#also yeah yeah i know the gravity book is one specific wizard but also. like. is anyone gonna fight me on how that one relates.

[essektheylyss]

Also I did forget that Calamity wrap up was tonight but I stopped at the campus bookstore on my way home and picked up a few books off the bargain shelf, and... man, really living up to my blog title with this combo

[rose-vanderan]

Percy and the small Hunter

Rating: G (General)

Characters: Percy Weasley and Harry Potter

Word Count: 2,653

Summary: Harry calls Percy into 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry's now dubbed "Sanctuary", because he needed his assistance regarding some news about a specific little girl nicknamed "Hunter."

Notes: This is a one-shot based on the world building fanfiction I published titled "You'll Be Safe" in which Harry Potter revamps 12 Grimmauld Place in an orphanage and safe place for werewolves to get help and access to safehouses and Wolfsbane potion.

This is posted on AO3 under the same name (”Percy and the small Hunter” by Curious_Feline)

A small audible pop was heard from behind a wooden fence line, concealing the red haired man from any muggles on this particular London residential street. Percy strode out from behind it, traveling down the sidewalk heading towards the now familiar, no longer concealed, “sanctuary” as Harry had dubbed it. He walked up the worn steps, opening the front door, ignoring the obnoxious doorbell that no one bothered removing. The interior of Grimmauld place was bustling with life. He could hear a few pairs of children, giggling and laughing, as he glanced around observing the two pairs of potential parents checking in with one of the assistants. He politely greeted them as he passed, heading upstairs keeping note of the small boy peering over the banister with a mischievous smile.

Percy nearly toppled himself backwards as he reached over and grabbed the small boy before he fell over the bannister as the child had tried to drop what looked like a bright orange and purple water balloon on one of the teenagers that occupied Grimmauld Place as she passed underneath. Percy took a moment to keep his grasp on his nerves, looking up at the ceiling and taking a deep breath, still holding the boy. He gently placed the boy back on the ground and then gave a quick lesson on safety, that the boy surprisingly seemed to listen to. Percy chalk that up as him simply being scared out of his wits, as he almost dropped and got a concussion. The boy had stretched out his arms and Percy crouched to accept the hug the boy wanted. He paused there for a few brief moments, waiting on the small boy to be the one to let go first. Percy knew that some of the children needed the extra affection and had no issue waiting the extra moments, as he knew that it meant more than people realize for them.

Percy watched as the boy let go, watching him turn around after one of the other kids called after him, and rushed off to join them. Percy placed his hands on his knees and raised himself back up to his full height before turning to head towards his destination. He reached a closed wooden door and raised his hand to briefly knock on it in a solid pattern of four. He listened closely for the signal from Harry inside before he entered, closing the door behind him. The room before him stood brightly lit by the window off on the far wall, adorned with multiple bookshelves, and a centered oak desk behind which was the man in question. Harry looked to be glancing over various documents, his dark unruly hair now growing longer pulled into a ponytail. Harry pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, the gravity causing them to slip down before he glanced up at Percy.

“You know you don’t have to knock, Percy. I knew you were coming over, you could’ve just walked in.” Harry said, leaning back in his chair, arms resting on the arms.

“I was just making sure you weren’t in the middle of something. Also I know about Ron bursting in here all the time.” Percy replied.

“Ah, yeah” Harry chuckled “He just slams the door open, announcing himself half the time if he remembers. Usually he just starts talking about whatever and getting a few sentences in before realizing I’m looking at him like he’s lost his head.”

Percy gave a small smile at the image before raising his hand in a dismissive wave. “Sorry, I guess it is just a habit. Well at least I didn’t scare you. Yet anyhow.”

“Yet.” Harry retorted, “Let me just finish this before I continue. They keep hounding me about how important and how dire it is for him to finish it in a timely manner.” Harry grinned, his voice indicating dripping sarcasm as he leaned forward, grabbing a hold of different papers on his desk to glance over. He made a noise indicating he had found what he was looking for after only a brief few moments before he made a quick signature, setting it on the growing stack of papers on the right side of his desk. Harry pushed back his chair and stood before he proceeded to start stretching, indicating how long he stayed hunched over his desk.

“You remember Logan?” Harry asks, glancing his gaze towards Percy, stretching his arm across his chest.

“One of the younger werewolves that got taken in?” Percy asked, more out of clarification that curiosity. He remembered how Logan was one of the first werewolf children that got taken into Grimmauld Place, something that caused an uproar in the wizarding community. Article after article got written regarding how “dangerous” that Potter boy was going to be around a child if he thinks a werewolf child should be allowed near others. The articles quickly stopped after the amount of people immediately jumping to his defense, especially Remus Lupin one of the awarded heroes following the end of the Second War. Harry stayed livid about the articles for a few months following that incident.

“Yes well you know the kid he always sticks around? The older kid with the scruffy blonde hair? Even though it’s clear that both of them seem to get on each other's bloody nerves?” Harry asked, with a hint of laughter in his voice.

Percy nodded, remember the child everyone had nicknamed Hunter, because they always seemed to sneak around Grimmauld Place being light as a feather on their feet. Another reason they adopted the nickname was because they enjoyed being perched on top of various furniture pieces around the house, taking to try to pop out to scare some of the adults as they passed. It worked a few times on Harry.

“She has relayed some information to me about some changes I will be making to her paperwork.” Harry said, taking in how quickly the information had crossed and processed through his mind.

“Oh, I’m happy for her.” Percy smiled but added, “Why did you feel the need to tell me privately? Surely you could’ve told me with the rest of the staff?”

Harry gave an awkward laugh before rubbing the back of his neck, not meeting Percy’s eye contact. Percy raised his eyebrow.

“Oh...uh…” Harry tried to say but eventually cleared his throat. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding....”

Percy understood. He startled Harry because he actually laughed. It was short but still caught him off guard.

“Harry, you’re fine. You want me to talk to her because I’d understand what she’d be going through to a degree and you just want her to be comfortable.” Percy helpfully filled in.

Harry let out a relieved sigh and tried to replace his awkward posture.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t want to….” Harry trailed off again but caught himself before the awkward silence ate him alive. “Well, she’s in the library if you could go and make her feel more comfortable.”

“Of course.” Percy said, and with that took his leave.

He walked out the room taking himself up another flight of stairs, landing on the third floor. He made his way down the hallway to the cracked oak near the end of the hall. He glanced inside and saw Hunter perched on the back of the couch, reading some thick hardback book. She glanced up upon hearing the door slowly creak open, and she slid her bookmark onto the page before plopping the book down onto the cushion of the couch. Logan was engrossing himself what looked like homework his rotated tutor had probably supplied him. Logan tapped the pencil on the coffee table he sat in front of, as he had placed himself on the floor, and didn’t appear to have bothered to acknowledge Percy.

“I didn’t think we’d have you for another week or so,” Hunter said, which caused Logan to look up but only briefly to notice Percy entered the room.

“Harry asked me to stop by,” Percy began before he moved himself closer to her. "It’s come to my attention that we should reintroduce ourselves.” Percy extended his hand out towards her, gesturing for a handshake, “Percival Ignatius Weasley and you are, my dear?”

Hunter’s smile grew wider with the passing second before she extended her hand to shake his, the excitement showing in her enthusiasm. “Paige!” She exclaimed happily, and she threw her grin towards Logan who looked up towards them.

“Oh great, now she’s going to go around introducing herself to everyone in her. I’m going to end up sick of the name before she’s even had it for a month.” Logan replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, before dogging the book Paige reached down and chucked towards him.

“Hey it’s alright.” Percy said going over and picked up the book from the floor, watching as Paige crossed her arms across her chest sticking her tongue out towards Logan who returned the same. Percy shook his head and smiled to himself. Paige stopped herself abruptly as she turned towards Percy, her head cocked to one side.

“Wait.” She said, almost a little too loudly, “Is this why Harry asked you to come here?”

Percy placed the book back onto the couch where she originally placed the book, although more carefully. He looked up at her from his slightly slouched position, before nodded and straightened himself.

“Are you like me?” She asked curiosity peaking, starting to lean forward clinging onto the back of the couch.

“Not exactly.” He said with a small chuckle.

Logan let out a laugh that actually startled Percy, almost in the same way that Percy startled Harry earlier. The pair of them both looked down at Logan at the same time, Percy with a confused expression while Paige looked annoyed. Logan had let out a harsh breathe before he settled into quieter giggles. He glanced up at both of them and grinned at Percy.

“What?” Logan asked, his eyebrow raised, his voice full of mischief “It makes a lot of sense now.” When Percy continued to look confused and Logan saw Paige roll her eyes, crossing her arms, he continued. “There’s no way your parents named you Percival Ignatius. It makes sense now knowing that you picked the name yourself”

“Ignore him!” Paige said defensively, watching as Percy shook his head. She didn’t notice that Percy was trying to repress his shaking laughter.

“I didn’t say it was a bad name!” Logan defended, tossing a crumpled up ball of paper at her that she easily dodge.

“Kids, kids, it’s alright.” Percy said, putting up both hands in a mock show to separate the two. “He’s not the first person to comment on my naming choice. My brothers got that honor. Besides my father actually wanted to use the name Percival but never got the opportunity.”

“Don’t you have like six siblings?” Logan asked, oblivious to the weight of the question.

“Five, now.” Percy corrected, and it stung a little at how common he said it was that it was starting to feel like habit to automatically correct others. He quickly caught himself before the silence became deafening so he changed the subject back. “Besides they had a long list of potential names and decided on others instead. I’m happy to have chosen a name my father liked and wanted.”

Logan took that answer and nodded, before returning to his papers lying on the table in front of him. Paige had climbed off the back edge of the sofa she had perched herself on, climbing down onto the couch cushion. She stood standing on the couch as she looked up at Percy.

“I happen to like the name, Percy.” She declared with a grin, placing her hands on her hips leaning around Percy to shoot a dirty look at Logan. Percy smiled down at her, his arms now crossed a motion he didn’t even realize he had done.

“Thank you, Paige.” He gave a nod to indicate politely for her to get off the couch, which she obeyed, before he sat down. She took the seat beside him, after he had made the gesture for her to join him. “I’m going to bring a close friend over tomorrow. She has more information for your specific situation than but we’ll both help you, along with Harry, however you need it.”

Percy didn’t see how quickly she moved, as she moved in a flash, but the next thing he knew she was hugging him. Her face buried into his traveling robes, he didn’t realize he was still wearing, as she started shaking softly as she cried. He gently rubbed her back, making soft calming noises, trying to reassure her that she’s safe and okay. She pulled back and rubbed her eyes, looking up at him, sniffling quietly.

“Thank you” She said softly, almost like a whisper that Percy struggled to hear. Percy smiled down at her and hugged her, wrapping his arms around her, giving a small kiss to the top of her head. He pulled back and rubbed the sides of her arms, watching as she beamed up at him. Realization dawned over her face and she shot up off the couch. Percy and Logan both looked startled at her abrupt movement, she rushed over to the door to the library before turning her head backward towards them both. “I’ll be back, I need to go thank Harry too!”

Percy smiled, watching her rush off out the door to go downstairs. Paige got out the door before she made a noise of surprise. The two left in the room, quickly realized Harry had been outside the door, listening as it sounded as though he almost toppled over as she rushed to hug him. Logan who had cleared his throat before glancing over at Percy, causing him to look over at the boy. He looked to be hesitant to say something and after a few moments he finally did.

“Thank you,” Logan said quietly, “...for helping Paige. She’s been scared to tell anyone.” Logan shifted uncomfortably, showing that he was unsure of how to approach this, not meeting Percy’s eyes. “I only want her to be happy and you’ve definitely helped her a lot.” Logan glanced back up at Percy, getting the courage to make eye contact, his face starting to flush.

Percy smiled, reaching over and placing a hand on his shoulder. “She’s lucky to have someone like you. You’ve helped her a lot too.” Percy told him.

Logan suppressed a smile that was threatening to spread across his face before he cleared his throat again and returned his attention back down to his papers. “You uh...You should probably go help Harry because she might not let go of him anytime soon.” Logan told him, picking up his pencil and started to tap it absentmindedly on the table.

Percy reached his hand over a gave him a small pat on his upper back, the small smile still showing on his face, probably part of the reason Logan refused to look back up, pink spreading over his cheeks as he gets flustered easily from affectionate conversations. Percy leaned back and raised himself from his seat and headed towards the door. Percy turned his head back towards Logan, trying to ignore the noises of children clambering up the stairs to jump on top of Harry, by the sounds of it.

“Let me know if you need anything, okay?” He called back towards Logan. Logan didn’t glance up, just choosing to raise his thumb in the air as a sign of acknowledgement, but Percy saw the smile that crept its way onto Logan’s face. Percy didn’t expect Grimmauld Place to mean as much as it did to him, but he’ll always be here to help out in any way he can.

[imagine-marvelously]

Below the Mask: Obvious Fracture

Pairing: OC x Loki

Word count: 2,236 (long, worth it)

Timeline: We are going to pretend everyone survives Infinity War in 2019 and Loki is brought back and all is good. This takes place in 2021, ish. May change. Oh, and like June. I need to be specific, you’ll see why. 

Summary: Loki insists on going to the same magic shop practically every day; the shop owner isn’t the fondest of his bizarre insistence and behavior. 

Quick Note: Hey, new blog here. Will write any and all marvel, but mostly Loki, tbh. 

The familiar jingle of the door forces Estella to stand up rapidly in order to greet her customer, especially because this visitor does not feel like a regular. Summer can throw off auras, but unlikely As she does so, however, she bumps her head on the counter. Never the one for being graceful, at least she can take pride in being named ‘Star’. 

Literally. 

“Hi, uh, welcome to Illusive Arts, can I help you with - ah,” one of the two cats that linger around the store jumps on her shoulder, patting their paw right where she it her head. Of course he just wants to help. “- anything?”

The stranger looks amused at the sight before him. A girl of just over 5’ pulling calico cat off her unbuttoned flannel while also fighting off the growing bump on her forehead. Though her thick, wavy, chestnut hair is covering it, he can see it already forming. Her across the forehead bangs become uneven looking as she places the cat on the ground, gravity working against them. 

“Jungo, go bother your sister or something,” Estella hisses, shoving the cat away. 

The cat meows loudly in response, bolting away to find his sister. 

As she turns to look forward again, she is surprised to see the stranger already at her little desk in which she is leaning against. The clothes are already a little out of place - not witchy like the enthusiasts; not formal like the real sorcerers and such that come in; not plain like the randoms that just wander in; the clothes are a combination of witchy and superhero-y: weird leather pants with a green v-neck and a skin of some form vest. He looks a tad familiar now that she is closer - dark, black, curly hair; a pale defined face; vibrant green - maybe blue? - eyes; tall; lean but muscular… and using a very poor masking spell. The shimmer around his face breaking every time a muscle moves. The spell is intended to keep people from just being confused enough to not be able to tell who he is. Estella smiles. 

It’s Loki. And while she could just say she knows who he is, she’d rather play along. He must be in time out if he is using such a spell. 

“So, may I help you?” Estella repeats, placing her right elbow onto the table to support her head with her right hand. 

“I think I am just browsing for today, but thank you. I will let you know,” Loki grins playfully. 

Oh yeah. Definitely him. The crack in the spell is beyond obvious when he grins. 

As he walks towards the bookshelves to the right of her, she shakes her head. People have said he is amazing at magic, a danger that should be watched out for. She is in a bit of disbelief. The man can’t even do a proper masking spell. 

