#all the parrs in general are just. *heart eyes*

[janeyseymour]

I saw the second preview of six and here are my thoughts (along with a few fun stories at the end):

My heart literally fell out of my ass when the queens started walking out They changed a few small little things here and there and it was perfect If six doesn’t win best lighting at the Tony’s I will sue Ex-wives was WOW I literally could not stop smiling Some of the poses were different 

ADRIANNA FREAKING NAILED NO WAY

I am convinced she just is beyonce always

She’s just fantastic in that role and that’s what I have to say about that

Ig abby danced a little too hard during no way because she kept messing with her wig after

Actually she lowkey played with it throughout the whole show and it was adorbs

Britt was helping her fix it and like pointing out where it was a little cray (also abby’s wig looks so good omf)

ANDREA IS- WOAH DURING DLYH

Her delivery throughout the whole show was a bit more mature, but it was still so babey I love her

(On a side note someone today told me I look like Andrea, which is very kind but so untrue because I literally look like a broken thumb and she is gorgeous)

Her “IM NOT SORRY” was amAZING

She like low-key cut made the whole head joke short and im kinda sad ab it, but it was still fantastique

Through the “Wearing Yellow To A Funeral Bit” abby looked confused through the entire thing and I was cracking up

HEART OF STONE HOLY SHIT

She was INCREDIBLE and her dress was so pretty and sparkly and I just wow 

Shes just so pretty in general like ma’am how do you do that please drop the skin care routine 

The emotion that was conveyed was enough to make me tear up BUT I DID NOT CRY AND I AM VERY PROUD OF THAT 

she did the “you lift me high” line and kinda went into this airy place in her voice and it was angelic and heavenly and all the good things

HER RIFFS WERE JUST DFJDHJLFH

She was just fantastic and thats all I have to say 

Thats a lie I have so many things to say about that woman but the time will come

HOH was a whole acid trip there was a point during this song where I literally just took it all in and then thought “Janey, you really spent your hard earned money to go on an acid trip for a solid few minutes good job”

Their dancing is hilarious and thats that

ABBY SAYING “BUT WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT YOU’LL STILL WALK AT FORTY” I had to stifle a laugh because my queen is indeed 40

THE GERMAN ACCENTS HAD ME QUAKING

Brittney Mack is… all bad bitch energy and I was living for it

She is a queen

When she did the “my horses can trot up to twelve miles an hour”- in the boot (not that I watch those…) abby is always making a 😳😶😲 kind of face and this time she just couldn’t stop smiling and it made me laugh

WOOF

Her reveal was SO GOOD she literally just started checking out her nails while everyone just applauded… AS THEY SHOULD

When britt told the person to get up, this person full on WENT and britt was like shook it was hysterical

THE INTERLUDE BETWEEN GET DOWN AND THEN KAT’S ROAST WAS ICONIQUE

i dont think it was here but I cant remember where it was but BRITT WAS PLAYING WITH ABBY’S WIG AND IT WAS REALLY CUTE SHE WAS LIKE PLAYING WITH THE ENDS OF IT AND AWH

justice for the beheaded cousins 

BOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO BABY MARY HAD THE CHICKEN POX AND YOU DIDN’T GET TO HOLD HER HAND… YOU KNOW ITS FUNNY BECAUSE WHEN I WANTED TO HOLD MY NEWBORN SON…. IIIIII DIIIIIIEDD. Abby lowkey went feral and I loved every second of it and then her pose after got so many laughs it was truly amazing

THE K HOWARD ROAST WAS JUST SO GOOD IT WAS SO GOOD

Aywd destroyed me

I also teared up here but I did not let those babies fall because I was not about to ruin my look

justice for my pink queen

Her delivery is insane and honestly its gotten better and I didn’t even know that was possible because WOW SHE WAS ALREADY STUNNING BUT DAMN MY HEART GOT RIPPED OUT OF MY CHEST

The whole “Catherine not singing” bit was fantastic

Abby looked so confused the entire time 

Andrea’s “hahaha what” was perfecto 

when Anna said “should we really be doing this” someone in the audience went “yes” very loudly and made the queens break for a solid second abby almost forgot to say her line and you could barely hear it because the audience was laughing at the rando 

Anna acknowledged it and just went “I know” before turning to the queens and saying “I know” it was hysterical 

“I’m Catherine parr, I draw the line in arbitrary places bLaH bLaH bLaH”

THE CLAPPING- BRITT GOT IN HER FACE AND JUST *CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.”  It was the funniest thing oh my gosh

“Are you sure Catherine? I-we don’t mind if you wanna sit this one out… I mean you must be exhausted from all those backing vocals”

IDNYL WAS INSANE AND ANNA UZELE IS WICKED TALENTED LIKE DANG

I dont know if this was intentional or not but when they all start to understand the purpose of parr’s thing- abby is the last to stand up and in my head im like “no yeah that makes sense because shes “the one he truly loved” and shes still trying to get to a point where shes realizing he wasn’t all that great and I dont know I just really like that minor detail

The whole “remember that I was a writer…” part got loud cheers, especially from abby it was very cute

She did a new riff on the “we all disappear” line and WOW my eyes went so wide it was so good I was genuinely shook

the “i dont get it” was sooo good

“My sixth finger” was said so casually and so determinedly that it was a whole new joke and I loved it

“Everyone notices Jane cant dance” -abby just looking so sad

“Yeeeaaaahhhhh. I read!” Was so cute and she sounded so proud of herself it was adorbs

The way they just stood there awkwardly was amazing and got so many laughs it was so good

When sam said the line about competing, abby really almost cut Anna’s line out but she caught herself and it was funny I dont know if anyone else noticed it, but I did and it was glorious

REMIX

“Rise abo-o-o-o-ove” WAS BEAUTIFUL THEY WERE IN SUCH GOOD HARMONY

AGAIN, ANNA’S RIFFS HOW DOES THAT WOMAN DO THAT AT THE END OF THE SHOW LIKE SHIT

After it was over, of course it got long applause and the entire time abby was doing her like “sparkle hands” but also awkwardly moving her arm kinda like a noodle and then going back to sparkle hands and it gave me a good chuckle

Six

The slow acoustic part was so soft I died

The harmonies was delicious

The audience was so hype

Megasix

Super hype

Amazing

Fantastic

All the good things ever

Basically it was just adorable and amazing and absolutely stunning

The new costumes are gorgeous and the lighting is wild if they don’t win best lighting for Tony awards I will full on riot

Aragon and Boleyn interacted a lot and so did Seymour and Cleves and it was very very sweet

Abby interacted with the band a lot to the point where she almost missed a cue and it was very endearing

AND THEN THEY DID THE CURTAIN UP THING AND FIRST OF ALL WOW THEY ARE ALL SO CUTE AND IT WAS SO SWEET SEEING THE WAY THEY ALL WATCHED EACH OTHER WHILE THEY WERE SINGING AND I JUST JDKFDJLA

abby’s hair is SO LONG but I am here for it

So I was looking for my friend when I hear “Make some room, make a path!” From a security guard, and the queens legit walked RIGHT PAST ME

I wanted to go to the theatre anyway to take pictures, but when I saw them, I did follow them back to the theatre because wow I wanted to bask in their glory I didnt even want to talk to them I just wanted to be in their presence

So im like, walking behind them when this happens:

I guess abby saw someone she knew because I heard this “abby!” And then she was like “OH MY GOD” and like RAN to hug them and i legit almost walked right into her/got stepped on but i freaking stopped like a noob i should’ve just let her run me over but I did not I just stopped in my tracks and let out a soft “aH” and then went around her

And then I got to meet a friend and apparently toby heard us squealing and watched us hug for a solid however long so that was awkward

And Julia schade was like talking to him and stared at us for a good amount of time

And then I was walking away and passed Julia again and she kept looking at me, but she was talking to someone else and I think she thought I was going to stay to talk to her (and I would have loved to) but I didnt I just gave her a smile, a nod, and a little wave because I can not do confrontation like if I could not confront abby ma’am I cannot confront u either I am SHY

And that is a very detailed run down of my time in nyc at the brooks

[oratonom]

Beheaded Nightmares - Swapped AU

@ender1821 @arithebroadwayaddict @percy-the-penguin @mega-heir-of-heart (sorry I keep @ you guys specifically but you’re the other minds behind the au—)

So, I made a thing. It was really to experiment a bit with personalities (and I also just really wanted to write a bit for that idea I made for the Beheaded queens). I hope it worked out well, if not then I’ll just work on getting personalities and the like right in the future.

(All Swapped!Queens go by their last name. Original queens go by their first.)

TWs: nightmares, mentions of arson/setting fires, past beheading, language

——————

Seymour grumbled under her breath as she was pulled along.

This night had not been going as planned. Her life wasn’t going as planned, being perfectly honest.

Her first life she got beheaded. Then she woke up in a strange house with Henry’s other five bitches. Seymour liked being brought back, but five (four) pains in the ass and constant nightmares were really shitty.

Seymour appreciates chaos, she would even say she thrived in it, but the arguments were starting to get old.

And just when things couldn’t get any fucking weirder, they were sent to another universe.

Another universe with a different version of her.

Another version that reminded her too damn much of her old self. Quiet, demure, anxious, motherly. Seymour hated it.

(She didn’t know if she hated Jane as a person. But she surely despised the memories. And this woman being another version of her who had died before breaking her chains certainly didn’t stop Seymour from pranking her and setting fire to one of Jane’s shirts.)

Apparently, Seymour’s group was supposed to learn to get along or some shit.

Seymour still doubted extremely that it would happen. They were all bitches and Seymour couldn’t see herself getting along with them. They were either scolding her for the arson and general chaos she brought with her or intimidating. She supposed Cleves was alright, she’s started to help her with some pranks (it turned out much later that Seymour adored Anna, she was much more than ‘alright’)

Parr was the only one of her group that she could stand.

The woman was quiet, almost mute. She had constant nightmares and always looked so anxious. But she was also so nice, a sweetheart. And when Seymour wasn’t causing her usual amount of chaos, she could usually be found by Parr’s side.

And it looked like Parr latched onto her in turn.

Seymour would never admit it out loud, but she could even go so far as to say she was very protective of the younger woman. She cared.

Maybe that was why she was letting herself be dragged through the hallway by the mentioned former queen.

That and the nightmare she had.

Seymour had actually been in the kitchen when Parr found her. It was a rare night when she actually decided to sleep in trade of the chaos. The following nightmare had left her scratching at her throat and creeping from the room she shared with Jane.

Seymour didn’t need her counterpart’s pity.

At some point, she decided to distract herself. By seeing how many glasses of water she could chug. Seymour was on her second cup when Parr found her, the former still scratching at her scar with one hand. In fact, Parr herself was also scratching at her scar, tears on her cheeks.

She was next to Seymour before the third queen really had a chance to process seeing her, curling into the taller woman’s side.

Seymour didn’t hesitate before wrapping an arm around Parr’s shoulders. The usually chaotic queen was silent.

Soon Parr pulled back slightly to look up at Seymour. It was the older of the two that asked, “nightmare?”

Parr slowly nodded, her hand still over her exposed scar.

“Same here. It’s really shitty, huh?” Seymour laughed. “Fuck that fat bastard!”

Parr smiled slightly. “Yeah.”

“Want to help me ruin more of Aragon’s sweaters? I need to vent on something.” Seymour asked, pulling the lighter from her pants pocket and lazily flicking it.

Parr stared at the flashing flame for a moment before taking Seymour’s hand. “Come with me?”

And after a teasing remark of acceptance, Seymour found herself being carefully pulled through the house. The former queen wasn’t entirely sure where they were heading, but she could definitely say she was surprised when they stopped in front of the Annes’ door.

(Seymour didn’t know about Parr and Anne meeting in the kitchen one night. Both of them had nightmares and had to calm each other down. A friendship blossomed from there and Parr usually went to Anne for nightmares now.)

Then, Parr gave her familiar, quiet knock, one as if the door would fall if she knocked any harder (hmm, that got Seymour’s mind buzzing. How many knocks or how much force would it take to knock the door down? Something chaotic to test, it seemed).

There was muffled conversation and then shifting from within the room. Then, the door opened to show Anne.

(Anne was someone Seymour actually could call herself friends with. The two had quickly begun making chaos together, much to the chagrin of their counterparts, more so Boleyn than Jane.)

Seymour hummed with a tilt of her head upon noticing the scar around Anne’s neck being scratched just like theirs were.

“Are we bothering you?” Parr asked softly, keeping her hold on Seymour’s hand.

“Yep.” Anne gave them a grin.

Parr laughed, as if that response was normal. Seymour only stood there, gaze flitting between the two as Anne let them into the room.

Kat sat on Anne’s bed, her own choker off and neck in the same state as theirs. Boleyn was nowhere to be seen.

It was still strange to see their faces but yet so different. Different styles and personalities. To not be called a ‘cretin’ or ‘that one bitch.’

“I guess we’re all having bad nights, yeah?” Kat asked with a rather bitter chuckle.

“None of you losers look nice tonight.” Seymour said with a snicker.

Anne grinned at her. “Right back at you.”

“Nice pair of scissors on your desk there.”

“Oh yeah?”

Parr grabbed onto their arms, giving the both of them pleading looks. “Please don’t.”

The two relented, but gave each other smirks over Parr’s head.

“You two get the shitty dreams too?” Seymour pasted a smirk on her face. She needed to hide that twinge of fear still in her chest.

“Yeah, didn’t know the great, chaotic Seymour got them.” Anne looked knowing. “But then again, losing your head really does hurt more than a broken heart.”

“Poetic.” Seymour snickered.

“Isn’t it?” Anne easily matched her grin. “Parr and Chaton have come to me before, haven’t seen you until now.”

“Who needs nightmares when you can have chaos?” Seymour sneered. Usually after a nightmare, she would destroy something as an outlet. Be it setting it on fire or ripping it to shreds.

“You, my friend, are speaking my language.” Anne agreed with a laugh.

“Oh god, this house better be scared of you two teaming up.” Kat looked more amused than worried, Parr now at her side fidgeting anxiously with her hands but smiling at the conversation. “The arsonist and the prankster.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m not an arsonist!”

“I can prank your ass off, just watch! I’ve done many pranks!”

The four fell into a bit of laughter before falling silent.

They all joined Kat on the bed, sitting in a circle. They were all quiet, Anne fidgeting with the blanket and Seymour still flicking the lighter.

“Do you guys… want to talk about your…?” Kat trailed off, gesturing silently to her own scar.

Parr and Seymour both tensed. Parr began to rub worriedly at her scar and Seymour snarled.

“And if we don’t want to?” Seymour snapped immediately.

“Then we won’t make you.” It was Kat who shrugged.

“The fuck?” Seymour muttered, fixing them with a suspicious stare. “You won’t make me talk?”

“We know how hard it is to talk about things sometimes.” Kat gave her a smile.

“I was surprised too.” Parr whispered to Seymour. “But they’re telling the truth. I promise. Or at least Anne is…”

“Then what the hell do we do instead…?” Seymour questioned with a frown.

“Why don’t we just get to know each other?” Anne offered. “What do the two of you like to do?”

“Reading is nice, and Cathy’s been helping me write again…”

Seymour gave them another suspicious glance before perking up slightly. “I like chaos. Setting fire and destroying shit!”

“I’m not saying that’s a bad thing to like, but maybe calm down on the arson a bit? I’m pretty sure you can get arrested.”

The four talked into the night, laughter and banter taking away their fear and worries from earlier in the night.

“Okay, watch the lighter! I like my bed!” Anne jokes as Seymour almost dropped the lighter mid-flick.

Just as Seymour was about to retort, both Parr and Kat let out yawns. The two glanced at each other and began to laugh.

“Looks like it’s time to try and sleep some more, yeah?” Anne said, a soft smile on her lips in trade for her usual chaotic smile.

“Guess so.” Kat hummed, already moving under the blankets. Parr was soon to join her after reassurances from both Anne and Kat. Seymour blinked, standing now, as Parr willingly burrowed into Kat’s side.

Anne joined them and all three looked back at Seymour, as if waiting.

“Aren’t you going to join us?” Kat asked after a moment.

Seymour snorted. “What, sleeping together? Why the hell would I do that?”

Parr frowned at her, reaching out slightly from her place between Anne and Kat. “Please?”

“Us beheaded queens have to stick together, you know.” Anne said.

Seymour watched the three for a moment. Then, a smirk crossed her lips. “Alright, fine! But don’t think this will be a more than one night thing! I’ve got chaos to cause!”

“Hell yeah you do. Now get over here.” Anne grinned right back.

Kat rolled her eyes and murmured something to Parr that had the blue queen giggling.

Seymour wasn’t entirely sure about sharing a bed with these three, no matter how friendly they were. But their warmth and the arm Anne had curled around her quickly worked to guide her to sleep.

For once, Seymour rested well, no nightmares or chaos in sight.

[percy-the-penguin]

Struggles

Ok so thanks everyone who encouraged me to do this, love you all

It’s about S!Anne’s struggles with OCD and ADHD and S!Jane struggling with Dyslexia. 

It was a bit rushed so sorry about that and sorry if I get anything about any of these things wrong. I was able to use my own experiences with ADHD and Dyslexia but I did my best with OCD

This has the HC that Anna has OCD

Last names= Swapped

Word count: 1502

TW: None I don’t think, let me know though

Boleyn was sitting on the couch reading. It was a book about Mental illness and she was on the OCD chapter. Cathy had given her the book since she realized how much the queen liked to learn

Boleyn tapped the fingers of her right hand on the armrest of the couch every time she turned the page. Pointer, middle, pointer. She didn’t realize she was doing it. It was just a subconscious habit

When she reached the end of the chapter she shut the book and started thinking as she set the book perfectly centered on the table in front of her

Seymour ran down the stairs, her trusty lighter in hand and signature smirk on her face. She skidded to a stop when she noticed Boleyn sitting on the couch, looking at the closed book in front of her 

“Hey nerd, you know what helps with reading? Opening the book.”

