#here's the ending for all you black sorcerer and white witch fans

[owchie-wowchie]

Same anon that mentioned my favourites of your fics;

I'm glad me caring about them means a lot to you, and I'll extend my own thank you to you for writing them!

I would love to know how you were intending the rest of BSAWW to go (but don't feel obligated to explain if you don't want to) :]

*takes long drag from cigarette* gather round the campfire, kids. So, I felt like it was getting kinda bloated plot wise so I was preparing to slim down on things (and then I slimmed so much, it stopped existing lol), but, iirc, Paul was going to go talk to Emma and, I never got around to explaining this, but at the end, it was actual real Paul there. Like that was really him.

Basically, Pokey let go of Paul for a bit and shoved the real Paul back in for a bit as a trick. He wanted Paul to trick Emma and co into letting their guard down and taking Paul to Webby's castle where he was going to go back to infected Paul and do some evil shit (I don't remember the whole original plan tbh)

In the rush of everything, Webby and Holloway met up and hurried to create the spell that would send Webby and her brothers back to hell (They didn't have enough time to make sure Webby could stay, it was going to be this whole bittersweet thing)

Paul would die fr because there was no Pokey to keep him alive and he'd die in Emma's arms and it'd be all sad. Wilbur, freed from the lords, goes back to the Wilbur he was before he met the lords and became a good guy. I think maybe he was going to lose all his magic, though I can't remember, I never wrote down the plan because I thought I'd be able to write the story faster. Oh, also, John was Wilbur's grandson the whole time. I never figured out how to slide that into the story naturally :/

That's basically the gist of what I wanted to do, there would've been a lot of plot lines that got dropped or didn't have satisfying endings but that's on me. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to remember

[a-dreaming-artist]

A Witches Spell Chapter 3

Welcome to chapter 3!! Here are the other parts

Chapter 1                 Chapter 2              Chapter 3

-----------------------------------------------------------

When Mirio finally got home he quietly entered the house, careful not to wake his father if he was asleep. He grabbed a cookie off of a tray on the counter and tiptoed to his room, falling onto his bed instantly. The witch entered his mind again, Mirio wasn’t sure what it was about the boy that made him so curious. It was probably because the idea of magic being real excited him, how just one person could create potions to help others and possibly even cast spells. Just like Merlin. Eventually the thoughts of magic put him to sleep, almost like that itself was a spell.

—————————

When the sun came up and made its way into his room Mirio started to stir. He knew he needed to get up to start baking fresh bread, but his body refused to comply. His legs were sore, probably from riding his bike such a long distance so quickly. Any small movement hurts. So he continued to lay in bed, his mind slowly going back to sleep. However, his eyes shot open when there was a loud knock on his door followed by a cheery voice.

“Togata!! Rise and shine, sleepy head!

Nejire’s voice filled the house, her cheerful behavior motivating Mirio to get up. The blonde stood up and made his way to the bedroom door, opening it to see the shorter female smiling. 

“Oh good you’re awake! We gotta get down to the shop! I noticed a few cookies and sweet rolls were missing…”

“Uh… ya sorry, that was me. I got a little hungry.”

Mirio laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn’t want to lie to his best friend, but Nejire couldn’t keep anything a secret. If the town found out he was visiting the witch and came back safely more people might begin to bombard the poor boy. Tamaki obviously didn’t want that, the numerous traps proving so. Maybe one day he’d explain the situation to Nejire, but today was not that day. 

Nejire explained she’d head back down to the shop, saying she’d start to prepare everything while Mirio got ready for the day. The blonde started to get dressed, putting on a pair of black pants with suspenders and a white collared shirt. He quickly brushed his hair and teeth, making his way to the shop. It wasn’t far from Mirio’s house, it was at the end of the long street, about 7 buildings away from his house. 

Walking through the front door he heard the small bell ring. The place was empty, obviously, but that also included the glass cases that held different treats. Every morning it was Mirio and Nejire’s job to cook new bread, take the cakes out of the fridge, and place the cookie trays in the cases. It was a lot of work, but they always got it done. Mirio could hear the girl in the kitchen, already placing different pans on the counters. After putting his apron on Mirio walked into the kitchen, ready to help Nejire.

The two talked happily making different breads and cookies, placing them on different trays and plates. It was Saturday, usually one of the busiest days for the cafe, most people were off work and after drinking the previous day they would take their family out for treats and even some coffee. So the two had to make sure they stocked up for today. 

After an hour of prep Nejire officially unlocked the door and flipped the sign to ‘OPENED’. Customers slowly filled the shop, Nejire pointing at tables for who wanted to stay and taking everybody's orders. Mirio stayed in the kitchen, continuing to bake the rest of the cookies they needed. The blonde let his mind wander, thinking about almost anything. However when his mind went to his father it led to him thinking about Tamaki. 

He wanted to visit again today, just to get to know the boy more. Living in the woods must be lonely, so visiting didn’t seem like a horrible idea. But Mirio pushed the thought away, he didn’t want to visit so often the boy got annoyed. Plus him disappearing almost everyday will make others suspicious. Mirio will just hang out with Nejire when they finish working, she can take his mind off the boy.

“Togata!! The oven!!”

Nejire’s voice broke Mirio out of his trance, snapping his head to the oven. The glass was clouded with black fog. Rushing over and opening the oven door allowed thick black smoke to pour out of the oven, causing Mirio to go into a coughing fit. Brushing the smoke away with a towel the blonde pulled out the cookies, revealing what almost looked like lumps of coal. He set the tray on the stove and let out a loud groan, fanning away the black smoke again. Nejire opened the kitchen window, helping to fan out the black fog. 

Once the majority of the smoke was gone Nejire turned to Mirio, her expression a mix of different emotions. Confusion. Anger. Worry. She didn’t know where to begin.

“What is going on with you? Yesterday you couldn’t take your eyes off the clock and now you're almost burning down the cafe?” Nejire put the towel she was holding on the counter, “It’s like ever since you returned with that weird medicine for your dad you’ve become a totally different person. Where did that stuff come from anyway??” 

Nejire went quiet for a second, before Mirio could practically see the lightbulb turn on. 

“The witch!! That's it! You found the witch in the woods!” The blue haired girl began to pace the room, “she gave you a potion to help your father! Did you see her horrific face? Did she curse you? Oh my god did you sell your soul to her!? Is that why your acting so weird??”

Nejire cupped Mirio’s face after the last remark, leaning forward to look in his eyes to try and find his ‘soul’. The blonde couldn’t help but laugh, even if this was technically a serious situation.

“No, I didn’t sell my soul. I want to tell you everything but, don't be offended, you’re horrible at keeping secrets.”

The blue haired girl opened her mouth wide, as if she were going to loudly protest, before closing it again and crossing her arms across her chest.

“Fair point…” she peeked out of the kitchen to make sure there weren’t any waiting customers before looking back at Mirio, “but if this is super super serious I promise I’ll keep it a secret! Promise!” 

“Well you loudly exclaiming you won’t tell my secret isn’t very promising.”

The girl's hands shot up to her mouth, covering it tightly. Mirio only laughed again, removing the girls hands from her mouth. 

“How about while we close up tonight I explain everything. Nobody will be around to overhear me” 

Nejire nodded, a huge smile spreading across her face. She was practically jumping around the kitchen, saying over and over how she will keep her promise. However, Mirio was kicked out of the kitchen Nejire explaining they’d switch places since clearly Mirio couldn’t be trusted anymore today. The blonde didn’t mind, the counter allowed him to think more anyway.

————————————-

9:30 finally rolled around, meaning it was finally time to close the little shop. Nejire worked on cleaning the kitchen, scraping the burnt cookies off of the tray, while Mirio worked in the main area cleaning tables and sweeping the floor. Nejire stayed quiet the whole time Mirio was explaining what had happened in the woods the night he left. He told her everything, the trap he fell for, the witch actually being male, how he liked legends just like Mirio did. Once he was done rambling the cafe grew quiet, the only sound being the broom brushing against the ground. Nejire was processing all the information, going over every detail in her head. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, the questions started flooding in. 

“The witch is a boy? Doesn’t that make him a wizard? Or is that not how it works? What’s the difference between a wizard and a sorcerer? Ooh did he eat any of the cookies I made? Did he like them? What's he like? Is he pretty?”

Nejire kept asking questions, barely stopping to take a breath. She wouldn’t even give Mirio a chance to answer anything. Mirio just let her go, knowing she wouldn’t stop until she asked all her questions.

“Is he the one spreading the deadly sickness around town??”

Hearing that question made Mirio freeze, the sound of the broom scraping the floor stopped. He completely forgot that the witch was supposedly the one spreading the disease, and it made sense too. It came out of nowhere, and it only was affecting the people of Mirio’s town. Even when somebody left to visit another town, it never spread to others. It was strictly Mirio’s town. Also, why did Tamaki have the cure to his father’s illness? He would only have the antidote if he knew what he created.

The blonde felt sick, how could he forget such a big detail? How come he never asked that very question to the boy in the woods? Mirio could have possibly been trying to befriend a monster. The timid and shy boy could all be an act, just a cover up to hide his true nature.

‘Mr. Williams went insane after visiting the witch’

Tightening his grip on the broom, Mirio finally spoke up. Answering all the questions the best he could in two words. 

“Who knows…” 

[intothewickedwood]

Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 5x01 The Dark Swan

Here we go. Not looking forward to this season. This episodes quite good actually, probably the best of the arc. Love the Zelena and Emma scenes. It was a pretty good set up but then afterwards there was just so much wasted potential. 

I haven’t seen the Sword in the Stone in years! It’s a good movie. 

Merlin’s being creepy as hell. And then he freaking disappears. That would have shook me!

Was Merlin in a tree at this point and astral projecting? Or did he actually travel to the Land Without Magic?

Does it really matter if Excalibur isn’t whole though? Does it really?

Wait, Snow just said the darkness was gonna kill Regina. How does she know that? I mean, yes, it sadly killed the Sorcerer’s Apprentice but how do they know that it wouldn’t have just turned Regina dark, like Emma.

Listen, usually I like a man with long hair but the urge to cut Killian’s hair throughout this whole season consumes me every time. I may shout “cut your hair!” At random intervals, but I assure you, I cannot control myself.

How comes Emma came out of that vault as the ink Monster from Scooby Doo, whilst Rumple just stayed where he was and transformed instantly? 

Why is she randomly dressed like that? This does not line up with what we saw happen to Rumple. Very inconsistent.

So did Rumple have Zoso in his head when he first transformed? 

How in the frick frack did Dark One Pumba stab the previous dark one with its trotters??

Oh, he’s still alive?

In that wand is all of the light magic? Ever?

I don’t like the design of that wand. It looks like there’s a mini brain at the end of it.

Remember later on when they pull that absolute bullcrap out of nowhere and suddenly Regina can wield that wand. She says it’s because she didn’t believe in herself before and that she was powerful enough to use it but he just said it had to be wielded by someone with dark enough magic?? So did Regina just not believe in her darkness enough or what?

And apparently she can’t use it at that point because she’s done too much good. So did she balance it out by doing too much evil afterwards or something?

How can that be darkness when Emma didn’t even know she was doing it?

Zelena meditating. You can’t go wrong with a little meditation!

Zelena, please don’t touch him.

I quite like Merida. I’d like her more if I didn’t associate her with this season.

Emma doesn’t consider herself a witch? Even with all the magic she’s used in the past?

Yes you are still a kid, Henry. Why do kids always say that?

Lol. Merida tripped!

Imagine not being able to sleep, ever!

Lol Merida’s face when she hears Emma talking to herself about betraying her. She’s like, wtf have I got myself into.

That’s a huge ass drink Henry’s got there!

Did Henry just admit to stealing his Mom’s money?

Well, I doubt he could have drunk all that juice anyway.

If Killian were to rip out Zelena’s heart with his hook, wouldn’t that impale it and therefore kill her?? Or maybe it’s like how Regina could split Snow’s heart in half without killing her. Maybe only crushing it kills people.

Zelena: “Do you want to see something really painful.” No I freaking don’t!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!

Wtf is wrong with you Zelena??! She’s lost all her bananas. There are just none left.

That must have hurt like hell!! Why would you do that?!!

Please don’t kiss.

“Over the rainbow, where you can’t follow.” Love that line!

How can they redirect the portal if Zelena directed it to go to Oz when opening it? So many plot holes this season.

Scottish Rumple commenting saying he can’t understand Merida’s Scottish accent. Wtf? Lol.

Lol. Charming telling Zelena not to move when she’s tied to a chair without use of magic.

Someone better be making sure Zelena’s chair doesn’t topple over!

Was it really a good idea to take the baby and little Roly??

Aww, Henry protecting Roly!

Oh gosh. Poor Emma is going through it! 

Poor Merida!

Why did they have to go to Camelot. I hate Camelot! It’s just not an interesting place compared to the EF, Neverland, Wonderland or Oz. Why couldn’t they have just gone to the normal EF or Wonderland! Wonderland would have been really fun!

What do you mean this has to be her choice??! Merida’s life is on the line here! She’s not a toy! That’s not very heroic! 

Yeah, why isn’t she scaley? Honestly that would have been better than the white hair look. 

I really dislike Arthur. He’s like the character I hate the most. 

Why is Sneezy dressed like Emma? 

Oh my God! Is the baby okay on the floor like that??!

The whole curse and memories thing probably should have been left alone, at least after s3.

Now for the most stupid, out of place outfit ever. I hate her Dark One outfit with a burning passion. She looks so ridiculous!! I remember seeing fan art pre-season 5 of Dark One Emma and she looked so much better! Give her a load of eyeliner, a fancy black dress, make her hair unruly and that’s all you need! Not this though. For the love of God, not this. Every time I look at her I want to burst out laughing or crying at how much I hate it.

She looks so stupid.

Who the hell is Sneezy supposed to be? What the hell are you supposed to be, Emma??!

Why is she being mean to her family and turning Sneezy to stone? I’ve forgotten. I thought she just wanted to save Killian.

And she walks so stupidly and moves so stupidly. This season is gonna drive me up the wall! So much wasted potential. Was really looking forward to Dark One Emma initially. It could have been so much better if they gave her a better look, scrapped going to Camelot, made her do eviller things for better reasons, made her more formidable and just didn’t have her talk and walk in that ridiculous way. Her darkness should have been driven by her emotions, especially her anger about her upbringing or something new.

[thevisionmarvel]

Five years since yesterday

Title: Five years since yesterday

Rating: G

Word Count: 4352

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18690064

Summary:  Grief is a lonely and not pretty thing, yet we live with it. because it's the only thing left.   

Warning : Endgame Spoilers. 

So much angst, this is not a  band of horses song, but it’s the funeral. angst enough to Scarlet Visions and Tony/Pepper to share it.

aka: Me trying to stitch the loose ends that Marvel left,  and set it up  Wandavision properly. 

She tried to remember all the things that frightened her, from the childish fears, of monsters under the bed and witches that would snatch her or her brother in the middle of night, to those who came very early to a child, the bombs that came from the sky, losing her parents, her house and the fears that became her life, her powers, losing her brother, losing her home, losing Vizh. The fears were gone now, she hadn’t felt when she disappeared, nor when she was back in on the battlefield. What would she have to fear? She had nothing left to lose. She was no longer even sure, if the Avengers still existed, Stark was dead, Steve had retired, Natasha sacrificed herself. They even lost the compound, Clint offered that she could stay on his farm as long as she wanted it. She was numbed even to know what she wanted, no, this was wrong, she knew exactly what she wanted it, but she couldn’t have it, this was her life after all, always waiting for the bomb to exploded it, it took more than fifteen years, but it exploded, now she was alone with nothing.

She was alone with nothing at Tony's Stark funeral, a few years ago she would be relieved, Pietro would laugh, but now, she was just wondering how this house looked nothing like what she expected from a Stark, the house looked like a home, not a technological bungalow, it was cozy with the decoration, the photos. She had been to many funerals to know that it was impolite not to give condolences to the family, but she doubted that there was some etiquette code to what to do in the funeral of someone that you grow despising it, then became a work acquaintance, saved the world killing the only person you wanted to kill and help create the love of your life.  Vision would know what to say. Vision would be devastated, would grieve. She should had been here with him, not alone. Pepper Potts were talking with Ross, Clint and Laura were next, so she just kept walking in the corners of the room. And then she felt someone watching her. She searched the room, everyone was talking to each other in small groups, but when her attention turned to the corridor at the end of the room, she saw a small pair of brown eyes staring straight at her. The door to the kitchen was wide-open and the little girl was sitting on the counter, Wanda gave her a little smile, the girl didn’t smile back, but made a gesture as if she was calling her to the kitchen.

Wanda waited a moment, thinking about the rudeness of walking straight into the kitchen of a stranger, it would be easier but ruder to just ignore the child. So, she walked.

"Who are you talking to, darling?" Wanda was already in the door, when she saw and heard that the little girl wasn’t alone, of course she would not be alone, by her side, was one of Stark's friends or employees. They were eating some hamburgers, He hadn’t seen Wanda there yet.

“I was calling her.” The girl answered the big guy, pointing at her. Wanda stood in the doorway not knowing how to react.

Wanda made a small nod to the man, he looked as surprised as she was, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, it was clear that Wanda wasn’t welcomed to the scene, but he also nodded to her. The little girl seemed oblivious to the awkwardness of it all.

"Hi" It was the only thing that Wanda could say.

"Hi, my name is Morgan, this is Hogan." the girl answered with a smile, but just never reached her eyes. She offered Wanda her small hand such an adult gesture for a child.

Wanda entered the kitchen, and shake the little hand, by the corner of her eye, she saw Hogan enter an even more defensive position. Morgan’s hand was warmer that she expected.

“Hi, Morgan, I’m Wanda.”

"I know who you are." The girl interrupted her, and Wanda lose it the grip before the kid.

“What?” She blinked.

"I know who you are." Morgan repeated a little louder as if Wanda didn’t hear the first time.

"She knows all the ... Avengers" Hogan explained.

Wanda didn’t know what to say, she was not going to ask how she was, she tried to change the subject.

“How’s the food?”

"Burgers are my favorite, my dad loves them too." Morgan said between bites, Hogan swallowed hard. Wanda just stared “Do you want some?” the girl ended.

“No, burgers are great, but I’m full. “Wanda said tapping her fingers softly against the counter. “My dad wasn’t a fan, he preferred ciorba de burtă.” Wanda didn’t know what had made her keep talking, but she did anyway.

“What is that?” Morgan asked with a little sparkle of curiosity in her eyes.

“It’s kind of a soup made with ...guts.”  Wanda saw Morgan and Hogan faces change in a disgusted faces. “It’s wasn’t my favorite, but it’s good, I prefer mamaliga, it’s porridge.” It was a little white lie, it wasn’t her favorite food, but it worked, Morgan started repeating the word to herself, she had like the word.

“What was Vision's favorite food? The little smile in Wanda’s face disappeared.

“Ah...it’s ... he... don’t need to eat.” Wanda swallowed hard. “but... he... liked paprikash and pizza.” She crossed her arms.

“I like pizza too.” Morgan replied cheerfully.

She just wanted to get out of there. Morgan made a gesture to Wanda get closer, Wanda leaned down a little to stay in the same eyesight of the kid.

“Are you really a witch?” Morgan asked in Wanda’s ear cupping her mouth with her little hands.

Morgan waited the answer, little big dark eyes with so much anticipation.

The simple word no danced in Wanda’s mouth, she could tell the scientific explanation, that she herself didn’t understand very well to a five years old child or the simple one, she had powers, but witches didn’t exist, well, she remember knowing that in the battle, the doctor and other people were called sorcerers, so maybe they existed.

“I don’t know, maybe. Do I look like one?” Wanda answered mimicking Morgan’s action.

“You look like a good witch.”  Morgan answered quietly. For some reason, the girl didn’t want Hogan to hear that part of the conversation. “Do you know a genie? Or make wishes?”

Wanda just nodded no.

“I have a wish.” Morgan explained disappointedly.

“I know” Wanda understood too much.

"What are you two talking about?" Hogan spoke in an amusing way, but with a worried undertone.

"We were discussing our favorite colors. Mine is red." Wanda answered standing up.

“Mine is green, but now I like red and yellow too.” Morgan replied, sharing a look with Wanda.