After an hour of meandering, he leaves empty handed. 

The same thing happens for nearly three weeks, save Mondays: he comes in, he meanders through her shop, he leaves with nothing. 

While Estella shouldn’t inherently be bothered by this, something about his visits does bother her. Most regular visitors who leave empty handed look at different things all the time and come every few weeks, not every day. Something isn’t adding up. 

So the next night, a Friday, when the shop is technically supposed to be closed due to the full moon, Estella opens it just before he comes in. And once he wanders past the first layer of bookshelves, she begins to close her shop. 

Locked door, check. Closed blinds, check. Open sign off, check. Cats somewhere out of the way, possibly. She leans against the door, waiting just a few more minutes. 

About five minutes into wandering he always stops in front of the Nature Magic section, so she speeds off to there, not wanting to give away her abilities immediately. It’s in the back of all the rows, up all the stairs. For each row, there is a set of five stairs.

“Why this is new,” Loki muses, placing one of the many books down as Estella turns the corner. 

“Why do you keep coming into my shop?” She demands, stopping barely a foot from him. Maybe panting a little. 

“Because I like it.”

Estella crosses her arms. He’s lying. “No. That’s not true. Why do you come every day at the same time doing practically the same thing?”

“I enjoy routine.” Loki shrugs and turns to her. The masking is crackling more; he is losing his grip on it.

“Possibly. But why my shop?”

“My friend, uh, Dr. Strange suggested it to me.” He nods, satisfied with his answer. 

Estella narrows her brown eyes. Strange rarely comes in here - he has everything he needs at his fingertips and can access anything almost immediately. Something about Loki coming to her shop every single day is off, really off. 

“Lies. You are lying.” She steps closer.

“I am not!” He protests, crossing his arms. 

“Have you seen anything wonder woman related? Cause I have something very similar to her truth lasso or whatever it’s called and I will get it and I will use it on you.” Your threat is very real and you can conjure it in seconds. And it will work on the God of Lies.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Well horrible masking isn’t enough. If you are going to ever fit in, my dear Loki, you need to catch up on mortal pop culture as well,” Estella accuses, quickly conjuring a chair. 

Before Loki can even protest that he is Loki, he is stuck sitting on the chair, bound to it by some mystic, unseeable chain. Hands stuck together behind him by something sticky - magical tape possibly? - and unmoving. The masking drops entirely; any shimmer left over gone. Something not even he can slither out of, though he tries first by struggling against. The girl stares down at him. Why is he so desperate to constantly be in her store? Why her store? This bothers her to no end. 

Her right hand grabs an empty hex bag off the wall, tucking it away in the back pocket of her jeans. Hopefully she won’t need it. 

While Loki continues to try and squirm out of a very, very tough chain, Estella continues to look him over. Why her store? Why her store? Why her st-

“Oh,” Estella realizes. “You can feel auras, no?”

Loki stops squirming just to look at her. His piercing eyes that were green moments ago look more blue now. He’s angry, very angry. But he also feels very powerless. And tired… these chains must have some kind of spell as well. 

“Yes,” he spits. 

“So you know this is a place Dr. Strange occasionally visits. But when you first came here you felt the aura of a typical magic shop - one run by a lower level witch or something, but Dr. Strange is not one to shop local business. When you entered you saw and explored real, intensive magic. The outside aura didn’t match the inside aura. You kept coming back to try and figure out why… am I wrong?”

Estella squats down so that her face is level with his stomach. She glances up at him with a soft smile as he turns his head to glare down at her. 

“No, you are not wrong.”

“Well, Loki. Real masking and cloaking spells can do wonders. Most real witches, wizards, sorcerers, whatever you wish to call the, ignore my shop. The idea of entering is distasteful to them once they feel the energy of the shop. But you entered because a powerful sorcerer occasionally came here and you just had to know why.”

“Are you going to turn me in or whatever?” Loki asks, rolling his head back. “I’m assuming you can tell I ought to be watched.”

Estella stands up and pats his leg. “Gods no. You need help, clearly. Your masking is horrible, no offense and if you were to ever get in a fight with a real witch or warlock or whatever, you would lose. There is more than Asgardian spells you need to know if you are going to survive out here…”

He straightens back up. Though he tries to hide it, his face is covered in worry. “What do you mean by that?”

“Let’s just say I have a few eyes and ears out there and many are not the fondest of you. And you’ve seen what I can do, and by no means am I the most powerful. And I just chained you to a chair, unable to use magic.” Estella shrugs. “Tomorrow, same time as usual. Be here. We are going to be working on your masking skills. Human magic is likely the best way to go about it since you are on Earth, but I’ll look through some of my notes.”

With a double blink of her eyes Loki is released and the chair is gone. Without the support he stumbles, falling flat on his butt. Estella offers her hand. Loki takes it, surprised by her strength as she pulls him upright. He should be embarrassed; to be entirely honest, however, he is a bit turned on by her magical ability and her little bit of bondage. 

“But why help me?” Loki murmurs, eyes slitted. He isn’t sure if he can trust the girl.

In the low light her chapped lips look smooth, dark brown eyes nearly black. It is in the close proximity when he isn’t trying to get himself away that he finally inhales her scent - something he has since ignored. Estella smells heavily of singed and burned… everything. Wood, flowers, animals, clothes, hair, skin… Loki quickly assumes she works heavily with fire and electricity, two of the things that cause those smells. But blood too lingers on her. Blood mix with cedar and pine and various venoms… 

Estella swallows heavily when she realizes Loki is picking up on the various scents stuck on her. “I think we can help each other.” 

She makes direct eye contact with Loki. 

“I have a feeling I will quite enjoy working with you,” Loki smiles. 

He begins to walk away, moving past the much smaller girl, who is trying not to over think is words. 

When Loki walks into the common level, he does not expect to be greeted with anyone. Especially not Tony, Nick, and Maria sitting at the table straight ahead. All three have stern looks on their faces, eyes watching him walk off the elevator. 

“Sit, Reindeer Games,” Tony commands, gesturing to the empty chair at the head of the table. 

“What is this?” Loki growls, stomping over to sit at the table. 

“Well, you are on probation. You leave only with someone with you. However, you were in the library, according to a video feed and tracker feedback at 10:23 PM…” Fury begins. Maria holds the tablet up so Loki can watch. “But at 10:24 you vanished, in a flash of flight. Your tracker went haywire and we couldn’t find you anywhere.”

Loki closes his eyes. That blasted girl destroyed his illusion and bounced his tracker. While impressed, he may have just gotten himself in a temporary cell because some mortal decided to chain him up. “Witch,” he mumbles under his breath. 

“What was that?” Tony asks. “Witch? You mean like you used your own magic, which you are prohibited from doing, and got caught?” 

Loki opens his eyes and sits upright, slamming his hand on the table. “No, you idiot. Witch. As in I was using magic so I could leave this godforsaken prison without someone but some witch decided to chain me up and berate me with questions!” 

Maria and Nick glance to each other. Tony sits back, unsure how to respond. 

“What you are saying is there is someone out there who is stronger than you?” Maria confirms. 

Loki grits his teeth and turns his head to you. “There are several, according to her. And I’m a target, beyond the ones you guys think I have on me. The magic users of Earth aren’t fond of me, apparently.”

“Not the only ones. You are back down to not leaving the tower, period. A guard will be assigned. Do not test us further,” Nick announces. 

Loki pushes back from the table, storming off towards the elevator. He wanted a late snack and was served disappointment and frustration instead. Not like it mattered, he is often less hungry as of late. 

The God flings his door open, ready to strip himself of his clothes and go to bed, only to see a small, leather-bound book, three hex bags, a small bowl and a large black bag on his bed. He approaches it cautiously. After the warning that many other magic users are after him, much better than the girl, he has to admit such items are worrisome. Folded neatly on top of the book is a folded note on a torn out piece of notebook paper. He snatches it, scared someone might be watching. Loki still opens it, reading it slowly. 

“Thought this may be helpful. Page 20-27, read then do. See you tomorrow night.”

Though the God has never seen the girl’s handwriting, he knows this had to be the witch’s. 

With a big grin, he dives right in. 

A/N: Let me know if you enjoyed it, if I made made mistakes (probably did, reading my own writing makes me overlook things), or any other feedback.

[pinkpuffballdude]

1, 5, 10, 15, 17!

1. if someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to?(copy pasted from previous ask) WELL I think they’d have to start with Most of the Discworld books (Small Gods, Night Watch, Thud, Tiffiny Aching, and so on. The wizard books, and the wizzard books. those ones), cause that’s where a good portion of my childhood and morality came from. At least some of the Sherlock Holmes stories (the ACD ones) cause that’s like, Peak relationship right there (platonic? romantic? who knows or cares either way they’re Devoted) AND they’re just. soft. For shows it’d be the og Star Trek series (except the one ep with the fucking blob energy monster that for SOME REASON both HAS A FUCKING GENDER and is FEMALE i just. gah.) cause that’s. The Good Shit (except for that one ep), and also Over the Garden Wall just cause that’s one of my favorite shows. probably Gravity Falls as well? though that’s not as critical. The Princess Bride should be here. I should probably make a playlist for music BUT TMBG’s Factory Showroom and I Like Fun (for childhood and modern faves) also specifically the Statue Got Me High, that was my favorite song when I was like, eight, which says a lot about me in particular. I think this is long enough now.

5. do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do?Oh wow, this is a really cool question. hm. I mostly identify by the things I enjoy? so yeah I think ‘human doing’ is accurate. that’s such a cool phrase imma start using that

10. do you have a creed?not in so many words, but like, yes? if I HAD to put it in words it’d be like. do no harm and make much joy or smth. just. make yourself and the people around you happy, while also trying your damnedest to not hurt anyone. as long as you’ve got that down you’re doing p good. MORALITY 

15. five most influential books over your lifetime. (copy pasted from previous answer) hoooo, uh, I think, Small Gods, definitely. On The Shoulder’s Of Titans, for being the first time I cried from happiness. Kiln People, for being one of the Three (3) books I read on loop for a couple years there, and being the… most? of the three? if nothing else it gave me a base point for why/how you’d have a universal income. The Return of Sherlock Holmes for being my first Sherlock Holmes book (a bad one to start with but w/e). And Good Omens, I think. For just. Being that good.

17. would you say your tumblr is a fair representation of the “real you”?I don’t think that can be true, just cause of how this works. there’s a lot of things I think that I want to put on here (ask me about my weird ass gym teacher, I’ve been meaning to tell that story for a week and a half now) that I just. forget to, and there’s a lot of stuff I do irl that doesn’t come through, and there’s a lot of stuff I say on here because I can’t/won’t say it irl. like as a general personality kinda thing, yeah, probably, but. in specific? I dunno. I don’t think it can. not to say that this is like, fake me or anything, or that I haven’t made friends here cause that would be lying, but in the same way that there’s like School me and Home me and Street me there’s and Internet me that’s like, just a little different from all the other mes. so maybe it is a fair representation? I really don’t know! anyway

send me a number!

[adapted-batteries]

Fairies Gone Rogue

Fandoms: The Librarians, Dresden Files

Rating: Teen, mostly sfw

Relationship: Jassekiel

Word Count: 6981

A continuation of the Land Pirates AU. The LiTs have a new case in Chicago, but they aren’t the only ones trying to figure out what’s behind the random accidents.

Also posted on my Ao3.

-----

The clippings book fluttered its pages incessantly, trying to alert the team that a new case had arisen. There were people in the main room. Their willfully ignoring the book was the problem. Rather than waste time when they weren't going to listen, the clippings book settled and reached out into the Annex, locating the trio currently very...occupied...behind one of the bookcases.

It knew what they were doing, of course. The clippings book knew everything by being a communication device for the Library. It knew that humans did this from time to time, and the act meant (generally) that the people involved were emotionally bonded. For the team to work well, it was important...but not nearly important to do so at the frequency the Library had been witnessing, which any number larger than one per relationship within a couple months was more than Library could stand, considering they did not live here. The LiTs were very much above that limit, and rightly so, the Library was annoyed. If the Librarian and Guardian were here more often, they wouldn't be so frisky. Such was the sacrifice the Library had to endure to save the world from Dulaque and whatever else might go wrong in the meantime.

Since pages alone wouldn't work, the clippings book sifted through the nearby shelves in search of the heaviest book that wasn't in a delicate state. It then relocated that book physically to the floor near the trio at a much faster speed than it would've achieved by gravity alone, producing the desired boom. If the clippings book could smile, it would at the shock and startled faces on the LiTs. Satisfied it had their attention now, the clippings book went back to fluttering on its stand.

“That wasn't very nice,” Cassandra mumbled, looking around to see if any other books were going to bombard them while she straightened her blouse.

“Sounds like a new case,” Stone grumbled. He glanced in the direction of the still fluttering pages as he smoothed his hair back into a less wild state.

Ezekiel didn't bother with fixing his appearance, as he didn't intend to stop what they had been doing. “It can wait a little while longer.”

Cassandra seemed torn between siding with Ezekiel or the clippings book. “I think the Library wants us to look, considering it did throw a book at us.”

“All it did was stop our fun,” Ezekiel replied to Cassandra, then tilted his head up to the Annex in general. “Not cool, mate.”

“It’s not like we haven't done this already,” Stone started, getting increasingly more unsettled. “Though if the Library knew where to throw the book, that means it was watchin’...which means it probably watched all those other times…”

“It’s not recent news the Library keeps tabs on what goes on inside it,” Ezekiel retorted.

“Let's go look at the case,” Cassandra butted in, trying to get Stone off his train of thought so he wouldn't be freaked out the rest of the day, and hopefully keeping Ezekiel from being grumpy until they could finish what they had started. “We haven't had one for a few days, it'll be fun.”

The boys reluctantly followed her to the desk where the clippings book was still impatiently fluttering pages, settling when they finally neared. They read the various newspaper clippings silently, perplexed with the case.

“Various accidents in Chicago doesn’t seem very magical to me,” Ezekiel said, not trying very hard to hide his disinterest.

Stone seemed a little more intrigued. “That’s what you said last time about all the clocks in that town in North Carolina skipping time, when it turned out the town itself was doing the time skipping.”

Cassandra gave Ezekiel a rather annoyed look. “You do get that things in the clippings book are there because it’s magic somehow, right?”

“I know,” Ezekiel said with a sigh, “but it’s nothing dire, it can wait…” he tried to lean towards Stone, but got shoved away by said cowboy.

“This is our job, Jones, we can’t just do it only when we want,” Stone said. “Besides, I think the Library was trying to send us a message with that book.”

“What, that it doesn’t want us to be happy?” Ezekiel said, most of that sentence directed up towards the ceiling. He waited, but the Library was not going to satisfy him with responding.

“Well, we aren’t really starved for...it...we did just do it a couple days ago in that reading room,” Stone added.

“You can say ‘sex’ Stone, we’ve already been over this,” Ezekiel tutted. “And if that’s the case, why didn’t it stop us then? Or Last week?”

“Maybe it was how much we were, not that we were,” Stone said, face tinged red with realization.

Ezekiel didn’t care for rational and reasonable opinions the Library had about that. “I think the Library is just jealous it can’t love like we can.”

Stone blinked at Ezekiel a few times in confusion. “....What.”

While they argued, Cassandra had been rereading the clippings. “Hey, are you two done yet? Because I think I have a lead already.” The boys focused and looked to where Cassandra was pointing. “In most of these, the people mentioned seeing a small flash of silver light sometime before the accident occurred.”

