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mrsrcbinscn · 4 years

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Franny Robinson HC Infodump #7: More Music Stuff

tw: mentions of psychedelic use (it’s clear it is in moderation but)

Cover Contributions To Tribute or Charity Albums (and other notable covers):

King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller - Franny recorded a cover of The Moon Is High (And So Am I) for the album. There’s a really cute video uploaded on her YouTube channel of her recording the song and she’s playing acoustic guitar and dancing around in place as she sings in several takes. It’s one of the few internet videos where her husband is seen, because sometimes the camera pans to the sound engineer booth when he’s sitting next to Serghei, her go-to sound guy.

She participated on the charity album BBC Children In Need: Got It Covered, since England’s been her home from nearly twenty years now. She sang a slowed down, gentler version of Pat Benatar’s Shadows Of The Night. (inspired by that being a song I vividly remember my mom singing to my siblings and I lmao)

For the album The Music Is You: A John Denver Tribute, Franny sang Rhymes and Reasons.

On a John Prine tribute album released in 2017, Franny and the other half of the duo Dara & Danny, Daniel Maitland, recorded In Spite Of Ourselves for the album.

For a Connie Francis tribute album, Franny sang Where The Boys Are

Franny, along with black country singer Erica James, curated a Charley Pride tribute album, featuring solely country or country-adjacent singers of color. “Charley Pride, when I discovered a black country artist, as an Asian-American growing up in the 80s, that was amazing to me. Because little Cambodian me was like, ‘wow, so you don’t gotta look like Dolly or Willie to love this music.’ Everyone thinks country and bluegrass music is white people shit, but it ain’t. It was always a mix of folks influencin’ it. DeFord Bailey paved the way for Charley Pride, who paved the way for Darius Rucker, who paved the way for Jimmie Allen, Willie Jones, Mickey Guyton, Erica right here, and non-black POC like myself and Dan(iel Maitland). It was such an honor to get to curate this album with Erica. Amazing.” Franny recorded Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger for the album.

On the Tracy Lawrence tribute album Good Ole Days, she recorded As Any Fool Can See with him

She was featured on Brooks & Dunn’s Reboot, recording She’s Not The Cheatin’ Kind

During a SiriusXM session, she sang Gretchen Wilson’s When I Think About Cheatin’, and the performance w/ent viral

On a Leonard Cohen tribute album, she recorded A Thousand Kisses Deep and that cover also became popular

During a Spotify Sessions recording with Seoul Hanoi’d, Franny recorded a cover of Marcy Playground’s Sex & Candy, which also blew up, prompting Seoul Hanoi’d to officially release it on their 2018 album. It was the second of five singles off of the album, and Franny in the music video was Hot ™

During a Spotify Sessions recording as a solo artist, Franny recorded a cover of Kris Kristofferson’s From The Bottle To The Bottom

Khmer Music:

Franny, for the most part, does not record or perform pop music. However, she’s collaborated on tracks with Cambodian pop singers

She writes a lot of songs used in the soundtracks of Khmer tv dramas, and sings a lot of them as well

She’s known as The Soundtrack Queen in Cambodia

In addition to a lot of songs for film and tv, she’s released three albums entirely in Khmer. A jazz album comprised of original songs and Khmer language versions of classic jazz songs; and two in the indie/alternative style of music similar to Seoul Hanoi’d

And she’s recorded Khmer versions of several of her most famous songs

With other Cambodian diaspora musicians, she regularly collaborates on special covers of iconic Khmer 60s and 70s songs

Songwriting

Franny’s even more active as a songwriter than a recording artist. She’s got over 1,000 songwriting credits to her name.

She began writing songs “when I was 11, but they were atrocious, unsalvageable things. The first song I wrote that ever saw the light of day even after heavy edits was first thought up when I was thirteen.”

Franny is openly bisexual and explores that in her songwriting-- however, most of her songs about women or her sexuality that she wrote “pre-2009-ish” she’s scrapped or sold to other artists. Why? “Look, I’ve been married to my husband for almost twenty years now. And that doesn’t make me any less bisexual. But a lot of the songs I’ve written about women are from the perspective of a thirteen through twenty year old me, and at forty, I’m not the best narrator for those stories anymore.They are my lived experiences and my lived feelings, but I want to see how someone actually going through that will take it and interpret it. The songs I write about women loving women now are about characters I make up for the purpose of storytelling so they’re about women closer to my age, it’s about big girl love, not adolescent love.”

Common themes in Franny Sor Robinson songwriting: geography, vivid imagery like she’s showing you a picture of what she’s singing about, Buddhist themes, Christrianity (she’s a Buddhist but grew up in the Bible Belt so she’s very familiar with Christian themes), alliteration

Franny came under a degree of controversy in 2014 with the release of a song called “The Sabbath” because it was a tasteful song about how much she likes sex with her husband after they’ve been apart for a while, and Franny was like “you know you’d think the pearl-clutchin’ folks would be glad I practically worship my husband, but I forgot women ain’t supposed to actually enjoy sex.”

She's written another really sweet song about making love with her husband that did Not get hate because it was Acceptable TM and pretty romantic actually. Think along the lines of Josh Turner's Your Man or Dierks Bentley's Come A Little Closer. Songs deff about how they wanna get down but sweet.

