#this is a little model castle where I can mess around a bit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

craigslistdiavolo · 3 years

Text

Requested by @otome-scribbles

Anyway I love this idea sm 😳💖

Obey me boys x gender neutral reader

Fluff

Warnings - Language

Lucifer

Sees the baby and has to do a double take

It's too early for this, it's always too early for this

Feels like his soul has left his body when he sees you holding a baby

Who's is it?

Where did you get it from?

Who the fuck gave you a baby?

Dies a little when the baby smiles at him

Is immediately reminded of when he was taking care of his brothers

Lowkey wants to start a family with you now

Lucifer sighed and gripped his coffee cup. "MC what is that?" You smiled at him and grabbed the baby's hand to make it wave at Lucifer. "A baby." Lucifer sighed and put his head in his hands. "I can see that's it's a baby. More importantly where did you get it from and who would trust you with a baby?" You faked a hurt gasp. "Are you trying to say that I'm not responsible enough to take care of a child." You laughed a little. "The baby is my friend's and I'm babysitting, his name is Tatum. Say hi Tatum." The baby giggled and smiled at Lucifer. You laughed at the baby and began to walk away. Lucifer put his hand over his chest and sat down. He had no idea that a baby's smile would make him so emotional, he also had no idea why it gave him the sudden desire to have a family with you.

Mammon

Why do have a baby?

Why are you holding a baby?

Who's baby is that?

That baby seems suspicious you probably shouldn't be loving on it

Stop laughing, he is not jealous of a baby (he totally is)

Okay but that's a really cute baby, he could probably make some money off of it

Please do not let him profit off of the baby

Mammon was sitting on the couch in his room when you walked in with a baby. "Oi human, where'd ya get a baby from." You glanced at Mammon as you sat down on the couch next to him. "Oh he's my friend's baby and I'm babysitting." Mammon looked at the baby you were holding and cooing at. "Hey, you shouldn't be lovin' on that baby so much, you don't know where he's been." You laughed at him. "Mammon are you jealous of a baby?" Mammon started blushing. "NO, where'd ya get that idea from?" Mammon turned away from to hide his blush as you laughed at him. After you finally stopped laughing and his blush settled down, Mammon glanced at the baby. The baby looked up at Mammon and smiled brightly. He was pretty cute, and people love cute babies, just then something clicked in Mammon's head. "MC this baby could be a model and we could make so much money off of him." You gasped, "Mammon, I'm not gonna let you make profit off of my friend's baby." You got up from the couch and left his room. Mammon got up and chased after you. "MC please it's a full proof idea!"

Leviathan

Levi glanced back at you when he heard you walk into his room

"Oh hi MC."

Takes him a second to process the fact that you're carrying a baby

"IS THAT A FUCKING BABY??????"

Get it out of here now before it destroys his precious anime merch and collectables

Please explain to him that the baby has no interest in his stuff omg

Levi was in his room wondering if he should text you or not to come check out the new game he got. He heard his door open. "Hey Levi." He glanced back at you, "Oh hi MC, I was just about to text to ask if you could come over and chec- IS THAT A FUCKING BABY??????" You laughed at Levi's reaction. "Yeah I'm babysitting for my friend." You placed that baby in Levi's lap. "Isn't he adorable?" Levi sputtered as the baby smiled up at him and snuggled into him. "Get him out of here before he ruins everything." You looked at Levi a little offended. "Levi, he is a 7 month old and can't even walk. He's not gonna ruin your stuff." Levi blushed, a little embarrassed. "B-But what if he chews on things." You laughed at him and took the baby back. "Trust me he won't, but if you want us to leave that badly then I guess we'll just go." Levi quickly gets up from his chair. "MC wait don't go, you guys can stay as long as he doesn't mess up my stuff."

Satan

Satan looked up from his book when you entered his room and immediately noticed the baby

"Why do you have a baby?"

You put the baby on his chest and he kinda just looked at it like :/

It's not a cat so not worth it 🙄💅

Just put cat ears on the baby or smth and then he will literally help you take care of it for the rest of the day

Who know babies could be so cute when they're dressed as cat

He will have or adopt a child with you right now as long as he gets to dress it up as a cat

"MC, why do you have a baby?" You smiled down at Satan and placed the baby on his chest. "I'm babysitting for my friend, isn't he a cutie?" The baby happily smiled at Satan and began cooing. Satan picked up the baby and sat up. "I suppose he's a little cute." You rolled your eyes and then pulled a cat ear headband out of the baby's diaper bag and placed it on his head. Satan gasped, "MC, why didn't you put the cat ears on him from the very start." He picked the baby up and began to walk off with him, saying something about needing to show the baby the library. You grabbed the diaper bag and ran to catch up with Satan. "SATAN WAIT I'M THE ONE WATCHING HIM!"

Asmodeus

What is that?

Why did you bring a baby into his room?

Babies are gross and dirty

Okay he does look really cute when he smiled though 🥺

"Asmo~ look what I have." Asmo turned around excitedly from his vanity, but his expression soon dropped. "MC why are you carrying a baby?" "Oh I'm babysitting for my friend. Isn't he such a cute baby?" Asmo glanced down at the baby. "Babies are gross." You gasped, "Asmo don't bully him he's only 7 months old." The baby smiled up at Asmo and started making grabby hands while babbling. Asmo gasped, "Oh my gosh, why wasn't he being this cute from the start???" Asmo quickly whisked the baby away from you and started carrying him around his room. You sighed and sat down on Asmo's bed, at least he wasn't bullying the baby.

Beelzebub

He's just in the kitchen when you walk in with a baby?

Thinks the baby is very adorable

Please let him hold the baby

And feed it :)

Is very soft with the baby

A little scared to hold it at first but when he does hold the baby he just 🥺💕

Please have or adopt a baby with this man right now, please he's so soft and just wants a little domestic life with you now

Beel was in the kitchen grabbing some food when you walked in carrying a baby. He quickly smiled down at you and the baby. "MC why do you have a baby?" You looked at Beel. "Oh I'm just babysitting my friend's baby, isn't he adorable?" Beel's eyes light up when the baby smiles at him. "Yes! Is he hungry? What do babies like to eat?" You laughed at Beel and grabbed something out of the fridge. "Here you can give him this." Beel fed the baby until he didn't want anymore. The baby yawned a little bit. "Looks like it's nap time, you know Beel, you can hold him and rock him if you want." Beel looks a little nervous but nods and takes the baby from your arms. It honestly felt like the three of you were a small, happy family.

Belphegor

Not as enthusiastic as Beel, that's for sure

Just :| is the best way to describe his reaction

Glances at you with the baby and is like "oh cool baby"

The baby: (◍•ᴗ•◍) Belphie: :|

Will 100% take a nap with the baby though and think it's very cute but won't admit it

You walked into Belphie's room carrying a baby with you. "Hey Belphie look, I've got a baby." It was clear that he was getting ready to take a nap when you had walked in. The baby smiled at Belphie and began babbling random baby nonsense. Belphie yawned and glanced at the baby. "Oh cool baby." You laughed. "Really that's it? I bring a random baby in here and all you have to say is cool baby?" "Yeah pretty much." You jokingly rolled your eyes. "Well it's his nap time anyway so we might as well stay and take a nap with you." Belphie sighs kind of annoyed but let's you hand him the baby and get in bed next to him. You all take a nap together but end up getting woken up when the baby cries. The moment was nice while it lasted through.

Diavolo

Woah a real life baby

Is shook

Would like to hold the baby

Thinks you look very lovely carrying a baby

If you weren't married before, you are now because after seeing you take care of a child he would like your hand in marriage and to start a family with you

You walked into the Demon Lord's castle and began looking for Diavolo. You wanted to see how he would react to you carrying a baby around. "MC, is that you?" You turned around and saw Diavolo. "Oh hey I was jus-" You were cut off by Diavolo's gasp. "What a cute baby! May I hold it?" You passed the baby over to Diavolo. "Yeah you can hold him, just be really careful." Diavolo smiled at the baby and bounced him a little before handing him back to you. Diavolo blushed, the way you gently took the baby from his arms and held him made him think about having a family with you. The baby smiled at him and babbled, you laughed. "I think he likes you Dia." Diavolo smiled at you and the baby. "MC let's get married." "WAIT WHAT?"

Barbatos

Has a somewhat reaction to Lucifer

Will hold the baby if you ask him to

Thinks the baby is pretty cute

Will give the baby some cake

Ok but what if you guys started a family jkjk..... unless 😳👉👈

"Oh MC, you have a baby, why?" You walked up to Barbatos carrying a baby. "I'm just babysitting him for a friend, isn't he a cutie?" Barbatos looks at you questioningly, "Why did someone trust you with a baby?" You gasped, "Barbatos! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of a baby!" Barbatos laughed at your reaction. "I was just teasing you MC. Is he old enough to eat cake?" You looked at Barbatos, "Yeah, he can eat cake without a problem." Barbatos goes and retrieves a small slice of cake for the baby, who was clearly very excited about getting cake as he smiled and giggled at the sight of it. After the baby was done with his cake, he made grabby hands at Barbatos. You looked at him. "Barbatos will you hold him, he clearly wants you to." Barbatos sighed and took the baby from your lap. It was nice to share a small domestic moment like this with you, he can only hope for more moments like this in the future.

Simeon

Will literally snatch the baby from you

Is so soft

Does not put the baby down

Loves the baby

Please don't take the baby from him, he really likes holding it

Marry this man and start a family with him rn

"Oh my gosh MC, is that a baby? Can I hold it?" Simeon just about cries when he sees you carrying a baby, and when the baby smiled at him he swears he died. You laugh at Simeon's reaction to the baby that you're carrying. "Yeah you can hold him." Simeon quickly takes the baby from your arms and begins cooing at him. You smile at Simeon, you didn't think he would be so happy to see a baby. The two of you plus the baby spent the rest of the day doing cute domestic things. Simeon cried every time the baby smiled at him. He had forgotten what it felt like to take care of a baby, so this was nice.

Solomon

Doesn't really care

The baby smiles at him and he's just like 😐

Annoyed if you make him hold the baby

Thinks you look cute holding the baby though

"Solomon, I'm babysitting my friend's baby, isn't he sooooo adorable?" Solomon looks up from his desk and glances at the baby. "Yeah he's cute I guess." You roll your eyes, "Try to be more enthusiastic." Solomon jokingly glares at you. You walk over and sit on his bed. Unbeknownst to you, Solomon blushes a little because you look very cute when you're carrying a baby.

A/N - The first time I started writing this I accidentally posted it so I panicked and deleted it 🧍‍♂️ Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading this and I'm sorry if there's any mistakes, I was just trying to get it done as fast as possible because I was frustrated with the fact that I accidentally posted it. Feel free to follow me on the instagram that I created a day or two ago, the @ is the same as on here, craigslistdiavolo. You can also find it by clicking the link in my bio.

#obey me shall we date headcanons #obey me shall we date #obey me #obey me! shall we date?#obey me!#obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me lord diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me x mc #obey me x reader #obey me imagines

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cozycryptidcorner · 2 years

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Monster Match #11

A monster match for the fabulous @cinderembersoul

Hi I go by Cinder, online and irl because I hate my real name (often times I can still hear my mother yelling it.) I'm 5' 4"and the small one of my group of friends. My pronouns are she/her/princess/her highness/my lady, because I am very much a princess. I am a polyamorus bisexual with a preference of men, a bit of a sadist (lemme hear those boys), subby, and sex positive asexual on top of all that. I have a love for animals, have a cat and dog, and want more but we can't afford that. I play ttrpg games, video games (been playing since I was old enough to hold a controller), stream, write, draw, and occasionally play trading card games. I love making cosplays, building model kits, sewing, knitting, sculpting, and taking things apart to see how they work.

I am known to walk around wearing a tiara, I'm not kidding. I wear lolita dresses and feel as though I am much younger than I actually am. I never matured properly which I believe has contributed to my princess and lolita mindset. I am a collector, not yet a hoarder, but my life is cluttered. I can find sentimentality in almost everything and want to hang onto the past best I can, or else it will fade.I also have a little spiritual sensitivity, but mostly don't mess with it. I'm super lucky when it comes to winning things, but never anything like the lotto. My grandfather's side of the family has history of a witch's coven that actually had table raisings, curses on the neighbors for stealing milk from their cow, and grimoires.

There are many benefits to being the scandalous lover of a Jotun prince.

One of them is being magically altered to better acclimate to the cold.

And it’s true, here, in this frosted Otherworld, there are days where it’s so cold that your eyelashes would have frosted over, lungs paralyzing and muscles failing. The temperature is abysmally low, lower than anything most human beings are used to. Despite the fact that a cup of boiling water freezes when thrown out the window, your magicked heart, lungs, and fingers never feel much more than a touch of chill when venturing in the dangerous outside.

Your wing of the palace (well… your boyfriend’s wing, but what’s his is yours amiright) is larger than any house you could feasibly own back on Earth. It’s almost how you imagine old noble estates to be, a whole section of a much larger castle bustling like it’s own special colony. Kitchen, staff, studios, a library, rooms galore, the wing has it all. The best part, though, is the bedroom itself, a cozy space that’s cluttered from floor to ceiling with bookshelves. The bed is serving frost giant realness, at least twice the size of a king, loaded to the brim with furs and pillows. No one’s dying of frostbite beneath the mountain of warmth, especially when you cuddle against your jotun in the night.

The palace is enormous, carved from stone and ice. The cliff it's perched on is so high that fog completely obscures the waves crashing into the rocky beach first thing in the morning. If you were to walk from the furthest point of the castle, down to the other, it would take from first light to noon... but you would be taking your sweet time. The architecture and sculptural work decorating the halls are enough to slow your speedrun out of awe. The nights stretch on longer than day, bursts of Aurora Borealis whirling along the horizon and reflecting against the ice walls.

He’s a bit of an enigma, cold and distant when in public, but melts almost immediately in your private company. Like a puzzle waiting for your fingers to pick open, with a stony expression and tight gaze, he always seemed like a god above all else, even in the presence of his super royal family. Your jotun isn’t like his overly affectionate brother (who has somehow knocked up every other woman in the kingdom), or the vicious but supremely friendly sister (that has more enemy kills that the chief assassin under her belt). Being the youngest, he has to be an almost entirely different entity from the rest of his siblings, careful not to seem too ambitious, lest the other two feel threatened.

Despite his cold exterior, your jotun is the type to privately shower you in affection once the doors of his room are locked. Whatever you want, it’s yours, all you have to do is look at something with a slight yearning and boom, it’s on your pillow tomorrow. He’ll pet your hair and murmur apologies if he seemed especially brusque that day, muscles finally relaxed after being so very tense for most of his waking moments.

People say that he looks like his mother more than his father, the soft features of a gentle spirit. He will never say that he likes the comparison, but he does. His eyes are like blood rubies, dark and blank during the day, but sparkling with youth and serenity during the night. His hair is a dusty cold steel, the color of the sky when the sun finally meets its end past the horizon. His freckles look like stars, a smattering of white against his nose and cheeks, and his skin is the milky blue of a shallow lake. He’s tall, but you suppose that comes with the territory of being a giant, though not as large as the rest of his family due to his half blood status.

For all his softened features, he can turn around and be blindingly cruel. It’s for survival and nothing more, growing up in the barbaric tundra can do that to a person. After his mother died and his father finally resolved his status as a bastard, your jotun began to claw and scrape his way up the social ladder. All the while, he has to balance the speed and success of his campaigns, making sure to meet just beneath his siblings’ accomplishments, while remaining just good enough to escape complete dismissal. It’s an exhausting endeavor, and his only sanctuary is you.

His mother was a light elf princess, seduced by his father into running away from her family. That somehow makes him valuable enough to be recognized as an official child, the blood of the elves fraught with magic, but also making him a legitimate candidate to the throne his mother almost grasped. As one can imagine, finding the roguishly handsome male she ran away with being already married did a number on her psyche, and despite her fight and fury, it wasn’t his father’s priority to marry her. Now, the nobles whimper and cry about her dying of a broken heart, but the servants mumble about a specialized poison, and your jotun is more inclined to trust the eyes of those who see everything.

His greatest fear is that you will be next, but your humanity brings just low of a status to be written off by the rest of the court. So far. But you have enough bite and are willing to learn the art of Fucking Shit Up, so you’ve been dabbling in magic, all taught by him. He’s a good teacher, his demeanor understanding and sweet in the face of failure, though you can see the stress of your threatened demise is doing a number on his mind. His main goal, for now, is figuring out how to return to his mother’s realm in the hopes that her family will offer sanctuary, though the trip must be taken under the guise of secrecy.

He will do whatever it takes, though, to make sure the both of you make it out alive.

#monster match #jotun

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pennamesmith · 3 years

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For Want of a Skeletor

Entrapta hosts a Princess Alliance meeting at the Crypto Castle and absolutely nothing goes wrong. More Skeletor stories!

The lights were on late in Dryl.

Stars shone outside the windows. Entrapta sat hunched over her desk, studying datapads and readouts. A polite cough from the laboratory door caused her to look up from her work.

“Oh! I’m sorry Hordak, did I wake you?”

Her partner stepped softly into the room and shook his head. “Imp did. You know how he gets when either of us take too long to come to bed.”

Hordak crossed the cluttered floor and joined Entrapta at the desk. He was holding Imp in his arms, and the smaller, winged clone whined plaintively when he saw her. Entrapta kept her screens on, but leaned gratefully into Hordak’s side and curled a tendril of hair around his waist. She yawned, despite herself.

“I know. I just want to make sure I get everything right before the other princesses come over tomorrow.” She glanced back at the data, nervously tapping her fingertips together. “I’ve never hosted an Alliance meeting before! And this rescue will be our biggest mission since… well, you know. I don’t want to mess anything up.”

Hordak smiled. “Your diligence is admirable. But I also seem to recall someone telling me that imperfections are beautiful.”

Entrapta stuck out her tongue. “No fair.”

“I’m afraid the science is sound. Come to bed, my dear.”

The scientist scoffed, but she did not protest when Hordak gathered her up in his arms. She wrapped more of her hair around him, and Imp settled sleepily in the resulting nest. Entrapta could already feel herself drifting.

“You will be a shining star tomorrow,” Hordak promised, as he carried his family back to rest.

“Tomorrow,” echoed Imp.

The next day saw the Crypto Castle’s largest meeting room filled with princesses, dignitaries, and other honorary Alliance members. While Scorpia and Perfuma admired the tiny refreshments laid out for everyone, Mermista split her time between groaning at Sea Hawk’s boasts and trying every available chair to find the most comfortable one. Glimmer and Bow stepped uneasily around the edges of the room, watching carefully for anything that might be a trap, and Frosta followed their lead. Netossa and Spinnerella tried their best to find a chair Swift Wind could sit in.

Adora and Catra, wearing increasingly baffled expressions, were conversing with two domestic-looking robots who sat at the head of the table next to Entrapta. One was tall and skinny, and the other wore a welded-on handlebar mustache.

“Entrapta has parents?” Catra was asking, her face a galaxy of disbelief.

“Adopted, technically. Or adapted,” the skinnier bot explained. “We’re Entrapta’s parental units. She built us when she was six. You must have seen the painting in the foyer.”

“Yeah, we’ve been here pretty much the whole time,” the mustachioed model added. “You kids sure made a racket during your last few visits. What was that all about?”

“Uh,” Adora faltered.

To her immense relief, Hordak swept into the room at that very moment, flanked by Imp, Emily, and the reprogrammed Horde drone Entrapta had dubbed ‘Skeletor.’

“Welcome, everyone,” Hordak boomed, bringing the gathering to a respectful hush.

“Witless fools! I’m in charge now! And if you know what’s good for you you’ll do as I say!” Skeletor shouted.

Hordak scowled and shooed the fussing robot away from the table. “Pay no mind to that one,” he grumbled once he’d regained the floor. “Now then. Please allow me the honor of introducing the unparalleled mind who has made this operation possible, Princess Entrapta.”

“Thank you all for coming!” Entrapta started, while everyone took their seats. “I know you’re all excited about what we’re planning, but there’s still a lot of preparation to do before we can take off. As the chief science officers for this mission, it’s vital that Hordak and I gather as much data on your abilities as possible! Interdimensional travel is severely unpredictable and —”

“Hold on,” Mermista interrupted. “Exactly how high are the chances of us getting mutated by cosmic space energy or whatever? Because I only want cool mutations, not gross ones.”

“Maybe thirty, thirty-five percent?” Entrapta guessed. She shrugged. “A lot of this is theoretical. You guys will be like my guinea pigs! By which I mean the small robotic animals in the castle I protect and care for. And experiment on, sometimes.”

She laughed heartily. Glimmer and Bow shared a nervous glance. Perfuma turned slightly green.

Entrapta regained her composure and pointed back to the display board. “Ahem. Anyway, the good news is we already know some things about where we’re going! Probably.” She shuffled her notes, gaining confidence as she spoke.

“Before Adora found the Sword of Protection, historians debated ancient records of She-Ra. Some claimed she was called ‘Her-Ra’ and fought for the ‘Power of Grayskull.’ But I theorize that what those archaeologists actually uncovered was evidence of —”

“I have a question!” Frosta yelled. “Will there be hunky guys in the other dimension? I’m asking for a friend.”

“It’s funny you mention that, actually,” Entrapta replied. “Listen, just let me finish and…”

Unfortunately, anxious impatience had already gripped the assembled Alliance members. They clamored with questions, all talking at the same time. Entrapta shrank back in her seat and pulled her welding mask down, seeming to reach for something under the table.

Hordak stood up. Just as it looked like he was about to do something violent, a loud alarm sounded and the lights in the room flashed red.

“Uh-oh.” Entrapta glanced around at the assembled company. “Um, get ready to tuck and roll everybody!”

“Get ready to what?” Mermista cried out, but it was already too late. Multiple trap doors swung open across the meeting room floor, and with flailing limbs and startled shouts the guests were sent tumbling down chutes in every direction. In moments they had all vanished.

“I always feel so much better after doing something bad!” Skeletor cackled. “Now we begin phase two!”

Adora and Catra, who had clung to each other as they fell, landed with a bump in a darkened, underground space. As soon as they arrived, bright lights flickered to life and a huge screen lit up against the wall.

Entrapta’s face appeared on the monitor, larger than life. “Oh good! You’re alive,” she chirped when she saw the other two.

Adora clambered to her feet. “Entrapta! What’s going on?”

The scientist glanced away. “Well, I guess Skeletor didn’t like that we were ignoring him. So he stole my map of the castle and activated the security systems! Which means we’re all lost in the labyrinth until I can catch him. Isn’t that great?”

“It’s something,” Catra groaned, rubbing her head.

“Exactly! Now, without my map I can’t come find you. But if you can make it through the traps, the hallway you’re in should take you back to the meeting room. Then you’ll be safe until I can fix things!”

The screen dimmed again before Catra or Adora could protest. Left with few other options, they turned to get a good look at whatever dangers lay ahead.

They were standing at one end of a long corridor. Square blocks floated along its length, suspended in midair with anti-gravitational tech. An interrogative punctuation mark flashed on one, while a squat robot with painted-on angry eyebrows shambled slowly back and forth beneath it.

Catra took it all in. “You have got to be kidding.”

Adora had already drawn her sword and begun to venture forward. Catra was about to follow her, when something made her ears flick. A suspicious frown crossed her face.

“Hey, Adora!” Catra called. “Listen!”

“What?”

Catra pressed her ear to the wall. “There! Do you hear that?”

“Obviously not,” Adora huffed. “Now stop dawdling, the first puzzle looks pretty easy.”

Catra stayed where she was. “Hold on a second. This part of the castle feels familiar. I remember walking through here back when, uh, back when it was still Horde territory.” She coughed awkwardly, and then reached up to tilt the frame of a big-eyed kitten painting. “Look!”

Something clicked and the wall slid open, revealing a new passageway. Distinctive laughter could be heard coming from the other end of it. A purple neon sign reading “Secret Entrance!!!” buzzed to life.

Adora sighed and rolled her eyes.

“One time Entrapta had me and Scorpia over for a life-size Snakemen and Ladders game that got a little out of hand,” Catra explained as they entered the tunnel. At the far end there was a brightly lit office; inside, it was filled with laboratory equipment, video monitors, and a humble but dignified desk.

Hordak was sitting at the desk, in what appeared to be a smaller version of his old Fright Zone throne. It swiveled. Entrapta was sitting on the desk, and she waved as the other couple entered.

“Myaah! Sleep gas and stun-rays only, my evil minions!” muttered Skeletor, who was busy working the video monitors. On closer inspection, Adora realized that each of them showed some of the other princesses as they traversed the castle labyrinth.

“Welcome to mission control!” Entrapta sang, spreading her arms wide. “Hordak didn’t think you’d find us, but I had a hypothesis you might.”

“It was a ruse!” Adora gasped, scandalized. “You’re not lost at all!”

“You really need to hang out with Entrapta more if that still surprises you,” Catra observed. She looked at the monitors. “Ah, are they gonna be okay?”

“Better than!” Entrapta sprang off the desk, hanging by her hair as she showed off multiple datapads. “Everyone was getting a little… distracted upstairs, so I just decided to speed things up a teensy bit! The princesses using their powers to escape the maze will let me get all the readings we need, and then we can have a nice little party! I had the baker make tiny cakes.”

