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thebestofoneshots · 7 months

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Gilded Constellations | wolfstar x reader

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 7.2 K Warnings: none Prompt: What will happen when yet another full moon approaches, could things start to change? This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it.

ANOUNCMENT:

In a couple of weeks I'll make a Q&A to cellebrate Gilded Constellations reaching 100,000 K words. And I'd love for all of you to be a part of it. So send in your questions, they can be anything you want, things like: How did you get the idea? Where does inspo come from? writing tips (I mean I don’t know much but anyway), character design, fancast, fav characters, things about me, about my plot notebook, literally anything you want, ask away (just state: For Q&A event or something) <3

Chapter 13: “Rebel, Rebel.”

October, 22nd (Friday)

A week after the incident, your mom had already sent your old Viper, but the Nimbus company had yet to respond to your letter. You’d gotten used to your older broom pretty fast. Muscle memory must really be a thing, since the moment you mounted it, it was like you’d been doing it forever.

James was right, the Viper was a lot more stable than other brooms. More than Sirius’ SweepFire, and probably more than the Dark Nimbus itself. But it was slower, you’d already gotten used to the fast accelerations your Dark Nimbus had, and now you had to be extra attentive of the ball so you could make a move before it had enough time to get past you and onto one of the goals. Regardless of the slowness, the Viper was sturdier and heavier, which made it easier to do tricks like the backflip people still wouldn’t stop talking about. Last Tuesday you’d even attempted to surf on it, and you managed to do perfectly fine for a couple of meters until James spotted you and gave you the longest talk about being responsible and not doing stupid things, the hypocrite. But he was on captain mode and when he got on that mood it was absolutely useless to talk him out of it, so you nodded and promised you wouldn’t do it again, even if you probably would at some point.

You told Lily about dating Sirius as soon as you were feeling better, she asked you so many questions, from how it’d happen to how good were Sirius’ kisses. She had been told he was really good by a girl back in 5th year, and she wanted to know if it was true or if the girl was just obsessed with Sirius like most girls in school. You omitted the fact that you probably were just as obsessed with him as they were and confirmed that Sirius was indeed a good kisser, not that you’d kissed all that many people before, but still. The rest of your friends had slowly found out about your new relationship, be it for the way Sirius sat next to you a lot more often now, because his teasing and flirting had gotten a lot stronger. Or, in the case of Tom, because he’d accidentally found you snogging on an empty classroom, at least he just gave you a thumbs up, a cheeky smile, and whispered something like “Keep it going guys! You’re doing great”. Both you and Sirius had separated to laugh about it when Tom closed the door.

“You ready?” Sirius asked with a smile, pulling you from your thoughts. You looked at him with a daring face.

You know that thing you were told not to do a couple of days ago and you promised you wouldn’t? Well, that promise lasted exactly 4 days, 3 hours and a couple of minutes. James was busy with an essay he’d forgotten about, and you and Sirius had gone flying together, and unfortunately, neither of you had a clear enough sense of self-preservation when you were around each other. Especially not after someone said, “I dare you to…”

You were slowly standing over your broom, hands extended to try and keep your balance. Neither of you was flying too high, that way if you fell you wouldn’t get too hurt. Once you had managed to maintain your balance you nodded “Ready,” you said with a wink, and the two of you started broom surfing, picking up speed as you glided through the open fields of the school. As you were about to reach the finish line, you realized the grass was moving in a funny way right in front of you, and you frowned.

“Hey Sirius I think–“ you started, but it was too late, something had yanked both of your brooms down and caused you to tumble down to the grass. You’d fallen over and rolled a couple of meters while he’d fallen over something, or rather someone. As you looked up you realized he was right on top of Remus, who had popped out of nowhere (probably the invisibility cloak). As the two of them sorted themselves out you stood up quickly and looked around, spitting some of the grass that had gotten inside your mouth. And then you spotted them, Barty Crouch and Evan Rosier, hiding behind a stone wall. You took your wand out and pointed it at them. Evan seemed to pull back but Barty just smiled wickedly “The fuck is wrong with you?” You roared, already walking towards where they stood.

Barty walked head high towards you too “You saw them fall, Evan? It was hilarious!”

“Fall? You must be bIoody delusional if you think you’re going to trick me with that! I felt the way my broom was yanked down.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said with a smile “Do you Evan?”

Evan shook his head, as if Barty needed a sidekick to be vile.

“You’re begging for me to break your stupid nose again,” you replied as you looked at him impassively.

“I’d like to see you try,” he said smugly.

You pointed your wand at his face, but Remus stood in front of you, calmly placing his hand over the one you used to hold your wand and pushing it down a little, to prompt you to do it yourself.

Sirius stood still next to Remus, looking at Barty with hate, but keeping a strong grip on his wand.

“Remus what the–“

“–He’s provoking you,” he told you calmly “he wants you to react.”

“Yeah, well maybe I want to react,” you retorted, now slightly irritated at your friend’s actions. He just looked at you, shook his head calmly and softly ran his thumb over your forearm, still pushing it lightly down. If anyone knew about anger management it was Remus Lupin.

“Hey,” he said softly, looking at you straight in the eye, trying to get you to focus on him, rather than on Barty looking at you cockily from behind “Look at me luv,” he cooed, you looked at him for a second but turned your eyes back to Barty “I’m fine, Pads’s fine, you’re fine. There is no need to fight.”

“You could’ve gotten hurt, we could’ve–“

“–Listen to me. Don’t give him the satisfaction of rilling you up. You don’t want him to be the cause of Gryffindor losing points, do you? That’s probably why he’s–“

“–yeah, go ahead (Y/N), listen to your boyfriends, they know what’s best,” Evan taunted from behind, you clenched your jaw. But took a deep breath, finally lowering your wand. Maybe you should’ve put him in his place then and then, how different would things have ended up if you actually had?

“You know what Barty? Remus is right, you aren’t even worth my time.” You said standing straighter “At least be more creative with your petty jokes next time, all right? Maybe then you’d at least keep me entertained.” Then you turned around and used your wand to pull both yours and Sirius’ broom to your hands and walked back to the castle, lagging just a second so Sirius and Remus would walk by your side.

“I want to strangle him,” you told them once you thought the two Slytherins were out of earshot.

“You and me both,” Sirius agreed, taking his broom from your hands, but lingering as his fingers brushed over yours “I probably would have, had Remus not stopped me first.” You looked at him for a moment and then recalled, Sirius was still on top of Remus because of the fall when you speed-walked towards the two Slytherin boys. “And he’s right, the last thing we want is to start an open war in between us and his stupid gang.”

“But they already started it, we’re just not doing anything about it.” You reproached, still a little riled up, the urge to punch Barty was wearing you thin, “Anyway, I do not want to have detention while everyone’s enjoying themselves at the Halloween party next week.”

Remus smiled “How do you know about that?”

“Tom and Beth told me all about the party you guys always plan together, I’m already preparing my costume.”

“Is it gonna be a sexy Halloween costume, luv?” Sirius chimed in, leaning towards you with a little smirk on his face.

You pushed him back playfully “Ugh… don’t be such a dog!”

Remus laughed at that, “I’m sure you’d look pretty even in a sack of potatoes.”

“Yeah, in a very short one,” Sirius teased even further.

“If only my boyfriend was as much of a gentleman as his friend here,” you said with a playful sight.

“You clearly don’t know Moony’s dark side,” Sirius chimed.

You arched your eyebrows at that “And you do?”

Sirius was about to respond when Beth showed up, looking a bit agitated as If she had been running “There you are!” She said as she stood in front of the three “Professor Spellman wants to see us earlier today, something about a special announcement.”

You frowned “Right now?” You asked. She nodded.

“But we haven’t eaten!” Sirius complained.

“I don’t think it’ll take too much,” Beth said with a shrug, “But it did seem rather urgent.”

You nodded and the four of you started walking towards the North Tower. When you arrived, you realized they hadn’t exclusively called your class, in fact, the entire school year had somehow crammed inside the classroom. There were barely any sits left, when Tom saw Beth, he quickly waved to her and she went to sit besides him. You scanned the room and found only one table free, you rolled your eyes when you realized Evan and a Slytherin girl from his year whose name slipped your mind were sitting behind it. You looked at Sirius and pointed at the only free spot with a nudge of your head.

He rolled his eyes but the three of you walked towards the table, the boys pushed the two chairs together and you squeezed in between the two. Leaning ahead a little so they could accommodate their larger backs onto the chair. Sirius had placed his hand on your tight under the table, and you gave him a look, “I’m gonna fall if I don’t grab onto something,” he said with an innocent smile.

“Yeah, sure enough, Puppy,” you replied playfully.

“Hm… that’s the fifth from this week,” he said as he squeezed your tight.

Then you felt something pull your hair from behind. You turned around pissed and Evan was smiling “What? Did I ruin your cuddle time with your two boyfriends?”

You looked at him, but smirked “Why, you jelly?” You asked but didn’t give him enough time to reply, “You should know by now that my cuddle time knows no bounds. It's an exclusive club with a very long waiting list. But don't worry, I can squeeze you in somewhere between Tuesdays and never."

Evan’s face turned sour while Sirius looked at you with a proud smirk and Remus laughed, chest rumbling behind you. He was about to retaliate when Professor Spellman walked in. So you decided to piss him off even further “Shh honey…” you said as condescendingly as possible “Teacher’s about to speak,” finally you turned around with a smirk.

Remus gave you a side eye and placed his hand, palm facing up, just above your lap, raising his eyebrows, you understood what he meant in a second and high-fived him instantly, giving him a wink before leaning over the desk a little, to give the two boys some space.

When Spellman finally reached his desk, he gave you a stern look “Miss (Y/LN), why are you sitting between Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin?”

“There was nowhere else to sit,” you replied, motioning to the crammed classroom “I can sit on the floor if you want though.”

The Professor sighed but nodded, “That won’t be necessary, this won’t take too long,” he said, before waving his wand and letting a long banner unroll from the ceiling over the chalkboard.

It read: The Moon and the Stars

“As some of you who keep up with the astral cycle may know, next Sunday is full moon,” Spellman said, you felt Remus tense behind you, which made you frown, but the professor kept talking, and you ended up shrugging it off “And not only that, but a very interesting phenomenon will also occur, it will be a bIood moon, which makes it the perfect moment for an astrology class,” He said with a proud smile “You will all be excused from today’s class in exchange for 2 hours of your Sunday night.” There was a mix of groans and cheers in the classroom, from those who were happy about not having class, and those who were upset about having class on a Sunday “Class will start at 10 pm,” Spellman continued, not giving the children time to protest “bring your notebooks and telescopes, those who have their own. We will meet in the Astronomy tower. Any questions?”

A Ravenclaw boy raised his hand “What happens if we can’t make it?”

“I highly doubt you’ll have anything better to do on Sunday night Mr. Finchley,” the professor responded sassily. Remus, who looked like he wanted to say something, decided to let it go, and sank back on the chair. The professor waited a couple more seconds, to see if anyone else had a question, but upon no one’s answer he clapped his hands together “Excellent, you’re excused now. See you on Sunday.”

Sirius was the first one to stand up, letting you out through his side, while Remus seemed to be a little troubled. Your boyfriend placed a hand over his shoulder “It’s ok mate, we’ll figure it out,” he told him. You looked at the exchange with curiosity but it dissipated the moment Lily appeared out of nowhere and hooked her arm around yours.

“The girls and I are going to go prepare some droughts at the potions classroom now, hair and grooming stuff, you said you wanted to brew a special something for your Halloween costume, yeah?”

You nodded, Sirius raised an eyebrow “Special something?”

You smiled in response “If you guess it, I’ll give you a prize,” you said confidently, he would not guess your Halloween costume, even if he tried a thousand times.

“Anything I want?” He asked suggestively.

You laughed in response “Sure Puppy, anything you want,” you told him before walking out with Lily, the girls were waiting just outside the door.

“That was the 6th!” You heard Sirius say from behind.

Lily raised an eyebrow “What’s that all about,” she asked. You giggled in response “Let’s just say dear Sirius and I have a bit of an arrangement, I can call him Puppy whenever I want, but he gets some kisses in return.”

She laughed at your answer “Why aren’t I surprised?”

You shrugged with a smile, finally catching up with the girls “You wanted to make a glow potion, right?” Mary asked, “Like the one Marlene drank on her birthday?”

“Yup, I think I’ve got all the ingredients ready too,” you told her, checking the little rattan bag inside your backpack where you’d been placing all the necessary stuff.

Lily gave a small peak to the bag and frowned “I don’t think you’ve got glow-weed yet.”

Tom, who seemed to have shown up out of nowhere started to walk by Lily’s side “Why do you need weed?”

You laughed “Glow-weed,” Beth corrected “not weed, weed.”

“Hmmm… that’s not as fun.” He said, scrunching his nose a little “What for?”

“(Y/N’s) Halloween Costume,” Marlene answered casually.

“Oh, you’re gonna be a fairy or something?” He asked excitedly.

You paled at that and turned to him wide-eyed “If you tell Sirius Black about it, I’ll strangle you.”

“Cheeky,” he replied, leaning closer to you, which made you roll your eyes and push him back.

“Please don’t tell Sirius?”

“Why?”

“She promised Sirius a prize if he guessed. She specifically said anything he wanted,” Lily chimed in.

Tom looked at Lily and then turned his gaze back to you, impressed “So really cheeky then.”

“Toooom!” You whined.

“My lips are sealed,” he said, passing a hand over them as if he was zipping them and then placing his hand over his chest. How dramatic, you thought, but then again, you were the one dating Sirius Black, so who were you to judge?

“Why didn’t you just tell him about your costume?” Asked Beth.

