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aislingyngaio-games · 4 years ago

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The Tifareth Balance

I think this goes all the way back to the gnostic tree, and how everything has to be brought into balance to achieve Final Heaven.

Introduction: Where the Characters Begin in FF7

At the beginning of the story, Aerith was treated all her life as special by certain individuals - Turks, Shinra/Hojo, Elmyra, Zack. This gave her a very young Queen Victoria levels of self-importance and obstinence, very self-centered world view if you will, and that's why in OG she's always asking Cloud what he thinks about her etc (which actually implies she's rather confused that she isn't already the center of his world somehow) during dialogue options. This is also I believe partially why she seems to sense Ifalna, Elmyra’s husband, and Zack enter the Lifestream, yet seems inured when two reactors, a plate, and the related mass loss of life occurred. Surely she should have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of souls passing back into the Lifestream, yet she seems perfectly deaf to this mass upheaveal and more concerned about her own earthly affairs as she meets Cloud? Sounds oddly cold for a steward of the planet who could hear its cries, however faintly. There’s no Obiwan-Alderaan moment for her at all. Her starting point is that she misses the forest for the trees.

Meanwhile, we have Tifa, who though in her youth was the center of a circle of friends, we learn during the Lifestream that none of them actually understood her, esp obvious during her grief over her mother's death. For an introvert, this is actually a deeply socially draining experience, and since then, given how one by one her social circle deserted her and the village for job opportunities, she is left to believe she's simply a cog in the Grand Scheme. She's always had to suppress her own self and think of others before her. It doesn't matter that she probably wants to leave the village that's been emptied of her peers - she's the chief's daughter so she must stay. It doesn't matter that she disagreed over the reactor bombings, for the Greater Good Avalanche must do something to save the Planet, so she had to acquiesant against her own wishes. It was she who worried and grieved most for the two reactor bombings and the plate fall and its associated loss of life, even though she still had Cloud with her, and realistically couldn’t actually hear the cries of the Planet. Her starting point is that she misses the trees for the forest.

In other words, at the beginning of the story, Aerith is too selfish and Tifa is too selfless. And as author Rick Riordan once wrote, "The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation. Evil is easy to fight. Lack of wisdom… that is very hard indeed." (Athena, The Titan's Curse)

Aerith’s Character Arc in FF7

Over the course of the story, we see Aerith, even while leveraging her position and her blood against Shinra's encroachment, was equally afraid of her own powers. She ignored and hid herself away from the problems of Gaia, hiding under the protection of Elmyra for as long as she could. She disregards opinions and feelings of others like when she totally misjudged how to handle Barret's raw emotions over Corel at the Gold Saucer. She was not at all oblivious to Tifa's feelings yet still attempted to monopolize Cloud's attentions in front of her. This behaviour can be traced back to her need to stand firm against the Turks’/Shinra’s persuasions, though when used on regular people like the team, it is very offputting, abrasive, thoughtless and likely was what actually alienated her peers from her growing up. Ultimately, she made the fatal mistake of believing she knows what's best for the group in merrily skipping off alone into the Forbidden City (I mean, sure, we all know Cloud was unstable from the Jenova manipulation but there were 7 other sane party members who could have been consulted and split up before she skipped off unprotected?), and ultimately her fatal flaw of arrogance and selfishness caused her death. Not because she meant to die, knowing it will protect the planet, because she'd always intended to return to the team ("She talked about the future more than the rest of us"), but she died anyway because her arrogance and selfishness were her fatal flaw.

I think it is only in death, though unaddressed explicitly by the game story itself (which of course remains on the living party members, and therefore is the story of life, and how life still moves on after death), that she truly grasped the littleness of who she is. That ultimately, back in the Lifestream with all the other Cetras, she was finally able to understand that in the end, she was just another Cetra in the great battle against Jenova. Sure, she was the Cetra who summoned Holy, but it was actually doing more harm than good by itself. It was only with the collective power and force of the Lifestream, of all who were born of the Planet and all who returned to the Planet, that Meteor was able to aid Aerith (Holy) in pushing back Meteor. In accepting her ordinariness among the Cetra is when Aerith truly becomes the mother of Gaia, even if nobody other than the FF7 team will ever remember her name. Her legacy lives on in Gaia, along with the legacy every other Cetra died to preserve.

Aerith's character arc is to temper her selfishnes with selflessness, to care for the welfare of all instead of the welfare of a few individuals, and to recognise that she is but a small part in the greater plan, that it is ok to not be special. Her special blood didn't stop her from dying, nor was she alone the only saviour of the Planet. In the end, I believe that Aerith's journey in FF7 is her journey to understand that no matter how special she seems to be, in the end, the Planet will still live on without her too, with Nanaki as the probable successor to her decimated race's role as the new steward of the Planet.

Tifa’s Character Arc in FF7

As for Tifa, her character arc is the complete opposite: to temper her selflessness with selfishness. How odd a concept for a protagonist! Except it goes right back to the balance necessary to achieve Final Heaven ("The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation"). Tifa is shy, she is reserved, she always puts the needs and wants of others above her own, even if she disagrees. She didn't challenge Barret when she disagrees with his methods. She didn't challenge Aerith even when her own feelings were hurt, yet still she was kind in the face of such unkindness (intentional or not). She suppressed her own feelings for Cloud and tries only to behave like a friend to him even though she feels more. And most damning in her character arc, she didn't challenge Cloud over the knowledge that "I waited... but Cloud never came." It was the only piece of the Nibelheim incident she could recall clearly, but because she was too insecure in her own memories (though the rest of the Incident could be chalked up to the trauma caused by her almost dying by Masamune, Cloud's alleged absence at Nibelheim wasn't, because she had pinned her hopes on his arrival and her disappointment was palpable) she allowed what she knew to be false to stand in between them for the sake of Cloud's mental stability.

I have posited in another post that Tifa is not only the heroine of FF7 but the co-protagonist as well, or at the very least the deuteragonist. It is very telling that 10 minutes after Aerith's death, the team went snowboarding, whereas when Cloud and Tifa were both broken emotionally by Sephiroth and had their joint Heroic BSoD moment, the game experienced a timeskip. How odd that the permanent physical death of a valued party member didn't stop the game dead but the death of Cloud and Tifa's trusts in their own memories did? Yet it is important to mention as too many times already Tifa has simply been dismissed as unimportant, as simply the crutch, the guide to Cloud's story and nothing more. This could not be further from the truth. Tifa's story does not simply inform Cloud's. Tifa's story is ENTWINED with Cloud's. Even as their stories run parallel to each other's, crossing the same events, their arcs are both independent AND interdependent on each other's. Tifa is not simply a plot device or the narrator or whatever one calls Tifa in an attempt to dismiss her role in the bigger FF7 story. (And I mention this because even some Tifa fans forget this in their desire to whitewash Tifa's culpability in the Northern Crater affair, which is actually a key turning point in Tifa's hero's journey)

Someday perhaps I will write a full breakdown of Tifa’s hero’s journey (because it’s honestly frustrating to see claims – even from Tifa fans – of Tifa needing a character arc of her own when it’s always been in FF7 all along if only players will take off their protagonist/Cloud-tinted glasses) in greater detail, but for the sake of the discussion of her arc in the context of the gnostic tree and the role of balance within oneself, I will simply say this: that it is only in the death of her trust in herself, and in seeing the emotional death of the one she holds most dear (Cloud’s mental stability shattering at the Northern Crater), that she learns she cannot simply stand passively by even in the face of what she knows to be wrong, just to protect someone else’s feelings and wants. She learns that even inaction has consequences. That she has to be brave enough, assertive enough, just selfish enough to place her own needs and desires, her own thoughts and beliefs, on an equal importance to the rest of the party, even the Planet’s. That just because the world is ending, it doesn’t make her personal struggles any less important than the world’s problems, it doesn’t mean the problem can be ignored or that it will simply go away, or even that it’s unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

She erred, she fell, she “died”. And she learned, she grasped the second chance with both hands, and at Mideel, she stood firm and said, “This is where I want to be. Being with Cloud. Caring for him.” It wasn’t revenge she pursued any longer, or high-minded abstract ideals like saving the Planet. She still would help save the Planet if she could, but for once in her life, she put her foot down and make clear her own priorities – to be by the side of the one she love above all else. And she could make this decision without jeopardizing the Planet because of her ordinariness. She wasn’t imbued with special powers or special bloodlines or special keepsakes and her absence will most likely not affect the Planet’s safety or lack thereof. Even in her absence, we are sent on story missions that still ended in failure – heck, even after Cloud and Tifa rejoined, the Huge Materia space mission still failed anyway, because the point is... just because one wants to save the Planet doesn’t mean one can (after all, summoning Holy didn’t work either, at least not at first).

This is also paralleled with Tifa’s caring of Cloud: there was literally no guarantee that Cloud will ever recover from his Mako poisoning – he could be a vegetable forever, and yet this is still Tifa’s choice. This isn’t just about Cloud, but about Tifa asserting her desire to be with Cloud even in the face of both world destruction and his permanent vegetative state. This is who Tifa wants to be, who Tifa chooses to be. This isn’t something being pushed onto her as part of some “greater good” that she should ignore her own wants and needs for. (And to all those who deride Tifa as being weak for making her choices all for one man, remember that feminism isn’t about a “strong independent woman who need no man”, it’s about having the right to choose who we wish to be without being forced by any societal expectations of us. “Life doesn't make any sense without interdependence. We need each other, and the sooner we learn that, the better for us all." — Erik Erikson. If anything, Tifa choosing to stay by Cloud’s side is the very definition of feminism – it’s not about what we do, rather, that we have a right to choose without being shamed for what we choose to do)

Yet in the Lifestream is when she truly finds herself together with Cloud. She learns that, though she believed she is too ordinary to be special to anyone (remember, though she was the center of her group of friends in her youth, none of them really looked back when the time came for them, or at least she thought none did more than mere talk anyway), she was actually the reason for Cloud’s entire journey, that he reciprocated special feelings for her, that he always intended to return for her. She learned that, just as Cloud’s impetus was her reason for taking up martial arts (one of the few acts of “rebellion”/assertiveness in her youth where she was probably pressured to stay in the village either due to her father’s position or her gender), she was the reason for Cloud’s desire to be a hero too. Tifa was special in her ordinariness. She meant enough to someone who meant enough to her.

Tifa’s arc is to recognise that though she won’t ever be important to the Planet as an individual, she was important enough to the one that mattered most. It is not wrong or “selfish” to find individual love and prioritise it equal to the needs of the Planet. And in the end, it was this revelation and resolution of both her and Cloud’s mutual feelings for each other that gave Cloud the strength he’d previously only accessed from despair five years ago, the strength to defeat Sephiroth. And it was only with Sephiroth’s defeat that Holy was unleashed, and only when the Lifestream joined its chorus that the Planet was ultimately saved. In the end, it was the importance Tifa “selfishly” placed on her own wants and needs that saved Cloud, and by saving him, the Planet as well. If she’d been told that Cloud’s predicament, a single individual, was nothing in the face of the end of the world, if she hadn’t been just that little bit selfish in the face of her extreme selflessness, it might have simply brought them nothing but destruction.

Conclusion

In this sense, I believe that Aerith and Tifa were indeed developed to be two halves of the same whole. They started off as two extremes in terms of personality – Aerith was self-centered, assertive and intransigent, while Tifa was selfless, passive and insecure. Yet these are only negative traits when taken to extreme, and by meeting each other, by learning from each other, tempering and moderating each other’s behaviour, by Aerith learning to be more considerate, more humble and more persuadable (because my god, was Aerith utterly brattish and unbearable in Remake before she met Tifa), by Tifa learning to be more assertive, more confident, to take pride in herself, the two halves of a whole bring each other to balance and become better versions of themselves for it.

"The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation. Evil is easy to fight. Lack of wisdom… that is very hard indeed."

P.S. tagging @enigmaphenomenon as it was your twitter thread that inspired this post. A lot of the thoughts in this impulsive post probably definitely needs a hell lot more refining by more critical minds but I hope this is a good starting point for discussion.

#final fantasy 7 #Aerith Gainsborough #tifa lockhart #gnostic symbolism #cloti

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little-ideas · 5 years ago

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Found Family Forever

Ahhhh!!!! Finally I can post this! (´；ω；`)

I have spent weeks on this and it was really hard to keep quiet, but I really wanted to do the idea justice

Many thanks to @beelsbreakfast for helping me finalize the idea and for suffering with me through all the sudden thoughts and angst (though I promise this is fluff and not angst!) I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you, boo! (つ≧▽≦)つ

I hope you all enjoy ♡

Mankai becomes Sakuya's family

The adults are all supportive of him and he's able to go to them for help/advice

That being said, he still struggles a lot with relying on them -years of trying to please others and not be a burden have built mannerisms difficult to overcome

If there's an event requiring an adult, but they don't have to be family, at least one of the Mankai adults will go. Sakuya was concerned about asking his relatives and consulting someone (likely Tsuzuru) on what to do. This gets overheard by Izumi and she volunteers to go. Later events also have several other volunteers including Azuma, Tsumugi, and Homare

Typically Izumi, Azuma, and Tsumugi are the 3 who will go

Citron tells Sakuya stories to help him sleep, but Sakuya will wake up in the middle of the night and feel lonely

He feels bad waking Citron, so instead goes out and walks about the dorm, usually running into Azuma

Azuma invites Sakuya to sit with him and color in some pages over tea or warm milk

At first, they tend to sit in silence or have light conversations, but one night Sakuya feels particularly lonely and Azuma comforts him as he cries

Azuma and Sakuya get a lot closer after that night-both of them know the feelings of being alone, of not having family, of trying to find their way in the world with little guidance. They also are both painfully aware that while they've found home in Mankai, time continues to flow and the others will all likely move on. At the very least, their time in the dorms all together is limited

It's not easy, but Sakuya asks Azuma about what it's like to be without family and for advice with his future

Though their situations differ, they are also similar enough that Azuma sees Sakuya as a reflection of his younger self. He does his best to help Sakuya consider his future, and he desperately wants a different path for Sakuya than the one he stumbled upon

As their evenings together grow more frequent, Azuma begins to expect Sakuya and saves some snacks for him. Of course, Azuma's favorite nights are when Sakuya doesn't come out, since that means he's sleeping peacefully, yet he can't help but feel a surge of sadness whenever this happens, a twinge of loneliness

Sakuya requests and hears stories about Azuma's family

The day Azuma's heart breaks into a million pieces and he VOWS to always be present for Sakuya is when, after Azuma tells Sakuya of one of his childhood adventures with his family, Sakuya asks, "Do you think one day I could be as good a parent as yours were?"

Later on, Azuma sobs when Sakuya looks at him and asks, "Do you think I'll be as good a dad as you are?"

Once Sakuya starts feeling sleepy again, Azuma will help guide him back to bed and tuck him in. Occasionally he's too late, so will gently lower Sakuya until he's lying on the couch and wrap him in blankets. Blanket burrito Sakuya

Azuma humming Sakuya lullabies and playing w/his hair as he drifts off to sleep

Although the others joke that Sakyo's their dad, to Sakuya, Azuma better matches his idea of a father figure

As he and Azuma get closer, he accidentally calls Azuma "Dad" (probably also does this to Tasuku, Sakyo, and Yuzo)

He doesn't understand why. After all, it's not a word he uses regularly

Sakuya will be thoroughly embarrassed by it and Azuma won't notice... at first. Then he realizes Sakuya was referring to him and short circuits

Sakuya calling Azuma "father" in his sleep and Azuma melts

Sakuya getting Azuma, Sakyo, Yuzo, and Tetsuro Father's Day Gifts

Although Sakuya and Azuma get along with everyone and consider all of Mankai their family, the two are particularly close

In fact, everything is fine until one of the other members ends up in the hospital

Their fellow Mankai member is fine, but Sakuya and Azuma are shaken. They are reminded that life changes and things won't stay the same, a fact they know, but have fervently been putting off thinking about because Mankai and all its members are their home and family, found after years of silent pain.

Azuma especially takes the news of hospitalization of their friend hard as he's reminded of the hopelessness from his family's death

Sakuya worries more on that they're alone at night and none of them can visit/stay with them if it's not visiting hours as they aren't legal family

Sakuya starts questioning what it means to be family -he has Mankai, but they're not legally recognized. In fact, outsiders would just consider them close co-workers and maybe use the word "family", but with a different connotation. What, then, is truly family?

Struggling with his feelings, Sakuya seeks out Tsuzuru and talks with him. He may also consult the others, particularly Juza, Kumon, + Muku

It's at this point that Sakuya realizes that, while he treasures all of Mankai, there is one person in particular who he loves as family and would be devastated to lose. Someone who, according to Tsuzuru, he views as his own father

Armed with this new knowledge, Sakuya approaches Winter Troupe (sans Azuma), Izumi, and Sakyo -they know Azuma best, and should anyone know the answer to his questions, it's them

Knowing the holidays are coming up, they think Sakuya is going to ask for advice about presents

While they're not wrong, they're stunned by his question

Griping his pants, Sakuya tried to ease the shaking of his digits. Sweat soaked his palms as his ears heard only the erratic thrumming of his heart and the steady ticks of the clock. They were waiting on him to speak, he needed to get the words out.

"Sakuya?" Izumi leaned towards him, hand resting on his shoulder. Sakuya was certain she could feel his tremors." Are you alright?"

Taking a breath. Sakuya nodded, raising his head to face the audience before him.

"Do you think Azuma would adopt me?"

Once they all have time to process Sakuya's question, there's a whirlwind of responses, but the resounding answer is yes.

Izumi and Tsumugi hug Sakuya

Hisoka, Homare, and Tasuku smile and pat him on the back (+ offer marshmallows)

Sakyo ruffles his hair and simply congratulates him

Sakyo knows the most about adoptions, though Sakuya has done his research, too

Is the most help in getting everything together for Sakuya to ask

Sakuya decides to ask during the holidays, and they’re more than happy to help

Decide they’ll do a holiday gift exchange

Rope Chikage in to teach Sakuya how to make it look like he’s pulled a name randomly when he’s really just held on to Azuma’s name the entire time

They don’t tell anyone else, the fewer people who know, the less likely Azuma’s going to hear about it

Sakuya preps another gift so Azuma doesn’t feel pressured in to accepting him and because he’s worried Azuma won’t like it

Freaks the fuck out the closer it gets to the event

At this point all of Spring Troupe knows because they’re helping him stay composed

And then the day comes:

Presents litter the table, wrapped in bags, boxes, and -is that duct tape? Music pours from the speakers with the karaoke gang singing along, not even trying to be in tune. Omi’s freshly baked cookies are almost all gone, but their scent lingers amongst the spice of warm cider and peppermint. Izumi’s struggle to get Yuki to join in the ugly sweater festivities finally won, she signals Kamekichi to let out a squawk (a much preferred method over her previous megaphone) and ushers all stragglers over to the lounge. Passing Sakuya, she pats his back and smiles before sitting down. He lets out the breath he was holding.

It’ll be ok, he tells himself, they would’ve told you if it wasn’t.

But still, with every gift opened he feels the butterflies worsen, feels his throat tighten; he needs water, air, space -anything- to give him time. He doesn’t remember what he’s holding in his hands and his laughter sounds far away -he’s grateful Tsumugi’s the one who had given him his gift, he can see the understanding in his eyes. Is it just that his acting has improved so much over the years or that everyone’s too excited to notice his strangeness? Sakuya’s not sure, but he feels as though he’s on stage for the first time again.

