bookofjude @ August 5 2003, 05:11:35 UTC

Welcome to the addiction.

Excessive use of F5 is suggested.

Please ensure your monitor and chair are in the upright position.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the rollercoaster that is N_A ride.

;)

steph_hime @ August 5 2003, 05:13:15 UTC

*grin* I've been observing a while. I started reading nocturne_alley about 5 months ago and then found this and watched this too, and finally joined!

bookofjude @ August 5 2003, 05:15:49 UTC

Ah. Closet fan, eh? It's a pity it's slowed down recently, but we still love it.

woo2step @ August 5 2003, 05:31:09 UTC

This is slowed-down?

::goes back into my own nraged closet::

bookofjude @ August 5 2003, 05:36:08 UTC

Yes. *taps foot impatiently*

steph_hime @ August 5 2003, 05:43:58 UTC

It's still faster than my RPG

Anonymous @ August 5 2003, 10:46:04 UTC

Give us all a link! Whom do you play?

steph_hime @ August 6 2003, 01:01:25 UTC

potterfic In which I play the twins, Colin and Charlie (I'm a busy girl)

quixotic_sense @ August 5 2003, 05:15:05 UTC

Damn, you beat me to the draw. ^^ *deletes her entry*

I can't help but feel sympathetic for Pansy, even though she's not a character I'm particularly fond of. It's quite clear that la_pensee is a bit of a Daddy's girl and has latched on to Arthur as a substitute father figure for her absent parent.

Yesterday, Father was supposed to take me to the London Musicianless Symphony as well but he had to cancel because he received an urgent notice from his work. He doesn't think he'll be able to reschedule any time this week, but he promises that once business lets up a bit, he shall take me wherever I would like to go. He promises.

Both her father and Arthur have abandoned her ("Miss Parkinson"? Ouch.), in their own different ways. I wonder what her reaction is going to be, though I suspect that she'd try to live up to her usual flirtatious manner.

Or maybe I'm just projecting, because it hits a little too close to home. ^^

sistermagpie @ August 5 2003, 07:04:32 UTC

Nah, I feel sorry for Pansy too--I like her.:-)

I hope Millicent will come by and keep her feet warm. And I'd love for the three of them to go out to tea. There's no telling the trouble they could get into just doing that. It's kind of sad that Pansy writes about how being ambitious to be a good family man is something to admire just as Arthur has to cut off all contact to be a good family man!

Not that I think Pansy is ever completely innocent of anything, though. But still. She cracks me up.

hobaggins @ August 5 2003, 08:28:51 UTC

And I'd love for the three of them to go out to tea.

Yes. M.B. and Draco are essentially Pansy's family at school. And while she's been at home she's missing out on her adopted family, and her own. Her own father is too busy with work, and her father substitute, Arthur, can no longer see her due to Molly-complications. (Not that I blame Molly, it would be rough to see your husband lunching with a young attractive witch, calling her Petal and such)

It must be very rough for Pansy, especially considering now her days are only full up with work and taking care of her mother. I hope the terrible trio gets together soon (coughandNAgetsjumpingcough)

dari_brit @ August 5 2003, 13:08:48 UTC

Sign me up for the "feeling sorry for Pansy" club as well. (Although, as a Slytherin, this is probably her aim...) ^_-

But seriously: possible "scarlet woman" motives aside, I believe that she really may have benefited from her connection with Arthur. In this post, you get even more of a glimpse to how troubled her family life is: distant father, controlling mother. While I doubt that anything can dim Pansy's ambition, maybe some of the Weasley family camaraderie will have influenced her view of what life after Hogwarts should be like. I see Pansy as being very capable of having it all: happy family life and high-powered job.

That is, if the marriage isn't arranged and unhappy... maybe Pansy is beginning to explore how much domestic happiness means to her? Could this be seeds of a pro-Millicent rebellion against her parents?

sistermagpie @ August 5 2003, 13:31:45 UTC

Ooh, I hope so. I trusted M.B. to come to the rescue here and look there she is! (Go M.B.) I assume the reference to persons apparating pertains to Draco-darling who is also invited if he behaves himself...?

