Katherine Frances's Blog, page 244
March 14, 2016
Kim Shimmers and the Black Prophecy
A Harry Potter Fanfic by me (and the 3rd installment of the Kim Shimmers series)
This Harry Potter fan fiction (as long as all goes according to plan) will be posted every weekend. The pictures above are not mine, though I edited some.
Chapter 3
Leaving
Kim didn’t see Cane again until Thursday. She attended to her morning duties, feeling all the while that the entire village was suddenly more aware of her existence than they had been before. She was starting to piece together that she was part of a scandal, some braking of a cultural rule that she didn’t understand, though Cane certainly would. She was a bit sore with him for letting this happen to her, for not warning her of whatever it was that they had done. Whatever it was, it had been serious enough to warrant a direct warning from the village leader, and it had something to do with that creek.
“Can we talk?” Kim asked Cane as lunch was coming to an end. Her fingers were trembling. She was terrified he was going to do exactly the same thing Fred had done. Turn to neutral, simply turn off, abandon her, love struck and confused.
“Of course,” he said, and Kim felt her insides begin to loosen, but she still found a tightened ball of uncertainty inside. Distrust. She realized that was what the hard iron inside her was, what it came from. It came from being hurt once before. “Let’s go to your cabin,” he said, putting a hand on her upper arm and leading her from the dining area.
Once they were in the safety of Kim’s tiny lodgings, she shut the door securely and faced Cane.
“What happened? What’s going on? With the creek?” she asked all at once. Cane pulled his lips into his mouth and stared at nothing.
“Sit down,” he said, gesturing to the cot, and then when she merely eyed him, added, “Please.”
“Okay…” she moved to the bed and sat down. Cane sighed heavily, as if he had hopped this maneuver would buy him some time to think, but had cheated him with half seconds.
“Like Fowl said, the creek, that specific place, is blessed… it’s sacred. It’s a place where couples go after they’ve been united… to…” he looked around the room and pressed his fingertips together a few times in a row.
“Some kind of ceremony for matrimony?”
“Well, yeah… Kurä, it roughly translates to… consummation bed.” Kim just stared at him. He looked like this was painful to say. “It’s were you go to consummate a lifelong union, and hopefully… bear fruit…” Kim looked off, her mind working very slowly. “Look, Kim… I didn’t take you there with any… intentions. What I mean is, I brought you there the first time because I wanted you to see it. I knew if I told you what it was, you might find it… off putting. But I still wanted you to experience what it looks like,” he reasoned, coming to sit on the floor before her on his knees, perhaps purposefully conjuring the likeliness of a man begging.
“But why, if it’s forbidden for anyone to go there?”
“It’s not forbidden for anyone to go there. Hence how I’ve seen it. It’s just… bringing your unsanctioned lover there, with no intentions to make children… that’s very taboo.”
“Could we even make children?” she wondered aloud. She realized immediately after saying it that this was a far too forward, but then she supposed she was in the right company to ask forward questions. Cane seemed unfazed.
“No,” he said, averting his eyes. “Not without great risk to you. And most are stillborn.”
Kim pondered on this. There must be some lore passed down through andasoe culture that keeps record of this, because a wizard would be hard pressed to find a book that breaches such a frowned upon topic.
“But it is biologically possible,” she mused, staring at the ceiling in thought.
Cane sighed. “You’re distractingly curious, you know that?” he said, a tired smile flicking across his lips as he leaned his arms on either side of her against the edge of the cot to prop up his upper body. “They aren’t hole… The babies that live, they’re mules.”
“What?”
“Mules… is that not the right word? When a horse and a donky have babies, they’re called mules, yes?”
“Oh, yes. I see… their infertile, you mean.”
“Yes, infertile,” he said, like the word was somewhat foreign to him. “Your curiosity satiated now?” he said rhetorically, and paused, staring at her. “We really are against nature, aren’t we?”
Kim bit her lower lip, her stomach growing uneasy. Was their relationship wrong? Didn’t she one day want to have children? If she did, she never could with Cane… And though she consciously felt that their affection for each other wasn’t wrong or unnatural, there was still a piece of her that sounded like everyone in her wizarding world. Every tabloid headline, every whisper behind her back, every pair of eyes wide in disbelief. A girl and a creature, an abomination to natural order.
“I’m sorry I dragged you into all this,” he said, touching her cheek lightly with his finger, hesitantly, as if she might pull away. She didn’t.
She merely sighed and said, “You didn’t.”