After Franny retweet a clip of that Tyler Childers song in 2019 with the caption “big relate”, she was asked in a tweet if a follow up to The Sabbath was in the cards. Franny replied with “there’s a demo recorded for a song I wrote about six years back and that’s that on that.” Yes, Franny Sor Robinson indeed has written a song about masturbation. She’s performed the song live a few times, however, it is still unreleased officially

Franny’s written songs with lyrics alluding to her family’s experiences under the Khmer Rouge and escaping and resettling around the world, she cleverly hides them among her albums so people accidentally digest some education

Cornelius is the well-documented muse for “every love song I’ve written that I don’t specify in the album notes or an interview is written about a character. My husband is the love of my life and had given me twenty years and counting of great material to write about.”,

Franny’s been on both ends of this story. In 2019, a song Franny wrote but didn’t record became a smash pop hit after she and her producer sent it around to other producers. They recorded Franny’s demo in mid-2017 and they and the bigger pop producer that worked on the song with them listened to over 20 demos of the song until they found the right person to sing it.

And in 2013, Franny got a huge boost to her fame when she was the featured vocalist on a pop song that became a global smash hit. Franny doesn’t typically do like...super top 40 pop type music, but she liked the song so when her agent suggested she record a demo for it and send it back to the producer looking, she was like “sure, okay” and then was absolutely surprised that they chose her over some of the names she knew also recorded demos for the song.

Misc. Music facts

In 2019, a group of NYU students (where she did her undergrad) made a Franny Sor Robinson tribute album project; the majority of the students were Asian students in the university’s music programs who cite her as a big inspiration for them pursuing music. She 100% cried

For the Netflix show Just Trust Me that she co executive-produces, Franny is also one of the people who soundtrack the show

In 2020, to celebrate the 10 Year Anniversary of her biggest solo album’s release, she pulled a The Story And Cover Stories (we stan Brandi Carlile) where it was re-released along with cover versions of each song by other artists including some of Franny’s biggest living musical influences. All proceeds for the album were donated to Cambodian Living Arts.

Franny has openly admitted in interviews to using mushrooms, LSD, and DMT before in songwriting sessions. Her stance is Kacey Musgraves’ stance. Franny quote from 2019, “Used responsibly, I think psychedelics are a worthwhile experience to have. But safety and education are key. I truly don’t believe they are party drugs. Psychedelics aren’t a party, they’re a deeply spiritual and philosophical journey.”

#&&...hc #i should have slept but it is 6:15 am and here i am

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deitiesofduat · 6 years

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I was wondering if u can do a bunch of random facts/headcannons for the main cast?

Oh man, I mean, I’m happy to try, but I’m not sure where to start for the entire cast of 10… well, now 11 gods. I know have some that are scattered around the blog’s tags, and also in places other than tumblr, but It’ll take me a bit to find them or think of new ones without revealing spoilers, hmm…

So here’s what I’ll try that’s similar to the 1 Like 1 Fact meme I did on twitter a while ago: for every note this post receives, I’ll add a DEITIES-related headcanon or fact about the main cast. The main cast includes Set, Horus, Anubis, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Bastet, Sekhmet, Thoth, Ra, and nowwwww Sobek – and maybe the Set Spawn and the big bad serpent too, if relevant. You can add a note by +liking this post, and if you’re interested in learning about a particular deity, you can mention their name in a comment (and it’s not necessary to reblog this, unless you want to!).

This should help give me a bit more focus and time to think of some decent non-spoiler headcanons/facts to share. I’ll come back to this post in a few hours and add any many as I can, depending on the amount of notes it receives, and I’ll bump and place them under the cut for easy access. So yeah, go for it /o/!!

[1] Been playing with a headcanon where Horus’s Eye can see an object’s or person’s weak spots – though only for like, a moment once it’s activated, cuz I’ve wanted to avoid him being OP (but then again… he’s a literal god… so >>)

Also a related-headcanon where he can see a person’s past injuries thru his Eye too, including the hidden ones that have long-ago healed and left no visible scar. I’d like to draw the ones he “sees” on others one day if I keep it…

[2] Set is the only one of his siblings that doesn’t have an avian sacred animal, and for a while I wanted to keep it that way and literally keep him “grounded” compared to his family (sans Anubis). But I found that he’s sometimes also associated with crows (and falcons??? interestingly enough), and even though I haven’t found solid evidence of this yet, I also like the idea of him being associated with bats even before I read about it in Kane Chronicles I swear– So those 2-3 animals are probably some alternate animal form that he has but just rarely takes.

[3] Actually while I’m at it– aside from the Sha Animal, here’s a list of 30-ish animals that I keep as Set’s canon forms in DEITIES verse (based on a combination of historical speculation, recorded myths, and personal headcanons), and would love to eventually draw him as one day:

Aardvark, African Wild Ass (and Donkey), Giant Anteater, Baboon, Bat, Boar/Pig, Bull, Camel, Crocodile, Crow/Raven, Dog (some sort of sighthound?), Fennec Fox, Fish (Eel?), Gazelle/Antelope, Giraffe, Goat, Goose, Hare/Rabbit, Hippopotamus, [Spotted] Hyena, Jackal, Jerboa, Okapi, Oryx, Panther, Rat, Scorpion, Shark, Snake (Viper), and Zebra/Quagga.

