Born to Shine (Gus & Si)

[camila calderón]

July 5, 2025
Exmoor Quidditch Stadium

After she had left the stage (and following her encore), Camila breathed out heavily, a wide smile upon her face nevertheless. It had been her first major performance in quite a while, and she had been so worried about it. Hag’s Fever plus all of the concerns about pyrotechnics and security and how she would sing (and in English!) following such a long illness had all melted away, though. Everything had gone well, better than she could have hoped, and she took a swig of water as soon as she was able. Quickly, she was guided by various members of her team so that she could get her microphone and earpiece removed and get changed back into regular clothing for her meet-and-greet.

After the meet-and-greet session was over, Camila was exhausted, and her hand was beginning to ache a little from the number of autographs she’d signed. Still, she could not have been more relieved that everything had gone so well. After a quick call to her parents, she asked after where Sienna and Auguste had gone, and she was glad to hear that they were in the green room. They hadn’t gotten bored and left yet, as late as it was.

“Hiiiii!” she beamed, giving a quick knock on the door before opening it completely. She had barely seen them and felt awful about that, but she knew they would understand. Neither had she seen Sienna and Auguste in the other’s company before, she noted, but she was so glad that they had been able to make it. Camila laughed a little at herself; she was still sort of running on the high of performing, but it was so worth it.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee
@auguste
OOC: Whichever one of you wants to start the posting order can.
Main concert info here.

[Deleted]

Camila's concert had been amazing. Gus had to admit she had things very well under control. She had a great crew to have things going so flawlessly and he admired the stage management quite a bit. He didn't know all the details but he was more than aware that his manager regularly had his hands full on planning everything. Sienna and his father had made sure that details such as planning wouldn't stop Gus from having a career, as they had rightly figured out that music and creative outlets were vital to the man for dealing with his depression and his absence from them had caused his mental health to slip. Now that he had somebody else to take care of the business side of things he knew he could focus on making his music and if he ever considered quitting he'd have a hoard of angry fans to deal with. It was a good thing for him.

He hugged Sienna a little closer, attempting to sneakily smell her hair. The only thing that had made this concert even more perfect was the fact he had Sienna with him, not just as a friend any longer, but as his partner. He just hoped the paparazzi would leave her alone for the most part. He personally found it irksome to be followed around but it was part of the price to pay for fame. He wouldn't trade it. Yet the wait between the concert and the return of Camila would take a while, Gus was sure since he'd not been blind to the fact there was a meet and greet planned. Unless Camila planned on being rude, that was going to take some time. He chuckled to himself for a moment. "Do you want anything to drink Si? I could have some brought in." He offered.

It wasn't much of a wait to him before she came back, beaming brightly at the two of them. As soon as he'd heard her approach he'd gently wormed his way out of cuddling Sienna, he had Camila to greet after all. He was already on the way to the door before she was fully visible and within seconds he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Camila, mon ami! You shine like the stars. Thank you so much for the invitation!" He said as he took a few steps back towards the sofa. "Let's sit so you can tell us all about how it went. I didn't notice anything but I don't know all the details of the performance. The crew made it look effortless though. You've got some great special effects worked in there." He complimented her outrageously, instantly creating a space for Sienna to cuddle back up in case she so desired as he sat down. While he found it perfectly acceptable to give her as much space as she felt like, a part of him always wanted her closer rather than further from him. He wasn't one to hide, after all. Well, except for a few very personal secrets, but he didn't want to keep Sienna a secret.

camila calderón , Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

After spending weeks in St. Mungo’s fighting through Hag’s Fever (which had been more annoying than anything really harmful or scary), it was thrilling to finally be free and spending time at a concert. And Si was in awe of how magical everything had looked! Camila had been on fire, clearly in her element, and the crowd had reacted extremely well to the opportunity to see her friend shine. Sienna herself had shouted herself hoarse cheering and singing along, although she’d worn herself out faster than normal. That was the drawback of still being in recovery, she supposed, but she wasn’t going to let a little fatigue stop her from enjoying the electrified atmosphere.

