try to forget what it was like to be electric

❞ the pearls weren’t really white, they were a warm oyster beige, with little knots in between so if they broke, you only lost one. ❝ kitty sheridan abbott hufflepuff.pureblood.timeline 2. ᶜᵃⁿ'ᵗ ʰᵘʳᵗ ʷʰᵃᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵃⁿ'ᵗ ʰᵒˡᵈ

[kittyabbxtt]

@vancingintherain

" well, “  kitty sighed, letting her head loll until it rested on the braid draped over her shoulder. it was easier to look at emmeline out of the corner of her eye there, to smile while still directing most of her attention on the party spread out in front of them.  “ at least these timeline three kids still know how to throw a party. “  she brought her cup lazily to her lips, letting it rest against them as she spoke.  “ it’s almost impressive. “

[kittyabbxtt]

@astrophilemxry

kitty was suddenly overcome with a restless feeling, like she’d spent too long lingering on the edges of the party feeling sad. she reached out a hand to clutch at mary’s shoulder, happy to find that the gryffindor was the first person within arm’s reach.  “  mary  ---  god, I hope you’re still named mary. it’d  ...  well, it’d be embarrassing if you weren’t, yeah? “  kitty cut herself off with a small laugh.  “ anyway, mary. or not-mary. we should dance. “

[kittyabbxtt]

@okpettigrew

" doesn’t it  ...  “  kitty trailed off and wrinkled her nose slightly in peter’s direction, hunting for the end of her sentence.  “ um. doesn’t it suck that even the small things are different? the punch here  ---  this timeline here, I guess. it doesn’t taste at all like my brain thinks it should. I want more  ...  strawberries, I think. “ she rolled her eyes at herself, suddenly unsure why she’d started talking.  “ that’s probably stupid. how was your summer? ”

[kittyabbxtt]

@ofarookwood

kitty wasn’t quite sure where she’d procured a straw from, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. much easier to drink and talk at the same time with one. she cocked her head at augustus with a small laugh.  “ everyone’s so  ...  different, at this party. all the confusion is kinda making people behave themselves. it, uh, makes you wonder what the gossip column’ll pull out. “

[kittyabbxtt]

ofafortescue‌:

“ it’s better,” atlas conceded, just grateful in that moment that things were at least a little less horrible than they had been. “ all of my possessions belonged to someone else. hell even my parents are kind of hand me downs. it’s weird, but not the worst. i mean i feel bad for whatever happened to the poor sucker that used to be me?”

kitty cocked her head, her hair falling off her shoulders with the motion, and squinted at atlas.  “ I think. well, I think maybe we have to say its better. like, that way it’s alright that we’re wearing clothes we wouldn’t’ve chosen ourselves. “  she paused; wrinkled her nose and took a hefty sip of her drink.  “ I definitely pity other kitty. this life isn’t perfect  ...  I’ve read her diary  ...  but it’s also markedly less shitty than wherever she is now. “

[kittyabbxtt]

mackayari‌:

      ariel froze, the grip on her red plastic cup loosening as she struggled to keep it steady. kitty abbott. the girl she hardly knew and the girl who knew her well. she’d read the letters the hufflepuff had sent ( sent to a version of ariel that wasn’t here ) and had spent the morning asking questions on the younger girl to try and find out anything she could, but to see her in the flesh with an expression that read HURT was something ariel never could’ve prepared for. hands shaking, ariel turned slowly to face her, pushing what little of a smile she could manage onto her lips.

      ❛ oh. ❜ it was all she could manage. lost and guilty and confused, not wanting to hurt anyone but finding that in this situation, pain was unavoidable. ❛ kitty… ❜ the name felt foreign on her tongue. and yet distantly familiar. another life. ❛ i… i’m ariel. though… i suppose you knew that. um… i mean, i… i do know you. uh, sort of. i-i’ve seen you around. i’m… sorry i’m not who you thought i was… ❜

          “ don’t  --  “  kitty cut off her sentence before really starting it. she gave ariel a sheepish smile. it was hard to know how to talk to her; after all, this version of her friend didn’t know kitty, didn’t know what was normal in an interaction and what was purely unique to this strange one. she wanted to reign in any stumbles in her words, put a halt to her run on sentences and fillers. like maybe if she put her best foot forward ariel would see why she’d been friends with her in another lifetime.  “ don’t apologize, “  kitty said. 

