rosadraws

[rosadraws]

Silly Jafar Moments

Jafar is one of my favorite characters of all time, not just favorite villain (Although a lot of my favs are villains, I can't help I have a type) but what I think makes him so much better (and frankly what makes his live-action movie counterpart so much worse) was he was funny. He is not immune or exempt from the absurdities in his world, like Maleficent or Gaston. He's as ridiculous as the rest of the cast while trying so very hard to pretend he's better.

And aren't we all just trying to pretend we're not ridiculous?

[Non-Jafar nonsense below]

This gifset was a learning experience, helping me figure out my editing program while sharing my love for this character. I think you can tell when I learned certain things, where I changed my style gameplan, ect. but I'm still proud of this.

I truly do enjoy creating even if it's sub-par or I'm slow to do it and that's a part of me I'm really starting to like.

[rosadraws]

My life is but to serve you, my lord.

[rosadraws]

Jafar RAW sketches

[rosadraws]

some modern outfits for some classic villains

[rosadraws]

*Chucks this at ya, then runs*

[rosadraws]

All this time, I thought Iago's picture was just a scrunched screenshot of the two at the "Ecstatic" line but look, it's a tiny stylized doodle of them.

Iago IS in fact making a weird face.

look at this goober

[rosadraws]

HO-LY-SHIT

We are getting parrot Jafar AND scheming Jafar in one chapter? God you are spoiling us and I LOVE IT!! I really hope you incorporate more Jafar transformations in the future because, with Jafar’s almost unlimited powers, it would be amazing to utilize them as much as possible! And you posted this so quickly after your previous update too, I was shocked to see it on my page when I opened my tumblr one day, but you certainly didn’t disappoint!

It feels so weird seeing Nomad being tricked by Jafar; usually SHE is the schemer so I am REALLY excited to see what happens! I am now starting to get an idea for what Jafar is going to do, but I’m going to wait for the next update until I give more thoughts on that!

I hope you are giving yourself the proper rest you need, I notice how long the chapters have been and (while that is certainly not a bad thing for me!!) I still want you to be sure you aren’t giving yourself a hard time. Thank you so much for writing out this story! Despite the niche group that we are, it’s nice to see an Aladdin fan fic being written currently that has so much thought and care be put into it💖

Return of Jafar - Rewrite (Pt 14)

Art by @rosadraws

(Part 1)

Iago panted heavily as he beat his tired wings above the Agrabah rooftops. Allah on high, was he not in shape anymore. Not that he could say that was his fault at all. He didn’t wanna be stuck in a lamp. He didn’t ask to be a genie. He wasn’t the guy that called the blue genie a slave and then was shocked being a genie meant he was doomed to be a slave too!

Iago squawked as he was sent tumbling through the air from an unseen impact behind him. Iago growled and quickly righted himself midair. Another macaw stopped just in front of him; a parrot far skinnier than himself with dark red feathers, black beak and talons and very straight shiny gold stripes lined around very dull blue wing tips. “‘Hey! I’m flapping here!” Iago spat.

“Quiet.” The other bird grumbled back.

Iago knew that voice. “Wait, Jafar?”

The other bird glanced back to Iago, its eyes flooding with a dangerous glowing yellow. Jafar looked back across the Agrabah skyline. “Just find that woman.”

“You don’t know where she is?!” Iago squawked. He flapped in front of Jafar and shoved their beaks together, glaring his partner right in the eyes. “What do you mean ‘find her’? She has your lamp! Aren’t you bound to that stupid thing? As in, you can’t go anywhere without it? Didn’t we have this discussion already!”

“I’m aware.” Jafar shoved Iago back with a wave of red magic from his barely moving wings. “Unfortunately, I can only feel that wretched lamp bouncing on her side. Nothing more.” He looked away towards another main road.

Iago saw the gold bands on Jafar’s wings start to glow and grinned evilly.

“But I can’t seem to locate that cursed thing specifically until-- GAAAAH!” The skinny parrot was dragged by his wings over a rooftop before being smashed into a laundry pole. “Until it gets in my way...” He growled darkly.

Iago gently fluttered by Jafar with a smug satisfied smile and hovered in front of him. “This way, I presume?” He pointed a talon in the direction Jafar was thrown.

Faint flames danced across the thinner macaw’s back as the genie hissed.

--

Aladdin shoved the weathered barn door open with his shoulder and raced inside, stopping to look back. Nomad bumped into the door frame and hurried inside. She stopped, panting. “Am I getting old or are they hounding us a lot longer than they used to?”

“Hey, you’re not the only one that can make people mad.” Aladdin’s eyes darted around the dusty hay-filled space. Wide open, which was bad, a paltry excuse for a wagon that seemed made out of twigs more than anything, also bad, and faint circles of scattered hay where bales may once have been, absolutely bad. Aladdin leaned towards the woman. “You’re just where I learned it from.”

“Heh-heh, yeaaaah.” Nomad smiled, looking away fondly.

“Over there!” The Guard Captain’s rough voice worked as much as an alarm for the pair as it commanded his unit.

Aladdin stepped back. Looking. Looking! There was a small hole in the roof of the crumbling barn, casting light down on the aging board rafters, a creaky weathered support beam holding up a-- “Ladder!” He pulled the older woman by her cape.

Nomad’s eyes darted away in thought before she started pushing Aladdin towards the escape route. “You first.”

Razoul practically threw the old barn door off its hinges as he and his men stampeded inside. Aladdin quickly climbed up the ladder leaning against the main support beam and dashed across the rafters. Nomad reached halfway up the ladder as Razoul charged towards her. A swipe of her staff and chunks of the ladder’s sides popped off, leaving tiny wedge-shaped cuts on the underside.

Razoul jumped off the support beam to take a desperate grab at the woman’s cape, releasing a pleaful groan from the wooden pillar. Nomad reached the top of the shaky ladder and carefully hopped across the upper floor, rushing to the stream of light from the ceiling hole.

Razoul snarled and roughly grabbed the ladder, climbing up as fast as his hefty body could move. Nearly half way up, there was a distinct snap before the top half of the ladder split off from the rest. The captain froze wide-eyed before his heavy torso was dropped against the support beam, which broke in a much louder alarming crack.

The common guards that had rallied beneath their commander could barely register what was going on before the rafters above them started crumbling. Decades of dust dropped down followed by boards and beams then finally chunks of the thin rock roof that crumbled under Nomad’s feet as she bolted across the roof and onto the next building.

Nomad finally slowed to a stop as she jumped to the next roof, turning just in time to watch the last big chunk of ceiling crack and crumble to the shade below. She started laughing as the dust threw itself up into the air, a long cackle that grew almost into a wild yell of sorts. “Next time I won’t let you off so easy, you rats with swords!”

Aladdin leaned in over the wide gaping hole in the barn. The large pile of debris in the center of the barn shook, drawing the scattered guards closer. After a few moments of movements, Razoul shoved one of the bigger slabs of roof off his head and gruffly adjusted his turban to be properly centered on his head. “Well, don’t just stand there, you idiots! Help me outta here!”

Ok, they were all fine, Aladdin sighed to himself, just a whole lot of aches and bruises Razoul was well experienced with. The young man took a few steps back to see Nomad with her staff balanced on her shoulder, hands hanging over the wooden shaft rather smugly.

“Not bad for an old lady, huh?” The woman shook her head, pushing her hood slightly back so more of her face was lit up in the sun.

“What old lady?” Aladdin scoffed. “You were like my age now when you met me.”

Nomad gave him a playful glare. “Yeah, but I’m a woman. We age twice as fast as men.” She scoffed. “Unmarried with no kids of my own at my age? I’m as past my prime as any worn-out, haggard 70 year old man in the minds of most.”

“No one actually thinks that way about women, mom.” Aladdin shrugged. “You’re just letting cranky old men get in your head.”

Nomad sighed and shook her head. “Sure, kid.”

Aladdin smiled and gave the woman a pat on the shoulder. Even after so long, he knew her so well. He knew she was the kind to assume the worst in people. He knew a lot of people that grew up on the streets no differently than he did that had long given up on seeing the good in the world. But she wasn’t like that. Yes, she had her doubts about how much good was in the world but, to Aladdin at least, she was proof there still was some.

Nomad watched Aladdin walk to the edge of the roof and set a foot on the ridge. He looked so different now. So tall. So confident. Aladdin looked away from the palace in the horizon to see the woman staring at him with a gentle happy face. “What?” He asked.

Nomad took off her hood and walked over. “Let me get a good look at you.” She cupped Aladdin’s face in her hands and took the young man in. He had the same strong nose, same rich brown eyes, same thick black curly hair that refused to bow to any comb ever made. Yet his face was so much stronger, his shoulders so much wider. He was fit, sturdy. He was… a man now.

“Well…” Aladdin looked at the older woman with a shrug, “What do you see?”

Nomad’s hands held the young man’s cheeks tighter as she beamed a wide smile. “I see a man I am very, very proud to call my son.” Aladdin held out his chest with pride, grinning ear to ear. Nomad’s smile quickly turned to a smirk and she gave one of her son’s cheeks a quick pinch. “Even if you’re a little dumb now and then.” She scoffed. “Trying to talk to the guards like that. You know better.”

A flurry of feathers dove from out of sight, breaking the two apart. Aladdin blinked as he stumbled back. A scrawny clearly-old red macaw quickly settled on Nomad’s shoulder before giving the young man a deadly glare. The woman huffed, “Now? Really?” She hissed.

