#there’s like one time at the end of masquerade event where the three talk to each other | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vulpes-fennec · 1 year

Text

Happy Day 1 of @sjmromanceweek !!!

Move out of the way, Lady Whistledown. Prythian's most notorious busybody, the Suriel, is here to stay. Can you spot the little details about all the other ACOTAR characters?

Pairings mentioned: Helion/LOA, Bryce/Hunt, Hypaxia/Celestina, Day/Night

SPOILER ALERT: I’ve included Throne of Glass and Crescent City content. You can read the regular text below the cut!

Bounty hunters have pursued me for millenia, thirsting for the knowledge I possess. While I am flattered by the chase, I have found taking my observations to the pen to be far more fulfilling. You have never seen me, and rest assured, you never will. But be forewarned, dear reader, I certainly see you.

Dearest reader, think of how the seconds and minutes of life’s events can add up to the precise moment where two strangers cross paths! I have been advised that the latest vernacular for such “serendipitous encounters” is the “meet cute.” It is not enough to simply meet. Rather, it is terribly important that it be cute. If you still do not know what this author means, perhaps some meet cutes from the Autumn Court’s Equinox Ball may enlighten you.

Nostrus, the gallant prince of Adriata caught Selene, darling of the Night Court when she tripped down the stairs. The pair danced not once, not twice, but three waltzes by the night’s end. And Mariposa, Dawn Court’s dazzling courtier and apparent bird whisperer, rescued Tamlin of Spring from a chickadee brazenly yanking at his silky golden locks. The two were later spotted emerging from a closet, both breathlessly rumpled.

But this author is more interested in a particular bond forged at the banquet table, over the plate of olveni (an appetizer made of goat cheese and strawberries, drizzled with tongue-numbing chili sauce). Helion of Day and Daphne of Autumn both reached for the last piece! This was the resulting conversation that transpired:

Helion: Well, well, well. A lady who can handle the heat!

Daphne [lifting a flaming hand]: I don’t know what kind of ladies you’ve been talking to, but this lady certainly can. Shouldn’t a proper male be offering the last bite to the lady?

Helion: I’ve watched you eat all the olvenis the entire night…what happened to a little consideration for starving males like me?

Daphne [smiling]: Watching me the entire night?

Helion: Criminal, really, to not admire your fiery hair and bewitching smiles.

Daphne [blushing]: Thank you, but you know it is not flattery that I want.

Helion: Then I shall give you the last olveni, if you’ll dance with me.

Daphne: Resorting to bribery now, are we? I didn’t realize that was the only way Helion Spellcleaver could get a female to dance with him.

Helion [dazed]: Sweet Cauldron, she knows who I am…

[Daphne turns to leave]

Helion: No…wait! My lady, I meant no disrespect. I was too nervous to approach you before, you see, and it came out wrong. If you must go…at least tell me your name. Please.

Daphne [turning back, extending a hand, palm up]: Well, my name is Daphne Ballentine. And you should eat the last olveni, if you want to keep up with me during the waltz.

Helion [taking and kissing the back of her hand]: Well played, well played, Lady Daphne. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.

Perhaps this author may find a new passion in play-writing…

Those wondering what it is like to tumble over flirtatious remarks, to be so attuned to each other that time and troubles melt away should ask Daphne and Helion, who certainly experienced the magic of young love that night. While Prythian’s nobility wound down their festivities, this author kept its eyes on another equinox ball taking place in Midgard.

As Day and Night are equal during the equinox, it is fitting they arranged for a clandestine meeting at this celebration! And at a masquerade ball, where a simple mask effectively creates an aura of mystery. The temptation to remove one’s mask for an alluring stranger is strong, making the time ripe for drawing back the veils of golden flames and starry indigo sky.

This author would have expected Day and Night to meet at dawn or dusk, kissing at the horizon and melting into each other as the earth spins round, but I suppose meeting at midnight is more romantic. Expectations, suspicions, and anticipation crescendo as the clock’s hands peak! Unfortunately this encounter was more akin to transiting celestial bodies—so close, yet so far—than a meet cute. Unironically, one party remains in the dark while the other spies their lover, as clear as day, from a higher vantage point. With such high stakes involved, what happens when duty to one’s role is in conflict with the heart’s true desire?

For some, the answer is made clear. Bryce Quinlan, Autumn’s princess, has declared Hunt Athalar as her mate, making the Umbra Mortis the Prince of Fae! It is impossible to say how Miss Quinlan’s fiancé, Cormac Donnall, felt about this surprise announcement. The crown prince of the Avallen Fae disappeared shortly after, to the disappointment of Lunathion’s scheming mothers and eligible females.

Of course, no scandalous evening would be complete if Miss Quinlan and Mr. Donnall’s engagement was the only betrothal broken before the night’s end. Two powerful ladies, both matched to other males, were found in a cloakroom in the throes of a passionate affair! Unions, made in name only. Relationships, harbored behind closed doors. Titles, bearing great responsibility. For these gentle souls, the answer to “love or duty” is more muddled.

Tread carefully, gentle reader. For love can be a sensual dance, or a dangerous game. What does fate hold for these young lovers? Only time, and this author, will tell.

Abraxos Wildflower Arts | Grand Opening | Location: Witch Kingdom, Erilea | Wildflower crowns, seed kits, perfumes, potion ingredients for your witchy needs and more!

Dear Suriel, My (non-biological) brothers and I have been fucking (different) females in the same room, and sometimes I wonder what it’s like to be on the receiving end…is that strange? What should I do? Regards, A Concerned Bat

Dear A Concerned Bat, only strange if you were biological brothers. If all parties are enthusiastically consenting to be fucked in the same room, then is it not just an orgy? But I do not know the exact nature of your relationship with these males. My two cents: reflect on your feelings. Have a heart-to-heart. And, if all goes well, perhaps pay a visit to the Day Court with them. Remember to practice safe sex!

#sjmromanceweek2023 #suriel's society papers #the suriel #helion x lady of autumn #quinlar #lidia x ruhn

88 notes · View notes

irisinthemoon · 1 year

Text

Until I Found You, Pt. 4

[Pt. 1], [Pt. 2], [Pt. 3], [Pt. 4], [Pt. 5], [Pt. 6]

Warning: F!Reader, Spoilers to the Masquerade events, a few curse words, fluff, reader having slight anxiety

Characters: Rollo, Eliott (oc), Jules (oc), Malleus (Mentioned), Grim (mentioned), Yuu (mentioned)

Summery: After your discussion with Rollo, you go back to your routine along with the task you offered to help in. As you finalize the last invitation, talk about the week long festival pops up, making you realize your feelings for a certain third year may be more than just simple friendship.

Info of some of the subjects talked about in this chapter: As I had mentioned in the first chapter, I will be adjusting the whole masquerade event so it first with the story line I am planning. For starters, the masquerade is an event held for an entire week which will end in a ball. This week long event is held around the time winter break ends, basically all six boys will have already went through their overblots, except Malleus.

“The letter was very well written, all I did was check for grammar and spelling. But other than that, you did well.”

You beamed at the praise Rollo gave you. It had been three days since you talked things through and settled in an understanding. The aftermath had been rather calm as the Headmage understood your request and began looking into families that may be able to take you in along with helping you form an identity. He even allowed you to continue your studies at NBC, much to your surprise and delight.

“That’s good! I had to re-write it multiple times. I even searched up how to speak to fae royalty as reference.” Jules chucked from the corner of your room. He was settled in your work table as he typed away in his computer, inputting the last bookings for the guest you finished yesterday. “Knowing you, you also probably searched for how they spoke to royalty.” Eliott laughs and you scoff, feeling a little embarrassed.

Rollo simply huffs in amusement as he hands you another piece of golden thread, to which you thank him. Placing the needle in-between your lips, you rolled your eyes at the antics of your friends. It was Friday and since most of the preparations were done for the Masquerade happening on Monday, Eliott and Jules decided to spend their free time in your dorm room.

Rollo had come along to let you know that the invitation you wrote had been approved and that it would be sent tomorrow. “I gotta say though, you managed to finish the other two Masquerade costumes in two days yet you still are working on the one for Prince Malleus.” Added Eliott, who was sitting on your bed with his book open. You huff and gestured for Rollo to pass you one of the green gems in your work table next to Jules’s laptop. “The only reason I managed to finish the other two so soon was because they were easier to make and dressing them in over the top costumes wouldn’t fit their aesthetics.”

With full concentration, you began sowing the green gemstone right where the chest is located. “For Grim, I decided on a pair of boots, a hat, a cape, a traditional black mask, and last but not least a black belt. All of those may seem simple but they bring out his cuteness.” Doing a small knot, you cut off the golden thread with the scissors the white haired boy offered you.

“And for Yuu, I did a set of dark blue pants that fit around the Renaissance era back in my world along with a shirt to match and a cape that would match Grim’s cape. As for the boots and mask, they all bring out his charms. The hat is meant to add an air of mysteriousness to him much like how Grim’s own costume is meant to portray his cuteness.”

Stepping back, you allowed yourself to get a full view of the costume. Majority of the outfit was done, the more complex designs were done in gold thread that you used the sewing machine Rollo brought for you so as to not struggle much. The boots accompanying the outfit were also done and ready to go.

“Rollo, can you pass me the cape I have hanging in my closet please?” He hums, and goes to your closet. Tilting your head to the side, you busied yourself with fixing the clothes on the mannequin, straightening any wrinkles that may appear. “Here you go [name].”

Giving him a smile and a small thanks, you gently took the coat off his hands and placed it over the mannequin’s shoulders. Clasping the golden chains onto the golden collar, you made sure none of it was tangled. Fixing the black feathers in the shoulders and spreading the cape flawlessly on the back, you did some last minute adjustments before allowing yourself to step back.

“Would you look at that?” Jules let out a low whistle as his red eyes admired the almost finished Masquerade costume. “Wow girl, you managed to outdo yourself! I don’t think even the Fashion club would have been able to pull this off.” Eliott added as he examined every angle of the costume. You laughed, pride swelling in your chest. “I am lucky enough to have managed to do this much in only three days, well four if you count that one time I pulled an all nighter to finish the pants.”

Rollo stayed quiet, his eyes scanning the outfit with sharp interest. He circled the mannequin in the middle of your room, like an inspector checking for any flaws. You watched him carefully, eyes focused on his face in order to see if his poker expression changes.

“Well done.” Then, stepping next to you, Rollo grabs your hand and inspects your bandaged fingers with a small grimace. You smile, even more happy with the result of your hard work. “Don’t worry about my fingers. I mostly used the sewing machine for the harder parts. The only time I used my fingers was when I needed to add last minute details.” Rollo gives you an unamused expression.

But he didn’t let go of your hand, and instead, tangled your fingers together. Smiling, you squeeze his hand and turn to face your masterpiece. “All I need to do is finish the hat which will be the hardest part but I will be done with it before the day of the ball.”

“Then take a break, you spend most of your day shut in this room trying to finish.” Said Rollo, eyes eyeing you with fondness. “Rich coming from you, I can hardly pull you out of your dark cave to get more sun.” You said back, a small smirk on your face. Eliott snorts, flipping another page in his book. “True, but you'd be surprised how often he has been outside this past week. Even more than you do on a daily basis.”

Jules hums in agreement, the typing of his boardkeys echoing in your room. “Even taking up a hobby in gardening.” At this, you turn to face Rollo. “Is that true?” You asked. Rollo covers his face with his purple handkerchief, but you could see his ears turn pink. “I decided to take up a destresser as you call it, when I need to distract myself from my duties.”

“Aww, how cute of you president!” And just like that, all hell broke loose. Eliott began teasing Rollo, his book long forgotten. Jules was trying to (and failing) to hold in his laughter. You joined in, poking Rollo’s chest as you giggled. In the safety of your room, the four of you could let loose. Rollo didn’t have to keep his image of a perfect student, Eliott would let his wild side out, Jules could laugh out loud without being scolded, and you could join in the fun.

It hadn’t always been like this, and from what you knew, Rollo hadn’t even been close to Jules and Eliott until recently. Some of the students said it was because you put them together, others said it was because they finally had a reason to actually be around each other with no school work or duties behind them. Either way, you didn’t care.

As long as you could see your friends happy and healthy, it was enough for you.

____

Folding the paper gently and with great care, you then placed it in the envelope and handed it to Rollo so he could seal it with the school’s official seal. The fire from the fireplace illuminated the room, casting a warm glow into the table both of you were sitting at. After spending most of your afternoon in your room discussing plans for the Masquerade along with your friends offering some tips for the costume you were making, the four of you decided to go your own way and finish any remaining work you had.

Jules went to give the full report to the Headmage regarding the room bookings for the guest while Eliott made sure that the supplies ordered for every guest had arrived and placed where they were meant to be. You on the other hand decided to take a break from sowing and accompanied Rollo to the student council office to help him finish off any last paper work.

“Can’t believe I managed to write a letter for royalty. Man, that would make an excellent addition to my resume.” You said with a small laugh. Rollo simply shakes his head in mock agitation, a little smile on his lips. Placing the now finished letter on the table to allow the wax to cool down, he turned to look at you.

“Are you going to participate in the opening ceremony to welcome our guest?” He asks, green eyes on your figure. “Yes, since I am part of the Equestrian club, I will be doing a small show as the closing ceremony with a few of my clubmates.”

On top of helping Rollo with his duties, you had to also take care of yours regarding the Masquerade. Every student in NBC was required to participate one way or another in the festivities being held in the city. Whether it was welcoming guests, helping the traffic of people, selling food, or helping with the ball preparations, everyone had a part to play.

The ones in charge of the entertainment were those of the fine arts clubs but once in a while a sports team will join in. It just so happened that this year was the Equestrian Club’s turn to participate in the entertainment.

Lucky you, you managed to form a great bond with your horse, a beautiful black stallion by the name of Snowflake. “I remember when you first joined the club, you hardly knew how to mount a horse.” Rollo hums in amusement of the memory. You roll your eyes, expression soft. “Yeah, well all the other clubs didn’t appeal to me and while fashion is something I am interested in, it isn’t something I saw myself do for all three years here.”

Plus, the main reason you had wanted to join the club was because of Rollo. But you would never admit that, lord knows Eliott would never let you live it down.

