#Cosette in her Puberty

[lesmisscraper]

For the Mademoiselle Lanoire, still prefers Black even after she's into finding out new and fancy clothings.

Source from here, here, here, and here.

[lesmisscraper]

What Cosette would like to wear after she's thinking her pretty!

(Well, but she'd prefer for the black ones more than these, but I think she probably liked those styles!)

Guess What I Saw On Friday:

SLEEVES

I went to an exhibit at the NYC Fashion Institute of Technology and beheld these Sleeves

They also had this interesting 1840s dress with removable long sleeves for conversion from day to evening, and an 18th c. set of stays with attachable sleeves for home wear

[booksrbetterthanpeople]

Headcanon’s about DC Kids AU: Aurore’s hero name would be Whirlpool. Cosette’s would be Buzz Kill. Zoe’s realtionship with her blood siblings in a nutshell: “If I have a Penny for each half sibling that is only a few months older than me and is a jerk, I would have 2 Pennies. It’s not much, but weird that happened twice”. Mireille screamed at Volpina during a battle to make her illusions disappear.

Okay, let's do this!

Zoé: 'Sup, dick?

Dick: I can hear you using lowercase 'D,' you basic-ass blonde.

Zoé: Jealous I got a hot girlfriend and Starfire met someone else? Yeah, fuck you, dick.

-

Jean: Okay, okay! If you guys had to choose your superhero names... What would they be?!

Simon: Kid Quick.

Denise: Really?

Simon: Kid Flash is taken.

Ismael: Krypto-Kid.

Aurore: Okay, not bad. Simon, take notes. I'd go by Whirlpool.

Cosette: Can't decide between AC/DC, Buzz Kill, or Voltage. There's just too many electricity puns!

Zoé: I am the night. I am the vengeance. I am... Still thinking of something other than Robin.

-

Mireille: Hey, Volpina!

Volpina Illusions: What?!

Mireille: *Screams, causing the illusions to disappear when they're hit by the strong soundwaves, revealing the real Volpina who's going to have tinnitus for real*

-

*Still coming up with names*

Simon: Uh... Lightning Run?

Cosette: The electricity-based stuff is mine.

Simon: Ugh! This is hard! Marc, you go!

Marc: Would my Tamaranean-translated name suffice?

Aurore: Depends. What is it?

Marc: Myzan'r.

Jean: I like it!

Simon: Aw, come on!

-

Simon: Anyone want Japanese food for lunch?

Ismael: Sure.

Denise: I could eat.

Mireille: Pick me up some onigiri.

Simon: Be right back. *Dashes off, then returns seconds later with five bags in his hands* Guess who had time to grab mochi!

-

Kiran: Marc! Do the thing! Do the thing!

Marc: Okay, come here!

Nathaniel: What thing?

Marc: *Holding Kiran* Ready... Set... *Throws Kiran high into the air*

Nathaniel: ...

Marc: ... *Catches Kiran back in his arms* Nathaniel, would you like to try?

Nathaniel: *Backs away* No.

Ismael, Denise, and Marc can deadlift the Eiffel Tower like it's nothing

While on the phone, Aurore walked into the pool without a second thought and resumed her conversation for about ten minutes. It baffled Kim and Ondine for weeks

Lacey LOVES getting head pats. It's even better when she turns into a cat

Sometimes Jean talks in reverse without even thinking, and inadvertently casts a few spells

Whenever sunspots occur, Cosette's powers go haywire and create an electrical aura around her. It's best to keep your distance for a few hours... Or days

Denise doesn't even need the Lasso of Truth. Just one glare from them can have any pour soul spilling their guts

So she’s not blowing everyone’s eardrums out by stress-screaming, Mireille took up boxing to get her anger out

Tamaranean puberty can start at any age. For Marc, it started when he was fifteen, and he spent the week covering his face with his hood

Aurore: Marc, I'm sure it's not that bad.

Marc: *Crying* Yes, it is! I look like a raw glorkaroach!

Denise: Hon, you're probably blowing this all out of proportion. Now, let's see that darling face, and- *Marc pulls down his hood* Oh! Oh, Athena! That is not right!... *Pulls Marc's hood back up and pats his head* Yeah, just... Keep that on.

Marc: *Cries again*

Their outfits have some elements of their hero parents

Aurore’s skirts and tops have gold fish scales, and she has trident earrings

Mireille manages to make leather and sweaters work with each other. She also has a lot of fishnets

It’s not rare to see stars embroidered on Denise’s skirts

Marc often wears purple and jewelry made from metals found on Tamaran

Simon wears more warm colors and a few of his shirts have The Flash’s logo embroidered on it

Cosette’s color schemes usually consist of blue, yellow, white, and black

Zoé’s got a lot of black with some hints of yellow. There’s no way in hell she’s going out in Robin colors again

Ismael’s cardigan is a brighter shade of blue with red cuffs

A lot of Reshma’s clothes have vine patterns on the sleeves and hems

Lacey wears Beast Boy’s signature shade of purple with some hints of black

Jean dresses all fancy with bow ties, crop jackets, and tiny top hats on a headband

Now as for Jean and Austin’s relationship- Jean often makes Austin’s favorite flowers appear in his locker

Oh, and Austin knows that he and his friends are related to DC heroes. His dad actually came across Zoé’s dad a few times in Gotham before he was put away

They don’t care much for the Marvel heroes

Simon: Darkseid. The most dangerous villain in the universe. Powerful enough to defeat any hero he faces.

Ismael: Even Superman?

Simon: Yes.

Zoé: Batman?

Simon: Yes.

Reshma: Spider-Man?

Simon: Well, Spider-Man wouldn't fight Darkseid.

Marc: Is it because he is too lazy?

Ismael: What a bum!

Lacey: You know, this really lowers my opinion of Spider-Man.