No matter what Pansy's aims might have been it's got to be humiliating to have her father leave her for her job ambitions in the same post as Arthur leaves her for her family ambitions. It seems Pansy doesn't fit in either world in this post.:-( She's done a good job at the Ministry as a receptionist as far as we know. And anyway, is Arthur all that important a person? If Pansy wanted to suck up he wouldn't be the best person to go for. And I can't see why she'd want to steal him from his wife...I doubt Pansy aspires to become stepmother to all the Weasleys. Unless she's got some grudge against the Weasleys we don't know about.

I must also say, though, that Ron's post cracks me up. It's a real tribute to his player the way that Ron is probably the only character who can, without a shred of irony, call someone a Scarlet Woman. He's as out there as the most out-there of NA characters.

On and speaking of Ron, I wondered if he and Harry hadn't had a bit of a chat concerning Draco at some point. His recent exchange with ps about the party made it seem like Ron had finally figured out how much of ps's blustering was for show and he naturally couldn't wait to show how down with it all he was ("you can pretend to complain about it at the party...").

black_dog @ August 5 2003, 14:25:50 UTC

Count me as dissenting from the "poor Pansy" argument. Millicent, as always, has Pansy's number: "In other good news . . . " In other words, the first good news was getting Arthur in trouble with Molly. Mission accomplished. MB picks up nicely on the unconscous slip -- "Fever, Pansy?" I don't think it really needs motivation, in Pansy's case -- it's just random malice toward a target of opportunity, an exercise of power for its own sake. The fact that it's toward someone who's been nice to her just shows a really scary, even sociopathic side of her character.

My .02, but like many times in the past, my take on Pansy is that her behavior is just too ugly to be excused by our sympathy for her emotional troubles. This makes her an interesting contrast with PS.

Totally agree with you on Ron. "Scarlet woman," indeed. And how much do we love Ron for getting away with calling Draco "fuzzy feet" and "mad mop?"

glimmerglass @ August 5 2003, 14:57:51 UTC

I actually think your theory is very interesting, although I disagree with this particular sentence, "In other words, the first good news was getting Arthur in trouble with Molly. Mission accomplished." Because as far as I could tell, there is no clear evidence *prior* to Arthur's comment to that entry that Molly's absence has anything to do with Pansy. Pansy relates only her "good experience" at the picnic, with no shadowing towards Molly's sudden disappearance. No faked sympathy/concern that a person would expect from her, which suggests to me either that she did not now about the situation at all OR that she was not aware of the extent of the situation. So while Pansy might have been interested in stirring up some trouble, I don't think that her reference in that entry was meant as a self-congradulatory triumphant type response.

black_dog @ August 5 2003, 20:44:01 UTC

there is no clear evidence *prior* to Arthur's comment to that entry that Molly's absence has anything to do with Pansy

Close reading is always fun, so let me disagree in the spirit of (con)textual detective work!

Nothing in Pansy's own text suggest she knows why, or even that, Molly has left Arthur. I agree. But isn't that odd? Molly's leaving Arthur is one of the most-posted-about consequences of Dumbledore's party, and the Weasleys explicitly say that she stalked out because Pansy was flirting with Arthur, here. So I have to read this on the assumption that Pansy knows Molly has left Arthur, and why. And if that is the case, then her pose of innocence would itself be disingenuous, and in this context, malicious, drawing further attention to her flirtation to remind the world of what she's done.

Of course, that interpretation is based on an assumption about what's more plausible -- did Pansy know, or not? The post means one of two radically different things, depending on whether Pansy knew in advance that Molly had left Arthur over their flirtation. But I think, given the prior posting, that the odds are very heavily in favor of Pansy being aware. And the charge of malice follows from that.

Anonymous @ August 5 2003, 21:58:56 UTC

As a player, I usually hate to state anything bluntly about the character I play because I want people to be free to develop their own theories.

