theamonarch

[theamonarch]

“This is punishment for something I didn’t do. This is clearly discrimination against royalty.” Thea shot a scathing glare at River, a girl who evidently wasn’t going to like her even if they were in better circumstances and it was a matching sentiment. Especially once, River pulled out a spell book and was again derailed from her task. “Put that thing away, have you lost your mind?” Thea rushed forward while whipping off her gloves, although her head turned towards the door in the same movement. A spark of fear that their professor or a nosey student would be peering through the threshold and it would spread like wildfire. Before she could think through her actions or their implications, her fingers threaded around River���s wrists to halt her from potentially flicking through the pages. “If you think - wait a minute - keep watch?” The audacity struck Thea harder than the potential of being reprimanded by her parents if they were to find out that she had been present and accepting of unauthorised magic. “You think, you…” Thea snapped her hands back to gesture with an extended palm from the top of River’s head to her heels, forming a dramatic bow in the process. “That I, me, is simply a lookout?” She tapped the underside of her own chin, typically a ringleader who put others into line and demanded they were look-outs, never herself. Thea finally acknowledged the space she had crossed, a single step that would have brought them chest to chest, and she shot back as if she’d been stung. “And that’s illegal. I don’t know how they do things from whatever house you spawned from but there are rules, and I refuse to have my powers taken from me because of whatever wickedness you have in that book.” She crossed the room and returned to the basin, as much as she wanted to complain; she tipped an entire row of bottles into the water as a final point that she’d do her part.

River wandered around the classroom picking up the remaining stained bottles because if she didn't distract her mind from the constant complaining then it would end badly. Mind raced to magic, loads of spells to keep someone quiet, and the only one she could think of was Séance Muth. A spell which required a drop of blood, the mouth of the cursed would be sewn together until the spell was broken. "Do you ever stop talking?" A sign of irritation as she set down the bottles next to the formed pile, River slammed her hand down thinking about how much time was wasted. "You haven't touched a single one!" Her glare was harsh watching Thea's antics, it was unbelievable the skills lacked by one who was always surrounded by servants. "Punishment doesn't care if you're royalty and the fact you can't even wash a couple of bottles means you're going to be a problem." Her meeting with someone, a beautiful woman, was being sabotaged by a pink flamingo. Getting angry about the situation wasn't fair, but River failed her attitude adjustment studies. If she was going to get out here early then River would have to work with Thea. "As much as I enjoy you struggling, I have plans and I can't waste another second." And with these words, River carefully pulled out her spellbook. "How about I do a spell? Use a little magic for this mess and we don't have to see each other again." Magic was forbidden inside of Avadynce even the smallest spell would trigger the security walls, but River practiced dark magic within these walls every day to see if she would be caught. "There's a way to keep the magic from seeping out and all you have to do is keep watch until the spell is over. Doesn't sound too hard, right?"

[theamonarch]

Glinda Upland + magic

[theamonarch]

“My friends were simply backing up my point and perhaps if you had any, they would have backed yours up too.” Thea had undoubtedly gathered a following that agreed with each word that trickled from her lips and while she hadn’t encouraged it, she had no desire to put a halt to it either. “Evidently so. You also don’t prioritise your own. If you had just apologised we would both be happy right now.” Her fingers twisted around a bottle, nails tapping over the pearlescent light that poured from the remnants at the base. “I know how to clean.” She didn’t, she just refused to allow River to be correct in her assumptions of her. Sponge snatched with one hand, holding a grimy bottle in the other, she approached the basin. With hesitation, she made to plunge the sponge into the water, only to retract the moment her knuckles brushed the bubbles. “I need gloves and maybe an apron.” She dropped what she was holding without care, already dashing away from the basin when the water slopped outwards from the force. Abandoning the position to search the cupboards for anything that would protect her from appearing to have worked a single day in her life. “This is ridiculous.” Voice lost to the interior of the cupboard she raided, clean bottles and equipment tossed onto the floor until she’d secured a pair of gloves. She reappeared with a dampened expression, slapping the gloves to right the fingers into the right position. Features twisted as she slipped her fingers into cold fabric, shuddering at the thought of who had potentially worn them before her - or worse, what they had been doing while they wore them. “I can’t believe this is happening to me, I’ve never been punished a day in my life and then you appear.” She took up a position at the basin again, jabbing an extended finger at River, gloves twice her size and making it all the more difficult once she secured a bottle for a second time.

River held her tongue, watching as the scene unfolded in front of her, and almost certain the professor would allow Thea to leave without consequence. "Interesting." With a single expression as the door slammed shut, River had suddenly found a favorite professor within university walls. "You can cut the shit," River glanced around the room, a complete disaster left before them--on purpose without a doubt. "All you had to do was mind your business, you seem to forget it was one of your unintelligent horsemen who insulted me first." A cruel roll off her tongue, playing back the words 'burn the witch' when River stated her defense on the subject of whether a man should be innocent or guilty. Her fingers wrapped around the bottles being mindful of the strength she used, making another scene would only spread more rumors. "Happy? If you haven't noticed you being happy isn't a big priority of mine." In fact, it was the least of her problems, River would never admit but she had plans to meet someone. It would have all been avoided if River had ignored the comment and if said from someone else's mouth then no issue would have arisen; River gathered as many glass bottles in her arms as she could before setting them carefully in front of her. "What am I looking at right now?" She should've known better to think Thea would know basic cleaning. Brows furrowed at the amount yet to be done, "You have to be joking, right? It's basic cleaning etiquette. Do they teach you nothing besides how to hold a tea cup?" Aggravation slipped, voice coated with frustration knowing she would have to teach a woman who only cares about her appearance how to clean glassware. "Just grab a sponge and drench it with soap then start cleaning. It's not that hard, princess."

[theamonarch]

“Everything must be sparkling before you return home tonight, it should take no less than three hours and no more… well, that’s up to you if you want to get some rest.” Thea choked at the chosen punishment, gaze flickering from the professor to the desks layered in a varying range of beakers and bottles then towards the cupboards of equal measure. “Actually, I have somewhere to be tonight, in no more than two hours. It’s quite important actually, so if you could make an exception to this whole thing.” She extended her arms, dramatically swinging around to include River in the movement; hoping to drop her workload onto what had landed her here. “This thing is rules, and are rules, Miss Thea. Once a punishment is set, it must be completed, no exceptions.” She had opened the door and three heads had popped around the threshold, those that had clung to Thea from day one, looking aghast. “Princess.” The scathing look from the professor would have burnt if Thea hadn’t misinterpreted it as confusion and cleared her throat to continue. “It’s Princess Thea, not Miss Thea.” A correction that was met by the slamming of the door and a chorus rising from the outside claiming that they couldn’t possibly leave Thea alone for her safety. “Unbelievable.” Grit in her voice, Thea slammed her bag on the desk nearest to her, each of the bottles rattling from the impact and a few tipping over. “You’ve gone and ruined my whole day, and my tomorrow too.” Anger flared to an unnatural degree, an emotion that didn’t even reach such a level when it came to dealing with her brothers. “I hope you’re happy.” She swiped at the bottles then, uncertain how one would even begin to clean glassware, the only sense of preening she had was for her own physical appearance rather than objects. 

[theamonarch]

WICKED: PART ONE (2024) dir. Jon M. Chu