birdwithoutasong | Fairytale AU Meme [Open]

Pick one of my characters and I'll toss a disney/fairytale au scenario at you! I've got some rough descriptions of their roles below. You can start, or you can just give their name in a top-level and I’ll write something up. These can be shippy or not, although given the descriptions I’ll probably tend towards that way unless you tell me you don’t want that

Alec: Damsel in distress, suicidal, who thinks this whole thing is stupid and this story can be ended if anyone at any point just solves the problem of the ‘princess’ for good

Annabel: Necromancer, who tries to find love by bringing hers back from the dead

Dominic: Knight, who’s pretty sure that he’s supposed to slay the ‘dragon’ but might end up falling in love with him/her instead

I-No: The evil witch, finds delight in other people’s suffering

Ivy: The persecuted heroine, who badly wants to believe in love but doesn’t really believe that it can trump the facts of life

Kai: Prince charming, careful and earnest, hugely romantic who thinks that life’s course can be changed by love

Ky: Either the hero, earnest but not very good at people, or the damsel in distress who’s going to apologize for having to be rescued

Rose: Ghost girl, who will accept a coat in exchange for being able to touch and feel for a while

Sol: The dragon, why are you waking him up from his nap just to rescue a princess? He doesn’t have time for this crap.

Valentine: The evil king whose goal in all of this is power and also just seeing the ordinary people scramble

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Alec? I don't remember hearing that name in your multitude of titles. Then again, it's too long to commit to memory." He's not unaware of the impact of his words, but prodding at that sore spot in Alec seems to also spur him to move, which is Richard's real goal.

Alec's hand clenches at his side, nails digging into his own skin. "Perhaps you should try a little harder." He doesn't want to do this, doesn't want to be rescued but he also doesn't want to be recaptured. "This just puts you in the company of everyone else."

Richard finally pauses his 'cheerful swordsman just doing his job' routine when Alec's voice only gets more strained. Perhaps this is less than a sore spot and more of an open wound.

"It's not my job to remember titles. All I need to know is who, or what, I need to kill." He speaks more cautiously now. "And what defines this company?"

"You taking their coin defines you." Alec falters, not sure if he wants to head on, not sure if he can head back.

This would all be easier if his captors had simply killed him.

"As someone who needs coin to survive? I would say that defines all of the kingdom, even you." Richard doesn't push him to move again, but after a beat he does say: "Let me get you out of this place, at least. I'll listen to what you have to say."

"As someone willing to sell your body for that coin." Alec starts to walk, carrying on in the direction they'd been headed, but his laugh is a bitter one. "No, you won't." No one ever has.

He's never heard anyone refer to his choice of profession as selling his body. He prefers to think of it as selling his skills, but those skills are attached to his body, in a way. He's not offended by the comment.

"My sword arm is all I have to sell," he replies. He tries to fall in to step with Alec and finds it surprisingly difficult given his long gait.

"How do you know that?"

Alec wants to shout and rage at him, wants to do something to make the man actually react, and negatively. Maybe that’s not what most people being spirited away from a kidnapping would want, but Alec isn’t most people.

“Because you’re just saying that to make me shut up, and you won’t need me shut up forever.”

That’s how it goes.

Richard would remind him that he doesn't have many other options, but that seems to be one of the issues at the heart of his anger, so it would achieve very little. Instead he raises his hands, as if surrendering.

"If I were a noble like you I'd want out too," he admits. Not out out like Alec wants, but just to disappear and live a life without all the politics and mirrors. "Is it the people that bother you?"

"The people and the expectations," Alec says, and his lips twist downwards. "And the rest of it. The whole system." He doesn't want to profit it any longer.

"If I were a peasant, no one would have come to rescue me." No one would have come to kidnap him, either.

"True," Richard concedes, "Though I'm sure there are many peasants that envy you. People want what they don't have." Richard tries not to think about what he doesn't have, because he has enough. And a better life than either a peasant or Alec, it seems.

He stretches his hand behind his head as he walks. "If I let you leave, right now, what would you do?" He's curious to see what life a noble would live, if given the opportunity. And whether Alec thinks he could really survive any other life.

It’s a good question, but that doesn’t mean that Alec is at all sure on how to answer it. In fact, the phrasing just reminds him of the fact that he’s not going to be let go, that he’s in a way still just a prisoner.

“Maybe I’d become a monk. Spend my time copying and illustrating manuscripts.” It’s a ridiculous thought, given exactly how well Alec gets along with the church, but they do have such lovely books.

"Truly? I can appreciate their diligence, but I can't imagine much worse." Richard has always belonged outside. The stale air of libraries has always made him feel uncomfortable, like he needs to open the nearest window and fill his lungs.

"I think it would be dull." Richard has always done his best to avoid the more tedious aspects of life.

"Almost certainly. And limiting." To think what the church wants of him, or to at least only speak of that which they would approve of... It would be a problem for Alec. And yet what are his options?

"But everything is limiting."

Fairytale AU Meme [Open]

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