“And plus, I was interested in horse riding and the poster for the club clearly stated that they could teach me if I had zero experience.” Still, it was a little embarrassing being watched by Rollo as you tried to mount a horse only to fail miserably. Rollo chuckles, shaking his head. “You were lucky that Snowflake took a quick liking to you, only the Great seven would have known what would have happened to you if he decided to take you down.”

“In my defense, no one had warned me about Snowflake’s rather temperamental moods.”

“I gave you instructions to wait while I fetch the stable boy.”

The room became silent except for the crackling of the fire.

“Ok, I might have not paid as much attention to your words as I needed to. But! There was no warning sign indicating that Snowflake was not ready to have a rider.”

“There was a clear warning sign on his stable door written in bold red letters.”

Once again, the room became quiet.

With a huff you surrender. “Fine, I ignored all the warning signs! But who could blame me! I was amazed by Snowflake’s beauty!” It had been the first time you had seen a horse up close, especially one so beautiful. You wanted to see if it was easy riding one like in TV shows and movies. Clearly, it hadn’t as you couldn’t even mount him without falling.

“And you made it look so easy to climb one.” You added a pointed look towards Rollo. “I had formed a bond with Snowball since my first year. And even if I don’t ride her as often, she still remains the same.” Snowball is the name of Rollo’s horse. A black, beautiful and elegant mare who also happened to be Snowflake's sister.

“Yeah, yeah, brag all you want Mr. President.” Laughing, you stretched your limbs, a satisfying pop was heard after. “Man, all those preparations for the Masquerade are tiring. Especially the performance I have to do with Snowflake.”

Snowflake had been hard to tame for the most part, he was stubborn and seemed to have a personality of his own. It had been hard trying to get him to understand most of the tricks but you made it work after two months of working with him. Still, he was rather shy when it came to performing in front of people, which was why when it came to performances you would ride Snowball with Rollo’s permission.

But this time you decided not to, you wanted to give Snowflake a chance. Even if getting him used to performing for a crowd was hard, you managed to get him out of his stage fright little by little by having other students observe while you practiced.

“How far along are you with the performance? I heard from the club president that you will be performing with a group first then by yourself.” Rollo said as he stood up from his chair and began preparing some tea on the small portable stove. You sigh and lean back into your chair. “It’s been nerve wracking if I’m being honest. I am used to having peoples’ eyes on me but doing something I enjoy while being watched is another thing.”

You could handle being judged on your so-called other talents, but this one was something you loved to do other than fashion. You wanted to show everyone in the city an amazing performance, one that will make your school proud to have you as a student.

“You will do well, I have seen you do both of your performances and they are flawless. Much better than when you first started, that is for sure.” He said as he placed a steaming cup of tea in front of you. You said a small thanks and took a sip after blowing on it. Then paused and turned to look at him. “Were you there to watch me practice those few times?”

You didn’t recall if Rollo ever showed up to your practices since they always started around the time he needed to go to the student council after school meetings. Maybe he managed to get a peek on his way to the Bell Tower?

“Eliott took several videos and sent them to me. I have to say [name], I never thought I would see someone fall and land on their legs like a scared cat after attempting the first part of the routine.”

You felt your face burning in embarrassment, “That was one time!” You placed the cup of tea down while trying to cover your face with your hands. “I didn’t think you would see that!”

“Well you can thank Eliott, he is the one who sends me the videos.”

“Of course it was Eliott,” Gritting your teeth, you grumble in misery. Can’t believe Eliott would betray your trust like that, especially when he knew about your crush on Rollo. At that, you paused your pity party, eyes widened in shock.

Crush…?

“If it makes you feel better, he also sent me the ones where you perform excellently and without an issue.” His voice sounded like it was underwater. You still had your mind stuck on the fact that you just realized now that you had a crush on Rollo. Was that why Eliott always teased you about spending time alone with the third year? Or why he would make an effort to make sure Rollo and you ended up alone in the same room?

The blush on your face turned even hotter, you were sure your ears had turned a bright shade of red. There was no way you had feelings for Rollo other than friendship, right? But then, why did you get so flustered when he praised you? Eliott and Jules always do it and yet you never got like that with them.

How about the times Rollo would accompany you early in the morning and late at night for a walk before going your own ways? You honestly thought that little flip your heart did was because you got to hang out with him as friends.

And those moments where he would teach you how to ride your horse, he pressed behind you as he taught you how to handle the reins. The way his chest was pressed on your back, his voice deep and low in your ear as he leaned his chin towards your shoulder. Or how his cool skin would touch your clammy one whenever you got nervous.

“Are you alright [name]?”

Looking at him, you gazed into his piercing green eyes and yep, you were definitely a goner. Because how could anyone not fall for those beautiful eyes of his? Gulping, you gave him a shaky smile, “Guess I will have to kick Eliott’s ass next time I see him.”

Raising a pale eyebrow, Rollo just shakes his head in exasperation. “Language, truly, what am I going to do with the both of you?” He asked, but there was not an ounce of annoyance in his tone or face. Simple joy that was barely visible in his face if you looked hard enough. Giggling, you nod, a tender smile on your lips as you gazed at the boy who had managed to capture your heart in such a short amount of time.

#twisted wonderland #twst x y/n #twst x reader #twst wonderland #rollo flamm x reader #twst rollo x reader #rollo twisted wonderland #rollo x reader #twst fluff #twst grim #twst yuu #twst malleus #twst masquerade #twst oc #twst nbc #noble bell college

88 notes · View notes

alj4890 · 1 year

Text

The Statement

(Jackson Nevrakis-Walker x Nicky Beaumont) in a Choices The Royal Romance (While We're Young AU) drabble

Thirty Kisses in Thirty Days Challenge prompt: kissing at a masquerade ball.

@krsnlove @hopelessromantic1352 @lodberg @twinkleallnight @tessa-liam @sirbeepsalot

A/N thanks again @hopelessromantic1352 for starting this challenge off with three amazing requests with couples I adore 🥰 *on a side note I would still love help from whoever wants to in choosing couples for the other 27 prompts 🤣

Masterlist

"Nicky!" Emily Beaumont breathed in disbelief.

She couldn't recall any moment in her twenty-one years where her older sister wore red to a court event. After all, St Orella's House colors were a deep royal blue and silver.

It simply wasn't done.

It was a Lythikos color.

Nicky twirled around. She brushed her rich, brown curls back over her shoulder and readjusted her black lace demi mask.

"What do you think?" Nicky asked a touch nervously.

"I think you're wearing the wrong colors!" Emily exclaimed.

She herself was wearing blue with silver sequins dotting here and there. Her own silver mask dangled from her fingers by blue ribbons.

Nicky grimaced. She knew her sister wouldn't understand the meaning nor the reason why she'd chosen to wear another duchy's colors.

But Nicky knew why she'd chosen to do something so...noticable.

She was determined to make a statement, one that would silence the whispers and rumors running amok in the royal court of Cordonia.

She also wanted to make it up to Jackson.

The heir to the duchy of Lythikos had already gone through a very painful year. Nicky publicly dumped him when she realized that the timing was off for them to move forward in their relationship (she wanted to get married while Jackson didn't see the reason to rush).

She'd then left the country with her mom and sister to grieve over the loss of her father, Maxwell. Jax was left behind to weather a broken heart while having to face the press on his own.

While away and trying to move on from Jackson, Nicky began dating one of Hollywood's newest sex symbols. Jax of course also tried to date others in the hopes of forgetting what he'd had in Nicky. Neither was good of letting go of the memories.

And just when she believed he'd never want anything to do with her again after months of silence, he appeared in California and took her to dinner. They were able to talk and be friends. They even planned to attend a wedding for a couple they didn't particularly care for together, as friends.

Then he had to go and be her hero when she was embarrassed over catching the wedding bouquet. He stood in front of everyone, kissed her hand, and said he'd hoped he knew who the lucky man she'd choose to marry, all while giving the illusion to the overly eager court members that he hoped it was himself.

Finally, he caught her alone. When he saw her crying he did what he'd always done before things ended badly between them. He took her in his arms and kissed her.

It'd felt like coming home, like coming to life once more. It was both strange and familiar all at once to be back in his arms.

Then that night Jackson confessed he was still in love with her, that he'd never stopped. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't feel that way towards anyone except her.

He wanted to try again.

Nicky didn't think her heart could take much more in that moment. She felt exactly the same way, she'd always felt like that.

But...

She still did not want to simply spin her wheels with him. She wanted marriage. She wanted a family of their own. She wanted their lives together to truly begin.

"I never said I didn't want that." He'd argued. "I've always known you were my future, Nicky."

Jackson was prepared to get down on one knee if that's what it took to keep her in his life. He was tired of his numb existence without her. Whatever lesson she'd tried to teach him all these months apart, he felt like he'd more than learned it.

Before he could do anything though, Nicky took a deep breath and said they should start over.

His eyes widened. He knew that before they broke up that she felt like they were wasting time. With the death of her father rattling her even more that life was too short and one shouldn't wait on anything, those were the last words he ever thought he'd hear her say.

She stepped out of his arms, determined to do this right. Nicky wasn't going to bully him into wanting to marry her. Perhaps she'd gone about their previous relationship all wrong. She wasn't certain how to change, but she would try and simply be his date, then girlfriend, then love, then...hopefully...

Jackson yanked her back in his arms. His lips captured hers in another deep kiss.

"We're back together?" He asked in a hoarse voice.

"Yes, but we're starting over." Nicky's breath hitched over the feeling of his lips kissing along her shoulder. "We'll have a first date and see how it goes."

"I claim this as our first date." He muttered against her skin.

She laughed in the midst of a moan. "I don't allow those types of kisses on a first date."

"Then this is whatever date you would allow these on." He drew her back into another heated kiss.

"Jax." She gripped him close. "I don't want us to end like we did before."

"We won't." He swore. "I'm never letting you go again, Nicky."

That's why she was now decked out in red and black. She was giving a public statement, one that the Cordonian nobles would not be able to misunderstand. She was showing them all that she was fully committed to Lord Jackson Nevrakis-Walker.

"The court is going to flip when they see you tonight." Emily reminded her. "And what's Mums going to think?!"

Nicky wasn't quite certain what their mother would think in seeing the heir to St Orella dressed like this.

"We have to let her see you before anyone else does!" Emily dashed out of the room before Nicky could stop her.

The future duchess silently prayed that her mother's new love, Thomas Hunt, would be enough of a distraction to keep her from being upset.

Amanda walked in with an anxious Emily hot on her heels. Thomas had been dragged along by Emily, who was also hoping that his presence would diffuse a potential fight.

Amanda's hazel eyes drifted along her daughter's pale features made even more beautiful with the rich red of her gown. Her lips curved in approval.

Nicky blinked in surprise. "Mom?"

"You look absolutely gorgeous!" Amanda took her hand and twirled her. "Jax won't know what hit him when he sees you."

Emily's jaw dropped. "You're not upset?"

"Upset? Why would I be?" Amanda asked, thoroughly puzzled over that notion.

Emily gestured towards her sister. "Because she's wearing Lythikos's colors!"

"So?" Amanda prodded.

"So?!" Emily looked about at each person in the room for help.

Thomas held his hands up. "Don't look at me. I have no idea what's going on."

Nicky's nervousness caused a laugh to slip out.

"I know why she's wearing this." Amanda explained. "I did the same thing with your father."

Both girls stared at her in shock.

"But you had the higher title!" Nicky exclaimed. "Dad should have worn your colors!"

"And he did." Amanda replied. "But when we first started officially being together, I wore Ramsford's colors to a ball." She shrugged with a smile. "Just to let everyone know whom I had chosen."

Nicky blinked back tears. She loved not only hearing her parents' love story but also seeing her own follow a similar path. Like her mother and father; she'd fallen for Jackson when they were children, had a major crush on him as a teenager, and fell madly in love with him as an adult.

To see that once again she was mimicking their sweet steps towards a happily ever after, she was more than thrilled with her choice in dress.

She hoped Jackson would understand the significance.

*********************

"Have you seen Nicky?" Jackson asked.

Emerick and Alec both shook their heads.

"Why didn't you escort her to the ball?" The crown prince asked.

"Because." Jackson huffed to Emerick as he accepted another drink. "She insisted on meeting me here."

"But you two are back together, right?" Alec prodded.

He couldn't take another moment of seeing two of his best friends being heartbroken.

"Yes. I made certain of it." Jax ran a hand through his hair, accidentally knocking his red and black demi mask askew. "She wanted to start over."

Emerick choked on his champagne. "Start over? All the way?"

"Yes." Jax groaned. "I told her we weren't doing that."

"I don't know." Alec chortled. "It would have been entertaining for the rest of us to see you act like you did as children."

Emerick chuckled over that image "There would be a lot of chasing her around the ballroom to pull her hair."

Jackson couldn't help but grin over those memories. He couldn't recall a time in his life when he didn't love Nicky.

"There's a blue dress." Alec pointed out.

Their eyes narrowed as they tried to figure out who it was.

"It's Emily." Emerick announced when he noticed his younger brother, Ellis, making a beeline towards her.

"Nicky can't be far behind." Alec pointed towards Amanda and Thomas taking to his mother, Hana. "Aunt Amanda is here too."

Jackson didn't know why he felt so antsy waiting on her. He was used to Nicky taking longer than usual to dress for a ball. Perhaps it was because after the wedding in Paris, they'd had to part ways while she finished her work in California and he had his duties here.

Now that the Beaumont ladies were back in Cordonia for good, he'd hoped to see more of her. But, she'd been busy unpacking and catching up on duties in St Orella with her mother and sister. They'd ended up spending these last few weeks simply talking on the phone. As much as he loved being able to do so again, he needed to be with her.

He checked the time then handed his glass to Alec.

"I'm going to go find her." He announced.

"Good luck!" His friends called out as he hurried through the crowd.

*******************

As Nicky descended the grand staircase of the royal palace, she paused at the sight of Jackson's mother staring at her from the foot of the stairs.

Her grace, Lady Olivia Nevrakis-Walker's sharp green eyes took in the young lady who son was in love with. She'd always approved of Nicky, even supported her side of things when the young couple's relationship ended.

But to see her wearing her duchy's colors...she couldn't be more proud of her son for choosing such a woman to love.

"Nicky, you've never looked lovelier." Olivia told her once she reached the bottom.

"Thank you, Aunt Liv." Nicky gave her a quick hug. "I wore this for Jax."

Olivia beamed at her. "You were meant to wear Lythikos colors."

