Fernando Alonso & His Relationship With Cards

I'm sure we're all familar with the cards on the back of Fernando's Vegas GP helmet by now, but did you know his relationship with cards goes a lot deeper?

I. Magic Tricks

You've probably seen or heard someone at least mention Fernando's propensity for card tricks. As far as I can tell he was doing them(publically) as far back as 2003 all the way to as recently as 2018. Even once performing a card trick, with a condom and a teddy bear(!??!?!??!!), in front of Valentino Rossi who said "How was that possible?"(x)

But how did this start? According to James Allen, "Fernando admits to having been heavily influenced by his grandfather, a mercurial figure, who taught him magic and card tricks, still one of his passions away from the race track."(x) And I'm not sure the validity of this one, because I couldn't find an actual source, but apparently he once said: "My parents are responsible for the two things I like doing most - driving and magic tricks. They bought me my first go-kart and a magician's kit."

In several interviews he described it as his hobby off track, and that he loved learning new tricks and surprising others in the garage with them! So clearly cards are pretty important to him both as a hobby but also to who he is as a person since they've been with him just as long as racing has.

II. Card Symbolism in His Helmets

This is the reason I originally made this post, but I thought I should also explain the origins of his card fascination first. As I said, we probably all remember the cards on the back of his helmet in Vegas, but did you know that wasn't the first time he had cards on the back of his helmet?

From 2008-2013, he used to have a pair of cards on the back of his helmets. The symbolisms of the cards themselves as well as the evolution of their design is really fascinating to me! Even more so with the recent development of the card choice in 2023.

Fernando said he wanted to reference his two titles in some way on the back of his helmet and after his friend sent him several ideas, he decided on having two cards(an ace of clubs and an ace of hearts, sometimes pictured with 05 and 06 on them as well), saying: "I picked the cloverleaf [the ace of clubs - Ed] to give me luck, but the only pity is that it doesn't have four leaves!"(X)

2008.

Here's the very first appearance of the cards! They're displayed flat, with the 05 and 06 clearly visible

2009.

Very similar to 2008, but with a slightly different design, and they're maybe a bit more straight with less shadow?

2010.

This is the first major change! I was sad they didn't have the years on them anymore, but then I realized they're sparkly to match with his signature lightning bolts on the top of the helmet!!

2011.

Honestly I'm still somewhat unsure if this is the actual 2011 helmet? It's pretty difficult to find clear photos of the back of helmets from older seasons. It's easiest to find them on replica sites or auction sites so I'm not 100%? But anyways, I like that this has the championship years on the underside of the cards

2012.

This is when I started getting weirdly emotional about the helmets. Do you see how they've progressed from being a centerpoint to being curled up and sad at the bottom of the helmet? Not listing the year anymore??

2013.

Same thoughts as 2012. And after this season, they cease to exist (just like his ferrari chair in the garage, WOAH CALLBACK), until cards make a reeappearance in his Vegas helmet, albeit in a different form

2013 Monaco(Honorable Mention):

For some reason 2013 helmets were easier to find proper pictures of, so I happened to witness this absolute beauty. The creativity of this helmet genuinely blows me away??? Wanting to keep the card motif, but making sure to incorporate it into the rest of the puzzle piece design?? Mwah! There was another special 2013 helmet but they didn't change the cards at all so I really applaud this one

2023 Las Vegas(The Return of The King):

The magnificent return! But look! The cards are different cards! Instead of being two aces, it's now an ace of hearts, a four of hearts(his driver number of course!) and, the, now iconic, representation of himself as a Joker. I literally could not believe my eyes when this helmet was released and I saw the Joker card, what a fucking silly old man....I really wonder if he felt nostalgic having cards on his helmet again or if he didn't think about it all and was just like, "ah cards because Vegas!!!"

III. Why Does This Matter?

*The rest of the post was factual, this is moreso my personal thoughts on the symbolism of the cards/designs

This post spawned from me recently watching the 2010 Bahrain gp and noticing "hey wait a minute...are those CARDS ON THE BACK OF HIS HELMET!?" It's a really tiny detail that's unfortunately covered up by the HANS device pretty much whenever he's wearing the helmet, so it's really difficult to spot! But I became fascinated with the fact that he had cards on his helmet before that recent helmet, and now here we are!

There's something to me about how the design of the cards evolves over the course of six seasons from the cards being front and center to being smaller, more folded up and closer to the bottom of the helmet. As I said, the 2012-2013 ones genuinely made me depressed because it feels, symbolically, like his hopes for getting another Ace are becoming more and more unlikely and falling away until they eventually fall falt and fade away entirely after 2013 and disappear for basically a decade.

But when they return? They're not the same cards! Instead of representing Fernando's championships, they now represent him as a person, displaying his driver number and his persona of being a Joker!! Though I do think it's interesting he happened to keep the Ace of Hearts, even though he talked more about the Ace of Clubs before. I'm not sure it's actually this deep in reality, but I like to think that it's him not letting his championships(and the lack thereof) define him, but rather letting who he is as a person shine and be the centerpoint instead! But on a sadder note, as @suzuki-ecstar said to me, maybe the Aces aren't there anymore because he's lost all hope for a chance at a third Ace entirely :(

“Labours of Love”

Summer Holmestice 2021 for “Ghostbees” 

After my giftee ( @ghostbees ) mentioned "scrapbooking" and "English paper piecing" I went down a rabbithole of research and learnt about this wonderful quilting technique.

From the EQS website: "English Paper Piecing is a method of quilting that involves using a paper shape, most commonly a hexagon, to add stability to the quilt. The quilt is hand stitched with pieces of fabric cut a ¼ inch bigger than the paper shape. The fabric is basted to the paper shapes before the shapes are sewn together. Once the quilt top is completed the papers are removed." The technique dates from 1770s and was popular during the early 1800s in the UK, then in the mid 19th century in the US and it made a comeback during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the pattern was called in the sewing magazines "Grandma's Flower Garden", but before that it was simply known as hexagonal pattern or (you guessed it) honeycomb pattern. The paper used for these quilts were usually recycled from newspapers or scrapped letters, and the fabric used to come from old garments that had seen better days, and since a lot of the times the paper was simply left in these quilts are marvelous time capsules that contain a wealth of information about the person who made them and their environment. I encourage you to look up English paper piecing (EPP) quilts from the early Victorian decades, they're fascinating!

So this little series of illustrations shows Watson dealing with Holmes still indulging in scrapbooking, and how the doctor picks up the discarded pieces and their old 221B era clothes to make something entirely new and uniquely theirs.

1. I keep seeing lovely examples of Victorian silk braces with floral embroidery and I couldn’t resist giving the boys some fancy ones. Also I know that a bright pink and blue shirt is probably not too historically accurate 1910s but screw it, trans flag shirt colours!

2. I both hate and love drawing furniture. Footstools/ottomans are cute, though.

3. “My dear fellow, if you didn’t spend all morning in bed instead of reading the newspaper as soon it arrives all of this could be avoided.”  Also Holmes is wearing a silk piano shawl because what are gender norms?

4. Holmes not only uses newspaper clippings for scrapbooking, but per Ghostbees’ suggestion I looked briefly into the Victorian hobby of pressing and collecting seaweed and I think it would be a fantastic subject for Holmes to branch out to (especially if there’s any poisonous types).

5. Old dressing gowns and blankets that have seen better days. The moths got ahold of them but I’m pretty sure the constant chemical experiments back at 221B claimed more than one victim. 

6. I got a bit carried away with the ink and gouache here. But it was fascinating to see the first published patterns in magazines making their appearance, especially in publications aimed at women that contained a wide range of home-related subjects. 

7. Someone in the Dreamwidth website pointed out that both Holmes and Watson are working on beehives and that warmed my heart. One interesting bit about EPP is that the paper can be left inside the quilt, so historians have been able to gather very detailed information about the person who crafted these pieces and their life. 

8. Oh god so many hexagons. Here’s an example of one of those magazines with patterns and instructions. 

9. I had too much fun giving them embroidered slippers. It’s a shame I overdid the watercolours and turned out quite muddy, but I would love to draw their clothes in more detail in the future.

10. Smooch! (Also the paisley trim is my favourite part) 

11. Initially I wanted this story to end in a picnic at Beachy Head, until I was told that quilts aren’t picnic blankets and are more appropriate for domestic use only. You still get to see some of the cliffs at least!

12. Another accidental discovery during my research: pickle and marmalade jars! I could draw a hundred of them and not get tired. That little spoon! Ugh!

13. I will never not cry about these two old fools in love. 

14. Cross stitching and lettering isn’t my forte, nor is Watson’s, but I saw several quilts had names sewn into one panel, almost like a painter signing their canvas, or dedicating  the piece to a loved one. So you know I had to add this little detail, plus some green carnations for extra queerness, a forget-me-not flower and a plump bee because I have to be extra. 

Looking back this is one of the things I’m the most proud of that I have made this year, or even longer. I work digitally for my job and I miss the feel of traditional materials, so this was a project that let me flex those watercolour muscles and try gouache for the first time. All while drawing incredibly indulgent things, so thank you Basil for giving me an excuse to have some fun. 

Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 6.16}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student, blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 3.6k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

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When Robin took her perch on the edge of the desk again, putting the books she had used during the class back into their place, she finally realized what had bothered her about the entire thing. Dumbledore had been the one to tell Snape to take over Morgan's class, and therefore he must've known that he wouldn't find him down here. That means he had either come here to wait for Snape, which was unlikely, or he had meant to seek out Robin in the first place. In which case he surely had known that she possessed the particular spellbook as well. And he had lied to her without her even noticing in the slightest. But… why on earth would he do any of that?