“I am aware of this you uncultured swine. I’m merely pondering on the chapter I just read.”

Boleyn’s watched beeped, signifying it was noon. She took her hair down from the low ponytail it had previously been in

“Okay well what were you reading?” Seymour questioned

“Not something you could grasp.” Boleyn retorted

“I’m smarter then you think, try me.”

“I highly doubt that’s true”

Seymour rolled her eyes and picked up the book after putting her lighter in her pocket. She opened to a random page and started scanning it, attempting to make sense of the jumbled mix of letters and words that she was seeing. She frowned “What’s dysphoria?”

Boleyn stood, walking over to stand on the right of the beheaded

“Firstly, dysphoria is by definition ‘a state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction with life.’ secondly, that word is dyslexia, not dysphoria. Lastly, dyslexia is ‘a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.’”

“Can I set this book on fire?” Seymour asked

“No!” Boleyn responded, snatching the book as Seymour pulled out her lighter

“What’re you two up to?” Jane questioned as she walked into the room the two swapped queens were in 

Seymour scowled and grumbled something under her breath. She wasn’t the biggest fan of her counterpart 

“Good afternoon” Boleyn greeted “I was reading when this vermin interrupted me” 

Seymour rolled her eyes “You were not reading”

“I was processing the words on the cover and therefore reading” 

Jane looked at the two with a slightly confused expression on her face “Alright..would either of you like anything?”

“I would like to burn that book” Seymour announced 

“No.” Boleyn responded quickly 

“Erm, lets not” Jane said with an awkward laugh

Seymour sighed “You guys are no fun”

Jane went into the kitchen to make herself some tea

Within the next few days, Cathy had started noticing Seymours struggle with reading and writing along with Boleyns methodic tendencies and hyperfocus 

She approached Seymour first

“Hey” Cathay greeted

Seymour glanced over “Hey.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“There’s nothing stopping you.” Seymour responded

“Fair enough. Do you have Dyslexia?”

Seymour simply shrugged “I don’t know. Is that the reading thingy Boleyn was going on about?”

Cathy nodded and Seymour shrugged again “Don’t know”

They had a short conversation before Cathy asked Seymour to read something which confirmed her theory when Seymour read d’s as b’s, q’s as p’s and constantly switched words and lines. Cathay thanked Seymour and left her so she could do..whatever she was doing.

She went to Boleyn next 

“Hi”

“Hello Catherine” Boleyn looked up “May I help you?”

“I just had a question. You read the book I gave you right?”

Boleyn nodded in confirmation “Yes.”

“Do you think you might have OCD?”

“I believe it could be a possibility, yes.”

Cathy nodded “What about ADHD?”

Boleyn pondered on the question for a moment before responding “That is also a valid theory. I do exhibit the Hyper Focused side of the disorder”

Cathy nodded again “Well if you want to talk to anyone about it, Anna has OCD and Anne has ADHD”

“Thank you.” Boleyn responded politely though the thought of talking to her chaotic counterpart was not appealing 

After a few days, Boleyn got curious so she went to Anna’s room and knocked on the door

“Who is it?” The red queen called 

“Boleyn” the divorced queen responded 

There was silence for a moment before Anna responded 

“Come in”

“Thank you” Boleyn said as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her

“Cathy says you have OCD?”

Anna nodded “Yeah?”

“I do too, self diagnosed of corse but I was wondering if you had any tips to help me cope with the compulsions and, erm..more intrusive thoughts.”

Anna nodded in understanding “I’m not sure how good my advice would be but I can give it a shot”

Boleyn nodded in acceptance and sat down, waiting for Anna to speak 

“First off, never try to stop the thoughts. Nine times out of ten it only makes it worse. Secondly, it’s okay if you slip up with a compulsion. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure if you do. Thirdly, slowly try to lessen the compulsions like if you have a tapping compulsion where you uh..tap a doorframe five times before you go through. Next time try to just do four and repeat that until it feels comfortable. It’s okay if it feels uncomfortable at first, that’s completely normal so don’t push it. Lastly, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask someone for help. It sometimes helps to talk about your thoughts and compulsions and can even lead to good methods of dealing with them. Oh, also, everyone’s OCD is different so if some methods don’t work for you that’s okay. You can find your own methods and do research on what could work.”

Boleyn nodded “Thank you that was quite helpful”

“Happy to help” Anna respond 

“Have a good day.” Boleyn respond before exiting the room, automatically touching the door frame with her right hand as she went

Boleyn took a breath and thought for a moment before deciding to talk to her counterpart against her better judgement 

She walked into Anne’s room. Anne was laying stomach down on the bed, propped up with her elbows as she held a controller and played Halo

“Are you busy?” Boleyn asked 

“Yeah but give me a sec and I’ll be right with you” Anne responded

Boleyn sat down and waited. It took Anne five minutes to get bored of what she was doing so she took out the game and put in another, seemingly forgetting about Boleyn who cleared her throat to get the girls attention

Anne looked over “Oh, right, sorry. What’s up?”

“I was wondering about your ADHD”

Anne shrugged “I have it. No idea what it means.”

“Well what are your symptoms?”

“Uhhh” Anne thought back to when Cathy had talked to her “Hyper, short attention span, fidgeting, impulsive, probably some other stuff. I dunno” 

“That was little help but good to know, thank you” 

“Mhm” Anne had already gone back to the game 

Boleyn rolled her eyes and left

Seymour sighed as she sat on the couch, biting her lip and questioning how the fuck people could read. Parr had suggested the book but Seymour was having great trouble decoding the words. She was about a minute away from burning the stupid book when Cathy came down 

“What’s up?” Cathy asked, seeing the frustration on Seymours face

“I can’t read this stupid ass book” Seymor complained “The words are all jumbled and the letters don’t make sense and I keep skipping lines”

“Have you ever tried an audio book?” Cathy suggested

“Hm?” Seymour asked 

“Its something where someone reads a story and records it. There are a lot of apps for them. It might help you to listen to it as well as read along to keep yourself on track. May I see your phone?”

Seymour looked suspicious but gave Cathy her phone after unlocking it 

Cathy downloaded an audio book app for her and started the subscription with her own money

“Thanks..” Seymour said “Why are you helping me? Do you want something?”

Cathy shook her head “No no, I just enjoy reading and hopefully you will too once you get the hang of it. Reading also leads to better writing so its a win-win” the blue queen smiled “Just remember it can be frustrating but thats okay. Learning no skills are hard but please don’t set anything on fire because of it”

Seymour smirked “I make no promises” 

Cathy laughed a bit

Within the next few days, Seymour was making progress. Cathy had been right, the audiobooks did make a difference and helped her follow along. When she was listening to audio books was the only time she wasn’t chaotic, almost peaceful. Of course she never forgot to add just a bit of mischief to someones day

@ender1821 @arithebroadwayaddict @mega-heir-of-heart

[cathyparrlyn]

We’re all just mirror shards

_________________________________________________________

Hey everyone! It’s No One here, or perhaps you now know (if you have read a certain lovely, beautiful, baby tief’s post) that my name is Maddy. It’s great to finally post this next part, first update of 2020! Woo!....

Yeah, I know, it’s been a while. I’m sorry for that, but not only am I working on future chapters and a special writing project (some of you might have already heard about it, oops-), but like, school. Ugh. But don’t worry, I have plenty of content to give you guys, so I shouldn’t fall too behind with my updating schedule!

I want to shoutout two people today. First off, one of my writing friends, @justonemoretheatrekid who is super sweet and has helped me with my bi panic, so thanks friendo! I enjoyed chatting with you! :3

I also want to give a special thanks to another one of my writing friends, @toomanyfamdom for not only helping me edit this sucker (legit the only reason I was able to post today. Bless her soul for putting up with my comma crazy piece.), but also for being the sweetest and best baby in the world. She makes me a proud mama. :3 love you baby! And thank you for not joining in on the “(censored name) for the pole” chant. I know how much you like to troll me tho, so I guess will see what happens next time. Lol. <3

Also, good news and bad news! 

Good news! This chapter has the “read more” option! Bad News! It cost me all the pretty and colorful fonts. ;-; Also, it won’t let me edit my draft from my iPad now as I did the function on the computer. So like... I can’t fix it. :(

So now I have a dilemma. Which should I use, the read more function or the colorful and pretty fonts? Please reply down below if you have a preference. Anyways, enough with my long ass author note!

Without further interruption, the chapter! Woo!

Word count: about 2,212 words.

Warnings: Cursing, bullying. (Also, Anne being a useless lesbian gremlin and Cathy being a bi disaster. OWO UWU)

Enjoy~

————————————————————————————————

Part 11

Annie Boleyn

————————————————————————————————

…………………………………......Recap………………………………………

“Sorry about that, I’m just so fucking tired of bullshit,” Anne muttered, snapping Cathy out of her thoughts.

"Huh?"

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Cathy was a dumbass. She had to be. How else could she have fucked up so badly with her words? They were her thing! But with Anne, all she could muster up to say was ‘huh?’ Huh! Ugh, she just can’t with herself right now.

What’s worse, this is serious. Anne looks like she needs someone to talk to, Cathy can be that person, but not if she’s a disaster.

Parr wants to be there for Anne. She craves to develop their relationship, for them to get closer. To be able to share inside jokes and small smiles with each other. To have long conversations and calling each other late at night just to rant because they know the other will listen. For the comfort of knowing that she does, in fact, matter to Anne.

Right now she felt farther away from her goal than ever. Looking up, she saw an indescribable look on Anne’s face, the only thing she could note was the fear in Boleyn’s eyes as she held herself. An uneasy feeling washed over Anne as she realized she might have said too much around Cathy. She was nervous. Cathy couldn’t believe it. Anne was scared of her own opinion, and that worried Parr. Boleyn was speechless, not knowing how to respond. It was painful to see this side of her. Yet Cathy couldn’t help but stare. This new side drew her in, and Parr couldn’t stop herself from questioning more and more about who Anne really was. And what could have possibly happened to the Boleyn girl to make her feel so mortified that she couldn’t even express her own feelings.

Now Cathy was scared. She couldn’t just stand there and wait Anne recover on her own. No, Catherine wants to help her, she needs to help Anne.

So with a deep breath, Cathy had made her decision to keep moving forward with the conversation. She refused to make Anne start things, this time she’ll make the first move. For Anne’s sake.

“Hey, are you alright? I’m here for you if you want to talk about it.”

“No, no. It’s stupid, just, please. Forget about it.”

Cathy felt as if she was stabbed in the heart after hearing that statement. Anne was amazing, smart, talented, and said some of the most interesting things Cathy has ever heard. And here she is now, saying that her feelings are stupid.

Cathy doesn’t know who made her feel like this, but they are going to pay for it. Yet, that is for another time, right now Cathy has to focus on comforting the Boleyn girl.

“Hey Anne, we’re friends right?”

“Well, yeah, I would like to think so.” Anne tentatively mumbled. She expressed a blatant insecurity that Parr would reject the idea. But why?

Parr wanted to further analyze this side of Anne and try to figure out what might have happened to her, but she couldn’t. Not right now, when Anne needed a friend. No, especially now since Anne needed a friend, someone to be there for her, to reassure her things were okay. That is what Parr needed to be right now. Her friend.

Cathy smiled, bumping their shoulders together. Hence, grabbing Anne’s attention as Parr stared at her with a look that Anne wasn’t used to seeing: patience and love. With a gentle squeeze reminding Anne of their connected hands, Cathy let the Boleyn girl bask in the show of affection. Anne deserves to enjoy this moment, to feel comfortable with her own thoughts. What’s more, she deserves to have someone to listen to her. Cathy can very well be that person. All Catherine had to do was prove that she would and could be there for her. So she spoke up, determined to help Anne no matter what it takes.

“Then there you go. Your opinion matters to me, Anne. As your friend, I don’t think this is stupid. Not one bit. So please, don’t feel afraid to talk to me. You have a wonderful voice, and I truly think it should be shared with the world.”

Cathy observed as Anne stared at her in shock. A blush formed on Parr’s cheeks as she noticed a sudden change in the Boleyn girl. Tension had quickly left Anne’s face and was now replaced by a small, soft, genuine, and breathtaking smile. Really, Cathy could go on about the beauty of Anne’s smile, but she was rather focused on something else. It was way more important than her feelings. Gratitude, that’s what Anne’s expression conveyed instead of the fearful look she wore mere seconds ago. Anne gently squeezed Cathy’s hand back, returning the affection as she pulled Cathy in so they could be in closer proximity. The action cause both girls heart to race as they were lost in the moment, staring at each other in a comfortable, knowing silence. Both were thinking the same thing.

She does see me.

Finally after taking a few deep breaths, Anne was the first one to break the silence.

“Thank you, that… that really means a lot Cathy.”

“Of course Anne. Do you, um... Do you want to talk about it?” Cathy gingerly asked.

Anne looked down as she contemplated what to do. After a few seconds of thinking it over, she slowly nodded her head.

“Alright, I’m here to listen whenever you ready.” Parr, acknowledging that she was looking down, squeezed Anne’s hand again. Cathy hopes it would reassure Boleyn that Parr planned on being there for her. Seeing that Anne had mustered up the courage to look up at Catherine and start her explanation, Cathy thinks it’s safe to say that it worked.

"Ok, so, our generation is stupid, right?” Anne started off.

“100% agree, continue please.”

“It’s just, no one cares about others' stories. Make believe or real, every story matters. Yet we cast them aside and hold an egocentric viewpoint that mentally and physically tears others down. And I’m so fucking sick of it!”

“Of the kids in the halls?” Cathy hesitantly asked.

“Of basically everyone! They all piss me off! Like, no one even understands why I read, the majority of those people don’t even think I can read! I’m nearly eighteen, for Christ's sake! How would I be in an advanced English class if I couldn’t read?”

“I don’t know, kids are stupid.”

“I know, but… you’re the first person to understand this and believe me…”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Anna won't shut up about how I can't do math, Kitty doesn't like poetry and always whines about me speaking ‘gibberish’ when I rant about it, and the rest of the school thinks I text shit like, 'dat waz fun' smiley face, winky face, kissy cat." Anne rolled her eyes. "It's just..." she pursed her lips, then looked at Cathy and gave her a small smile. "It hurts after a while, y’know. So it's extremely refreshing to finally talk to someone who appreciates writing."

"I totally get that." Cathy nodded.

"Really?" Anne stared at her as if she had two heads.

"Yeah... actually, at my last school, I was teased for reading so much," Cathy elaborated honestly. She doesn't know why, but she felt a need to tell Anne this. It was as if that Boleyn girl elicited a strong desire for Parr to talk about herself. She wanted to know all about Anne, and for Anne to know all about her.

Even if it was about her embarrassing loser past. It's not like she can escape it, only accept it and move forward.

"What the hell is wrong with this generation? That's stupid!" Anne groaned.

Well, at least Anne agreed with her about the matter.

"They called me novel nerd," Cathy bluntly stated.

"... Fucking Alliteration." Anne said after muttering what Cathy assumed was French swear words. She then pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah." Cathy bitterly laughed.

"Want me to fight them for you?" Anne offered, holding her fist up and pretending to punch the air to show she was being serious.

"No, but thanks... it's just like you said earlier, it's nice just to be comfortable enough to talk about these things with someone and know that they respect it." Cathy smiled at her.

Anne lifted Catherine's hand up a bit and gently stroked it.

"Cath, I got you." The gentle action caused Cathy to blush. Anne then looked up with a spark of mischief. "Let's run away to live in a library."

Cathy couldn't help but let out an unlady-like snort. A bit embarrassing, yes. But luckily for Catherine, Anne adored it. She couldn't stop herself from adoring it even if she tried.

"Sounds like heaven." Parr grinned, finally managing to calm her laughter.

They both stared at each other for a few seconds in silence, but after those few seconds of silence, they burst into a laughing fit.

Catherine then looked up at Anne. Something caught her attention about her suggestion. The way she referred to something, or rather, herself.

"Cath, Huh?" She raised an eyebrow, looking Anne over in a teasing manner.

It's time for some playful payback.

She noticed how Anne flinched, and for a quick second, looked embarrassed, but it quickly washed away and was replaced by her usual confident expression.

"Oh, yeah. I just think it's cute and, um, it suits you. Is it alright if I call you that?" Anne asked.

Cathy couldn't stop the dorky smile that was spread across her face. Just hearing Anne give her a nickname just like how she had given one to Katherine, warmed Cathy up inside. She was growing closer to Anne each second and her interest for the girl continued to grow.

"Sure, but only if I get to call you nicknames too!" She agreed.

"Go for it, you got two slots."

Catherine pondered for a second. What should she call her?

Catherine couldn't help but giggle at the first thought to come to mind.

"Okay, first one has to be gremlin."

Anne's smile dropped and her eyebrows furrowed.

"You know what Cath? Fuck you." She huffed, a small pout was plastered on her face. Ergo, causing Cathy to burst into a giggling fit.

After a few seconds of giggling and admiring Anne's pouty face, Cathy managed to calm down.

"Okay, um... Next is.... hm."

It took Cathy a few seconds as she looked Anne up and down. She didn't actually need to check the girl out, she just wanted an excuse too.

The action, however, had caused Anne to blush.

Then it hit Cathy. Her lips quirked up at the idea for what to call the Boleyn girl. Sure, it was simple, but so was Cathy. So it’s fine. No, Parr will do one better.

It was perfect.

"Annie," Catherine said, squeezing Anne's hand and beaming at her with a warm smile.

Anne's happy expression fell after hearing that. Cathy noticed the change in expression.

"Um, is everything alright?" She asked.

"H-huh? Oh, um, yeah. It's swell." Anne nervously looked away.

