#you expect me to believe maleficent fucked this man?

[maydaymadier]

why is the Descendants franchise Like That?

[wonderlandhour]

Ok, call me crazy, but I have a theory. And it might not necessarily be a theory, maybe just an observance, but I noticed something with Malleus Overblot.

Warning - Spoilers for Book 7

So as we all know, the main plot point that leads up to Malleus overblotting is Lilia leaving NRC due to a loss of his magic. But over the books, I've noticed something. In Book 6 we learn that overblots are less a sudden intense outpouring of blot and negative emotion, and more like the tipping point of an amalgamation of years of buildup. I find that made a lot of sense with what I'd noticed, because with the blot gathering cut scenes, even in parts where it seems like things are going pretty well (like with Azul, Jamil, and Leona all having the upper hand until almost the very last moment), it gives a sense of dread and things taking a darker turn.

And while some of them make a lot of sense (Vil's ever growing obsession and losses to Neige or Riddle's constant fights with the main gang and his own dorm), in the instances where the blot buildup doesn't makes sense, Book 6 fave it clarity.

But I noticed that there's always a tipping point. A snap where you can see the character in question starts acting differently or odd. Riddle was violent and sudden, all of them were. But Azul was the first and most obvious example of this snap that I noticed. Leona destroys everything he worked so hard for, it cuts back to us and the tweels, and when we get back to Octanivelle, Azul's gone batshit. Literally. He snapped in every sense of the word. Riddle's snap wasn't obvious to me aside from the absurdity of Ace punching him, until I looked back. Riddle's snap was Trey going against him. Leona's was finding out he not only got found out, but got foiled. Jamil's was thinking the whole world saw his plans (which I believe was actually less just his own plans getting fucked but also a reaction to the fact that if he got found out by thr Asim's, his family might not survive their wrath but that's for another time.) Vil's snap wasn't even what lead up to him attempting to poison Neige, because he acts normal right after when Rook takes the juice. His snap is Kalim stopping him from hurting Rook with said poison. Idia's snap, I don't think was in the underworld talking to the original Ortho. I think Idia's snap was hearing Ortho call him Idy.

But Malleus? While the lead up is all about Lilia's impending leave, his loss of one of his only people. The only person who's been there his whole life. His dad. He's no where near Lilia when he snaps. He's already snapped when he shows up in the party with Silver and talks Maleficent monologuing. You can so easily spot his snap, because similar to Azul, he goes batshit. Silver notices it right away with Malleus laughing suddenly.

The begs the question, why did he snap with Silver. They were talking about Lilia, and Silver was crying, but to me. It didn't feel like that snap was about Lilia. It felt like it was about Silver. I'm one of those people who believes that Malleus and Silver are like brothers. They have a bond like that, even if they don't act on it in cannon. They're supposed to be a prince and bodyguard, those are their roles, and they're good at playing them for a reason. But that's the thing. If that's all they were, why would Silver, who doesn't show that much emotion is general, who's calm and collected, who runs out in what seems like a near panicked state to find Mallsus before Lilia leaves, start bawling his eyes out in front of Malleus. With barely a nudge?

They were both essentially raised by the same man. They are brothers through Lilia. Malleus has almost no one, he clings to Yuu because they treat him as if he were just another person. Just as Lilia does. Just as Silver often does. Sebek is the only one of the group who treats Malleus the way we could expect someone from Briar Valley might. Sebek is a whole other thing, but wouldn't Silver, who was raised by Lilia, who was taken in by his grandmother the queen, who guarded his and acted as her general, treat him similarly?

He does! We see it in events like the Glorious Masquerade, he is still Malleus's bodyguard for a reason! But if Lilia's relationship with Melanor was like Silver's with Malleus, it makes sense that their relationship would reflect that of their parents. And it has the added effect of Malleus being an orphan as well, and as far as I can tell (and an eng player trying to not get too many spoilers), Lilia takes a major role in Malleus's youth. He might not have been there constantly when he was younger, but he was there. And he was the only one who (besides probably his very busy grandmother) didnt treat Malleus as something to be feared or revered.

But what does this all have to do with Malleus snapping and overblotting? Malleus and Silver have a very specific relationship in cannon. Its professional decently often, but it's also soft. Silver will absolutely protect Malleus, but he knows that he doesn't always want or need it. He doesn't need to be observed like a hawk 24/7 if something goes sideways. (Seen in how quickly he and Sebek check on Malleus after the attack in book 6, and how calm Silver is while Sebek is panicking over a missing Malleus he wouldn't leave alone later on).

Malleus barely has to say anything to Silver before he breaks down in tears about everything with Lilia. I know as someone who be very private with what's bothering me, the only person who could get me to break down that hard and that fast would be someone I consider family. Silver so inherently trusts Malleus that he'll sob and cry in front of him with so little. He's desperate and shattering. The only person he let see that was Malleus.

Then Malleus laughs, and Silver's caught of guard. That basically proved that this is his snap, because it pretty much fully implies that this is out of character for the prince. Silver would take the laughter and the teleporation is sride. Instead he's shocked and bewildered through both of those things, confused when they show up at Diasomnia.

Malleus only goes back and quickly overblots because he'd already hit the point of overblotting. But it required blot, and he hadn't used any magic for that blot like everyone else until he got back and everyone started fighting him. He overblotted because losing Lilia killed him. But he didn't Overblot until the only other person beside the newcomer Yuu (who was also trying to figure out how to leave him) who treated him like a normal person expressed his exact feelings.

Neither brother wanted their dad to leave, but Lilia was leaving, and it broke Silver. And thus, Malleus snapped and overblotted because of Silver.

Anyways I'm not very good at articulating myself sometimes but this is just a long-winded way of saying I think malleus actually only fully overblotted because his little brother sobbed for their dad leaving them and his need for the few people he has was combined with his need to protect them (aka the sweet dreams and forcefullness of them) and Silver's breakdown was just the final straw. He kept Lilia and everyone else via their dreams safe because it meant they were all together and happy.

[silvcrignis]

📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂 📂

{Meme}: SEND “📂“ FOR A RANDOM YET COMPLETELY USELESS HEADCANON I HAVE {x} 24 folders? Aight bet.

1.) 📂 Claude Frollo has REALLY hairy arms... Like no idea why & they are indeed the hairiest part of his body excluding y'know... His hair. The arm hairs are still platinum blonde. 2.) 📂 Claude's eyebrows are also still platinum blonde. 3.) 📂 Keira Black & her ex husband the Metatron both share the weird laugh after good sex quirk. 4.) 📂 Alaine's middle name "Claudine" was actually her birthname because her mother Alana Triton was a lil obsessed with Claude at the time. Her twin brother Amadis got the Claude II treatment... Claude amended both the shits the very second he could, he had to SAVE those kids. 5.) 📂 Sanderson le Fay really enjoys spoons? Just finds them really funny & somewhat fascinating... No idea why.

6.) 📂 Lord Hades (my regular one not the Disney based one, yes I know it's confusing I have two it's a long ass story) wears band human tees for the comfort & aesthetic but he is a poser & does NOT listen to most of the said bands he displays on them. 7.) 📂 SG & Sam both are left-handed. Not sure which twin copied which honestly. 8.) 📂 Keira's full name is so wild Demetra never ever allowed Marcus to name a child again. If you're an S/O of hers you're only finding out what her actual full name is after you married her. She has 3 fucking middle names & knows not what she's done to deserve such a thing. 9.) 📂 Bram Stoker honestly never is recognised as THE Bram Stoker in public usually until he makes a really specific joke about the book Dracula. 10.) 📂 Speaking of Dracula. Marcus Black was the vampire who turned him. They still talk sometimes. 11.) 📂 Marcus Black also invented chess. He was bored one day. Though a lot more people have beaten him at it than expected though he's always a good sport about. He did not invite checkers. According to him we have the werewolves to thank for that. 12.) 📂 Lucaevar Hill can do the same weird shoulder popping thing his mother Keira does. Freaks Jaime the fuck out sometimes he's just like "Son wtf???" 13.) 📂 Terran Rickman has a SUPER fiaxtion on shuffleboard. He loves that shit. Honestly I can support it, it's a fun game. 14.) 📂 The most popular game on the Isle of the Lost was Twister? Whenever a bunch of villains on Trash Island were bored & hanging out together without fail one of them would be like "Hey I have a game of Twister with me." & that's all they HAD to say. Jamie Hook was NEVER ever allowed to do left hand anything for obvious reasons.

15.) 📂 Maleficent Faire's staff can stay upright without her holding it. She has that good strong magic.

16.) 📂 Lord Chernabog is as his tiltle "The Lord of Night" implies much more active at night. His oldest kid Nyx inherited that from him... Probably because her mother is the same way.

17.) 📂 Severus Snape's eyes are bizarrely light sensitive. Specifically sunlight or artificial lights that are too bright. Thank GOD most of his time is spent in torchlight.

18.) 📂 Demetra Black, Morgana le Fay & Hecate were the three witches Macbeth saw in the woods. They weren't really serious about their prophecy either they were just having a laugh & he self fulfilled it. Morgana felt real bad about him going crazy. The other two? Not so much.

19.) 📂 Merlin le Fay's gun is registered. Surprisingly. Considering he is a crazy man who RARELY follows the laws of morality much less the law in legality.

20.) 📂 Claude Frollo has broken MULTIPLE gavels on his paternity court show... Some of the people testifying REALLY get under his skin & he is REALLY strong. Gotdam~

21.) 📂 Morpheus Sadik once lied about having Alaine's name tattooed in his asshole & people immediately believed him. Her name is tatted on him but it is not in his Sandy lil b-hole he's just dumb.

22.) 📂 None of the lizards Victor Granite has tosssed into Claude's hair have ever been hurt... Also they love it there, they have the time of their little scaly lives frolicking about in there.

24.) 📂 Claude Frollo hates Furries passionately but there are only TWO other groups of people who can similarly draw his ire. The Catholicism kinkers... & surprisingly... MIMES? He's a proud Frenchie so I have n o idea why he hates mimes but he does. He shares this passionate irrational hatred of mimes with Keira Black so AT LEAST a friendship & marriage came out of that united spite I guess???

[sassybirdmanandhisangstywife]

Well would you look at that, I’ve crawled back onto this page with another chapter. At least this one’s longer, and in my opinion written better than it’s predecessors. That would be due to me writing my original series, the only reason this chapter took so long. But that’s not what you’re here for. You’re here for the fic

So enjoy Diaval’s crisis ;)

Chapter 5

I hate it when I’m right

Flying across the barren land of Percefrost, I scrambled to come up with a plan. Not that I had much to plan, as I was heading to the castle without any information, but I should at least have an idea of what to do if the usual happens. The usual being a phenomenal failure of whatever the original plan was, and having to resort to a hastily put together backup plan. I shook my head. How have Mistress and I survived for this long? I really haven’t the slightest idea, but I hoped we could continue to have such good luck. Otherwise it’s down to the backup plan. Right, that’s what I was doing. A backup plan, hm......

My tired wings nearly caused me to fall to the ground as I approached Stephan’s old castle. I haven’t been sent to spy on the humans since Aurora was barely older than a hatchling, and I’d forgotten how long the journey is. Especially when you’re quite an old raven. But I had to persevere, and eventually I made it to one of the castle roof’s many holes (it is so fun when it rains in here). This one was situated right over the throne room. I figured that if anything significant was happening, this would be the place where it went down. I flew (well, fell really, as I said it took an enormous amount of energy that I didn’t exactly have to even arrive here) into the roof’s crack. Once I was inside, I quickly landed on the nearest beam. Breathing heavily (NOT panting, once again I am not a bloody mutt), I took a minute to recharge before looking around the large room. What I saw shocked me far more than I could’ve imagined.

Mistress was in chains, not iron otherwise she would be dead already, limp and possibly unconscious. Various cuts and bruises lay all across her limp form, blood actively dripping down more than a few of them. Her horns were scraped, and her wings, ones that were just returned to her, were bloody and twisted, chunks of feathers ripped out all over them both. I can’t even imagine the kind of pain Mistress must be in, emotionally as well as physically. Mistress lay in front of Stephan’s throne. I would say old throne, but that isn’t quite accurate. The bastard was ALIVE. How the fuck does a puny human like him survive a multi-story fall? He may look worse for wear, that being an understatement, but still, it’s just inconsiderate. The king had a positively insane smile on his face, and was shaking from what I assumed to be some kind of twisted joy. He was towering over Mistress,and decided that this was the moment to kick her harshly in her core with an iron boot. Mistress screamed, a shriek of pure agony, and I had to tear myself away from the horrible sight. As I turned my head, I heard a scream of “NO!” echo across the castle. I knew that voice far too well. That sound came from Aurora. My little girl. What have they done with her? I knew that scream was a reaction to Mistress’s pain, but I still saw red. Anyone who dared even touch my daughter without her permission would be annihilated by my hand. At least if I had my way. But for now, I had to hope that Aurora’s bloodline would keep her safe from the worst of Stephan’s fury. Mistress however, was in a far more grave situation.

Stephan then spoke. Or rather, screamed with more volume than an injured human should possess.

“RELASE MY DAUGHTER’S MIND YOU WITCH”

Mistress looked up, and from my vantage point, I could see the bruises and cuts that littered her beautiful face. Choking on my shock, I grew queasy. Mistress was incredibly powerful, why couldn’t she defend herself from a few humans? Powerful humans with far too much iron albeit, but still, just humans. And they had Aurora as well!? Could this get any worse?

Mistress smiled up at Stephan, a tired smile, one full of pain, but more real than anything else I was seeing. She spoke softly, but with a firm purpose.

“I have done nothing to Aurora Stephan. Why would I? She is my daughter aft-“

Mistress was horribly interrupted by a harsh kick to the jaw by Stephan’s iron covered boot.

“SHE IS MY DAUGHTER! MINE, NOT YOURS, AND SHE ALWAYS WILL BE!”

Mistress gave a harsh, cold laugh, one that ended in a painful, bloody coughing fit.

“You gave up that privilege when you sent her away, all those years ago. Aurora grew up without you to guide her, so she turned to those who truly cared. Myself and D-“ she paused, and in that moment, her eyes widened. “......And the fairies.” She finished. I knew Mistress well enough to notice her mistake, but unfortunately, so did Stephan.

“YOU DID NOT MEAN TO SAY THAT!” Stephan screamed, his face turning redder than the dried blood on his face. “WHO ELSE HAS CORRUPTED HER MIND!?!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE MALEFICENT?!??”

“I have merely raised Aurora to the best of my abilities, something you would have done if you truly wanted to be her father. But I know the truth. You only want that claim for the power it gives you, and so you can be the true corrupter, poisoning her innocent mind with your thoughts of evil. I won’t release Aurora, as I have nothing to release. If your broken mind refuses to understand and accept these truths, that problem does not fall to me to fix.”

Stephan whipped his body around, towards his magnificent throne, and grabbed it’s arms, harshly casting it aside in his fury. The throne crashed to the ground, shattering to bits with a deafening scream. Splinters dug themselves into Mistress’s pale skin, causing her to wince painfully.

“IF YOU REFUSE TO FREE MY DAUGHTER, I WILL FORCE YOUR MAGIC OUT OF HER. IN 9 DAYS TIME, I WILL KILL YOU IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE KINGDOM, SO ALL CAN VEIW THE MIGHTY MALEFICENT’S FAILURE TO SURVIVE. YOU MAY ONLY PREVENT THIS BY RELEASING MY DAUGHTER FROM YOUR POISONING GRIP.”

Oh no. Oh, oh no.

Maleficent barked out another laugh.

“Do you actually expect me to believe that? I know you far too well to truly think my life will be spared. If you are to kill me, so be it. But you will leave my people alone.”

“NEVER! ALL OF THE MOORS SHALL FALL AT MY HAND!”

“That will never happen. The creature who will replace me is far too quick witted to be defeated by you.”

Stephan laughed, in such a way that his insanity shone through like the sun rising on a new day.

“But I have conquered you, the great Maleficent. Are you actually suggesting that you have a superior? You are the one who’s mind is lost if you say that truthfully.”

Mistress smiled softly, showing....happiness? In this situation?? THIS is where she decides to openly show joy????? Despite her uncomfortable position, she spoke with all the confidence in the world.

“Yes. There is only one I would consider my equal, and he shall rule in my stead. Diaval will end you, as well as your pathetic followers King Stephan.” She spat that last part, but I barely registered it. Mistress thought of ME as an equal?!? And she wanted me, of all creatures, to rule all of The Moors? I knew she saw me as more than a servant, for that much was obvious, but an EQUAL!?!?

Just then, my star struck inner rambling came to a stop as Stephan began to speak once more.

“DIAVAL?!? WHO IS THIS CREATURE?!?” The ruined king spat back, before somewhat recovering his composure. “No matter, if I can destroy you, I can certainly take on this Diaval.” Stephan ran his fingers through his hair, matted by his own blood, and straightened his robes. “Now for you, Maleficent,” he smirked cruelly. “Enjoy your last days. Or rather, suffer though them like the beaten animal you are.”

Stephan swept his cloak around his injured form, and strode out of the throne room. I merely stood on my perch in shock.

This definitely got worse. Oh ravens it was so much worse.

Not only were Mistress and Aurora captured, Stephan was somehow ALIVE, about to kill Mistress, and I was expected to LEAD A KINGDOM?!? What am I going to do? How can I possibly fix a disaster of this volume?! I’m just a raven! I don’t have power or wealth, all I have is.......OH.

It was like a candle flickered on in my brain. Suddenly, I knew what to do.

I may not have power over people or land, and I might not have money, but I have an entire kingdom of- shit. Right. I have no way to reach those who would help, as Mistress’s thorn wall is as strong as ever, and she’s the only one who can tear it down. That means, barring the few creatures who can fly over it, including myself, there was no one coming.

I was alone. Utterly and completely alone. What was an insignificant raven like myself to do?

Just then, a glimmer of hope shone through this situation’s never ending darkness.

Stephan’s captain darted his eyes around fearfully, before slowly and cautiously walking toward Mistress. The other guards watched, expressionless as their helmets covered enough of their faces that it was impossible to tell what each was thinking.

The captain sank down on one knee, just ahead of Mistress, and stared at her with bronze eyes that showed emotions too numerous to count.

“Do- do you really think he can do it?” The captain asked with forbidden hope.

“Kill me? My dear captain I am more than too weak to stop him. It is only a matter of Stephan’s whims now.” Mistress said mockingly, resigned to her fate. Not that I would let that happen. If Mistress is to die, I’d give my life to protect her first. But then, the captain said something that pulled the breath away from both myself and my Mistress.

“No, not that. I do not wish for you to die Maleficent. What I mean is.....can the dragon man truly do it?? Can he beat Stephan? Can he....can he free us from this madness?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The humans hated Stephan as well?? And not just any humans, but Stephan’s own royal guard??

Unfortunately, my hopes were quickly shot down.

“Boaralta no!” A nearby gaurd hissed in fury. “Do not wish for the death of our great king! Long live King Stephan!”

The captain, or Boaralta apparently, shook his head roughly and stood up.

“Of course. The witch probably took over my brain. Long live King Stephan.” Boaralta said, solemnly walking back to his position. Although, a shred of my hope was brought back by the sympathetic glance the captain gave Mistress from the corner of his eyes.

Well, it wasn’t a common opinion, but at least someone who could help disagreed with the corrupt king, even if that someone was too afraid to truly speak his mind. It was still hope. Hope to save us all, hope that I, along with everyone else, desperately needed in this time of suffering beyond anything ever seen. I flew out of the castle and away from my Mistress and daughter with this hope, begging the skies and stars that such a small thing could win against such odds. For it had to, or all was lost. And I couldn’t accept that. I could never accept that there is nothing to be done except wait for Mistress to die, The Moors to fall, and my precious daughter to fall into the clutches of such an evil man. I am willing to give my life to avoid that if need be, for that fate is one that can never come to be. I couldn’t bear it.

The only question now is how I am to prevent such a terrible future on my own.

A minor problem of course.

[alpaca-writes]

Mystics, Chapter 12

When Arch becomes hired on at Mystics by the strange shopkeeper Lyrem Nomadus, everything seems to be going well- in fact, their life nearly becomes perfection. Soon enough, however, Arch realizes that perhaps not everything is as perfect as it seems….

Directory: [chapter one] [chapter two] [chapter three] [chapter four] [chapter five] [chapter six] [chapter seven] [chapter eight] [chapter nine] [chapter ten] [chapter eleven]

Tag list: @myst-in-the-mirror, @livingforthewhump

CW: memory whump, psychological whump, noncon touching (nonsexual), swearing. torture mention, car accident mention

CHAPTER TWELVE: THE FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN

        Store meeting. 8pm tonight. –

        “And, send.” Lyrem muttered to himself, then sighed. He laid his elbow against the countertop, staring mindlessly at his phone and drank the last sip of his coffee before throwing it into the trash bin beside him. The shapeshifter was in the alley, waiting for their cue. All Lyrem needed now, was Arch. A slight flittering sound alerted him to a new text.

        Omw.

        Perfect. Everything was in motion. Everything was going to work out. Arch needed a little more push. Just a slight nudge to keep them interested in working for him. The farther they went, the harder it would be to return to innocence. He couldn’t allow them the chance to turn away. He needed to awaken their memories naturally. He needed them to be lost in their fury. He needed them to take that extra step- he needed them to kill. And who better to help them to do that than-

        The front door flew open in a rage. Lyrem was faced with a version of himself blazoning with passionate anger. His eyes were red, his face was pink. He looked as though…

        “What happened to you?” He asked himself. The other Lyrem wiped a stray unstoppable tear from his face.

        “Oh, you’ll fucking find out!” He shouted. He travelled through the store and directly entered the employee washroom. He remained in there for several minutes before emerging with his face rinsed but still tender. He announced to his other self, still in a fit. “I’m taking the SUV.”

        The present Lyrem raised a brow, then returned to staring at his texts. It wasn’t often that he dared cross himself within a time-stream.

        “Just don’t crash the damn thing.” He hollered, but his future self was already gone through the back.

        -----

        The Labyrinth.

        Arch had only ever heard of it.

        What they knew was simply that it was a place of emptiness. It was a place where nothing existed. A place where suffering, joy, life and death ceased to be. It was also a place that stole you from the world. A step into the depths of the Labyrinth and you’d be forgotten to all. Forgotten to the whole world- except for the very one who had tossed you in. Even on Earth, the Labyrinth would ensure you’d never exist there either- not even in a memory. It wasn’t like simple Latin blood magic. This was a loss to endure forever.

        Now, they saw it, and it was much less impressive than they expected. Lyrem had propped open the back door as Arch held onto the man’s body- or the person they were to assume was the man. But… Arch knew better than to believe everything they heard. They were reminded of the policeman, Grenn, and what he had said a week ago-

        “How does a guy walk away from a car crash with a Bowie stuck in his leg?”

        At the time, it wasn’t as important to know how the man got away, as much as it was important to find him. Lyrem seemed sure that they had found him, but Arch wasn’t so sure- especially not after they leaned into his right leg. There wasn’t anything remotely close to a reaction from him. The knife was buried at lease two inches into his leg, of that, Arch was certain; and no one could heal from that in a week. The Labyrinth wouldn’t be pleasant, certainly, but at least they weren’t about to kill an innocent man.

