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And I’m baaaaack for Chapter 2!!! Super excited to see where this goes - I skimmed the first sentence and woooooboy!!
And… yeah hot AF. Idk how you manage to write scenes like that and they’re always so dang hot and smutty and perfect. I understand that it didn’t need to be a whole chapter, but if it was, I would’ve been totally here for it.
What was the liquid in the vial she took? I’m assuming it had to have added to the passion to this scene, but did he take any or is that just Oliver Wood every day? Actually, don’t tell me. I’ll become even more obsessed with him either way.
Aw yeah, give it him girl! Don’t be played - play the player! Also who is he to judge her? I hate men. Except Oliver? I don’t know what to think… Because he obviously thinks she just slept with him because of who he is, but then he said those things…
GAH WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME KRIS?!?!? WHO DO I SIDE WITH?!?!
And what is in those vials?! If she’s gonna keep drinking stuff I gotta know what they are!! I DON’T LIKE BEING KEPT IN THE DARK AGH!! But I mean, it works for getting her out of her head.
I really did enjoy the description of her dancing. It felt very real and raw, and the sensations felt tenfold because of what she took. And then the fact that she didn’t even notice her feet were cut up just kinda jarred me back into “oh no, this seems not great” which is fair because that’s probably not the healthiest way to deal with things, but if it works it works?
The one thing is HOW CAN SHE APPARATE?!?! WHY DIDN’T WOOD FIND HER ALL SCREWED UP AND BRING HER TO HIS ROOM AND TAKE CARE OF HER and this whole thing could get fluffy? I mean I know why not - it’s you and of course the hot smutty moments won’t be as hot unless there’s some sort of unresolved tension. BUT I WANT FLUFF HOT AS ALL GET OUT OLIVER WOOD!!!
Anyways, thank you so much for writing this, I am kinda all over the place because I loved reading this, even though my EMOTIONS ARE ON A ROLLERCOASTER AND I DON’T EVEN LIKE ROLLERCOASTERS.
But yes, it was another amazing chapter!!
Lo <3
Hello hello Kris! Here for our review swap!
Oooooh, ~*The Serpent*~ already starting with some intrigue! Also, yeah you are definitely ‘type-casted’ perfectly in my mind - dark and spooky and kinda hot stories. Like everything in this first paragraph is just amazing and ~on brand~.
Oooooooooh MC is a Durmstrang graduate AND part Veela!?!? You do know how to slap the reader with some intrigue right at the start!! And who is this man!??! FRICKIN!! THIS IS OLIVER WOOD!!!!????!??!
Is now a bad time to let you know that as a child I definitely had a crush on Daniel Radcliffe, but Oliver Wood has been my all-time-never-lost-it-crush since ever?!?! Oh no, Kris I knew this was gonna kill me because it’s you writing and Oliver Wood, but I’m TRYING TO BREATHE AND IT’S HARD!!!
“I was never meant to be attracted to someone normal” -> great line. I, fortunately, don’t have this issue, but I know several friends who do (and I’m making an assumption here but based on your comments I assume this is an issue that you might dabble with?).
Oh man, how does he get hotter every time he speaks?!? And her response is so amazing, so simple, so… utterly the only way you should ever respond to fuckboys like him. Even if it was apparently what he wanted… Shoot now I don’t know who’s winning in this game of cat and mouse. And I don’t even know who’s the cat and who’s the mouse!!
Woaaah, alright this has taken a turn. Not a very sharp turn mind you, but a turn.
OH DANG!!! THIS WAS SUCH A… I DON’T KNOW I’M VERY FLUSTERED KRIS!!! Amazing first chapter, because I’m so glad we did a 2-swap so I already planned to continue straight on to the next chapter because OMG!!!!
Thank you so much for writing this, I had an absolute blast reading it and I will be right back for chapter 2!!
Lo <3
Hi Kris! I recently saw Branwen recommend this story and was instantly intrigued, especially when I read it as Oliver Wood/OC, so I'm extra glad you popped into my review thread!
This chapter is as delightfully wild and sexy as I would expect from you, but it's definitely piqued my interest a bit more. It's just such a unique concept, this idea of wizarding fashion shows and the like, and I've never read anything like that before. I loved being sucked into this rich and seedy fashion label world of the Greengrass'.