Whenever they go into battle, there’s always this weird sequence with a 40s-era sounding announcer

Assembled in the tenth grade class of Francoise DuPont in Paris are the world's greatest young heroes. Simon! The fastest demiboy on Earth, but needs to improve his endurance. Zoé! He REALLY hates his brothers! Denise! They’ve got bracelets, and a rope! Cosette! A human taser with outdated slang! Lacey! The animal shapeshifter who sometimes eats meat! Jean! A spectacular magician who can talk in reverse and confuse people! Ismael! He successfully managed Superman’s signature curl! Marc! This alien prince is already spoken for, boys! Mireille! She can and will destroy your eardrums! And Aurore! She hates dolphins and finds them to be jerks! Evil-doers beware! These kids are doing things! Everywhere! With their underwear on the outside!

*The DC Kids look around for the source of the voice*

Aurore: Where is that coming from?!

Simon: *Searching through his bag* I-is there like a tape recorder somewhere?

Marc: *Blasts a hole through the wall* Still can’t find it!

[euphraisette]

Thinking about Èponine going through puberty in poverty, after the loss of Cosette, when her parents stopped doting on her. She's definitely aware of the societal expectation for women to be free of body hair but her mother never teaches her to shave. So when she does shave she ends up covered in razor burns

:(((( oh my gosh my sweet baby

[lesmisscraper]

Cosette noticing she's pretty. Volume 4, Book 3, Chapter 5.

Clips from <Il cuore di Cosette>.

[lesmisscraper]

I love this part too! Because finding out someone's positive points(In her case, Beauty!) is very important, espicially for the abused ones like Cosette.

ok but the chapter in the brick where cosette notices that she’s beautiful is called “a rose realises she is a weapon of war” like is that not the most cosette thing you’ve ever heard??? oh my ogd i love her

[booksrbetterthanpeople]

Bob’s Burgers Quotes for no Reason

Nathaniel: Look, you’re my friends, and I love you… But you’re terrible, you’re all terrible.

—

Adrien: Let’s raise our glasses.

*Max takes off his glasses and raises them*

Adrien: Max, not those glasses.

—

Aurore: I should write a parenting book. Call it, ‘Hey You, I Saw That! Put It Back!’

—

Marc: I wanna take her stupid neck and wring it!

Cosette: That’s what I wanna do, too, but with him!

—

Jean: Wait, you all read Marc’s diary?

Aurore: Yeah.

Cosette: What I can stomach.

Denise: I just skim it to make sure he's not on drugs.

Simon: Wha...what does it say?

Denise: It says, ‘I’m not on drugs.’

—

Damocles: So, you're in trouble again.

Alix: Drink some cranberry juice.

Damocles: What? No, not ‘urine trouble!’ You are in trouble.

—

Nino: I got it! Let’s describe our sexualities with a song title!

Adrien: What?

Max: No Way from Six the Musical!

Adrien: Wait a minute. What are we doing?

Nathaniel: The Bisexual Anthem!

—

Lucien: Why'd you head-butt me?!

Marc: I was going to punch you, but I'm holding juice!

—

Jean: Denise, you have the fullest head of hair in the class. I would kill for that hairline.

Denise: I believe you would!

—

Kiran: *About Marc and Marcelle* Puberty, puberty, puberty. That's all I hear when you guys talk!

—

*After the Akuma Class stole a rival school’s mascot as a prank*

Nathaniel: Cows can’t go downstairs. *Dramatic music sting*

Mme. Bustier: I’m sorry, what?

Nathaniel: Cows can’t go downstairs; that’s like, a thing.

Alya: I’ve heard that. It’s like a fun fact. *Dramatic music sting*

Mme. Bustier: “Cows can’t go downstairs”? Kids, that better not be true!

*Later, Kim is trying to push the cow down the stairs, but is getting no results*

Kim: Huh. Well, what do you know?

Alix: We know you’ll push on a cow’s butt for half an hour without asking for help. Gotta have that butt all to yourself.

—

Eleanor: I’ve been thinking about Emelia’s mother, because it’s Mother’s Day.

Lacey: Continue.

Eleanor: You know what I bet she never said to her daughter?

Lacey: What?

Eleanor: “Act like a lady.”

Lacey: Gross.

Eleanor: I know. But back when she was a kid, women weren’t doing things that men did, like flying planes, or wearing pants.

Lacey: And I bet she never said, “Ooh! Girls can do anything boys can do.” Cause, you know, sometimes when they say that, it…

Eleanor: It ends up sounding the opposite?

Lacey: Yeah. You never said it to me.

Eleanor: It never came up.

—

Zoé: Hey, you again, huh?

Cosette: Oh, hey, you again and me, yep. I-I just, uh, I came for a, uh...

Zoé: I suppose you want another "beanie."

Cosette: Yes, that's exactly what I want... a new beanie. I didn't come for anything el...

Zoé: Okay, fine, you wore me down! Damn it.

Cosette: Uh...

Zoé: Things are not going great with Marinette. Haven't been great with Marinette for a long time, you know? Marinette’s hot, but maybe it's time for me to just settle.

Cosette: Look... uh, no, no, no. Look at me, I'm nothing. You, you love Marinette, stay with Marinette.

Zoé: I'm so sick of Marinette and her sewing.

Cosette: Oh, no, I d... I don't know Marinette, but I-I assume it's great.

Zoé: It's not great with Marinette.

Cosette: You should definitely stay with Marinette.

Zoé: No, no, no. Yo, I'm taking my break! Oh, my God, we're doing this!

Cosette: No, we're not.

Zoé: Hey, what do you want to do?

Cosette: I don't... nothing.

Zoé: You want to go to the beach?

Cosette: No, maybe... wait, I'm, uh, I’m not straight, but-

Zoé: Let's grab a coffee.