“They are all beautiful colors.”  Pepper said, she was leaned in the doorway. Wanda turned to look at her, not recognizing the voice.  She had a tired face. She walked to Morgan and kissed the top of the head of her daughter. Wanda was uncomfortable again, it was a private moment of the family, she was already prepared to leave the kitchen when the woman spoke again.  

“Honey, Nathaniel and Lyla are playing in the garden, it looks like really fun, don’t you want to play with them?”

Morgan nodded, Pepper gave a look to Hogan, the little girl and the man stand up, but before the girl left the kitchen, she hugged Wanda.

“Bye, red witch.” Morgan whispered.

“Bye, Morgan. If I find one, I’ll tell them your wish.” Wanda hugged the little girl back.

The girl left, as Hogan, but Pepper was still in the kitchen and before Wanda could left, stood in front of her.

“Sorry for your loss.” Sounded empty and meaningless as she thought would be, but at least she said it.

“Thank you.” The other woman replied quickly, she must have heard it more than a thousand times just today. But she still didn’t move, and Wanda noticed the folder that she was holding it.

“You are good with kids.” Pepper said, looking at the corridor, but Morgan wasn’t there anymore.

Wanda wanted a family, she liked children, but she didn’t know if she was good with children, she never had much time to spend with them. “I don’t think so, I just lost a lot of people in my life”.

Pepper walked to the other side of the counter, putting the folder above it.

“But it’s really smart, make her tired. Me and Pietro, when we lost our parents, we were in the hospital, but people let us run in the corridors and watch so much TV.”   Wanda said sitting in the other side. Remembering the old cartoons and sitcoms in black in white.  “Before 8pm, we were already sleeping.”

“You remember the time? When I lost mine, I was already old enough to drink. The only thing that I remember is crying myself to sleep.” Pepper commented sincerely, taking a glass of water.

“Yeah, I remembered, because it was the only thing that I wanted to do since I woke up, because I believed that after I did go to sleep, I would wake up and discovered that It had been a nightmare, that it wasn’t real.”   Wanda thought to herself that time passed, but this still was one of her wishes, that this was a nightmare, when she looked to Pepper, she saw in her blue eyes, that she was thinking the same thing, but she just finished her glass of water.

“This is for you.” Pepper handle her the folder. Wanda must have muttered something because Pepper tried to explain. “Tony left to you, it has a message.” she completed.

“No, I don’t want it.” Wanda was surprised enough to any other reaction to show up, she couldn’t process Tony Stark leaving something to her, maybe a bomb, but he must have been busier with time travel to think about this.

Pepper took a deep breath before talking again.

“Just listen, I don’t know what is in here, but I think it’s important and I think is bigger that anything that you had against my husband in the past. You can listen in the office for privacy.” Pepper handle her the folder again.

Wanda thought about the etiquette again, to speak to the widow, that you also had something against her too, since she was an assistant to those who sold the guns that killed your parents, it wasn’t really appropriated, but Wanda wasn’t self-righteous, she knew that she had unknowingly helped Hydra and Ultron, but she didn’t know at the time, but Pepper always knew what Stark was doing it. So, she just said nothing, she just left.

“I see.” Pepper took the folder again and stood up.

Wanda was already in the corridor, when she heard Pepper again.

“He would want you to hear it.”

Now, it was Wanda that took the deep breath, and she understood how that woman could control an entire company, she knew what tickle people.

“Which one is the office?” She asked.

“The second one in the right.”

She stood there in the corner, watching Pepper prepare the details to play the message. Wanda soon noticed that this must be Pepper's Office, it was simple and tasteful, more business woman than mad scientist. Just the table, work chair, bookshelf and two arm chairs in the other side.

“When you are ready, just push this button.” Pepper said giving a little control in her hand. “I will be back after some minutes, I have to talk to other people.”

Wanda waited some seconds after hearing the door closing, to push the button.

A hologram of Tony Stark appeared in the middle of the room, some feet away of her.

“You must find this very strange, so to be in the same page, I also think this is weird. This is our what? Third conversation, and if you are listening this, something terrible happened to me, but we did it, what the avengers were made to do, and you as a fellow avenger must be relieve with this part, let’s be frank, you must be even a little happy with the first part too.”

It was a voice of a dead man, Wanda was just intrigued why he would make this, mocking her anger against him, just because she couldn’t do anything anymore.

He acted like he was fidgeting against some surface, maybe a table that didn’t show up in the hologram.

“I never had a sibling, well that I know of, Rhodey, it was in my life so much that I considered him like one. I have a daughter, now. If you met her, heads up, she thinks that you are a witch,she has the name of one, it gave me street credit with her to let her know that I knew/fought a witch...”  

The hologram was looking to the floor.  

“I lost my parents, I was older than you, but when I discovered it who did it, I tried to kill the guy who was used to do it, I’m doing it one of these to him too...he couldn’t control it ... but I knew what we were selling, and how they would be used it.  A horrible fact that I discovered it, the missiles that hit your and Pietro’s home were older ones, if they were newer ones, they would have exploded it. What I am saying, is I understand that you happy that I am gone, If I was you, I would be too.”

Was she happy because he was dead?  She couldn’t say it,  she had animosity with him,  when she was ready to  move on of the vengeance against him, he put her in house arrest, in the raft and  made her spend the last two years running , no, not the last two years, its already been five years ago, but now  the only thing that she could think that other little girl would grow up without her dad,  and if she is here now, it was because of his sacrifice, this should be count as a good thing, but in her gut, she felt resentment, she was back, but back to what? It’s wasn’t about her, this was about the other billions of people that got a new chance, she tried to fix this idea in her brain.

“I should said thank you to you, you warned me in your own way about the dangers, you know.” He made a gesture mimicking her hand movements close to his head. “I was trying to protect the earth, and I failed so many times even with your warning, it was nothing personal, but in Lagos, well, you power can be really dangerous, I just wanted to protect as much people as I could. This is still can fail, but if I am dead, and you are listening to this.” He shrugged. “This is the longer conversation that we had, and we are not even seeing each other”

He wasn’t wrong, Lagos still haunts her mind. The irony wasn’t lost on her, that the family of the people in that building maybe seen her as she had seen Tony Stark. She was just trying to protect people, so people could finish a peaceful dinner, that she never did. She and Vision were trying to deal with the guilty of what the wrong use of power made they do. She with Lagos, him with Rhodey. She had to learn to this alone now.

“Talking about seeing, we should talk about Vision. Yes, I knew that you were seeing each other, I think anyone with eyes saw too, Pepper find you both cute with the Romeo and Juliet vibes, but I never liked the end of the story. If everything goes correctly, you both are listening this, before we send the stone back, we recreate your creation Vision, now you will have two birthdays.”

Wanda walked to the folder in the table and open it, she didn’t had to read much, to see that it was a plan to try to recreate Vision,  nothing worked, the stone was destroyed, and  was already back in the past, she stopped when the tears started to stain the paper, it  had other stuff that she think were the  digital data part of the plan. She was now facing away from the hologram. She hated it that in that moment she hated Steve because he took the stone back, that she hated that everyone had people back, but she didn’t. She hated that she felt like that, but she felt anyway.

“Wanda, I allowed it “The hologram continued, her name being mentioned bringing her attention back to it. “as a  type of a  father, paternal, friend  figure of the groom/ boyfriend,  I allowed it, I think Steve  also allowed it, you guys are like  the first couple of  Avengers, if I still alive and  Vision hacked the wi-fi and found this, this is a proto-version of the  speech that I will make in the ceremony,  Wanda, you are going to hate it , but this is part of it... but if I’m dead... I have a great suggestion for the flower girl... she is adorable.”

“Vision, the voice that accompanied me all these years that I tried to be a hero is literally in you, became a hero in his own right, and Wanda, I’m sorry, I know this should be the first thing that I should had said it to you., so I don’t want you to see this as a bribe, but  me trying to help with what I can, I helped destroyed you life once, let me help a little to rebuild it. Also, I left a wedding gift in advance for you both. Just be happy and protect the earth.” Tony finished, and the hologram disappeared it.

Wanda sat in  one of the arm chairs, she tried to stop crying, she looked the rest of the things in the folder,  some stuff looked like flash drives, one it’s was labeled  “J.A.R.V.I.S best moments” and she found the gift that Tony talked about it , one mockup check with a lot of zeros, in her name, Wanda Maximoff or Wanda Vision which one you preferred it, it was write as an observation. Wanda gave a little smile. Tony thought a lot more about the future that both of them.

She was holding the folder against her chest when Pepper entered the room again.

“Are you okay?” Pepper asked softly.

“No, but it was me that should be asking you that.”  Wanda replied.

“If someone asks me this again...  I think I'll start telling the truth.” Pepper sat in the other arm chair. Wanda looked the other women by the corner of the eye, she seemed tired.

“What you are thinking about now?” Wanda offered a different question.

“That I will have to reform this place because I will work so much more from here, now that Tony is not here to stay with Morgan.” Pepper spoke looking around the room.

Wanda was surprised with the sincerity, Pepper raised a brow to her, and Wanda noticed that she wanted Wanda’s answer.

“I am thinking how different and equal you and Stark are.” Wanda quipped.

The women just sat in silence for a moment, when the strangeness of the situation hit Wanda, the two were practically strangers, but the silence itself didn’t feel awkward neither the conversation, she remember reading somewhere that  talking with strangers about grief sometimes feels easy then talking to close people, she didn’t believe it, but maybe she was being this stranger to Pepper.

“When I was in the door, I heard the last part of the message, for a second, I pretend that he was still here. Sorry for the eavesdropping.” Pepper continued.

“No problem, it’s your office, anyway.” Wanda replied, getting in a more convenient position in the chair. “Do you really think that we are cute? Me and Vizh?”

Pepper chuckled softly.

“Yeah, it was a shock when I was back to a trip and Tony said that Jarvis wasn’t here anymore, but Vision were a great guy, he stuttered when he talked about you to me, Jarvis never did that.” Pepper also shifted in her chair.

“But he always calls you, Mrs. Potts, called.” Wanda corrected herself. “it’s been five years since yesterday. This will never get in my head.” She ended, something was stuck in her throat.

“The five years don’t matter, to you, you lost him yesterday.” Pepper completed.

“Like you, but the five years did matter in your case.” Wanda said.

“It really matters, the five years is jumping in the garden right now.”  Pepper looked by the window, Wanda follow her eyes, they couldn’t see Morgan, it was almost night, but Wanda still felt a bit of envy, at least Pepper and Tony had five years, most people didn’t.

“I just hope she doesn’t get some stuff from her father.” Pepper was looking back to Wanda, she could see a little of worry in her eyes. “Like his talent to cook, or lack of.”

Wanda noticed, it was an attempt at joke.

“Vision wasn’t so good in the kitchen, either.”

“See? This was all Tony.  Before we started dating, he made me an omelet, that I thought, or he likes me because he tried or that he hated me and was trying to poison me.”

Wanda laugh at loud.

“Vision made me a paprikash, or at least that's what I thought it was, it was a work in progress.”

“Here it was also a work in progress, Tony did it the dishes “

Both women shared a smile.

“I think I've taken a lot of your time, I think it’s time to go.” Wanda started to get up.

“No, I gave other message to Barnes, I am waiting him to finish it, he is in Tony’s Office.” Pepper explained it.

“Did he tell you what happened to Steve?” Wanda asked.

“Yes, he and Sam told me why he left the funeral earlier.” Pepper stretched once again in the chair.

Wanda studied her face, and then she gets it. Wanda clenched her hands against the chair ‘s arms, maybe the other women need to hear it, maybe Wanda need to say it.

“It’s normal, well at least I felt it too when I discovered it.” Wanda spoken softly.

Pepper looked in her eyes “So don’t you think that we are bad people?”

Wanda just nodded no.

“Good, because I just wanted to hit the old man when I discovered it.” Pepper sighed in relief.

“Me too, my boyfriend was indestructible...” Wanda started.

“My husband was a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist and yet...” Pepper interrupted.

“And yet the only one, that had a whole life of happiness it was the man from the past.” Wanda ended.  A bitter taste in her mouth, it wasn’t fair with Steve, but it was how she felt it.

“And he came back right after the funeral, I felt like he was rubbing his happy life in my face.”  Pepper’s voice was bitter too.

“You know if I knew it was an option, I would had gone back in time too and live all my life.” Wanda pondered.

“Yes, the past it was horrible, but if I could you know live with Tony without worries, like a 50’s sitcom, I love Tony, just me and Morgan living with the hijinks of what he had invented it.” Pepper told the whimsical idea with a sad smile.

Wanda imagined the scene, but with her and Vision, they would never be a normal couple, but she tried to imagine them living in a normal house, him with his sweaters, her with the red dress, without running, just living. Damned it that it didn’t felt normal, it felt better, it felt right.

“Yeah would be good, we could be neighbors, in my case would be called I....”  Wanda stopped it, the little smiled disappearing when she noticed it.

Pepper looked curiously at her.

“I never said to him.” Wanda just noticed that she was crying when she felt the tears in her cheeks. “It was the last thing he told me, but I didn’t say it back, I wanted it but if I had said, I would not have been able to destroy the stone.”

“He knows.” Pepper held her hand., Wanda noticed the other women ‘s eyes were teary too.

“I had to lie to Tony, I wanted him to go in peace, but I don’t know if me and Morgan are going to be okay.”

Wanda hugged Pepper.

“What are you going to do now?” Pepper asked when the two got up.

“I have to try” She lifted the folder again “I'll show it to Shuri, this and everything that she did five years ago, perhaps, it’s a chance of bringing him back.”

“What if it doesn’t work?” Pepper simply asked.

“I’ll try again.”

Pepper blinked slowly, and a little smile came to her lips, opening the door.

“I know that you going to hate it to listen to this, but you and Tony had more in common than you thought.”

Maybe, was the only thing that Wanda thought it leaving the room.

“Wanda...wait. If this work, do you and Vision want to come to dinner with me and Morgan someday?”

“Yes, this would be nice.” Wanda answered.

“You can come to dinner before he’s back too”

Wanda just smiled and closed the door.

She was alone in the corridor, she looked to the living room, someone people already left. She was terrified, but hopeful, if this didn’t work, she was alone. If the price of having this chance, was fear, well, she learned to live with fear all her life, it was hope that she was still learning to deal with it. She had to find Shuri.

[elishebe]

Sasuhina Secret Santa-Vampire AU

A/N: God I’m atrociously late, and excuses are trash, but I literally didn’t save my work when I damn near finished this last week, and I just...had to recover from that trauma and try to write it again lol. It’s honestly not as great as it would be if I weren’t so upset with myself for losing all the work and trying emulate it again, but I tried my best! Super sore again, Hope you like @fher43

-btw Hinata’s slighty ooc just because...i feel like six hundred plus years of vampirism does that to a person lol.

:: There’s something about the ripeness of age... ::

Unoriginal. Cheap. Cliche.

A birthday gift for his mother absolutely had to be authentic and well-thought out. She might appreciate anything she received, but she could smell things like cheap and overdone.

But Sasuke’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel any hope this antique shop he stumbled upon. It was dingy in all the right ways, and he was the only customer in. A turn around each corner and something ancient and beautiful would appear eclipising the last item he’d seen.

And then he turned another corner, the shopkeeper standing right before him.

Mismatched, Sasuke thought. Completely and utterly.

From the deep, velvet maroon of her lip, to the smokey obsidian modeling the edges of her eye with a blackish cardinal pigment dusting from eyelid to brow bone--well--Sasuke was no stranger to heuristics or falling prey to stereotypes himself. Thus he was good of watching himself, and looking at her darkly themed makeup, which he was indeed a fan of, decided it was just her interest and mood, not her personality entirely.

Even the hair he could reconcile as just...another thing, he supposed. Blue, though dark. Smalt, even. It fell down around her--bone straight, obedient--like a stream, and her long bangs acting as a curtain parted along the sides of her trim face for the main act as pearlescent orbs descended upon his shirt.

But that small bat tattoo right below the eye...well it was hard to think her anything other than what he believed upon seeing it.

So-

That angelically soft smile had caught him off his guard.

“Theatre of Tragedy?” She asked with a glance at his shirt, cup in hand, looking away as she pulled at spine backs of books.

Sasuke stared at the woman from down the aisle, mindlessly approaching her. She sorted through some large books, and with one hand, before picking one up with a graceful ease.

“Venus is my favorite song right now.” She remarked, pleasantry on her lips, as she turned to him; glassy lavender eyes were like white against her eyeshadow. “What about you?”

Sasuke blinked. “Uh...And When He Falleth.”

Her visage warped with a thoughtfulness, nodding. “Yeah, I like that one too.” Her eyes were trained on the book, trying to place it properly. “They’re a bit old school. I’m surprised to see such a young fan.”

He tilted his head slightly. Young? He wanted to ask. She didn’t look much older than him, if at all. He could pin her three years older than him at most, and the band would still be considered ahead of her time too.

Sasuke poked his head in an victorian-themed wardrobe. “Yeah I’m...into old shit...I guess.”

He didn’t miss the way her lips twitched at that. Without looking up the woman replied,”That explains why you’re here I guess.”

The raven haired man nodded. “That explains why I’m here-well, uh-”He paused. That wasn’t true, well it was true, but-

“I’m looking for a present.” He elaborated. She took a sip from her cup and gave him her full attention.

“You work here?” Sasuke asked, lamely, might he add as if it weren’t obvious.

The woman peaked at him through long bangs, a smile at her lips, and something wistful behind i

“I own here.” She answered, “But my apologies. I should’ve introduced myself. My name is Hinata. I’m the owner and dealer of this shop.”

She was sort of...very pretty, he quickly noted, maybe too quickly. But further than that, although she looked no older than him, something about her did rightfully belong in this small antiques store. He just...couldn’t name it.

“What’s the present for?” She asked.

After explaining his predicament, Sasuke found himself following behind a magical creature. The store was somewhat cramped, and he had to shift and duck a few times making for some disjointed steps, but the woman before him was like...a floating gothic sheet of clouds hung low to the ground. Her movements were subtle and graceful. Her black lace cover up flowed behind her in an intriguing and dramatic way.

As he trailed behind her, he put his hands on some knives for the sake of it, and called ahead of her, “How did you get into Theatre of Tragedy?”

“I’ve been around.” She answered.

Sasuke glanced down at her. “So what?”

She looked him up and down once before turning around a counter to open a cupboard. “Means I’m an old soul. So I guess I also...am into ‘old shit’.” She mocked.

Sasuke smirked at her mockery leaning against the counter. “Old soul...” He mumbled. “how old?”

She hefted a large box onto the counter. “686 years to be exact.”

The dark haired male belted a low chuckle.

“Here,” She said to him opening the box with an assortment of jewelry. “It’s a 19th century French and Japanese collection. I especially like the brooches; they’re designs are more reflective of the era. See anything your mother might like?”

“You, probably.” He responded ignorant of the subtext behind it. Though it was very true his mother loved individuals with a fascination and knowledge of things she knew little about. And considering the expanse of this shop, there was much this woman could talk his mother’s ear off about.

He looked up at her to find her fighting a laugh, with a shake of the head. He felt a warmth rise to his face.

“Oh, I...I didn’t-I wasn’t trying to...”

“Flirt.” She finished for him, understanding look in her eyes, but teasing smile about her lips.

“Yeah...not that I wouldn’t. I mean-” He said opting to look at the brooches rather than her amused face. “I just, like...these are really nice.”

Hinata had surrendered to her giggles, and Sasuke tried to brush it off as he rubbed his neck, sighing at his own failing.

“I’m so sorry for laughing,” Hinata apologized holding her stomach in between fits of laughter.

Sasuke smirked. “It’s fine.” He peeled the black and red one from the box. “I think I’ll take this one.”

::

A Week Later

::

“Witch?”

“Nope.”

“Sorcerer, wizard, warlock?”

“Those aren’t all the same as witch?”

“I don’t know I’m asking you, Not-Witch.”

“I don’t know. But, still wrong.” Hinata replied dusting the wooden, creaky floor.