“I made sure Hordak’s doomberry pie was especially tasty!” Skeletor piped up.

“And it’s all perfectly safe!” Entrapta promised. Discreetly, a ribbon of hair reached out to push a blinking button. On the monitors, Mermista and Sea Hawk were rescued from a robot shark attack by a convenient change of the currents.

“This is hilarious,” Catra laughed, looking more closely. On one of the screens, Swift Wind was gleefully running loop-de-loops along a curving racetrack. “I think they’re actually having fun in there. Can we stay and watch?”

“I’m afraid not,” Hordak said. She-Ra’s — and your — assessment is the most important of all. But we’d love to have you over to the castle for dinner soon. Shall we say eight o’clock next week?”

“That sounds nice!” Adora chimed, before Catra could stop her.

“Splendid. I’ll cook,” Hordak concluded. Then he pressed a button on his desk, and a trapdoor sent the younger women plummeting through the floor.

Catra and Adora yelped in surprise, only for their fall to be cut short by an enormous pile of pillows on the level below. They struggled to their feet. Another corridor stretched away in front of them, filled with further challenges. Floating gold coins, each about four feet tall, indicated a pathway.

“Try not to have too much fun,” Hordak called good-naturedly as the trapdoor slid shut.

“Use the warp zone! It’s faster!” Entrapta added.

“Have a nice trip down!” said Skeletor.

Hordak settled back in his chair (it had soft armrests, and a cushion for lumbar support) and watched his partner at work. Entrapta flitted from screen to screen, taking notes and making adjustments. On one display, Bow and Glimmer had met up with Netossa and Spinnerella while navigating a cage minefield. On another, Frosta was making an ice bridge to help Perfuma and Scorpia cross a slow-moving spike trap.

“I’m sorry you had to use your backup plan. They really are utter fools if they ever doubted your genius,” Hordak mused.

“Different people have different strengths and weaknesses,” Entrapta replied, without looking up from her work. “And a good scientist collaborates whenever they can! Even if that requires a little creativity sometimes.”

Hordak nodded. “Fair enough. Nevertheless, I would not blame you if you wished to have nothing more to do with the Princess Alliance. Even their attempts to help you can seem… insensitive. You’re not obligated to forgive that.”

Skeletor looked up from his control panel and shook a fist. “Don’t you get awfully tired of being a hero all the time? Don’t you ever feel like doing something evil?”

“They’re trying to be good friends,” Entrapta defended. “And so am I. And if I really did need their help, maybe things would be different. But I’ve got it all under control!”

She vaulted across the room, flipping switches and turning dials along the way. On the monitors, Perfuma’s fall from a tall platform was gently broken by a sudden anti-gravitational field.

“Besides, forgiveness isn’t always about the person being forgiven. It’s also about taking back potential energy that was lost.”

“Did you learn that in my brother’s therapy group?” Hordak asked.

Entrapta smirked. “Actually, he got it from me.”

A pleasant ding sounded and Entrapta clapped her hair. “Hooray, everyone made it back! I’ll calculate the high scores and then we can continue the social experiment!”

“You astonish me every day,” Hordak purred as he rose to follow her. Entrapta put out her hand, and he took it.

“Wait for me!” Skeletor cried out. “You might get lost by yourself!”

One week later, a much smaller gathering of royals met in Dryl.

Catra and Adora sat together in one of the Crypto Castle’s least intimidating dining rooms, listening with barely-contained delight as Entrapta’s parental units thoroughly embarrassed their former boss.

“...And so I said to him, ‘I have charging ports Hordak, can you download raw data offa me?’ Ha! Oh, you shoulda seen his face!”

Hordak slouched in his chair. “I do not think we need to bore our guests with the details of this particular story,” he protested, feebly.

“Oh, I’m not bored at all! I want to hear everything,” Catra said. She leaned forward, grinning. “So, was this before or after you hooked him up to the lie detector?”

Entrapta giggled, and gave Hordak a gentle pat on the shoulder as she reached for another helping of his tiny quiche. All things considered, the night was going surprisingly well.

It was exactly what Entrapta wanted.

After dinner, wheeled bots carted away the leftovers and dirty dishes. Hordak poured coffee for himself and Adora, and the parental units retired to wherever it was they lived in the cavernous castle. Entrapta, lost in thought as usual, felt a familiar feline presence approach her.

“Thank you,” Catra said, sincerely. “Not just for this. For everything. For being so nice all the time. For making this mission happen. It means a lot to me.”

Entrapta smiled softly. “To me, too. Everyone makes mistakes. It would be a shame not to learn from them when we can.”

“Did you say something?” Skeletor squawked, suddenly materializing in the doorway.

Entrapta, unbothered, immediately produced a datapad. “Oh we’re just talking about the big rescue mission! Actually, you should probably take a look at my data, Skeletor. I haven’t told you much yet, and we might need you!” She held the blinking screen out happily.

Skeletor looked at the datapad. At first he seemed confused; then he boggled as he registered the information in front of him. “Eternia?” he gasped in disbelief. “Grayskull?”

His voice rose to a fevered pitch. “He-Man!”

For once, Skeletor had no words. He shrieked incomprehensibly instead, fists shaking.

Hordak chuckled. “It’ll be just like the old days!”

Skeletor screamed.

#spop #skeletor #entrapdak #entrapta #hordak #Catra #Adora #the princess alliance #smith stuff #fan fiction #thank you for reading

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rachelbethhines · 3 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf

Ok, so I’ve tried and tried several times to get this posted, we’ll see if this is the time it goes through. Half the reason why this review series has slowed down is not just the multitude of real life stuff I have to deal with, but also Tumblr just refusing to work with me and deleting my posts. I also can’t save my work else where due to Tumblr messing up the formatting. It’s been a frustrating mess and so far no one @staff has come up with a tech solution or work around.

Summary: Rapunzel helps to rebuild Old Corona, (after its near destruction from the Black Rocks) which will become the permanent home of Red and Angry, who have returned to Corona to settle down. However, she begins to notice strange footprints around the area, as well as the livestock becoming more unruly and fearful. The group comes across a monster hunter named Creighton, who explains to the group that the area is being stalked by a werewolf, who possessed one of Corona's citizens. Aiming to save this person rather than kill them, Rapunzel sets out to find who it is.

When Was This Decided?

No seriously, when was this decided? It’s a pretty big leap go from ‘the rocks makes various towns inhabitable’ to ‘let’s rebuild!’ What’s changed here? Cause the rocks haven’t been removed and Rapunzel failed in her mission to nullify their power. In fact the rocks were not only reawaken in the second season finale but shown to be under the power of someone who’s intentions were made unclear to the heroes.

So I ask again; who thought this was safe thing to do now? What provisions have been made to accommodate the rocks? They blocked the well, remember, and destroyed the fields; how are the people getting food and water?

And most importantly why wasn’t the audience informed beforehand? When you change up the status quo in a story you need to provide just cause to the viewers. I legit thought I had accidently skipped an episode when I first watched because this plot point was not set up properly.

Why Were They Ever Left Alone to Begin With?

In a story where neglect is a central theme and motivating factor for all the main characters, it is super tone deaf to have those same characters perpetuating neglect themselves. The decision to live on their own should not be left up to Angry and Red because they are children. Children are not mature enough to provide for themselves neither emotionally nor physically and when placed in situations where they have to do so it psychologically damages them. Which the series already showcased with Varian so why is this suddenly deemed ok?

This Completely Undermines the Past Two Seasons

The entire conflict of the past two seasons was the rocks forcing people out of their homes. Eugene was made an orphan from them, Varian lost his entire support group because them, they drove out the Saporians from their encampment which prompted them to invade Corona, and Rapunzel and company spent an entire year on the road trying to find a way to stop them from spreading supposedly.

All of that has now been flushed down the drain with this decision. And its super insulting to watch because it’s the writers telling us that we’ve wasted our time caring about this plot for two years. You don’t resolve major conflicts off screen and without explanation; it’s lazy!

Also Where Is Varian and Quirin During All This?

This is not only their home and legal charge, but it’s also the ending to their ongoing story, and they’re not even here in a silent cameo.

Wouldn’t Quirin be overseeing the rebuilding of his town? Wouldn’t Varian be using his skills to find workable engineering solutions for them, fulling his season one goal of saving his home and making his village better with his inventions? Also wouldn’t Edmund want to catch up with his brother and help out now that he’s here?

In fact not a single person who actually lives in Old Corona is to be found in these opening shots.

Oh, But We Do Get Earl

Earl might be from Old Corona, or he might not be. We’ve literally never seen him before. The artists had to create a brand new character model for this character, the writers had to write new lines for him, and the casting director had to hire an actor and have him record these lines for only less than a minute of screen time, never to be seen again. Even though they legit had shepherd models already to go from season one that they could have used. It’s a waste of resources and a prime example of the mismanagement going on in this show.

It’s Too Late In the Series to Waste Time On a New One Off Villain

Speaking of a waste, Creighton might have more story reasons to appear in this episode than Earl does but her inclusion is still a poor decision. The show already has an overabundance of villains, so many in fact that they shipped the bulk of them off in season two, and this is the final season; the season where we should be wrapping up plots and minor characters stories not kicking off new ones.

Taken on her own Creighton isn’t a bad character presa, she works for the episode, but when we could have gotten a resolution to Caine’s, Hector’s, or the Disciples’ story arcs instead it highlights how misused the series assets are.

All This Lore Will Be Forgotten In Just a Few Episodes Time

We finally get like some magical rules and backstory only for future episodes to ignore it from here on afterwards. Red can turn into a werewolf whenever she pleases, night or day, with little explanation as for why.

Just Arrest Her Rapunzel

You’re the acting queen. You have the power and the right to arrest or even merely detain someone who is threating your citizens and refuses to leave. In fact it’s kind of your job. You don't even have to throw her in a dungeon if you thought that too cruel. Just lock her up in a nice room somewhere in the castle until you’ve sorted out the mess yourself.

The series wants to treat Rapunzel as the underdog when she isn’t, and her failure to wield her power effectively doesn’t make her look ‘nice’ it just makes her look stupid and grossly incompetent. This is a conflict that didn’t need to have happened and Rapunzel let it happen.

Oh, So Now Y'all Riot

You didn’t complain when the king orphaned children with his crack down on crime. You rolled over as he dolled out overly harsh punishments to poor people who committed minor offences. You gleefully went along with the royals as they scapegoated a child for their mistakes, even as they endangered your homes. And ya’ll sat on your asses while invaders pulled off a coup and enslaved you.

But this is what you get mad over? A rumor about a mythical creature existing that your princess has zero control over. Seriously?

Man, I hate the townspeople in this show.

Pointless Dream Sequence Is Pointless

This scene tells the audience nothing new and just wastes screen time.

This Is the Wrong Lesson to Focus On Rapunzel

We do not tell the 12 year old to unload their phycological issues onto their baby sister!

You’re telling me parents were involved in writing this show? What the hell!?

Rapunzel you are the adult here. At 20 now you should be more adept to handle listening to the deep seated emotional traumas of a little girl than a fucking 10 year old! And if you’re not, or don’t want to, then it’s your job to find another adult who will.

That’s the core problem with this entire episode. It treats Red’s and Angry’s problems as some eternal issue that they need to work out and not as the inherent failure of the adults around them that it is.

It is neither Red’s nor Angry’s decision on weather or not they get live on their own. Nor is it their responsibility to be each other’s therapist. Yes, a change in living arrangements is always stressful and for children with abandonment issues it can be hard to readjust, but that’s when you need to step it up and deal with the problem; not shove it off onto the kids themselves!

Monty Is Useless

Is this all Monty is good for? Being a red herring in ridiculously simple mysteries? Is this why we wasted a whole episode introducing him back in season one? Really?

Why Are We Still Treating Old Corona As Being Separate from Corona Itself?

Look, I get that it’s a joke, but it’s a joke that highlights how poorly thought out the worldbuilding is in the series. Is the Coronan government in charge of Old Corona or not? If so then you can just make those lease laws yourself as the acting regent Eugene. If not then Frederic shouldn’t have had any say in the matter of relocating Old Corona’s citizens nor putting a child outside of his jurisdiction under arrest.

But more importantly this is a just a repeat of that vague level of responsibility Rapunzel has for people who live off the island. She can’t order a whole village to be rebuilt while simultaneously claiming that she bares no accountability for Varian and Quirin’s problems in season one.

Replacing Guns with Crossbows Isn’t the Safe Option That the Censors Think It Is

I find it kind of amusing that censors will ban showing a 17th century blunderbuss but allow it to be replaced by a weapon that is still mass produced today and can be bought in any Walmart across the country. Like I’m a major advocate for gun regulation in real life, but even I have to find this to be a bit silly. Crossbows aren’t some fantasy weapon. People still own and use them. But it would be seriously hard to get ahold of a working antique firearm.

Seriously This Is How the Girls Have Been Living and the Adults Haven’t Done Anything About It Until Now?

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse by now, but it’s so engrained into the episode I have to keep bringing it up. The show itself is visually telling us that Red and Angry can’t keep living this way, but it never wants to call Rapunzel and the other adults out for not rescuing them from this life sooner.

So All This Tells Me Is That Rapunzel Could Have Easily Checked Up On Varian In Painter’s Block, But Didn’t.

Remember they’re right next to Old Corona; meaning that Janus Point is also right next to Old Corona. Meaning that Rapunzel could easily have checked up on Varian right after Painter’s Block and choose not to. With each passing episode Rapunzel has less and less excuse for her behavior in season one.

Yeah Remember that Plot Point That Wound Up Being Entirely Irrelevant to the Story?

In jokes don’t cover your ass when you make poor writing choices. Quite the opposite in fact as all you’ve done is remind the audience of all the various dangling plot threads that you will fail to follow up on. The disciples plot goes no where and serves no purpose, and it should not have been introduced as this big important thing if you weren’t going to do anything with it.

Nice Idea, Poor Execution

I’ve heard fans of this episode tell me that they enjoy it because of this scene with Red. If you’re a naturally introverted person or neurodivergent and have trouble communicating at times then Red’s speech here can strike a cord. Which is cool; I’ll never deny someone’s feelings and if a piece of media speaks to you on a personal level for whatever reason that is great. What I’m here to discuss though is story structure and whether or not the story’s themes are presented well in context of what it’s set up.

The conflict here does not work from a pure structural standpoint because it’s a surface level deflection of the real issues. Red’s problem isn’t that she is being ignored, it's that she’s been abandoned. Now communication issues can arise from that abandonment and feeling heard can be step forward in working those issues out, but Red’s central trauma isn’t going to be magically fixed by people ‘listening’ to her, i.e. being granted whatever she wants, but by providing her with a real home and with a real guardian to look after her.

Because what Red wants on a surface level is harmful to her, and the reasons why she wants what she wants needs to be addressed more so than then sedating her angry outbursts in the moment. This is treating the symptoms not the cause.

So What Is or Isn’t Real About the Curse?

Once again, we finally get some actual lore and rules for magic and the writers are already throwing it away during the same episode they are introduced. I now have as little context for how the wolf curse works within the Tangled world as I did before the episode started.

This Is Sweet, But Once Again Context Brings It Down.

So just to reiterate, this a surface level resolution to the conflict of the episode that doesn’t actually address anything. It might feel like an appropriate ending but only if you ignore the fact that Red and Angry are orphans who’ve been abandoned but the adults.

Angry apologizing here to Red does not solve any of their problems, especially since Angry, as a child herself, is not responsible for her sister’s behavior, feelings, nor well being. That falls to the adults and they fail to address Red’s core issues and their own failings to her in their apologies as well. Not to mention that the very next scene undermines any optional progress that could have been made here.

Listening to Someone Does Not Mean Giving Them Whatever They Want

This does not fix anything. Red and Angry are still left to live on their own without any real supervision. Giving them a big play house is not providing for them, it’s spoiling them. Would you let all the other orphans in the local orphanage roam free without an adult to take care of them? No!? Gee I wonder why? Could it be because letting a 12 and 10 year old raise themselves is a very stupid idea? One that will potentially damage them later in life assuming that they don't get themselves killed in the meantime.

Moreover this is yet another example of the series overall problem with not understanding that compromise and resolving conflicts does not mean rewarding the characters at the end with everything that they want without having them work for it. That’s not how life works and it’s not how good story telling works.

This Is Beyond Irresponsible

No! Bad Show! Bad!

You do not get to pretend that negligence is the same thing as compromise. Yes I know Eugene said to come to him when they have a problem, but as demonstrated by this very episode children do not always know when to ask for help nor can they always find it when needed, that is why parents exist!

Nor does the show get a free pass for turning it’s main characters into child abusers who neglected three minors multiple times now. Even when they themselves are victims of that same abuse!

How utterly blinkered do you have to be to not see the problem here?

It’s the Return of the Pointless Parallels

Let me count the ways for how stupid this is.

Red and Angry’s conflict has no impact on the on going narrative. Even with them now being reoccurring characters they still manage to contribute nothing to the future storylines involving Cass.

Neither Rapunzel nor Cassandra learn anything from Red and Angry’s spat; Rapunzel because she refuses to acknowledge her own flaws and Cassandra’s not even here for any of it.

The sister’s dynamic between Raps and Cass is not well established and the writers mange to piss all over it by series end because of gay baiting and poor writing. Therefore relying on lazy parallels to other siblings in the show to bolster this connection falls flat.

Red and Angry’s argument has nothing in common with Rapunzel and Cass’s current fighting. One is about abandonment issues and the other is about shallow validation. Trying to tie these two themes together actually winds up undermining both conflicts.

Red and Angry are children. Rapunzel and Cassandra are not. That very much matters.

Red and Angry didn’t drag innocent people into their petty bitch fight and endanger them because they wanted to feel special.

This Makes Zero Sense

I don’t know; she looked pretty happy during Crossing the Line.

She was also able to control the rocks just fine then, so what happened?

Not to mention soon after this Zhan Tiri is telling her she needs some sort of incantation to control the rocks, despite being able to already control the rocks....

It’s almost as if the writers are full of shit and don’t actually know what they’re doing.

So Are We Remembering the Burnt Hand or Not?

Does the hand matter or not? Is it ever a motivating factor in what Cassandra decides to do? Is her waning control over the rocks connected to her burnt hand; even though having a burnt hand is what allowed her grab the moonstone in the first place? Did the moonstone heal the hand? Does Raps singing the healing incantation later on heal it? Does Cass have a forever burnt hand?

Who the fuck knows!

Not the writers that’s for sure, cause it never comes up again.

Don’t introduce plot points and then not resolve them. That’s writing 101 guys.

Wait if she needs the incantation to control the rocks and the angry thing is a lie, then how the heck is she controlling them just now? Make up your dang mind show!

I swear I lose brain cells whenever I have to rewatch the evil Cassandra plot. It is so dumb you guys.... so, so dumb.

Conclusion

It’s not the worst thing ever but series has far better episodes on offer than this one. Even in a season as suck ass as season three.

So there’s praying that this review posts this time and if you enjoy my writing and would like to support me in my projects feel free to leave a tip on my Ko-Fi. Thank you.

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #anti-tangled #anti-rapunzel #anti-Cassandra

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lov3nerdstuff · 3 years

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Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 7.33}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student, blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 4.5k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

______________________________

They arrived in front of Morgan's private rooms a few minutes later, and it instantly sobered Robin up from her feelings of happiness and comfort that she had been able to cling onto ever since setting foot into the office earlier. If only life could always be as easy as it had seemed minutes ago, just Snape and her, and their relentless curiosity for magic and adoration for each other… But it wasn't, and both of them seemed to remember that as they stood in front of Morgan's door in silence. If they didn't find out about Morgan's reasons, didn't find out what this entire thing was about, there would be no life for Robin to lead at all.

She looked up at Snape next to her for a silent moment of gathering her wits, and his gaze spoke volumes of the same story. They could do this. They would find the bloody portrait, and then they would take the next step and the next and the next until this stupid mess was over with, until Morgan was no threat anymore. Whatever that might take. Even if it meant having to make Dumbledore their friend or enemy.

Upon a silent agreement that time was of essence, Robin got started on opening the door at last. It was warded rather heavily as she found, but that didn't stop her in the least, and on the contrary made things rather easy in return. Quite like paint that was applied in thick layers, she could peel them back and remove them all at once, even as thickly plastered as they were. A few minutes of quietly murmured spells and some trial and error later, the door swung open with a little squeaking noise and opened up the view of a perfectly ordinary, even if slightly ostentatious bed- and living room.

"I have to ask…" Robin spoke up quietly, once they had closed the door behind themselves and were now looking around the dark room with a lumos each. "Are you actually bad at breaking into places, or did you just pretend to be? Earlier today, I mean."

"I successfully worked as a spy in one of the worst wars known to wizarding history, and even beyond that, you have seen the neighborhood I grew up in. What do you think?" He asked in return, easily and without reproach, while yet he kept his focus on searching the room around them.

"Honestly, I think you could probably break into Azkaban unnoticed and back out again as well if you wanted to."

"That's perhaps a bit exaggerated, but the general sentiment is close enough."

"Then why did you want me to do it?" A small frown creased Robin's brows, as her eyes darted over the various pieces of luxurious furniture. "I'm sure you're far better at opening doors than I am."

"To humour you." Again, his reply came easily and with an almost graspable not-smirk engrained in his tone, and Robin inevitably had to smile as well while he went on. "In very much the same way you always do when you ask me to grab an item from the top shelves for you. You know as well as I do that you wouldn't even have to use your wand to collect it yourself, but instead you keep asking me to help you. Because you know how much it pleases me."

The smile on Robin's lips broadened, and finally her eyes found Snape on the other side of the room. "I had a vague idea that you knew I was doing it on purpose by now. Did you see that in my mind?"

"No. I simply know you well enough to know how well you know me."

"That's as confusing as it is amazing." She sighed with the same smile, then went back to searching the room with her eyes fixed on the shadowy corners and places. "And thank you, for humouring me. I needed it today."

For another ten minutes they searched the admittedly small chambers in well practiced collaboration, checking even the adjunct bathroom and the wardrobes, but they still came up empty handed. Robin ran a hand through her unruly hair in frustration, then looked up at Snape who was standing next to her in the open space in equal irritation. "The bloody portrait has to be here. It wasn't in the classroom nor in the office, so it just needs to be here. There's no other possibility!"

"Considering how… frequented Morgan's quarters are by visitors of various kinds, it would only seem logical that he hid it well enough to not be found by guests on accident, but close enough to retrieve for his private moments."

"Ugh…" Robin shuddered while pulling a face. "It's not your fault, but any way to phrase it just sounds disgusting to me."

"I try to ignore that as best as possible. But the facts remain as they are, and I believe he hid it in close reach. The question remains as to where."

"Let's see… Perhaps we have to think like Morgan if we want to find the stupid thing." She suggested, and upon Snape's attentive yet expectant expression, she elaborated as silently demanded. "If I was Morgan, a wizard of thirty something years who is obsessed with a girl who is my student and who I happen to have a painting of… I would put it in a place where I often see it. I would be a lazy arse, but clever enough to still get my way; which means I would hide it somewhere where I don't have to move it, only conceal it."

"Sounds reasonable."

"And if I was Morgan, I would put it in a place where I can enjoy it while following my daily routine, since I would always be short of time and everything else would be too much of a hassle."

"Still reasonable."

"So… where in my chambers would I spend a lot of time?" Robin frowned to herself, then started sauntering through the room once more. "The desk, perhaps. I would always be working here instead of my office."

"But would you, as Morgan, not choose a place to display it that doesn't demand a constant split of attention? Having the portrait near the desk would pose a terrible distraction from your work. And as much as I hate the man, he always finishes his grading and other work neatly and in time." Snape commented in return, and Robin found herself nodding along as she trailed away from the desk again.

"True, I wouldn't be able to focus if I was constantly tempted to look at something I am obsessed with. And I would be terrible at controlling my own impulses. So… where else would I spend a lot of time by myself? What would I like doing in my free time?" She sauntered over to the small sitting area in the far corner, frowning to herself in contemplation. "Reading, perhaps?"

"You really don't have the slightest idea about what goes on in the mind of the average male, regardless of age, do you?"

Robin turned back around to Snape with a scoff, a half smirk and one raised eyebrow. "But you do? I can hardly imagine that."

"I was unfortunate enough to live with a hoard of them back in my school days." He scoffed at the memory, rolling his eyes to himself before he continued on in obvious disdain for what he was saying. "Perhaps Morgan was taking a literal approach with his words about looking at the painting each morning and each night. Perhaps, he hid it in the very place where he spends his every morning and night indeed."

"You don't mean-... No. No…"

"I wish I could hope I'm wrong." The gravity of Snape's tone made Robin shudder a little, or perhaps it simply was the idea he was so subtly presenting, but she took a deep breath anyway and walked over to the large four-poster bed in determination. That same model seemed to be a staple for all staff rooms, and if Morgan had hidden the portrait there, she would find it.

Indeed, after a moment of pushing through the queasy and awkward feeling of searching the vile man's bed, Robin finally found what she was looking for. Hidden under the roof of the canopy, concealed and fixated in place with some subtle charms work, was the portrait that she had last laid eyes upon in her fourth year. The almost perfect image of herself, the eerie similarity that now was almost absolute, hidden in such a place for only Morgan's eyes to devour at his fancy. Robin felt sick at the thought, her stomach churning, and even the last hairs in her neck were standing upright now. Morgan really hadn't been joking about his literal need for her… she suppressed the need to gag, which was only followed by another unpleasant shiver. This was worse than any amount of blood had ever made her feel.

