It feels incredible. Honestly I feel like pinching myself some days. Life isn’t perfect obviously, there are good and bad days, but after the rollercoaster of events just before and after Gideon was born… normality is most definitely not overrated. Actually our trips have reminded me of one of the (many) reasons why I fell in love with Rumple.
I didn’t really have a term for it in the old world but now I understand that he was the first ‘intellectual’ man I’d ever met. We can spend hours discussing everything under the sun. It’s such a joy to soak up all the history and culture of the world with someone that appreciates it as much as I do.
As for the train trip it was just lovely. The atmosphere of the steam railway was like nothing I’ve experienced before. Gideon loved it and even though it was a ‘fun’ trip for him, there was still plenty of history and culture which he was learning about unconsciously. I want to give Gideon as many opportunities as I can, Rumple and I both do, and if he can have a great time and get a little education at once so much the better.
Belle: My author hasn’t updated me in six months. I’ve been stuck on this car drive for forever.
(OOC: Sorry I know I’m not really amusing, I’m attempting to joke to mask my shame. Has it really been six months? Where has the time gone?)
Real answer…
Belle: I’m not picky on genre. I like exploring characters in all sorts of different environments, it depends on what speaks to me. I go through phases I suppose in which one setting inspires me more than others. Although I also confess the research can be a procrastination tactic. I rather enjoyed my Regency period, the amount of books I devoured … but I digress.
Could a certain scotsman end up in one of my books one day? Well they say art imitates life, or was it life imitates art? Either way it’s certainly possible some traits could appear especially in a romantic lead… *blushes* I mean, well there are some attractive *clears throat* I’m going to stop now.
From untitled oneshot (to be posted next Tuesday if I can stop adding details)
Her eyes had widened, her heart beating furiously in her chest, as she watched the senseless tragedy unfold helpless to do anything … then the boy had been lifted into the air by invisible hands, before being gently lowered back down.
It had made him embrace the clerics and their beliefs in the evil of magic even more.
35. Do you like high school and college AUs?
I think there are very few AU’s that I would say I dislike on principle. I know that high school/college AU’s have a bit of a bad name but I do try and not judge anything on it’s labels. If it’s well written and in character then that’s all that matters. A skilled writer can take any AU and make it spell-binding and interesting and keep me hanging on every word. So yeah, basically why not?
41. Favorite fluffy tropes?
I really should make a list of tropes to make answering these questions easier. I know I have knowledge of tropes so why can I never remember the names when I get questions like this? I just googled and wow somebody needs to make a list of fluffy prompts. That was an impromptu explanation of various kinks that I could have done without.
Basically I’m a sucker for communication. Pure fluff is impossible to write (for me at least) because without some kind of conflict I can’t move the story along. It can be very minor conflict but something has to happen. In a fluff story though the characters talk about it. They are sensitive to each others moods and there’s lots and lots of hugging and snuggles. I like reading/writing about just simple “being together” moments, like snuggling on the couch with one reading a book and the other watching TV, or one of them doing paperwork. They aren’t demanding each others attentions, they are just comfortable spending time with each other.
I quite like hurt/comfort I guess so long as whatever happened wasn’t really bad. I think the term for what I don’t like is whump? Though I don’t understand that term really. I’ve just seen it applied to when the character is put through something awful just so they suffer. I don’t like that. But if one character has a cold and then the other brings them food and drink and tucks them up with a blanket that’s sweet. Lots of hugs and gooey nonsense heh.
Did I mention the hugs? Yeah being tactile and loving is a very important part of fluff and I guess all of this that I’ve talked about is established relationship. They are either already romantically involved or friends, but then best friends to lovers is one of my favorites so /shrug I guess I’m just predictable 🙂
Thanks for the ask! 🙂 🙂 Wow these questions are hard! *puts on thinking cap*
6. Favorite fic (or one of them)? *cries* how can I possibly choose? Shall I do “eeny meeny miny mo”? Pick a random number? I mean this fandom is so damn talented! So definitely, definitely only one of the many, many fics that I love. Please no mistake about that! I think I have to go with Friendships and Fandoms by @worryinglyinnocent purely because it gave us Star Force!