Cosette: You should call Marinette.

Zoé: No, let's just make out! Ah, God, this feels so great!

Cosette: I should just... sorry, I got to go. Also I'm with someone, but if I wasn't... Who am I kidding? You're out of my league. It would never work.

Zoé: What are you talking about?

Cosette: I really gotta go. *Backs away*

Zoé: I'm gonna see you tomorrow!

Cosette: Probably not… I'll call you!

[melancholyarchivist]

Japanese character names

Not much info out there on Les Misérables 1929( Aa Mujo, Seika Shiba ), but I managed to scour some fun info about it. Specifically, character names! The movie takes place during the Meiji restoration, so stuff had to be changed I guess. Citation about name meanings are from Pinar, A. Western Literature in Japanese film (1910-1938) ISBN 978-84-490-8727-1

Valjean- Jaan Gijūr�� (邪安義十) The first kanji for his name means “wicked” or “evil”.

Javert- Jashiro(蛇四郎) The first kanji is for “snake”. Snakes were traditionally percieved in Japanese Buddhism as messengers of gods, but during the Meiji Restoration, the religious reform banned beliefs and worship of ancestral gods. Subsequently, negative perceptions of snake arose, and they acquired harmful symbolism.

Bishop Myriel-nun Mitsuki (光月尼). Myriel has here been adapted into a Buddhist nun. Her first kanji means light, or illumination.

Marius-Ushigoro(牛五郎) His first kanji means “bull”, suggesting a nonconformist personality, vigor and force.

Cosette-Harue(春江) Her first kanji represents spring or puberty.

Fantine-Otsune(お常) The kanji in her name means unchanging or eternal.

I only have the most basic of kanji skills and this is all cited, so if there’s anything to add or something that seems wrong hmu :) the film itself is not housed in any archive and is believed lost. At the time it was considered by ciritcs to be populist and made as a cash-grab because of the popularity of Les Miserables in Japan at the time. Here’s some surviving stills from it.

[glassprism]

Emilie left mid show today due to Covid issues and they bring in Elizabeth to replace her to finish the show. Did anyone realise how odd that is? Christine changed her skin colour in the middle of the show. And people thought the hair color change was strange that one time, this is even bigger.

I don't think that's particularly odd; I've seen that happen and it was a regular part of the show, not an emergency situation, e.g., in one of my videos of Les Miserables, adult Cosette was played by Amara Okereke, who is black, but young Cosette was played by a white actress. So either Cosette grew up and completely changed race (boy, people weren't kidding when they said puberty changes you), or you just suspend disbelief and accept it.

And again, that was just a regular thing, not an emergency situation like what you said above. In my experience, audiences are pretty accepting of that, especially when the show is paused or announcements are made that a mid-show switch is being made.

So I know, you're worried about those poor audiences members being oh-so-confused, but let me assure you, they are generally not as fragile as you think. We human beings have this wonderful ability to be aware of the behind-the-scenes reality of a situation while also being able to put it aside and enjoy the fictional world being shown to us, without any confusion or dissonance. (Or at least, most of us do.) It's okay, they'll be okay.

[lesmisscraper]

Then I can guess why she wished for new clothes... First I thought that was just a teen girl's complaining about clothes, but she only wore the rags, mourning gown, school uniform, and simple black dress...

okay no but little teenage Cosette that has never worn anything other than rags and her convent dress and that, when Valjean asks her what kind of dress she’d like she timidly says she’d like to have a copy of Catherine’s dress because for years that little doll has been a symbol of beauty and hope and she still thinks she’s ugly and all she wants is to be as pretty as her doll

[midasinc]

canon era trans cosette hcs:

-valjean is a trans man, who changed his identity to remain cut off from his previous self. when he first stopped at the inn and noticed cosette looking longingly at eponine and azelma and their doll and cosette's own cloth doll, he's sort of reminded of himself

-he buys cosette the doll at the store and mme thenardier makes a comment about it not being a boy's toy, but when valjean keeps pulling out money and she just stops talking

-anyway, when valjean and cosette are on their own, he notices how much cosette prefers feminine things and such and it kind of clicks in his head that this might be the perfect kind of disguise. if javert is after him, he'll be looking for a woman and a little boy, not him and cosette

-so this is perfect. this is genuinely perfect.

-during their time at the convent cosette presents totally feminine and gets to wear her hair braided back and wear pretty lil dresses and it makes her really really really fuckin happy

-over the next couple of years, valjean isn't sure what will happen. cosette is happy being cosette and not [redacted] and he has no issue with it. they're both sort of a person in the wrong skin. but a part of him worries about when she'll get older and if she likes women what would happen or if she liked men and a man fancied her enough to want to marry- would they? he's worried about her safety

-when cosette turns ten, valjean asks her about it.

-"do you like being cosette?"

-cosette nods and returns to playing in the garden. valjean watches for a moment before asking again.

-"would you rather be [redacted] and be a young man?" -cosette does think this over. she likes playing in the dirt and she likes to run and play and do the sorts of things the nuns tell her little boys like, but she also likes to play with her dolls and wear her pretty dresses and be cosette. that's her- she doesn't particularly want to cut her hair short and wear trousers or anything of the sort. she tells valjean no and he nods once more. that was cosette's decision and he's willing to honor it. she's as much of a girl as he is a man- there's a sense of solidarity in their relationship as father and daughter.

-in paris, cosette continues being herself. puberty is a really awkward stage for her. when her voice stops being high it messes with her a bit and sort of throws off toussaint but she doesn't ask questions when cosette gets tall and doesn't develop as teenage girls normally would

-cosette feels ugly. she feels so ugly. all the fucking. time.

