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legacies-game · 3 years

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okayy soo how would the ROs react if they accidently found MC crying and in a sad state alone? Would they directly attempt to comfort MC or like pretend they didn't see and cheer them up in other ways? 👉👈

I'm a sucker for soft moments like these 👀

(I really loved the demo btw! ❤️)

(Ty! 😊) Also ooooh 🤔 I’m going to envision this as crushing stage and while they’re on the road. May have to get a bit creative with Tenebrosus since they don’t travel with you, but that’s fine!

Eilert/Eira:

They had returned to camp a bit sooner than the rest, preparing for a night of respite and setting up the fire whilst M went foraging and C took care of the hunting. There was so much to be done: Sharpening their weapons, taking inventory, making sure the perimeter of the camp was safe from the beasts of the wilds. M insisted the magical barrier they had constructed was foolproof, but…well… E was never one to underestimate the creativity of fools.

A faint sound had caught their attentions, the tinder they’d been working to light still held between their fingers, unawares of its burning embers until it singed the tip of their thumb. Letting out a low hiss, E dropped the ember into the fireplace, turning their attention back to the sound. It was so quiet, you’d barely notice but… sniffling? From… MC’s tent. A million scenarios, most of them worrisome, flew through their mind as they crept closer. Gingerly, as if both afraid to discover what lay beyond and whatever is beyond being afraid of them, E opened the tent flap.

The light of the fading daylight spilled through, illuminating the source. MC, huddled in a corner of the tent and… crying? A moment of fear spread through E’s features as they checked the other over for any injuries, but finding none, their green gaze drifting back to their face. “MC, are you alright?” they asked with the sort of gentleness they seemed to reserve only for you. They were partially afraid of invading your space, looking at you for some sort of confirmation that you were okay with it before entering further, taking a seat next to you and wiping away your tears. They had some time yet before the others returned to camp.

“Let it out,” they murmured gently, offering a small, understanding smile. “You’ll feel better once you do.”

Muzai/Maza:

Offering a self-satisfied harrumph, M looked over the protective barrier they’d placed over the perimeter of camp with pride. Truly, they never ceased to out-do themselves, though their expression deflated just a touch at the thought of E nagging them about getting too cocky. Something, something, pride before the fall blah blah blah.

They didn’t have to return to camp for a while yet, anyhow. Along with the barrier, they’d managed to forage nearby for a collection of wild berries and crab apples, sitting neatly within their make-shift collection basket. (Really, it was just the hood of their cape but, hey, at least M wasn’t stuffing the berries in their pockets. The juices would ruin the nice embroidery, anyway.) They began scouting for a suitable place to rest a while before returning, maybe even a stream to wash out their findings in— instead all they managed to find was… you. Crying as quietly as you could manage behind the trunk of a rather large tree.

“MC?” M asked, tone less cocky than it usually is and instead rather… surprised, if a bit worried. They approached as though you were a rabbit they were scared of chasing off, but finding you otherwise unaffected by their presence, M looked at the forest floor a bit forlornly… Mushy, wet leaves and an ungodly amount of moss. With a silent cringe, M unceremoniously plopped themselves down upon the forest floor next to you. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” they murmured, leaning forward and caressing your cheek, their thumb collecting and stray tears in the process. “Mind sharing your troubles? I cannot magically make you smile, I’m afraid— but I can do my best.”

Cihrue/Cihre:

Bow at the ready, C was… walking? No, no… stalking would be more precise. Yes, stalking through the forest in search of their dinner. Well, they were until they stumbled upon you, crying into a stream— the sound of it masked out by the running water. In truth… they’d been there for about five minutes, agonizing over what they ought to do. What could they do? They were absolute garbage at comforting anyone and they knew it. Perhaps you wanted to be alone, anyway? Thus, they hid in a rather large bush agonizing over their choices.

Until you caught them. “C?” They heard your voice call to them, the tips of their ears going scarlet at having been caught. A part of them felt their heart ache at how defeated you sounded.

Standing from their spot, they fleetingly made eye contact before approaching, slinging the bow across their back as their hands clenched and unclenched. “Er, I happened to… come across you by accident,” they admitted lamely, half expecting you to tell them to get lost or something. When you didn’t, they glanced back at you curiously— seeing you struggle to keep your own emotions in check in their presence. It was a valiant effort, but one they would rather you not have to make. With great hesitance, they reached their hand out before placing it on your shoulder— as much as they could manage without their heart giving out as they looked down at the ground. “I won’t tell anyone, you can be yourself when I am around.”

Tenebrosus:

Oh, they were perfectly aware they shouldn’t be here— but the chance to see what they were up against was too good to pass up. Besides, disguised as they were, who would notice a random fox was the god of chaos? Perhaps a fox was a bit cliche, but at least they weren’t something more obvious like a raven or a snake.

Trotting into this simple little camp like they owned the place was easy enough— the three other heirs being absent as Tenebrosus could not sense their magic. One was here though, they reckoned, the clock calling to them like a siren’s song. Weaving through tents pitched up in various states of quality and effort, the god darted through the flaps of one tent— beelining where their senses told them their goal was.

The watch, so close… achingly close— just another step and they could snatch it within their jaws and—

Sobbing? Their ears twitched towards the source, the Heir of Time, curled up in a corner of the tent looking so small, nothing like the foe that had gone toe to toe with the god of chaos more than once at this point. It was borderline pathetic, though what sliver of a conscience Tenebrosus had left made them feel… guilty? Strange. They chanced a step closer, then another, crouched so low to the ground as they hoped not to be seen. It seemed the Heir did not care about the animal invading their tent.