You sighed “He was going on and on about sexy Halloween costumes, he would not stop bothering me if I did.” You responded simply, by then you were already outside the potions classroom. Professor Slughorn was in his office, and Lily had been the one inside and asked for permission to enter. He was more than happy to let you guys in to practice potions that he even gave Lily the key to the ingredients room, giving you free rein to use whatever you might need.

When Lily came out, shaking the key in her hand with a smile Marlene rolled her eyes “Teacher’s pet,” she teased.

“Maybe,” she said with a shrug “but, I just got our hands on the Ingredients Supply, and Slughorn said we could take whatever we wanted.”

“Sweet!” Said Tom as he took the keys from Lily’s hands and led all the way to the ingredients room. He took out a little paper from his pocket and started looking for some stuff, all the while you tried to find some of that glow-weed.

When you finally found it you looked at the combination of stuff he’d placed in his basket and narrowed your eyes at him in suspicion “That’s not for beauty products is it?”

He shook his head with a little smirk “I’m working on a little something,” he said, “also for the Halloween party.”

You raised your eyebrow, looking at the stuff he’d gathered so far “Essence of Laughing Lily, Blissberry Extract, Frolic Fizzweed Leaves, Lavender Essence, are you by any chance making–“

He shook his head and placed a finger over your mouth “–Shhhhh! If Lily busts us, we won’t be having any fun.”

You smiled complicity “Well then, keep working on your little magical project,” you said, and then leaned in closer to whisper “If you add Moonstone Shimmer, you can make the potion a bit more potent overall.” You raised your eyebrows and winked before walking back to the table on which you’d be working. Marlene was next to you, and she’d set herself to prepare a special hand cream since the weather was getting colder.

Beth was working on an enchanting hair serum that she’d run out of. And Lily said she was working on a “perfect curls potion,” also for the Halloween party.

“Would you mind borrowing me some of that on the Halloween party?” You asked her when she told you what she was working on.

She nodded “In fact, I’m making a lot extra,” she replied with a smile “To keep a stash on our bathroom.”

“You’re brilliant!” You told her with a smile.

“I’m working on some radiant complexion elixir, also for our bathroom,” Mary said. “We’re giving some of our stuff to Beth and she’s gonna borrow some of her hair stuff. We’ll all be stocked up in beauty products?”

“And you do this all the time?” You asked with a smile.

“A couple times a year, yeah,” said Marlene from her table.

“Genious, can I help with anything?”

“I was actually thinking of using some of your glow potion and add it to the one I’m making, for glowier hair,” Beth told you, you smiled and nodded.

“Oh, that would look amazing!” You agreed, “A bit on the radiant complexion would probably work wonders too.”

“Yes, it would!” Lily said with a nod. “And what are you working on Tom?” She asked, turning to the boy.

He turned to her like a deer trapped in headlights, and then crossed his eyes over at you, pleading for help “After shave lotion, right?” You said casually “So that the shave lasts longer, you mentioned?”

He nodded “Ye– yeah… I heard Remus complain about his freshly shaved face lasting nothing, and I thought, same mate. Decided to do something about it.”

You kept a tight smile as you gave him a look. Tom was a shitty liar. “Right! I’m sure that recipe James got you from Fleamont will be brilliant.” Tom nodded and went back to his preparations.

“Why would you need Frolic Fizzweed Leaves for an aftershave lotion?” Lily asked, more to herself than to the rest.

You shrugged “Must be one of those secret Potter family tricks,” you said with a shrug, and then smiled when you concluded it would be the perfect time to tease your friend “I’m sure if you married Potter your in-laws would be more than happy to tell you all about them.”

Lily gave you a reproachful look, but Marlene added to the conversation “It’d be great, that way they could get back the potion-making talent they lost on with James.”

“James isn’t bad at potions!” She said with a shrug, not quite thinking before she spoke.

Your smile grew “Really? Tell us all about your boy’s talents.”

“He’s not my boy.”

“Pretty sure he is, at least in his point of view,” added Tom as he mixed some things in his cauldron.

“Why don’t you guys tease (Y/N) with Sirius instead?” Lily said as she chopped some of her ingredients with a bit of a frown.

“They’re dating already, what is there to tease them about?” Mary said with a shrug, “If you want us to stop teasing you, you should just date Potter.”

You all laughed at that, but no one continued to tease poor Lily any further. As you went back to your table next to Marlene, you realized she was already mixing stuff in her cauldron. You figured most of your friends would be done with their potions before your next meal, so you decided to concentrate on your brew.

Getting the extract from the glow weed, was the most complicated part since it required an intricate spell and some special distillation skills, but you managed to do it after just a couple of tries. Once that was done, the rest of the potion was actually pretty simple, all you had to do was add the ingredients at the right time and mix according to the instructions. When you finished, you had a cauldron filled with glow potion, it had a golden colour, slightly bright, almost as if there was some light source hidden in the inside of it. You took out the crystal bottles you’d gotten for today and used a ladle to slowly pour the liquid onto them, placing some of the potion in a small bottle with a dropper, and handed it over to your friends so they could add their drops on the potions they’d made.

When you were done, everyone was pleased with their own potions, especially Tom, who had somehow managed to finish his mystery potion without anyone else figuring out what he was making, he placed it on a small crystal bottle with a golden cap and a transparent liquid. You all walked back to the dorms together and divided the little vials amongst Beth and your room. She wasn’t all that close with her roommates, so she took smaller, personal-sized potions while your room got the bigger vials and flasks. Once you placed your small bottle on your trunk, next to some of the other stuff you’d already prepared for your costume, you walked downstairs to wait for the girls in the common room, you grabbed the book Nina had lent you and sat on the couch. Tom came down and plopped down beside you minutes later.

“What are you reading?” He asked taking the book from your hands and reading the back cover “A spicy werewolf novel?”

“It was recommended.”

“Yeah, I bet,” he said with a bit of a cheeky smile and started flipping through the pages, stopping in on a page with a drawing of a shirtless man and eyeing it “Damn, he could rile me.” You raised an eyebrow, “Just look at him!”

You laughed at that “Didn’t know you liked boys.”

He shook his head “It’s not that I like them,” he said “I just don’t care if they’re boys, or girls, or anything…”

You nodded, thinking about it for a second “I think I don’t either.”

He gave you his signature bright smile and placed his arm over your shoulder, bringing you slightly closer to him “Welcome to the club!”

“Are there many others like us in the school?”

“You’d be surprised, most of them hide it quite well though, you wouldn’t expect it, you know a few, but it’s not for me to tell. We Brits are pretty open-minded you see.”

You nodded, “Definitely better than in my old school.”

When the girls finally came downstairs you all walked out of the common room together, and you stayed with them until you had to split ways since they’d taken a different extracurricular. You walked half of the way to your classroom when you spotted Remus walking by himself, who also walked towards the classroom, so you picked up your pace and caught up with him “Nice to see you again, Rem!” You told him with a smile.

“How did potion making go?” He asked politely.

“Excellent, my costume is almost ready!”

“You’re really going big with it, aren’t you?” He asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

You nodded “It’s my first Halloween at Hogwarts, you guys have set the bar pretty high according to Marlene, I’ve gotta match those high standards.”

“She said that?”

You nodded “She told me all about your costumes from previous years, how last Halloween you dressed up as the teachers, McGonagall was mortified when she saw Prongs with an exact replica of her green robes.”

Remus laughed, remembering that moment “Yeah, she did.”

“What about you? What are you dressing as this year?”

He sighed, “Frankly, I don’t have a plan yet, last year was Pads’ idea, and we all followed through, but this year he had a pretty rough summer break and didn’t plan any group costumes, we’re all making our own.”

“I think you should be a pirate!” You told him simply.

“A pirate?”

“You’ve got the sexy pirate vibe going on already, why not?” You asked with a shrug.

“Sexy pirate vibe?” He asked in disbelief.

You nodded “Ask anyone, they’ll confirm it.”

“Confirm what?” James asked as he caught up with the two of you

“That Remus looks like a sexy pirate.”

James raised his eyebrows at your words, looking a little impressed, and then turned to his friend “Hmmm…. Yeah, I see it.”

“See? Told you! It was literally the first impression I got from you.”

“When I went to pick you up at Dumbledore’s office?” He asked, rather confused.

You shook your head “No! When we you bumped into me at the station. I saw you, and instantly came flashbacks of those spicy novels with shirtless men on the cover.”

When James heard it, he laughed like a madman, you were right, Moony definitely had the type. “Yours would have you, holding onto the ship’s mast with a barely buttoned white shirt, and the title would be something like The Beast Within,” James said in between laughs.

Remus gave James a warning look, but you were too occupied gasping at James’ boldness “Are you implying Remus is a beast in bed, Merlin! James, I did not expect you to be cheating on Lily with your best friend!”

Now it was Remus’ turn to laugh, James’ dumb joke had turned on him “Yeah James, please explain how you’d know anything about my nightly activities… I could be a gentle lover for all you know.”

“I don’t know about that,” you teased “You do give off the beast in bed vibe.”

Remus gasped “I’m the chillest of the group.”

You nodded “It’s always the quiet ones,” you said with an air of mystery.

When you arrived at the classroom, the three of you struggled to gain back composure and to calm down after the fit of laughter you’d caused each other. Remus went to sit beside Sirius, the first thing he did, was ask him what they were all laughing about, and after being told the story he ended up agreeing with you on two of the things said, First: Remus had to dress as a pirate now, there was no other option. Second: Moony would definitely be a beast in bed.

Saturday came and went, this time you actually got to go to Hogsmeade for the first time, even if it was more of a business run than a pleasure one, the boys were so focused on getting all the stuff for the party ready that you barely even saw Sirius while you were in town. You spend most of the day with the girls, jumping from shop to shop to get some of the last bits you needed for everyone’s costume. Mary was going to go the easy route, she decided she’d dress as a kitten, her plan was to grab some cat ears and a tail, and enchant them to move like those of a real cat would.

Marlene was going to do a matching costume with Holden, they’d both go as Sonny and Cher from the video “I Got You Babe”. Marlene had even gotten her hands on a long black wig and a small fur coat. And Holden had actually bought a hair-lengthening potion to match the look. You were certain the two of them would look incredible in their outfits. Beth was going to dress as an astronaut since she was very passionate about space exploration and some of the newer muggle technology advancements. Tom was going to dress up as a vampire and had convinced you to help him charm his canines to look like fangs.

James tried to persuade Lily to do a couple’s costume with him, but she refused every single time he asked, in the end, she decided she’d go as Ophelia, from Hamlet. When James found out he asked Remus to give him a short summary of the story and decided he’d be dressing up as Hamlet, to match with Lily even if she wasn’t expecting it. You honestly considered warning him against it, but he seemed so hopeful and they would look absolutely adorable in the photos so you decided against it. Peter said he’d dress as Edmund Pevensie, from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” a book he had read when he took the muggle literature with Remus in 4th year, he’d convinced Teddy Hawthorn to dress as Peter, Annabeth Doxon to be Susan and a girl who you hadn’t met yet to be Lucy.

Since you didn’t tell Sirius what you were dressing as, he decided he wouldn’t tell you either, so both of your costumes would be a surprise to each other.

Unfortunately, your visit to Hogsmeade was so hectic, like everyone else’s, that you didn’t even have time to visit any of the restaurants your friends always talked about, you did see the Three Broomsticks from afar, it seemed like a nice and cozy little pub, very English in its type. Tom mentioned they made mean Beef Pasties and even if you weren’t quite sure they were, the way he described them them made them seem utterly delicious. He promised to treat you to some next time you went to Hogsmeade.

By Sunday, you were all spent, dedicating a good deal of the day to work on your costumes, Hagrid had gifted some pumpkins to Peter and you were carving along with him and Remus in the common room, Beth was gluing some patches to her astronaut costume and Lily worked on adding some details to her dress. James and Sirius were up in their dorm, since James had to work on his secret Hamlet costume, and Sirius on his own secret costume.

“How does it look,” you said as you turned around your pumpkin for Peter to see it.

He winced when he saw it, but was too nice to say anything negative about it “It’s… a little wonky, it… uh… works with the Halloween theme?”

You laughed in response and pulled out the book of practical spells Nina had lent you, being sure there had to be something useful there.

“Want some help?” Remus asked politely, taking your pumpkin and using a small blade to straighten some of your cuts.

You placed a hand over his shoulders and thanked him before going back to the book, still trying to find a useful spell, but there wasn’t exactly a Halloween section on the index. When you turned back to look at your pumpkin, Remus had already finished up refining it and it looked incredible.

“That’s… Remus, you’re incredible with your hands!”

“That’s what she said,” Peter said, almost automatically.

You gasped “Peter!” you said as a little smile drew from your lips. He looked up from his pumpkin mortified, you giggled “Didn’t know you had it in you to make dirty jokes.”

“You do remember I literally sleep in the same room that Sirius, right? The ability just rubs into me,” he told you with a little smile. You laughed along with Remus.

You heard some steps from behind and finally saw both Sirius and James walk down the stairs, Sirius casually leaned closer to you and placed a fast kiss on your lips before turning to Moony. You realized he had some glitter on his hair and passed your hand over it to shake it off as he spoke “Ready to go Moons? Pete?”

Remus checked his watch, and nodded “Yeah, I should probably get going, I’ll see you guys there?”

Peter nodded, “I’ll stay here for a couple minutes more, I want to finish this pumpkin, but I’ll be there.”

“Excellent, it’s settled then.”

Sirius finally turned to you, since you were still fluffing his hair “You done love?”

You shook your head “haven’t seen you much this weekend,” you said with a pout, not quite wanting to take your hands off his head.

He smiled and tilted his head just a little “Don’t tempt me, I’ll end up staying.”

You laughed at that, but you knew how important the marauder’s jokes were, so you shook your head “Go ahead trouble, I’ll see you at divinations, yeah?”

