#she most likely demands an explanation and calls her beloved a selfish person

[castlephantom]

More I start to look at Lisa and Elisabetha, they have few difference in their design.

First their the hair are blonde: Lisa's is an intense blonde, while Elisabetha's is pale blonde.

Second are eye's color: Lisa has light blue eyes and Elisabetha has (if we look closer) gray eyes.

Third is their hair type. At first we could see that they have wavy hair but...

According to this chart, Lisa's is 2a and Elisabetha's is 2c

And lastly is thier skin tone. Both indeed have fair skin, but Elisabetha's is much paler then Lisa's (because Elisabetha was born from a noble family)

[theoceanthatdrownthemoon-chaldea]

At first, Brynhildr's Beloved list only included Ushikawamaru as female hero. Nasu's usual trolling doesn't help in explaining it further. Right before LB2, Okita Alter is added to the list. After LB2, her list started to include more heroines. Will there be a patch to include Part 1 heroines to her list if that was developers' hindsight? The general question I have is why are there heroines in Brynhildr's list?

She's a hero killer. She's also bound to fall in love with heroes. That means she's bi. That's one explanation consistent with her material.

Both Ushikawamaru and Okita are originally male. Could that be why they're included? But so is Artoria. Yet her male counterpart is in there, not her. Ushikawamaru and Okita Alter have a mindset of devotion to higher authority who are close to them. Perhaps that what Brynhildr consider to be an attractive quality to have as a righteous heroine. She may have seen in them what they managed without as much trouble as she has - the absence of romance in their lives. After LB2, she's broken further. The heroines added to her list after that: Gareth, XX, Bradamante, Qin Liangyu. Three of them are knights, one is a king and one is a general. Bradamante has a similar fate to Brynhildr, to chase after her boyfriend as a Heroic Spirit. It is even defined as a crucial part of her concept. Gareth is a Lancer like Brynhildr. She however got killed by her idol Lancelot unlike Bryhildr who killed Sigurd. Gareth accepted that he may have killed her even if he had known. The common thing is they're betrayed by the object of their affection. Gareth is more focus on becoming the better/best knight now. Her liege still is Artoria - the one she considers a knight among knights. Qin Liangyu too is a Lancer and whether it's because of the age or because of disinterest, she stayed a widow after her husband died. What she has common with Brynhildr could be that her father was the one enable her to get education and trained in martial art. Further more she was one of the few to receive the title of Crown Prince's Guardian. She was remembered as a competent general. As for XX, I already said nothing about her makes sense as to why she's on the list. At least not by the heroic qualities similar to Sigurd. The one to beat Sigurd in Saber Wars 2 is X, not XX. My guest at the moment is Brynhildr choose the heroines based on herself while she choose the heroes based on Sigurd. The change in her list reflects the change in her Spirit Origins. Arguably, the new additions deal with their love-related issue in less destructive and suicidal ways could mean Brynhildr has started to accept those solutions as possibility. It could also mean her mentality is getting better.

Back to XX, she's still crazy. She shows her emotions easily and is a summer Servant, the opposite of winter Servants like Sigurd and Brynhildr. She put on an act to conceal her identity whereas those two are icy by their nature and circumstances. XX's selfishness is more apparent but her actions still ultimately meant to help as stated in her profile. Ooei and Hokusai died (not permanently) to XX's overzealous dedication to the job. She still prevented Summer BB from ultimately winning. Most of the time though she's heard complaining about her job and wanting a bonus. She's treated like a joke for presenting the struggles hero would face if they are living in modern age. None of the Nobus is in Brynhildr's list. But story demanded we brought summer Nobu along to deal with her anyway. The reason: fight poison with poison. That suggests she's more alike to Nobu than anyone else. There's aslo their partnership that started from Koha-Ace but it wasn't considered the main factor for the Gudas. So XX truly an odd one out. Arthur made it to the list while bearing many resemblances to Sigurd. XX on the other hand made it while being similar to a Demon King of Sixth Heaven of all things. XX is probably the special case, resembling neither Brynhildr nor Sigurd but is recognized as a heroine and earned Brynhildr's 'love' anyway. In addition to that, Brynhildr could have thought that it's heroic to live the way XX does and see that as another possibility she can accept herself to act like.