He knows he doesn’t need to be this nervous, he and Azuma have gotten close over the years -Sakuya goes to Azuma first when he wants advice, when he can’t sleep at night, when he feels like he’s missing family. They’ve spent holidays together when most of the other members have returned to their families, and Azuma has gone with Sakuya to visit his parents’ grave. They’ve even talked the what-ifs of being family -a thought experiment sprung forth one night from their roles in their latest play- and it’s Azuma’s words that night that have seared this crazy idea into Sakuya’s heart: It would be nice if we were family.

They were just words, Sakuya knows, but he couldn’t help but feel the same, and on this night many months later, he desperately hopes those words are true. He wishes, prays to all the gods he knows the names of, that this goes over well, and his hands turn white as Azuma picks up the final box from the table.

“Breathe, Sakuya,” Hisoka mumbles, eyes peeking open as he sits up from leaning on the younger man. “It’ll be ok.”

Sakuya only nods in response, returning Azuma’s smile as he reads the attached card, though it feels fake upon his lips, as though someone else is performing the action. He misses the camera Izumi’s pulled out. And then the sound of crinkling paper meets his ears and Sakuya struggles to refrain from lunging across the room and tearing the packet out from Azuma’s hands, claiming everything was false. He had labeled the items 1 and 2, though he wonders if it would’ve been better to have Azuma open the backup gift first. His thumbs twiddle as he watches the older man open the first packet, but it’s his gasp that has him finally meeting his eyes. Sakuya can see the tears forming and he all but launches himself to hug Azuma when he hears him ask:

“Do you really mean it?”

Sakuya and Azuma both cry. A lot. The whole company is happy for them and they begin festivities anew

Not being sure if Azuma would accept, Sakuya hadn’t told his family yet. Azuma goes with him and though it’s uncomfortable and a bit dramatic, the end result’s a success for them

Sakuya and Azuma finally spend New Year’s happily with family

When Azuma takes Sakuya to visit his family’s graves, Sakuya shows the utmost respect

He introduces himself and refers to Azuma’s parents and older brother as “Grandparents” and “Uncle”

He thanks them for giving birth to Azuma and tells them about how amazing Azuma is and how proud he is to be able to officially call him “Father”

He asks that they kindly look upon him as a grandchild and nephew, and that he will do his best to uphold the Yukishiro name

Azuma sobs

Sakuya does feel a little guilty about leaving his family, but he’s much happier with Azuma

Family photo albums

Just Sakuya and Azuma being happy because they finally have a permanent family again

#a3!#act! addict! actors!#sakuya sakuma #azuma yukishiro #THE AMOUNT OF TIMES I CRIED WRITING THIS #IT'S JUST SO WHOLESOME #TT w TT #the angst is from Sumi generated content which will prob be posted later

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bigmeatymudcrabchitins · 4 years ago

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A not-so-brief overview of my Skyrim Dova OCs bc i need to scream to the digital void about my ideas

Freyora Lind, more commonly known by her strange alias “Bjorne Icepick”

A Nord-eventually-turned-werewolf who orphaned during the Great War and taken in by a Dunmeri mercenary whose residence was in Windhelm’s Gray Quarter. Grew up in a cramped boarding house setting among desperate mercenaries of varying backgrounds. Many of them would all come and go, but there was always some sort of a familial bond between them all.

From a young age she got in a lot of fights against people who insulted her for living in the Gray Quarter among the dark elves. Eventually she took a fight too far and was jailed for murder around 14, but was broken out shortly after by a band of masked vampires. Turns out some of her mercenary comrades unwittingly caught vampirism during a contract to clear out a vampire den and had to skip town, but not before ensuring one of their own wasn’t left to rot.

Lived in Cyrodil for about 15 years, but returned to Skyrim pursuing rumors surrounding a cure to vampirism, as her adoptive father would be nearing the end of his elven lifespan and had wished to die a normal death.

Seeing as she was literally a fugitive, and her long-belated parents were somewhat renowned for their battlefield prowess, she took on a false identity. AND an act to match it.

She’ll eat raw meat, chase prey with swords instead of using a bow like a normal person, harp about irrational conspiracy theories, and more. Everyone’s foul reactions to her outlandish act are plainly hilarious to her and only encourage her to act even stranger.

The alias “Bjorne Icepick” was simply the most ridiculous name she could think of.

Not the most morally outstanding. Besides drunken brawling, she’ll steal from anyone who angers her, even if it’s things she literally won’t ever need such as all the goblets in a household. It’s the pettiness that counts. “Try drinking your damn high-end wine now, jackass.”

Calls Dwarven Automatons “Gundams.” Including she herself, no one knows what that means.

Joins the Companions out of homesickness and a desire to fill in a gap that leaving home left.

Hasn’t bothered curing herself of lycanthropy because her whole schtick is being incredibly resourceful, and that includes using any means of power necessary. Still doesn’t fancy Hircine’s Hunting Grounds as her desired afterlife, though.

As her journey goes on, however, her lightheartedly eccentric face starts to fall off as a number of events push her to begin to question the legitimacy of her actions up until that point.

Some of which include the eventual death of her adoptive father (and how she was indirectly responsible for it even if it was what he wanted), Delphine’s ultimatum, the civil war as a collective, learning the tragic history behind the Falmer and the original Companions’ role in it, and killing of Vyrthur (no matter how much he genuinely deserved it).

She grows disgusted by herself down to the core. She takes to skooma to cope, and starts to be plagued by serious skooma-induced side effects. She ends up shutting herself away from all her responsibilities and distancing herself from her friends.

Does she get better? Maybe. I haven’t thought up anything past this point lol

Moureneris Alta

A very, VERY ancient vampiric snow elf, (though it’s notable she was born a considerable amount of time after the razing of Sarthaal)

Survived many atrocities. Stayed in isolation with a band of vampires for countless years out of sheer disgust for the nature of the sapient races. (I’ll explain her full story some other time. It’s pretty complicated)

She was abducted from her isolated lifestyle by a certain person i’ll talk about later. She managed to free herself south of Skyrim, and uh, walks right into that Imperial ambush. The rest is history.

Super ignorant to modern society as a result of centuries of isolation. Exploited for comedic relief. (“What in the name of Oblivion is a Cyrodilic Empire? Are you messing with me? And please, how does levitation magic simply get outlawed by this hypothetical Empire? What are you to do when you fall down a crevice? Just... let yourself perish? How degrading.)

She reintegrated herself into society with vengeance in mind under the belief that all humans are savage bloodlusting murderers who had to answer for their treachery. (And she was royally angry there was no Dwemer left to spite, but partially satisfied at the same time). But she grows conflicted after being shown genuine kindness, even as early as being freed from her binds in Helgen.

Subsequently has a very muddled redemption arc. Queue Dragonborn hero stuff

She has impaired vision, but she cultivated detect life magic to aid her in daily life and combat (think Hyakkimaru from Dororo ‘19 and his soul detection or Toph Beifong from ATLA and her seismic sense). At her peak, she can detect life from about a kilometer away.

She can just barely read, but only if she holds the text incredibly close to her face, not to mention her Cyrodilic lessons were left unfinished after her abduction, making reading a very taxing process. Weary travelers are often spooked at the sight of a floating, ghastly looking elven woman with her nose pressed up against crossroad signs, and it has become somewhat of an urban legend.

Isn’t as nearly as skilled with detecting the dead and tenses up in burial crypts or around other vampires for that reason. Unfortunately, being the Dragonborn and all, she finds herself in a lot of crypts...

When questioned about her background due to her unique appearance: “Oh, yeah. My mother was one of those mer from the east. You know the ones. Dark elves, I think? And my father was one of those er, tall elv- no, sorry, HIGH elves. Yeah. They both died in a big fire or something though. It was horrible. I can’t get the noxious smell or the deafening screams out of my head. Good talk, but never ask me about that again.”

Queue sheltered old immortal antics: “Wow, you’re THAT old? Enlighten me on how it felt witnessing the fall of the Dwemer. Or perhaps the rise of Tiber Septim’s Empire. The Gates of Ob-“ “Oblivion if I know. I lived in someone’s basement for thousands of years. And I still don’t know what everyone means by Empire. You all are messing with me, aren’t you? That really annoys me.”

She ultimately returns to faith in Auri-El and makes it her life’s purpose to help the Betrayed find peace, as well as to seek out any remaining snow elf groups. Probably good friends with Gelebor or something.

Had a crush on Serana. We all know how THAT went. Damned temples.

Was originally gonna spiral into a much darker corruption arc (another ATLA comparison being Jet or Hama) but I just felt bad for her. Moureneris can have a little found peace. As a treat.

That’s her preliminary design made. I’ll need a mod to properly play her, because that right there was made by choosing Dunmer as her race. But I can’t do that. I’m on console, and while I got the Steam port a month ago, my PC’s stone age specs can’t handle Skyrim yet and I’ll need to wait until I can afford a better graphics card (thanks economic inflation)

Alexandre Armasi, jokingly nicknamed Alexandre the Curious

A complete and unapologetic export of my character from a dead and unfinished DND campaign. Except there are no Aasimar in Skyrim, so he’s half Altmer half Bosmer. And his initial last name was Armas but I thought Armasi suited his Skyrim counterpart more, as subtle a change it is.

He’s mainly Bosmer in appearance and constitution, save for his hair and eyes, which are more similar to that of his Altmeri father’s.

I can’t really export his original backstory though because the campaign wouldn’t translate well into TES lore at all.

He’s a writer who came wandering into Skyrim in search of inspiration. While he mainly writes dramatic fables, he wanted to divert his focus to crafting his own bestiary and herbal compendium surrounding Skyrim’s fauna and flora. The ones at home are simply too vague to him!

He’s very altruistic, wishing to spread cheer wherever he goes, through the art of song (even though he was a cleric in DND and not a bard. My bad.) However, many of his verses are just blatant self promotions of his published fables.

But he’s too naive for his own good. Dangerously so. In fact, he says what’s on his mind with little forethought, with little grasp on the consequences of his actions, which lands him in lots of trouble. “I don’t favor him myself, but you guys kill people over Talos worship? That’s not very cool. A bit scary, if you ask me.” or “A Stormcloak rebel? Didn’t your leader kill a bunch of Reachmen rebels years back, or so I’ve heard. By the divines that’s not a man I’d make a symbol of nonconformity.”

He’s also insatiably curious. The type to ACTUALLY shove alchemic ingredients in his mouth with no knowledge of their properties, experiment with dangerous rune spells, throw rocks at pressure plates, and more. Needless to say he’s very accident prone.

Doesn’t know common curse words. People exploit this for laughs. Think that episode of Spongebob.

Everyone is a little baffled that HE of all people is the prophesied Dragonborn of legend. This agonizingly imbecilic writer who has absentmindedly wandered into burial crypts, troll dens, bandit forts, and more, too busy juggling his manuscripts to pay attention to his surroundings.

His past doesn’t exactly reflect his outlook on life. His mother and father fought in the Great War aligned with the Imperials despite their elven background. Both managed to live to see the war’s conclusion, but his father vanished without a trace shortly after, and it seems his mother knows something she won’t tell him.

With plenty of exposure to bad influences, his innocence is slowly lost throughout the course of his journey, and his altruism begins to grow twisted. But nevertheless, he maintains his jovial, social persona, except this time with much darker undertones. Kinda like a creepy dentist or something.

Whoops. He winds up becoming a feared Dark Brotherhood assassin. (Haha get it “Innocence Lost”???) He somehow deluded himself into thinking that the life of an assassin was the right thing to do. But he’s a funky little guy so he gets a pass for his heinous crimes against society

#skyrim #skyrim oc #dragonborn #dovahkiin

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teethhunter · 5 years ago

Text

Better than a Dream

Rosegarden Secret Santa Gift for @jealouscartoonist based of their Cinderella AU

The kingdom was absolutely bustling with news of the Grand Ball.

Rumor had it that this event was to find a proper suitor for the Crown Prince, Oscar.

It was to be the largest event of the decade, more open to the public than many events but also with many important and influential people planning to come. There was much talk of the preparations happening at the palace in the weeks leading up to the event as even those with no plans or no means to attend enjoyed participating in the excitement.

Many were sent into a tizzy of daydreams of meeting the love of their life at the ball. With all that talk about the prince those daydreams tended to prominently feature him. For some the daydreams morphed into full on scheming and for others they remained fun fantasies that filled the streets with quiet whispers and giggles of just how romantic it would be to get a moment alone with such a charming and handsome prince.

The rumors, however fun, were patently false.

Yes this was to be an event of massive proportions and King Ozpin certainly hoped that a few people might find a spark of romance for themselves that night but he wasn’t doing this to marry off his adoptive son to the first or most enthusiastic party-goer who made a move.

“Just because that wasn’t what you meant to do, doesn’t mean they won’t try.” Oscar pointed out, voicing his anxieties as the day of the ball grew closer.

“Ah but that’s just part of the fun!” Ozpin replied, a far too pleased look on his face.

“Fun for you maybe…”

“And fun for everyone else too. They are making their own fairytales that prominently feature themselves. The human imagination is a wonderful thing.”

Oscar sighed, he should have known that a chat with Ozpin wouldn’t exactly quell his fears in a normal way but it did sort of help even so, just a little bit. “You’re sure I have to go?”

“You’ve never had a miserable time at a party thus far. You can see your friends, maybe meet someone new… Just try to celebrate with everyone.”

In this kingdom still bustling about a ball lived a beautiful girl named Ruby Rose.

Ruby had never been to a ball. In fact Ruby couldn’t at all recall attending a party where she didn’t have to do all the prep work and clean up, only getting scraps of the food that was served.

She lived in a lovely house with her stepmother Salem, and her two stepsisters, Cinder and Neo. Despite the high status of the family and the fact that they could more than afford to hire servants, Salem treated Ruby as nothing but a scullery maid herself. She made Ruby do all the work around the house while Cinder and Neo did seemingly everything they could to make it more difficult. Cinder was more direct in her ways of showing disdain, she would make huge messes right when Ruby had something important to do,or she would burn Ruby’s possessions for fun. Neo was more subtle, waiting until no one was looking to set up situations that would frame Ruby as having messed up. Putting bleach into the wash with the dark clothing Ruby was cleaning, or slipping an ingredient someone in the family was mildly allergic to into a meal Ruby was preparing.

Ruby had grown rather numb to all their antics after dealing with them for so long.

The step family was of course planning on going to the ball and all the talk of the prince looking to find a suitor had certainly gotten back to them. For the last month Salem had been coaching Cinder in this elaborate scheme to catch the prince’s attention, ensuring that they had planned down to the last little detail.

Ruby thought it all a little silly because no matter how much they planned there was always a change that Cinder wouldn’t run into the prince at all, or he wouldn’t like her if he did meet her, maybe even see through that thin veneer of faked kindness to how cruel Cinder could actually be.

None of that was Ruby’s problem though and she had the sense to not voice any of these opinions. She had other things on her mind.

For the first time in her life she was going to go to a ball. Salem had given permission (however offhandedly, it was still a yes!).

For years, during her limited free time she would work at Pietro’s mechanic shop in town to earn money. She had a certain talent for weapon repairs which were nearly always a necessity for anyone traveling outside the city limits where beasts and bandits lurked.

Most of the money she earned at this job was tucked away to someday move far away from her stepfamily but for the last few months she had saved up the money and bought herself a lovely dress. The style of it might have been a bit unconventional- particularly when in combination with the boots she was planning to wear with it- but the fabric was silky to the touch and a deep red color and trimmed with an intricate lace at the hem. She was incredibly proud to have this tangible proof of the work she had put in to get to this point.

The morning before the ball, Ruby woke up early to go to the market to do the grocery shopping. She knew if she wanted time to get ready she would have to get all of her chores done as quickly as possible because here was always a chance Salem would add new tasks to the list.

The excitement in the air was palpable everywhere she went. It was the only thing anyone around was talking about it seemed. Normally Ruby was happy to talk idly with the owners of the various food stalls but today she just nodded along politely as she filled her basket, not lingering for the chit-chat.

Ruby arrived home, basket heavy with produce heavy on her arm, with plenty of time to complete the rest of her chores. She put away all the food and went immediately to cleaning. She took extra care to avoid her step family as Salem was already getting the girls dressed up and ready meaning they would all probably be looking to take their anxiety out on her.

By early afternoon Ruby has finished up and finally can retire to her room to rest and get ready. Her room was in the cellar, not much larger than a closet. It could get cold and damp in there during the winter and after downpours of rain though right now it was pleasantly cool compared to the hot summer weather.

She had done a lot to make it cozy and comfortable. Every inch of wall was decorated, her bed piled up with blankets, and her shelf lined with books she bought over the years from a thrift store in town.

When Ruby opened the door to her room she saw something that made her blood run cold. Cinder, perfectly dressed up and ready for the ball, perching on the end of her bed, holding Ruby’s dress.

Cinder smirked with an awful twist to her lips when she saw Ruby, like she was laying in wait for this moment, a lit candle held in one hand.

The dress had been hidden at the back of her closet so there was no way Cinder just tumbled on it.

“I thought you were joking about going to the ball. You can’t be serious.” Cinder said with a mock laugh.

“No… I wasn’t joking.” Ruby’s voice already held a hint of defeat, already knowing where this was going to go.

“Do you seriously think anyone there would be interested in /you/?” Disgust radiated from Cinder in those words.

“That’s not why I-” Ruby was cut off before she could finish her sentence.

“And this dress. You’ll be turned away at the door for wearing something so low class.” Cinder held the dress up as if appraising it for it’s every flaw, as if it was too hideous to look at for too long.

“I…” That hurt more than it should for how many insulting things Cinder had said to her over the years. She had grown a rather thick skin about it but this dress was really important to her.

“Really, dear sister, I should save you from the embarrassment. You could tarnish our family name.” Cinder brought the candle up until the flame of it licked the lace trim, making it curl, then crisp, then catch fire.

“Please stop.” Ruby whispers, knowing it was useless, she knew what was about to happen the moment she saw Cinder in here.

