ouat-verse odile (swan lake). because i officially don't know what i'm doing.

[allured]

I do wish you wouldn't underestimate me. Your notions of me seem rather confused - because you are, perhaps. I, on the other hand, am not. It's simple. Far more so than you seem to realize.

I won't thank you for having the decency not to mention any feelings you imagine I had for the prince. The fact that you entertain such an idea - even silently - disregards any merit in that. Clearly, you understand that love is for the weak, true love nothing more than an illusion. I know this. You must keep it in mind if I'm to impress Father upon his return.

Comments

I don't know what you're doing, either, but I kinda like it.

[knightoftheswan]

Ah. No wonder my mundane is intrigued by you. All of this is quite familiar.

Though I don't care for her saying we are alike, regardless of her argument justifying it.

i have no resistance when it comes to things like this.

[allured]

I think that depends on the argument, don't you, Sir? There isn't a thing wrong with common ground.

[knightoftheswan]

True. I just don't care for common ground in opposite roles.

[The Knight is perhaps uncomfortable that he might be partial cause of his loved ones' future suffering.]

[allured]

Opposite?

[she sits up straight, lips pursed.]

My, you're quick to make assumptions. If the similarities are strong enough, we can't be so different as you'd like to think.

[really, odile's not met many people who are like her and her father in her world - at least, how her father says they are. the possibility is enough to draw out any curiosity.]

[knightoftheswan]

It isn't what you think. She is commenting on our states as being part of one story but heavily drawn from another.

[allured]

Oh.

[well, that's nowhere near as exciting.]

Then you're one to dabble with swans and curses, too?

[knightoftheswan]

I am. Though the one cursed to be a swan is not a princess.

[allured]

Is not?

[a pause as she studies him.]

Are you her prince?

[knightoftheswan]

A Knight who serves the Prince.

The story I speak of isn't his. The one cursed to be the swan, for now, is my betrothed's brother.

[allured]

How intriguing. [an honest assessment; she hadn't expected that.]

I don't suppose you know if rest of the story progresses as traditionally as one might expect?

[knightoftheswan]

I've been assured it will. Naturally this is no comfort to me.

It's been impressed upon me that operas do not have happy endings.

[allured]

But a mournful end for some is more than satisfying for others.

[knightoftheswan]

I'll not let the Monstrous Raven have all the satisfaction. My brother-in-law, as he'll be when the time comes, will be restored.

[allured]

Again, you seem to assume quite a lot. There is such a thing as fate.

[careful, odile, let's not get too into drosselmeyer territory.]

[knightoftheswan]

And I'll meet it when it comes.

But I survive my story. I have to. Otherwise I couldn't be present in the Prince's.

[Sure, he dies in The Prince and the Raven, but he's got to be alive in there in order to die.]

[allured]

Oh? I mustn't be following as well as I thought. I was unaware that you had more than one.

[knightoftheswan]

I'm present in more than one.

It's actually gotten pretty muddled for my mundane. She wasn't expecting so much research yet keeps finding more and more of my family tree.

[Not even kidding on this. How much Arthurian opera is there?]

To tell the truth, I'd probably fare better if I served this King Arthur that all of my family's stories lead back to.

[allured]

Things are nowhere near as complicated for mine. It seems that the fact that I'm merely - inspired [a hint of a question.] means that she feels she can do what she will with me.

But, this King Arthur. I've heard of him. Surely, not the same.

[knightoftheswan]

Excalibur? Knights of the Round Table? Quest for the Holy Grail? If you know this King Arthur, they are one and the same.

In the lore that holds my family's origins, my grandfather is King Pellinore, my father Sir Percival of the Knights of the Round Table, and my aunt Dindrane the heroine of the Holy Grail.

[allured]

The Knights are the only ones I know for certain, I'm afraid, though perhaps the other two aren't far off. I confess myself unfamiliar with your father; the only knight I am aware of was Sir Lancelot.

I only picked this icon for the keywords.

[knightoftheswan]

Ah yes. Most know Lancelot for one reason or another.

My mundane comparing me to him is more unfair than her comparing the two of us.

omfG.

[allured]

[at that, she laughs.]

Sir, really, you should allow yourself some credit.

[knightoftheswan]

That's not even going to happen. As if the first tragedy will not be bad enough, I'll not have that moment of epiphany until the Raven's claw is securely sunk in my shoulder.

But even if I did manage to realize it before then, it would remain unrequited.

[allured]

How many tragedies are to befall you?

Unrequited? Curious. Are you in love?

[knightoftheswan]

At least two, it seems.

Yes. But not with her.

[Yet...]

[allured]

Oh? Who is she?

[knightoftheswan]

The Princess that has caught my liege's eye because she happens to know how to dance.

She's about as substantial as sea foam.

[allured]

[more laughter, this time rather mirthful.]

I assure you, Sir, I've heard stories of love based on far more trivial things. But I congratulate you for recognizing it.

[knightoftheswan]

[Now just don't ask him how much he and his betrothed know about each other.]

Thank you for having the sense my mundane seems to lack.

[allured]

Perhaps we do deserve to be compared, stories or not.

[knightoftheswan]

Because we both possess common sense in an apparent dearth?

[allured]

If you wish to phrase it in such a disparaging way, then yes, Sir.

Because when you question true love, you get this kid.

[theboywiththebook]

True love isn't an illusion! It's real.

oh, henry.

[allured]

Such conviction, young man! And for something so easily broken.

Re: oh, henry.

[theboywiththebook]

It's never easily broken. It always wins out.

[allured]

Always? Rather a heavy qualifier. You're the child with the stories, aren't you? And you've not found one in which it didn't?

winter ballet ladies ftw, amirite

[heldin]

And what of love for family?

the most right.

[allured]

Another matter entirely, I should think. [though she was never taught that definition when she was a child.] Unless such love never existed to begin with.

[heldin]

If we all doubt the strengths of familial love, then the world would be an empty place.

... Emptier.

[allured]

Oh, I'd never doubt that. I never have, with Father. Though, he's gone, now. Vanished, like so many others.

[a small sigh.]

And you? Do you find your situation similar?

[heldin]

Well ... [ she bows her head, shaking her head slowly, thoughfully. ]

I've not seen my family in years. The curse has kept my uncle away from me - [ if he is alive. no he is alive. he must be. ] - But I am at least lucky to have my prince. Thoughts of all of them carry me forward.

[allured]

Oh. [somehow, her face twists between smug and condescending.]

Let us be thankful for small comforts.