This would not do. Perhaps in a momentary lapse of judgement, a sliver of insanity… Tenebrosus sat themselves in their fox-state next to the Heir’s lap, resting their head upon a knee and ears twitching upon hearing them gasp quietly at the arrival. A moment of confusion, Tenebrosus tensing as they wondered if the Heir would toss them out of the tent but then… a hand, caressing their fur and scratching behind their ears. They didn’t much care for it, but they allowed the touch anyway as it seemed to stop their tears. Laesis and Esone would never let them live this down if they saw this… but perhaps Tenebrosus could enjoy this for a few fleeting moments before returning to reality.

#ask #ROs #E #M #C #T #Tenebrosus #snippet #may have gone a bit overboard #but I saw a specific set of scenes in my head and had to write them out

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ajoraverse · 6 years

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Expansion on this; I’m not really sure if it fits the pearl resistance thing since Mist’s variety of resistance before joining the rebellion was passive, but here we go anyway.

Warning for noncon implications and 25k years of emotional and physical abuse, btw. Also this is extremely rough and unbetaed.

Pearl didn't remember anything before forming for the first time in the sterile white expanse of a moonstone's showroom. She stood in front of the column where her gem had presumably been on display, with her back straight and one hand clasping the other in front of her. There were other columns with other pearls, but right now it seemed that she was the only one to form just then. Standing before her was a tall, bright green figure with black stripes in her hair that mirrored those stripes radiating from a central point in her gem, and next to that gem was a smaller white one who didn't bother to glance away from the tablet in front of her.

"I thought I specified that I wanted it *brighter*," the tall green gem grumbled. Pearl noticed that the gem on the back of the tall green gem's left hand matched the placement of her own. "Like me. And the skirt's all wrong."

The white gem's eyes fixed on her tablet, her voice bored and almost droning. "You can specify that to the pearl and any changes will remain after she regenerates her form. There's a terminal with a database of basic appearance modification samples in the back."

The green gem grunted and uncrossed her arms. The hand lashed forth to grab Pearl's chin and turn her face this way and that. It alarmed her, but she had no idea how to react and remained frozen. Then the hand moved to her shoulder and turned her so roughly that she almost lost her balance. That seemed to break the dour look on the taller gem's face and it turned into a much more unpleasant sort of smile. "Eh, the color can stay, I suppose. Moonstone, I'll take it. Pearl, come. We need to change that ghastly skirt. I *know* I specified something with more leeway."

Pearl didn't know what was wrong with the skirt--it was ankle-length and opaque, and it swished nicely around her legs. But she followed her mistress to the terminal anyway, because it never approached her not to.

In time, Trapiche Emerald found the skirt she wanted on her pearl: almost entirely transparent and trailing in the back but cut to mid-thigh in the front. The second alteration was the opening up of the front of the leotard from hem to mid-sternum. Pearl shifted her form to reflect the changes. Then, before she knew it, she felt a sharp pain as something pierced her between the ribs and she had to release her form entirely.

When she returned to consciousness, she was in a new place. The sitting room was expansive, with luxurious couches and chairs. The viewscreen was enormous and took up the majority of one wall, and against two other walls were curio cabinets full of trinkets she couldn't possibly name. Centered in the wall opposite of the viewscreen was a portrait of a ship against a stylized backdrop of a nebula.

"The *Lonestar*," Trapiche Emerald said suddenly as she strode in from the hallway leading to other parts of her quarters. Her expression was dour again. "My pride and joy, and I don't even get to fly her."

Pearl didn't know what to say beyond a mild "I'm sorry, my Emerald."

Trapiche Emerald continued as if she hadn't even heard her. "I'm six emeralds separated by spokes of black tourmaline. I should have been shattered. But no, Blue Diamond thought I was a *perfect* exotic gem. I should be on that ship, but here I wait until she wants me trotted out for court again."

The lost sensation deepened. What could Pearl possibly say? And before she could think of anything, Trapiche Emerald strode to the biggest, plushest couch and slumped in the middle. Her voice was bored, and there was something underlying it that Pearl didn't like. "Entertain me, pearl. Dance."

Pearl stepped out onto the large, ornate blue-green rug in front of the couch and began. It was a simple dance with forms provided by her gem, but she did her best. Several minutes in, as she shifted her weight onto the tip of a single toe, something lashed out, wrapped around her ankle, and tugged it out from under her. She fell hard against the rug and pain shot up where her elbow had hit the floor. Then, suddenly, there was a hoarse, ugly bark of laughter as she tried to get up. It felt worse than the physical pain of the fall. As much as she tried to keep her face placid, she couldn't quite stop the pricking of tears in her eyes.

Trapiche Emerald only laughed harder at the sight. Pearl stood as straight as she had when she first formed, and it didn't quite stop the horrible feeling inside her. "Wonderful! You'll work out after all."

As time passed, Pearl got used to the feeling of a whip's tail wrapping around one of her ankles and pulling it out from under her when she tried to dance. She got used to the corner where Trapiche Emerald demanded she stand when she wasn't working. She got used to the fact that not even her body was really hers. All she had that was her own were her thoughts and the way they wandered while she stood in her corner.

It was while she was dusting the curio cabinet that she came across her salvation. It was a little crystal ball with a series of buttons underneath that lit up when she touched it. Each button projected full-color holograms of the vistas of some alien worlds she had never visited: tranquil beaches, twisting canyons, snow-cloaked mountains, and so on. If she tapped another button while a landscape was selected, she could change the weather patterns, too. Buried as it was in the back of the curio cabinet, she thought it wouldn't be missed and slipped it into her gem. After all, Trapiche Emerald never said anything about the curios beyond the command to clean them once a year. When she knew Trapiche Emerald would be gone for a while, she took out the crystal ball and fantasized about what it would be like to visit those places. What would rain feel like, or snow? What would it be like to run her fingers through pristine sand, or to feel the rumble of thunder?