I like Freya so far, and I'm excited to get to know her more. So far she seems powerful and popular, but I'd love to see other sides of her in future. She's definitely a strong character that I love to see though, those who know they're gorgeous and aren't afraid to use it. She seems smart, too, which is always a good thing!
And Oliver! My headcanon is quite a bit different which is why I was curious coming in to this story, but the way you write him is perfect for this story. He also knows he's powerful and how to use it, so I think they've both met their match! He's quite arrogant, but I love reading (and writing) about characters like that so definitely looking forward to reading more! I feel like they're extremely strong-willed characters who might just crash and burn because of their passion, but I guess I'll have to wait and see!
It also seems far off at the moment that they could ever commit to something serious, so if that's where this story is going, I'm excited to see how that develops! And whether more of Freya's career comes up, because now I'm picturing all kinds of magical photoshoots. It's just a concept I've never thought of before so this is exciting!
Lovely work, Kris!
Author's Response::D
i had to respond to this even though i'm usually so very terrible at review responses oops
but! yes, in this first chapter freya definitely seems powerful and cool and composed but...hah :D from the second chapter onwards i think it becomes obvious not all is as it seems, even when (and more often than not, because) you're part veela.
haha the match between oliver and freya is definitely of the crash-and-burn type because they're both just... a lot all the time. and oliver's arrogance is def a byproduct of his fame and quidditch abilities.
there will be magical photoshoots. hehe they're a lot of fun :D
thanks for the lovely review!
omfg the daughter of puddlemere's owner why
haaaaaa i mean look here's the thing you show up with a fiancee you have no right to complain about jealousy
good fucking godddd the fuck is with her father
+100 "you called me oliver"
noooooooooooooo
lolololol "i am so cool and collected don't you believe me i do not in any lack credibility"
"except how i lack credibility in every way, as evidenced by our fucking and getting high and my wanting you to date me"
+100
omggg i love that visual, just wood being like "hey daph i wanna fuck your veela model again, lemme do your campaign thing bc Famous Quidditch Player, remember how i never acknowledged you at school but you had classes with my seeker? for old time's sake and bc it'll make you money"
okay the conversation likely did not go exactly like that but let's not dwell on my loose paraphrasing of something freya thinks maybe happened
"everyone is crazy about wood"
am i sometimes immature? yes
will i stop? no
will i blame you for it here? probably
"not something one could call clothes" lolololololol
"you get to keep it all" k it'll be ruined by wood by the end of the chapter i'm just gonna guess (kept reading, yep i was correct, i'm so insightful, aren't you so impressed by my incredible insight)
"her brand of 'fuck, yes'" ily this is such a great description
+3000 you are excellent at sex scenes
OH MY GOD CONVENIENT EXCUSE +10 FUCKING FUCK
one of my fave things about harry is that he's mostly like "meh veelas exist i guess, get a hold of yourself, ffs"
oh freya you cannot wash hot dudes you have great sex with away with soap, that is not how it works
BASIC PUNCTUALITY IS FUCKING HARD two minutes late is like fifteen minutes early imo
omfg i love it i'm dying rn
i know i finished our swap but i'm stopping in here anyway bc yolo and ily and also i love this
"for a quidditch player, he gets easily distracted" omgggg brb ded
amazing job, <3, you're great and you should feel great about this chapter, 30/10
heyyy kris here for our swap ty
i fucking love your description - it's both vivid and beautifully poetic, and your oc has such an incredibly distinctive voice from the very first sentence. "the market reserved for shadiest designer in the business" is just such a perfect line
"at durmstrang, rivalry was an individual affair" omfg i love it, i always love it every single time someone calls out the house loyalties
"even though she could be their daughter" OH MY GOD MEN THOUGH UGHHHH
alsoooo i want that fucking dress i think i would look amazing in it, and +100 to a part-veela without blond hair bc look y'all brunettes can also be Just That Pretty
"i should be doing this but ughhh not tonight" is a fucking Mood
"rumpled to look 'accidentally' stylish" that is ALSO a fucking Mood (and the description of him makes me want to be be there omg)
"too busy leering to be bothered that i'm ignoring them" omfg mennnn why are you
"i've worked hard now it's time to play harder" love this line omg
oh god people with earned arrogance are such fucking catnip for me, like yessss be as arrogant as you like as long as you're competent about it
"i was never meant to be attracted to someone normal" +5000 i love this omg
also, i love this trope to fucking death - "how could you not recognize me??" idk dude gotta impress me some other way then
devlish can be v handsome tbh i'm here for it, and that was excellent delivery haha, but also +10 to being like "yeah okay time to make you lose your goddamn mind," i am Here for teases ngl
ily this is amazing
Hello! Here with your requested review. I've loved everything of yours that I've read so am excited to get to know some more of your wonderful characters.