It didn’t completely catch fire, put a few flames eat at the edges and creep up the bottom of the skirt, leaving it a mess of holes and ash. Cinder says nothing else to her, simply unceremoniously dropping the dress in a pile on the ground, stepping on it as if to put out a still burning ember on her way out.

~~~~~

Ruby waited until the last of the burning embers died down before picking the dress up and bundling it in her lap as she sat on her bed. She sat frozen like that in silence, her ears ringing as she tried to bite back tears. There was no way she could mend this in time for the ball. She couldn’t afford to get new fabric even if she had the time.

All she had wanted was to share this one special night with everyone who was so excited about it but that was ruined.

“I wish I didn’t live with these awful people.” She muttered to herself. “I wish they would just disappear.” She took a breath and all at once any anger she held just deflated into grief as tears finally spilled. “No… I just wish I could go to this ball.”

In her mind she had held this event as a moment of defiant freedom, that if she could never escape Salem and she lived the rest of her life like this then at least she got this one wonderful moment.

“You called?” A voice broke the silence, startling Ruby so badly she nearly fell off the bed.

In front of her was a familiar man- er Fairy, technically. He stood in proper Fairy Godmother attire, a clearly enchanted black dress with translucent red fairy wings fluttering behind him. In contrast with the traditional look was his much less conventional scythe-style magic wand at his side and the full martini glass held precariously in his hand.

“Oh! …. You.” Ruby sighed in relief as she got her bearings after being so startled.

“Well don’t go sounding too thrilled about seeing your Fairy Godmother kiddo. You summoned me, remember?” He put on the airs of being dramatically offended though his smile told a different story.

Ruby wiped the lingering tears from her eyes before she spoke. “No it’s… sorry, it’s good to see you actually Qrow.”

In all honesty she had almost forgotten that wishing for things summoned him. She didn’t exactly even know why that happened. When she asked before all she got was a shrug from Qrow and some half-excuses about the ‘mysterious ways of magic’.

It had been a long time since she’d wished for anything actually. Her memories of her childhood were blurry at best but she could vaguely recall how she’d make all sorts of silly wishes just to have him come visit. He was odd and always a little tipsy but he was also so much nicer than her step-family that it made her earlier years with them much more tolerable.

“I didn’t actually mean to call you, it was sort of an accident.” She admitted after a moment.

“Hmm, well even if it was an accident, I’m here now so why don’t you tell an ‘ol Qrow your woes. Looks like you’ve had a rough time of it.” He walked with a strut in his step over the small distance to her bed, sitting down next to her. He took a long drink from his seemingly never emptying glass as he waited for her to talk.

Ruby started and stopped her attempts to explain several times before she got all the words out, still stumbling over herself. She gave more detail than could possibly ever be needed but this was the first time in a long time she ever let all these emotions out. She had friends in town but she never ever let any of them know the cruelty of her ‘family’. Her Fairy Godmother already knew of these things so for once it was safe.

She began to cry again as her words flowed. Qrow was content to listen in his somewhat drunkenly glazed over state.

“-and now I can’t go because my dress is ruined and it’s not like I have anything else I could wear and the ball is in just a few hours and I’m never going to get a chance like this again.”

Ruby finally took a pause and Qrow chuckled.

“Well if it’s only an outfit you need then I can fix you up fine.”

“Wait, really?” It hadn’t actually crossed her mind that he could help with that..

“Yeah that’s what I’m here for. Mmm, but there’s limits to it, I think you remember that.” Qrow said, fiddling with is scythe-wand as he got ready to do some magic.

Yes Ruby remembered there were limits, there were always strange caveats to any wish she made but right now she could barely bother to care. “Okay! That’s fine, I don’t mind as long as I get to go. Wait um what are the limits?” “It’ll wear off at the stroke of midnight. Indefinite magic gives the worst sort of headache to do.”

“Are you sure that’s not just a hangover?” Ruby mumbed, being immediately met with a shove and grumble from Qrow.

“Shush you. No sassing your godmother. Magic works in mysterious ways.

Speaking of which, magicking you up might make you a little harder to recognize. Not that you’ll look different, just a side effect of illusionary magic.”

Ruby nodded along, none of those terms sounded awful and now she was just in a rush to make it happen. “Okay goes away at midnight and I’m sorta in disguise, I can handle that.”

“Great, go put that dress on then and I’ll get you all set. Best to work from a base product to build onto y’know.”

“Get out of my room then please?” Ruby started ushering him out of her room so she could have space to change.

“M’kay, I’ll wait outside.” He swayed as he walked out of the room, leaning against the wall in the hall as she got ready.

Ruby carefully slipped the dress on, as if trying to prevent it from crumbling more than it already had. Dark ash smeared her skin as the burnt bits brushed against her. She put her boots and accessories on to finish the look. One glance at her small, cracked mirror had her frowning. She looked absolutely ridiculous. It took her longer than it should have to build back up the confidence to call Qrow back in but eventually she did.

“Oh good, you’re all ready.” Qrow came to stand beside her. “Time for the magic words, you know the drill.” He lazily waved his scythe-wand over her head while in a dramatic and slurred fashion exclaiming “Bippity boppity boo!”

Ruby could feel the hum of magic before she could see it. The dress seemingly mended itself all at once, fitting even better than before. She was so captivated by how well it worked that she did notice the other alterations until she took a step and immediately lost her balance, sticking her arms out to keep herself from falling. Her nice practical knee high boots were now sparkling ruby red heeled shoes.

“Why did you give me stilts to walk on?” She asked, still trying to keep herself upright.

“Isn’t that just what people wear to these things?” Qrow shrugged, completely unbothered.

“I’m going to trip and die before I get there.” Ruby commented half to herself, but she didn’t want to be ungrateful and he had done something wonderful for her.

“Thank you for this.” She eventually added.

“Yeah yeah, any time. I’d love to stick around but I do have things to do, places to be. So go enjoy that ball, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He said, seemingly uncomfortable with the appreciation and in a rush to escape it, he disappeared in a blink.

Ruby walks the length of her room several times, trying to get a hang of walking in these shoes.

She didn’t dare leave her room until she was certain her step family had already left for the ball because she dreadd what Cinder might do if she saw Ruby all dressed up- or worse what Salem might do.

~~~~

When finally she is sure it is safe to leave, she heads out immediately to the palace.

The ball was in full motion when she arrived. It’s the most beautiful thing she has ever seen with people laughing, drinking, and dancing the night away to beautiful music performed by a live orchestra. There were tables filled with the most luxurious snacks and servants going around to cater to guests as well. There were of course guards posted around but even they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Ruby was a bit out of sort, unsure what to do with herself but more than content to just take it all in.

She has been seated in a quieter corner, enjoying some snacks when a man sidles up next to her to start a conversation which leads into asking her to dance. She politely declined but this repeated itself once again with an entirety different and more persistent lad who was determined to dance with her. She wouldn’t be able to dance in these silly shoes even if she knew how to or wanted to so she less than politely bid him farewell and walked away, trying to find somewhere she won’t be pestered.

She weaved through the crowds, paying little attention to who was there. It was during this escape that she stumbled terribly, instinctually grabbing at something to keep herself from falling on her face. The tearing sound of fabric was audible as she realized she grabbed the sleeve of some woman’s dress. The horrified screech from that woman was what made her realize the person she had grabbed was none other than Cinder.

Ruby stole a glance at the scene, Cinder having clearly been mid-conversation, now with a torn sleeve and wine covering her whole front from a glass that had been jostled.

Ruby quickly ducked her head, hiding her face, planning how to escape, praying that Cinder hadn’t noticed who she was. As it turned out, an escape plan was unnecessary as Cinder stormed off and away from all the prying eyes watching this scene play out.

Ruby stayed knelt there, stewing in her own mortification, wishing in her head to just disappear.

“Hey, are you okay?” Someone asked, bending down and offering her a hand up.

“I’m… fi- fine?” Her voice cracked mid word as she took his offered hand and finally got a proper look at him. Her gaze sliding from his face to the circlet on his head. Without that, she would have no clue who he was, she had never seen the prince before after all.

She had made no move to stand yet but Prince Oscar had also made no move to help her up either. They were frozen like this, hand held, staring at each other.

For Ruby it was the shock of meeting the prince and him kindly trying to help her (and he was as pleasant looking as everyone said).

For Oscar it was because when his eyes met her he was utterly and inexplicably captivated. His heart skipped a long beat and he couldn’t seem to look away.

In the same instant they both snapped out of it. Oscar helped her up in one swift motion, completely red in the face as he processed just how long he’d been staring at her.

“I’m-” Ruby was instantly interrupted.

“No I’m-” Oscar tried to say.

“Sorry” “Sorry.”

They said in the same moment, looking down and away from each other.

They fumbled over each other’s apologies for another moment and finally got the courage to look at each other again. Another pause, just for a breath and they both laugh.

“It’s not a big deal. If I’m being honest you sort of saved me there? I had been trying to get out of that conversation for a while and that definitely took care of it.” Oscar explained, rubbing the back of his neck as he confessed that.

Ruby held in another laugh, it would be very difficult to explain just how funny this situation was to her personally. “Well I’m happy to be a help?”

She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot as she was quickly becoming acutely aware of just how many people were still watching them. “I should probably go do- do something else, something ball related, you know.”

She turned away and tried to disappear into the crowd, headed outside to get some fresh air. “Wait!” Oscar called but she didn’t seem to hear him. There wasn’t a thought in his head as he followed right after her out to one of the balconies. It was quiet out there and a major relief for him to have a break from people constantly wanting something from him.

When she noticed him approaching he flustered again, he had no reasonable explanation for why he followed her other than this undercurrent need to get to know her.

“Are you enjoying the ball?” He asked, internally cursing himself for such a bland introduction.

Ruby was more at ease without so many people around. Even if it was a little nerve racking to be speaking to someone so important, she was somehow less on edge than when anyone else at the ball had approached her. “I don’t really have anything to compare it with but it’s sort of amazing?” It was true, it was all so grand and amazing, even if she did have to dodge a couple of people it was still one the most incredible things she’d ever been a part of.

“Oh, so it’s your first time attending a ball then? I’m glad it’s been good.”

“Yeah I mean, all the books I loved when I was little had castles and grand balls in them and I never thought it would actually be like those stories. Turns out yeah it really is.” Ruby took a seat on the bench to finally get off her feet.

“I loved those sorts of stories growing up too. I guess it’s weird now to think about how people dream of becoming royalty, being a prince or princess. I went from living on a farm to being adopted into this and then those stories were less fun to read.” He hadn’t really read any books like that since he moved into the palace, now that he thought about it. They all lost their charm.

“I always wanted to be a knight in those stories actually.” Ruby admitted.

“Oh really?” Somehow that didn’t seem surprising at all, he had known her for no more than a few minutes but there was a certain spark to her that made that so believable.

“Yeah I just loved the idea of protecting people that can’t protect themselves, y’know?”

“Remind me to introduce you to the castle guards sometime, I really think you’d like them.” Oscar noted. “But that’s a really nice dream you have though. I think sometimes imagining things is more fun than the reality of it? I’m very lucky to be in this position but living it made dreams of it more dull...I’m sorry I’m rambling!”

Ruby covered her mouth to conceal a grin. “No, it’s fine. I know what you mean but I want to believe that sometimes reality can be even better than dreams if it’s the right reality for you.”

“That’s- hm I think I’d like to believe that too.” Oscar mumbled, leaving them sitting in comfortable silence side by side for a long moment.

“Would you like to go back inside and dance?” He eventually asked, worried she might grow bored with him otherwise.

Ruby shook her head immediately “Oh please no! I mean I’d love to but… erm you saw me trip back there, I don’t really want to have a repeat performance.”

“Okay then do you want to go on a walk?” Oscar just didn’t want to leave her side, not yet.

“That would be nice actually.” Ruby didn’t particularly want to end their conversation either.

Like a proper gentleman, Oscar offered her his arm to link together which abated any of her lingering anxiety about tripping again.

Oscar led her through a quieter path out of the castle and out along a cobble pathway that snaked around the rear courtyards and into the gardens. Lit only by the moonlight it was gorgeous, overflowing with different flowers and vines covering every surface other than the path itself. Their evening was filled with conversation, once past the initial awkwardness they slipped into comfortably chatting about all sorts of meaningless things.

Time had melted away for the both of them.

That was, until the gonging sound of the clock tower atop the castle interrupted Ruby mid sentence.

She went pale.

“I have to go.” She said, pulling away from him. She could already feel the magic beginning to fade as she hurried away.

“Wait come back!” Oscar held a hand out like he wanted to stop her, like he hoped she would listen and turn around for even a moment.

Just before she was out of Oscar’s view she stumbled once more, the heel of one of the slippers getting caught between two stones in the path.

Oscar flinched, taking one step forward. “Oh, are you okay?”

She didn’t have time to waste and she hated these stupid shoes anyways so she just slid her foot out of it and kept on running.

Ruby was well on her way out when Oscar stooped down to pick up her shoe. The clock had struck midnight and that slipper had reverted back to its old form as a boot. “You left your...boot?” He muttered to himself in complete confusion as he stared at it.

Ruby’s dress was back to it’s charred state by the time she had left the palace property. She hobbled her way home with one boot and one foot with nothing more than a sock on it.

Sneaking back inside her home went better than she was expecting. She was able to get to her room and change out of the ruined dress without anyone seeing her. None of that stopped Cinder from being in a foul mood and barging demanding Ruby draw her a bath. This time Ruby couldn’t even claim that Cinder’s mood wasn’t her fault, even if Cinder wasn’t aware that it was Ruby who had interrupted her plans.

~~~

The morning after the ball Oscar sulked through breakfast. He just couldn’t get his mind off the girl he had spoken with at the ball.

Four of his guards who were more just friends of his than anything else often joined him for meals when there was no formal gathering in place. Today was no different but there was a certain tension in the air.

“Soooo, how was the ball?” One of his guards, Nora asked, breaking the silence with a smile that told him she was already perfectly aware of how it went. “It was fine. It was a ball.” Oscar answered blandly, still staring at his food that he pushed around on his plate.

“Just fine? Hmm well I heard you disappeared with some pretty girl and didn’t show back up all night.” Nora pressed more, leaning in with an intense expression like she was rearing for a full interrogation. Ren put a hand on her shoulder to try and rein her in.

“Oh you met someone?” Jaune asked and Oscar genuinely couldn’t tell if he was teasing or if he was completely out of the loop. “What’s her name?”

Oscar shrunk in on himself with a quiet sigh.“I don’t know, I didn’t ask.”

“Wait wait wait, you spend all night with this girl and you don’t even ask her name? How are you going to find her again?” Pure horror present in Nora’s voice as she asked that.

“I guess I probably won’t.” Oscar said like he was trying to come to terms with that himself.

“If you are meant to meet again, I think your paths will cross.” Pyrrha chimed in right as Oscar was getting ready to leave the table.

The entire day following Oscar felt like he was in a daze. He couldn’t concentrate for any of his lessons, which got him scolded by one of his etiquette teacher, Glynda, and told to leave early since he clearly ‘had his head in the clouds’.

Even King Ozpin commenced on it in passing with that odd smile on his face that always irked Oscar just a little bit.

When he finally had enough of all the ‘knowing’ comments and teasing he dug out his commoner clothes from his closet and slipped them on. He used to sneak out much more often because sometimes he missed being looked at like a normal person. He hadn’t done this in a while and the clothes didn’t quite fit anymore but he really needed some space.

Oscar wandered aimlessly through the maze of streets in the city surrounding the palace. For the first time all day he felt relaxed as he blended into the crowd with on stares or comments. There was always the slightest bit of tension he held from always having to perform in a princely manner, but here no one expected anything of him.

He was window shopping at an antique store when someone passing by catches his eye.

Maybe Pyrrha’s comment about paths crossing if they were meant to wasn’t so silly because he sees this girl and his brain goes completely fuzzy like it was trying to piece things together while his heart skips in a way that’s becoming very familiar to him.

“Hey wait!” He called out, jogging to catch up with her, not paying mind to how odd this might seem to bystanders.

Ruby doesn’t immediately realize it’s her that’s being called out to. Not until he catches up to her. She started, stopping mid-stride to look at him. Despite his change of clothes she recognized him immediately. She was nervous and happy and confused all at the same time. She never thought she’d see him again and didn’t think he would care to talk to her again either.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to scare you. I guess that was pretty weird to do.” Oscar said apologetically, realizing this was the second time in a row they had an awkward greeting.

“No, no it’s okay I just wasn’t expecting to see you again!” Ruby explained, unsure what to say or do now. “Do you come around here often?” She asked, just to fill the silence.

“Sometimes it’s just nice to be able to take a walk without people staring, you know?” Oscar answered, genuinely thrilled to talk to her about literally anything right now.

“Won’t people recognize you?” Ruby thought he was fairly recognizable, but then again she also had a whole night to take in the details about him.

“Well no one has so far, I think when people aren’t expecting to see me I sort of blend into the background.” The only person to recognize him thus far was her, but that was because he came running up to her so obviously.

“You weren’t expecting to see me but I didn’t blend into the background for you.”

“Oh it’s your eyes…” Oscar tapered off quickly, not wanting to admit that he’d been subconsciously scanning the crowd every moment he was out, hoping to run into her again.

“Hey, have you eaten lunch yet?” He changed the subject abruptly.

“I haven’t but-”

“Well, would you care to join me? There’s this little bakery I love around here.”

Ruby was anxious both because the longer the less chores she was getting done but also because she didn’t have the money on her to pay for lunch. But he looked so bright eyed and hopeful and that smile was killing her.

“I can’t be out for too long, but okay.” She answered finally.

“Really? Great!” Oscar was nearly bouncing on his feet as he offered her his arm reflexively, an overly formal gesture but sweet nonetheless.

Ruby laughed quietly but took his arm, ignoring the couple odd glances they earned.

Oscar led the way to this small corner shop filled to the brim with various baked goods. The sweet scent made her mouth water. She looked at all the different offerings as Oscar chatted with the old lady running the place, listing off the pastries he wanted to get.

He turned to Ruby after a moment and asked “What would you like?”

It hadn’t occurred to her that he was offering to pay for her until then, she didn’t have the money on her to actually buy anything so she was planning on just quietly not ordering anything.

She paused, internally scrambling to make a decision. “One of these?” She pointed to a flaky chocolate croissant that had caught her eye earlier. He picked up on her hesitance quickly and ordered both that and a couple of his personal favorites for her to try.

Once they gather up all their pastries they sit at the one small round table next to the window, settling down.

“ Okay, weird question but it’s been killing me ever since I last saw you.” Oscar asked.

Ruby nodded, giving permission for him to go ahead and ask.

“How do I phrase this,,,,When you left, you dropped your boot? But you definitely weren’t wearing a boot before that?”

Ruby blinked at him then laughed. “Yeah I get why you’d be thinking about htat for so long. It’s well, it was magic? And no I’m not joking! I really mean it.”

At first Oscar gave a slightly doubtful look but she seemed so genuine and there was no other good explanation either. “You know someone that can use magic then? Wow that’s pretty rare nowadays.”

There were traces of magic, some people were born with minor magical abilities and there were healers that cultivated that particular skill but it was rare to have someone perform magic for something like this.

“Yeah I’ve known him for my whole life I guess. Kinda an odd guy but also he’s always been there or me so I guess I can’t complain.”

With that they fell into easy conversation once again and once again time slipped away.

Until she was abruptly brought back to reality from a comment by the old lady running the shop.

“Are you two planning to just honeymoon it here or what? We’re losing daylight!” She asked, halfway between amused and annoyed at the two lovebirds.

Ruby froze, glancing out the window to note that indeed the sun was going down.

“Oh no, I have to go.” She should’ve already been working on dinner and none of her other chores were done yet, scrubbing the floors always was so time consuming.

She was out the door before he could even call out to her, almost impossibly quickly.

“I didn’t even ask you your name. Oscar grumbles as he buries his face against the cafe table.