But this point does weigh a little uneasily on my mind, and so I will say for clarification that as the player I had not carefully read the thread you refer to. So I had not known that Molly's absence had any connection to the Pansy. Therefore, the post itself had not been written to reflect such a slant.

You are always free to come up with your own decisions, however, because intentional or not it is an interesting read.

black_dog @ August 5 2003, 23:44:48 UTC

Thanks for that clarification! Its helpful to know, as an observer, that players reserve the right not to be conscious of certain posts, or to selectively read only some of them based on their character's interests. Otherwise the natural assumption would be that all the information is in play. I'll be more conscious of that in future reading.

I hope my reading of Pansy herself doesn't bother you -- I'm fascinated by the character, although I am probably quicker than most to doubt her motives.

Anonymous @ August 6 2003, 00:09:00 UTC :)

I hope my reading of Pansy herself doesn't bother you -- I'm fascinated by the character, although I am probably quicker than most to doubt her motives.

I like that you are thinking about her motives because I do try to not make her a clear cut character. In fact, I don't see anything wrong with doubting her on occassion (or more than that) because sometimes I think that is perfectly legitimate and completely not beyond her.

Even with that particular explanation, I only wanted to clarify that single point of prior knowledge. The rest: whether Pansy intended to cause trouble, or ultimately was pleased that she had, or whether it was solely daddy-figure infatuation, or actual chumminess is still completely debateable, and I will not reveal my own actual intentions for the character.

Although I do occassionally read theories that make me think, "Wow. I so didn't even consider that." And sometimes I do get oversensitive or sometimes they just strike me as bizarre. But like I said, I think it's important everyone has their own reading. :)

sistermagpie @ August 5 2003, 20:04:05 UTC

Hmm...I can totally believe you're right about Pansy's just randomly causing trouble (though I do wonder at Molly's falling for it so easily). I do definitely think it's part of it--she talks to Arthur the way she talks to Ron most of the time--but I'm not sure how deeply her malice goes. But she does want a position at the Ministry--in that way she really does remind me of an ambitious girl at a summer job where she's trying to make connections. As I said in the other thread, Pansy is the ultimate Slytherin to me; there's always an unseen angle with her. I don't feel sorry for her the way I do for ps because he's so ineffective in ways Pansy isn't, but I still like her.:-)

My own take on M.B.'s comment was she was quoting Pansy's own words about her father's coming home being good news because M.B. doesn't think it is. Pansy's story about Arthur had nothing to do with his split with Molly, which I'd expect her to have referenced in her fake-sympathetic way if she was crowing about it. She does that later in her response to him, with her Hmmm...icon, in contrast to the happy one. I could be wrong, but reading Pansy's response to Arthur made me feel like she was expecting that, or that she'd succeeded at something. She didn't reply to Ron at all, which I'd think she'd do if she felt like the winner.

My own instinct is to think the Weasleys should be more worried about her now than they should have been before. Mwahahaha.:-)

sistermagpie @ August 5 2003, 20:05:07 UTC

Okay, I'm an idiot. She did reply to Ron, though she didn't rub it in.

black_dog @ August 5 2003, 21:00:33 UTC

I do wonder at Molly's falling for it so easily

But we know Molly is high-strung to begin with, and really kind of simple, and inclined to be suspicious. And she's been incredibly stressed about money lately. Her defenses are down.

in that way she really does remind me of an ambitious girl at a summer job where she's trying to make connections

Meh. We've all been there, we know what flies and what doesn't. And I don't mean to be sexist, but neck rubs? Please! ;)

Pansy's story about Arthur had nothing to do with his split with Molly, which I'd expect her to have referenced in her fake-sympathetic way if she was crowing about it.

I disagree that even a Slytherin would "crow about" breaking up Molly and Arthur, since the role she would be acknowledging for herself would be such a vile one. If she's going to play that particular game, she has to be more subtle than that, she can't ever drop the facade of feigned innocence. At the same time, as I argued in the comment above, mentioning the flirtation at a time when she must have known about the breakup is itself a kind of crowing, I think.

