#Bonus Marion and Regina

[rebelbyrdie]

I wish you would write a fic where ... Regina and Marian are bridge partners, and there's some cutthroat playing in Storybrooke!

Snow and Emma have joined the new Storybrooke Bridge Club and things get a little out of hand.

Building Bridges

“I don’t get it.”  Emma mumbled for the fourth time.  

Snow sighed.  David would have been a better partner than Emma.  She thought they could join the new Storybrooke Bridge Club to bond while David, Henry and Neal did “man stuff”.  Whatever that meant.

“Its an easy game to learn but impossible to master, Sweetheart.”  She patted Emma’s arm.  “You’ll get it.”

She would if she actually paid attention to her cards or their game.  Emma was watching a game three tables away.  She was specifically watching two of the players.  Regia and Marion were quite the pair.  They were at the top of the leader board.  They were playing against Granny and Marco.  It was a heated match, as Granny and Marco were sitting at a very close number two on the board.  

“Emma.”  Snow needed her daughter to focus on the game.  Not only were they losing, but Marge and Bea were getting annoyed.  

“Oh!”  Emma jerked her head and laid her hand down on the table face up.  Snow dropped her face into her palm.  “You weren’t the dummy hand this game.”  They were already past that phase.  

Emma picked back up her cards sheepishly.  “I mean yeah.  Uh.”  She glanced over the cards on the table and half-heartedly laid down a six of spades.  It wasn’t the suite they were playing or even the trump suite.  They lost the trick to Bea. They were being slaughtered because Emma was too busy staring at Regina to even try to play.  

“Why are they partners?  I thought they would uh not like each other.”  Emma was staring again.  “She’s mad at me, but best buddies with her?  How is that fair?”

Marge rolled her eyes.  Bea snickered. Snow wished that she were anywhere else.

Bea twisted around in her wheelchair to look at them.  “I think they make a good couple.  They bonded over what an asshole Robin is.”

Marge chuckled.  “Madame Mayor’s been hell on wheels lately but Marion can calm her down with a few words.  Her PA keeps her on speed dial.”

Snow felt her eye twitch.  This was not helping!

“Okay, yeah, sure.  I get that.  Do they have to be so buddy-buddy though?  I heard they both walked Roland to school.  Like suddenly they’re co-parenting!  Like divorced Mommies instead of girlfriend in-laws.   I had to fight tooth and nail to even see Henry for a year and I gave birth to him!”

Marge penciled in the scores onto their team cards.  She had a calm and unreadable face.  More suited to poker then bridge.  Snow knew that she was on Regina’s side.  She had been one of her biggest supporters in the Enchanted Forest.  Not that Snow held that against her or anything.  Bea was far more expressive.  She had been one of Regina’s advisors and made no qualms about it.  She looked like she was genuinely enjoying what was happening.  Like she was watching her favorite soap opera in real time.

Snow shook their hands and stood up to walk around a bit.  They had lost the match badly, again.  They were going to be at the bottom of the club.  Maybe not last since Grumpy was half-drunk and his partner, Anton, was too busy chatting with everyone to keep up with the game.

Snow sighed and checked the board to see who their next match was with.  She almost screamed and wondered if she could just forfeit now.  Emma would be useless sitting that close to Regina and Marion.

It took a few minutes for Marion and Regina to finish, and win, their match.  Granny looked sour and Marco disappointed.  Marion and Regina were arm in arm, laughing about something.  

Emma scowled as they walked closer.  Snow sighed.  This was going to be a long match.

For the first time since they’d arrived, Emma paid attention to the cards.  More specifically, she watched Regina’s hands shuffle then deal the cards.  Her fingernails and lipstick were the same shade of red as the back of the cards.  She was wearing black and red, like she had planned to match the cards.  Snow wasn’t blind, Regina was dressed to impress (more like torture and tease) today.  Several eyes, both male and female, had wandered her way.

Snow suspected that Regina had let Marion dress out of her closet too.  She was wearing a vibrant violet wrap dress and heels.  She looked very modern but comfortable, almost smug.  Regina was rubbing off on her.  They had been inseparable since they had both broken up with Robin.

“So you’ve adapted to Strorybrooke pretty quickly, Marion.”  Snow looked over her cards and hoped Emma was at least looking over hers.  “I’m so glad you’re doing well.”

As well as any out-of-time, out-of-realm, recently-resurected, almost divorcee could be doing.  

