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libellule-ao3 · 5 months ago

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Today is Evelyne's birthday 🎂 ... And since I can't seem to stick to my own deadlines, the smutty OS that was supposed to celebrate it will be arriving in a few days.

In the meantime, here's a 900-word excerpt rated G, depicting Evelyne's melancholy as she spends her birthday alone, a day she's never really learned to celebrate.

(Pairing: Ominis x Evelyne-OFC ; Evinis)

The shears screech, biting into the thick, shiny stems of the climbing plant. Each stroke of the blade releases a smell of sap that perfumes the clammy air of the greenhouse, where ghostly green flashes are projected through the glass roof. Evelyne bends over, her figure bent by the weight of a weariness that seems bottomless.

Today is her birthday.

And nobody knows anything about it.

Not even her beloved Ominis.

He has been absent for several days, held up by an urgent mission from the Ministry that has taken him away from Marlborough.

When he told her he was leaving, Evelyne said nothing. She hadn't dared.

How could she?

She didn’t even know if the event was worth mentioning. After all, it wasn't her real birthday, just a date she'd been given.

October 30th.

She still remembered the day she became a naturalised British citizen in her fourth year at Hogwarts.

‘You need a date of birth for the papers,’ the Ministry employee told her.

He had let her choose, but she had remained silent, unable to work out which day might have such significance.

Perhaps the day Mirabel Garlick had broken her chains by dragging her out of Foley and Briar's cellar and into Hogwarts?

But alas! None of them could remember the exact date, so the young witch had chosen at random, like spinning a wheel. With a one in 365 chance that it was the real one.

She had never had a birthday before. A day to celebrate her coming into the world? It was a foreign notion, almost absurd.

Taken from her family by unscrupulous Muggles, she had spent her childhood under the yoke of their greed, her powers exploited and her body and mind abused and degraded. Every day was the same, a never-ending succession of orders and bullying, where a birthday was nothing more than an empty concept. No one had ever wished her a ‘happy birthday’, no one had ever thought of her as someone worthy of celebration. She never had a cake or wishes to blow out on the flame of a candle. All she could hope for was a mouthful of fresh bread with her broth. A luxury she tried not to dream of.

So today, how dare she feel this pang of regret? It almost makes her furious with herself. She knows Ominis would have bent over backwards if he'd known. He would have made this day special.

But she didn't tell him.

Because she doesn't want to disrupt his schedule...

Because she doesn't think she deserves such attention...

And yet, a little voice deep in her consciousness whispers just one desire: him, there, present. His warmth, his arms, that unshakeable tenderness to fill the silence of solitude.

This morning, Mirabel Garlick - her saviour, her mentor, almost a mother - had taken the trouble to send her a card. It was a simple but gentle gesture that warmed her heart, while at the same time shedding a harsh light on her isolation. After finishing her studies, Evelyne devoted her whole life to the project of creating a botanical garden, driven as much by passion as by the need to be financially independent as a woman who could not benefit from any family support. This had distanced her from Imelda, one of the few people she considered a friend, who was chasing her own dreams on a broom.

Her current freedom, which is the envy of many of her contemporaries, should be enough to satisfy her, she keeps telling herself. But every time she prunes a stem, every time the bitter smell of sap enters her nostrils, sadness returns. It seeps into her thoughts, making her clumsy, less precise. Her hands tremble slightly, and the witch struggles to stay focused on her work.

What was the point of having a birthday if no one even knew it existed?

What was the reason for hoping for something she never had?

She sighs. Maybe that’s all she can look forward to today: the constant hum of her surroundings, and the nagging frustration of wanting something she’ll never dare ask for.

Suddenly, a hissing noise disturbs the dull peace of the greenhouse. Evelyne stands still, her fingers clutching the stem she is about to cut, her eyes searching for the source of the noise. A long form undulates between the terracotta pots, the cut leaves, the tangled vines and the fallen earth. The oily sheen of its scales is revealed in the diffuse light, a deep, almost unreal black. Evelyne is no longer breathing. A primal fear petrifies her body.

That snake... It has nothing to do with those who rid her of pests, thanks to Ominis who negotiated a harmonious cohabitation, despite his reluctance to use the Parseltongue that reminded him of the darkness of his roots - even though this language bewitched Evelyne, awakening in her a visceral desire.