Then there's the fact her personal wish to kill Sigurd in LB2 while selfish still served to help the Proper Human History. It's somewhat familiar to XX at first. However, XX was about to wipe away the whole Singularity to hide her embarrassment. That's loop hole abuse on her part, using the higher purpose to serve her personal purpose. Totally different in possible casualties. Thanks for the save, Nobu! Yet what XX almost did is similar to Brynhildr's end - she acted according to a prophecy although the end result is her revenge accomplished. The main difference is XX didn't act on romantic love for another and Nobu was there to stop her. I could call self-love on Brynhildr's part. It's still something Brynhildr couldn't do due to fate plus circumstances. Maybe she finally is shaking off Odin's curse to start loving heroes that don't fit his descriptions anymore.

[minaminokyoko]

A ‘Justice League’ Rant

Foreword

Alright, DC fans. Before you light your torches and grab your Aquaman pitchforks and set off a rousing chorus of "Kill the Beast" when you read my review/rant, I am going to attempt to set the mood and explain myself. Some of you won't care. Some of you won't even read the whole thing before you jump onto your keyboards and proclaim that I'm just a stupid girl who doesn't understand comic books and comic book movies and that the Justice League movie is great and it's better than all the Marvel movies.

Let me stop you right there. 

This ain't about the Marvel movies.

This is about DC and Warner Bros and filmmaking in general.

I don't have it out for DC/WB. I don't have it out for the DCEU. This anger and disappointment is not a result of the 20+ Marvel Cinematic Universe's successful run. This anger and disappointment comes from deep inside a little girl who at the tender age of six or seven first realized what kind of person she wanted to be when she saw Batman: Mask of the Phantasm for the first time. One of my earliest memories was seeing the pain and torment that Bruce Wayne went through after he fell in love with Andrea and he wanted so desperately for it to be okay that he loved her and that he didn't want to keep his promise anymore. I have loved DC since I was old enough to love anything. I love Batman so much that I have his symbol tattooed on my right shoulder. Dead serious. He is my guiding light and he has been since I was six years old.

So, once more, I want you to understand that the reason I hate the Justice League movie is not because I dislike DC.

The reason I hate the Justice League movie is that the Justice League movie hates me.

This movie is hollow. It is a hollow farce. It took six of the most beloved characters in fictional history and stripped them of all the reasons why they have been beacons of entertainment since their inception and plastered them on a cheap ass green screen and shoved it out into the world to make a quick buck. There was no passion, no heart, and no creativity in this film. It doesn't have an original thought in its damn head. Not one. Everything I saw was something I've seen before elsewhere, and it was done better elsewhere. If you don't believe me, fine. Let's go point-by-point. I will fully explain every reason why I almost demanded my money back after sitting through this poisonous flick.

-The plot is so unbelievably thin you couldn't stretch it farther than a couple of inches. Forgetting the fact that Batman vs. Superman was one of the worst films ever, picking up where it left off somehow just made it hurt even worse since we had to acknowledge the fact that it exists and then have to build another plot from the resulting shitstorm. So we begin with Crazy Steve (Note: I refuse to call him Batman or Bruce Wayne, because BatAffleck is neither. He in no way represents any Batman other than Linkara's epithet Crazy Steve from his reviews.) catching a  burglar (with a literal sack of stolen shit on his back, like he's a fucking crook from the 1950's or something) and then a parademon appears and he kills it. So...first of all, was Crazy Steve there for the crook and the parademon just happened to be there? Or was Crazy Steve there for the parademon and he just used the crook? That makes absolutely no sense. Those two things didn't need to be there together. It's a plot contrivance of the highest order.  It was also unnecessary as fuck. You could have just had Crazy Steve on patrol and he saw the demon, caught it, and then it died. After seeing this, the jump from 'hey, a weird alien’ to 'ZOMG WE GOTTA GET THE BAND BACK TOGETHER' is liable to give you fucking whiplash. Crazy Steve immediately jumps to "putting a team together" when he has such little evidence of the calamity, and it's even more absurd since Crazy Steve has NO experience working with a team. At most, Jason Todd existed at some point, but that's it. He doesn't know anything about metahumans aside from maybe what Amanda Waller mentioned to him at the end of the equally abysmal Suicide Squad. Further more, he just starts trying to collect these people without explaining why they should just arbitrarily trust a man they just fucking met who dresses up like a giant fucking bat. I mean, would you? Really? Especially knowing that he tried to kill Superman on incredibly flimsy reasoning? How do you know he won't immediately turn on you if you turn your head and cough and seem like a threat to him? Crazy Steve had no way of knowing aside from Diana that any of these people were stable enough to form a team and try to fight an unknown enemy. It was so rushed. He just whisks them away and doesn't blink at revealing his secret identity to four perfect fucking strangers (though Diana arguably doesn't count; she's much more level-headed and hasn't shown a propensity for losing it at the slightest provocation.)

