#bottom left is Owl's wonderful character!!

[cowcowwow]

HAVE YE EVER WANTED A LIL GUY LIKE THISSS?

MY CHIBI COMMISSIONS HAVE BEEN RENEWED!! THERE ARE NOW 10 SLOTS HEHEE!!

Get them here!! Now offering animated chibis ooo >:3c

[plushiesssforcrying]

Bluebells.

୨୧ chapters ┊ memories. / day 3.

୨୧ character ┊ telemachus.

୨୧ pronouns ┊ she / her.

୨୧ contents ┊ day 2. mysterious reader grind never stops. third person pov. mostly telemachus' pov again. every chapter i keep trying out a new writing style, are you guys sick of it yet.

It’s been a few days since Telemachus's encounter with the strange lady from the marketplace. After a speedy recovery thanks to the help from the goddess of wisdom herself, he’s been swarmed with paperworks that’s left him no time to wander around outside the palace.

He sighed, stamping the ring that held the kingdom’s emblem onto the melted candle wax. He let the gold jewelry sit in the red liquid as it slowly hardens again, his multicolored eyes bore into the papers.

His hand rests on the back of his neck, fingers tangled together. His head hung low as he couldn’t help but wonder what the deal was with that shopkeeper.

She didn’t seem to have malevolent intentions. Then again, she could simply be covering it up as many others do. It rattled his mind on why she seemed so odd but also why she was on his mind in the first place.

She shouldn’t be much trouble as he can tell, maybe a little cryptic. Nothing wrong with that. Lots of witches and sorcerers or even regular town folks were cryptic.

Watching the wax set, his mind continued to race until he ultimately sighed. He wore the ring once more, the red wax now embedded into the shape of an owl perched on an olive branch before rolling up the paper and taking the rest of the scrolls and making his way to the royal archives, deciding that he'll head back to the markets.

He’ll buy some flowers for his mother after all, yes, that's it. He’ll buy his mother her strange flowers. That’s the excuse he's telling himself as he wrapped his royal drapes around his shoulders and just got past the suitors by the skin of his teeth, leaving the palace’s high ceiling walls and striding down to the local marketplace.

Telemachus made his way to the last place he saw her shop, biting his bottom lip in anticipation when he found it. Unfortunately, she seems to be occupied with an irritatingly familiar figure.

Antinous. He hadn't even noticed the suitor had left the palace but right now, he was leaning over the counter at an uncomfortable proximity with the shopkeeper. The woman said nothing, a visibly stiff smile under her hood.

She didn't seem to react even when Antinous held a tight grip on her cloak. Telemachus however, gritted his teeth at the suitor's behavior. Did he get so bored of his victims in the palace that he started aiming for the local sellers?

The prince kept a steady hand on the hilt of his sword, stepping closer in hopes to neutralize the situation. Before he could advance a step further, the lady harshly grabbed Antinous's wrist.

She gritted her teeth, quickly slamming her forehead against his and making him stumble back. For good measure, her sharp nails dug into his arm, quickly tearing them away and leaving a giant gash in his arm. The man—nearly twice her size, cried out in pain and released her, holding his injured arm instead.

Neither of them wasted a beat—Antinous had his hands on the shop but the woman quickly kicked it towards him with one foot planted on the ground as she hit it with the other. It crashed into his torso in a swift move, the floras and potions attached to the stall flew in different directions from the impact.

As the suitor was downed on the ground, she took the chance to flee—not taking a single glance back even when he yelled out curses at her.

Murmurs started filling the marketplace, in utter disbelief of the events that had just occurred. The prince stood in place, having also been one of the many people that watched the entire interaction going down. He could only stare in awe, the injured suitor shoving past him and other villagers in anger of being humiliated by the woman he’s yet to even learn the name of.

While he didn't have a shadow of a doubt that Antinous definitely deserved what had come to him, whatever it is he did, Telemachus was wary of her abilities and lack of hesitance to disarm a stranger through means of violence.

Curiouser and curiouser, his feelings grew for the woman. It was like he stumbled upon an enigma, is this the monster he had been hoping to meet? To defeat?

Well, calling her monster just for being mysterious sounds a little mean. Still, he wanted to know more about this stranger more than ever now. He decided to take action, following the way she fled.

Telemachus retraced the woman’s path, scanning for every clue or sign on where she might have gone. After nearly hours of searching, he found a large opening in the forest when he pushed past some bushes.

It was surrounded by lively greenery and flowers, the only noises that could be heard were the soft rustling of leaves from the trees and the peaceful rushing of water as it fell into the lake below. He could see prisms reflecting on the surface of the water as various rocks of different sizes surrounded it.

On top of one of the larger rocks, stood the cloaked woman. She was crouching on top of the flat surface, placing her just a little higher above the ground and her cloak drapes off the stone elegantly. She stilled at the sound of the stick broken under Telemachus' foot when he drew closer, barely glancing behind her as her hands held something close to her chest.

“Apologies. It seems I've closed early today. Have a good rest of your day.” Her tone was cold and unwelcoming, clearly wanting the supposed stranger to leave immediately. It surprised the prince for a moment, she had unknowingly done a complete change of behavior towards him in a blink of an eye.

It left the prince of Ithaca a little perplexed, nervous if he should even say anything. Alas, he persisted and opened his mouth—albeit with hesitance laced in his voice. “Ah, yes. I'm aware of the commotion you caused, um... ”

Hearing his voice, she didn't hesitate to turn around to confirm her thoughts. Sure enough, she smiled at seeing the familiar man again.

“Looking for company, young prince?” Her voice returned to its regular soft-spoken and calm tone he remembered. He was about to question how she knew of his status when he had never mentioned it before, but she was quick to usher him closer.

“No need for hesitance, join me.” A hand waves him over as she takes a proper seat, the item in her hands now visible to the young man. He glanced at the book, curious if this is what she spends her free time doing.

“What are you reading?”

A smile grew from his curiosity and she held the book out to him, which he took with gentle hands. He scanned the cover of the book, ‘The Legend of Perseus’. So she likes heroic stories? Was what he first thought before she opened her mouth again.

“Quite the villain they paint of Medusa,” She smiled from her spot, observing the man's expression closely. “I think she's rather amicable.”

He looked over the book again, skimming through some of the pages as the few illustrations the book held only depicted the infamous mortal gorgon as a terrifying monster with razor sharp teeth, an ugly look and eyes that lacked of any emotions other than rage and hatred.

So she found this... charming? Closing up the book, he handed it back to her sheepishly. “Forgive me, I.. don't share the sentiment.” However, she didn't seem to be offended. Only lightly laughing with a hand gentle on her chest. “I didn't expect you would.”

Telemachus watched as her hands delicately took the book, how the hand she placed on her chest still had a smear of blood left on her forearm. Clearly not hers, he knows that. She opened the book again, flipping through the illustrations as he wondered about her words. The vagueness and the strange nature which she came from.

“Forgive my forwardness, my lady but… what are you..?” He asked warily, a hand gently rests against the rock’s rough surface as he tried to get a closer look at the features she’s worked hard to conceal.

She hummed, deliberately avoiding his gaze. Her usual soft smile widened.

“I am but a mere traveller, young prince.”

“That is not what I meant,” he bit back sharply. The woman didn’t respond, admiring the depiction of the mortal gorgon in the book. He watched as her hand with unnaturally sharp nails traced the outline of the monster. “... and how do you know of my position? I've yet to tell you, last I recall.”

She still hasn’t met his gaze, though still acknowledging his question with a tilted head and curious hum.

“Lucky guess?” When Telemachus huffed at her answer, the woman let out a light-hearted laugh. “Forgive me for teasing you. I simply assumed so from your jewelry,”

“Looks like something only a noble would wear to me, no?” She said, as she gently took his wrist to raise it and showcase the golden jewelries.

Telemachus didn’t respond, he definitely hadn’t considered his accessories to be a factor to his status. He hadn’t exactly known what commoners wear for their day-to-day life and he clearly hasn't taken it into consideration.

He was about to continue interrogating her until he felt a quick but gentle breeze pass them, a shadow following in its wake. He turned to look and take a glimpse of what had passed them but the woman suddenly squeezed his wrists in an unrelenting grip.

She frowned, not directly looking at Telemachus. Despite her head hanging low, it's almost like he could feel that she was irritated at whatever had passed them.

“Seems I should be off now,” Her sour look was wiped off her face once more, “I’m sure you're needed elsewhere as well, your highness.”

Without further ado, she stepped off the boulder. Her cloak splayed behind her for a moment and he noticed that she had more scales on her leg, along with how she had been bare foot this entire time.

She dusted off her cloak before turning away from the noble. For some reason, he didn't have the heart to stop her. To demand that she reveal herself more clearly and quit speaking in riddles. No, he watched her in mesmerization until he called out again.

“Telemachus,” she halted in her steps, “my name is Telemachus.”

She blinked under her hood. “Telemachus,” A small smile as she confirmed the name on her tongue. “Prince of Ithaca.”

Before he could get another word in, she flicked her cape and walked deeper into the tall trees. The nobleman felt a strange emptiness in his chest. The forest, once vibrant and alive, now felt eerily quiet, the sound of the rushing waters was the only thing accompanying him.

He wanted to call out to her again, to demand answers, to understand the enigma that had so effortlessly captivated him. But instead, he stood frozen, watching her retreating figure disappear into the shadows. A mix of frustration and longing churned within him.

“Who are you..? ” The question left hanging in the air like a spell, a need for an answer— a haunting that refused to fade.

With a deep breath, he turned back toward the path leading home. He felt like he would be searching for her again sometime soon.

other people write reader like themselves, i write reader as someone i'd actually fall in love with [women that can kick my ass]

this for you bbg @kaechu1

taglist ; @lin-elizabeth @theyumeeighth

[pluviowriting]

In the Eye of the Beholder

So like I’m a bit late because the day is almost over but this is my entry for Garreth Weasley Fest 2024 ! My prompt was “Life drawing model (Garreth poses for a semi nude painting)”. This has been so fun and it was such a pleasure to participate.