He gave you a look and shrugged with a smile on his face, before giving you a wink and running out behind Peter and James, who had already walked out of the portrait.

“You’re not planning to skip divinations, are you?” You asked Peter, who gave you an awkward smile in reply.

“And Remus just said yes?”

Peter seemed a little nervous at your question, but you didn’t quite understand why he would be “We…. Um— It’s very important business.”

You frowned, a little unconvinced but nodded, deciding not to question him further, “Ok then, I’ll cover for you lot. I’ll tell Spellman you ate something at Hogsmeade yesterday and that you’re feeling dreadful or something.”

Peter finally met your gaze “You’d do that for us?”

“Of course I would!” You said, as if it was obvious “You’re my friends, I’d cover for you any day.”

Peter smiled “You’re the best!”

You and Peter cleaned the table and placed the pumpkins near the window before he left. Once he was gone you moved closer to the girls, both Beth and Lily were still working on their costumes, “Need any help?” You asked politely.

Lily shook her head, but Beth responded “Yeah, can you pass me some of those patches please.” She said as she pointed at the table filled with patches, you carefully picked them up and handed them over. Letting yourself fall on the couch once you were done. You picked up the book Nina had lent you, the spicy novel this time, and finally started to read through it. You’d actually enchanted the cover since clearly it called everyone’s attention with the original one. Now it looked like a copy of a regular old spell book.

“Uh… I’m gonna feel bad if you keep studying while I’m working on a costume.” Lily Pouted from her place on the floor.

You chuckled “I’m not actually studying though, It’s a spicy romance book Nina lent me, the cover was a bit extra, so I charmed it.”

Lily gasped, with a smile drawing on her lips as she did. “You sly fox!”

You smiled at that, laughing as you said “Oh… trust me, you’ve got no idea.”

“And.. Is it actually spicy?” Beth asked, not looking up from her costume.

You shrugged, “Not sure, haven’t even met the main love interest so far, I’m barely starting the book. But I’ll tell you if it’s good.” You told her before going back to read. Every now and then they would ask you for small favors like holding the fabric for a second or passing something that was closer to you than it was to them. It was nice to just chill with the two redheads for a while.

After some time Mary and Marlene came from the stairs, you pulled your head from the book and turned to the girls “Is it already time for class?” You asked, surprised.

Mary nodded “9:30, you see?”

“We should probably start walking there, in case the stairs decide to be funny today,” you said as you stood up.

Both Lily and Beth grabbed their costumes and carefully sat them over a table, you wrote a small note and placed it over them, so that other Gryffindors wouldn’t grab them by accident, or after trying to admire them. Once it was done, you started walking towards the class, Tom caught up with you halfway there, and you all arrived at the astronomy tower with a couple of minutes left. Professor Spellman was already there, and a couple of students were pulling out their own telescopes as well, Tom included among them. The moon was already starting to. fade. According to Tom, who wouldn’t shut up about the way the BIood Moon worked “The moon will almost disappear completely before we can see it again, and when we do, it will turn red.”

He seemed so fascinated by the event you decided not to tell him you’d read all about it on the pages of the divination book Professor Spellman had you read for today’s class. At some point a Hufflepuff boy walked closer to Tom, smiling brightly as he greeted him “How’s it going Tom?”

Tom smiled back at him “Brilliant, I was just telling (Y/N) here about the mechanisms of the BIood Moon.”

“Really? I’d love to hear all about it!” The boy said with a smile.

You gave Tom a look, raising an eyebrow, he just smiled and winked in return, “Right! I’m sure Tom will know lots about it, I think Marlene’s calling me. See you boys around!” You said, giving Tom a knowing look, and letting the two boys flirt by themselves.

You were about to walk towards Marlene, when you heard the same howls from the time when you’d gone to the greenhouses with Lily, a lot further away this time, but the same nonetheless. So instead, you turned around and walked to the window closest to the sound. When you reached, you leaned over the edge just a little, to try and see better, but there was nothing but an endless sea of trees, wherever the things making the sound were, they must have been very deep inside the dark forest. Then you felt someone push you over the balcony violently, just to pull you back again with a vicious grip on your shirt “Careful, you may fall,” you heard Evan’s stupid voice as he pretty much pulled you towards his chest, you could feel his hot breath on your neck, disgusting, you wonder how it was possible that you’d considered him attractive at some point.

You turned around quickly, forcing him to loosen his grip on your shirt “What the hell Rosier?” You hissed. He was not alone either. Severus was on his side and another boy, who you quickly identified as Mulciber. He was taller with a tank-like complexion, that contrasted with Rosier’s softer looks as water did with oil. You stood your ground, even if you wanted to step back “Awww… did you have to bring your bodyguards along? Too scared to face lil’ old me by yourself?” You mocked, “Don’t worry, I can take Frankestine and Slimmy on any day of the week.”

“What the fuck did you just call me?” Mulciber said, taking a step forward.

“Offf, sorry! Guess I should have used a reference a little more keen to your level of knowledge.”

Evan scoffed, “Do you think it’s a good idea to make fun of him?” He said as he tilted his head, pulling back a little and giving the room a once over “especially without your boyfriends here to protect you.”

“Please, as if I needed anyone to protect me from you lot. Barty’s fan #1, Lily’s simp and Mr. Big guy” you laughed “you’re joke.” Ok, in hindsight, maybe you were pushing it a bit too hard. But you were not going to let them intimidate you.

Evan grabbed you by the collar and pushed you towards the railing again, you grabbed onto the handle, knuckles white with the force you were using, but you eyed him with a bravery you didn’t know where the hell you’d gotten from. You looked around and smiled, people were crowding up around you “You sure you wanna do that, luv? We’ve got a bit of a crowd here, too many witnesses, right? All though, I’m sure you’d fit in perfectly fine in Azkaban.” He seemed tempted to drop you, but eventually, he let go and pulled back. You smiled and straightened your uniform “Yeah, I thought so.”

“This is not over,” he threatened.

“Bring more henchmen next time,” you mocked with a smile. When he was gone, you turned around to the forest again, taking deep breaths to calm yourself down, and looking at the possible fall you could’ve gotten. It would most certainly be mortal.

Lily pushed through the crowd to reach you, looking at you filled with worry once she caught up “What the hell were you thinking (Y/N)? All that bravado was gonna be worth for nothing had he actually pushed you.”

“He wasn’t going to push me.”

“He’s insane, he could have,” she argued.

“Not in front of so many people.” You insisted, “Not without stupid Barty Crouch around, he’s the only reason Evan’s got anything against me.”

“That was the only reason,” Lily corrected “You insulted them out in the open for the entire class to hear.”

“They came pushing me into the railing first. I was not going to cry for help.”

“Ughhh….” She said exasperated, and then pulled you into a bone-crushing hug, “Just promise me you won’t go facing those assholes by yourself. Please don’t be as stupid as the boys.”

You sighed and returned the hug “I will not go chasing after them Lily, I promise.” You said, and you really did not intend to do it.

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

TAGLIST: @rayrlupin @callmelovergirl @warcelia @ireneop @endversewinchester @moonyunebi @smuttysluttybitch @mazzymoons @sofiacblair @vmpir3lvr @remuslupinisbae @rabluver @willgrahamisalesbi4n @thatobsessedreader @orkwardx0 @itskailey24 @hell0-kittie @belovedmoony @blacksgarden @loving-and-dreaming @cassie-love20 @starchaser-lily @zucchini-queenie @springflwer07 @sseleniaa @cometsghost @orkwardx0 @imdoingbetternow

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comicaurora · 11 months

Note

Lighting critique of a recent panel ! Dark ambient lighting is a favorite art subject of mine, so i figured this would be a good time to give some input ! ii say as if we havent been in the undergroound chapter for like a month in which it didnt occur to me to pay attention to lighting Oh well loool here it is nowwwwwwww hope you dont mind the input

Huh.

Okay, so first off, thanks - this is cool and your lighting looks very nice. I look forward to seeing what you make!

Second - I really hope sending this kind of ask isn't a habit of yours, because unsolicited artistic criticism comes across as remarkably rude.

Art criticism for the purposes of improvement is a social contract entered between two artists, typically in a scholastic environment. An artist presents their work to other artists whose opinions they trust and value, and those artists weigh in with their thoughts. Critical to the process is that the presenting artist is showing their art for the purpose of improvement, and they're prepared to receive that input because they're actively asking for it.

In contrast, I make this comic so people can read it, and while I certainly don't mind if they take it apart to analyze it or find ways the writing and art could be improved, I, the creator, am not asking for that and - more importantly - will not really benefit from it.

For instance, in this case, my style of background lighting and shading is optimized most specifically to accommodate for the fact that I need to make a lot of these pages quickly, and correspondingly cannot give everything 110%. Any individual panel could absolutely be more polished, but I often shade these backgrounds in batches of ten pages or more, each page with an average of six panels that need individual shading. So that's sixty individual backgrounds I need to shade in one go. It doesn't make your advice wrong, or even unhelpful for an artist setting out to learn this kind of technique - but it does make it unhelpful for me. This is something you realistically had no way of knowing, and I don't hold it against you! But this is why I have a short list of artists and writers whose input I actually ask for sometimes, and that list is composed of people who know me, my creative priorities, and how my process works. Because they know what I'm working with, their advice stands a much better chance of being actually helpful to me.

Criticism, like all art, has an audience it is designed for. In art school environments or artistic coworker situations, the audience for the criticism is the artist being critiqued and the other artists who are learning from the communal experience they are all agreeing to share. This is the exception and not the rule, however. Outside of this space, the audience for criticism of a work of art is typically the subset of the audience for that work of art that are trying to learn something from the experience or understand what did and didn't work for them. This group can discuss what they did and didn't like, what they would have changed, what parts worked for them that may not have worked for other members of the audience, etc. This space of critical analysis forms the backbone of most fandoms and can be incredibly interesting and rewarding to play around in.

The audience for that kind of criticism is not the creator of the art. In the same way a creator can never be fully immersed in their own fandom audience, this form of communal critique from the audience side of things does not work when directed at the creator. In the context of this work of art, we exist in very different spaces and operate under different parameters. If there's one thing I learned from back when I used to check in on the fan discord community, it's that most conversation in this space operates under the assumption that the creator will not see it or take it personally. I cannot be in the audience of my own audience.

All that to say, thanks for the thought, but please be careful doing this in the future - tumblr is the land of kneejerk hostility and poor reading comprehension, and I don't want to see you getting shredded for a kind intention. And I hope some people find this impromptu tutorial helpful!

#asks #aurora #art stuff

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rabbitsrants · 2 months

Note

Could you tell me what's your opinion about kogoro,like you always appear like you hate kogoro that's why I wanted to know (whenever you mention him you tell that unbothered fuckin father) wanna know your opinion please answer my ask

fun question!

I LOVE KOGORO

with that being said, i have a very nuanced opinion on him

do i think he's a good detective, husband or father? NO, absolutely not. i don't even think he's a good guardian in regards to conan lol

kogoro can be very self-absorbed, impatient and superficial. his alcoholism and gambling addiction strain every aspect of his life, but kogoro doesn't seem to care enough to change

a few examples:

chapter 1

chapter 370

LIKE??? SHE HAS TO STUDY FOR HER MOCK EXAMS AND KOGORO CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO GIVE A FUCK LOL

initially, i blamed his attitude on his lack of success as a detective. but he shows signs of being irresponsible in his youth as well, despite working for the police:

chapter 572

even after shinichi saves kogoro's career and introduces him to a lot of fame, kogoro shows no willingness to change. he's chronically self-indulgent:

chapter 853

on top of that, the rare times that ran asks him to do something for her, he acts like it's a complete burden:

chapter 528

ran asks him to watch eri's cat while she's in school and kogoro tries to pass the responsibility on to conan

speaking of conan, kogoro repeatedly gets violent with him when he's investigating alongside him

chapter 12

the reason why it appears like i hate him is because my posts are mainly about shinran and interestingly enough, gosho decided to write kogoro as shinichi's polar opposite in a lot of ways. which he even admits in his own writing:

chapter 163

it's evidently a writing choice that gosho decided to go for on purpose. and i think that's fucking brilliant. think about it: ran growing up with an irresponsible, unreliable dad who often prioritizes drinking and gambling over his own daughter? and that same girl falling in love with a guy who's incredibly dependable, attentive, selfless and everything her father is not? IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE

so whenever i analyze certain shinran moments, it becomes glaringly obvious to me that shinichi often acts like an anti-kogoro, so to speak.

examples i already mentioned in my acts of service post: kogoro refusing to help ran - shinichi stepping up as a result in chapter 457 and 716.

additional examples:

chapter 192

kogoro drops off ran at this weird, isolated mansion for a meeting that sonoko arranged with a bunch of strangers online and he feels off about the whole thing and i'm like YES LOVE THAT, SHOWING GREAT PARENTAL INSTINCTS

he even warns one of the guys and i'm like YEAH YOU'RE BEING A GOOD DAD, LETS GO KOGORO

naturally, shinichi feels weird about the situation as well, so he insists on staying with his girl, even though it's already been discussed that he's too sick:

so, despite the fact that a) kogoro feels like something is odd about the meeting, b) he warns the guy to leave ran tf alone... HE STILL LEAVES HER AT THE MANSION UNPROTECTED

and i'm like... WHY????? and gosho immediately answers my question:

LIKE????????????????????? talk about bad parenting lol

anyway, turns out something about the meeting was indeed off and ran is potentially in danger. both shin and kogoro lose their shit:

but there's a key difference between kogoro and shinichi and i feel like gosho wrote this difference on purpose - nothing, and i mean absolutely NOTHING will ever stop shinichi from trying to keep ran safe:

ONE MORE EXAMPLE

chapter 347-349

the case barely even begins and shinichi immediately observes that ran isn't feeling well:

he even tries to convince her to ditch dinner and go back home:

when shit starts hitting the fan and ran is getting incredibly dizzy, kogoro doesn't even notice:

again, maybe i'm reading too much into it, but i think the fact that gosho depicts kogoro's ignorance in this situation is 100% by design and as a result shinichi gets to be the anti-kogoro again:

throughout the whole case shinichi worries about ran and tries to take care of her. which is very impressive considering that ran constantly tries to downplay her symptoms:

examples like this occur way too often for me to write them off as a coincidence. we're clearly dealing with a pattern. how could i not point that out in my analysis? especially when shinichi's unwavering loyalty towards ran is something that she gushes about constantly?

with all that being said, just because i regurarly point out kogoro's flaws as a dad, doesn't mean i hate him. it's just that i aim to reach a full, comprehensive conclusion with every analysis i write and that entails important details like the glaring differences between shinichi and kogoro regarding their treatment of ran.

i still adore kogoro. cause like i said, there's nuance. i feel like there's a lot of hidden depth behind kogoro's character that i wish gosho explored more:

he's smarter than people think

chapter 11

HE'S THE FIRST PERSON TO QUESTION CONAN'S REAL IDENTITY, EVEN BEFORE RAN:

chapter 165

to everyone's suprise, kogoro deducts that eri lost her wedding ring and he goes out of his way to find it for her:

there are more examples of him showing decent detective skills during certain cases but this post is already long enough lol so i'm not getting into that

he can be very idealistic

chapter 86

him holding an old and dear friend accountable for murdering someone:

chapter 376

him doing the same again with a childhood friend:

HE HAS HIS MOMENTS, OKAY?!

chapter 266

I LOVE IT when kogoro shows his vulnerable side, i find it so heartwarming:

chapter 986

OR HIS BADASS SIDE (this is him protecting eri from a guy who's about to sexually assault her)

WHAT A KING

and even though i shit on his parenting a lot he can be very endearing at times! examples:

chapter 207

his reaction to ran dreaming about the one time that shinichi asked her to give him her bra (it was for a case lol)

chapter 254

MY FAVORITE KOGORO MOMENT:

it's a small but incredibly touching gesture and i love him so much for moments like this

chapter 255

HE CAN BE SO SUPPORTIVE AND SWEET

chapter 765

even though i criticized him for his treatment of conan earlier, shinichi and kogoro have their moments as well. the ramen case is one of my favorite moments between them, it's just so wholesome!

this case is giving dad and son-in-law eneregy!

to sum up my very long response: kogoro is an overall shitty person but he can be very smart, idealistic and sweet and i wish gosho explored those aspects of his character more, cause i feel like he gets sidelined a lot. he often uses kogoro for comedic relief which is fair to a certain extent cause kogoro is HILARIOUS and makes me laugh all the time but gosho keeps giving the bigger and more meaningful plotlines to characters that I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT (looking at you amuro) and i think that's a fucking shame cause kogoro has a lot of potential

hope that answers your question! :)

visit the shinran library for more

#kogoro mouri #shinichi kudo #ran mouri #shinran #dcmk #case closed #detective conan #ship analysis

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tossawary · 2 months

Text

"This was eminently logical. If Luo Binghe wasn't shoved into the Endless Abyss, then he wouldn't be able to activate his golden finger. If the protagonist couldn't become overpowered, then where was the satisfaction?

Therefore, the Endless Abyss scenario was unavoidable. And as this novel's number one loser, number one scum villain, the execution of this glorious task, naturally, absolutely, inescapably, fell to Shen Qingqiu.

Yet unwilling to resign himself to this fate, Shen Qingqiu asked again and ended up sighing, still unable to give up completely. Luo Binghe, who was currently like a little sun, was destined to fall and become that brooding, cold-blooded, demon youth. Even a transmigrator like Shen Qingqiu, who by all rights ought to have access to cheat powers, was unable to change this inevitability.

He had been designated to be the man who threw the protagonist into the Endless Abyss, thereby catalyzing his overpowered, legendary journey.

This job's opportunities for growth were really terrible.

If Shen Qingqiu failed to do this, he would lose ten thousand satisfaction points - he couldn't become more thoroughly dead than that. But if he did do this, once Luo Binghe activated his golden finger, he definitely wouldn't let him off.

The work was difficult, the pay was meager, the benefits - were nonexistent. What the hell was up with this?!"

Volume 1, Chapter 3, page 140.

I do enjoy it when Shen Yuan falls into complaining about his "job" like this. You should join the transmigrators' union, bro! I suppose "job" is a more bearable and comedic way to think about the situation.

More of Shen Yuan assuming what "satisfaction" means here! To be fair to him, the System's goals are extremely unclear and the tasks that it has set are also unclear. It's all very vague. (Frankly, I'm still fuzzy on what the System as a character is doing.) Luo Binghe falling into the Endless Abyss and gaining the Xin Mo sword and becoming an overpowered stallion protagonist are the key concepts of Proud Immortal Demon Way, and Shen Yuan thinks that he's been set the task of helping PIDW happen but a little better.

Shen Yuan's perspective here is funny to me because he... does seem to believe that PIDW Binghe was ultimately satisfied by his life? That the PIDW lifestyle of conquest was meaningful and fulfilling? I do think PIDW Binghe enjoyed many, MANY pleasures, as the Emperor of everything, and did take satisfaction when he took revenge on his enemies, but that's not the same as contentment. Overpowered and legendary? Who could ask for more?

I tend to write Airplane Bro as being at least vaguely aware of this, as the writer of it all, and as someone I think was extremely dissatisfied with his own life and his incredibly popular story for a number of reasons. I also think it's funny to have him go, "Uh, bro, Binghe was miserable, actually? Obviously?"

#tossawary svsss #tossawary rereads svsss #luo binghe #shen yuan #shen qingqiu #shang qinghua #spoilers #the system

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domain-of-revelation · 3 months

Text

Love & Deep Space Notes (so far for Day 1, all quests/tasks completed, Ch. 2 completed)

The pre-launch MC editor was a nice touch to tide us over until launch.

The voice over customizer needs some adjustments. Even though when tuning the voice to the extremes gives a warning in potential audio quality dropping, I find that some sliders are more likely to come out weird, particularly the “Husk” slide. I myself have instances of vocal fry, so hearing the Husk slide have such a small range of “okayness” before it absolutely sounds inhuman needs to be redone.

May we please have more POC hairstyles/hairtypes? May we please have short hair options?

I noted this in the Survey L&DS has already put out, but the dialogue (at least in English) of the opening cinematic is incredibly fast and doesn’t have a lot of inflection or weight to it.

Speaking of the dialogue, the subtitles don’t line up perfectly in some instances, especially when characters are interrupting or talking over each other or when characters speak directly after each other.

While Zayne is my bias so far, his voice fits the least. My opinion.

I love Tara. She’s such a cute little side companion/exposition girl. I want to see her character more and explore her. Her voice actress is spectacular and fits her perfectly.

Jenna is a girlboss and we love that. Her voice is a great fit.

When “texting” the boys, there’s an option to also have captions!! I adore this. Great for people who are hard of hearing.

L&DS has graphical options for quality. I’m on an iPhone 12 (?) and having it on High doesn’t make my phone melt.

I’m on level 12 with one of the LIs, and I enjoy that every new bond gives you something, from gems to poses to new features you can do with them.

There are a few minor visual glitches, but nothing game breaking.

If you’re playing on mobile, you can’t also watch a YouTube video at the same time during the opening. If you do, the audio for L&DS cuts out completely.

Please know that your first and last name will show up as the actual character designation. I haven’t gotten to where a Nickname is used, so use a different name other than your actual name if you do that.

You get a free rename and new birthday ticket.

I’ve done all the quests for today, and reached level 20. I have to wait until server reset to continue the story, which is locked to 21+.

I’ll do the side stuff, like the branching dialogue side stories later tonight.

(Psst! I posted part 2 on my blog! Not much has changed, but there were some things I noticed. I’m also now on Chapter 5.)

#love and deepspace #love and deep space

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a-gay-old-time · 2 years

Photo

Tit for Tat by @mintamintathings

with art from @mad1492 and @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm

and gorgeous chapter headings by @babooshkart 🌸

I read this fic for the first time last winter and I was absolutely blown away by Grace’s writing. The characterizations for this Harry and Draco are stunning and complicated and so brilliantly thought out. This story doesn’t shy away from challenging themes, and it explores them with a lot of nuance and grace that make the character arcs feel so well-earned. And what amazing character arcs they are! The way that Harry and Draco change and grow throughout this story is so engaging and rewarding--I was so invested in their relationship but also in them as individuals. This is a fic that’s filled with rich details, some wonderful angst, unique characterizations, really hot emotionally-driven smut (my favorite kind!), and such obvious care for some really engaging and important themes. Thank you for writing such a brilliant fic and for letting me make it into 3(!) books, Grace!

At 388,842 words, this was by far the longest fic I’ve decided to bind so far! I ended up splitting it up into three volumes both in order to make the actual books more manageable and to have some fun with the design elements of the bindings. When I was talking to Grace about the imagery she associates with this fic, she told me that the story starts out dark grey and ends up pale pink, and I took this idea and ran with it! I wanted to have the three volumes work through this color scheme, so I chose different endpapers for each volume that start out dark and end in the third volume with lighter pinks and golds. I speckled the edges of the books with acrylic inks that tie into the individual color schemes for each volume. This was the first time I tried this process and it was super fun (thanks especially to @marvinhere for the tips on edge speckling)! I was inspired by Draco’s tea roses for the title pages, and had them bloom across the volumes. For the spines, I carried over the floral theme and painted flowers that span across the bottom of all three spines to connect the volumes!

I was so excited to be able to include the gorgeous art for this story from both @mad1492 and @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm! One of the other reasons I was so excited about this project was because the incredibly lovely and talented @babooshkart offered to make some floral art for the chapter headings based on the flowers described in Draco’s garden and the colors in the endpapers. I’ve included Boo’s amazing art in lots of my other bindings, but it was a really special and wonderful experience to collaborate on a work together like this and I’m so thrilled by how the chapter headings turned out! Boo, I don’t even have the words to describe how grateful and excited I am to have gotten to work on these books with you! 💕

#drarry #ficbinding #fanbinding #bookbinding #this was such a labor of love #and i'm so excited to have gotten to make them for grace #it was so much fun to try out some new techniques #and now i want to speckle the edges of every book i ever make

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bellabraus · 2 years

Text

It’s Not That Bad, Sweetheart.

Part Two

summary: Y/N finds herself working at the Hawkins pool, where she crosses paths with the one man she thought she could avoid: billy hargrove.

warnings: 2 year age gap between reader (18) and billy (20), inappropriate/suggestive language and content

female reader. this is a long chapter, kind of. thank you for all the love on pt 1.

————————————————————-

Your summer has been going incredibly slow and boring. In some cases, you could make “slow and boring” fun, and that was by having extra money to spend on random things. But you didn’t, you lacked in that department. Of course, your parents could provide extra things besides food and shelter for you, but they wanted you to make your own income.

That’s why you started working a summer shift at the Hawkins Pool. A place with all of your least favorite things: children, swimming, being sweaty, and Billy Hargrove. It was a sacrifice you knew you had to make, and at least it would be earning you more money than you already had.

As you fix the straps on your red lifeguard swimsuit, you contemplate your decision of choosing this job. Was it worth it? Probably not. The swimsuit fit weird and you were uncomfortable. The straps were too tight, the life guard logo was weirdly made, and you looked weird in it. The mirror you were staring into was practically judging you.

You sigh, rubbing your eyes to try and make up for the hours of sleep you missed last night. You step into your black flip flops as you reach for your red bag that has “LifeGuard” in white writing plastered right on it. You were in the woman’s locker room. Well, at least the part for only female employees. It was eery because there was no one there with you, and you weren’t the biggest fan of empty spaces, so you tried to get changed as fast as possible.

As you rush to leave the locker room, a teenage girl bumps into you. You’re stunned by the sudden action, but when you widen your eyes to react, you notice she’s around 15 years old. Your eyes soften, knowing that she’s just young and maybe lost. She’s just as shocked as you are.

“I am so so sorry. I didn’t mean to run in here like that!” She exclaims, worried. You clutch onto your red lifeguard bag. You smile softly to let her know she’s not in the wrong. “No worries. But I do have to direct you to where you need to go because this room is employees only.” You didn’t want to order her around, but that was part of your new job. Being stern. She nods, and rushes away from you and to a clump of teenage girls, all giggling. You rolled your eyes. Just a prank.

All throughout high school you had been teased by girls just like that. And here at 18 years old, you were still being treated the same. It didn’t matter what you thought because you needed to start your shift. Your eyes scan the vicinity of your workspace, A.K.A the pool. The pool is light blue, reflecting the sunlight. The pool is absolutely crammed with tons of Hawkins residents. It was hard to pick apart different people when they all looked like one big mass.

You take a deep breath, making sure to calm yourself down. As soon as you take a few steps over to your lifeguard chair, you see none other than Billy Hargrove sitting on his 6 foot tall chair topped with a complimentary red and white umbrella to shield himself from his sun. His lifeguard chair is parallel to yours, and you find yourself in perfect view of him. Not only did you despise Billy Hargrove, you hated looking at his horrible, ugly, gorgeous face.

You ignore this and make your way over to your designated white chair. You sit on the top and overlook your view: a bunch of playing children and teenagers. Kids in Hawkins weren’t that stupid, so maybe they wouldn’t need saving because none of them would drown. At least you hoped. Your thoughts abruptly end because as soon as you’re beginning your next thought, you connect your sunglasses-covered eyes with Billy Hargrove. You hope he doesn’t notice you’re looking, because you see his head facing your direction. He quickly looks away as a teenage girl below begins a conversation with him. He looks disengaged, yet interested.