Sasuke sat in her chair at the counter, playing with an old toy staring at her all the while. He’d came back the day after he got the present. Though it was simply because he didn’t get a good look at the whole shop, and that was it, he supposed. While the shop itself was tiny, there was much to see, and in the meanwhile, he had a wildly likable  and likely magical witch (or rather not-witch) for a personal tour guide. Extremely personal, he hardly ever saw anyone in here but himself.

In the midst of it their proximity, Sasuke had become more and more certain of her magical not-witchery. She moved like water, didn’t have a door bell to know when people come in, but somehow always knew he had arrived, and

she knew everything.

“Mmm, nymph? Fairy?”

She shook her head, but then wore a pondering look. “I do know a nymph actually. You have one more try. I’ll even give you a hint: remember how old I told you my soul is?” Hinata looked at him with amusement; she was sure he was being funny.

“No.” He deadpanned.

Hinata turned around chuckle jostling her shoulders.“Be careful with this next one or I win.”

Sasuke squinted at her, and leaned over the counter.

“Werewolf.”

Hinata cocked her head in laughter. “You must be teasing me now. I told you I have a cat, right?”

“Nah, I definitely told you I have a cat.” Sasuke retorted slumping his chin into his arms. “I’m a bad remembererrer-er.”

“Without a doubt.”

Sasuke folded his arms together. “So what are you, Hyuga?”

“An antiques dealer,” replied she. She stopped sweeping to look at him. “And what are you, Uchiha?”

He looked thoughtful a second.

“Charming.”

She leaned into her broomstick as she heaved an amused sigh. Sasuke stared intently. He liked making her smile.

“You sure you’re not a witch? Got the whole broom stick thing-”

“No.”

::

Two Weeks after first walk in

::

“So why do you persist to congest my store further?”

Sasuke scoffed lightly. “Congest?” He asked looking around the store, devoid of other customers. “I’m practically keeping you business.”

“I believe the key word is ‘practically’. In order for that to be remotely true, Sasuke, you’d have to buy something; not loiter all day. You must find me very entreating if you insist on continuing to come without purchasing a single thing,” She ended with a smirk. 

Sasuke rejected the rather obvious notion. “It’s not because of you,” He grumbled, sliding a long spined book out of its place to open it. “I’m here for the books, I’m here for..” He squinted. “Paradise Lost.”He held up the book in hand at her. “A true classic,” He urged.

Hinata stood staring, unconvinced, but always in the mood to entertain him. “You sound very familiar.”

“That’s what happens when you read books, I guess. You know them...” He trailed off as his eyes caught sight of another title, one he actually knew.

Hinata huffed. “You’re starting to sound like....” She trailed off as she saw him towering over the glass encasement of another one of her rare editions of old literature. 

“See a read you like? One you actually know?” She teased.

Sasuke crossed his arms. “In addition to, actually,” He said, evoking a defeated sigh from her. 

“I know this one--The Witch’s Hammer. It was hard to get my hands on a hardcover copy of it. But this one looks...extremely old. Like something of a museum.”

“That’s because it’s a first edition. An original copy.”

She observed him quietly, watching as his eyes wanted over the glass, seemingly entranced by the ancientness about it. It was a grey brown old thing, but she learned how to preserve it, to a point that she could even pick it up to read herself from time to time. 

“Hn,” He grunted before unlatching himself from the glass. “Guess you are a grandma.”

Hinata gave him a pointed look. “Nice,” She said, sardonic taste about her reply.

“How much?”

“Not for sale. You’re welcome to look always. That’s not a privilege I give to all customers.”

Sasuke looked around himself. “Do you have like...ghosts for customers? Because who...else..is here besides me.”

The pleasantry in her eyes didn’t fade. “That’s for me to know.”

Sasuke’s lips parted, and closed, as he struggled to decipher the seriousness of that statement. He settled with a defeated nod, and “Okay.”, before pressing on. 

“But...can I look at it?”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “You are.”

“With my hands.”

“Didn’t know that was possible,” She admitted, as she rounded the corner to the encasement. 

“You know what I mean.”

“Your faith in my understanding of you is impressive,” She remarked unlocking the glass door. She grabbed the book carefully from its closure. “I wouldn’t usually do this, but for such a loyal ‘customer’--and I use that term loosely-- I’ll make an exception.”

She laid it out in her arms for him to take. “It’s still pretty sturdy, I’ve done well to maintain it--it might even be in better condition than some of the non-encased books here; that’s how much I like it. But, I’ll lend it to you.”

Sasuke grabbed the large heavy book from her arms and examined its exterior before tucking it away under his arm. 

“Thank you.”

She nodded to him. “Glad something here genuinely grabs your interest.”

Though of course, for him, something already had.

::

A month after first walk in

::

“Walk in front of it. I wanna see.”

She smirked. “See what?”

“Just...go. I wanna see.”

Hinata put down her coffee cup, and walked in front of the mirror.

“I can see you,” Sasuke noted.

Hint nodded slowly. “Nothing gets past you, Sasuke,” She said with a straight face walking back to her stool.

Sasuke scoffed. “You know what I meant. How come I can see a vampire in a mirror?”

“Because. This is a mirror. It reflects things. Images.”

Hinata smiled. He was all but pouting now-it was cute.

“So that old rumor is just wrong, plainly.” Sasuke said folding his arms.

Hinata smiled looking at him through the mirror. He was significantly taller, though somewhat lanky, and she did appear, at least, to be his age. His attire was black and ripped from the denim jacket to the jeans. The fine contrast of jet black hair to his skin was impossible to miss.

The young Uchiha might’ve caught her eye half a millennium ago, but the wafting charm that seemed irresistable to everyone around fell flat on the ageless woman. Though this did nothing to diminish her fondness for the boy; however,

to her, he was just that: a boy.

Crash!

She turned to find Sasuke quickly but gracelessly trying to pick up the metallic vase up off the floor, which he’d clearly dropped. She watched him with quiet humor about her eyes.

He must’ve been staring too hard again...

::

Three months After first walk in

::

“How much blood do you drink?”

Hinata paused at that question. She knew he’d come to ask about the blood eventually. Although, it was rarely how much, rather than what, how, or how often. 

“Enough.” She answered.

“where do you get it from?”

Hinata flipped another page to her book. “I have a friend at the blood bank, but occasionally animals.”

“Can I see your fangs?”

“Absolutely not.”

Sasuke looked at her strangely. “Is it like...offensive?”

She looked over to him. “Imagine I asked you to pull your pants down.”

Sasuke blinked a moment, uncertain before looking back to her. “I mean...I’d do it.”

Oh brother.

::

Five years after first walk in

::

“So, how was she?”

Sasuke stretched himself out on the chair as Hinata paused her sweeping. She looked over at him excitedly.

“She’s nice. Cute too.”

Hinata turned to him with optimism glint about her eyes. “So your date was...”

“Insufferable,” He answered.

Hinata looked to him, pitiful smile. “How so?”

“i don’t like her.”

Hinata put her broom down to refill her tea. “You just met her. Never took you for a ‘love-at-first-sight type’.”

“Yeah, don’t have much patience for anything less I guess.”

He saw her shaking her head as she poured her tea. “I’m just kidding.”

“I’d hope.” She encouraged, a smile in her voice.

“...give me five years. I’ll know.”

::

Twenty years after first walk in

::

She heard the door open and close from the back of the store, pleasantly surprised at the smell of her “customer”, whom had bought only one thing in all these years of dropping by.

He’d been visiting a lot less frequently. In fact it’d been a handful of years, if not more, since he last had come, but before then, he’d come at least biweekly, and before then, multiple times a week, if not even everyday.

Maybe she was exaggerating.

She didn’t usually keep such close track of time.

Even still, he did visit less often these days, and by a sweet twist of irony, she wanted to see him more often these days, much more often.

Though, maybe she just missed him.

She figured maybe he’d grown busy, other parts of her even thought bored. The former would make more sense though, considering his current presence. Whatever the case, she thought, setting down her broomstick to twirl around to him, she was glad he found his way-

Well.

She cleared her throat, trying to rid of her face the contorted expression she knew she might be wearing.

But she just...forgot what time could do to a person. 

When she thought or remembered Sasuke, she remembered him young. Not thirty-five. certainly not forty-some odd years either. She’d forgotten, that he was no longer twenty. That he’d grown in the span of their friendship, and that he was human, and that time was an arguably real thing for him.

His face was exactly the same, only, not quite. He wore a more...eloquent expression. Eyebrows just slightly pinched, that she remembered, but with an adult concern that she couldn’t. There, just the slightest wrinkle at the side of his pitiless black eyes and his mouth had creases beside it, and his cheeks were slightly sunken. His hair had grown, thrown back with a few black threads rebelling onto his face against the rest with whiskered greys at the side. His build had widened in muscle, but his posture carried that common burden of adulthood. And...gone was the rebellious  aesthetic: he wore a black button down shirt with some grey office slacks and dress shoes.

He wasn’t so different from last she saw him, but twenty years prior kept breaking her thoughts, and she thought maybe this was a different person. It couldn’t be helped, a younger Sasuke had came around more, spoken to her more, annoyed her more, was more familiar.

This older Sasuke was infrequent and inconsistent...and adult.

Looking around playfully, the man then turned back to her,”I’m here for the books...’Lost in paradise’, in particular.”

Hinata smiled. “I have no books of that name here, but Paradise Lost, yes, that I can do.”

“Damn.” Sasuke’s lips had twitched. “It’s been a while since I’ve picked it up for a reread.”

“Maybe if you had bothered to buy it, you’d know its name.” She responded.

He chuckled with heaviness about his voice, she wasn’t familiar. “But then I’d have no excuse to come back here, and look at other things I won’t buy.”

She observed him quietly as he rounded the corners of the store, attention captured by the subtle differences that age had committed against his mannerisms. 

“So that’s the reason.”

“Hn,” He huffed before returning his attention to her with a small smile. “It’s been some time.”

The vampire offered a light shrug. “It’s been about a month, on my timeline. No worries.”

Sasuke carefully pulled at the straight of his pant legs before settling himself slowly in his regular old stool. “It’s been too long on mine.”

How strange, a troublesome thought had perverted her mind. Her heart only beat a couple times per day, and when it did, rather mundanely so. This time, however...it was like a ricochet, and strong like...it was alive.

She inhaled deeply, sweeping her store as she routinely had been for the past century.

“I’ll assume I’m still welcome to overstay it.” His face was placid like usual, but that wink was new. 

Hinata watched him with her back turned, more mindful of his movements, evaluating the similarity of then and now. even six years ago when he’d last been, Hinata had begun to take note of the waves of adulthood ushering over him. A little less awkward, slightly more tense, equally as charismatic, which netted to zero. Maybe even richer, too. Though, that she had no interest in.

“How old are you now?” she asked.

The raven haired male paused in between flipping through Paradise Lost--he picked up the same exact copy every time. Black orbs darted to her, they seemed more intense than before.

“That’s the first time you’ve asked me that,” He remarked.

 “Now can be your first time to answer.”

“It’s offensive to ask we human adults things like that you know?” He said, a mischievous glint about his eyes. 

“Really? I hear it’s only rude if you’re old.”

“I’m forty-two,” He replied, with a quickness about it that made her laugh. He went to looking back to the book. “For some reason I assumed you’d always known. But why do you ask?”

Hinata resumed her sweeping with a joke on her lips, “And you were a mere, what? Seventeen, sixteen--when you first walked in here?”

Sasuke’s eyes found her. “I was about to be twenty. Jesus. That’s how annoying I was?”

She laughed at his bewilderment. “It was endearing.”

“God, save your pity.”

Pausing her chore, she looked to him. “So how’s life? How is Sakura?”

A coldness befell him, that she wasn’t expecting. 

“Our wedding was beautiful,” He started. She blinked; he’d gotten married to her? “But our divorce really takes the cake I’d say.”

Hinata dusted the inside of a wardrobe. “I...I’m sorry to hear that,” She was, but her mind was skidding a little. He’d gotten married? And she knew nothing of it? She was almost sure ten plus years of friendship just might earn one a wedding invitation. Though she withheld any selfish thoughts or ideas--they’d been estranged for some time, after all.

“I’m not. Christ, I’m never marrying anyone for my mother’s sake again.”

She chuckled lightly as she retreated to her side of the counter, to finish her cup of tea, and watched him quietly. She couldn’t help but study this new Sasuke. It really did feel like such short time ago when he was full faced and somewhat cheeky and quick to retort. 

“You got married...when?”

He sighed. “About a year and half after I stopped coming here. Finalized that divorce a couple months ago.”

Sasuke never missed those eyes when they were trained on him. Mainly because it wasn’t often that she actually did look at him. She’d usually be in her duties or already know what he was doing without turning to him; he supposed he never had a good excuse to be seen by her. Though now, she was being rather overt.

“I must look extremely odd to you, if time flies the way it does for you.”

He watched her take a sip from her tea, lavender eyes--starkly illuminated by that dark eye makeup--still glued to him even from behind her cup, and an imperceivable emotion behind them.

“Mhm,” She agreed setting her mug down. “You’ve grown, Sasuke.”

He blinked slowly down at the counter, unsure of how to respond to that--he felt like it’s something his relatives would say to him twenty some odd years ago, not an antiques dealer he can’t seem to leave alone. 

He huffed. “Tryna call me old now?”

She joked, “Aren’t you?” 

“Nah.”

Her face was telling, and she was, in a word, unconvinced. 

His eyes challenged hers, before moving his leg out from under the counter. “I’m gonna extend my knee. If you don’t hear anything, I’m young as can be.”

“Is that a fair risk for your joints?”

She saw his leg twitch, but his eyes didn’t waiver. 

He hesitated.“No,” He replied breaking into a smile. “Yeah it’s true. I’m old as shit.”

“Welcome to the club, my friend.”

::

A week later

::

Infatuated...She didn’t quite like that word. No, it wasn’t fitting. Maybe she was just being particular about the whole thing...she hadn’t felt like this for a long time. She’d never been so...

smitten--that’s the word.

She didn’t remember the last time she’d been so smitten on a human.

More conversely, she didn’t remember the last time she’d been this smitten without an ounce of reciprocation. 

The new Sasuke had grown to be a stone wall, save for the occasional sarcastic comments; but with respect to her affection, everything seemed to be falling flat. He was ignorant of everything she threw to him.

She reached behind the counter, embarrassed almost, but mostly proud. Though still, she’s never had to...be so obvious.

She subtly turned from her book, to see his nose trapped in one as well--he was a bit quieter than he used to be.

“Sasuke, I have something for you.”

He looked away from his book to meet her gaze. Hinata plopped the plant on the counter. 

“It’s a piece of my garden--my tomato garden. I remember you’ve always liked when I brought them, so you can have some of it for yourself. If you want, of course. I don’t mind taking it back home,” Hinata explained.

His smile was ear to ear. “I...thought I smelled something earthy, but I was not expecting this.” He got up out his chair. “This is kind of-wow. Thank you.” 

She crossed her arms satisifed at his reaction. “So, do you think you’ll need any help planting it?”

He shook his head, looking it over. “Nah...but if worse comes to worse, I’ll look up a video. And if worse actually comes to worse, I’ll...probably call my mother for a tip or two.”

Hinata nodded at him. “Okay, well I’m free to help as well.”

Sasuke huffed, amused. “Even my back can handle a simple planting job like this one on my own.”

Smiling softly, she concede with a nod of the head, ignoring her growing plight. This may be more cause for trouble than she hoped.

::

Two weeks later

::

She had always seemed older to him. Even now, when she looked how she did, she gave off an air of wisdom and certainty that could rival the physical laws of nature. But it was extra weird now because he looked older than her, and sort of did feel like it, but things were still uncertain to him. He honestly just didn’t like how it felt being attracted to someone who looked, that young...maybe even just a couple years short of being his kid, but was simultaneously old enough to make his own intellect cower.

Sasuke glanced over at her, balancing his weight on the back legs of the chair.

“What is that?” He asked, referring to the book which seemingly captured all of her attention.

She hardly looked up. “Conjuring ways to seduce you.”

Shock. Then confusion, crashed onto his eyebrows.

 And fixed his seat, slamming it to the floor. “Wh...I...that’s not even wha-”

“I know.” Hinata muttered. He might’ve thought she were kidding if not the dejected look she wore on her face as she browsed the contents of her book.

“Seduce me?”

“Mhm.”

He was silent a moment. “Hn...” He grunted, thoughtful, but then a thought came to mind. “Why are you....why am I suddenly something worth being ‘seduced’?”

Hinata removed her hand from under her chin, to turn a page in her book. “I do recall saying sometime ago...I’m into, well how you put it: ‘old shit’. But really, I’m just an antiques dealer. Things, to me, become more beautiful with time; when they have a nice layer of dust, or wrinkles coating them in life.”

Sasuke faced her from around the counter, looking seriously at her. “Is this you’re way...of calling my wrinkles sexy?”

Hinata shook her head, amused at his ability to make humor of anything. She also wanted to tell him, that he had hardly any wrinkles to look twice at. And also that forty-two, realistically, was somewhat far from old.

But she also watched the way he was watching her, and it was tentative but fond, but not akin to how it used to be. She released a low huff of dismay.

“What a pity,” She started with a sad smile. “You don’t like me anymore.” She said crossing her arms.

She wanted to roll her eyes at the onset of denseness as he looked at her confused. He was getting ready to dispute it, she knew, on the basis that her friendship meant a lot to him, and absolutely nothing meaningful to her in the moment.

Sasuke’s brows pinched. “That’s insane,” he said.

Hinata met his challenge. “Not entirely.”

“No. You’re-” His expression made a weird change she couldn’t pin point before   relaxing.

“I more than liked you, Hinata,” he stated making an obvious face, like she were dense. “I didn’t come by because I more than liked you, and thought maybe I should give these emotions to someone else. I mean that didn’t...work, but-” He cleared his throat. “i’m here again. And I still...more than like you.”

::

A/N: Yeah that ending...will be edited lol, but hope you somewhat enjoyed. Through it all, I honestly enjoyed writing this AU and I absolutely loved exploring those little pieces of art and literature you threw to give the AU some more richness. It was extremely fun to do, and I added some books on my to-read list lol, anyway it’s super late but Happy Holidays ! @fher43

[upontheshelfreviews]

As a lifelong Disney fan I can’t understate how much of an impact Mickey Mouse has had on me. In childhood, he was an icon and friend – instantly recognizable, a source of joy and entertainment, a hero and a role model. I know this is making me sound like one of those cheesy sponsors reading off a cue card, but when you’re talking about a mouse, expect plenty of cheese to be involved.

In the spirit of Mickey celebrating his 90th birthday, I’d like to share with you my 20 favorite shorts he starred in. Why 20? Because I couldn’t narrow it down to ten and I like to go nine steps beyond as opposed to one.

There were only two rules I set while making this list:

Mickey is the main focus, or at the very least he must be given as much to do as the other characters he shares the cartoon with. There’s a lot of great shorts out there that has Mickey’s name in the title – Mickey’s Parrot, Mickey’s Circus, Mickey’s Birthday, Mickey and the Seal, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, etc. – or has his face in the intro that advertises it as his adventure, but upon watching you find they’re really about Donald, Goofy or Pluto or literally anyone else but him.

Shorts only, no segments from full-length films or direct-to-video works. This means no Mickey and the Beanstalk from Fun and Fancy Free or various bits from Mickey’s Once/Twice Upon A Christmas, but sadly no Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Fantasia. I thought of excluding any short that ran over the usual length of five to seven minutes to about twenty, but that made my job even harder.

Now before we get to the countdown, here are a few Honorable Mentions:

Mickey, Donald and Goofy in The Three Musketeers – If I were including full-length films on the list, this would be in the top five, bar none.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Fantasia – It would easily take the number one spot if it didn’t overlap with the #2 rule.

Plane Crazy – The mouse’s first appearance on the silver screen, though he wouldn’t make as quite a splash until his sound debut in Steamboat Willie a few years later

Orphan’s Benefit – One of my favorites as a kid. It made me laugh something fierce and still does, though a large part of it has to do with Donald and Goofy’s segments, hence why it’s only an honorable mention. Also, did you know that the color one we’re mostly familiar with is actually a remake of an earlier black and white version?

Mickey’s Delayed Date – Pluto and Mickey tussle for attention in this outing.

Haunted House – Spooky and atmospheric. Classic Disney nightmare fuel.

