#in their isolation and in the fact that those who enthusiastically reached out to bridge the gap so often missed the point

[urbana-legenda]

ich bin im rewe. ich stehe in der schlange an der kasse. hinter mir ein studentischer öko, der nicht genug geld für den alnatura hat. er ist bleich, hat dreadlocks und trägt keine schuhe. vor mir zwei kinder, die sich jeweils einzeln einen snickers kaufen. nur eines der kinder trägt einen geldbeutel mit delfinmuster um den hals. die kassiererin scannt den ersten snickers. das geldbeutel-kind zieht einen zwanziger aus dem delfingeldbeutel. ich schließe kurz die augen. die kassiererin gibt dem kind das wechselgeld. das kind ringt damit, das geld zurück in den geldbeutel zu stecken. einige centstücke fallen zu boden. das kind hebt sie auf. dann endlich scannt die kassiererin den zweiten snickers. ich sehe keinen geldbeutel. das zweite kind kramt in seiner hosentasche. der snickers kostet 99ct. “jonas, hast du nen euro? ich hab nur 40ct dabei.”, sagt das zweite kind. jonas zieht einen zehner aus seinem geldbeutel. ich werde gläubig. das zweite kind zahlt mit jonas’ zehner. erneut hat jonas probleme damit, das wechselgeld unterzubringen. die kinder verlassen den laden. nun bin ich an der reihe. die kassiererin scannt meinen snickers und ich halte einen fuffi bereits in meiner hand.

[gryphons-of-aentha]

The Approximate Plotline of the Gryphonverse (pt. 2)

Because this is what you were getting yourselves into when you followed me.

Right, so, Talon and Iadra join up with Kyran to overthrow Kyran’s asshole father, who happens to rule the country. They end up working well together and form a sizeable group of aquei and one or two additional gryphons who Iadra managed to convince. If not for the fact that it was all being headed by a seventeen year old with absolutely no martial experience at all (not to mention a much greater talent for dividing people than uniting them, which was great for starting the rebellion but not finishing it), it might have worked. Unfortunately, it was being headed by a seventeen year old, and he doesn’t believe in stealth or subtlety because he’s melodramatic enough to want an audience when he confronts and in theory usurps his father. While they do manage to make a heavy dent in the king’s guard/soldiers and cause a lot of problems for him, they’re overpowered without much effort in the end. Talon and Iadra manage to escape the aftermath mostly unscathed, though not all the gryphons do, and Kyran is arrested and very promptly exiled on the spot. The king’s hope was likely that the humiliation of such a complete and public defeat would prevent him from ever showing himself in Andolia again, but as it turns out humiliating Kyran has roughly the effect of throwing water on a grease fire, and he was already plotting revenge before he’d even finished storming out of the room. 

Meanwhile, Talon and Iadra are trying to figure out where to go from here because this whole fiasco has made the Andolian impression of gryphons even worse (largely because the king is actively pushing the narrative in that direction to throw the blame off himself, since Kyran managed to make himself into a massive PR disaster). Even Talon is finding himself less welcome in a lot of places than he used to be, and distances himself from the places he is welcome to avoid bringing unwanted attention to them, so he mostly hangs out in the no-man’s-land with other gryphons unless his town has some kind of monster-of-the-week situation he needs to deal with. Iadra does have to rescue his ass more than once when he overestimates the goodwill of a few villages, because he’s entirely too optimistic when it comes to judgement of character, but while she's more wary about which aquei she’ll interact with, she enthusiastically jumps on the reputation-grinding sidequest train (gryphons are very fond of three things: proving how badass they are with dangerous heroics, being complimented about it, and receiving shiny things, so this is really the gig they were made for) and even becomes cautiously friendly with Talon’s hometown.

Barring the occasional snag, they do this pretty successfully for a couple years until who should show up again but Kyran, with an even bigger chip on his shoulder and an even more horribly ill-conceived plan to get back at the king.

Among the many powerful eldritch forces and arcane loci that can be encountered in the wilderness around Andolia is what I vaguely dubbed the Powers of Darkness and then never got around to actually naming properly. Anyway, the Powers of Darkness are a sort of multi-consciousness/hivemind/sentient form of malicious energy that feeds on suffering and conflict, generating from and partially comprising what I equally vaguely refer to as the Eleventh Dimension. Just don’t ask too many questions about this one. Obviously, Kyran looked at this extremely powerful malevolent force that has no agenda other than causing more misery that it can feed on and a resume of imprisoning souls via impulsively-made contracts as long as time itself and thought “yeah I can probably use that and deal with the consequences later” because he has learned nothing in the last two years and is still holding a massive grudge about his previous defeat. He proceeds to summon and make a bargain with this thing, certain that if he inflicts enough collateral damage along the way it will satisfy whatever price the Powers of Darkness would otherwise take from him.

He doesn’t tell Talon or Iadra this, he just states that he’s found a source of power that can potentially raze the capital to the ground, to which both are like “okay, no, committing war crimes over your unresolved daddy issues would be bad, actually.” Iadra has been pretty thoroughly done with him since he almost got them killed last time and is wary of burning the bridges they’ve been carefully rebuilding, but Talon, giant stoic golden retriever that he secretly is, still thinks that Kyran has potential if he could just be steered off the wildly destructive path he keeps going down and probably would be, if not a good king, at least a better king than Shale given a few years to mellow out. Two years ago this was probably true, but now he’s strongly underestimating how much Kyran should not be put in charge of anything. This leads to the first major conflict Talon and Iadra have ever had, which eventually ends in Iadra just throwing her hands up and going back to Talon’s town to brood about it and continue what they’ve been doing, assuming Talon will come to his senses after the plan inevitably goes to shit, having known him long enough to be confident that he’ll survive the consequences just fine. 