Cathy stared at her worried, but Anne refused to show any sign of pain. Instead, she just gave Cathy a fake smile and avoided eye contact.

There it is again. The change in expression, the change in tone, the change in the atmosphere around her. All of these changes thickened the air and added to the mystery of Anne Boleyn.

Who was she?

Just a second ago, she was all bubbly. But with just a single name, she instantly became a timid sheep. She wore nervous, wide eyes that were surveilling the surroundings as if she was watching out for a predator, fearing for her life. However, the only other person there was Cathy.

She did that. She did this to Anne Boleyn. She doesn't know how, nor why, but she did it. An god, did it feel awful.

Cathy could only do what she thought was right at the time, to check on the girl.

With a gentle squeeze initiated by Cathy, Anne's eyes slowly looked up. Her breathing was a little heavy and her face was a calm, serious. Cathy's anxiety grew with each lurid second passing. Finally, after making it all the way up the excruciating trail, Anne's eyes met Cathy's.

For a brief second Cathy swore she saw the corner of Anne's eyes filling up with tears, and her skin was slightly paler than usual.

But it disappeared in seconds as she hastily swapped her expressions, as if she was trying to hide something. She... she was trying to hide herself.

Anne had put back on her mask, yet it was too late.

Her perfect image had already broke in front of Cathy, not that she planned on telling Anne that.

So with a heavy sigh, Cathy acknowledge that she needed to do something.

"Anne I-"

"Stop it. There's no need for that." Anne interrupted her in a cold tone, yet she still had a "smile" plastered on her face.

"Huh?" Cathy looked at her confused.

"Really Cath, I'm fine." She muttered loud enough for Cathy to hear her.

Cathy knew that wasn't the case. It most certainly wasn't the case at all. Cathy wanted to convey to Anne that she knew this, and that she wanted to help her. She wanted to stop right there, tell Anne it's okay not to be okay, perhaps even give her a hug.

But she didn't know Anne. They weren't close. Anne said it herself, they just met recently. And although Cathy was connecting with her, Anne might not be as into it. She doesn't know. Boleyn is still a mystery to her, one she has yet to uncover.

So how could she break through Anne's mask? She didn't have the right because she doesn't know her. At least, she doesn't know her yet.

"Okay. If you say so...." she reluctantly dropped the subject.

Mark Cathy's words, she'll read Anne's backstory one day. Cathy might cry, she might laugh, hell, she might not know what to think. But she knows that she'll be there for Anne when the time comes.

Until that day comes, this is all she could do for now.

—————————————————————————

Tag list: @sarahzarahh @annabanana2401 @lesbabe6 @aveasorae @qnneboleyn @whenallthestarscollide @its-totes-gods-will @canadianharrypotter @epitomeofchaoss @obliviousasheck @heeleys4feeleys @liliocelotepremium @six-is-awesome @thatbolxyngirl @toomanyfamdom @the-queen-bee-is-here @a-slightly-cracked-egg @thatonedisaster-gay @aywdaimie @thegaywhokindalikesmusicals @everything-insanity @babeebobo @one-time-i-jumped-off-a-cliff @wicked-books-101 @33o9 @agustjnk @i-really-dont-use-this-anymore Please reply if you wish to join the tag list or if your username changes so I can update the list :D

[dreamcatcherfication]

And Way Down We Go

Here is another mediocre Broadway Verse fic. I’m starting to think my Broadway fics have one plot point and it’s falling from heights, but that’s not important. Anyway, @theatergirl06 requested a while ago that we have some of Kat saving one of the other queens, and I know how much she loves KatAnna, so here’s some of that. This could be read platonically or romantically, I didn’t really have one or the other in mind while writing. Sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors, I use an app opposite of grammarly that creates mistakes instead of fixing them.

Writing Masterpost

If you want to send a request or a prompt, my inbox is always open! I publish a story at 8:00 AM PST everyday, so I’m always in need of new ideas (now featuring random asks). If you want to be tagged in my works, just let me know and I’ll be sure to tag you!

Prompts | More Prompts | The Trifecta of Prompts | Random Asks

Trigger Warnings: Heights?

When Anna invited Kat out for a rock climb, the girl thought she meant in an indoor gym where there would be a foam pit waiting beneath them in case they fell. Alas, that is not what Anna meant, and now Kat was stuck out in the middle of a canyon with Anna and the minimal amount of safety measures to help them. Already Anna had her climbing gear on, tying her rope around the stake she set at the top of the cliff. “Anna, I don’t know if this is a good idea.” Kat mumbled, peeking over the cliff. It was a long drop down, and she had never seen Anna or her rappelling skills to feel confident about the excursion. 

Watching Kat as she tied her knot, Anna furrowed her eyebrows. “Why? Kat, we’ve got plenty of safety gear, we’ll be fine.”

Still unsure, Kat stepped away from the edge of the cliff. “I don’t know. It’s really far down, and what if one of us slips?”

“I’ll tell you what,” Anna stood up, finished with her knot tying, “If you’re not comfortable, you don’t have to go down. You can stay up here and be my spotter, make sure I don’t get into any trouble, eh?”

Pursing her lips, Kat nodded. “If you promise to be safe -”

“I’m always safe mein Schatz, you don’t need to worry about me,” Anna assured her. With that, Anna put her feet on the edge of the cliff and pushed off, starting her journey down to the bottom of the ravine. Nervously watching her, Kat couldn’t help but bite her tongue in worry. Anna was skilled and could take care of herself, but there was still the nagging in the back of Kat’s mind that something could go wrong at any moment.

On the other hand, Anna wasn’t the least bit concerned. She had rappelled this cliff multiple times before and knew it practically like the back of her hand. All her gear was properly secured, so there was no way anything could put her in danger. Carefully putting her foot on a protruding rock, Anna cursed when the rock slipped away. “Shit!” she yelled as her body slid down the side of the cliff and landed on a small ledge.

“Anna!” Kat called from the top of the cliff. “Anna are you okay?”

“I’m fine Kat,” Anna responded, dusting herself off. She wasn’t much further down, but she had completely lost her rhythm. There weren’t many ledges nearby that she could hoist herself onto, so Anna’s only option was to climb back up using her rope. Testing the rope, Anna pulled down harshly to make sure it could hold her weight. She frowned when the rope felt loose as she yanked on it. Her confusion was answered when the rope came falling down from the top of the cliff, no longer attached to the stake. Anna groaned, “Kat?”

Kat was lying flat on the ground, her head over the edge so she could better see Anna. “Are you hurt Anna? Do you need me to come get you?”

“No!” Anna immediately shouted up. She knew how terrified Kat had been of rappelling in the first place, so Anna wasn’t going to make the girl come down to get her. She could figure this out on her own, Anna reasoned. “My rope came undone, but it’s not a big deal. I’m gonna climb back up, okay?”

“What?” Kat shouted incredulously. “Without your rope, Anna, you could fall and die!”

Waving off the concern, Anna looked for anything she could possibly use as a handhold. “I rarely use the rope Kat, it’ll be fine.”

“I’m coming to get you,” Kat stated forcefully from the top of the cliff. Her head disappeared as the rustling of gear came from above Anna.

“Kat, you don’t have to do that,” Anna tried to assure the girl. Grabbing onto the first handhold she found, Anna started to lift herself up the side of the cliff. “Look, I can get up there just fine. You shouldn’t come down if you don’t have experience.”

There was no response from Kat’s end, just the continued rustle of gear being moved. Shaking her head, Anna attempted to dislodge the sweat that was running down her forehead. It was a hot day already, not to mention the current exertion she was putting into her muscles in order to hold her body weight. Sure, Anna wasn’t the biggest person (the only queen shorter than her was Anne, but they didn’t talk about that), but she wasn’t used to supporting her weight without the rope taking a bit of the slack. 

Pushing away any thoughts except for absolute focus on her current predicament, Anna continued climbing. She moved slowly, slower than she had ever before, but she was prioritizing safety over speed. One foot on that ledge, a hand on that rock, reach a little higher…

Anna gasped in surprise as the ledge her hand was on crumbled beneath her grip. Her weight disbalanced, Anna’s body went tumbling backwards, slipping off the side of the cliff. Squeezing her eyes shut, Anna awaited any sort of impact of the ground against her body.

Instead, all she felt was a warm hand around her wrist. Opening her eyes and looking up, Anna smiled at her savior, Kat. As for Kat, she had a much more worried look on her face. The girl seemed absolutely baffled with how to properly rappel, but her feet were braced against the wall, one hand holding the rope taught, the other encircling Anna’s wrist. “Hello there savior,” Anna said, attempting to cover up the adrenaline that had just flooded her body. 

Barely even acknowledging the joke, Kat attempted to lift Anna but failed. Her arms were far weaker than Anna’s, seeing as she generally ended up missing workouts by getting sucked into video game competitions with Bo. “Get on my back and I can pull us up,” Kat instructed.

Raising an eyebrow, Anna complained, “You know, just because you’re taller than me does not mean that I’m going to let you give me a piggyback ride -”

“Well then you better get comfortable hanging over the side of a cliff because I can’t climb while holding you.” There was a pause where they both looked at each other before Kat added, “Or I could drop you and climb up myself.”

“Someone’s feeling cheeky today,” Anna said, but she gave in. Pulling herself up on Kat’s back, Anna had to hide her embarrassment at being carried like a little kid. She was glad they were in the middle of nowhere and no one but herself and Kat were around to witness it. 

Once Kat was sure Anna was holding on tight, she started to pull herself up the cliff. Instead of rock climbing like Anna would, Kat used the rope to pull herself up, practically walking sideways up the cliff face. Her muscles burned and ached, a clear sign of how unfit she was, but Kat ignored it, pushing herself in order to get to the top. After an agonizing climb, Kat heaved herself and Anna over the edge and collapsed onto the ground.

Getting off of Kat, Anna stumbled to the side, her sense of direction askew after holding on to the other queen while she climbed. Kat rolled over so that she was facing the sky, and then let out a loud groan of pain. “My muscles are gonna be sore for weeks,” she grumbled, moaning in frustration. “This is all your fault Anna.”

Instead, Anna was staring at Kat with a budding look of pride. “You saved me.”

“Uh, yeah, I did,” Kat shot back. “And you better repay me for it-”

“No, Kat,” Anna cut her off. “You saved me.”

Still, Kat didn’t seem to get what Anna was saying. “So?”

Moving over to Kat’s prone form, the German queen leaned over her. “You specifically told me you did not want to go down the side of the cliff. But when you thought I was in trouble -”

“You were in trouble.”

Anna grunted in embarrassment. “When I was in trouble, you didn’t hesitate to come and save me. I remember a time when you would’ve been too scared to do that. You would call Jane or Parr for help. But you didn’t even hesitate to save me.”

Realization dawned in Kat’s eyes as a smile grew on her face. “It’s not a big deal,” she mumbled, but secretly her heart filled with pride. Kat always felt like she was the weak link, the queen who couldn’t help herself, much less any of the others. Anna knew how important strength was to Kat, and both of them knew how monumental something like helping Anna was to her. “I mean, anyone would’ve had to save you with how badly you tied that knot.”

“Hey!” Anna guffawed, “I’ve tied hundreds of knots.”

“Then maybe I should come with you more often if they all come apart as quickly as that one.”

Shooting Kat a childish glare, Anna huffed. “How do I know you didn’t tamper with it just so you could save me and be a hero?”

Ignoring the question, Kat said, “You think I’m a hero? Wow, I can’t wait to tell Bo that I’m your hero -”

“That is not what I’m implying now, Katherine,” Anna made sure to cut her friend off. The two of them dissolved into laughter, the adrenaline draining from their bodies. “Well,” Anna sighed, laying down next to Kat on the ground. “That was an experience.”

Laughing, Kat shook her head as she watched the clouds float by. “We are never doing this again.”

------------------------------------

Tag List:

@annabanana2401

[mollymauk-the-peacock]

Character Questionnaire

Poesy Eliane de Carstiens Mountbatten

Tagging! If you’d like to do this as well and you’re not tagged have a go! And lemme know too, I’d love to read about your chars!

@daughterofsarenrae​, @statesideshift​, @squishy-rogues​, @windguaerd​, @wardenmurphy​

Questionnaire under the cut!

GENERAL

Name: Poesy Eliane de Carstiens Mountbatten

Alias(es): Poe (nickname), Poe “Hawkeye” Keaton (stage name)

Age: 25 years old

Place of birth: Mountbatten, Triquetra

Spoken languages: Common, Dwarvish, Celestial

Sexual orientation: Demi-pan

Occupation: Gunslinger of Vindices Populi; former competition sharpshooter; trained cartographer/historian/archaeologist (which used as a cover to sneak out to do those marksmanship comps...)

APPEARANCE

Eye color: Grey/blue

Hair color: Light Blonde

Height: 5′4″ (162cm)

Scars: Jagged bite mark on left side of neck from vampire fledgling; a pair of arrow punctures on her back from an orc ambush; deep graze on left side of ribs she let heal without magic (from her allies trying to break the mind control that had her-- briefly-- kill her S/O, Jesse)

FAVORITE

Color: Deep blue and purple

Entertainment: Reading; crafting (be it herself or others; string music (violin being the favorite)

Pastime: Cheating her ass off at the card tables while traveling in disguise for shooting competitions.

Food: Comfort foods from home, hearty stews and root veggies; also rather fond of lighter fare like tea sandwiches and petit fours that her mom would serve when entertaining

Drink: Mountbatten rye whiskey

Books: A wide range-- from historical non-fiction to the trashiest, cheesiest of bodice rippers

HAVE THEY

Passed university: And graduate school. She’s a history major, following in her aunt’s footsteps

Had sex: Certainly

Had sex in public: Most likely never

Gotten someone pregnant: Nope

Kissed a man: Just the one

Kissed a woman: Considered pursuing a deeper relationship with her college roommate, but they grew apart

Gotten tattoos: One is to come, probably very soon, an enchanted something to allow her and Jesse to communicate telepathically when he’s transformed into his werewolf form (we’ve discovered that it helps to keep him from going feral, having someone there who can interpret his feelings/emotions and speak clearly too him. Poesy’s easily the most trusted to do this) 

Gotten piercings: Ears, double

Had a broken heart: Not really, no. 

Been in love: Jesse’s the first, and it wasn’t exactly pursued or planned, just happenstance (when reviewing the footage, they pretty much couldn’t stand each other when they met over half a decade ago-- Poesy 17, Jess 20)

Stayed up for more than 24 hours: Too many times to count

ARE THEY

A virgin: Naaaah

A cuddler: Very much so

A kisser: She does enjoy it, yes.

A smoker: Negative

Scared easily: Depends on setting? Generally, no; some fright guaranteed (like anything involving open ocean)

Jealous easily: Less likely to be jealous, more likely to feel less than or envious of the person that might incite jealousy.

Trustworthy: Yes. She values her good word because she has no intention of damaging the trust others might place in her family

Dominant: Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Submissive: No, not really.

Single: Nope! Most likely the last relationship she’ll have, however it ends

RANDOM QUESTIONS

Wanted to kill someone: A noble fuckwit called Renee Taveolt for forcing their party through the Labyrinth and orchestrating a large part of the mess they’re in; Parre Despa, for playing part in Taveolt’s machinations and effectively decimating the Edgewood family over a few centuries.

Actually killed someone: Renee Taveolt and Parre Despa. Things worked out nicely.

Ridden a beast: Only horses and a wildshaped druid friend. She was a giant eagle and she was carrying Poesy’s ass out a battle gone south (see scars: pair of arrow punctures) while Poesy shrieked obscenities at her all the while before she ran out of steam and just cried the rest of the way home. It was a bad time.

Have/had a job: Sharpshooter, traveling cross country for competitions, competing and winning against a lot of Triquetra’s top marksmen; currently a mercenary. Their team goes by Vindices Populi, but they’re technically a sect of the greater mercenary group The Champions. Essentially acting as their spec ops team.

Have any fears: Losing the people she loves. Her family is massively important to her, essentially her driving force. Secondary, much lower tier, but the most consistent, not being able to rely on her own sight. Particularly manifests in fear of the leviathans that live in the sea, only just off the coast. (but not limited to the water; encountering bulettes in the sand sea had her about lose her shit)

FAMILY

Sibling(s): Her brother Loren, senior to her by seven years. She’d almost consider her aunt a sibling, as she was so often around, and Alta at 37 is almost closer in age to Poesy’s brother than she is her own next older siblings. Also a long time family friend, Robert Balten, is as good as a second brother to her. She’s known him since she was born and his family has been close to hers for decades.

Parents: Astor and Elise. Very very much in love. The current Lord and Lady of the city-state Mountbatten. They’re the de facto leaders, but share a lot of the lawmaking with an elected council. Astor is a calm and collected man; logical and thoughtful. If he’s the head, Elise is the heart. She’s a feeler. 

Spouse/Significant Other: Jesse Edgewood. Essentially inseparable since he started traveling with the party. They grew closer to each other after Poesy ended the man who orchestrated the murder and attempted murder of his ancestors and the man who removed them from their ancestral home and shattered his family. In the search to find a magical method to travel back home, they fell along along the way.

Children: None; never really gave much thought as to whether she’d want kids until she had a significant other that she’d like to spend her life with. Much more plausible to her now (even though there will be... complications... like genetically inherited lycanthropy...)

Pets: None of her own. Her dad raised wolfhounds and the family kept mews to house recovering hawks (their family’s sigil). The party sorta adopted a tiger? It’s a long story. He doesn’t travel with them, but they love spending time with him when they can.

[the-quiet-winds]

These Lines of Silent Lightning

[angst... in a way. you’ll see.]

There are a few places this story could start, if you really cared to take a look.

It could start with Katherine Howard, who wakes up in the morning with a smile on her face. Last night’s show had gone brilliantly, and she had a great feeling about the one ahead.