Big big shout out to the wonderful @ellivenollivander and @cuffmeinblack for organizing all of this. You can find so much more Garreth content on @garrethweasleyfest !!!

18+ || MDNI || Content Warnings: explicit smut, aged up characters (this takes place a couple years post Hogwarts), lil bit of a size kink, dirty talk, unprotected p in v sex, Garreth’s pull out game is pretty strong, please let me know if I missed anything else

Word Count: 1.3k

Garreth Weasley x f!Non-MC!OC

Garreth had never been an insecure man. He liked his messy hair and his freckles. He thought he had nice eyes and a handsome smile. He liked the shape he was in, most of the time. He was relatively fit, his time spent farming had paid off and kept him in shape after finishing his schooling. It showed most when he went out, as he never seemed to struggle to find a witch to warm his bed.

There had been a sheet posted in the Three Broomsticks looking for volunteers to be models for some artist out in Brocburrow. His confidence in himself and a few too many drinks with Leander and Lucan, celebrating the latter’s graduation from Hogwarts, led to him signing his name and leaving his address for an owl on the sign up sheet. He watched as his already messy handwriting - made worse by the liquor flowing through his veins - disappeared on the parchment thanks to a variation of the protean charm. Not that he was sober enough to name it at this point. He returned to the table to the sound of hoots and jeers from his two fellow Gryffindors. By the time they left that night, he had forgotten all about it.

Within a week, there was an unfamiliar owl tapping at his window around lunch. He took the parchment from its outstretched leg, giving the bird a treat before it took off. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he tried to figure out who had written him before unrolling the parchment.

“Good morning Mr. Weasley,

I hope this letter finds you well. I’m writing in regards to the live model posting made in the Three Broomsticks. You provided your name and address as someone who may be interested in posing. The session will take place in Brocburrow next weekend. If you have no time conflicts and are still interested in having your portrait painted, I’ll meet you by the floo point in Brocburrow at noon. Please try to be punctual. If you have any further questions before next weekend, please feel free to write. You can send your owl to…”

The young woman, based on the signature at the bottom, provided her address and her name. He debated until the weekend whether he’d actually go or not. As the sun rose on Saturday morning and he realized he had less to do than he thought and it was only eight o’clock. He had plenty of time to finish his usual chores and get cleaned up before noon. He hurried through what he could, though he did curse at the chickens when they took their sweet time evacuating the coop. He was covered in sweat and dirt by the time he returned to his cottage.

By the time he popped through the floo at ten minutes before noon, he looked like a completely different man. He looked around before his eyes met those of a witch who was sitting in front of the floo.

“Mr. Weasley?”

She stood before he answered, her hand extending to shake his as she introduced herself.

“Minerva. You’re welcome to call me Minnie if you’d like.”

“You can just call me Garreth. Mr. Weasley is my dad,” he smiled as he shook her hand and his eyes raked over her much smaller figure.

The pair chatted idly as Minerva led the way to her portrait studio, admiring the leaves as they were changing due to the upcoming colder weather. As they entered the room, it was obvious where Garreth was meant to sit. He looked to the artist for guidance, since he knew he was simply there to be her muse, so to speak.

The young woman’s cheeks tinted slightly. “So, you’ll be posed in the middle there. You’ll have to remain relatively still, but it would be quite uncomfortable if we were just sitting here silently. So until I need your face, we’ll chat and I’ll try and make the face last and fast.”

