half agony, half hope

BothIsGood.gif! [shipping meme] 

there’s something there about a pirate as a werewolf, recognized for being dangerous and not for being free, and how knowledge can be used to trap and find and control rather than uplift...

so uh, Hamin is a lovely beautiful werewolf and Hana is a surprisingly effective hunter for how waif-like she usually appears.

So apparently Jiyel is for Hunters? Lyon refuses to hunt people. Or things. Which he thinks are people even if no one else says so. He’s supposed to, obviously, but he won’t. 

And there is something very satisfying about a Princess who is only recognized for a certain sort of value, always being locked up and looked at and never trusted, that resonates with the best sort of werewolf myths.

Hamin would be very angry if we didn’t let him be the sailor, and Hana is delighted at the thought of being able to swim everywhere and anywhere with the flick of her own shimmery tail.

Lyon dislikes this question immensely and refuses to cooperate.

Theodora wants to be a mermaid because that means Constance might get to be a mermaid too, some day, and that is such a better future for her than where she is right now.

Hamin promises to be a very Nice Kitty and Never Interrupt while Hana is researching new spells.

(They both know he’s lying.)

Theodora isn’t even going to pretend, she will knock all Lyon’s books off all their shelves if he forgets to eat.

Again.

Hamin makes everything except coffee just to make Hana yell. It’s hilarious.

(He knows he’s gone too far when she pours iced berry tea over his head. Everything is red for forever.)

There is not enough coffee in the world to keep Lyon up for as long as he thinks he ought to be able to stay up.

Theodora really does try to pour that much though, just for him. :D

I’m sorry, Lyon is already the professor, obviously. (And both adorable and supportive about it. I wish I’d had a few teachers like him.) 

The other three are all TA’s, and are varying degrees of helpful and chaotic, depending on their moods. :D

Theodora never wants to be just a Princess ever again, and Hamin thinks Knights are deadly dull, so I think they’re going to run away and join the circus instead. (Hana is absolutely coming too.)

Lyon will begrudgingly agree to sit in the audience, but he quite enjoys supporting Theodora so no one quite falls for the grumpy face.

Oh no, any combination of them I’m tempted to think those poor children *laughs*

Lyon is a lovely teacher again though? I think he’d be patient with children in a way he refuses to be for adults who should know better. He is slightly better with the older kids who can engage in something more like a conversation though; Hana’s pretty great with the younger kids, she insists they all learn by playing as much as possible.

(I think I just made Hamin & Theodora both single parents? They put on brave faces for their kids, but they’re both very sad in the middle of the night when no one can see them. 😭)

Lyon is a very good editor. Hana & Theodora are both decent writers, Hamin refuses to take any suggestions ever about anything.

/but he also seldom writes, and prefers finding nice things and telling everyone else how brilliant his friends are for writing than doing it himself.

Hamin’s butler was clearly not as fastidious as Jasper. Or perhaps Hamin’s butler just couldn’t quite keep up with Hamin’s skill at disappearing? 

Hana wasn’t sure there were many people who could hold a candle to Jasper, in either his trade or his ability to discreetly fuss, not that she’d ever tell Jasper the second part of that. But still. She was sure Jasper would have managed to stop Hamin from appearing at dinner with faint black stains dancing across his fingers. 

“And what have you been up to?” Hana slid into the seat behind him, unable to hold in a smile as Hamin leaned in to brush against her shoulder as she settled. To be fair, she didn’t try very hard. (Hamin was a terrible influence on the previous formality of her manners; it was one of the many things she adored about him.) 

Hamin shrugged, and his smile softened, his head ducking down as if he knew he was giving away more than he usually did in public. 

He might not ever be formal, but his usual slapdash manners were as much a mask as the strict behavior her tutors had trained her in.

Tonight seemed to be exceptional for both of them. 

“It’s a surprise,” he murmured. “I hope you’ll like it.”

“I always like your surprises, haven’t you figured that out yet?”

His smile widened until his whole face lit up with it, even warmer and brighter than the sharp grins he gave away with each shift in the wind. “You are always the brightest treasure in any room, my Glitter.”

Hana scoffed, but she could feel the heat of a blush trying to bloom across her cheeks. She wanted to thank him, wanted to argue that he was the bright one, wanted to dismiss the praise as too much, wanted to kiss the corner of that smile, and see if he’d blush too. Instead she made herself focus on her dinner.

But she tilted her leg just enough to press a knee against his thigh, for just a breath, and he laughed softly, and she knew he understood.

He almost always understood.

He also kept this particular surprise a secret, all the way until the last night of the Summit, when he finally gave her his present, folded paper settled on her pillow for her to find.

I stole a poem for you, my treasure, because nothing I could say seemed to be enough. To the endless horizon that we’re going to chase together.

Early in the day it was whispered that we should sail in a boat,only thou and I, and never a soul in the world would know of this ourpilgrimage to no country and to no end.

In that shoreless ocean,at thy silently listening smile my songs would swell in melodies,free as waves, free from all bondage of words.

Is the time not come yet?Are there works still to do?Lo, the evening has come down upon the shoreand in the fading light the seabirds come flying to their nests.

Who knows when the chains will be off,and the boat, like the last glimmer of sunset,vanish into the night?

“I do not believe in ghosts.” Hana sniffed, while very carefully keeping her gaze down at the ground, watching carefully to keep her stride steady.

And not look for weird lights in the windows.

Or encourage Hamin to be even more … Hamin, than usual.

She could hear Hamin’s smile as he answered. “You said that already.”

“They are entirely illogical.”

“Said that too.”

She gave up and lifted her head to glare at him. “Why are you grinning, Hamin of Hise?”

“Whyever shouldn’t I, Miss Hanako of Jiyel?” He had the nerve to wink at her. “We’re having an adventure, aren’t we?”