You have such a gift for setting descriptions. I can feel what it's like to be in that club, and seeing it through Freya's eyes gives us some insight into how she experiences the world. The comment about her surprise seeing the loyalty adults feel to their school houses stuck with me. It's something we see so often and don't question, but seeing it through the eyes of someone who didn't go to Hogwarts is interesting.
I'm glad to see that Daphne's made something of herself! I love your description of her as wily. Great word!
Wood's introduction makes an impact. He's so arrogant but it obviously works for him and I think it's working on Freya (although she holds her own).
I'm interested in why Freya decides to kiss Yael in front of Wood. She seems like she's trying to make him interested, but I thought he quite clearly already was. Maybe this way she feels like she's made him come to her? And she's the one with the power?
I worried that Yael was being used, but her reaction to the kiss suggests she knew what it meant and is fine with it.
Absolutely love this world and these characters! After one chapter they're already all so complex and I can't wait to see what you have planned for them!
Emma xx
Hey Kris!
I am SO SORRY for how long I ignored the reviews in my thread, but I am here now and ready for it! I know you’ve warned that it’s dark and smutty but honestly you write dark and angsty best and I’m looking forward to how you incorporated smut into that. So here we go!
Okay so first of all, absolutely LOVE your OC Freya Johansen, part-Veela and star of Daphne Greengrass’s couture line. LOVE IT. You’ve really given her great depth even just within the first couple of paragraphs, especially by noting her reaction to the old men leering at her and how she’s both annoyed and fine with the dress she’s wearing causing some of those mens’ reactions and it partially being her Veela blood. But what I’m REALLY curious about is how Oliver Wood, Gryffindor House’s proudest and loudest Quidditch player finds himself in such a different environment than what canon would perceive him to have as an adult. It’s very intriguing, and I do hope you go more into his backstory in future chapters, because I would love to know how he’s come to hang out with these folks, etc. The attraction the two of them have together is phenomenal, and I think you do a great job writing about the push and pull both of them do, vying to be the winner of this battle, and eventually the loss anyway as they can’t resist any longer. Great opening chapter!
Then the second chapter is just smuuuuut and I am so here for it! I s2g we better have a FROGS category for best smut next year, because I would honestly totally nominate this. You describe their incredible lust and passion with quick sentences that also convey the speed and hasty need they both have. It’s also detailed enough for picturing but not so explicit as to be, like, bad smut writing, which I can really appreciate. And then we have this complex emotional response from Freya after the deed is done, and she just nopes the f out of there and decides to get effed up instead to try and forget about the chaos she’s probably just caused by sleeping with Oliver. I’m looking forward to seeing where this all goes in future chapters!
~Madi
Kris!! What shall I do now that I’ve run out of chapters? *weeps* I know, I’ll get caught up with ch 2 of You Should See Me In a Crown, and then Feral Heart murder smut! :D
I so envy your ability to set a scene and how creative you are at coming up with settings, like the combination castle/forest of the Nymph Grove manor. What a dreamy image, with the enchanted trees and the stream in between the tables, all inside the actual manor.
Ok, while I enjoy Freya enjoying making Wood angry and jealous, I am seriously Very Unimpressed with Wood and his jealousy considering this skeleton in his closet he’s been hiding.
