and so are you. I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit and I don't think you're seeing what kind of an amazing future you could have.

[ a pause, then she bites her lip. ]

I'm sorry if that was all a little... Forward. I get carried away sometimes.

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[marred]

[ it's on the tip of his tongue to confess to hermione granger, the brightest witch of her age, a daring and brave and incredibly loyal griffindor, of all the things he has hid up his sleeve in a bid to see her stubborn refusal to believe anyone would wish to change so much of themselves into bits. if she knew of the titan war, if she knew of kronos, if she knew of may castellan, if she knew of hermes and halcyon green and even zeus, trapping thalia beneath root rather than breathing life back into her lungs, perhaps she would see that he wishes to change it all for them. ]

[ luke frowns at mudblood, a word she hasn't uttered once during their conversation. she's thrown out terms that sound odd to even him, a kid born of a greek myth and humanity, but that one hasn't passed her lips yet. he thinks to deter her from this path by throwing that out toward her, but he thinks it a bad idea, not quite liking the way she phrases it, as though it means something bad. ]

[ it's the amazing future, though, that almost has him saying i don't have one. it'd ended in olympus with the dagger that had originally been his in his side. and he doubts he'll have one here, either, despite jason and nico attempting to tie themselves to him, as though they're some unbreakable trio. ]

[ despite wanting to tell her she doesn't need to apologise, what comes out isn't defined in a harsh tone, but one that implies he knows a little more than what she may, regardless of the books she may have read, on wishing to shape — or not shape — himself in his father's image. ] I'd want to change it for other people. [ which sounds weak, given her own argument, hitting too many nails deeply within the plank of wood of the house he wished to dismantle with his anger. instead of allowing him to rip it piece by piece, pulling the nails out with the back of the hammer, she rips the tool from his hand and slams the nail back in. ] It's different. [ it's really not, but — ] You should fight against the blood privilege that's going on back in the world of Gryffindors. If you let them snuff out your voice, then you're just letting them win the war. Nothing will change if you let them define you as a lowly mud — [ he shakes his head, pursing his lips slightly. it's almost like being claimed and unclaimed, unclaimed such a dirty word to say to those who linger within the hermes cabin, half complete. ] — I may be the son of Hermes, but I'm not just another kid in his herd. I don't follow him blindly. Even if I'm lucky enough to know who it is I'm the kid of. [ claimed and unclaimed, it's not a story anyone wishes to hear, not from the mouth of luke castellan, anyway. ]

[ he shrugs, nonchalant. people speak of their parents with some emotion in their voice, but all luke knows of hermes is what the myths tell him. he's only ever learned from the man himself that he doesn't care. ] My dad's just a guy in a myth. Kind of hard to be a myth, myself. [ repeating hercules' own quest? it's not really worthy of even a wiki page, nor a mention. ]

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[brainiest]

[ her heart warms at his words and she feels a sort of bond over what he's saying - wanting to change the past for other people. if she could she would do that, she thinks, if she didn't know what effect it would have on the world and how awfully it would change everything. she would save sirius, remus, james and lily, she would protect professor snape and professor dumbledore, she would make it so no one had to die to keep the world safe. she would make it so her best friend lived a life of happiness instead of one overshadowed by destiny and pain at the hands of people that were supposed to be his family. but, still, she knows that it's impossible. the world isn't meant to be changed, not so literally, and while she can work on making the future better she knows that attempting to go back and change the past would be a foolish mistake, something that she, admittedly, had learned from, having done it once.

that was different, predestined, professor dumbledore had guided her. it didn't make it entirely right, though, and no matter how her heart called for her to try and fix things she knew that it wasn't something she could do. she couldn't ruin their bright futures by meddling in a past that they had experienced and learned from. it was cruel.

but, of course, she has no idea about his future, no idea about the death that's around the corner for him - or has already happened - and all she can do is continue to speak to him with the little background knowledge she has on his life and his world. if her words make a difference, then -- good. good. she could feel proud of that. ]