Garreth chuckled and nodded at her explanation. “Pose me however you want, I’m just here to help you channel your artistic expertise.”

~~~~

When he said “however you want”, this hadn’t been what Garreth was expecting. Most of his clothes were folded on a chair and there was a black sheet draped over his lap. Minerva had very carefully adorned his red curls with a golden leafed headband that made him feel like a Greek god. Her hands had been all over his arms and his back as she posed him in a way that he assumed made the muscles in those parts the main focus. She had very gently turned his head to the side, and he allowed himself to scan over her face. He could already tell her pupils were dilated, and he heard her breath hitch when their eyes locked and green met the warmest brown he had ever seen.

He wasn’t sure who leaned in first, but he blinked and suddenly he was kissing the softest lips he had ever felt. He felt fingers tangle in his hair and pull, causing a moan to bubble up from his chest.

Garreth shifted, getting the witch settled beneath him. He worked eagerly to get her bared beneath him, pulling back to admire every inch of skin he could get his eyes and lips on.

“Bloody gorgeous…” he groaned as his head dipped down and he took a pert nipple between his lips. His tongue laved over the hardened bud to the tune of the prettiest whines to grace his ears. He pulled off one with a pop before giving her other breast the same attention.

“Garreth please,” she breathed, looking down at him through hooded eyes.

It was all the encouragement he needed to reach down and coat his fingers in her arousal before bringing them to her clit. He rubbed tight circles over the bundle of nerves, unable to fight the smirk on his face.

“Do all your muses get you this wet, little Minnie?”

Her answer never came, a moan tumbling from her lips as he pushed two fingers into her. He crooned, the tone turning condescending as he spoke.

“Merlin’s beard. Squeezing my fingers so tight. Dunno how you’re gonna take my cock.”

His thumb moved to rub her clit while his fingers continued to pump into her aching heat. He took cues from her to figure out the best angle, best pace, best rhythm. Garreth Weasley was nothing if not attentive to his partners.

“That’s it Minnie. Come on. I can feel it. Cum for me baby.”

With a loud cry of his name, he felt her walls fluttering around his fingers as her back arched off the stage. He wasted no time ridding himself of what little clothing remained on his body and very slowly worked every throbbing inch into the pretty artist beneath him. He watched her face, relishing in the way her eyes widened as she felt the stretch.

“I know. You’re doing so good for me. Such a good girl.”

“‘S so…” she trailed off into a whine, her eyes rolling back as he bottomed out.

“I know. And you’re taking all of it so well.”

With her confirmation, he started to rock his hips. He started slower but gradually he got faster, and based on the way Minerva was dragging her nails down his back he had found a good speed.

His hand moved between them, once again searching to increase her pleasure. As Garreth pushed them both, he could once again feel her impending release growing closer. It didn’t take much to work them both over the edge, and Garreth painted her stomach white.

He fell beside her, his heart racing and his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

“So,” she asked breathlessly, still trying to get her bearings, “are you free to pose next week?”

[rolameny]

To my regret I need to talk about the nonbinary robot in Earthspark.

So this is a show set post-Cybertronian civil war, on an Earth where every Autobot and Decepticon who fought in the war are marooned. A new group of young robots comes to life and goes through adolescence as the first of a new kind of Transformer in a context alien to any of their elders.

They're "born" in two batches, first the short red and grey ones in the bottom right, then the green, purple, and orange ones in the back.

Green teen robot is Nightshade, who is nonbinary. Orange teen robot is Jawbreaker. Not relevant to this post is Hashtag, the chronically online zoomer robot (purple).

Nightshade is established as nonbinary immediately in their first feature episode in a pronoun-forward way. Optimus goes through a teachable moment learning about this. Multiple times they introduce themself by giving out their pronouns; they are the only character in the show who does this. In a later appearance Nightshade meets someone with a pronoun pin on her bag and learns the word "nonbinary." Charmingly, their reaction is: "What a wonderful word for a wonderful experience!"

Nightshade's stories are not otherwise about identity. While I think it's a genuinely goodhearted impulse to put this in a y7 show, and without even having to dig I am 100% sure this is all that's left after the character was sanded down by Nickelodeon/Hasbro leadership, it does fundamentally convey that being nonbinary is largely about pronoun usage.

Other than the she/they queen Nightshade meets in Philly, nobody on this show talks or thinks about gender at all. Every robot comes out of the living earth knowing their gender identity and pronouns and never questions them. This is a world of absolutes, and Nightshade's just found the secret third absolute.

Jawbreaker's storyline, meanwhile, is about identity. His siblings all pick an alt mode to transform into; Jawbreaker can't choose. He goes around asking all the adults in his life how they knew what they wanted to be. After a lot of agonizing he lands on "when I know I'll know, and for now I'm happy as I am." He spends a couple episodes as the only robot without an alt, till he meets Grimlock, who turns into a T-rex. Somewhere, Fun Home Ring of Keys.mp3 starts playing. Jawbreaker follows Grimlock around in a delighted haze until he finds a dinosaur skeleton to base his alt mode on.

Jawbreaker scanning a dinosaur skeleton is treated as something unusual in comparison to everyone else picking vehicles. This new form, and JB's ability to use it, is something that stands out.

Completely unspoken here and elsewhere is that Nightshade scanned their alt mode from a marble statue of an owl.

To me, Jawbreaker's story is a really sweet one about identity, about being unsure about yourself and your body, coming to terms with that uncertainty, and then finding yourself in a paradigm you had no idea existed. Nightshade's story is about how you should use they/them pronouns to refer to some people.

These two characters don't, as far as I've seen, talk to each other about this at all. (I'm nearly done S1 and have skimmed episode descriptions/character fanwiki pages for the other, and it doesn't seem to come up. Maybe I'll be proved wrong!)

If they don't ever have that conversation, if the show doesn't ever draw a line between the literal and the allegorical.... man. It's just such a missed opportunity. Again, this is a y7 show. It swings between nuanced and clunky frequently. And despite everything I do admire the show creators for making a point of having a nonbinary robot. It's just a bummer that what this show is teaching kids is that instead of two firm choices that necessarily say everything about you and your appearance, there are three.

[pumpkinnkidd]

WELCOME TO SPRUCECOLONY! the faithful and guarded.

the first of the three cat colonies in the sea calling. they live in a lush spruce forest with waterlogged meadows and mires. they believe themselves closest to stagcolony, as the ruins of the founding sisters are in their land. other colonies rumor the cold wind of the over-yonder mountains makes their hearts cold.

under the cut, listing of all members and a more in depth look at the highest ranked members!

top to bottom, left to right:

captain smokey spell, deputy spider blaze, sage plum spots, head-nurse grape tail, nurse wool belly, moon fall

wizened raven mask, kindler hoof stomp, kits wren belly & chickadee field, fickle field, adder strike, owl feather

minnow frost, sage-rookie snail swirl, deer skip, honey frost ( eventually changed to honey heart ), coyote bite, and fox bite.

-captain smokey spell is the wise, sentimental , yet troubled, leader of sprucecolony and has been for many years. quite unpopular among his peers for the scandal with the once leader of willowcolony, captain mist drizzle, which then led to the willowspruce war.

-spider blaze is the cold, ambitious, and ferocious deputy of sprucecolony. he succeeded umber blight, who died in the final conflict of the willowspruce war- the drop. despite the former deputy’s wishes for him not to succeed her, smokey spell chose him anyway as he was the most popular, pressured choice. his hatred for willowcolony knows no bounds.

-plum spots is the sage of sprucecolony. she is their emotional and spiritual guide, and is smokey spell’s most influential advisor. while compassionate and brilliant, she is also stubborn and lovelorn. she hates spider blaze vehemently; for work related reasons, and deeply personal ones she would never disclose.

-snail swirl is plum spots rookie, otherwise known as her apprentice. they are sweet, sensitive, and reclusive. they are also spider blaze’s son, and he tries to mold them into a fierce cat. he also disapproves of snail swirl choosing to be a sage deeply. they are very close to their mentor, but are a rock stuck in a hard place; the approval of their cold father, or the approval of their passionate mentor.

-raven mask is the wizened of sprucecolony. he is as old as smokey spell, and the willowspruce war seems to have aged the both cruelly. he is the captain’s second most important advisor, and his best friend since childhood. he is also plum spot’s loving uncle, and just wants the forest to be peaceful before he joins the stag’s above.

thank you for reading! these are only a few of the very important characters of the sea calling. i will be posting more, and willowcolony is next to be drawn! :)) spider blaze and snail swirl belong to my wonderful gf @meta-knight-is-bisexual!

[drawingpad-studios]

I decided to draw some Concept designs of characters from the magical world(two of these are characters I already made but am reusing because I never wrote their original story). I was inspired by Studio Ghibli and tried to make characters that give off the same feelings of wonder I get from Studio Ghibli movies.

Left to right is:

-a giant owl with four limbs, a neck that can grow a bit, and a pair of wings that will be running a library that will have a pond in the middle where paper "dancers" will dance on the surface

-a mouse-ear plant landlord that has a mouth that turns into an eye that has a pupil that can turn into a mouth

-(top) a sentient portal automation that's a business lawyer that mostly uses their portals when pacing, panicking, or calling someone

-(bottom) a young void anomaly that was adopted by a monster that runs a cafe, they don't have a true form fully yet, but they have started to take on the form of a nightmare unicorn(a Night-mare if you will). Unfortunately they don't have the actual horse head yet

-(I drew him a bit goofy, but that's fine this is the first concept design, I'll fix it up in future concept designs or in the final design) a quad-ped magical monster that can be bi-ped for the cafe they run. They mainly use their magic to make energy potions, speed potions, and other potions that could be made into normal cafe drinks

-I don't feel like writing this one fully because this is easily the weakest design and might not make the cut so I'll summarize it, if you want the full idea just try to find my first character ideas post. Mad Hatter Fashionista Arsonist, Basically

-this is also a weak design that might not make the cut, it's just a moody harpy I don't know what I was going for this one I was too focused on worrying about the weather.

I would post the concept designs for the humans, but they're being done on Gacha Life 2 because that's quicker for human designs for me and they're not done yet. they aren't all done because at the moment I'm under a tornado watch and I'm too freaked out to work on them. I'm going to be going to bed late tonight, rip.

[crescentblossom66]

@nasubeenwithcat

Happy Birthday! I wrote a little fic for you to celebrate.

Cruel Loneliness

He sighed deeply, turning back around to look at the tracks and the huge desert that stretched out for miles all around him. The little lass had gone back to her ship with the weird hourglass thingy in her hand after she stopped the bomb from blowing his train, the owls, herself, and him to pieces. He knew that with this insane stunt, he'd easily win the annual bird movie awards and that it would feel as empty as it always had. What good was an accomplishment if you had no one to share your happiness with.

