three sentencing again
[Ancient World History, Theodora(/Justinian), the throne is a glorious sepulcher]A brothel is a convent is a palace, in many ways. She has already pleased her new husband, over and over, weaving into place the fates of herself and her daughter and her vision of God. She stands before the throne and breathes deeply, steadying herself upon its gilded arm, and dreams of a basilica.
[Historical RPF, Anne Boleyn/Francis I, she learned many lessons at the French court]
They all think she is only one of his whores, like her sister before her, a pretty and useless English mare. But the lessons he conducts for her by moonlight are not all about satisfying and being satisfied - they talk about whatever has been on Francis' mind, about ships, about crops (though she shudders away from knowledge of husbandry, for she will not be a simple gentleman farmer's daughter, wife). Some nights, when Anne leaves, she has to remember to tousle her hair and unlace her dress, because, of course, she is only a whore.
[Greek mythology, Hades/Persephone, you can't make the snow fall in summer/or make him not want her/not leave her behind]
"And you will keep safe?" He does not ask - "will you come back?" - but she smiles sadly anyway, and hands him a black flower.
"I always do."
[my parts of the Narnia Zombiepocalypse]
This is not what I prayed for. It's become Susan's new mantra - she refuses to call any of her thoughts prayer anymore - as if her thoughts have ever mattered, as if her desires have ever been granted without punishment and pain.
Her entire family shuffles after her, broken on the rails, reaching out for her to join them.
-
She can hear them, night and day, and somehow she can't bring herself to run as far away as she might, only keeping out of reach, only getting enough distance to sleep a few wary hours without them catching up. So she can hear what they say, almost constantly, whether they're tracking her or hunting something off to the side or rooting through someone's skull.
"Further up and further in," they moan.
-
They get a lion that must have been released from the zoo, and it hurts something even in Susan's bitter, fortified heart to see them encircle it and move in slowly, inexorably, til they fall on the bewildered, frightened beast. It's a small lion - a lioness, actually, but the lack of mane only reminds her of the sound of shears and the gleam of golden fur on cold stone.
She watches as her family kneels down before the lion and consumes it.
[Narnia, Any, vampire!AU] {ok a note about this one it's all l_a_r_m's fault bc she told me to watch Let the Right One In and then had this whole concept for the Lucian form of it}
Caspian is a prince, and an orphan, and his guardians provide for him but don't particularly like him, and consequently, he spends a lot of time alone - if he doesn't have lessons, he plays by himself in the gardens, and in winter he plays by himself in his rooms, and he wishes and wishes to all the (resolutely non-Talking) animals that someone would come rescue him from his tower, like they do in fairy tales.
So he's not altogether surprised when a girl who looks just his age but whose eyes are infinitely old appears outside his window and smiles with predator's teeth, and starts showing up every night to tell him stories about Old Narnia as if she were there. Caspian knows the stories, he knows what she is, but he never thinks to be scared, only laughs with her because it's funny, her name, when she could never come to him in light.
[Narnia, 7 Friends of Narnia, the crash left them in comas and Aslan's Country is a hallucination]
Between her work with patient care standards and visiting hours, Susan rarely leaves the hospital these days. It's been years, and none of the medical innovations she followed so closely have worked, and money to pay for seven people's care is always tight, and Susan Pevensie is an old woman in mind and body.
Still, every time that one little synapse fires and Lucy's voice asks - "Susan, don't you want to remember? It's so lovely here." - Susan's heart leaps, and she goes to her sister, and she knows it won't work, but she squeezes Lucy's hand and says - "Yes, Lucy, I remember."