Hey, what the fuck is Freya’s dad’s problem? I hate him. That’s Umbridge level villain right there. *stabbity stab* And I appreciate Wood’s chivalry and righteous anger on Freya’s behalf, but then I remember that I am Very Upset with him right now.
This part is very sad but also just really nice writing:
due to all the years of learning how to survive in a world bent on breaking me just for being who I am, I manage to calmly walk through the enchanted forest trees, the semi-darkness now seeming sinister instead of magical.
Argggh, ok, yes, that scene at the end is hot (with a surprising bit of sweetness -- yes, she DID call him Oliver!), but I just want to throw all the things at them right now because this is not solving the problem!! Someone needs to get their shit together; it is making me feel very stabby and protective of Freya.
I can has update plz?
Love,
Melanie
Kris! I’m here for your requested review and I am super excited because I adored your Young Gods trilogy. You are such a talented writer and you really have a knack for first person description. I commend you, because I find that I have a really hard time creating decent imagery when my story is directly from the character’s POV and not in 3rd person. You always do a stellar job with this.
The way you describe the club and the characters I can see it in my head so so well. I find it really interesting that you made Daphne Greengrass a fashion designer… Totally seems like something she would do.
On the other hand (although I love him) your Oliver makes me insanely uncomfortable. He’s so suave and sure of himself. My Oliver is just in a permanent gay, quidditch, anxiety panic and not confident at all. He’s always stammering and beating around the bush looool. Your Oliver seems like the Oliver my Oliver thought he was going to be when he was little, only to turn into a hot mess. Cause I mean, most of us think we’re going to grow up to be cool when we’re little haha. Oliver sounds so hot though. My God!! Freya better consider herself lucky that she gets to flirt with him.
Speaking of flirting, your dialogue in this one shot is superb. Definitely super believable and I am really invested in the relationship you’re going to build between them, especially with Freya locking eyes with him while she kisses Yael.
The only note I have is that this line [being part Veela, but I had gotten used to it.] she finish with [have gotten used to it.] So it was just a little past/present tense issue.
Overall amazing story!
Lily
OH NO.
Whyyyy is he engaged? What is going on???
Urghhhh.
Anyway.
I thought you captured so well this feeling of trying to make up for emptiness, trying to pursue feelings that aren't what you really want but are maybe good enough for the moment, or almost good enough. To that end, I think the presence and description of the various drugs and drinks are serving as an important metaphor here. The same way someone using the drugs might be chasing a high like the one before, or like the very first one, someone can also chase an emotional high through experiences like Freya's, trying to fill the void that Oliver left but never really getting there -- but doing it anyway because it's better than nothing, definitely better than just letting the void exist without even trying.
The whole first half of this chapter was full of the kind of delicious sensory details that I've come to associate with your immersive writing.
I'd be so interested to know what Yael is thinking at times like this. It seems fairly clear to me she's happy with this as a casual arrangement, but I'd be curious to know whether she's noticed that Freya is getting almost nothing out of it, and whether that would bother Yael at all if she did know.
Can't wait to see what is going on here with Oliver.
xo
Melanie
Heya, kris! I'm here for EvS.
I thought for a moment that I might have to take a petition out against closed doors for getting in the way of sexy time. I am very much enjoying the way you've been writing these more provocative scenes. I mean, I've very much enjoyed any of your action-oriented scenes in the past, so it isn't surprising, but there's something very specific about the heated scenes (and your action scenes) that completely captures my attention. I haven't quite figured out what that is, but as soon as I do, I'll let you know. At any rate, the kisses are hot.
I love that he's so smug with his sexual prowess, and she's just putty in his hands and SHE KNOWS IT (and he knows it) so she also lowkey hates him -- I'm crying. But then she flips it (or quite literally him <.< ) and it's like this play for power, which made the whole thing that much more exciting. But nothing is better than the aftermath of it all, where everything falls apart. No, I suppose I should say that it freaking explodes. Obviously she wouldn't want to stick around, given his reputation, but he's getting all out of sorts that she doesn't want to stay, going as far as to insult her and her profession, and the aftermath is beautifully destructive.
