#inlovewithcreatures

@inlovewithcreatures continued from here

Two days always seemed to change a lot about her life. It was two days that led to the loss of her parents. Two days that had seen her and Queenie shifted about until they found a place to stay. Two separate days, her arrival and Ilvermorny and then Queenies. And then their graduation. Now, another two days seemed to turn their world upside down once more. Rather for the better or the worse, she didn’t know. But after everything that happened her heart told her that, no, it was for the worse.

Her sister had seemingly fallen in love to simply lose the man. She’d known that was how it would turn out, but it hurt all the same. MACUSA had the rules it did for a reason and she believed in those laws, followed them and upheld them, but it was difficult-- always difficult-- when she saw someone else pained by it. Her sister’s happiness is the one at stake made it all the worse. They’d stayed together that evening, the sisters, as they always had but there was another presence in their small apartment the last few days.

Despite the time of year-- or perhaps because-- the two sisters wouldn’t have seen the man out, not after all that had happened. Queenie had all but insisted the man joined them for the last nights of Chanukkah, now that the days had passed it seemed the man was making quick work of departing. She hadn’t meant to encroach, exactly, though a part of her didn’t want him to simply slip away--

The words tumbled out before she could stop herself and she found herself with her lower lip caught between her teeth. Tina wasn’t an optimist. She’d seen too much to believe in the good of others. For as much as she wanted to protect, to do the right thing, she knew too well how easily the kindness of a stranger could be false. Only proven more than those you respect could easily  be taken advantage of, to be changed into someone else entirely.

Her life had always been a test. A test of the strength of her will to survive. And a test of trust, something that didn’t come easily, though she was trying with the man on the other side of the room. The man who’d offered to catch her even after she’d done something so inexplicably wrong, rather or not she intended for it to be as devastating as it was.

She almost doesn’t expect him to respond, but her dark eyes stay trained on him-- Head tilted slightly to the side. Her back leaned against the doorframe while the warm cup of cocoa steamed in her hands. It’d been her plan to offer him a cup before she saw him preparing to leave. When he spoke, her lips curved into a bow as she pressed the drink to her lips.

“I’ve lived with a legilimens all my life,” Tina answered with something of a rueful smile, “you don’t have to remind me about what they do or don’t know.” It’s a light statement, said around the comforts of the edge of the mug. Her sister had been naturally gifted with legilimency, something they’d both struggled with when they were younger-- Queenie more than herself, but there was something painful in not being able to help the person you held closest to your heart when they were confused or in pain from such thoughts.

She bit down on her lower lip once again when he continues on and moves past her-- She obliges by stepping away from the door but her brows remain furrowed. “I don’t,” the woman started, brows furrowing, “we don’t mind you staying here. I know we don’t have much, but it’s not like we’re gonna chase you out.” It’s the only answer she has then, though she’s not entirely sure the words she’s looking for. He seems-- displeased? with her. She can’t put her finger on as to why then, as the man seemed to skirt around anything when they were together.

A sigh escapes her lips as she crossed the room to place her mug ontop her bookshelf, looking back only when Newt piped up again. Chocolate eyes dancing with a hidden emotion as she gave a slight nod of her head, eyes turning to her feet before she let out a breath.”It’s a nice though,” She agrees quietly, “but not everyone does. If they did... Well.” Well, they wouldn’t have the criminals they did. Aurors wouldn’t be needed. It was just the cycle of life.

♥ is there an article of clothing that means the most to your muse?

The important thing I try to remember about Tina is that, canonically, is her everyday clothes in the first movie were once her parents. Waterston states that Tina doesn’t see the point in buying clothing for herself and instead alters her parents clothing to fit– Which explains why her pants are too short (she took in their fathers’ old pants) and her shirts older in style (they were their mothers’). The only thing that Atwood seems to say is Tina’s is the coat–something she picked up after being demoted to continue her investigative work.