“Whoa, you got a parrot?” Aladdin asked.

Nomad glanced at the bird then back to Aladdin. “I… Yeah, I just got him. So he’s not trained.” Her words ended with an annoyed tone. She moved to swat the bird off of her shoulder. The bird fluttered in place mid-air to avoid Nomad’s hand before instantly settling back down where he had been before.

Aladdin had to admit, it wasn’t an especially pretty looking parrot, although, thinking on it, that suited his adoptive mother’s tastes perfectly. And if it liked her this much already, maybe it was friendlier than its beaked scowl made it look. He approached slowly and held a gentle hand out. “Hey there, new guy.” He said softly.

“Streetrat!” The bird shrieked in a harsh male voice. It leaned forward as Aladdin pulled back. “Urchin!”

Nomad clamped her hand around the bird’s squarish beak and flashed her son a smile. “Well, you know what they say about secondhand parrots: You buy the bird and the last owner’s attitude. Heh.”

The parrot braced itself against Nomad’s neck with his foot, trying to pull his beak out of her grasp. Nomad pulled the bird closer to whisper. “Be nice or you’re going inside the rest of the day.” The parrot hung its head with a growl before pushing Nomad’s head away with a flapping wing. It turned its back to the woman but still kept a sinister yellow eye trained on Aladdin.

Aladdin hesitated a moment before getting closer to Nomad and her bird. “Well, he certainly likes you at least.” The bird held out a wing between him and Nomad before he stuck his tongue out in disgust. “Ya know, Mama, sometimes I think you love animals more than people.”

“Doesn’t everyone?” The woman shrugged. Nomad’s eyes grew wide and she gasped. “Shiva, I need to go get Balavaan and Mitr back before those stupid guards do something…”

“Stupid?” Aladdin finished with a smile.

Nomad snapped her fingers and pointed at her son. “Bingo.” She walked to the edge of the roof and started looking down. “What do ya say, Monkey? Wanna give ol’ Gorilla Grin a round two and help me get everyone back?”

Aladdin glanced away. He already knew he was gonna get an earful from Razoul in the palace for trying to protect this woman. Another incident so soon might be more trouble that Jasmine could talk him out of. But his mother needed her animals back. Gotta think, gotta think.

Aladdin pulled Nomad back from the edge. “I got an idea: You stay here and I’ll go make sure Mitr’s on Balavaan so you can just call them home. I need to get back to Jasmine anyway to make sure she’s ok.”

The parrot let out a loud indignant gasp. Nomad quickly clamped the bird’s beak shut again before speaking. “Jasmine?”

Aladdin paused. Oh, right. She wasn’t here the last eight months. Funny, it felt weird that someone that knew him so well didn’t know Jasmine. He and Jasmine were almost always together now. They were both such a big part in the other’s life now. But then again, Nomad used to be such a big part in Aladdin’s life too. Aladdin smiled as a gentle blush flushed his cheeks. “Oh, Jasmine’s my girlfriend. Actually, my--”

“Girlfriend!?”

Aladdin turned to the crass craggy voice that shouted behind him. Maybe, just maybe, he saw something bright red ducking around the corner of a slightly taller building, but he couldn’t imagine who or what would be watching them on a second story roof.

Nomad marched over to Aladdin and slapped her son on the shoulder. “You took this long to tell me you got another girlfriend?”

Aladdin rubbed his shoulder and laughed. “We were kinda in danger.”

“Now, you ‘kinda’ gotta let me meet her.” Nomad pushed Aladdin’s chin up gently with her staff. “I got enough stuff for a proper dinner tonight. Bring her over after sundown. I’m making my Serpent Curry, your old favorite.” She nudged Aladdin to the edge of the roof with her elbow. “Now get going. I already regret being up this early, Monkey. Don’t make me wait in the sun all day.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going.” Aladdin dashed to another part of the roof and jumped down onto a short stack of wooden crates in the shady alley. Wait, hang on. “Hey! Where’re we meeting?” Aladdin yelled to the roof.

“Your place, kid!” His mother called back down to him. “Where we said goodbye, remember? It’ll be like I never left at all.” She turned to the glaring macaw. “Now say goodbye, Red.” she said firmly.

“Die in a hole.” The parrot stated, with a vague trace of some high-society accent.

Nomad groaned and pushed the bird off her shoulders. “And people say I have an attitude.”

--

Jasmine peeked around the stall’s string of hung carpets. The marketplace was filling with people again, stalls were being manned, and a usual calm settled back into the wide main road. One almost couldn’t tell anything had happened at all. Only the appearance of guards that missed out of the chase, now taking reports of theft from the merchants, showed any signs of the woman in yellow’s broad daylight heist.

A huge belch by the princess’s ear made her jump; even Abu hopped off her back with a screech before turning to the source. The bulky two-humped camel idly shook his hairy head and took a sniff. Balavaan winced and craned his long neck away. “Yeah, how do you think I feel?” Jasmine answered, waving a hand in front of her face.

“Pee-yew!” Abu held his nose before jumping back onto Jasmine’s shoulder. “Shew! Shew!” He reached up and batted his hands at the camel’s face. The camel gave the tiny monkey a sideways glance. The monkey kept reaching further and further off the woman to shoo the camel away. The camel’s neck bent down and he nipped at the monkey’s hand. With a tiny scream, Abu dove into Jasmine’s headwrap and clung desperately to the woman’s head.

“Abu, not so tight on my neck please.” Jasmine moved the little monkey’s hands away from the more sensitive parts of her neck. “As for you!” Jasmine grabbed the worn purple reins hung from the camel’s head and pulled the beast a half-step closer. “Down!” She firmly pointed to the ground.

Balavaan leaned in to sniff the shaking lump of monkey on the woman’s head.

“I said ‘down’!” The princess raised her voice slightly. The camel didn’t move. “Um, sit?” Still nothing. “Heel?”

Two quick tongue clicks made the camel’s ears perk up and the beast silently folded his legs under himself and sat down. Aladdin scooted around Jasmine with a smile. “Balavaan sits with clicks. He knows a bunch of whistles too.”

“Aladdin!” Jasmine threw her arms around her partner. “Thank goodness, you’re ok! I was so worried when that woman dragged you off.”

Aladdin let the hug go and smiled. “Oh, that was Mama; the woman I told you about? She just got scared when Razoul grabbed me and wanted to help me get away like old times. Speaking of…” Aladdin started looking on the ground. “Where would…” He patted Balavaan’s shoulder. “Where’s your buddy, big guy?”

The camel groaned and hauled itself to his hooves. The neighboring stall creaked when the large animal’s hip shoved the whole wooden structure to the side as he turned to a stained, half-broken barrel behind him. He took a good long sniff on the ground before he headbutt the barrel.

The barrel toppled to its side and the coiled cobra inside shot up in alarm. Instantly, it puffed its hood out and gave a deep hiss. Jasmine ducked behind Aladdin, clutching his arm. Aladdin and the snakes eyes locked together. Mitr leaned forward. This human was… vaguely familiar.

The camel bent down and touched his nose to the snake’s head. Mitr flinched and turned to Balavaan. He gave the larger beast a harsh huff and limply lunged forward in warning. Balavaan dragged his tongue across the cobra’s face and hood. The cobra slumped grumpily with a low hiss. After a second, it make a sudden jump at the humans before throwing itself on the camel’s head and disappearing somewhere in the saddle.

“Hurry, Aladdin, grab it!” Jasmine gasped. “Don’t let it get away!”

“As you wish, princess!” Razoul pushed passed Jasmine and quickly put Aladdin in a headlock. “You’re not getting away this time, streetrat!” He growled. “I’ll have your head for this!”

“Release him this instant!” Jasmine pulled on Razoul’s arm as hard as she could manage. “I command you!”

“Oh, not this time, your highness.” The guard laughed. “Aiding and abetting a criminal, assaulting royal peacekeepers, destruction of property. This streetrat dies tonight!”

“He was being kidnapped!” Jasmine pulled hard on Razoul’s shirt. “He couldn’t help any of that.”

“WHAT?!” Razoul spat.

Aladdin glanced around Razoul’s broad shoulders to look at the princess. But he just told her what happened. Razoul threw Aladdin against the camel and turned to the princess. “I know what I saw! This criminal helped another criminal escape!”

Jasmine folded her arms and glared. Abu climbed out of her head-wrap and struck the same pose and expression. “And I know what I saw and I saw the future Sultan of Agrabah be kidnapped right in front of you and you did nothing.” The guard captain chewed on his lip, shooting a deadly glare Aladdin’s way. “So, if you insist on accusing Aladdin of anything, then we will go to my father and have him pass judgment. And don’t you dare do anything more to my fiancee until then!”

Razoul knew that tone well. There was no more arguing to be had. Pushing farther would be worse than just upsetting the princess; it’d venture into disrespecting the Sultan himself if he disregarded his daughter anymore. Even the streetrat that vexed him for years wasn’t worth that.

The guard snarled and turned away. “Fine!” The man reached around Aladdin and harshly yanked the camel closer by the reins. Balavaan stumbled forward in surprise and craned his neck back. This human wasn’t nice. “But I still get to confiscate the thief’s mount!”