This entire chapter screams of absolute dysfunction, which I believe is the point. These two are (at the moment) sincerely toxic for one another and they both know it. And yet there is simply something (like a universal-strength lust and curiosity for each other whose magnetism is inescapable) that is drawing them together. I'm both excitedly anticipating and sincerely dreading what the pair (or one or the other) might do next.
FANTASTIC job!
-Rumpels
Hi Kris!! So glad to be getting back to this.
It must be a curse to want someone so badly.
^Sometimes it really feels like it is! #relatable
I really appreciate your attention to description -- there’s always so much of it in your writing, sensations of touch, taste, and obviously sight, and it all seems so vivid, especially in lines like this:
time slowing down while I smile, head thrown back as I dance away from Wood, lose myself in the smoke and neon coloured shadows, the bitter green and yellow bathing me in their acidic tones, fading into hues of bright pink and blue.
In all, your writing always feels so immersive, like I’m right there as everything is happening.
Crepuscule! Kris, you’ve taught me a new word! :D
in that moment I realise that I’m falling into a trap of my own creation, but the fall is sweet and addictive, the trap desperately haunting
^Hello, I love this line so much, my god.
The image (likely hallucination) of gold sparks trailing Oliver’s fingers is so droolworthy, I have no idea why, but it is. All in all, the recurring theme of the fact that they can’t stay away from each other, they somehow always find each other, and they have burned and marked each other, gives me sexy soulmates vibes, and even more so after reading what he says to Freya about how he’s never felt like this, and the intensity they both feel.
Ahhhh so now they’re both insecure and hurt and lashing out! Poor sexy Oliver Wood and his deep!feelings. This idea of having to be the one who leaves out of fear of being left is a thing for sure but I’m so sad it has to be.
But also, the accusation and discussion having to do with Veela magic, and then Freya’s subsequent thought, “Who would ever trust a Veela?” made me think something potentially interesting -- by virtue of her looks and her Veela heritage, Freya seems to be in this position where she’ll have this problem with anyone she’s with: that she’ll always have to wonder whether the other person is only with her for her beauty and her body, and the other person will always have to wonder (or at least, Freya worries the other person will wonder) whether his feelings for her are real or whether she’s used the Veela magic on him. And Freya doesn’t seem to believe that any person could trust her completely to not use her power on him. That seems to be a recipe for a very lonely life.
I’m loving your description of Hexenheim at night, with the various types of floating lights and drunk centaurs outside a bar!
Another great chapter, Kris, and I’m eager to read more!
Melanie
hi hi i’m back with the last of your prize reviews!! (at least, i’m pretty sure this is the last one, i should check that before i get too over-confident about actually being kind of on top of my shit for once)
ha yeppppppp there are some real strong afu vibes in this chapter :P
i just…. i need to take a moment to appreciate this sentence, because it’s literally just……. fuck. “He has found me, as if we are two magnets, the king and the queen of undisclosed desires, attracting each other through space and time.” like that’s just….. so poetic, idk?? anyhow, excellent job with that one.
but i love that they’re just coming back to each other all over again, they both know exactly where to go to find the other, and they both know exactly how this is going to end. their sexual chemistry and physical attraction is just through the roof, and when you add the drugs and alcohol on top of that, it’s easy to see how all of that can get so incredibly addictive so fast.
i loooove the cracked mirror imagery in this chapter too, like it’s just so perfect for this situation that they’re in and this thing they’ve started. it’s twisted and flawed and distorted, it’s definitely going to get one or both of them hurt, and it’s only a matter of time until all the cracks become to much and the whole thing comes falling down. (also lol there’s really a thing with broken glass in this fic i’m realizing, haha)
but ohhh, they’re both catching feelings even though neither of them actually *want* to - freya’s self-preservation seems to be kicking into high gear, it’s very “you gotta leave before you get left.” and then oliver, who’s apparently so fucking unfamiliar with the idea of developing emotional attachment that he just assumes it’s a veela thing that’s making him feel this way instead of, you know, the very normal and human experience of catching feelings. but that’s a pretty shitty thing to accuse freya of - similar to rhys accusing her of the same sort of thing a few chapters ago, and now it’s someone she feels a lot more attached to (even if she doesn’t necessarily *want* to feel attached to him) so she’s pretty justified in getting pissed off at that.
v excited to see where this story goes next.