-she sees other young girls at the park and around paris and she is not like them. she is nothing like them. she wants to be petit and have soft, thin hands and pointed features and curves where she's completely straight and it hurts. she cries until she's run ragged because cosette is different and she doesn't understand why

-all the while, valjean tells her that she's a lovely young woman and still braids her hair and teaches her to shave- promising that facial hair happens to everyone, cosette is no different. valjean tells her she's beautiful and cosette wants to believe it but she just isn't like anyone else

-toussaint sort of understands after a few years and notices how depressed cosette gets over her appearance and how she feels and she gives her lessons on womanhood and teaches her what every young woman must know. it actually cheers cosette up, surprisingly enough. she learns posture and elegance and dotting her cheeks with rouge and helps her heightening her voice as well.

-"it's all just a skill we learn," toussaint tells her. "all women do."

-there's a point after cosette turns sixteen when she stops hating herself as much as she does. she uses oils to make her skin soft and nice and smell like lavender and she can braid her hair on her own now. it's all really just skill, like toussaint had said. cosette feels prettier than she did before now that she lets herself be a bit more confident

-then when a young man perks up at her at the park she is FLOORED. cosette can't sleep, tossing and turning and thinking about someone thinking she's pretty and wanting to spin her around hold her hand and kiss her, maybe. oh my god. it's overwhelming. cosette holds the pillow up to her face and grins until it hurts because oh my god. a boy might like her.

-this is also exactly what valjean was afraid of! he notices that little boob at the park making puppy eyes at her and he notices cosette smiling, all pink in the face for the rest of the day. this is a nightmare. this is his literal nightmare. he is so frightened of

a: cosette getting killed over this and

b: valjean getting left alone if cosette falls in love

-anyway, marius is absolutely smitten for this girl at the park and thinks about her for weeks. when they finally do speak in the garden, he's totally a bit confused when she speaks and when he sees her up close, but she's not like any girl he's ever seen before and he is so convinced that they are literal soulmates. oh marius wants her so bad

-in the end, cosette knows she won't ever totally fit in. but she feels beautiful and feminine and there's a boy who likes her despite all of this and she has a father who's like her who loves her more than anything in the world and maybe cosette would prefer things if she had soft curves or small hands but things are okay. things are okay.

[restlesswasteland]

Miserables Month Day 4: "Pride"

Written for the Miserables Month @themiserablesmonth High School AU. His hands shook as he painted the three little lines across his cheek. Staring himself down in the mirror, it took a few tries to get it right.

Just three stupid lines, Enjolras thought as he leaned back, turning his head to examine it again. That’s all they are. Three lines.

He took a breath. Went to get his keys. Made sure his parents were still out before heading to the garage to grab his bike. He avoided his reflection in the front hall mirror.

The closer he got to town, the more he considered turning back. But he couldn’t. Courfeyrac had begged them to come to Pride with him. Of course, they’d all said yes immediately, but Courf begged anyway. Enjolras had no real intention of not showing up to support his best friend.

He could just wipe the flag off his cheek. No one would have to know.

But he knew he wouldn’t do that either.

Courf had come out three years ago. No one was surprised. No one cared that he was gay, obviously. Jehan and Grantaire had both come out in their own time, as well. Ferre had admitted he was questioning. And each time, no one showed anything but love towards them.

Enjolras had spent many sleepless nights staring at the ceiling, wondering if the same beautiful indifference would be offered to him.

He’d always known, deep down. But he waited. Hoped things would change, maybe. When he hit puberty. But it didn’t. He wasn’t surprised about that, either.

And he was sick of sleepless nights. He was exhausted. He didn’t want to wonder anymore. He was done.

So he drew the stupid flag on his face and went to see his friends.

He was relieved when he finally got downtown. Any more time to think and he might've ended up just steering his bike into a ditch. Instead, he locked it up and went to find his friends outside the coffee shop that they’d picked for the meetup.

When he got there, he didn’t recognize anyone. He checked his phone, and of course he was early. He was always early when he was nervous. Bad habit.

He ordered a black coffee from the barista and went to sit on the bench outside. He watched as people passed him, decorated with flags and pins and so many rainbows. He spotted a girl with a flag like his printed on her shirt. When she passed the coffee shop, he tried to smile at her, but she didn’t notice.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Courf essentially bounced up to him, grinning and covered in glitter. Enjolras turned to him, noted the rainbow flag tied around his neck like a cape. Courf slowed down as Enjolras looked up at him.

“Oh,” Courf said, a look of surprise crossing his face.

Enjolras braced himself.

Courf took the spot next to him on the bench.

“Enj-”

“No, it’s just-” Enjolras didn’t know what he was planning on saying, searching frantically for an excuse. His brain wouldn’t work fast enough, and he sort of felt like he was going to be sick.

“Enj, I love it. Those colors really suit you, you know,” Courf’s grin returned to his face.

“I- uh, yeah?” He asked, his brain trying to catch up with the conversation.

“Yeah, it’s great,” his smile softened. “Breathe, Enj. You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

Enjolras did as he was told. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been holding his breath. Years, maybe.

“Better?”

“A little,” he heard himself saying.

“Hi,” Combeferre said from behind them. Enjolras turned to look up at him.

“Hey,” Courf said, and Enjolras could hear the smile return to his voice.

Combeferre looked studiously at Enjolras for a moment.

“I like your flag,” he said simply, sitting next to him.

“Thanks,” Enjolras said weakly.

“Where’s everyone else?” Ferre asked Courf, already moving onto the next subject.

“Jehan just texted me that they’re headed over. Should be here any minute.”

“Good, I want to make sure we get a spot on Main Street.” Ferre plucked Enjolras’s forgotten coffee from his hand and took a sip.

“I want some,” Courf whined, reaching across Enjolras to grab the cup. He took a sip and pulled a face. “Ew. Black coffee. Shoulda known,” he handed it back to Ferre.

“That’s mine, you know,” Enjolras protested.

