#d20 the stepmother

[brionbroadway]

“Princess, is it your time to rest? Or do you want your story to continue?”

Rosamund is glad to be asked.

This is what she wants: a chance to write her own story outside of the narrative that’s planned for her. She is not ready to rest--she already rested for a hundred fucking years--and true love is no longer an option. It must be something else; there has to be something else for her to choose. She will take her scrap of a page and discover what it is.  

“I don’t think it’s my time to rest.”

“Then I think—”

She feels the briars before she sees them, wrapping around her heart the way she guaranteed a lover never would. With each pulse of her heart, the briars pierce it.

But her heart must be stronger than everything than every piece of Thumbelina, because she splits in half.

“I take it back!” Rosamund yells. “I take it back!”

“Oh, my dear Rosamund.”

The voice comes from a briar that’s coiled itself into her ear. It’s unrecognizable as any individual fairy, but it drips with both the saccharine sweetness and depraved wickedness Rosamund has realized they all possess.

“You cannot take a choice back, my girl. This is why you should have trusted the ending that was written for you.” The voice tuts, a disapproving parental figure that never gave Rosamund anything but rules. “Your gifts did not come without a curse. You have sacrificed the one condition that would break it. You have rejected rest. What did you think was left for you, Sleeping Beauty?”

Rosamund tries to use her own voice, but a briar invades her mouth and replaces her smile. Its teeth are sharper than her own.

“Oh, I know what’s that like.”

The voice in Rosmaund’s heads changes, a conspiratorial older sister like she tried to be Red. The briars morph into thick strands of golden hair.

“It’s a shame we never got to talk.” Rapunzel’s voice comes from everywhere her hair touches.  “We have a lot in common. Locked away, someone else claiming to know what’s best for us, unable to make our own choices…”  

The briars spin, like hair being twirled around a finger.

“But when we did write our own story, we gained power. I know it hurts, Rosamund. I know it may not seem like it, but my hair hurts too. It chokes me, and restrains me, but more importantly than any of that, it keeps me safe—”

She’s cut off, because Gerard is eating Rapunzel on the battlefield. Her voice returns, hoarse from screaming. It sounds the way her hair feels in Rosamund’s throat.

“He will consume all of you, Rosamund. He has already done so to Elody in their marriage, though she does not recognize that. You must him put him to sleep.”

Rosamund cannot see a prince on the battlefield, only a monster. 

Suddenly, the hair transforms into chains.  

“Hello, my love.”

The deep, cruel voice of the Baron of Bricks feels like the weight of the chains on Rosamund’s skin. It comes from the ones trapping her heart into beating.

“I know, of course, that I am not your true love,” he says. “I know you will not get that. But, I do believe we have more in common than either of us first thought. You have rejected death, and I respect that, but I must warn you that it will not last as long as Death is around. She just took a Beast. She can certainly take a Princess.”

Rosamund cannot see a girl on the battlefield, only The Big Bad Wolf.

“If you need to put her in a stew, I have a recipe. Otherwise, you have all the tools you require. You must put her to sleep.”

The chains drop, but Rosamund is quickly snatched up by sharp claws. The Baba Yaga runs them down her face, her neck, and finally stops at the same wrists she considered feasting on. Her voice comes from the wounds she created.

“Thank you, Princess, for your gift. I am taking good care of your true love. He is only feeling the pain you would have caused each other after happily ever after.”

She cackles, and it infects the wounds.

“You made a wise choice in putting him to sleep.”

The claws release Rosamund, and the briars consume her again. Slowly, a pattern appears on them that represents a kind of evil she still had not accepted existed.

“I am sorry my son could not keep you safe, Rosamund. You do not need to worry about punishing him for that; I assure you I will take care of it.”

The Stepmother’s voice sounds like Rosamund’s own thoughts.

“Sleeping Beauty, I know what it’s like to have a role assigned to you. But, I also know what it’s like to edit the story. We can change this together. You can make your own choices, just as you wished. Put them all to sleep, Rosamund, and we will write the stories this world deserves.”

