Tandem, this is an AU in which the Collector possesses Philip, and there are a lot of things happening afterwards. but now we’ll just retell how it basically started
@angstyhikka drew a couple of arts and helped me with coloring
This is an alternative development of events after the ending of the fanfic “At The Dawn of The Light” (it's not finished yet, but there is already an AU from the ending, yes). The idea belongs to @lasymit, and I (Lev) picked it up :3
Before King's Tide, all events take place according to canon. And then the following changes occur: the witches capture Philip and lock him in a cave in the Titan's skull. The draining spell is stopped without the help of the Collector, but he himself is not found. His mirror remains lying at the bottom of the pit.
For 10 years, Philip was under a sleeping spell. Everything would be fine, but when the Hexside squad wakes up Philip to make him help them with one super important problem, not only does he become mischievous but he also has problems in his head now. Luz and the team think that Philip is manipulating them (you can't blame them for this, Philip is Philip, even with a leaky memory and a leaking roof, he manages to be such an asshole), and therefore they torture him to force him to cooperate with them.
While Philip was sleeping, a cozy corner appeared in his head, in which there was nothing but a green hill, a small house and an apple tree. There, Philip, in his child form, lives with Caleb, who is a figment of his sick mind. During his 10 years in this mindscape, Philip convinced himself that this was reality. And the Boiling Isles, the cave and the witches who torture him are an endless nightmare. Because, on the Boiling Isles, he sometimes remembers that he killed his brother. But this simply cannot be reality.
At some point, Luz and Hunter realize that Philip is not pretending that he is seriously ill and no matter how much he denies it, he needs help, and they soften towards him somewhat. Although both have rather mixed feelings towards their dementia grandpa.
Even in the moments when Philip remembers himself fully enough, his attitude towards the Boiling Isles, Luz, Hunter and even his own mission has changed greatly in any case. He no longer cares about the destruction of witches and revenge for his brother. Philip is tired. Deadly tired. All he wants to do is sleep. He slept for ten years, and this was perhaps the first time in decades of his life that he felt peace and happiness.
While he is in this state, it happens that he encounter the Collector. This is a difficult meeting for both of them, but it all ends with the forgiveness of all grievances. They both don't want to lose each other now. The collector is still locked in the disk, but Philip has the opportunity to let his friend into his subconscious. Seeing the deplorable state of Philip's mind, he decides that he must help - after all, Philip is still his only friend. Collie asks Philip not to go to "sleep" forever, but Philip replies that he has no joy in waking up here. All he dreams of is never returning to the world of the Boiling Islands. The collector, frightened that his only friend is about to leave him, possesses Philip and promises him that he will get them both out of this nightmare.
This is how Tandem's story begins
a huge amount of detail has been omitted to avoid spoilers for "The Dawn". if you wanna learn more go check the fanfic *wink wink*
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Embers by Vathara @wuxiaphoenix
Special thanks to @sayornispress for letting me use their typeset to complete these binds for the 4th annual @renegadepublishing exchange! Thanks to the mods and my giftee for their patience while I struggled lol 🙈
I hope my giftee loves them as much as I loved making them. I'm glad they arrive at their forever home.
This is what the gift economy of Fandom is meant to be!
I kinda didn't understand what over 700,000 words meant when I first decided to bind this monster of a fic. But I was excited to learn to round books and do these 2 bookcloth cover designs. I also came in possession of a very large and diverse variety of heat reactive foils... so here we are lol. I think each book from printing to completion took me 20ish hours?
Below the line, you will find more information regarding these binds
Embers book 1
This puppy was so complicated for me to complete that I made it twice. The first one was so horribly made that I refused to show it to anyone.
Made using Colibri Golden bookclothfor the cover with green foil. The back was done using Duo Herb Garden with gold foil, which was a yellowish undertone. The endpapers are Thai Banana Green from ASW. I used warm white 28lbs paper from chirch paper to print, linen thread, and remie bands, and I made the endbands using Herb Garden and 4mm twig core.
It's about 700 pages and 1 1/4 thick
Embers book 2
I kinda loved this one the most. This was the second book made, so it has a lot of the flaws the first version of book 1 had, but I was happy enough with what I accomplished with it and the construction of the book was solid.
Made using Colibri Pearl bookcloth with silver, black, and metalic blue foil for the front, the back was done using Duo Polar from Australia with silver foil. the endpapers are Thai Banan Blue from ASW. I used the same warm white 28lb paper from church paper, linen thread, and rembie bands, and the endbands were done using polar bookcloth and 4mm twig core.