“You think someone might’ve been casting spells on them?” Stone suggested.

“More than likely,” Cassandra said. She pointed to another clippings. “This one just happened today, that would be the best one to start at.”

“Truck carrying paints explodes in a neighborhood, coating everything in unicorn vomit. I don’t envy whoever’s cleaning that up,” Ezekiel said.

“There haven’t been any injuries, at least nothing above minor ones. Even that truck driver came out only covered in blue paint,” Stone pointed out.

“That is weird,” Cassandra said. “I don’t know of any spell that causes bad luck but with protection from serious injuries. Too bad Jenkins had to go visit Nessie, he would know what spell this was.”

“Guess it’s time for some investigating,” Stone said. The group looked at each other in agreement, then Ezekiel went about setting the door to Chicago.

The scene of the paint explosion was just as weirdly awe-inducing as it sounded. All colors one might see on a house exterior, along with brighter primary and secondary colors, splattered everything within thirty or so feet. The road and the cars parked on either side of it got most of the paint, but the closest houses also got impromptu paint jobs, complete with paint free spots in the shapes of the cars in front of them. Cassandra was thankful the breeze was behind them because the colors all around were enough to make her head hurt.

The street was not void of people either. Most stayed outside the paint mess, but easily spotted shoe prints occasionally entered and left homes. The carcass of the truck trailer, exploded from within, still sat in the epicenter, the sides and top metal walls peeled back somehow instead of breaking completely. A road work crew at the other end of the street looked like they were figuring out how to best clean the mess, but hadn't started yet.

“So, what should we look for?” Ezekiel asked.

“Any sigils or runes, magical objects, well, I don’t really know what to look for,” Cassandra replied.

Just then, a silver light the size of a basketball zoomed past them, zipping into an alleyway two buildings behind them. Stone pointed in that direction. “Does that count?”

“That definitely counts,” Ezekiel answered for her, starting down the street after it. Stone and Cassandra followed him half a second later. Like the professionals they were, they each stuck a head around the edge of the building, specifically in the order of Ezekiel on bottom, Cassandra in the middle, and Stone on top.

A man in a black duster knelt in front of a chalk circle, waving his hands while the silver light zipped around, stuck inside an invisible forcefield it seemed. He was saying something, but it was too low to hear.

Stone pulled the two below him back around the edge of the building. “That has to be the wizard causing the accidents,” he whispered.

“Okay, so what are we going to do?” Ezekiel asked, arms folded in front of him. “Just walk up to him and be like ‘excuse me, but can you please stop doing magic?’ Because that will totally work.”

“We have to subdue him. If he gets away now, he may cause another accident somewhere else,” Cassandra said. She looked to Stone. “You could handle him...right?”

“Theoretically, yeah, but I have no clue what magic he’s capable of,” Stone said with a shrug. “We can’t just charge at him.”

“No...but Cassandra and I could distract him, then you give him a good knock to the head,” Ezekiel said.

“Alright. Give me a couple minutes to get around the block to the other end of the alley, then do whatever distracting you want,” Stone decided. He gave each of them a tender look. “Please be careful, okay?”

“We’ll be fine, mate, it’s you who needs to be careful,” Ezekiel added, playfully ruffling Stone’s hair, but there was concern in his eyes. “You were the one laid up with a broken leg two weeks ago.”

Stone took Ezekiel’s hand out of his hair and held it with both hands. “I told ya, I’m fine, Jenkins cleared me after healin’ me all the way. I’ll watch myself.” He let go and started walking, turning sideways. “Two minutes, okay?” They nodded in acknowledgement, and once Stone disappeared around the corner, they commenced to crafting their spectacular plan.

Like the professional thieves they were, Cassandra and Ezekiel strode up the alleyway like they owned it. “Oi, mate, what are you doing there?” Ezekiel said once they’d gotten within ten feet.

The man startled, looking at them more confused than spooked. He scuffed the circle on the ground, freeing the silver light (which definitely looked like a little person with wings wearing garbage for armor). Both Ezekiel and Cassandra got distracted by it, which the man took advantage of.

“There’s nothing going on here, whoever you are. You can just go ahead and walk back the way you came,” the man started, picking up a staff that had been laying on the ground out of their sight.

“You’ve been making quite a mess,” Cassandra said, trying to ignore the man now standing at his full almost seven feet, with his equally tall staff carved with runes slightly glowing. She also kept her eyes from darting behind the man, where Stone had started creeping into the alley.

“That truck out there was nothing. Chicago’s seen a lot worse, trust me,” the man said, and then realized how he sounded. “Hold on, I didn’t mean-” He didn’t get a chance to clarify as Stone took him down, football defensive lineman style.

Even though Stone was a foot shorter than the man, he had enough muscle to turn the wizard into a rug for the alleyway, complete with a not great sounding “oof” from the man. The man had surprisingly quick reflexes despite the tackle, but instead of smacking Stone with his staff, Stone caught it and used the momentum to pull it out of his hands, then clocked him with it, relieving the man of consciousness temporarily.

Stone stood next to him, looking a bit like a hobbit with the staff. “Good thing Baird wanted to train with bo staffs last month.”

Ezekiel started searching the man for anything dangerous. While there were things he figured were probably magical, he didn’t find anything warranting taking. “So, what are we going to do with him?” he asked, standing up.

“We could take him back to the Library,” Cassandra suggested.

“Why would we want to do that? It doesn’t sound very smart to take a wizard to the largest store of magical items,” Stone countered.

“If we keep him away from the artifacts, we should be okay,” Cassandra said, looking at the staff in Stone’s hand. “He might not do magic without this staff, look at all the runes in it. And he didn’t cast anything at us either.”

“If I restrain him, he won’t be moving much,” Ezekiel added. He glanced down at the body. “We should hurry, before he wakes up and laughs at us still planning.”

Stone didn’t look thrilled, but handed Cassandra the staff and started lifting the man by the armpits. “You better quit runnin’ your mouth then and grab his feet.”

Ezekiel tried to look saucy while he grabbed jean clad ankles. “Why don’t you make me?”

“Boys, now is not the time,” Cassandra barked, scowling particularly at Ezekiel. “Let’s go, the door isn’t that far away from here.”

Surprisingly, the LiTs managed to move an unconscious tree of a man in broad daylight without problem. They decided to tie him up in a chair in the sparring room, and waited until he woke up.

---

Harry had not been having a great couple of days. Something was wrong with the fairies, and they were making a mess all over Chicago. The first couple of times he couldn’t even summon Toot, and just when he managed it, some punks came and knocked him out. Stuff like this can make a guy feel pretty useless.

He came to in a room that looked like it belonged in a gentleman’s club from a century ago, or more. The wood paneled walls and floor looked old, and real, along with the antique-looking exercise equipment next to a modern exercise bike. The other weapons in the room though, they looked like something that came out of a larper’s wet dream. Staffs (including his own) and swords and shields and other weapons he recognized but couldn’t name sat in various racks. Wherever he was practically reeked of magic, the air practically vibrating with it. More importantly, he was tied in a chair, and the three attackers were watching him.

They hadn’t gagged him; their loss. “Look, I think there’s been a misunderstanding-”

The one who put him on the ground in the alley cut him off. “You were doing magic right at the scene of the latest accident, there’s not much to misunderstand,” he said, folding his arms. Harry figured he had to be from somewhere south.

“Okay, yeah, I was doing magic. But I was trying to figure out why the accidents are happening, not cause them,” Harry countered. None of them looked like they believed him; considering the situation, that was fair. “Why did you take me anyway? Who are you people?”

“We’re the Librarians,” the redhead said. When she did, there was distinct magic in her words, not enough to charm him like it probably did an average person, but enough to make him curious.

“What kind of name is that? Are you some by-the-book wizard vigilantes?” Harry asked. Apparently his response confused them based on their inter-looking. “You really should find out who the other magically inclined people in the area are before you go incapacitating them, and trying to charm them, because if you had, you’d know that I’ve got Chicago covered.”

“Who are you then?” the Asian one with the unexpected Australian accent said.

“If you had looked in a phone book before you went all vigilante, you would know. Probably don’t even know what a phone book is,” Harry mumbled, that last bit aimed at the Asian one since he looked younger than the other two. They all just looked more confused at that. “The name’s Harry Dresden, wizard for hire.”

“And what exactly do you get hired for?” the Asian one said. Despite his youth, the kid had an air about him that said he’d been through some shit. In fact, the woman had a similar air to her too; it was the southern fighter who seemed less weathered somehow, more on edge having someone tied up in a chair in front of him. Harry concluded the Asian and the redhead had some sketchy black market experience.

“Well, I’m a P. I., so anything a P. I. might be good for, and then there’s the things a wizard P. I. would be good for,” Harry replied. He could see the fighter thinking up a question, so he beat him to it. “No, I don’t do jobs that involve cursing and hexing and such. I’m an honorable wizard.”

“Then why were you there in the alley?” the fighter asked.

“Like I told you before, I was trying to figure out why the accidents were happening in the first place. Well, I know why, probably…” Harry tapered off. There was no reason to tell these people anything, for all he knew, they were the ones causing the problems with the fairies. “Why were you sneaking up on me?”

The three glanced at each other, having some eye conversation Harry interpreted as a “do we trust him” and “maybe he can help” and “but what if he’s actually bad” type of eye conversation, with both of the men ultimately deferring to the redhead. She walked up to him, not close, but enough to change her presence from aloof in thought to leader of the bunch with a calculating eye. “We keep magical items out of the wrong hands,” she said.

“So you run the magical equivalent of that warehouse in Indiana Jones,” Harry concluded. Maybe the White Council needed one of those.

“...sure. Except it sits in its own pocket dimension and also contains a copy of every book ever written,” she added.

“That explains the name then, and why this place leaks magic like no one’s business,” Harry said. Something told him these people probably weren’t evil, but there wasn’t any way to confirm, except maybe Sight, but who knows what he’d see in here. He used his Sight anyway, because Harry was pretty good at ignoring risks, and he was just plain curious.

The lady, since she was nearest, was the first thing he saw, once he adjusted to the near pure magic running through the walls and floor like electrical wiring. The amount of magic surrounding her was like looking into the sun. Magic she hadn’t used though; maybe she didn’t know, or didn’t want to, who knows. A faint black blob near her head leaked black smoke, but the wild magic disturbed it. Whatever that was, she was fighting it as much as her will could. Underneath all the magic he could see her, almost identical but in a white dress, eyes pure white like the magic around her.

Next he looked at the Asian man, and he audibly gasped. On his head was a gleaming winged helmet. His skin shimmered with the same divine energy. He had to be a demigod. However, compared to the lady, the intensity of magic was like night and day, his magic only barely seeping through his pores. He had some scars on his arms and head which faded into his hair; they looked old and fairly well healed.

Finally he looked at the fighter. Glowing MMA gloves adorned his hands, and he also had a glittering chainmail shirt. There were bruises, faded, but still noticeable, on his face. While he lacked magic in or around him, there was a little person standing next to him, head reaching his waist. The spirit was watching Harry with a curious expression, but it didn’t do anything else. Before he switched his Sight off, Harry noticed the light pink line connecting each of them by the heart. He had a pretty good guess what that meant.

It took a moment for Harry to adjust to the relative darkness of the room. The three were looking at him like he just spaced out, which essentially he did. “You okay there?” the fighter asked.

“Oh, yeah, just had a little think,” Harry said. “Something tells me you won’t leave Chicago if I asked you to, so instead I’m gonna let you help me.” That got narrowed eyes from the redhead. “I have a good idea why the accidents have been happening,” Harry paused for dramatic effect, “but first, you need to untie me.”

“Sure, and I’m just gonna be purple now,” the demigod replied sarcastically.

Harry rolled his eyes. “If we’re gonna work together, we need to have some mutual trust, and me being tied up doesn’t exactly convey that.” No one moved to untie him, so he thought up another reason to make them less wary. “I don’t hurt people unless I have to. I have no reason to hurt you, and I’m the only one in this room who has a personal connection to the problem.”

After yet another eye conversation, the Asian one untied him. Harry rubbed his wrists, then itched his nose, and then got to a more relaxed position in the chair now that his ankles weren’t tied to the legs. “First off, you know my name, but I don’t know yours. I’d rather have something to call you.” There was a quick glance at each other, which Harry kept from being another eye conversation by saying, “I can’t do anything to you if I don’t know your whole name, so just don’t tell me all of it and you’re fine.”

The redhead tilted her head up. “Cassandra.”

The Asian flicked his wrist. “Ezekiel.”

The fighter tilted his head down, like he lifted an imaginary stetson. “Stone.”

Harry nodded at them. “Okay, so you probably saw that silver light, yeah? Well, that was Toot-Toot...he’s a dew-drop fairy. Normally they don’t do stuff like this, but something’s gotten the fairies even more rowdy than they usually are.”

“Do you have any idea what’s made them like this?” Cassandra asked.

“My guess is some sort of magical drug. I haven’t found any charm or magical signature anywhere, and Toot seemed drugged when he finally came to me summoning him,” Harry answered. “And if it is that, I can whip up a general nullification potion, but I don’t have enough to treat all the fairies in Za-Lord’s Guard.”

“Za-Lord’s Guard?” Stone asked.

“Oh, that’s what they call themselves. They call me Za-Lord because I pay them in pizza. They get information when I need it, and they make a formidable guard,” Harry explained. “With my own supplies, I probably only have enough for half the guard, and it’d take time to get ingredients again.”

“Well,” Cassandra started, glancing at the others behind her, “we do have a lab, which also has potion brewing equipment, and maybe the ingredients you need.”

Stone leaned towards Cassandra. “Jenkins ain’t gonna be happy to know we let a stranger into his lab.”

“What Jenkins doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him,” Cassandra replied. Stone didn’t seem content with that, but he didn’t argue. Cassandra turned to Harry and started walking past him. “Follow me.”

“Sure thing, but first, I'd like my staff back,” Harry said. Stone immediately looked uneasily at Cassandra, who then looked warily at Harry. He wasn't going to get his staff back. “Fine. I don't need it for potions, but I want someone to at least bring it so it doesn't get left here.”

“I'll get it,” Ezekiel said, grabbing the staff before Harry could stop him. Comically, it was a good foot taller than him. Not so comically, the runes started glowing faintly in his grasp. Ezekiel looked at the staff wide-eyed. “Uh, is it supposed to do that?”

“You might want to let someone else hold it,” Harry started, clearing his throat to hide his concern about what Ezekiel just managed.

Stone took the staff, watching Ezekiel for a moment, then glaring at Harry. “Why’d it light up like that?”

“I don’t actually know. You aren’t a wizard, are you?” Harry asked Ezekiel, who shook his head, confused. “Well, just don’t hold it again. Now, let's go make us a potion.”

---

Cassandra had never seen a potion quite like the one Harry made. She had watched Jenkins make a few, but they were all very plant or nature based. Harry’s potion was much more physical based, calling for things Cassandra previously thought not edible like body wash for touch, the sound of flowing water, and a piece of clean white cloth.

Harry assured her it would work. Even more surprising was the fact that Harry was able to find all he needed to to make a full batch in Jenkins’s lab. She made a mental note to ask Jenkins about different potion brewing methods when he returned.

“Okay, easy part done. Now to round up fifteen or so fairies off their balls on magical drugs,” Harry announced once he poured the potion into an empty milk jug and screwed on the cap.

“How do we round up fairies?” Ezekiel asked. “That one that zipped past us was pretty fast.”