She frowned to herself, lost in thought until the door was opened once again, without a knock this time. Robin didn't even have to look up to know who it was, but by the time she did, he was standing in front of her already.

"What is it with you and that desk?" Snape quirked an eyebrow at her, and while he was undoubtedly humored rather than annoyed by her having claimed it as her seat yet again, Robin could also see that Morgan's class had taken its toll on him.

"It's the best spot in the entire room. Of course I had to have it." She shrugged with a smile, but stayed right where she was. "How did the seventh years fare with you?"

"It is safe to say they weren't too fond of having me as a replacement. Perhaps because they are unaccustomed to having a competent teacher, or perhaps because I simply demanded more of them than what they are used to. But truly I think it was a matter of personal distaste in the end." He replied in a sigh between exhaustion and annoyance, and Robin suddenly realized that she enjoyed being trapped between him and the desk way too much. She pushed the inappropriate thought out of her mind in an instant, and at the same time he did her the favor of sitting down next to her instead. "I tend to forget that people other than you and me are quite fond of Morgan."

"People other than you and me are bloody idiots."

"Indeed." He looked down at Robin with a not-smirk and an almost openly curious expression. "So, how was having your own class full of idiots?"

"Not half as bad as I expected, actually." She smiled up at him in return. "I did a revision of the entire year with them just like you suggested, but I tried to explain things a bit differently than you do. Perhaps it helped some of them understand it better."

"Did you really?"

"Yes! But honestly, I was more surprised by the fact that they respected me as an authority in the first place. Which means that, other than them being complete dunderhead like almost all students are, they were actually quite manageable."

"I am not sure which class you taught, but it certainly wasn't mine."

Robin laughed at the comment, and nudged him in the side with her shoulder. Something she had dared doing more often recently, and he had never protested. "It most definitely was your class of dunderheads! But they seemed to appreciate having me as a replacement. One girl even came to talk to me afterwards, and after getting her to stop crying, I told her to see you tomorrow morning."

"Why, pray tell, would you do that to me?"

"She needs help!" Robin rolled her eyes at him exaggeratedly, a statement in both directions. "And I already did the hard part for you, so you really only will have to tell her what she can do to catch up with the class."

"Who was it?"

"How am I supposed to know!?" Robin huffed with a laugh. "They're your students, not mine. She was tiny and cried a lot."

"They are twelve-year-olds, they all are tiny." Snape quirked an eyebrow at her. "Could you be a bit more specific?"

"Black hair, bushy eyebrows, really tan skin… Ravenclaw I believe."

"I see. She is rather clever, but has been doing poorly in class for a while now. And she came to you asking for help?"

"Basically, yes. I already explained to her why she needs to learn the basics of potion making, but you will know better what she can work on to actually improve. So I told her to see you tomorrow morning to get the help she needs."

"I was under the impression that you and I were friends. Why would you put me through that?"

"Because you're the professor! Dealing with students is your job!" Robin laughed, shaking her head to herself as she finally got up from the desk once more. "I'm not going to do all your work for you, you know."

"I never expected that of you." He replied in a sudden seriousness. "I never expected any of this, in fact, nor would I ever take your help for granted like that."

"I know." She gave him a small and hopefully reassuring smile. "And you hopefully know that I'm always more than happy to help you, no matter what."

"I do. Thank you." His grave expression made way for the usual calm, which in return made Robin sigh under her breath as he spoke on. "Still, you went out of your way to do me a favor, which means I owe you."

"Hardly." Robin replied with another humored huff. "You help me all the time, in so many ways, this really is the least I can do for you in return. You don't owe me anything."

"In my humble opinion, I very much do."

"Fine, if you insist on it… I will keep it in mind." She sighed, in the knowledge that arguing with him was pointless whenever he had set his mind to something. Instead she came to stand right in front of him now and motioned toward the office. "How about pre-dinner coffee? I still haven't told you about the little visit Dumbledore paid me after class."

"Why do I get the feeling that your afternoon was way more interesting than mine?"

"You're already right about that and you haven't even heard the story yet. Impressive."

"Let me prepare the coffee and you will have my fullest attention."

… … …

The last two weeks before Robin's two N.E.W.T. exams were filled with too much studying and too little sleep. From before breakfast until after dinner she studied for the theoretical part, often enough without actually attending the meals, and after dinner she would practice for the practical examination with Snape. He ended up giving her a mock exam based on what he remembered from his own N.E.W.T.s a few days before the tests, and Robin had a very hard time not crying over how much effort he actually put into helping her. It probably was a bit unfair, especially since he most definitely would never do this for any of the other students (nor any other person in general), but since he wasn't going to be the one testing nor grading her in the end, they both simply chose to ignore that fact. Life just wasn't fair, and if Robin was on the losing end so very often, she believed that she could also allow herself to be on the winning end for once. And really, if one looked at it in a different light, the only advantage she had in the end was that she had the most capable and competent study partner possible.

But there also was another problem, of an entirely different kind. Robin still had to take the normal end-of-the-year exams for all her other sixth year classes, which meant that times were prone to overlap. Once she had realized that a few days in advance, she had straight out panicked, right until Snape had dragged her to Flitwick's office and seen to it that the sixth year charms exam would be moved to a different time. Really, Flitwick was a helpful person in the end and once Robin had managed to state the situation more or less calmly, it had been beyond easy to reschedule his exam.

With the second test that needed to be moved however, they weren't so lucky. Morgan, of course, saw no reason to change the time of his exam just to accustom the 'pathetic ambitions' of one single student, and even Snape couldn't get him to change his mind. By that time Robin was on edge enough to burst, anxious beyond reason, and of course Morgan didn't have a hard time noticing and taking advantage of it in return. He didn't move his exam, and probably hoped that it would cause as many negative consequences for Robin as possible in one way or the other. Unfortunately for him, he had made that calculation without Dumbledore, who upon hearing of the issue demanded for the test to be rescheduled indeed.

Finally, and luckily enough, alchemy and magical creatures had originally been scheduled for such odd times anyway that they didn't pose a problem, and thus eventually all exams fit into Robin's week without overlap. Thank God… or rather, thanks to Snape. While Robin had always done the talking and made the requests, he had been the one to drag her around and make her do so in the first place. He had seen to it that she didn't just stay hidden in her rabbithole of anxiety and stress, and Robin was eternally grateful for that.

The exams came, and Robin found that NEWTs were exactly the same as the OWLs, just a tad more difficult. Fine, a lot more difficult. But she was well prepared, and sincerely believed that she had answered everything to her best abilities. The sixth year exams in comparison to that were a mess. She had spent so much time preparing for the two, way more important NEWT exams that she had hardly studied for the sixth year subjects at all, and she definitely noticed that during the tests. Too bad the bloody day only had 24 hours for her to use to study… But oh well, the sixth year exams didn't actually count for anything other than her pride after all, so perhaps it was alright not to get perfect grades in them for once. Or so she tried to tell herself, at least.

Practical potions was the last examination of the bunch, on Friday afternoon, and it honestly was the easiest out of them all. They were asked to brew a variety of minor draughts and serums, all of which Robin had excessively practiced for, and both she and the examiners (those nasty folks sent by the ministry) were surprised when she finished more than half an hour earlier than any of the regular seventh year students. Uncertain of what to do with her, the ministry workers had her check her work again, but Robin still discovered no flaw in it, so they reluctantly let her go already.

A week later, Friday in the second week of June, the normal exam results were released, and Robin found herself mostly devastated. She had been able to uphold her Outstanding in magical creatures, but that was the only good result she had gotten and the only thing that kept her from crying. In charms and alchemy she had barely made it to an Acceptable, while Morgan had actually gone all out and given her a Dreadful. Really, in Robin's eyes it couldn't have gone much worse.

When she sat in the office with Snape the night after the results had been released, sulking and trying very hard not to cry, the only thing that made her smile in the end was when he offered to break into Morgan's office and steal her exam to have a look at it and quite possibly prove that Morgan's grade was unjustified. While the offer was tempting, and it astonished Robin to see that he was actually quite seriously about it, she declined nonetheless. He would only end up getting in trouble for that, and she wouldn't have that for anything at all. It was only a bad grade that didn't even matter. A grade that counted for nothing. But it was very hard to remind herself of that from time to time nonetheless.

Sunday was the last day of the term, and as always it was accompanied by the obligatory end-of-term feast to celebrate the evening. It usually was a dull ceremony for everyone but the seventh years, so Robin found herself paying little to no attention to the lengthy speech and words of wisdom Dumbledore had to offer to this year's graduates. Neither did she listen to Cas and Jorien though, who were discussing Cas' failed attempt to convince her parents to let her visit Simon over the summer. They still were together and happy in their relationship at this point… obviously Robin had been wrong about them. At least Cas had started treating her boyfriend AND her friends as equal parts in her life after the incident in March, so it was a good thing that both had prevailed after all.

For the moment, Robin found herself amused at the sight of a seventh year Hufflepuff girl who clumsily made her way towards the front after being called up. Time for this year's honour roll, it seemed. All the seventh years had dressed up in their fancy robes and ball gowns for the night, a thing that had only started becoming an actual thing last year. But obviously not everyone could or should walk on high heels just because it was allowed on graduation night, and the sight just was too amusing to Robin not to snicker over. Poor Hufflepuff…

A boulder of a boy followed a few seconds later, a Gryffindor this time, and he came to stand next to the tiny Hufflepuff girl in the front. Robin wondered which subject he had been best in to make it onto the list, but to get an answer to that she would've had to start actually listening from the start. A few more people followed upon that, and Robin thought that this really was the most dreadful part of the evening, until a particular name caught her by surprise.

"Julius Campton," Dumbledore called out, "Top of the year in Divination."