[4] RELATEDLY… I REALLY REALLY like the idea of Set somehow acquiring a Thylacine form even tho it’s in no realistic way in the current timeline because thylacines weren’t native to Africa let alone Egypt. BUT… I JUST… THEY REMIND ME OF SHA ANIMALS SO MUCH o)——–

[5] When I was considering the color schemes for the main cast, I once briefly envisioned a purple/violet scheme for Nephthys, but decided to scrap it because (1) I wanted her colors to contrast with her sister’s and match a bit more with her husband’s and son’s and (2) I found that purple was nigh impossible to find in AE wall art and admittedly worried “maybe it won’t look authentic if I use those colors;;;”

Even though I’m happy with her orange/black/red scheme now, I’ve recently found that purple is a common association / kemetic UPG (or doxa?) with her?? SO THAT WAS INTERESTING… I don’t think I’ll change her color scheme for DEITIES, but maybe I’ll draw her in an alternate purple outfit one day to see how it looks on her >>

[6] One of the reasons why I like Horus, Anubis, and Bastet as their own casual friend group in DEITIES verse is that, because they’re all relatively young gods, they all share the experience/pressure of being measured up against their older royal relatives – Horus being seen as both his father and mother’s legacy and feeling the pressure to restore his family’s throne; Anubis being know for his infamous father, and even having his paternity questioned (via rumors and “myths”); and Bastet being the youngest of Ra’s daughter, sometimes being compared to her sister’s roles and achievements.

They’re all really good at masking any pressure they feel, but they also probably confide in each other about it more than with others, cuz they’ve all “been there.”

[7] Relatedly, one of the earliest version of DEITIES Project, before it was known as “Deities Project,” had Horus, Anubis, and Bastet as the main trio. That’s been changed “for reasons” since then, and their characters were quite different back then, but it might be fun to explore a story that focused on the 3 of them someday.

[8] Okay ya’ll know the part during The Contendings where Horus and Set are racing in stone boats and Horus “wins” by painting his wooden boat to look like stone? I have ideas for how that entire race happens in DEITIES verse that would be fun to explore as a side story, but in order for me to give Horus a “legit” way to win without outright cheating, he covers his boat with stone casing/accents, and after he wins and is confronted about it… well…

HORUS: “The rules we agreed on were to sail a boat made with stone. They said nothing about it needing to be made entirely out of stone.”SET: “…”HORUS: “ :)c ”SET: “…” *Internally raging*

[9] I’ve headcanon’d that Nephthys has her own set of ~7 Shabti who act as her personal assistants while she’s conducting her nightly duties, or working around her home, but I haven’t decided much more past that (still debating on how she acquired them, and if she more-than-likely named them…).

The concept and number were loosely based on how many of the other goddesses had their own sets of 7 as extensions of their power and/or control (7 Ribbons of Hathor, 7 Arrows of Sekhmet, Isis’s 7 Scorpions), and I thought it’d be neat if the Goddess of Service had her own Shabti that exemplified that part of her domain.

[10] Thoth is an avid lover of puzzles, trivia, and strategy games, and he’s also exceptionally skilled at games of chance. He doesn’t gamble or make bets often because he understands the risks, but when he does he tries to be calculative about it… and also has a natural knack for luck going his way (EX: That one game of senet that he won to help assist Nut with having her children… which is another story for another day)

[11] Ummmmm Isis is the only one of the main cast who I haven’t drawn a ref of her sacred animal form yet… or at least, not digitally. Her animal is the kite, but I’ve been debating on a while for what species to base her design on. I like the idea of her kite form looking like the Black-winged Kite, although those species aren’t native to Egypt… but some are native to Africa… and they’re so fricken pretty and they fit her colors so well so I might cave on this ffffffffffff–

[12] While we’re on the subject of sacred animals (and to help me get somewhat closer to the note count lmao I’m trying guys–), Horus’s falcon form is based on both the Peregrine falcon and the Lanner falcon, with more simplified markings for my own sanity when I draw him in dozens of panels.

At one point, I considered making his falcon form leucistic to contrast more with Anubis and Set, buuuuuut I also liked the brown colors on the falcons’ normal coloration, so I kept it. (That and more leucistic birds of prey are hawks, so… maybe for Khonsu tho if I don’t change him to an owl, hmmmm…)

[13] Okay continuing thoughts on animal forms, Bastet is able to shift her cat form into nearly any coloration or breed she desires (aside from her eyes, which remain green), but for the purposes of DEITIES I draw her as a brown cat with light gradation markings. I knew of the Egyptian Mau but also realized the spots would take a lot of effort to redraw in the panels where she appears as a cat (much like the spots on falcons for Horus). I also personally really like solid-colored coats on cats, and in particular I liked the coloration of the Havana Brown, so it may be a little less authentic but it did factor into her colors as well.

[14] I'm still debating on Sekhmet's main hairstyle and want to play with it a bit more -- not the arrangement per se but whether to keep it as locks or to make them more obvious twists -- or perhaps a combination -- since I can see her with both style at certain points in time. Either way, at full length Sekhmet's hair is very long: if she were to loosen her tie and let it fall, her longest locks would reach past her hips.

[15] I initially gave Set yellow eyes because even though he's often depicted with red eyes, I didn't want to over saturate his design with just... well, red -- especially in his animal form where his entire body is covered in red fur (red eyes + red sclera would have been, a lot). I like how his yellow eyes provide some contrast, and I've since found some story-related reasons where his eyes might play some role in the plot… but anything further might be spoilery 8')c

[16] It took me a while to settle on Osiris's "resurrected" skin tone because there were a lot of sources that describe his skin as being green, or blue, or black in coloration. I even tried them out in an earlier color test that I shared on patreon, but I eventually went with black since the color has had various meanings in Ancient Egypt that include both life and death. (It also gave me some opportunity to give green skin to Ptah and blue skin to Hapi to help vary the designs for each of those gods).

