Grindelwald is the first one to tell Queenie that her powers are a gift, something to be proud of. She totally succumbs to his cause and becomes his most eager follower. She uses legilimency to interrogate and torture their prisoners, because only a person who is very emphatic and can dive in other people’s minds knows exactly how to really hurt someone.

This is exactly the sort of thing that makes me think it’s really not so far fetched that Queenie would join Grindelwald. He knows how to make his cause sounds incredibly appealing. Queenie’s been told her whole life not to use her ability or if she can’t manage that then to hide it, but Grindelwald tells her it’s beautiful. That in his world she’d be celebrated for it.

I can definitely see her interrogating and manipulating people – she already supplied Grindelwald info about Credence’s thoughts, after all – and I think as time goes on she’d be more and more comfortable with it. I don’t picture her torturing people directly, but I do love the image of her standing there watching while someone else gets their hands dirty, constantly telling Gellert or one of his followers whether the victim is lying, what they’re most afraid of, how close they are to breaking, and maybe even feeling powerful for using her gift to help make the world better. Remember – it’s all for the greater good.

When Albus finally finds Newt, he’s relieved until Newt tells him that Gellert has decided to share him with Albus. Newt is overjoyed that he gets to have two men who love him and care for him so much, but Albus is horrified. He confronts Gellert, but Gellert simply tells him it’s too late. Newt is his now too. And if Albus tries to reverse it, it’ll break Newt to pieces. Albus reluctantly agrees to negotiate and they work out a way for both of them to have Newt.

I love Newt staying so innocent in all of this. All he wants is to be taken care of and feel wonderful, and he loves the way Albus and Gellert treat him – making sure he never has to think too hard about anything, always touching him. He makes sure his body is always available for them.

I think Gellert would be a little… stricter in how he interacts with Newt. Albus wants Newt to have some degree of freedom to explore his own interests and wants, so long as they never take him too far from his side, but Gellert wants Newt to learn how to truly submit. How to be owned. Newt is already comfortable giving up every major decision he makes, but Gellert wants it all – he chooses all of Newt’s clothes for him, makes rules about what he’s allowed to think and say, requires him to ask explicit permission for everything from getting a snack to going outside. He’s not allowed to resist Gellert’s touch for any reason, and he’s no longer allowed to touch himself in any sort of pleasurable way. That’s for Gellert to do.

Newt takes to it wonderfully. He sees it as a natural extension of Albus’ training, and Gellert’s reconditioning is extremely pleasurable. He thrives in total submission. He no longer has to think at all, and he loves it.

I wonder if Gellert would decide to mark Newt’s body in some way? Nipple piercings, a pretty little tattoo, something to clearly assert his ownership. Imagine how horrified Albus would be having to see it.

Once Albus gets Newt back, maybe Newt asks to be allowed to submit to his husband the same way he did to Gellert? It’s so blissful, and it sounds scary to go back. Albus didn’t want this for him, but Newt is practically begging for it…

And then there’s Theseus, what would he think of all this??

gingermous replied to your post:
Touch starvation. Yes. Yes. But this time with…

But what about gellert being touch starved, in like the opposite way? Like he’s dying to touch someone without violence and horror, longing to have someone positively react to his touch for once?

I love it. He touches people to torture, to humiliate, to mock; even when he touches gently it’s to manipulate and deceive. That’s not to say he doesn’t take any pleasure from those things – he does. But it’s not the only thing he needs. It gets tiring.

When he sees Albus it brings back memories of touching gently, innocently, for the pure mutual pleasure of it. He can’t resist – he reaches out a hand to caress the curve of Albus’ jaw, praying he won’t flinch away.

He can see Albus’ entire body relax and sag forward into the contact, his face melting into an expression of bliss, and something in Gellert’s soul slots back into place.

Touch starvation. Yes. Yes. But this time with Albus and Gellert. Since his relationship with Gellert Albus has never really been touched. Nobody caressed his cheek, nobody stroked his hair, etc. And then Gellert gets caught and sits in a cell in Macusa. I bet Albus visited him to “face the enemy”, but when the guard leaves them alone, Gellert starts touching Albus. He wants to end it, he knows what his former liver has done, he feels guilty and sick, but leans in and goes all soft inside.

YES. Gellert reaches through the bars to stroke Albus’ jaw and whatever Albus was trying to say just trails off. He knows he should pull away, but…

He never realized how miserable he was. How much he craved this. There were times he was lonely, yes, but it was such a constant background ache that he didn’t even realize how much it hurt until it stopped.

Gellert doesn’t say anything, just smirks and caresses Albus’ cheek; his lips. Runs fingers down his neck to unknot his tie. Albus breathes out a shuddery sigh of relief and lets him.