The majority of people applauded like they had before, and Robin found herself frowning deeply as the boy in question made his way towards the front. She hadn't expected him to be good at anything, especially not divination. It was an easier subject, admittedly, but one needed to be a certain kind of person to actually be more than just good in it. And Julius wasn't that kind of person. Oh well… obviously she had been wrong about that yet again. Should the arse enjoy his honours, who cares…

"Lucinda Sparks," The headmaster went on in the same loud voice that Robin couldn't ignore anymore now, "Top of the year in Arithmancy and History of Magic."

If Robin wasn't mistaken, this was the older sister of her ex-roommate Melody. Who would've thought that their family also had children who weren't bloody idiots? Definitely not something Robin had expected. And anyway, why did those seventh years have their N.E.W.T. results already while Robin was still anxiously waiting for hers?!

"Robin Mitchell," Dumbledore called out, and Robin's blood froze in her veins while half of the Slytherin table fell into dead silence alongside her, "Top of the year in Potions and Herbology."

Oh god. What? No way… This was some practical joke, it had to be. Perhaps there was someone who had the same name a year above her. But when she looked around, nobody else was getting up from their seat, and when her gaze met Dumbledore's, he gave her the subtlest nod in history. Oh bloody hell… This wasn't supposed to happen.

Robin's legs made her get up on their own account, while her mind still wouldn't quite grasp the situation. She wasn't part of this graduating year, she wasn't supposed to be on the honour roll! At least not now… not when everyone looked at her like she was an alien amongst them. Approximately six people clapped as she made her way towards the front, four of them being seated at the head table, which however was barely registered in her head. She took her place next to the other students by Dumbledore's side, while the next person was called on already, but she still couldn't focus on anything other than the racing of her heart and the churning of her stomach. 

This perhaps was even worse than her first ever day here. Because back then, she had just been one of many, a new face like everyone else. Now however most of the people (who still hadn't ceased gaping at her) knew exactly who she was, and it gave them all the more reason to hate her for standing here. In a place she wasn't supposed to be in, a place meant for some seventh year who was probably working way harder to get here than she ever had. Honestly, the honour roll had been an annoying joke to her until five minutes ago. She hadn't even listened to the bloody ceremony for that past six years, for heaven's sake!!! But now she stood up here in front of the head table, next to people who didn't know why she was here, looked at by people who didn't think she deserved to be here, and yet she was. Top of the year in potions and herbology. Bloody hell.

Three more people took their places next to Robin in the line of students, and it was only then that she realized that she was the only one wearing her school uniform. Everyone else was elegantly clad in dress robes. Great… At least the fitted black robes she had been wearing throughout the entire year were actually fancy enough to somehow keep up with the ball gowns of the other girls. Not that it mattered much in this case, she couldn't care less about looks, but it was something to ease her anxious nerves at least. Something other to focus on than the jealous and distasteful looks the people were throwing at her from the students' tables.

People applauded once more, for all the students up front, while Dumbledore and McGonagall handed out a certificate to each student. Robin took hers from McGonagall thankfully, and the professor offered her a small smile before moving on to the next person. At least Robin wasn't as unpopular among the professors as she'd thought… the head of Gryffindor seemed to like her well enough after all, even if she was in a rivaling house. Half a minute later, everyone went back to their seats without any ado, and Dumbledore went on with his speech for the graduates for a little while, but ultimately declared the beginning of the feast.

Robin didn't feel hungry anymore, even when she was safely sitting together with her two roommates again, who however were happily indulging in the meal themselves. They'd congratulated her for her honours, being sincerely happy for her in that at least, but ultimately they had no mind for the actual meaning of it. It was just a piece of paper after all, and they were still so far from away graduating that Robin honestly couldn't blame them for their short lived interest in the topic. Her mind however couldn't quite put the issue to rest, especially since she didn't even know her grades yet. How could they declare her best in a subject if she didn't have a grade? Or did Dumbledore know more than everyone else did, like always? From what she picked up out of snippets of conversations at her table, nobody else had their results yet either, so that at least was good to hear. Perhaps she should just be happy about her success, and let it be reassurance enough that her hard work had paid off. No matter if she thought she deserved it or not.

When she finally dared looking towards the head table, her eyes met Snape's immediately and that alone melted some of the tension in her body and mind in an instant. At least one person in the room seemed to think she deserved the honours, going by the barely-even-there expression of pride on his face. Then he quirked an eyebrow at her in feigned surprise, putting on that mask of perfect indifference, and Robin finally had to smile again. He just had a way of cheering her up in any situation, without even doing much at all. For another moment they simply looked at each other through the busy space between them, then the corner of his lips twitched for not even a broken second, and Robin looked back down at her yet empty plate with a smile. If that hadn't been an invitation for coffee later, she would return those honours straight away.

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I’ll get to those Magic Crafter Dragons I sweeeear But first, fun stuff from Discord. Dunno who made the original, it was just posted on a server, but yeet I did it anyway First of all, I don’t play a lot of games. I like games and the idea of them. I enjoy people playing stuff, I love watching others play. It’s that little sibling culture. But lemme toss a word or few about all of these. Though first of all, I only own 4 of the 8 games listed and even still I’ve only played 3 of them xD R.I.P. Pokemon Cafe Mix - The game is just Super Cute. Like oh my god Aesthetics! Adorable, every pokemon looks so nice and I just want to go to the cafe and taste everything and just chill. Please. It looks so cozy and relaxing. Gameplay is fairly simple too. Sometimes things seem a bit BS but in one way or another I’ll get through every stage etc. so it’s not too bad. Most of the time relaxing, can be addicting because of how simple things are. But really I love the game and I hope one day they’ll add more of the pokemon I like xD Buizel is my current favourite <3 It’d be nice seeing Mienshao or Mienfoo for one, maybe Glameow as it doesn’t get a lot of attention. We got Gogoat, but I wouldn’t mind a Sawsbuck or Deerling Pokemon Black 2 - To keep the Pokemon trend going, this is my fave out of the mainline games. I’ve been a fan ever since the first generation, I’m older than Gen 1 at that. But yeah, we did buy games but Nintendo stuff was too expensive and so I never really got to play those growing up. Black 2 was the first game I ever bought, for myself, with my own money. It was my first game and I loved it dearly. Still do and man I’d Love to replay it, but the curse of only 1 save file is cruel. I don’t want to restart my first ever save file. Currently I have no way of transferring anything over and I even have a Shiny Gothorita there (as underwhelming as it is, it was my first ever shiny). I love these games~~ Lots of different pokemon to choose from, great story, the fact that it’s a sequel is so freaking cool and unique I Love It So Much. Of course it’d be cool to have some extra things to do in it, like cleaning my badges, contests would be cool, I loved the mining stuff in Gen 4 when I got to try it on my friend’s Platinum save file as a kid. Speaking of, Gen 4 games would probably be my favourites, if I ever had the chance of owning and playing any fully. They have soooo much to do in them! Gen 5 is good and certainly up there in faves, but bruh, Gen 4 had all sorts of extra stuff, especially Platinum, and in HG/SS you had Pokemon following you like bruh that’s Crazy and I’d love to have that for a game I own, it’s like a dream Honorable mentions to Mystery Dungeon and Gen 6′s Pokemon Y for some grand memories. Firstly Pokemon Y, the second game I ever owned I think, great fun. I played that game for hooooooooours and it’s the only Pokemon Game that I’ve both played as a Nuzlocke and actually reset to play again. Also the first gen where I actually really got into competitive stuff, breeding for natures and stuff, and I’ve caught so many shinies in Y and Omega Ruby (mostly Y, OR has 1 shiny in Pidove, while Y has Ninetales, Pachirisu, Burmy, Gligar, and perhaps some other ones I caught/hatched myself). Mystery Dungeon games get a mention for having cool stories and I like the idea of the personality test and stuff. I’ve never played or owned any of these games, but I’ve watched Marriland play a handful of the games and currently am enjoying MDB playing through the first games in the series. Also a quick bloop on Colosseum being Cool as heck, and Battle Revolution gets a shoutout for looking so freaking good, having amazing music and making me search up videos with my favourite pokemon and just looking and watching hundreds of videos just because they looked so nice