My own take on M.B.'s comment was she was quoting Pansy's own words about her father's coming home being good news because M.B. doesn't think it is.

Yeah, that would be reason enough, I have to agree. So I guess I can't cite that as positive evidence of Pansy's malice toward Arthur. But I think it's confirming evidence: if you get a malicious vibe from Pansy's Arthur paragraph, as I do, then the phrase "In other good news" is particularly jarring. If you buy the first part of the argument, then I think it's plausible that MB sees it too and is taking a shot, here.

Hmmm, am I creeped out by Pansy, or what? Hats off to her player.

sistermagpie @ August 6 2003, 06:54:51 UTC

I disagree that even a Slytherin would "crow about" breaking up Molly and Arthur, since the role she would be acknowledging for herself would be such a vile one.

That's totally possible! Just so we're on the same page, I'll try to say exactly where I am about the character. First, I do love her because you can never be sure with her--hats off to her player from me too!

It's not that I feel like doing something like this would be something Pansy wouldn't necessarily do because she clearly does have it in her to be calculatedly vicious. I just heard a slightly different tone here than in her other "crowing" posts as it were. Like, when she dispatched with Draco's "girlfriends" she made sure to tell us all the terrible things that had befallen them and make sure to add her insincere sympathy. Her role there was also vile, but she posted about it all the same. And here she's even more innocent really because I really don't think there was anything going on between her and Arthur (because of Arthur), so she'd have plenty of ammunition to paint Molly as a shrew.

So here, reading it, I felt that yes Pansy is obviously flirting with Arthur--backrubs are certainly not part of her job! And I think this was probably part of the amusement for her. She loves making Ron flustered by flirting with him and probably loved wrapping Arthur around her little finger too by flattering him and offering to fix that crick in his neck (though I don't think Arthur thought of her sexually at all). I think she would find Molly's anger over it a definite plus. What I don't see, though, is it being Pansy's intention to break up the Weasleys or cause this kind of a scandal, necessarily, because it seems counterproductive to her own plans. I think she does want a job at the Ministry, even if she's obviously not too noble about how she might go for advancement (baking muffins, flirting with Ministry workers etc.). She might not care about Molly's leaving Arthur, but just don't get the vibe that this was her goal. She might do this type of thing if she was bored but she's got the whole Ministry to conquer this summer. The Burrow seems small potatoes.

My other reason for getting that from her post is that the way she sets it up makes her look a bit foolish. She posts about how swimmingly the two of them are getting along and he responds by saying he will no longer be speaking to her. At the risk of reading too much into icons, Pansy does seem to often use her Ha! icon when she's genuinely happy and that was the way I thought she was using it here. Her response to him, to me, sounded a little bit affronted. If she'd done this on purpose then she could, I suppose, by annoyed at Arthur for bowing to his wife's demands, but I think Pansy would know Arthur well enough to know that's what he'd do.

Anonymous @ August 5 2003, 14:50:40 UTC

//On and speaking of Ron, I wondered if he and Harry hadn't had a bit of a chat concerning Draco at some point.//


Didn't Ron and Draco have a chat before Summer vacation started?

la_trix @ August 5 2003, 17:07:38 UTC

Yes, they had a conversation about something they couldn't talk about in the journals (read: Harry). It's been speculated that Ron may have given Draco information on how to Apparate past any protective wards at the Dursleys'; at any rate, the conversation most likely had something to do with Harry being forced to spend the hols at Privet Drive.

aurorasinger @ August 5 2003, 12:37:42 UTC

This has nothing to do with your post, but it's an NRaged thing in general....

Remember a while ago Draco went back through Harry's old entries and added comments? Did anyone see this one? I definitely missed that, but I wasn't sure if I was the only one who had.... But that's so cute! *squee*

notapipe @ August 5 2003, 19:01:12 UTC

Pansy is so right. Caps and insanity look good on him.