~~~~

Quite predictably Ruby was immediately scolded when she arrived home. She hadn’t washed Neo’s clothes in time and all her other chores were left to do too. She had to work far into the night without dinner to get it all done, though she wasn’t too bothered after having a lovely lunch with Oscar. She figured that would be the last time she saw him, that fate decided to give her that nice little bit of closure with him, one nice happy moment she could think about as her knees ached from crawling on them scrubbing floors.

~~~~

Oscar however wasn’t at all satisfied in that being the last time they met. In fact had been skipping out on his lessons and duties, sneaking out in commoner’s clothes constantly. It was not like him at all, normally he was highly responsible and took his role seriously.

After several days of this, King Ozpin interrupted one of his escape attempts. “If you needed a break, you could always just ask for one.”

Oscar, very much having not expected Ozpin to be lurking by the exit he always snuck through to get to town, startled. “I’m- it’s not that- it’s-”

Ozpin just nodded, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “You met someone.” He answered for Oscar.

Oscar just sighed and nodded.

“Well, a little birdy was telling me about this girl who works at a mechanic’s shop. Pietro’s I believe? Interesting thing about her is she’s got bright silver eyes, a pretty rare trait.” Ozpin explained casually.

“I… didn’t tell you she has silver eyes?” As odd as it was, Oscar had grown somewhat accustomed to Ozpin’s odd ability to know things he really shouldn’t be able to and knew that the half shrug and smirk he was given at that comment was all he would receive.

Ozpin stepped aside, clearing the way to the exit and gesturing for Oscar to go on.

Oscar began lingering around that shop whenever he could. He didn’t see the girl that day, or the day after that. In fact it took almost a whole week and he was beginning to feel rather creepy for doing this.

He just wanted to know her name. If it turned out that she wanted nothing to do with him after that, then so be it.

But finally his determination paid off and she was there that day. He didn’t approach her while she worked, not wanting to interrupt and be incredibly rude.

Instead he waited until she was off shift and out of the store, making himself very visible as he approached her. He had a whole thing to say planned out but it all left his brain the moment she saw him and looked happy to see him.

“Sorry to ah- ambush you here but I- someone told me where to find you and-” He just couldn’t string a sentence together. “What’s your name?” He finally blurted out.

Ruby was surprised to see him but already grinning at his awkward entrance. “Ruby, it’s Ruby.”

“Ruby.” He repeated back to her with a look of wonder on his face that made her stomach flip. He said it like it was the most beautiful word he had ever heard.

“So Ruby, you work at a mechanic shop?” Oscar asked, as if he was looking for an excuse to say her name again.

“Yeah, I work on weapons mostly, it’s fun.”

“Weapons huh? How come?” He wanted to know everything about her, he realized.

“Well… same reason I dreamed of being a knight as a kid I think? It helps protect people, in any way I can manage. That and the way weapons are put together is sort of like a puzzle? I find it calming I think and- oh, I do have to get going soon though.” She interrupted her self, knowing full well that they could talk for hours again.

“Come visit sometime!” Oscar said in a rush, not wanting to lose the chance to see her again.

“I can show you around, show you what it looks like when it’s not crowded with people for a big party.”

“If you’re sure that’s okay…” Ruby wanted to see him again too and seeing the rest of the palace sounded really interesting too.

“Absolutely! It won’t be a problem, no one around will mind.There’s always a guard up at the front gate, just tell them who you are and they’ll let you in.”

Ruby felt warm at the implication he'd mentioned her to enough people that the guards would know who she was. She nodded. “I’ll stop by as soon as I can, I promise.”

She left for home feeling light and with every intention of visiting him.

~~~~~

Bogged down by chores, it’s nearly two weeks later when she first gets a chance to visit. At the entrance to the castle stood a tall red haired woman in armor standing guard.

Ruby opens her mouth to introduce herself but doesn’t even have to as the guard is already opening the door. “It is very good to meet you.” she says. Ruby guessed Oscar really wasn’t exaggerating about the guards knowing who she was.

“Wait here and the Prince will be right down.” The guard assured.

Ruby stood in the main hall, looking at all the tapestries and portraits lining the walls as she waited.

Oscar showed up only minutes later, looking ecstatic and slightly out of breath as if he’d been running to get to her.

He reached out to her then hesitated. Like he wants to hug her or some show of affection but his etiquette training kicked in.

He held his hand out, palm up.

Ruby wasn’t entirely sure what to do but took a guess and put her hand very lightly on top of it.

His fingers curled around hers as he lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles.

This was by noble standards a very appropriate greeting for a woman he highly respected- if not a little strange because of their status difference. Yet it felt more intimate than just about anything else he could have done. She stood there,red faced and dizzy as he lowered their hands but still held hers in his. “I’m glad you actually came.”

“I promised I would, didn’t I?”

“Well I’m very glad you keep your promises then… I missed you.” He mumbled the last part before clearing his throat.”May I give you a tour?”

“Of course, lead the way your majesty.”

Oscar walked with her hand-in-hand through all the major parts of the castle. Quickly his tour got off track to them discussing other things with him briefly stating what room they were in but otherwise not bothering to give details about it, much more interested in the conversation at hand.

The sun is setting once again when they part ways, Oscar inviting her back any time she wants.

~~~~

Rumor has it that the Prince is seriously courting a girl. She is over many times a week and several servants whisper of the fact they have seen the two snuggled up together when they thought no one was looking. Even without that damning evidence, the bright mood the Prince was constantly in told the story plainly enough.

Ruby had taken to visiting the palace rather than working at the shop. She knew Pietro would welcome her back no matter how long it had been since she last worked. Still, it made her a bit anxious to not be working on her savings currently but for once in her life she was so very happy.

~~~~

Oscar had been serious about properly introducing Ruby to his guard friends. She got along with them easily, so easily in fact that they had begun teaching her the basics of fighting out in the training yard.

Whenever Oscar knew that was going to happen, he tried to get out of his duties early to go watch, it was always worth it to see.

This time around he got there just in time to watch Nora flip Ruby, pinning her to the ground.

“Nora… please try not to kill her, I think Oscar might actually get mad at us then.” Jaune pointed out as Ruby stood up and brushed herself off. “Oh come on, I’m not that breakable.” Ruby laughed. “You next then.” She grabbed one of the wooden training swords and stood at the ready for him.

A few parries from either side before Ruby went on the offensive, half accidentally Jaune over the head with it.

“Ow okay please don’t kill me either.” Jaune whined cradling his head.

Ruby snorted in an attempt to hide a laugh, completely unable to feign concern. “Hm but if I kill you do I get to take your place and be a guard?”

“What! No! Now I’m afraid you’re actually going to kill me.”

“You don’t need to kill Jaune to have a place here. You are more than welcome to stay” Pyrrha said while sympathetically rubbing Jaune’s shoulder, the only one willing to comfort him in his dramatics.

“I think there’s another role you’d prefer over being a guard though.” Ren noted, backed by Nora wagging her eyebrow to punctuate it with implication.

Ruby was less embarrassed now by this than she used to be. This teasing was commonplace now. There was no way it wasn’t glaringly obvious to everyone that the prince was courting her. Honestly she hadn’t put a whole lot of thought into it, it sort of just had been washing over her. Shows of affection are basically constant and they weren’t exactly secret about it even if they weren’t exactly clear about what they were to each other either.

~~~

It became a regular thing for Ruby to join Oscar for lunch or dinner on days when she visited. It was during one of these meals that she first met the King who apparently had the time to join them that particular day. King Ozpin was quite kind and welcoming to her, that dinner actually wasn’t nearly as awkward as she was expecting it to be. The only thing was that he kept saying things that made it sound like he’d met her before. It was odd but also hard to put her finger on exactly. When the meal was over and they parted ways Oscar assured that he was just like that but that the King really did seem to approve of her.

~~~

Some days she and Oscar would go spend their time in the palace library together. Usually they would just quietly enjoy having the other around, leaning gently against each other as they read. Sometimes they would talk about the books they were reading and get completely sidetracked. On this particular day they were going through the shelves of storybooks, quick and simple to read but filled with nostalgia. One particular set of books caught Ruby’s eye, pages faded to yellow with age and a gold trim around the edges. She grabbed for them before she noticed what she was doing, thumbing through the pages looking at the print and little illustrations. She hadn’t noticed how long she had been standing there when Oscar snuck up behind her and wrapped his hands around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

“What’d you have there?” He whispered.

“These books, I just, I remember them from when I was little but I think you’re missing one?” There were three books she found on the shelf from this series but there should be a fourth one, the one she remembered best. “My mom- my birth mom used to read these too but my favorite was this one that had these warriors who could turn all the beasts in the forest to stone with their eyes? And well, they had silver eyes which I thought was so cool because both me and her had them too.” Ruby explained, she couldn’t even recall how the stories went, just like she couldn’t really recall her mother. Sometimes she’s sure she just dreamed it all up.

~~~

Oscar wasn’t too keen on giving gifts. It felt odd to do when he had so much wealth, like he was trying to buy affection. Today though was different. It was Ruby’s birthday and he’d been looking for this particular perfect gift all month long. Once she arrived he could hardly wait to give it to her.

“You’ve had that silly grin on since I’ve gotten here, it’s making me nervous..” Ruby said, eyeing him carefully.

“Okay, okay, I was going to wait until later but, well- hold on.” He turned tail, running up to his room and back to go grab the unwrapped present, returning soon after. “Here you go.”

In her hands he placed a book with those yellowed pages and gold trim. She stared at the title ‘The Warriors of the Woods ’, her fingers tracing the letters in awe. Her cheeks ached from the grin stuck on her face as dragged Oscar into a tight hug.

“Thank you so much!”

“Happy birthday.” Oscar said as he hugged her in return.

~~~

Ruby’s step-family was growing ever more suspicious as she kept returning home happy and grinning, humming songs to herself. Nothing seemed to manage to sour her mood whatsoever and every happy moment she showed only earned her more disdain and chores from Salem. Ruby did them all without complaint.

~~~

With Ruby around so often, Oscar began constantly skipping his lessons. All of his tutors eventually came up with a way to circumvent this by simply pulling Ruby into his lessons as well. Oobleck more or less ambushed them in the garden and gave them no room to politely escape as he handed them textbooks, paper, and pencils, diving right into a history lesson of the internal politics of the Kingdom of Vale.

One thing Oscar had learned about Ruby early on was that she hated being forced to sit still if it wasn’t her choice. She began to fidget, then doodle, then as all this information droned on made her head buzz she began to drift off into a nap.

Oscar nudged her awake a couple times before taking his paper and writing her a little note.

‘Think you’ll survive?’ He slid that over to her just before she began to doze again.

‘I don’t know! Is he always like this?’ Her writing was scrawls that took Oscar a moment to decipher but once he did he quietly laughed.

‘Pretty much, why do you think I skip out on this and spend time with you instead?’ He replied.

‘Saying I’m better than this isn’t a compliment :( ‘

This was the first, but definitely not the last time Ruby was brought into his lessons. Any time they could get away with it they passed notes and laughed like little school kids to pass the time.

~~~

When Oscar was having a bad day, he liked to go climb up into the rafters of the stables. The palace had a large stable where they kept the horses and a few chickens roamed freely. It felt familiar and safe to him. It wasn’t often that he had a truly bad day but today he was feeling very off. Ruby had come to visit that day and while it cheered him up in the way it always did, it didn’t exactly fix everything. That day Oscar decided to show Ruby his hiding spot in the rafters. He led her to the stable and showed her how he climbed up there, sitting comfortably on one of the beams.

“You don’t have to tell me but, is something wrong?” She asked, he had been so quiet today and they had never gone to spend time out here like this before.

“It’s nothing… nothing in particular, just a bad day, I guess.” Oscar admitted. “It’s silly, I mean it’s hard not to feel guilty about having a bad day when I have so much going or me.”

Ruby scooted closer to him, wrapping an arm around his waist. “I don’t really think it’s silly, if you want to talk about it, I’m right here.” She rests her head against his.

Oscar took a moment to try to put it into words. “I’m thankful, for everything Ozpin has done for me. I’m a prince now, and he doesn’t even push all these outdated royal rules on me or anything. But… I didn’t exactly grow up this way? I grew up on a farm, and sometimes I just miss how simple everything was there and I miss my aunt and everything else.”

Ruby understood then why he would want to go hide out here and in a way she could imagine how overwhelming this must be for him since what she’s experienced of palace life was awfully overwhelming to her too.

She didn’t think about it for even a moment before she turned her head to press her lips to his in a sweet reassuring kiss.

Now, affection was shown quite freely between them in private, nearly constantly touching. Kisses, on the cheek, forehead, back of the hand, those were all commonplace for them nowadays. Yet this right here was their first proper kiss.

They were both a bit red in the face at the realization but it felt like it hardly needed addressing, like it was inevitable.

“Hey when you said Ozpin doesn’t push outdated rules on you? I mean he’s not going to have a problem with…” Ruby gestured between the two of them.

Oscar laughed, kissing her in return finally before answering. “I think he’s all for this. He approves of you and he wants me to be happy, and well, you make me happy.”

~~~

Ruby shouldn’t have been surprised when one night she came home to find that book Oscar had gifted her a charred pile of illegible paper in the middle of her room. Cinder had always had a knack for knowing just which of Ruby’s possessions would hurt the most to lose. That, and the whole family had been completely furious with Ruby being so upbeat lately that of course Cinder would do something like that.

Somehow it is so much worse than the dress being burnt. She re-read this book every night before she went to bed to remember what she could of the family she once had and to remember that someone cared enough about her to go through all the effort to find it for her.

She cleaned up the pile, feeling cold and empty and like she was entirely trapped here. Maybe it was just because she’d summoned him last time Cinder burnt something of hers, or maybe she just desperately needed someone to talk to in general but once she is calm she whispers “I wish I could see my Fairy Godmother.”

Once again Qrow appears in front of her in a blink. “Y’know, you can call me when you aren’t crying.” He sighs. “What’s it about this time? I thought the last gig went well. Heard you even snagged yourself a prince.”

“Where did you hear that?! I- never mind, it doesn’t matter.”

“Am I wrong?” Qrow raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms.

“That’s not the point. But even if I did you shouldn’t pat yourself on the back about it. You nearly killed me with those heels.” Ruby was trying to sound serious but having something meaningless to argue over was such a relief it was difficult to keep that tone of voice.

“Oh I’m definitely patting myself on the back. When you two get hitched that makes me royalty by extension.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works.” Ruby mumbled, hiding a smile by ducking her head.

“Well, enough of that. You never answered my question, what’d you need?”

“I don’t know. Nothing, I guess. I think I’m just tired of this place.”

It was nothing he could fix anyways, not permanently at least probably. “Could you stay for a while? We could play games like when I was little?” She asked, of all things she thinks that might cheer her up right now.

Qrow seemed a bit confused and maybe even a touch startled at that statement but hid it quickly. “Didn’t think you remembered any of that.”

“You were always around, it’d be a little hard to forget!”

“Hmm…” For a moment he looked to be deep in thought before he shook his head. “I guess I can spare a little time.”

~~~

It was a few days before Ruby visited the palace again, longer than she had gone without visiting in quite a while.

When finally she does come by, Oscar is visibly worried.

He greets her with a kiss but lingers close. “Did something happen?”

“No, no I was just really busy.” Ruby said blandly.

Oscar had an expression that said he knew that wasn’t the whole story but he wouldn’t press her on it either.

“Just some family trouble, talk about it later okay?” Ruby added to try to quell his concerns.

Before they could continue their conversation they were interrupted.

“Ah, you’re here, excellent!” Said Ozpin as he approached the couple who took a respectful step away from each other. “See, I wanted to formally invite you to our next upcoming ball.” He handed Ruby a sturdy envelope embossed with her name in silver print on the front.

“We’re having another ball?” Oscar asked.

“Yes, it’s been a few months since the last one so I thought it’s time for another celebration.” Didn’t I tell you?”

“It must have slipped your mind.” Oscar muttered, half sure that Ozpin came up with this on a whim just today.

“This one is by invitation only. Hence why I wanted to personally ensure that Miss Rose received hers.” Ozpin shot a meaningful look Oscar’s way as he said that before turning to direct his next statement to Ruby “Mm, anyways, don’t worry about attire, we can have you fitted for a dress, one properly suited for a night of dancing.”

He left no time for either of them to respond before heading off elsewhere. They both are left standing there, confused about what just happened.

“Hey Oscar?”

“Mhm?”

“So, I don’t actually know how to dance?” She was embarrassed to admit it, since it seemed like something everyone around knew how to do but her.

“Oh, well there’s some excellent tutors around here, you don’t have to worry about that!” Oscar reassured.

“Okay but what if I’m afraid of embarrassing myself in front of the tutors?”

“Are you afraid of embarrassing yourself in front of me?” He asked and she considered the question.

“Somehow a lot less afraid.” Ruby answered, there was a level of comfort she’d reached in being that vulnerable around him.

“Then how about I teach you?”

~~~

That started what would become the weeks of dance lessons leading up to this next ball.

“It’s easier than it looks. I was nervous the first time around too.” Oscar said, standing in the large empty ballroom with Ruby as he started the record player on some basic waltz music.

He demonstrated the base steps alone, explaining them as he went.

“Okay, want to give it a try?” He asked.

“I guess, sorry if I step on your toes.” Ruby was still pretty apprehensive even after watching him demonstrate.

Oscar chuckled, putting one hand on her waist. “I’ve seen you practicing sparring with the guards, you’re actually really graceful.”

“When I’m sparring I’m supposed to be aiming to hurt people, and here not so much.” She retorted.

That was only met with a fond kiss and Oscar’s other hand finding hers. “Come on, giving it a try?”

She began to follow his steps but it was clear how uneasy she felt no matter how long they tried it for.

“Here, let’s try something different. You lead.” Oscar offered.

“Won’t that make it worse?” Ruby thought that would just give her more opportunity to step on his feet.

“No, I think it’s pretty awkward to learn to do these all backwards, it’s easier to learn if you’re in the lead role.”

“Okay…” Ruby reversed their position, putting her hand on his waist to mirror the way he had been holding her before. They were nearly the same height so it worked perfectly in that sense.

It’s awkward at first still but Ruby was much less nervous, actually it was Oscar that was stumbling more now because he wasn’t used to this role.

By the time they had made their way around the room once, she was grinning.

When the music ended she hugged him.

“Thank you, that was way less awful than I was expecting.” She mumbled against his shoulder.

“Ha, glad it was better than awful?” His arms wrap around her in turn.

“But you aren’t done quite yet. That’s just the very basics, and you still need to practice this more too.”

Ruby feigned a pout with a grin hidden behind it. “What? There’s more?”

Until the day of the ball they continued to practice. Oscar had been made to take dance classes since he’d been adopted so he was more than happy to show off some of the more intricate steps and dances. Ruby’s personal favorite was dips mainly for that cute dazed expression Oscar got on his face when she could easily dip him and pull him back up for a kiss.

Rumor had it that the Prince will be engaged to miss Ruby Rose by the time this exclusive ball is over with.

This rumor may or may not have been started singlehandedly by one royal guard by the name of Nora Valkyrie. Regardless of how it started, word spread far and wide.

Word spread so far and wide in fact that it reached Salem. She was fuming, oh how could that wretched girl catch the prince’s attention so easily?

As much as she wanted to lock Ruby away and have done with her, Salem knew that if the prince truly cared for the girl then he might very well go looking for her. So she bided her time and came up with a plan, forging an invitation for Cinder to go to this new ball.

Ruby didn’t know any of this. Maybe Salem was a bit more cold and cruel than usual, but Ruby had already grown to expect the worst so she couldn’t even tell the difference.

~~~

The night of the ball arrived rapidly and Ruby had snuck out without finishing her impossibly long list of chores knowing full well she would pay for it tomorrow.

She wore a lovely floor length dress in a similar red color as her previous one, this time with her comfy boots underneath rather than those awful stilts.

Ruby was happy with how she looked, and so much more relaxed without the constant fear that her step mother or sisters would somehow ruin this for her.

Her confidence only grew when she met Oscar at the entrance and he offered her his arm. “You look beautiful.” He said, sounding so genuinely awestruck.

She really had to hold herself back from kissing him or even hugging him since there still was etiquette to follow for an event like this.

“Thank you, you don’t look bad yourself.” She replied as she took his arm.

Oscar didn’t leave her side all night. As he was Prince, they did have to make the rounds of talking with anyone particularly important but everyone was quite polite and seemingly excited to meet her too.

Once all the niceties were out of the way, they joined everyone else on the dance floor.

Ruby wasn’t nervous anymore, though she put her hand on Oscar’s waist to immediately take the leading role in this dance. Oscar just laughed and tried to stealthily kiss her on the cheek, an action many caught sight of regardless, because of course people were keeping their eyes on the prince and his girl.