The Gorilla Mystery – Mickey plays Minnie’s white knight yet again as he goes to-to-toe with a dangerous gorilla.

Two-Gun Mickey – An American Tail: Mickey Goes West.

Mickey’s Surprise Party – After Minnie’s dog spoils the cookies she was making for Mickey, he saves the day with some shockingly transparent corporate sponsorship. At least I take comfort in the fact that Mickey’s favorite cookies are the same as mine.

Hansel and Gretel – Mickey and Minnie stumble upon a treacherous witch to the ominous strains of Danse Macabre.

Mickey’s Cabin – Mickey outwits Pete and his dimwitted cousin with a little reverse psychology when they hold him hostage in his winter cabin. Hilarity ensues.

Croissant – Mickey’s first short in the modern style proved you can’t keep a mouse on a mission down.

Yodelberg – Continuing with the previous short, it’s modern Mickey at its most fast-paced and stylish fun.

Shanghaied – It’s up to Mickey to save the day and Minnie again, this time from Pete and his dastardly crew of pirates.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol – Mickey’s first cartoon in 30 years has him slightly out of the spotlight, but still got him back in the public eye for good.

20. Mickey’s Trailer

This gets the lowest spot because the first half mainly focuses on jokes surrounding Donald and Goofy in their cool little mechanical trailer. But when it reaches the second half? That’s when things really kick into high gear. Goofy obliviously unhitches the trailer as they’re traveling through a perilous mountain pass and it’s up to Mickey to keep his vacation from reaching an untimely end. It’s amazingly suspenseful, with plenty of close calls from oncoming vehicles, trains and cliff sides. They still manage to sneak in a few decent moments of slapstick, but not at the cost of any of the tension. My only wish is that we could have seen Mickey and Donald’s response to Goofy’s cheerful “Well, I brought ya down safe and sound, a-hyuck!” at the very end. No doubt it would have been hilariously karmic.

19. Mickey’s Mechanical House

Coming from the Mickey’s Mouse Works/House of Mouse era of cartoons, we get a whimsical story in Seuss-esque rhyme, narrated by John Cleese no less. Sick of the inconveniences of his old abode, Mickey moves into a sleek totally automated house. He quickly learns, however, that easy modern conveniences aren’t what make a good home. Unlike the other cartoons made in this time, the art style goes for a 50’s retro look that pays homage to the likes of UPA. I especially appreciate the cameo from the iconic Mars robot from the famous Disneyland episode Mars and Beyond. That’s how you know this short was made by real old-school Disney fans. The story is charming, the gags are clever, and it earns this spot on the countdown.

18. Giantland/Gulliver Mickey

Yes, I know I’m cheating here due to this being a tie, but I found these two shorts to be similar enough that I felt they were both worthy of the same place on the list. Each one begins with Mickey telling a story to his…younger counterparts? Nieces and nephews? Godchildren? They all refer to him as “Uncle Mickey” and they all look like him so maybe they’re really…no, best not to think of the implications.

Anyway, Mickey makes himself the hero of each tale, firstly in the role of Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk (no doubt somewhat inspiring his future gigantic adventures in The Brave Little Tailor and Fun and Fancy Free), then of him being the giant washed up on the shores of Lilliput. There’s some good action all around, and plenty of creativity in showing the giant’s world, Mickey’s storytelling and how the Lilliputians attempt to subdue their captive.

17. Magician Mickey

Mickey’s putting on a magic show, but he’s constantly heckled by a disbelieving Donald. Little does the duck realize he’s messing with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice himself, and Mickey uses all his mystic powers to troll back at him. Even though it’s arguably Donald’s short as much as it is Mickey’s, he does provide the main source of the conflict, and Mickey does not hold back when providing some good old magical vengeance. He remains the perfect showman throughout, and the tricks he plays to get back at Donald are inventive and hilarious. I admit, I still crack up at the running gag where Donald attempts to go in one of his unintelligible tirades and spits out an entire deck of cards. Just goes to show you don’t mess with the mouse, especially when he’s in magician mode.

16. Steamboat Willie

Ah, the one that started it all. Well, technically it was Plane Crazy and The Galloping Gaucho, but Steamboat Willie was what really thrust Mickey into the limelight. It may be simplistic by today’s standards, but this short is nothing…short of iconic. It establishes everything you need to know about the character of Mickey Mouse – inventive, friendly, helpful, but not without a strong mischievous streak. Being one of the first cartoons to have fully synchronized sound certainly helps. It not only pushed the popularity of “talkies” but introduced the world to what would become one of the most recognizable characters of all time. How could I not include it on the list? I already wrote an entire article on its significance, so if you want to know more, feel free to go read it.

15. The Mad Doctor

When people talk about the darkest moments in Disney animation, there’s a reason why this short is often brought up. The Mad Doctor goes for straight-up horror, and pulls no punches. Mickey must work his way through a creepy castle to save his beloved dog Pluto before he becomes the next victim of the titular doctor’s dangerous experiments. There’s lots of shadows, spooky living skeletons, and booby traps galore that threaten Mickey along the way. It’s perfect fare for Halloween.

Without giving away the ending, it’s the kind I’d normally call a bit of a cop out, but I don’t see how they could have worked their way around it. This short was deemed so scary upon release that it was banned not only in the UK, but in Nazi Germany, which really says something. It didn’t frighten me that much when I was a kid, but there’s a pervading sense of dread that makes it unlike any other Mickey Mouse cartoon ever made. Its impact on the canon was strong enough that the Mad Doctor was made one of the main antagonists of the Epic Mickey video game. And getting to take him out after all these years is one of the most satisfying game moments you’ll ever experience.

14. Around the World in 80 Days

Now for something a bit lighter. Some of the best shorts made for Mickey’s Mouse Works and House of Mouse were the “Mouse Tales”, two-part adaptations of classic novels with Mickey and the gang filling in the roles. This is a simplified but still fun take on Jules Verne’s famous globetrotting adventure. Instead of a wager between high society gentlemen and a robbery caper mixup however, Mickey must circumnavigate the globe in order to claim an inheritance and save his orphanage. Goofy and a rescued native princess-turned-love interest Minnie (there’s no way around some of the more dated aspects of this story, is there?) help him along the way, but they also have to deal with a meddling Scrooge McDuck, who’d do anything to get his feathers on the fortune. They manage to squeeze in some great jokes, usually involving Mickey’s deadpan reactions to Goofy’s cluelessness. It’s a decent retelling that hits all the beats and will probably get kids interested in checking out the original story.

13. Ye Olden Days

Nothing like a good old-fashioned medieval romance to warm your heart. Humble minstrel Mickey attempts to rescue fair damsel Minnie when she refuses to marry foppish Prince Dippy Dawg – that’s Goofy’s early moniker to those not fluent in early Disney – and winds up engaging in a joust for her hand. Mickey and Minnie may not be the most fascinating couple in film history, but their earnest devotion to each other shows why their relationship has stood the test of time.

When I was rewatching this to see if it deserved a spot on this list, I was particularly impressed by how spirited Minnie was – she does not take her arranged marriage lying down, slapping the self-absorbed prince in the face while declaring “Never!” and fighting her captors every step of the way as she’s dragged to the tower as punishment. Plus, it’s her intervening on Mickey’s behalf that saves him from the guillotine and allows him to engage in trial by combat. Mickey, ever the underdog, uses his size and cleverness to his advantage, outdoing the prince in all his regalia with nothing but a spear, a suit of armor fashioned from a potbelly stove, and an intrepid donkey. I really don’t have anything to say other than this short’s simplicity and sweetness never fails to win me over.

12. The Pointer

An expertly animated adventure for Mickey and his loyal canine, even if the idea of the Mouse going hunting wouldn’t fly today. I just love Mickey and Pluto’s interactions; they remind me so much of me and my dog and the time we spent together (though let it go on record that I never have or most likely will engage in hunting for sport). This isn’t a case of the pet being smarter than the master like in future shorts, either. Those always aggravated me because of how they really dumbed down Mickey. Both are on equal footing here, and both get into equal amounts of trouble.

The moment where Mickey tries to talk his way out of an encounter with an angry bear is equal parts tense and humorous. It’s also one of the rare times I can recall Mickey attempting to use his own popularity to escape from a jam (“Well I’m, uh, Mickey Mouse! You know, Mickey Mouse? I hope you’ve heard of me…I hope.”) According to Andreas Deja, animator Frank Thomas incorporated a bit of Walt’s own actions while recording the lines for this scene, giving it a superb bit of what Thomas would call “the illusion of life”.

11. Lonesome Ghosts

Here we have another Mickey-Donald-Goofy venture with shenanigans surrounding the last two, but there’s enough of Mickey in there to make it count. Now tell me if this sounds familiar: a trio of oddballs, one smart if in way over his head, one irascible and sarcastic, and one delightfully naive, go into business capturing ghosts. And yes, at one point one of them says “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts”. It’s a shame Disney wasn’t able to capitalize on this fifty years later apart from syncing this short to the Ghostbusters theme in the DTV Halloween special. Lonesome Ghosts is a spooky jaunt where half the fun comes from the various ways the titular quartet of specters tease our hapless heroes. How the protagonists manage to send them packing kind of confuses me, but it still makes for a good chuckle. Steeped in atmosphere and loaded with laughs, Lonesome Ghosts is a ghoulish good time.

10. Mickey’s Good Deed

It’s Christmas Eve, and Mickey and Pluto are out in the cold with nothing but a bass fiddle that earns them barely enough to eat. A bratty rich half-pint sets his sights on Pluto and goes Veruca Salt on his father, leading to him offering Mickey a fair bit of dough in exchange for the dog. Mickey refuses, until he spies a poor widow and her many children even worse off than he is. This leads to him making a heartwrenching sacrifice to ensure they have a merry Christmas. It’s a short that runs the gamut of emotions. You feel for Mickey every second as he either loses everything he owns or willingly gives it up for a greater good, and there’s plenty of joy to be had when he gets his reward in the end (as well as when that terrible child is given his due punishment). I love watching this every Christmastime, and it exemplifies the giving spirit of the season.

9. Runaway Brain

You wanna know where that infamous image of a demonic Mickey came from? Well here ya go. Fast-paced, frightening and hilarious, Runaway Brain is a wild ride from start to finish. In some ways it feels more akin to a Looney Tunes short than a Disney one. The comic and story beats come right after another, yet leave room for sight gags and references a plenty. There’s even a brief shot that visibly homages The Exorcist. IN A DISNEY SHORT.

Borrowing from The Mad Doctor’s playbook, this time it’s Mickey who’s in a mad scientist’s sights after taking an offer for “a mindless day’s work” at face value, just so he could earn some vacation cash for Minnie. Said mad scientist, Dr. Frankenollie (love the nod there), voiced by Sideshow Bob himself Kelsey Grammar, switches Mickey’s brain with that of his King Kong/Frankenstein-esque creation Julius, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Pete. When the doctor is zapped into ashes by his own experiment – onscreen, mind you – Mickey, now trapped in Julius’ body, must find a way to get back to normal and stop Julius, stuck in Mickey’s form but no less monstrous, from pursuing Minnie. As I said before, the jokes come at you fast and hard. The climax in particular is especially rollicking, with some amazing lighting and coloring choices that pump up the action. As always, Mickey saves the day in the most entertaining – and in this case, bizarre – way possible.

8. The Band Concert

Mickey makes his technicolor debut in one of the first shorts that pits him against a troublesome Donald. All our stalwart conductor wants to do is perform a bit of William Tell for some music lovers in the park, but he’s consistently interrupted by Donald wanting to get in on the action with Turkey In The Straw and an improbable supply of easily breakable flutes. Still, you’ve got to admire both of them for their determination. I’d say nothing short of a cyclone could stop them, but that’s exactly what happens; the climax has them playing through the gale even as they’re hurled through the air! Considering the music they’re performing is appropriately stormy sounding, one has to wonder if they picked up their instruments from Hyrule. The Band Concert is a testament to Mickey’s unflappable perseverance and affinity for music.

7. The Little Whirlwind

Lured to Minnie’s by the promise of cake, Mickey agrees to give her yard a good cleanup in exchange for some dessert. Unfortunately, a playful sentient cyclone has other plans. I’ve never been bothered by Mickey’s voice, but this short shows how he works just as well silently. Much of the action is largely in mime with no dialogue. The slapstick is fun all around. I always did feel a bit bad that Mickey got the short end of the stick in this cartoon; after being tormented by the hellion hurricane, he’s pursued by a giant momma tornado who assumes her offspring was bullied for no reason, and when Minnie checks on his progress he’s blamed for the disaster area that was formerly her garden. I don’t know what the hell she was doing in the kitchen to not hear the two cyclones roaring through her yard but I hope it was worth it. At least Mickey ends up getting the cake – though not in a way he was certainly expecting.

6. Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip

Once more we witness Mickey’s loyalty to his equally devoted canine companion. A simple train trip to Pomona goes off the rails when Mickey must shield Pluto from dog-hating conductor Pete and both find themselves on the run from him. There’s disguises and mishaps galore, and it’s a constant back and forth to see who’s one step ahead of the other. Interesting fact: this short is also the source of the only known footage of Walt Disney recording his lines as Mickey.

5. Symphony Hour

A spiritual sequel to The Band Concert, Mickey once again plays conductor for a classical orchestra made up of his friends. Unfortunately someone thought it was a good idea to leave all the instruments in Goofy’s hands before their big debut, and they’re quickly destroyed. Now poor Mickey has to keep everything together as the concert falls to pieces and their sponsor Pete fumes from his viewing box.

This short… it’s hysterical. There’s no other word for it. Everything from the animation to the music – which sounds like a precursor to Spike Jones – cracks me up. Mickey is pushed to the limits of his endurance as his show crumbles around him. Not helping matters is the attitude of the performers. Sure, Goofy, Horace Horsecollar and the like soldier on admirably, but Donald threatens to up and leave several times. Yet Mickey isn’t afraid to stoop to any level to ensure the show, no matter how terrible, will indeed go on. And the worse it gets for them, the better it gets for us.

4. Thru the Mirror

After falling asleep while reading Alice Through the Looking Glass, Mickey dreams of entering his bedroom mirror and exploring the bizzarro version of his world on the other side. Living furniture, card battles and jazzy dance sequences ensue. Out of all the Mickey shorts on this list, this is probably the best animated. The scenes stick out in your mind long after the cartoon has ended. The size-changing walnuts, the catchy tap dance starting with a game of jump rope with a telephone cord that evolves into a Busby Berkeley homage with playing cards, and the escape from said cards while traversing the dangers of a literal living room? It’s golden age Disney at its finest. There’s not much in the way of story, but that’s not the point of this short. It’s just great animation fueled by years of practice and boundless imagination.

3. Get a Horse!

I remember hearing way back when this short was announced that it was supposedly one from Walt’s heyday which was lost to the ages and recently unearthed. Little could we have realized that it was merely a smokescreen – instead of an old cartoon, we were getting the first new theatrical Mickey Mouse short since Runaway Brain, one that paid tribute to the classic Mickey cartoons of old.

Since I watched Frozen more than once during its theatrical run, I had the privilege of experiencing Get A Horse as it should be: in a big dark movie theater with eye-popping 3D. It gives the perfect illusion that this crazy cartoon with characters jumping in and out and running around the theater really is happening right in front of you. Mickey and friends play around with the screen and the dimensions contained within and with-out in a way not seen since Chuck Jones’ masterpiece Duck Amuck. And having seen many, MANY classic Disney shorts before (if this list hadn’t already indicated), I could even tell where many of the sound bites used for the characters’ dialogue were lifted from. I simply don’t get it when people dismiss this short for “mocking” old school Disney when in reality it does anything but. I think this short is the epitome of what Disney is doing now with their animation, blending the best of the old with the technology and promise of the new. Also, Oswald cameo for the win!

2. The Prince and the Pauper

Talk about nostalgia. I watched this short with the same frequency as my favorite Disney movies on VHS. In fact, due to having no sense of time when I was younger, I thought this twenty minute short was about the same length as those films; it certainly flies by at the same speed. Mark Twain’s tale of royal identity switching has seen its fair share of adaptations, but this one will always be my favorite. We’ve got riveting action and phenomenal voice acting (Wayne Allwine, you were the best Mickey outside of Walt and Brett Iwan can’t hold a candle to you).

It’s also one of the most dramatic shorts in the Disney canon. Pete is at his most menacing outside of Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Scenes like where Mickey attends to the king in his final moments and the prince learns of his father’s passing carry so much weight to them. They’re framed cinematically and let you take in the gravitas. Still, that’s not to say there isn’t any comedy to be found. The Prince and the Pauper has plenty of moments that still make me laugh twenty-eight years later. It’s a short that has everything. Easily one of Mickey’s finest moments.

1. The Brave Little Tailor

If I were to point to one short that summed up everything I love about Mickey Mouse, all you need to know about him, and why he’s so great, The Brave Little Tailor would be it.

Due to a simple misunderstanding, Mickey is thrust into the role of reluctant hero, one who must face down a killer giant no less. But if most of what the previously mentioned shorts have shown, Mickey’s nothing more or less than the perfect underdog. And when he gets into action, he’s like a cartoon blend of Chaplin, Keaton and Fairbanks – not a coincidence as the former two were big influences on early Mickey. Scared though he is, he rarely panics. Instead he relies on his greatest strengths to save the day – his quick thinking, nimbleness from his diminutive stature, and his loyal, caring heart. There’s a reason why I chose this particular thumbnail for this entry. No matter how many times I see this enamored incarnation of Minnie shower her champion with kisses, making him stumble around dizzily and cheerfully cry “Whoopee! I’ll cut ‘im down to my size!” I always, always go “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwww”. It’s just too adorable for words. When you’ve got someone who loves you like Minnie does, you feel like you can take on the world.

I could go on about how the scene where he’s telling the story of how he killed seven with one blow (that’s flies, by the way, not giants) has been studied by animation students and enthusiasts to the point where Junction Point Studios aspired to recreate that level of expression and fluidity when creating Epic Mickey, or how Mickey defeats the giant has been homaged in other shorts as well as the airport fight from Captain America:Civil War, or just that wonderful storybook golden age Disney feel it has from start to finish, but I won’t. By all means, seek out the short and see it all for yourself.

No matter how many times the corporate side of Disney has airbrushed Mickey’s foibles to present him as the bland, perfect company mascot, Mickey’s bravery, kindness, and penchant for attracting trouble has never been fully scrubbed away. Different voice actors, animators, story writers and financial visionaries have come and gone throughout the years, and each has presented their own unique take on the character, but there’s no mistaking the world’s most famous mouse, the one who started it all.

Happy Birthday, Mickey. Here’s to 90 more.

Thanks for reading! What are your favorite Mickey Mouse shorts? Share them in the comments and be sure to follow and check out my Patreon if you want to read more!

My Top 20 Favorite Mickey Mouse Shorts As a lifelong Disney fan I can't understate how much of an impact Mickey Mouse has had on me.

[popwasabi]

All 18 MCU Films Ranked Because Why The Fuck Not?

Ten years, eighteen fucking movies. Holy shit.

Yup it’s been a whole decade since Samuel L. Jackson showed up in the “Iron Man” end credits to tease the hell out of fans at the mention of the word “Avengers” but I don’t think even in most fans’ wildest dreams did they believe such a mega franchise would blossom from that moment.

Though quality certainly varies from film to film and some have aged better than others, what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done is still nothing short of remarkable. This series is basically pumping out two to three sequels every year and somehow all these films connect to one another in mostly coherent ways. Fans and general movie going audiences have for the most part adored the movies, much to the chagrin of screaming DCEU fan boys and now we finally appear to be reaching some sort of end game (at least for this particular chapter of the MCU-verse) in “Infinity War” premiering at the end of the week.

Now anyone who knows me well knows I’ve been pretty lukewarm on this franchise since the beginning. Outside of some clear gems, the MCU has been mostly one big, largely one dimensional bag of popcorn flicks and action comedies and while that’s not the worst thing in the world (we all know what is) it’s at the very least a little mundane. The MCU tends to over rely on the Joss Whedon school of film-making, littering almost every scene with a punchline, thus over-saturating the story with bathos (my new favorite word btw) to the point the story loses its sincerity and almost becomes a parody of itself.