Those would have been safe assumptions if not for the fact that Kyran was much more dangerous and stupid than either of them were prepared for, and even Kyran wasn’t prepared for the fact that the Powers of Darkness also possess the more subtle tendency to slowly get into peoples’ heads and drive them to extremes they’d never reach on their own (not that this absolves him of wanting to destroy a city but he was very much under their influence by that point). Now granted, his desire to work with Talon was sincere; they’d become very close during the first rebellion attempt because Kyran’s lack of a competent father figure matched up well with Talon’s deeply ingrained Mandalorian Instinct™ and there was a good reason why Talon was so willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here. The problem is that Kyran didn’t think to read the fine print while making deals with actively evil eldritch forces and was confronted with the consequences of his actions much earlier in his plan than expected. Suddenly realizing that he’s much less impervious to said consequences than he flippantly assumed, and pretty thoroughly cornered, he does the last thing available to him that doesn’t involve actually dealing with his own shit and paying the price himself, and turns on Talon to sacrifice him instead. Normally a moderately competent but inexperienced teenager against an adult gryphon whose day job is fighting things would be a laughably unfair fight, but the Powers of Darkness have a vested interest in Talon losing, and to the surprise of both of them he falls very quickly to Kyran, who hacks off one of his wings (unfortunately for Talon, the Powers of Darkness don’t feed on death or amicable defeat) and leaves him to bleed out, then flees into the hills, very much traumatized (albeit not as traumatized as Talon) but confident that he’s off the hook and determined to now proceed with his plan.

Luckily for Talon, this all went down not far from a fairly isolated aquei homestead, and he’s found by the couple who lives there, who heard all the crashing and screaming and are both 200% ready to throw down until they arrive on the scene and find nothing but an unconscious gryphon hybrid in a puddle of blood with one of his wings laying several yards away. Given the current state of interspecies relations, they probably would have killed him had they not recognized him as that guy from that one weird town, but fortunately all the sidequests have paid off. They haul him back to the farm and he eventually makes an impressive physical recovery, though due to the circumstances of losing the wing he’s kind of stuck between forms and can no longer shift to fully humanoid or fully gryphonic, which is an unusual state to get stuck in but still very livable in his case (he mostly just looks a lot more like a winged aquei than an regular half-gryphon). Still, losing an entire limb and all ability to fly is a lot, and he’s down for the count both physically and psychologically for a good chunk of time.

Iadra, when she doesn’t hear from him or Kyran for a while, starts to wonder if maybe something went wrong. Eventually word reaches her that Talon is dead (which even Kyran believes to be true, since the only two people who know otherwise are keeping their mouths shut) and she immediately decides to hunt down Kyran herself and absolutely murder the shit out of him. He’s not easy to track down, as he’s currently laying low and gathering power for what he’s determined will be the final assault on the capital and his father, and she has to increasingly rely on her human form the deeper into Andolia she goes, but Iadra is extremely determined and Kyran is pretty bad at being subtle, and she eventually tracks him straight into the capital. The ensuing fight between an accidental evil warlock who’s also the king’s bastard son and a horse-sized flying apex predator with fairly recognizable plumage almost immediately causes a scene and also a lot of property damage, and the king’s guard arrives quickly to apprehend both of them (or they will, just as soon as everyone stops flailing claws and dangerous forces around). Kyran, who this time lacks both the biased support of the Powers of Darkness and the element of surprise, fares much worse against Iadra than he did against Talon. So, in a last-ditch move of desperation, he calls on much more power than he’s already paid for to try and portal himself out of there.

Which is how he, and by extension Iadra, find out that Aentha has an inherent interdimensional connection to the planet Earth, and specific humans who live on it. And unfortunately, this is getting too fucking long again so I guess there’s going to be a part three.

[enixamyram]

Prompt: Both are awake (for some reason), but they know they can't kiss yet because it would break the curse, and Henry would die. And it's a torture for them to be together and not kiss their true love. (Both know the other is awake.)

Romantic Restraint

Summary: Aliceand Robin are woken by a familiar flower and have been reunited at last… Exceptthey can’t kiss. At least not until Robin’s aunt figures out how to save Henryfrom his poisoning. Which, turns out, is quite frustrating for them both.

 “So here’s my question,” Tilly offered casually. “Are candy apples ourthing now?”

 “Well, we do seem to have them a lot.” Margot noted, staring down at thesugar covered fruit on a stick in her hand.

 The two girls were making their way down the street in between the localshops, having come from the food truck where Margot had picked Tilly up at theend of her shift. It was a nice day, warmer than usual even if there were a fewdark clouds hovering overhead and threatening a storm that probably wouldn’tactually come until into the night. But for now, it was a nice day to be outand about, especially when you enjoyed the company you kept like Tilly andMargot most certainly did.

 “That’s good enough for me!” Tilly grinned, taking another bite from heralready half finished treat.