It had been years now that his wife left him, and frankly he was happy that that treacherous woman was out of his life for good...but he truly missed visiting his daughter that rightfully hated him for abandoning her for his career. The owl looked out the window, his eyes unblinking as his mind got lost in his dark thoughts. The only person other than his ex-wife that he cared for was his rival...but that was what he was and had always been; his rival, a person that was opposing him, that was a foil to his own creations, his own character even. While he was harsh and demanding of perfection from the people around him and himself, the penguin was always optimistic, took breaks whenever he felt they were needed, and treated his moon penguins with respect and care. He had to admit that his rival movies, despite lacking substance, always were bright and cheerful, the thin plots they usually had were light-hearted and a bit too cheesy for his tastes, but the yellow bird could understand why the former DJ always managed to get into second place.

He wondered how it would be if they had decided to simply work together and share the studio, if they could somehow get over their differences and embrace the strengths and weaknesses of each other...but all of this was wishful thinking, DJ Grooves would never forgive him for what he has done, he knew that the other director was well aware that he sabotaged him more than once. The rift between them that had formed over the years was insurmountable, and even if he apologized, the DJ would just think he'd make a bad joke, or outright laugh at him.

“Sir, we found another one of those hourglasses!-” He got ripped out of his musings by an express owl that stumbled as he tore the door to the control room open. “We found it in one of the suitcases in the storage area!” The yellow owl just about managed to turn to face the screaming nuisance when the brown bird tripped and dropped the hourglass which shattered on the ground. One second, he was gazing at the shocked face of the express owl, and the next, the sandy desert that he started blankly into just moments before, was back in his view without him even recalling that he turned. The Conductor turned back to the owl, that was now standing again even though he should have been lying on the ground instead, while the hourglass had magically fixed itself.

“Did...did that hourglass just...?” He stared at the owl blankly while said bird got back to his feet and rubbed his forehead.

“Ow...my head, I think by beak is broken.” Not even minding the fact that the express owl just ignored him and went to get a first aid kit, he picked the time-altering object off the ground and shook it, nothing happened.

“Am I losin' me mind...” He tilted the unassuming prop and again, no reaction. “Maybe I have to...” He took a couple of steps forward, to test if shattering the hourglass on the ground would put him back into his initial position and he was dumbfounded when he reverted back as he threw the hourglass to the ground. “So...I wasn't imagining it, these weird thingies can rewind time...” He had a hard time wrapping his mind around the concept that those strangely glowing, but otherwise normal looking props had the capacity to alter the flow of time itself.

He watched the sand slowly go from the top half to the bottom half of the item in his talons, and an idea came to him, maybe...just maybe...if he could figure out how to control the power of this hourglass...he could go back all those years and fix his relationship with DJ Grooves, maybe he could actually be his friend...he wouldn't be lonely anymore.

A soft smile spread on the jagged beak of the Western director which soon faltered again as he remembered that there was one obstacle in his way...the lassie.

The young girl definitely knew about the power of those objects as she had been collecting them as soon as she arrived in Dead Bird Studio. He thought that she simply enjoyed that they sparkled and that she would have a prop from one of his soon-to-be blockbusters to sell on Ebird or to keep as a rare collectors item. It never once occurred to him that there could be more to those strange hourglasses that rained from the sky like dangerous raindrops. The longer he looked at the bewitching shine of the hourglass, the more it seemed to call to him, the more he felt like it told him to use it for his scheme.

He experimented with his new little treasure the rest of the day and he got the hang of using it correctly by nightfall. The yellow bird knew by then that he could do it, that he could rewind time all the way back those many years and start over his relationship with the DJ. All that was in his way was the little hatted lass, and he had a plan on how to get rid of her.

-

After making a quick call to the spaceship of the little lass, he arrived back at Dead Bird Station and entered the premises with the time piece hidden in his pocket. He knew that the little girl would come for the time altering object, he had no doubt about it...but to realize his goal he also had to make sure that DJ Grooves wouldn't interfere with his plans. The Conductor was well aware that he and the hatted lass had gotten quite close over the course of making the movies she was starring in. Considering the kind-hearted nature of his rival, he'd try to safe the young child after noticing that something was off. He sent his owls down to the basement to set up his little...arena and went over to the side of disco-loving penguin. With his new abilities, it was easy enough to get past the entourage of flightless birds that usually surrounded his rival like bodyguards. He found the DJ in his dressing room, getting ready to wrap up the long day of filming.

The tall penguin turned his head in confusion after seeing a silhouette of black and yellow enter his peripheral vision. “Conductor? What are you doing here? If you just came here to start another pointless argument, then you'll have to excuse me, I'm too tired for your shenanigans.” Something about the yellow bird really irked him. He appeared less hostile...but the aura around the yellow owl gave off a sense of dread and creepiness that he couldn't quite put a flipper on.

“Donnae worry, lad. I ain't here ta argue. I'm only here ta...stop ye from interferin'.” The penguin stood up immediately after seeing his rival produce a pair of handcuffs from his suit pocket. He tried to reach for the knife that he always kept inside his red jacket, just in case something like this happened. Before he had the chance to properly grip the handle of his weapon, a strange feeling overcame him and he got frozen in place. The Conductor only gave him a smug smirk as he approached, it caused the DJ to panic and try to fight against what ever it was that kept him in place. He couldn't move a single muscle, couldn't even move his eyes which were transfixed on the face of his nemesis who stretched out a wing. He wanted to close his eyes, thinking that any moment now, the crazed owl would simply end his life...to his surprise though he only stroked his cheek. “I ain't gonna hurt ya, just gonna have ta stay outta me way fer a while.” The Conductor put the handcuffs around the flippers of the penguin and and grabbed the key to the dressing room from his pocket. “Jus' sit tight and wait fer me, aye. It won't take long.”

DJ Grooves heard a click as the door got locked and felt the strange feeling that had pinned him down leave him. “What did you do! Hey, come back here, Conductor! Let me out!” It hurt the yellow owl a bit to hear the penguin scream desperately and with an almost pleading tone the further he got away from the dressing room. The penguins would try to free their boss, now that he had the key, and even if they managed to free him, it would buy him enough time to eliminate the lassie. Speaking on the lassie, she was likely almost there, so he made his way into the deep, dark depths of the studio's basement.

-

As he expected, the young girl soon arrived exactly where he wanted her, where no one could interfere in his plan. He felt a bit of hesitation and guilt for what he was about to do coming up, yet he suppressed it. This was the most crucial step, the only obstacle that could come in the way of the new reality he was trying to create.

The lassie seemed surprised to see him there and demanded her time piece back. Less than a day ago, he would have gladly obliged...maybe he would have given it to her after shooting another scene, but not this time.

He drew his trusty knife from his pocket. “I'm sorry that it has come to this, lassie, but you cannae have this hourglass back. I need it more than ye ever will!” He started to attack the young space traveler who dodged all of his attacks with relative easy, he had seen her get through “Train Rush”, so it wasn't a surprise for him. What did surprise him was how easy it was to trick the lass into a 'pleasant' conversation. The disinterest and insistence was quite easily readable on her face before she even uttered the 'Nope' with which she declined his request of being allowed to keep his one time piece. “That's...too bad, lassie. A darn shame it is....” The feathers on his head lowered as he questioned his resolve one last time before using the power of the time piece to freeze time itself for a brief moment. A brief moment was all he needed, all it took to drive the knife through the heart of the child whose possessions even enabled what he was attempting to do. The look of slight irritation on her face was replaced by one of shock, as her eyes widened and looked at the yellow owl that she had thought finally started to warm up to her. The Conductor could see the face of betrayal and the mouthed 'why' on her face before the girl's eyes broke and clouded over as she slumped in her chair.

He felt AWFUL. The yellow bird tried hard to not break out in tears, and once again he stopped in his tracks, a small part of him yelled at him to rewind time, to stop himself from becoming something so heinous and despicable that no one would ever be able to forgive him. He himself couldn't. He ignored it.

Instead, he looked at the hourglass in his talons again, watched the sand trickle down slowly. He was too close to reaching his goal, too close to simply stop now.

-

His poor flippers really started to hurt, his loyal penguins were trying their hardest to get through the door to get him out of the dressing room his awful rival had locked him in. The penguin felt a strong sense of dread, far more so than he had ever felt in his life before. The actions of the yellow owl were so...different from normal, and not in a good way. The way he had looked at him before he simply left him was very strange, the eyes of the bird, normally rage-filled and piercing, had gazed at him with warmth and friendliness that was beyond uncanny and uncharacteristic of his Western-loving rival. The tall penguin looked relieved when his penguins finally managed to find a key to enter the room...only for everything to stop.

In this brief moment, he felt like something that was never supposed to happen, was about to happen, like Pandora's box had been opened and the world was going to sink into total chaos as a result. His penguins simply stopped in motions, neither breathing nor blinking. He stared as it was all he could do before everything turned white.

-

“I'm back, told ye I wouldnae be gone fer long.”

“It still took you awfully long to find a single audio file, darling.” DJ Grooves chuckled as the owl came back to him with a USB stick in his talons. He plugged it into the computer and opened the sound file that needed editing. “I can feel it, darling, this movie is going to be the blockbuster of the century!” The yellow owl nodded and started to drape his wings over his chest from behind the chair that the he was sitting on.

“I'm sure it will, with yer editin' and me story line, nothing can stop us!” He looked up and saw the ever-present sparkle in the eyes of the yellow owl, a thing that the DJ Grooves that had been lost to time itself would have found eerie and strange, the same as his upbeat and friendly behavior. The only thing even stranger was that his aversion to physical contract made a complete 180 and turned into a great need for affection, as evidenced by the owl gently preening the hair of his former rival that everyone in the other timeline had thought he hated like the plague.

“Almost done, just need to save the changes.” The owl was seemingly unable to wait a moment longer and simply sat down on the lap of the penguin, who proceeded to softly pet the other bird's head. “Affection starved, darling?” The tall bird chuckled which caused the smaller one to smile.

“For longer than ye'd know.” The owl closed his eyes, just taking in the warmth and the feeling of the soft pets he was receiving. “I love ye.” The Conductor opened his eyes again...not that the penguin could see them...

“Love you too.” If the DJ could actually see the eyes of the bird he so loved now, he would be able to see the darkness that swirled behind them, like a dark void. He was blissfully unaware of the devilish creature that had murdered a young girl for his own happiness. He was blissfully unaware of the insanity so well hidden by the beautiful, golden feathers.

Take this discount Conductor as well.

I tried really hard to write 'Happy Birthday' in Japanese. I likely failed and wrote something silly because of google translate and my inability to write your complicated language. I tried my best though XD Above that you have 'Alles Gute zum Geburtstag' Which means Happy Birthday in German.

[eureka-its-zico]