-taylor
aggghhhhhhh there is SO much to unpack here.
firstly, freya really is spiraling and tbh i don't blame her. having confusing, addictive feelings for someone on top of a stressful career and obvious issues with her self worth (yeah obviously she knows she's beautiful etc etc but like our girl really doesn't place much value in herself, does she?) have just led her down this self destructive path that has unfortunately led her back to him with a new girl and a ring.
part of her reaction to oliver makes her a QUEEN and part of it just shows how far she's come. she's lost the control she used to have over the drugs and the drink and even her own image. she isn't motivated by her own pleasure any more, she's just motivated by fucking him off and getting some petty revenge on the guy who hurt her.
sidenote: her dad can fuck off, seriously, what a dick.
beside the sidenote: actually love the take on veela's you have. the way jk writes them and the way that fleur and gabrielle are often portrayed in ff is disgusting and the fact you hold that with some other characters and build that attitude into a recognised problem is really refreshing. showing that even her father hates her kind because he doesn't trust a female power that he doesn't possess is so strong.
the way oliver blatantly just forgets about his fiance the moment he sees her is all shorts of shit. but also i get the impression that he may have been trying to do the same thing as freya in a way, go after something else to try and forget her. only she's been shagging everyone and he's committed to a relationship with a girl he doesn't love, who's only a failing rebound. They've both got these confusing, intoxicating feelings and are struggling to know what to do with them.
or maybe they do know what to do...
these beautiful idiots really are in a mess and krissssssssss this fic is just incredible. they're so complex and messy and i just want more now!
i want them to end up together because they're perfect together and clearly *hot sex included* are just constantly like magnets drawing each other together... but at the same time other people are starting to get hurt and the longer this goes on for them the more freya and oliver will get hurt too. she's calling him oliver now after all... thats big.
okay i've rambled on enough and i apologize if this makes zero sense but know that i love this and need you to write more soon... as well as everything else. just need more kris writing basically.
all my love
it feels like i've not been here in so long im so sorry! catch up time now!
so as always your descriptions of clubs and smut and just all of the beautiful messiness of this fic are breathtaking. you describe the chaos and invading, driving intoxicating atmospheres in clubs perfectly. the hazy effects drugs can have too, the way colours change and sensations just feel *more*.of course she's basically just trying to get away from someone and feel someone else instead but nope, freya just comes back to thinking about oliver and ahhh i feel so sorry for her in a lot of ways. girl really is hooked.
i do really get it, for someone who's used to being separate from feelings, the one in the driving seat without feelings then recognising when you are actually attached to someone can be a massive shock and i just... poor girl. there's only so much partying can do to drown that out. you've shown how far she's come so well here. she's a long way from the freya we met just a few chapters ago. "and as I look at myself in the mirror, I almost don't notice that my eyes are still blank. I blink a couple of times and draw my eyes away from the reflection, ignoring everything it means" agh my baby... i hate that i know this feeling and know that she really does need a hug rn.
I...
KRIS.........
WHYYYY???
nope. nope. not happening. why?
Aghhhhh fuck she's going to be so hurt dammit. I love it and hate it and need to read more!
on to the next one!
Deni x
Hi Kris! I’m here for EvS, team S :D
Oh man, I’m so very here for this tense moment. I can’t BELIEVE Oliver went out and got himself engaged! WTF was he thinking???? And how long is it possibly going to last, because he and Freya have CHEMISTRY! He doesn’t need to go marrying this other girl.
Oliver might be playing it cool here at the beginning of the chapter, but I suspect that he’s just as shaken by this surprise meeting as Freya is.
I totally get why Freya is toying around with Raphaël. It must hurt to see Oliver with this other woman—but Raphaël seems like a pale shadow in comparison to Oliver. I don’t like how dismissive Raphaël is of her when she says she’s a Veela. Like, he doesn’t really even seem to see her as a person.
Freya’s father is a worm. It makes a lot of sense now why Freya has armor a meter thick. I want to do the stabby stab to him, and I was cheering when Oliver was starting to get rough with him. I mean, I get why he shouldn’t actually attack the man—because he could professionally destroy him—but I loved seeing him step up because he couldn’t stand to have Freya disrespected and hurt that way. And then when Freya steps in to call off Oliver because she doesn’t want his career destroyed—dang it I ship Freya and Oliver so hard!!