-There is no team dynamic. At all. It's just a room full of superpowered people. The closest thing to a relationship is between Crazy Steve and Wondy, and even then, they maybe have three whole fucking conversations, and none of them are beyond superficial. It's like the movie was afraid of making an actual development, so it just kept throwing inane quips around in the hopes of distracting you from the fact that there are no characters. The whole reason the Justice League itself as a concept excites me is because you have this room full of colorful personalities with different backgrounds who come together for the common good and want to help mankind and protect the innocent. We don't know barely anyone's motivations because this movie is running off the fumes of a bad sequel. We know Wonder Woman's motivations for the most part, but having the JLA movie before her sequels still leaves a large piece of the mythos missing because we don't know how she adjusted to modern life. We don't know if she lost faith in humanity again or where she stands because we were still in the 1940's when we last saw her. Cyborg's backstory is mentioned, but his motivations are also non-existent. We get the whole "I'm a monster" thing but they immediately move on from any possible origin or explanation of what he's going through and what he wants to do since he's got these abilities but could be seen as a freak to normal people. The Flash also got a driveby explanation, but again, without prior films or history, we basically have to guess what motivates him. I know Barry Allen because I'm a comic book fan, but your average person may not. It's completely unfair to them that you just jump from place to place without explaining how Barry got his speed, why his father's in jail, and why he just jumped at the chance to fight crime despite the fact that he doesn't know how to fucking fight apparently. It's so discourteous to the character to slap him in there and not tell us why. Why does he want to help anyone if he's scared? Why isn't he insanely rich by now from the various ways he could use his speed? And then, fuck me, Aquaman is the worst of the bunch. They make no attempts to explain anything about his background. Who is the red-haired lady? I know it's Mera because again, I am a comic book fan, but the chances that your average moviegoer knows are astronomical, and so they get to sit there completely confused about who she is and what she can do and what she means to Arthur. We don't know why Arthur was just chilling out around that one village and why he gave a single shit about humanity or how he got his powers or just...anything! Anything at all! Other than he's really mouthy and has a nice chest. Look, I might be able to overlook the depressing lack of explanation, but none of these characters bond with each other or have any reasons to care about one another. There are no human aspects to them because the only one so far who has been fully explored as a character aside from Wonder Woman is Crazy Steve. Crazy Steve got some development in BvS, but certainly not enough for you to emotionally connect with him because he was a revenge hungry psychopath in the previous film. The entire fucking point of the League is to see these interesting people butt heads, but then laugh and get along with each other and get ready to protect their home from threats. Here, they're just doing what Crazy Steve tells them to do because...reasons.

-Superman's resurrection. Holy fucking shit. I just spent the last twenty minutes ranting about this to one of my friends. Where do I even start with how goddamn stupid this shit is? It comes out of fucking nowhere. After this hastily slapped together team fights Steppenwolf one time, Crazy Steve in true Crazy Steve fashion decides that we should disgrace the dead and bring Superman back. Crazy Steve has no fucking idea how the Motherbox works. None. He has done no research, he has no knowledge of Kryptonian technology, nor is he at all aware of Darkseid and the New Gods' technology. But he's like, "Nah, bruh, we all suck and we need Superman." As an aside, I am really angry at how this movie is sucking that Kryptonian cock too. How dare you. How dare you imply that these badass heroes who were doing just fine on their own in the comics and animated shows need Superman like he's their fucking babysitter. Maybe if you had established the team dynamic and established the characters, they'd be able to fight better. Crazy Steve took one fucking look at the team that had been together a grand total of like four fucking hours and decided they were all gonna die without Superman's help. It's not only reckless and poorly thought out, it's honestly insulting. It's insulting that Crazy Steve would drag Kal El from heaven (because, for real, it's entirely possible he was in literal paradise and you sorry motherfuckers took him away from his parents and his loved ones of Krypton for your selfish asses) just on the assumption that the team wasn't strong enough. My God. I am just floored by this development in the movie. It pisses me off that the movie just shrugs and acts like it was for the best to spit in the face of God and drag Kal back to earth. Maybe you shouldn't have killed him in the first fucking place, you shitlords. And it's more frustrating to me since in the comics, after DC panicked and wrote in the "regenerative coma" that they didn't just use that instead. I'd be less angry if they introduced the idea that he was never dead to begin with, but in the death-like coma. It's a cop out, but it's better than literally Frankensteining Superman from heaven to fight your fucking battle for you.