But consider: Albus realizes Theseus is a problem so he captures him and convinces Newt to help take care of him. “He’s so stressed all the time. Don’t you think it’s time someone took care of him, Luv?” Albus starts giving Theseus the same potion to help him mellow out and slowly starts reshaping him. It’s hard as Theseus is a strong man with a strong mind, but little by little it’s chipped away and he comes to love Albus’s care and touches just as much as Newt.

Newt is delighted to have his brother visit more often. He knows Theseus’ job is very stressful and he’s glad that he can take the time to relax when he visits, it can’t be good for him to be so overworked. He just wants Theseus to be happy.

Albus is very, very careful. He knows he has to get this exactly right. Newt was young and pliable, but Theseus is a trained auror. If he suspects something is off Albus could loose everything. It’s risky, but after a lot of debate Albus decides it’s the best way.

He starts Theseus off on very small doses. Tiny amounts each time he visits which don’t do more than lift his mood slightly and make the visits particularly enjoyable. Slowly, over the course of months, he starts to visit more and more often. He doesn’t know why he’s doing it, other than that he just really enjoys seeing Albus and Newt. He’s so much happier when he’s with them, and so miserable when he’s stuck in everyday life.

When he starts visiting regularly, every weekend, Albus knows it’s time to increase the dose. Newt is glad to see his brother so relaxed and happy.

Not too long after that Theseus does realize something’s wrong – but it’s too late. He craves Albus’ potion and his presence even though he knows it’s been forced upon him, and he can’t bring himself to fight or report it. He realizes the same thing must have been done to Newt, it explains so much, but though he knows he should be livid about it – would have been, just a few short months ago – it doesn’t feel so important anymore. Only the potion is important.

Albus quickly ramps up the dose, keeping Theseus thoroughly drugged up while he conditions him. It still takes work, but he can feel the resistance melting away.

Gellert abducts Newt and imprisons him in Nurmengard. Then he disguises himself as Newt and returns to Albus. After a nice hot cup of tea they go to bed, and suddenly Albus realizes that he can’t move. His thoughts are clear, but his body just doesn’t work. And now Gellert (still in disguise, cause being hurt by someone you love is more effective) starts having a little fun with Albus. This is gonna be a long night, and Gellert enjoys every scream, plea and whimper.

Ooh how cruel 😀 Imagine him telling Albus, as Newt, that he wanted to leave him. It’s what Albus feared most from the beginning, it’s why he’s done all of this, and now it’s happening. Newt, his sweet Newt, wants to leave. And the next day, he disappears.

(Though I can’t help but think, if Gellert hasn’t yet figured out about the potion – which he wouldn’t really have time to, if he replaced Newt before Albus noticed he was missing – he might not know to be careful what food and drink he accepts from Albus. At best, Gellert would go through some nasty withdrawals. At worst… well, let’s just say the potion is highly effective.)

For the marriage au? Perhaps Grindelwald takes away newt on one of his little trips and watches the poor dear fall apart. Hmmm, perhaps he’d see the best way to fight back against dumbledore for this Betrayal would be to condition newt as well,, the image of newt going to Grindelwald and telling/doing everything he did to dumbledore to Grindelwald to be good and not make his husband’s dear friend jealous

Newt would fall apart so well. He’d be terrified and lost without Albus, and when the withdrawls start to kick in… he melts into an adorable little mess right there in the sitting room and oh, Gellert quite likes that.

He gathers Newt into his arms and murmurs words of comfort, soothing away the tears until he’s able to speak again and Gellert can coax out all the intimate little details of his marriage. Newt gets this dreamy look on his face when he talks about Albus, and Gellert decides right then and there that he’s going to help himself to Albus’ lovely boy.

I’ve seen your Grindelwald tormenting/breaking Percival and Newt fics (which are damn fine non-con) and I raise you: Gellert realizing that torturing Newt doesn’t seem to be breaking him, because Newt’s not overly concerned for himself…but! torturing Graves in front of Newt? Well, that’s a whole different story. I want a Grindelwald who only treats the tied up, crying Newt with (mock?) kindness after getting his hands dirty with Percival, because he knows the guilt is eating Newt alive.

mercurial-tenacity:

Gellert is starting to get frustrated when he decides to try a different strategy. He cleans Newt up, heals his injuries with gentle hands, and gives him time to rest. He tries not to laugh at the distrustful, anxious looks Newt gives him – he’ll understand before too long.

Then he drags Percival out of his cell. It’s been a while since Gellert played with him – the thrill went out of it when he realized the man wasn’t much more than a broken body anymore. But it turns out he has one last purpose left to serve.