“If I can summon Toot again, he can help find the rest, hopefully,” Harry said, taking the pot he had used to the nearby sink to wash it. “Our problem now is that Toot won’t be at the paint explosion anymore. In order to find him, we have to wait until they cause another accident somewhere.”

“Can we predict where they might be next?” Stone asked.

“There's no rhyme or reason to the accidents. It’s like they just fly around and cause a mess when they see potential for one,” Harry replied, scrubbing the pot with a soapy sponge.

“Are you sure there’s not a pattern?” Cassandra asked, thoughts already rolling. “I don’t know Chicago well enough to catch if the incidents we know about have a pattern.” She turned to Ezekiel, who was tapping at his phone already. “Could you map them and sort by date, earliest to latest?”

“On it, Red,” Ezekiel chimed, typing for a second more, then grabbing Stone by the arm. “We’ll have it up on the projector in five minutes or so.” The two left, leaving Cassandra alone with Harry.

Cassandra busied herself with organizing some of the supplies while Harry scrubbed away, even though he did a pretty good job of cleaning up already.

“So, how long you been a, uh, a librarian?” Harry asked.

“Eight months,” Cassandra said. “How long have you been a wizard?”

“Oh, I've had magical inclinations since I was ten, but it took years of training to be what I am now.” He looked thoughtfully at the pot, deciding it was well scrubbed, and started rinsing it. “How come I've never heard of this place?”

“It is a secret magical library for a reason, and it works best if it stays that way too,” Cassandra said, a bit of threat under the words.

“Understandable,” Harry said with a nod. “Though from what I've seen, regular people tend to explain away magic as much as they can.”

Cassandra thought for a moment. Maybe this wizard might have some outside knowledge towards the Library’s overarching problem. “Have you heard anything about a Dulaque?”

The question was enough to get Harry to glance over his shoulder at her. “You mean like Lancelot Dulaque?”

“That's the one,” Cassandra said quite unenthused.

Harry seemed pretty confused. “Well, he was alive at one point, a night to King Arthur in Camelot, but that was over a millennium ago. Why, should I have heard more recent news?”

“Well, he’s certainly still alive,” Cassandra said.

He didn’t seem all that shocked to hear that. “That's news to me. The one I thought may be around still is Merlin, but I didn't think the knights were ever immortal.” He sat the now rinsed pot on the drying rack next to the sink, then turned to face Cassandra. “Should I be concerned about him? Or any other people from that time?”

“He’s attempting to boost the ley lines, but he's not managed to do it yet,” Cassandra said, noting the way Harry looked at her with mild horror. “It was enough to make Morgan Le Fay head to the feywild anyway.”

“So she’s around too, sort of,” Harry mused. “Well at least the courts are more than strong enough to handle her there if things went south.” He scratched the scruff on his chin in thought. “I'll keep an eye and ear out for Dulaque. If he got what he wanted, my job would be a lot harder.”

“Is Chicago a big city for magic?” Cassandra asked. They hadn't really had any cases take them there since they started.

“It’s certainly got more going on than you'd think,” Harry replied, grabbing his staff which Stone had left propped against a cabinet. “I think it's been five minutes.”

Cassandra knew six minutes and twenty seconds had past, but didn't say it. “It probably has,” she said, grabbing the jug of potion. “Hopefully I'll be able to find a pattern so we aren't sitting around all day waiting.”

Harry glanced at her as they walked into the hallway. “Your friend isn't the one figuring it out? He seemed like he was.”

“Oh, Ezekiel can map them for me, but I can do better than his algorithms generally,” Cassandra said casually. She could feel Harry’s shocked stare, which made her smile a little.

---

Ezekiel had already mapped the incidents as they showed up in the clippings book, or more accurately, the app he made that connected to the Library did that for him. All Ezekiel had to do was send that data to the computer and turn on the projector. It took Stone more time to get the white screen set up in front of the back door, and they still had two of the five minutes left.

“I’ll go get them,” Stone said. He started back towards the lab since Cassandra and Harry hadn’t left yet, but Ezekiel caught him by the hip.

“Or, we could make use of the little time we have alone,” Ezekiel purred, pressing himself against Stone.

“Zeke, we can’t, we got a mission to do,” Stone explained, but he couldn’t help but tilt his head close to the thief’s.

“Come on, just a little kiss then,” Ezekiel suggested, his nose barely brushing against Stone’s.

Stone knew if they started, it was likely they weren’t gonna stop, but Ezekiel was oh so good at making Stone ignore the logical part of himself. “...Just one,” Stone said, and pressed his lips against Ezekiel’s.

As predicted, the one kiss turned into a bunch, which turned into Ezekiel pressed against the nearest wall. They didn't have long though; Harry cleared his throat loudly as he and Cassandra walked into the annex’s main room. Ezekiel let out a frustrated noise as Stone stepped out of his space. The archaeologist looked a little embarrassed at being caught, and Ezekiel looked downright annoyed they got interrupted.

Cassandra rolled her eyes at both of them, then walked towards the screen. She studied it for a moment, then flicked her hands in front of her, processing the information via visual hallucination. The boys watched her casually since it was a fairly regular occurrence, and she'd gotten better with keeping it from overwhelming her. Harry watched with confusion and mild concern.

“There’s been fourteen incidents in the span of five days….not concentric or spiral, but there’s something net like...Zeke put on the leyline overlay, as fine of a resolution as you can...oh yes, that’s it, they’re following branches off the main leylines,” Cassandra concluded, swiping away her calculations. “Which means, the nearest branch intersection from the paint truck should be somewhere near here, and they’ll probably do something within the next couple of hours, based off the intervals.” She pointed to an intersection of the glowing blue lines just north of downtown Chicago.

“How did you figure that? And how do you get technology to work in here?” Harry asked.

“Synesthete with a mix of photographic memory,” Cassandra said, though she paused to think about his second question. “Why would it not work?”

“All the wizards I know can fry a phone just by standing near it. How that projector hasn’t started bugging out with me here I have no clue,” Harry explained.

“Must be you mate. Internet here is superb quality,” Ezekiel said.

“So we know where, but what’s the plan?” Stone asked.

“Ideally, I’ll summon Toots, douse him with the potion, then from there we do that for the rest of the fairies,” Harry said. “Unless you have a better idea.”

Cassandra looked to Stone. “Jenkins would know if we had something...do you have any literary suggestions that could lead us in the right direction?”

“I can certainly try,” Stone said. He went over to the card catalogue and started pulling drawers, looking at cards, eventually accumulating three cards after about five minutes (Ezekiel’s pet project of turning the card catalogue digital was still a long way from finished). “I’ve got a reference for a text on fairies and other fae creatures, what looks like potentially a spell book with ways to summon a few things, and someone’s diary kept while in the feywild.”

Harry glanced to Cassandra. “Any chance I can get a library card here?”

She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, strict no-loan policy,” then turned to the group in general, “those books may have something useful.” She looked over to Ezekiel. “How well does the searching the digital artifact inventory work?” (That project was technically complete, but Ezekiel let Jenkins do item tags and warnings for a lot of it since Jenkins was in charge of the physical inventory logs, which makes searching for something like “magic fairy catcher” turn up nothing)

“If Jenkins is the one searching, it works fine...but for anyone else except maybe Flynn it’s kind of hit or miss,” Ezekiel confessed, pulling up the program on the computer. “I’ll try my best, but no promises.”

Twenty minutes later, the team actually turned up something useful. Turned out the Library had an artifact that did just what they needed; a living wooden bowl of sorts that, once filled with water, would attract any fairy in a couple mile radius. With that tool in hand, a bottle of water to fill it with, and the jug of potion the trio and Harry set off to Cassandra’s prediction for where the fairies would strike next.

Harry walked with determination, like one who wants to appear like they know where they're going when in fact they don't know where they're going, stopping in a more discrete alleyway away from prying eyes. Whipping out a piece of chalk, he made a five foot wide circle on the concrete. “Okay, so once the bowl does its job, I'll activate the circle, keeping me and the fairies contained, and douse them,” Harry said. “And hopefully it works.”

“What should we do if it doesn't?” Cassandra asked.

“If it doesn't, I'll be trapped with a pack of now angry fairies, which I will try my best to get away from by breaking the circle. But we’ll hope it doesn't come to that,” Harry said, throwing a charming smile at the end. He knelt down next to the bowl in the middle of the circle, holding the water bottle above it. “Here goes nothing.” Once the water filled the bowl, flowers sprouted from the rim, lavender, marigold, honeysuckle and snapdragons. The water itself shimmered like someone dumped in blue food luster dust.

Nothing happened for thirty seconds...or a minute….or even two, but once three minutes passed, a whole bunch of little silver lights zipped to the bowl. Thirty or so foot tall humanoid creatures with various vibrant colored puff balls of hair stood around the edge or lounged in the water, taking in the flowers and chittering amongst themselves. Once they were all within the bounds of the circle, Harry quickly knelt down and touched the chalk, creating an invisible magical wall around himself. A few of the fairies noticed, but most of them were too occupied with the bowl to care. With haste he grabbed the potion jug and thoroughly drenched the fairies, the force of it knocking them all to the ground.

For a moment, nothing happened, then slowly the fairies righted themselves, fluttering their wings to dry them. One in particular, with a mane of magenta colored hair and wearing bottle caps hooked together as a sort of chainmail shirt, sat up and then flew over to Harry.

“Heya Toot, feeling better?” Harry asked.

The little fairy bobbed in flight. “Za-Lord! I feel great! I can think again.” The fairy’s voice sounded like someone did a comical pitch shift up a couple octaves.

Harry frowned. “What happened to you all?”

“There was a Tylwyth Teg that gave us a sweet. They told us it would taste even better than pizza, and it did, but then I couldn’t stop doing things that made me laugh,” Toot explained. The little fairy bowed his head. “Did we do something bad?”

“Well, you were trying your best to make a mess of Chicago,” Harry said. “Nothing that can’t be fixed eventually.”

“Oh, good,” Toot said, flying in a loop in relief.

“Next time, don’t take drugs from fey you don’t know...or any at all.” Harry glanced to the other fairies. “Make sure the rest are themselves, then you’re free to go.”

“Aye!” Toot saluted, then zipped down to the fairies, talking to each one. It took about a minute for Toot to conduct the survey of his personnel before he reported back to Harry. “Everyone’s is back to normal.”

“Good.” Harry scuffed the chalk, dispelling the magic circle. The fairies all stayed, looking expectantly at Toot, who was looking expectantly at Harry. “Be more careful next time, okay?”

“No drugs from strangers, even if they taste better than pizza,” Toot said, and without another word, he zipped off, with the rest of the guard following him.

Harry picked up the wooden bowl, dumping out the water. The flowers fizzled out in a puff of ash, and then the bowl looked just like a plain wooden mixing bowl. “Well that went considerably better than I thought it would,” he said to the LiTs who just watched the whole thing.

“It’s normally more involved on our end too,” Cassandra said. “I feel like we didn’t do a whole lot to solve this case.”

“You did more than you think,” Harry said, handing her the bowl. “It would’ve taken me a couple weeks to have enough ingredients, and then I would have to probably treat them all individually since I didn’t have that fancy bowl. You made my job a whole lot easier...even if you did knock me out and kidnap me.”

Stone ducked his head a little. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“No hard feelings,” Harry replied. He reached into his duster, pulling out a business card. “If you’re ever back in Chicago and need some magical help, just give me a call.” He handed it to Cassandra.

“We don’t have a business card, but if you’re ever in Portland, just knock on Saint John’s bridge,” Ezekiel said. Stone gave him a bit of a concerned look, but Ezekiel waved it off. “I took it upon myself to revamp the security system when we first got there, it’s fine.”

With the job done, the four stood awkwardly in the alley for a few moments. “Is there a way I could get a lift to my place with your fancy teleporting door? It’s a bit of a walk from here.”

Cassandra smiled at him. “I think we can manage that.”

After a quick hop to another street corner five miles away, the LiTs were once again alone in the Annex. It only took twenty seconds of silence and a few looks before Ezekiel scooted closer to Cassandra, giving a tentative kiss, which she intently returned. It certainly took no time at all for Stone to get in on the action too.

If only the phone in the Annex hadn’t started ringing.

“Seriously?!” Ezekiel groaned as Cassandra reluctantly left his embrace to answer it.

“Hello? Hi Jenkins...sure, one back door coming right up.” Cassandra hung up the phone and set the backdoor to the coordinates Jenkins had written down before he left. Within a few seconds the door glowed, and the caretaker entered.

“I see everything is still in order,” Jenkins said, taking off his overcoat and putting it on the rack next to the door.

“We just finished a case too,” Cassandra added. Jenkins looked at the LiTs for more information.

“Fairies on sketchy fey drugs in Chicago,” Ezekiel said, standing quite close to Stone.

Jenkins raised his eyebrows. “Interesting. Did you recover any of the drugs?”

“No, but the fairies are sober now,” Stone answered.

“Unfortunate. I’ll keep an eye on that. Fey substances are nothing to mess around with,” Jenkins said as he walked over to his desk. He pulled out a rather thick looking book and turned pages until he got to the entry he wanted. Jenkins started to grab a nearby pen, but he noticed the LiTs loitering. “Do you need something?”

“Oh, uh, no, we’re fine,” Cassandra said. She glanced to the two with her, then looked back to Jenkins. “You know, I think we’ll head off for the day, since we did close a case. Unless you need us for something…”

It was easy to see the LiTs clearly had somewhere else they wanted to be. “Unless you want to write my entry for Nessie in the magical creatures log, I think I will be quite fine if you retire for the day.”

“Thanks Jenkins,” she said. She hurried up to Jenkins, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, then the LiTs made a hasty exit, finally ready to have some uninterrupted time to themselves.

-----

Post Notes: So, for those of you who haven’t read any of the Dresden Files, the character they meet is the protagonist from that series. He’s a wizard P. I. in Chicago, and basically Chicago’s de-facto defender from magical threats. For those that have read it, this is set sometime before Blood Rites for convenience of none of the events in Changes and later looming over Harry, and because I forgot to write in Mouse. For those who haven’t, I’ve explained the Sight and the potion he made in the next “chapter” on Ao3 because knowing how Sight works makes what Harry saw have a lot more meaning, and it’s a bit much to have in these notes.