        “Well?” Lyrem touted, “What are you waiting for?”

        Arch looked up and down the empty alleyway. Usually, Lyrem’s vehicle would be blocking the view of the street from the alley’s entrance, but it wasn’t around tonight. Maybe it was at a mechanics’; maybe Arch would get lucky.

        “Nothing,” they said, dismally. They propped the man up, who was now completely unconscious from a second well-placed blow to the head, and kicked him forward into the darkness.

        Lyrem closed the door after the shapeshifter.

        “I am proud of you, Arch,” he said, but this time, it sounded skeptical. Like he was testing them. He could see the change in their demeanour and he measured what this new version of Arch might mean for him.

        “That wasn’t the man, was it?” They postulated. Lyrem squirmed under their gaze. He nodded apologetically, and gave a half smile.

        “Too clever for your own good,” he praised warmly. Approaching, he clasped his hands together.  “You caught me. That was not the Man- though you certainly put him in his place, didn’t you? The Labyrinth… I would choose death over the Labyrinth a hundred times over if given a choice. Quite diabolical of you to choose the Labyrinth.”

        Arch stepped backward, nearly tripping over their own feet to do so. Lyrem regarded their movement keenly, and furrowed his brows.

        “What’s wrong, Arch?”

        “Nothing,” they mumbled, looking away, towards the door. “What… was he? Why did he look like the man?”

        “Oh,” Lyrem realized. “He is a shapeshifter. Hard beings to find, I will admit but for this particular job, he did just perfect. Well worth the expense I think.”

        Arch squinted their eyes at Lyrem, who was so comfortable with the idea of tossing people away.

        “So, he was like you?” Arch alleged tentatively. “A… a monster?”

         Lyrem stepped forward at the accusation, towering himself over the kid that he regarded so highly. A sharp betrayal stung him in the chest. He had almost forgotten that his future self had visited him to retrieve the SUV. He may finally know exactly what set him off into such a fury.

        “Say that again.”

        Arch stammered and stumbled over their words, their hands finding their way to their pocket where their phone was missing, but the mace, thankfully, remained. Lyrem stopped them with a finger to their lips, resulting in an upsetting silence from Arch.

        “I am not a monster,” he stated. “What I am is a bestower of great gifts. I gave you dominance and power over those who have oppressed you and you would lower me to the tier of a shapeshifter- a monster?”

        Arch was shaking now, unable to move any further away, and too fearful to object to his statements.

        “You promised me your life, your devotion to this work that I do. Arch, if I am truly a monster in your eyes, then you need not fear me any more than the one that stares back at you from a mirror.”

        Lyrem lowered his fingers, and took a deep breath.

        “I will forgive you, Arch. I will forgive you because I care about you, and because you did something very difficult for me today.” Lyrem raised his arm again, setting a hand on their shoulder. “And I suspect you are still trying to remember everything that you and I have done together. So… I apologize if this experience was… rattling.”

        “My…” Arch mumbled, still stricken with a sense of danger that was overwhelming them, reason and all. “My mom… she warned me…”

        The memories were fading… They were fading quickly. But their mom… their mom?... told them… somebody told them not to trust this man. The man with the gem shop. The man who forced them to work late. The man who taught them what power truly was.

        This was the man they feared. And they feared him more than anything else in the world.

        The lid of the mace hit the alleyway’s pavement, rolling into a gutter of the road. The hiss of the spray and the following spewed insults, were enough of a distraction for Arch to run into the street after they had thrown the emptied canister into the old man’s face. The only thing screaming in their mind was the knowledge that they had to return home and not Lyrem’s well chosen words that echoed down to them as he followed them at a slower pace to the sidewalk.

        “YOU UNGRATEFUL WRETCH!”

        Arch flew down the many streets, pushing past the evening street-walkers if needed. Their legs fought them the whole way; still recovering from the bruises from the crash and their back still feeling the panging effects from the whiplash that caused a near-constant aching. For now, they couldn’t care less. They needed to get home. They needed to be safe. They needed…

        For whatever reason, a visual of Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore popped into their head. There was something about it that was wrong. There was something missing. Someone missing. Who was telling them about that ridiculous movie, again?

        Who would be waiting for them at the house? They thought.

        Maleficent. That stupid cat.

        People lived with other people though, didn’t they? Families. They realized. That was what it was called. They had one of those. Human families. Siblings and grandparents and fathers and…

        They reached the end of their block, their own face worn from the fears of that night and exhausted from everything that had been revealed to them. They weren’t a monster… They couldn’t be.

        They were Arch. They were a stupid high school student who had a part-time job. They had friends... they had little hobbies… they failed Spanish class.

        They also tortured Kyle. They flayed his skin so that Lyrem could dry them and use them as paper for certain macabre spell work.

        The more they ran with the knowledge of what they had done and who they had hurt, the harder it was to continue… the easier it was to give up. Their knees buckled, hitting the sidewalk pavement with force. Out of breath, and feeling nauseous, Arch’s forehead met the hot ground next; their arms and hands curled around their head as they threatened to pull their own hair out as a means of distraction from their horrible reality.

        “There you are…”

        Arch gulped, and merely wept, soaking the sidewalk in a small spot where their face was supported only by their forearms. They felt a firm grasp pulling them up by the elbow, and they succumbed to its demands. Their knees were torn into by stray pebbles, tossed on from the boulevards- some were still small enough to remain stuck beneath their there, leaving specks of red across their skin.

        “Wh-where…” Arch started to say- though they didn’t entirely know what they were trying to ask as a fog of grief and anger and fear poured over them. “Where’s… my…”

        It was exhausting, trying to remember exactly what was so wrong- why they couldn’t stand to be around Lyrem right now- and despite their best efforts to pull away, he dutifully remained by their side as they walked the rest of the street together. Slowly they arrived at the front door of the house.  

         Maleficent sat there at the top of the porch, waiting; her blue eyes peering judgmentally at the kid as they found their way up the stairs. A long grey tail swept from side to side lazily, then she proceeded to lick herself.

        Lyrem closed them into the house; the scent of burning paper filling it. He had lit a small fire in the living room and stacked several small Rubbermaid containers beside it- one of which, sitting on the raised slate hearth was half empty.

        The futon was roughly shoved back into the form of a couch. Bags of clothing in multiple colours remained by the door, as well as a stack of math and chemistry texts with haphazardly strewn loose-leaf papers.

        He sat Arch down on the futon as he laid a hand on their back. Gently, he caressed them and pulled a warm fleece throw over their lap. Arch curled into it, and watched the fire burn, engulfing the last memories of the people they thought of as family. Lyrem return to stoking it. He picked through some photos and papers from the open bin, allowing Arch to watch as he tossed them to the flames.

        Arch found themselves drifting into a deep dreamless sleep. With a pillow under their head and the room growing too warm, Lyrem studied them fondly as he continued to shove their past into the flames. Over an hour later, he closed the lid on the one of the last bins. He would return to burning those papers and photos another time. He pushed the little metal bar to close the flue on the fire, and shut the door on it as it groaned like a horn.

        “You rang…?”

        Lyrem turned around, seeing Paimon, he scoffed. Then held a finger to his lips to keep the demon quiet until he shooed him into the kitchen. Lyrem started the kettle on the stove. Paimon looked from the couch and then back to Lyrem warily, and then opened his mouth.

        “Don’t say it,” Lyrem interjected. Paimon looked slightly offended.

        “I was going to say that our lawyer has their papers ready,” Paimon replied with an innocent conjecture. Removing his tall hat, he placed it on the small worn wooden table. Lyrem nodded, and he continued. “But also, that you are getting too close.”

        Lyrem pulled himself away from the cupboard; a tin of hot chocolate powder in his hand, he considered using it as a bludgeoning instrument- but even if he had something more weaponized, Paimon wouldn’t have felt a thing. He was a demon, after all.

         “All Arch has to do is sign and your debts will become their debts. You won’t ever have to worry about what you owe- well until you make another ridiculous deal, that is.”

        “Keeping Maria alive was not a ridiculous deal,” Lyrem said. He pulled three mugs out of the cupboard, filling them with spoonfuls of the powder. Now they only needed to wait for the water to boil.

        “My apologies,” Paimon instilled a silence into the room. Absently he sifted through the mail with Charlotte’s name sprawled over it. Insurance payment reminders, some neighbourhood notices, and list of seemingly random addresses she had penned out over the phone one day, they all sat in a heap. “Their mother, then?”

        Lyrem accepted the shame with dignity and crossed his arms as he leaned into the fridge.

“It had to be done. Arch is too easily influenced by them,” He spoke simply. “Thank you again for providing me with another doorway. It took a lot of energy… I may need to devour a heart or two before I replenish my strength.”

“Have you considered that you might be getting in a little over your head?”

Lyrem shook it. “No. I- I am not in over my head, Paimon. My head is still well above the waterline, thank you very much.”

Paimon smoothed his beard to the end and regarded the man skeptically.

“So, you will still allow Arch to sign?”

Lyrem blinked, his lashes fluttering bit as he thought of his answer. Then he scowled.

“They already said they would sign. I am sure that if Arch cares about me, and cares about the work ahead of them, that they will make the right decision for themselves.”

“And if they make the wrong decision?” Paimon postulated.

Lyrem fell silent just in time for the kettle to scream out with a high whistle. He shut off the stove, and picked it up. Filling the three mugs and giving them a stir, he passed one to Paimon, then moved to the living room.

With a light nudge, Arch awoke to the smell of the warm chocolate sugar and accepted the cup as they sat up. Wrapping their blanket around their shoulders, Lyrem asked.

“Are you feeling better, now?”

Arch nodded, brushing away some dried tears. Past Lyrem’s head of grey, the light was on in the kitchen with the demon in black sitting there still. He caught their gaze and held it carefully. Arch waved.

Paimon nodded back with a slight sideways grin.

“What’s Paimon doing here?” they asked, whispering to Lyrem.

Good. They remembered Paimon.

“He’s just here to catch up, that’s all.” Lyrem left them to their own devices on the couch and returned to the kitchen table as he retrieved his own comforting mug and held onto it with both hands as if the simple act could warm his rapidly cooling heart.

‘Let them enjoy their prom- their graduation. One last night out with their friends.” Lyrem was asking- no, pleading more than telling.

“Immediately after. I don’t want you to be running around any longer with this target on your back. It makes me… uneasy.” Paimon adjusted in his seat. “You and I still have much to do.”

“Yes. Yes, I know.” Lyrem sipped on his hot chocolate as his hazel eyes glazed over from thoughts that were perhaps too deep for his own good.

[troped-fanfic-challenge]

Chopped Madness Masterlist

To say we are overwhelmed would be the understatement of the year for sure. This challenge was so incredible, the fics we received were spectacular and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the positive and supportive space that we were able to create with your help. During such a crazy time in the world, we hope that this was able to distract you, even just a little, from the harshness of reality, and bring you some level of joy. We received an astounding forty-seven (47!!!!!!) fics in our anonymous collection, that were submitted for voting, as well as four (4) amazing fics that were added to our non anonymous collection following prompts from this event, bringing our fic total to a mind blowing FIFTY ONE (51!!!!!) fics! We honestly cannot even begin to express our thanks to all of you for putting in the time and hard work to share such creative, exciting, well written pieces of fan fiction for this event, and we hope that you all enjoyed it as much as we did! If you haven’t had a chance to read all of the brilliant fics shared with us for Chopped Madness, you can find them all below, or in our AO3 collections, which will be linked at the bottom of this post.

To all of our writers, for Chopped Madness and all other Chopped events, Chopped would not be what it is without you. You take our ideas and turn them into beautiful stories that we are privileged to read and share with this fandom, and we owe you all a huge thanks for everything you do.

We hope you all (and all your loved ones) are staying safe during this uncertain time. Keep being creative, positive, and sharing your art with the world. And dont forget to keep your eyes pealed for the next Chopped events ;)

And obviously, a huge congratulations to our CHOPPED CHAMPION, the lovely @the-most-beautiful-broom​!

We love you all,

Sara & Bailey <3

The image above is not an entirely accurate representation of how each writer was paired up, it was the best we could do considering we shifted the order each round based on the rankings. The number next to the authors name in each bracket is their rank for that round!

———

Qualifying Round

Character Focus: Bellamy Blake

Theme: Canonverse

Tropes:

Fairy Tale AU

Write a Good Guy as a Villain or a Villain as a Good Guy

When the party’s over (Rated T) [Bellamy & Octavia] by safeandsound13 @captaindaddykru​

Summary: Bellamy goes into the anomaly to save Octavia. What he finds, is a trail of bodies. {Or: a canonverse take on Hansel & Gretel}

don’t be who you were (Rated T) [Bellamy & Diyoza] by sapphictomaz @iexasheart​

Summary: Bellamy’s forced to stay in the bunker, alone, for six years. Diyoza trapped alone on her ship. They find a way to help each other survive, because that’s what they know how to do.

Straight On Until Morning (Rated G) [Bellamy & Kane] by she_who_the_river_could_not_hold @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold​

Summary: Bellamy and his unruly band of Delinquents have been living life as they wish. Their days are filled with games and exploring while their nights are spent coordinating attacks against the dreaded Wanheda and her Mountain Men. It’s all fun and games in a world where no one gets older. But then a strange man appears one day and Marcus Kane provides a reality check to Bellamy that he’s not prepared to accept.

Where is the path to Wonderland? (Rated T) [Bellamy x Clarke] by myonetruelove @justwalkedaway​

Summary: Separated from their friends in the Anomaly, Clarke and Bellamy find themselves lost in a world so different from their own.

The Sixth Bride (Rated M) [Bellamy x Roan] by Shen_Gong_Oops @shen-gong-oops​

Summary: For their wedding, Roan gifted him an antique skeleton key attached to a thin, leather cord. Rough, callous fingertips grazed the base of his neck as they secured the necklace in place. While his husband allowed him full reign of the tower, the key provided access to the only room he barred Bellamy from entering. He was never to set foot in the sole room on the highest floor. Into Roan’s private reprieve from the world. And to be fair, Bellamy respected Roan’s right to privacy - for a while.

Gunning for Glory (Rated T) [Bellamy x Gina] by teeandrainbows @teeandsnowflakes​

Summary: While on a routine mission for Kane, Bellamy comes across a mystery girl who points him towards a treasure trove that might prove useful for Arkadia, but danger lurks up every spiraling staircase. It may just be the distraction he needs, though, to get over Clarke leaving.

On the Ground and What Bellamy Found There (Rated G) [General] by elle_stone @kinetic-elaboration​

Summary: Bellamy has a prophetic dream. An Alice in Wonderland AU.

to dream about a life (where you’re the shining star) (Rated T) [Bellamy x Murphy] by ProbablyVoldemort @probably-voldemort​

Summary: Bellamy has been dreaming about going to the coalition’s annual Camp Rock since he was a kid. The chance to escape his life and his step-father and spend his days travelling between clans and singing. This year, he finally has a chance to go–as a chef. Murphy hated what came of Clarke’s treaty with the Grounders, but even he knew it could’ve been worse. But that didn’t mean he wanted to spend his time performing for the people who had kidnapped and tortured him. He could do it, though. He could sing at whatever the fuck Camp Rock was, and he could help pick whichever winner the Grounders wanted him to pick. He could play nice. That didn’t mean he had to like it.

There’s Gonna Be a Party When the Wolf Comes Home (Rated T) [General] by kuklash @kuklash​

Summary: “Dante?” she asks, her voice a mixture of confusion and surprise. Bellamy straightens the nameplate on his desk, and the gold plaque reflects the dim fluorescent lights above him. He taps it twice, drawing her attention to the words “Dante Wallace” written in a fancy script. “That’s what they call me.” A Canon Divergent Fairy Tale AU staring Bellamy Blake

No Ordinary Apple (Rated T) [Bellamy & Josephine] by andthelightbulbclicks @andthelightbulbclicks​

Summary: When Josephine awakens in Clarke Griffin’s body, she has no reason to believe anything about her reincarnation is anything out of the ordinary. Then she learns that Clarke was far from a willing host and meets Bellamy Blake. She doesn’t expect to become invested in their love story, and she certainly doesn’t plan on risking her own like to make things right. And yet, here she is. All in the name of true love.

Brother Knows Best (Rated G) [Bellamy & Octavia] by Dylanobrienisbatman @dylanobrienisbatman​

Summary: Octavia grew up in a cave, hidden from the world, with only her brother to care for her. He kept her safe, safe from a world where people like her, where nightbloods, were hunted and slaughtered. But even with so much danger, she longs to see the world, so when a handsome stranger stumbles into their cave, she makes her escape to spend one night out under the stars. But in just one night, she begins to wonder if everything she’d grown up believing was true after all.

seeds in silence (exploded in riot) (Rated T) [Bellamy & Clarke] by justbecauseyoubelievesomething @justbecauseyoubelievesomething 

Summary: Seeds. Not the modified seeds Farm Station constantly churns out in unending batches. Genuine seeds. Earth seeds. The kind of seeds that the scientists from Alpha will sell their souls for. Doctor Griffin talks a lot about genetics and lost patterns, but Bellamy’s mind is a million miles away. He can get anything he wants for Octavia and his mom. He can make it so Octavia doesn’t have to live in hiding. He can bring the chancellor himself to his knees, if he’s careful enough.

i’ve got a heart in me (i swear) (Rating T) [Bellamy x Murphy] by hopskipaway @hopskipaway​

Summary: Belonging was not a familiar word in the Book of John Murphy. That was a fact that seemed grounded in concrete; what he wouldn’t give to stumble upon a sledgehammer someday and be reunited with his bruised and feeble, but still beating, heart.

2199 Nights (Rated M) [Bellamy x Clarke] by Mobi_On_A_Mission @mobi-on-a-mission​

Summary: Every day, the Commander Bellamy took a new wife and executed her the next morning, until one day his fleimkepa’s daughter volunteered. She kept him entertained with tales of far-off places, sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise…

we’d up and fly (if there were wings for flying) (Rated G) [Bellamy x Clarke] by the-most-beautiful-broom @the-most-beautiful-broom​

Summary: Bellamy and Wells are held captive and interrogated by the Grounders, and when he returns to Arkadia, Bellamy finds some things have changed.

The Storyteller (Rated T) [Bellamy x Clarke] by thelittlefanpire @thelittlefanpire​

Summary: A heartbroken Commander, betrayed by her beloved, vows to slay each and every one of her future lovers after they’ve spent their first night together. Bellamy Blake, the latest to be taken into the Commander of Death’s chambers, will try to save his life by weaving a succession of tales to the woman that lasts for one thousand and one nights.

How to Kill a Two-Headed Turkey (Rated T) [Bellamy & Octavia] by vmreed @vmreed​

Summary: After everyone at camp collapses from a mysterious illness (thanks Murphy), Bellamy and Octavia are sent to hunt enough food for 100 sick teenagers. When they find themselves lost, far from camp, what else can they do but move forward? Thankfully, a kind woman took them in, but all is not as it seems. Anya’s been waiting to meet these Skaikru…

simmer, simmer, simmer (Rated M) [Bellamy x Clarke] by Pawprinter @pawprinterfanfic​

Summary: When Sanctum falls to starvation, it is up to Bellamy and Clarke to find a solution. They aren’t prepared for the horrors beyond the Sanctum barrier.

So Familiar a Gleam (Rated T) [Bellamy x Clarke, Bellamy & Octavia] by Anonymous

Summary: When the dropship first lands, Bellamy is hopeful. It doesn't last. After all, the humans who were left behind, they've been on there own for a while. Things have changed. (Maleficent meets The 100 meets the author's glaring ignorance about either franchise.)

———

Round 1

Character Focus: Harper McIntyre

Theme: Angst

Tropes:

Strangers to Lovers

Road Trip AU

into a cloven pine (Rated T) [Harper/Maya] by justbecauseyoubelievesomething @justbecauseyoubelievesomething

Summary: Maya starts sitting with her at meals, shrugging aside the judgmental looks of delinquents and Mountain Men alike. When Harper tries to delicately suggest that she sit somewhere else for her own good, Maya levels her with an icy glare and threatens to kick her under the table. For some reason, that makes Harper giggle and she figures that someone who makes her giggle must be alright to sit with. So, she ignores Miller’s warning head shakes and Fox’s teary-eyed frowns and she plays footsie with Maya Vie. Life is weird. She might as well just go with it.

I Need You (Like I Need a Gaping Head Wound) (Rated T) [Harper/Echo] *Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death* by kuklash @kuklash​

Summary: “And that was the new track from Lou Bega: ‘Mambo No. 5’ off his new album ‘A Little Bit of Mambo’. Stay tuned for Backstreet, Britney Spears, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers comin’ at’cha in the next hour.” Harper shuts off the radio and leans back in the driver’s seat, taking her hands off the wheel and rubbing her temples. Traffic is worse than normal today, meaning she’s gonna be late. She’s already 45 minutes late getting back from lunch, meaning that Roan will probably call her into his office. That’s the last thing she needs today. Harper nearly jumps out of her skin when the passenger door opens and a tall, brunette woman vaults into the car. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU D–” “Drive,” the woman says, voice barely above a whisper.

venus, planet of love was destroyed by global warming (Rated G) [Harper/Monty] by safeandsound13 @captaindaddykru​

Summary: In a world tainted by darkness, Harper meets Monty.

Take back my life (Prove I’m alright) (Rated T) [Harper/Monty] by myonetruelove @justwalkedaway​

Summary: Harper and Monty have been married for ten years and she is beginning to notice the cracks in their marriage. Will a road trip for a job interview be able to save their marriage?

Like dust behind the wagon (Rated T) [Harper/Monre] *Major Character Death* by teeandrainbows @teeandsnowflakes​

Summary: Harper and her family were in search of a better life in Oregon when tragedy struck. She didn’t think she would ever recover, and then she met Monroe, a lone traveler looking for a ride to Fort Bridger.

you can bloom again (Rated T) [Harper/Clarke] by sapphictomaz @iexasheart​

Summary: Harper’s always been a survivor. She’s survived an orphaned childhood, kidnapping, and torture. When a wave of fire stretches across the sky, she knows that she’ll survive this, too - but when she meets a girl with a smile brighter than the sun, Harper wonders if surviving alone is what she really wants.

The Hardest Thing (Rated T) [Harper/Emori] by Mobi_On_A_Mission @mobi-on-a-mission​

Summary: After shooting Baylis and escaping to the woods, Emori was utterly alone. She travelled through the lands of the Coalition, stealing from anyone and everyone. All of that changed when she met the last sky girl after the Mountain Men wiped out the rest of her people. Harper had a map to a peaceful village across the sea, and Emori had nothing to lose.

Release (Rated T) [Harper/Murphy] by elle_stone @kinetic-elaboration​

Summary: Her whole body is still tense, but this long habit of distrust has been formed in her, is not native to her, and his lazy, laconic air tempts her to put herself at ease. And she is curious. Behind them, the Detention Center is teeming, yet the desolation of the dim light and barren highway makes Harper feel as if they were the only two on the wide Earth. Upon being released from the Arkadia Juvenile Detention Center, Harper takes a road trip to California with an old friend, his boyfriend, and another recently released delinquent.