For the whole night they only dance with each other which no one seemed to take issue with.

Well, no one took issue with until one particular unwelcome guest mader appearance. A song had just ended when Ruby felt a harsh tap on her shoulder, a fingernail basically gouging into her arm. When she looked up at who was trying to get her attention, she tensed, staring wide eyed. Cinder stood here, a fake overly polite smile plastered on her face as if she didn’t know exactly who Ruby was. “May I have this next dance with him?” She asked, putting Ruby in a position to look very rude and possessive if she were to say no.

Ruby couldn’t find her words at all, even if there was little Cinder could directly do to her here she still couldn’t help but be afraid.

Oscar picked up on something being wrong immediately, he’d never seen Ruby look so vacant and afraid, and this woman who had approached looked vaguely familiar. He frowned slightly before looking at the guest. “Would you excuse us for a moment?”

Cinder, seeing how this wasn’t going her way and so incredibly angry with Ruby getting her way, did not in fact excuse them for a minute. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think you heard me, I said may I have this dance?” Her grip on Ruby’s shoulder now bruising as she tried to rip her away from the Prince.

Oscar immediately got in between the two of them, and the guards were there almost immediately. Cinder did not go easily or quietly, in fact it made for a rather impressive wrestling match to watch in the middle of the dance floor before she was actually dragged off.

Everyone was quiet, shocked, and confused but slowly the party came back to life with people chancing quiet conversation and then returning to their dance.

“I’m sorry- about that.” Ruby mumbled, voice trembling slightly.

“That wasn’t your fault… at all. But, you seemed to know her?” Oscar spoke carefully, not wanting her to feel obligated to answer.

“She’s my stepsister.” She answered shortly

Suddenly something clicked for Oscar about the ‘family issues’ Ruby had alluded to before and it left a bitter feeling in his stomach. “Hey, you’re safe now.” He said, pulling her close.

“Yeah, for now.” Ruby sighed, she would still have to go home to.. To whatever was going to happen now.

“No, for always. You could stay here, stay with me.” Oscar blurted out, more than anything just wanting to make sure she was safe and happy. It took him longer than it should have to realize just how that sounded. “Okay, uh to be clear that was not a proposal. I promise that will be much better thought out and not asked when you’re dealing with a lot of stress-” His explanation was interrupted with a kiss.

“You do realize you just implied you’re going to propose, right?” Ruby asked once she pulled away.

Oscar laughed, giving her one more peck on the lips. “I thought that was obvious.”

#rosegarden #rosepine #ruby rose #Oscar Pine #secret santa #my fic #rwby

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youngbounty · 5 years ago

Text

Would Miles Edgeworth Recieve Mia Fey’s Blessing

One of the things I notice in Narumitsu headcanons, stories, comics, etc. on here is the idea that Mia would, for some reason, not support Phoenix dating Edgeworth. Now, Mia had died in Turnabout Sisters, meaning that she no longer has any business going into Phoenix’s life. Though, for the sake of using this argument, I’m going to use canon reasons for why I find this idea to be false. I’m also going to clarify that this is Phoenix Wright from the trilogy, so no one can use the “this is before *insert trilogy thing that happened* before Edgeworth was no longer an asshat.” We can all agree that Miles Edgeworth stopped being a complete and total asshat after Turnabout Goodbyes, right? Are we all in agreement to that? Good. Can we also agree that, due to Miles Edgeworth’s trauma he was dealing with, him and Phoenix had little to no interaction and could not have the foundations of any relationship whatsoever? Yes? Good. We are now on the same page, meaning that Phoenix could not be in a relationship of any kind with Miles Edgeworth before Turnabout Goodbyes where most of everyone would be raising some eyebrows at the idea of Phoenix Wright being in a relationship with Miles Edgeworth during his asshat days. Moving on.

Let’s start off with a possible time for Phoenix to start a relationship, ignoring the Dahlia/Iris situation because maybe Phoenix decided to settle down on a relationship despite his ex girlfriend drama from college. Since Miles Edgeworth would not be allowing contact of any kind with Phoenix until after Turnabout Goodbyes, we can start it out between Turnabout Goodbyes and the time he wrote “Miles Edgeworth Chooses Death.” Now, what would Mia know about Miles Edgeworth at this point? To understand this, we need to go down the list of times when Mia had met with Miles Edgeworth. The first time was Turnabout Beginnings, being the reason why so many people think she would not support Phoenix having a relationship with him. But then, we also have Turnabout Sisters and Turnabout Samurai to consider. In Turnabout Sisters, Mia had possessed Maya in order to expose Redd White by handing Phoenix a list of people he had blackmailed, which Phoenix had presented to the court. In Turnabout Samurai, Mia had appeared to help Phoenix investigate and gain information from Cody, who becomes a valuable witness. She also appears with Phoenix during the second trial of Turnabout Samurai. She has witnessed Edgeworth’s general way of prosecuting, which was very normal for the most part. No withholding evidence or anything like what happened in Turnabout Sisters, if Mia ever knew what he did, or Turnabout Beginnings, which Mia did say that Edgeworth was affected by, after Terry Fawles’ suicide. Also, keep in mind that five years have passed since then, meaning that Mia can see some maturity on Edgeworth’s part. Wouldn’t be enough to consider him trustworthy, but not enough to automatically not take Phoenix’s word for it, if he says that Edgeworth isn’t a bad person. After this is Turnabout Goodbyes where Mia is never shown at any point, since Maya cannot summon her.

With this, we can conclude that, while Mia does have reason to not consider Edgeworth a trustworthy man for Phoenix’s affections, due to Turnabout Beginnings, it’s also not enough to declare him as a bad person for Phoenix. If Phoenix has, indeed, known Miles Edgeworth as a child and had been around him more times than Mia was channeled, she has no reason to doubt Phoenix’s judgement. After all, if she was to speculate what kind of a man Miles Edgeworth is based on what she has seen from him, she doesn’t have a reason to say “no.” There is the possibility that Mia may’ve gotten the story of Edgeworth through Maya, but even that would also include the time Miles Edgeworth had helped out Phoenix in Turnabout Samurai. As for Turnabout Sisters, considering that Mia knows of Miles Edgeworth’s involvement with DL-6, she’d conclude that he was blackmailed by Redd White, who is known for blackmailing prosecutors, judges and all kinds of higher-ups, including Marvin Grossberg, who abandoned Maya’s defense for a painting. Between trusting your sister’s protection under a man that values his painting over her little sister and Phoenix trusting a man that was blackmailed by the same guy for being a possible killer of his father, Mia really wouldn’t have any room to talk. If anything, she’d be more understanding than anyone of Phoenix’s feelings. He trusts Edgeworth despite what kind of man he became. How can Mia not understand something like that? Doesn’t she also have someone that’s a prosecutor, who also became very bitter and cold after a certain case that will be brought back later after Turnabout Goodbyes? No, not Diego, I mean the other one that is Chief Prosecutor.

Now, at this point, Mia would question Phoenix if he is sure that Edgeworth is someone he can trust. Though, at the end of the day, Mia knows she doesn’t really know who Edgeworth is. Even Maya knows more of who Edgeworth is than Mia does. If Maya is supportive of Phoenix being in a relationship with Edgeworth, then I don’t see why Mia couldn’t be. I also don’t see why Maya wouldn’t be supportive of their relationship, after Turnabout Goodbyes, so there shouldn’t be a problem. Mia will have no problem. She trusts Phoenix and Maya. It does not matter that Edgeworth was an asshat in Turnabout Beginnings, because that was five years ago and, as far as Mia is concerned, Edgeworth has not proven to not be trustworthy. Even if she knew of what Miles Edgeworth did in Turnabout Sisters and Turnabout Samurai, she’d also know that Miles Edgeworth was likely blackmailed in Turnabout Sisters and helped out phoenix in Turnabout Samurai. Mia would especially give Edgeworth her blessing, if she knew what had happened in Turnabout Goodbyes. In conclusion, Mia Fey would be supportive of Phoenix’s relationship with Edgeworth?

What about the events of Justice For All then? Wouldn’t Edgeworth, leaving the fake suicide note and Phoenix hurt and angry be enough to damage any blessing Mia would have for Edgeworth? Absolutely not! First off, we need to clarify when Phoenix would’ve been able to start any relationship with Edgeworth. Since Miles Edgeworth was studying abroad in Europe until Farewell my Turnabout, we can conclude that it would’ve been then. At this point, only Pearl would’ve been able to summon Mia and there is no way Phoenix would break the News to her, unless he wants a whoopin from a passionate Pearly, who thinks Phoenix is Maya’s special someone. Now, Phoenix could break the news to Mia, while she is being summoned, but then that would mean it would have to have been during trial or the Defendant’s Lobby, most likely the Defendant’s Lobby and away from Matt Engarde’s ears. Sounds like the only reasonable times Phoenix would’ve started a relationship with Edgeworth before informing Mia? Good.

At this very moment, Mia has seen Phoenix’s anger over Edgeworth leaving the suicide note. If she didn’t know about the events of Turnabout Goodbyes, she’d still be aware that Edgeworth was dealing with personal issues. She knows about DL-6, so she can make her own conclusions. If anything, Phoenix would be more upset than Mia, who’d be more sympathetic than anything. Though, I doubt if Mia didn’t know about the events of Turnabout Goodbyes, considering that Maya would definitely want to tell the story to her sister, since it does affect them and what happened to their mother. At the time Phoenix would have the opportunity to start a relationship with Edgeworth, even while ignoring his anger towards Edgeworth for the fake suicide note, Mia would experience the outcome of it. She’d see that Edgeworth is making sacrifices and doing everything he can to find Maya. Mia would be the most dependent on Edgeworth. The fact Phoenix told Mia that he can’t break Edgeworth’s trust, after everything he’s done, then realizing that he trusted Edgeworth before getting the, “yes, you do,” from Mia, tells us how much she knows about Phoenix’s feelings. If Phoenix loves and trusts Edgeworth, Mia would understand and, again, support it. Why wouldn’t she support Phoenix dating the man that saved her sister? After Farewell my Turnabout, I can’t see Mia not finding the events of Turnabout Beginnings being water under the bridge.

Any other time passed Farewell my Turnabout should be proven what I’ve mentioned above. As I said, after Farewell my Turnabout, I can’t see Mia not allowing the events of Turnabout Beginnings being water under the bridge or bygones be bygones. Mia has seen Edgeworth in court, how he conducts a trial and how he handles a situation of blackmail and hostages, which was better than Grossberg ever did. How could Mia not give Edgeworth her blessing, after he saved her sister from Shelly De Killer of all people? Even Phoenix would let bygones be bygones, if someone like Manfred Von Karma did the same for Trucy in a similar fashion.

Mia isn’t stupid or petty. She might be a protective mother of sorts, but she’s not going to dictate who Phoenix has feelings for or how he lives his life. Now, Mia did tell Phoenix to forget about Dahlia and never bothering to mention about Iris, but that could be more for Iris’ sake than Phoenix’s. I’m sure Mia did intend on informing Phoenix or having him reunite with Iris at some point, but Iris was escaping from an abusive situation with her sister. The point is, Mia isn’t someone that’s going to keep Phoenix from pursuing a romantic relationship. It’s not to say she won’t warn Phoenix, if he is dating someone that he shouldn’t trust, but in the case of Miles Edgeworth, Mia won’t need to. Any point in time that Phoenix would start a relationship with Edgeworth, Mia would have no reason to object to it. She may get upset, if the relationship started before the suicide note, but again, Farewell my Turnabout will be enough to let that be water under the bridge.

This goes into my main issue with having Mia be upset or “concerned” for Phoenix having a relationship with Edgeworth. It makes her seem petty and hypocritical and Mia is anything, but that. I’m sure a lot of people will be like, “you’d be angry too, if someone called you a ‘bimbo.’” Aside from the fact that was in the English version and we don’t know if that’s what he actually called her in the original Japanese, that was said on trial. It’s expected for the opposing attorneys to rip each other a new one. Heck, even Mia wasn’t afraid to rip Edgeworth or even Godot a new one. That’s kinda expected in court. If it is because of Edgeworth withholding evidence and a witness, how is that any different from what’s expected or even better than what Lana Skye did, who was supposedly Mia’s college friend. Even Mia’s boyfriend said that was expected. Also, keep in mind that it was their first case that took place five years prier to Phoenix meeting Edgeworth again.

I think the reason people have Mia respond negatively to Phoenix dating Edgeworth is mostly because they see Turnabout Beginnings and think, “Oooooh, Mia must not like Edgeworth then” and I find that to be inaccurate. True, Mia didn’t like Edgeworth in Turnabout Beginnings, but other things have happened since then. Edgeworth had helped out Phoenix, saved Maya, helped make peace with Franziska and will eventually help Phoenix again in T&T by going in his stead. That’d be like making the claim that Phoenix would have an issue with Apollo dating Klavier, if that were possible, which would make Phoenix look hypocritical and petty. Does the main conflict for Phoenix dating Edgeworth have to involve a third party or his mentor/parental figure being overprotective? No romantic relationship is without its hurtles and, more times than not, it isn’t by a third party. If a parental figure gets involved, it often means the two were never meant to be together to begin with.

Considering what Mia saw with Edgeworth and even the kind of people she trusted like Grossberg, who threw her sister under the bus over an ugly ass painting, I doubt Mia would find it a big deal for Phoenix to pursue a romantic relationship with Edgeworth. At best, she might be skeptical, if it happened before the suicide note, but would be completely fine if it was after or during Farewell my Turnabout. Now, Maya pursuing a relationship with Franziska, on the other hand, might be a different story, but that’s for another topic.

What do you guys think?

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #mia fey #NaruMitsu #Wrightworth

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silver-wield · 5 years ago

Note

Cloud had every opportunity to validate his relationship between he and Tifa. He doesn’t tell aerith who he gave the flower to and when aerith asks if tifa is his girlfriend he’s quick to say no and when she says “she’s something special, right?” And he says “it’s not like that” that doesn’t sound like someone who’s in love... yet when Tifa questions the relationship he has with aerith, he can’t even answer... As a cloti fan I don’t think I can shobghis anymore... 😔

Ok, let’s breakdown how Cloud’s behaviour works again.

Not that some people understand that having mental illness and crafting a false persona to protect their own psyche means they do things that are contradictory to their own true feelings at times. They seem to think SOLDIER Cloud is another way of saying “He’S jUsT zAcK”. Which isn’t that at all and they need to stop purposely misunderstanding the point.

SPOILERS FOR CLOUD’S ENTIRE BACKSTORY.

Cloud: introverted, socially awkward, no father figure, low self-esteem, lives in a very small town with little culture and few kids his age. Of those kids, the majority don’t like him because they’re assholes (yeah I said it).

Tifa: childhood friend and crush, who isn’t an asshole to him because she’s a literal fucking sweetheart (don’t even try and @ me). Shy, reserved, polite, kind, also can be reckless af.

Age 8, Tifa’s mother dies and she gets it into her head that she can go visit her at the top of mt Nibel because that’s where she gets the impression the lifestream touches the planet.

Cloud (9), follows her and her friends up the mountain and stays with her as they chicken out. He and Tifa have an accident, which results in Tifa being unconscious for 7 days. During that time she’s unconscious (but yknow some ppl say she should’ve still cleared up the misunderstanding WHILE UNCONSCIOUS, despite never learning of it even after she woke up), her friends throw Cloud under the bus to her father as the reason why she went there. Tifa’s father puts all the blame for it on him (douchebag move, but he’s an upset parent who’s just lost his wife and now doesn’t know if his daughter will live or die. I’m not excusing him, but he’s got reasons other than “let’s victimise Cloud”.) Tifa’s father tells Cloud that if he isn’t capable of protecting her then he should keep his distance.

Cloud resolves to become stronger and thanks to Stamp propaganda and Sephiroth hero worship he decides to become a SOLDIER.

Tifa never says anything about this being what she wants. She likes Cloud just as he is.

Skip forward a few years and Cloud’s 14, has kept his word not to hang out with Tifa, not that it stops her wanting his attention.

The promise scene occurs, where Cloud tries to get Tifa to admit she likes him and Tifa gets Cloud to promise to return to town just once so she can see him again (because these idiots have no idea they mutually like each other in a romantic sense).

Skip forward another 2 years.

Cloud (16) isn’t a SOLDIER, but he’s got to go to Nibelheim with Zack and Sephiroth. He hides from Tifa, ashamed that he isn’t the man he promised he’d become.

Tifa (15) who’s massively disappointed Cloud wasn’t with them, ends up seriously injured by Sephiroth after he loses his marbles.

Cloud appears and saves her, killing Sephiroth.

Zangan takes Tifa away from Nibelheim - and good thing too or she’d have ended up a test subject with the others.

Cloud and Zack are stuffed in chambers to be experimented on.

4 years go by and Zack saves Cloud who’s suffering mako poisoning. They make it to Midgar, which takes around a year, where Zack then dies, leaving his sword to Cloud.

Cloud still suffering from mako poisoning and now also with PTSD and all his other previous issues, shambles into Midgar where Tifa finds him.

Here’s the bit people like to misunderstand.

Cloud is infected with Jenova cells, which warp his perception and make him susceptible to Sephiroth’s control. (This is proven by a moment at the end of the game where Cloud’s hand twitches in response to Sephiroth asking for his help)

Zack told Cloud a lot of stories, both before he was poisoned and after. These combined with Jenova’s mind warping, the mako poisoning itself and Cloud’s own severe trauma allowed him to craft a false persona for himself, which he needed to protect his real psyche from a further mental breakdown.

Cloud is a mentally ill protagonist.

Cloud uses the SOLDIER persona he’s crafted as a shield to function in daily life. He’s unaware of what he’s done. He believes SOLDIER!Cloud is the only psyche. We get to see real!Cloud on screen at the beginning of Chapter 8 asking SOLDIER!Cloud if he’s ok. Real!Cloud specifically refers to the childhood event on mt Nibel with Tifa where he “got away with scraped knees”. SOLDIER!Cloud doesn’t know what he’s talking about because it’s a real!Cloud memory and not one he’s privy to. Any time SOLDIER!Cloud tries reconnecting to his true self he ends up in pain. He’s not ready to be whole yet.

Behind the shield is an emotionally stunted, very ill man who spent four years as a lab rat, suffered countless traumas, witnessed his home burned and saw the girl he loved stabbed. The real Cloud is a weak, flawed human being who isn’t in a good enough head space to function, let alone do all the things that’s needed of him during events in the game.

Cloud doesn’t think he’s Zack. The only time that argument can even be used is in a 23 year old game that has clear script problems all over the place. That information is outdated and been debunked several times over.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Now, onto the points you raised.

Cloud cannot connect his real persona and the feelings he has for Tifa with this false persona he has. The SOLDIER persona acts as both a shield and a wall preventing things from affecting the real!Cloud behind it. Nothing gets in or out. That’s why Cloud can’t articulate his feelings for Tifa. It’s not because he doesn’t feel anything for her, it’s because he can’t connect to those feelings until after he’s reunited the fractured parts of his psyche -- which only happens because of Tifa during the lifestream sequence. It’s then he’s able to get back in touch with those feelings and express them. It’s not because they don’t exist. He never, at any point, in 7R says he doesn’t have feelings for Tifa. He says she’s not his girlfriend - fact, she isn’t. He says in response to Aerith asking “she’s someone special” that “it’s not like that” but then gets cut off, like every other point in the game where he’s about to try and explain his feelings. He doesn’t know how he feels because those feelings belong to real!Cloud and not SOLDIER!Cloud. We get a clear view of how Real!Cloud feels about Tifa during the plate fall. At several points, the urge to comfort Tifa is seen. That’s not SOLDIER!Cloud’s urge, it’s real!Cloud’s. When he sees her crying during Jessie’s cut scene, when he sees her on her knees at the top of the plate, when his hand twitches as Barret hugs her. All of these are canon non-optional moments that build a picture of real!Cloud wanting to express his feelings to Tifa, but not being able to. The resolution is the culmination of those feelings. He takes his time hugging her back because the SOLDIER persona is trying to protect him still, but the real!Cloud breaks through long enough to hug her. And he does so hard because he needs comfort. He’s gone through so much that he’s broken inside. That’s why he hugs her until it hurts. Because he hurts.

