captaincouture

[captaincouture]

Wildflowers in the Wind

Chapter 1 sneak peek

As a child, Auguste had been mischievous, a fact his father had painstakingly tried to conceal from the court and the public, with only minor success at the latter. The court was too often a victim in his games to be unaware of his nature, and subsequently became wary of him in his young years. Boredom, of course, was the main cause. Everything changed one early morning during late spring in his twelfth year when tiny baby Laurent came screaming into the world.

Mother had been sickly Auguste's whole life, but more so in the months leading up to Laurent’s birth. An experienced older brother to be, Auguste hadn’t paid much mind to Hennike’s approaching ninth month, expecting this pregnancy to be like all the others, fruitless. So when he was summoned in the middle of the night by a servant to his mother’s rooms, he assumed her health had taken a turn for the worst and that he would be saying another tearful goodbye to her, just in case, like all the other times her health had failed.

But tonight his father was there too, and so something was clearly different. Mother was still as lifeless looking as she usually was this late in pregnancy, but the physicians were busying themselves checking between her legs instead of feeding her teas and soups. With weak hands Hennike beconned her baby boy to her bedside, and reached out to him as best she could. Auguste took her frail hands in his and squeezed them tight, “What is it Maman, what’s going on?”

With a steadier voice than should be possible, she responded, “The baby is coming now, Auguste, and I need you to promise me something.”

Auguste had promised his mother many things over the years. That he would stop sneaking away from his history tutors, that he wouldn’t steal councilman Herode’s fancy feather pen anymore, that he hadn’t been secretly dressing up in commoners clothing and pretending to be a cobbler selling shoe shine to the locals. Usually, Auguste’s promises weren’t worth much.

“What is it Maman?”

Hennike grits her teeth through a wave of sharp pain, and exhales in fractions. Auguste waits as patiently as a boy of just twelve can, shifting from foot to foot anxiously. One of the physicians with a funny cap places a wet cloth on her forehead.

“The baby is coming now Auguste, your baby brother, and I may not be here to help raise him-”

Aleron’s voice cuts her off sharply, “Don’t say that Hennike, you’re going to be just fine.”

Maman shoots him a look Auguste can’t decipher and continues.

“I may not be here to care for him like I cared for you, so I need you to be there for him in whatever ways he needs, do you understand?”

Auguste tries his best to keep his sniffling quiet, he can’t let Papa know he’s crying. “I guess.”

“No guessing Auguste, you have to be sure. This baby will not have his mother, so he must have his brother. You will love him, and care for him, and keep him safe, and hold him when he cries, and never let anyone hurt him.” Hennike pauses, breathes deeply as Aleron stands stiffly at her side, and Auguste crawls into the bed with her despite the physician's protests. “He’s coming early, so he will be small and sickly, and will need a lot of patience and love. You’ll do that for him, won’t you, Auguste?”

“Yes ma’am, I will.”

“Good boy, you’ve always had such a big heart, I don’t want you to hide it. Your love should be a privilege to those who receive it, but never a rarity. I love you my boy.”

Auguste chokes the words out, “I love you too Maman, it’s going to be okay.”

Hennike is silent after that, if you don’t count her cries as the physicians mess around between her bent legs where the sheets cover her down to the thighs. Auguste stays laying by his mothers side, holding her hands, and tries not to wince when she squeezes a little too tight.

After a single command from Aleron, which Auguste doesn’t quite hear over his pounding heartbeat, the physicians stop glancing worriedly at Hennike and focus on the baby coming out of her. Whether by chance or as a result, Auguste doesn’t know, but Mamans grip on his hands loosen, and eventually ceases completely as her eyes slip shut.

Auguste tries to shake her back awake, but to no avail. “Papa, something is wrong, Mamam isn’t waking up!”

Aleron’s stony face turns to his son, then his wife, away from the physicians work. He steps to the head of the bed and places a solid hand on Auguste’s shoulder, “Calm now boy, you are a prince.”

Auguste can’t see the moment little Laurent makes his way into the world, but he can surely hear him. Maman must have been wrong when she said he would be frail, since his lungs are nothing but. His screams must echo through the entire castle, waking every servant and courtier from their sleep, and Auguste has never been so afraid in his life.

