first image is Harrison's mama (Joan), his pops (Harold), and his gramma (Winnifred). Winnifred was a badass witch bitch who ran a magic shop in the middle of town and raised her daughter out of wedlock on her own despite living in a Southern town in the early 20th century... she turned the people who fucked with her family into flowers that live eternally. Harrison still has them up on his mantle alongside a few other knickknacks of hers and a photo or two <3
then we have Ferdinand, the guy behind the Mothman legend in @peapod20001 's universe. he's a chill old dude with a billion grandbabies and great grandbabies who only gives a shit about his family, being left alone, and reading his books on his porch in his rocking chair. also! he's trans! bc fairies (the species he is) only have wings if they're AFAB, generally speaking. the extra bulk and fluff on him are from HRT.
then a little Ursula doodle, some D.Noe stuff, a Red, a Polly, and Isaac n his gym friends Mac n Steve. :)
plus! Pea's OC, Erik, and Harrison... both as humans
When Jade sees Yuu stumble into the lounge, he knows they should have activated the bracelet sooner. Her body struggles to stay on top the soft carpet that floats beside her, its bright little tassels shaking with exertion. Her eyes are wide, grasping at a red parrot that seems to be hacking air as well.
He doesn’t have time to look much further into it before Scarabina students are flooding the doors, demanding Yuu’s body like an escaped criminal.
Well, that simply won’t do, will it?
His magic feels different in this fight though. Violent. Borderline feral. He glances at Floyd and Azul, and they seem to be doing the same. Azul is bothered by the lack of finesse he’s spells usually have, flowing wide and causing damage to the walls and furniture. Floyd however, seems to be revealing in it, but continually glances back at Yuu, a concern that isn’t normally present.
Is that blood?
They finish the fight quickly, a small spittle of blood on the ground from where her and the parrot are.
“I’m ok,” she whispers, “I-I just bit the inside of cheek and that’s what it’s from. I’m ok.”
Right.
“As that is, allow us to have the school nurse check on you.” Jade reaches underneath her knees, easily pulling her up. “To ensure the health of our guests.”
“We don’t have time. Something is wrong with Jamil.” That certainly catches Azul’s attention. “Maybe Kalim? Something is wrong with the entire Scarabina dorm.”
She looks at Azul, eyes pleading the same way they had when he had lost himself into the Blot.
“One of them is going to Overblot.”
Jamil’s overblot is beautiful in it’s own strange way. Feral and elegant and poised and unhinged. A man of contradictions.
But they don’t appreciate being thrown into a desert, especially as merpeople. Honestly, they are lucky that Kalim was thrown with them. Otherwise, well, they were looking into actual threats on their lives. And it’s better to keep one’s cards as close to the chest as possible, especially for that spell. It simply comes at too high a cost.
Floyd and Jade carefully remove what sand they can, waiting underneath the tree as Kalim easily controls the rains into the portion of the dried oasis. Azul watches with quiet fascination, as he always does with such displays of power. He trusts them to keep an eye on Yuu, rubbing her temples. She was already in a... fatigued state, and the fight only seemed to make it more prevalent. Grim is blowing green fire onto her injuries, the scrapes and cuts sealing themselves cleanly, though it doesn’t seem to help the fatigue.
It seems that Grim is also taking lessons from these so-called teachers.
“I know,” Jade hears her mumble, “But I don’t know why. Everything feels fuzzy.”
The parrot, who has been helping Kalim direct the clouds, finally lands back, nudging her hand and hopping to the water’s edge. Well that’s curious.
She cocks her head, walking to the water’s edge and looking down. The charm Azul gave her shimmers in the reflections unusually though.
“I don’t understand Iago.”
The parrot, Iago apparently, gives an indignant squawk, glides over to Jade and starts pecking his shoe.
“There is no need for that.” He smiles, rising from his spot. Floyd rises after him, before the bird makes the mistake of pecking his shoe as well. Something tells him that Yuu wouldn’t like it if he punted the thing for messing with his shoes.
He looks a bit more disheveled than he would like, but overall, it is exactly what he expects. Though...something feels off when he looks a bit harder.
Yuu notices it first, crouching down to look closer at...him and Floyd’s reflections.
“Jade? Isn’t your gold eye on the right?”
Floyd glances down. His reflection has it on the right. Jade’s is on the left. That-why are they switched-
His reflection smiles, cocks it head to the side and ripples.
Getting to watch TLM 2023 Poor Unfortunate Souls reminds me how much I adored the number and Melissa's portrayal that you can tell she was doing her best to honor Pat Carroll. One thing she did was sell the lyric changes and made the song flow naturally. Oh, and when she recites the spell??? She was ate that part up!!!
-She was funny.
-She was animated.
-She was menacing.
-She honored Patt Caroll and also put her own spin on it.
My only wish is I had gotten more scenes with her!