“It is my second chance.  I am so happy to be here.”  Marion flashed a brilliant smile at Regina. “There are so many miracles here.  I can’t imagine going back.”

Regina chuckled.  “Going back for a year was awful.  I’d forgotten how much I hated chimera and corsets.”

Marion giggled and reached across the table to touch Regina’s arm and spoke in a different language.  Regina’s eyes lit up with a mischievous spark and she replied in the same language.

Emma scowled, “Did you guys invent a special BFF language?”

Marion blinked and Regina cocked a brow.  “Have you never heard of Spanish, Miss Swan?”

“8 Hearts.”  Snow started off the bidding since no one else had bothered.  

“So you both just happen to speak Spanish?”  Emma squinted at them.  “Seriously?”  She shifted in her seat, “I didn’t even know you spoke Spanish.”

Snow did, though she had rarely heard her do so.  She also spoke French, Elvish, Latin and was passable at Agrahbani and Skailling (the language of the Northern kingdom that her mother had come from).

Snow had begged her stepmother for Skailling lessons, but had ultimately found them difficult and boring so she had quit less than two months later.  She had never been a good student and often wondered if Regina had cursed her to be a teacher just for that reason.  

She shook her head and focused on the game.  Someone on their team should at least try to play.

The bidding went fast and ended with Regina being the dummy hand.

“Well, Miss Swan.  I have all my cards-”  She spoke slowly and rubbed her fingers across the top of her hand as she laid it down.  “-on the table.”

Oh My God.  Regina was flirting.  With her daughter.  Right in front of her!  How was she supposed to focus on the tricks when Regina was trying to seduce her baby girl in front of the entire club?!

Snow looked over at Marion and the woman smirked and gave a quick nod.  Like she was in on Regina’s grand plan.  Like she thought it was a grand idea. They were doing this on purpose!

The rounds went quickly, but Emma was so focused on Regina that she rarely put down a card that helped.  Regina and Marion won the game easily.  Emma got the next deal and she shuffled the cards roughly, bending them and mixing them with some faces up and others down.  She corrected them with a grumble and finally dealt them out, counting to thirteen under her breath.  She slapped each card down hard and refused to make eye contact with anyone.

Regina and Marion upped their ante.  Not at Bridge, though.  They were playing an entirely different game.  Marion was intentionally trying to make Emma jealous.  Regina was putting on her best I’m not trying to be sexy I just am naturally irresistible act.  Snow could not believe Emma was falling for it.  The whole thing was middle-school drama club melodrama.  It wasn’t subtle.  For a master manipulator, Regina was certainly being blunt.

Snow wondered if she should stop them.  After a few calming breaths and a few sips of grape soda, she had calmed down a little.  

On the one hand, Regina had been the Evil Queen.  Her mortal enemy, the caster of the darkest curse in the land, etcetera etcetera.  On the other hand, Emma’s other suitor was a morally dubious pirate who drank five times more than he bathed.  

At least Regina was trying to redeem herself.  All Hook did was hang out on the docks, drink and make sexually charged passes at Emma (or any other female he happened to see).

Furthermore, Snow wasn’t deaf, dumb or blind.  Emma and Regina had been dancing around each other from day one.  She wished she didn’t know that, but she did.  In fact, she was starting to wonder if they had already crossed a line or two.   When she really thought about it, the signs were all there.

There had been the time that Emma had all but carried Regina out of the fire.  The way Emma had fought to save Regina from the wraith.  Then there was the way that Regina had been amazed at Emma’s magic.  How she had looked so devastated when Emma had accused her of murder.  They’d disappeared in Neverland a time or two with little to no explanation.  Then there had been the long and longing stars and stilted conversations when they were fighting Zelena.  Not to mention the fact that Regina had tried to remove her heart the second she was separated from Henry and Emma.  How she had spent a year ignoring her “soulmate” and staring off into the distance, like she was thinking about Emma had been more excited to see Regina than her and David.

She rolled her eyes, laid down her card, and gave Regina a small nod.  She wasn’t going to object, but it was not a full blessing either.  It was more of a we’ll see.  She’d leave the threats of bodily harm to David.

During the bids this time, Regina and Marion were far more tactile, leaning into each other’s touches and whispering back and forth in Spanish.  When Regina laughed, she threw her head back and her dark hair swished across her face.

Emma was gripping the edge of the table so hard that her knuckles had blanched white.

Snow looked around and realized that they were the center of attention.  Everyone was watching Regina and Marion torture Emma.  They were all obviously enjoying the show. 