Realizing this is incredibly important to me because for Tina it’s an indicator of two separate things– How much she prioritizes her sister as we see her in new clothes, making new clothes, etc. And how low her own personal self-worth is. She doesn’t think she’s worth spending money on. So she wears clothing that hasn’t been worn in years, by parents who died and left a hole in her life. I can’t imagine the thought process that comes with constantly wearing those clothes.

Important to realize, but the most important article to her personally I would say is the locket. It’s a notable enough piece of her wardrobe that alongside the admonitor–which we don’t actually see in the movie– that most information for her explicitly talks about the locket and gives it its own section. They don’t discuss why it’s as important as it is, but it it’s a constant and with the background on the rest of her outfits it’s easy to come to something of a conclusion though without verification it feels more like headcanon.

The answer to this I (and most of fandom) go with is that the locket belonged to her mother. It was passed to her after her death. Tina still keeps the photo of her family that her mother had put in it, but she has since accompanied it with a photograph of her sister.

The locket is the one article of clothing you will never see Tina without. When she’s gathering herself she tends to grip it and relies on its presence to steady herself. Tina seems to constantly be moving her hands within the movie when she’s feeling anxious or overwhelmed, so I like to make the connection of the locket being her primary comforting object.

◎ does your muse plan for the long-term or short-term?

Tina thinks in the long-term, but with short-term goals to obtain that goal.

I think the best way to explain this is through the movie. Waterston and Co. have all described Fantastic Beasts as “Fantastic Beasts and How Tina Got Her Groove Back”. That “groove” is centered around the concept that Tina’s goal in the movie was to get her job as an Auror back.

The short term for the was getting back in the Presidents’ good graces, proving herself, and then getting back onto the force. A longer term goal than that was that she wanted to become a good Auror and eventually have a position like Graves.

She knows where she wants to be, but she’s also a very grounded and level-headed woman–  She keeps records on everything. She has books on law, occlumency, journals of the Salemers meeting spots, and even more recently apparently has a book on understanding British people (something like that, I don’t remember the exact phrasing). She’s a planner and she likes things going her way so she orders it all out.

ϟ who means the most to your muse? Why?

Her sister, Queenie. Let me be real here I may ship Newtina, but first and foremost will always, ALWAYS be her relationship with Queenie. If you were to make me choose it will be her.

You can see the quiet, loving relationship between the sisters. They’re two halves of the same coin and that’s the point– Tina’s the father, Queenie’s the mother. Tina’s the darker more cerebral half, Queenie is the lighter one full of life. Alyson says it the best in that they’re not the type to say “I love you” a lot because when you love someone that much you don’t need to. “They are each other’s everything” and I’d have to agree as much at the start of the movie.

☛ what is your muse’s biggest regret?

The truth is the one thing she should really regret she doesn’t regret. In this case I’m speaking of helping Credence. She believes she did the right thing there and wouldn’t take it back– Though she’s sure it would have saved her a lot of trouble.

She does regret a lot, however, and that’s because she knows she doesn’t always know what to do or say. She knows she can act and though she has the right intention doesn’t necessarily react in the right way (ala Credence). Oddly, however, for as grounded as Tina is supposed to be she’s one to listen to her heart when it comes to helping other people. This is far more important to her than anything else.

In particular for you I’ll discuss the whole turning Newt’s creatures in. She doesn’t think she did the wrong thing here– His creatures were causing destruction regardless of the circumstances around it. She absolutely had her faults here: She trusted that Newt only had the Niffler loose, she didn’t just have her sister watch Jacob and the two of them look for the creatures, and she let a “criminal” into her house without restricting him (alone in a bedroom at that!).

Except she doesn’t regret that and she really didn’t mean anything malicious by turning him in. She thought nothing personal of turning him in and in a way it might be this she regrets more than anything– And I say this because it unfolded into a larger scale problem than others. They nearly died, Credence “died”, etc. The way things turned out in New York are something she’ll hold onto for a while, even if the incidents weren’t her fault in their entirety.