His response to Tifa’s question about Aerith isn't shipping. Tifa’s first words when she wakes are an urgent affirmation to get home and save the slum. Cloud agrees. She then asks Cloud how he knows Aerith, after expressing concern she'll get hurt by going with them. Tifa and Cloud are eco terrorists and as far as she knows Aerith is a normal girl. Nobody would want a civilian dragged into danger. And Cloud has been in Midgar for four days and spent most of them with Avalanche and Tifa. She's curious how they're friends because she knows Cloud isn't a people person. Cloud explains Aerith saved him, but when? It's clearer in the JP because the phrasing is that Cloud was in the kind of danger that worries Tifa. She wants to know what kind of danger Cloud would get into that he couldn't handle. Well he's not talking physical danger. He's talking about how Aerith helped him save Tifa. Because that's the kind of dork he is. He's referring to the phrase Aerith said to Sam about making sure Cloud wouldn't have to live without Tifa. That's what he means by her saving his life. Because he can't live without Tifa. So, it's obvious why that's not made a bigger deal of in disc one.

He doesn’t tell Aerith who he gave the flower to because it’s none of her goddamn business. She’s a stranger being nosy. He’s got no obligation to tell her what he did with it. If someone you met twice start sticking their nose in your personal business you’d be cagey too. That’s a meaningless moment that certain people cling to because they’re idiots.

Sorry, this got long. Hope it clears a few things up though. I probably missed a few details here and there.

TLDR: Cloud has mental illness and isn’t capable of love due to a fractured psyche, so can’t answer anyone when they ask.

#final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #Character analysis #Cloud strife #tw: mental illness #ship war

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twentiethcenturymoviesandtv · 5 years ago

Text

The Princess Bride: The Story

The story of The Princess Bride doesn’t even open with the actual story at all. In fact, it opens on something out of the realm of fantasy entirely: in a little boy’s bedroom, circa 1987.

This is The Grandson (Fred Savage), and he is home from school, sick.

The Grandson is interrupted from his video games by his mother, who tells him that his grandfather is here to visit him. The Grandson is less than pleased. His grandfather will pinch his cheek again. He hates that.

True to form, The Grandfather (Peter Falk) enters the room and does just that, but he’s not here for any ordinary visit. He is here to keep The Grandson company while he is sick. It turns out that he has brought the Grandson a book to read to him: The Princess Bride.

The Grandson isn’t exactly blown away by the title, but the Grandfather assures him that this is a story full of adventure and excitement. The Grandson reluctantly settles back to listen to the story, admitting that it doesn’t sound too bad, and that he’ll try to stay awake for it.

The Grandfather begins to read: (Spoilers below!)

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl named Buttercup (Robin Wright), who lived on a farm in Florin. Working on the farm for her was a young man named Westley (Cary Elwes), who Buttercup calls ‘Farm Boy’. Buttercup loves ordering Westley around, but oddly enough, every time she gives him an order, he responds with a smile and a quiet: ‘as you wish’.

The Grandfather reads that as it turns out, ‘as you wish’ is Westley’s code for ‘I love you’.

Eventually, Buttercup figures that out, and realizes herself that she loves him too. However, they don’t have much time for pursuing their relationship, as Westley decides to take to the high seas to see his fortune. Shortly after leaving, we are told that his ship was captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is famed for never leaving captives alive.

Once the news arrives, Buttercup locks herself in her house, and declares that she will never love again.

Five years pass, and the ruler of Florin, Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), announces to his kingdom the identity of his new bride: Princess Buttercup.

The Grandfather explains that Buttercup may have agreed to marry Prince Humperdinck, but she doesn’t love him. The only joy she takes anymore is riding her horse, as it provides an escape from his company. As she leaves the castle grounds on horseback, she meets three interesting figures: Vizzini, a short Cicilian, (Wallace Shawn) Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), a Spanish swordsman, and Fezzik (Andre the Giant), a giant. They claim to be lost circus performers, lulling Buttercup into a false sense of security, an instant before they abduct her.

Vizzini, Fezzik and Inigo load up their boat and prepare to push off with Buttercup on board, while Vizzini explains his plan to frame Guilder, Florin’s sworn enemy, for the death of the princess, who they plan to kill once on Guilder’s shores. Vizzini also reminds Inigo and Fezzik that he hired them to help him start a war. The trio head out to sea, preparing for step two of their plan and noticing that they are being followed by a strange ship in the distance.

The next morning, they discover that their pursuer has gained on them, now considerably closer. Vizzini isn’t worried however, as they are approaching the Cliffs of Insanity, and there, he is certain, they will lose him for sure. The group docks in a secret harbor and all climb onto Fezzik, who climbs a rope hung there previously. Their pursuer, a mysterious Man in Black, docks shortly after, and immediately sets to climbing himself.

Despite Fezzik’s great strength, the Man in Black gains on them pretty quickly. Fezzik beats him to the top, but not by much. In an attempt to stop him, Vizzini cuts the rope that the Man in Black is holding onto, but it doesn’t work: the Man in Black manages to hold onto the cliffside, continuing to make slow, but steady progress towards them.

Vizzini decides to take Fezzik and the princess and move on, leaving Inigo to deal with their pursuer once he gets to the top. Inigo, as it turns out, is an incredibly accomplished swordsman, who has been training for years, ever since a man with six fingers on his right hand killed his father and left Inigo scarred.

“I was eleven years old. And when I was strong enough, I dedicated my life to the study of fencing. So the next time we meet, I will not fail. I will go up to the six-fingered man and say, ‘Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.’.”

All of this he explains to the Man in Black. Inigo helps him up the cliff by throwing him the rope, allows him to rest, and even shows him his superior sword, before commencing with the fencing match. It’s an impressive setpiece, one that demonstrates both swordsmen’s abilities and wit, but in the end, as good as Inigo is, it’s not quite good enough. The Man in Black knocks Inigo out, and continues on after Buttercup.

Vizzini, seeing the Man in Black still approaching, leaves Fezzik behind to deal with him, his way: brute force.

Eventually, the Man in Black shows up and Fezzik fires one warning shot with a boulder, just to let him know that he could have killed him. He then offers a ‘fair fight’, as fair as it can be.

“We face each other as God intended. Sportsmanlike. No tricks, no weapons, skill against skill alone.”

“You mean, you’ll put down your rock and I’ll put down my sword, and we’ll try and kill each other like civilized people?”

They commence the battle, and while Fezzik’s incredible size and strength give him an advantage, eventually, the Man in Black manages to beat him with a chokehold, knocking him unconscious.

While all this is going on, Prince Humperdinck and his men, led by Count Rugen (Christopher Guest), are searching for Buttercup. Humperdinck, as it turns out, is a great tracker, and somehow gathers exactly what went on with the Man in Black’s battle with Inigo. He continues to follow the Man in Black’s footprints, which lead towards Guilder, admitting that it could be a trap.

Meanwhile, the Man in Black catches up with Vizzini, who has Buttercup at knifepoint. Vizzini freely admits that he can’t beat the Man in Black in a fight, as he’s already bested his swordsman and his giant. The Man in Black agrees, and offers an alternative: a battle of wits, to the death. Winner gets the captive.

The battle of wits begins. Vizzini pours wine into two goblets, and the Man in Black takes the goblets, and, keeping his actions hidden, pours iocane powder (a deadly colorless poison without odor) into one of the goblets. Turning back around, he places the goblets before Vizzini.

“All right. Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right… and who is dead.”

Vizzini demonstrates his ‘dizzying intellect’ by stalling, going around with circular logic a few times before distracting the Man in Black, switching goblets while his back is turned. He then chooses the goblet in front of him, (the one that had been in front of his opponent) in utter confidence, drinking only after watching the Man in Black do so himself. In the middle of his gloating, however, he falls down, dead.

The Man in Black unties and un-blindfolds Buttercup, taking her along. Surprised, Buttercup remarks on the fact that it was the Man in Black’s cup that was poisoned the whole time.

��They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.”

Behind them, Humperdinck discovers the scene of the wrestling match with Fezzik, and again, correctly deduces the events of the tussle. A little further on, he discovers the empty container of icoane powder, and the footprints that Buttercup and the Man in Black left behind, gathering that they’re gaining on them.

Meanwhile, the Man in Black allows Buttercup to stop for a breather, where she informs him that he won’t get away with this: her fiance will hunt him down. The Man in Black doesn’t seem very concerned. Buttercup also tells him that she knows who he is: he’s the Dread Pirate Roberts, her beloved Westley’s murderer.

They spot Humperdinck and his men riding towards them, far in the distance, and while he’s distracted, Buttercup pushes the Man in Black down a steep hill, telling him that he can die for all she cares. As he falls, he calls out Westley’s familiar catchphrase: “As..you..wish!”

Realizing that the Man in Black is Westley, Buttercup throws herself down the hill after him.

Humperdinck, watching the fall, concludes that they are heading for the fire swamp, not remarking on the unusual method of transportation.

Westley and Buttercup are reunited, but before they can get much further romantic celebration, the Grandson pipes up, griping about this development. To pacify him, the Grandfather skips ahead: to the Fire Swamp.

The Fire Swamp is a dark, cramped forest, with areas that spontaneously erupt into flame, patches of lightning-fast quicksand, and Rodents of Unusual Size. Despite these perils, Westley and Buttercup press through, while Westley explains to Buttercup how it came to be that he survived an attack by the Dread Pirate Roberts.

As it turns out, when he was captured, he managed to catch Roberts’ attention with descriptions of Buttercup and his love for her. Curious, Roberts let him live, bringing him aboard as his valet for quite some time. Every night, Roberts would say the same thing:

“Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”

But he never did, obviously. During this time, Westley learned as much as he could about fighting and survival, until one day, Roberts called Westley in to talk to him.

“Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. ‘I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts’ he said. ‘My name is Ryan; I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.’”

After a few narrow escapes, Buttercup and Westley come out the other side of the Fire Swamp, but find themselves cut off by Humperdinck and his men. Afraid for Westley’s life, Buttercup surrenders on one condition: Westley is to be returned to his ship, unharmed.

Humperdinck swears it, wholly dishonestly, and orders Count Rugen to deal with him. Before he’s taken away, Westley notices that Reugen has six fingers on his right hand: the key trait of the man Inigo Montoya was looking for.

Rugen orders Westley taken to the Pit of Despair, where he is healed of his wounds and then strapped to Rugen’s torture machine, a device he constructed specifically to suck the life out of his victims. Meanwhile, Buttercup begins to suffer nightmares about marrying Humperdinck, feeling guilty about turning her back on Westley when she knows he’s still alive.

With the wedding ten days away, Buttercup tells Humperdinck that if he insists on marrying her, she’ll kill herself. Humperdinck convinces her to accept a deal, promising to send his four fastest ships to try to get word to Westley’s ship to tell him of the wedding. If Westley still wants her, he’s welcome to her. If he doesn’t show though, Buttercup has to consider marrying Humperdinck as an alternative to suicide.

Reluctantly, she agrees, not knowing that Westley is nowhere near his ship.

Humperdinck later reveals to Count Rugen that he actually hired Vizzini and Co. to kill Buttercup themselves, framing Guilder for her murder so that he could have an excuse to go to war with them. Humperdinck then explains that, with Buttercup recovered safely, the plan has been changed somewhat: on their wedding night, after the ceremony, Humperdinck is going to kill Buttercup himself, blaming Guilder so he can still get his war.

To help with this plan, Humperdinck calls in his chief enforcer, telling him that killers from Guilder are planning to murder Buttercup, saying that he wants security measures to be taken. He orders the Thieves Forest to be emptied, and for security on the castle to be expanded so that no-one can get in.

Ten days later, on the day of the wedding, the king’s brute-squad rounds up the thieves from the forest, all except one troublesome Spaniard: Inigo Montoya, who is drunk out of his mind and waiting for Vizzini, unaware that he’s dead. Before the king’s enforcers can attack him, Fezzik, a member of the brute squad, steps in and nurses Inigo back to health and full strength, filling him in on all he’s missed in the meantime. He also tells him that Rugen is the six-fingered-man that Inigo has been chasing nearly his entire life.

Once Inigo is restored to full vim and vigor, of course, his first goal is to find Rugen and take his revenge for his father. However, Fezzik explains to him the security measures around the castle: thirty soldiers, far too many for both of them to take on. Inigo concludes that the only way they can win is if they have one more ally: the Man in Black, Westley. Inigo and Fezzik immediately set to looking for him, even though they have no idea where he might be.

Meanwhile, Humperdinck’s enforcer tells Humperdinck that the Thieves’ Forest has been emptied, and there is only key to get into the castle, which he himself has. Humperdinck has him double the guards still more, and as the chief enforcer leaves the room, Buttercup enters. She’s onto Humperdinck, and knows he’s lying about the ships to tell Westley. However, she tells him that it doesn’t matter: Westley will come for her anyway.

Humperdinck, now enraged and abandoning pretenses, locks Buttercup in her bedroom and races to the Pit of Despair, turning on the torture machine that Westley is hooked up to on it’s highest setting: killing him.

Westley’s dying scream is so loud that it can be heard throughout the kingdom, literally. Inigo and Fezzik hear it and follow the sound to the forest, as Inigo has deduced that this scream can only belong to the Man in Black.

Arriving near the area of the Pit of Despair, Inigo asks his father to guide his sword to the Man in Black, so he can find him and have revenge. Somehow, the sword does seem to ‘take over’, leading him to the entrance of the Pit of Despair. Entering in, Fezzik and Inigo discover Westley’s body. Only momentarily discouraged, Inigo tells Fezzik to grab Westley’s body, to take with them on their way to “buy a miracle”.

Inigo takes them to a man named Miracle Max (Billy Crystal), who tells them the good news: Westley is only ‘mostly’ dead. Max initially wants nothing to do with this, but eventually relents thanks to prodding from his wife, Valerie (Carol Kane) and the promise that Westley will humiliate Humperdinck, who fired Max from his previous job. He gives Fezzik and Inigo a Miracle Pill for Westley and sends them on their way.

Westley is revived, but he is weakened, as the pill is slow to take full effect, and can’t really move on his own. Thankfully, his brain is working fine, and he comes up with a plan to storm the heavily armed gates using nothing but themselves, a wheelbarrow, and a holocaust cloak. They dress Fezzik in the cloak, put him on the wheelbarrow, and set the whole thing on fire, moving towards the gates with Fezzik bellowing to all that he is the Dread Pirate Roberts. Terrified, the guards flee, leaving only the King’s enforcer, who the trio take the gate key from.

Meanwhile, inside the castle, Buttercup’s wedding is underway. With the commotion going on outside, Humperdinck starts getting nervous, and has the Impressive Clergymen (Peter Cook) speed through the rest, claims Buttercup as his wife, and takes off.

Once in the castle, the trio comes face to face with Rugen and four of his men. Inigo dispatches the foursome in seconds, without taking his eyes from Count Rugen, and delivers his practiced line:

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Rugen flees.

Inigo runs after him, but runs into a locked door that he can’t break down alone. Fezzik props Westley up and comes to assist, and while Inigo chases after Rugen, Fezzik returns to find Westley gone.

Inigo continues his battle with Rugen, and although he sustains a few wounds, he continues to goad Rugen with his catchphrase, gaining strength until finally, he runs him through. Rugen dies, and Inigo’s father is avenged.

Meanwhile, Buttercup arrives at her chambers and prepares to kill herself, stopped by the sound of Westley’s voice. After another happy reunion, Westley explains that since she never said ‘I do’, technically, she’s not married. In the middle of this discussion, Humperdinck enters the room, declaring he’s going to make sure he kills Westley for real this time. Westley threatens right back, challenging Humperdinck to a battle ‘to the pain’, describing how Westley will dismember Humperdinck, leaving him in a painful state of awareness of his freakishly mutilated appearance, forcing him to go through life as monstrous on the outside as he is within.

At this, Humperdinck drops his sword, and allows Buttercup to tie him to a chair.

Inigo enters the room, vengeance taken care of, and offers to take care of Humperdinck as well, but Westley, saying that he wants Humperdinck to live with his own cowardice, turns him down. Fezzik arrives outside the window with four white horses from the prince’s stable that they can make their escape on. Westley offers Inigo the job of the next Dread Pirate Roberts, the foursome ride off into the sunset, and Buttercup and Westley enjoy a kiss, one that this time, the Grandson doesn’t object to hearing about.

The book finishes, and as the Grandfather gets up to leave, the Grandson asks if he can come again and read it some other time.

The Grandfather smiles and nods, parting with the words: “As you wish.”

The end.

So, now’s as good a time as any to discuss something that tends to ‘plague’ The Princess Bride: the story doesn’t really make sense.

Humperdinck comes up with an overwhelmingly complex plan instead of just killing Buttercup himself. Somehow, Westley knows exactly when and where Buttercup was taken so he’s able to follow her. The fight scenes are civil, the villains never actually follow through with the simple solution, Inigo can identify the Man in Black’s scream, loud enough to be heard kingdom-round, and follow it to the forest, and the ghost of Inigo’s father momentarily possesses his sword and leads him to the cave. Westley miraculously has enough strength to drag himself to where Buttercup is going to try to kill herself. Fezzik somehow has a holocaust cloak with him. Buttercup and Westley’s relationship is founded on, as the end credits say, ‘storybook love’, an ideal more than an actual relationship.

This is a story that is so unrealistic, with so many lapses in logic and leaps to conclusions that it could very easily be rendered completely ridiculous. However, miraculously, it’s not.

The Princess Bride is played extremely sincerely, albeit with a hint of tongue in cheek. Inigo’s grief is not played for laughs, and neither is Westley and Buttercup’s love. Dialogue may be funny, but the overall story is meant to be taken seriously.

Occasionally, the story’s ridiculousness is tempered by the Grandson’s questions and interruptions, waved off by his Grandfather so that he can continue on with the story, but overall, the audience is left to contend with this bizarre world where these things just happen. Characters don’t seem surprised by anything. In fact, they take everything in stride, nodding as though this is the only option that makes sense. Even stranger, their attitude is contagious: until you stop to think about it, the audience just nods and goes along too.

In another story, they wouldn’t get away with this. Plot holes would be torn wide open by fans pointing fingers, demanding to know how this happened. In The Princess Bride, it doesn’t seem to matter. And there’s a pretty simple reason for that:

The Princess Bride is a fairy-tale.

This is not supposed to be a ‘fantasy’ story, not in terms such as Ladyhawke, anyway. This is a fairy-tale, a storybook. The rules are different here. When events happen, the how is not important, only the why matters. It doesn’t really matter how Westley finds Buttercup, because true love always brings them together. It doesn’t matter how Fezzik has the holocaust cloak. What matters is that it works out, and they get to continue the story to get the fulfilling end of the story, for everyone. In the end, good wins, evil loses, and the good guys all get what they want: revenge, true love, and the prince’s humiliation.