The physicians pull the screaming bundle away from the bed and clean him off -Auguste hadn’t realized birth was so bloody- and the head physician holds him out to Aleron. At Aleron’s cool stare at the baby and lack of action, the physician with the funny hat gently takes him from the other man's hands and walks around the bed to place the bundle on Hennike’s chest.

The baby's cries soften at contact with his mother but do not cease. The physician with the funny hat takes Auguste’s hands and places them on his baby brother, he whispers just so Auguste can hear him, “He is your responsibility now.”

Aleron does not balk at a physician directing his son, so Auguste nods and stares at baby Laurent for the first time. He is so tiny, and so fragile, Auguste is afraid his new treasure won’t last the night.

But he does last the night, in Auguste’s arms, with Aleron standing quietly nearby. And by the time the bells ring out the morning's tenth hour, Maman opens her eyes and cries as she holds both her boys for the first time.

Auguste has never felt so full of love.

[captaincouture]

My post has 1 (one) like. Clearly the people are raving for my fic. I have no choice but to post a sneak peak. Clearly.

Finished the first chapter of my Auguste fanfic! Anyone want a preview of it?

[captaincouture]

Finished the first chapter of my Auguste fanfic! Anyone want a preview of it?

[captaincouture]

Currently trying to write my very first fic and getting frustrated because I’m stuck on certain scenes and can’t make up my mind on how I want things to play out.

Then realizing it’s literally fanfiction written under a username no one knows me by and it’s just for fun and I can make it as bad as I want and it won’t hurt a thing.

God bless fanfiction. God bless creativity. May we continue to bask in anonymity and enjoy our quiet loves.

[captaincouture]

Hey capri fandom, would anyone be interested in an Auguste-centric fic where he is alive during and post canon but the Regent found a way to get him whisked off to another continent and out of the way and Auguste has to journey back to Vere, meeting companions and making friends (enemies?) along the way. It would have some magic elements and probably a lot of food for thought about war, human nature, and the rich vs. the poor. Don’t forget allegory to real world current events that are hard to digest and so we do it through fiction🤗

I am a first time fic writer so I am nervous about starting this but the idea has been in my head for months and won’t leave me alone. Please tell me I have a potential audience somewhere.

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Ok Captive Prince fandom I’ve got some food for thought for ya.

Why did the regent take so long to start offing members of the royal family so he could be king?

We don’t know his actual age but we know he’s at least younger than Aleron and if I remember Damen’s description correctly, he is starting to grey.

We assume he’s wanted more power for at least most, if not all his life. So unless there was a trigger during Laurent’s youth that made him start actively planning his family’s demise, why wait so long?

There would have been a time before both Auguste and Laurent were born where only Aleron and Hennike would’ve been in his way, so why not poison Hennike earlier and orchestrate an assassination for Aleron?

It seems like Vere and Akielos were on somewhat stable terms before the alliance with Kempt fell apart, or at least both had enough incentives to not outright attack each other. So it makes me think that maybe the regent was not as much of a prominent or trusted figure in Veretian politics while Aleron was alive. Did Aleron know how terrible of a person he was and keep him at bay? Did the whole court know? Did Auguste? Is that part of the reason he was so protective of Laurent, because he knew about a very real danger very close to them?

So maybe the Regent needed the time between Aleron and Auguste’s deaths and Laurent’s coronation to solidify his position in the court as an influential leader because he didn’t have that power before. He had to wait until there was a “buffer time” to make his move because there was no smooth transition of power from Aleron or even Auguste’s court to it becoming his. And with Laurent too young to rule and too traumatized and not well respected by the court to be of any influence, he had to change the ways of the court to gain power.

Laurent and other characters mention multiple times that the regents court was very different from Alerons. I think because the regent is such a narcissist and unable to change, he had to change the ways and the culture of the court in order for them to accept him.

Even throughout the first book we see him fighting Laurent for supporters, though it’s widely agreed that Laurent is losing miserably, it’s still a battle the regent has to fight. We also know that most people who are loyal or sympathetic to Laurent are that way because of Auguste, or because they believe in passing the crown to the “rightful king”. It’s been 6 years since Aleron and Auguste’s death at this point, is that not enough to win the whole court over? Apparently not.