She clasped her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'll see you later."

Olivia hurried off into the ballroom to find Drake. She was determined that they did not miss a moment of the other nobles seeing the heir to St Orella make a public declaration to Lythikos.

Plus, she couldn't wait to see their son's face when he saw Nicky.

***************

Jackson did his best not to curse too loudly as he waded through the crowd of masked individuals. Laughter and the hum of conversation drowned out his grumblings. There were few people he would willingly seek out in this crowd and Lady Nicky Beaumont topped that exclusive list.

He stepped on one lady's gown, went to apologize, only to end up stumbling into another lady.

He grasped the soft curves encased in sparkling red to keep them both from tumbling to the ground. His dark brown eyes collided with a pair of hazel orbs that he knew so well.

His arms wrapped around her, drawing her close, as his lips brushed against hers.

The tender exchange made Nicky's toes curl.

Jackson deepened the kiss the moment he felt her hands slide up his chest.

"Should we be kissing like this on a second date?" Nicky teased.

Jackson snorted. "This isn't a second date."

"It kinda is." She smiled at him, taking in how handsome he was in all black, save for the red mixed in his demi mask.

Jackson actually stepped back to truly look at her. His eyes widened the moment he saw what she was wearing.

"Nichole Beaumont." He said softly, twirling her to where her red skirt flared about.

"Yes, m'lord?"

His smile slowly grew the longer he admired her.

"Care to explain your choice of colors?"

Nicky lowered her eyes and pulled her hand from his grasp.

"I thought it was rather obvious why I did this." She took a deep breath before lifting her eyes back to his. "I did it for you, Jax."

Jackson felt his heart ache from the sweetness of this public declaration of hers. She couldn't have told the world they lived in that he alone had her love any better than if she'd gotten on stage and announced it. If it was anything Cordonian nobles paid more attention to, it was fashion statements. He noticed that most of the crowd was whispering and pointing towards them.

This was gossip he could easily live with. He knew he'd caused some at Colette's wedding when he'd made such of show of being Nicky's escort. But Nicky...now she'd made certain to end all speculation about their relationship.

Knowing they had an audience and not caring at all for once, Jackson took her back in his arms for a passionate kiss.

He heard the gasps of the crowd followed by squeals and whoops from their siblings and friends.

When Nicky gently cupped his cheek, he ignored all the commotion going on around them. He finally had the one he loved back where she belonged, where he intended to keep her from now on.

Right in his arms.

#thirty kisses in thirty days #choices trr #trr future #while we're young a/u #Jackson Nevrakis-Walker x Nicky Beaumont #the royal romance #choices the royal romance

16 notes · View notes

gamerdeus13 · 1 year

Text

Yall Be Sleeping On Silver/Idia, a thread with spoilers part 3

Three: Glorious Masquerade

Oh boy, where do I even start?

If Idia had already admired how Silver looked in the past, in one single home screen line he made sure to simp a little more, in case we all forgot. (I haven't found proper translations for some of these starting now so we will have to cope with google translator.)

And Silver worries about Idia, going as far as showing gratitude to Rollo for helping Idia enjoy the time they walked around the town because he was concerned Idia wasn't enjoying himself.

Then... The Rhythmics.

Yes, Idia doesn't only dance with Silver, but Silver only dances with Idia, TWICE, when Malleus is the one he is obviously the closest to.

Of course you can say they just needed to properly distribute the students, but how many ships can you say have danced together in their source? Malleus/Sebek shippers rejoice as well.

And last but not least, SSR Masquerade Idia vignettes.

When I pulled this card by a miracle on jp twst, I did not expect whatsoever for these vignettes to be ridiculously centered around Silver of all people in this event.

The first part he was the only one (with the obvious exception of Ortho) to try and help Idia prepare for the performance with positive encouragement instead of scolding. (And back to wonky translations)

The screenshots speak for themselves (with what's discernible), with Silver noticing Idia puts himself down so much and wanting to encourage him, even if he ended up adding to the pressure accidentally.

And after the performance Silver went to talk to and compliment Idia in a moment that felt out of some fanfic for me who has loved this pairing for so long, not to mention how much Silver shows he cares about and respects Idia and Ortho's relationship. And apologizing for before to top it all off.

If after all of that you aren't as frustrated as I am by this ship being considered a crack/rare pair, I don't know what to tell you. And with the Diasomnia book around the corner, knowing for certain that Idia and Ortho will play an important role like all the previous dorms did to each following book, I wouldn't be surprised if we got even more material.

And even if we don't, I'm honestly happy enough with how much the Glorious Masquerade event fed us.

That's all folks, Silver/Idia nation rise up

/ Fin.

1 / 2 / 3

#idia shroud #silver twisted wonderland #I made that gif myself and the quality shows #Imagine being so frustrated by the lack of attention to a ship that you write three posts and go hunting for screenshots #For a ship name I have only tried Sildia but uh sleeping something something death #glorious masquerade

36 notes · View notes

whatisreggieshortfor · 2 years

Text

Could Be Love

The princess meets an unexpected suitor at a ball. But her father is prepared to make other plans.

Henrik x MC

@longbobmckenzie 💛

It was only supposed to be one dance during the masquerade.

Just one.

But then there was another.

And another.

He was a bit clumsy, but let her talk him through it, following the steps with ease the more she spoke.

Conversation as they moved gracefully together was flowing and easy, without the stiffness she were accustomed to here.

Like what she had to say mattered for once when it didn’t pertain to color scheme- and even those falsely interested parties ignored her in the end.

His smile was far too wide and toothy when he laughed at a simple joke she’d made to be seen as proper simply for propriety’s sake.

And his blonde hair was longer than most of the other gentry, something they no doubt frowned upon.

She could see her father’s growing irritation, knew that she needed to finish making her rounds as he had ordered- but something about this man was magnetizing her. Rooting to her spot. Keeping her from breaking away from his hold as he twirled her across the marble dance floor of the grand ballroom.

And she hadn’t even learned his name.

He had smiled mischievously when she prompted him, saying a lady should never entertain an unknown man’s advances, but he replied simply that it would ruin the illusion of being someone worth her time.

But as he laughed and remarked on her intellect rather than her looks, she couldn’t imagine anyone more fitting to be worth her time.

Until her father’s announcement came.

“There will be a tournament, in three days time, for the hand of the princess.”

She had stiffened like she’d been struck with ice water, unaware of the reason her father held this ball before now, and her former dance partner took her tense form as disgust with society. He wasn’t wrong. Muttering in a low town so as not to be overheard questioning the king, he spoke to her, “Should she not be allowed to choose for herself?” She blinked, turning subtly to face him, to engage, and he continued, “Most of the gentry has moved past arranged marriages. But to essentially sell your daughter away to the champion of some tournament?”

She mustered up the strongest smile she could, though in the way his gaze softened and followed hers, she knew that he could see the sadness behind it, “At least the princess has you on her side.”

The blonde man nodded, “Yeah. She’s important to someone that’s important to me. So you could say I’m on her side.”

She opened her mouth to reply when a man appeared at his side, his coiffed dark hair striking a familiar chord with her. She knew the man behind that mask well. So she knew where this man was from now as his new companion bowed his head to her, “Apologies, my lady. Might I steal him away?”

She gingerly lifted the skirts of her dress as she curtsied, “Yes, my lord. I must continue fulfilling my duties in the meantime anyway.” As she turned to leave, her dance partner stopped by catching her hand and raising the knuckles to his lips. Pressing a small kiss there, he pulled away with a more subdued smile.

“Thank you for indulging me, my lady.”

“For once I can say this with candor, sir, but thank you. The pleasure was all mine.” She flitted away across the dance floor, poised with all the training she’d had for years, but with the giddiness she felt from him it was like she was walking on air.

And because she moved away, she didn’t hear her friend address her admirer. “Henrik, you massively daft bloke. Do you even know who that was?”

The blonde shrugged, he had just seen her admiring the dancing pairs and felt sympathy. She clearly wanted to dance, but didn’t have a partner, so he asked her. Best decision he’s ever made. “Am I supposed to?”

Lucas sighed, “Mate, I adore you. You know that. It’s why I bring you along when I can. It’s why I vouched for you to become my personal guard, so that you could attend these stuffy events and help me. But what you just did- I don’t know if I’ll ever be invited back.”

Henrik’s brow furrowed, concern washing over his features, “Why wouldn’t you be invited back? Is she betrothed or something?”

“Not yet. But she will be. In three days time.”

The blonde’s eyes blew wide, searching out her figure only to find her in conversation with a man that seemed to speak over her. Her posture was rigid, nothing like ease she’d had when he held her. “Are you telling me that’s-“

“Princess Regina. Yes.”

Henrik suddenly whirled around to face Lucas, “You need to save her. Please tell me you are entering the tournament.”

Lucas gave him a look of sympathy, but Henrik knew the answer before the question had tumbled out of his mouth, “Mate, you know I can’t. I’m already betrothed.”

Henrik did know that. And Marisol was a fine girl, and Lucas cared for her, so he would never ask his friend to risk jeopardizing that. He had heard the princess- this lovely girl he’d spent most of the evening with apparently- had even introduced them. And it saved Lucas from being forced to see a match maker by his mother. How was he supposed to help her the way she helped his best friend though? He wasn’t like Lucas, a Duke. He didn’t bear a title that made entering a possibility. The next time he saw her would probably be when Lucas was inevitably invited to the wedding between the victor and the princess.

But Lucas had another option.

“There is one possibility.”

Henrik listened adamantly, serious for one of the few times that didn’t regard his friend’s safety.

In the morning on the day of the tournament, Regina’s stomach was twisting in knots. She hated these brutish tournaments in normal circumstances, but to know that her marriage was on the line- her literal life in their hands- she was terrified. Her ladies in waiting tried to help- but the two of them had very different ideas of relaxing.

“I’m telling you, babes! A spa is just what the doctor ordered!” She adored Chelsea. She knew the princess was technically her better, and when in public she made sure to address her as such, but behind close doors none of them had to hold the appearances that the other two weren’t also their closest friends- the lone addition in private conversation was the castle’s baker and two dukes, but they were never allowed alone with her anymore.

Bobby arrived with a tray of pastries to soothe her as Shannon rolled her eyes, “Chels, mate, you suggest a spa day for literally anything. I think my idea will put her more at ease.” The princess had to agree, disguising herself as a commoner long enough to see who was actually entering the tournament might ease her nerves.

But it could also skyrocket them.

In the end, neither girl won. The King had sent a guard to ensure the princess stayed put until it was time for her appearance- so she was back to being a prisoner in her own home.

Her only solace, as Shannon got to work making her ginger hair into something regal, was that it would remain her home after she married. As the king and queen’s only heir, the tournament was open to gentry from all over the surrounding kingdoms, but not to the princes. She wouldn’t have to follow her husband back to his homeland.

The herald announced her arrival as she stepped into her private viewing box, and she gave a polite smile, waving gracefully to the citizens of the kingdoms that filled the stands. She took her seat, back ram rod straight as if someone had strapped a pole to her spine- just as she’d been taught. Her green eyes traced over the arena, seeking out something to ground her as her nerves wore down.

And then the herald began announcing the contestants.

She was not surprised that Duke Alexander was opting to send a stand in. Though the princess didn’t understand what Noah saw in her, it was obvious to everyone that her friend held affection for a woman from a neighboring kingdom- Countess Hope. Regina’s relief was that Noah would send someone that would treat her well should he win. Though she hadn’t met the man in question before, Noah always spoke well of Lord Ibrahim.

Next was Duke Zabinksy, who was taking part himself. The princess knew Jakub from charity balls, nice enough, but sometimes daft and used to people doing things for him since his mother raised him to understand that he had people to do things when needed. And she hated that ideology. Her people should not need to do something for her if she could do it herself.

Lord Graham’s introduction followed next, but the princess knew he was from an island kingdom. She was not prepared to see her future split apart by the sea.

Most of the names meant nothing to her.

And then she heard the announcement that Duke Koh was sending a stand in, and she had to forcefully stop herself from flying to her feet when Mister Bergstrom was announced.

He was not gentry but he was here.

Her blonde stranger, that lingered in her mind though she knew she shouldn’t let him.

The man she could’ve seen herself falling for had the circumstances been different, had they just been two people instead of a royal and, apparently, a knight.

He was here.

And he was competing for her hand.

Standing as poised and perfect as she could, she began her opening address- thanking the competitors, announcing the start of the games. She could feel the eyes of her ladies in waiting, and, without breaking posture of expression, she whispered to Shannon through gritted teeth, “Get me Lucas. Now.”

The woman shot out of her seat like she was trained as a messenger instead of trained as a lady, and it was mere minutes before the dark haired man in question was thrust into the shadows of the viewing box heaving for breath. “Princess Regina-“ she grimaced and he amended, “Reggie, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

She glared at him as best she could with the eyes of the kingdom on her, “What the hell!? You couldn’t have given me a heads up?”

Lucas looked sheepish, “You wouldn’t have allowed his entry if you knew. Well, your father wouldn’t have. It needed to be a last minute change to work.”

She sighed, “What is he to you?”

“My best friend. But position wise, he’s my personal guard.”

“You’d sacrifice your guard for my marriage?” She blinked at him owlishly.

He just smiled at her, “He’s been prepared to give his life for me since before he started training. When he was only my best friend. Remember Lottie?” The princess did remember. Lottie had supposedly been a witch that lived on the outskirts of all the kingdoms. There had been rumors that she could curse someone- steal their life away. It had been revealed when she targeted Lucas- on behalf of a neighboring princess that had been determined to wed him and was rejected- that she was actually an assassin that favored slow admissions of poison, which was where the rumors of her sucking away their life originated. “I owe it to him to give him the chance. And I owe you. You introduced me to Marisol, when she was nothing more than the second daughter of a Duke. Overlooked because she would never inherit the title. She was a mere acquaintance to you, but she is everything to me now. And Noah knows you don’t like that countess he fell for.” She flushed, but Lucas continued, “But you still make sure she’s personally invited to the events of the kingdom. Not for propriety’s sake, but for Noah’s. You make her feel welcome so she won’t question where she stands with him. And I saw the way you relaxed with Henrik. You’re like that with me, Shannon, Chelsea, Bobby, Noah, but who else in your life have you been so at ease with? Someone that hasn’t been by your side since you were born?”