i just reread your violent delights fic (maybe it’s the ovulation talking) and oh my gosh it hits different every. single. time! i literally cannot take that fic off my mind. it’s filthy, so detailed, so perfect, and did i say filthy? you're such a talented writer i swear i felt every single sentence you amazingly described. it wouldn’t be sooo good without your talent.

and i’ll be waiting for your future fics and WIPs. your fics have never disappointed me before, and i'm sure they never will. thank you for stepping up to write for my beloved enishi and for mackenyu’s characters. i love em all <3

Nonnnnnniiiiie!! Omg 😩😩

Why must you come at me with all this love and sweetness?!? Especially when it refers to my absolutely unhinged completely smut driven plot of a story for Enishi. I literally just opened up chapter 3 to look over what I left it at to start trying to work on it. Come to look at my ask box and seen this. WHY MUST YOU MAKE ME EMOTIONAL ?!? But also thank you from the bottom of my heart

I love writing for Mackenyu’s characters. There seriously isn’t enough love for them. I fully intend to work on creating and publishing fics here for Enishi, Naozumi, and I know previously someone asked me about possibly doing his character in House of the Owl. I’m incredibly touched to know there is someone so lovely (YOU) waiting to read them.

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead, Nonnie 🖤 much love

[braveclementine]

Chapter 6

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (However they are very few so those under the age of 18 can still read a majority of this book. However please keep note of the warnings).

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

𝔖𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔲𝔰𝔞𝔫𝔡ℑ apparated to dad's garden and he turned into a dog immediately. He ran around the garden a couple of times and then followed me through the house and out the front door. Trang was sitting on the front step.

"Hi!" I said brightly, smiling, clutching my broom in my hand.

Trang got up and turned around and my smile dropped. "What's wrong?" I asked immediately.

She wasn't crying, no. She looked, lost, confused, and hurt. She opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again and said, "Can we go inside for- for a moment?"

"Yeah, of course." I said, opening the front door back open. Sirius trotted back inside and I told him he could go out to the garden if he wanted to, but he laid down at our feet as we sat down on the couch.

I watched Trang hesitantly as she pulled two envelopes out of her pocket. "So. . . I told you mum and dad were going on vacation, right?"

"Yes. . ." I said slowly.

"And I said I was going to search their house?"

"Yes."

"Well. . . I found something." She said, clutching the envelopes.

"Are your parents. . . criminals?" I asked hesitantly.

"Only in my mind." She said and laughed bitterly. I wondered what she had found. "These were postmarked five years ago. For me. They never gave them to me." She handed me the envelopes. They were both opened. I flipped over one and it read: Mahoutokoro institute of magical studies. The other read Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.

"No." I whispered. With trembling fingers, I opened the Hogwarts one and opened up the folded parchment slips.

Dear Ms. Nyguen, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. We are aware that you may have also been accepted to Mahoutokoro Institute of Magical Studies and will need your owl by 31 July to know if you will be coming to Hogwarts or not. Yours Sincerely, Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress

"You're a. . . you're a. . ." I said, trying to find the words I was looking for and Trang burst into tears.

"I was a witch all along and mum and dad never told me!" Trang said. "All the things I did as a kid. . . sometimes I thought it was you. . . and you always reacted as though it was you, you know? The floating table? I thought. . . I thought maybe these letters were a joke but I was so angry when I read them. . . cause I thought maybe they were real. . . and all the vases in mum and dad's room exploded. . . and. . ."

She took off her glasses and wiped her eyes. "I dug further, went into the basement. You know I've never been allowed in the basement. Dad was a wizard. He went to Mahoutokoro Institute of Magical Studies. Mums also a witch. But she went to a school in Russia, I can't pronounce the name."

"You're a pureblood?" I asked in amazement.

"I guess so." Trang said, her eyes and face blotchy but she wasn't crying anymore. "Anyways, looking at the newspapers and things dad has locked in the basement, they believe Voldemort's back. They want to flee to Australia. When I told them before I left I wanted to stay the summers in America they were ecstatic. Now I know why."

I kept rereading the Hogwarts letter as though it really was a joke. "Did you- Did you confront them yet?"

Trang shook her head. "I'm afraid that if I tell them they'll whisk me off to Australia with them."

I bit my bottom lip.

"It's too late, isn't it?" Trang asked, her voice cracking. "It's too late for me to learn magic, isn't it?"

"No." I said fiercely. "You just need a wand, that's all."

"But- I won't know anything." Trang said softly. "And I can't practice, I'll be breaking the underage wizarding law."

I ignored her. "Come on. Sirius, you can either stay, go in the garden, or go back to 12 Grimmauld Place. It's completely up to you. I'm sure you'll stay here. I'm going to take Trang to Diagon Alley. We'll be less than an hour, I promise."

"Elizabeth. . ." Trang pretested weakly and I turned on her.

"Trang, I'm going to make sure you can defend yourself. You're my best friend and I'm going to teach you as much as I can in a short amount of time. Now come on."

I pushed her into the fireplace and she reluctantly took floo powder and disappeared.

Sirius nudged me with his nose. "I'll be careful." I promised, kissing his head. "Be back soon." I stepped into the fireplace and disappeared as well.

Trang was waiting in the Leaky Cauldron, looking at it through new eyes. I led the way to Ollivander's shop.

"This is where I get a wand?" Trang asked, stepping in.

I just nodded. Ollivander was nowhere to be seen but that didn't perturb me. Then, from somewhere in the bookshelves a soft mysterious voices said, "Ah Miss Nyguen. I wondered if you would ever show up."

Trang gave me a look and I shrugged and she took another step forward. "Er-"

Ollivander came out from behind the shelves. His electric blue eyes were wide, his white hair an afro around his head.

"Which arm is your wand arm?"

"Right."

"Ah yes, hold it out please."

I sat down in the chair. It creaked. I looked out the windows in interest, watching witches and wizards I didn't know walk by without a care in the world. None of them- or most of them for that matter- thought Voldemort was back.

"You seem preoccupied, Miss Kane." Ollivander said somewhere far away from the back of the shelves.

"I was just wondering how many people out there believe You-Know-Who was back." I murmured.

"Ah." Ollivander said, coming back with a wand box. "Yes, many of them are quite ignorant, aren't they?"

I gave a start and looked at him as he took the box cover off of the wand. "You believe-"

"Of course I do." Ollivander said impatiently, taking the wand out of the box and handing it to Trang, "9 inches, Vine Wood, Unicorn tail hair, not very flexible. Give it a wave."

Trang waved it and nothing happened but Ollivander smiled. "Perfect, first try. 8 Galleons."

I gave her the money and she paid. Meanwhile, Ollivander said, "When you become as old as I am, you know to trust Dumbledore's word. Besides, I always knew he'd rise again."

Trang put her wand back in the box and and we headed out the door. "So you're having trouble convincing people he's back?"

I nodded. "More difficult than you'd think." I said in disgust. "All because the Minister doesn't want to deal with it."

Trang made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat. "Can we stop in the pet shop real quick? I need more treats for Carter. He doesn't like the Muggle ones."

"Picky owl." I said lightly as we headed into the shop. She found the treats that she wanted and bought them. We went to the bookstore and bought a couple spell books for her and then we headed back home.

Sirius wasn't in the living room and when I looked out the window, I saw he was running circles in the yard, trying to catch a rabbit.

"Sirius." I scolded him. "Leave the poor rabbit alone."

He barked happily, wagging his tail as the rabbit dashed into the bushes. I grinned.

Trang and I stood in the kitchen while we practiced spells. We worked on first and second year stuff. It came easily to her because she was older and had the mental capacity that she wouldn't have had at eleven.

As it got dark though, she debated about whether she even wanted to go home or not.

"It's just. . . I don't know how to face them, knowing that they kept an entire world from me. . ." she said sadly. "The world I should've grown up in considering they were both wizards."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to confront them. Just make sure you keep your wand and remember your spells. The Ministry knows this is a magic house so come on in whenever you want and practice. But make sure not to do magic at your house or you can get in trouble. I don't know if your parents have their house under magical law or not." I hugged her. "This is probably the last time I'm going to see you- I'm not coming back tomorrow."

Trang's eyes filled with tears but she nodded determinedly. "I'll see you in three years then."

I hugged her as tightly as was possible and I knew from the pain in my shoulders that she was hugging back just as tightly. Sirius whined softly, a warning that we had to go.

"Be safe, okay?" I whispered, pulling away.

"You too." she said with a nod. We parted ways. My heart was ripping in my chest and I felt like I had just lost another friend.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

𝕴 𝖉𝖎𝖉𝖓'𝖙 𝖈𝖗𝖞 really. I just laid on my bed with my face in my pillow and tried not to cry. Some tears leaked over the edges and I didn't brush them away. I blamed it on the fact that I was just at that time of the month so I was naturally going to be more emotional.

Sirius, at least, was happy. He'd gotten out of the house and run around. I wasn't going to see Trang for three whole years.

She was my best friend- my only friend- I thought at some points in time. With Harry, Ron, and Hermione, I'd foreseen them, so I'd made friends with them. I'd forced a triangle to become a square and though we got along well, and usually were able to do it, the other three always felt a bit closer together than with me.

Of course, both Harry and Hermione had come out and fully said they didn't care that I'd only joined them as friends because I'd foreseen it. To them, we were true friends and I was glad that they felt that way.

But Trang. . . Trang I didn't have to see before we were friends. Hell, I didn't remember anything except dad before Trang. We'd been joined at the hip since I'd been living with dad. Losing her. . . but I wasn't really losing her, was I? Maybe it was the knowledge that three years is a long time. Maybe it was the knowledge that one of us could potentially die. Or maybe it was the shocking knowledge that she was a witch and neither of us had known it.

There was a knock at the door and for a fleeting moment, I hoped it was dad even though I knew it wasn't.

"Come in." I said.

It was Kingsley.

"Oh, hi." I said, getting up off the bed and blushing.

"Sirius said you were upset." Kingsley said in his slow, deep voice.

"I'm. . . I'm just. . ." I hesitated. "My best friend. . . well let's just say there were a lot of surprises today."

"Trang? Right?" Kingsley asked, closing the door behind him and sitting down properly in a chair.

"Yes, you met her at the bookstore." I said, sighing, slumping into a chair nearby. "Well, she goes to America every year and that doesn't bother me, ya know? Cause I'm at Hogwarts. Well, I told her, to keep her safe so Voldemort couldn't use her against me, to stay in America until everything was over. So I may not see her for a long time. And today, she showed me letters she found in her parents house showing that she's actually a pureblood wizard." I laughed bitterly. "Shock for both of us, considering we both thought she was a Muggle. According to other things she found in her parents basement, they believe Voldemort's back. They're making plans to flee to Australia."

"I'm sorry." Kingsley said. I loved his voice. It was simple yet conveyed the feelings you needed.

I shook my head, looking out the window, "It's what's for the best, I know that. . . it's just. . ." I chewed on my bottom lip, looking for the right words, "hard." I finished.

Kingsley leaned forward and put a calm hand on my shoulder. I smiled at him. "So what's with the Order?" I asked with a mischievous smile.

He chuckled. "Nice try."

I grinned as he stood up and was about to leave and then said, "Hey Kingsley? Do you. . . do you see me like a little girl the way Sirius and Dad do?"

Kingsley turned and looked at me thoughtfully and said, "I've always been protective of women. But no, I don't see you as a child. Rather, I believe you are a young woman becoming an adult. But you shouldn't be upset with Sirius and Remus. They really are just trying to protect you."

