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fairestevies · 5 years

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home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling | evie x doug

A few sweet moments in the months leading up to graduation, including Evie’s fashion business, “starter castle,” and Doug’s new band.

February

Evie sighed as she hung up the gowns she was working on for the night. She loved making dresses for everyone, but it was beginning to get a little overwhelming with graduation only a few months away. Not only was she focused on the gowns, but she still had a couple exams to study for, and had to figure out how to bring some of the other VKs over to Auradon. Needless to say, she was exhausted by the end of each day.

She flopped onto her bed, looking gloomily at Mal’s side of the room. It had been pretty empty recently, with Mal being just as busy as Evie. Being a lady of the court was no joke- she usually had a meeting of some sort every day, in different parts of Auradon. She hadn’t used her spell book once since the whole cotillion incident, and Evie was proud of that. Not to mention, Mal was getting to spend a lot of time with Ben.

Evie pulled out her notebook and added another thing to her to-do list: Talk to Doug about the proposal

Ben was planning to propose to Mal after graduation and asked Evie and Doug to be a part of the musical arrangements. Evie smiled to herself, she was so happy for her friends. Mal was going to love it.

She reached over to put her sketchbook back on her desk, but a few scraps of paper fell out. She knew exactly what they were before she even opened them. Her name was written neatly across each folded piece of paper, which she kept inside her notebook for whenever she needed to be cheered up. They were her notes from Doug, ranging from poems to inside jokes to silly stick figure drawings.

Evie smiled sadly as she opened up one of the poems. Along with Evie being busy with her business and school, Doug had been practicing late with the marching band most nights.

Evie turned to look at her clock- 9:55. Doug was usually finished around 10, so she should have a chance to talk to him as he walked back to the dorms. For now, she turned back to the poem she held in her hand. This was one of her favorites, but they were all really good. Not many people knew it, but Doug was super talented. He had a way with words, could play almost any instrument, ace a chemistry test in his sleep, and was the perfect business partner (and boyfriend, of course).

Just as she finished reading the note, her phone rang.

“Hi!” Evie chimed, as she answered Doug’s call.

“Hey Eve,” Doug smirked from the other end. “What’s up?”

Evie told him all about the dresses she was working on, and how she had crunched most of the numbers, which of course he offered to help with. Doug told her about his practice and the routine they were working on for the upcoming family events and graduation ceremonies. They liked to talk things out like this, as the other often had good ideas of what could be added or amended.

“I’m back in my room now, so I’m gonna go shower,” Doug explained. “I’ll come by tomorrow, and we can work on Evie’s4Hearts stuff?”

Evie agreed, chewing on her lip as they said goodnight. She got up and changed into her pajamas before laying back down on her bed. She couldn’t fall asleep yet, as she knew what was going to happen next.

A few moments passed before she heard a knock on the door. She answered to see a squeaky clean Doug with a smile on his face.

“You know it doesn’t count as a surprise if you come to kiss me goodnight every night?” Evie teased, gesturing for Doug to come in.

“Oh, so you want me to stop?” Doug teased back, grabbing her hand as he walked in and pulling her close.

Evie shook her head before hugging him back and burying her head in his chest, “Of course not.”

Doug smiled as he kissed the top of her head, something he could only do when she wasn’t wearing her usual heeled boots. They stayed like that for a minute, winding down after a long day.

Doug had noticed how Evie had been a little more down than usual. He sensed it had something to do with the talk of graduation starting to rise, but he wasn’t sure. What he was sure of, however, was that he was going to be there when she needed him. His nightly visits were his way of making sure she knew this.

Evie finally looked up and pressed her lips to his. “You should probably go before Fairy Godmother catches you out past curfew,” she mumbled.

Doug sighed and kissed her back one last time. “Goodnight Evie,” he said as he started to move towards the door.

“Night,” she followed, closing the door behind him.

She turned back towards her bed, noticing a new folded piece of paper on the floor, her name written across the front in the same familiar handwriting.

She rolled her eyes, and her smile widened as she picked it up.

She felt so lucky. __________________________________________________________________

March

Evie sat upright on her bed as Doug strummed his guitar from her desk chair. She couldn’t help but smile as she watched him, so focused on the notes. Ben had wanted them to take the song that he performed for Mal when he was spelled and slow it down for the proposal. Doug had been working on the arrangement for a while, and he was playing it for Evie’s approval before he taught it to the band.

“It’s perfect,” she admitted as he strummed the last note. “Doug, you’re so talented. MIT (Magical Institute Training) is so lucky to have you as their Drum Major.”

Evie’s smile fell slightly after she spoke. Graduation was approaching faster each day, and everything was changing so fast. Jay and Doug were heading off to separate colleges, Mal and Ben were embarking on a tour of the kingdom, and Lonnie was going to play R.O.A.R. as a professional, but thankfully Carlos and Jane would still be attending Auradon Prep.