That snake there... It looks dangerous. Aggressive... Perhaps even venomous.

Her breath hitches, each inhalation tears at her lungs.

Don't make any sudden moves!

Do not flee!

The animal snakes along with treacherous slowness, its forked tongue tasting the damp air, until its eyes, like two garnets, lock on Evelyne. Its target, apparently!

And then... a voice, refined and commanding.

‘Stay calm and don't move, my dear.’

Her heart misses a beat.

Ominis?

A/N: I hope you'll forgive any possible grammar mistakes (ESL writer).

#hogwarts legacy #ominis gaunt #ominis gaunt fic #hogwarts legacy ominis #ominis x oc #Evelyne lavandin #evinis

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tmblrcolouredpaper · 1 year ago

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Solitaire - Chapter 1

overanalyzing/-interpreting and probably pointing out the obvious... just random notes and thoughts (ca. 2100 words in the form of bulletpoints)

counting got fucked up, imma fix it later, sorry if it's confusing to read -> should be fixed now

Solitaire, a fictional story with Tori (Victoria Spring) as homodiegetic narrator

Pride and Prejudice Quotes introduce us to the tone of Tori’s story

→ we know that Tori rather identifies with mr Darcy, so lets see what we find about Mr Darcy that might tell us something about Tori before we even get to know her:

Quote 1:

‘And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.’

‘And yours’, he replied with a smile, ‘is willfully to misunderstand them.’

→ we learn about Mr Darcy that he allegedly tends to hate everybody and that he assumes willful misunderstanding one sides of the other party

(PART 1) Quote 2:

Elizabeth Bennet: Do you dance, Mr Darcy?

Mr Darcy: Not if I can help it.

→ without having a specific pace as instance in mind, it definitely sounds like something Tori would word for word answer to a question as the one given

• Getting to know Tori, before she ‘officially’ introduces herself to the reader (p.3f)

she perceives the majority of people in school as almost dead, including herself (p.3)

→ creating the picture of a crowd that allegedly shares a tragic similarity

2. she observes her steady numbness opposed to the socially anticipated numbness as reaction to the contrast of a phase of event (here: Christmas) and the eventless phase after (p.3)

→ differentiating herself from the crowd

3. Becky says that Tori looks like she wants to kill herself (p.3) to what Tori responds with ‘It’s funny because it’s true’ (p.4); Tori describes Becky’s reaction as her looking some more without really looking (p.4)

→ Tori feels perceived by Becky, but not seen

4. Tori says she and Becky are laughing about something that isn't funny (p.4)

→ Tori’s inauthenticity

5. Becky realizes Tori’s apathy and moves away while Tori leans into her own arms and falls half asleep (p.4)

→ Becky not taking action but physically bringing some distance between Tori and her, while Tori stabilizes herself by her own strength, escaping into a state of being half asleep but also halfway remaining in reality

6. Tori’s focus on appearance and her insecurity about her own

→ changes in peoples’ appearance like in hair and makeup that make herself feel ‘inadequate’ to which she ‘deflates’ into a chair a.k.a. makes herself smaller and hides away (p.4)

Tori’s ‘official’ introduction to the reader (p.4f)

‘My name is Victoria Spring’

→ she starts off with her full name

2.she makes up a lot of stuff in her head

→ focus on reality in form of her interior world

3. likes to see, and blog, and is going to die someday

→ listing the obvious fact of dying right beside other mundane activities emphasizes the priority of that topic in her daily life

4. Rebecca Ellen as only real friend and therefore probably best friend (p.4); Tori categorizes her as a ‘popular girls’ due to being recognized and therefore popular because she has long purple hair (p.4); Tori differentiates between being known by name and known personally (p.4)

→ Tori categorizing people even her friends

→ Tori challenges the significance of being popular and its lack of guaranteeing depth and significance

→ Question: Since when are people popular in school when they have recognizable purple hair? In my experience teenagers with colored hair are the one’s being likely to be bullied by the popular ones 🙄

5. Evelyn Foley categorizes as ‘alternative’ due to her appearance (p.5)

6. Tori questions if Becky actually likes Evelyn and she believes people only pretend to like each other (p. 5)

→ does Tori think that, because she only pretends/ feels like she pretends?;

→ is Tori worried that people only pretend to like her (believes that she is so unlikable, people must pretend)?