His expression remained sullen. “I have to be honest. I don’t know what this is for now. There are things happening in the village,” he said and glanced far off, seeing someplace else for the briefest moment and then looking back. “I just don’t know yet.”
“Neither do I. And that’s okay… for now,” she said, not wanting to talk any more about the end. She didn’t want to talk about what felt inevitable. She didn’t want to think about it either.
He kissed her softly on the cheek, which was sweet but so small. She felt the sorrow for what seemed like goodbye swell in her chest. This isn’t goodbye, she told herself as he stood and headed for the door. It’s only Thursday. I still have three days left.
But it felt like such a small piece of time she couldn’t pinch her fingers tight enough to grasp it.
Friday morning Kim awoke to a return letter from Hermione. Strix flapped about happily once Kim stirred, and landed on Kim’s arm. She untied the letter and gave Strix a fond pat. She opened the letter as she sat at her small desk.
Dear Kim,
So glad to hear you’re enjoying your internship, and I’m of course excited to hear more about your friend Cane. Listen, this is going to sound a bit abrupt, I’m sure. I can’t really explain, you see… but it’s highly important that you tell no one about the dream you had. Just, don’t mention any part of it at all to anyone. Someone is going to come explain to you why once your internship is over. Oh, and you should write to your Mum and tell her you probably won’t be home for the rest of holiday… I’m so sorry, I know that’s vague and probably insane sounding. And I know your Mum can be a pain, but you’ve just got to convince her it’s okay, because I think you’ll be staying with me, Harry, and Ron until school.
P.S. I’ve probably already said way more than I should, but I have to forewarn you, or you’ll kill me. Fred’s here too. Don’t bother writing back, I’ll see you soon.
Best wishes,
Hermione
Kim frowned and looked at the wall before her. With all the Weasley’s there, they must be at the Burrow, but why then all the secrecy? Why hadn’t Hermione just come out and said it? And who was coming to get her? Kim shook her head and set the letter aside. It didn’t much matter to her. She was excited to be able to see her friends. And it wasn’t as if she’d been looking forward to going back to her mothers. All her school things were at Aunt Brits and if she needed anything from her mom’s last minute she could just go through the Bellhop door. She wouldn’t be able to write her mother and warn her she wouldn’t be coming home ahead of time, but Kim didn’t much care. She was growing tired of her mother’s tight rules around her, and if she wanted to get mad, let her. What was she going to do? Call the muggle police and tell them her witch daughter had run away to a wizarding school in Scotland?
Kim didn’t have any responsibilities that morning so she sat outside and enjoyed the cool breeze and the warm sun. She wanted to see Cane again, but she knew he would be busy until later. And she also knew any meeting they had would probably be laden with the sorrow of inevitable goodbye. It was something she had to face. The cruel reality of it was she had her first kiss, it had not been with a human, and it had not been with someone she was likely to ever see again. She supposed she could make trips to visit Cane. And he her. Brittan wasn’t that large of a place after all… But would a relationship like that, between a witch and an andasoe ever work? Did she want it to…
And then Fred was invading her mind again, and she was squeezing her eyes shut as if to block him out. But he was already inside, and nothing she could do would change that. She sighed and leaned back against the tree, jostling Strix and making her fly to a low hanging branch for better perch. She stared off at the birds in the tree across from the one she sat against, flitting about each other, chirping and singing. They seemed happy and spirited, as bird’s do, but then there was a waver in their shadow.
Kim frowned, sitting forward, almost afraid to look closer. She couldn’t be certain if she had seen the movement of leaves shifting the sunlight oddly around the birds, or if her eyes had perhaps tricked her all together. Or… was there a third option?
A dark sinking pitted her stomach, sending her insides to the hallow of her body, emptying her. When she drew in a breath, it was as if through an extensive tunnel rather than her throat. The creeping gloom that settled in the darkest part of the forests’ shadow was flickering, unchecked. A black flame, that if kindled would spread. And burn.
Kim scrambled to her feet and headed back to the village. She needed the company of busy streets and bodies. She needed the comfort of busy hands, something to keep her mind at work. She kept seeing a long slender body rising steadily from a cauldron, shrouded in fog. How she wished she could unsee that.
It wasn’t until late in the evening when Cane pulled her aside to speak with her. They had shared afternoon shelter making duties, or more he had come along to help her, but they hadn’t been able to talk freely then.