He spends a while softening Percival up, getting him nicely bruised and bloody before bringing Newt in. One look at his shocked face and Gellert knows he has him. He explains the rules – he’s going to torture Percival for a while, and Newt gets to watch. Then he’ll give Newt a choice; willingly submit to him and join the cause, or ask Gellert to please keep torturing Percival for a while longer. The catch is that Gellert can tell if Newt is lying, and if he asks to join without truly meaning it he’ll prolong the next torture session even more. Maybe he also promises permenant damage to Percival if Newt refuses to answer, so there’s no opting out of the game.

He caresses Newt’s cheek with a hand still wet with Percival’s blood and promises, gives his solemn word, that no further harm will come to Newt. All the pain that would have been his, Gellert will give to Percival instead. So just remember, Newt – if you hadn’t resisted, this wouldn’t be happening to him.

@vindsie how about a Percival who is broken, but aware enough to recognize Newt? He begs Newt not to try to save him because it’s too late, Gellert has already won against him and Percival can’t recover. He knows he’s broken and it isn’t worth Newt throwing himself away for the wreck of a man he knows he’s become.

But Newt can never accept that. He won’t give up on Percival and listening to his screams and whimpers is killing him as surely as if Gellert drove a knife through his chest. He’s just not the kind of person who can let someone else suffer.

And the worst part is that Percival knows that. Even as he writhes on the floor, even when the pain takes him beyond the ability to speak, he knows Newt will break for him. Gellert will win again and all Percival can do is twitch and cry, torn between pleading for Newt to hold out and, in the part of his mind that just wants the pain to stop, hoping that it happens soon so that this can end.

Gellert sees Newt and realizes it’s not a marriage. Newt’s more a pet than a husband. He can’t be mad at Newt for falling into Albus’s trap, but he can be angry at Albus. He decides to see what makes Albus so fond of Newt, and kidnaps him back to Nurmengard He decides to let Albus panic and squirm over his missing husband, a start to the punishment for marrying in the first place. But the more he watches Newt, the more he learns what Albus did. And it’s easy to tune it all to himself instead.

I just love picturing Gellert’s slow realization of what Albus has done to Newt. I mean, it doesn’t take too much to see it’s not a healthy relationship, but it goes so much deeper than that – the deliberate and thorough conditioning, the addictive potion, the manipulation… Albus has put so much work into this boy.

And he is a good boy. Gellert will never forgive Albus for marrying, but he can see what makes Newt appealing. He’s so easy to shape, eager to please, soft, pretty…

I imagine once he figures out the potion it isn’t long before he has Newt curled up in his lap practically purring with contentment, happy to give up all his freedom. He never thought anyone could make him feel as good as Albus does, but that was before he found Gellert. He’s floaty and relaxed and he never wants to leave,

Meanwhile Albus is beside himself with Newt’s disappearance. And so is Theseus, probably. For once they agree on something, though Theseus is more than ready to blame Albus for it. But when he sees how truly distraught Albus is, how he isn’t sleeping, and when he takes a leave of absence from teaching to look for Newt, Theseus’ opinion of him softens. And after all, Newt has to be the priority. They both want him back, so whatever opinions they have of each other will need to be put aside until he’s safe.

Over the course of interrogation/imprisonment: someone gets given credence’s Very Bad Haircut from the first movie because it’s easier- Maybe Queenie gets recaptured and thrown in jail for a few nights before she escapes- and this is one of the indignities she’d heard about in stories from wardens but never would have expected to experience herself

Queenie has always taken a great deal of time with her hair. It’s important to her that it looks nice, that it represents who she is, and there’s nothing like the satisfaction and confidence she gets from looking in the mirror after styling it just perfectly.

When she’s captured she’s subjected to all manner of indignities, but even though she’s scared she can endure. They don’t have time to hurt her too badly before she’s rescued – mostly they just toss her in a cell and make her wait – but they do cut her hair. It’s part of the intake procedure. She doesn’t exactly cooperate, but there’s nothing she can do to stop it and her golden locks fall all over the floor.

There are no mirrors where she’s kept, but her captors’ thoughts are reflected back at her from all sides.

Serves the dumb bitch right.

God, even with tits like that I wouldn’t fuck her with that haircut.

That’ll teach her to be so vain.

Queenie can’t help it – she sobs.

After she’s rescued, once she’s cleaned up and safe, she doesn’t know if she wants to look in a mirror. She doesn’t know if she can face it.

She does look, eventually. She has to. What she sees shocks her, even though she had an idea what to expect. She barely recognizes her own reflection. It’s not her in the mirror, it doesn’t feel like it, she wants to hide away and never be seen again.

Is she just vain? It’s only hair, right? She must be shallow for caring so much. It will grow back eventually, she really doesn’t have a right to complain, surely no one else would let themselves be this hurt by something so trivial.

She ties a colorful scarf around her head and tries to move on, but it doesn’t ease the painful knot in her chest.