I nodded, my throat constricting and watched him leave the room, closing the door again, and leaving me in darkness. I should turn on the lights, I thought though I didn't get up to do it.

There was another knock on the door and it opened. I realized I was still sitting where I had been and got up. It was Severus and my heart lightened a bit.

"Hey Sev." I said with a smile.

He grinned. "I thought you might be wallowing in sorrow in here."

I glared at him as he shut the door. He flung his traveling cloak on the chair Kingsley had been occupying and then pulled me in for a kiss.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

𝖂𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖐𝖊𝖉 𝖔𝖓 cleaning for the next couple of days. We finished the drawing room and moved on to other sections of the house. There was the dining room first. I opened the top drawer of the dresser, took one look in it, screamed, and ran away from it.

Sirius and Mrs. Weasley hurried towards it and the other crowded around it. Ron quickly said he was going to go make a cup of tea and I followed. We both sat in the kitchen and drank tea. I hated spiders. I'd never hated spiders before. But I hated them now.

The spiders had been huge- as big as saucers. They reminded me of the spiders in the Forbbiden forest- urgh.

When Ron and I went back, Sirius was throwing china into the sack. I was a bit amused and mentioned to Sirius that Mundungus could probably get money for the dishes. Sirius shrugged and continued to throw the china in the sack. It made satisfying crackling noises when it broke. The picture frames met the same fate.

Throughout our cleaning, the doorbell kept ringing and we'd sneak out to try and listen to snatches of conversation. I was best at this because I had the house down flat and Mrs. Weasley was more busy about Harry and her own kids than me.

Severus came in multiple times and whenever no one was around, we'd slip into the empty and completed drawing room for a few moments. I had also seen Professor McGonagall who briefly chatted with me for a few moments- though not about Order things- and then went off to make a report to whoever was in the kitchen.

Professors Sprout and Flitwick were also in the order and those were the only teachers. I had seen Professor Sprout at one point but not Flitwick. I hadn't seen her since. I'd barely been able to talk to her either without choking up. She too, seemed grieved about Cedric.

Tonks stayed one day to help clean. We'd found a murderous ghoul in the larger bathroom upstairs. It kept swinging its chains around. George, Ginny, Hermione, and I all got hit by a chain upside the head and somehow ended up in the bathtub, all of on top of each other.

Sirius and Tonks managed to get it and then Sirius ushered us downstairs to the kitchen and gave us ice to put on our foreheads. George had a huge welt on his forehead and I hoped mine didn't look as bad. It shouldn't- George got hit first.

Against my wishes, Severus ended up coming that night and though I tried hiding my face from him, eventually he saw it.

"Stop looking at it" I muttered, putting my hand over the welt.

He pulled my hand away, pining it down to the bed. He brushed it with his thumb and I winced.

"What happened?" He asked.

"There was a ghoul we had to take care of in the bathroom." I muttered. I wanted to roll over onto the left side of my face but he had my arms pinned. "Let's just say it had some wicked chains."

He bent down and kissed me. "Maybe- you should- stop cleaning- the house." he murmured between kisses.

"Yes well." I said, losing my train of thought. "It's not cleaning at this point. Feels like a war we're fighting. The house seems to fight back too."

This didn't turn out to be more true the next day when Dad stayed to help us take care a grandfather clock that had developed a habit of shooting heavy bolts at passerby's. Ginny got hit in the forehead again. Ron got hit in the back and Harry got hit in the arm. They left huge welts wherever they hit. One hit my glasses and on instinct, I shut my eyes.

I stumbled backwards, still not opening my eyes and nearly fell down the stairs before Dad caught my arm. I pulled my glasses off- my eye still closed. I felt something sharp sticking in my cheek. Dad pulled it out and after a moment said I could open my eyes.

Dad repaired my broken glasses and then went to repair the grandfather clock, telling the rest of us to stay out of the room for the time being. When he emerged, he said that the clock was fixed and he had huge welts in the back of his leg and the side of his neck.

Severus came that night as well. Luckily, the only mark was the small cut that the glass from my glasses had made. I told him the story, amused. He wasn't amused at all. "Your eye could've been cut open." he muttered.

"You sound like a mum." I muttered back.

He rolled over on top of me, pressing his lips to my throat. "Take that back." he growled.

"Not- a- mum." I gasped, my heart beating like a butterfly.

There were other dangers of course. Mundungus saved Ron from purple robes that tried strangling him when Ron'd taken them out of the cupboard.

Or in a room that hadn't been opened in years where some sort of magical pests leapt on Fred's pants and started eating them and he kicked them off so he was standing in just his underwear. We let Sirius and Kingsley take care of that room. They'd both come out completely naked and Hermione and Ginny clapped their hands over their eyes. I grinned, looking at the ceiling. Fred and George had roared in laughter.

Tuesday was a full moon and I was glad Mundungus had gotten me the mandrake leaf a few days ago or else I would've had to wait a full month before I could've used one. I was going to try and become an Animagus and the first step was putting the mandrake leaf under my tongue. I'd have to worry about kissing Severus later.

On Wednesday while we were eating- Dad was out- Mrs. Weasley mentioned that she'd laid out Harry's clothes for him. This made everyone stop talking and look at him.

"How am I getting there?" Harry asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Arthur's taking you to work with him." She answered.

"You can wait in my office until it's time for the hearing." Mr. Weasley said.

Harry looked over at where Sirius was sitting but Mrs. Weasley said, "Professor Dumbledore doesn't think it's a good idea for Sirius to go with you, and I must say I-"

"- think he's quite right." Sirius said through clenched teeth.

Harry looked at me. "What about you?"

"I don't see any reason why I couldn't go." I said with a shrug. "Might even be a good idea for me to-"

"No." But this time Sirius was the one who said it. I looked at him. Neither Dad or Sirius had said anything about Severus' report yet.

"Why not?" I asked, not angry yet, but hopeful. Sirius pursed his lips and I frowned. "Alright, since there's no legitimate reason, I'll be going with you Harry."

"No you won't." Sirius said through gritted teeth and stabbed his potato moodily.

"Why not?" I asked for a second time, looking into his eyes. Sirius had was still clenched around the fork.

Mr. Weasley cleared his throat and said, "Sirius, I don't see any reason why she can't go..." but he drifted off as Mrs. Weasley glared at him.

I was extremely annoyed. "Someone ought to give me a good, legitimate reason for not going."

"It's not safe." Sirius said.

"Okay. . . and are you going to tell me why Harry can walk through the Ministry but I can't walk through the Ministry?" I asked and Sirius slammed his fork down on his plate and stormed out of the room. "It's not fair!" I shouted after him angrily.

I threw my fork down and left the room too. I was going to hunt Sirius down and make him tell me.

Sirius was in Buckbeak's room. I slammed the door behind me. "Give me some answers Sirius." I said through gritted teeth.

"It's not safe for you to go."

"Oh! But it would've been perfectly fine for you to go?"

"It's different, Eilís. I would've been disguised, you aren't."

"And why do I need to be disguised?"

Silence.

"That's what I thought." I said in disgust. "You won't give me an answer, even if it's about me. Is my life in danger? Don't you think I should know? Do I have a ten thousand Galleon reward on my head now? You know," I said much softer after some silence, "I should just ask Professor Snape."

And I turned and walked out the door, closing it behind me and headed off down the stairs back to my room.

I slammed the door angrily behind me and saw that Severus was already sitting on my bed. "Answers!" I snapped at him, yanking my hair down out of the ponytail.

"To what?" He asked, looking taken aback.

"I want to know why Sirius thinks it wouldn't be safe for me to go with Harry to his trial." I said, throwing the rubber band on the dresser.

"Probably because of my report the other day." He said, laying back down on the pillows.

"Which was?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Your father didn't tell you?" He sounded legitimately surprised.

"Obviously not if I'm asking you." I said heatedly, throwing off my clothes and putting on my pajamas.

"The Dark Lord is no longer after Harry." Severus said, standing up and walking over to where I was putting on my shirt. "At least, not his priority right now. He wants you more."

"Okay." I said and he furrowed his brow. "I already knew that, I overheard it when Mrs. Weasley left the door open I was just seeing how long it would take someone to tell me my life was in danger. But still, Harry's just as much of a target. And It's not like I'm going to be wandering by myself, I'll be with Mr. Weasley."

"Well you also forget that Sirius also isn't your dad." Severus said, slipping his hands onto my waist. His long hair tickled my cheek and I reached up and put a hand against his head. I loved his hair so much.

"Maybe dad won't be back by tomorrow!" I said brightly.

Severus chuckled. "Come to bed."

I followed him, turning off the light and climbed in next to him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I snuggled up next to him.

"I will warn you." he whispered against my lips, "I can't stay the whole night."

"Just wait for me to fall asleep." I whispered back and then pressed my lips to his, "and then you can leave."

I don't know when I fell asleep but I know he didn't leave until I did. I fell into happy dreams and didn't wake up until I had a nightmare. 

⬅️➡️

[michimonie]

Tigger's Frozen Dark Chocolate Orange Mousse

(Disney Recipes: From Animation to Inspiration)

Left Page

"The most wonderful thing about Tigger is that 'I'm the only one.' The same goes for this dish—it's one of a kind. Like Tigger himself, it's smart and somewhat boisterous, but this dessert won't 'bounce' you about as this crazy character might do. It provides that nice, warm, fuzzy feeling, especially when you share it with your friends, just as Tigger, Pooh, Christopher Robin, Owl, Piglet, Roo, and Kanga might have enjoyed it together. Why, this treat could even cheer up ol' Eeyore, and is synonymous with sharing the wealth and spreading the love."

"Rule three. Never bounce right after eatin', or you'll get tail cramps."

Right Page

HOW TO MAKE IT

4 Servings 1 1/2 Minutes Preparation Time

INGREDIENTS

6 ounces - bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine 6 eggs, separated 8 ounces - heavy cream, cold 2 tablespoons - sugar 1 tablespoon - vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon - salt 1 teaspoon - finely grated orange rind 1 tablespoon - orange liqueur

Optional Garnish

6 orange rind strips 4 ounces - heavy cream

Melt chocolate in a heavy pan or in a microwave, stirring every 20 seconds or so until smooth. If melting over hot water, bottom of bowl must not touch the water.

Remove from heat and add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition, with handheld mixer on high speed. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff; then refrigerate.

In another bowl, beat cream, sugar, vanilla, salt, and orange rind until stiff; then add liqueur.

Fold whipped cream and egg whites together gently. Hold 1/4 aside; fold chocolate into remaining egg/cream mixture. Layer chocolate and orange mousse into parfait glasses like tiger stripes; then place in freezer.

May be prepared several days in advance. Once frozen, wrap each glass with plastic wrap to prevent mousse from absorbing freezer odors. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving.

Whip cream until soft peaks form; then place a dollop on top of each mousse and garnish with a knot made from orange rind strips.

VARIATIONS

Make with cherry liqueur, replacing orange rind garnish with a brandied cherry.

MENU IDEAS

This dessert would be a wonderful ending to an extra special meal. Start things out with "Philoctetes' Onion Marmalade with Raisins." Follow with lamb chops and "Pocahontas's Savory Indian Corn Pudding" —then a short break before serving dessert.

WHAT CHILDREN CAN DO

Let kids whip the cream and be in charge of garnish knot-tying.

Disney Recipe Poll Round 23

Previous Poll

Recipe List

[syntax-stonefly]

shitty diagram of what i understand of the different Halloween vibes, go ahead and fill it in if you want idc

[sepublic]