There is no happy ending for Rosamund. Only what must be done in this room.

#d20 #dimension 20 #neverafter #rosamund du prix #horror #cw body horror #drabbles #(it's too long but we're keeping the tagging system) #d20 fic #d20 fanfic #dropout tv #siobhan thompson #d20 rapunzel #d20 the stepmother #d20 baron #d20 baba yaga #neverafter spoilers

[freaky-little-genius]

horrifying, i hate her

“the smile of a devil you didn’t believe in”

#dimension 20 #d20 #neverafter #neverafter spoilers #The Stepmother #d20 the stepmother #d20 pinocchio

[polarsirens]

Reality shatters.

#dimension 20 spoilers #d20 spoilers #neverafter spoilers #dimension 20 #d20 neverafter #pinocchio #pib #ylfa snorgelsson #princess rosamund du prix #prince gerard of greenleigh #mother timothy goose #scheherazade #the stepmother #fanart #my art #okay. this is really the last one #i swear #i can't believe i went through ep 1 to 6 #thinking i don't really need to draw #then made four posts about ep 7 #what the fuck #(if this style looks way similar to the exu:c fanart) #(it's because it is) #(i have one thing i am relatively good at)

[slipperypoppet]

"the face of a divinity you don't worship, the smile of a devil that you never believed in"

exCUSE ME MR. MULLIGAN??

#neverafter spoilers #neverafter #dim20 #dimension 20 #d20 #brennan lee mulligan #the stepmother #horror

[dumpster-druid]

If i had a nickel

#neverafter #dnd #brennan lee mulligan #aabria iyengar #emily axford #ylfa snorgelsson #d20 #dimension 20 #stepmother #k p hob #acofaf #critical role #cr #exu #calamity #exu calamity #dungeons and dragons

[hypahfixations]

I think one of my fave things about the Stepmother reveal is who turned to look.

Because of course it was only the kids that looked. It's always only the kids in these sorts of stories who are the ones to look inextricable horror in the face while adults knowingly pretend there's nothing to see

#Like #I know that Emily wanted to look cause she loves when awful things happen to her characters for the plot but it also makes so much sense #neverafter #dimension 20 #d20 #neverafter spoilers #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 spoilers #d20 neverafter #dimension 20 neverafter #d20 neverafter spoilers #dimension 20 neverafter spoilers #neverafter stepmother

[maybeimmac]

"You do not open the door to me, child."

#neverafter fanart #dimension 20 neverafter #d20 neverafter #neverafter #neverafter spoilers #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 spoilers #neverafter d20 #neverafter stepmother #d20 #neverafter dimension 20 #neverafter adventuring party #neverafter pinocchio #pinnochio #d20 pinocchio #pinocchio d20 #pinocchio spoilers #pinocchio #pinocchio dimension 20 #pinocchio fanart #the stepmother #stepmother #step mother #dim20 #veritas #nat honey #dimension 20 #d20 fanart #dimension 20 fanart #fanart

[waterisntreal]

I absolutely adore Rosamund being like I promise to think about it and then immediately turning to Timothy and being like we need to leave right now these guys are bad

#I mean are the princesses any different than the stepmother #neverafter spoilers #neverafter #dimension 20 #d20 neverafter #rosamund du prix #siobhan thompson #neverafter rosamund #d20 rosamund

[lostinhewe]

so much fairytale media atm buy holy cow i am genuinely terrified for pinnochio’s mum. she just eats Ylfa’s grandma, like is this character gone now?

i bet she’s just going around eating mother figures 

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 neverafter #neverafter #neverafter spoilers #stepmother #grandma #neverafter fanart #trouble in tuffeton #d20 #pinocchio #brennan lee mulligan #body horror #he just calls his mum #all he did was CALL HER! #ylfa just wanted to see what was going on #if she never sees her granny again i'm out #lostinhewe

[canonicallyanxious]