[sunflowerqueer]

9, 15, 16, 20, 34, 43, 44, 45, 52, 57, 59, 60, 67, 71, 77, 84, 85, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, 113, 118, 119, 121, 129, 132, 134, 142, 150, 157, 160, 161, 163, 166, 181, 182, 183, 185, 187, 191, 192, 194, 197, 200, 202, 209, 212, 213, 214, 215, and 216 please 💜

9: Favourite flavour of anything?Chocolate!!15: Last song I listened to?The Reynolds Pamphlet from Hamilton.16: TV show I always recommend?Okay so, Nailed It in Netflix is a beaut! So relatable and funny. I'm also a big fan of Miraculous: Takes of Ladybug and Chat Noir, along with Steven Universe, Star VS the Forces of Evil, and Adventure Time! Gravity Falls is good too, oh man. I like a lot of cartoons, heh.20: Favourite video games?Ohmygosh POKEMON SAPPHIRE FOR THE GAMEBOY ADVANCED, BRUH!! I also really love Don't Starve, Journey, and Breath of the Wild! I love all the Mario Cart games as well, gosh I love games. Oh! I really love Town of Salem! I play it wit my girlfriend quite often ^^34: Someone I always think about?There are two specific people I think of quote often and worry over, that's my mom and girlfriend. I just care about them so much and I love them and I want them happy.43: Favourite hobbies?Singing, reading, and gaming.44: Last book I read?Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! I have yet to finish it, though.45: Last film I watched?The Road to El Dorado!52: When do I feel most at peace?When I have time to myself, and I have accomplished all of my tasks that have had me stressed.57: Favourite drink?Hot cocoa.59: Afraid of heights?Yes, very. I get anxious going up a flight of stairs.60: Pet peeve?Telling me how to do something I already know how to do, or really telling me how to do my job that I've been taught how to do and trained for when frickin hmmmmmmmmmmmm.67: Scared of the dark?No, I'm afraid of what could be hiding in the dark.71: Something I wish I could do?Travel the world.77: What is my current desktop picture?Aaah!! It's a night scene that I drew in Photoshop that I made while going to school for graphic design! Of you'd like to see it, it is currently the header for my @allimeraine blog!84: Story behind one of my scars?Okay, this is a silly one. I have a decent sized scar on my knee from tripping and falling on the sidewalk while walking to my bus. Twas a fun time.85: Favourite genre of music?Don't have one ^^94: What was the last thing I bought?A candy apple and some chocolates for my mom!96: Can I cook?Sorta?97: Can I bake?Yes!!98: 3 things I love?Sweets, animals, and kind words.99: 3 things I hate?Cruelty, hatred, and harsh words.113: Favourite accents?Russian, German, French, Irish, and Spanish.118: Do I like space?Y E S119: Do I like the deep ocean?It spook me but yes121: Am I allergic to anything?I recently found out that I'm allergic to fresh mangoes, which sucks because it's my favorite fruit. I'm also severely allergic to poison ivy.129: Forest or beach?Beach132: Hogwarts house / Divergent faction / Hunger Games district?I only know my hogwarts house and that is Hufflepuff!!134: Am I very social?If I'm in the right group of people and I'm comfortable, yes.142: Am I ticklish?Yes.150: What is the best decision I have made in life so far?Going to college for my preferred career, I graduate on the 24th of May and I couldn't be more proud of myself.157: What makes me nostalgic?Children's shows, like The Wild Kratt's and just, aaaa. Summer is here and lately I've been feeling nostalgic over it.160: What colour mostly dominates my wardrobe?Blue or black.. Probably black at the moment.161: Have I ever had a paranormal experience?I've had multiple, actually. I have one ghost following me around everywhere and then there's one at my grandmother's apartment that I've encountered and it is not a friendly ghost there unless it is left alone. The one following me is rather.. I'm not sure how to put it.163: What do I love most about myself?How kind I am to others.166: Favourite animal?Otters!!181: If I could get away with a crime, what would I choose to do?Oh boy. For some reason my first thought was murder? I thought of two specific people who hurt me in the past but I know it's not worth it, sorta.182: What does “family” mean to me?People who are there for you and are willing to help you. These people are very close to you whether they are blood or not. Listen to me, family doesn't mean blood. If a "family" member is hurting you or treating you poorly, they are not family. Do what you need to protect yourself.183: What is my spirit animal?The TARDIS185: If I could master one skill, what would I choose?Lockpicking, it's cool.187: What is my greatest achievement?Once I graduate college, I believe that will be my greatest achievement so far.191: What makes me the happiest?When someone tells me how well I'm doing and that they're proud of me.192: What is “home” to me?Where ever I feel safest.194: If I could choose my last words, what would they be?A vine quote, probably.... "FUCK YA CHICKEN STRIPS"197: Something I hated as a child that I like now?This is probably weird, but oatmeal and summer heat.200: Dragons or wizards?Dragons!202: How do I define love?When you can see someone and talk to them, and just be with them and you feel safe. Once you feel safe with someone you know, you know you love them.209: Item of clothing or jewellery you’ll never see me without?My rings and at least one necklace.212: Was I named after anyone?I was actually named after one of my mom's friends and my mom also kinda just made up my name. It's kind of a combination, really.213: Do I use sarcasm a lot?Hell yeah214: What TV character am I most like?Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls. Oh, or Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.215: What is the weirdest talent I have?Uhhh, I do voices and make weird sounds? Is that a talent?216: Favourite fictional character?LUNA LOVEGOOD FROM HARRY POTTER!! I ALSO LOVE NEWT SCAMMANDER!!Thank you so much for the ask!! I had a lot of fun with it!! ❄💙

[fiction-queen-blog]

Konoha’s school of witchcraft and wizardry

A/N: For a specific Anon I decided to go through my drive to find this old story.  Genre:Magical, thriller Additional information:  Note that I just took element from Harry Potter and not all since I still wanted it to be different. Also I like using Naruto-verse things to just make it funny. Characters: Uchiha’s mostly...

Chapter 1

If eyeballs could drop from excitement, mine would have fallen by now. I can’t believe that I was in Konoha the school of magic…For wizards and witches. It is completely different from what I am used to. This surpasses the average high school.   I looked around me, seeing all these people sitting in the dining hall.  

Shizune…A teacher I got to know from the train, stood in front of us, holding a scroll. She called our names and I felt a knot in my stomach...I have to step forward…In front of all these people?  

“Uchiha Izuna,” she read outloud. A boy next to me moved. He swung his body in an elegant way. I never seen regular people walk in such a beautiful way. His face…was flawless, his hair was tightly in a ponytail, and he was simply gorgeous. He closed his eyes, having a small smile on his face.

“Izuna eeeeh….You seem familiar….An Uchiha eeehh!!” The sorting head blurred out. I felt my heart skip a beat. This talking hat scared me.

“Of course you know me…I am Izuna,” form all the people who sat there, he was the first to actually talk. The hat blurred out the word “Slytherin ”.  Shizune removed the hat.

Izuna stood up, bowing elegantly before moving towards the table where he got hugged by an older boy. I looked at them, feeling the knot getting worse…. I wanted to be like that…A house…Should be much like a family…I was kinda happy for him…That they all accepted him so kindly.

“Nightsky Sasuke.”  I was the last one, I hoped the attention was gone, but it seemed worse. I took a deep breath, moving towards Shizune. I sat down, and she put the hat on  There was a silence…And it felt forever to me….No…It was taking forever.  Is this thing broken?  

“I am not broken you fool!” He shouted out.

It made me apologize out loud, causing everyone to laugh. I bit the inside of my cheek…They were laughing at me…I was already making a fool out of myself…I wanted to make them pay…They shouldn’t be laughing!

“This is a hard one…” The sorting hat said….I just wanted him to blur out a house right now…I didn’t want to sit here and be watched by all these….Strangers.

“You are brave …I can tell...techniques …You know a lot of them….Kind…In heart…. And yet…You are the walking definition of revenge…” He said. “You …Can’t be sorted in any house…And yet you match all…” The hat remained quiet.  “You are an ANBU”

I saw the teacher’s eyes widen…While the students looked confused…Could somebody explain this to me?

“ANBU, a wizard who can’t be sorted to a house…It was only a theory…It never happened before.” Shizune enlightened me. She removed the sorting hat.

“Can I just...choose one…” I muttered under my breath, but of course...Nobody heard me then.

OXOXOXOX

I just started school here, and I didn’t want the conclusion of the sorting hat to pull me down. Even in this world of magic…I belonged nowhere.

I grabbed my wand, taking a deep breath as I walked out of my lonely room. In the middle of some random hall….Of no House. Well, I am not complaining. A boy my age could use some privacy in the bedroom

I took one step outside and suddenly…This cloud appeared above me…pouring rain.

“What, the…fuck…”

I ran, but it followed me.

“Make it stop, make it stop!” I shouted. I slipped over a sponge and fell on the ground.

“Fuck!” I cursed, seeing someone walk past me, swinging his wand, causing the cloud to disappear.

“Basic spell, noob” the person said and just kept walking. Can’t they tell I am from the world where magic is not considered normal?

“The fuck…”

I got up, rubbing my lower back. It hurt already. I continued my way to class, but by my arrival everybody seemed to look up. They started to whisper to each other like I had something on my face.

“Nightsky”

Good...The teacher already knew my name...Good start.

“Next time if you want to follow my class, be on time”

Well...How could I argue against such strong statement.

Izuna suddenly stood up.

“Sensei, he is having a rough time…Please just spare him” Izuna said before sitting down. The teacher signed by his words,but then indicated to me to sit down.

My eyes were probably shining…He was such a kind person. I wanted to sit next to him, but before I could sit. The chair moved and I fell on the ground, to make it worse, I dropped all my books too.  

Izuna laughed right at my face, “Though ANBU’s had a little Ravenclaw in them, you obviously don’t.” I narrowed my eyes

“Get up Nightsky.” The teacher said.

“I …I can’t…” I said, not able to get up from the ground…was I glued? Everyone started laughing as the teacher grabbed his wand and caused a spell. It caused me to fly up and hit the ceiling. I moaned in pain before falling on the table. The class couldn’t stop laughing and the teacher quickly put the wand away.

“oh dear…Should I get you to the nurse!”

“NO! NO! I AM FINE!” I screamed…I started to hate magic.  

oxooxxo

I wasn’t sure why people hated me….Because I was ANBU?  What did my house mattered? I thought I was part of every house….Why couldn’t’ the sorting hat just make a choice. I passed a few of my classmates. I didn’t lower my head…I didn’t want them to know that I feared their magic.

“Hey Nightsky!” I heard Izuna call. I turned my head, looking at him from the corner of my eye. “I am sorry about the lesson…Using a real wand is new to me..I want to push the chair for you. Ya know..bragging with my skills,” he said. “It failed…It must have hurt.”

“A little..” I said.

“But really…I don’t want to make you my enemy.” He leaned against the wall. “Besides…I wonder where you surnames originates from?”  He asked.

“It was given to be because of my hair colour,” I said.

“Given to you…What do you mean?” Izuna asked.

“In the orphanage ” I said…I know I could  just lie to him…I just…Couldn’t lie about unnecessary stuff.

“Orphanage…Wait your parents aren’t wizards?” He asked surprised.

“No-“

“He is a mudblood!” Another guy shouted and laughed.

“No wonder he is so filthy! He is a mudblood!” Another guy laughed. I frowned and pushed them away to pass them.

Pfff...Like I care what they call me.I don’t what the fuck a mudblood is.  

Xoxoxox

We were standing outside on the Quidditch fields. With our brooms laying on the grass. I was looking at it, extracting my hand as I told the broom the get up. It wasn’t working…It wasn’t even moving a little…Izuna has already mastered it by the first call. I tried again…I was doubting the wizard in me…By now everyone had their brooms in their hands. I guess I could better pick it up.

The broom suddenly moved and I managed to catch it.

My mind went wild!

Wow…I did that?  But I didn’t even call for it.  

I looked around me, seeing everyone waiting for me. I turned my head to Izuna, who whispered something to the person next to him.

Guy-sensei was explaining how the broom worked, and how to balance your weight on it. He sat on it, and flew around before stopping in front of us. It was our turn now to get on it. I just put the broom between my legs. Not sure what to do, But then it suddenly flew away.  I screamed from the sudden speed. I wasn’t controlling this, how was I supposed to control this?!  

“Nightsky come back!”

“I can’t control it!” I screamed.  “IT MOVES ON ITS OWN!”

The teacher got on his broom and followed me. My broom flew towards the building at high speed and pulled up last minute, causing the teacher that was trying to catch up to me to fly straight in the building. He fell and was knocked out on the ground.

I felt my heartbeat rise as the broom stopped in mid-air….If I fall…I would die . The broom started shaking, and knocked me off it. I held on to it for dear life, but I ended up hanging from it.  I kicked my legs in the air.

“Hold on!” I heard someone shout from beneath. I could see some blue in his uniform…Probably a Ravenclaw.

“I.I am trying!” I said, he had his wand pointed at me…I guess he was keeping the broom from moving… I was wondering if it was my so called magical power that made it move…But my magic couldn’t be that strong that he needed to use his wand to stop me.

“Do you have him in place?” Another man ran towards this Ravenclaw guy. He was a Hufflepuff.

“Yeah…I keep the broom form moving,” he gave the other a small push.

“Alright sweety! Just let go, I catch you!” The other guy said. I looked down…And then looked at my tired hands, about to let go.

“You mad,bro?!” I shouted.

“I will catch you!”

“I will die!” I shouted.

“Don’t worry! Trust me!” He shouted.

“I trust you….I don’t trust your strength!”

“ARE YOU CALLING ME WEAK BRO!” He seemed slightly angry

“No….You know…I might look tiny from up here..But imagine this…Mass, falling with the acceleration speed of gravity. It going to be a lot of force. ”

“Dude how heavy could you possibly be!?” He lowered his arms.

“…Uhm…Well…I gained a little…”

“HOW MUCH DO YOU WEIGHT!” The Ravenclaw guy and the hufflepuff guy shouted at me.

“…..About 50 kilos!” I shouted.

“FALL!” They shouted and I closed my eyes and let my hands go…I must have had so much bravery to let go…So much trust in the other to catch me.  I felt the wind around me disappear, and I opened my eyes, seeing the wand creating anti-gravity field around me. He dropped his wand and I fell straight in his arms.

“Told you I am strong,” he winked playfully. I was panting as I saw my broom flying away on its own. I should have known it wasn’t my magic that made it move.  

“Are you alright?” He asked me as I looked back at him.

“Yeah…Thank you,” I said as he gave me this kind smile. I wanted to wrap my arms around him, hold him tightly and just ….Show how scared I was, but I couldn’t not in front of Izuna…Not in front of those wizards. I got out of his hands, and he lost my balance, but regained it quickly.

“Shisui, help me bring sensei to the medics…He broke his leg-“ so that was his name…Shisui.

“Itachi, you can teleport…Oh…Alright…”I guess this Itachi wants Shisui to come with him. He waved a quick bye before telling the class they were dismissed. He then supported the teacher and this Itachi grabbed his shoulder and disappeared.

“Wow…Good wizard you are.” I saw Izuna showing his wand under his cloak. I wish I could pull out my wand…But they would laugh...Besides…I only knew two spells. Both were pretty useless...

“You could have killed him…The teacher,” I said.

“Are you even a wizard, I even had to call your broom for you.” This other slytherin guy said. “Aren’t you just a muggle.”

“I didn’t look for your approval....I am wizard...And I am something-blood…Who cares,” I clenched my fist, I had to hold my anger back… I had to walk away.

“Yah move it you useless muggle.” I stopped walking…I had enough of this bitch.

“Sorry… I didn’t understand…”

“I said you are a useless mugg-“ I punched him in the face and he hit the ground, his nose probably broke, I could hear it break.

“I might not be a good wizard, but I am not useless!” I hissed, I wiped the blood off my cloak as I walked away.  

“What the fuck is even a muggle” I muttered.

I heard Izuna chuckle.

“This might get interesting,” I heard him say.

Oxoxoxoxoxoxo

“To light the candle you move your wand slightly up and say: katon.” The teacher illustrated it, creating a small flame that lit the candle. “Now it is your turn.”

I moved my wand, saying ‘katon’ but nothing happened.

“Wow, you can’t even make a fire. Can’t muggles make fire?” Izuna asked, his candle wasn’t lit…He sure had some self-confidence.

“Excuse me, can you do it  better,” he didn’t grab his wand as he snapped his fingers, a small fire appeared that lit the candle. I looked impressed….Magic without wand…Was that even possible!

“Impressed?” He asked me, giving me this cocky smile…But I was looking at the way how he sat on the table…How could he look good in every single position. I tried again…And again….It wasn’t working.

“You embarrassed all the ...Non-wizard borns..in this school.”