That said, there are worst super hero films to watch in the world besides the MCU series and rarely have I left a movie going “well that was a waste of time” so without further ado here are the 18 MCU ranked by yours truly (which I’m sure will piss some of you off). Enjoy...

 18. Thor: The Dark World

*Sigh* I had high hopes for this one when it came out many years ago because I was hoping I might see a bit more of the Thor I’m familiar with in the comics but instead we got a boilerplate of the most consistent problems MCU films tend to have: Uninteresting plot, a one-dimensional villain, flatly directed scene creation, bad jokes, and a bland female love interest. The first half of this movie is a fucking slog to get through and Natalie Portman is as dry as sand paper inheriting the plot device for no other reason than to give her something to do. Really, the only thing that saves this movie from being completely unwatchable is Tom Hiddleston as Loki who carries the film like Kobe Bryant did the 2006 LA Lakers, keeping it just barely above completely terrible. The Thor films are generally speaking not that good on most levels but “The Dark World” is exceptionally bad.

 17. The Incredible Hulk

Can we even count this as part of the MCU anymore? Virtually none of this film’s contents make it to the rest of the MCU including Edward Norton as Bruce Banner and most people, including myself when making this list, forget the movie even existed. Not much interesting happens in this movie but hey, at least it has a pretty decent fight for the finale that kind of saves the movie.

 16. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

This is probably where I’ll start to piss a few of you off but I just don’t care for this sequel that much. This is a movie that really over does it on the bathos, with another one-note bad guy and just seems to rely too much on the wit and charisma of the cast to carry it (as good as they are). The film takes zero risks from the original and seems to have a punchline for virtually every scene in the movie to the point it becomes tedious to get through for me. I get that movies like this, and the original, are meant to be lighthearted and goofy but the film needed way more quiet and sincere moments to balance it out more. For what it’s worth though Michael Rooker kills it as Yondu and the best moment of the movie is his and *gasp* it’s one of the few moments where we don’t get a punchline! What a concept!

 15. Iron Man 2

Generally considered to be most fans least favorite MCU flick, (until they remember “The Incredible Hulk” and “Thor: The Dark World” exists of course) “Iron Man 2” is a mixed bag of good to bad moments. In terms of the good, Mickey Rourke, when he’s onscreen at least, is menacing and enjoyable and Sam Rockwell is a natural delight as well but at the same time both villains are half-baked once again and don’t do much of anything that interesting in the story. Terence Howard was recast with Don Cheadle who in my opinion is miscast as James Rhodes aka War Machine and the whole script feels like they were making it up as they go. That said, it’s a decent one-time popcorn flick and the race scene is genuinely fun even if it’s short.

 14. Dr. Strange

Let me first say that this character will always have a special place in my heart because this is my dad’s favorite comic book hero and I grew up reading a lot of old “Dr. Strange” comics because of it. But with that said I really don’t get the love behind this movie. It’s a pretty straightforward origin story comic book movie and aside from some dazzling Inception-like visuals I was bored through most all the movie. Benedict Cumberbatch is fine as the sorcerer supreme and even with the white-washing in mind I guess Tilda Swinton is decent as the Ancient One but there’s not much to hang on to here. The film wastes the talents of Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius (again a recurring theme with these villains) and has another one-dimensional female love interest that lends virtually nothing to the story. The film’s not bad so much as it is just simply not that interesting even with all its magic in play. But the film does have a genuinely good sequence with the “I want to bargain” scene which is both funny and clever, so it had that at least (But what a waste of a character like Dormamu too).

  13. Avengers: Age of Ultron

It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what makes this movie not work. Between a shoehorned in romance between Black Widow and Hulk, lazy writing behind the character of Ultron (despite James Spader doing his best), and lack of knowledge on the goings-on of the “Agents of Shield” TV show going in,  the film, for lack of a better description, just isn’t good. It has some decent action scenes and again Spader does the best with what he has but I think the movie just struggles from having too many moving parts going at the same time. The film does have a pretty great scene that I’m glad wasn’t cut from the theatrical release and that’s the Scarlett Witch hallucination sequence which gave the characters some real depth for a moment. I should say, I don’t hate this movie so much as I’m just not all that impressed by it is all.

 12. Thor

I think this movie gets a little more crap than it deserves but the first “Thor” really wasn’t as bad as some fans will tell you, in my opinion. Perhaps I’m looking back on it with the rose-tinted glasses of a Thor fanboy who was just so happy to see his favorite Odison on the big screen for the first time back in the day but really there isn’t much that was thaaaat offensive about this movie. It’s cheesy, yes, with it’s family fun level violence, corny jokes and again flat female love interest but it was fun at least and not a bad time at the movies back in 2011 (wow). The story is simple and the action is entertaining and for its time that was enough. Is it a great comic book movie or even a great MCU movie? Hell no! But it survives on the talents of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston and that’s enough to make it not a bad movie at least.

 11. Ant-Man

For what it’s worth, this movie had a lot of things going against it before it premiered and still ended up being a genuinely fun, campy super hero flick despite its flaws. The original director Edgar Wright (one of the best directors of this era, in my opinion) bowed out over creative differences with the studio which is a real shame and the new director basically had a year to rewrite and shoot everything. Despite this, it was still a fun movie even if it was kind of whatever too. Paul Rudd is great as Scott Lang who plays off Michael Douglas’s as Hank Pym well and Michael Pena is funny as the wise-cracking, story-telling Luis. The film does have perhaps one of the worst one-dimensional villains of the series in Yellow Jacket but ehh it’s still a fun movie and easily the best sequence is the miniature fight between him and Ant-Man on the train set.

 10. Iron Man

*Gasp* I know. “This low on this list?” You’re damn right. I don’t care what anyone tells me, this is one of the most overatted super hero flicks of all-time. How people could compare this to “The Dark Knight” back in 2008, unless you’re rabid Marvel comics fan boy, is beyond me. With that said it’s not a bad movie, it’s just a fairly straight forward popcorn flick is all. Robert Downey Jr. of course carries the film with all his natural charisma and the action sequences are a lot of fun on screen but that’s just it; there’s not much else there beyond it. It’s an origin story film that certainly works but doesn’t rise beyond its genre in the same way perhaps other better origin movies have done. Again it has a one-note villain, even if he is played by The Dude himself Jeff Bridges, but the final fight, as short as it is, is fun too so there’s that at least. All in all this isn’t a bad movie but I seriously do not understand people’s love affair with this film. It’s a popcorn flick and not much deeper than that, fam.

 9. Iron Man 3

“That one??” I can hear a few of you saying reading this. Yes, that one. 

Of the solo Iron Man movies (emphasis on solo here, I’ll get into this later) this is the best Iron Man in my opinion. I’ve warmed up to this one more over the years, appreciating the little things it does well, such as putting Tony in a precarious position without his suit for most of the movie where he has to MacGyver his way out of trouble to survive his enemies and the twist, upon further review, is actually kind of clever (not great). The film still wastes another talented actor, this time Guy Pierce, as the main villain in the story, like most MCU films, but RDJ is his typically witty self in this and the movie works well as it always does with him. The movie didn’t need Iron Patriot, especially if Norman Osbourne wasn’t going to make an appearance, but there isn’t that much about the movie that is intellectually offensive at least. It’s another popcorn flick and nothing more than that but I enjoyed it when it came out many years ago, though I doubt I’ll ever feel the need to watch it again like most films on this list.

 8. Thor: Ragnarok

This movie is basically “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2″ but better in that even though it’s basically one punchline after another at least the humor is better this time around and doesn’t try to fool you into thinking it’s something more sincere. This one is perhaps the only MCU film that can 100 percent be classified as a comedy and though it was a bit annoying to sit through another joke heavy Marvel flick at least I laughed a lot. It’s funny, sometimes uproariously, and visually it’s a very pretty movie, especially compared to the drabness of the previous two solo Thor ventures. Mike Ruffalo’s Hulk has some great moments in the movie and plays off Hemsworth’s Thor well and the movie even gets a memorable villain for a change as Cate Blanchett hams it up as Hela pretty well (even if she has a criminally small amount of screentime). Maybe since I gave up on waiting to see a serious Thor movie ages ago I wasn’t offended by this as much as GOTG Vol. 2 last year but legitimately this is a fun movie to watch despite everything.

 7. Captain America: The First Avenger

Back in a forlorn period where punching Nazis wasn’t controversial, the first Captain America film came out and for all its cheesiness this is actually a pretty sincerely decent movie. It came out during a time where the angst of my teenage years was beginning to subside and my love for those types of cynical comic book heroes (Batman, The Watchmen, Constantine) became less centralized (still love all of those of course). I didn’t know it at the time but I needed a heavy dosage of optimism and a character who was just a genuinely good person trying to do the right thing. I started to warm up to the boy scout type characters such as Superman and after “Captain America” came out I instantly became a fan of his too. There’s a wholesome message in the film about simply being good and physical strength vs personal strength. Yes, Red Skull is another generic mustache twirler but it works in relation to the story better than most as there’s a nice conflict between him and Cap. The movie is cheesy and shot poorly and visually has not aged well at all (having re-watched it recently) but performances by Evans and Hayley Atwell, who plays perhaps the most three-dimensional female lead in the series as Peggy Carter, make the film worth watching. I had my doubts about how Chris Evans would do as Cap in this movie, considering he had only seemed to play wisecracks up to this point in his career but now I can’t imagine anyone else playing this character. He captures the quiet charisma and good natured calm of the super hero well in the same way Christopher Reeves did as Superman many decades prior and though I’m sure he’ll have a final curtain call in “Infinity War” (or its sequel) Evans will always be Captain America to me and he made me a fan because of this film.

 6. The Avengers

I’ve become significantly less enamored with this film since it came out in 2012 but with that said it was probably the most fun I had at the theaters that summer (Note: That I didn’t see “Dredd” until it came out on Blu-ray). It’s a pretty typical Joss Whedon witty action, blockbuster comedy but it’s a damn sharp one at least. The action in the movie is fantastic and with limited exposure to their interpersonal relationships we get a lot out of each Avenger in this movie that fans all around can enjoy. Tom Hiddleston hams it up beautifully as Loki and steals each scene he’s in and there are some very quotable lines all around in this movie from the other characters as well. The movie also introduced me to schwarma which is great too.

 Is it a deep movie? Not even close but it’s still a lot of fun at least.

 5. Spider-man: Homecoming

No, this isn’t the best Spider-man movie but damn it does it help wipe my memory of the worst one. “Homecoming” is less a Spider-man movie per se and more a typical Avengers style film that fits in fairly well with the rest of the series. It’s a movie full of light-hearted quips and typical Spider-man vigilante people-saving flair but it also stand on its own even if it is imperfect (Stealing a Miles Morales character for Peter Parker is a tad bit fucked up). Tom Holland does well as our friendly neighborhood Spider-man but it’s Michael Keaton who plays a sharper than usual MCU bad guy in Vulture that helps carry the film between the two. All in all it’s not a great super hero film but it’s a quality popcorn flick and in this case that’s better than “amazing.”

 4. Guardians of the Galaxy

I wouldn’t call this film as revolutionary as some have but it is very creative and the product of James Gunn’s clever touch. It’s a space opera, action comedy blockbuster in the best way and just a hugely entertaining film in general. The movie balances the charm of all its characters well allowing Chris Pratt to do his thing and have everyone else involved between Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista and Zoey Saldana play off that while creating their own memorable moments and catchy one-liners too. This is also one of the few cases where a one-dimensional villain wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as Lee Pace’s Ronan hams it up to 11 and is evil in the most hilarious way possible. The story isn’t super complex but it does allow for genuine quiet moments of real emotion (more than its sequel did) that gives the audience much needed breaks between the zaniness of its plot and setting. This is perhaps the only movie on this list where having a lack of grit wasn’t a bad thing and in its own way is a nice homage to the cheese of old 1930s and 40’s science fiction serials of the past.

 3. Captain America: Civil War

This movie is the second best Captain America film but the best Iron Man movie in my opinion. RDJ is the best version of Stark in this movie as we see his character experience more doubt and is allowed to be more distinctively dramatic than any of the previous movies. The narrative of this film though is what really carries the drama from start to finish and makes it stronger than most of the MCU. The story manages to construct powerful arcs for not just Cap and Stark but for its new arrival too in T’Challa aka Black Panther. Each of these characters have their own separate plot going and motivation toward their ultimate goal all relating back to Cap’s old war buddy Bucky. These plot lines converge powerfully at the film’s climax and sets up a truly satisfying ending that makes it not just one of the best MCU movies but just a great super hero film in general. The worst thing I can say about this movie, other than some bad jokes as per the usual MCU standard, is that its shot and edited fairly flatly. Action scenes are certainly fun but they are done in a pretty typical style that lacks creativity (Compare the staircase scene in this movie to the one in Season 2 of “Daredevil” of that same year and you’ll understand what I’m getting at). All in all, this film is one of the reasons The Russo Brothers have been given the reigns to the MCU’s biggest movie this summer and fans should be excited because of it.

 2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The first MCU film in this franchise that actually bared some teeth and made me actual feel real emotions for a change is The Russo’s first fore into the franchise in the widely popular Captain America sequel “Winter Soldier.” This used to be my favorite MCU film, until the next film on this list, but it had earned that spot by being the first MCU film to finally get dirty and get at something a bit more personal and even thematically more important. At its core “Winter Soldier” is about Cap’s struggle with the past and how he can never get it back; one of the film’s first scenes is a rather tragic reminder of that as he sits bedside with an elderly Peggy Carter who appears to be suffering from Alzheimer’s. In Bucky he see’s a chance to get a little of that old life back but obviously it’s more complicated than that. Meanwhile the rest of the story appears to have a lot to say about the surveillance state and how much power we are giving those who look after us. Is this true freedom? To Cap that’s a resounding “no” and that’s what makes him a particularly powerful hero in this story. The movie has some decent action of course and some good jokes here and there but it’s used more effectively in this movie than in most others in this series and it results into, at the time, the most satisfying Marvel film to date.

 1. Black Panther

Did you really think this list would end with anything but “Black Panther?” This film is far and away the best MCU film to date by a wide margin (as good as the previous two were) and it stands clearly on the mountain top here. This is more than a super hero movie to me; it’s a quality film period. It’s a movie that harkened back a bit to the first generation of modern super hero movies that were more message-driven while also being quintessentially of this age and nuanced as well. It’s a movie that bares its teeth and isn’t afraid to go long stretches in its story without a fucking joke for a change and trust its audience will hold its attention through that span. It’s one of the only MCU flicks that feature any real stylistic editing and shot producing and an original soundtrack that actually feels distinct and powerful for a change too. It’s a fanciful setup with an Afro-futurist society and cat suit wearing super hero but undeniably the movie is also more tuned into reality with its theme than any previous Marvel flick to date. It’s a film where the lead actor puts on a great performance of his own but maybe is only the third or fourth most best character of the film, in a good way! It features multiple three-dimensional female heroes, who never rely on the lead for help and a villain that is both complex and sympathetic. It’s such a beautiful film in multiple ways that I’m still shocked the MCU made it! “Black Panther” is the gold standard for this series, in my opinion, and frankly, regardless of how “Infinity War” plays out this month I’m just glad we’re going back to Wakanda again. Hopefully Thanos doesn’t destroy too much of it.

Phew. So there it is my best of list. Hope I didn’t piss too many of you off but that’s just like my opinion, man. Let me know what you think in the comments. What’s your favorite and least favorite MCU film? Sound off!

WAKANDA FOREVER!

[years-later-au]

Purpose

Welp, here we go. First of all, I owe a great thanks to Neon for her beautiful art and vivid imagination. This AU has made me write something, first time in four years, and that means a lot to me. So, if I may, I offer this little thing. I can’t bring myself to write anything long and deep yet, so it’s just some Croix’s reflections on her past and present, scattered and incomplete. Half the time I tried to make it look like ponderings of a troubled mind, the other half it just had its own way. I need to apologize in advance, since English is not my mother tongue, so there’s probably lots of mistakes. And yeah, so many “yet"s and “though"s.

This text won’t be appearing in any other places, it’s just here, for your consideration. Maybe it will prove good enough. Maybe you’ll just be disgusted.

Anyways, hope you’ll like it. From Russia with love, your silent fan w/o any social media links, Haymaker.

OH MY GOODNESS! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL FANFICTION! You did SUCH  a wonderful job on this, you got a lot of the events down to a point, and it brings joy to my little heart. You did a wonderful job! Thank you so so so much! And you did a wonderful job with your grammar!! Kudos to you!

And you even cameo’d Aquila in this :’) 

I put this under a read more if that’s ok! 

“Now you will not interfere. Now Claiomh Solais will not be yours for the taking ever again.”

And she could not care less about it.

Croix doesn’t care about the Rod, about power, about anything, really. Whatever happens to her would be not enough for what she has done. She betrayed everyone she cared about, and not once. Losing limbs, organs, even life itself would not be enough of a punishment. She even welcomes the suffering, but there’s sudden movement behind the bloody mist that clouds her vision: a small figure of a woman with bright red hair. The woman she let down, the woman who saved her when she did not deserve to be saved. Chariot. She rushes to the collapsed witch, spellblade blazing in her hands, and the dragon lunges at her, claws outstretched, ready to extinguish the red flame of hope.

“Chariot, save yourself! You have done enough!”

“I’ll never abandon you!”

Croix wakes up in cold sweat. There is no pain, thankfully, although she’d prefer if there was at least some. Almost every night it’s the same: in her nightmares she squirms in agony, clutching her left hand to her chest as it’s maimed and scorched, yet in the waking world there’s nothing, and it’s even worse. Fear paralyzes her, fear of being crippled forever, of being a burden. “He has won. Now I won’t be able to protect anyone.” It takes a while for reality to settle in. The purple-haired witch looks at her left arm, tries to lift it up and wave it around a bit. It’s still there, although her nerves insist on the opposite. She clenches her fist, then relaxes again and touches her face. The touch is present, her hand is there. He hasn’t won.

Croix knows that she won’t fall asleep now. She looks back at the redhead, who is peacefully sleeping beside her, and the sight alone fills Meridies’s heart with blissful ease. The witch suppresses the urge to kiss her lover, she doesn’t want to wake her just yet. Quietly Croix sneaks out of bed, stretches her back and stays still for a few seconds, just to feel alive. It is so strange.

Memories assault her mind. Memories of betrayal, of blood on her hands. Diana’s blood, bright red, gushing out of her wound. Her own blood, thick, slimy, dark. And his blood, black as tar, hot, scorching. He made sure his enemies don’t last: even his blood is deadly for those who spill it. Croix was lucky, too lucky, perhaps: the dragon’s blood maimed only her left arm, and Chariot was there to save her. Damn this suicidal girl. She is always too good to be alive, too pure, too selfless. Suddenly Croix feels the urge to cry. She doesn’t deserve this. For all she knows, she must have been dead. So many times she must have died. Her own malfunctioning devices, the Sorcerer’s jaws, his poisonous blood, the court. Croix had always danced on the edge of a guillotine. And it was always Chariot who covered her with her own body.

"Why are you always there for me?” – she wonders. – “What in the name of all things sacred have I done to deserve you?”

She remembers it all too clearly. The sleepless nights by the drawing board, the blueprints, the harsh lights and the voices of her teammates, swearing in their mother tongue. She didn’t speak German then, she still doesn’t now, but the tone alone made it clear: they were less than happy with her pulling one all-nighter after another. Well, it was time to move out.

“Hey, what are you doing here past the curfew?”

“Working.”

“But you will be punished if…” “Nah, I won’t. Professor Woodward has my back. Anyway, who are you to care? And what exactly are YOU doing in the halls past the curfew?”

“Me? I was just sneaking out to the kitchen to get some more food. I always get kinda hungry at night. I’m Chariot, by the way. What’s your name?”

“Croix.”

It was twenty years ago. They arranged a little hideout together, where they could be alone. It was a small house on a tree, tiny enough not to be seen, yet Croix asked her mentor to cover it with a spell for them. Woodward did not mind: she knew that the young prodigy needed to work somewhere. Although she didn’t know what kind of work this was.

“Aw, this astronomy stuff makes my head spin! They can’t possibly expect me to remember all these stars!”

“It’s not that hard. Look. Those five bright stars are the Southern Cross.”