Inside Kim’s cabin, Cane paces and then halted at the wall, realizing the space was far too small to walk back and forth without dizzying himself. He wrung his hands and turned to Kim. His apologetic features told her he had already made a decision about what was to become of them.
“I’m sorry, Kim,” he said sincerely. Kim sighed and held her elbow, forcing a grimace of a smile and a shrug.
“’S okay,” she said.
“There’s no future for us. Even if either of us wanted…” he came a step closer, making her look up at him half hopefully. “The village is moving.”
Kim stared, dumfounded. “What? Why?”
“I don’t know if you understand,” he said, looking off, troubled. “It’s the forest. There’s something not right about it. Something dark has happened, and… the elders fear it’s not safe for us here anymore.”
“Voldemort,” Kim breathed, staring at her bed to the side, but again seeing his body, his blood red eyes.
"To fall in love is to create a religion with a fallible god."
- Jorge Luis Borges, “The Meeting in a Dream” (trans. Esther Allen)
"Somehow you make it through the pain, you stitch yourself together, you survive."
- crusadertitanarum (via wnq-writers)
"He told her she was pretty, so she convinced herself that she loved him."
- classiccupofchai
(via wnq-writers)
detournementsmineurs:
Tiara of horn and moonstone made by FJ...
Tiara of horn and moonstone made by FJ Partridge for Liberty & Co, England, circa 1900.
Kim Shimmers and the Black Prophecy
A Harry Potter Fanfic by me (and the 3rd installment of the Kim Shimmers series)
This Harry Potter fan fiction (as long as all goes according to plan) will be posted every weekend. The pictures above are not mine, though I edited some.
Chapter 3
Leaving
Kim didn’t see Cane again until Thursday. She attended to her morning duties, feeling all the while that the entire village was suddenly more aware of her existence than they had been before. She was starting to piece together that she was part of a scandal, some braking of a cultural rule that she didn’t understand, though Cane certainly would. She was a bit sore with him for letting this happen to her, for not warning her of whatever it was that they had done. Whatever it was, it had been serious enough to warrant a direct warning from the village leader, and it had something to do with that creek.
“Can we talk?” Kim asked Cane as lunch was coming to an end. Her fingers were trembling. She was terrified he was going to do exactly the same thing Fred had done. Turn to neutral, simply turn off, abandon her, love struck and confused.
“Of course,” he said, and Kim felt her insides begin to loosen, but she still found a tightened ball of uncertainty inside. Distrust. She realized that was what the hard iron inside her was, what it came from. It came from being hurt once before. “Let’s go to your cabin,” he said, putting a hand on her upper arm and leading her from the dining area.
Once they were in the safety of Kim’s tiny lodgings, she shut the door securely and faced Cane.
“What happened? What’s going on? With the creek?” she asked all at once. Cane pulled his lips into his mouth and stared at nothing.
“Sit down,” he said, gesturing to the cot, and then when she merely eyed him, added, “Please.”
“Okay…” she moved to the bed and sat down. Cane sighed heavily, as if he had hopped this maneuver would buy him some time to think, but had cheated him with half seconds.
“Like Fowl said, the creek, that specific place, is blessed… it’s sacred. It’s a place where couples go after they’ve been united… to…” he looked around the room and pressed his fingertips together a few times in a row.
“Some kind of ceremony for matrimony?”
“Well, yeah… Kurä, it roughly translates to… consummation bed.” Kim just stared at him. He looked like this was painful to say. “It’s were you go to consummate a lifelong union, and hopefully… bear fruit…” Kim looked off, her mind working very slowly. “Look, Kim… I didn’t take you there with any… intentions. What I mean is, I brought you there the first time because I wanted you to see it. I knew if I told you what it was, you might find it… off putting. But I still wanted you to experience what it looks like,” he reasoned, coming to sit on the floor before her on his knees, perhaps purposefully conjuring the likeliness of a man begging.
“But why, if it’s forbidden for anyone to go there?”
“It’s not forbidden for anyone to go there. Hence how I’ve seen it. It’s just… bringing your unsanctioned lover there, with no intentions to make children… that’s very taboo.”
“Could we even make children?” she wondered aloud. She realized immediately after saying it that this was a far too forward, but then she supposed she was in the right company to ask forward questions. Cane seemed unfazed.
“No,” he said, averting his eyes. “Not without great risk to you. And most are stillborn.”
Kim pondered on this. There must be some lore passed down through andasoe culture that keeps record of this, because a wizard would be hard pressed to find a book that breaches such a frowned upon topic.