The scene outside the club is smoking—as always. They are both so swept up in this force between them. And I love that being with Oliver is as much a high to Freya as drugs are. I mean, I know that sex can be an unhealthy coping mechanism, but I feel like Oliver actually does care about her, and that being with someone who cares about her is better than being alone.
I also love that she called him Oliver, and that it seemed to make him so happy.
Awesome chapter!! I love these two so much <3
Yours,
Noelle
helloooooooooo i am back yet again
haha i love the image of freya just shoving a cat on rhys and just being like ‘take care of it, it’s communal,’ the image of this giant scary weapons dealer man holding a cat and being very confused by it is just great.
and wizarding berlin! you’ve seriously done some fabulous work with description here, it sounds like such a vibrant and interesting place with all the cool architecture and street performers and the faint connections to muggle berlin. and then this interaction with daphne is great, because it seems like daphne has a faint idea that *something* is up with wood, even if she doesn’t actually know that he and freya have hooked up at the part she offhandedly mentioned. (or maybe she does and is just pretending to be oblivious? she’s a greengrass, and they seemingly have eyes everywhere, haha)
the photoshoot!! first of all, i just gotta say, all the clothes in this sound literally right up my alley aesthetically. black lacy things with roses?? hell fucking yes. (i love the concept so much that i actually got sad when oliver ripped the thong later in the chapter. r.I.p. you beautiful, beautiful piece of lingerie.) but it’s literally so on brand for these types of shoots that the dude’s literally in a full fucking suit and the woman’s barely dressed. classic. but i mean, daphne has a point, sex sells. the clothes almost don’t even matter, if the model can sell the allure, no one’s paying attention to the clothes anyways. i’m sure those photos are going to be STELLAR.
ahhhhh i fucking love lyrical nods in writing, and if it’s not evident by my gallery names on tda and now hpft, the “i can feel the flames on my skin, crimson red paint on my lips” line from idsb is just….. one of my favorite lines. chef’s kiss.
then the hot af nightclub sex. i mean, we all knew it was gonna happen. (i’m looking back at my previous review and yes, i did predict sex in this chapter haha) but they’ve got just as much frantic and heated chemistry as before, to the point that they don’t even make it to an upstairs this time.
i am THRILLED to see what comes next for these two. ;)
-taylor
Heya Kris! I'm here with a revieeeeww!
Oh my gosh, queue mysterious opening with that GREENGRASS SECRET ISH THAT I'VE BEEN ABSOLUTELY LIVING for in your fics -- please help me, I'm so here for this. What's more is that the magical fashion industry has been put into the spotlight in this and, let me tell you, I'm absolutely over the moon. Can we PLEASE take a second here to talk about your imagery, though, what with the shady business and the club and the smokey vibes -- it's really all creating this formidable atmosphere of darkness (but it's that blase, misanthropic, cool and dangerous type of dark-vibe, and I dig it).
Freya's hot. Her indifferent yet sharp coolness is freaking amazing. Of course, the very manipulative essence of her job as a Daphne's model completely matches her personality at a surface level, in the terms of it being something she's perfectly capable of, but she seems to have much more depth than merely what is percieved in the moment. The atmosphere she's creating by just freaking existing and the fact that it permiates right through the freaking screen is awe-inspiring.
And then Oliver Freaking Wood. Wooosh. I have read few different Oliver Wood versions, but having him be this too-hot-for-his-own-good, arrogant, f-boy who knows how to make those panties drops and HE knows that he knows how it's done -- it's perfection. By some physical law, I know that putting Freya and Oliver in the same room as one another is going to create some sort of explosive, chorrosive, chemical reaction so *grabs some safety goggles* let's freaking go! I'm ready for some over-sexed jerks to devour each other's souls and spit out the bones. I'm ready!