And, if anything, it gave her the perfect excuse to be affectionate with Gus outside the privacy of his home or her flat. After the end of the concert, they’d gone backstage to wait for Camila as she went through the motions with meeting fans. Si had been to enough of Gus’s concerts to know it could take a while, but she wasn’t in a rush. Camila should enjoy the well-deserved attention, and she had Gus to herself for a while. Win-win-win.

Gus asked if she wanted anything to drink, and Si laughed and shook her head a little. She’d nuzzled in close and was currently resting her head on his shoulder as she did her best to catch her breath. “You just stay right here,” she responded instead, letting out a happy little sigh. There was only a small moment of silence before the door opened again, but it perked Sienna up. She stood as well, but refrained from rushing Camila with Gus, who immediately began to shower her with praise (which she deserved) while he fired off observations of the sort one performer would make to another.

Sienna didn’t have as much to say about the crew or the technical side of things, but squealed and threw her arms around Camila in an excited hug as Gus sat back down. “Camila, you looked gorgeous! And your performance was so beautiful, everything looked so magical,” she gushed. The last time she’d seen Camila they’d both been in various stages of Hag’s Fever, and the singer’s recovery made her look almost like a different person. Gus had already asked for details of the performance, so Sienna retook her seat by him, eliminating all the physical distance between them as she listened curiously.

camila calderón
@auguste

[camila calderón]

July 5, 2025
Exmoor Quidditch Stadium

As soon as she had entered the room, Auguste rushed over to her. He hugged her and kissed her on the cheek in a matter of seconds. "Camila, mon ami!" he exclaimed. "You shine like the stars. Thank you so much for the invitation!" Camila was glad that he and Sienna had been able to make it. It was nice to finish a show and get to hang out with people who were actually her friends and not just her team. "Let's sit so you can tell us all about how it went," Auguste urged her, immediately mentioning that he hadn't noticed anything.

That was good, and Camila—who hadn't really stopped smiling the entire time—looked over to Sienna as she approached her for a hug. "Camila, you looked gorgeous! And your performance was so beautiful, everything looked so magical."

"Thank you," she laughed, hugging Sienna back. Though she couldn't take credit for the special effects, Camila was happy that they had gone over so well. It wasn't as though she could see the effects from the audience in real time, so she had to trust that what was supposed to dazzle them would.

Camila joined Auguste and Sienna on the sofa, not realizing how good it felt not to be on her feet until she was seated. "I was very nervous," she admitted, shaking her head. "The choreography was… less," which she had pushed for so she wasn't actually concerned about it. She preferred just singing. "The Weird Sisters," as in the inclusion of the cover of "This Is the Night", "was my idea." It felt strange not to include it, since that was what had made her famous. And the song itself was in English, from a British band.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee
@auguste
OOC: Main concert info here.

[Deleted]

It made sense to be nervous, even more so after having been sick with something that definitively effected lung capacity among other things. Gus himself hadn't performed live since his own trip to the hospital but he wasn't really in a rush. He was taking a more slow path, which in all honesty had more to do with wanting to spend time with Sienna than actually needing quite as much time to recover as he was taking. He hadn't admitted that to anybody (Sienna included) because floating on the clouds was such a nice variation to his normal constant torn up feelings that were roaming all over the place. This time he had far more interest in stopping to smell the flowers because he was in the best possible company to spend time doing so. He stole a glance at Sienna as Camila told about the concert, as usual amazed at how a wonderful, talented and beautiful woman like her had come into his life and created a space for herself to stay there. When being with her like this he felt happier than he had in many years. As if a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders, even if only for a little while.