Fire Emblem has to be the 2nd series of games I’ve gotten the most into. Although I’m a fairly new fan and my experiences and knowledge are limited, I do still enjoy the series and games - both old and new - a bunch. I only own Awakening, Conquest and 3 Houses, but I’ve again watched others play the past games a bunch, so I have some knowledge and memorable moments from those games too. Now I haven’t actually gotten myself to play 3 Houses yet, I’ve seen playthroughs of the game already and know the story etc. But yeh. Still, I’d say that I’ll probably like 3 Houses more than Awakening and Conquest. Awakening is nostalgia galore for me, but it does have its things with the story and characters and stuff. It’s nice, but I dunno, I just feel 3 Houses has an edge on it in some way. Maybe it’s just... Less controversial? Less Flame Wars? Maybe? Fates games, well, we all know the big glaring thing here. The story. And some of the characters suffer from this too. I kinda do wish that the Player had a biiiit more control in how the story went and played out, like I feel you definitely could have saved Scarlet in some way still, and all that. But eh, there’s enough stuff for me to go and prefer 3 Houses over it. And yes, I like choosing the members of my team and playing however I like, so giving me the ability to class my characters however I want is going to be a mistake as I’ll just make everyone a mounted unit and get destroyed but hey! Options :2 Variety :22 Great tiiiiimes~ Also it’s Blue Lions for me, Golden Deer Second Now for the games I don’t own. I chose Radiant Dawn because the Tellius games are just so good. I love the character in them, the story is pretty solid and the worldbuilding is cool too :2 I like both of the games, and while Path of Radiance is more coherent and doesn’t give split the characters up a bunch, Radiant Dawn has More of the great characters :2 Yes I know, not all of them are as fleshed out and thought out as the first game’s characters, but yo I still love them. I love a good continuation to a story. I love a ‘hey maybe it wasn’t as Black & White as we were made to believe’ twist. Also just hella good memories from watching BigKlingy play these games. The audience memed Aran to the final levels. We did it, he did so well, Aran deserved to be there xD Radiant Dawn also brings us Nailah, who is just. Yeah, you speak to me on so many levels, I’m easily readable. But also, woman, wolf, strong, yasss~~ Also I love the idea of the Jaegan character being a Thief/Assassin. That’s just so different and cool to me after all these Horse Units. And I’m the one guy who likes Levail and would love to see more of him. Give us more of Levail, the man who almost made it to being playable. Man. Levail is probably the one reason I’d pick Radiant Dawn over Path of Radiance xD The other game I’ve watched BigKlingy play through (and that’s my only experience on that game) is Sacred Stones. Pretty solid game all in all. Story, characters, but speaking of that story, if you really think about it, it’s Hella Dark, and that’s actually kinda cool in a way. I’m not that into dark stories, but here it worked. Also watched PhoenixMaster1′s playthrough on the Echoes game. I do like the game, if i find it one day I Might buy it but I’m not like in a hurry to get it. It was cool though, different for reasons but hey~ Also, Berkut, yes. I’m one of those people who like this angry man. But come on, he was really good xD Spyro I’ve already talked about in my lengthy little thing that I’ll get to continuing eventually xD But yes, I freaking love Spyro, my childhood, still very enjoyable experience full of great memories Metroid Fusion - Oh boy here come the nostalgia~ I’ve actually never played any Metroid games myself. I got introduced to the series in the early 2010s through youtube videos. I’m fairly sure it was me looking through dozens and dozens of Top 10 videos, several of which were on ‘the scariest bosses’, either unexpectedly scary or something else. But guess what, Nightmare from Fusion was in there, and I Think the person in the video said something on not wanting to even show the final forms of Nightmare’s face because it was that horrifying to them. And honestly? The fact that they didn’t show how bad it got, mixed with my morbid curiosity and woop, here I go~ Down the Metroid rabbithole where I watched a lot of videos on people fighting Nightmare and the other bosses in the game, eventually going into watching full run-throughs of the game and enjoying my time. Game looked pretty good, soundtrack was really nice too. And so I ended up on listening to a lot of the game series’ music and getting more familiar with the other games and the lore too. Learning to know that Samus was a lady was also hella badass. Fusion started it all for me, and while Super Metroid is cool, people also just play it a loooot, especially the Speedrunners, there’s also plenty of hacks based on that game and yeah I get it the game is Good, but that makes Fusion all the more special to me~ Devil May Cry 3 - Ok so again, I’ve not played any DMC games myself. This one again though is nostalgia ocean for me~ 2010 or such, I’m on some forum, said forum has a forum game based around songs or such and someone links one from this game. I Think it was the Doppelganger battle theme, or then I just found that one and listened to it for hours among the other battle themes these games have because they’re soooo gooood~~ DMC 4 was fairly new at that time, but I remember Gredo’s and Agnus’ themes being up there in songs I listened to a lot too. My experiences and stuff on this series was fully based on the songs, images on said songs, bits and pieces of the cutscenes of these games I saw and comments I read. I didn’t get too deep into DMC back then though, but I did have a bit of knowledge here and there, even if my idea of the stories in all the games was, well, I wouldn’t call it warped, but I definitely had imagined the story going differently to how things actually went xD Still, as a few years back I returned to DMC out of that feeling of nostalgia, and discovered DMC 5 had Just been released, boi, I was In. And I watched through cutscene compilations, playthoughs and what have you on all the games (Except for DmC, boot to you ReBoot), and it was quite the hype time~ I enjoy the chracters, the story that there is around them, and just how carefree and fun stuff can be. The party sure did get crazy~ Lost Dimension - The last game I have on the list there. This might be a weird one and I get that yeah. How many have even heard of this game? I sure wouldn’t have ever known of it without BigKlingy’s playthrough of it. But that playthrough was full of memories, I should really rewatch it one day~ I may not remember an awful lot about the game, but I do keep coming back to it in one way or another. I liked the character designs, the fact that all of them were unique and had their own abilities, there was a bit of story around all of them, the traitor system had you thinking & made each run a little different... That’s some Cool Stuff! The game might be a bit obscure and seriously not known at all, but for what it was, it was great and I enjoyed it a bunch! And now for stuff that wasn’t on the list but I kinda still want to mention. Because why not~ IB - This Almost made it onto the list, but I felt a little closer of a connection to the other games on it. But IB is one of those games from the early 2010s that I also got introduced to through the wonderful world of Youtube. I have forgotten the name of the person whose playthrough in the game I watched. But I watched a ton of people play this game. It was just. So cool. The puzzles in this game were nice and the fact I myself could solve and understand them too was pretty nice to me, and for some reason I just enjoyed watching other people react to the game and try solving stuff. It also had a couple different endings so watching and seeing what the other people got was also interesting. Great memories~ Witch’s House / Ao Oni / Mad Father - And all sorts of other horror games that kinda fall under this grouping and style and stuff. Yeah, IB kinda opened a bit of a thing for me as I realized I greatly enjoyed the horror games with puzzle elements to themselves + a bit of story here and there. There’s definitely much much more than these 3, I watched soooo many of these games being played by others. Ao Oni I may have discovered through my Hetalia phase though, HetaOni, if any of you still recognize that name. Daym. Although at first I didn’t want to watch HetaOni because of the portraits. Pfffff I thought the person who made them was being mean to some of the characters, but nah, I’d later learn that those were simply just mimicing the ones from the original game. But yeah, Ao Oni had a dozen variants and things inspired by it so those kept me busy for a whiiiiiile Hades - Now here’s a cool recent game! Again, haven’t played it, but it looks cool. The story is nice, character designs are God Like (hehe), soundtrack is super cool, aesthetics and oh my god everything is voice acted oh my gooood. This game is just. So cool. And the team who did it seems really cool too and are seemingly full of nice amazing people. This is definitely some great example work on how things should be done :2 Definitely something to look up to, I love everything about them~ The only reason Hades isn’t up there is because of its recentness and my brain not managing to think of it somehow even as I struggled to come up with stuff (I was mostly trying to think of stuff I had played, so that’s one thing. I even struggled to remember DMC because my current hyperfixations are elsewhere and that’s freaking Wild considering how much I enjoy DMC) But yeah, Hades is Super Freaking Cool Crash Bandicoot - These games I did play as a kid actually, the 1st one was way too hard and the 3rd one was my favourite. I like Crash, these games were nice too and I have plenty of good memories with the game, just not enough to make it up there on my list. Yeah it sounds stupid that I’d take out a game I actually played and replace it with stuff that I didn’t, but... Hey, my list Minecraft - Watched several videos on other people pllaying this game, I know of it, I respect it, but I’ve never played it myself and stuff. It’s cool but didn’t make it on the list Animal Crossing - Riiiiiight, these games seem adorable and I wouldn’t mind owning an AC game one day. I’d probably reset continuously though to get Skye in my town/village/island, she’s my favourite xD If the recent game had cost lest I might have gotten it. 60-70€ is just, a lot of money Persona - I guess I’ll mention these too. My experiences are through Bigklingy’s videos again. 3 is a fave, 4 seems cool, 5 I don’t know a lot about but it seems nice too. I probably wouldn’t be able to play these games myself, since some fights kinda need certain things and strategies and you can’t really just pick whatever and whom ever and roll through with brute strength. I mean, I Guess you could, but that might not be as fun in the long run? Who knows, but it’s not exactly like Pokemon or Fire Emblem in those regards you know The big conclusion is that I like all sorts of different aesthetic looks, mostly probably natural with some brighter colors in it. Stories are good, I love stories! Good characters with nice designs and backstories are really nice too. Things being thought out and built nicely is great you know? A little bit of strategy, fantasy here and there. Nothing too dark and gloomy or ‘hyper realistic’ or what have you. I guess no first person shooters either, though combat is fine. Games where I can pick and choose what to use and what kinds of ‘teams’ I build and the ‘members’ I use in them is nice. I do love watching others play, but with games like Pokemon & Fire Emblem I have that drive of choosing who to use and having my own unique experience kinda gets me to buy the games.

ok i hope this isnt weird bc it was a couple days ago BUT i saw ur tags on the post abt ocs and if u want to talk abt ocs i would absolutely love to hear about them!!!!

hi sorry this has taken so long! i keep coming back to it because i’m not entirely sure on how to describe each of them without like... saying too much!

so obviously i’m still working on editing everything, because i keep learning new information whenever i go down a wikipedia rabbithole, and because i’ve accidentally connected the dots many many times, so even though i’ve done a few drafts and stuff i’m still not 100% certain about everything (if things don’t make sense here it’s because i’m absolutely trying my best to not just dump everything about the character)

arlo is my main main character! i’m actually writing this entirely from his perspective, which is a biiiig change from what i’m used to.. but it’s weirdly fun because he’s very fun to write as he has certain ways of speaking (pats myself on the back for this one). he.. originally was a dishonored oc, which is Weird once i look back on that because he’s basically just shittier jindosh. because he can be. it’s a bit hard to explain his character without giving too much away, but since he’s my main Dude, he goes through a lot of good development throughout the story while also (un)knowingly helping everyone else out that he previously fucked up. i don’t want to say that he gets redeemed, because not everyone should be, but he definitely realizes a lot of shit. yeah he’s cool.