-The dialogue is painful. So painful. It is so tacked on. I went to the theater tonight at 3:50pm and I'd say there was maybe 20-25 people in there and they laughed twice. You heard me. Twice. That was an almost two hour movie, and the audience only laughed twice. Hell, I only laughed once, and it was at the end credits scene where Superman jokes that The Flash is off the team if he loses. That was the only genuine line that I heard out of this movie. It's so apparent that the studio was trying to course correct the film away from the drab, hopeless "vision" of Zack Snyder. It doesn't work. The humor misses by a mile because it's just so awkward. These versions of the heroes take themselves way too seriously, or the quips are directed at the wrong characters. Aquaman is introduced pretty much as a dumb dudebro with a devil-may-care attitude. His snarky dialogue is fine, but when you try to have Crazy Steve the focus of a joke, it falls flat since he's a killer and an asshole and the levity doesn't feel right. There's a little tingle on the back of your neck from how awkward it is when someone makes a joke and then there's this awkward silence afterward because the movie assumes you need a minute to laugh. No, movie. No. If you want a joke to land, you need either timing or context. Pointing out the fact that Crazy Steve wears a batsuit isn't inherently funny. You need context. The "I'm rich" line is a better example of a joke that should have landed, but didn't because it was in the trailer. That has context. That is humor. Just having The Flash say things out loud that he sees isn't funny. Having him be awkward around Crazy Steve isn't funny because the two of them don't know each other and Crazy Steve is mostly straight-faced and so the lines slide off of him like dung. Diana is a better example, as she gives off a very warm presence. For example, Cyborg remarking that Diana needed to keep the merman off him almost landed because the two of them have at least held a conversation and so it feels natural that he might finally make a joke around her. It also landed better because Diana is definitely the only one who appears to have a heart. Everything else is just a vain attempt to lighten the mood, but it just clashes with the deadly serious tone everything else is shot with.

-Not explaining the mythology. Jesus Christ. I'm one of those people who believes that you cannot make a film and just sneer at your audience and go, "Oh, just read the comics if you want to know what's going on!" No. You are not allowed to do that. Film is not an add on. In a film, you are charged with telling a comprehensive story with characters who develop and change over the course of their adventure. That is storytelling 101, and this movie utterly fails. It does just like Suicide Squad where it just starts throwing names at you and not telling you who anyone is with the assumption that "only comic book nerds are watching this anyway" or "well, there are only children watching and they don't care to know who everyone is, they just want to see things get smashed." Wrong. You are wrong. We don't know Steppenwolf, we don't know Darkseid, we don't Apocalypse, we don't know Lanterns, we don't know Atlantis, we don't know jackshit as an audience! And yet they just jam all these names down your throat and expect you to be able to pay attention when you have about ninety thousand questions in your head during the course of the fucking movie. Films should find common ground with the audience. Some mystery is good. Throwing in small cameos or references can feel like a nice garnish to the mythology, but this movie just glosses over everything and thinks it's fine. None of this stuff has been established aside from Krypton and Kryptonian technology. You're doing everyone a disservice by refusing to lay the foundation for the villain and the premise of the plot.

-The effects are mostly atrocious. Out of everything I've cited here, this makes the least amount of sense to me. This is WB, for God's sake. Time Warner. You have all the money in the fucking world and this is the best you can do? I mean, the Dark Knight trilogy alone should have you funded for every superhero movie for the next ten years, and yet we get Henry Cavill's Uncanny Valley mouth as a result of the childish fucking dispute over his mustache, we get CGI that looks like it's from the goddamn Spawn movie at times, and then every single thing is shot from an obvious green/blue room that it feels like the fucking Phantom Menace all over again. I never felt like anything they were doing was real. I mean, to me, it felt like the only set in the whole fucking movie was the Batcave. They are so obviously on a soundstage the entire time and none of the backgrounds blend, and they don't even bother with smaller things like having the wind blow or the colors change or the shadows move to trick your brain into accepting the CGI. Oh, and why Digi-Bat? I'm flabbergasted as to why 80% of Crazy Steve's scenes are digital. He's the non-powered team member. Why wasn't it just a stunt guy? Was Ben Affleck really that fat and lazy that he didn't want to do any fight scenes? It was like watching a freaking PlayStation 1 game whenever he fought someone. My guess is that this project got rushed after shooting and reshoots and so instead of going over the effects with a fine toothed comb and adding layers onto them so that the scenes felt real, they just gave up and only touched them up. Now, I'm not talking about things like Cyborg where it was a front and center integrated effect. Even though I still hate his design (to me, he looks like a Black Ken doll head on a Terminator body), I believed he was there and moving around. Aside from him, though? Nah, bruh. I didn't believe anyone was doing anything.