In a way, it’s almost anticlimactic: there’s no final duel with Humperdinck, Westley’s too weak to even stand for too long, and Inigo doesn’t even get to finish him off. Like the Grandson complains about: Humperdinck lives, and the good guys merely escape.

So…is this a satisfying ending?

Yeah, actually.

The question of The Princess Bride was never one of ‘will Westley kill Humperdinck’, because that’s not what Westley’s story is about. As swashbuckling as Westley’s story is, it has nothing to do with revenge or things like that, like Inigo’s is. Westley’s end goal, his reason for going on, is exactly what he tells Miracle Max from the great Beyond:

“True love.”

Westley couldn’t care less about Humperdinck other than the fact that he’s getting in the way of his and Buttercup’s storybook love. Humperdinck is an obstacle to his true goal and drive, and he’s not worth the killing. Once he’s out of the way and Westley and Buttercup are reunited, Humperdinck ceases to matter to Westley. If the story had been from Miracle Max’s point of view, Humperdinck would have died or at least, have something more horrible happen to him, but since Humperdinck never really succeeded in doing much of anything throughout the story, he’s actually so pathetic that he’s not worth Westley’s time.

So, yeah, Humperdinck is left to live with his cowardice because his death wouldn’t have provided the characters anything except maybe catharsis, and honestly, that’s not really a good enough reason to off your villain.

On the other hand, Inigo’s villain, Count Rugen, is killed, for a very simple reason: that’s the logical end to fulfill Inigo’s story. It does no good for Westley to kill Rugen, or for Inigo to kill Humperdinck like he offers to do, because it doesn’t contribute anything to the respective hero’s story. In the end, the story balances out perfectly, and both heroes get what they want: revenge, through Inigo’s climactic battle with Rugen, and true love.

Westley’s driving force is reuniting with Buttercup, and as a result, the climax of the movie, the real climax, is when they reunite for the last time, proving Westley’s previous words true:

“Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

In short? The ending fits as perfectly as Westley and Buttercup themselves.

Thanks so much for reading! Join us next time for an analysis on the genre and themes of The Princess Bride! If you liked it, please leave a comment or a like, and I hope to see you in the next article.

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hello-robin-goodfellow · 5 years ago

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TOP 12 FAVORITE IAN HOLM ROLES

@superkingofpriderock @amalthea9 @ohiwannatakeyouhome

DAVID PETERS (MOONLIGHT ON THE HIGHWAY, 1969)

A troubled young man, David Peters (Ian Holm), claims, "Once dreams were possible, that's what the popular songs told us." Rejecting rock music of the day, Peters is immersed in the tunes of Thirties crooner Al Bowlly (killed during the London blitz). He collects Bowlly memorabilia, publishes the Bowlly fan-club newsletter, and finds pleasure in lip-synching Bowlly records but his obsession with Bowlly masks certain darker events in his past.

DOCTOR ASTROV (UNCLE VANYA, 1991)

In this televised production of Anton Chekhov’s play, Sir Ian Holm plays a village medic who, at the start, is an idealist with great passion for the preservation of trees. But, as time passes, everyone ignores what he says and he falls in love with a married woman, the character of Doctor Astrov slowly grows more and more tired and disappointed with himself, the world and humanity, fallin in alcoholism.

POD CLOCK (THE BORROWERS AND RETURN OF THE BORROWERS, 1992-93)

I dare say that, despite being 61 years old at the time, this is the role in wich i felt Sir Ian Holm performed the most of phisical acting. Pod Clock is the patriarch of a family of people that are the size of little fingers, and to raise his family, he has to ride sinks, run away from cats and big birds and be carefull of mouse traps to borrow food and other needs. All the while trying to avoid being seen by humans. That’s what i call an action hero.

ASH (ALIEN, 1979)

The amoral android that made him a movie star. Do i need to say more?

CAPTAIN FLUELLEN (HENRY V, 1989)

In this Kenneth Branagh adaptation of the William Shakespeare historical play, we see Sir Ian Holm performance as Captain Fluellen, a man that is a geek of military tactics history as he is proud of being welsh. Fluellen has a fun energy that makes him likable, at the same time that he is intimidating in his ruthleness in support a cruel execution in the name of military discipline.

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN/THE CREATURE (MISTERY AND IMAGINATION: FRANKENSTEIN, 1968)

Before Benedict Cumberbatch in theater, there was Sir Ian Holm portraying both Doctor Victor Frankenstein and his Creature in this televised 1968 adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous gothic sci-fi novel. His portrayal of the two characters is one of the most closest to the book characterization’s to this day: Victor Frankenstein as an ambitious and self-absorved student, and the Creature as a person who tries to be good, but due to abandonment and discrimination suffered due to his phisical appearance, becomes corrupted with an obsession for revenge against his creator. And Sir Ian puts those foil personalities marvellously.

LENNY (THE HOMECOMING, 1973)

The Homecoming is a 1973 British-American drama film directed by Peter Hall based on the play of the same name by Harold Pinter.

In a dreary North London flat, the site of perpetual psychological warfare, a philosophy professor , Teddy, visits his family after a nine-year absence, and introduces his father, Max, his uncle, Sam, and two brothers, Lenny and Joey, to his wife Ruth.

Sir Ian Holm plays Lenny, a pimp who only makes discreet references to his "occupation" and his clientele and flats in the city (London). He is the character with the most cynical lines and who start the sexual tension between the man of the family with Ruth, not carrying at all if she is married to his brother Teddy.

There’s a character that anyone will love to hate.

PHILLIPE D'ARNOT (GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES, 1984)

A Belgian explorer who discovered Tarzan (John Clayton) in the jungle, taught him the way of man, and brought him to his family in England. Is Phillipe’s friendship with Tarzan and their eventual departure that becomes the emotional core of the picture.

LEWIS CARROLL (DREAMCHILD, 1985)

“Dreamchild” is a film written by screenwriter and playwright Dennis Potter. It was actually effectively a remake of an earlier project of his: the 1960s TV Play “Alice,” which had starred George Baker as Charles Dodgson, a.k.a Lewis Carroll – the man behind the “Alice” stories. But while “Alice” had been focused on Dodgson himself and his experiences with Alice Liddell (the little girl who inspired him to write the stories) and her family, “Dreamchild” takes a different approach. The 1985 film focuses instead on an elderly Alice Hargreaves (nee Liddell), who visits America to celebrate Dodgson’s centenary. During her stay, she has various nightmares, flashbacks, and hallucinations. Some of these have her seeing characters from the books, such as the Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter, and the Caterpillar. Others are reflections on her childhood and the time she knew Lewis Carroll. Holm plays Carroll in these sequences, and the film plays with several myths and rumors about his relationship with Alice and her family…but it does so in a very clever way. Unlike the earlier TV play, which seems to treat these rumors and myths as fact, “Dreamchild” is far more ambiguous: nothing is confirmed or denied. It’s simply presented, and the audience is left to decide what is true, what is false, and how much it all really matters in the end. Holm brilliantly handles this ambiguity: in another actor’s hands, the character could have been perceived as thoroughly unsavory, but there’s such a gentleness, kindness, and overall innocence to Holm’s work that you can never really feel frightened or bothered. You feel for the man, no matter his flaws, and it makes his story just as compelling as Alice’s own.

RICHARD III (THE WARS OF THE ROSES, 1965)

The Wars of the Roses was a 1963 theatrical adaptation of William Shakespeare's first historical tetralogy (1 Henry VI, 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI and Richard III), which deals with the conflict between the House of Lancaster and the House of York over the throne of England, a conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. The plays were adapted by John Barton, and directed by Barton himself and Peter Hall at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The plays were adapted by John Barton, and directed by Barton himself and Peter Hall at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The production starred David Warner as Henry VI, Peggy Ashcroft as Margaret of Anjou, Donald Sinden as the Duke of York, Paul Hardwick as the Duke of Gloucester, Janet Suzman as Joan la Pucelle, Brewster Mason as the Earl of Warwick, Roy Dotrice as Edward IV, Susan Engel as Queen Elizabeth and Ian Holm as Richard III.The plays were heavily politicised, with Barton and Hall allowing numerous contemporaneous events of the early 1960s to inform their adaptation. The production was a huge critical and commercial success, and is generally regarded as revitalizing the reputation of the Henry VI plays in the modern theatre. Many critics feel The Wars of the Roses set a standard for future productions of the tetralogy which has yet to be surpassed. In 1965, the BBC adapted the plays for television. The broadcast was so successful that they were shown again, in a differently edited form, in 1966.

In this production, the major theme is how the dispute for the crown of king is an endless cycle of violence that traps people, and this theme is highlighted in Sir Ian Holm’s performance as Richard III. His portrayal is more humanized and tragic, showing he was first a loving son and brother, until the vision of his father’s death in battle and the mistakes that his older brother, Edward IV, makes at the start of his reign, motivates him to become king, no mather if it is even at the cost of his relatives lifes. At first, Richard looks like he is in control of the situation, but later, as the final battle comes close, frightened by the ghost of the people he killed, he has to confront the harsh truth: Richard is only another pawn in the game of chest of a bloody History. Just like every other king that camed before him.

PUCK (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, 1968)

Sir Ian Holm played the character of Puck, a.k.a Robin Goodfellow, in a 1968 feature film adaptation of the play. The feature was poorly received at the time, but has gained a bit more of a following in recent years, particularly from avid Shakespeareans. Its chiefest pro is probably the casting of Holm in the role of Puck: he’s quick-witted, curious, and just a little baudy, but with a sharp and slightly dangerous intensity to him. You’re never quite sure what to make of Puck, and that makes him interesting, as he leaps from scene to scene, spreading chaos everywhere he turns.

FRODO AND BILBO BAGGINS (THE LORD OF THE RINGS, 1981 AND 2001-03)

The most famous nephew and uncle in literature. He played the nephew in the radio in 1981, and the uncle in the feature films between 2001-03.

A lot of people were introduced to Sir Ian Holm’s work and becamed Lord of the Rings after being introduced to those performances.

In both roles, he was merry, he was funny, he was frightened, he was scary, he was brave and determined, he was sad. And all of us, listeners and viewers, related to those feelings transmited by his performances as Frodo and Bilbo.

Everyone has talked a lot about those performances, and everyone will probably will still be talking about them in the future.

#ian holm #sir ian holm #the wars of the roses 1965 #a midsummer night's dream #the homecoming #the borrowers #dreamchild #bbc radio the lord of the rings #the lord of the rings 1981 #greystoke the legend of tarzan lord of the apes #uncle vanya #moonlight on the highway #henry v #frankenstein #alien

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babysprouseisart · 5 years ago

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Every story ever has its end or the summary of the thoughts on the past #sprousehart era and attempts to change the attitude of others to this illusionary world

Dear fellows, from the very first days of the origin and further existence of mankind on the planet, in each period more and more foundations, irreversible phenomena and laws in nature or the society in which man lived and continues to live appeared. Time is fleeting, night turns to morning, year to year, and every story ever has its end. You can object, say that this is complete nonsense, but unfortunately everything in our world is natural and therefore in the same way one story of two wonderful people - Lili Pauline Reinhart and Cole Mitchell Sprouse - ended.

Their relationship was and will remain one of the most beautiful and unlike in comparison with others, at least based on what I could witness, love story. And even though this love story began seemingly banal with an audition for the role and the set, it was so real, amazing, which many could dream about, with its special feature of gradual disclosure, so enticing, and that is why it probably resonated so much, along with other reasons.

Like any other relationship, this relationship was based on many things and included many reasons for existence. Starting with a slight interest in each other, first liking and flirting, then there was a strong and almost immediate attraction to each other that they both talked about, a passion visible in the way they acted out scenes together and in glimpses of information from others. Then, after some time, the romantic charm passed, and a new stage began – getting used to each other, building a joint life, adapting to the peculiarities and shortcomings of the partner, and it is during this time the couple tries to create a happy and satisfying relationship for each. Accordingly, everyone got a desire to stand out from the other, to be significant not only in the relationship, but also outside of it, which is why they kept their privacy and wanted everyone to perceive them as separate individuals. They clearly tried to control what they shared with the world, and gradually the amount of what they shared increased. We were lucky to witness many, even small, moments in their lives. We were allowed to see the whole development, although some of it was very hidden, starting with the sarcastic banter on Twitter, the tempting 'Tempt me!', then multiple photos of fans with them, then supposedly random photos of Cole, with Lili in the background, or other way around, then many other breadcrumbs, then expanding of the circle of friends where his friends are now hers and vice versa, family meetings following by huge support to the certain time, then an infinity of her photos taken by him, so divine and beautiful, as well as photos taken by her of him, then numerous long or not so long trips to various places, the first vocation trip together which was made public, then 'No comment!', then more words about love in public media, birthday wishes, comments, bouquets just like that and on special days, 72 roses, chocolate-covered strawberries, the way they were baking together, him making a grilled cheese for her, them watching the sunset at Debby's and the other times we haven't seen, the time when Antelope Valley has become an indicator, the most tender words about each other, endless heart eyes, her inability to stop sitting on his lap, and his habit of touching her shoulder, neck, jokes understandable only to them, the words of others about them as if they are friends for 20 years already, knowledge of each other's body language, bragging about wonderful sexy times and the beauty of each other, giving cute nicknames, comfort, joint red carpet moments, him shaking her of joyness, constant support and much more, what we could obviously notice in social networks, interviews, after videos/photos of paparazzi, almost complete idyll at first glance and so on. All this is certainly only what we were allowed to see or what we guessed having observed various facts and over time it has gotten more obvious, and it was an insanely beautiful experience to be a spectator of all this for which I am grateful that is why I sincerely wish myself and all of you to look at it from the point of view that you need to smile because it happened and not cry because it's over. Nevertheless sometimes if you get too involved you can start looking at it through the prism of pink glasses of love and admiration, enjoying every moment they directly or indirectly shared with us, and accordingly, the impression of a fairy tale is being formed that does not quite correctly reflect reality and it does not allow us to perceive the other part on the other side of the screen/social networks, because we simply do not see it. However, I don't want anyone to take it as if I believe that everything they shared was untrue and false, completely out of the blue. All I want to convey to any reader is that everything we saw was only in an unreal bubble of illusions, since the Internet and social networks, which are, after all, this very bubble in its essence, which we ourselves and they decided to form, allowing us to take it as they want and this is normal, and life is very far from perfect or dreamlike. That is to say life is such an unpredictable thing, where everything is justifiably natural and sometimes things just don't work out the way we would like them to, including relationships which are also a complex structure that is not easy to build correctly, sometimes even with a strong attraction and a strong sense of love, there are things that cannot be corrected or changed. As well as you cannot change the essence of a person and his worldview, his personality, internal or external qualities, his behavior, his views on life and goals, his mistakes and position in society, loss of trust, his moral and physical endurance, other side things like sharing very little time for the second half in connection with business or temporary work, unwillingness to accept any conditions, commitment, settling down or restriction of something, lack of compromise, fading feelings because of passed desire and passion, external factors, especially if we are talking about a public couple/popular people, such as dramas in social networks, created by fans or family/friends, stress from the strong involvement of others or non-acceptance of partner selection by relatives, and so on. Just sometimes if after a while two people failed to get accustomed to each other, as if a plant were transplanted into a new soil or some organ to the human body, thanks to some external or internal features, obstacles, be it custom qualities or external influence on each other with the constant tries for the reconstruction of another and over time awareness of the fact that what has been created by the supreme cannot be altered and adjusted for something else, becoming more and more negative, when one of them in its content can no longer learn to cope with the environment and the further continuation of the joint work of the struggle can lead to the bad conditions of both, with exhaustion from this struggle and, accordingly, to the death of cells. And all this exhaustion for whatever reason can also be theoretically and philosophically equated to the bowels of the earth and depleted sources. After all, a person get used to using fresh water, the earth's mineral resources, eating plants and fruits, vegetables, buying things, and so on, but sometimes it happens that this is either limited or ends and nature is no longer able to provide us with anything, after constant giving, and in return receiving only harm or damage. This is a very complex science and this is a life where, as I already said, many things are not the way we picture them to be. So many interpretations and/or reasons can and could be hidden behind all these failures/ends/dissensions/decays/breakups/bad moments in life, and I cannot even list all the options, but I have some general considerations on the specific occasion, but I do not want to start the speculation now and go into details about why and how I think the end of this love story that we all loved happened, cause it is not my business and I am no one to judge someone or even dare to talk about it when I am not them or relative/friend to any of them and I haven't seen the actual period of their relationship and how it was going from the beginning to the end except my own representation of everything based on this social-media bubble, and each of you can have your own thoughts and draw your own conclusions. However, it goes without saying that even after any obstacles, failures and heart and soul break and with the passage of time, everything constantly takes place to change in any way, people change, the behavior change, the attitude change, and so on, one moment the doors are closed, in the other you open them or they are opened for you so in the end a person finds their happiness and purpose despite previous mistakes and shortcomings.

The penultimate thing I want to say is that obviously, after all this, you are already starting to think about something and I really hope so, given what I said about life and bubbles of unreality in our time, and as you gain experience in this fandom and being a fan very much involved in all of this it can be very useful for us to eventually rethink how much we were involved and how much energy we were giving this every time, and I have already made a whole post about this. And particularly good for me were the recent events when there is no particular food for thought and to be involved, I'm more and more alienated from the lives of other strangers, and the more time passes, the more relaxed I began to react to many things, although it also sometimes was hard to deal with all the drama and speculation, constantly think through all sorts of logical outcomes, since I am such a person by nature and I cannot be calm without a logical conclusion, and I am still digesting the whole situation happening since the beginning of this year with the fandom and the relationship of these two people, however, as much as I would not like to clearly represent everything and have a clear picture now it does not matter, the main thing is that it was and it just needs to step over, swallow and not give too much attention to this, because unfortunately we could not control the whole situation, we could not prevent what happened and what could have happened just because we are not the supreme or these same people and it is not our business.

In conclusion, even if some may think of me as a soulless person or that I do not care about others, know that this is far from it, I just try and will try to find a way out of the situation, reorganize and look at everything objectively and with a grain of salt because I believe that this is the right decision to be detached in any way from someone else's experiences, especially from those who are so far from us, and bad moments, so as not to have any attachment, hope and faith, so that it does not hurt us later. But I am certainly an emotional person and my heart just bursts with pain when I see that many people strongly bring down themselves and suffer from the fact that there was some kind of non-related to them co-ordinal change, although this is not the end of the world, and therefore I consider it my duty to try to somehow distract some of you and calm down on this account, as once I was helped by others and my own search for the right attitude.

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poppytea333 · 5 years ago

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Academy AU notes (Mostly Grian notes)

Grian

~ A nice senior college student.

~ Used to go Evo Academy before he had to change schools because of a certain event.

~ Has burn scars all over his body.

~ Doesn't talk that much but he will sing sometimes (but lately he hasn't been singing a lot and the hermits are admittedly worried about him).

~ Is rivals with Doc.

~ Is best friends with Mumbo, Iskall, Ren, Impulse, Stress, Joe, Xisuma, and Scar.

~ Is currently dating a girl that he loves very much.

~ Likes to cook, in fact, besides Joe and TFC, he is the third cooker/baker in the dorm.

~ Is studying architecture and building.

~ Is new to redstone but is understanding it slightly.

~ Has two pet cats named Maui and Pearl but also has a pet parrot named Professor Beak.

~ Doesn't like to be near fire that much.

~ Misses his old friends dearly.

~ Seems shy and nervous when you first speak to him but once you get to know him you can see how an absolute gremlin he is.

~ Has a locket that has a picture of his old friends inside it.

~ Have nightmares and panic attacks about the event at Evo.