"I, uh… I found the portrait." She finally managed to speak out loud without the bile rising in her throat, and after another few seconds of staring at the bloody thing that still looked just like she remembered, she added, "The… other me really doesn't have earrings, just as we thought, but otherwise she could be my mirror image. Well, if I had lived a couple hundred years ago, that is."

Her words faded, but even after multiple moments of silence she still received no answer, nor did she hear Snape coming any closer to look at her findings for himself. With a confused frown, Robin turned to look through the open room behind her only to find him lingering by the desk now, a deep frown plastered on his own face as he inspected a dark brown wooden box in front of him in silence. Again, as so often, his expression and body language spoke volumes, this time of weariness and caution.

"Sev? What's wrong?" Robin couldn't keep the concern out of her voice as she skipped over to the other side of the room to stand beside him in an instant. For a moment she followed his gaze to the intricately decorated box on the tabletop. It was an intriguingly unique piece, even if Snape seemed to be rather lost in thought than to be studying the object itself, and she finally looked back up at him with unease written all over her features when he still didn't reply. "Talk to me. Please."

"I believe to have seen this very object in the headmaster's office before… Years ago, when I was a student, and again and again when I started teaching, but not any time recently. In one of the shelves in the far back of the room where all the important artefacts are stored, far out of everyone's reach." He answered at last, obviously lost in thought and consideration, which didn't do much to calm Robin's uproaring nervousness. If Snape was concerned, she should be double as much.

"Do you know what's inside?" She finally dared to ask, and while she wasn't sure if she even wanted to know the answer, she suddenly was very certain that whatever the box held would bring them closer to solving the mystery around Morgan and the Portrait. It had to, everything else just wouldn't make sense. But perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

"I have no idea." He mused, seconds before casting a detection charm for curses and dark magic over the object, only to have it come back negative. "But we should certainly take a look. Out of all the bizarre objects in Morgan's room, this is perhaps the second most curious after the portrait."

"Why do you think that?"

"Have you ever in the entire castle seen an object that required a key and not magic to unlock it?" He finally turned to Robin, then motioned to the box once more while his eyes stayed on her though. Frowning to herself, Robin leaned down closer towards the box and held her wand so that she could properly study the object in question with sufficient light. Indeed, there was a keyhole on the lid. Something she hadn't seen in use in the longest time. For a few minutes she tried every spell to open the box she had at her disposal, then however gave up in the light of her company's greater knowledge of such spellwork.

"That really is curious." She said as she straightened her back once more. "Do you want to try?"

"I already have."

"And?"

"There is nothing to be done without the corresponding key. It seems to be entirely unaffected by magic in general. And knowing who the box belonged to, it likely wouldn't do to simply break it open either."

"Pity." Robin sighed, stemming her hands into her hips as she thought. If the box really had been among the important artefacts in the headmaster's office for at least ten years and had still been there when Snape started teaching, then it must have not been in Morgan's possession much longer than the portrait. But if-...

"I can feel you thinking, Robin." Snape interrupted her thoughts before she really could get going deeper. "And usually that results in some brilliant revelation. Enlighten me, yes?"

"Right…" She breathed, nodding both to him and herself. "I was just thinking, if the box was in the headmaster's office from possibly before the time you started school until roughly when you started teaching, then it can't belong to Morgan and also can't have been in his possession for long."

"The latter is obvious, but what brings you to assume the former?"

"Well, when you started school at the tender age of eleven, then Morgan must've been like what, sixteen? Seventeen?" She reasoned, more guessing than knowing, but the point stood nonetheless. "Either way, as you previously pointed out, he is quite the ordinary male with an ordinary mind."

"That we have yet to determine for certain."

"I'm not talking about him going crazy over me, that's another issue entirely so let's just ignore that for a second. What I mean is that at whatever age he was when you started school, he was still a teenager. And how likely is it that a normal teenager possesses artifacts that are important enough to make the headmaster's top shelf?"

"I see your point." Snape mused, frowning to himself again for a moment. "In that case Dumbledore must have given it to him deliberately, at a point in time after I started teaching even though there does not seem to be an apparent reason for that particular timing. Which in return makes it highly unlikely that the contents of this box don't correlate to the portrait in some way."

"Precisely my line of thought."

"That makes it all the more important to find a way to open this crude thing now." He grumbled to himself and went back to studying the box intently. "Obviously Morgan will possess the key, but I sincerely doubt that Dumbledore doesn't still have one as well. He wouldn't part from anything of relevance without precautions."

"Wait, so there can be more than one key?" Robin's mind came to a sudden halt, then toppled over some more and finally changed direction. "I was under the impression that Morgan would logically have the only one."

"I see no reason why there couldn't be more than one. Creating them certainly must be a difficult procedure, but not impossible to replicate over and over again if desired."

"Oh gods…" Her voice grew shallow as her heartbeat sped up in an instant, followed by a cold rush of adrenaline while she mentally chastised herself. They had a lock without a key. She had a key without a lock. How stupid could she be not to make that connection sooner?!

"Minerva's key. Of course…" He came to the same conclusion as her then, eyes widening every so slightly as he watched Robin fumbling with her locket with slightly shaking hands. She had too much adrenaline in her body for anything else, was too exhausted and anxious… But this had to be the reason why McGonagall had given her a key for her birthday, and why she'd been so insistent on it that Robin kept it a secret. She had another key to this box, a key that wasn't supposed to exist.

"Fingers crossed…" Robin said under her breath as she finally put the small piece of metal to good use at last. It fit into the lock easily, and with a weary look up at Snape, Robin finally twisted it in one swift move. It obliged without resistance, and she pulled her hand back as if burnt when not one metallic clicking was heard from inside the box, but multiple in a row. Oh gods, hopefully she hadn't just set off some trap or self destruction or anything of the likes… But after a few seconds, the sounds faded, and the box sat still and innocently as ever on the desk before them.

"Do you wish to open it or shall I?" Snape asked quietly, but even he didn't dare to take his eyes off the box now.

"I'll open it, and you make sure that nothing jumps at me. Like always, yes?" She propositioned, nodding to herself to perhaps shake some of the fear out of her head. This was a good idea… she just needed to make herself believe that now. "We've been in plenty of situations like this before, haven't we? I go off to inspect some potentially dangerous thing, and you make sure I survive it. Isn't that what we always do when we go hunting for ingredients?"

"It is similar enough, yes."

"Good…" She took a deep breath, then placed her hand on top of the lid and looked over at Snape once more for a confirmation of what she was about to do. He motioned for her to go ahead, and after another second of hesitation, Robin finally had enough of herself and flipped the stupid box open with a start.

Nothing jumped at her, nor did she seem to have set off any kind of follow-up spells. It simply was a box, admittedly larger on the inside than the outside, but Robin barely took notice of that any longer, seeing how most of her own boxes and bags were graced with the same magic. What did surprise her however were the contents the box in front of her held now, in all their striking unspectacularity. A look at Snape confirmed that he shared that sentiment to the fullest. They had expected anything at this point… but not just a gigantic stack of parchments, ranging from literally ancient to almost modern.

"Well, at least we have something to look into now…" Robin sighed to herself as she frowned down at the pile of paper in front of her. "There has to be some kind of important information written on these, or nobody would've bothered hiding them that well. They will either give us answers, or leverage on Dumbledore who in return can give us answers."

"Indeed… However this is hardly the time nor place to look through an epos of loose leaf parchments." Snape said in argument with circumstance, which made Robin look up at him again while raising her eyebrows.

"Do you really think we should just take the box? Morgan will notice for sure, and then it won't be hard to guess for him who took it."

"I think we should take the parchments." He returned easily, then motioned to the object in front of them once more. "The lid had a thin layer of dust on it already, which means that Morgan likely knows the contents of these papers at this point and therefore has no need to open the box again any time soon. If we leave the box where it is, and with a bit of luck, he won't notice the papers' absence until we long have the information we need. Until we are ready to face him on equal grounds."

"Clever." Robin replied with a half smile. "As always."

Snape merely rolled his eyes in that exaggerated manner that humour her so much, then they finally went to gather up the papers into a portable pile in his arms. Half a minute later, Robin locked the box back up with her key, then hid the latter back inside her locket.

"What about the portrait?" She asked as they made for the door at last, after having spent decidedly too much time in Morgan's quarters already. "It feels wrong to leave it here, in that place… I know we have to, but it makes me feel sick nonetheless."

"As much as it bothers me, I'm afraid we have to leave it where it is indeed." He answered, then his voice turned into more of a growl than the rich silk it usually was. "But don't believe for even a second that I wouldn't gladly end his pathetic existence for lusting after you like this."

"Because I'm yours and only yours?" She couldn't help asking with a small smile, while she peeked out through the door into the empty hallways first before opening it further for him as well.

"Because you deserve better than that."

"But also because I'm yours."

"Yes."

"You really can't deny that you are quite territorial, you know…"

"I would rather call it protective than territorial."

"Same thing."

"Does it bother you?" He inquired calmly but in seriousness, looking down at Robin over the papers in his arms expectantly.

"Rather on the contrary." She replied with a small but affectionate smile. "It makes me feel almost too giddy with pride and adoration. I just wish you could show a little more of that in public too; would certainly keep the right people from bothering me. Oh well… I wish."

"Believe me, so do I." He sighed in return, then took another look inside Morgan's room once they both stood in the hallway. "Let us hope he will be too drunk upon his return to notice the traces we left."

"Or… I could turn back the time inside the room to before we arrived?" Robin suggested more than asked with a hopeful and pointedly innocent expression. "You know I can freeze objects in time… And I'm actually quite sure that I can turn time back in a limited space just as easily, as long as there are no people inside. That's way more difficult, or rather impossible without a timeturner."

"You are aware that technically tampering with time is forbidden in any regard, yes?"

"So is breaking into a professor's private chambers and stealing his papers."

For half a second Snape seemed to freeze in his protest, then a not-smirk tugged on his lips and he shrugged as far as his arms full of parchments allowed. "I ran out of arguments. Go ahead."

A mirroring smirk played on Robin's lips for a moment, then she took a deep breath and focused on the task at hand. She'd read more about messing with time than she should probably admit, going through the entire restricted section of the library without anyone ever putting a stop to her efforts. Really, all the fun magic was in the restricted section anyway. Everything that was worth learning about. The part about potions and herbology she'd already finished years ago, then the dark arts had followed a long time prior as well, and now finally she had moved on to researching charms, also in regards to the still impending NEWTs.

It took two attempts to cast the difficult spell successfully, but then the room looked precisely how it had before they had entered. Even the layer of dust on the box was back in place and undisturbed by fingerprints. Content with her efforts, Robin finally closed the door and placed the same wards on it that she had removed upon their arrival.

"Do you know what truly is a shame?" Snape asked after a moment, while they quietly made their way back through the dark hallways and down a few stories.

"Quite many things, but please, do enlighten me."

"That neither Morgan nor Flitwick will ever know how ridiculously talented you are in their subjects."

Robin let out a humoured huff in replacement for a certainly too loud chuckle. "Oh, I think Morgan does know at this point. I managed to fend him and his best efforts off after all, even if just barely. Isn't that what defense class is about?"

"About fending off your crazy professor? I certainly hope not."

Now Robin did snort a little, even though the topic itself should have been rather depressing. "It's ironic that I have to defend myself against him with defenses that he himself has taught me. Or rather I would have to, if I hadn't read so much more about the dark arts in advance. What truly saved me today wasn't anything I learned in defense class… but rather the things I came up with myself, or what you showed me. Things Morgan didn't see coming."

"And therefore my point stands."

"How so?"

"Well, any idiot can learn the textbook by heart and master the school taught spells."

"Most idiots can't, in fact, as you very well know. They're far too narrow minded to even accomplish such a thing, and-..."

"Anyway…" He went on, in a manner that reminded Robin an awful lot of her own mannerisms, but she gave him that and let him go on. "What makes you such a brilliant witch and not just an outstanding student is that you don't even try to stay within the given boundaries. Most of the things you excel at are either straight out illegal for most people, or at least so far out of the school curriculum that your teachers will never know what you truly can do."

"I don't really mind." Robin shrugged in return. "It's a good thing that Morgan doesn't know me well enough to know what I can do. That's my only advantage over him."

"I certainly agree with that assessment. Perhaps once Morgan isn't an issue anymore we can see to it that you get the recognition you deserve."

"I just want to ace my NEWTs and move on to more interesting matters of study once and for all. I don't need anyone's recognition. The only person I ever actually tried to impress is you, and that seems to have worked out for me just fine." She replied with a small smirk, which earned her another of those lovely feignedly annoyed expressions in return. They both knew she was right though, she had impressed him so many times and likely always would, and it had indeed worked out in both their favour. And, almost needles to say at this point, Robin felt like they both were equally proud of that fact after all.

______________________________

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f0xfordcomma · 3 years

Note

Hello!! Happy FFWF!! Is there anything in particular that you find hard to write? Are there any WIPs that you've just absolutely given up on cause you think it'll go nowhere?? (would you share a bit of it? :D)

Croisty! Happy ffw tuesday (which tbh is earlier than I thought I'd be able to do these, so be proud of me lol)

I wish I had more to go off of in my writing portfolio to answer this question, but I think the thing I have the hardest time writing/ have avoided writing in my wips is just unfettered angst or like horror/ violence. Like character death? Gore? Fight scenes? (ooooh baby I SUCK at fight scenes) all of /that/ is just not really my forte as a writer. Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to hurting my characters, but hurt/comfort is more where its at for me. You've read my stuff, so you know how emotionally driven a lot of my writing is. I think I would have a hard time writing more graphic/ heartbreaking/ violent *stuff* in my style. Idk, it would probably be a good thing for me to practice.... but.... I don't wanna (hands on hips) sooooo I'm not planning to really do anything quite like that anytime soon.

As far as abandoned wips go, I've got plentyyyy (or just verrrrrrry dusty wips that are not quite abandoned but are sitting very patiently on the shelf waiting for me to have the time to get back to them) Violent/ angsty/ deathy/ fighty abandoned wips though? Not so much.

But for you, mon petit croissant, have a bit of a miraculous ladybug reveal fic that I wrote one night after having a little ~ouid~ and convincing my husband to put on a sheet face mask with me that I now have no intention of finishing (oops, rip me).

okaaaaayyy so this is actually pretty dang long lol but I'm going to share the whole thing with you because I just re-read it for the first time in months and its pretty funny ~if you ask me~ so anyway... under the cut <3

NIGHT OFF

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a totally crazy idea to take a night off.

Besides, Shadowmoth’s akumatizations had slowed down considerably in the past few months, and he rarely ever sent out two akumas in one day. The battle that she and Chat had fought that morning was brutal, but they’d come out victorious against HoneyBadger. Still, the fight had left her exhausted and wound up. Shadowmoth was planning something, she was sure of it. She just couldn’t, for the life of her, figure out what it was.

Ladybug was stressed.

Add to that, the fact that end-of-term exams were starting up next week and she’d not had nearly enough time during dead week to actually cram. Something about black butterflies and cranky kwamis and a cheeky cat (who, in recent weeks, had been considerably less cheeky.) Not to mention, she had been receiving an awful lot of memes, seemingly without preamble, from Paris’ favorite male model. Nino thought it was hilarious. Alya thought it was suspicious. Marinette thought it was confusing.

Marinette was stressed.

All of it was stressful.

Alya knew when her best friend was stressed. She could usually gauge the amount of Marinette’s exasperation by the frequency with which her bangs went flying from her face, propelled by a huff and a heavy sigh. Right now, Marinette’s bangs were a mess.

“Okay, girl. You need a night off.”

“What? No, I’m fine! Really! Plus, I can’t really afford to take a night off right now, Alya… I don’t know what Shadowmoth ha—”

“Yeah, no. I’m stopping you right there. For the next twenty-four hours, this space is a Ladybug-talk free zone,” she gestured vaguely around her bedroom, which was scattered with printouts and pictures that Marinette had brought over to work on nailing down Hawkmoth’s possible location using Alya’s beloved akuma-map. “I know, I know. It pains me more than it pains you, truly. But I’m doing this for you. Tonight: you, me, drinks, distractions. You are taking a night off.”

“But Alya! What if—”

“Hush, you know that’s incredibly unlikely. And, in the event of this IF you are so set on, you know that cat boy and I will have your back. Even drunk ladybugs can purify akumas when they have the clawed crusaders on their side.”

“I can’t believe you gave in to his silly nickname.”

“It is a badass nickname and you are just jealous that we bonded.”

“I’m not jealous. I’m annoyed.”

“Mhmm… keep telling yourself that, girl. Now, back to the matter at hand: what kind of drunk do you want to get tonight? Classy or trashy? I still have that peach stuff from last month, but if we are thinking classy I might need to call in the reserves to get us some decent wine.”

“You won’t need to call in anybody, Al, because I am definitely not getting drunk tonight.”

“Night off, Marinette. Drunkenness is a prerequisite.”

“Can’t we just watch movies or something? I really don’t know if that’s too good of an idea…”

“Girl, we watch movies every night. This is a night off. Don’t think I don’t see you stressing all throughout movie night every week, anyway. You need to take your mind off Ladybug,” she gestured at the mess that had consumed her bedroom. “And get your mind back on Marinette. Superhero or no, you’re still a teenage girl who is supposed to be enjoying the last few months of college.”

Marinette pouted.

“Stop pouting. You know you deserve to have normal girl fun.”

“But Alya I—”

“No buts.” An unnervingly devious look crossed Alya’s face. “Unless it is your butt in that pair of skinny jeans that you and I both know you-know-who loves. Boys will be here in twenty. Get to it, girl.”

Marinette just gaped at her. She didn’t even notice that Alya had grabbed her phone, but alas, there was the tell-tale ping.

Alya Cesaire → Akuma class OGs chat

Alya: anyone down for a little last minute get together—my door is open and my bar is stocked

Nino: HELL YEAH babe!

NL: got a new mix i’ve been meaning to show you… so entertainments on me fam!

Alix: This thing got an itinerary or just drunkenness for drunkenness sake?

Alya: the latter, natch.

Alix: Sick! Count me in.

Kim: same!

Rose: Do you need us to bring anything?

Alya: anything you feel like sharing

Alya: otherwise, just yourselves!

Alya: Agreste~you better bring us some of that expensive shit that i know your pops keeps somewhere in that castle of yours

Alya: no fancy wine, no admittance

Alya: the rest of you peasants just bring wtvr

Adrien: uhhhhhhhhhh

Adrien: ALYA

Adrien: dang it! You know I feel obligated to steal wine from my dad’s cellar now

Adrien: do you know how scary my dad is!!!??

Nino: DUDEEEE

Nino: DO IT you wont!

Adrien: shuddup Nino

Marinette: Adrien you totally don’t have to! Alya is just being **extra** Alya today

Alya: i plan a night off for this girl

Alya: and this is the thanks i get??????

Alya: can ya’ll believe this?

Alya: ridiculous

Zoe: UTTERLY RIDICULOUS

Adrien: utterly ridic

Adrien: dangit

Zoe: lol first! sorry adrien

Marinette: ugh ty I guess Als xxxxx

Alya: awe she DOES care, youre welcome babe!

Alya: so sunshine… about that wine?

Adrien: yeah yeah yeah

Adrien: use my people pleasing against me why dontcha

Alya: gladly <3

“Alya, stop bullying Adrien.”

“No way, girl. Giving that boy a task is the only way to ensure he shows up. Speaking of which… butt, jeans, go, now!”

The doorbell rang. Nino had perfected the quickest route to Alya’s house from every part of Paris years ago. Yes, he was whipped; and yes, he was proud of it.

“ALYA! I have to clean all of this up and I have to go home to get those jeans that you’re so dead set on and…”

“No you don’t. Kaalki?”

“Right here, Ms. Rouge.”

“YOU USED VOYAGE TO BRING ME JEANS?”

“No way girl! Don’t be silly. Kaalki and Roaar just volunteered to be my errand kwamis.”

“You guys do realize that I am the guardian, right?”

“Of course, that’s why we worked so hard to get everything that you need for tonight.”

“I—you… wait is this my good bra? How did you—”

“Us kwamis pay attention, Marinette.” Tikki cuddled up to her cheek.

“Et tu, Tikki?”

The ladybug kwami just giggled and made her way to the pile of papers scattered across Alya’s bed, starting to organize them back into neat stacks.

“Night. Off.” Alya punctuated each word with a shove and a smack on the bum, directing Marinette toward the bathroom and shutting her in to get ready while she got the door for Nino.

#foxford just casually drops an entire dang chapter of a fic for your ffwf enjoyment #oops #miraculous ladybug #foxford writes #ml #ml season four #aged up adrienette #ffwf #ffwtuesday #thanks for asking!!#<3 #foxford answers #thatcroissantgurl #a moment of silence for my wip graveyard #cw: mentions of drunkenness #(they are old enough in france okay)

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dreamer213 · 3 years

Text

Broken Machines: Lights the Dark

Chapter 3 Evening In Atlas Part 3

At the sound of his voice Penny breaks free from her trance. She looks back at her hand remembers that they were still in a life or death situation. Somehow of the gravity of the situation had been lost in her fawning over him.

Penny: Y-Yes Of Course! I-I’ll Get You Up Right Away!

Penny, now flustered, grabs his other hand and pulls him back up onto the balcony. Once he’s back on his feet and dust himself off Penny gets a look at his full figure. He was two inches shorter then her in heels, he’d be two inches taller than her if she was in her normal shoes, he had a model’s figure very slim and elegant, and his limbs are long and delicate especially his hands. Long elegant fingers with clean manicured nails and soft palms. He was like painting come to life and Penny can’t help but admire his beauty. While she’s admiring him Whitley fully composes himself and speaks up.

Whitley: Thank the gods I thought I was done for. If it’s wasn’t for you I could’ve died! Thank you, thank you so much Miss?

Penny: My n-name is Pe-

“Good Heavens Are You Alright?”

A sudden shout interrupts them prompting both to reenter the ballroom floor. Once they set foot back in they are immediately surrounded by group of “considered” onlookers. Penny recommend the woman who screamed as one of the ladies she ran into early.

Woman in indigo dress: Whitley dear, I saw the commotion and ran over as fast as I could! Are you alright?

Short business man: Yes we saw you being pull up and were too shocked to move!

Woman in red dress: And to think your fate was left in the hands of a little girl. Gods you must have been absolutely terrified.

The crowd turns their gases towards Penny, watching her for a reaction. Penny could feel the stares on her and tried to think of something to say, she doubted her normal response of “ just do what’s right” would be taken well but she couldn’t think of anything else. It was only reason she did what she did but there’s no way this people could understand that. She starts trembling a bit but before anyone else can start questioning her Whitley takes her hand and pulls her close. She turns to asks him what he was doing but he just gives her a knowing smile. He knows where this is going and he’d be damned if he was going to let foulness be thrown at the person that just saved his life.

Whitley: Actually I was quite happy. When I fell I thought it would be the end for me but this brave young woman thrown herself into harms way to save my life without any hesitation. And after such a daring rescue I’m sure my savior must be very tired and I myself am still quite shaken, so of you’ll excuse us, We need to go find a place to rest.

Woman in red dress: But of course after such a harrowing experience who would need a rest. Here, let me watch over the girl while you get some rest.

Whitley: Thank you Mrs. Dahlia but I can’t possibly ask that of you especially when you already have some much on your mind already.

Mrs. Dahlia (red dress): What do you talking about? Our business is doing wonderful and I just bought a new fur I haven’t a worry in the world right now.

Whitley: But didn’t your son Jacob just return from his health spa retreat? Certainly he needs your attention much more the I do.

Mrs. Dahlia: How did you-

Whitley: He was gone for so long I thought he’d never return but it looks like he’s finally pulled himself together. Though it seems he still has issues with slurring his words and maintaining his balance. So I think it be best if you go and checked in on him first before worrying about us.

Mrs.Dahlia: Y-your absolutely right! I’ll go check on him right now! Excuse me!

Dahlia runs off, face as red as her dress completely shamed. The short man, a Mr. Aster, is about to speak up again but Whitley spots it and goes ahead of him.

Whitley: Oh Mr. Aster I believe there was a man in a tiger print suit looking for you earlier. I think he said some about some debts you owe and lead pipe-

Before he can say anything else Aster has already scurried away. With that the crowd grow silent, they know that Whitley wasn’t going to tolerate their behavior and soon the sea of people parts down the middle allowing Whitley and Penny passage. Once they’re past the crowd Whitley whispers to Penny.

Whitley: (whisper) I’ve never seen you before did someone bring you with them? If so where are they?

Penny: (whisper) Yes I was brought here but we got separated. The last time I saw him he was talking with a large group of people at the entrance of ballroom.

Whitley: (whisper) How many people?

Penny: (whisper) Thirty six people when we separated but there could be more they were still coming when I left.

Whitley: (whisper) Then he should still be there, I’ll take you back to him.