“Heh. You really do know almost everything! That’s cool.”

"Well, this stuff is essential. Besides, it’s the same as my name – easy to remember.”

“To think of it, “Cross” and “Croix” really sound kinda similar.”

“You’re not using my name as a means to remember…”

“I am.”

These memories bring tears to Croix’s eyes and a smile on her face. School years were the best of her life: times full of lighthearted joy and blissful obliviousness. Days were filled with beloved work, and nights – shared with beloved girl. It was perfect, until everything went crumbling down: her dreams, her love, her reputation.

Then there was hatred. She hated Chariot for stealing her dream, Woodward for stealing her hope, the world for rejecting her. She only had her work, and she perfected the prototypes she designed in school. Croix developed SSS in hopes of restoring magic without the Grand Triskelion, but her efforts were in vain.

Hatred slowly gave way to self-pitying and disgust. And rum. Lots of it. Rum wasn’t just a drink, it was her only friend, the thing, that healed her ailments, though only temporarily. She was often drunk as a boiled owl, crying herself to sleep in her apartment. She should have died then, yet she did not. She was still too stubborn.

And that stubbornness carried her through. Along with Chariot’s hands, of course. Chariot was always there when she needed her the most. She was there for her when Croix was alone, she was there to save her when she was on the brink of death… again and again stars led Chariot to Croix, and the latter did not know why. Perhaps she was simply destined for this?

For a moment, the purple-haired witch closes her eyes. Almost every morning she goes through this. Agonizing pain, then fear, then numbness and regret. A couple of months before there was also self-loathing. Croix even considered killing herself, but disregarded the idea because of the same sense of guilt that had borne it: her life was not hers to end, as it was not hers to save. Chariot had saved her so many times now that the purple-haired witch felt eternally indebted to her. And that brought strange tranquility to her life, helped her through the anguish of waking up each day.

Croix takes a few light steps towards the room Aquila sleeps in. This is, perhaps, the strangest thing in her life now: the fact that Croix Meridies had become a mother. She never thought about it, and now here she was, before the small mahogany cradle in which the perfect child was sleeping. Or was it?

Aquila feels her mother’s gaze, wakes up and starts crying quietly. It always amazed Croix: she thought all children to be noisy and unbearable, but her daughter is just so quiet. The witch leans in just a little and smiles to reassure her child.

– Hush now, lil’ sunshine, – she whispers. – We don’t want to wake mom up, do we?

With that, Croix tries to lift the girl in her arms. It feels a bit awkward, and the witch is slightly uncomfortable: she doesn’t want to hurt or drop Aquila, yet she always thinks she’s about to do so. Sometimes she can’t control the amount of force in her injured hand, so there’s always fear of overcommitment. Though for now everything seems to be just right. Croix holds her daughter and gently kisses her forehead, then starts humming a melody from years long past. A melody that Chariot used to sing in their tree house when Croix had trouble falling asleep.

– I’m always breathless to see

Growing so slowly to greet me,

Where I end and where she begins?

It’s not quite a lullaby, more of a romance about a girl who fell in love with the moon. Yet Aquila is pleased with her mother’s voice and quickly falls asleep again. Croix continues, softly rocking the girl in her arms.

– When she shines for me at night

And her skies show green and white,

She will keep us in her sight;

We all lie beneath her light…

She sits herself down in an enormous armchair that stands by their bed. It is big enough to be called a sofa, and soft enough to drown in it. Smiling blissfully, Croix looks at her daughter, then – at her sleeping wife. Perhaps this is her true purpose. To be not a prodigy, not a hero, not even the greatest witch, but herself and herself only: Croix du Nord, a loving wife, a caring mother, a somewhat competent teacher. She’s had enough of troubles and misadventures. And the memories that have assaulted her for so long are now as numb and foreign as her left arm. They almost disappear, scratching at the back of her mind, too far to be taken notice of. All that matters are her wife and child. She will be there for them. Always. Like Chariot was always there for her.

Chariot opens her eyes and blinks in confusion. Her wife looks at her with such affection that she almost melts on the spot.

– Good morning, chérie, – Croix whispers. There is no more uncertainty in her voice. Their life has just begun this morning.

[ryik-the-writer]

Rumbelle fic: A Regency Affair

RCIJ prompt: “REGENCY PERIOD, WEDDING NIGHT, MISUNDERSTANDINGS”

Okay, so I knew next to nothing short of Jane Austen’s works and a few really dated romance novels from my Great-grandmama, so I spent the last month researching and trying to piece something together but failed miserably *-_-

Thus, I tried something a little different and did my best with it.

For the amazing @thatravenclawedbitch ALL HAIL THE QUEEN!!!

A03

-,-,-,-,-,-,-

Since the Black Fairy’s defeat roughly three months prior, Storybrooke had entered an unnerving period of peace, devoid of curses or new enemies. Many of the citizens who had been living each day waiting for the next crisis now had the opportunity to move forward, to travel and start families. For the Charmings, who had found the need to celebrate each victory with elaborate parties, had sent invites all over town for Storybrooke’s first “Ball”. The shindig was to be held at the Sorcer’s mansion which was being transformed into a community house of sorts, and was to be Regency Period themed of all things. Little informational packets filled with what to wear, how to speak and so forth had been sent with each invitation.

Belle, who was the biggest Jane Austen fan on the east coast, was throwing herself into the preparations. Rumplestiltskin was happy to see her so involved with the community again, and was more than happy to take care of Gideon while she enjoyed herself. Still, the preparations often left his wife exhausted when she came home, having just enough energy to have her nightly ritual with Gideon and kiss her husband’s cheek before she knocked out and began the whole process again.

While Rumplestiltskin was far from dissatisfied with his one-on-one time with his son (he may or may not be measuring the boy for three-piece suits), he still missed his wife terribly, and would open a bottle of his most prized spirit the day the whole fiasco ended.

Other than nodding absently on Belle’s choice color scheme and menu, he hadn’t contributed to the set-up of the party since he had no plans on going to the event. Belle hadn’t been too pleased of his proclamation but gave him no other beef about it since he was staying home to look after the baby.

If she wasn’t busy enough, four days before the ball was to take place, Ruby and her love Dorothy Gale had crash-landed smackdab in the middle of Main street (adding a subsequent amount of damage to his shop windows Rumplestiltskin would add). The subject of marriage was mentioned and the Regency period ball was doubled into a wedding party for the couple.

Rumplestiltskin didn’t bat an eye at the change and was already picking out which onesie Gideon would be wearing after his bath that night when Belle burst into the nursery, her frazzled appearance forcing him to stop everything he was doing.

“Darling, what’s wrong?”

“I’m a bloody idiot! That’s what’s wrong!”

“Tone.” Rumple whispered, nodding to the crib where their bundle of joy was snoozing gently.

Belle nodded and Rumple grabbed a monitor before closing the door and leading her to the kitchen where he poured her a generous glass of wine.

“Now, why are you questioning your intelligence?”

Belle took the offered glass and took a long sip before she answered.

“I didn’t make my costume.” Belle said, covering her eyes in defeated humiliation. “I did hours of research on food and mannerisms and forks of all things but I didn’t make my own costume!”

Rumple went behind Belle to massage her shoulders, eyes widening at the tight knots under her skin.

“You’re stressing too much over this sweetheart.” Rumple cooed. “Have you told Snow White? Perhaps she has something you can borrow.”

“She’s too busy.” Belle mocked in a sing-song voice that sent chills of déjà vu up her husband’s spine. “Wait…no I shouldn’t say that...ugh I want to hit her but I don’t…I’m so tired.”

Rumple blinked and moved her wine glass out of reach.

“How much longer until the party?”

Belle grabbed one of his hands off her shoulders and brought it down so that she could look at his wristwatch.

“23 hours.” She moaned, releasing his wrist and burying her face in her arms.

Rumple patted her shoulder. Despite how little he cared for the ball, he knew it meant the world to Belle, and he couldn’t bear to see her in distress.

“Come with me.” He sighed.

Belle lifted her head, glaring at him. “Why?”

“Because in our attic may be the solution to your problem.”

Belle tilted her head in curiosity and sat up, following her husband.

“Wow.” Belle commented as they shifted through the boxes and chests. “I can’t believe I never explored this place.”

“My curious maid, who explored every nook, cranny, and hole of the Dark Castle skipped a room?”

Belle giggled, rising from a chest filled with old dishes to lock her arms around his neck. “Well, I was kept quite busy when I first came here.”

“Ah, I recall.” Rumple mused as he rubbed up her sides, meeting her lips. Belle’s nails inched through his hair, scratching his scalp in a way that made his legs go weak. He locked his arms around her waist to stabilize her and lent her against a large chest.

“Whoa.” Belle laughed, pulling from his lips. “That’s not why we’re up here.”

“Is it?” Rumple panted.

Belle regrettably crawled back. “If you wanted to seduce my problems away, you would have taken me on the table or the couch at least.”

“Well…I haven’t taken you in here…”

Belle gave him “the look” and he pulled away with a sigh.

“Very well. Hop up, you’re on the chest I need.”

Belle did as he said and watched as he opened the chest, gasping in wonder as her husband pulled out a beautiful blue and white dress.

“Rumple…where…”

“Let’s just say I did a lot of business in Dr. Frankenstein’s realm. They’re forever stuck a kind of Victorian-Regency time loop.”

Belle took the dress from him, holding it to her chest. Due to her sped-up pregnancy, Belle hadn’t had any size increases in her waist or breasts, but the front of the dress would still have to be adjusted.

“I’ll have to get your measurements.” Gold stated as he pulled out a tape measurer. “See where I need to adjust it.”

Belle saw the lustful glint in his eye. “The things you do to get me out of my clothes.”

“Caught me again. Now if you would…”

Belle began to undo the buttons on her blouse. “If I must…”

A cackle from the baby monitored paused the couple’s ministrations. One long second later Gideon’s powerful cry echoed through and the couple sighed in defeat.

“Rain check?”

“Indeed. Would you get him a bottle why I take all this to the sowing room? I’ll handle his bath.”

“Of course darling.” Belle said with a kiss, leaving her husband to salvage her a dress.

-,-,-,-

Rumplestiltskin worked through the night (one of the few benefits of being the Dark One) and had Belle a Regency Period dress ready by the time she brought Gideon down for his 8 a.m. feeding.

“Rumple it’s gorgeous!” Belle gushed as she held the garment to her chest.

Rumple smiled with a sense of pride as he fed their son. “Try it on.”

Belle scurried to the hall bathroom. “I wish you’d change your mind about coming tonight!” she called.

Rumple moved closer to the hall so that Gideon wouldn’t have to hear him shout. “If I wanted to put on tight leather breeches I’d go back to the Enchanted Forest.”

Belle stuck her head out the doorway, her hair mused from taking off her nightgown.

“Zelena won’t be there.” Belle said quietly, carefully. “She and Dorothy still have bad blood between them.”

Rumple nodded, feeling a sense of relief that he wasn’t the only one who still didn’t bow to the wicked witch’s “redeemed” persona.

“As comforting as that is, I still rather stay home.”

Belle soothed out her slip before responding. “You haven’t really been out much since Gideon was born…”

Rumple forced a chuckle. “Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”

Belle rolled her eyes and stepped into her dress. “I’m serious. We promised we would be honest with each other. If something’s wrong I want to know.”

Rumple shook his head, determined to cast away any doubt. “I just don’t want to go Belle. This is your scene…they’re your friends. I just would feel more comfortable here.”

Belle stepped out of the bathroom to reveal her dress, powder blue with gold lacings and loose from not being properly laced. Rumplestiltskin’s mouth when dry and his instincts sparked with pleasure. Belle however didn’t catch the change in his mood.

“They’re your friends too Rumple…”

“When they want something.” Rumple thought, keeping his tongue still lest he upset his wife.

“I just think you’d have a better time if you didn’t have the entire town staring at you.”

“Of course they’ll be staring at me!” Belle exclaimed, striding up to her husband and wrapping her arms around his neck. “I have the most handsome man in all the realms on my arm.”

The Dark One smiled lovingly, not believing her words but appreciating her love and admiration of him. He leant over and gave her lips a quick peck.

“I want you to go to the ball and enjoy yourself and not worry about me or the baby. Have ten glasses of wine and help your friend enjoy her last night as a single woman. I want you to do this Belle.”

Belle still wasn’t entirely pleased that she wasn’t able to convince him to come, but decided to allow him to have his way. Perhaps having separate activities would be good for them. Absence was supposed to make the heart grow stronger after all.

“I’ll go Rumple, but I’ll be thinking about coming home to you.”

“I think that’s a compromise I can agree with.” He agreed, his fingertips gliding over the loose, soft material of her dress.

“Do you want me to lace you up?”

Belle’s eyelids fluttered. “You’ll just have to undo them.”

Rumplestiltskin smirked, catching the naughtiness under her tone. “I don’t see a problem with that…”

The baby gurgled, reminding the couple that they were not alone anymore.

“Rain check?” Belle inquired.

“Yes dear. You get the coffee started why I change our son and give him a talking to about quality time…”

-,-,-,-,-

Within a few hours, Belle was sipping a glass of lemonade from a crystal glass, a drink the planners decided was the safest choice for he mixed crowd (though there was a rumor that dwarves had smuggled in something to spike it.

She looked out to the crowd and wondered if she truly had fallen into an enchanted Jane Austen novel. Some of the unmarried girls were sitting on a bench near the dancefloor waiting for someone to ask them for a dance (as, Belle recalled, was customary), while several men wandered about, gazing at the bench. A few others who couldn’t or didn’t want to dance had set up card games, or “billards” in an adjacent room. Everyone had done their best to stay within the party’s theme with their wardrobe. The women were decked out in the simple gowns and bonnets, the men in their tailcoats and breeches and other various accessories popular for the times.

Belle spared a moment to think of her husband’s attire. In both realms he was always decked out in multiple layers no matter the season nor occasion; he’d fit perfectly at this party.

She sighed and made another circle around the refreshment table. Despite being surrounded by nearly the entire town, she felt so alone. She wished Rumple was by her side, whispering quips and not-too-friendly remarks about how some of the people at the party.

“Evening fair lady.”

Belle turned and burst into a smile at the sight of Ruby curtseying before her. She sat her glass down and returned the gesture. “Your ladyship.”

Ruby chuckled and leaned against the table, a gesture that would have been frowned upon during Regency times.

“Should you not be with your bride to be?”

“I was, but I could see you frowning across the roomI don’t have to be a werewolf to sense that something’s wrong.”

Belle shrugged, hiding her frown behind her glass.

Ruby nudged her with her sharp elbow. “Speak softly to me Lady Belle. Lay your troubles upon my…I don’t know…bosom?”

Belle softly. “I think you’re getting mixed up with the Shakespearen era.”

“Three glasses of “lemonade: and you would too. Now come on.”

Belle shook her head. “Nothing. It’s your engagement party. Go enjoy it.”

“I can’t enjoy kissing champagne from my fiancé’s lips if you’re not in the spirit to cheer me on. Spill or else I’ll tell Leroy and he’ll pronounce it to the whole ball and you won’t get a moment’s peace.”

The predatorial look in the werewolf’s told Belle she better spill.

“I just wish Rumple was here is all.” Belle admitted.

Ruby nodded in sympathy for her friend. Though she and the Dark One were far from friends, she knew Belle loved him with all her heart and wanted them to be happy. And, unrelatedly, she may have called dibs on secondary godmother status for Gideon.

“Why didn’t he want to come?”

“I suppose he’s more interested in reveling in fatherhood again.”

“He’s had three months for that. Come on, what else?”

Belle tapped at the lip of her glass. “He said he didn’t want to be around all these people.”

Ruby chuckled humorlessly. “That figures, Mr. Gold—the cursed one that is—was a total social pariah. No one ever saw him unless he was collecting rent.”

Belle thought on that. During her days at the Dark Castle, he was always around unless on a deal. Now that she thought about it, she had never really seen him socialize with anyone on a friendly level other than her. The Charmings and the rest of the town kept their distance unless there was a catastrophe brewing.

“Maybe I should call him?” Belle inquired to her friend.

“That kind of goes against the theme does it…” Ruby eyes suddenly strayed, a grin spreading over lips a second later.

Belle followed her gaze curiously and gasped at the sight of her husband sauntering towards her, decked in full regency ware: breeches made of fine wool, a decorated vest Belle recognized from one of his Dark One ensembles, heeled boots, and his signature cane that Belle was certain she’d never see again.

“Rumple…”

Rumplestiltskin bowed exaggeratedly, taking her hand and kissing it delicately.

“It would be a great honor if your ladyship would bestow upon me a dance.”

Belle bit her lip to hold back a pleased squeal. She took a deep breath and returned the gesture. “I’d love too.”

He took her hand and led her to the dancefloor where dozens upon dozens of eyes were watching them, some supportive, some disapproving as they always would be no matter how the Dark One tried to mend his ways.

Their hands joined as they spun slowly, their instincts taking over as they danced.

“I wonder who our son will take after in the dancing department?” Rumple pondered, spinning her out and then back to him.

“Speaking of our son, did you bring him or…”

“Let’s just say Henry was looking to line his pockets for future dates with Miss Violet.”

“Under the guise that he wanted to spend some extra time with his uncle?” Belle smirked.

“There was an undertone.” He said as he twirled her gracefully.

“Why my dear husband, you’re a regular Fitzwilliam Darcy.”

Rumplestiltskin’s nose crinkled. “That widgeon whey-face? I should hope not!”

Belle surprised a snort. “He had his charm, and his redemption is the highlight of the whole story.”

Rumple huffed. “He changed solely so that Elizabeth would marry him.”

Belle allowed him to tip her back but clenched his shoulders to hold him over her.

“He recognized his faults and fought to change them; only when he felt he was worthy did he approach Elizabeth again. He even fought for her sister’s reputation.”

Rumple lifted her back up, holding her closely. “Only you would want to discuss fictional Regency characters whilst at a Regency-themed ball.”

“But of course.” Belle giggled, kissing his jaw and catching a whiff of his smoky scent. “I’m so glad you’re here. What changed your mind?”

“I just missed you.” He said, hands caressing her waist. “I was being selfish earlier. These are the kind of events a husband goes to with his wife and I wasn’t willing to play along.”

“You weren’t being self Rumple.” Belle assured. “We aren’t going to always want to do the same things and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t want you to go to parties or events with me if you aren’t going to have a good time.”

“Does that mean I’ve excluded from our boy’s plays and award ceremonies?”

Belle gave him “the look” once more and Rumplestiltskin grinned. “Kidding.”

The music stopped and the dancers broke apart to applaud the band. Rumple led Belle to a chair to rest, but Belle stayed by his side.

“You know,” Belle whispered into his nape, “I recall making up several guestrooms for the unfortunate couple who may become too partied-out to travel home.”

“Oh.” Rumple mused, the hand supporting her back sliding lower. “How considerate of you.”

“Perhaps I should show you to where they are just in case.”

“I believe that would be quite hospitable of you.”

The two broke from their passionate embrace, staring at their feet to avoid the looks they were receiving. They slunk innocently to the refreshment table, making a show at sipping the lemonade and eating the tiny cakes for a moment to ward off any suspicion as they waited for the eyes on them to stray elsewhere.

Across the room Rumple spotted Snow White sipping on a beverage too bubbly to be lemonade. Judging by the way the former princess was leaning on Regina in order to not fall into a piano, it wasn’t her first glass. He smiled mischievously, and with a slight flick of his finger, the liquid in her glass bubbling over. The former princess quickly turned to throw the glass on the table, causing several people to turn to watch the ordeal as David quickly fetched his wife a handkerchief.

“Rumple!” Belle hissed. “That’s cruel!”

“Well it was cruel of her to put most of the arrangements for this party on you.”

Belle crossed her arms. “Do you always have to get even after every little confrontation?”

“Only when my wife is smitted. Besides it serves her right, putting so much pressure on you. Sometimes I wonder who’s really running this town.”

Belle ducked her head to hide a small smile. No need to encourage his unsavory behavior.

“Now, while the masses are distracted, would you like to show me that fainting room?”

Belle smiled naughtily, turning from her husband. “I believe you’ve lost the privilege, Mr. Gold.”

Gold’s hands snaked to her waist. “Allow me to earn it back, Mrs. Gold?”