He was right. She knew that. She’d grown up around Noah and Lucas, and Bobby had been the previous royal baker’s son so he was prominent within the castle wall’s from a young age- as were her own ladies in waiting being the daughters of her mother’s ladies in waiting. Henrik had been her only glimpse of new comfort in her life.

And then her father stormed into the viewing box. “You!” A guard grabbed Lucas before she could move, and her father was raging quietly in the shadows out of sight of those not paying close attention, “I have had it with you undermining my authority! You rejected her hand, and now you wish to pose some foreign knight to win it in your place? Admit it for what it is! You wish to ruin this kingdom!”

Lucas held up his hands, knowing better than to fight against someone Gary’s size, “Your majesty, I swear it isn’t like that. My own father was foreign, he didn’t wish for this kingdom’s downfall anymore than Henrik does!”

The king spit the next words with venom, “I know better. When your suitor loses, you will be banished from the castle grounds. If he manages to cheat his way to a win, you will be put to death for treason.”

“Father! You-“ The princess was cut off as her father’s hand swung, rings catching the side of her as the force caused them to tear the skin.

“Silence, child! You have never understood your place in this kingdom. You are to wed the new king and produce an heir. Hopefully he’ll be luckier than I am and be granted a son.” His eyes darted to Chelsea, “You, get her cleaned up and presentable.” The blonde’s lip quivered as the king stomped his way back out of the room, and she rushed off to find the necessary things to fix her up. Gary muttered apologies, but knew he couldn’t leave Lucas there, so when the man was done checking on the princess, he escorted him back to Henrik. She had barely managed to whisper to him as he was taken away, but it was enough. Lucas knew she needed this.

Henrik saw her eyes flash with recognition, not of his name but of his face. He could see the hope for a split second before it was replaced with fear. Whether for herself or him, he couldn’t be sure. But he was going to do his damndest to win and protect her from whatever could be causing it. He saw the minuscule movements in her face that most people would miss, seeing only her pretty face- which nearly knocked the air from his lungs completely now that it wasn’t partially hidden by a mask. He knew she was pretty that night, but now she looked almost otherworldly. Watching the woman with more rust colored orange hair than the princess he was fighting for rush off, he wasn’t surprised when she arrived at his station a few minutes later, offering a quiet look of encouragement before hauling Lucas away.

Henrik watched the two of them speaking in the princess’s space before the king appeared, and felt his blood boil when she was struck.

He needed to win this if he wanted to protect her. To stop it from happening again.

When Lucas was delivered back by a King’s Guard, the only thing he said to Henrik was what he already knew, he needed to win. The knight wasn’t sure why it was suddenly of such greater grave importance to him, but he wouldn’t let him down either.

Fortunately for Henrik, he was trained as a knight, where the others were trained as gentry. They were not as used to the manual efforts these challenges required.

There were only four events. The joust, ring pierce, flag toss, and the javelin throw.

He won all but the ring pierce. One of the dukes- he thinks it was the one that was sent by Lucas’s friend- almost won in the javelin throw, but he had fumbled his release just enough that he was short of beating him.

But Henrik could see that it was a problem. He could see the king seething, even across the arena. And then Lucas had given a smile that was a mixture of sadness and pride. He wouldn’t have been upset about losing his knight- Lucas had only inherited his title in the last few months when his father passed. Henrik hadn’t been his guard long. So there had to be something he didn’t know.

Before the king could address the crowd, the princess was on her feet and calling for their attention.

Reggie saw the only opening she would get. Her father hadn’t calmed his temper enough to address the crowd. She needed this to happen now, or she would lose Lucas and Henrik forever. “We have a new champion!” She called when she was sure the citizens had their eyes on her, “Henrik Bergstrom, you have been granted the right to my hand. Please, everyone, the ceremony shall commence at once, if you would all move to the chapel.” The king opened his mouth, probably to protest, but no one could hear him over the audience speaking in excited tones as they moved.

Henrik was turning to Lucas before the man could even start moving, “Ceremony?”

Lucas nodded, clearly distracted, “Yes. You won her hand. It’s time for the wedding.”

“Already!? I thought I’d be courting her or something!” Despite the panic in Henrik’s voice, he allowed Lucas to guide him away from the arena into a private dressing room. Lucas was a Duke, he had people for this, but he insisted on dressing Henrik himself.

“You need to do this now. It’ll give her the power of the kingdom.”

“Why does that matter now as opposed to in a few months time?” He could tell his friend was hiding something, some information that was pertinent to her urgency when it had been clear she didn’t want her marriage determined by the winner before.

Lucas sighed, smoothing the nonexistent wrinkles in the clothes, “Because if you don’t do it now, the king won’t allow it to happen. And I won’t be here anymore to help either of you.”

“Won’t- Wait what?”

“The king has ordered me tried for treason. Well, technically he ordered my execution. But he won’t risk the uproar to do anything to stop this if it happens right now.”

“If you knew- why did you encourage me to win?”

“For both of you.” Lucas smiled, hands on the blonde’s shoulders, “You can give her what she was afraid she wouldn’t have. And she’ll give it back to you tenfold because that’s who she is.” Henrik opened his mouth, and Lucas cut him off with a laugh before he could ask, “Love, you daft prick. You can give her love.”

Before either of them could really come to terms with the speed, the ceremony was already over. They were married. And as they turned to be announced as the new king and queen, she leaned over just enough to whisper in his ear, “Remember when you said you were on my side?”

“Yes, my queen.” She shot him a carefully hidden playful glare before her face fell serious.

“I hope you meant that. Because what I am about to do can cause ramifications.” He nodded his head, giving her the go ahead, and she signaled to the large guard off to the side, “Guard, please seize the King Father for crimes against the crown.”

The words silenced the crowd, and Henrik carefully kept the shock off his own face. The guard, the one that had been her protector for as long as she could remember, the same one that had pinned Lucas to the wall mere hours earlier, moved at once and took hold of her father. The former king was outraged, “On what grounds are you putting these charges against me!?”

“For stating you would take the life of one of the kingdom’s most loyal gentry. You threatened the life of Duke Lucas Koh, and that is not a threat I would take lightly.” None of the citizens had ever seen such a fierce expression on their princess’s sweet face, “You also planned to take back your word on this marriage, accusing a royal guard of being the downfall of our kingdom. That is blasphemy of this kingdom to the highest degree. Guard Rennell, please escort him to the-“

Her father broke free of his grip, charging at the princess, but falling short when her new husband stepped in. Henrik had him held by the throat and pinned to the floor before the former king could even pull his hidden blade. Calmly he stated the words, “I swore you’d never hurt her again. That no one would. I plan to fulfill that.”

Gary hauled the man back to his feet, arms pinned and cuffed, and escorted him out of the room.

That night, she was able to enjoy another dance. The same ease filling her as he twirled her around the floor.

It wasn’t love.

Not yet.

But because of the sacrifice Lucas was willing to make, in his misguided attempt to repay her for the care she’s given him in his life, she knew it could be.

And Henrik was ready to help her see it happen.

#litg #litg fanfic #litg henrik #litg henrik x mc #royalty au #guard Henrik #princess mc #litg season 2

19 notes · View notes

zaminoo · 2 years

Text

@hollandorks I'm not really good at writing I like to write character essays in my spare time- also its planned to be a reader x batman fanfic reader is introduced in chapter one - here is the beginning of the prologue set after The Batman Untitled batman fic WIP :

Isolated a one bedroom cell, listening in on the crazed talk between the inmates surrounding the room, was none other than Bruce Wayne. Some inmates whistled to him, called him darling and even offered their service for his money. He sat with his back to the door, hair greased and eyes stained with black paint. How he ended up here, among the clinically insane- still has him dizzy with confusion. When first awoken only moments ago, in a new and confusing place Bruce tried for the door upon being spoken to on the intercom, came to realize he is infact a prisoner of Arkham Asylum. Not just any old prisoner, a victim in the tower that is the panopticon prison aspect in Arkham Asylum. The prince of Gotham city was neighboring the worst of the worst, among the challenging criminals he put away as his alter ego Batman.

Leaving through the door was hopeless, he took to inspecting his surroundings. The walls dressed up in ripped wallpaper exposing the bricks; yellow, faded wallpaper- He scoffed to himself. Walls closing around him, each wall edge closer suffocating him in an unwelcome hug. Bruce Wayne sat alone in this room where the only company was the bed, toilet and a sink- no attempts at making it suicide proof really reflected how Arkham cared about their guests. In the far corner was an outdated camera, winking a red light in his direction. He stared directly into its eye, standing up slowly taking note of the sticker to the side scratched off and the balts covered. Someone has attempted to rip this off the walls before. Whoever was the last occupier of this space could have ended in three ways, one: Relocated, two: Suicide or three, and bruce hoped: fully recovered and back in society.

Loud buzzing enclosed the room surrounding Bruce “Back away from the door, put your hands onto the wall opposite the door.” The intercom’s voice was sharp, and the noise disruption caused Bruce to flinch. Following the given instructions, the door opened. Looking over his shoulder eyeing up those who entered. Two armed guards and a woman in a white coat holding a clipboard, a doctor.

“Good morning Mr Wayne” she said, “Very compliant, good to see.” She pointed with her pen for the guards to leave the room. Examining their responses, Bruce caught one guard looking back and forth at the doctor and Bruce in a ‘are you sure?’ kinda way. She nodded, without another sound they were alone. “I didn't have the chance to give you a warm welcome. Welcome to Arkham Asylum Mr Wayne.” “Charmed.” Bruce responded bluntly. She let out an airy laugh, before tapping her clipboard. “You may turn around Mr Wayne, no need to remain like that.” Without a response, Bruce turned around, avoiding eye contact and he caught her entire image. This woman was blonde, rather average build and wore glasses. “I’m Doctor Quinzel.” She gave a million dollar smile. It felt welcoming but something was uncanny about it, as if she was masquerading as a human. “I’ll be your doctor, I only have what the GCPD and your profiler has given me about the events that lead you here, but personally I’d like to give you a psych evaluation” She tapped the clipboard again with her pen, as if awaiting a response from Bruce. He remained silent, cooped up into himself as he towered over her. She had what happened on record, it caught his attention of course, there was no subtle way to really ask for it. While she kept tapping, she refused to speak, kept on smiling as the silence became unbearably loud as a whistling whitenoise engulfed the tapping. Bruce refused to respond and she refused to continue, this felt calculated. The walls became to close in, the screaming in the background grew onto white noise and all Bruce could focus on was the tapping of that fucking pen.

“Interesting makeup choice” she finally bulldozed the silence, Bruce frowned touching his eye, the black eye makeup he wore under his cowl remained on his face but smudged. Was he arrested while being Batman? Or was it after? Continuing to tap the pen, Doctor Quinzel turned around and headed out the doorway. “Follow me.”

#panic

5 notes · View notes

sincerely-krp · 8 months

Note

ok but can we talk about how they've been getting these nasty anons about activity but those same anons won't even participate in the event the admins are hosting?? like make up your damn mind. if you don't like it just leave, the rest of us are having a great time. // this might be an unpopular opinion, but i genuinely do not believe that members’ interest in events is a clear indicator whatsoever in activity levels or their desire for more activity. at all. definitely not in a time like right now where activity is stagnant everywhere. and i’m speaking as someone who has done admin work for a few directories.

events are always going to be hit or miss, even in fast-paced directories. some months you’ll have great hits where a good chunk of your directory joins in. other times, you’re going to have massive misses with minimal entries, and it may sometimes happen two, three months in a row. it sucks and feels like a bit of a blow to your ego, but you need to develop a thicker skin about this stuff sometimes. you can always come back with a hit next time if events are that important to you. a miss, or multiple misses, doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things if your members are still regularly posting and commenting on the timeline, or being welcoming within group chats.

something to keep in mind too is that events that have a less specific theme tend to do better. for example, masquerade themes always seem to do pretty decent, even if they are kind of cliché. but an event that is based on a niche topic or media source is probably not going to garner much interest, no matter how much effort the admin put into it—unless the directory is actually based around that topic/media. you have to keep in mind that not everyone will have had the same exposure to it for whatever reason (examples being clashing interests, potential triggers, major cultural differences, etc.). if you want to consistently have good ideas with minimal flops, then it also really helps to foster friendly dialogue between yourself and your members by creating a safe space for them to give you ideas. even polls are great for this. or open a google forms with multiple choice answers.

at the end of the day, yes, it sucks when your directory isn’t active, it sucks when an event isn’t popular, and it sucks to get nasty anons (since no one deserves these). but what else are you doing to make your members comfortable? what environment are you trying to develop? do you actively check in on your members or do you only ever do the bare minimum by posting activity checks and new members? even as members yourselves in your own directory, are YOU active with your dms, posts, etc. or are you dismissive of new people to only focus on your ship partners? because being snarky to your members about their lack of interest toward an event, or expressing disappointment in your members when you yourselves have been absent admin, isn’t the flex or power move that you think it is. if anything, that’s going to get more vitriol tossed your way, and at that point, you’re just as much to blame for your community dying for not being professional about it.

・❥・

0 notes

jasmariswonderland · 1 year

Note

For the masquerade event ask 5,8,9,13 for Yuulan, Sidonie, and Farron.

Glorious Masquerade Asks Here

(A/N: First off, my deepest apologies that I am answering this so late. The only reason this is late is completely because of episode 3/4 and what happened in those parts ended up making me change a few of my answers to this ask. In the end, I decided I would wait until the event was complete just in case more shit hit the fan but now that the final episode is out, I feel comfortable with my answers as they are.)

5. how does your oc feel about their new outfit? do they like it? do they feel uncomfortable in it?

Currently working on artwork of this but Yuulan’s outfit is a vibrant dress of red, violet and gold. There are even matching gold ornaments for her braids. She really likes her new outfit, especially since it’s in her favorite colors. But she does have some trouble moving around in it because she’s not used to wearing long skirts.

8. did your oc get any souvenirs for others? if so, what did they buy and for whom?

Yuulan was very taken by the colorful glass mobiles. So much so that she ended up buying three; one for herself and two more for Taima and Jack.

9. which team did they join? team a (epel, azul, deuce), star team (idia, rook, ruggie, silver) or team 1 (malleus, riddle, jamil, sebek)? or did they stay with trein? or maybe they formed their own team, if so, can you tell us more about the members?