It could start with Jane Seymour, who stands in front of the bathroom mirror, furiously trying to wipe tears from her cheeks and make herself presentable. It really hadn’t been the first time she had been here, with words she’d seen on social media about her bringing her to tears, but here she is anyway.

It could start with Catherine Parr, making her way down the stairs in slippers, searching for that first morning cuppa.

Or, if you find it interesting, it could start with Anne Boelyn, blinking the last remnants of sleep out of her eyes and immediately slamming her eyes shut. 

Since when is it so bright in here?

She turns slightly to the side and regrets it more. Anne immediately knows the migraine is spreading down her neck when she can barely turn it at all.

“Annie?”

The light knocking on her door rattles around her skull. She groans out a, “go away,” and pulls her pillow to cover her head.

“It’s Kitty, can I come in?”

“I’m not feeling good Kitty,” Anne calls back, voice soft and a little rough, “come back later, okay?”

Anne heard a little dejected, “okay,” before footsteps went away. She feels a little bad, of course she does, that’s her baby cousin, but everything seems to hurt today. She decides to go back to sleep.

It’s about two hours after Katherine comes down to see Parr, saying that Anne was still in bed and wasn’t feeling well, when the second queen stumbles into the living room.

“Anne?” Parr asks. “You’re not looking too good.”

“Not so loud!” Anne immediately complains, covering her ears with her hands and slamming her eyes shut.

“Come on,” Catherine whispers, “back to bed with you. You’re not doing the show tonight.”

Anne can hardly react to Parr’s hands on her back starting to guide her back up the stairs. She lets Parr tuck her into bed with barely any words. Her brain won’t sort anything enough to even get a coherent thought through her skull.

She passes out again.

---

The words hurt Jane.

She’d be lying if they didn’t.

Social media was cruel to the third queen particularly. Usually, quite unfortunately, she could deal with the comments on her body and her looks, her hips too wide and bust too large.

This was different.

This wasn’t something she could hide for a day behind her favorite sweatshirt.

She’d heard it before too, the comments about how she was to blame for Anne’s death. How if she hadn’t let herself get ravelled into Henry’s clutches Anne’s head wouldn’t have rolled. How if she hadn’t kissed him just that once, Anne wouldn’t have miscarried. She would have had her son. She would have ruled gloriously.

When she comes out of the bathroom, tear stains coloring her cheeks, she catches Anne being led back to bed by Catherine.

“What’s wrong with her?” Jane asks softly when Parr returns.

“Migraine, I think,” Parr says. “She gets them sometimes.”

Jane nods. The low light of the hallway allows her tears and red eyes to go unnoticed, as Parr slips past her and down the stairs.

Jane herself proceeds to let herself into Anne’s room. All the shades are drawn, the room silent, the woman herself asleep, grimacing slightly in pain as she sleeps. Jane gives a soft, quiet smile, and crosses to her bed to place a gentle kiss against Anne’s forehead.

Anne barely reacts, save for a tiny, barely-there whimper, and Jane takes her leave.

---

When Anne wakes next, the sensitivity behind her eyes has lessened, but her neck feels like it’s on fire.

She stands on shaky feet and makes her way downstairs, but the living room and kitchen are empty. She checks the clock on the stove. The show started twenty minutes ago.

With a soft sigh, Anne moves to pour herself a bowl of cereal. The ache in her neck is dull yet very achy, but every movement sends sharp, nearly blinding pains straight up her spine and into her head.

She sits down with her cereal and checks her phone. Her notifications covered her lock screen, Twitter and Instagram having blown up since she was gone. With her brightness on almost the lowest setting, she begins to thumb through all the tags, mentions, and talk of her as she slowly eats her cereal.

Her most recent post, the one of the picture she had posted of herself and Jane, was getting lots of attention. Many of her fans, and the show’s fans in general, liked it and gave positive comments.

But it’s what happens at the top of the comment feed that worries her.

“Wow, cute pic with the woman responsible for your execution in the past life,” the top comment reads.

The replies are filled with people telling them to, “piss off,” and that, “things are different now,” but there are several others who agree with the original commenter.

Anne takes the last bite of her cereal and sets her phone down on the table. She rises and crosses back to the kitchen when she suddenly gets dizzy.

She’s barely set down her bowl on the counter before her knees go out and she collapses on the floor.

---

Barely two hours later, the queens return. Parr insists they be quiet as they enter, as Anne may still be sleeping off the migraine, so they slip quietly into the house.

Well, it’s quiet until Katherine notices Anne’s limp body on the kitchen floor.

After that, it’s anything but quiet.

Tiredness forgotten, the queens pile into the car, Kat and Jane holding Anne between them as Parr barks directions at Aragon, driving, and Cleves tries to keep the peace as they make their way to the hospital.

Anne is whisked off as soon as they arrive, and Katherine turns to the closest person, who just so happens to be Anna, and holds her for dear life. Parr and Aragon sit together, holding each other’s hands, in silent, conjoined prayer.

Jane slips off to find something to eat. She’s just grabbed several energy bars and waters for everyone when her phone buzzes in her pocket. She pulls out and her heart falls even more.

It’s a message from a ‘fan’, and all it says is one cruel word.

Murderer.

Jane shoves her phone away and moves back up to where the others were waiting.

It’s well into the night when a doctor comes back with news. Katherine is asleep on Anna’s shoulder, fitful and crying quietly, even in dreams. Anna carefully wakes her, holding her close.

“Well?” Aragon demands.

“It appears to be meningitis,” the doctor says bluntly. “It would be in her best interest if you all headed home-”

“Like Hell we will,” Aragon counters. “We stay.”

“She will be sleeping for a while,” the doctor continues. “We have her on some strong antibiotics. She will be awake in the morning, and we promise to call with any changes.”

It takes a long time and lots of debate before they reluctantly agree to go home. If what the doctor says is true, they’d see Anne in the morning, when she was awake.

Katherine doesn’t detach herself from Anna the whole way home. Even when they get back to the house, she insists on following Anna to bed, and the German queen holds her as she sleeps.

Aragon and Parr retire separately, but Jane knows she won’t sleep. 

She slips into Anne’s dark room, fidgeting hands in her pockets.

There’s someone here. She can sense it.

“Show yourself,” she commands quietly, with the ice of a queen.

Jane sees her visitor out of the corner of her eye.

“Is she going to die?”

A nod.

Jane’s hand raises and pulls her cross from under her shirt, her thumb barely tracing over the raised edges of the intricate design.

“What do I have to do?”

---

The queens keep a vigil over Anne the following morning. Katherine sits in the chair beside her cousin’s bed and doesn’t move, even as her legs cramp and she feels like her back will give out, she doesn’t leave. Anna, Parr, and Aragon idly move around the room, having far too much nervous energy to sit.

Jane is the most flighty of them all. She comes in the room to check on everyone, offer as much solace as she can, then leaves again. In and out, all morning.

Finally, at just after noon, a miracle occurs.

The color bleeds back into Anne’s face, her eyes open, and-

She’s alive.

She’s really alive.

It’s a miracle.

Katherine bursts into tears, Parr clings to Aragon, who can’t help but smile with Anna. Jane enters the room, her lips in a tight line and her face unreadable.

Then she smiles. Just a little.

“I’m so glad to see you healthy, love.”

They don’t get much time to talk at all, the doctors whisk away the queens to examine Anne, and it’s truly a miracle that no one can understand.

That night she is discharged with a clean bill of health, and the energy among them can only accurately described as tired electricity.

They get home and immediately disperse for bed, and Katherine doesn’t leave Anne’s side, and Parr doesn’t leave Aragon’s. Basically, they all end up in Anne’s room. Kat and Anne sleep in the bed, Parr curls up in the armchair with Aragon resting against the footboard, and Anna has absolutely no qualms about sleeping on some blankets and pillows on the floor.

Jane doesn’t join them.

At five of two in the morning, her visitor returns.

“Is it time?” 

Another silent nod.

Jane swallows her pride, her guilt, her entire consciousness, and climbs the stairs up to Anne’s room.

She looks around at the inhabitants, softly snoring and sleeping in positions that can’t possibly be comfortable. Her eyes fix on Anne’s clock on the night table. 1:56.

Jane moves to the armchair, pressing a soft kiss to Parr’s cheek. She removes her cross and presses it in Aragon’s hand, then kisses her knuckles.

1:57.

She moves to Anna, curled up on the floor, and pulls a blanket a little tighter around the German woman. 

“Take care of them,” she breathes out. “Please.”

1:58.

Jane sits softly next to Anne on the bed, stroking a few stray hairs away from her forehead and kissing the revealed skin. “This is for you, sweetheart,” she promises. 

1:59.

She finally finds Katherine, and tears form in her eyes. She has to do it, Jane knows, but it doesn’t make this any easier. She leans over to kiss Katherine’s forehead, her cheek, the tip of her nose. “I love you, Katherine Seymour,” she whispers. “I love you so much.”

2:00.

Jane stands and faces her visitor. 

“I’m ready.”

Her visitor nods, silent per usual, and it happens.

A seizing, blinding pain shoots up the entire length of Jane’s spinal chord and sets a bonfire in her head. She screams loud enough to wake the queens before dropping to her knees.

But no one can reach her before she falls forward onto the carpet.

Aragon doesn’t even question how an unfamiliar cross is in her hand as she scrambles across the floor to Jane. She pulls the woman into her lap, patting at her cheeks.

“Come on, Jane,” she pleads. “By the name of God, wake up!”

But it’s too late.

Jane is gone. Her steely grey eyes, usually so filled with light and love, are empty. There’s nothing behind them now. No soul, no heart, just a blinding, soul-crushing vacancy.

It’s then that Anna notices a seventh in the room. “What have you done?!” She demands.

Aragon turns towards where Anna is speaking and holds Jane closer, as if she could protect the dead woman from the threat. “Who are you?!”

Someone steps out of the shadow of the bedroom door. “I did nothing,” they say. Their voice is not cocky or sarcastic in any way, just somber. Quiet.

“You killed her!” Anne cries out, barely even able to sit up.

“No,” they protest softly. “It was her idea.”

“Who are you?” Parr demands.

“I am Death,” he says, “and I had to collect the debt.”

He steps more out of the shadows, and the harsh red glow of Anne’s clock catches his face. He wears a black hood, but his rich, dark skin and nightstruck eyes are illuminated in red. 

“A debt?” Aragon asks brokenly.

He looks to Anne. “She wouldn’t let you go again.”

“Please,” Katherine barely whimpers, “bring her back.”

He shakes his head. “I cannot. She signed a deal.” He sounds truly regretful.

“At least let us see her,” Parr pleads.

He regards them quietly, then reaches down to Jane, still pulled on top of Aragon. He presses his fingers together just above her forehead and pulls back. When he releases his fingers next to him, Jane stands again. Her skin is blueish and translucent. 

“You have two minutes,” he says. “Then we must go.”

Jane looks at them all. “I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “I had to.”

“But-” Katherine protests.

“No,” Jane rebuts, “I have to repent my sins.” She looks to Boleyn, who has tears streaming down her face. “I couldn’t save you last time. I’ll save you now.”

“Jane,” Anne whimpers, “don’t leave us.”

Jane shakes her head. “No, love. I must. You all are so strong, so fierce. You will do just fine without me.” She takes a breath. “Don’t forget me. Tell my story.” 

Aragon holds her cross tightly in her hand and kisses it. Jane kneels in front of her. “I’ll find Mary,” she looks to Anne, “and Bess,” then Parr, “and Mae. I’ll tell them all about you all. I’ll keep them safe.”

“It’s time.” Death extends a shaky, translucent hand.

Jane nods. “Take care of each other.” She takes his hand and is led back to the doorway. “I love you all.”

Death raises his free hand above his head. “I’ll take care of her,” he promises.

He drops his hand and they’re gone.

All that remains Death’s tarot card laying on the carpet.

———————————————————————————————————–

tag list: @percabeth15 @kats-seymour @qualquercoisa945 @jane-fucking-seymour @a-slightly-cracked-egg @justqueentingz @annabanana2401 @wolfies-chew-toy @broad-way-13@tvandmusicals @lailaliquorice @aimieallenatkinson @sweet-child-why03 @gaylinda-of-the-upper-uplands @funky-lesbians@thinkaboutitmaybe @hansholbeingoesaroundzeworld@anaamess@beeskneeshuh @prick-up-ur-ears @theartoflazy@justqueentwo @brother-orion @paleshadowofadragon@lafemmestars @beautifulashes17@jarneiarichardnxel @idkimbadwithusernamesandstuff @sixcago@mixer1323 @boleynssixthfinger @aimieallen @elphiesdance@boleynthebunny @krystalhuntress @lupin-loves-chocolate@bellacardoza16 @bluify

[oxsix]

How a home is made

Kitty builds a family; step by step. In which bonds are forged over cups of tea. 

AO3 link

Just a fluffy drabble about KHoward being loved, because she deserves it

Kitty is timid at first. They all are, in a way, when they first move in together. After all, they've only really known each other for a few weeks, and some of them aren't on the best of terms.

It was an awful idea, really, for them to all live together. But the money is running out, and the people who'd brought them back can't afford to keep renting them all separate places. And so, here they are, in a relatively small, six bedroom house outside of London.

And Kitty isn't really sure where she stands. She hadn't known most of them the first time, not even her own cousin, and she doesn't want to get herself caught up in the middle of the other women's disagreements.

- - - 

Anna, surprisingly, is exactly the same as she has always been. She's a bright spot in Kitty's darker days, and she always seems to know when she's at her lowest. She's there for Kitty in those times, with kind words, whispered affirmations and jokes that always seem to catch Kitty off-guard, no matter how prepared she thinks she is.

And it's perfect, in it's way; it's hard to keep crying when Anna is around. Kitty is grateful, beyond what words could express, for her old friend. She worries, though, that she relies too much on Anna's support; that she might be a drain on her friends happiness. But every time, Anna reassures her that it's okay, that this is what friends are for.

Still, it's this that drives Kitty to interact with the others. At the very least, she doesn't want to be attached to Anna at all times.

- - -

While Anna and Cathy had had a little tension between them when they'd first come back, they'd quickly settled and forgotten their differences. Both were fairly civil with each other, anyhow, and they were the first of then to really form a friendship, outside of Kitty and Anna.

They spend a lot of quieter moments together—reading peacefully, or avidly discussing the intricacies of the modern world and their new findings.

The two of them are also the ones Kitty feels most comfortable around, in the beginning. Anna is an old friend, of course. But Parr is surprisingly easy for her to be around, too.

She has quite a gentle presence, and always greets Kitty pleasantly, talking idly about her latest areas of interest. She's kind, and open, and always makes conversation with Kitty, but Kitty doesn't feel any pressure to keep them going. The ebb and flow of their discussions feels comfortable. Parr was the sort of person who was happy to spend time with her, without expecting anything from her.

On warmer mornings, the two of them sit outside with their cups of tea, and watch the birds. They're generally up last, Kitty thanks to her nightmares, and Cathy because of her tendency to become entirely absorbed in her work.

Kitty likes this new friendship. She likes their quiet, laid-back familiarity. She likes being able to spend time with someone who isn't asking for anything in return. She'd had enough of that the first time.

- - - 

It takes a lot longer for Kitty to get closer to the others  though. Unsurprisingly, her cousin is the first of the three to let Kitty in.

It happens when Kitty hears quiet, muffled sobs from Anne's room late at night. She's panicking, Kitty can tell—tell she's been there plenty times before. She stands on the other side of the door, wondering if it would be an invasion of Anne's privacy to enter.

When she hears Anne let out a particularly heart-wrenching whimper in her sleep, she makes up her mind. She slowly opens the door, and moves to the side of the bed. Gently, she shakes her estranged cousin awake.

Her eyes are wide: confused and frightened. She looks disorientated and startled by Kitty's presence. Once she gets her bearings, she looks upset.

"What are you doing here?" She asks, uncomfortable at being seen in such a vulnerable moment.

"Sorry, I just.. well, I heard you and thought you must be having a nightmare, and–it's just," she doesn't know what to say; she only wanted to help, but she hardly knows Anne. "I get them, too. I know what it's like, so I thought... you might like some company?"

Anne looks at her then, softly. She doesn't say anything.

She moves over, and gestures for Kitty to lie with her. She does, and Anne rests her head on her younger cousins shoulder. She sniffles quietly, and Kitty absent-mindedly runs her hands through the other girl's hair, as Anna often does when she needs comforting.

They stay like that, until they both fall asleep. Neither of them says anything—they don't need to. The quiet speaks for them.

They fall into a routine after this. When one of them had a nightmare, or can't sleep for memories of apathetic crowds and sharp blades–they go to the other's room, and they spend the night together, soothed by the knowledge that their pain is shared, and understood.

- - -

Jane is next, and it's surprising how close the two of them become. She's cold at first, distant from everyone.

Kitty doesn't see her much at all, only hears her during her heated arguments with Anna. They aren't as common as Anne's arguments with Catalina; the two of them lean more towards cold, barbed words and avoidance than fiery debate. But, when they do erupt, well—it's a lot.

The rest of the house tends to stay out of their way on these bad days—both women are full of hell after their conflicts.

It's on one of these days that Kitty first understands who Jane really is. The argument that morning—prompted by a disagreement about the usage of milk—had been particularly vitriolic, and both women had said things that they would one day regret. Things that hit a little too close to home.

A few minutes after the yelling stops, Kitty goes to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast, only to find Jane still there, standing stock-still, a mug held firmly in her grip. Her breathing is heavy and she is staring fixedly out of the window, at nothing in particular. Kitty moves closer, and coughs gently to make her presence known.

Jane startles at this, jolting suddenly. The mug falls from her hand and clatters into the sink, shattering. Jane only panics more. Her eyes are wild with fear. She looks like she's afraid for her life, and Kitty doesn't thinks she's quite here with her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry," the older woman repeats, over and over until her voice devolves into sobs. Kitty gently puts a hand on her back. She asks what's wrong.