“Mhm. You want some?” Ferre asked.

“Not really.”

“That’s what I thought,” he took another smug sip.

“Hey guys!” Jehan called, waving at them as they crossed the street. Courfeyrac returned it enthusiastically.

Enjolras took another breath. It was fine. He had his two best friends next to him. It was going to be fine.

And then Jehan squealed.

“Oh my god, Enj! I love it! I didn’t know,” they were absolutely beaming.

“Nice, welcome to the club,” Cosette offered him a high five, which he tentatively returned. She had the bi flag on her shirt. He hadn’t known that, either.

He offered a small smile to them all.

“Come on, we should get going. Ferre is very concerned about getting a good spot,” Courf teased, standing. He offered Enjolras a hand, and he took it.

Enjolras let his friends chatter wash over him as they made their way towards Main Street. He slowly came back to himself as they walked, his head clearing. It was okay. It was all... okay.

“It looks good on you,” he heard from behind him. He turned to find Grantaire, wearing an understated shirt (by the standards of those around them), just a graphic of three pantone paint chip cards in the colors of the bi flag.

“Thanks,” Enjolras answered.

“Sorta looks like you did it with your eyes closed, though.” He laughed. “I can redo it if you want? I did Jehan’s before we got here, and I told Cosette I would do hers, too.”

“Oh. Uh, sure?” Enjolras was surprised by the offer.

Grantaire pulled a small set of face paint out of his backpack before dropping it at his feet.

“I don’t, uh- I don’t have anything to take it off with,” Enjolras stated eloquently.

“I’ll just paint over it, straighten out the edges. No pun intended,” he half-smiled before stepping into Enjolras’s personal space. Enjolras reflexively closed his eyes. He felt Grantaire steady his hand against his cheek, then the paintbrush.

“It’s the ace flag, right?” Grantaire asked.

“Yeah.”

“Very cool,” Grantaire said. The paintbrush disappeared for a second, and then was back again. Enjolras tried to stay still.

“Done,” Grantaire announced a few moments later, stepping back. Enjolras opened his eyes.

“Thanks,” Enjolras smiled, still bewildered by him. By the entire last hour, really.

“My pleasure,” Grantaire said, packing his bag back up.

“Parade’s starting!” Cosette called back to them.

Enjolras joined the others by the side of the road. As he caught sight of two rainbow-clad baton twirlers at the head of the parade, he smiled to himself.

He knew he was going to sleep well tonight.

[descendantofthesparrow]

Commission Work - Harry Hook x reader - part 4 - To Auradon

commissioner @musicarose​

=

Mal woke up to someone screaming that the dark forest had been destroyed, she jolted out of bed, rushing to her window, staring down with wide-eyes as a goon raved about the trees.

“there was nothing but ash! And the ground was cracked and the grass was gone!” Mal swallowed nervously, slamming the window closed and backing away.

Why was she so anxious?

She walked out to the kitchen, rubbing her arm nervously “hey mom, what happened to the dark forest”

Maleficent smirked “your sister happened, she found out about something and tapped into her father's abilities, It was so…moving I almost cried” she cackled, Dival doing his little laugh with her.

Mals brows furrowed “what did she find out about?”

Her mother turned to her with a cruel smirk. “you'll find out soon”

---two years later--

You stared down at the grounds below, the limo idling and waiting for you, your sister and her friends to load into it.

Your eyes drew to a tall boy, wearing the classic red leather jacket, you scowled. Harry hook, you had refused to even look at him after that day.

And you had hardly been civil with Mal, once she had figured out you knew about her rendezvous with harry she stopped trying to make you talk to her.

Especially once you chucked a chair at her. You sighed, absentmindedly scratching Divals neck, the raven glaring down at harry.

“(y/n)~ its time to go~~!” you groaned, letting your head flop down and hang between your shoulder.

Right, the day to go to Auradon, to go to a new school.

…at least you wouldn’t be looking at harry anytime soon.

You stood straight, turning and walking into your room and grabbing your bags. As you walked down the stairs to leave, you spotted Mal, flipping through your mother's spellbook.

You snorted, unlike Mal, you didn’t need that, so as you passed by her you bumped her shoulder, making her drop the book

“hey!” she yelled, puffing up her cheeks at you, leaning down to pick up the old leather-bound book “jerk”

“strong words from someone who kisses another persons date” you bit back, Mal flinched, she still had not gotten used to your cold tone.

Over the years after the incident, you had closed into yourself, becoming cold and hateful.

Your mother was proud, to say the least.

You shoved past Jafar, tossing your duffel bag into the back, ignoring Harry's eyes on your back.

You stepped into the limo, sliding into the back and raising your brow at the candies.

You sighed, crossing your arms and leaning your head back.

You couldn’t wait till all this crap was over and you could get your revenge on your sister.

You would be stealing the wand right under her nose.

==

Well, that didn’t end up happening, another two years later, you stood in Auradon still, one of the top students, your lilac hair now a darker purple fading into a light blue and lilac.

You slammed your hand down on the alarm, blinking blearily at the blinking red numbers. “alright” you yawned “time to get up.”

As you slid out of bed, you caught sight of your calendar.

-new vks arrive today-

You groaned, plopping back down on your bed “noooo” you whined grabbing your pillow and covering your face

Not that you weren’t excited for new vks, it was WHO was part of the new vks.

Harry.

Freaking.

Hook.

The boy that broke your heart and acted like nothing happened. You yelled, throwing your pillow across the room, scaring your little black cockatiel.

“sorry Diablo” you sighed, walking over and opening his cage, he hopped onto your hand and scooted up your arm, cuddling into your neck.

You heard your phone go off, you glanced over, seeing a text message. You walked over to pick it up, seeing a message from Ben saying:

-please dress nicer, at least a dress, everything else can be isle style, thx!-

You hummed, walking over to your closet and opening it, most of your dresses where full isle style or way to fancy.