I think Worry is a magician or something because she’s made me a huge fan of a show that technically doesn’t exist. I want at least 10 seasons of it. It would definitely rank up among my favorite shows ever. Can we get this made somehow? I mean seriously, it should be real!
10. Favorite trope/element/scenario in fic? Hmm I find this really hard to answer. It’s like the second I read this question my mind goes blank and I can’t think of any. I should make a list of all the possibilities to help my brain at times like this. Anyway I think I’m going to go with best friends to lovers. I just adore mutual support and friendship and communication and working together. I love established relationship fic. I mean bizarrely given how much I read/write “getting together” fics my definite favorite is when an established couple faces a problem and tackles it as a team.
42. Least favorite fluffy tropes? Erm oh crumbs I don’t know. Like I said my brains gone blank. Probably when everything is fluffy when I know it can’t be really. I like things to be justified, and to make sense, and for there to be reasons behind things. I suppose it’s a bit like on the actual show when instant-forgiveness happens. These things take time and problems can’t be solved with one conversation. People might know in their heads something, but their hearts take a while to process. I’m not sure I’m explaining this right. I guess I like the fluff to be quasi-realistic. If it’s perfect then how do they know they are happy?
45. Favorite fluff fic? Same trouble as no. 6 how to choose??? However … I admit a certain fic did pop into my head the second I read the question. I remember fangirling exceptionally hard in the comments. It just hit all the buttons for brilliance. I was smiling so hard and waving my hands in the air. I just couldn’t stop gushing. So yeah the Passing Inspection verse by well you @mariequitecontrarie 🙂
Oh the fanfic I wrote. I was deep into this fandom. It was my first fandom. I ran a fansite, I made up music lists (complete with art for CD covers), I did fanart generally with wallpapers and icons and stuff(it was early 2000′s it’s what people did). I wrote countless metas. I screencapped episodes and uploaded galleries as a resource. Oh I made fanmixes where I interspersed dialogue with music, I also made actual fan videos. If it was a fan thing, you name it then I did it. Ah can’t forget the fanlistings! I never was lucky enough to run the actual relationship one but I grabbed whatever I could get e.g. key episodes.
So yeah I really was very deep into this. Then I fell out of love with the show. I don’t know if they had a change in writers, showrunners, or just a change in direction. I adored the first two seasons and season three was ok but season four? It was like watching people pretending they were playing the characters I’d come to know and love. It just didn’t feel right.
Basically I quit the show. I stayed on the edges of the fandom for a long time afterwards, finishing up fanfics etc. but I closed down a lot of what I was doing. That was less to do with the show/pairing and more to do with where my life was at. I was 16, I was graduating high school, I wanted to write more original fiction. That was basically the start of when I got out of fandom. I was out for about ten years before Rumbelle pulled me back in.
In answer to your question, no they aren’t my favorite anymore. Rumbelle has that honor! Do I still ship them? Well it’s been a very long time since I’ve even watched the show (I’m getting nostalgic now, I might have to pull out my DVD’s) but I can’t see why I wouldn’t still ship them. I’m not active but I haven’t forgotten why I fell hard and fast for this pairing.
Belle: Ooooh no I didn’t know that! *checks online* It’s about two and a half hours from here … but I suppose when we leave to go … oh there’s a museum, oh Rumple …
Rule: List the top ten songs you are listening to nowadays and tag (ten) mutuals
Well I could off my iTunes top 10 most played but it says “nowadays” and I just got a bunch of new music so I think I’ll do half and half…
I don’t want to be sad – Simple Plan
Jet Pack Blues – Fall Out Boy
Coin for the Ferryman – Nickelback
Shut Up and Dance – Alex Goot & Jake Daniels
Put Your Hands Up – Matchbox Twenty
Wonder Why – Rides Again
Odd One – Sick Puppies
I’m a Bitch – Shania Twain
I’l Be Your Man – James Blunt
Once Upon a Lifetime – Ronan Keating
I can’t believe I didn’t include any Thousand Foot Krutch on there. They are my current favorite artist. You know I think that’s because I would have just wanted to put entire albums. Oh wow there’s no Tobias Regner either 🙁 can we extend this to the top … 50? I might stand a chance of including something from most of my top artists then.