           she laughed a little, a small sound that faded with her smile, and tucked the whole thing into a long pull from her cup. the sweet burn of someone else’s party concoction was familiar, at least. “ this is all so strange, isn’t it? so. don’t apologize  ...  you hardly did anything wrong, to me. it’s. “  kitty broke off again, a wry twist to her lips communicating to the other girl that she wasn’t quite sure what she was saying. she met ariel’s eyes for a split second and felt an accompanying twist to her stomach. she looked similar enough to the best friend she remembered. but she wasn’t, was she?  “ it’s a weird situation for both of us. I didn’t come over here to  ...  to guilt you, or, uh, anything like that. just  --  to say hi. um, it’s nice to meet you, ariel.  “ 

[kittyabbxtt]

ofafortescue‌:

“that’s good,” he replied; and he believed it, wanting everyone to be alright and at the same time wondering if they ever could with everyone that had went down. there was so much history, and it was all messed up. “i stole some firewhiskey from someone, and i think i’m gonna be okay and that feels so wrong. like how can i go one, y’know? when this body, it lived a life that i have no clue about.”

“  it is good, “  kitty said with a wry note of decisiveness in her voice.  she was surprised that she could have that note there; and she wondered if she’d be able to say the same thing come morning. in the end kitty thought it didn’t matter.  “ like  ...  yeah. it feels weird to relax into this life; I technically didn’t even steal what I’m drinking, but I feel like I did! and that’s weird, but I don’t  --  I don’t think it’s bad. not right now anyway. “

[kittyabbxtt]

mackayari‌:

        how was she supposed to act? or more to the point: how did these people know her? ariel had been burnt out long ago, had learned how to turn her drinking into an outlet rather than a party past time, but was that the same for the ariel that her current schoolmates knew her as? ‘timelines’ were a funny thing — ‘parallel universes’ as some liked to call it — and as her fellow teenagers dissolved into the party atmosphere seamlessly, ariel couldn’t help but get caught up in the questions, her lips playing with the rim of her half-finished firewhiskey. she should’ve taken it slow. she didn’t.

       noticing a figure out of the corner of her eye, she trained herself to smile, tilting her head to meet their gaze. ❛ should i re-introduce myself? ❜ she joked, chuckling to herself as she turned back to stare at the lake. ❛ for all i know, you used to be my best friend. i already found one of those… ❜

        kitty’s smile felt a little caught on her face;  like the expression snagged on ariel’s words and couldn’t really get unstuck. she tilted her head down, directing her funny grin to the ground instead of her friend’s face. it was a means of buying time. one of her hands gripped tight to her sweating drink, clutching it like a lifeline. it probably told anyone looking at her, who didn’t know when she was from, that she wasn’t the one they know. she had a feeling either of the other kitty’s would have been capable of holding a drink at a party without feeling ready to fall apart. 

        “ unless some other girl came out of the woodwork, “   she began, pausing to tug her bottom lip between her teeth. pausing to bite down on her sad tone and try again with lightness she didn’t feel.  “ I’d hazard to say I’m that ‘one.’ um  ...  kitty. though. if you were  --  serious, about being introduced. re-introduced. “ 

[kittyabbxtt]

ofafortescue‌:

the whole timeline switch still had atlas feeling very shaken, and what better to wash away the worries that firewhiskey and an illicit party? lots of things, some of them illegal. that didn’t stop atlas from making his way to the party and staring out at the water, a glass in his hand. he stumbles into someone as he goes to walk back towards the group, and oh it sort of felt like was flying. “hey,” he greeted, an easy grin gracing his face. “you aright, man? dude? pal? mate? you alright, mate?”

“ yeah, “  kitty said, some hint of surprising creeping into her tone.  “ yeah, I think I am? alright, I mean. “  she paused, let a grin find its way towards atlas as she shook her head. it seemed strange to have that be her response and have it be true  ---  but then kitty was no stranger to using parties and the things they contained as a means of escape. it wasn’t work to keep her gait steady, but she felt good. with a head cocked towards atlas, conspiratorial as she could manage, kitty loosed a surprised laugh.  “ this me had a few extra items smuggled in a secret compartment of her trunk. so I am feeling  ...  uh, pretty good. you? “

[kittyabbxtt]