The crystal ball gave her something to dream about, something that existed beyond the confines of Trapiche Emerald's quarters. For that alone, she loved the little thing and cradled it close when she thought it was safe.

Her little escape couldn't last, of course. The crystal ball distracted her. While the crystal ball projected the crackling of a forest fire against her gem, she was unable to hear Trapiche Emerald open the entrance door until it was much too late to cover up her transgression. The outraged screech lanced through Pearl's reverie first, then came the rapidly-mounting dread as Trapiche Emerald strode across the sitting room to her corner. Trapiche Emerald wrenched the crystal ball from her hands and nearly crushed her fingers in the process.

"How *dare* you play with my gifts!" Trapiche Emerald was so furious that Pearl quaked against the two walls of her corner. In her rage, Trapiche Emerald hurled the crystal ball against the far wall. It hit the wall sharply, splintered, and the shards fell into a tinkling, glittering little pile on the floor.

Despite her best efforts to keep her reactions to herself, Pearl couldn't hold back the little strangled cry of loss as the one thing that alleviated her boredom was destroyed. Seeing her escape broken beyond any hope of repair *hurt* in a way that cut deeper than all of Trapiche Emerald's little pranks. She realized for the first time that that pile of shards could very well be *her* if Trapiche Emerald got tired of her, and the hurt deepened to the point where she couldn't keep herself from falling to her knees and tearing up.

Trapiche Emerald grunted in disgust as she started crying over the broken toy and the sudden awareness of her mortality. Pearl braced herself for the kick she knew was coming. The boot was already in motion and--and then it stopped.

"*Stars* but pearls are pitiful." Trapiche Emerald shifted her weight back onto her kicking leg as she watched Pearl cry. Several moments passed, and Pearl did her best to get herself back under control. "You do cry so prettily, though."

Pearl settled back onto her knees and wiped away her tears, her nerves immediately on edge when she recognized that unpleasantness underlying Trapiche Emerald's words. It was the kind of unpleasantness that usually resulted in Pearl getting hurt somehow. She took a bracing breath and stilled as Trapiche Emerald's fingers tucked under Pearl's chin and tilted her face up. That glint in her mistress' eyes made her want to back away, but she was trapped.

"Well, at least you're on your knees." Trapiche Emerald's thumb stroked against her lips, forcing them to part. "Since Kunzite had the nerve to stand me up, you'll have to do. Do *well* and I may just forget this little transgression. Understood?"

Pearl closed her eyes and obeyed.

It's interesting what the mind does to survive. Her time with the little crystal ball gave her pictures aplenty to fixate on while Trapiche Emerald played with her body. She could envision, with perfect accuracy, the protective cloak of night or a blanket of fog concealing a valley. She liked fog and mists the best; they allowed her to imagine being able to hide far away from anyone who would do her harm.

If nothing else, she had that little toy and its loss to thank for teaching her how to *go away* in her mind.

It got easier once she became more adept at going away. Anything that happened to her felt distant and unreal. Trapiche Emerald's pranks didn't cut as deeply. Even when Trapiche Emerald decided to lend her out to other gems, no one could pull her from her mists. She was still able to perform to her mistress' demands, but she became so disengaged and unresponsive that Trapiche Emerald slowly lost interest in her.

When she was no longer able to get a satisfactory response out of Pearl, Trapiche Emerald threw her on the auction block.

The pink Zircon who purchased her afterwards certainly *tried* to get a response out of Pearl. At first she even succeeded, up to a point. Zircon's forte was manipulation and the ability to make her doubt her experiences. It worked up until Zircon's words got lost in the memory of projected thunderstorms. Zircon was a secondary owner, which dulled the compulsion to obey. Eventually Zircon too lost interest in her lack of response.

The grandidierite she was given to was a more physical kind of cruel, and several smacks of Pearl's gem against a wall damaged her so badly that it was much more difficult to *go away*. The pain radiating from the tiny fractures in her gem became a constant that kept her from focusing on the sanctuary in her mind. But, she got used to the pain as time went on. Despite Grandidierite's strongest threats, she *went away* to the shelter of those mists. Like all those before her, Grandidierite got bored with her dissociation and sent her away to be harvested.

As much as she dreaded the thought of nonexistence, it gave her some mild, thoroughly petty satisfaction that she was able to take away their enjoyment of abusing her by *going away* to where no one could touch her. She did the barest minimum demanded of her with all the enthusiasm of an automaton, to their frustration. If she *had* to be harvested, then at least she ruined the enjoyment of three owners. And really, what more could she ask for?

But then, as if the universe blinked, she was saved from the harvest pool and given to an old, off-color peridot unused to the thought of ownership. She repaired Pearl and erased the source of her physical pain. The peridot was sweet, if clueless about what to do with a pearl, and in time she even saw Pearl as a real gem and surrendered ownership of her. With her new freedom, she helped the rebellion the only way she could. She even named herself for the mists that protected her mind while her owners did what they wanted with her body. Peridot took her to experience all the vistas and weather she had imagined and never thought twice about granting any of her wishes.

And Mist, who had retreated into the mists in the far back of her mind where no one could touch her for almost her entire life, no longer felt the need to go away.

#SU: Beta AU

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kayasurin · 6 years

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A long-time lurker of @suzie-guru, I’m tossing this Strange Magic story idea under the cut. I blame (and thank) Suzie because I might not have found the fandom through her stories, but they are what kept me in the fandom (and inspired me to get the DVD as well as get ideas of my own).

Please find below 10 pages of notes for an idea I’m just calling the Accidental-Marriage-and-Pining AU. If someone decides they want to take it over, just give me a heads up. Otherwise, in my (non-existent) spare time I might take a swing at writing it myself.