Jane doesn't answer, and she doesn't need to. Kitty understands. Jane's relationship with Henry hadn't been perfect, either. Even the one he'd supposedly loved had suffered because of him. And that fear had followed Jane into this life, just like it had Kitty.

So Kitty sits with her, until the tears subside.

The next night, as usual, Kitty is woken by a nightmare. But this time, when she wakes, clutching at her throat, she feels a weight settle gently at the end of her bed. She expects it to be Anne.

It isn't. Jane takes Kitty into her arms and lies with her. She hums softly, as Kitty's panic dissipates.

And in her arms, Kitty feels safer than she has felt for a long time. Nobody has held her like this since her mother died. It's something Kitty hadn't realised she was missing.

She feels protected, and valued. She feels like a kid again. And it's a relief. She never really had the chance, last time.

Kitty falls asleep there, and she and Jane quickly become like a real mother and daughter.

And it works. After all, Jane had missed out on her chance to be a mother last time, and Kitty had missed out on the chance to have one. This time, neither of them were going to miss their chance.

Kitty is grateful for Jane, even if Anne resents their bond at first.

- - -

The final piece of the puzzle takes even longer to fall into place.

Catalina scares Kitty, at first. She's aloof, dignified—every bit a Queen. And she's real royalty, not like Katherine.

As much as the first queen makes her feelings about Anne widely known, she keeps most things to herself. She's extremely distant with Kitty, and she isn't sure how she should interact with her.

They've barely said two words to each other, outside of "hello" and "good morning." Kitty has seen her have short, pleasant conversations with Jane, but even they are fairly formal.

The only person she's seen Catalina be genuinely open with is Cathy. She tries to keep this hidden too, but Kitty has seen the soft smile she deserves for her God daughter, as well as the way she always seems to have a coffee made for the younger woman when she finally resurfaces from her bedroom at midday.

It's wordless, and subtle. But Kitty sees it.

The date Kitty comes to understand Aragon is the 18th of February, and Kitty doesn't know, at the time, why this is significant. But, that morning, Catalina is even more withdrawn than usual. She doesn't say good morning, doesn't speak to Jane, and when Cathy comes down, there's no coffee waiting for her. She gives Kitty an enquiring look as she makes a mug for herself. Kitty shrugs, and leave the room with the two mugs of tea she has made.

She finds Aragon outside. Definitely not dressed appropriately for the cold weather, and clutching a mug of coffee—which must have gone cold by now—so tightly that her knuckles are white.

As Kitty approaches, Catalina doesn't look at her. That's when Kitty notices the tear tracks down her face. She says nothing, only hands the other woman a hot cup of tea, and a throw she'd taken from the living room.

Silently, Aragon accepts them. She looks like she wants to say something, but she doesn't.

A few days later, Kitty is up uncharacteristically early in the morning. She'd woken from a nightmare and hadn't managed to get back to sleep.

It's about 5am, and when she gets downstairs, she finds Catalina alone in the kitchen, in her dressing gown.

"You're up early." She remarks.

"Bad dream" Kitty replies. It's the most they've ever spoken at once.

Aragon places a mug of tea in front of her, then sits across the table.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The question takes Kitty by surprise, and it's all she needs to say. Words spill from Kitty's mouth, and she isn't sure at which point she starts crying.

She bares her soul, and Catalina sits quietly, listening. Eventually, she moves around the table, and Kitty's head is on her shoulder as she cries.

Her hand moves softly through Kitty's hair, gently working it's way through every tangle in her bed-head.

It's comforting, and Kitty remembers that Catalina has done this before. Her own daughter had been around Kitty's age when they'd last seen each other.

Again, Kitty sees silent tears well in the other woman's eyes, and she realises that Aragon needs this just as much as she does. She understands why she has been so gentle with Parr, and so eager to speak with Jane.

She's clutching to anything that might remind her of Mary. Yesterday was her birthday. Aragon missed her daughter, but she couldn't say it.

And Kitty understood, now, why it had taken her song to open up.

She smiles softly at Catalina, who sniffles and wipes her eyes.

"Never speak of this again," she says, with what Kitty thinks is supposed to be a wink.

"I won't," she giggles, and winks back. "Promise."

And, while she's not good at saying it, Kitty knows that she cares for her.

- - -

And this is how Kitty's family begins.

Over time, the shouting matches cease. Arguments die, old enemies reconcile. It takes time, and no small amount of effort on Kitty’s part, but her family becomes a unit.

Tearful confessions and overdue apologies lead to deeper understanding between them all, and little by little, they grow closer.

Finally, Kitty has the family she never had back then, and she loves them more than anything.

[blueboxbecca]

Underneath The Mask.

Sad!Boleyn and Soft!Aragon angst!! Here goes nothing, apologies in advance!!

******************

Anne Boleyn was chaotic. Sure, it was mostly for show, but she had to hide her pain somehow.

Everything was faked. Her smile, her laugh, even her body language. The beheaded queen felt that she had to wear this mask at all times. Both onstage and off.

It was in the first few days of rehearsals that she realised that the other Queens seemed to like her better when she was making them laugh and causing general chaos, than when she was sitting quietly with her own thoughts.

From that moment on, Anne decided she would keep up the act. She had lost people before and she wasn't going to be alone again.

Towards the end of her time with Henry she was hurt, scared and alone. She couldn't put herself through that again.

Most mornings, Boleyn would wake alone in her bed and take five minutes to truly be herself before donning her invisible 'mask' and leaving her room. Breakfast would usually result in her younger cousin Katherine laughing at her, and Cleves rolling her eyes at her with a smile on her face. Anne would rather hide her own pain to make others happy, especially Kat. Her cousin had been through so much that she needed all the help she could get. 'It isn't your place to take Katherine's help.' she would tell herself.

Over time however, the ever observant Queen noticed that the others were becoming more and more irritated by her. Especially Catherine of Aragon.

It was during Movie Night that it first happened. Five of the queens were all situated in the lounge, snacks in hand and blankets covering them, when Anne joined them, late as usual. Upon seeing her, Aragon rolled her eyes.

'Anne, can we please have one family gathering without chaos. For all of our sakes.' Aragon groaned, turning her attention back to the movie that Parr had picked.

Anne stuck her tongue out at Aragon, then promptly returned to throwing her popcorn in the air and attempting to catch it in her mouth.

What the others don't know, is that she cried herself to sleep that night.

It was a couple of days later when it happened again. Jane was baking meringues to take to a local care home when Anne decided she was going to 'help'.

'Can I help, Janey? I love meringues!' The green-eyed queen questioned.

'Sure, whip the egg whites for me will you, love?' Jane replied, checking the recipe for the oven temperature.

Before she could turn back around, Anne was holding the bowl of loosely whipped egg whites over her head.

'Anne, no. For God's sakes. You can't do that until they're fully formed peaks or it goes everywhere! You're banned from helping, go and do something useful!' Jane snapped, grabbing the bowl and returning it to the surface.

Anne stomped dramatically to her room, slamming the door in the process.

Once she was in her room, the facade fell. The young queen crumbled to the floor, back against the door to prevent any unwanted intruders. There was no way she could stop the tears that were threatening to fall down her face, so she allowed herself to cry silently.

The next thing Boleyn heard was knocking on the door.

'Anne? I swear to God if you've done something stupid I'll slap you myself.' Came the voice from the other side.

It was Catherine of Aragon. Shit.

Anne began to panic. She couldn't be seen like this.

Her breaths became more erratic as black spots began to enter her vision.

Catherine could hear Anne's breathing change and could make out the sound of faint sobs coming from the other side of the door.

'Anne, its Cath. Let me in please? I want to he-' Aragon began, sounding panicked.

'Go away. I don't need you of all people to help me.' Anne bit back, her voice laced with venom. She began to panic, which brought back vivid memories of Henry forcing his way into her chambers, aiming to satisfy himself as he pleased.

With more force than was probably necessary, Aragon shoved the door, pushing it open and moving Anne along with it.

The younger queen scrambled across the floor, backing into the dresser at the end of her bed. In her panicked mind, it wasn't Catherine entering her room.

'Please don't hurt me. Please!' Anne cried, curling herself into an even tighter ball against the dresser.

Upon seeing the distress Anne was in, Catherine's heart dropped.

'Annie, sweetie. It's me. Aragon. Can you hear me?' Aragon asked as she crouched down infront of the scared queen.

Upon receiving no answer, she gently removed Anne's hands from where they were clutching at her scalp, and tried again.

'Anne, squeeze my hands if you can hear me babes. It's only me, I promise you're safe.' Aragon continued.

There was a gentle squeeze to her left hand.

'Okay good. That's good, Annie. You're doing great. Copy my breathing, okay?' The older queen began to breathe deeply in an attempt to coax Anne into breathing with her.

After a few moments, Anne let out a shaky breath.

'That's it honey. You're okay.' Catherine sighed in relief. The two queens sat silently whilst Anne's breathing returned to a somewhat normal rate.

'Sorry. I'm okay now, you can go.' Anne said shortly, removing her hands from Catherine's. She remained curled against the dresser, however.

'I'm not leaving until you tell me what happened honey.' Aragon replied, shifting herself to sit next to Anne, rather than infront of her.

There was a pause before Boleyn opened her mouth to speak, and promptly shut it again.

'Its just... ugh. Nevermind. It's stupid.' She mumbled, defeated.

'Anne Boleyn, nothing you could say will be more stupid than the time that you tried to convince me that the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum came alive at night. Go on, spill.' Catherine joked, attempting to bring the other queen back to herself.

Anne chuckled softly, and then began to speak.

'Since the first day of reheasals, I have been terrified of not fitting in with you guys. We're all so different in this life and I didn't want to end up alone, so I changed myself to fill the gaps. I became the chaotic one when nobody else did. It's so hard for me to constantly be the chaotic one. Shocker, I know.' Anne said, laughing sarcastically.

'I felt like I have to hide behind this mask of chaos and hilarity because you guys won't like me otherwise, and it sucks. I ignore all of my feelings and problems to try and make everybody else happy, and it has just resulted in you hating me.'

'Anne, you know I could never truly hate you, even after our past lives. Regardless of whether you fit in or not. You're family. ' Catherine spoke, pulling the younger girl into her side in a maternal manner.

'Let us help you, yeah?' She continued. 'We'll discuss this as a group later when you feel up for it, and we'll all figure out a way to help you get back to feeling like you.' Aragon finished, looking at Anne.

'Thanks Cathy, you're really not as mean as you seem.' Boleyn quipped, relaxing into the older queen's arms.

[lailaliquorice]

I have been a fool for lesser things

PARRLYN ANGST COME GET YOUR PARRLYN ANGST

and it’s angst angst. But hey this was fun to write and it has a happy ending. there will be a follow-up oneshot to this to give everyone what they’ve been waiting for which I’ll probably write up a bit later and post tonight c: it’s not spell checked bc I have to rush out so I’ll correct it later lol

tw for drink spiking and general hospital stuff bc I know that makes some people uncomfortable

It was tradition for the queens to go down to the pub for an evening out; it was their favourite way of celebrating the end of a long week, all squashed around a table and relaxing with drinks in hand in each other’s company. But today found Anne at a different pub than their favourite local tavern, and in an unusual though not unwelcome change there was only one other queen with her.

“Here’s to a spontaneous night out,” Cathy said, chinking her raspberry gin against Anne’s vodka lemonade as they sat down at a free table. It was earlier than they usually went out because neither of them had performed that night, since it had been Anne’s random show off and Cathy had scheduled the day off so she could attend a conference.

As a result, when Cathy got home to find a very bored Anne she’d suggested they wander down to the new bar they’d been meaning to try out for a while, and Anne had been eager to agree. The thought that she was essentially on an unofficial date with Cathy kept circling around her mind but she kept shoving it down. “Here here,” she echoed, taking a generous swig of her drink while Cathy only sipped hers lightly. “So how was the conference?” she asked, remembering how excited Cathy had been before she set off that morning.

“Really interesting thank you. It’s nice to actually be taught something for a change; doing my own research is all well and good but you can learn a lot by being lectured by someone as knowledgeable as the Professor was. I had plenty of questions for her afterwards,” Cathy said, her face lit up by her smile. Anne always thought she practically glowed whenever she started to ramble about something that interested her, and she could have listened to her talk forever. After several minutes of Cathy talking about everything she’d been told, she cleared her throat slightly sheepishly and added “Sorry if that was more than you wanted to know. How was your day?”

Anne laughed, shaking her head. “I asked ‘cause I wanted to know, you don’t need to be sorry,” she said, grinning when Cathy’s shy smile returned. “And I just got stuff done really, dealt with the laundry that Jane was ready to murder me over and tidied my room. Was a bit lonely though so this is really nice, thanks for the suggestion.”

Cathy shrugged, still smiling at Anne as she said “You’re very welcome, it’s a lovely end to a lovely day.”

When their drinks were both running low, Anne downed the remainder of hers before insisting on getting refills for them both. Cathy watched her go with a fond smile, too preoccupied by chastising herself for her stupidly fast heartbeat whenever Anne smiled at her to notice that she wasn’t alone until she heard a male voice say “Hello sweetheart.”

Cathy almost jumped, looking around to see the man who had slid into Anne’s seat. “Oh, hello,” she said, not trying particularly hard to feign interest.

“Haven’t seen you around before. What brings a pretty girl out here alone tonight?”

“No, I usually go somewhere else,” Cathy replied, not bothering to answer his second question. She avoided his gaze as she drank the rest of her drink, hoping he’d be put off by her disinterest and leave her alone.

To her frustration though, he only smiled a little wider. “Well, I’d say you have a good choice in bars then. Can I get you another drink?”

Cathy shook her head, sneaking a quick glance towards the bar to try and see if Anne was on her way back yet. “No thank you, my friend is already getting me another,” she said, voice a little firmer as she refused his offer.

His smug look faltered for a moment, then fell altogether at the sound of someone coughing pointedly just before Cathy felt someone’s arms over her shoulders. “Hey hun, who’s come to join us?” Anne asked, resting her head close to Cathy’s as she stared down the stranger.

“Oh, you didn’t say it was that sort of friend, I’ll be out of your way,” the man said hurriedly, not looking at Cathy as he practically stumbled in his haste to get out of Anne’s chair. Cathy watched silently as he disappeared into the crowd, too distracted by the feeling of Anne’s breath against her neck to say anything.

Anne gave a low chuckle before moving round the table to sit back down,  and Cathy immediately missed the warmth of Anne pressed up against her back. “Sorry if that made you uncomfortable, thought it’d made him go away faster. You alright?” Anne asked. There was a blush across her cheeks as she met Cathy’s gaze for a split second before dropping her eyes again.

“I’m fine, and of course not. Thank you for saving me,” Cathy said, prompting Anne to look back up at her with a happy grin.

After a moment of them both looking into each other’s eyes, Anne clicked her fingers in apparently realisation as she jumped back out of her chair. “Forgot the drinks! Back in a mo!” she yelled as she sprinted back towards the bar, leaving Cathy to watch her go with a giddy smile that she didn’t bother trying to conceal.

But by the time Anne returned after actually ordering their drinks the second time around, Cathy was just staring at the opposite wall with an empty look on her face. “Hey, you ok?” Anne asked, putting their drinks down on the table as she looked at Cathy worriedly.

Cathy shrugged, swallowing heavily before she spoke. “I don’t know. I don’t feel very well all of a sudden.”

“Do you want to go home?” Anne asked, not caring that she’d just brought two new drinks at the sight of her friend looking so unsettlingly grey.

Nodding, Cathy murmured a quiet “Yes please.”

Anne stood first and put one arm around Cathy’s waist to help her to her feet. Slowly they made their way out of the bar, but when Cathy caught her foot on the doorway Anne just about managed to react quickly enough to catch her albeit clumsily. “Woah, I got you. Let’s stop for a sec. You doing ok?” she asked, leading Cathy over to crouch down by the wall.