I understand completely. I... I often thought, what if I went back? What if I went back and saved my best friend's parents, protected them from the death that was their doorstep? But... It's not right. It would change everything and I might not even have a best friend when I came back home. I might be a different person, an ugly one, one I didn't like, and the world wouldn't have learned from the things that my present had. We wouldn't develop and get stronger, and that's a risk no one should be allowed to take. [ she winces as the word almost slips out of his mouth before she shakes her head, leans back, settles against her chair. she almost wants to curl in around herself, the topic of conversation heavy on her heart and her mind. ]

Is it different? I'm fighting against people's expectations of me just as you are. You can't tell me that people see who your father is and don't expect you to act in a particular way, or to express particular beliefs. People see me, a muggleborn, and expect me to be weaker or quieter and I am not because I know, I know, that I am better than they think I am. I'm muggleborn and proud of it, no matter what the world wants to think of it.

[ she shakes her head, leaning forward, forcing her lips into a soft, tender little smile. ]

You know you're not a son of anyone to me, right? You're right, you're not just one person. I honestly wouldn't care if you weren't the child of anyone special. You should be judged on who you are and the choices you make, the things you feel and your actions and regrets, not what blood runs through your veins. To me you're not Luke Castellan, son of Hermes and part of your Greek camp. You're just Luke, my new friend, someone who is going to get terribly bored with all my lectures and scolding.

[ she smiles a little wider. ]

You're you, and that's all you should try to be. Don't let anyone else tell you differently, okay?

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[marred]

[ people look at luke knowing what it is he's done, of his own accord and the manipulation of kronos, and they either shrug their shoulders like nico di angelo, too indifferent and removed to really care; refuse to acknowledge that their new best friend had committed acts not even he can truly forgive himself for, like jason; or continue to greet his presence with a sneer and a threat of a fist to his jaw, like clarisse. no one judges him for how similar or different he is to hermes — things would be simpler if they did. luke only judges himself for following in his father's footsteps by abandoning his family, the catalyst that had sparked the ember of his anger when he'd been younger. like father, like son. ]

[ but luke rubs two of his fingers hard against the bridge of his nose, against the crease of his brows. he feels a headache coming on, with the two sides of him warring with one another. hermione doesn't even know him, yet, she has more faith in him than he has ever had in himself in his entire life. he allows clarisse la rue's words to rule him, calling him a traitor behind his back, as loudly as possible, for all of drabwurld to hear. it's the words he tells himself, too, hearing them spoken aloud, instead. ]

[ there's so many things he could say, like, you don't even know me or you're wrong. despite the desire to challenge her by pitching to her the destruction of the world being at the tips of his fingertips and the deaths of those he had once called family caking his lifelines, he finds the words are gone, as though they had escaped on the surface of his sigh. he hasn't even allowed himself to really admit to any of those from home how heavily it weighs on him, what had transpired because of his desire to teach the gods and lesson and change things. if he were to go back and somehow save may castellan from her fate, as she had never been the woman he had come to know — he's certain of it, with the scenes kronos had let him only get a small slice of, a woman who had once been happy and proud, with green eyes that were clear and not murky — he thinks any ripple effect would be worth it. at least he'd have his mother — but if that meant there'd be no thalia or annabeth … ]

[ hermione has one point luke would concede to, even if he still longs to change too much. the rest about him, though, he'd fight until his second death, but as backbiter isn't in his grip, and he's wrapped in a warm blanket of exhaustion from travelling and fighting drabwurld itself, she's spared a spar. ]

[ fondly, ] You remind me of someone who used to like to lecture me. [ before he had pulled away entirely and lost her completely. annabeth would like hermione, with her no-nonsense outlook and her obvious love for all things academic. brightest witch of her age. she'd get along with the brightest demigod luke's ever met, if she were to ever arrive in drabwurld. ]

[ despite her words and the effect he doesn't want them to have on him, luke doesn't respond, nor fight it, exhausted from his adventures from caer scima to caer glaem. the fight within him has almost dissipated with his tiffs with clarisse and him pushing himself to remain awake when all he wants to do is sleep. if he weren't so exhausted, hermione would be met tit for tat instead of with a white flag — or, more appropriately, luke merely lying on the floor. he sounds — and looks — amused. ] Are you always this friendly with people you've just met? I didn't know it was a witchy thing to know who someone was on the inside with only a few minutes of conversation.