· Instead of kidnapping Dawn when the love potion gets stolen, Bog King declares war. Still crashes the elf party, but only to yell at people and tell the king that hey, war.

· Roland is defeated & injured early on (shiny armour! No use! He looks very good in a parade but has never actually, y'know, fought before.) Not even by Bog, just some foot soldier goblin. Maybe Brutus with a backhand.

· Dawn's still hit with a love potion BTW, and falls for a married elf who is devoted to his life-partner and, uh, it's flattering but he likes... guys. (Dawn literally cannot understand the idea right now, when normally she's as passionate about people being able to marry the ones they love as Marianne is passionate for denouncing love, period.) Dawn is kept in her room.

· Sunny gets hold of the love potion and hands it over, along with his guilt - he is able to say it's Roland's idea, since Roland went from "respected" to "ridiculed". The triplets come forward and admit that they may have suggested Roland use a love potion on Marianne (who is very scary and they're very sorry). People remember that Roland's been talking off and on about war with the Dark Forest for a long time.

· Bog is not about to stop the war now, even with the Fairies offering the potion back and they're really sorry - the Elders of the Forest would overthrow him in a heartbeat if he did.

· Sunny is punished, but not as harshly as if he were the sole cause of the war. Basically confined to his rooms helping with the routine paperwork everyone else is too busy with the war to deal with. He might have nightmares about being unable to tell Requisition Form A-7 from Requisition Form A-8.

· The Imp steals the love potion. It was well guarded but not well enough. Marianne hunts the Imp down (while everyone else is on the battlefield - her dad thought it'd be great for keeping her away from the fighting) but not before several fairies, elves, and a sparrow are dusted. Lizard/Lizzy still fixates on Sunny because he got dragged along with. (Everyone knows Marianne asking him what the hell he was thinking about a love potion and her little sister is more punishment than requisition forms.)

· (Sunny is really, really sorry. But at least the lizard fixated on him. Guy who had a sparrow fall in love with him got carried off. No one knows where he is. Everyone is varying degrees of worried)

· (He's okay and shows up later after escaping when the love potion wore off. Maybe, haven't decided yet.)

· The war, meanwhile, has lasted a month so far. The final battle happens.

· Bog goes after Dagda, has to fight his way through the battlefield.

· Marianne, who is not supposed to be there, gets between Bog and Dagda. She is a fresh fighter, compared to Bog who just spent a couple hours beating his way through elves and fairies and Dagda's guards. Also, Marianne is angry someone's threatening her dad. Also-also, there might be some high-pitched and painful-to-goblins screaming going on.

· Marianne wins. Bog's hurt, very badly. (I'm sorry boo!) He's mistaken for dead for a little bit, actually.

· Dagda, trying to signal to the goblins that their king is dead, please stop fighting and go have a civil war on your own side of the border, tries to pick up the Bog King's staff of office. He gets burned. It's wood (or... something?) but it just heated up like a sword fresh from the forge and not yet quenched. Marianne takes the staff, mostly because Dagda drops it, and is perfectly fine.

· Battlefield turns into a different sort of chaos, of course. It's sorted out that Marianne is now Queen of the Dark Forest by right of personal combat with the Bog King - who, it turns out, is still alive. Marianne orders he be taken care of immediately (Maybe she can give this stupid staff thing back? Seriously, it's twice her height or something and really heavy and also she doesn't want to rule the Dark Forest! Heal up so she can give it back, now!)

· Marianne, however, isn't going to be a bad ruler. She's got a bunch of terrified Goblins watching her and a bunch of scheming fairies too. She tells her dad to hand Roland over, since he was the real source of the conflict, but she'll be nice and accept him going to the Stone Reach * for investigation and trial.

· *I envision the Stone Reach to be this rocky outcrop on the south border between the fields and the forest and, possibly a swamp or something. Not associated with anyone, considered perfectly neutral and called on in cases where the royals might have a conflict in sentencing, ect. Since three generations back they've also dealt with passing messages across the field/forest border, because Bog's grandfather refused to talk to Marianne's great-grandfather, and no one's changed the status-quo since. They do other things too for both sides, but the main one is being neutral.

· They also run around fully cloaked, so no one can tell what species/race they are. Other than weird. The head of the group, AKA main investigator, I envision as something like Sam Vimes from Discworld, except covered head to toe so no one can actually see him. The right personality, though.

· Back to the story though - the goblins had expected Marianne to just kill Bog on the battlefield, but weren't complaining when she wanted him healed instead. He's moved to the castle, sort of a prisoner and sort of "the prison cell is the only other place in the castle with beds long enough for this guy, and the Queen's taken over the Royal bedroom, and someone this injured cannot sleep on the floor."

· Marianne also moves to the Dark Forest castle, immediately after telling the fairy council where they can stick their plans for the Dark Forest. (She's going to be a good queen and also hand this nonsense back to the Bog King once he's conscious. She can't hand the place back if the council gets their way.) The goblins are obedient, but not helpful. Griselda spends her entire time watching over Bog in the prison/sick room.

· Griselda and Marianne encounter each other whenever Marianne's down there interrogating Sugarplum about the love potion. Dawn's still dusted after all, never mind everyone else. (Griselda: not impressed with this fairy who nearly killed her baby boy.)

· Some of the goblins start actively plotting against Marianne. They're kinda bad at it because goblins go for "in your face" things like actual challenges, instead of backstabbing and what have you. Most of the plotting, therefore, is "who can we all agree to back and who has a chance of defeating our new Queen - shh she's coming" and not "let's poison her drink."

· Seriously, goblins have standards for overthrowing their monarchs and solving political problems. Who'd be low enough to resort to poison or stabbing someone in the back when these sorts of things are important and should be seen by everyone! (Fairies. Fairies are low enough. Marianne is aware of the plotting but is expecting them to rebel the way fairies would - AKA knives in the dark or poison in the food. The lack of action in that direction is confusing her.)