Sorry I know I shouldn’t laugh. It’s just that’s a really awesome question and it’s also incredibly funny. I see Rumbelle everywhere, in everything! I swear sometimes I could probably Rumbelle anything. I try not to think on it too hard because the plot bunnies wind up multiplying exponentially but oops happens quite often anyway 🙂
Anyway, the amazingly talented and wonderful @worryinglyinnocent was my RCIJ Santa. The prompt I gave them was for a movie AU – No Reservations. That movie just screamed Rumbelle to me and while I’m still only three chapters into their fic (damn obligations, I want to read and not be busy!) it’s an absolutely incredible adaptation. Go, read, enjoy! It’ll be great I know it!
I’d be here all day if I listed off everything that ever reminded me of Rumbelle. Unlike the example I gave above, which was absolutely perfect in pretty much every way, most things are only partly perfect. Which unfortunately makes the plot bunnies even worse. I can see the changes I’d make which would then be perfect Rumbelle and oops. Rumbelle, rumbelle, everywhere heh.
Gideon: It’s hard to pin down our first date to be honest. I’d dated before, inviting the guys I liked out for hamburgers or to get a drink, but with Chin it just didn’t happen like that. We met in the library study hall, when he sat down opposite me, and we just clicked. He became my best friend, I invited him home for Christmas so he didn’t have to spend it in the dorms, and after we’d been there a couple of days mom asked how long we’d been together.
I told her that we weren’t! But the idea wouldn’t leave me alone and I started paying more attention. When we spent evenings watching movies we’d curl up together, when we cooked we worked in sync because we knew what the other needed. It’s like we’d become a couple and kinda skipped the dating part.
So would our first date be one of the hundreds of things we did together since we met? Or would it be what we did the night I screwed up my courage and kissed him? I was so terrified of losing his friendship. I called papa and he told me not to wait because I would regret it. That no matter what happened it would be the right thing. That the important thing was to be honest, a lesson he’d learned the hard way and tried never to forget.
Anyway we went out for dinner – hamburgers for good luck – and I kissed him. He kissed me back, I admitted I’d been nervous, he admitted that if I hadn’t made a move soon then he would have, and the rest as they say is history.
*****
Belle: *glances at Rumple with amusement* It was me, much to my surprise. I couldn’t understand why Rumple was so laid back, well until Gideon and Nadia started dating and then I had to have a stern word, but then …
Rumple: *winces* Sweetheart …
Belle: Not now darling, I think they should know don’t you? *Rumple shakes his head and Belle’s smile deepens* It’s really not all that bad. My husband the sorcerer just placed a couple of charms on them. They weren’t invasive. One was a health monitor which would detect if they were hurt or unwell. Another would detect if they were in danger. There was a locator charm but that only activated if either the health or danger monitor triggered. It wasn’t spying because he couldn’t check where they were at will; he was just making sure they were safe when they were on their own. The only mistake he made was … what was it Rumple?
Rumple: I didn’t talk with you about it first, and I didn’t explain it to Gideon and Nadia. Placing spells on anyone other than an enemy without asking permission isn’t allowed.
Belle: And what happened when we talked with them?
Rumple: *whispers* They agreed to the charms. Gideon’s condition was that we placed the same monitors on the two of us, and that both he and I were keyed into them. He has magic too and we all care for one another.
Belle: Exactly. *kisses him lovingly* See it all worked out. Your intention wasn’t wrong but …