Especially with as cunning and convincing as we know the regent to be, it should have been easy for him to gain favor and power in court and let a tragic accident happen to Laurent and be done with it. He could’ve easily outmaneuvered Akielos and ruled two kingdoms (as was his end goal) later on after taking Vere.

As much as we all love to hate on the Veretian court and talk about how perverse and depraved they are, it seems like they were the reason the regent was put off of having power for so long. Laurent was certainly in no state to be opposing him as a freshly traumatized child. So even if they eventually turned a blind eye to sexual assault and underage abuse, they still held off the regent long enough for Laurent to get old enough to start fighting back, which ultimately made all the difference in giving him the time to go on his journey with Damen and get his kingdom back.

We see this loyalty to the “rightful heir” in Akielos too, with Akielons widely favoring Damen over Kastor. Despite bastardy being much less stigmatized in Akielos and Kastor being an accomplished and respected military leader, there are still many people who oppose Kastors rule even with Damen presumed dead.

So ya know, just a little shoutout to the courts and common people in Captive Prince, who made it that much harder for the wrong people to get their hands on power, so that the rightful heirs had the time and opportunity to fight for their thrones.

[captaincouture]

Yeah the Captive Prince trilogy has a million and one different tragedies in it, ranging from death of loved ones to explosive racial prejudices, but to me the biggest tragedy is that not everyone has read The Training of Erasmus because it wasn’t included in all printings of the first book.

Like so many readers only met Erasmus once he was already in Vere and subsequently considered him being sold to Torveld and going to Patras a happy ending for him. Like… the layers of symbolism and allegory to the idea that you can’t save everyone. It’s even more impactful considering Damens character arc has so much to do with learning about flaws in political systems and leadership and how it affects individuals like Erasmus.

Talk about a tragic story. Erasmus has this already doomed situation that screws with his view of himself and his life, yet has this tiny act of rebellion in his relationship with Kallias. And Kallias, who we only see from Erasmus’ POV, but who seems to at least somewhat understand how wrong their situation is and how much more they could’ve had in a different life. But then he shatters his relationship with Erasmus and any chance of ever seeing him again in order to protect Erasmus and give him a better life, knowing that Erasmus will probably never understand why he did it. Parallels to Damen and Laurent anyone?? Princes Gambit —> slaves gambit.

I could talk so much more about the those parallels between Damen/Laurent and Erasmus/Kallias, as well as Damens enslavement never being comparable to others because he never thought of himself as a slave if anyone is interested.

God there’s just so much tragedy and food for thought in the series, Pacat did such an incredible job on these books they will forever be some of my favorites.

I think Erasmus’ story hits a little harder because he never really gets that full circle arc like a main character would. We don’t really get to see him learning about himself as a person instead of an extension of someone else. Even if there’s that one scene where we see Torveld encourage him to care about his own well being/ not accept abuse done to him by people with more power than him. Being that Torveld is a prince and will always think of Erasmus as below him no matter how much he may or may not love/respect him, it definitely makes you appreciate Damens growth and understanding of his own position of power more.

I really wish Pacat could make an additional short story about Erasmus, maybe leaving Patras and seeing Kallias again at some point. I guess on some level that would take away from the impact of his story but I just really love his character and want to see more of him.

[captaincouture]

This is so cute and @rebeza did such a great job on it.

I gotta say tho, this is almost exactly how I imagine Lazar, just without the red hair. Like the facial expressions and everything it’s just exactly what was in my head.

Captive Prince tumblr, what do y’all think?

[captaincouture]

Ok so I’m sure someone at some point has mentioned this already, but I’ve been thinking about it so I have to share.

We’ve all talked about how much trauma Chuuya has and how many terrible things have happened to him in his life. Like, no memories of his childhood or where he came from, being held captive and medically experimented on, being responsible for the destruction of an entire city, hosting the literal god of destruction inside himself, questioning his own humanity, devoting himself to people and them dying horrible deaths, not to mention being betrayed by people he trusts. Bro has been through it.