7. Tori does not participate in Becky and Evelyn’s conversation and only reacts to them when she ‘deduces’ she’s supposed to (p.5); she feels ‘pressured’ to contribute something to the conversation (p.5); she expresses her disinterest in the current discussed topic (p.5) and believes she ruined the conversations, so she leaves

→ Tori doesn't connect naturally with people, even when she considers one of them her friends and rather feels pressured to react in certain way than feeling invited to share herself authentically

→ without Becky and Evelyn even saying anything nor showing any reaction regarding Tori impacting the conversation immensely negatively, Tori’s insecurity of not meeting expectations causes her to escape the situation right away

8. Tori says she sometimes hates people what must be bad for her mental health (p.5)

→ does she include herself in that statement like she did in the beginning (p.3)?

→ self-awareness

→ awareness of mental health (I’m just adding that, because when I was her age ‘mental health’ was not a term that was used too often yet nor truly cared about/ talked about, so in my reality it is somewhat remarkable that Tori observes herself and immediately evaluates whether her thoughts could be detrimental to her health, that she immediately makes that connection; I also wonder if that’s caused by being confronted with mental health due to Charlie being such a big part of her life)

9. Tori focuses on ‘social hierarchy’ in school (p.5)

→ categorizing her social environment

10. ‘shoot me in the face’ (p.5)

→ another self-detrimental joke/ phrase

→ radical way of thinking and agains with the worst outcome for herself in mind

11. Tori not feeling pretty in school uniform (p.6)

→ insecurity about her appearance

the plot commences or Tori in action

Tori sees and follows post-it (p.6)

→ she observes and takes action

2.other people don’t see post it; ‘…or they don’t care. I can relate to that.’ (p.6)

→ people oblivious; Tori differentiated from people

→ Tori can relate to the general sense of not caring, however in this case she does care contrary to her words; at least she cares enough to register the post-it and actively follow it

3. doing stuff that other people don't seem to care about makes Tori feel like she is doing something important (p.7); ‘mainly because no one else is doing it’ (p.7)

→ differentiating herself from others

→ paying attention to things that seemingly don't get attention (Is that an interior wish of hers as she feels like not truly being payed attention to?)

→ shows her trait of not leaving things (or people) alone by themself (Charlie)

→ she cares, she seeks out moments of significance

4. she’s rather paying attention to the game Solitaire than to the IT class (p.8)

→ solitaire = alone, isolated

→ again, paying attention to what others don't

→ literally involving with what’s alone, while being alone doing so; isolating herself from her surrounding by seeking out what’s isolate; bonding over isolation

→ she also evaluates that playing Solitaire does more for her intelligence than paying attention to the IT lesson (p.8) → being alone appears to be more beneficial to her

5. Michael enters the room and verbally registers the room first (p.8)

6. Tori thinks that he registers her only after he scanned the inanimate parts of the room (p.9)

7. Tori judges Michael’s appearance (p.9)

8. Michael ‘absorbs’ Tori’s face (p.9)

→ not just ‘looking’ or ‘seeing’, he literally takes her in from her perspective

9. ‘his eyes flare up’ + ‘I swear to Got they double in size’

→ most animated way Tori has described something yet

→ (I love the eye flaming up phrase so much!)

10. ‘leaps towards me like a pouncing lion’ (p.9)

→ comparison

→ wildness, strength

→ movement towards her (contrary to the last described encounter in which Becky, her allegedly best friend physically moves away from her)

11. ’ fiercely enough that I stumble backward in fear that he might crush me completely’ (p.9)

→ it is possible that Michael actually moves in such exaggerated manner, but it might also be such a drastic contrast to Tori that she uses such strong wordings to describe him due to not being used that people react so strongly to her

→ the unfamiliarity of Michaels demeanor overwhelms Tori

12. ‘he leans forward’; ‘face only centimeters away from mine’ (p.9)

→ Michael leans into Tori’s presence

13. Tori sees herself in Michael’s glasses

→ she sees herself first when she’s forced to look at him closely

14. ‘He grins violently’ (p.9)

→ I just love that sentence, okay. Michael just has such a strong presence, especially in a place like school that Tori keeps describing as ‘dull’ (p.6). So many contrasts that crystallize characteristics.