“If you are here to just say that , then  you better move that royal butt of yours!” I hissed.

“Such a big mouth, excuse me…But you should know your place.” Izuna jumped off the table.

“What, are you some kind of noble man?”

“Indeed I am.” He had this arrogant look that not only screamed he was better than me...But made it an actual fact.

“Well, go fuck yourself with that title.”  What else was I supposed to say?

He moved his hair and walked  around the table “Surely your parents abandoned you…Seeing you being this pathetic…Even I would have killed myself-“

“ENOUGH!” I shouted, not realizing I moved my wand in the progress. I didn’t mean for anything magical to happen, but the flame that was supposed to light the candle turned into a blue fire tornado. I heard Izuna scream and I moved back, falling on the ground. This force of fire I called a tornado disappear and the candle was lit with blue fire…Turning into a normal orange flame.

My eyes widened slightly…Was this my magic…Did my magic just do that?  I heard some sobbing…I turned my head, seeing Izuna on his knees, pressing his hands against his body.

I got up…I hurt him…Did I hurt him?  

“Izuna?!” I heard a few people shout, he moved his hand slowly and looked at the burn wounds…His flesh was visible and it was bleeding. It was gross.

“Oh dear!”  The teacher rushed to him as Izuna cried in pain. I felt my heart skip a beat…I hurt him…I hurt him bad. I am in so much trouble.

“I am so sorry…” I said as I got up from the ground, but I was met with glares from his adoring classmates.  Izuna got up and ran…He probably didn’t want to cry in front of everyone. It made me feel twice as bad.

“It…It was an accident…” I said, lowering my eyes. I walked out of the classroom…I had to apologize to him. A side of me didn’t want to. After everything he did to me… It was called karma, but on the other side…I didn’t want to sink to his level…But he started it, he deserved to suffer! But…I was better than this. I slowly opened the door, and peeked inside the nurse room. I saw Itachi standing there, while Izuna pressed his body to that of …A Gryffindor?

“It alright, Zuna…Zuna…Look at me..” He said, cupping Izuna ’s cheeks. “It is alright…”He said. Izuna slowly opened his hands, causing Itachi to frown slightly.

“It is going to be okay,right?!”  The Gryffindor boy suddenly seemed panicked.

“Are you mocking me?” He didn’t look at the Gryffindor as he grabbed his wand. “Izuna, stop fighting back…I am not going to hurt you.” He said, grabbing Izuna’s wrist tightly as he made his wand move over the hand. He muttered something…I looked at his lips….A healing spell?   I saw how the wounds closed themselves. The boy from Gryffindor wiped Izuna’s tears away and placed a kiss on his cheek. I moved the door a little more to get a better look at Itachi. He looked at me. I gasped and took a step back.

“Show yourself!” He demanded…His voice sounded so…strict. I took a step forward.

“He burned my hands, he should be killed!” Izuna exclaimed.

“Zuna…Shut up.”  Itachi said, not even giving Izuna a look. Izuna frowned and hid his face in this Gryffindor’s chest.

“What made you even think it was alright to cause a spell like that in a classroom full with your peers” His voice was very strict…I could just tell he was a spoiled princess. I didn’t lower my eyes…Somehow…I came to apologize…And yet I didn’t want to.

I raised my head, and l glared at Izuna. Itachi got up.

“I am talking to you”

I raised my head to look in his eyes.

“I didn’t do it on purpose…It was an accident,” I said.

“lies! You pretended you couldn’t do the katon, so you could just make it look like an accident!”

“Izuna!” Itachi’s raised his voice slightly, causing Izuna to hide his head back in this boy’s chest. I took a deep breath.

“No…It was an accident, but guess what you stupid ass bitch I ain’t sorry for you sorry ass. I wished it burned your face so I didn’t have to look at  it!” I hissed at him.

“Give me my wand I show you!” Izuna wanted to grab his wand, but this other guy pulled him back.

“Yeah take the wand away what the fuck do you have left, a stupid cry baby that is what you have left!” I shouted at him. I came here to apologize. I guess I made it worse.

“Enough, that will cost you 20 points-“  The guy from Gryffindor stopped mid sentence and looked confused.

“Obito…He has no house…He is an ANBU,” Itachi said. He looked at my chest…There was nothing there…I wore a plain black cloak…Because I was anbu…I had no house.

“I came down here to apologize…And I might have…If I was sorry…But I am not. You, Uchiha motherfucking Izuna…Are just a plain bitch… Picking on the weak to fill the gaps known as the truth…That you are simply nothing…In this world.”  Izuna remained quiet, just glaring at me.

“You just sound like a big hypocrite to me” I heard Itachi say. I turned my head back to him.

“Excuse me sir but I didn’t recall asking for you opinion.”

“You basically used your magic, and burned his hands…You used your power to someone, who was basically unarmed and so weaker…So who is bullying the weak now?” He asked me. I remained quiet…My brain was hurting now.

“You were an ANBU right? Seems you don’t have Ravenclaw in you at all,” Itachi said. “What is it what you can do? Walk around cursing people and attack them from behind when it is in your favour? Sound like you are ANBU not because you are part of all the houses…Because you don’t belong to either of them, since no house is that pathetic.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.” I said, clenching a fist. Itachi examined my body. “And who are you to judge me…Just a pretty face and a wand will not make you the queen around here-“

“Let me stop you there… You don’t have any idea who he is?” Obito asked.

“…Should I?”

“He is a mudblood!” Izuna said, causing Obito to frown at Izuna.

“Yes, I am a mudblood, so what!” I said.

“Izuna, we don’t use that word” Itachi said.

“Explains a lot…Let me help you out,” Obito grabbed his wand and a paper flew across the room.

“Most talented wizard in history….Uchiha Itachi sets yet another record….Wait wutt??” I looked at Itachi, and then back at the picture.

“Owh….You look so much more handsome in real life” I said.

“Get back to class, and don’t let me clean your mess again.”

“Yeah!” Izuna said.

“He just called you a mess!” I hissed at Izuna.

“Itachi-nii!” He seemed to realize it now.

“I had enough of you creating fires around this place.” I didn’t understand what he meant by his word, but he just looked at me…And I suddenly got pushed out of the room, the doors closing right in front of me. I frowned, feeling this hate boil in me…I wanted to kill him…No I wanted to defeat him in his own perfect game!

[timalexanderdollery]

The Frozen 2 soundtrack: a guide to the best songs

Disney

The best songs from Frozen 2 are the ones that didn’t make it into the movie. Sorry, “Into the Unknown.”

It’s not an exaggeration to say the release of the Frozen 2 soundtrack this past weekend — just ahead of Frozen 2’s November 22 release date — counts as an event. Not since the heyday of Disney’s ’90s animated musicals has a film soundtrack had such high expectations to live up to.

Sales of the original Frozen soundtrack blew away all other competitors when it was released in late November 2013 (just a few days before the film itself); it then went on to reign as the No. 1 album of 2014. At the 2014 Oscars, “Let It Go” won Best Original Song; the next year, at the 2015 Grammys, the album won Best Compilation Soundtrack, garnering Robert Lopez — who wrote all of Frozen’s songs with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez — the rare EGOT distinction. (The pair is credited with writing the entire Frozen 2 soundtrack as well.)

Oh, and if you had younger kids, your kids were probably obsessed with it. In 2014, Frozen was everywhere: The film itself grossed a staggering $1.27 billion worldwide, and the film’s fandom was so eager for more that it drove over $5 billion in retail sales of related Frozen merchandise — just in 2014 alone. Not only that, but five years after the film’s release, the soundtrack was still on the CD sales charts. That’s some heavy lifting.

So does the new Frozen 2 soundtrack hold up to all that hype? Yeah, pretty much.

The Frozen 2 soundtrack has just seven new songs — plus a reprise, several covers, and a few “outtakes.” But there’s a lot to explore.

The Frozen 2 soundtrack boasts the soundtrack versions of its seven totally new songs as well as covers of those songs by artists Kacey Musgraves, Panic! At the Disco, and Weezer. Both Kristen Bell, who voices Princess Anna, and Jonathan Groff, who plays her boyfriend Kristoff, get songs of their own. (There’s also a teensy reprise of the Groffsauce classic “Reindeer(s) are Better Than People.”) The soundtrack also comes with a few surprises — most pleasantly, the revelation that Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood, a new addition to Frozen cast, has a great singing voice. (Fun fact for Broadway buffs: Wood is in a band with guitarist Zane Carney, brother of Hadestown’s Reeve Carney.)

Wood plays Queen Iduna, Elsa and Anna’s late mother. Apparently, her spirit is still alive and kicking, and in the Frozen 2 soundtrack’s opening number, “All Is Found,” she gets a beautiful refrain — “where the north wind meets the sea / there’s a river full of memory” — that recurs throughout other songs and the film’s score. Musgraves covers this song, and it’s just lovely.

If you already know you love Frozen, you’ll specifically want to seek out the “deluxe” version of the soundtrack, which contains a few more songs listed as “outtakes.” These songs — which were apparently all cut before they made it into the movie — include extra solos for Anna and Kristoff, and a gorgeous duet, “I Seek the Truth,” between songwriter Anderson-Lopez and Patti Murin, who originated the role of Anna in Frozen on Broadway.

The best of the outtakes is “Get This Right,” a fun, conversational duet between a self-doubting Kristoff and an ever-adventurous Anna, which doubles as a kind of spiritual sequel and answer to Frozen’s “Love Is an Open Door.”

Oh, and here’s the best part if you like to sing along: The deluxe soundtrack contains with instrumental — a.k.a. karaoke — versions of all the songs.

Let go of the idea that there’s a new “Let It Go” on the Frozen 2 soundtrack

The centerpiece of the new soundtrack, however, is clearly meant to be “Into the Unknown.” It’s the showcase song for Broadway superstar Idina Menzel, who plays, Elsa. But is it the diva power number that fans of “Let It Go” have been wanting?

Eh. I’m leaning toward “no.”

Menzel earned her superstar rep for belting into the stratosphere on songs like Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” and Frozen’s “Let It Go,” and Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown” seems to take off the musical gloves and let her fling high notes left and right as Elsa wrestles with restlessness and the call of a new adventure. She’s joined in the chorus by Norwegian pop artist Aurora, who voices an eerie incorporeal voice that’s been summoning Elsa out into the snowy wilderness.

Audio ads for the Frozen 2 soundtrack all feature Menzel’s version of the song, but if that version itself isn’t far enough over the top, the album also sports a cover from Panic! At the Disco, with frontman Brendon Urie repeatedly shrieking the central motif at the very top of his — and humanity’s — vocal range.

It’s all very showy and attention-grabbing. But that doesn’t make it the album’s best song.

As a musical theater nerd, I personally get annoyed whenever lyrics feel repetitive or time-biding — that is, when they seem to exist just to fill out a line, or when they say something generically relatable but not character-specific. The Frozen songwriting team usually avoids those traps. (Robert Lopez co-created Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon, while he and Anderson-Lopez also did songs for Disney’s Coco and the Broadway version of Frozen.) But “Into the Unknown” has a few lyrics that fall flat, like “some look for trouble while others don’t” and “Ignore your whispers, which I wish would go away.” It’s fine, but compared to the tight, character-building lyrics of “Let It Go” — “a kingdom of isolation and it looks like I’m the queen” — it’s not nearly as satisfying.

The other detail that makes “Into the Unknown” less effective for me is that it’s overly packed with drama. If we assess how well the Frozen movies function within the constraints of the musical theater genre — where songs must drive plot and/or provide important character revelations — then “Into the Unknown,” like “Let It Go,” is a “want song.” It arrives early in the plot and reveals the heroine’s inner desire for something new, thus providing the motive that will propel the rest of the storyline. But “Into the Unknown” gives away too much, too early, both structurally and theatrically. High notes spell out drama, which is why “Let It Go” really only has one good one. Too many high notes too often, and the drama becomes less effective.

Think of “Into the Unknown” in terms of the function it serves in Frozen 2’s overall story. In fact, let’s consider in the context of a Broadway show that the first Frozen film has a lot in common with, Wicked.

In Wicked, the want song — the equivalent to Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown” — is “The Wizard and I.” It’s followed by the big exciting number that closes the first act, “Defying Gravity.” And then later, there’s the “eleven o’clock number”: the late-in-the-second-act showstopper that marks as a crucial character turning point or climax. In Wicked, that’s “No Good Deed.” Each of these songs has one or two dramatic points, but they work because they aren’t all high-intensity all the time.

Perhaps because an animated movie like Frozen 2 doesn’t have as much room to steadily build drama through multiple songs, it seems to have overloaded on drama in one big early number with “Into the Unknown.” But that makes the song less exciting for me than it may be for others.

At first, my pick for best song went to Kristoff’s solo number, “Lost in the Woods” — but upon reflection, I think I was just glad Jonathan Groff finally got a chance to really sing in a Frozen movie. (He’s probably best known now for Manhunter, but before that, he found fame originating Broadway roles in Spring Awakening and Hamilton.) After a few listens, “Lost in the Woods” starts to feel too generic. Any character could sing these lyrics at any time — which is great if you want a song to be a pop hit, but disappointing as a character-builder for Kristoff. It doesn’t help that the out-of-place ’80s rock instrumentation gives the song an REO Speedwagon-y, Peter Cetera ”Glory of Love”-era vibe. Nothing against the Speedwagon, but it doesn’t quite mesh with Kristoff’s 19th-century Norwegian ice-harvester aesthetic.

Basically, I want good musical scores to give me specific, interesting character development through interesting songs that propel the plot — high notes optional. That’s why “I Seek the Truth,” Anna and Elsa’s duet from the outtakes section of the deluxe edition, is probably the Frozen 2 song I’d take with me to a desert island. It’s a beautiful duet with insights into both characters, and it’s one of the more complex songs in the score. (In general, the “outtake” songs are collectively the score’s strongest group of songs, and I wish the movie had had room for them!)

But if the outtakes don’t count, then after many listens, I’ve decided that the best song from the Frozen 2 score is “Show Yourself,” which Elsa sings when she apparently reaches the end of her quest and locates the source of the “disembodied voice” she’s been following. Menzel and Wood get a gorgeous duet in this number, with Wood appearing to attach a definable spirit to the incorporeal voice performed by Aurora in the earlier “Into the Unknown.”

“Show Yourself” also has plenty of suspense and excitement, but at this point in the story, that intensity level feels more earned than it does on “Into the Unknown,” and the duet is thrilling.

Of course, we don’t yet know which song works best in the movie itself. Perhaps, in context, Josh Gad’s songs as Olaf the Snowman will win the day! One thing is a given, however: This weekend, movie theaters will be full of Frozen fans wanting to experience these songs in their full glory. And I’ll be right there with them, heading into the mostly known experience of Frozen 2.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2OwJXZI

[shanedakotamuir]

The Frozen 2 soundtrack: a guide to the best songs

Disney

The best songs from Frozen 2 are the ones that didn’t make it into the movie. Sorry, “Into the Unknown.”

It’s not an exaggeration to say the release of the Frozen 2 soundtrack this past weekend — just ahead of Frozen 2’s November 22 release date — counts as an event. Not since the heyday of Disney’s ’90s animated musicals has a film soundtrack had such high expectations to live up to.

Sales of the original Frozen soundtrack blew away all other competitors when it was released in late November 2013 (just a few days before the film itself); it then went on to reign as the No. 1 album of 2014. At the 2014 Oscars, “Let It Go” won Best Original Song; the next year, at the 2015 Grammys, the album won Best Compilation Soundtrack, garnering Robert Lopez — who wrote all of Frozen’s songs with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez — the rare EGOT distinction. (The pair is credited with writing the entire Frozen 2 soundtrack as well.)