ace is actually an older oc of mine that i brought over because this originally wasn’t supposed to be a Big Thing, but she’s here now and i love her slightly more evil personality... as they’re all Bad in some way. i just like antagonists way more so.. everyone’s shitty. she’s like my main character, a little less than arlo, but she’s still very important and shows up the most. she really just Appears. that’s her thing. and also in this universe there is a (somewhat) logical and scientific (not really) explanation for her blue eye

crystal is... something else. her name is inspired from a lady my mom went to school with (she gave me both crystal’s name and will’s). i’m still working on her character, but i enjoy her as she’s kinda the breath of fresh air in this group of determined evil backstory ocs (she’s an antagonist too, as they all are. she’s carefree evil... chaotically loving. yknow? i love her despite the fact that she needs more development.

malachite is one of the most important characters in this, as she’s basically the most level-headed of the group, and really is the brain of the entire story.... she does A Lot. like a lot. everyone (excluding celia and, technically, montgomery) has like a niche of science that they excel in, along with other things. everyone kinda invents something important during this, that helps another character in the future with their plot progression, if that makes sense. and malachite is very very important! she literally creates wireless communication, gps tracking, and with the help of crystal she crafts ‘phones.’ they’re not called phones of course, but she does, and she’s great! she also creates boats! she’s a ship captain and absolutely loves it. crystal & her & ace (they’re kinda all a Group) hang out on her ship frequently, and they’ll just enjoy each other’s company. crystal & her are girlfriends and they’re just wonderful.

will is great, and even though it’s really arlo’s story, he actually goes through the most change throughout. and it’s good change! even if he’s not described to be there, or talking in a scene, chances are he’s actually in the background...he’s like a walking dictionary definition for irony- he absolutely Hates being known and seen and being in crowds, etc, you get it. but get this. his name is will durness. wilderness. this is another name my mom gave me out of the blue (his development throughout the story isn’t like, oh, this guy now can do public speaking and is comfortable in crowds, because imo that’s not realistic. instead its more like how can he accept that other people enjoy his company, and want to be around him? he allows himself to have friends and to feel safe around them. and i love him)

those ^ five knew each other at aronose (which, without making this even longer, is basically a Huge and Important and Prestigious science trade school type thing. it’s cool and basically what every dark academia fan wants), and after a mysterious four years in which Things happen they all reconvene in interesting ways, and discover how they’ve all kinda been intertwined in this Thing. and then they help each other. it’s cool! i promise.

montgomery is the worst of everyone, which is saying a lot when they’re all antagonists. he’s the main reason everything that happens.... happens, and [spoilers for a big part of my story just in case you don’t want to read it.. don’t know why i’m talking like i’m actually gonna upload it when it’s done but you never know] even after he’s gone, his presence is still like... there. his thing is just... manipulation, but in different ways. he just Knows how to talk to people. and all the rest of the characters have to deal with his lingering Ideals and Things. which is cool. everyone’s gotta work through that! yay for character development. and he’s the duke, so he can do basically whatever he wants (and he WILL remind you many times of that fact.) he’s kinda got his eyes on everything and everyone. i don’t really like to describe my ocs by comparing them to other existing characters, but he’s like if you somehow combined peter lukas and (sorry for this) h*ndsome jack. yeah he’s definitely a very fun character but man is he hard to write which is kinda funny cause like. he’s my oc lol. he only married celia for the status and she definitely knows that (but i promise there was once a time where they actually loved each other)

celia is possibly my most underdeveloped character out of everyone, but she’s still important to the story! she’s the duchess, and yet we don’t really see much of her in person until probably.... halfway through the story. she hates everyone, but mostly montgomery (lol) and arlo, for numerous reasons. they hate her too so it works out ig. i don’t have much to say about her oops

i just realized how dump-y this is... but i have an unfortunate time trying to describe everyone. somehow. yeah hope this somewhat made sense! i think.. honestly their pinterest boards / tags on my oc blog / spotify playlists do a lot for them

Down The Rabbithole Ch17

Allison was forever going to be stunned by this small cat she swore. Chesire kept his word and repaired the stone wall he destroyed, as well as magically levitated the doors he blew off. The two guards also groaned and managed to stumble and wobbled to their jello feeling legs and blinked their tired eyes. Gasping and drawing out their swords as soon as they saw Chesire floating towards them with two doors right behind him and Allison walking slowly a little ways behind him and smiling. They were about to swing at the smiling cat with scowls on their faces and Chesire still didn't flinch. For a moment Allison thought he was gonna get sliced into minced meat until they were stopped by a woman's familiar voice.

"STAND DOWN AT ONCE!!" Both stopped and looked up at the Queen who walked by Allison and sighed. Chesire didn't even blink at them or anything and just continued to floating along humming to himself. "He is not our enemy..Not any more."

Both guards looked completely confused, but dared not disobey their queen and slowly sheethed their swords, still absolutely confused as she walked past. Allison jumped when someone chuckled behind her and she snapped her head around and up to Fortune. The giant moth had picked back up his smoke pipe and more of that sweet smelling pink smoke whirled around him as he looked to her and gestured ahead to them. Chesire was already narrowing his eyes and rubbing his chin as he tried to maneuver the doors back into place to fix the hindges. Veveteen stopped to look at Chesire for a moment, not that the cat noticed at all and if he did didn't acknowledge her, giving him a worrying look real quick....before hurrying walking ahead, her two guards walking behind her.

"Change is not never easy." Allison blinked and looked back up to the moth who blew out more pink smoke with a patient smile. Without looking at the small human girl, started walking forward casually. Allison blinked and hurried to catch up with him, stopping to walk beside the taller male. "It's going to take a LONG time for my dear Velveteen to fully accept and conform to the new truth she's faced with, and your friend still has to face the tall bump in the road in your friendship. But all changes for the better start somewhere.....You might've done Wonderland a great job today Miss Allison. I applaud you for your determination.~"

Allison blinked. "Me? What did I do? All I did was get angry because she hurt people. Even if she was trying to be good, it was bad."

He side eyed her. "Don't lie to me. I'm too wise for that.~ I saw that determination and passion in your eyes. You beat her through the love and concern for your friend, and the realization of your own self worth. I wouldn't say that was just getting angry wouldn't you?"

....Allison shook her head and gave a small smile. "Y-Yeah...Well, Chesire means a lot to me." She turned ahead of them and giggled and the funny expression of Chesire having narrowed eyes, frowning, stroking his chin, and his tongue sticking out doing a blep as he tried fixing the other door. "I..Guess we're even now."

He smiled wider as they approached, "Well you have my thanks for finally getting through my beloved's hardhead and setting her on the right path. She'll need more guidance, but she has me for that now."

Allison rose a brow. "Yeah. No offense but what do you see in her?"

He fully looked to her and chuckled. "No offense taken my dear. A lot of people wouldn't understand but where most see a terrifying, tyrannical Queen...I see a hard working, independent woman who's trying to make the best of a hard life and situation she was thrown into by past family and fix her life around. After all-" He gave a wink and chuckle. "We both know how it is when you're thrown into a completely new situation thanks to family and have to piece back together things. Don't we?"

Allison stopped in the doorway by the door Chesire was still fixing and stared at him. "How did you-"

"I didn't I just guessed. ....But if you really want to know, I find Velveteen a woman who loves me for who I am and banned people to let me have the privacy I always loved. How many lucky men can say a woman did that for them, eh?" He talked and waved his free hands behind him as he continued walking away from them, his voice echoing throughout the halls. "And it also doesn't hurt she has a nice figure.~ Hmhmhm."

Allison rolled her eyes and shook her head before looking to Chesire as the door finally snapped magically back into place and he smiled again. Sighing as his work was done and he looked back to Allison with his same usual grin. " WHELP!! That seems to be everything!"

"Well not exactly everything." Allison started walking and Chesire floated right beside her as they walked along, and she looked at him. "You still haven't told me why you turned the old king and queen to ashes? I mean..Y-Yeah. I know they did really horrible things but why did you do something terrible back?"

Chesire went quiet for a moment as they walked along. Servants and guards giving the two worried expressions and peeking behind doors as they passed but didn't dare approach the mad Chesire and Human who fought the queen and one. .....He slowly blinked back to her with those mitch matched eyes and gave a sorry, sad look. "Remember when I said my magic gets stronger with each new generation? When I was younger and first came back, I only seeked vengeance for my family....I did not think it would be this important later in my life...But we all have to live with that fact I suppose.....I really am sorry for not telling you, Allison. I only wished to protect my friend from my world, as you took me in and protected me from yours."

She smiled wider. "Well then I guess we all have things to apologize for. But now...Let's just go home. Me to mine, and your home away from home."

He laughed at the statement. "Agreed. You've adventured long enough."

They walked along almost aimlessly through the castle's checkered floors and expensive furniture-d hallways not caring about the glances they were given as Allison just really followed Chesire's lead as he seemed to know which way they needed to go and soon enough had stopped floating and pushed open a door to a room to the left and went in, and of course Allison followed. And paused at what exactly she was seeing. The Queen and Fortune Teller were there too, the room was completely empty and devoid of anything except a giant reflective mirror built into the back wall which showed all of their reflections as the two already in the room turned to Allison and Chesire floated up to the mirror with that smile. His tiny paw reached out and tapped the surface making the reflective surface ripple like if you threw a rock into a lake. He then giggled and looked back to Allison as the other two and gestured excitedly for her to come in. She hesitated for a moment before slowly walking towards it and stopping just three feet away, still staring at it.

"Is that-"

"Yes," the queen nodded her head and pointed to it, "This will take you directly back through the way you came, the way back home. You...You deserve to go back."

Allison smiled and stepped towards it but stopped when something red flashed in front of her face. The Fortune Teller was holding out her umbrella, she had completely forgotten about that back at the arena. More pink smoke swirled around his antennas. "You'll need this to transport you back, otherwise you'll fall back down here and who knows where you'll end up."