What the Hell is a Pulmonary Embolism? (Rated T) [Harper & Clarke/Murphy] by vmreed @vmreed​

Summary: Harper McIntyre wasn’t trained for this. She was just a tour guide, how was she supposed to deal with the bus crashing in the middle of nowhere?

something more than momentary (Rated T) [Harper/Murphy] by ProbablyVoldemort @probably-voldemort​

Summary: The first rule of working for the Princess Protection Program was, well, keep your princess safe no matter the cost. The second rule was don’t get attached. Agent Murphy had followed that rule to the letter for years and never had an issue. But now he’s stuck in a car for the foreseeable future with a princess and a gunshot wound, and everything he’s ever believed in just might be changing.

and the road gets tough (Rated M) [Harper/Monty] by she-who-the-river-could-not-hold​ @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold

Summary: It’s the end of the world and Harper McIntyre is done running. She’s done fighting against a life that relentlessly keeps pushing her down. But she has her son to worry about and she desperately wants him to have a new life and to experience it all. When they hit the road, she’s helped by a kind stranger who changes the course of things. Monty Green represents a life she wished she had been able to have, but it might still be too late.

everyone’s a different flower (Rated T) [Harper/Monty] by andthelightbulbclicks @andthelightbulbclicks​

Summary: Harper McIntyre’s life on Earth has been a simple one, and she’s always been happy with that. But with a single diagnosis, her simple life is completely upended. Her best friends think that an intergalactic trip across the universe is just what she needs to get her mind off of things. Raven thinks the change in scenery will do Harper some good. Clarke thinks the girl time will help. (Harper thinks the cute space-botanist she meets might just do the trick.)

I wanna shoot the whole day down (Rated T) [Harper/Monty] *Major Character Death* by hopskipaway @hopskipaway​

Summary: Tell me why I don’t like Mondays...Or Tuesdays, or Wednesdays, or any day since you left us.

Never Gonna Give You Up (Rated T) [Harper/Raven] by Shen_Gong_Oops @shen-gong-oops​

Summary: Unknown: Hey, Monty guilted me into a road trip with those damned puppy dog eyes and seeing as neither of you can be in the same car, I am your road trip Uber. Name’s Raven. Harper: Rookie mistake, you never look Monty in the eyes. That’s how you lose. A road trip, huh?

Macushla (Rated T) [Harper/Monty] by the-most-beautiful-broom @the-most-beautiful-broom​

Summary: Harper Noelle Margaret McIntyre, Countess of Rothes, must survive the unthinkable, when the unsinkable ship hits an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic // aka the Titanic AU that isn’t Jack and Rose

Both (Rated T) [Harper/Monty] by the-most-beautiful-broom @the-most-beautiful-broom​

Summary: “Emori doesn’t understand why I’d want to go back up.” Their backs are against the wicker, just waiting now, as the balloon floats downward. “Emori’s my sister,” Harper clarifies. “She thinks I should be scared, and just leave it behind. But if I left, if I never went up again, then everything I’ve lost would be for nothing.” It hovers in the air, like the snow, like a balloon. “All my life,” Monty says, “I’ve found certainty in science. In numbers, quantifying things. But...this has shown me. You have, I mean. There’s a beauty in the most barren of science, and my equipment and notes cannot account for it. And I thought it was science, logic, before, but now I see: the only person that could’ve taken me to the stars was you.” {a marper Aeronauts AU based heavily off the 2019 movie}

———

Round 2

Character Focus: John Murphy

Theme: Dystopia

Tropes:

Partners In Crime

Bed Sharing

poison but tasty (Rated M) [Murphy & Josephine, Murphy/Emori] by safeandsound13 @captaindaddykru​

Summary: In a world where genetics and individual resilience decide who gets to procreate and who doesn’t, babies are a rare breed. That’s why Murphy gets the lucrative idea to steal one, and sell it. In comes Josie, who kind of, sort of? Maybe? Has the same idea? He figures, what the hell. Might as well combine their efforts and split the profits. or, Two Psychopaths and a Baby.

even heroes have the right to dream (Rated M) [Muprhy/Emori] by justbecauseyoubelievesomething @justbecauseyoubelievesomething

Summary: He doesn’t deal with people one-on-one anymore. He works his shift at the factory. He comes home. Takes his pills. Drinks himself to sleep. He doesn’t go on road trips. Or smuggle little girls under the cover of darkness. Or make small talk with his ex.

don’t mess with the flow, oh no (stick to the status quo) (Rated T) [Murphy/Clarke] by ProbablyVoldemort @probably-voldemort​

Summary: Harper and Monty tried out for the spring musical, and now everything is going to shit. Jocks think they can bake. Nerds think they can dance. Stoners think they can play cello. And Harper and Monty, Jock and Nerd respectively, think they can get callbacks for Murphy’s part. This is not what he wants. This is not what he planned. And, he’s just gotta say, he does not understand.

Good to be Back (Rated G) [Murphy/Emori] by the-most-beautiful-broom @the-most-beautiful-broom​

Summary: Murphy has been out of the wet work game for years now, but when someone from the past shows up at his bar, he doesn’t think twice before diving back in.

make a wish (count to three) (Rated T) [Murphy/Emori] by teeandrainbows @teeandsnowflakes​

Summary: In Alpha City, anyone who isn’t a Prime, the top tier of society, is claimed by a factory to work for a meager living at the age of 18. When Murphy is selected for the factory overseen by the mysterious Alie, he thinks life might finally be getting better…

The Taste of Hope (Rated T) [Murphy/Raven] by elle_stone @kinetic-elaboration​

Summary: Murphy has lived his whole life on Factory 6, stripping the planet of its resources for the benefit of the elite ruling class on The Jewel. His existence has never been more than work, sleep, and the mindless distractions of gossip, drinking, and parties. Until he and his girlfriend, Raven, start to wonder: could there be more?

Survivor’s Move (Rated G) [Muprhy/Emori] by she_who_the_river_could_not_hold @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold​

Summary: In a dying society ruled by an iron fist, it’s crucial to stay low. John Murphy has mastered that, an ex-thief doing what he can to stay out of trouble. But trouble finds him with the arrival of another ex-thief, and more importantly, his ex-girlfriend. Emori needs his help and he finds himself confronting their breakup while also trying to express to her the importance she has in his heart.

Complex Wiring (Rated T) [Murphy/Raven] by andthelightbulbclicks @andthelightbulbclicks​

Summary: According to the Commonwealth of Arkadian, cyborgs have been wiped out from the nation for years, any scientists willing to do the surgeries arrested or worse. John Murphy, whose primary goal in life is to be a general nuisance to the guards in his crummy village, has no reason to believe otherwise. That is, until he unexpectedly meets a group of cyborgs in hiding who are looking for “the Cockroach” to do a job for them.

———

Round 3

Character Focus: Raven Reyes

Theme: Modern

Tropes:

Superpowers

Found Family

if you choose to fly (Rated M) [Raven/Bellamy/Echo] by teeandrainbows @teeandsnowflakes​

Summary: It’s always been the three of them, for as long as she can remember, and she’s happy. Bellamy kisses her forehead and Echo raises a hand to her cheek, reaching across and pressing a featherlight kiss to her lips. A week later, she finds herself missing the tranquility of the moment. or the origin story of Raven Reyes

Hands That Burn (Rated T) [Raven/Clarke] by elle_stone @kinetic-elaboration​

Summary: WELCOME, reads a large banner, hung up between two poles in front of her, TO FLOUKRU RETREAT. The font on the banner matches the font on the invitation Raven received two months ago. Why she decided to attend this particular event, she cannot entirely explain, even to herself. Six ex-superheroes, and ex-best friends, meet for a weekend retreat, ready to confront their feelings and the past tragedy that tore them apart.

Into the Blue (Rated G) [Raven/Zeke] by the-most-beautiful-broom @the-most-beautiful-broom​

Summary: Her name is Raven Reyes. She was bitten by a radioactive spider her senior year of college; for the last two years, she’s been the one and only Spider-Woman. She joined a band, saved her dad, couldn’t save her best friend, so now she saves everyone else. She doesn’t really do the friends thing, not since her last best friend was turned into a giant lizard and she had to kill him, but things are mostly fine, going solo. Until a kaleidoscope opens in the ceiling. She’s suddenly in Times Square, but it’s not, it’s like some Other Times Square. There’s a billboard for Cocoa Kola (what even?) and there’s a Spider-Man (typical) here, and on the Other Times Square screens, she watches Zeke die again, this time as Spider-Man. // or a zaven!into the spiderverse AU

the color of truth is gray (Rated T) [Raven/Murphy] by andthelightbulbclicks @andthelightbulbclicks​

Summary: Raven’s firm beliefs on super villains have held true for as long as she can remember. And she prides herself in being a part of the Spacekru team, protecting their territory in Polis and bringing those villains to justice. But slowly, she comes to realize that maybe their super-powered world isn’t as black and white as she’s always chosen to believe. And maybe a certain villain isn’t really a villain at all. (Or: Three times Raven fights a villain, and one time she saves him.)

And It May Sound Absurd, But Don't Be Naive (Rated T) [Raven/Zeke] by Anonymous 

Summary: "Yeah, well, if life were to suddenly get fair, I doubt it would happen in high school." A Sky High AU where Raven just wants to sit there and do her Mad Science homework in peace, but life has a funny habit of removing that as an option.

———

Round 4

Character Focus: Luna kom Floukru

Theme: Thriller

Tropes:

Parallel Universe

Doppelgängers

Excuse me, where are the dinosaurs? (Rating M) [Luna/Raven/Roan] *Graphic Depictions of Violence* by ​andthelightbulbclicks @andthelightbulbclicks​

Summary: Luna is living her life on the island of Floukru with two goals in mind. 1. Keep her animal rescue up and running. 2. (Somehow) turn her relationship with her two roommates into a romantic one. When the three of them find themselves on a very different version of Floukru where living, breathing dinosaurs still exist, she supposes she should add two more to the list: 3. Avoid the psychopaths who inexplicably look exactly like them. 4. Make sure no one gets eaten by a T-Rex.

we cross our bridges and burn them behind us (Rating T) [Luna/Lincoln] by the-most-beautiful-broom @the-most-beautiful-broom​

Summary: When SHRDR powers up and tears a hole in the world, Luna watches Lincoln die. Three years later, he steps out of thin air and asks for her help. So yeah, that's how her day is going. It's fine. Everything is fine.

Promise (Rated M) [Lincoln & Luna] *Graphic Depictions Of Violence Major Character Death* by teeandrainbows @teeandsnowflakes​

Summary: During the Conclave, Luna and Octavia find themselves in another version of Polis where vampires have been terrorizing what's left of humanity.

Please take a read of all these incredible fics! Leave the authors some kudos/comments! They worked so hard this whole event. Thanks so much!

Just as a reminder, our non-anon collection is always open and we are always so excited to receive any submissions! The Chopped Madness official collection has been CLOSED but if any of our prompts inspire you, please share your fics with us in our non-anon collection! Simple put ‘Chopped_Non_Anonymous’ where it asks for the collection name, and be sure to put what round you are writing for in your notes so we can be sure to tag it appropriately when we share! Also, just as a note, fics submitted to the non-anon collection do not have to follow the word limit and do not require the same strict adherence to the tropes, though we do ask that you comply with our other rules regarding no rape, incest, negativity, and things like that! Happy writing!

Chopped Madness AO3 Collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Chopped_Madness

Chopped Non-Anon AO3 Collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Chopped_Non_Anonymous

[hitchell-mope]

(Third film. At Evie’s house. Mal has very recently just fainted in midair due to fatigue, turned back into a human, and fell through the sky, landing upside down by her legs on a branch in a tree located in her sister front garden)

Evie (looking disapprovingly you at the elder demigod): you’ve not eaten since breakfast have you?

Mal: if by “eaten” you mean “surreptitiously take swigs of booze from my hip flask intermittently throughout the day” then yes

Evie: I do not

Mal: ohhhh. Then no. No I have not

Celia: and you couldn’t have been more obvious if you tried

Uma: Ceels is right. I saw you. Twice.

Mal: damn you guys sure know how to raise a girl up. Help me down?

Evie: you can fall perfectly well all by yourself

Mal: urgh, fine

(With a little struggle and a quick, extremely high pitched yelp, she shifts off the branch and falls to the ground and land on her back with a pained grunt)

Evie: now was that so difficult?

Mal: dad will judge you eventually. And he may not be so merciful.

Evie: A. He’s not my dad. B. Get up before you’re clothes are dusted beyond repair

(Just then Uma shrieks and throws a frog off her head)

Evie (snickering): really? You’re scared of frogs? Isn’t that part of you powers. Communication with sea life?

Uma: yeah sea life not pond life that jumped up bastard is not my guy

Evie: funny, I’d have thought you’d like them consider you’re dating one

Uma (laughing mirthlessly): and don’t you share blood with him?

Evie: urgh don’t remind me

Mal: hate to break up the familial bonding but is anyone scared and/or allergic to locusts?

Celia: no

Uma: no

Evie: no, why do you ask?

Mal: because a swarm of them is headed this way

(She’s right. A huge cloud of locusts are speeding right towards them. Mal takes out the sceptre and sets it into the ground, sending the swarm away from them)

Celia: what the hell was that about?

Mal: oh I think I have an idea

(Back in the forest)

Harriet: what the fuck

Cj: Jesus

Harry: what is that?

Hades: cinders.

Elsa: what?

Adam: well. You did say I was hiding behind religion

Ben: speak properly or not at all

Adam: you saw the movie, you’ve heard the stories and you have been to church

Jay: you’re joking!

Adam: why would I joke about your imminent destruction?

(Back at Evie’s)

Mal: this is gonna sound patently ridiculous, (she whacks a frog off Uma’s head), but I think, oh god how do I put this? I think

Celia: Red Sea?

Mal: yes! Ohhhh thank god for the youth

Celia: I’m thirteen

Mal: I was hatched old kid.

Evie: what do we do?

Mal: block them

(Back in the forest)

Gil: what do we do

Ben: block them

Adam: if you’d left those things where they belong this wouldn’t be happening

Ben: what?

Adam: it’s an environmental reaction to their abominable presence

Ben: it’s Maleficent!

Adam (snarling): exactly

(This is when “the plagues” happens. After the song the onslaught is still happening)

Uma: fuck lot of good that did genius. Any other bright ideas?

Mal: who has the ember?

Her sister and cousins: YOU DO

Mal: right! Yes. Of course. Hands in. Chop chop

(They all put their right hands over the ember and it starts to glow)

Mal: you've caused our friends pain and fear/we've had enough now disappear

(Nothing happens)

Mal: it’s not gonna work if you’re not gonna help. Again

The sisters rotten and the sisters Facillier: you've caused our friends pain and fear/we've had enough now disappear

(The onslaught ceases. The rogs and locusts turn to ash. Back in the forest the raining fire wafts away)

Ben: Mal

Jay: who else?

Harry: uhhhh, Uma, duh

Lonnie: Uma wishes she was as cool as Mal

Elsa: Lonnie, please, not now

Lonnie: ok. Cool. The girls are at Evie’s house right?

Jay: yeah

Lonnie: good. This Uma chick is with them yeah?

Carlos: ...yes...

Lonnie: aces. I want some words with her

Ben: Lonnie don’t please

Lonnie: no, Ben, I’m sorry. But this chick abducted you, tried to kill you, hypnotised you and tried to capsize the boat the entire student body was on. I think that warrants a dragging. Don’t you?

Harry: if you hurt her

Lonnie: what are you gonna do jar jar? Flirt at me? Yeah didn’t think so. C’mon guys. Oh Ben. Love the wings and the beard.

Ben (feeling his teeth with his tongue): I think I got fangs as well

Lonnie: can you believe this guy. King of an entire nation, almost pure magic and still inordinately adorable. How does he do it? Not as adorable as you though Gilly

Gil: YAY!

(Harry growls in irritation. They start to move. Unbeknownst to them Adam whisked away by purple smoke. Back at Evie’s palace she’s itching to get inside. Sadly for her. She’s got a clingy reptile hanging on to her ankle)

Evie: c’mon M let go. I could always kick you into the foliage?

Mal (reassuming her regular form): I have a bad feeling about who’s waiting for us in there

Evie: it’s Doug. My Doug. I’m sure he’s fine.

Mal: sis look. The way you reacted to seeing Doug in the mirror. It’s gonna be a lot worse to seeing him like that in person.

Evie: so you obviously don’t me all that well then “sis”

(She stalks off inside the house)

Mal: sadly I do know that well. (Turning to the Facillier’s) look. I’m not expecting you guys to go in there with us

Uma (already heading inside): way ahead of ya

Mal: you’re eager

Uma: don’t wanna miss the kaboom

(Inside the house. Evie’s poking and prodding Doug’s dude futilely)

Evie: c’mon sweetie stop playing around it’s time to wake up now

Uma: not as fun as I thought it was gonna be

Mal: she’s in shock. Once her body and brain catch up with each other. It’ll be horrible

Uma: but it’s a sleeping curse. She knows how to wake him up.

Mal: she’s emotionally involved ok? Like I said. Body and brain haven’t caught with each other yet

Celia: oh no

Mal: what?

Celia: uhhhh nothing. Hey, Uma, why don’t we go see the pool?

Uma: what’s that

Mal (following Celia’s line of sight and cottoning on): yes! The pool! The pool is great. And the hot tub is just what someone like us needs after a day like today

Celia: exactly so c’mon sis. Let’s go for a dip

Uma: I’ve spent a year in the ocean. I don’t need to go back into some more water. Now what are you trying to keep me from?

Celia and Mal: it doesn’t matter

Mal (telepathically to Celia): keek her away from the couch (verbally) I’ll try and pry Evie off her man

Uma (her voice very small): no

Celia: ohhhh fuck

Mal (walking over to Evie and gently trying to pull her away): c’mon kiddo. You need a breather

Evie (thickly): no, I’m not leaving him

Mal: you need to eat, you need to drink. If you’re stressing out you’ll be no help to him.

Evie (stubbornly): I’m not leaving

Uma: WHY IS THERE ONLY ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!

Celia: and there we go

Mal: c’mon you can’t help him when you’re like this

(She starts pulling Evie away from Doug. Evie starts screaming and crying begging Mal to leave her there. Celia tries to do the same to Uma who starts screaming and crying demanding to know why only one twin is on the couch. Eventually it gets too much for the temporary queen)

Mal: ok that’s it. Both of you FREEZE. That’s better. Celia. Reconvene in the kitchen

(In the kitchen)

Celia: what is her problem? It’s a curse. She knows what to do. True loves kiss. It’s not that difficult

Mal: well it is if you have their combined dating history

Celia: yeah she dated the dick that’s trying to kill us. Juice please. Thank you. Merlot? Really?

Mal: my hip flask ran out. Fry up?

Celia: sure. Wait what do you mean combined dating history?

Mal: Doug is amazing and kind and attractive and will defend those he cares about to his final breath. But Dopey’s son.

Celia: ohhhh. He’s like dizzy.

Both: kid of a sidekick

Mal: and here. The social hierarchy was: Prince, Princess, hero, heroine, sidekick

Celia: poor guy.

Mal: yeah. So you’ve got. Brainwashed girl who feels compelled to throw herself at a royal douchebag. Douche bag ghosts her. She’s heartbroken, despite me jay and Carlos spending days trying push her to the better and accurate option of Doug,

Celia: as you do

Mal: right. Then you have Doug. He’s Harry Potter and lifes Dudley Dursley

Celia: what

Mal: I’ll let him explain that reference. Anyway. Because of what they’ve each gone through separately. They’re wracked with insecurity. Because there’s that niggling feeling that they’ll get heartbroken again

Celia: so what do we do?

Mal: I need to be the responsible big sister and kick her ass into gear

Celia: and me?

Mal: put a blanket on Squirmy he looks cold and try to make sure your sister doesn’t burn this place to the ground with us inside

Celia: smart plan

Mal: hold on I’m getting a call. Mal here. Jay. You found him! Oh thank god. Good that’s good. Whoever said that about my son needs a kick in the dick. Oops. Sorry hadie. What? Bastards. Squirmy’s here. Asleep and aortaless. But he’s here. Dizzy’s fine. That’s just Celia whooping. Merlot. Well the hip flask ran out. Yes I did. I know I should’ve. But I didn’t. Mom and————whatever she does to him he’ll survive and isn’t her fault. Ohhhh. Oh yeah. Yeah. I froze them. She’s heavy. Not good. At all. Oooh I dunno. Two hours. Surprise? Oh I see. This is why you didn’t FaceTime? Thought as much. Well. See you when we see you. Love ya. Bye. Got all that kid?

Celia: essentially, yeah

Mal: good. Now take Uma’s sword off her. Knowing her she’ll start swinging the nearest weapon once she’s reanimated

Celia: and Evie?

Mal: oooooh. Put a protection spell on Squirmy in case the windows shatter

Celia: done. Ready?

Mal: god no. But when have I ever been?

(They go back to their positions and Mal unfreezes the sorceress and the sea witch. Immediately the two of the resume their breakdowns. Uma peters our first and dissolves into tears. Evie keeps screaming at Mal to let her go until her voice goes horse)

Mal: are you done?

(Evie grumpily shoves Mal off her and stalks outside to the back garden)

Mal: Uma what about you? Need a drink (Evie lets out a skyward scream and the windows all shatter to dust)...Celia honey, could you be very very helpful to your very very tired cousin and clean up the glass?

(Her right eye twitches and Celia reverses tne damage)

Mal: thank you. Uma. Drink?

Uma: mhmm

(She sits Uma at the kitchen island and pours her a glass of wine)

Mal: thought you might be fed up with grog and muskat. The I’m more partial to rosé but red is Gil’s favourite.

Uma: I’m s. Suh. Rry (Celia elbows her in the ribs) I’m sorry

Mal: why? You were stuck with you’re mother for a year. That must’ve been hell for you. At least you know who what was unconscious for it. But you remember everything. If anything it should be me apologising to you

Uma: you said that back on the ship

Mal: and I’ll keep saying it until you tell me to shut it

Uma: Mal

Mal: yah?

Uma: shut it

Mal: ookay

Uma: what’re you gonna do about her?

Mal: I’ll let E cool off then try to talk sense into her.

Uma: shouldn’t it be easy though? TLK. It worked with you and beasty boy last year. So why can’t she.

Mal: I have literally just filled Celia in on their joint history. You wanna know why she’s distraught, ask your sister. Now. Drink.

Uma: mm this is good

Mal: beats grog don’t it?

Uma: yeah. More?

Mal: sure

Celia: I’ll just take a lil snifter of brandy

Uma and Mal: dream on kid

Celia: bitch

Mal: we’re you’re family

Uma: we’re allowed to be

Mal: you know. If Grimhilde hadn’t sent Evie after us. And I hadn’t, you know

Uma: yeah, we could’ve teared the isle up.