-The fight scenes were worthless. Again, I'm confused as to how this was even logistically possible. Let's recap: we've got a guy who can run faster than the speed of sound,  a dude who can swim on top of Great White Sharks and punch craters into the ocean floor, a kid who has rocket boots and an arm cannon, a woman who can deflect bullets and shoot sonic blasts with her bracelets, a guy who can shoot lasers, fly, use ice breath, run faster than a speeding bullet, and is stronger than anything ever, and lastly a man who knows every martial arts style known to man on top of having a belt with endless nifty gadgets on it. Put that all together. You should be shitting amazing fight scenes, and yet everything last one of them was bland and forgettable. The true lack of passion in the film is what is on display with these boring fight scenes. It's so repetitive. Aquaman throws his pitchfork. Wondy swings her sword or hits her bracelets together. Batman swings. Flash runs and pushes. Superman punches. That's it. Are you fucking kidding me? I can name about a thousand different cool scenarios that we could have seen with these unique powers, and yet we saw the same moves with no creativity to them. Want an example? I personally thought the Wonder Woman movie was just okay, but I at least commend them for using her agility and her invulnerability properly to create excellent visuals for how powerful and capable she is. She smashes. She grabs and throws and uses combat techniques that a warrior race would know. It is very clear when she fights that someone gave a shit and wanted to make you feel like you were a part of the action and to give you something stunning to look at. Granted, I wasn't stunned because I've seen better, but if Wonder Woman had come out in the 90's before I had seen better, then it would have blown my socks off. The JLA movie's fight scenes are tired as hell and like the movie itself, it feels like they are just checking shit off a list. It's an afterthought. There's so little effort involved, and it matches the overall tired tone I was getting out of it all. I want to believe in these heroes. I want to be dazzled by them. I want to be inspired by them. I want the feeling I used to get when I watched the Nolan trilogy--where I knew Bruce Wayne as a character and as a person and I knew his limitations and his passion and his drive, but I also know how and when he was gonna kick some ass and that I was going to be able to enjoy the different creative ways I got to watch him kick some ass. Justice League does not have any of that vigor or wonder or splendor to its fight scenes. They are as thoughtless and calculated as the rest of the movie felt. You want examples? Pop in the first few episodes of the Justice League animated series. I implore you to sit down and watch the way that the team came together, even though we had the history of Batman and Superman previously. Then I want you to move forward to Justice League Unlimited. Watch those. Watch how they use their powers and personalities to not only provide fun, colorful, exciting fight sequences, but how the chemistry between the team members enhances the urgency of the fight and the overall enjoyment of the fight. That's what this movie is missing.

I can write another five pages' worth of criticism, but when I boil everything down to a single point it is this--the Justice League movie is a rushed, soulless attempt to cash in by manipulating the fans into accepting the massive lowering of their standards in our post-Dark Knight Trilogy years of DC/WB.

And I am begging the fans who have done this, accepted this movie and put on blinders to its problems simply because you love DC and you want to say that they made a good movie, please stop it.

I'm not saying you're wrong for enjoying it. If you did, good for you. But what I want you to do is stop letting them play you in this fashion. Because that's what they're doing. They know your heart. They know you have characters that you love that you want to see on the silver screen because they are important to you for whatever reason, and so you are purposely ignoring massive flaws so that you can enjoy what they are sloppily slapping into your eyeballs. I'm saying that you deserve the effort. You are worth the effort of making a movie worthy of these heroes we all love so much. I just want you to know that. You deserve a movie where everyone has a storyline and is developed. You deserve a storyline where the plot makes sense and the team has chemistry and a reason to be a team in the first place. Don't lower your standards so that this movie glides above them. Hold it to the right standards and demand that they do better next time. Don't give them a passing grade. You do have other options. You have the animated films, you have the television shows, you have comic books by the bucketload, and you can make a difference and demand that the filmmakers do these characters justice (cue rimshot) by telling them that this movie is a disappointment and refraining from going to see it again or from buying the DVD. Money talks. Hollywood will laugh off reviews, but that box office shock gets them every time. After all, even though the jokes were last second and tacked on, the fact that we all hated BvS made them change something to try to course correct. You did that. You made a difference. And you can do it again. You can help force them to give you the movie you deserve. You should want that. You should want that for yourself and I want that for you as well.