· The plotting goblins loosely fall into the following categories - those who want to back Bog in taking the throne back, those who want "new blood" on the throne (and if that blood happens to be related to them, so what?) and then there's a very small group of goblins who think Marianne's not the worst thing in the world, but only if she marries a goblin and has goblin babies.

· Around this point (approx 1 month after Marianne takes over) Bog wakes up. It takes him a little while, but he regains his health pretty quickly once he's conscious and isn't being force-fed (or unconscious-fed) broth. He sees Marianne when she visits Sugarplum and gets full reports of everything going on thanks to Griselda, Stuff, and Thang (as the ones most able to visit him without being noticed and what have you). He's annoyed at the plotters manoeuvring and spends his time thinking of how he can possibly get his throne back without relying on those plotters who back him.

· Seriously if he accepts help from any of the plotters he can say hello to a new life as a political puppet. As for anyone else ruling his forest, hah! He dealt with that fly-shit as a kid when someone stole his father's throne (from Griselda, Bog's regent, since Bog's dad kind of died when Bog was a newborn) and then Bog had to kick the imposter off the throne - and not doing that again, thanks.

· Between his informants and reports about captured goblin soldiers, Bog figures out that any rebellion will likely be met with fairy soldiers setting the forest on fire. It's the main stumbling block to his plan of "kill or kick the fairy out and take the throne back" and he and Griselda spend a long time trying to figure out how to prevent the fire happening. At the very least they're expecting Marianne to turn the Forest into a servant-state of the Fields.

· (The fairy council, despite her telling them what to do with their plans, expect the same. And are very annoyed that it hasn't happened yet. It's a temper tantrum, that's what it is. Sure.)

· (There's tension between Marianne and Dagda for this reason, among others, especially since Dagda only "let" Marianne go to the forest to try and get a cure for the love potion.)

· (Marianne is super unhappy at being in the forest, but as long as she doesn't go outside or look out a window she doesn't panic or anything, which is one way to avoid talking face-to-face with her dad.)

· After a while (couple weeks) Bog's judged as healed as he can get just lying around and to start getting up and moving to build his strength back. He and Griselda have no answer to the probable "fairies with fire" thing, so Griselda instead begs Bog to capitulate to Marianne, swear allegiance so she doesn't kill him to strengthen her rule. (They've figured that's why she's having him healed up, so she can execute him in front of the Elders and properly strengthen her claim.) Griselda: "I've buried my husband. Please don't make me bury my son."

· She doesn't fight fair. Bog, meanwhile, might not be king any more but the oaths he swore when taking the throne still count, okay. He still has a responsibility to protect and serve the goblins, and obviously a rebellion isn't the way to go (fairies with fire). If dying keeps them safe (or safer, anyways) he'll do it. He'd rather not, but he will.

· Marianne finally gets the story of Bog using the love potion, and what the antidote actually is, from Sugarplum. Bog is unaware of this, by the way. He is aware that Marianne's yelling at Sugarplum ("What, real love is the only cure? Are people aware that you're peddling something fake? Seriously, all you're doing is making longer-lasting BEER GOGGLES you fraud!") but can't make out the words. Probably for the best.

· Marianne contacts Dagda (those weekly messengers are finally good for something) with the cure - true love - and tells him Sunny can cure Dawn, now stop sending me constant messages telling me to come home, I'm BUSY ruling my new COUNTRY. Dagda obviously does what he's told re: Dawn and Sunny, and keeps sending Marianne messages asking her to come home, the forest is no place for a fairy, ect, ect. They'll set up a subsidiary of the council to take care of the day-to-day humdrum of ruling the forest. (HAH! No.)

· Sugarplum is shipped off to Stone Reach. Her actions are going to be evaluated for treason. No, Marianne's not being petty and it's not revenge for the whole "Dawn got love potioned and Roland was going to use the potion on Marianne" thing. And absolutely nothing about feeling sympathy for a young, love-lorn Bog King who then got his heart broken because Sugarplum was selling lies. No sympathy for the stick-insect-man at all.

· Bog requests an audience with Marianne during her next open court. Either his (horrible) plan will work, or it won't and he'll die. Either way, it'll be over with quick. And he's figuring on the "I'm going to die" side of things, because it's a terrible idea but no one can come up with anything better, and it will hopefully keep the plotting idiots from doing something to bring fire-and-fairies to the forest.

· Oh yeah, little tidbit that this story relies on - there's a second, smaller throne beside Marianne's. The goblins brought it in. When Marianne asked why it hadn't been there to start, they explain that Bog had it taken away, but she hasn't told them the policy about the second throne yet, ect. They do not explain who the second throne is for, figuring it's obvious. It is not. Marianne figures it's for - like in the fairy kingdom - the chief advisor/heir, depending on whether there's an heir or not. The goblins, meanwhile, know it's for the ruler's partner. Both sides think the other side "knows" what the second throne is for.

· Bog shows up in court looking like he's just barely mobile, because he is. He's got some fresh new scars showing. First time for the majority of the goblins to see his wounds. People are either impressed he survived or disappointed he survived. First time Marianne really sees his wounds - or him - as well.

· (This is a slow burn, people. They've finally met properly. That's not the end of it yet though.)

· (Bog's worst wound is, I'm envisioning, a cut high up on the inside of his thigh, in the small area between hip and leg not covered by chitin. Yes, there. A few others include healed cuts on his face and hands, and a crack on his chest, which has healed but won't go away until the next shed or two.)

· Bog explains to Marianne that the goblins don't want to accept her as Queen, that she will face challenges to her rule as long as he lives, even if he is not the one challenging her. (Simplification of all the nonsense the plotters are coming up with, of course.)