[17] Relatedly, Osiris's mortal form is a naturally dark skin tone, but following this death he can no longer appear in that form. He is also unable to travel to the overworld / realm of the living, though I'm still debating on how restrictive this is (if it's limited to his physical body or if he can split his soul under special circumstances, or with assistance). Regardless, most of his correspondence with other deities have to be arranged within Duat for this reason.

[18] I haven't made any plans to designate a spouse or romantic partner for Ra. I understand that there were a number of goddesses that were associated with him in the myths and often said to be his wife, but for that reason it was hard to settle on choosing one -- or multiple, and I realized that for the purpose of the main story it might not be necessary. I also kinda like exploring the idea of this high king and powerful creator deity who's also a happily single father, and where it's not for tragic reasons like the separation from or death of his spouse (not to knock that trope at all tho sdjfdsf). I'm not opposed to him being shipped with anyone though, I just don't think I've been inclined to do it myself lmAO;;

[19] RELATEDLY, while Ra's daughters (Sekhmet, Mafdet, Hathor, Serqet, Bastet) don't have a biological mother, I like to think that they were raised in an environment with a lot of parental figures and mentors to go around, aside from just their father. I haven't quite settled on how it was organized though, but I know that the daughters regard Thoth as something of an uncle/secondary dad (tho their dynamic with Thoth is can vary a lot from the one the have with Ra), as well as their teacher and mentor. I can also see where other gods like Khnum, Khepri, and Bes, and goddesses like Neith, Seshat, Taweret, Ma'at, and Mut, might also have played some direct mentor role in the daughters' upbringing and sense of self.

[20] (squick + implied nsfw) I uh… have this minor gag headcanon where Horus, Isis, and Osiris just don't eat fish. They just… don't. And it's entirely based on that one part of the myths after Osiris's death, where a certain part of Osiris's desecrated body ended up in the river and was swallowed by a fish 8')c (should be noted that I'm not saying that event did happened in DEITIES canon, but I'm also not disputing it either >>).

Apparently that was considered a bad omen, and I still find conflicting information on whether consumption of fish was taboo for some or all in Ancient Egypt (I think "for some" makes better sense, cuz why would an entire society that resides near the Nile river pass up on a perfectly available food source?? But I digress, I might need to review this again so take my thoughts with a grain of salt--). I also admit that I've seen it mentioned that fish are not ideal food offerings for Isis and Osiris?? and I can imagine that maybe Horus adopts the distaste for them as well. Either way, I go with the DEITIES canon that while most people and deities happily consume fish, Horus and his parents will not, and they don't enjoy it as offerings either.

I’MMMMMM gonna end it here for now cuz my headcanons have run dry for the time being, thank you guys!!

#// I'M SRSLY JUST blanking on new facts right now o)-----< but I wanna give this a try later after I make dinner in a bit #// I will… also see if I can make a tag for the headcanon-type replies since it seems that people are interested in them!#DEITIES asks #general asks #meme #Horus #Set #Anubis #Bastet #Nephthys #Ra #Thoth #Isis #Osiris #Sekhmet #headcanons

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magiikwoven · 7 years

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some long ramble about the actual life course my muses go through bc i like thinking about how people impact their life tbh.

first off, nothing is ever concrete w/ my characters unless otherwise stated. They’re always changing and growing because i’m not using them for a whole story purpose at the moment and probably will One Day. But for now this is all p much just the current life map for them.

secondly, this is only gonna cover the main three at the moment Revas, Warren & Igne tho due to the heavy involvement she has in revas’ life i’ll also say eludysia tbh. but ye!

Igne:

Igne’s life story is long. It’s centuries to millennium's old. Honestly they don’t have some super significance in things. There’s no heavily story based aspect to them. They exist and fade in and out of things. But as time passes, they become one of Revas’ few friends left. The one that always finds her, or she finds them. But its not some fleeting moment of meeting. They spend a decade together before parting simply because by then, a decade is a blink. It’s nothing. It’ll never be anything but a speck on their timeline. So they sort of become that oddly timed run in messenger. They show up and help. They’re part of the web Revas has, probably. Like, a major point in it because they’re one of the few people Revas trusts lmao. And one of the few people revas can spend time around without it being extremely painful.

So they’re not?? extremely like Story Orientated character but one of the side characters that exists in the foreground.

Warren:

Now Warren.. Warren is also an ancient. Not nearly as much as Igne, but still Old. He’s lived thousands of lives and not many of them were good. He’s lived through war after war. He’s fought battles for kings amusement. Wars to survive. Pillaged a land to claim it. Raised a flag of revolution. Men, women, and children, have died by his hands and not many he’s proud of. And for the most part, Warren sees himself as nothing but a tool. An Asset. He’s a hired hand. A hired life for a life. Even after meeting Revas, he doesn’t value himself much higher than this. He doesn’t want to. Honestly, he’s terrified of realizing that he’s not just a thing. He’s terrified of feeling things deeply again. He’s that asshole stoic character with a gooey goddamn center. Which is truly unfortunate because he could be so much more if he only believed it.