You spotted your lilac summer dress and smiled.

“that will work” you cheered, grabbing it and tossing it on your bed, you also grabbed your black boots, your light denim jacket, and your fingerless gloves.

“alright” you muttered, shaking your shoulder and whistling for diablo to return to his cage, he whistled back and flew off. “lets shower and then get dressed”

--

You tugged up the top of your dress, in the two years in Auradon, you had finally hit puberty, your chest going from A to D, your hips filling out and the baby fat melting away and leaving soft curves.

Which had attracted the attention of a lot of guys, and some gals who swung that way.

Including your now s/o, Davis, the descendant of john smith.

They were kind, smart, strong, and always tried to find adventure in every way.

And they weren’t using you to get to your sister, who was engaged to king Ben. So you had that going for you.

A knock sounded at your door, “it's unlocked!” Evie popped her head though, a smile on her red painted lips.

“The limos about 10 minutes out, you ready?” you sighed, taking a few steps back from your mirror, hand on your hips “as ill ever be”

“Great let's go!”

---

Harry tapped the tip of his hook on the window, he was bored and nervous as all hell. “dude, try this peanut butter thing!” Harry pushed Gil's hand away.

“not hungry” he muttered. Gil shrugged, shoving the candy in his mouth. Finally, the limo came to a stop, and the driver opened the door.

Uma stepped out first, followed by Gil and dizzy. Harry took a deep breath, slowly sliding out and standing to his full height.

His eyes scanned over the crowd, locking eyes with a blonde girl who bit her lip and fluttered her lashes, Harry saw a flash of purple, and he whipped his head around, jaw-dropping as he saw you

The girl who was known to be the stick figure even shorter sister of Mal was replaced by a taller, curvier, and beautiful girl.

Her violet eyes staring off in the distance, he never noticed her eyes had gold flakes in them.

She wore a form-flattering lilac summer dress, a light denim jacket over her shoulders, her soft and curled hair moving with the breeze.

“(y/n)?” harry muttered, you froze, eyes meeting his but…you glared, and Harry felt his heart stop cold.

Your eyes and hair seemed to come alive, the blue parts of your hair glowing, along with your eyes.

You huffed, turning away and crossing your arms, glaring at the air in front of you. “are you okay” Mal whispered, softly touching your shoulder.

Over the years in Auradon, Mal had finally learned that what she did to you was wrong, and had apologized, even offering for you to get a free prank on her.

You turned her hair pink

Since then you had established a real family relationship. And you no longer chucked chairs at her.

As Ben did his welcoming speech, harry couldn’t take his eyes off you.

You hated it, now that you had grown curves, he only JUST got interested in you?

Bullcrap

As soon as Ben finished, you turned and walked off, not wanting to be in Harry's eyesight for even one more minute.

Harry watched you walk off, a fire starting in his chest.

He had to have you

--end of part 4--

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[kjack89]

Hi, I saw the ask you answered about reading the brick and read that you mentioned the motive behind reading it. My motive behind starting the book was my band director all but challenged it. Our marching show was Les Miserables and he said that they may show a version of the movie because he did expect someone to go and read the whole ass book. My dumb ass saw that as a challenge so I got the book and read it. Very enriching and i hope you enjoy this story-N

I was twelve years old when I first read the Brick, and quite honestly, my reasoning was about the same. 

We had the meanest librarian in the world at my junior high school (think Miss Trunchbull, but, like, less physically abusive), whose first name was Joanne. I don’t remember her last name, because once the kids found out her first name, we solely referred to her as Joanne from then on out (because, well, we were 12. And our idea of disrespect was not that advanced).

The year was 2001, the month was October (you may have put two and two together and realized what happened in the US the month prior). I had been introduced to Les Misérables in choir, because choir (which was a class, not just an afterschool activity) had been where 30-odd 12-year-olds had watched a plane crash into a building on live TV and thus were all dealing with various degrees of PTSD, and my choir teacher had all but abandoned any hope of actually teaching us anything and resorted to showing us various clips from musicals. Anything with people singing, so that she could at least sleep at night knowing we’d had some kind of music in choir.

Anyway, we watched a clip of Cosette singing “Castle on a Cloud”, which was very nice, and, being a Theatre Kid™ who, having not yet hit puberty and therefore still able to hit ungodly high notes, desperately wanted more dream roles for myself, I of course asked what the musical was. And what it was about. My desperate choir teacher, staring at a sea of traumatized tweens, did what any good teacher would do: she lied.

“Oh,” she said. “It’s...well, see, Cosette is very sad and the people she live with are mean and make her do chores, which is what she’s singing about. And, um, she grows up to get away from them and to be very happy and married to a nice young man.”

“So...like Cinderella?” I asked.

My teacher visibly sagged in relief. “Exactly like Cinderella!” she told me.

Now, as a child of the 90s, I grew up with Disney VHS movies, and, naturally, loved them, so when I heard there was a musical like Cinderella (not, of course, to be confused with the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Cinderella), I wanted to know more. My teacher, eager to change the subject, uttered the fateful words that would forever change my life: “You know, it’s based on a book.”

Off to the library I sped, like an eager cheetah dying to get my hands on a classic nineteenth-century French novel.

Of course, this being public school, and junior high to boot, my library didn’t carry Les Misérables. BUT, as I had learned several years prior when I wanted to read my brother’s reading list only to find out my elementary school library did not carry the books, my school library participated in a little something called “inter-library loan.”

So I marched my flare-jean-wearing self up to the circulation desk and told Joanne, “I want to request Less Miserables through inter-library loan.”

She humphed. “Do you mean Les Misérables?” she asked, pronouncing it almost as incorrectly as I had, but with considerable more condescension. 

“Yes,” I replied, unswayed from my mission.

