Second submission for @laurenpiplupfluff2 for her characters Aurelis Surrett and Black Solstice. Hope y'all enjoy!
Red. Bright, warm, encasing red. Aurelis finds herself swirling in it, swimming but never moving out of place. She can't tell if this red matter is a case all on its own or if it is enclosed in glass. Not that it matters, though.
"Why are you so hard to catch?" she hears just to her right. Turning with difficulty, she sees a young man dressed all in a sleek black. He's leant against a desk, arms crossed. "Even with all of my red matter, you still managed to get away from me all night."
Aurelis blinks, "That was you?"
"Who else?" he scoffs, offended that she didn't remember. "I wasn't even after you. I was trying to get rid of that smugglers ringleader but you keep getting in my way."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Aurelis snaps, feeling hot and sweaty in the red matter bubble, "I could have helped you!"
"You were there to stop me," he answers, "Nothing I said I was going to change your mind."
"And this will?" she demands. She hates that she knows if he talked to her, she would change her mind. She's too embarrassed to tell him why she was following him that night.
"We're past that now."
He snaps his fingers and the red matter dissipates. Aurelis lands heavily on the floor, wind knocking from her lungs.
"Please, just let me go and I promise--"
A collar of red matter cinches around her neck. Gasping, she pulls at it frantically, but a long chain grows from the base of it. Link generates from link like a twisted vine made of metal. Soon, two red shackles clamp around her wrists. The weight of the vines keeps her pinned down.
Horrified, Aurelis shoots ice towards her dark captor. Caught off guard, he stumbles back as one of his hands in frozen to the desk surface.
The chains begin to dissolve. Aurelis wrenches to her knees, trying to stand. She shoots another two ice attacks at him. But [name] yanks on the chains at her wrists. The ice missiles wrench to the sides, harmless, as Aurelis collapses, her wrists screaming in pain.
By the time she can force herself through the pain, she feels the red matter swallowing her up again. Not fully, as only one of his hands is unfrozen. But it does hang over her like an unwelcome cocoon. Aurelis tries to shoot at the red matter but the ice crystals only wedge themselves in the rim of the red matter.
She hears him finally wrench his hand free from the glove she froze to the desk. "Yeesh, I was just going to chain you down. I thought you didn't like the red bubble."
"I don't," she hisses. "I just want to be treated like a person, not a fricking lava lamp."
He rubs his hand briskly, "You'd make a beautiful lava lamp," he sneers.
Aurelis feels confused, "No, I wouldn't. I shoot ice."
Sighing, he shakes his head. "Forget it."
Aurelis feels a little flutter in her stomach. She can't help looking towards his hand to make sure she didn't hurt him too much.
"You'd make a nice snow globe," she says.
He blinks at her, "...what?"
She's glad the red matter is concealing her blush, "Nothing. Never mind."
Is there a flush on his cheeks too? Or is the red matter just getting brighter?
A silence hovers in the air. Aurelis settles comfortably on her wrists. "So...can I get out now?"
"Ugh, not until you promise to stay out of my way."
She feels the collar tighten around her neck. "I wasn't trying to get in your way, dummy!"
"Then why were you following me?"
"I wanted to meet you!" And she buries her face in her arm. "Cuz you're just...you're so cool, I guess...?"
It's horrifically embarrassing to admit period but she had to make it worse.
"But I shouldn't have tried," she says, her throat tightening on its own now, "You're just a mean jerk."
The red matter around her softens. She feels the chains dissolve, though the collar remains in place.
She hears him approach her and kneel down. It takes several taps to her shoulder before she finally looks up. She sees his hand--the one she froze to the desk--extended towards her.
"Valerian. I'm...Valerian."
She frowns, watching his hand as if it's a trap. But at length, she places one of her hands, now unshackled, in his.
"Aurelis."
He helps her to her feet, but still holds her hand. "Just--promise you won't interfere when I'm working. It's dangerous."
She permits herself a smirk. "And I'm not?"
"That's why I'm asking," he says, leaning closer, "Aurelis."
The butterflies in her stomach explode in her chest. She doesn't know why he would care but hearing her name on his tongue somehow makes up for that.
writer(s): Martin Desmond Roe and Travon Free | artist and cover artist: Aremo Massa | publishing company: Dark Horse Books [Dark Horse Comics]
synopsis:
From the minds of Martin Desmond Roe and Travon Free, the Academy Award winning writing duo behind the film TWO DISTANT STRANGERS, comes a brand-new graphic novel!
Last winter solstice the whole world turned upside down when every single Black person gained a superpower that lasted exactly one day before disappearing entirely.
It's three days until the next solstice, and everyone on earth is anxiously holding their breath to see if it happens again. Everyone except the Wallace kid--they're betting their lives their powers will return and they plan to use them to change everything. . .for everyone.
Dark Horse Comics Announces “Black Solstice” from Travon Free, Martin Desmond Roe, and Aremo Massa
Dark Horse Comics has announced new graphic novel Black Solstice from writers Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe and artist Aremo Massa. Black Solstice is inspired by the December 21, 2020, event where “practically every Black person on Twitter started declaring, almost spontaneously, what superpower they were gonna get on the winter solstice.” (Travon Free - via Dark Horse Comics)
Last winter solstice “every Black person in America gained superpowers—powers that gave an unthinkable amount of hope, but then disappeared the following morning.” Now, three days before the next winter solstice, the nation is waiting to see if the powers will return. The Wallace siblings - Kesa, Quentin, and Deja - in the meantime are planning the “biggest heist in history, something that would change everything for Black people. And they are ready. All they need are those powers to kick in for 24 more hours.” (Dark Horse Comics)
Black Solstice goes on sale in December 2022.
(Image via Dark Horse Comics - Cover of Black Solstice)