But most importantly the circumstances around Credence’s fate is what she regrets most of all because she wanted her and Newt to be able to help him and they couldn’t.

❥ is your muse cool?

Define cool. If we’re talking Idol-type cool I’d probably say she was the pure type and cool type as secondary. But I’m assuming no one knows that reference so the simplest answer is…

She’s not cool in the sense of, “wow this person is cool I want to be like them!”. But neither is she the type of person who offers warm hugs and conversation. As a person she tends to speak very clipped to those she doesn’t know. She’s not one for casual conversation and has difficulty with it. This can make her appear colder than she is, especially since she’s supposed to be prickly.

✯ which three traits define your muse?

Simple. Honest. Kind.

Tina’s wand is made to be plain because she’s simple and honest, but it also represents her inadequacies as a witch. Tina is the kind of woman who does what she says, says what she does, and will always go with what makes sense to her. She doesn’t over complicate matters, she sees something she doesn’t like and reacts. That’s the reason for as much as she loves the rules she also has trouble with them– she’s quick to react on her own moral guidelines.

However, for as prickly as she can be she does act generally on kindness. This leads back into the other two ones, because in day-to-day situations she doesn’t look for what benefits her. If she did she would have never helped Credence to begin with. I’ve mentioned before that acting as she did should have warranted more than being demoted and Tina *knew* that. She knew her life would be on the line and she acted.

She did what she thought was right. And that’s the most important kind of behavior a person can have even if… All of these things enter a bit of recklessness.

♕ would your muse hug a monster?

Depends on the monster. We’ve discussed this in vague before and I have my disagreements with how Tina views creatures. So sorry if this turns into a “Tina vs Creatures” argument but in this circumstance I think it’s what best fits so let’s delve in.

“Like an extermination guide?” Is the first thing Tina asks within regards to creatures in the movie. The thing we have to realize about this is that there’s some contradictions on Rowling’s side regarding treatment of magical creatures around this time. The general consensus is the last large scale bestiarium was made in Germany and was about exterminating them. This does not mean there were other subjects on the matter or professions, Newt’s mother bred hippogriffs. But supposedly Newt is the very first person to be a “magizoologist” and it was a position that was unheard of/people would have looked down upon–

This is important because it’s unfair to say that what Tina said is wrong. We as an outsider of this world can say, “yes that’s wrong”. But for the supposed period and *especially* because America at the time had a policy of creature containment at best the idea of her assumption being an extermination guide is because she hates creatures is… Wrong. She doesn’t ask the question hostiley, she poses it as a curious question herself (her brows furrow when she asks, so you could even call it skeptical). Again, Newt is an oddity.

We can argue that because others didn’t call the creatures “it” she’s treating them as lesser and yes, she is. Creatures are not beings in the harry potter universe, there’s a line between them. But she doesn’t necessarily treat any of the creatures with permanent disgust:

-The Murtlap came at her to attack her, like it did Jacob moments prior.

-The Swooping Evil she first comes into contact with in a death chamber. She’s not distrusting the creature there so much as how Newt thinks jumping on it, over a pile of (growing) death potion is safe. Her skepticism is entirely at Newt which is why it takes a moment to trust him.

-Dougal she thinks is causing the racket, but she smiles as she watches Newt and him interact.

-The Occamy was large and taking up the entirety of the attic– Not doing anything, sure, but anybody is going to back up when they see a creature larger than them and they don’t know what it is immediately. She does, however, soften as soon as she sees that it’s acting gently and watches it interact with Dougal.

-When we see her in the case it does not describe her as looking around it in disgust. She gently replaces the occamy in its nest and then looks around in wonder. Not fear.