She slowly took it from him and smiled. "Thank you.." Then back to the mirror. "So how do I make it work?"

"The same way you did it before. Just open your umbrella and jump right in!," Chesire excitedly announced happily. "And don't worry. I'll be jumping in right behind you so you have no need to worry! You finally get to go home!"

The umbrella unfurled by itself and Allison blinked. Walking closer to the reflection and smiled. Casting one more look to the ones around her and saying, "Thank you."

Before she-.....

JUMPED!!

WHOOSH!! It was like a giant gust of wind just forced her forward and back into the air. Her sore arm hurt from the giant yank on her arm sand on instinct she clutched the handle for dear life. Her body being swung back and forth like some ragdoll and she was scared she might be flung off to who knows where again for a moment. Her hair whipped behind her freeing her face and she gasped as a giant grandfather clock flew passed her, her head twisting to follow it as it went down...Wait. A CLOCK?! She looked up and wmiled when she rapidly blinked at the absolute spiral of BRIGHT orange-pink funnel stared back at her while she was falling up it- She yelped and moved aside as a teacup. A TEACUP!! Of all things flew past her next. Followed by another, then a matching teapot, then a matching tea tray, silver tea spoons, and the rest of a whole tea set. Oh yeah. She remembered those. In the distance more objects started to whizz past her as she continued to free fall up to whatever this thing lead to, which was hopefully back home. A book, thankfully not a very thick one, hit her forehead before continuing on past her. Her red eyed looking around at the now clutter of things as they whizzed by her. Chairs, tables, tea sets, books, paintings, hourglasses, watches!! You name it, it was there. Just like when she first fell down this tunnel, her umbrella whooshing her back up the way she came she hoped. She got her answer when a giant gust of wind just forced her forward and faster and faster and things whirled past her. As she drove deeper and deeper into the unknown, all of a suddenly things were starting to spiral out of control. The random clocks, tea sets, and other things were starting to whizz past her faster and faster. And she was spinning and spinning faster and faster out of control as her surroundings became nothing but swirls of bright colors that was making her head hurt and her arms REALLY hurt from the amount of strain they were using to hold on! So she closed her eyes as soon as the bright light became too much! Her stomach felt like throwing up and she only spun faster and faster. Her fingers finally loosening their grip slowly.

Slowly.

....Slower...

.....Slower..

SLOWER!!

She screamed when her body was flung down like she was fired flom a slingshot down into the center of a bright light upwards, and she slammed her eyes shut. Until with a final smack, she fell to the ground face first like a limp ragdoll.

.....

......

......*COUGH*!!

A hand slowly came to shakily clutch at the ground she was flopped against and Allison's head slowly lifted itself from the ground and coughed again. The ground beneath her was soft with a scruffy rug like feel. She blinked her still blood red eyes and looked around the familiar room. The dark room had just enough light for her to see that it was....Her granny's old meditation room!! She smiled and quickly pushed herself to her knees, looking around the room and jumping when a flash of lightning flashed outside. It was STILL storming but not as badly as she remembered. Allison looked down spotting her phone by her grey lap.....GREY LAP!? She blinked and looked down at herself. The tacky red dress and stockings were gone, replaced back with her old sweats and shirt! She smiled wider and grabbed her phone and sighed, looking around the quiet home and taking it all in as the rain poured outside. She was home...And she had gotten here. She didn't think she'd miss this place even more than she already did but this proved her wrong. A giggle made her pause and look up, and Allison couldn't help but smile back at what she saw. A pair of mitch matched eyes blinked down at her as the blue cat waved his tail from side to side.

"Welcome back from Wonderland, Allison.~ I hope you enjoyed your stay.~"

What drew you to tangled? The characters The story The artwork? Or was it every little bit of it? Did you ever think it was going to become this great of an impact in your life when you first saw the trailer for tangled

Okay, kiddos, have a seat for the Tangled Tales of Bex. (I never really get tired of telling this story. It’s not particularly exciting, but it’s definitely a major part of my life.)

When I first heard that Disney was tackling Rapunzel, I was excited. See, I’ve always liked Rapunzel, and we were reaching a point where it was getting harder to think of really iconic fairy tales for them to take on. At the time, I’d figured Rapunzel, The Princess and the Pea, or Tom Thumb. The last one was likely out, since Don Bluth did Thumbelina in 1994, and while I still think something great could be made from The Princess and the Pea, I was actually really happy to see what they were doing with Rapunzel.

Now, when the first trailer came out, I was disappointed. “She’s been ground for, like, ever,” particularly struck me as them trying way too hard to be hip, and played up the dumb humor parts. It felt like they were trying to compete directly with Shrek, and while I like Shrek, the storytelling style in Shrek doesn’t mesh well with Disney’s aesthetic. It’s way too cynical. I didn’t want to see them apply that to this story.

But the thing is, I generally trust Disney not to steer me wrong, so of course I went ahead and saw it. And that disappointment evaporated.

It’s difficult for me to say exactly what it is that made me fall in love so hard and so fast. It probably has a little bit to do with a lot of things. As an adult survivor of child abuse, I can relate to Rapunzel. The man I was married to was very Flynn (unfortunately, he wasn’t very Eugene, but that’s a tale for another blog), so I saw him in that light. The color palette really suits my tastes, as does the broad scope of the setting.

I have a Facebook post dated in January of 2011 saying that I officially considered myself obsessed with Tangled. I don’t remember making that post. But I do remember searching online for a screencap of Rapunzel lifting the royal lantern over her head from the boat, and the search for that post led me to Tumblr. I don’t remember exactly which blog it was, but I found one that was discussing Rapunzel’s bird, and the symbology of the birds in the movie. Going through that blog just dropped me down a rabbithole into a world that was so much richer than I’d given it credit for. They discussed so many things, like how Rapunzel’s baby mobile had nods to different points and characters in the story, or showing how the Pub Thugs all have some sort of indication of their dream on their person. I realized how in depth the visuals and story were, and I wanted more. I wanted to know it all, and wanted to be one of those people who contributed intellectually to the fandom.

Well, I succeeded, in that this is my most popular post to date. (Just this past week, it’s gotten over 8500 new notes!!) Not to mention, I now run this blog.

And, because I’d found Tumblr, I’d also found the Tumblr-based fandom. Once you’re part of a fandom, it’s easier to just keep liking something more and more, because the other fans encourage it in you. I’ve found friends and family because of Tangled.

So, yeah, it’s a little bit of everything. And no, I never thought it would impact my life as much as it has. I never guessed that I’d end up spending literally thousands of dollars on Tangled-related things over time. Heck, two years ago, I never expected that Tangled would put me where I am now. I feel that the Series crew is just so warm and open with the fans, and so approachable. I was intimidated and nervous when I first reached out to @artistssandoval, @kritterart and @cnotes, and look at me now. If nothing else, it’s been a humbling experience, because it’s reminded me time and time again that the people who create the things we love are just that; people. And realizing that the folks bringing to life this thing we love so much are fans, too, makes all the difference!

Down The Rabbithole Ch13

(Disclaimer and Warning: The song the flowers sing is Alice's Theme by Danny Elfman and is no way mine. And Allison's Aunt is mean in this flashback.)

Another day another earning. Another day another start at school. ANother day another jab at stressful finals....Another day another disaster. Growing up she never really had much. Average grades, a few people she could consider friends, but it was never really-....Content for her. She was always one who was attracted to the colorful side of life. Always making up creative ideas in her head, colors swirled and danced in the stories and creations she'd make. Her art and literature teachers always commended her on her own take on the world of arts and story writing, but the world she was forced into, others' reality, didn't appreciate such things.

"Arts and crafts?," her aunt bluntly asked and cousins all sneered at her as their mother shook her head, "That's what you get for Grandmother raising you all alone like the old hermit she is. Listen, Allison. I agreed to raise you in the real world so maybe you could make something of yourself. No one's going to buy your art skills and writing if you could even call them that. You need to pick a realistic game plan! Why can't you be more like your older cousins? Rodger is studying to be a professional doctor and Lorlei's on her way to become one of the world's greatest woman athletes. You need yo get your head out of the clouds and face reality."

And as time went on and as she grew, she wished she listened to her Aunt's words. Sure she was good at art and stories to a decent level, but no one was really interested in her skills as her aunt had predicted. After highschool things just went downhill-...She got into the local community college that offered a slightly better art course than her highschool, but she didn't really get tha scholarship like she always wanted...Her aunt warned if she didn't get her act together and get better grades she wouldn't, and believe me she tried. She tried her absolute best to make it. But still no scholarship for her hard work and her aunt wasn't willing to pay for any 'unrealistic goals' she wanted.

"You had literal years to get there and I told you that! Instead you chased a dream grandmother told you about. I'm not paying for something that won't even be useful in the long run. That's what getting a job is for."

And she did. And wouldn't you know it, if she was old enough to start college and get a job then that means she also must've been old enough to get her own living space too. At least that's what her aunt thought. And so there she was, renting a crappy run down apartment where everything kept breaking, barely able to keep up with bills and trying to go to school and keep her grades up-....Eventually she had to give up. She couldn't keep up with the mental strain of keeping a living and keeping up with the crazy expensive school. Now here she was. Working a low wage job as a waitress and now being threatened to be evicted if she didn't pay all the due rent within a month's time and working all the extra shifts she can get to try and keep her home and using all the willpower she had left to basically survive at this point. Everyday and nights if she had to smiling at customers and forcing that cheery attitude to please the crowd, as she was slowly lost any hope for creativity in her life. Then that fateful day came. She was just working the day shift as usual, with her forced smile and cheery attitude but it only got worse when she got home. She received news that would shatter her world forever. Her grandmother's lawyer had called her. From the local law office in towm. She remembered vaguely that Granny had been moved to the local nursing home in town at the insistence of her remaining family but honestly hadn't seen her in a while. And the news when she picked up that phone and held it to her ear, was the worst news she would ever hear.