“I didn’t drink that much,” Cathy said as she sat down heavily, almost overbalancing sideways and needing Anne to correct her again. “It was only one double gin, that shouldn’t… I’m not… uhhh…”

She trailed off with a groan and cradled her head in her hands, prompting an increasingly worried Anne to rub her back gently as she breathed heavily. Seconds later she was vomiting on the pavement, her head pounding and her vision blurring so much that she could barely notice Anne’s hands holding her steady. She was sure she heard Anne say something in a voice rising with panic, but then her shaking limbs gave out and her eyes rolled upwards as she collapsed into Anne’s arms.

~~~

1am found Anne sat in a hospital waiting room with her knees pulled up to her chest.

The wait for the ambulance had been torturous, as all she could do was hold onto Cathy’s lifeless form in her trembling hands and pray for help to get there faster. Then they were both bundled into the back of the ambulance, Cathy on the stretcher bed with an oxygen tube in her nose and heart monitor beeping slowly while Anne just clung onto her hand and tried not to get in the way. Then they arrived at the hospital and Cathy was whisked away behind closed doors, and Anne was left alone.

Footsteps approaching made her look up to see a doctor standing by her. “Are you here for Miss Parr?” he asked.

“Yes,” Anne said immediately, jumping to her feet. “She’s alright, isn’t she? Please tell me she’s ok.” She hated the waver in her voice as she practically begged the doctor, but she was too terrified to care.

“She’s stabilised and will be absolutely fine,” he said, and Anne felt her knees go weak with relief as she sagged back into her chair. “She’ll need to remain here for a day or two for monitoring and will be back to full health before long. But we found something when we tested her blood, and we believe that her drink was spiked.”

Anne felt her blood run cold as the doctor spoke. Her first thought was how lucky Cathy had been that she wasn’t alone; her second was the man who Anne had found sat at their table as Cathy finished her drink. For several moments she was quiet, thoughts whirling faster than she could deal with them, before she looked up and asked “Can I see her?”

The doctor nodded. “She’s asleep for now but will most likely start to come around within the next few hours. But you’re welcome to stay with her.” He led her down a corridor into the ward, then pushed open a door labelled ‘C. Parr’ and motioned for her to go in.

Anne’s eyes instantly landed on Cathy lying motionless in the hospital bed, the only signs of life being the steady trace of the heart monitor and the shallow rise and fall of her chest. She dimly heard the door being closed behind her, the sound jolting her back to life from where she’d frozen for a moment. The sight of Cathy, brave beautiful Cathy, looking so small in a hospital gown beneath ghost-white sheets was enough to make her stomach turn.

Finally finding her feet again, she crossed the room and dragged a chair over to sit by Cathy’s bedside. As she went to take her hand again she paused when she saw the tube in the back of her hand connected to a bag of fluids, but after a second’s painful hesitation where the lack of physical contact became too much she resolved to just hold her hand carefully. She needed the feeling of Cathy’s skin on hers, the reminder that she was ok and that Anne hadn’t lost her.

Her phone flashing in the dimly lit room reminded her that she hadn’t checked her notifications since leaving the bar, and she opened her phone to see several unread messages from the rest of the queens. She didn’t bother reading them before she clicked on one contact and pressed the call button, holding her phone to her ear in a shaking hand.

“Finally! Why in God’s name haven’t you been answering anyone? I had to talk Jane down from going on a manhunt!”

Anne’s lip trembled at the frustration in Aragon’s tone, unable to say anything until the line had fallen quiet. “Catherine,” she said, her voice thin with barely contained panic.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Aragon asked, suddenly sounding concerned.

“We’re in hospital.” The second those words were out in the open the dam broke, and she dropped Cathy’s hand to clamp her hand over her mouth in an attempt to stifle her sobs.

It was a long while before Aragon could make herself heard over Anne’s shuddering breaths. “Just breathe Anne, take a deep breath and calm down for a second,” Aragon said soothingly, and Anne hummed in affirmation as she gasped air into her lungs. After a few seconds Aragon continued “There you go, that’s better. Now slowly tell me what happened.”

Hearing Aragon’s firm voice down the phone felt like Anne had been thrown a life ring while she was drowning. “We- we were at a bar and someone spiked her drink,” she explained haltingly between breaths, pausing to wipe away the tears that streamed down her face. “She blacked out and I called an ambulance and now we’re at hospital. She’s sleeping but they said- they said she’ll be ok in a few days.”

“That’s a relief,” Aragon sighed, and Anne hummed again. They were both quiet for a minute before Aragon added “Do you want me to come down there with you?”

Anne considered it for a moment, before she shook her head. “No, it’s ok. They might not let anyone else in this late anyway,” she said, knowing it had to be well into the small hours. Her voice shook again as she asked “Can you come tomorrow though?”

“Of course I will dear,” Aragon said, and Anne smiled at both her answer and the term of endearment. “Try and get some sleep, and I’ll be there in the morning. Everyone has gone to bed but I’ll let them know what happened, you just worry about looking after yourself and Cathy. Ok?”

“Ok,” she echoed quietly.

Once the call was over, Anne looked back over at Cathy’s peaceful expression as she slept on. Figuring she ought to take Aragon’s advice if she didn’t want to hear about it in the morning, she pulled her chair closer to the bed and kicked her shoes off before tucking her legs underneath her so that she was curled up semi-comfortably in the armchair. Resting her head on her elbow and holding Cathy’s hand again, she continued to watch her soft breathing for a while until her eyelids eventually fluttered closed and she fell into an uneasy sleep.

~~~

The first thing that Cathy became aware of was the faint beeping in the background. Then the dully throbbing pain in her head that made her groan softly. She went to lift her hand to her head but paused when someone’s fingers tightened around hers, prompting her to open her eyes. To her confusion it wasn’t her own four walls she saw when she looked around slowly, her vision blurring slightly as she turned her head, but her rising panic was quelled a little when she saw who was clinging onto her hand.

Anne was somehow curled up in an armchair a couple of feet away, gangly legs folded awkwardly underneath her in a position that hardly looked comfortable. She was asleep with her hair falling in front of her face, meaning that her holding onto Cathy’s hand was entirely subconscious.

Cathy smiled for a moment before she saw the tubes that had been taped into the back of her hand and crook of her elbow. That was when she remembered the beeping that had woken her up, and she glanced upwards to see a heart monitor as well as the two fluid bags that her IV drips were connected to. There was a tube in her nose too, lying uncomfortably on her skin and rubbing against her ears. She was in hospital. And while she could recognise how terrible she was feeling, she had no idea why.

Frantically trying to think back to the previous evening, her dread worsened as she realised the amount of gaps there were in her memory. She could remember going out with Anne, how Anne had linked their arms together as they walked down the road, but that was the last of it. Anything could have happened since then and Cathy was entirely clueless.

Her breathing quickened in her panic, a stray tear escaping down her cheek as her mind whirled uncontrollably with thoughts of what could have happened. Was there something really wrong with her? Was Anne ok? Did the others know what had happened?

The heart monitor’s steady beeping escalated as she panicked, flashing a warning just as Anne’s head flew up from her arm. She looked around disorientated for a moment before her eyes landed on Cathy and she uncurled her legs to sit on the edge of the bed. “Shh you’re ok Cathy, it’s alright you’re fine,” Anne said, grabbing Cathy’s hands in a role reversal of how they’d been when Anne had the first panic attack in front of her. “We’re in hospital but it’s ok, there’s nothing wrong and you’re gonna be fine in a bit. I’ve got you.”

Cathy nodded, then groaned again as the pain in her head increased sharply and her stomach turned. “What- what happened?” she asked, her voice cracking with how painfully dry her throat was. “I can’t remember anything, I know we went out last night but I don’t remember anything else.”

“We tried out the new bar last night and someone spiked your drink,” Anne said gently, giving a reassuring smile as Cathy’s expression dropped in shock. “There was a guy who approached you while I was at the bar, it must’ve been him. You were really sick and I called an ambulance and… and yeah, that’s how we’re here,” she finished lamely.

As Anne explained, Cathy noticed for the first time how pale her face was and the dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. Clearly the night had taken a toll on her as well.

“Do the others know?” she asked.

Anne nodded. “Yeah, I called Aragon last night and she said she’d come visit a bit later.” She paused to glance at the clock before correcting herself with “Well, maybe a lot later ‘cause it’s only 6 in the morning. You were out for about 9 hours.”

“Longest I’ve slept in a long time,” Cathy joked hoarsely, relieved when Anne cracked a tiny smile.

“Yeah, guess so,” she said, before her expression turned serious again. “They said you’d feel a bit rough for a while and you can probably go home tomorrow. And then I guess you can decide if you want to report him or not.”

Cathy thought for a moment, wishing she could remember what the man looked like or even what he’d done. “Probably,” she said after a while. “If I can remember enough to give a police report. I just wish I’d been more careful.”

“Hey, don’t go thinking this is your fault. That guy was the piece of shit, not you,” Anne said firmly, frowning for a moment before her expression softened. “And I’ll help you if you still can’t remember. I was there too y’know, you weren’t alone in this.”

She hummed in agreement, giving Anne’s hands a tender squeeze. “I know. And it’s thanks to you that I came out of this ok, so thank you Anne. It could have been a lot worse if I didn’t have you,” she said, looking earnestly at her friend.

Anne nodded in response, before her expression crumpled and she looked away at the ground. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Cathy asked, suddenly concerned.

“Sorry, I dunno why I’m upset when you’re the one who’s hurt,” Anne muttered, taking one hand back to wipe her eyes roughly. “I just… I was so scared when you blacked out that I was gonna lose you, and I dunno what I’d do without you because you’re amazing and I love you and it was really really scary.”

The confession didn’t go unnoticed by Cathy even in her groggy state, and she might have grinned with shock and joy if it wasn’t for the fact that her friend-turned-something was sobbing uncontrollably as all her fears from the past 12 hours came flooding out. “Come here love,” she said softly, opening her arms as Anne crawled up to lie next to Cathy while being painstakingly careful of the wires and tubes she was hooked up to. Cathy held her close as she buried her head in her chest, running fingers through her hair and whispering comforts into her ear. “I’m here, ok? I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got you and we’re ok.”

“Mhm,” Anne murmured, her voice muffled by Cathy’s hospital gown.

Cathy continued to run her fingers through Anne’s hair and rub soothing circles into her back, noticing as all the tension left her shoulders and she relaxed heavily into Cathy’s hold. “How much sleep did you get last night?” she asked quietly.

Anne shrugged. “I dunno. I think I fell asleep at like 2.”

“Do you want to sleep here?”

“Yes please. You’re comfy.”