700 pages, 1 1/4 thickness. I'm very proud that the dimensions of all the books are the same 💙
Embers book 3
This one is my all-time favorite, and I blame it on the sky bison on the cover. I can't help it. They are my favorite creatures on the whole show!
The cover was made using vintage Colibri Copper (some company had rolls of these colors from years ago, and they had been discontinued in, I believe in 2010) using gold foil. The back is Duo Sunshine, and I used metalic orange foil. The end papers are Thai Mango Mustard from ASW. I used white warm 28lb paper, linen thread, rembie bands, and 4mm twig with sunshine cloth for the endbands.
It's a bit under 700 pages, but still 1 1/4 thick.
And finally...
Embers book 4
When I completed this one, I almost cried 🤣. I loved working on these binds, but I was so happy to finally be done.
I used vintage Colibri Uran with metalic red foil for the front and Duo Evening Red with black foil for the back. The endpapers were done using Thai Banana True Red from ASW. I used the same warm white 28lb paper, linen thread, and rembie bands, and the endbands were made using Evening Red with 4mm twig core.
About 650 pages yet still 1 1/4 thickness.
Funfact: These 4 books weigh 12 lbs together 🤣🙈
If you would like to learn how to bookbind consider joining Renegade!!!
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how do I put this. Even those who actually track our blogs and are interested in our Aus can get a little confused about what's going on here. but I'll try to explain anyway
we already mentioned the crossover between Anarchists and Tandem and even DRAWED them once, back when Tandem was in development (and by the way, this crossover is canonical for both AUs). Now this story has been continued >:D
Here's some context:
It so happened that the Colibri wanted to see what alternative timelines looked like and ran into the king and the jester. Phil was delighted with Colibri and wanted to flirt with them. Jester Collie was categorically against it. so he immediately possessed Phill and tried to fight Tandem. he didn’t succeed because his fusion with Phil is extremely unstable. and here we are
Initially, @angstyhikka and I just drew these three pages, but then @lasymit supported the idea and made a drabble which she allowed me to add to the post :3
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"Let go, bitch! I'm not done with you yet!"
The savage creature desperately squirmed in Philip’s hands. It grabbed onto him, trying to either break free or, on the contrary, rush closer, glaring furiously and baring its shark teeth.
He held the clumsy, collapsing fusion at arm's length and looked at it with slight disgust. His tandem with the Collector was a strange but harmonious union. And what was writhing in front of them right now was the direct antipode of the word harmony.
“Well, I am,” he said distantly.
And with his other hand he grabbed the one sitting inside the demon’s body. Under the flesh soaked in titan blood, he felt a soft essence, like rubber or hot wax. The Collector from this universe felt completely different to the touch.
He stretched them, pulling them away from each other, disentangling them from each other. Paradoxically, bodies that should repel each other by the nature of their forces, like unipolar magnets, clung to each other very stubbornly. But Philip was still stronger with the power of the Collector in his hands, power which he clearly used better than the local... king of demons...
“Ouuuuch ouuuuch,” a boy in the robes of a jester, painted in red and black, shrank on the ground, wrapping his arms around his own chest.
He was not at all like his Collector. Philip had never seen his friend's material body before. But he knew he looked different. For some reason he knew this for sure.
"Who pulls a guy out like that!? Fuck!!", the now-green demon yelled nearby. And he clutched his head painfully.
What Idiots. They vomited three times while chasing him. Philip did them a favor by stopping this outrage.
Now these two were lying helplessly at his feet, groaning and gasping, trying to catch their breath and come to their senses. Now they are separated.
"What were you trying to achieve?" His question was almost rhetorical.
"It wasn’t me, it was all him!" like a child, pointing a sharp, protruding finger towards the Collector, the demon yelled. "I didn’t want to fight at all!"—here he gazed up at Philip with some strange look and batted his eyelashes expressively—"I wanted something else– something more interesting."
"Ohh fuck off, Maggie! You traitor!" came the shout from the red Collector. Philip silently decided to call him the Jester and the demon, by analogy, the King. Philip had already guessed his name. But he couldn’t bring himself to call this savage by that name. Not even in his mind.
He ignored the King's vague attempts to take a tempting pose while still lying on the ground and grinding his teeth from the headache. He turned to the Jester.
"So you're in charge?"
Judging by King's behavior, it would indeed be reckless to put him in charge. But, having always been the decision-maker when paired with the Collector, by right of being the adult, Philip is accustomed to his friend almost never taking the leading role unless circumstances require it. Like a couple of years ago...