So if you gotta fight me, fight me. Fine. I'll rebutt you to the ends of the earth if you feel the need to go that far. I'm not trying to trash a thing you love. I love it too and I want them to put some fucking effort into these films and make them as amazing as they should be.

Until that time...I guess come at me, bro.

[zaddyzimmermann]

OMGCP Beauty and the Beast AU-

Okay so here is what I got done last night and I tried to edit it as best I can! This is the first chapter so there will be more comin.

ANYWAY I hope you enjoy and there is more coming, this is just what I managed to write until I got exhausted and went to bed (I’m lame I know)

So like disclaimer: three PAST character deaths. I also changed up the prologue a little to fit the story. I’m taking a light spin on it, not too many drastic changes (if you count the reason Jack was turned into a beast a drastic change idk)

Here is the ao3 link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10454391/chapters/23078457

*******

Once upon a time in a faraway land, a prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish and unkind.

“Yo, Jack-O!” Bartholomew Knight, strides up to his best friend, admiring the party in front of them. “Wicked party man.”

Jack clears his throat as a few people from his court glance over with judgmental expressions.

“Right. Prince Jack-O.” His best friend bristles a little, slightly annoyed by Jack’s dismissive behavior.

“Where did Kent go?” Jack can’t help but ask, because his other closest friend was nowhere to be seen upon the lively dancing of the party. Usually he’s in the middle of it all.

“Don’t know, Brah. Probably fucked off somewhere--”

Jack shoots him another glare for the language, causing ‘Shitty’ (he liked to call himself just to get on Jack’s nerves) to sigh dramatically.

“Can you be a little less vulgar?” Jack practically bites the words out, sounding extremely unkind. “Why are you with me anyway? Usually you’re following Larissa around right about now.”

“Never mind. Thought you’d want my company, but I guess I’m an embarrassment. Now I know why Kenny dearest isn’t around. I wouldn’t be surprised if he left the palace again.”

The words struck a chord, and Jack watched helplessly as his friend left his side.

But then, one winter’s night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold.

“Hey yo, your highness?” Adam Birkholz, one of the guards approached him with his other pair in tow, Justin Oluransi. 

“--there’s someone at the door. She’s kinda sketch, but we don’t want to turn away a guest.” Justin says.

“I don’t remember inviting any outsiders.” Jack grunts, but he still follows them and weaves himself through the party. Once the three get to the door, a crouched figure with horrible posture shakes from the cold in a dark cloak covering most of their body. He feels the slightest bit of sympathy, but ever since his parents were assassinated, he trusted absolutely no one, and probably never will again.

“Who are you?” Jack demands, placing himself safely behind his two guards.

An old and scratchy voice responds. “Georgia Martin, no one special. I’m just looking for shelter from the cold. It’s quite a storm out there.”

When Jack doesn’t respond, she clears her throat and reaches down to pull something out of her cloak. Jack stumbles back in fear, and his two guards immediately block him from view.

“Relax, Jack Zimmermann,” --she can’t just address me informally like that-- “It is only a rose. A peace offering and a gift, in exchange for your hospitality.”

Repulsed by her haggard and sketchy appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances. For beauty is found within, and not every unfamiliar mundane is evil.

“No way am I letting you stay here.” Jack snarls at the woman, setting himself in front of his guards in a fit of anger. “A stranger can’t just waltz in here. This is a palace, not an inn.”

“I will not harm you.” She reassures him. “You have my word. Give me a chance?”

“Only fools allow complete strangers into their home.” Jack says sternly, still a little bit shaken.

“Like your parents?”

His blood runs cold and his hands begin to shake in the beginnings of a panic attack. “Get out.” He snaps, and his tone holds heavy malice that was sharp enough to cut anyone.

And when he dismissed her again, the old woman’s ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late. For she had seen there was no trust or kindness in his heart.

“Wrong answer, Prince Zimmermann.” Her appearance quickly changes in a flurry of gold light, changing her appearance faster than Jack can process. The gold dissipates, revealing a kind and beautiful face that couldn't possibly be ‘mundane’. Jack suddenly feels the cold twinge of regret as the woman gives him a soft smile. A smile that reminded him a little of his mother, and he felt his heart constrict in sadness.

