#i wrote this in a google doc at work and didnt realise how long it was until now dhsjaklg

[joseqhine]

WHEN: 3am on a day at some point WHERE: the common room in the castle WHO: @bxstvrd​

Josephine didn’t sleep much any more. Each night was the same. It was 1am, she was scrolling through her phone, her eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep with her screen falling on her chest and two hours later she was awoken, panting and sweating, the image of Orson’s body writhing on the grassy ground still fresh in her mind. Most nights he was silent, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as the life drained slowly from his eyes. But some nights he spoke - some nights his bloody mouth opened and he seemed to whisper something that chilled Josie to her very core. She didn’t understand it. Before about a month ago, she could hardly decipher it. But it was the same every time, each time a little bit clearer - Orson looked at her and whispered ‘we’re dying, Josephine’. The words would echo through her until they were all she heard and then he died and she was awake. She hated how she felt when she woke up. Powerless. Out of control. Not quite alive yet. 

Every night Josie woke, she would toss her gaze through the darkness towards Saffi’s bed, assume she was asleep or in between someone else’s sheets and then get up. Pulling a sweater over her slim frame, sometimes she would go towards the window to smoke or vape, sometimes she would curl into a ball beside her bed frame and take slow sips from the bottle of whiskey stashed beneath her bed, sometimes (when she knew Saffi was in her own bed) she was message Mathias and ask for his company. But sometimes she just wanted to be alone, outside of the suffocating claustrophobia of her bedroom, and so she would slip some socks on her feet and tiptoe out into the common room where the fire was often still on its last dwindling sparks and she could find some warmth in the blanket draped over the couch. This night was a night for the latter. Orson’s words were still echoing in her mind when she silently opened her door and slipped out into the hallway, stepping quietly across the wooden floor into the common area. We’re dying, Josephine. What the hell did he mean? She wasn’t dying. She was living. Right? She was alive… right?

Josie was still mulling these questions over in her mind when she stepped into the common room and nearly died of fright - sitting by the fireplace, in the armchair he always occupied, was Jonah. It took everything in Josie not to scream. She almost never had company when she came here this early in the morning. Glancing at the clock, she confirmed the time (3:16am) and assumed that Jonah, too, couldn’t sleep - and maybe it wasn’t so bad to have some company when the nightmare was still playing on repeat in the back of her mind. Clearing her throat to make her presence known, Josie walked towards the armchair next to Jonah’s, snatching the wooden blanket from off the couch on her way over and wrapping it around her shoulders. “Morning,” she croaked, still half asleep in some parts. “Didn’t expect to find anyone here. Couldn’t sleep?”

[madokasoratsugu]

cinderella au meta notes

or: the plotline that never happened because i was so caught up in the euphoria of writing Fritz/Lucette Cinderella AU, i forgot that i had to have a plot

also: a bunch of bonus facts i guess !

this basically spoils the whole fic (that you can read here) which contains Fritz and Rumpel route spoilers, so read with caution ! under the cut bc it got Long :”))

this meta was initially written on a tumblr post bc it was meant to be a short ~2k thing (HAHAHA). then it got so long my computer started crashing and i had to move to google docs. 

i wrote this with disney live action remake osts AND six the musical in the background. it was a wildin’ experience listening to ‘dont lost ur head’ while writing Fritz be a chaotic mess in the beginning, then listening to ‘how does a moment last forever’ when writing the Fritz/Lucette garden scenes.

Karma and Fritz are childhood friends ! both boys who were more interested in being a knight than inheriting a kingdom, but learnt their responsibilities along the way.

on that note: none of the characters were exactly...planned to appear. the initial tweet thread idea only had Fritz, Lucette and Alcaster casted - the other characters just kinda wrote themselves in this meta. 

im pretty sure it started with Karma barging his way into the fic in act one, then i had to have someone balance him (Waltz), then i needed someone to play the music for their waltz (obvs that had to be Rod), and then i got sad thinking Rumpel would be left out, but Lucette’s broken glass slipper scene conveniently needed someone. the Widdensovs just kinda came into the picture by virtue of Lucette just needing someone to interact with when she wasnt at the ball LMAO 

everyone else just didnt make it in the natural progression of the fic, and i didnt want to shoehorn them in just for the sake of having them appear.

however: Parfait was initially going to make an appearance as a duchess who snuck Lucette out to her father when she came to the castle for help when her manor burnt down. here’s a lil snippet of her scene:

(no one had, the last time she came; the smell of smoke still clinging on her, her head slamming a cacophony - surviving only thanks to the bravery of a certain court lady now disappeared, who heralded her to a servant’s exit, gave her gold and directions to her father, told her, run, told her im sorry, and cried, tears dripping endlessly from her pale pink lashes.)