"Is this Allison Gale? ," a gruffy man's voice asked to her confusion.

"Uh...Y-Yes. Who's this?"

"This is the Law Office of Duffman and Hillary." She froze. LAW. OFFICE!? OH NO!! Was she being sued for something?! Was she getting evicted NOW?! "I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but last night your grandmother had passed away. I'm very sorry for your loss but there's going to be a reading of the last will and testimony of your grandmother by insistence of your other family. I would appreciate it if you would be willing to come to the reading of the will within a month's time."

HER. WORLD. ENDED.

She lost count how many tears she shead and how much time she laid emotionally numb in her bed not even summoning the will to go to work a few days since then....Which ultimately. Got her fired...The funeral wasn't anything special. Just your standard small funeral where everyone got to say goodbye and watch as the head of the family was laid to rest. But she didn't shed a tear. Too emotionally drained and numb to feel anything until much later after the funeral and being obligated to attend the reading of the will with the rest of what's left of her small family. Not like she expected much. Probably a goodbye message from her recently deceased grandmother at most, maybe a small inheiritance to pay for funeral expences or an insurance policy...Or more bills to pay. But no. The outcome had shocked her more than she could ever realize. She had-...Her granny had done-......

Her grandmother had left Allison her entire house and property!?!? WHAT?!

Well, other than a few family heirlooms that went to her other family members and a small savings account to pay for any leftover expenses that her granny left behind, but that's beside the point. Her aunt and cousins seemed to be a little disappointed that they didn't get much else, but they wouldn't want a house literally in the middle of no where in a supposedly cursed forest probably no one would buy from them anyways. She'd have to wait a few days to let the family lawyer collect her other family's new possessions but...She was given the deed of ownership to the house she grew up in...Which meant she'd have somewhere to live when she got evicted. She could almost cry. And she did eventually. What would her granny think if she could see her now? Couldn't go to college, lost her job, and was now going to be evicted from her home within a month now without even a car. She was forced to sell most of her stuff anyways. Had to get money for food somehow, and packed anything she could which wasn't much to be honest. She never had much to start with anyways. But she had one hope. ONE. SINGLE. HOPE. When she woke up for the last time in that apartment. When the taxi showed up. When she dragged those heavy bags down to the car and loaded them in. When she got into the car and closed the door without so much as a good bye to anyone or anything from her old home. When the taxi started and took off down the road. When she started towards her old childhood home. She really just had one hope after all.

A good new start for her.

***************************************************************************************************************

Darkness was what met her at first. Then a strange motion. It felt almost as if she was laying on the bottem of a car moving slowly over a gravel road. The coldness of the wood hitting her skin and the bumps and motions of the car adding to the already strange feelings her tired body was experiencing. She...must've fallen asleep. Ok. What was Chesire up to now? Was he messing with her bed or something? The human groaned and weakly raised a hand out and placed it onto the ground near her head, pushing her upper self from off the cold moving floor and raised her head tiredly. Strawberry blonde hair was in her was of seeing, but her red eyes blinked tiredly at the iron bars caging her in and the burly looking men marching beside her within the cage. She didn't react as one would expect. She tiredly pushed the hair out of her face and blinked confused and sleepy at the knights leading a horse down a dirt path. Their armor gleaming in the sun giving them a regal look. One nudged their leader and pointed to the sleepy human in the cage as they marched along like she was a wild animal being transported to the zoo. The path she was on looked worn but unlike all the other paths, this one looked well maintained despite it's use. And she wasn't in the woods any longer. Around her was nothing but flat wide open fields that looked well cared for with the cut grass and trimmed trees. And roses. HUNDREDS OF ROSES AND ROSE BUSHES EVERYWHERE!! She saw hundreds of red rose bushes in the fields especially alongside the road, but not all of them were red. There was some white, black, and lots of pink too. But mostly red. People of different kinds were trimming or watering the small flowers and bushes. They all stopped to stare at her as she went by, not that her out of it state of mind could notice now. She could only see the flowers and smell their sweet scent and faces.....FACES?!

Yep! A lot of the flower bushes' roses had faces on them and were giggling and smiling at the confused sleepy human as Allison was moved along on the pathway. Wait...were they saying something?

"Oh, Alli, Dear where have you been?~", they all ask sang as if in one giant chorus, "So near, so far, so in-between.~ What have you heard?~ What have you seen?~ Alli!~ Alli!~ Please, Alli!~"....Alli? Were they trying to say Allison but it came out Alli? Silly little flowers. When she woke up from this dream she'd have to tell Chesire about this. He'd find it so amusing. "Oh, tell us are you big or small?~ To try this one or try them all.~ It's such a long, long way to fall.~ Alli!~ Alli!~ Oh, Alli!~"

In her tired state, she smiled amused at these tiny funny flowers as the captain of these guards gave her a quick look before quickening the pace of the horse puling the cage on wheels holding the human inside it. They had cut their way through the magic tent with their swords and risked a lot getting her for the queen, so they weren't taking any chances with a human from the outside world now. The flowers however picked up their pace while continuing to sing as they hurried past.

"How can you know this way not that?~ You choose the door, you choose the path.~ Perhaps you should be coming back.~ Another day, another day.~ And nothing is quite what is seems.~ You're dreaming.~ Are you dreaming?~ OH, ALLI!~ OOOOOOOHH, ALLI!!~ OOOOOOHHHH!~" ...She blinked. 'Are you dreaming?'...Well that was a strange verse. Of course she was dreaming right now wasn't she? She had made it to Chesire's tent just like the Fortune Teller said. And he suggested they all take a rest and she just woke up in her dream....Didn't she? They continued. "Oh, how will you find your way?~ OH! How will you find your way?~ No time for tears today, no time for tears today.~ No time for tears today, no time for tears today.~"

A big bump on the road made her stumble in her jumbled state and she turned over her shoulder to yell at her dream people holding her hostage and stopped. Blinking her tired slightly blurry vison forward....OMG! THERE. WAS. A. GIANT. CASTLE!! The thing looked kinda tiny far away on top of the giant hill, but from where she was looking she could tell it was MUCH bigger than Chesire's tent, which was saying a lot since it was big enough to house five circuses in her opinion. In front of the castle looked like a giant green wall?? Tall rose bushes maybe? She was too far away to really see any good detail besides it was a good decent size and still seemed to be a good decent ways away from herself. Who's castle was that?

"So many doors, how did you choose?~ So much to gain, so much to lose.~ So many things got in your way.~ No time today, no time today.~ Be careful not to lose your head.~" She snapped back to them blinking feeling really whoozy and tired again. "Remember what Chesire said, Alli!~ Did someone pull you by the hand?~ How many miles to Wonderland?~ Please tell us so we'll understand.~ ALLI!!~ ALLI!!~ OH, ALLI!~" Her body lowered down as sleep refilled her tired mind. Perhaps if she closed her eyes again she'd wake up sooner back in Chesire's tent. "Oh, how will you find your way?~ Oh, how will you find your way?~"

Darkness consumed her once more as they continued on their cheery song.

Down The Rabbithole Ch4

It was....good to have someone around to talk to again wouldn't you agree? Someone who didn't expect a lot out of her, someone who she could laugh with, sing silly songs with, and ...be herself around again. Now don't get her wrong. It certainly didn't happen overnight now. She still was grasping at the sudden and huge concept that her old memories weren't just childish adventures of an imaginary friend and a whole bunch of the fairy tales and nursery rythmes she grew up with were actually real..or well WERE real, Chesire did mention that most of them were ancient history just repeated and long ago over, but I digress. She was expecting one of these days to just wake up and everything be gone and back to her normal life, but then she'd find breakfast made and waiting for her or finding Chesire all curled up beside her sleeping. He was kinda like a pet cat of her own that doubled as a best friend she could talk to and let reveal about her life. But some things were a little frustrating. One day she stacked books neatly on a shelf- Only to rush back into the room by the sounds of books falling down one by one and saw the site of Chesire looking wide eyed at the books and like a cat in those videos, was pawing the books off one by one. He seemed to snap out of it when she shouted at him to stop and apologized before snapping his powers and having them fly back into place. She told him he didn't have to use all this magic and cook for here but in his own words:

"You fed me. You gave me a home. You became my friend and showed me kindness when a lot of people wouldn't. I could have easily died. This is the very least I could do and it'll still be never enough in my opinion. Now hush and help me decide which scones looks better with this tea. I like macaroons. So sweet and delicious!"

He wasn't there sometimes and a few days he didn't show up, when asked he simply told her he had to spend some time in his world too, which she respected. He wasn't obligated to stay around if he didn't feel up to it and she certainly knew that she would be ok-ish without him. There was plenty of things to keep her busy, she still had the whole yard and fence to recover, and a job to find, didn't she? Which went about well as you think. Said fence was old and rusty and leaned in odd places, she had to REALLY put her back into it to push the awkward rusty poles into place, which left her pretty sore for the rest of the day. But the next day she stepped out to the smell of freshly cut grass and the sight of a tamed lawn and new white painted fence had taken it's place. When questioned he admitted to it, but only because she looked really hurt and tired trying to do it herself. It took a moment to explain to a confused talking cat that she REALLY DID appreciate his help but sometimes she WANTED to endorse the hard labor and he just tilted his head confused and blinked at her.

"I don't understand your human logistics. You could just as easily have me snap my fingers and everything you desire done will be finished in due time."