Mal: two sets of juvenile delinquents

Uma: one massive conflagration

Mal: more?

Uma: ehhhhh. Go on then

(This is when “old fashioned” happens. After the song Mal stops and looks outside)

Mal: I should probably go check on her right?

Celia: you do that and I’ll stay here

Uma: under the watchful eye of your older sister

Celia: fuck

(Mal goes outside to Evie who’s sitting in the gazebo)

Mal: hiya.

Evie: what’s wrong with me?

Mal: how much time have ya got?

Evie: I’m being serious here. A year and a half with Doug and I can’t say it.

Mal: it took me a while to say it to Ben

Evie: six months. Compared to eighteen that’s pretty damn quick.

Mal: Don’t measure your own relationship with you’re own boyfriend by mine and my fiancé’s. Remember what Professor Porter said in science class. No two people are alike

Evie: Archimedes Q Porter is a living remnant of the Victorian era. And as such. He is full of shit half the time.

Mal: oh c’mon sis. Porter was your favourite teacher. After the other guy got done for exam favourtism. Good job on that by the way. Never liked him. Smarmy ass little bastard.

Evie: it was Doug who told on him. There was literally no way in hell chad got a 100% on a test he never studied for. It also got Royston booted off the board of governors.

Mal: finally. So. Wanna talk it out?

Evie: no. It’s just that

(She sighs. This is when “safer” happens. After the song Evie looks at Mal in shock)

Evie: what?

Mal: don’t kiss him. Let him slumber. When we off the maniacs the curse will end and Doug will wake up. Of course he’ll be heartbroken. But at least you won’t have failed. Right?

Evie: how, how COULD YOU! I can’t just leave him like this. He’s my boyfriend. I love him!

Mal: and there’s your answer. Ouch! Ooo!

(Evie just slapped her around the face. Then she hugs her)

Evie: you’re a bitch you know that right?

Mal: yes. I think you may have mentioned it before

Evie (pulling away): a giant scaled covered purple soon to be shedding bitch

Mal: and your fourth fifths of the way to becoming a suburban housewife

Evie: why is that an insult?

Mal: I dunno. Saw it on a britcom. Noe go. Go girl go. Save your Robert Phillip

(Evie lets out a happy shriek and rushes back into the house)

Vision!Ben: you did a good thing

Mal: just hope the end result is desirable for all concerned.

Ben: understandable. Doug is one if you’re closest friends.

Mal: he’s first and foremost Ben’s in the entire goddamn world. It’ll kill Ben if he doesn’t wake up. Now if you’ll excuse me I gotta go out some ice on my ol’ cheek here. Sorceress packs a punch.

(She walks back to the house. In the mirror world Doug and vision!Evie have arrived back at the mirror in Evie’s workshop. With a front row seat to his own unconscious body)

Evie: she’s here! Oh yes finally

Doug: oh thank god.

Evie: there’s probably still time for a small amount of and I’m looking at your face and I’m seeing that there isn’t.

Doug: I’m sorry. It’s just that I know your true form is me. It’d just be too weird

Evie (same time as him): too weird. I understand. Physical manifestation of your girlfriends subconscious who’s true form is yourself isn’t exactly the greatest claim to fame is it?

Doug:...please don’t make me answer that

Evie: ah yeah. The clone incident. (Perking up). We should replicate that

Doug (talking over her): no we shouldn’t. Never again (he walks right up to the mirror). C’mon E. Please. I know you can do it. Please.

Evie: it will work

Doug: you don’t know that. Neither of us know that. (To the real world). Please Evie. Honey. Just say it. Say something. Please. Or just a kiss. It doesn’t even need any gravitas. Just shove our lips together. That’ll do it. Just please do something. She’s hesitating

Evie: that shouldn’t be happening. C’mon kid. Do it. Oh god. I’m so sorry sweetheart. This is where I leave you

(She turns back into Doug, jumps out of the mirror and cuffs Evie around the back of the head)

Evie: OW! What was that for?

V!Doug: hesitating.

Evie: I’m scared. I love him. But I’m scared.

Doug: oh good god almighty. You’re impossible you know that right?

Evie: mhmm.

Doug: you know what? Fine. Bimble however long you like. I am going back into the mirror and comforting your boyfriend. Auf Widershein

Evie: I’m so so sorry. You deserve better

(In the mirror)

Doug: but you’re the best.

V!Evie: it could take some time dear.

Doug: so what do we do?

Evie: we wait

(This is when “say something” happens. After the song, in the real world, Evie crouches down beside Doug)

Evie: how do I start this? I guess I should just come right out and say it. I love you. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry you’re going through this. I’m sorry I let you stay here. I’m sorry I didn’t stay. And I’m sorry if you ever thought I didn’t love you. Because I do. And I’m kicking myself for letting you stay here. I should’ve brought you with me. Screw the twins you’re more important (she dodges a vodka bottle) NOT NOW UMA! I’M SPILLIMG MY HEART PUT TO MY BOYFRIEND HERE IF YOU DON’T MIND! Idiot girl. The fact of the matter is. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me Doug. I’m sorry it took so long for me to say it. That’s on me. Not you. I love you. I always will.

(This is when “never knew I needed happens”. After the song, she kisses him. In the mirror vision Evie kisses him as well)

V!Evie: see you on the other side my dear one

Doug: you too

(Doug fades away from the mirror world and wakes up in the real world with a jolt. He sits up, strokes Evie’s cheek and pulls her into a hug)

[mothcrwitch]

the  character  .

      𝚒'𝚍  𝚋𝚎  𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚢  𝚘𝚏  𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖  ,  𝚖𝚢  𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍  ;   that  there  is  DELILAH  VANDERBUILT  ,  notorious  for  being  (  vengeful  )  and  (  ruthless  )  ,  but  there  are  times  when  she  can  be  (  reliable  )  and  (  decisive  )  .   i've  heard  that  she  could  pass  as  a  LANA PARRILLA  doppelganger  ,  but  i  don't  see  it  .   the  (  unknown  )  year - old  cisfemale  (  original  witch  )  has  been  in  town  for  (  over  a  thousand  years  )  and  they  are  a  (  headmistress  of  solis  academy  )  affiliated  with  (  the  vanderbuilts  first  /  lucifer  second  )  .   they  tend  to  spark  images  of  shamelessly  selling  your  soul  to  the  devil  for  everything  you  so  clearly  deserved  ,  venom  in  her  veins  and  hellfire  in  her  eyes  ,  high  heels  clicking  down  academy  halls  sounds  a  lot  like  power  to  me  .

additional  information  .  (  tw  :  death  ,  poverty  ,  murder  )

there’s a saying: chaos doesn’t come without cause. in this case, delilah’s chaos brewed from pitiful days, ill weeks, and sorrowful years. she had so much potential, and she was spending it wasting away. simple lives led to simple deaths, and she wanted to avoid her family’s downfall. they left her ALONE. they ceased. and no one mourned them. no one but her. and she promised herself, with each burial, she’d refuse death the minute he came to claim her. she’d barter anything to do it. 

so when death came in the visage of a beautiful angel, of LUCIFER themself, delilah said fuck it. sure, she had become a wife, a mother, and she found some things enjoyable. but that could all be taken away, couldn’t it? and delilah always wanted more. so she signed the contract in blood, and she did so without hesitation.

delilah doesn’t believe she sacrificed anything to get what she has now. she had a shitty, impoverished life before and it just wasn’t cutting it for the greedy, power-hungry woman. if one could cheat death and despair, one simply should. 

naturally, she was the one to ask lucifer for everything the vanderbuilts have now. her husband was more hesitant and 'logical' about these matters. delilah, with the rage of a woman who has lost and felt like nothing, swore it off to fear and stupidity. she got what she wanted, in the end, never considering what it meant for the family as a whole. they'd thank her later, anyways. she had given them LIFE, she had given them ALL a mother could possibly give. and if it hurt? it hurt fucking less than dying a poor man’s death. 

as for her powers - oh lucifer did treat her. they are terrifying and powerful and darker than one could ever expect. she can turn the room into a PRISON with the simple snap of her fingers, and she feeds off of that power / control. and the fear / respect. that little, insignificant girl is gone. in her place, a true born witch. 

and the witch, she takes. she takes, takes, takes. but everything requires something in return; magic especially. delilah has done her sacrifices, blood magic, and her damning spells / curses before. 

oh, but she's a bit less 'extra' and more 'refined' about all that now. modern times predict progression. but if someone pushes her buttons? delilah can return to her old ways.

it's not wise to cross the woman. she's revenge in the flesh. she'll make your life a living hell, or at least she will try. cursing the marquez family had its BACKFIRE and her pride burns hot and fierce because of it. one day, she'll fix that mistake. when it hurts them the most. when it guts them like her child’s death had. how could she have let that happen? hadn’t she traded it all for their lives to live on, at the mercy of none? apparently, only at the mercy of her own damn creation. guilt resides somewhere in her heart. 

despite being selfish, she loves her family. she wants them to grow and become GODS in their own right. after all, they are like gods, aren't they? where god made man, she made vampire. or so her line of thought exists. and like god once, she wants to see her creation extinct. 

she is dedicated to serving lucifer. she doesn't bite the hand that feeds her, after all. but she isn't some PAWN and she makes this known in their relationship. theirs is a mutual benefit. with lucifer granting her power, and delilah wielding it to do the damage. but should lucifer cross her family, delilah will redirect the blow. no one crosses her family. 

her and her husband have a 'unique' version of love. when you've been together with someone for so long, that tends to happen. they've an open marriage, but at the end of the day, delilah will choose him over anyone else. call it familiarity or understanding or the fact that her husband puts up with her shit. she enjoys giving him hell, especially since she thinks he's a little softer than her (which balances her madness well, but she'll never admit that).

her and her kids are sometimes at odds because of how she runs the household. but at the end of the day, they can always expect mother dearest to FIX a problem should they need one fixing. she's reliable in that regard. 

miss power, miss control, she finds herself in heaven as headmistress of solis academy. it’s something she’s very adamant about getting right. lest they have a bunch of rebellious supernatural brats running about. 

delilah vanderbuilt inspiration:  zelda spellman / madam satan / regina mills / winifred sanderson / maleficent / mother gothel / narcissa malfoy.

[hd-wireless]

🎶H/D Wireless Reveals Masterpost! 🎶

📻🎶 H/D Wireless 2019 - Drum Roll Please! 

🎵 Wireless wished upon a star Creators came from near and far Fics and art were made with love And dreams came true 🎵

🎤 Welcome to the final show of H/D Wireless 2019! 

Today is the day the magic ends, we're casting Revelio, making our participants finally visible! 

Thank you to everyone who has spent the last few weeks with us! It was a ride! We got to see Draco answer fanmail, watch a relationship grow just like a tiny potted plant, saw Harry as Aladdin, travelled through time, and so much more! Thank you to our fantastic artists and authors, without your creative minds fests like ours would be lost, thanks for all the love you put into your works we hope you had a blast! And thank you to everyone who flailed in the comments, everyone delivered a great work and we're glad you enjoyed them! 

We had three artworks, and twenty-eight fics, which makes a total of thirty-one submissions! 

And now without any further ado, may we present: The artists and authors of this year's H/D Wireless! 

Standing ovations for our great participants, please! 

And here's the Playlist one last time! 

🎵 ART

🎵 Title: Jolly Holiday (G)

Creator: @julcheninred

Song and movie: Jolly Holiday - Mary Poppins

Summary: A lovely magical date in a sidewalk chalk drawing!

📻 Title: The Sea Witch (T)

Creator: @shiftylinguini

Song and movie: Poor Unfortunate Souls - The Little Mermaid

Summary: Harry's got a problem. He knows there's one person who can help him. Well, who might help him. There'll be a price, though. The sea witch always wants something in return.

Harry thinks he's got something Draco might want.

🎵 Title: Anything your heart desires (T)

Creator: @maesterchill

Song and movie: When you wish upon a star - Pinocchio

Summary: Harry makes a wish upon a star—well, two wishes, really.

Draco only hears the first one but he makes them both come true.

🎵 FIC

🎵 Title: I dream of you, to wake [T, 13.6k]

Creator: @harryromper

Song and movie: Once Upon A Dream - Maleficent (Lana Del Rey version)

Summary: “Typically coma patients are made comfortable and left to regain consciousness in their own time," Draco points out carefully.

“Typically, yes. But when has anything about Harry been typical.” Hermione sighs, rubbing at her eye with the heel of her hand. “The Healer-in-Charge has consulted with experts at all the major wizarding hospitals. They all agree. Whatever’s happening inside of Harry’s head right now is killing him.”

Draco Malfoy is a world-renowned dream-walker, and he may be Harry Potter’s only hope.

📻 Title: remember me [T, 31k]

Creator: @hupsoonheng-blog

Song and movie: Remember Me - Coco

Summary: On a chilly day in October, Draco kisses Harry goodbye before he goes on yet another dangerous, undercover mission with the Aurors. 

And then Harry doesn’t come back. 

Only Draco believes that Harry isn’t dead, and pours himself into finding his husband despite his friends’ pleas to move on and grieve properly. What he finds at the end of that work, though, is not at all what he wanted.

🎵 Title: Upstaged [M, 3.4k]

Creator: @lettersbyelise

Song and movie: Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actors Life For Me) - Pinocchio 

Summary: West End actor Drake O'Malley starts receiving fanmail from a (not so mysterious) stranger.

📻 Title: Love, and Other Nonsense [T, 6.4k] 

Creator: @aelys-althea

Song and movie: I Won't Say (I'm In Love) - Hercules

Summary: Harry wasn't in love. No way. It wasn't even a crush, because it couldn't be. Surely.

Or so he thought until he found he couldn't stop thinking about a certain someone. Denial doesn't last for long when you've got a couple of helpful portraits to help realise the truth.

🎵 Title: Believe the very best [M, 10k] 

Creator: @parkkate

Song and movie: Can You Feel The Love Tonight - The Lion King

Summary: Draco tries to convince Harry he’s the chosen one 

📻 Title: Silverpoint [E, 8.8k] 

Creator: @tackytigerfic

Song and movie: I See the Light - Tangled

Summary: "It seems fairly simple to you, but you know that you don't really understand love - how could you, after all? You've never known how to talk about it, but you've never had to before. Everyone you ended up loving has always understood. You've been able to show them, by fighting for them, dying for them.

That seems a bit much- after all, Malfoy just wants tea in bed and his cock in your mouth (not usually at the same time).

It's ok to love him, you reason with yourself - he doesn't have to know. No one ever has to know."

Or: How Harry Potter Fell In Love (and Realised that Draco Malfoy Loved Him Back). 

🎵 Title: The Ryokan [T, 1.2k] 

Creator: @ladderofyears

Song and movie: How Far I'll Go - Moana

Summary: Harry is stressed and unhappy with life in wizarding London. In an attempt to help Harry relax, Draco takes him to stay in a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn.

📻 Title: Dreaming Darkly [E, 39.9k] 

Creator: @quicksilvermaid

Song and movie: Trust in me - Jungle Book

Summary: It's five years after the war, and Harry is not okay. He hates his job. He hates Robards. He hates Ron's promotions and Hermione's concern.

He chases oblivion in booze and weed and quick dirty fucks, but it's never enough.

Then Draco Malfoy's face comes up on the case board as a murder suspect and Harry is thrown into an investigation that will take him to dark and dangerous places and force him to question the line between dreams and reality.

🎵 Title: Of Losing Hope And Winning A War [T, 19k] 

Creator: @gnarf

Song and Movie: Be Prepared - Lion King

Summary: With the Dark Lord living in the Manor and no way to escape, Draco felt lost, trapped in a nightmare.

He couldn't know things were about to change for him. But first he had to lose all of what was left of his hope.

📻 Title: Every Leaf That Unfurls, Every Petal That Blooms [T, 6.3k] 

Creator: @bafflinghaze

Song and movie: So this is love - Cinderella

Summary: Draco can’t keep cacti alive, let alone flowers. None of this stops Neville Longbottom from giving him potted earth with promises of a seed nestled inside. “Don’t worry,” he assures Draco. “Harry will help.”

Which makes no sense—surely Potter’s saviour complex doesn’t extend to plants! Spoiler: it does, leading to Potter coming over to Draco’s place for dinner more frequently than ever.

Or, the one where everyone knows that Harry and Draco are dating...except them. 

🎵 Title: When You Can't Find A Hero, Become One [M, 15.8k] 

Creator: @meandminniemcg

Song and movie: Wherever You Are - Winnie the Pooh: Pooh's Greatest Adventure

Summary: After Harry Potter's mysterious disappearance, wizarding Britain moved on. Some moved on because they didn't care, some to keep the pieces of their lives together or to be strong for their traumatised loved ones. But Draco can’t move on. He decides to do whatever it takes to find out what happened to Potter. And Slytherins are good at doing whatever it takes. 

📻 Title: Strike a Good Match [T, 11.6k] 

Creator: @punk-rock-yuppie

Song and movie: Honor to Us All - Mulan

Summary: Draco tries to restore honor to the Malfoy family name. Of course Potter comes along and fucks it all up

🎵 Title: Songs in the Key of Love [E, 12.8k] 

Creator: @malenkayacherepakha

Song and movie: Whistle while you work - Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Summary: Harry Potter had been irritating Draco since the day they met, and Draco thought he knew every frustrating little aspect of the man after so many years of rivalry.

But then they were paired together as Auror partners, and things got so much worse.

Apparently, Harry liked to whistle while he worked, and it was the single most annoying sound Draco had ever heard in his life.

📻 Title: Wings of Salvation [T, 42.4k] 

Creator: @poljupci

Song and movie: I saw a dragon - Pete's dragon

Summary: After the death of his mother, Draco is left with a summerhouse he hasn’t visited since his childhood and having signed every piece of paperwork his solicitor put before him, he sets out to visit the place that holds his happiest memories.

Upon arrival, he’s met with a surprise that will change the course of his life for better or for worse. An injured Hebridean Black is sleeping in front of the door and with hopes of a new adventure, he decides to help the dragon, naming her Salus and owling his former best friend, Harry Potter to come and help him one last time.

Through foggy days and wine-filled evenings, with friends and a small muggle town on their side, they spend their time rediscovering friendship, building love and learning what it truly means to be free.

🎵 Title: For the First Time and Forever [T, 15.9k] 

Creator: @drarryruinedme7 (MarchNoGirl)

Song and movie: For the First Time in Forever - Frozen 

Summary: After five years of isolation, Draco opens Malfoy Manor and himself up again to the Wizarding World. Harry Potter's reappearance is anything but expected.

A story about metaphorical fireworks, literal fireworks, and a succession of very annoying sentient pieces of furniture.

📻 Title: Poor Unfortunate Souls [E, 19.6k] 

Creator: @doubleappled  

Song and movie: Poor Unfortunate Souls - The Little Mermaid

Summary: Draco is a potioneer. Harry's trying to save his sex-challenged marriage. Everything is a mess, but at least there's an octopus in the lobby.

🎵 Title: He's Holding Back, He's Hiding [T, 7.4k] 

Creator: @straightasdrarry (carereren)

Song and Movie: Can you feel the love tonight - Lion King

Summary: Harry and Draco are both oblivious idiots and Pansy is tired of their mutual pining.

📻 Title: What Is A True Diamond (In The Rough)? [G, 17k] 

Creator: @assassinsdragons (Dexiha)

Song and movie: Prince Ali - Aladdin

Summary: Yes, this is a fic about Harry, as Aladdin, finding love in the Sultan’s successor; Prince Draco. But it is not only a story about love. It is also about freedom. And about dreams. More specifically, it’s about dreams coming true

🎵 Title: Now I see [T, 4k] 

Creator: @saphira_black

Song and movie: Reflection - Mulan

Summary: The sudden realisation hit him like a sledgehammer. This was no longer his true self. He’d changed. He would always be the son of his parents, but he was no longer the puppet of the Dark Lord, a scared little boy who tried everything to survive during a war.

📻 Title: When Did You Last Let Your Heart Decide? [E, 50.3k] 

Creator: @euphemisia

Song and movie: A Whole New World - Aladdin

Summary: "I can show you the world." 

Our world is a broken disaster. A world separated by death and devastation. 

"Shining, shimmering, splendid." is

Torn, darkened, burnt. 

"I can open your eyes." 

My eyes are watering from the smoke.

"Take you wonder by wonder." 

Are you a wonder? Could you please, please take me somewhere?

🎵 Title: Dig A Little Deeper [T, 3.4k]

Creator: @china-nightingale

Song and movie: Dig A Little Deeper - The Princess and the Frog

Summary: Sometimes a second chance is all you need to move on with your life.

Sometimes that second chance comes with an unexpected friendship.

And sometimes that friend is a pain in the arse who is most certainly never going to be forgiven.

📻 Title: Green [G, 19.6k]

Creator: @RunningOutsideTheLines

Song and movie: Not easy being Green - Muppets

Summary: Draco is struggling to find a way to recover from the war with his life in shambles, his father in Azkaban, his house ransacked and the Magical government is struggling to recover from the loss of so many major political figures that were caught up in the war.

With the notice of the death of his Father, Draco abandons all hope of trying to fix things going forward and instead makes the final purchase necessary for his most extreme plan to fix everything that went wrong, and finds himself suddenly reliving his first year at Hogwarts.

Draco scrambles to adjust his plans only to find himself sorted into Gryffindor causing him to abandon all hope of pulling off the death of Voldemort by himself and starts reaching out to others for help as he struggles to maintain his identity as a Slytherin and Malfoy.

🎵 Title: Harry Knows Best [T, 4.2k]

Creator: @ununquadius

Song and movie: Mother Knows Best - Tangled

Summary: Harry has always lived inside the walls of Number 4 Privet Drive. His Aunt and Uncle keep him protected from the outside world, a place full of people who wouldn't hesitate to use his magical powers to their own benefit. Harry, however, dreams with a trip to London. His dreams will become true, when a blond thief enters his house in the middle of the night. 

📻 Title: Unfortunate Souls [E, 11.3k]

Creator: @drarryismymuse

Song and movie: Poor Unfortunate Souls - The Little Mermaid

Summary: He was warned not to deal with the reclusive witch in Knockturn Alley as she never played fair, but when Draco finds himself backed into a corner with no way out, and his mother's life in the balance, he makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure their safety.

🎵 Title: Don’t Keep on Pretending [G, 3.1k]

Creator: @katemarley

Song and movie: Song from Mr Ray - Finding Nemo

Summary: After a talk to fifth years about Auror training, Harry Potter stops by the Potions classroom. Chatting with Draco Malfoy about Albus and James’s performance in Potions leads to a talk about the most uncomfortable moments of their past, but maybe they can proceed from there…

📻 Title: Herbology Study #8-C [T, 3.3k]

Creator: @fantom-ftnoise

Song and movie: Pink Elephants on Parade - Dumbo

Summary: In Neville's latest Herbology experiment, Hermione finds nargles, Ron is pumpkin juice, Harry is dramatic, and Draco saves the day.

🎵 Title: The World Has Somehow Shifted (Now That I See You) [T, 27.9k]

Creator: @inevitabledrarry

Song and movie: I See The Light - Tangled

Summary: Potter’s eyes soften. “I know. That’s not what I meant. I just… Just give me a chance, yeah?”