We have to remember there are moments in the case that we don’t see. This movie happens in the span of two days and somehow there’s more there we don’t get (like the Ilvermorny song, signifying they were in the case a couple of hours). There’s a whole week between the end of the movie and Newt leaving and the implication that it’s *Tina* who makes up the name of the book (this is general fandom consensus and not confirmed).

The whole point of the movie for the girls was to turn their world upside in different ways. For Tina that was, in a way, Newt showing her there was more than the rulebook to follow. Newt arrives in New York breaking dozens and dozens of laws with his case alone. She first meets the creatures by seeing havoc in a bank (which Newt blames on the niffler) and then destruction to a part of the city. She has every reason to be nervous around the creatures.

But we see that Newt trusts her enough after that time, despite what she does, to put his life’s work in her hands– He trusts her with her creatures. So if, in fact, she hated them and she’d shown she did Newt wouldn’t have. He would, of course, given in to either of the other two– But it’s clear Tina is capable and she doesn’t just hate creatures on site.

She is, however, wary of them. The difference here being that Newt would trust “any monster” and love any one of them– Tina is more hesitant. She can learn to love them and does but… to say she loves every creature immediately on site would be wrong. She’s not as trusting as Newt is when it comes to them, but she doesn’t see them necessarily as bad–

So it depends. There are many “monsters” she would hug, especially if she saw them being hurt or in pain. There are others she may need coaxing to appro

ach. And it also depends on when– A Tina Goldstein now would definitely be those things. But a 117-year-old Tina married to Newt would… Probably react just as she does, with a little more wariness.

❣ is your muse a fighter or a lover?

Both. It depends.

Tina and Queenie had difficult lives growing up. We don’t know what all happened after their parents died, but we know they had to rely only on each other. For me I read this as they ended up at orphanage where neglect/abuse was more rampant than in more modern places. Especially as two Jewish children– as I play them– an orphanage things change a little bit. More if it was a no-maj orphanage (unlikely, with American system the way it is but possible).

She grew up having to fight for what they had and taking care of themselves. Then she decided to become an Auror in an era where women already had difficulty– in an already difficult to obtain job. So she’s used to having to fight for everything she has, for having to prove herself.

Yet, to those she lets in– her sister– we do see her softening around and becoming more gentle around. The way Tina reacts to Queenie, even in her annoyance, is far more kind and gentle than with other people. This is, of course, because of the circumstances around their relationship but we do see it with others too. Namely, Newt in the final scene who she openly cries about leaving and her voice softens around even mid-movie– notably different than her first interactions with him.

So must people absolutely see her as hard-faced and with clipped remarks but when she’s truly at home with someone she’s a lot more gentle and soft around.

✎ what does life mean to your muse?

“L’chaim!” is the Jewish phrase for “to life” and I’d like to say for Tina it’s a bit more like that. There’s a lot of ways to define this meaning and why it’s significant– but I’d like to go in this case the idea of ‘for life’. That you’ve made it this far and there’s more to come and that’s a wonderful blessing in itself. Regardless of what happens there is that.

….You can start see I’m running out of steam, sorry!

◆ what is one secret your muse has?   

I mean in some AUs it’s that Queenie is still seeing Jacob, but otherwise secrets aren’t things I really think about because I don’t see Tina having very many. Not because it’s impossible, but because she is honest enough that for the people close to her she doesn’t really have secrets (though for other reasons, I guess)…  I’ll come back to this one one day.

❀ what does your muse’s daily routine look like?

-She wishes she was an early morning person, but she tends to work late and come home late. So she doesn’t often want to get up in the morning so the first thing she does is drink some coffee.

-If she’s up in time she might eat something small at home, but usually just showers and gets out.

-Whatever case she has to do during the day. She doesn’t *always* stop for lunch and/or dinner, Waterston has said that Tina tends to forget to eat when she’s deep in an investigation.

-If she’s in time for dinner she might eat something with Queenie, but usually her sister has something out for her anyway.-Just goes to sleep if it’s really late.