Evie wasn’t exactly sure what her future was going to look like. She and Doug had spoken about this a little, but she didn’t really have a place to go. She wasn’t sure if she had enough money to buy a castle yet, but she wanted to stay in Auradon and continue working on Evie’s4Hearts and getting more VKs into Auradon Prep. She saw college as a possibility in her future, but for now, her top priority was getting kids off the Isle.

“And Auradon is lucky to have you as their number one fashion designer,” Doug added, moving to sit next to her.

Evie nodded, her smile back in full effect. “And the number one council member in support of the VK initiative.”

Doug smirked, “And you called me talented?” He threw his arm over her shoulder as they both giggled. “I was gonna wait and tell you next weekend.... but I have a surprise.”

Evie turned to look at him, curiosity dazzling in her eyes.

“I know you’ve been worried about having a place to stay next year, but I looked over the numbers again and Evie, I think we can make it work. I found this one place that I think could be really great-“

Evie cut him off with a kiss. “Thank you,” She exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

Doug pulled her over towards the computer, and as he typed, pictures of Evie’s perfect “starter castle” filled the screen. She stood behind him, arms hugging his chest and chin resting on his shoulder as they looked through the pictures, smiling and imagining the purposes for each room.

“I can’t believe it!” Evie cheered, standing up and twirling around her room. “I’m finally gonna have my own castle!”

Doug spun around and grabbed his guitar, strumming some notes and creating a silly “Evie’s getting a castle” song. They both laughed and continued to mess around until they heard a “Knock it off!” come from the hall.

They felt so alive.

__________________________________________________________________

April

“Okay so that’s 6 new dresses,” Evie spoke aloud as she scribbled the orders furiously in her notebook. With much of her money going towards a castle, her and Doug had been putting in extra work with Evie’s4Hearts to make up for it.

Doug stood by the clothing rack, tagging her recent creations with one hand and calculating the numbers in the other.

“Eve, you still have a month,” he reminded her, hoping to alleviate some of her stress.

“I know, I know,” she responded, even though a month really wasn’t that much time. She moved away too quickly, accidentally knocking her notebook onto the floor, sketches flying everywhere.

Evie let out a frustrated groan as she started to gather her sketches, Doug rushing over to help. She sighed and sat on the floor, back against her bed. “Maybe I need to take a lunch break...”

Doug smirked and sat on the floor next to her. “I think that might be helpful.”

She finally let out a small laugh and looked over at him, “When did our lives get so crazy? I swear just the other day our biggest responsibility was studying for Chemistry!”

Doug laughed. “It has always been crazy since you, Mal, Jay, and Carlos arrived to liven things up,” he joked. “Plus, you’ve always been crazy about your sketches,” he added, pulling one out from the pile he had in his hands.

“That turned out to be a pretty nice dress, huh?” She smirked, admiring her old design.

Doug nodded, “But this one has always been my favorite.” He pulled a sketch of Evie’s cotillion dress out of the pile.

She chuckled, her cheeks blushing when she remembered how much fun they had dancing that night. “Making it short was the perfect call considering the amount of water that ended up on the boat!”

They continued to reminisce over some of Evie’s old designs until Doug pulled out one of the poems he’d written. He smiled to himself, knowing she kept them in her sketchbook.

“Now we can admire your work,” she beamed, picking up her favorite one.

“Oh, it’s really nothing-“

“Doug come on, this is really good,” she urged as he looked over it. “Have you ever... have you ever thought about writing songs?”

Doug pondered her question for a second. “Not really, but a few of us were thinking about starting a band this summer, you know, to stay in practice before we head off to school...”

Evie’s eyes widened. “Doug that’s amazing!” She exclaimed, searching for more poems. “Here, take some of these. I know you could turn them into great songs!”

Doug couldn’t help but smile as Evie rambled on about what the band’s look should be. She was so excited to be able to support him in something, just as he had supported her these past few years. He took her hand and continued to listen, reading over the poems. Sure, they were some of his best work, but it’s who inspired them that really mattered.

He felt so loved.

__________________________________________________________________

May

“Wow, all that castle for such a small price!” Evie exclaimed as she faced her new purchase.

“And it’s not that far from MIT,” Doug added, taking the “For Sale” sign out of the yard and joining her to admire the starter castle.

“Now I know why it was your favorite,” Evie teased grabbing his arm. “But it is perfect, really.”

“I think Dizzy will like it too.”

Evie beamed just thinking about having Dizzy and other VKs staying with her here in only a few months, not to mention how excited she was for Dizzy to meet her friends at Auradon Prep, including Doug. “Oh, she’ll love it.”