Penny nods in responses and they begin to make their way through the ballroom. On their way they encounter more elites trying to make conversation with Whitley. But Whitley is able to bypass all of them using his practiced social skills. His methods consist of redirecting their attention to someone else, giving them a quick response and promising to continue later, or subtly shaming them until they take the hit and run off with their tails tucked in. For him this was sort of thing was like breathing, in effortless function he did to survive, but to Penny, who was getting a front row seat of this, it was incredible. It was like combat in verbal form with the strategic weaponization of words, tactical use of information, and well timed retreats. In this battle Penny was just a civilian, lost on a battlefield she doesn’t know how to fight on being carried to safety by a veteran soldier while he strikes down enemies left and right to clear their path. It was remarkable.

They’re near the dance floor all they have to do is cross it and they have a clear shot to the entrance. As they near the edge of the dance floor Penny spot General Ironwood across the room. He was just a few yards away from the dance floor if they cut across they’d end up right next to him! Penny tugs at Whitley’s sleeve then points in Ironwood’s direction.

Penny: (whisper) He’s right over there we just have to get across.

Whitley: (whisper) Well then let’s not keep him waiting.

Just as they’re about to move forward suddenly music starts to play and couples make there way onto and around the formally empty dance floor. With all the people on the floor there’s no way to walking across and the crowd of onlookers was far too thick to see through. There was only one way to get across the floor. Whitley taps his feet to the music, a standard 3 step waltz a beginners dance. He looks over to his savior and meets her gaze.

Whitley: (whisper) Do you know how to dance?

Penny: (whisper) N-no I do not.

Whitley: (whisper) Hmmm, Okay then just stay close, hold on tight, and let me lead.

Before she ask what he means Whitley pulls them onto the dance floor, he takes her left hand and places it on his right shoulder puts his right hand under her left shoulder blade, and raises their joined hands up to a little above shoulder level, at standard waltz position. He starts slow until Penny gets the rhythm of his movements. Once she’s got it he speed up a bit moving them a bit closer to the other people on the floor. They’re closing in on the other couples dancing they just need to match their speed then jump in. Whitley looks to Penny and mouths “Ready? she think for a moment then nods. With that he speeds up to match the song and the other dancers, and throws them into the sea of dancing couples. Whitley leads them around the dance floor looking for openings to cut through the other dancers to get across. Meanwhile Penny is bewildered, she’s trying to get her body to go on autopilot and just match his movements but she just can’t! Her mind is a jumbled mess and all she can focus on is trying not to step on his feet. This whole night had been an insane mess, here she was supposed to be on a mission but somehow she ended up here on the dance floor with him. To be honest it was like a fairytale and she was the heroine dancing in the castle with the prince, how enchanting. No no no she couldn’t think like that she had to focus on getting back to Ironwood not her own fantasies. Whitley notices her attempts to keep up with him and is honestly amused by it. Her face is scrunched up in focus and her eyes are trained on their feet, it’s so obvious and clumsy that it’s actually sort of cute. Just enough so that it makes him laugh a bit and puts a little smile on his face. The sound of his laughter gets Penny’s attention and she looks back up but only for a second as the moment she sees his smile she goes bright red. She may have lacked an actual heart but something in her chest was pounding like a drum.

It only lasted around four minutes but it felt like an eternity, once the first song ended they had already made it to the other side though Penny hadn’t noticed she was still trying to unravel the odd new feelings she was experiencing. How could one person make feel so nervous but so happy it was so confusing. As she ponders a familiar figure approaches them.

Ironwood: Penny.

Penny: General!

Whitley: General Ironwood?

Whitley stood in shock as Penny ran to Ironwood’s side, he couldn’t believe this small sweet girl Penny was here with General Ironwood. Now most of Whitley know about coming from the dealing between Ironwood and his father. The relationship between them hadn’t been good for long time as Jacques was too money focused to see the bigger picture while Ironwood was straight forward, always had a plan of action, and dislike compromise with Jacques on anything. But with global communication down they were stuck with each other. He also knew that Ironwood was a workaholic and an antisocial especially since Beacon fell. The charity gala was his first appearance in high since the catastrophe and for him to be at another event so soon was off kilter but bringing an unknown young woman with him as well, completely abnormal. Ironwood was here for a reason and While had to figure out why.

Whitley: General Ironwood it would seem that I found your lost companion.

Ironwood: Indeed you did. And Penny isn’t just a companion she also one of my soldiers.

Penny: I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier. I was going to introduce myself but that crowd at the balcony frightened me and could not finish my sentence.

Ironwood: A crowd? Hmm, We’ll talk about that later but first I should thank you for returning my soldier Schnee.

Whitley: Please General call me Whitley and honestly I should be the one thanking you. If you hadn’t brought her here tonight I wouldn’t be standing here right now. Getting this lovely girl back to you was the least I could do. In fact I’d like to offer you a lending hand in you’re endeavors as thanks for your soldier’s heroic actions.

Ironwood: Really? And why a lending hand? Isn’t gifting a nice car, summer home or some other luxury item the norm from your family.

Whitley: (chuckles) Oh General I think you’ve gotten a bit confused that’s my father’s style of gifting. He likes to give people pretty things because that’s what he thinks everyone wants. While it can be very effective it’s just not my style. No I prefer to look past simple glitz and glamor to see what they really want and from what I’ve seen General you didn’t come here for a good time.

Whitley had been reflecting on what had happened tonight and a few things stood out. Ironwood had come to this party which was completely out of character, he brought a naïve young woman with him, and said naïve woman was a soldier and if her actions earlier were any indicator of her skill, a damn good one at that. There was only few reasons a man like Ironwood would come to an event like this with such an gentle but very capable soldier at his side and all of them led back to one thing. Information. That what Ironwood wanted and if Whitley could give it to him then his plan for the future might go smoother the he thought. All he needed to do was reel him in.

Whitley: If there’s something you’d like to know or need help find out about something I’d be happy to help. But if you’re non interested I could also offer some etiquette lessons for your soldier, seeing as she such a hard time tonight some formal training would surely be of great use to her.

Whitley existents a hand to Ironwood.

Ironwood: This will be kept discrete?

Whitley: Of course, discretion is absolutely necessary when dealing with the military.

Ironwood: We’ll go over the details later but for now I accept. Your contribution will be greatly appreciated by myself and by Atlas as a whole.

Ironwood gives Whitley firm handshake, it hurts a bit but Whitley shakes it off. He puts his now slightly pulsing hand in his suit pocket and pulls out two business cards. He hands one to each of them. Penny takes hers with both hands, reading very carefully. The information on it was standard but somehow felt significant, specifically his number. It was like a link, a way she could reach him to for…well she didn’t know there was just so much she wanted known, wanted say. She still hadn’t even properly introduced herself! After all that’s happened tonight she couldn’t leave without doing the one thing she was supposed to.

Whitley: Thank you again General Ironwood. We’ll contact you about the details in the morning. Have a nice rest of your evening.

Whitley turns to walk away but Penny quickly steps up behind him and grabs the hem of his sleeve causing him to turn back. Penny stand straight up, with a bright smile and her signature salute finally speaks the line she’s been trying to get out all night.

Penny: S-s-Salutations! My name is Penny Poledina, it was a pleasure meeting you tonight!

There’s a pause, silence falls over the scene until a little chuckle escape from Whitley. Once he’s pulled himself back together he looks at Penny with an almost sincere smile.

Whitley: It was nice meeting you as well Ms. Poledina and I hope to see you again soon.

With that Whitley walks off to go find his father to inform him over this new opportunity he’s secured for them. Penny returns to Ironwood expecting to be scolded for her actions but instead he pats her head and give her a nod of approval. She did well tonight as she just secured a life debt from what could be considered the royal family of Atlas high society. Not only that but it was with the most level head and even tempered of the family. This was the golden key of contention and Ironwood couldn’t be more proud.

Informing Jacques had gone better than Whitley expected. Though that was mostly because Jacques was absolutely thrilled by the prospect of Ironwood own him a favor given their tumultuous business relationship and planned to milk the situation for all it’s worth. With that Whitley was dismissed for the night and retired to his bedroom while Jacques return to the party.

Happy but exhausted Whitley baths and changes into his sleepwear then heads to his bed where he quickly falls asleep. As his consciousness fades slowly the darkness of his mind is illuminated by a white light. Whitley finds himself on a cold floor, he looks around and sees that his in the middle of a circle surrounded by a circle of lights and armchairs, soon figures begin stepping out from behind them, each give a wave before taking a set in their respective chair. Each figure was the same but different, all where the same white haired blue eyed young man but each dressed in their own fashion and adorned their faces with unique animal masks. This is council of thought, a reacquiring lucid dream of his was the only place in existence Whitley could speak freely and full engross himself in his thoughts. Whitley stands and looks around, there are five chairs and five figures. The smartly dressed owl in a sweater vest and plaid pants, the smirking fox with rolled up sleeves and pants legs, the lion dressed in battle wear with a red cape with gold lace trim on his back, the peacock dolled up in his finest with his usual over the top suit and long feather coattails, and the wolf.

Whitley: Looks likes everyone’s here, it’s time to proceed. Owl! State of current affairs.

Owl: We’ve been formally announced as new the heir, preformed well at the party, had an near death experience which led to us to extending a hand to Ironwood. We now have in opportunity to start repairing our family’s relationship with the Atlas military. Father was pleased with our actions and our awaiting further instruction. That is all for current affairs, the floor is now up to commentary.

Fox: (Yawn) Gods keeping that stupid smile on our face was absolute pain. But watching those vultures squirm on their boots trying to keep up with us was priceless! I mean that Aster practically fainted when we mentioned the tiger suit (Laughs) too easy.

Lion: That’s because we had one hell of a bounce back! I mean what other elite could almost fall to their deaths then jumping right back into the fire not two minutes later! (chuckles)

Peacock: Let’s not forget about appearances Dears. You can’t deny that us staying prim and proper the whole night was key in our success. Especially with the General, gods knows he wouldn’t have taken us seriously if we let ourselves get disheveled.(giggles)

Whitley: Looks like we’re all in agreement, the night went well despite a few hiccups. Isn’t that right Wolf?

The last figure, Wolf, was a far cry from the rest, as apposed to sitting in his chair he squatted down in front of it, his appearance was just as odd. Long and unkempt hair, his only clothing were a tattered pair of dress pants and silver chains shackled on his wrists and ankles with a tight collar around his neck. Scars clover the skin of his biceps, feet, and back. And then there was his eyes. They were almost completely devoid of life, the only thing reflecting out of them was pure unbridled hatred.

This was the one part himself Whitley never showed but kept at the forefront of his mind at most times. This monster had grown from the depths of his once innocent heart after many years of suffering. it’s hungry was the only thing keeping him alive when things had got to their worst in the manor. No matter how tiring this game of playing good boy for Father was, no matter how painful interacting with his mother and sister became, and no matter how hopeless he felt at times the wolf’s hunger would always push him back onto his plan. It needed him to see this to the end HE needed to see this to the end! He’d never be at peace until then and until then the wolf remains waiting for that day.

Wolf: (growls) Why most we give more to that damn BASTERD!....After everything he’s done to us… what he’s done to our sisters….to Mother…….TO KLEIN! (Anger Growl)

Whitley goes over to wolf, he bends down to Wolf’s level and pets his shoulder.

Whitley: Shh Shhh, there there Wolf be patient. Just a couple more years, a little more boot licking, and plenty of good behavior and then we will strike. And when we do-

Whitley looks deep into Wolf’s eyes, that same look of pure hate now reflected back into Wolf.

Whitley: We. Will. Be. Freed. And. You. Will. Be. Fed. We just have to be patient if only for a little while longer.

The wolf growls in agreement, he smiles wide showing off his big bright fangs. Having pacified Wolf the meeting of thought had come to an end for the night and Whitley should be returning to a state of darkness before waking up. But instead of the room fading away into nothing the sound of a chair being pushed can be heard behind Whitley and Wolf. Whitley turns around to see another chair has been pushed into circle with a small rabbit mask place in the seat. He’s confused, this had never happened before, the dream had never changed against his will. The rules of this place were simple, this room and everything in it were all there was and that there should be here. And it was a always ALWAYS under Whitley’s control. So why? Why had that changed? Suddenly a new voice calls out from the void. It was soft and small like the animal the new mask mimics.

??????: …..That girl….she…was..so nice….Her smile was so….sweet….so..pure…so…..real…How long has it been…since someone smiled at us that way?..... How long has it been….since someone looked at us that way?.....I…want…..I want to see her….I want see her smile again.

Suddenly everything fades to white and Whitley wakes up.

#broken machines #whitley schnee #penny polendina #james ironwood #rwby fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic

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stellarcat52 · 4 years

Text

Timeless Blue (chapter one)

Because there’s no way in Arcadia my brain will let this be anything but a multi-chapter slow burn fanfic) (also these will roughly follow the episodes of Wizards with possible missing content and possible added content. Aka I might make up an episode to make our boys happy.) @that-one-bi-wizard Is due for credit.

Douxie approached the House-mothership- of the Akiridion Royals, ringing their doorbell and stepping back.

A glitching Ricky blank opens the door. “You look lost kiddo.”

Douxie peers behind the blank, Krel appears behind him wrestling the other blank to the ground. “I’m just here for the Akiridion royals.”

“It’s just me!” Krel grunts as the blank powers down and Douxie steps inside. “Aren’t you the guy from the cafe?”

“Yes, but I’m not here because of that. The world is in danger, and I need you to come with me,” Douxie shot straight to the point.

“Kleb, again?” Douxie nods, causing the Akiridion to cross his four arms. “Fine. Give me a sekton.” Krel pulls out his serrator and shoots down the blank who had opened the door. “I’ll deal with your faulty programming later.”

Douxie watches as Krel’s blue form dissipates into his human disguise and motions for the extraterrestrial to follow him.

“So, why is Earth in danger this time?” Krel asks as he catches up to the wizard, eying his magical cuff with interest as Douxie messes with it.

Douxie pauses in front of the bookstore, looking up at Krel as Archie, AAARRRGGHH, Steve, and Toby round the corner.

“-the world’s ending. Again?” Toby complains.

“Not the best timing, I know. But we need your help all the same.”

“Douxie? Wait-hold up! I thought you worked at the cafe or were a model or something.”

Krel watched with great interest as Douxie finished messing with his cuff as Steve reacted. Douxie then chuckles and waves his hand in front of Arcadia’s guardians and a small blue wisp appears on his fingertips. “There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”

The other’s reactions to Douxie’s magic is background noise, however Krel doesn’t hold back his own gasp in wonder at the display.

The wizard places his hand to the door and more blue light, unfamiliar to the Akiridion, appears around his wrist. “The answers to all your questions lie within.” He opens the door to the ordinary bookshop and everyone steps inside, Krel last of everyone aside from Archie and Douxie.

All of the non-wizards gasp and exclaim in curiousuty and wonder as the ordinary appearing bookstore turns into a magical study by stepping inside. A swirl of objects levitated by green magic travel across the room, sorting and containing themselves without being touched.

“Seklos and Gaylen. What is making them move?” Krel reaches out and touches a book, trying to hold onto it with one hand before it is whisked away from his touch.

“Put that down.”

In his moment of distracted wonder, Krel alongside the others, hadn’t noticed Merlin step into view. Toby let’s go of the strange orb in the corner of Krel’s eye.

“Thank the ether you’re here. We haven’t a moment to waste.”

“Woah! Crusty, creepy dude!”

“I believe the term is ‘geezer’.” Krel attempts to correct Steve, still wondering how Aja likes him.

Their attention snaps back to Merlin. “I had hoped for more Hisirdoux.”

“I tried!” Douxie threw his hands out in defense. “I couldn’t find the Changelings or the other Aliens!”

“Akiridions.” Steve and Krel correct Douxie immediately.

Krel steps forwards. “My sister is unavailable, being a royal on Akiridion-5.” He crosses his arms in annoyance.

As Toby and Steve loudly announce themselves to Merlin, Douxie switches from watching them making fools of themselves, Krel waiting patiently to get some answers, and the objects Merlin appeared to be packing.

“I have no idea who you are,” Merlin brushes Steve away, Douxie and Krel flinch as the flying chest hits him. “But we’re desperate. Thankfully we have the brute.”

Eyes turn to AAARRRGGHH, who is currently taste testing Archie, and being met with the instant consequences. Douxie is familiar with the pain of being scratched by Archie.

“Wait, where’s Jimbo and Claire? I thought they were with you.” Toby questions, acknowledging his friends should be there.

“Answers forthcoming.” Merlin hastily answers. “Make preparations, we’ve a journey ahead of us. And don’t-“ he turns directly at Douxie.

“But master!”

“-but master me.” Merlin turns back to his things.

“But are you sure you want to entrust things to these-“ he gestures to the four, “these children?”

“Hey!” Krel interrupts. “I am no child.”

“Next to me? You are.” Douxie shoots a slight glare at Krel.

“Aren’t you in college?” Toby stops and questions.

“They clearly are not ready for this.” Douxie continues to protest.

It was Steve’s turn to add something. “Excuse me college dude, these /children/ fought a 50 foot extraterrestrial god, and won.”

Merlin sighs and Douxie follows him away from the display that Steve and Toby had caused.

“Master I am ready for this.” He pushes, looking for that small bit of validation.

He was shot down with one word. “Doubtful.”

“I’ve spent years studying, practicing-!”

“Silence!” Douxie quiets At Merlin’s command and Krel pauses in his exploration of the enchanted shop. Toby and Steve don’t seem to be capable of doing so until Merlin specifies all of them should be quiet. “Can you not hear that?”

Only after everyone shook their heads does a deep rumbling fill the void.

“Something wicked this way comes.” Merlin mutters.

Various noises fill the rooms and the team prepares for a battle, stances shift, weapons are revealed, and Merlin and Douxie grow tense as they watch the windows.

With an attack to the window, a crowd of Shadow Mephits comes to attention swarming the street.

“Shadow mephits? Hisirdoux did you lead them here?” An accusation Douxie immediately denies.

“I mean, I don’t think so?” He chuckles.

“Yes, we did.” Archie confirms.

“He found us,” Merlin mumbles. “The barrier won’t hold for long, we must make egress. Tobias! Take my things.” With a swoop of Merlin’s hand, his chest goes flying into Toby’s chest and carries him upwards.

The Shadow Mephits break through the barrier and Merlin calls for the others to get to safety, an order Douxie ignores and Krel hesitates before following.

“Hisirdoux, I said get to safety!” Merlin calls as he and Douxie go back to back, getting surrounded by the creatures.

“I’ve got this, I can help!” Douxie responds.

Krel can’t hear the rest of the conversation as he follows the others up to the roof where Shadow Mephits are being fought off by Toby and AAARRRGGHH. Krel joins them with his serrator, shooting as many as he can before Merlin and Douxie join them.

“Stay back.” The sounds of glass follows the warning and a glowing ship appears where the orb had shattered.

“Woah.”

“Great Seklos and Gaylen.”

“Ship just got real.”

“Get in!” Douxie calls and AAARRRGGHH starts throwing people inside, only jumping on himself once everyone else was aboard.

“What in Seklos’ name is going on?” Asks Krel as soon as Douxie blasts the Shadow Mephits off of AAARRRGGHH. Douxie, however is preoccupied watching the green knight below.

A volley of black and green shards hit the sides of the ship and causing everyone to duck or fall over. The ship zips away into the sky and the group takes a moment to breathe.

“I will only repeat myself once more, Cafe boy. What is going on?” Krel puts away his Serrator as the others are watching Camelot come into view.

“Everything will be explained soon young squire.” Merlin responds for Douxie.

“What the old man said, for now, we’re going home. Welcome to Camelot.” Douxie gazes at the floating towers he once called home.

“Cam-ee-lot?” Krel searches his memory of school for the word.

“Camelot, as in old people time Camelot?”

“With the king and the Excalibur sword?” Krel asks, remembering something from stories.

“Excuse me, how is this castle flying?” Steve yells as they get closer to the heart of Camelot.

“The heart of Camelot, fueled by time itself.” Merlin steps back from the side of the ship in order to steer them towards the top. “Sir Galahad, how are the skies?” He calls to a large man below them.

“All quiet, my old friend.” Comes the reply.

“Keep your eye on the horizon!” Merlin calls back as the ship circles down and starts speeding towards the entrance.

Archie tightens his hold on the ship. “Coming in a little hot, I’d say.”

The landing was rough but nobody was hurt, Steve cheers as he hops off of the ship and the group looks around as the walk deeper into Camelot.

“It’s been nine hundred years since I was last here, hasn’t changed a bit, except for the flying part.” Douxie says to Archie who perches on his shoulder.

Steve scoffs, “nine hundred years? Yeah right, you’re like nineteen.”

“Give or take a few centuries.” Archie lifts off a flies around the room.

Krel nods. “Appearances can be deceiving. Akiridions mature much slower than humans as well.”

“What? Aja isn’t as old as this guy, is she?”

Krel rolls his eyes, “Yes, Aja and I are 900 keltons old.” Steve looked about ready to faint. “Of course we aren’t that old! Time is a little different on Akiridion-5 but neither of us would be older than 50 earth years old, had we been born here. We live much longer than you humans so that makes us similar to earth’s teenagers.”

Steve still seemed ready to pass out.

“Toby!” Claire cries from across the room, running towards her friend.

“Blinky!”

AAARRRGGHH, Blinky, Claire, and Toby envelop each other in a group hug, ending when Claire insisted she needed to breathe.

“Krel!” The sorceress embraces the extraterrestrial being too. “Sorry, but I think the end of the world is going to postpone girl’s night.”

“Wait- girls night? Krel was invited but I wasn’t? He doesn’t even have a girlfriend!” Steve complains.

“Oh. Hi Steve.” Claire unenthusiastically waves at him. “Yes, Krel is invited because it’s fun talking about cute boys with him.”

“Uh, where’s Jim?” Toby interrupts, sure enough Jim wasn’t around to meet his friends. “And what happened to you guys?”

“About that...”

Blinky and Claire lead the group to a room where a semi-transparent crystal encases Jim, preserving his life by slowing the corruption infecting him.

Krel onlooks as Merlín explains what happened, and Claire voices her regrets. Never wishing that humans had cores like Akiridions more than he was in that moment.

“Who is this green knight? How do I get my hands on him?” Toby threatens.

“We should focus more on saving the Trollhunter rather than getting revenge,” Krel adds. “However, it would be good to know who we are up against.”

“I do not know. He said but one name that chilled me to the bone, Morgana.”

“Ooh I hate that witch. But we kicked her but to the shadow realm. Problem solved, everyone can go home.” Toby hastily spoke.

Douxie groans. “You saw what that knight did at the bookstore, even if he were looking for Morgana I don’t think it’s his sole purpose.”

“The knight did not seem aware of Morgana’s death, and he bore the emblem of Camelot.” Merlin ushered the group out into the open, leading them to another space. “Hurry, I fear the answers lie in the past.”

“Merlin, you are from Camelot, no? Shouldn’t you have an idea of who this could be?” Krel asked.

“A good point, but no. There were plenty of knights in Camelot but none that were green, or evil, or had any connection to Morgana that would follow them beyond the grave.” Douxie answered for his master, getting a strange look from Krel and Toby. “What? I was there too you know.”

“I still cannot believe you’re older than Nana.”

“Actually Hisirdoux, the Akiridion has a point. This dark menace is approaching, and all I know of it is that even I cannot face this alone.” Merlin opens the time map, “You are all now soldiers in a war started centuries ago, for the world of magic.”

The time map projects scenes from the past as Merlin continues. “Once the realms of magic and man clashed in endless bloodshed. King Arthur sought to wipe out magic that ravaged the lands in his war against Gunmar. I brought what few spellcasters I could under my protection to spare them from the sword.

“Including myself,” Douxie adds before the map showed a different figure. “Oh! And Morgana le Fay.”

“She was the finest student I ever taught.. until she tried to kill me.” Merlin sighed. “Thankfully, in my all seeing wisdom I created a secret weapon- the Trollhunter amulet. The war came to a standstill and I imprisoned Morgana at the battle of Killahed Bridge. This green knight that assailed us was clearly born of dark magicks but I have no memory of him, nor what connection he could have to Morgana. We know not what he is, not why he pursues us. Though, his presence is a dire omen of things to come.”

In the distance the bell starts ringing. A wave of magical ice hits the tower, knocking everyone down and freezing the exterior. Merlin gets up and grabs the time map as Claire calls out.

“What’s happening.”

“Have you never been under attack before? To the battlements!”

The wizards and trollhunters rush to defend and Krel takes a moment to reveal his Akiridion Royal self before joining them, leaving Steve to lag behind for a minute.

“What the-“

“Oh no. I think we have something of a problem.” Archie points out the obvious as the Arcane Order’s ship comes into view, carrying Bellroc and Skrael, as well as the green knight, inside.

“Oh fuzz buckets.”

“No, the Arcane Order, they found us. Everyone! Get to safety, now!” Merlin calls to the guardians as Skrael shoots a spell at the master wizard, who responds with a spell of his own before Skrael’s attack blasts his staff away from him.

“I got it!” Archie calls as he dives after it.

Krel watches as the dragon dives and misses the staff, leaping onto his hoverboard in an attempt to help, as well as avoid the various bombarding attacks from the Order.

“They’re boarding us!” Merlin calls from above. “We must break free, steer us away at my command.”

“I’m on it!” Douxie responds before another shot of ice hits the castle.