“Nine Spades.”  Marion smiled and leaned over to take Regina’s glass of ginger ale.  She drank deeply.  “Thanks, Sweetie.”

Emma’s face twisted and she stiffened in her seat.  Three lightbulbs at the far end of the community center went bright and then blew out.  It could be a coincidence or Emma’s magic.  Snow bit her lip, but didn’t say anything.  Emma only became more agitated when people pointed out her magic being “temperamental”.

The game went fast but much differently than Snow expected.  They were winning.  Not because she was a particularly great player or because Emma had  suddenly started trying.  No, it was plain to see that Regina and Marion were intentionally throwing the game.  So there would be a third tie breaker game for the match.  They were dragging this out as long as they could.  It was diabolical and just a little bit cruel.  

Snow was pretty sure that no one else was playing.  They were all watching Regina and Emma.  There were the cards on the table and the entirely different game being played out with little smirks and furrowed brows.  The tension was so thick that Snow would need a battle ax to cut through it.

“Pardon me.”  Regina jotted down her team’s intentionally abysmal score on their card.  “I need to visit the powder room before our final game.  May I?”  She stood, not waiting for their answer.

Emma stood up too, faster and way less graceful then Regina had. Her chair screeched back and almost tipped.  “Yeah.  Me too.”

Snow watched Regina sashay towards the ladies room and Emma stomp after her.  Since Emma hadn’t taken a drink of her now warm soda all morning, Snow doubted that she needed to use the facilities.

“Whatever happens in there.”  Snow glared at Marion. “I blame you.”

Marion laughed, which was not the reaction Snow had expected.

“I don’t understand.”  She sounded like Emma now.  “What is going on with you and Regina anyway?”

Marion had been caught up in the war she and Regina had waged.  She would have been executed if not for Emma.  Not to mention there was the whole Robin situation.  Marion should hate Regina, or at the very least not be best friends with her.  

“I know what you’re thinking.”  Marion took a handful of the snack mix that sat on every table.  “I should hate the Evil Queen.”  

Snow nodded and grabbed a couple of chocolate covered nuts for herself.  “But you don’t?”

Marion smiled.  “We both know that Regina is not The Evil Queen.  She’s a completely different person.  Did you know that she came to me a few days after I arrived?”

During the two weeks that she had refused to speak to anyone but Henry?  During those same two weeks that Emma had been beside herself with worry and guilt?

“Robin tried to rush her off, like Regina was the dirty little secret I wasn’t supposed to know about.”  Marion shook her head.  Her voice was quiet and low, far less cheerful than it had been.  “Robin had taken mistresses before.  His code of honor is very flexible when he wants it to be.” 

Snow almost choked on her snack.  What?  

“None of them had dared to come talk to me.  To look me in the eyes.  She wasn’t there to talk to Robin, to convince him to leave me.  She came to talk to me.  I thought she was going to apologize.  I think if she had I might have hit her.”  

Marion looked over at the closed bathroom door.  

“She asked if I was okay.  If I needed anything.”  

Snow blinked.  Again, she hadn’t really expected that.

“Everyone was so excited about my sudden resurrection.  Robin had his wife back.  Rolland had his mother back.  Not a single person had asked me how I felt.  I-it-I cried.  I broke down sobbing and she comforted me.”

Marion picked up the deck of cards and started to shuffle it.  She was moving her hands and fingers, playing with the cards.

“She explained things to me that no one had thought to mention.  Offered to help me find a home.  She explained that here I could divorce Robin without losing Rolland to him.  She asked what I wanted.  She didn’t have any expectations or demands.  She really wanted me to have choices about my new life.  I don’t know what your life was like, Princess, but I’ve never been given a lot of choices.”

Marion paused and looked around the room briefly. “I get to be what I want here, and I want what she has.  A home, a job, a safe place for my son to live, learn and grow.  Love with no judgement.”  

Did Marion harbor love for someone?  If it wasn’t Robin or Regina, then who?  Snow was dying to know.

“So yes.  Regina and I are friends and-”  Marion chuckled.  “-she is a mess.  She is hopelessly in love with Emma.  She doesn’t even like Bridge.  She hates it.  She’s only here to see Emma.  I couldn’t take it anymore.  Even Henry is ready to lock them in a room together and throw away the key.  So we-”

A burst of bright light flooded the building.  There was a small earthquake and hundreds of butterflies suddenly appeared in the room.  They fluttered around and filled the room with a rainbow of colors.