But he doesn’t.

With time, years after Revas has gained her immortality, he welcomes the help in that regard. He doesn’t spend time with her, not long enough for it to have a high impact. And anything over the usual is forced into a place that she controls completely. He doesn’t spend time with her for anything but sorting out his emotions. Giving him a space to accept them without it causing stress.

He doesn’t Grow from this like he would normally. The process is slow and harder for him than he likes to admit. and there’s multiple times where afterwards he can’t feel anything which only makes it harder.

He doesn’t get some happy ending. He doesn’t get some ending where he’s happy. He exists along side revas, tying together the web she’s got and trying to forget his past. Hell, I’m sure by then he doesn’t go by Warren anymore. He’s Just!!! Learning to live!!! Learning to exist as a person!!!

Eludysia:

While her part is long and drawn out, it’s probably the only one so entangled with Revas that getting rid of her completely changes the story line. She’s the pinnacle of what an antagonist is, to a degree. An antagonist, but not necessarily a villain. Eludysia doesn’t want Revas to have attachments that are unshakable. She doesn’t want her to have permanence in someone’s life. She wants one thing: Revas to take her place. In the grand scheme of things, Eludysia is sort of the other half of Revas. (Because I realized earlier that Eludysia and Revas are sort of two parts of another character i scrapped.) So, they circle each other. Revas can exist without Eludysia, but she will always come back to her. She’ll always find her. She will always come into play with Revas. At some point in her life, Eludysia always finds her.

Im not gonna go into specifics of like. How big her part is bc lmao that’ll be a good time. But she’s a BIGGIE!! it’s great

anyways. At some point in Revas’ life, an undetermined age, she takes over for Eludysia. Eludysia, in the process dies, but her memories and everything are left to Revas. End story: she dies. But, hoo. the impact she has on revas is a doozy!!!

Revas

The end story for Revas is definitely not one of like super happy fun times. There’s no romance that comes to save her. There’s no one who even knows when she leaves. She just does.

At a point in her life, she vanishes. She cuts all ties, and leaves everything empty. She is, by all means, gone. For the most part, she sees no reason in it. The friends she has aren’t the closest ones and she doesn’t want them to try and stop her, like Warren would try.

But it’s just. Something she has to do. She has to get better with her magic. Has to get stronger so she can maybe live a normal life. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out that way. None of her training covers her dreaming and seer abilities. None of it can help it as it gets stronger and overpowering.

And part of her leaving has to deal with the fact she knows she’s dying. The longer the time it takes, the more she starts to fade. The deal, unknowingly to her, has an expiration date.

By the time the deal’s completed, she’s already half in the dreaming. The later years of her life are spent shifting, and changing how she looks. Showing up one moment to be gone the next. Smiling as an old woman with little teeth but the next second she’s a young woman with a grin. It’s these vanished years that she starts taking on aspects of a raven. Eyes shifting colors. Hair layered and losing it’s curls.

When she finally appears again, she has her web spun and tied off. She sees everything & nothing all at once.

In the end, Revas is just a maddened woman, lost to memories of everyone else and too many voices to count as her own.

#:: shut it commander ( ooc )#long post #lmao its always a work in progress

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theartofbeinganerd · 7 years

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Alright, here’s tonight’s fic, which I wrote last summer as a part of that 52 Prompts for 52 Weeks thing that’d been going around tumblr (which of course I never shared because I apparently hoard fics lmao). This was for Week 30, “A story about a magical object”.

(Ao3)

The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon as Fitz began his trek back into the village, pushing a small wooden wheelbarrow only half-filled with the meager scraps of metal he’d been able to find. He grumbled under his breath as he forced the wheels over the uneven dirt, sweat dripping down his brow and into his eyes. And of course, just his luck, moments later the wheelbarrow swerved after coming into contact with something hard, most likely a rock.

Swearing loudly and kicking the useless wheelbarrow, he went to move the damn thing off the path so that he wouldn’t run into it again tomorrow when he took the same route. However, when he laid eyes on the object that had hindered his progress, his eyebrows rose in surprise.

It was a dirty old lamp, half-buried in the ground – despite the fact that it hadn’t been there when Fitz had gone down this same path just an hour earlier. He was about to just kick it aside, but then the early morning sunshine glinted off of it, and he realized that it was metal.

Quickly, he picked up it up, squinting curiously at it to try and get a better idea of what kind of metal he’d stumbled upon. Much to his disbelief, it almost looked like…gold. But, that couldn’t be, because no one would just leave gold lying around like that.

Figuring that the dirt was making it more difficult to get a read on the type of metal, he curled his hand into his sleeve and used the (admittedly already quite dirty) cloth to attempt to rub away some of the grime.

Almost immediately, he let out a yelp as the lamp began to burn in his hands, and he automatically dropped it back to the ground, scrambling away from it as it began to shudder. Then, things got really weird as a cloud of blue smoke burst from the spout and –

And suddenly there was a woman standing before him, dressed in odd, bright-colored clothing that stood out against her pale skin, as did her heavily made-up face. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head and she had what seemed to be gold bracelets wrapped snugly around her wrists. Crossing her arms over her chest, she let out a long sigh, seeming almost bored as she began reciting, as though it was a speech she’d given often, “Congratulations. I am at your service. You have three wishes, but may not wish for the following; the love of another, any kind of lasting harm to another, and most certainly, you cannot wish for more wishes.” She heaved another sigh, then raised an impatient eyebrow.