Draco looks into Potter’s vibrant emerald eyes. He can see the hesitancy and hope. Those eyes alone could undo Draco. But why should he give Potter a chance? Potter’s the one who didn’t even respond to his owls. Not even a ‘No thank you, I have better things to do.’ So why the sudden interest now? 

Draco taps his fingers on the table in a rhythm of right to left, hoping he’s making the right choice. What’s the worst possible thing that can happen?

He doesn’t expect the answer to be falling in love with Harry Potter. 

A story where Harry and Draco discover themselves– and each other– in the process. 

📻 Title: Falling for a Golden Boy [E, 44.6k]

Creator: @rockmarina (otpshipper98)

Song and movie: I won't say (I'm in love) - Hercules

Summary: Merlin. Why couldn’t Draco have moved to a forgotten village in the Alps? He could have turned into a shepherd, learned to make his own damn cheese and given up his damn magic. But no, he’d had to come back to his Eighth year, hadn’t he? And this was his life now. Draping himself over Potter to hear words from him that he knew Potter wouldn’t ever mean.

Great. The school year ahead of him looked simply great.

“All I know is—when I’m with you, I…” Potter, the heathen, grunted when he read the rest of his line. “Do I really need to say this?”

“What, scared of believing your own words, Scarhead?” Draco spat.

“Boys,” O’Neill warned them.

“All I—all I know is you’re the most amazing person with weak ankles that I've ever met, Meg.” Potter scowled. He was blushing again. “And when I’m with you, I feel less alone.”

Or where a drama play, a grumpy pompom and a bunch of well-intentioned friends help Draco and Harry find peace—and each other—after the war.

📣📣📣

Once again, we would like to say thank you to everyone involved in the fest! The prompters, creators, the commenters and every single one of you who supported the fest!!

Happily Ever After

Your mods

@gnarf @maesterchill @candybarrnerd

[kelyon]

Golden Cuffs 37: The Woman

Cover art by @paradigmparadoxical​

Rumbelle Dark Castle BDSM AU

Belle and Leona get to know each other

Read on AO3

Belle trailed behind as Rumpelstiltskin lead Jefferson and Leona through the castle. The couple walked arm in arm and chatted with Rumple, while Belle stayed back, silent and watchful. 

She didn’t want to appear unsociable, but everything had become so much that it overwhelmed her. Over the course of the evening, Belle had become aware of herself shrinking back, becoming smaller in how she acted and reacted to the others around her. Everyone else here seemed so much bigger than her, older and more experienced. Jefferson and Leona had none of her trepidation. Rumple was playing his role so well she couldn’t say that he was pretending at all. That unnerved her more than anything else. Did she know him at all anymore?

Leona looked over her shoulder at Belle. “Everything alright back there? You don’t mind bringing up the rear?”

It was a perfectly reasonable question, but Leona’s cheeky grin meant it was supposed to be a joke. Belle pulled her mouth into a smile. “I’m fine.”

A furrow appeared between Leona’s eyebrows and she frowned. “No, you’re not.” Reaching back, the other woman took Belle’s hand and brought her up to walk between herself and Jefferson. The three of them linked their arms together, while Rumple sauntered on ahead. “What’s wrong, sugar bug?”

 Belle looked between Leona and Jefferson. There was no point in hiding her inexperience from them. “I’ve never done anything like this before, not really.” Not willingly, she thought but didn’t say. 

Jefferson put his palm over Belle’s hand. “The first time you do anything is nerve-wracking,” he said. “But if you don’t try, you’ll never know how much you might like something. You just gotta do the brave thing.”

“And then bravery will follow,” Belle murmured. She knew that. She had known it all her life! She didn’t used to be afraid of things. She used to trust Rumple, trust that he would keep her safe, that he would care for her no matter what. She used to think that she was too valuable for him to ever put her at risk. Now she knew better.

If only she could say that the change had come on gradually. If only she could act like the dissolution of her bond with Rumple was inexplicable. But Belle knew what had happened. She knew the specter that hung over her, why her mood had become despondent: The last time she had been with anyone but Rumple was when he had given over to Regina and Maleficent. The last time she had trusted him, he had allowed her to be tortured and raped.

Her throat closed up. It was hard to breathe. Gods, how she hated this! She didn’t want to keep thinking about it, about Regina and Maleficent and the fact that Rumple had let it happen. She didn’t want to think about how she didn’t trust him now. 

Ever since she had gotten back, Belle had denied that fact, even to herself. But she couldn’t pretend anymore: She didn’t trust Rumple to protect her from harm, and she didn’t trust him to care for her after she had been hurt. He had done well in the immediate aftermath--tending her wounds and making sure she was physically safe. But after that, he had avoided her, distanced himself from Belle and her troubles. She couldn’t talk to him about her fears, which only made them all the more daunting. 

Even this night with Jefferson and Leona felt dubious. Surely there was more happening here than Rumple let on. What did he have planned for the evening? What was her place in this group? Belle had known the couple only briefly, but already she had more faith in their good intentions than in Rumple’s. What did he really want from all of them? 

He had told her that he wanted to give them to her, that taking other lovers was for her benefit. But didn’t he desire Jefferson for himself? Hadn’t Leona fascinated and intrigued him? He had only fucked Belle earlier that day because he was excited by the thought of seeing them. Was adding more people a way to have less of her? Did Rumple want her at all anymore? Did he like her at all anymore?

As Belle’s thoughts spun, Rumple lead them up a flight of spiraling stairs. She didn’t recognize this place, but she knew it was another tower. So many important things in Rumpelstiltskin’s life seemed to be in the towers of this castle. His safest room was in a tower, and so was his work room. Even the library he had given to Belle was a tower. And now this tower held the room where he would bring three lovers at a time.

Stopping at the door, Rumple turned around to face them all. “Before we begin, I want it clear what my expectations are.”

Warily, Belle raised her eyes off the ground. Would he give her the answers to her questions?

Leona Ogg put her free hand on her hip. “And your expectations are the ones that matter?”

“Yes,” Rumple said matter-of-factly. “But it’s quite simple: I expect the two of you to do things for Belle that I cannot.”

Belle blinked. Her mouth opened, but Jefferson spoke before she got the chance.

“What can’t you do, Dark One? I thought nothing was beyond your reach!” Beside Belle, Jefferson shifted and fidgeted, practically bouncing from foot to foot. His body was as wound-up as a mechanical toy about to let loose. 

Rumple’s smile did not meet his eyes. “Among other things, I make a very ugly woman. So, Leona, I expect you to give my girl every possible pleasure that a woman can give another woman.”

Leona snorted. “But you only asked us to stay one night!” She grinned at Belle and Belle  tried to smile back. She did her best to focus her mind on the pleasures she would have with Leona. They would enjoy each other. She would make Leona happy. It would be good. Everything would be good.

 Rumple licked his lips. “And I understand that you brought some of your… accessories.”

“I’m holding those,” Jefferson pulled at the leather strap of the bag slung over his shoulder. “But Leo is the best with using them.”

“What accessories?” Belle looked back and forth between the other two, and then at Rumple. They all seemed to know something that she didn’t, like they were finalizing a plan that she was just now learning about. What were they talking about? What were they going to do to her?

Leona squeezed Belle’s silk-draped arm. “I’ll show them to you, luv. Don’t be scared. My toys can take some getting used to, but I’ll warm you up first and we’ll go nice and slow.” She ran her hand down Belle’s arm and laced their fingers together. “I’ll take care of you, I promise.”

Soothed by Leona’s touches and words, Belle breathed. She had to keep reminding herself that these were good people. They had proven themselves from the moment they had met. Leona and Jefferson wouldn’t hurt her. They weren’t going to press their advantage over her. And they liked her as much as she liked them. She was safe with the two of them. 

Belle didn’t realize that Rumple had been looking at her until his eyes shifted to Jefferson. “My boy,” he said. “Your task is to want Belle. You are a handsome, healthy human man. You are young and good--”

“Though just enough of a bastard to be worth liking,” Leona interrupted, and Jefferson grinned, playing at being abashed.

Rumple went on. “You are the kind of man Belle deserves. Your task tonight is to make her know it, without question or caveat, to give her the complete physical certainty that she is the most desirable woman in the world.”

Jefferson looked first at his wife--who gave an almost imperceptible nod--and then at Belle. It took her a moment to realize that he was waiting for her response, that he was giving her a choice in this matter. Jefferson wasn’t going to take her just because Rumple had told him to. He was waiting for her approval too.

The knowledge brought a soft glow into her heart, warmth and light filling her spirit. Together, Jefferson and Leona had offered her a candle flame--friendship and kindness to warm her gently before they all succumbed to the hotter fires of lust. 

When Belle nodded, Jefferson gave her a wide smile. “Treat Belle like the most desirable woman in the world? Shouldn’t be hard.”

“No, it should be plenty hard or else it won’t fit!” Leona cackled at her own joke. Then she looked at Rumpelstiltskin and smirked. “But how will you come with all of this, Mister Dark One? Don’t forget, you and I made a deal.”

Rumple regarded her evenly, looking from her face to her body and then back again to her eyes. “I never break a deal, Mrs. Ogg. Don’t worry about that.”

Jefferson lowered his arm so that he held Belle’s hand just like Leona did on her other side. “Is there anything else you want, Belle? Most of tonight is going to be about you and your pleasure.”

Belle felt herself blushing. She looked shyly at Rumple. “It doesn’t need to be. About me, I mean.”

Rumpelstilskin looked back at her, his face softer than it had been in some time. “None of this would exist without you, my dear. The three of us would have no reason to meet if it weren’t for you. You have served me so well, and suffered so much. I want to repay you, as much as that’s possible.”

Even as she smiled at him, Belle clenched her jaw to shut out the words she wanted to say. When would Rumple learn that not everything had to be a deal? When would he know that he didn’t have to pay her? Would he believe her if she told him that she would be his no matter what? When could she tell him that her love didn’t come at a price?

Never. Rumple didn’t want to hear any of that. So she knew she would never say it. Her love was just another emotion that she couldn’t trust him to care about.

Still, Belle nodded and silently agreed to his plan. Satisfied that everyone understood their instructions, Rumpelstiltskin opened the door.

The room inside was small and warm. It seemed designed to be a place of intimacy. A fire burned in the hearth, and candles illuminated the walls. Like all the tower rooms, this place was a circle--though smaller than any other tower Belle had been in.

 Above their heads, a glass dome sheltered them from the night sky. It seemed to be the twin of the dome in Rumple’s safest room. Belle’s heart lifted at the memory of sunlight pouring into that room. How it had bathed their bodies in golden light, the very first time she had seen Rumple’s skin. They had lain together in the sun, both of them naked and honest with each other for the first time. Now Belle wondered if that had been the last time she would have such intimacy with Rumpelstiltskin.

“Call me mad, but I was rather expecting a bed,” Leona’s voice broke through Belle’s thoughts.

Looking down from the dome, Belle saw what Leona meant. There was no furniture in this room, except for a table and three chairs off the side of the fireplace. In the center of the tower--where one might have expected a bed--there was a pit, sunken into the ground. It was full of luxurious pillows, soft cushions, and blankets draped over everything.

“Now, Mrs. Ogg, I thought you were a woman of the world,” Rumple teased. “Surely you know how crowded a bed can be once there are more than two? This arrangement will allow us to spread out in comfort.” 

Leona’s mouth screwed up as she looked down into the pit. Belle tried to see what she was seeing. A cushioned bench lined the edge of the pit in a circle that was only broken by a small staircase that lead up to the floor. The pillows and cushions were arranged in the center of the pit, on a plush surface that was as big as two beds put together. 

“I can see the use of this,” she announced.

Jefferson had already descended the steps into the pit. Though he was normally the tallest of the four of them, when he stood in the center, his head was at the level of Belle’s waist. When he took a step up and placed his feet on the plush cushions of the bench, his face was directly in front of Leona’s expansive bosom. For a moment, the couple’s eyes locked on each other, Jefferson looking up at his wife in utter adoration and Leona reflecting and magnifying his love.

“Oh yeah,” Jefferson smiled. “I like this setup.”

Belle held her arms over her belly, feeling suddenly empty inside. She made herself focus on the pit. She tried to pull her thoughts together to say something new about this sunken playground. 

“It reminds me of a nest,” she tried. Her voice wobbled, but at least she wasn’t silent.

After a glance at her husband, Leona left him and went over to Belle. She wrapped her arm over Belle’s bare shoulders. “That makes sense,” she said. “It is a safe place for little chicks to flap their wings and learn to fly.”

To her mild irritation, Belle blushed. “I’m not that inexperienced, you know. I have done things.”

“And had things done to you, I can tell.” Leona’s fingers trailed down the scars on Belle’s back. “There’s no shame in it, chickadee, I promise. Doing or not doing or having been done to--none of it has to make a difference in who you are in your heart. Not unless you want it to.”

Belle looked down. “I don’t know about that,” she said, too quietly for anyone else to hear. “I have changed. For the worse, I think. And I know I didn’t want to.”

Leona put her hands on Belle’s face and gently lifted her gaze. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Jefferson told me the sorts of things that happens in that woman’s kingdom and I’m so sorry that you had to go through anything like that. We’re going to try to make you feel better. If you need anything, just tell me. If you need to stop anything or slow down, please tell me.”

Belle bit her lip, closed her eyes against tears. “Rumple wouldn’t want me to stop.”

“That lizard-man is a damn fool if he thinks you can go and go without stoppin’. That’s why I’m telling you to talk to me if you need help. Clearly, that one isn’t doing his duty by you.”

Belle looked up sharply at those words. How could Leona say that? What did she know about how Rumple treated her?  Belle looked around the room for Rumple. Had he heard that accusation? What would he say if he knew what this woman was saying about him? 

But Rumpelstiltskin was crouched over the fire with his hands extended into the flames. It looked like he was controlling how hotly they burned. As far as Belle could see, the task was occupying all of his attention.

“You’re wrong.” She kept her voice low, so he wouldn’t hear. “Rumple saved me from the ogres. He saved everybody. That was his duty to me. That was all that he needed to do to have me belong to him forever.”

Leona wrinkled her nose. “What a man does to get a girl and what he does to keep a girl are two different things.”

“He doesn’t have to do anything to keep me.” Absently, Belle fidgeted with the cuffs on her wrists. “I made a deal.”

“Yeah, you said,” Leona said softly. “But it’s still true that people with power have to watch out for people without power. That’s the duty. You’d think Mr. Everything-Comes-at-a-Price would remember that.”  

“He… watches for me.” Belle’s voice died halfway through the statement. She knew that she was fooling herself, even before she saw Leona’s disbelieving raised eyebrow. Why was she defending Rumple? She knew that he was treating her shabbily. Her own thoughts had been so recently consumed with the fact that she didn’t trust him as well as she used to. It felt like a reflex for Belle to insist that he wasn’t as bad as he could be, that she was happy and satisfied with the deal they had made. That may have been true once, but it wasn’t now. And Leona could see it.  

“You give him a lot,” the other woman said, more seriously that Belle had ever heard her. “He needs to give back, especially to a woman who loves him as much as you do.”

Belle gasped, and Leona pulled her in to a close embrace so she could whisper in her ear.

“Remember, my mum is a witch,” she said. “She taught me the ancient and eldritch art of Seeing Things That Are Right In Front Of Your Bloody Nose. It’s a useful skill and apparently a rare magic in these parts.”

Gripping her wrists so she could get her small arms all the way around Leona’s body, Belle hugged the other woman tightly. “Please don’t tell him what you know.”

Leona squeezed Belle right back. “If he don’t know by now, nothing I say will convince him.”

Giddy with relief, Belle giggled and rocked in Leona’s arms. It was so good to be understood, to have her heart be known without shame. She breathed, a deep and full breath--as though a friend had just freed her from a constricting corset. There were tears in her eyes, but she wasn’t crying. For the first time in ages, she didn’t feel the need to hold in her emotions. For the first time in ages, her emotions were happy. 

Holding Belle’s face in both hands, Leona Ogg wiped away her tears. “How are you, luv?”

Belle nodded, and couldn’t stop smiling. “Good,” she said. “I feel very good.”

“Good,” Leona said gently. Then she looked into Belle’s eyes, every bit as lovingly as she had looked at Jefferson. “Can I kiss you?” 

“Yes,” Belle whispered, without even the thought of hesitation. 

Leona’s kiss was soft and wet. Her hands started on Belle’s cheeks, but they soon shifted to hold her neck, and then her shoulders. It was a watchful kiss, almost wary. The woman seemed ready to stop in an instant, if Belle gave even a hint of discomfort.

But there was nothing uncomfortable about kissing Leona. Her mouth was warm and inviting. Belle slid her arms around Leona’s wide waist, feeling for a way to fit her body against her soft curves. They might have kept on kissing forever, but they were interrupted by a high-pitched whistle and the sound of clapping.

“Excellent start!” Jefferson cheered from his place in the center of the nest. “But if we’re gonna do this right, we should probably start taking clothes off.”  

Leona turned her gaze away from Belle to laugh at him. “You first!” she called down. 

“Don’t have to ask me twice!” Jefferson grinned and began to loosen his cravat. He pulled the patterned silk away from his neck and tossed it to his wife. Undressing exposed the collar that he wore, black leather with an iron ring, exactly the same as Leona’s. 

As Jefferson removed his hat and coat and trousers, Belle stayed focused on the collars. Leona’s looked so natural on her that it seemed like a piece of jewelry. Belle hadn’t even remarked on it before now. What Leona wore was almost a choker, the way Belle’s cuffs were almost bracelets. But it was odd to see a man so adorned. A simple strip of black leather gave such definition to Jefferson’s body. It would draw anybody’s attention. It marked him, even when he was otherwise naked.

“Your husband is a fine figure of a man,” Rumple came up behind them. He had been silent while Jefferson had stripped down, and even now he was subdued and still. A shiver went up Belle’s spine at that stillness--and what would come when he finally did make a move.

Leona looked Rumpelstiltskin over. “I’m looking forward to seeing your figure.”

His smile was tight. “Ladies first.” He gave a little bow and gestured to the two of them. 

Leona shrugged. “House rules, I suppose.” She turned around, so her back was to Belle. “Would you mind, luv? This dress don’t come off without help. Good thing help is never hard to find!” 

Belle giggled as she undid the laces on the back of Leona’s gown. It was the same copper-colored silk she had worn on the night of the party. The cut was very fine and the color contrasted nicely with Leona’s creamy-pink skin. Helping the other woman out of her stays and her shift, Belle got her first look at Leona Ogg. 

She was beautiful. Leona was larger than any person Belle had been with before, and all the more wonderful for it. From her round shoulders to her dimpled knees, Leona’s body was expansive and welcoming--like a home. It made Belle aware of her own smallness, but that didn’t trouble her. Leona’s size was a comfort. She was like a fertility goddess, a symbol of abundance and power. With this incredible woman caring for her, Belle knew that she would be safe.

“You’re gorgeous,” Belle whispered as she extended her hands for Leona to take.

“The view’s pretty good from behind, too!” Jefferson called up to them from the center of the nest. Leona snorted and waved him off.

There were shining marks on her breasts and belly and thighs, signs of motherhood that Belle would never know. Leona’s body jiggled when she laughed or moved, blushing pink flesh rippling like waves across a pond. What would that body look like in the throes of passion? How much power would there be in Leona’s orgasm? And what could the mind behind those winking dark eyes do to pleasure Belle?

Behind her, Belle heard Rumpelstiltskin’s footsteps. His hand touched lightly on the egg-blue silk that wafted around her arm. He grabbed the fabric in his hands and ripped it away from her body.

After the softness of her time with Leona, that sound was so sudden and so loud that it felt obscene. Instantly, Belle felt her heart race and she gripped Leona’s hands for support. Was it fear that made her react this way? Or was it desire? All Belle knew was the feel of Rumple’s hands on her, Rumple ripping off the dress he had made her. Every second, she was more naked, more entirely his creature.

Her back arched as he tore the dress away from her body, and she leaned in to Leona. The other woman looked confused, perhaps she was going to object. But Belle’s mind had become too hazy for her to object to anything.

“There,” Rumple said casually, when the silks and satins were a pile of rags at their feet. “Now, Mrs. Ogg, you may have your way with my girl.” 

He jumped down into the nest and beckoned Jefferson over to him. Leona guided Belle over to the steps, making sure to hold her hands to keep her steady as they descended.

“Are you alright, sweet pea?” she asked when they stood together in the center of the nest.

Perhaps Belle’s nod was a little too loose and enthusiastic, but she couldn’t help the light-headed joy that came over her when Rumple used her properly. If he ripped off her clothes more often, then perhaps they wouldn’t have had to call for Leona and Jefferson in the first place.

Leona tilted Belle’s chin up and looked her in the eyes. “Are you ready for me to make love to you?” 

Make love. Belle almost scoffed at the phrase. She had fucked plenty, and had gotten fucked too. She had pleasured herself and others, and been pleasured in return. But when had love ever been a part of it? 

Her eyes gradually focused as she looked over at Rumple. He had changed into a dark gold dressing gown and now lounged on the bench with Jefferson’s head in his lap. Jefferson lay perpendicular to Rumple, his long, muscled, naked body on full display. One of Rumple’s hands toyed thoughtlessly with Jefferson’s collar. Both men had their eyes on her and Leona.

“Hey,” Leona said softly, getting Belle’s attention back. “If we do this, it won’t be for them. I want to make you happy, Belle. I want you to know how much love you deserve to get, and how much love you are capable of giving, if you choose to give it to me.”

After a deep breath, Belle nodded. “I want that,” she said finally. But how to begin? “Do you want me to kiss you?”

Leona smiled like her heart was breaking with love. “Yeah,” she breathed. 

They kissed. And they touched. And they embraced. Leona’s hands got tangled in Belle’s thick hair, while Belle’s fingers ran smoothly through Leona’s silky yellow tresses. Smiling, the two women pulled away from each other.

“You’re so soft,” Belle marveled.

“You’re so smooth,” was Leona’s answer. “Even when I was as young as you, I was never as skinny as you!” Her hands slid down Belle’s narrow waist and she playfully lifted her off the ground.

Kicking up her heels, Belle laughed and tightened her grip around Leona’s neck. For a moment, Leona’s face was buried in between Belle’s small breasts. The warmth of Leona’s breath on her nipples made Belle gasp with sudden desire.

“Perfect,” Leona sighed as she set Belle back on her feet. “You’re perfect.”

“So are you,” Belle whispered. She made herself comfortable, lying down on a collection of pillows on the ground. Leona joined her and the two women lay side by side. They kept kissing, gently exploring each other’s bodies with their hands and mouths. 

Belle knew that Leona was holding back. She allowed Belle to set the pace, let her make the first move whenever possible. It was Belle who moved her kisses from Leona’s lips to her neck. She nibbled on her earlobes and mouthed the soft slope of her shoulders. Leona kissed back at whatever flesh was made available to her, but she took no liberties, and did nothing that Belle had not done to her first. 