You hadn’t seen Billy since the night he was drunk and stumbled into your room. You thought about that night a lot. The way he had pushed your hair behind your ear, or the way he carefully sat in your bed, or the way he was so nice, or the way that he wanted to talk to you, or that way that he-

You needed to stop thinking about him. You palmed your forehead as you distract yourself from your overbearing thoughts. You link your eyes to the mass of people in the pool, hoping to keep a close eye on everyone. After all, it was your job.

It only takes about 5 minutes before you spot a tiny child flailing around in the water. “Fuck,” You curse to yourself. You quickly take off your sunglasses and dive into the water along with your life guard raft. You locate the child and as soon as you do, he hooks his tiny hand onto your arm, and you carry him out of the crowded pool. The kid’s no more than 6 years old, which makes you even more upset. He was placed into the water without even knowing how to swim.

As soon as you reach the edge of the pool, you lay him down on the ground. You can feel the attention from the people in the pool, but all that mattered was keeping this little boy safe. The boy starts vigorously coughing, and you wait for him to finish. When he’s done, you check his pulse and thankfully, he’s breathing. You release the biggest breathe you’ve ever taken as the kid clings onto you, basically thanking you for saving him.

Suddenly, the sun is shielded from you and you’re faced with a blanket of shade. What could really shield the sun in a time like this? You look up, and to your expectations, it’s Billy. Billy crouches down and looks at the small child clinging onto you. You hold the child’s head to soothe him from the scary situation he just endured. He takes one quick glance at you and then at the child. He raises his tall body up and you can tell he’s preparing to say something.

You were right, because as soon as he’s on his feet, he yells, “Who’s child is this and why the hell is he unattended at a crowded pool?” The staggered children in the pool look frightened from the tone of Billy’s voice, and none of them voice anything. But then, sudden loud footsteps make their way toward me. “George!” It’s the clumsy teenage girl from earlier, and this time, she was not giggling with her friends. Her face was full of concern, and not the fake kind.

“So you mean to tell me, you left your little brother unattended just so you could be with your friends?!” He says, raising his voice at the scared teenager. She gulps, “No! He’s not even my little brother!” He rolls his eyes, ignoring her fear.

“Get outta here.” He says sternly, almost freaking you out when he’s not even talking to you. She quickly picks the little boy up out of your arms and swings him into her arms, and the little boy clings himself into her arms. He waves at you from over her shoulder, smiling through his missing front teeth. You wave back, smiling.

Billy reaches his hand at you, ushering you to grab it. You grab it and he pulls you up in one swift motion, basically sweeping you off of your feet. “Let’s get back to work, little girl.”

•••

Work was over now, and you found yourself sitting in the break room, alone. It was 8 pm, and you were paranoid, to say the least. Munching on your Cheetos, you were worried some monster would crawl into the room. You kept telling yourself, no monsters would ever enter Indiana, that’s stupid.

You buried yourself into your favorite black zip up, hoping to drown in your own thoughts. Your favorite thing to do was think. You barely get any time to do so because you hear noise from the men’s locker room. You clutch onto your lifeguard bag, practically shitting your pants. You praying to God that it’s just nothing and you’re going crazy, but that doesn’t work, because a tall male figure makes it’s way into the doorway.

You scream, getting ready to run, and it sounds like something straight out of a horror movie. Never in a million years would you expect that sound to come out of your body. “Jesus!” Billy yells, “Calm the fuck down, Y/N.” He raises both eyebrows, looking seriously concerned. You slap your hand onto your chest, placing it above your heart, taking a moment to adjust to calming down.

You don’t even get the chance to calm down or even let your heart beat get slower because you’re faced with the godly sight of Billy’s wet hair and his shirtless, half-naked body. It was crazy, how one man could have so many abs on his stomach. And how those abs could be so tan and so perfect. A white towel sits on his waist, covering his lower half, and you find yourself getting lost in his appearance. He’s quick to notice though, because he’s so used to excessive attention. “Like what you see?” He smirks, trying not to laugh. You don’t hesitate to laugh though, “In your dreams, Hargrove.”

“Worth a shot.” He shrugs, leaning his bare body against the wall. You couldn’t help but wonder, did he remember that night? The night where he came into your room. You try to stop yourself but the thoughts rush in too fast, and before you know it, you’re asking him, “Why did you come into my room?”

Still leaning against the wall, he links his blue eyes with your eyes. No matter the occasion, you were always lost in them. They drove you crazy. No matter what age you guys were, they always would. They do say that eyes never age. “Because I wanted to.” He licks his lips.

Now you had confirmation. Billy Hargrove remembered your encounter, you didn’t know why or how, but that made you feel content. Like you were cared about. You try to hold back your smile, still mesmerized in his presence. You force your smile back in by pulling your lips in, trying not to respond with something stupid. As much as you wanted to tell him, “That’s not enough, tell me the real reason”, You didn’t.

He begins walking over to you, gripping onto his towel to prevent it from falling off of his body. He finishes his confident strides as he’s finally face to face with you. He has a light smirk on his face, and you make a mental note not to fall for his undeniable charm. He meticulously places his big hand onto your jawline, which recedes onto your cheek as well. You don’t know how to feel, but all you knew, was that this was making you feel good. You were a mess around Billy, and this was only the second time you’ve met like this. Maybe it was because of his abs, or maybe it was because of his…

He places his forehead onto yours creating immense contact. Your lips are barely apart, and your noses are almost kissing. You didn’t know what his end goal was here, but you wanted to know. You needed to know.

He moves his thumb carefully on your cheek, rubbing it. You can see his smirk-smile even though you guys are so close together. You knew Billy’s version of smiling was smirking, well at least you thought it was.

Then, out of nowhere, he retracts his touch from you. You feel your heart drop, you feel like you just went down a rollercoaster and suffered the terrible drop. You felt robbed, like if someone stole your candy from you on halloween. He’s still holding his smirk, but this time, it’s a slight smile. His face is still stern, but he makes it clear when he says, “See you tomorrow.”

And there he goes, walking away from you and disappearing into the men’s locker room. You were confused and feeling lost.

“What have you done to me, Hargrove?”

#stranger things #billy hargove x reader #billy hargrove #billy hargove imagine #steve harrington #romance #television #fanfic

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sm1l3b0t · 28 days

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Orv ask game with a twist! (5) And (6) but also a personal question. What's your most KDJ moment while reading the series?

hello!!! ask game with a twist you say......

5. if you could ask the authors any question, what would you ask them?

id want to ask them what their plan for orv looked like when they first started writing it, and how that plan changed throughout publishing the chapters! so much of orv feels perfectly preplanned out and i want to know if they really knew how every part of orv was gonna go from the beginning, if they didn't how did they make such a coherent novel, whether there were any scenes where the characters/action just started running away from them, etc. i need to know their secrets for writing such a long and coherent book!

6. whats a headcanon i have that i absolutely believe is canon

i think kim dokja enjoys cooking and is pretty good at it! he didn't have a lot of money to buy ingredients very often, but i think considering how much he idolised yoo jonghyuk and how often in wos there were graphic descriptions of yoo jonghyuk cooking delicious meals specifically designed to make kim dokja hungry, i think he did try and cook when he could - and he was good! i believe he can follow a recipe book, and thats all you really need anyway. also, post epilogue yoo jonghyuk teaches him the secret ways of his super good cooking and kim dokja goes from pretty good to damn good. the kids always fight over who gets to eat his food :)

personal question!!! very exciting. whats my most kim dokja moment reading orv..........there are a lot of moments so its possible this one is just the most fresh in my brain right now but im gonna pick this one

obviously i relate a lot to all of kim dokjas moments because he was designed in a lab to be incredibly relatable to whoever read orv. but i especially relate to this moment. again, obviously i rely heavily on fiction to escape the struggles of my day to day life and kim dokjas obsession with ways of survival is deeply relatable (i am in the orv fandom, kim dokja is my favourite character, we know, etc). 'i just feel steady when i look at this' is how i would describe my relationship to reading on the whole and orv especially, so that bit of dialogue especially.

what makes this moment more 'woah im literally kim dokja' than any of the other moments when he talks about needing to read to feel safe/steady/hope/etc is the hypocrisy of 'fuck the constellations for surviving off of others stories! not me tho im different than yall <3'. cause like. its orv doing a fun little meta tap dance. kim dokja hates the constellations and is one. you hate the constellations and are one. its a very intense feeling of. it may be too early for me to fully articulate this. we are all readers we are all reading a story to survive and we are all being fucking hypocrites about it! very fun to me didnt so much make me relate to kim dokja as punched me in the face and went YOU ARE KIM DOKJA

ok this was really long im so sorry BUT thank you for the ask!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love answering these so much :)) <3

#orv ask game

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lil-oreo-crumbles · 2 months

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Hey, got any thoughts about Seth?

Oh, do I ever!!

Seth is an incredibly fascinating, dominant, and looming presence in the Magic Book of Spells with the potential to be one of the most intriguing characters in the entirely of SVTFOE… that was tragically underutilized, slapped in the face, and is who I believe to be the source of the biggest missed potential in the entirety of canon.

But I do not trust the writers at all to have handled him in the show proper.

The Septarians are notoriously treated like absolute dirt. Any and all of the Septarians we meet have either been humiliated, turned into a joke, villainized beyond any humanity, and overall treated awfully. They’re portrayed as this unfeeling, violent, monster species with no (biological? cultural?) ability to forgive or forget the countless atrocities the Mewmans committed against innocent people. GEEZ, It’s not like the Septarians have enhanced longevity and experience time differently than almost EVERY OTHER SPECIES ON MEWNI with most of them FIRST HAND experiencing the atrocities other species of monsters and ESPECIALLY Mewmans see as “bygone eras of the past!!”

And even with the book alone, Seth is also lumped into this stereotype, and may be one of the worst offenders. Globgor can’t stand him and has intense bias against him (I know he talked about “Septarians” but my god we all know he means Seth to some degree. Seth is very clearly a prominent figure if not the leader of the Septarians and he’s pictured/alluded to twice in Eclipsa’s chapter), bitch Crescenta smeared his name into the DIRT in a rigged election campaign and destroyed his reputation, and Comet refused to take him seriously whatsoever (but then again it’s Comet so what are we really expecting??). He was even on the Magic High Commission’s radar, labeled as an “extremist” (which just about anything is labeled “extreme” in the MHC’s eyes so they’re not reliable narrators). He’s spat upon and repeatedly villainized. He gets no breaks or even a glimpse of humanity and everyone in the fandom after the book came out was hyping him up as this huge villain.

So, yeah, I don’t think the show would have bothered to give him any humanity or depth if he was introduced in the show proper and would have made egregiously worse the show’s already bad problem of making monsters, the historically marginalized and colonized group of people, the bad guys. (Seriously, Meteora wasn’t a “real” threat until she was revealed to be half monster. That makes me frustrated.)

I love Seth. I think he would’ve had amazing potential if put in the right hands. There’s so much to do with him and I’m mostly glad he’s been left alone so fans can interpret him in any way they want.

Now… what are my opinions and headcanons about him? What’s the story I’ve concocted?

Thankfully Seth is a character I can talk about without worrying about AU spoilers… mostly (thank god).

In my mind, Seth is someone who actually didn’t see the Great Monster Massacre first hand, hatching about 200 years afterwards (due to my timeline and how I’ve designed Septarian aging). But that doesn’t mean whatsoever that he hasn’t seen the atrocities of Mewmans. In fact, he’s been put in several situations where— while not Moe levels of genocide— he has seen the cruelest and most inhumane levels of Mewman aggression against monsters. He’s a victim of it first hand and spent 80+ years through torture after being ripped away from his homeland before finally uprising against it with his sister (oh yeah he has a sister in my AU)

He is someone who wholeheartedly earned the respect and adoration of his people. He was a leader that they wanted, not because of blood or any ties to the throne he had. (He’s by blood the Prince of Septarsis, but by the time he came back to Septarsis not many people remembered him since he had changed so much). He completely changed the governmental system and put Septarsis into its golden age.

Now this is what may get me in trouble, but stick with me… I don’t think the reputation he’s acquired is completely unfounded. YES the Mewmans and MHC are incredibly biased and we can’t take what they say at face value, but some stereotypes have some truth to them. It’s way overexaggerated, but Seth is someone who I see as extremely trigger happy in his youth.

While a great leader and delegate, he can be incredibly rash and actively seeks violence against Mewmankind. Never Solaria or Moe levels of genocide… but if Mewmans happened to disappear one day he’d be over the moon. This makes him a fun foil for Toffee’s mother in my AU, Mylanie, who’s someone who strives to end the conflict and seek lasting peace.

In the early days he was active in battle and loved fighting against his adversaries. In fact, I find the idea of Seth being the one to kill Solaria— specifically beheading her with his own hands— fascinating and I LOVE IT. He’s not afraid to get messy when protecting monsters or his homeland, and the stories about his violence is NOT unfounded. If anyone is perpetuating ideas about Septarian stereotypes, it’s our buddy Seth.

But here’s the important distinction, he is not going out of his way hurting innocent people. He’s not this bloodthirsty monster who’s trying to commit genocide, he’s not Solaria, he’s just someone who sees violence as the answer and thinks peace is a waste of time.

It wasn’t until the election that his priorities changed and he actually calmed down.

The smear campaign was a huge blow. It really got him to think and consider how his actions were affecting monsters as a whole but especially his own people. He knows how much influence he has over how his people are perceived… and that’s when he pulled back. He was still active, don’t get me wrong, and got along diplomatically with the few surviving monster civilizations, but he took a lot less of a role than he used to. He started thinking critically and cleverly instead of resorting to violence first and foremost. Peace with Mewmans was still firmly off the table though and is still that way to this day.