Oh, and if you had younger kids, your kids were probably obsessed with it. In 2014, Frozen was everywhere: The film itself grossed a staggering $1.27 billion worldwide, and the film’s fandom was so eager for more that it drove over $5 billion in retail sales of related Frozen merchandise — just in 2014 alone. Not only that, but five years after the film’s release, the soundtrack was still on the CD sales charts. That’s some heavy lifting.

So does the new Frozen 2 soundtrack hold up to all that hype? Yeah, pretty much.

The Frozen 2 soundtrack has just seven new songs — plus a reprise, several covers, and a few “outtakes.” But there’s a lot to explore.

The Frozen 2 soundtrack boasts the soundtrack versions of its seven totally new songs as well as covers of those songs by artists Kacey Musgraves, Panic! At the Disco, and Weezer. Both Kristen Bell, who voices Princess Anna, and Jonathan Groff, who plays her boyfriend Kristoff, get songs of their own. (There’s also a teensy reprise of the Groffsauce classic “Reindeer(s) are Better Than People.”) The soundtrack also comes with a few surprises — most pleasantly, the revelation that Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood, a new addition to Frozen cast, has a great singing voice. (Fun fact for Broadway buffs: Wood is in a band with guitarist Zane Carney, brother of Hadestown’s Reeve Carney.)

Wood plays Queen Iduna, Elsa and Anna’s late mother. Apparently, her spirit is still alive and kicking, and in the Frozen 2 soundtrack’s opening number, “All Is Found,” she gets a beautiful refrain — “where the north wind meets the sea / there’s a river full of memory” — that recurs throughout other songs and the film’s score. Musgraves covers this song, and it’s just lovely.

If you already know you love Frozen, you’ll specifically want to seek out the “deluxe” version of the soundtrack, which contains a few more songs listed as “outtakes.” These songs — which were apparently all cut before they made it into the movie — include extra solos for Anna and Kristoff, and a gorgeous duet, “I Seek the Truth,” between songwriter Anderson-Lopez and Patti Murin, who originated the role of Anna in Frozen on Broadway.

The best of the outtakes is “Get This Right,” a fun, conversational duet between a self-doubting Kristoff and an ever-adventurous Anna, which doubles as a kind of spiritual sequel and answer to Frozen’s “Love Is an Open Door.”

Oh, and here’s the best part if you like to sing along: The deluxe soundtrack contains with instrumental — a.k.a. karaoke — versions of all the songs.

Let go of the idea that there’s a new “Let It Go” on the Frozen 2 soundtrack

The centerpiece of the new soundtrack, however, is clearly meant to be “Into the Unknown.” It’s the showcase song for Broadway superstar Idina Menzel, who plays, Elsa. But is it the diva power number that fans of “Let It Go” have been wanting?

Eh. I’m leaning toward “no.”

Menzel earned her superstar rep for belting into the stratosphere on songs like Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” and Frozen’s “Let It Go,” and Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown” seems to take off the musical gloves and let her fling high notes left and right as Elsa wrestles with restlessness and the call of a new adventure. She’s joined in the chorus by Norwegian pop artist Aurora, who voices an eerie incorporeal voice that’s been summoning Elsa out into the snowy wilderness.

Audio ads for the Frozen 2 soundtrack all feature Menzel’s version of the song, but if that version itself isn’t far enough over the top, the album also sports a cover from Panic! At the Disco, with frontman Brendon Urie repeatedly shrieking the central motif at the very top of his — and humanity’s — vocal range.

It’s all very showy and attention-grabbing. But that doesn’t make it the album’s best song.

As a musical theater nerd, I personally get annoyed whenever lyrics feel repetitive or time-biding — that is, when they seem to exist just to fill out a line, or when they say something generically relatable but not character-specific. The Frozen songwriting team usually avoids those traps. (Robert Lopez co-created Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon, while he and Anderson-Lopez also did songs for Disney’s Coco and the Broadway version of Frozen.) But “Into the Unknown” has a few lyrics that fall flat, like “some look for trouble while others don’t” and “Ignore your whispers, which I wish would go away.” It’s fine, but compared to the tight, character-building lyrics of “Let It Go” — “a kingdom of isolation and it looks like I’m the queen” — it’s not nearly as satisfying.

The other detail that makes “Into the Unknown” less effective for me is that it’s overly packed with drama. If we assess how well the Frozen movies function within the constraints of the musical theater genre — where songs must drive plot and/or provide important character revelations — then “Into the Unknown,” like “Let It Go,” is a “want song.” It arrives early in the plot and reveals the heroine’s inner desire for something new, thus providing the motive that will propel the rest of the storyline. But “Into the Unknown” gives away too much, too early, both structurally and theatrically. High notes spell out drama, which is why “Let It Go” really only has one good one. Too many high notes too often, and the drama becomes less effective.

Think of “Into the Unknown” in terms of the function it serves in Frozen 2’s overall story. In fact, let’s consider in the context of a Broadway show that the first Frozen film has a lot in common with, Wicked.

In Wicked, the want song — the equivalent to Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown” — is “The Wizard and I.” It’s followed by the big exciting number that closes the first act, “Defying Gravity.” And then later, there’s the “eleven o’clock number”: the late-in-the-second-act showstopper that marks as a crucial character turning point or climax. In Wicked, that’s “No Good Deed.” Each of these songs has one or two dramatic points, but they work because they aren’t all high-intensity all the time.

Perhaps because an animated movie like Frozen 2 doesn’t have as much room to steadily build drama through multiple songs, it seems to have overloaded on drama in one big early number with “Into the Unknown.” But that makes the song less exciting for me than it may be for others.

At first, my pick for best song went to Kristoff’s solo number, “Lost in the Woods” — but upon reflection, I think I was just glad Jonathan Groff finally got a chance to really sing in a Frozen movie. (He’s probably best known now for Manhunter, but before that, he found fame originating Broadway roles in Spring Awakening and Hamilton.) After a few listens, “Lost in the Woods” starts to feel too generic. Any character could sing these lyrics at any time — which is great if you want a song to be a pop hit, but disappointing as a character-builder for Kristoff. It doesn’t help that the out-of-place ’80s rock instrumentation gives the song an REO Speedwagon-y, Peter Cetera ”Glory of Love”-era vibe. Nothing against the Speedwagon, but it doesn’t quite mesh with Kristoff’s 19th-century Norwegian ice-harvester aesthetic.

Basically, I want good musical scores to give me specific, interesting character development through interesting songs that propel the plot — high notes optional. That’s why “I Seek the Truth,” Anna and Elsa’s duet from the outtakes section of the deluxe edition, is probably the Frozen 2 song I’d take with me to a desert island. It’s a beautiful duet with insights into both characters, and it’s one of the more complex songs in the score. (In general, the “outtake” songs are collectively the score’s strongest group of songs, and I wish the movie had had room for them!)

But if the outtakes don’t count, then after many listens, I’ve decided that the best song from the Frozen 2 score is “Show Yourself,” which Elsa sings when she apparently reaches the end of her quest and locates the source of the “disembodied voice” she’s been following. Menzel and Wood get a gorgeous duet in this number, with Wood appearing to attach a definable spirit to the incorporeal voice performed by Aurora in the earlier “Into the Unknown.”

“Show Yourself” also has plenty of suspense and excitement, but at this point in the story, that intensity level feels more earned than it does on “Into the Unknown,” and the duet is thrilling.

Of course, we don’t yet know which song works best in the movie itself. Perhaps, in context, Josh Gad’s songs as Olaf the Snowman will win the day! One thing is a given, however: This weekend, movie theaters will be full of Frozen fans wanting to experience these songs in their full glory. And I’ll be right there with them, heading into the mostly known experience of Frozen 2.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2OwJXZI

[corneliusreignallen]

The Frozen 2 soundtrack: a guide to the best songs

Disney

The best songs from Frozen 2 are the ones that didn’t make it into the movie. Sorry, “Into the Unknown.”

It’s not an exaggeration to say the release of the Frozen 2 soundtrack this past weekend — just ahead of Frozen 2’s November 22 release date — counts as an event. Not since the heyday of Disney’s ’90s animated musicals has a film soundtrack had such high expectations to live up to.

Sales of the original Frozen soundtrack blew away all other competitors when it was released in late November 2013 (just a few days before the film itself); it then went on to reign as the No. 1 album of 2014. At the 2014 Oscars, “Let It Go” won Best Original Song; the next year, at the 2015 Grammys, the album won Best Compilation Soundtrack, garnering Robert Lopez — who wrote all of Frozen’s songs with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez — the rare EGOT distinction. (The pair is credited with writing the entire Frozen 2 soundtrack as well.)

Oh, and if you had younger kids, your kids were probably obsessed with it. In 2014, Frozen was everywhere: The film itself grossed a staggering $1.27 billion worldwide, and the film’s fandom was so eager for more that it drove over $5 billion in retail sales of related Frozen merchandise — just in 2014 alone. Not only that, but five years after the film’s release, the soundtrack was still on the CD sales charts. That’s some heavy lifting.

So does the new Frozen 2 soundtrack hold up to all that hype? Yeah, pretty much.

The Frozen 2 soundtrack has just seven new songs — plus a reprise, several covers, and a few “outtakes.” But there’s a lot to explore.

The Frozen 2 soundtrack boasts the soundtrack versions of its seven totally new songs as well as covers of those songs by artists Kacey Musgraves, Panic! At the Disco, and Weezer. Both Kristen Bell, who voices Princess Anna, and Jonathan Groff, who plays her boyfriend Kristoff, get songs of their own. (There’s also a teensy reprise of the Groffsauce classic “Reindeer(s) are Better Than People.”) The soundtrack also comes with a few surprises — most pleasantly, the revelation that Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood, a new addition to Frozen cast, has a great singing voice. (Fun fact for Broadway buffs: Wood is in a band with guitarist Zane Carney, brother of Hadestown’s Reeve Carney.)

Wood plays Queen Iduna, Elsa and Anna’s late mother. Apparently, her spirit is still alive and kicking, and in the Frozen 2 soundtrack’s opening number, “All Is Found,” she gets a beautiful refrain — “where the north wind meets the sea / there’s a river full of memory” — that recurs throughout other songs and the film’s score. Musgraves covers this song, and it’s just lovely.

If you already know you love Frozen, you’ll specifically want to seek out the “deluxe” version of the soundtrack, which contains a few more songs listed as “outtakes.” These songs — which were apparently all cut before they made it into the movie — include extra solos for Anna and Kristoff, and a gorgeous duet, “I Seek the Truth,” between songwriter Anderson-Lopez and Patti Murin, who originated the role of Anna in Frozen on Broadway.

The best of the outtakes is “Get This Right,” a fun, conversational duet between a self-doubting Kristoff and an ever-adventurous Anna, which doubles as a kind of spiritual sequel and answer to Frozen’s “Love Is an Open Door.”

Oh, and here’s the best part if you like to sing along: The deluxe soundtrack contains with instrumental — a.k.a. karaoke — versions of all the songs.

Let go of the idea that there’s a new “Let It Go” on the Frozen 2 soundtrack

The centerpiece of the new soundtrack, however, is clearly meant to be “Into the Unknown.” It’s the showcase song for Broadway superstar Idina Menzel, who plays, Elsa. But is it the diva power number that fans of “Let It Go” have been wanting?

Eh. I’m leaning toward “no.”

Menzel earned her superstar rep for belting into the stratosphere on songs like Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” and Frozen’s “Let It Go,” and Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown” seems to take off the musical gloves and let her fling high notes left and right as Elsa wrestles with restlessness and the call of a new adventure. She’s joined in the chorus by Norwegian pop artist Aurora, who voices an eerie incorporeal voice that’s been summoning Elsa out into the snowy wilderness.

Audio ads for the Frozen 2 soundtrack all feature Menzel’s version of the song, but if that version itself isn’t far enough over the top, the album also sports a cover from Panic! At the Disco, with frontman Brendon Urie repeatedly shrieking the central motif at the very top of his — and humanity’s — vocal range.

It’s all very showy and attention-grabbing. But that doesn’t make it the album’s best song.

As a musical theater nerd, I personally get annoyed whenever lyrics feel repetitive or time-biding — that is, when they seem to exist just to fill out a line, or when they say something generically relatable but not character-specific. The Frozen songwriting team usually avoids those traps. (Robert Lopez co-created Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon, while he and Anderson-Lopez also did songs for Disney’s Coco and the Broadway version of Frozen.) But “Into the Unknown” has a few lyrics that fall flat, like “some look for trouble while others don’t” and “Ignore your whispers, which I wish would go away.” It’s fine, but compared to the tight, character-building lyrics of “Let It Go” — “a kingdom of isolation and it looks like I’m the queen” — it’s not nearly as satisfying.

The other detail that makes “Into the Unknown” less effective for me is that it’s overly packed with drama. If we assess how well the Frozen movies function within the constraints of the musical theater genre — where songs must drive plot and/or provide important character revelations — then “Into the Unknown,” like “Let It Go,” is a “want song.” It arrives early in the plot and reveals the heroine’s inner desire for something new, thus providing the motive that will propel the rest of the storyline. But “Into the Unknown” gives away too much, too early, both structurally and theatrically. High notes spell out drama, which is why “Let It Go” really only has one good one. Too many high notes too often, and the drama becomes less effective.

Think of “Into the Unknown” in terms of the function it serves in Frozen 2’s overall story. In fact, let’s consider in the context of a Broadway show that the first Frozen film has a lot in common with, Wicked.

In Wicked, the want song — the equivalent to Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown” — is “The Wizard and I.” It’s followed by the big exciting number that closes the first act, “Defying Gravity.” And then later, there’s the “eleven o’clock number”: the late-in-the-second-act showstopper that marks as a crucial character turning point or climax. In Wicked, that’s “No Good Deed.” Each of these songs has one or two dramatic points, but they work because they aren’t all high-intensity all the time.

Perhaps because an animated movie like Frozen 2 doesn’t have as much room to steadily build drama through multiple songs, it seems to have overloaded on drama in one big early number with “Into the Unknown.” But that makes the song less exciting for me than it may be for others.

At first, my pick for best song went to Kristoff’s solo number, “Lost in the Woods” — but upon reflection, I think I was just glad Jonathan Groff finally got a chance to really sing in a Frozen movie. (He’s probably best known now for Manhunter, but before that, he found fame originating Broadway roles in Spring Awakening and Hamilton.) After a few listens, “Lost in the Woods” starts to feel too generic. Any character could sing these lyrics at any time — which is great if you want a song to be a pop hit, but disappointing as a character-builder for Kristoff. It doesn’t help that the out-of-place ’80s rock instrumentation gives the song an REO Speedwagon-y, Peter Cetera ”Glory of Love”-era vibe. Nothing against the Speedwagon, but it doesn’t quite mesh with Kristoff’s 19th-century Norwegian ice-harvester aesthetic.

Basically, I want good musical scores to give me specific, interesting character development through interesting songs that propel the plot — high notes optional. That’s why “I Seek the Truth,” Anna and Elsa’s duet from the outtakes section of the deluxe edition, is probably the Frozen 2 song I’d take with me to a desert island. It’s a beautiful duet with insights into both characters, and it’s one of the more complex songs in the score. (In general, the “outtake” songs are collectively the score’s strongest group of songs, and I wish the movie had had room for them!)