Cathy smiled at Anne’s response. She could feel her own exhaustion taking over again, and the comforting weight of Anne lying against her was enough to pull her towards unconsciousness again. There was so much she wanted to say, so much they needed to talk about, but they had time for that. For the moment though, Cathy kissed Anne’s forehead before resting her head atop her hair and giving into sleep.

~~~

When Aragon creaked open the door a few hours later, she was hardly surprised by the sight that awaited her. Cathy was lying asleep in the hospital bed, monitors beeping a peaceful rhythm which quelled the fears that had kept Aragon awake most of the night. But tangled up in her embrace was none other than Anne Boleyn. While she might have been unhappy a few months ago when her regard towards Anne was still poor, their now close relationship meant that she only smiled fondly at the pair of them.

She kept her footsteps silent as she took a picture of them both, then made herself comfortable in a chair across the room while she texted it to Jane to reassure her that all was fine. She’d come down to the hospital on her own after filling in Jane on what had happened, and she knew that the other three queens would hurry down to join them as soon as Kat and Anna had woken up. That gave Cathy and Anne a few more hours of peace and quiet in each other’s arms.

Her goddaughter and her almost-foster-daughter. Aragon couldn’t help but feel like a proud parent.

[opheliathedreamer-blog]

Goblin x Reader

Summary: Valentine’s Day for goblins is understandably different than the human equivalent. Of course he still gave you chocolates and roses just to see you smile, but on the first new moon of spring, he invited you to join a celebration that was far more adrenaline-fueled.

At dusk, when your eyes fluttered open at the sound of your alarm, you rolled over with a groan and instinctively reached over to the other side of your bed. Your brow furrowed with confusion when you found it vacant. Blinking away whatever remained of the sandman’s dust from your eyes, you glanced more clearly at the room. Darik, your boyfriend of two years, was nowhere to be found. You stifled a yawn and set your feet on the floor. While running a hand through your knotted hair, you paused upon seeing two items on a nearby table that weren’t in your room the previous evening. One was a bouquet of red roses. The other was a heart-shaped container, presumably filled with chocolate.

You wondered when he had snuck out of the cabin to buy those for you. Goblins were nocturnal by nature, and you both had gone to bed half an hour before dawn. The thought of him bundling up and braving daylight for you made your heart flutter.

Although you smelled breakfast cooking and heard the sizzling of bacon, you decided to sneak a few. Dark chocolate bordeaux. Your favorite. 

Humming with pleasure, you righted yourself and shuffled over to the closet. When you slid open the oak door, however, you pinched the bridge of your nose. All of your clothes were gone save for that crop top and pair of tight leather pants that made Darik go wild on your third date. You groaned. This was parr for the course when it came to dating goblins, but that didn’t mean you still weren’t annoyed. 

“Darik!”

You heard his barely restrained cackles and could all but see his silver eyes twinkle with mischief. You rolled your eyes, shut the door, and entered the kitchen in your pajamas out of spite. 

“Good morning, love!” he called from his spot at the stove. He used a spatula to place some cooked bacon on your plate, his already piled with raw meat from your fridge. “I missed that voice of yours. It has conquered my heart like the roaring river.”

“Don’t sweet talk me.” You crossed your arms over your chest. “What did you do with all my clothes?”

He glanced at you out of the corner of his eye, shoulders shaking. A clawed hand did little to quell his snickers. Your own lips twitched at his contagious laughter until you bit the inside of your cheek. You were supposed to be mad, damn it. Prank calling you during work and rigging your fridge to play the Jeopardy theme whenever you opened it was different than taking all of your clothes.

“Darik.” Your eyes narrowed. “I’m serious.”

He placed your breakfast in front of you. “Aw, don’t look so cross. Life’s no fun at all if the unexpected stays well away.” His sharp teeth winked at you in the room’s dim lighting. “You’ll get them back once you wear that outfit I’ve picked out.”

“Or I could wear this and go stay at Nicki’s for the night,” you said nonchalantly, sliding into a bar stool. “I could make you wait for your present until tomorrow evening.”

With a half-hearted growl, he grabbed his own plate and pulled himself into the seat next to you. “You’re stone cold, you are.”

You snorted, a smile finally forming. “You’re lucky I love you.” You leaned forward and placed a kiss on his hollow cheek. “I’ll wear the damned thing. Just put my clothes back by tomorrow.”

“Whatever you say.”

“And thank you for the roses… and the chocolates. It was very sweet of you, no pun intended.”

His lips twitched upward. His long fingers caressed your temple and ran through your hair. “It ain’t the goblin way, but it’s worth it to see you smile.” He glanced downward, food still largely untouched. “Speaking of which, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

Your eyes flitted over to him, giving him their full attention. He looked just as serious as he did when you gave him a key to your cabin. He was silent, contemplative. You could see his mind sorting out possible statements, wanting to choose the best possible words. His prominent brow was furrowed, already thin lips stretched to nonexistence. All that and his pointed nose brought to mind silhouettes in the books your grandparents used to read to you. But in all those stories the goblins merely wreaked havoc and were defeated by a wise woman or brave knight. Those stories never told how deeply one could love.

“My people have our own celebration similar to this one. It happens on the first new moon of each spring. My tribe’s elders will be there and mated pairs, too. One half runs into the forest and hides, and the other half has to find them.”

It sounded like a large-scale game of hide-and-seek, but you didn’t want to trivialize the celebration by comparing it to a human children’s game, so you remained silent.

“The first couple that makes it back to the elders wins something—jewelry, tools, furs, gold or silver. It changes every year. But what’s really important is what it means to the tribe and the mated pair involved. It’s a way of showing that they intend to stay together, before and after the bonding ceremony. It shows that no matter what separates them, distance or otherwise, they’ll always find a way to come back together again.” He scratched his neck. “At least, that’s how Mum explained it to me.”

It’s a way of showing that they intend to stay together. For goblin kind then, this ceremony was significant. You wondered if his parents were going to be there. You’d met them a few times before. His father seemed friendly enough and praised your skill as a healer (you were a nurse), but his mother seemed to have her reservations. You were the first relationship he’d had in decades. She could tell you meant a lot to him and murmured to you as you left the burrow not to hurt him.

A commitment like this was a big step, but one that you were excited to take. Then, perhaps after this, you could decide how to present yourself to the elders officially.

“I understand if you wouldn’t want to go. It’s April 5th, and I know the hospital can be pretty busy during spring so…” He trailed off, digits fingering his silver necklace.

“Darik, if this is important to you, then it’s important to me. I’d love to go.” You reached down for his limp hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze. “I’ll inform the hospital that that’ll just have to be a vacation day for me. No if’s, and’s, or but’s.”

You saw the way he stared after you in your periphery, features softening in a wide, heartfelt smile, a hand resting against his cheek like a schoolboy with a crush. It warmed your insides and made you forget all about your rude awakening.

The closer April drew, the more you and Darik buzzed with anticipation. It would be the first time you had ever participated in a purely goblin tradition and, although you were human, Darik was consistent in reminding you that he wouldn’t go easy on you.

“We ain’t cheaters, are we, love?” He teased. “Besides, it’ll be a riot to see you stumble through the dark and try to find me.”

“Can’t I be the one who hides?” you had asked.

He tapped the side of his nose. “I could smell your vanilla shampoo a mile off. It simply wouldn’t be fair.”

And so you found yourself stumbling through the woods at night. The elders, after some thought, had given you a flashlight so you wouldn’t accidentally sustain an injury, but its beam was far too small and dim to be of much help except when it came to avoiding roots on the path. Muffled laughter, crackling leaves, claws scraping against wood, and exclamations of the names of other goblins who had joined the celebration echoed around you. You walked as quickly as you dared, checking berry bushes and hollow trees for Darik’s familiar features. Hours passed and you only succeeded in uncovering a female goblin hidden in a fallen log. She chortled upon seeing you.

“Good luck finding Darik. I can’t even smell the bugger.”

Encouraging, you knew.

But still, you refused to give up.

Keeping the general direction of the rendezvous point in mind, you abandoned your westward route, having found no other signs of goblins there, and veered north. The wind whispered around you, and the ancient silence of the forest was only broken by the calls of owls and bats and the occasional whoop of triumph from goblins who had found their partner.

More hours passed. The scent of pine, oak, and evergreen would have been invigorating if your feet did not ache from running and hiking up and down unpaved terrain. Your flashlight grew even more dim, something you hadn’t thought possible. You were hardly afraid of the dark, but the thought of being stranded with no light source wasn’t a good option. You supposed you could wait until dawn to move about if it came to that, but what if you didn’t find Darik and return before then? Would the elders judge you more harshly?

You shook your head, momentarily banishing such a thought, and continued onward. After you trudged another quarter of a mile, you froze at the sound of a branch breaking on a tall pine nearby. You watched as the branch plummeted to the leaf-covered forest floor and pointed your flashlight upward. It flickered and the light died.

“Oh, no you don’t!” you hissed and gave it a few whacks with the heel of your hand. It sputtered to life, but you weren’t sure how long it was going to last.

You tried glancing into the heavily boughed tree again but saw nothing. The light was too weak to make out a distinct silhouette, but intuition warned you not to pass this one by.

“Darik?” you called, but expected no answer. Goblins weren’t allowed to speak or move unless they were officially found.

You worried the inside of your cheek and glanced around, eyes squinting in an attempt to see through the shadows. If you did what your gut was urging you to do, you could be wasting more time. No matter how high you climbed, there wasn’t enough moon or starlight to see into the surrounding trees. However, if you were right…

Sighing, you decided to take the chance. You held the flashlight in between your teeth as your fingers searched for purchase in the dark. After a few moments, you found deep enough grooves that you thought would support your body weight. You pulled yourself up and your right leg came to rest against a low-hanging branch. A few moments later and your left leg did the same.

You continued on in this way until your light permanently died, and you counted your blessings that your brother had urged you to regularly climb trees with him as a child. You spit the now useless device out and heard the snap of dry leaves announce its landing.

Grumbling, you reached forward for another handhold and felt your foot slip. You yelped and clung to the trunk. Your fingers ached and your right leg fought to right itself on a nearby branch. Several tries later and it still met nothing but empty air. The muscles in your upper arms bulged as you tried to pull yourself up in the hopes of finding another suitable branch. 

You breathed a sigh of relief when your fingertips brushed against one overhead. You tentatively placed one hand on it and then another. Your legs blindly searched for another foothold, and you readjusted your grip, brushing against something smoother and cooler than the branches and bark.

A beat passed before that something grasped your wrists and lifted you up onto the branch. Once you settled, you registered silver eyes and smelled earth, leather, and hot metal.

“Darik?” you whispered.

His arms tightly wound around you. “You found me,” he breathed.  

You smiled at the purr that vibrated in his chest as well as your own triumph, but forced your voice to remain neutral. “You’re terrible, you know that? You made me climb a very tall tree in the dark with no flashlight.”

He nuzzled the crook of your neck, lips stilling over your pulse. “Admittedly not my best idea… I thought the flashlight they gave you was of better quality. But, by the time the horns sounded, I couldn’t move. I’m sorry.”  

“Well, this certainly isn’t a human celebration…” You released an airy chuckle. “But it’s more exciting than any Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had.”

A brief silence passed between the two of you.

“Do you know how I found you?”

“The broken branch?”

You scoffed. “Besides that.”

“How?” he hummed. 

“This tree felt right. It felt like you were here.”

His hands entangled themselves in your hair. You could feel his smile against your skin. “That is what this is all about. Goblins may see in the dark and have a keen sense of smell, but it’s our hearts that guide us to each other.”

You reached out a hand and rested it against his chest, feeling his heart thrum against your fingertips. “So I passed the trial?”

“Was there ever any doubt?”

“And if this means that we intend to stay together, then we can start planning for that bonding ceremony?”

“One ‘trial’ at a time,” he chortled. 

And although your legs and arms throbbed, your hair full of twigs and leaves, your sweater torn from wayward brambles, the respectful nod the elders sent your way and the small, hopeful smile of his mother were well worth it.

[qualquercoisa945]

Pride Is Not The Word I’m Looking For

Title Inspiration- Dear Theodosia from Hamilton

AO3 link

yeah this is just cause i wanted some boleyn fluff

Getting their children back had been an emotional ordeal for all six of the queens. In between adjusting to having to take care of them and the shows, it hadn’t left them with that much free time. Not that any of them really minded- having them back made it absolutely worth it.

It had also shown a new side for three of the queens. While Jane’s motherly behaviour hadn’t changed much, unsurprisingly, Aragon and Parr had both changed their fair bit.

Aragon had become more gentle; Anne had noticed her fuzzing over Kitty’s hair or quietly ask Cleves if she was okay after she’d pulled an all nighter.

Meanwhile, Parr’s walls seemed to fall more easily. Mae was a curious kid, constantly asking about everything, and also very cuddly, she liked to hold onto people and she liked to be held. A few months ago, Anne presumed Parr would’ve found this behaviour a little annoying, but now she seemed to not just let it happen, but encourage it.

It was a weird change when it came to both of them, but one Anne was more than welcome to witness.

And herself? Anne thought she’d become just generally more mature. Lizzie was just as much of a mess as she was, but she was trying to become better, for her daughter’s sake.

Of course, change took time. Every now and then, Anne would slip, and suddenly it was 3 am and she was still watching TV. She’d stopped beating herself up over it. Instead, she’d just make her way back upstairs and go to sleep.

Seemingly, it was just another one of those nights. But then she heard quiet murmurs coming from Lizzie’s room. This didn’t surprise her that much- that Lizzie’s sleep schedule was a mess was nothing new- so she simply walked towards her door, quietly knocking on the door. She frowned softly as she got no response, then quietly opened the door.

She froze at the scene in front of her- Lizzie sitting on her bed, tears streaming down her face and knees pressed against her chest, arms wrapped around herself like she were trying to make herself as tiny as possible. She could hear her repeat “it’s not real” to herself over and over and over.

She hesitated for a moment, then quietly moved closer, her heart breaking at the thought of her little girl being in that much pain that she could barely do anything but cry. “Lizzie?” She called softly, immediately stopping as the girl practically jumped.

Lizzie stared at her for a moment, then hastily wiped her tears away. “Mama?” She asked shakily, looking back down as more tears began to fall.

Anne sat down in front of her, arms open. “Come here, sweetheart.” She murmured. For a second Lizzie hesitated, and then she jumped forward, burying her face in Anne’s shoulder while the latter held her close. “It’s alright, love. You’re okay. We’re all here.” She murmured, tracing light patterns on the girl’s back.

The two stayed like that for a while, even after Lizzie had stopped crying and was just letting herself be held. Eventually, Anne looked down, gently wiping away tear tracks. “What got you so worked up, love?” She asked quietly, still keeping her close.

Lizzie glanced away for a moment, then chuckled bitterly. “Do you know that show they made about you and the others, The Tudors?” Anne nodded hesitantly, wondering where exactly the conversation was headed. “I was watching it last night. They…” She paused for a moment, squeezing her eyes shut, then sighed and opened them again. “They showed your execution on screen.” She eventually mumbled out.

“Oh, love…” Anne murmured softly, leaning down to kiss Lizzie’s forehead.

“It’s okay. My own fault for choosing to watch it.” She muttered in response, before sighing. “They tried to keep it away from me, you know? That I wasn’t a princess anymore. I noticed though.” Lizzie pressed herself closer, something Anne gladly welcomed, and then continued. “It took me a bit to understand just how much it all meant though.”

She sighed quietly, staring ahead into nothing. “I dunno if you noticed but, I tried to make sure you’d be proud of me.” At that, Anne stopped, and Lizzie must’ve noticed because she chuckled lightly. “Yeah. Used your symbols during my coronation and everything.” Anne noticed the hint of pride that she’d become familiar with upon talking more with her daughter, and a smile spread across her face.

“You’re kind of why I didn’t get married- you and Kath. I watched you both get locked up and…” She trailed off, nodding to the side, then continued once Anne nodded. “And I was just like, if that’s how husbands treat their wives? Then I don’t want that.” She shrugged slightly.

Anne waited for a moment, only speaking once Lizzie was done with her speech. “Well, you can be sure I’m proud of you. Hell, I’m not even sure if “pride” is the word I’m looking for.” Anne admitted with a quiet laugh, which Lizzie echoed.

“But, seriously. You did so many amazing things, sweetheart. I don’t know if there’s a way for me not to be proud.” She leaned down slightly to kiss her forehead again. “And even if you hadn’t? I’d still be proud of you, and most importantly, I’d still love you. Because you’re my daughter. Nothing’s gonna change that.”

Lizzie stared at her, and for a moment Anne was afraid she’d said something wrong. Then Lizzie hugged her tight, the movement being replicated by Anne. “I love you too, mama.” She murmured quietly, and Anne all but clung onto her at that point.

They stayed like that for a while, and then she felt Lizzie tug on the hem on her shirt. “Mama, can you stay here with me tonight?” She asked quietly, and Anne smiled softly, kissing her forehead.

“Of course, ma princesse.” She murmured, gently brushing a strand of stray hair behind her ear. “Let me just go put on something else, yeah?” Lizzie nodded, and Anne kissed her forehead before quickly slipping out of the room.

Not too long after, Anne walked back in changed into her sleep wear. Lizzie was already laying in bed, so Anne just walked in and slipped into the bed with her. Near immediately, Lizzie snuggled closer, so Anne held her tightly.

Quietly, Anne began singing the same old French lullaby she’d sing to her as a baby. She felt Lizzie relax in her hold, and soon after, her breathing even out. Quietly, she pressed a kiss to her forehead, careful not to wake her. “Good night, ma princesse. Je t’aime.” She murmured, before closing her eyes and letting herself fall asleep.

[shakespearefreak]

SIXcago!

Epic story time!

On Saturday, my friend @laropasucia and I took a roadtrip to Chicago to see SIX the musical! It was... incredible.

The drive there was long, but we found ways to pass the time (even aside from 7-Eleven Slurpee tributes to Soviet Cinnamon Rolls).

Gorgeous view of a scenic highway, of all things, from a stop along the way.

Finally, we arrived in Chicago. I suddenly remembered I hadn’t been there since I was a kid, and of course walked around gawking like an obvious tourist.

At Navy Pier

(Yeah, I know the pic’s blurry...)

Can you imagine being at the top of that Ferris wheel? 😮

Arriving at the theater!

The Show

It was breathtaking. I cried from joy before the first song was through. Human beings shouldn’t be able to do the things I saw the Queens do on that stage. I kept forgetting that I was watching a live show, because that’s not possible, it had to be a film with multiple takes and special effects... the energy level, the emotion, the audience interaction, the choreography, the costumes, the lighting, the way everyone on stage was perfectly coordinated, their VOICES... I’d never seen a show even remotely like it.

I tried filming MegaSIX, but I couldn’t find my phone for the first part! (Also, I didn't get the end on film because I wanted to experience the last couple seconds without my phone in front of me.) My camera skills leave much to be desired, and the video quality sucks, but I WAS THERE and it was INCREDIBLE!

After the show, I waited for the Queens at the stage door, and a spontaneous SIX singalong began in the crowd. It was an almost magical experience; it felt uncannily synchronized, like we’d all rehearsed it together. We got through “Don’t Lose Ur Head,” “Haus of Holbein,” “Get Down,” and part of “All You Wanna Do”... and then suddenly the people in front broke off singing and started screaming as the Queens appeared!

(BTW, if you’re featured in this video and don’t want to be, please let me know!)

Meeting the Queens!

They were all so incredibly lovely to the fans, each in her own way.

Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour)

Abby’s voice as Seymour instantly caught my attention. It has a unique quality that made “Heart of Stone” even more captivating. Seemingly effortlessly, she hushed the auditorium when we were still pumped up from the first three upbeat songs.

Abby was the first Queen to reach out to me. She saw me standing back, clearly wanting to approach but also not wanting to be rude, and held out her hand to me with an open, friendly smile. She talked with me a bit and made me feel a lot more comfortable.

Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr)

Anna’s Parr was a powerhouse. Trying to describe her performance, the word I keep coming back to is Fierce, with a capital F.

What I noticed most about Anna was she didn’t want anyone to be left behind. Several times she called out, asking if there was anyone in the back who still needed anything signed. She seemed very chill, 100% a professional, but also very personable.

Courtney Mack (Katherine Howard)

Courtney’s Howard was the queen of audience interaction (pun fully intended). Her flirty winks, amused aside glances, and “see-what-I-have-to-deal-with” eyerolls out were like she knew everyone in the audience personally. On more than one occasion I would have sworn a smile or a wink was meant specifically for me, even though logically I knew everyone in my general direction was meant to feel precisely that.

Courtney captured my heart immediately when I saw her at the stage door. She seemed so much like her character! She took tons of time with every fan, and talked with to everyone who approached her with full attention, wide eyes, and a dazzling smile. She was so sweet, and seemed so genuinely excited and pleased to be around the fans.

Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn)

I admit, I was nervous about Andrea’s take on Boleyn. I love what I’ve seen of Millie O'Connell so much, I was afraid no other performer could live up to her. Andrea took those doubts and utterly decimated them within the first few seconds of “Don’t Lose Ur Head.” Her voice and overall performance are both wildly different from Millie’s, but retain the same core character. And like Millie, she seems to have absolutely boundless energy: she bounced all over the stage the entire show.

In person, Andrea is TINY. Like, almost shockingly small and doll-like. I called her “adorable” at least twice before it dawned on me how awkward that was. I apologized, but she seemed completely unfazed, like it wasn’t at all unusual.

Brittany Mack (Anna of Cleves)

In a cast of flawless dancers, Brittany’s Cleves still stood out. Her reflexes seemed nearly inhuman, and every movement was deeply expressive. Brittany told Cleves’ story with her whole body. And as if that wasn’t enough, she can do some absolutely insane stuff with her voice.

My self-consciousness caught up with me while I was talking to Brittany. Next to all these gorgeous women, I felt so awkward. After I took the photo, I said something like “I look stupid but oh well, I’m happy” and she immediately said I looked beautiful, and I believed it, the way she looked at me.

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert (Catherine of Aragon alternate) ft. @laropasucia

"No Way” is one of my less favourite songs on the cast album, because it sits immediately between the sheer electric energy of the opening number and the absolutely addictive “Don’t Lose Ur Head.” But Nicole strutted forward and blew me away. Her Aragon took command of the theater with the force of sass and total badassery, and made me completely forget that my favourite number was coming up next.

I couldn’t find Nicole in the swarm of fans for the longest time, and only managed to catch her attention just as they were all being called backstage again! She still took the time to give me an autograph and take a photo, even though a staff member was urging her to wrap it up.