“Whoa-- what the hell are you?” Adam mutters with a look of blatant surprise, while Justin’s mouth is glued shut in silent terror.

Then Jack feels something warm begin to flood over his body, which he assumes is the feeling of magic. There’s no other explanation.

“Stop it.” Jack glances behind him at his frenzied party guests trying to escape. “I’m sorry. You can stay one night. Just stop whatever you’re doing--”

Those were the last words Jack spoke before he felt his body change, causing slight pain deep in his bones. The heartbreaking shouts from his guests and his closest friends fill his ears, which was the most painful of all.

“Jack!” He hears Kent’s voice sound in the background noise, horrified and frightened. “Goddammit, what have you done?”

And his punishment: she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful curse on the castle and all who lived there.

Like a snap of someone’s finger, everything went silent as objects clattered to the floor and his body burned with a raw sensation.

He glanced in a nearby mirror and reeled backward from what he saw. That woman-- that witch-- had turned him into some kind of monster.

Ashamed of his monstrous form, he concealed himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose. Which would bloom until his twenty-first year if he could learn to love and trust another and earn their love and trust in return.

“Until you can learn to fully love another and trust them with your love, you will stay like this.” The enchantress's voice rang loud and clear, and quite frankly terrifying in the sudden, eerie silence.

And when the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years past, he fell into despair and lost all hope.

“This is for your own good, Jack.”

For who could ever learn to love a beast.

******

“Mama,” Eric slips on his shoes and grabs his bag, ready to slip out the door. “I’ll be right back. I have to grab some eggs from downtown.”

Eric Bittle lived in a small town, one that wasn’t too keen on accepting the fact he liked to bake rather than take the “manly” job in his family. His mother is a very talented baker, so why not take after her? It was only him and his mother, which is why the townspeople were more critical. His father died when he was just a baby. His mom never talked about it, because it was still too hard. All he knows is that he was named after his father, and that his mother missed him every single day.

He always hears what the town says about him, because it still is a very small town and word travels fast. He’s weird. He’s a puzzle that can’t be solved. He’s unconventional, spending all his hours in the kitchen. However, one thing out of all the nonsense is true; He’s gay. And you’re goddamn right he is. It’s no secret, because he doesn’t hide it anymore.

His Mama is always supportive, and that’s all he really cared about anyway. Everyone else is background noise, because Eric Bittle knows there’s something else out there other than this poor provincial town. He has other plans, so none of the whispering and rumors really matter.

“Mama?” He shouts louder so she can hear him this time. “I’m getting more eggs.” He repeats.

She pops her head out from their small kitchen, flower spread across her cheek. “We’re out already?”

“You made that emergency wedding cake for the Williams family, remember?”

“Oh! Right! You’re such a smart boy. Maybe we should start raising chickens for our own eggs.”

“Mama, we would have nowhere to put them. You refuse to give up the horse.”

“Señor Bun is family, Eric Richard Bittle.” His mother scolds. “And you named him in the first place, so don’t even give me that look. We need him anyway so I can travel.” She gives him a warm smile as a goodbye before retreating to the kitchen.

Eric greets all his favorite people as he makes his way through the busy town. It’s always hectic this early in the morning.

When he finally makes it to the market Robert, the kind food vender, smiles and raises an eyebrow. “Eric! My best costumer. I could have sworn you were here yesterday.”

“I was. We ran out of eggs.” Eric shrugs with a sheepish smile, already pulling out his money.

“You practically keep me in business, so I’ll make you a deal.” He hands Bitty the eggs in a small basket, a look of appreciation on his face. “I expect one of your famous pies. The last one you made me was devoured by my family before I even got the chance to try it.”

“You got it.” Eric smiles, giving him a small salute. “I’ll hand it to you personally the next time I’m here… Which will most likely be tomorrow.”

“That’s gratefully appreciated.” Robert winks before Eric makes his way back home. This might actually be the first morning he doesn’t run into--

“Eric! My future husband. My love and joy.” The familiarity sends a shiver of irritation up his spine.

“Hello, Chad.” Eric sighs, turning around to see Chad, the most beloved, wet dream of the entire town.

He saunters over with his goon in tow, scurrying behind him as Chad makes his way up to Eric with terrifying speed.

“I was thinking,” Chad throws an arm around him, causing Eric to flinch in surprise. “You. Me. Alone out on the hill overlooking that sketchy ass patch of dark clouds that never disappears out yonder that no one questions.”