Gus sighed and waved the comment about choreography away carelessly. "You're a singer, not a monkey. It's stupid how many hoops people expect us to jump sometimes. That being said, you did good. I just wish people realised we're not exactly doing this hopping around part for ourselves but only for the sake of the audience." He sighed somewhat dramatically, although it didn't really undo his point at all. They were not a bunch of singing monkey's and he often enough refused to learn a very complicated choreography to please the crowd. They came for the music and whatever movement he tended to do had to be enough. Not that such a choice was half as easy for a woman to make. The demands on them were far too often much higher than for their male counterparts. They were supposed to be able to do it all, something Gus found bothersome and highly unrealistic. Woman were already settled with far more duties than was fair and it didn't seem to stop anywhere. This is why he had hired staff to keep his house clean and cook when he was too lazy to do so. He didn't want Sienna to be expected to work full time and worry about the household in a mansion outside of work. Not that they'd moved in together or anything. He hoped that was part of their future but he wanted to make sure he already had her planned into it.

He smiled at the mention of the weird sisters song. "Yeah, I really liked it! It was a good addition! I could tell the fans were gobbling it up like candy. It was fun to see. It's always nice to see ideas take off and become something we wish them to be. The fun parts of the creative sector, I suppose." He said with a shrug. To him nothing felt more rewarding than seeing the impact of his songs on his audience. When it got the response that he wished for he knew he'd done justice to the idea that he'd started out with. Sometimes it was better than expected, although that was fairly rare as he held himself to incredibly high standards. Yet to see another artist prosper was always something fun. It was magic of a different kind and one that he most certainly appreciated.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee camila calderón

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

One thing the three of them had in common was the unfortunate circumstance of being victims of Hag’s Fever. The magical bug wasn’t dangerous in the traditional sense, and especially compared to other diseases that actually killed people, but it was a pain to go through and the symptoms tended to linger. Gus and Camila had been in the hospital much longer than Sienna (relatively speaking, because Sienna’s first day had been Camila’s last), and even weeks later she still felt breathless while in the middle of normal activities and after an average day of work (which due to its potions-related nature didn’t require much physical activity). And, to her horror, she’d been a sickly sort of pale even days after her discharge and despite it being the middle of summer. Si had refused to look at herself in a mirror until she was sure her skin had returned to a normal-looking hue, and she’d moved to working from home until the end of June when she was sure she could go back to work looking the same as always.

So, all that considered, it meant Camila’s performance tonight had been doubly impressive. The singer must have worked extremely hard to get back into shape and prepare the choreography for the concert. Still, she sounded nervous about how it much have looked, so Si rushed to add, “The choreography looked amazing. And if you made a mistake then I definitely didn’t see it, because everything looked like it was planned!”

Gus also had reassuring words for Camila about the choreography and Si found herself nodding along – she was just a casual observer but Gus was a professional and would know more about these kinds of things. Si had been backstage at several of his concerts before, so she'd gotten a new angle to see how concerts worked (and how exhausting they were for the performers). She shifted her gaze from Camila to Gus to find him already watching her, and she smiled softly at him as she got caught in the moment. It was hard to be away from Gus for long periods of time while he was on tour or recording, but whether they were together or apart he always knew how to make her feel valued. There was so much unsaid between them, but the beautiful thing about their relationship was that it didn’t always need to be said. A moment like this wasn’t the right one for any declarations, but they communicated enough even with just a look. And Si was sure, even if she couldn’t say it right now, that he knew he was the one big love in her life. That it was impossible to even think of other men when her love for him ran so deep.

She inhaled slightly as she returned to the moment and smiled at Camila. “Well, I loved Beso Del Dementor. Definitely the one that gets stuck in my head the most at work, although I have no idea how you come up with songs like that.” She laughed as she asked, “Do you guys just think in poetry and write it out sometimes? And in a language that isn’t your first? I can’t even imagine!”

camila calderón
@auguste

[camila calderón]

July 5, 2025
Exmoor Quidditch Stadium

"The choreography looked amazing. And if you made a mistake then I definitely didn’t see it, because everything looked like it was planned!" Sienna reassured her brightly, dismissing her comments about the choreography's not having been what it technically should have been because she had fallen ill and it was way too much work to deal with on top of making sure that she was back at her best vocally. Camila knew that she was probably the only one who had caught that she hadn't done everything that she was "supposed" to have done, but she appreciated that it was impressive to her audience.