 Margot grinned at her. There really was just something about Tilly thatshe really liked. She liked how happyand open Tilly was, how she was honest about what she thought and what shewanted. It was refreshing considering how closed off her mother had been beforeshe left to go back to Chicago with her fiancé, Chad. And yet she still hadn’ttold Margot what it was she had been keeping from her. She trusted her mother,of course, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still damn curious as to what it wasthat had been giving her a constant, almost sad look in her eyes.

 “Hey? You still with me?” Tilly asked, nudging Margot’s elbow lightlywith a small smile that didn’t quite hide the concern in her soft blue eyes.

 “Yeah, just lost in thought.” Margot grinned. “So. What do you want todo today?”

 “Hmm, we could go down to the park.” Tilly said, shrugging hershoulders. “Or we could just sit by the troll bridge for a bit.”

 “What is it with you and the troll bridge?” Margot asked. “There’s gotto be a story there.”

 Tilly hesitated, thinking it over. “You’d think so but… Not really…” Shemumbled.

 “Fair enough,” Margot nodded then shrugged. “Why don’t we go sit therefor a while? I’ll beat you at another game of chess!”

 Tilly’s grin widened as she looked at her. So far they’d played only acouple games together and Margot had yet to beat her in any of them. But shewasn’t a sore loser. If anything she was an enthusiastic one, always lightheartedly insisting on a rematch to pass the time and acting like she meant tolose all along because she was so kind that she was ‘letting Tilly win’.

 After a moment, Tilly held out her hand, smiling up at her when Margotcheerfully took it. They started down the street again, but this time passingthrough the shops and heading for what was quickly turning into their usualmeeting place when they both had days off from work. For the last few weeks thegirls had been spending no less than a few hours together at a time, and doingsomething new each time as well. However one thing was the same each time andthat was that they met up and shared something sweet. More often than not, itwas a candy apple, but otherwise they picked out things like a packet of gummysweets to share, a bar of chocolate each or even some beignets that Sabine hadallowed Tilly to take home with her after she was done for the day.

 As they made their way to the troll, Tilly finished off the last of herapple while Margot was only just over halfway through hers. She had a feeling she’dend up giving the last of it to Tilly like she had done several times before.Not that she minded. In fact it was amazing how Tilly could eat twice as muchas her and never put on a single pound extra. She would have been jealous ifshe wasn’t so amused by it.

 Margot immediately walked over and pulled herself up onto her usual seaton one of the troll’s thick knuckles that was holding, what looked like, afamiliar type of car. She crossed her legs and ate a few more bites of herapple as Tilly moved to join her. However the other girl paused short andlooked down at something on the ground, growing out of a crack between thetroll’s finger and the pavement.

 “What is it?” Margot asked, looking down at her and jumping onto herfeet when Tilly didn’t answer. Instead she bent over to grab something from thefloor.

 “A flower,” Tilly mumbled, plucking a beautiful looking pink flower fromthe crack. It was in near perfect condition and the only thing growing out ofthe dull grey crack in the concrete, making it stand out twice as much as itwould have in an open field.

 “Oh, it’s beautiful.” Margot smiled.

 Tilly lifted her head up and smiled at Margot. She had a sudden idea, reachingup and carefully threading the flower into Margot’s hair. When she let herhands drop, the flower was perched gracefully between Margot’s ear and herglasses, woven so the stem was hidden in amongst her dark blonde strands.

 “Beautiful,” Tilly beamed.

 Margot giggled slightly, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks as Tillyreached over and gently took her free hand in her own. The girls were so busylooking in one another’s eyes that neither of them noticed the flower restingon Margot’s ear pulse a bright shade of pink as flakes of dust began to fallfrom its petals, catching on an imaginary breeze and falling down to rest ontop of where their hands were still joined. There was a faint pink glow alongtheir skin and then a rush that spread around them and though out their minds.

 Their hands tightened, clinging to one another as a warm feeling spreadup their arms. After that feeling began to settle, they both saw a flash ofimagines in their minds. A flash of memories being returned.

 Margot saw a small town by the ocean. She saw herself running around afield with her mother sipping tea with her aunt on the porch. She saw herself asa young teenager, practicing with magic for the first time in class, wowing allher friends and impressing them with her minor tricks. She saw herself as ateenager, trying to do more spells and failing, accidentally creating somethingthat transported her to the side of Gothel before her mother saved her,discovering her love for the bow and then… Then she saw herself meeting abeautiful blonde while on the hunt for a troll. The blonde who was currentlystanding in front of her with the same dazed expression on her cute features.

 While Tilly saw things too. She saw herself growing up in an isolatedtower with only her father for company. She saw herself escape with the help ofher troll friend and go on a series of adventures in other realms with the helpof her own hidden magic. She saw herself travel to Wonderland, attempt toreunite with her father and then run away again when it backfired. And then shesaw herself return and meet the gorgeous woman holding her hand, which startedoff with said woman pointing an arrow at her face before ending up pointing itat the face of those who threatened her instead. She saw a thousand morememories, all leading up to when the curse was cast and a dark cloud of magicsurrounded her and all the people she loved.

 When the images stopped flashing through their minds the two of themgasped loudly like they had been winded. They clung to each other’s hands sotightly that Robin’s long nails were pinching Alice’s skin, not that either ofthem noticed. In fact Robin didn’t even notice when the candy apple slippedfrom her fingers and fell to the floor at her feet. They were stunned into a longstretch of silence, staring at one another and practically gasping for breatheven though they didn’t really need it.

 “Alice…” Robin whispered.