Razoul shoved the beast’s head down before climbing on its back. A few bounces in the saddle between its humps and Razoul grinned. It was worn but well made. The animal itself was large and felt sturdy on its feet. Even with Razoul’s own heft, the creature barely seemed to notice. “Besides, the Captain of the Guard should have an exemplary mount.” Razoul pulled harder on the reins until Balavaan’s head was nearly tilted backwards from the force. “And this beast shall do nicely.”

The camel snorted, eyes bulging, before forcing his head downward, slowly dragging the reins through captain’s grip. This human wasn’t nice at all! Razoul sneered and dug his heels into the camel’s hips, getting only a few half-steps forward from the beast. Balavaan turned his head with a harsh snort.

Aladdin knew Razoul was an awful man; the guy had been trying to kill him for years. Still, a part of Aladdin never took it personally; it was his job after all. But being awful to animals just because they were owned by a criminal was simply cruel. “Don’t even bother, you big lug.” Aladdin stepped forward. “That camel will throw you through a fruit stand before he’d ever so much as cross the street for you.”

Razoul sneered. “I’ve broken the spirits of murderers and raiders from all across the desert. I’ll break this beast’s spirit just was easily.” He dug his heels into the beast’s hips hard again.

There was a faint whistle in the distance, making Aladdin look up. On a nearby sky-bridge, a somewhat-shorter person in a yellow outfit made a big wave in his direction. A large, thin bird soon settled on the rail-wall in front of the figure. “Mama.” Think, Aladdin, think. Aladdin grabbed Razoul’s belt and started pulling. “I said get off him!”

The guard captain growled and kicked Aladdin hard in the chest with a laugh. “Don’t you dare tell me what to do, streetrat!” The man pulled hard on Balavaan’s reins, turning the camel halfway around. “It’s my right to take a criminal’s property! Allah knows she’d only use this beast for more villainy.”

Aladdin pushed himself off the ground and looked back at the figure on the bridge. The figure threw their arms out wide and leaned on the guard wall. Aladdin smirked and gave a big thumbs up in the air while Razoul looked away.

“If anything, this beast should be grateful it belongs to a much better person like me!”

Aladdin quickly got up and pushed Jasmine into the nook between two stalls. “Oh, I can tell he loves you already.” Aladdin rolled his eyes.

“Aladdin?” Jasmine looked back at her man.

“Wait for it...”

Balavaan again pulled his head down hard, tearing his reins from Razoul’s fists. Again, the man tried to pull the reins back but now the camel just stomp and snorted, angrily holding his head low to the ground despite his rider’s force. “Come on, you worthless mule!”

Three high-pitched rapid whistles rang loudly above the marketplace.

Balavaan’s eyes went wide and he reared up with a loud bellowing roar, kicking wildly. The beast charged across the road and threw itself into a pottery display, shattering everything on display and scaring the stand owner back into his home. He whipped around and chased after a man pulling a small cart, knocking him to the ground and dumping his harvest of apples on the street. The marketplace’s idly chatting crowd fell silent at the sight before everyone started bolting for the side streets yet again.

Aladdin pushed Jasmine down and against the building wall, keeping himself between his love and the camel’s outburst. Razoul grabbed the camel’s mane for stability before claiming the reins yet again. He pulled back on the rope as hard as he could. The camel’s charge down the quickly emptying road slowed but still he pushed on, lashing to bite the owner of a fish stall as angry foam built around his muzzle.

“Hold, you wretched beast!”

Razoul’s desperate pulling craned the camel’s head backwards and the man found the beast glaring furiously into the man’s own eyes. With an utterly-wet gargle, the camel heaved and spat a dull green ball of half-eaten grass and saliva straight into the captain’s eyes. The beast yanked down its head hard, ripping the rein’s from the half-blinded guard’s hands before reaching around and biting Razoul’s leg hard.

With inhuman strength, the captain was ripped off the saddle and slammed into the beaten-down dirt of the main road. The beast growled again, meeting Razoul’s eyes once more before biting down harder. With a quick turn, Balavaan whipped the man around and sent the captain of the guard flying off down the road until he crashed into a wide melon display. The camel stomped hard in place and gave another furious gurgling scream.

Another whistle rang out; a single low note that swung up to a short high-note. Balavaan stopped instantly, gasping from his outburst. He quickly shook with muss out of his mane and the spit from his floppy lips before turning around and happily galloping towards the noise.

“Is it gone?” Jasmine asked, keeping her head down.

Aladdin watched a second longer. The figure on the bridge ran to the other side, vanishing out of sight. As the camel ran under the bridge, the figure dropped down, just barely catching the side of the saddle before pulling themselves up and riding off properly. A bird-shaped figure dove down after and landed on the figure as the group vanished behind the dust Balavaan’s charge was kicking up.

Oddly enough, another bird, much shorter and rounder than the bird Aladdin saw with Mama earlier, flew down from the bridge, chasing after the camel while yelling loudly. Weird. Mama only mentioned one bird. Aladdin let Jasmine go and stepped back. “It’s ok now. They left.”

Jasmine stood up and peeked around the stall, down the road.

A pair of guards, ones she didn’t recognize from around the palace, were standing awkwardly near Razoul. The captain wiped the sticky puddle of juice off his face, only succeeding in matting down his short thick beard into a messy stubble. With a grunt, he tried to push himself out from between the broken table that once was a marketplace stall. With a snap, the remains of the table splintered under the guards weight, dropping him back into the dusty ground.

“My business!” A tall pear-shaped man with a thick beard stomped over and shoved passed the pair of guards to stare down Razoul. “You!” Farouk yelled, pointing down at the captain. “I demand the Sultan pays for this!”

“How dare you take that tone with me!” Razoul’s turban fell over his eyes as he sat up.

“I’ll take whatever tone I want with you! I pay taxes! It’s your job to stop streetrats like Aladdin, and now that he’s off the streets, you swooped in and destroyed my business instead! I demand compensation!”

Aladdin smiled. Abu jumped down from a nearby roof and sat on Aladdin’s shoulder. “Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, eh, buddy?”

Abu snickered, bouncing in place before shaking his head. “Nu-uh.”

--

Nomad pulled back on Balavaan’s reins. She felt a slight twitch from her camel, an ounce of resistant he never gave her before. She gave a gentle loving pat on his head, messing up his poofy mane of fur. Poor thing was still stressed. How could he not be? That snarling dog of a man loved brutalizing every living thing he got his hands on. People went after her for stealing yet cheered for crueler men to tear her apart…

From Balavaan’s back, she barely managed to pull herself up onto another roof. Had to be sure. She always hated leaving the kid behind but sometimes splitting up was what was best. That’s why she ever left him at all. She hurried over to look down at the marketplace.

There was her son, still in the same general area of the market but he was holding hands with… someone wearing blue. Was that Jasmine? “Hey, Little Red.” She said, slightly turning her head while still keeping watch. “Wanna fly over and take a look at who Moneky’s with?”

Iago flew near the woman and quickly landed on the guard wall lining the rooftop. “Me? Ugh! It’s always me doing the—” Iago got shoved rather hard down the wall edge. He turned to see Jafar’s bird form settling down next to him.

“Don’t you dare.” The genie muttered under breath. “If the streetrat or the shrew know we’re back, it’ll ruin my plans. Make something up!” With a frown, Jafar hopped around Iago and looked down the road at Aladdin.

“Uhhh,” Iago shrugged his wings. “I’d love to, really, I mean, if there’s one thing you need to know about Iago the Parrot, it’s ‘he’s a reliable guy every day of the week’ but uh… I’m actually really worn out from, ya know, getting stuff to, uh… help you!” The bird smiled and waved. “Yeah, I put a bunch of stuff in your bags while you were grabbing food. Just trying to help ya out but uh.. boy, are my wings tired! Heh.”

Nomad had a half-amused exhale. She tapped the distracted Jafar on the head before putting her hands on her hips. “Well, what’s your excuse?”

Jafar turned away from the streets at his lamp-holder’s touch. “Oh! Um,” Think fast. Jafar glanced back at Aladdin. Nothing happening there yet. Just his greatest enemy currently putting his hands around the tight hourglass figure of a princess Jafar deserved to enjoy far more than a streetrat ever could. He glanced back to Nomad. Just barely peeking out of the woman’s cape was the shiny black brass spout of his lamp. “My lamp.”

“Huh?”

“Uh, my lamp! Yes! Unfortunately, I can’t scout the woman out for you.” Without actually moving his wings, Jafar floated over to the woman and gently pushed her cape off his lamp. “My lamp forbids me from leaving your side, remember?”

“Oh, yeah…” She sighed. “Well, we’ll find out tonight. Monkey’s coming to dinner.”

“Wait, what!” Iago shrieked.

“I’m not going though all of this just to say ‘hi’ to my son in passing.” The woman shrugged. “Especially if he has a girlfriend now.”

Jafar froze, his parrot-form’s face unnaturally contorting just to display his fury. That blasted rat was practically falling within his grasp and he was forbidden from acting on his brewing hatred! That woman wouldn’t let him do anything, not yet at least. Those two were close, disgustingly close, but Jafar couldn’t disregard their bond too much. If they weren’t close, his revenge would be so much less potent.

Jafar tuned out whatever the woman and Iago were bantering about and floated further away. He only got about a rooftop and a half away before the gold bands on his wings started glowing. He settled down on the roof and leaned as forward as he could. Come on! Give him something!

