#i cant believe the cat in the hat is an allegory for the dark star

[curtaincalling]

it won’t let me copy the symbol — but diamond, my muse reading a story to yours — cosmic au?

→ THE STAGE IS SET! (no longer accepting)

     “I know some good games we could play, said the Cat. I know some new tricks, said the Cat in the Hat.” 

     “Have you ever seen a cat in a hat?”

     Lux looks up from the book, furrowing her brow in thought. She sits next to him on this slab of space rock, while he lays on his back and rearranges the stars in his little corner of the universe. They’re far away from any planet, just the way Jhin likes it--- the only company being the countless objects that he’s hoarded over the eons. This colorful little book, its letters absolutely incomprehensible to Jhin, is one of them. 

     “I don’t think so,” Lux says. “Have you?”

     Jhin also takes a long moment to think, though his mask shows no such facial expression, only the blink of a bright singular eye.

     “There is that... infernal little creature that follows Lulu around,” he says. 

     “Aurelion Smol is not a cat.” 

     He’d argue that Aurelion Smol is, in fact, the closest thing the Cosmic Court has to a cat, but he only laughs, instead. Lux smiles and shakes her head.

     “Let me continue,” she says. “A lot of good tricks. I will show them to you. Your mother will not mind at all if I do.” 

     As Lux reads, Jhin dashes and twirls his fingers to move the stars across the canvas of space. The alignment has been bothering him for quite some time now. He was quite proud of them, once, and the Court even approved--- but now they seem to him like the work of a child. He flicks away the unappealing stars, and keeps the ones that shine the brightest. 

     “Look at me! Look at me now! said the Cat. With a cup and a cake on top of my hat--- are you listening, Jhin?”

     “I am,” he says. “This Cat is a delightful creature.”

     Lux chuckles, and tilts the book towards him so he can see the drawing. It’s a crude image, with only a handful of basic colors: black, white, blue, and red. The Cat in the Hat dances atop an assortment of objects, grinning in all his theatricality. 

     “I can hold up two books! I can hold up the fish! And a little toy ship! And some milk on a dish!”

     She’s an excellent storyteller. Lux’s voice has more life than his, heard and loved by many. The Court knows her well, the right hand of Queen Ashe and the twin constellation. She is their beacon, and Jhin is their shadowed artist. His voice is quiet and heard by few. 

     But he does not need the company of the Court to do what he loves. So Lux continues to read, and Jhin flicks some lackluster stars out of the picture. 

     No, not that one. Or that one... too much color, it’s all clashing, too bright... 

     How many times has he rearranged his cosmos? Surely he’s tried every configuration and exhausted every composition. Jhin absently flicks away more and more stars, finding himself more entertained by watching them fly into nothingness. Not this one. Not that one. It’s cluttering the canvas, get it all out of here... 

     “What would you do, if your mother asked you?” 

     Ah. Perfect. 

     “... Jhin?” 

     The silent chill of a dark universe.

     “... Jhin, where did the stars go?” 

     “Hmm?” 

     He glances up to Lux, and watches her bright eyes staring at the abyssal sky. And yet there’s no horror in her expression, only the wide-eyed sparkle of wonder and curiosity as she beholds a silent cosmos. With no light to reflect in her wide eyes, they seem darker than ever. 

     But then she blinks, and it’s gone. She’s frowning, now, puzzled and horrified. 

     “What did you do?” 

     Jhin is silent again, his mind repainting the look in her eyes. The admiration, the envy, the darkness.... 

     “Oh, the stars?” he asks, as though it had been something small and trivial he’d forgotten. “Don’t worry, they’re not gone---” 

     He waves his fingers across the sky, and all at once, the darkness is filled with the shards of light and life, twinkling back into existence. 

     “Just needed rearranging,” he says. “That’s all.”

     Lux relaxes as the stars come back into view, though he can feel the unease between them. Jhin sighs and plucks the book out of her hands. He idly flips through the pages.

     “Now, I’m interested as to what those little Thing creatures are...” 

     He can still see Lux looking up, fixated on the tapestry of stars. He’s seen that look before, when he’d been too careless with the Court’s planets or too cavalier if they didn’t survive. She had the shared concern and horror of the others, and yet...

     And yet... 

     “Lux.” 

     “Hmm?” She snaps back into focus. 

     “Tell me what this word says.” 

     He points to the combination of letters on a page. And he is grateful for his masked face and its lack of expression. For as Lux peers over and reads the page, she cannot see that Jhin is grinning.