[neverafter episode 9 spoilers]

everything about ylfa's flashback scene made me feel fucking insane. the wolf is death and the ending of stories. the wolf ate ylfa's grandmother because it was time for her story to end. but for whatever reason it's not time for ylfa's end. for whatever reason the wolf wanted ylfa to live. the wolf ate the grandmother so that she could die, and ylfa ate the wolf so that she could live. the wolf wanted ylfa to live, and at the deepest core of herself she wants to live too. i'm scratching at the WALLS. LIKE "i met death and death wants me to live" EMILY SAID IT SO CASUALLY BUT LOWKEY THAT'S THE RAWEST SHIT I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE!

also though you need to eat to live and the consumption of stories to stay alive beyond the end of your own story... i am Thinking...

#sarah.txt #dimension 20 #neverafter #neverafter spoilers #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 #idk why eating/consumption as a theme has been making me feel so unhinged lately but they really got me with this one #god there was so much shit that happened in this episode that was METAL AS HELL #if i let myself talk about it i just won't go to bed tonight and like i'm sleepy skfnskdjfnsd but holy shit. #but also like... this consensual consumption in ylfa's story #like. the wolf let ylfa eat him. the wolf WANTED ylfa to eat him. #versus the stepmother erasing 'or perhaps consuming' her own story and everything inside of her trying to claw its way out. phew. #consumption gave them both power but in such different ways! godDAMN! #d20 meta #story meta

[ineffably-bisexual]

“Grandmother… close enough”

#dimension 20 neverafter #dimension20 #d20 neverafter #d20 #neverafter #dimension 20 fanart #d20 fanart #neverafter fanart #neverafter stepmother #stepmother #neverafter pinocchio #Neverafter little red #ylfa snorgelsson #brennan lee mulligan #lou wilson #emily axford #brian murphy #ally beardsley #siobhan thompson #zac oyama

[rabdoidal]

a recent physical commission for fanaticofbeads of the stepmother from neverafter after visiting the baba yaga + lyrics from the ballad of jane doe!

🗡️ kofi link in bio if you’re feeling generous 🗡️

#my art #neverafter #dimension 20 #d20 #stepmother

[freaky-little-genius]

WHAT THE FUCK

THIS WAS ONLY EPISODE SEVEN

OF TWENTY

WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING

#dimension 20 #d20 #neverafter #d20 pinocchio #d20 the stepmother

[polarsirens]

“you are seeing something you absolutely should not see”

#dimension 20 spoilers #d20 spoilers #neverafter spoilers #dimension 20 #d20 neverafter #neverafter #the stepmother #body horror #gore #okay. okay what the fuck #what the fuck #fanart #my art

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

Im absolutely losing my mind over this ep tbh.

Ylfa going into this horrifying purgatory status waiting for the Woodsman to complete her story but he never comes. The Wolf patiently waiting with her because he knows that's how the story is SUPPOSED to go. And when he sees that something is wrong and that these weeks of waiting are killing this little girl that is meant to be saved and live happily ever after, he gives himself up and finds a way for her to live because he cares so much and wants this girl he's been telling this story with to survive

Death loving and protecting Life

#the wolf loves red so much #he's been guiding her and protecting her this whole time #he's not unlike the stepmother in the sense that he's been giving yilfa her power #he's the one encouraging her to go down the hard path and find and fight for life #im obsessed with death characters tbh #i love emily axford #i really hope they find the wolf again #i want yilfa to be happy with her god dad #neverafter #dimension 20 neverafter #d20 neverafter #d20 neverafter spoilers #ylfa snorgelsson #d20 ylfa #the big bad wolf #little red riding hood

[sideblogdotjpeg]

im so happy my little guy is back again and being put in the horrors!!!!

#dimension 20 #neverafter #d20 #pinocchio neverafter #the stepmother neverafter #dimension 20 spoilers #neverafter spoilers #pinocchio #posts by me dot com #everytime the stepmother and pinocchio talk im like #stay away from him!!! get away!!!!!!