She peered down her reading glasses at me before telling me haughtily, “You’re too young to read that.”

Bitch, please.

I did what any mostly-rule-abiding child would do: I made my mother write me a specific permission slip to get the Brick through inter-library loan (and I stuck my tongue out at Joanne when I picked it up).

And you can bet your ass that I read the entire thing. Did I understand a word? Of course not! Was I still waiting for something like Cinderella to pop up until far, far too late? Of course! Did I subsequently not pick it up again until years later after I saw the musical for the first time? Naturally.

Point being, thank you for your story, Nonny, and the opportunity to share mine, and to yesterday’s anon: when all else fails, “Oh yeah? Watch me.” is as good a motivation as any!

[meta-squash]

Les Miserables and Internal Narrative

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Hugo’s way of focusing on his characters, specifically which ones he actually chooses to focus on and get inside the head of, and which ones he doesn’t bother narrating or narrates only a certain way.

(For the purpose of what I want to meta about, I’m gonna use “internal narrative” to mean Hugo telling us exactly what a character is thinking and feeling at that moment, rather than his usual distant omniscient narration or any “I” statements from the characters. It’s Hugo “zooming in” and getting in the character’s head and narrating it for us.)

So, something that I’ve really been pondering over is a) which characters Hugo chooses to “zoom in” on and which characters narrate their own thoughts aloud, and b) how much Hugo allows himself to zoom in.

For that first one I just keep coming back to Eponine.

So Hugo mostly just does his usual third person omniscient narrative, but at times he focuses in on a character at a given moment and tells us exactly what that character is thinking about and feeling. A good example of this would be the way he focuses in on Enjolras as he imagines all his friends drumming up support for the rebellion. He jumps suddenly from a broad picture into a tight view of Enjolras’ internal monologue.

And Hugo does this for a lot of his characters. Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Gavroche, Enjolras, Grantaire, Gillenormand, to name a few.

What I find interesting is the fact that there are (arguably) main or at least significant secondary characters that he doesn’t zoom in on. The biggest example being Eponine.

We do get to know and see a lot of Eponine’s thoughts and feelings. But Hugo never zooms in and tells us “Eponine thought this and felt this.” Nearly all of Eponine’s narration of her feelings is either said aloud by her either as awkward, rambling monologues or as muttered asides, or it’s sort of narrated to us at a distance, through describing her actions and body language rather than her actual thoughts and feelings.

Eponine isn’t the only one. In fact most of the characters that belong to that “substrate,” the sort of “underbelly” of Paris get no or almost no internal narrative. Thenardier only gets an internal narrative once: when he’s trapped on the top of the wall outside the prison and is terrified he’ll be found. Montparnasse doesn’t even get one after his lecturing from Valjean, sadly. Also, interestingly, despite narrating a lot of Mabeuf’s strife, like Eponine, he never actually zooms in to narrate Mabeuf’s thoughts; it’s all narrated from a distance.

Some I can understand: secondary characters like Montparnasse don’t necessarily need internal narration for us to figure out who they are. Mabeuf as an elderly parallel to Marius is obvious enough that we can kind of fill in the blanks with what we get from Marius’ narrative.

But Eponine interests me because she is an important enough character to the plot to probably be considered a main character, or maybe a very very high up there secondary character, and yet we don’t actually get her internality. The narrative we do get from her is quite literally spoken aloud, either to Marius or as a weird sort of verbal internal conversation.

The verbal self-narrative is another one of Hugo’s tools, but Eponine is also very different in that respect. Most of Hugo’s other characters only talk aloud to themselves when they are overexcited or upset. See: Fantine in the police station and hospital, Cosette when seeing Marius, Fauchelevent when he thinks he has killed Valjean, etc. They speak their thoughts out loud because they are so overwhelmed that it just kind of spills out. But Eponine just rambles, upset or not. She talks to herself in long paragraphs or in almost Shakespearean-style asides.

The only other character who monologues the way she does, as frequently as she does, is Gillenormand, but we also get his internality.

So that’s weird. And I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I kind of wonder whether it’s the “morality” of the characters that decides whether Hugo focuses on them or just relegates them to talking to themselves. The “good” characters get an internality, and the “bad” ones don’t, or at least don’t really (Thenardier as a brief exception).

Of all the characters, Eponine is the one most trapped between or within everyone else’s lives/agendas/morality, and she as a character is very grey. She wants to help, but often that help comes with an ulterior motive (ex. watering Mabeuf’s plants to get Marius’ address). She has this unrequited love for Marius; it means she finds Cosette’s address and later protects him and Cosette from Patron-Minette at Rue Plumet, but it also means she essentially dies with the thought that Marius should also die at the barricade so no one else can have him. She sacrifices herself to save Marius, but with an ulterior motive. She escapes Javert, not because she’s good, but because she’s not as bad as Patron-Minette. Her feelings and decisions are consistently impacted by either Marius’ actions or her father’s; she’s either trying to help Marius/get his attention or she’s trying to do what she can to avoid her father’s cronies to some extent. She stands up to Patron-Minette outside the Rue Plumet, but she can’t use argot anymore because of the effect Marius has had on her. She doesn’t really get to have her own path. In order for Eponine to act upon or satisfy her own feelings and thoughts, she has to navigate between everyone else’s agendas.