They weren’t together long before Belle gently rolled Leona onto her back. She straddled Leona’s waist and began to caress her breasts. They were pink and round and heavy in Belle’s hands. She could feel the tissue inside them, large and dense and wonderful. Under Belle’s touch, the area around Leona’s nipples tightened and puckered. Leona gasped and shut her eyes in delight. Her body seemed so fascinatingly complicated. Would that make it more difficult to pleasure her?

Without warning, Belle’s mind filled with thoughts of Regina and Maleficent--of their breasts and their bodies, and their demands that she satisfy them. Her breath caught in her throat, and her chest tightened and--

“Hey.” A quiet voice, a soft hand on her face. Leona. Sitting up and looking at Belle. “Come back to me, little dove.”

Belle breathed. She looked over at Rumple, who was still sitting with Jefferson on the other side of the nest. He had leaned forward, though, as if he were about to stand up and go to her. Jefferson was also watching her with intent concern.

“I’m alright,” Belle tried to smile at them all. “Really. Th-thank you. ”

Rumple leaned back and said nothing, his face deliberately expressionless. 

Leona smoothed her hand over Belle’s hair. “Do you want to keep going?”

Belle nodded. “We barely got started before I ruined things.”

Leona put her fingers over Belle’s lips. “Stop that,” she said, gentle but firm. “Sex that can be ruined by honest emotions isn’t sex worth having.” She gave a pointed look at Rumpelstiltskin before she moved her hand away from Belle’s mouth.

Belle felt her heart pounding in her chest. Had she ever met a woman as amazing as Leona Ogg? Sitting up on her knees, Belle put her hands on Leona’s thighs. 

“I’ve used my mouth on women before,” she said. “I didn’t like it then. But I think I would like it if I did it for you.”

Leona’s smile was sweet and broad. “If you don’t like it, you don’t have to finish the job. Fingers work just as well, or I can take care of myself.”

Belle licked her lips. “I fucked a mermaid once,” she said. Why not tell Leona everything? “I made her come by sucking on her breasts.”

“Oh, that is nice.” Leona looked slyly at her husband. “That’s Jefferson’s favorite thing to do with his mouth on a woman.”

“Don’t pigeon-hole me,” Jefferson called over to them. “There are a lot of things I like to do with my mouth! On a woman or a man or anyone else!”

Still smiling, Leona opened her legs. Belle knelt in between her thighs and licked her lips. The hair between Leona’s legs was short and neat. It looked like it had been trimmed with scissors. Belle reached out and touched the soft curls, already feeling some on her fingers. Where Leona’s hair began, Belle’s thumb brushed against a long, straight line in her skin.

“What’s that?” Belle asked.

Leona strained her neck and sat up to see what Belle meant. “Oh, my scar.” Her fingers met with Belle’s to trace the line of it. “When our Grace was born, she didn’t come out right at first. That got a little scary, but we managed. My mum had to cut me open, pull the baby out, and then sew me back together.”

Belle looked up at Leona. “You survived that?”

“Well that’s the whole point of scars, isn’t it? To show what you’ve survived. Of course, I’m lucky Mum is the best midwife in the world. Otherwise my story might have been a sad one.” Leona swallowed, her smile fading just a little. “But I’m here. And I’ve got my family, no matter the pain it took to get there. And maybe I’m fit enough to help other people with their pain, hmm?”

She touched Belle’s face, and Belle found herself blushing. It was hard to imagine Leona in pain, hard to believe that she was ever frightened or unsure of herself. Harder still to imagine that this incredible woman wanted to help her, to make her happy and share the strength that seemed to come to Leona so naturally. Belle bent her head, put her lips to the scar, and kissed along the line that marked Leona’s suffering and survival.     

After that, it was easy enough to trail a line of kisses down her thighs, to circle around the folds of her flesh, and to finally dive in to Leona’s pleasure. She was wet and warm and wonderful. Leona even tasted wholesome and comforting--like a bowl of soup, and warm, doughy bread. The only thing Belle wanted more than to pleasure this woman was to consume her. How lucky that she could do both.

 Belle wrapped her arms around Leona’s thighs, like vines clinging to the branches of a mighty tree. She braced herself against Leona’s sturdy weight, and plunged in. She licked and sucked and kissed and lapped up Leona’s wetness. She ground her nose and her chin against all the spots that made the other woman shriek and moan. 

If Belle’s mind wandered to think of the last time she had had a woman in her mouth, she could quickly exchange the memory for the reality of what she was doing right now. She wasn’t fucking Regina and she wasn’t fucking Maleficent. She was fucking Leona. Belle could focus on the realness of Leona’s body the same way she focused on the solidness of the objects near her when she had an attack. Leona was real. Leona wanted nothing bad for her. Leona would make her feel good, and Belle wanted to pleasure her.

 As much as she could, Belle told her senses to focus on Leona. The soft and wavy texture of her skin, the high-pitched, girlish sounds that Belle elicited. She concentrated on the taste and the smell of Leona--unique and different from any other body she had ever known. In the darkness, when Belle closed her eyes, she would forever have the memory of the close, clenching heat of Leona Ogg’s cunt.  

Leona came slowly, but with a force that Belle envied. She had read a book once, about far-off islands where the mountains spewed fire into the sky and poured out molten earth that could destroy whole cities. That was the power of Leona’s orgasm. She shouted out her pleasure and drenched Belle in her hot wetness. The intensity was so much that Belle felt her own insides clenching, just from being so near it.

She shook and convulsed in an endless dance of ecstasy, and Belle did all she could to keep up. Gasping for breath, Belle plunged in again and again, desperate to give Leona every pleasure her body was capable of. This was the love Belle could give. This was the act of love that Leona deserved. 

With a final, shuddering gasp, Leona fell back onto the pillows, loose and boneless. After a moment, she began to laugh.

“You have done things, haven’t you, duck?” 

Belle beamed at the compliment. Her jaw ached, but it was a small price to pay for Leona’s pleasure. She crawled up to face her, and they kissed, Belle’s face still sticky with the other woman’s juices.

 “Oh,” Belle said after a moment. “I didn’t get to do much with your breasts.”

Leona put her hand on Belle’s hip, stroking her like a cat. “Well, I’m not out of bed yet--or not bed, but whatever this setup is called. Point is, they’ll be plenty of time for more later. Right now, I’d like to return the favor you gave me.”

Belle clenched again, and bit her lip to contain her smile. Leona wanted to pleasure her! How wet would she find her? How good would she make her feel? How well would Belle be able to come for her?

They switched positions. Belle lay on her back and Leona sat between Belle’s legs. Propped up on pillows, Belle was directly opposite Rumple and Jefferson. 

Had she actually forgotten that they were there? She had been so intent on pleasing Leona and enjoying this time of womanly affection that the men in their lives had fallen by the wayside. 

Perhaps that was what Rumple had planned. Even now, his eyes were on Belle, but his hands were on Jefferson--one hand playing with his tousled hair, the other smoothly gliding over his muscled chest. Seeing that, Belle squared her shoulders and stared right back at Rumple. If she was being selfish for thinking only of Leona, then he was certainly just as selfish for monopolizing Jefferson. She wouldn’t let herself feel guilty for doing exactly what he was doing.    

She kept her eyes on the men even as she felt the warmth of Leona’s mouth on her cunt. She saw Jefferson’s smoldering desire as he watched his wife work--his cock was dark and full between his thighs. Rumple refused to show any expression at all as Belle gave her body over to another person. What was he thinking? Was this what he wanted? Would he ever let her know what was going on in his mind?

All thoughts flew out of Belle’s head once Leona began in earnest. At first, the pleasure had been slow and subtle--the gradual lightening of a sunrise in Belle’s body. But now, the daylight had become fire intense enough melt Belle into a puddle.

Toes and fingers curling, Belle arched her back and moaned. She felt Leona’s face slipping around in her wetness. The other woman lifted Belle off the pillows to hoist her legs over her shoulders as she dove in to her center.

“Oh, Leo!” Belle cried. Pleasure rose up out of her, filling her body with jerking passions. Belle grabbed on to the edge of the bench to keep herself from flopping around like a rag doll.  Her knuckles went white and she moaned and screamed--over and over. 

When did one orgasm stop and the other begin? How would she know when she was done? Belle’s body shuddered and tried to curl up, but another swipe of Leona’s tongue and Belle was splayed out again. Would she ever be done? Every time she thought she had come to the end of her pleasure, Leona found another way to fuck her senseless.

With her last measure of control, Belle made herself look at Rumple again. His hands were still now, resting on Jefferson’s naked body. His face didn’t move, but he no longer wore disinterested mask. His lips were parted, his jaw slack. His eyes as he looked at Belle were warm and full of longing.

As soon as she read his face, Belle began to clench again. He did want her. He wanted this for her. Every pleasure she was feeling was exactly what he wanted her to have. 

Eyes closed, Belle ground her hips against Leona’s face. The other woman dug in deeper--how was she even breathing? Her hands reached out to Belle’s chest and she blindly grabbed for her breasts. One squeeze and Belle was done for. She arched forward with a final, ragged cry and burst. 

For a moment, Leona rested on top of Belle’s stomach. They breathed together, and rested in each other. It was only when Leona had caught her breath, that she scrambled over to Jefferson. 

Through a haze of pleasure, Belle watched the couple kiss. What an odd picture it was, to see a man lying on top of another man and kissing another woman’s fluids off of his wife’s face. How odd, but how lovely too. Their lips smacked hungrily as they clung to each other. Jefferson slid off of Rumple’s lap and joined his wife on the floor, his long arms encircling her wide body. Clearly, being with other people had only inflamed their desires for each other.

“Belle, you’re delicious,” Jefferson sighed when he broke away from Leona. “May I taste you next?”

Before Belle could nod, Leona patted her husband on the cheek. “Her pussy is a little worn out, if I do say so myself. Maybe you should start somewhere else.”

“An excellent idea, madam.” Rumple looked down at Leona first, and then at Jefferson. “Where would you like to fuck her, my boy?”

[justalittlelitnerd]

Angry God by L.J. Shen

Man this book was a wild ride from start to finish. I knew from Pretty Reckless and Broken Knight that Vaughn had issues that were borderline sociopathic (all of the main characters in the previous books comment on his weird habits and lack of emotions) but nothing prepared me for his almost psychotic behavior. 

The book starts with the history of Vaughn and Lenora’s relationship which began on a family trip where he killed jellyfish and they bonded over a brownie. It then continued to them both attending a summer art program at Lenora’s father’s academy in London when they were preteens and Lenora witnesses Vaughn in a compromising position. A 13-year-old Vaughn breaks into Lenora’s room, darkly threatening her if she breathes a word of what she saw. 

Five years later, they haven’t seen each other since that night, Lenora’s mom has died, her father and sister have moved to the US to they very place where Vaughn attends high school, and prior to her senior year they convince her to join them. Neither of them are the same, both darker and damaged by their teenage years. Lenora swears she won’t let Vaughn rattle her even as he makes it his mission to make her life a living hell. Between stalking her, breaking into her house, making her stitch him up when he’s been low-key (I say low-key because it wasn’t fully intentional) stabbed, drawing the wrath of all the mean girls to her, and a million other things that are absolutely insane they keep getting drawn together by a sort of unhealthy possessiveness & obsession.

This book was by far my least favorite of the three and that was in part to the lack of a clear trigger warning. I knew based on the previous books that the family dynamics would be complex and the characters would have an unexpected darkness to them. But nothing prepared me for the violence, the public sex acts (though it was mentioned in the previous novels), the BLOOD PLAY (just really not my thing), and the graphic sexual assault/molestation. I had a feeling going into this book that something happened to Vaughn when he was younger to create his issues with sex and intimacy, but I was by no means expecting it to be graphicly depicted. Talking about the psychological effects of molestation is one thing (it still needs a trigger warning, but it’s important to discuss) but actually showing the acts is completely another. As soon as I realized what was happening I skimmed the retelling because it was just too hard to read and I couldn’t imagine how someone would feel if they had similar experiences. 

So basically approach this book with caution.     

Keep reading for my favorite quotes from this crazy novel.

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis. Art is long, life is short. The message was clear: the only way to immortality was through art. Mediocrity was profanity. It was a dog-eat-dog world, and we were leashed upon each other, hungry, desperate, and blindly idealistic.

We had the talent, the status, the money, and the opportunity. But if we were silver, Vaughn Spencer was gold. If we were good, he was brilliant. And when we shone? He gleamed with the force of a thousand suns, charring everything around him. It was like God had carved him differently, paid extra attention to detail while creating him. His cheekbones were sharper than scalpel blades, his eyes the palest shade of blue in nature, his hair the inkiest black. He was so white I could see the veins under his skin,  but his mouth was red as fresh blood—warm, alive, and deceiving.

Lenora didn’t strike me as a party girl. She had the strange gene, the one that made her stick out like a sore thumb wherever she went, even without the Maleficent wardrobe. I could tell because I had it, too. We were weeds, rising from the concrete, ruining the generic landscape of this yacht club town.

Watching her react to me was like feeling the first rays of sun after a long winter.

“Y’all gonna slow-dance to a Billy Joel song? If so, don’t forget to leave room for Jesus. And Moses. And Muhammad. And also Post Malone, because hey, he’s kind of a religion now, too.”

My heart accelerated to a dangerous speed, fireflies bursting forth as though escaping a Mason jar. Kissing him was like standing on the edge of a cliff. Nice view, but you knew it was deadly. Still, a stupid, irrational, dangerously alive part of you still wanted to hurl yourself down to meet your own demise. I felt his lips on more than just my lips. I felt them in my fingertips, all the way down to my toes. I felt them when my skin broke into goosebumps.

Heartbreak was a mystical, double-edged sword from where I was standing. And I had no desire to experience the full range of emotions in a car crash of feelings. Not ever going there.

“I don’t believe you, but I’ll still catch you,” he said. “I will always catch you, the fucking dumbass that I am.” “What do you mean?” “You soften me.” “Why?” “Because I don’t want to fucking kill you! You’re too fun to fuck with. Now Get. The. Hell. Down.”

There was nothing more beautiful than watching Vaughn Spencer let go.

I said nothing, not really in the mood to correct her and tell her I hadn’t asked whether she believed in ghosts or not because I knew the answer already. It was what made her presence bearable. When we were in a room together, all our ghosts were waiting on the other side of the door. I could hear them.

Strong words, but time, I found, had two opposite effects. Either it made the pain dull and evaporated the anger or it allowed you to stew in your fury, multiplying your rage.

"Don’t take this the wrong way, but you are a bit unhinged.” He said “a bit” for the sake of civility. Truth was, you couldn’t be a bit unhinged, just like you couldn’t be “a bit” dead. Being crazy demanded commitment, which I certainly showed.

He came to her room every night. Not that I was keeping tabs or anything. I was just in the neighborhood when it happened. And by in “the neighborhood,” I mean in her hallway, lurking. And by “in her hallway, lurking,” I mean clearly I needed professional help, an intervention, and a fucking life. I found myself standing behind a Louise Bourgeois statue for hours daily, waiting like some kind of a rabid Belieber.

I pushed the door open, hoping to find her working or reading or converting to a religion where she could only have sex with people named Vaughn Spencer.

I knew Vaughn was incapable of falling in love, but I wanted to steal pieces of him. His time. His talent. His words. His smiles. And yes, his virginity, too. I was a thief of everything Vaughn Spencer. 

“I am hell bound, and you are heaven sent. You’re the first girl I ever looked at and thought…I want to kiss her. I want to own her. I wanted you to look at me the way you look at your fantasy book—with a mixture of awe, anticipation, and warmth. I gave you a brownie, hoping you’d remember me sweetly, praying the sugar rush would spin a positive feel around that vacation. I remember how you looked at me when you saw me killing jellyfish. I never wanted you to look at me like that ever again.”

At nineteen, I no longer had a beating heart. I wore a death mask everywhere I went, and I was thirsty for revenge. For his blood. There was just one, tiny problem that did not occur to me beforehand. Namely, his niece, Lenora, who’d shoved a heart back into my chest. Now that it was beating again, I didn’t know what to do.

We were an unfinished business, personal and always walking the tightrope between love and hate. But we were always something, Len. We will always be something. You might move on and marry someone else, have his children and get your happily ever after, but you will never be completely done with me. And that’s the small chunk of mirth I allow myself. That’s my half of the brownie. That’s my one, perfect summer moment in the South of France, watching the face of the girl I will love forever for the very first time. Because, Lenora Astalis, this is love. It’s always been love. Love with many masquerade masks, twisted turns, and ugly truths. I don’t know where I’ll go from here, but I’ll be wishing you were there...It is worthy and beautiful, just like you. I wish I were strong enough not to do what I need to do. I wish I could get the girl. Because, Len, you are her. You are that girl. My safe place. My asymmetric happiness. My Edgar Allan Poe poem. You are my Smiths, and my favorite fantasy book, my brownie, and summer vacations in lush places. There will never be anyone else like you. And that’s exactly why you deserve someone better than me. Love, Vaughn

He just hung in the pregnant air, suspended by strings of cruel hope and tragic impossibility. Heartbreak had a taste, and it exploded in my mouth every time I tried to smile.

“You saw what I wanted you to see. I think I always had this idea that you should be my savior, but naturally, the stubborn ass that I am, I didn’t understand it. Now I do. I want you to save me today, and tomorrow, and in a month, and in a year, and in a decade. Save me. Give me your best and your worst and everything in between. I’ve always watched my dad loving my mom and thought he was stuck in a state of insanity. But he wasn’t. Turns out, love really can be that fucking intense.”

[neighbours-kid]

Oh, 2019, What A Year You Were.

It is now a bit before 6pm on January 01, 2020. I just finished unpacking after coming home from my short holiday escape to Berlin for New Year’s with my best friend and frequent travel buddy. My feet are tired, my back hurts, and I’m sitting in bed now, thinking back on this last year and, it’s kind of hard for me to decide if it was a good year or less so.

My 2019 was not as eventful as my 2018. There was no large adventure to speak of like going to New York City for six months, or having to adjust back to life in Switzerland after that. 2019 was just…..uni. The same old trudge of going to class and thinking about texts that should be read (but wouldn’t be), the same old treading water without direction, stuck in one place, unsure what comes next. Or, at least, that’s what it feels like looking back on it.

When I did this looking back the last time, 2018 was not quite over yet. It was still December, I had a few more days of uni to go, all the Christmases and other celebrations still before me. At that point, I had no idea that I would meet a couple of people at the Christmas Party of our English Department and that these people would be largely responsible for tipping the scale of 2019 into ‘good’.

But I did. I did meet these lovely people I get to call something akin to family today. It’s only been a year, and I can’t quite believe it. Found family has always been my favourite trope in storytelling, and this little group of weirdos is exactly that. And to quote my favourite little alien creature, this is my family. I found it, all on my own. It’s little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.

These people are not perfect, they’re not flawless, they’re not angels. But they have more humanity between them than I’ve seen in a long fucking while. We’re all broken people, none of us is any better than the next, but we have heart. And I love them all so fucking much. They have all coloured in parts of my year in their own colours and I could not be happier about it. They’re a bunch of fucking weirdo nerds, but they’re my bunch of fucking weirdo nerds.

* * *

This year was, while largely uneventful, also very special in its own way. You know, after talking to my doc to get a date for a transgender consultation, my plan was basically to wait until I got it all lined up nicely, got my first shot of testosterone and then be like "hello world, this is happening, and if you have anything against it, whoops, too late.” Well, it didn’t quite work out like that. If you’ve been keeping up with this blog or my life in general, you know that my anxious ass decided to have a nervous break in the middle of January and come out to literally everyone then and there. And you know what? It’s good.

I’m not where I want to be, not at all. After January, I had expectations for 2019, I had hopes and dreams, wishes and plans. Unfortunately, that lead to a series of events that is tipping the scale of this year into ‘bad’. I wrote about this extensively before, but the process of starting testosterone is a long and tedious one and I am still not where I want to be, even after this entire year, but I currently see a shiny dot on the horizon that looks very promising in that department, and if everything goes as it should, it won’t be long now until I can start with the hormone treatment.

2019 started me down a road of self-discovery that is more open and public than it was before, and I am glad for it. But I don’t want to linger on that part of my year for too long. Let us look back for a while, relive some moments here and there.

On the train home from the airport today, I thought about what I did exactly one year ago. After everyone who had been at my place for New Year’s had left around lunch time on January 01, 2019, I had sat down in front of my TV and started a very movie and tv show heavy year. Over the course of this entire year, I noted down every movie and tv show episode, every short film and comedy special, everything that I watched. It…..added up quite a bit, to be completely honest. Let’s see….

For reference, I had holidays during January and half of February, as well as June all through August and half of September, and then again from the 21st of December onward. My marathon didn’t quite subside during university, but at least I didn’t binge quite so much.

In total, I watched 178 movies, 10 short films, and 685 episodes of 34 tv shows. That is 300h12 in movies, 1h38 in short films, and roughly 519h47 in tv show episodes. (Yes, I did just spend way too much time looking up all the run times…) That is a rough total of 821h37 for this year. That’s like….a bit over a month of time spent watching stuff. 1/12 of my year spent in front of a screen. Not entirely sure how I feel about this number.

I know that for some this might sound a bit excessive, but to be honest? There is so much more I want to watch and if I could do completely as I please, these numbers would look a lot different.

Here is, with the exact intention of being a big mess of a block, all the movies I watched in 2019. I highlighted a few that stood out to me especially. Not just because I liked them very much, or because they were particularly excellent, just because….they made me feel something different, I guess. The oldest movie I watched was Grease (1978) and the newest would be the comedy special John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch from this year. I started my year with Night at the Museum (2006) and ended it with season five of Leverage.