· Marianne challenges Bog that he wouldn't be saying that if there wasn't another way, unless he wanted a public execution. (Outwardly calm, inwardly panicked. She hasn't killed anyone yet, not even on the battlefield. She really doesn't want to start by chopping someone's head off.)

· Bog kneels and says he will swear to accept her as the rightful ruler and abide by her rules. He'll even live in the fields if she wants him out of the forest, ect. (Inwardly going "Oh hell no I do not want to live in that horrible place - but I will if I have to and that might help protect my people too, yes self you just volunteered to be a hostage but whatever.)

· After some back and forth, Marianne accepts Bog's oath. The goblin Elders are annoyed because they didn't factor this possibility into their plans at all. Griselda is resigned but relieved that Marianne's not going to kill Bog. The common goblins are confused, but relieved, ect.

· Marianne then announces she has made a decision about Bog. Bog is there expecting to be sent to the fields in exile, maybe with a few goblins. Instead, Marianne tells him to take the lesser throne. (The spouse seat. The Elders are freaking out. They REALLY weren't expecting THIS.)

· Goblins, shocked. Bog, shocked. Marianne, confused and hiding it. She just wants to keep the former ruler as her chief advisor. (Why didn't she just take the chance and shove the throne back at him and flee as fast as she could?! She could've done it but nooooooo...)

· The slow burn BEGINS, MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

· Bog is moved into the previously closed spouse-bedroom attached to the royal chambers through the washroom. He's constantly sitting to Marianne's right during dinners and things. He is very confused and bemused and worried, because now he's Marianne's husband? That's literally all it takes for the ruler to decide yup, this is my life-partner, just an announcement and the life-partner sitting in the lesser throne. (Most do throw parties of some sort or other, but that's not required.)

· Marianne does not help by having a discussion with Bog, immediatley after court, about what his duties will be, once he's healed. Advising her about goblin law and customs, primarily. Nothing "active" until he has a clean bill of health. (She's thinking sparring, maybe, or sending Bog out to be the royal face so she doesn't have to fly through the forest - no she's not getting better on her own. Bog's brain maybe shuts down a little, though, because married + active = error does not compute.)

· They set up a routine: breakfast together, usually with a group, very informal. Mornings are spent separate, Bog going to the healer, his mother, dealing with the guards and messengers, ect. Marianne reviews proposed laws/drafting proposals herself, dealing with household complaints, ect. (Marianne asks Bog why the hell he let things get so bad the linens were taken by field mice. Bog is confused they ever HAD linens. There's a reason why Marianne's the one in charge of the household. Mostly because Bog's pants at it.)

· They eat lunch together, then court if it's a court day. Or the library the rest of the time, for Marianne's "how to rule the Dark Forest" lessons. History, politics, who wants to kill who, how property rights are handled, inheritance law, ect.

· Dinner together, and then Bog gives lessons in staff fighting. At the start he gets to sit down and correct Marianne's stances, then as he gets better he starts moving around and eventually they begin, very carefully, sparring.

· Bog, during this part, transitions from hating Marianne with a passion (she beat him and stole his throne!) to respecting-but-disliking her (okay, she stole his throne, but she's not horrible, for a fairy) to respecting and liking her. It helps that she admits she didn't actually want to take his throne, he was going for her dad and she just reacted, and she's really sorry but she's determined to do a good job of it. (She may or may not have started to offer to give the throne back, but it won't work that way, because Bog lost and would need to win a serious fight to get it back. No-go right now, and depending on how that leg heals, maybe never.)

· Marianne, meanwhile, is also transitioning during this part, from distrusting everything and everyone (she's a fairy and fairies are good with backstabbing) to trusting that she's accepted, for now, as the ruler. The plotters have stopped their plotting until they figure out how to handle everything that's happened. She relaxes, trusts Bog but is feeling guilty over stealing his throne, even though she didn't mean to. She also finds herself, by the time they're sparring, admiring Bog's fighting ability (and absolutely not his body. Just the fighting ability. Juuuuuust the fighting ability. Not his hands, or the way he can twirl a staff with just his fingers, or the way his shoulders flex, or that smirk or - just the fighting abilities. Yup. That's her story and she's sticking to it.)

· By this point it's autumn and the harvest starts, so it's all hands on deck. Bog's delegated to the kitchen, because he can be trusted not to chop his own fingers off and he's still only allowed to be only so active. Marianne assists with winterizing the castle and the hidden outbuildings (archives, ect) because she might not know how to hunt and she can't tell the difference between a poisonous berry and a safe one, but by golly she can slap mud and moss over a crack in the wall like a champion.

· Word from the Stone Reach arrives. After the (date to be determined - probably hunter's moon, or maybe harvest moon, before the first frost but only just), Roland and Sugarplum's trials will be held. Marianne can't avoid it, Bog has to go too, ect.

· Marianne and Bog have had multiple personal conversations by this point, everything from brief, "this reminds me of" and in-depth, hours-long conversations. However Marianne stops sharing her personal history/views/values/experiences. They had stopped sparring because Super Busy for harvest, but they take it back up again. They still discuss laws and culture, but not as much. They're also still busy doing what they're allowed to do for harvest. (Marianne is too busy to get freaked out bringing stuff to people outside, and anyways everything's changing colours and she's not reminded of things that happened, so it's okay.)

· Harvest festival with the goblins - Dawn and Sunny visit. Most goblins are unaware Sunny was the elf that stole the love potion, so they treat him decently, and Dawn's okay because she's their Queen's sister. Dawn asks Marianne to come back for the fairy's harvest festival. Marianne tries to get out of it (she really doesn't want to talk to Dagda in person by now, she's been avoiding him for most of the year now - Primroses stop blooming around May) by telling Bog if she goes, he goes. By the end of the night Marianne and a small group of goblins, including Bog, have been selected. She's not sure how that happened.