Krel focuses on finding the staff, covering as much as he can while Archie gets a view from even higher up. “Find the staff or we’re dead meat!” Is all Krel has to hear before he starts blasting at the ice bridges with his Serrator, buying Archie more time to find Merlin’s staff.

“Got it!”

Krel joins the fray as Galahad sacrifices himself to destroy the bridges between Skrael and Merlin. He joins Claire, Steve, and Hisirdoux with his Serrator in hand in case they needed to be protected.

“We don’t have enough power for the jump!”

“Trust in Merlin.”

“Why would I trust someone I just met?”

“He’s a master wizard Krel. He must have a plan.” Douxie’s response got an eye roll from the Akiridion. “Fine then, trust in me.”

A rush of magic allows the time jump to be operational, Krel helping his friends as they steer the castle into the rift.

Krel notices as the Green Knight comes into view and as he, Bellroc, and Skrael fire their energy forwards, he activated his shield in case it was needed.

The magic struck the castle, sending Douxie, Claire, and Jim down immediately. Steve and Krel held on for as long as they could above, Krel almost being successful in pulling himself up at the sacrifice of his shielding serrator, but both fell as well.

“Jim!” Krel landed on top of the stone Steve was clutching onto as Jim fell into the portal below.

“What do we do?!”

“Trust me!” Douxie looks at Krel, who nods, then takes Claire’s hand.

“Wait! No no no!”

Douxie drops down, following Jim, and brings Claire with him. Krel grabs Steve by the shirt and does the same. Archie dives to follow them, but reaches it just as it closes.

Part two!

#krel x douxie #drel #krelxie #douxel #krouxie #hisirdoux #douxie #3 below #tales of arcadia #krel is a gaylien #douxie has been gay since the twelfth century #should i call this that?#toa wizards #tales of arcadia wizards #timeless blue fic

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thatringboy · 4 years

Text

The Way A Soul Lives - TWST

To write some Diasomnia angst has been a goal of mine for a while and seeing the new official book and the Diasomnia boys made me want to finish

I’ve only ever written angst a few times, so this was a nice practice. I hope I didn’t go too OOC here, but I think I’m good. I tried a new writing style here that I’m not that confident in, so feedback is very much appreciated!

Warnings: Magic, self inserted theories about Faes, fight scenes, blood, death and the angst associated with that

Word count: 1,615 (a new record I think!)

Sebek enjoyed the night shift. There was always something invigorating about walking around the Draconia castle when only dim torches and moonlight lit his path. A hand on his sword hilt, he quietly marched up and down halls, sometimes stopping in the Royal Library to glance at a book, and always passed by the rooms of the royal family.

However, his blood turned to ice when the Fae noticed a haphazardly opened window and mud tracked on the floor near it. He turned on his heels and ran back towards the room of his fellow guard, taking into account that the muddy footprints were not those of a humanoid.

~~~

Yuu sat down on the blanket and a frown tugged at their lips. “So why did you drag me all the way out here? It’s freezing!”

Cater laughed and pulled his coat on tighter. “Because there’s a Meteor shower tonight and there’s gonna be some fireworks to celebrate the end of Spring Break! Don’t worry, the others will be here soon and we can take some pics for Magicam.”

Principal Crowley had allowed Yuu Prefect to leave Night Raven College for the week of Spring Break and the magic-less human somehow got dragged to the mountains of Pyroxene where the snow had not yet melted. Yuu spent the week posing for cameras with Cater and Vil and learned how to snowboard thanks to Jack’s tutelage. Grim enjoyed the attention he was receiving during the trip and showed his gratitude by becoming a makeshift hot water bottle inside of Yuu’s thick coat.

Two figures approached the clearing. The shorter one talked with their hands in an annoyed voice. “All I’m saying is that you and the potato could really become a modeling duo! You two have the natural talent and certainly the looks.”

The taller figure grunted and sat down next to Yuu. “Not in a million years will you find me modeling sports clothing. Oh, hey Prefect.”

“Hey Jack.” Yuu sighed and looked up at the stars that were starting to appear. The constellations in Twisted Wonderland were different from those on Earth and they seemed to draw large coherent pictures across the sky. Vil sat down on his own blanket and opened his mouth to argue with Jack some more, but Cater closed his mouth.

“The show’s about to start!”

~~~

Sebek knocked on Silver’s door as quietly as he could. He could hear his fellow guard get out of bed and step to the door. Silver opened the door partially and opened his mouth to protest the rude awakening, but Sebek covered it before the human could make a sound.

“There’s an intruder.” Sebek whispered. “I can take the South stairwell to the young lord’s room if you take the West and go get Master Lilia.”

Silver nodded and grabbed his pen. The two men silently went in their directions, Silver to the west and Sebek to the south, and stepped into hidden passages. Sebek broke into a full sprint and exited the passage to see that Malleus’ door was open. A feeling of dread set into his stomach as he tip-toed near the door. What he saw sent a shiver of terror down his spine.

Standing over the sleeping figure of Malleus was a creature made of flickering and ever-changing shadows. From within itself, it produced an awful looking hand with claws the size of kitchen knives. Sebek moved without thinking and drew his sword as he ran to the side of the bed. He swung his sword in a graceful arc and removed the clawed appendage from the monster. It reeled back and shrieked horrifically, making Sebek cover his ears and making Malleus bolt awake.

The dragon Fae assessed the situation and dove out of bed for his staff, but the monster put itself between the two. The amputated limb shook violently in the air before it seemed to regrow itself. Sebek lunged with his sword and put himself in front of Malleus. “Go! Silver and Master Lilia are on their way! Get to the panic room!”

Malleus nodded and ran from the room. Sebek returned his focus on the monster. He had trained for this very scenario for a good portion of his life and he certainly wasn’t going to back down now.

~~~

The night grew colder, but the fireworks were worth it. Yuu clutched onto Grim’s warmth while Cater and Vil shared a blanket and watched the colorful lights explode in the air. Jack, having a naturally high body temperature, didn’t understand the discomfort of his companions, but thankfully didn’t tease them about it. He was sure that if he brought it up, his tail might receive a wicked pinch.

Cater had his phone up taking as many pictures as he could of the show while Vil had only taken a single selfie. Yuu sat in awe of the entire situation and was suddenly very grateful that the Principle had permitted this vacation.

Ew, was Yuu Prefect grateful for the actions of Crowley? The thought disgusted them and made them shiver more than the cold. Grim looked up at them “How cold are you, you weak human!”

Yuu frowned and hugged Grim tighter. “Very.”

Jack leaned forward from where he was sitting. “Here comes the finale! You’re in for a treat, you two.”

Grim and Yuu looked up to see a firework explode above them. A shower of gold sparks rained down as a second firework went off, sending red and blue streams everywhere.

“Truly beautiful.” Vil whispered. He got his phone out and snapped another picture. Yuu assumed that he would be sending it to Rook. Cater laughed and pointed to another firework that was about to explode. It went off and a brilliant lime green glow filled the night sky. Yuu agreed with Vil - the sight was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.

When the lights faded, Yuu noticed that the stars were all out, blanketing the sky with billions of small lights. Jack laid down on his back and looked up at the sky. “What do you know, the Draconia Constellation can be seen this early in the year. That’s usually a Summer Constellation.”

Yuu looked up and sure enough, a large portion of the stars formed a dragon in the air. “Draconia, like Malleus’ family?”

Cater sat back as well, taking the shared blanket with him to the distress of Vil. “That’s the one. The longest Fae line in the world.”

Grim looked up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Vil raised his eyebrows. “I keep forgetting that you are not of this world. Let me explain this for you.”

~~~

Sebek could counter the physical attacks of the monster, but he hadn’t expected it to start hurling fireballs at him. He hissed and kicked himself a little bit whenever a fireball set something of Malleus’ ablaze, but he forced himself to keep his head in the fight.

Where is that lazy Silver? He should be here by now!

The monster jumped up and landed on the bed. Sebek pulled out his pen and fired a bolt of magic, but the mass of shadows absorbed the spell and made that horrible screech again. He grimaced and swung again, ducking under another fireball and was surprised that his sword made contact with something solid, but bounced off.

This creature, it’s changing to match my attacks! Come on, Sebek, think!

He grit his teeth and rolled across the bed, diving behind it to use as cover. If he kept the monster focused on him, it wouldn’t make a break for the door.

The door...

Sebek peaked his head up and noticed that the monster was loading another fireball. He ducked to avoid being hit and made a mad dash for the exit, throwing a rather large textbook that probably held ancient spells passed down from the Fairy Queen herself. Sebek hated to see such literature shredded before his eyes, but he decided that in the moment this would be acceptable behavior.

The monster recovered faster than he had anticipated. It’s claw lashed out as Sebek almost crossed the threshold and knocked him aside. His head hit the side of Malleus’ wardrobe and he felt a stinging pain in his right eye, but other than that was uninjured and got back on his feet. It slashed out again, but Sebek narrowly avoided the sharp talons. His energy was drained and even if he could raise his pen, he would possibly overblot from casting a single spell. He could run for the door again and risk impalement or stay in the corner and be burnt alive. Sebek’s mind, despite the chaos around him and his time running out, started to think of his friends at Night Raven College.

What would they do in his situation? Deuce and Jack would rush in head first, Ace would attempt to create a distraction, Grim would just made more fire and Yuu Prefect probably wouldn’t have even gotten themselves into this mess. Not to mention Epel would probably do any of those things based off of his slightly unpredictable personality. There was little doubt that Epel would also charge the monster, but there was no way of knowing for sure.

Sebek tuned back into reality as a fireball narrowly missed his face. The stinging in his eye and blood trickling down from his scalp made it hard to focus, but his adrenaline was still pumping. He was still standing. He was still fighting.

“Sebek!”

Someone called from the door. The guard - and the monster - turned to see a horrified Silver standing there, his pen clutched tightly. Sebek’s heart froze. He wanted to tell Silver to run, but Sebek’s voice became caught in his chest. The creature of shadows began to prepare another fireball, but Sebek’s body reacted quicker. He dropped his sword and tackled the monster. The two clashed until Sebek managed to force it out of Malleus’ window, but the monster held tight and Sebek felt gravity pull him down to the courtyard below.

~~~

“While most stars outside of constellations are celestial spheres of noble gases and other elements, the stars in constellations are actually souls.” Vil sat back on his hands and looked up at the dragon shaped image in the sky.

Cater sat back up, letting Vil snatch back the blanket. “Oh yeah! My mom explained this to me! Every time a fairy dies, they join their family constellation in the stars!”

“Unlike mortal souls that go to the Isles of Lamentation when we pass,” Vil continued. “The Fae’s immortal spirits are placed in the heavens to dance for all of eternity, or so the legend goes. Some stories say that the Fae came to Twisted Wonderland from the stars and so to the stars they return, but I for one just believe that this is a beautiful story.”

Yuu thought for a second. “So then what about shooting stars?”

Jack put his hands behind his head and got comfortable on the ground. “Nope, those are just regular comets or asteroids or whatever you call them.”

“Fascinating.” Yuu whispered. “Where I come from, stars are just flaming balls of gas in space. I shouldn’t be surprised that magic goes as far as constellations, but I am.”

Grim cleared his throat. “Wait, what about wishing stars?”

Vil put a hand to his chin to think. “You know, I’m not entirely sure. It could be that the magic of the fallen fairies could be the ones granting the wishes, but I don’t believe anyone is sure.”

“One of the universe’s many mysteries.” Cater’s voice dropped to be almost inaudible.

Yuu looked back up at the Draconia Line constellation. “There’s a hole in the dragon’s heart except for that one bright star, is that one Maleficent?”

Jack nodded, which was hard because he was on the ground. “The area around her is probably being reserved for her immediate family, so one day in a thousand years, Malleus and Lilia will join her and maybe even Sebek if he wasn’t too stubborn to die.”

Yuu laughed. “Yeah, that’s Sebek.”

~~~

Everything hurt.

Sebek was sure his arms and several ribs were broken, but other than that he landed from the seventh floor quite successfully. He attempted to sit up, but his body ached too much.

The shadow monster laid prone on the stone next to him. Sebek hoped it was finally dead. His inhuman vision let him see Silver and Lilia looking out the window he had tumbled from. Lilia vanished and reappeared next to Sebek, looking down at him with a sad face.

“Forgive my tardiness, young man.” Lilia knelt down next to Sebek and began to mutter a healing spell. A wave of warmth rushed over Sebek as the spell took hold over his body and he felt very tired.

“What is that thing?” Sebek looked at the monster. Lilia glanced back at it and shrugged. “I suppose a demon created to take the life of our young prince. You did well holding up against it for so long, I’m sure there’ll be a medal waiting for you when you wake up that you can show to all your companions at school.”

Sebek liked that idea. He imagined wearing a new medal proudly for a week to boast about to his friends.

“Oh Jack what did you do over the break?”

“I was just snowboarding at home.”

“Well I single-handedly fought off a demon and saved the young lord’s life!”

If it didn’t take so much energy, Sebek would have smiled from the thought.

Lilia finished his spell and offered a hand for Sebek to stand. It took effort, but the taller Fae got to his feet and leaned against his mentor. They began to walk away from the body of the monster, but out of the corner of his ever vigilant eyes, Sebek swore he saw it move.

Time seemed to slow down for Sebek. He shoved Lilia to the ground, earning an angry protest from the older Fae, and turned to face the monster as its claws sunk into his chest, tearing away his armor like it was paper.

The healing spell must have dulled his senses because Sebek didn’t feel any pain from the attack. Instead, he just looked up at the night sky and the Draconia Line constellation looked back down at him. The monster retracted its claw and Sebek slumped to the ground. He wasn’t aware of the pool of blood that was forming around his knees and he wasn’t aware of the blood curdling scream that came from Lilia’s lips, nor was he aware of the beam of magic that ripped the monster in two.