Aladdin and Jasmine kept holding each other, gazing tenderly into each other’s eyes. The trio of guards, lead by an exhausted looking captain, stomped over to the pair. The largest man tried to grab Aladdin but the princess quickly swatted his big meaty hand away. The woman stepped between Razoul and Aladdin before throwing her arms out widely. She made a forceful point towards the palace before wrapping her arm around Aladdin’s and calmly walking away. The smaller, cleaner guards looked at each other and shrugged before moving around Razoul and following.

Jafar gasped. That’s it! Exactly what he needed! The genie collapsed into red mist and soared back across the rooftops.

“Well, if it’s that big of an issue for you,” Nomad said, “then you’ll be happy to know most of his girlfriends broke up with him within a week of meeting me.”

“Uh-huh.” Iago rolled his eyes. “And you sound proud of that because?”

“Because my son is a good boy that knows a woman worth keeping,” She pointed to herself, “and a girl worth letting go of.” She threw her hand in the air. “You’ll see.”

“Master! Master!” Jafar flew in front of Nomad’s face, face purposefully painted with worry, and pointed with a wing to the road. “Your son! He’s in danger!” “Monkey?!” Nomad ran to the edge of the roof and looked desperately. Nothing. She had to be sure. She glanced around quickly to make sure the nearby roofs were abandoned before she let her medallion glow. Sand and dust spread thin across the rooftop gathered together and stretched from one roof to another. The woman dashed across the magic bridge fast and the sand chased after, catching her again as she leapt off the edge and dashed to the next roof. Nomad stopped, panting.

Jafar landed on the roof and pointed at the scene below again. “There!” Jafar said dramatically. “Aren’t those the men you and your son were running from earlier?”

There, her son and the woman he was with were being followed by guards as they marched towards, Nomad gasped, the palace! “Monkey!” She kept her voice low but still put a hand over her mouth. Too loud and the guards surrounding him might see her. She saw Aladdin glance behind him, towards Razoul. The huge man made a half-lunge for Aladdin but stopped as the woman glanced behind at him.

“Oh, now that’s odd.” Jafar put a wing to his chin, hiding a devilish grin. “For all the frantic chaos you went through to escape them before, your son doesn’t seem scared at all of the guar-- uh, those men. It’s as if he… doesn’t think they’ll hurt him in the slightest. Why would that be, Master?”

Nomad’s eyes narrowed as she took in the scene closely. “That is odd...” She shook her head. No time for that. Monkey wasin danger. Probably couldn’t make a move with that many men around. She had to help! “Can’t use magic…” She glanced down to the short wall lining the rooftop. The tan spackle of the building was chipping away with age, showing dull gray bricks underneath. “- openly.”

Nomad held her staff close and a faint swirl of blue mist gathered at the tip. She thrust the bottom of her staff at the brick, sending the mist across the stone, shredding the dry concrete beneath it apart. She picked up the now-loose brick with ease and focused. Another wisp of blue magic danced faintly across the brick before the woman pulled back and threw it as hard as she could.

The brick fell much more slowly that it had any right to, but it sped forward just fine. It crashed hard into the back of the skinniest guard who promptly hit the ground like a dead weight. Nomad quickly ducked to hide. Jafar landed on the wall, very obviously leaning over to look at her. Nomad growled. “Why are you like this...”

The skinny parrot smirked.

Nomad slowly peeked over her cover. Her son, not the other guards, held out his arm and pulled the smaller guard to his feet. “What is he doing?!” She hissed, eyes wide.

“Oh, I fear I simply cannot understand this.” Jafar sighed, dramatically. “Are those men not your enemies, Master?”

“They are!” Nomad muttered angrily.

“Then why is your son helping them?” Jafar cooed, smile creeping across his face.

Nomad hit her forehead on the roof with a groan. “Because I raised an idiot. Happy?” She peeked over the wall again. The other guards finally helped their colleague stand. Aladdin took a step back and put a hand above his eyes, looking around against the glare of the midday sun. Nomad waved wildly. “Run!”

Razoul looked up and saw the woman on the roof. Instantly, he threw the dazed guard hard to the floor and pulled out his sword. “You!” He pointed his blade at the woman. Aladdin hesitated. He ran and Rammed Razoul to the ground with his shoulder before grabbing the woman in blue by the arm and running into a side alley.

Razoul sputtered for a moment before clamoring to his feet and charging after the pair. The men left behind simply looked at each other for a moment before the medium guard just put the injured guard’s arm around his own shoulder and started walking his partner towards the palace.

Nomad stood up and sighed as she looked up at the sky. “Thank Shiva.” She leaned heavily on her staff and put a hand over her fluttering heart. “How does anyone survive having kids?” A flap of wings made her open her tired eyes. Jafar clung to the shaft of her staff, leaning as far forward as possible to see if anything more would play out. Nomad frowned. “Got me worked up over nothing.” She picked up her staff and slammed it down.

Jafar’s boney talon’s shuttered from the impact, sending the older-looking bird skidding down the pole until he crashed to the rooftop. The bird bit his tongue hard as a tiny plume of ember-laden smoke shot from his clenched beak. “My apologies… Master.” He growled.

Nomad took another deep breath as she started walking away. “Everything’s fine. He’ll be ok.” She kept tapping a hand on her knotted chest. “He’s fast. He’ll be ok. He’s meeting me later. It’s ok.”

The skinny macaw sprawled on the roof growled before erupting into flames. Jafar’s feathered form burned away and the flames soared up into a pillar of fire that quickly cooled down to Jafar’s human form, wrapped regally in bright red robes. As if somehow the mess of his old form had followed him, Jafar looked at his outfit and bushed off any perceived dirt from his clothes.

“Ok, ok, you called her Master willingly,” Iago perched on Jafar’s shoulder. “You must really want the nice guy routine to work, but for what?! Tattling on Aladdin? That’s stupid! Even for y-” The glowing inhumanly yellow eyes of his partner shut Iago up instantly. “I mean… That’s desperate for a guy like you, who would, obviously, in any other situation, have much better, intricate, brilliant schemes to pull off. Heh…”

Jafar frowned but looked away, watching his lamp-holder slowly walk away, muttering to herself. “Obviously. But I reiterate; my plan involving the woman is far more potent that what I could do if I were free. Even if it takes time, Aladdin’s pain will eventually outweigh my own.”

Iago growled. “But I! Don’t! Get it!” He ripped out some of the shorter, older feathers on the sides of his head. “What can she do?! She’d be the first to try and stop us, boss! What’s the angle?”

Jafar watched Nomad slowly lower herself down off the roof. “The ‘angle’, old friend,” Jafar leaned his head to whisper in Iago’s ears “is to ensure the last thing Aladdin sees in this life is his own mother thrusting a dagger into his heart.”

---------

Author's Note:

One of these days I should bite the bullet and just give this story a real name. Not sure it counts as a rewrite anymore really but, ironically, for all my writing skills and creativity... I can't think of a name that resonates with me.

Everything I come up with feels lame or cringey (I still feel like my AO3 summery is lacking for the same 'vibes-off' reason) and honestly, I'm the only writer in my irl freind-group so I don't have people to bounce ideas off of.

(Part 13)

(Part 15)

--

(AO3) <---- For more long-form, polished reading experience

[rosadraws]

I'm art/write blocking hard so I made myself finish an old sketch and guess who discovered how to use the gradient tool?

This is a concept for my OC, Nomad in the Mirrorverse game. Full story/profile for this version here but here's a summery:

Nomad met an alternate Jafar (not the same one in-game) and helped him conquer their world's Agrabah. Jafar being Jafar, of course, tried to betray her so he could rule alone but found the sorceress was stronger than he thought. The two went to war which rapidly turned the prized city into a wasteland. Desperate for any advantage, Jafar devoured his magic items, hoping to ascend the limitations of humanity and achieve *Phenomenal Cosmic Power* (hint hint). Nomad found him during this vulnerable transformation and sealed him away in his own staff, shackling Jafar's newly obtained powers for her own use.

Her bitter heart after Jafar's betrayal summons the Fractured Mirror to her which she harnesses to control a small, mostly-barren alt-universe known as the Sand Sea. Her sentient army is made up of "The Lost Heroes"; powerful warriors that got lost trying to answer the call of the Stellar Mirror and mistaking the Fracture Mirror as their goal. Nomad does her best to take care of those in her service but as Jafar's genie magic eats away at her spirit, it's becoming harder and harder for her to both control her overwhelming power and to keep Jafar's constant malicious whisperings from messing with her sense of right and wrong.

[rosadraws]

So, here’s a question I’ve been pondering for a bit. Curious to see what input others have.

For people who take Neverland as a kind of realm of the dead, what does that mean for anyone who dies in Neverland? Is Neverland more like limbo or purgatory and then you move on to the next stage when you die? What about the ones who return to the real world? Is this a “visiting the underworld and coming back out of it alive” narrative for them? Like some of the Ancient Greek myths and such? Also, what would Neverland as a realm of the dead make Peter, Hook, Tink, the crocodile, etc.? Does the crocodile as Death/Time even make sense if Neverland itself is already a realm of the dead? Is Peter a psychopomp? I’ve seen a few retellings try and tackle this but not heard much on the academic/symbolic front.

[rosadraws]

[rosadraws]

Return of Jafar - Rewrite (Pt 14)

Art by @rosadraws

(Part 1)

Iago panted heavily as he beat his tired wings above the Agrabah rooftops. Allah on high, was he not in shape anymore. Not that he could say that was his fault at all. He didn’t wanna be stuck in a lamp. He didn’t ask to be a genie. He wasn’t the guy that called the blue genie a slave and then was shocked being a genie meant he was doomed to be a slave too!