“Nuh-uh,” the Jester raised himself up on his elbow and rubbed his chest, inhaling deeply, greedily. "We're bros! Equal rights and stuff."
And he twirled his funny yellow gloved hand in the air.
Something in the Jester’s words pricked Philip. He didn't fully understand what exactly.. Until the King said, in a dramatic whisper:
"I no longer have a brother. You’re dead to me!"
And Philip stood there, trying to remember that the air was not hard, dense lumps, that it did not clog in the throat and did not press in the chest with a dull phantom pain. Meanwhile these two idiots, after a couple moments of aggressive looks, laughed out loud.
“Yes, I would strangle such a brother,” the King squeezed out, wheezing and squinting through laughter, “with my own-"
And he bent over, swallowing the end of the sentence with a cough as the toe of a boot hit him in the stomach.
"Philip! Philip... They've had enough... He doesn't know what he's talking about."
Philip's cheek twitched.
"Ouch... bro, save me!" the King squeaked hoarsely.
And this completely infuriated Philip. He swung his foot again, this time at the face. But he was met by an elastic wall. And the ground under Colibri’s feet, along with all the space, suddenly curved.
If it weren't for years with the Collector in his head, he wouldn't have realized what happened. But now he clearly saw how a couple of dimensions were distorted, folding space into a loop. He suddenly found himself not between the King and the Jester, but at a considerable distance. And these two were already close together. The boy helped his “brother” get up from the ground; King was now leaning on Jester’s shoulders, clutching his stomach. Perhaps Philip miscalculated his strength a little. This happens sometimes... Especially when it comes to emotions.
“Hey! Hitting people who are down is against the rules,” the Jester frowned. "Give us a timeout!"
Philip felt his jaw tighten. How the nodules rolled across his face. But the flaring rage, as it often happened to him, went away as easily as it filled the air in his chest, leaving reddish streaks before his eyes and pulsating power in his fingertips.
“Get out of the way,” he let his hands glow slightly.
"Ohhhh, what about a last kiss, star boy?" the King whined, clinging to the Jester and trying to straighten up next to him, as if hoping to reach Philip from a distance of ten steps and still get the coveted—
A kiss? Seriously, what the hell? Philip directed a confused, irritated look that bore all these unspoken questions at the Jester. He awkwardly shrugged his sharp shoulders, caught in the King’s grip.
"Don’t be mad... Philip, right? Don't be mad at him, Philip. His Majesty has a reason to be an idiot. And he didn’t mean it out of malice about the ‘brother’ thing.”
Philip looked at the Jester more carefully. The collector in his head was silent. But Philip sensed something from him. Philip also noticed the King’s uncomprehending expression.
“What’s wrong with ‘brother’?” The King sounded surprised.
And then Philip understood. And his face froze.
Yes... yes, what need is there to remember such things? He himself tried to forget for a long time... If he succeeded, would he be the same now as the king in front of him?
Looking at this wretched shell of a “King” who’d forgotten everything important about himself and the loyal “Jester” still standing steadily at his side, the Collector in Philip’s head began to sob. They both, it seems, had the same thought. It’s scary to look at the reflection of a future that never happened.
The jester smiled at him guiltily- at both of them. And then he confidently and widely showed about fifty teeth to his King.
"People don’t like such familiarity, you fool! You can’t just kiss someone the first time you meet."
"But it's okay to fight them when you first meet?" Philip was indignant...
Yes, it's Philip.
He cannot refuse to call this man by his own name. Philip himself could one day become such a “king.”
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also @kenku97 helped us with translation and added this comment, I gotta show it to you ;v;
"I thought “The collector in his head sobbed” needed more context for people who aren’t as tightly wrapped up in these AUs as we all are. To understand why Collie’s crying, you need to point out how Tandem Collie sees himself in the Jester. They’re both caring for a Philip who is forgetting himself and the people closest to him. Jester is living out Tandem Collie’s worst fear: what will happen when Philip can’t remember anything anymore? What will become of their friendship? And it’s bittersweet because the King and the Jester are still friends, even though the Jester basically had to start over from the beginning. Jester Collie is quietly carrying all of those memories inside his heart of a friend who has basically disappeared while still learning about and loving the brand new person his friend has become. It’s so sweet and so sad.😭"
that's pretty much all for now
It’s hard to return to drawing after the holidays. and this is not even a new art you see, but last year’s. therefore this comic cannot be considered the first work of this year sadly
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