~ Likes to write music and sing.

~ If you say your hungry around him, he would somehow throw you (or hand you) a random snack he gets from his satchel that he wears most of the time.

~ You think Joe being the dad of the group is bad? Try Grian, even though he doesn't talk that much (only talks to Mumbo, Iskall, Ren, Impulse, Stress, Joe, Xisuma, and Scar) he would go full on dad mood if something bad happens to one of the students at the dorm.

~ He gets bullied for his scars.

~ He keeps to himself.

~ Likes to draw a lot, he says it helps him get things off his mind. (He's really good at drawing!).

~ His dorm is surprisingly clean and he has a lot of money for some reason.

~ Has a job outside of the academy, it pays well.

~ He is abnormally strong, he could lift you up at any given time (seriously when Doc was sick that one time, Grian lifted him up on his shoulders and took Doc to his room which was with Beef, Etho, and Bdubs. Scare the shit out of the three when he busted in and threw Doc onto his bed and just left only to say "Take care of him, he's sick).

~ Is a gremlin, once he gets to know you, run, as you are his next person to prank.

~ Doesn't like to take breaks during a project.

~ Likes tea and coffee a bit too much.

~ Doesn't usually get sick and he doesn't usually overslept but when he does it can be worrying.

~ Gets sleep deprived a lot.

Relationships with the other hermits.

Doc:

Him and Grian are rivals, the other hermits would often have bets on who would snap at each other. Though the two do worry about each other from time to time. He would say "Even though he and I are rivals, we do care for each other."

Mumbo:

The first hermit (along with Iskall and Xisuma) to welcome Grian to the dorms when he first arrived. Helped Grian with his nightmares and panic attacks. "He's like my little brother! Which is strange because I am younger than him."

Iskall:

The second hermit (along with Mumbo and Xisuma) to welcome Grian to the dorms when he first arrived. Thinks of Grian as a little brother and helps him with his panic attacks and nightmares. "I will kill everyone in this dorm and than myself if anything happens to Grian."

Xisumavoid (X or Xisuma):

The third hermit (along with Mumbo and Iskall) to welcome Grian to the dorms when he first arrived. Helped Grian get out of his shell more and also let Grian keeps his pets. "He's cool, though he is an absolute bastard when it comes to pranks but again he's fun to be around."

Joe:

When he heard that their was going to be a new student living at the firm's he was excited. Though what he didn't bargain for was the student having lots of nightmares and panic attacks but he didn't mind it. "I would personally adopted him."

Stress:

When she first met Grian she instantly felt protective over him, and whenever Grian gets sick (which rarely happens but when he does it's worrying) she takes care of him along with Joe. "I will protect Grian at all costs, even though he would most likely protect me most of the time."

Cleo:

She doesn't know much about Grian only the fact that he came from another school after an horrible event happened at that school. "I want to talk to him more but due to my classes I really can't which is such a same."

False:

Spoke to Grian a couple of times but if she told you her thoughts on him it would be "A precious small bean that needs to be protected."

TFC:

He is the only adult supervisor in the Hermit Dorms but he welcomed Grian with opened arms, he is usually the one to help Grian when needed. "He doesn't cause that much trouble like the other kids, though he needs to work on his relationship with Doc more."

Wels:

Hasn't spoken to Grian lately but he had heard stories/rumors about him going about, but their good rumors not the bad ones. "I wish I could meet him, but from what I could see, he's a shy kid which I don't blame him."

Beef:

Doesn't know Grian personality but he does know that both he and Doc are rivals. "I guess he's cool, when he heard that I was sick one time he cooked me some mushroom stew."

Etho:

Haven't even spoken to the guy, though they did had a staring contest when Grian caught him by accident while going to the kitchen. "We just sorta.... Stared at each other before going back to what we were doing. Not the best impression of myself to be honest with ya."

Bdubs:

Talked to Grian a couple of times but not as much as the other hermits. "Scare the living shit out of me when he came inside out room with Doc over his shoulders and he just threw Doc on his bed and was like "Take care of him, he's sick" and then he just left without a word."

Tango:

Likes Grian as a friend and helps Grian out sometimes. "He's seem nice! Though I hope that he could come out of his shell more."

Impulse:

Is best friends with Grian and he would say "The little gremlin is a lot of fun and he is a prankster."

Ren:

Is best friends with Grian and have small talks before going to bed "He's really friendly once you get to know him! I just wish there was a way to help the kid with his panic attacks and nightmares."

Scar:

Is best friends with him and would help him with anything he needs "He's an amazin guy, we both like cats and have cats so we often hang out."

That's about it! I am not doing any of the other hermits as I do not know them well like I do with the ones up top. Hope you like this AU!

#grianmc #hermitcraft grian #grian #fanfic #college au

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elliemarchetti · 5 years ago

Text

Red Queen Pride and Prejudice AU (Part 6)

@lilyharvord as you've obviously noticed by now, I moved the famous hand flex scene after the dance while in the movie it was when Jane and Lizzy come back home. I hope you don’t mind.

Masterlist

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Words: 3267

The next day Mare told Wren what she and Mr. Maven had said to each other, leaving her friend incredulous, astonished and upset, but at the same time unable to question the sincerity of such an amiable-looking young man: the possibility that he had really been the victim of such cruelty was enough to affect all her more tender feelings and therefore there was nothing to do but think well of both, defend the conduct of both, and attribute to a misunderstanding all that couldn’t be explained otherwise.

"I really believe that both of them have been deceived in a way we can’t imagine,” she said. “Maybe someone interested have made them look bad in each other’s eyes, so, in short, it’s impossible for us to speculate on the causes or circumstances that may have driven them away.”

"Very true, sure; and now, my dear Wren, what do you have to say in regard to the people concerned who were probably involved in the matter? You must absolve them too, otherwise we would be forced to think ill of someone,” Mare teased her, but the other didn’t take the bait and seemed truly immovable in her theory. Mare, however, wasn’t convinced, and it was easier for her to believe that Mr. Maven had been deceived, rather than that he had managed to invent a story of that kind and tell it with such fluency. And if it had been a lie, sooner or later the General would’ve contradicted him, probably at the ball, for which they both had received an invitation that very morning, event that would take place the following Tuesday, a prospect extremely welcome for all the women in the Stilts: Mrs. Skonos decided to consider it a tribute to her daughter, who was particularly flattered to have received the invitation from Mr. Samos himself rather than with a ceremonial ticket as it had happened for the Barrows, and Mare already had a foretaste for the pleasure to dance for a long time with Mr. Maven, moment that would’ve served as a testing ground to ascertain whether or not what was said about the General was a lie. Gisa and Diana, who this time had been invited too, were also happy, but not so much for a particular event, since, although both, like Mare, intended to dance for half of the evening with the newcomer, who was rumoured to be an excellent dancer, Mr. Maven wasn’t the only knight who could satisfy them, and a dance was always a dance. On this occasion, Mare's mood was so excited that, although she didn’t often speak to Mr. Jesper unnecessarily, she couldn’t help but ask him if he intended to accept Mr. Samos' invitation, and if so, if he didn’t consider inappropriate to join an evening dedicated to fun, but she was rather surprised to find out how not the slightest scruple had come to his mind, and how far was him from fearing a reproach; on the contrary, he reassured her that his benefactor often gave parties dedicated to respectable and reputable people too. Fortunately, the dance also kept the minds of Ruth and Daniel Barrow’s sons busy, otherwise the poor boys would’ve been really plagued by the weather, so rainy that for four days straight it had been impossible to get to the Farley’s house. If only they had succeeded, they could certainly have dampened Mare’s enthusiasm, as the Colonel knew very well that Mr. Maven would never be invited to the ball, but since this didn’t happen, Mare had to see it herself as soon as she arrived at the Hall of the Sun, when she met Mr. Thomas, who informed her that the day before his friend had been forced to leave urgently for Archeon.

“A business trip,” he said, but it was evident from that there was more he couldn’t say here, which made her even more determined to avoid any conversation with the source of so much disappointment, to the point that she decided to seclude herself with Diana, whom she hadn't seen for a week, to tell her about her pains. Evidently, her friend too had thoughts that weighed down her heart, and so they ended up talking about the oddities of Mr. Jesper, with whom she was forced to share the first two rounds of dance by her mother. Mr. Jesper hadn't thought, when he accepted the invitation, that the ball might require him to dance too, and so, clumsy and solemn as he was, he continued to apologize to his cousin before he could reach the person he actually wanted to spend his time with, Miss Farley, who was dancing with extreme enthusiasm with his younger male cousin. It was evident that the two were in confidence, and he had managed to understand, from the time spent at both the Farley and Barrow homes, that the two families often visited, making his interest in her even more difficult to express. He was so taken by these thoughts that he hardly noticed that General Calore had approached and asked Mare to dance with him and that she, taken aback, had accepted. He was certain that she wouldn’t act silly and wouldn’t let her whim for Mr. Maven, which certainly hadn’t escaped him, made her seem unpleasant to a man all the more important, and if he had doubted, he would’ve suggested to stay silent if she hadn’t been asked any question, or at most to make some empty consideration on the event. If he hadn't been so busy worrying about the beautiful smile Miss Farley was giving to Shade Barrow, he would’ve told her to please the wishes of her interlocutor, and to highlight their similarities and put aside their differences, but he did none of this, and Mare found herself maliciously teasing the one she wanted so much to detest, as in her habit.

"Do you frequent the village very often?" he asked, at the end of the first dance.

She replied affirmatively, and unable to resist the temptation, she added that when they met, they were just doing a new acquaintance, something that cast a shadow of lethargy on the beautiful features of the General, who replied that surely Mr. Maven was good at making new friends, as for keeping them, however, it was different topic.

"He was unfortunate enough to lose your friendship," she replied with emphasis, "and in a way that will probably make him suffer for a lifetime."

The General didn’t answer and seemed eager to change subject, a chance given to him by Colonel Farley’s arrival; the brief interruption, in fact, gave him the opportunity to pretend that he had forgotten what the topic they were previously dealing with was, but Mare had no desire to converse in other respects, and didn’t care about his attempts, reminding him instead of when he said to be a man with little inclination for forgiveness, whose resentment once born is relentless.

"You are very careful, I suppose, even in giving it birth."

"I am," he said in a firm voice.

"And you never let yourselves be blinded by prejudice?" she asked, peremptorily.

"I hope not," he replied, evidently annoyed by the aims those questions might have. She said nothing more, and once finished the second round they separated in silence, both dissatisfied, though not alike, as there was a rather strong feeling in Cal's heart towards her, which soon led him to forgiveness and directed all his anger towards someone else. They hadn’t long been separated when Miss Samos walked towards her with an expression of polite contempt on her face: “And so, Miss Mare, I heard that you are enthusiastic about Mr. Maven! Your sister told me about it, asking me countless questions. However I recommend you not to believe all his claims, as the fact that Tiberias has treated him badly is completely false and, on the contrary, he always had been extraordinarily nice to him, although Mr. Maven behaved so infamously that my dearest childhood friend decided not to share such detail with me or my brother. Anyway, I don't blame him for not even bearing his mention, but I guess you found it out for yourself as I doubt you had the foresight to avoid such a sensitive subject during your two rounds of dancing. I am sorry that you have discovered the faults of your favourite, but in reality, considering his origins, we couldn't expect much better," she said, and before Mare could ask for further explanation, she turned away, distracted by Lady Haven. How much insolence! Mare thought to herself, full of anger. Did Miss Samos really think she was influencing her with a petty attack like that, full of her stubborn ignorance and the General's malice? With a sigh she composed himself, and began to look for Wren, who had undertaken to gather information from Mr. Samos regarding the same subject. When she reached her, however, her friend greeted her with a smile so sweetly satisfied, illuminated by such a happy expression, that it made clear enough how happy she was with the events of the evening. Mare caught her feelings immediately, and in that moment every concern for Maven, every resentment of her enemies and whatever else was put aside, facing the hope that Wren would achieve happiness in the best of ways.

"I would like to know," she said, her face no less smiling, "what have you learned, busy as you should’ve been with your pleasant company."

"I wasn't as busy as you think, but unfortunately, I have nothing satisfying to tell you: Mr. Samos doesn’t know the whole story and completely ignores the events that have particularly offended the General, but guarantees the irreproachable conduct, the righteousness and sense of honour of his friend, and is absolutely convinced that Mr. Maven deserved far less attention than received. I'm sorry to say that, but from what he and his sister said, your new acquaintance is by no means a respectable young man, in fact, I'm afraid he was very imprudent, and that he deserved to lose the General's respect."

Mare was still perplexed by those statements: certainly it was a skilled defence, but everyone seemed not to know part of the story and what little they knew had been learned by the General himself, all points that allowed her not to change her opinion on the two gentlemen in question, so she decided to change the subject in favour of more pleasant arguments, on which they couldn’t have conflicting opinions, and listened with joy to the happy, albeit modest, hopes that Wren cherished about Mr. Samos, and said all was in her power to bolster her friend's confidence, until he caught up with them, and Mare went back in search of Diana, who tried to convince her that although Mr. Jesper was a bad dancer, he was excellent company, when at ease, until the subject of their argument, as if feeling called into question, reached them. Since she no longer had any personal interest to pursue for the evening, she turned her attention almost entirely to her friends and the series of pleasant reflections aroused from the remarks about Wren, who she saw already settled in that same house with all the happiness that can come from a love match, was only slightly overshadowed by the idea that Diana could finally choose to give in to her cousin's attention not so much because she preferred him to her brother, but because Shade hadn’t given her a way to guess that their relationship wasn’t just one of dated friendship. She saw clearly that her mother's thoughts were pointing in the same direction, and decided to not dare to go near her, for fear of hearing too much. What she couldn’t know, however, was that her desires weren’t so disinterested and dictated by her displeasure with her son’s possible sadness, as by her interest in a union between her and her cousin, something she was able to discover during dinner: when they sat down Mare considered it an evil fate to find herself separated from her only by one person, and was deeply irritated in seeing her speak freely and openly just with that person, Lady Skonos, of nothing but her expectation that Wren would soon marry Mr. Samos, as, although the prospect was exciting, the two seemed unable to tire of enumerating the benefits of that union. The fact that he was a charming young man, and so rich, who lived just three miles from them were their main reasons for satisfaction but it was a consolation too to think of how his sister was fond of Wren.

"It's a promising thing for Gisa too,” said Mrs Barrow, “Wren's excellent marriage will give her the opportunity to make acquaintance with other wealthy men and her dear friend will introduce her properly, not forcing on me any more social life than the one I desire to have.”

"These are occasions that you have to like, but nobody loves staying at home at any time more than me. I just hope that Mare will soon have similar luck," replied the other, but Mrs. Barrow told her to extend her wishes to poor Miss Farley, because her daughter would soon be engaged, and concluded by casting an eloquent glance at Mr. Jesper, who indeed was speaking exactly to Diana. Mare tried in vain to stop her mother's rapid flow of words, as she had no intention of accepting any kind of proposal made by Mr. Jesper, or at least get her to describe her happiness for Wren with a less audible tone of voice, since, with inexpressible irritation, she had noticed that much of the conversation had been heard by General Calore, who sat on the opposite side from them, but Mrs. Barrow just scolded her for saying such nonsense since she really seemed unable to understand who that man was for them and why they should owe him the courtesy of not saying anything that could displease him, and she went on talking about her points of view in the same audible tone, making her blush several times with shame and irritation. Mare couldn’t help but throw frequent glances at the General, even if every one of them confirmed what she feared, since, although he didn’t look constantly at her mother, she was convinced that his attention was invariably focused on her. The expression on his face gradually changed from indignant contempt to composed and steadfast seriousness, until Mrs. Barrow had nothing more to say and Lady Skonos was left to cold ham and chicken. The quiet interval didn’t last long, however, for, once dinner was over, there was talk of singing and Gisa, following very limited prayers, prepared herself to entertain the company. With many meaningful looks and mute prayers, Mare tried to prevent such a courtesy, but in vain: her sister seemed to not want to understand, and such an opportunity to perform was a delight for her, so she began to sing, arousing the most painful sensations. Mare followed her progress with an impatience that was very poorly rewarded by the conclusion, seen Gisa had received, among the thanks from the table, a hint of hope that she might be persuaded to concede her favour again, and after not even half a minute, she started again. Her sister's abilities were absolutely unsuitable for such a performance, given her weak voice and affected manner, and Mare's torture was only lightened by the fact that Wren was chatting amiably with Mr. Samos and neither of them could see any signs of derision that his sister and Lady Haven exchanged. Although Mare would’ve expected the General to take part in the mockery too, he had remained impenetrable serious, even when Mr. Barrow told his daughter she had been very good, but now it was better to leave room for the other ladies. Mare couldn’t understand whether the General's silent contempt or the insolent smiles of his friends were more intolerable, so she turned to Diana, and had a brilliant conversation with her and Mr. Jesper, which seemed to further annoy the man. Mr. Barrow, equally silent, enjoyed the scene: he was old, compared to all those young people, and since he had a finer mind than his wife, it wasn’t at all difficult for him to see what dynamics had been established in the group, and while they waited for the carriage that would take them home, he analyzed them one by one, but without sharing his thoughts with anyone, as he used to do if he wasn’t asked about it. And so he watched Mr. Samos and Miss Skonos, whose carriage, which was supposed to take her and her mother home, was miraculously late just like their own, stand a little apart from the others, just like Miss Samos and Lady Haven, although the former casted worried glances from time to time towards General Calore, who was talking, if it could be considered a dialogue and not a monologue, with Lucas Samos, his gaze fixed on Mare, whose back was turned to him as she chatted with Mr. Jesper. He would almost have liked to laugh, if everything couldn’t end so tragically: it would’ve been enough for all of them to speak honestly, even at that moment, just before taking their leave, and every problem would’ve been solved. But it would never happen, it never did, and so Mr. Barrow kept on observing, and saw his wife being urgently courteous to the Samos, saying she hoped to see them soon at their home, although she knew perfectly well it would never happen, as no one there, with the exception of the General, who would’ve never admitted it so publicly, felt particular affection of their daughters, and he actually didn’t mind: he didn’t like Miss Samos’ feigned gratitude nor the tacit assent that her friend gave to everything she said, and didn’t want his daughters to surround themselves with friends of that kind, much less that one of his sons would bring one of those harpies under his roof. When the carriages finally arrived, Mr. Barrow took his seat and watched Mr. Samos escort Miss Skonos to her vehicle and greet her with one of his rare smiles. His wife and sons also took their places, and finally came the girls' time. Despite the embarrassment, the Barrow were accompanied by the General, who, despite not having paid the same attention to Gisa, instinctively reached out a hand to take Mare's and help her to climb the high step. Immediately Mare turned to throw him an amazed look, and taken aback by his gesture and by those dark eyes full of questions, he let her go and turned without a word, ready to reach his friend and the safety of home. He just couldn’t understand what was wrong with him, and such was the confusion in his heart that he ended up flexing his fingers until he felts the nails against his palm. It was something he often did as a child, when everything became too much, when he had to remember to maintain a certain demeanour, but for years he hadn't felt the need anymore, since nothing moved his soul up to that point. Slowly he straightened them again, and in that moment he decided his attentions for Miss Barrow were definitely bad and had to be nipped in the bud, and perhaps it was time to remind his dear friend that he too had a part in their plan.

#red queen au #pride and prejudice #p&p au #mare barrow #cal calore #maven calore #ptolemus samos #wren skonos #evangeline samos #elane haven #lucas samos #diana farley #shade barrow #bree barrow #tramy barrow #tyton jesper #daniel barrow #ruth barrow #thomas

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