 “Robin.” Alice laughed, tears of joy rising in her eyes before she threwherself against the other girl, wrapping her arms tightly around her andclinging to her like she was never going to let go. “Oh my God, it’s reallyyou!”

 “I don’t understand.” Robin croaked, wrapping her own arms aroundAlice’s back and squeezing her closely. “What happened? How… How are we…? Didthey… What happened?” She repeated.

 “The curse,” Alice whispered, pulling away and squeezing Robin’sshoulders. “It must have been broken!”

 The two girls looked at each other, as if memorising how the otherlooked in this cursed world now that they had their memories back. A burst of ecstaticgiggles escaping as they once again hugged each other, clinging on andsqueezing as if to assure one another that this really was happening. In thismoment, life was perfect. They were finally reunited and ready to meet up withthe rest of their friends and family.

 “My papa,” Alice said finally, pulling away again but still reaching downto hold onto Robin’s hands instead. “We have to find him.”

 “Aunt Regina will know where he is,” Robin nodded. “Let’s go!”

 Still holding onto her hand, Robin turned and led the way back into town.This time they ran down the streets, clinging to one another the whole time andsmiling like a pair of idiots the entire way.

 It didn’t take them very long to get to Ron’s bar. Their excitement andjoy fuelling them to run without stop or pause, pushing anyone who happened towander into their path out of the way and refusing to release their hold on oneanother even when it probably would have been safer to do so. They annoyed manypeople but never lingered long enough to have any problems from them. In factthey didn’t even linger long enough to wonder why no one else in the city hadexperienced any changes from the curse being broken.

 At Roni’s, Robin threw herself inside, not caring when the door crashedagainst the wall loudly and pulled Alice along behind her before it even had achance to bounce back. They stumbled slightly over the threshold, but afterthey caught themselves a burst of giggles escaped as they ran straight up tothe main counter, looking around for Robin’s aunt, but the bar was near emptywith only a few people who gave them odd looks. Robin ignored them, givingAlice’s hand a firm squeeze and looking around for the owner. It was possibleshe wasn’t here. With the curse broken she might have run off to find Henry andthe others…

 And then she caught sight of her, coming back from the bathroom andshaking off the last few flakes of water clinging to her fingers. She didn’tlook very excited to be awake; in fact she looked a little irritated. But then,Robin told herself, she was probably in the middle of washing her hands whenthe curse was broken and was now thinking about how desperate she was to wrapher fingers around Drizella’s throat for everything she put them through. Robinknew she most certainly was.

 “Aunt Regina!” Robin cried, finally releasing her hold on Alice anddashing across the room. She closed the distance between them and threw herarms around Regina tightly, catching the older woman off guard and nearlyknocking her off her feet.

 “Mar-” Regina began then stopped short, baffled before putting her handson Robin’s arms and pushing her back to look at her face. “Wait, what did youjust call me?”

 “Aunt Regina,” Robin beamed. “We’re awake!”

 “What?” Regina gasped then stopped as she realised how they had drawn alot of attention from the few customers hanging around. “Margot I think you’vestarted a little early, don’t you?” Regina laughed, pushing her towards thebackroom. “Let’s get you some water. Tilly, come help me out, would ya?”

 Alice seemed to have sensed that something wasn’t quite right. Shesilently followed Regina and Robin into the back, glancing around the rest ofthe room at the other customers with a slight frown on her forehead, trying to figureout if there was anyone she recognised but they all still looked like new facesto her. Even away from the prying eyes behind her, she remained quiet as Reginarounded on her niece, still gripping her arms the whole time.

 “How are you awake?” Regina demanded, then glanced over her at Alice. “Imean, are you both awake?”

 “Yeah,” Alice nodded softly.

 “We’re both awake.” Robin said proudly. “The curse was broken!”

 “Robin!” Regina snapped, stopping her from getting worked up. “The cursewasn’t broken!”

 Robin finally paused, her smile dipping slightly. “What do you mean? Ithas to be broken. How else are we awake?”

 “Robin, Henry was poisoned right before the curse was cast and he’ll bepoisoned again when it’s over. Don’t you think if it was broken I would be oneof the first people to know?” Regina explained sharply.

 “But… How…” Robin turned back to Alice who looked just as baffled as shedid, shrugging her shoulders helplessly.

 Suddenly something caught Regina’s eye. She reached up and plucked theflower that was still clinging on in Robin’s hair despite their messy runearlier. It was drooping and looked weaker than when Alice picked it but Reginastill recognised it quickly enough. “Robin… What is this?” Regina asked softly,cradling the flower carefully in her hands so as not to damage it any further.

 “Oh, uh, it’s just a flower Alice found by the troll bridge.” Robinshrugged. “No big deal.”

 “You’re wrong,” Regina whispered. “This is a big deal. This is a pixieflower!”

 “A what?” Alice frowned, moving to stand beside Robin.

 “It’s a magical flower.” Regina explained. “Back in Storybrooke itappeared for Snow and David when they were under my original curse. It wokethem up then led them to Emma when she was still a child. Then when we foughtthe Black Fairy they showed up again and we used it to reunite Emma with Hook,um, Original Hook, not your dad, Alice.” She paused, looking down at the flowerin wonder. “But I don’t understand. I mean, it appears when there is a greatevil which is no doubt Gothel but… It works based on true love…” She trailedoff, looking up at her niece and Alice.