She joins team 1. Sebek is a little wary of her motives but Malleus is delighted to have more time to spend around Yuulan. She gets a major kick out of the goat following Malleus around and at one point they share a coffee, much to Sebek’s disapproval.

13. would they text their friends who couldn’t go to nbc about everything that’s going on? would they send them photos?

Yuulan honestly would be too busy exploring the city and enjoying the festivities to think about texting. But when she got a chance, she would send Taima pics of Deuce in his masquerade outfit for her amusement.

Sidonie and Farron’s under the cut!

5. how does your oc feel about their new outfit? do they like it? do they feel uncomfortable in it?

Currently working on artwork of this, but Sidonie’s outfit actually matches Farron’s. It’s a long and elegant indigo gown in a renaissance style, embroidered with crimson roses. She also has roses woven into her hair. She absolutely loves her outfit and Farron believes it’s very suitable for her.

8. did your oc get any souvenirs for others? if so, what did they buy and for whom?

Sidonie ends up getting a lot of souvenirs for Danica, who was especially saddened that she could not go to NBC. One of these souvenirs is an amulet carved into the shape of a bell and she also gets her one of the glass mobiles after seeing Rook get one for Vil. Sidonie also buys an amulet for Trey.

She and Farron initially join team 1 with Yuulan but later decides to stay with Trein where they talk more about the history of the city and the differences between NBC and NRC. Unlike most of the other students, she is actually interested in what Trein has to say.

13. would they text their friends who couldn’t go to nbc about everything that’s going on? would they send them photos?

Since Danica was so upset that she could not go with her (Danica’s mother is originally from the City of Flowers), Sidonie makes a point of texting her frequently with interesting bits about her day that she thinks Danica would like. Sidonie however does not tell Danica that Neige is there and hopes to the Great Seven that Rook won’t tell her or Vil.

5. how does your oc feel about their new outfit? do they like it? do they feel uncomfortable in it?

Currently working on art of this, but Farron’s masquerade outfit actually matches with Sidonie. It’s a very elegant suit similar to Rook’s but with a longer cape embordered with red roses. There are also red and gold roses decorating the shoulder and his mask. Considering he is usually the one to design and create fabulous outfits for everyone, he loves that he is the one being given something gorgeous to wear for a change! And he loves how he and Sidonie are matching.

8. did your oc get any souvenirs for others? if so, what did they buy and for whom?

Farron buys several figures for his older sister and he also buys the special amulet charm after hearing the shopkeeper explain the legend behind it. He buys the charm for Andrew, for good luck and with the hopes that the next time he returns to the City of Flowers, Andrew will be with him. (And no, sadly, Andrew was not included in the RSA envoy to visit NBC)

He and Sidonie initially join team 1 but later decide to stay with Trein. Unlike most of the other students, Farron and Sidonie actually like and respect Trein and are interested in what he has to say. At one point though, Farron goes off on his own and spends some time with the star team.

13. would they text their friends who couldn’t go to nbc about everything that’s going on? would they send them photos?

Like Sidonie, Farron is texting Danica about what they’re doing and posting tons of pics on magicam for Cater to see. He’s also texting Andrew and they talk about different things they’d like to do if they ever visited the City of flowers together.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #twst glorious masquerade #OC: Yuulan #OC: Sidonie #OC: Farron #things I've answered

1 note · View note

animeomegas · 3 years

Text

Omega!Kaidou Headcanons

Anon: Ooooh can you do omega kaido hcs?

(Aww, I love Kaidou, he is baby. I just finished all my uni work for the week so I jumped to write this! Enjoy!)

Warnings: N-sfw under cut, mpreg, talk of insecurities.

General:

Kaidou is quite an insecure omega. Especially as a teenager.

Honestly, he has probably tried to masquerade as a beta before, and wished many times that he was an alpha like his younger brother and sister.

A lot of his façade as the ‘Jet Black Wings’ is a defence mechanism because of his insecurities and him being an omega fuels that.

Kaidou can be wary around alphas he doesn’t know, so it’s likely that you were friends first and romantic a long time afterwards.

When you are finally mates/almost mates, you see a completely different side to Kaidou.

He is incredibly touch starved. He loves cuddles and pets. He’ll take any affection you dish out. He especially loves resting his head on your lap or on your shoulder.

Kaidou wants to be an author when he’s older, and he has never had anyone support his dream. When you offer your support for him, he falls in love with you right then and there. That’s when he knew he wanted you to be his alpha.

His scent is light and flowery, with a hint of citrus.

Kaidou purrs a lot without realising and it always embarrasses him when you point it out. He purrs everytime you scent him, croon, cuddle him, etc.

Kaidou is a very sweet omega who is a dedicated and loving mate and parent.

Nesting:

As a teenager, Kaidou never gets to the point where he likes his nest.

He wants a super cool nest! A combo between a ‘secret lair’ style and a ‘pinterest’ style nest.

He wants a room dedicated to his nest, preferably with a hidden entrance. He wants a super powerful colour scheme with cool posters but he also wants fairy lights and pastel blankets.

Kaidou has lots of cuddly toys but he gets embarrassed about it and won’t admit it.

In fact, cuddly toys are his favourite courting gifts to receive, but he will always pretend that he think toys are for little kids, but you can see how tightly he cradles the toy, and if you scent the teddy first, you can even hear him purring.

As an adult, Kaidou really wants his dream nest, but he feels guilty spending so much money on it. It’s up to his alpha to encourage him.

When he has pups, they think his nest is the coolest thing ever, and they tell all the other kids at school because it has a hidden door! And beanbags! And a mini fridge! And it’s way better than your omega parent’s nest!!

Kaidou is very protective of his nest. He only lets you and his pups inside. No one else. He doesn’t even like when someone figures out where it is in his home.

This causes some conflict because he would love to give birth in his nest, but he would never be able to invite a midwife or doctor inside.

You clutched a small bat plushie in you hands as you walked into your classroom. You had bought it for Kaidou on a whim yesterday on your way home from school. This was hardly the first time you had given him a courting gift, but this was the first one that had your scent on it.

“Holy shit.” You whispered to yourself. “You can do this, don’t be nervous.”

You saw Kaidou immediately. He was sitting on top of his desk, chatting with Hairo and Nendou. You huffed. You would have preferred him to be alone but you guess that couldn’t be helped now.

“Hey, Shun...” You started, awkwardly sliding up beside him.

He startled slightly, a blush settling on his cheeks.

“Oh! Hey... Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I, um.” You pulled the bat toy out of your pocket, shoving it vaguely in his direction. “This is for you.”

Kaidou gently took it from your hands, eyes wide. He turned it over, running a finger over the fake fangs. You saw the moment he realised you had scented it. He looked up at you in shock before turning and sniffing absentmindedly at the toy, purrs beginning to sneak out.

You puffed up in pride. Watching your intended mate accept and enjoy your gift with such fervour filled your heart with joy.

“HA HA!” Interrupted Nedou. “Kaidou’s purring!”

The purrs stopped immediately, Kaidou turned bright red, shoving the toy into his bag.

“I AM NOT! Shut up!”

The two began to bicker, Nedou laughing over Kaidou’s agressive denial.

You were vaguely embarrassed that Kaidou’s friends had seen you give him a courting gift, but mostly you were pleased by his acceptance of your first serious courting gift. Giving someone your scent to put in their nest was a big deal after all.

Family + pups

When you decide to court Kaidou, he will try and keep you as far away from his mother as he can. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last long, because his mother just orders him to bring you over and he can’t say no to his terrifying alpha mother.

Kaidou is unbelievably nervous throughout the whole meeting. He knows his mother will order him to end the courtship if she doesn’t approve.

His mother’s opinion depends a lot of how well spoken, intelligent and ambitious Kaidou’s intended alpha is.

If you have good grades, can match her successfully in conversation, and are preparing to apply to a good university, she will adore you.

(it’s best just to lie if you aren’t those things).

Kaidou’s mother is a very hands on grandparent when the time comes. She always take your pup(s) when Kaidou is in heat and you in rut. She also helps pay for tutors and arranges academic help for all her grandchildren.

Kaidou wants at least one pup but no more than three pups.

He is such a sweet parent.

He never, ever makes fun of his pups. He always treats their problems seriously and loves them for who they are.

He’s the kind of parent who jumps at the opportunity to support his kids hobbies. Writing, martial arts, painting, cooking, whatever they love, he makes sure they can do it.

Kaidou makes an excellent stay-at-home parent. He loves spending time with his pup(s) and working on writing the book he wants to write.

Family cuddles are a scheduled weekly event. He is distraught if, when his pups get older, they don’t partake in the family cuddles every week.

It took Kaidou quite a few tries to get pregnant, and he ended up getting very stressed about it, thinking something was wrong with him. Luckily, it eventually happened for you both.

When he was pregnant, Kaidou didn’t have many symptoms, but he was very tired and hungry all the time.

He needed help to do most things because he was so tired, but he felt like a burden, so didn’t ask for help. This changes in his second pregnancy (if he has one). He needs to have help with your other pup(s) when he’s pregnant because he’s too tired to look after them fulltime.

It would make more sense for you to wait until your first pup was in school before trying for a second one, just to take the pressure off of Kaidou somewhat.

The night’s peace was broken by a tentative knock at your bedroom door. You startled slightly, starting to sit up, Kaidou also stirring in your arms. The door handle turned slowly, the silhouette of you oldest son was revealed, along with the quiet sound of sniffling.

Before you could even process what you were seeing, Kaidou had yanked himself out of your arms and thrown himself towards your crying pup.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Kaidou panicked, hands flitting over your pup as if to check for injuries.

“Nightmare.” Your pup whined, beginning to sob and he held his arms out for a hug.

Kaidou whined with him, quickly and firmly pulling him into his embrace. Kaidou then stood up, cradling your pup in his arms, rocking him back and forth.

“Why don’t you sleep with us tonight, pup?” You said, voice still heavy with sleep, gesturing for Kaidou to get back into bed. It was freezing after all.

Kaidou didn’t need any more prompting and slipped back under the covers you were holding up for him. As he settled down, your pup quickly grabbed at your shirt, holding it tightly in his fist. You brushed your hand over his tiny one before settling your hand on his back, rubbing up and down to help soothe him. You could no longer see his face (it was buried in your mate’s chest), but you could still hear his sniffling.

“What was your nightmare about, sweetheart? Must have been scary, huh?” You asked as Kaidou began scenting the top of your son’s head.

“Yeah. W’s scary.” Came the muffled voice of your pup.

In lieu of a reply, you pulled both him and Kaidou more closely against your chest.

“Nothing can happen while you’re here with us, okay. You’re safe.” You kept rubbing his back as he finally started to settle. Eventually, his breathing evened out and he relaxed fully against you and Kaidou, his grip on your shirt loosening.

“I feel so useless when he has nightmares.” Kaidou admitted, breaking the hush. “I can’t protect him from them.”

You shifted slightly to look him in the eye.

“You’re protecting him right now, my love. This is what he needs from you and you’re so good at it. You’re such a good parent, Shun.” Kaidou blushed faintly. “I fall in love with you all over again everytime I see you with our pups.”

Kaidou smiled slightly, resting his head against your shoulder.

“I just want him to be happy.”

“I know.” You replied, placing a kiss on his head. “Me too.”

You started to drift off to sleep as silence descended on the room.

“Thanks.” Kaidou murmured.

Too tired to reply, you squeezed him lightly with your arms. It saddened you that your amazing parent of a mate still felt insecure four years into parenthood, but you were just going to have to keep telling him otherwise until he started to see himself as you saw him.

N-SFW under cut (ft. Slightly!Older!Kaidou)

Kaidou always, always needs after sex cuddles. It helps relax him, quiet his insecurities and is equally as enjoyable as the sex in his opinion.

Kaidou is a big subby baby, and he needs cuddles for his aftercare or he can feel very rejected.

Do you remember the episode where Kaidou came last in every event of the physical fitness test, but came first in flexibility? Kaidou is extremely flexible and he loves to show it off in bed. He’s very proud of all the positions he can bend into.

Kaidou loves dressing up in lingerie. He feels pretty and confident when he’s wearing lace lingerie. He looks best in pastel blue (it matches his hair), but honestly, he pulls off all pastel shades very well.

Along a similar vein, Kaidou finds it very embarrasing but very hot to look at himself in the mirror while you have sex. It requires a lot of praise though, as he can be quite insecure.

In heat, Kaidou is absolutely shameless. He will beg and plead and whine and nuzzle you to get you into his nest with him.

Kaidou is weak to hickeys on his neck, especially around his scent glands. He doesn’t give many hickeys, but he is prone to leaving scratch marks on your back and shoulders.

This man is very sensitive in a lot of areas. His nipples and the inside of his thighs are very soft and particularly sensitive.

He hates pain though. He is neither a masochist nor a sadist and thinks that pain has no place in love making.

Kaidou likes a little bit of roleplay but he’s way to embarrassed to bring it up. You have to wait until you’ve been in a relationship with him for years before he feels comfortable enough to bring it up. He is interested in teacher/student and master/slave style roleplays. He enjoys playing the part of someone else, because it makes him feel more comfortable in embracing his sexuality outside his heat.

“I’m-I’m coming out now. Don’t laugh, okay?”

You shook you head fondly.

“I’m not going to laugh at you, baby. You always look gorgeous, don’t forget that.”

The bathroom door opened and Kaidou shuffled out, clad in the new pastel blue lingerie set you had ordered for him last week.

You lost your breath just looking at him.

He was wearing sheer knee socks with little bows, held up by the garter belt sitting snugly on his waist. On top, he was wearing a lacy bralette, completely see through of course. Your favourite piece however, was undoubtedly the little blue panties. You could see the fabric bulging, straining against his erection. Looking a little closer, you noticed a small damp spot. You grinned. For all his complaining, he certainly enjoyed this a lot. You haven’t even touched him yet.

Kaidou shifted under your hungry gaze, feeling a little like your prey. He shivered at the thought.

You moved to kneel on the ground before him, pressing wet, open mouth kisses over his thighs and tummy. Kaidou steadied himself by gripping onto your shoulders. You could feel his nails making small grooves in your skin.

When you reached his chest, you began to suck and bite at his nipples through the lacey fabric, delighting in his moans and whimpers. He was always so sensitive for you.

“So beautiful.” You panted, breathing heavily against him.

“M’ not. Not beautiful.” Kaidou denied, eyes clenched shut.