So we never get a moment of Hugo focusing in on her. Instead, she rambles and sings and leaps from subject to subject. She’s weird and erratic, compared even to Marius’ dreaminess or any of Hugo’s other odd characters. She does at one point tell Marius that “everything’s in a whirl” and “very queer” when she hasn’t eaten in three days, and I wonder if Hugo avoids her internality in order preserve that weirdness. Marius’ oddness is attributed to his dreaminess; Cosette’s is kind of explained by, like, hormones and puberty and all that (not in so many words, but y’know). But Eponine is just strange, and to go into that is a bit like trying to go into the Mardi Gras fete that Hugo describes the wedding party passing later on in the novel: wild, fluctuating, lots of hidden pockets of darkness and strangeness. Eponine is the greyest character; unlike Montparnasse, her intentions aren’t fully evil, but also, unlike Gavroche, they’re not entirely selfless either. She is able to hold conversations with both Patron-Minette and Marius, but can’t break free from her connection with one or the other. Eponine is there to be a different sort of bridge between the light and the dark from Gavroche. But her grey-ness also means she’s unfocused, and Hugo doesn’t seem to want to narrate that.

And the second narration issue I keep coming back to is Valjean.

I think certain aspects of Hugo’s internal narration is fairly unreliable. Sometimes he tells us everything a character is thinking, but I think sometimes he stays a little distant, or picks and chooses what he wants to say. He’s not always willing to expose all of a character’s thoughts in the moment.

Mostly I see this unreliability when Hugo is focusing in on Valjean’s thoughts. To some extent, I think Hugo really venerates Hugo and remains very respectful to his inner thoughts and feelings. This means he tells the reader about Valjean’s thoughts and feelings to some extent, but actually doesn’t dare to go as deep as he could.

Throughout the novel, we get moments of Hugo focusing in and telling us how Valjean feels. Aside from Valjean’s moments of indecision and confusion (Petit Gervais, Champmathieu, his thoughts on leaving Petit Picpus, etc), we also get a lot of focus on Valjean’s feelings and thoughts about himself, about his own worth or his own goodness. However, it seems to me that even though Hugo does focus in on these sorts of thoughts in Valjean’s head, he always stays respectfully distant. He sometimes tells us rather than shows us how Valjean feels. We get all of Gillenormand’s flawed thoughts and feelings. We get all of Marius��� flawed thoughts and feelings. We get Enjolras’ moments of confidence and his moments of doubt. We even (sort of) get the Bishop’s close up thoughts during his conversation with G---. And we do get many moments where Hugo zooms in and tells us Valjean’s thoughts and feelings in a specific moment.

A few examples of those focused moments: Valjean’s first thoughts after Petite Gervais disappears, as he realizes he’s no longer the same man and questions his own actions, and ultimately realizes he must change; his thoughts regarding telling Cosette about Fantine, and the barrier of religious horror at the idea of it; the moment he finds Cosette’s letter to Marius and is overcome with grief and hatred and must fight to overcome it; Valjean wondering how to interact with Cosette once she and Marius are married.

All of these scenes are moments where Hugo focuses in specifically on Valjean’s immediate thoughts and feelings, narrating them complexly and in full rather than an overview or more distant description the way he often does. And yet, he still maintains a sort of respectful distance. We see Valjean battling with his thoughts and feelings, examining them, etc. We get to see Valjean’s heart under a microscope.

We often get to see how Valjean feels about others, or about his situation. However, it’s not until Valjean is speaking to Marius about his true identity that we really understand how Valjean thinks of himself. Until this moment, we continually see his feelings, but not always his thoughts.

It’s not until Valjean’s confession to Marius, and later his confession to Marius and Cosette both, that we really understand how wretched and horrible Valjean thinks himself to be. Hugo over and over assured us that Valjean was devoted to Cosette, that they were both a benefit to each other, and that Valjean saw her as an angel and himself as a creature who could “do no better than creep,” but he tempers all this with a sort of veneration, a reassurance that Valjean is the way he is because he is Good despite not really realizing it. But it’s only when Valjean talks about himself that it’s really emphasized how much Valjean doesn’t believe he’s good; it’s not that he doesn’t realize or notice, it’s that he completely rejects the idea that he could be a good person without total self-sacrifice. He calls himself a “passerby” in Cosette’s life, that he cannot call his raising her a good deed, that he is “not part of the family of men” and “in order to respect himself, he must be despised”. On his deathbed, he calls himself “good for nothing” and tells Cosette she’s better off with Marius than with him.

All of this is very different from the feeling of quiet respect with which his inner feelings are narrated, as opposed to the thoughts he voices allowed. Hugo even uses Marius’ general political ignorance to mention that Valjean deserves far more respect, but Marius still hasn’t learned “to distinguish between what is written by man and what is written by God, between law and right”.

So despite being the main character, Valjean remains an odd sort of enigma not because he doesn’t know himself or because he doesn’t have moments of introspection, but because Hugo’s respect and veneration for him means he remains at a sort of polite distance even when getting into Valjean’s head, something he doesn’t do with Marius or Gillenormand or even Enjolras. It’s only when Valjean is given the chance to quite literally speak for himself that you see that while his self-deprecation and/or emotional self-flagellation is partly moral, it seems like it goes to an almost unnecessary extreme that narration isn’t willing to point out.

This is very long and I kind of had two vaguely similar thoughts that I tried to put together in a post but I’m not sure if it worked. I just think that Eponine’s lack of internality and the odd sort of distance in Valjean’s internality compared to his verbalized thoughts are both very interesting. Eponine, as the greyest of characters, lacks the moral solidity or direction that would make her internality something that could come into focus and be explored. Hugo focuses in on so many characters, getting into their heads and giving us their thoughts and feelings. It’s interesting that Eponine gets none of that, and even more interesting that Valjean, despite all the focus, is filtered through Hugo’s respect and only really reveals his thoughts and feelings fully when he’s verbalizing them.

TL;DR We don’t hear Eponine’s thoughts and feelings because she’s the most morally grey, and Valjean’s internal thoughts and feelings aren’t fully revealed to us except when Valjean is speaking because Hugo venerates him too much to get fully into his head.

[lesmisscraper]

Cosette noticing she's pretty, Volume 4, Book 3, Chapter 5.

Clips from <Il cuore di Cosette>.