 Robin felt her cheeks colour and glanced over at Alice who was stillfrowning for a second longer before she realised what Regina was saying. Thenshe glanced at Robin and felt her own face pull into a small smile. The twogirls moved slightly closer and their hands found each other once more, for amoment forgetting Regina was even in the room with them as they realised whatthis meant.

 They had always known their feelings for each other were deep, andthey’d both always accepted they were in love with the other. But this flowerwas like a confirmation that, not only did they love the other, but they wereloved back as well with a love true enough to wake them from the curse.

 Regina looked up at them again and realisation dawned on her. “Oh…”

 “So wait, if that flower worked on us then can’t we break the curseourselves?” Alice asked.

 “Don’t see why not!” Robin grinned, looking almost excited.

 “I do!” Regina said quickly. “Did you miss the part where I said Henrywas poisoned?!”

 “Oh… Right…” Robin said, her smile dropping. She had no idea Henry waseven in trouble before. But it made sense. How else would Drizella have keptJacinda and Henry from breaking the curse before now?

 “So, what now?” Alice asked. “Robin and I can’t be together?”

 “Of course you can.” Regina said immediately, reaching over and gentlyrubbing Alice’s shoulder. “It’s just… Don’t kiss or anything.”

 “And then what?” Robin demanded. “What now? I mean. We need to help saveHenry, but how are we supposed to do that in a land without magic?”

 “Actually, I think you’ve given me just the answer to that, Robin.”Regina smiled, lifting the flower still carefully balanced in between herhands. “There is still some magic left in this flower. I can’t say for sure,but I can try and drain some of it to create a cure for Henry. Then we canfinally wake everyone else up.” She paused, quirking an eyebrow at the girls.“You two think you can show some restraint until then?”

 “Aunt Regina, we’re not a couple of horny teenagers. We can keep fromsharing one little kiss until you do what you do best and save Henry.” Robinsmiled.

O*U*A*T

 “Three times.” Robin said, staring at the wall in front of hermiserably. “Three damn times.”

 Robin was referring to the amount of times they had already almostshared a kiss. They had only left Regina a few hours ago and in those few hoursthe two girls had put Henry’s life on the line three stupid times beforecatching themselves at the last possible minute.

 “We’re really bad at this,” Alice agreed, sitting by her side andresting her chin on her hand.

 “Were we this bad before the curse?” Robin asked, turning to look atAlice. “I mean… We were passionate but where we this bad?”

 “Well, I mean, we never were told we couldn’t kiss before.” Alice noted,sitting up and sighing. “I hate this.”

 “Oh, I know, love.” Robin said, taking Alice’s hand and lifting ittowards her lips.

 She was almost close when Alice jerked her to a sudden stop. They bothpaused and Alice pulled a face, shrugging her shoulders and lowering theirhands back onto the counter top. “Four times.” Alice said softly.

 Robin groaned loudly, dropping her head onto the side and resting herforehead on top of Alice’s hand. She never knew how hard it was to not do something before. How hard was itreally, to simple resist doing something.All she had to do was not do it, for goodness sake! Yet it had become such acasual thing between them now, that they never thought about the kisses theyshared before and at this point, it was as easy to do as breathing.

 “What are we going to do?” Alice asked quietly. “I mean… Should we… Havesome space until your aunt can cure Henry Mills?” There was so much pain in hervoice just from saying those words aloud, like it was hurting her to evensuggest they part so soon after being reunited.

 Shaking her head, Robin lifting Alice’s hands towards her face, barelyresisting the urge to kiss her knuckles and instead rubbing them softly againsther cheek. It was the closest they could get to their usual levels of affectionateright now and it would satisfy her, even if only a little bit.

 “Never.” Robin said firmly. “We’ve finally woken up together and I amnot letting you go again.”

 “But what about… Well… To put it lightly… Our urges to jump each other.”Alice finished.

 Robin burst out laughing and wrapped her arms around Alice’s waist. Theyhad taken a seat on the stools by the bars far end and had scooted as close asthey could get, but it still wasn’t close enough. Dragging Alice out of herseat, Robin pulled her love onto her lap and nuzzled her face against her neck.She wished she could kiss her body if not her lips, but she also knew theycouldn’t risk trying. Instead she settled for simply pressing her face closeagainst Alice’s and breathing deeply that sweet smelling perfume Tilly had puton before Margot collected her for their date that afternoon.

 “I can’t wait for this curse to break once and for all.” Robinwhispered, purposely blowing a soft breath against Alice’s ear and feeling hersquirm on her lap. “It feels like years since we’ve been together.”

 Alice giggled, wrapping her arm around Robin’s shoulders. “Two longyears to be exact.”

 “Exactly, too long.” Robingrinned, still nuzzling against her neck and jaw. “I’ve missed you so much.”

 “You didn’t even remember I was gone.” Alice teased.

 “But it’s like you said,” Robin said, looking up at her. “We’ll alwaysknow each other. Even when we don’t.”

 Alice smiled and leaned towards her. It had been far too long. Even whenthey were Tilly and Margot, it wasn’t the same because they were just startingover. In fact it was like someone had actually pressed reset on their relationshipand despite everything they had been through, they were forced to start fromthe beginning again. Now they could finally pick up where they had been forcedto leave off.