When Comet sent the invitation, he genuinely planned to ignore it. He had no intention of going to the banquet— as last time he played along with Mewman rules he got screwed— but did allow Toffee to be a representative after Toffee offered to go in his place.

Under one condition: No harm was to come to the Queen

And we see how that went…

I’d gladly go into his relationship/dynamic with Toffee but this post is long enough :). Maybe in another post!!

His “death” was a stunt to fully get him out of any Mewman drama, and he was especially glad he perpetuated that lie because of how pissed he was at Toffee after Comet’s death. He’s alive and well and still in charge of Septarsis, he’s just out of the public eye because everyone thinks he’s dead (except close allies).

Overall I see him as someone who was essentially what his reputation said he was until he got a huge ego blow and actually matured enough to stop being so trigger happy. He was always a great leader over Septarsis and did whatever it took to protect his people, but he had some growing up to do as well.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. My AU goes into him a lot deeper and really fleshes him out. He’s a four dimensional character with layers and depth to him. While he seems like a Mewman hating “radical” on the surface, he’s humanized and he has layers and reasonings for his beliefs and actions.

I just love Seth. A lot. He’s so silly. He’s so fascinating and I love that everyone has a different perspective of him.

Also he is Rasticore’s dad you can’t change my mind !!

Dude I could literally make a whole other post on him I love this character so much—

Anyways here’s Seth and his little sister Zarina I love them to bits <3

#svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #seth of septarsis #septarsis #ask #seth kardona of septarsis #septarsis dragonfly au #yes I’m tagging my AU because it has AU plot points #Seth is very fun to write #he absolutely hates Mewmans 100%#He wouldn’t mind if Mewmans were all dead but he isn’t out causing genocide yk #Seth sees Mewmans as the problem #not magic #unlike Toffee #Anyways I can save this for another post I need to wrap this up

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spagetthee · 10 months

Text

This is my copy of Le'Letha's incredible frostiron fic "Mirage." I am absolutely in love with this story and I hope I did it justice.

I found this awhile ago so everything is still in the handpainted stage. I wish I had done a neater job but I like it anyways.

The front cover has the designs imbedded into it, which was pretty complicated and finicky but I love the result.

I also really enjoyed typesetting this one. I stead of chapters, everything is in acts. So that was a cool change of pace. I also switched up the chapter header from what I normally do but I love it. It came out really well.

#my art #fanbinding #fanbind #frostiron #fanfic typesetting

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sassy-ahsoka-tano · 1 year

Text

DADDY ISSUES - Part Four: Vegas

Character/Fandom: Elvis - Elvis (2022)

Prompt: Your new life is amazing, without Elvis. Well, at least until you get a mysterious package in the mail that's about to change your life. [ Fem!Reader ]

TW: a friend fight with some harsh words that were painful to write but i don't think anything else!

Rating: Pg-13 || Word Count: 5058

A/N: ahhh it's been AGES i know but i've been working hard so expect lots of updates!! i have several parts already queued. i'll be posting a chapter every tuesday + thursday until the fic is completed!

also just a reminder that there's a playlist if you're interested and i've put the link to the taglist below!

Song Rec: vegas - doja cat

This is Part 4 of Daddy Issues. Find the rest of the series here!

[ masterlist | taglist ]

🦋 mila

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

A year later, you find yourself living in a brand new apartment with Trixie, the girl whom you stood next to during the chaotic filming of the 68 Comeback Special. Apparently, her family is extremely well-off and has absolutely no issue sending her money without question. Although you’ve tried to assure Trixie about a thousand times that you don’t want nor need the money she continues to shovel into your pocket, she insists on supporting you. At first, it was easier to give in because you actually really did need the money, since you were unemployed with no prospects and a scant resume. But now, you’re just starting to feel selfish.

Fortunately, with Steve’s help you’ve managed to secure a job working at KNBC, California’s NBC television station. You might still just be a secretarial worker, but a job is a job. Surprisingly, you find yourself with an unprecedented amount of free time compared to what you had when you were constantly picking up night and weekend shifts every other week at the diner. Not to mention that you make a lot more, too. It’s nothing to brag about by any means, but far more than enough to get you back on your feet. Slowly but surely, your debts dwindle little by little every day.

So far, living with Trixie has been pure bliss. She’s incredibly sweet and very neat and tidy. She doesn’t leave her laundry on the floor, always takes the trash out, and is usually cheerful in the morning. Some days, she even meets you in the kitchen with a carafe of steaming hot coffee already brewed. She never brings home creepy guys who hang around past their welcome and she’s nothing but respectful of your space. She works similar hours to you as a designer at a fashion magazine conveniently located only a couple of blocks down the road from KNBC.

You honestly couldn’t have asked for a better situation and, for the first time in a very long time, you feel safe, happy, and healthy. Little do you know what’s to come when a surprise package shows up on your doorstep.

You’re in the bathroom, elbows deep in water and soap as you wash your face first thing in the morning. Trixie, the early morning bird she is, has been awake for several hours already and is in the kitchen making breakfast. With the bathroom door closed, you can hardly hear anything going on down the hall so it takes you a moment to process Trixie’s shout that you’ve received a delivery. Squinting your eyes to protect them from the soap sliding down your face, you turn toward the door and yell back.

“Who’s it from?”

A few seconds of silence pass before Trixie replies.

“Uh…Y/N, why are you getting a package from E…ley?”

You shake your head. You can barely hear her over the sound of the water and the closed door. Your fingers quickly scramble to turn off the faucet and you grasp for a towel to hurriedly dry your face before rushing out of the bathroom. Sticking your head around the corner, you glance at Trixie with furrowed eyebrows.

“What did you say?” you ask.

“The package,” she responds, holding it up, “it’s from Elvis Presley.”

“I…from who?”

“Can you hear me, honey? Elvis. Elvis Presley? Famous musician and actor? We're both huge fans? We were in the audience while he filmed his comeback special on NBC? Ringing any bells here?” Trixie gestures wildly, her eyes big and wide.

You shake your head and approach her, holding out your hands so she can pass the package along to you. As soon as it touches your fingers, you snatch it up and sit down on the couch in the living room. Sure enough, as you look at the address label on the package, there it is. Elvis Presley.

To be perfectly honest, you’ve all but forgotten about him. With everything going on in your life, you’ve been too busy to pay attention to celebrity gossip or keep track of the music charts. You also have to admit that you might have been more inclined to forget him after suffering the embarrassment of turning down his…offer.

Glancing up at Trixie, you see her biting the nail of her thumb anxiously, a big grin breaking through her face. You shake your head again and sigh a deep breath before your fingers start digging into the wrapping of the package. Once you’ve torn through the wrapping paper and flipped open the cardboard box, your fingers catch onto something soft and silky. Shooting a confused expression at Trixie, you pull out the object and stand to let it unfold. Your breath catches in your throat as it drops down into its full form. Trixie shares the expression, her gasp accompanying yours.

“Oh my god…” she says in awe.

You hold it up to your body and wander over to the floor-length mirror hanging in the entryway. As you press the fabric against your figure, your eyebrows raise. It’s almost the same blue color as your horrible dress from Chadney’s Restaurant, the one you’d been wearing when you officially met Elvis for the first time. Although the color is comparable, the quality is nowhere near the same. This dress is made of silk, softer than any fabric you’ve ever felt before, and definitely a major upgrade from the scratchy cotton of your old work uniform. The dress has a sweetheart neckline with a cut out of the side and a leg slit that rides higher than you’d normally be comfortable with. As you run your fingers over the seams, you feel a few hand-cut jewels. They look like diamonds, although your brain is incapable of believing that.

“Hey, there’s a note with it,” Trixie’s voice knocks you out of your disbelief and you turn toward her.

She hands it over to you and, as you unfold it, two long green strips of paper fall out. Trixie bends to pick them up and examines them as you read the handwritten script of the letter out loud, although the handwriting is atrociously difficult to decipher.

“Cinderella,” you pause and gulp as your brain flashes back to the moment when Elvis had first called you that. When he’d invited you into his dressing room after the special. When he’d pulled your panties from his robe pocket…

“Cinderella,” you clear your throat and continue, “I figured I oughta replace that blue dress you ruined on account of me. I hope you like this one better and that you find the rest of the contents of this package to your taste.”

You pause, your eyes wandering over toward the package which, apparently, has more to give. You reach for it, digging underneath the wrapping paper until your fingers curl onto something lacy. You pull it out and heat immediately floods your face and neck. Trixie’s hand flies onto her mouth as you both stare in silence at an expensive-looking lingerie set hanging from your fingertip. You immediately drop it back into the package and shiver.

“What does the rest of the letter say?” Trixie asks, leaning forward to glance at the note over your shoulder.

“Uh…replace that blue dress, blah, blah, blah…contents of this package…Don’t make me wait until midnight. And don’t forget who-”

You stop abruptly as your brain circles around the last few words of the letter.

“What?” Trixie asks, peering more intensely over your shoulder. “What does it say, Foxie? I can barely read his chicken scratch.”

Foxie is the nickname Trixie had started calling you. Until this point, you’ve never understood why. But as your eyes roam over the contents of the package Elvis sent you, you start to understand that maybe you’re more of a fox than you realized.

“Don’t forget who owns you, princess.”

Trixie’s mouth pops open and she stares at you with wide eyes. You collapse further onto the couch and cover your eyes with your palms. Your heart pounds in your chest as you run through everything you just discovered.

“Wait, I’m sorry…did I miss something?” Trixie asks. “What the hell is all of this, Y/N?”

“It’s nothing,” you reply a little too quickly. “It must be some kind of a joke or something. I don’t know.”

“Some joke! Some expensive joke. These fell out of the letter,” she says, handing over the two green strips of paper.

Your eyes widen as you scan the printed text on the paper. Two tickets to one of Elvis’ concerts at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. You run a hand over your face and toss the tickets back into the cardboard box they came in. With a building rage, you grab onto the other contents of the package and shove them back in, tucking the wrapping paper back over them like a blanket.

“No, no this is insane. I don’t know what kind of sick joke this is. But no,” you mutter to yourself.

“Y/N, honey…I really don’t think this is a joke. I mean, two front row tickets to an Elvis Presley concert in Las Vegas? Do you know how expensive these are? Who would blow that much money just to get a laugh? I can’t even think of anyone else you know and I certainly didn’t pull this stunt.”

“Look, I don’t know, but I can’t believe that…well, he wouldn’t have any reason to send this to me. I mean, I told him no the last time he offered, so he should-”

“What? What do you mean you ‘told him no?’ Y/N what is going on here that I don’t know about? I’m completely lost.”

Shit. You slipped.

“Oh, no. It’s nothing,” you stutter, waving your hands frantically. “It was…nothing.”

“Well, it was obviously something?” Trixie gestures to the package. You sigh and she places a hand on your shoulder. “Foxie, I’m your best friend in the world. You can tell me anything.”

Your gaze drops down to her brightly painted purple nails and you heave a deep breath before lifting your gaze to hers. Her eyebrows are furrowed in concern and you know that she genuinely does care about your well-being.

“You’re technically my only friend in the world, Trix. But yes, I guess something did happen that I never told you about.”

“Well, what is honey? Now, I really have to know,” she gestures to the package again and you chuckle.

“Well, to start off, the 68 special wasn’t the first time I saw Elvis. I saw him in 1956 at Russwood Park, too.”

“Right. I remember. We’ve talked about it plenty of times. What does that concert have to do with this?”

“Well, I maybe…kind of, sort of…did an embarrassing thing.”

“Like…what?” she quirks an eyebrow and you squeeze your eyes shut to counter the embarrassment you feel rising in your chest.

“I slid my underwear across the stage at that concert,” you blurt, wincing at the memory of your own actions. “And apparently I made an impression because he, Elvis I mean, sent his producer to bring me to the dressing room after we filmed the special. It was several hours after, so you were probably long gone by then. I was staying with my cousin, Steve, you remember him. Anyway, so I wound up in Elvis’ dressing room and it was just the two of us and he just…he just pulled my panties out of his pocket! The ones I’d given him, you know, years and years ago. I mean, I never in my wildest dreams would have expected…do you think he washed them? I mean, ew!”

“Calm, Foxie! Calm and focus. Slow words.”

“Right, sorry,” you laugh painfully and gulp before continuing. “Uh, after he pulled my panties out he sort of asked me if I…like, if I wanted to be his…sugar baby?”

Trixie’s eyes close and reopen wider and she leans forward as if she hasn’t heard you correctly. She blinks in shock.

“Well, what did you say? Did you tell him no?”

“Yeah, I said it was wrong. That I’m not the kind of person who sleeps with married men. Apparently, he didn’t take the hint because…” you gesture again to the infamous package.

“Yeah, I’d say not. What did he offer you? That’s how it works, right? You take care of him and he does something for you?”

“He offered to pay my debts and buy me gifts and stuff. The usual things, I imagine?”

“And he hasn’t contacted you since then until now?”

“Not one time.”

A few moments of silence pass. Trixie settles back into the couch, tapping her finger on her leg, obviously deep in thought. Your eyes just lazily drag around the scattered contents of the package as you contemplate what to do.

“Maybe…” Trixie starts, “you should go see what he wants?”

Your head snaps toward her.

“What?”

“I don’t know, maybe…maybe he has a different offer for you. Or maybe you can finagle your way into an even better arrangement.”

You throw your hands up, motioning for her to stop.

“Trixie, what are you talking about? I can’t do this. It’s wrong.”

“Yeah, I know, but you could use the extra cash and, after all, it is Elvis Presley.”

You just stare at her for a moment, your eyes flicking around her face to see whether she’s joking. Based on what you gather from her expression, she’s being completely serious. You scoff and stand up, grabbing harshly onto the box to take it right to the trash can.