“But it is biologically possible,” she mused, staring at the ceiling in thought.
Cane sighed. “You’re distractingly curious, you know that?” he said, a tired smile flicking across his lips as he leaned his arms on either side of her against the edge of the cot to prop up his upper body. “They aren’t hole… The babies that live, they’re mules.”
“What?”
“Mules… is that not the right word? When a horse and a donky have babies, they’re called mules, yes?”
“Oh, yes. I see… their infertile, you mean.”
“Yes, infertile,” he said, like the word was somewhat foreign to him. “Your curiosity satiated now?” he said rhetorically, and paused, staring at her. “We really are against nature, aren’t we?”
Kim bit her lower lip, her stomach growing uneasy. Was their relationship wrong? Didn’t she one day want to have children? If she did, she never could with Cane… And though she consciously felt that their affection for each other wasn’t wrong or unnatural, there was still a piece of her that sounded like everyone in her wizarding world. Every tabloid headline, every whisper behind her back, every pair of eyes wide in disbelief. A girl and a creature, an abomination to natural order.
“I’m sorry I dragged you into all this,” he said, touching her cheek lightly with his finger, hesitantly, as if she might pull away. She didn’t.
She merely sighed and said, “You didn’t.”
His expression remained sullen. “I have to be honest. I don’t know what this is for now. There are things happening in the village,” he said and glanced far off, seeing someplace else for the briefest moment and then looking back. “I just don’t know yet.”
“Neither do I. And that’s okay… for now,” she said, not wanting to talk any more about the end. She didn’t want to talk about what felt inevitable. She didn’t want to think about it either.
He kissed her softly on the cheek, which was sweet but so small. She felt the sorrow for what seemed like goodbye swell in her chest. This isn’t goodbye, she told herself as he stood and headed for the door. It’s only Thursday. I still have three days left.
But it felt like such a small piece of time she couldn’t pinch her fingers tight enough to grasp it.
Friday morning Kim awoke to a return letter from Hermione. Strix flapped about happily once Kim stirred, and landed on Kim’s arm. She untied the letter and gave Strix a fond pat. She opened the letter as she sat at her small desk.
Dear Kim,
So glad to hear you’re enjoying your internship, and I’m of course excited to hear more about your friend Cane. Listen, this is going to sound a bit abrupt, I’m sure. I can’t really explain, you see… but it’s highly important that you tell no one about the dream you had. Just, don’t mention any part of it at all to anyone. Someone is going to come explain to you why once your internship is over. Oh, and you should write to your Mum and tell her you probably won’t be home for the rest of holiday… I’m so sorry, I know that’s vague and probably insane sounding. And I know your Mum can be a pain, but you’ve just got to convince her it’s okay, because I think you’ll be staying with me, Harry, and Ron until school.
P.S. I’ve probably already said way more than I should, but I have to forewarn you, or you’ll kill me. Fred’s here too. Don’t bother writing back, I’ll see you soon.
Best wishes,
Hermione
Kim frowned and looked at the wall before her. With all the Weasley’s there, they must be at the Burrow, but why then all the secrecy? Why hadn’t Hermione just come out and said it? And who was coming to get her? Kim shook her head and set the letter aside. It didn’t much matter to her. She was excited to be able to see her friends. And it wasn’t as if she’d been looking forward to going back to her mothers. All her school things were at Aunt Brits and if she needed anything from her mom’s last minute she could just go through the Bellhop door. She wouldn’t be able to write her mother and warn her she wouldn’t be coming home ahead of time, but Kim didn’t much care. She was growing tired of her mother’s tight rules around her, and if she wanted to get mad, let her. What was she going to do? Call the muggle police and tell them her witch daughter had run away to a wizarding school in Scotland?
Kim didn’t have any responsibilities that morning so she sat outside and enjoyed the cool breeze and the warm sun. She wanted to see Cane again, but she knew he would be busy until later. And she also knew any meeting they had would probably be laden with the sorrow of inevitable goodbye. It was something she had to face. The cruel reality of it was she had her first kiss, it had not been with a human, and it had not been with someone she was likely to ever see again. She supposed she could make trips to visit Cane. And he her. Brittan wasn’t that large of a place after all… But would a relationship like that, between a witch and an andasoe ever work? Did she want it to…
And then Fred was invading her mind again, and she was squeezing her eyes shut as if to block him out. But he was already inside, and nothing she could do would change that. She sighed and leaned back against the tree, jostling Strix and making her fly to a low hanging branch for better perch. She stared off at the birds in the tree across from the one she sat against, flitting about each other, chirping and singing. They seemed happy and spirited, as bird’s do, but then there was a waver in their shadow.