Belle let out a breathy laugh, unable to keep a temper with him. “Move quickly then.” She said as she took his arm and led him to the stairway. The made their way up as quickly and casually as they could but Snow White’s fiasco was just about over and attention was starting to stray. Rumple stopped Belle, wrapping a hand around her waist and before Belle could blink they were standing in the hall of guestrooms.

“I suppose we have our pick.” Rumple whispered.

Belle placed a finger to her lips. “Not quite.” She whispered back. “The one at the end is the ‘honeymoon’ suit.” Belle said with a wink.

Rumplestiltskin crinkled his nose, not liking the idea of over hearing the shewolf and her soon-to-be-wife’s wedding night. “Perhaps I should just take us home?” he inquired with a light flourish.

“Not a chance. Heaven knows what they’ll do next to these rooms once the party is over. I want to have a few memories in at least one of them.”

“As the lady insists.”

They traveled to the second to last door, pressing against the fine wood to listen for occupants. Hearing silence, they eased the door open. Finding room empty, they hurried inside, wasting no time with intertwining, feeling up and down each other’s clothing, looking for laces and buttons as Rumple leaned his cane against the wall.

“I should have made this a tear-away.” Rumplestiltskin growled against Belle’s neck.

Belle gasped lowly at a hard bite, teething her lips as her hands adventured under his jacket. “H-here.” She moaned as she turned on her stomach to give him access to her laces.

“Why Mrs. Gold.” Rumple husked as he pulled at one lace. “You would have me believe you are quite the wanton instead of a doting, modest wife.”

“Oh I’m certainly doting.” Belle said as she relaxed to the loosening of her dress and her husband’s gentle fingers gazing along her spine. “But my modesty has starting to crumble considering I’ve hardly been with my husband since the birth of my son.” She yelped when Rumple suddenly turned her on her back, fingers trailing to wrist to sooth the soft skin there.

“And how would your husband feel about such behavior?” Rumple inquired in a tone that made a chill run up Belle’s spine. Though there were times throughout their relationship that Belle loathed the darkness inside her husband’s soul, there were also moments when she loved the contrast from his gentler side, and he could be the lover that would ravish and thoroughly fuck her.

“I think he likes it as much as I do.”

Rumple’s hands tightened around her wrists and his lips seared to hers, sliding down when he had her utterly breathless.

“I do Belle.” He husked as he pulled down her dress enough to get to her perky breasts, mouth the creamy mounds. “So much. I’ve missed us.”

Belle’s back arched with a cry, desire pooling at her core and making the silk fabric cling uncomfortably to her skin.

“Rumple…”

The Dark One recognized the need in her groan and released her wrists, trailing them down to her waist to fight with the end of her dress all that was underneath.

Belle gasped when his fingers trailed over her shaking thighs, teasing her with his fluttering touches but not giving her the direct pleasure she sought.

“I see…you skipped the…chapter…AH…on etiquette…dear!”

In response, Rumplestiltskin cleaved Belle netherlips with his tongue, coating the silky flesh in her arousal.

“Ah! Yes don’t stop!”

“Not this time.” He husked, delving deeper into her depths. He and his wife had been denied for too long, and he was determined to bring her to the height of pleasure as many times as she could.

Belle’s hands gripped his hair, one stroking his locks lovingly, the other holding his head where she needed it. With a few more flicks of his tongue she was moaning over the edge, turning her head to muffle her hollering against one of the pillows.

Rumple emerged from her skirts, Belle’s hands sliding from his hair. He watched in awe at her heaving bosoms and scarlet cheeks as he licked her musk from his lips.

“Wa…you…”

Rumplestiltskin kissed her hungrily as his hand undid the brass buttons of his breeches, twisting from them just enough to release himself.

Belle wrapped a leg around one of his calves, gasping when she felt him press just against her pubic bone.

“Don’t stop.” She groaned.

“Never.” He husked, lining them up. Just as he was about to thrust in and make them one, the door burst open and Ruby and Dorothy came stumbling in.

Rumplestiltskin reacted more quickly than Belle, rolling off his wife and covering them both from the waist down. Luckily the two newlyweds were so focused on prepping for their wedding night that they didn’t notice the startled couple.

Now semi-modest, they waited for the awkward meeting that was to come, but instead found theirselves watching as Ruby pressed Dorothy into the wall.

“Oh dear.” Belle whispered. “Should we...”

Rumple cleared his throat, causing the couple to jump and turn to them.

“Ruby!” Dorothy exclaimed. “You got the four-way we talked about? Sweet!”

“Oh my Gods.” Belle muttered, hiding her face. Rumple patted his wife’s hip, managing to contain his smirk.

“Belle, Mr. Gold,” Ruby began cautiously, averting her eyes to the bedpost. “Sorry to break it to you but this is the honeymoon suit.”

“That’s where you’re wrong dearie.” Rumple affirmed much too smugly. “That would be the room next door.”

Ruby’s face turned as scarlet as her dress as she balanced her tipsy bride and looked out the hall to confirm the Dark One’s confirmation.  

“Hey! Are you two having sex?” Dorothy slurred. “That’s great! We’re having sex too!”

“Good for you.” Rumple said, leaning on his arm.

“Wow!” Dorothy pointed at Belle. “You have great boobs!”

Belle quickly covered her wares, sending a look to Rumple as he choked with laughter. “Thank you, Dorothy.”

“I mean, Wolfie’s are my favorite but…”

“Okay Kansas,” Ruby said quickly as she wrapped an arm around her bride. “I think you’ve traumatized them enough…and vise versa. ‘Night guys!”

“So glad we could make this a memorable night for you both!” Rumple called out as Ruby closed the door.

Belle swatted him on the shoulder and fell back to the bed with a frustrated groan.

Rumple allow the humor for the situation to die out before he joined her, his mood for sex unfortunately long died down.

“We’re never going to have sex again, are we?” Belle sighed, staring up at the bleak ceiling.

“Probably not.” Rumplestiltskin shrugged.

Belle turned on her side. “Want to go home and see what’s on TCM?”

“Maybe we can find something semi-exotic before Gideon demands his 9 p.m. feeding.”

Belle snorted with laughter and kissed her husband hard.

[letmewritemylife]

Final Fight - Part 2

Only you can finish the game…                                                                                                   - OOMPH!

A/N Before you guys get too excited, there’s still a snap, but at least Lara gets to be a badass. Also from now I headcanon that Peter is a fan of Lara, no criticism accepted. Oh and Stephen is a simp

TRIGGER WARNINGS Canon-typical violence, magic torture but it’s Lara doing it so it’s okay, Lara is petty

Lara curses under her breath as she gets up on her elbows. The naive alien approaching her is thrown away in a second and she forces herself on her feet. A look at the spaceship flying above her head, a movement of her hand. The entire vehicle collapses, hitting another ship and disintegrating before it can reach the ground. At least she’s made something out of this turn of events.

She moves across the battlefield, attacking aliens, occasionally shielding the Dora Milaje from the hits of Thanos’ spaceships, helping up some Avenger she’s never seen before. And finally she finds him again.

She’s about to attack him, but Ebony Maw is faster. His magic grabs her and before she can even process it she’s floating in mid air. She throws her arms forward, instinctively reaching for something that isn’t even there, but the grip around her neck only tightens.

Ebony Maw doesn’t flinch, moving her away from his master. When she sees the titan disappearing from her field vision, running away like a coward with the excuse to approach some Avenger, the blood in her veins begins boiling again.

Ebony Maw hasn’t even taken a step forward that she’s already ripped him in two with all the brutality that her magic is capable of. Okay, maybe not all of it. But definitely a good amount.

She finds the titan not far from where he was before, but she has a moment of hesitation when the gauntlet comes into view. The gauntlet and all the six infinity stones, to be more precise. She shakes her head, getting rid of the anxiety invading her muscles. “F*ck it, who else could he kill now?”

The titan notices her and without a second thought punches her, already grinning at the idea of seeing the annoying witch smashed on the ground by the infinity stones he’s holding. But all his pride turns to dust - no pun intended - when he finds himself unable to move his fist, Lara blocking the gauntlet with a hint of a smirk on her lips before she casts him far away with a quick movement of her hands.

Once he’s hit the floor, he rolls for a good twelve feet. She lands right before him and forces him upright, taking control of his body. Once again, his whole body aches and he can do nothing but scream at the top of his lungs: curses, insults, simple incoherent words, it doesn’t matter what. 

Her maniacal grin widens and Thanos is quite sure he’s just heard her laugh. But suddenly everything stops. Silence covers the entire battlefield for a split second and even the titan’s screams come to a halt. The witch - no, Enchantress, it’s different - tilts her head slightly to the side and smirks. And Thanos’ heart stops.

Lara abruptly widens her arms, just like she did mere hours before to recreate the infinity stones. This time, however, her magic doesn’t go nearly as far as before and concentrates on the battlefield. She lets out an unheard amount of energy, deep purple and extraordinarily powerful, that penetrates deeply into Thanos’ soldiers. One by one, they disintegrate and their atoms explode one after the one with an audible screeching.

He has no idea how it happened. Everything was white, completely white. And silent. But when he opens his eyes - or rather when they are forced open by some unknown force, - all around him is chaotic.

He is in a lab, somewhere he doesn’t know. His brain can register screams coming from around him, but his eyes are locked on the entity (is it even a human being?) standing in front of him, a source of purple light impossible to distinguish. 

A strong, cold wind breaks the glass on the wall above them and he instinctively looks up. A middle aged man is staring in horror at him, screaming something into his phone. A glance to the side. Scientists crawling on their hands.

It is only at this point that he sees it. Or rather her. Smirking, with purple energy dancing around her fingers, a black stone as her ring and a purple crystal in her tiara. Her wavy hair moves with the breeze and she raises a hand, something shining between her pale fingers.

A stone. The mind stone. She presses her hand to his forehead, embedding the stone into his skull, and takes a step back. “They’re waiting for you,” she says.

Without even giving him the time to realize what is going on, she drags him with her through a portal.

“Welcome Lara, daughter of Abraham.”

Red Skull’s resonates on the desolated mountain. Lara doesn’t even look him in the eye. “It’s Robyn,” she mumbles as she approaches the edge of the cliff.

She opens the palm of her hand and looks down at the orange stone, glowing weakly in the dark. “A soul for a soul,” she whispers to herself, ignoring the other man’s confused glances. “That’s the lamest thing I’ve ever heard.”

She lets the stone fall down the cliff, reuniting with Vormir’s ground, and waits. One second. Nothing happens. Two seconds. The stench of dead corpses makes her want to throw up. Three seconds. Lightning pierce the sky, accompanied by winds so strong to almost throw Lara on the ground. Almost.

A woman emerges from the edge of the cliff, launched upwards. She lands right in front of Lara, but it takes a moment or two before she looks up at her.

The moment her brown eyes meet the witch’s purple ones, she jumps to her feet, clenching her fist around a small dagger she probably hid in some of her pockets. “Who the hell are you?” she asks bewildered, frantically moving her eyes between Red Skull and Lara.

Lara tilts her head slightly to the side. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have time for that. You’re awaited somewhere.” And after having reached for her wrist, she drags the other woman through a portal.

Lara blinks a few times, readjusting to her actual body. The infinity stones - the four that are left, actually - are still glowing, floating in mid air before her face. She smirks and moves her hands in a circular motion, watching as every stone disappears and goes back where it’s supposed to be.

“Hi Doctor Miss Lara, ma’am.” The cheerful voice calling her makes her jump on the spot and she turns around to see Tony’s kid - Peter? His name was probably Peter - sitting on the ruins of a wall.

She shakes her head, making sure she’s awake. “What the-”

“That was so cool!” he interrupts her. A huge smile paints on his face and he jumps down, only to start hopping around her. “I mean, the whole explosion and magic and spells- That was epic, my friend MJ would’ve loved that. I mean, I loved it too, but-”

She grabs him by the shoulders and interrupts him. “Hate to interrupt you, but weren’t you, you know…”

“Dead? Oh yeah, not fun at all, but at some point Doctor Strange came up to me and went-” 

“Stephen is here?” 

“Yes ma’am, he said we needed to get here ‘cause there was a huge mess and-”

Her face lights up. “Sorry kid, but I got sorcerers to find.”

She starts running around the battlefield, looking for someone she didn’t even know was alive again. When did that happen? She doesn’t remember seeing any of those un-snapped Avengers anywhere during the- Oh wait, she knows five Avengers at best, maybe she did see them.

Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Now the problem is where to find them. It’s not like she couldn’t just fly over the battlefield, but she wouldn’t see them anyway. There isn’t enough light to see twenty feet from her face, let alone recognising two men in a huge battlefield filled with people.

She’s too busy cursing Doctor Sorcerer to notice Jonathan, until she’s collided with him. He doesn’t seem to mind, smiling at her. “Hell, sis, I was worried,” he immediately says, quickly checking her conditions. He arches a brow, his renowned observation skills finally getting in action. “Wait, what are you wearing?” he asks pointing at her brand new costume.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “I’ll explain everything later, I promise, but have you se-” The callous hand brushing her shoulder makes her freeze on the spot.

The Cloak is getting impatient, fluttering its collar and annoying Stephen more and more as minutes pass. The sorcerer groans loudly, walking past another pile of ruins. “Calm down or next thing I’m doing is selling you in a garage sale.”

The Cloak shakes itself in offence before abruptly dragging its master with it. Stephen curses under his breath, avoiding by an inch two Dora Milaje chatting. The relic only stops when it sees a well-known mass of brown hair, walking around the battlefield like an abandoned dog looking for its owner.

Stephen takes in a deep breath. Who knew it would have been so awkward approaching her again after five years? “And after seeing her go on the verge of insanity because of you,” he corrected himself. He’s just gathered enough courage to talk with her when someone else stops her, a tall man who looks dangerously similar to her. “Her brother,” he explains to the Cloak, which has begun being restless again.

Well, at least now he has a couple more minutes to decide what to tell her. “Hey, sorry for dying and leaving you to face the end of the world.” No, maybe it’s a bit too direct. Plus, he has been there the whole time during the fight against Thanos. 

“Hi, how are you? Are you past creating fake sitcom realities in which I’m your husband?” Okay, he could only say this if he wanted to get his nose broken. And rightfully so. “Not that I minded it.” And that’s just creepy.

How about a simple “How are you”? But what is she supposed to say? “If I have to be honest, I liked it better when I didn’t have to fight ancient demons and almost get myself killed every other day.”

Great, he has absolutely no idea what to tell her, but- Wait, how the hell did he get two feet away from Lara? Stephen hasn’t even had the time to figure out what dumb muscle in his body unconsciously made him walk up to her that his hand is on her shoulder.

He opens his mouth to speak (at this point anything will work), but Lara is faster than him and wraps him in her arms, pulling him down for the tightest hug he’s been given in a while. Sh*t. Sh*t. Sh*t.

She nuzzles her nose in the crook of his neck and he hopes with every ounce of his being that she can’t feel his heart threatening to jump out of his chest. “I hate you,” she whispers with a broken voice against his robes, as the Cloak wiggles excitedly.

He lets out a heavy breath before finally hugging her back with an instinctive smile. “Hate you too.” Who the hell gave her the right to make him feel so soft after an entire day of battling to save the universe?

Lara’s low giggle makes his heart stop and the Cloak seems to notice, because it detaches itself from its master and wraps more tightly around the woman. She smiles, parting from him and turning to the needy piece of clothing just in time not to see Stephen turn bright red.

Luckily Wong arrives, distracting Lara before she can do anything else unintentionally adorable - or before the Cloak can further prove what a little sh*t it is. 

While Lara hugs the other sorcerer, Jonathan throws a look at Stephen. “And you are?”

“Doctor Stephen Strange.”

“Oh of course, how could I not know,” he replies with a smirk - the same as Lara, he notices.

“They’re my friends,” Lara explains, still struggling to get the Cloak off her. She turns to the two sorcerers. “That’s my brother Jonathan.”

Wong furrows his brows. “Since when do you have a brother.”

“Since I was born, they just forgot to tell me, I guess,” she shrugs.

If she had told her ten-year-old self that in less than thirty year she would have been walking around the ruins of the Avengers Compound after saving the entire universe from extinction, laughing at a sarcastic comment about Captain America told her by a sorcerer with a doctorate… well, knowing herself she could have even believed it. But she would have been very surprised.

What she probably would have not believed is the lightness that she’s feeling, the absolute peace in her mind mixed with an almost childish excitement. For what? She’s not sure, she just knows that her face muscles have never hurt so much in the past few years and she couldn’t care less.

Her smile is already huge when they get to where the other Avengers are. However, she manages to widen it a little bit more at the sight of Vision and Gamora, both safe and sound, surrounded by their respective friends.

Tony abandons his spot between Pepper and Peter and walks up to Stephen, a smirk on his face. “Took your sweet time, doctor.”

Stephen rolls his eyes and is about to reply, but is interrupted by a portal opening not far from them, a man falling ungracefully out of it.

Loki gets up on his elbows, throwing furious glances around. “You must be kidding me,” he groans, just in time to be forced to his feet and hugged by his brother. The God of Mischief sighs loudly as Thor squeezes him to the point of almost breaking his ribs and Lara struggles to hold back a laugh.

As soon as he’s freed by the much too affectionate sibling, Loki examines the row of magic users in front of him. Taking advantage of the widespread disinterest for him - everyone is too busy greeting their long lost friends to care about him, - he focuses on each witch and sorcerer he can see.

“Loki!” Thor is back to bother him, it seems. But this time he’s not alone, he’s dragging a short witch with him and she’s giggling awkwardly as she keeps her tiara from falling on the ground. “Meet Lady Lara, she’s a very powerful witch.”

Loki’s eyes widen when they fall on her eyes, deep blue but with purple sparkles. “How did you do that?” he asks out of nowhere, his voice filled with curiosity as well as a hint of terror.

Lara narrows her brows. “Did what?”

He gestures at his body. “This! Resurrecting me!”

Thor moves his eyes between the two, a little bewildered. His confusion is bound to only get worse when Lara smirks. “That’s a good question.” She crosses her arms and throws her head back. “I have absolutely no idea, I just traded you for a Bloody Mary.” Loki’s look of absolute confusion seems to entertain the woman, who laughs softly. The god finds it hard to believe she and the woman he saw minutes before are the same person.

The atmosphere of domestic bliss is broken by a unit of SWORD tanks, marching into the battlefield and covering the relaxed chattering with its metallic clatter. They haven’t even stopped moving yet when twenty, maybe thirty soldiers jump down and point their rifles at Lara and Jonathan.

The two siblings share a confused look, but everything becomes clearer when Hayward makes his way among the soldiers. “Put your hands up, you’re under arrest.”

Jonathan huffs. “Hell, you guys got strange ways to thank people.”

The other man doesn’t mind the joke and turns to Lara. “You’re accused of domestic terrorism, attemped manslaughter and use of weapons of mass destruction, in addition to removal of restraints imposed to you by the US government.”

Lara raises her hands slowly and arches a brow. “All for a collar?” Tony is about to say something, probably admitting that he was the one who took off her collar, but she interrupts. The last thing she wants is him being tried for helping her. “Plus I don’t think your handling of demons and stuff is good enough for you to lock me up again.”

“I’m sorry,” Hayward replies, “but you’re dangerous and must be contained.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Come with us with no resistance and let’s end this quickly.”

She smirks. “And what if I don’t?”

The green lasers pointed at her chest move slowly up to her forehead. “Then we have a problem,” he says.

She throws a quick look at Jonathan. He’s just ten feet from her with his hands raised, no one is pointing their rifles at him. An idea comes to her mind and she nods. Jonathan nods back: he understood. She swallows the lump in her throat and turns back to Hayward. “What can I say, director?” Her hands are not shaking, she’s a professional, only amateurs’ hands shake. “Hope you’ll be able to solve it soon.”

She paints her best smirk on her face and with a snap of her fingers Jonathan and she are gone, leaving behind just a thin, purple smoke.

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Everything You Need to Know About Marvel's Infinity Stones Ahead of 'Avengers: Infinity War'

Quick Marvel pop quiz! Off the top of your head, can you place each of the Infinity Stones within the Cinematic Universe right now? Perhaps we should back this up and start with the basics: Can you even explain what the Infinity Stones are?