Grease (1978), My Neighbour Totoro (1988), Die Hard (1988), Batman (1989), Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Othello (1995), Mission Impossible (1996), Mary Reilly (1996), Wilde (1997), Animated Epics: Beowulf (1998), Mission Impossible II (2000), Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Fast and the Furious (2001), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Heartlands (2002), xXx (2002), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Underworld (2003), Bright Young Things (2003), Timeline (2003), The Deal (2003), Ocean’s Twelve (2004), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Laws of Attraction (2004), Dirty Filthy Love (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse (2005), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Underworld: Evolution (2006), Mission Impossible III (2006), Inside Man (2006), Night at the Museum (2006), The Da Vinci Code (2006), The Queen (2006), Die Hard 4.0: Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Music Within (2007), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Ocean’s Thirteen (2007), Zodiac (2007), Iron Man (2008), Twilight (2008), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Twilight: New Moon (2009), The Damned United (2009), Fast & Furious (2009), Sherlock Holmes (2009), The Holiday (2009), Angels & Demons (2009), Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), Inception (2010), The Bounty Hunter (2010), Twilight: Eclipse (2010), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Tron: Legacy (2010), Megamind (2010), Valentine’s Day (2010), The Expendables (2010), Red (2010), Eat Pray Love (2010), Iron Man 2 (2010), Beautiful Boy (2010), Fast Five (2011), Fright Night (2011, twice), Resistance (2011), Few Options, All Bad (2011), Jesus Henry Christ (2011), Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011), Mission Impossible IV: Ghost Protocol (2011), Pitch Perfect (2012), Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012), White House Down (2013), Admission (2013), I Give It A Year (2013), Escape Plan (2013), The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box (2013), Furious 6 (2013), A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), Red 2 (2013), Begin Again (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), Kill the Messenger (2014), The Monuments Men (2014), Midnight in Paris (2014), Paddington (2014), The Imitation Game (2014), Maleficent (2014), Chelsea Peretti: One Of The Greats (2014), John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid (2015, twice), Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015), Far From the Madding Crowd (2015), 7 Days in Hell (2015), Furious Seven (2015), Assassin’s Creed (2016), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping (2016), Ali Wong: Baby Cobra (2016), Nocturnal Animals (2016), She Loves Me (2016), Passengers (2016), Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (2016), xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2017), Michael Bolton’s Big, Sexy Valentine’s Day Special (2017), Brad’s Status (2017), Home Again (2017), Murder On The Orient Express (2017), Christmas Inheritance (2017), Paddington 2 (2017), You, Me & Him (2017), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Trevor Noah: Afraid of the Dark (2017), Dave Chappelle: The Age of Spin (2017), Dave Chappelle: Deep in the Heart of Texas (2017), Patton Oswalt: Annihilation (2017), Jack Whitehall: At Large (2017), Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King (2017), Katherine Ryan: In Trouble (2017), Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018), Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018), The Fate of the Furious (2018), Love, Simon (2018), Ocean’s 8 (2018, twice), Bad Samaritan (2018), John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous (2018, twice), Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018), Daniel Sloss: Dark (2018), Daniel Sloss: Jigsaw (2018), Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia (2018), Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife (2018), James Acaster: Recognise (2018), James Acaster: Represent (2018), James Acaster: Reset (2018), James Acaster: Recap (2018), Apostle (2018), The Holiday Calendar (2018), The Princess Switch (2018), The Christmas Chronicles (2018), Captain Marvel (2019, twice), Shazam! (2019, twice), Avengers: Endgame (2019, twice), Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019), The Hustle (2019), Rocketman (2019), X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019), Men in Black: International (2019), Tolkien (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Isn’t It Romantic (2019), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), Jenny Slate: Stage Fright (2019), Wanda Sykes: Not Normal (2019), Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room (2019), Simon Amstell: Set Free (2019), Adam Devine: Best Time of Our Lives (2019), Let It Snow (2019), Last Christmas (2019), Klaus (2019), Always Be My Maybe (2019), The Knight Before Christmas (2019), The Good Liar (2019), Hustlers (2019), Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker (2019), Murder Mystery (2019), John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch (2019)

TV shows are going to make up a block a bit less intimidating, but here goes. Again, highlighted what stood out to me especially.

The Gifted, Friends, NCIS, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Money Heist, Riverdale, The Punisher, Broadchurch, Elite, Doctor Who, Dramarama, Agents of SHIELD, Pokémon Indio League, Good Omens, The Chef Show, Jessica Jones, Halt and Catch Fire, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, The Simpsons, 30 Rock, The Good Fight, Sean’s Show, Gallowglass, Animals., The Spoils of Babylon, Pobol Y Cwm, Masters of Sex, Prodigal Son, Criminal UK, The Politician, Leverage, His Dark Materials, Zona Rosa, Derry Girls

Some old favourites in there. Some new ones too. I won’t list the shorts because I don’t particularly care for them. I watched them solely for binging-through-someone’s-filmography reasons.

So yeah, as you can see, a very strong year when it comes to the visual medium. I just really love movies and tv shows so much. I love this kind of storytelling, this particular form of it. There’s so much artistry there, so many talented people. I still very much would love to work in the movie world at some point. Inspires me greatly. Always has.

* * *

2019 was not just a year of sitting glued to a TV screen, not at all. I’ve been some places too, got to do and experience some cool stuff.

In April I was able to take a few days off and go to Lugano with my dear friend and relax for a little while. We also met up with one of the lovely people I’ve met through twitter, which was great fun and we’ve spent a fantastic day together (eating food I still catch myself thinking about at least twice a week).

In June I went to Pride in Zurich with my friends, which was also a wonderful experience all together.

In July I was able to go to Cologne for half a week for CCXP, where I got to see some great panels and meet some great people. And, most importantly and also the reason why I went, I got to meet Zachary Levi again, take a picture together, have a wonderful conversation while he signed something for me, and experience an incredibly inspiring panel where I got to ask him a question that he took the time and patience to extensively answer. I treasure these moments, just as I treasure all our previous meetings and the friends and experiences that have come with it. Seeing him again after two years was definitely the highlight of the year, and it’s a strong weight of the good part in the scale that is 2019. He’s always a highlight, the dude. I can’t wait until I get to see that face again.

Also in July, I joined a few friends for a weekend at a medieval festival in Germany, which was also a very interesting and good experience.

And now at the end of the year, I spent a few days in Berlin, visiting museums and bookshops and generally touristing about with my dearest friend, celebrated New Year’s with her in the only way we know how: with good wine, food, warmth, and a tv show we both love and hold dear.

I also shouldn’t forget the two parties I attended of our university’s English Department, and the Halloween party a friend organised, and the birthdays I attended over the year, as well as the Christmas I spent with my friends at my place.

All these things, all these little bits add up and add up and ultimately I want to think that 2019 was a good year. I am so glad this year is over, but looking back I find so many good things that have happened, so many wonderful experiences, and I wonder, why? Why am I so happy it is over? Why am I so desperate to move forward, to turn the page, to start a new chapter, a new book?

I don’t know. I really don’t know.

* * *

For this new year, for 2020, I have a few wishes. I’m not really one to make resolutions, because I know exactly I won’t hold myself to it, but I have some things I’d like to do, like to try.

2019 was my year of movies and shows. I won’t stop watching things, I’ll never stop watching things. But for this year, I want to put my focus elsewhere. This year, I’d like to try and read all the books that have amassed themselves in my possession, that I haven’t actually read yet. It’s doable, I don’t own enormous amounts of books yet. I want to try that. I want to try to read more, to find that passion and attention span again that I had as a kid. I might try to blog a bit about it, just so I have something to hold me accountable. We’ll see. But I just really want to read more. Carry a book everywhere I go.

I know that 2020 is bringing me another step closer to becoming my truest self. I have my next appointment with the hormone specialist early in February, and if I am not entirely mistaken (or something is drastically changed) I will be able to start taking hormones then and there. Starting testosterone is going to be exciting and interesting, and I am very much looking forward to it. What I want for myself this year, is to take it easy. Be kind to myself in this journey. Let myself be gentle. I always have so many expectations for myself, and I really just want to try and…let myself be, let myself just live and experience things as they come. No expectations.

This first half year of 2020 is also the time I will be writing my Bachelor thesis and, hopefully, by summer I’ll have my degree. It’ll be a tough but I hope also rewarding time for me. Having to shift the way I write papers (quick, barely researched and sourced, not even remotely re-read, always started mere hours before the deadline) to something more useful for a thesis, something fitting for a thesis, is going to be challenging. Keeping my head in the right space, keeping the focus and doing the work, it’s all going to be hard for me. But I have faith that I will find a way to reign in my scatterbrain and flick the hyper-focus switch into something that will be sustainable for the time I have to write my thesis in.

Speaking of my thesis, there is something I have not mentioned yet, that strongly informed my experience of 2019. Good Omens is the book I’ll be writing my thesis about (specifically a queer theological reading of it) and Good Omens was the story that has shaped my year. I re-read the book at the beginning of term and once the mini-series came out at the end of May, I did not really think about anything else since. This book and this show are so incredibly important to me, and it is, after a long while of nothing even remotely getting there, the first thing that has captured my attention so strongly, that it has outlasted my one-month hyper-focus ability and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. And that I am so incredibly grateful for. I wasn’t sure if I could still do it. Have an interest, have passion for something, for longer than a month. So many things I tried and loved and done, and after a single month, I dropped them like a hot potato and never touched them again. But Good Omens came and took me by my hand and lead me into the promised land. Especially since the show came out, I feel like a changed person. I have talked about it to no end, and I could go on forever now too, but I’ll just say this for now: This story of an angel and a demon crossing the divide that is their differences, coming together in love for the world, for humanity, and each other, this story means everything to me, and it has given me so much. Nothing is ever going to change that. That is irrevocable. And I know that 2020 won’t change that fact. I have faith that this passion will continue on and will inspire more positive change in me. It’s already started bringing me back to writing and drawing, so I know that it will lead me somewhere.

There is so much more I could say here, now, about 2019, about 2020. About my plans and my wishes, my dreams and the things I ought to do. But I think, I’ll leave it at that, for now. I tried this monthly blogging last year for the first time, and I think I’ll try to continue doing it. So, you can expect to read more of my thoughts on all kinds of things.

For now, however, let me say this: 2020 can be anything you want it to be. 2020 is yours to shape, yours to create in, yours to manage, yours to use. I want my 2020 to be gentle, to be taken one step at a time, to be experienced to the fullest, to be lived and felt and actively experienced. Sure, bad things can happen, bad things can always happen. But it’s your decision what happens next.

In 2020, I want to start loving more unapologetically. Do good, recklessly. Be kind, always. Not just to others, but to myself.

…

I have faith in us, you know? Humans. There’s so much hope there, still. 2020 might just as well show it.

…

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope it’ll be a good one for you.

[writings-of-dumpy]

The Princess and the Pirate - Chapter 6

A/N: There’s some violence and swearing in this one. Mostly just a shitload of angst. What can I say, I like the slow burn.

Tags: @itsgreatestlie

~Rayla~

Evie and I managed to climb the castle walls after I made a makeshift splint so I could at least stand and peek above the meeting. When Ben and Harry were apprehended, Evie let out a gasp and almost shouted, but I quickly covered her mouth with my hand.

“Sh! It’s going to be okay..” I calmed her.

I noticed that they dragged Harry onto the ship and I thought of a plan.

“Evie, listen to me. If I know Ben, he’s probably alerted the defenses and the rest of his knights, so it’s just a matter of waiting for help to arrive, okay? For now, we just need to stay alive,” I told her and she nodded. While I was trying to think of a way to get to safety, the pirates took Ben into the castle while Jukes went onto the ship with the book and pixie dust. As soon as the pirates took Ben into the castle, I heard gasps and knew that the time we had was limited.

“Go,” I told Evie and gestured towards the stairs opposite of us. We made our way towards them and started going down the stairs.

“Where the hell are they?!” I heard a pirate roar from inside of the castle. Evie and I ducked down behind the wall, but I felt my self being pulled up by my hair.

“Thought you were clever, huh? Well, the captain wants too see you,” I heard the voice of the pirate holding me say.

“I thought Jukes was just a crewmember, and you guys were trying to bring the captain back,” I smirked.

“Oh, the captain is back, it’s just not who ye think, princess,” he snarled in my ear. As Evie was taken back to the rock and reunited with Ben, I was dragged to the ship. Instead of being tossed in the brig as I expected, I was shoved into the captain’s quarters. The room was musty and smelled of salt and lacquer, and I looked around and my eyes fell on a figure in the corner in the shadows that I recognized.

“Harry! You’re safe, thank god. They’ve got Ben and Evie, we have to help them,” I said to him and started to walk towards him. When I got closer to him, he grabbed my wrist and pushed me away.

“No, you need to shut your mouth and do as you’re told,” Harry spoke coldly to me. He stepped out of the shadows and I saw that he was wearing his hook on his left hand and had on a red leather jacket that I had never seen before.

I was dumbfounded and said nothing to him, but gave him a quizzical look.

“Don’t you get it? I’m the captain, princess. It’s my right, and it was my plan to bring my father back. All I needed was a bit of royal blood to trust me, and then here you come all wide-eyed and desperate,” he said to me in a tone I didn’t recognize as his voice. His words were cold and ruthless.

“What do you mean, you were just lying to me this whole time?” I said. “I don’t believe you. Harry, whatever it is, we can work it out. What’s going on?”

“Oh, but tha’s where you’re wrong. The only thing goin’ on here is that ye’ve been played for my gain, as it should be,” he said and began to circle me.

Again, his words were like daggers to my soul. “I don’t… I..”

“You what? Thought I be yer friend, did ye? Aw, poor lass… I give meself credit, though. I had ye around my finger,” he taunted as my chest felt like it was burning and my eyes welled up.

“You said you cared about me. You said we were best friends,” I reminded him.

“Well, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve lied,” Harry chuckled darkly. “Pirates pride themselves on manipulatin’ through truth… but damn, I’ve got to say it’s fun te watch you Auradon princesses squirm thinkin’ I’d be all for ye…” I looked up at him and our eyes connected. Instead of the usual bright blue, his eyes were dark and had an almost red tint to them. I barely recognized the Harry that stood before me. The man that I had fallen for was gone, and this man was something else.

“Why keep up the facade for so long?” I asked him almost as a challenge and fought back tears.

Harry shrugged and lifted his hook to point at me. “Because I thought it’d be fun to have you fall in love with me. You do, don’t ye? Ye love me?”

Harry’s tone changed to a mocking one as he spoke and he walked towards me, backing me into a wall.

“You’re pathetic. Fallin’ so easily for a man who’s never thought once about ye. It went on so long that maybe I thought I might get a goo’ fuck out of ye… Nobody could ever love you, you’re just a small and insignificant pawn,” he scoffed and placed a hand on the wall above my head menacingly. Before this conversation, that gesture would have made my heart do flips, but now, my heart was broken and frozen. I turned my face away and saw on the floor Maleficent’s spellbook poking out from under the table in the room. I felt cold silver touch my chin and realized that he had used his hook to turn my face to meet his, which was mere centimeters away from mine.

“If you thought for even a second that I had feelings for ye, yer more delusional than I thought. But I can see it in yer eyes…” he began and laughed darkly. “You’re completely gone for me. This is much more fun than I thought! Say, why don’t ye do me a favor and maybe I’ll let you get a good shag out of it, hm?”

I looked him in his cold and unfeeling eyes. “I would never.”

I moved quickly to grab the spellbook and Harry managed to get me pinned against the opposite wall after a brief chase. “Sneaky li’le mouse, aren’t ye?”

I felt a soft breeze fall on my face and threw the book out of the window before Harry could stop me. I looked at his face and saw a slight flicker of the blue in his eyes that I came to adore, but his eyes returned to their previous dark color and he smiled at me with an evil intent.

“Shame… The crew would have loved to see this,” Harry said and I felt a sharp and burning pain in my ribs, then warm blood began to flow out of me from my right side. “But, I suppose, they’ll have to deal with just Ben and Evie’s deaths.”

Harry grabbed my arm and pulled me all the way to Skull Rock, apparently not caring about the blood he was trailing behind of mine. When we got to where the rest of the pirates were, a large cauldron and what appeared to be the remains of Captain Hook laid on the rock that I was previously tied to. I saw Evie and Ben tied up to a beam (it appeared to be a mast from a ship) that was next to the cauldron and assumed that I’d be headed there next.

“Harry?! Harry, what are you doing?!” Ben screamed and Harry smirked at him.

“He’s been spelled… He’s been spelled!!” Evie yelled. “Rayla, we’ve got to break the spell!”

“Quiet, you,” a nearby pirate told her and placed his sword on her. As expected, Harry handed me off to be tied up with Ben and Evie. Harry addressed his crew and stood over the cauldron.

“We have waited twenty years for this! And now, the blood of three royals and the sacrifice of the son with bring back our beloved captain so that we may again rule the seas!” he spoke.

“Rayla, you’ve got to kiss him,” Evie said. “It’s stupid, but true love’s kiss works every time.”

“He doesn’t love me, Evie,” I told her. She looked at me and knitted her brows.

“Of course he does, are you that blind?” Evie responded to me.

I shook my head. “I was, but now after that conversation and subsequent hooking, I’m less inclined to believe he has any feeling at all towards me.”

Ben and Evie shared a glance and I spoke again, “Okay, as soon as they untie you, make a break for it, okay? I’ll do what I can to hold them off so you guys can escape.”

“We aren’t leaving you,” Ben echoed Evie. “Harry has to be under some sort of spell, he’d never do this.”

“Guys, I’ve got a broken leg and spell or not, I’m pretty sure Harry hooked my lung. I haven’t got much time left, okay?” I told them.

Evie’s eyes welled up and she shook her head. “There must be a way…”

“There isn’t. It’s okay, I’m already dead, Evie. But you aren’t,” I told her. Ever since Harry had spoken so coldly to me, I couldn’t get the image out of my mind and his words of rejection and disdain for me haunted my hearing no matter how loud the pirate’s cheers were. I felt like an empty shell and I couldn’t let Evie and Ben go down with me. Even if Harry had been spelled, there is always truth to what pirates say and the flash of blue in Harry’s eyes that I saw was enough to confirm that.

Without warning and just as Harry had commanded a couple pirates to fetch us, a giant ship crashed into the side of the Black Castle and shattered its walls through. The debris had knocked several pirates unconscious, including Harry. Evie, Ben and I were knocked over and I was the one to land on the rock.

“Oh of course. Because why wouldn’t I be the one to break my whole body? Adding injury to insult is a real thing,” I said to myself as I felt several spots where I had bruised and the wound on my side had torn farther, but I wasn’t drowning in my own blood, so that told me that I might have a chance at survival… physically at least.

“Ben! We’re here! We brought the whole ship!” Jay’s voice rang out and I saw Uma and Lannie come down into the castle and fight off pirates who had begun to attack the invaders with several soldiers from Auradon to get to us. I felt myself starting to lose consciousness due to pain and blood loss, so when the ropes were cut free and the mast was moved from me, I couldn’t find it in myself to get up.

“Ben, grab her and get on the ship!” Uma ordered and I felt Ben pick me up and carry me away from the ruckus.

“Get Harry! Let’s get the hell out of here, reinforcements will apprehend the pirates,” I heard Uma’s voice in the distance as I felt my vision tunnel. Ben handed me off to Jay, who then held my face in his hands and tapped it to keep me awake.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, you’re all good, Ray. Come on stay with us,” he said. His words were calming to me in that moment.

“Thanks, Jay,” I said and felt my head get lighter. “Guess I have to live, huh?”

Jay laughed and nodded. “Yes, yes you do.”

“Then you should probably hand me a suture kit and gauze,” I told him. He looked at me completely clueless.

“Oh my God, move, Jay. Hey Rayla, Harry’s being brought over. I need you to kiss him to break the spell, okay?” Evie said to me. I rolled my eyes.

“It’s not going to work, Eve. He doesn’t feel the same,” I told her.

“Just do it to humor me, please?” she said and grabbed the first aid kit as Ben set Harry’s unconscious frame down next to me. Evie instructed Jay to support my body as she cleaned my hemorrhaging side.

“Better hurry before he wakes up,” Ben said to me and Evie as he dragged Harry closer to me. I rolled my eyes and sat up with some help from Jay and leaned over Harry’s face.

“This is stupid,” I told everyone and then pecked Harry’s unmoving lips. I felt a spark and a puff of smoke left his nostrils that was exactly the same color as his eyes were in the captain’s quarters.

I laid back down against Jay’s legs and he smiled down at me. “I knew you could do it.”

I smiled sarcastically. “Yay me.”

“Alright, the troops are here, let’s head out!” Lannie said and Uma took to the helm and started us home.

Next to me, I heard Harry cough and gasp, then I felt my wound being sewn up by Evie. As I slipped out of consciousness, I could only hear Harry’s soft and gentle voice asking what had happened, which broke my heart even further.

~*~

I woke up to blinding lights in my eyes and the sound of chatter and I felt a small and soft hand in mine.

“How long has it been?” I asked whoever it was.

“About an hour,” I heard Evie respond. “The doctors took xrays and pumped you full of pain meds. They redid my suture job as well, so now you have professional work on you.”

I smiled slightly. “Screw them, you’re just as professional as they are. Flesh and fabric get sewn the same..” I joked and decided to sit up and saw that Evie, Jay and Ben were in the small room with me.

“You guys okay?” I asked them.

“You’re the one in the hospital wing,” Jay said.

I smiled half-heartedly and felt Evie’s hand move from mine and she wrapped her arms around me. “Don’t scare me like that. We need to have a serious conversation about your self-worth, okay?”

I shrugged. “Hey, it’s not like I planned to break my leg.”

“So are we all just going to ignore the fact that Rayla is a princess?” Jay said and stood up straight and walked over to sit on the opposite side of Evie on my bed.

I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess that’s kind of a bombshell.”

I heard a knock on the door and the doctor entered with a folder.

“Well, your highness, it appears that you took quite a fall…” he began.

“Yeah, I broke my tibia and dislocated my knee from the looks of those xrays. When can I leave?” I asked the doctor, not wanting to deal with his bedside manner and feeling generally upset about everything after remembering that the man I loved felt nothing for me.

“In order to fix your leg, you’re going to need surgery, which I have scheduled for an hour from now. Once you recover, you’ll need to take a week’s bedrest,” he explained.

I nodded. “Thank you. I’m not mad at you, I’m sorry, I’ve just had a bad day…”

He chuckled and adjusted his glasses. “We all have those days, no worries.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Evie said as the doctor left.

“I’m pretty sure they hate that nickname,” I told her.

“No, that’s Doc. One of the seven dwarves Snow White befriended,” Evie explained.

“Well now I feel like an ass,” I said.

~Harry~

Harry had just heard that Rayla was being taken out of surgery, so he rushed to her room. He hadn’t seen her since the ship ride back to Auradon and she looked close to death. He entered her room in the hospital and saw her sleeping and hooked up to wires with her leg elevated and cast. He sat beside her and gazed at her face, then took her hand in his and gently kissed it. Harry could barely comprehend the events of the last twelve hours and a piece of time was lost for him. The last thing he remembered was Bill Jukes coming into the cabin of the ship and then he woke up on deck of a different ship with Ben and Uma surrounding him and the taste of coconut and vanilla on his lips. Nobody really had time to explain what had happened, so he was still in the dark for most of the events that transpired, but what mattered to him was Rayla. He felt responsible for her kidnapping and therefore responsible for her injuries and trauma.

He held her hand in his and it felt so small in comparison. His palm alone practically engulfed her small fist and he smiled at the size difference. Lost in thoughts of her and now much he wanted to hold her, he barely heard the door open behind him.

“Oh, Rayla, darling…” Harry heard an English accent say from behind him. He let go of Rayla’s hand and let her mother and father sit with her. He left the room with a nod to her father and almost knocked into Evie, who was standing outside the door.

“Just the person I wanted to see. I wouldn’t recommend going in there just yet, I don’t think she’s ready to see you,” she said to him in a hushed tone. Harry’s brows furrowed.

“Em.. what?” was all he could say.

Evie sighed and took his arm and began pulling him away from the room he felt a need to be close to.

“Wha’s this about, Ev?” he asked her and she sat him down in the waiting area.

“Listen, while you were playing hero, you got spelled… I’m not sure what happened, and what exactly was said, but… She came back from a meeting with you on the ship looking like someone died… and she has a wound that matches your hook,” Evie explained calmly to him.