👶 for a moodboard about my muse’s childhood

           “   kitty and her brothers were raised in a house imbued with magic from abbotts past on the isle of skye.   she has fond memories of learning to cook with her father, of him taking the six of them to see the pride of portree play, and of him letting her and her brothers grow at their own pace.   their mother was away often, but kitty never felt a lack of love from her.   “ 

[kittyabbxtt]

💗 for a moodboard about another significant relationship in my muse’s life

             “  one of the true bright spots in kitty’s memories of timeline two was her friendship with ariel mackay.   there was comfort in knowing that as hard as the war was on the both of them, they had each other: their connection, understanding, familiarity.   it breaks her heart to know that in this timeline, the two of them don’t have that same thing anymore.  “

[kittyabbxtt]

therpmemes‌:

                                    moodboard meme

send me one of the following symbols and i’ll make a moodboard for my character.

✿ for a general moodboard about my muse

💛 for a moodboard about our muses’ relationship

❤  for a moodboard about a romantic relationship of my muse 

💗 for a moodboard about another significant relationship in my muse’s life

💕  for a moodboard on my muse’s view on romantic and/or sexual relationships 

👗 for a moodboard about my muse’s fashion style

👶 for a moodboard about my muse’s childhood

🏠  for a moodboard about my muse’s home aesthetics

🍕 for a moodboard about my muse’s favorite foods

👮 for a moodboard about my muse’s occupation

alecto, kitty, nate

[kittyabbxtt]

there’s a little more info about what kitty’s other timelines are up to under the cut!

TIMELINE ONE :      

kitty was still the youngest abbott kid, five older brothers crowding her childhood. anita abbott was a powerful wizarding attorney, catering to an upscale pureblood market. but her clients were white collar criminals, not agents of war. it was easier for kitty to admire her mother’s tenacity, her commitment to her career, when it wasn’t clouded over with unsavory politics; but also easier for kitty to admit that she would never be her mother. 

kitty was raised, for the most part, by her brothers and their easy-going father. they stoked the rambunctious, free-wheeling spark in her, and saw no problem in letting her run a little wild. when it was her turn to be the newest abbott at hogwarts, she knew who she was. kitty knew what she wanted out of life  ---  to use her skills in potions and charms to become a healer, one day, when school was done  --- but was still relishing her youth while she had it. she would party, flirt, petty crime; all the while enjoying her life, surrounded by friends and family and every person in between. 

TIMELINE TWO :    her actual timeline  

kitty’s mother, anita abbott, was a famed wizarding attorney notorious for helping other purebloods out of sticky situations. and the war seemed to bring on plenty of sticky situations. kitty grew up with her father telling her that there was no wrong answer, that everything would be okay, that kitty was perfectly safe being herself. but she also grew up alongside two older brothers who refused to sit idle in their father’s comfort. while she was at school, trying to bide her time ignoring the things people said about her, they were off joining the war effort  ---  on the side that vehemently opposed what their mother stood for. 

kitty felt caught up in the love she had for her family. she didn’t agree with everything her mother did; with anything her mother did, really. but she saw a sort of honor in anita abbott doing what she must to keep their family safe and protected. on the other hand, she did agree with her brothers and the side they chose. but it wasn’t safe. she knew it wasn’t. and then christopher died and jacob was different and kitty knew that she had to change too, if she wanted to last in this world. no more party girl, no more laughter. she couldn’t afford to be so light when everything around her was at a loss. 

TIMELINE THREE :      

the abbotts were a big and complicated line of purebloods, each one completely different from the rest, and almost all of them committed to staying the fuck away from conflict and politics and anything deeper than a puddle. jack abbott married the dazzling anita, and their six kids were a sweetly rambunctious bunch. the other abbotts found anita’s blossoming career as a wizarding attorney a little troubling  ---  but she was cautious in her cases. defended purebloods, enough to gain their respect and protection, but only from crimes she could go to sleep knowing. 

kitty couldn’t be fucked to care too much about her mother’s career. she’d always been a daddy’s girl, found herself drifting nearer to his go-with-the-flow philosophy. and she had bigger things to worry about  ---  two of her brothers joining up with the order, and the sudden fear that her reputation at hogwarts would stick with her forever. that she would be one of those sad girls who never knew what they wanted out of life and hurt all the more for it. kitty has dreams, ideas about the future; but she also worries that she’s just kidding herself with such lofty imaginings. that she can want to be better, be good, but that she’ll always just be a mess. 