15. ‘’Victoria Spring’, he cries’ + big arms thrown in the air movement (p.9)

→ he celebrates that he found her

16. Tori stay quiet and ‘has a headache’ (p.9)

→ contrast to Michael’s reaction; her lack of reaction

→ overwhelm?, confusion?; hating people?

17. Tori finds her picture awful (p.10)

→ insecure about her appearance

18. ‘It’s like I don’t even have a face’ (p.10 )

→ lack of identity, significance?; hidden away

19. ‘Michael steps back a little’ but only to give her back her personal space (p.10)

→ he moves away, but remains as close as possible without irrupting Tori’s comfort unnecessarily

20. Michael’s ‘insane smile’ (p.10)

→ Tori describing/ judging his appearance (she’s so obsessed with his smile, haha)

21. ‘Everything lit up like it’s on fire’; ‘He notices me looking too’; ‘’It’s like it’s pulling you out, isn't it?’’ (p.11)

→ the foreshadowing, hehe

→ he notices her actions/ immersion/ interest and reacts to it by directly talking to her

22. ‘You are definitely Tori Spring, aren’t you’. ‘This should be a question, but he says it like he’s already known for a long time’ (p.12)

→ he does know her from when he showed her around at school last year; Tori doesn't know that they already met yet

→ without knowing, she intuitively interprets his words correctly; he knows she’s Victoria Spring, he recognizes her and has known about her for a long time

23. contrast of interest level regarding the solitaire case/ mystery (p.12)

Tori calling the day ‘pointless’ (p.13)

→ Tori lost interest I the post-it and blog the second Michael joined the moment; she already stated that she finds significant in moments no one but her is involved in and with Micheal now being another person paying attention to the post-it, Tori’s attention isn't the solely presence anymore ergo she looses interest and a feeling of significance

24. Tori feels deeply for Michael’s sudden sadness (p.13)

→ she can’t but care

25. Tori doesn't know what to do (p.13)

→ the post-it task lost significance due to Michael ruining her solidarity, but now Michael she is alone with him and the only one who is paying attention to him, therefore his sudden reaction forces her to go through a sudden shift as well, him bringing a sense of significance

→ Tori’s apathy and confusion collide with the rollercoaster of the situation

26. ‘You don’t say anything you mean’ (p.15)

→ Michael doesn't know Tori yet sees through her

27. Tori describes her laugh as a ‘pathetic sort of expulsion of air’ (p.15)

→ emphasis of her insecurity by choice of words connoting a neutral thing such as a chuckle or laugh

28. ‘Who are you, Victoria Spring?’ (p.15) - ‘I am nothing’ (p.15)

→ we just got an introduction by Tori beyond only her name and now she states she does not know how to answer that question beyond listing her name

→ insecurity, low self-worth

→ also, the fact that she thinks so deeply about how she could possibly answer that question by a stranger, just to realize how she does not feel like being anything/ anyone more worthy than ‘nothing’, instead of not caring and walking away, well, proves that she does care; she listens and thinks and doesn't find an answer that she evaluates as satisfying

29. she doesn't know at on point Michael hands her the post-it before he vanishes;

‘This is probably how it starts’

→ with a moment of significance (her own definition of significance in moments of seemingly being the only one paying attention and taking action)

→ with being seen and looked at and talked with (encounter with Michael)

→ by taking action as one’s own decision (following post-it)

→ by being recognizes (by Micheal)

→ by an unfamiliar encounter in an otherwise familiar and dull place

→ by being confronted with oneself (seeing herself in his glasses; being asked who she is)

Analepsis

Tori became form leader by getting volunteered ‘mostly because no one else wanted to do so’ (p.9f)

→ taking action when others don’t

2. Tori’s hair cut story (p.14f)

→ her inner tumult and its exterior display

#solitaire #tori spring #michael holden #overanalyzing #solitaire quotes #it's rather listing stuff than analyzing #the formatting fucked up my counting🤡#imma fix it later ig #counting should be fine now

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