“Well!”  Marion grinned.  “I suppose its mission accomplished, then.”  She looked over at the score cards.  “I wonder if they’ll let us team up since Regina and Emma aren’t going to be spending their Saturday mornings playing Bridge anymore.”

[celticheartedfangirl]

My OUAT Rewatch -- S6E11 -- Tougher Than the Rest

Link to Rewatch Review and Ranking archive

Have to say, its fascinating watching this show now that I know what is to come, because I recalled screaming and being filled with RAGE after this episode when it originally aired.  This was me:

https://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/158067210472/sigh-i-feel-like-such-an-outsider-right-now

And now I . . . . . kinda liked it?  

Also I just flat out DID NOT like Gideon when it first aired, either.  THAT opinion has changed too.

Also I flat out screamed and raged at Belle -- STILL -- in this episode.

That opinion has ALSO changed.  

Go figure.  But then again, given that at this point I had no idea WTF was to come, we had just spent the past three months with the Rumbelle fandom in disarray and taking sides and blockings and shunnings within the fandom all over the damn place (which, sadly, STILL EXIST), and we just came off a half season of utter OOC bullshit -- let’s just say I wasn’t going into 6B with smiles and rainbows and unicorns.  I was pissy, I was bitter, and I had ZERO fucks to give.  So let’s see how this one fares the second time around . . . . you might be surprised, and I might have some words with my past self!

So let’s break this down . . . . 

First of all, kudos to Colin for playing old drunk Hook.  It was a riot!

Amazing what an actor can do when he’s actually ACTING and not just standing around like a useless fucking lamp, huh?  

Also, I actually LIKED August in this episode.  No, really!  If you see pigs flying outside your window, this is probably why.  

Before we continue on, I’d like to point out the utter fuckery that came out of this episode, from the CS fandom and from A&E.

First the CS fans:  They literally had a SHIT FIT over “old Hook.”  I mean, it was a collective conniption of screaming and it was HIGHlarious.  Colin enjoyed playing it.  We non-Hook fans enjoyed watching it.  But these humorless dingbats just lost their SHIT.  Which is funny because they were still peeing their pants over Princess Emma and Prince Regina from the last episode which had aired three months prior, so for that to continue for an equally stupid and immature reason was just a thing of beauty.  

https://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/156812683772/old-hook

A&E: In an interview before this episode aired, EDDY KITSIS said that in the Wish!Realm we’d see Belle “as we’ve never seen her before.”

Well, in the Wish!Realm Belle was a literal BAG OF BONES.  

He is such a fucking piece of shit.  And yet some people (RUMBELLERS!) still continued to have their heads firmly planted up his ass.  Even after THAT!  Unreal.

Also look at Leanne Aguilera being rude as fuck to Rumbellers:

https://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/157800211707/leanne-aguilera-being-a-rude-bitch-to-rumbellers

Okay, got that out of the way.  So, looking back, I really didn’t post much when this episode aired.  That surprises me.  But this was the general gist of May 2017 me:

https://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/158206556752/i-can-t-stand-gideon-character-for-me-he-is-not

https://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/158147755987/i-keep-seeing-all-these-happy-bouncy-positive

I think much of the problem was there were some KEY deleted scenes in this episode, that made a lot of the Belle stuff make no sense whatsoever.  Here are two of them (can’t find the third) and LMAO that Zelena ended up on the cutting room floor this episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FE3lTr9MA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRjf9nmcJXs

I mean, don’t get me wrong -- IMO Belle was kinda bitchy in these deleted scenes, but they also revealed that A) Zelena is terrible and B) Belle was kinda stupid to trust her in the first place.  But without these scenes, the scene with Rumbelle at the well kind of makes Belle sound bad.  But WITH these scenes, you have a better understanding of where she’s coming from.  And of course we didn’t get these scenes till late summer.  Frankly I’m amazed we got them AT ALL.  

So I was still VERY bitter at this point, but overall, in rewatching, this episode was decent, aside from the Belle as a bag of bones stuff.  Also this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=p3Ocosw23O4&feature=emb_logo

I love this scene and when we found out later that Giles struggled in this scene and the face smack was Bobby’s idea and he didn’t tell him he was going to do that, and that was the take they used.  Also this scene gave us a glorious meme:

https://celticheartedfangirl.tumblr.com/post/157983220592/anonymousnerdgirl-boushh2187-judymulder

One last nit to pick:  The wish realm . . . . . okay, if Robin hasn’t aged, and none of the Robin/Marion stuff happened . . . . . then how did Rumple fall in love with Belle?  Because the Robin Hood stuff is a KEY MOMENT in the Rumbelle history.  It was what prompted him to give her the library.  MAKES NO SENSE.