Evie honestly couldn’t believe she was here, about to graduate Auradon Prep and now the owner of her own castle in Auradon. She had dreamed of this ever since she was little, although, at that point, she expected to marry a prince to get her there.

“I’m so proud of you.”

Evie looked at Doug, snapping out of her own thoughts and processing his words.

“I love- it!“ she started before catching herself, laughing off the word she almost said. “Let me show you my favorite part!”

Doug allowed himself to be dragged through the side door by Evie. There was a wing on the side of her new home with glass walls, letting in so much natural light.

“It’s the perfect new spot for Evie’s4Hearts,” she marveled, admiring the space.

“I can’t wait to see what you create in here,” Doug gushed, walking up to her from behind to put his hands on her shoulders and give them a squeeze.

Evie blushed, turning around to face him. “I can’t thank you enough for believing in me,” she blurted, almost unaware of the words that had come out of her ruby red lips.

“You don’t have to,” Doug soothed, pulling her close. “I’m your biggest fan!”

Evie giggled. “Mal might argue with you on that one,” she teased, “but I’m your biggest fan.”

Doug kissed her quick as they swayed in the middle of her new fashion studio. Evie’s friends would be arriving soon to check the place out, but for now, they enjoyed the peace and quiet that they knew wouldn’t last long in this house.

Evie was so excited, looking around the room and the halls beyond it. She could see the new VKs running through the halls, full of excitement and energy from trying ice cream for the first time. She could see Doug coming to visit for one of their movie nights, the two of them snuggled up on the couch. She could see Carlos and Jane coming over to share what’s new at Auradon Prep. She could see Jay coming to visit after one of his tourney games, and Mal coming over for girl time when she needed a break from being Queen. She could see this room full of her designs and creations that were still to come.

She knew this place was going to be special, but she didn’t know it would be where she would have to wake Doug from a spell with true love’s kiss later this summer, or where he would play her his first song from the poems he’d written in just a few weeks. She didn’t know it would be where they came to celebrate after Doug’s band’s first show, or where she received a school acceptance letter a few years down the line.

Although her starter castle allowed her to stay and make many new memories in Auradon, she knew it wasn’t just the house that made her feel at home, and for that, she was grateful.

They were home.

#descendants #evie x doug #doug x evie #evie #doug #mine #this was supposed to be about how it was Evie's idea for doug to start a band but it turned into... much more #shoutout the descendants books for giving us actual doug content #anyway I love them #listen they are each others biggest fans ok!!!!

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justforbooks · 7 years

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Our lives are a mess. Reading “The Blazing World” I’m reminded of a performance by the brilliant artist Bobby Baker I once attended. She delivered a monologue about her life that included a scattering of memories, disappointments, happy highlights and concerns about contemporary issues. With each subject she added dry ingredients into a pot collecting them all until it overflowed. She poured it over herself till her clothes, hair and face were completely soiled and a floury cloud floated around her head. She stared around at the audience solemnly proclaiming: “What a mess!” The sight was comical, but through the manner in which she delivered the monologue it was understood that her whole being had tragically unravelled. In a similar way, the life of this novel’s central character Harriet Burden (or Harry as many intimates call her) is a mess. The narrative reflects her state of mind as it is a loose collection of fragments: personal notebooks, statements from family, friends and an art critic as well as gallery show reviews. It is an assemblage which is incomplete, meandering and circuitous. But in its fragmentation it becomes a truer portrait of a person than any straightforward narrative could hope to represent. This account is a more meaningful reflection of the many facets of personality and the multi-layered ways in which a person can be viewed.

Harriet is an artist in her sixties living in New York City who is frustrated with the way female artists don’t get taken as seriously as men. She devises a grand artistic project to expose this prejudice and take revenge by exposing the art world’s sexist nature. Three living male artists are selected by her to present original shows as their own work when really Harriet is the true artist. Only after the third show does she reveal her grand prank through an indirect route by writing an article for an obscure art publication under the pseudonym of a fictional critic. With so much subterfuge going on, people naturally question whether Harriet has made all this up or if she’s created one of the most ingenious artworks of our time. The book begins with a preface from someone attempting to answer this riddle by compiling the various accounts about the late Harriet Burden into a somewhat chronological order. This may all sound exhaustingly convoluted, but it’s actually quite straightforward to follow the story once you get the gist. At it’s heart, “The Blazing World” is really about the more profound question of personality.