Iago squawked as he was sent tumbling through the air from an unseen impact behind him. Iago growled and quickly righted himself midair. Another macaw stopped just in front of him; a parrot far skinnier than himself with dark red feathers, black beak and talons and very straight shiny gold stripes lined around very dull blue wing tips. “‘Hey! I’m flapping here!” Iago spat.

“Quiet.” The other bird grumbled back.

Iago knew that voice. “Wait, Jafar?”

The other bird glanced back to Iago, its eyes flooding with a dangerous glowing yellow. Jafar looked back across the Agrabah skyline. “Just find that woman.”

“You don’t know where she is?!” Iago squawked. He flapped in front of Jafar and shoved their beaks together, glaring his partner right in the eyes. “What do you mean ‘find her’? She has your lamp! Aren’t you bound to that stupid thing? As in, you can’t go anywhere without it? Didn’t we have this discussion already!”

“I’m aware.” Jafar shoved Iago back with a wave of red magic from his barely moving wings. “Unfortunately, I can only feel that wretched lamp bouncing on her side. Nothing more.” He looked away towards another main road.

Iago saw the gold bands on Jafar’s wings start to glow and grinned evilly.

“But I can’t seem to locate that cursed thing specifically until-- GAAAAH!” The skinny parrot was dragged by his wings over a rooftop before being smashed into a laundry pole. “Until it gets in my way...” He growled darkly.

Iago gently fluttered by Jafar with a smug satisfied smile and hovered in front of him. “This way, I presume?” He pointed a talon in the direction Jafar was thrown.

Faint flames danced across the thinner macaw’s back as the genie hissed.

--

Aladdin shoved the weathered barn door open with his shoulder and raced inside, stopping to look back. Nomad bumped into the door frame and hurried inside. She stopped, panting. “Am I getting old or are they hounding us a lot longer than they used to?”

“Hey, you’re not the only one that can make people mad.” Aladdin’s eyes darted around the dusty hay-filled space. Wide open, which was bad, a paltry excuse for a wagon that seemed made out of twigs more than anything, also bad, and faint circles of scattered hay where bales may once have been, absolutely bad. Aladdin leaned towards the woman. “You’re just where I learned it from.”

“Heh-heh, yeaaaah.” Nomad smiled, looking away fondly.

“Over there!” The Guard Captain’s rough voice worked as much as an alarm for the pair as it commanded his unit.

Aladdin stepped back. Looking. Looking! There was a small hole in the roof of the crumbling barn, casting light down on the aging board rafters, a creaky weathered support beam holding up a-- “Ladder!” He pulled the older woman by her cape.

Nomad’s eyes darted away in thought before she started pushing Aladdin towards the escape route. “You first.”

Razoul practically threw the old barn door off its hinges as he and his men stampeded inside. Aladdin quickly climbed up the ladder leaning against the main support beam and dashed across the rafters. Nomad reached halfway up the ladder as Razoul charged towards her. A swipe of her staff and chunks of the ladder’s sides popped off, leaving tiny wedge-shaped cuts on the underside.

Razoul jumped off the support beam to take a desperate grab at the woman’s cape, releasing a pleaful groan from the wooden pillar. Nomad reached the top of the shaky ladder and carefully hopped across the upper floor, rushing to the stream of light from the ceiling hole.

Razoul snarled and roughly grabbed the ladder, climbing up as fast as his hefty body could move. Nearly half way up, there was a distinct snap before the top half of the ladder split off from the rest. The captain froze wide-eyed before his heavy torso was dropped against the support beam, which broke in a much louder alarming crack.

The common guards that had rallied beneath their commander could barely register what was going on before the rafters above them started crumbling. Decades of dust dropped down followed by boards and beams then finally chunks of the thin rock roof that crumbled under Nomad’s feet as she bolted across the roof and onto the next building.

Nomad finally slowed to a stop as she jumped to the next roof, turning just in time to watch the last big chunk of ceiling crack and crumble to the shade below. She started laughing as the dust threw itself up into the air, a long cackle that grew almost into a wild yell of sorts. “Next time I won’t let you off so easy, you rats with swords!”

Aladdin leaned in over the wide gaping hole in the barn. The large pile of debris in the center of the barn shook, drawing the scattered guards closer. After a few moments of movements, Razoul shoved one of the bigger slabs of roof off his head and gruffly adjusted his turban to be properly centered on his head. “Well, don’t just stand there, you idiots! Help me outta here!”

Ok, they were all fine, Aladdin sighed to himself, just a whole lot of aches and bruises Razoul was well experienced with. The young man took a few steps back to see Nomad with her staff balanced on her shoulder, hands hanging over the wooden shaft rather smugly.

“Not bad for an old lady, huh?” The woman shook her head, pushing her hood slightly back so more of her face was lit up in the sun.

“What old lady?” Aladdin scoffed. “You were like my age now when you met me.”

Nomad gave him a playful glare. “Yeah, but I’m a woman. We age twice as fast as men.” She scoffed. “Unmarried with no kids of my own at my age? I’m as past my prime as any worn-out, haggard 70 year old man in the minds of most.”

“No one actually thinks that way about women, mom.” Aladdin shrugged. “You’re just letting cranky old men get in your head.”

Nomad sighed and shook her head. “Sure, kid.”

Aladdin smiled and gave the woman a pat on the shoulder. Even after so long, he knew her so well. He knew she was the kind to assume the worst in people. He knew a lot of people that grew up on the streets no differently than he did that had long given up on seeing the good in the world. But she wasn’t like that. Yes, she had her doubts about how much good was in the world but, to Aladdin at least, she was proof there still was some.

Nomad watched Aladdin walk to the edge of the roof and set a foot on the ridge. He looked so different now. So tall. So confident. Aladdin looked away from the palace in the horizon to see the woman staring at him with a gentle happy face. “What?” He asked.

Nomad took off her hood and walked over. “Let me get a good look at you.” She cupped Aladdin’s face in her hands and took the young man in. He had the same strong nose, same rich brown eyes, same thick black curly hair that refused to bow to any comb ever made. Yet his face was so much stronger, his shoulders so much wider. He was fit, sturdy. He was… a man now.

“Well…” Aladdin looked at the older woman with a shrug, “What do you see?”

Nomad’s hands held the young man’s cheeks tighter as she beamed a wide smile. “I see a man I am very, very proud to call my son.” Aladdin held out his chest with pride, grinning ear to ear. Nomad’s smile quickly turned to a smirk and she gave one of her son’s cheeks a quick pinch. “Even if you’re a little dumb now and then.” She scoffed. “Trying to talk to the guards like that. You know better.”

A flurry of feathers dove from out of sight, breaking the two apart. Aladdin blinked as he stumbled back. A scrawny clearly-old red macaw quickly settled on Nomad’s shoulder before giving the young man a deadly glare. The woman huffed, “Now? Really?” She hissed.

“Whoa, you got a parrot?” Aladdin asked.

Nomad glanced at the bird then back to Aladdin. “I… Yeah, I just got him. So he’s not trained.” Her words ended with an annoyed tone. She moved to swat the bird off of her shoulder. The bird fluttered in place mid-air to avoid Nomad’s hand before instantly settling back down where he had been before.

Aladdin had to admit, it wasn’t an especially pretty looking parrot, although, thinking on it, that suited his adoptive mother’s tastes perfectly. And if it liked her this much already, maybe it was friendlier than its beaked scowl made it look. He approached slowly and held a gentle hand out. “Hey there, new guy.” He said softly.

“Streetrat!” The bird shrieked in a harsh male voice. It leaned forward as Aladdin pulled back. “Urchin!”

Nomad clamped her hand around the bird’s squarish beak and flashed her son a smile. “Well, you know what they say about secondhand parrots: You buy the bird and the last owner’s attitude. Heh.”

The parrot braced itself against Nomad’s neck with his foot, trying to pull his beak out of her grasp. Nomad pulled the bird closer to whisper. “Be nice or you’re going inside the rest of the day.” The parrot hung its head with a growl before pushing Nomad’s head away with a flapping wing. It turned its back to the woman but still kept a sinister yellow eye trained on Aladdin.

Aladdin hesitated a moment before getting closer to Nomad and her bird. “Well, he certainly likes you at least.” The bird held out a wing between him and Nomad before he stuck his tongue out in disgust. “Ya know, Mama, sometimes I think you love animals more than people.”

“Doesn’t everyone?” The woman shrugged. Nomad’s eyes grew wide and she gasped. “Shiva, I need to go get Balavaan and Mitr back before those stupid guards do something…”

“Stupid?” Aladdin finished with a smile.

Nomad snapped her fingers and pointed at her son. “Bingo.” She walked to the edge of the roof and started looking down. “What do ya say, Monkey? Wanna give ol’ Gorilla Grin a round two and help me get everyone back?”

Aladdin glanced away. He already knew he was gonna get an earful from Razoul in the palace for trying to protect this woman. Another incident so soon might be more trouble that Jasmine could talk him out of. But his mother needed her animals back. Gotta think, gotta think.

Aladdin pulled Nomad back from the edge. “I got an idea: You stay here and I’ll go make sure Mitr’s on Balavaan so you can just call them home. I need to get back to Jasmine anyway to make sure she’s ok.”