Kim frowned, sitting forward, almost afraid to look closer. She couldn’t be certain if she had seen the movement of leaves shifting the sunlight oddly around the birds, or if her eyes had perhaps tricked her all together. Or… was there a third option?
A dark sinking pitted her stomach, sending her insides to the hallow of her body, emptying her. When she drew in a breath, it was as if through an extensive tunnel rather than her throat. The creeping gloom that settled in the darkest part of the forests’ shadow was flickering, unchecked. A black flame, that if kindled would spread. And burn.
Kim scrambled to her feet and headed back to the village. She needed the company of busy streets and bodies. She needed the comfort of busy hands, something to keep her mind at work. She kept seeing a long slender body rising steadily from a cauldron, shrouded in fog. How she wished she could unsee that.
It wasn’t until late in the evening when Cane pulled her aside to speak with her. They had shared afternoon shelter making duties, or more he had come along to help her, but they hadn’t been able to talk freely then.
Inside Kim’s cabin, Cane paces and then halted at the wall, realizing the space was far too small to walk back and forth without dizzying himself. He wrung his hands and turned to Kim. His apologetic features told her he had already made a decision about what was to become of them.
“I’m sorry, Kim,” he said sincerely. Kim sighed and held her elbow, forcing a grimace of a smile and a shrug.
“’S okay,” she said.
“There’s no future for us. Even if either of us wanted…” he came a step closer, making her look up at him half hopefully. “The village is moving.”
Kim stared, dumfounded. “What? Why?”
“I don’t know if you understand,” he said, looking off, troubled. “It’s the forest. There’s something not right about it. Something dark has happened, and… the elders fear it’s not safe for us here anymore.”
“Voldemort,” Kim breathed, staring at her bed to the side, but again seeing his body, his blood red eyes.
March 12, 2016
Character Questionnaire --
I’ve recently started filling out character questionnaires and I decided to share one of my favorites. It’s great for writers and roleplayers alike, and aside from being a ton of fun to fill out, it allows you to really get to know your character. Therefore, if you’ve got time, I highly recommend trying it out. Credit for this questionnaire goes to this site, though I added my own questions and changed it up a bit.
Talk about your character’s name. What is it, and how is it pronounced? What does it mean? Does your character have any nicknames?
Post a picture of your character or describe what they look like in detail. Note any distinguishing facial features.
Describe your character’s personality.
What is your character like in relationships? Are they clingy? Faithful or unfaithful? Do they jump from one relationship to the other?
What kind of things does your character like? What do they dislike?
How does your character treat their friends and family? How about strangers? Enemies?
What kind of people does your character surround themselves with? Why?
Where was your character born? Where have they lived since then? Where is the place that they call home?
Where does your character go when they are angry?
What is your character’s biggest fear? Who have they told this to? Who would they never tell this to? Why?
Does your character have a secret? If so, what is it?
What makes your character laugh out loud? What makes them angry?
Has your character ever been in love? Have they ever had a broken heart?
Does your character have any flaws? What are they?Then dig deeper by asking more unconventional questions:
What is in your characters refrigerator right now? On their bedroom floor? On their nightstand?
Your character is walking home in the dark when they hear some noises around the corner. What do they do? How would they react if they heard someone crying out for help?
When your character thinks of their childhood kitchen, what smell do they associate with it? Sauerkraut? Oatmeal cookies? Paint? Why is that smell so resonant?
Your character is doing intense spring cleaning. What is easy for them to throw out? What is difficult for them to part with? Why?
It is Saturday at noon. What is your character doing? Give details. If they’re eating breakfast, what exactly do they eat? If they’re stretching out in the backyard to sun, what kind of blanket or towel do they lie on?
While driving down the road, your character hits a dog and swerves off the road into a tree. Do they get out to see to the car first, or the animal?
Your character is in a relationship and they come home to find their partner in bed with another person. How do they react? How do they feel?
What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting?
Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What do they wear? Who will they be with?
Your character gets into a discussion about death and dying. How would they describe the perfect death? Do they believe in life after? Are they afraid of death?
A friend of your character calls, they want to hang out. What do they do? If they stay home, what will your character suggest they do? If they go out, where will they go?More of these can eventually be found here.