 They were inches away from sharing their kiss when Robin realised whatthey were doing and pulled away, so sharply that she fell right off of her seatand onto the floor, dragging Alice down with her. They landed in a heap with aloud squeal that echoed around the room and drew the attention of anyone whohadn’t been watching the two women flirting before. Their stool turned overonto its side had brought Alice’s stool with it despite her no longer using itand Alice had landed awkwardly on top of Robin with her arm pinned beneath hershoulders, keeping her from pushing herself back up and climbing off.

 “Ow…” Robin groaned.

 “So… Six times?” Alice mumbled, fighting the urge to giggle whilecringing at the bruising pain spreading along her elbow where it had hit thefloor first.

 “Only five, I think.” Robin noted.

 “Six now,” Alice mumbled close to Robin’s cheek, forcing herself to rollaway, allowing Robin to sit up and freeing Alice’s arm.

 “You okay?” Robin asked as they clambered back onto their feet, rightingtheir stools and sitting down with red faces that were more from frustrationthan embarrassment.

 “Fine,” Alice sighed leaning against the counter. “How long do you thinkit’ll be before your aunt makes up a cure?”

 Robin reached over, running her fingers through Alice’s hair. “Toolong.”

 Alice turned her head, resting her cheek on her arms on top of thecounter and smiling at Robin sadly. They complained, but the truth of thematter was, they had it pretty good. They had found each other, been reunitedwith their memories back and the knowledge that they really did have true love.As bad as they made it seem like it was, they were better off than a lot of theother people who were still trapped under the curse, including their own familymembers, like Robin’s cousin Henry, his wife and his daughter and… Alice’sfather!

 “Papa!” Alice sat up sharply, looking at Robin. “How am I meant to goback to papa knowing he doesn’t even remember me?”

 “Oh, Alice… Do you want to stay with me tonight?” Robin asked softly,wrapping her arm around Alice’s shoulder.

 Alice let out a little snort and looked at Robin with a slight smile.“We’ve barely managed to keep from being intimate in public. You think we’llmanage when we’re alone?”

 “Good point.” Robin chuckled without humour, dropping her headmiserably.

 “I’ll be okay. We both will.” Alice said after a moment, reaching togently squeeze Robin’s knee.

 “I know, it’s just… Annoying, having to hold back like this.” Robinsighed, lifting her head and looking back towards the wall again.

 “We’ll get through it.” Alice said, standing and wrapping her armsaround Robin from behind. “And when we do…”

 She trailed off and Robin glanced back at her. “And when we do…?”

 Alice blushed and shrugged, turning to lean her cheek against her shoulderso Robin couldn’t quite see her face. “I was thinking. Maybe after all this isdone. Maybe… You’d want to… Move in… With me. I mean.”

 “Really?” Robin asked, sounding a little breathless.

 “No, this is just the world’s worst prank.” Alice said, rolling her eyesand still not looking at her.

 Robin stood, spinning around and grabbing Alice only to stop short andglare at her. “Did you seriously just ask me to move in with you, at the onemoment in time where I can’t kiss you? Cause that’s just cruel.”

 Alice laughed. “I’m sorry.”

 “Liar.” Robin grumbled and settled for pulling Alice into another hug.“I love you, Alice.” She whispered.

 “And of course, I love you too.” Alice sighed dreamily, gripping theback of Robin’s jacket tightly in her fists.

 When they pulled away, Alice retook her seat on Robin’s lap, wrappingher arm around her shoulder and pressing their foreheads together. With a soft sigh,Robin began to gently run her hand over Alice’s leg. Yeah, as much as theycomplained about being unable to kiss, it was more because of how hard it wasto remember than anything else. If Robin were to pick one moment to spend therest of her life in; then Alice sitting on her lap with their faces restingagainst one another… It was a pretty good moment to pick.

 “You know, we can still pick up where we left off earlier.” Robin noted.“How about we go in the back and make up some meals and have a proper date herein Roni’s. I think I even know where aunt Regina keeps some candles and no oneis uses those booths in the back corner.”

 With a wide grin, Alice jumped off her lap and pulled Robin up onto herfeet, dragging her excitedly into the back room where a small kitchen area wasset up. Roni’s wasn’t really a restaurant, even though they did occasionallymake things for some the regulars. Even then, the back kitchen was mostly forthe staff which meant there wasn’t a wide selection for them to chose from, butAlice was used to scavenging what she could and, before long, they foundthemselves in a dark corner booth out of the way of everyone else with a mealprepared between them. Robin had held true to her promise, finding a candlethat she placed in the centre of the table between them, both for atmosphere asa subtle reminder that they couldn’t get too affectionate, no matter howfrustrating it was to keep holding back.

 “So… Out of curiosity, is there anything in this world that you preferto before the curse?” Alice asked suddenly, dreamily pushing the last few bitsof food around her plate.

 “You mean like, Margot’s life?” Robin shook her head. “Not really.Margot’s relationship with her mum was crap. She had no aunt to spoil her. Nolove of her life. Hardly any friends and even then they were distant. She waslonely and miserable and it sucked. At least, it sucked until she met Tilly.”

 Alice grinned and looked down shyly for a moment before looking back upat her. “There’s something I prefer.”

 Robin nodded, knowingly. “Being with your dad.”

  Alice hesitated then added. “Make that twothings I prefer.”

 “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the other thing you prefer?” Robin asked,setting her own fork aside and leaning her elbows onto the table.

 Alice grinned. “You in glasses.”