But if the outtakes don’t count, then after many listens, I’ve decided that the best song from the Frozen 2 score is “Show Yourself,” which Elsa sings when she apparently reaches the end of her quest and locates the source of the “disembodied voice” she’s been following. Menzel and Wood get a gorgeous duet in this number, with Wood appearing to attach a definable spirit to the incorporeal voice performed by Aurora in the earlier “Into the Unknown.”

“Show Yourself” also has plenty of suspense and excitement, but at this point in the story, that intensity level feels more earned than it does on “Into the Unknown,” and the duet is thrilling.

Of course, we don’t yet know which song works best in the movie itself. Perhaps, in context, Josh Gad’s songs as Olaf the Snowman will win the day! One thing is a given, however: This weekend, movie theaters will be full of Frozen fans wanting to experience these songs in their full glory. And I’ll be right there with them, heading into the mostly known experience of Frozen 2.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2OwJXZI

[gracieyvonnehunter]

The Frozen 2 soundtrack: a guide to the best songs

Disney

The best songs from Frozen 2 are the ones that didn’t make it into the movie. Sorry, “Into the Unknown.”

It’s not an exaggeration to say the release of the Frozen 2 soundtrack this past weekend — just ahead of Frozen 2’s November 22 release date — counts as an event. Not since the heyday of Disney’s ’90s animated musicals has a film soundtrack had such high expectations to live up to.

Sales of the original Frozen soundtrack blew away all other competitors when it was released in late November 2013 (just a few days before the film itself); it then went on to reign as the No. 1 album of 2014. At the 2014 Oscars, “Let It Go” won Best Original Song; the next year, at the 2015 Grammys, the album won Best Compilation Soundtrack, garnering Robert Lopez — who wrote all of Frozen’s songs with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez — the rare EGOT distinction. (The pair is credited with writing the entire Frozen 2 soundtrack as well.)

Oh, and if you had younger kids, your kids were probably obsessed with it. In 2014, Frozen was everywhere: The film itself grossed a staggering $1.27 billion worldwide, and the film’s fandom was so eager for more that it drove over $5 billion in retail sales of related Frozen merchandise — just in 2014 alone. Not only that, but five years after the film’s release, the soundtrack was still on the CD sales charts. That’s some heavy lifting.

So does the new Frozen 2 soundtrack hold up to all that hype? Yeah, pretty much.

The Frozen 2 soundtrack has just seven new songs — plus a reprise, several covers, and a few “outtakes.” But there’s a lot to explore.

The Frozen 2 soundtrack boasts the soundtrack versions of its seven totally new songs as well as covers of those songs by artists Kacey Musgraves, Panic! At the Disco, and Weezer. Both Kristen Bell, who voices Princess Anna, and Jonathan Groff, who plays her boyfriend Kristoff, get songs of their own. (There’s also a teensy reprise of the Groffsauce classic “Reindeer(s) are Better Than People.”) The soundtrack also comes with a few surprises — most pleasantly, the revelation that Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood, a new addition to Frozen cast, has a great singing voice. (Fun fact for Broadway buffs: Wood is in a band with guitarist Zane Carney, brother of Hadestown’s Reeve Carney.)

Wood plays Queen Iduna, Elsa and Anna’s late mother. Apparently, her spirit is still alive and kicking, and in the Frozen 2 soundtrack’s opening number, “All Is Found,” she gets a beautiful refrain — “where the north wind meets the sea / there’s a river full of memory” — that recurs throughout other songs and the film’s score. Musgraves covers this song, and it’s just lovely.

If you already know you love Frozen, you’ll specifically want to seek out the “deluxe” version of the soundtrack, which contains a few more songs listed as “outtakes.” These songs — which were apparently all cut before they made it into the movie — include extra solos for Anna and Kristoff, and a gorgeous duet, “I Seek the Truth,” between songwriter Anderson-Lopez and Patti Murin, who originated the role of Anna in Frozen on Broadway.

The best of the outtakes is “Get This Right,” a fun, conversational duet between a self-doubting Kristoff and an ever-adventurous Anna, which doubles as a kind of spiritual sequel and answer to Frozen’s “Love Is an Open Door.”

Oh, and here’s the best part if you like to sing along: The deluxe soundtrack contains with instrumental — a.k.a. karaoke — versions of all the songs.

Let go of the idea that there’s a new “Let It Go” on the Frozen 2 soundtrack

The centerpiece of the new soundtrack, however, is clearly meant to be “Into the Unknown.” It’s the showcase song for Broadway superstar Idina Menzel, who plays, Elsa. But is it the diva power number that fans of “Let It Go” have been wanting?

Eh. I’m leaning toward “no.”

Menzel earned her superstar rep for belting into the stratosphere on songs like Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” and Frozen’s “Let It Go,” and Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown” seems to take off the musical gloves and let her fling high notes left and right as Elsa wrestles with restlessness and the call of a new adventure. She’s joined in the chorus by Norwegian pop artist Aurora, who voices an eerie incorporeal voice that’s been summoning Elsa out into the snowy wilderness.

Audio ads for the Frozen 2 soundtrack all feature Menzel’s version of the song, but if that version itself isn’t far enough over the top, the album also sports a cover from Panic! At the Disco, with frontman Brendon Urie repeatedly shrieking the central motif at the very top of his — and humanity’s — vocal range.

It’s all very showy and attention-grabbing. But that doesn’t make it the album’s best song.

As a musical theater nerd, I personally get annoyed whenever lyrics feel repetitive or time-biding — that is, when they seem to exist just to fill out a line, or when they say something generically relatable but not character-specific. The Frozen songwriting team usually avoids those traps. (Robert Lopez co-created Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon, while he and Anderson-Lopez also did songs for Disney’s Coco and the Broadway version of Frozen.) But “Into the Unknown” has a few lyrics that fall flat, like “some look for trouble while others don’t” and “Ignore your whispers, which I wish would go away.” It’s fine, but compared to the tight, character-building lyrics of “Let It Go” — “a kingdom of isolation and it looks like I’m the queen” — it’s not nearly as satisfying.

The other detail that makes “Into the Unknown” less effective for me is that it’s overly packed with drama. If we assess how well the Frozen movies function within the constraints of the musical theater genre — where songs must drive plot and/or provide important character revelations — then “Into the Unknown,” like “Let It Go,” is a “want song.” It arrives early in the plot and reveals the heroine’s inner desire for something new, thus providing the motive that will propel the rest of the storyline. But “Into the Unknown” gives away too much, too early, both structurally and theatrically. High notes spell out drama, which is why “Let It Go” really only has one good one. Too many high notes too often, and the drama becomes less effective.

Think of “Into the Unknown” in terms of the function it serves in Frozen 2’s overall story. In fact, let’s consider in the context of a Broadway show that the first Frozen film has a lot in common with, Wicked.

In Wicked, the want song — the equivalent to Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown” — is “The Wizard and I.” It’s followed by the big exciting number that closes the first act, “Defying Gravity.” And then later, there’s the “eleven o’clock number”: the late-in-the-second-act showstopper that marks as a crucial character turning point or climax. In Wicked, that’s “No Good Deed.” Each of these songs has one or two dramatic points, but they work because they aren’t all high-intensity all the time.

Perhaps because an animated movie like Frozen 2 doesn’t have as much room to steadily build drama through multiple songs, it seems to have overloaded on drama in one big early number with “Into the Unknown.” But that makes the song less exciting for me than it may be for others.

At first, my pick for best song went to Kristoff’s solo number, “Lost in the Woods” — but upon reflection, I think I was just glad Jonathan Groff finally got a chance to really sing in a Frozen movie. (He’s probably best known now for Manhunter, but before that, he found fame originating Broadway roles in Spring Awakening and Hamilton.) After a few listens, “Lost in the Woods” starts to feel too generic. Any character could sing these lyrics at any time — which is great if you want a song to be a pop hit, but disappointing as a character-builder for Kristoff. It doesn’t help that the out-of-place ’80s rock instrumentation gives the song an REO Speedwagon-y, Peter Cetera ”Glory of Love”-era vibe. Nothing against the Speedwagon, but it doesn’t quite mesh with Kristoff’s 19th-century Norwegian ice-harvester aesthetic.

Basically, I want good musical scores to give me specific, interesting character development through interesting songs that propel the plot — high notes optional. That’s why “I Seek the Truth,” Anna and Elsa’s duet from the outtakes section of the deluxe edition, is probably the Frozen 2 song I’d take with me to a desert island. It’s a beautiful duet with insights into both characters, and it’s one of the more complex songs in the score. (In general, the “outtake” songs are collectively the score’s strongest group of songs, and I wish the movie had had room for them!)

But if the outtakes don’t count, then after many listens, I’ve decided that the best song from the Frozen 2 score is “Show Yourself,” which Elsa sings when she apparently reaches the end of her quest and locates the source of the “disembodied voice” she’s been following. Menzel and Wood get a gorgeous duet in this number, with Wood appearing to attach a definable spirit to the incorporeal voice performed by Aurora in the earlier “Into the Unknown.”

“Show Yourself” also has plenty of suspense and excitement, but at this point in the story, that intensity level feels more earned than it does on “Into the Unknown,” and the duet is thrilling.

Of course, we don’t yet know which song works best in the movie itself. Perhaps, in context, Josh Gad’s songs as Olaf the Snowman will win the day! One thing is a given, however: This weekend, movie theaters will be full of Frozen fans wanting to experience these songs in their full glory. And I’ll be right there with them, heading into the mostly known experience of Frozen 2.

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

CHAPTER NINE: The Dark Mark

Of course, they’re not going to tell Mrs Weasley they’ve been gambling, remember what happened the last time she found out about something?

Also, was that really the last we saw of the ton-tongue candy? Did they have the good sense to save at least one in their room for later? I suppose they couldn’t risk Mrs Weasley searching their room for more stuff again

“Mr Weasley looked for a moment as though he was going to ask what these big plans were, but seemed to decide, upon reflection, that he didn’t want to know.” Good thinking Mr Weasley, you can’t get yelled at if you claim you didn’t know about anything

I wonder what the “odd echoing bang” was

Yeah it must suck for all those ministry wizards who are currently on duty

Oh, so Oliver Wood had actually shown them some of the moves that Harry saw at the match, except for the Wronski Feint apparently

Oh, people wearing hoods with their faces masked? What’s going on?

Also, in the fourth movie, the death eaters had hooded robes that were very similar to the ones the Ku Klux Klan used, which made a lot more sense than the death eater robes that they used in the later movies… maybe they didn’t want people who wanted to dress like death eaters to dress like KKK members and that’s why they changed them for the later movies

Ugh, I hate this part

“Two of the figures were very small.” Somehow this sentence didn’t scare before me as much as it does now

Oh my gosh, poor Mr Roberts, as if he hasn’t been through enough

Jeez, this whole scene is really making me sick… I think I might’ve either read it without absorbing it or just blocked it out of my memory in the past, good God

Just “get into the woods and wait”? Seriously?? I guess Mr Weasley didn’t really have a better plan at that moment

How has this continued to happen for who knows how long?? Where are the ministry wizards?? Do they not take shifts to prevent this kind of stuff happening?

Oh come on Malfoy, now is really not the time, though I guess he doesn’t care since his father is part of the crowd that’s abusing the Roberts family

I guess it’s better to be lost and in a group than to be lost and alone

“Ogwarts” lol

‘Oh… yeah… right,’ This is just Harry for at least 80% of this series

Oh shit, what?? He lost his wand?? Maybe it’s back at the tent?

Huh, Winky the house-elf is running in a way that looks like someone is restraining her but they’re invisible?? See, if I was Ron, I would’ve immediately assumed that there was someone invisible with her, since that is definitely a possibility and I wouldn’t have asked what was up with her, especially since my best friend has an invisibility cloak, and invisibility charms are not unheard of in general

Ok yes, I suppose it could’ve been too that she was instructed to stay in the tent and that she was trying to make it difficult for herself to get away since she was disobeying orders

Yes, Hermione is absolutely in more danger than you guys are Harry

Yeah, I’d be feeling awful too if I’d left my wand in the tent in this situation

Oh, so Bagman ran away after hearing what was happening? Why am I not surprised

Also, did Bagman not see the hundreds of other people who ran into the woods?

I’ll bet Mr Bagman is missing the glory days when he was a beater for the Wimbourne Wasps… if the fact that he was wearing his old Quidditch robes was any indication

Trust the golden trio to decide to rest exactly where the dark mark is going to be cast, and trust that the culprit will use Harry’s wand to cast it, by complete coincidence of course

I feel like Morsmordre is an anagram for something… I’m just going to google it

Ok so it basically means “death bite” in Latin and French, “mother killers” in Norwegian, and it sounds like the words ‘mass murder’... interesting… but not an anagram

Alright, shit has officially hit the ceiling

Soooo… when the dark mark has been cast, how do they get it out of the sky? Is there a specific spell to use or do they just wait for daylight to break

The Dark Mark relates directly to Harry, yet he knows nothing about it… I know he’s in history books and stuff, has he really not been that interested in knowing about himself and how he fits into those history books? Is Quidditch really that much more interesting

I always find it so funny that Hermione knows so much more about the wizarding world than Harry, despite being a muggle, but then I remembered reading a post about how it’s obvious that Hermione knows more than the regular wizard since it’s so interesting to find out all this new information and that any one of us could’ve been the same way, had we been given a chance to go to Hogwarts too

At least Harry thinks on his feet

If the wizards are surrounding them, didn’t they stop to think that they might hit each other before yelling “stupefy”?

Why would some teenagers conjure the dark mark? I know teenagers can be stupid, but they’re not really that stupid, are they?

Interesting, Mr Crouch strode off to the place where they found Winky...

She had a wand???

Also, why isn’t the trio telling them about the kind of voice that said the spell??

“Winky began to rock backward and forward on the ground, her breath coming in sharp bursts. Harry was reminded forcibly of Dobby in his moments of terrified disobedience.” That’s an interesting observation

Poor Winky

TGFH, I was wondering when she was going to speak up about the kind of voice they heard say the incantation

Even if you discover that the last spell the wand performed was the one that conjured the dark mark, that doesn’t mean Winky did it

Haha tip to tip

That’s true, to accuse the house-elf would be to accuse Mr Crouch

Or, they could’ve used Harry’s wand because they didn’t have their own wand… for whatever reason…

Ooh, she saw someone… she knows something…

I mean, at least Winky is free of Mr Crouch now, but I suppose she doesn’t exactly see it that way

Wow I wonder how many more people were still lost, and how many more people lost their tents and didn’t have a place to stay at all

Lol Percy deserved Hermione snapping back at him

Ok, 1) how does Ron not know about the dark mark, but Hermione does and 2) after Hermione said that it’s Voldemort’s mark, WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MEANT RON?

That’s true, ok, Ron doesn’t understand that it’s not just a mark, he doesn’t get the gravity of the situation

Lol, what? It scared the death eaters away?? What a bunch of morons… That shows you the kind of people who join the ranks of death eaters

Oh yes, please explain what Death Eaters are Mr Weasley, I forgot we don’t actually know about them yet

Also, Morsmordre means death bite and death eaters are Voldemort’s followers… he’s really going for that ‘death’ theme very hard, isn’t he? I mean, even Voldemort means ‘flight of death’ in french… eating death, biting death, flying with death… very on the nose

Ironic how Voldemort’s followers are more scared than regular people to see him come back

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about his scar burning… and now the dark mark? At the risk of sounding like Hermione, Harry, you better tell someone…

Chapter 10