You growled in response, biting him lightly on the shoulder.

“Don’t you dare. You’re breath-taking, Shun. Stunning. Gorgeous. Perfect.” You emphasised every word with a suck or a bit on his neck. You wouldn’t stop until he learnt to love himself as much as you loved him.

“Okay, baby, get on the bed. We have a long night ahead.” You made a point to crash your hips into his. “I’m going to show you how beautiful you are.”

#saiki k #disastrous life of saiki k #kaido shun #shun kaidou #omega kaidou #omega!Kaidou #alpha reader #Alpha!Reader #imagine #reader insert #x reader #headcanon #n-sfw #abo #omegaverse #male omega #gn alpha #female alpha #male alpha

630 notes · View notes

ppangjae · 3 years

Text

PLANET GIRL | part two

SUMMARY. When Jaehyun turned twenty-one, he started to hear his soulmate’s voice singing an unfamiliar song in his head. He should be happy, right? Wrong. There are two things wrong with this:

He’s taken. He’s off the market. He’s in a 3-year relationship and,

The voice singing in his head is not his girlfriend’s voice.

Now what?

WORD COUNT. 5k+ words

author’s note. finally LOL. it’s been a hot minute. here’s part two! also, i’ve gotten such positive feedback for part one and i wanted to say thank you for reading and enjoying it! i hope you enjoy this update! happy reading!

PART ONE. cupid | PART TWO. jupiter | 2.5 intermission | PART THREE. PLANET GIRL

The humming and singing in his head follows him in his sleep. But don’t get him wrong, the unidentified voice of his soulmate singing in his head doesn’t haunt him to sleep. It actually helps him fall asleep, especially on nights where the future seems so out of reach and unpredictable, where he wonders how he’ll break it to Ara that he’s not the man she’ll be spending the rest of her life with even though they’ve been together for three long years. In fact, the harsh reality of his relationship with Ara is a nightmare caused by the voice that sings in his head, but it so happens to be the same voice that puts him in a deep, peaceful slumber.

How ironic.

One night, the humming hums louder and louder that it prompts him to wake up. His eyes land on his keyboard sitting in the far corner of the room. His feet carelessly drag him towards the keyboard and he plops down onto the seat with a soft ‘oof’. As he gently places his fingers down onto the keys of the keyboard, his eyes flutter shut and he focuses on the melody echoing through his head.

As if his fingers had a mind of its own, they start playing out the melody by ear. The corners of his lips twitch up into a soft smile. It’s almost like a lullaby, but he’s forcing himself to stay awake and take in the sweet melody. Soft humming, inaudible words mumbling in between. He’s sure he’s never heard such a song before.

Suddenly, the humming halts to a stop and his eyes flash open. There’s a sudden feeling of loneliness. He lets out a sigh before an idea pops into his mind. Immediately, he grabs a blank piano sheet, forcing himself to recall the notes he had translated from his soulmate’s humming in his head.

It takes a while. It takes him a while to get it all on one piano sheet. But when he does, there’s a feeling of sweet victory. It’s like he’s accomplished something big. It’s like he’s one step closer to finding his soulmate.

“One day,” he mumbles to himself, staring at the piano sheet with a faint smile spread across his lips. “I’ll finally meet you.”

His thoughts are cut short when his phone vibrates to notify him of a text message from, oh right, his girlfriend, Ara.

It’s a situation that cannot be helped.

It’s May and the cherry blossoms bloomed and the pout on your face almost seems permanent. You’re not sure what to do anymore. Time is surely ticking and yet, you haven’t started fulfilling your duties of bringing Ara and Yuta together. It’s your consciousness that’s keeping you from doing it. It’s Jaehyun’s innocence that’s keeping you from doing it. It’s Ara’s friendliness that’s keeping you from doing it. Yuta, however, you’re not quite sure—

“I had a feeling it was you, but I wasn’t fully sure.”

You snap out of your trance, following the source of the unidentified voice. Yuta’s looking down at you with a soft gaze. He shifts his gaze towards the cherry blossom petals that have landed on the top of your head. He gently removes them from the strands of your hair.

“Thanks,” you mumble, suddenly feeling shy by the nice gesture.

“Do you mind if I join you?” He asks, pointing towards the empty seat next to you on the bench.

You shift down the bench, making more room for him. He takes it as a ‘yes’ and sits next to you, looking up at the cherry blossoms. You awkwardly fiddle with your fingers. “So—”

“Homecoming.” He interrupts you. “Be my date?”

“What?” You blurt out. You look at him as if he has three heads sitting on his neck. He tilts his head, analyzing you carefully. He points at the event flyer you have in your hand. You almost forgot it was in your hands. You’re caught off guard and you cover it up with a fake cough. “I mean—why would you ask me—or—we’re not even close—”

“Because the one I want to go with is going with someone else.” He shrugs his shoulders. He lets his head hang low and you feel bad for him. That is, until he looks back up with a mischievous grin spread across his lips. “And I’m sure the one you want to go with is going with someone else too.”

“I don’t,” you mumble, shaking your head. “I don’t have someone in mind that I want to go to homecoming with. Besides, I always pass up on homecoming.”

“You do have someone in mind.”

You squint your eyes with suspicion. “And how would you know what?”

He smirks. “Because I’m a mind-reader.”

“A mind reader—”

“And a Cupid.” He cuts you off.

It takes you a couple of seconds for you to process his words into your mind. But when they finally make sense to you, all you could do is burst out into laughter. Yuta’s eyebrows furrow in confusion when you bend over to continue your laughing fit.

“You—You’re a—You’re a Cupid?” You laugh. “You’re a funny guy, Yuta. I never thought you’d be the funny type.”

He looks at you innocently. “But… I am a Cupid.”

“And a mind reader?” You question, stifling another laugh.

He scratches the back of his neck. “Well, now that was a joke. I’m not a mind reader but I am a Cupid—”

“Then that means you could read my mind, right?” You ask.

“Well—”

“Two words. I have two words on my mind right now.” You begin. “Can you read my mind? Do you know what they are?”

“I—”

Your laughing fit dies down and you look at him dead straight in the eye. Yuta feels his blood run cold. Were you ever this cold-hearted and intimidating? What seemed like a light-hearted conversation turned into a conversation he wishes would just end already.

You purse your lips into a tight line. “Nice.. try. I’ll see you around?”

Yuta watches you as you begin to walk away from him. When you’re a couple of metres away from him, your pace slows down. Looking down at the flyer for homecoming, you hesitantly look over your shoulder to see Yuta catching cherry blossom petals from the tree. He can’t be, you think to yourself, shrugging off your thoughts. As you continue on your own way, you hear your name being called out.

Turning around, you spot Yuta looking at you with a grin. “Yes, Yuta?”

“The offer still stands if you’re interested!”

“But I’m skipping out on homecoming again this year. Don’t worry about me.”

“Well, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.”

“Have you seen the homecoming flyers all over campus lately?”

Jaehyun tilts his head in confusion. “Johnny, this wasn’t a part of the script—”

“Have you?” Johnny gives him a warning look.

Jaehyun lets out a scoff. For the nth time this evening, Johnny decided to disregard the script that they planned out for almost a week. He will seriously kill Johnny during commercial time. But Johnny is completely invested in ticking Jaehyun off.

“Yes I have, Johnny.” Jaehyun says through gritted teeth. “And what about it?”

“Well, for those who don’t know, this year, the university’s event committee decided to spice things up with homecoming.” Johnny pulls out another piece of paper that so happens to be a different script. “I’m just relaying this from the event committee. Homecoming will be completely different this year! Prepare your suits and dresses and pair them with masks because this year’s homecoming will be a masquerade ball.”

Jaehyun almost choked on air. “A masquerade ball?”

Johnny nods his head. “Yes, which will make the night a bit more interesting. Imagine falling in love with someone on the night of homecoming but you’re blacked out drunk that you forget to ask for their name or their—”

“What is this, modern-day Cinderella?” Jaehyun jokes.

Johnny snaps his fingers and points at him. “Bingo! Now, if you’re interested in getting tickets for this year’s homecoming, the event committee will be putting up a ticket booth starting next week up until the week before homecoming. Make sure to get your tickets! Will you be getting tickets, Jaehyun?”

Jaehyun is completely baffled. The event committee must’ve commissioned Johnny to have homecoming promoted on the radio show. “Yes. I’ll be getting tickets. Will you?”

“Of course! Now, speaking of Cinderella, there’s someone out there that reminds me of the lovely princess.” Johnny begins to segway into the next song. “We’ve been playing this artist’s songs on the show for quite some time now, but until this day, we don’t know who this artist truly is. Rumour has it that this artist is a student of this university.”

Jaehyun’s ears perk up. Is Johnny talking about someone who he thinks he’s talking about?

“Planet Girl, if you’re listening to the show right now, feel free to hit us up! We’d love to meet you and find out who you are!” Johnny continues. “Here’s Planet Girl’s new single, My Future.”

As Johnny mutes his microphone, he leans back against his chair. He could feel Jaehyun’s burning gaze drilling two holes through the side of his face. Jaehyun frowns. “How much did they pay you to advertise—”

Jaehyun’s mouth clamps shut when the song begins to play through his headphones. It’s familiar. It’s terrifyingly familiar that his blood runs cold and he starts to get goosebumps. He’s heard of this song before. He didn’t hear this song on the radio. He didn’t hear this song in the local cafe he usually gets his morning coffee from. He didn’t hear this song on shuffle on a random evening. In fact, he’s heard this song—

“You were saying, Jaehyun?” Johnny snaps him out of his distant gaze.

“What—What was I saying?” Jaehyun chokes out.

“You were saying something about—you know what? Nevermind, it’s not really important.” Johnny mumbles, waving it off. He stares at his co-host who looks like he’s gotten his soul sucked out of his body. Jaehyun looks quite odd. “It’s not really important… anymore.”

Jaehyun’s heard this song before.

In fact, he’s heard this song, this melody, in his head.

Jaehyun scoffs in disbelief. “She can’t be.”

Johnny raises an eyebrow. “Who can’t be what?”

Jaehyun shakes his head. “N-Nothing.”

Planet Girl’s voice is the voice singing in Jaehyun’s head.

Planet Girl is his soulmate. What is he supposed to do with this information now?

“They played it! They played it!”

Mark barges into your room with his hair disheveled as if he had just woken up from a nap. He has his headphones on and his glasses seem to have been lazily put on, for they’re sitting lopsidedly on his face. You look at him endearingly, shaking your head and letting out a soft chuckle.

“What did they play?” You ask, pushing yourself away from your desk.

Mark takes off his headphones and yanks out the other end of the wire connected to the AUX jack, turning up the volume of his phone. The song being played on his phone is a soft melody, almost similar to lofi. You lean back in your desk chair, spinning around in slow circles as you listen to the song. Mark waits for some sort of live reaction from you.

“I’m guessing this is—”

“Planet Girl.” Mark cuts you off. He tosses his phone onto your bed, followed by the flinging of his own body onto the mattress. He lies down with his back against the sheets, a smile slowly forming across his lips.

You analyze him. “Do you like the song?”

He nods his head. “I love it.”

You purse your lips into a tight line, slowly turning back around to face your desktop screen. You blow a raspberry, hesitant to ask him a question. “Do you ever wonder who she is?”

“Who? Planet Girl?”

You hum in reply. “Yeah. You seem to like her music a lot. Don’t you ever wonder who she is? What she looks like? If she puts cereal before milk—”

“Every now and then, when I listen to her music, I do wonder who she is and what she looks like. But I also think that if she were to reveal herself, the entire campus would go nuts.” Mark explains. “I think that she should lay low for now. She’s extremely popular to be exposing herself. Unless, that’s her plan.”

“What plan?”

“To reveal herself when she becomes popular. It could give her more leverage. But it seems like she just makes music as a hobby and I’m not sure how her personality is, which means that she probably isn’t interested in ever revealing her identity. I guess it just really depends on her.”

You slowly nod your head. “I see… makes sense.”

Suddenly, your desktop computer crashes and shuts down. You find yourself staring at your reflection through the desktop screen that’s turned off. Your mind seems to wander off to your current situation. Ara… Jaehyun… Yuta… All of your past love assignments weren’t as messy as this one. It may be because you have a good heart and you hate ruining people’s lives. But at the same time, there’s a risk you must take in order to save your own life.

You’re not sure what’s better: ruin a relationship to keep your abilities or keep a relationship and lose your abilities. What are you destined to be? Are you destined to be a Cupid for the rest of your life? What’s the point of existing if you’re only placed on Earth to bring two soulmates together? What’s the point of existing if you can’t even find your own soulmate, your own happiness, your own freedom? Will you be locked down with this curse forever? At this point, do you even know yourself?

Mark turns up the volume of his phone to its maximum and as you analyze your reflection, the lyrics to the song begin to echo in your head.

And I, I'm in love But not with anybody else Just wanna get to know myself

You almost let out a laugh.

What a coincidence.

“Did she really know what I meant when I said, ‘you know where to find me’?”

“Yuta?”

He jerks up, his posture straightening at the sound of your voice. He turns around to see you standing right behind him. You tear your gaze away from him as a cherry blossom petal catches your eye. It falls gracefully, landing on top of his head. The situation feels all too familiar, especially when you pick out the cherry blossoms that landed on his head.

You chuckle. “Sorry, did I scare you? Am I that scary to you?”

He shakes his head. “No. I just—I just didn’t expect you to come.”

“Oh, well, I’m here. Let's just get to the point of why I’m here.”

He grins. “Have you made up your mind?”

You hesitatingly nod your head. “Yes, I have.”

“Hm, I wonder, am I going to be dateless this year at homecoming—”

“I’ll be your date.”

His eyes widen like saucers. “What?”

You smirk. “What? Did you expect me to say no or something?”

He scratches the back of his neck. “Well, I mean, yeah, but—”

“But there’s a catch to this.” You fold your arms. “I’ll only be your date to homecoming if you help me with something. This isn’t just a give and take situation.”

“What do you want me to do?”

Yuta feels his blood run cold.

“You want me to do what now?!”

You give Yuta an innocent look. From an outsider’s perspective, it looks like the two of you are in the midst of making a deal. And you both sure are, but what you’re not sure of is whether Yuta will help you out.