 Immediately Robin blushed and turned away, shaking her head. “I freakinghate glasses. I wore contacts all inthe Enchanted Forest because I hated glasses so much. They just get in the waymost of the time. And now I’m stuck with them again until I can get some morecontacts, hopefully like the ones Aunt Regina and mum made for me with magic soI didn’t need to take them out as much as normal ones.”

 “Well, you know you’re not allowed to take the glasses off now that I’veseen them.” Alice stated. “I won’t let you.”

 “Oh come on,” Robin groaned.

 “Nope. I’ve decided. You look too sexy.” Alice grinned, shuffling closerto her. “And if you take them off you’ll make me sad. Is that what you want?”

 “That is not fair,” Robingrumbled.

 “Sorry. I don’t make the rules.” Alice shrugged.

 “Liar.” Robin said, reaching out a hand and leaning towards her.

 This time it was Alice who jerked back with a sad smile. “Seven times inless than a day. We’re really bad at this.” She repeated.

 Robin groaned again, even more loudly, falling back in her seat andrubbing her hands over her face. This really wasn’t going to work. However shewasn’t going to let this ruin their date either and she reached over, takingAlice’s hand between her hand and holding against the bridge of her nose andforehead before looking up at her. “It’s okay. Aunt Regina will cure Henrysoon. And then nothing will ever get between us again.”

 “Ever?” Alice meant to ask in a teasing way, but instead it came outmore as a plea.

 “Never, ever.” Robin swore and blew a soft breath on her knuckles forthe kiss she would make up for later. “I promise you that.”

[wagihyoussef]

Architecture and the Desire for New Form and Expression

Abstract

In some historical periods, individual architects concentrate on the human figure, others on objects connected with utility and consumption, others on nature. They find that under certain conditions form is influenced by concern with, or neglect of, detail.  The dependence of form factors such as size, proportion, location, shape, shading, direction, is being studied. Visual form is also considered to articulate the environment.  Visual order as a tool of insight has been stressed in the formal aspect of architecture.  Beauty can be defined as the correspondence of meaning and perceptual symbolism.  Things that belong together are shown together, and what is great and high appears in large size and in high location.  Beauty is lost when meaning and form are split.  This results in compositions which carry no message.

Keywords: cubism, mannerism, Romanesque, gothic revival, modern style

Introduction

Art cannot be a physical fact because physical facts have no reality.  This means that art exists only as a psychological experience, and the forces which generate such experience are the proper object of our attention.  In architectural design if one should put something haphazardly, one should be compelled to redo the whole design over again, starting from that place. The psychological forces that determine architecture form operate essentially in the perceptual process of vision and in the area of motivation and personality. Also, a more complete presentation would require consideration of future psychological levels, notably thinking and memory. Vision cannot be explained merely by the properties of the object but is dependent on what goes on in the brain.  If we scrutinize the observer's experience and consider at the same time what is going on in the neural mechanism of vision, we realize first of all that we are dealing with a highly dynamic process.

One must realize that all visual form is constantly endowed with striving and yielding, contraction and expansion, contrast and adaptation, attack and retreat. One can understand the elementary impact of a building and its capacity to symbolize the action of life by means of physically motionless objects. The sensations of push and pull are the conscious counterpart of the psychological processes which organize percept in the neural field of the optical sector, that is, the cerebral cortex, the optic nerve, and the retinae of the eyes. Accordingly, visual dynamics is not a secondary attachment of the stimulus, due to accidental, subjective associations, but rather precedes the geometric pattern of shape and color in that this pattern is the result of the organizing forces of whose activity the observer is partially aware.

The Colonial Style

Around the 17th C. the architecture in America was Colonial and dependent on England, Spain, Portuguese and sometimes France. But their dependence was not complete, and the aesthetic values were not provincial.  Some of the motifs were due to Spain and Portuguese whose precedent were the Indian workers to whom was related the Decoration of the Aztec and the Temples of the Inca.  Afterwards the client and the builder were from the West and the differences which were reflected upon architecture were due to the environment.  The Colonial style in North America was Georgian English and was executed with wood which made the columns thin and helped the use of painting.  The hot climate admitted the introduction of terraces, porches, loggias and the ample spaces.

Classic Styles

The National style in America was the Greek revival. Thomas Jefferson was enthusiastic to the Roman ruins which he had seen in 1780 and the result was a style ranging from the imitation of Palladianism and the Roman details as seen in the University of Virginia. From 1850 the American Architecture was not Colonial.  Instead there was Greek revival, some of Gothic, Egyptian, and a revival of old English Cottage.  Some of the buildings which had original motifs are the State Capitol and other two buildings which were conceived as the combination of the forms of the Greek Temples with central domes (Davis and others).  Davis invented a truss for wooden bridges.

In France and Germany, they evolved the Romanesque style.  In the Ile de France the master masons created the Gothic style, but the English builders, the Spanish, the Germans, the Italians have made some changes to that style to conform with their national consciousness.  Afterwards Italy switched to the Early Renaissance, the High Renaissance and the Mannerism. All this happened before any building with a Western character was built in America.  But if we take the whole of the United States we might find some echoes here or there like the ribbed Vault in some of the Friars Churches in Mexico which is Western Gothic. Apart from this Mannerism was the first European style which was reflected in America.

Modern Style

America introduced the Balloon frame in 1825 which was an elementary system for wooden buildings which has prefabricated parts to be gathered without profession in the site, the evolution of the iron structure for domestic buildings and the warehouses.