[kittyabbxtt]

have you been re-introduced to KATHERINE ABBOTT? last we heard, the PUREBLOOD was most familiar with TIMELINE TWO. I don’t recall if they were always a HUFFLEPUFF, but I’ve heard the SIXTH YEAR is still INSOUCIANT, FLEXIBLE, EMPATHETIC and FLIGHTY, LOST, DESTRUCTIVE, so that’s familiar. at least SHE remembers her way around the castle. ( virginia gardner; zoe, 20, cst )

kitty has a stats page and a pinterest board  ...  and a playlist. all of which are longer versions of the quick intro under the cut!! please feel free to hit me up for plotting with her, shes a dumpster-fire mess but i adore her.

katherine abbott has always been the baby of the family; and when she was younger, she always thought she was the baby of the largest wizarding family there ever was. she had five brothers and dozens of cousins and two parents whose love was a lot to carry, as much of it as there was, as genuine as it was. katherine, who had always gone by kitty, was the littlest abbott, and she followed in their typical tradition of keeping the fuck away from politics and policies and too-strong opinions.

when kitty was little, she didn’t have time for stuff like that  —  that was her mother’s domain. the woman was a formidable lawyer, very skilled in her craft and more often than not dedicated to keeping their fellow purebloods out of prison. anita abbott traveled a lot for work growing up, and so kitty spent more time with her dad, raised by him and her brothers in their beloved home on the isle of skye. 

she loved her mother, of course, always had. but it was a complicated love. the abbotts never felt a need to talk about the things that made it complicated; why would they? things like that just weren’t in their nature.

being raised by committee by her brothers and her father  (and her mother, when she was around)  led to kitty ending up a touch spoiled. no one seemed to begrudge her for it  ---  certainly not the five abbott boys, who were all just as likely to indulge her whims as anyone else. she grew up idolizing her them as much as they cared for her, and because of this, kitty was always in on their boys’ club goings on. every scheme that went on in their home, she was a part of. every prank pulled at every family gathering bore her tiny little hand-print. they trained her well; she always tried to be the girl who could hold her own, always tried to make them proud in return for what they did for her

she partied with them, kept up with them, explored with them. she didn’t mind being a tomboy, being a little wilder, sweet and loud and unkempt. when their mother was away for work, they were given free reign away from pureblood society, allowed to find their own fun, their own selves; their father indulged them all, after all, since he’d grown up much the same in his own boyhood and knew they’d find their footing best when on their own.

her brother jacob especially was a few years older than her and just as mischievous as kitty  ---  she need only ask him to send her some alcohol or weed and he’d comply and then some, his owl seeming to pass along his trademark wink. anything for his beloved baby sister and partner in crime. she wrote to him weekly about their rival quidditch teams’ scores, and didn’t know what she’d do without him, or what she’d do if he ever settled down to a respectful job like their mother always wanted him to. 

they were the closest, perhaps, of all the abbott siblings. kitty liked to think as much anyway, but she knew  ---  had known since the stirrings of war began  ---  that jacob and one of their other brothers, christopher, had joined an organization together. that it was dangerous, and secret, and set to tearing down the pureblood establishment their mother worked so hard to protect. she knew that their mother wasn’t the enemy of her brothers. but kitty wasn’t stupid; her mother was certainly an ally of those doing every nasty thing the two abbott boys fought against. 

kitty, when she could help it, decided not to think about this divide in her family. but all the same there was no more denying that as much as kitty loved her mom, her well respected reputation as a wizarding criminal defense attorney was built on the mountains of cases she’d won for less than decent people. not just anyone could get her to handle their case; but people with connections, with ancient families and ties to darker leanings could, no problem. her mother wasn’t a death eater but there was no question that the death eaters had her back. and protection was protection; the war freaked kitty out, and she hated the thought of death eater violence. the horrors it wrought and the ideologies that violence fought for. 

but at least her mother’s name, her mother’s work, might leave kitty and those close to her untouched for a little longer. it might mask the fact that her brothers were stupid, brave, reckless things. 