You clasp your hands together. “It’s simple. I’m a Cupid and—”

His loud laughter cuts you off. He’s laughing so hard that he bends over and almost hits his head against the table. You’re afraid that he’s going to knock his cup of coffee over too. You look at him with confusion.

“You—You’re a—You’re a Cupid?” He stifles a laugh. “You’re a funny one, Y/N. I never thought you’d be the funny type.”

“But… I am a Cupid.” Oh, how the tables have turned.

His laughing fit dies down. “And how would I know that you’re not joking around?”

“Because I really am… a Cupid.” You deadpan.

He snorts. “Yeah, and I’m Mickey Mouse in the flesh.”

“What do I have to do to make you believe me?” You sigh, leaning back against the cushion of the booth and looking out the window. There’s a couple that stops and stands outside of the cafe, skimming through the pages of the cafe’s menu. Yuta swears he could see a glint light up in your eyes.

“It’ll take a lot for me to believe you—”

“Ara is your soulmate.”

Yuta’s face pales at the words that slip past your lips. You’re too busy staring at the couple outside of the restaurant. You let out a soft sigh, looking away from them to meet Yuta’s gaze. Yuta gulps nervously. “How would you know that?”

You fold your arms. “Because I’m a Cupid.”

“No, how would you—how would you know such a thing?” He says, completely in disbelief. You squint your eyes at him in suspicion. He seems to grow nervous whenever Ara is brought up as the topic of conversation. Huh… it’s cute.

“Valentine’s Day.” You mumble. “On Valentine’s Day, I bumped into Ara. I’ve never met her until that day. Usually, I’ll forget about people I bump into. It’s just a fleeting moment. But Ara… I’ll always remember her. Why? Because when I looked into her eyes… I saw you.”

Yuta’s eyebrows furrow. “You saw me? Through her eyes?”

You nod, a small smile spreading across your lips. “Correct.”

“I don’t believe you.” He shakes his head. “If you saw me through Ara’s eyes, what was I wearing on Valentine’s Day, then?”

“Your soccer jersey. You were attending soccer practice.”

“Holy shit.”

You chuckle. “Believe me now?”

He raises up his hands in defense. “Say less. What else do you want me to do?”

When Yuta asked you what you wanted him to do in return for being his homecoming date, he did not expect this. He did not expect to use all of his willpower to tear Ara and Jaehyun’s relationship apart. He did not expect to find out that you’re a Cupid, just like him.

You’re a much more different Cupid than he is. He has the ability to matchmake, to tear two people apart when they’re not destined to be together. But when it comes to someone like Jaehyun, who so happens to be dating Ara, he suddenly doesn’t know what to do. But you’re different. Here you are, fulfilling your duties no matter what the circumstance, even if it meant that you had to ruin the relationship of two people you know.

Here you are, spying on him as he hesitatingly takes a seat next to Ara on the bleachers.

“Oh, hey, Yuta.” Ara greets him, grabbing a towel for him. “Here, it looks like you need it.”

“Thanks,” Yuta mumbles. “Hey, are you going to homecoming this year?”

Ara takes a quick swig of her bottled water, nodding her head. “I’m going. Are you?”

“I am. I’m guessing you’re going with Jaehyun?” He asks, internally facepalming himself. What kind of stupid question was that? He glances towards you, and you gesture him to continue. “Well, yeah, duh, of course you’re going with Jaehyun. Have you picked out your dress yet?”

Ara slowly nods her head. “I picked it out last week, actually! I’ll be picking it up this weekend.”

Yuta scratches the back of his head. “Well, my date doesn’t know where to get her dress. Do you have any suggestions?”

“She can pick one out at the shop I went to! Here, I’ll send you a picture of my dress along with the shop’s address so that you can show her.” Ara pulls out her phone and starts scrolling through her photo album, sending him a photo of her dress.

He feels his phone buzz in his pocket. “Thank you so much, Ara. I’ve been stressing out for almost a week because of this—”

“No worries!” Ara giggles, placing her hand on his shoulder. “If you need help, just let me know! You have my number, anyways.”

He smiles, almost a bit too wide that he covers it up with a cough, looking away from her. He settles his gaze towards the clouds in the sky, leaning back against the bleachers. Ara joins him, lying right next to him. Meanwhile, you feel your phone buzz in your pocket. You hide behind the tree, leaning against the trunk. As you read Yuta’s text message, a grin spreads across your lips.

“Bingo.”

“I think I’m going crazy.”

Jaehyun laughs to himself, placing his face in his hands. He lets out a sigh. The same stupid song has been on repeat for hours. It’s odd how the sound of his soulmate’s voice could make him go crazy, how it could make his heart flutter and do cartwheels on end, how it makes him fall into a distant trance. He wishes he knew who it is. He wants to know who it is. But how?

He pulls out his laptop, roaming the internet until he finds himself stumbling upon SoundCloud. A few clicks here and there, and he’s staring at Planet Girl’s profile. Planet Girl is consistent with her privacy. She doesn’t have a profile picture of her face, it’s a picture of a pink jupiter, with its outer rings a glowing gold. Her profile doesn’t even show her real name nor her age.

How is he going to find out his soulmate’s identity if his soulmate is making it ten times more difficult than it should be?

“I’m just… hopeless at this point, I guess.”

His eyebrows raise and he leans closer to the screen when he notices a new track released on her profile. The song was released two days ago. He clicks on play, shoving his earphones into his ears.

Oh, wouldn't it be nice if we could stay friends? But we Shouldn't, you know what I Couldn't, 'nough's enough If I had your heart, it wouldn't be this hard

He sighs. If he had his soulmate’s heart, if only his soulmate even knew that he was searching for her, it wouldn’t be this hard.

What a coincidence.

“I’ll pick you up here, alright?”

Mark looks out through the rolled down windows of his car. He sees you nod your head. “Alright. I won’t be long. I just need to run a few errands, visit my parents just to get some snacks for the apartment.”

“I’ll see you. Call me if you need anything or if you finish early.” Mark insists and you salute to him.

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright, take care.” He rolls up the windows to his car and begins to drive off.

You roll on the balls of your feet, watching his car get smaller and smaller as it travels farther and farther down the road. To make things less suspicious, you begin to walk in the opposite direction of his car, looking over your shoulder every now and then. When you look over your shoulder to see Mark turn a right at an intersection, you stop in your tracks.

You stand there for a couple of more seconds before making a beeline for the apartment building right across the road. You pull out a separate key that’s not grouped with your usual apartment key. Hopping into the elevator, you look into the mirror and comb fingers through your hair. You put on some lip balm before sucking in a deep breath.

As the elevator reaches the seventh floor, the doors open with a soft ‘ding!’. You step out of the elevator, making your way down the hallway. Right when you reach a door and right before you begin to knock, the door opens to reveal—

“Y/N, my favourite person on the planet!”

You chuckle. “In the flesh.”

“Come on in. You know what to do to get comfortable. Grab a cup of water to warm up your vocals. I’ll be by the computer and whenever you’re ready, we can get started.”

You smile. “Thanks, Taeyong.”

He pats your shoulder. “No biggie, Y/N.”

Yuta looks up at a familiar apartment window. The light is turned on. He squints his eyes in suspicion. He sees a shadow hover in front of the curtains of the window and it urges Yuta to hide behind a lamp post. He peeks from behind the lamp post to see Taeyong opening the curtains of his window. Taeyong stretches his arms and lets out a yawn. Yuta’s about to go back to his business when a familiar figure catches his eye. He looks up to see you. You have headphones on and you’re talking to Taeyong. The moment you stand behind the microphone and place music sheets onto a music stand, Yuta feels the gears turn in his head.

“Yuta?”

He tears his gaze away from them to see Ara. “Oh, hey, Ara. We keep bumping into each other, don’t we?”

Ara chuckles. “Yeah, that’s so funny! I just finished up my shift at the cafe and I was just about to go on my way when I thought you looked familiar. Turns out it was you.”

“Ah,” Yuta chuckles sheepishly. “Well, I was just on a convenience store run. I was running out of cup noodles so I decided to stock up on it.”

Her eyebrows raise. “Have you eaten lunch yet?”

Right on cue, Yuta’s stomach grumbles. The two of them share a look before bursting out into laughter.

“Let me treat you out for lunch,” Ara insists.

His eyes slightly widen and he begins to panic. “I—well—I don’t want to be a burden. You might have some plans with Jaehyun and I don’t want to bother—”

“There’s nothing to worry about! Jaehyun’s busy working with Johnny for their show tonight. Let’s have lunch, besides, I haven’t eaten yet and I’m pretty hungry too.”

“S-Sure, I mean, if you’re okay with that.” He feels shy.

She smiles. “Shall we get going?”

Yuta looks into her eyes. Ara blinks a couple of times until Yuta sees someone in her eyes. His breath hitches in his throat. He slowly tears his gaze away from Ara and looks up to see you. You’re singing into the microphone, pressing your headphones against your ears. He looks away from you to look back at Ara. The woman Yuta sees in Ara’s eyes is… you.

“If you walk further down the hallway in the west wing, you’ll see a room on the far end. In that room, you’ll find a grand piano. I suggest checking it out, play something inspired by your emotions. It might help you with your artist’s block.”

You push through the doors, looking left and right as you walk down the empty hallway. After consulting with Taeyong the previous night, you had concluded that you were going through artist’s block. Ever since your last song release, you haven’t been able to write lyrics. Even if you did scribble something down, they would soon be erased or crossed out. It’s quite frustrating not being able to convey your feelings like how you used to. It could be because of your dilemma with Ara and Jaehyun.

You stop in front of a room. The door is closed, but through the small window, you spot the grand piano Taeyong was talking about. As your hand wraps around the doorknob, your movements halt to a stop when your phone buzzes. Pulling out your phone, you see a new text message from Yuta. You let out a tiring sigh, ignoring his text and shoving your phone back into your pocket.

“Will I ever be free?” You ask yourself, opening the door.

You trudge towards the grand piano. You let your fingers trace the keys before taking a seat. To warm up, you start playing some classic pieces, Chopin’s Ballade No. 1, Moonlight Sonata, all the like. Your eyes flutter shut as you let the music take you to different places and imagination. Soon enough, you found yourself playing some of your songs. My Future, Shouldn’t Couldn’t Wouldn’t.

“Yeah, you, you always answer with More questions to questions that scare you We're not always peachy, look, love ain't that easy But one thing I know, I know it for sure, that it—”

“Jaehyun, you’re going in the wrong direction! The prof’s office is this way!”

Your eyes open wide. As you hear Jaehyun’s footsteps get louder and louder, you scramble to find a place to hide. You spot a door on the other side of the room and you’re running towards it. Just in time, you open the door and close it behind you. You let out a soft sigh of relief, slowly sliding down the door. There’s a window on the door, and you take a quick peek. Indeed, Jaehyun runs into the room. He looks breathless. He’s searching through the room. He spots the door that you’re hiding behind. Your eyes begin to widen again when you see him taking steps towards the door. You’re struggling to get up from the floor until—

“Jaehyun, where did you go? Office hours are closing soon. We have to get there or else we’re failing our assignment.”

You let out a yelp. Your eyes clench shut. You feel someone’s hand wrapped around your wrist. You’re breathing quickly out of nervousness. Your heart is racing. Your eyes slowly open and you’re expecting to see Jaehyun, but surprisingly enough, you see—

“When were you planning on telling me that you’re Planet Girl?”

author’s note. thank you so much for reading! sorry for taking so long in posting the second part. but here she is! skjdhfskjhdf

tag list (there are some that don’t work -- if you did not get the notification that you were tagged, it’s most likely because the tags are broken. let me know if that’s the case!): @billiondollarworth @cafemochi @stae-yong @chanyeolscoon @ggaayyyong @soothingjae @taestannie @plump-peach @oshmendes @lanadreamie @justineasian @jjpmoans @beryllium-io @jaeismytamtation @noonapabo127 @hanniesbubble @catthecandy @leesalts @jenojaeminrenjun @haechansthighsuwu @bands-messed-me-up @timelessyoonoh @jaehyunoos @hadesgirl1015 @ncttboo @looverzs @jae-canikeepyou @smileyyuta @waves-and-woods

797 notes · View notes

thephantomessoftheopera · 3 years

Text

Notes on Gaston Leroux’s “The Phantom of the Opera” - Chapter 10: “At the Masked Ball”

“Masked Ball at the Opera” by Henri Gervex

<< Previous chapter

After having received Christine‘s letter, Raoul is torn between “pitying and cursing” Christine (the „pity or curse“ phrase will also be applied to Erik in the epilogue). He recalls Christine appearing to be a „soulless singing automaton“ during her time at the Conservatoire, and how she had suddenly come to life again during her performance at the gala night, wondering who could have caused that incredible transformation.

The mud-stained letter itself was probably secretly dropped by Christine when she went out with Erik, as it was found on the Place de l’Opéra. She has asked him to come and meet her at the masked ball, wearing a white domino, while she herself wears a black one. If you are wondering what exactly a “domino” looks like, it’s a combination of a type of cape and a mask as worn by the lady in the picture below:

Image from “Le Fantôme de l’Opera” by Gérard Fontaine

The masked ball, which is an annual event to honour a famous artist, is given „some time before Shrovetide“, which is carnival. Considering that Christine stayed with Erik for two weeks, it must now be mid-February. Poor Raoul feels (and probably looks) somewhat ridiculous in his lace-trimmed mask and white costume. According to him, a gentleman like him would not normally wear a costume like that, which indicates that Christine had him dress up like a woman. Christine, who came to the masked ball with Erik, passes by to meet him as agreed and beckons him to follow her.

Erik in his famous “Red Death” costume is also present, creating quite the sensation at the ball and has loads of people gathering around who admire his costume and his “extremely realistic” death’s head. Again, it is not clear whether he is actually wearing a mask in this scene or not. When Raoul sees him, he recognizes the same death’s head that he saw at Perros-Guirec, but Christine drags him onward towards one of the private boxes on the upper floors, away from the crowd.

The „Red Death“ costume refers to Edgar Allan Poe‘s classic short story of gothic horror „The Masque of the Red Death“. The events in the story are allegorical, but in fact very similar to the whole Masquerade scene, and the Red Death is described as follows:

„The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat.“

Notably, in the story the Red Death (an allegory for a mortal disease) ends up killing every single person at the masked ball and first of all, the Prince who was so intent on shutting him out of his realm in the first place.