So naturally a character who has all these experiences and all this terrible back story is bound to be pretty unhappy and bitter, right? Like this is a perfect recipe for someone who’s angry at everyone, has extreme trust issues, a general sense of pessimism about everything, and probably doesn’t care much about themselves or how life goes for them.

But here’s Chuuya, obsessively loyal and hardworking, connoisseur of expensive shit, fighting the urge to help grannies cross the street, CEO of dramatic entrances, cares about his subordinates as people, and always trying to prove himself worthy of being human in whatever way he knows.

Like, bro could be the poster child for nihilism, and instead he’s just out here doing his best, trying to be a good leader and a worthy executive.

Everybody give it up for Nakahara Chuuya, world’s most resilient tragedy.

(I could go on and on about his character. I’ll probably post at some point abut how Arahabaki is like the personification of nihilism, and how Chuuya’s stubbornness and resilience contrasts so much to most of the other ability users and the way their trauma effects their motivations.)

[captaincouture]

Hello friends, I am a small and new page all on my lonesome. So please accept this attempt to make friends😂

Gonna list some blogs I love and why in hopes you will all be my mutuals.

@saltroclus your art gives me so much joy, I’ve yet to find a depiction of Laurent that matches the one in my head better than yours. Your clothing design is genius too, especially for after Akielos and Vere have merged. I swear you never fail to make a masterpiece of anything you come up with. My heart will never recover from the two posts of yours with the Akielon and Veretian royal family. It’s so rare to see Hennike depicted at all, and everyone’s expressions and body language are just so perfect. Please consider being my friend so I can hype you up more!

@siredcrab I found your page first for bsd art, then I started scrolling and saw matchablossom and was like holy shit they love both the things I love, and then I kept scrolling and found capri too, and I was like HOLY SHIT THEY LOVE ALL THE THINGS I LOVE. I also originally thought ur name was meant to be “Sired Crab” because I am stupid and can’t read apparently. So I was like huh, not sure if this person means that they have, at some point, sired a crab, or that they themselves are, in fact, a sired crab. But hey I’m here for it, go crabby bro. Anyways hope that tidbit of awkwardness endears me to you, let’s be bros, crabby bro.

@dreamdropxoxo I’ve read almost every single one of your capri fics and had to sit there for several minutes after finishing just absorbing it. The best part is I constantly forget which authors I’ve read fics from before, which resulted in an endless loop of reading one of your fics, going to your page to find another, only to realize, oh wait I’ve read that before, I’ve read that too, WAIT I KNOW THIS AUTHOR, until I finally remembered your name. So, while I realize that could easily be taken as an insult, that I constantly forgot about your existence, I ask you instead to think of it as a compliment that I have had the experience of loving a fic of yours so much that I went to read all the rest of them so many times that my useless brain finally remembered your name, and be my friend😊

@mfingenius your master list of capri fics is one of my most visited posts. Your writing is simply superior and I cannot get enough of it. Your characterization is so accurate and some of the best in the fandom me thinks. The most back handed compliment I can give you is that my favorite thing about your writing is when I forget about it, so I can come back and read/experience it again. I promise to probably be a very inconsistent, but very supportive internet friend if you will have me.

@peaches-plums-please I cannot lie, I tilt my phone away from possible onlookers when scrolling your page in public. But it is this perseverance in the face of impending embarrassment that tells you how much I love your art. The scenes you draw are always the ones I never knew I needed to see, until I see your art and I wonder how I lived without it before. I am always here if you want to yell about how tumblr has deleted or banned so many of your posts. We can yell into the void together.

All the blogs I listed here I admire so much and I would really love to make some friends on this app. There are a lot of others I want to give a shout out to as well that I will probably gush about in another post. For now, to the 5 chosen ones, go forth in life and have joy and peace whether or not you accept my feeble attempt at friendship, I wish you all the best😊

[captaincouture]

For my first unhinged post, I shall share my unwanted opinion on the Kunikida x Katai ship. Cool vibes, pretty funny, leaves room for interesting backstory. But I gotta be honest with y’all. When Katai was first introduced my immediate assumption after seeing him and Kunikida interact was, “lol they act just like siblings.” And since then it’s been my opinion that they’re brothers, or maybe even fraternal twins. So uh, do with that what you will.