Fitz just gaped at her in disbelief. Sure, she matched all the fables about genies and their magic, but he was very firm in the belief that neither existed, and was quite taken aback by her sudden appearance compromising those beliefs. When she made an irritated gesture with her hand, silently telling him to get on it, he regained enough of his bearings to speak, clearing his throat to declare, “I’m sorry, I don’t deal with magic.”

Her jaw dropped open, her eyebrows rising high on her forehead. “You must be joking.” He simply shrugged, and she groaned, giving a rather fierce roll of her eyes as she muttered under her breath, “Just my luck, coming across the only idiot for miles that won’t jump at the chance for wishes.” Sighing greatly, she explained to him slowly, as though he was a rather incompetent child, “You cannot simply pass on a genie’s wishes. You have to make them.”

Fitz held up his hands as though to ward her off, shaking his head quickly as he took another step back. “My life is already awful enough. I don’t need your twisted wishes making it any worse.” Giving a firm nod to show that the conversation was over, he picked the handles of his wheelbarrow back up to continue his (now delayed) journey back into the village.

He’d only gotten a few steps before he heard her stomping after him, and he let out a yelp when something struck him in the arm. He paused once more, lifting his hand to rub at his sore arm as he shot a glare at her and the lamp she was now wielding as some kind of weapon. “Don’t you understand?!” she demanded, stamping her foot and scowling up at him. Such fiery anger coming from someone of such small stature would’ve been amusing to him – if she hadn’t just hit him with her goddamn lamp. “You picked up the lamp and rubbed it – for better or worse, you’re my master,” she spat the word as though it was something dirty, and Fitz was inclined to agree, “until you make your wishes! You can’t just leave me in the woods! It doesn’t work that way!”

“Look lady,” Fitz started, but she interrupted him before he could go on.

“Jemma,” she cut in, giving another roll of her eyes.

“Jemma?” he repeated in confusion, unsure what that was supposed to mean, though for some reason it tickled the back of his memory, as though he’d heard it before.

“It’s my name,” she explained with an exasperated sigh. “I’d rather you call me that than ‘lady’.”

“Fine. Look Jemma, I’m not comfortable being anyone’s master, or having the kind of awful power that genie wishes come with.”

“And you think I am?” Jemma snapped in an immediate retort, and it pulled Fitz up short. However, a moment later, she made a face at herself and quickly went on, “Whether you want it or not, here I am. You can waste the wishes on a sandwich for all I care; I just want you to make them, alright? I don’t want to follow you around for the next decade until you die from a plague, or something.”

“I thought genies were supposed to be at the very least pleasant,” Fitz muttered, though he winced when Jemma shot him a heated glare. Giving a long sigh, he shrugged and told her apologetically, “I’m sorry. I really am. But, I just can’t take the risk of using the wishes. Contrary to how it may seem, my life can get worse, and I refuse to allow it to.”

For a long moment, she simply kept glaring at him, her eyes narrowed into tight slits and her lips turned down into a deep frown. Then, she simply said, “Fine,” and then she disappeared.

Fitz blinked a couple times, reaching up to rub his eyes, but found there was nothing to indicate that she’d ever been there. In fact, not even the lamp was there anymore, and he began to wonder if perhaps he’d imagined the whole thing. After all, it wouldn’t have been the first time he’d hallucinated something.

Deciding that there had never been a genie and he just needed to get some damn sleep, Fitz set back out on his return trip. It wasn’t much longer until he was entering the village, passing through the main square to get to his out-of-the-way cottage on the outskirts, hidden by several layers of trees. Of the few villagers already awake and working, not a single one looked up or even acknowledged him – just as he didn’t bother to acknowledge them.

Once he safely arrived at his cottage, he went straight to his tiny workshop, dumping the meager contents of his wheelbarrow to join the small pile of scrap metal he had in the corner of the room. He’d just barely sat down at his desk when he heard, “Leo. Is that your name?”

Hastily, he whirled around, his heart beating a mile a minute as he searched for the intruder. When his gaze fell on Jemma the genie, his eyebrows darted up as his jaw dropped open. She gazed at him expectantly, and he automatically stumbled out an answer to her question, though it wasn’t quite what he wanted to say. “Er…yes. I mean…no. Well…okay, yes, but I…uh…I prefer Fitz.” Then, he shook his head, murmuring in awe, “You’re real?”

Jemma groaned, rolling her eyes as she leaned against the wall, right beside the letters he had tacked up that must’ve been where she’d gotten his name from. “I thought our conversation in the woods pretty well proved my existence, Fitz.”

“I thought I was hallucinating again,” Fitz mumbled, mostly to himself. As he was turning back to his desk, though, he caught a glimpse of confusion crossing her face. “I told you I wasn’t making any wishes.”

“I heard you,” Jemma assured him, and the annoyance was clear in her tone. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I have to waste my time with you until you decide to. There are rules, you know. And I always follow the rules. I have to.”

A dry, humorless smile quirked Fitz’s lips as he replied quietly, “Yeah, I know what that’s like.” With a slight sigh, he turned around to face Jemma once more, and found her carefully regarding him. However, she quickly schooled her features into a blank expression. “Fine. You’re welcome to stay. Just know that I’m never using those wishes.”