"It's not that! I mean it WOULD be nice to have everything fixed back up to the way it was, but humans, well most humans anyways, enjoy working for something. It makes us feel better getting it."....He cocked his head more and rose a brow obviously still confused and she face palmed, how does she explain this in a more simpler terms so a fairytale otherworldly cat would understand??...She looked back up at him dragging a hand down her face. "....OK! Lets go with one example. Uh...Um...Y-You know the story of Cinderella right?"

"Absolutely! Her glass slippers are still passed down in her family! Her great great niece looks so nice in them."

She rose a brow but shook her head and held up her hands. "Ok! Well you know how her fairy godmother granted her wish of going to the ball and meeting her future husband?" He nodded his head, of course he knew that. "Ok. Well you know why the fairy godmother did that right? It's because Cinderella worked hard everyday of her life and made an effort to be kind all the time, which with a step family like hers, it must've been hard. It's the same with most humans. Getting everything just handed to us on a silver platter without having to work for it just seems wrong, like there was no real effort to put into it to actually earn it. It's not about getting it done fast, it's just about that feeling of earning something." She pointed to herself. "I want to fix up the house and while I appreciate your attempts, and not in anyway discrediting you for what you've already done for me or for wanting to help, I want to be able to stand on my own two feet and show I can fix up the whole place."

He stood(Floated in the air-) and stared at her as she explained to him her feelings on the matter and hummed after a few seconds of it being done. "So....In order for humans to in their opinion earn something and be worthy of it they must work hard for it?"

She smiled and nodded. "Now you're getting it! After all an easy reward wouldn't be very good." She wracked her mind for another example. "Uh...Like let's say a princess has a whole bunch of suitors, and then she gets kidnapped by a dragon, and then a knight finds her, defeats the dragon, and worked very hard to rescue her. Wouldn't that make the knight more worthy to marry her than all the others?"

He looked at her thoughtfully, before nodding with a smile. ''Now that you mention it, it does seem you humans have more noble qualities than I thought.~"

She chuckled. "Now you get it. Besides wouldn't it get a bit annoying if everyone just asks you to use your magic to fix all their problems?"

He hummed, "I never thought of it like that before. Yes. I suppose it would get very annoying, I have other things to do with my magic than play life savior all the time."

"There you go! Now you're getting it! You can still help if you want to and I won't make you, but leave some stuff for me to do. Ok?"

He nodded and now that they had a better understanding she had less surprises. In fact she was made to make her own meals now, which she didn't mind cuz y'know independence in all, but now she could also show Chesire some of the recipes she picked up. He never even heard of a lemon marange pie until she made it for him and he puckered from the lemon flavor. Understandable. Not everyone enjoyed lemon, but things got a bit confusion when she tried to make pineapple upside down cake. She made it all the way and turned her back away from it for a second when she turned back and almost had a heart attack from Chesire using his magic to hold in place upside-down.

"What are you doing?!"

"Helping you with the recipe. I don't think you'll be able to make it stay upside down on your own will you?"

"T-That's not...Wait." She blinked. "Your Upside down cakes are ACTUALLY upside down?"

"Of course they are! It wouldn't make sense for it NOT to be. What's the point of having an upside-down cake if it's not made properly?"

"Huh. You'll have to show me your world sometime."

"Really?!" His tone radiated excitement as that idea was thrown at him and he giggled. "What a splendidly marvelous idea!! You could take my portal but...perhaps it would be better if not. There is dangers still left to be undangered."

"What do you mean?"

''Hopefully you'll never find out. Now let's cut this open! Im starving so to speak."

She let that one slide since no real harm was done. But he was still asking a few questions about her world that still didn't make much sense to her but it seemed he was used to different forms of things which was all but fine. The real things she was concerned with was the restoration of the garden and repainting the house. She didn't know if the roof was ok after all this time, but she guessed she was finally gonna find out wasn't she? She had been working on the back of the house for a few days now. As well as one could with old rusty garden tools and a small cat who found more fun in playing with the tossed weeds than helping her, but she didn't ask for his help and like before he was being more considerate in wanting to let her do her thing. She wasn't sure how many times she fell down on her behind trying to pull weeds out or tripped over another giant root in her granny's old flower bed. But all of that was put on hold when the first giant black storm clouds appeared and thunder gave out a warning of what was to come. Which came in the form of rain just a few seconds after. Chesire bristled and gave a startled meow as he jumped into her arms, and she ran like a bear chasing bees back into the safety of the house. Barging in just in time as the speed was starting to pick up the pace and rain down harder. Which left them now in this situation. Curled up on the couch, warm fuzzy blanket around her shoulder, and a purring magical cat curled up in her lap. And phone in hand. Her unlimited data plan was great for unlimited internet, though it was a little glitchy. One of the better things she did in her life. Might as well search for a job. I mean. She didn't have a car, and she couldn't just walk all the way to and from town everyday...And she already felt guilty for everything Chesire already done. If she found an online job then that meant she didn't have to walk all that way and could save up for a car and maybe get a job in the nearest town or something. After a while of surfing the web, a blue head popped back up and smiled at the strange blue screen.

"And what is this I wonder?"

"Hm?" She blinked and looked at him as he stared at the phone. "Oh. It's my phone. Im trying to find an online job but so far no luck. If my luck runs out I'll just try to open art commissions I guess."

....He blinked. "A...'phone'? What is that?"

"Oh, well it's a..Uh.." How do you explain to fairytale cat what a electronic phone is?....Maybe she should use another fairytale reference as an example? "Well...You know how magic mirrors or crystal balls show us stuff like other people and answer questions? L-Like the mirror in the Snow White story? You know how she would ask it every day 'Who's the fairest in the land?'''

"OH! So you have a small hand held magical mirror!"

She shrugged. "Sort of. It lets me talk to people, watch things, see fair away places, answer questions-"

"So it's more of a fortune teller's ball?" He nodded with a thoughtful look. "I understand now. I know of a great fortune teller where I am from! The descendent of the oh so wise Mr. Caterpillar!"

"That's one way of putting it."

That was probably the best she was ever going to get to explaining what a phone was to him- A flash of lightning flashed outside lit up the entire room along with a roar of thunder that shook the glass of the windows. Chesire bristled more and leaned back further into her blankets shielding the two from the cold air. She comfortly reached out to pat the poor slightly shaking fellows back and sighed. She didn't blame him for being scared of rain. After all she wasn't enjoying this anymore than him....Then she got an idea. She smiled and tapped the top of his head to get him to look up at her.

"Hey. You like tea right? How about I go make you a cup?"

He blinked slightly surprised up at her. "Really? Y-You'd do that for me? In this dire time? ...Oh, no, no, no. I couldn't ask you to do that for me. I'll be fine."

Her brow rose. "It would be the least I could do for all the things you've done for me. Here." She gently put her arms around him, enough to lift him off the couch and picked him up just as she stood up.Blanket falling of Allison's shoulder as she turned back around and placed the small cat back to where she was sitting just a moment ago. He blinked as said fuzzy blankets was drapped the top of his head and around him. Almost like a swaddled baby. She straightened back up and glanced back down at him. "There! Now don't you go anywhere. It'll only take like ten minutes tops." She slipped her phone into her back pocket. "Besides. I know I could use a warm drink right now."

He chuckled. But it was short lived by another loud thunder that shook the windows again and Chesire gave a startled 'Mmmrowl' and ducked under the blanket turning into a shaking lump under it. But that's not what made her stop and pause. A loud clanking sound itself heard before stopping after a bit. What was that? ANother loud thunder sound shaking the windows another soft but loud metal tapping noise and she snapped her head in the direction the sound was coming from...Sure enough ANOTHER thunder clapping. Another shaking. AND ANOTHER METAL NOISE!

"H-Hey. Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?! I hear nothing but the sound of absolutely silence u-under here!"

Well he wasn't going to be much help was he? She rolled her eyes and looked- BOOM!! Another shaking. What was up with this giant storm!? Seriously?! And another tapping sound. This time DEFINATELY from her Granny's old meditation room. Raising a brow, she cautiously began slowly walking her way over there. The dimly lit room and rain outside wasn't helping her whole horror movie scenario running through her head as she got closer and closer. When she was finally in there...She saw nothing. Lightning lit up the entire room as ran still poured buckets outside. ....Then where was- Another thunder slammed the skies and shook the windows. Which also shook another thing. The giant mirror hanging on the wall tapped against it swaying violently and made the same tapping sound she had heard before. She gasped and ran to it. Not actually touching it when she got there but holding her arms out as if ready to catch this thing. It looked too big and heavy to lift by her tiny self, but it looked so freely hanging from the wall that it could fall and shatter into a million pieces at any moment. Which is what scared her.

Her head snapped over her shoulder. "Chesire!! The mirror's about to fall! Help me put it back into place will ya?!"

The shaking lump stopped shaking in an instant. All fear of ran and thunder and lightning pushed aside and that blue head snapped up and out of the blanket wide eyed. "THE MIRROR?! ALLISON, NO!!" He leapt from the couch and zoomed towards the tiny room. "WHATEVR YOU DO, DONT TOUCH THE MIRROR!!"

The rest of his warning was drowned out as thunder once again rang out and shook the house, this time there was no tapping as the mirror jumped off the nail and as she watched in horror as he fell on her, she thought she could hear Chesire shout 'Allison!!'. As it consumed her. A giant shattering of glass was heard as shiny shards spilt to the floor in the place the girl once stood, and shined when lightning struck the entrance way. A heavily breathing cat was floating there for a moment staring in absolute horror at the mess on the floor. He snapped two it. Little paws pushing around a few pieced before lifting up the mirror and still seeing no strawberry blonde woman. His paws went to clutch his head as the realization hit him harder than any lightning.

"By tea and biscuits...WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"