· (Goblins, for the most part, wear jewellery and not clothes. For the most part they're all wildly different in shape anyways, but what one of them can wear as a necklace another can wear as a bracelet, ect. Tasteful bling happens.)

· Bog warns Marianne that he only has his traditional outfit and there's no time to get anything made for his new status. She tells him to wear the traditional. (She's expecting, like, maybe a crown, maybe some armlets or something.)

· Bog's outfit is a royal great kilt. (I put the Scottish-accented Bog in a great kilt, I'm so proud of myself.) Where fairies use magic on flower petals and leaves, goblins have weaving - which takes so much longer, since they spin cattail fluff and thistle-down or tufts of fur into yarn, and then have to do the weaving. Marianne's given a wrap with the same pattern as Bog's kilt and they started making it the moment she was officially Queen - so about the time she sat down on the throne for the first time.

· (Telling Bog to wear the great kilt provided to the forest's king - not the prince, not the consort, but the full king - reinforces the "married" thing. She doesn't know that. Bog assumes he hasn't been asked to 'perform' his 'marital duties' because Marianne doesn't find him attractive, and he is totally 100% relieved about this and not even slightly regretful someone he considers a friend thinks he's too hideous to touch. Yup.)

· (Marianne, meanwhile, is all but punching herself in the face because she's started humming, goddamn it, whenever she and Bog are alone or plausibly alone. She totally has feelings she refuses to examine, mostly because Bog's kind of like her employee now and he probably still hates her for the whole 'stealing the throne' thing.)

· (Bog may or may not have the odd wish that Marianne would sing to him, because fairies sing to the people they lo - like. Right? Right. Yes. Friendship songs, toooootally friendship songs. They'd be nice.)

· Then the fairy harvest festival. Marianne sees Bog in a kilt and nearly walks into a wall, because - clothing. She's seen him naked, technically, but hooooooh boy now that he's wearing clothes, of a sort, all the can think is getting him out of them and there may or may not be some (a lot) of blushing and mental beating herself up going on. (Marianne has read romance novels, of the sort that go into details a young and impressionable and curious thirteen year old was curious about.) (Bog, in contrast, is quite innocent, poor guy. Doesn't know what's going to hit him...)

· The entire festival basically goes as follows: Fairies are polite but condescending to the goblins. Fairies are polite but condescending to Marianne. Goblins get annoyed at the fairies being rude to their Queen - the group was chosen by Bog half because they'd be useful in a fight, half because they happen to genuinely like Marianne by this point. Marianne doesn't notice the fairies being condescending to her but she does notice them being rude to her goblins. Most fairies end up acting like catty brats.

· At least one fairy accuses Marianne of having gone native to the forest. She does not deny it. At least one council member warns (threatens) her that her actions are risking her inheritance of the Fields. Bog overhears the threat, but not Marianne's response of "Dawn would be a good queen (and Sunny, you know, her elf fiancée? Would be king. Won't you enjoy that, you wrinkled old prune?)"

· The trial at Stone Reach is probably immediately after the party, so the goblins ride their dragonflies there and the fairies fly. Marianne spends the entire flight snubbing Dagda who probably spent the entire fairy party trying to ask her who she wants to take over the day-to-day ruling nonsense so she can come home, and also would she please reconsider any of these charming fairy bachelors (who were rude to her goblins so not just no, hell no.)

· (She might be a little a lot protective of the goblins, now. She really likes them and their way of life and sure it's different from what she's used to, but that's hardly a bad thing. Also, Bog. Who has nothing to do with her "hell no" about the fairy bachelors, of course.)

· The trial. Evidence is presented, including Roland cheating on Marianne and how often, her breaking up with him, all because it goes into his motivation for wanting a love potion. (Someone gets to observe if Roland had just kept it in his pants for one more day, he'd have been married and thus the next king... up until Marianne caught him cheating and killed him, anyways.)

· The Stone Reach provides it's judgement of Roland to be treason to the Fair Fields (knowingly and deliberately taking actions that led to the war) and conspiracy to act against the Dark Forest. Roland is sentenced to death.

· Plum is judged to not have committed treason by reason of mental instability. She is to stay at the reach until she is judged sane. Also she is to not make any more love potions, because the spell-masters at the Reach believe creating love potions did not help with the mental stability. (No, that's probably not an excuse to make her stop, they're from the Reach. They certainly wouldn't lie. Tell only part of the truth, sure, but out-and-out lie? Never.)

· Marianne does not stick around for Roland's execution, but instead leaves as soon as she can, taking the goblins with her. She remains distant to everyone - having her blindness to Roland's true character and the many times he cheated on her revealed to everyone hurt - but especially avoids Bog. She does her duties, but without her usual enthusiasm, and doesn't spar.

· Bog ends up confronting Marianne in her bedroom. They fight, both verbal and physical, though not much of the later. Marianne ends up threatening to send Bog to live in the fields if he can't keep his nose out of her business. He retreats after that.

· (I mentioned slow burn, right? Also, threat to the trust they've built up to this point, along with their friendship.)

· Bog goes around snarling at everyone, Marianne is upset with everyone, and it's just in time for the first snow to hit.

· Griselda tries to talk to Bog and gets nowhere, so she ends up confronting Marianne. "I'm a mother and you should fear love me" works where nothing else did, and Marianne ends up confessing about the fight and how bad she's felt since defeating Bog, and taking away his kingdom - and just everything, really. Up to and including how she has 'no right' to feel as she does for Bog, ect.