Parfait is well and alive in this AU btw ! she’s just ‘disappeared’ bc she’s living somewhere secret with her goth wife Delora.

(side note: i realise Rumpel seems a lot like Lucette’s fairy godmother in the act thirteen. not intended, but i liked the imagery enough to let it stand :”)) bippity boppoty chevalier ! )

Varg and Lilja are both Swedish words. ancient Angiellian is partially Swedish. there’s probably ikea in this AU. let that sink in.

the swan mask Lucette was wearing was meant to allude to Odette and Odile from Swan Lake (because Fritz and Varg, white and black, swans are pretty yadda yadda), and i was going to write some really neat symbolism about that but i forgot lol ! 

(also the idea just never worked for me bc Odette and Odile aren’t the same people like Fritz/Varg but i wanted to reference Barbie Swan Lake (2003) ok let me live)

pour one out for our man Fritz who got rejected on his birthday. f. 

Emelaigne is the MVP. older sisters, no matter how truly Head Empty they are, always pull through when you need them. 

“isn’t the moon beautiful tonight” is a direct reference to an anecdote (which may or may not be true) about Natsume Souseki, a famous japanese writer, who translated ‘i love you’ to that phrase in order to account for the indirect characteristics of japanese speech.

Rumpel is the royal doctor, and has been apprenticing in the castle since Fritz was a child, before taking over the position as an adult ! so yes, Rumpel definitely rubbed off on Fritz in terms of values and morals.

with regards to Fritz and Lucette’s curses: i never really gave it much thought, but the vague idea i had was Lucette being cursed by Hildyr for disobedience (manipulative parenting say eye), then Hildyr dies lol and Lucette breaks her curse eventually.

with Fritz, he was likely cursed out of political reasons/jealousy and Varg was the result. works bc either way the curse meant for Fritz to be 1) inconvenienced or 2) dead/taken out of consideration for succession so like...a pain in the ass replacement who behaves the exact opposite of a prince works too.

this was hinted at vaguely in the fic, but Fritz became very secluded and hid himself in the castle for the years it took him to come to terms with his curse and break it. even then, because there was no one around him to really affirm his identity or accept him, he remained very withdrawn and a shell of his former self. 

i reckon it took him about 5-6 years to break the curse. so that’s a lot of time alone. Fritz was basically a NEET.

all jokes aside: Lucette and Fritz each broke their curses with their own willpower and effort, but remain the mostly the same because there was no one around them to truly understand or accept them for who they were, or who they became.

(until they met each other, of course)

also, idk if it was hinted well enough but Lucette and Fritz actually were in an engagement once, when they were children/early teens ! i intended to allude to this more with Hildyr giving Fritz Lucette’s portrait, which results in him recognising her, but it just never fit in anywhere. so yeah ! that’s another reason how/why Fritz knew who Lucette was at first glance. 

i figured the previous engagement would also help ease the court into their eventual marriage despite the whole ~*disgraced noble*~ thing. idk. i know nothing about western history and how it worked except for ALEXANDER HAMILTON (america sings for yooouuu) and divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.

however, Alcaster broke the engagement, as stated in act thirteen. the reason was basically: Angielle in this AU works not by a hereditary monarchy, but rather the previous monarch getting to choose whomever the fuck the want to succeed them. Hildyr and Alcaster were both in line for the throne, and Hildyr wanted to ensure that even if she couldn’t get the throne now, she still had a chance in the future if her daughter married Alcaster’s (who would then be king) son. Alcaster was like lol fuck off because he wanted power all to his family and took things into his own hands to ensure that would never happen (which involved: inciting public hatred against witches/Hildyr, breaking Lucette and Fritz’s engagement, and generally being a dick.

that’s about as plot heavy as it gets yall. the rest is just dumb idiots falling in love !

...............except for the political usurp that happens later, with Fritz’s faction forcefully taking the throne away from Alcaster’s tyrannical rule, which leads to a dramatic sway of public favour to Fritz and Lucette.

and then they live happily ever, ever after. 

(carrie underwood. yes i am planning an Enchanted AU dont look at me.)

the end !