No, all Sebek was aware of were the beautiful stars inviting him to dance with them.

~~~

Yuu could see the stars from their bedroom in Jack’s house. After packing up for the night, Yuu, Grim and Jack said their goodbyes and returned to the log cabin. They had packed their things for their return to school in the morning, but while the cat-like monster slumbered peacefully on the bed they shared, Yuu found themself staring at the stars again.

They also found themself feeling a pit of dread well up in their stomach. It was cold like a clawed hand reaching up and tearing them apart from the inside. There was no reason that Yuu could think of to have this feeling, but it made them wonder if returning to Night Raven College would yield another overblotting upperclassman.

Yuu pushed the window open and a cool breeze ruffled their hair. They looked up at the dragon constellation and squinted before their eyes widened in confusion.

Yuu didn’t know how or why, but the bright star in the heart of the dragon was now joined by a smaller star that shone just as bright.

#this took me so long to write #i'm not that sure about the ending #but i like how the two scenes meshed together #TWST #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland writing #Sebek Zigvolt #Lilia Vanrouge #twisted wonderland Silver #Malleus Draconia #Cater Diamond #Jack Howl #vil schoenheit #Twisted Wonderland Yuu Prefect #Yuu Prefect #twisted wonderland Grim #ThatRingBoy Blue #ThatRingBoy Writing

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ducktracy · 3 years

Text

185. porky’s hero agency (1937)

release date: december 4th, 1937

series: looney tunes

director: bob clampett

starring: mel blanc (porky, emperor jones), tedd pierce (gorgon, assistant), sara berner (porky’s mom)

the final porky cartoon for 1937, and what a busy year it’s been for him! hard to believe he had an entirely different voice, look, and demeanor just 8 months prior. even then, his character still had much to explore, as we see here—in this cartoon, he’s cast as a child again. curiously, bob clampett is often credited as the one who refined his personality into the one we know today (he did give him his iconic suit and tie), but, like everything else, it was more of a collaborative exploration by all of the directors.

the title card is one of the more interesting title cards in the warner bros. repertoire—it’s a photo of a porky statuette! bob clampett would make several statues during his time at WB and distribute them to his top animators. while the statue in the credits is painted over, you can view an unpainted model here!

here, porky dreams of the wonders of ancient greece, prancing around as the mythological messenger parkykarkus. however, a gorgon has her sights set on turning him into stone, and it requires some quick thinking from porky to weasel his way out of this mess.

bobe cannon animates the expositional sequence, with porky propped up in bed, sucked into a giant book full of greek myths. his mother (offscreen) tells him it’s time to go to sleep, but porky objects, protesting that he was just at the exciting part. cannon’s animation is easy to spot with his trademark buck teeth, yet the gestures he gives porky--finger points, turning the page, etc.--give him a nice dose of youthful energy as he recaps the story, telling tales of gorgons and “great great great” greek heroes.

nevertheless, a disembodied hand turns out the light, dismissing porky’s protests. he heaves a resigned sigh, lamenting how he wishes he could be a great greek hero.

the cartoon doesn’t make any attempts to keep the dream sequence a surprise--instead, the face of the book’s cover takes up the entire screen, the pillars emblazoned on the front melting to life as we fade into ancient greece. and, as to be expected, our favorite porcine hero proudly stands in front of the building, proudly advertising “HERO FOR HIRE AGENCY -- PORKYKARKUS PROP.”

porkykarkus is a play on parkykarkus (”park your carcass”), a character on eddie cantor’s radio show “the chase & sanborn hour”. truck into porky’s services as he narrates over the specials:

“has anybody any eh-deh-deah-deah-dragons you want seh-seh-sleh-slay-slaye--rubbed out? or maybe ya have some, uh, fair meh-mai-meh-maide--honeys ya want rescued! it’s a peh-pleasure. is your daughter safe? phone eh-peh-porkykarkus at olympia 2222!”

porky’s narration, as always, is fun to listen to, and the physical advertisement has its own charm and appeal, with discounts and deals on certain rescues. not only that, but it’s a damn smart way to save money, having just the narration over the still frame. smart thinking!

conveniently, porky gets a phone call, sparking the tried and true “gear up for a big sprint but merely tinker on over to your destination” gag. as porky answers the phone, filling us in by repeating the hidden dialogue from the other line, we find out it’s the emperor--he wants one hero to go.

chuck jones’ layouts stick out quite strongly throughout this cartoon, especially in the human designs. porky’s statue of mercury is no exception--the bulbous nose and rounded body construction are all surefire trademarks of his work. porky grabs the messenger’s hat and winged shoes from the statue, never once taking a beat to stop as he hobbles along, dressing as he prepares to head out. woodblock sounds simulate the sound of his hooves clopping, but also add an extra jaunty jive to the merry score of “have you got any castles?” in the background, the cartoon’s motif. it would also be a merry melody courtesy of frank tashlin not even a year later.

with that, porky takes off, soaring in the skies like a pro with his winged shoes. if the scene wasn’t appealing enough with the overhead layouts, the animation of porky steadying himself is wonderfully smooth and fun--the cherry on top. he circles the palace where the emperor is located, swooping down to his destination. complete with airplane sound effects, of course.

“howdy, empy!” another bulbous-nosed jones character silences porky from behind his armchair. emperor jones (boy, who could that name reference, i wonder?) speaks in a ridiculously hilarious dialect, completed with a thick accent: “shh! i’m making a fireside chat with my sheeps!” his voice then slips into a rooseveltian draw as he coos “my friends, grecians and customers, this is emperor jones speaking...”

pan to the audience, which consists of a sea of smiling statues. this entire speech sequence is wonderful--not only is his terrible grammar terribly amusing, (”statistics show... what last season at this time was population in greece from 6,000 with 500 with 54 people, with 17 statues.”) but little touches such as one of the audience statues roasting marshmallows and later a hotdog over the fireplace, the emperor making his audience clap by pulling on ropes tied to their arms, and so forth make the entire charade highly amusing with lots of details to look out for. porky standing idly in the background, awkwardly fidgeting as he tries not to intrude is a great little piece of character animation as well.

the emperor gives the skinny, all while chowing down on a hotdog: a gorgon has been turning more and more people into statues, and they need a hero to steal her life-restoring needle in order to turn all of the statues back into humans again. the hero he has in mind is, of course, porky, who bashfully accepts the offer. when the emperor asks those in favor to raise their right hand, he pulls on a lever that causes all of the statues to raise their hands in unison, including a hand on a nearby clock. with a handshake, empy concludes “it’s a deal!”

one of the most impressive pieces of animation in the cartoon (i actually dedicated an entire drawing to it!) is when the emperor sends porky on his way, who waves goodbye as he flies through the air with his winged shoes. just as he tips his hat, he knocks into a pillar, which sends him tumbling upside down, but still airborne. the wings on his shoes form hands as they shake their fists in the glory of the good landing, with porky flashing a cheeky grin to the audience before spiraling lower in the air, regaining his balance, and barreling onward towards a smoldering volcano. the animation is full of life and character--though porky is consistently jolly in the B&W clampett cartoons, the grin towards the camera as he prides himself in his save is a great little touch of personality. slowly but surely, bits of character are now becoming more defined.

a gag that took me just now to recognize it--porky swoops into the heart of the volcano, where we spot the source of the black fumes pouring out the top: the gorgon statue factory. a merry score of “you’ve got something there” serves as some easy listening as we’re treated to a sign gag:

outside of the factory is a human picket fence, comprised of familiar faces: statues of bobe cannon, norm mccabe, john carey, bob clampett himself and chuck jones surround the area. directly outside of the factory is the frozen statue of a salesman with his foot in the door--the joke is not only amusing, but the pose is quite strong and readable, too. though nowhere near the dynamism of frank tashlin’s poses in the mid ‘40s, clampett’s poses in this cartoon are quite defined and exaggerated for the time period. this is especially sharp in the scenes with the emperor.

porky knocks on the door held ajar by the ceramic statue’s foot, holding out an envelope. “telegram for the guh-geh-gee-geh-gee-gor-geh--” a hand snags the envelope out of porky’s grip, causing him to mutter “aww, nuh-neh-nee-nuh-neh-neh-nut--shucks,” a phrase he echoed in clampett’s previous entry, rover’s rival.

we transition to the inside of the factory, where we see the gorgon herself, positioned in front of a camera, awaiting to take “pictures” of her models. tedd pierce voices the gorgon, whose vocal stylings are a parody of tizzie lish, bill comstock’s character on al pearce and his gang. interestingly, the cartoon before this, the woods are full of cuckoos, featured a caricature of lish as well, also voiced by pierce.

clampett and pierce’s comedic timing is sharp--not nearly as sharp as tashlin’s timing in the woods are full of cuckoos, but abundantly amusing nonetheless. the gorgon asks for a boy--”a sorta young-ish one”--and in comes a decrepit old man who can hardly hold himself up. the gorgon waits for the man to assume his position on the podium where his picture will be taken, singing a pitchy rendition of “am i in love?“, another homage to the characteristics displayed by lish’s character on the radio.

the gorgon snaps her photo, which turns the shaky old man into a stone statue at once, cheekily labeled “ANTIQUE -- $60,000 (P.S.: 000,000)” before he’s yanked off of the podium with a cane.

“now let’s try a group picture.” you know it’s a ‘30s cartoon if the three stooges come waddling in--they made their caricatured, cartoon debut in the 1934 film the miller’s daughter, notorious for being chuck jones’ first animation credit. as expected, they all beat the tar out of each other while on the podium, rendered immobile only through the power of medusa’s camera. they turn into the three wise monkeys, labeled “3 MONKEYS OF JAPAN -- MADE IN GREECE”.

norm mccabe’s animation is easy to spot in the next scene with porky, characterized by his signature double eyebrows. porky knocks on a door, parroting a favorite catchphrase from the al pearce show that frequented many a clampett cartoon: “i hope she’s eh-eh-at home, i hope, i hope, i hope, i hope, i hope...”

porky shakes the hand of the assistant, unfortunately a blackface caricature (save for the voice, who is just tedd pierce speaking in a deep, suave voice) as he greets “welcome, stranger. won’t you come in?” before porky has time to answer, he’s yanked through the iron bars of the door and placed neatly in line for the photoshoot, where he peeks through the door to see the action inside.

a pile of men form a pyramid, where the camera turns them into a literal statue of a pyramid, with some slight imperfections. “aw, shucks!” laments the gorgon. “you moved!” she approaches them with her life restoring needle, allowing the men to form into the proper position, maintaining good balance. she gets her “genuine egyptian statue”, quipping “ought to make a handy paperweight!”

the assistant informs porky that he’s next. porky backs up anxiously, echoing a short-lived catchphrase of his from the joe dougherty era: “nuh-neh-no! eh-nn-nee-no! a-a thousand times no!” the decision to make his thoughts visible (his head is slapped onto that of a piggy bank’s) is playful, and also reflects just how big of an influence comics had on bob clampett’s work: comic artists such as milt gross and george lichty have been cited by clampett as inspirations. the george lichty influence is definitely noticeable in rod scribner’s animation under bob clampett, as we’ll discover in the coming years.

in the midst of his panic, porky backs into a statue of "dick a. powello” (dick powell and apollo), causing it to break. but, rather than fuss over the mess, porky uses the opportunity to hatch an idea instead.

in comes strolling porky, concealed by powello’s upper body and a blankett hiding his hooves. the triumphant score of “he was her man” and the gorgon’s smitten woos makes the scene hilarious as is, but the blanket falling off and revealing porky’s pudgy little hooves is the icing on the comedic cake.

porky perches himself on a conveniently placed couch, where the gorgon approaches him. “pardon me, is this seat taken?” she doesn’t wait a wink before snuggling right up to him, a heart symbolizing her affections popping in the air. though clampett would play with typography at times and maintain an overarchingly jovial mood to his cartoons, it’s an odd thing to see him play with comic-like visuals in this manner, such as porky physically envisioning himself as a piggy bank or the heart from the gorgon. i wish he had done it more in this nature!

with the gorgon too close for comfort, porky uses this as an opportunity to grab the gorgon’s life-restoring needle, dangling from her neck and lying against her body. it wouldn’t be a clampett cartoon without sexual innuendos--porky reaches aimlessly around for the needle, prompting the gorgon to let out a shriek, cooing “why, mr. a POWELLo!”

she smothers the ceramic head in kisses, giving him a nice lipstick finish to boot as she pretends the statue has given her a ring. her ecstasy is hilarious and WONDERFULLY conveyed through strong, rubbery poses worth freeze-framing. picturing porky’s befuddlement is another humor within itself.

finally, porky’s disguise is revealed when the gorgon literally crushes the statue in an embrace, stone crumbling around him as he desperately slips out of her grip. as the gorgon makes threats to call the cops, reciting the WB favorite catchphrase of “calling all cars! calling all cars!”, porky makes with the needle and jabs it in various statues, warning them “uh-geh-uh-get goin’! i-i-eh-it’s the guh-geh-geh-eh-geh-gorgon!”

as the gorgon chases porky with her camera, he continues to revive a barrage of statues: the antique, the famed discus thrower (who throws himself out of the scene rather than the discus), the man from the end of the trail statue, who exits riding his horse like a merry go round (a nod to friz freleng’s sweet sioux), a woman who marches off with popeye’s forearms--note the bobe cannon statue in the back here--and a mermaid who unzips her fin and makes a run for it. the highlight of the entire montage is when porky approaches two temples (the two of them together labeled “shirley temple”) and injects the needle into them, prompting the temples to use their pillars as legs and run for the hills.

the chase reaches its climax as the gorgon pursues porky with a movie camera, turning the crank ferociously as she runs. her plan works--porky slows down, freezing in mid-air as the gorgon cries “hold it!” thus, the gorgon pins porky to the ground, who tries his hardest to fight back, but ultimately flailing around as she commands him to open his eyes.

we melt into the present, where we find porky’s mother in place of the gorgon, telling him softly to wake up. he does so, after she pries one of his eyes opens. relieved that it was all a dream, he embraces his mother, prompting a happy end and an iris out.

this cartoon has a soft spot in my heart--it was one of the first LT cartoons i saw on this whole venture. i thought i was the smartest person alive, understanding the three stooges, popeye, and shirley temple references. who knew just how much i had (and still have!) to learn! though even without my sentimental biases, this still stands as a very good cartoon.

as i mentioned previously, the poses in this are full of elasticity and energy, especially in the emperor and the gorgon. porky does a very nice job as well--little pieces of animation such as him fidgeting awkwardly while the emperor rambles on, swinging from side to side as he’s offered the job to be a hero, etc. etc. are full of charm and character. while his personality isn’t the most electric in comparison to characters like bugs and daffy, it’s the little things like these that really make porky stand out. with him, a little subtlety goes a long way, and that’s why he’s one of my favorites. he’s so reserved in comparison to such a wild cast of characters that his timidness actually shines through and sets him apart! (though, on the other hand, he can still have quite the personality, as we’ll discover!)

personally, the only gripes i have with this cartoon is the blackface caricatured assistant (which, in comparison to some cartoons we’ve seen and still have yet to see, is relatively mild, but uncomfortable nonetheless). the jokes, while corny at times, still hit, the animation is full of life and vigor, and the short as a whole has a lot of charm, whimsy, and personality. it has my seal of approval! go check it out!

link!

#lt #porky’s hero agency #clampett #looney tunes #reviews #long post #A REVIEW!!! of one of my favorite cartoons! it's a christmas miracle!#well favorite for this era anyway

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choupichoups · 4 years

Photo

Press F (Instagram/College AU) Epilogue

Lucas swears he’s the absolute master of undetected stalking. Or: Eliott is instagram famous and Lucas is the disaster gay who accidentally likes his post.

Okay so this is the end end, thank you again for reading!!

Lucas turns over, free arm carelessly swiping up the empty space beside him. Warm fingers drum a loose tune over cold sheets, long unoccupied despite the fact that it’s only nine in the morning. So Eliott did manage to drag his ass up for his photoshoot despite all the pouting and complaining from last night.

With a jaw cracking yawn, he pushes himself off their giant, comfy bed, landing on the floor with a soft thump. He conjures up whatever self restraint he’s gathered over the years to keep from nose diving back into the warm sheets. Eliott had left the curtains drawn over the windows, leaving their room bathed in burnt orange light, the air conditioning humming soft whirs of cool air. It’s the perfect recipe for a morning spent lounging in bed doing nothing.

But alas, he pulls his big boy pants up and drags his feet to the bathroom to follow his boyfriend’s itinerary for the day.

srodulv We’ll be at the west beach behind the big cliff i showed you yesterday Whenever your highness deems it fit to join us Lol nvm we’re inside a cave now Aaand we moved Right at the path when you head down Can’t miss me and my handsome face on a plank

lucallemant why is ur face on a plank less texting more posing

srodulv Being the breadwinnner in this relationship is really a thankless job huh

lucallemant where’s the bread tho???

srodulv THANKLESS

“Lucas, hey!”

He stumbles past the pathetic lumps of sand from where he and Eliott had attempted a friendly little sand castle competition a few days ago, clumsy on his feet as he holds himself back from rushing towards them.

“Morning, Jo,” he greets the photographer first before raising both eyebrows at Eliott, who does, in fact, look perfectly handsome lounging on his plank. As if the sand isn’t digging into the skin of his elbows. As if the sun isn’t beating directly over their heads. Ugh, an abomination.

“Oh hi, Eliott, good morning Eliott!” Eliott says in a mockingly high pitched tone when Lucas fails to say anything else. “How are you doing, Eliott?” he continues in that same annoying voice, prompting Lucas to kick up some sand his way. “I missed you, boyfriend, you’re working so hard, my dear!”

“Ew, shut up.” Lucas laughs, moving to sit beside Eliott when Jo pauses his snapping to adjust some settings on his camera. Despite all the teasing, however, Lucas presses a kiss to his boyfriend’s cheek and throws both legs over one of Eliott’s thighs, hands instinctively searching to intertwine their fingers. “Morning,” he murmurs into the space between their lips, chest fluttering when Eliott brushes their noses together, whipped as the first time.

“Good sleep?” Eliott mutters back, smile melting sweeter when Lucas drops his head on his shoulder with a nod. “We’re almost done here and then we have the rest of the week to ourselves, okay?”

“Okay.” Lucas plays with their tangled hands, fingers stroking light across the back of Eliott’s palms. He almost forgets what they’re actually talking about had it not been for the loud click of a camera shutter coming from his right.

Jo is looking down at his camera when Lucas finally forces himself away from the very optimal cuddle he and Eliott had going on. “You sure you don’t wanna do a joint photoshoot, Lucas?” Jo turns the camera around to show him the photo he’d just taken. “You guys look really good together, it’d be a hit!”

Yeah, no. Lucas snorts, “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”

Jo tuts, “Don’t be like that, this one looks good.”

“Lucky shot, trust me. My face does weird things in front of cameras most of the time,” he prattles out excuses, eyes narrowing when Eliott remains silent as he watches the exchange, laughter clear in his eyes. “Anyway, I’ll be taking a walk while you boys do your thing, alright, don’t have too much fun, drink water often, and I’ll see you,” he clicks his tongue, points to where Eliott is seated, eyes locked on Lucas ever since he arrived, “later. Bye!”

And he runs off before Jo could convince him to join the shoot. Lucas really isn’t about that life, the amount of followers he’s garnered only from the fact that he’s dating Eliott is already stressing him out as it is. He can’t imagine what a legitimate photoshoot together would do.

Making his way towards the beach, Lucas slips off his sandals and walks along the path where the waves hit the sand, relishing in the ticklish feel of sand shifting underneath his feet at every pull. His toes curl into the soft surface, wiggling at the cool touch of clear waters before the waves pull back into the ocean.

It’s nice out here. Lucas had been mighty skeptical when Eliott had mentioned it off-handedly during the giant final party of the school year. Granted, both of them had been pretty drunk at that point and Lucas wasn’t sure whether he was hearing things or if Eliott had really just asked him to go on a two week vacation in South Africa. Like Lucas doesn’t only have two whole dollars in his savings account.

It’s free, Eliott had cleared up once sober, chuckling at the dubious look on Lucas’ face. My friend wants a shoot there and he’s letting us stay at their private condo as payment.

Wow, bourgeoisie, and then Lucas proceeded to forget about it in the midst of tear inducing exams.

He digs out his phone and snaps a photo of the sun hitting the ocean’s surface with a pretty gleam. His mom would appreciate the view, maybe it would encourage her to take her own vacation somewhere too. She deserves a few weeks away from the city— maybe a trip with her friends would be nice, maybe with that nice guy she’s trying to pass off as just her friend whenever Lucas visits would be good too.

Lucas digs his heels in the sand and turns to face the ocean, rolling his sweatpants up to his calves as he steps deeper into the water.

Eliott’s graduated. He’d done a placement at a studio during his final year and they refused to get rid of him (Lucas can relate), add to that Eliott’s side film projects and this whole internet famous slash instagram model thing and Eliott’s suddenly found himself a lot more occupied that initially expected.

Lucas has quite a bit of catching up to do. Fuck, he’s not even employed anywhere. He’d left his job at the cafe during that unsavoury mess a year prior and his workload from school picked up at an abhorrent pace. The only reason he’s functioning as a semi normal human being right now is because Eliott has made it his mission to stop him from eating any more of Yann’s cheese bread and his mother has been helping him with rent.

He stomps his feet into the water, pouting as it earns him a very unsatisfying splash. And then his feet are suddenly off the ground, legs flailing on instinct as he’s grabbed from behind by an obnoxious, giggling giant—

“Eliott!” he screeches, two seconds before he’s unceremoniously dumped deeper into the water. Sputtering, he stands back up with as much dignity as he can gather and jumps onto Eliott’s back with a holler of curses, trying to keep his own head above water when Eliott’s knees buckle under the attack, laughter helpless as he clutches onto Lucas in their half-hearted tussle.

They roll around half in and half out the waves, laughter unbridled like giddy little children on a high. Careful steps on the sand turn to careless treading in the deeper waters, drenched clothes stuck on warm skin and playful fingers threaded in ocean darkened locks. Lucas breathes out a chuckle in the tiny space between them, foreheads aligning perfectly when he hauls himself up, arms wrapped tightly around Eliott’s shoulders for balance. This close, Eliott’s smile is more radiant than the sun reflecting diamonds in the water and Lucas can’t look away, not when the oncoming wave roars closer, not when Eliott whispers something reverent that steals the breath right out of his lungs.

"Eliott,” Lucas starts, blinking salt water off of his eyelashes. “Eliott, I—”

And then the waves claim them with an unmerciful smack, the force of it brings the two boys back to shore and they resurface with a sputter, their moment chased away by a newly triggered round of laughter.

“Oh shit.” Lucas squints as something dawns on him. “Fuck, Eliott!” He removes his soaked shirt and uses it to smack Eliott’s arm.

“Ow! What?”

“My shoes! I dropped them!”

“Oh. Oh, crap. I’ll buy— hey stop— stop that! I’ll buy you new ones at the market!”

The evening market is absolutely bustling with tourists. It seems like everyone had the same idea of whiling away the heat at the beach and whiling away at the shops once the sun starts to set.

“Lucas, come here! Look.”

Lucas follows the direction where Eliott’s voice is coming from, finding his boyfriend laden with all kinds of trinkets around the neck, around both wrists, and around most of his fingers. He’s such a fool. Lucas loves him so much.

“Please don’t tell me you’re gonna buy all of that.”

Eliott allows himself an offended look before remembering his excitement. “Course not, but look at this!” He stretches a hand and shows Lucas a handmade, wooden carving of a woman sitting on a piano bench with a dog beside her. “Wouldn’t this be perfect for your mom?”

Did Lucas say he loves him already?

“Yeah,” he says softly, squeezing the hand holding the figurine before letting go and looking around the stalls himself. He’s done a bit of shopping for their friends already (he’s not actually going to get them only rocks and sand, thank you very much), all he needs now is for some help getting things for Eliott’s parents. “Hey, do you think you dad will like—” He turns around, holding up a trinket, only to find Eliott already off to the stalls on the far right. Oh well, at least he looks like he’s in the process of returning everything he’s got draped all over him.

They don’t take very long to run into each other again once they’ve done their rounds, and Eliott beams like they haven’t seen each other in days, grabbing Lucas by the wrist with an enthusiastic, “All good to go?” And even if he wasn’t, Lucas would’ve followed him either way.

Speaking of, they’re not headed to where they parked their rental car.

“Where are we going?” Lucas asks, sneaking a glance around them to see if he can pinpoint familiar places. They haven’t done much exploring for the past week, preferring to laze around the beach area whenever Eliott wasn’t busy with photoshoots, but he imagines Eliott has been around more than him if Jo wanted some changes in scenery.

And because Eliott is Eliott, he doesn’t utter a word until they’ve passed a small bridge that leads to what looks like a dead end of shrubbery.

But Lucas knows better by now.

They squeeze through the thick shrubs, pushing branches and leaves aside until they reach a wide clearing. “Tada...” Eliott whispers, as if the sound of his normal volume would disrupt the scene.

And what a scene it was. A quaint circular area with boulders piled about, a large, ancient tree with drooping arms perfectly frames the view as if planted there years ago to fulfill this present purpose. The waves crash softly against the rocks, forcing pale, wet sand to shift with uneven dips. Over the horizon, blinding in its beauty, perches a moon so clear and bright Lucas would be hard pressed to believe it’s real if he weren’t standing right here.

“Holy shit,” he mumbles, shaking excess leaves off his feet as he makes his way forward, entranced. “Holy shit,” he repeats with feeling.

“Yup, holy shit.” Eliott breathes out his laughter, shoulders shrugging up in that endearing way of his. “Thought you’d appreciate this.”

Lucas makes his way to the edge where water and sand meet, bending to pick up a shiny stone reflecting moonlight off its surface. He hears Eliott coming up behind him but doesn’t expect the hand that steals the stone from his grip and Lucas huffs, indulging in his boyfriend’s amusement for a few minutes and jumping up to try and steal it back from Eliott’s raised fist.

“Eli, come on, give it.” He tries for another jump, but Eliott brings his hands behind his back, putting the stone out of sight. “Eliott!” Lucas whines, shaking the plastic bag of trinkets he’s got hanging around one wrist. Eliott has the gall to laugh at his suffering. “Give it.” Lucas holds out his free hand, tapping his feet on the sandy ground. “Now.”

Eliott raises an eyebrow in turn, smile adorable despite its mischief as he holds out both hands in closed fists. “Okay, choose a hand then.”

Lucas’ groan is long suffering.

But unfortunately, undeniably fond.

“What is this now?” Lucas eyes him suspiciously, trying to figure out what Eliott has up in his sleeve this time.

“What’s what?” Eliott tries for innocent.

“Did you learn some kind of magic trick, is that it?” Lucas grins, looking between the two hands in front of him.

“I don’t know, did I?” Eliott’s eye crinkles when he smiles. It’s infuriating.

“Omygod, you’re literally impossible. This better be a good trick, Demaury.” He slaps a hand over Eliott’s left fist, digging in between his fingers to try and pry them open. Eliott gives in too easily, lifting his fingers open without a struggle, so Lucas expects it to turn up empty.

Except.

Except—

“Is this good enough for you?” His voice is a whisper, quiet enough to get carried away by a strong wind.

Lucas stares at the hand, mouth gaping dumbly. “That’s a ring.” He hears a chuckle, and then Eliott’s other hand is opening to reveal a matching pair. “That’s two rings,” he says, a necessary and intelligent contribution.

“I know you’re nervous about what’s going to happen.” Eliott starts, “with my graduation, and work, and all that stuff.”

“I’m not—”

“Lucas, please, you think I wouldn’t notice?”

Lucas shuts his mouth, looks down at the rings again as if they hold the answers to all his doubts. And maybe, maybe they do. Hold them. Some of them, at least.

“Nobody likes change, you know. I hate it too.” Eliott steps closer, putting both rings inside one hand and using his free hand to grip one of Lucas’. “But for every change that happens there are still constants.” He places one of the rings inside Lucas’ palm. “And you have a lot of that, whether you believe it or not.” With both hands now free, Eliott takes the ring he kept for himself and drops it around his pinky finger. “But if there’s anything I want you to always believe, it’s that I will be your constant, Lucas Lallemant.”

“Constant?” Lucas chokes, eyes stinging from the force of the tears he’s holding back. God, he’s such a cry baby and Eliott knows it too, the bastard. “Like, always? Like—” Forever. But that’s a scary word. “Whatever happened to minute by minute?” He laughs weakly, hand gripping the ring tight in his hold.

Eliott leans down to press a kiss atop Lucas’ closed fist. “Okay, what if I tell you that here, in this exact spot, a minute lasts forever?” Because of course Eliott isn’t afraid of forever. Maybe Lucas will learn to be brave too.

Absently, Lucas mimics Eliott’s earlier movements, sliding the ring around his pinky and staring at it in wonder. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen himself wear a ring in his whole life. It’s a little loose on him but he’ll deal with that later, now’s not the time to worry about tiny details. “That’s absurd.”

“You’re absurd.”

“No you.” And Lucas launches himself up and into a hard kiss, putting all the brimming feelings he’s too stupefied to vocalize at this moment. “Buying promise rings,” he murmurs in between kisses. “When did you even— you sneaky bastard.” He pulls at Eliott’s shirt, dragging him down as he sags back on his heels. Eliott’s hands are warm cups over his cheeks, touch so soft, ever so gentle in everything he does. Lucas is shifting to fling his arms around Eliott’s shoulders to try and bring them even closer to each other when he feels the newly appointed metal on his finger fly right off his finger and into... well... into the unknown.

He pulls away so fast he gives both of them whiplash.

Fuck. “Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Fuck!

Eliott is understandably confused. “Uh. What’s wrong?”

“My ring!” Lucas screeches, throwing his bag of souvenirs over onto dry land before attempting to dive headfirst into the water. Eliott stops him just in time, dragging a protesting Lucas far, far away from the ocean. “But Eliott! My ring!! Your ring?! My— ring!”

And Eliott is laughing. “It’s okay, Lu.”

“It’s not!” He takes fistfuls of Eliott’s shirt and shakes his boyfriend because in what world is it okay to lose a ring given to you two seconds ago? “I just had it and then it’s gone!”

“Shh, it’s okay.” Eliott smiles down at him, shaking his head as he removes his own ring from his pinky and slides it onto Lucas’ ring finger. It’s a much better fit this time, but—

“But this is yours,” Lucas insists, “you’ve gotta have one too.”

“Oh, I do?” Eliott raises a teasing eyebrow.

“Of fucking course, that’s the point of a promise ring you dolt.” Wait no. “I’m the dolt. I can’t believe I lost my ring!”

Eliott’s giggles ring clear in the night. “Lucas, it’s okay, really, we’re here for a few more days, we can buy a new one before we leave, hm? Let’s go back now, I think you need some sleep.”

“I don’t need to sleep, I need to find my ring!!”

#skam france #elu fic #elu insta au #fictag #i will save my long sappy note #on ao3 #whenever i get to posting there #why did the image quality deteriorate #in between me posting this and the last time i updated #@ tumblr whats up widdat #now we play the game of #will this show up in the tags #gud night #i go back 2 sleep

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paper-chain-queen · 4 years

Text

Once Upon A Dream *2*

Bakugou X Freader

Sleeping Beauty X Dragon Prince Katsuki

Words: 5,000+

Summary: Part 2 of the very unorginal retelling of sleeping beauty with a dash of fantasy BNHA :p enjoy

The glow of afternoon sun poured over the kingdom, the day had come for the long-awaited Princess to return.

The Good King paced around a grand hall as his friend watched on. The worried father walked to the window and looked on the bonfire, all the spinning wheels in the kingdom where to be burned as a precaution. The King and Queen knew it might be over the top, but they didn't want to risk anything happening to their treasure.

The treasure they had yet to meet after 18 long years.

"No sign of her yet...." The King sighed as he checked out another window as if expecting her to come through the front gate.

"Of course not! It's still hours before sunset." Enji Todoroki scoffed as he looked over all the succulent meats and warm bread, pouring himself some ale.

"Calm down Nahir, you are going to wear yourself out, and the party hasn't even begun." The large red-haired man waved his cup around a bit before downing it and pouring himself another.

"What if something goes wrong? What if Overhaul found her?" Nahir stressed, waving off the cup of ale Enji tried to serve him.

"Overhaul is a pest, just a magician." The King Todoroki boasted.

" You grow too cocky, my friend. We both know of the death Overhaul leaves everywhere he goes, he is a monster."

"Speaking of monsters...Those barbarians to the North. Those Dragon folk... their numbers are growing." Enji started, pouring himself another glass of ale.

"I'm aware..." Nahir commented, he knew what was coming, but there was little point to try and stop the fire-spirited King.

"We should strike them down while we can, our kingdoms are about to be united through marriage, we should strike now. Combine our armies and surprise them." Enji's voice booming throughout the hall as he tried to sell his idea.

"What is this now?" The Queen's entered the room along with the handsome Prince Shouto, wondering what the Kings could be debating.

"Enji wishes to go to war with the Dragon tribe of the Northern Isles." The Good King informed his Queen.

"Whatever for? They have never bothered us." Queen Sabina mentioned as she poured herself a glass of wine, trying to calm her nerves. The clan was certainly different in their ways, and Queen Mitsuki was known to rule with an iron will while her son, the Prince, was known for a temper as fiery as dragon breath. But the small 'kingdom' had never shown any interest in war.

" They are growing in strength, you have a beautiful kingdom here, your majesty, who's to say they don't wish to take it. Dragons are known to treasure beautiful things." Enji pointed out.

"Don't we all treasure beauty?" Challenged the Queen as she joined her husband's side, and he welcomed her with a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"This isn't talk for women's ears." The red King challenged right back, not used to be talking back to.

"You are in my land King Enji. I would be more careful of my words if I were you." The Queen had grown to be a feisty time to time, years of worrying over her daughter and dealing with Enji's growing suspicions of outside people had sharpened her.

Sabina couldn't help but smirk a little, because she had been corresponding with certain a Dragon Queen and was hoping her pen pal would make it in time for the celebration. Perhaps Queen Mitsuki could be a good future ally, despite King Enji's concerns.

"Let's go for a walk in the garden, my friend." Queen Rei stepped forward and took her friend's arm in her and walked off, Prince Shouto followed the women but not before giving a respectful bow to King Nahir and then a small glare to his father.

The King watched his future son-in-law follow after the Queens and hoped Shouto would be a good husband to his daughter. He was far different from Enji, a quieter energy like his Mother.

Would the Princess like him?

"This day is too long..." He sighed as he walked to the window, hoping the sun would set already.

"Here. To our kingdoms." Enji said as he decided to finally let go of the dragon threat for now and bring the stressed King a goblet of wine to cheers with.

"To our kingdoms."

"And to the marriage. We will have it tonight, and they can be off to their honeymoon tomorrow. I've already had a castle made for the newlyweds." Enji boasted proudly while Nahir’s jaw dropped.

"WHAT?!!!!!!"