· Griselda does manage to direct Marianne to talk to Bog. Marianne does, and apologises for what she said, confirms that she'd never ask him to move to the fields, never mind order him there, and that she relies on him more than anyone, ect. Finishes by saying he's her best friend - and apart from Dawn, kind of her only one, really.

· This is the moment Bog falls head over heels out of friendship and into love. He's sunk.

· All the pining happens from this point on. Sparring resumes, the duo begin to notice (and admit) their physical attraction to each other, and their conversations become awkward (but so exhilarating). They have more personal conversations, including Marianne eventually discussing how she felt about Roland, how she felt about being cheated on, ect.

· (Marianne does say, in retrospect, she loved the idea of Roland more than the person, and her upset was as much for losing that 'idea' of him as being cheated on. Also, in hindsight, not that Marianne tells Bog this, but she didn't feel much for Roland, physically. He was too pretty to lust over, or something. She just figured she'd get the physical attraction once they were married.)

· (Of course, Marianne is comparing her memories of how she felt about Roland to how she feels about Bog now, and she is noticing Bog physically a whole lot. Primarily his eyes, hands, wings, that scar high up on his thigh, and how careful he is with his strength. She maybe wants to wreck his self control, which is not something good fairy girls are supposed to want.)

· (Bog, meanwhile, really wants to know what Marianne's hair feels like, and really likes her eyes, and her wings, and her neck keeps catching his attention, and she's so tiny but she's so strong and it's really impressive how she can just, like, go toe to toe with him and even overpower him at times. It gives him fluttery feelings inside.)

· With winter in place, Bog starts taking Marianne out on trips in the forest. Short trips because it's cold, but he gets the chance to show her places he feels are the most beautiful - things like waterfalls where the plants and rocks are coated in ice from the constant spray, or the glow cave, flying through the thorn bushes only this time it's daytime and they look like they're carved from crystal because there's just so much frost everywhere, ect.

· Mutual pining continues. The goblin midwinter ceremony happens - no set details right now, but probably something about staying up all night until dawn, dinner being 'starvation food' (like super-thin soups and salads made out of things you'd only eat if you had no other choice), putting all the fires out and lighting candles, then lighting the fires from the candles, ect. Marianne does the fairy tradition of giving gifts - those closest to her get personal gifts, everyone else gets generic gifts like sweats (or socks - goblins love the idea of socks). She ends up giving Bog a traditional engagement gift - possibly a wire and gemstone bracelet?

· During the first council meeting of the new year, the Elders of the Forest make preliminary noises about potential heirs and merging new Royal blood with the old. (They have finally decided how to handle Bog being married to Marianne.) Marianne finally discovers she and Bog are considered married. The goblins finally discover she had no freaking clue. The goblins are stunned. Bog's heartbroken, because of course there was no chance, Marianne's reaction just proves that out.

· (Bog assumed, his feelings for Marianne aside, she was just making the best of their marriage and doesn't feel anything more than friendship for him. He figures it's a one-sided situation again, only worse, because a) no way he'd ever consider using a love potion again and b) they're married.)

· (Marianne is heartbroken, as she figures this means Bog was just making the best of a bad situation and maybe they are friends, but how the hell can he love her? Not only did she steal his throne but she told him they were married the first day he was barely mobile... ect.)

· More pining! Not helped by the goblin Elders, who are pushing for a proper marriage that both sides know is a marriage.

· Griselda is just so done with everything, from the Elders to the mutually pining idiots giving each other sad, longing looks over the breakfast dishes (and not realizing the person they're sighing over is sighing over them right back. They're sitting right next to each other, how are they this dense?!) She sends messages to Dawn explaining EVERYTHING, especially about the mutually pining idiots. (Griselda may or may not have spent multiple hours with each idiot bemoaning their sad and sorry fate. At least Marianne's honest about wanting to shove Bog against a wall and oh yeah you're his mother, sorry...)

· Dawn sends a letter back saying she won't be much help until the snows help in spring, but be encouraging (and blunt) with the idiots.

· Griselda sets up the romantic dinner from the movie, only the song is "kiss the girl" from The Little Mermaid. The idiotic and pining duo get angry, tear up the decorations, and go off to spar (and pine.)

· After they spar, they go outside to stargaze a little. They grouse about the Elders and the romantic dinner (blaming the Elders, not Griselda). Someone slips - probably Bog - and probably along the lines of "after all, I know you wouldn't - well, I'm me (gestures at self) and you can do better."

· Whoever is self-deprecating is reassured and the initial confessions of feelings happens. They retreat to Marianne's private office to talk in the warm. Further confessions of feelings happens. Kissing happens. Someone (probably Bog) gets shoved against a wall and ravished. There is no complaining.

· Their relationship escalates quickly (probably same day, TBH) to sharing a bed, but no sex. They do end up with lots of heavy petting every night as they figure out what feels good, what doesn't, ect. Marianne discovers Bog's spine thing, Bog discovers Marianne's thing for necks (both hers and his - she's equally enthusiastic having her neck kissed (and nipped) as she is doing the kissing (and nipping) as well as Marianne's ear thing.

· They try to keep it secret from Griselda and the Elders. They are not subtle and they fool no one. The Elders, however, have to shut up about it because Marianne has a sword and tells them what she'll do with it if they don't move on to the next subject, NOW.

· Griselda sends Dawn an update with no reply, but isn't surprised.

· Marianne and Bog end up with smut. Bog is quite happy to be shoved around and Marianne is quite happy do shove him around. They take turns turning each other to mush. Marriage proposal once they're able to do words again afterwards.

· Close out with a wedding under the cut primroses, some combination of goblin and fairy traditions. (Okay, more fairy traditions than not, because fairies actually need a ceremony to be married and goblins don't, but details.)

#Strange Magic #fanfic #a wild plot appears #slow burn #misunderstandings

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