OH MY LORD THE DANCE -- the game they play of dancing back and forth (not literally, of course, though the literal dance was freaking hot, too) while they size each other up makes them both feel like they're predators just assessing their next meals (which I believe may be the point). The effect it has has me vibrating, holy moly -- I'm trying to decide if they're going to sleep together or kill each other (I mean, probably both, but that also works). I mean they're both just aiming to use each other for a means to an end, and the dark seductiveness plus the general freaking mood of this chapter (and what a goddamn mood it is) is just SO WELL DONE it's electrifying.
10/10 Recklessness, 10/10 Hotness, 10/10 Mood.
Heck yeah, Kris, you're kicking this story's butt.
--Rumpels
2 out of 4!
i love the notable shift in this chapter - the past two were very much focused on the nightclub scenery and freya-and-oliver, whereas this one is really just focused on freya for the most part and allows us to really get to know her better as a character.
the shift from all the glamour of the nightclub to the not-so-glamorous environment of her knockturn alley apartment is an interesting one. it’s surprising that she lives in such a sketchy area given her lifestyle - she seems to be from a well-off family given that her mother’s this big notable figure, and modelling seems like it’d be reasonably lucrative, so i wonder why she’s chosen to live there? at any rate, rhys is certainly an interesting character - the ‘i can’t help it’ line about her being part veela definitely made me roll my eyes because eugh, but he seems like an interesting guy otherwise. will the greengrass crime stuff play a meaningful role in this story, or is it more of just a random
easter egg?
hahahaha i love the cat lowkey judging her. mine do that when i’m drunk/high/hungover/whatever and it’s always just like ‘okay cool i’m being looked down upon by a small fluffy animal, i’m definitely doing great in life right now.’
also getting all the way out the door and realizing you’ve forgotten something important like your shoes is a whole fucking mood.
freya’s mom is...... gah. there’s a lot to pick apart in the fact that she’s fighting for equal rights for non-magical beings but looks down on her daughter for making the choice of her own free will to go into modelling. tbh it’s actually kind of an interesting metaphor for sex work and certain brands of feminists. like, the idea that women being sex workers somehow denies them their agency and sets feminism back, when really, they’re making that choice to profit off of their own bodies out of their own free will, and like...... that freedom should be the whole point. anyhow, i’m going wildly off-topic, so -
ahh of fucking course oliver finds a way to be at the exact same restaurant as her, and of fucking course they’re there together when they both get a note from daphne about being in a photoshoot together. also something about oliver’s reaction makes me think he miiiiiiiight have intentionally orchestrated this. i can only assume this means more freya/oliver sexual tension (and uhh, probably sex too) to come!!
excited for the next chapter!
-taylor
hi kris, i’m back the first of your prize reviews!
this whole chapter is INTENSE AF. i love that we jump right back in where the last chapter left off, and there’s still all that fire and passion from their first meeting as they find themselves upstairs above the club. (side note: i swear this is like, only a european thing and not an american thing that there’s somehow the perfect place to bang right above the bar?? it happened at multiple bars when i was studying abroad but i’ve only ever gone home with people in the states. or maybe i’ve just never hooked up with the right american dude with the right connections to said upstairs room?? idk. anyways, i’m fully off-topic now.)
as in the last chapter, freya and oliver’s chemistry is just SO GOOD. as always, the smutty bits of this (i say ‘bits’ but in reality it was like most of the chapter, lol) were really well-written and definitely allowed oliver and freya’s characters and dynamics to shine through. their teasing was great.
but then....... the aftermath. i mean, it’s clear that despite their chemistry and despite literally just fucking a few minutes ago, these two do not trust each other at all. freya knows oliver’s bad news, and it seems oliver has his own assumptions about freya as well. (i wonder if he really thinks that or if he just said it to get a rise out of her? who knows)
i also really love the imagery of freya in a t-shirt and joggers and NO FUCKING SHOES in the middle of the club. how she didn’t get her toes stepped on five thousand times is a mystery to me, although maybe she just didn’t feel that either because of whatever drugs she took. also love the greengrass drug dealer reference as a nod to your drastorias. i love when people have that kind of continuity across their fics.
ahh, and this ending. he’s burned into her indeed, and i’m sure they’ll meet again soon and it’ll probably be just as intense and explosive. i can’t wait!
-taylor
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