The guards watched as the two kings began to argue back and forth about the wedding and also wished the long day would come to an end.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The three fairies were in chaos as they tried to put together their surprise for (Y/N). The dress was getting more and more hideous, and Izuku was placing a stick on the tall, drooping cake in the hope of keeping it upright.

"Oh um, Ochako... you look, um?" Izuku struggled to say anything nice about the dress that Momo had created. The pouting blue fairy had been used as a model for the dress, and she felt ridiculous.

Ochako knew that Momo had the best intentions, but this simply would not do.

"It's not exactly the way it looks in the book... is it?" Izuku pointed out, and Ochako huffed and crossed her arms.

"I just made some ……improvements, that's all," Momo said nervously as she walked around the dress, even quickly tried to stitch on another bow.

"Perhaps a few more ruffles?" The ebony-haired fairy asked as she fidgeted with one of the makeshift bows and Izuku watched how Ochako's pink cheeks went red, she did not agree with more ruffles.

"Well... what do think, Ochako?" Izuku asked, hoping she would have some good input.

"No! No more! We need to think of (y/n), and what she would want, this is our last birthday with her, and I want it to be special." Ochako broke free of the pink monstrosity Momo had trapped her in and wagged her finger at her fellow fairies.

" I'm gonna get those wands, and we are gonna do this right." The round-faced brunette marched upstairs while Momo and Izuku looked at each other and then around the room at the mess they had created.

Ochako was right, they needed magic for this.

"Oh, it's been so long! I'm so excited!" Cheered the blue fairy as she came skipping back into the room with three wands in her hands, waving them around with joy.

Momo hurried over and took them from Ochako, hastily looking around to hope no intruders had noticed. They were still in hiding, and the red fairy didn't want to ruin it now when they were so close to the end.

"Quick! Lock the doors and the windows, plug up every nook and cranny, we can't take any chances." Momo explained as the three ran around the cabin and tried to make it secure, locking shut the windows and stuffing napkins into crevices.

"Okay, Izuku, you take care of the cake." Momo handed the boy his wand, who looked relieved to have his magic to help him do the task.

"And I-" Ochako started, hoping to work on the dress, but Momo quickly cut her off as she handed her the wand.

"Clean the room, and I'll make the dress," Momo ordered as she rushed off to look at the dress design again.

Ochako let out a frustrated sigh but got down to work anyway, waving her wand at the broom, bucket and mop to get them to work.

As she watched the inanimate objects come to life, Ochako smiled brightly, happy to feel the magic flow through her as it was meant to.

Momo waved her own wand, and royal pink fabric floated and danced in the air as the red fairy made it form into a long skirt and blouse, metallic gold embroidery on its edges.

" And now to make a lovely dress fit to grace a fair princess." Momo giggled as she happily made the outfit with ease, magically adding intricate bead detailing.

Izuku had made the ingredients come to life and showed them the recipe in the cookbook, telling the bag of flour and various ingredients to do what the books tells them and soon, everything was beginning to come together.

The blue fairy danced around the room with the mop, but then she caught the look of the full pink skirt with matching blouse she made a face of disgust. Ochako full-heartedly believed that (y/n) would look better in Ochako's favourite colour.

"Make it blue." She ordered as she waved her wand at the outfit and the beautiful outfit changed from pink to blue.

"Oh! Ochako! Make it pink." Momo scolded her friend but then returned to her duty.

"Make it blue," Ochako whispered with a childish grin on her face, and the dress once again turned blue.

"Stop it, this is ridiculous. Make it pink." Momo glared at Ochako and hoped she was done being childish.

Ochako was just having too much, and when she noticed the dress's pink reflection in a pan, she made use of her magic again.

"Blue."

But instead of the dress, it hit Momo, making her entire outfit blue.

"Hahaha, Sorry! But it suits you, Momo. Very nice." Ochako giggled as she danced around the room. Momo glared at her and decided to get her back, turning Ochako's dress bright pink and soon, the two girls were at war, waving their wands at each other, making the cabin light up with magic.

Izuku was too busy with his cake making to pay the girls any mind, fully engrossed with placing the candles himself and lighting them.

Flying overhead was Overhaul's faithful pet crow, who saw a glitter of bright pinks and blues bursting in the forest and flew down to get a better look.

The two fairies shot at each other furiously until they both hit the gift that was meant for (y/n), making it look like a toddler had thrown paint on it.

"Oh! Look what you've done." Momo shook her head, and Ochako only giggled and rubbed the back of her head.

"Oopsy."

"Wait... I think I hear... she's almost home!" Izuku lit the last candle and rushed into a hiding spot.

"Enough of this nonsense! Quick! To your places." Momo ordered as she carried the skirt and blouse set to a chair and then made it fully pink again, magically creating a delicate scarf veil to go with it.

The fairies got into place and waited.

"Oh! The mop!" Izuku fretted to which Ochako let out a guilty giggle before making the mop drop to the floor. She also couldn't help turning the (y/n)'s gift blue, and before Momo could change it, (y/n) came through the door calling out their names.

"Uncle Izuku! Aunt Momo, Aunt Ochako!" The beauty called out as she took off her scarf and placed the water jug on the kitchen counter.

"Where is everybody?" (y/n) asked as she looked around the cabin and then gasped when she saw what was on the table.

"Oh! It's beautiful!" The excited girl went forward to the outfit resting on the chair and felt the fine beading and soft material.

"Surprise!!" They call cried out, making (y/n) jump as she turned around.

"Happy Birthday!!!" Izuku congratulated, and the (y/n) smiled at them and brought them all in for a hug, squeezing them tight.

"This is the happiest day of my life! Thank you, thank you. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world." (y/n) gushed as she held her hands to her heart and spun around on the spot, unable to keep herself still or the smile off her face.

"Everything is so wonderful. Just wait till you meet him!" (y/n) was practically walking on air as she thought of her handsome Katsuki. Longing to look into his red eyes again and be held by his strong warm arms.

"Him!?" Momo gasped

"(y/n)..." Izuku softly said, worried about who (y/n) had run into.

"You've met some stranger?!" Ochako asked, concern filling her large eyes.

"Oh.. he's not a stranger.. we've met before..." (Y/n) dreamily sighed, swaying back and forth with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"You have?" Momo asked, and the smitten birthday girl nodded.

"Where?" Izuku asked.

"Once upon a dream." She said matter of factly and broke out into song and spun around the room in dance, a blissful look on her face and smile that outshone the brightest of jewels.

(y/n) then grabbed Ochako's hands and began dancing around the room, not even noticing that her caretakers all looked as if she had just told them she was dying.

"She's in love..." Ochako told her friends as she was made to swing around the room as (y/n) sang her heart's song.

"Oh, no.." Izuku gasped, his heart falling into his stomach like a stone.

"This is terrible." Momo fretted as she turned to Izuku, both trying to figure out what to do or what to say.

The words out of Momo's mouth made (y/n) stop in her tracks, and she turned to her black-haired aunt.

"Why?" Poor (y/n) was so confused, this was supposed to be a good thing, but her caretakers did not look happy.

"I am eighteen, I'm no longer a child." (Y/n) voiced, wondering if they were going to tell her that she was too young to be in love.

"It isn't that, dear." Momo tried to console her and took one of her hands, patting it gently.

"You're already betrothed." Ochako smiled up at her, hoping to make (y/n) feel better, taking her other hand, giving it a small squeeze.

"Betrothed?" (y/n) asked, hoping she had heard wrong.

"Since the day you were born." Ochako continued.

"To Prince Shouto." Izuku piped up.

"A Prince? But that's impossible." (y/n) laughed nervously, thinking they were playing some weird birthday prank, her caretakers had a strange sense of humour.

"How could I marry a prince? I'd have to be-" (y/n) slipped her hands from her Aunts, not enjoying this conversation at all.

"A princess. Which you are." Izuku revealed, and he could see the shocked look on (y/n)'s face from where he stood. The girl held her hand over her heart and took a few steps back from the three that had raised her.

"You are Princess Aruna. Tonight we are taking you back to your Mother and father, Queen Sabina and King Nahir." Momo tried to calmly explain, but panic flooded through (y/n)'s heart. They were all so caught up in the reveal that no one noticed the black crow peeping in by the door, a sly look in their eyes.

"But-- but I can't.. he's coming here tonight! I promised to meet him!" (y/n) argued, tears building up in her eyes. Everything she had ever known was a lie, nothing in her life was real, and now they were taking her away from the only thing she was certain of in this moment. Her heart belonged to Katsuki, but she was betrothed to some Prince Shouto who she had never met.

"I'm sorry, dear, but you must never see that young man again," Momo told her, trying to hold back tears of her own. She hated this and wish she had a spell that could help the heartbreak in (y/n)'s eyes.

"Oh no... no..no.. no! I can't believe it! I don't want this! " (y/n) cried, and the three fairies tried to reach out and offer comfort but (y/n) ran past them, tears already streaming down her face as she raced upstairs to her room, her cries filling the small cabin.

"And we'd thought she'd be so happy... maybe we could tell the King and Queen about-" Ochako tried but was quickly cut off.

"No, that's not how this works... (y/n) has been betrothed... and Shouto will be a good King and husband to Aruna..." Momo tried to convince herself as she wiped away her tears.

"But will (y/n) be happy?" Izuku asked as he looked to where their dear (y/n) had run too. The three remained silent after that, decided to start preparing to leave while they gave the broken-hearted girl some space.

The crow on the sill had seen enough and eagerly flew off to share the news with his Master.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"What is he doing??" A girl with small golden horns and splashes of pink scales asked her fellow dragon shifter, peeking over his shoulder to see their Prince rummaging through piles of gold in the treasury. If one listened closely, it almost seemed like he was… humming?

"He's in love." Eijirou smiled at his mate, and the girl's jaw dropped in shock.

"No!"

"Yes. Hello, by the way." He smirked as he leaned and laid a kiss on Mina's lips to which she happily returned, giggling a hello to him as well.

"What's all this?" A clansman came forward to the Dragons as he looked over their shoulders to watch as Katsuki feverishly picked up jewels and then tossed them aside, loudly declaring that nothing was good enough.

"He's in love." Mina giggled, a million questions running through her brain, but she didn't know which one to ask.

"With what? A new sword." Denki scoffed, shaking his head at his friend's poor taste in jokes. Not that he was any better.

"It's true! He's looking for an engagement gift right now." The red dragon shifter felt proud as he watched his rider and friend stress about finding the perfect jewel to present to the mystery girl.

"Have you met her? Is she real?" Mina asked, excitement bubbling in her voice, she wanted some girlfriends, and maybe Katsuki's girlfriend needed a dragon.

"Well... I didn't meet her, but I've heard her sing! AND she told Katsuki to meet her again tonight." Eijioru's bright smile showed off all his bright, sharp teeth.

"Who is Katsuki meeting tonight?" A commanding voice asked the young folk who were stationed outside the treasury, and they all jumped out their skins.

"Queen Mitsuki!" Mina bowed, and everyone else joined in, glancing up at their Queen, who was known to have a temper like a volcano now and then.

A tall, elegant woman looked down on them, dressed in her finest blood-red silks and matching cape, adorned in gold and red jewels from head to toe.

"Nevermind all that. What's this about Katsuki meeting someone tonight?" She asked, smirking at her son's friends.

The three friends looked to one another, wondering how many ways their Prince would torture them if they spilled his secret to his Mother.

"He's meeting some mystery girl that he met in the woods tonight, and he's bringing her an engagement gift." The blonde Denki broke, not able to take his Queen's piercing gaze.

"An engagement gift?" She repeated as a chuckle left her mouth while crossing her arms.

"That wasn't very manly, bro." Eijirou moaned, he had a feeling that Katsuki was gonna kick his ass for letting the truth slide.

The Queen smiled at her underlings and simply thanked them before marching past them and into the treasury where her son was digging through a large chest, throwing out jewel after jewel.

"And what do you think you are doing?" His Mother's voice didn't even vex him, he just continued his search. And this only made Mitsuki start to lose her patience.

She reached down and dragged her son by the back of his head and made him face her. The Queen was ready to let her son have it, but she stopped before she could even begin to yell at him.

For his eyes, they were different. They were filled with fire, truly seen the sun for the first time. Was her son growing up? Had he really fallen in love?

The Dragon Queen let out a large exasperated sigh.

"All the princesses that we have brought to you and daughters of chiefs, in hopes that you would marry one of them... and now you've fallen in love with some girl in the woods?" Mitsuki shook her head in disbelief.

"She's not some girl!" Katsuki snarled at her, and that only re-enforced what Mitsuki knew to be true. Her son had found his one.

She released him, and before he could begin yelling again, the Queen removed one of her rings and then placed it in her son's palm.

"This is the finest jewel we have. It will make a fine gift for a future Queen." His Mother gave him a proud smile as she did so, truly happy for her son.

" I only have this to ask. We were invited to King Nahir's ball tonight, that's where we will be tonight. Hopefully, you can bring your new bride?" She teased, she was eager to meet the girl who had put that look in her son's eyes.

"Tch. Like I'd drag her to some boring ball." He scoffed and looked at the ring his Mother had given. A giant red ruby lay in the middle of a gold ring with a gold dragon curling around it, diamonds embedded around the edges. While it was beautiful, the Dragon Prince knew it still didn't come close (y/n)'s beauty. The very thought of her brought a smile to his face, and Mitsuki had to stop herself from laughing.

Even her tough and wild barbaric son was no match when it came to the powerful magic of love.

"I'm happy for you, my son. I can't wait to meet her." She told him and patted his head like he was a child, her hand staying clear of the crown on his head.

He blushed madly, and before he could be embarrassed any further, he stormed out of the treasure room and grabbed Eijirou by his scaly dragon tail.

"Let's go shitty lizard." The Dragon Prince ordered, not wanting to stay away from his girl for another moment.

"Right on! " The red dragon cheered and gave his mate a big kiss on her lips before running after Katsuki. Mina wished him safe travels, and in a burst of red flame, his humanoid form was gone, and in its place was a large red dragon.

Katsuki threw and a leather saddle on, latched it into place and climbed on top, feeling giddy already, and his friends wished him luck. He, of course, gave them a cocky smile, telling them to save their luck for some other weak sap.

He ordered Eijirou to fly, and up into the heavens, they rode, back to the forest where he met his future bride. Humming the song they danced to in the woods as he felt the wind whip around him.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The Princess was dressed in the fine blue silks, the long heavy skirt dusted the ground, and the royal blue veil was placed over her head and face. Momo shut the door behind everyone while Izuku held out his arm for (y/n) to take.

She tried to smile at him, but it failed, and she simply held onto the kind green fairy as he led her on the path. Momo leading the way and Ochako following behind.

The fairies' peasant disguises were gone, and their true selves came through (y/n) was still in so much shock over her being a princess that she barely even noticed their pretty fairy wings or the fact that they now appeared to be teenagers rather than adults.

No, she was still thinking about the handsome face she would never see again, the arms she would never be held in ever again.

When the cabin was almost out of sight, (y/n) looked back, the sun was just setting, and the cabin was bathed in the red glow of sunset. It didn't compare to the beauty of Katuski's eyes.

(y/n)'s last hope was that her love would show up and maybe take her away from this hurtful truth. The fairies watched as the Princess stared at the cabin. Assuming she was only taking a moment to say goodbye to the place that had been her home for the last 18 years.

Finally, the three fairies urged her that it was time to go and (y/n) did say her goodbyes as she lowered the veil over her head. Her goodbye to true love and wished that perhaps they could meet again, even if only in their dreams.

The four walked on, through the woods and soon coming across the large stone walls surrounding the kingdom while (y/n) kept her head towards the ground, tears silently falling down her cheeks. The fairies led the returning Princess through a hidden back gate and into a marble courtyard, past beautiful gardens and tall pillars, up winding staircases until they came to large ornate gold doors.

Ochako pushed the doors open, and Izuku led the girl into the room, sitting her down at a chair in front of the vanity, removing her veil for her as she seemed to be still as a statue.

The fairies came together to prepare one last gift, and with a wave of their wands, they created a glittering crown.

" This one last gift, dear child to thee. A symbol of thy royalty, a crown to wear to wear in grace and beauty, as is thy right and royal duty." Momo placed the crown gently overtop the Princess's head.

(Y/n) stared into the vanity mirror and did not recognize herself. Not only was she dressed in fine silks and jewels, but her eyes were red from crying. Her eyes began to burn again as a new wave of tears came, and she leaned forward onto the vanity table, burrowing her head into arms and sobbing her heart out once more.

"Now dear-" Ochako tried to step forward to comfort the Princess, but Momo held her back. The red fairy ushered the other two out into the hall, wanting the overwhelmed girl to have few moments alone.

As Momo closed the door behind her, Ochako once again mentioned the boy (y/n) had met in the woods.

"If only there was something we do.." Izuku started to mutter and mutter, and the other fairies just shook their heads, hoping (y/n)'s heart would heal soon.

(Y/n) cries turned to sniffles and then she started to hear a strange, echoing sound. Like someone calling out a name…

She looked up, and the fire that she was sure had been going in the large fireplace had gone out. There, in the middle of the room, was a glowing green ball, and it felt like she was in a trance, no control over what she was doing as she followed the light.

" I don't see why she has to marry any old prince." Ochako huffed, fluttering about in the large ornate hallway.

"But that's not for us to decide…" Izuku mumbled.

Momo thought she heard something odd and approached the Princess's door.

"What if… we tell the King and Queen about the boy? They would understand, surely." Izuku offered, hoping that they could change the way things were.

"Yeah, Izuku's right! Why don't we-" Ochako's bright smile was cut off.

“Shh. Listen!" Momo hushed them.

They all listened and heard an eerie echoing call, and they all realized who it was.

"Overhaul!" They exclaimed, rushing into (y/n)'s room.

"(y/n)!!!" They called out to her as she stepped through a green doorway, but she did not turn, and as they ran after her, the doorway disappeared.

"Why did we leave her alone!" Ochako cursed.

Out of their sight, the Princess climbed up a spiralling staircase, following the green flame. Still under its trance.

The fairies tried to get through the barrier, combining their magic to make the stone wall disappear and into an unknown chamber they ran. Calling out their dear friend's name.

Looking in every corner until they all began to quickly ascend the stairs, hoping they were not too late.

Up the stairs (y/n) went, following the flame into a room. The green flame morphed into a mysterious object she had never seen. A glowing tip at one end and (y/n) lifted her hand, reaching out.

She was bout to touch it but heard a voice, echoing around her, begging her to touch it, and she pulled her away.

Until a darker, stronger voice echoed in her head, telling her to touch the spindle, and she felt powerless like her body was not her own.

"Touch it, I say!" The voice ordered as her finger hovered over the spindle. She felt a sharp sting, and then everything around her turned dark, the last thing she saw was cruel gold hateful eyes attached to the beak of a bird.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Queen Sabina was sitting in her private garden with Queen Rei and her son, she brought her chalice to her lips until a horrible feeling ripped through her and she dropped the glass, the wine staining the stone it fell onto.

" Your majesty, is everything alright?" Shouto asked as he came forward, but Sabina ignored him as she rose up and ran through the castle, a terrible feeling in her chest. It was sunset, and something had gone terribly wrong.

She heard drums and trumpets going off and a loud voice booming out that the sun had set, preparing the people to welcome their Princess after 18 long years. Cheers and fireworks were going off.

Her feet carried her through hallways, and she burst into the room that would be daughters. A veiled scarf that she did not recognize laid on the bed and where there should have been a fireplace was a door.

"Sabina?! " Rei asked, following her into the room, Prince Shouto close behind his Mother.

The panicked Queen ignored her friends and ran through the hidden door and up the spiral staircase, hoping her worst nightmare had not come true.

In the tallest room, in the tallest tower, laid her a beautiful young woman, sleeping on a bed surrounded by the three good fairies.

Momo was tucking the girl into the covers, wiping away tears as the two stood near the head off the bed, tears also flowing down their pale cheeks.

"No.," Sabina whispered out as she approached the bed, laying her hands on the beauty's face. Her daughter's face.

"Your majesty… I am so sorry." Izuku apologized.

The Queen ran a gentle hand through her daughter's full dark locks and held her hands. Ice cold.

Outside the windows of the room, flashes of fireworks and celebratory cheers echoed through the kingdom.

"Oh, my goodness."

Queen Rei put her hand over her heart as she entered the room, her son helping her inside.

"She only sleeps, my queen." Ochako tried to comfort.

"True loves kiss…" Sabina muttered and then she looked to the young Prince.

"Shouto, please! Bring my daughter back to me." The normally strong Queen was on her knees, begging to the boy, praying to the heavens that this would work.

" I.. I'll do it." Shouto approached the bed and looked down upon the sleeping beauty. Her skin was a beautiful deep tone, and her lips were full and put the red rose in her hands to shame. She was indeed the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Prince Shouto leaned down hesitantly, hoping he could help break the curse and softly pressed his lips onto hers.

He felt the room go take a sharp breath and then silence. He didn't feel anything, no movement, no warmth. He leaned back, and the Princess laid in sleep still.

"I… I give my deepest Apologies, Queen Sabina." Shouto honestly told the Queen. The powerful woman just looked devasted as she walked across the room and out onto the porch, her eyes glazing over with loss that could not be explained with mere words. Overlooking the kingdom that celebrated her daughter's grand return.

"Poor King Nahir…. Everyone will be so heartbroken when they find out." Ochako sighed.

"Your majesty… what would you have us do?" Momo asked as she approached the mourning Mother.

"No one's going to find out…Put us all to sleep." The order left her lips.

"But your majesty-"

"Until my daughter awakens. You will go and find her true love. We will not let Overhaul win, I will not subject my kingdom to more heartbreak at his whim." The Queen reasoned with the fairies, and she returned to the room and took a seat at the chairs.

"What about you, your majesty," Izuku asked.

"I will wait, I will stand guard." The grieving Mother felt for the sharp knife she kept on her at all times.

"We will be with you, my friend." Queen Rei put her hand on the ailed Queen's shoulder, and Shouto gave a nod, grasping the handle of his sword in case he needed it.

The three fairies nodded and gave them a bow before shrinking down to the size of small birds and flying off and dowsing the entire kingdom into a powerful deep sleep.

Sleeping Beauty

Beauty Rare

Lips that shame the red, red rose

Dreaming of true love in slumber repose

One day, He will come

Riding out of the dawn

And you'll awaken to love's first kiss

Till then, sleeping beauty

Sleep on

One day you'll awaken

To love's first kiss

Till then, sleeping beauty

Sleep on

The three fairies finished their job and came together on the stone wall to figure out what to do.

"Momo! Don't you realize!" Ochako started shaking Momo's body.

"What, dear?" The red fairy asked, slipping out of her friend's grip.

"The boy! The one she met in the woods! Didn't she tell us that he was coming by tonight?!!" Ochako told the other two, and it was like a match had been lit.

"Oh, my goodness! Hurry back to the cottage!" It didn't matter who this boy was, if (y/n) loved him, then that was all that mattered.

Hope was not lost

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

#bnha x reader #bnha fantasy au #bakugou x reader #dragon prince bakugou #bakugou katsuki x reader #disney au #sleeping beauty #fanfiction

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atomic-taco-muffin · 3 years

Text

The Lost Princess Chapter 26

Warnings: I no longer know

Rating: SFW

You and the group entered Olympus Coliseum and came to the Coliseum gates. Donald saw a nearby notice board and ran over to it.

“Look, an announcement!” he said. You, Sora, and Goofy joined him. Jiminy jumped out and jumped up and down to read the board.

“Hmmm... It's for some sort of contest. They're calling it the ‘Olympus Coliseum Survival Cup.’ Contenders have to run an obstacle course, battling each other along the way. And listen to this: ‘The great hero Hercules will also compete for the Cup.’ It says here he's never been beaten,” he said.

“Sounds like fun. Why don't we enter, too?” Sora said.

“Yeah! Let’s do it!” you said.

“I thought you two would say that. Whenever there's a contest, you're rarin' to join up,” Goofy said.

“You're going to compete even if we don't, right?” Donald said.

“Uh-huh!” You and Sora said.

“Guess we'd better tag along, then.” Jiminy jumped.

“Hold it, everyone. There's more...” he jumped again.

“’Only contenders who finish the preliminary course may enter the main competition.’” he jumped again.

“It says the preliminary course is just ahead.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!” you said. You and the gang then left. Hades appeared and read the announcement board.

“‘Hercules is a model of true strength and gallantry---the perfect hero’?!” he said. Hades turned red, overcome with anger.

“Oh, he's perfect, all right. PERFECTLY INFURIATING!! Just thinking about that little sunspot makes me boil! HOO, I'd like to drag him into the Underworld!” he yelled.

“Which is why you hired me,” someone said. Cloud entered and walked up to Hades.

“That's right. You're my man... Cloud, is it? Your job is to beat Hercules in the games. And once you've got him cornered... ...finish the job. Do that for me, and---” Hades said.

“You restore my lost memories. As we agreed,” Cloud said.

“You have my word.” Cloud then left. Meanwhile, you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy entered the Coliseum lobby and met Phil.

“Huh? Where did you come from? Don't tell me you guys finished the prelims!” Phil said.

“We sure did. And now we want to go for the Cup!” you said.

“Well, you came to the right place. Not that you stand a chance against Herc.”

“Why not?” Donald asked.

“Two words. You ain't heroes!” Phil said.

“You’re wrong!” Sora said.

“Yeah, he said three words,” Goofy said.

“Exactly...but that's not the point! How can we prove we're heroes unless you give us a chance?” Hercules suddenly walked in..

“He's right, Phil. They cleared the prelims. I think they deserve a shot,” he said.

“Hmm...you got a point there, Herc. But still---” Phil said.

“Of course, we could always cancel the games.”

“Cancel them? What for?” you asked.

“Old Phil's prelim course was so hard, no one else could finish it.”

“Is that right? Well, if you let us compete, you won't have to cancel the games! How about it, Phil?” Sora said.

“... Okay, you got me over a barrel, so fine. Here's how it works, kiddos---” Phil said.

“It's Sora and (Y/N)---not ‘kiddos.’” Sora said.

“Sure, sure, kiddos. Since your team and Hercules are the only contenders---”

“No, they're not.” Clouds suddenly walked in through the doors.

“The games have a new challenger. Name's Cloud,” he said.

“The more the merrier! Now the games will really be something to see!” Phil said.

“I'm looking forward to this. Don't expect me to pull any punches!” Hercules said.

“Hey, as long as you don't expect me to take them!” Sora said.

“Let's give it our best,” you said to Cloud.

“Hmph,” he said.

“Okay, let's get this show going! But first I gotta explain a few rules. Rule #1! First one through the obstacle course wins! Rule #2! In the event of a tie, a battle will determine the winner! Rule #3! You can interfere with your opponents on the course! And finally... Rule #4! All challengers have to give it everything they got!” Phil said. All the challengers lined up, ready to run out of the room.

“All right, enough with the spiel. On your marks... Get set... GO!!” Phil said and you all headed out. Somewhere in the Coliseum, you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy met Cloud, who was holding his buster sword.

“Gawrsh, that was nice of him to wait for us to catch up!” Goofy said.

“He's not waiting! Remember Rule #3? ‘You can interfere with your opponents on the course’!” Donald said. You all readied your weapons.

“He's looking to narrow the field!” you said. Sora, Donald and Goofy prepared for battle.

“You can put that away. I'm not looking for a fight with you, so keep moving,” Cloud said.

“Huh?” Sora asked.

“See? He was waitin' for us to catch up,” Goofy said.

“Well, we've caught up. Let's take him up on his offer and keep going!” Donald said.

“I don't see a downside...” you said. The four of you walked past Cloud, but you and Sora turned around.

“Listen, are you sure?” Sora asked Cloud.

“I'm not here for the Cup. Just Hercules. Today he loses more than the competition,” Cloud said. The four of you were surprised.

“You don't mean... But why?!” you asked.

“This is business. Stay out of it. Go win your Cup.” Sora summons his Keyblade and you grabbed your dagger. Cloud turned around to look at you two.

“Do you realize what you two are doing?” he asked.

“Rule #3! You can interfere with your opponents. Right? You're not the only one who wants to fight Hercules,” you said. The four of you prepared for battle.

“Big mistake,” Cloud said. The four of you fought Cloud and won. After the fight, Cloud was gone.

“Cloud! Where'd you go?” Sora said. Jiminy popped out.

“He headed for the finish line! We'd better go after him!” he said.

“Right!” you and Sora said. The five of you left to go find Cloud. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy reached the arena of the Coliseum and encountered Hercules and Cloud, the latter being on his knees.

“You lost! Give it up, Cloud!” Herc said. Cloud got up.

“We're not done yet...” he said.

“I can't guarantee your safety if we keep going like this!” Herc said.

“Better worry about yourself. Looks to me like you're slowing down a bit.”

“Ungh...” You and Sora ran to Hercules and readies his Keyblade and you with your dagger.

“Don't worry! We'll back you up!” Sora said.

“Sora? (Y/N)?” Herc asked.

“Get all the backup you want. I'm going to finish you and get back my memories!” Cloud said.

“Huh?! Your memories?!” Sora asked.

“Now, now, Cloud, we don't want to spill the beans.” Hades appeared and walked to the center of the ring.

“Hades! You!” Herc said as he turned to face Cloud.

“Looks like you oversold yourself. All you did was wear him down. This doesn't look good for your performance rating... Let me put it this way: You, my spiky-haired friend, are fired,” Hades said.

“Huh?! But...my memories! We had a deal!” Cloud said.

“Did you really think you could get back your lost memories just like that? Get a grip!”

“Why, you---”

“Out of the way! I'll take care of Irk-ules myself!” The scenery turned red, and the sky became dark. Hades charged himself with fire and unleashed it, knocking everyone besides Hercules away and bringing Hercules to his knees.

“Hey!” you and Sora said.

“Rule #5! It's never too late to enter the games,” Hades said.

“Hades, you were behind this from the start!” Herc said.

“Cloud may have failed to take you out, but he did break you down. Time for Plan B. Pack your pita, Herc, 'cause you've just won a free trip to the Underworld---paid by me!” You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran to Hercules's side, your weapons ready.

“Hold it!” you said.

“(Y/N), no!” Herc said.

“Come on, Herc---how can we go one-on-one if you're in the Underworld?” Sora asked.

“Good point, kid. I guess you'll just have to go with him! Rule #6! There are no rules! Ha ha!” Hades said. The four of you fought and defeated Hades. Later at the arena, you, Sora's group, and Hercules met with Phil.

“What?! The games are cancelled? How come?” Sora asked.

“Two words! Everyone is pooped!” Phil said.

“Wait, that was more than two---” Goofy said.

“You gotta be kidding! What about our match with Hercules?” you said.

“I'm sorry, you two. But you wouldn't want me to compete in this condition. Let's have a match when I've rested up a bit. Can you wait?” Herc said.

“Okay. We'll hold you to that,” Sora said.

“Then it's settled!”

“Sora, (Y/N), over here! He's coming around.” Jiminy said. Cloud was lying on the ground on one knee outside of the ring, with Jiminy watching him. You, Sora and the gang walked over to them.

“You okay?” Sora asked.

“Yeah,” Cloud said.

“Here,” you said as you performed a healing spell. He got up and thanked you.

“Sorry I messed up your games,” he said. He started to leave but stopped when Sora started to speak.

“Hey! Hope you get your memories back! Forget about what Hades said. Sometimes the tiniest thing can make you remember stuff you forgot years ago,” he said. You nodded in agreement.

“If it's an important memory, there's no way it could ever be gone forever. That's what I think, anyway,” you said.

“Me too,” Sora said. Cloud created a card of himself in his hand and tossed it to you and Sora, who put it in your pockets.

“That's for you. For helping me out,” Cloud said.

“Sure you don't want to just come with us instead?” Sora asked. Cloud looked back and flipped one of his hairs.

“Not interested,” he said and left. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy soon left the Olympus Coliseum. You and trio entered the Second Floor Exit Hall. Goofy stopped and thought for a minute.

“Hmm...” he said.

“Huh? What's the matter?” Donald asked.

“It's that creepy castle that I was talking about earlier... I know I didn't imagine it.” Donald, you, and Sora exchanged looks.

“'Cause that was the castle where Sora had to use the Keyblade to free Kairi's heart,” Goofy said. Flashbacks of that event appear in you and Sora’s head.

“Then he just disappeared! And I was so worried. How could I ever forget that?” Goofy said.

“Oh! It was when I turned into a Heartless! Wait. That happened...in a castle?” Sora said.

“Aww... You forgot that? 'Cause I remember perfectly,” you said.

“Me too,” Donald said.

“Then what's it called?” Sora asked.

“That's easy! It was...” Donald said but he didn’t remember.

“(Y/N), do you remember?” he asked. You tried to remember but like Donald, you could remember a thing.

“Jiminy, help me... Is it in your journal?” you asked. Jiminy popped out.

“Every word! I finished the first volume right before we got to this castle,” he said. Jiminy looked around for his journal.

“Now then, if I can just find it... Oh, here we go!” he said. Jiminy took out his journal and jumped onto the floor.

“Let's have a look... Oh! How could it be?!” he said as he opened his journal.

“What's the matter?” Goofy asked.

“All my entries--- They're gone! Every page is blank!”

“What'll we do?!” Donald asked, surprised. You, Donald, and Sora exchanged looks.

“How could this have happened? I'm so careful with the journals!” Jiminy weeped.

“All of my hard work is gone!” he said.

“The journal's blank... What's going on?” you asked. They leave the Exit Hall. Meanwhile the girl in the white room was still drawing on her sketchbook. Back in the castle, you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy entered the Third Floor.

“Something's screwy. Journal pages don't just vanish!” Donald said. You and Sora stopped walking.

“What if...it's more things?” Sora asked.

“Huh?” Donald asked.

“Goofy was telling us about another castle we'd been to... But none of us really remembers it. Do ya think... Could it be that we don't remember because we're losing our memories?” you said.

“Losing? Our memories?” Donald asked.

“Hold on! Remember what that mystery fella said? ‘In this place to find is to lose, and to lose is to find.’ It musta been our memories he was talking about losing!” Jiminy said.

“So if we keep going, we'll lose more... Guess it really is Castle Oblivion,” Sora said.

“So the higher we go, the more we'll forget? Does that mean everything and everybody will be forgotten?” Donald asked.

“Riku and Kairi too...” you said.

“Do you two want to go back?” Donald asked.

“Don't worry, fellahs! We might forget about where we've been or what things we've seen, but we won't forget who are friends are,” Goofy said.

“I don't know...” Donald said.

“C'mon, Sora, when you turned into a Heartless, did you forget about me, (Y/N), and Donald?” Goofy asked.

“Of course I didn't!”

“There ya go! No matter what happens, you won't forget your friends.”

“Huh...” He looked at you, Donald and Goofy. Donald looked worried and Goofy nodded while you had a reassuring smile on your face.

“You're right. Thank you, Goofy,” Sora said.

“So, if there's nothing here that can make you forget about your friends...then we have nothing to be scared of! Let's go!” Donald said as he walked to the door.

“But when I turned into a Heartless...who was the one who took forever to notice and kept clobbering me?” Sora teased. Donald stopped and you giggled.

“How come you didn't forget about that?!” Donald asked. Donald jumped up and down and babbled angrily. You, Sora and Goofy laughed. You and Sora held up the next card at the Third Floor world entrance, and entered to the next world.