“I can’t believe you would even say that, Trix. I expected better from you.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Trixie asks, standing and propping her hands on her hips.

“For God’s sake, Trixie! The man is married with a baby. What would I do to all of that if I said yes? I’m not a homewrecker. All he wants to do is use me anyway. He’ll probably drop me in three days for another woman. No thanks, not gonna happen. I’m not doing this.”

“Well, give it all to me, then,” Trixie shouts back, stalking over toward you and grabbing ahold of the package. You pull back firmly, preventing her from snatching it out of your fingers.

“Excuse me? What are you gonna do? You’re gonna go see him?”

“Maybe I will.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but he doesn’t want you. He wants me!” you shout, ripping the package away from her.

“Oh, that’s very nice of you. If you’re not gonna take him up on it, someone should!” she yells back, reaching for the package again.

“If you didn’t want to support me financially any more you could have just said it!”

“Don’t even!” she holds up her pointer finger. “You know very well that’s not what this is about. I have no problem helping you. You’re the one who’s always complaining about how pathetic it is that you have to mooch off me.”

“And not everyone has the luxury to just leave their lives, you know!” you yell. “I have to work, Trixie. To pay my bills, to keep my car, to avoid going to prison. Not everyone’s mommy and daddy are around to bail them out when they make stupid decisions!”

Right after the words escape your lips, your eyebrows unfurl and grief settles quickly in the depths of your stomach. When you notice a few glinting tears gathering in Trixie’s eyes, the reality of what you’ve said and its consequences are all too clear. Trixie huffs and stares at you for a moment before spinning on her heel and stalking down the hallway to her room. You drop the box on the counter and thrust your face into your hands, jumping at the rigid sound of her bedroom door slamming shut.

“Why don’t you just leave me alone?” you whisper to Elvis’ nonexistent frame as you toy with a piece of the wrapping paper.

You’d lied to Trixie, which you now feel increasingly bad about. You had heard from Elvis. Just a few letters here and there for the first couple of months after you rejected him the first time. You threw them all away without opening a single one. After a while, they just stopped coming and you thought you were in the clear. You were obviously wrong.

You glance around the apartment, thinking about how lucky you are to even be living here in the first place. Guilt racks through your body painfully and you sniff back a couple of tears before reaching across the table to grab the two tickets. As your eyes circle around the words, you sigh and then shuffle down the hall toward Trixie’s room. With a deep breath, you knock quietly on the door and lean against it.

“Trixie? I’m so sorry, Trix. I’m just overwhelmed and frustrated. I didn’t mean to call you stupid or…shame you for your upbringing. And I really shouldn’t dare considering how much you’ve done for me,” you say quietly, resting your forehead against the door. “It just feels so…unreal. This whole Elvis situation. Don’t get me wrong, of course I’m interested but it just…feels so wrong. He’s married with a kid and I…I’m scared.”

You wait a few seconds but hear nothing on the other side of the door. You turn with a dejected sigh and retreat to hide in your room. But as soon as you turn your back, the door clicks open. You whirl back around to see Trixie peeking her head out.

“I’m sorry,” you say but she holds up a hand.

“Don’t apologize. I’m the one who should be doing that. I have no right telling you what to do with your life. I certainly shouldn’t be mad at you for not accepting. This situation is very…unusual. I guess I just got jealous at the idea that the Elvis Presley wants you so badly that he went to all this trouble. And I hate to see you struggling. I know the money would reduce a lot of stress so I just think you should…I don’t know, consider it.”

“I know, Trix. I could use the money, of course. But I’m scared and embarrassed. What’ll happen if I eventually get old or uninteresting? If he gets bored of me and drops me for someone else? I barely know the man but he feels dangerous to me. Steve said something about him being unfaithful to his wife and…it’s just all so much.”

Trixie nods, leaning against the doorframe and crossing her arms over her chest. You sigh loudly.

“At the same time, though…” you offer a small smile and pull the two tickets from your back pocket. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take him up on this? It’d be a shame to waste two front row tickets, especially with how expensive they are nowadays. And it would give me the opportunity to tell him off once and for all. What do you think? Another roomie adventure?”

You wiggle the tickets in the air with a suggestive shrug. Trixie laughs and nudges the door open with her hip. She throws her arms around your shoulders and you lean into her touch, closing your eyes and squeezing tightly. When she releases you, you’re greeted by a massive smile on her beautiful face.

“I guess we should get packing, then,” you say, gesturing at the tickets which have tomorrow’s date printed all over them.

“I’ll call the hotel and make reservations!” Trixie shouts, clapping her hands together.

With that, she disappears into her room to start packing. You trudge back into the kitchen to retrieve the package and then disappear into your own room. A few minutes later, you hear Trixie’s favorite Elvis record playing from her room.

You spend most of the day packing and preparing to leave since you’ll need to depart first thing in the morning to make the concert on time. At least one full hour is spent on the phone with your boss at KNBC as you try to explain why you can’t come in tomorrow. Another hour is wasted when you spend it calling everyone you know at the office to see if they’ll fill in for you. Luckily, the last person on your contact list agrees to take your shift. You thank them endlessly and accidentally promise an autograph from Elvis, although you aren’t sure if you plan on being that close to him.

You pass out as soon as your head hits the pillow that night and, even though you’ve both slept in, you and Trixie are groggy as ever in the morning.

As you lift your suitcase from the bed, your eyes land on the package from Elvis, half-unopened and not packed in your case. You pause in the doorway for a moment, staring at it. Last night, it was all too clear why you shouldn’t bring it. The answer to his proposal was and always would be a firm no. But this morning, as your gaze falls frozen on the beautiful things he’d sent you and the haunting words he’d written, your heart thumps with anticipation. Sighing frustratedly, you click open the suitcase and shove both the dress and the lingerie inside.

You and Trixie leave LA around 11 a.m., piled into her blue Jeep Wagoneer. Two hours into the four hour trip, you switch off and take the wheel so Trixie can get some extra rest. She was awake until two in the morning pairing up the perfect outfits. To your surprise, the drive is over in a flash and, the next thing you know, you’re inching through the Vegas Strip, stuck in horrific traffic.

You check your wristwatch as you get caught by yet another red light. You have roughly four hours to get ready for the show. After parking and checking in at the front desk, you take your bags upstairs to get unpacked. Even with exploring the hotel, grabbing dinner, and getting changed for the concert (which includes the forty minutes you spent debating whether or not you should wear the blue dress Elvis sent you), you find yourselves with time to spare. You decide to head down early and see if you can get seated before the rush.

When you arrive outside of the showroom, you’re shocked to see the area relatively deserted. You check the ticket twice to make sure before approaching the security guard standing in front of the doors.

“Hi,” you say cheerily. “We’re here for the Elvis show and were just wondering if it’d be possible for us to be seated a little early? If not, that’s alright, but we figured we’d check.”

“Well,” the guard starts, his eyes tracking not-so-sneakily up and down yours and Trixie’s figures. “We normally don’t allow people in before the scheduled time, but I might be able to make an exception for two ladies as lovely as yourselves.”

He winks and you press your lips together to keep from laughing. You glance at Trixie out of the corner of your eye and see her holding a finger to her mouth to mask her amusement.

“Oh, that’d be awfully sweet of you…Henry,” Trixie says, flashing him her most charming smile.

Your eyes drop down to see his nametag which reads Henry. You bite your tongue as you watch Henry flash Trixie a smile. He glances around the surrounding casino floor to see if anyone else is watching before pushing open the big black door behind him. He gestures with his hand.

“Please come on in, ladies. Will you need help finding your seats today?”

“Oh, you’re too generous, Henry,” you say as you both glide past him into the showroom. “But I think we’ll be alright. If we get lost, we’ll be sure to find you.”

You throw in a wink for good measure and spin on your heel, dragging Trixie into the room. Only a few steps inside and you’re both laughing so hard that you can barely breathe. Your laughs dry up in a couple of seconds, however, when you start to take in the space. You mutter in awe and point around the room, admiring details like the golden curtains pulled over the stage and the ornate statues adorning each column. You pull out the tickets and use them to direct you both toward your seats in the front row.

“Damn, we’re literally right here,” you muse, glancing straight ahead of you onto the front of the stage.

You’re seated at a round table that’s clad with a very fanciful tablecloth, dishes, and wine glasses. A candle, unlit, rests in the middle of the table and there’s a note propped up against the glass. You tilt your head as you reach out to grab it.

“Oh my god,” you mutter as you read the writing on the outside. Princess.

“Ooh, what’s that?” Trixie asks, plopping into one of the chairs next to you. You open the note as you join her.

“Princess, I’m so glad you made it. When you get here, come see me backstage. I have a present for you,” you read, your eyebrows furrowing.

You glance at Trixie but she just raises her eyebrows and shrugs. With a deep breath, you grab onto your purse, still clutching the note in your fingers.

“Alright, well I guess now’s as good a time as any to break the hard news. I’ll be back, I hope. If anything happens to me back there, you get everything in the apartment,” you say with a goofy smile.

Trixie laughs and shoos you away just in time for the showroom doors to open and release a line of audience members into the area. You hurry toward a door on the left side of the stage which you assume leads to the backstage area, considering the security guard who stands in front of it. You clear your throat before announcing yourself.

“Uh, hi! I’m here to see Elvis. Well, everyone is here to do that, I guess, but I have this note and uh…well, here,” you say nervously and hand over the letter. He examines it as you wait and anxiously wring out your fingers.

“Y/N?”

Your head spins as a vaguely familiar voice sounds from behind you. A smile immediately spreads across your face as you recognize Elvis’ producer, Jerry. You give him a wave and a shrug as heat creeps into your face.

“Hi…” you greet him quietly.

“It’s nice to see you again,” he says, approaching you. He waves off the guard dismissively. “She’s good to go. He’s been expecting her for a long time. Here, I’ll show you back.”

The guard shimmies out of the way so Jerry can open the door. He gestures for you to enter with a smile and you thank him as you step through.

“Changed your mind, huh?” Jerry asks as you follow him through the backstage area.

“Uh, no actually. Not really. I’m just here to tell him to save his postage,” you say, feeling the need to justify yourself although you can’t explain why.

“Can’t blame you. These kinds of situations don’t work for everyone, although this will be a first for him.”

“Do you think he’ll be disappointed?” you ask jokingly.

“Oh I’d bet on it.” Apparently Jerry didn’t take your question as a joke. “Like I said before he’s been waiting for you, specifically, for a long time. I’m sure he’ll be very disappointed, but don’t let that stop you. It is your decision, after all. Good luck.”

Jerry points toward a dressing room door with big black letters which read ELVIS. You clear your throat and thank Jerry. He nods curtly and then spins on his heel to return to the work he probably needs to get done before the show starts. You straighten the hem of the blue dress he’d sent you and clutch firmly onto the strap of your purse, into which you’d also stuffed the lingerie at the last minute. It suddenly occurs to you that perhaps you were supposed to wear the lingerie under the dress…

Oh well, you think to yourself. Too late now.

You take a few deep breaths and smile awkwardly at the cast and crew who pass through the area on their way to get ready for the show. You know it’s ridiculous to think that everyone knows why you’re here but, despite the sheer unlikeliness of it all, you still feel embarrassed and shameful that you actually came. A few times, you debate backing away and returning to your table with Trixie to just enjoy the show. But something stops you every time. Eventually, your desire and curiosity move you forward and your knuckles knock on the door three times.

Ignoring the fight or flight mechanism that triggers in your chest, you wait for the door to open. In a matter of seconds, your wish is granted and he stands before you. He’s wearing an incredibly detailed white jumpsuit with flared pants and a popped collar. It’s unbuttoned all the way down to his waist and you gulp as your eyes immediately fly to the bare skin of his chest. As your gaze flicks back up to his face, you find him smirking down at you, his eyes already hungrily digesting your figure which stands in front of him. His body is elongated and pulled taut as he leans against the doorframe. He still looks good, as healthy and as sexy as ever, although his sideburns and hair are much longer than they had been almost a year ago.

“Princess,” he says in a voice even deeper than you remember. You begin to notice the painful thudding of your heart against your chest as his eyes take you in. “I figured you weren’t comin.”

This is it, the perfect opportunity for you to reject him and explain why you can’t take him up on his offer. But your brain stalls. It’s completely blank as you stare up at him with helpless doe eyes. He examines your figure once more before pushing the door open to create a space underneath his armpit for you to enter. You glance up at him, waiting for further instructions as if you need a translation. He flips his head toward the room.

“Inside.”

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#elvis #elvis 2022 #austin butler #milasfics #milaselvisfics #milasthings #milaselviscontent #sugar daddy elvis #daddy issues

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willowbirds · 5 months

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@chaos-cohort : Well first of all: I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR ANIMATIC IDEAS PLEASE. 👀

Well if you insist!

The autism in my mind has been really focused on Elsie Roberts from the new chapter of Candela, mainly because she’s a Jekyll/Hyde type of character and I’m a sucker for monster designs!

I was working on her monster design while listening to spooky music for the vibes and Confrontation from the Jekyll and Hyde musical popped up and the autism got to work on making a full blown animated music video in my mind that I had to physically stop drawing for the length of the song!

(Scenes ideas below)

I’m gonna go crazy a bit too with scene ideas!

First big thing! Lyrics would be on the screen but they would be altered (only in written form) to words relating to the characters. So ‘Jekyll’ gets replaced with ‘Elsie’ or ‘Roberts’ and ‘Hyde’ gets replaced with ‘The Beast’ or just ‘Beast.’

It basically starts with Elsie in her lab, dealing with the fact that she created a monster inside of her.

She sings in front of a mirror during the words ‘Am I a good man? Am I a mad man.’ When Hyde starts singing Elsie notices a large shape in the mirror’s reflection but when she turns nothing is there, but when she turns back around during ‘You will never get away from me’ her reflection is gone and all she sees is the beast.