“I’ll have to pass on that. Again. For the thousandth time you’ve offered.” Eric slides out from under his arm, but doesn’t make a move to walk back home because Chad will just follow him like always. “You do realize I’m a man? I’m sure the three women that always appear when you’re around would love to be with you.” He says the last part with sincerity.

“Of course I know you’re a man.” Chad grins, completely ignoring the last half of Eric’s reply. “Why would I limit myself to one gender? Psh. Ridiculous! We’ve talked about this before. Besides, I want to marry the hottest piece of ass in this town. And that, Eric Bittle, is you.”

“Chad.” Eric runs a hand over his face, and surely people are watching their exchange by now. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not marrying you.”

“This is true love, Eric Bittle.” Chad pouts his lips, like he’s a begging puppy.

“Um, I’m pretty sure this is harassment--”

“--anyway.” Chad cuts him off before he can finish. “I’m rich and hot. What’s not to love?”

Eric has given up at this point, so he decides to just ask, “Chad, how do you manage to track me down every day, anyway?”

“Oh, I usually wait up on the hill right by your house every morning and follow you around until I find the perfect opportunity to court you.”

Eric blinks, slightly terrified by the admission. “Chad, that’s creepy.”

“It’s romantic.” He defends with a slight glare.

“I’m going home. See you tomorrow.” Eric mutters before quickly escaping.

“Bye babe!” Chad calls after him. His daily run-ins with Chad are his least favorite thing about this town.

Some days are harder than others. Like when people so obviously give judgmental looks when he’s buying more baking supplies, or he’s handing out his pies for free to families that can’t quite afford dessert. ‘The least he can do is help provide for his mother. Poor thing, lost her husband at such a young age.’ That’s what most of them say, at least. Like his mother isn’t more than capable of holding her own. It’s not like she raised a child and kept a roof over their heads for nearly nineteen years.

When Eric returns home, he hears his mother humming in the kitchen. She hasn’t left since he went out to buy more eggs.

“Hi Mama.” Eric kisses her cheek before placing the small basket beside her. He glances at the cookies already cooling off. “How did you manage to make those without any eggs?”

“I’m innovative.” She grins, looking extremely excited. “I think I just discovered a loophole so we don’t have to use eggs all the time. What a money saver! Maybe I can buy you new skates by winter, since your last pair fell apart.”

“When are you leaving?” Eric asks, still nervous about her departure. His Mama makes more money that way, leaving town to sell her baked goods in different towns. He always fears that one day she simply won’t return home, and Eric will be all alone.

“Oh Dicky, not until the morning.” She reaches over and cups his cheeks, like she does when she senses him worry. “Let’s just get your pies done for now and not think about it.”

“Okay.” Eric says softly as she releases his cheeks and begins pulling the supplies they need out of cabinets like it’s second nature.

The next morning he helps his mother load everything into the carriage, and feeds Señor Bun before his long journey.

As his mother hops onto the horse, she gives Eric one last encouraging smile. “I’ll be back before you know it, honey. What do you want me to bring back?”

“Oh. Uh.” Eric frowns, because his mother doesn’t have to get him anything. However, his mother does it for his comfort. This way, she has to come back to him. No matter what, because a promise is a promise. “Just get me anythin’ really. Whatever you think looks pretty.” He grins as his mother rolls her eyes.

“Hold down the fort while I’m gone.”

“I always do.” Eric laughs a little, then reaches up to squeeze her hand one last time. “Be safe, Mama.”

Then she’s off, and he watches her disappear from view.

He loves his mother and he loves baking, but there has to be something more out there than this. He just knows it.

“Eric!” Chad’s voice booms throughout his front yard, causing him to flinch in unpleasant surprise.

“Hi Chad.” Eric sighs as Chad makes his way up to him, intruding on his personal space.

Chad throws on what he believes is his most charming smile. “Are you doing anything today?”

“Nope.”

“Then let’s go on an adventure.” Chad grins, suggestively sliding his hand down Eric’s arm. “For a baker your arms are incredibly buff.”

“Mixing takes a lot of arm power.” Eric defends himself, already kicking himself for interacting with Chad with any attitude beyond dismissive.

“That’s so hot.” Chad removes his hand and decides to flex his own arm. “I work out too. I’m basically a war hero.”

“That’s great. Well, I have to bake and do girly stuff that threatens masculinity. Nothing you’d be interested in.”

“You know me so well, babe. Alright, see you tomorrow my love.” Then Chad is off, making his rounds and flirting with everything in his path.

There has to be something else out there than this provincial life.