"You're a singer, not a monkey," Auguste reminded her. "It's stupid how many hoops people expect us to jump sometimes. That being said, you did good. I just wish people realised we're not exactly doing this hopping around part for ourselves but only for the sake of the audience."

Camila agreed with his thoughts on the matter. She had always hated choreography; it was so much else to keep track of while she was performing. Keeping the exact steps with the timing, while singing? She understood why there were singers who chose not to sing live and to synchronize their lips to the music, because it was complicated. Nothing was ever as smooth when she did it as when the choreographer showed it to her. As much as she understood the desire from her team not to have her standing in one place on the stage for an entire show—which she never did, because she moved around regardless—it was really all as Auguste said. It was for the benefit of the fans, and she felt that she had done just as well in being able to get back on the stage and perform in front of such a large crowd. They had been excited about seeing her; they hadn't needed anything quite so elaborate to be happy with her performance.

Auguste also mentioned that he liked the addition of her Weird Sisters cover, and he told her that the fans were "gobbling it up like candy". Camila hadn't had time to check her social media since the concert had finished, and she hadn't really felt compelled to, but a part of her did wonder if her name might have been trending on Vibe because of that.

Sienna, though, said that her favorite song had been "Beso Del Dementor". "Definitely the one that gets stuck in my head the most at work, although I have no idea how you come up with songs like that," she added. "Do you guys just think in poetry and write it out sometimes? And in a language that isn’t your first? I can’t even imagine!"

Camila shook her head, laughing. It wasn't like that at all, or at least it didn't feel like that. She occasionally still thought in Portuguese, but that was because she understood the language much better than English—yet she still hadn't done any songs in Portuguese. With English, it was harder because she didn't really think in it; she mostly thought in Spanish and then translated whatever she was thinking into English before she actually said it, in general. If it was for a song, then she usually had songwriters discussing ideas with her. She couldn't create poetry in English at all, at least not as spontaneously as Sienna seemed to think. She was appreciative that Sienna thought that she was so talented, though. "Thank you. Auguste writes poetry in English," she deflected. "Me? I have songwriters." Without them, her English-language music would not have received the kind of reaction that it had that night.

"English is so hard," she groaned, still giggling a little. It was something that Camila knew that both of them would understand, or she wouldn't have said it for fear of causing offense to anyone. Obviously, she had memorized her songs because she had to sing them live, but how often did she encounter phrases like half of the ones in her music in her everyday life? Maybe she should have written more songs about mundane things, she considered, like that song about ice cream that she and Brandon had talked about once. The only difference was that the really mundane songs wouldn't even be about food; she would write them about things like going to the store or asking questions about an item that she wanted to purchase or dealing with Healers in a foreign hospital. Absolutely no one would find that interesting, though.

To elaborate on her point, she added, "I do not want to say something wrong when I meet my fans." She didn't want to say something that might come across differently from how she had intended it, because she knew that anything that she did say would get picked up by the media, potentially. It was especially challenging when there were so many English words that weren't said as they were spelled on paper, and there had been so many times when she had gone to pronounce a word that she thought she had known how to say, only to find out that she was saying it entirely wrong. She hadn't run into any issues that night, luckily; everything had gone well there, and Camila began to realize that maybe she needed to cut herself some slack.

She looked to Sienna and Auguste. "Did you eat?" she checked. They probably hadn't had much, she guessed, though she knew that there was food around—the one thing that, unfortunately, couldn't be transfigured out of thin air—if they wanted it.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee
@auguste
OOC: Main concert info here.