The parrot let out a loud indignant gasp. Nomad quickly clamped the bird’s beak shut again before speaking. “Jasmine?”

Aladdin paused. Oh, right. She wasn’t here the last eight months. Funny, it felt weird that someone that knew him so well didn’t know Jasmine. He and Jasmine were almost always together now. They were both such a big part in the other’s life now. But then again, Nomad used to be such a big part in Aladdin’s life too. Aladdin smiled as a gentle blush flushed his cheeks. “Oh, Jasmine’s my girlfriend. Actually, my--”

“Girlfriend!?”

Aladdin turned to the crass craggy voice that shouted behind him. Maybe, just maybe, he saw something bright red ducking around the corner of a slightly taller building, but he couldn’t imagine who or what would be watching them on a second story roof.

Nomad marched over to Aladdin and slapped her son on the shoulder. “You took this long to tell me you got another girlfriend?”

Aladdin rubbed his shoulder and laughed. “We were kinda in danger.”

“Now, you ‘kinda’ gotta let me meet her.” Nomad pushed Aladdin’s chin up gently with her staff. “I got enough stuff for a proper dinner tonight. Bring her over after sundown. I’m making my Serpent Curry, your old favorite.” She nudged Aladdin to the edge of the roof with her elbow. “Now get going. I already regret being up this early, Monkey. Don’t make me wait in the sun all day.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going.” Aladdin dashed to another part of the roof and jumped down onto a short stack of wooden crates in the shady alley. Wait, hang on. “Hey! Where’re we meeting?” Aladdin yelled to the roof.

“Your place, kid!” His mother called back down to him. “Where we said goodbye, remember? It’ll be like I never left at all.” She turned to the glaring macaw. “Now say goodbye, Red.” she said firmly.

“Die in a hole.” The parrot stated, with a vague trace of some high-society accent.

Nomad groaned and pushed the bird off her shoulders. “And people say I have an attitude.”

--

Jasmine peeked around the stall’s string of hung carpets. The marketplace was filling with people again, stalls were being manned, and a usual calm settled back into the wide main road. One almost couldn’t tell anything had happened at all. Only the appearance of guards that missed out of the chase, now taking reports of theft from the merchants, showed any signs of the woman in yellow’s broad daylight heist.

A huge belch by the princess’s ear made her jump; even Abu hopped off her back with a screech before turning to the source. The bulky two-humped camel idly shook his hairy head and took a sniff. Balavaan winced and craned his long neck away. “Yeah, how do you think I feel?” Jasmine answered, waving a hand in front of her face.

“Pee-yew!” Abu held his nose before jumping back onto Jasmine’s shoulder. “Shew! Shew!” He reached up and batted his hands at the camel’s face. The camel gave the tiny monkey a sideways glance. The monkey kept reaching further and further off the woman to shoo the camel away. The camel’s neck bent down and he nipped at the monkey’s hand. With a tiny scream, Abu dove into Jasmine’s headwrap and clung desperately to the woman’s head.

“Abu, not so tight on my neck please.” Jasmine moved the little monkey’s hands away from the more sensitive parts of her neck. “As for you!” Jasmine grabbed the worn purple reins hung from the camel’s head and pulled the beast a half-step closer. “Down!” She firmly pointed to the ground.

Balavaan leaned in to sniff the shaking lump of monkey on the woman’s head.

“I said ‘down’!” The princess raised her voice slightly. The camel didn’t move. “Um, sit?” Still nothing. “Heel?”

Two quick tongue clicks made the camel’s ears perk up and the beast silently folded his legs under himself and sat down. Aladdin scooted around Jasmine with a smile. “Balavaan sits with clicks. He knows a bunch of whistles too.”

“Aladdin!” Jasmine threw her arms around her partner. “Thank goodness, you’re ok! I was so worried when that woman dragged you off.”

Aladdin let the hug go and smiled. “Oh, that was Mama; the woman I told you about? She just got scared when Razoul grabbed me and wanted to help me get away like old times. Speaking of…” Aladdin started looking on the ground. “Where would…” He patted Balavaan’s shoulder. “Where’s your buddy, big guy?”

The camel groaned and hauled itself to his hooves. The neighboring stall creaked when the large animal’s hip shoved the whole wooden structure to the side as he turned to a stained, half-broken barrel behind him. He took a good long sniff on the ground before he headbutt the barrel.

The barrel toppled to its side and the coiled cobra inside shot up in alarm. Instantly, it puffed its hood out and gave a deep hiss. Jasmine ducked behind Aladdin, clutching his arm. Aladdin and the snakes eyes locked together. Mitr leaned forward. This human was… vaguely familiar.

The camel bent down and touched his nose to the snake’s head. Mitr flinched and turned to Balavaan. He gave the larger beast a harsh huff and limply lunged forward in warning. Balavaan dragged his tongue across the cobra’s face and hood. The cobra slumped grumpily with a low hiss. After a second, it make a sudden jump at the humans before throwing itself on the camel’s head and disappearing somewhere in the saddle.

“Hurry, Aladdin, grab it!” Jasmine gasped. “Don’t let it get away!”

“As you wish, princess!” Razoul pushed passed Jasmine and quickly put Aladdin in a headlock. “You’re not getting away this time, streetrat!” He growled. “I’ll have your head for this!”

“Release him this instant!” Jasmine pulled on Razoul’s arm as hard as she could manage. “I command you!”

“Oh, not this time, your highness.” The guard laughed. “Aiding and abetting a criminal, assaulting royal peacekeepers, destruction of property. This streetrat dies tonight!”

“He was being kidnapped!” Jasmine pulled hard on Razoul’s shirt. “He couldn’t help any of that.”

“WHAT?!” Razoul spat.

Aladdin glanced around Razoul’s broad shoulders to look at the princess. But he just told her what happened. Razoul threw Aladdin against the camel and turned to the princess. “I know what I saw! This criminal helped another criminal escape!”

Jasmine folded her arms and glared. Abu climbed out of her head-wrap and struck the same pose and expression. “And I know what I saw and I saw the future Sultan of Agrabah be kidnapped right in front of you and you did nothing.” The guard captain chewed on his lip, shooting a deadly glare Aladdin’s way. “So, if you insist on accusing Aladdin of anything, then we will go to my father and have him pass judgment. And don’t you dare do anything more to my fiancee until then!”

Razoul knew that tone well. There was no more arguing to be had. Pushing farther would be worse than just upsetting the princess; it’d venture into disrespecting the Sultan himself if he disregarded his daughter anymore. Even the streetrat that vexed him for years wasn’t worth that.

The guard snarled and turned away. “Fine!” The man reached around Aladdin and harshly yanked the camel closer by the reins. Balavaan stumbled forward in surprise and craned his neck back. This human wasn’t nice. “But I still get to confiscate the thief’s mount!”

Razoul shoved the beast’s head down before climbing on its back. A few bounces in the saddle between its humps and Razoul grinned. It was worn but well made. The animal itself was large and felt sturdy on its feet. Even with Razoul’s own heft, the creature barely seemed to notice. “Besides, the Captain of the Guard should have an exemplary mount.” Razoul pulled harder on the reins until Balavaan’s head was nearly tilted backwards from the force. “And this beast shall do nicely.”

The camel snorted, eyes bulging, before forcing his head downward, slowly dragging the reins through captain’s grip. This human wasn’t nice at all! Razoul sneered and dug his heels into the camel’s hips, getting only a few half-steps forward from the beast. Balavaan turned his head with a harsh snort.

Aladdin knew Razoul was an awful man; the guy had been trying to kill him for years. Still, a part of Aladdin never took it personally; it was his job after all. But being awful to animals just because they were owned by a criminal was simply cruel. “Don’t even bother, you big lug.” Aladdin stepped forward. “That camel will throw you through a fruit stand before he’d ever so much as cross the street for you.”

Razoul sneered. “I’ve broken the spirits of murderers and raiders from all across the desert. I’ll break this beast’s spirit just was easily.” He dug his heels into the beast’s hips hard again.

There was a faint whistle in the distance, making Aladdin look up. On a nearby sky-bridge, a somewhat-shorter person in a yellow outfit made a big wave in his direction. A large, thin bird soon settled on the rail-wall in front of the figure. “Mama.” Think, Aladdin, think. Aladdin grabbed Razoul’s belt and started pulling. “I said get off him!”

The guard captain growled and kicked Aladdin hard in the chest with a laugh. “Don’t you dare tell me what to do, streetrat!” The man pulled hard on Balavaan’s reins, turning the camel halfway around. “It’s my right to take a criminal’s property! Allah knows she’d only use this beast for more villainy.”

Aladdin pushed himself off the ground and looked back at the figure on the bridge. The figure threw their arms out wide and leaned on the guard wall. Aladdin smirked and gave a big thumbs up in the air while Razoul looked away.

“If anything, this beast should be grateful it belongs to a much better person like me!”

Aladdin quickly got up and pushed Jasmine into the nook between two stalls. “Oh, I can tell he loves you already.” Aladdin rolled his eyes.

“Aladdin?” Jasmine looked back at her man.

“Wait for it...”

Balavaan again pulled his head down hard, tearing his reins from Razoul’s fists. Again, the man tried to pull the reins back but now the camel just stomp and snorted, angrily holding his head low to the ground despite his rider’s force. “Come on, you worthless mule!”