They all signed my program, too!

(The gold thing is a random piece of confetti I snatched from the stage after the show as a souvenir)

The only slight disappointment of the night was that the only piece of merch I really wanted, a set of buttons, was sold out. But I did pick up a tote and a coffee mug!

👑 💛 💚 💎 ❤️ 💜 💙 👑

[nix-needs-coffee]

Smarter Than That

Prompt: “I thought you were smarter than that.” “Then obviously you’re not very smart either.”

Alcohol and self-pity. Katherine has a rough night.

I didn't expect this to go the way it did. Y'all asked for fluff, but only angst wanted to happen. Sorry?

AO3 Link

Katherine teetered perilously close to the road. She had to clutch at the metal railing next to the crossing to keep herself steady. Her fingers squished in the chewed gum stuck to the underside. Unable to hide her revulsion, her face contorted with disgust, and she shook her hand as if it would free her from the germs she had just stuck her hand directly in. Just one more thing to add to her disastrous night which had started so well.

*

She and a few of the girls had gone to the pub for a quick drink after the show. A “quick drink” always seems to turn into a few drinks, and on occasions like this night, it had turned into many drinks. She had had enough for her to feel the tension slip away from her shoulders and melt away from her limbs, enough to lean her soothed body into Parr’s side and almost pretend to listen to her as she lamented the socio-economic disparity she had expected time to resolve, enough for her lips to feel tingly and numb as she assured Cleves that she wasn’t falling asleep, she was just resting, but definitely not enough to stop her from having just one more drink.

Katherine had risen from her seat with the self-assured disposition of a person undoubtedly trying to conceal how intoxicated they truly are and made her way toward the bar. After ensuring that Jane was not watching her, she ordered a cheeky tequila shot along with her cocktail and swallowed it as quickly as she could, noting how easily the shot went down. She nearly ordered another, deciding against it when she could feel someone’s eyes on her.

She had just turned to make her way back to the table, a little less poised than she had been on her way to the bar, when she nearly collided with a man that stepped directly into her path.

“S-sorry,” she murmured quietly, not meeting the man’s eyes.

“That’s alright, love. I’ve been waiting all night for a pretty thing like you to throw herself at me,” he laughed and lowered himself down to her eye-level, giving her a wink.

Katherine tried to take a step back, but his hand on her hip kept her from creating any space between them. Her heart leapt to her throat and her lungs refused to expand.

“Watch it, love. You almost went right into the back of that guy there.” A smarmy grin stretched across his face.

She attempted to skirt around him, but his other hand came up to grasp her waist, tightening his hold, not letting her go anywhere.

The drink dropped from her hand. Ice, fruit slices, and shards of glass ricocheting off the floor, sending shrapnel radiating in a wide circle. The man jumped backward, unsuccessfully avoiding the splash, but removing his hands from Katherine in the process. Seeing her opening, she dodged around him and the onlookers toward the nearest door.

She didn’t look back until she had put several streets between herself and the pub.

*

With the fresh evening air and a little time since she’d downed her last shot, she was feeling the effects of the alcohol coursing through her system. Shaking her arm after touching the gum made her unstable once more, and she wobbled a bit trying to find her balance again.

Distracted, she hadn’t noticed the light change until it started indicating how many seconds she had remaining to cross the road safely. Cursing under her breath, she stepped into the road. The sound of a car horn startled her, making her lurch forward and stagger her way to the other side. She found herself pressed against the cool concrete of a building. She rested her forehead there for a moment, trying to will her body into responding as it normally would, but her inebriation continued to muddle the process.

Knowing she was only going to become more incapable of keeping herself safe, she patted her pockets in search of her phone. All she found was her debit card and receipt from her last two drinks. She had left her phone with Jane at the table.

She was well aware of what she must look like. There was no way a taxi would pull over for her.

Sighing, she slid down the wall, not caring that the uneven surface scraped at her skin. Feeling vulnerable, all alone and way too drunk, she resigned herself to the long wait until she sobered up enough to get herself home and let her tears fall freely before her eyes drifted shut.

*

It was some time later that Katherine felt herself being jostled about.

“We’ve got you, sweetheart,” Parr whispered.

She struggled to open her eyes and make sense of the situation, only able to work with brief seconds between bouts of nausea. She felt someone rub soothing circles on her back before everything went dark again.

*

Katherine woke the next morning in her own bed with a bottle of water and painkillers on her side table. Her head was still foggy, and stomach unsettled, but otherwise she felt better than she ought to have. It took her a few minutes to realize that she was not alone in her bed.

Flashes from the previous night made her freeze as panic flooded through her. Her breathing became ragged and she felt as though she was going to be sick again.

The person behind her must have sensed her discomfort and woke from the sound of her strangled breathing.

“Hey, you’re alright,” Katherine knew that voice. Anxiety was keeping her from placing it to a name and face, but the comforting tone served as a palliative and she felt her terror subsiding. After a few moments, she was able to turn and face the other person in her bed.

Parr.

All of the fight in Katherine left her. She eased herself back into her pillows and allowed herself a moment to regain control of her breathing.

“What happened last night? You said you were going to the bar and just disappeared. You scared the absolute life out of all of us,” Parr spoke softly, gently running her hand through Katherine’s hair. “You didn’t even have your phone on you.”

“A man,” Katherine started, feeling her stomach clench again at the thought of his abhorrent hands reaching for her. “He-he stood in my way. He grabbed my waist. Wouldn’t let me go.” She felt the tears dripping down the side of her nose and falling to her pillow. “I had to get out of there.”

“You should have yelled. Let us know what was happening so we could help you. You just left. What if he had followed you? What if someone else had found you instead of us?” Katherine could see the frustration and concern in Parr’s eyes and it only served to make her feel worse. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

“Then obviously you’re not very smart either.” Katherine knew Parr was right, but her words wounded all the same. She shifted over to get away from Parr’s ministrations. She heard Parr sigh before the mattress dipped as she climbed out of the bed.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Katherine heard her bedroom door open, and guilt overwhelmed her. After everything Parr had done for her that night, keeping her safe, looking after her, and making sure she wasn’t alone, she was lashing out at her. Katherine sought solace so desperately, and yet when it was generously offered, she had pushed it away. Incontrovertibly demonstrating that she wasn’t very smart at all.

“Catherine, wait. Please don’t go.” Her voice was so quiet it was barely audible to herself. She heard the door shut. The sound of the latch wrenching the sob from her chest that had only just been contained since she had rebuffed Parr’s comforting touch.

The self-inflicted pain of pushing away her friend and the memories of the night had her in a stranglehold. She buried her face deeper in her pillow to muffle the sound of her crying, not caring that it impeded her ability to breathe even further. She wasn’t sure she wanted to anyways.

Until she heard, “I’m still here.”

[tenpin-boleyn]

Boleyn x Parr Part 2

Hi yeah it’s me again. This is probably the worst thing I have ever written, but at this point in my life I’m too tired to care :) I mentally drained myself trying to put myself into Annes shoes oops and now I feel nothing 😂

So before I get attacked for anything in this piece, please know that most of the words aren’t exclusively mine. My friend actually ended up in this situation at age 14, and now she has the most adorable baby in the entire world I’m jealous af, and I asked for her help to try and see what Anne would think! So all of these thoughts Anne has are based on what my friend said, so this is as realistic as I could muster! Teen pregnancy isn’t a joke and is a real thing that happens, and it isn’t anybody’s right to discriminate or to judge and I just wanted to get this out of the way before I started! :)

Warnings: Teen Pregnancy, Abortion, Swearing. I think that’s it but please message or reply if there’s any you want added! :)

Also I gave up because I was so tired towards the end and decided to post this anyway. Oops please don’t hate me I’m tired :) I might continue this. I might not :)

—————————————

“Are you okay in there?” Cathy asked from outside the bathroom door. After taking Anne to bed, making sure she had her stuffed dog beside her, Parr had snuck away to the corner shop and bought a cheap pregnancy test for Anne; earning a rather dirty look from the old lady at the till. She was glad Anne wasn’t with her, if the lady had given that look to Anne, she wasn’t sure what she’d do. As soon as she returned Anne was waiting on the stairs, stuffed toy in hand, like a child who had just had a nightmare but was too scared to find their parents, and the look on her face showed Cathy that she knew exactly what was in her bag.

“Yeah. It’s just taking a long time-“ Anne whispered. She was torn between opening the door and letting Cathy see before her, and keeping it locked so she was free to climb out of the window if it turned out to be positive. Long after the test had shown its results, still unseen to Anne, she let Cathy in- thrusting the stick on her. Parr stole a look at Anne before glancing down at the piece of papery plastic that could and would change Anne’s life forever. “It’s positive.”

The thought had been playing on her mind for at least a week, but to hear it out loud set it in stone. She suddenly lost connection to the world, she didn’t feel her body slam to the floor, she couldn’t hear Cathy yelling her name, and she couldn’t hear herself sobbing into the towel she discarded that morning. The first time she fell pregnant she was over the moon, she had a child to share her love with- and if I made Henry love her then that was just an added bonus. The first time she felt Elizabeth in her arms she couldn’t help but feel her world being completed. Her big blue eyes staring at her, and the little tuffs of red hair made Anne instantly fall in love with her. But what Anne realised now, was that her baby killed her. She didn’t blame Elizabeth for anything, she would give her life for Lizzie in a heartbeat, but she knew that the baby killed her. And even in this life she knew the baby would kill her; there was no Henry, but there was the problem of her body and society and her education. Anne was barely 16, she still cursed the world with every cramp she felt each month- she couldn’t push a baby out of her. And god knows what she would say to everyone but she knew what they would think. “Poor pathetic Anne, ruining her life so early on. What a shame. She had so much potential.” She couldn’t do that to herself.

Catherine was in a panic, she was fearful that Anne had somehow got a concussion when she fell. And it didn’t help that she wasn’t responding to her voice or her touch. “Annie please say something!”

What Catherine didn’t expect was annes abrupt response. “Where the fuck is the gin” Catherine let out a sigh of relief, she wasn’t happy about Anne’s instant response to any problem in her life being alcohol, but at least she knew that Anne was herself. “Why? Remember the last time you got drunk?” Parr instantly regretted her words. Her girlfriend was pregnant with a baby she didn’t want, from a guy she didn’t want and she didn’t even remember it happening. How could she be so stupid?

“I read in a book that it gets rid of it...” the girl whispered, looking 5 years younger, sat against the bath still clenching the dog. It didn’t seem possible to the pair, but their hearts broke again, Cathy’s was broken from wishing with all of her might that she could take her pain away. And Anne’s for obvious reasons.

“Anne Millicent Boleyn you listen to me right now. We are going to go sit in your bed, I’m going to get you a glass of water and we are going to discuss every option there is. If you want to get rid of this baby, we’re going to do it safely, and if you want to keep it, then we will figure out a plan to tell the others and a plan of what we need to sort out okay?” At this Anne snapped awake, sulking and moving around wouldn’t solve her issues, she would have to deal with this at some point, and knowing her girlfriend it would be as soon as possible. And Catherine followed through on her word. She tucked Anne into the duvet, went to get her a glass of water and came back with her laptop.

“Right. Drink this whenever you feel like you are going to be sick or just feel unwell, because I’m not stopping until we’ve sorted this out okay?” Catherine’s wise eyes smiled down upon Anne, in the way that made Anne fall in love with her from the start and she couldn’t help but feel safe, tucked into bed with her- no matter the situation. “Okay.”

Anne watched as Catherine typed furiously into the laptop, as much as Anne hated emotions, she couldn’t help but feel so much love and she couldn’t believe that she was being so supportive of her... “okay so the NHS says that your options are:

* continuing with the pregnancy and keeping the baby

* having an abortion

* continuing with the pregnancy and having the baby adopted.

If you decide to continue your pregnancy, the next step is to start your antenatal care.”

“What the actual fuck does that mean.”

“Hold on. Oh it’s just the care you get when you’re pregnant.” Anne took a sip of water at this. It was all feeling so real now, and it scared her. Lots. “What are your immediate thoughts? I mean if you keep the baby, you’ve got a loving household of queens who will happily jump at the chance to cuddle and care for a baby, or you could go through with this and give it up after it’s born or I could take you to a clinic and we’ll never speak about this again.” Catherine felt like she was being too blunt, but in all honestly she was as scared as Anne. She didn’t know the slightest thing about pregnancy or anything, but she was trying to stay professional, for her baby girl. “I’ll have to keep it.” Anne blurted our, faster than Henry could say “off with her head!”

“What makes you say that?”

“I can’t take the chance of being a mother away from the queens. Catherine, Jane and Anna all had their children taken from them and now I’ve got the chance to have a child, it feels wrong to take it from them. If they ever found out, they’d be heartbroken.” Catherine pulled Anne in closer, holding her as tight as she could manage. “As sweet and as kind as that may be, this isn’t their baby. It’s yours, and you’ll be the one looking after it. If you decide to keep it, it’s going to have to be for you. You need to want this child for yourself. Not for anyone else. Put yourself first babe. I will support you all the way if you want to have this baby, but only if you want it.” Anne looked up at Parr, the fear evident in her eyes, opening her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Cathy. “And if you’re worried about them finding out, I won’t tell a soul, but we need to hide this stick before the queens get back if you chose that option.”

Anne sat silently, contemplating one small decision that would alter her entire life. Instead of verbally replying to Parr, she stole the laptop from her and began to scroll down, reading more on the options. They both sat like this for a while, before Anne was certain. As much as she had loved Lizzie, she couldn’t bear to have another child at this point in her life. It just seemed so wrong to her. “Cathy, I don’t want to keep it.” To this Anne snuggled into the older girl even more, and Parr just stroked her hair, hoping that this was Anne making the decision and that she was certain about what she was doing.

—————————————

“Boleyn, Anne?” A woman cried out into the busy waiting room. The room was busier than Anne had hoped, but all of the chatter seemed to take her mind off of life, so she didn’t mind. Anne stood up, clenching Cath’s hand as she did. As she reached the woman she managed to muster up as many words as she was able. “Can my girlfriend come too?” The voice was weak and totally out of character for Anne, not so much recently but generally. “Of course she can.” The woman smiled. She was in her early 40s and was already starting to Grey, but Anne thought that it made her look kinder- if that was even a thing- but alas it helped to calm herself, she wasn’t going to question it. The lady led the pair down the hallway and into room 2, inviting them to sit next to her desk. “So Miss Anne Boleyn, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re here for a medically induced abortion, correct?”

“Yes.” Cathy squeezed Annes hand, hoping that it would give some comfort to her girlfriend.

“Okay perfect. Before we start any procedures or any tests etc, I’m going to have to speak to you alone for a few minutes if that’s okay? It’s just to run through the risks, and your reasons for termination. It’s just a routine test we do to make sure you’re doing the best thing for yourself.”

Parr smiled at Anne again, giving her a comforting nod that told her that she would be right outside and she wasn’t going anywhere.

————————————

The chat was taking longer than Catherine had expected, but then again she had been researching abortions in adults. Perhaps there were more questions to ask for a teenager, Parr told herself. And before she had even realised, she was pacing the floor anxiously. Parr knew this procedure and interview inside and out, she had spent nights looking everything up, making sure it was safe, and that Anne would be okay; but she couldn’t help but feel nervous. She knew all of the queens had emotional scars, and physical scars as the cousins liked to point out every chance they had, so adding a terminated pregnancy to annes long list of issues didn’t strike Parr as comforting. Anne pretended to be strong; she was the witty one, the feisty one. But under all of that, she hid her pain with jokes and midnight tears and fits of rage where she would smash up her room and just sit in the mess crying at what she had done. Catherine tried her best, but there was only so far hugs and facts about bugs could go. To be fair the facts about bugs inspired Annes pranks on Aragon, but that’s beside the point.

“Uh Catherine, you can come back in now.” The woman popped her neck around the door and smiled. Catherine smelt Annes familiar scent of cinnamon pancakes and a hint of cleaning fluids- coming from the very large hand sanitiser bottles- as she retook her position next to Anne. “Ready babe?”

“No but fuck it”

————————————

“Catherine, Anne. Nice to see you on this fine day.” Before the girls had even walked through the door, Jane was standing waiting for them, Katherine peering out from a door behind her. Cath didn’t know what to do, on one hand Anne seemed to be fine, but at the same time she knew that although Anne had taken the pill option, it was still a mental toll on her. “I’ve had the headteacher on the phone for an hour screaming about how 2 of her students had snuck out of school and caused a lock down on campus. Care to explain?” Jane tilted her head at the pair and looked furious. Anne was, as suspected, mentally exhausted and wasn’t taking anyone’s shit, especially the woman who had taken her man the day after she was beheaded. “What the fuck is it to you, you’re not my mum?” Catherine looked defeated, of course Anne would say something like this. “What she means to say is-“

“Nah I meant it. Now if you don’t mind im going to my room so bog off!”

With Anne half way up the stairs, still wearing her Heelys, Jane looked at Catherine with a look that said “if you don’t tell me what’s going on I’ll hide your library card.” “Anne was having a bit of trouble and I thought that she should have the day off. It’s my fault entirely- please don’t blame her.”

[speedfm]

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎 / 𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝟏 .

here’s a little intro / task #1 for my boy , dash . i hope you all enjoy reading about him n love him as much as i do . 

full name.

dashiell robert parr

preferred name/nickname.

dash

generally referred to as

dash parr 

speech.

ACCENT : dash has a pretty typical american accent . after all , he grew up in seattle . i mean , there’s a couple words here and there that take on a seattle twist . for example , words like ‘ tag ’ or ‘ bag ’ tend to slur together a little and sound more like ‘ teg ’ or ‘ beg ’ . but it’s nothing too wild .  VERBAL TICKS : dash is a pretty speedy talker .  ( watch out jojo siwa .. dash is coming 4 ur brand ) his mouth tends to move faster than his brain , causing him to stutter through words at times while his brain buffers , mispronounce words here and there , or even start talking in the middle of a thought . dash can be incoherent at times , but please bear with him .  LANGUAGE : dash speaks english fluently and speaks a good bit of korean . he struggles with reading and writing in both languages , unfortunately .  ARTICULATION : the only times dash is articulate is when he’s repeating dumb ‘ smart sounding ’ shit that he has heard on tv . he still talks like a fourteen year old boy and regularly says yeet in sentences and even when emailing professors .  EDUCATION : most certainly does not have a big vocabulary . thinks using the word ‘ photosynthesis ’ makes him sound smart even though he uses it incorrectly .  LAUGHTER : super loud , cackle laugh . a giggly boy , for sure . if you want to hear his laugh , take a listen right HERE . laughs too much for his own good . 

mannerisms.

FACE : a pretty smiley guy . whether it’s a genuine toothy grin , a cocky smirk , or a beaming grin of success after a game . however , the look of mischief in his eye is so easily recognizable by anyone who comes into contact with him . the boy is known for his pranks and honestly ? i’m not sure how anyone can miss the sparkle in his dark eyes the moment he comes up with his next prank .  HANDS : when in class, dash can always be seen tapping his fingers , playing with a bracelet on his wrist , twirling his hair , etc . he just has so much pent up energy , just sitting around anywhere can drive him up the wall . dash’s fingers and palms are also covered in blisters and rough spots due to years of sports . his long , spindly fingers are not soft by any means .  LEGS/FEET : speedy boi . dash runs track and is known for being one of the fastest guys on the team . his legs are in great shape , long af , and always ready to carry him wherever he wants to go .  EMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS : the only time you’ll really see any ‘ outbursts ’ from dash is if he loses something . the man is competitive like no other and hates losing with a burning passion . in which case , he just tends to get >:( and punch stuff once nobody’s around .  HABITS : if he’s left without anything to do , he just starts working out using any nearby items . he’ll just drop to the floor and start doing pushups , lifting people’s backpacks , stretching in place , etc . the world is his gym . also , claps when he laughs or is is excited or honestly whenever . he just claps . a lot . for no good reason .  POSTURE : stands like he’s overcompensating . hands on hips , shoulders back , chest out . it’s annoying and i can and will clown him for doing such . 

health . 

DIET : this man has no Clue how to cook . but he tries to be healthy , so if you see him just randomly munching on a carrot or some lettuce or like ... just the most basic of healthy foods ... mind your own business . but listen the man has a soft spot in his heart for anything chocolate . drinks chocolate milk every morning to wake up .  SLEEP : lmao getting this man to sleep is impossible . he will stay up till the late hours of the night playing video games or even trying to catch up on school work . ( rare , but a possibility ) but strangely , even if he’s running on two hours of sleep , he acts like he’s just downed multiple energy drinks at all times .  MEDICINAL DRUGS : definitely should be taking his adhd medicine . but what’s the fun in that ? NARCOTICS : occasionally will hit a juul because he is dumb as fuck and likes to look cool on people’s snapchat stories . but does not fuck with drugs in the slightest . anything in his pee tests could get him kicked off the team . 

personal.

INTROVERT/EXTROVERT : dash is a definite extrovert . not a shy bone in his body and has to think out loud to truly process shit .  OPTIMIST/PESSIMIST : you know what ? i’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that dash is an optimist . he really does see the best in people and he tries to always see the silver lining in every situation . nothing is ever too dark or too far gone for this kid .  SEXUALITY : pretty much heterosexual . wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to trying things out with other guys , he’s just never done it before .  INSECURITIES : he’s pretty insecure about his lack of booksmarts . he knows that he’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier and he tries to make up for it in athletic ability and hookups . but it’s been a pretty steady insecurity of his for years now . 

relationships.

FAMILY : dash is on that middle kid grind . frequently being forgotten on his birthday , stays getting in trouble for attention , etc etc . he loves his parents and looks up to his dad BIG time , dawg . shit , he even loves his siblings . even though he would never tell them .  FRIENDSHIPS : dash makes friends pretty easily !! he has a big personality and is always welcoming of people into his circle . the only people he doesn’t get along well with are people that he sees as threatening ( to his reputation , his ego , his family , etc . ) BEST FRIEND : we ain’t there yet . lemme get back to you . i know this man is insanely loyal though . best friend application linked below .  LOVE : never been in love before , definitely not looking for love . dash is a man who loves and appreciates hookup culture more than anything . nothing hits quite like having sex and not calling them back after . sorry if he breaks your muse’s heart . </3