Here's how the Collector (played by Benicio del Toro, in all his white-eyebrowed glory) summarized them in Guardians of the Galaxy: "Before creation itself, there were six singularities. Then the universe exploded into existence and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots."

So, that's...vague, but all you need to know is there are six in total and they have been popping up as MacGuffins in the MCU since before the Avengers first assembled. When Thanos (Josh Brolin) threw on that gold glove in the mid-credits sequence of Age of Ultron and growled, "Fine, I'll do it myself," he was setting off a string of events that will culminate in Avengers: Infinity Wars. Until then, peruse this thorough field guide to the Infinity Stones.

The Space Stone

Marvel Studios

The Space Stone might be the most passed-around Infinity Stone in the entire MCU. Better known as the Tesseract, this stone first appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger, when Hugo Weaving's nefarious Red Skull used it to create weapons for the Nazis. S.H.I.E.L.D. mistakenly used it to open a portal in space that allowed Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to come to Earth, before Thor returned the stone to Asgard at the end of The Avengers. That's where it remained until Thor: Ragnarok, when Loki locked it in Odin's treasure room. Loki is then seen in the Infinity War trailer offering the Tesseract to...someone, so it's safe to assume he stole it and is currently in possession of the Space Stone.

The Mind Stone

Marvel Studios

The Mind Stone also factored into the aforementioned Tesseract-allowing-Loki-to-try-to-take-over-Earth incident, as Loki's scepter contained this stone within it. It was a gift from Thanos that Loki used to mind-control Hawkeye in Avengers. Ahead of Age of Ultron, HYDRA came into possession of the scepter and used it to give Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver their powers, before Ultron ultimately used it to create Vision (Paul Bettany). That's where it currently resides, embedded in Vision's forehead and granting him a whole bunch of powers. Last we saw of Vision in Captain America: Civil War, he harnessed the Mind Stone to fire a laser beam that inadvertently shot War Machine out of the sky.

The Reality Stone

Marvel Studios

Remember that evil-looking red syrup that Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) stumbled upon in a random warehouse in Thor: The Dark World? And then she decided to just touch it? And it possessed her? Infinity Stone! The Aether is a weaponized version of the Reality Stone, used to...uh, cover every realm in darkness? That's what the Dark Elves wanted to use it for, at least. Anyway, in the end, the Asgardians shipped the Aether off to the Collector to house in his museum, which was subsequently destroyed by the Power Stone. Basically, wherever the Collector is, the Reality Stone likely is too.

The Power Stone

Marvel Studios

Whereas everything about the Reality Stone is fairly nebulous, the Power Stone is all there in the title: It "gives the owner access to all power and energy that ever has or will exist," as exhibited in the Collector's Intro to Infinity Stones 101 lecture, when it is used to annihilate entire planets. In Guardians, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) inadvertently came into possession of the Power Stone within the Orb. After using it to destroy Ronan the Accuser, the legendary outlaw called Star-Lord bequeathed it to Irani Rael (Glenn Close), who locked it away on Xandar under the protection of the Nova Corps.

The Time Stone

Marvel Studios

Throughout Doctor Strange, the future Sorcerer Supreme (Benedict Cumberbatch) uses the Eye of Agamotto to manipulate the space-time continuum, speeding time up and slowing it down, turning time back and creating loops. Fans had been speculating that the green glow might belong to none other than the aptly named Time Stone, which Wong confirmed in the final moments of the film, offhandedly warning Strange that he wouldn't want to walk around wearing an Infinity Stone. Strange heeded the advice at the time and safeguarded the Eye and the Time Stone within Kamar-Taj, but when he popped up again in Thor: Ragnarok, the Time Stone was once again around his neck.

The Soul Stone

Marvel Studios

That leaves one Infinity Stone whose location is TBD. In the comic books, the Soul Stone can be used to manipulate both the living and the dead and is capable of stealing and storing souls. It's primarily been wielded by Adam Warlock, a character teased in one end credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but who has yet to be formally introduced into the MCU.

The final installment before Infinity War, Black Panther, is out now and contains no mention of the Soul Stone -- which doesn't necessarily mean the stone isn't in Wakanda. The Soul Stone was the final stone Thanos collected in the comics, and we know there is at least one major Infinity War set piece set in Wakanda. Might Cap, Black Widow and The Hulk pay a visit to Wakanda to help Black Panther protect the Soul Stone? (It makes a lot of sense that it would be housed in Necropolis, the Wakandan City of the Dead.) We will find out when Avengers: Infinity War arrives on May 4. Finders keepers! Losers get their souls snatched!

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[faeuniblog]

Script for Visual Essay

This is the script for my Visual essay for Overview of the Industry. This version will have my old edits and parts I've had to leave out. Parts that have been left out will look like this.

Hello there fellow melons, hope you’re ready to be entertained cause at least one of us is gonna have fun with this essay! I’m gonna be educating you guys on the joys that are the publishing industry!

Self-Published Vs Published!

 -So, what is it to publishing something?

Publishing is the broadcasting of literature, music, and information and making it available to the general public.

-  “So, Melon Sandy, I see you have your book there!

If you’re a writer that’s just written the best story ever, you’ll probably want to share said book with the world so you can make lots of money and be really famous!”

-“But almighty voice in the sky who sounds super amazing and cool, like it really sucks that this is a written visual essay and not an audio one, I here you cry!”

“How do I go about share my creation with the world?!”

-“Well, you have two options little Melon Sandy. You can go to Publishing Company or Self-Publish your work.”

Now let’s talks about what a Publisher is and does.

(draw like a picture of some cool printing machine or something)

Publishing Company – Basics, Pros and Cons.

If you decide to go with the Traditional method and get published by a big publisher, you’ll need to have your work accepted by a literary agent first. Once you get an agent, they will take care of selling your manuscript to the big publishers. By going through an agent you’ll be paid an upfront advance for your work. The advance could range from £1,000 to over £100,000. You also get royalties at around 3%-6%.

Having an agent take care of shit is nice, but its damn hard to get an agent to take your work and even then, there’s no reassurance that they’ll even be able to sell your manuscript to a publisher.

If you're lucky enough to get a publisher interested.

The publisher will take care of editorial, copyediting, and design work, as well as invest in sales and marketing. Depending on whether you’re with a small or large publisher, the budget on these things can range from £15,000 to £50,000.

-You, as the writer Melon Sandy, will not have to pay anything towards these costs!-

However, one down side is that Publisher might make you edit you story in ways you don’t agree with, so you do lose a bit of control over your work.

Your book will be released both in physical and digital shops (such as Amazon and iTunes)

You probably won’t get a moving or TV deal but you stand a much higher chance by going with the traditional method. So, you get a load of support from a Publisher and Agent but in return you will have to give up a percentage of your earnings and control.

Edit: (The publisher may also tell you to remove, cut down or add content to your story if they see it as unfit, so you do lose a bit of control over your work.

Your book will receive national distribution for its physical version in physical stores while also being distributed digitally in online shops such as amazon and iTunes. )

(It’s unlikely you’ll get a movie or TV deal but they are more frequent for authors you used the traditional method. So, you get a load of support from a Publisher and Agent but in return you will have to give up a percentage of your earnings and control.)

Let’s look at J.K. Rowling as an example for publishing with a Company!

(Drawing of cool witch J.K. Rowling)

J.K. Rowling

J.K was rejected by the first literary agency she applied too, and to add insult to injury, they didn’t give back her folder! She would luckily be accepted by the next literary agency, Christopher Little. Little sent the manuscript to 12 different publishers (who all rejected it!) before finally ending up with Bloomsbury.

As when you go to a publisher, J.K was told to change the title of the US version from ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ to ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone’ as they didn’t think America’s would know what a ‘philosopher’ was would think it sounded boring.

Edit: (A notable change that J.K Rowling wasn’t happy about was the changing of the title ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ to ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone’ in the US version.

It’s said that the publishers for the US version didn’t think America’s would know what a ‘philosopher’ was and think it’s boring; so they change it to ‘Sorceror’ which sounds much more exciting.)

 -“Hopefully, Melan Sandy, you won’t have a much trouble getting you book published as J.K. Rowling did.”

Self-Publishing – Basics, Pros and Cons

If you decide to go with Self-Published, there are two types of self-publishing: Digital and Old-fashioned.

One of the great things about the modern day, is the internet! (woooop Internet!)

Anyone can be an artist or writer with the internet around. Amazon charges nothing for you to upload your work to its worldwide audience or you can just post your art and stories on websites like Tumblr.

By Self-publishing, you have complete creative control over your work, meaning it can be about anything with no one to stop you! And all the money you make, is your money, no sharing with a big company!

 With online shops like Amazon, you won’t get a money advance like you would if you’ll with a publisher. Your book won’t be in bookshops and you’ll still have to face some costs like editorial and copyediting.

Remember, Amazon has over 5,000,000 e-books in its store and your book will simply be one of them, so it might be hard to get attention.

 If you used Amazon, you will get no money advance like you would do if you’ve with a company but you can still make money, if only a little. Your book will not be in bookshops and you still have to face some costs for stuff such as editorial and copyediting work. Amazon has over 5,000,000 e-books in its store and your book will simply be one of them, so it may be hard to achieve sales.

 With free websites like Tumblr, you’re not going to make any money unless you go to separate sources such as Patreon or ko-fi and you have basically no limitation on what your work is about.

 An example of the Old-fashioned method would be making, printing and selling Zine, at conversions or online. A zine (short for magazine or fanzine) is a small self-published work made up of text and images and is usually reproduced via photocopier. They can be made be a single person, or a small group. An example of some popular zines are ‘Aint-Bad Magazine’, ‘Home Zine’ and ‘Record Culture Magazine’.

 Example of people who have done shit is Self-Publishing

For Self-Published, I’m going to look at The Martian and Homestuck. (awesome drawings).

 The Martian is a science fiction novel written by Andy Weir in 2011. Weir started writing the book in 2009, and was rebuffed by literary agents when trying to get prior books published. Weir decided to put the book online on his website in a serial format.

Fans of his book later requested him to make an Amazon Kindle version for 99 cents (the minimum allowable price he could set). The Kindle version sold 35,000 copies in three months, quickly rising to the top of Amazon’s best-selling science-fiction list.

Podium Publishing an audiobook publisher, signed for the audiobook rights in January 2013 and in March 2013 Weir sold the prints rights to Crown for over US$100,000. In March 2, 2014, the book debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list in twelfth position.

Homestuck is a webcomic written, illustrated and animated by Andrew Hussie and published on MS Paint Adventures. The comic is a combination of static images, animated GIFs, instant message logs and games made with Adobe Flash. Homestuck arguably has the largest fan community out there, which has said to reach in the millions. Unlike the other authors on this list, Homestuck never got involved with publishers, this may be because it’s the only one on my list that’s a comic. If you go almost any conversion, you are likely to find a Homestuck fan there either cosplaying or selling zines or art.

   (gonna have to leave this part out for now)

Example of both publishing with a Publishing Company and Self-Publishing. (we are all in this together)

Introducing hard-core Beatrix Potter, who refused to put up with shit from anyone! (insert badass drawing of Beatrix Potter!!!)

‘Peter Rabbit’ was Self-Published! Beatrix Potter applied to a least six different publishing houses and with her book ‘The Adventures of Peter Rabbit’ but was rejected by all of them. Beatrix Potter then went on to printer 250 copies of her first book herself. It was printed with 41 black and white woodblock engraving and a colour frontispiece (yes I do in fact know what that complicated words mean!). The book was so successful that within the year, it had been picked up by one of the six publisher who had originally rejected it (HA).

Beatrix Potter stuck again with her next book ‘The Tailor of Gloucester’ after failing to reach an agreement with ‘Frederick Warne & Co’. So, Ms Potter got on her broom took the skies again and published 500 copies privately! (I AM thinking of the right person, right??). By the end of the year, Warne had given in, cementing their relationship with Potter, saving the publishing house from bankruptcy and creating the standard for how children’s book were marketed and sold!

(Reading from paper in hand image) Beatrix Potter later went on the serves fanatically loyal to the dark lor- (confused) okay I'm definitely reading into the wrong wiki! (angry! Paper turns over to show picture of Bellatrix Lestrange and Harry Potter)

Just to clarify, apart from her not being a Harry Potter character, she really did all the book stuff. She might have been a witch though, so I don’t wanna rule that out just in case.

 (gonna leave this part out too)

  ~~Tangent Time!~~

You may be wondering why, as a comic’s student, I would be looking authors of written work rather than comic witters. I mean look at Homestuck, as I said before, it arguably has the largest fan community out there, but I don’t think you’ll find a novel version in real life.

This is partly because, for some reason, writers of ‘word’ books generally get more attention and success then comic writers. Other reason for Homestucks lack of physical novel might be the fact that Homestuck has a lot of animations, moving visuals, sounds and music, so I can imagine that might be had to put into a book format. (But it could be done! It just hasn’t.)

I could probably write an entire other essay on these points and I feel the need to acknowledge them, but I have neither the time nor energy to do so effectively (and I’m not a masochist)…so yeah…

~~Tangent Over~~

Both methods have their pros and cons and work.

Going straight for Publishing company can be really difficult, as they may not be interested in your work to begin with and you lose a fair amount of your creative control and profits. But is the support they give worth it?

Going for Self-Published can be cool because of all the control and full profits but you need to gain the attention from the public before a publisher will even look at you. Almost all Self-Published work end up with a publisher so is this just an extra, unnecessary step?

 But hey, whatever way you choose, just go for it man. Should be fun.

Ending

“So Melon Sandy have you decided how you’re going to publish you awesome book?”  (I turn to look at Sandy)

(There is a crushed Melon in the floor)

“Melon Sandy?” (Confused)

(It have bow like Melon Sandy)

(I look down to see a knife in my hand with Melon blood on it…)

(Camera movies to show my face. It is coved in Melon juice…)

References

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/24/jk-rowling-tells-fans-twitter-loads-rejections-before-harry-potter-success

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/25/jk-rowling-harry-potter-posts-letters-of-rejection-on-twitter

http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/How-To-Get-Published.html

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13059054-homestuck-book-one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestuck#frb-inline

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel)

https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-18387,00.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling#Subsequent_Harry_Potter_publications

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter

https://www.patreon.com/

https://ko-fi.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Potter

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/dec/17/beatrix-potter-peter-rabbit-self-publishing

https://www.thecreativepenn.com/self-publishing-vs-traditional/

https://www.scribendi.com/advice/traditional_versus_self_publishing.en.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing

https://www.format.com/magazine/galleries/art/11-cool-artist-zines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine

[wavenetinfo]

If you’re looking for the perfect capper to your beach day in July, Hulu is offering a range of new titles to keep you enjoying those summer nights.

On the movie front, it’s time for some major ’80s and ’90s nostalgia with the likes of Flashdance (1983), Bull Durham (1988), The First Wives Club (1996), and Braveheart (1995) coming to the streaming service. Jane Austen fans will get a chance to revisit one of the most beloved adaptations, with Emma Thompson and Ang Lee’s 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility. If you’re looking to go even more old-school, classics Manhattan (1979), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1967) are among this month’s new titles.

For all the Trekkies out there, Hulu has a veritable cornucopia of streaming options for you, with nine new titles joining the service in July, ranging from 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture to fan-favorite Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). More modern titles are also on tap for the month, with Up in the Air (2009), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), and Inside Job (2010) among the new titles.

For TV fans, many new summer shows are joining the streaming service, including NBC’s Midnight, Texas and ABC’s Somewhere Between.

It’s also time to say goodbye to some favorites, including Clue (1985), The Addams Family (1991), and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987), so give them one last watch while you still can.

See the full list of what’s coming and going below. Titles marked with an asterisk (*) are only available with a subscription to the Showtime premium add-on.

Coming to Hulu in July

July 1 48 Hours (1982) 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997) Altered States (1980) Another 48 Hours (1990) Area 51 (2015) As I Am: The Life and Times of DJ AM (2015) Bandits (2001) Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) The Blob (1988) Boomerang (1992) Braveheart (1995) Bull Durham (1988) Cat O’Nine Tails (1974) Clear and Present Danger (1994) Click (2006) Coma (1978) Dark City (1998) Dead Calm (1989) Death Wish IV: The Crackdown (1987) The Devil’s Advocate (1997) Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) Dream a Little Dream (1988) Drunk Wedding (2015) The Eagle and the Hawk (1950) Eight Men Out (1988) Encino Man (1992) The Fan (1996) The First Wives Club (1996) A Fistful of Dynamite (1972) Flashdance (1983) Fly Me to the Moon (2008) Free Money (1998) The Furies (1950) Get Well Soon (2002) Godsend (2004) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1967) House of the Dead (2003) House of the Dead 2 (2006) Hudson Hawk (1991) The Hunt for Red October (1990) John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998) John Grisham’s The Rainmaker (1997) Johnny Guitar (1954) The Juror (1996) Killing Zoe (1994) Kingpin (1996) Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016) Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008) La Bamba (1987) Les Miserables (1998) The Letter (2012) Lost Souls (2000) The Lucky Ones (2008) A Man Alone (1955) The Mangler (1995) Manhattan (1979) Married to the Mob (1988) The Mask (1994) The Midnight Meat Train (2008) Misery (1990) My Dog Skip (2000) Needful Things (1993) Nerve (2016) Payback (1999) The Peacemaker (1997) A Perfect Murder (1998) Pootie Tang (2001) The Presidio (1988) The Professional (1994) Reasonable Doubt (2014) Rescue Dawn (2007) Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) Road House (1989) Rosemary’s Baby (1968) Rustler’s Rhapsody (1985) Sacred Ground (1983) Santee (1975) School Daze (1988) Scrooged (1988) Sense and Sensibility (1995) Sniper (1993) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Star Trek IX: Insurrection (1998) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Star Trek VIII: First Contact (1996) Star Trek VII: Generations (1994) Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Suicide Kings (1997) Syriana (2005) The Tall Stranger (1957) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (1991) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 (1993) The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) The Water Horse (2007) To the Arctic (2012) Top Dog (1995) Top of the Food Chain (2000) Up in the Air (2009) Walking Tall (2004) The Witches (1990) Wolfen (1981)

July 4 Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie (2002)

July 5 The Eric Andre Show: Complete Season 4 (Adult Swim) Prince Avalanche (2013) The Sorcerer and the White Snake (2011)

July 6 The Bold Type: Series Premiere (Freeform) Under the Gun (2016)

July 7 Pure: Complete Season 1 (Cineflix)

July 8 Our Kind of Traitor (2016)

July 9 Sliding Doors (1998)

July 10 Blood, Sand & Gold (2017)

July 12 Humpday(2009) Melancholia (2011) Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

July 14 Uncle Grandpa: Complete Season 4 (Cartoon Network) Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014)

July 16 Inside Job (2010)

July 19 John Dies at the End (2012)

July 20 Tagged: Complete Season 1 (Awesomeness TV)

July 23 Touch of Light (2012)

July 24 Guardians of Oz (2017) Touch of the Light (2012)

July 25 Midnight, Texas: Series Premiere (NBC) Somewhere Between: Series Premiere (ABC)

July 26 Good Ol’ Frieda (2013) Oxford Murders (2008)

July 28 Betch: Complete Season 2 (Awesomeness TV)

July 30 96 Souls (2016)

July 31 Jeepers Creepers (2001)

Leaving Hulu in July

July 31 52 Pick-Up (1986) Addams Family Values (1993) The Addams Family(1991) Arrowhead (1952) Bad Influence (1990) Bait Shop (2008) Black Rain (1989) Cabin Fever (2003) Catacombs (2007) Cecil B. Demented (2000) Chuck & Buck (2000) Clue (1985) Coming to America (1988) The Doors (1991) Fatal Instinct (1993) Gator (1976) Heartbreakers (2001) How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) Kill Me Again (1989) Maximum Security (1990) Nick of Time (1995) No Way Out (1987) Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) School Ties (1992) Sleepy Hollow (1999) Small Soldiers (1998) Star Kid (1998) Wicker Park (2004) Winter’s Bone (2010)

19 June 2017 | 11:10 pm

Maureen Lee Lenker

Source : Entertainment Weekly

>>>Click Here To View Original Press Release>>>

June 20, 2017 at 05:40AM