Jemma’s lips curled into a displeased frown, but she nodded regardless. “At least it’s bigger than the lamp,” she conceded with a sigh.

Fitz was rather used to living on his own, and it took quite a bit of adjusting to get used to Jemma being around all the time. At first, it was annoying, having her hovering behind him all the time as he tried to work, tried to eat, tried to do anything really. But, after a few days, it became kind of…nice to have someone always there to talk to. Plus, she seemed incredibly interested in his work, and often asked questions that he found himself excited to answer rather than bothered by. Despite her sometimes off-putting sass, Jemma was an excellent conversationalist, and Fitz quickly found himself caring less and less about the fact that she was essentially intruding in his home.

However, things changed when he received an unexpected visitor late one night.

He and Jemma had been discussing potential avenues for his latest project by the fire, each holding a steaming cup of tea, when a thundering knock echoed throughout the cottage.

Fitz was on his feet in an instant, nearly spilling his tea as he hastily set it aside, hissing to a startled Jemma, “Hide.”

She opened her mouth to question him, but he shook his head sharply. She gazed at him with her eyes big and round and terrified, but then she nodded and disappeared. Satisfied with Jemma being out of sight, Fitz hurried for the door, nearly tripping in his haste. When he flung it open, he found exactly the person he’d expected – and feared – it to be on the other side.

“Fitz,” Ward greeted coldly, brushing past him to step into the main room of the cottage. He glanced around with distaste, though his gaze seemed to linger on the fireplace. Confused by the attention, Fitz turned to glance as well, and felt his heart stop when he saw the two cups clearly visible and both still producing steam on the cold night. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked, turning back to Fitz and arching an eyebrow.

“No, I’ve just been working. Need the tea to keep me awake to work long into the night,” Fitz lied, forcing a nonchalant tone. “Is there something you need?”

Sharply, Ward’s head swiveled around to face him, and he asked in a biting tone, “I’m sorry, what was that?”

Forcing down the bitter taste of bile in his throat, Fitz ground out, “Is there something you needed, Your Majesty?”

“That’s better.” A sickening smirk curved his lips, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he went on, “I have need of you, Fitz. In a fortnight, my army rides into battle with the Northern Kingdom.”

Fitz couldn’t help his sharp gasp of shock at the announcement, unable to believe that even Ward would be that brainless. Going into battle with the North would be suicide, and they would be sure to lose not just all the men in the kingdom’s army, but also what riches remained.

Ward paused at Fitz’s reaction, arching a deadly eyebrow. “Did you have something to say, Fitz?”

Choking back his protests and insults, Fitz simply replied, “No, Your Majesty. Please continue.”

“As I thought. As I was saying, my army rides into battle in a fortnight, and they are in need of new armor.”

“For the entire army?!” Fitz cried, his eyes growing wide in his astonishment. “There’s not enough metal in the entire kingdom for that!”

Ward stepped closer to him until they were toe-to-toe and he was gazing coldly down his nose at Fitz. “Then I suppose you better fix that.” He scowled down at Fitz for another long moment until he stepped back, and reminded him almost cheerily, “You know the cost, should you fail me.”

Fitz fought down the urge to spit on Ward, muttering through his teeth, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

With another disgusting smirk, Ward strutted out of the cottage, slamming the door shut behind him.

Fitz had just sunk down into the chair by the fire that he’d abandoned when Jemma reappeared in a puff of smoke, sitting cross-legged on her own chair and gazing at him in intense concern. “What was that about?”

“Nothing,” he answered tiredly, dragging a hand over his face with a quiet groan.

Jemma was silent a moment, then she murmured, “It didn’t seem like nothing.” When Fitz didn’t reply, she asked hesitantly, “Is he…the king?”

With a sigh, he dropped his hand to his lap and answered simply, “Yes.”

She chewed her lip, looking decidedly worried, and it was piquing Fitz’s interest. “What was that he said about…the Northern Kingdom?”

Sitting up a bit straighter, Fitz studied Jemma as he replied, “When Ward’s dad, the true king, died, he and his equally rotten brother fought over who was the rightful heir. It became so bad that they eventually just decided it was simpler to split the kingdom in half, the North going to Christian and the South going to Ward.”

“Christian,” Jemma repeated under her breath, and he was confused by the way it sounded almost like she…knew him. “And this Ward…is his name Grant, by any chance?”

“Yeah,” Fitz said slowly, sitting forward in a growing disbelief. “Do you…d’you know them?” When she nodded stiffly, he asked hesitantly, “Was one of them your master?”

Jemma glanced at him sharply. “No.”

“Sorry,” he apologized quickly, holding up his hands to show that he meant no harm. “Just thought it might’ve made sense if one of ‘em had had a genie in their pocket.”

She didn’t respond, her gaze faraway, as though she was remembering something long past. Then, she shook her head, refocusing on Fitz as she asked quietly, “How did he die? The king?”

Fitz let out a scoff at that, muttering the answer, “Ward and his evil brother offed him, though I’m the only one in the whole bloody kingdom who has any idea.”

Jemma’s eyebrows rose a bit in surprise at his admission, and she leaned forward slightly as she asked, “How do you know that?”

So, with a heaving sigh, Fitz dove into the story he’d hoped to never have to relive. He told Jemma of how he’d been a blacksmith directly to the king, who had been a kind and benevolent man, making sure that both Fitz and his mother were comfortable and well-cared for. One day, he’d been called by the king to his throne room to sharpen his dulling sword. However, upon arriving, he’d become witness to that very same sword being thrust through the king’s heart by his snake of a son, Grant Ward, as Christian stood by with a devious smirk on his face.