TL;DR at the bottom... Even before the decision to include the Collector, I have to wonder if the writers always intended the backstory of a great war between the Titans and a group of celestial beings that descended from above, who smote each other and left only King behind as the survivor. The Season 1 finale alludes to other Titan corpses, with the Boiling Isles being the only fully intact one discovered; So there’s already that implicit question of What killed the Titans?

Likewise, there’s the angelic imagery surrounding Belos, that we also see introduced in S1. And while this could just be a reference to actual Christianity in-universe, I do recall speculating there having been a war between the Titans and divine beings from above during that time in response to this... Not to mention!

The Elsewhere and Elsewhen storyboards have Philip seeking a Song of Stars instead of the Collector, and we know there originally would’ve been three figures that cornered the Owl Beast in Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door’s storyboards. Sounds like...

I’ve speculated on these three as a motif since S1, with their first appearance being in Young Blood, Old Souls, where we first learned of the other Titans and their butchered state. Obviously, we must keep in mind that the crew changed the story after writing Eda’s Requiem, in response to the show’s shortening (this was told to them the week after Agony of a Witch aired, production takes a while), so K3oHD and EE’s storyboards may not mean much in regards to the pre-shortening plans.

But storyboards could’ve been written concurrently; They may have always intended an Angels vs Demons war between the Titans and visitors from the stars, that resulted in a mutual extinction. And the Collector and their backstory wasn’t totally made up in response to the shortening, either; Dana said they were a character concept the writers always wanted to explore.

So it could be that the shortening convinced the writers to make the Collector the face/representative of that extinct species, rather than a more conventional Archivist. And/or the Collectors would’ve remained purely posthumous characters in the backstory, the way Caleb and Evelyn are. The Collector was suggested as a kid of this celestial species to flesh them out, only to be truncated into just the trio; But with the shortening, the crew chose to actualize them as the lens through which we learn of their people’s genocide against the Titans, since they had so much fun with their concept.

Even before the show was shortened and the story changed, the writers might’ve always intended for the Titans to have been wiped out in a war against some celestial beings from space. They entertained the idea of a kid of that species, just as King is for the Titans; And when the shortening was announced in Summer 2020, Dana went F it and decided to elevate this cosmic child from the backstory and into the main story for our protagonists to actually deal with. Instead of an adult trio being this species’ representatives, the writers settled for the Collector.

Even if we didn’t get the Collector, that trio may have taken their place anyway. The background of their species’ genocide against the Titans would’ve remained; Philip’s plan would’ve been to use a leftover spell from that war, the Song of Stars, to enact a genocide upon witches as it was used for Titans (he may have mistaken the Collectors for literal angels whose mission he was finishing; Not unlike how he gets people to project divinity onto the Titan).

And since S1, he was always intended to be aware of and inspired by these celestial beings, who may have come in the form of a trio; Hence the Petrification statue, with the Owl Beast scroll as another hint. The curse is also red magic, which I compared to Belos’, and since he learned from the Collector...!

TL;DR I don’t think the Collector’s inclusion in the story changed it that much, since they’re just an extension of lore that was always planned, possibly filling a role originally intended for others of their kind anyhow; And it sounds as if Dana always considered the Collector, and thus might’ve gone through with them even if TOH hadn’t been shortened. Not that it really matters, because I find the Collector a legitimately compelling character in their own right, who in addition to their contributions to the themes, story, and other characters’ arcs, has justified their inclusion.

[historyhermann]

"Against the hair of your professions": Fictional librarians and hair buns [Part 1]

12 librarians with hair buns in Western animation (Top row, from left to right: unnamed librarian in Futurama, unnamed librarian in DC Super Hero Girls, Ms. Hatchet in Kim Possible, Rita Book in Timon & Pumbaa, unnamed librarian in Rugrats. Bottom row, from left to right: Mrs. L in Dexter's Laboratory, unnamed librarian in Totally Spies!, unnamed librarian in We Bare Bears, Eztli in Victor and Valentino, Francis Clara Censordoll in Moral Orel, unnamed librarian in Big City Greens, Arlene in Phineas and Ferb, and Censordoll again) The last one is Censordoll again because she is a prominent bun-wearing librarian

Often librarians are portrayed as quiet, bookish people, who shush those who are noisy, and act in a stereotypical manner. However, librarians come in many types and kinds, either with an MLIS/MLS or not, and those stereotypes can be disrupted when a librarian changes professions as it changes audience expectations. Even so, librarians aren't united on what the image of librarians should be changed into in order to counter the stereotypes. Through all of this, many librarians are portrayed with hair buns, part of the oft-stereotype. [1] Today, I'll explore that, determining why this is the case, its significance in librarian portrayals, and what it means overall. As Swallow said in Act I of William Shakespeare's classic comedy play, The Mary Wives of Windsor, "if you should fight, you go against the hair of your professions," meaning that you are going against the grain.

Originally posted on Pop Culture Library Review on March 21, 2023.

Fictional librarians are often shown with so-called "traditional" outfits, looks, and hairstyles, including hair buns, which are symbolic in research around stereotypes themselves. This has even cropped up in webcomics. This is in part because styling one's hair can be "highly politicized" and complicated, especially for people of color, who experience microaggressions when people want to "touch" their hair or question it entirely. Some have even argued that different hair styles can be empowering and resist stereotypes, even as a library can be a "very conservative" place to work, although this may not be as strict in university library environments. Hair can also be an opportunity to communicate change, while serving as an intricate part of the identity and responsibility of the profession itself, with different hair styles having the potential to dispel stereotypes. [2]

In Western animation, this is clear as librarians of color, like Clara Rhone in Welcome to the Wayne, and Mira in Mira, Royal Detective episode ("The Case of the Missing Library Book") don't wear hair buns. Neither does Ms. Herrera in a Archie's Weird Mysteries episode ("The Haunting of Riverdale"). However, the unnamed librarian in a We Bare Bears episode ("The Library") prominently wears a hair bun, and serves as the only librarian of color that I know of, in Western animation, that does so. This could be a function of her role in the library and set rules which may establish that she dresses to "impress" in a semi-formal outfit. So, it could be a consequence of that, as other librarians I've mentioned may work in environments which are more open with their rules around self-expression or care little about how people look.

When it comes to White female librarians in animation, it is a different story. Apart from Kaisa in Hilda, the unnamed librarian in a Steven Universe episode ("Buddy's Book"), the librarian in the first Zevo-3 episode, Mrs. Higgins in a Sofia the First episode ("The Princess Test"), and Amity Blight in The Owl House, who briefly wears her hair in a pony trail, which became a sensation among fans of the series, to give a few examples, many of the other librarians wear hair buns. [3] This includes the librarian characters, who are effectively one-episode-wonders or only appear very briefly, in episodes of Futurama, DC Super Hero Girls, Rugrats, Kim Possible, Timon & Pumbaa, Dexter's Laboratory, Totally Spies, Phineas & Ferb, and The Simpsons, to name a few shows.

Also, Francis Clara Censorsdoll in Moral Orel wears a hair bun. Even, the blue-glasses wearing librarian in The Flintstones episode "The Hit Songwriter" wears a hair bun. At times, it appears that librarians with hair buns are meant to symbolize social conservative and prudish people, like the librarian in an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head ("Cyber-Butt"), who faints when she sees a nude image on a computer screen. Although she doesn't wear a hair bun, what she symbolizes is similar to how some librarians are portrayed in Western animation.

Others have declared that the perception of librarians with hair buns or lace collars should be discarded, as librarians are highly active and high tech now. While someone can easily agree with this, it is harder to push away the image of a spinster librarian with a hair bun, with some wearing buns and braids while working in the library. There is the further point that many librarians may not have enough hair to put into a bun in the first place. At one point, librarians adopted the hair bun style at one time, giving life to what became the stereotype and cliche. However, nowadays many younger librarians have different hair styles, and some might even have better eyesight than anyone else as they don't need glasses! [4] Still, tropes like the"Prim and Proper Bun" remain, with those with this hairstyle said to be in charge or be respected. This is somewhat countered with the "Loony Librarian" trope, which is said to describe a librarian who's let "their profession mess with their mind a little."

Continued in part 2!

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

------------------

Notes

[1] Matthew Wood. "10 Most Awesome Librarians in Pop Culture," Comic Book Resources, Aug. 22, 2019; Stephen Walker, V. Lonnie Lawson. "The Librarian Stereotype and the Movies," MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship, 1, no. 1 (1993): 16-28; Dana Vinke. "Unconventional Librarians," Image of Libraries in Popular Culture, Fall 2001, accessed May 27, 2022; Sadie Trombetta. "11 Of The Coolest Librarians From Pop Culture," Bustle, Mar. 2, 2015. For additional resources, see Ashanti White's Not Your Ordinary Librarian: Debunking the Popular Perceptions of Librarians, Nicole Pagowsky's The Librarian Stereotype: Deconstructing Perceptions and Presentations of Information Work, to mention two books. There are librarians like Lani in Diner Dash and Myrna Bookbottom in Freaky Flyers who both embody librarian stereotypes, but there are others that buck these stereotypes.

[2] Raymond Pun and Jesus Lau, "Hair and Hairstyles as Metaphors for Librarians," IFLA WLIC 2018, pp. 1-5.

[3] Amity is beloved by fans since she is a somewhat prominent recurring character and she is a lesbian who is in a romantic relationship with the show's protagonist, Luz Noceda.

[4] Christine Sharbrough, "What Does a Librarian Do All Day?," BellaOnline, 2013; DarLynn Nemitz, "Male Librarians: Stereotypes and Role Models," Image of Librarians in Popular Culture, Fall 2001; Amy P., "Librarian Who Hadn't Updated Her Look In 8 Years Underwent An Extreme Head-To-Toe Makeover," LittleThings, May 12, 2022; "So, what does a librarian do all day?," Iowa State University University Library, Apr. 11, 2007; UNH Library, "The Top 10 Misconceptions about Libraries and Librarians," The Charger Bulletin, Nov. 14, 2012; David Levy, "Reel Librarians: Images and Stereotypes of Librarians and Libraries in film and literature," Proceedings of the 53rd Annual Conference of the Association of Jewish Libraries (Boston, MA – June 18-20, 2018), pp, 1-3; "How to Style Your Hair Into an Upside Down Bun," StepByStep, accessed May 27, 2022; "More Librarian Misconceptions," Bound: A Blog About Books & Libraries, Apr. 1, 2014; Glenn A. Hascall, "Larry & The Librarian," accessed May 27, 2022; Megan Halsband, "Let’s Talk Comics: Librarians," Headlines & Heroes, Library of Congress, Jul. 3, 2019; Jodi McFarland, "Saginaw Valley librarians ride Internet age forward," mlive, Jul. 7, 2008; Michelle Reilly, "Librarians," It's a Dog's Life, Jul. 10, 2008.

[justarandomgirly]

Finally someone is saying it!

More than any other Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Thor: Love and Thunder arrived with a certain level of queer expectation. Some fans hoped the second film from Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi would bring considerably more of what the previous film did well — not just in terms of wit and color, but also an expansion of Ragnarok’s rich subtext, a surprising amount of which can be read as queer. In Hollywood, blockbuster success is typically rewarded with creative freedom. Queer audiences could understandably infer that Ragnarok awarded Waititi and his collaborators a stack of chips that could be cashed in, at least partially, on the queerer story he says he wants.

