#malenoa my new beloved

[egophiliac]

oh, uh, this...this isn't Silver's backstory after all.

[ventique18]

~ Scarecrow ~

- LevaNoa and MalleYuu drabble -

Princess Malenoa was quite sick of this life, truth be told. Sure, she always got what she wanted; the latest dresses on trend, the rarest taboo books on magic that no other person could ever hope to receive-- she was quite spoiled, you see. But what ever would she do with those things if she had no one to share them with? If she had no audience to genuinely praise her new look without forcing a smile in fear... If she had no one to test her newly-learned magic on?

Lilia would just tell her she looked like a lizard on chokehold. And he would tell her on her mother that she had been practicing turning people into gargoyles again. Then she would be grounded for an entire week.

No, what she needed was not Lilia. It was someone else who would understand her and be kind to her and admire her with their entire being. But alas, nobody would even dare to approach her without the fear of getting cursed or turned into a gargoyle. How rude! She always returned them back to normal.

So she came to a conclusion: she was a scarecrow. She was a beautiful scarecrow and everybody else was a bird blinded by her dazzle.

That was, until he came.

"You... You have been circling me like a baby bird hoping to feed. What do you wish to gain from associating with me? I am a scarecrow whom everyone is afraid of. You are a crow. We are not compatible at all."

"My princess..." He said back then, "I am not a crow... I am a raven. You should become a scareraven before you can convince me to fly away in fear."

She laughed back then. She laughed again when she shared that story on the day of their marriage. She laughed again, albeit with a forced grin, when she reminded him of it before he was to set off for a mission she feared he would not come back from unscathed.

"I have not... I have not become a scareraven even after all these years, so... Promise me you will not fly away from me."

"Beloved... You are not even a scarecrow. You are my home, and I promise to always find a way back to you wherever in the world I may end up in."

And she held on to those words until the bitter end.

---------

"Child of man... Why are you so brave? Everybody else... fae or human, they cower in fear at the sight of me."

"Well, that's because I'm not human."

"Not-- hm. Are you telling me you are withholding a secret identity that no one else knows of? Then, what is your kind called?"

"I'm... A shrimp!"

"Ha.... Ha. Hahahaha! What kind of ridiculous race is that? Would you like to be eaten?"

[jolynejay]

SPOILERS AHEAD

Actually, with the new update have a little post on why I believe that the proper name of Malleus' mother is "Malenore" and not Malenoa:

Ok, so as discussed in this post, I hypothesize that Crowley is Malleus' father - the illusive Sleeping Dragon Lord Raven.

And that is important because (1) that makes him the Twisted Wonderland's personification of original Diablo the Raven. Oh! And would you look at that! Diablo and Crowley are both names associated with devils, demons, and the occult.

And (2) it cements both his role as an ultimately subserviant figure to the Queen (Malleus' mother) of Briar Country as well as his role as Mad Hatter.

A man who lost his most beloved, most beautiful Flower of Evil - his wife. And a man who through one way or another ended up in a constant state of overblot, a state of madness, nonesense, and repeating patterns born from trauma and unresolved mental issues. (Almost like the Twisted Wonderland as a whole, eh? but I digress..)

So, that being said: Are you familiar with the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe?

It is quite famous after all: The story of a man slowly driven to madness in mourning the loss of his beloved by the appearance of a raven in his chamber.

And what is the name of the raven plagued man's beloved?

Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore— Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”             Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

And if we adhere to the Twisted Wonderland's apparent naming tradition of the Draconia family always having "mal" in their name as reference to the same prefix meaning bad, wrongful, or well... evil, then we suddenly have the name:

Malenore.

[Edit: look in the reblogs for the official transliteration as pointed out to me by @onionrimgs, my reaction to it, and some additional thoughts if you'd like :)]