Three high-pitched rapid whistles rang loudly above the marketplace.

Balavaan’s eyes went wide and he reared up with a loud bellowing roar, kicking wildly. The beast charged across the road and threw itself into a pottery display, shattering everything on display and scaring the stand owner back into his home. He whipped around and chased after a man pulling a small cart, knocking him to the ground and dumping his harvest of apples on the street. The marketplace’s idly chatting crowd fell silent at the sight before everyone started bolting for the side streets yet again.

Aladdin pushed Jasmine down and against the building wall, keeping himself between his love and the camel’s outburst. Razoul grabbed the camel’s mane for stability before claiming the reins yet again. He pulled back on the rope as hard as he could. The camel’s charge down the quickly emptying road slowed but still he pushed on, lashing to bite the owner of a fish stall as angry foam built around his muzzle.

“Hold, you wretched beast!”

Razoul’s desperate pulling craned the camel’s head backwards and the man found the beast glaring furiously into the man’s own eyes. With an utterly-wet gargle, the camel heaved and spat a dull green ball of half-eaten grass and saliva straight into the captain’s eyes. The beast yanked down its head hard, ripping the rein’s from the half-blinded guard’s hands before reaching around and biting Razoul’s leg hard.

With inhuman strength, the captain was ripped off the saddle and slammed into the beaten-down dirt of the main road. The beast growled again, meeting Razoul’s eyes once more before biting down harder. With a quick turn, Balavaan whipped the man around and sent the captain of the guard flying off down the road until he crashed into a wide melon display. The camel stomped hard in place and gave another furious gurgling scream.

Another whistle rang out; a single low note that swung up to a short high-note. Balavaan stopped instantly, gasping from his outburst. He quickly shook with muss out of his mane and the spit from his floppy lips before turning around and happily galloping towards the noise.

“Is it gone?” Jasmine asked, keeping her head down.

Aladdin watched a second longer. The figure on the bridge ran to the other side, vanishing out of sight. As the camel ran under the bridge, the figure dropped down, just barely catching the side of the saddle before pulling themselves up and riding off properly. A bird-shaped figure dove down after and landed on the figure as the group vanished behind the dust Balavaan’s charge was kicking up.

Oddly enough, another bird, much shorter and rounder than the bird Aladdin saw with Mama earlier, flew down from the bridge, chasing after the camel while yelling loudly. Weird. Mama only mentioned one bird. Aladdin let Jasmine go and stepped back. “It’s ok now. They left.”

Jasmine stood up and peeked around the stall, down the road.

A pair of guards, ones she didn’t recognize from around the palace, were standing awkwardly near Razoul. The captain wiped the sticky puddle of juice off his face, only succeeding in matting down his short thick beard into a messy stubble. With a grunt, he tried to push himself out from between the broken table that once was a marketplace stall. With a snap, the remains of the table splintered under the guards weight, dropping him back into the dusty ground.

“My business!” A tall pear-shaped man with a thick beard stomped over and shoved passed the pair of guards to stare down Razoul. “You!” Farouk yelled, pointing down at the captain. “I demand the Sultan pays for this!”

“How dare you take that tone with me!” Razoul’s turban fell over his eyes as he sat up.

“I’ll take whatever tone I want with you! I pay taxes! It’s your job to stop streetrats like Aladdin, and now that he’s off the streets, you swooped in and destroyed my business instead! I demand compensation!”

Aladdin smiled. Abu jumped down from a nearby roof and sat on Aladdin’s shoulder. “Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, eh, buddy?”

Abu snickered, bouncing in place before shaking his head. “Nu-uh.”

--

Nomad pulled back on Balavaan’s reins. She felt a slight twitch from her camel, an ounce of resistant he never gave her before. She gave a gentle loving pat on his head, messing up his poofy mane of fur. Poor thing was still stressed. How could he not be? That snarling dog of a man loved brutalizing every living thing he got his hands on. People went after her for stealing yet cheered for crueler men to tear her apart…

From Balavaan’s back, she barely managed to pull herself up onto another roof. Had to be sure. She always hated leaving the kid behind but sometimes splitting up was what was best. That’s why she ever left him at all. She hurried over to look down at the marketplace.

There was her son, still in the same general area of the market but he was holding hands with… someone wearing blue. Was that Jasmine? “Hey, Little Red.” She said, slightly turning her head while still keeping watch. “Wanna fly over and take a look at who Moneky’s with?”

Iago flew near the woman and quickly landed on the guard wall lining the rooftop. “Me? Ugh! It’s always me doing the—” Iago got shoved rather hard down the wall edge. He turned to see Jafar’s bird form settling down next to him.

“Don’t you dare.” The genie muttered under breath. “If the streetrat or the shrew know we’re back, it’ll ruin my plans. Make something up!” With a frown, Jafar hopped around Iago and looked down the road at Aladdin.

“Uhhh,” Iago shrugged his wings. “I’d love to, really, I mean, if there’s one thing you need to know about Iago the Parrot, it’s ‘he’s a reliable guy every day of the week’ but uh… I’m actually really worn out from, ya know, getting stuff to, uh… help you!” The bird smiled and waved. “Yeah, I put a bunch of stuff in your bags while you were grabbing food. Just trying to help ya out but uh.. boy, are my wings tired! Heh.”

Nomad had a half-amused exhale. She tapped the distracted Jafar on the head before putting her hands on her hips. “Well, what’s your excuse?”

Jafar turned away from the streets at his lamp-holder’s touch. “Oh! Um,” Think fast. Jafar glanced back at Aladdin. Nothing happening there yet. Just his greatest enemy currently putting his hands around the tight hourglass figure of a princess Jafar deserved to enjoy far more than a streetrat ever could. He glanced back to Nomad. Just barely peeking out of the woman’s cape was the shiny black brass spout of his lamp. “My lamp.”

“Huh?”

“Uh, my lamp! Yes! Unfortunately, I can’t scout the woman out for you.” Without actually moving his wings, Jafar floated over to the woman and gently pushed her cape off his lamp. “My lamp forbids me from leaving your side, remember?”

“Oh, yeah…” She sighed. “Well, we’ll find out tonight. Monkey’s coming to dinner.”

“Wait, what!” Iago shrieked.

“I’m not going though all of this just to say ‘hi’ to my son in passing.” The woman shrugged. “Especially if he has a girlfriend now.”

Jafar froze, his parrot-form’s face unnaturally contorting just to display his fury. That blasted rat was practically falling within his grasp and he was forbidden from acting on his brewing hatred! That woman wouldn’t let him do anything, not yet at least. Those two were close, disgustingly close, but Jafar couldn’t disregard their bond too much. If they weren’t close, his revenge would be so much less potent.

Jafar tuned out whatever the woman and Iago were bantering about and floated further away. He only got about a rooftop and a half away before the gold bands on his wings started glowing. He settled down on the roof and leaned as forward as he could. Come on! Give him something!

Aladdin and Jasmine kept holding each other, gazing tenderly into each other’s eyes. The trio of guards, lead by an exhausted looking captain, stomped over to the pair. The largest man tried to grab Aladdin but the princess quickly swatted his big meaty hand away. The woman stepped between Razoul and Aladdin before throwing her arms out widely. She made a forceful point towards the palace before wrapping her arm around Aladdin’s and calmly walking away. The smaller, cleaner guards looked at each other and shrugged before moving around Razoul and following.

Jafar gasped. That’s it! Exactly what he needed! The genie collapsed into red mist and soared back across the rooftops.

“Well, if it’s that big of an issue for you,” Nomad said, “then you’ll be happy to know most of his girlfriends broke up with him within a week of meeting me.”

“Uh-huh.” Iago rolled his eyes. “And you sound proud of that because?”

“Because my son is a good boy that knows a woman worth keeping,” She pointed to herself, “and a girl worth letting go of.” She threw her hand in the air. “You’ll see.”

“Master! Master!” Jafar flew in front of Nomad’s face, face purposefully painted with worry, and pointed with a wing to the road. “Your son! He’s in danger!” “Monkey?!” Nomad ran to the edge of the roof and looked desperately. Nothing. She had to be sure. She glanced around quickly to make sure the nearby roofs were abandoned before she let her medallion glow. Sand and dust spread thin across the rooftop gathered together and stretched from one roof to another. The woman dashed across the magic bridge fast and the sand chased after, catching her again as she leapt off the edge and dashed to the next roof. Nomad stopped, panting.

Jafar landed on the roof and pointed at the scene below again. “There!” Jafar said dramatically. “Aren’t those the men you and your son were running from earlier?”

There, her son and the woman he was with were being followed by guards as they marched towards, Nomad gasped, the palace! “Monkey!” She kept her voice low but still put a hand over her mouth. Too loud and the guards surrounding him might see her. She saw Aladdin glance behind him, towards Razoul. The huge man made a half-lunge for Aladdin but stopped as the woman glanced behind at him.

“Oh, now that’s odd.” Jafar put a wing to his chin, hiding a devilish grin. “For all the frantic chaos you went through to escape them before, your son doesn’t seem scared at all of the guar-- uh, those men. It’s as if he… doesn’t think they’ll hurt him in the slightest. Why would that be, Master?”

Nomad’s eyes narrowed as she took in the scene closely. “That is odd...” She shook her head. No time for that. Monkey wasin danger. Probably couldn’t make a move with that many men around. She had to help! “Can’t use magic…” She glanced down to the short wall lining the rooftop. The tan spackle of the building was chipping away with age, showing dull gray bricks underneath. “- openly.”