Howard Ashman's demo track of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" is definitely one of my favorite versions of that song, because it's so deliciously wicked.
You can tell this man had a lot of experience with the world of musical theater, because he understood just how much fun you can have with the villain songs.
That awkward moment when you realize you've spent the better part of an afternoon drawing, erasing, redrawing, and finally numbering tentacles in order to keep track of who's groping who with what.
Yuu’s dreams become strange, her legs and eyes twitching in her sleep, hands clenching around nothing, sometimes waking up more exhausted than when she slept. Professor Taka frets, seeing her fatigue grow, and the slow the lessons even further, focusing on fine tuning the basics. She can wordlessly conjure most elements at this point, and her precision with spells is borderline miliary at this point though. They are delaying, and she knows it.
She can’t tell him that it’s outside of her dreams too. Times in school where the shadows don’t seem to be right, or delay half second before they disappear into the light. Her shadow to be exact. A constant feeling of being watched, not maliciously, but intrigued. Picked apart like a puzzle, not of the picture but why the pieces work together.
It didn’t start until the seashell earrings though, so her and Ursula talk and she sleep a night in her room. The teeth that scraped the back of her neck entering into that leviathan mouth return, a soft bite at her heels. When she yelps, they retract though, smooth scales moving over the mark like an apology. Vaguely, she can hear whispers, soft cooing and nothings, hands soothing over tired eyes and hands.
Ursula monitors her, and confirms that she is falling into a state between meditation and true sleep, though who is visiting she can’t say. The magic is close to familiar but just different enough. It's not malicious though, no hurting her, but it definitely wants her attention.
Professor Taka’s jaw is tight, but there is nothing he can do. The being in her bedroom mirror hasn’t visited though, and said nothing, so it can’t be too dangerous?
Still, she finds an indent on her bed more often than not most mornings, the feeling of claws in her hair as he chases them away the only way he really can.
Despite being a man that spent a lot of time in shadows, he doesn’t want her there.
“Hey, Yuu,” Grim rubs against her side, “Do I need to grab the notes from somebody for Alchemy? I did the lab perfectly, as expected from the greatest mage, but you might need them for the mid-term or something.”
Yuu chuckles, giving a soft pat between his ears. If she tries to full on pet them, he’ll purr and be all embarrassed. It’s a beastman and direbeast thing apparently, as Jack got far too flustered when she asked to see how he’s ears connected into his head.
“Deuce made me a copy, and he’s have gotten much better since Riddle sat down and helped.” She turns the corner, catching a whiff of seasalt and cold, “I’m glad he’s getting the help he needs now.”
As expected, Deuce has an extra copy he printed from the library, chest puffed and proud.
“Surprise!” he says, “I made you a copy of and Ace’s notes, just in case!”
“Don’t include me!” Ace chirps, cheeks slightly flushed.
“Thank you, Deuce!” Yuu says, glancing over them. “But what do you mean surprise? Didn’t you tell me that you had earlier today?”
Deuce tilts his head, eyes furrowed. “No, I didn’t. I just got the idea during class and rushed down to the library right after.”
Yuu stops carding through the pages. She knew that Deuce was going to have copies of the notes. She knew it.
“Ace, did you tell her!” Deuce turns, pointing a finger at him. Ace denies it, the two doing some light bickering, but Deuce pulls back just a little to see her pinched eyes.
“Maybe I just assumed, since you two always pull through for me.” She doesn’t believe it. She’s saying it but she doesn’t believe it for two seconds. But Deuce smiles that boyish smile that’s far more genuine than anything, and it diverts it long enough for the conversation to move forward.
When she visits Ursula that evening, she’s perplexed.
“Are you scrying through your school mirrors?” she wonders out loud, rifling through ‘books’. Held together by coral and hardened seaweed to press the letters to the pages, but the principal was the same.
“I didn’t think I had? I can’t remember...it didn’t feel like it.” Yuu pauses, twisting the cup in her hand.
“Something to say my dear?” Ursula looks, raising a well sculpted eyebrow.
“I...don’t know. Let me think about it?”
The dreams had started again. Visions? These of the Sorcerer of the Sands, or at least bits and pieces of him in the story itself. Some homeless man named Aladdin seemed to be the center, but that was a theme of all their stories. Yuu always seemed to get them from the prospective that made them look the worst.
She wants to talk to the Vizier herself. But Professor Taka would never allow it. He becomes more and more protective with each release, and Ursula isn’t even fully out yet, just a visit in the room.
When Yuu returns from school, he stays close, pushing for sleep and rest but gives no explanations for why she is so tired. He feels more tight lipped than ever, just telling her to let the adults be adults for once. Mary doesn’t say either, pressing different teas into her hands and filling the quiet with old memories of her husband and son, times in court and her friends. It’s nice, but it doesn’t help.
Next week, she decides, once winter break starts. If she can’t figure it out by then, she’ll find a way to sneak out and talk to the Sorcerer.