for her first several years at school, kitty ran a rather prolific business smuggling contraband and conducting forgeries for people, aided with owled goods sent by sweet talking a brother or two aside from jacob. there was no signature or statement kitty couldn’t copy down with enough accuracy to hold up, no item she couldn’t charm to a near - identical copy. for a small price, of course! she had her lines  —  she wouldn’t fake any other student’s handwriting for something mean or cruel  —  but it was fun. she had a reputation, and some people would look down their noses at her for it, but so what? it was fun, and it rarely hurt anybody. she was finding her footing. she was good at it; and in her eyes, when she was good at so little, what was the harm?

she had always been soft. as rough and tumble a childhood kitty had, for all the time her mother and her image consciousness was away, she was a coddled thing. it was easier to turn to fun and misdirection to avoid thought of war. 

kitty, of course, cared what people thought  —  but she was very skilled at compartmentalization. things would hurt and she would cry for a while and then shove it away without examining the origin of those tears. feelings overtook her suddenly and with a passion, but kitty was used to wiping them away in five minutes and going right back to carefree laughter. such was the abbott way. no need to think about the things that made you complicated.

and so she didn’t, for years, until suddenly she found that years of such avoidance left with her with no idea what the future could possibly hold for her. she hadn’t inherited her mother’s brain or her father’s gift at always knowing what to do, lacked her brothers’ bravery  —  all kitty had was a proclivity for potions and illicit activities, a fair hand at charms, a history made of reckless abandonment. when the world seemed to just keep getting worse, she wondered what good she was to anybody like this. just going on as the same mess of a girl, the same ruinous kitty abbott, good for a roll in the hay or to roll up your joint, to fake your hogsmeade permission slip or whatever other dumb thing no else would bother doing  ---  what did that do? where did that leave her in this terrifying word? 

and then the tides changed. and kitty had lost a brother in the rapid, drowning waters. 

kitty found the change she’d considered was suddenly an overnight one  …  as much a whim as any of her other exploits throughout the years. losing christopher took something from her. lost as ever, torn open, grief stricken, all it did was leave her weak to an attack. she’d always worn her messy heart on her messy sleeve and went about life like that would never cause her problems. she thought if she stopped acting like a silly little girl it would get better, but the world was still an awful place, and nothing could be fixed.

with christopher gone, it felt like she lost jacob too. and that almost hurt more than missing chris like a limb. jacob, who kitty loved. jacob, who kitty couldn’t handle losing. jacob, the brother who was second closest to her in age and always willing to send her a bottle of gin or firewhiskey, the brother whose promiscuous reputation was an equal match for hers during his stint as a gryffindor, who’d never been able to keep his damn mouth shut or his stupid temper in check, was no longer any of those things, it felt like. he refused to leave the underground organization that had lost and lost them a brother to boot. it fucked her over, of course it did. 

she’d always been the girl with five brothers and now she had four brothers. how could he be so selfish and keep throwing himself at danger  ---  she’d been raised by the five of them, their father, and only very rarely their absent, now-silent mother. did he really think she could bear it if she ended up the girl with only three brothers? 

right before the mess of timelines occurred, she wondered how she’d fare at hogwarts this coming year. no one knew what her brother had been involved him that got him killed  ---  the abbotts were a respected family, after all. now that just meant pure of blood, complicit in action. her mother ensured no one looked at christopher’s memory and saw a traitor. just a tragic accident. kitty wasn’t sure if she could bear being a tragedy at school. if she could bear the routine, the life as normal when it was anything but. when she knew some of her classmates would be gone into hiding to run from the worst of the rising regime. 

and with the change in timelines: kitty is still lost. still torn open and grief stricken. she has christopher back, is the thing. how could she hate this situation when he’s still alive? 

but she herself is such a changed thing because of the memories she has, that don’t seem to line up with the new reality before her. she’s grateful to find her brothers both still alive; but they’re still in the order. still determined to fight the world their mother upholds. the world still is a messy, horrible place. kitty just doesn’t know her place in it. half the time she wants to throw herself into the kitty she was before the war was lost  ---  but half the time she isn’t sure she can. isn’t sure she should. 

[livedinthecastle]

Don’t get me wrong this is a very relevant review on the Basket Case eyeliner but are y’all okay?

[thequotejournals]

If you asked me now who I am, the only answer I could give with any certainty would be my name. For the rest: my loves, my hates, down even to my deepest desires, I can no longer say whether these emotions are my own, or stolen from those I once so desperately wished to be.

Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited (via thequotejournals)

[stuckinreversemode]

No, hold on. You’re an Independent, aren’t you?