Nomad held her staff close and a faint swirl of blue mist gathered at the tip. She thrust the bottom of her staff at the brick, sending the mist across the stone, shredding the dry concrete beneath it apart. She picked up the now-loose brick with ease and focused. Another wisp of blue magic danced faintly across the brick before the woman pulled back and threw it as hard as she could.

The brick fell much more slowly that it had any right to, but it sped forward just fine. It crashed hard into the back of the skinniest guard who promptly hit the ground like a dead weight. Nomad quickly ducked to hide. Jafar landed on the wall, very obviously leaning over to look at her. Nomad growled. “Why are you like this...”

The skinny parrot smirked.

Nomad slowly peeked over her cover. Her son, not the other guards, held out his arm and pulled the smaller guard to his feet. “What is he doing?!” She hissed, eyes wide.

“Oh, I fear I simply cannot understand this.” Jafar sighed, dramatically. “Are those men not your enemies, Master?”

“They are!” Nomad muttered angrily.

“Then why is your son helping them?” Jafar cooed, smile creeping across his face.

Nomad hit her forehead on the roof with a groan. “Because I raised an idiot. Happy?” She peeked over the wall again. The other guards finally helped their colleague stand. Aladdin took a step back and put a hand above his eyes, looking around against the glare of the midday sun. Nomad waved wildly. “Run!”

Razoul looked up and saw the woman on the roof. Instantly, he threw the dazed guard hard to the floor and pulled out his sword. “You!” He pointed his blade at the woman. Aladdin hesitated. He ran and Rammed Razoul to the ground with his shoulder before grabbing the woman in blue by the arm and running into a side alley.

Razoul sputtered for a moment before clamoring to his feet and charging after the pair. The men left behind simply looked at each other for a moment before the medium guard just put the injured guard’s arm around his own shoulder and started walking his partner towards the palace.

Nomad stood up and sighed as she looked up at the sky. “Thank Shiva.” She leaned heavily on her staff and put a hand over her fluttering heart. “How does anyone survive having kids?” A flap of wings made her open her tired eyes. Jafar clung to the shaft of her staff, leaning as far forward as possible to see if anything more would play out. Nomad frowned. “Got me worked up over nothing.” She picked up her staff and slammed it down.

Jafar’s boney talon’s shuttered from the impact, sending the older-looking bird skidding down the pole until he crashed to the rooftop. The bird bit his tongue hard as a tiny plume of ember-laden smoke shot from his clenched beak. “My apologies… Master.” He growled.

Nomad took another deep breath as she started walking away. “Everything’s fine. He’ll be ok.” She kept tapping a hand on her knotted chest. “He’s fast. He’ll be ok. He’s meeting me later. It’s ok.”

The skinny macaw sprawled on the roof growled before erupting into flames. Jafar’s feathered form burned away and the flames soared up into a pillar of fire that quickly cooled down to Jafar’s human form, wrapped regally in bright red robes. As if somehow the mess of his old form had followed him, Jafar looked at his outfit and bushed off any perceived dirt from his clothes.

“Ok, ok, you called her Master willingly,” Iago perched on Jafar’s shoulder. “You must really want the nice guy routine to work, but for what?! Tattling on Aladdin? That’s stupid! Even for y-” The glowing inhumanly yellow eyes of his partner shut Iago up instantly. “I mean… That’s desperate for a guy like you, who would, obviously, in any other situation, have much better, intricate, brilliant schemes to pull off. Heh…”

Jafar frowned but looked away, watching his lamp-holder slowly walk away, muttering to herself. “Obviously. But I reiterate; my plan involving the woman is far more potent that what I could do if I were free. Even if it takes time, Aladdin’s pain will eventually outweigh my own.”

Iago growled. “But I! Don’t! Get it!” He ripped out some of the shorter, older feathers on the sides of his head. “What can she do?! She’d be the first to try and stop us, boss! What’s the angle?”

Jafar watched Nomad slowly lower herself down off the roof. “The ‘angle’, old friend,” Jafar leaned his head to whisper in Iago’s ears “is to ensure the last thing Aladdin sees in this life is his own mother thrusting a dagger into his heart.”

---------

Author's Note:

One of these days I should bite the bullet and just give this story a real name. Not sure it counts as a rewrite anymore really but, ironically, for all my writing skills and creativity... I can't think of a name that resonates with me.

Everything I come up with feels lame or cringey (I still feel like my AO3 summery is lacking for the same 'vibes-off' reason) and honestly, I'm the only writer in my irl freind-group so I don't have people to bounce ideas off of.

(Part 13)

(Part 15)

--

(AO3) <---- For more long-form, polished reading experience

[rosadraws]

Pinterest showed me these two pictures, and it made me chuckle because it looks like Hades really appreciates Gantu's look 😂

Got to draw it

[rosadraws]

Waiiiitt, WAAAIITT

THIS IS SO SMART. I SECOND THIS

I like to think the Hyenas from Lion King would be cop dogs in Cursed Cafe world not because they care about laws or anything but it's a position of power that gets them free food on occasion.

Give them a slab of ham and they'll let you get away with anything.

[rosadraws]

INTRODUCTION:

Welcome to the Disney Antagonists/Villains general/ask blog!

Before you ask, no, Chernabog is not one of the villains involved in this. I just put him in as the PFP because he looks cool :)

Now, here are the characters you can ask and/or interact with:

[Redeemed Antagonists/Not Really Antagonists (they're labeled as such, but there are no traits that make them evil or villains per say)]

Jumba (Lilo and Stitch)

Pleakley (Lilo and Stitch)

Kronk (The Emperor's New Groove)

John Silver (Treasure Planet)

Matangi (Moana 2)

Denahi (Brother Bear)

[General Antagonists (Not pure evil. Just bad by their own means (whether they're after funds or simply misogynistic)]

Gaston (Beauty And The Beast)

Captain Hook (Peter Pan)

More TBA

[Straight Up Evil/Villains (absolute evil. No one can top them in the realm of evil)]

Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)

Ursula (The Little Mermaid)

Yzma (The Emperor's New Groove)

Dr Facilier (The Princess And The Frog)

Shan Yu (Mulan)

Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame)

Hades (Hercules)

The Evil Queen (Snow White)

Jafar (Aladdin)

Sorry for the limited villain selection, btw!

Oh, and before you ask, here's the context behind all these characters being there:

Essentially, the Non-Antagonists all live in a nice, peaceful home together (aside from Jumba and Pleakley, who live with their ohana), and the villains all live together in one big house next to them, and it's essentially chaos in that particular neighborhood.

Here's some lore in this AU:

-Maleficent and Ursula are a chaotic lesbian couple

-Denahi and John Silver are a chaotic gay couple

-Jumba and Pleakley are an even more chaotic gay couple

-Matangi and Denahi are chaotic BFFs

-The rent in the Non-Antagonist home is paid by each different person per month; Maleficent is stuck with paying the rent every month in the villain home (Primarily because she doesn't trust any of her roomies to do so)

-While the Non-Antagonists and the Villains interact at times, when they do, a protection plan for former is put in place for in case a big fight breaks out (which thankfully doesn't happen)

-Gaston has a huge gay crush on Frollo, but the latter isn't interested in him. At all

-The latter is obsessed with Denahi though 🤢

-So much so that if they all hang out and Denahi happens to be in the same room as Frollo, one of the other Non-Antagonists (usually Kronk or Matangi) needs to be there with Denahi for extra protection if needed, and one of the other Villains (usually Maleficent) needs to be with Frollo so he doesn't try and SA him or something

-And if no one is available to be with him in that scenario, Denahi always brings his broken spear end so he can attack when needed (because you don't want to mess with him!)

-And if Denahi is somehow drunk or stoned, he doesn't go there at all

-He learned that lesson when he and an equally stoned Facilier had a one night stand one December evening over at the Villain house. The morning after that was extremely messy, with Denahi screaming at Facilier and Facilier continuously apologizing to him and begging him to forgive him (Spoiler alert: They barely talk to each other now)

-Frollo and Shan Yu may or may not have small crushes on each other (though neither of them will admit it)

And that's all the lore for now! As some of the questions add to the lore, more lore will be added to the post!

As for the questions, although I am over the age of 18, please no hardcore NSFW questions. Keep it on the light side, please!

And also no spam. I'll know it's spam immediately, so don't even think about it! 🤬

Also, I may or may not add pics related to the world of this blog.

Now without further ado, I'm ready to start this blog and for the antagonists to answer questions!

[rosadraws]

FINALLY, we have maleficent as wrath.

All because she wasn't invited to a party. I mean, I'd also be salty, but I wouldn't curse a baby over that. The reason I put her as wrath is because of the reason why she cursed her. In the maleficent movie, it was because of the betrayal from King Stefan. And I can kind of see her reasoning. Especially after she tries to right her wrong. But cursing a baby over not being invited. Now I know why nobody invited her. And then she kidnapped a prince in order to make sure aurora didn't make it.

Side note: I hated how they handled the fairy's. I'm the maleficent movie. That's my only quarrel with the film.

She low-key ate with her performance. She's still one of my favorite villains. 💜

[rosadraws]

Jafar! Get! A! Grip!

[35mm Film Reel scan]

[rosadraws]

James, my little doll. You just go outside and you call. . .