Fitz had been unable to escape without their notice, and they’d hauled him into the dungeon and tortured him for days to make sure he never breathed a word of what he’d seen. Helplessly, he’d watched as they’d sold the story of a violent assassin from a neighboring kingdom that had snuck into the castle and murdered their father, only to escape before they could see justice served for the crime.

When he had finally been released from the dungeon, it was to the horrifying news that his mother had been taken captive by the downright twisted brothers to be used as leverage against him, should he ever feel the need to speak a word against them or try to rebel against an order. He was then shipped off to a poverty-ridden village on the outskirts of the kingdom, forced to do work for them with no compensation in return, where he found himself in that moment.

A horrified Jemma listened to his story with rapt attention, and once it was over, she demanded, “Why didn’t you use a wish to free your mother?!”

Fitz spread his hands helplessly as he shot back, “Do you think I hadn’t thought that very same thing myself? But where would we go, Jemma? Ward’s reach is…unbeatable. He’d find us and he’d kill us. At least this way, she’s alright, I can keep her safe.”

Jemma shook her head harshly, and he was taken aback to find her eyes glittering with unshed tears. “I can’t believe how many more lives they’ve destroyed.”

A realization was beginning to dawn on Fitz, but to be sure the insane idea was actually possible, he slowly asked, “What are you talking about?”

She pursed her lips, meeting his gaze for a brief moment, before she looked toward the fire with a heavy sigh. “I wasn’t always a genie, you know,” she started softly. “I was a woman with a family; a brother I loved fiercely and two nephews I never quite trusted.”

It hit him all at once.

“Jemma,” he breathed, suddenly realizing why her name had always seemed so familiar. “You’re the missing princess! The one that was next in line for the throne!”

Jemma smiled sadly even as she nodded in acknowledgement. “Yes, I was. I never really wanted to be queen, you know. My dearest brother was far more suited to it than I was. But, I suppose I was still in the way for the villainous plan I now realize Grant and Christian must’ve been forming for some time. Why, they were just boys when they trapped me in that godforsaken lamp.” She shot a near murderous glance in the direction of her lamp, where they kept it hidden in his kitchen. “I suppose they weren’t quite up to murder yet at that age. How very fortunate for me.” She rolled her eyes at that, though Fitz couldn’t help but think that he was quite glad that Ward and Christian hadn’t killed Jemma in the same way that they had their father.

Then, something momentous occurred to him, and he gasped aloud. Startled, Jemma turned to face him. “You’re the rightful queen!” he exclaimed, unable to believe their luck. “You can solve everything! Get Ward and Christian the hell off the throne, reunite the kingdoms, and release my mum! Jemma, this is amazing!”

However, Jemma didn’t look nearly as excited as him. “Fitz…” She let out a forlorn sigh, shaking her head. “I can’t.”

“Well why not?” he demanded, not seeing any reason for her protest.

Then, she lifted her wrists, displaying the bracelets that he had come to find out were actually chains. “I can’t serve as queen while I’m bound to the lamp,” she explained to him sadly.

For a moment, Fitz’s spirits sunk as despair began to set in. But, just as quickly, they soared back up as a solution occurred to him. “I can wish you free!”

Jemma’s eyes widened in alarm, and she hastily shook her head. “No Fitz!”

“No?” he repeated incredulously. Hadn’t it been Jemma that had insisted this entire time that he use his damn wishes?

“You were right,” she informed him plainly and quickly, her voice low and urgent. “All genie wishes come at a great personal cost. No matter what you wish, it will come back to harm you in the end. I can’t allow you to do that.”

“You aren’t allowing me to do anything,” Fitz argued. “They’re my wishes, and I can use them how I choose to.”

Jemma looked terrified now, her hands clenching the arms of her chair and her face paling as she continued to shake her head. “Fitz, I can’t let you do this to yourself for me.”

“It’ll save you, my mum, and the entire kingdom!” he reminded her stubbornly. “I think that’s worth a fair bit more than just me.”

Jemma’s mouth opened, but she didn’t seem to have a response at first, her lips trembling as tears once more built in her eyes. Then, abruptly, she burst out, “No, it’s not!”

For a moment, Fitz wasn’t sure he’d heard her right. He gaped wordlessly at her, his eyes wide with surprise. He just barely managed to get out, “…what?”

“You’re unbelievably smart, and kind – kinder than anyone I’ve ever known – and so thoughtful and selfless and brave and important…” She seemed to lose a bit of steam there, but took a deep breath and forged on, “…important to me. These past months…they’ve been the highlight of my life because I experienced them with you. For the first time, I could forget my imprisonment, I could forget my anger and frustration, I could just…be myself, as I hadn’t been for so very long. Fitz, you may think that you’re not worth it, but I do. You’re…you’re my best friend.”

It was only then, as the words, “And you’re more than that”, passed through his mind that Fitz realized that at some point, he’d fallen in love with Jemma, the outwardly tough and untouchable, but secretly bubbly and warm and brilliant genie he’d been forced to spend the past few months with.

And he knew what he had to do.

#shayna writes #fsfic #fitzsimmons #shayna's one shot collection #fantasy au #genie au #i don't usually write these kinds of aus #so i hope it's alright

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