Harry’s anger rose and he knew who he needed to talk to. Without a word, he left to go to Auradon’s prison. The walk was long, but Harry’s pace was quicken by the sheer amount of rage he felt. He knew that Bill Jukes was behind this and he knew that he had done something that would have repercussions for Harry, but he wasn’t exactly sure what.

Harry reached the prison and walked right past the guards, who began to chase after him, but Harry heard Ben’s voice call them off. Harry assumed his face was one that led Ben—who was filling out paperwork or something in the front—to believe that there was no stopping Harry. And Ben was right.

Harry marched right to the cell with a slouched over Jukes and opened the door. Harry rushed over and gripped Bill’s shirt and hoisted him up, then slammed him against the wall of his cell.

“Wha’ the fuck did ye do t’me ye slimy bastard?” Harry seethed.

Bill laughed. “Nothing that wasn’t bound to happen anyway. You can’t be with her, she’s a princess.” Bill craned his neck towards Harry. “And you’re nothing.”

Harry slammed the man against the wall again. “I won’t ask again. What did you do?”

Bill’s smile twisted. “She’ll never trust you again after what you said to her. And hooking her like your father did? Hoo, if only the spell would have lasted, you might be our captain… You were cruel, Harry. Your father would be proud.”

Harry’s eyes widened and he punched the pirate in the face hard enough to bloody his nose and dropped him to the floor. Harry left the cell and only heard laughter from Bill. Harry’s anger turned to guilt and he found himself wandering the grounds aimlessly, his head filled with thoughts of how he was to speak to Rayla again.

[akingdomtheorist]

KH Catch-Up: BBS FM Aqua

AQUA STORY START

"Aqua is like a mom friend and Terra is like the cool uncle."

-sees Dodge and Dodge Roll Cartwheel- "Aqus is so cool."

"Is that an outfit or does Vanitas just have glowing red abs?"

"I just realized they're all wearing X's. Xehanort knows where they are at all times!"

"Oh don't make promises-don't-MMMM..."

CASTLE OF DREAMS

"Are we gonna turn into a mouse? I'm gonna be upset if we turn into a mouse again."

"These are some ominous camera angles."

"Aw we have to deal with the evil step-bitches now?"

He is in love with Barrier Surge.

-looks in the shop- "We don't have it (Cure) yet???"

"Oh we are a mouse- god dammit."

"So Aqua is 'we're late to the party' campaign."

"Take off your super anime shoes."

"Grenades?! When did she get grenades?!"

DWARF WOODLANDS

"I like how they assume the girls aren't here to steal their shit."

"I like how theres no context to this for us. Magic Mirror is just like 'Theres another anime kid in the castle, better take care of this one too.'"

"Yep he (Ven) had to go to that great Keyblade in the sky, thats why he left."

ENCHANTED DOMINION

"Excuse me? You're not allowed to do that, that's cheating!"

"Wait was this the room with the Rainbow Rocket bullshit?"

-during Spellweaver- "I sporkle."

"Run run run run run."

"Ah, this is where we get dragon'd."

"Kay Phillip I kinda need you to do your shield thing."

"In reality throwing your sword is entirely impractical. This is why you should keep a bow on you."

RADIANT GARDEN

"I like how Radiant Garden's tower is entirely nonsensical even before Xehanort took over."

"KAIRI! THAT'S BABY KAIRI!"

"Hi Mickey, what's up?"

"I am SO POWERFUL. I AM SO POWERFUL but also squishy."

"We're not grown ups!"

"We aren't even spying on him!"

"SHE DID NOTHING WRONG! NOTHING! SHE'S BEEN CLEANING UP TERRA'S MESS THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME! SHE JUST WANTS YOU ALL TO BE FRIENDS AGAIN! I'm upset. I'm mad."

Then the grinding that was spent resulted in 32 Blizzard drops and the most op Command Deck he's ever made.

"Oh hi Vanitas. Oh we're going to destroy you."

"Oh hun I have grinded for six hours-you know let's see what Mega Flare does."

Mega Flare did nothing.

"I hate this."

"Alright, Haley Joel Osment Joker laughing was not what I expected."

OLYMPUS COLISEUM

"Can you please hold, I'm preparing your destruction."

"Is Phil hitting on me?"

"You don't want-you don't want me to do that (my best) Zack."

"I'm sorry to crush your dreams kid. I'm sorry to crush them in a giant nuclear explosion."

"OH MY GOD THIS FREEZES HIM!?"

"Look, kid you're- no you're just fighting an archmage."

-sees Hades- "Same haiiiiir."

"What rules? The rules you just made up? Well I mean you're Hades so yes the rules you just made up."

"I remember how to do this, I don't need Curaga."

"Aqua just be like 'I appreciate your enthusiasm'."

DISNEY TOWN

"-sigh- I'll go nuke 'em for ya."

"Are we playing tennis? Is this Kingdom Hearts Tennis?"

"I am not good at this mini game."

"Awww... to be fair, we all got one vote, out of three."

"Did you forget she was a princess, Pete? Did you forget she had guards?"

"Awww..."

"She dumped him in the fucking Shadow Realm!"

"Is that Malefi- of course that's Maleficent."

"I didn't realize Disney had a Shadow Realm."

DEEP SPACE

"This might be the only one Gantu gets along with. Oh wait, never mind, he had to go and ruin it."

"Alright lets go leave all these monsters so we can tell her we killed all the monsters."

"Am I high enough high jump to do this? Nope. -shuts off gravity-."

NEVERLAND

"I feel like Aqua's campaign can be summed up as "Sigh... boys."."

"I sproing."

"Man these worlds are short when you don't have to fight anything."

If you ask my opinion. "I DIDN'T."

"This is the battle of the fuckin' I-Frames here."

DESTINY ISLANDS

"Riku must just be like 'man, three weird people today'."

He's a spitting image of Ven. "AHEM. HMM."

"They still get Keyblades anyway."

KEYBLADE GRAVEYARD

"Yeah Kingdom Hearts blahdiblah things I don't understand."

"Hey Braig."

"Nope. This is gonna be the final boss isn't it."

"Now when you have I-Frames, that's cheating."

"I don't believe this is real. Okay maybe it's real."

THE SECRET MOVIE WE WATCHED OFF YOUTUBE

"Terra's SASSY."

"Oh this is where he meets Ansem."

"This is after KH2 isn't it?"

"Yeah you were kind of a dick."

"I'm so sad Aqua's gonna get Norted."

"Every time I see these three (Sea Salt Trio) I'm SAD."

"Crackpot Theory: Sora restores everybody in 3 and that's what that scene is."

"Puberty hit these kids like a truck, they went from looking twelve to seventeen like overnight."

THAT'S THE END OF BBS

[pip-personalispolitical]

𝖙𝖍𝖊  𝖑𝖆𝖘𝖙  𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖌𝖆𝖗𝖞𝖊𝖓

The last female characters in the show have essentially been reduced to three houses; Stark, Baratheon, Targaryen. These houses hold considerable power by themselves, coupled with their remaining matriarchs (because let’s face it, Jon isn’t running anything other than away from his feelings) they’re a pretty formidable bunch.

Disregarding the pitting of powerful women against each other in a totalitarian struggle for the throne in the vein of oh so trendy, female power, this week’s episode was rife with misguided notions of women, power and madness. Patriarchal tropes clung to the once fierce and pragmatic women, altogether terrifying and brilliant, and reduced them to poor plot twists and insanity.

It was predictable, and awful, highly entertaining and I hated it. I hated it because this has a massive audience that has huge influence on Western society, it should be commented on, especially when the fanbase is so intelligent and loyal and when it’s such a huge part of our soecity (Sorry, it is.) 

𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔩𝔢 𝔡𝔬𝔳𝔢

I’m gonna get right into it. Full fledged, partially feminist but mostly just pissed off review of this episode and continuing storyline for The Mother of Dragons. 

Sansa and Ayra are the only two female leads left unscathed by bouts of madness. They remain in the show, they are quiet and astute, or emotionally void and impossibly silent. Above all else the crucial performance of their femininity is intact, they are well-mannered and unobtrusive and that is seemingly why they are still there. Some of their power steams from utilizing the tropes of femininity to ensure they have stability and respect and maintain the little power they have.

Sansa is not only playing the Game of Thrones but the tiresome Game of Patriarchy. Seemingly internalising her struggles and extending gratitude to traumatic abuse as a means of betterment seems, at the least, in poor taste and at most, horrifically ignorant and damaging. The implications are that because of what a man did to her, she is a better person for it. I think she is better, and not “still a little bird”, only because of what the show keeps telling us is that she’s smart now, not showing us. You might even go so far as to say that Sansa is only granted trust and smarts because she learnt it from a male peer.

Sansa Stark has swallowed internalised misogyny down with her favoured lemon cakes; yes, she has learnt how to manipulate those around her and use her strengths to gain favour, all whilst being very pretty and very quiet. Except when it allows heror her family more access to power. You all know what I’m talking about - snitches get stitches, little dove. All the while claiming The Dragon Queen is an untrustworthy threat (Jon asked you to keep how many secrets? One? The same one your Father kept for...how many years? Oh. Yeah. In the words of Sandor Cleagane, fuck off.)

Thus, leading me - a rabid feminist and Targaryen loyalist - to believe that unless you play by the rules in Westeros, whatever you want is unattainable and you are unworthy and frankly, too damn emotional. The only way for these characters to survive is to shut up and play along.

And let’s keep in mind that all of these characters are white, the people of colour on the show can be the sweetest, most benevolent characters in the universe and they still get decapitated. Characters who aren’t “nice” or “good” and are people of colour are portrayed as savages, emotionless killing robots that are above all dispensable and grateful to their white saviour. Someone who spoke about this more eloquently and in depth is Raine (SP – my apologise I can only guess at it based on phonetics), who wrote into the Pod-Cast: A Cast of Kings (S8E5, 7 minutes in.)  

Dany simply doesn’t play by these rules.

Being a Targaryen at heart, I wondered what it was that Dany was doing so differently to be considered such a threat, or a borderline mad queen, chasing after the impossible affections of the inhabitants of Westeros. Dany plays by Targaryen rules, she plays with fire and blood. Their trump card of entitlement (a hereditary bloodline that has mostly held male monarchs) that condemns her as power-hungry but serves male claimants as entitled.

Her overt assertions and unfiltered desire to reclaim this birth right, as many before her have, is suddenly chased by the idea of being deserving, a prerequisite that eludes the patriarchal figures in her family. This leads me to think it’s not what she’s asking for that is so unconceivable, but howshe’s asking for it that is so outrageous. Apparently, even Khaleesi can face issues of likeability[i].

𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔱𝔬𝔰𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔞 𝔠𝔬𝔦𝔫

These rejections of arguably patriarchal rules and the strong emotions of a woman are tediously wrapped up with notions of madness and hysteria, and prove disappointing for one of the most well written female characters in fantasy.

While we have to take into account the budget and time of the show, it feels breathless. The otherwise thoughtful and complex plotlines have been twisted to deliver shocking twists with little substance.

Dany’s previous actions in the show haven’t led to the web of whispers surrounding her, there is no reason for people to expect her to act like a mad queen up until this very last moment. To deny these people were doing so and lying to her face about it would be further gaslighting, so Tryion, in my book, did the right thing. Dany’s decisions have constantly been ridiculed, along with her sanity and emotional state.

In a defence of her actions, she has fought endlessly, scraped her way to the throne, sacrificed her time, her armies and her children to find herself left alone at the last moment? (Who can relate?) Her powerful allies have fallen, and those that claimed they would serve her do very little of what she asks. Seriously. Jon, you just couldn’t shut the fuck up for a second?! Starks and their honour, SMH. It is maddening.

Aside from it making no narrative sense (she has always avoided bloodshed and taken warnings about the mad king, her father, to heart) it just sucks seeing two of the best women reduced to Motherless tropes. Because Seven Hells, what is a woman if she is not reproducing? Insane!

As if the coin had been tossed and landed face down - Dany loses it within a split second. Hats off to Emilia Clarke because she sold it and the storm of emotions that ran across her face in milliseconds. This black and white contrast seems unfitting for a character that has faced each loss, personal and political, with tenacity, she has learnt from each of these losses. D&D have taken a survivor that has been gaslit, abused, groomed and baited and “made her mad with ambition.”

Additionally, it lends to the idea that women’s emotions are incomprehensible and irrational. We are told that in expressing anger we are inhibiting the ability to be heard - hello tone policing. This bout of madness is signalling her downfall, her failure to comply with a more docile femininity. Any woman with too much power will not be able to handle it and if she can she is mad and must be stopped. Period.

They failed to give her the credit she so deserved as she tried (and arguably failed) to grasp the politics of war. Worst of all, the scene played out so poorly that the audience had to be told this was her moment of “choosing violence,” like Cersei. The only way this was credible was thanks to Emilia’s performance and explanation in behind the scenes footage.

She explains how hurt Dany is, how angry and alone she is, and these feelings have culminated at a time she has gotten exactly what she wanted, and realised it’s not what she thought it would be. With liminal time, Dany grieves. Her grief is sorrow turned anger, anger turned dragon fire, dragon fire turned ash. It looks different to any other characters on the show and she has allowed it to kill her. And when you put it like that, it’s fucking traumatic.

It’s not like it’s nothing that pushes her over the edge, but in diagnosing Dany with madness, her agency is stripped from her. Dismissing her actions by saying it’s in her blood is implying it’s inevitable despite the great character growth and progress she has made. While the books clearly hint at this, the show does not...well, not successfully. It’s feasible and I’m not at all against the idea of her going mad, but the connotations of it seem reductive.

Daenerys could have been the most beautiful mad queen we’ve seen since Maleficent, reigning her vengeance on us with fire and blood, but D&D wrote off her brilliance with 30 minutes of relentless slaughter. Her power has always been something to fear, she plays the game she need not play to gain favour and credibility as a leader, and when playing by their rules fails her and she doesn’t feel like playing anymore (as it’s gotten her nowhere – does this remind you of anything? Patriarchy? Internalising misogyny?) she’s crazy.

The most irritating aspect of this all is that it has been written to further the narrative of do-gooder MoodiBoi of Westeros, Jon Snow. To add insult to injury, her sacrifices are motive for madness while Jon’s make him a martyr; an unwilling hero bound by the same strain of honour that has gotten both him and his uncle killed. Like, I’m bored?

𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔬𝔩𝔣 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔡𝔯𝔞𝔤𝔬𝔫

It’s undeniable, Ayra is a badass. She killed the fucking Night King. But for some reason, Daenerys isn’t granted the same nuance she is. Ayra is unforgiving and gritty, she is cloaked in darkness and weaponry and this darkness is welcomed. While Dany’s darkness is terrifying - perhaps simply due to the scale of devastation she is capable of - whereas Ayra’s is welcomed and accepted. Maybe it’s just too easy for Dany to sit the throne with dragons and is considered unfair? Like, I dunno, any white-het-cis man trying to attain a position of power and control.

Perhaps it is because Ayra’s power is overtly masculine, her power is demonstrated solely in her physical skills and capabilities, whereas Dany’s overt power is dragon fire, and flows, sometimes in reverse, between decision making, politics, emotions, bloodlines and betrayals. This is a character arc, it isn’t a clean narrative and that is why it’s so compelling. (Sidenote: let’s not disregard the ability to raise, bond with and fly fatherfucking dragons.)

Ayra undergoes numerous inescapable traumas, all early in life, but so does our darling Dany. The only difference is Dany strays from physical demonstrations of power. Her focus is not individualised, it’s pinpointed to political hotspots.

No, not all female characters have to express their power and emotions in the same way, nor should all female characters be powerful, but in a show with dragons, is it so far-fetched to have more than one successful female ruler?

𝔄𝔷𝔬𝔯-𝔞𝔥𝔟𝔶𝔢 

It seems as though the show has room for only one type of ‘empowered’ woman: the power hungry one. Whether she uses cunning, childless violence or fire and blood, they all seek power. Enough to hold what they consider their claim, two of them have already paid with their lives for their loud and unrelenting anger, the third is most likely going to sit the throne, quietly, thankful for the years of gaslighting and abuse. Looking at you, Sansa Snarky.

The only praise I can sing is that this is actually a testament to her power and great restraint, it has taken 8 seasons of abuse, disbelief, dehumanising, control and betrayal for her to reach this point and use this force that she could have used moons ago. Which, judging by everyone’s shitty ideas and plans, she should have done anyway.

While Daenerys Stormborn isn’t perfect (er, hello white saviour/messiah complex) she is compelling and pivotal in the series. This woman isn’t inherently good or bad. The character is made of grey, shifting uncertainties and wavering moral, struck by tragedy and bloodlines - she is simply made of magic - Dany is, after all, the Mother of Dragons, and she deserved better.  

𝔯𝔢𝔣𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔰

1] Likeability: I define Likeability as a set of performances that are highly gendered, and ensure the maintenance of the feminine by condemning behaviours exerted by non-males; typically being loud, having a sexuality (lol seriously) opinionated, successful and ambitious. I believe likeability sits on the axis of heteronormativity and femininity; or rather within the heterosexual matrix. They rely on each other for their respective maintenance. The highly feminine woman is more respected and well liked. It is a social currency women have to pay in order to attain certain things, such as respect or power. 

2] https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/its-time-embrace-feminisms-anger

3] https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/09/how-pop-culture-tells-women-to-shut-up/502187/

4] A Cast of Kings: Available on all streaming sites. S8EP5 Review. 

[the-roanoke-society]

now presenting: more aus for the ship tags i’d love to see.

explore below the cut. ... because i’ve watched a lot of ouat today.

butterfly knife: cinderella au. it’s not often that a lowly, local tailor missing an eye snags entry into a local ball, courtesy of his fairy godmother complete with hazel eyes and a drawl. but he does know how often he’s seen in the princess in passing. he knows how much he loves her. and now is his chance to see what could happen, maybe, if he can convince her to just one dance...

body shots: lady & the tramp au. he was a scoundrel. she was... well, could at least pass for a lady. but the real plot twist was them finding out how much they had in common--and how much the other seemed like a breath of fresh air.

lies & lessons: sleeping beauty au. maleficent expected a lot of things out of the southern prince. she expected a sword. a shield. righteous anger. and while the rage showed up, something else did too, something that took her by surprise--a lasso.

anchored hearts: the rescuers au. because we really, really need to talk about joseph--big, huge, massive joseph--as the meek and mild janitorial staff member of the rescue aid society, following the optimistic, fearless louise to the bayou, to save a woman who is not all that she seems (i’ll give you a hint, her handle comes from a particularly cursed doll).

magic & mischief: the black cauldron au. kieran had a humble upbringing that got very, very complicated very, very quickly. and it got even more complicated when he found a woman in a tower: “i’m princess alessia!” sort of an inconvenient time to meet the love of your life.

rumcake: who framed roger rabbit au. toons and waking--well, our reality, enmeshed. a detective still mourning his brother in the shape of a bottle, much to the grief of the fiery redheaded bartender who loves him. and now--roger. “you crazy rabbit! i'm out there risking my neck for you, and what are you doing? singing and dancing!” “but I'm a toon. toons are supposed to make people laugh!”

starry eyes: the little mermaid au. his tail glittered like metal--like stars. two things she was very familiar with. and as she gasped back air, her heart jittering back into a normal rhythm--she blinked. the sun was behind his head, blinding her, as she laid on the sand, still sputtering water--but those eyes. those eyes she’d recognize anywhere.

on the rocks: the emperor’s new groove au. she was a queen who’d been turned into a llama. you abso-fucking-lutely read that right. and they were just a simple shepherd trying to carve out a peaceful existence in the hills. but... she needed their help. and thus began a very bizarre quest to take back the throne, and her humanity.

sleight of heart: atlantis: the lost empire au. no one had believed in him. not for years. and he was still young, by the academic standards. but whitman had given him his father’s journals for a reason. and that reason--well. his dad might’ve said something about research, knowledge. but every time he looked at the princess... well. he secretly hoped the reason was shaped more like her.

puppy love: lilo & stitch au. “eggsy--eggsy, babe, that’s not a dog!” “well, look, i couldn’t just leave him there at the shelter, all the other dogs were scared of him! and look, look, jb likes him, don’t you jb?” meanwhile jb had backed himself behind a bookshelf, staring at his new brother, who looked a bit blue for his taste, if he could speak.

from the ashes: treasure planet au. ... look i just really, really want to see a more romantic cut of the scene with silver and jim sailing next to/inside of the shooting star featuring arizona and phoenix and to be honest who can blame me? please consider a grizzled, german ship cook saddled with this poor young woman who was just--at the wrong place at the wrong place time.

devil bois: howl’s moving castle au. the real question is who’s sophie and who’s howl, because either way, this is probably one of the better ideas of i’ve had in like three days. 

holy hell: up au. the king of hell never thought, for once, in all his years, that he would lose his wife. his andrea. but... he did. however, unlike the pixar film we know and love, this au, to me, takes a hard left turn: it becomes a journey of a man, his earnest helper, and a dog, all on a journey to find the one sacred relic that can reunite him with his love. yeah, there’s also a weird bird.

out to sea: ponyo au. i know this is essentially the little mermaid but can we please just stop and think about younger!raziel carrying an even younger!nereus around in a goddamned plastic bucket and feeding him lunch meat.

ancient cares: a christmas carol au. i know this is a bit out of season considering i’m posting this in october, but... sentinel, crochety and made bitter by the loss of his true love, is visited by three spirits (all of whom sound strangely--southern). and while it culminates in a changed heart, and a renewed sense of generosity, good things happen to those who do good. and he is not quite prepared when a certain someone crashes back into his life, to the tune of church bells ringing out yuletide hymns.

safety nets: tangled au. he’d been locked in a tower for basically his entire life. granted, he sort of... didn’t always have the best use of his legs. metallic or otherwise. but when a pretty young thief breaks into his tower--well he naturally had to slam a rolling pin into her head, how else was he supposed to react?

grace & choice: strange magic au. she was just trying to rescue her sister. that was it. if she’d known--if she’d known how gentle, how kind, how patient, the bog queen could be, behind her thick walls of malice, violence and dark magic? ... well. if she was honest with herself, she knew damn well she would have gone anyway.

secret gardens: snow white au. “karen? ... karen. it’s okay. don’t cry. you have all seven of us to help you. it’s going to be okay. we’ll help you find the prince in the glass coffin. just--just bring the shears. something tells me there’s uh. gonna be a lot of thorns. the queen’s sense of humor is funny like that.”

royals & robots: big hero 6 au. featuring tilde’s deceased older sister that didn’t exist in canon. although, now that i think about it... some of these lines may actually be a part of their actual canon as a ship tag. “on a scale of one to ten, how would your rank your pain?” “zero!” because tilde got hurt. and she was so used to hiding it from humans, she didn’t understand that she’d failed to hide it from an entity like pru.

hymns & holograms: beauty and the beast au. once upon a time in scotland--a man let his temper get the best of him. before he knew better, before he was given a chance to grow. and one day, a young woman--a scholar, with a bag of mystical tomes slung over her shoulder--blows in through the snow. not completely understanding the curse. not completely knowing what the price is of the magic at hand. “my name is morgan. i’m here to help you.”