Points tally:

40 points to start

5 points for Swan Queen

5 points for in character Rumple

10 points deducted for Belle and Hook lord this shit needs to STOP

5 points deducted for Hook PERIOD

You know what?  Despite the nitpicks, I’m not going to deduct anything else, and I’ll give the full 25 bonus.  I’m not sure its TOTALLY deserved, but this episode was decent and at the very least deserves to be ranked way higher than most of the 6A bullshit.

Total points: 60

Follow #celtichearted OUAT ranking tag for more to come!

[lizacstuff]

(Maybe) unpopular opinion - I wish Marion had stayed on the show. The true Marion, not the 'Zelena pretending to be her'. She had much better chemistry with robin and seemed like an interesting character. Plus more Roland is always a bonus. Thoughts?

My thoughts? Well, at the time I was trying to be an Outlaw Queen fan and they totally screwed it up with Marion. Not necessarily by bringing her back, but by how they handled it and told the story. I was disappointed that Robin had zero issue with finding out that Regina killed his wife, (that could have been an interesting dilemma if explored) and then they froze her and had OQ do the deed next to her in a crypt and it was all just so weird.

As for Zelena, I’m not a huge fan, but candidly she was a helluva lot more entertaining presence than Marion, so without a huge emotional investment in any of those characters, I’d have to vote for Zelena’s comic relief.

[kartofthekasha]

Once Upon A Time (Catch Up)

So after a small break I finally finished Season 3. The Oz arc was kind of tiresome to get through - but the last couple eps were super heartwarming. Am mad.

 I was so glad that Regina was getting her redemption: protecting Snow, breaking the curse, letting herself love again...

AND THEN THEY FUCKED IT UP.

Seriously? Of all people the mysterious girl from the past is, it’s Marion?!

What will Robin do now? It’s been months. She was dead. He had the information that he and Regina are supposed to be soul mates. They were very happy and working well together.  He gave her the emotional fortitude to stand up to Zelena and bring out the White Magic from inside of herself.

My heart is breaking for her. Regina finally made real strides, proved she was whole-heartedly changing, reconciling with Snow, being The Good Guy. She fully earned my empathy for her character - not the shallow stuff they tried to evoke in season 1 or 2 during all her pettiness.

I have to hand it to the writers to finally make me fully interested again - only because now at this point I need to see Regina as happy as she was before they walked into Granny’s. She deserves it. I will be slogging and suffering through Season 4 because I care about Regina’s happy ending. It will not be because of Emma - like it was until now.

I am not happy about CaptainSwan. 

Based on character conversations and Snow’s pregnancy - all the events of eps 12-22, 10 episodes, took place over the course of one month AT MOST.

When they are re-cursed to the Real World, Snow had one month remaining in her pregnancy.

We have no idea how many days or weeks it took Hook to actually get to Emma once the curse happened.

It is on Episode 15 that Neal returns and also is finally lost to us.

IT IS A MATTER OF DAYS OR AT MOST A COUPLE WEEKS between Emma LOSING THE LOVE OF HER LIFE and her leaping onto Hook upon the revelation that he traded his ship to Do The Right Thing to help everyone.

This does not make me happy.  This and all of the scenes and double talk - 

It’s sad because Hook himself, Killian I like as a character. Yes he is handsome. Yes he is charismatic. 

But CaptainSwan at this point looks ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT shoe-horned. If they had taken their time and done it right - their viewership would have leapt behind CaptainSwan because of the direction as a person Killian was going. They squandered it. They were impatient. So it’s forever going to be a sour taste in the fandoms mouth based on the spoilers I haven’t been able to avoid.

Emma finally getting happiness and getting married - I wanted that for her. Now it’s going to be a terrible occasion when I catch up.

Good luck to the writers in swaying me the next couple seasons. They’re slowly turning into an example of why fan fiction is looked down upon. 

Bonus: I’m a RumBeller but Rumple hit a disgusting new low proposing to Bell with a Lie. Made their wedding a farce.

And Elsa’s dress looks outright like a costume. You can do better. No one else was in blatant reference to their source material like that outside of Zelena’s skin (which you at least handled creatively). You could have given her a proper dress of regal refinement someone of her standing would wear.