Most of the middle is Elsie arguing with the beast as versions of it appear in shadows, scientific notes, reflections in beakers, etc. tormenting her as she slowly becomes more stressed. (If you seen the episode you know what lots of stress leads too :3).

During the ‘I’ll live inside you forever’ section, Elsie becomes incredibly stressed as the beast grows larger and she starts to smash and rip things that contain its visage. During ‘They’ll never be able to separate Jekyll from Hyde’ the beast appears behind Elsie, towering over her and launching its self towards her. (Screen goes dark and refocuses on Elsie breathing heavily)

Okay this bit! This part of the song has Jekyll and Hyde singing back to back (one line after the other) and basically Elsie switches between herself and the beast, distinguished by her having a scared and stressed appearance while the beast has red eyes, sharp teeth, and a wide smile.

After ‘I am you, you are Hyde’ Elsie faces the mirror again during the speaking segment, seeing the beast stare at her instead of her reflection.

Elsie: Damn you Beast! Take all your evil deeds and rot in Hell!

Beast: I’ll see you there Roberts!

The beast then lunges from the mirror, mouth open, and collides with Elsie, leading to a silhouette shot of her form changing into the beast during the final instrumental section.

(Sorry this is long. I absolutely love your animatic idea and I wanted to share mine as well.)

#As you can see the autism is strong at the moment #animatic idea #elsie roberts #candela obscura

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lilover131 · 1 year

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Chapter 70 Analysis

I’ll be frank right now. This analysis was hard to write. It’s hard to write not just because of how absolutely wrong all my theories were (lord, were they wrrrrrrrrrrrrooonnng), but because this chapter made me unexpectedly very emotional. I’m just speechless and cannot believe that CLAMP got me again like this. I just find it absolutely amazing how Ohkawa’s writing can steer you in a direction and make you think you know what is going to happen, and every single time, she turns you on your head. Fucking incredible. I honestly don’t know how she manages to do it. Just…everything clicks now and I see the puzzle in front of me showing its picture, and it’s beautiful and also so so heartbreaking at the same time.

I’m not going to post a gif or image of the month this time, simply because I don’t feel like there is one that really is suitable.

Also, I apologize in advance for the crappy quality images in red of the screenshots I took. The English chapter has yet to come out in good quality and is currently only available on Youtube, so I had to make do with the red colored pages for now.

With that said, I’ll get started on my thoughts.

The color page this month is so stunningly gorgeous and it fits the theme of this chapter so well. It is beautiful and warm but also has a melancholy feeling that can’t be shaken. Sakura has a face that looks as if there is something missing, and by the end of this chapter, we know why.

Admittedly, when the chapter first started, I was very confused. It seemed to jump straight to Kaito using the EXCHANGE card without time for anyone to stop it, thus making my theory that Syaoran would fight to keep it from happening completely wrong. Lol. But I’m not upset about this. Not seeing a Syaoran sacrifice made me relieved, at least for the moment…(I’m still not ruling that shit out for the future. Haha)

But I wondered what it meant to see Sakura now as the Red Queen and Akiho as Alice. Did this mean Kaito had switched their lives after all? It certainly seemed to be the way things were going, and I was worried that he had been successful and wondered what the repercussions of this would be. It’s been well described in other CLAMP series (-cough- Tsubasa -cough-) that changing the fate’s design like this ultimately creates huge ripples and damages in the world around it. There is a reason it is considered forbidden magic after all, because of course if one could simply undo things or swap lives with people, why wouldn’t it happen all the time?

The first thing noticed though in particular was that it wasn’t just Sakura and Akiho that seemed to swap in roles. The very outfits themselves were changed. Some of you might recognize them as the first versions of the outfits that Tomoyo had made and decided to start over on as they did not feel right to her. It seems now that this is because these outfits were originally designed for them to be in swapped roles, so Tomoyo’s intuition here seems to reign supreme again but also makes me wonder for the millionth time how she doesn’t have magic (lol). Another difference seems to be that Syaoran has taken on the role of cat in the originally intended method of just voicing rather than acting on stage. Initially, this also worried me as the reason he had done the role on stage physically was to be by Sakura’s side in case something happened, so by seeing him not do this, it made me curious as to whether his relationship with Sakura was still the same.

Moreover, we must keep in mind that the title of the story had also changed from what was originally written. Before, the story of the play was called “The Two Alices” (which now I realize is super sneaky Ohkawa!) before Naoko made a last minute change and titled the play “Alice in Clockland”. Even the story itself seems to have deviated from what we saw before in the previous chapters. Alice Akiho mentions that her family had a fourth chair at the table always open, but she never understood why. And Red Queen Sakura mentions how she doesn’t remember how she became Queen and only ever remembered being in Clockland. The story soon seems to develop to reveal that the Red Queen is actually Alice’s twin sister who was lost long ago. It seems to also have a happy ending with the Red Queen returning home to her family.

Back on the rooftop of the school, Kaito and Momo are speaking. She asks him how he feels now that he has gotten what he wanted, which is still unclear to us at this point in the chapter. He claims to be relieved that Sakura finally created the card he needed before Momo goes on to explain to us readers (bless her) on what has occurred. And boy, is it a doozy.

The first thing was Sakura’s wish, which was simply to switch roles with Akiho and be the Red Queen instead. That seems fairly harmless in nature, but the second wish was for the artifact inside of Akiho to be exchanged to Kaito for his broken pocket watch. Naturally, taking on the artifact is absolutely huge because it was this very thing that the Squid Clan and the Association wanted to keep to themselves desperately. It was their grasp at power, which was all they cared about in this world. Additionally, Kaito had explained before that this artifact had already absorbed so much magic that if it took on anymore that it would crush Akiho’s soul, so what are the implications of that now in Kaito’s body, which undoubtedly already has a ridiculous amount of magic in it? We know already that he has shown no care for his own well being, so this seems to be more dire a situation than he was in before.

Akiho now has Kaito’s broken watch, but she still has no magic in her body, so she could not use it even if she wants to, so this will not impact Akiho in any way. She seems to be completely free of the binds that tied her to her awful family who wished only to use her as a tool and did not acknowledge her as a person.

But Kaito took it one step further…

The scene changes to the end of the play where the girls are being applauded for their performance. Naoko tells them that she knew they were perfect for the role of Alice and Red Queen. And I’ll tell you right now that when I was initially reading this chapter, it was in French (because the English chapter wasn’t quite out yet), and I had to use Google Translate. Upon translating the next speech bubble, I found myself absolutely fucking speechless and wondering if I had typed something in wrong or if Google messed up the translation.

Not only did Kaito take the artifact away from Akiho, but he also rewrote the past so that Akiho was born as Sakura’s twin sister. I think I can safely say that a majority of us had thought that Kaito was intending to swap Akiho and Sakura’s lives so that Akiho could have a happy life and Sakura would take on the misery Akiho endured. And I feel terrible now thinking he would actually do something so cruel, seeing as he honestly hasn’t really done anything to deserve that opinion. When you think about it, he never actually harmed anyone at any time, and even the trouble he caused was still much less dangerous than even what Eriol put them through (think about it, Eriol nearly had Syaoran cut Sakura in half when he controlled him with threads!). And additionally, most of the trouble was actually caused by Sakura herself with her out of control magic.

Was Kaito shady? Absolutely. Was he secretive and somewhat manipulative? Of course. But does that inherently make him a bad person? After this, I just can’t see it. What I’ve always enjoyed about Kaito particularly is that he always keeps you guessing. You never know exactly who’s side he’s actually on, and I’ve rather enjoyed learning more about him because of that. But one thing that always remained unfettered was that he cared about Akiho. In fact, Akiho seemed to be the only thing he ever showed any care towards (other than maybe her mother, but we still don’t know exactly how that story ended, and I’m sure we will learn more soon).

And now that we know what his intentions were, I cannot help but see the clues written all over the wall absolutely EVERYWHERE. CLAMP has literally been dropping hints for years, and I can’t help but be angry for missing it all! Granted, that was the point, but fuck I can’t help but be impressed by the writing just for that alone. Every single mention of how similar Sakura and Akiho were, the mention of them ‘synchronizing’, even Akiho’s fucking name! I have always had a feeling that Akiho’s name wasn’t always Akiho because it felt odd that she had a Japanese name despite being born to English parents in England, but now I can’t help but think that Kaito had her change her name so she could fit neatly into her new life. And still in my head I cannot forget that one scene in the anime (episode 10) with the SNOOZE card where he came to pick up Akiho, and Sakura and Akiho said something with the same reaction at the same time, and Kaito just laughed. I always wondered why he laughed like that, and now it makes complete sense. He was laughing because he had always intended to make Akiho Sakura’s twin sister, and it was funny to him because the two of them were already acting like twins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlT4JhTNgVg&ab_channel=AnimeCat

Not to mention the many many scenes of Kaito seemingly investigating all aspects of Sakura’s life, like her father, Touya, the house she lived in, her mother, Syaoran, etc. He did all of this because he wanted to make sure Akiho would have a good life with Sakura’s family, and that she would be surrounded by those that would protect her. And like…I know many of us noticed this and theorized he was doing this because he wanted to swap Akiho with Sakura, but I feel awful that I never considered them being twins as an option and assumed the worst. What he proved here by making them twins was that he wanted to save Akiho, give her a better life, but without taking away from others in the process.

But there is one major problem with this wish… or rather two.

Momo looks to Kaito and tells him that even with his magic, he cannot contain the power of the artifact. It is at this very moment that the pages of the book artifact appear beneath his feet, and some of his memories begin to show in the pages. It was when he was younger and had volunteered to go with Akiho on her journey to absorb more magic. Both the Clan and Association did not like this idea and showed distrust towards him, worried that he’d try to use the artifact for himself. But they decided to make a ‘compromise’ (assholes) by stating that he could take Akiho on her journey if he accepted the ‘Seal of D’. This seal is actually a curse that is intended to keep him in check and will activate if he tampers with the artifact in any way.

Kaito seems to agree to this without hesitation and is warned that he can never break this seal, and if he does anything to ‘the artifact’ (god I wish they would talk about Akiho like the human being she is), he “can never return”. Do those words sound familiar? CUZ’ THEY FUCKIN’ DO TO ME.

It turns out that the voice we have seen and heard in the manga and anime several times saying “You can never return” was directed at Kaito. The strange disembodied voice in Sakura and Akiho’s dreams was that of one of the Clan/Association members telling Kaito he could never go back if he broke this vow. And this also explains why Kaito had such a grim reaction when Akiho brought up those words before from her dream. It’s because he knew exactly what those words meant, but he still decided to go through with this anyways. From the very beginning, he knew he was going to sacrifice himself, and although we had our theories about this for quite some time, it is absolutely confirmed now.

A magical seal appears over his chest, almost undoubtedly at this point the ‘Seal of D’, and in my initial read, I again was using Google Translate on the French pages before I saw this text, and it fucking broke me.

I started crying almost instantly. To know that he was a boy that grew up caring for nothing, wanting nothing, liking nothing…to say that the very spell that will undo him is the first spell he ever wanted to use. It’s fucking heartbreaking, and for the first time other than when he laughed, I could see a smile on his face that I knew was 100% genuine in every way. He’s not hiding anymore. It is the smile of someone who feels he has just fulfilled his purpose in life and is ready for the end.

Momo emulates me and most of the fandom by shouting and crying that he’s an idiot before he completely vanishes within the pages of the book. Sakura halts briefly, having felt something, but appears to brush it off, and lord I wish she wouldn’t have. The rooftop is now empty with neither Kaito or Momo, and the chapter ends there (because of course it does).

-Wipes tears and blows nose-

Okay, so this chapter messed me up emotionally, but I honestly loved it. It’s so beautiful and devastating at the same time, but I think I finally have an idea of where the story will go from here. Sakura still should have her magic and she has already developed the ability to remember things despite rewinding of time etc. But I think RECORD will also play a part. The card has been extremely useful in showing things that didn’t even happen in the real world, such as her dreams, but it has also been shown in the anime to show records of past events that happened prior to Sakura even being born and never experienced. I also think the watch will play a part. We know now that Akiho has a broken pocket watch and will likely not be able to remember where it came from but have melancholy feelings when looking at it or some sort of heart ache. I think this watch will assist in bringing Akiho and Kaito back together.

The ‘Seal of D’ also appears to have the same kind of appearance as the dragon from Sakura’s dreams, so I believe that the curse the Association and Clan put on him will have turned him into this dragon, and that he is currently roaming the world of the book. Because Sakura’s dreams showed the dragon in Tomoeda, I think that he will somehow break through the book in this form at some point, but there is still definitely the question about the Cloaked Figure, and it is still debatable who that will end up being. We know that part is still to come as Sakura has yet to wear the ‘sleeve’ she mentioned before that she would have on when she finally meets the Cloaked Figure for real.

God, just when you thought the climax was finally here, it seems we haven’t even reached the tip of the iceberg. This is most definitely why CLAMP needed another full volume to finish it, and I’m all for it.

I am so fascinated to see the next chapter and what this new timeline is like. Does Akiho know about Kero and Suppi etc.? What has gone on exactly in regards to the Clear Cards? And what about Syaoran? Does he still have the Sakura cards? What are the actual ramifications of this massive timeline change? And Lillie? What happened to her if Akiho was never born her child, and how did this affect Nadeshiko?

SO MANY QUESTIONS!!

But we’ll get answers here real soon, and I look forward to talking about them all with you! See you next month!

#cardcaptor sakura #clear card #manga #spoilers #chapter 70 #analysis #chrissy talks a lot #sakura #akiho #kaito #syaoran #tomoyo #momo #FUCK THE SQUID CLAN AND THE ASSOCIATION #this chapter broke me

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