It’s as if “The Golden Notebook” were written by Susan Sontag, but of course the writing is totally unique and purely the innovation of Siri Hustvedt. It’s a brilliant assemblage of knowledge full of clever word play, innovative narrative technique, psychological insights and dramatic twists. It’s sparked by a feeling of real anger: about our complacency to accept things as they are when there has been so much hard intellectual work dedicated to progress. It’s a passion which burns on every page. Harriet is a voracious reader and thinker. Therefore, her notebooks are layered with a heady amount of references to great works by psychologists, artists, philosophers, writers, scientists and theologians. I love it when I finish a novel with a long list of books and authors that I want to look up and learn even more from. This novel has given me a list longer than most. But this isn’t a showy intellectual feat by Hustvedt. This knowledge is layered into her central character’s reasoning because it relates to the ontological issues which stir her heart and cause her to create such an elaborate complex deceitful artistic project.

Going even further, accounts from both Harriet’s friends and enemies offer counter arguments to the statements Harriet makes. For instance, the primary question at the centre of this novel asks if art by women is taken less seriously. On one side a psychoanalyst named Rachel said: “With almost no exceptions, art by men is far more expensive than art by women. Dollars tell the story.” Harriet echoes this thought when she says: “Money talks. It tells you about what is valued, what matters. It sure as hell isn’t women.” However, an art critic named Oscar states: “To suggest, even for an instant, that there might be more men than women in art because men are better artists is to risk being tortured by the thought police.” Whereas a bi-racial artist named Phineas muses upon the superficiality of the art in general world concluding that: “It was all names and money, money and names, more money and more names.” Later on Harriet suggests that the question of gender isn’t even her central preoccupation: “it’s more than sex. It’s an experiment, a whole story I am making.” Points of view jostle against each other until a multi-layered portrait of this and other questions are presented and the reader must come to their own conclusions.

The accounts which struck me the most in this novel are Harriet’s own recorded in her various notebooks. One of her preoccupations is her fight against time, against being marginalized forever as a footnote rather than having made a grand statement about life. She states: “I am writing this because I don’t trust time.” Her tireless efforts to create and communicate show how desperately serious she is about the issues she raises. Having spent her life living somewhat quietly as a wife and mother she has reached middle age and is now keenly aware that if she doesn’t make her statement soon time will defeat her. With great precision she observes that: “Time creeps. Time alters. Gravity insists.” The razor-sharp language used cuts right to the heart of what she means and is merciless in its exactitude. Through short dramatic fragments of memory she recollects scenes from her past: her father who didn’t want her, the discovery of her husband’s infidelity, the cruelty of schoolmates who misunderstood her and finally the pernicious betrayal which threatens to dismantle her grand artistic project.

There is plenty of humour to be found in this novel as well. The comedy is of a highly intellectual sort – plays on words and jokes that need a footnote about a French cultural theorist to fully understand them. But there is also humour of a more bawdy nature cutting down the ridiculous importance men place on their manhood “He worries over semen flow, a bit low, the flow, compared to days gone by. You’d think he had walked around with a volcano down there for years, conceited man” and a satirical humour that slices apart Harriet’s perceived enemies in a merciless way. Harriet pokes fun at the art world and its parade of ego-driven denizens, but somewhat sadly she finds little to laugh about in how seriously she takes herself. For it is perhaps the most important characteristic of Harriet’s personality that she takes the world so seriously and expects everyone else to as well despite her partner Bruno trying to tell her differently: “Harry’s magic kingdom, where citizens lounged about reading philosophy and science and arguing about perception? It’s a crude world, old girl, I used to tell her.” Because no one seeks to understand the world with as much intellectual vigour and passion as she does, she desires to take revenge upon the people who don’t take her or the world so seriously. The fact that she does this through an artistic prank so elaborate it can only be comprehended after her death is a tragic joke itself. What she really desires is recognition, not revenge. She daydreams that after her death someone will come upon her work and “nodding wisely, my imaginary critic will stare for a long time and then utter, here is something, something good.” The creation of any art is an act of faith that the artist's vision will be recognized and understood and influence the culture its a part of.

Siri Hustvedt is a supremely talented writer and this novel might be her great masterpiece. Feminism and experimental forms of narrative have always had a strong presence in her novels like “The Blindfold” and “The Enchantment of Lily Dahl” while in “What I Loved” she created a novel about the NYC art world and the breakdown of a family. “The Blazing World” seems to synthesize all her primary concerns and turns them into an astonishing story. The truth lies not in any one account in this collection of fragments, but in between the pages and how we construct an idea of Harriet/”Harry.” This is what novels artfully do for us when they are written as brilliantly as this book: give us an incomplete picture of the world to fill in with our own understanding of it. But in the end it's not the artist herself who really matters but the art she leaves behind. As Harriet notes: “I am myself a myth about myself. Who I am has nothing to do with it.” At a certain point personality dissolves and the integrity of the art work's ideas are what determine whether it will stand throughout time. It's my hope that this novel will survive to be read for centuries.

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#JUST FOR BOOKS

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