~~~~

I’m so proud of you sis. I know that I can’t tell you where I am right now but just know that I’ll be with you in your heart and I hope that we find each other soon. You have no idea how much I miss you. Living without you has sucked and your father is more ruthless than ever. Please continue to get stronger and find me soon. I know that together we can defeat him together.

To be continued...

#kingdom hearts #kingdomhearts #kingdom hearts imagine #kingdom hearts x reader #kingdom+hearts+x+reader #kingdom+hearts+imagines #kingdomhearts x reader #kingdomhearts imagines #kingdomhearts+x+reader #kingdomhearts+imagines

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fnniganthomas · 4 years

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❝ in my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words. but when I open my mouth, everything collapses. ❞

{ cis man, he/him } ❝ icarus is forever deemed the boy who flew too close to the sun and got burned. to me, he is just a boy too enthralled by beauty to care whether or not it could hurt him. ❞ huh, who’s TAYLOR ZAKHAR PEREZ? no, you’re mistaken, that’s actually LEANDER FINNIGAN-THOMAS. he is a 23 year old HALF-BLOOD wizard who is a TATTOO ARTIST. he is known for being RETICENT, SELF-CONSCIOUS, STUBBORN, INARTICULATE, and PERSUADABLE but also TRUSTING, SYMPATHETIC, EARNEST, PERCEPTIVE, and QUICK-THINKING, so that must be why he always reminds me of the song EPITAPH BY HIPPO CAMPUS and THE SMELL OF HOMEMADE BROWNIES BAKING; TECHNICOLOR PAINT STAINS ON EVERYTHING YOU OWN; A SKY GONE GREEN WITH PROMISED RAIN; WORN FLANNELS YOU’RE HAPPY TO LET OTHERS BORROW; A LUMP IN YOUR THROAT FROM THE WORDS YOU SWALLOW. i hear he is aligned with THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, so be sure to keep an eye on him. { zoe, 22, cst, she/her } [ leander is adopted. ]

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS: leander’s playlist, stats page, & pinterest board CHARACTER PARALLELS: jason mendoza (the good place), chidi anagonye (the good place), ty lee (atla), finn (star wars), troy barnes (community), brittany pierce (glee), ponyboy curtis (the outsiders), aang (atla)

one.

there was no real doubt in anyone’s mind that leander was his fathers’ son. even the two of them had no trouble seeing bits of the other in him.

dean could be heard calling leander seamus’ son when he ran into the side table holding lit candles and set several wooden picture frames ablaze. seamus returned the favor and referred to leander as dean’s son when he walked into leander’s room and saw he’d upended several jars of paint on the floor. to this day, none of them could really say if he’d upended the jars on purpose or not.

leander liked to think it was on purpose, even as he proclaimed his innocence every time the family told the story over laughter-filled dinners. proclaiming his innocence was just part of the way that story got told and he couldn’t go breaking tradition. really, he liked the way the rainbow of colors was still burrowed into the grooves of the wood and the slats between floorboards, even after countless attempts at cleaning the last of it. a part of him wondered if that hadn’t been an early sign of magic; he knew that that paint washed easily out of his hair and off his closes, but it stuck stubbornly to the floor right where he liked it.

the colors on the floor nearly matched the technicolor quilt that lay on top of his bed year-round. he liked when things matched like that, almost by accident; like the world liked when things looked pretty as much as he did. he kinda hoped that was one of his first bits of magic; it felt fitting. he said as much to his gran once and had his hair ruffled for his trouble.

two.

when he was a child, he was always elbow deep in some messy thing. it wasn’t that he had a knack for causing trouble — he just had such a hard time saying no to trouble when it came calling. he had a hard time saying no to anything that came calling.

that was probably why trouble was always calling him. it knew he was an easy mark.

he made friends easily as a child, when things were easier and no one seemed to mind or care that he had such a hard time finding the words for things. leander was too polite to voice the blame out loud, but he was convinced that his friends growing up were at least half behind all the messes he got into.

the other kids around him might’ve been better at causing messes, but leander made up for it by being a mess. he was always having a crisis as a kid — his stuffed dragons were just ravaging the block city, dad, but what about the finger puppet people formerly houses in that block tower? do they even sell dinosaur insurance?? why didn’t I think of the implications here …

he and his sister played knights a lot, with toy swords and helmets modeled after the suits of armor in hogwarts (dean asked seamus if that wasn’t a little much, when they bought them; they were a few years out from school, after all, they didn’t care that the helmets were accurate — ) and leander always wondered about the ramifications of two knights fighting each other. shouldn’t they be friends, he thought? she always took his ensuing rambling full of hypothetical knight-schisms as opportunity to knock him flat backwards.

he was a needy kid — he always had questions at his lips, a thousand things he wanted to say. it took him forever to find the way to say them, though; leander hated feeling any negative thing, but he was used to frustration turned inward. it was his least favorite feeling, and one he was all too accustomed to. even now, leander was never quite sure what to do with his words. his mind was an easy enough place for him to navigate, and he loved being there for others when they needed someone to listen.

but whenever he tried talking himself wires got crossed and nothing came out how he wanted it to.

three.

he’d always been more quiet than he’d have liked to be, because he did actually have a lot to say. by the time he was nearly hogwarts-aged, he’d mostly forced himself to get over his hang-ups around his family. they poked good-natured fun at him, but he knew they’d always give him as much time as he needed to phrase a sentence or find a word. he could be assured that some of the other kids he’d grown up around would know that he just took a while to say what he really meant, too.

it was the thought of the castle, so full of strangers and professors he didn’t know, that scared him. getting sorted into ravenclaw scared him even more. he knew he didn’t always sound smart, and it worried him that others would listen to him and decide that he wasn’t, actually, smart enough to be a ravenclaw. he knew that he was smart, that he had things of value to offer to conversations. he was just so bad at getting them out the way he wanted to.

he stayed quiet for a while, even knowing he didn’t actually want to be quiet.

whenever he tried to articulate that point to other people though, it tended not to go as well as it did in his head — only proving his point. one of the prefects his first year rolled her eyes, said, ‘if you want to be less quiet, just say more, leander.’ but it wasn’t that easy, for him. he had a lot to say but had trouble finding the words for all those things. he could usually carry polite conversation just fine; fool people into thinking he knew what he was doing. but anything more than that required his total focus, and still was rarely quite right.

he bit down on half-formed questions because he thought it was better to not know some things if it meant he didn’t have to see people grow annoyed at his fumbling words. then that made him feel even more like he was some sort of fraud-ravenclaw — what ravenclaw thought they were better off not knowing things?

just like he forced himself to get over his worries to talk to his family and old friends, he forced himself to accept that words were never going to be his specialty. then he forced himself to be fine with that. he worked hard to focus on the things he was good at, that didn’t require him to talk too much — he always felt at home in the air on his broom, or with a sketchbook in his lap, or in the kitchen whipping up something that’d make other people happy. those things weren’t nothing.

four.

leander was smart, actually; he excelled in herbology and charms and worked hard enough everywhere else to not be singled out during class. he never caused as many explosions as his dad did from simple transfiguration. and he was great with people, for all that he got so in his head sometimes that he felt clumsy with even his dearest friends. but being smart never stopped anyone from being a fool.

when leander looked back on his childhood, it was as if all of his roiling anxieties melted away. it was like looking in on a world encased in the sun — he imagined his memories as some sort of weird, reverse snow globe, where everything shimmered at the edges and only got brighter as you shook it up.

hindsight made even mundane or negative memories seem golden, to leander. his biggest fault was that he always liked to think things were kinder than they actually were.

leander trusted people to be better than they were and was bad at saying what he meant, which was, at times an awful combination for him. he trusted the world to treat him better than it did.

if someone ever tries to convince him that, no, really, that harsh person from a historically bigoted family is not a good person, his stubbornness really came out and saw leander dig his feet in. he never wanted to believe that people had to be truly black or white — he was stubbornly convinced that there was good in every person, even when he was told he shouldn’t try so hard to look for it.

leander knew what was it like to feel you stood on the fringes of everybody else’s lives; no amount of forcing himself to be comfortable with the way he was ever took that anxiety away. he tried his hardest to be accommodating and friendly and understanding to everyone he came into contact with, even the people who maybe didn’t deserve his kindness. especially them, sometimes. he didn’t want anyone feeling like he was someone to be wary around. leander was steadfast in his beliefs and knew he wouldn’t change them, but all the same — that shouldn’t be a reason for someone to look at him and expect anything less than he gave everyone else.

four.

home never stopped being the most comforting place for leander. not even once he was older, a little more settled, and no longer had such stress over belonging in ravenclaw tower. not even once he had plenty of friends, a spot on the quidditch roster, a place in the castle. he adored not feeling so lost at school the older he got, but it couldn’t compete with home.

the golden gleam of his memories made everything feel well-worn and well-loved in his head, but home was the biggest victim, and the most deserving of such treatment. leander was stubbornly adamant that there was no better place in the world than the finnigan-thomas’ home in kenmare. holidays at home with his family, extended and sprawling and filled with family friends as much as blood relatives, were leander’s favorite thing.

he loved his dads so much — even as he couldn’t help but wonder, privately, if they wouldn’t have preferred a son who wasn’t such a fuck up sometimes. he’d certainly caused several dinner parties to grind to a halt with a poorly-phrased question directed at the aunt he forgot he wasn’t supposed to sit next to, after the incident over christmas dinner when he was ten.

leander wondered if his dads wouldn’t want a son who was better at words, because leander always thought there were ways for him to be better. he wondered, privately, because he couldn’t help but worry. but the logical part of his brain knew that there wasn’t a need to worry over them. they loved him, he knew, and didn’t even need his memory to gloss everything over for that to be true.

five.

there was always a level of creativity in the house growing up, and leander took to it like a fish to water. he never really let up on his fascination with color and the physicality of paint clinging to his skin and the paintbrush and whatever canvas was in front of him. the permanently-painted floorboards in his room weren’t the only casualty in the house, but that was alright. no one ever gave leander too much grief over tracking paint everywhere.

it was easier for him to take a pencil to page than to find the words, sometimes, and he was so happy his family understood that about him, and let it grow.

leander couldn’t keep track of how many drawings his dads pinned up to the fridge when he was a kid, or how excited dean had been to lead leander around museums growing up. he cherished every minute seamus spent nodding along as leander rambled about some era in art history seamus knew nothing about. it didn’t matter that leander grew into being comfortable at hogwarts, and around strangers, and people who weren’t so understanding with his fumbled words; it was work, with all of them, even as the work got easier on him.

nothing about being near his family and feeling that love felt like work.

leander, even grown out a childhood-self that worried over the ethics of stuffed dragons knocking over block towers, couldn’t help but be dragged down the whirlpool of hypothetical thoughts. he wondered if there was some alternate-universe leander who wasn’t as lucky as he was, who didn’t have his dads and his sister and his friends. maybe there was a leander who had those things but still lived in a world that was altogether harsher than his was. he thanked the universe as often as he remembered to that he was who he was, and that he was where he was.

leander was bowled over by stress and anxiety and worries more often than he existed in a state of honest chill, but he was still so happy to have the life he did. he didn’t always feel like he deserved it, but he was glad it was his.

six.

when leander was sixteen, he dicked around enough on the internet to teach himself how to give magical tattoos and muggle tattoos both. he really thought that it shouldn’t have been so easy to order all the necessary equipment and have it delivered to his house; he really, really thought that the owl that came bearing his enchanted ink should’ve asked for, like, ID or something. it felt like getting away with something, how easy it was.

leander was well-versed in courting trouble at this point and knew he shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. he just thought it was important to note that he worried at it being so easy for people without training to get all that stuff.

he practiced on himself and his sister, with a little needling and an iron-clad pinkie swear that they’d keep the tattoos a secret from their dads. in hindsight, it was a very stupid decision on leander’s part to start practicing in the summer, when they went to the beach often enough that the two finnigan-thomas kids had to order some fancy witch-owned brand of waterproof concealer to cover the evidence. their dads didn’t notice the tattoos until they came home that winter break and forgot to start hiding them again, though, so leander would take the win.

he offered tattoos to people at school, and really hoped that some of them also forgot to hide them when they went home for winter hols. it felt only fitting that his not-thought-out plan brought some other people a bit of trouble. he’d call it payback for all that time in their childhoods when he’d been the one getting dragged into problems, but the thought of payback as a concept made leander a little sad, so, whatever.

seven.

it felt only fitting that he looked into doing tattoos as a professional once he was out of hogwarts. dean certainly insinuated, when leander mused over the option, that it would make the shock he’d given his dads over the tattoos worth it. leander kind of agreed; he didn’t think the tattoos weren’t worth it, already, but there could be layers to worth. on principle, he loved the idea of practice. he liked to think that everything in life was practice for something to come — that nothing happened to you that couldn’t have a use later down the line.

it had a nice symmetry to it, a circular-ness. it was the sort of lofty thought he’d have an absolute monster of a time voicing out loud, but he felt it, and sometimes that was enough for leander. it was like the paint worn into his floorboards that matched the quilt on his bed; unintentional but fitting anyway.

leander wondered if maybe he shouldn’t look into going to muggle university to study art, or at least take an apprenticeship under a wizarding artist so he could learn how to paint portraits and landscapes that could move and all. there was still a career in that, people looking to have themselves or their relatives or their homes immortalized in oils even as moving photographs were so much easier these days.

he was — definitely, he was interested in learning that sort of thing. it just felt like too big a goal to have for his life right after school was over. he hadn’t been suspended in a state of constant stress during his time at hogwarts, or anything, but h still felt a strong sort of relief when it was over.

there were things he’d miss; how easy it was, having so many of his friends all living in the same place, all doing the same things and living such parallel lives. he’d miss quidditch practice now that he knew he’d never make it as a professional — and never want to, besides. he’d miss the community of it all, even as he recalled how hard it had been for him to settle into it. he knew that it would only take a year or two, maybe less than that, for him to start romanticizing his time there like nothing had ever hurt in the castle’s walls.

but the sigh of relief, that was bigger than anything he missed, and it made him sure he wanted to take a step back from school and any formal training or education. he already knew enough about tattooing now that he felt assured it wouldn’t feel so much like starting over to make a job of it.

eight.

leander was always far better at thinking on his feet than most people would guess from knowing him. it sometimes surprised leander himself, even — he knew he had a propensity towards worry, and it seemed like maybe he shouldn’t actually be good in an emergency. maybe it was just that he had an overactive fight or flight instinct that he’d long trained over the years to fight through whatever it could. he might not be the person people in his life wanted around when they were going through a crisis, but he knew how to handle himself in all manner of unexpected situations. leander liked to think he rarely made things worse.

does he make good choices whilst thinking on his feet? not all the time. but then, who could be relied on to make the perfect decision during every high stress situation they found themselves tossed into? leander made choices, and knew better than to stand idle; leander was of the belief that second guessing things had no value, even as he couldn’t help himself sometimes. he tried his best to face every consequence of every action head on.

he dug his feet in over stupid, foolish decisions often enough. it was fitting that sometimes when he dug his feet in, it was for a purpose. the best way out is through, and all that — maybe he’d get that adage tattooed on him someday, too.

sometimes it still felt like things happened to him, like he was a less active participant in his life than others were in theirs. he’d always pick fight over flight but not every situation asked that choice of him. it was less because he had a genuine go-with-the-flow personality, and more that he had such a hard time saying no.

nine.

when the world around him started turning itself upside down with awfulness and inside out with tragedy, leander knew it wouldn’t do him any good to freeze now. he joined up with the order because he knew there really wasn’t any other option he could take and still look at himself in the mirror. he wasn’t an auror or a healer or anyone that he thought had, like, much of value to offer the cause. but he was asked, and he said yes, because leander always, always said yes when trouble came calling for him. it was instinctive at this point.

leander liked to think he didn’t hate a lot of things. his heart was too open, to full of potential love, for him to like feeling anything harsher than annoyance, frustration. he forced bursts of hurt to come and go in a count of ten, because dwelling on the negative made him feel hollowed out.

but he stopped laying in bed at night so often, thanking his lucky stars that he was leander in this world over any others; he started, instead, wondering if any generation in this world of theirs would get to be untouched by even the threat of war. he wondered if it was too naive to wish this darkness would fade as quickly as it did when his dads were kids.

he turned things over in his memory now that some of the worst had come to pass; normally he let everything be painted in shades of gold, but he wondered if that wasn’t part of the problem. maybe too many people had worked too hard to push prison breaks and strange disappearances to the side — maybe too many people had had wanted to remember things only as happy and bright. it was such an ingrained part of himself now that leander knew he’d never be able to stop thinking things were better than they were.

maybe it would be the end of him one day. but at least he’d be himself, at the end.

#potterintro #( ⊱ ━━ 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 ┊ intro. )#yes all his character parallels are directly from charactour #or that statistical character quiz #yes the sheer range of his results killed me #yes brittany was his number one match YES i'm still not over how funny that is

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