Henry Hobson Richardson. Henry Hobson Richardson 1838-86 believed in the French Romanesque, but his work was exceptional.  He used it with new qualities when he brought it out by the use of elementary forms.  He had a feeling of texture and surface. He made rich patterns to underline the massive compactness of his buildings. His work influenced many architects of his time such as Sullivan and Adler. By Sullivan America reached the top in architecture creativity. Chicago became the International Center of modern architecture and an original idiom worked out by Sullivan and his pupil Frank Lloyd Wright.  No European country had such buildings as those of Wright to compare them with.

After the First World War, there was a style made by great imaginative and decisive men. These men preached and ventured the unexplored. What they have done was according to the needs of the new society and the individual condition of the architecture.  The new style refused to accept craftsmanship and whim in design.  It is characterized by sheer surfaces and the least ornament so that the parts could be produced industrially.

Mies van der Rohe. The steel, glass and the reinforced concrete did not dictate the new style, but they belonged to it. Mies van der Rohe designed a memorial for the Communists in a cubist expressionist manner.  The sweeping lines of Mendelsohn’s architecture was extensively imitated.  Even the glass wall of Mies's skyscrapers had a fantasy which was not found in the early work. His concern about the skyscrapers was the reflection of a general fascination in America expressing the daring of the Country.  In those years it was seen as a sign of Romanticism more than a rational frame of mind.

The interaction between the interior space and the exterior was discovered by Frank Lloyd Wright in America.  The belief in exposing steel members instead of concrete massive blocks characterized the best works completed after 1930.  The best of these is the Barcelona Pavilion in 1929 by Mies Van der Rohe who was born in 1886.  Its walls were constructed of glass and dark green marble and a white straight ceiling.  The interiors were wholly opened with steel brilliant columns and divided by screen walls. It had monumentality because of its splendid materials and noble spatial rhythm.

Le Corbusier. Some of the Pioneers have made some remarkable works out of them. Le Corbusier; he was a painter and was influenced by Cubism though he did not accept it completely. In the pavilion of L'Esprit Nouveau in Paris exhibition of 1920 he admitted a tree to stand in the middle of the house and to extend through the roof. He built also in the University City of Paris a Swiss Students' Hotel 1930 with random rubble which appears side by side with glass and concrete and plaster.

Walter Gropius. Walter Gropius made the Bauhaus in Dessau and some blocks of flats. The Bauhaus was built in 1925.  It consisted of a middle part combined by differences of height.  The total form was like two "L"s overlapping.  The middle part consisted of two stories for offices over supports. Attached to the left were the four stories of the craft school.  In the South a wing contained the Auditorium and the canteen.  From this end was a tower of six floors for the dormitory with small balconies.  The all-glass workshop extended from the other end.

The Religious buildings remained far from this movement, but in Switzerland modern churches appeared such as St. Antony's Basil by Karl Moser. The problem was less complex for the reformed churches of Switzerland than others. Asplundh made the Crematorium for Stockholm 1935 and succeeded in achieving comfort.  The advance to the portico with its verticals and horizontals, the free Cross standing isolated from the building and the Chapel in the interior and the waiting room are intricate and soothing. It was surrounded with lawn on rising land, trees and a pool. The architecture of the 20th Century was not so artfully combined with the landscape.

Cubism

Cubism was criticized as being the style of cigar boxes, lacking the grace and lacking the fullness and in short inhuman.  But no one denied its functional merits.  It was said that, that style is good for factories and nothing else.  The religious building did not follow that style for those reasons.  But Nervi's Hall, Morwit's Raleigh Arena were not cigar boxes nor hardly had any mechanical appearance, not lacking fullness or grace. It could be looked at as industrial more than individual. But they looked organic not crystalline, and personal and anonymous. These forms have been made by men who wanted to span spaces and a desire for new form. The desire for new expression created new forms and found new technical means to express it.  But the roofs of the later years which curve up or down were not due to functional consideration and costs, but they were as Nervi called them ‘structural acrobating’ and the motif was difficult to calculate or construct.

Revolt against Reason

In Brazil they advocated the most fabulous construction.  The church of Niemeyer in Pampulla 1943 which had a parabolic section in the Nave and the small transept is in the form of parabolas, and the square tower which begins thin and increases in height, and the plan which contracts and expands in free curves do not depend on function. Brazil was not revolting alone against reason, but Le Corbusier was influenced by what was in Brazil, for he changed the style of his designs after visiting it. His Ronchamps in Paris 1955 explains this. The roof was shaped in the form of a hat or a mushroom and lighted by many small windows which were shaped randomly and laid so. The church is small, with a capacity for only 200 persons and was built in concrete.  When I visited it in the 20th Century 1962, I felt it seemed moving. 

The revolt against reason was not only by Le Corbusier but also appeared in many countries.  In England the architects used geometrical shapes for walls, and balconies.  A façade which has a homogeneous balcony for the flat was arranged such that the supports were put in a way to appear as a checkerboard.  Or the balconies may interchange between massive concrete and iron grids to give this impression. In Italy too, Luigi Moretti (1909) made the narrow end of the upper eight or ten floors cantilevered to the front over the ground floor.  This is so because in the matter of aesthetics the eye is the judge.  This is why Ronchamps had to come.  Examples of these tendencies are the United Nations in New York and the Lever building by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill.  It has a contrast between the 24 stories of glass-slabs and the two stories buildings underneath with its closed piazza in the interior.