The company has effectively made queerness a marketing line item, using endless teases about groundbreaking gay characters to promote its films, the same way an award-winning actor’s casting gives a product some added heft. At the same time, it’s never once showed interest in telling an explicitly queer story. Disney profits from fans who elevate what queerness can be found in the text, and the company arguably gets good press when its meager offerings — a brief peck on the cheek here, a quick mention of a girlfriend there — still gets its movies banned by autocratic regimes that are hostile to all queer content.

This is a disservice to queer people on both sides of Disney’s pop culture empire — its audience and its creators alike. The former group is left adrift when the company line rejects entirely understandable queer readings of its films, like Pixar’s Luca. The latter group can also feel trapped in a Sisyphean struggle. As Owl House creator Dana Terrace said last spring, creators working to widen the inclusivity of Disney’s offerings are naturally frustrated, knowing their efforts are effectively burnishing Disney’s reputation but that the company can still burn them at any time.

On some level, Disney’s approach to queerness is shrewd and utilitarian, not unlike its approach to other kinds of representation. The company has learned it can add newfound longevity to the standard stories that built its modern brand — superheroes, fairy tales, and animated stories of belonging and discovery — by exporting them to other marginalized groups. Turning Red, Raya and the Last Dragon, Ms. Marvel — the thrill of works like these is that they stand in opposition to a reactionary, polarized culture, reminding audiences that stories about characters from marginalized groups can be and are universal. But that cuts both ways, because as far as Disney’s concerned, everyone’s money is just as good for its bottom line.

With that in mind, courting identity politics in mainstream pop culture is a bit of a devil’s bargain. People who are marginalized want to be brought into the wider pop cultural conversation, and the corporate gatekeepers of that conversation are happy to facilitate, so long as it adds to their profits. Everyone will have different thoughts on whether that trade-off is worthwhile for them, either as consumers or creators. But one thing is clear: Disney’s track record implies that it believes its queer audience can be bought more cheaply than others.

That can only work for so long. The economic advantage to being coy about queerness is rapidly drying up. Even the cursory gestures Disney has been making more and more often over the past five years are snowballing into right-wing blowback and angry punditry. So it’s worth wondering: If Disney’s shallow queerbaiting is enough to rile up reactionaries, shouldn’t it also be enough to earn the ire of an audience that has every right to demand more than empty lip service?

[pancakehouse]

hiiii i’m asking for 5 please!!!! do your worst xx

lovely laura...i have given you my worst...i need to go lie down in a dark room now...

5. monsters are always hungry, darling

1981 and this October is colder than others. It’s a bone-chill that seeps through Remus’ ratty jumper, cracks his knuckles open and spills red over old wounds. It claws at his throat, his chest; takes big, swiping chunks out of skin, and asks: are you still here? is this all that’s left? 

The window in their kitchen is open. Already was, when Remus got back. Shouts carry up from the street; full of triumph and desperate, breathless relief. Celebrations and golden sparks exploding from raised wands. Streaks of owls in the breaking dawn, all carrying the news with them. 

He is dead! He is dead! Merlin gives thanks to The Boy Who … 

The taste of vomit is sour on Remus’ tongue. His stomach heaves, dry and wretched, but nothing else comes up. The moon is more than a week gone, but still it rakes at his skin, thrashes too close to the surface, always wanting more, more, so much more. What are monsters made for, if not hunger?

Is this all that’s left? he wonders. Where have you gone?

A glass-shattered ashtray on the ground. The charity shop sofa they bought together. A jacket - his jacket, worn leather and faded sleeves, on the hook by the door. His socks in the bottom drawer. His toothbrush on the bathroom counter. His indentation (oh. there you are.) on the left side of the bed. 

And Remus is there - he is here, on the floor. Blood under his nails, his teeth, his gums … is this all that’s left? Blood at his feet. Blood on his hands. His toothbrush on the counter - right there, next to the other one. 

A peek of orange spills through the window; the first light of morning. The first light of November, he supposes.

The knock on his door came hours ago now. Sharp knuckles against wood, in quick succession - rap rap rap. The rusty turn of a knob. Those last, precious seconds. 

There used to be a creak in the steps, when they first moved in. The ones leading up to the flat door. Several loose floorboards; old, rotting wood that groaned loudly under any sort of pressure. One step - creak - two, three - creak, creak - over and over, all the way up. 

Remus had wanted to keep them. Thought it gave the place character; an added quirk. And had said, maybe only half-jokingly: 

Plus, it might be nice to have a warning, y’know? I mean - like if someone’s on their way up to kill us, or something. 

(Or something.)

It was … well, it was Sirius who’d smirked at that. Raised a brow, huffed a laugh. Flicked his wand and set the floorboards right again. Replied, fondly:

This place is a shoebox, Moons. Don’t worry - we’ve still got plenty of quirks. And, anyway, if someone’s coming up here to kill us … well, they probably won’t be using the front door. 

Remus thinks of that, now, in the breaking hours of dawn. With shattered glass on the rug and clean laundry on the line. Two mugs in the sink. ( … so, this is it? you’re going to leave me here?) Sirius stuck under his nails, his teeth, his gums. Apples in the refrigerator. Celebrations outside and bile in his throat. 

Remus thinks of those creaky steps and loose floorboards. Those last, precious seconds. 

He thinks he really could have done with a warning.

[strawberryclumsy]

Care (Hunter x Reader)

(Y/N) is a 15 year old who comes from a troubled family. When their family cannot provide for them anymore, the Emperor as a family friend opens his arms for a new child into his Care…

-TRIGGER WARNING-

Mentions/Descriptions of abuse (Physical, Emotional, and Mental)

Gore

Depictions of neglect

Suicide/Self harm mentions/Thoughts

Note: Characters of the owl house are not mine nor are any of the photos, only the story is mine.

————————————————————————

Chapter 3: What is This?

Word count: 1183

A/N: Hello! Updating this book makes me happy :)) I saw the season 2b leaks and let me tell you, I am so excited. The only thing would be that this book might become entirely off track from canon. But that is fine! I hope you guys like this chapter, adding more character to the reader is fun to do! Have a good day/night!

————————————————————————

"How lovely, the bard track is a good track to study." Rowan says, I smile brighter before realizing the time of day. The forest that was lit by the bright sun was now dark except for the few balls of light that were created by Rowan and I. "Do you know the time by chance?" I ask as Rowan picks the book off the ground, closing it softly. "It's about 9:03" Rowan replies, I nod, "I should probably get going, when do you want to meet me next?" I ask as I sit up from the grass, "Depends on when Emperor Belos wants me to meet you, I'll send him a letter now asking, he will get the details to you eventually" Rowan explains, I nod and start to walk away, "Alright thank you! I'll see you whenever the next session is!" I wave and run out, "Bye!" Rowan says as she waves her hand. I walk out of the forest being cautious not knowing what could be in the shadows. Arriving back at the big door that I originally exited today. I walk back inside as I look around, guards tensing as I walk inside. Turning back the way I came this morning, I try to retrace my footsteps.

Showing up at the door with 'Golden Guard' plastered on it, I open the door where I find the room as empty as it was when I left earlier. Slipping my shoes off, I walk back over to the pallet on the ground. Picking the book off the ground, I close it and place it on the bed. Not knowing what to do, I look around the room until I spot more books on the bottom shelf. These books were bigger and were separated from the others by the shelf above it holding other knick knacks and random collectables. Crawling over to the shelf, I grab a book off the bottom shelf. I read the cover 'The Study of Wild Magic Volume 3', 'I wonder what wild magic is?' Opening the book, many notes fall out, 'maybe I should put this back, I don't think Hunter would want me to see this, ...... but, I'm curious' I set the notes aside being careful not to read them. The diagrams and words are interesting as I scan the pages, this'll be a good thing to use to pass the time.

—————————————————————————

As I flip the page, I hear turning of a knob. Quickly I grab the notes in which I set in the book, shutting the book, I gently set it on the shelf. I quickly crawl to the pallet on the ground and see Hunter with armor and a gold mask in his hands. His face is bruised and cut, I want to ask but I don't want to pry. Against my better judgement I ask, "Are you alright?", he flips his head to me, his face softens before, like the first time I met him, it tenses back up. Tears are obviously welled up in his eyes yet I just stare.

"I'm fine." Stern and strong is what he tried to project, although I just projected the need for help and aid as his voice, dry sounding, cracks. A single tear falls as he sets his mask on a hook while he walks to his dresser. Worry sets in my eyes as I think about what could've happened, 'he probably goes through this all the time' I think, but the more I think, I notice that the pain that he shows was no type of pain just caused by physical trauma, but emotional too. But as he walks to the bathroom, clothes in his hand, I decide to drop it. I am only just a temporary roommate, he doesn't think anything more of me. Making it harder to get him to open up. My back falls onto the pallet. As I close my eyes, I never noticed how tired I was, but as my tensed muscles soften, I am slowly knocked out.

—————————————

Waking up I look around. Seeing Hunter back at his desk, I think about what happened yesterday. Hunter was hurt, I learned magic, I learned about what wild magic was. Wait, Hunter was hurt! I sit up as I see Hunter scribbling on a random piece of paper, "Good morning" Hunter says in a still hoarse voice although it was definitely better than what he sounded like before. "Good morning" I reply back as I rub my eyes, looking at the window, I notice it's sunrise. "No new notes from Emperor Belos today. You're probably gonna be stuck with me" Hunter explains, "Stuck with you?" I ask as my head tilts gently to the side, Hunter still looking at his desk, says "I don't have anything to do today, I noticed you read one of the books?" He lifts his head and gestures toward the book on the bed that I had left earlier, "Oh, sorry I left that there." I say as I grab the book and bring it down to me, setting it next to my bag. "It's alright, I'd prefer you'd only have one book on my bed than 10 on my floor." Hunter says, I nod and sit on my knees.

"Sorry for last night." Hunter suddenly says as I lift my head, directly making eye contact with Hunter. "It's fine, I was just a little concerned. What happened if you don't mind me asking?" Hunter stands up as he walks over to his bed, my head and eye slowly following. "Just a run in with a few monsters, nothing other than that." I nod not wanting to pry anymore. He lays on his bed as he looks over to me, "Are you interested in joining the Emperors coven?", I shrug, "never even knew this whole coven thing existed before yesterday." His eyes widen as he sits up slowly, "your parents never even told you about covens?!" Hunter exclaims, I shake my head no as sit up more. "That's very interesting, do you have any idea why?" Hunter excitedly scoots closer to me, basically hanging off the edge. "Not really, I'm assuming it's because my Dad got into some 'bad magic' and went missing after he went somewhere."

He leaned back as he thought, "do you know what your dads name is?" He asked, "(Your dads name)" "oh.." "What, is that bad?" I ask, Hunters face dropped as I started to panic, "what? Did he do something?" Hunter just shook his head, "Not much, He was a wild witch." "Wild Witch?" "You don't even know what a wild witch is?!" Hunter asks, I shake my head no as he blinks. "A wild witch is a witch that refuses to join a coven, most of the time due to the opposition of the coven system." "Why would they oppose the coven system?" I ask, "Some say they are too restrictive, some just don't like the covens" He explains, "So you're saying my father went missing cause he was a wild witch?" I ask, "something like that."

"Interesting."