The colour symbolism is also quite notable in this chapter. Despite the ball, which takes place shortly before Carnival, being described as exceedingly colourful, Leroux assigns the colours black (Christine), red (Erik) and white (Raoul) to his three principal characters. In gothic literature, the meanings associated with those colours are usually:

Black (Christine): mystery, grief, fear, death

Red (Erik): passion, love, danger, wrath

White (Raoul): innocence, purity, youth

The combination of black and red is the most prevalent in gothic symbolism. White, red and black are also the colours most commonly associated with the ALW adaptation of “Phantom”.

The grand staircase of the Palais Garnier (from operadeparis.fr) Like in Perros, Raoul doesn‘t really get to talk to Christine in a sensible way here either because his overwhelming, childish self-pity and jealousy of Erik drive him to be rather vicious to her in his accusations. She desperately tries to keep him from leaving the box where they are hiding, both seemingly to keep Erik (who is on the staircase outside the box) from getting to Raoul, but also to keep Raoul from getting to Erik. She is apparently able to stand up to Raoul not only verbally, but also physically when she shoves him aside as he tries to get past her. She asks him “in the name of their love” not to go outside, but Raoul is convinced that she is lying about loving him and only wants to give Erik time to escape.

In this scene, it seems that Erik is coming after Raoul and Christine as a threat, but the "Lost Chapter" gives a somewhat different context. Erik here is in fact going to a meeting he had previously arranged with the managers to trick them. This also explains why he seems not to acknowledge Christine's and Raoul's presence, although he is very close to them.

When Christine becomes convinced that Raoul has lost her trust in her, she despairs. She also tells him that she will never sing again - which is not quite true, as she will still perform on stage later in the story. When Raoul continues to demand explanations from her, she tells him that it’s a “tragedy” and finally takes off her mask, revealing a pale, sorrowful and anguished face. And with that, she turns away to leave him, forbidding him to follow her.

Raoul doesn’t leave but hides in her dressing-room instead. After the ball she comes back, sits down at her desk and laments “poor Erik”, before she starts writing - probably a letter to Raoul telling him what she could not tell him in person. Raoul cannot understand why she would pity anyone but him, for he thinks that he is the only one who deserves her pity. This childish, selfish jealousy is unfortunately rather typical for Raoul.

When Erik comes through the secret passages to meet Christine in her dressing-room at 2 a.m., Raoul hears his enchantingly and sublimely beautiful singing voice for the first time and is completely enthralled by it. Christine has regained her composure by now, and her face lights up with happiness when she hears Erik’s singing. She seems quite at ease with him when she teasingly scolds him for being late. She actually does not appear terrified at all here. As far as the timeline is concerned, she has just come back from her first two-week stay with Erik before the ball and is now about to go through the mirror for the second time, returning with Erik to his house.

This scene is one of my favourite scenes in the novel - primarily because I love the music Leroux chose for it. Erik is singing “Wedding night” (Nuit d’hyménée) from the opera “Roméo et Juliette” by Charles Gounod here. If you haven’t seen it before, go watch it here:

https://youtu.be/_X8LsHwJXfA

This is, in my view, the most beautiful song from the whole book and definitely my personal favourite ❤️. Just like „Point of no return“, „Nuit d’hyménée“ is also a very passionate love song that is sung during Romeo and Juliet’s wedding night. Here are the lyrics:

O wedding night!

O sweet night of love!

Destiny binds me to you forever.

O sheer delight in living,

O all-powerful charms!

Your sweet gaze fills me with rapture,

your voice ravishes my senses!

Beneath your burning kisses

Heaven radiates within me.

I have given you my soul;

To you, always to you.

O sheer delight in living,

O all-powerful charms,

O wedding night!

(Repeat)

Leroux quotes Erik singing the line “La destinée m'enchaîne à toi sans retour” (literally “destiny chains me to you without return”) three times. It is often wrongly translated as “you to me” when it is in fact “me to you”, which holds a slightly different connotation. The quote also reinforces the notion that fate has somehow thrown Erik and Christine in each other’s way and that their destinies are bound together.

The line „Je t‘ai donné mon âme“ (I have given you my soul“) is also sung here by Erik and mirrors Christine‘s „Tonight, I have given you my soul“ which she says to him after the gala night.

The mirror in this scene is important as a symbol as well. Erik and Christine are presented as pairs of opposites throughout the novel in various forms - heaven and hell, aboveground and underground, black and white, beauty and ugliness, man and woman, angel and demon. A typical feature of “Phantom” is that things are rarely black and white, though. Erik’s character is mostly shrouded in darkness, but he carries a spark of the divine through his music and also his love, which ultimately redeems him. Christine is a character of light, but carried grief in her heart for a long time and also finds it hard to resist the pull of passion that she feels in the music.

In the mirror scene, Erik literally becomes Christine’s mirror image. Whereas the opposites theme emphasizes the differences in their characters, the mirror is a symbol of how they complement each other. Their passion for music is mirrored in the other, and it extends to a realm where nothing else has significance. Through the symbolism of being both opposites and mirror images, their relationship symbolizes the unification of opposites and takes on an almost transcendental, „yin and yang“-like quality.

Next chapter >>

#phantom of the opera #leroux phantom #lerouxreadingguide #the phantom of the opera #erik x christine #erik the phantom #erik in love #christine daae #masquerade #opera garnier #opera ghost #raoul de chagny #gaston leroux #poto

97 notes · View notes

dramioneasks · 3 years

Text

HP FESTS: For The Love of Fests (Part 1)

Love at Second Sight January 2021:

Second Time's the Charm by floorcoaster - T, one-shot - The first time Hermione sees Draco Malfoy again, she's in for a surprise.

Influence by Misdemeanor1331 - G, one-shot - Draco and Hermione bump into each other at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. Draco thinks it’s a chance encounter. Hermione knows it’s anything but.

The Love Boat by Seakays - T, one-shot - Hermione Granger and her two best friends are embarking on a week long "Divorced Magicals" Cruise. Hermione took advantage of the Cruise's pre cruise chat room, where she met Scorly1203. After six months of texting, she has agreed to meet him on the first day of the cruise. Could she really find a second chance at love on the Lido Deck?

Second Time Lucky by rennaissance_woman - not rated, one-shot - During a trip to Weasley Wizard Wheezes, what do you do when presented with a second chance?

In Vino Veritas by beautyberry - M, one-shot - "Granger?" he asked disbelievingly. "Malfoy?" she asked, "What are you doing here?" Rated M for mentions of sex.

The Art of Second Chances by Blessedindeed - not rated, one-shot - A chance encounter at the museum brings up unresolved feelings

What Lies Beyond the Light by SlytherinHermione - M, one-shot - The thing about prisons is that it tends to change a you. The person you were when you went in, will not be the person that comes out. Sometimes for the better, oftentimes for the worst. For Draco Malfoy, the scales were tipped when a certain lawyer forced themselves onto his case with the start of one letter. A letter that turned into the type of correspondence where you end up baring your soul to a stranger. A stranger that ends up knowing every little part of you, from the darkest corners, to the sunniest fields - while barely knowing you at all. But then again, Hermione Granger was never really a stranger to begin with.

Silly Love Songs February 2021:

This Beauty By My Side by Amarillis39 - M, one-shot - My entry to the Silly Love Songs Fest. ____ "But as he watched her glide through the crowd, he decided he would take every second she would give him. Worthy or not, he was still a selfish git." ___ It's another stuffy gala at the Ministry and Draco is overcome with conflicting feelings as he watches Hermione in her element.

The Light That You Shine by SlytherinHermione - M, one-shot - Draco was adrift. All around him was an endless, unforgiving ocean, dull and grey in colour. The waves kept crashing in on him. Back and forth, back and forth. Sometimes he felt like he’d been cursed to remain like a graying tower, alone on the sea. This all changed on a random cold winter day and a bright light. Because what followed the light was as unexplainable as the feeling of calm that suddenly enveloped him. He felt a twinge of something that he couldn’t explain. On the other side of the sidewalk stood Hermione Granger, more beautiful than he could remember, locking eyes with him for a second, as if she herself was caught with him inside of this time bubble filled with light and large, fluffy snowflakes. And with a blink of an eye, she walked the other way, as if this was just another Monday. As if she hadn’t just turned Draco's world up-side down. The tumultuous oceans that surrounded his untethered soul were full of waves, but now of a different kind.

Discord by Lostinthenightrain - T, one-shot - “I’ve seen your darkest, and it doesn’t scare me. You’ve become something so much more.” She placed a gentle kiss on his jaw. “I love you, dark and all.”

Time to Spare by Willowfairy - M, one-shot - Draco gets drunk enough to finally tell Hermione how he really feels, and once he starts talking he finds it impossible to stop.

Sometimes When We Touch by sodamnrad - T, one-shot - What if Hermione and Draco were dating when he took the Dark Mark? Submission for the Silly Loves Songs Mini-Fest One shot | Draco's POV | Sixth Year

To Be With You by Blessedindeed - not rated, one-shot - Her ability to show forgiveness intrigues him. Draco finds he has a soft spot for Hermione.

Masquerade March 2021:

Punch Line by tygermine - E, one-shot - Hermione seems to hide behind multiple masks.Draco wants to remove them all.

A Deadly Dance by MykEsprit - T, one-shot - An unexpected guest arrives at the ball. Dramione.

Ask it of Me by WritingFicariously - T, one-shot - Hermione has always had the ability to chase away demons, the darkness that twists his mind into believing he is not good, never enough. She sees and knows every part of him. But Draco has always kept one thing from her, one secret that he never dared say aloud. Until he did.

A Masquerade of Body and Soul by Annav94 - M, one-shot - She’s here to escape the reality, to break the rules. She is here to break the rules because all rules have only given her, is false hope. She turns her head and her eyes meet his. He’s there for the catch of the night. And while he finds himself smirking, smiling at the unforeseen turn of event, he wonders if truly Hermione Granger is flirting in a room full of witnesses with none other than himself - the infamous Draco Malfoy.

Imbolc by CosmicCthulhu - G, one-shot - Hermione celebrates the beginning of spring for the first time, years after the war. She's not the only one who wants a fresh start.

Suit Up by calico_kitten - M, 2 chapters - Gawain Robards has cooked up a new idea for the Departmental Hallowe'en Ball: comic book hero disguises!

This Mask I Wear by SlytherinHermione - T, one-shot - This mask I wear feels cool on my skin. I slip it on, and the act is ready to begin.Safety. Protection. Freedom.

Lover of Fiction April 2021:

3 Words, 8 Letters by sodamnrad - T, 2 chapters - “Do you like me?” Draco’s flitty looks, his tart remarks about her feelings for Blaise, the way he’s following her around instead of chasing an eligible witch who isn’t pining over his friend is extremely telling.“Define like.”Her mouth unhinges. No effing way. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”“How do you think I feel?” He glares at her. “I haven’t slept. I feel sick like there’s something in my stomach, fluttering.” He presses a hand against his belly, as if he’s experiencing the sensation at this very moment.“Butterflies?” she deadpans. “No. No, no, no this cannot be happening.”“No one is more surprised or ashamed than I am.” He gestures to himself, lifting his chin tersely.“Draco, you know that I adore all of Earth’s creatures and the metaphors that they inspire,” she says as her hand forms a crushing fist, “but the butterflies have got to be murdered.”---Draco & Hermione: Their Story (2000s TV Drama Style)Dual POV | 2 Shot | Idiots in Love

The Ambition by In_Dreams - M, one-shot - After ten years at sea, Captain Hermione Granger has a ship and a crew of her own. But one of her new crew mates is a blacksmith from her past. Dramione Pirates AU.

Jitters by TheMourningMadam - M, one-shot - This was written for the Lovers of Fiction mini fest for April. Thank you to QuinTalon for being a gracious host in this fest.My prompt was Jamie and Claire Fraser from Outlander. If you have never seen Outlander, why not? You at least need to watch their first time to see some hot and bewildered Jamie. This is a tiny snapshot into what would be a much larger story, so please take it at face value.Also, I finished this story right at the wire, so didn't have time for a beta. All mistakes are obviously my own and I apologize. Bold sentences are word for word from the tv show.

I Meant Something Like That by CharliPetidei - M, WIP - “You know what’s funny?” said Hermione, crossing her ankles and leaning forwards on the slightly peeling leather sofa. “When I first saw your advert online… I thought you were Hufflepuffs.” The three men opposite her exchanged glances, and then the tall, platinum blond one (it had to be dyed, right?) with the funny name leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. Draco, that was it. “You thought we were what?” A New Girl Dramione AU.

The One Where Everyone Finds Out - Dramione Edition by Annav94 - T, WIP - Don’t we all know what happened when Phoebe finds out about Monica and Chandler in season 5 of Friends? Well, what would then happen if it was Draco and Hermione to be discovered by Pansy? Would then Theo try to calm her down, in the hope that she would stop screaming so his boyfriend (Harry bloody Potter, of all people) would be prevented from finding out about them is such crude way? And would Blaise go along with the scheme the two Slytherins would come up with to push the new couple to expose itself or will he be done with all the ‘pretending’ of not knowing, when he knew all along?Stay with me on this journey called: ‘The One Where Everyone Finds Out - Dramione Edition’.

The Dragon's Moving Castle by SlytherinHermione - T, WIP - Hermione Granger had accepted that her life wasn't going to be a great big adventure.She wasn't particularly beautiful, or interesting, and she hadn't been born with magic like her sisters. Really, she was just as plain as could be.One day though, a castle was seen rolling around the hills near her town.Not long after, she met a strange, handsome, and mysterious man.And she was cursed by the Wicked Witch of the Wasteland.Perhaps life was an adventure after all.

Lanky Brunettes with Wicked Jaws by Lostinthenightrain - M, one-shot - “You’ve got types?”“Only you darling.” He put his hand under her chin and brought her around to face him. He pulled her close with his arm held tight against her. His head to the side of her own, he grinned. “Lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.” A gentle kiss placed against her jaw. She smiled, a blush prettying her cheeks as she pulled back.

Reader, I Married Him by Lostinthenightrain - T, one-shot - “Why must you?” he questioned as he pulled himself forward, using the rough pads of his fingers he gently touched under her chin, dragging her gaze to his own. “You know why!” She wrenched her chin from his grasp. “You are to be married, Malfoy.”

This fest is ongoing.

#fests/exchanges/challenges #for the love of fests

134 notes · View notes